Judges 13-15
Complete Jewish Bible
13 Again the people of Isra’el did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, and Adonai handed them over to the P’lishtim for forty years.
2 There was a man from Tzor‘ah from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoach; his wife was barren, childless. 3 The angel of Adonai appeared to the woman and said to her, “Listen! You are barren, you haven’t had a child, but you will conceive and bear a son. 4 Now, therefore, be careful not to drink any wine or other intoxicating liquor, and don’t eat anything unclean. 5 For indeed you will conceive and bear a son. No razor is to touch his head, because the child will be a nazir for God from the womb. Moreover, he will begin to rescue Isra’el from the power of the P’lishtim.”
6 The woman came and told her husband; she said, “A man of God came to me; his face was fearsome, like that of the angel of God. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘Listen! You will conceive and bear a son, so now don’t drink any wine or other intoxicating liquor, and don’t eat anything unclean, because the child will be a nazir for God from the womb until the day he dies.’”
8 Then Manoach prayed to Adonai, “Please, Adonai, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the child who will be born.” 9 God paid attention to what Manoach said, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but her husband Manoach wasn’t with her. 10 The woman hurried and ran to tell her husband, “Here! That man, the one who came to me the other day, he’s come again!” 11 Manoach got up, followed his wife, went to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” He answered, “I am.” 12 Manoach asked, “Now, when what you said comes true, what are the guidelines for raising the child? What should be done for him?” 13 The angel of Adonai said to Manoach, “The woman should take care to do everything I said to her. 14 She shouldn’t eat anything that comes from a grapevine, she shouldn’t drink wine or other intoxicating liquor, and she shouldn’t eat anything unclean. She should do everything I ordered her to do.”
15 Manoach said to the angel of Adonai, “Please stay with us a bit longer, so that we can cook a young goat for you.” 16 The angel of Adonai said to Manoach, “Even if I do stay, I won’t eat your food; and if you prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to Adonai.” For Manoach did not know that he was the angel of Adonai. 17 Manoach said to the angel of Adonai, “Tell us your name, so that when your words come true we can honor you.” 18 The angel of Adonai answered him, “Why are you asking about my name? It is wonderful.” 19 Manoach took the kid and the grain offering and offered them on the rock to Adonai. Then, with Manoach and his wife looking on, the angel did something wonderful — 20 as the flame went up toward the sky from the altar, the angel of Adonai went up in the flame from the altar. When Manoach and his wife saw it, they fell to the ground on their faces. 21 But the angel of Adonai did not appear again to Manoach or his wife. Then Manoach realized it had been the angel of Adonai. 22 Manoach said to his wife, “We will surely die, because we have seen God!” 23 But his wife said to him, “If Adonai had wanted to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from us, and he wouldn’t have shown us all this or told us such things at this time.”
24 The woman bore a son and called him Shimshon. The child grew, and Adonai blessed him. 25 The Spirit of Adonai began to stir him when he was in the Camp of Dan, between Tzor‘ah and Eshta’ol.
14 Shimshon went down to Timnah, and in Timnah he saw a woman who was one of the P’lishtim. 2 He came up and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the P’lishtim. Now get her for me to be my wife.” 3 His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there any woman from the daughters of your kinsmen or among all my people? Must you go to the uncircumcised P’lishtim to find a wife?” Shimshon said to his father, “Get her for me. I like her.” 4 His father and mother didn’t know that all this came from Adonai, who was seeking grounds for a quarrel with the P’lishtim. (At that time the P’lishtim were ruling Isra’el.)
5 Shimshon went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When they came to the vineyards of Timnah, a young lion roared at him. 6 The Spirit of Adonai came powerfully upon Shimshon, and barehanded he tore the lion to pieces as easily as if it had been a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman and found he still liked her.
8 Awhile later, as he was returning to claim his bride, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion and saw that there was now a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 He scraped the honey out into his hands and went on, eating as he went; and when he came to his father and mother, he gave them some; and they ate too. But he didn’t tell them that he had scraped the honey out of the body of the lion.
10 His father went down to the woman, and there Shimshon gave a banquet — this is what the young men used to do. 11 When the P’lishtim saw him, they provided thirty companions to be with him. 12 Shimshon said to them, “Let me present you with a riddle. If you can solve it within the seven days of the banquet and tell me the solution, I will give you thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of good clothes. 13 But if you can’t solve it, you give me thirty linen shirts and thirty changes of good clothes.” They answered, “Tell us the riddle, we want to hear it.” 14 So he said to them,
“Out of the eater came food;
out of the strong came sweetness.”
