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Book of Common Prayer

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

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Psalm 116

Psalm 116^[a]

116 I love the Lord
because he heard my plea for mercy,^[b]
²and listened to me.^[c]
As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help.^[d]
³The ropes of death tightened around me,^[e]
the snares^[f] of Sheol confronted me.
I was confronted^[g] with trouble and sorrow.
⁴I called on the name of the Lord,
“Please, Lord, rescue my life!”
⁵The Lord is merciful and fair;
our God is compassionate.
⁶The Lord protects^[h] the untrained;^[i]
I was in serious trouble^[j] and he delivered me.
⁷Rest once more, my soul,^[k]
for the Lord has vindicated you.^[l]
⁸Yes,^[m] Lord,^[n] you rescued my life from death,
kept my eyes from tears
and my feet from stumbling.
⁹I will serve^[o] the Lord
in the land^[p] of the living.
¹⁰I had faith when I said,
“I am severely oppressed.”
¹¹I rashly declared,^[q]
“All men are liars.”
¹²How can I repay the Lord
for all his acts of kindness to me?
¹³I will celebrate my deliverance,^[r]
and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁴I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
before all his people.
¹⁵The Lord values
the lives of his faithful followers.^[s]
¹⁶Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your female servant.^[t]
You saved me from death.^[u]
¹⁷I will present a thank offering to you,
and call on the name of the Lord.
¹⁸I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
before all his people,
¹⁹in the courts of the Lord’s temple,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!

Footnotes

Psalm 116:1 sn Psalm 116. The psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him from a life threatening crisis and promises to tell the entire covenant community what God has done for him.
Psalm 116:1 tn Heb “I love because the Lord heard my voice, my pleas.” It is possible that “the Lord” originally appeared directly after “I love” and was later accidentally misplaced. The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls that God heard his cry for help (note the perfect in v. 2a and the narrative in vv. 3-4).
Psalm 116:2 tn Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”
Psalm 116:2 tn Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”
Psalm 116:3 tn Heb “surrounded me.”
Psalm 116:3 tn The Hebrew noun מֵצַר (metsar, “straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (m^etsade, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.
Psalm 116:3 tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.
Psalm 116:6 tn Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the Lord.
Psalm 116:6 tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Ps 19:7.
Psalm 116:6 tn Heb “I was low.”
Psalm 116:7 tn Heb “return, my soul, to your place of rest.”
Psalm 116:7 tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ʿal) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense (cf. Ps 13:5).
Psalm 116:8 tn Or “for.”
Psalm 116:8 tn “Lord” is supplied here in the translation for clarification.
Psalm 116:9 tn Heb “walk before” (see Ps 56:13). On the meaning of the Hebrew idiom, see the notes at 2 Kgs 20:3/Isa 38:3.
Psalm 116:9 tn Heb “lands, regions.”
Psalm 116:11 tn Heb “I said in my haste.”
Psalm 116:13 tn Heb “a cup of deliverance I will lift up.” Perhaps this alludes to a drink offering the psalmist will present as he thanks the Lord for his deliverance. See v. 17.
Psalm 116:15 tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.
Psalm 116:16 tn Heb “I am your servant, the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 86:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). It may used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant. Or it may be a reference to the psalmist’s own mother who also was a servant of the Lord.
Psalm 116:16 tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).

Zephaniah 3:14-20

¹⁴Shout for joy, Daughter Zion!^[a]
Shout out, Israel!
Be happy and boast with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!
¹⁵The Lord has removed the judgment against you;^[b]
he has turned back your enemy.
Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst!
You no longer need to fear disaster.
¹⁶On that day they will say^[c] to Jerusalem,
“Don’t be afraid, Zion!
Your hands must not be paralyzed from panic!^[d]
¹⁷The Lord your God is in your midst;
he is a warrior who can deliver.
He takes great delight in you;^[e]
he renews you by his love;^[f]
he shouts for joy over you.”^[g]
¹⁸“As for those who grieve because they cannot attend the festivals—
I took them away from you;
they became tribute and were a source of shame to you.^[h]
¹⁹Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you.
I will rescue the lame sheep^[i]
and gather together the scattered sheep.
I will take away their humiliation
and make the whole earth admire and respect them.^[j]
²⁰At that time I will lead you—
at the time I gather you together.^[k]
Be sure of this!^[l] I will make all the nations of the earth respect and admire you^[m]
when you see me restore you,”^[n] says the Lord.

