Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords as a flax thread is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.
Parallel Translations
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Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords as a flax thread is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.
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Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.
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Now she had liers-in-wait abiding in the inner chamber. And she said unto him: 'The Philistines are upon thee, Samson.' And he broke the bowstrings as a string of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to Judges 16:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 58:9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Certain Philistines in a secret chamber.
Certain Philistines in a secret chamber.
When fire cometh near it.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jdg 16:9 Now [there were] men lying in wait,…
Jdg 16:9 Now [there were] men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines [be] upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.
Ver. 9. Now there were men lying in wait.] But durst not for their ears show themselves, till the experiment should prove true, and they be sure to overcome him.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain With her in the chamber; with her, i.e. in…
With her in the chamber; with her, i.e. in the same house, in a chamber, i.e. in a secret chamber within her call. Nor is it strange that they did not fall upon him in his sleep; partly because they feared to awake a sleeping lion; and partly because they expect an opportunity for doing their work more certainly, and with less danger.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Now there were men lying in wait,.... Very likely…
Now there were men lying in wait,.... Very likely some of the servants of the lords of the Philistines, who were placed privately on purpose, that when an opportunity offered, they might rush out, and fall upon Samson; Josephus (y) calls them soldiers:
abiding with her in the chamber; in a private part of it, or otherwise they could not be said to lie in wait; in it may mean near it; perhaps it was in the next apartment to hers, where they were set:
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and she said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson; are just ready to fall upon thee, and seize thee; this she said to arouse him, and try whether he could break the withs or not, before she called in the men that lay in wait, and whether he had told her the truth or not:
and he brake the withs as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire; or "smells it" (z); as soon as it comes near it; a thread of tow or linen catches the fire presently, it being so weak that it cannot stand before the least force of it; so easily did the withs give way, and were broken, when Samson did but just stir himself, and move his arms:
so his strength was not known; by Delilah, nor by the Philistines; that is, where it lay, so as that it might be weakened; for otherwise it was known by the easy breaking of the withs.
(y) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 11. (z) "cum olfecerit", Drusius, so Piscator.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain With her - That is, in a secret chamber…
With her - That is, in a secret chamber within her call. Nor is it strange that they did not fall upon him in his sleep, because they expected an opportunity for doing their work more certainly, and with less danger.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. Men lying in wait] They probably did…
Verse 9. Men lying in wait] They probably did not appear, as Samson immediately broke his bonds when this bad woman said, The Philistines be upon thee.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Jdg 16:9. There were men abiding with her in…
Jdg 16:9. There were men abiding with her in the chamber — In some closet, probably, or adjoining room; for it cannot be well imagined, that they could be in the very same chamber without being discovered by Samson. It appears the Philistines were rather desirous of taking him alive than killing him. Probably they thought to employ him in some laborious works for the public, wherein his great strength might be of use to them, if they could but take him alive. Otherwise the liers in wait might have taken the opportunity of killing him while he was asleep, if their orders had not been to take him alive.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Fire. Protestants, "and he brake the withs, as a…
Fire. Protestants, "and he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire." (Haydock) --- Thus he played with her, never suspecting that the enemy was concealed so near. (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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain there were men lying in wait, abiding . .…
there were men lying in wait, abiding . . . in the chamber--The Hebrew, literally rendered, is, "in the inner," or "most secret part of the house."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. Men lying in wait — Hebrew, the lier…
9. Men lying in wait — Hebrew, the lier in wait. She had a spy lying in ambush in an adjoining apartment, ready to take care of the fettered giant when it became evident that he was helpless. It is not likely that she went so far as to betray her real purposes by having this spy rush out upon Samson when she uttered her alarm cry.
The Philistines be upon thee, Samson — This she uttered to awake him in fright, and see what he would do.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) Men lying in wait.—Literally, and the spy sat…
(9) Men lying in wait.—Literally, and the spy sat in the room for her, i.e., to help her. It is doubtful whether there was more than one spy, who could be easily concealed. It is implied that she bound Samson while he slept, as in Jdg_16:19.
When it toucheth the fire.—Literally, when it smelleth the fire. (See Note on Jdg_15:14.) So in Job_14:9 : “through the scent of water it will bud.” Of course the writer leaves us to infer that the spy or spies did not appear, seeing that the plan had failed.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain There were men lying in wait literally, and the…
There were men lying in wait literally, and the liers in wait were abiding for her in the chamber. She had hid some three or four men in the chamber unknown to Samson, that they might be ready to fall upon him should his strength really have departed from him. The word for liers in wait is in the singular number, but is to be taken collectively, as in Jud_1:20:33, 36-38. In Jud_1:20:37 it is joined to a plural verb. It is to be presumed that through some concerted signal the liers in wait did not discover themselves.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.