Bible Strands
Judges 16:21
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative records the Philistines acting immediately after Samson wakes from Delilah’s betrayal and realizes the Lord has departed from him. They capture him and transport him to Gaza for imprisonment.
The words — פְלִשְׁתִּים (pelesh-tim) means [the] Philistines, the captors carrying out the judgment. וַ/יְנַקְּר֖וּ (va/y.na.ke.ru) means and/they gouged out, specifying the blinding act performed on his eyes.
The thread — This sequence of divine departure followed by physical ruin runs parallel to Proverbs 14:14 and Proverbs 2:19. It mirrors the irreversible judgment pattern seen in Exodus 11:5.
Why it lands — The text states that spiritual abandonment precedes tangible bondage. A reader must acknowledge that neglecting the Lord’s presence results in concrete vulnerability and loss of control.
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
But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 2:19 None who go to her return or negotiate the paths of life.
- Proverbs 14:14 The backslider in heart receives the fill of his own ways, but a good man is rewarded for his ways.
- Exodus 11:5 and every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the servant girl behind the hand mill, as well as the firstborn of all the cattle.
- Isaiah 47:2 Take millstones and grind flour; remove your veil; strip off your skirt, bare your thigh, and wade through the streams.
- Matthew 24:41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
- 2 Kings 25:7 And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- 2 Chronicles 33:11 So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- Psalms 107:10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and chains,
- Psalms 149:8 to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with shackles of iron,
- Proverbs 5:22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.