Footnotes

Zephaniah 3:14 sn This phrase is used as an epithet for the city and the nation. “Daughter” may seem extraneous in English but consciously joins the various epithets and metaphors of Israel and Jerusalem as a woman, a device used to evoke sympathy from the reader.
Zephaniah 3:15 tn Heb “your judgments,” that is, “the judgments directed against you.” The translation reflects the implications of the parallelism.
Zephaniah 3:16 tn Heb “it will be said.” The passive construction has been translated as active for stylistic reasons.
Zephaniah 3:16 tn Heb “your hands must not go limp.”
Zephaniah 3:17 tn Heb “he rejoices over you with jubilation.” The term שִׂמְכָּה (simkah) can mean joy or the expression of joy. In light of the last line of the verse, this line may imply shouts of joy.
Zephaniah 3:17 tc The MT reads, “he remains silent in his love,” a Hiphil form of the stative verb חָרַשׁ (kharash, “to be silent, deaf”). But this does not make sense in light of the expressions of joy in the preceding and following lines. All other cases of the Hiphil of this verb mean to act silently, maintain silence, or the like. This is normal for stative verbs in the Hiphil, where they often mean to behave with the attribute expressed by the root. Some commentators appeal to Job 11:3 as a possible causative use, “Should your boasting silence men?” But in fact the verse should be understood as “should men remain silent at your boasts?” The LXX reads “he will renew you with his love,” implying יְחַדֵּשׁ (y^ekhaddesh), a Piel from the root חָדַשׁ (khadash, “to make new, restore”). This assumes the confusion of ד (dalet) and ר (resh) in the MT. The direct object “you” should be understood either through ellipsis or by possible haplography, with the כ (kaf) having been dropped before the similar looking ב (bet) beginning the next word. Renewal is a fitting concept after judgment (cf. Lam 5:21).
Zephaniah 3:17 tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”
Zephaniah 3:18 tn Heb “The ones grieving from an assembly I gathered from you they were, tribute upon her, a reproach.” Any translation of this difficult verse must be provisional at best. The present translation assumes three things: (1) The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to “assembly” is causal (the individuals are sorrowing because of the assemblies or festivals they are no longer able to hold). (2) מַשְׂאֵת (masʾet) means “tribute” and refers to the exiled people being treated as the spoils of warfare (see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [WEC], 385-86). (3) The third feminine singular suffix refers to personified Jerusalem, which is addressed earlier in the verse (the pronominal suffix in “from you” is second feminine singular). For other interpretive options see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 146.
Zephaniah 3:19 tn The word “sheep” is supplied for clarification. As in Mic 4:6-7, the exiles are here pictured as injured and scattered sheep whom the divine shepherd rescues from danger.
Zephaniah 3:19 tn Heb “I will make them into praise and a name, in all the earth, their shame.” The present translation assumes that “their shame” specifies “them” and that “name” stands here for a good reputation.
Zephaniah 3:20 tn In this line the second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that the exiles are addressed.
Zephaniah 3:20 tn Or “for.”
Zephaniah 3:20 tn Heb “I will make you into a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth.” Here the word “name” carries the nuance of “good reputation.”
Zephaniah 3:20 tn Heb “when I restore your fortunes to your eyes.” See the note on the phrase “restore them” in 2:7.

Mark 15:47-16:7

⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body^[a] was placed.

The Resurrection

16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought aromatic spices^[b] so that they might go and anoint him. ²And very early on the first day of the week, at sunrise, they went to the tomb. ³They had been asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” ⁴But^[c] when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled back. ⁵Then^[d] as they went into the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe^[e] sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. ⁶But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.^[f] He has been raised!^[g] He is not here. Look, there is the place where they laid him. ⁷But go, tell his disciples, even Peter, that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you.”

Psalm 30

Psalm 30^[a]

A psalm, a song used at the dedication of the temple;^[b] by David.

