Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Judges 16:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse gives Delilah's direct request for the source of Samson's strength.
Read It With
- Judges 16:4–14
Read Judges 16:4–14 together. This verse gives Delilah's direct request for the source of Samson's strength. Samson's love, Philistine lords' bribe and request, Delilah's question, and the three complete cycles of false answer, restraint, alarm, and escape form one escalating interrogation; verse 15 begins her final emotional pressure.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The scene portrays a paid conspiracy and repeated deception within a relationship; it should neither excuse Delilah's dangerous collusion nor turn her gender into the cause of Samson's collapse. Within that movement, gives Delilah's direct request for the source of Samson's strength.
Read Judges 16:4–14 together
Why these verses belong together: Samson's love, Philistine lords' bribe and request, Delilah's question, and the three complete cycles of false answer, restraint, alarm, and escape form one escalating interrogation; verse 15 begins her final emotional pressure.
Verse 4. 4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Verse 5. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
Verse 6. 6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
Verse 7. 7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
Verse 8. 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
Verse 9. 9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.
Verse 10. 10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.
Verse 11. 11 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.
Verse 12. 12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.
Verse 13. 13 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.
Verse 14. 14 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.
Follow the Context
- Philistine rulers recruit Delilah with an enormous financial offer to discover Samson's vulnerability.
- Samson answers her first two questions with false restraint formulas and escapes prepared ambushes.
- He moves closer to his consecration by involving his hair in the third false answer, while hidden men remain ready.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Delilah's conduct does not make women inherently deceptive.
Samson's love does not entitle either partner to secrets or coercive testing.
Her ethnicity, occupation, and marital status must not be invented.
What Remains True
Gives Delilah's direct request for the source of Samson's strength. Intimacy becomes unsafe when outsiders purchase access and partners replace consent and truth with covert tests.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Judges 16:6 gives Delilah's direct request for the source of Samson's strength, treat repeated secret testing, surveillance, and paid extraction of a partner's vulnerability as serious safety warnings.
Teach It Back
Explain Judges 16:6's precise role in Judges 16:4–14. 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 16:4–14 — Delilah tests three false strength secretsSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Readers debate Delilah's motives beyond payment and Samson's awareness or death wish. The text supports the bribe, repeated testing, hidden men, and his deliberate false answers, but not a full psychology.
The loom sequence has a notable textual problem, and Delilah's ethnicity and relationship status are unstated. Interpretive confidence should not exceed those limits.
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 16:4–14, 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, 16:4–14
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 16:4–14
Open source ↗