chevron-left All Reading Plans / M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan / Family: Leviticus 26; Psalm 33. Secret: Ecclesiastes 9; Titus 1. (New English Translation)
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M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The classic M'Cheyne plan--read the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Gospels every day.
Duration: 365 days
New English Translation (NET)
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Leviticus 26

Exhortation to Obedience

26 “‘You must not make for yourselves idols,[a] so you must not set up for yourselves a carved image or a pillar, and you must not place a sculpted stone in your land to bow down before[b] it, for I am the Lord your God. 2 You must keep my Sabbaths and reverence[c] my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

The Benefits of Obedience

3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments,[d] 4 I will give you your rains in their time so that[e] the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit.[f] 5 Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes,[g] and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so[h] you will eat your bread until you are satisfied,[i] and you will live securely in your land. 6 I will grant peace in the land so that[j] you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you.[k] I will remove harmful animals[l] from the land, and no sword of war[m] will pass through your land. 7 You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword.[n] 8 Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 9 I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain[o] my covenant with you. 10 You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year[p] and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new.[q]

11 “‘I will put my tabernacle[r] in your midst and I will not abhor you.[s] 12 I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves,[t] and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright.[u]

The Consequences of Disobedience

14 “‘If, however,[v] you do not obey me and keep[w] all these commandments— 15 if you reject my statutes and abhor my regulations so that you do not keep[x] all my commandments and you break my covenant— 16 I for my part[y] will do this to you: I will inflict horror on you, consumption and fever, which diminish eyesight and drain away the vitality of life.[z] You will sow your seed in vain because[aa] your enemies will eat it.[ab] 17 I will set my face against you. You will be struck down before your enemies, those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when there is no one pursuing you.

18 “‘If, in spite of all these things,[ac] you do not obey me, I will discipline you seven times more on account of your sins.[ad] 19 I will break your strong pride and make your sky like iron and your land like bronze. 20 Your strength will be used up in vain, your land will not give its yield, and the trees of the land[ae] will not produce their fruit.

21 “‘If you walk in hostility against me[af] and are not willing to obey me, I will increase your affliction[ag] seven times according to your sins. 22 I will send the wild animals[ah] against you and they will bereave you of your children,[ai] annihilate your cattle, and diminish your population[aj] so that your roads will become deserted.

23 “‘If in spite of these things[ak] you do not allow yourselves to be disciplined and you walk in hostility against me,[al] 24 then I myself will also walk in hostility against you and strike you[am] seven times on account of your sins. 25 I will bring on you an avenging sword, a covenant vengeance.[an] Although[ao] you will gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you and you will be given into enemy hands.[ap] 26 When I break off your supply of bread,[aq] ten women will bake your bread in one oven; they will ration your bread by weight,[ar] and you will eat and not be satisfied.

27 “‘If in spite of this[as] you do not obey me but walk in hostility against me,[at] 28 I will walk in hostile rage against you[au] and I myself will also discipline you seven times on account of your sins. 29 You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.[av] 30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars,[aw] and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols.[ax] I will abhor you.[ay] 31 I will lay your cities waste[az] and make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will refuse to smell your soothing aromas. 32 I myself will make the land desolate and your enemies who live in it will be appalled. 33 I will scatter you among the nations and unsheathe the sword[ba] after you, so your land will become desolate and your cities will become a waste.

34 “‘Then the land will make up for[bb] its Sabbaths all the days it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land will rest and make up its Sabbaths. 35 All the days of the desolation it will have the rest it did not have[bc] on your Sabbaths when you lived on it.

36 “‘As for[bd] the ones who remain among you, I will bring despair into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a blowing leaf will pursue them, and they will flee as one who flees the sword and will fall down even though there is no pursuer. 37 They will stumble over each other as those who flee before a sword, though[be] there is no pursuer, and there will be no one to take a stand[bf] for you before your enemies. 38 You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will consume you.

Restoration through Confession and Repentance

39 “‘As for the ones who remain among you, they will rot away because of[bg] their iniquity in the lands of your enemies, and they will also rot away because of their ancestors’[bh] iniquities which are with them. 40 However, when[bi] they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquities which they committed by trespassing against me,[bj] by which they also walked[bk] in hostility against me[bl] 41 (and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and[bm] then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for[bn] their iniquities, 42 I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham,[bo] and I will remember the land. 43 The land will be abandoned by them[bp] in order that it may make up for[bq] its Sabbaths while it is made desolate[br] without them,[bs] and they will make up for their iniquity because[bt] they have rejected my regulations and have abhorred[bu] my statutes. 44 In spite of this, however, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them and abhor them to make a complete end of them, to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God. 45 I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors[bv] whom I brought out from the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

Summary Colophon

46 These are the statutes, regulations, and instructions which the Lord established[bw] between himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai through[bx] Moses.

Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 26:1 sn For the literature regarding the difficult etymology and meaning of the term for “idols” (אֱלִילִם, ʾelilim), see the literature cited in the note on Lev 19:4. It appears to be a diminutive play on words with אֵל (ʾel, “god, God”) and, perhaps at the same time, recalls a common Semitic word for “worthless, weak, powerless, nothingness.” Snaith suggests a rendering of “worthless godlings.”
  2. Leviticus 26:1 tn Heb “on.” The “sculpted stone” appears to be some sort of stone with images carved into (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 181, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 449).
  3. Leviticus 26:2 tn Heb “and my sanctuary you shall fear.” Cf. NCV “respect”; CEV “honor.”
  4. Leviticus 26:3 tn Heb “and my commandments you shall keep and do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 20:8; 25:18, etc.).
  5. Leviticus 26:4 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
  6. Leviticus 26:4 tn Heb “the tree of the field will give its fruit.” As a collective singular this has been translated as plural.
  7. Leviticus 26:5 tn Heb “will reach for you the vintage season.”
  8. Leviticus 26:5 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
  9. Leviticus 26:5 tn Heb “to satisfaction”; KJV, ASV, NASB “to the full.”
  10. Leviticus 26:6 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.
  11. Leviticus 26:6 tn Heb “and there will be no one who terrifies.” The words “to sleep” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
  12. Leviticus 26:6 tn Heb “harmful animal,” singular, but taken here as a collective plural (so almost all English versions).
  13. Leviticus 26:6 tn Heb “no sword”; the words “of war” are supplied in the translation to indicate what the metaphor of the sword represents.
  14. Leviticus 26:7 tn Heb “to the sword.”
  15. Leviticus 26:9 tn Heb “cause to arise,” but probably used here for the Lord’s intention of confirming or maintaining the covenant commitment made at Sinai. Cf. KJV “establish”; NASB “will confirm”; NAB “carry out”; NIV “will keep.”
  16. Leviticus 26:10 tn Heb “old [produce] growing old.”
  17. Leviticus 26:10 tn Heb “and old from the presence of new you will bring out.”
  18. Leviticus 26:11 tn LXX codexes Vaticanus and Alexandrinus have “my covenant” rather than “my tabernacle.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “my dwelling.”
  19. Leviticus 26:11 tn Heb “and my soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] will not abhor you.”
  20. Leviticus 26:13 tn Heb “from being to them slaves.”
  21. Leviticus 26:13 tn In other words, to walk as free people and not as slaves. Cf. NIV “with (+ your CEV, NLT) heads held high”; NCV “proudly.”
  22. Leviticus 26:14 tn Heb “And if.”
  23. Leviticus 26:14 tn Heb “and do not do.”
  24. Leviticus 26:15 tn Heb “to not do.”
  25. Leviticus 26:16 tn Or “I also” (see HALOT 76 s.v. אַף 6.b).
  26. Leviticus 26:16 tn Heb “soul.” These expressions may refer either to the physical effects of consumption and fever as the rendering in the text suggests (e.g., J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452, 454, “diminishing eyesight and loss of appetite”), or perhaps the more psychological effects, “which exhausts the eyes” because of anxious hope “and causes depression” (Heb “causes soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] to pine away”), e.g., B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 185.
  27. Leviticus 26:16 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have causal force here.
  28. Leviticus 26:16 tn That is, “your enemies will eat” the produce that grows from the sown seed.
  29. Leviticus 26:18 tn Heb “And if until these.”
  30. Leviticus 26:18 tn Heb “I will add to discipline you seven [times] on your sins.”
  31. Leviticus 26:20 tn Heb “the tree of the land will not give its fruit.” The collective singular has been translated as a plural. One Hebrew ms from Cairo Geniza, other medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, LXX, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “the field” as in v. 4, rather than “the land.”
  32. Leviticus 26:21 tn Heb “hostile with me,” but see the added preposition ב (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in v. 24 and 27.
  33. Leviticus 26:21 tn Heb “your blow, stroke”; cf. TEV “punishment”; NLT “I will inflict you with seven more disasters.”
  34. Leviticus 26:22 tn Heb “the animal of the field.” This collective singular has been translated as a plural. The expression “animal of the field” refers to a wild (i.e., nondomesticated) animal.
  35. Leviticus 26:22 tn The words “of your children” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
  36. Leviticus 26:22 tn Heb “and diminish you.”
  37. Leviticus 26:23 tn Heb “And if in these.”
  38. Leviticus 26:23 tn Heb “with me,” but see the added preposition ב (bet) on the phrase “in hostility” in vv. 24 and 27.
  39. Leviticus 26:24 tn Heb “and I myself will also strike you.”
  40. Leviticus 26:25 tn Heb “vengeance of covenant”; cf. NAB “the avenger of my covenant.”
  41. Leviticus 26:25 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) has a concessive force in this context.
  42. Leviticus 26:25 tn Heb “in hand of enemy,” but Tg. Ps.-J. and Tg. Neof. have “in the hands of your enemies” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 454).
  43. Leviticus 26:26 tn Heb “When I break to you staff of bread” (KJV, ASV, and NASB all similar).
  44. Leviticus 26:26 tn Heb “they will return your bread in weight.”
  45. Leviticus 26:27 tn Heb “And if in this.”
  46. Leviticus 26:27 tn Heb “with me.”
  47. Leviticus 26:28 tn Heb “in rage of hostility with you”; NASB “with wrathful hostility”; NRSV “I will continue hostile to you in fury”; CEV “I’ll get really furious.”
  48. Leviticus 26:29 tn Heb “and the flesh of your daughters you will eat.” The phrase “you will eat” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  49. Leviticus 26:30 sn Regarding these cultic installations, see the remarks in B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 188, and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:903. The term rendered “incense altars” might better be rendered “sanctuaries [of foreign deities]” or “stelae.”
  50. Leviticus 26:30 tn The translation reflects the Hebrew wordplay “your corpses…the corpses of your idols.” Since idols, being lifeless, do not really have “corpses,” the translation uses “dead bodies” for people and “lifeless bodies” for the idols.
  51. Leviticus 26:30 tn Heb “and my soul will abhor you.”
  52. Leviticus 26:31 tn Heb “And I will give your cities a waste”; NLT “make your cities desolate.”
  53. Leviticus 26:33 tn Heb “and I will empty sword” (see HALOT 1228 s.v. ריק 3).
  54. Leviticus 26:34 tn There are two Hebrew roots רָצָה (ratsah), one meaning “to be pleased with; to take pleasure” (HALOT 1280-81 s.v. רצה; cf. “enjoy” in NASB, NIV, NRSV, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 452), and the other meaning “to restore” (HALOT 1281-82 s.v. II רצה; cf. NAB “retrieve” and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 189).
  55. Leviticus 26:35 tn Heb “it shall rest which it did not rest.”
  56. Leviticus 26:36 tn Heb “And.”
  57. Leviticus 26:37 tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) is used in a concessive sense here.
  58. Leviticus 26:37 tn The term rendered “to stand up” is a noun, not an infinitive. It occurs only here and appears to designate someone who would take a powerful stand for them against their enemies.
  59. Leviticus 26:39 tn Heb “in” (so KJV, ASV; also later in this verse).
  60. Leviticus 26:39 tn Heb “fathers’” (also in the following verse).
  61. Leviticus 26:40 tn Heb “And.” Many English versions take this to be a conditional clause (“if…”) though there is no conditional particle (see, e.g., NASB, NIV, NRSV; but see the very different rendering in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 190). The temporal translation offered here (“when”) takes into account the particle אָז (ʾaz, “then”), which occurs twice in v. 41. The obvious contextual contrast between vv. 39 and 40 is expressed by “however” in the translation.
  62. Leviticus 26:40 tn Heb “in their trespassing which they trespassed in me.” See the note on Lev 5:15, although the term is used in a more technical sense there in relation to the “guilt offering.”
  63. Leviticus 26:40 tn Heb “and also which they walked.”
  64. Leviticus 26:40 tn Heb “with me.”
  65. Leviticus 26:41 tn Heb “or then,” although the LXX has “then” and the Syriac “and then.”
  66. Leviticus 26:41 tn Heb “and then they make up for.” On the verb “make up for” see the note on v. 34 above.
  67. Leviticus 26:42 tn Heb “my covenant with Abraham I will remember.” The phrase “I will remember” has not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  68. Leviticus 26:43 tn Heb “from them.” The preposition “from” refers here to the agent of the action (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 455).
  69. Leviticus 26:43 tn The jussive form of the verb with the simple vav (ו) here calls for a translation that expresses purpose.
  70. Leviticus 26:43 tn The verb is the Hophal infinitive construct with the third feminine singular suffix (GKC 182 §67.y; cf. v. 34).
  71. Leviticus 26:43 tn Heb “from them.”
  72. Leviticus 26:43 tn Heb “because and in because,” a double expression, which is used only here and in Ezek 13:10 (without the vav) for emphasis (GKC 492 §158.b).
  73. Leviticus 26:43 tn Heb “and their soul has abhorred.”
  74. Leviticus 26:45 tn Heb “covenant of former ones.” sn For similar expressions referring back to the ancestors who refused to follow the stipulations of the Mosaic covenant see, for example, Deut 19:14, Jer 11:10, and Ps 79:8 (see B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 192, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 471).
  75. Leviticus 26:46 tn Heb “gave” (so NLT); KJV, ASV, NCV “made.”
  76. Leviticus 26:46 tn Heb “by the hand of” (so KJV).
Psalm 33

Psalm 33[a]

33 You godly ones, shout for joy because of the Lord!
It is appropriate for the morally upright to offer him praise.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the harp.
Sing to him to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument.
3 Sing to him a new song.[b]
Play skillfully as you shout out your praises to him.[c]
4 For the Lord’s decrees[d] are just,[e]
and everything he does is fair.[f]
5 He promotes[g] equity and justice;
the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth.[h]
6 By the Lord’s decree[i] the heavens were made,
and by the breath[j] of his mouth all the starry hosts.
7 He piles up the water of the sea;[k]
he puts the oceans[l] in storehouses.
8 Let the whole earth fear[m] the Lord.
Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it[n] came into existence.
He issued the decree,[o] and it stood firm.
10 The Lord frustrates[p] the decisions of the nations;
he nullifies the plans[q] of the peoples.
11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;
his plans abide throughout the ages.[r]
12 How blessed[s] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession.[t]
13 The Lord watches[u] from heaven;
he sees all people.[v]
14 From the place where he lives he looks carefully
at all the earth’s inhabitants.
15 He is the one who forms every human heart,[w]
and takes note of all their actions.
16 No king is delivered by his vast army;
a warrior is not saved by his great might.
17 A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory;[x]
despite its great strength, it cannot deliver.
18 Look, the Lord takes notice of his loyal followers,[y]
those who wait for him to demonstrate his faithfulness[z]
19 by saving their lives from death[aa]
and sustaining them during times of famine.[ab]
20 We[ac] wait for the Lord;
he is our deliverer[ad] and shield.[ae]
21 For our hearts rejoice in him,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May we experience your faithfulness, O Lord,[af]
for[ag] we wait for you.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 33:1 sn Psalm 33. In this hymn the psalmist praises the Lord as the sovereign creator and just ruler of the world who protects and vindicates those who fear him.
  2. Psalm 33:3 sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the lives of his people in fresh and exciting ways.
  3. Psalm 33:3 tn Heb “play skillfully with a loud shout.”
  4. Psalm 33:4 tn Heb “word.” In this context, which depicts the Lord as the sovereign creator and ruler of the world, the Lord’s “word” refers to the decrees whereby he governs his dominion.
  5. Psalm 33:4 tn Or “upright.”
  6. Psalm 33:4 tn Heb “and all his work [is done] with faithfulness.”
  7. Psalm 33:5 tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of equity and justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world.
  8. Psalm 33:5 tn Heb “fills the earth.”
  9. Psalm 33:6 tn Heb “word.”
  10. Psalm 33:6 tn The word רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit, wind, breath”) is used in the creation account in Gen 1:2 “the Spirit of God was moving.” Here parallel to “decree/word,” it recalls the account of God speaking in order to create (cf. Gen 1:14).
  11. Psalm 33:7 tn Heb “[he] gathers like a pile the waters of the sea.” Some prefer to emend נֵד (ned, “heap, pile”; cf. NASB) to נֹד (nod, “bottle”; cf. NRSV; NIV “into jars”), but “pile” is used elsewhere to describe water that the Lord confines to one place (Exod 15:8; Josh 3:13, 16; Ps 78:13). This verse appears to refer to Gen 1:9, where God decrees that the watery deep be gathered to one place so that dry land might appear. If so, the participles in this and the following line depict this action with special vividness, as if the reader were present on the occasion. Another option is that the participles picture the confinement of the sea to one place as an ongoing divine activity.
  12. Psalm 33:7 tn Or “watery depths.” The form תְּהוֹמוֹת (tehomot, “watery depths”) is the plural form of תְּהוֹם (tehom, “great deep”; see Gen 1:2).
  13. Psalm 33:8 tn In this context “fear” probably means “to demonstrate respect for the Lord’s power and authority by worshiping him and obeying his commandments.”
  14. Psalm 33:9 tn That is, “all the earth” in the first line of v. 8. The apparent antecedent of the masculine subject of the verbs in v. 9 (note וַיֶּהִי [vayyehiy] and וַיַּעֲמֹד [vayyaʿamod]) is “earth” or “world,” both of which are feminine nouns. However, כָּל (kol, “all”) may be the antecedent, or the apparent lack of agreement may be explained by the collective nature of the nouns involved here (see GKC 463 §145.e).
  15. Psalm 33:9 tn Heb “he commanded.”
  16. Psalm 33:10 tn Heb “breaks” or “destroys.” The Hebrew perfect verbal forms here and in the next line generalize about the Lord’s activity.
  17. Psalm 33:10 tn Heb “thoughts.”
  18. Psalm 33:11 tn Heb “the thoughts of his heart for generation to generation.” The verb “abides” is supplied in the translation. The Lord’s “decisions” and “plans” here refer to his decrees and purposes.
  19. Psalm 33:12 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
  20. Psalm 33:12 tn Heb “inheritance.”
  21. Psalm 33:13 tn The Hebrew perfect verbal forms in v. 13 state general facts.
  22. Psalm 33:13 tn Heb “all the sons of men.”
  23. Psalm 33:15 tn Heb “the one who forms together their heart[s].” “Heart” here refers to human nature, composed of intellect, emotions and will. The precise force of יָחַד (yakhad, “together”) is unclear here. The point seems to be that the Lord is the creator of every human being.
  24. Psalm 33:17 tn Heb “a lie [is] the horse for victory.”
  25. Psalm 33:18 tn Heb “look, the eye of the Lord [is] toward the ones who fear him.” The expression “the eye…[is] toward” here indicates recognition and the bestowing of favor. See Ps 34:15. The one who fears the Lord respects his sovereignty and obeys his commandments. See Ps 128:1; Prov 14:2.
  26. Psalm 33:18 tn Heb “for the ones who wait for his faithfulness.”
  27. Psalm 33:19 tn Heb “to save from death their live[s].”
  28. Psalm 33:19 tn Heb “and to keep them alive in famine.”
  29. Psalm 33:20 tn Or “our lives.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, life”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.
  30. Psalm 33:20 tn Or “[source of] help.”
  31. Psalm 33:20 tn Or “protector.”
  32. Psalm 33:22 tn Heb “let your faithfulness, O Lord, be on us.”
  33. Psalm 33:22 tn Or “just as.”
Ecclesiastes 9

