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Judges 16:13

in Judges 16

Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

KJV

And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

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This verse in Judges 16

Commentary

11 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The seven locks of my head - Probably Samson had his long hair plaited into seven divisions, and as his vow of a Nazarite obliged him to wear his hair, so, seven being a number of perfection among the Hebrews, his hair being divided into seven locks might more particularly point out the perfection designed by his Nazarite state. Every person must see that this verse ends abruptly, and does not contain a full sense.

This site's exposition

You have mocked me and lied to me all along

on Judges 16:13-14

The “seven braids of my head” are named here, and the hair enters the bargaining while the vow behind it stays hidden. The Hebrew of verse 13 stops at the web, and the Septuagint carries a longer reading that supplies the pin, the chapter's largest textual difference. Adam Clarke sets the longer reading out in full, and Keil and Delitzsch treat the shorter Hebrew as usable as it stands.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

A commentator

Caesarius of Arles

SERMON 118.3 · Written before 542.

proposed

What was the meaning of Samson? If I say he signified Christ, it seems to me that I speak the truth. However, the thought immediately occurs to anyone who reflects: Was Christ overcome by the flattery of a woman? How is Christ understood to have …

A commentator

Paulinus of Nola

POEM 24.529-581 · Written before 431.

proposed

Like the famed Samson, whose power lay in the strength of his hair, whose locks were endowed with sacred might, he must throttle and bring low the lion by means of the strong arms of prayers and pluck the sweet fruit of notable victory from …

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

Letter 19 · Written before 397.

proposed

The third time he disclosed part of the secret, and now drawing nearer to his fall, told her that, if the seven locks of his head were unfastened and woven to about a cubit's length, his strength would depart from him. But herein also he deluded those who were plotting against his life.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bonaventure

Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 5 · Written in the 13th century.

proposed

It is said that Samson, according to the instruction of the Angel, did not permit a razor to come upon his head; but his hair grew, and he became the strongest of men. It was a wondrous thing that with his hair he was strong, …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

But first, it is probable, that Samson had in some measure repented of his sin, and begged of God pardon and assistance. 2.This singular strength and courage was not in itself a grace, but a gift, and it was such a gift as did not so much depend on the disposition of his mind, but on the right ordering of his body, by the rule given to him, and others of that order.
4 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Web - Or, thread which is woven about a weaver's loom: or, with a weaver's beam. If my hair, which is all divided into seven locks, be fastened about a weaver's beam; or interwoven with weaver's threads: then I shall be weak as another man.
And Delilah said unto Samson,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The disclosure he at last made of this great secret; and, if the disclosure proved fatal to him, he must thank himself, who had not power to keep his own counsel from one that manifestly sought his ruin. Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird, but in Samson's sight is the net spread, and yet he is taken in it.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

If thou weavest the seven locks of my head--braids or tresses, into which, like many in the East, he chose to plait his hair. Working at the loom was a female employment; and Delilah's appears to have been close at hand. It was of a very simple construction; the woof was driven into the warp, not by a reed, but by a wooden spatula.

The words behind it

33 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַתֹּ֨אמֶרand she said

    vatomerH559 →5305 times

  • דְּלִילָ֜הDelilah

    delilahH1807 →6 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • שִׁמְשׁ֗וֹןSamson

    shimshonH8123 →38 times

  • עַד־until

    ʾad-H5704 →1261 times

  • הֵ֜נָּהnow

    henahH2008 →

  • הֵתַ֤לְתָּyou have deceived

    hetaltaH2048 →10 times

  • בִּי֙<in> <the> me

    bi

  • וַתְּדַבֵּ֤רand you have spoken

    vatedaberH1696 →1141 times

  • אֵלַי֙to me

    ʾelaiH413 →5510 times

  • כְּזָבִ֔יםlies

    kezavimH3577 →

  • הַגִּ֣ידָהtell !

    hagidahH5046 →370 times

  • לִּ֔יto <the> me

    li

  • בַּמֶּ֖ה<in> how?

    bamehH4100 →752 times

  • תֵּאָסֵ֑רwill you be bound

    teaserH631 →72 times

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֵלֶ֔יהָto her

    ʾeleihaH413 →5510 times

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • תַּאַרְגִ֗יyou will weave

    taargiH707 →

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • שֶׁ֛בַעseven

    sheva'H7651 →394 times

  • מַחְלְפ֥וֹת[the] plaits of

    machlefotH4253 →

  • רֹאשִׁ֖יhead my

    roshiH7218 →599 times

  • עִם־with

    ʾim-H5973 →1050 times

  • הַמַּסָּֽכֶת׃the web

    hamasakhetH4545 →

  • וְתָקַעַתְּand you will strike

    vetaka'taH8628 →69 times

  • בְּיָתֵדwith a pin

    beyatedH3489 →25 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַקִּירthe wall

    hakirH7023 →

  • וְחָלִיתִיand I will be weak

    vechalitiH2470 →76 times

  • וְהָיִיתִיand I will be

    vehayitiH1961 →3559 times

  • כְּאַחַדlike one

    keachadH259 →971 times

  • הָאָדָם׃<the> man

    haadamH120 →551 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

About Judges

Samson and Delilah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Samson and Delilah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Judges: the study guide →Read Judges 16 →
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Letter 19; Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 5; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 118.3; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Paulinus of Nola, POEM 24.529-581.

Read on in Judges 16 →