13 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

² And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and bore not.

³ And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her, “Behold now, thou art barren and bearest not; but thou shalt conceive and bear a son.

⁴ Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.

⁵ For, lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb. And he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very fearsome; but I asked him not from whence he was, neither told he me his name.

⁷ But he said unto me, ‘Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a son. And now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, “O my Lord, let the man of God which Thou didst send come again unto us and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.”

⁹ And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.

¹⁰ And the woman made haste and ran, and showed her husband and said unto him, “Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day.”

¹¹ And Manoah arose and went after his wife, and came to the man and said unto him, “Art thou the man that spokest unto the woman?” And he said, “I am.”

¹² And Manoah said, “Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?”

¹³ And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, “Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.

¹⁴ She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

¹⁵ And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, “I pray thee, let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.”

¹⁶ And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, “Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord.” For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord.

¹⁷ And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, “What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor?”

¹⁸ And the angel of the Lord said unto him, “Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?”

¹⁹ So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord; and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on.

²⁰ For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ But the angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord.

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

²³ But his wife said unto him, “If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would He have shown us all these things nor would He, as at this time, have told us such things as these.”

²⁴ And the woman 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 the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

14 And Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines.

² And he came up and told his father and his mother, and said, “I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me for a wife.”

³ Then his father and his mother said unto him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of thy brethren or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said unto his father, “Get her for me, for she pleaseth me well.”

⁴ But his father and his mother knew not that it was because of the Lord, and that He sought an occasion against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

⁵ Then went Samson and his father and his mother down to Timnah, and came to the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion roared against him.

⁶ And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand; but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

⁷ And he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.

⁸ And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion; and behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.

⁹ And he took thereof in his hands and went on eating, and came to his father and mother; and he gave to them, and they ate. But he told them not that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion.

¹⁰ So his father went down unto the woman; and Samson made there a feast, for so used the young men to do.

¹¹ And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.

¹² And Samson said unto them, “I will now put forth a riddle unto you. If ye can with certainty explain it to me within the seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you thirty shirts and thirty changes of garments;

¹³ but if ye cannot explain it to me, then shall ye give me thirty shirts and thirty changes of garments.” And they said unto him, “Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it.”

¹⁴ And he said unto them, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.” And they could not in three days expound the riddle.

¹⁵ And it came to pass on the seventh day that they said unto Samson’s wife, “Entice thy husband, that he may explain unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father’s house with fire. Have ye called us to take what we have? Is it not so?”

¹⁶ And Samson’s wife wept before him, and said, “Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not. Thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me.” And he said unto her, “Behold, I have not told it to my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it to thee?”

¹⁷ And she wept before him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it came to pass on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed sorely upon him; and she told the riddle to the children of her people.

¹⁸ And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down: “What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion?” And he said unto them, “If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye would not have found out my riddle.”

¹⁹ And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him; and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them and took their apparel, and gave changes of garments unto those who expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father’s house.

²⁰ But Samson’s wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.

15 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, “I will go in to my wife into the chamber.” But her father would not suffer him to go in.

² And her father said, “I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her. Therefore I gave her to thy companion. Is not her younger sister fairer than she? Take her, I pray thee, instead of her.”

³ And Samson said concerning them, “Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.”

⁴ And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.

⁵ And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

⁶ Then the Philistines said, “Who hath done this?” And they answered, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.

⁷ And Samson said unto them, “Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease”;

⁸ and he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. And he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock of Etam.

⁹ Then the Philistines went up and pitched camp in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

¹⁰ And the men of Judah said, “Why have ye come up against us?” And they answered, “To bind Samson have we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.”

¹¹ Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Knowest thou not that the Philistines 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 have come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines.” And Samson 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 hand; but surely we will not kill thee.” And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

¹⁴ And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him; and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burned with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.

¹⁵ And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

¹⁶ And Samson said, “With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass 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 hand, and called that place Ramathlehi [that is, The lifting up of the jawbone].

¹⁸ And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord and said, “Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of Thy servant. And now shall I die for thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”

¹⁹ But God cleaved a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again and he revived. Therefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore [that is, The well of him that called or cried], which is in Lehi unto this day.

²⁰ And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

²⁷ “But I say unto you that hear: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you.

²⁸ Bless them that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you.

²⁹ And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak, forbid not to take thy coat also.

³⁰ Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not back.

³¹ And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.

³² For if ye love them that love you, what thanks have ye? For sinners also love those that love them.

³³ And if ye do good to them that do good to you, what thanks have ye? For sinners also do even the same.

³⁴ And if ye lend to them from whom ye hope to receive, what thanks have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

³⁵ But love ye your enemies, and do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest; for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

³⁶ Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

³⁷ “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned. Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.

³⁸ Give, and it shall be given unto you: good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete, therewith it shall be measured to you again.”

³⁹ And He spoke a parable unto them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch?

⁴⁰ The disciple is not above his master, but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.

⁴¹ And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

⁴² Or how canst thou say to thy brother, ‘Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye,’ when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite! Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.

⁴³ “For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

⁴⁴ For every tree is known by his own fruit. For from thorns men do not gather figs, nor from a bramble bush gather they grapes.

⁴⁵ A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil; for of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaketh.

⁴⁶ “And why call ye Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not the things which I say?

⁴⁷ Whosoever cometh to Me, and heareth My sayings and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like:

⁴⁸ He is like a man who built a house and dug deep and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock.

⁴⁹ But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that built a house without a foundation upon the earth, against which the stream beat vehemently, and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

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