Judges 16:16

16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.

Judges 16:16 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;
English Standard Version (ESV)
16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.
New Living Translation (NLT)
16 She tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it.
The Message Bible (MSG)
16 She kept at it day after day, nagging and tormenting him. Finally, he was fed up - he couldn't take another minute of it.
American Standard Version (ASV)
16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed unto death.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
16 Every day she made his life miserable with her questions. She pestered him until he wished he were dead.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
16 Because she nagged him day after day and pled with him until she wore him out,
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
16 She continued to pester him day after day. She nagged him until he was sick and tired of it.

Judges 16:16 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 16:16

And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her
words, and urged him
Lay at him day after day to communicate the secret to him, gave him no rest, but was incessant in her applications to him:

so that his soul was vexed unto death:
could hardly bear to live, but wished to die, being in the utmost perplexity what to do between two different passions, love and fear; on the one hand chained by his lust to this harlot, that was continually teasing him, and whom he had not an heart to leave, or otherwise that would have cleared him of his difficulties; and on the other hand, should he disclose the secret, he feared, and was in danger of losing his strength, in which his glory lay: or

``his soul was shortened unto death'' F3;

it was the means of shortening his days, and hastening his death. Abarbinel thinks that Samson was sensible of this, that his days were short, and the time of his death at hand; which made him the more willing to impart the secret. This may put in mind of the story of Milo, a man famous for his great strength, said to carry an ox upon his shoulders a furlong without breathing; of whom it is reported, that none of his adversaries could deliver themselves out of his hands, but his whore could, often contending with him; hence it is observed of him, that he was strong in body, but not of a manly soul {d}; and there are many other things said F5 of him concerning his great strength, which seem to be taken from this history of Samson.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 (ruqt) "abbreviata est", Montanus, Drusius. So Munster.
F4 Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 2. c. 24.
F5 Vid. Pausan. Eliac. 2. sive. l. 6. p. 309.

Judges 16:16 In-Context

14 and tightened it with the pin. Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.”
16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it.
17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands.
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