Judges 13:2-24

2There was a certain man of 1Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. 32Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. 4Now therefore, be careful 3not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. 54For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a 5Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” 6Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “6A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. 7But he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

8Then Manoah entreated the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let 7the man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born.” 9God listened to the voice of Manoah; and 8the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10So the woman ran quickly and told her 9husband, “Behold, 10the man who 11came the other day has appeared to me.” 11Then Manoah arose and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you 12the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12Manoah said, “Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the boy’s mode of life and his vocation?” 13So 13the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “14Let the woman pay attention 15to all that I said. 14She should not eat anything that comes from the 16vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her observe all that I commanded.”

15Then Manoah said to 17the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” 16The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, 18I will not eat your 19food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. 17Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “20What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?” 18But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is 2122wonderful?” 19So 23Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord, and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. 20For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they 24fell on their faces to the ground.

21Now the angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. 25Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. 22So Manoah said to his wife, “26We will surely die, for we have seen God.” 23But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have 27shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”

24Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the 28child grew up and the Lord blessed him.