World English Bible · The judges
Judges 13
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The again did that which was evil in sight; and them into the hand of the forty years. There was a certain man of , of the family of the , whose name was ; and his wife was , and . appeared to the woman, and said to her, "See now, you are and ; but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore please beware and drink no nor , and don't eat any 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 to from the . He shall begin to Israel out of the hand of the ." Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A came to me, and was like the of , very awesome. I didn't ask him where he was from, neither did he tell me his name; but he said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; and now drink no nor . Don't eat any thing, for the child shall be a to from the to the day of his .'" Then entreated , and said, "Oh, , please let the whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we should do to the child who shall be born." listened to the voice of , and came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but , her husband, wasn't with her. 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." 11 arose and followed his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to my wife?" He said, "I am." said, "Now let your words happen. What shall the child's way of life and mission be?" 13 said to , "Of all that I said to the woman let her beware. She may not eat of anything that comes of , neither let her drink or , nor eat any thing. Let her observe all that I commanded her." said to , "Please stay with us, that we may make a young goat ready for you." said to , "Though you detain me, I won't eat your bread. If you will prepare a burnt offering, you must offer it to ." For didn't know that he was . said to , "What is your name, that when your words happen, we may you?" said to him, "Why do you ask about my name, since it is incomprehensible?" So took the young goat with the , and offered it on to . Then did an amazing thing as and his wife watched. For when the flame went up toward from off the , ascended in the flame of the . and his wife watched; and they fell on their faces to the ground. But didn't appear to or to his wife any more. Then knew that he was . said to his wife, "We shall surely , because we have seen ." But his wife said to him, "If were pleased to kill us, he wouldn't have received a burnt offering and a at our hand, and he wouldn't have shown us all these things, nor would he have told us such things as these at this time." The woman bore a son and named him . The child grew, and him. began to move him in Mahaneh Dan, between and .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.