But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down
to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the
prison house.
Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.
Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for 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 when the people
saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered
into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew
many of us. 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 them sport: 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 standeth,
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 at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson
took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on
which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other
with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he
bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and
upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his
death were more than they which he slew in his life.
Then his brethren 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
burying-place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty
years.--Judges xvi; 21-31