Judges 16:7 (DRB)

Passage

And Samson answered her: If I shall be bound with seven cords, made of sinews not yet dry, but still moist, I shall be weak like other men.

Nearby Context

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.

Judges 16:7 And Samson answered her: If I shall be bound with seven cords, made of sinews not yet dry, but still moist, I shall be weak like other men.

Judges 16:8 And the princes of the Philistines brought unto her seven cords, such as he spoke of, with which she bound him;

Judges 16:9 Men lying privately in wait with her, and in the chamber, expecting the event of the thing, and she cried out to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the bands, as a man would break a thread of tow twined with spittle, when it smelleth the fire: so it was not known wherein his strength lay.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "samson", "answered", "shall", "bound", "seven", "cords", "sinews", and "still". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "samson" and "answered", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "And Dalila said to Samson Tell me..." into verse 8's "And the princes of the Philistines brought...", so "samson" and "answered" 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 "samson" and "answered" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.