Judges 16:4-18

4It came about afterward that he fell in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5So the Philistine lords came up to her and said to her, “Coax him, see where his great strength comes from and by what we may overpower him, so we may bind him to subdue him—then we’ll each of us give you 1,100 pieces of silver.”

6So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me please, where does your great strength come from? How could you be bound to subdue you?”

7Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have never been dried, then I would be weak and be like any other man.”

8So the Philistine lords brought up to her seven fresh cords that had never been dried, and she bound him with them,

9while an ambush was waiting in an inner room. “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” she said to him. But he broke the cords just as a strand of straw snaps when it touches fire. So his strength remained unknown.

10Delilah said to Samson, “Oh, you deceived me! You lied to me! Now tell me please, how you can be bound?”

11He told her, “If they only bind me with new ropes never used for work, then I will be weak and be like any other man.”

12So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” Yet while the ambush was waiting in the inner room, he snapped them from his arms like a thread.

13So Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you’ve mocked me and told me lies! Tell me how you can be bound!” He told her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web of a loom.”

14So she pinned it with a pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin of the loom and the web.

15“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she said to him, “when your heart is not with me? This is three times you’ve deceived me and not told me where your great strength comes from.”

16Now it came about when she nagged him daily with her speeches and kept bothering him, his soul was annoyed to death.

17So he divulged to her all his heart and said to her, “No razor has ever been upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will be weak and be like any other man.”

18Now when Delilah realized that he had confided to her all his heart, she sent and called for the Philistine lords saying, “Come up this time, for he has told me all his heart.” So the Philistine lords came up to her and brought the silver in their hand.