Valley of Sorek
A place in the Bible
A valley west of Jerusalem, near the land of the Philistines.
What happened here
- Delilah: Samson fell in love with a woman from the Valley of Sorek, named Delilah.
- The secret: the leaders of the Philistines asked Delilah to find out where Samson’s strength came from. He told her that he was consecrated to God and that his hair had never been cut.
- The betrayal: Delilah put him to sleep on her lap and called a man, who cut off the seven locks of his hair.
Today
It is the Valley of Sorek, west of Jerusalem, in Israel.
Where it appears in the Bible
Judges 16:4; Judges 16:5; Judges 16:17; Judges 16:19
What the Bible says
Judges 16:4
After this he loved a woman, who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and she was called Dalila.
Judges 16:5
And the princes of the Philistines came to her, and said: Deceive him, and learn of him wherein his great strength lieth, and how we may be able to overcome him, to bind and afflict him: which if thou shalt do, we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
Judges 16:17
Then opening the truth of the thing, he said to her: The razor hath never come upon my head, for I am a Nazarite, that is to say, consecrated to God from my mother’s womb: if my head be shaven, my strength shall depart from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be like other men.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: Judges 16:4-19; Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), “Zorah”