Judges 16:19

16:19 She made him go to sleep on her lap ¹  and then called a man in to shave off ²  the seven braids of his hair. ³  She made him vulnerable ⁴  and his strength left him.

Judges 16:5

16:5 The rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her and said to her, “Trick him! Find out what makes him so strong and how we can subdue him and humiliate ⁵  him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver pieces.”

Judges 16:9

16:9 They hid ⁶  in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, ⁷  Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. ⁸  The secret of his strength was not discovered. ⁹ 

[16:19]  ¹ tn Heb “on her knees.” The expression is probably euphemistic for sexual intercourse. See HALOT 160-61 s.v. בֶּרֶךְ.

[16:19]  ² tn Heb “she called for a man and she shaved off.” The point seems to be that Delilah acted through the instrumentality of the man. See J. A. Soggin, Judges (OTL), 254.

[16:19]  ³ tn Heb “head.” By metonymy the hair of his head is meant.

[16:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “She began to humiliate him.” Rather than referring to some specific insulting action on Delilah’s part after Samson’s hair was shaved off, this statement probably means that she, through the devious actions just described, began the process of Samson’s humiliation which culminates in the following verses.

[16:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “subdue him in order to humiliate him.”

[16:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “And the ones lying in wait were sitting for her.” The grammatically singular form וְהָאֹרֵב (vÿha’orev) is collective here, referring to the rulers as a group (so also in v. 16).

[16:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “when it smells fire.”

[16:9]  ¹² tn Heb “His strength was not known.”