Judges 14

¹ And Samson goes down to Timnath, and sees a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines, ² and comes up and declares to his father, and to his mother, and said, "A woman I have seen in Timnath, of the daughters of the Philistines; and now, take her for me for a wife." ³ And his father said to him - also his mother, "Is there not among the daughters of your brethren, and among all my people, a woman, that you are going to take a woman from the uncircumcised Philistines?" and Samson said unto his father, "Take her for me, for she is right in mine eyes." ⁴ And his father and his mother have not known that from Yahweh it [is], that a meeting he is seeking of the Philistines; and at that time the Philistines are ruling over Israel. ⁵ And Samson goes down - also his father and his mother, to Timnath, and they come unto the vineyards of Timnath, and lo, a lion's whelp roars at meeting him, ⁶ and the Spirit of Yahweh prospers over him, and he rends it as the rending of a kid, and there is nothing in his hand, and he has not declared to his father and to his mother that which he has done. ⁷ And he goes down and speaks to the woman, and she is right in the eyes of Samson; ⁸ and he turns back after [some] days to take her, and turns aside to see the carcase of the lion, and lo, a company of bees [are] in the body of the lion - and honey. ⁹ And he takes it down on to his hands, and goes on, going and eating; and he goes unto his father, and unto his mother, and gives to them, and they eat, and he has not declared to them that from the body of the lion he took down the honey. ¹⁰ And his father goes down unto the woman, and Samson makes there a banquet, for so the young men do; ¹¹ and it comes to pass when they see him, that they take thirty companions, and they are with him. ¹² And Samson said to them, "Let me, I pray you, put forth to you a riddle; if you certainly declare it to me [in] the seven days of the banquet, and have found [it] out, then I have given to you thirty linen shirts, and thirty changes of garments; ¹³ and if you are not able to declare [it] to me, then you have given to me thirty linen shirts, and thirty changes of garments." And they say to him, "Put forth your riddle, and we hear it!" ¹⁴ And he said to them: "Out of the eater came forth meat, And out of the strong came forth sweetness"; and they were not able to declare the riddle [in] three days. ¹⁵ And it comes to pass, on the seventh day, that they say to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband, that he declare to us the riddle, lest we burn you and the house of your father with fire; to possess us have you called for us? is it not?" ¹⁶ And Samson's wife weeps for it, and said, "You have only hated me, and have not loved me; the riddle you have put forth to the sons of my people - and to me you have not declared it"; and he said to her, "Lo, to my father and to my mother I have not declared [it] - and to you I declare [it]!" ¹⁷ And she weeps for it the seven days [in] which their banquet has been, and it comes to pass on the seventh day that he declares [it] to her, for she has distressed him; and she declares the riddle to the sons of her people. ¹⁸ And the men of the city say to him on the seventh day, before the sun goes in: "What [is] sweeter than honey? And what stronger than a lion?" And he said to them: "Unless you had ploughed with my heifer, You had not found out my riddle." ¹⁹ And the Spirit of Yahweh prospers over him, and he goes down to Ashkelon, and smites of them thirty men, and takes their armor, and gives the changes to those declaring the riddle; and his anger burns, and he goes up to the house of his father; ²⁰ and Samson's wife becomes his companion's, who [is] his friend.