They hid ¹  in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, ²  Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. ³  The secret of his strength was not discovered. ⁴ 

So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are here, ¹  Samson!” (The Philistines were hiding in the bedroom.) ²  But he tore the ropes ³  from his arms as if they were a piece of thread.

before the silver cord is removed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the well, ¹  or the water wheel ²  is broken at the cistern –

For he shattered the bronze gates, and hacked through the iron bars. ¹ 

For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, ¹  but ²  he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

He brought them out of the utter darkness, ¹  and tore off their shackles.

Although an assailant may overpower ¹  one person, two can withstand him. Moreover, a three-stranded cord is not quickly broken.

Mourn for that nation, all you nations living around it, all of you nations that know of its fame. ¹  Mourn and say, ‘Alas, its powerful influence has been broken! Its glory and power have been done away!’ ² 

Then I took my staff “Pleasantness” and cut it in two to annul my covenant that I had made with all the people.

The sky ¹  was split apart ²  like a scroll being rolled up, ³  and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

But our tents have been destroyed. The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart. ¹  Our children are gone and are not coming back. ²  There is no survivor to put our tents back up, no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.

When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered ¹  him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in ²  fire, and they ³  melted away from his hands.

“Indeed, ¹  long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. ²  You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ ³  Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. ⁴ 

So prophesy and say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip ¹  and slander among the people,