Day 95, 4 Apr 2024

1) Judges 16, Judges 17, Judges 18

JUDGES 16

Samson and Delilah
1 (Jos 15:47) Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute
and spent the night with her.
2 (1Sa 23:26; Ps 118:10-12) The people of Gaza were told,
"Samson has come here!" So they surrounded him and laid in wait
for him all night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, thinking,
"In the morning light we will kill him."
3 Samson lay until midnight, then at midnight he got up.
He grabbed the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts
and pulled them out along with the bar. He put them on his shoulder
and brought them to the top of the mountain near Hebron.
4 After this Samson loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek,
whose name was Delilah.
5 (Jos 13:3; Jdg 14:15) The Philistine rulers came up to her and said,
"Trick him! Find out about how his strength is so great
and how we can overcome him, bind him, and humiliate him.
Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver coins."
[About 28 pounds, or 13 kilograms.]
6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me how your strength is so great
and how you could be bound in order to be subdued."
7 Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that
have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like an ordinary man."
8 So the Philistine rulers brought her seven fresh bowstrings
that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
9 They lay in wait in her inner room. She said to him,
"The Philistines are upon you, Samson." Then he split apart the bowstrings
like a single thread is split apart at the touch of fire.
So the source of his strength did not become known.
10 (Jdg 16:13) Delilah said to Samson, "You have deceived me.
You have told me lies. Now, please tell me how you can be bound."
11 He said to her, "If they bind me with new ropes that have never
been used, then I will become weak and be like an ordinary man."
12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them.
Then she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson."
For men were lying in wait, remaining in the room.
But he split apart the ropes on his arms like a thread.
13 Delilah said to Samson, "Up to now you have deceived me.
You have told me lies. Tell how you can be bound."
He said to her, "If you weave seven locks of my hair into the fabric
on the loom and fasten it with the pin, then I will become weak
and be like an ordinary man."
14 So Delilah lulled him to sleep and wove seven locks of his hair
into the fabric on the loom. She fastened it with the pin and said to him,
"The Philistines are upon you, Samson." He awakened from his sleep
and tore away from the loom pin and the fabric.
15 (Jdg 14:16) 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 how your strength is so great."
16 Every day she nagged him with her words and pleaded with him
until he was tired to death.
17 (Jdg 13:5; Nu 6:5) So he told her all his secrets and said to her,
"No razor has touched my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God
from my mother's womb. If I were shaven, my strength would leave me,
and I would become weak and be like all other men."
18 (Jdg 16:5) Delilah saw that he had told her all his secrets,
so she sent for the Philistine rulers, saying, "Come up this time,
for he has told me all his secrets." So the Philistine rulers came up to her
and brought the money in their hands.
19 (Pr 7:26-27) Delilah lulled Samson to sleep on her knees
and called for a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair.
Then she began to humiliate him, and his strength left him.
20 (Jos 7:12; 1Sa 16:14) She said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson."
Then he awakened from his sleep and thought,
"I will go out as before and shake myself free of them."
He did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 (Ex 11:5; Isa 47:2) The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes.
They took him down to Gaza, bound him with bronze chains,
and he ground grain in prison.
22 Yet after it had been shaven, the hair on his head began to grow back.

Judges 16
[1] Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.
[2] And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they
compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city,
and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we
shall kill him.
[3] And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors
of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and
all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an
hill that is before Hebron.
[4] And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of
Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
[5] And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her,
Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we
may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will
give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
[6] And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great
strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
[7] And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that
were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
[8] Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs
which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
[9] Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And
she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the
withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his
strength was not known.
[10] And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me
lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.
[11] And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never
were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
[12] Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said
unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait
abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.
[13] And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me
lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If
thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.
[14] And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be
upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the
pin of the beam, and with the web.
[15] And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine
heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not
told me wherein thy great strength lieth.
[16] And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and
urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;
[17] That he told her all his heart, and said unto her. There hath not come
a rasor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's
womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become
weak, and be like any other man.
[18] And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and
called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he
hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto
her, and brought money in their hand.
[19] And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and
she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to
afflict him, and his strength went from him.
[20] And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of
his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake
myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.
[21] But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him
down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the
prison house.
[22] Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.

The Death of Samson

23 (1Sa 5:2-5) The Philistine rulers gathered to offer a great sacrifice
to Dagon their god and to celebrate.
They said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands."
24 (Da 5:4) The people saw him and praised their god, for they said,
"Our god has given into our hands
our enemy,
the one who ruined our land
and killed many of us."
25 (Jdg 9:27; 19:6) When their hearts were merry, they said,
"Call for Samson, so he can entertain us." So they called for Samson
from the prison, and he entertained them.
They placed him between the pillars.
26 Samson said to the young man who held his hand,
"Let me rest and touch the pillars on which the temple is set,
then I can lean against them."
27 (Dt 22:8; Jos 2:8) The temple was full of men and women,
and all the Philistine rulers were there. There were about 3000 men and women
on the roof watching Samson entertain.
28 (Jer 15:15) Samson called out to the Lord, "Lord God, remember me, I pray!
Please strengthen me just this once, God, so that I may get full revenge
on the Philistines for my two eyes!"
29 Then Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the temple was set
and leaned against them, one with his right hand and one with his left.
30 Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" He pushed with all
his strength, and the temple fell upon the rulers
and all the people who were in it.
At his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.
31 (Jdg 15:20; 13:2) Then his brothers and all his family came down,
carried him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol
in the grave of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel for twenty years.

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