King James Version

1 And the children of Israel continued to do evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. 2 And there was a man from Zorah, from the family of the Danites, and his name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and had not borne. 3 And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have not born children, but you shall conceive and bear a son." 4 And now, please keep me safe and do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean. 5 For behold, you are pregnant and will bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. 6 And the woman came and said to her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of God, very awesome, and I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name." 7 And he said to me, "Behold, you are pregnant and you will bear a son. And now, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death." 8 And Manoah prayed to the LORD and said, "O my Lord, let the man of God whom You sent come again to us and teach us what we shall do for the boy who is to be born." 9 And God heard the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was sitting in the field, and Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 And the woman hurried and ran and told her husband and said to him, "Behold, the man who came to me that day has appeared to me." 11 And Manoach arose and went after his wife, and he came to the man and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to the woman?" And he said, "I am." 12 And Manoach said, "Now let your words come; what will be the judgment of the boy and what will be his work?" 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "From all that I said to the woman, she shall heed." 14 You shall not eat anything that comes from the vine, including wine and strong drink; do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing; you shall keep all that I have commanded you. 15 And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Please hold back until we prepare a young goat before you." 16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, "If you detain me, I will not eat your bread, and if you make an offering to the Lord, you shall offer it, 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, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?" 18 And the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask for my name, seeing it is wonderful?" 19 And Manoah took the kid of the goats and the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD, and he did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 And it was, as the flame ascended from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. And Manoach and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground. 21 And the angel of the Lord did not continue to appear to Manoah and his wife; then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. 22 And Manoach said to his wife, "We will surely die because we have seen God." 23 And his wife said to him, "If the Lord desired to kill us, He would not have taken from our hand a burnt offering and a grain offering, and He would not have shown us all these things, and at this time He would not have let us hear such things." 24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson, and the boy grew and the LORD blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.