Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 89
A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing of the mercy and loving-kindness of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness from generation to generation.
2 For I have said, Mercy and loving-kindness shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness will You establish in the very heavens [unchangeable and perpetual].
3 [You have said] I have made a [a]covenant with My chosen one, I have sworn to David My servant,
4 Your Seed I will establish forever, and I will build up your throne for all generations. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!(A)
19 Once You spoke in a vision to Your devoted ones and said, I have endowed one who is mighty [a hero, giving him the power to help—to be a champion for Israel]; I have exalted one chosen from among the people.
20 I have found David My servant; with My holy oil have I anointed him,(A)
21 With whom My hand shall be established and ever abide; My arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not exact from him or do him violence or outwit him, nor shall the wicked afflict and humble him.
23 I will beat down his foes before his face and smite those who hate him.
24 My faithfulness and My mercy and loving-kindness shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be exalted [great power and prosperity shall be conferred upon him].
25 I will set his hand in control also on the [Mediterranean] Sea, and his right hand on the rivers [Euphrates with its tributaries].
26 He shall cry to Me, You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation!
2 And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children.
3 And the [a]Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, Behold, you are barren and have no children, but you shall become pregnant and bear a son.
4 Therefore beware and drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean.
5 For behold, you shall become pregnant and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines.
6 Then the woman went and told her husband, saying, A [b]Man of God came to me and his face was like the face of the Angel of God, to be greatly and reverently feared. I did not ask him from where he came, and he did not tell me his name.
7 But he said to me, Behold, you shall become pregnant and bear a son, and now drink no wine or strong drink and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from birth to the day of his death.
8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord and said, O Lord, let the Man of God whom You sent come again to us and teach us what we shall do with the child that shall be born.
9 And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her.
10 And the woman ran in haste and told her husband and said to him, Behold, the Man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.
11 And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the Man and said to him, Are you the Man who spoke to this woman? And he said, I am.
12 And Manoah said, Now when your words come true, how shall we manage the child, and what is he to do?
13 And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Let the mother beware of all that I told her.
14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.
15 And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, Pray, let us detain you that we may prepare a kid for you.
16 And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Though you detain me, I will not eat of your food, but if you make ready a burnt offering, offer it to the Lord. For Manoah did not know that he was the Angel of the Lord.
17 And Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, What is your name, so that when your words come true, we may do you honor?
18 And the Angel of the Lord said to him, Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?(A)
19 So Manoah took the kid with the cereal offering and offered it upon a rock to the Lord, the Angel working wonders, while Manoah and his wife looked on.
20 For when the flame went up toward the heavens from the altar, the Angel of the Lord ascended in the altar flame. And Manoah and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 The Angel of the Lord did not appear again to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the Angel of the Lord.
22 And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
23 But his [sensible] wife said to him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have received a burnt offering and a cereal offering from our hands, nor have shown us all these things or now have announced such things as these.
24 And the woman [in due time] bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew and the Lord blessed him.
40 Listening to those words, some of the multitude said, This is certainly and beyond doubt the Prophet!(A)
41 Others said, This is the Christ (the Messiah, Anointed One)! But some said, What? Does the Christ come out of Galilee?
42 Does not the Scripture tell us that the Christ will come from the offspring of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?(B)
43 So there arose a division and dissension among the people concerning Him.
44 Some of them wanted to arrest Him, but no one [ventured and] laid hands on Him.
45 Meanwhile the attendants (guards) had gone back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, Why have you not brought Him here with you?
46 The attendants replied, Never has a man talked as this Man talks! [No mere man has ever spoken as He speaks!]
47 The Pharisees said to them, Are you also deluded and led astray? [Are you also swept off your feet?]
48 Has any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in Him?
49 As for this multitude (rabble) that does not know the Law, they are contemptible and doomed and accursed!
50 Then Nicodemus, who came to Jesus before at night and was one of them, asked,
51 Does our Law convict a man without giving him a hearing and finding out what he has done?
52 They answered him, Are you too from Galilee? Search [the Scriptures yourself], and you will see that no prophet comes (will rise to prominence) from Galilee.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation