שִׁמְשׁוֹן Shimshon

And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

And Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.

Then his father and his mother said unto him: ‘Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?’ And Samson said unto his father: ‘Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.’

Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnah, and came to the vineyards of Timnah; and, behold, a young lion roared against him.

And he went down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.

And his father went down unto the woman; and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do.

And Samson said unto them: ‘Let me now put forth a riddle unto you; if ye can declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of raiment;

And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson’s wife: ‘Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father’s house with fire; have ye called us hither to impoverish us?’

And Samson’s wife wept before him, and said: ‘Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not; thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and wilt thou not tell it me?’ And he said unto her: ‘Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell thee?’

But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, whom he had had for his friend.

But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said: ‘I will go in to my wife into the chamber.’ But her father would not suffer him to go in.

And Samson said unto them: ‘This time shall I be quits with the Philistines, when I do them a mischief.’

And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the midst between every two tails.

Then the Philistines said: ‘Who hath done this?’ And they said: ‘Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken his wife, and given her to his companion.’ And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

And Samson said unto them: ‘If ye do after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.’

And the men of Judah said: ‘Why are ye come up against us?’ And they said: ‘To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.’

Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson: ‘Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what then is this that thou hast done unto us?’ And he said unto them: ‘As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.’

And they said unto him: ‘We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines.’ And Samson said unto them: ‘Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.’

And Samson said: With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a thousand men.

And Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her.

[And it was told] the Gazites, saying: ‘Samson is come hither.’ And they compassed him in, and lay in wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying: ‘Let be till morning light, then we will kill him.’

And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.

And Delilah said to Samson: ‘Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.’

And Samson said unto her: ‘If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as any other man.’

Now she had liers-in-wait abiding in the inner chamber. And she said unto him: ‘The Philistines are upon thee, Samson.’ And he broke the bowstrings as a string of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

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.’

So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him: ‘The Philistines are upon thee, Samson.’ And the liers-in-wait were abiding in the inner chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.

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.’

And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him: ‘The Philistines are upon thee, Samson.’ And he awoke out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.

And she said: ‘The Philistines are upon thee, Samson.’ And he awoke out of his sleep, and said: ‘I will go out as at other times, and shake myself.’ But he knew not that the LORD was departed from him.

And the lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said: ‘Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.’

And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said: ‘Call for Samson, that he may make us sport.’ And they called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he made sport before them; and they set him between the pillars.

And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said: ‘Call for Samson, that he may make us sport.’ And they called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he made sport before them; and they set him between the pillars.

And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand: ‘Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house resteth, that I may lean upon them.’

Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.

And Samson called unto the LORD, and said: ‘O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray Thee, and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God, that I may be this once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.’

And Samson took fast hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house rested, and leaned upon them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left.

And Samson said: ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ And he bent with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead that he slew at his death were more than they that he slew in his life.