Philistines Oppress Again

13 Now the sons of Israel ^(A)again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.

² And there was a man of ^(B)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was infertile and had not given birth to any children. ^3 (C)Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are infertile and have not given birth; but you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ And now, be careful ^(D)not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any ^[a]unclean thing. ^5 (E)For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a ^(F)Nazirite to God from the womb; and he will begin to save Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “^(G)A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. So I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. ⁷ But he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any ^[b]unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah pleaded with the Lord and said, “Lord, please let ^(H)the man of God whom You have sent come to us again so that he may teach us what we are to do for the boy who is to be born.” ⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and ^(I)the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman hurried and ran, and told her ^[c]husband, “Behold, ^(J)the man who ^[d]came the other day has appeared to me!” ¹¹ So Manoah got up and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you ^(K)the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹² Then Manoah said, “Now when your words ^[e]are fulfilled, what shall be the boy’s way of life and his vocation?” ¹³ And ^(L)the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “^(M)The woman shall pay attention ^[f]to all that I said. ¹⁴ She shall not eat anything that comes from the ^(N)vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; she shall keep all that I commanded.”

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to ^(O)the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶ But the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, ^(P)I will not eat your ^[g]food, but if you prepare 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, “^(Q)What is your name, so that when your words ^[h]are fulfilled, we may honor you?” ¹⁸ But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, for it is ^[i](R)wonderful?” ¹⁹ So ^(S)Manoah took the young goat along with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord; and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. ²⁰ For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ^(T)fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ Now the angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. ^(U)Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. ²² So Manoah said to his wife, “^(V)We will certainly die, for we have seen God.” ²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have ^(W)shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”

²⁴ So the woman gave birth to a son, and named him Samson; and the ^(X)child grew up and the Lord blessed him. ²⁵ And ^(Y)the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him when he was in ^[j](Z)Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson’s Marriage

14 Then Samson went down to Timnah, and he saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. ² So he came ^[k]back and told his father and ^[l]mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; so now, get her for me as a wife.” ³ But his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your ^(AA)relatives, or among all ^[m]our people, that you go to ^(AB)take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” Yet Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she is right ^[n]for me.” ⁴ However, his father and mother did not know that ^(AC)this was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. And at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

⁵ Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came as far as the vineyards of Timnah; and behold, a young lion came roaring toward him. ⁶ And ^(AD)the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, so that ^(AE)he tore it apart as one tears apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. ⁷ So he went down and talked to the woman; and she ^[o]looked pleasing to Samson. ⁸ When he returned later to take her, he turned aside to look at the carcass of the lion; and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. ⁹ So he took out ^[p]the honey on his ^[q]hands and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it; but he did not tell them that he had took the honey out of the body of the lion.

¹⁰ Then his father went down to the woman; and Samson held a feast there, for the young men customarily did this. ¹¹ When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.

Samson’s Riddle

¹² Then Samson said to them, “Let me now ^(AF)propose a riddle for you; if you actually tell me ^[r]the answer within the seven days of the feast, and solve it, then I will give you thirty linen wraps and thirty ^(AG)outfits of clothes. ¹³ But if you are unable to tell me, then you shall give me thirty linen wraps and thirty outfits of clothes.” And they said to him, “Propose your riddle, so that we may hear it.” ¹⁴ So he said to them,

But they could not tell the answer to the riddle in three days.

¹⁵ Then it came about on the ^[s]fourth day that they said to Samson’s wife, “^(AH)Entice your husband, so that he will tell us the riddle, ^(AI)or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us to impoverish us? Is this not so?” ¹⁶ So Samson’s wife wept in front of him and said, “^(AJ)You only hate me, and you do not love me; you have proposed a riddle to the sons of my people, and have not told it to me.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told it to my father or mother; so should I tell you?” ¹⁷ However she wept before him for seven days while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day he told her because she pressed him so hard. She then told the riddle to the sons of her people. ¹⁸ So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,

And he said to them,

¹⁹ Then ^(AK)the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty men of them and took what they were wearing and gave the outfits of clothes to those who told the riddle. And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house. ²⁰ But Samson’s wife was ^(AL)given to his companion who had been his ^[t]friend.

²⁹ The next day he *saw Jesus coming to him, and *said, “Behold, ^(A)the Lamb of God who ^(B)takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is He in behalf of whom I said, ‘^(C)After me is coming a Man who has proved to be ^[a]my superior, ^(D)because He existed before me.’ ³¹ And I did not recognize ^[b]Him, but so that He would be revealed to Israel, I came baptizing ^[c]in water.” ³² And John ^(E)testified, saying, “^(F)I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. ³³ And I did not recognize ^[d]Him, but He who sent me to baptize ^[e]in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, ^(G)this is the One who baptizes ^[f]in the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I myself have seen, and have testified that this is ^(H)the ^[g]Son of God.”

Jesus’ Public Ministry; First Converts

³⁵ Again ^(I)the next day John was standing ^[h]with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and *said, “Behold, ^(J)the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ And Jesus turned and saw them following, and *said to them, “What are you seeking?” They said to Him, “^(K)Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” ³⁹ He *said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day; it was about the ^[i]tenth hour. ^40 (L)One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first *found his own brother Simon and *said to him, “We have found the ^(M)Messiah” (which translated means ^[j]Christ). ⁴² He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of ^[k](N)John; you shall be called ^(O)Cephas” (which is translated ^[l](P)Peter).

^43 (Q)The next day He ^[m]decided to go to ^(R)Galilee, and He *found ^(S)Philip. And Jesus *said to him, “^(T)Follow Me.” ⁴⁴ Now ^(U)Philip was from ^(V)Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ^45 (W)Philip *found ^(X)Nathanael and *said to him, “We have found Him of whom ^(Y)Moses wrote in the Law, and ^(Z)the prophets also wrote: Jesus ^(AA)the son of Joseph, from ^(AB)Nazareth!” ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “^(AC)Can anything good be from Nazareth?” ^(AD)Philip *said to him, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and *said of him, “Here is truly an ^(AE)Israelite, in whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸ Nathanael *said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before ^(AF)Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael answered Him, “^(AG)Rabbi, You are ^(AH)the Son of God; You are the ^(AI)King of Israel!” ⁵⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹ And He *said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see ^(AJ)heaven opened and ^(AK)the angels of God ascending and descending on ^(AL)the Son of Man.”

Prayer of an Afflicted Man for Mercy on Himself and on Zion.

A Prayer of the afflicted when he is weak and ^[a]pours out his complaint before the Lord.