Judges 13

¹ And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

² And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.

³ And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

⁴ Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:

⁵ for, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come upon his head: for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God, very terrible; and I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name:

⁷ but he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb to the day of his death.

⁸ Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, Oh Lord, I pray thee, let the man of God whom thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do onto the child that shall be born.

⁹ And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.

¹⁰ And the woman made haste, and ran, and told her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.

¹¹ And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am.

¹² And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass: what shall be the manner of the child, and what shall be his work?

¹³ And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.

¹⁴ She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe.

¹⁵ And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, that we may make ready a kid for thee.

¹⁶ And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt make ready a burnt offering, thou must offer it onto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was the angel of the LORD.

¹⁷ And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy words come to pass we may do thee honour?

¹⁸ And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore askest thou after my name, seeing it is wonderful?

¹⁹ So Manoah took the kid with the meal offering, and offered it upon the rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on.

²⁰ For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.

²² And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

²³ But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meal offering at our hand, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would at this time have told us such things as these.

²⁴ And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

²⁵ And the spirit of the LORD began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.