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Proclamation against Philistia

15 Thus says the Lord God: Because with unending hostilities the Philistines acted in vengeance and with malice of heart took revenge in destruction,(A)

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Proclamation against Edom

12 Thus says the Lord God: Because Edom acted revengefully against the house of Judah and has grievously offended in taking vengeance upon them,(A)

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For thus says the Lord God: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the malice within you against the land of Israel,(A)

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29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
    that the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the root of the snake will come forth an adder,
    and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.(A)
30 In my pastures the poor[a] will graze
    and the needy lie down in safety,
but I will make your root die of famine,
    and your remnant I[b] will kill.(B)
31 Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
    melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
    and there is no straggler in its ranks.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 14.30 Heb mss: MT the firstborn of the poor
  2. 14.30 Q ms Vg: MT he

Ashkelon shall see it and be afraid;
    Gaza, too, and shall writhe in anguish;
    Ekron also, because its hopes are withered.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
    Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;(A)
a mongrel people shall settle in Ashdod,
    and I will make an end of the pride of Philistia.(B)
I will take away its blood from its mouth
    and its abominations from between its teeth;
it, too, shall be a remnant for our God;
    it shall be like a clan in Judah,
    and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.(C)
Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,
    so that no one shall march to and fro;
no oppressor shall again overrun them,
    for now I have seen with my own eyes.(D)

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20 all the mixed people;[a] all the kings of the land of Uz; all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 25.20 Meaning of Heb uncertain

18 And the Philistines had made raids on the cities in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages, and they settled there.(A)

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For Gaza shall be deserted,
    and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;
Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon,
    and Ekron shall be uprooted.(A)

Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast,
    you nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
    O Canaan, land of the Philistines,
    and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.(B)
And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,
    meadows for shepherds,
    and folds for flocks.(C)
The seacoast shall become the possession
    of the remnant of the house of Judah,
    on which they shall pasture,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
    they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will be mindful of them
    and restore their fortunes.(D)

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Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Gaza,
    and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,[a]
because they carried into exile entire communities,
    to hand them over to Edom.(A)
So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza,
    and it shall devour its strongholds.
I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod
    and the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
    and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,
            says the Lord God.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 1.6 Heb cause it to return

What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads swiftly and speedily.(A) For you have taken my silver and my gold and have carried my rich treasures into your temples.[a] You have sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border. But now I will rouse them to leave the places to which you have sold them, and I will turn your deeds back upon your own heads.(B) I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away, for the Lord has spoken.(C)

Judgment in the Valley of Jehoshaphat

Proclaim this among the nations:
Consecrate yourselves for war;
    stir up the warriors.
Let all the soldiers draw near;
    let them come up.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
    and your pruning hooks into spears;
    let the weakling say, “I am a warrior.”(D)

11 Come quickly,[b]
    all you nations all around;
    gather yourselves there.
Bring down your warriors, O Lord.(E)
12 Let the nations rouse themselves
    and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
for there I will sit to judge
    all the neighboring nations.(F)

13 Put in the sickle,
    for the harvest is ripe.
Go in, tread,
    for the winepress is full.
The vats overflow,
    for their wickedness is great.(G)

14 Multitudes, multitudes,
    in the valley of decision!
For the day of the Lord is near
    in the valley of decision.(H)
15 The sun and the moon are darkened,
    and the stars withdraw their shining.

16 The Lord roars from Zion
    and utters his voice from Jerusalem,
    and the heavens and the earth shake.
But the Lord is a refuge for his people,
    a stronghold for the people of Israel.(I)

The Glorious Future of Judah

17 So you shall know that I, the Lord your God,
    dwell in Zion, my holy mountain.
And Jerusalem shall be holy,
    and strangers shall never again pass through it.(J)

18 In that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
    the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
    shall flow with water;
a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
    and water the Wadi Shittim.(K)

19 Egypt shall become a desolation
    and Edom a desolate wilderness,
because of the violence done to the people of Judah,
    in whose land they have shed innocent blood.(L)
20 But Judah shall be inhabited forever
    and Jerusalem to all generations.(M)
21 I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty,[c]
    for the Lord dwells in Zion.(N)

