Samson Tells His Secret

Samson Tells His Secret

 

Samson loved a woman whose name was Delilah.
 The leaders of the Philistines came to her
 and said: "Coax him and learn what gives him his great strength,
 and by what means we may triumph over him, so that we may bind him and humble him.
 For this we will give you, each of us, eleven hundred pieces of silver."

So Delilah said to Samson: "Tell me, I beg you, what gives you your great strength,
 and how you could be bound to be made helpless."

"If anyone bound me with seven green willow stems that had never been dried,
 I should be as weak as any other man," Samson said to her.

Then the leaders of the Philistines brought to her seven green willow stems which had not been dried,and she bound him with them.
Now there were men lying in wait, waiting with her in the room.
And she said to Samson: "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!"

But Samson broke the stems as a strand of hemp is broken when it touches the fire.
So the secret of his strength was not known.
Delilah said to Samson: "See, you have mocked me and told me lies.
 Now tell me, I beg you, with what could you be securely bound?"
And he said to her: "If they bind me fast with new ropes that have never been used,
 then I shall be as weak as any other man."
Delilah therefore took new ropes and bound him with them
 and said to him: "The Philistines are upon you,Samson!"
And again there were men lying in wait in the room.
 But Samson broke the ropes from his arms like a thread.
Delilah said again to Samson: "Up to now you have mocked me and told me lies.
 Tell me now with what you could really be bound."

And he said to her: "Weave the seven locks of my hair with the web of cloth on your loom."

She did so while he slept, and fastened it with the pin of the loom.
 Then she said to him: "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!"
But he waked out of his sleep and carried away the pin of the loom and the web of cloth.

SAMSON TELLS HIS SECRET

Then she said to him: "How can you say 'I love you' when you do not trust me in your heart?
Three times now you have mocked me
 and have not told me what the secret of your great strength is.'
She continued entreating him every day, and when she had urged him,
 so that his soul was vexed unto death, he told her all that was in his heart.

"A razar has never touched my head," he said to her, "for I have been consecrated to God,since before I was born.
 If I were shaved, my strength would go from me,
 and I would become weak and be like any other man."

When Delilah saw that he had told her the secret of his heart,
 she called again for the lords of the Philistines,
 saying: "Come up once more, for he has told me the secret of his heart."
Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, bringing the money in their hands.
Delilah made Samson go to sleep with his head on her knees.

Then she called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of Samson's hair.
 By that she humbled him, for his strength went from him.
Then she said: "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!"

He awoke from his sleep and said: "I will go out, as I did the other times, and shake myself."
 For he did not  that the power of the Lord was gone from him.

The Philistines quickly took him, and put out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza.
 There they bound him with fetters of brass and made him grind in the prison house.

 

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