15. Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “We would like you to stay awhile. We want to cook a young goat for you.”
16. The angel of the Lord answered, “Even if I stay awhile, I would not eat your food. But if you want to prepare something, offer a burnt offering to the Lord.” (Manoah did not understand that the man was really the angel of the Lord.)
17. Then Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What is your name? We want to know. Then we may honor you when what you have said really happens.”
18. The angel of the Lord said, “Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful for you to understand.”
19. Then Manoah sacrificed a young goat on a rock. He also offered some grain as a gift to the Lord. The Lord did an amazing thing. Manoah and his wife watched what happened.
20. The flames went up to the sky from the altar. As the fire burned, the angel of the Lord went up to heaven in the fire! When Manoah and his wife saw that, they bowed facedown on the ground.
21. The angel of the Lord did not appear to them again. Then Manoah understood that the man was really the angel of the Lord.
22. Manoah said, “We have seen God! Surely we will die because of this!”
23. But his wife said to him, “The Lord does not want to kill us. If he wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted our burnt offering or grain offering. He would not have shown us all these things. And he would not have told us all this.”
24. So the woman gave birth to a boy. She named him Samson. Samson grew, and the Lord blessed him.
25. The Spirit of the Lord began to work in Samson. This was while he was in the city of Mahaneh Dan. It is between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol.