Judges 16:19 (DBY)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Judges 16:17 and he told her all his heart, and said to her, There has not come a razor upon my head; for I am a Nazarite of God from my mother's womb; if I should be shaven, then my strength would go from me, and I should be weak, and be like all mankind.

Judges 16:18 And Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, and she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this time, for he has told me all his heart. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand.

Judges 16:19 And she made him sleep upon her knees, and called a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to overpower 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 thought, I will go out as at other times before, and disengage myself. And he knew not that Jehovah had departed from him.

Judges 16:21 And the Philistines seized him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gazah, and bound him with fetters of bronze; and he had to grind in the prison-house.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "called", "sleep", "upon", "knees", "caused", "shave", "seven", and "locks". 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 Delilah saw that he had told..." 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.