1Samson went to Gaza, saw a prostitute there, and went in to be with her.
2The people of Gaza were told, "Samson is here!" They surrounded him and waited for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet all night, saying, "We'll wait until morning light, then we will kill him."
3Samson stayed until midnight, then got up at midnight. He grabbed the doors of the city gate and its two posts, pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders. He carried them to the top of the mountain that is in front of Hebron.
4After this, he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek named Delilah.
5The Philistine leaders came to her and said, "Trick him and find out what makes him so strong, and how we can overpower him so we can tie him up and truly defeat him. Each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver."
6Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength comes from, and what you could be tied with to make you weak."
7Samson said to her, "If they tie me with seven fresh bowstrings that have never been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man."
8So the Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them.
9She had men waiting in ambush in an inner room. She called out to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a string of flax breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not revealed.
10Delilah said to Samson, "Look, you have made fun of me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you could be tied with."
11He said to her, "If they tie me tightly with new ropes that have never been used, then I will become weak and be like any other man."
12So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. She called out to him, "The Philistines are on you, Samson!" The ambush was waiting in the inner room. But he broke the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
13Delilah said to Samson, "You've made fun of me and lied to me until now. Tell me how you can be tied up." He told her, "If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the loom."
14She fastened it with a pin and told him, "The Philistines are coming for you, Samson!" He woke up, pulled out the pin from the loom, and tore away the woven part.
15She said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you're not sincere with me? You've tricked me these three times and haven't told me the secret of your great strength."
16When she bothered him every day with her words and pressured him, he became so distressed he felt like dying.
17He finally told her everything he felt, saying, "No razor has ever touched my head, because I've been dedicated to God as a Nazirite since birth. If my head is shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak, just like any other man."
18When Delilah realized he had told her his whole secret, she sent for the Philistine leaders, saying, "Come up one more time, for he has told me everything." So the Philistine leaders came to her, bringing the money with them.
19She made him sleep on her lap. Then she called for a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and she began to weaken him, and his strength left him.
20She said, "The Philistines are coming for you, Samson!" He woke up and thought, "I will go out like before and shake myself free." But he didn't know that Yahweh had left him.
21The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, making him grind grain in the prison.
22However, after he was shaved, the hair on his head began to grow back.
23The Philistine leaders gathered to offer a great sacrifice and celebrate their god Dagon, because they said, "Our god has handed over Samson, our enemy, to us."
24When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, "Our god has delivered our enemy and destroyer of our land, who killed so many of us, into our hands."
25When they were in good spirits, they said, "Call for Samson so he can entertain us." They brought Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. They placed him between the pillars.
26And Samson said to the boy who was leading him, "Let me feel the pillars that support the temple, so I can lean on them."
27Now the temple was full of men and women, and all the Philistine leaders were there. On the roof were about three thousand men and women, watching Samson perform.
28Samson called out to Yahweh, saying, "Lord Yahweh, please remember me and strengthen me just this one time, God, so I can get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."
29Samson then grasped the two central pillars that supported the temple, leaning on one with his right hand and the other with his left.
30Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" He pushed with all his might, and the temple collapsed on the leaders and all the people inside. So, the people he killed in his death were more than those he killed during his life.
31Then his brothers and all his father's family came down, took him, brought him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah, his father. He had judged Israel for twenty years.