Judges 16:5

The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Philistine lords approach Delilah after Samson’s relationship with her begins, offering her a bribe to extract the secret of his strength. The words — פַּתּ֣י (pa.Ti) means “entice,” and סַרְנֵ֣י (sar.Nei) denotes the “rulers” who initiate the transaction. The thread — The motif of paid enticement appears in Judges 14:15, where Philistines bribe Samson’s wife for a riddle, and 1 Timothy 6:9 warns that the desire for wealth breeds harmful desires. Why it lands — The text demands recognition of how financial incentives are used to compromise loyalty and extract hidden vulnerabilities.

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

וַיַּעֲל֨וּva/i.ya.'a.Luand/ they went up אֵלֶ֜יהָ'e.Lei./hato/ her סַרְנֵ֣יsar.Nei[the] rulers of פְלִשְׁתִּ֗יםfe.lish.Tim[the] Philistines וַיֹּ֨אמְרוּva/i.Yo.me.ruand/ they saidלָ֜הּla/hto <the>/ herפַּתִּ֣יpa.Tientice אוֹת֗וֹ'o.T/o<obj.>/ him וּרְאִי֙u./re.'Iand/ see בַּמֶּה֙ba./Meh<in>/ how?כֹּח֣וֹko.Ch/o[is] strength/ his גָד֔וֹלga.Dolgreat וּבַמֶּה֙u./va./Mehand/ <in>/ how?נ֣וּכַלNu.khalwill we prevailל֔וֹl/oto <the>/ himוַאֲסַרְנֻ֖הוּva./'a.sar.Nu./huand/ we will bind/ him לְעַנֹּת֑וֹle./'a.no.T/oto/ humble/ him וַאֲנַ֙חְנוּ֙va./'a.Nach.nuand/ we נִתַּן־ni.tan-we will giveלָ֔ךְLa/khto <the>/ youאִ֕ישׁ'isheach אֶ֥לֶף'E.lefone thousand וּמֵאָ֖הu./me.'Ahand/ one hundred כָּֽסֶף׃Ka.sefsilver

King James Version

And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

Cross-references

Joshua 13:3 from the Shihor east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north (considered to be Canaanite territory)—that of the five Philistine rulers of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as that of the Avvites;
Judges 14:15 So on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”
1 Timothy 6:9 Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!
Genesis 33:16 So that day Esau started on his way back to Seir,
Numbers 22:17 for I will honor you richly and do whatever you say. So please come and put a curse on this people for me!’”
Judges 3:3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath.
Judges 17:2 said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have the silver here with me; I took it.” Then his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD!”
1 Samuel 29:6 So Achish summoned David and told him, “As surely as the LORD lives, you have been upright, and it seems right in my sight that you should march in and out with me in the army, because I have found no fault in you from the day you came to me until this day. But you are not good in the sight of the leaders.
Proverbs 2:16 It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words