Judges 13

1 And the children of Israel again did what was evil before the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. 2 And there was one man from Zorah, from the clan of the kindred of Dan, and his name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had not borne a child.

3 And a messenger of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Look, you are barren and have not borne a child; and you will conceive a son. [a] 4 And now be careful: do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean; 5 for look, you are carrying a child and will bear a son, and no iron is to come on his head, because the boy will be a *nazir* of God from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” [b]

6 And the woman went in and spoke to her husband, and said, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of a messenger of God, very fearful; and I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. 7 And he said to me, ‘Look, you are carrying a child and will bear a son; and now do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be one holy to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”

8 And Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “I beg you, Lord Adonai — let the man of God whom you sent come to us once more, and let him teach us what we are to do for the boy who is to be born.” [c] 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the messenger of God came again to the woman while she was sitting in the field; and Manoah her husband was not with her.

10 And the woman hurried and ran and brought word to her husband, and said to him, “Look, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11 And Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” And the messenger said, “I am.”

12 And Manoah said, “Now your word will come true. What is to be the judgment for the boy, and what are his works to be?” 13 And the messenger of the Lord said to Manoah, “She is to keep herself from everything I said to the woman. 14 She is not to eat anything that comes from the vine that yields wine; she is not to drink wine or strong drink, and she is not to eat anything unclean. Everything I commanded her she is to keep.”

15 And Manoah said to the messenger of the Lord, “Let us keep you here, and let us prepare a young goat before you.” 16 And the messenger of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you keep me here, I will not eat any of your bread; and if you make a whole burnt offering, you are to offer it up to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that he was a messenger of the Lord.

17 And Manoah said to the messenger of the Lord, “What is your name, so that when your word comes true we may give you glory?” 18 And the messenger of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask this about my name? It is wonderful.” 19 And Manoah took the young goat and the sacrifice and offered it up on the rock to the Lord; and he did a thing set apart, while Manoah and his wife looked on. [d]

20 And when the flame went up above the altar toward heaven, the messenger of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar; and Manoah and his wife were looking on, and they fell on their faces to the ground. 21 And the messenger of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that this was a messenger of the Lord.

22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, because we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had wanted to put us to death, he would not have taken a whole burnt offering and a sacrifice from our hand, and he would not have shown us all these things, and he would not have let us hear such things as these at this time.”

24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to go out with him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol. [e]