²⁶ Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him.^(A) He was loved by his God,^(B) and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women.^(C)

Samson and Delilah

16 One day Samson^(A) went to Gaza,^(B) where he saw a prostitute.^(C) He went in to spend the night with her. ² The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate.^(D) They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn^(E) we’ll kill him.”

³ But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.^(F)

⁴ Some time later, he fell in love^(G) with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.^{(H) 5} The rulers of the Philistines^(I) went to her and said, “See if you can lure^(J) him into showing you the secret of his great strength^(K) and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels^[a] of silver.”^(L)