What Does Judges 16:11 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.
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
The ropes are a decoy: Samson’s repeated “bind me fast” makes restraint sound decisive while keeping the source of his strength out of sight.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the gap between what binds you outwardly and what defines your strength. Samson names fresh, unused ropes as the condition that would make him “as another man,” but the surrounding scene exposes that promise as a decoy. The restraint is real; his explanation of its effect is not.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an external restraint is enough to make a person powerless and ordinary.
THE ROOT
אָסוֹר יַאַסְרוּנִי
ʾāsōr yaʾasrûnî
GROWS FROM
אָסַר
ʾāsar
to bind, tie, or restrain
Hebrew repeats the binding verb, אָסוֹר יַאַסְרוּנִי (ʾāsōr yaʾasrûnî, “if binding they bind me”), so the English phrase “bind me fast” smooths away an audible root echo. From this same seed come the bound person and the bonds themselves: the verse makes the restraint vivid while leaving its claimed effect on Samson unproven.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāsîr: prisoner, captive; the bound one
אָסִיר
The act of binding can name the person living under the restraint, showing how the root extends from an action to a condition.
ʾĕsûrāyw: his bonds, his restraints
אֱסוּרָיו
This same root names Samson’s bands in Judges 15:14, linking the proposed ropes here to restraints that later fall away.
THE PATTERN
A visible bond does not by itself reveal or extinguish the strength beneath it.
And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.THE THREAD
And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.The Hebrew word for “bands” here comes from אָסַר (ʾāsar, bind), the same root repeated in “bind me fast” in Judges 16:11. This earlier scene shows the restraints holding Samson and then falling away, making clear that binding describes what is placed on him, not the source or measure of his strength.
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