en-v0.1→en-v0.2-dev·#66fe2360c6e2Contribute to en-v0.2

Judges 13:1-25 — The Birth of Samson

Judg.13.1-25

¹The Israelites again did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, so Yahweh handed them over to the Philistines for forty years. ²Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the clan of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had no children. ³The angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have had no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean. ⁵For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor shall touch his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines." ⁶Then the woman went and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name. ⁷But he said to me, 'Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.'" ⁸Then Manoah pleaded with Yahweh and said, “Please, my Lord, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again, and teach us what we should do for the boy who is to be born.” ⁹God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but her husband Manoah was not with her. ¹⁰The woman hurried and ran to tell her husband, and said to him, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me!” ¹¹So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹²Then Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what will be the boy's rule of life and his mission?” ¹³The angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, "Your wife must be careful to do everything that I said to her. ¹⁴She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must observe everything that I have commanded her." ¹⁵Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “Please let us detain you, so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶But the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Even if you detain me, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to Yahweh.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of Yahweh. ¹⁷Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “What is your name, so that when your words come true, we may honor you?” ¹⁸The angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is beyond understanding?” ¹⁹So Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering, and offered them on the rock to Yahweh. Then He did a marvelous thing while Manoah and his wife were watching. ²⁰For when the flame went up from the altar toward the sky, the angel of Yahweh ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground. ²¹The angel of Yahweh did not appear again to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah realized that he was the angel of Yahweh. ²²Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, because we have seen God!” ²³But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh had intended 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 told us such things as these at this time.” ²⁴So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and Yahweh blessed him. ²⁵And the Spirit of Yahweh began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

💡 Read the current translation below. If you have suggestions, comment by verse.

📚 Reference Translations

🔬 Exegesis Resources