Judges 16:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And he said to her, "If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man."

NIV: He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man."

NASB: Then He said to her, 'If they bind me tightly with new ropes which have not been used, then I will become weak and be like any other man.'

CSB: He told her, "If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be like any other man."

NLT: Samson replied, 'If I were tied up with brand-new ropes that had never been used, I would become as weak as anyone else.'

KJV: And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

NKJV: So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”

Samson continues to play Delilah's dangerous game (Judges 16:4–5). It's unknown what Samson might have suspected when she first began to ask about his secret weakness (Judges 16:6). He lied, at first, as one might expect (Judges 16:7). Even though she followed through on his lie and then tested it (Judges 16:7–10), most likely the Philistine men waiting in ambush didn't spring out. From Samson's perspective, this might be a kind of lover's banter. Or, a trust exercise between Samson and the woman he loves. On the other hand, one would expect him to at least realize the possibility that she is working with his enemies.

The fact that this pattern repeats several times might help explain why it eventually succeeds. After several rounds of questions, lies, tests, and no real consequences, Samson may have concluded Delilah never intended to harm him, but was merely curious. To each failure, she claims to be hurt over his lack of honesty and asks again how a person could possibly defeat him.

Samson now responds with his second lie: that if someone were to tie his hands with unused ropes, he would lose his supernatural power. Those paying attention to Samson's story know this is not true. This was exactly how the men of Judah bound Samson when they attempted to hand him over to a Philistines army at Lehi (Judges 15:13). When God's Spirit empowered him, Samson snapped the ropes as if they were burnt threads (Judges 15:14–15). The same thing happened when Delilah tried tying him with seven undried bowstrings.

She doesn't know this, it seems, so once again Delilah will test the source of Samson's power (Judges 16:12).

Judges 16:4–22 finds Samson falling in love with Delilah. In exchange for an outrageous sum of money, she agrees to seduce him so she can pass along the secret of Samson's strength to his Philistine enemies. This begins a pattern Samson probably thought was a lover's game, where he repeatedly lies about his secret. Eventually, however, he tells her the truth: shaving his head will make him weak. She has his head shaved as he sleeps and then turns him over to the Philistines, who gouge his eyes out and make him into a slave.

After escaping an ambush in the Philistine city of Gaza, Samson rips the city gates out and walks away with them. When he falls deeply in love with Delilah, Philistine nobles pay her a fortune to seduce Samson into revealing the secret of his strength. She eventually succeeds, shaving his head while he sleeps. The Philistines gouge out Samson's eyes and put him in prison in Gaza. He is put on display at a celebration for the Philistine idol Dagon. God grants a last moment of supernatural power in response to Samson prayer. Samson collapses the support beams of the temple, crushing himself along with thousands of Philistine leaders.

Samson's story began in chapter 14 and will end here. His time as a judge lasted twenty years (Judges 15:20), but Scripture records only a few major incidents from his life. No specific times are assigned to these events. Samson humiliates Gaza by ripping out the city gates with his bare hands. He then falls for Delilah, who finds out the secret of his strength and betrays him. The Philistines blind Samson and enslave him in a prison near Gaza. They then parade him around during a noblemen's celebration in the temple of Dagon. With power from the Lord, granted as a last request, Samson collapses the temple's support pillars. This kills everyone inside, including himself. This begins the process of Israel's liberation (Judges 13:5), which later men such as Samuel will complete (1 Samuel 7:11–14).

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).