"O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once."
Judges 16:28 · King James Bible
The story
Samson was born to a barren woman in the tribe of Dan, in the days when the Philistines ruled over Israel. An angel of the Lord told her that her son must never cut his hair, never touch a dead body, and never drink wine — he would be a Nazirite unto God from the womb.Samson grew up with extraordinary strength. He killed a lion with his bare hands. He struck down a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. He tore down the gates of the city of Gaza and carried them to the top of a hill.
But Samson had a weakness: he loved women who did not love God. In the valley of Sorek he loved Delilah. The Philistine lords paid her to find out the secret of his strength. Three times she asked him. Three times Samson lied — new ropes, seven green withs, a loom. At last, "vexed unto death," he told her the truth: his strength came from his uncut hair, the sign of his vow.
Delilah put him to sleep on her knees and had his head shaved. When the Philistines came, Samson thought he could shake them off as before. But "he wist not that the Lord was departed from him." They put out his eyes and set him grinding grain in a Gaza prison.
His hair began to grow back. At a great festival to their idol Dagon, the Philistines brought Samson out to mock him. He asked a boy to lead him between the two central pillars of the temple. He prayed his last prayer: "O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once." He pushed the pillars apart. The temple collapsed. "So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life."