Judges 13
1AND the children of Israel again proceeded to do evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines, forty years.
2Now there was a man of Saraa, a community of the Danites, whose name was Manoe; and his wife was barren, and never had a child.
3And an angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold, thou art barren and hast never had a child. But thou shalt conceive a son.
4Now therefore be careful not to drink wine, nor any fermented liquor, nor eat anything which is unclean.
5For behold thou art with child, and shalt bear a son; and on his head a razor shall not come; for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb. And he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
6And the woman went, and told her husband, saying, There came to me a man of God, and his visage was like that of an angel of God, very awful, so that I did not ask him whence he was, nor did he tell me his name.
7But he said to me, Behold thou art with child, and shalt bear a son. Now therefore thou must not drink wine nor any fermented liquor, nor eat anything unclean; for the child shall be consecrated to God, from the womb to the day of his death.
8Whereupon Manoe prayed to the Lord, and said, O Lord Adonaie! grant me that the man of God, whom thou didst send, may come to us again, and instruct us what we shall do to the child which is to be born.
9And God hearkened to the voice of Manoe, and the angel of God came again to the woman. Now she was sitting in the field, and Manoe her husband was not with her.
10So the woman hastened, and ran and told her husband, and said to him, The man hath appeared to me, who came to me before.
11Upon which Manoe arose, and went with his wife, and when he came to the man, he said to him, Art thou the man who spoke to my wife? And the angel said, I am.
12Then Manoe said, Now the thing will come to pass. How is the child to be educated, and what is he to do?
13And the angel of the Lord said to Manoe, He must abstain from all the things which I mentioned to this woman.
14He must eat nothing which proceedeth from the vine, nor drink wine, nor any fermented liquor, nor eat anything which is unclean. He must observe all that I have commanded her.
15Then Manoe said to the angel of the Lord, Let us detain thee here till we set before thee a kid of the goats.
16And the angel of the Lord said to Manoe, Though thou detain me I cannot eat of thy victuals; but if thou wouldst offer a whole burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.
17Because Manoe did not know that he was an angel of the Lord, therefore Manoe said to him, What is thy name, that when thy word cometh to pass we may honour thee?
18And the angel of the Lord said to Manoe, Why askest thou my name? It is indeed Wonderful.
19Then Manoe took the kid of the goats, with the sacrifice of flour, and carried them up upon the rock for the Lord. And he went apart to offer the sacrifice, while Manoe and his wife were looking on.
20And when the flame ascended above the altar, up towards heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. When Manoe and his wife saw this, they fell flat with their face to the ground.
21And as the angel of the Lord no more appeared to Manoe and his wife, Manoe then knew that he was an angel of the Lord;
22whereupon he said to his wife, We shall surely die, for we have seen God.
23But his wife said to him, Had it been the will of the Lord to cause us to die, He would not have received at our hand a whole burnt offering, and a sacrifice; nor would He have shewed us all these things; nor would He, as on this occasion, have caused us to hear these things.
24So the woman bore a son, and called his name Sampson; and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him;
25and the Spirit of the Lord began to go out with him, at the camp of Dan, between Saraa and Esthaol.