Judges 16:12

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Judges 16:12 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Judges 16:12 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/judges/16/12.

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So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. The liers-in-wait were abiding in the inner chamber. He broke them off his arms like a thread.
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. The liers-in-wait were abiding in the inner chamber. He broke them off his arms like a thread.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    So Delilah took new ropes, and she bound him with them. And she said to him, “The Philistines upon you, Samson!” And the ambush staying in the room. But he broke them from upon his arms like thread.

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. The liers-in-wait were abiding in the inner chamber. He broke them off his arms like a thread.
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like they were threads.
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like they were threads.
  • King James Version Public Domain
    Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And the liers-in-wait were abiding in the inner chamber. And he brake them off his arms like a thread.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And the liers in wait were abiding in the inner chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    Delilah therefore tooke newe ropes, and bounde him therewith, and saide vnto him, The Philistims be vpon thee, Samson: (and men lay in wayte in the chamber) and hee brake them from his armes, as a threede.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    Dalila bound him again with these, and cried out: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson, there being an ambush prepared for him in the chamber. But he broke the bands like threads of webs.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    And Delilah taketh thick bands, new ones, and bindeth him with them, and saith unto him, `Philistines `are' upon thee, Samson;' and the ambush is abiding in an inner chamber, and he breaketh them from off his arms as a thread.
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    And Delilah takes thick bands, new ones, and binds him with them, and says to him, “Philistines [are] on you, Samson!” And the ambush is abiding in an inner chamber, and he breaks them from off his arms as a thread.
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    So Delilah took new ropes and tied him up with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” The men lying in wait were in the inner room. But Samson tore off the ropes from his arms like they were a piece of thread.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    So Delilah took new ropes, and she bound him with them. And she said to him, “The Philistines upon you, Samson!” And the ambush staying in the room. But he broke them from upon his arms like thread.
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    So Deli'lah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And the men lying in wait were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, then said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. He broke them off his arms like a thread.
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. (And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber.) And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up with them. She shouted out, “Samson, the Philistines are here to get you!” As before, men were hiding in her bedroom. But again Samson snapped the ropes from his arms as if they were thin threads.
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    So Delilah took new thick cords, knotting them tightly round him, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And men were waiting secretly in the inner room. And the cords were broken off his arms like threads.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him: 'The Philistines are upon thee, Samson.' And the liers-in-wait were abiding in the inner chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

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דְּלִילָה֩
Dᵉlîylâh
H1807
“Delilah”
Noun, Proper
Part of Speech
Noun
Type
Proper
Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H1809

TWOT: None

Delilah = "feeble" - the Philistine mistress of Samson who betrayed the secret of his great strength, and by cutting his hair, enfeebled him and delivered him to the Philistines
  1. וַתִּקַּ֣ח lâqach H3947 “and · to take” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  2. עֲבֹתִ֨ים ʻăbôth H5688 “ropes” Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Absolute
  3. חֲדָשִׁ֜ים châdâsh H2319 “new” Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  4. וַתַּאַסְרֵ֣הוּ ʼâçar H631 “and · to bind · him” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  5. וַתֹּ֤אמֶר ʼâmar H559 “and · to say” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular
  6. אֵלָיו֙ ʼêl H413 “to · him” Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  7. פְּלִשְׁתִּ֤ים Pᵉlishtîy H6430 “Philistines” Noun, Gentilic, Masculine, Plural, Absolute
  8. עָלֶ֨יךָ֙ ʻal H5921 “upon · you” Preposition + Suffix, Personal, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular
  9. שִׁמְשׁ֔וֹן Shimshôwn H8123 “Samson” Noun, Proper
  10. וְהָאֹרֵ֖ב ʼârab H693 “and · the · lying in wait” Conjunction + Particle, Definite Article + Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  11. יֹשֵׁ֣ב yâshab H3427 “dwelling” Verb, Qal, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  12. בֶּחָ֑דֶר cheder H2315 “in/at the · chamber” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  13. וַֽיְנַתְּקֵ֛ם nâthaq H5423 “and · to pull away · them” Conjunction + Verb, Piel, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural
  14. מֵעַ֥ל ʻal H5921 “from · upon” Preposition + Preposition
  15. זְרֹעֹתָ֖יו zᵉrôwaʻ H2220 “arms · his” Noun, Common, Both, Plural, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  16. כַּחֽוּט chûwṭ H2339 “like/as the · thread” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

