Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 89[a]
A maskil[b] of Ethan the Ezrahite.
1 I will sing(A) of the Lord’s great love forever;
with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known(B)
through all generations.
2 I will declare that your love stands firm forever,
that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself.(C)
3 You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant,
4 ‘I will establish your line forever
and make your throne firm through all generations.’”[c](D)
19 Once you spoke in a vision,
to your faithful people you said:
“I have bestowed strength on a warrior;
I have raised up a young man from among the people.
20 I have found David(A) my servant;(B)
with my sacred oil(C) I have anointed(D) him.
21 My hand will sustain him;
surely my arm will strengthen him.(E)
22 The enemy will not get the better of him;(F)
the wicked will not oppress(G) him.
23 I will crush his foes before him(H)
and strike down his adversaries.(I)
24 My faithful love will be with him,(J)
and through my name his horn[a] will be exalted.
25 I will set his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.(K)
26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,(L)
my God, the Rock(M) my Savior.’(N)
2 A certain man of Zorah,(A) named Manoah,(B) from the clan of the Danites,(C) had a wife who was childless,(D) unable to give birth. 3 The angel of the Lord(E) appeared to her(F) and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son.(G) 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink(H) and that you do not eat anything unclean.(I) 5 You will become pregnant and have a son(J) whose head is never to be touched by a razor(K) because the boy is to be a Nazirite,(L) dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead(M) in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
6 Then the woman went to her husband and told him, “A man of God(N) came to me. He looked like an angel of God,(O) very awesome.(P) I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name. 7 But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son. Now then, drink no wine(Q) or other fermented drink(R) and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.(S)’”
8 Then Manoah(T) prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God(U) you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”
9 God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10 The woman hurried to tell her husband, “He’s here! The man who appeared to me(V) the other day!”
11 Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, “Are you the man who talked to my wife?”
“I am,” he said.
12 So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?”
13 The angel of the Lord answered, “Your wife must do all that I have told her. 14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink(W) nor eat anything unclean.(X) She must do everything I have commanded her.”
15 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat(Y) for you.”
16 The angel of the Lord replied, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering,(Z) offer it to the Lord.” (Manoah did not realize(AA) that it was the angel of the Lord.)
17 Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, “What is your name,(AB) so that we may honor you when your word comes true?”
18 He replied, “Why do you ask my name?(AC) It is beyond understanding.[a]” 19 Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock(AD) to the Lord. And the Lord did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: 20 As the flame(AE) blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground.(AF) 21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized(AG) that it was the angel of the Lord.
22 “We are doomed(AH) to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen(AI) God!”
23 But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”(AJ)
24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson.(AK) He grew(AL) and the Lord blessed him,(AM)
40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”(A)
41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”
Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?(B) 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants(C) and from Bethlehem,(D) the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided(E) because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.(F)
Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,”(G) the guards replied.
47 “You mean he has deceived you also?”(H) the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?(I) 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”
50 Nicodemus,(J) who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”
52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”(K)
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