Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo

Judges 13

God begins Israel’s rescue under Philistine rule by promising a child set apart for him from the womb.

Israel has again done evil in YHWH’s sight, and YHWH has handed them over to the Philistines for forty years. At Zorah, YHWH’s angel appears to Manoah’s unnamed, childless wife and promises a son who will begin Israel’s rescue. Manoah asks God for guidance, and the messenger returns with instructions. When the angel ascends in the offering’s flame, Manoah fears death; his wife points to God’s accepted offering and promise. Samson is born, blessed, and moved by YHWH’s Spirit.

parentinganswered prayermiscarriage or infertility
Read
1The children of Israel again did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and childless.
3The LORD’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren and childless; but you shall conceive and bear a son.
4Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing;
5for, behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son. No razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. He shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
6Then 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. I didn’t ask him where he was from, neither did he tell me his name;
7but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink. Don’t eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”
8Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, “Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we should do to the child who shall be born.”
9God 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.
10The woman hurried and ran, and told her husband, saying to him, “Behold, the man who came to me that day has appeared to me.”
12Manoah said, “Now let your words happen. What shall the child’s way of life and mission be?”
14She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. Let her observe all that I commanded her.”
15Manoah said to the LORD’s angel, “Please stay with us, that we may make a young goat ready for you.”
16The LORD’s angel said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, I won’t eat your bread. If you will prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah didn’t know that he was the LORD’s angel.
18The LORD’s angel said to him, “Why do you ask about my name, since it is incomprehensible?”
19So Manoah took the young goat with the meal offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD. Then the angel did an amazing thing as Manoah and his wife watched.
20For when the flame went up toward the sky from off the altar, the LORD’s angel ascended in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife watched; and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21But the LORD’s angel didn’t appear to Manoah or to his wife any more. Then Manoah knew that he was the LORD’s angel.
22Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”
23But his wife said to him, “If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he wouldn’t have received a burnt offering and a meal offering at our hand, and he wouldn’t have shown us all these things, nor would he have told us such things as these at this time.”
24The woman bore a son and named him Samson. The child grew, and the LORD blessed him.
25The LORD’s Spirit began to move him in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Judges 13:1Israel’s repeated evil and forty years under Philistine rule establish the judgment within which Samson’s birth becomes a promise of rescue.
Judges 13:3The angel’s announcement to Manoah’s childless wife begins the birth promise through which God will provide Israel a deliverer.
Judges 13:25YHWH’s Spirit begins to move Samson, connecting his promised mission with God’s action before any deeds of strength appear.
Where this chapter reaches

Genesis and Luke share the pattern of a promised birth announced to people facing childlessness, with the child given a place in God’s purposes. Numbers supplies the Nazirite background, while 1 Samuel also describes God’s Spirit coming upon a leader in Israel.

Judges 13's chapter linksAll strongest linksHover or tap a book
Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out in Manoah’s request for guidance and the angel’s answer about the promised child?

Write on this

How does Manoah’s wife weigh God’s actions against her husband’s fear, and what can you learn from her reasoning?

Write on this

Questions people ask about Judges 13

What does it mean that Samson was a Nazirite from the womb?

Samson was designated as belonging to God before his birth. The angel forbids cutting his hair and gives his mother restrictions concerning wine and unclean food. Her report extends his dedication through his whole life. This consecration is tied to his task of beginning Israel’s rescue from the Philistines.

Who is the angel of YHWH in Judges 13?

The text identifies the visitor as YHWH’s angel, who announces Samson’s birth and ascends in the altar flame. Manoah understands the encounter as seeing God. Some Christians understand this figure as the Son before his incarnation, but the chapter does not name him as such or explain his identity further.

Read it. Now write it.

Start an entry on Judges 13. Your words go beside the text, and you get one next step for the week.

Judges · 21 chapters
123456789101112131415161718192021
What the Bible says about parenting →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).