What Does Judges 16:2 Mean?
And it was told to the men of Gaza, saying, Samson has come here. And they closed around him, and lay in ambush for him all night at the gate of the city, and were silent all the night, saying, When the light of morning comes, then we shall kill him.
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
And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.THE KEY
The silence is tactical: at Gaza (עַזָּה, ʿAzzāh, associated with “strength”), Samson (שִׁמְשׁוֹן, Shimshon, linked to שֶׁמֶשׁ, shemesh, “sun”) is enclosed through the night while his enemies schedule his death for daybreak.
THE MEANING
A threat can gather around a person under cover of quiet: the circle closes, watchers wait, and speech conceals a decision already made. The city gate becomes a choke point rather than an opening, and morning is the hour the attackers choose for violence. Here, silence does not mean safety.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false assurance is that silence means danger has passed; here, silence is part of how danger waits.
THE ROOT
וַיֶּאֶרְבוּ
wayyeʾerbû
GROWS FROM
ארב
ʾārab
To lie in wait; to ambush.
“lay in ambush” in this verse is wayyeʾerbû. The verb means more than staying awake or watching: it names a concealed attack. Its noun branch, מַאֲרָב (maʾărāv, “ambush”), joins the waiting men to the trap their waiting creates.
ALSO GROWS
ʾōrēv: One who lies in wait; an ambusher.
אֹרֵב
This names the person who performs what the verse’s verb describes.
maʾărāv: An ambush; a place or act of lying in wait.
מַאֲרָב
The action and the trap belong to one root family, making the waiting itself part of the attack.
וַיָּסֹבּוּ
wayyāsōbbû
GROWS FROM
סבב
sābab
To turn around; to surround.
“closed around him” in this verse is wayyāsōbbû. The root puts Samson inside a ring of movement: he is not merely watched but encircled. The gate named in the same verse sharpens that enclosure into a bottleneck.
ALSO GROWS
sāvîv: Around; on every side.
סָבִיב
This related form makes explicit the all-around space hidden in the older English “compassed.”
sōvēv: Turning; surrounding.
סוֹבֵב
It preserves the movement around someone that makes encirclement more than simple presence.
הָעַזָּתִים
haʿAzzātîm
GROWS FROM
עזז
ʿāzaz
To be strong; to grow fierce.
“men of Gaza” in this verse is haʿAzzātîm. The name Gaza, עַזָּה (ʿAzzāh), is linked to עַז (ʿaz, “strong, fierce”). That name of strength stands beside a plan whose force depends on concealment, encirclement, and waiting.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaz: Strong; fierce.
עַז
This adjective carries the strength associated with the place-name into the description of its people.
ʿōz: Strength; might.
עֹז
This noun gives the root’s force as a quality, while the verse shows that force organized as a hidden threat.
THE PATTERN
A concealed threat turns waiting into an active part of the attack, with violence deferred until its chosen moment.
If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us hide for the clean, for nothing.He lies in wait in the hidden place, like a lion in his shelter. He lies in wait to snatch the poor; he snatches the poor, dragging him into his net."But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty men of them sit in wait for him, men who have bound themselves under a curse not to eat nor drink until they have lifted him out of the way. And now they stand ready, waiting for your word of promise."THE THREAD
He lies in wait in the hidden place, like a lion in his shelter. He lies in wait to snatch the poor; he snatches the poor, dragging him into his net.The phrase “lieth in wait” uses the same Hebrew root אָרַב (ʾārab, “to lie in wait; to ambush”) as “laid wait” in Judges. The shared root shows concealment as deliberate predation: the waiting itself is already part of the attack.
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