Samson Escapes Gaza 1 CPDV He also went into Gaza. And there he saw a harlot woman, and he entered to her. BSB BSB: One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her.
2 CPDV And when the Philistines had heard of this, and it had become well known among them, that Samson had entered the city, they surrounded him, placing guards at the gate of the city. And there they were keeping watch all night in silence, so that, in the morning, they might kill him as he was going out. BSB BSB: When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”
3 CPDV But Samson slept until the middle of the night, and rising up from there, he took both doors from the gate, with their posts and bars. And laying them upon his shoulders, he carried them to the top of the hill that looks toward Hebron. BSB BSB: But Samson lay there only until midnight, when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and both gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. Then he put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.
Samson and Delilah 4 CPDV After these things, he loved a woman who was living in the valley of Sorek. And she was called Delilah. BSB BSB: Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
5 CPDV And the leaders of the Philistines went to her, and they said: “Deceive him, and learn from him wherein lies his great strength, and how we may be able to overcome him and to impose restraints on him. And if you will do this, each one of us will give you one thousand one hundred silver coins.” BSB BSB: The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
6 CPDV Therefore, Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, I beg you, wherein lies your very great strength, and with what might you be bound, so that you could not break free?” BSB BSB: So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 CPDV And Samson answered her, “If I will be bound with seven cords, made of sinews not yet dry, but still damp, I will be weak like other men.” BSB BSB: Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.”
8 CPDV And the princes of the Philistines brought to her seven cords, such as he had described. And she bound him with these. BSB BSB: So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them.
9 CPDV And so, those hiding in ambush with her, in the bedroom, were expecting the end of the matter. And she cried out to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he broke the cords, as one would break a thread of flax, twisted for cutting and singed by fire. And so it was not known wherein lay his strength. BSB BSB: While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn seared by a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown.
10 CPDV And Delilah said to him: “Behold, you have mocked me, and you have spoken a falsehood. But at least now, tell me with what you may be bound.” BSB BSB: Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me! Now please tell me how you can be tied up.”
11 CPDV And he answered her, “If I will be bound with new cords, which have never been used, I will be weak and like other men.” BSB BSB: He replied, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become as weak as any other man.”
12 CPDV Again, Delilah tied him with these, and she cried out, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” For an ambush had been prepared in the bedroom. But he broke the bindings like the filaments of a web. BSB BSB: So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like they were threads.
13 CPDV And Delilah spoke to him again: “How long will you deceive me and tell me falsehoods? Reveal with what you ought to be bound.” And Samson responded to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with a loom, and if you tie these around a spike and fix it to the ground, I will be weak.” BSB BSB: Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man.”
14 CPDV And when Delilah had done this, she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson.” And arising from sleep, he withdrew the spike with the hairs and the weaving. BSB BSB: So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. Then she tightened it with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web.
Delilah Learns the Secret 15 CPDV And Delilah said to him: “How can you say that you love me, when your soul is not with me? You have lied to me on three occasions, and you are not willing to reveal wherein lies your very great strength.” BSB BSB: “How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”
16 CPDV And when she had been very troublesome to him, and over many days had continually stayed nearby, giving him no time to rest, his soul was faint, and he was weary, even unto death. BSB BSB: Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death,
17 CPDV Then disclosing the truth of the matter, he said to her: “Iron has never been drawn across my head, for I am a Nazirite, that is, I have been consecrated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head will be shaven, my strength will depart from me, and I will be faint and will be like other men.” BSB BSB: Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.”
18 CPDV Then, seeing that he had confessed to her his whole soul, she sent to the leaders of the Philistines and ordered: “Come up just once more. For now he has opened his heart to me.” And they went up, taking with them the money that they had promised. BSB BSB: When Delilah realized that he had revealed to her all that was in his heart, she sent this message to the lords of the Philistines: “Come up once more, for he has revealed to me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came to her, bringing the money in their hands.
19 CPDV But she made him sleep upon her knees, and recline his head upon her bosom. And she called a barber, and he shaved his seven locks of hair. And she began to push him away, and to repel him from herself. For immediately his strength departed from him. BSB BSB: And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him.
20 CPDV And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And awaking from sleep, he said in his mind, “I will break away and shake myself free, just as I did before.” For he did not know that the Lord had withdrawn from him. BSB BSB: Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
21 CPDV And when the Philistines had seized him, they immediately plucked out his eyes. And they led him, bound in chains, to Gaza. And enclosing him in a prison, they made him work a millstone. BSB BSB: Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.
22 CPDV And now his hair began to grow back. BSB BSB: However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.
Samson’s Vengeance and Death 23 CPDV And the leaders of the Philistines convened as one, so that they might offer great sacrifices to Dagon, their god. And they feasted, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy, Samson, into our hands.” BSB BSB: Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.”
24 CPDV Then, too, the people, seeing this, praised their god, and they said the same, “Our god has delivered our adversary into our hands: the one who destroyed our land and who killed very many.” BSB BSB: And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy who destroyed our land and multiplied our dead.”
25 CPDV And rejoicing in their celebration, having now taken food, they instructed that Samson be called, and that he be mocked before them. And having been brought from prison, he was mocked before them. And they caused him to stand between two pillars. BSB BSB: And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
26 CPDV And he said to the boy who was guiding his steps, “Permit me to touch the pillars, which support the entire house, and to lean against them, so that I may rest a little.” BSB BSB: Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.”
27 CPDV Now the house was full of men and women. And all the leaders of the Philistines were there, as well as about three thousand persons, of both sexes, on the roof and in the upper level of the house, who were watching Samson being mocked. BSB BSB: Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.
28 CPDV Then, calling upon the Lord, he said, “O Lord God remember me, and restore to me now my former strength, O my God, so that I may avenge myself against my enemies, and so that I may receive one vengeance for the deprivation of my two eyes.” BSB BSB: Then Samson called out to the LORD: “O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”
29 CPDV And taking hold of both the pillars, on which the house rested, and holding one with his right hand and the other with his left, BSB BSB: And Samson reached out for the two central pillars supporting the temple. Bracing himself against them with his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other,
30 CPDV he said, “May my life die with the Philistines.” And when he had shaken the pillars strongly, the house fell upon all the leaders, and the rest of the multitude who were there. And he killed many more in his death than he had killed before in his life. BSB BSB: Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.
31 CPDV Then his brothers and all his relatives, going down, took his body, and they buried it between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the burying place of his father, Manoah. And he judged Israel for twenty years. BSB BSB: Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.