Judges 13 | King James Version

King James Version

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.

New International Reader’s Version

Samson is born

1 Once again the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD handed them over to the Philistines for 40 years. 2 A certain man from Zorah was named Manoah. He was from the tribe of Dan. Manoah had a wife who wasn’t able to have children. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah’s wife. He said, ‘You are not able to have children. But you are going to become pregnant. You will have a baby boy. 4 Make sure you do not drink any kind of wine. Also make sure you do not eat anything that is “unclean”. 5 You will become pregnant. You will have a son. The hair on his head must never be cut. That is because the boy will be a Nazirite. He will be set apart to God from the day he is born. He will take the lead in saving Israel from the power of the Philistines.’ 6 Then the woman went to her husband. She told him, ‘A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God. His appearance was so amazing that it filled me with great wonder. I didn’t ask him where he came from. And he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, “You will become pregnant. You will have a son. So do not drink any kind of wine. Do not eat anything that is ‘unclean’. That is because the boy will be a Nazirite. He will belong to God in a special way from the day he is born until the day he dies.” ’ 8 Then Manoah prayed to the LORD. He said, ‘Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again. He told us we would have a son. We want the man of God to teach us how to bring up the boy.’ 9 God heard Manoah. And the angel of God came again to the woman. He came while she was out in the field. But her husband Manoah wasn’t with her. 10 The woman hurried to her husband. She told him, ‘He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day is here!’ 11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he spoke to him. He said, ‘Are you the man who talked to my wife?’ ‘I am’, he replied. 12 So Manoah asked him, ‘What will happen when your words come true? What rules should we follow for the boy’s life and work?’ 13 The angel of the LORD answered him. He said, ‘Your wife must do everything I have told her to do. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from grapevines. She must not drink any kind of wine. She must not eat anything that is “unclean”. She must do everything I have commanded her to do.’ 15 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, ‘We would like you to stay and eat. We want to prepare a young goat for you.’ 16 The angel of the LORD replied, ‘Even if I stay, I will not eat any of your food. But if you still want to prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD.’ Manoah didn’t realise it was the angel of the LORD. 17 Then Manoah asked the angel of the LORD a question. ‘What is your name?’ he said. ‘We want to honour you when your word comes true.’ 18 The angel replied, ‘Why are you asking me what my name is? You would not be able to understand it.’ 19 Manoah got a young goat. He brought it along with the grain offering. He sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. Then the LORD did an amazing thing. It happened while Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 A flame blazed up from the altar towards heaven. The angel of the LORD rose up in the flame. When Manoah and his wife saw it, they fell with their faces to the ground. 21 The angel of the LORD didn’t show himself again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realised it was the angel of the LORD. 22 ‘We’re going to die!’ he said to his wife. ‘We’ve seen God!’ 23 But his wife answered, ‘The LORD doesn’t want to kill us. If he did, he wouldn’t have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from us. He wouldn’t have shown us all these things. He wouldn’t have told us we’re going to have a son.’ 24 Later, the woman had a baby boy. She named him Samson. As he grew up, the LORD blessed him. 25 The Spirit of the LORD began to work in his life. It happened while he was in Mahaneh Dan. That place is between Zorah and Eshtaol.