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b'JUDGES 16\\n\\nOne 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, \\u201cSamson is here!\\u201d 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, \\u201cAt dawn we\\u2019ll kill him.\\u201d \\n3 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.\\n4 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, \\u201cSee 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.\\u201d \\n6 So Delilah said to Samson, \\u201cTell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.\\u201d \\n7 Samson answered her, \\u201cIf anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I\\u2019ll become as weak as any other man.\\u201d \\n8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, \\u201cSamson, the Philistines are upon you!\\u201d But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered. \\n10 Then Delilah said to Samson, \\u201cYou have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.\\u201d \\n11 He said, \\u201cIf anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I\\u2019ll become as weak as any other man.\\u201d \\n12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, \\u201cSamson, the Philistines are upon you!\\u201d But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads. \\n13 Delilah then said to Samson, \\u201cUntil now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.\\u201d\\nHe replied, \\u201cIf you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I\\u2019ll become as weak as any other man.\\u201d 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. \\nAgain she called to him, \\u201cSamson, the Philistines are upon you!\\u201d He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.\\n15 Then she said to him, \\u201cHow can you say, \\u2018I love you,\\u2019 when you won\\u2019t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven\\u2019t told me the secret of your great strength.\\u201d 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. \\n17 So he told her everything. \\u201cNo razor has ever been used on my head,\\u201d he said, \\u201cbecause I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.\\u201d \\n18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, \\u201cCome back once more; he has told me everything.\\u201d So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. \\n20 Then she called, \\u201cSamson, the Philistines are upon you!\\u201d \\nHe awoke from his sleep and thought, \\u201cI\\u2019ll go out as before and shake myself free.\\u201d But he did not know that the Lord had left him. \\n21 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 in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.\\nThe Death of Samson\\n23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, \\u201cOur god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.\\u201d \\n24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, \\u201cOur god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain.\\u201d 25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, \\u201cBring out Samson to entertain us.\\u201d So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. \\nWhen they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, \\u201cPut me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.\\u201d \\n27 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, \\u201cO Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.\\u201d 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, \\u201cLet me die with the Philistines!\\u201d 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\\u2019s 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.'