Judges 16:6 (DBY)

Passage

Then Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what is thy great strength, and with what thou mightest be bound to overpower thee.

Nearby Context

Judges 16:4 And it came to pass afterwards that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

Judges 16:5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Persuade him, and see in what his great strength is, and with what we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to overpower him; and we will each give thee eleven hundred silver-pieces.

Judges 16:6 Then Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what is thy great strength, and with what thou mightest be bound to overpower thee.

Judges 16:7 And Samson said to her, If they should bind me with seven fresh cords which have not been dried, then should I be weak, and be as another man.

Judges 16:8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "delilah", "said", "samson", "tell", "pray", "thee", "great", and "strength". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "delilah" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "And the lords of the Philistines came..." into verse 7's "And Samson said to her If they...", so "delilah" and "said" 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 "delilah" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.