Samson Carrying Off the City Gate of Gaza; Delilah Tying Up Samson (Ms. 33, fol. 145v, from the Weltchronik)

Unknown painter, Regensburg · about 1400–1410
Getty Center, Los Angeles

A page of the Regensburg Weltchronik, about 1400–1410, with two moments of Samson’s story side by side.

At the left, Samson strides away with a whole door on his shoulder while armed men peer out of the town gate. At the right, he sleeps in Delilah’s lap and soldiers in armour wait behind a rock.

From the text

He carries off the doors of the city gate (Judges 16:3)

The men of Gaza lie in wait at the gate (Judges 16:2)

Men hidden while Delilah ties him (Judges 16:9)

The artist’s own

The gate drawn as one door with iron hinges

The Philistines in armour of about 1400

Details

Samson

He carries a great door on his back.

At the gate

Armed men look out of the town gate.

Delilah

Samson sleeps with his head in her lap.

Hidden men

Soldiers wait behind a rock.

Unknown illuminator, Regensburg; text by Rudolf von Ems (Austrian, about 1200–1254). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Ms. 33 (88.MP.70), fol. 145v) · Tempera colors, gold, silver paint, and ink · Images provided here are believed to be in the public domain and are available under CC0 through Getty’s Open Content Program. (Getty record: "No Copyright", http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)

The verses

Judg 16:1–3One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her. When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.” But Samson lay there only until midnight, when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and both gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. Then he put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.

Judg 16:8–9So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn seared by a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown.