Judges 13:16-25

16 The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, ¹I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD." For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.

17 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "²What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?"

18 But the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is ³wonderful?"

19 So ⁴Manoah took the young * goat * with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD, and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on.

20 For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ⁵fell on their faces to the ground.

21 Now the angel of the LORD did not appear to Manoah or his wife again *. ⁶Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.

22 So Manoah said to his wife, "⁷We will surely die, for we have seen God."

23 But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have ⁸shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time."

24 Then the woman gave birth to a son and named * him Samson; and the ⁹child grew up and the LORD blessed him.

25 And ¹⁰the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in ¹¹Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judges 13:16-25 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.

Cross References

• 1. Judges 6:20
• 2. Genesis 32:29
• 3. Isaiah 9:6
• 4. Judges 6:20, 21
• 5. Leviticus 9:24; 1 Chronicles 21:16; Ezekiel 1:28; Matthew 17:6
• 6. Judges 13:16
• 7. Genesis 32:30; Deuteronomy 5:26; Judges 6:22
• 8. Psalms 25:14
• 9. 1 Samuel 3:19; Luke 1:80
• 10. Judges 3:10
• 11. Judges 18:11, 12

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "bread"
• [b] I.e. incomprehensible
• [c] I.e. the camp of Dan