Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

The Israelites did evil again in God's sight. For forty years, He handed them over to the Philistines.

In Zorah, a town belonging to the Danite family, lived Manoah. His wife was barren, having never given birth to a child. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, "You are now childless, but you will conceive and bear a son. Be careful not to drink any wine or strong drink, and avoid eating anything unclean."

"For you will conceive and give birth to a son," the angel continued. "No razor will touch his head from birth; he will be a Nazarite to God, dedicated to deliver Israel out of Philistine hands." A man of God appeared to her, with a face like an angel's, yet she didn't ask him where he was from or what his name was. He simply said, "You will conceive and bear a son."

She told Manoah about the man of God and his words. But when Manoah asked God to send him back, so they could learn more about their unborn child, God heard his prayer, and the angel returned to the woman in the field while her husband was away.

When she saw the man again, she ran back home and said to Manoah, "The man who appeared to me has come a second time!" Manoah quickly followed his wife and caught up with him, saying, "Are you the one who spoke to my wife?" The angel replied, "I am."

Manoah asked, "Please fulfill your promise. How should we raise this child, and what should we do with him?" The angel of the Lord said, "Tell your wife everything I've told her. She must be careful not to eat anything from the vine, drink wine or strong drinks, or eat any unclean food; she must follow all my instructions."

Manoah invited the angel to stay for a meal, but he refused, saying, "Although you're detaining me, I won't eat your bread. If you want to offer a burnt offering, present it to the Lord." Manoah didn't realize that this stranger was an angel of God.

The angel asked, "Why are you inquiring about my name?" And Manoah offered a young goat as a sacrifice on a rock, with a meat offering, while his wife watched. The angel performed a miraculous act, and the flame from the altar rose toward heaven as they both fell to their faces on the ground.

When this was over, the angel disappeared, and Manoah finally understood that he had been speaking with an angel of God. Fearing for their lives, Manoah said to his wife, "We'll surely die because we've seen God!"

But she replied, "If the Lord intended to kill us, He wouldn't have accepted our offering and meal, nor shown us these things at this time." Her child was born, and they named him Samson. As he grew up, God blessed him.

The Spirit of the Lord began stirring within Samson at times, affecting those around him in the Danite camp between Zorah and Eshtaol.