What Does Judges 16:17 Mean in the King James?
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 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 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.
“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 there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.THE THREAD
All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.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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