The Bible in Basic English BBE
Orthodox Jewish Bible OJB
1 Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah, of the daughters of the Philistines;
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4 And Shimshon went down to Timnah, and saw an isha in Timnah of the banot Pelishtim (Philistines).
2 And when he came back he said to his father and mother, I have seen a woman in Timnah, of the daughters of the Philistines: get her now for me for my wife.
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And he came up, and told his av and his em, and said, I have seen an isha in Timnah of the banot Pelishtim; now therefore get her for me as isha.
3 Then his father and mother said to him, Is there no woman among the daughters of your relations or among all my people, that you have to go for your wife to the Philistines, who are without circumcision? But Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she is pleasing to me.
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Then his av and his em said unto him, Is there not among the banot of thy achim, or among kol Ami (all my people) an isha, that thou goest to take an isha of the Pelishtim haArelim? And Shimshon said unto his av, Get her for me; for she is yashrah (right) in my eyes.
4 Now his father and mother had no knowledge that this was the purpose of the Lord, who had the destruction of the Philistines in mind. Now the Philistines at that time were ruling over Israel.
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But his av and his em knew not that this was from Hashem, for He sought an occasion against the Pelishtim; for at that time the Pelishtim had dominion over Yisroel.
5 Then Samson went down to Timnah (and his father and his mother,) and came to the vine-gardens of Timnah; and a young lion came rushing out at him.
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Then went Shimshon down, and his av and his em, to Timnah, and came to the kramim (vineyards) of Timnah; and, hinei, a young lion roared against him.
6 And the spirit of the Lord came on him with power, and, unarmed as he was, pulling the lion in two as one might do to a young goat, he put him to death; (but he said nothing to his father and mother of what he had done.)
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And the Ruach Hashem came mightily upon him, and he tore him as he would have torn a young goat, and he had nothing in his yad; but he told not his av or his em what he had done.
7 So he went down and had talk with the woman; and she was pleasing to Samson.
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And he went down, and talked with the isha; and she was right in the eyes of Shimshon [cf Prov 16:25].
8 Then after a time he went back to take her; and turning from the road to see the dead body of the lion, he saw a mass of bees in the body of the lion, and honey there.
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And after a time he returned to take her [in marriage], and he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion; and, hinei, there was a swarm of bees and devash in the geviyah of the lion.
9 And he took the honey in his hand, and went on, tasting it on the way; and when he came to his father and mother he gave some to them; but did not say that he had taken the honey from the body of the lion.
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And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his av and em, and he gave them, and they did eat; but he told not them that he had taken the devash out of the geviyah of the lion.
10 Then Samson went down to the woman, and made a feast there, as was the way among young men.
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So his av went down unto the isha; and Shimshon made there a mishteh; for so used the bocherim to do.
11 And he took thirty friends, and they were with him.
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And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought shloshim companions to be with him.
12 And Samson said, Now I have a hard question for you: if you are able to give me the answer before the seven days of the feast are over, I will give you thirty linen robes and thirty changes of clothing;
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And Shimshon said unto them, I will now put forth a khidah (riddle) unto you; if ye can certainly declare it to me within the shivat yemei hamishteh, and find it out, then I will give you shloshim linen garments and shloshim sets of begadim;
13 But if you are not able to give me the answer, then you will have to give me thirty linen robes and thirty changes of clothing. And they said to him, Put your hard question and let us see what it is.
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But if ye cannot declare it to me, then shall ye give me shloshim linen garments and shloshim begadim. And they said unto him, Put forth thy khidah, that we may hear it.
14 And he said, Out of the taker of food came food, and out of the strong came the sweet. And at the end of three days they were still not able to give the answer.
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And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth the edible, and out of the oz (strong) came forth matok (sweetness). And they could not in shloshet yamim expound the khidah.
15 So on the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, Get from your husband the answer to his question by some trick or other, or we will have you and your father's house burned with fire; did you get us here to take all we have?
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And it came to pass on the yom hashevi’i, that they said unto the isha of Shimshon, Entice thy ish, that he may declare unto us the khidah, lest we burn thee and thy bais avi with eish; Have ye invited us to make us poor? Is it not so?
16 Then Samson's wife, weeping over him, said, Truly you have no love for me but only hate; you have put a hard question to the children of my people and have not given me the answer. And he said to her, See, I have not given the answer even to my father or my mother; am I to give it to you?
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And the isha of Shimshon wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not; thou hast put forth a khidah unto the bnei ami, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Hinei, I have not told it avi nor immi, and shall I tell it thee?
17 And all the seven days of the feast she went on weeping over him; and on the seventh day he gave her the answer, because she gave him no peace; and she sent word of it to the children of her people.
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And she wept before him the shivat hayamim, while their mishteh lasted; and it came to pass on the yom hashevi’i, that he told her, because of the pressing of her nagging; and she told the khidah to the bnei of her Am (People).
18 Then on the seventh day, before he went into the bride's room, the men of the town said to him, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If you had not been ploughing with my cow you would not have got the answer to my question.
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And the anshei haIr said unto him on the yom hashevi’i before the sun went down, What is sweeter than devash? And what is stronger than an ari? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not hit upon my khidah.
19 And the spirit of the Lord came rushing on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and, attacking thirty men there, took their clothing from them, and gave it to the men who had given the answer to his hard question. Then, full of wrath, he went back to his father's house.
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And the Ruach Hashem came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down shloshim ish of them and took as spoil their garments and gave unto them which expounded the khidah. And his af (anger) was kindled, and he went up to his bais avi.
20 But Samson's wife was given to the friend who had been his best man.
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But the isha of Shimshon was given to his companion, who had been his best man (i.e., his Shoshvin. See Yochanan 3:29 OJBC).
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The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.