Judges 16:15
New International Version
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.”

New Living Translation
Then Delilah pouted, “How can you tell me, ‘I love you,’ when you don’t share your secrets with me? You’ve made fun of me three times now, and you still haven’t told me what makes you so strong!”

English Standard Version
And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.”

Berean Standard Bible
“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”

King James Bible
And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

New King James Version
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.

New American Standard Bible
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have toyed with me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.”

NASB 1995
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.”

NASB 1977
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.”

Amplified Bible
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times and have not told me where your great strength lies.”

Christian Standard Bible
“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ ” she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great! ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she told him, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!”

American Standard Version
And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

Contemporary English Version
"Samson," Delilah said, "you claim to love me, but you don't mean it! You've made me look like a fool three times now, and you still haven't told me why you are so strong."

English Revised Version
And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Delilah said to Samson, "How can you say that you love me when your heart isn't mine? You've made fun of me three times now, but you still haven't told me what makes you so strong."

Good News Translation
So she said to him, "How can you say you love me, when you don't mean it? You've made a fool of me three times, and you still haven't told me what makes you so strong."

International Standard Version
Some time later, she asked him, "How can you keep saying 'I love you!' when your heart isn't with me? These three times you've lied to me and haven't told me where your great strength lies."

Majority Standard Bible
?How can you say, ?I love you,?? she asked, ?when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!?

NET Bible
She said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you will not share your secret with me? Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong."

New Heart English Bible
She said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies."

Webster's Bible Translation
And she said to him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me in what thy great strength lieth.

World English Bible
She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
And she says to him, “How do you say, I have loved you, and your heart is not with me? These three times you have played on me, and have not declared to me wherein your great power [is].”

Young's Literal Translation
And she saith unto him, 'How dost thou say, I have loved thee, and thy heart is not with me? these three times thou hast played upon me, and hast not declared to me wherein thy great power is.'

Smith's Literal Translation
And she will say to him, Wilt thou say, I loved thee, and thy heart not with me? This three times thou didst deceive me, and didst not announce to me in what is thy great strength.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
And Dalila said to him: How dost thou say thou lovest me, when thy mind is not with me? Thou hast told me lies these three times, and wouldst not tell me wherein thy great strength lieth.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And Delilah said to him: “How can you say that you love me, when your soul is not with me? You have lied to me on three occasions, and you are not willing to reveal wherein lies your very great strength.”

New American Bible
Then she said to him, “How can you say ‘I love you’ when your heart is not mine? Three times already you have mocked me, and not told me where you get your great strength!”

New Revised Standard Version
Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times now and have not told me what makes your strength so great.”
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
And she said to him, How can you say to me. I love you, when your heart is not with me? For behold, you have deceived me these three times, and you have not told me wherein your great strength lies.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And she said to him: “How have you said to me, ‘I love you’, and your heart was not with me? Behold, three times you have lied to me and you have not shown me in what is your great power!”
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
And she said unto him: 'How canst thou say: I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.'

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And Dalida said to Sampson, How sayest thou, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? this third time thou hast deceived me, and hast not told me wherein is thy great strength.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Delilah Discovers the Secret
15“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!” 16Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death,…

Cross References
Proverbs 7:21-23
With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him. / He follows her on impulse, like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer bounding into a trap, / until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare—not knowing it will cost him his life.

Proverbs 5:3-4
Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her speech is smoother than oil, / in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a double-edged sword.

Proverbs 6:24-26
to keep you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress. / Do not lust in your heart for her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes. / For the levy of the prostitute is poverty, and the adulteress preys upon your very life.

Proverbs 2:16-19
It will rescue you from the forbidden woman, from the stranger with seductive words / who abandons the partner of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God. / For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks to the departed spirits. ...

Proverbs 9:13-18
The woman named Folly is loud; she is naive and knows nothing. / She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the heights of the city, / calling out to those who pass by, who make their paths straight. ...

1 Kings 11:1-4
King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women. / These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to these women in love. / He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away. ...

Nehemiah 13:26
Did not King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations, and he was loved by his God, who made him king over all Israel—yet foreign women drew him into sin.

Genesis 3:12-13
And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” / Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”

1 Samuel 15:24
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have transgressed the LORD’s commandment and your instructions, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

2 Samuel 11:2-4
One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. / So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” / Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home.

Matthew 26:14-16
Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests / and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver. / So from then on Judas looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

Luke 22:3-6
Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve. / And Judas went to discuss with the chief priests and temple officers how he might betray Jesus to them. / They were delighted and agreed to give him money. ...

John 12:4-6
But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was going to betray Him, asked, / “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” / Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it.

Matthew 27:3-5
When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. / “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.” / So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

Mark 14:10-11
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. / They were delighted to hear this, and they promised to give him money. So Judas began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus.


Treasury of Scripture

And she said to him, How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? you have mocked me these three times, and have not told me wherein your great strength lies.

how canst

Judges 14:16
And Samson's wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee?

Proverbs 2:16
To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;

Proverbs 5:3-14
For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: …

when thine

Genesis 29:20
And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.

Deuteronomy 6:5
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

1 Samuel 15:13,14
And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD…

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Clear Confide Deceived Declared Heart Is' Love Lover Mocked Played Power Secret Sport Strength Third Three Time Times Wherein Won't
Judges 16
1. Samson at Gaza escapes, and carries away the gates of the city
4. Delilah corrupted by the Philistines, entices Samson
6. Thrice she is deceived
15. At last she overcomes him
21. The Philistines take him, and put out his eyes
22. His strength renewing, he pulls down the house upon the Philistines and dies














How can you say, ‘I love you,’
This phrase is a poignant reflection of the emotional manipulation and relational dynamics between Samson and Delilah. The Hebrew word for "love" here is "אָהַב" (ahav), which encompasses a range of meanings from deep affection to covenantal loyalty. In the context of ancient Israel, love was often tied to covenantal faithfulness, which Samson is being accused of lacking. Delilah's question challenges the sincerity of Samson's declarations, highlighting the tension between verbal expressions of love and actions that demonstrate it. This phrase invites readers to reflect on the authenticity of their own expressions of love and the importance of aligning words with actions.

when your heart is not with me?
The "heart" in Hebrew, "לֵב" (lev), is not merely the seat of emotions but the center of will, intellect, and moral decision-making. Delilah's accusation that Samson's heart is not with her suggests a profound disconnect between his inner convictions and his outward declarations. In the biblical context, the heart is where one's true intentions and loyalties reside. This phrase underscores the biblical theme that true love and commitment are matters of the heart, not just external actions or words. It challenges believers to examine where their own hearts lie in their relationships with God and others.

You have mocked me
The word "mocked" comes from the Hebrew "הָתַל" (hatal), which implies deception or derision. Delilah accuses Samson of making a mockery of their relationship by withholding the truth about his strength. This accusation of mockery is significant in the narrative, as it reveals the underlying deceit and manipulation present in their interactions. In a broader biblical context, mocking is often associated with scorn and a lack of respect for what is sacred. This phrase serves as a caution against treating relationships, especially those ordained by God, with contempt or deceit.

and lied to me three times
The repetition of "three times" is significant in biblical literature, often symbolizing completeness or emphasis. The Hebrew word for "lied" is "כָּזַב" (kazab), which means to deceive or fail. Delilah's emphasis on the threefold deception highlights the pattern of unfaithfulness and the breaking of trust. In the biblical narrative, the number three often signifies a complete cycle or a significant turning point. This phrase serves as a reminder of the consequences of repeated deceit and the importance of integrity and truthfulness in relationships. It challenges readers to consider the impact of their actions and the importance of maintaining trust and honesty.

(15) How canst thou say, I love thee . . .?--Samson had undergone all these wiles before, and experienced their hollowness (Judges 14:16), yet he had not learnt wisdom.

Verse 15. - Thy great strength lieth - as before, ver. 6, thy strength is great.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
“How
אֵ֚יךְ (’êḵ)
Interjection
Strong's 349: How?, how!, where

can you say,
וַתֹּ֣אמֶר (wat·tō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

‘I love you,’”
אֲהַבְתִּ֔יךְ (’ă·haḇ·tîḵ)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular | second person feminine singular
Strong's 157: To have affection f

she told him,
תֹּאמַ֣ר (tō·mar)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“when your heart
וְלִבְּךָ֖ (wə·lib·bə·ḵā)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre

is not
אֵ֣ין (’ên)
Adverb
Strong's 369: A non-entity, a negative particle

with me?
אִתִּ֑י (’it·tî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's 854: Nearness, near, with, by, at, among

This
זֶ֣ה (zeh)
Pronoun - masculine singular
Strong's 2088: This, that

is the third
שָׁלֹ֤שׁ (šā·lōš)
Number - feminine singular
Strong's 7969: Three, third, thrice

time
פְּעָמִים֙ (pə·‘ā·mîm)
Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 6471: A beat, foot, anvil, occurrence

you have mocked
הֵתַ֣לְתָּ (hê·ṯal·tā)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 2048: To deride, to cheat

me and failed
וְלֹא־ (wə·lō-)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

to reveal
הִגַּ֣דְתָּ (hig·gaḏ·tā)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 5046: To be conspicuous

to me
לִּ֔י (lî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's Hebrew

the source
בַּמֶּ֖ה (bam·meh)
Preposition-b | Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

of your great strength!”
כֹּחֲךָ֥ (kō·ḥă·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 3581: A small reptile (of unknown species)


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OT History: Judges 16:15 She said to him How can you (Jd Judg. Jdg)
Judges 16:14
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