14One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he noticed a certain young Philistine woman.H8123H3381H8553H7200H802H8553H1323H64302He went back home and told his father and mother, "There is a Philistine woman down at Timnah who caught my attention. Get her for me; I want to marry her."H5927H5046H1H517H559H7200H802H8553H1323H6430H3947H8023But his father and mother asked him, "Why do you have to go to those heathen Philistines to get a wife? Can't you find someone in our own clan, among all our people?" But Samson told his father, "She is the one I want you to get for me. I like her."H1H517H559H369H802H1323H251H5971H1980H3947H802H6189H6430H8123H559H1H3947H3474H58694His parents did not know that it was the LORD who was leading Samson to do this, for the LORD was looking for a chance to fight the Philistines. At this time the Philistines were ruling Israel.H1H517H3045H3068H1245H8385H6430H6256H6430H4910H34785So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. As they were going through the vineyards there, he heard a young lion roaring.H3381H8123H3381H1H517H8553H935H3754H8553H3715H738H7580H71256Suddenly the power of the LORD made Samson strong, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands, as if it were a young goat. But he did not tell his parents what he had done.H7307H3068H6743H8156H8156H1423H3972H3027H5046H1H517H62137Then he went and talked to the young woman, and he liked her.H3381H1696H802H3474H8123H3474H58698A few days later Samson went back to marry her. On the way he left the road to look at the lion he had killed, and he was surprised to find a swarm of bees and some honey inside the dead body.H3117H7725H3947H5493H7200H4658H738H5712H1682H1706H1472H7389He scraped the honey out into his hands and ate it as he walked along. Then he went to his father and mother and gave them some. They ate it, but Samson did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the dead body of a lion.H7287H3709H3212H398H1980H1H517H5414H398H5046H7287H1706H1472H73810His father went to the woman's house, and Samson gave a banquet there. This was a custom among the young men.H1H3381H802H8123H6213H4960H970H621311When the Philistines saw him, they sent thirty young men to stay with him.H7200H3947H7970H482812Samson said to them, "Let me tell you a riddle. I'll bet each one of you a piece of fine linen and a change of fine clothes that you can't tell me its meaning before the seven days of the wedding feast are over."H8123H559H2330H2420H5046H5046H7651H3117H4960H4672H5414H7970H5466H7970H2487H89913"Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let's hear it."H3201H5046H5414H7970H5466H7970H2487H899H559H2330H2420H808514He said, "Out of the eater came something to eat; Out of the strong came something sweet." Three days later they had still not figured out what the riddle meant.H559H398H3318H3978H5794H3318H4966H3201H7969H3117H5046H242015On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Trick your husband into telling us what the riddle means. If you don't, we'll set fire to your father's house and burn you with it. You two invited us so that you could rob us, didn't you?"H7637H3117H559H8123H802H6601H376H5046H2420H8313H1H1004H784H7121H342316So Samson's wife went to him in tears and said, "You don't love me! You just hate me! You told my friends a riddle and didn't tell me what it means!" He said, "Look, I haven't even told my father and mother. Why should I tell you?"H8123H802H1058H559H8130H157H2330H2420H1121H5971H5046H559H5046H1H517H504617She cried about it for the whole seven days of the feast. But on the seventh day he told her what the riddle meant, for she nagged him so about it. Then she told the Philistines.H1058H7651H3117H4960H1961H7637H3117H5046H6693H5046H2420H1121H597118So on the seventh day, before Samson went into the bedroom, the men of the city said to him, "What could be sweeter than honey? What could be stronger than a lion?" Samson replied, "If you hadn't been plowing with my cow, You wouldn't know the answer now."H582H5892H559H7637H3117H2775H935H4966H1706H5794H738H559H3884H2790H5697H4672H242019Suddenly the power of the LORD made him strong, and he went down to Ashkelon, where he killed thirty men, stripped them, and gave their fine clothes to the men who had solved the riddle. After that, he went back home, furious about what had happened,H7307H3068H6743H3381H831H5221H7970H376H3947H2488H5414H2487H5046H2420H639H2734H5927H1H100420and his wife was given to the man that had been his best man at the wedding.H8123H802H4828H7462
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