Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.
      1. When she urged him very much, he told her, (1.) That he might be bound with seven green withs,Judges 16:7; Judges 16:7. The experiment was tried (Judges 16:8; Judges 16:8), but it would not do: he broke the withs as easily as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire,Judges 16:9; Judges 16:9. (2.) When she still continued her importunity (Judges 16:10; Judges 16:10) he told her that with two new ropes he might be so cramped and hampered that he might be as easily dealt with as any other man, Judges 16:11; Judges 16:11. This experiment was tried too, but it failed: the new ropes broke from off his arm like a thread,Judges 16:12; Judges 16:12. (3.) When she still pressed him to communicate the secret, and upbraided him with it as an unkindness that he had bantered her so long, he then told her that the weaving of the seven locks of his head would make a great alteration in him, Judges 16:13; Judges 16:13. This came nearer the matter than any thing he had yet said, but it would not do: his strength appeared to be very much in his hair, when, upon the trial of this, purely by the strength of his hair, he carried away the pin of the beam and the web.