Judges 14

1Samson went down to Timnah, and in Timnah he saw a woman, one of the daughters of the Philistines.

2He came back up and told his father and mother, “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. Now get her for me as my wife.”

3His father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among your relatives or among all our people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she is the right one in my eyes.”

4His father and mother did not know that this was from Yahweh, for he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

5Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. When they came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him.

6The Spirit of Yahweh rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart as one would tear a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.

7Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was the right one in Samson’s eyes.

8Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass. There in the lion’s body was a swarm of bees, and honey.

9He scraped the honey out into his hands and went on, eating as he walked. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the lion’s carcass.

10His father went down to the woman, and Samson held a feast there, as the young men used to do.

11When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

12Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.

13But if you cannot explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” They said to him, “Tell us your riddle. Let us hear it.”

14He said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” For three days they could not explain the riddle.

15On the seventh day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

16So Samson’s wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You told my people a riddle, but you have not explained it to me.” He said to her, “Look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother. Why should I explain it to you?”

17She wept over him for the seven days of their feast. On the seventh day he finally told her, because she kept pressing him. Then she explained the riddle to her people.

18On the seventh day, before the sun went down, the men of the town said to him, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” He said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.”

19Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed on him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them, and gave their sets of clothes to the men who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he went back up to his father’s house.

20And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, the one who had been his best man.