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 showed 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 honor?
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 wonderously; 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 showed 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.
1 And the children H1121 of Israel H3478 did H6213 evil H7451 again H3254 in the sight H5869 of the LORD; H3068 and the LORD H3068 delivered H5414 them into the hand H3027 of the Philistines H6430 forty H705 years. H8141
2 And there was a certain H259 man H376 of Zorah, H6881 of the family H4940 of the Danites, H1839 whose name H8034 was Manoah; H4495 and his wife H802 was barren, H6135 and bare H3205 not.
3 And the angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 appeared H7200 unto the woman, H802 and said H559 unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, H6135 and bearest H3205 not: but thou shalt conceive, H2029 and bear H3205 a son. H1121
4 Now therefore beware, H8104 I pray thee, and drink H8354 not wine H3196 nor strong drink, H7941 and eat H398 not any unclean H2931 thing:
5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, H2030 and bear H3205 a son; H1121 and no razor H4177 shall come H5927 on his head: H7218 for the child H5288 shall be a Nazarite H5139 unto God H430 from the womb: H990 and he shall begin H2490 to deliver H3467 Israel H3478 out of the hand H3027 of the Philistines. H6430
6 Then the woman H802 came H935 and told H559 her husband, H376 saying, H559 A man H376 of God H430 came H935 unto me, and his countenance H4758 was like the countenance H4758 of an angel H4397 of God, H430 very H3966 terrible: H3372 but I asked H7592 him not whence he was, neither told H5046 he me his name: H8034
7 But he said H559 unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, H2030 and bear H3205 a son; H1121 and now drink H7941 no wine H3196 nor strong drink, H8354 neither eat H398 any unclean H2932 thing: for the child H5288 shall be a Nazarite H5139 to God H430 from the womb H990 to the day H3117 of his death. H4194
8 Then Manoah H4495 intreated H6279 the LORD, H3068 and said, H559 O H994 my Lord, H136 let H4994 the man H376 of God H430 which thou didst send H7971 come again H935 unto us, and teach H3384 us what we shall do H6213 unto the child H5288 that shall be born. H3205
9 And God H430 hearkened H8085 to the voice H6963 of Manoah; H4495 and the angel H4397 of God H430 came again H935 unto the woman H802 as she sat H3427 in the field: H7704 but Manoah H4495 her husband H376 was not with her.
10 And the woman H802 made haste, H4116 and ran, H7323 and shewed H5046 her husband, H376 and said H559 unto him, Behold, the man H376 hath appeared H7200 unto me, that came H935 unto me the other day. H3117
11 And Manoah H4495 arose, H6965 and went H3212 after H310 his wife, H802 and came H935 to the man, H376 and said H559 unto him, Art thou the man H376 that spakest H1696 unto the woman? H802 And he said, H559 I am.
12 And Manoah H4495 said, H559 Now let thy words H1697 come to pass. H935 How shall we order H4941 the child, H5288 and how shall we do H4639 unto him?
13 And the angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 said H559 unto Manoah, H4495 Of all that I said H559 unto the woman H802 let her beware. H8104
14 She may not eat H398 of any thing that cometh H3318 of the vine, H1612 neither let her drink H8354 wine H3196 or strong drink, H7941 nor eat H398 any unclean H2932 thing: all that I commanded H6680 her let her observe. H8104
15 And Manoah H4495 said H559 unto the angel H4397 of the LORD, H3068 I pray thee, let us detain H6113 thee, until we shall have made ready H6213 a kid H1423 H5795 for H6440 thee.
16 And the angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 said H559 unto Manoah, H4495 Though thou detain H6113 me, I will not eat H398 of thy bread: H3899 and if H518 thou wilt offer H6213 a burnt offering, H5930 thou must offer H5927 it unto the LORD. H3068 For Manoah H4495 knew H3045 not that he was an angel H4397 of the LORD. H3068
17 And Manoah H4495 said H559 unto the angel H4397 of the LORD, H3068 What is thy name, H8034 that when thy sayings H1697 come to pass H935 we may do thee honour? H3513
18 And the angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 said H559 unto him, Why askest H7592 thou thus after my name, H8034 seeing it is secret? H6383 H6383
19 So Manoah H4495 took H3947 a kid H1423 H5795 with a meat offering, H4503 and offered H5927 it upon a rock H6697 unto the LORD: H3068 and the angel did H6213 wondrously; H6381 and Manoah H4495 and his wife H802 looked on. H7200
20 For it came to pass, when the flame H3851 went up H5927 toward heaven H8064 from off the altar, H4196 that the angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 ascended H5927 in the flame H3851 of the altar. H4196 And Manoah H4495 and his wife H802 looked on H7200 it, and fell on H5307 their faces H6440 to the ground. H776
21 But the angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 did no more H3254 appear H7200 to Manoah H4495 and to his wife. H802 Then Manoah H4495 knew H3045 that he was an angel H4397 of the LORD. H3068
22 And Manoah H4495 said H559 unto his wife, H802 We shall surely H4191 die, H4191 because we have seen H7200 God. H430
23 But his wife H802 said H559 unto him, If H3863 the LORD H3068 were pleased H2654 to kill H4191 us, he would not have received H3947 a burnt offering H5930 and a meat offering H4503 at our hands, H3027 neither would he have shewed H7200 us all these things, nor would as at this time H6256 have told H8085 us such things as these. H2063
24 And the woman H802 bare H3205 a son, H1121 and called H7121 his name H8034 Samson: H8123 and the child H5288 grew, H1431 and the LORD H3068 blessed H1288 him.
