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Afterward Delilah said to him, “You’ve been making fun of me and telling me lies! Now please tell me how you can be tied up securely.”
Judges 16:10 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now please tell me with which you might be bound.”
  • KJV And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.
  • BSB Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me! Now please tell me how you can be tied up.”
  • NKJV Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.”
  • NASB Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have toyed with me and told me lies; now please tell me how you may be bound.”

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

Delilah complains that Samson has mocked and lied to her, and again demands the secret of binding him. She presses on relentlessly.

Overview

Rather than recoil at her exposed treachery, Samson tolerates Delilah's renewed demands. Her tactic of feigned hurt mirrors the manipulation he should have recognized. The scene advances the wearing-down process that will finally break his resistance, illustrating the slow erosion sin works when not resisted decisively.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 7

  • Luke 22:48But Jesus said to him, “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”
  • 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.”
  • Ezek 33:31They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but don’t do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.
  • Prov 24:28Don’t be a witness against your neighbor without cause. Don’t deceive with your lips.
  • Judg 16:7Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”
  • Judg 16:15–17She 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.”
  • Prov 23:7–8for as he thinks about the cost, so he is. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Judges videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Judges 16:10YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JudgesMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 16:10 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.