Study Desk

they said to him, "Then say 'Shibboleth.'" And he said, "Sibboleth," for he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand of the Ephraimites fell.

Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

He had thirty sons, and thirty daughters whom he gave in marriage outside the family, and he brought in thirty daughters [-in-law] from outside for his sons. He judged Israel for seven years.

After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; and he judged Israel for ten years.

He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkeys; and he judged Israel for eight years.

Now Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

"For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite [dedicated] to God from birth; and he shall begin to rescue Israel from the hands of the Philistines."

"But He said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or [any other] intoxicating drink, nor eat anything [ceremonially] unclean, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.'"

Then Manoah pleaded with the LORD and said, "O Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do for the boy who is to be born."

Then Manoah said to the Angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain you and let us prepare a young goat for you [to eat]."

The Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, I will not eat your 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.

For when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the Angel of the LORD ascended in the altar flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this they fell on their faces to the ground.

So he went back and told his father and his mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now get her for me as a wife."

But his father and mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised (pagan) Philistines?" And Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, because she looks pleasing to me."

His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for that was the customary thing for young men to do.

And Samson judged Israel in the days of [occupation by] the Philistines for twenty years.

Then [finally] he told her everything that was in his heart and said to her, "A razor has never been used on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any [other] man."

Then Delilah realized that he had told her everything in his heart, so she sent and called for the Philistine lords, saying, "Come up this once, because he has told me everything in his heart." Then the Philistine lords came up to her and brought the money [they had promised] in their hands.

She said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as I have time after time and shake myself free." For Samson did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

Now the Philistine lords gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to celebrate, for they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands!"