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Samson and Delilah

A strong man shows his weakness.
Story also available on our translated websites: Polish, German, Hindi
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This is the story from the Bible of a man called Samson whom God gave the power to be very, very strong providing he kept his Nazarite vow never to cut his hair, or drink wine. He was a fierce fighter and won many battles against the Philistines. – Slide 1
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But although he was very strong, he was very weak when it came to saying ‘no’ to doing wrong. – Slide 2
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One day, Samson fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah, who lived in Sorek Valley. He thought she liked him but she had been bribed by five Philistine leaders who offered her eleven hundred pieces of silver to find out the secret of Samson’s strength. – Slide 3
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So Delilah said to Samson, ‘Please tell me what makes you so strong. If someone wanted to tie you up and make you helpless, how could he do it?’ <br/>Samson answered, ‘If they tie me up with seven new bowstrings that are not dried out, I'll be as weak as anybody else.’ <br/>So the Philistine leaders brought Delilah seven new bowstrings that were not dried out, and she tied Samson up. – Slide 4
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She had some men waiting in another room, so she shouted, ‘Samson! The Philistines are coming!’ But he snapped the bowstrings just as thread breaks when fire touches it. So they still did not know the secret of his strength. – Slide 5
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Delilah told Samson, ‘Look, you've been making a fool of me and not telling me the truth. Please tell me how someone could tie you up.’ <br/>He told her, ‘If they tie me with new ropes that have never been used, I'll be as weak as anybody else.’ <br/>So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up. – Slide 6
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Then she shouted, ‘Samson! The Philistines are coming!’ The men were waiting in another room. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like thread. – Slide 7
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Delilah said to Samson, ‘You're still making a fool of me and not telling me the truth. Tell me how someone could tie you up.’ <br/>He told her, ‘If you weave my seven locks of hair into a loom, and make it tight with a peg, I'll be as weak as anybody else.’ <br/>Delilah then lulled him to sleep, took his seven locks of hair, and wove them into the loom. – Slide 8
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She made it tight with a peg and shouted, ‘Samson! The Philistines are coming!’ But he woke up and pulled his hair loose from the loom. <br/>Delilah exclaimed, ‘How can you say you love me, when you don't mean it? You've made a fool of me three times, and you still haven't told me what makes you so strong.’ She kept pestering Samson, day after day and he got tired of her bothering him. <br/>‘My hair has never been cut,’ Samson explained. ‘I have been dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the time I was born. If my hair was cut, I would lose my strength and be as weak as anybody else.’ – Slide 9
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Delilah sent a secret message to the Philistine kings and said, ‘Come back one more time. He has told me the truth.’ They brought money with them. Delilah lulled Samson to sleep in her lap and then Samson's seven locks of hair were cut off. <br/>Then she shouted, ‘Samson! The Philistines are coming!’ He woke up and thought, ‘I'll get loose and go free, as always.’ He did not know that the Lord had left him and he had lost his strength. – Slide 10
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The Philistines easily captured Samson and put out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, chained him with bronze chains, and put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison. But his hair started growing back. <br/>The Philistines met together to celebrate and offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They sang, ‘Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson!’ <br/>They were enjoying themselves and said, ‘Call Samson to entertain us!’ <br/>When the people saw Samson, they sang praise to their god: ‘Dagon has given us victory over our enemy, who devastated our land and killed so many of us!’ – Slide 11
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Samson said to the boy who was leading him by the hand, ‘Let me touch the columns that hold up the building. I want to lean on them.’ <br/>The building was crowded with men and women. All five Philistine leaders were there, and there were about three thousand men and women on the roof, watching Samson entertain them. <br/>Then Samson prayed, ‘Sovereign Lord, please remember me. Please, God, give me my strength just this one time more, so that with this one blow I can get even with the Philistines for putting out my two eyes.’ <br/>So Samson took hold of the two middle columns holding up the building. Putting one hand on each column, he pushed against them and shouted, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ <br/>He pushed with all his might, and the building fell down on the five kings and everyone else. Samson killed more people at his death than he had killed during his life. – Slide 12
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Slide 13