Judges 14:12–19

¹²“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. ¹³But if you cannot solve it, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let us hear it.”

¹⁴So he said to them:

“Out of the eater came something to eat,

and out of the strong came something sweet.”

For three days they were unable to explain the riddle. ¹⁵So on the fourth^b day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

¹⁶Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.”

“Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

¹⁷She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people.

¹⁸Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the city said to Samson:

“What is sweeter than honey?

And what is stronger than a lion?”

So he said to them:

“If you had not plowed with my heifer,

you would not have solved my riddle!”

¹⁹Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house,