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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 NLT</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="../">NLT</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 Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/judges/14.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Samson’s Riddle</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.”</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 objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?”</p><p class="reg">But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>His father and mother didn’t realize the LORD was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion suddenly attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>At that moment the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother about it. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>When Samson arrived in Timnah, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn’t tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom for elite young men. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>When the bride’s parents<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> saw him, they selected thirty young men from the town 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>Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.”</p><p class="reg">“All right,” they agreed, “let’s hear your riddle.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>So he said:</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“Out of the one who eats came something to eat;</p><p class="line2">out of the strong came something sweet.”</p><p class="b"/><p class="reg">Three days later they were still trying to figure it out. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>On the fourth<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle for us, or we will burn down your father’s house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>So Samson’s wife came to him in tears and said, “You don’t love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”</p><p class="reg">“I haven’t even given the answer to my father or mother,” he replied. “Why should I tell you?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>So she cried whenever she was with him and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day he told her the answer because she was tormenting him with her nagging. Then she explained the riddle to the young men.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer:</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“What is sweeter than honey?</p><p class="line2">What is stronger than a lion?”</p><p class="b"/><p class="reg">Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!”</p><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 LORD came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">14:11 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">they.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">14:15 </span><span class="ft">As in Greek version; Hebrew reads </span><span class="it">seventh.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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