After 3 failed tries to persuade Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ to tell her the secret of his strength, DᵊlilꞋâh tried yet again.

4. I’m A NᵊzirꞋ Ël•ōh•imꞋ; Shave Off My Hair & Beard

   Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ’s Primary Travels

   So it was that she vexed him all day long every day, her words like drips in an incessant rain—like the Grim-Reaper, nagging his nëphꞋësh to death.

   So, finally, he poured out his heart to her, explaining everything: “No mōr•âhꞋ has ever been over my head, for I have been a nᵊzirꞋ ël•ōh•imꞋ from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved then my power will forsake me, leaving me weak like every â•dâmꞋ.”

   Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ’s Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ Wife Delivers Him Over To Her Am.

   When DᵊlilꞋâh saw that he had revealed everything from his heart, she sent word summoning the VIPs of the Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ saying, “Come up one more time. This time he has poured out his heart to me.” So the Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ VIPs came to her, with the silver in their hands.

   She enticed Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ to fall asleep on her lap. Then she called an ish who shaved off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to playfully tease him, testing his strength—and she could feel that his power had forsaken him.

   Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ’s Eyes Gouged Out, Imprisoned Pushing Stone Grain-Mill

   Grain-crushing mill or olive press; Kha•shᵊmon•ây•imꞋ, Nᵊōt Kᵊdūm•inꞋ, Gan Ës•teirꞋ, 1991.05 (©1991 Yirmᵊyahu Ben-David)

   Once again, she announced: “Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ, some Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ are here to see you.”

   So he awoke saying to himself, “Here we go again. I’ll go out and shake my fists at them and scare them away.” But he didn’t realize that, this time, é‑‑ä had forsaken him.

   Then the Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ took Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ into custody, gouged out both of his eyes, and transported him down to AzꞋâh, where they chained him in copper handcuffs and forced him to turn a grindstone, grinding grain like an ox, all day every day, in their AzꞋâh prison.

   But, though his head had been shaved prior to his incarceration, the hair of his head and beard eventually grew back.

Blind Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ Made Party Clown, Brings Down The House

A.

At their next great festival, the Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ VIPs assembled to celebrate a great sacrifice-banquet for Dâg•ōnꞋ, their ël•ōh•imꞋ, and to celebrate; for they boasted, “Our ël•ōh•imꞋ has given our enemy, Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ, into our hand.”

When the am Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ saw Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ, his eyes gouged out and in handcuffs, they shouted “Hallᵊlu! Praise ël•ōh•imꞋ! Our ël•ōh•imꞋ has given into our hand our enemy, the destroyer of our ërꞋëtz who has killed so many of us!”

When the partiers began drinking and partying hard, they called out, “Summon Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ; make him be a party-clown and entertain us.” So they summoned Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ from the dungeon and, because he was blind, a young man had to guide him to the center arena of the banquet-hall, between two pillars, where he was left to blunder-around and fall over things while the Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ laughed at him.

Finally, Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ asked the young man who had led him into the arena to lead him to the two pillars so he could lean on them and rest a bit.

The banquet-hall was packed to the rafters with men, women and the VIPs of the Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ—and even on the roof overlooking the arena, all watching Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ bumbling around like a clown; about 3,000 partiers watching the entertainment.

Finally, Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ called out to é‑‑ä saying, “A•dōn•âiꞋ, My é‑‑ä, remember me, prithee, and empower me, prithee, just this one more time, ha-ël•ōh•imꞋ, so I can finally, absolutely, avenge the Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ for my two eyes.”

Then Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ wrenched the two central supporting pillars, one in his right arm and the other in his left arm, twisting them while pushing with his legs in order to thrust them off of their bases. Just before his final thrust, Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ said, “Let my nëphꞋësh die with the Pᵊli•shᵊt•inꞋ!” Then he bent down and thrust with all of his might, pushing the columns off of their bases, causing the roof, with all of its people, to collapse; and the hall fell down on the VIPs. So, all of the am who were inside; and the dead that he slew in his dying effort, were more than he had personally slain his entire life.

Later, his brothers and all of the house of his father, came down from the mountains and took his body back home into the mountains, burying him between Tzâr•âhꞋ and Ëshᵊtâ•ōlꞋ; in the burial-place of Mâ•nōꞋakh, his father.

So Shi•mᵊsh•ōnꞋ was Shō•pheitꞋ of Yi•sᵊr•â•eilꞋ for 20 years.