And she said to him: Though there may be a time lapse as before, here the story seems to flow directly from the previous incident. So the Hebrew waw conjunction rendered And might be translated “Then” (New Revised Standard Version, New International Version) or “After this.” Though there are no new participants, there is a change of scene, so a new paragraph can be marked here (so Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation). In many languages the names Delilah and Samson can reappear: “Then Delilah said to Samson.”

How can you say, ‘I love you,’ …?: Delilah tries a new tactic to get Samson to tell his secret. Compare the words of Samson’s first wife in verse 14.16. This rhetorical question can be retained or translators may use other forms, such as say “You say you love me, but you’re lying!” or “Don’t say you love me…!” The verb love can pose problems in a number of languages. Here it renders the common Hebrew verb (ʾahav) for the love between a man and a woman (see verse 14.16). Samson has apparently already said I love you to Delilah, so she is quoting his words back to him. In this case of a quote within a quote, translators need to follow closely the rules for punctuation in their own language. If there is any difficulty or problem in knowing who is saying what, they can simplify matters by using an indirect form, such as “You say you love me but you don’t.”

When your heart is not with me renders an independent clause in Hebrew, which is literally “and your heart is not with me.” Delilah points out a contradiction in Samson’s behavior. He says he loves her, but does not show it in the way he acts. In Hebrew the heart is the seat of the emotions and will (see verse 5.9), so she is accusing Samson of is not being sincere. Thus Good News Translation says “when you don’t mean it.” However, Revised English Bible and New American Bible think it is rather a matter of trust: “when you do not confide in me.” Another possible model is “when you don’t really trust me.”

You have mocked me these three times: Samson lied to Delilah three times. For mocked see verse 16.10. In Hebrew the phrase these three times occurs at the beginning of this clause, showing Delilah’s insistence. The number three and its multiples play an important role in the judges’ stories (see, for example, verse 7.6-8; verse 8.4; verse 9.22; verse 14.11-14).

And you have not told me wherein your great strength lies: See verse 16.5-6.

Two translation models for this verse are:

• Then Delilah complained to Samson, saying, “You say you love me, but you don’t mean it! Three times now you have made a fool of me. You haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.”

• Then Delilah said to Samson, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you don’t love me at all? Three times now you’ve lied to me and you still haven’t told me the source of your great strength!”

Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .