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Judges 14:16

in Judges 14

Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.” “Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell thee?

KJV

And Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee?

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This verse in Judges 14

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

I will now put forth a riddle--Riddles are a favorite Oriental amusement at festive entertainments of this nature, and rewards are offered to those who give the solution. Samson's riddle related to honey in the lion's carcass. The prize he offered was thirty sindinim, or shirts, and thirty changes of garments, probably woolen.

This site's exposition

we will burn you and your father’s household to death

on Judges 14:15-17

The threat to burn her “and your father’s household to death” is carried out at 15:6. The fire she betrays her husband to escape reaches her one chapter later. He tells her on the seventh day “because she had pressed him so much”, the pressure Delilah repeats at 16:16.

This site's exposition

You have posed to my people a riddle

She calls the Philistine guests her own people, and the phrase sets her with them. She turns the withheld answer into a test of love. Delilah makes the same charge at 16:15.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And Samson's wife wept before him,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

It was on the seventh day of the week, but not the seventh of the feast. It was, rather, the fourth of the feast days.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Judges 14:15:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The seven days. What remained of the seven days, after the fourth day.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Judges 14:17:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

25 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.

  • וַתֵּבְךְּ֩and she wept

    vatevekH1058 →114 times

  • אֵ֨שֶׁת[the] wife of

    ʾeshetH802 →781 times

  • שִׁמְשׁ֜וֹןSamson

    shimshonH8123 →38 times

  • עָלָ֗יוover him

    ʾalavH5921 →5755 times

  • וַתֹּ֙אמֶר֙and she said

    vatomerH559 →5305 times

  • רַק־only

    rak-H7535 →109 times

  • שְׂנֵאתַ֙נִי֙you hate me

    senetaniH8130 →146 times

  • וְלֹ֣אand not

    velo'H3808 →5168 times

  • אֲהַבְתָּ֔נִיyou love me

    ʾahavtaniH157 →211 times

  • הַֽחִידָ֥הthe riddle

    hachidahH2420 →17 times

  • חַ֙דְתָּ֙you have asked [the] riddle

    chadtaH2330 →4 times

  • לִבְנֵ֣יto [the] sons of

    livneiH1121 →4930 times

  • עַמִּ֔יpeople my

    ʾamiH5971 →1873 times

  • וְלִ֖יand to <the> me

    veli

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • הִגַּ֑דְתָּהyou have told

    higadtahH5046 →370 times

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • לָ֗הּto <the> her

    lah

  • הִנֵּ֨הhere!

    hinehH2009 →843 times

  • לְאָבִ֧יto father my

    leaviH1 →1212 times

  • וּלְאִמִּ֛יand to mother my

    uleimiH517 →220 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • הִגַּ֖דְתִּיI have told

    higadtiH5046 →370 times

  • וְלָ֥ךְand to <the> [why] you

    velakh

  • אַגִּֽיד׃will I tell?

    ʾagidH5046 →370 times

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

Related verses

3 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Genesis 2:24

    For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

    it leads to

    • Matthew 19:3–9

      Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

    • Ephesians 5:28–31

      In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

    • Mark 10:6–12

      However, from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’

    • Romans 7:2

      For instance, a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.

    • 1 Peter 3:1–7

      Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives

  • Through

    Judges 16:15

    “How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of…

    it leads to

    • Proverbs 23:26

      My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.

    • 1 John 2:15–16

      Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

    • John 15:10

      If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.

Where this verse is studied

About Judges

Samson Slays a Lion — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Samson Slays a Lion — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Judges: the study guide →Read Judges 14 →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Judges 14 →