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JUDG ES 17
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room as before, and again Delilah cried out,
“Samson! The Philistines have come to capture
you!” But again Samson snapped the ropes
from his arms as if they were thread.
13 Then Delilah said, “You’ve been making
fun of me and telling me lies! Now tell me how
you can be tied up securely.”
Samson replied, “If you were to weave the
seven braids of my hair into the fabric on your
loom and tighten it with the loom shuttle,
I would become as weak as anyone else.”
So while he slept, Delilah wove the seven
braids of his hair into the fabric. 14 Then she
tightened it with the loom shuttle.* Again she
cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come
to capture you!” But Samson woke up, pulled
back the loom shuttle, and yanked his hair
away from the loom and the fabric.
15 Then Delilah pouted, “How can you tell me,
‘I love you,’ when you don’t share your secrets
with me? You’ve made fun of me three times now,
and you still haven’t told me what makes you so
strong!” 16 She tormented him with her nagging
day after day until he was sick to death of it.
17 Finally, Samson shared his secret with her.
“My hair has never been cut,” he confessed,
“for I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from
birth. If my head were shaved, my strength
would leave me, and I would become as weak
as anyone else.”
18 Delilah realized he had finally told her the
truth, so she sent for the Philistine rulers. “Come
back one more time,” she said, “for he has finally told me his secret.” So the Philistine rulers
returned with the money in their hands. 19 Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her
lap, and then she called in a man to shave off
the seven locks of his hair. In this way she began
to bring him down,* and his strength left him.
20 Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!”
When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as
before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him.
21 So the Philistines captured him and gouged
out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he
was bound with bronze chains and forced to
grind grain in the prison.
22 But before long, his hair began to grow
back.
Samson’s Final Victory
23 The Philistine rulers held a great festival, offering sacrifices and praising their god, Dagon.
They said, “Our god has given us victory over
our enemy Samson!”
16:13-14 As in Greek version and Latin Vulgate; Hebrew lacks
I would become as weak as anyone else. / So while he slept,
Delilah wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric. 14Then
she tightened it with the loom shuttle. 16:19 Or she began
to torment him. Greek version reads He began to grow weak.
17:2 Hebrew 1,100 [shekels], about 28 pounds or 12.5 kilograms
in weight.
24 When the people saw him, they praised
their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our
enemy to us! The one who killed so many of us
is now in our power!”
25 Half drunk by now, the people demanded,
“Bring out Samson so he can amuse us!” So he
was brought from the prison to amuse them,
and they had him stand between the pillars
supporting the roof.
26 Samson said to the young servant who
was leading him by the hand, “Place my hands
against the pillars that hold up the temple.
I want to rest against them.” 27 Now the temple
was completely filled with people. All the Philistine rulers were there, and there were about
3,000 men and women on the roof who were
watching as Samson amused them.
28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please
strengthen me just one more time. With one
blow let me pay back the Philistines for the
loss of my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson put his
hands on the two center pillars that held up
the temple. Pushing against them with both
hands, 30 he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the
Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed
more people when he died than he had during
his entire lifetime.
31 Later his brothers and other relatives went
down to get his body. They took him back home
and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol,
where his father, Manoah, was buried. Samson
had judged Israel for twenty years.
Micah’s Idols
There was a man named Micah, who
lived in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 One
day he said to his mother, “I heard you place a
curse on the person who stole 1,100 pieces* of
silver from you. Well, I have the money. I was
the one who took it.”
“The Lord bless you for admitting it,” his
mother replied. 3 He returned the money to her,
and she said, “I now dedicate these silver coins
to the Lord. In honor of my son, I will have an
image carved and an idol cast.”
4 So when he returned the money to his
mother, she took 200 silver coins and gave them
to a silversmith, who made them into an image
and an idol. And these were placed in Micah’s
house. 5 Micah set up a shrine for the idol, and
he made a sacred ephod and some household
idols. Then he installed one of his sons as his
personal priest.
6 In those days Israel had no king; all the
people did whatever seemed right in their own
eyes.
7 One day a young Levite, who had been living in Bethlehem in Judah, arrived in that area.
8 He had left Bethlehem in search of another
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