Scriptural poems being several portions of Scripture digested into English verse
Bunyan, John, 1628-1688.
CHAP. XVI.
THen down to Gaza Sampson went, and there
Seeing an Harlot, went in unto her
And when the Gazites heard he was come thither:
Straightway they gathered themselves together
To compass him about, and lay in wait
All Night, to take him in the City Gate,
And they were still all Night for why? say they,
To morrow we shall kill him when 'tis Day.
And he till Midnight lay, and then arose,
And with the City Gates away he goes,
Bearing the Posts, and bar and all away,
And on an Hill near Hebron did them lay.
And afterward it came to pass he saw,
And lov'd a Woman named Delilah,
Who in the Vale of Sorek dwelt to whom
There did the Lords of the Philistines come,
And said, if thou wilt but entice him to reveal
Where lies his Strength, and which way we may deal
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With him, to bind him, to afflict him, we
Each one will give a great reward to thee.
And she to Sampson said, I pray thee, tell
Wherein thy Strength doth other Men excel,
And how thou may'st be bound: And he reply'd,
If they with Seven green Withs that ne'er were dried
Shall bind me Hand and Foot, I shall be then
As weak and impotent as other Men.
Then the Philistine Lords for her provide
The Seven green Withs which never had been dried,
And she therewith did bind him, (now there were
Men lying in wait whom she had placed there)
Then she cry'd out, and said, Now Sampson stand
Thy ground, for the Philistines are at hand.
And streight he brake the Withs, and they became
Like to a thred of Tow when toucht with flame:
So was his Strength not found out. Then said she,
Sampson, behold, thou hast deceived me,
And told me lyes: Therefore no longer blind me,
But tell, I pray thee, wherewith I may bind thee:
Bind me with Ropes that ne'er were us'd, said he;
Then weak as other Men are, shall I be:
She therefore took New Ropes, and bound him, and
Cry'd, Sampson, the Philistines are at Hand:
(And in the Chamber there were Men lay hid)
And from his Arms he brake them like a Thread.
Then said she, Thou hast mock'd me hitherto,
And told me Lyes: Now tell we what to do
To bind thee. He reply'd, Thou with the Web
Must interweave the Seven Locks of my Head.
Then she his Locks did fasten with the Pin,
And said, the Philistines are coming in,
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Shift, Sampson, for thy self; then he awoke,
And Pin and Web, and all away he took.
Then said she, How canst thou pretend to love me,
When thus thy Doing towards me disprove thee?
For now, behold, thou hast deceiv'd me thrice,
And hast not told me where thy great Strength lies.
At length his Soul being vext exceedingly,
By reason of her Importunity:
He told the Secrets of his Heart, and said,
Never yet Razor on my Head was laid;
For I have been to God a Nazarite,
Even from the Day that first I saw the Light:
Wherefore like other Men, if I am shaven,
I shall be weak, and of my Strength bereaven.
And when she saw that he had told her all
The Secrets of his Heart, she sent to call
The Lords of the Philistines, Come, said she,
This once, for now he hath made known to me
The very Truth. Then they came up together,
And brought the Money in their Hands to give her.
Then down to sleep upon her Knees she laid him,
And call'd a Man, who of his Locks betray'd him,
And to afflict him she began, and then
His Strength became like that of other Men:
Then said she, Sampson, thy Philistine Foes
Are just at hand: And he from sleep arose,
And as at other times went forth to shake him,
Not knowing that the Lord did now forsake him.
But the Philistines seized him, and brought
Him down to Gaza, having first put out
His Eyes, and did with brazen Fetters bind
And made him in the Prison-House to grind.
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Howbeit the Hair upon his Head began,
After he had been shaved, to grow again.
Then the Philistine Lords together met,
And a Thanksgiving day apart they set,
For to rejojce, and unto Dagon pay
Their highest Service, For our God, say they,
Did this: And when the People did behold
Poor Captive Sampson, they their God extoll'd,
And said, our God, Hath given into our hand,
Him that destroy'd us, and laid waste our Land.
And in their heighth of Mirth, they sent to call
Sampson, to come and make sport for them all.
And from the Prison-House they brought him, and
Between the Pillars they set him to stand;
And there he made them Sport. Then to the Lad,
That led him by the Hand, thus Sampson said,
Let me now feel the Pillars that sustain
The House that I my self thereon may lean.
Now in the Home there was a mighty Throng
Of Men and Women gather'd, and among
Them, all the Lords of the Philistines were:
Besides, upon the Roof there did appear,
About Three thousand Men and Women, who
Beheld, while Sampson made them sport below.
And Sampson calling on the Lord did say,
O Lord, my God, remember me, I pray,
This once give Strength, that I aveng'd may be
Of those Philistines who have blinded me.
And with his Right-hand and his Left, he held
Two middle Pillars which the House upheld;
And said, Let me with the Philistines die,
And then he bow'd himself most mightily:
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And down the House fell on the Lords, and all
The People that were in't: So that the fall
Thereof, slew at his Dying many more,
Than he had slain in all his Life before.
Then did his Brethren, and his Kinsfolks come
And took him up, and brought him with them home,
And laid him in his Father's Sepulchre,
When he had judged Israel twenty Year.
