Judges - 16:13



13 Delilah said to Samson, "Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound." He said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web."

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Judges 16:13.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
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.
And Dalila said to him again: How long dost thou deceive me, and tell me lies? Shew me wherewith thou mayest be bound. And Samson answered her: If thou plattest the seven locks of my head with a lace, and tying them round about a nail fastenest it in the ground, I shall be weak.
And Deli'lah said to Samson, |Until now you have mocked me, and told me lies; tell me how you might be bound.| And he said to her, |If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and make it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.|
And Delilah said to Samson, hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me with what thou mayest be bound. And he said to her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.
And Delilah saith unto Samson, 'Hitherto thou hast played upon me, and dost speak unto me lies; declare to me wherewith thou art bound.' And he saith unto her, 'If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.'
And Delilah said to Samson, Till now you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me with which you might be bound. And he said to her, If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web.
Then Delilah said to Samson, Up to now you have made sport of me with false words; now say truly, how may you be put in bands? And he said to her, If you get the seven twists of my hair worked into the cloth you are making and fixed with the pin, I will become feeble and will be like any other man.
Delilah said to Samson, 'Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound.' He said to her, 'If you weave the seven braids on my head with the web and fasten them with the pin to the wall, then I will be weak as another man.'
And Delilah spoke to him again: "How long will you deceive me and tell me falsehoods? Reveal with what you ought to be bound." And Samson responded to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head with a loom, and if you tie these around a spike and fix it to the ground, I will be weak."

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

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. Houbigant has particularly noticed this, and corrected the text from the Septuagint, the reading of which I shall here subjoin:
Εαν ὑφανῃς τας ἑπτα σειρας της κεφαλης μον αυν τῳ διασματι, και εγκρουσῃς τῳ πασσαλῳ εις τον τοιχον, και εσομαι ὡς εἱς των ανθρωπων ασθενης· Και εγενετο εν τῳ κοιμασθαι αυτον, και ελαβε Δαλιδα τας ἑπτα σειρας της κεφαλης αυτου, και ὑφανεν εν τῳ διασματι, και επηξε τῳ πασσαλῳ εις τον τοιχον;
"If thou shalt weave the seven locks of my head with the web, and shalt fasten them with the pin in the wall, I shall become weak like other men: And so it was that, when he slept, Dalida took the seven locks of his head, and wove them with the web, and fastened it with the pin to the wall and said unto him," etc.
All the words printed here in italic, are wanting in the present Hebrew copies; but are preserved in the Septuagint, and are most obviously necessary to complete the sense; else Delilah appears to do something that she is not ordered to do, and to omit what she was commanded.

And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. (g) And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.
(g) It is impossible if we give place to our wicked affections, for eventually we will be destroyed.

And Delilah said unto Samson,.... At another time, when she thought it most proper to upbraid him with his deception of her:
hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies; both the times that she had solicited him to impart the secret of his strength to her:
tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound; tell me the real truth, and deceive me no more:
and he said unto her, if thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web; it seems that Samson's hair was parted into seven locks, which no doubt hung down very long; and now he tells her, that if these were interwoven with the warp which was upon the beam in a loom near by; perhaps in the same room, where Delilah used to weave, as was the custom of those times, and in various nations (a); his strength would be weakened; for Braunius (b) is mistaken in supposing this to be the beam about which the web was rolled, as he is also in the pin next mentioned, which he takes to be the "spatha", or lathe, with which the threads are knocked together.
(a) "Arguto conjux", &c. Virgil. Georgie. l. 1. v. 294. So Penelope in Homer, Minerva & Arachne in Ovid. Metamorph. l. 6. fab. 1. v. 55, &c. Vid. Pignorium de servis, p. 418. Braunium de Vest. Sacerd. Hebr. l. 1. c. 17. sect. 33. (b) "De Vest". Sacerd. Hebr. l. 1. c. 16. sect. 8.

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 extremity of the web was fastened to a pin or stake fixed in the wall or ground; and while Delilah sat squatting at her loom, Samson lay stretched on the floor, with his head reclining on her lap--a position very common in the East.

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.

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