Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Judges 16:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse places Samson in a Gaza sex worker's house without blaming the unnamed woman.
Read It With
- Judges 16:1–3
Read Judges 16:1–3 together. This verse places Samson in a Gaza sex worker's house without blaming the unnamed woman. Samson's visit to a sex worker, Gaza's ambush plan, his midnight departure, uprooting and carrying of the gate to the Hebron-facing hill form one compact feat; verse 4 opens the Delilah relationship.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The episode displays astonishing strength and humiliation of a fortified city while refusing to turn a woman's occupation into either the cause of Samson's risk or a pretext for stigmatizing sex workers. Within that movement, places Samson in a Gaza sex worker's house without blaming the unnamed woman.
Read Judges 16:1–3 together
Why these verses belong together: Samson's visit to a sex worker, Gaza's ambush plan, his midnight departure, uprooting and carrying of the gate to the Hebron-facing hill form one compact feat; verse 4 opens the Delilah relationship.
Verse 1. 1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.
Verse 2. 2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.
Verse 3. 3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.
Follow the Context
- Samson travels deep into Philistine Gaza and enters a sex worker's house.
- Gazites establish surveillance and plan a dawn killing.
- Samson departs at midnight, uproots the gate complex, and carries it toward the highlands.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her”
In plain language: places Samson in a Gaza sex worker's house without blaming the unnamed woman
Samson goes to Gaza, sees a sex worker, and enters her place. Gazites surround the location and wait at the city gate to kill him in the morning. At midnight Samson leaves, tears up the gate doors, posts, and bar, and carries them to a hill facing Hebron. Within that movement, this wording places Samson in a Gaza sex worker's house without blaming the unnamed woman.
Why it matters: This wording carries a material narrative, textual, historical, violence, vulnerable-person, land, leadership, or misuse boundary.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
Judges 16:1 does not stand alone from 16:1–3. Judges 16:1 does not establish a timeless command, ethnic judgment, or moral approval of every narrated action by itself. Its verse-specific role is: places Samson in a Gaza sex worker's house without blaming the unnamed woman.
What Remains True
Places Samson in a Gaza sex worker's house without blaming the unnamed woman. Power can repeatedly rescue a person from chosen danger without making the pattern safe, faithful, or harmless to others.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Judges 16:1 places Samson in a Gaza sex worker's house without blaming the unnamed woman, reject stigma toward sex workers, practice consent and safety, and do not use repeated escape as evidence that risky conduct has no consequences.
Teach It Back
Explain Judges 16:1's precise role in Judges 16:1–3. Include the scene's ancient covenant setting, one material uncertainty, the affected people, and one conclusion or violent imitation the context does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Judges 16:1–3 — Samson escapes Gaza with its gateSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Readers differ over whether the episode is comic triumph, moral decline, strategic provocation, or some mixture. Claims about the woman's agency must remain within what the sparse text says.
The exact hill, route, gate weight, and intended symbolism are disputed. The extraordinary physical feat is narrated, not independently measurable.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Judges 16:1–3, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Judges
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, clause relationships, repeated terms, wordplays, and translation control.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Judg.xml, 16:1–3
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Judges with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, poetic, geographical, social, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Judges PDF, printed pp. 479-481, translation and notes on 16:1–3
Open source ↗