The LORD hears Manoah’s prayer and agrees to do what he asked.

And God listened to the voice of Manoah is a fairly literal translation of the Hebrew text. Though the Hebrew waw conjunction is correctly rendered here as a sequential And, we might also say “So” or omit this conjunction. God is literally “the God” but God is the best rendering here (see comments on verse 6.36). Listened renders the key Hebrew verb shamaʿ, which can mean “hear,” “listen,” or “obey” (see verse 2.2). Here, of course, the meaning is that God heard Manoah’s request and granted it. The voice of Manoah refers to what Manoah said, not just the sound of his voice, so we could speak of “Manoah’s prayer [or, words].” Good News Translation has “God did what Manoah asked.”

And the angel of God came again to the woman: The Hebrew waw conjunction rendered and introduces the next step in this series of events, that is, the result of God’s listening. God sends the angel back. Manoah is the one who prayed, but surprisingly God’s angel appears to his wife, rather than to him! This is one of the details that lead commentators to conclude that Manoah is the weaker of the pair. For the angel of God, see verse 13.6.

As she sat in the field is literally “and she [was] sitting in the field.” The Hebrew verb rendered sat is a participle. The Hebrew word for field refers either to cultivated land or to open country outside of town where the animals grazed (see verse 1.14). It is not clear why Manoah’s wife was sitting there, nor what she was doing there—perhaps resting after work. In some languages it will be difficult to use the definite expression the field, since it is mentioned here for the first time. If so, translators might say “her/their field.”

But Manoah her husband was not with her: This clause emphasizes that the angel appeared to the woman alone, and not to her husband. But renders well the Hebrew waw conjunction here since we would have expected the angel to appear to Manoah or to the couple together.

Translation models for this verse are:

• God responded to Manoah’s prayer, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was sitting out in their field, but Manoah, her husband, was not there with her.

• God did as Manoah asked, and the angel of God appeared once more to the woman. She was out in their field at the time, but her husband Manoah was not there with her.

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 .