Judges 13

1 And the sons of Israel add to do evil in the eyes of YHWH, and YHWH gives them into the hand of the Philistines [for] forty years.

Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

2 And there is a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danite, and his name [is] Manoah, his wife [is] barren, and has not borne;

Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.

3 and the Messenger of YHWH appears to the woman and says to her, “Now behold, you [are] barren and have not borne; when you have conceived, then you have borne a son.

The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son.

4 And now, please take heed and do not drink wine and strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing,

Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean.

5 for behold, you are conceiving and bearing a son, and a razor does not go up on his head, for the youth is a Nazarite to God from the womb, and he begins to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall come over his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

6 And the woman comes and speaks to her husband, saying, “A Man of God has come to me, and His appearance [is] as the appearance of the Messenger of God, very fearful, and I have not asked Him where He [is] from, and he has not declared His Name to me;

So the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the angel of God, exceedingly awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.

7 and He says to me, Behold, you are pregnant, and bearing a son, and now do not drink wine and strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, for the youth is a Nazarite to God from the womb until the day of his death.”

But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”

8 And Manoah makes plea to YHWH and says, “O my Lord, the Man of God whom You sent, please let Him come in again to us, and direct us what we do to the youth who is born.”

Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, “Please, O Lord, let the man of God You sent us come to us again to teach us how to raise the boy who is to be born.”

9 And God listens to the voice of Manoah, and the Messenger of God comes again to the woman, and she [is] sitting in a field, and her husband Manoah is not with her,

And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God returned to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.

10 and the woman hurries, and runs, and declares [it] to her husband, and says to him, “Behold, He has appeared to me—the Man who came on [that] day to me.”

The woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has reappeared!”

11 And Manoah rises, and goes after his wife, and comes to the Man, and says to Him, “Are you the Man who spoke to the woman?” And He says, “I [am].”

So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” “I am,” he said.

12 And Manoah says, “Now let Your words come to pass; what is the custom of the youth—and his work?”

Then Manoah asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?”

13 And the Messenger of YHWH says to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her take heed;

So the angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her.

14 she does not eat of anything which comes out from the wine-vine, and she does not drink wine and strong drink, and she does not eat any unclean thing; she observes all that I have commanded her.”

She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”

15 And Manoah says to the Messenger of YHWH, “Please let us detain You, and we prepare a kid of the goats before You.”

“Please stay here,” Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

16 And the Messenger of YHWH says to Manoah, “If you detain Me—I do not eat of your bread; and if you prepare a burnt-offering—offer it to YHWH”; for Manoah has not known that He [is] the Messenger of YHWH.

And the angel of the LORD replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of the LORD.

17 And Manoah says to the Messenger of YHWH, “What [is] Your Name? When Your words come to pass, then we have honored You.”

Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes to pass?”

18 And the Messenger of YHWH says to him, “Why do you ask this, My Name, since it [is] incomprehensible?”

“Why do you ask my name,” said the angel of the LORD, “since it is beyond comprehension?”

19 And Manoah takes the kid of the goats, and the present, and offers on the rock to YHWH, and He is doing wonderfully, and Manoah and his wife are looking on,

Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the LORD did a marvelous thing.

20 and it comes to pass, in the going up of the flame from off the altar toward the heavens, that the Messenger of YHWH goes up in the flame of the altar, and Manoah and his wife are looking on, and they fall on their faces to the earth,

When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.

21 and the Messenger of YHWH has not added again to appear to Manoah, and to his wife, then Manoah has known that He [is] the Messenger of YHWH.

And when the angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it had been the angel of the LORD.

22 And Manoah says to his wife, “We certainly die, for we have seen God.”

“We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!”

23 And his wife says to him, “If YHWH were desirous to put us to death, He had not received burnt-offering and present from our hands, nor showed us all these things, nor caused us to hear [anything] like this as [at this] time.”

But his wife replied, “If the LORD had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or spoken to us this way.”

24 And the woman bears a son, and calls his name Samson, and the youth grows, and YHWH blesses him,

So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him.

25 and the Spirit of YHWH begins to move him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.