Judges 14:16

16 So she wept before Samson and complained, saying: Thou hatest me, and dost not love me: therefore thou wilt not expound to me the riddle, which thou hast proposed to the sons of my people. But he answered: I would not tell it to my father and mother: and how can I tell it to thee?

Judges 14:16 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 14:16

And Samson's wife wept before him
When she came to him to get out of him the explanation of the riddle, thinking that her tears would move him to it:

and said, thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not:
another artifice she used, well knowing he could not bear to have his affection called in question, which was now very strong, as is usual with newly married persons:

thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people;
her countrymen, fellow citizens, and neighbour, and could not but be dear to her, and respected by her; so that what affected and afflicted them must have some influence upon her:

and hast not told me;
that is, the explanation of it, otherwise it is likely she had heard the riddle itself told:

and he said unto her behold, l have not told it my father nor my
mother, and shall I tell it thee?
his parents he was greatly indebted to, for whom he had the highest reverence and esteem, whose fidelity and taciturnity he had sufficient knowledge of, and yet he had not thought fit to impart it to them; how therefore could she expect to be trusted with such a secret, with whom he had not been long acquainted, not long enough to know whether she could keep it or not?

Judges 14:16 In-Context

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

15 And when the seventh day came, they said to the wife of Samson: Sooth thy husband, and persuade him to tell thee what the riddle meaneth. But if thou wilt not do it, we will burn thee, and thy father’s house. Have you called us to the wedding on purpose to strip us?

16 So she wept before Samson and complained, saying: Thou hatest me, and dost not love me: therefore thou wilt not expound to me the riddle, which thou hast proposed to the sons of my people. But he answered: I would not tell it to my father and mother: and how can I tell it to thee?

17 So she wept before him the seven days of the feast: and, at length, on the seventh day, as she was troublesome to him, he expounded it. And she immediately told her countrymen.

18 And they, on the seventh day before the sun went down, said to him: What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them: If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you had not found out my riddle.