¹tn Heb “in the eyes of.”
²tn Heb “and had not given birth.”
³tn The adjective “angelic” is interpretive (also in vv. 6, 9).
⁴tn The angel actually introduces his statement with “look.”
⁵tn Heb “and have not given birth.”
⁶tn Heb “eat anything unclean.” Certain foods were regarded as ritually “unclean” (see Lev 11). Eating such food made one ritually “contaminated.”
⁷tn Another option is to translate, “you are already pregnant and will have a son.” The earlier reference to her being infertile (v. 3) suggests that her conception is still future, but it is possible that the earlier statement only reflects her perspective (as far as she is concerned, she is infertile). According to this interpretation, in v. 5 the angel reveals the truth to her—actually she has recently conceived and is now pregnant. (See the translation in R. G. Boling, Judges [AB], 217.) Usage favors this interpretation. The predicate adjective hr*h* (h*r*h, “[be/become] pregnant”) elsewhere has a past (1 Sam 4:19) or present (Gen 16:11; 38:25; 2 Sam 11:5) translation value. (The usage in Isa 7:14 is debated, but a present translation is definitely possible there.) A final, but less likely possibility, is that she miraculously conceived during the angel’s speech, sometime between his statements recorded in vv. 3 and 5.
⁸tn Heb “a razor should not go up on his head.”
⁹tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term ryz]n` (n`z]r) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb rz~n` (n`z~r, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).
¹⁰tn Heb “hand.”
¹¹tn Heb “The man of God.”
¹²tn Heb “His appearance was like the appearance of the messenger of God, very awesome.”
¹³tn See the note on the word “son” in 13:5, where this same statement occurs.
¹⁴tn Heb “eat anything unclean.” Certain foods were regarded as ritually “unclean” (see Lev 11). Eating such food made one ritually “contaminated.”
¹⁵tn Traditionally “a Nazirite.”
¹⁶tn The Hebrew text adds “and said.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
¹⁷tn Heb “the man of God.”
¹⁸tn Heb “come to.”
¹⁹tc The LXX has “enlighten,” understanding the Hebrew to read Wnr@ya!yw] (w]a!r@nW, “to give light”) rather than the reading of the MT, Wnr@oyw+ (w+yor@nW, “to teach”).
²⁰tn Heb “what we should do for.”
²¹tn Heb “God listened to the voice of Manoah.”
²²tn Heb “came to.”
²³tn Heb “and said to him.” This phrase has not been translated for stylistic reasons.
²⁴tn Heb “Look.”
²⁵tn Heb “came to.”
²⁶tn Heb “came to.”
²⁷tn Or “my wife.”
²⁸tn Heb “I [am].”
²⁹tn Heb “Now, [when] your word comes [to pass].”
³⁰tn Heb “what will be the child’s rule [i.e., way of life] and his work?”
³¹tn Or “said to.”
³²tn Heb “To everything I said to the woman she should pay attention.” The Hebrew word order emphasizes “to everything,” probably because Manoah’s wife did not tell her husband everything the angel had said to her (cf. vv. 3-5 with v. 7). If she had, Manoah probably would not have been so confused about the child’s mission.
³³tn Heb “eat.”
³⁴tn Heb “eat anything unclean.” Certain foods were regarded as ritually “unclean” (see Lev 11). Eating such food made one ritually “contaminated.”
³⁵tn Heb “Please allow us to detain you.”
³⁶tn Heb “so we can prepare before you a young goat of the goats.”
³⁷tn Heb “If you detain me.”
³⁸tn The words “he said this” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Manoah should have known from these words that the messenger represented the Lord. In the preceding narrative the narrator has informed the reader that the visitor is the Lord’s messenger, but Manoah and his wife did not perceive this. In vv. 5 and 7 the angel refers to “God” (<yh!Oa$, a$Oh!<), not the Lord (hwhy, Yahweh). Manoah’s wife calls the visitor “a man sent from God” and “God’s messenger” (v. 6), while Manoah prays to the “Lord” (yn`oda&, a&don`y) and calls the visitor “a man sent from God” (v. 8).
³⁹tn Heb “Who your name? For [when] your word comes [to pass], we will honor you.” Manoah apparently gets tongue-tied and uses the wrong pronoun (“who” instead of “what”). He starts to say, “Who are you?” But then he switches to “your name” as if he began the sentence with “what.” See R. G. Boling, Judges (AB), 222.
⁴⁰tn Heb “Why do you ask for my name, for it is incomprehensible?” The Hebrew adjective ya!l=P! (P!la!y, “wonderful”; “incomprehensible”) refers to what is in a category of its own and is beyond full human understanding. Note the use of this word in Ps 139:6, where God’s knowledge is described as incomprehensible and unattainable.
⁴¹tc Heb “Doing an extraordinary deed while Manoah and his wife were watching.” The subject of the participle is missing. The translation assumes that the phrase “the Lord’s messenger” was lost by homoioteleuton. If the text originally read hw`hy+ Ea^l=m^ hw`hyl^ (l^yhw`h m^la^E y+hw`h), the scribe’s eye could have jumped from the first hw`hy+ to the second, accidentally omitting two of the three words. Later the conjunction W (W) would have been added to the following al!p=m^ (m^pl!a) for syntactical reasons. Another possibility is that a pronominal subject (aWh, hWa) has been lost in the MT due to haplography.
⁴²tn Heb “in the flame from the altar.”
⁴³tn Heb “on their faces.”
⁴⁴tn Heb “Then Manoah knew that he was the Lord’s messenger.”
⁴⁵tn Or “God.” Some take the Hebrew term <yh!Oa$ (a$Oh!<) as the divine name (“God”) here, but this seems unlikely since v. 21 informs us that Manoah realized this was the Lord’s messenger, not God himself. Of course, he may be exaggerating for the sake of emphasis. Another option, the one followed in the translation, understands Manoah to be referring to a lesser deity. The term <yh!Oa$ (a$Oh!<) is sometimes used of an individual deity other than the Lord (see BDB 43 s.v. 2.a). One cannot assume that Manoah was a theologically sophisticated monotheist.
⁴⁶tn Heb “our hand.”
⁴⁷tn Heb “the woman.” For clarity this has been specified in the translation as “Manoah’s wife.”
⁴⁸tn The name appears to mean “sun-like” or “solar.”
⁴⁹tn Traditionally, “blessed.”
⁵⁰tn Or “move him to action”; or “stir him.”