Judges 16:1
in Judges 16One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her.
KJV
Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.
⋯
This verse in Judges 16
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThen went Samson to Gaza, and saw there a harlot - The Chaldee, as in the former case, renders the clause thus: Samson saw there a woman, an inn-keeper. Perhaps the word זונה zonah is to be taken here in its double sense; one who keeps a house for the entertainment of travelers, and who also prostitutes her person. Gaza was situated near the Mediterranean Sea, and was one of the most southern cities of Palestine.
This site's exposition
and saw there an harlot
on Judges 16:1-3
Gaza is the far southern city of the Philistine coast, and Joshua 11:22 had named it as one of three towns where the Anakim were left standing after the conquest. The chapter opens the way chapter 14 opened, with what Samson saw, and those two sightings frame everything up to verse 21. He carries the gate, both posts and the bar uphill toward Hebron, which stands roughly forty miles inland and some three thousand feet above the sea, and the text records the load and the distance without giving the errand.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
When Samson went in to the harlot, he was impure if he did so without reason, but if he did so as a prophet it is a mystery. If he did not enter in order to lie with the woman, perhaps he did so because …
Having, in the course of events closed his war with the Philistines, and shunning the sloth of his countrymen, Samson now betook himself to Gaza, which was in the region of the Philistines, and lodged there.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Samson, in the book of Judges, foreshadowed this by his deeds. When he had entered Gaza, a city of the Philistines, they immediately knew of his entry. They quickly surrounded the city with a blockade and assigned guards, and they rejoiced at having now apprehended Samson who was so extremely strong. But we know what Samson did. At midnight he carried off the gates of the city and ascended to the top of the hill. Whom, dearly beloved, whom does Samson foreshadow by his deed but our Redeemer? What does the city of Gaza signify if not the lower world? What is indicated by the Philistines except the faithlessness of the Jews? When they saw that the Lord was dead and his body had been laid in the sepulcher, they assigned guards there. They were happy that they caught and held him, who shone out as the creator of life, behind the defense of the lower world, as Samson had been held in Gaza. Samson not only went out at midnight but even carried off the gates of the city, because our Redeemer, rising before it was light, not only went out free from the lower world but even destroyed its very defenses. He bore the gates and went up to the top of the hill, because by rising he carried off the defenses of the lower world, and by ascending he passed into the kingdom of heaven.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), and now his punishment began there. Now that the Philistines had blinded him he had time to remember how his own lust had blinded him. The best preservative of the eyes is to turn them away from beholding vanity.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Then went Samson to Gaza,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
His sin began in his eye, with which he should have made a covenant; he saw there one in the attire of a harlot, and the lust which conceived brought forth sin: he went in unto her. Notice was sent to the magistrates of Gaza, perhaps by the treacherous harlot herself, that Samson was in the town,
(2.) It was when they were praising Dagon their god, and giving that honour to him which is due to God only, which is no less than treason against the King of kings, his crown and dignity. Justly therefore is the blood of these traitors mingled with their sacrifices.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Gaza - About 8 hours from Eleutheropolis, and one of the chief strong-holds of the Philistines.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ | vaiyelekh | and he went | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| שִׁמְשׁ֖וֹן | shimshon | Samson | H8123 → | 38 times |
| עַזָּ֑תָה | ʾazatah | Gaza towards | H5804 → | 21 times |
| וַיַּרְא־ | vaiyar'- | and he saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| שָׁם֙ | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| אִשָּׁ֣ה | ʾishah | a woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| זוֹנָ֔ה | zonah | a prostitute | H2181 → | 94 times |
| וַיָּבֹ֖א | vaiyavo' | and he went | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֵלֶֽיהָ׃ | ʾeleiha | into her | H413 → | 5510 times |
וַיֵּ֥לֶךְand he went
vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times
שִׁמְשׁ֖וֹןSamson
shimshonH8123 →38 times
עַזָּ֑תָהGaza towards
ʾazatahH5804 →21 times
וַיַּרְא־and he saw
vaiyar'-H7200 →1300 times
שָׁם֙there
shamH8033 →834 times
אִשָּׁ֣הa woman
ʾishahH802 →781 times
זוֹנָ֔הa prostitute
zonahH2181 →94 times
וַיָּבֹ֖אand he went
vaiyavo'H935 →2568 times
אֵלֶֽיהָ׃into her
ʾeleihaH413 →5510 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Joshua 15:47Ashdod, with its towns and villages; Gaza, with its towns and villages, as far as the Brook of Egypt and the coastline of the Great Sea.
it leads to
- Joshua 15:4
It proceeded to Azmon, joined the Brook of Egypt, and ended at the Sea. This was their southern border.
- Jeremiah 47:1
This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the Philistines before Pharaoh struck down Gaza.
- Zephaniah 2:4
For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon left in ruins. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.
- Joshua 15:4
Through
Genesis 10:19and the borders of Canaan extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
it leads to
- Genesis 19:24–25
Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
- Genesis 14:2
went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
- Joshua 12:7–8
And these are the kings of the land that Joshua and the Israelites conquered beyond the Jordan to the west, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir…
- Jeremiah 25:20
all the mixed tribes; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines: Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
- Genesis 26:1
Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
- Genesis 19:24–25
About Judges
Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Letter 19: To Vigilius; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 118.5; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 21; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.