Philistine: A member of a non-Semitic people occurring in the southern coast of Palestine in biblical times, who came into conflict with the Israelites during the 12th and 11th centuries BC (Oxford English Dictionary, online).
Samson and Delilah
16 One
day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in
to spend the night with her. 2 The people of Gaza
were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for
him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night,
saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”
3 But
Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took
hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them
loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top
of the hill that faces Hebron.
4 Some
time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name
was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the
Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into
showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him
so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven
hundred shekels of
silver.”
6 So
Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how
you can be tied up and subdued.”
7 Samson
answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been
dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
8 Then
the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not
been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With
men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are
upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string
snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not
discovered.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of
me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”
11 He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new
ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them.
Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines
are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were
threads.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have
been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”
He
replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom
and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he
was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the
fabric 14 and[ tightened it with the pin.
Again
she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from
his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love
you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have
made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day
after day until he was sick to death of it.
17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever
been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated
to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave
me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she
sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told
me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in
their hands. 19 After
putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven
braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.[c] And
his strength left him.
20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon
you!”
He
awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself
free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his
eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles,
they set him to grinding grain in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow
again after it had been shaved.
The Death of Samson
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer
a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god
has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”
24 When the people saw him, they praised their
god, saying,
“Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain.”
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted,
“Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison,
and he performed for them.
When
they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his
hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I
may lean against them.” 27 Now
the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines
were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women
watching Samson perform. 28 Then
Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me
with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central
pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand
on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson
said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and
down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed
many more when he died than while he lived.
31 Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went
down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol
in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led[ Israel twenty years.
Source:
The Bible, New International Version, online as provided by Biblica Inc.
See: The book of Judges, Chapter 16. For a fuller account, see Judges, Chapters
13-16.
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