Judges 14:1-3

Samson's Marriage

1 Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines.

2 So he came back and told his father and mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife."

3 Then his father and his mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your ¹relatives, or among all our people, that you go to ²take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she looks * good to me."

Judges 14:1-3 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 14

This chapter treats of Samson's courtship, and marriage of a Philistine woman, Jud 14:1-5 of his meeting with a young lion as he went courting, and of his slaying it, and afterwards finding honey in it, Jud 14:6-9, of a riddle which be framed out of this incident, and put to his companions at his marriage to solve, giving them seven days to do it in, with a promise of a reward, Jud 14:10-14 and of their solving it by means of his wife, who got the secret from him, Jud 14:15-18, which led him to slay thirty Philistines, to make good his promise of thirty sheets and changes of raiment, and to leave his newly married wife, who was given to his companion, Jud 14:19,20.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 24:3, 4
• 2. Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "up"
• [b]. Lit "mother, saying,"
• [c]. Lit "brothers"
• [d]. Lit "my"
• [e]. Lit "is right in my eyes"