He said to them, “Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong one came something sweet.” They could not solve the riddle for three days.

She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you will not share your secret with me? ¹  Three times you have deceived me and have not told me what makes you so strong.”

Now the temple ¹  was filled with men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. There were three thousand men and women on the roof watching Samson entertain.

His father-in-law, the girl’s father, persuaded him to stay with him for three days, and they ate and drank together, and spent the night there.

Once she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, an ephah ¹  of flour, and a container ²  of wine. She brought him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh, even though he was young. ³ 

Now the priests would always treat the people in the following way: ¹  Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest’s attendant would come with a three-pronged fork ²  in his hand.

So the Lord graciously attended to Hannah, and she was able to conceive and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. The boy Samuel grew up at the Lord’s sanctuary. ¹ 

Don’t be concerned ¹  about the donkeys that you lost three days ago, for they have been found. Whom does all Israel desire? Is it not you, and all your father’s family?” ² 

The next day Saul placed the people in three groups. They went to the Ammonite camp during the morning watch and struck them ¹  down until the hottest part of the day. The survivors scattered; no two of them remained together.

When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound, ¹  knelt ²  with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David.

There was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. This man was very wealthy; ¹  he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

David said to him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” The young man said, “I am an Egyptian, the servant of an Amalekite man. My master abandoned me when I was ill for three days.

Joab replied, “I will not wait around like this for you!” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into the middle of Absalom while he was still alive in the middle of the oak tree. ¹ 

During David’s reign there was a famine for three consecutive years. So David inquired of the Lord. ¹  The Lord said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained family, ²  because he murdered the Gibeonites.”

Now Ishbi-Benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, ¹  had a spear ²  that weighed three hundred bronze shekels, ³  and he was armed with a new weapon. ⁴  He had said that he would kill David.

Next in command ¹  was Eleazar son of Dodo, ²  the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors who were with David when they defied the Philistines who were assembled there for battle. When the men of Israel retreated, ³ 

At the time of ¹  the harvest three ²  of the thirty leaders went down to ³  David at the cave of Adullam. A band of Philistines was camped in the valley of Rephaim.

and said, “O Lord, I will not do this! ¹  It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.” ²  So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors. ³ 

“Go, tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am offering you three forms of judgment. Pick one of them and I will carry it out against you.’”

Then three days after I had my baby, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one else in the house except the two of us. ¹