< Judges 14 >

1 One day Samson went to Timnah, where a young Philistine woman attracted his attention.
καὶ κατέβη Σαμψων εἰς Θαμναθα καὶ εἶδεν γυναῖκα εἰς Θαμναθα ἀπὸ τῶν θυγατέρων τῶν ἀλλοφύλων
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.”
καὶ ἀνέβη καὶ ἀπήγγειλεν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπεν γυναῖκα ἑόρακα ἐν Θαμναθα ἀπὸ τῶν θυγατέρων Φυλιστιιμ καὶ νῦν λάβετε αὐτὴν ἐμοὶ εἰς γυναῖκα
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.”
καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ μὴ οὔκ εἰσιν θυγατέρες τῶν ἀδελφῶν σου καὶ ἐκ παντὸς τοῦ λαοῦ μου γυνή ὅτι σὺ πορεύῃ λαβεῖν γυναῖκα ἀπὸ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων τῶν ἀπεριτμήτων καὶ εἶπεν Σαμψων πρὸς τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ ταύτην λαβέ μοι ὅτι αὕτη εὐθεῖα ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς μου
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.)
καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν ὅτι παρὰ κυρίου ἐστίν ὅτι ἐκδίκησιν αὐτὸς ζητεῖ ἐκ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ οἱ ἀλλόφυλοι κυριεύοντες ἐν Ισραηλ
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.
καὶ κατέβη Σαμψων καὶ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ εἰς Θαμναθα καὶ ἦλθεν ἕως τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος Θαμναθα καὶ ἰδοὺ σκύμνος λέοντος ὠρυόμενος εἰς συνάντησιν αὐτοῦ
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.
καὶ ἥλατο ἐπ’ αὐτὸν πνεῦμα κυρίου καὶ συνέτριψεν αὐτόν ὡσεὶ συντρίψει ἔριφον καὶ οὐδὲν ἦν ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐκ ἀπήγγειλεν τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ ὃ ἐποίησεν
7 When Samson talked with the woman and decided she was right for him.
καὶ κατέβησαν καὶ ἐλάλησαν τῇ γυναικί καὶ ηὐθύνθη ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς Σαμψων
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.
καὶ ὑπέστρεψεν μεθ’ ἡμέρας λαβεῖν αὐτὴν καὶ ἐξέκλινεν ἰδεῖν τὸ πτῶμα τοῦ λέοντος καὶ ἰδοὺ συναγωγὴ μελισσῶν ἐν τῷ στόματι τοῦ λέοντος καὶ μέλι
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.
καὶ ἐξεῖλεν αὐτὸ εἰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπορεύετο πορευόμενος καὶ ἐσθίων καὶ ἐπορεύθη πρὸς τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἔφαγον καὶ οὐκ ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς ὅτι ἀπὸ τοῦ στόματος τοῦ λέοντος ἐξεῖλεν τὸ μέλι
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.
καὶ κατέβη ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ ἐποίησεν ἐκεῖ Σαμψων πότον ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ὅτι οὕτως ποιοῦσιν οἱ νεανίσκοι
11 When the Philistine people saw him, they arranged for thirty men to accompany him.
καὶ ἐγένετο ὅτε εἶδον αὐτόν καὶ ἔλαβον τριάκοντα κλητούς καὶ ἦσαν μετ’ αὐτοῦ
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.
καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Σαμψων πρόβλημα ὑμῖν προβάλλομαι ἐὰν ἀπαγγέλλοντες ἀπαγγείλητε αὐτὸ ἐν ταῖς ἑπτὰ ἡμέραις τοῦ πότου καὶ εὕρητε δώσω ὑμῖν τριάκοντα σινδόνας καὶ τριάκοντα στολὰς ἱματίων
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!”
καὶ ἐὰν μὴ δύνησθε ἀπαγγεῖλαί μοι δώσετε ὑμεῖς ἐμοὶ τριάκοντα ὀθόνια καὶ τριάκοντα ἀλλασσομένας στολὰς ἱματίων καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ προβαλοῦ τὸ πρόβλημα καὶ ἀκουσόμεθα αὐτό
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.
καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς τί βρωτὸν ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ βιβρώσκοντος καὶ ἀπὸ ἰσχυροῦ γλυκύ καὶ οὐκ ἠδύναντο ἀπαγγεῖλαι τὸ πρόβλημα ἐπὶ τρεῖς ἡμέρας
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?”
καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τετάρτῃ καὶ εἶπαν τῇ γυναικὶ Σαμψων ἀπάτησον δὴ τὸν ἄνδρα σου καὶ ἀπαγγειλάτω σοι τὸ πρόβλημα μήποτε κατακαύσωμέν σε καὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρός σου ἐν πυρί ἦ ἐκβιάσαι ἡμᾶς κεκλήκατε
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?”
καὶ ἔκλαυσεν ἡ γυνὴ Σαμψων πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ εἶπεν πλὴν μεμίσηκάς με καὶ οὐκ ἠγάπησάς με ὅτι τὸ πρόβλημα ὃ προεβάλου τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ λαοῦ μου οὐκ ἀπήγγειλάς μοι καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ Σαμψων εἰ τῷ πατρί μου καὶ τῇ μητρί μου οὐκ ἀπήγγελκα σοὶ ἀπαγγείλω
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.
καὶ ἔκλαυσεν πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὰς ἑπτὰ ἡμέρας ἃς ἦν αὐτοῖς ὁ πότος καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ καὶ ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτῇ ὅτι παρενώχλησεν αὐτῷ καὶ αὐτὴ ἀπήγγειλεν τοῖς υἱοῖς τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτῆς
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.
καὶ εἶπαν αὐτῷ οἱ ἄνδρες τῆς πόλεως ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ἑβδόμῃ πρὸ τοῦ ἀνατεῖλαι τὸν ἥλιον τί γλυκύτερον μέλιτος καὶ τί ἰσχυρότερον λέοντος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς Σαμψων εἰ μὴ ἠροτριάσατε ἐν τῇ δαμάλει μου οὐκ ἂν ἔγνωτε τὸ πρόβλημά μου
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.
καὶ ἥλατο ἐπ’ αὐτὸν πνεῦμα κυρίου καὶ κατέβη εἰς Ἀσκαλῶνα καὶ ἐπάταξεν ἐξ αὐτῶν τριάκοντα ἄνδρας καὶ ἔλαβεν τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν καὶ ἔδωκεν τὰς στολὰς τοῖς ἀπαγγείλασιν τὸ πρόβλημα καὶ ὠργίσθη θυμῷ Σαμψων καὶ ἀνέβη εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ
20 Samson's wife was given to his best man who had accompanied him at the wedding.
καὶ ἐγένετο ἡ γυνὴ Σαμψων ἑνὶ τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ ὧν ἐφιλίασεν

< Judges 14 >