Judges. Samson et Dalila.
Douay-Rheims translation
16:4 After this he loved a woman, who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and she
was called Dalila.
16:5 And the princes of the Philistines came to her, and said: Deceive him,
and learn of him wherein his great strength lieth, and how we may be able
to overcome him, to bind and afflict him: which if thou shalt do, we will
give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
16:6 And Dalila said to Samson: Tell me, I beseech thee, wherein thy greatest
strength lieth, and what it is wherewith if thou wert bound thou couldst not
break loose.
16:7 And Samson answered her: If I shall be bound with seven cords made of
sinews not yet dry, but still moist, I shall be weak like other men.
16:8 And the princes of the Philistines brought unto her seven cords, such
is he spoke of, with which she bound him;
16:9 Men lying privately in wait with her, and in the chamber expecting the
event of the thing, and she cried out to him: The Philistines are upon thee,
Samson. And he broke the bands, as a man would break a thread of tow twined
with spittle, when it smelleth the fire: so it was not known wherein his strength
lay.
16:10 And Dalila said to him: Behold thou hast mocked me, and hast told me
a false thing: but now at least tell me wherewith thou mayest be bound.
16:11 And he answered her: If I shall be bound with new ropes, that were never
in work, I shall be weak and like other men.
16:12 Dalila bound him again with these, and cried out: The Philistines are
upon thee, Samson, there being an ambush prepared for him in the chamber.
But he broke the bands like threads of webs.
16:13 And Dalila said to him again: How long dost thou deceive me, and tell
me lies? Shew me wherewith thou mayest be bound. And Samson answered her:
If thou plattest the seven locks of my head with a lace, and tying them round
about a nail fastenest it in the ground, I shall be weak.
16:14 And when Dalila had done this, she said to him: The Philistines are
upon thee, Samson. And awaking out of his sleep he drew out the nail with
the hairs and the lace.
16:15 And Dalila said to him: How dost thou say thou lovest me, when thy mind
is not with me? Thou hast told me lies these three times, and wouldst not
tell me wherein thy great strength lieth.
16:16 And when she pressed him much, and continually hung upon him for many
days, giving him no time to rest, his soul fainted away, and was wearied even
until death.
16:17 Then opening the truth of the thing, he said to her: The razor hath
never come upon my head, for I am a Nazarite, that is to say, consecrated
to God from my mother's womb: if my head be shaven, my strength shall depart
from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be like other men.
16:18 Then seeing that be had discovered to her all his mind, she sent to
the princes of the Philistines, saying: Come up this once more, for now he
hath opened his heart to me. And they went up taking with them the money which
they had promised.
16:19 But she made him sleep upon her knees, and lay his head in her bosom.
And she called a barber, and shaved his seven locks, and began to drive him
away, and thrust him from her: for immediately his strength departed from
him.
16:20 And she said: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking from
sleep, he said in his mind: I will go out as I did before, and shake myself,
not knowing that the Lord was departed from him.
16:21 Then the Philistines seized upon him, and forthwith pulled out his eyes,
and led him bound in chains to Gaza, and shutting him up in prison made him
grind.