1And Samson went to Gaza, and he saw there a whore-woman and came to bed with her. 2And it was told to the Gazites saying, “Samson has come here.” And they lay in ambush for him all night long at the town gate, and they plotted together all night long, saying, “At morning’s light, we shall kill him.” 3And Samson lay till midnight, and he arose at midnight and seized the doors of the town’s gate and the two doorposts and pulled them free with the bolt and put them on his shoulders and took them up to the top of the mountain that faces Hebron.
4And it happened afterward that he loved a woman in Nahal Sorek, and her name was Delilah. 5And the Philistine overlords went up to her and said to her, “Entice him and see in what his great power lies and with what we can prevail against him and bind him to torture him. As for us, each of us will give you eleven hundred silver shekels.” 6And Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, pray, in what your great power lies, and with what could you be bound to be tortured?” 7And Samson said, “If they were to bind me with seven moist thongs that had not been dried out, I would be weakened and become like any man.” 8And the Philistine overlords brought up to her seven moist thongs that had not been dried out, and she bound him with them. 9And the ambush was laid in her chamber. And she said to him, “Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he snapped the cords as the wick of tow snaps when it touches fire, and the secret of his power was not known. 10And Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and spoken lies to me. Now, tell me, pray, with what could you be bound?” 11And he said to her, “If they make sure to bind me with new ropes with which no task has been done, I would be weakened and become like any man.” 12And Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and she said to him, “Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the ambush was laid in the chamber. And he snapped them from his arms like a thread. 13And Delilah said, “Until now you have mocked me and spoken lies to me. Tell me, with what could you be bound?” And he said to her, “If you weave my head’s seven tresses together with the web and drive them with a peg into the wall, I would be weakened and become like any man.” 14And she drove them with a peg into the wall, and she said to him, “Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and pulled free the peg and the loom and the web. 15And she said to him, “You only say ‘I love you,’ but your heart is not with me. Three times now you have mocked me and have not told me in what lies your great power.” 16And it happened when she badgered him with her words day after day and beleaguered him, that he was vexed unto the death. 17And he told her all that was in his heart, and he said, “No razor has touched my head, for I have been a nazirite of God from my mother’s womb. Were I shaven, my power would turn away from me and I would be weakened and become like any man.” 18And Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, and she sent and called the Philistine overlords, saying, “Come up, for he has told me all that is in his heart.” And the Philistine overlords came up to her and brought the silver in their hand. 19And she put him to sleep on her knees and called the man and shaved his head’s seven tresses, and she began to torture him, and his power turned away from him. 20And she said, “Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as all the other times and shake myself loose,” but he did not know that the LORD had turned away from him. 21And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. And they brought him down to Gaza and bound him in fetters, and he was put to grinding in the prison. 22And the hair of his head began to grow as soon as it was shaven. 23And the Philistine overlords had gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, and they said, “Our god has given into our hand Samson our enemy.” 24And the people saw him and praised their god, for they said, “Our god has given into our hand our enemy, the destroyer of our land, him who brought down many victims among us.” 25And it happened when they were merry that they said, “Call Samson, that he may play for us.” And they called Samson from the prison, and he played before them, and they set him between the pillars. 26And Samson said to the lad who was holding his hand, “Let me rest and feel the pillars on which the temple stands, that I may lean on them.” 27And the temple was filled with men and women, and all the Philistine overlords were there, and on the roof about three thousand men and women watching as Samson played. 28And Samson called to the LORD and said “My Master, LORD, recall me, pray, and strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may avenge myself in one act of vengeance from the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29And Samson grasped the two central pillars on which the temple stood and pushed against them, one with his right hand and one with his left hand. 30And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!,” and he pushed powerfully, and the temple fell on the overlords and on all the people who were in it. And the dead that he killed in his death were more than he had killed in his life. 31And his kinsmen and all his father’s household came down and bore him off and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the grave of Manoah his father. And he had led Israel twenty years.
CHAPTER 16 NOTES
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1. he saw there a whore-woman. This is a precise verbal echo of his first encounter with a Philistine woman, only the professional designation “whore” being added. There is a certain parallel with the story of the two spies who came to Jericho to Rahab the whore, but Samson comes only for his own pleasure, avails himself of the woman’s services, and does not have to hide or flee because he can rely on his strength.
2. And it was told. Those words are added from the Septuagint.
3. seized the doors of the town’s gate. In this provocative act, he not only asserts his invulnerability but also leaves the town exposed.
4. he loved a woman in Nahal Sorek. In this climactic episode in the series of three women with whom Samson is involved, we are told that he actually loves the woman, and of the three, only Delilah is given a name. Nahal Sorek (Wadi of the Vine) is in Israelite territory, and Delilah may well be an Israelite woman.
5. the Philistine overlords. The term seranim always appears in the plural and is the title of the rulers of the five towns that make up the Philistine pentapolis. Many scholars think it is cognate with the Greek tyrranos. The fact that the overlords themselves should come to make the appeal to Delilah reflects the importance they attach to the capture of this deadly Israelite adversary.
bind him to torture him. They are frank about their brutal intentions toward Samson: instead of killing him on the spot, they want him rendered helpless so that they can torment and abuse this despised enemy who has wreaked such havoc among them.
eleven hundred silver shekels. This is a vast sum—5500 shekels all told—and so more than enough to appeal to her mercenary impulses.
6. with what could you be bound to be tortured. In repeating the words of the overlords, Delilah does not hesitate to speak openly of torture. Presumably, she is putting this to Samson as a merely hypothetical condition, although the talk of binding and torture also makes this sound like a perverse sex game they are playing.
7. moist thongs. These are either animal tendons or cords plaited from leather—in either case, still moist so that they are very hard to tear apart.
9. when it touches fire. The fire motif returns in the simile.
12. Delilah took new ropes. Here the aid of the Philistine overlords is not mentioned, though it may be implied.
13. If you weave my head’s seven tresses together with the web. Only now do we learn how Samson wears his uncut hair (and one should note the magical number seven). In the third of his three false explanations, he edges toward the real secret because his hair is involved. This version also comes close to his actual predicament because it conjures up entanglement in a woman’s instrument, the loom.
and drive them with a peg into the wall, I would be weakened and become like any man. Both these clauses are absent in the Masoretic Text, which is manifestly incomplete here, but they appear in the Septuagint, in the Targum Yonatan, and in the Peshitta.
14. And she drove them with a peg into the wall. “Into the wall” is supplied from the Septuagint. The driving of the peg recalls Jael and Sisera, but in this instance the woman’s deadly intent is not realized.
15. You only say “I love you.” She uses the same feminine argument as Samson’s first wife.
Three times now. The folktale pattern of three times—in this case, three times with a fourth time that swerves to a new outcome—is made an object of deliberate attention. The story as a whole is organized around threes—three women, and the multiples of three killed by Samson.
17. all that was in his heart. Literally, “all his heart.”
19. she put him to sleep on her knees. This is, of course, necessary so that his hair can be cut, but it is also a powerful image of the seductive woman lulling the mighty hero and reducing him to a baby in her lap.
called the man and shaved his head’s seven tresses. The verb “shaved” is conjugated in the feminine. Some emend it to a masculine form; others claim, with little philological warrant, that it means “caused him to be shaved.” It makes more sense to assume that Delilah, who can’t very well move with Samson asleep on her knees, calls the man to bring her a razor so that she can then shave Samson’s head. Her performance of the act herself is thematically and psychologically apt: the seductress cuts away the source of Samson’s potency.
she began to torture him. She is the very first to torment him in an appropriately sadistic move.
20. as all the other times. The times motif recurs here (the Hebrew, kefaʿam befaʿam, doubles the word “time”).
21. gouged out his eyes. A Freudian would see an upward displacement of castration in this act, but it should be noted that these were the eyes that saw the women who led to all the trouble. Gouging out the eyes was also a punishment for a rebellious vassal (compare the blinding of Zedekiah by the Babylonians, 2 Kings 25:7).
25. that he may play for us. The playing might be dancing or, more likely, blindly stumbling about, while the audience laughs (the same Hebrew verb as “play”).
26. Let me rest. This might also be construed to mean “lead me.”
27. all the Philistine overlords were there. So that Samson’s vengeance may be complete, the rulers of the five Philistine towns, the very men who plotted his blinding and captivity, are present.
on the roof about three thousand men and women. Again, we have a multiple of three. It is clearly implied that there are many more people in the main space of the temple.
28. just this time. At the penultimate moment of the story, the thematically fraught word pa‘am, “time,” appears again. It shows, pointedly, the same root as the verb “drive” or “pound” in 13:25 that marks the beginning of Samson’s narrative.
that I may avenge myself in one act of vengeance from the Philistines. It is true that Samson in his last moment turns in prayer to God—perhaps feeling that his great strength has returned but not being quite sure and in any case recognizing that its ultimate source is God. But even now, his motive is personal vengeance: one sees why the messenger of the LORD prophesied that Samson would no more than “begin” to rescue Israel from the Philistines.
30. And the dead that he killed in his death were more than he had killed in his life. Samson’s career as an Israelite champion ends in an act of wholesale destruction in which he, too, dies, like fire that consumes everything in its path and eventually itself as well.