However she wept before him for seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people.
Parallel translations
- WEB She wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and on the seventh day, he told her, because she pressed him severely; and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
- KJV And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
- BSB She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people.
- NKJV Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people.
- NLT So she cried whenever she was with him and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day he told her the answer because she was tormenting him with her nagging. Then she explained the riddle to the young men.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
After seven days of weeping she finally pries the answer out, and she tells her people. Persistent pressure overcomes Samson.
Overview
Worn down by relentless weeping, Samson reveals the riddle's solution, which his wife promptly betrays. His susceptibility to emotional manipulation again surfaces as a fatal flaw. The betrayal advances the conflict, turning the contest toward open hostility with the Philistines.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Judg 16:16When she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, his soul was troubled to death.
- Luke 18:4–5He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,
- Judg 16:6Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and what you might be bound to afflict you.”
- Prov 7:21With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him.
- Judg 16:13Delilah said to Samson, “Until now, you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me with what you might be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web.”
- Luke 11:8I tell you, although he will not rise and give it to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as many as he needs.
- Prov 2:16–17To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;
- Gen 3:6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.
- Job 2:9Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Israel's cycle of sin and rescue through flawed deliverers cries out for a Savior who never fails — the true and final Judge and Deliverer who saves his people not for a season but forever.
How Judges 14:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.