The children of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines 40 years.
There was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and had not given birth.
And the angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have not given birth, but you will conceive and will give birth to a son.
Now therefore, be careful! Do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat any unclean thing,
for, behold, you will conceive and bear a son. And no razor is to come on his head, for the child will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
Then the woman went and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of God, very awe-inspiring, but I did not ask him where he was from, nor did he tell me his name,
but he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and bear a son. So now do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat any unclean thing, for the child will be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”
Then Manoah entreated Yahweh and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the child who will be born.”
And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.
The woman ran quickly and told her husband, and said to him, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.”
So Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” He said, “I am.”
Manoah said, “Now let your words come to pass. What is to be the rule for the child? And what is his work?”
The angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “Let the woman obey all that I said to her.
She is not to eat of anything that comes from the vine, nor let her drink wine or beer, nor eat any unclean thing. She is to obey all that I commanded her.”
And Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “Please let us detain you so that we may make a young goat ready for you,”
but the angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food, and if you prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to Yahweh,” (for Manoah did not know that he was an angel of Yahweh).
Then Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, “What is your name, so that when your words come to pass we may honor you?”
The angel of Yahweh said to him, “Why do you ask about my name, since it is wonderful?”
So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to Yahweh, and he did a wonderful thing as Manoah and his wife looked on.
For it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar that the angel of Yahweh ascended in the flame of the altar, and Manoah and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
And the angel of Yahweh did not appear to Manoah or to his wife any more. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh.
Then Manoah said to his wife, “We are going to die, yes, die, because we have seen God.”
But his wife said to him, “If Yahweh were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hand, nor would he have shown us all these things, nor would he have told such things as these at this time.”
And the woman bore a son and named him Samson, and the child grew, and Yahweh blessed him.
And the spirit of Yahweh began to stir him up in Mahaneh-dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.