Judges 13

The Angel Appears to Manoah’s Wife

1Once again the Israelites did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. 2There was a man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites, named Manoah. His wife was barren; she had borne no children. 3The angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, “You are barren and have borne no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4Now then, be careful: do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, 5for you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor is to touch his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb. He will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6The woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God — very frightening. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. 7But he said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. So now do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’” 8Then Manoah pleaded with Yahweh, “Please, Lord, let the man of God you sent come to us again, and teach us what we are to do for the boy who is to be born.” 9God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10The woman ran quickly to tell her husband. “Look,” she said, “the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me again.” 11Manoah got up and followed his wife. He came to the man and said, “Are you the one who spoke to my wife?” “I am,” he said. 12Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the rule for the boy’s life and work?” 13The angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Let your wife be careful to do everything I told her. 14She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, she must not drink wine or strong drink, and she must not eat anything unclean. Let her observe everything I commanded her.”

Manoah Meets the Angel

15Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “Please stay — let us prepare a young goat for you.” 16The angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Even if you detain me, I will not eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to Yahweh.” (Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh.) 17Then Manoah asked the angel of Yahweh, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?” 18The angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.” 19So Manoah took the young goat, together with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to Yahweh, who did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. 20As the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar, while Manoah and his wife watched. They fell facedown on the ground. 21The angel of Yahweh did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that he had been the angel of Yahweh. 22Manoah said to his wife, “We are certainly going to die, for we have seen God.” 23But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, or shown us all these things, or told us anything like this now.” 24The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew up, and Yahweh blessed him. 25And the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.