Judges 14
1AND Sampson went down to Thamnatha, and saw at Thamnatha a woman of the daughters of the Philistines,
2and he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman at Thamnatha, of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me for a wife.
3And his father and his mother said to him, Are there not daughters of thy brethren, or a woman among my whole tribe, that thou shouldst go to take a wife from among the uncircumcised Philistines? But Sampson said to his father, Get this woman for me; for she is right in my eyes.
4His father and his mother did not know that it was of the Lord, that he was seeking to take vengeance on the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
5Then Sampson went down, with his father and his mother to Thamnatha, and when he came to the vineyard of Thamnatha, behold, a young roaring lion met him;
6and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he crushed him as one would a kid; though he had nothing in his hands. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
7So they went down, and spoke to the woman, and the matter was settled to Sampson’s satisfaction.
8And when he returned, the year after, to take his wife, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold there was a swarm of bees, and honey in the lion’s mouth.
9So he took out some of the combs in his hand, and went on eating; and when he came to his father and his mother, he gave them, and they ate thereof. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the lion’s mouth.
10And when his father went down to the woman, Sampson made an entertainment there seven days; for so young men usually do.
11Now when they saw him, they made choice of thirty men to be with him.
12And Sampson said to them, I will propound to you a riddle; if you explain it during the seven days of the entertainment, or find out the meaning of it, I will give you thirty fine linens, and thirty suits of apparel:
13but if you cannot tell me, you shall give me thirty fine linens and thirty changes of apparel. And they said, Propound thy riddle that we may hear it.
14Then he said to them, What eatable came from the eater; and, from the fierce, what that is sweet?
15And when in the course of three days they could not explain the riddle, they on the fourth day said to Sampson’s wife, Ask we pray thee thy husband, and get him to explain the riddle to thee, lest we burn thee and thy father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to do us an injury?
16So Sampson’s wife wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and hast not loved me; for thou hast not told me the riddle which thou hast propounded to the children of my people. And Sampson said to her, If I have not told it to my father and my mother, should I tell thee?
17But as she continued to weep before him, during the seven days, while the feast lasted, he at length on the seventh day told her, because she importuned him; and she told the children of her people.
18So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day, before the sun was set, What is sweeter than honey, and what fiercer than a lion? Upon which Sampson said to them, If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would not have known my riddle.
19Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Askalon, and slew of them thirty men, and took their garments, and gave the suits to them who had expounded the riddle. And Sampson was filled with wrath, and went up to his father’s house,
20and Sampson’s wife was married to one of those friends of his, with whom he had contracted friendship.