Judges 13

1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines 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 was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name [was] Manoah; and his wife [was] barren, and bore not.

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 angel of the LORD appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold, now, thou [art] barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear 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 Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine, nor strong drink, and eat not 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 lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from his birth: and he shall begin to deliver Israel from 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 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance [was] like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he [was], neither did he tell me his name:

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 But he said to me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean [thing]: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from his birth to 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 Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, O my LORD, let the man of God, whom thou didst send come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be 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 hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband [was] 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 made haste, and ran, and showed her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man hath appeared to me, that came to me the [other] day.

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

11 And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, [Art] thou the man that didst speak to the woman? And he said, 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 said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and [how] shall we do to him?

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

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

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.

“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 said to the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.

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 angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Though thou shouldst detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou must offer it to the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he [was] an angel of the LORD.

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 said to the angel of the LORD, What [is] thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass, we may do thee honor?

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

18 And the angel of the LORD said to him, why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it [is] secret?

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

19 So Manoah took a kid, with a meat-offering, and offered [it] upon a rock to the LORD; and [the angel] did wonderously, and Manoah and his wife looked 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 For it came to pass, when the flame ascended towards 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 [it], and fell on their faces to the ground.

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 But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he [was] an angel of the LORD.

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

“We're definitely going to die,” he told his wife, “for we have seen God!”

23 But his wife said to him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these [things], nor would, as at this time, have told us [such things] as these.

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 bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the LORD blessed 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 the LORD began to move him at times 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.