Old Testament · History

Judges chapter 14

went down to and saw a woman there.He went back and told his father and mother, “I saw a Philistine woman in Timnah. as my wife.”His father and mother said to him, “Is there really no woman among your relatives or among all our people? Do you have to go to the Philistines for a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me—.”His parents didn’t realize that this was being , who was looking for an the Philistines. At that time, the Philistines were Israel.So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. When they reached the of Timnah, a came roaring at him.The with power, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, like tearing apart a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother what he’d done.He went down and talked with the woman, and she was .Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned off the road to look at the lion’s . And there was a swarm of bees inside the carcass, with honey.He the honey into his hands and ate it as he walked. When he got back to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it too. But he didn’t tell them he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.His father went down to the woman’s house, and Samson threw a there—that’s what young men did in those days.When the Philistines saw him, they brought to be with him.Samson said to them, “Let me pose a to you. If you can figure it out within the seven days of the feast, I’ll give you thirty and thirty sets of clothes.”“But if you can’t figure it out, you give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” They said to him, “Go ahead, pose your riddle. Let’s hear it.”He said to them: “. Out of the strong came something sweet.” For three days they couldn’t solve the riddle.On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s wife, “ your husband into telling us the answer to the riddle, or we’ll . Did you invite us here just to rob us?”Samson’s wife , “You hate me! You don’t really love me! You posed a riddle to my people and haven’t even told me the answer.” He said to her, “Look—I haven’t even told my own father and mother. Why would I tell you?”She cried on him for the rest of the seven days of the feast. On the seventh day he finally told her, because she . Then she told her people the answer.On the seventh day, , the men of the city said to him: “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” Samson said to them, “If you hadn’t , you wouldn’t have solved my riddle.”Then the with power. He went down to , struck down thirty of their men, took their clothing, and gave the sets of clothes to those who had solved the riddle. He was , and he went back up to his father’s house.And Samson’s wife was given to the .