JudgesChapter 13

Tap any verse to comment or suggest a better wording.

¹Once again the Israelites did what was evil in the LORD's sight. So he handed them over to the Philistines for 40 years. ²There was a man named Manoah from the town of Zorah. He was from the clan of Dan. His wife was not able to have children, and she had none. ³The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman. He said to her, "It's true that you can't have children, and you have none. But you will become pregnant and have a son. ⁴So please be careful. Do not drink wine or any other strong drink. Do not eat anything unclean. ⁵Listen! You will become pregnant and have a son. No razor may ever touch his head. The boy will be a Nazirite to God from his mother's womb. He will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines."a ⁶So the woman went and told her husband, "A man of God came to me. He looked like the angel of God. He was very frightening. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. ⁷But he told me, 'Listen! You will become pregnant and have a son. So do not drink wine or any other strong drink. Do not eat anything unclean. The boy will be a Nazirite to God from his mother's womb until the day he dies.'" ⁸Then Manoah prayed to the LORD. "Please, Lord," he said, "let the man of God you sent come to us again. Let him teach us how to raise the boy who will be born." ⁹God heard Manoah's prayer. The angel of God came again to the woman while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her. ¹⁰The woman ran quickly to tell her husband. "Look!" she said. "The man who came to me the other day is here again!" ¹¹So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, "Are you the man who talked to my wife?" "I am," he said. ¹²Then Manoah asked, "When your words come true, how should the boy live? What will his work be?" ¹³The angel of the LORD answered Manoah, "Your wife must do everything I told her. ¹⁴She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine. She must not drink wine or any other strong drink. She must not eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her." ¹⁵Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Please stay here. We will cook a young goat for you." ¹⁶The angel of the LORD answered, "Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." Manoah did not know that this was the angel of the LORD. ¹⁷Then Manoah asked the angel of the LORD, "What is your name? We want to honor you when your words come true." ¹⁸The angel of the LORD said, "Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful to understand." ¹⁹Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering. He offered them on a rock to the LORD. And while Manoah and his wife watched, the LORD did an amazing thing. ²⁰The flame went up from the altar toward the sky. And the angel of the LORD went up in the flame! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell with their faces to the ground. ²¹The angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah understood that it had been the angel of the LORD. ²²"We're going to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!" ²³But his wife answered, "If the LORD wanted to kill us, he would not have taken the burnt offering and grain offering from us. He would not have shown us all these things. And he would not have told us all this." ²⁴So the woman had a son, and she named him Samson. The boy grew up, and the LORD blessed him. ²⁵The Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan. It is between Zorah and Eshtaol.