The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 Again the people of Isra'el did what was evil from ADONAI's perspective, and ADONAI handed them over to the P'lishtim for forty years.
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And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
2 There was a man from Tzor'ah from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoach; his wife was barren, childless.
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Now there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites, and his name was Manoah; and his wife had never given birth to a child.
3 The angel of ADONAI appeared to the woman and said to her, "Listen! You are barren, you haven't had a child, but you will conceive and bear a son.
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And the angel of the Lord came to the woman, and said to her, See now! though you have never given birth to children, you will be with child and give birth to a son.
4 Now, therefore, be careful not to drink any wine or other intoxicating liquor, and don't eat anything unclean.
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Now then take care to have no wine or strong drink and to take no unclean thing for food;
5 For indeed you will conceive and bear a son. No razor is to touch his head, because the child will be a nazir for God from the womb. Moreover, he will begin to rescue Isra'el from the power of the P'lishtim."
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For you are with child and will give birth to a son; his hair is never to be cut, for the child is to be separate to God from his birth; and he will take up the work of freeing Israel from the hands of the Philistines.
6 The woman came and told her husband; she said, "A man of God came to me; his face was fearsome, like that of the angel of God. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name.
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Then the woman came in, and said to her husband, A man came to me, and his form was like the form of a god, causing great fear; I put no question to him about where he came from, and he did not give me his name;
7 But he said to me, 'Listen! You will conceive and bear a son, so now don't drink any wine or other intoxicating liquor, and don't eat anything unclean, because the child will be a nazir for God from the womb until the day he dies.'"
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But he said to me, You are with child and will give birth to a son; and now do not take any wine or strong drink or let anything unclean be your food; for the child will be separate to God from his birth to the day of his death.
8 Then Manoach prayed to ADONAI, "Please, Adonai, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the child who will be born."
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Then Manoah made prayer to the Lord, and said, O Lord, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and make clear to us what we are to do for the child who is to come.
9 God paid attention to what Manoach said, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but her husband Manoach wasn't with her.
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And God gave ear to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came to the woman again when she was seated in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her.
10 The woman hurried and ran to tell her husband, "Here! That man, the one who came to me the other day, he's come again!"
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So the woman, running quickly, gave her husband the news, saying, I have seen the man who came to me the other day.
11 Manoach got up, followed his wife, went to the man and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to the woman?" He answered, "I am."
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And Manoah got up and went after his wife, and came up to the man and said to him, Are you the man who was talking to this woman? And he said, I am.
12 Manoach asked, "Now, when what you said comes true, what are the guidelines for raising the child? What should be done for him?"
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And Manoah said, Now when your words come true, what is to be the rule for the child and what will be his work?
13 The angel of ADONAI said to Manoach, "The woman should take care to do everything I said to her.
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And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Let the woman take note of what I have said to her.
14 She shouldn't eat anything that comes from a grapevine, she shouldn't drink wine or other intoxicating liquor, and she shouldn't eat anything unclean. She should do everything I ordered her to do."
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She is to have nothing which comes from the vine for her food, and let her take no wine or strong drink or anything which is unclean; let her take care to do all I have given her orders to do.
15 Manoach said to the angel of ADONAI, "Please stay with us a bit longer, so that we can cook a young goat for you."
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And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, Now let us keep you while we make ready a young goat for you.
16 The angel of ADONAI said to Manoach, "Even if I do stay, I won't eat your food; and if you prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to ADONAI." For Manoach did not know that he was the angel of ADONAI.
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And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Though you keep me I will not take of your food; but if you will make a burned offering, let it be offered to the Lord. For it had not come into Manoah's mind that he was the angel of the Lord.
17 Manoach said to the angel of ADONAI, "Tell us your name, so that when your words come true we can honor you."
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Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, What is your name, so that when your words come true we may give you honour?
18 The angel of ADONAI answered him, "Why are you asking about my name? It is wonderful."
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But the angel of the Lord said to him, Why are you questioning me about my name, seeing that it is a wonder?
19 Manoach took the kid and the grain offering and offered them on the rock to ADONAI. Then, with Manoach and his wife looking on, the angel did something wonderful -
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So Manoah took the young goat with its meal offering, offering it on the rock to the Lord, who did strange things.
20 as the flame went up toward the sky from the altar, the angel of ADONAI went up in the flame from the altar. When Manoach and his wife saw it, they fell to the ground on their faces.
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And when the flame went up to heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar, while Manoah and his wife were looking on; and they went down on their faces to the earth.
21 But the angel of ADONAI did not appear again to Manoach or his wife. Then Manoach realized it had been the angel of ADONAI.
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But the angel of the Lord was seen no more by Manoah and his wife. Then it was clear to Manoah that he was the angel of the Lord.
22 Manoach said to his wife, "We will surely die, because we have seen God!"
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And Manoah said to his wife, Death will certainly be our fate, for it is a god whom we have seen.
23 But his wife said to him, "If ADONAI had wanted to kill us, he wouldn't have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from us, and he wouldn't have shown us all this or told us such things at this time."
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But his wife said to him, If the Lord was purposing our death, he would not have taken our burned offering and our meal offering, or have given us such orders about the child.
24 The woman bore a son and called him Shimshon. The child grew, and ADONAI blessed him.
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So the woman gave birth to a son, and gave him the name Samson; and he became a man and the blessing of the Lord was on him.
25 The Spirit of ADONAI began to stir him when he was in the Camp of Dan, between Tzor'ah and Eshta'ol.
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And the spirit of the Lord first came on him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.