12. Then Manoah asked, “Now, when what you say comes true, what rules must the boy follow? What must he do?”
13. The angel of the Lord answered Manoah: Your wife must be careful about all the things of which I spoke to her.
14. She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, she must not drink wine or beer, and she must not eat anything unclean. Let her observe all that I have commanded her.
15. Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Permit us to detain you, so that we may prepare a young goat for you.”
16. But the angel of the Lord answered Manoah: Though you detained me, I would not eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, then offer it up to the Lord. For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.
17. Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, that we may honor you when your words come true?”
18. The angel of the Lord answered him: Why do you ask my name? It is wondrous.
19. Then Manoah took a young goat with a grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord, who works wonders. While Manoah and his wife were looking on,
20. as the flame rose to the heavens from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground;
21. but the angel of the Lord was seen no more by Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah, realizing that it was the angel of the Lord,
22. said to his wife, “We will certainly die, for we have seen God.”
23. But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands! Nor would he have let us see all this, or hear what we have heard.”
24. The woman bore a son and named him Samson, and when the boy grew up the Lord blessed him.
25. The spirit of the Lord came upon him for the first time in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.