18. When Delilah saw that he had told her everything sincerely, she sent a message to the Philistine rulers. She said, “Come back one more time, because he has told me everything.” So the Philistine rulers came back to Delilah and brought the silver with them.
19. Delilah got Samson to sleep, lying in her lap. Then she called in a man to shave off the seven braids of Samson’s hair. In this way she began to make him weak, and his strength left him.
20. Then she said, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”He woke up and thought, “I’ll leave as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21. Then the Philistines captured Samson and tore out his eyes. They took him down to Gaza, where they put bronze chains on him and made him grind grain in the prison.
22. But his hair began to grow again.
23. The Philistine rulers gathered to celebrate and to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They said, “Our god has handed Samson our enemy over to us.”
24. When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,“This man destroyed our country.He killed many of us!But our god handed overour enemy to us.”
25. While the people were enjoying the celebration, they said, “Bring Samson out to perform for us.” So they brought Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. They made him stand between the pillars.
26. Samson said to the servant holding his hand, “Let me feel the pillars that hold up the temple so I can lean against them.”
27. Now the temple was full of men and women. All the Philistine rulers were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson perform.