The Birth of Samson

1Then the sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so that Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

2And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. 3Then the angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you [†]shall be with child and give birth to a son. 4So now, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. 5For behold, you [†]shall be with child and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “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 came from, nor did he tell me his name. 7And he said to me, ‘Behold, you [†]shall be with child and give birth to a son, so now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, and you shall not eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

8Then Manoah entreated Yahweh and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may instruct us what to 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, but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, and she said to him, “Behold, the man who came the other day to me has appeared to me.” 11Then Manoah arose and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12So Manoah said, “Now your words will come to pass. What shall be the judgment governing the boy and his work?” 13So the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Let the woman be careful in all that I said. 14She should not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her keep all that I commanded.”

15Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “Please let us delay you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” 16And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Though you delay me, I will not eat your [†]food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to Yahweh.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh. 17Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?” 18But the angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is [†]wonderful?” 19So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to Yahweh, and He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on. 20Indeed, it happened when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife saw this, so they fell on their faces to the ground.

21Now the angel of Yahweh did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh. 22So Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, for we have seen God.” 23But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh had desired to put us to death, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”

24Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up, and Yahweh blessed him. 25And the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him in [†]Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.