Samson is deluded by Dalila: and falls into the hands of the
Philistines. His death.
16:1. He went also into Gaza, and saw there a woman, a harlot, and went
in unto her.
16:2. And when the Philistines had heard this, and it was noised about
among them, that Samson was come into the city, they surrounded him,
setting guards at the gate of the city, and watching there all the night
in silence, that in the morning they might kill him as he went out.
16:3. But Samson slept till midnight, and then rising, he took both the
doors of the gate, with the posts thereof and the bolt, and laying them
on his shoulders, carried them up to the top of the hill, which looketh
towards Hebron.
16:4. After this he loved a woman, who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and
she was called Dalila.
Dalila... Some are of opinion she was married to Samson; others that she
was his harlot. If the latter opinion be true, we cannot wonder that, in
punishment of his lust, the Lord delivered him up, by her means, into
the hands of his enemies. However if he was guilty, it is not to be
doubted but that under his afflictions he heartily repented and returned
to God, and so obtained forgiveness of his sins.
16:5. And the princes of the Philistines came to her, and said: Deceive
him, and learn of him wherein his great strength lieth, and how we may
be able to overcome him, to bind and afflict him: which if thou shalt
do, we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
16:6. And Dalila said to Samson: Tell me, I beseech thee, wherein thy
greatest strength lieth, and what it is, wherewith if thou wert bound,
thou couldst not break loose.
16:7. And Samson answered her: If I shall be bound with seven cords,
made of sinews not yet dry, but still moist, I shall be weak like other
men.
16:8. And the princes of the Philistines brought unto her seven cords,
such as he spoke of, with which she bound him;
16:9. Men lying privately in wait with her, and in the chamber,
expecting the event of the thing, and she cried out to him: The
Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the bands, as a man
would break a thread of tow twined with spittle, when it smelleth the
fire: so it was not known wherein his strength lay.
16:10. And Dalila said to him: Behold thou hast mocked me, and hast told
me a false thing: but now at least tell me wherewith thou mayest be
bound.
16:11. And he answered her: If I shall be bound with new ropes, that
were never in work, I shall be weak and like other men.
16:12. Dalila bound him again with these, and cried out: The Philistines
are upon thee, Samson, there being an ambush prepared for him in the
chamber. But he broke the bands like threads of webs.
16:13. And Dalila said to him again: How long dost thou deceive me, and
tell me lies? Shew me wherewith thou mayest be bound. And Samson
answered her: If thou plattest the seven locks of my head with a lace,
and tying them round about a nail, fastenest it in the ground, I shall
be weak.
16:14. And when Dalila had done this, she said to him: The Philistines
are upon thee, Samson. And awaking out of his sleep, he drew out the
nail with the hairs and the lace.
16:15. And Dalila said to him: How dost thou say thou lovest me, when
thy mind is not with me? Thou hast told me lies these three times, and
wouldst not tell me wherein thy greatest strength lieth.
16:16. And when she pressed him much, and continually hung upon him for
many days, giving him no time to rest, his soul fainted away, and was
wearied even unto death.
16:17. Then opening the truth of the thing, he said to her: The razor
hath never come upon my head, for I am a Nazarite, that is to say,
consecrated to God from my mother's womb: If my head be shaven, my
strength shall depart from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be
like other men.
16:18. Then seeing that he had discovered to her all his mind, she sent
to the princes of the Philistines, saying: Come up this once more, for
now he hath opened his heart to me. And they went up, taking with them
the money which they had promised.
16:19. But she made him sleep upon her knees, and lay his head in her
bosom. And she called a barber and shaved his seven locks, and began to
drive him away, and thrust him from her: for immediately his strength
departed from him.
16:20. And she said: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking
from sleep, he said in his mind: I will go out as I did before, and
shake myself, not knowing that the Lord was departed from him.
16:21. Then the Philistines seized upon him, and forthwith pulled out
his eyes, and led him bound in chains to Gaza, and shutting him up in
prison made him grind.
16:22. And now his hair began to grow again,
16:23. And the princes of the Philistines assembled together, to offer
great sacrifices to Dagon their god, and to make merry, saying: Our god
hath delivered our enemy Samson into our hands.
16:24. And the people also seeing this, praised their god, and said the
same: Our god hath delivered our adversary into our hands, him that
destroyed our country, and killed very many.
16:25. And rejoicing in their feasts, when they had now taken their good
cheer, they commanded that Samson should be called, and should play
before them. And being brought out of prison, he played before them; and
they made him stand between two pillars.
16:26. And he said to the lad that guided his steps: Suffer me to touch
the pillars which support the whole house, and let me lean upon them,
and rest a little.
16:27. Now the house was full of men and women, and all the princes of
the Philistines were there. Moreover about three thousand persons of
both sexes, from the roof and the higher part of the house, were
beholding Samson's play.
16:28. But he called upon the Lord, saying: O Lord God remember me, and
restore to me now my former strength, O my God, that I may revenge
myself on my enemies, and for the loss of my two eyes I may take one
revenge.
Revenge myself... This desire of revenge was out of zeal for justice
against the enemies of God and his people; and not out of private
rancour and malice of heart.
16:29. And laying hold on both the pillars on which the house rested,
and holding the one with his right hand, and the other with his left,
16:30. He said: Let me die with the Philistines. And when he had
strongly shook the pillars, the house fell upon all the princes, and the
rest of the multitude, that was there: and he killed many more at his
death, than he had killed before in his life.
Let me die... Literally, let my soul die. Samson did not sin on this
occasion, though he was indirectly the cause of his own death. Because
he was moved to what he did, by a particular inspiration of God, who
also concurred with him by a miracle, in restoring his strength upon the
spot, in consequence of his prayer. Samson, by dying in this manner, was
a figure of Christ, who by his death overcame all his enemies.
16:31. And his brethren and all his kindred, going down took his body,
and buried it between Saraa and Esthaol, in the buryingplace of his
father Manue: and he judged Israel twenty years.