Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, June 19th, 2025
the Week of Proper 6 / Ordinary 11
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Judges 14:20

So Samson's wife was given to his best man.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Samson;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Marriage;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Samson;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Levi;   Marriage;   Philistines;   Samson;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Marriage;   Samson;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.
Hebrew Names Version
But Shimshon's wife was [given] to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
King James Version
But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
Lexham English Bible
And Samson's wife was given to his companion who was his best man.
English Standard Version
And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
New Century Version
And Samson's wife was given to his best man.
New English Translation
Samson's bride was then given to his best man.
Amplified Bible
But Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.
New American Standard Bible
But Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Samsons wife was giuen to his companion, whom he had vsed as his friend.
Legacy Standard Bible
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
Contemporary English Version
The father of the bride had Samson's wife marry one of the thirty young men that had been at Samson's party.
Complete Jewish Bible
and his wife was given to the companion who had been best man at the wedding.
Darby Translation
And Samson's wife was [given] to his companion, whom he had made his friend.
George Lamsa Translation
And Samsons wife, whom he loved, was given to one of his groomsmen.
Good News Translation
and his wife was given to the man that had been his best man at the wedding.
Literal Translation
And Samson's wife became his companion's, who had been his friend.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
As for Samsons wife, she was geuen vnto one of his companyons, which belonged vnto him.
American Standard Version
But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
Bible in Basic English
But Samson's wife was given to the friend who had been his best man.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But Samsons wyfe was geuen to one of his companions that he had taken vnto him.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had had for his friend.
King James Version (1611)
But Samsons wife was giuen to his companion, whom hee had vsed as his friend.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the wife of Sampson was given to one of his friends, with whom he was on terms of friendship.
English Revised Version
But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
Berean Standard Bible
and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe his wijf took an hosebonde, oon of the frendis and keperis `of hir.
Young's Literal Translation
and Samson's wife becometh his companion's, who [is] his friend.
Update Bible Version
But Samson's wife was [given] to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
Webster's Bible Translation
But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
World English Bible
But Samson's wife was [given] to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.
New King James Version
And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
New Living Translation
So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson's best man at the wedding.
New Life Bible
Samson's wife was given to his friend who had been his best man at his wedding.
New Revised Standard
And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the wife of Samson was given unto his companion who had served him as his friend.
Douay-Rheims Bible
But his wife took one of his friends and bridal companions for her husband.
Revised Standard Version
And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
But Samson's wife was given to his companion who had been his friend.

Contextual Overview

10 Samson's father went down to see the Philistine woman. The custom was for the bridegroom to give a party. So Samson gave a party. 11 When the Philistines saw that he was having a party, they sent 30 men to be with him. 12 Then Samson said to the 30 men, "I want to tell you a story. This party will last for seven days. Try to find the answer during that time. If you can answer the riddle in that time, I will give you 30 linen shirts and 30 changes of clothes. 13 But if you cannot find the answer, you must give me 30 linen shirts and 30 changes of clothes." So the 30 men said, "Tell us your riddle, we want to hear it." 14 Samson told them this riddle: "Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet." The 30 men tried for three days to find the answer, but they couldn't. 15 On the fourth day, the men came to Samson's wife. They said, "Did you invite us here just to make us poor? You must trick your husband into telling us the answer to the riddle. If you don't get the answer for us, we will burn you and everyone in your father's house to death." 16 So Samson's wife went to him and began crying. She said, "You just hate me! You don't really love me! You told my people a riddle, and you will not tell me the answer." Samson said to her, "Look, I have not even told my father and mother. So why should I tell you?" 17 Samson's wife cried for the rest of the seven days of the party. So he finally gave her the answer to the riddle on the seventh day. He told her because she kept bothering him. Then she went to her people and told them the answer to the riddle. 18 So before the sun went down on the seventh day of the party, the Philistine men had the answer. They came to Samson and said, "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" Then Samson said to them, "If you had not plowed with my cow, you would not have solved my riddle!" 19 Samson was very angry. The Spirit of the Lord came on Samson with great power. He went down to the city of Ashkelon and killed 30 Philistine men. He took all the clothes and property from the dead bodies and gave them to the men who had answered his riddle. Then he went to his father's house.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

given to: Judges 15:2

his friend: Psalms 55:12, Psalms 55:13, Jeremiah 9:5, Micah 7:5, Matthew 26:49, Matthew 26:50, John 3:29, John 13:18

