=Sec.48. The Birth of Samson= (Judg. 13:2-6, 24)
There was a certain man of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his
wife bare no child. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman,
and said unto her, "Behold now, thou shalt bear a son. Now therefore
beware, I pray thee, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any
unclean thing: for, lo, thou shalt bear a son; and no razor shall come
upon his head: for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from his
birth: and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the
Philistines."
Then the woman came and told her husband.
And the woman bare a son and called his name Samson: and the child grew
and the Lord blessed him.
=Sec.49. The Riddle at the Wedding Feast= (Judg. 14)
And Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the
daughters of the Philistines. And he came up, and told his father and
his mother, and said, "I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of
the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife."
Then his father and his mother said unto him, "Is there never a woman
among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou
goest to take a wife of the Philistines?"
And Samson said unto his father, "Get her for me; for she pleaseth me
well."
Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnah, and
came to the vineyards of Timnah: and, behold, a young lion roared
against him. And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he
rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand:
but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. And he went
down, and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well.
And after a while he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see
the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees in the
body of the lion, and honey. And he took it into his hands, and went on,
eating as he went, and he came to his father and mother, and gave unto
them, and they did eat: but he told them not that he had taken the honey
out of the body of the lion. And his father went down unto the woman:
and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do. And it
came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to
be with him.
And Samson said unto them, "Let me now put forth a riddle unto you: if
ye can declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it
out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of
raiment: but if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty
linen garments and thirty changes of raiment."