Yahweh’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren and childless; but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing;
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Judges 13:3-4 sits inside this longer paragraph.
There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and childless. Yahweh’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren and childless; but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing; for, behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son. No razor shall come on his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. He shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh’s angel appeared to the woman, and said to her, “See now, you are barren and childless; but you shall conceive and bear a son.
Now therefore please beware and drink no wine nor strong drink, and don’t eat any unclean thing;
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And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
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And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her: 'Behold now, thou art barren, and hast not borne; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (20)
- Luke 1:13 (v3) But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and…
- Luke 1:15 (v4) For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even…
- Genesis 18:10 (v3) He said, “I will certainly return to you at about this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah heard in the…
- Luke 1:11 (v3) An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
- Judges 2:1 (v3) Yahweh’s angel came up from Gilgal to Bochim. He said, “I brought you out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to give…
Show all 20 cross-references
- Judges 6:11-12 (v3) Yahweh’s angel came and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat…
- Judges 13:8 (v3) Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, and said, “Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we should do…
- Judges 13:14 (v4) She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. Let her observe…
- 2 Kings 4:16 (v3) He said, “At this season, when the time comes around, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your…
- Genesis 17:16 (v3) I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples…
- Numbers 6:2-3 (v4) “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate…
- 1 Samuel 1:20 (v3) When the time had come, Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of Yahweh.”
- Luke 1:28-38 (v3) Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!” But when she…
- Judges 13:10 (v3) The woman hurried and ran, and told her husband, saying to him, “Behold, the man who came to me that day has appeared to me,”
- Genesis 16:7-13 (v3) Yahweh’s angel found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain on the way to Shur. He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant,…
- Judges 13:6 (v3) Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very…
- Judges 13:7 (v4) but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink. Don’t eat any unclean thing, for the…
- Leviticus 11:27 (v4) Whatever goes on its paws, among all animals that go on all fours, they are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean…
- Leviticus 11:47 (v4) to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not…
- Acts 10:14 (v4) But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (14 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Jdg 13:3 And the angel of the LORD appeared…
Jdg 13:3 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou [art] barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Ver. 3. And the angel of the Lord,] i.e., Christ the Angel of the Covenant, called afterwards by Manoah Elohim, and by his wife Jehovah, {Jdg 13:23} and by himself Wonderful. {Jdg 13:18 Isa 9:6}
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Behold now, thou art barren.] See Jdg 13:2.
And bear a son.] A singular son, a Nazarite; such as should be "purer than snow, whiter than milk," {Lam 4:7} drained from the dregs, and sifted from the bran of the ordinary sort of people.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–4 The angel of the Lord; the Son of God,…
The angel of the Lord; the Son of God, oft so called in the Old Testament, as may be gathered from Jdg 13:18, yet distinguished from the Lord, because he appeared here as it were in the form of a servant, as a messenger sent from God, and was really a distinct person from God the Father.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–4 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the…
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman,.... According to Josephus (k), it was in a plain without the city; and that he appeared in the form of a man is certain from Jdg 13:6 but was not a mere man, a prophet of the Lord, nor a created angel, but the uncreated one, the Angel of the covenant, the Son and Word of God, who often appeared in an human form; since his name is said to be "Wonderful", and he to do wonderful things, and is called "Jehovah", Jdg 13:18,
and said unto her, behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not; barren at that time, and so she had been ever since she was married to that time; and this is observed, that it might appear the more wonderful that she should after this have a child:
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but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; which to do, must be ascribed to divine power, that one in her circumstances should bear a son; as the prediction of it was owing to divine omniscience, and a proof of it.
