Judges 16 · Verse 5

Judges 16:5

And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
Judges 16:5, King James Version

Judges 16:5 in other translations

BSBThe lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
WEBThe lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
ASVAnd the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
YLTand the princes of the Philistines come up unto her, and say to her, ‘Entice him, and see wherein his great power is, and wherein we are able for him--and we have bound him to afflict him, and we--we give to thee, each one, eleven hundred silverlings.'
DARBYAnd the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Persuade him, and see in what his great strength is, and with what we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to overpower him; and we will each give thee eleven hundred silver-pieces.
BBEAnd the chiefs of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Make use of your power over him and see what is the secret of his great strength, and how we may get the better of him, and put bands on him, so that we may make him feeble; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.
WebsterAnd the lords of the Philistines came to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see in what his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

What does Judges 16:5 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
5. the lords of the Philistines--The five rulers deemed no means beneath their dignity to overcome this national enemy. Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth--They probably imagined that he carried some amulet about his person, or was in the possession of some important secret by which he had acquired such herculean strength; and they bribed Delilah, doubtless by a large reward, to discover it for them. She undertook the service and made several attempts, plying all her arts of persuasion or blandishment in his soft and communicative moods, to extract his secret.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 5 See wherein his great strength lieth - They saw that his stature was not remarkable: and that, nevertheless, he had most extraordinary strength; therefore they supposed that it was the effect of some charm or amulet. The lords of the Philistines were the five following: Gaza, Gath, Askelon, Ekron, and Ashdod. All these considered Samson as a public enemy; and they promised this bad woman a large sum of money if she would obtain from him the important secret wherein his strength lay, that, depriving him of this supernatural power, they might be able to reduce him to bondage.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Judges 16:4-17

Samson had been more than once brought into mischief and danger by the love of women, yet he would not take warning, but is again taken in the same snare, and this third time is fatal. Licentiousness is one of the things that take away the heart. This is a deep pit into which many have fallen; but from which few have escaped, and those by a miracle of mercy, with the loss of reputation and usefulness, of almost all…

Read the full comment on Judges 16:4-17 →

Judges 16:5 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיַּעֲל֨וּvai.ya.'a.Luand they went upH5927
אֵלֶ֜יהָ'e.Lei.hato herH413
סַרְנֵ֣יsar.Nei[the] rulers ofH5633
פְלִשְׁתִּ֗יםfe.lish.Tim[the] PhilistinesH6430
וַיֹּ֨אמְרוּvai.Yo.me.ruand they saidH559
לָ֜הּlahto <the> her
פַּתִּ֣יpa.TienticeH6601
אוֹת֗וֹ'o.To<obj.> himH853
וּרְאִי֙u.re.'Iand seeH7200
בַּמֶּה֙ba.Meh<in> how?H4100
כֹּח֣וֹko.Cho[is] strength hisH3581
גָד֔וֹלga.DolgreatH1419
וּבַמֶּה֙u.va.Mehand <in> how?H4100
נ֣וּכַלNu.khalwill we prevailH3201
ל֔וֹloto <the> him
וַאֲסַרְנֻ֖הוּva.'a.sar.Nu.huand we will bind himH631
לְעַנֹּת֑וֹle.'a.no.Toto humble himH6031
וַאֲנַ֙חְנוּ֙va.'a.Nach.nuand weH587
נִתַּן\־ni.tan-we will giveH5414
לָ֔ךְLakhto <the> you
אִ֕ישׁ'isheachH376
אֶ֥לֶף'E.lefone thousandH505
וּמֵאָ֖הu.me.'Ahand one hundredH3967
כָּֽסֶף\׃Ka.sefsilverH3701

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Judges 16:5

  • Joshua 13:3

    From Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward, which is counted to the Canaanite: five lords of the Philistines; the Gazathites, and the Ashdothites, the Eshkalonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avites:

  • Judges 14:15

    And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson’s wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father’s house with fire: have ye called us to take that we have? is it not so?

  • 1 Timothy 6:9-10

    But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

  • 1 Corinthians 6:15-18

    Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

  • Proverbs 5:3-11

    For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell. Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them. …

  • Proverbs 7:21-27

    With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him. He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks; Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. …

  • Proverbs 2:16-19

    To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

  • 1 Samuel 29:6

    Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the Lord liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favour thee not.

  • Numbers 22:17-18

    For I will promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people. And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

  • Judges 3:3

    Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal–hermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

  • Matthew 26:15

    And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.

  • Genesis 33:16

    So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the lords.
3:3; Jos 13:3; 1Sa 29:6
Entice.
14:15; Pr 2:16-19; 5:3-11; 6:24-26; 7:21-27; 1Co 6:15-18
afflict. or, humble. we will.
17:2; Ge 33:16; Nu 22:17,18; Mic 7:3; Mt 26:15; 1Ti 6:9,10

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Judges 16:4

    And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

  • Judges 16:5

    And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

  • Judges 16:6

    And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

Read all of Judges 16

Judges 16:5 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Y vinieron á ella los príncipes de los Filisteos, y dijéronle: Engáñale y sabe en qué consiste su grande fuerza, y cómo lo podríamos vencer, para que lo atemos y lo atormentemos; y cada uno de nosotros te dará mil y cien siclos de plata.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Et les princes des Philistins montèrent vers elle, et lui dirent: Persuade-le, et vois en quoi consiste sa grande force, et comment nous pourrions le vaincre et le lier pour l’humilier; et nous te donnerons chacun 1 100 pièces d’argent.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und die Fürsten der Philister gingen zu ihr hinauf und sprachen zu ihr: Berede ihn und sieh, worin seine große Stärke besteht, und wodurch wir ihn überwältigen können, daß wir ihn binden, um ihn zu bezwingen; und wir wollen dir ein jeder 1100 Sekel Silber geben.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Veneruntque ad eam principes Philisthinorum, atque dixerunt: Decipe eum, et disce ab illo, in quo habeat tantam fortitudinem, et quomodo eum superare valeamus, et vinctum affligere: quod si feceris, dabimus tibi singuli mille et centum argenteos.