Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Remembering the Covenant with David, and Sorrow for Lost Blessings

A ^[a]Contemplation of ^(A)Ethan the Ezrahite.

² Now there was a certain man from ^(A)Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. ³ And the ^(B)Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. ⁴ Now therefore, please be careful ^(C)not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. ⁵ For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no ^(D)razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be ^(E)a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall ^(F)begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

⁶ So the woman came and told her husband, saying, ^(G)“A Man of God came to me, and His ^(H)countenance^[a] was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I ^(I)did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. ⁷ And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”

⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, and said, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.”

⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!”

¹¹ So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?”

And He said, “I am.”

¹² Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?”

¹³ So the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. ¹⁴ She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, ^(J)nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.”

¹⁵ Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “Please ^(K)let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You.”

¹⁶ And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.)

¹⁷ Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?”

¹⁸ And the Angel of the Lord said to him, ^(L)“Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?”

¹⁹ So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, ^(M)and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on— ²⁰ it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they ^(N)fell on their faces to the ground. ²¹ When the Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, ^(O)then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord.

²² And Manoah said to his wife, ^(P)“We shall surely die, because 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 shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time.”

²⁴ So the woman bore a son and called his name ^(Q)Samson; and ^(R)the child grew, and the Lord blessed him.

Who Is He?

⁴⁰ Therefore ^[a]many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is ^(A)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is ^(B)the Christ.”

But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? ^42 (C)Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, ^(D)where David was?” ⁴³ So ^(E)there was a division among the people because of Him. ⁴⁴ Now ^(F)some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Rejected by the Authorities

⁴⁵ Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”

⁴⁶ The officers answered, ^(G)“No man ever spoke like this Man!”

⁴⁷ Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus ^(H)(he who came to ^[b]Jesus ^[c]by night, being one of them) said to them, ^51 (I)“Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

⁵² They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for ^(J)no prophet ^[d]has arisen out of Galilee.”