And Samson said unto them,.... His thirty companions, very likely on the first day of the feast:I will now put forth a riddle to you: a secret, hidden, abstruse thing, not easy to be understood; a dark saying, wrapped up in figurative terms; and this he proposed as an amusement to them, to exercise their wits, which it seems was usual to entertain guests with, and might be both pleasing and profitable:if you can certainly declare it unto me within the seven days of the feast; for so long the nuptial feast was usually kept, seeGe 29:27.
If they could find it out; and with clearness and certainty explain the riddle to him within that period of time, which was giving them time enough to do it in:then I will give you thirty sheets, and thirty change of garments: that is, every man one of each.