1 Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

2 Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children. 3The angel of the Lord 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 Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

6 So the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the angel 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 Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”

8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, “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.”

9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God returned to the woman as she was sitting in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10The woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has reappeared!”

11 So Manoah 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.

12 Then Manoah asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?”

13 So the angel of the Lord answered Manoah, “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,” Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

16 And the angel of the Lord replied, “Even if I stay, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that it was the angel of the Lord.

17 Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “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 angel of the Lord, “since it is beyond comprehension?”

19 Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to the Lord. And as Manoah and his wife looked on, the Lord did a marvelous thing. 20When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame.

When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell facedown to the ground. 21And when the angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it had been the angel of the Lord.

22“We are going to die,” he said to his wife, “for we have seen God!”

23 But his wife replied, “If the Lord 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.”

24 So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

1 One day Samson went down to Timnah, where he saw a young Philistine woman. 2So he returned and told his father and mother, “I have seen a daughter of the Philistines in Timnah. Now get her for me as a wife.”

3 But his father and mother replied, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or among any of our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?”

But Samson told his father, “Get her for me, for she is pleasing to my eyes.” 4(Now his father and mother did not know this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.)

5 Then Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Suddenly a young lion came roaring at him, 6and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as one would tear a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done. 7Then Samson continued on his way down and spoke to the woman, because she was pleasing to his eyes.

8 When Samson returned later to take her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass, and in it was a swarm of bees, along with their honey. 9So he scooped some honey into his hands and ate it as he went along. And when he returned to his father and mother, he gave some to them and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

10 Then his father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as was customary for the bridegroom. 11And when the Philistines saw him, they selected thirty men to accompany him.

12“Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. 13But if you cannot solve it, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let us hear it.”

14 So he said to them:

For three days they were unable to explain the riddle. 15So on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

16 Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.”

“Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and finally on the seventh day, because she had pressed him so much, he told her the answer. And in turn she explained the riddle to her people.

18 Before sunset on the seventh day, the men of the city said to Samson:

So he said to them:

19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house, 20and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompaniedhim.

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is He of whom I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’ 31I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and resting on Him. 33I myself did not know Him, but the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit descend and rest is He who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” 37And when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

38 Jesus turned and saw them following. “What do you want?” He asked.

They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?”

39 “Come and see,” He replied. So they went and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour.

40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s testimony and followed Jesus. 41He first found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated as Christ).

42 Andrew brought him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated as Peter).

43 The next day Jesus decided to set out for Galilee. Finding Philip, He told him, “Follow Me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter.

45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

46“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” said Philip.

47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”

48“How do You know me?” Nathanael asked.

Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”

49“Rabbi,” Nathanael answered, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

50 Jesus said to him, “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51Then He declared, “Truly, truly, I tell you, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”