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Judges 14

YHWH begins a confrontation with Israel’s Philistine rulers through Samson’s pursuit of marriage and a wedding feast that turns violent.

Samson wants to marry a Philistine woman from Timnah despite his parents’ objections. The Philistines rule Israel, and the narrator says YHWH is seeking an occasion against them. On the way to Timnah, Samson kills a lion through YHWH’s Spirit; later, honey from its carcass becomes the basis of his wedding riddle. The feast turns into coercion and bloodshed when his companions threaten his wife. Samson leaves in anger, and she is given to his companion.

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1Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.
2He came up, and told his father and his mother, saying, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me as my wife.”
3Then his father and his mother said to him, “Isn’t there a woman among your brothers’ daughters, or among all my people, that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?” Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.”
4But his father and his mother didn’t know that it was of the LORD; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
5Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and his mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion roared at him.
6The LORD’s Spirit came mightily on him, and he tore him as he would have torn a young goat with his bare hands, but he didn’t tell his father or his mother what he had done.
8After a while he returned to take her, and he went over to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey.
10His father went down to the woman; and Samson made a feast there, for the young men used to do so.
11When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
12Samson 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;
14He said to them, “Out of the eater came out food. Out of the strong came out sweetness.” They couldn’t in three days declare the riddle.
15On 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?”
16Samson’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?”
17She 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.
18The 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, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have found out my riddle.”
19The LORD’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.
20But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his friend.
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Key verses
Judges 14:4The narrator reveals YHWH’s purpose against Philistine rule, a purpose hidden from Samson’s parents.
Judges 14:5The lion’s appearance interrupts the marriage arrangements and sets up both Samson’s display of strength and his wedding riddle.
Judges 14:6Samson’s strength comes from YHWH’s Spirit, while his silence keeps the encounter hidden from his parents.
Where this chapter reaches

Genesis also recounts parental concern over marriage outside the family’s people, a shared concern in Samson’s parents’ objection. In 1 Samuel, YHWH’s Spirit empowers leaders, and David recounts killing a lion, linking these accounts through divine empowerment and encounters with dangerous animals.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does the narrator’s explanation in verse 4 shape your reading of the troubled wedding feast?

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What changes in your reading of Samson’s wife when you notice the threat against her household?

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Questions people ask about Judges 14

Why does Judges 14 say Samson’s marriage was of YHWH?

Verse 4 explains that YHWH was seeking an occasion against the Philistines, who ruled Israel. Samson’s parents did not know this purpose. The statement places the marriage within God’s action against Israel’s rulers; it does not declare every desire, threat, or act of anger in the account good.

What does Samson’s riddle mean in Judges 14?

The eater and the strong creature are the lion Samson killed. The food and sweetness are the honey he later found in its carcass. His companions lack knowledge of that encounter. They obtain the answer by threatening his wife, who presses Samson until he tells her.

Why did Samson’s wife tell the Philistines the answer?

The wedding companions threatened to burn her and her father’s house unless she obtained the answer. She wept and pressed Samson, then passed his explanation to her people. The text places her disclosure under a threat of lethal violence, though it does not describe all her thoughts or motives.

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What the Bible says about anger →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).