Samson’s Birth
1The Israelites again did evil in the
2There was a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe. His wife was infertile and childless.
3The
4Now be careful! Do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean.
5Look, you will conceive and have a son. You must never cut his hair, for the child will be dedicated to God from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines.”
6The woman went and said to her husband, “A man sent from God came to me! He looked like God’s angelic messenger – he was very awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.
7He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. For the child will be dedicated to God from birth till the day he dies.’”
8Manoah prayed to the
9God answered Manoah’s prayer. God’s angelic messenger visited the woman again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her.
10The woman ran at once and told her husband, “Come quickly, the man who visited me the other day has appeared to me!”
11So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he met the man, he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” He said, “Yes.”
12Manoah said, “Now, when your announcement comes true, how should the child be raised and what should he do?”
13The
14She should not drink anything that the grapevine produces. She must not drink wine or beer, and she must not eat any food that will make her ritually unclean. She should obey everything I commanded her to do.”
15Manoah said to the
16The
17Manoah said to the
18The
19Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the
20As the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the
21The
22Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, because we have seen a supernatural being!”
23But his wife said to him, “If the
24Manoah’s wife gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew and the
25The