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¹ And the children of Israel began agayne to comitte wickednesse in the sight of the lord, and the Lorde deliuered them into the handes of the Philistines fourtie yeres.

² And there was a man in Zaraah of the kinred of Dan, named Manoah, whose wife was barren, and bare not.

³ And the angell of the Lord appeared vnto the woman, & sayde vnto her: Beholde, nowe thou art barren, & bearest not, but thou shalt conceaue, and beare a sonne.

⁴ And nowe therfore beware that thou drinke no wyne, nor strong drinke, neither eate any vncleane thing:

⁵ For lo, thou shalt conceaue and beare a sonne, And ther may no rasor come on his head, for ye ladde shalbe a Nazarite vnto God euen from his byrth: And he shal beginne to saue Israel out of the handes of the Philistines.

⁶ Then the wife came, & tolde her husbande, saying: A man of God came vnto me, and the fashion of him was lyke the fashion of an angell of God, exceeding fearful: But I asked him not whence he was, neither tolde he me his name:

⁷ But sayde vnto me, behold, thou shalt be with childe and beare a sonne, & now drinke no wyne nor strong drinke, neither eate any vncleane thing, for the ladde shalbe an abstayner to God, euen from his byrth to the day of his death.

⁸ Then Manoah made intercession to the Lorde, and sayde: I pray thee my Lorde, let the man of God whiche thou sendedst, come agayne vnto vs, & teache vs what we shal do vnto the ladde whe he is borne.

⁹ And God heard the voyce of Manoah: and the angel of God came agayne vnto the wife as she sate in the felde: but Manoah her husbad was not with her.

¹⁰ And the wife made haste, and ranne & shewed her husbande, & sayde vnto him: behold, the man appeared vnto me that came vnto me to day.

¹¹ And Manoah arose & went after his wife, and came to the man, and sayde vnto him: Art thou the ma that spakest vnto the woman? And he sayde: I am.

¹² Manoah sayde, Nowe let thy saying come to passe: Howe shall we order the childe, and do vnto him?

¹³ And the angell of the Lord sayd vnto Manoah: The woman must absteyne from all that I sayde vnto her:

¹⁴ She may eate of nothing that cometh of the vine tree, nor drinke wine or strong drinke, nor eate any vncleane thing: but must obserue all that I bad her.

¹⁵ Manoah sayde vuto the angell of the Lorde: I pray thee let vs retayne thee vntill we haue made redy a kyd before thee.

¹⁶ And the angel of the Lord sayde vnto Manoah: Though thou make me abide, I wil not eate of thy bread: And if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it vnto the Lorde. For Manoah wist not that it was an angell of the Lorde.

¹⁷ And Manoah sayde agayne vnto the angell of the Lord: What is thy name, that when thy saying is come to passe, we may do thee worshippe?

¹⁸ And the angel of the Lorde sayde vnto him: Why askest thou thus after my name, which is secrete?

¹⁹ And so Manoah toke a kyd, with a meat offring, and offred it vpon a rocke vnto the Lorde: And the angell did wonderously, Manoah and his wife lokyng vpon.

²⁰ And whe the flambe came vp toward heauen from the aulter, the angell of the Lorde ascended vp in the flambe of the aulter: And Manoah and his wyfe loked vpon it, and fell on their faces vnto the grounde.

²¹ (But the angel of the Lord did no more appeare vnto Manoah and his wyfe:) And then Manoah knewe that it was an angel of the Lorde,

²² And sayd vnto his wyfe: We shal surely dye, because we haue seene God.

²³ But his wyfe sayde vnto him: Yf the Lord would kyll vs, he would not haue receaued a burnt offering and a meate offering of our handes, neither woulde he haue shewed vs al these thinges, nor woulde nowe haue tolde vs any suche.

²⁴ And the wyfe bare a sonne, and called his name Samson: And ye ladde grewe, and the Lorde blessed him.

²⁵ And the spirite of the Lorde began to strengthen him in the hoast of Dan, betweene Zaraah and Esthaol.