“Get up, Samson, for the Philistines are coming!” And when Samson rose up, the ropes broke as if they were thread.  And Delilah again urged him to tell her; and he said: 

“You notice that my long hair is in seven locks.  Weave it together in the loom, just as if it were the threads in a piece of cloth.”

Then, while he was asleep, she wove his hair in the loom, and fastened it with a large pin to the weaving-frame.  But when he awoke, he rose up, and carried away the pin and the beam of the weaving-frame; for he was as strong as before.

And Delilah, who was anxious to serve her people, said: 

“Why do you tell me that you love me, as long as you deceive me and keep from me your secret?” And she pleaded with him day after day, until at last he yielded to her and told her the real secret of his strength.  He said: 

“I am a Nazarite, under a vow to the Lord, not to drink wine, and not to allow my hair to be cut.  If I should let my hair be cut short, then the Lord would forsake me, and my strength would go from me, and I would be like other men.”

Then Delilah knew that she had found the truth at last.  She sent for the rulers of the Philistines, saying: 

“Come up this once, and you shall have your enemy; for he has told me all that is in his heart.”

Then while the Philistines were watching outside, Delilah let Samson go to sleep, with his head upon her knees.  While he was sound asleep, they took a razor and shaved off all his hair.  Then she called out as at other times.

“Rise up, Samson, the Philistines are upon you.”

He awoke, and rose up, expecting to find himself strong as before; for he did not at first know that his long hair had been cut off.  But the vow to the Lord was broken, and the Lord had left him.  He was now as weak as other men, and helpless in the hands of his enemies.  The Philistines easily made him their prisoner; and that he might never do them more harm, they put out his eyes.  Then they chained him with fetters, and sent him to prison at Gaza.  And in the prison they made Samson turn a heavy millstone to grind grain, just as though he were a beast of burden.

But while Samson was in prison, his hair grew long again; and with his hair his strength came back to him; for Samson renewed his vow to the Lord.

One day, a great feast was held by the Philistines in the temple of their fish-god, Dagon.  For they said: 

“Our god has given Samson, our enemy, into our hand.  Let us be glad together and praise Dagon.”

And the temple was thronged with people, and the roof over it was also crowded with more than three thousand men and women.  They sent for Samson, to rejoice over him; and Samson was led into the court of the temple, before all the people, to amuse them.  After a time, Samson said to the boy who was leading him: 

[Illustration:  He bowed forward with all his might and pulled the pillars with him]