1And the children of Israel did again the evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2And there was a certain man of Zor'ah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoach; and his wife was barren, and did not bear.
3And there appeared an angel of the Lord unto the woman, and he said unto her, Behold, thou art barren, and hast not born; but thou wilt conceive, and bear a son.
4And now do beware, and drink neither wine nor strong drink, and eat not any thing unclean.
5For, lo, thou wilt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head; for a Nazarite of God shall the lad be from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
6And the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of God, very terrible; but I asked him not whence he might be, and his name he did not tell me.
7And he said unto me, Behold, thou wilt conceive, and bear a son; and now thou must drink neither wine nor strong drink, and not eat anything unclean; for the child shall be a Nazarite of God from the womb until the day of his death.
8And Manoach entreated the Lord, and said, Hear me, O Lord, let the man of God, whom thou didst send, come again unto us, and instruct us what we shall do unto the child that is to be born.
9And God hearkened to the voice of Manoach; and the angel of God came again unto the woman, as she was sitting in the field; and Manoach her husband was not with her.
10And the woman made haste, and ran, and informed her husband; and she said unto him, Behold, there hath appeared unto me the man, that came unto me the other day.
11And Manoach arose, and went after his wife; and he came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spokest unto the woman? and he said, I am.
12And Manoach said, If now thy words come to pass, what shall be [our] proceeding with the child, and what shall be done unto him?
13And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoach, Of all that I have said unto the woman must she beware.
14Of any thing that cometh of the grape-vine she may not eat, and wine or strong drink she may not drink, and any thing unclean she may not eat: all that I commanded her must she observe.
15And Manoach said unto the angel of the Lord, Let us, I pray thee, detain thee, and we will make a kid ready for thee.
16And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoach, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; but if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord; for Manoach knew not that he was an angel of the Lord.
17And Manoach said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name, that, when thy word cometh to pass, we may do thee honor?
18And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why is it that thou wilt ask after my name, seeing it is secret?
19And Manoach took the kid and the meat-offering, and offered it upon the rock unto the Lord: and he did wondrously; and Manoach and his wife looked on.
20And it came to pass, when the flame went up from off the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar; and Manoach and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21And the angel of the Lord was no longer visible to Manoach and to his wife: then knew Manoach that he was an angel of the Lord.
22And Manoach said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because a divine being have we seen.
23But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received from our hand a burnt-offering and a meat-offering, nor would he have let us see all these things, and at this time he would not have let us hear [such a thing] as this.
24And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson; and the child grew up, and the Lord blessed him.
25And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him in Machaneh-dan between Zor'ah and Eshtaol.