And the angel of the LORD said to him …: The angel responds with his own question, and thus seems to refuse to tell Manoah who he is. As the story moves on, the angel never does reveal his name. This response is similar to that of the divine messenger in Gen 32.29, who also refused to reveal who he was. It is in contrast to the response of Yahweh in Exo 3.14, where he revealed himself. The general verb said may be rendered “replied” (Contemporary English Version, New International Version) or “asked” (Good News Translation) in this context.

Why do you ask my name…? may be rendered “Why do you ask who I am?” For the significance of name, see the comments on verse 13.17.

Seeing it is wonderful is literally “and it is marvelous,” which means the angel’s name is too wonderful or incomprehensible for Manoah to understand. Wonderful (Hebrew peliʾ) is not the angel’s name but a description of what his name is like. This word is also used in Psalm 139.6 to refer to a human being’s limited ability to know God. Divine knowledge is too far beyond human understanding. Here the divine messenger says Manoah could not possibly fully understand who he is, so he refuses to give him his name. New International Version says “It is beyond understanding.” We might also say “It is incomprehensible.”

Contemporary English Version provides the following helpful model for this verse:

• “No,” the angel replied. “You don’t need to know my name. And if you did, you couldn’t understand it.”

Another possible one is:

• Then the angel of the LORD said, “Why do you ask what my name is? It is too wonderful for you to know.”

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 .