Samson and Delilah Bible Story: Summary, Meaning & Verses

Bible passageJudges 16

Main charactersSamson, Delilah, Philistine rulers

SettingValley of Sorek and Gaza

Main themesCalling, strength, compromise, betrayal

The quick answer

What happened in the story of Samson and Delilah?

In Judges 16, the Philistine rulers offer Delilah silver to find out how Samson can be overpowered. After three false answers and repeated pressure, he tells her that no razor has touched his head because he has been a Nazirite from the womb.

Delilah summons the rulers and arranges for his hair to be shaved while he sleeps. Samson awakes expecting to escape, unaware that Yahweh has left him. The Philistines capture and blind him. Later, in a temple in Gaza, he prays for strength and revenge for his eyes, then brings down the pillars and dies with the crowd inside.

The full story

Judges 16: Delilah’s Questions, Betrayal, and Samson’s Last Prayer

Before Delilah: the calling Samson carries

Samson enters Judges 16 as a judge already known for his strength and conflict with the Philistines. His uncut hair marks a Nazirite calling announced before birth. That background explains what he eventually discloses to Delilah. Read Samson’s life and calling for his parents, earlier choices, and years as judge. Judges 13:5; 15:20

The chapter opens with Samson visiting a prostitute in Gaza. The people of the city plan to kill him at dawn, but he leaves at midnight, carrying away the city gates, their posts, and the bar. He takes them to a hill facing Hebron. This unnamed woman is not identified as Delilah. Judges 16:1–3

Samson loves Delilah in the Valley of Sorek

Afterward, Samson loved a woman named Delilah in the Valley of Sorek. Judges does not call her Samson’s wife or explicitly state her ethnicity.

The rulers of the Philistines offered Delilah eleven hundred pieces of silver each if she could discover where Samson’s great strength came from and how he could be bound. She accepted their proposal and repeatedly asked Samson to reveal his secret. Judges 16:4–6

Samson gives Delilah three false answers

Samson first said seven fresh cords would make him weak. When Delilah bound him and called out that the Philistines were upon him, he snapped the cords. He then claimed that new ropes would hold him, but he broke those as well.

His third answer involved his hair: he told Delilah to weave its seven locks into a loom. When she fastened the weaving and called out, he woke and pulled it free. Delilah had now tried all three answers. The account does not explain why Samson stayed with her. Judges 16:7–14

Samson tells Delilah about his uncut hair

Delilah challenged Samson’s claim to love her and pressed him day after day until he told her all his heart. No razor had ever touched his head because he had been a Nazirite to God from his mother’s womb. If shaved, he said, his strength would leave him.

His uncut hair marked his dedication to God, established before his birth. Judges explicitly attributes several earlier feats of strength to Yahweh’s Spirit, including killing the lion and breaking the ropes at Lehi. Samson’s explanation links his hair with that dedication; it does not make him powerful apart from God. Judges 13:5; 14:6, 19; 15:14; 16:17

ScriptureWorld English Bible Classic (WEB)

He told her all his heart and said to her, “No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me and I will become weak, and be like any other man.”

Judges 16:17

Delilah arranges for Samson’s hair to be shaved

Delilah recognized that Samson had finally told her the truth and summoned the Philistine rulers. They returned with the money. She made Samson sleep on her knees, called for a man, and arranged for his seven locks to be shaved. The KJV describes her having the man shave them; the WEB phrases the action with Delilah as its subject. Both accounts place the betrayal under her direction.

When Delilah announced the Philistines, Samson expected to escape as before. He did not know that Yahweh had departed from him. The Philistines seized him, put out his eyes, took him to Gaza in bronze chains, and made him grind grain in prison. Judges 16:18–21

Illustration of a man cutting Samson’s hair with a blade while Samson sleeps in Delilah’s lap — This illustration follows the KJV wording of Judges 16:19, with a man doing the cutting at Delilah’s direction. The blade, clothing, and room are imagined details.

Samson prays between the temple pillars

Samson’s hair began to grow again. Meanwhile, the Philistine rulers gathered in Gaza to celebrate and sacrifice to Dagon, claiming their god had delivered their enemy into their hands. They brought Samson from prison to entertain the crowd and placed him between the temple’s supporting pillars.

Samson asked the boy leading him to let him feel the pillars. He prayed that God would remember him and strengthen him once more so he could avenge his two eyes. Holding the two central supports, he said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed with all his might, and the building fell on the rulers and the people inside. His brothers and his father’s household later buried him in Manoah’s burial place between Zorah and Eshtaol. Judges 16:22–31

Illustration of a blindfolded Samson pressing his hands against two pillars in a crowded temple — An imagined view of Judges 16:25–30. The passage describes Samson’s blindness and two supporting pillars; the blindfold and architectural details are the artist’s choices.

ScriptureWorld English Bible Classic (WEB)

Samson called to Yahweh, and said, “Lord Yahweh, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Judges 16:28

The central distinction

Where Did Samson Get His Strength?

The uncut hair and God’s presence both matter in Judges. The angel had said no razor should touch Samson’s head, and Samson told Delilah that shaving it would leave him weak. After it was shaved, his strength left him. When he tried to escape, he did not know that Yahweh had departed from him (16:17–20).

