Глава 13

1. The yoke of the Philistines. 2–23. Appearance of the Angel of the Lord to Manoah and his wife. 24–25. Birth of Samson. Judges 13:1. The children of Israel continued to do evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. At the same time as the Ammonites, the Israelites, in the western part of Palestine, were oppressed by the Philistines (cf. Judges 10:7), whose yoke lasted for forty years. Judges 13:2. At that time there was a man from Zorah, from the tribe of Dan, named Manoah; his wife was barren and did not give birth. Judges 13:3. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her: Behold, you are barren and do not give birth; but you will conceive and give birth to a son; Judges 13:4. So beware, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean; Judges 13:5. for behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and no razor will touch his head, for from the very womb this child will be a Nazarite of God, and he will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. Judges 13:6. The wife came and said to her husband: a man of God came to me, whose appearance, like the appearance of an Angel of God, was very respectable; I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name; Judges 13:7. he said to me: “Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son; Therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the child will be a Nazarite of God from the very womb until his death.” Judges 13:8. Manoah prayed to the Lord and said: Lord! Let the man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we should do with the baby that is about to be born. Judges 13:9. And God heard the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman while she was in the field, and Manoah her husband was not with her. Judges 13:10. The wife immediately ran and informed her husband and said to him: behold, the man who came to me then appeared to me. Judges 13:11. Manoah arose and went with his wife, and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” [Angel] said: I am. Judges 13:12. And Manoah said: So, if your word is fulfilled, what should we do with this child and what should we do with him? Judges 13:13. The angel of the Lord said to Manoah: Let him beware of all that I have told my wife; Judges 13:14. let him not eat anything that the vine produces; Let her not drink wine or strong drink or eat anything unclean and observe everything that I have commanded her. Judgment 13:15 . And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, Let me hold you while we prepare a kid for you. Judges 13:16. The angel of the Lord said to Manoah: Even if you restrain me, I will not eat your bread; If you want to make a burnt offering to the Lord, then offer it. Manoah did not know that it was the Angel of the Lord. Judges 13:17. And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord: What is your name? so that we may glorify you when your word is fulfilled. Judges 13:18. The angel of the Lord said to him: Why do you ask about my name? it's wonderful. Judges 13:19. And Manoah took the kid and the grain offering and offered it to the Lord on a rock. And He did a miracle, which Manoah and his wife saw. Judgment 13:20 . When the flame began to rise from the altar to heaven, the Angel of the Lord rose in the flame of the altar. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell face down on the ground. Judges 13:21. And the Angel of the Lord became invisible to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that it was the Angel of the Lord. Judges 13:22. And Manoah said to his wife: Surely we will die, for we have seen God. Judges 13:23. His wife said to him: if the Lord wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted the burnt offering and grain offering at our hands, and would not have shown us all this, and now he would not have revealed this to us. At this time, in the tribe of Dan, which was in contact with Philistine territory, in the city of Zorah (cf. Joshua 15:33, now Sar'a), there lived Manoah, whose wife was barren. The Angel of the Lord who appeared to them announced to them the birth of a son from them, who was to be a Nazarite from his mother’s womb (cf. Numbers 6:2–7). On the occasion of the appearance of the Angel of the Lord, Manoah built an altar, the remains of which were discovered in the vicinity of Artuf (on the 52nd century Jaffa-Jerusalem railway) by the architect Shik in 1883 (Olesnitsky A.A. Megalithic monuments in Palestine, pp. 312–314). Judges 13:24. And the wife gave birth to a son, and called his name Samson. And the baby grew, and the Lord blessed him. Judgment 13:25 . And the Spirit of the Lord began to work in him in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Estaol. Born to Manoah and his wife, his son Samson, animated by the Spirit of God, first began to show his extraordinary strength and courage in the military camp of the Danites, between Dora (Sar'a) and Eshtaol (now Ashu) (cf. Joshua 15:33). You might be interested in: