士師記16:1-31

16:1 參孫到了迦薩，在那裡看見一個妓女，就與她親近。
16:2 有人告訴迦薩人說：「參孫到這裡來了！」他們就把他團團圍住，終夜在城門悄悄埋伏，說：「等到天亮我們便殺他。」
16:3 參孫睡到半夜，起來，將城門的門扇、門框、門閂，一齊拆下來，扛在肩上，扛到希伯崙前的山頂上。
16:4 後來，參孫在梭烈谷喜愛一個婦人，名叫大利拉。
16:5 非利士人的首領上去見那婦人，對她說：「求你誆哄參孫，探探他因何有這麼大的力氣，我們用何法能勝他，捆綁剋制他。我們就每人給你一千一百舍客勒銀子。」
16:6 大利拉對參孫說：「求你告訴我，你因何有這麼大的力氣，當用何法捆綁剋制你。」
16:7 參孫回答說：「人若用七條未乾的青繩子捆綁我，我就軟弱像別人一樣。」
16:8 於是非利士人的首領拿了七條未乾的青繩子來，交給婦人，她就用繩子捆綁參孫。
16:9 有人預先埋伏在婦人的內室裡。婦人說：「參孫哪，非利士人拿你來了！」參孫就掙斷繩子，如掙斷經火的麻線一般。這樣，他力氣的根由人還是不知道。
16:10 大利拉對參孫說：「你欺哄我，向我說謊言。現在求你告訴我當用何法捆綁你。」
16:11 參孫回答說：「人若用沒有使過的新繩捆綁我，我就軟弱像別人一樣。」
16:12 大利拉就用新繩捆綁他，對他說：「參孫哪，非利士人拿你來了！」有人預先埋伏在內室裡。參孫將臂上的繩掙斷了，如掙斷一條線一樣。
16:13 大利拉對參孫說：「你到如今還是欺哄我，向我說謊言。求你告訴我，當用何法捆綁你。」參孫回答說：「你若將我頭上的七條髮綹，與緯線同織就可以了。」
16:14 於是大利拉將他的髮綹與緯線同織，用橛子釘住，對他說：「參孫哪，非利士人拿你來了！」參孫從睡中醒來，將機上的橛子和緯線一齊都拔出來了。
16:15 大利拉對參孫說：「你既不與我同心，怎麼說你愛我呢？你這三次欺哄我，沒有告訴我，你因何有這麼大的力氣。」
16:16 大利拉天天用話催逼他，甚至他心裡煩悶要死。
16:17 參孫就把心中所藏的都告訴了她，對她說：「向來人沒有用剃頭刀剃我的頭，因為我自出母胎就歸上帝作拿細耳人；若剃了我的頭髮，我的力氣就離開我，我便軟弱像別人一樣。」
16:18 大利拉見他把心中所藏的都告訴了她，就打發人到非利士人的首領那裡，對他們說：「他已經把心中所藏的都告訴了我，請你們再上來一次。」於是非利士人的首領手裡拿著銀子，上到婦人那裡。
16:19 大利拉使參孫枕著她的膝睡覺，叫了一個人來剃除他頭上的七條髮綹。於是大利拉剋制他，他的力氣就離開他了。
16:20 大利拉說：「參孫哪，非利士人拿你來了！」參孫從睡中醒來，心裡說：「我要像前幾次出去活動身體」；他卻不知道耶和華已經離開他了。
16:21 非利士人將他拿住，剜了他的眼睛，帶他下到迦薩，用銅鍊拘索他；他就在監裡推磨。
16:22 然而他的頭髮被剃之後，又漸漸長起來了。
16:23 非利士人的首領聚集，要給他們的神大袞獻大祭，並且歡樂，因為他們說：「我們的神將我們的仇敵參孫交在我們手中了。」
16:24 眾人看見參孫，就讚美他們的神說：「我們的神將毀壞我們地、殺害我們許多人的仇敵交在我們手中了。」
16:25 他們正宴樂的時候，就說：「叫參孫來，在我們面前戲耍戲耍。」於是將參孫從監裡提出來，他就在眾人面前戲耍。他們使他站在兩柱中間。
16:26 參孫向拉他手的童子說：「求你讓我摸著托房的柱子，我要靠一靠。」
16:27 那時房內充滿男女，非利士人的眾首領也都在那裡。房的平頂上約有三千男女觀看參孫戲耍。
16:28 參孫求告耶和華說：「主耶和華啊，求你眷念我。上帝啊，求你賜我這一次的力量，使我在非利士人身上報那剜我雙眼的仇。」
16:29 參孫就抱住托房的那兩根柱子：左手抱一根，右手抱一根，
16:30 說：「我情願與非利士人同死！」就盡力屈身，房子倒塌，壓住首領和房內的眾人。這樣，參孫死時所殺的人比活著所殺的還多。
16:31 參孫的弟兄和他父的全家都下去取他的屍首，抬上來葬在瑣拉和以實陶中間，在他父瑪挪亞的墳墓裡。參孫作以色列的士師二十年。

