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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 ESV</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="../">ESV</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">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/judges/14.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Samson’s Marriage</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>Then 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.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>But 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.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>His father and mother did not know that it was from the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Then 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Then the Spirit of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> 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. <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 she was right in Samson’s eyes.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>After 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>He 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.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>And 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, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>but 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.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>And he said to them,</p><span class="block-indent"><p class="line-group"><span class="ln-group">“Out of the eater came something to eat.</span><br /><span class="ln-group">Out of the strong came something sweet.”</span></p><p class="same-paragraph">And in three days they could not solve the riddle.</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>On the fourth<span class="footnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew seventh">a</a></sup></span> 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?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>And 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?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>She 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,</p><span class="block-indent"><p class="line-group"><span class="ln-group">“What is sweeter than honey?</span><br /><span class="ln-group">What is stronger than a lion?”</span></p><p class="same-paragraph">And he said to them,</p><span class="block-indent"><p class="line-group"><span class="ln-group">“If you had not plowed with my heifer,</span><br /><span class="ln-group">you would not have found out my riddle.”</span></p> <p class="same-paragraph"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>And the Spirit of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/judges/14-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="footnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">15</span> Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew <i>seventh</i><br /></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. 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