Judges 16:3

Samson and Delilah

1 Now Samson went to ^aGaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.

2 When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they ^asurrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.”

3 And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

4 Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 And the ^alords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, ^b“Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

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Judges 16:3

Instead of forcing the doors open, he tore the posts up, as it were, by the roots, with the barred doors attached to them. The word rendered "went away with them," means "to pluck up the tent-pins," and hence, "to remove." The present town of Gaza (Ghuzzeh) is an open town, without gates or walls, but the sites of the ancient gates still remain visible. One of these, on the southeast, is shown as the gate carried off by Samson.

A partially-isolated hill, about half-an-hour southeast of Gaza, and standing out from the chain that runs up to Hebron, bears the name of "Samson' s Mount." But it may be doubted whether one of the hills overlooking Hebron is not rather meant.

**Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Judges 16:3:**

Isaiah 43:14
Daniel 9:27
Acts 8:26

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Judges 16:4 >>

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