Common English Bible

Judges 16:14-20 Common English Bible (CEB)

14. So she got him to fall asleep, wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric on a loom, and pulled it tight with a pin. Then she called out to him, "Samson, the Philistines are on you!" He woke up from his sleep and pulled loose the pin, the loom, and the fabric.

15. Delilah said to him, "How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t trust me? Three times now you’ve made a fool out of me and not told me what gives you such great strength!"

16. She nagged him with her words day after day and begged him until he became worn out to the point of death.

17. So he told her his whole secret. He said to her, "No razor has ever touched my head, because I’ve been a nazirite for God from the time I was born. If my head is shaved, my strength will leave me, and I’ll become weak. I’ll be like every other person."

18. When Delilah realized that he had told her his whole secret, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come one more time, for he has told me his whole secret." The rulers of the Philistines came up to her and brought the silver with them.

19. She got him to fall asleep with his head on her lap. Then she called a man and had him shave off the seven braids of Samson’s hair. He began to weaken, and his strength left him.

20. She called out, "Samson, the Philistines are on you!"He woke up from his sleep and thought, I’ll escape just like the other times and shake myself free. But he didn’t realize that the Lord had left him.