Discovery BoxJudges 16:7 
Context16:7 Samson said to her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh 1 bowstrings 2 that have not been dried, I will become weak and be just like any other man.”
Judges 16:13
Context16:13 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 3 into the fabric on the loom 4 and secure it with the pin, I will become weak and be like any other man.”
Judges 16:15-17
Context16:15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me? 5 Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.” 16:16 She nagged him 6 every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it. 7 16:17 Finally he told her his secret. 8 He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, 9 for I have been dedicated to God 10 from the time I was conceived. 11 If my head 12 were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”
1 tn Or “moist.”
2 tn The word refers to a bowstring, probably made from animal tendons. See Ps 11:2; Job 30:11.
3 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.
4 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.
5 tn Heb “when your heart is not with me.”
6 tn Heb “forced him with her words.”
7 tn Heb “and his spirit was short [i.e., impatient] to the point of death.”
8 tn Heb “all his heart.”
9 tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”
10 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”).
11 tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”
12 tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).