18
words
16
distinct lemmas
Historical
section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is דְּלִילָה֩ Delilah H1807 — appearing just 6 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

דְּלִילָה֩ Delilah H1807 occurs in 6 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

  • 6 verbs
  • 7 nouns
  • 1 adjective
  • 4 prepositions

Verb forms

  • וַתִּקַּ֣ח Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • וַתַּאַסְרֵ֣הוּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • וַתֹּ֤אמֶר Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • וְהָאֹרֵ֖ב Qal · Participle Active
  • יֹשֵׁ֣ב Qal · Participle Active
  • וַֽיְנַתְּקֵ֛ם Piel · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • עָלֶ֨יךָ֙ upon H5921 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 36 words from the Hebrew and 39 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 18 Hebrew tokens and 31 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Judges 16:12 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַתִּקַּ֣ח דְּלִילָה֩ עֲבֹתִ֨ים חֲדָשִׁ֜ים וַתַּאַסְרֵ֣הוּ בָהֶ֗ם וַתֹּ֤אמֶר אֵלָיו֙ פְּלִשְׁתִּ֤ים עָלֶ֨יךָ֙ שִׁמְשׁ֔וֹן וְהָאֹרֵ֖ב יֹשֵׁ֣ב בֶּחָ֑דֶר וַֽיְנַתְּקֵ֛ם מֵעַ֥ל זְרֹעֹתָ֖יו כַּחֽוּט

So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. The liers-in-wait were abiding in the inner chamber. He broke them off his arms like a thread.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Judges 16:12 Septuagint · lemma form

καί λαμβάνω δαλιδα καλώδιον καινός καί δέω αὐτός ἐν αὐτός καί ὁ ἔνεδρον ἐκἔρχομαι ἐκ ὁ ταμιεῖον καί εἶπον ἀλλόφυλος ἐπί σύ σαμψων καί διασπάω αὐτός ἀπό βραχίων αὐτός ὡς σπαρτίον

And Dalida took new ropes, and bound him with them, and the liers in wait came out of the chamber, and she said, The Philistines are upon you, Sampson: and he broke them off his arms like a thread.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

1

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

  1. Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)
    וּנְסִיבַת דְלִילָה גְדִילָן חַדְתָּן וַאֲסַרְתֵּיהּ בְּהוֹן וַאֲמַרַת לֵיהּ פְּלִשְׁתָּאֵי אֲתוֹ עֲלָךְ שִׁמְשׁוֹן וּכְמָנָא יָתֵיב בְּאִידְרוֹן בֵּית מִשְׁכְּבָא וּפַסְקִינוּן מֵעַל דַרְעוֹהִי כְּחוּטָא:

    (no public-domain English translation for this verse)

    Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Judges 16:12 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Jdg 16:12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines [be] upon thee, Samson. And [there were] liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.

Ver. 12. And there were liers in wait.] This he little thought of. No more do evil doers consider that the wrath of God and rage of all the creatures are ready prest to surprise them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

new ropes--It is not said of what material they were formed; but from their being dried, it is probable they were of twigs, like the former. The Hebrew intimates that they were twisted, and of a thick, strong description.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

John Gill's Exposition

Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith,.... Tried this experiment with him, according to his directions, being very desirous of getting the sum of money offered her:

and said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson: using the same words, and with the same view as she had done before, Jdg 16:9.

(and there were liers in wait abiding the chamber); as before, ready upon occasion to rush in upon him, as soon as any notice was given them:

and he brake them from off his arms like a thread; as easily as a thread of linen can be snapped asunder.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Pulpit Commentary

Took new ropes. She had them by her, apparently, or could easily procure them, as it is not said that the lords brought them to her. And there were liers. Rather, as before, and the liers in wait were abiding, etc. Each time she had persuaded the lords that Samson had divulged his secret, and that she would deliver him into the hands of the men whom they sent.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Judges, in the Historical, opens this verse with 18 words (16 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Dᵉlîylâh (“Delilah”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. What does “Delilah” (Dᵉlîylâh) contribute to the verse as a whole?
  2. Judges 16:4 shares the word «Delilah» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
  3. “upon” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
  4. These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
  5. The verb «וַתִּקַּ֣ח» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
  6. Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

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English shown for the Greek Septuagint (in the Hebrew ↔ Greek comparison).

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