The Lord’s angelic ¹  messenger appeared to the woman and said to her, “You ²  are infertile and childless, ³  but you will conceive and have a son.

His concubine, ¹  who lived in Shechem, also gave him a son, whom he named Abimelech. ² 

There was a man named Manoah from Zorah, from the Danite tribe. His wife was infertile and childless. ¹ 

Manoah’s wife ¹  gave birth to a son and named him Samson. ²  The child grew and the Lord empowered ³  him.

Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a brave warrior. His mother was a prostitute, but Gilead was his father. ¹ 

They named it Dan after their ancestor, who was one of Israel’s sons. ¹  But the city’s name used to be Laish.

Gilead’s wife also gave ¹  him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they made Jephthah leave and said to him, “You are not going to inherit any of our father’s wealth, ²  because you are another woman’s son.”

Look, you will conceive and have a son. ¹  You must never cut his hair, ²  for the child will be dedicated to God ³  from birth. He will begin to deliver Israel from the power ⁴  of the Philistines.”

He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. ¹  So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. ²  For the child will be dedicated ³  to God from birth till the day he dies.’”

Manoah prayed to the Lord, ¹  “Please, Lord, allow the man sent from God ²  to visit ³  us again, so he can teach ⁴  us how we should raise ⁵  the child who will be born.”