Three days passed, and they couldn’t solve the riddle. 15 On the seventh day, they said to Shimshon’s wife, “Coax your husband into telling us the solution to the riddle. Otherwise we’ll burn down your father’s house and you with it. You two called us here to turn us into paupers, didn’t you?” 16 Shimshon’s wife went to him in tears and said, “You don’t love me, you hate me! You told a riddle to my fellow countrymen, and you haven’t told me the answer.” He said to her, “Look, I haven’t even told it to my father and mother! Should I tell you?” 17 But she had been crying throughout the seven days of the banquet; so on the seventh day, because she had kept pressing him, he told her the solution; and she passed it on to her people. 18 Then, before sundown on the seventh day, the men of the city said to him,
“What is sweeter than honey?
and what is stronger than a lion?”
Shimshon answered,
“If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow,
you wouldn’t have solved my riddle now.”
19 Then the Spirit of Adonai came over him powerfully. He went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their good clothes, and gave them to the men who had “solved” the riddle. He was boiling with rage, so he went straight up to his father’s house, 20 and his wife was given to the companion who had been best man at the wedding.
15 But after a while, during the wheat-harvest season, Shimshon went to see his wife. He brought a young goat for her and said to her father, “I want to go to my wife in her room.” But he wouldn’t let him. 2 Her father said, “I really thought you hated her altogether, so I gave her to your best man. But her younger sister — isn’t she even prettier? Why not take her instead?” 3 Shimshon said to them, “This time I’m through with the P’lishtim! I’m going to do something terrible to them!” 4 So Shimshon went and caught three hundred foxes. Then he took torches, tied pairs of foxes to each other by their tails, and put a torch in the knot of every pair of tails. 5 Then he set the torches on fire and let the foxes loose in wheat fields of the P’lishtim. In this way he burned up the harvested wheat along with the grain waiting to be harvested, and the olive orchards as well. 6 The P’lishtim asked, “Who did this?” They answered, “Shimshon the son-in-law of the man from Timnah, because he took Shimshon’s wife and gave her to his best man.” Then the P’lishtim came up and burned both her and her father to death. 7 Shimshon said to them, “I will certainly have my revenge on you for doing such a thing; but after I do, I’ll stop.” 8 Infuriated, he began killing them right and left; it was a massacre. Then he went down and stayed in the cave at the ‘Eitam Rock.
9 The P’lishtim went up, pitched camp in Y’hudah and attacked Lechi. 10 The men of Y’hudah said, “Why are you attacking us?” They replied, “To arrest Shimshon, that’s why — to treat him the way he treated us.” 11 Then 3,000 men from Y’hudah went down to the cave at the Eitam Rock and said to Shimshon, “Don’t you know that the P’lishtim are our rulers? What are you doing to us?” He answered, “I’ve only treated them the way they treated me.” 12 They said to him, “We’ve come down to arrest you and hand you over to the P’lishtim.” Shimshon replied, “Swear to me that you won’t fall on me yourselves.” 13 They said to him, “No, but we will tie you up and hand you over to them. However, we promise not to kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. 14 When he got to Lechi, the P’lishtim came running and shouting at him; and the Spirit of Adonai came on him powerfully. The ropes on his arms became as weak as burnt flax and fell from his arms. 15 He found a fresh donkey jawbone, took it in his hand, and with it he struck down a thousand men. 16 Shimshon said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey I left heaps piled on heaps!
With the jawbone of a donkey I killed a thousand men!”
17 After he finished speaking he threw the jawbone away, and the place came to be called Ramat-Lechi [jawbone heights].
18 Then he felt very thirsty, so he called on Adonai, saying, “You accomplished this great rescue through your servant. But am I now to die from thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 Then God made a gash in the crater at Lechi, and water came out. When he had drunk, his spirit came back; and he revived. This is why the place was called ‘Ein-HaKorei [the spring of him who called], and it is there in Lechi until now. 20 He judged Isra’el in the period of the P’lishtim for twenty years.
Shofetim 13-15
Orthodox Jewish Bible
13 And the Bnei Yisroel did harah again in the sight of Hashem; and Hashem delivered them into the yad Pelishtim arba’im shanah.
