Judges 16:7 (WEB)

Passage

Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”

Nearby Context

Judges 16:5 The lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

Judges 16:6 Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and what you might be bound to afflict you.”

Judges 16:7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”

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

Judges 16:9 Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "samson", "said", "bind", "seven", "green", "cords", "never", and "dried". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "samson" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 6's "Delilah said to Samson Please tell me..." into verse 8's "Then the lords of the Philistines brought...", so "samson" 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 "samson" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.