Judges 16:15

“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Delilah addresses Samson after he escapes her third binding, demanding an explanation for his claim of love while he withholds the secret of his strength. The words — The Hebrew אֵ֚יךְ תֹּאמַ֣ר אֲהַבְתִּ֔יךְ (eikh to.mar a.hav.ti/kh) literally translates "how will you say I love you," directly questioning the validity of his declaration against the reality of his concealed heart (לִבְּ/ךָ֖, li.be./Kha). The thread — The text records a similar demand for love's proof in Judges 14:16, and the structural motif of yielding one's heart to a speaker aligns with the phrasing in Proverbs 23:26. Why it lands — The passage requires readers to measure spoken devotion against actual transparency, noting that verbal claims lose credibility when they mask hidden resistance.

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

וַתֹּ֣אמֶרva./To.merand/ she said אֵלָ֗יו'e.La/vto/ him אֵ֚יךְ'eikhhow?תֹּאמַ֣רto.Marwill you say אֲהַבְתִּ֔יךְ'a.hav.Ti/khI love/ you וְלִבְּךָ֖ve./li.be./Khaand/ heart/ your אֵ֣ין'einnot אִתִּ֑י'i.T/i[is] with/ me זֶ֣הzehthis שָׁלֹ֤שׁsha.Loshthree פְּעָמִים֙pe.'a.Mimtimes הֵתַ֣לְתָּhe.Tal.tayou have deceivedבִּ֔יB/i<in> <the>/ meוְלֹא־ve./lo'-and/ not הִגַּ֣דְתָּhi.Gad.tayou have toldלִּ֔יL/ito <the>/ meבַּמֶּ֖הba./Meh<in>/ how?כֹּחֲךָ֥ko.cha./Kha[is] strength/ your גָדֽוֹל׃ga.Dolgreat

King James Version

And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

Cross-references

Judges 14:16 Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.” “Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”
Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes delight in my ways.
John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Proverbs 5:3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil,
Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
John 14:15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.
Genesis 29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, yet it seemed but a few days because of his love for her.
Deuteronomy 6:5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.