Samson’s marriage to a Philistine woman
1 Samson traveled down to Timnah. While he was in Timnah, a Philistine woman caught his eye.
2
He went back home and told his father and mother, "A Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye; now get her for me as a wife!"
3
But his father and mother replied to him, "Is there no woman among your own relatives or among all our people that you have to go get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" Yet Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she's the one I want!"
4
His father and mother didn't know that the LORD was behind this. He was looking for an opening with the Philistines, because they were ruling over Israel at that time.
5
Then Samson traveled down to Timnah with his father and mother. When he came to the vineyards in Timnah, suddenly a lone young lion came roaring to meet him.
6
The LORD's spirit rushed over him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one might tear apart a young goat. But he didn't tell his father or mother what he had done.
7
Then he traveled down and talked with the woman; she was the one Samson wanted.
8
After a while, he came back again to marry her. He turned aside to look at the lion's remains, and there was a swarm of bees with honey inside the lion's skeleton.
9
He scooped the honey into his hands, eating it as he continued along. When he got to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it too. But he didn't tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion's skeleton.
10
His father traveled down to the woman, and Samson put on a feast there, as was the custom for young men.
11
When the townspeople saw him, they selected thirty companions to be with him.