30 I will praise you, O Lord, for you lifted me up,^[c]
and did not allow my enemies to gloat^[d] over me.
²O Lord my God,
I cried out to you and you healed me.^[e]
³O Lord, you pulled me^[f] up from Sheol;
you rescued me from among those descending into the grave.^[g]
⁴Sing to the Lord, you faithful followers^[h] of his;
give thanks to his holy name.^[i]
⁵For his anger lasts only a brief moment,
and his good favor restores one’s life.^[j]
One may experience sorrow during the night,
but joy arrives in the morning.^[k]
⁶In my self-confidence I said,
“I will never be shaken.”^[l]
⁷O Lord, in your good favor you made me secure.^[m]
Then you rejected me^[n] and I was terrified.
⁸To you, O Lord, I cried out;
I begged the Lord for mercy:^[o]
⁹“What^[p] profit is there in taking my life,^[q]
in my descending into the Pit?^[r]
Can the dust of the grave^[s] praise you?
Can it declare your loyalty?^[t]
¹⁰Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me.
O Lord, deliver me.”^[u]
¹¹Then you turned my lament into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and covered me with joy.^[v]
¹²So now^[w] my heart^[x] will sing to you and not be silent;
O Lord my God, I will always^[y] give thanks to you.

Footnotes

Psalm 30:1 sn Psalm 30. The author thanks the Lord for delivering him from death and urges others to join him in praise. The psalmist experienced divine discipline for a brief time, but when he cried out for help the Lord intervened and restored his favor.
Psalm 30:1 tn Heb “a song of the dedication of the house.” The referent of “house” is unclear. It is possible that David wrote this psalm for the dedication ceremony of Solomon’s temple. Another possibility is that the psalm was used on the occasion of the dedication of the second temple following the return from exile, or on the occasion of the rededication of the temple in Maccabean times.
Psalm 30:1 tn Elsewhere the verb דָּלָה (dalah) is used of drawing water from a well (Exod 2:16, 19; Prov 20:5). The psalmist was trapped in the pit leading to Sheol (see v. 3), but the Lord hoisted him up. The Piel stem is used here, perhaps suggesting special exertion on the Lord’s part.
Psalm 30:1 tn Or “rejoice.”
Psalm 30:2 sn You healed me. Apparently the psalmist was plagued by a serious illness that threatened his life. See Ps 41.
Psalm 30:3 tn Or “my life.”
Psalm 30:3 tn Heb “you kept me alive from those descending into the pit.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. The translation follows the consonantal Hebrew text (Kethib); the marginal reading (Qere) has, “you kept me alive so that I did not go down into the pit.”
Psalm 30:4 tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).
Psalm 30:4 tn Heb “to his holy remembrance.” The noun זֵכֵר (zekher, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 6:5; 97:12.The Lord’s “name” is “holy” in the sense that it is a reminder of his uniqueness and greatness.
Psalm 30:5 tn Heb “for [there is] a moment in his anger, [but] life in his favor.” Because of the parallelism with “moment,” some understand חַיִּים (khayyim) in a quantitative sense: “lifetime” (cf. NIV, NRSV). However, the immediate context, which emphasizes deliverance from death (see v. 3), suggests that חַיִּים has a qualitative sense: “physical life” or even “prosperous life” (cf. NEB “in his favour there is life”).
Psalm 30:5 tn Heb “in the evening weeping comes to lodge, but at morning a shout of joy.” “Weeping” is personified here as a traveler who lodges with one temporarily.
Psalm 30:6 sn In my self-confidence I said… Here the psalmist begins to fill in the background of the crisis referred to in the earlier verses. He had been arrogant and self-confident, so the Lord withdrew his protection and allowed trouble to invade his life (vv. 8-11).
Psalm 30:7 tn Heb “in your good favor you caused to stand for my mountain strength.” Apparently this means “you established strength for my mountain” (“mountain” in this case representing his rule, which would be centered on Mt. Zion) or “you established strength as my mountain” (“mountain” in this case being a metaphor for security).
Psalm 30:7 tn Heb “you hid your face.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or, as here, carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Ps 88:14).
Psalm 30:8 tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 8 are probably preterites; the psalmist recalls that he prayed in his time of crisis.
Psalm 30:9 sn The following two verses (vv. 9-10) contain the prayer (or an excerpt of the prayer) that the psalmist offered to the Lord during his crisis.
Psalm 30:9 tn Heb “What profit [is there] in my blood?” “Blood” here represents his life.
Psalm 30:9 tn The Hebrew term שָׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 49:9; 55:24 HT [55:23 ET]; 103:4).
Psalm 30:9 tn Heb “dust.” The words “of the grave” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
Psalm 30:9 tn The rhetorical questions anticipate the answer, “Of course not!”sn According to the OT, those who descend into the realm of death/Sheol are cut off from God’s mighty deeds and from the worshiping covenant community that experiences divine intervention (Pss 6:5; 88:10-12; Isa 38:18). In his effort to elicit a positive divine response, the psalmist reminds God that he will receive no praise or glory if he allows the psalmist to die. Dead men do not praise God!
Psalm 30:10 tn Heb “be a helper to me.”
Psalm 30:11 sn Covered me with joy. “Joy” probably stands metonymically for festive attire here.
Psalm 30:12 tn Heb “so that”; or “in order that.”
Psalm 30:12 tn Heb “glory.” Some view כָבוֹד (khavod, “glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (k^evedi, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.” “Heart” is used in the translation above for the sake of English idiom; the expression “my liver sings” would seem odd indeed to the modern reader.
Psalm 30:12 tn Or “forever.”

Psalm 149

Psalm 149^[a]

149 Praise the Lord.
Sing to the Lord a new song.
Praise him in the assembly of the godly.^[b]
²Let Israel rejoice in their Creator.
Let the people^[c] of Zion delight in their King.^[d]
³Let them praise his name with dancing.
Let them sing praises to him to the accompaniment of the tambourine and harp.
⁴For the Lord takes delight in his people;
he exalts the oppressed by delivering them.^[e]
⁵Let the godly rejoice because of their vindication.^[f]
Let them shout for joy upon their beds.^[g]
⁶May the praises of God be in their mouths
and a two-edged sword in their hands,
⁷in order to take^[h] revenge on the nations,
and punish foreigners.
⁸The godly bind^[i] their enemies’ kings in chains,
and their nobles in iron shackles,
⁹and execute the judgment to which their enemies^[j] have been sentenced.^[k]
All his loyal followers will be vindicated.^[l]
Praise the Lord.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7

Thanksgiving for God’s Comfort

³Blessed is^[a] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles^[b] so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble^[c] with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵For just as the sufferings^[d] of Christ^[e] overflow^[f] toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you.^[g] ⁶But if we are afflicted,^[h] it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer. ⁷And our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you share in^[i] our sufferings, so also you will share in^[j] our comfort.

Footnotes

2 Corinthians 1:3 tn There is no verb in the Greek text; either the optative (“be”) or the indicative (“is”) can be supplied. The meaning of the term εὐλογητός (eulogētos) and the author’s intention at this point in the epistle must both come into play to determine which is the preferred nuance. εὐλογητός as an adjective can mean either that one is praised or that one is blessed, that is, in a place of favor and benefit. The meaning “blessed” would be more naturally paired with an indicative verb and would suggest that blessedness is an intrinsic part of God’s character. The meaning “praised” would be more naturally paired with an optative verb and would suggest that God ought to be praised. Pauline style in the epistles generally moves from statements to obligations, expressing the reality first and then the believer’s necessary response. When considered as a whole, although a decision is difficult, the general Pauline style of beginning with statements and moving to obligations argues for the indicative. Cf. also Eph 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3.
2 Corinthians 1:4 tn Or “our trials”; traditionally, “our affliction.” The term θλῖψις (thlipsis) refers to trouble (including persecution) that involves direct suffering (L&N 22.2).
2 Corinthians 1:4 tn Or “any trials”; traditionally, “any affliction.”
2 Corinthians 1:5 tn This Greek word translated “sufferings” here (πάθημα, pathēma) is a different one than the one Paul uses for his own afflictions/persecutions (θλῖψις, thlipsis) in v. 4.
2 Corinthians 1:5 tn I.e., suffering incurred by Paul as a consequence of his relationship to Christ. The genitive could be considered to have a causative nuance here.
2 Corinthians 1:5 tn Traditionally, “abound” (here and throughout this section).
2 Corinthians 1:5 tn The words “to you” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the statements in the following verse.
2 Corinthians 1:6 tn Or “are troubled.”
2 Corinthians 1:7 tn Grk “as you are sharers in.”
2 Corinthians 1:7 tn Grk “will be sharers in.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 116[a]

Footnotes

Footnotes

The Resurrection

Footnotes

Psalm 30[a]

A psalm, a song used at the dedication of the temple;[b] by David.

Footnotes

Psalm 149[a]

Footnotes

Thanksgiving for God’s Comfort

Footnotes

Psalm 116^[a]

Psalm 30^[a]

A psalm, a song used at the dedication of the temple;^[b] by David.

Psalm 149^[a]