Judges 13

1 And the children of Israel yet again committed iniquity before the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Phylistines forty years.

And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

2 And there was a man of Saraa, of the family of the kindred of Dan, and his name was Manoe, and his wife was barren, and bore not.

Now there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites, and his name was Manoah; and his wife had never given birth to a child.

3 And an angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold, you are barren and have not born; yet you shall conceive a son.

And the angel of the Lord came to the woman, and said to her, See now! though you have never given birth to children, you will be with child and give birth to a son.

4 And now be very cautious, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat no unclean thing;

Now then take care to have no wine or strong drink and to take no unclean thing for food;

5 for behold, you are with child, and shall bring forth a son; and there shall come no razor upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Phylistines.

For you are with child and will give birth to a son; his hair is never to be cut, for the child is to be separate to God from his birth; and he will take up the work of freeing Israel from the hands of the Philistines.

6 And the woman went in, and spoke to her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his appearance [was as] of an angel of God, very dreadful; and I did not ask him whence he was, and he did not tell me his name.

Then the woman came in, and said to her husband, A man came to me, and his form was like the form of a god, causing great fear; I put no question to him about where he came from, and he did not give me his name;

7 And he said to me, Behold, you are with child, and shall bring forth a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat no unclean thing; for the child shall be holy to God from the womb until the day of his death.

But he said to me, You are with child and will give birth to a son; and now do not take any wine or strong drink or let anything unclean be your food; for the child will be separate to God from his birth to the day of his death.

8 And Manoe prayed to the Lord and said, I pray you, O Lord my lord, [concerning] the man of God whom you sent; let him now come to us once more, and teach us what we shall do to the child about to be born.

Then Manoah made prayer to the Lord, and said, O Lord, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and make clear to us what we are to do for the child who is to come.

9 And the Lord heard the voice of Manoe, and the angel of God came yet again to the woman; and she sat in the field, and Manoe her husband was not with her.

And God gave ear to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came to the woman again when she was seated in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.

10 And the woman hasted, and ran, and brought word to her husband, and said to him, Behold the man who came in [the other] day to me has appeared to me.

So the woman, running quickly, gave her husband the news, saying, I have seen the man who came to me the other day.

11 And Manoe arose and followed his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Are you the man that spoke to the woman? and the angel said, I [am].

And Manoah got up and went after his wife, and came up to the man and said to him, Are you the man who was talking to this woman? And he said, I am.

12 And Manoe said, Now shall [your] word come to pass: what shall be the ordering of the child, and our dealings with him?

And Manoah said, Now when your words come true, what is to be the rule for the child and what will be his work?

13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoe, Of all things concerning which I spoke to the woman, she shall beware.

And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Let the woman take note of what I have said to her.

14 She shall eat of nothing that comes of the vine yielding wine, and let her not drink wine or strong liquor, and let her not eat anything unclean: all things that I have charged her she shall observe.

She is to have nothing which comes from the vine for her food, and let her take no wine or strong drink or anything which is unclean; let her take care to do all I have given her orders to do.

15 And Manoe said to the angel of the Lord, Let us detain you here, and prepare before you a kid of the goats.

And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, Now let us keep you while we make ready a young goat for you.

16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoe, If you should detain me, I will not eat of your bread; and if you would offer a whole burnt offering, to the Lord you shall offer it: for Manoe knew not that he [was] an angel of the Lord.

And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Though you keep me I will not take of your food; but if you will make a burned offering, let it be offered to the Lord. For it had not come into Manoah's mind that he was the angel of the Lord.

17 And Manoe said to the angel of the Lord, What [is] your name, that [when] your word shall come to pass, we may glorify you?

Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, What is your name, so that when your words come true we may give you honour?

18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, Why do you thus ask after my name; whereas it is wonderful?

But the angel of the Lord said to him, Why are you questioning me about my name, seeing that it is a wonder?

19 And Manoe took a kid of the goats and its meat-offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord; and [the angel] wrought a distinct work, and Manoe and his wife were looking on.

So Manoah took the young goat with its meal offering, offering it on the rock to the Lord, who did strange things.

20 And it came to pass when the flame went up above the altar towards heaven, that the angel of the Lord went up in the flame; and Manoe and his wife were looking, and they fell upon their face to the earth.

And when the flame went up to heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar, while Manoah and his wife were looking on; and they went down on their faces to the earth.

21 And the angel appeared no more to Manoe and to his wife: then Manoe knew that this [was] an angel of the Lord.

But the angel of the Lord was seen no more by Manoah and his wife. Then it was clear to Manoah that he was the angel of the Lord.

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

And Manoah said to his wife, Death will certainly be our fate, for it is a god whom we have seen.

23 But his wife said to him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received of our hand a whole burnt offering and a meat-offering; and he would not have shown us all these things, neither would he have caused us to hear all these things

But his wife said to him, If the Lord was purposing our death, he would not have taken our burned offering and our meal offering, or have given us such orders about the child.

24 And the woman brought forth a son, and she called his name Sampson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.

So the woman gave birth to a son, and gave him the name Samson; and he became a man and the blessing of the Lord was on him.

25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to go out with him in the camp of Dan, and between Saraa and Esthaol.

And the spirit of the Lord first came on him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.