1 ¶ And the children of Israel again did evil 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 from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; 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 be very careful, and do not drink any wine or strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing:

5 For, you will conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

6 Then the woman told her husband, saying, A man of God appeared to me, and he looked like an angel of God, very frightening: but I did not ask him where he was from, nor did he tell me his name:

7 But he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; so do not drink any wine or strong drink, or 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 to the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which you sent return to us, and teach us what we are to do with the child who shall be born.

9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God returned to the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.

10 And the woman ran, and told her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man who appeared to me the other day has again appeared to me.

11 And Manoah got up, and followed his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Are you the man who previously spoke to the woman? And he said, I am.

12 And Manoah said, Now when your words come to pass. How shall we deal with the child, and what shall we do for him?

13 And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Let the woman be careful to do all that I said to her.

14 She may not eat any thing that comes from the vine, nor let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing: let her observe all that I commanded her.

15 ¶ And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, I pray you, let us detain you, until we have prepared a young goat for you.

16 And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat your food: and if you want to offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD. For Manoah did not know that he was an angel of the LORD.

17 And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, Tell us your name, so that when what you have said comes to pass 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 Manoah took a young goat with a grain offering, and offered it on a rock to the LORD: and the angel worked wonders; while Manoah and his wife looked on.

20 For when the flame from the altar went up toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife watched it, and fell to the ground on their faces.

21 But the angel of the LORD did not again appear to Manoah or to his wife. After that Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.

22 And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

23 But his wife said to him, If the LORD meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from us, nor would he have shown us all these things, or now announced such things as these.

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 move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.