And Delilah said to Samson:-"Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee."

And Samson said unto her:-"“If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man."

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withes which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him:-"The Philistines be upon thee, Samson." And he brake the withes, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

And Delilah said unto Samson:-"Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound."

And he said unto her:-"If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man." Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him: "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson." And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.

And Delilah said unto Samson:-"Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound." And he said unto her:"If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web." And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him:-"The Philistines be upon thee, Samson."

And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam and with the web.*

And she said unto him:-"How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth."

And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; that he told her all his heart, and Isaid unto her: "There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man." And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying:-"Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart." Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said: "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson."

And he awoke out of his sleep, and said:-"I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself." And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with

4. Parts of the weaving-loom which, in those days, was an article of ordinary household furniture.

fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.

Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said :—“Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand." And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said: "Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us."

And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said:-"Call for Samson, that he may make us sport." And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.

And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand:-"Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them." Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the Lord, and said: “O Lord God, remember me, I pray Thee, and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.” And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with

his left. And Samson said:-"Let me die with the Philistines." And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father.

twenty years.

And he judged Israel

5. "Houses in the East are built in the form of a square, with an open court-yard in the midst, on each side of which are the apartments. The palaces and courts of justice are frequently built with such courts or enclosures surrounded entirely, or in part, with some plain or cloistered building; in these, during festivals and public rejoicings, the wrestlers, etc., perform in the area; while the roofs of the cloisters round about are crowded with the spectators. On this supposition, that in the house of Dagon there was a cloistered structure of this kind, the pulling down of the front or centre pillars only, which supported it, would be attended with the catastrophe described."

Study Note 28, Outline Study.

XIX

THE STORY OF RUTH

(Book of Ruth)

Introductory Note.-See Outline Study, Note 29.

Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah' went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites3 of Beth-lehemjudah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.

And Elimelech Naomi's husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.

Then she arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had

1. Give the location of Bethlehem.

2.

The country of Moab, the native land of Ruth, lay southeast of the Dead Sea, 100 miles or more distant from Bethlehem by the travelled roads.

3. Inhabitants of Ephrath, i. e. Bethlehem.