What Does Judges 16:17 Mean?
That he laid open to her all his heart, and said to her, No blade has come up upon my head, for I have been set apart unto God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will turn aside from me, and I will become weak, and be like any other man.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “told” pictures bringing something into view: Samson exposes the hidden boundary of his consecration before a razor ever reaches it.
THE MEANING
The verse shows how disclosure reaches the body: what Samson shares as his whole heart also reveals the mark of a life set apart. He reads his uncut hair as bound to his strength; its loss means becoming vulnerable, “like any other man.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that intimacy makes disclosure harmless: what is shared from the whole heart can expose the very boundary that marks a life as set apart.
THE ROOT
וַיַּגֶּד
wayyagged
GROWS FROM
נגד
n-g-d
To be in front; to make conspicuous or declare, bringing something into view.
The verb for “told” carries the sense of making something stand before another person. Samson does not merely mention a fact: he brings the hidden center of himself into Delilah’s view, including the mark of his consecration.
ALSO GROWS
neged: Before, in front of, opposite.
נֶגֶד
This spatial branch gives “told” the image of placing his inner truth in front of Delilah.
maggid: One who declares or reports.
מַגִּיד
The same root turns disclosure into an act: the hidden thing is made known.
נָזִיר
nazir
GROWS FROM
נזר
n-z-r
To set apart or dedicate; also to abstain under a vow.
“set apart unto God” in this verse is nazir. “Nazarite” names a life set apart, not just a category. A related word, *nezer*, means crown or diadem; Samson’s uncut hair is the visible mark of the consecration he says began before birth.
ALSO GROWS
lehazir: To separate oneself under a vow.
לְהַזִּיר
This verb branch shows the Nazirite identity as a consecrated separation, which Samson describes as reaching back to his mother’s womb.
nezer: Crown or diadem.
נֵזֶר
This related word connects being set apart with a visible mark, giving the head special weight in Samson’s explanation.
THE PATTERN
A life set apart carries its consecration in embodied signs and limits.
All the days of the vow of his separation no blade shall pass over his head. Until the days are filled, in which he separates himself unto the LORD, he shall be set apart, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow and run free.For look, you will conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come up upon his head, for the child shall be set apart to God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.For he will be great before the face of the LORD, and he will drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Set-Apart Breath, even from his mother's womb.THE THREAD
All the days of the vow of his separation no blade shall pass over his head. Until the days are filled, in which he separates himself unto the LORD, he shall be set apart, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow and run free.Numbers names the uncut hair as part of the vow of separation that Samson calls his Nazirite life. That connection makes his disclosure more than a private fact: he reveals the bodily mark through which his consecration is recognized.
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