Discovery BoxJudges 13:7 
Context13:7 He said to me, ‘Look, you will conceive and have a son. 1 So now, do not drink wine or beer and do not eat any food that will make you ritually unclean. 2 For the child will be dedicated 3 to God from birth till the day he dies.’”
Judges 16:17
Context16:17 Finally he told her his secret. 4 He said to her, “My hair has never been cut, 5 for I have been dedicated to God 6 from the time I was conceived. 7 If my head 8 were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would become weak, and be just like all other men.”
1 tn See the note on the word “son” in 13:5, where this same statement occurs.
2 tn Heb “eat anything unclean.” Certain foods were regarded as ritually “unclean” (see Lev 11). Eating such food made one ritually “contaminated.”
3 tn Traditionally “a Nazirite.”
4 tn Heb “all his heart.”
5 tn Heb “a razor has not come upon my head.”
6 tn Or “set apart to God.” Traditionally the Hebrew term נָזִיר (nazir) has been translated “Nazirite.” The word is derived from the verb נָזַר (nazar, “to dedicate; to consecrate; to set apart”).
7 tn Heb “from the womb of my mother.”
8 tn Heb “I.” The referent has been made more specific in the translation (“my head”).
