Study Desk

In that way God punished Abimelech for all the evil he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers.

God also punished the men of Shechem for the evil they had done. So the curse spoken by Jotham, the youngest son of Gideon, came true.

So the Israelites cried out to the Lord , "We have sinned against you. We left our God and worshiped the Baal idols."

"But the Lord , the God of Israel, handed Sihon and his army over to Israel. All the land of the Amorites became the property of Israel.

"It was the Lord , the God of Israel, who forced out the Amorites ahead of the people of Israel. So do you think you can make them leave?

Take the land that your god Chemosh has given you. We will live in the land the Lord our God has given us!

because you will become pregnant and have a son. You must never cut his hair, because he will be a Nazirite, given to God from birth. He will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines."

Then Manoah's wife went to him and told him what had happened. She said, "A man from God came to me. He looked like an angel from God; his appearance was frightening. I didn't ask him where he was from, and he didn't tell me his name.

But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and will have a son. Don't drink wine or beer or eat anything that is unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from his birth until the day of his death.'"

Then Manoah prayed to the Lord : "Lord, I beg you to let the man of God come to us again. Let him teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born to us."

God heard Manoah's prayer, and the angel of God came to Manoah's wife again while she was sitting in the field. But her husband Manoah was not with her.

Manoah said, "We have seen God, so we will surely die."

Then God opened up a hole in the ground at Lehi, and water came out. When Samson drank, he felt better; he felt strong again. So he named that spring Caller's Spring, which is still in Lehi.

So he told her everything. He said, "I have never had my hair cut, because I have been set apart to God as a Nazirite since I was born. If someone shaved my head, I would lose my strength and be as weak as any other man."

The Philistine rulers gathered to celebrate and to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They said, "Our god has handed Samson our enemy over to us."

When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, "This man destroyed our country. He killed many of us! But our god handed over our enemy to us."

Then Samson prayed to the Lord , "Lord God , remember me. God, please give me strength one more time so I can pay these Philistines back for putting out my two eyes!"

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

When you go, you will see there is plenty of land—plenty of everything! The people are not expecting an attack. Surely God has handed that land over to us!"

The people of Dan set up the idols Micah had made as long as the Holy Tent of God was in Shiloh.