Judges 13
Open in the reader1Again the children of Strives-with-God did evil in the sight of He-Who-Is, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
2Now there was a man from Hornet named Rest, from the clan of the Judge-people, whose wife was barren and had no children.
3The messenger of He-Who-Is appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son.
4Now please be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, and not to eat anything unclean.
5For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall touch his head, because the boy will be a Consecrated-one to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Strives-with-God from the hand of the Philistines.”
6So the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the messenger of God, exceedingly awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.
7But he said to me, ‘Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. Now, therefore, do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Consecrated-one to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
8Then Rest prayed to He-Who-Is, “Please, O Lord, let the man of God You sent us come to us again to teach us how to raise the boy who is to be born.”
9And God listened to the voice of Rest, and the messenger of God returned to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Rest was not with her.
10The woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has reappeared!”
11So Rest got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” “I am,” he said.
12Then Rest asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?”
13So the messenger of He-Who-Is answered Rest, “Your wife is to do everything I told her.
14She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”
15“Please stay here,” Rest said to the messenger of He-Who-Is, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”
16And the messenger of He-Who-Is replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to He-Who-Is.” For Rest did not know that it was the messenger of He-Who-Is.
17Then Rest said to the messenger of He-Who-Is, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes to pass?”
18“Why do you ask my name,” said the messenger of He-Who-Is, “since it is beyond comprehension?”
19Then Rest took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to He-Who-Is. And as Rest and his wife looked on, He-Who-Is did a marvelous thing.
20When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the messenger of He-Who-Is ascended in the flame. When Rest and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground.
21And when the messenger of He-Who-Is did not appear again to Rest and his wife, Rest realized that it had been the messenger of He-Who-Is.
22“We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!”
23But his wife replied, “If He-Who-Is had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or spoken to us this way.”
24So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Sun-Like. The boy grew, and He-Who-Is blessed him.
25And the Spirit of He-Who-Is began to stir him at Camp-of-Dan, between Hornet and Place-of-Asking.