Philistines Oppress Again

1Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

2And there was a man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was infertile and had not given birth to any children. 3Then the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are infertile and have not given birth; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4And now, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any [a]unclean thing. 5For behold, you will conceive 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 will begin to save Israel from the hands 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. So I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. 7But he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any [b]unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

8Then Manoah pleaded with the LORD and said, “Lord, please let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again so that he may teach us what we are 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 hurried and ran, and told her [c]husband, “Behold, the man who [d]came the other day has appeared to me!” 11So Manoah got up 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.” 12Then Manoah said, “Now when your words [e]are fulfilled, what shall be the boy’s way of life and his vocation?” 13And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “The woman shall pay attention [f]to all that I said. 14She shall not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; she shall keep all that I commanded.”

15Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” 16But the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, I will not eat your [g]food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD. 17And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that when your words [h]are fulfilled, we may honor you?” 18But the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name, for it is [i]wonderful?” 19So Manoah took the young goat along with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD; and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. 20For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.

21Now the angel of the LORD did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. 22So Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die, for we have seen God.” 23But his wife said to him, “If the LORD had desired to kill us, 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.”

24So the woman gave birth to a son, and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the LORD blessed him. 25And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him when he was in [j]Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.