¹ And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

² And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bore not.

³ And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold, now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

⁴ Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine, nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:

⁵ For lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from his birth: and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.

⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither did he tell me his name:

⁷ But he said to me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from his birth to the day of his death.

⁸ Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God, whom thou didst send come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be born.

⁹ And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.

¹⁰ And the woman made haste, and ran, and showed her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man hath appeared to me, that came to me the other day.

¹¹ And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Art thou the man that didst speak to the woman? And he said, I am.

¹² And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. How shall we order the child, and how shall we do to him?

¹³ And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman, let her beware.

¹⁴ She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe.

¹⁵ And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.

¹⁶ And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, Though thou shouldst detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou must offer it to the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.

¹⁷ And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass, we may do thee honor?

¹⁸ And the angel of the LORD said to him, why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?

¹⁹ So Manoah took a kid, with a meat-offering, and offered it upon a rock to the LORD; and the angel did wonderously, and Manoah and his wife looked on.

²⁰ For it came to pass, when the flame ascended towards heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.

²² And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.

²³ But his wife said to him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.

²⁴ And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.

²⁵ And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

¹ When Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he didn't go, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

² Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came on him.

³ He took up his parable, and said, "Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eye was closed says;

⁴ he says, who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open:

⁵ How goodly are your tents, Jacob, and your tents, Israel!

⁶ As valleys they are spread forth, as gardens by the riverside, as aloes which Yahweh has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters.

⁷ Water shall flow from his buckets. His seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than Agag. His kingdom shall be exalted.

⁸ God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows.

⁹ He couched, he lay down as a lion, as a lioness; who shall rouse him up? Everyone who blesses you is blessed. Everyone who curses you is cursed."

¹⁰ Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, "I called you to curse my enemies, and, behold, you have altogether blessed them these three times.

¹¹ Therefore now flee you to your place! I thought to promote you to great honor; but, behold, Yahweh has kept you back from honor."

¹² Balaam said to Balak, "Didn't I also tell your messengers who you sent to me, saying,

¹³ 'If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can't go beyond the word of Yahweh, to do either good or bad of my own mind. I will say what Yahweh says'?

¹⁴ Now, behold, I go to my people: come, [and] I will inform you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days."

¹⁵ He took up his parable, and said, "Balaam the son of Beor says, the man whose eye was closed says;

¹⁶ he says, who hears the words of God, knows the knowledge of the Most High, and who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, and having his eyes open:

¹⁷ I see him, but not now. I see him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob. A scepter will rise out of Israel, and shall strike through the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of Sheth.

¹⁸ Edom shall be a possession. Seir, his enemies, also shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly.

¹⁹ Out of Jacob shall one have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city."

²⁰ He looked at Amalek, and took up his parable, and said, "Amalek was the first of the nations, But his latter end shall come to destruction."

²¹ He looked at the Kenite, and took up his parable, and said, "Your dwelling place is strong. Your nest is set in the rock.

²² Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, until Asshur carries you away captive."

²³ He took up his parable, and said, "Alas, who shall live when God does this?

²⁴ But ships [shall come] from the coast of Kittim. They shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber. He also shall come to destruction."

²⁵ Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.