Judges Chapter 16
Showing all 31 verses for Judges Chapter 16.
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"Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. "
"Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there, and went in to her."
Jesus sees Samson chasing comfort in the wrong places even while carrying an extraordinary calling, and He does not turn away from him for it. Notice that grace meets you exactly where your weakness is loudest - not after you have tidied yourself up. Let this be a mirror for your own hidden compromises, not a stone to throw at Samson.
"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. "
"The people of Gaza were told, 'Samson is here.' So they surrounded the area and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate, staying quiet, saying, 'We'll kill him at daybreak.'"
Even while enemies plot in the dark, God's purposes are not finished with Samson, and Jesus wants you to know the same is true for you - being surrounded by trouble you brought on yourself is not the end of the story. Danger from without is real, but it never outpaces God's patience with a flawed servant. Let that steady you the next time your own choices have put you in a tight spot.
"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. "
"Samson stayed until midnight, then got up, and tore off the city gate's doors along with both posts, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them all the way to the top of a hill facing Hebron."
Samson's midnight strength is a reminder that God's gifts can still operate even when the person carrying them is living far beneath their calling. Jesus does not want you to think His power in your life depends on your having earned it that week. Receive this as encouragement: God's grace is bigger than our current mess, though it should never be presumed upon.
"And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. "
"Some time after this, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the valley of Sorek."
Loving someone is not condemned here - it is the pattern behind the love that becomes the danger, since Samson keeps entangling his heart with those who do not share his devotion to God. Jesus calls you to love freely and without prejudice towards any person, while still being honest about who will walk alongside your faith and who will quietly erode it. Wisdom and love are not enemies; they work best together.
"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. "
"The Philistine rulers came to her and said, 'Coax him into telling you the secret of his great strength, and how we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him suffer — and each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.'"
Money and manipulation are turned against a single vulnerable man here, and Jesus grieves every scheme built to exploit someone's weakness for profit. If you have ever been tempted to use someone's affection or trust as leverage, let this verse convict you gently rather than harden you - the road of exploitation always ends in ruin for everyone involved, including those who profited.
"And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. "
"Delilah said to Samson, 'Please tell me the secret of your great strength, and how you could be tied up to make you weak.'"
Delilah's question is not really curiosity - it is the beginning of betrayal wrapped in intimacy, and Jesus wants you to recognise that not every person who asks for your secrets has your good at heart. Discernment about whom you trust with your vulnerabilities is not unloving; it is wise stewardship of the heart God gave you.
"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. "
"Samson told her, 'If they tie me up with seven fresh, undried bowstrings, I'll become weak, just like anyone else.'"
Samson toys with the truth instead of walking away, and Jesus shows us here how playing games with temptation only draws it closer rather than ending it. If you find yourself negotiating with what you know is dangerous, take this as a gentle nudge to leave the conversation entirely rather than trust your own cleverness to survive it.
"Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. "
"So the Philistine rulers brought her seven fresh bowstrings that hadn't been dried, and she tied him up with them."
The Philistine lords act immediately on Delilah's every report, showing just how relentless the pursuit of Samson's downfall really is. Jesus wants you to see that the forces working against your faithfulness rarely give up after one failed attempt - so neither should your resolve to walk away from what harms you.
"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. "
"Men were hiding in wait in the room with her. She said, 'Samson, the Philistines are on you!' But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of string snaps near fire. So the secret of his strength stayed hidden."
Samson escapes this first trap, but notice he does not use the warning to leave - he stays in the exact place that nearly cost him everything. Jesus longs for you to let near misses actually change your direction, rather than treating them as proof you can keep testing the edge safely.
"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. "
"Delilah said to Samson, 'You've made a fool of me and lied to me. Now please tell me how you could really be tied up.'"
Delilah's wounded tone - 'thou hast mocked me' - is manipulation dressed as hurt feelings, and it works on Samson again. Jesus wants you to notice how guilt and false intimacy can be weaponised against you, and to trust your discernment over someone's performance of hurt when their pattern has already shown their intent.
"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. "
"He told her, 'If they tie me tightly with brand new ropes that have never been used, I'll become weak, like anyone else.'"
Samson gives another half-truth, still flirting with the very danger that should have taught him a lesson by now. Jesus does not shame him further here but wants us to notice the pattern - repeated exposure to the same temptation without repentance rarely ends differently the second or third time.
"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. "
"So Delilah took new ropes and tied him up with them, and said, 'Samson, the Philistines are on you!' Men were again hiding in the room. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like thread."
Again Samson breaks free, and again he stays. Jesus, who never gives up on the slow-to-learn, still wants better for Samson than a life of narrow escapes - and He wants better for you too, urging you towards the freedom of walking away before the next test rather than surviving it once more.
"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. "
"Delilah said to Samson, 'You've made a fool of me all this time and lied to me. Tell me how you could be tied up.' He said, 'If you weave the seven braids of my hair into the loom's fabric.'"
Samson edges closer to the real truth, weaving his hair into the loom as if testing how near he can get to disaster and still walk away. Jesus wants you to hear this as a warning about the slow creep of compromise - each small concession makes the next one easier, until the truth itself is finally given away.
"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. "
"She wove it in and fastened it with a pin, then said, 'Samson, the Philistines are on you!' He woke from his sleep and simply pulled away, taking the loom's pin and fabric with him."
Even now, with his hair bound into her loom, Samson still has enough strength to break free - a sign that his calling has not yet been fully surrendered. Jesus wants you to know that as long as breath remains, there is still time to turn back, no matter how far compromise has gone.
"And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. "
"She said to him, 'How can you say you love me when you won't confide in me? You've made a fool of me three times now and still haven't told me the secret of your great strength.'"
Delilah's guilt-trip - claiming his silence proves he doesn't love her - is emotional pressure dressed up as devotion. Jesus wants you to see that real love never demands you hand over what protects you; anyone asking you to prove love by abandoning your convictions is asking you to betray yourself, not to love better.
"And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; "
"She kept pressuring him with her words day after day, nagging him relentlessly, until he was worn down to the point of utter misery."
Wearing someone down until they give in is not persuasion, it is a form of violence against the will, and Jesus sees exactly what this daily pressure cost Samson - his soul vexed unto death. If you recognise this kind of relentless pressure in your own life, know that God does not expect you to keep enduring what is designed to break you.
"That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. "
"So he told her everything, saying, 'No razor has ever touched my head, because I've been a Nazirite dedicated to God since before I was born. If my head is shaved, my strength will leave me, and I'll become weak, just like anyone else.'"
Samson finally gives away the truth of who he is before God - his whole heart - and it is a heartbreaking moment of surrender to the wrong person. Jesus wants your deepest truths, the ones that define your identity and calling, kept safe with those who will honour them, not handed to whoever wears you down the longest.
"And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. "
"When Delilah realised he'd told her everything, she sent word to the Philistine rulers, 'Come up one more time — he's told me everything.' So the Philistine rulers came to her, bringing the money with them."
Delilah recognises the truth and moves instantly to cash it in - there is no hesitation, no second thought about the man she claims to love. Jesus wants you to see clearly that betrayal, once decided, rarely pauses for conscience; this is why discernment before trust matters so much more than trust after betrayal.
"And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. "
"She lulled him to sleep on her lap, then called for a man to come and shave off the seven braids of his hair. She began to overpower him, and his strength left him."
Samson sleeps in vulnerable trust on the very lap of his betrayer, and his strength - and more painfully, God's presence - departs from him. Jesus wants you to feel the sorrow here, not just the folly: this is what happens when we let our guard down with those who do not have our good at heart. Yet even now, the story is not over.
"And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. "
"She said, 'Samson, the Philistines are on you!' He woke up from his sleep and thought, 'I'll go out like before and shake myself free.' But he didn't realise that the LORD had left him."
The most devastating line in the chapter is quiet: 'he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.' Jesus wants you to hear this as a warning against relying on past strength or past blessing without staying close to Him now - grace is not a battery charge that lasts forever without renewal, it is a relationship maintained daily.
"But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with festers of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. "
"The Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, took him down to Gaza, shackled him with bronze chains, and set him to grinding grain in the prison."
Samson's blindness and humiliation are the brutal, human cost of sin, and Jesus does not sanitise this - He weeps for the wreckage. But even in the darkest depths of consequence, this is not where Samson's story ends, and it need not be where yours ends either; grinding in the prison house was not God's final word.
"Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. "
"But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved off."
In the middle of humiliation, unnoticed, Samson's hair begins to grow - a quiet sign that God has not finished with him. Jesus wants you to trust that even in your lowest, most hidden seasons, restoration can be growing where no one is watching, including you.
"Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. "
"The Philistine rulers gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon and to celebrate, saying, 'Our god has handed Samson our enemy over to us.'"
The Philistines credit their idol Dagon for Samson's downfall, missing entirely that this was a story of human choices and divine patience, not the triumph of a false god. Jesus wants you to see how easily people mistake temporary circumstances for ultimate victory - and to trust that no idol, ancient or modern, actually holds the reins of your story.
"And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. "
"When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, 'Our god has handed our enemy over to us — the one who destroyed our land and killed so many of us.'"
The crowd's mocking praise of their god over a defeated, blinded man shows how cruelty can dress itself up as celebration. Jesus calls you instead to see the dignity in every suffering person, even your enemy, rather than join a crowd that finds sport in someone else's downfall.
"And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. "
"As the celebration grew merrier, they said, 'Bring out Samson to entertain us.' So they brought Samson from the prison, and he performed for them, and they stood him between the pillars."
Making Samson perform for entertainment while he is blind and chained is casual cruelty, the kind that treats a person's suffering as a spectacle. Jesus stands with the humiliated in this scene, not the mockers, and calls you to notice whenever you are tempted to laugh at someone else's brokenness rather than honour their humanity.
"And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"Samson said to the boy who was guiding him by the hand, 'Let me feel the pillars the building stands on, so I can lean against them.'"
Even now, Samson quietly positions himself with purpose - a small act of agency in the middle of total helplessness. Jesus wants you to know that even your smallest faithful actions, taken in your darkest hour, are not wasted or unnoticed by God.
"Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. "
"The building was packed with men and women — all the Philistine rulers were there, and about three thousand more men and women were watching from the roof as Samson performed."
Thousands gather to watch one broken man's humiliation, a sobering picture of how far a crowd will go for entertainment at another's expense. Jesus asks you to examine what you find entertaining, and whether it ever comes at the cost of someone else's dignity.
"And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. "
"Samson called out to the LORD, 'Lord God, please remember me. Please strengthen me just this once, God, so I can take revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes in a single blow.'"
Samson's final prayer is raw and honest - part vengeance, part desperate faith - and God does not refuse to hear him for it. Jesus wants you to know that you can bring your rawest, least polished prayers to God; He is not waiting for perfect words before He listens to a broken heart.
"And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. "
"Samson took hold of the two central pillars the building rested on, one with his right hand and the other with his left."
Samson positions himself between the pillars, strength returning to a man who has been utterly humbled - proof that restoration can come even after total collapse. Jesus wants this to encourage anyone who feels too broken or too far gone: God can still work through you, not because you have earned it, but because His mercy runs deeper than your failure.
"And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. "
"Samson said, 'Let me die with the Philistines,' and pushed with all his strength, and the building collapsed on the rulers and everyone inside. So the people he killed in his death were more than those he'd killed in his entire life."
Samson's death is tragic and violent, the final, sorrowful chapter of a life marked by compromise as much as calling - and Jesus does not ask us to celebrate the bloodshed, only to see the mercy that let a flawed man's life still serve God's purposes at the very end. This whole story cries out for a better deliverer, one who saves not through destruction but through laying down His own life for His enemies.
"Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years. "
"Then his brothers and his whole family came down, retrieved his body, brought it back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in his father Manoah's burial place. He had led Israel for twenty years."
Samson is finally laid to rest by the family who loved him despite everything, a quiet, tender close to a turbulent life. Jesus wants you to know that no life, however flawed, its failures however public, is beyond a dignified ending and inclusion in God's larger story - Samson is even named among the faithful in Hebrews, not because he was faultless, but because grace had the final word.