Bible Strands
Judges 14:17
She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Samson’s wife weeps before him during the seven-day wedding feast, pressing him until he finally yields the riddle’s answer on the seventh day. She then relays the solution to the Philistine guests who had been challenging him.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַתֵּבְךְּ (vattevek) means “and she wept,” paired with עָלָיו (alav) “over him,” marking the direction of her persistent emotional pressure. The phrase שִׁבְעַת הַיָּמִים (shiv'at hayyamim) “the seven days” specifies the exact duration of her pleas during the feast.
The thread — The pattern of prolonged pleading overcoming initial refusal appears in Judges 16:16, where Delilah presses Samson daily until he breaks, and Luke 18:4, where a judge finally acts after sustained refusal.
Why it lands — The text records a factual sequence of coercion leading to disclosure, requiring the reader to observe how persistent pressure operates without assigning moral value to the actors. It asks the reader to note the mechanics of influence rather than to sympathize with either party.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him: and she told the riddle to the children of her people.
Cross-references
- Judges 16:16 Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death,
- Luke 18:4 For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men,
- Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
- Judges 16:6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
- Judges 16:13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.” He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man.”
- Job 2:9 Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”
- Proverbs 2:16 It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words
- Proverbs 7:21 With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him.
- Luke 11:8 I tell you, even though he will not get up to provide for him because of his friendship, yet because of the man’s persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.