Judges 16:13

16:13 Delilah said to Samson, “Up to now you have deceived me and told me lies. Tell me how you can be subdued.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven braids of my hair ¹  into the fabric on the loom ²  and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.”

Judges 16:17

16:17 Finally he told her his secret. ³  He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, ⁴  for I have been dedicated to God ⁵  from the time I was conceived. ⁶  If my head ⁷  were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”

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¹ tn Heb “head” (also in the following verse). By metonymy the head is mentioned in the Hebrew text in place of the hair on it.

² tn Heb “with the web.” For a discussion of how Delilah did this, see C. F. Burney, Judges, 381, and G. F. Moore, Judges (ICC), 353-54.

³ tn Heb “all his heart.”

⁴ tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”

⁵ 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”).

⁶ tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”

⁷ tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).