Judges 16:13
And Dalila said to him again: How long dost thou deceive me, and tell me lies? shew me wherewith thou mayest be bound. And Samson answered her: If thou plattest the seven locks of my head with a lace, and tying them round about a nail fastenest it in the ground, I shall be weak.
Open Judges 16:13 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Dixitque Dalila rursum ad eum : Usquequo decipis me, et falsum loqueris ? ostende quo vinciri debeas. Cui respondit Samson : Si septem crines capitis mei cum licio plexueris, et clavum his circumligatum terræ fixeris, infirmus ero.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ εἶπεν Δαλειδὰ πρὸς Σαμψών Ἰδοὺ ἐπλάνησάς με καὶ ἐλάλησας πρὸς ἐμὲ ψευδῆ· ἀπάγγειλον δή μοι ἐν τίνι δεθήσῃ· καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτήν Ἐὰν ὑφάνῃς τὰς ἑπτὰ σειρὰς τῆς κεφαλῆς μου σὺν τῷ διάσματι καὶ ἐνκρούσῃς τῷ πασσάλῳ εἰς τὸν τοῖχον, καὶ ἔσομαι ὡς εἷς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀσθενής.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַתֹּ֨אמֶר דְּלִילָ֜ה אֶל שִׁמְשׁ֗וֹן עַד הֵ֜נָּה הֵתַ֤לְתָּ בִּי֙ וַתְּדַבֵּ֤ר אֵלַי֙ כְּזָבִ֔ים הַגִּ֣ידָה לִּ֔י בַּמֶּ֖ה תֵּאָסֵ֑ר וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֵלֶ֔יהָ אִם תַּאַרְגִ֗י אֶת שֶׁ֛בַע מַחְלְפ֥וֹת רֹאשִׁ֖י עִם הַמַּסָּֽכֶת
Haydock's commentary
Lace, (licio;) "the woof about the beam," &c. Hebrew, "the web, (14) and she fastened it," &c. The original text is here imperfect. (Haydock)
The Septuagint have preserved eighteen words, which have been omitted in Hebrew, "the web, (and fastened them with a pin unto the wall, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. (14) And it came to pass, when he slept, that Dalilia took seven locks of his head, and wove them with a web) and fastened them with a pin, (unto the wall) and said," &c. (Kennicott, Diss. ii.)
The Vulgate expresses the whole idea in fewer words: but the Hebrew leaves the proposal of Samson imperfect. It is observable that Grabe's edition of the Alexandrian Septuagint has no mark of any thing being redundant; whence we might suppose, that in the days of Origen, (whose marks he endeavours to exhibit) the Hebrew agreed with the Greek version: but the 14th verse is rather different from the Vatican copy, which has been given above.
"And Dalila (so the Septuagint always style her) lulled him asleep; (ekoimisen, as [in] ver. 19, (Haydock) perhaps by giving him some potion, with which people of her character are frequently provided; Salien) and she wove the seven curls of his head with the wool, (ektaseos) and she fastened them with the pins of wood into the wall," &c. (Haydock)
The Hebrew text is liable to many difficulties, says Calmet; "If thou shalt make a tissue of seven locks of my head with the veil, which thou weavest, and shalt fasten it to a nail, I shall become weak as another man: or, If thou weave together my hair and my thread," &c. The ancients were accustomed to weave standing. Samson was probably lying on the ground, while Dalila was acting this farce. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.