Judges

The book of Judges, chapter 13, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 13 New English Translation

Samson's Birth

   1 The Israelites again did evil in the LORD's sight, so the LORD handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.
   2 There was a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe. His wife was infertile and childless. 3 The LORD's angelic messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, "You are infertile and childless, but you will conceive and have a son. 4 Now be careful! Do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. 5 Look, you will conceive and have a son. You must never cut his hair, for the child will be dedicated to God from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines."
   6 The woman went and said to her husband, "A man sent from God came to me! He looked like God's angelic messenger - he was very awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. 7 He said to me, 'Look, you will conceive and have a son. So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. For the child will be dedicated to God from birth till the day he dies.'"
   8 Manoah prayed to the LORD, "Please, LORD, allow the man sent from God to visit us again, so he can teach us how we should raise the child who will be born." 9 God answered Manoah's prayer. God's angelic messenger visited the woman again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman ran at once and told her husband, "Come quickly, the man who visited me the other day has appeared to me!" 11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he met the man, he said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to my wife?" He said, "Yes." 12 Manoah said, "Now, when your announcement comes true, how should the child be raised and what should he do?" 13 The LORD's messenger told Manoah, "Your wife should pay attention to everything I told her. 14 She should not drink anything that the grapevine produces. She must not drink wine or beer, and she must not eat any food that will make her ritually unclean. She should obey everything I commanded her to do." 15 Manoah said to the LORD's messenger, "Please stay here awhile, so we can prepare a young goat for you to eat." 16 The LORD's messenger said to Manoah, "If I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you want to make a burnt sacrifice to the LORD, you should offer it." (He said this because Manoah did not know that he was the LORD's messenger.) 17 Manoah said to the LORD's messenger, "Tell us your name, so we can honor you when your announcement comes true." 18 The LORD's messenger said to him, "You should not ask me my name, because you cannot comprehend it." 19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the LORD. The LORD's messenger did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched. 20 As the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the LORD's messenger went up in it while Manoah and his wife watched. They fell facedown to the ground.
   21 The LORD's messenger did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. After all this happened Manoah realized that the visitor had been the LORD's messenger. 22 Manoah said to his wife, "We will certainly die, because we have seen a supernatural being!" 23 But his wife said to him, "If the LORD wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us. He would not have shown us all these things, or have spoken to us like this just now."
   24 Manoah's wife gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew and the LORD empowered him. 25 The LORD's spirit began to control him in Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

King James Version

   1 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 bare 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 Nazarite 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 terrible: but I asked him not 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 Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
   8 ¶ Then Manoah intreated 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 shewed 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 spakest 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 honour?
   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 did no more appear 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 shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.
   24 ¶ And the woman bare 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.