Verse 22 notes that his hair began growing again. It does not say his power automatically returned as it grew. In the final scene, Samson still asks God to strengthen him (16:28). Reading these details together avoids treating his hair as a magic object—or dismissing its importance in his Nazirite calling.

The ending in context

How Did Samson Die?

Samson died by bringing down the Philistine temple while he stood between its two main pillars. The chapter says about three thousand people watched from the roof, while the rulers and a large crowd were inside.

The three thousand on the roof are not a total death toll. Judges says Samson killed more people at his death than during his life, without giving a final number. His prayer includes revenge for his eyes, and his last words accept his own death. The chapter ends with his family burying him and the statement that he judged Israel for twenty years.

If you want to compare Samson with other people in Scripture, try the Bible Characters Quiz. It covers a range of biblical figures, not just this story.

Meaning and lessons

What does the story of Samson and Delilah mean?

A calling does not remove personal responsibility

Samson receives a purpose before birth, yet his repeated choices still carry consequences.

God—not hair—was the source of Samson’s strength

The seven locks marked his consecration, while Judges connects his power with Yahweh’s Spirit.

Delilah turns Samson’s confidence against him

She tries each answer and presses him day after day. When he finally tells her about his hair, she summons the rulers.

Great gifts do not guarantee wise character

Samson’s physical power coexists with impulsiveness, anger, secrecy, and vulnerability to manipulation.

The last prayer is not a simple happy ending

Samson asks for God’s help and for revenge. His enemies die, but so does he; his family comes to bury him.

These are reflections on the account, not additional events in it. Delilah’s betrayal should not become a claim about women generally, and Samson’s final act is not an instruction to seek revenge or harm oneself or others. For Christian teaching on personal retaliation, read Romans 12:17–21, which calls believers to overcome evil with good.

Read it in context

Key Samson and Delilah Bible verses

Judges 13Samson’s birth, Nazirite calling, and announced mission Judges 14The lion, honey, wedding feast, riddle, and first betrayal Judges 15Retaliation, broken ropes, the jawbone, and water at Lehi Judges 16:4–22Delilah’s questions, Samson’s seven locks, and his capture Judges 16:23–31Samson’s final prayer and the collapse of Dagon’s temple

References open in the World English Bible. The story can also be read in the King James Version.

Story check · Five questions

How well do you remember Samson and Delilah?

Answer five questions from Judges 16. You’ll see the answer and Bible reference after every choice.

Where did the woman Samson loved, Delilah, live?

What did each Philistine ruler promise Delilah?

What did Samson fail to realize when he woke after the shaving?

How many locks of Samson’s hair were shaved?

What did Samson ask God for in the Philistine temple?

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Questions readers ask

Samson and Delilah story FAQ

Where is the story of Samson and Delilah in the Bible?

Samson and Delilah appear together in Judges 16:4–22. Samson’s wider story begins with the announcement of his birth in Judges 13 and continues through his death in Judges 16:31.

Who were Samson and Delilah?

Samson was an Israelite judge set apart as a Nazirite from the womb and called to begin delivering Israel from Philistine rule. Delilah was the woman Samson loved in the Valley of Sorek. The Philistine rulers offered her silver to discover how he could be subdued.

Was Delilah Samson’s wife?

Judges 16 says Samson loved a woman named Delilah, but it does not call her his wife. An earlier woman from Timnah is explicitly connected with Samson through marriage, so the distinction in the text matters.

Was Delilah a Philistine?

The Bible does not explicitly identify Delilah’s ethnicity. She lived in the Valley of Sorek and cooperated with the rulers of the Philistines, but calling her a Philistine goes beyond what Judges 16 directly states.

Why did Delilah betray Samson?

The Philistine rulers promised Delilah eleven hundred pieces of silver each if she discovered the source of Samson’s strength. The narrative records the financial offer and her actions but does not provide a fuller explanation of her private motives.

What did Delilah do to Samson?

Delilah repeatedly pressed Samson to reveal how he could be bound. After he told her about his Nazirite dedication and uncut hair, she summoned the rulers, who brought the promised money. She arranged for his hair to be shaved while he slept on her knees and called out that the Philistines were upon him. They seized and blinded him (Judges 16:15–21).

Who cut Samson’s hair?

Delilah arranged the shaving, but translations differ in how they describe the action in Judges 16:19. The KJV says she called for a man and caused him to shave Samson’s seven locks. The WEB says she called for a man “and shaved off” the locks, leaving her as the grammatical subject. Neither version names the man. It is better to identify the translation than to treat “Delilah” or “an unnamed man” as the only possible answer.

Did Samson’s hair give him strength?

Samson’s uncut hair was the visible sign of his lifelong Nazirite dedication; it was not a magical object. Judges repeatedly connects Samson’s power with Yahweh’s Spirit, and after the shaving says that Yahweh had departed from him.

Why did Samson lose his strength?

Samson told Delilah that shaving his head would leave him weak because he had been a Nazirite from the womb. After the shaving, his strength left him. When he tried to escape, he did not know Yahweh had departed from him (Judges 16:17–20). The passage links his uncut hair with his dedication to God; it does not present hair as a source of power independent of God.

How did Samson die?

Samson was brought from prison to entertain the crowd at a celebration for Dagon. He prayed for strength and revenge for his eyes, then pressed against the two supporting pillars and died when the building collapsed. Judges 16:30 says he killed more people at his death than during his life. This account is not an instruction to seek revenge or harm oneself or others.