1
Again the people of Israel did what the Lord said was wrong. So he handed them over to the Philistines for forty years.
2
There was a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan, who lived in the city of Zorah. He had a wife, but she could not have children.
3
The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and said, "You have not been able to have children, but you will become pregnant and give birth to a son.
4
Be careful not to drink wine or beer or eat anything that is unclean,
5
because you will become pregnant and have a son. You must never cut his hair, because he will be a Nazirite, given to God from birth. He will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines."
6
Then Manoah's wife went to him and told him what had happened. She said, "A man from God came to me. He looked like an angel from God; his appearance was frightening. I didn't ask him where he was from, and he didn't tell me his name.
7
But he said to me, 'You will become pregnant and will have a son. Don't drink wine or beer or eat anything that is unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from his birth until the day of his death.'"
8
Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: "Lord, I beg you to let the man of God come to us again. Let him teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born to us."