Study Desk

So he returned and told his father and his mother, "I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife."

So he scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. When he returned 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 lion's carcass.

So he said to them: "Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet." For three days they were unable to explain the riddle.

So on the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father's household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?"

Then Samson's wife came to him, weeping, and said, "You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me." "Look," he said, "I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?"

She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people.

Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the city said to Samson: "What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?" So he said to them: "If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle!"

"I was sure you thoroughly hated her," said her father, "so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead."

"Who did this?" the Philistines demanded. "It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite," they were told. "For his wife was given to his companion." So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.

"No," they answered, "we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.

So God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, and it remains in Lehi to this day.

So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you could be tied up and subdued."

So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn breaks when it touches a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown.

So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up, and called out, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. Then she fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web.

And while their hearts were merry, they said, "Call for Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.

Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them."

Then Samson called out to the LORD: "O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes."

Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.