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Samson went to Gaza ,
and there he saw a harlot ,
and he went in to her .
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The Gazites were told , "
Samson has come here ,"
and they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city .
They kept quiet all night ,
saying , "
Let us wait till the light of the morning ;
then we will kill him ."
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But Samson lay till midnight ,
and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts ,
and pulled them up ,
bar and all ,
and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is before Hebron .
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After this he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek ,
whose name was Deli '
lah .
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And the lords of the Philistines came to her and said to her , "
Entice him ,
and see wherein his great strength lies ,
and by what means we may overpower him ,
that we may bind him to subdue him ;
and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver ."
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And Deli '
lah said to Samson , "
Please tell me wherein your great strength lies ,
and how you might be bound ,
that one could subdue you ."
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And Samson said to her , "
If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings which have not been dried ,
then I shall become weak ,
and be like any other man ."
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Then the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings which had not been dried ,
and she bound him with them .
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Now she had men lying in wait in an inner chamber .
And she said to him , "
The Philistines are upon you ,
Samson !"
But he snapped the bowstrings ,
as a string of tow snaps when it touches the fire .
So the secret of his strength was not known .
*
And Deli '
lah said to Samson , "
Behold ,
you have mocked me ,
and told me lies ;
please tell me how you might be bound ."
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And he said to her , "
If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used ,
then I shall become weak ,
and be like any other man ."
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So Deli '
lah took new ropes and bound him with them ,
and said to him , "
The Philistines are upon you ,
Samson !"
And the men lying in wait were in an inner chamber .
But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread .
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And Deli '
lah said to Samson , "
Until now you have mocked me ,
and told me lies ;
tell me how you might be bound ."
And he said to her , "
If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and make it tight with the pin ,
then I shall become weak ,
and be like any other man ."
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So while he slept ,
Deli '
lah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web .
And she made them tight with the pin ,
and said to him , "
The Philistines are upon you ,
Samson !"
But he awoke from his sleep ,
and pulled away the pin ,
the loom ,
and the web .
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And she said to him , "
How can you say , `
I love you ,'
when your heart is not with me ?
You have mocked me these three times ,
and you have not told me wherein your great strength lies ."
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And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day ,
and urged him ,
his soul was vexed to death .
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And he told her all his mind ,
and said to her , "
A razor has never come upon my head ;
for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother '
s womb .
If I be shaved ,
then my strength will leave me ,
and I shall become weak ,
and be like any other man ."
*
When Deli '
lah saw that he had told her all his mind ,
she sent and called the lords of the Philistines ,
saying , "
Come up this once ,
for he has told me all his mind ."
Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her ,
and brought the money in their hands .
*
She made him sleep upon her knees ;
and she called a man ,
and had him shave off the seven locks of his head .
Then she began to torment him ,
and his strength left him .
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And she said , "
The Philistines are upon you ,
Samson !"
And he awoke from his sleep ,
and said , "
I will go out as at other times ,
and shake myself free ."
And he did not know that the LORD had left him .
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And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes ,
and brought him down to Gaza ,
and bound him with bronze fetters ;
and he ground at the mill in the prison .
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But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved .
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Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god ,
and to rejoice ;
for they said , "
Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand ."
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And when the people saw him ,
they praised their god ;
for they said , "
Our god has given our enemy into our hand ,
the ravager of our country ,
who has slain many of us ."
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And when their hearts were merry ,
they said , "
Call Samson ,
that he may make sport for us ."
So they called Samson out of the prison ,
and he made sport before them .
They made him stand between the pillars ;
*
and Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand , "
Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests ,
that I may lean against them ."
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Now the house was full of men and women ;
all the lords of the Philistines were there ,
and on the roof there were about three thousand men and women ,
who looked on while Samson made sport .
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Then Samson called to the LORD and said , "
O Lord GOD ,
remember me ,
I pray thee ,
and strengthen me ,
I pray thee ,
only this once ,
O God ,
that I may be avenged upon the Philistines for one of my two eyes ."
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And Samson grasped the two middle pillars upon which the house rested ,
and he leaned his weight upon them ,
his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other .
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And Samson said , "
Let me die with the Philistines ."
Then he bowed with all his might ;
and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were in it .
So the dead whom he slew at his death were more than those whom he had slain during his life .
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Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Esh '
ta-ol in the tomb of Mano '
ah his father .
He had judged Israel twenty years .
*
There was a man of the hill country of E '
phraim ,
whose name was Micah .
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And he said to his mother , "
The eleven hundred pieces of silver which were taken from you ,
about which you uttered a curse ,
and also spoke it in my ears ,
behold ,
the silver is with me ;
I took it ."
And his mother said , "
Blessed be my son by the LORD ."
*
And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother ;
and his mother said , "
I consecrate the silver to the LORD from my hand for my son ,
to make a graven image and a molten image ;
now therefore I will restore it to you ."
*
So when he restored the money to his mother ,
his mother took two hundred pieces of silver ,
and gave it to the silversmith ,
who made it into a graven image and a molten image ;
and it was in the house of Micah .
*
And the man Micah had a shrine ,
and he made an ephod and teraphim ,
and installed one of his sons ,
who became his priest .
*
In those days there was no king in Israel ;
every man did what was right in his own eyes .
