Bible Strands
Judges 13:2
Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator introduces Manoah and his childless wife at the opening of the deliverance narrative, immediately following forty years of Philistine oppression.
The words — מָנ֑וֹחַ (ma.No.ach) = “Manoah” and אִ֨ישׁ ('ish) = “a man” anchor the account to a specific tribal figure rather than an anonymous archetype.
The thread — Zorah recurs in Joshua 19:41 and Joshua 15:33 as a designated settlement within the tribal allotments. The motif of a barren wife who conceives parallels Genesis 25:21, where divine intervention reverses infertility.
Why it lands — The text establishes a concrete family line before any divine promise arrives, requiring the reader to recognize that the coming deliverance emerges through ordinary, unremarkable human circumstances.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not.
Cross-references
- Joshua 19:41 The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,
- Genesis 25:21 Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
- Joshua 15:33 These were in the foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,
- Luke 1:7 But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well along in years.
- Genesis 16:1 Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
- 1 Samuel 1:2 He had two wives, one named Hannah and the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.