What Does Judges 16:5 Mean in the King James?
And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.
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 word for “entice” reveals that Samson’s captivity begins as persuasion: the lords aim to turn a conversation into a map of his strength.
THE MEANING
The verse lays out a present chain of calculated control: persuasion seeks the source of strength, knowledge is meant to become a means of overpowering, and the intended end is binding and affliction. The silver makes that violence transactional, pricing Samson’s captivity among the lords.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an enticing approach is harmless: here, persuasion is the opening move in a plan to expose, overpower, bind, and afflict.
THE ROOT
פַּתִּי
pattî
GROWS FROM
פתה
p-t-h
Persuade, allure, entice.
“Entice” in this verse is pattî. The same root describes enticing and the simple or inexperienced person, so persuasion here carries an edge of vulnerability: the approach aims to draw Samson into revealing himself. That disclosure is sought as the first step toward capture.
ALSO GROWS
pethî: A simple or inexperienced person.
פֶּתִי
Proverbs 1:4 uses this related form for someone susceptible to being drawn in, linking the act of enticement with the person it can influence.
yĕputteh: Is persuaded.
יְפֻתֶּה
Proverbs 25:15 uses the same root for persuasion through speech, showing how this root can work through words.
məpattêhā: I allure her.
מְפַתֶּיהָ
Hosea 2:14 uses this form for deliberate allure, echoing the calculated approach in the verse.
לְאָסְרוֹ
leʾosrô
GROWS FROM
אסר
ʾ-s-r
Bind, tie, restrain.
“Bind” in this verse is leʾosrô. Binding is not incidental; it names the intended result of the inquiry. Related forms name bound people, so the plan already contains the condition it seeks to impose on Samson.
ALSO GROWS
wayyaʾserûhû: They bound him.
וַיַּאַסְרוּהוּ
Judges 15:13 uses this form for Samson bound with cords, showing the same root in an earlier moment of restraint.
ʾasûrîm: Bound ones, prisoners.
אֲסוּרִים
Psalm 146:7 uses this form for prisoners whom the LORD releases, extending the root from the act of binding to those living under it.
לְעַנּוֹתוֹ
ləʿannôtô
GROWS FROM
ענה
ʿ-n-h
Afflict, humble, bring low.
“Afflict” in this verse is ləʿannôtô. This root also gives Hebrew words for affliction and for the afflicted person. The plot’s endpoint is a lowering into suffering, not merely the temporary restraint implied by “bind.”
ALSO GROWS
ʿŏnî: Affliction, misery.
עֳנִי
Lamentations 3:1 uses this noun for affliction, showing the suffering named by the verb in the verse.
ʿānî: Afflicted, poor.
עָנִי
This related form names a person brought low; it makes visible the human condition the lords intend to impose.
THE PATTERN
Manipulation makes speech a tool for finding an opening and securing control.
Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaketh deceit: one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with his mouth, but in heart he layeth his wait.And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.THE THREAD
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.Both verbs grow from אָסַר (ʾāsar, “to bind”). Here the lords name binding as their intended outcome; in 16:21 the same root describes Samson physically bound, making the plan’s destination visible.
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