Study Desk

So he came back and told his father and mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, get her for me as a wife."

But his father and his mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" Yet Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she is right for me."

However, his father and mother did not know that this was of the LORD, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. And at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

Then his father went down to the woman; and Samson held a feast there, for the young men customarily did this.

Then Samson said to them, "Let me now propose a riddle for you; if you actually tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty outfits of clothes.

However she wept before him for seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people.

So he judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

When it was reported to the Gazites, saying, "Samson has come here," they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, "Let's wait until the morning light, then we will kill him."

Now she had men prepared for an ambush in an inner room. And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he tore the tendons to pieces just like a thread of flax is torn apart when it comes too close to fire. So his strength was not discovered.

So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" For the men in the ambush were waiting in the inner room. But he tore the ropes from his arms like thread.

So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, "A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man."

When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent word and called the governors of the Philistines, saying, "Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart." Then the governors of the Philistines came up to her and brought up the money in their hands.

And she made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to humble him, and his strength left him.

Now the governors of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to celebrate, for they said, "Our god has handed Samson our enemy over to us."

When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, "Our god has handed our enemy over to us, Even the destroyer of our country, Who has killed many of us."

It so happened when they were in high spirits, that they said, "Call for Samson, that he may amuse us." So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars.

Then Samson called to the LORD and said, "Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes."

Then his brothers and all his father's household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. So he had judged Israel for twenty years.

He then returned the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, "I wholly consecrate the silver from my hand to the LORD for my son to make a carved image and a cast metal image; so now I will return them to you."

In those days there was no king of Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking an inheritance for themselves to live in, for until that day an inheritance had not been allotted to them as a possession among the tribes of Israel.