Waamuzi 14

Samson and the woman of Timnah

¹Samson went down to Timnah, and in Timnah he noticed one of the young Philistine women. ²He came back up and told his father and mother, “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the young Philistine women. Now get her for me as my wife.” ³His father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among your relatives or anywhere among my people? Must you go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She is the one who looks right to me.” ⁴His father and mother did not know that this came from the LORD, for he was looking for an opportunity to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.^a

The lion and the riddle

⁵Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. When they reached the vineyards of Timnah, a young lion suddenly came at him, roaring. ⁶The Spirit of the LORD rushed on him, and with nothing in his hands he ripped the lion apart as easily as one rips apart a young goat. Yet he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. ⁷Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she looked right to Samson. ⁸Some time later he went back to marry her, and he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass. There in the lion’s body was a swarm of bees, and honey. ⁹He scooped the honey out into his hands and went on, eating as he walked. When he reached his father and mother, he gave them some, and they ate. Yet he did not tell them he had scooped the honey out of the lion’s carcass. ¹⁰His father went down to see the woman, and Samson held a feast there, as young men used to do. ¹¹When the people there saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.^{b 12}Samson said to them, “Let me give you a riddle. If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and work it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of festive clothes. ¹³But if you cannot tell me, then you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of festive clothes.” They said to him, “Tell us your riddle. Let us hear it.” ¹⁴He said to them, \q “From the one who eats came food; \q from the strong one came something sweet.” \q For three days they could not explain the riddle. ¹⁵On the seventh day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into telling us the riddle, or we will set fire to you and your father’s household. Did you invite us here to rob us? Is that it?”^{c 16}Samson’s wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me at all. You have given my people a riddle, and you have not told me the answer.” He said to her, “Look, I have not told even my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?” ¹⁷She wept over him all through the seven days of their feast. On the seventh day he told her, because she kept pressing him, and she explained the riddle to her people. ¹⁸On the seventh day, before the sun went down, the men of the city said to him, \q “What is sweeter than honey? \q What is stronger than a lion?” \q Samson answered them, \q “If you had not plowed with my heifer, \q you would never have worked out my riddle.” ¹⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed on him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their clothes, and gave the sets of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he went back up to his father’s house.

²⁰Then Samson’s wife was given to his companion, the one who had served as his best man.