*
Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah ,
of the family of Judah ,
who was a Levite ;
and he sojourned there .
*
And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah ,
to live where he could find a place ;
and as he journeyed ,
he came to the hill country of E '
phraim to the house of Micah .
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And Micah said to him , "
From where do you come ?"
And he said to him , "
I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah ,
and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place ."
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And Micah said to him , "
Stay with me ,
and be to me a father and a priest ,
and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year ,
and a suit of apparel ,
and your living ."
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And the Levite was content to dwell with the man ;
and the young man became to him like one of his sons .
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And Micah installed the Levite ,
and the young man became his priest ,
and was in the house of Micah .
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Then Micah said , "
Now I know that the LORD will prosper me ,
because I have a Levite as priest ."
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In those days there was no king in Israel .
And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in ;
for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them .
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So the Danites sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe ,
from Zorah and from Esh '
ta-ol ,
to spy out the land and to explore it ;
and they said to them , "
Go and explore the land ."
And they came to the hill country of E '
phraim ,
to the house of Micah ,
and lodged there .
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When they were by the house of Micah ,
they recognized the voice of the young Levite ;
and they turned aside and said to him , "
Who brought you here ?
What are you doing in this place ?
What is your business here ?"
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And he said to them , "
Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me :
he has hired me ,
and I have become his priest ."
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And they said to him , "
Inquire of God ,
we pray thee ,
that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed ."
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And the priest said to them , "
Go in peace .
The journey on which you go is under the eye of the LORD ."
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Then the five men departed ,
and came to La '
ish ,
and saw the people who were there ,
how they dwelt in security ,
after the manner of the Sido '
nians ,
quiet and unsuspecting ,
lacking nothing that is in the earth ,
and possessing wealth ,
and how they were far from the Sido '
nians and had no dealings with any one .
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And when they came to their brethren at Zorah and Esh '
ta-ol ,
their brethren said to them , "
What do you report ?"
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They said , "
Arise ,
and let us go up against them ;
for we have seen the land ,
and behold ,
it is very fertile .
And will you do nothing ?
Do not be slow to go ,
and enter in and possess the land .
*
When you go ,
you will come to an unsuspecting people .
The land is broad ;
yea ,
God has given it into your hands ,
a place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth ."
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And six hundred men of the tribe of Dan ,
armed with weapons of war ,
set forth from Zorah and Esh '
ta-ol ,
*
and went up and encamped at Kir '
iath-je '
arim in Judah .
On this account that place is called Ma '
haneh-dan to this day ;
behold ,
it is west of Kir '
iath-je '
arim .
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And they passed on from there to the hill country of E '
phraim ,
and came to the house of Micah .
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Then the five men who had gone to spy out the country of La '
ish said to their brethren , "
Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod ,
teraphim ,
a graven image ,
and a molten image ?
Now therefore consider what you will do ."
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And they turned aside thither ,
and came to the house of the young Levite ,
at the home of Micah ,
and asked him of his welfare .
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Now the six hundred men of the Danites ,
armed with their weapons of war ,
stood by the entrance of the gate ;
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and the five men who had gone to spy out the land went up ,
and entered and took the graven image ,
the ephod ,
the teraphim ,
and the molten image ,
while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war .
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And when these went into Micah '
s house and took the graven image ,
the ephod ,
the teraphim ,
and the molten image ,
the priest said to them , "
What are you doing ?"
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And they said to him , "
Keep quiet ,
put your hand upon your mouth ,
and come with us ,
and be to us a father and a priest .
Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man ,
or to be priest to a tribe and family in Israel ?"
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And the priest '
s heart was glad ;
he took the ephod ,
and the teraphim ,
and the graven image ,
and went in the midst of the people .
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So they turned and departed ,
putting the little ones and the cattle and the goods in front of them .
*
When they were a good way from the home of Micah ,
the men who were in the houses near Micah '
s house were called out ,
and they overtook the Danites .
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And they shouted to the Danites ,
who turned round and said to Micah , "
What ails you that you come with such a company ?"
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And he said , "
You take my gods which I made ,
and the priest ,
and go away ,
and what have I left ?
How then do you ask me , `
What ails you ?'"
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And the Danites said to him , "
Do not let your voice be heard among us ,
lest angry fellows fall upon you ,
and you lose your life with the lives of your household ."
*
Then the Danites went their way ;
and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him ,
he turned and went back to his home .
*
And taking what Micah had made ,
and the priest who belonged to him ,
the Danites came to La '
ish ,
to a people quiet and unsuspecting ,
and smote them with the edge of the sword ,
and burned the city with fire .
*
And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon ,
and they had no dealings with any one .
It was in the valley which belongs to Beth-rehob .
And they rebuilt the city ,
and dwelt in it .
*
And they named the city Dan ,
after the name of Dan their ancestor ,
who was born to Israel ;
but the name of the city was La '
ish at the first .
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And the Danites set up the graven image for themselves ;
and Jonathan the son of Gershom ,
son of Moses ,
and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land .
*
So they set up Micah '
s graven image which he made ,
as long as the house of God was at Shiloh .
*
In those days ,
when there was no king in Israel ,
a certain Levite was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of E '
phraim ,
who took to himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah .