1And 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 . 2And 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. 3And 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 . 4Now therefore beware , I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink , and eat not any unclean thing: 5For, 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 . 6Then 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 : 7But 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 .
Manoah's Prayer and God's Response
8Then 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 . 9And 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. 10And 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 . 11And 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 . 12And Manoah said , Now let thy words come to pass . How shall we order the child , and how shall we do unto him? 13And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah , Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware . 14She 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 .
The Angel of the Lord Revealed
15And 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. 16And 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 . 17And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD , What is thy name , that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour ? 18And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name , seeing it is secret ? 19So 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 . 20For 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 . 21But 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 . 22And Manoah said unto his wife , We shall surely die , because we have seen God . 23But 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 .
The Birth of Samson
24And the woman bare a son , and called his name Samson : and the child grew , and the LORD blessed him. 25And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol .