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.

The Israelites continued to do what was evil in the Lord's sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines to rule them 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;

At that time there was a man named Manoah. He was from the tribe of Dan and lived in the town of Zorah. His wife couldn't conceive 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 her and told her, “It's true that you couldn't conceive, and have no children, but now you're going to become pregnant 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,

So then please be careful not to drink any wine or other alcoholic drink, and don't 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.”

You're going to become pregnant and have a son whose head a razor must never touch, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from birth. He will start the process of saving Israel from 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;

The woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the Angel of God, really frightening. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't 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 told me, ‘You're going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, and don't eat anything unclean. For the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from birth 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, Lord, let the man of God you sent us return to us to explain what we're supposed to do with 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,

God responded to Manoah's request, and the Angel of God returned to the woman while she was sitting out in the field. However, 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.”

So she ran quickly to tell her husband, “Look! The man who appeared to me the other day has come back!”

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].”

Manoah got up and went back with his wife, and asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife before?” “Yes I am,” he replied.

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

So Manoah said, “May your promise come true! What shall be decided for the boy, and what is to be his vocation?”

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

“Make sure your wife is careful to follow everything I told her,” the angel of the Lord replied.

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 or drink wine or any other alcoholic drink. She must not eat anything unclean. Your wife must follow everything I instructed her to do.”

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

Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us keep you here while we prepare a meal of 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.

The angel of the Lord replied, “I'll stay, but I won't eat your food. However, if you prepare a burnt offering, you can present it to the Lord.” (Manoah didn't know he 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.”

Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so when your promise comes true we may honor you?”

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

“Why do you ask this?” the angel of the Lord responded. “My name 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,

Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and presented them on a rock to the Lord. As Manoah and his wife watched, the LORD did something amazing.

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,

As the flame from the altar blazed up into the sky, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Manoah and his wife saw what happened and fell with their faces 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.

The angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again, and Manoah realized that he was the angel of the Lord.

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

“We're definitely going to die,” he told 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 wanted to kill us he wouldn't have accepted our burnt offering and grain offering. He wouldn't have shown us all these things, and he wouldn't have come now and announced this to us.”

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

She gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew up, and the Lord blessed him.

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

The Spirit of the Lord began to prompt him at Mahaneh Dan, a place between Zorah and Eshtaol.