Judges 13
New King James Version (NKJV)

The Birth of Samson
13 Again the children of Israel did evil in the
sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for
forty years.
2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the
family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his
wife wasbarren and had no children. 3 And the
Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to
her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a
son. 4 Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine
or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. 5 For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And
no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and
he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

6 So the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A
Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the
Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did
not tell me His name. 7 And He said to me, ‘Behold, you
shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat
anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his
death.’”

8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, and said, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You
sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.”

9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the
Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her
husband was not with her. 10 Then
the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man who came to me
the other day has just now appeared to me!”

11 So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he
came to the Man, he said to Him, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?”

And He said, “I am.”

12 Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to
pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?”

13 So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her
be careful. 14 She may not eat anything that comes from the vine,
nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I
commanded her let her observe.”

15 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain You, and we will prepare 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. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel
of the Lord.)

17 Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is Your name, that when Your words
come 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 the young goat with the grain
offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He
did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on— 20 it
happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his
wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.21 When the Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah
knew that He was the Angel of theLord.

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 had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a
burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all
these things, nor would He have told us such things as these
at this time.”

24 So 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 upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah
and Eshtaol.