Wikipedia's first sentence called it “father of samson”. Today it says “figure from the book of judges 13”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Manoah and his barren wife sacrifice a ram to the angel of the Lord (above); the wife wears a wimple in this miniature painted in Paris, ca 1250 (the Maciejowski Bible).1Manoah is the father of Samson .2Manoah means rest or quiet in Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible .3Manoah was of the tribe of Dan , and lived in the city of Zorah . He and his wife were childless, but an angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and told her that she would give birth to a son. The child was to be dedicated from the womb as a Nazirite , which entailed restrictions on his diet, which the angel spelled out in detail. The "woman" (for her name was omitted) told her husband “A man of God came to me”, whose countenance was like the angel of God. Manoah prayed again and the angel returned to instruct the woman. Together with his wife he subsequently tried to dissuade Samson from marrying a Philistine woman, but travelled with him to Timnah for the wedding ceremony when they were unable to do so. The story gained added importance for Christians, who read into it parallels with the Annunciation to Mary. v t e4
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16382577.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Manoah and his barren wife sacrifice a ram to the angel of the Lord (above); the wife wears a wimple in this miniature painted in Paris, ca 1250 (the Maciejowski Bible). Manoah is the father of Samson . Manoah means rest or quiet in Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible . Manoah was of the tribe of Dan , and lived in the city of Zorah . He and his wife were childless, but an angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah's wife and told her that she would give birth to a son. The child was to be dedicated from the womb as a Nazirite , which entailed restrictions on his diet, which the angel spelled out in detail. The "woman" (for her name was omitted) told her husband “A man of God came to me”, whose countenance was like the angel of God. Manoah prayed again and the angel returned to instruct the both of them.After the angel left, Manoah tells his wife, "We shall surely die, because we have seen God." (Judges 13:22) Together with his wife he subsequently tried to dissuade Samson from marrying a Philistine woman, but travelled with him to Timnath for the wedding ceremony when they were unable to do so. The story gained added importance for Christians, who read into it parallels with the Annunciation to Mary. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Manoah . v t e
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 363981640.
The opening as it stood in 2015 9 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Manoah and his barren wife sacrifice a ram to the angel of the Lord (above); the wife wears a wimple in this miniature painted from the Maciejowski Bible , Paris , 1250. Manoah ( Mānōwaḥ ) is a figure from Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 651935707.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Manoah and his barren wife sacrifice a ram to the angel of the Lord (above); Manoah's wife wears a wimple in Eustache Le Sueur 's The Sacrifice of Manoah , 1640-1650.Manoah ( Mānoaḥ ) is a figure from the Book of Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 954903906.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Manoah and his barren wife sacrifice a ram to the angel of the Lord (above); Manoah's wife wears a wimple in Eustache Le Sueur 's The Sacrifice of Manoah , 1640–1650. Manoah ( Mānōaḥ ) is a figure from the Book of Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible . He is the father of the judge Samson .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1176903329.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Biblical character Manoah ( Hebrew : מָנ֫וֹחַ Mānoaḥ ) is a figure from the Book of Judges 13:1-23 and 14:2-4 of the Hebrew Bible . He is the father of the judge Samson .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294239741. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “father of samson”. Today it says “figure from the book of judges 13”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
father of samson
Now
figure from the book of judges 13
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
