The Birth of Samson

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 bore not. 3And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman, and said to 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 to God from his birth: and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines. 6Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither did he tell me his name: 7But he said to 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 his birth to the day of his death.

8Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God, whom thou didst send come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be born. 9And God hearkened 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 was not with her. 10And the woman made haste, and ran, and showed her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man hath appeared to me, that came to me the other day. 11And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Art thou the man that didst speak to 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 to him? 13And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Of all that I said to 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.

15And Manoah said to 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 to Manoah, Though thou shouldst detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou must offer it to the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD. 17And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass, we may do thee honor? 18And the angel of the LORD said to 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 to the LORD; and the angel did wonderously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. 20For it came to pass, when the flame ascended towards 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 to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. 23But his wife said to 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.

24And the woman bore 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.