“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
He said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer, 1
you would not have solved my riddle!”
14:19 The Lord’s spirit empowered him. He went down to Ashkelon and murdered thirty men. He took their clothes 2 and gave them 3 to the men who had solved the riddle. He was furious as he went back home. 4 14:20 Samson’s bride was then given to his best man. 5
1 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.
2 tn Heb “equipment”; or “gear.”
3 tn Heb “changes [of clothes].”
4 tn Heb “he went up to his father’s house.”
5 tn Heb “to his companion who had been his attendant.”