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The Birth of Samson and the Angelic Announcement

Judges 13:1-25

13
Chapter 13
1 The sons of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. 2 There was a certain man from Zorah, from the clan of the Danites, and his name was Manoah, and his wife was barren, and she had not borne. 3 The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "You are barren and have borne no children, but you will conceive and bear a son." 4 Now please take heed to this: do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean. 5 For behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. 6 The woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him, ‘Where are you from?’ and he did not tell me his name.” 7 And he said to me, "Behold, you are pregnant and you will bear a son. And now, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death." 8 Manoah prayed to the LORD and said, "Please, Lord, let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we shall do for the boy who will be born." 9 And God heard Manoah's voice, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was sitting in the field, and Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 The woman hurried and ran and told her husband. She said to him, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11 Manoah got up and went with his wife. He came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 Manoah said, "Now may your words come true—what will be the boy's way of life and his work?" 13 And the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "From all that I said to the woman, you shall keep." 14 You shall not eat anything that comes from the grapevine. You shall not drink wine or strong drink, and you shall not eat anything unclean. You shall observe everything that I have commanded you." 15 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “Please stay, and we will prepare a kid of the goats for you.” 16 The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "If you detain me, I will not eat your bread. But if you prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, then offer it—for Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD." 17 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that when your words come true we will honor you?" 18 The Angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, since it is wonderful?" 19 And Manoah took the kid of the goats and the offering and went up on the Rock to the LORD, to do a wonder, and Manoah and his wife were seeing. 20 And it was as the flame ascended from the altar toward heaven, and the Angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. 21 And the angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, "We will surely die, we have seen God." 23 His wife said to him, “The LORD takes no pleasure in putting us to death. He did not take from our hand a burnt offering and a grain offering. He did not show us all these things. And now he has not made us hear such as this.” 24 The woman bore a son and called his name Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25 The Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.