One day when Samson was in Timnah, he noticed a certain Philistine woman.
When he returned home, he told his father and mother, "I want to marry a young Philistine woman I saw in Timnah."
His father and mother objected strenuously, "Isn't there one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry? Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?" But Samson told his father, "Get her for me. She is the one I want."
His father and mother didn't realize the LORD was at work in this, creating an opportunity to disrupt the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.
As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah.
At that moment the Spirit of the LORD powerfully took control of him, and he ripped the lion's jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn't tell his father or mother about it.
When Samson arrived in Timnah, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her.
Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass.
He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn't tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.
As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom of the day.
Thirty young men from the town were invited to be his companions.
Samson said to them, "Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty plain linen robes and thirty fancy robes.
But if you can't solve it, then you must give me thirty linen robes and thirty fancy robes.All right," they agreed, "let's hear your riddle."
So he said: "From the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet." Three days later they were still trying to figure it out.
On the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, "Get the answer to the riddle from your husband, or we will burn down your father's house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?"
So Samson's wife came to him in tears and said, "You don't love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer.I haven't even given the answer to my father or mother," he replied. "Why should I tell you?"
So she cried whenever she was with him and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day, he told her the answer because of her persistent nagging. Then she gave the answer to the young men.
So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer: "What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?" Samson replied, "If you hadn't plowed with my heifer, you wouldn't have found the answer to my riddle!"
Then the Spirit of the LORD powerfully took control of him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had answered his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother.
So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson's best man at the wedding.