The Birth of Samson
(Numbers 6:1–21)

1And again, the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. And he delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

2Now there was a certain man from Zorah, and of the stock of Dan, whose name was Manoah, having a barren wife. 3And an Angel of the Lord appeared to her, and he said: “You are barren and without children. But you shall conceive and bear a son. 4Therefore, take care that you do not drink wine or strong drink. Neither shall you eat anything unclean. 5For you shall conceive and bear a son, whose head no razor shall touch. For he shall be a Nazirite of God, from his infancy and from his mother’s womb. And he shall begin to free Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6And when she had gone to her husband, she said to him: “A man of God came to me, having the countenance of an Angel, exceedingly terrible. And when I had inquired of him, who he was, and where he was from, and what name he was called, he was not willing to tell me. 7But he responded: ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Take care that you do not drink wine or strong drink. And you shall not consume anything unclean. For the boy shall be a Nazirite of God from his infancy, from his mother’s womb, even until the day of his death.’ ”

8And so Manoah prayed to the Lord, and he said, “I beg you Lord, that the man of God, whom you sent, may come again, and may teach us what we ought to do about the boy who is to be born.” 9And the Lord heeded the prayer of Manoah, and the Angel of the Lord appeared again to his wife, sitting in a field. But her husband Manoah was not with her. And when she had seen the Angel, 10she hurried and ran to her husband. And she reported to him, saying, “Behold, the man appeared to me, whom I had seen before.” 11And he rose up and followed his wife. And going to the man, he said to him, “Are you the one who spoke to my wife?” And he responded, “I am.” 12And Manoah said to him: “When will your word be fulfilled. What do you want the boy to do? Or from what should he keep himself?” 13And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah: “Concerning all the things about which I have spoken to your wife, she herself should abstain. 14And let her eat nothing from the vine. She may not drink wine or strong drink. She may consume nothing unclean. And let her observe and keep what I have instructed to her.”

15And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “I beg you to agree to my petition, and to let us prepare a kid from the goats.” 16And the Angel answered him: “Even if you compel me, I will not eat from your bread. But if you are willing to offer a holocaust, offer it to the Lord.” And Manoah did not know that he was an Angel of the Lord. 17And he said to him, “What is your name, so that, if your word is fulfilled, we may honor you?” 18And he answered him, “Why do you ask my name, which is a wonder?” 19And so, Manoah took a kid from the goats, and libations, and he placed them upon a rock, as an offering to the Lord, who accomplishes wonders. Then he and his wife watched. 20And when the flame of the altar ascended to heaven, the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. And when Manoah and his wife had seen this, they fell prone on the ground.

21And the Angel of the Lord no longer appeared to them. And immediately, Manoah understood him to be an Angel of the Lord. 22And he said to his wife, “We shall certainly die, since we have seen God.” 23And his wife answered him, “If the Lord wished to kill us, he would not have accepted the holocaust and the libations from our hands. He would not have revealed all these things to us, nor would he have told us the things that are in the future.”

24And so she bore a son, and she called his name Samson. And the boy grew up, and the Lord blessed him. 25And the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.