1And Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a woman (ishah), a harlot, and went in to her.
2It was told to the Gazites, saying: "Samson has come here." And they surrounded and lay in wait for him all the night in the gate of the city, and kept quiet all the night, saying: "Until the light of the morning, then we will kill him."
3And Samson lay until the middle of the night, and arose at the middle of the night, and laid hold on the doors of the gate of the city and on the two posts, and plucked 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 after this, that he loved a woman (ishah) in the valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah.
5And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her: "Entice him, and see in what is his great strength, and by what we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we, we will give you, each man (ish), a thousand and a hundred of silver."
6And Delilah said to Samson: "Tell me, please, in what is your great strength, and with what you may be bound to afflict you."
7And Samson said to her: "If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak, and be as one of the man (adam)."
8And the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
9And the ambush was sitting for her in the inner chamber. And she said to him: "The Philistines are upon you, Samson." And he snapped the cords as a thread of tow is snapped when it smells the fire. And his strength was not known.
10And Delilah said to Samson: "Behold, you have mocked me and spoken to me lies; now tell me, please, with what you may be bound."
11And he said to her: "If they surely bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I will become weak, and be as one of the man (adam)."
12And Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him: "The Philistines are upon you, Samson." And the ambush was sitting in the inner chamber. And he snapped them from off his arms like a thread.
13And Delilah said to Samson: "Until now you have mocked me and spoken to me lies; tell me with what you may be bound." And he said to her: "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web."
14And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him: "The Philistines are upon you, Samson." And he awoke from his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the loom and the web.
15And she said to him: "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? These three times you have mocked me, and have not told me in what is your great strength."
16And it came to pass, when she pressed him with her words all the days, and urged him, that his soul (nephesh) was short to death.
17And he told her all his heart, and said to her: "A razor has not come upon my head, for I am a Nazirite of God from the womb of my mother; if I am shaven, then my strength will turn from me, and I will become weak, and be as all the man (adam)."
18And Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, and she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying: "Come up this time, for he has told me all his heart." And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought up the silver in their hand.
19And she made him sleep upon her knees, and called for the man (ish), and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength turned from upon him.
20And she said: "The Philistines are upon you, Samson." And he awoke from his sleep, and said: "I will go out as time upon time, and shake myself." But he knew not that YHWH had turned from upon him.
21And the Philistines laid hold on him, and bored out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with the two bronze fetters; and he became a grinder in the house of the prisoners.
22And the hair of his head began to grow after it was shaven.
23And the lords of the Philistines gathered together to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; 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, and the destroyer of our land, and who multiplied our slain."
25And it came to pass, when their heart was good, that they said: "Call for Samson, that he may make sport for us." And they called for Samson from the house of the prisoners, and he made sport before them; and they set him between the pillars.
26And Samson said to the lad who held him by his hand: "Let me be, and let me feel the pillars on which the house is established, that I may lean upon them."
27And the house was full of the men (ish) and the women (ishah); and there were all the lords of the Philistines; and upon the roof about three thousand man (ish) and woman (ishah), who beheld while Samson made sport.
28And Samson called to YHWH, and said: "My Lord (Adonai) YHWH, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this time, O God, that I may be avenged one vengeance for my two eyes from the Philistines."
29And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house was established, and braced himself upon them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left.
30And Samson said: "Let my soul (nephesh) die with the Philistines." And he bent with strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those that he killed in his life (chai).
31And his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burial-place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.