The story of Jdg 16, with its twists and turns, provokes laughter. But on a second level, the reader, in laughing at Samson, assimilates himself to the Philistines on whom the temple of Dagon collapses. Having been caught in the text's trap, he can enter another mode of reading. Samson appears greater than he imagined. He reveals to him the spousal and saving love of YHWH, the God of Israel.