Judges 14 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Samson’s Marriage

Jdg 14:1Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.

Jdg 14:2Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”

Jdg 14:3

Jdg 14:3But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”

Jdg 14:4

Jdg 14:4His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.

Jdg 14:5

Jdg 14:5Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring.

Jdg 14:6

Jdg 14:6Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.

Jdg 14:7

Jdg 14:7Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes.

Jdg 14:8

Jdg 14:8After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.

Jdg 14:9

Jdg 14:9He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.

Jdg 14:10

Jdg 14:10His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do.

Jdg 14:11

Jdg 14:11As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

Jdg 14:12

Jdg 14:12And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes,

Jdg 14:13

Jdg 14:13but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.”

Jdg 14:14

Jdg 14:14And he said to them,
“Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.” And in three days they could not solve the riddle.

Jdg 14:15

Jdg 14:15On the fourth[fn] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”

Jdg 14:16

Jdg 14:16And Samson’s wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?”

Jdg 14:17

Jdg 14:17She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people.

Jdg 14:18

Jdg 14:18And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?” And he said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have found out my riddle.”

Jdg 14:19

Jdg 14:19And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.

Jdg 14:20

Jdg 14:20And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.

See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

ESV Footnotes

(14:15)

Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew seventh

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Judges Chapter 14 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

Judges 14 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

Samson’s Marriage

ESV Footnotes

Judges Chapter 14 — Additional Translations:

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