Judges 14:1–7

Samson Takes a Philistine as His Wife

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

²So he came back up and told his father and ¹mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, take her for me as a wife.”

³But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your ^1arelatives, or among all ²our people, that you go to ^btake a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Take her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”

⁴However, his father and mother did not know that ^ait was of Yahweh, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

⁵Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and they came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him.

^6aAnd the Spirit of Yahweh ¹came upon him mightily, so that ^bhe tore it as one tears a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

⁷So he went down and spoke to the woman; and she was right in the eyes of Samson.