Judges 16:6-16

6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me what makes your strength so great, and how you could be bound, so that one could subdue you."
7 Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that are not dried out, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else."
8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not dried out, and she bound him with them.
9 While men were lying in wait in an inner chamber, she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he snapped the bowstrings, as a strand of fiber snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have mocked me and told me lies; please tell me how you could be bound."
11 He said to her, "If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else."
12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" (The men lying in wait were in an inner chamber.) But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
13 Then Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you have mocked me and told me lies; tell me how you could be bound." He said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and make it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak, and be like anyone else."
14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web, and made them tight with the pin. Then she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.
15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, "I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great."
16 Finally, after she had nagged him with her words day after day, and pestered him, he was tired to death.

Judges 16:6-16 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.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Compare Gk: in verses 13-14, Heb lacks [and make it tight . . . into the web]
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.