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Judges 16 :: New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB95)

Samson's Weakness

Jdg 16:1

Jdg 16:1Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.

Jdg 16:2

Jdg 16:2When it was told 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 us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him.”

Jdg 16:3

Jdg 16:3Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron.

Jdg 16:4

Jdg 16:4After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

Jdg 16:5

Jdg 16:5The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and [fn]how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

Jdg 16:6

Jdg 16:6So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength is and [fn]how you may be bound to afflict you.”

Jdg 16:7

Jdg 16:7Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Jdg 16:8

Jdg 16:8Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

Jdg 16:9

Jdg 16:9Now she had men lying in wait in an inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the cords as a string of tow snaps when it [fn]touches fire. So his strength was not discovered.

Jdg 16:10

Jdg 16:10Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have deceived me and told me lies; now please tell me [fn]how you may be bound.”

Jdg 16:11

Jdg 16:11He said to her, “If they bind me tightly with new ropes [fn]which have not been used, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Jdg 16:12

Jdg 16:12So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” For the men were lying in wait in the inner room. But he snapped [fn]the ropes from his arms like a thread.

Jdg 16:13

Jdg 16:13Then Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies; tell me [fn]how you may be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my [fn]hair with the web [fn][and fasten it with a pin, then I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Jdg 16:14

Jdg 16:14So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his [fn]hair and wove them into the web]. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.

Delilah Extracts His Secret

Jdg 16:15

Jdg 16:15Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.”

Jdg 16:16

Jdg 16:16It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was [fn]annoyed to death.

Jdg 16:17

Jdg 16:17So 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.”

Jdg 16:18

Jdg 16:18When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands.

Jdg 16:19

Jdg 16:19She made him sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his [fn]hair. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him.

Jdg 16:20

Jdg 16:20She 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 LORD had departed from him.

Jdg 16:21

Jdg 16:21Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.

Jdg 16:22

Jdg 16:22However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.

Jdg 16:23

Jdg 16:23Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said,
“Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.”

Jdg 16:24

Jdg 16:24When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said,
“Our god has given our enemy into our hands,
Even the destroyer of our country,
Who has slain many of us.”

Jdg 16:25

Jdg 16:25It so happened when [fn]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 [fn]entertained them. And they made him stand between the pillars.

Jdg 16:26

Jdg 16:26Then Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.”

Jdg 16:27

Jdg 16:27Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And about 3,000 men and women were on the roof looking on while Samson was amusing them.

Samson Is Avenged

Jdg 16:28

Jdg 16:28Then Samson called to the LORD and said, “O Lord [fn]GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Jdg 16:29

Jdg 16:29Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and braced himself against them, the one with his right hand and the other with his left.

Jdg 16:30

Jdg 16:30And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he bent with [fn]all his might so that the house fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed in his life.

Jdg 16:31

Jdg 16:31Then his brothers and all his father’s household came down, took him, brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. Thus he had judged Israel twenty years.
See the NASB95 Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NASB95 Footnotes
Literally: by what
Literally: by what
Literally: smells
Literally: by what
Literally: with which work has not been done
Literally: them
Literally: by what
Literally: head
The passage in brackets is found in Gr but not in any Heb mss
Literally: head
Literally: impatient to the point of
Literally: head
Literally: their heart was pleasant
Literally: made sport before them
Hebrew: YHWH, usually rendered LORD
Literally: strength
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New American Standard Bible 1995
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by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.
All rights reserved
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For Permission To Quote visit http://www.lockman.org

For more information on this translation, see the NASB95 Preface.

Judges Chapter 16 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

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