Study Desk

Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance [was] like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he [was], neither did he tell me his name:

But he said to me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean [thing]: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from his birth to the day of his death.

Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God, whom thou didst send come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be born.

And God hearkened 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 [was] not with her.

And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

But God cleaved a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water out of it; and when he had drank, his spirit came again, and he revived. Wherefore he called the name of it En-hakkore, which [is] in Lehi to this day.

That he told her all his heart, and said to her, There hath not come a razor upon my head; for I [have been] a Nazarite to God from my birth: if I be shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any [other] man.

Then the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.

And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country; who slew many of us.

And Samson called to the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

And they said to him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous.

When ye go, ye shall come to a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where [there] is no want of any thing that [is] on the earth.

And they set up for themselves Micah's graven image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

And the chief of all the people, [even] of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword.

And the children of Israel arose, and went up to the house of God, and asked counsel of God, and said, Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin? And the LORD said, Judah [shall go up] first.

Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the LORD.

And the children of Israel inquired of the LORD, (for the ark of the covenant of God [was] there in those days,

And the children of Benjamin went out against the people, [and] were drawn away from the city; and they began to smite of the people, [and] kill, as at other times, in the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God, and the other to Gibeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel.

And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept bitterly;

And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to-day one tribe lacking in Israel?