25 And the Spirit H7307 of the LORD H3068 began H2490 to move him at times H6470 in the camp H4264 of Dan H1835 between Zorah H6881 and Eshtaol. H847
1 And the children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah; and Jehovah 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 Jehovah 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 no 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 upon his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to save 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 the angel of God, very terrible; and 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, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb to the day of his death.
8 Then Manoah entreated Jehovah, and said, Oh, Lord, I pray thee, let the man of God whom 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 told 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: what shall be the ordering of the child, and `how' shall we do unto him?
13 And the angel of Jehovah said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware.
14 She may not eat of anything 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 Jehovah, I pray thee, let us detain thee, that we may make ready a kid for thee.
16 And the angel of Jehovah said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; and if thou wilt make ready a burnt-offering, thou must offer it unto Jehovah. For Manoah knew not that he was the angel of Jehovah.
17 And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that, when thy words come to pass, we may do thee honor?
18 And the angel of Jehovah said unto him, Wherefore askest thou after my name, seeing it is wonderful?
19 So Manoah took the kid with the meal-offering, and offered it upon the rock unto Jehovah: 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 Jehovah ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 But the angel of Jehovah did no more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Jehovah.
22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
23 But his wife said unto him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meal-offering at our hand, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would at this time have told such things as these.
24 And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him.
25 And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
1 And the sons of Israel add to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, and Jehovah giveth them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2 And there is a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danite, and his name `is' Manoah, his wife `is' barren, and hath not borne;
3 and a messenger of Jehovah appeareth unto the woman, and saith unto her, `Lo, I pray thee, thou `art' barren, and hast not borne; when thou hast conceived, then thou hast borne a son.
4 And, now, take heed, I pray thee, and do not drink wine, and strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing,
5 for, lo, thou art conceiving and bearing a son, and a razor doth not go up on his head, for a Nazarite to God is the youth from the womb, and he doth begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.'
6 And the woman cometh and speaketh to her husband, saying, `A man of God hath come unto me, and his appearance `is' as the appearance of a messenger of God, very fearful, and I have not asked him whence he `is', and his name he hath not declared to me;
7 and he saith to me, Lo, thou art pregnant, and bearing a son, and now do not drink wine and strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, for a Nazarite to God is the youth from the womb till the day of his death.'
8 And Manoah maketh entreaty unto Jehovah, and saith, `O, my Lord, the man of God whom Thou didst send, let him come in, I pray thee, again unto us, and direct us what we do to the youth who is born.'
9 And God hearkeneth to the voice of Manoah, and the messenger of God cometh again unto the woman, and she `is' sitting in a field, and Manoah her husband is not with her,
10 and the woman hasteth, and runneth, and declareth to her husband, and saith unto him, `Lo, he hath appeared unto me -- the man who came on `that' day unto me.'
11 And Manoah riseth, and goeth after his wife, and cometh unto the man, and saith to him, `Art thou the man who spake unto the woman?' and he saith, `I `am'.'
12 And Manoah saith, `Now let thy words come to pass; what is the custom of the youth -- and his work?'
13 And the messenger of Jehovah saith unto Manoah, `Of all that I said unto the woman let her take heed;
14 of anything which cometh out from the wine-vine she doth not eat, and wine and strong drink she doth not drink, and any unclean thing she doth not eat; all that I have commanded her she doth observe.'
15 And Manoah saith unto the messenger of Jehovah, `Let us detain thee, we pray thee, and prepare before thee a kid of the goats.'
16 And the messenger of Jehovah saith unto Manoah, `If thou detain me -- I do not eat of thy bread; and if thou prepare a burnt-offering -- to Jehovah thou dost offer it;' for Manoah hath not known that He `is' a messenger of Jehovah.
17 And Manoah saith unto the messenger of Jehovah, `What `is' thy name? when thy words come to pass, then we have honoured thee.'
18 And the messenger of Jehovah saith to him, `Why `is' this -- thou dost ask for My name? -- and it `is' Wonderful.'
19 And Manoah taketh the kid of the goats, and the present, and offereth on the rock to Jehovah, and He is doing wonderfully, and Manoah and his wife are looking on,
20 and it cometh to pass, in the going up of the flame from off the altar toward the heavens, that the messenger of Jehovah goeth up in the flame of the altar, and Manoah and his wife are looking on, and they fall on their faces to the earth,
21 and the messenger of Jehovah hath not added again to appear unto Manoah, and unto his wife, then hath Manoah known that He `is' a messenger of Jehovah.
