Judges 14:16-18
New English Translation
16 So Samson’s bride cried on his shoulder[a] and said, “You must[b] hate me; you do not love me! You told the young men[c] a riddle, but you have not told me the solution.” He said to her, “Look, I have not even told my father or mother. Do you really expect me to tell you?”[d] 17 She cried on his shoulder[e] until the party was almost over.[f] Finally, on the seventh day, he told her because she had nagged him so much.[g] Then she told the young men the solution to the riddle.[h] 18 On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him,
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
He said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,[i]
you would not have solved my riddle!”
Footnotes
- Judges 14:16 tn Heb “on him.”
- Judges 14:16 tn Heb “only”; or “simply.”
- Judges 14:16 tn Heb “the sons of my people.”
- Judges 14:16 tn Heb “Should I tell you?”
- Judges 14:17 tn Heb “on him.”
- Judges 14:17 tn Heb “the seven days [during] which they held the party.” This does not mean she cried for the entire seven days; v. 15 indicates otherwise. She cried for the remainder of the seven day period, beginning on the fourth day.
- Judges 14:17 tn Heb “because she forced him.”
- Judges 14:17 tn Heb “she told the riddle to the sons of her people.”
- Judges 14:18 sn Plowed with my heifer. This statement emphasizes that the Philistines had utilized a source of information which should have been off-limits to them. Heifers were used in plowing (Hos 10:11), but one typically used one’s own farm animals, not another man’s.
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