Judges 16:19 (LSB)

Passage

Then she made him sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him.

Nearby Context

Judges 16:17 So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like every other man.”

Judges 16:18 And Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, so she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all that is in his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought up the silver in their hands.

Judges 16:19 Then she made him sleep on her knees and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him.

Judges 16:20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that Yahweh had left him.

Judges 16:21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "called", "sleep", "knees", "shave", "seven", "locks", "head", and "began". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "called" and "sleep", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 18's "And Delilah saw that he had told..." into verse 20's "And she said The Philistines are upon...", so "called" and "sleep" 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 "sleep" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.