1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of
the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty
years.
2 And
there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah;
and his wife was barren,
and bare not.
3 And
the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now,
thou art barren,
and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
4 Now
therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not
any unclean thing:
5 For,
lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for
the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to
deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
6 Then
the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his
countenance was like
the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence
he was, neither told he me his name:
7 But
he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no
wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from
the womb to the day of his death.
8 Then
Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou
didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child
that shall be born.
9 And
God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the
woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not
with her.
10 And
the woman made haste, and ran, and shewed her husband, and said unto him,
Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.
11 And
Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou
the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am.
12 And
Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall
we do unto him?
13 And
the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let
her beware.
14 She
may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let
her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe.
15 And
Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until
we shall have made ready a kid for thee.
16 And
the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat
of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto
the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.
17 And
Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come
to pass we may do thee honour?
18 And
the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing
it is secret?
19 So
Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a
rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his
wife looked on.
20 For
it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that
the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his
wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the
ground.
21 But
the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah
knew that he was an
angel of the LORD.
22 And
Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
23 But
his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have
received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he
have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time
have told us such things as
these.
24 And
the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the
LORD blessed him.
25 And
the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between
Zorah and Eshtaol.
