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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.

Duration: 861 days

Psalm 37

Psalm 37^[a]

By David.

37 Do not fret^[b] when wicked men seem to succeed.^[c]
Do not envy evildoers.
²For they will quickly dry up like grass,
and wither away like plants.^[d]
³Trust in the Lord and do what is right.
Settle in the land and maintain your integrity.^[e]
⁴Then you will take delight in the Lord,^[f]
and he will answer your prayers.^[g]
⁵Commit your future to the Lord.^[h]
Trust in him, and he will act on your behalf.^[i]
⁶He will vindicate you in broad daylight,
and publicly defend your just cause.^[j]
⁷Wait patiently for the Lord!^[k]
Wait confidently^[l] for him!
Do not fret over the apparent success of a sinner,^[m]
a man who carries out wicked schemes.
⁸Do not be angry and frustrated.^[n]
Do not fret. That only leads to trouble.
⁹Wicked men^[o] will be wiped out,^[p]
but those who rely on the Lord are the ones who will possess the land.^[q]
¹⁰Evil men will soon disappear;^[r]
you will stare at the spot where they once were, but they will be gone.^[s]
¹¹But the oppressed will possess the land
and enjoy great prosperity.^[t]
¹²Evil men plot against the godly^[u]
and viciously attack them.^[v]
¹³The Lord laughs in disgust^[w] at them,
for he knows that their day is coming.^[x]
¹⁴Evil men draw their swords
and prepare their bows,
to bring down^[y] the oppressed and needy,
and to slaughter those who are godly.^[z]
¹⁵Their swords will pierce^[aa] their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
¹⁶The little bit that a godly man owns is better than
the wealth of many evil men,^[ab]
¹⁷for evil men will lose their power,^[ac]
but the Lord sustains^[ad] the godly.
¹⁸The Lord watches over the innocent day by day,^[ae]
and they possess a permanent inheritance.^[af]
¹⁹They will not be ashamed when hard times come;^[ag]
when famine comes they will have enough to eat.^[ah]
²⁰But^[ai] evil men will die;
the Lord’s enemies will be incinerated^[aj]—
they will go up in smoke.^[ak]
²¹Evil men borrow, but do not repay their debt,
but the godly show compassion and are generous.^[al]
²²Surely^[am] those favored by the Lord^[an] will possess the land,
but those rejected^[ao] by him will be wiped out.^[ap]
²³The Lord grants success to the one
whose behavior he finds commendable.^[aq]
²⁴Even if^[ar] he trips, he will not fall headlong,^[as]
for the Lord holds^[at] his hand.
²⁵I was once young, now I am old.
I have never seen the godly abandoned,
or their children^[au] forced to search for food.^[av]
²⁶All day long they show compassion and lend to others,^[aw]
and their children^[ax] are blessed.
²⁷Turn away from evil. Do what is right.^[ay]
Then you will enjoy lasting security.^[az]
²⁸For the Lord promotes^[ba] justice,
and never abandons^[bb] his faithful followers.
They are permanently secure,^[bc]
but the children^[bd] of the wicked are wiped out.^[be]
²⁹The godly will possess the land
and will dwell in it permanently.
³⁰The godly speak wise words
and promote justice.^[bf]
³¹The law of their God controls their thinking;^[bg]
their^[bh] feet do not slip.
³²The wicked set an ambush for the godly
and try to kill them.^[bi]
³³But the Lord does not surrender the godly,
or allow them to be condemned in a court of law.^[bj]
³⁴Rely^[bk] on the Lord. Obey his commands.^[bl]
Then he will permit you^[bm] to possess the land;
you will see the demise of the wicked.^[bn]
³⁵I have seen ruthless, wicked people^[bo]
growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil.^[bp]
³⁶But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared.^[bq]
I looked for them, but they could not be found.
³⁷Take note of the one who has integrity. Observe the upright.
For the one who promotes peace has a future.^[br]
³⁸Sinful rebels are totally destroyed;^[bs]
the wicked have no future.^[bt]
³⁹But the Lord delivers the godly;^[bu]
he protects them in times of trouble.^[bv]
⁴⁰The Lord helps them and rescues them;
he rescues them from the wicked and delivers them,^[bw]
for they seek his protection.

