16 She continued to say the same thing to Samson many times. Her words made Samson very upset. He felt that he wanted to die.
17 Finally, Samson told her his secret. He said to her, ‘No one has ever cut my hair. Even before I was born, I belonged to God as a Nazirite. If someone cuts off my hair, I would have no more strength. I would become as weak as any other man.’
18 Delilah realized that Samson had told her the truth. So she sent a message to the rulers of the Philistines. She told them, ‘Samson has now told me his secret. So come back once more.’ So the Philistine rulers went to visit Delilah again. They took their pieces of silver with them. 19 Delilah made Samson sleep with his head on her knees. She called a man to come and he cut off the seven tails of Samson's hair. This made Samson helpless, so that he had no more strength.
20 Then Delilah shouted, ‘Samson, the Philistines are here!’
Samson woke up and he thought, ‘I will make myself free as I have always done before.’ But he did not realize that the Lord had gone away from him.
21 The Philistines took hold of Samson. They cut out his eyes. They tied him up with bronze chains. They made him do hard work as their prisoner. He had to push a heavy stone to make grain into flour.
