Bible Strands
Judges 16:4
Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Samson’s romantic attachment to Delilah in the Valley of Sorek, occurring after an unspecified interval following his removal of the Gaza city gates (Judges 16:3). The Philistine lords subsequently approach her with a financial bribe to extract the source of his strength (Judges 16:5).
The words — The Hebrew phrase אַחֲרֵי־ כֵן ('acharei-ken) literally means "after thus" or "afterward," explicitly marking a temporal gap rather than an immediate sequence. The verb וַיֹּאֶהַב (va-yo'ehav) translates to "and he loved," denoting Samson’s emotional commitment to the woman identified as Delilah.
The thread — The narrative aligns with the structural warnings in Proverbs 22:14 and Proverbs 23:27, which depict adulterous relationships as concealed traps. While the principle of avoiding dangerous entanglements echoes in 1 Corinthians 10:6, that verse applies the warning to Israel’s wilderness failures, not to the Samson account.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to observe how delayed consequences do not neutralize the risk of compromised judgment. It demands accountability for how prolonged exposure to tempting relationships creates openings for external manipulation.
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 it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 22:14 The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is under the wrath of the LORD will fall into it.
- Proverbs 23:27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulteress is a narrow well.
- 1 Corinthians 10:6 These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.
- 1 Kings 11:1 King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women.
- Nehemiah 13:26 Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.
- Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
- Proverbs 27:22 Though you grind a fool like grain with mortar and a pestle, yet his folly will not depart from him.