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.
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.
Judges 16:10 And Dalila said to him: Behold thou hast mocked me, and hast told me a false thing: but now at least tell me wherewith thou mayest be bound.
Judges 16:11 And he answered her: If I shall be bound with new ropes, that were never in work, I shall be weak and like other men.
The verse centers on "lying", "privately", "wait", "chamber", "expecting", "event", "cried", and "philistines". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "lying" and "privately", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 8's "And the princes of the Philistines brought..." into verse 10's "And Dalila said to him Behold thou...", so "lying" and "privately" 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 "lying" and "privately" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.