Judges 13 - Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Birth of Samson, the Last Judge

13 The Israelites again did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,(A) so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines 40 years. 2 There was a certain man from Zorah,(B) from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children. 3 The Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Now please be careful not to drink wine or beer,(C) or to eat anything unclean;(D) 5 for indeed, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair,[a] because the boy will be a Nazirite(E) to God from birth, and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

6 Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring Angel of God. I didn’t ask Him where He came from, and He didn’t tell me His name. 7 He said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Therefore, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth until the day of his death.’”

8 Manoah prayed(F) to the Lord and said, “Please Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.”

9 God listened(G) to[b] Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field, and her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman ran quickly to her husband and told him, “The man who came to me today has just come back!”

11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are You the man who spoke to my wife?”

“I am,” He said.

12 Then Manoah asked, “When Your words come true, what will the boy’s responsibilities and mission[c] be?”

13 The Angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “Your wife needs to do everything I told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine or drink wine or beer. And she must not eat anything unclean. Your wife must do everything I have commanded her.”

15 “Please stay here,” Manoah told Him, “and we will prepare a young goat(H) for You.”

16 The Angel of the Lord said to him, “If I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.

17 Then Manoah said to Him, “What is Your name, so that we may honor You when Your words come true?”

18 “Why do you ask My name,” the Angel of the Lord asked him, “since it is wonderful.”(I)

19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord, and He did a wonderful thing[d] while Manoah and his wife were watching. 20 When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the Angel of the Lord went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown on the ground. 21 The Angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the Angel of the Lord.

22 “We’re going to die,” he said to his wife, “because we have seen God!”(J)

23 But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, He wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and He would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us now like this.”

24 So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson.(K) The boy grew,(L) and the Lord blessed him. 25 Then the Spirit of the Lord began to direct him in the Camp of Dan,[e] between Zorah and Eshtaol.(M)

Footnotes

  1. Judges 13:5 Lit And a razor is not to go up on his head
  2. Judges 13:9 Lit to the voice of
  3. Judges 13:12 Lit work
  4. Judges 13:19 LXX reads to the Lord, to the One who works wonders
  5. Judges 13:25 Or in Mahaneh-dan

Cross references

  1. 13:1 : Jdg 3:12; 4:1; 10:6
  2. 13:2 : Jos 19:42; Jdg 13:25; 16:31; 18:2, 8, 11
  3. 13:4 : Nm 6:3
  4. 13:4 : Lv 7:19, 21; 22:8; Dt 12:22; 14:10; 15:22; Hs 9:3-4
  5. 13:5 : Nm 6:2
  6. 13:8 : Gn 25:21; Ex 10:18; Jb 33:26
  7. 13:9 : Gn 16:11; Ex 16:8; Dt 1:45; 33:7; Jos 10:14; Ps 27:7
  8. 13:15 : Gn 18:5
  9. 13:18 : Gn 32:29
  10. 13:22 : Gn 33:10; Ex 24:10; 33:20; Jdg 6:22; Is 6:5
  11. 13:24 : Heb 11:32
  12. 13:24 : 1Sm 3:19; Lk 1:80
  13. 13:25 : Jos 15:33; Jdg 16:31; 18:2, 8, 11; 1Ch 2:53

You Might Also Like:

Judges 13 - Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

13 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 o...
Read More

Judges 13 - Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

13 And again the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he betook them in[to] the hands of [the] Philistines (for) forty years. 2 Forsooth a man was of Zorah, of the kindred of Dan (And there was a man of Zorah, of the tribe of Dan), Manoah by name, and he had a barren wife. 3 To whic...
Read More

Judges 13 - World English Bible (WEB)

13 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight; 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 childless. 3 Yahweh’s angel appear...
Read More

Judges 13 - The Voice (VOICE)

13 Once again, though, the Israelites did evil according to the Eternal God, and He gave the Philistines power over them for 40 years. 2 During that time, a man of Zorah named Manoah, from the tribe of Dan, was married to a wife who could bear him no children. Messenger of the Eternal One (appearin...
Read More

Judges 13 - Tree of Life Version (TLV)

Birth of Samson13 Bnei-Yisrael again did what was evil in Adonai’s eyes, and Adonai gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. 2 Now there was a certain man from Zorah, from a Danite clan, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and bore no children. 3 Then the angel of Adonai app...
Read More

Judges 13 - Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Birth of Samson13 [a]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...
Read More

Judges 13 - Revised Standard Version (RSV)

The Birth of Samson13 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 ch...
Read More

Judges 13 - New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)

The Birth of Samson13 The Israelites 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 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children. 3 An...
Read More

Judges 13 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Birth of Samson13 The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.(A)2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children.(B)3 And...
Read More

Judges 13 - New Living Translation (NLT)

The Birth of Samson13 Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines, who oppressed them for forty years. 2 In those days a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was unable to become pregnant, and they had no c...
Read More

Judges 13 - New Life Version (NLV)

The Birth of Samson13 The people of Israel sinned in the eyes of the Lord again. So the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. 2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites. His name was Manoah. His wife was not able to have children. 3 Then the angel o...
Read More

Judges 13 - New King James Version (NKJV)

The Birth of Samson(A)13 Again the children of Israel (B)did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them (C)into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. 2 Now there was a certain man from (D)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and h...
Read More

Judges 13 - New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

The birth of Samson13 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. 2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lor...
Read More

Judges 13 - New International Version (NIV)

The Birth of Samson13 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines(A) for forty years.(B) 2 A certain man of Zorah,(C) named Manoah,(D) from the clan of the Danites,(E) had a wife who was childless,(F) unable to give birth. 3 The...
Read More

Judges 13 - New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

Samson Is Born13 Once again the Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for 40 years. 2 A certain man from Zorah was named Manoah. He was from the tribe of Dan. Manoah had a wife who wasn’t able to have children. 3 The angel of the Lord...
Read More

Judges 13 - New English Translation (NET)

Samson’s Birth13 The Israelites again did evil in the Lord’s sight,[a] so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years. 2 There was a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe. His wife was infertile and childless.[b] 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said t...
Read More