And they could not in three days declare the riddle.
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And it came to pa.s.s on the seventh day, that they said to Samson"s wife, "Entice thy husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father"s house with fire: have ye called us to impoverish us?"
And Samson"s wife wept before him, and said, "Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me."
And he said to her, "Behold, I have not told it to my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it to thee?"
And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pa.s.s on the seventh day, that he told her, because she pressed him sore: and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, "What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion?" And he said unto them,--
"If ye had not plowed with my heifer, Ye had not found out my riddle."
And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and smote thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave the changes of raiment unto them that declared the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father"s house.
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_How Samson Burned the Cornfield and Slew His Enemies_.
At another time, Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing corn, and also the oliveyards.
Then the Philistines went up, and camped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. And the men of Judah said, "Why are ye come up against us?"
And they said, "To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us."
Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, "Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what then is this that thou hast done to us?"
And he said to them, "As they did to me, so have I done to them."
And they said to him, "We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines."
And Samson said unto them, "Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves."
And they spoke unto him, saying, "No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee."
And they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock. When he came unto Lehi, the {176} Philistines shouted as they met him: and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands.
And he found a fresh jawbone of an a.s.s, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thousand men therewith. And Samson said,--
"With the jawbone of an a.s.s, heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of an a.s.s have I smitten a thousand men."
_How Samson Carried Off the Gates of Gaza_.
And Samson went to Gaza. And it was told the Gazites, saying, "Samson is come hither." And they surrounded him, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, "Let be till morning light, then we will kill him."
And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.
_How Samson Was Betrayed by His Own Weakness Into the Hands of His Enemies_.
And it came to pa.s.s afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said unto her, {177} "Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee everyone of us eleven hundred pieces of silver."
And Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee."
And Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven green withes that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man."
Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withes which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in wait abiding in the inner chamber. And she said unto him, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson."
And he broke the withes, as a string of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.
And Delilah said to Samson, "Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound."
And he said to her, "If they only bind me with new ropes wherewith no work hath been done, then shall I become weak, and be as another man."
So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson."
And the men who were lying in wait were abiding in the inner chamber.
And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.
And Delilah said to Samson, "Hitherto thou hast {178} mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound."
And he said to her, "If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web in the loom." And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson." And he awaked out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.
And she said to him, "How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth."
And it came to pa.s.s, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was sorely vexed.
And he told her all his heart, and said to her, "There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a n.a.z.irite unto G.o.d from my birth: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man."
And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up this once, for he hath told me all his heart."
Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and his strength went from him.
And she said, "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson."
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[Ill.u.s.tration]
THE VALLEY OF SOREK
From a photograph taken by Prof. D. G. Lyon and used by his kind permission.
The valley of Sorek, a narrow gorge at its upper end, broadens out into the lowlands of Judah at its lower end, and here in the foothills overlooking the Philistine country was the home of Samson.