New King James Version

Judges 16:8-16 New King James Version (NKJV)

8. So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them.

9. Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

10. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.”

11. So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”

12. Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread.

13. Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.”And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom”—

14. So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom.

15. Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”

16. And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death,