Footnotes

Psalm 37:1 sn Psalm 37. The psalmist urges his audience not to envy the wicked, but to trust in and obey the Lord, for he will destroy sinners and preserve the godly. When the smoke of judgment clears, the wicked will be gone, but the godly will remain and inherit God’s promised blessings. The psalm is an acrostic; every other verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
Psalm 37:1 tn The verb form is singular (see vv. 3-10 as well, where the second person verbs and pronouns are also singular). The psalmist’s exhortation has a wisdom flavor to it; it is personalized for each member of his audience.
Psalm 37:1 tn Heb “over sinners.” The context indicates that the psalmist has in mind the apparent power and success of sinners. See v. 7b.
Psalm 37:2 tn Heb “like green vegetation.”
Psalm 37:3 tn Heb “tend integrity.” The verb רָעָה (raʿah, “tend, shepherd”) is probably used here in the sense of “watch over, guard.” The noun אֱמוּנָה (ʾemunah, “faithfulness, honesty, integrity”) is understood as the direct object of the verb, though it could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “[feed] securely,” if the audience is likened to a flock of sheep.
Psalm 37:4 tn Following the imperatives of v. 3 the prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) in v. 4 indicate result. Faith and obedience (v. 3) will bring divine blessing (v. 4).
Psalm 37:4 tn Or “and he will give you what you desire most.” Heb “and he will grant to you the requests of your heart.”
Psalm 37:5 tn Heb “roll your way upon the Lord.” The noun “way” may refer here to one’s activities or course of life.
Psalm 37:5 tn Heb “he will act.” Verse 6 explains what is meant; the Lord will vindicate those who trust in him.
Psalm 37:6 tn Heb “and he will bring out like light your vindication, and your just cause like noonday.”
Psalm 37:7 tn Heb “Be quiet before the Lord!”
Psalm 37:7 tc The Hebrew text has וְהִתְחוֹלֵל (v^ehitkholel, Hitpolel of חִיל, khil, “writhe with fear, suffer”) but this idea fits awkwardly here. The text should be changed to וְתוֹחֵל (v^etokhel; Hiphil of יָחַל, yakhal, “wait”). It appears that the Hebrew text is the product of dittography: (1) the initial וה (vav-he) is accidentally repeated from the preceding word (יְהוָה, y^ehvah) and (2) the final ל (lamed) is accidentally repeated (note the preceding lamed and the initial lamed on the following form, לו).
Psalm 37:7 tn Heb “over one who causes his way to be successful.”
Psalm 37:8 tn Heb “Refrain from anger! Abandon rage!”
Psalm 37:9 tn Heb “for evil men.” The conjunction כִּי (ki, “for”) relates to the exhortations in v. 8; there is no reason to be frustrated, for the evildoers will be punished in due time.
Psalm 37:9 tn Or “cut off, removed.”
Psalm 37:9 tn Heb “and those who wait on the Lord, they will possess the land.”
Psalm 37:10 tn Heb “and yet, a little, there will be no wicked [one].”
Psalm 37:10 tn Heb “and you will carefully look upon his place, but he will not be [there].” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer is in view.
Psalm 37:11 tn Heb “and they will take delight in (see v. 4) abundance of peace.”
Psalm 37:12 tn Or “innocent.” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and the typical godly individual are in view.
Psalm 37:12 tn Heb “and gnashes at him with his teeth” (see Ps 35:16). The language may picture the evil men as wild animals. The active participles in v. 12 are used for purposes of dramatic description.
Psalm 37:13 tn Heb “laughs.” As the next line indicates, this refers to derisive laughter (see 2:4). The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes the action from the perspective of an eye-witness who is watching the divine response as it unfolds before his eyes.
Psalm 37:13 tn Heb “for he sees that his day is coming.” As the following context makes clear (vv. 15, 17, 19-20), “his day” refers to the time when God will destroy evildoers.
Psalm 37:14 tn Heb “to cause to fall.”
Psalm 37:14 tn Heb “the upright in way,” i.e., those who lead godly lives.
Psalm 37:15 tn Heb “enter into.”
Psalm 37:16 tn Heb “Better [is] a little to the godly one than the wealth of many evil ones.” The following verses explain why this is true. Though a godly individual may seem to have only meager possessions, he always has what he needs and will eventually possess the land. The wicked may prosper for a brief time, but will eventually be destroyed by divine judgment and lose everything.
Psalm 37:17 tn Heb “for the arms of the evil ones will be broken.”
Psalm 37:17 tn The active participle here indicates this is characteristically true.
Psalm 37:18 tn Heb “the Lord knows the days of the innocent ones.” He “knows” their days in the sense that he is intimately aware of and involved in their daily struggles. He meets their needs and sustains them.
Psalm 37:18 tn Heb “and their inheritance is forever.”
Psalm 37:19 tn Heb “in a time of trouble.”
Psalm 37:19 tn Heb “in days of famine they will be satisfied.”
Psalm 37:20 tn Or “for,” but Hebrew כִּי (ki) in this case would have to extend all the way back to v. 17a. Another option is to understand the particle as asseverative, “surely” (see v. 22).
Psalm 37:20 tc The meaning of the MT (כִּיקַר כָּרִים [kiqar karim], “like what is precious among the pastures/rams”) is uncertain. One possibility is to take the noun כָּרִים as “pastures” and interpret “what is precious” as referring to flowers that blossom but then quickly disappear (see v. 2 and BDB 430 s.v. יָקָר 3). If כָּרִים is taken as “rams,” then “what is precious” might refer to the choicest portions of rams. The present translation follows a reading in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpPs37), כיקוד כורם (“like the burning of an oven”). The next line, which pictures the Lord’s enemies being consumed in smoke, supports this reading, which assumes confusion of the Hebrew letters ר (resh) and ד (dalet) at the end of the first word in the sequence.
Psalm 37:20 tn Heb “they perish in smoke, they perish.” In addition to repeating the verb for emphasis, the psalmist uses the perfect form of the verb to picture the enemies’ demise as if it had already taken place. In this way he draws attention to the certitude of their judgment.
Psalm 37:21 tn Heb “an evil [man] borrows and does not repay, but a godly [man] is gracious and gives.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and godly individual are in view. The three active participles and one imperfect (“repay”) draw attention to the characteristic behavior of the two types.
Psalm 37:22 tn The particle כִּי (ki) is best understood as asseverative or emphatic here.
Psalm 37:22 tn Heb “those blessed by him.” The pronoun “him” must refer to the Lord (see vv. 20, 23), so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Psalm 37:22 tn Heb “cursed.”
Psalm 37:22 tn Or “cut off”; or “removed” (see v. 9).
Psalm 37:23 tn Heb “from the Lord the steps of a man are established, and in his way he delights.” The second line qualifies the first. The man whose behavior is commendable in God’s sight is the one whose ways are established by God. Another option is that the second line refers to the godly man delighting in God’s “way,” namely the lifestyle which he prescribes for men. In this case one might translate, “The Lord grants success to the one who desires to obey his commands.”
Psalm 37:24 tn Other translation options for כִּי (ki) in this context are “when” (so NASB) or “though” (so NEB, NIV, NRSV).
Psalm 37:24 tn Heb “be hurled down.”
Psalm 37:24 tn The active participle indicates this is characteristically true. See v. 17.
Psalm 37:25 tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”
Psalm 37:25 tn Heb “or his offspring searching for food.” The expression “search for food” also appears in Lam 1:11, where Jerusalem’s refugees are forced to search for food and to trade their valuable possessions for something to eat.
Psalm 37:26 tn The active participles describe characteristic behavior.
Psalm 37:26 tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”
Psalm 37:27 tn Or “Do good!” The imperatives are singular (see v. 1).
Psalm 37:27 tn Heb “and dwell permanently.” The imperative with vav (ו) is best taken here as a result clause after the preceding imperatives.
Psalm 37:28 tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world. The active participle describes characteristic behavior.
Psalm 37:28 tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to this generalizing statement.
Psalm 37:28 tn Or “protected forever.”
Psalm 37:28 tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”
Psalm 37:28 tn Or “cut off”; or “removed.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 28b state general truths.
Psalm 37:30 tn Heb “The mouth of the godly [one] utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.” The singular form is used in a representative sense; the typical godly individual is in view. The imperfect verbal forms draw attention to the characteristic behavior of the godly.
Psalm 37:31 tn Heb “the law of his God [is] in his heart.” The “heart” is here the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.
Psalm 37:31 tn Heb “his.” The pronoun has been translated as plural to agree with the representative or typical “godly” in v. 30.
Psalm 37:32 tn Heb “an evil [one] watches the godly [one] and seeks to kill him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and godly individual are in view. The active participles describe characteristic behavior.
Psalm 37:33 tn Heb “the Lord does not abandon him into his hand or condemn him when he is judged.” The imperfects draw attention to the Lord’s characteristic behavior in this regard.
Psalm 37:34 tn Or “wait.”
Psalm 37:34 tn Heb “keep his way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the “conduct required” by the Lord. In Ps 25 the Lord’s “ways” are associated with his covenantal demands (see vv. 4, 9-10). See also Ps 119:3 (cf. vv. 1, 4), as well as Deut 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16.
Psalm 37:34 tn Heb “and he will lift you up.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) is best taken here as a result clause following the imperatives in the preceding lines.
Psalm 37:34 tn Heb “when evil men are cut off you will see.”
Psalm 37:35 tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.
Psalm 37:35 tn Heb “being exposed [?] like a native, luxuriant.” The Hebrew form מִתְעָרֶה (mitʿareh) appears to be a Hitpael participle from עָרָה (ʿarah, “be exposed”), but this makes no sense in this context. Perhaps the form is a dialectal variant of מִתְעָלָה (“giving oneself an air of importance”; see Jer 51:3), from עָלָה (ʿalah, “go up”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 296). The noun אֶזְרָח (ʾezrakh, “native, full citizen”) refers elsewhere to people, but here, where it is collocated with “luxuriant, green,” it probably refers to a tree growing in native soil.
Psalm 37:36 tn Heb “and he passes by and, look, he is not [there].” The subject of the verb “passes by” is probably indefinite, referring to any passerby. Some prefer to change the form to first person, “and I passed by” (cf. NEB; note the first person verbal forms in preceding verse and in the following line).
Psalm 37:37 tn Heb “for [there is] an end for a man of peace.” Some interpret אַחֲרִית (ʾakharit, “end”) as referring to offspring (see the next verse and Ps 109:13; cf. NEB, NRSV).
Psalm 37:38 tn Or “destroyed together.” In this case the psalmist pictures judgment sweeping them away as a group.
Psalm 37:38 tn Heb “the end of evil men is cut off.” As in v. 37, some interpret אַחֲרִית (ʾakharit, “end”) as referring to offspring (see Ps 109:13). The perfect verbal forms in v. 38 probably express general truths. Another option is that they are used emphatically to state with certitude that the demise of the wicked is as good as done.
Psalm 37:39 tn Heb “and the deliverance of the godly [ones] [is] from the Lord.”
Psalm 37:39 tn Heb “[he is] their place of refuge in a time of trouble.”
Psalm 37:40 tn The prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) consecutive carry on the generalizing tone of the preceding verse.

