Samson

• Philistine Dominionc. 1141 BC
• Judgeship of Samsonc. 1121 BC
• Sampson destroys Temple of Dagonc. 1102 BC

Samson

Father

Manoah

Spouse

Delilah

• Σαμψών·Samson
• שִׁמְשׁוֹן·Samson

Includes 34 verses that refer to Samson without naming them, as “he”, “she”, or the subject of a verb.

1. Judges 13:24
   So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him.
2. Judges 14:1
   One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he saw a young Philistine woman.
3. Judges 14:2Referred to, not named
   So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”
4. Judges 14:3
   But his father and mother replied, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, for she is pleasing to my eyes.”
5. Judges 14:4Referred to, not named
   (Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.)
6. Judges 14:5
   Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him,
7. Judges 14:6Referred to, not named
   …and the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.
8. Judges 14:7
   Then Samson continued on his way down and spoke to the woman, because she was pleasing to his eyes.
9. Judges 14:8Referred to, not named
   When Samson returned later to take her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and in it was a swarm of bees, along with their honey.
10. Judges 14:9Referred to, not named
    So he scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. And when he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.
11. Judges 14:10
    Then his father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as was customary for the bridegroom.
12. Judges 14:11Referred to, not named
    And when the Philistines saw him, they selected thirty men to accompany him.
13. Judges 14:12
    “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.
14. Judges 14:13Referred to, not named
    But if you cannot solve it, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” “Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let us hear it.”
15. Judges 14:14Referred to, not named
    So he said to them: “Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” For three days they were unable to explain the riddle.
16. Judges 14:15
    So on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”
17. Judges 14:16
    Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.” “Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”
18. Judges 14:17Referred to, not named
    She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people.
19. Judges 14:18Referred to, not named
    Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the city said to Samson: “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” So he said to them: “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle!”
20. Judges 14:19Referred to, not named
    Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house,
21. Judges 14:20
    …and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.
22. Judges 15:1
    Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.
23. Judges 15:2Referred to, not named
    “I was sure that you thoroughly hated her,” said her father, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”
24. Judges 15:3
    Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.”
25. Judges 15:4
    Then Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails.
26. Judges 15:5Referred to, not named
    Then he lit the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, burning up the piles of grain and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
27. Judges 15:6
    “Who did this?” the Philistines demanded. “It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite,” they were told. “For his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
28. Judges 15:7
    And Samson told them, “Because you have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you.”
29. Judges 15:8Referred to, not named
    And he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
30. Judges 15:10
    “Why have you attacked us?” said the men of Judah. The Philistines replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he has done to us.”
31. Judges 15:11
    In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied.
32. Judges 15:12
    But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.”
33. Judges 15:13Referred to, not named
    “No,” they answered, “we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.
34. Judges 15:14Referred to, not named
    When Samson arrived in Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and the bonds broke loose from his hands.
35. Judges 15:15Referred to, not named
    He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men.
36. Judges 15:16
    Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.”
37. Judges 15:17Referred to, not named
    And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.
38. Judges 15:18Referred to, not named
    And being very thirsty, Samson cried out to the LORD, “You have accomplished this great deliverance through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
39. Judges 15:19Referred to, not named
    So God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, and it remains in Lehi to this day.
40. Judges 15:20Referred to, not named
    And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
41. Judges 16:1
    One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her.
42. Judges 16:2
    When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”
43. Judges 16:3
    But Samson lay there only until midnight, when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and both gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. Then he put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.
44. Judges 16:4Referred to, not named
    Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
45. Judges 16:5Referred to, not named
    The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
46. Judges 16:6
    So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
47. Judges 16:7
    Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.”
48. Judges 16:8Referred to, not named
    So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them.
49. Judges 16:9
    While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn seared by a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown.
50. Judges 16:10
    Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me! Now please tell me how you can be tied up.”
51. Judges 16:11Referred to, not named
    He replied, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become as weak as any other man.”
52. Judges 16:12
    So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like they were threads.
53. Judges 16:13
    Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man.”
54. Judges 16:14
    So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. Then she tightened it with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web.
55. Judges 16:15Referred to, not named
    “How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”
56. Judges 16:16Referred to, not named
    Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death,
57. Judges 16:17Referred to, not named
    Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.”
58. Judges 16:18Referred to, not named
    When Delilah realized that he had revealed to her all that was in his heart, she sent this message to the lords of the Philistines: “Come up once more, for he has revealed to me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came to her, bringing the money in their hands.
59. Judges 16:19Referred to, not named
    And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him.
60. Judges 16:20
    Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
61. Judges 16:21Referred to, not named
    Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.
62. Judges 16:22Referred to, not named
    However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.
63. Judges 16:23
    Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.”
64. Judges 16:24Referred to, not named
    And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy who destroyed our land and multiplied our dead.”
65. Judges 16:25
    And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
66. Judges 16:26
    Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.”
67. Judges 16:27
    Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.
68. Judges 16:28
    Then Samson called out to the LORD: “O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”
69. Judges 16:29
    And Samson reached out for the two central pillars supporting the temple. Bracing himself against them with his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other,
70. Judges 16:30
    Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.
71. Judges 16:31Referred to, not named
    Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.
72. Hebrews 11:32
    And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,