Judges 16:15

Temptation Love for others

¹³ And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

¹⁴ And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

¹⁶ And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;

¹⁷ That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: “How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”
KJV: And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.
WEB: She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
ASV: And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.
DARBY: Then she said to him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? these three times hast thou mocked me, and hast not told me in what is thy great strength.
BLB: And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ and your heart [is] not with me? This [is] three times you have mocked me, and you have not told me in what [is] your great power.”

ÅB: Da sa hun til ham: Hvordan kan du si at du elsker meg når du ikke har noen tiltro til meg? Nå har du narret meg tre ganger og ikke sagt meg hvori din store styrke ligger.
OTB: Da sa hun til ham, "Hvordan kan du si, 'Jeg elsker deg,' når du ikke vil betro deg til meg? Dette er tredje gang du har gjort narr av meg og ikke har fortalt meg hemmeligheten til din store styrke."
B1930: Da sa hun til ham: Hvorledes kan du si at du elsker mig når du ikke har nogen tiltro til mig? Nu har du narret mig tre ganger og ikke sagt mig hvori din store styrke ligger.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Judges 14:16
And Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee?
Read in context
Proverbs 23:26
My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
Read in context
1 John 2:15–16
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Read in context
John 15:10
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
Read in context
John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Read in context
Proverbs 5:3–14
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
Read in context
Song of Solomon 8:6–7
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
Read in context
2 Corinthians 5:14–15
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
Read in context