Judges 16

¹And Samson went to Gazah, and saw there a harlot, and went in to her.

²[And it was told] the Gazathites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they surrounded [him], and laid wait for him all night at the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning light we will kill him.

³And Samson lay till midnight; and he arose at midnight, and seized the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and tore them up with the bar, and put [them] upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.

⁴And it came to pass afterwards that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

⁵And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Persuade him, and see in what his great strength is, and with what we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to overpower him; and we will each give thee eleven hundred silver-pieces.

⁶Then Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what is thy great strength, and with what thou mightest be bound to overpower thee.

⁷And Samson said to her, If they should bind me with seven fresh cords which have not been dried, then should I be weak, and be as another man.

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

⁹Now she had liers in wait abiding in the chamber; and she said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson! And he broke the cords, as a thread of tow is broken when it touches the fire; and his strength was not known.

¹⁰And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me and told me lies. Now tell me, I pray thee, with what thou mightest be bound.