{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "kind": "event",
  "id": "samson-death",
  "era": "conquest-judges",
  "order": 119,
  "title": "Samson’s final prayer in Gaza",
  "group": "judges-deliverers",
  "date": {
    "kind": "relative",
    "label": "End of Samson’s twenty years as judge"
  },
  "pin": [
    34.4644,
    31.504
  ],
  "pinConfidence": "Identified site",
  "pinPlace": "openbible-aa8edd2",
  "summary": "The Philistine rulers celebrate Samson’s capture in Dagon’s temple. Brought out before the crowd, Samson prays for strength and brings down the building, dying with those inside. His family carries him back for burial between Zorah and Eshtaol.",
  "context": "The account preserves both Samson’s prayer and his desire for revenge. It closes the twenty-year judging notice already given in chapter 15; these are not two separate twenty-year careers.",
  "question": "How can Hebrews remember Samson’s faith while the narrative still makes us face his failures?",
  "locationNote": "Gaza is an identified locality, but this map does not locate Dagon’s temple or equate it with another excavated Philistine sanctuary. Zorah gives the home region to which his family carries the body; the exact burial site is not plotted.",
  "passages": [
    {
      "reference": "Judges 16:23–31",
      "range": [
        7016023,
        7016031
      ],
      "translation": "bsb",
      "url": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges%2016%3A23%E2%80%9331&version=BSB",
      "availability": "bundled",
      "verses": [
        {
          "book": "Judges",
          "chapter": 16,
          "verse": 23,
          "text": "Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.”"
        },
        {
          "book": "Judges",
          "chapter": 16,
          "verse": 24,
          "text": "And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy who destroyed our land and multiplied our dead.”"
        },
        {
          "book": "Judges",
          "chapter": 16,
          "verse": 25,
          "text": "And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars."
        },
        {
          "book": "Judges",
          "chapter": 16,
          "verse": 26,
          "text": "Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.”"
        },
        {
          "book": "Judges",
          "chapter": 16,
          "verse": 27,
          "text": "Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them."
        },
        {
          "book": "Judges",
          "chapter": 16,
          "verse": 28,
          "text": "Then Samson called out to the LORD: “O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”"
        },
        {
          "book": "Judges",
          "chapter": 16,
          "verse": 29,
          "text": "And Samson reached out for the two central pillars supporting the temple. Bracing himself against them with his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other,"
        },
        {
          "book": "Judges",
          "chapter": 16,
          "verse": 30,
          "text": "Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life."
        },
        {
          "book": "Judges",
          "chapter": 16,
          "verse": 31,
          "text": "Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years."
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    {
      "range": [
        58011032,
        58011034
      ],
      "kind": "teaching",
      "note": "Hebrews lists Samson among people remembered for faith; it does not commend every act of their lives.",
      "reference": "Hebrews 11:32–34",
      "translation": "bsb",
      "url": "https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2011%3A32%E2%80%9334&version=BSB"
    }
  ],
  "places": [
    {
      "id": "openbible-a08174b",
      "name": "Zorah",
      "coordinate": [
        34.985289,
        31.773992
      ],
      "kind": "City",
      "confidence": "Identified site",
      "confidenceSource": "editorial",
      "sources": [
        {
          "label": "OpenBible · Zorah",
          "url": "https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/a08174b/zorah"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "openbible-aa8edd2",
      "name": "Gaza",
      "coordinate": [
        34.4644,
        31.504
      ],
      "kind": "City",
      "confidence": "Identified site",
      "confidenceSource": "editorial",
      "sources": [
        {
          "label": "OpenBible · Gaza",
          "url": "https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/aa8edd2/gaza"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "mapPeriod": "iron-i",
  "further": [
    {
      "label": "OpenBible · Gaza",
      "url": "https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/aa8edd2/gaza"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "sources": [
      {
        "name": "editorial",
        "ref": "content/authored/conquest-judges.json"
      }
    ],
    "review": "draft"
  },
  "eraName": "Conquest & Judges",
  "interactiveUrl": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/?event=samson-death",
  "attribution": [
    "Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.",
    "Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.",
    "Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm"
  ],
  "translation": "bsb",
  "url": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/samson-death/",
  "markdownUrl": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/samson-death/index.md",
  "jsonUrl": "https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/samson-death/index.json",
  "cautions": "Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.",
  "revision": "39dc3d2cc52c8167"
}