AB - Judges - 13

13:1  And the children of Israel yet again committed iniquity before the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

13:2  And there was a man of Zorah, of the family of the kindred of Dan, and his name was Manoah, and his wife was barren, and bore no children.

13:3  And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold, you are barren and have not given birth; yet you shall conceive a son.

13:4  And now be very cautious, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat no unclean thing;

13:5  for behold, you are with child, and shall bring forth a son; and there shall come no razor upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.

13:6  And the woman went in, and spoke to her husband, saying, A Man of God came to me, and His appearance was as of an angel of God, very fearful. And I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name.

13:7  And He said to me, Behold, you are with child, and shall bring forth a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat no unclean thing; for the child shall be holy to God from the womb until the day of his death.

13:8  And Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, I pray to You, O Lord my lord, concerning the Man of God whom You sent; let Him now come to us once more, and teach us what we shall do with the child about to be born.

13:9  And the Lord heard the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came yet again to the woman. And she sat in the field, and Manoah her husband was not with her.

13:10  And the woman made haste and ran, and brought word to her husband, and said to him, Behold the Man who came in the other day to me has appeared to me.

13:11  And Manoah arose and followed his wife, and came to the Man, and said to Him, Are you the Man that spoke to the woman? And the Angel said, I am.

13:12  And Manoah said, Now shall Your word come to pass: what shall be the ordering of the child, and our dealings with him?

13:13  And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Of all things concerning which I spoke to the woman, she shall beware.

13:14  She shall eat of nothing that comes of the vine yielding wine, and let her not drink wine or strong liquor, and let her not eat anything unclean: all things that I have charged her she shall observe.

13:15  And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, Let us detain You here, and prepare before You a young goat.

13:16  And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, If you should detain Me, I will not eat of your bread; and if you would offer a whole burnt offering, you shall offer it to the Lord: for Manoah knew not that He was the Angel of the Lord.

13:17  And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, What is Your name, that when Your word shall come to pass, we may glorify You?

13:18  And the Angel of the Lord said to him, Why do you thus ask after My name; seeing it is Wonderful?

13:19  And Manoah took a young goat, and its grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord; and the Angel wrought a distinct work, and Manoah and his wife were looking on.

13:20  And it came to pass when the flame went up above the altar toward heaven, that the Angel of the Lord went up in the flame; and Manoah and his wife were looking, and they fell upon their face to the earth.

13:21  And the Angel appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that this was the Angel of the Lord.

13:22  And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

13:23  But his wife said to him, If the Lord were pleased to slay us, He would not have received of our hand a whole burnt offering and a grain offering; and He would not have shown us all these things, neither would He have caused us to hear all these things as at this time.

13:24  And the woman brought forth a son, and she called his name Sampson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.

13:25  And the Spirit of the Lord began to go out with him in the camp of Dan, and between Zorah and Esthaol.