Samson’s Marriage

14 Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. ² 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) 3} 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.” ⁴ 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)

⁵ 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. ⁶ 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) 7} Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson.^{(D) 8} 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. ⁹ 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,

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?” ¹⁷ She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to her people. ¹⁸ The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,

And he said to them,

¹⁹ Then the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty men of the town, took their spoil, and gave the festal garments to those who had explained the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house.^{(H) 20} And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.^(I)

Paul Appeals to the Emperor

25 Three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem, ² where the chief priests and the leaders of the Jews gave him a report against Paul. They appealed to him^{(A) 3} and requested, as a favor to them against Paul,^[a] to have him transferred to Jerusalem. They were, in fact, planning an ambush to kill him along the way.^{(B) 4} Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly.^{(C) 5} “So,” he said, “let those of you who have the authority come down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them accuse him.”

⁶ After he had stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea; the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷ When he arrived, the Jews who had gone down from Jerusalem surrounded him, bringing many serious charges against him, which they could not prove.^{(D) 8} Paul said in his defense, “I have in no way committed an offense against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against the emperor.”^{(E) 9} But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and be tried there before me on these charges?”^{(F) 10} Paul said, “I am standing before the emperor’s tribunal; this is where I should be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you very well know. ¹¹ Now if I am in the wrong and have committed something for which I deserve to die, I am not trying to escape death, but if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can turn me over to them. I appeal to the emperor.”^{(G) 12} Then Festus, after he had conferred with his council, replied, “You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go.”

Festus Consults King Agrippa

¹³ After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to welcome Festus. ¹⁴ Since they were staying there several days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man here who was left in prison by Felix.^{(H) 15} When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him and asked for a sentence against him.^{(I) 16} I told them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had met the accusers face to face and had been given an opportunity to make a defense against the charge.^{(J) 17} So when they met here, I lost no time but on the next day took my seat on the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought.^{(K) 18} When the accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the crimes^[b] that I was expecting. ¹⁹ Instead, they had certain points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died but whom Paul asserted to be alive.^{(L) 20} Since I was at a loss how to investigate these questions, I asked whether he wished to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges.^{[c](M) 21} But when Paul had appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of his Imperial Majesty, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to the emperor.”^{(N) 22} Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you will hear him.”^(O)

Paul Brought before Agrippa

²³ So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city. Then Festus gave the order and Paul was brought in.^{(P) 24} And Festus said, “King Agrippa and all here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole Jewish community petitioned me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.^{(Q) 25} But I found that he had done nothing deserving death, and when he appealed to his Imperial Majesty, I decided to send him.^{(R) 26} But I have nothing definite to write to our sovereign about him. Therefore I have brought him before all of you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that, after we have examined him, I may have something to write, ²⁷ for it seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner without indicating the charges against him.”