Judges 13:15-23

15 Not knowing that it was the Lord's angel, Manoah said to him, "Please do not go yet. Let us cook a young goat for you." But the angel said, "If I do stay, I will not eat your food. But if you want to prepare it, burn it as an offering to the Lord."

17 Manoah replied, "Tell us your name, so that we can honor you when your words come true."

18 The angel asked, "Why do you want to know my name? It is a name of wonder."

19 So Manoah took a young goat and some grain, and offered them on the rock altar to the Lord who works wonders.

20 While the flames were going up from the altar, Manoah and his wife saw the Lord's angel go up toward heaven in the flames. Manoah realized then that the man had been the Lord's angel, and he and his wife threw themselves face downward on the ground. They never saw the angel again.

22 Manoah said to his wife, "We are sure to die, because we have seen God!"

23 But his wife answered, "If the Lord had wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted our offerings; he would not have shown us all this or told us such things at this time."

Judges 13:15-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 13

This chapter relates the birth of Samson, another of the judges of Israel, which was foretold by an angel to his mother, who told her husband of it, Jud 13:1-7 upon whose entreaty the angel appeared again, and related the same to them both, Jud 13:8-14 and who was very, respectfully treated by the man, and by the wonderful things he did was known by him to be an angel of the Lord, which greatly surprised him, Jud 13:15-23 and the chapter is closed with an account of the birth of Samson, and of his being early endowed with the Spirit of God, Jud 13:24,25.

Footnotes

• [a]. name of wonder; [or] mysterious name.
• [b]. [Some ancient translations] who works wonders; [Hebrew] and working wonders while Manoah and his wife watched.