Chronological
Chapter 16
Samson at Gaza. 1 One day Samson went to Gaza. He saw a prostitute there, and he had sex with her. 2 The people in Gaza were told, “Samson is here.” They surrounded the place where he was staying, and they lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, saying, “In the morning we will kill him.” 3 Samson lay there until midnight, and then at midnight he got up and took hold of the city gates with its two posts. He lifted up the gates, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
Samson and Delilah. 4 Sometime later he fell in love with a woman who lived in the Valley of Sorek. Her name was Delilah. 5 The lords of the Philistines visited her and said, “Entice him and see if you can find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him and tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
6 Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you could be tied up and subdued.” 7 Samson answered her, “If anyone were to tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have never been dried, then I would become as weak as everyone else.” 8 The lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. 9 There were some men hiding in the room when she cried out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you.” He broke the thongs like a piece of string that snaps when it is close to a flame. Thus, the secret of his strength was not known.
10 Delilah then said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me. Please, tell me now how you could be tied up.” 11 He answered, “If anyone were to bind me with new ropes that had never been used, then I would become as weak as everyone else.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and she bound him and cried out, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you,” as the men were hiding in the room. He broke them off of his arms as if they were made of thread.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and lied to me. Tell me, now, how you could be tied up.” He answered, “If you were to weave the seven locks on my head into the loom, 14 and fastened it with a pin, then I should become weak, and be like any other man.” Again she cried out, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you.” He woke up from his sleep and pulled away from the pin, the loom, and the web.
15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you hold back your love from me. You have mocked me these three times; you have not told me where your strength lies.” 16 She wore him out by talking to him day after day, and nagging him, until he was tired to death, 17 so he told her everything. He said to her, “No razor has ever touched my head because I have been a Nazirite of God from my mother’s womb. If I were to be shaved, then my strength would disappear and I would become as weak as any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she summoned the lords of the Philistines saying, “Come back one more time, for he has told me everything.” The lords of the Philistines came to her, the money in their hands. 19 She had him fall asleep upon her knees, and she summoned a man to shave off the seven locks on his head. Thus, she began to subdue him, and his strength left him. 20 She cried out, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you.” He woke up from his sleep and said, “I will go out like the previous times and shake myself free.” He did not know that the Lord had left him.[a]
21 The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They took him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze shackles, setting him to grind grain in prison.
22 Samson’s Revenge and Death. The hair on his head began to grow back after it had been shaved off. 23 The lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon.[b] They celebrated and said, “Our god has delivered us from the hands of Samson, our enemy.” 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste to our country and killed so many of us.” 25 While they were in high spirits, they cried out, “Call out Samson so that he can entertain us.” They summoned Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They set him between the pillars. 26 Samson said to the boy who was holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the temple is set so I can lean against them.” 27 The temple was packed with men and women, and all of the lords of the Philistines were there as well. There were also about three thousand men and women upon the roof, watching while Samson was amusing them.
28 Samson called out to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please remember me. I beg you, please strengthen me[c] this one more time so that I might take vengeance upon the Philistines for my two eyes.”
29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the temple was set. He braced himself against them, one with his right hand and one with his left hand. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” He pushed with all his might, and the house came crashing down upon the lords and upon all of the people. Thus, he killed more people with his death than he had killed during his life. 31 His brothers and all of his father’s household went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He was a judge over Israel for twenty years.
Appendices: Stories of Dan and Benjamin[d]
Chapter 17
Micah and the Levite. 1 There was a man named Micah in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 He said to his mother, “I have those eleven hundred pieces of silver that were stolen from you and over which you uttered a curse. I took them.” His mother said, “May the Lord bless you, my son.” 3 He returned the eleven hundred silver pieces to his mother. His mother said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to produce a molten image. I will give it back to you.”
4 When he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith, who made a molten image and a carved idol. They were placed in the house of Micah. 5 This Micah had a temple, and he made an ephod and a teraphim. He consecrated one of his sons as his priest. 6 In those days Israel had no king,[e] and everyone did what in his own opinion he thought to be right.
7 There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah. He was living among the clan of Judah.[f] 8 The man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to seek another place to live. On his way he came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah. 9 Micah asked him, “Where do you come from?” He answered, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am seeking a place to live.” 10 Micah said to him, “Live with me; you can be like a father and a priest to me. I will give you ten silver pieces a year along with your clothes and your food.” So the Levite went in.
11 The Levite was pleased to live with the man. It was as if the young man were one of his sons. 12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became Micah’s priest, and he lived in his house. 13 Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, for the Levite has become my priest.”[g]
Chapter 18
The Danites Overtake Micah. 1 At that time, there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of the Danites were seeking a place[h] where they could dwell, because up to that time they had not yet come into their inheritance among the tribes of Israel. 2 The Danites sent out five men, one from each of its clans, brave warriors. They went out from Zorah and Eshtaol to investigate the land and to explore it. They said to them, “Go and explore the land.”
They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and they stayed there. 3 As they drew near the house of Micah, they heard the voice of the young Levite, so they turned in there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?” 4 He told them what Micah had done for him and said, “He hired me, and I am his priest.” 5 Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God whether our journey will be successful.” 6 He replied, “Go in peace. The Lord is with you on your journey.”
7 The five men left and came to Laish. They saw that the people there were living in safety, just like the Sidonians lived, quiet and secure. There were no rulers in the land who could shame them in anything. They were quite far away from the Sidonians, and they had no ties to anyone.
8 They came back to their brethren in Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brethren said to them, “What do you have to say?” 9 They said, “Arise so that we can attack them. We have seen the land, and it is truly very good. Do not delay in going there so that you can enter and take possession of the land. 10 When you enter, you will find a people living in security in a vast land. God has given it into your hands. It is a place where you will not lack anything upon the earth.”
11 Six hundred men from the clans of the Danites went out from Zorah and Eshtaol dressed in battle gear. 12 They went up and camped in Kiriath-jearim in Judah. (This is why this place is called Mahaneh-dan up to this day. It lies to the west of Kiriath-jearim.) 13 They went on from there to the hill country of Ephraim, coming to the house of Micah.
14 The five men who had gone out to investigate the land around Laish said to their brethren, “Do you know that in these houses there are an ephod, teraphim, and a carved molten image? What do you think we should do?” 15 They turned aside and went to the house of the young Levite (the house of Micah) and they greeted him. 16 The six hundred armed men, the Danites, stood by the entrance to the gate.
17 The five men who had gone out to investigate the land then arrived there. They took the carved image, the ephod, the teraphim and the molten image. The priest stood at the entrance to the gate with the six hundred men who were armed for war. 18 When they went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the teraphim and the molten image, the priest asked them, “What are you doing?” 19 They said to him, “Be quiet! Put your hand over your mouth, and come with us to be a father and a priest to us. Is it better to be a father and a priest to one man’s household, or to be father and priest to a tribe and a clan in Israel?” 20 This pleased the priest. He took the ephod, the teraphim, and the carved image and traveled with those people. 21 They then turned and departed, with their children, their cattle, and their possessions in the front of the march.
22 When they had traveled some distance from the house of Micah, the men who lived in the houses near Micah’s house overtook the Danites. 23 When they shouted out, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, calling out such a group?” 24 [i]He replied, “You took the gods that I made and the priest, and then you went on your way. What else do I have? How could you say to me, ‘What is the matter with you?’ ” 25 The Danites said to him, “Keep quiet, or these men could get angry, and you and your household could lose their lives.” 26 So the Danites continued on their journey. When Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned back and went home.
27 They took away the things that Micah had made and his priest, and they arrived in Laish. This land was quiet, with people who lived in security, and they put them to the sword and burned the city down. 28 There was no one to deliver them, for Sidon was far away and they had no allies. This happened in the valley near Beth-rehob. They built a city and dwelt there. 29 They named the city Dan after their forefather who was called Dan. He was the son of Israel. The city had originally been called Laish. 30 The Danites set up the carved idol, and they chose Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons as priests to the Danites, and they continued to serve until they were exiled from the land.[j] 31 They maintained the carved idol that Micah had made, and it remained there the whole time that the house of God was in Shiloh.
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