 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. ² The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”

³ But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

⁴ Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. ⁵ The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels^[a] of silver.”

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

⁷ Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

⁸ Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. ⁹ With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.”

¹¹ He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”

¹² So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.

¹³ Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.”

He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric ¹⁴ and^[b] tightened it with the pin.

Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

¹⁵ Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” ¹⁶ With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

¹⁷ So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. ¹⁹ After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.^[c] And his strength left him.

²⁰ Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

²¹ Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. ²² But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

The Death of Samson

²³ Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands.”

²⁴ When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,

“Our god has delivered our enemy
    into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
    and multiplied our slain.”

²⁵ While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.

When they stood him among the pillars, ²⁶ Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” ²⁷ Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. ²⁸ Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, ³⁰ Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

³¹ Then his brothers and his father’s whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led^[d] Israel twenty years.

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    英雄好像離不開悲慘的下場，所以通常會讓人覺得英雄都是帶著悲劇的人生！就像參孫因為力大，以為自己的一生必定是轟轟烈烈，會讓以色列的仇敵非利士人聞之喪膽，卻沒想到非利士人處心積慮要將他除掉！

    雖然他是以色列人，卻常常去親近非利士女子，所以非力士人就想利用女色來綑綁參孫。他也知道，所以不斷對的大利拉說謊；然而大利拉也不是省油的燈，就不斷煩擾他，最後還是將秘密告訴他，就為他帶來悲慘的下場，使他大大受到羞辱！

    當然，悲劇性的英雄，常常有其覺悟的時候，就像參孫也因為自己被非利士人羞辱之後，才覺醒自己之所以這樣悲慘是因為遠離上帝！因為對拿細耳人而言，頭髮是上帝同在的記號，自己竟然如此輕忽，隨意說出而使上帝的同在中止！最後的覺悟，給他悔改的力量，參孫求告耶和華說：「主耶和華啊，求你眷念我。上帝啊，求你賜我這一次的力量，使我在非利士人身上報那剜我雙眼的仇。」

    參孫就抱住托房的那兩根柱子：左手抱一根，右手抱一根，說：「我情願與非利士人同死！」就盡力屈身，房子倒塌，壓住首領和房內的眾人。這樣，參孫死時所殺的人比活著所殺的還多。

    參孫的一生也讓我們很大的警戒：失去「上帝的同在」會帶給我們羞辱和悲慘！因此，我們要盡心竭力保守自己常在上帝的愛中，不可以存驕傲的心，自以為很厲害很棒！

    不要忘記主耶穌的話：「我是葡萄樹，你們是枝子。常在我裡面的，我也常在他裡面，這人就多結果子；因為離了我，你們就不能做甚麼。」(約翰福音15:5)