13 Just at that time there [arrived] some people who informed Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

² And He replied by saying to them, Do you think that these Galileans were greater sinners than all the other Galileans because they have suffered in this way?

³ I tell you, No; but unless you repent (^[a]change your mind for the better and heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), you will all likewise perish and be lost ^[b]eternally.

⁴ Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think that they were more guilty offenders (debtors) than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem?

⁵ I tell you, No; but unless you repent (^[c]change your mind for the better and heartily amend your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins), you will all likewise perish and be lost ^[d]eternally.

⁶ And He told them this parable: A certain man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but did not find [any].

⁷ So he said to the vinedresser, See here! For these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue also to use up the ground [to ^[e]deplete the soil, intercept the sun, and take up room]?

⁸ But he replied to him, Leave it alone, sir, [just] this one more year, till I dig around it and put manure [on the soil].

⁹ Then perhaps it will bear fruit after this; but if not, you can cut it down and out.

¹⁰ Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.

¹¹ And there was a woman there who for eighteen years had had an ^[f]infirmity caused by a spirit (^[g]a demon of sickness). She was ^[h]bent completely forward and utterly unable to straighten herself up or to ^[i]look upward.

¹² And when Jesus saw her, He called [her to Him] and said to her, Woman, you are released from your infirmity!

¹³ Then He laid [His] hands on her, and instantly she was made straight, and she ^[j]recognized and thanked and praised God.

¹⁴ But the ^[k]leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, There are six days on which work ought to be done; so come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.^(A)

¹⁵ But the Lord replied to him, saying, You playactors (hypocrites)! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it out to water it?

¹⁶ And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?

¹⁷ Even as He said this, all His opponents were put to shame, and all the people were rejoicing over all the glorious things that were being done by Him.

¹⁸ This led Him to say, What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?

¹⁹ It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the wild birds ^[l]found shelter and roosted and nested in its branches.

²⁰ And again He said, To what shall I liken the kingdom of God?

²¹ It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of wheat flour or meal until it was all leavened (fermented).

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12 The men of Ephraim were summoned together and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, Why did you cross over to fight with the Ammonites and did not summon us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.

² And Jephthah said to them, I and my people were in a severe conflict with the Ammonites, and I when I called you, you did not rescue me from their hands.

³ And when I saw that you would not rescue me, I put my life in my hands and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the Lord delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day to fight against me?

⁴ Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim; and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim because they had said, You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.

⁵ And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan before the Ephraimites; and when any of those Ephraimites who had escaped said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said to him, Are you an Ephraimite? If he said, No,

⁶ They said to him, Then say Shibboleth; and he said, Sibboleth, for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. And there fell at that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites.

⁷ Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.

⁸ And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

⁹ And he had thirty sons and thirty daughters whom he gave [to husbands] outside his tribe, and thirty daughters [daughters-in-law] whom he brought in from outside his tribe for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years.

¹⁰ Then Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.

¹¹ After him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years.

¹² Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

¹³ And after him Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.

¹⁴ And he had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode on seventy donkey colts; and he judged Israel eight years.

¹⁵ Then Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

13 And the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

² And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children.

³ And the ^[a]Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, Behold, you are barren and have no children, but you shall become pregnant and bear a son.

⁴ Therefore beware and drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean.

⁵ For behold, you shall become pregnant and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.

⁶ Then the woman went and told her husband, saying, A ^[b]Man of God came to me and his face was like the face of the Angel of God, to be greatly and reverently feared. I did not ask him from where he came, and he did not tell me his name.

⁷ But he said to me, Behold, you shall become pregnant and bear a son, and now drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.

⁸ Then Manoah entreated the Lord and said, O Lord, let the Man of God whom You sent come again to us and teach us what we shall do with the child that shall 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 And the woman ran in haste and told her husband and said to him, 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, how shall we manage the child, and what is he to do?

¹³ And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Let the mother beware of all that I told her.

¹⁴ She may not eat of anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.

¹⁵ And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, Pray, let us detain you that we may prepare a kid for you.

¹⁶ And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat of your food, but if you make ready a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord. 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 true, we may do you honor?

¹⁸ And the Angel of the Lord said to him, Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?^(A)

¹⁹ So Manoah took the kid with the cereal offering and offered it upon a rock to the Lord, the Angel working wonders, while Manoah and his wife looked on.

²⁰ For when the flame went up toward the heavens from the altar, the Angel of the Lord ascended in the altar flame. And Manoah and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ The Angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the Angel of the Lord.

²² And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

²³ But his [sensible] wife said to him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a cereal offering from our hands, nor have shown us all these things or now have announced such things as these.

²⁴ And the woman [in due time] bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew and the Lord blessed him.

²⁵ And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in Mahaneh-dan [the camp of Dan] between Zorah and Eshtaol.