Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord’s Covenant with David, and Israel’s Afflictions.

A ^[a]Maskil of ^[b]Ethan ^[c]the Ezrahite.

² There was a certain man of ^(A)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. ^3 (B)Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ Now therefore, be careful ^(C)not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. ^5 (D)For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a ^(E)Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “^(F)A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. ⁷ But he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’”

⁸ Then Manoah entreated the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let ^(G)the man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born.” ⁹ God listened to the voice of Manoah; and ^(H)the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman ran quickly and told her ^[a]husband, “Behold, ^(I)the man who ^[b]came the other day has appeared to me.” ¹¹ Then Manoah arose and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, “Are you ^(J)the man who spoke to the woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹² Manoah said, “Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the boy’s mode of life and his vocation?” ¹³ So ^(K)the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “^(L)Let the woman pay attention ^[c]to all that I said. ¹⁴ She should not eat anything that comes from the ^(M)vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her observe all that I commanded.”

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to ^(N)the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶ The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain me, ^(O)I will not eat your ^[d]food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord. ¹⁷ Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “^(P)What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?” ¹⁸ But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is ^[e](Q)wonderful?” ¹⁹ So ^(R)Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the Lord, and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on. ²⁰ For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ^(S)fell on their faces to the ground.

²¹ Now the angel of the Lord did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. ^(T)Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. ²² So Manoah said to his wife, “^(U)We will surely die, for we have seen God.” ²³ But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have ^(V)shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time.”

²⁴ Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the ^(W)child grew up and the Lord blessed him.

Division of People over Jesus

⁴⁰ Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This certainly is ^(A)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others were saying, “This is ^[a]the Christ.” Still others were saying, “^(B)Surely ^[b]the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is He? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from ^(C)the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” ⁴³ So ^(D)a division occurred in the crowd because of Him. ^44 (E)Some of them wanted to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

⁴⁵ The ^(F)officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why did you not bring Him?” ⁴⁶ The ^(G)officers answered, “^(H)Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees then answered them, “^(I)You have not also been led astray, have you? ^48 (J)No one of ^(K)the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? ⁴⁹ But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” ^50 (L)Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) *said to them, ⁵¹ “^(M)Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” ⁵² They answered him, “^(N)You are not also from Galilee, are you? Search, and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.”