1The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

2There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and did not bear. 3The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman, and said to her, "See now, you are barren, and do not bear; but you shall conceive, and bear a son. 4Now therefore please be careful and drink no wine nor strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing. 5For look, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor will come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. And he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines." 6Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very awesome; and I didn't ask him where he was from, neither did he tell me his name, 7but he said to me, 'Look, you shall conceive, and bear a son. And now drink no wine nor strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.'"

8Then Manoah pleaded with the LORD, and said, "Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you did send come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child who shall be born." 9God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah, her husband, wasn't with her. 10The woman ran quickly, and told her husband, and said to him, "Look, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me." 11Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to the woman?" He said, "I am." 12Manoah said, "Now let your word happen. How shall the child be raised and what is he to do?" 13The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. All that I have commanded her she is to observe."

15Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Please, stay a bit longer that we may prepare a young goat for you." 16The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, I won't eat of your bread. And if you prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD." For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD. 17Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, that when your words come true we may honor you?" 18And the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask for my name? It is incomprehensible." 19So Manoah took the young goat and a grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD, to the LORD who works wonders. And Manoah and his wife looked on. 20For it happened, when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground.

21But the angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD. 22Manoah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God." 23But his wife said to him, "If the LORD meant to kill us, he wouldn't have received a burnt offering and a grain offering from us, neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would he have spoken to us now like this."

24The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. And the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25And the Spirit of the LORD began to direct him in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.