2 And there was a certain ish from Tzorah, of the mishpakhat HaDanai, whose shem was Manoach; and his isha was barren and bore not.
3 And the Malach Hashem appeared unto the isha, and said unto her, Hinei now, thou art barren, and bearest not; but thou shalt conceive, and bear ben.
4 Now therefore be shomer and drink not yayin nor shekhar (strong drink), and eat not kol tameh;
5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear ben; and no morah (razor) shall come on his rosh; for the na’ar shall be a Nazir Elohim from the beten (womb); and he shall begin to save Yisroel from the yad Pelishtim.
6 Then the isha came and told her ish, saying, An Ish HaElohim came unto me, and his appearance was like the appearance of a Malach HaElohim, norah me’od; but I asked him not where he came from, neither told he me shmo;
7 But he said unto me, See thou shalt conceive, and bear ben; and now drink no yayin nor shekhar, neither eat any tumah; for the na’ar shall be Nazir Elohim from the beten to the yom moto (day of his death).
8 Then Manoach prayed entreating Hashem, and said, O Adonoi, let the Ish HaElohim which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we must do unto the na’ar that shall be born.
9 And HaElohim paid heed to the kol Manoach; and the Malach HaElohim came again unto the isha as she sat in the sadeh; but Manoach her ish was not with her.
10 And the isha made haste, and ran, and told her ish, and said unto him, Hinei, the ish hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.
11 And Manoach arose, and went after his isha, and came to the ish, and said unto him, Art thou the ish that didst speak unto the isha? And he said, I am.
12 And Manoach said, Now let thy devar come to pass. How shall be the mishpat hana’ar (proper treatment of the child), and his ma’aseh (work, [life’s] work)?
13 And the Malach Hashem said unto Manoach, Of all that I said unto the isha let her be shomer (beware, guard, keep watch over).
14 She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the gefen, neither let her drink yayin or shekhar, nor eat any tumah; all that I commanded her let her be shomer to do.
15 And Manoach said unto the Malach Hashem, Now, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a young goat for thee.
16 And the Malach Hashem said unto Manoach, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy lechem; and if thou wilt offer an olah (burnt offering), thou must offer it unto Hashem. For Manoach knew not that he was Malach Hashem.
17 And Manoach said unto Malach Hashem, Mi shmehchah? That when thy devar come to pass we may do thee honor?
18 And the Malach Hashem said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my shem, seeing it is FELI (supremely wonderful [see Isa 9:5(6); Ex 15:11])?
19 So Manoach took a young goat with a minchah, and offered it upon the tzur unto Hashem; and wonderously did He act; and Manoach and his wife looked on.
20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward Shomayim from off the Mizbe’ach, that the Malach Hashem ascended in the flame of the Mizbe’ach. And Manoach and his wife looked on, and fell on their faces to the ground [cf Ac 1:9].
21 But the Malach Hashem did no more appear to Manoach and to his isha. Then Manoach knew that He was the Malach Hashem.
22 And Manoach said unto his isha, We shall surely die, because we have seen Elohim.
23 But his isha said unto him, If Hashem were pleased to kill us, He would not have received an olah (burnt offering) and a minchah from yadenu (our hands), neither would He have showed us all these things, nor at this time would have told us such things as these.
24 And the isha bore ben, and called shmo Shimshon; and the na’ar grew, and Hashem blessed him.
25 And the Ruach Hashem began to impel him at times in Machaneh Dan between Tzorah and Eshtaol.
14 And Shimshon went down to Timnah, and saw an isha in Timnah of the banot Pelishtim (Philistines).
2 And he came up, and told his av and his em, and said, I have seen an isha in Timnah of the banot Pelishtim; now therefore get her for me as isha.
3 Then his av and his em said unto him, Is there not among the banot of thy achim, or among kol Ami (all my people) an isha, that thou goest to take an isha of the Pelishtim haArelim? And Shimshon said unto his av, Get her for me; for she is yashrah (right) in my eyes.
4 But his av and his em knew not that this was from Hashem, for He sought an occasion against the Pelishtim; for at that time the Pelishtim had dominion over Yisroel.
5 Then went Shimshon down, and his av and his em, to Timnah, and came to the kramim (vineyards) of Timnah; and, hinei, a young lion roared against him.
6 And the Ruach Hashem came mightily upon him, and he tore him as he would have torn a young goat, and he had nothing in his yad; but he told not his av or his em what he had done.
