The Birth of Samson

13 And the people of Israel again ^(A)did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them ^(B)into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

² There was a certain man of ^(C)Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. ^(D)And his wife was barren and had no children. ^3 (E)And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. ⁴ Therefore be careful ^(F)and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, ⁵ for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. ^(G)No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be ^(H)a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall ^(I)begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, ^(J)“A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. ^(K)I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, ⁷ but he said to me, ^(L)‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” ⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” ¹¹ And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹² And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, ^(M)what is to be the child's manner of life, and what is his mission?” ¹³ And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. ¹⁴ She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, ^(N)neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

The Death of Samson

²³ Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to ^(A)Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” ²⁴ And when the people saw him, ^(B)they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”^{[a] 25} And ^(C)when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. ²⁶ And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” ²⁷ Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and ^(D)on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

²⁸ Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, ^(E)please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹ And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. ³⁰ And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. ³¹ Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him ^(F)between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.