1 And the sons of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of Dan, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren, (she had never born children). 3 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto this woman and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren and hast had no children, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. 4 Now keep thyself and drink no wine nor strong drink and eat no unclean thing. 5 For 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 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 an angel of God, very terrible; but I did not ask him where he was from, neither did he tell 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 prayed unto the LORD and said, O my Lord, 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 that came unto me has appeared unto me today. 11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said unto him, Art thou the man that spoke unto this woman? And he said, I am. 12 Then Manoah said, Now let thy word come to pass. How shall we order the child, and what shall he do? 13 And the angel of the LORD replied unto Manoah, Let the woman keep herself from all that I said. 14 She may not eat of any thing 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 keep.
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 replied unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread, but if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, sacrifice it unto the LORD. For Manoah did not know that this was the angel of the LORD. 17 And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name that when thy words come to pass we may honour thee? 18 And the angel of the LORD replied, Why dost thou ask for my name? It is wonderful. 19 So Manoah took a kid with a present and sacrificed 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 as Manoah and his wife looked on, and they prostrated themselves on the ground on their faces.
21 But the angel of the LORD did not appear any more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the 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 had desired to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and the present from our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would he have announced this according to the time. 24 And the woman bore 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 manifest himself at times in him in the camps of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.