1And the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
2Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites, and his name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had not borne a child.
3And the angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have not borne a child, but you will conceive and bear a son.
4And now, take care, please, that you do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean.
5For behold, you are pregnant and will bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite of God from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.
6And the woman came and said to her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome; and I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name.
7And he said to me, ‘Behold, you are pregnant and will bear a son; and now do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the boy shall be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
8And Manoah entreated Yahweh and said, “Please, my Lord, let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who is to be born.”
9And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, and Manoah her husband was not with her.
10And the woman hurried and ran and told her husband, and she said to him, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me!”
11And Manoah arose and went after his wife, and he came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.”
12And Manoah said, “Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the boy’s manner of life and his work?”
13And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman, let her be careful.
14From anything that comes out of the vine of wine she shall not eat, and wine and strong drink she shall not drink, and anything unclean she shall not eat; all that I commanded her she shall keep.”
15And Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “Let us detain you, please, and prepare a young goat before you.”
16And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food; but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it up to Yahweh.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh.
17And Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “What is your name, so that when your words come to pass we may honor you?”
18And the angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why is it that you ask for my name? — for it is wonderful.”
19So Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering and offered it up on the rock to Yahweh; and he worked wonders as Manoah and his wife looked on.
20And it happened, as the flame went up from the altar toward the heavens, that the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife were looking on, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21And the angel of Yahweh did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh.
22And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”
23But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh had desired to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hand, nor would he have shown us all these things, nor at this time have let us hear such things as these.”
24And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the boy grew, and Yahweh blessed him.
25And the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
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