Samson’s riddle can be paraphrased in this way: “If you can figure out my riddle within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes. But if you can’t figure it out, you have to give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” One party will have to give the other thirty new sets of underwear and thirty brand-new suits. Whatever way things go, the result will be costly, for it is a chunk of money lost for each of the companions if Samson wins, and if he loses, he is probably going to be bankrupt.
12 And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes,