Judges 13:23

But his wife replied, “If the LORD had intended to kill us, He would not have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things or spoken to us this way.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Manoah’s wife responds to her husband’s declaration that they are doomed to die after seeing God. She speaks this immediately after the divine messenger vanishes, attempting to interpret the encounter through the evidence of God’s actions.

The words — The Hebrew לוּ (lu, "if") and חָפֵץ (cha.Fetz, "he had desired") establish her conditional logic. She contrasts God’s hypothetical will to destroy them with His actual acceptance of their burnt and grain offerings.

The thread — Her conclusion that God’s acceptance of offerings proves His intent to spare them aligns with the covenantal communication pattern in Psalm 25:14. The recognition of divine help and comfort in Psalm 86:17 similarly grounds faith in God’s demonstrated actions rather than abstract fear.

Why it lands — The text demands that a reader judge God’s intentions by observing His concrete deeds, such as accepting offerings and speaking directly. It directs attention to tangible evidence of favor instead of speculative catastrophe.

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

But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.

Cross-references

Psalms 25:14 The LORD confides in those who fear Him, and reveals His covenant to them.
1 Corinthians 12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you.” Nor can the head say to the feet, “I do not need you.”
Psalms 86:17 Show me a sign of Your goodness, that my enemies may see and be ashamed; for You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
John 14:20 On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.
John 15:15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.
Proverbs 3:32 for the LORD detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.
Genesis 4:4 while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
Psalms 27:13 Still I am certain to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
John 14:23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.