1 Kings 11:1-13

The Lord Punishes Solomon for Idolatry

11 King Solomon fell in love with many foreign women (besides Pharaoh’s daughter), including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. ²They came from nations about which the Lord had warned the Israelites, “You must not establish friendly relations with them!^[a] If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.”^[b] But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them.^[c]

³He had 700 royal wives^[d] and 300 concubines;^[e] his wives had a powerful influence over him.^[f] ⁴When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to^[g] other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been.^[h] ⁵Solomon worshiped^[i] the Sidonian goddess Astarte and the detestable Ammonite god Milcom.^[j] ⁶Solomon did evil in the Lord’s sight;^[k] he did not remain loyal to^[l] the Lord, as his father David had. ⁷Furthermore,^[m] on the hill east of Jerusalem^[n] Solomon built a high place^[o] for the detestable Moabite god Chemosh^[p] and for the detestable Ammonite god Milcom.^[q] ⁸He built high places for all his foreign wives so they could burn incense and make sacrifices to their gods.^[r]

⁹The Lord was angry with Solomon because he had shifted his allegiance^[s] away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him on two occasions^[t] ¹⁰and had warned him about this very thing, so that he would not follow other gods.^[u] But he did not obey^[v] the Lord’s command. ¹¹So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you insist on doing these things and have not kept the covenantal rules I gave you,^[w] I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. ¹²However, for your father David’s sake I will not do this while you are alive. I will tear it away from your son’s hand instead. ¹³But I will not tear away the entire kingdom; I will leave^[x] your son one tribe for my servant David’s sake and for the sake of my chosen city Jerusalem.”

Footnotes

1 Kings 11:2 tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”
1 Kings 11:2 tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
1 Kings 11:2 tn Heb “Solomon clung to them for love.” The pronominal suffix, translated “them,” is masculine here, even though it appears the foreign women are in view. Perhaps this is due to attraction to the masculine forms used of the nations earlier in the verse.
1 Kings 11:3 tn Heb “wives, princesses.”
1 Kings 11:3 sn Concubines were slave women in ancient Near Eastern societies who were the legal property of their master, but who could have legitimate sexual relations with their master. A concubine’s status was more elevated than a mere servant, but she was not free and did not have the legal rights of a free wife. The children of a concubine could, in some instances, become equal heirs with the children of the free wife. The usage in the present passage suggests that after the period of the Judges concubines may have become more of a royal prerogative (cf. also 2 Sam 21:10-14).
1 Kings 11:3 tn Heb “his wives bent his heart.”
1 Kings 11:4 tn Heb “bent his heart after.”
1 Kings 11:4 tn Heb “his heart was not complete with the Lord his God, like the heart of David his father.”
1 Kings 11:5 tn Heb “walked after.”
1 Kings 11:5 tn Heb “Milcom, the detestable thing of the Ammonites.”
1 Kings 11:6 tn Heb “in the eyes of the Lord.”
1 Kings 11:6 tn The idiomatic statement reads in Hebrew, “he did not fill up after.”
1 Kings 11:7 tn Heb “then.”
1 Kings 11:7 sn The hill east of Jerusalem refers to the Mount of Olives.
1 Kings 11:7 sn A high place. The “high places” were places of worship that were naturally or artificially elevated (see 1 Kgs 3:2).
1 Kings 11:7 tn Heb “Chemosh, the detestable thing of Moab.”
1 Kings 11:7 tc The MT reads “Molech,” but Milcom must be intended (see vv. 5, 33).
1 Kings 11:8 tn Heb “and the same thing he did for all his foreign wives, [who] were burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.”
1 Kings 11:9 tn Heb “bent his heart.”
1 Kings 11:9 sn These two occasions are mentioned in 1 Kgs 3:5 and 9:2.
1 Kings 11:10 tn Heb “and had commanded him concerning this thing not to walk after other gods.”
1 Kings 11:10 tn Or “keep.”
1 Kings 11:11 tn Heb “Because this is with you, and you have not kept my covenant and my rules which I commanded you.”
1 Kings 11:13 tn Heb “give.”

James 3:13-4:12

True Wisdom

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings.^[a] ¹⁴But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. ¹⁵Such^[b] wisdom does not come^[c] from above but is earthly, natural,^[d] demonic. ¹⁶For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice. ¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating,^[e] full of mercy and good fruit,^[f] impartial, and not hypocritical.^[g] ¹⁸And the fruit that consists of righteousness^[h] is planted^[i] in peace among^[j] those who make peace.

Passions and Pride

4 Where do the conflicts and where^[k] do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this,^[l] from your passions that battle inside you?^[m] ²You desire and you do not have; you murder and envy and you cannot obtain; you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask; ³you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

⁴Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God?^[n] So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy. ⁵Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says,^[o] “The spirit that God^[p] caused^[q] to live within us has an envious yearning”?^[r] ⁶But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.”^[s] ⁷So submit to God. But resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded.^[t] ⁹Grieve, mourn,^[u] and weep. Turn your laughter^[v] into mourning and your joy into despair. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

¹¹Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters.^[w] He who speaks against a fellow believer^[x] or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge.^[y] ¹²But there is only one who is lawgiver and judge—the one who is able to save and destroy. On the other hand, who are you to judge your neighbor?^[z]

