Judges 14

Judges 14:1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young woman there among the daughters of the Philistines.

Judges 14:2 He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young woman in Timnah among the daughters of the Philistines. Get her for me as a wife.”

Judges 14:3 But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or any of our people? Do you have to go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me. She looks right for me.”

Judges 14:4 Now, his father and mother did not know this was from Yahveh, who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation. At that time, the Philistines were governing Israel.

Judges 14:5 Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Notice a young lion came roaring at him,

Judges 14:6 the Breath of Yahveh came powerfully on him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands like he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

Judges 14:7 Then he went and spoke to the woman, because she looked right to Samson.

Judges 14:8 After some time, when he returned to marry her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass and noticed a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass.

Judges 14:9 He scooped some honey into his grasp and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.

Judges 14:10 His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do.

Judges 14:11 When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty groomsmen to accompany him.

Judges 14:12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.

Judges 14:13 But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” “Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let’s hear it.”

Judges 14:14 So he said to them: Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet. After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle.

Judges 14:15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s family to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

Judges 14:16 So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me! You told my people the riddle but haven’t explained it to me.” “Notice,” he said, “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

Judges 14:17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people.

Judges 14:18 On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him: What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion? So he said to them: If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow, you wouldn’t have discovered my riddle!

Judges 14:19 The Breath of Yahveh came powerfully on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. His nose burning angrily, Samson returned to his father’s house,

Judges 14:20 and his wife were given to one of the groomsmen who had accompanied him.

Judges 14 quotes:

“The recurring events of the cycle of tales about Samson emphasize certain messages and trace dramatic developments in the life of the hero, although each of these episodes could have circulated on its own as a well-known piece of the larger tradition. Narrative threads emphasized in the cycle include: the up/down movement of the romance, framing tales of the hero on the drift; the us/them theme in which oppressed Israelites face ruling Philistines; the related contrast between exogamy and endogamy (see Crenshaw 1978: 78-81) that serves to color outsiders as enemies; and the contrasts between social and antisocial and nature and culture (see Gunkel 1913: 39-44, 51; Humbert 1919: 159), which portray Samson as a special kind of superhero, the “social bandit” (see introduction, section 1, and Hobsbawm 1969).”

Niditch Susan. Judges: A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 154.