Samson’s Marriage
1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah from the daughters of the Philistines. 2 He came back and told his father and his mother, “I have seen a woman in Timnah from the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me as my wife.”
3 Then his father and his mother said to him, “Isn’t there a woman among your brothers’ daughters, or among all my people that you must go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?”
Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for in my eyes, she is right.”
4 But his father and his mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
5 Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and his mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah, and a young lion roared at him. 6 The Spirit of the Lord came mightily on him, and he tore him as he would have torn a young goat with his bare hands, but he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 He went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.
Samson’s Riddle
8 After a while he returned to take her, and he went over to see the carcass of the lion; and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 He took it into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. He came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate it, but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the lion’s body. 10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, for the young men used to do so.
11 When they saw him, they brought 30 companions to be with him.
12 Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle now. If you can tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothing, 13 but if you cannot tell me the answer, then you shall give me 30 linen garments and 30 changes of clothing.”
They said to him, “Tell us your riddle, that we may hear it.”
14 He said to them,
“From the eater came food.
From the strong came sweetness.”
They could not in three days declare the riddle. 15 On the seventh day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house down. Have you called us to impoverish us?
16 Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, “You just hate me, and don’t love me. You’ve told a riddle to my people, and haven’t told it to me.”
He said to her, “I haven’t told my father or my mother, so why should I tell you?”
17 She cried before him for the seven days, while their feast lasted, and on the seventh day, he told her, because she pressed him severely, and she told the riddle to her people. 18 The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “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 found out my riddle.”
19 The Spirit of the Lord came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck 30 of their men. He took their plunder, then gave the changes of clothing to those who declared the riddle. His anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. 20 But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his friend.