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 ¹  him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred silver pieces.”

Judges 16:9

16:9 They hid ²  in the bedroom and then she said to him, “The Philistines are here, ³  Samson!” He snapped the bowstrings as easily as a thread of yarn snaps when it is put close to fire. ⁴  The secret of his strength was not discovered. ⁵ 

Judges 16:15

16:15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me? ⁶  Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.”

Judges 16:17

16:17 Finally he told her his secret. ⁷  He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, ⁸  for I have been dedicated to God ⁹  from the time I was conceived. ¹⁰  If my head ¹¹  were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

Judges 16:30

16:30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard ¹²  and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it. He killed many more people in his death than he had killed during his life. ¹³ 

[16:5]  ¹ tn Heb “subdue him in order to humiliate him.”

[16:9]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “are upon you.”

[16:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “when it smells fire.”

[16:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “His strength was not known.”

[16:15]  ³ tn Heb “when your heart is not with me.”

[16:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “all his heart.”

[16:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”

[16:17]  ⁶ tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).

[16:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”

[16:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).

[16:30]  ⁵ tn Heb “he stretched out with strength.”

[16:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “And the ones whom he killed in his death were many more than he killed in his life.”