Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

89 An instruction, by Ethan the Ezrahite. Of the kind acts of Jehovah, to the age I sing, To all generations I make known Thy faithfulness with my mouth,

² For I said, `To the age is kindness built, The heavens! Thou dost establish Thy faithfulness in them.'

³ I have made a covenant for My chosen, I have sworn to David My servant:

⁴ `Even to the age do I establish thy seed, And have built to generation and generation thy throne. Selah.

¹⁹ Then Thou hast spoken in vision, To Thy saint, yea, Thou sayest, I have placed help upon a mighty one, Exalted a chosen one out of the people,

²⁰ I have found David My servant, With My holy oil I have anointed him.

²¹ With whom My hand is established, My arm also doth strengthen him.

²² An enemy exacteth not upon him, And a son of perverseness afflicteth him not.

²³ And I have beaten down before him his adversaries, And those hating him I plague,

²⁴ And My faithfulness and kindness [are] with him, And in My name is his horn exalted.

²⁵ And I have set on the sea his hand, And on the rivers his right hand.

²⁶ He proclaimeth me: `Thou [art] my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.'

² And there is a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danite, and his name [is] Manoah, his wife [is] barren, and hath not borne;

³ and a messenger of Jehovah appeareth unto the woman, and saith unto her, `Lo, I pray thee, thou [art] barren, and hast not borne; when thou hast conceived, then thou hast borne a son.

⁴ And, now, take heed, I pray thee, and do not drink wine, and strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing,

⁵ for, lo, thou art conceiving and bearing a son, and a razor doth not go up on his head, for a Nazarite to God is the youth from the womb, and he doth begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.'

⁶ And the woman cometh and speaketh to her husband, saying, `A man of God hath come unto me, and his appearance [is] as the appearance of a messenger of God, very fearful, and I have not asked him whence he [is], and his name he hath not declared to me;

⁷ and he saith to me, Lo, thou art pregnant, and bearing a son, and now do not drink wine and strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, for a Nazarite to God is the youth from the womb till the day of his death.'

⁸ And Manoah maketh entreaty unto Jehovah, and saith, `O, my Lord, the man of God whom Thou didst send, let him come in, I pray thee, again unto us, and direct us what we do to the youth who is born.'

⁹ And God hearkeneth to the voice of Manoah, and the messenger of God cometh again unto the woman, and she [is] sitting in a field, and Manoah her husband is not with her,

¹⁰ and the woman hasteth, and runneth, and declareth to her husband, and saith unto him, `Lo, he hath appeared unto me -- the man who came on [that] day unto me.'

¹¹ And Manoah riseth, and goeth after his wife, and cometh unto the man, and saith to him, `Art thou the man who spake unto the woman?' and he saith, `I [am].'

¹² And Manoah saith, `Now let thy words come to pass; what is the custom of the youth -- and his work?'

¹³ And the messenger of Jehovah saith unto Manoah, `Of all that I said unto the woman let her take heed;

¹⁴ of anything which cometh out from the wine-vine she doth not eat, and wine and strong drink she doth not drink, and any unclean thing she doth not eat; all that I have commanded her she doth observe.'

¹⁵ And Manoah saith unto the messenger of Jehovah, `Let us detain thee, we pray thee, and prepare before thee a kid of the goats.'

¹⁶ And the messenger of Jehovah saith unto Manoah, `If thou detain me -- I do not eat of thy bread; and if thou prepare a burnt-offering -- to Jehovah thou dost offer it;' for Manoah hath not known that He [is] a messenger of Jehovah.

¹⁷ And Manoah saith unto the messenger of Jehovah, `What [is] thy name? when thy words come to pass, then we have honoured thee.'

¹⁸ And the messenger of Jehovah saith to him, `Why [is] this -- thou dost ask for My name? -- and it [is] Wonderful.'

¹⁹ And Manoah taketh the kid of the goats, and the present, and offereth on the rock to Jehovah, and He is doing wonderfully, and Manoah and his wife are looking on,

²⁰ and it cometh to pass, in the going up of the flame from off the altar toward the heavens, that the messenger of Jehovah goeth up in the flame of the altar, and Manoah and his wife are looking on, and they fall on their faces to the earth,

²¹ and the messenger of Jehovah hath not added again to appear unto Manoah, and unto his wife, then hath Manoah known that He [is] a messenger of Jehovah.

²² And Manoah saith unto his wife, `We certainly die, for we have seen God.'

²³ And his wife saith to him, `If Jehovah were desirous to put us to death, He had not received from our hands burnt-offering and present, nor shewed us all these things, nor as [at this] time caused us to hear [anything] like this.'

²⁴ And the woman beareth a son, and calleth his name Samson, and the youth groweth, and Jehovah doth bless him,

⁴⁰ Many, therefore out of the multitude, having heard the word, said, `This is truly the Prophet;'

⁴¹ others said, `This is the Christ;' and others said, `Why, out of Galilee doth the Christ come?

⁴² Did not the Writing say, that out of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem -- the village where David was -- the Christ doth come?'

⁴³ A division, therefore, arose among the multitude because of him.

⁴⁴ And certain of them were willing to seize him, but no one laid hands on him;

⁴⁵ the officers came, therefore, unto the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, `Wherefore did ye not bring him?'

⁴⁶ The officers answered, `Never so spake man -- as this man.'

⁴⁷ The Pharisees, therefore, answered them, `Have ye also been led astray?

⁴⁸ did any one out of the rulers believe in him? or out of the Pharisees?

⁴⁹ but this multitude, that is not knowing the law, is accursed.'

⁵⁰ Nicodemus saith unto them -- he who came by night unto him -- being one of them,

⁵¹ `Doth our law judge the man, if it may not hear from him first, and know what he doth?'

⁵² They answered and said to him, `Art thou also out of Galilee? search and see, that a prophet out of Galilee hath not risen;'