19 Delilah got Samson to go to sleep. He was lying in her lap. Then she called in a man to shave off the seven braids of Samson’s hair. In this way she began to make him weak. And Samson’s strength left him.
20 Then she called out to him, “Samson, the Philistines are about to capture you!”He woke up and thought, “I’ll get loose as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
21 Then the Philistines captured Samson. They tore out his eyes. And they took him down to Gaza. They put bronze chains on him. They put him in prison and made him grind grain.
22 But his hair began to grow again.
23 The kings of the Philistines gathered to celebrate. They were going to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They said, “Our god has given us Samson our enemy.”
24 When they saw him, they praised their god. They said,“This man destroyed our country.He killed many of us!But our god helped uscapture our enemy.”
25 The people were having a good time at the celebration. They said, “Bring Samson out to perform for us.” So they brought Samson from the prison. He performed for them. They made him stand between the pillars of the temple of Dagon.