Only Manoah’s first question receives a reply. The angel reminds Manoah of what his wife must do, referring to the commands he gave in verse 13.4.

And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah: Interestingly, it is only the narrator who uses the phrase the angel of the LORD. It is not used by Manoah or his wife. The verb said may be rendered “replied” (New Living Translation, New Jerusalem Bible) or “answered” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version) in this context.

Of all that I said to the woman let her beware: The angel begins with Of all that I said to the woman perhaps to stress the fact that the woman’s words can be trusted or to underline the importance of observing every condition he set out previously. Let her beware is an unfortunate rendering of the Hebrew, which is literally “let her watch/keep herself.” The Hebrew verb rendered beware is the same one used in verse 13.4 (see comments there). As there, beware is much too strong a word for this context. This whole sentence may be rendered “The woman [or, Your wife] should carefully obey all that I said to her.” There is a slight textual problem here since some versions render the feminine pronouns in this verse and the next one as masculine singulars, but Hebrew Old Testament Text Project gives the feminine pronouns an {A} reading, which should be followed.

Suggested models for this verse are:

• Then the angel of the LORD replied, “Make sure the woman [or, your wife] does everything I told her to do.

• Then Yahweh’s angel answered, “Everything I told your wife to do, she must do.

Quoted with permission from Zogbo, Lynell and Ogden, Graham S. A Handbook on Judges. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2019. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .