Judges 16:21
New International Version
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.

New Living Translation
So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison.

English Standard Version
And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.

New American Standard Bible
Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and restrained him with bronze chains, and he became a grinder in the prison.

NASB 1995
Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.

NASB 1977
Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison.

Amplified Bible
Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with [two] bronze chains; and he was forced to be a grinder [of grain into flour at the mill] in the prison.

Christian Standard Bible
The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he was forced to grind grain in the prison.

American Standard Version
And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the Philistines seized him and they put out his eyes, and they bound him with chains, and they took him down to Azath, and he was grinding meal in the house of prisoners

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he ground in the prison-house.

Contemporary English Version
The Philistines grabbed Samson and poked out his eyes. They took him to the prison in Gaza and chained him up. Then they put him to work, turning a millstone to grind grain.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Then the Philistines seized upon him, and forthwith pulled out his eyes, and led him bound in chains to Gaza, and shutting him up in prison made him grind.

English Revised Version
And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The Philistines grabbed him. They poked out his eyes and took him to the prison in Gaza. They tied him up with double chains and made him grind grain in the mill there.

Good News Translation
The Philistines captured him and put his eyes out. They took him to Gaza, chained him with bronze chains, and put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison.

International Standard Version
Then the Philistines grabbed him, gouged out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, tied him up in bronze chains, and made him grind grain in their prison.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house.

Literal Standard Version
And the Philistines seize him, and pick out his eyes, and bring him down to Gaza, and bind him with two bronze chains; and he is grinding in the prison-house.

Majority Standard Bible
Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.

New American Bible
But the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. Then they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze fetters, and he was put to grinding grain in the prison.

NET Bible
The Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him in bronze chains. He became a grinder in the prison.

New Revised Standard Version
So the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles; and he ground at the mill in the prison.

New Heart English Bible
The Philistines seized him, and gouged out his eyes. And they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with bronze shackles, and he ground at the mill in the prison.

Webster's Bible Translation
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.

World English Bible
The Philistines laid hold on him and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with fetters of bronze; and he ground at the mill in the prison.

Young's Literal Translation
And the Philistines seize him, and pick out his eyes, and bring him down to Gaza, and bind him with two brazen fetters; and he is grinding in the prison-house.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Delilah Discovers the Secret
20Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!” When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. 21Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison. 22However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.…

Cross References
Numbers 16:14
Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!"

Judges 16:20
Then she called out, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, "I will escape as I did before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

Judges 16:22
However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.

Jeremiah 39:7
Then he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with bronze chains to take him to Babylon.

Lamentations 5:13
Young men toil at millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood.


Treasury of Scripture

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.

and put out.

Proverbs 5:22
His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.

Proverbs 14:14
The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.

Judges 2:19
And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.

bound him

2 Kings 25:7
And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

2 Chronicles 33:11
Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.

Psalm 107:10-12
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; …

grind

Exodus 11:5
And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.

Isaiah 47:2
Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers.

Matthew 24:42
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

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Bound Brass Chaining Chains Crushing Eyes Hold House Laid Mill Philistines Pick Prison Prison-House Seize Seized Shackles Work
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Bound Brass Chaining Chains Crushing Eyes Hold House Laid Mill Philistines Pick Prison Prison-House Seize Seized Shackles Work
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














(21) Put out his eyes.--the margin, "bored out," is more correct. The Arabic version has the curious gloss that they burnt out his eyes with the red-hot style with which stibium (see Job 42:14) is applied to the eyes. To blind a man was the most effectual humiliation (2Kings 25:7). The story of Evenius, a priest of the sun-god, who is blinded by the people of Apollonia, who thereby incur the anger of the gods, seems to move in a similar circle of ideas to this.

Fetters of brass.--Literally, two brasses--i.e., pairs of brazen fetters (nechushtarim).

He did grind in the prison house.--This was the degrading work of slaves and females (Exodus 11:5; Isaiah 47:2). Grotius in a curious note says that slaves thus employed were blinded by the Scythians to save them from giddiness (see Herod. iv. 2). The end of Samson was mournful; "his whole powerful life was only like a light, blazing up brightly at moments, and shining afar, but often dimmed, and utterly extinguished before its time" (Ewald).

Verse 21. - Put out his eyes. One of the cruel punishments of those times (see Numbers 16:14; 2 Kings 25:7), and still, or till quite lately, practised by Oriental despots to make their rivals incapable of reigning. So King John, in Shakespeare, ordered Arthur s eyes to be put out with a hot iron (King John, Act IV. scene 1.). Herodotus (Melp. 4:2) says that the Scythians used to put out the eyes of all their slaves. He did grind - the most degrading form of labour, the punishment of slaves among the Greeks and Romans (see too Isaiah 47:2).

CHAPTER 16:23-31

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Then the Philistines
פְלִשְׁתִּ֔ים (p̄ə·liš·tîm)
Noun - proper - masculine plural
Strong's 6430: Philistines -- inhabitants of Philistia

seized him,
וַיֹּאחֲז֣וּהוּ (way·yō·ḥă·zū·hū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural | third person masculine singular
Strong's 270: To grasp, take hold, take possession

gouged out
וַֽיְנַקְּר֖וּ (way·naq·qə·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 5365: To bore, pick, dig

his eyes,
עֵינָ֑יו (‘ê·nāw)
Noun - cdc | third person masculine singular
Strong's 5869: An eye, a fountain

and brought him down
וַיּוֹרִ֨ידוּ (way·yō·w·rî·ḏū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 3381: To come or go down, descend

to Gaza,
עַזָּ֗תָה (‘az·zā·ṯāh)
Noun - proper - feminine singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 5804: A Philistine city

where he was bound
וַיַּאַסְר֙וּהוּ֙ (way·ya·’as·rū·hū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural | third person masculine singular
Strong's 631: To yoke, hitch, to fasten, to join battle

with bronze shackles
בַּֽנְחֻשְׁתַּ֔יִם (ban·ḥuš·ta·yim)
Preposition-b, Article | Noun - fd
Strong's 5178: Copper, something made of that metal, coin, a fetter, base

and forced
וַיְהִ֥י (way·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

to grind
טוֹחֵ֖ן (ṭō·w·ḥên)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 2912: To grind meal, to be a, concubine

grain in the prison.
בְּבֵ֥ית (bə·ḇêṯ)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house


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OT History: Judges 16:21 The Philistines laid hold on him (Jd Judg. Jdg)
Judges 16:20
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