Judges 13:1–7

The Birth of Samson

13 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistinesq for forty years.r

2 A certain man of Zorah,s named Manoah,t from the clan of the Danites,u had a wife who was childless,v unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lordw appeared to herx and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son.y 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drinkz and that you do not eat anything unclean.a 5 You will become pregnant and have a sonb whose head is never to be touched by a razorc because the boy is to be a Nazirite,d dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the leade in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”

6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of Godf came to me. He looked like an angel of God,g very awesome.h I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no winei or other fermented drinkj and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.k’ ”