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Judges 16
And Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in to her. 2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson has come here. And they encircled him, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, Let us wait till morning light, then we will kill him. 3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.
4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the rulers of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see in what his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give you every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. 6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray you, in what your great strength lies, and with what you might be bound in to afflict you. 7 And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green bowstrings that were never dried, then I shall become weak, and be as another man. 8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought up to her seven green bowstrings which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner chamber. And she said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he broke the bowstrings, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.
10 And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, you have made a fool of me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray you, with what you might be bound, 11 And he said to her, If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I shall become weak, and be as another man. 12 So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And the ambush was waiting in the inner chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.
13 And Delilah said to Samson, you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me with what you might be bound. And he said to her, If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web, 14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are upon you Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and pulled away the pin of the beam, and the web.
15 And she said to him, How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me in what your great strength lies. 16 and it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed to death. 17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, A razor has not come upon my head; for I have been a Nazirite to Elohim from my mother’s womb: if I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.
18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the rulers of the Philistines, saying, Come up at once, for he has told me all his heart. Then the rulers of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand. 19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 20 And she said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free. But he did not know that Yahweh had departed from him. 21 And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza’ and bound him with fetters of bronze; and he was grinding in the prison-house. 22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after he had been shaved.
23 And the rulers of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their elohim, and to rejoice; for they said, Our elohim has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their elohim; for they said, Our elohim has delivered into our hand our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, who has killed many of us. 25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said. Call for Samson, that he may entertain us. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he performed before them, And they set him between the pillars: 26 and Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Put me where I may feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean on them. 27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the rulers of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women that watched while Samson entertained them.
28 And Samson called to Yahweh, and said, O sovereign Yahweh, remember me, I pray you, and strengthen me, I pray you, only this once, O Elohim, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and leaned on them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left. 30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the rulers, and on all the people that were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than they that he killed in his life. 31 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 17
And there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2 And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son of Yahweh. 3 And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I truly dedicate the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make a carved image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it to you. 4 And when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made of it a carved image and a molten image: and it was in the house of Micah. 5 And the man Micah had a house of elohim, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. 6 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
7 And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite; and he sojourned there. 8 And the man departed out of the city, out of Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find a place: and he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. 9 And Micah said to him, From where do you come? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. 10 And Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and your food. So the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man: and the young man was to him as one of his sons. 12 And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, Now I know that Yahweh will do me good, since I have a Levite as my priest.
Judges 18
In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought an inheritance for themselves to dwell in; for to that day their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. 2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said to them, Go, search the land: and they came to the hill-country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; and they turned aside there, and said to him, Who brought you here? And what are you doing in this place? And what have you here? 4 And he said to them, In this manner has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest. 5 And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray you, of Elohim, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. 6 And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before Yahweh is your way in which you go.
7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were in it, how they dwelt in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure; for there was none in the land, possessing authority, that might put them to shame in any thing, and they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with any man. 8 And they came to their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said to them, What say you? 9 And they said, rise, and let us go up against them; for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are you still? Do not hesitate to go and to enter in to possess the land. 10 When you go, you shall come to a people secure, and the land is large; for Elohim has given it into your hand, a place where there is no want of anythingthat is in the earth.
11 And there set forth from there of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men armed with weapons of war. 12 And they went up, and encamped in Kiriath-jearim, in Judah: therefore they called that place Mahanehdan, to this day; behold, it is behind Kiriath-jearim. 13 and they passed from there to the hill-country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.
14 Then the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish answered, and said to their brethren, Do you know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a carved image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what you have to do. 15 And they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. 16 And the six hundred men armed with their weapons of war, who were of the children Of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. 17 And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the carved image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image: and the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men armed with weapons of war. 18 And when these went into Micah’s house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, What are you doing? 19 And they said to him, Hold your peace, lay your hand upon your mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest: is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel? 20 And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the carved image, and went among the people.
21 So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the goods before them. 22 When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses near to Micah’s house were gathered together, and overtook the children of Dan. 23 And they cried to the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said to Micah, What ails you, that you come with such a company? 24 And he said, You have taken away my elohim which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what more do I have? And how then do you say to me, What ails you? 25 And the children of Dan said to him, Let not your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life, with the lives of your household. 26 And the children of Dan went their way: and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house.
27 And they took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and attacked them with the edge of the sword; and they burnt the city with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with any man; and it was in the valley that lies by Beth-rehob. And they built the city, and dwelt in it. 29 And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father, who was born to Israel: however the name of the city was Laish at first. 30 And the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image; and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 So they set up Micah’s carved image which he made, all the time that the house of Elohim was in Shiloh.