22 And Manoah saith unto his wife, `We certainly die, for we have seen God.'
23 And his wife saith to him, `If Jehovah were desirous to put us to death, He had not received from our hands burnt-offering and present, nor shewed us all these things, nor as `at this' time caused us to hear `anything' like this.'
24 And the woman beareth a son, and calleth his name Samson, and the youth groweth, and Jehovah doth bless him,
25 and the Spirit of Jehovah beginneth to move him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Mano'ah; and his wife was barren and had no children.
3 And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have no children; but you shall conceive and bear a son.
4 Therefore beware, and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean,
5 for lo, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines."
6 Then the woman came and told her husband, "A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God, very terrible; I did not ask him whence he was, and he did not tell me his name;
7 but he said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; so then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.'"
8 Then Mano'ah entreated the LORD, and said, "O, LORD, I pray thee, let the man of God whom thou didst send come again to us, and teach us what we are to do with the boy that will be born."
9 And God listened to the voice of Mano'ah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but Mano'ah her husband was not with her.
10 And the woman ran in haste and told her husband, "Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me."
11 And Mano'ah arose and went after his wife, and came to the man and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to this woman?" And he said, "I am."
12 And Mano'ah said, "Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy's manner of life, and what is he to do?"
13 And the angel of the LORD said to Mano'ah, "Of all that I said to the woman let her beware.
14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe."
15 Mano'ah said to the angel of the LORD, "Pray, let us detain you, and prepare a kid for you."
16 And the angel of the LORD said to Mano'ah, "If you detain me, I will not eat of your food; but if you make ready a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD." (For Mano'ah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.)
17 And Mano'ah said to the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?"
18 And the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?"
19 So Mano'ah took the kid with the cereal offering, and offered it upon the rock to the LORD, to him who works wonders.
20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar while Mano'ah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Mano'ah and to his wife. Then Mano'ah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.
22 And Mano'ah said to his wife, "We shall surely die, for we have seen God."
23 But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a cereal offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these."
24 And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson; and the boy grew, and the LORD blessed him.
25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Ma'haneh-dan, between Zorah and Esh'ta-ol.
1 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh; and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and didn't bear.
3 The angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman, and said to her, See now, you are barren, and don't bear; but you shall conceive, and bear a son.
4 Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don't eat any unclean thing:
5 for, behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very awesome; and I didn't ask him whence he was, neither did he tell me his name:
7 but he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
8 Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, and said, Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you did send come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child who shall be born.
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, wasn't with her.
10 The woman made haste, and ran, and told her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man has appeared to me, who came to me the [other] day.
11 Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Are you the man who spoke to the woman? He said, I am.
12 Manoah said, Now let your words happen: what shall be the ordering of the child, and [how] shall we do to him?
13 The angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman let her beware.
14 She may not eat of anything that comes 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 Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, I pray you, let us detain you, that we may make ready a kid for you.
16 The angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, Though you detain me, I won't eat of your bread; and if you will make ready a burnt offering, you must offer it to Yahweh. For Manoah didn't know that he was the angel of Yahweh.
17 Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, What is your name, that when your words happen, we may honor you?
18 The angel of Yahweh said to him, Why do you ask after my name, seeing it is wonderful?
19 So Manoah took the kid with the meal-offering, and offered it on the rock to Yahweh: and [the angel] did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on.
20 For it happened, when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, that the angel of Yahweh ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 But the angel of Yahweh did no more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh.
22 Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
23 But his wife said to him, If Yahweh were pleased to kill us, he wouldn't have received a burnt offering and a meal-offering at our hand, neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would at this time have told such things as these.
24 The woman bore a son, and named him Samson: and the child grew, and Yahweh blessed him.
25 The Spirit of Yahweh began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
2 Now there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites, and his name was Manoah; and his wife had never given birth to a child.
3 And the angel of the Lord came to the woman, and said to her, See now! though you have never given birth to children, you will be with child and give birth to a son.
4 Now then take care to have no wine or strong drink and to take no unclean thing for food;
5 For you are with child and will give birth to a son; his hair is never to be cut, for the child is to be separate to God from his birth; and he will take up the work of freeing Israel from the hands of the Philistines.
6 Then the woman came in, and said to her husband, A man came to me, and his form was like the form of a god, causing great fear; I put no question to him about where he came from, and he did not give me his name;
7 But he said to me, You are with child and will give birth to a son; and now do not take any wine or strong drink or let anything unclean be your food; for the child will be separate to God from his birth to the day of his death.
8 Then Manoah made prayer to the Lord, and said, O Lord, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and make clear to us what we are to do for the child who is to come.
9 And God gave ear to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came to the woman again when she was seated in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.
10 So the woman, running quickly, gave her husband the news, saying, I have seen the man who came to me the other day.
11 And Manoah got up and went after his wife, and came up to the man and said to him, Are you the man who was talking to this woman? And he said, I am.
