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¹ AND the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

² And there was a certain man of Zedah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and never had children.

³ And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, Behold, you are barren, and have borne no children; but now you shall conceive, and bear a son.

⁴ Now therefore beware, lest you drink wine or strong drink; and you shall not eat anything unclean.

⁵ For lo, you have conceived and will bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb; and he will begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, and I trembled exceedingly, and I did not ask him whence he was, nor did he tell me his name;

⁷ But he said to me, Behold, you have conceived, and you will bear a son; and from henceforth drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.

⁸ Then Manoah entreated the LORD and said, I beseech thee, O LORD, let the man of God whom thou didst send come again to us and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be born.

⁹ And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of the LORD came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.

¹⁰ And the woman made haste and ran, and told her husband and said to him, Behold, the man has appeared to me, who came to me the other day.

¹¹ And Manoah arose and went with his wife, and came to the man and said to him, Are you the man who spoke to this woman? And he said, I am.

¹² And Manoah said, Now let your words come to pass. But tell me, what is the manner by which the child is to be brought up, and what shall we do to him?

¹³ And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman let her beware.

¹⁴ She must not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither shall she drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I have commanded her let her observe.

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, Let us detain you, and make ready a kid for you.

¹⁶ And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat of your food; and if you will offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD. For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.

¹⁷ And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, What is your name, that when your sayings come to pass we may invoke your name?

¹⁸ And the angel of the LORD said to him, Why do you ask my name, seeing it is Glorious?

¹⁹ So Manoah took a kid with the meal offering, and offered it upon a rock to the LORD; and the angel praised the LORD; and Manoah and his wife looked on.

²⁰ And when a flame went up toward heaven from off the rock, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground and worshipped.

²¹ The angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah and his wife knew that he was an angel of the LORD.

²² And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

²³ But his wife said to him, If God were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meal offering from us, neither would he have showed us all these things at this time, nor would he have told such things as these.

²⁴ And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

²⁵ And the Spirit of the LORD began to make Samson to travel with the host of Dan between Zedah and Eshtoal.