(k) Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv3–4 The angel - The Son of God, yet distinguished…
The angel - The Son of God, yet distinguished from the Lord, because he appeared here in the form of a servant, as a messenger sent from God. The great Redeemer did in a particular manner concern himself about this typical redeemer.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Verse 3. The angel of the Lord] Generally supposed…
Verse 3. The angel of the Lord] Generally supposed to have been the same that appeared to Moses, Joshua, Gideon, &c., and no other than the second person of the ever-blessed Trinity.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v4 Jdg 13:4. Now therefore beware — She was to…
Jdg 13:4. Now therefore beware — She was to conform to the manner of life observed by the Nazarites, while she carried her infant in her womb, and perhaps while she nursed him; because, as it follows in the next verse, he was to be a perpetual Nazarite to God, from his conception to his death; which would have bear impossible if she had drunk wine or strong drink, because a child in the womb and its mother subsist by the same nourishment. Drink not wine nor strong drink — Under which are comprehended the other particulars mentioned Num 6:2-4. And eat not any unclean thing — Any of those meats forbidden Leviticus 11. These were forbidden to all, but especially to the Nazarites. In all probability the Israelites were negligent at that time in observing the precept with relation to meats, otherwise there would have been no need to mention this.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Angel, in human form. Some Protestants pretend that he…
Angel, in human form. Some Protestants pretend that he was "the Son of God," and yet (ver. 16) they say, "he sought not his own honour, but God’s, whose messenger he was," (Bible, 1603) in which they plainly contradict themselves, or else teach Arianism, as if the Son were not true God, and equal to his Father. (Worthington) --- The title of God, (Jehova) which is given to this angel, (ver. 15, 21) is no proof that he was the Supreme Being, chap. vi. 11.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v3 the angel of the Lord--The messenger of the covenant,…
the angel of the Lord--The messenger of the covenant, the divine personage who made so many remarkable appearances of a similar kind already described.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v3 3. The angel of the Lord — See note…
3. The angel of the Lord — See note on Jdg_6:11. This Angel of the covenant himself performed the mission, so like that which Gabriel afterwards was sent to fulfil, (Luk_1:26,) when the woman was Mary, and the child to be born was the Wonderful, (Isa_9:6,) even the incarnation of Him who now appeared as a mysterious theophany, 4. Drink not wine — The mother of the mighty Nazarite must herself be a Nazarite for the time.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–4 3. the angel of the Lord] i.e. Jehovah Himself…
3. the angel of the Lord] i.e. Jehovah Himself in manifestation; see on Jdg_2:1. The appearance of the Angel betokens the announcement of a deliverer, as in Jdg_6:12; cf. Luk_1:11; Luk_1:15 ff., Luk_1:31 ff., Mat_1:20 f.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv3–4 (3) The angel of the Lord.—On this expression see…
(3) The angel of the Lord.—On this expression see Jdg_2:1. Rabbi Levi Ben Gershom says that this “messenger of the Lord” was Phinehas; but nothing can be clearer than that, as in Jdg_6:11, Gen_18:10, Luk_1:11-28, a supernatural being is meant.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v3 Thou shalt... bear a son. It is obvious to…
Thou shalt... bear a son. It is obvious to compare the promise to Abraham and Sarah, (Gen_17:19 Gen_18:10, Gen_18:14) to Hannah, (1Sa_1:17) to Elizabeth, (Luk_1:13) and to the blessed Virgin. (Luk_1:31)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v3 (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angel
(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v3 give birth to a son
give birth to a son
This refers to childbirth. AT: "bear a son" or "have a baby boy" (See: Idiom)
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anything unclean
Something that Yahweh has stated is unfit to eat is spoken of as if it were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)
Look
"Pay attention" or "Listen"
No razor will be used upon his head
Here the word "head" refers to his hair. This can be stated in active form. AT: "No one should ever cut his hair" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)
razor
a sharp knife used to cut hair close to the skin
a Nazirite to God
This means that he will be devoted to God as a Nazirite. AT: "a Nazirite devoted to God" or "devoted to God as a Nazirite" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
from the womb
Here the word "womb" refers to the time before the child is born. AT: "from before he is born" (See: Metonymy)
the hand of the Philistines
Here the word "hand" means control. AT: "the control of the Philistines" or "being under the Philistine's control" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
angel
Yahweh
wine
strong drink
clean
Nazirite
womb
deliver
hand
Philistines
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.