Judg 16:21 | JFB | STEP | 21. the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes-- To this cruel privation prisoners of rank and consequence have commonly been subjected in the East. The punishment is inflicted in various ways, by scooping out the eyeballs, by piercing the eye, or destroying the sight by holding a red-hot iron before the eyes. His security was made doubly sure by his being bound with fetters of brass (copper), not of leather, like other captives. he did grind in the prison-house-- This grinding with hand-millstones being the employment of menials, he was set to it as the deepest degradation.

‏ Judges 16:21

21. the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes--To this cruel privation prisoners of rank and consequence have commonly been subjected in the East. The punishment is inflicted in various ways, by scooping out the eyeballs, by piercing the eye, or destroying the sight by holding a red-hot iron before the eyes. His security was made doubly sure by his being bound with fetters of brass (copper), not of leather, like other captives.

he did grind in the prison-house--This grinding with hand-millstones being the employment of menials, he was set to it as the deepest degradation.