19. Delilah put Samson to sleep on her lap. She called for a man to shave off his seven braids. Then she began to torture him because his strength had left him.
20. She said, “Samson, the Philistines are attacking!” Samson woke up. He thought, “I’ll get out of this as usual and shake myself free.” (He didn’t realize that the Lord had left him.)
21. The Philistines grabbed him. They poked out his eyes and took him to the prison in Gaza. They tied him up with double chains and made him grind grain in the mill there.
22. But his hair started to grow back as soon as it was shaved off.
23. Now, the Philistine rulers gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to celebrate. They said, “Our god handed Samson, our enemy, over to us.”
24. When the people saw him, they praised their god. They said,“Our god gave our enemy,destroyer of our landand killer of so many,into our very hand!”
25. When all the Philistines were enjoying themselves, they said, “Call Samson in to entertain us.”Samson was called from the prison, and he made them laugh. They made him stand between two columns.
26. Samson told the young man who was leading him by the hand, “Let me rest. Let me touch the columns on which the building stands so that I can lean against them.”
27. The building was filled with people. All the Philistine rulers were there. On the roof there were about three thousand men and women who watched Samson entertain them.