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Judges 16:16-26

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16 Because she nagged him day after day and pled with him until she wore him out,[a]
17 he told her the whole truth and said to her, "My hair has never been cut,[b] because I am a Nazirite to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man."
18 When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: "Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth." The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the money with them.
19 Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she rendered him helpless,[c] and his strength left him.
20 Then she cried, "Samson, the Philistines are here!"[d] When he awoke from his sleep, he said, "I will escape as I did before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

Samson's Defeat and Death

21 The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.
22 But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.
23 Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said: Our god has handed over our enemy Samson to us.
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god and said: Our god has handed over to us our enemy who destroyed our land and who multiplied our dead.
25 When they were drunk, they said, "Bring Samson here to entertain us." So they brought Samson from prison, and he entertained them. They had him stand between the pillars.
26 Samson said to the young man who was leading him by the hand, "Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them."
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Judges 16:16-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 16

In this chapter we have an account of Samson's too great familiarity with two harlots; by the one he was brought into great danger, and narrowly escaped, Jud 16:1-3, and by the other he was betrayed into the hands of the Philistines, having got the secret out of him wherein his great strength lay, Jud 16:4-20 who having him in their hands, put out his eyes, imprisoned him, and in their idol temple made sport of him, Jud 16:21-25, where praying for renewed strength from the Lord, he pulled down the temple, and destroyed multitudes with the loss of his own life, Jud 16:26-31.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
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Footnotes 4

  • [a] Lit him and he became short to death
  • [b] Lit A razor has not gone up on my head
  • [c] LXX reads way he began to weaken
  • [d] Lit are on you
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

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