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All of Judges

Bible Chapter Summary

Judges 14 Summary

Samson's Marriage and Riddle

Samson desires a Philistine woman of Timnath, and though his parents object, it is secretly of the LORD to provoke the Philistines. On the way he tears apart a lion barehanded by the Spirit's power, and later finds honey in its carcass. At his wedding feast he poses a riddle to thirty companions about the lion and honey; they threaten his bride, who weeps until he tells her, and she reveals it. Enraged, Samson kills thirty men of Ashkelon to pay the wager, and his wife is given to his companion.

Key themes

The Spirit's powerRiddleBetrayalConflict with the Philistines

Key verses

Judges 14:6

And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

Judges 14:14

And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle.

Judges 14:19

And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house.

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