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    Judges · 20 verses

    Judges 14

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    A lion’s carcass becomes a honeycomb, and Samson becomes the only person at the wedding who knows why the riddle is funny.

    The lion and the honeyvv. 1–9

    Samson goes down to Timnah, sees a Philistine woman, and asks his parents to get her for him because she is pleasing to his eyes. On the road, a young lion comes roaring; the Spirit of the LORD comes powerfully upon Samson, and the lion is torn apart with bare hands. Samson tells neither parent. Later, bees have made a pantry of the carcass. He takes the honey, eats it, and gives some to his parents, who eat it without being told that the sweetness came from the dead lion.

    The riddle at the feastvv. 10–20

    At the feast, thirty Philistine men are selected to accompany Samson, who offers them a riddle with an expensive wardrobe riding on the answer. For three days they cannot explain it. On the fourth day, the men threaten Samson’s wife with the burning of her and her father’s household, and she weeps at him through the feast until he tells her. The men answer before sunset. Samson replies with a farming insult, then goes to Ashkelon, kills thirty men, takes their apparel, and pays the wager. The feast ends with Samson burning with anger and his wife given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Judg 14:1One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he saw a young Philistine woman.

    2. Judg 14:2So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

    3. Judg 14:3But his father and mother replied, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, for she is pleasing to my eyes.”

    4. Judg 14:4(Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.)

    5. Judg 14:5Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him,

    6. Judg 14:6and the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

    7. Judg 14:7Then Samson continued on his way down and spoke to the woman, because she was pleasing to his eyes.

    8. Judg 14:8When Samson returned later to take her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and in it was a swarm of bees, along with their honey.

    9. Judg 14:9So he scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. And when he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

    10. Judg 14:10Then his father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as was customary for the bridegroom.

    11. Judg 14:11And when the Philistines saw him, they selected thirty men to accompany him.

    12. Judg 14:12“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.

    13. Judg 14:13But if you cannot solve it, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.” “Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let us hear it.”

    14. Judg 14:14So he said to them: “Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet.” For three days they were unable to explain the riddle.

    15. Judg 14:15So on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

    16. Judg 14:16Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.” “Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

    17. Judg 14:17She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people.

    18. Judg 14:18Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the city said to Samson: “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” So he said to them: “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle!”

    19. Judg 14:19Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house,

    20. Judg 14:20and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 133 passages were voted onto 16 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 4Joshua 11:20For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts to engage Israel in battle, so that they would be set apart for destruction and would receive no mercy, being annihilated as the LORD had commanded Moses.
    • 6Judges 3:10The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel’s judge and went out to war. And the LORD delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into the hand of Othniel, who prevailed against him.
    • 6Zechariah 4:6So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts.
    • 121 Kings 10:1Now when the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions.
    • 2Genesis 34:4So Shechem told his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”
    • 4Psalms 115:3Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
    • 6Judges 13:25And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
    • 12Genesis 45:22He gave new garments to each of them, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes.
    • 12Ezekiel 17:2“Son of man, pose a riddle; speak a parable to the house of Israel
    • 15Judges 15:6“Who did this?” the Philistines demanded. “It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite,” they were told. “For his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
    • 15Judges 16:5The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
    • 16Judges 16:15“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”
    • 191 Samuel 11:6When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he burned with great anger.
    • 20Judges 15:2“I was sure that you thoroughly hated her,” said her father, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”
    • 1Joshua 19:43Elon, Timnah, Ekron,
    • 11 John 2:16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.

    Onward

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