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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Judges 16 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/judges/16.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/judges/16-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > Judges 16</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/15.htm" title="Judges 15">◄</a> Judges 16 <a href="../judges/17.htm" title="Judges 17">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/judges/16.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Samson and Delilah</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush 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.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>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 in front of Hebron.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>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.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Then Delilah 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 fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web.<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Compare Septuagint; Hebrew lacks and fasten it tight... into the web">a</a></sup></span> 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.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>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 where your great strength lies.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>And he told her all his heart, 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 my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>She made him sleep on 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>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.” But he did not know that the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> had left him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.</p> <p class="heading">The Death of Samson</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>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 killed many of us.”<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or who has multiplied our slain">b</a></sup></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>Then Samson called to the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> and said, “O Lord <span class="divine-name">God</span>, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/16-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">14</span> Compare Septuagint; Hebrew lacks <i class="catch-word">and fasten it tight... into the web</i><br /><span class="footnotesbot">b</span> <span class="fnverse">24</span> Or <i>who has multiplied our slain</i><br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. 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