Judges 16:19 (ASV)

Passage

And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

Nearby Context

Judges 16:17 And he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon my head; for I have been a Nazirite 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.

Judges 16:18 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 told me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought the money in their hand.

Judges 16:19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

Judges 16:20 And she said, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free. But he knew not that Jehovah was departed from him.

Judges 16:21 And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "called", "sleep", "upon", "knees", "shaved", "seven", "locks", and "head". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "called" and "sleep", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 18's "And when Delilah saw that he had..." into verse 20's "And she said The Philistines are upon...", so "called" and "sleep" belong inside that flow. In Judges context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "called" and "sleep" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.