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1 The sons of Israel continued to do this evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so Yahweh gave them over into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2 Now there was one man from Zorah, of the families of the Danites, and his name was Manoah. His wife was barren and she had never given birth.
3 The angel of Yahweh appeared to the wife and he said to her, “Look, please, you are barren and you have not given birth, but you will conceive and you will bear a son.
4 Now take care that you surely do not drink wine or strong drink, and you do not eat anything unclean.
5 For surely you are pregnant and you will bear a son. A razor will not go up upon his head, for a Nazirite to God from the womb the boy will be. He will begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
6 Then the woman came in and she explained to her husband saying, “The man of God came to me. His appearance was as the appearance of the angel of God, exceedingly fearsome, so I did not ask him from where he had come. He did not reveal to me his name.
7 Then he said to me, ‘Surely, you are pregnant, and you will bear a son. So now, you must not drink wine or strong drink, and you must not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
8 Then Manoah prayed to Yahweh and he said, “Oh please , my Lord, please let the man of God who you sent come again to us so that he may instruct us about what we must do for the boy who is to be born.”
9 The true God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came to the woman again when she was sitting in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her.
10 So the woman hurried and she ran and she reported to her husband, and she said to him, “Look! The man has appeared to me who came to me that day!”
11 So Manoah rose up and he went after his wife. When he came to the man, he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” He replied, “I am.”
12 Then Manoah said, “Now may your words come to pass. What will be the protocol for the boy, and his work?”
13 The angel of Yahweh replied to Manoah, “Because of all that I have said to the woman, she must take heed herself.
14 From anything that comes forth from the vine of the wine, she must not consume. She must not drink wine or strong drink, and anything unclean she must not eat. Everything that I have commanded her, she must do.”
15 Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “Please let us detain you, so that we may prepare a young kid from the goats on account of your presence.”
16 The angel of Yahweh replied to Manoah, “Even if you would detain me, I will not eat your bread. But if you would prepare a burnt offering for Yahweh, you may offer it.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh.
17 Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “What is your name, that when your words come to pass we may honor you?”
18 The angel of Yahweh replied to him, “Why is this, you are asking about my name, but it is incomprehensible!”
19 Manoah took the young kid from the goats and the offering and he brought up a sacrifice upon the rock to Yahweh. Meanwhile he was about to perform an act causing wonder while Manoah and his wife were watching.
20 Now it happened when the flame went up from upon the altar towards the heavens, that the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife were watching. As a result they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 But the angel of Yahweh did not continue to appear any longer to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh.
22 Manoah said to his wife, “Surely we will die, because we have seen God!”
23 But his wife replied to him, “If Yahweh had desired to kill us, he would not have taken from our hand the whole burnt offering and the offering. He would not have shown us all these things, and at this time would he have not allowed us to hear about this.”
24 The woman gave birth to a son, and she called his name Samson. The boy grew up and Yahweh blessed him.
25 Now the Spirit of Yahweh began to tap him in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and between Eshtaol.
The Book of Judges