Samson’s riddle

1One day when Samson was in Timnah town, he saw a young Philistine woman there.

2When he returned home, he told his mother and father, “I saw a young Philistine woman in Timnah, and I want you to get her for me so I can marry her.”

3His mother and father objected very strongly. They said, “Is there no woman from our tribe, or from the other Israeli tribes, that you could marry? Why must you go to the heathen Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She is the one I want!”

4His mother and father did not realize that Yahweh was arranging this. He was preparing a way for Samson to defeat the Philistines, who were ruling over Israel at that time.

5So, as Samson was going down to Timnah, followed by his mother and father, a young lion attacked Samson near the vineyards close to Timnah.

6Then Yahweh’s Spirit came upon Samson powerfully, with the result that he tore the lion apart with his hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he did not tell his mother and father about it.

7When they arrived in Timnah, Samson talked with the young woman, and he liked her very much. And his father made arrangements for the wedding.

8Later, when Samson returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to see the carcass of the lion. He discovered that after other creatures had eaten all the flesh, a swarm of bees had made a hive in the skeleton and had made some honey.

9So he scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate some of it as he was walking along. He also gave some of it to his mother and father, but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the skeleton of the lion, because anyone dedicated to God was not to touch any corpse.

10As his father was making the final arrangements for the marriage, Samson gave a party for the young men in that area. That was the custom for men to do when they were about to be married.

11Thirty young man were invited to the party.

12Samson said to them, “Allow me to tell you a riddle. If you tel me the meaning of my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give each of you a linen robe and an extra set of clothes.

13But if you cannot tell me the meaning, you must each give me a linen robe and an extra set of clothes.” They replied, “All right. Tell us your riddle.”

14So he said, “From the thing that eats came something to eat; out of something strong came something sweet.” But for three days they could not tell him the meaning of the riddle.

15On the fourth day, they said to Samson’s bride, “Ask your husband to tell you the meaning of the riddle. If you do not do that, we will burn down your father’s house, with you inside it! Did you invite us here only to make us poor by forcing us to buy a lot of clothes for your husband?”

16So Samson’s wife came to him, crying, and said to him, “You do not really love me. You hate me! You have told a riddle to my friends, but you have not told me the meaning of the riddle!” He replied, “I have not told the meaning of the riddle even to my mother and father, so why should I tell it to you?”

17She continued to cry every time she was with him, all during the rest of the celebration. Finally, on the seventh day, because she continued to nag him, he told her the meaning of the riddle. Then she told it to the young men.

18So, before sunset on the seventh day, the young men came to Samson and said to him, “What/Nothing is sweeter than honey [RHQ]. What/Nothing is stronger than a lion [RHQ]!” Samson replied, “You should not force a heifer to plow a field [MET]. Similarly, if you had not forced my bride to ask me about the riddle [MET], you would not have known the answer to my riddle!”

19Then Yahweh’s Spirit powerfully took control of Samson. He went down to the coast at Ashkelon town, and killed 30 men. He took their clothes and went back to Timnah and gave them to the men who had told him the meaning of the riddle. But he was very angry about what had happened, so he went back home to live with his mother and father.

20So ◄Samson’s wife was given/the bride’s father gave Samson’s wife► to the man who who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding, but Samson did not know that.