Judges 13:1-7 ▼

1 Some time later, the Israelis again practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, so the LORD handed them over into the domination of the Philistines for 40 years.

2 There was one man from Zorah, from the family of the descendants of Dan, whose name was Manoah. Since his wife was infertile, she hadn't borne children.

3 One day the angel of the LORD presented himself to the woman. |Hello!| he greeted her. |Though you are infertile at this time and haven't borne a child, you're about to conceive and give birth to a son.

4 So be sure that you don't drink wine or anything intoxicating, and don't eat anything unclean

5 because—surprise!—you're going to conceive and give birth to a son! Don't put a razor to his head, because the young man will be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from inside the womb. He will begin to deliver Israel from domination by the Philistines.|

6 Then the woman went to tell her husband. She said, |A man of God appeared to me. He looked like what an angel of God would look like—very frightening. I didn't ask him where he had come from and he didn't tell me his name.

7 He told me, 'Surprise!—you're going to conceive and give birth to a son!' and as for you, 'Be sure that you don't drink wine or anything intoxicating, and don't eat anything unclean,' 'because the young man will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from inside the womb' until the day he dies.|