Study Desk

They went out into the field, gathered their grapes and pressed the juice out of them. Then they held a feast and went into the house of their god to eat and drink, and there they insulted Avimelekh.

This is how God paid back Avimelekh for the wrong he did to his father in murdering his seventy brothers.

God also repaid the men of Sh'khem for all the wrong they had done; on them came the curse of Yotam the son of Yeruba‘al.

Then the people of Isra'el cried to Adonai , "We have sinned against you by forsaking our God and serving the ba‘alim."

Adonai the God of Isra'el handed Sichon and all his people over to Isra'el, and they killed them. Thus Isra'el possessed all the territory of the Emori who lived there.

So now that Adonai the God of Isra'el has expelled the Emori before his people Isra'el, do you think that you will expel us?

You should just keep the territory your god K'mosh has given you; while we, for our part, will hold onto whatever Adonai our God has given us of the lands that belonged to others before us.

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."

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.

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.'"

Then Manoach prayed to Adonai , "Please, A donai, 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."

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.

Manoach said to his wife, "We will surely die, because we have seen God!"

Then God made a gash in the crater at Lechi, and water came out. When he had drunk, his spirit came back; and he revived. This is why the place was called ‘Ein-HaKorei [the spring of him who called], and it is there in Lechi until now.

so that he finally told her everything. He said to her, "No razor has ever touched my head, because I have been a nazir of God since I was born. If someone shaves me, then my strength will leave me; and I will be like any other man."

The chiefs of the P'lishtim assembled to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. As they celebrated they sang, "Our god has handed over to us our enemy Shimshon."

Upon seeing him, the people praised their god: "Our god has handed over to us our enemy, who destroyed our land and killed so many of us."

This man Mikhah owned a house of God; so he made a ritual vest and household gods and consecrated one of his sons, who became his cohen.

They said to him, "Please ask God whether our journey will be successful."

When you go, you will come to a people who feel safe. There's plenty of land, the place lacks nothing, it has everything there is on earth, and God has given it to you."