13:1  Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, so that the LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.

13:2  There lived a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, who had the name of Manoah; and his wife found herself barren and had borne no children.

13:3  Then the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold now, you find yourself barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son.

13:4  "Now therefore, take care not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing.

13:5  "For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall become a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines."

13:6  Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me and his appearance resembled the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.

13:7  "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 unclean thing, for the boy shall become a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.'"

13:8  Then Manoah entreated the LORD and said, "O Lord, please let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who will become born."

13:9  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 did not come with her.

13:10  So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, "Behold, the man who came the other day has appeared to me."

13:11  Then Manoah arose and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, "Do you identify yourself as the man who spoke to the woman?" And he said, "I identify myself as the one."

13:12  Manoah said, "Now when your words come to pass, what shall the boy's mode of life and his vocation consist of?"

13:13  So the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Let the woman pay attention to all that I said.

13:14  "She should not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her observe all that I commanded."

13:15  Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you."

13:16  The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD." For Manoah did not know that he spoke to the angel of the LORD.

13:17  Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "What do you call yourself so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?"

13:18  But the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it seems wonderful?"

13:19  So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD, and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on.

13:20  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 fell on their faces to the ground.

13:21  Now the angel of the LORD did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that he had spoken to the angel of the LORD.

13:22  So Manoah said to his wife, "We will surely die, for we have seen God."

13:23  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 shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time."

13:24  Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the LORD blessed him.

13:25  And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.