Samson's Death and the Fall of the Philistine Temple
Judges 16:23-31
23The lords of the Philistines gathered to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their God and for rejoicing, and they said, "Our God has given Samson our enemy into our hand."24The people saw him and praised their God, for they said, "Our God has given our enemy into our hand, the destroyer of our land who multiplied our slain."25When it was pleasant to their heart, they said, "Call Samson so that he may laugh for us." They called Samson from the prison house of the bound, and he laughed before them, and they positioned him between the pillars.26Samson said to the youth who held his hand, "Release me and let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, so that I may lean on them."27The house was filled with men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there; on the roof about three thousand men and women were watching Samson laugh.28Samson called to the LORD and said, "O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me just this once, O God, so that I may take vengeance, one vengeance, for one of my two eyes upon the Philistines."29Samson grasped the two central pillars on which the house rested and braced himself against them, one with his right hand and one with his left hand.30Samson said, "Let my soul die with the Philistines." He stretched with strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it, and the dead whom he killed in his death were more than those he had killed during his life.31His brothers and all his father's house came down and carried him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the grave of Manoah his father; he had judged Israel twenty years.