Judges 13

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

² A man named Manoah, from Zorah of the Danite clan, had a barren wife who bore no children.

³ The messenger of our Father appeared to the woman and said to her, "You are barren, childless, but 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 will touch his head, for the boy will be our Father's Nazirite from the womb, and will begin to save Israel from the Philistines' hand.

⁶ The woman went and told her husband, "A man of God came to me; his appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of our Father, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he was from, and he didn't tell me his name." ⁷ But he said to me, 'You will conceive and bear a son. Now do not drink wine or strong drink, and eat nothing 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: "Please, my Sovereign Father, let the man of God you sent come to us again and teach us what to do for the boy to be born."

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

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

¹² Manoah said, "When your words come true, what will govern the boy's life and work?"

¹³ The messenger of our Father said to Manoah, "She must be careful of all I told her." ¹⁴ She must eat nothing from the grapevine, drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. She must keep all I commanded her.

¹⁵ Manoah said to our Father's messenger, "Please let us hold you, and we'll prepare a young goat for you."

¹⁶ The messenger of our Father told Manoah, "Even if you hold me, I won't eat your food; but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to our Father." (Manoah didn't know the visitor was our Father's messenger.)

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

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

¹⁹ So Manoah took the young goat and grain offering and offered them on the rock to our Father, who does wonders, while Manoah and his wife watched. ²⁰ As the altar's flame rose toward heaven, the messenger of our Father rose in the altar's flame. Manoah and his wife saw and fell facedown to the ground. ²¹ The messenger of our Father appeared no more to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew he was the messenger of our Father. ²² "We will surely die," Manoah said to his wife, "for we have seen our Father!"

²³ His wife told him, "If our Father meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, shown us all this, or let us hear this now." ²⁴ The woman bore 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.