Judges 13

1 And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and Jehovah 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 did not bear.

3 And the agent of Jehovah appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold now, thou are barren, and do not bear, but thou shall conceive, and bear a son.

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

5 for, lo, thou shall conceive, and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to 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 to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the agent of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him from where he was, neither did he tell me his name,

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

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

9 And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and the agent of God came again to 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 to him, Behold, the man has appeared to me, who came to me the other day.

11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Are thou the man who spoke to the woman? And he said, I am.

12 And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. What shall be the ordering of the child, and what shall we do to him?

13 And the agent of Jehovah said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman let her beware.

14 She may not eat of anything that comes 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 to the agent of Jehovah, I pray thee, let us detain thee, that we may make ready a kid for thee.

16 And the agent of Jehovah said to Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread, and if thou will make ready a burnt offering, thou must offer it to Jehovah. For Manoah did not know that he was the agent of Jehovah.

17 And Manoah said to the agent of Jehovah, What is thy name, that, when thy words come to pass, we may do thee honor?

18 And the agent of Jehovah said to him, Why do thou ask after my name, seeing it is wonderful?

19 So Manoah took the kid with the meal offering, and offered it upon the rock to Jehovah. And the agent 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 agent of Jehovah 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 agent of Jehovah appeared no more to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the agent of Jehovah.

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

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

24 And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him.

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