Hakim-hakim 16:1-4
Konteks16:1 Samson went to Gaza. There he saw a prostitute and went in to have sex with her. 1 16:2 The Gazites were told, 2 “Samson has come here!” So they surrounded the town 3 and hid all night at the city gate, waiting for him to leave. 4 They relaxed 5 all night, thinking, 6 “He will not leave 7 until morning comes; 8 then we will kill him!” 16:3 Samson spent half the night with the prostitute; then he got up in the middle of the night and left. 9 He grabbed the doors of the city gate, as well as the two posts, and pulled them right off, bar and all. 10 He put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill east of Hebron. 11
16:4 After this Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley.
Hakim-hakim 16:15-20
Konteks16:15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me? 12 Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.” 16:16 She nagged him 13 every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it. 14 16:17 Finally he told her his secret. 15 He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, 16 for I have been dedicated to God 17 from the time I was conceived. 18 If my head 19 were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.” 16:18 When Delilah saw that he had told her his secret, 20 she sent for 21 the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up here again, for he has told me 22 his secret.” 23 So the rulers of the Philistines went up to visit her, bringing the silver in their hands. 16:19 She made him go to sleep on her lap 24 and then called a man in to shave off 25 the seven braids of his hair. 26 She made him vulnerable 27 and his strength left him. 16:20 She said, “The Philistines are here, 28 Samson!” He woke up 29 and thought, 30 “I will do as I did before 31 and shake myself free.” But he did not realize that the Lord had left him.
[16:1] 1 tn Heb “and he went in to her.” The idiom בּוֹא אֶל (bo’ ’el, “to go to”) often has sexual connotations.
[16:2] 2 tc Heb “To the Gazites, saying.” A verb is missing from the MT; some ancient Greek witnesses add “it was reported.”
[16:2] 3 tn Heb “And they surrounded.” The rest of the verse suggests that “the town” is the object, not “the house.” Though the Gazites knew Samson was in the town, apparently they did not know exactly where he had gone. Otherwise, they would could have just gone into or surrounded the house and would not have needed to post guards at the city gate.
[16:2] 4 tn Heb “and they lay in wait for him all night in the city gate.”
[16:2] 5 tn Heb “were silent.”
[16:2] 7 tn The words “He will not leave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
[16:2] 8 tn Heb “until the light of the morning.”
[16:3] 9 tn Heb “And Samson lay until the middle of the night and arose in the middle of the night.”
[16:3] 10 tn Heb “with the bar.”
[16:3] 11 tn Heb “which is upon the face of Hebron.”
[16:15] 12 tn Heb “when your heart is not with me.”
[16:16] 13 tn Heb “forced him with her words.”
[16:16] 14 tn Heb “and his spirit was short [i.e., impatient] to the point of death.”
[16:17] 15 tn Heb “all his heart.”
[16:17] 16 tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”
[16:17] 17 tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).
[16:17] 18 tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”
[16:17] 19 tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).
[16:18] 20 tn Heb “all his heart.”
[16:18] 21 tn Heb “she sent and summoned.”
[16:18] 22 tc The translation follows the Qere, לִי (li, “to me”) rather than the Kethib, לָהּ (lah, “to her”).
[16:18] 23 tn Heb “all his heart.”
[16:19] 24 tn Heb “on her knees.” The expression is probably euphemistic for sexual intercourse. See HALOT 160-61 s.v. בֶּרֶךְ.
[16:19] 25 tn Heb “she called for a man and she shaved off.” The point seems to be that Delilah acted through the instrumentality of the man. See J. A. Soggin, Judges (OTL), 254.
[16:19] 26 tn Heb “head.” By metonymy the hair of his head is meant.
[16:19] 27 tn Heb “She began to humiliate him.” Rather than referring to some specific insulting action on Delilah’s part after Samson’s hair was shaved off, this statement probably means that she, through the devious actions just described, began the process of Samson’s humiliation which culminates in the following verses.
[16:20] 28 tn Heb “are upon you.”
[16:20] 29 tn The Hebrew adds, “from his sleep.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
