Day 29 – Samson Defeats the Philistines

₁The Israelites sinned against the LORD again, and he let the Philistines rule them for forty years.

₂At that time there was a man named Manoah from the town of Zorah. He was a member of the tribe of Dan. His wife had never been able to have children. ₃The LORD's angel appeared to her and said, “You have never been able to have children, but you will soon be pregnant and have a son. ₄Take care not to drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food; ₅and after your son is born, you must never cut his hair, because from the day of his birth he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite. He will begin the work of rescuing Israel from the Philistines.”

₆Then the woman went and said to her husband, “A man of God has come to me, and he looked as frightening as the angel of God. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. ₇But he did tell me that I would become pregnant and have a son. He told me not to drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food, because the boy is to be dedicated to God as a Nazirite as long as he lives.”

₈Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, “Please, LORD, let the man of God that you sent come back to us and tell us what we must do with the boy when he is born.”

₉God did what Manoah asked, and his angel came back to the woman while she was sitting in the fields. Her husband Manoah was not with her, ₁₀so she ran at once and said to him, “Look! The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me again.”

₁₁Manoah got up and followed his wife. He went to the man and asked, “Are you the man who was talking to my wife?”

“Yes,” he answered.

₁₂Then Manoah asked, “When your words come true, what must the boy do? What kind of a life must he lead?”

₁₃The LORD's angel answered, “Your wife must be sure to do everything that I have told her. ₁₄She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine; she must not drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food. She must do everything that I have told her.”

_15-16Manoah did not know that it was the LORD's angel, so he said to him, “Please do not go yet. Let us cook a young goat for you.”

But the angel said, “If I do stay, I will not eat your food. But if you want to prepare it, burn it as an offering to the LORD.”

₁₇Manoah replied, “Tell us your name, so that we can honour you when your words come true.”

₁₈The angel asked, “Why do you want to know my name? It is a name of wonder.”

₁₉So Manoah took a young goat and some grain, and offered them on the rock altar to the LORD who works wonders. _20-21While the flames were going up from the altar, Manoah and his wife saw the LORD's angel go up towards heaven in the flames. Manoah realized then that the man had been the LORD's angel, and he and his wife threw themselves face downwards on the ground. They never saw the angel again.

₂₂Manoah said to his wife, “We are sure to die, because we have seen God!”

₂₃But his wife answered, “If the LORD had wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted our offerings; he would not have shown us all this or told us such things now.”

₂₄The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew and the LORD blessed him. ₂₅And the LORD's power began to strengthen him while he was between Zorah and Eshtaol in the Camp of Dan.

₁One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he noticed a certain Philistine woman. ₂He went back home and said to his father and mother, “There is a Philistine woman down at Timnah who has caught my attention. Get her for me; I want to marry her.”

₃But his father and mother asked him, “Why do you have to go to those heathen Philistines to get a wife? Can't you find a girl in our own clan, among all our people?”

But Samson said to his father, “She is the one I want you to get for me. I like her.”

₄His parents did not know that it was the LORD who was leading Samson to do this, for the LORD was looking for a chance to fight the Philistines. At this time the Philistines were ruling Israel.

₅So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. As they were going through the vineyards there, he heard a young lion roaring. ₆Suddenly the power of the LORD made Samson strong, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as if it were a young goat. But he did not tell his parents what he had done.

₇Then he went and talked to the woman, and he liked her. ₈A few days later Samson went back to marry her. On the way he left the road to look at the lion he had killed, and he was surprised to find a swarm of bees and some honey inside the dead body. ₉He scraped the honey out into his hands and ate it as he walked along. Then he went to his father and mother and gave them some. They ate it, but Samson did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the dead body of a lion.

₁₀His father went to the woman's house, and Samson gave a banquet there. This was a custom among the young men. ₁₁When the Philistines saw him, they sent thirty young men to stay with him. _12-13Samson said to them, “Let me ask you a riddle. I'll bet each one of you a piece of fine linen and a change of fine clothes that you can't tell me its meaning before the seven days of the wedding feast are over.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let's hear it.”

₁₄He said,

₁₅On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, “Trick your husband into telling us what the riddle means. If you don't, we'll set fire to your father's house and burn you with it. You two invited us so that you could rob us, didn't you?”

₁₆So Samson's wife went to him in tears and said, “You don't love me! You just hate me! You asked my friends a riddle and didn't tell me what it means!”

He said, “Look, I haven't even told my father and mother. Why should I tell you?” ₁₇She cried about it for the whole seven days of the feast. But on the seventh day he told her what the riddle meant, for she nagged him about it so much. Then she told the Philistines. ₁₈So on the seventh day, before Samson went into the bedroom, the men of the city said to him,

₁Some time later Samson went to visit his wife during the wheat harvest and took her a young goat. He said to her father, “I want to go to my wife's room.”

But he wouldn't let him go in. ₂He said to Samson, “I really thought that you hated her, so I gave her to your friend. But her younger sister is prettier, anyway. You can have her, instead.”

₃Samson said, “This time I'm not going to be responsible for what I do to the Philistines!” ₄So he went and caught 300 foxes. Two by two, he tied their tails together and put torches in the knots. ₅Then he set fire to the torches and turned the foxes loose in the Philistine cornfields. In this way he burnt up not only the corn that had been harvested but also the corn that was still in the fields, and the olive orchards as well. ₆When the Philistines asked who had done this, they learnt that Samson had done it because his father-in-law, a man from Timnah, had given Samson's wife to a friend of Samson's. So the Philistines went and burnt the woman to death and burnt down her father's house.

₇Samson told them, “So this is how you act! I swear that I won't stop until I pay you back!” ₈He attacked them fiercely and killed many of them. Then he went and stayed in the cave in the cliff at Etam.

₉The Philistines came and made camp in Judah, and attacked the town of Lehi. ₁₀The men of Judah asked them, “Why are you attacking us?”

They answered, “We came to take Samson prisoner and to treat him as he treated us.” ₁₁So 3,000 men of Judah went to the cave in the cliff at Etam and said to Samson, “Don't you know that the Philistines are our rulers? What have you done to us?”

He answered, “I did to them just what they did to me.”

₁₂They said, “We have come here to tie you up, so that we can hand you over to them.”

Samson said, “Give me your word that you won't kill me yourselves.”

₁₃“All right,” they said, “we are only going to tie you up and hand you over to them. We won't kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him back from the cliff.

₁₄When he got to Lehi, the Philistines came running towards him, shouting at him. Suddenly the power of the LORD made him strong, and he broke the ropes round his arms and hands as if they were burnt thread. ₁₅Then he found the jawbone of a donkey that had recently died. He bent down and picked it up, and killed a thousand men with it. ₁₆So Samson sang,

₁₈Then Samson became very thirsty, so he called to the LORD and said, “You gave me this great victory; am I now going to die of thirst and be captured by these heathen Philistines?” ₁₉Then God opened a hollow place in the ground there at Lehi, and water came out of it. Samson drank it and began to feel much better. So the spring was named Hakkore; it is still there at Lehi.

₂₀Samson led Israel for twenty years while the Philistines ruled the land.

₁One day Samson went to the Philistine city of Gaza, where he met a prostitute and went to bed with her. ₂The people of Gaza found out that Samson was there, so they surrounded the place and waited for him all night long at the city gate. They were quiet all night, thinking to themselves, “We'll wait until daybreak, and then we'll kill him.” ₃But Samson stayed in bed only until midnight. Then he got up and took hold of the city gate and pulled it up — doors, posts, lock, and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them all the way to the top of the hill overlooking Hebron.

₄After this, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Valley of Sorek. ₅The five Philistine kings went to her and said, “Trick Samson into telling you why he is so strong and how we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each one of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

₆So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes you so strong. If someone wanted to tie you up and make you helpless, how could he do it?”

₇Samson answered, “If they tie me up with seven new bowstrings that are not dried out, I'll be as weak as anybody else.”

₈So the Philistine kings brought Delilah seven new bowstrings that were not dried out, and she tied Samson up. ₉She had some men waiting in another room, so she shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” But he snapped the bowstrings just as thread breaks when fire touches it. So they still did not know the secret of his strength.

₁₀Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you've been making a fool of me and not telling me the truth. Please tell me how someone could tie you up.”

₁₁He answered, “If they tie me with new ropes that have never been used, I'll be as weak as anybody else.”

₁₂So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up. Then she shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” The men were waiting in another room. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like thread.

₁₃Delilah said to Samson, “You're still making a fool of me and not telling me the truth. Tell me how someone could tie you up.”

He answered, “If you weave my seven locks of hair into a loom, and make it tight with a peg, I'll be as weak as anybody else.”

₁₄Delilah then lulled him to sleep, took his seven locks of hair, and wove them into the loom. She made it tight with a peg and shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” But he woke up and pulled his hair loose from the loom.

₁₅So she said to him, “How can you say you love me, when you don't mean it? You've made a fool of me three times, and you still haven't told me what makes you so strong.” ₁₆She kept on asking him, day after day. He got so sick and tired of her nagging him about it ₁₇that he finally told her the truth. “My hair has never been cut,” he said. “I have been dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the time I was born. If my hair were cut, I would lose my strength and be as weak as anybody else.”

₁₈When Delilah realized that he had told her the truth, she sent a message to the Philistine kings and said, “Come back just once more. He has told me the truth.” Then they came and brought the money with them. ₁₉Delilah lulled Samson to sleep in her lap and then called a man, who cut off Samson's seven locks of hair. Then she began to torment him, for he had lost his strength. ₂₀Then she shouted, “Samson! The Philistines are coming!” He woke up and thought, “I'll get loose and go free, as always.” He did not know that the LORD had left him. ₂₁The Philistines captured him and put his eyes out. They took him to Gaza, chained him with bronze chains, and put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison. ₂₂But his hair started growing again.

₂₃The Philistine kings met together to celebrate and offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They sang, “Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson!” _24-25They were enjoying themselves, so they said, “Call Samson, and let's make him entertain us!” When they brought Samson out of the prison, they made him entertain them and made him stand between the pillars. When the people saw him, they sang praise to their god: “Our god has given us victory over our enemy, who devastated our land and killed so many of us!” ₂₆Samson said to the boy who was leading him by the hand, “Let me touch the pillars that hold up the building. I want to lean on them.” ₂₇The building was crowded with men and women. All five Philistine kings were there, and there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof, watching Samson entertain them.

₂₈Then Samson prayed, “Sovereign LORD, please remember me; please, God, give me my strength just once more, so that with this one blow I can get even with the Philistines for putting out my two eyes.” ₂₉So Samson took hold of the two middle pillars holding up the building. Putting one hand on each pillar, he pushed against them ₃₀and shouted, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed with all his might, and the building fell down on the five kings and everyone else. Samson killed more people at his death than he had killed during his life.

₃₁His brothers and the rest of his family came down to get his body. They took him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had been Israel's leader for twenty years.