Judges 13:3–22

³The Lord’s angel appeared to her and said, “You have never been able to have children, but you will soon be pregnant and have a son. ⁴Take care not to drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food; ^5*and after your son is born, you must never cut his hair, because from the day of his birth he will be dedicated to God as a nazirite.^x He will begin the work of rescuing Israel from the Philistines.”

⁶Then the woman went and said to her husband, “A man of God has come to me, and he looked as frightening as the angel^y of God. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. ⁷But he did tell me that I would become pregnant and have a son. He told me not to drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food, because the boy is to be dedicated to God as a nazirite as long as he lives.”

⁸Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, “Please, Lord, let the man of God that you sent come back to us and tell us what we must do with the boy when he is born.”

⁹God did what Manoah asked, and his angel came back to the woman while she was sitting in the fields. Her husband Manoah was not with her, ¹⁰so she ran at once and said to him, “Look! The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me again.”

¹¹Manoah got up and followed his wife. He went to the man and asked, “Are you the man who was talking to my wife?”

“Yes,” he answered.

¹²Then Manoah asked, “When your words come true, what must the boy do? What kind of a life must he lead?”

¹³The Lord’s angel answered, “Your wife must be sure to do everything that I have told her. ¹⁴She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine; she must not drink any wine or beer, or eat any forbidden food. She must do everything that I have told her.”

^15–16Manoah did not know that it was the Lord’s angel, so he said to him, “Please do not go yet. Let us cook a young goat for you.”

But the angel said, “If I do stay, I will not eat your food. But if you want to prepare it, burn it as an offering to the Lord.”

¹⁷Manoah replied, “Tell us your name, so that we can honour you when your words come true.”

¹⁸The angel asked, “Why do you want to know my name? It is a name of wonder.”^z

¹⁹So Manoah took a young goat and some grain, and offered them on the rock altar to the Lord who works wonders.^{a 20–21}While the flames were going up from the altar, Manoah and his wife saw the Lord’s angel go up towards heaven in the flames. Manoah realized then that the man had been the Lord’s angel, and he and his wife threw themselves face downwards on the ground. They never saw the angel again.

²²Manoah said to his wife, “We are sure to die, because we have seen God!”