Judges 13
Lexham English Bible
Samson’s Parents
13 And again, the Israelites[a] did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2 There was a certain man from Zorah, from the tribe of the Danites, and his name was Manoah; his wife was infertile and did not bear children. 3 And an angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman, and he said to her, “Behold, you are infertile and have not borne children, but you will conceive and bear a son. 4 So then, be careful and do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, 5 because you will conceive and bear a son. No razor will touch[b] his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God[c] from birth.[d] And it is he who will begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6 And the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him from where he came, and he did not tell me his name. 7 And he said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and bear a son, so then, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth[e] until the day of his death.’”
8 Then Manoah prayed to Yahweh and said, “Excuse me, my Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent again come to us and teach us what we should do concerning the boy who will be born.” 9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and an angel of God came again to the woman; she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. 10 The woman quickly ran and told her husband, and she said to him, “Look! The man who came to me the other day appeared to me.” 11 So Manoah got up and went after his wife, and he came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man that spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12 And Manoah said to him, “Now when your words come true,[f] what will be the boy’s manner of life[g] and work?” 13 And the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Let the woman be attentive to all that I said. 14 She should not eat of anything that comes from the vine, or drink wine or strong drink, or eat anything unclean; she should keep all that I commanded.”
15 And Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “Please stay,[h] and let us prepare a young goat[i] for you.” 16 The angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “If you keep me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering for Yahweh, you can offer it (for Manoah did not know that he was an angel of Yahweh).” 17 And Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “What is your name so that when your words come true we may honor you?” 18 But the angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful.”
19 And Manoah took the young goat[j] and the grain offering, and he offered it to Yahweh on the rock, to the one who performs miracles.[k] And Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 And when the flame went up toward the heaven from the altar, the angel of Yahweh went up in the flame of the altar to heaven while Manoah and his wife were watching. And they fell on their faces to the ground. 21 The angel of Yahweh did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, and then Manoah knew that he was a messenger[l] of Yahweh. 22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We will certainly die because we have seen God.” 23 But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh wanted to kill us he would not have taken[m] from our hand the burnt offering and the grain offering, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us things such as these.”
24 The woman bore a son, and she called him Samson; the boy grew big, and Yahweh blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Footnotes
- Judges 13:1 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Judges 13:5 Literally “will go upon”
- Judges 13:5 Literally “consecrated of God” or “devoted of God”
- Judges 13:5 Literally “from the womb”
- Judges 13:7 Or “the womb”
- Judges 13:12 Literally “when your words will come”
- Judges 13:12 Literally “measure”
- Judges 13:15 Literally “Please, let us hold you back”
- Judges 13:15 Literally “kid of goat”
- Judges 13:19 Literally “kid of goat”
- Judges 13:19 Or “the one who works wonders”
- Judges 13:21 Or “angel”
- Judges 13:23 Or “accepted”
Judges 13
International Standard Version
The Birth of Samson, Israel’s Twelfth Judge
13 Some time later, the Israelis again practiced what the Lord considered to be evil, so the Lord handed them over into the domination of the Philistines for 40 years. 2 There was one man from Zorah, from the family of the descendants of Dan, whose name was Manoah. Since his wife was infertile, she hadn’t borne children.[a] 3 One day the angel of the Lord presented himself to the woman. “Hello!” he greeted[b] her. “Though you are infertile at this time and haven’t borne a child, you’re about to conceive and give birth to a son. 4 So be sure that you don’t drink wine or anything intoxicating, and don’t eat anything unclean 5 because—surprise!—you’re going to conceive and give birth to a son! Don’t put a razor to his head, because the young man will be a Nazirite, dedicated[c] to God from inside the womb. He will begin to deliver Israel from domination by the Philistines.”
6 Then the woman went to tell her husband. She said, “A man of God appeared[d] to me. He looked like what an angel of God would look like—very frightening.[e] I didn’t ask him where he had come from and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 He told me, ‘Surprise!—you’re going to conceive and give birth to a son!’ and as for you, ‘Be sure that you don’t drink wine or anything intoxicating, and don’t eat anything unclean,’ ‘because the young man will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from inside the womb’ until the day he dies.”
8 So Manoah prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, have the man of God whom you sent before[f] come again so he can instruct us what to do on behalf of the child who is to be born.”
9 God listened to Manoah’s request,[g] and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting out in the pasture. But her husband Manoah wasn’t with her, 10 so the woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Look! The man who came the other[h] day appeared to me!”
11 So Manoah got up quickly and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he told him, “Are you the man who spoke to my[i] wife?”
He replied, “I am.”
12 Manoah asked, “Now, when what you’ve said occurs, what is to be the young man’s way of life and work?”
13 The angel of the Lord replied to Manoah, “Just have your wife[j] be careful to carry out everything that I told her. 14 She must not consume anything extracted from grape vines, including wine or anything intoxicating, and she must not eat anything unclean, doing everything that I commissioned her to do.”
15 Manoah responded to the angel of the Lord, “Please, let us detain you while we prepare a young goat for you.”
16 The angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “If you detain me, I won’t be eating your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, you’ll be making a sacrifice to the Lord.” The angel of the Lord[k] said this[l] because Manoah didn’t know that he was the angel of the Lord.
17 Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What’s your name, because when what you’ve said happens, we’ll glorify[m] you?”
18 The angel of the Lord answered him, “Why are you asking this about my name? It’s ‘Wonderful.’”[n]
19 So Manoah prepared a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a boulder to the Lord, who kept on performing miracles while Manoah and his wife watched continually. 20 When the burnt offering was engulfed in flames that sprang up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame that came from the altar. When Manoah and his wife observed this, they collapsed on their faces to the ground. 21 The angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah or to his wife, and then Manoah knew confidently that the visitor[o] had been the angel of the Lord.
22 Then Manoah told his wife, “We’re going to die for sure, because we’ve seen God!”
23 But his wife replied to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from us,[p] he wouldn’t have shown us all these things, and he wouldn’t have permitted us to hear things[q] like this, now would he?”[r]
24 Later on, the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson.[s] The child grew strong and the Lord blessed him. 25 Then the Spirit of the Lord began to rouse him where the tribe of Dan was encamped,[t] between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Footnotes
- Judges 13:2 The Heb. lacks children
- Judges 13:3 Lit. and told
- Judges 13:5 The Heb. lacks dedicated
- Judges 13:6 Or came
- Judges 13:6 Or very awe-inspiring
- Judges 13:8 The Heb. lacks before
- Judges 13:9 Lit. voice
- Judges 13:10 The Heb. lacks other
- Judges 13:11 The Heb. lacks my
- Judges 13:13 Lit. have the woman
- Judges 13:16 Lit. He
- Judges 13:16 The Heb. lacks He said this
- Judges 13:17 Or honor
- Judges 13:18 cf. Isa 9:5
- Judges 13:21 Lit. that he
- Judges 13:23 Lit. from our hands
- Judges 13:23 The Heb. lacks things
- Judges 13:23 The Heb. lacks would he
- Judges 13:24 The Heb. name Samson means Like the sun
- Judges 13:25 Or him in Mahaneh-dan
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