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Samson’s Riddle

14 One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.”

His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?”

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.” His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.

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Samson Takes a Philistine as His Wife

14 Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. So he came back up and told his father and [a]mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, take her for me as a wife.” But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your [b](A)relatives, or among all [c]our people, that you go to (B)take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” However, his father and mother did not know that (C)it was of Yahweh, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

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Footnotes

  1. Judges 14:2 Lit mother, saying,
  2. Judges 14:3 Lit brothers
  3. Judges 14:3 Lit my