12 And Manoah said, Now when your words come true, what is to be the rule for the child and what will be his work?
13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Let the woman take note of what I have said to her.
14 She is to have nothing which comes from the vine for her food, and let her take no wine or strong drink or anything which is unclean; let her take care to do all I have given her orders to do.
15 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, Now let us keep you while we make ready a young goat for you.
16 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Though you keep me I will not take of your food; but if you will make a burned offering, let it be offered to the Lord. For it had not come into Manoah's mind that he was the angel of the Lord.
17 Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, What is your name, so that when your words come true we may give you honour?
18 But the angel of the Lord said to him, Why are you questioning me about my name, seeing that it is a wonder?
19 So Manoah took the young goat with its meal offering, offering it on the rock to the Lord, who did strange things.
20 And when the flame went up to heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar, while Manoah and his wife were looking on; and they went down on their faces to the earth.
21 But the angel of the Lord was seen no more by Manoah and his wife. Then it was clear to Manoah that he was the angel of the Lord.
22 And Manoah said to his wife, Death will certainly be our fate, for it is a god whom we have seen.
23 But his wife said to him, If the Lord was purposing our death, he would not have taken our burned offering and our meal offering, or have given us such orders about the child.
24 So the woman gave birth to a son, and gave him the name Samson; and he became a man and the blessing of the Lord was on him.
25 And the spirit of the Lord first came on him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Judges 13
Commentary on Judges 13 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Samson's Life, and Conflicts with the Philistines - Judges 13-16
Whilst Jephthah, in the power of God, was delivering the tribes on the east of the Jordan from the oppression of the Ammonites, the oppression on the part of the Philistines continued uninterruptedly for forty years in the land to the west of the Jordan (Judges 13:1), and probably increased more and more after the disastrous war during the closing years of the high-priesthood of Eli, in which the Israelites suffered a sad defeat, and even lost the ark of the covenant, which was taken by the Philistines (1 Sam 4). But even during this period, Jehovah the God of Israel did not leave himself without witness, either in the case of His enemies the Philistines, or in that of His people Israel. The triumphant delight of the Philistines at the capture of the ark was soon changed into great and mortal terror, when Dagon their idol had fallen down from its place before the ark of God and was lying upon the threshold of its temple with broken head and arms; and the inhabitants of Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron, to which the ark was taken, were so severely smitten with boils by the hand of Jehovah, that the princes of the Philistines felt constrained to send the ark, which brought nothing but harm to their people, back into the land of the Israelites, and with it a trespass-offering (1 Sam 5-6). At this time the Lord had also raised up a hero for His people in the person of Samson , whose deeds were to prove to the Israelites and Philistines that the God of Israel still possessed the power to help His people and smite His foes.
The life and acts of Samson , who was to begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines, and who judged Israel for twenty years under the rule of the Philistines (Judges 13:5 and Judges 15:20), are described in Judg 13-16 with an elaborate fulness which seems quite out of proportion to the help and deliverance which he brought to his people. His birth was foretold to his parents by an appearance of the angel of the Lord, and the boy was set apart as a Nazarite from his mother's womb. When he had grown up, the Spirit of Jehovah began to drive him to seek occasions for showing the Philistines his marvellous strength, and to inflict severe blows upon them in a series of wonderful feats, until at length he was seduced by the bewitching Delilah to make known to her the secret of his supernatural strength, and was betrayed by her into the power of the Philistines, who deprived him of the sight of his eyes, and compelled him to perform the hardest and most degraded kinds of slave-labour. From this he was only able to escape by bringing about his own death, which he did in such a manner that his enemies were unable to triumph over him, since he killed more of them at his death than he had killed during the whole of his life before. And whilst the small results that followed from the acts of this hero of God do not answer the expectations that might naturally be formed from the miraculous announcement of his birth, the nature of the acts which he performed appears still less to be such as we should expect from a hero impelled by the Spirit of God. His actions not only bear the stamp of adventure, foolhardiness, and wilfulness, when looked at outwardly, but they are almost all associated with love affairs; so that it looks as if Samson had dishonoured and fooled away the gift entrusted to him, by making it subservient to his sensual lusts, and thus had prepared the way for his own ruin, without bringing any essential help to his people. “The man who carried the gates of Gaza up to the top of the mountain was the slave of a woman, to whom he frivolously betrayed the strength of his Nazarite locks. These locks grew once more, and his strength returned, but only to bring death at the same time to himself and his foes” ( Ziegler ). Are we to discern in such a character as this a warrior of the Lord? Can Samson, the promised son of a barren woman, a Nazarite from his birth, be the head and flower of the Judges? We do not pretend to answer these questions in the affirmative; and to justify this view we start from the fact, which Ewald and Diestel both admit to be historical, that the deep earnest background of Samson's nature is to be sought for in his Nazarite condition, or rather that it is in this that the distinctive significance of his character and of his life and deeds as judge all culminates. The Nazarite was not indeed what Bertheau supposes him to have been, “a man separated from human pursuits and turmoil;” but the significance of the Nazarite condition was to be found in a consecration of the life to God, which had its roots in living faith, and its outward manifestations negatively, in abstinence from everything unclean, from drinking wine, and even from fruit of the vine of every description, and positively, in wearing the hair uncut. In the case of Samson this consecration of the life to God was not an act of his own free will, or a vow voluntarily taken; but it was imposed upon him by divine command from his conception and birth. As a Nazarite, i.e., as a person vowed to the Lord, he was to begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines; and the bodily sign of his Nazarite condition, - namely, the hair of his head that had never been touched by the scissors, - was the vehicle of his supernatural strength with which he smote the Philistines. In Samson the Nazarite, however, not only did the Lord design to set before His people a man towering above the fallen generation in heroic strength, through his firm faith in and confident reliance upon the gift of God committed to him, opening up before it the prospect of a renewal of its own strength, that by this type he might arouse such strength and ability as were still slumbering in the nation; but Samson was to exhibit to his age generally a picture on the one hand of the strength which the people of God might acquire to overcome their strongest foes through faithful submission to the Lord their God, and on the other hand of the weakness into which they had sunk through unfaithfulness to the covenant and intercourse with the heathen. And it is in this typical character of Samson and his deeds that we find the head and flower of the institution of judge in Israel.