Reciprocal: Genesis 38:20 - his friend 1 Samuel 18:19 - Adriel 2 Samuel 13:3 - a friend

Cross-References

Genesis 9:26
Noah also said, "May the Lord , the God of Shem, be praised! May Canaan be Shem's slave.
Genesis 14:3
All these kings joined their armies in the Valley of Siddim. (The Valley of Siddim is now the Salt Sea.)
Genesis 14:4
These kings had served Kedorlaomer for twelve years. But in the 13th year, they all rebelled against him.
Genesis 14:5
So in the 14th year, King Kedorlaomer and the kings with him came to fight against them. Kedorlaomer and the kings with him defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim. They also defeated the Zuzites in Ham. They defeated the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim.
Genesis 14:6
And they defeated the Horites who lived in the area from the hill country of Seir to El Paran. (El Paran is near the desert.)
Genesis 14:9
They fought against King Kedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Babylonia, and King Arioch of Ellasar. So there were four kings fighting against five.
Genesis 14:17
Then Abram went home after he defeated Kedorlaomer and the kings with him. On his way home, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh. (This is now called King's Valley.)
Genesis 14:19
He blessed Abram and said, "Abram, may you be blessed by God Most High, the one who made heaven and earth.
Genesis 24:27
He said, "Praise be to the Lord , the God of my master Abraham. The Lord has been kind and loyal to him by leading me to his own people."
Genesis 28:22
I am setting this stone up as a memorial stone. It will show that this is a holy place for God, and I will give God one-tenth of all he gives me."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But Samson's wife was given to his companion,.... By her father, and with her consent, both being affronted and provoked by Samson leaving her, who judged her not only to be injured, but hereby discharged from him, and free to marry another:

and whom he had used as his friend; though there were thirty of them that were his companions, yet there was one of them that was the principal of them, and was the most intimate with him, whom he used in the most friendly manner, and admitted to a more free conversation than the rest, the same that is called the friend of the bridegroom, John 3:29 while the others were called the children of the bridechamber, Matthew 9:15. It is not unlikely that this person had too much intimacy with Samson's wife before, and so had the secret of the riddle from her, and so very readily married her, as soon as Samson departed; and all this furnished out an occasion and opportunity, which Samson sought for, to be revenged on the Philistines, as in the following chapter.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His companion - Perhaps one of those mentioned in Judges 14:11. The transaction denotes loose notions of the sanctity of marriage among the Philistines. It should be noted carefully that the practical lesson against ungodly marriages comes out most strongly in this case and that the providential purpose which out of this evil brought discomfiture to the Philistines, has nothing to do with the right or wrong of Samson’s conduct.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Judges 14:20. But Samson's wife was given to his companion — This was the same kind of person who is called the friend of the bridegroom, John 3:29. And it is very likely that she loved this person better than she loved her husband, and went to him as soon as Samson had gone to his father's house at Zorah. She might, however, have thought herself abandoned by him, and therefore took another; this appears to have been the persuasion of her father, Judges 15:2. But her betraying his secret and his interests to his enemies was a full proof he was not very dear to her; though, to persuade him to the contrary, she shed many crocodile tears; see Judges 14:16. He could not keep his own secret, and he was fool enough to suppose that another would be more faithful to him than he was to himself. Multitudes complain of the treachery of friends betraying their secrets, &c., never considering that they themselves have been their first betrayers, in confiding to others what they pretend to wish should be a secret to the whole world! If a man never let his secret out of his own bosom, it is impossible that he should ever be betrayed.


 
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