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Footnotes

  1. 3.5 Or palaces
  2. 3.11 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  3. 3.21 Gk Syr: Heb I will hold innocent their blood that I have not held innocent

Judgment on the Philistines

47 The word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:(A)

Thus says the Lord:
See, waters are rising out of the north
    and shall become an overflowing torrent;
they shall overflow the land and all that fills it,
    the city and those who live in it.
People shall cry out,
    and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail.(B)
At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
    at the clatter of his chariots, at the rumbling of their wheels,
parents do not turn back for children,
    so feeble are their hands,(C)
because of the day that is coming
    to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon
    every helper that remains.
For the Lord is destroying the Philistines,
    the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.(D)
Baldness has come upon Gaza;
    Ashkelon is silenced.
O remnant of Anakim![a]
    How long will you gash yourselves?(E)
Ah, sword of the Lord!
    How long until you are quiet?
Put yourself into your scabbard;
    rest and be still!(F)
How can it[b] be quiet,
    when the Lord has given it an order?
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore—
    there he has appointed it.(G)

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Footnotes

  1. 47.5 Gk: Heb their valley
  2. 47.7 Gk Vg: Heb you

12 the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west,
    and they devoured Israel with open mouth.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
    his hand is stretched out still.(A)

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Gebal and Ammon and Amalek,
    Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre;

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21 Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, and Ezer and Elead. Now the people of Gath who were born in the land killed them, because they came down to raid their cattle.

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David’s Wars

Some time afterward, David attacked the Philistines and subdued them; David took Metheg-ammah out of the hand of the Philistines.

He also defeated the Moabites and, making them lie down on the ground, measured them off with a cord; he measured two lengths of cord for those who were to be put to death and one length[a] for those who were to be spared. And the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute.(A)

David also struck down the king of Zobah, Hadadezer son of Rehob, as he went to restore his monument at the River Euphrates.(B) David took from him one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers. David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for a hundred chariots.(C) When the Arameans of Damascus came to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of the Arameans.(D) Then David put garrisons among the Arameans of Damascus, and the Arameans became servants to David and brought tribute. The Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.(E) David took the gold shields that were carried by the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem.(F) From Betah and from Berothai, towns of Hadadezer, King David took a great amount of bronze.

When King Toi of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer, 10 Toi sent his son Joram to King David, to greet him and to congratulate him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him. Now Hadadezer had often been at war with Toi. Joram brought with him articles of silver, gold, and bronze;(G) 11 these also King David dedicated to the Lord, together with the silver and gold that he dedicated from all the nations he subdued,(H) 12 from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and from the spoil of the king of Zobah, Hadadezer son of Rehob.

13 David won a name for himself. When he returned, he killed eighteen thousand Edomites[b] in the Valley of Salt.(I) 14 He put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went.(J)

David’s Officers

15 So David reigned over all Israel, and David administered justice and equity to all his people. 16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder;(K) 17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests; Seraiah was secretary;(L) 18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over[c] the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests.(M)

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Footnotes

  1. 8.2 Heb one full length
  2. 8.13 Gk Syr Heb mss: MT Arameans
  3. 8.18 Syr Tg Vg: Heb lacks was over

David and the Holy Bread

21 [a]David came to Nob to the priest Ahimelech. Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?”(A) David said to the priest Ahimelech, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘No one must know anything of the matter about which I send you and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment[b] with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what have you at hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever is here.” The priest answered David, “I have no ordinary bread at hand, only holy bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”(B) David answered the priest, “Indeed, women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy even when it is a common journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy?”(C) So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.(D)

Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.(E)

David said to Ahimelech, “Is there no spear or sword here with you? I did not bring my sword or my weapons with me because the king’s business required haste.” The priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you will take that, take it, for there is none here except that one.” David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”(F)

David Flees to Gath

10 David rose and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish of Gath. 11 The servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,

‘Saul has killed his thousands
    and David his ten thousands’?”(G)

