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went down to Timnah and saw a young Philistine women there. 2 When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a young woman at Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now get her for me as my wife.”
3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a young woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among our own people? Must you go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?”
But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” 4 Now his father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
5 So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him with power, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked to the woman, and she pleased Samson well.
8 After some time, he went back to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. There was a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass of the lion. 9 So he scooped out some of it with his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he returned to his father and mother, he gave some of the honey to them, and they ate it also. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.
10 His father went down to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as was customary for the young men to do. 11 When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Sampson said to them. “If you can solve it and explain it to me within seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13 But if you cannot explain it to me, then you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”
“Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let’s hear it.”
14 So he said to them,
“Out of the eater came something to eat,
and out of the strong came something sweet.”
But for three days they were unable to explain the riddle.
15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Have you invited us here to rob us?”
16 So Samsons’s wife came to him weeping. She said, “You truly hate me, and do not love me! You gave my people a riddle, but you haven’t explained it to me.”
“Look,” he said, “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I tell it to you?”
17 So she wept before him the seven days while their feast lasted. Then he told her the riddle on the seventh day because she had nagged him so much. And she in turn went and explained the riddle to her people.
18 Before the sun went down at the end of 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 ploughed with my heifer,
you would not have found out my riddle.”
19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him with power. Samson went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men. Then he stripped them of all their belongings, and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Then he returned to his father’s house, filled with anger. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion who had accompanied him.