Samson’s Marriage to the Woman of Timnah
1Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman there, one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2When he came back, he told his father and mother, “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. Now get her for me as my wife.” 3His father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me — she is right in my eyes.” 4His father and mother did not know that this was from Yahweh, who was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel. 5Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. When they came to the vineyards of Timnah, a young lion suddenly roared at him. 6The Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one might tear apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7Then he went down and spoke with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes. 8Some time later, when he returned to marry her, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion, and there in the body of the lion was a swarm of bees, and honey. 9He scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it too, but he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the lion’s body. 10His father went down to the woman, and there Samson held a feast, as young men were accustomed to do. 11When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
The Riddle at the Wedding Feast
12Samson said to them, “Let me pose a riddle to you. If you can solve it and tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13But if you cannot tell me the answer, you will give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” “Ask your riddle,” they said, “and let us hear it.” 14He said to them: “Out of the eater came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.” For three days they could not solve the riddle. 15On the seventh day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into telling us the answer to the riddle, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to strip us bare?” 16So Samson’s wife wept before him and said, “You only hate me — you don’t love me. You told my people a riddle, and you haven’t even told me the answer.” “I haven’t even told my father or my mother,” he replied, “so why should I tell you?” 17She wept before him the whole seven days the feast lasted. On the seventh day he finally told her, because she had worn him down, and she told the riddle to her people. 18Before sunset 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 had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.” 19Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, took their belongings, and gave the garments to the men who had solved the riddle. Burning with anger, he went back up to his father’s house. 20And Samson’s wife was given to the companion who had attended him at the wedding.