12 David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of King Achish of Gath.(H) 13 So he changed his behavior before them; he pretended to be mad when in their presence.[c] He scratched marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. 14 Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

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Footnotes

  1. 21.1 21.2 in Heb
  2. 21.2 Q ms Vg: Meaning of MT uncertain
  3. 21.13 Heb in their hands

David and Goliath

17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.(A) Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah and formed ranks against the Philistines.(B) The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was four[a] cubits and a span.(C) He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.(D) The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and his shield-bearer went before him.(E) He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose[b] a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.(F) If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants, but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10 And the Philistine said, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.”(G) 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.[c](H) 13 The three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle; the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.(I) 14 David was the youngest; the three eldest followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.(J) 16 For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.

17 Jesse said to his son David, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18 also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them.”(K)

19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines. 20 David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22 David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.(L)

24 All the Israelites, when they saw the man, fled from him and were very much afraid. 25 The Israelites said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. The king will greatly enrich the man who kills him and will give him his daughter and make his family free in Israel.”(M) 26 David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”(N) 27 The people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done for the man who kills him.”(O)

28 His eldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the men, and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David. He said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down just to see the battle.”(P) 29 David said, “What have I done now? It was only a question.”(Q) 30 He turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way, and the people answered him again as before.(R)

31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”(S) 33 Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father, and whenever a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth, and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you!”(T)

38 Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.

41 The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.(U) 43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.(V) 44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.”(W) 45 But David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.(X) 46 This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head, and I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel(Y) 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.”(Z)

48 When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in David’s hand. 51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him; then he cut off his head with it.

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.(AA) 52 The troops of Israel and Judah rose up with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath[d] and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.(AB) 53 The Israelites came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. 54 David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

55 When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.”(AC) 56 The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is.” 57 On David’s return from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand.(AD) 58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”(AE)

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Footnotes

  1. 17.4 Q ms Gk: MT six
  2. 17.8 Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  3. 17.12 Gk Syr: Heb among men
  4. 17.52 Gk Syr: Heb a valley

Saul’s Unlawful Sacrifice

13 Saul was . . .[a] years old when he began to reign, and he reigned . . . and two[b] years over Israel.

Saul chose three thousand out of Israel; two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; the rest of the people he sent home to their tents.(A) Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!”(B) When all Israel heard that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines and also that Israel had become odious to the Philistines, the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel: thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven.(C) When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns.(D) Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to slip away from Saul.[c](E) So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me and the offerings of well-being.” And he offered the burnt offering.(F) 10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to meet him and salute him.(G) 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the people were slipping away from me and that you did not come within the days appointed and that the Philistines were mustering at Michmash,(H) 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of the Lord,’ so I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” 13 Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever,(I) 14 but now your kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”(J)

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Footnotes

  1. 13.1 The number is lacking in the Heb text (13.1 is lacking in Gk mss).
  2. 13.1 Two is not the entire number; something has dropped out.
  3. 13.8 Heb him

And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

The Ark of God Captured

In those days the Philistines mustered for war against Israel,[a] and Israel went out to battle against them;[b] they encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek.(A) The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle was joined,[c] Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. When the troops came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord put us to rout today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, so that he may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”(B) So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.(C)

When the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded.(D) When the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp,(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 4.1 Gk: Heb lacks In those days the Philistines mustered for war against Israel
  2. 4.1 Gk: Heb against the Philistines
  3. 4.2 Meaning of Heb uncertain

Samson’s Marriage

14 Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”(A) But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among your kin or among all our[a] people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she pleases me.” His father and mother did not know that this was from the Lord, for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.(B)

Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.(C) Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson.(D) After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion and honey. He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, as the young men were accustomed to do. 11 When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.(E) 13 But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.” So they said to him, “Ask your riddle; let us hear it.” 14 He said to them,

“Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.”

But for three days they could not explain the riddle.

15 On the fourth[b] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”(F) 16 So Samson’s wife wept before him, saying, “You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” He said to her, “Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?”

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Footnotes

  1. 14.3 Cn: Heb my
  2. 14.15 Gk Syr: Heb seventh