The judges whom Jehovah raised up in the interval between Joshua and Samuel were neither military commanders nor governors of the nation; nor were they authorities instituted by God and invested with the government of the state. They were not even chosen from the heads of the nation, but were called by the Lord out of the midst of their brethren to be the deliverers of the nation, either through His Spirit which came upon them, or through prophets and extraordinary manifestations of God; and the influence which they exerted, after the conquest and humiliation of the foe and up to the time of their death, upon the government of the nation and its affairs in general, was not the result of any official rank, but simply the fruit and consequence of their personal ability, and therefore extended for the most part only to those tribes to whom they had brought deliverance from the oppression of their foes. The tribes of Israel did not want any common secular ruler to fulfil the task that devolved upon the nation at that time. God therefore raised up even the judges only in times of distress and trouble. For their appearance and work were simply intended to manifest the power which the Lord could confer upon His people through His spirit, and were designed, on the one hand, to encourage Israel to turn seriously to its God, and by holding fast to His covenant to obtain the power to conquer all its foes; and, on the other hand, to alarm their enemies, that they might not attribute to their idols the power which they possessed to subjugate the Israelites, but might learn to fear the omnipotence of the true God. This divine power which was displayed by the judges culminated in Samson. When the Spirit of God came upon him, he performed such mighty deeds as made the haughty Philistines feel the omnipotence of Jehovah. And this power he possessed by virtue of his condition as a Nazarite, because he had been vowed or dedicated to the Lord from his mother's womb, so long as he remained faithful to the vow that had been imposed upon him.
But just as his strength depended upon the faithful observance of his vow, so his weakness became apparent in his natural character, particularly in his intrigues with the daughters of the Philistines; and in this weakness there was reflected the natural character of the nation generally, and of its constant disposition to fraternize with the heathen. Love to a Philistine woman in Timnath not only supplied Samson with the first occasion to exhibit his heroic strength to the Philistines, but involved him in a series of conflicts in which he inflicted severe blows upon the uncircumcised. This impulse to fight against the Philistines came from Jehovah (Judges 14:4), and in these conflicts Jehovah assisted him with the power of His Spirit, and even opened up a fountain of water for him at Lehi in the midst of his severe fight, for the purpose of reviving his exhausted strength (Judges 15:19). On the other hand, in his intercourse with the harlot at Gaza, and his love affair with Delilah, he trod ways of the flesh which led to his ruin. In his destruction, which was brought about by his forfeiture of the pledge of the divine gift entrusted to him, the insufficiency of the judgeship in itself to procure for the people of God supremacy over their foes became fully manifest; so that the weakness of the judgeship culminated in Samson as well as its strength. The power of the Spirit of God, bestowed upon the judges for the deliverance of their people, was overpowered by the might of the flesh lusting against the spirit.
This special call received from God will explain the peculiarities observable in the acts which he performed, - not only the smallness of the outward results of his heroic acts, but the character of adventurous boldness by which they were distinguished. Although he had been set apart as a Nazarite from his mother's womb, he as not to complete the deliverance of his people from the hands of the Philistines, but simply to commence, it, i.e., to show to the people, by the manifestation of supernatural heroic power, the possibility of deliverance, or to exhibit the strength with which a man could slay a thousand foes. To answer this purpose, it was necessary that the acts of Samson should differ from those of the judges who fought at the head of military forces, and should exhibit the stamp of confidence and boldness in the full consciousness of possession divine and invincible power.