7 And he went down, and talked with the isha; and she was right in the eyes of Shimshon [cf Prov 16:25].
8 And after a time he returned to take her [in marriage], and he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion; and, hinei, there was a swarm of bees and devash in the geviyah of the lion.
9 And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his av and em, and he gave them, and they did eat; but he told not them that he had taken the devash out of the geviyah of the lion.
10 So his av went down unto the isha; and Shimshon made there a mishteh; for so used the bocherim to do.
11 And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought shloshim companions to be with him.
12 And Shimshon said unto them, I will now put forth a khidah (riddle) unto you; if ye can certainly declare it to me within the shivat yemei hamishteh, and find it out, then I will give you shloshim linen garments and shloshim sets of begadim;
13 But if ye cannot declare it to me, then shall ye give me shloshim linen garments and shloshim begadim. And they said unto him, Put forth thy khidah, that we may hear it.
14 And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth the edible, and out of the oz (strong) came forth matok (sweetness). And they could not in shloshet yamim expound the khidah.
15 And it came to pass on the yom hashevi’i, that they said unto the isha of Shimshon, Entice thy ish, that he may declare unto us the khidah, lest we burn thee and thy bais avi with eish; Have ye invited us to make us poor? Is it not so?
16 And the isha of Shimshon wept before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not; thou hast put forth a khidah unto the bnei ami, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Hinei, I have not told it avi nor immi, and shall I tell it thee?
17 And she wept before him the shivat hayamim, while their mishteh lasted; and it came to pass on the yom hashevi’i, that he told her, because of the pressing of her nagging; and she told the khidah to the bnei of her Am (People).
18 And the anshei haIr said unto him on the yom hashevi’i before the sun went down, What is sweeter than devash? And what is stronger than an ari? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not hit upon my khidah.
19 And the Ruach Hashem came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down shloshim ish of them and took as spoil their garments and gave unto them which expounded the khidah. And his af (anger) was kindled, and he went up to his bais avi.
20 But the isha of Shimshon was given to his companion, who had been his best man (i.e., his Shoshvin. See Yochanan 3:29 OJBC).
15 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of katzir chittim, that Shimshon visited his isha with a young goat; and he said, I will go in to my isha into the cheder. But her av would not allow him to go in.
2 And her av said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion; is not her younger achot fairer than she? Take her now, instead of her.
3 And Shimshon said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Pelishtim, though I do them ra’ah.
4 And Shimshon went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned them tail to tail, and put a torch in the midst between two tails.
5 And when he lit eish to the torches, he let them go into the standing grain of the Pelishtim, and burned up both the harvested grain and also the standing grain, and also olive orchards.
6 Then the Pelishtim said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Shimshon, the choson of the Timni, because he had taken his isha, and given her to his companion. And the Pelishtim came up, and burned her and her av with eish.
7 And Shimshon said unto them, Since ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you and after that I will cease.
8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a makkah gedolah; and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
9 Then the Pelishtim went up and encamped in Yehudah, and spread themselves out in Lechi.
10 And the ish Yehudah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Shimshon are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.
11 Then three thousand men of Yehudah went to the top of the rock Etam and said to Shimshon, Knowest thou not that the Pelishtim are rulers over us? What is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.
12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the yad Pelishtim. And Shimshon said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.
13 And they spoke unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their yad; but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two avotim chadashim (new ropes), and brought him up from the rock.
14 And when he came unto Lechi, the Pelishtim shouted against him; and the Ruach of Hashem came mightily upon him, and the avotim that were upon his arms became as flax that was burned with eish, and his binding loosed from off his hands.
15 And he found a new jawbone of a chamor, and put forth his yad and took it and slaughtered a thousand men therewith.
16 And Shimshon said, With the lechi (jawbone) of a chamor heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of a chamor have I slain a thousand men.
17 And it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking that he cast away the jawbone out of his yad, and called that place Ramat Lechi (Jawbone Hill).
18 And he was very thirsty, and called on Hashem, and said, Thou hast given this teshu’ah hagedolah (great victory, rescue, salvation) into the yad of thy eved; and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the yad of the arelim?
19 But Elohim split open the hollow place that is at Lechi, and there came mayim thereout; and when he had drunk, his ruach came again, and he revived; wherefore he called the shem thereof En HaKorei (Spring of the Caller), which is in Lechi unto this day.
20 And he judged Yisroel in the days of the Pelishtim esrim shanah.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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