Judges 16:4 (DRB)

Passage

After this he loved a woman, who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and she was called Dalila.

Nearby Context

Judges 16:2 And when the Philistines had heard this, and it was noised about among them, that Samson was come into the city, they surrounded him, setting guards at the gate of the city, and watching there all the night in silence, that in the morning they might kill him as he went out.

Judges 16:3 But Samson slept till midnight, and then rising, he took both the doors of the gate, with the posts thereof and the bolt, and laying them on his shoulders, carried them up to the top of the hill, which looketh towards Hebron.

Judges 16:4 After this he loved a woman, who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and she was called Dalila.

Judges 16:5 And the princes of the Philistines came to her, and said: Deceive him, and learn of him wherein his great strength lieth, and how we may be able to overcome him, to bind and afflict him: which if thou shalt do, we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

Judges 16:6 And Dalila said to Samson: Tell me, I beseech thee, wherein thy greatest strength lieth, and what it is, wherewith if thou wert bound, thou couldst not break loose.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "called", "after", "loved", "woman", "dwelt", "valley", "sorec", and "dalila". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "called" and "after", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "But Samson slept till midnight and then..." into verse 5's "And the princes of the Philistines came...", so "called" and "after" 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 "after" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.