Study Desk

But Samson lay there only until midnight. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, along with the two 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.

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 breaks when it touches a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown.

So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up, 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 a thread.

So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. Then she fastened the braids 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.

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.

But she was unfaithful to him and left him to return to her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah. After she had been there four months,

On the fourth day, they got up early in the morning and prepared to go, but the girl's father said to his son-in-law, "Refresh your heart with a morsel of bread, and then you can go."

The man got up to go, but his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night.

On the fifth day, he got up early in the morning to leave, but the girl's father said, "Please refresh your heart." So they waited until late afternoon and the two of them ate.

But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.

But his master replied, "We will not turn aside to the city of foreigners, where there are no Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah."

They stopped to go in and lodge in Gibeah. The Levite went in and sat down in the city square, but no one would take them into his home for the night.

The Levite replied, "We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote hill country of Ephraim, where I am from. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and now I am going to the house of the LORD; but no one has taken me into his home,

Look, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man's concubine, and you can use them and do with them as you wish. But do not do such a vile thing to this man."

But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.

"Get up," he told her. "Let us go." But there was no response. So the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

And during the night, the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died.

Hand over the wicked men of Gibeah so we can put them to death and purge Israel of this wickedness." But the Benjamites refused to heed the voice of their fellow Israelites.

But the Israelite army took courage and again took their battle positions in the same place where they had arrayed themselves on the first day.

"We are defeating them as before," said the Benjamites. But the Israelites said, "Let us retreat and draw them away from the city onto the roads."