¹Then Samson went down to Timnah, and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. ²And he went up and told his father and his mother, and he said, “I have seen a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines, so now, get her for me to be my wife.” ³But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your brothers and all my people, that you should go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” ⁴Now his father and his mother did not know that this was from the Lord, for he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel. ⁵Then Samson and his father and his mother went down to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah, and what he came across was a lion cub roaring at him. ⁶But the spirit of the Lord descended on him, and he tore it apart as one tears a kid of the goats apart, yet there was nothing in his hand, but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷Then he went down and spoke to the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes. ⁸Then after a number of days he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion, and what he saw was a colony of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. ⁹And he took some of it in his palms, and he went eating as he was walking, and he went to his father and mother, and he gave them some, and they ate it, but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcase of the lion. ¹⁰Then his father went down to the woman, and Samson held a feast there, for so the young men would do. ¹¹And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they took thirty friends, who accompanied him. ¹²Then Samson said to them, “Let me pose you a riddle. If you can plainly tell me the solution in the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen undergarments and thirty suits of clothing. ¹³But if you cannot tell me, then you must give me thirty linen undergarments and thirty suits of clothing.” And they said to him, “Pose your riddle, and we will listen to it.” ¹⁴And he said to them,

“Food came out of that which eats,

And out of that which is strong

Came out sweetness.”

And they could not solve the riddle for three days. ¹⁵Then it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson's wife, “Entice your husband to tell us the solution to the riddle, or else we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Did you invite us so as to dispossess us or not?” ¹⁶Then Samson's wife wept at him, and she said, “You just hate me, and you do not love me. You posed the riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not told me its solution.” Then he said to her, “Look, I have not told my father or my mother, so am I supposed to tell you?” ¹⁷Then she wept at him in the week in which they held the feast, and it came to pass on the seventh day that he told her, because she distressed him. Then she told the sons of her people. ¹⁸Then on the seventh day the men of the city said to him before the sun set,

“What is sweeter than honey,

And what is stronger than a lion?”

Then he said to them, “If you had not ploughed my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle.” ¹⁹Then the spirit of the Lord descended on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of its men, and he took their spoil, and he gave the suits of clothing to those who had solved the riddle, and his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. ²⁰And a friend of his, who had befriended him, had Samson's wife.