Study Desk

God did this to punish Abimelech and the men of Shechem, because the seventy sons of Jerubbaal were killed by their brother Abimelech. And the men of Shechem gave him the strength to do it.

They went out into the field and gathered the grapes of their vines and crushed them. Then they had a special supper in the house of their god. They ate and drank and wished bad to come to Abimelech.

All the leaders of the tower of Shechem heard about it. And they went into the inside room of the house of the god of El-berith.

So God punished Abimelech for the sin he had done against his father by killing his seventy brothers.

God punished the men of Shechem for all their sin. The words that Jotham the son of Jerubbaal spoke against them came true.

The people of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, "We have sinned against You. We have turned away from our God and are serving the Baals."

The Lord, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel. They won the war against Sihon. So Israel took all the land of the Amorites, the people of that country.

'So the Lord, the God of Israel, drove the Amorites away from His people Israel. Now are you to take the land for your own?

Do you not keep for your own what your god Chemosh gives you? We will keep the land of the people the Lord our God drove away for us.

You will have a child and give birth to a son. His hair must never be cut. Because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the time he is born. He will begin to take Israel away from the Philistines' power."

Then the woman came and told her husband. She said, "A man of God came to me. He looked like the angel of God, filling me with fear. I did not ask him where he came from. And he did not tell me his name.

But he said to me, ‘See, it will be possible for you to have a child and give birth to a son. Do not drink wine or strong drink or eat anything that is unclean. For the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the time he is born to the time he dies.'"

Then Manoah asked the Lord, saying, "O Lord, let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again. Let him teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born."

God listened to Manoah. The angel of God came again to the woman while she was sitting in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her.

So Manoah said to his wife, "We will die for sure. For we have seen God."

But God broke open a place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned. He received new life. So he called the place En-hakkore. It is in Lehi to this day.

So he told her all that was in his mind. He said to her, "My hair has never been cut. For I have been a Nazirite to God from the time I was born. If my hair is cut, my strength will leave me. I will become weak and be like any other man."

Now the leaders of the Philistines gathered to give a large gift to their god Dagon. They were happy, for they said, "Our god has given us Samson, the man who has fought against us."

The people praised their god when they saw Samson. They said, "Our god has given us the one who fought against us, destroyed our country, and killed many of us."

Then Samson called to the Lord and said, "O Lord God, I beg You. Remember me. Give me strength only this once, O God. So I may now punish the Philistines for my two eyes."