What Does Judges 16:10 Mean in the King James?
And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Her accusation of deception becomes the hinge that carries the conversation back to the means of binding him.
THE MEANING
A grievance can be voiced alongside a request for the exact knowledge needed to restrain someone. Here, the plea for an answer is attached to the method of binding, so the conversation keeps moving toward captivity.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a wounded-sounding appeal is necessarily aimed at repair: this appeal returns to the means of restraint.
THE ROOT
תֵּאָסֵר
te'aser
GROWS FROM
אסר
ʾ-s-r
to bind, tie, or put under restraint
The verb presents Samson as the one who will be bound, while the question asks what will make that happen. The same root names both binding and the captive held by it, so the question reaches beyond a temporary restraint toward a state under another’s power.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāsūr: bound, imprisoned
אָסוּר
This form names the condition that the question is seeking to create: being held under restraint.
ʾāsîr: prisoner, captive
אֲסִיר
This branch makes the consequence of binding visible as a person’s condition, not merely an action done to them.
THE PATTERN
Binding transfers control of a person’s movement to the one holding the restraint.
But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done.And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.THE THREAD
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;Isaiah uses the same root אסר (ʾ-s-r, bind) for those who are bound, then places their condition beside an opening of the prison. Judges 16:10 asks for the means of restraint; Isaiah reveals the other side of that root, where the bound are met with an opening toward freedom.
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