Judges 16:6

Good News Translation

So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me what makes you so strong. If someone wanted to tie you up and make you helpless, how could he do it?"

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me, where does your great strength come from? How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?”

Hebrew Names Version
Delilah said to Shimshon, Tell me, Please, in which your great strength lies, and with which you might be bound to afflict you.

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

Lexham English Bible
So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me what makes your strength so great, and with what can you be tied up to subdue you?"

English Standard Version
So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you."

New Century Version
So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me why you are so strong. How can someone tie you up and capture you?"

New English Translation
So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me what makes you so strong and how you can be subdued and humiliated."

Amplified Bible
So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies and with what you may be bound and subdued."

New American Standard Bible
So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you can be bound to humble you."

Geneva Bible (1587)
And Delilah saide to Samson, Tell mee, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest bee bound, to doe thee hurt.

Legacy Standard Bible
Toe vra Delíla vir Simson: vertel my tog waardeur jou krag so groot is, en waarmee jy gebind kan word om jou te bedwing.

Contemporary English Version
The next time Samson was at Delilah's house, she asked, "Samson, what makes you so strong? How can I tie you up so you can't get away? Come on, you can tell me."

Complete Jewish Bible
D'lilah said to Shimshon, "Please tell me what it is that makes you so strong, and how someone could tie you up and subdue you."

Darby Translation
Then Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what is thy great strength, and with what thou mightest be bound to overpower thee.

Easy-to-Read Version
So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me why you are so strong. How could someone tie you up and make you helpless?"

George Lamsa Translation
And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me wherein your great strength lies, and with what you might be bound, and how that you may become weak.

Literal Translation
And Delilah said to Samson, Now tell me in what your great strength lies , and with what you may be bound in order to afflict you.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And Dalila sayde vnto Samson: I praye the tell me, wherin thy greate stregth is, & how thou mightest be bounde to be subdued.

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

Bible in Basic English
So Delilah said to Samson, Make clear to me now what is the secret of your great strength, and how you may be put in bands and made feeble.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And Dalila sayde to Samson: Oh, tell me where thy great strength lyeth, and how thou myghtest be bounde and brought vnder.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And Delilah said to Samson: 'Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.'

King James Version (1611)
And Delilah said to Samson, Tel me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lyeth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound, to afflict thee.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Dalida said to Sampson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein is thy great strength, and wherewith thou shalt be bound that thou mayest be humbled.

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

Berean Standard Bible
So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you could be tied up and subdued."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor Dalida spak to Sampson, Y biseche, seie thou to me, wher ynne is thi gretteste strengthe, and what is that thing, with which thou boundun maist not breke?

Young's Literal Translation
And Delilah saith unto Samson, `Declare, I pray thee, to me, wherein thy great power [is], and wherewith thou art bound, to afflict thee.'

Update Bible Version
And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray you, wherein your great strength lies, and with which you might be bound to afflict you.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what thy great strength [lieth], and with what thou mayest be bound to afflict thee.

World English Bible
Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, Please, in which your great strength lies, and with which you might be bound to afflict you.

New King James Version
So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you."

New Living Translation
So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me what makes you so strong and what it would take to tie you up securely."

New Life Bible
So Delilah said to Samson, "I beg you. Tell me the secret of your powerful strength. Tell me how one can get power over you and tie you up and hold you."

New Revised Standard
So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me what makes your strength so great, and how you could be bound, so that one could subdue you."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So Delilah said unto Samson, Do tell me, I pray thee, wherein lieth thy great strength, - and wherewith thou mightest be bound, to humble thee.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Dalila said to Samson: Tell me, I beseech thee, wherein thy greatest strength lieth, and what it is, wherewith if thou wert bound, thou couldst not break loose.

Revised Standard Version
And Deli'lah said to Samson, "Please tell me wherein your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you."

THE MESSAGE
So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me, dear, the secret of your great strength, and how you can be tied up and humbled."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you."

Contextual Overview

⁴ After this, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in Sorek Valley. ⁵ The five Philistine kings went to her and said, "Trick Samson into telling you why he is so strong and how we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver." ⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me what makes you so strong. If someone wanted to tie you up and make you helpless, how could he do it?" ⁷ Samson answered, "If they tie me up with seven new bowstrings that are not dried out, I'll be as weak as anybody else." ⁸ So the Philistine kings brought Delilah seven new bowstrings that were not dried out, and she tied Samson up. ⁹ She had some men waiting in another room, so she shouted, "Samson! The Philistines are coming!" But he snapped the bowstrings just as thread breaks when fire touches it. So they still did not know the secret of his strength. ¹⁰ Delilah told Samson, "Look, you've been making a fool of me and not telling me the truth. Please tell me how someone could tie you up." ¹¹ He told her, "If they tie me with new ropes that have never been used, I'll be as weak as anybody else." ¹² So Delilah got some new ropes and tied him up. Then she shouted, "Samson! The Philistines are coming!" The men were waiting in another room. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like thread. ¹³ Delilah said to Samson, "You're still making a fool of me and not telling me the truth. Tell me how someone could tie you up." He told her, "If you weave my seven locks of hair into a loom, and make it tight with a peg, I'll be as weak as anybody else."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Psalms 12:2, Proverbs 6:26, Proverbs 7:21, Proverbs 22:14, Proverbs 26:28, Jeremiah 9:2-5, Micah 7:2, Micah 7:5

Reciprocal: Judges 14:17 - she lay Nehemiah 6:4 - four times

Cross-References

Genesis 16:8
and said, "Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She answered, "I am running away from my mistress."

Genesis 16:9
He said, "Go back to her and be her slave."

Genesis 24:10
The servant, who was in charge of Abraham's property, took ten of his master's camels and went to the city where Nahor had lived in northern Mesopotamia.

Exodus 2:15
When the king heard about what had happened, he tried to have Moses killed, but Moses fled and went to live in the land of Midian. One day, when Moses was sitting by a well, seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, came to draw water and fill the troughs for their father's sheep and goats.

Job 2:6
So the Lord said to Satan, "All right, he is in your power, but you are not to kill him."

Proverbs 14:29
If you stay calm, you are wise, but if you have a hot temper, you only show how stupid you are.

Proverbs 15:1
A gentle answer quiets anger, but a harsh one stirs it up.

Proverbs 27:8
Anyone away from home is like a bird away from its nest.

Proverbs 29:19
You cannot correct servants just by talking to them. They may understand you, but they will pay no attention.

Ecclesiastes 10:4
If your ruler becomes angry with you, do not hand in your resignation; serious wrongs may be pardoned if you keep calm.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Delilah said to Samson,.... At a proper opportunity, when in his hands and caresses, as Josephus relates e, and introduced it in an artful manner, admiring his strange exploits, and wondering how he could perform them:

tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth; which she proposed seemingly out of mere curiosity, and as it would be a proof of his affection to her, to impart the secret to her:

and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee; not that she suggested to him that she was desirous to have him afflicted, or to try the experiment herself in order to afflict him, but to know by what means, if he was bound, it would be afflicting to him so that he could not relieve himself; she knew he might be bound, if he would admit of it, as he had been, but she wanted to know how he might be bound, so as to be held, and could not loose himself.

e Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 9.)