Editing Samson (section)

===Delilah===
[[File:José Echenagusía - Samson and Delilah - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|''Samson and Delilah'' (1887) by [[Jose Etxenagusia]]]]
Later, Samson travels to [[Gaza City|Gaza]], where he sees a [[prostitute]] ({{langx|he|אִשָּׁ֣ה זוֹנָ֔ה}}) and visits her.<ref name="iii">{{Bibleref|Judges|16|HE}}</ref> His enemies wait at the gate of the city to ambush him, but he tears the gate from its very hinges and frame and carries it to "the hill that is in front of [[Hebron]]".<ref name="iii"/>

He then falls in love with [[Delilah]] in the [[Nahal Sorek|valley of Sorek]].<ref name="ooo"/><ref name="chc"/><ref name= "iii"/><ref name="chd"/> The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her with 1,100 silver coins to find the secret of Samson's strength so that they can capture their enemy,<ref name="iii"/> but Samson refuses to reveal the secret and teases her, telling her that he will lose his strength if he is bound with fresh bowstrings.<ref name="iii"/> She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings.<ref name="iii"/> She persists, and he tells her that he can be bound with new ropes. She ties him up with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too.<ref name="iii"/> She asks again, and he says that he can be bound if his locks are woven into a weaver's loom.<ref name="iii"/> She weaves them into a loom, but he simply destroys the entire loom and carries it off when he wakes.<ref name="iii"/>

Delilah, however, persists and Samson finally capitulates and tells Delilah that God supplies his power because of his consecration to God as a [[Nazirite]], symbolized by the fact that a razor has never touched his head and that if his hair is cut off the vow would be broken and he would lose his strength.<ref>Judges 16:17</ref><ref>Judges 16:16 (ESV)</ref><ref name="chd">{{cite book|title=Chronicle of the Old Testament Kings: The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers of Ancient Israel|last= Rogerson|first=John W.|year=1999|publisher= Thames & Hudson|location=London |isbn= 0500050953|page= [https://archive.org/details/chronicleofoldte00john/page/62 62]|url= https://archive.org/details/chronicleofoldte00john/page/62}}</ref> Delilah then woos him to sleep "in her lap" and calls for a servant to cut his hair.<ref name="ooo"/> Samson loses his strength and he is captured by the Philistines, who blind him by gouging out his eyes.<ref name="ooo"/>  They then take him to Gaza, imprison him, and put him to work turning a large [[millstone]] and grinding grain.<ref name="iii"/>

{{multiple image
   | direction = horizontal
   | width     =
   | header    = Pushing or pulling?
   | footer    = According to the biblical narrative, Samson died when he grasped two pillars of the Temple of Dagon and "bowed himself with all his might" (Judges 16:30, [[KJV]]). This has been variously interpreted as Samson pushing the pillars apart<ref>{{cite book |last1=Webb |first1=Barry |author1-link=Barry Webb |title=The Book of Judges |date=2012 |publisher=[[Eerdmans]] |page=414}}</ref> (''left'') or pulling them together<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dyer |first1=Charles |last2=Merrill|first2=Eugene|author-link2=Eugene H. Merrill (academic)|title=Nelson's Old Testament Survey: Discovering the Essence, Background and Meaning About Every Old Testament Book |date=2003 |publisher=[[Thomas Nelson (publisher)|Thomas Nelson]] |page=32 |isbn=978-1-4185-8736-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ONXMFeUAiYC&pg=PA32-IA209 |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref> (''right'').
   | image1    = 064.The Death of Samson.jpg
   | alt1      = Pushing
   | width1    = 210
   | caption1  =
   | image2    = SamsonDestroyTemple.jpg
   | alt2      = Pulling
   | width2    = 180
   | caption2  =
  }}