But whilst the spirit which prevailed in Israel during the time of the judges culminated in the nature and deeds of Samson both in its weakness and strength, the miraculous character of his deeds, regarded simply in themselves, affords no ground for pronouncing the account a mere legend which has transformed historical acts into miracles, except from a naturalistic point of view, which rejects all miracles, and therefore denies a priori the supernatural working of the living God in the midst of His people. The formal character of the whole of the history of Samson, which the opponents of the biblical revelation adduce for the further support of this view, does not yield any tenable evidence of its correctness. The external rounding off of the account proves nothing more than that Samson's life and acts formed in themselves a compact and well-rounded whole. But the assertion, that “well-rounded circumstances form a suitable framework for the separate accounts, and that precisely twelve acts are related of Samson, which are united into beautiful pictures and narrated in artistic order” ( Bertheau ), is at variance with the actual character of the biblical account. In order to get exactly twelve heroic acts, Bertheau has to fix the stamp of a heroic act performed by Samson himself upon the miraculous help which he received from God through the opening up of a spring of water (Judges 15:18-19), and also to split up a closely connected event, such as his breaking the bonds three times, into three different actions.
(Note: On these grounds, L. Diestel , in the article Samson in Herzog's Cycl., has rejected Bertheau's enumeration as unsatisfactory; and also the division proposed by Ewald into five acts with three turns in each, because, in order to arrive at this grouping, Ewald is not only obliged to refer the general statement in Judges 13:25, “the Spirit of God began to drive Samson,” to some heroic deed which is not described, but has also to assume that in the case of one act (the carrying away of the gates at Gaza) the last two steps of the legend are omitted from the present account, although in all the rest Diestel follows Ewald 's view almost without exception. The views advanced by Ewald and Bertheau form the foundation of Roskoff's Monograph, “the legend of Samson in its origin, form, and signification, and the legend of Hercules,”in which the legend of Samson is regarded as an Israelitish form of that of Hercules.)
If we simply confine ourselves to the biblical account, the acts of Samson may be divided into two parts. The first (Judg 14 and 15) contains those in which Samson smote the Philistines with gradually increasing severity; the second (Judg 16) those by which he brought about his own fall and ruin. These are separated from one another by the account of the time that his judgeship lasted (Judges 15:20), and this account is briefly repeated at the close of the whole account (Judges 16:31). The first part includes six distinct acts which are grouped together in twos: viz., (1 and 2) the killing of the lion on the way to Timnath, and the slaughter of the thirty Philistines for the purpose of paying for the solution of his riddle with the clothes that he took off them (Judg 14); (3 and 4) his revenge upon the Philistines by burning their crops, because his wife had been given to a Philistine, and also by the great slaughter with which he punished them for having burned his father-in-law and wife (Judges 15:1-8); (5 and 6) the bursting of the cords with which his countrymen had bound him for the purpose of delivering him up to the Philistines, and the slaying of 1000 Philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass (Judges 15:9-19). The second part of his life comprises only three acts: viz., (1) taking off the town gates of Gaza, and carrying them away (Judges 16:1-3); (2) breaking the bonds with which Delilah bound him three separate times (Judges 16:4-14); and (3) his heroic death through pulling down the temple of Dagon, after he had been delivered into the power of the Philistines through the treachery of Delilah, and had been blinded by them (Judg 16:15-31). In this arrangement there is no such artistic shaping or rounding off of the historical materials apparent, as could indicate any mythological decoration. And lastly, the popular language of Samson in proverbs, rhymes, and a play upon words, does not warrant us in maintaining that the popular legend invented this mode of expressing his thoughts, and put the words into his mouth. All this leads to the conclusion, that there is no good ground for calling in question the historical character of the whole account of Samson's life and deeds.
(Note: No safe or even probable conjecture can be drawn from the character of the history before us, with reference to the first written record of the life of Samson, or the sources which the author of our book of Judges made use of for this portion of his work. The recurrence of such expressions as יחל followed by an infinitive (Judges 13:5, Judges 13:25; Judges 16:19, Judges 16:22), פּתּי (Judges 14:15; Judges 16:5), הציק (Judges 14:17; Judges 16:16, etc.), upon which Bertheau lays such stress, arises from the actual contents of the narrative itself. The same expressions also occur in other places where the thought requires them, and therefore they form no such peculiarities of style as to warrant the conclusion that the life of Samson was the subject of a separate work ( Ewald ), or that it was a fragment taken from a larger history of the wars of the Philistines ( Bertheau ).)
