Judges 14:12-19

EasyEnglish Bible

¹² Samson said to them, ‘Listen to this clever question. Try to give me an answer before my party finishes in seven days. If you answer the question, I will give you 30 linen shirts and 30 sets of clothes. ¹³ But if you cannot tell me the answer, you will give me 30 linen shirts and 30 sets of clothes.’ The young men said, ‘Tell us your question.’^[a]

¹⁴ Samson said to them:

After three days, the Philistine men could not find the answer.

¹⁵ On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, ‘Find a way to make your husband tell you the answer. If you do not, we will use fire to destroy your father's house, with you inside it! Did you ask us to come to your marriage party to make us poor?’

¹⁶ Then Samson's wife went to him and she wept. She said to him, ‘It seems that you hate me. You do not really love me. You have asked my friends a clever question, but you have not told me the answer.’

Samson said to her, ‘I have not told the answer even to my father or mother. So why should I tell you?’

¹⁷ Samson's wife continued to weep like that all the days of the party. Finally, she gave him so much trouble that he told her the answer on the seventh day. Then she told the young men the answer to Samson's question.

¹⁸ Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the town gave their answer to Samson:

Samson said to them, ‘You have used my young cow to do your work! Without her you would not have found the answer to my question.’

¹⁹ The Lord's Spirit took hold of Samson. He went to Ashkelon and he killed 30 Philistine men there. He took all their clothes and he gave them to the 30 men who had answered his question. He was still very angry as he went back to his family's home.