13:1 以色列人又行耶和華眼中看為惡的事，耶和華將他們交在非利士人手中四十年。
13:2 那時，有一個瑣拉人，是屬但族的，名叫瑪挪亞。他的妻不懷孕，不生育。
13:3 耶和華的使者向那婦人顯現，對她說：「向來你不懷孕，不生育，如今你必懷孕生一個兒子。
13:4 所以你當謹慎，清酒濃酒都不可喝，一切不潔之物也不可吃。
13:5 你必懷孕生一個兒子，不可用剃頭刀剃他的頭，因為這孩子一出胎就歸上帝作拿細耳人。他必起首拯救以色列人脫離非利士人的手。」
13:6 婦人就回去對丈夫說：「有一個神人到我面前來，他的相貌如上帝使者的相貌，甚是可畏。我沒有問他從哪裡來，他也沒有將他的名告訴我，
13:7 卻對我說：『你要懷孕生一個兒子，所以清酒濃酒都不可喝，一切不潔之物也不可吃；因為這孩子從出胎一直到死，必歸上帝作拿細耳人。』」
13:8 瑪挪亞就祈求耶和華說：「主啊，求你再差遣那神人到我們這裡來，好指教我們怎樣待這將要生的孩子。」
13:9 上帝應允瑪挪亞的話；婦人正坐在田間的時候，上帝的使者又到她那裡，她丈夫瑪挪亞卻沒有同她在一處。
13:10 婦人急忙跑去告訴丈夫說：「那日到我面前來的人，又向我顯現。」
13:11 瑪挪亞起來跟隨他的妻來到那人面前，對他說：「與這婦人說話的就是你嗎？」他說：「是我。」
13:12 瑪挪亞說：「願你的話應驗！我們當怎樣待這孩子，他後來當怎樣呢？」
13:13 耶和華的使者對瑪挪亞說：「我告訴婦人的一切事，她都當謹慎。
13:14 葡萄樹所結的都不可吃，清酒濃酒都不可喝，一切不潔之物也不可吃。凡我所吩咐的，她都當遵守。」
13:15 瑪挪亞對耶和華的使者說：「求你容我們款留你，好為你預備一隻山羊羔。」
13:16 耶和華的使者對瑪挪亞說：「你雖然款留我，我卻不吃你的食物，你若預備燔祭就當獻與耶和華。」原來瑪挪亞不知道他是耶和華的使者。
13:17 瑪挪亞對耶和華的使者說：「請將你的名告訴我，到你話應驗的時候，我們好尊敬你。」
13:18 耶和華的使者對他說：「你何必問我的名，我名是奇妙的。」
13:19 瑪挪亞將一隻山羊羔和素祭在磐石上獻與耶和華，使者行奇妙的事；瑪挪亞和他的妻觀看，
13:20 見火焰從壇上往上升，耶和華的使者在壇上的火焰中也升上去了。瑪挪亞和他的妻看見，就俯伏於地。
13:21 耶和華的使者不再向瑪挪亞和他的妻顯現，瑪挪亞才知道他是耶和華的使者。
13:22 瑪挪亞對他的妻說：「我們必要死，因為看見了上帝。」
13:23 他的妻卻對他說：「耶和華若要殺我們，必不從我們手裡收納燔祭和素祭，並不將這一切事指示我們，今日也不將這些話告訴我們。」
13:24 後來婦人生了一個兒子，給他起名叫參孫。孩子長大，耶和華賜福與他。
13:25 在瑪哈尼‧但，就是瑣拉和以實陶中間，耶和華的靈才感動他。
Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. 5 You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”
9 God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!”
11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the man who talked to my wife?”
“I am,” he said.
12 So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?”
13 The angel of the Lord answered, “Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you.”
16 The angel of the Lord replied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the Lord.)
17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?”
18 He replied, “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.[a]” 19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20 As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. 21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.
22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”
23 But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”
24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, 25 and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
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「參孫」這名字的意義是「像太陽一樣」！然而他的出生也十分特別，就是上帝先藉由使者向他的母親顯現，然後再向他的父親顯現。而且耶和華的使者是很清晰的展現自己，表現得十分大方，不神祕和曖昧，真是上帝使者的泱泱大風，讓人讀了之後，心裡的眼睛一亮！正如祂宣告自己的時候說：「你何必問我的名，我名是奇妙的。」
說到上帝的奇妙，使者不僅引導這對夫妻獻燔祭和素祭給上帝，還讓他們認識到自己就是「道成肉身」向人顯現的上帝，可以在他們面前升天！而當他們警覺自己與上帝相遇時，瑪挪亞對他的妻說：「我們必要死，因為看見了上帝。」
但是，參孫的媽媽似乎比爸爸更清楚上帝向他們顯現的目的，對瑪挪亞說：「耶和華若要殺我們，必不從我們手裡收納燔祭和素祭，並不將這一切事指示我們，今日也不將這些話告訴我們。」
說到這裡，讓我們感受到姊妹的屬靈生命不見的比弟兄差，許多家庭是太太先信主，然後才是先生信主，正如參孫的父母之情形！求主堅定要帶領全家信主的姊妹之信心，讓她們的全家因她成為上帝賜福的管道！
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