Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Jehovah’s covenant with David, and Israel’s afflictions.

Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.

² And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. ³ And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. ⁴ Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: ⁵ for, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come upon his head; for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the angel of God, very terrible; and I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: ⁷ but he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazirite unto God from the womb to the day of his death.

⁸ Then Manoah entreated Jehovah, and said, Oh, Lord, I pray thee, let the man of God whom thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. ⁹ And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ And the woman made haste, and ran, and told her husband, and said unto him, Behold, the man hath appeared unto me, that came unto me the other day. ¹¹ And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said unto him, Art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? And he said, I am. ¹² And Manoah said, ^[a]Now let thy words come to pass: what shall be the ordering of the child, and how shall we do unto him? ¹³ And the angel of Jehovah said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware. ¹⁴ She may not eat of anything that cometh of the ^[b]vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; all that I commanded her let her observe.

¹⁵ And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, I pray thee, let us detain thee, that we may make ready a kid for thee. ¹⁶ And the angel of Jehovah said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; and if thou wilt make ready a burnt-offering, thou must offer it unto Jehovah. For Manoah knew not that he was the angel of Jehovah. ¹⁷ And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that, when thy words come to pass, we may do thee honor? ¹⁸ And the angel of Jehovah said unto him, Wherefore askest thou after my name, seeing it is ^[c]wonderful? ¹⁹ So Manoah took the kid with the meal-offering, and offered it upon the rock unto Jehovah: and the angel did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on. ²⁰ For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of Jehovah ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ But the angel of Jehovah did no more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Jehovah. ²² And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. ²³ But his wife said unto him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meal-offering at our hand, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would at this time have told such things as these. ²⁴ And the woman bare a son, and called his name ^[d]Samson: and the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him.

⁴⁰ Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, This is of a truth the prophet. ⁴¹ Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee? ^42 [a]Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? ⁴³ So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. ⁴⁴ And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.

⁴⁵ The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why did ye not bring him? ⁴⁶ The officers answered, Never man so spake. ⁴⁷ The Pharisees therefore answered them, Are ye also led astray? ⁴⁸ Hath any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees? ⁴⁹ But this multitude that knoweth not the law are accursed. ⁵⁰ Nicodemus saith unto them (he that came to him before, being one of them), ⁵¹ Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know what he doeth? ⁵² They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and ^[b]see that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.