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Judges 16:14

in Judges 16

So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. Then she tightened it with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.

KJV

And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

This verse in Judges 16

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
And she fastened it with the pin ... - The meaning of the verses seems to be that the seven long plaits, in which Samson’s hair was arranged, were to be woven as a woof into the threads of a warp which stood prepared on a loom in the chamber, which loom Delilah fastened down with a pin, so as to keep it firm and immoveable. But Samson, when he awoke, tore up the pin from its socket, and went away with the loom and the pin fastened to his hair.

This site's exposition

You have mocked me and lied to me all along

on Judges 16:13-14

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.

This site's exposition

while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids

Barnes pictures a loom ready in the room, with the seven braids woven across its threads and the frame pinned to hold it fast. Samson woke and tore the pin from its socket. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that weaving was women's work, so Delilah's loom lay close at hand.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

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.

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 …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

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.
And she fastened it with the pin,....

The words behind it

15 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.

  • וַתִּתְקַע֙and she thrust

    vatitka'H8628 →69 times

  • בַּיָּתֵ֔דwith the pin

    baiyatedH3489 →25 times

  • וַתֹּ֣אמֶרand she said

    vatomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֵלָ֔יוto him

    ʾelavH413 →5510 times

  • פְּלִשְׁתִּ֥ים[the] Philistines

    pelishtimH6430 →287 times

  • עָלֶ֖יךָ[are] on you

    ʾaleikhaH5921 →5755 times

  • שִׁמְשׁ֑וֹןO Samson

    shimshonH8123 →38 times

  • וַיִּיקַץ֙and he awoke

    vaiyikatzH3364 →

  • מִשְּׁנָת֔וֹfrom sleep his

    mishenatoH8142 →

  • וַיִּסַּ֛עand he pulled out

    vaiyisa'H5265 →146 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הַיְתַ֥דthe pin of

    haytadH3489 →25 times

  • הָאֶ֖רֶגthe loom

    haeregH708 →

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • הַמַּסָּֽכֶת׃the web

    hamasakhetH4545 →

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

The walk

5 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

    Psalms 106:43

    Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity.

    it leads to

    • Judges 2:16–18

      Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them.

    • Psalms 81:12

      So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.

    • Psalms 1:1

      Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

    • 1 Samuel 12:9–11

      But they forgot the LORD their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of…

    • Psalms 106:29

      So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.

Where this verse is studied

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
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Ambrose of Milan, Letter 19; 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 and Paulinus of Nola, POEM 24.529-581.