Birth of Samson. - Judges 13:1. The oppression of the Israelites by the Philistines, which is briefly hinted at in Judges 10:7, is noticed again here with the standing formula, “ And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, ” etc. (cf. Judges 10:6; Judges 4:1; Judges 3:12), as an introduction to the account of the life and acts of Samson , who began to deliver Israel from the hands of these enemies. Not only the birth of Samson, but the prediction of his birth, also fell, according to Judges 13:5, within the period of the rule of the Philistines over Israel. Now, as their oppression lasted forty years, and Samson judged Israel for twenty years during that oppression (Judges 15:20; Judges 16:31), he must have commenced his judgeship at an early age, probably before the completion of his twentieth year; and with this the statement in Judg 14, that his marriage with a Philistine woman furnished the occasion for his conflicts with these enemies of his people, fully agrees. The end of the forty years of the supremacy of the Philistines is not given in this book, which closes with the death of Samson. It did not terminate till the great victory which the Israelites gained over their enemies under the command of Samuel (1 Sam 7). Twenty years before this victory the Philistines had sent back the ark which they had taken from the Israelites, after keeping it for seven months in their own land (1 Samuel 7:2, and 1 Samuel 6:1). It was within these twenty years that most of the acts of Samson occurred. His first affair with the Philistines, however, namely on the occasion of his marriage, took place a year or two before this defeat of the Israelites, in which the sons of Eli were slain, the ark fell into the hands of the Philistines, and the high priest Eli fell from his seat and broke his neck on receiving the terrible news (1 Samuel 4:18). Consequently Eli died a short time after the first appearance of Samson.
Whilst the Israelites were given into the hands of the Philistines on account of their sins, and were also severely oppressed in Gilead on the part of the Ammonites, the angel of the Lord appeared to the wife of Manoah, a Danite from Zorea , i.e., Sur'a , on the western slope of the mountains of Judah (see at Joshua 15:33). Mishpachath Dani (the family of the Danites) is used interchangeably with shebet Dani (the tribe of the Danites: see Judges 18:2, Judges 18:11, and Judges 18:1, Judges 18:30), which may be explained on this ground, that according to Numbers 26:42-43, all the Danites formed but one family, viz., the family of the Shuhamites. The angel of the Lord announced to this woman, who was barren, “ Thou wilt conceive and bear a son. And now beware, drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean: for, behold, thou wilt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come upon his head; for a vowed man of God (Nazir) will the boy be from his mother's womb, ” i.e., his whole life long, “to the day of his death,” as the angel expressly affirmed, according to Judges 13:7. The three prohibitions which the angel of the Lord imposed upon the woman were the three things which distinguished the condition of a Nazarite (see at Numbers 6:1-8, and the explanation given there of the Nazarite vow). The only other thing mentioned in the Mosaic law is the warning against defilement from contact with the dead, which does not seem to have been enforced in the case of Samson. When the angel added still further, “ And he (the Nazarite) will begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, ” he no doubt intended to show that his power to effect this deliverance would be closely connected with his condition as a Nazarite. The promised son was to be a Nazarite all his life long, because he was to begin to deliver Israel out of the power of his foes. And in order that he might be so, his mother was to share in the renunciations of the Nazarite vow during the time of her pregnancy. Whilst the appearance of the angel of the Lord contained the practical pledge that the Lord still acknowledged His people, though He had given them into the hands of their enemies; the message of the angel contained this lesson and warning for Israel, that it could only obtain deliverance from its foes by seeking after a life of consecration to the Lord, such as the Nazarites pursued, so as to realize the idea of the priestly character to which Israel had been called as the people of Jehovah, by abstinence from the deliciae carnis, and everything that was unclean, as being emanations of sin, and also by a complete self-surrender to the Lord (see Pentateuch, p. 674).
The woman told her husband of this appearance: “ A man of God, ” she said (lit., the man of God, viz., the one just referred to), “ came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very terrible; and I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name, ” etc. “ Man of God ” was the expression used to denote a prophet, or a man who stood in immediate intercourse with God, such as Moses and others (see at Deuteronomy 33:1). “ Angel of God ” is equivalent to “angel of the Lord” (Judges 2:1; Judges 6:11), the angel in whom the invisible God reveals himself to men. The woman therefore imagined the person who appeared to her to have been a prophet, whose majestic appearance, however, had produced the impression that he was a superior being; consequently she had not ventured to ask him either his name or where he came from.
Being firmly convinced of the truth of this announcement, and at the same time reflecting upon the obligation which it imposed upon the parents, Manoah prayed to the Lord that He would let the man of God whom He had sent come to them again, to teach them what they were to do to the boy that should be born, i.e., how they should treat him. היּוּלד , according to the Keri היּלּד , is a participle Pual with the מ dropped (see Ewald , §169, b .). This prayer was heard. The angel of God appeared once more to the woman when she was sitting alone in the field without her husband.
Then she hastened to fetch her husband, who first of all inquired of the person who had appeared, “ Art thou the man who said to the woman ” (sc., what has been related in Judges 13:3-5)? And when this was answered in the affirmative, he said still further (Judges 13:12), “ Should thy word then come to pass, what will be the manner of the boy, and his doing? ” The plural דּבריך is construed ad sensum with the singular verb, because the words form one promise, so that the expression is not to be taken distributively, as Rosenmüller supposes. This also applies to Judges 13:17, Mishpat , the right belonging to a boy, i.e., the proper treatment of him.
The angel of the Lord then repeated the instructions which he had already given to the woman in Judges 13:4, simply adding to the prohibition of wine and strong drink the caution not to eat of anything that came from the vine, in accordance with Numbers 6:3.
