Judges 13–14

¹And 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. ²And 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; ³and a messenger of Jehovah appeareth unto the woman, and saith unto her, ‘Lo, I pray thee, thou art barren, and hast not borne; when thou hast conceived, then thou hast borne a son. ⁴And, now, take heed, I pray thee, and do not drink wine, and strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, ⁵for, lo, thou art conceiving and bearing a son, and a razor doth not go up on his head, for a Nazarite to God is the youth from the womb, and he doth begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.’ ⁶And the woman cometh and speaketh to her husband, saying, ‘A man of God hath come unto me, and his appearance is as the appearance of a messenger of God, very fearful, and I have not asked him whence he is, and his name he hath not declared to me; ⁷and he saith to me, Lo, thou art pregnant, and bearing a son, and now do not drink wine and strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, for a Nazarite to God is the youth from the womb till the day of his death.’

⁸And Manoah maketh entreaty unto Jehovah, and saith, ‘O, my Lord, the man of God whom Thou didst send, let him come in, I pray thee, again unto us, and direct us what we do to the youth who is born.’ ⁹And God hearkeneth to the voice of Manoah, and the messenger of God cometh again unto the woman, and she is sitting in a field, and Manoah her husband is not with her, ¹⁰and the woman hasteth, and runneth, and declareth to her husband, and saith unto him, ‘Lo, he hath appeared unto me—the man who came on that day unto me.’ ¹¹And Manoah riseth, and goeth after his wife, and cometh unto the man, and saith to him, ‘Art thou the man who spake unto the woman?’ and he saith, ‘I am.’ ¹²And Manoah saith, ‘Now let thy words come to pass; what is the custom of the youth—and his work?’ ¹³And the messenger of Jehovah saith unto Manoah, ‘Of all that I said unto the woman let her take heed; ¹⁴of anything which cometh out from the wine-vine she doth not eat, and wine and strong drink she doth not drink, and any unclean thing she doth not eat; all that I have commanded her she doth observe.’

¹⁵And Manoah saith unto the messenger of Jehovah, ‘Let us detain thee, we pray thee, and prepare before thee a kid of the goats.’ ¹⁶And the messenger of Jehovah saith unto Manoah, ‘If thou detain me—I do not eat of thy bread; and if thou prepare a burnt-offering—to Jehovah thou dost offer it;’ for Manoah hath not known that He is a messenger of Jehovah. ¹⁷And Manoah saith unto the messenger of Jehovah, ‘What is thy name? when thy words come to pass, then we have honoured thee.’ ¹⁸And the messenger of Jehovah saith to him, ‘Why is this—thou dost ask for My name?—and it is Wonderful.’ ¹⁹And Manoah taketh the kid of the goats, and the present, and offereth on the rock to Jehovah, and He is doing wonderfully, and Manoah and his wife are looking on, ²⁰and it cometh to pass, in the going up of the flame from off the altar toward the heavens, that the messenger of Jehovah goeth up in the flame of the altar, and Manoah and his wife are looking on, and they fall on their faces to the earth, ²¹and the messenger of Jehovah hath not added again to appear unto Manoah, and unto his wife, then hath Manoah known that He is a messenger of Jehovah. ²²And Manoah saith unto his wife, ‘We certainly die, for we have seen God.’ ²³And his wife saith to him, ‘If Jehovah were desirous to put us to death, He had not received from our hands burnt-offering and present, nor shewed us all these things, nor as at this time caused us to hear anything like this.’

²⁴And the woman beareth a son, and calleth his name Samson, and the youth groweth, and Jehovah doth bless him, ²⁵and the Spirit of Jehovah beginneth to move him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Chapter 14

¹And Samson goeth down to Timnath, and seeth a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines, ²and cometh up and declareth to his father, and to his mother, and saith, ‘A woman I have seen in Timnath, of the daughters of the Philistines; and now, take her for me for a wife.’ ³And his father saith to him—also his mother, ‘Is there not among the daughters of thy brethren, and among all my people, a woman, that thou art going to take a woman from the uncircumcised Philistines?’ and Samson saith unto his father, ‘Take her for me, for she is right in mine eyes.’ ⁴And his father and his mother have not known that from Jehovah it is, that a meeting he is seeking of the Philistines; and at that time the Philistines are ruling over Israel. ⁵And Samson goeth down—also his father and his mother, to Timnath, and they come unto the vineyards of Timnath, and lo, a lion’s whelp roareth at meeting him, ⁶and the Spirit of Jehovah prospereth over him, and he rendeth it as the rending of a kid, and there is nothing in his hand, and he hath not declared to his father and to his mother that which he hath done. ⁷And he goeth down and speaketh to the woman, and she is right in the eyes of Samson; ⁸and he turneth back after some days to take her, and turneth aside to see the carcase of the lion, and lo, a company of bees are in the body of the lion—and honey. ⁹And he taketh it down on to his hands, and goeth on, going and eating; and he goeth unto his father, and unto his mother, and giveth to them, and they eat, and he hath not declared to them that from the body of the lion he took down the honey.

¹⁰And his father goeth down unto the woman, and Samson maketh there a banquet, for so the young men do; ¹¹and it cometh to pass when they see him, that they take thirty companions, and they are with him. ¹²And Samson saith to them, ‘Let me, I pray you, put forth to you a riddle; if ye certainly declare it to me in the seven days of the banquet, and have found it out, then I have given to you thirty linen shirts, and thirty changes of garments; ¹³and if ye are not able to declare it to me, then ye have given to me thirty linen shirts, and thirty changes of garments.’ And they say to him, ‘Put forth thy riddle, and we hear it!’ ¹⁴And he saith to them: ‘Out of the eater came forth meat, And out of the strong came forth sweetness;’ and they were not able to declare the riddle in three days. ¹⁵And it cometh to pass, on the seventh day, that they say to Samson’s wife, ‘Entice thy husband, that he declare to us the riddle, lest we burn thee and the house of thy father with fire; to possess us have ye called for us? is it not?’ ¹⁶And Samson’s wife weepeth for it, and saith, ‘Thou hast only hated me, and hast not loved me; the riddle thou hast put forth to the sons of my people—and to me thou hast not declared it;’ and he saith to her, ‘Lo, to my father and to my mother I have not declared it—and to thee I declare it!’ ¹⁷And she weepeth for it the seven days in which their banquet hath been, and it cometh to pass on the seventh day that he declareth it to her, for she hath distressed him; and she declareth the riddle to the sons of her people. ¹⁸And the men of the city say to him on the seventh day, before the sun goeth in:—‘What is sweeter than honey? And what stronger than a lion?’ And he saith to them: ‘Unless ye had ploughed with my heifer, Ye had not found out my riddle.’ ¹⁹And the Spirit of Jehovah prospereth over him, and he goeth down to Ashkelon, and smiteth of them thirty men, and taketh their armour, and giveth the changes to those declaring the riddle; and his anger burneth, and he goeth up to the house of his father; ²⁰and Samson’s wife becometh his companion’s, who is his friend.

Chapter 15