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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Judges 14 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/judges/14.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/judges/14-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</a> > Judges 14</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../judges/13.htm" title="Judges 13">◄</a> Judges 14 <a href="../judges/15.htm" title="Judges 15">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/judges/14.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="sectionhead">Samson’s Marriage</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”</p><p class="reg">But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>(His parents did not know that this was from the <span class="name">Lord</span>, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>The Spirit of the <span class="name">Lord</span> came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast, as was customary for young men. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”</p><p class="reg">“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>He replied,</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“Out of the eater, something to eat;</p><p class="line2">out of the strong, something sweet.”</p></div><p class="pcontinued">For three days they could not give the answer.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>On the fourth <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac; Hebrew seventh">a</a></sup></span> day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to steal our property?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me. You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”</p><p class="reg">“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“What is sweeter than honey?</p><p class="line2">What is stronger than a lion?”</p></div><p class="reg">Samson said to them,</p><div class="stanza"><p class="line1">“If you had not plowed with my heifer,</p><p class="line2">you would not have solved my riddle.”</p></div> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>Then the Spirit of the <span class="name">Lord</span> came powerfully upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he returned to his father’s home. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>And Samson’s wife was given to one of his companions who had attended him at the feast.</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">15</span> <span class="footnotebot">Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac; Hebrew <i>seventh</i></span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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