¹⁰ His father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men used to do so. ¹¹ When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

¹² Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle now. If you can tell me the answer within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing; ¹³ but if you can’t tell me the answer, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing.”

They said to him, “Tell us your riddle, that we may hear it.”

¹⁴ He said to them,

They couldn’t in three days declare the riddle. ¹⁵ On the seventh day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you called us to impoverish us? Isn’t that so?”

¹⁶ Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, “You just hate me, and don’t love me. You’ve told a riddle to the children of my people, and haven’t told it to me.”

He said to her, “Behold, I haven’t told my father or my mother, so why should I tell you?”

¹⁷ She wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and on the seventh day, he told her, because she pressed him severely; and she told the riddle to the children of her people. ¹⁸ The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?”

He said to them,

¹⁹ Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck thirty men of them. He took their plunder, then gave the changes of clothing to those who declared the riddle. His anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. ²⁰ But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his friend.