Now she had liers-in-wait abiding in the inner chamber. She said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. He broke the cords, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.
Poor blind Samson found himself chained in the prison in Gaza where he had performed his greatest feat of strength (Judges 16:3). Previously he had demonstrated great physical strength there, but now he was very weak.