1. Samson went down to Gaza; there he saw a prostitute and had sex with her.
2. The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here,” so they surrounded the place and lay in ambush for him all night at the city gate. They kept silent all night, saying, “We will wait until the morning light, and then we will kill him.”
3. But Samson lay until the middle of the night; he got up in the middle of the night and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two door posts, tore them loose with the bar, put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.
4. After this he fell in love with a woman in the wadi of Sorek, and her name was Delilah.
5. And the rulers of the Philistines came up to her and said, “Entice him and find out what makes his strength so great, and how we can overpower him, so that we may bind him up in order to subdue him; each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.
6. So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes your strength so great, and with what can you be tied up to subdue you?”
7. Samson said to her, “If you tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that are not dried up, I will become weak like everyone else.”
8. So the rulers of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that were not dried up, and she tied him up with them.
9. The ambush was sitting in wait for her in an inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you Samson!” And he snapped the bowstrings just as flax fiber snaps when it comes close to fire. And the secret of his strength remained unknown.
10. Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you can be bound.”