Judges 14

1Then Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a woman from the daughters of the Philistines.

2Then he went up and told his father and mother, and he said, “I saw a woman in Timnah from the daughters of the Philistines. So now, get her for me as a wife.”

3But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your brothers or among all my people, that you are going to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”

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

5Then Samson went down with his father and his mother to Timnah, and they came as far as the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion was roaring as it came toward him.

6Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and he tore it apart as one tears apart 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 spoke to the woman, and she was pleasing in Samson’s eyes.

8After some days he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, a swarm of bees was in the body of the lion, and honey.

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

10So his father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, for that is what the young men did.

11And when they saw him, they took thirty companions, and they were with him.

12And Samson said to them, “Please let me put a riddle to you. If you indeed tell it to me within the seven days of the feast and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.”

13But if you cannot tell me, then you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Tell your riddle, and let us hear it.”

14And he said to them, “Out of the eater came food, and out of the strong came sweetness.” But they could not tell the riddle for three days.

15And on the seventh day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband so that he may tell us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father’s household with fire. Did you invite us to dispossess us? Is that not so?”

16Then Samson’s wife wept before him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have posed the riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not told me.” And he said to her, “Look, I have not told my father or my mother, so should I tell you?”

17She wept before him the seven days that they had the feast. And on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard; then she told the riddle to the sons of her people.

18And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”

19And the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men from among them, and took their spoil garments and gave the changes of clothes to those who had explained the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father's house.

20And Samson’s wife became the wife of his companion, who had been his friend.