Judges 13

13 ¹ Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of our Father, and he gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

² There was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no children. ³ The messenger of our Father appeared to the woman and said to her, "Look, you are barren and have borne no children, but you will conceive and bear a son. ⁴ Now then, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, ⁵ for you will conceive and bear a son. No razor shall touch his head, for the boy will be a Nazirite of our Father from the womb, and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines."

⁶ Then the woman went and told her husband, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of our Father, exceedingly awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. ⁷ But he said to me, 'You will conceive and bear a son. So now, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the boy will be a Nazirite of our Father from the womb until the day of his death.'"

⁸ Then Manoah pleaded with our Father and said, "Please, my Sovereign Father, let the man of God you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do for the boy who will be born."

⁹ Our Father listened to the voice of Manoah, and the messenger of our Father came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ The woman quickly ran and told her husband. "Look," she said to him, "the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me!"

¹¹ Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to the woman?" "I am," he said.

¹² So Manoah said, "Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy's way of life and his work?"

¹³ The messenger of our Father said to Manoah, "Let the woman be careful of all that I told her. ¹⁴ She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must observe everything I commanded her."

¹⁵ Manoah said to the messenger of our Father, "Please let us detain you, and we will prepare a young goat for you."

¹⁶ The messenger of our Father replied, "Even if you detain me, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to our Father." (Manoah did not know that he was his messenger.)

¹⁷ Then Manoah said to the messenger of our Father, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?"

¹⁸ The messenger of our Father said to him, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding."

¹⁹ So Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering and offered them on the rock to our Father, who works wonders, while Manoah and his wife looked on. ²⁰ As the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, the messenger of our Father ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.

²¹ The messenger of our Father did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the messenger of our Father.

²² "We will surely die," Manoah said to his wife, "for we have seen our Father!"

²³ But his wife said to him, "If our Father had wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things, nor now let us hear such things as these."

²⁴ The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and our Father blessed him. ²⁵ And the Spirit of our Father began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.