Footnotes

James 3:13 tn Grk “works in the gentleness of wisdom.”
James 3:15 tn Grk “This.”
James 3:15 tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”
James 3:15 tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.
James 3:17 tn Or “willing to yield,” “open to persuasion.”
James 3:17 tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit.”
James 3:17 tn Or “sincere.”
James 3:18 tn Grk “the fruit of righteousness,” meaning righteous living as a fruit, as the thing produced.
James 3:18 tn Grk “is sown.”
James 3:18 tn Or “for,” or possibly “by.”
James 4:1 tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.
James 4:1 tn Grk “from here.”
James 4:1 tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”
James 4:4 tn Grk “is hostility toward God.”
James 4:5 tn Grk “vainly says.”
James 4:5 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
James 4:5 tc The Byzantine text and a few other mss (P 5 33 436 442 1243 1611 1735 1852 2344 2492 M) have the intransitive κατῴκησεν (katōkēsen) here, which turns τὸ πνεῦμα (to pneuma) into the subject of the verb: “The spirit which lives within us.” But the more reliable and older witnesses (P⁷⁴ א B Ψ 049 1241 1739 al) have the causative verb, κατῴκισεν (katōkisen), which implies a different subject and τὸ πνεῦμα as the object: “The spirit that he causes to live within us.” Both because of the absence of an explicit subject and the relative scarcity of the causative κατοικίζω (katoikizō, “cause to dwell”) compared to the intransitive κατοικέω (katoikeō, “live, dwell”) in biblical Greek (κατοικίζω does not occur in the NT at all, and occurs much less frequently than κατοικέω in the LXX), it is easy to see why scribes would replace κατῴκισεν with κατῴκησεν. Thus, on internal and external grounds, κατῴκισεν is the preferred reading.
James 4:5 tn Interpreters debate the referent of the word “spirit” in this verse: (1) The translation takes “spirit” to be the lustful capacity within people that produces a divided mind (1:8, 14) and inward conflicts regarding God (4:1-4). God has allowed it to be in man since the fall, and he provides his grace (v. 6) and the new birth through the gospel message (1:18-25) to counteract its evil effects. (2) On the other hand the word “spirit” may be taken positively as the Holy Spirit and the sense would be, “God yearns jealously for the Spirit he caused to live within us.” But the word for “envious” or “jealous” is generally negative in biblical usage and the context before and after seems to favor the negative interpretation.sn No OT verse is worded exactly this way. This is either a statement about the general teaching of scripture or a quotation from an ancient translation of the Hebrew text that no longer exists today.
James 4:6 sn A quotation from Prov 3:34.
James 4:8 tn Or “two-minded” (the same description used in 1:8).
James 4:9 tn This term and the following one are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.
James 4:9 tn Grk “let your laughter be turned.”
James 4:11 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.
James 4:11 tn See note on the word “believer” in 1:9.
James 4:11 tn Grk “a judge.”
James 4:12 tn Grk “who judges your neighbor.”

Mark 15:12-21

¹²So Pilate spoke to them again,^[a] “Then what do you want me to do^[b] with the one you call king of the Jews?” ¹³They shouted back, “Crucify^[c] him!” ¹⁴Pilate asked them, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!” ¹⁵Because he wanted to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them. Then,^[d] after he had Jesus flogged,^[e] he handed him over^[f] to be crucified.

Jesus is Mocked

¹⁶So^[g] the soldiers led him into the palace (that is, the governor’s residence)^[h] and called together the whole cohort.^[i] ¹⁷They put a purple cloak^[j] on him and after braiding^[k] a crown of thorns,^[l] they put it on him. ¹⁸They began to salute him: “Hail, king of the Jews!”^[m] ¹⁹Again and again^[n] they struck him on the head with a staff^[o] and spit on him. Then they knelt down and paid homage to him. ²⁰When they had finished mocking^[p] him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes back on him. Then^[q] they led him away to crucify him.^[r]

The Crucifixion

²¹The soldiers^[s] forced^[t] a passerby to carry his cross,^[u] Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country^[v] (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus).

Footnotes

Mark 15:12 tn Grk “answering, Pilate spoke to them again.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokritheis) is redundant and has not been translated.
Mark 15:12 tc Instead of “what do you want me to do” several witnesses, including the most significant ones (א B C W Δ Ψ ƒ^1,13 33 892), lack θέλετε (thelete, “you want”), turning the question into the more abrupt “what should I do?” Although the witnesses for the longer reading are not as significant (A D Θ 0250 M latt sy), the reading without θέλετε conforms to Matt 27:22 and thus is suspected of being a scribal emendation. The known scribal tendency to assimilate one synoptic passage to another parallel, coupled with the lack of such assimilation in mss that are otherwise known to do this most frequently (the Western and Byzantine texts), suggests that θέλετε is authentic. Further, Mark’s known style of being generally more verbose and redundant than Matthew’s argues that θέλετε is authentic here. That this is the longer reading, however, and that a good variety of witnesses omit the word, gives one pause. Perhaps the wording without θέλετε would have been perceived as having greater homiletical value, motivating scribes to move in this direction. A decision is difficult, but on the whole internal evidence leads toward regarding θέλετε as authentic.
Mark 15:13 sn Crucifixion was the cruelest form of punishment practiced by the Romans. Roman citizens could not normally undergo it. It was reserved for the worst crimes, like treason and evasion of due process in a capital case. The Roman historian Cicero called it “a cruel and disgusting penalty” (Against Verres 2.5.63-66 §§163-70); Josephus (J. W. 7.6.4 [7.203]) called it the worst of deaths.
Mark 15:15 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
Mark 15:15 tn The Greek term φραγελλόω (phragelloō) refers to flogging. BDAG 1064 s.v. states, “flog, scourge, a punishment inflicted on slaves and provincials after a sentence of death had been pronounced on them. So in the case of Jesus before the crucifixion…Mt 27:26; Mk 15:15.”sn A Roman flogging (traditionally, “scourging”) was an excruciating punishment. The victim was stripped of his clothes and bound to a post with his hands fastened above him (or sometimes he was thrown to the ground). Guards standing on either side of the victim would incessantly beat him with a whip (flagellum) made out of leather with pieces of lead and bone inserted into its ends. While the Jews only allowed 39 lashes, the Romans had no such limit; many people who received such a beating died as a result. See C. Schneider, TDNT, 4:515-19.
Mark 15:15 tn Or “delivered him up.”
Mark 15:16 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “So” to indicate that the soldiers’ action is in response to Pilate’s condemnation of the prisoner in v. 15.
Mark 15:16 tn Grk “(that is, the praetorium).” sn The governor’s residence (Grk “praetorium”) was the Roman governor’s official residence. The one in Jerusalem may have been Herod’s palace in the western part of the city, or the fortress Antonia northwest of the temple area.
Mark 15:16 sn A Roman cohort was a tenth of a legion, about 500-600 soldiers.
Mark 15:17 sn The purple cloak probably refers to a military garment which had the color of royal purple, and thus resembled a king’s robe. The soldiers did this to Jesus as a form of mockery in view of the charges that he was a king (cf. 15:2).
Mark 15:17 tn Or “weaving.”
Mark 15:17 sn The crown may have been made from palm spines or some other thorny plant common in Israel. In placing the crown of thorns on his head, the soldiers were unwittingly symbolizing God’s curse on humanity (cf. Gen 3:18) being placed on Jesus. Their purpose would have been to mock Jesus’ claim to be a king; the crown of thorns would have represented the “radiant corona” portrayed on the heads of rulers on coins and other artifacts in the 1st century.
Mark 15:18 tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”sn The statement Hail, King of the Jews! is a mockery patterned after the Romans’ cry of Ave, Caesar (“Hail, Caesar!”).
Mark 15:19 tn The verb here has been translated as an iterative imperfect.
Mark 15:19 tn Or “a reed.” The Greek term can mean either “staff” or “reed.” See BDAG 502 s.v. κάλαμος 2.
Mark 15:20 tn The aorist tense is taken consummatively here.
Mark 15:20 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
Mark 15:20 sn See the note on Crucify in 15:13.
Mark 15:21 tn Grk “They”; the referent (the soldiers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Mark 15:21 tn Or “conscripted”; or “pressed into service.”
Mark 15:21 sn Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently he was unable to bear the cross himself, so Simon was conscripted to help (in all probability this was only the crossbeam, called in Latin the patibulum, since the upright beam usually remained in the ground at the place of execution). Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon.
Mark 15:21 tn Or perhaps, “was coming in from his field” outside the city (BDAG 15-16 s.v. ἀγρός 1).

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Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 37[a]

By David.

Footnotes

The Lord Punishes Solomon for Idolatry

Footnotes

True Wisdom

Passions and Pride

Footnotes

Jesus is Mocked

The Crucifixion

Footnotes

Psalm 37^[a]