Judges:16:1-22

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* And Samson went to Gazah , and saw there a harlot , and went in to her . * [And it was told ] the Gazathites , saying , Samson is come hither . And they surrounded [him ], and laid wait for him all night at the gate of the city , and were quiet all the night , saying , In the morning light we will kill him . * And Samson lay till midnight ; and he arose at midnight , and seized the doors of the gate of the city , and the two posts , and tore them up with the bar , and put [them ] upon his shoulders , and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron . * And it came to pass afterwards that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek , whose name was Delilah . * And the lords of the Philistines came up to her , and said to her , Persuade him , and see in what his great strength is , and with what we may prevail against him , that we may bind him to overpower him ; and we will each give thee eleven hundred silver-pieces . * Then Delilah said to Samson , Tell me , I pray thee , in what is thy great strength , and with what thou mightest be bound to overpower thee . * And Samson said to her , If they should bind me with seven fresh cords which have not been dried , then should I be weak , and be as another man . * Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords which had not been dried , and she bound him with them . * Now she had liers in wait abiding in the chamber ; and she said to him , The Philistines are upon thee , Samson ! And he broke the cords , as a thread of tow is broken when it touches the fire ; and his strength was not known . * And Delilah said to Samson , Behold , thou hast mocked me and told me lies . Now tell me , I pray thee , with what thou mightest be bound . * And he said to her , If they should bind me fast with new ropes , with which no work has been done , then should I be weak , and be as another man . * And Delilah took new ropes , and bound him with them , and said to him , The Philistines are upon thee , Samson ! Now there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber . And he broke them from off his arms like a thread . * And Delilah said to Samson , Hitherto thou hast mocked me and told me lies . Tell me with what thou mightest be bound . And he said to her , If thou shouldest weave the seven locks of my head with the web . * And she fastened it with the pin , and said to him , The Philistines are upon thee , Samson ! And he awoke out of his sleep , and tore out the pin of the beam , and the web . * Then she said to him , How canst thou say , I love thee , when thy heart is not with me ? these three times hast thou mocked me , and hast not told me in what is thy great strength . * And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him , that his soul was vexed unto death ; * and he told her all his heart , and said to her , There has not come a razor upon my head ; for I am a Nazarite of God from my mother 's womb ; if I should be shaven , then my strength would go from me , and I should be weak , and be like all mankind . * And Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart , and she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines , saying , Come up this time , for he has told me all his heart . And the lords of the Philistines came up to her , and brought the money in their hand . * And she made him sleep upon her knees , and called a man , and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head ; and she began to overpower him , and his strength went from him . * And she said , The Philistines are upon thee , Samson ! And he awoke out of his sleep , and thought , I will go out as at other times before , and disengage myself . And he knew not that Jehovah had departed from him . * And the Philistines seized him , and put out his eyes , and brought him down to Gazah , and bound him with fetters of bronze ; and he had to grind in the prison-house . * But the hair of his head began to grow after he was shaved .

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