As Manoah had not yet recognised in the man the angel of the Lord, as is observed by way of explanation in Judges 13:16, he wished, like Gideon ( Judges 6:18), to give a hospitable entertainment to the man who had brought him such joyful tidings, and therefore said to him, “ Let us detain thee, and prepare a kid for thee .” The construction לפניך נעשׂה is a pregnant one: “prepare and set before thee.” On the fact itself, see Judges 6:19.
The angel of the Lord replied, “ If thou wilt detain me (sc., that I may eat), I will not eat of thy food ( אכל with בּ , to eat thereat, i.e., thereof, as in Exodus 12:43; Leviticus 22:11); but if thou wilt prepare a burnt-offering for Jehovah, then offer it .”
Manoah then asked his name: שׁמך מי , lit., “ Who is thy name? ” מי inquires after the person; מה , the nature of quality (see Ewald , §325, a .). “ For if thy word come to pass, we will do thee honour. ” This was the reason why he asked after his name. כּבּד , to honour by presents, so as to show one's self grateful (see Numbers 22:17, Numbers 22:37; Numbers 24:11).
The angel replied, “ Why askest thou then after my name? truly it is wonderful .” The Kethibh פלאי is the adjectival form פּלאי from פּלא , for which the Keri has פּלי , the pausal form of פּלי (from the radical פּלה = פּלא ). The word therefore is not the proper name of the angel of the Lord, but expresses the character of his name; and as the name simply denotes the nature, it expresses the peculiarity of his nature also. It is to be understood in an absolute sense, - “absolutely and supremely wonderful” ( Seb. Schmidt ), - as a predicate belonging to God alone (compare the term “Wonderful” in Isaiah 9:6), and not to be toned down as it is by Bertheau , who explains it as signifying “neither easy to utter nor easy to comprehend.”
Manoah then took the kid and the minchah , i.e., according to Numbers 15:4., the meat-offering belonging to the burnt-offering, and offered it upon the rock, which is called an altar in Judges 13:20, because the angel of the Lord, who is of one nature with God, had sanctified it as an altar through the miraculous acceptance of the sacrifice. לעשׁות מפלא , “ and wonderfully (miraculously) did he act ” ( הפליא followed by the infinitive with ל as in 2 Chronicles 26:15). These words form a circumstantial clause, which is not to be attached, however, to the subject of the principal clause, but to ליהוה : “Manoah offered the sacrifice to the Lord, whereupon He acted to do wonderfully, i.e., He performed a wonder or miracle, and Manoah and his wife saw it” (see Ewald , Lehrb. §341, b ., p. 724, note). In what the miracle consisted is explained in Judges 13:20, in the words, “ when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar; ” that is to say, in the fact that a flame issued from the rock, as in the case of Gideon's sacrifice (Judges 6:21), and consumed the sacrifice. And the angel of the Lord ascended in this flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell upon their faces to the earth (sc., in worship), because they discovered from the miracle that it was the angel of the Lord who had appeared to them.
From that time forward the Lord did not appear to them again. But Manoah was afraid that he and his wife should die, because they had seen God (on this belief, see the remarks on Genesis 16:13 and Exodus 33:20). His wife quieted his fears, however, and said, “ Jehovah cannot intend to kill us, as He has accepted our sacrifice, and has shown us all this ” (the twofold miracle). “ And at this time He has not let us see such things as these .” כּעת , at the time in which we live, even if such things may possibly have taken place in the hoary antiquity.
The promise of God was fulfilled. the boy whom the woman bare received the name of Samson . שׁמשׁון (lxx, Σαμψών ) does not mean sun-like, hero of the sun, from שׁמשׁ (the sun), but, as Josephus explains it (Ant. v. 8, 4), ἰσχυρός , the strong or daring one, from שׁמשׁום , from the intensive from שׁמשׁם , from שׁמם , in its original sense to be strong or daring, not “to devastate.” שׁדד is an analogous word: lit . to be powerful, then to act powerfully, to devastate. The boy grew under the blessing of God (see 1 Samuel 2:21).
When he had grown up, the Spirit of Jehovah began to thrust him in the camp of Dan. פּעם , to thrust, denoting the operation of the Spirit of God within him, which took possession of him suddenly, and impelled him to put forth supernatural powers. Mahaneh-dan , the camp of Dan, was the name given to the district in which the Danites who emigrated, according to Judges 18:12, from the inheritance of their tribe, had pitched their encampment behind , i.e., to the west of, Kirjath-jearim , or according to this verse, between Zorea and Eshtaol. The situation cannot be determined precisely, as the situation of Eshtaol itself has not been discovered yet (see at Joshua 15:33). It was there that Samson lived with his parents, judging from Judges 16:31. The meaning of this verse, which forms the introduction to the following account of the acts of Samson, is simply that Samson was there seized by the Spirit of Jehovah, and impelled to commence the conflict with the Philistines.