Judges 13
The Birth of
Samson |
1 |
And the children of Israel did evil again
in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines
forty years.
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2 |
And there was a certain man of Zorah,
of the family of the Danites, whose name was Mano'ah; and his
wife was barren, and bare not.
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3 |
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her,
Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt
conceive, and bear a son.
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4 |
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and
drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
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5 |
for, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a
son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a
Nazarite Num. 6.1-5 unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel
out of the hand of the Philistines.
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6 |
Then the woman came and told her husband,
saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked
him not whence he was, neither told he me his name:
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7 |
but he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt
conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink,
neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a
Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.
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8 |
Then Mano'ah entreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which
thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do
unto the child that shall be born.
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9 |
And God hearkened to the voice of
Mano'ah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat
in the field: but Mano'ah her husband was not with
her.
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10 |
And the woman made haste, and ran, and
showed her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared
unto me, that came unto me the other day.
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11 |
And Mano'ah arose, and went after his
wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the
man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am.
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12 |
And Mano'ah said, Now let thy words come
to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do
unto him?
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13 |
And the angel of the LORD said unto Mano'ah, Of all that I said unto the
woman let her beware.
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14 |
She may not eat of any thing that
cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor
eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her
observe.
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15 |
And Mano'ah said unto the angel of the
LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we
shall have made ready a kid for thee.
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16 |
And the angel of the LORD said unto Mano'ah, Though thou detain me, I will
not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou
must offer it unto the LORD. For Mano'ah knew
not that he was an angel of the LORD.
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17 |
And Mano'ah said unto the angel of the
LORD, What is thy name, that when thy
sayings come to pass we may do thee honor?
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18 |
And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my
name, seeing it is secret?
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19 |
So Mano'ah took a kid with a meat
offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Mano'ah
and his wife looked on.
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20 |
For it came to pass, when the flame went
up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar: and Mano'ah
and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the
ground.
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21 |
But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Mano'ah and to his wife.
Then Mano'ah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.
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22 |
And Mano'ah said unto his wife, We shall
surely die, because we have seen God.
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23 |
But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have
received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither
would he have showed us all these things, nor would as at
this time have told us such things as these.
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24 |
And the woman bare a son, and called his
name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.
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25 |
And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan
between Zorah and Eshta'ol.
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