Judges 16:13

13. If thou weavest the seven locks … web] plaits … warp. Weaving was the work of women as well as of men; see the illustration from the Egyptian tombs at Beni Hasan dating from the Middle Kingdom, Benzinger, Hebr. Archäol.2, p. 151; Delîlah has a loom in her house. This was a horizontal loom fastened into the ground, as in the illustration referred to1[56]

[56] It looks as if it were upright; but this is due to the absence of perspective in Egyptian drawing.

; hence it would be easy to weave the hair of a person lying asleep upon the floor into the warp, i.e. the horizontal threads which are intersected at right angles by the weft, in this case Samson’s hair. To form the web, i.e. the woven cloth, a further operation is necessary, the beating up of the weft with a flat rod or batten, here rendered pin (Jdg_16:14); the word usually means peg, esp. a tent-peg (see Jdg_5:26 mg.), but that it could also be used of a flat stick appears from Deu_23:13 (paddle or spade).

The sentences needed to complete Jdg_16:13 and to provide the proper beginning of Jdg_16:14 have accidentally fallen out. With the help of the Greek versions the gap may be filled thus: “If thou weavest the seven plaits of my head with the warp, and beatest them up with the batten, then shall I become weak and be as any other man. So she made him sleep, and wove the seven plaits of his head with the warp, and beat them up with the batten.” It will be noticed that the existing text and the restored text both end in the same way. The eye of the copyist passed from the first with the warp to the second, and overlooked the intervening lines: a good instance of the source of textual mistakes known as homoioteleuton. The seven locks may have something to do with solar mythology. The Babyl. Gilgãmesh had seven locks; in later Greek art Helios is usually represented with the same number.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jdg 16:13 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.

Ver. 13. And told me lies.] See Jdg 16:10.

The seven locks of my head.] Here he came nearer the business than before; till at length she had his whole heart out. Well might Terence call harlots Cruces.

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.

Jdg 16:13. If thou weavest the seven locks of my head — If my hair, which is all divided into seven locks, be fastened about a weaver’s beam, or interwoven with weavers’ threads, then I shall be weak as another man. It is probable there was some loom or instrument of weaving in the room where Samson now was, which put him upon saying this to Delilah, to get rid of her importunity.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is impossible if we give place to our wicked affections, but at length we shall be destroyed.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

If thou weavest the seven locks of my head--braids or tresses, into which, like many in the East, he chose to plait his hair. Working at the loom was a female employment; and Delilah's appears to have been close at hand. It was of a very simple construction; the woof was driven into the warp, not by a reed, but by a wooden spatula. The extremity of the web was fastened to a pin or stake fixed in the wall or ground; and while Delilah sat squatting at her loom, Samson lay stretched on the floor, with his head reclining on her lap--a position very common in the East.

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

Verse 13. The seven locks of my head] Probably Samson had his long hair plaited into seven divisions, and as his vow of a Nazarite obliged him to wear his hair, so, seven being a number of perfection among the Hebrews, his hair being divided into seven locks might more particularly point out the perfection designed by his Nazarite state.

Every person must see that this verse ends abruptly, and does not contain a full sense. Houbigant has particularly noticed this, and corrected the text from the Septuagint, the reading of which I shall here subjoin:

Εαν ὑφανῃς τας ἑπτα σειρας της κεφαλης μον αυν τῳ διασματι, και εγκρουσῃς τῳ πασσαλῳ εις τον τοιχον, και εσομαι ὡς εἱς των ανθρωπων ασθενης· Και εγενετο εν τῳ κοιμασθαι αυτον, και ελαβε Δαλιδα τας ἑπτα σειρας της κεφαλης αυτου, και ὑφανεν εν τῳ διασματι, και επηξε τῳ πασσαλῳ εις τον τοιχον;

"If thou shalt weave the seven locks of my head with the web, and shalt fasten them with the pin in the wall, I shall become weak like other men: And so it was that, when he slept, Dalida took the seven locks of his head, and wove them with the web, and fastened it with the pin to the wall and said unto him," c.

All the words printed here in italic, are wanting in the present Hebrew copies but are preserved in the Septuagint, and are most obviously necessary to complete the sense; else Delilah appears to do something that she is not ordered to do, and to omit what she was commanded.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(13) If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.—The illustrious and “sunny locks of the Nazarite” did not, as Milton imagines, “lie waving and curling about his god-like shoulders,” but were plaited into seven locks. The word for “locks”—machelephoth—occurs here only. The LXX. render it “curls” (bostruchous) and seiras, which appears to mean “plaits,” like the Greek plokamous. The word for “web” is a technical word, and perhaps means warp. The LXX. and the Vulg. add, “and drive them with the peg into the wall,” which is implied in the next verse. With almost incredible levity and folly, Samson here goes to the very verge of the true secret, and suffers his sacred hair to be woven in a harlot’s loom. (Tertio de mysterio deprompsit jam lapsuro propior. St. Ambrose.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Delilah said unto Samson,.... At another time, when she thought it most proper to upbraid him with his deception of her:

hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies; both the times that she had solicited him to impart the secret of his strength to her:

tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound; tell me the real truth, and deceive me no more:

and he said unto her, if thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web; it seems that Samson's hair was parted into seven locks, which no doubt hung down very long; and now he tells her, that if these were interwoven with the warp which was upon the beam in a loom near by; perhaps in the same room, where Delilah used to weave, as was the custom of those times, and in various nations (a); his strength would be weakened; for Braunius (b) is mistaken in supposing this to be the beam about which the web was rolled, as he is also in the pin next mentioned, which he takes to be the "spatha", or lathe, with which the threads are knocked together.

(a) "Arguto conjux", &c. Virgil. Georgie. l. 1. v. 294. So Penelope in Homer, Minerva & Arachne in Ovid. Metamorph. l. 6. fab. 1. v. 55, &c. Vid. Pignorium de servis, p. 418. Braunium de Vest. Sacerd. Hebr. l. 1. c. 17. sect. 33. (b) "De Vest". Sacerd. Hebr. l. 1. c. 16. sect. 8.

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

Lace, (licio;) "the woof about the beam," &c. Hebrew, "the web, (14) and she fastened it," &c. The original text is here imperfect. (Haydock) --- The Septuagint have preserved eighteen words, which have been omitted in Hebrew, "the web, (and fastened them with a pin unto the wall, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. (14) An it came to pass, when he slept, that Dalilia took seven locks of his head, and wove them with a web) and fastened them with a pin, (unto the wall) and said," &c. (Kennicott, Diss. ii.) --- The Vulgate expresses the whole idea in fewer words: but the Hebrew leaves the proposal of Samson imperfect. It is observable that Grabe’s edition of the Alexandrian Septuagint has no mark of any thing being redundant; whence we might suppose, that in the days of Origen, (whose marks he endeavours to exhibit) the Hebrew agreed with the Greek version: but the 14th verse is rather different from the Vatican copy, which has been given above. --- "And Dalila (so the Septuagint always style her) lulled him asleep; (Greek: ekoimisen, as [in] ver. 19, (Haydock) perhaps by giving him some potion, with which people of her character are frequently provided; Salien) and she wove the seven curls of his head with the wool, (Greek: ektaseos) and she fastened them with the pins of wood into the wall," &c. (Haydock) --- The Hebrew text is liable to many difficulties, says Calmet; "If thou shalt make a tissue of seven locks of my head with the veil, which thou weavest, and shalt fasten it to a nail, I shall become weak as another man: or, If thou weave together my hair and my thread," &c. The ancients were accustomed to weave standing. Samson was probably lying on the ground, while Dalila was acting this farce. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Or, thread which is woven about a weaver’s loom; or,

with a weaver’s beam. If my hair, which is all divided into seven locks, be fastened about a weaver’s beam, or interwoven with weavers’ threads; understand out of the foregoing verses, then I shall be weak as another man.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. The seven locks — He probably wore his long Nazarite hair in seven braids or flowing tresses.

If thou weavest… with the web — The meaning is, that she should weave his seven braids of hair fast into the warp of the cloth which was upon her loom. “This time,” says Kitto, “he approached dangerously near his great secret. His infatuation was like that of the moth, approaching gradually nearer and nearer to the flame which destroys it at last. This device was suggested by the presence of the small loom in which the women of these days wove their household stuffs — a kind of industry from which it would seem that females even of Delilah’s stamp did not hold themselves exempt. These looms, as shown in Egyptian sculptures, and as still subsisting in the East, are very simple and comparatively light, and must by no means be confounded with the ponderous apparatus of our own hand-loom weavers.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The seven locks, by which we learn that his mass of hair as a Nazarite was arranged in seven locks or plaits. His resistance was becoming weaker, and he now approached the dangerous ground of his unshorn hair. With the web . This must mean the warp, which was already fastened in the loom, and across which Samson s locks were to be woven as the woof.

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

Web - Or, thread which is woven about a weaver's loom: or, with a weaver's beam. If my hair, which is all divided into seven locks, be fastened about a weaver's beam; or interwoven with weaver's threads: then I shall be weak as another man.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

you have deceived me and told me lies

Deceiving and lying mean the same thing and are stated to emphasize how angry Delilah felt. AT: "you have greatly deceived me" (See: Parallelism)

you may be overpowered

This can be stated in active form. AT: "people can overpower you" (See: Active or Passive)

weave

crossing pieces of material together so they hold each other in place

locks of my hair

small bunches of hair

fabric

cloth made from weaving material together

loom

a machine used for combining many threads of material into a cloth (See: Translate Unknowns)

then nail that to the loom

"then nail the fabric to the loom"

nail

to hammer a nail in order to hold something in one place

I will be like any other man

The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "I will be as weak as any other man" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

The Philistines are upon you

The phrase "upon you" means that they are there to capture him. AT: "The Philistines are here to capture you" (See: Idiom)

he pulled out the fabric and the pin from the loom

Samson pulled out the fabric from the loom when he pulled his hair away from the loom. This can be stated clearly. AT: "pulled away his hair, taking with it the pin of the loom and the fabric in the loom" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

the pin

This is the wooden nail or peg used to fasten the fabric to the loom.

translationWords

Delilah

deceive

Samson

Philistines

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Tresses Locks. "Pelous" in old French.

With the mounting pin. A wooden rod which the weaver uses to mount the threads of the warp. The name of the wood is "ensouple", of the pin, "ourdissuire".

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.