Judges 16:6 (KJV)

Passage

And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

Nearby Context

Judges 16:4 And it came to pass afterward, 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 unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

Judges 16:6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

Judges 16:7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

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

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "delilah", "said", "samson", "tell", "pray", "thee", "wherein", and "great". 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 unto 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.