Judges 14
1 One day Samson went to Timnah, where a young Philistine woman attracted his attention.
And Sampson went down to Thamnatha, and saw a woman in Thamnatha of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 He went back home and told his father and mother, “A Philistine woman in Timnah caught my attention. Now get her for me because I want to marry her.”
And he went up and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Thamnatha of the daughters of the Phylistines; and now take her to me for a wife.
3 But his father and mother replied, “Can't you find a young woman from our tribe or from our own people? Do you have to go to the heathen Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Just get her for me, because she's the one I find her attractive.”
And his father and his mother said to him, Are there no daughters of your brethren, and [is there not] a woman of all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Sampson said to his father, Take her for me, for she [is] right in my eyes.
4 (His father and mother didn't realize that this was in the Lord's plans, who was looking for an opportunity to deal with the Philistines; because at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.)
And his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought to be revenged on the Philistines: and at that time the Philistines lorded it over Israel.
5 Samson went to Timnah with his father and mother. When they passed the Timnah vineyards, all of a sudden young lion came roaring out to attack him.
And Sampson and his father and his mother went down to Thamnatha, and he came to the vineyard of Thamnatha; and behold, a young lion roared in meeting him.
6 The Spirit of the Lord swept over him, and he ripped the lion apart with his bare hands as easily as ripping apart a young goat. But he didn't tell his father or mother what he'd done. Then he went on his way.
And the spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he crushed him as he would have crushed a kid of the goats, and there was nothing in his hands: and he told not his father and his mother what he had done.
7 When Samson talked with the woman and decided she was right for him.
And they went down and spoke to the woman, and she was pleasing in the eyes of Sampson.
8 Later on when Samson returned to marry her, he turned off the road to look for the lion's carcass. Inside the body was a swarm of bees and their honey.
And after some time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees, and honey [were] in the mouth of the lion.
9 He scraped out some of 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. But he didn't tell them he'd taken the honey from a lion's carcass.
And he took it into his hands, and went on eating, and he went to his father and his mother, and gave to them, and they did eat; but he told them not that he took the honey out of the mouth of the lion.
10 While his father went to visit the woman, Samson held a drinking party there, because this was the custom among high-class young men.
And his father went down to the woman, and Sampson made there a banquet for seven days, for so the young men are used to do.
11 When the Philistine people saw him, they arranged for thirty men to accompany him.
And it came to pass when they saw him, that they took thirty guests, and they were with him.
12 “Let me pose a riddle to you,” Samson said to them. “If you can find its meaning and explain it to me during the seven days of the party, I'll give you thirty lines cloaks and thirty sets of clothes.
And Sampson said to them, I propound you a riddle: if you will indeed tell it me, and discover it within the seven days of the feast, I will you give thirty sheets and thirty changes of raiment.
13 But if you can't explain it to me, you'll give me thirty lines cloaks and thirty sets of clothes.” “Fine,” they replied. “Let's hear your riddle!”
And if you can’t tell it me, you shall give me thirty napkins and thirty changes of apparel: and they said to him, Propound your riddle, and we will hear it.
14 “Food came out of the eater, and sweetness came out of the strong,” he said. Three days later they still hadn't worked it out.
And he said to them, Meat came forth of the eater, and sweetness out of the strong: and they could not tell the riddle for three days.
15 On the fourth day they came to Samson's wife and told her, “Use your charms to get your husband to explain the riddle and then tell us, or we'll burn you and all your family to death. Did you bring us here just to rob us?”
And it came to pass on the fourth day, that they said to the wife of Sampson, Deceive now your husband, and let him tell you the riddle, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire: did you invite us to do us violence?
16 So Samson's wife went crying to him, saying, “You really do hate me, don't you! You don't love me at all! You have posed a riddle to my people, but haven't even explained it to me.” “So?” he replied. “I haven't even explained it to my father or mother! Why should I explain it to you?”
And Sampson's wife wept before him, and said, You do but hate me, and love me not; for the riddle which you have propounded to the children of my people you have not told me: and Sampson said to her, If I have not told it to my father and my mother, shall I tell it to you?
17 She cried in front of him for the whole time of the party, and eventually on the seventh day he explained it to her because she nagged him so much. Then she explained the meaning of the riddle to the Philistine young men.
And she wept before him the seven days, during which their banquet lasted: and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she troubled him; and she told it to the children of her people.
18 Before the sun set on the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson and said, “What's sweeter than honey? What's stronger than a lion?” “If you hadn't used my cow to plough with, you wouldn't have found out the meaning of my riddle,” Samson replied.
And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before sunrise, What [is] sweeter than honey? and what [is] stronger than a lion? and Sampson said to them, If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would not have known my riddle.
19 The Spirit of the Lord swept over him and he went to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their clothing, and gave it to those who had explained the riddle. Furiously anger, Samson went back to his father's house.
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him powerfully, and he went down to Ascalon, and destroyed of the inhabitants thirty men, and took their garments, and gave the changes of raiment to them that told the riddle; and Sampson was very angry, and went up to the house of his father.
20 Samson's wife was given to his best man who had accompanied him at the wedding.
And the wife of Sampson was [given] to one of his friends, with whom he was on terms of friendship.
