May
28
Judges
13, 14
Jdg
13:1 The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the
sight of Yahweh; and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of the
Philistines forty years.
Jdg
13:2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites,
whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and didn't bear.
Jdg
13:3 The angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman, and said to her, See
now, you are barren, and don't bear; but you shall conceive, and bear
a son.
Jdg
13:4 Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink,
and don't eat any unclean thing:
Jdg
13:5 for, behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son; and no razor
shall come on his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from
the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the
Philistines.
Jdg
13:6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God
came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very
awesome; and I didn't ask him whence he was, neither did he tell me
his name:
Jdg
13:7 but he said to me, Behold, you shall conceive, and bear a son;
and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean
thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the
day of his death.
Jdg
13:8 Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, and said, Oh, Lord, please let
the man of God whom you did send come again to us, and teach us what
we shall do to the child who shall be born.
Jdg
13:9 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,
wasn't with her.
Jdg
13:10 The woman made haste, and ran, and told her husband, and said
to him, Behold, the man has appeared to me, who came to me the other
day.
Jdg
13:11 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.
Jdg
13:12 Manoah said, Now let your words happen: what shall be the
ordering of the child, and how
shall we do to him?
Jdg
13:13 The angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the
woman let her beware.
Jdg
13:14 She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither
let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all
that I commanded her let her observe.
Jdg
13:15 Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, I pray you, let us detain
you, that we may make ready a kid for you.
Jdg
13:16 The angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, Though you detain me, I
won't eat of your bread; and if you will make ready a burnt offering,
you must offer it to Yahweh. For Manoah didn't know that he was the
angel of Yahweh.
Jdg
13:17 Manoah said to the angel of Yahweh, What is your name, that
when your words happen, we may honor you?
Jdg
13:18 The angel of Yahweh said to him, Why do you ask after my name,
seeing it is wonderful?
Jdg
13:19 So Manoah took the kid with the meal offering, and offered it
on the rock to Yahweh: and the angel
did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on.
Jdg
13:20 For it happened, when the flame went up toward the sky 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.
Jdg
13:21 But the angel of Yahweh did no more appear to Manoah or to his
wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Yahweh.
Jdg
13:22 Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have
seen God.
Jdg
13:23 But his wife said to him, If Yahweh were pleased to kill us,
he wouldn't have received a burnt offering and a meal offering at our
hand, neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would at
this time have told such things as these.
Jdg
13:24 The woman bore a son, and named him Samson: and the child
grew, and Yahweh blessed him.
Jdg
13:25 The Spirit of Yahweh began to move him in Mahaneh Dan, between
Zorah and Eshtaol.
Jdg
14:1 Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the
daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg
14:2 He came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I
have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines: now
therefore get her for me as wife.
Jdg
14:3 Then his father and his mother said to him, Is there never a
woman among the daughters of your brothers, or among all my people,
that you go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? Samson
said to his father, Get her for me; for she pleases me well.
Jdg
14:4 But his father and his mother didn't know that it was of
Yahweh; for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at
that time the Philistines had rule over Israel.
Jdg
14:5 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to
Timnah, and came to the vineyards of Timnah: and behold, a young lion
roared against him.
Jdg
14:6 The Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on him, and he tore him as
he would have torn a kid; and he had nothing in his hand: but he
didn't tell his father or his mother what he had done.
Jdg
14:7 He went down, and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson
well.
Jdg
14:8 After a while he returned to take her; and he turned aside to
see the carcass of the lion: and behold, there was a swarm of bees in
the body of the lion, and honey.
Jdg
14:9 He took it into his hands, and went on, eating as he went; and
he came to his father and mother, and gave to them, and they ate: but
he didn't tell them that he had taken the honey out of the body of
the lion.
Jdg
14:10 His father went down to the woman: and Samson made there a
feast; for so used the young men to do.
Jdg
14:11 It happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty
companions to be with him.
Jdg
14:12 Samson said to them, Let me tell you a riddle now. If you can
declare it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out,
then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of
clothing;
Jdg
14:13 but if you can't declare it to me, then you shall give me
thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing. They said to
him, Put forth your riddle, that we may hear it.
Jdg
14:14 He said to them, Out of the eater came forth food. Out of the
strong came forth sweetness. They couldn't in three days declare the
riddle.
Jdg
14:15 It happened on the seventh day, that they said to Samson's
wife, Entice your husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest
we burn you and your father's house with fire: have you called us to
impoverish us? is it not so?
Jdg
14:16 Samson's wife wept before him, and said, You just hate me, and
don't love me: you have put forth a riddle to the children of my
people, and haven't told it me. He said to her, Behold, I haven't
told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?
Jdg
14:17 She wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted:
and it happened on the seventh day, that he told her, because she
pressed him sore; and she told the riddle to the children of her
people.
Jdg
14:18 The men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the
sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than
a lion? He said to them, If you hadn't plowed with my heifer, you
wouldn't have found out my riddle.
Jdg
14:19 The Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on him, and he went down to
Ashkelon, and struck thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and
gave the changes of clothing
to those who declared the riddle. His anger was kindled, and he went
up to his father's house.
Jdg
14:20 But Samson's wife was given
to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.