Everyone Will Die

9 So I reflected on all this,[a] attempting to clear[b] it all up.
I concluded that[c] the righteous and the wise, as well as their works, are in the hand of God;
whether a person will be loved or hated[d]—
no one knows what lies ahead.[e]
2 Everyone shares the same fate[f]—
the righteous and the wicked,
the good and the bad,[g]
the ceremonially clean and unclean,
those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
What happens to the good person, also happens to the sinner;[h]
what happens to those who make vows, also happens to those who are afraid to make vows.
3 This is the unfortunate fact[i] about everything that happens on earth:[j]
the same fate awaits[k] everyone.
In addition to this, the hearts of all people[l] are full of evil,
and there is folly in their hearts during their lives—then they die.[m]

Better to Be Poor but Alive than Rich but Dead

4 But whoever is among[n] the living[o] has hope;
a live dog is better than a dead lion.
5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead do not know anything;
they have no further reward—and even the memory of them disappears.[p]
6 What they loved,[q] as well as what they hated[r] and envied,[s] perished long ago,
and they no longer have a part in anything that happens on earth.[t]

Life is Brief, so Cherish its Joys

7 Go, eat your food[u] with joy,
and drink your wine with a happy heart,
because God has already approved your works.
8 Let your clothes always be white,
and do not spare precious ointment on your head.
9 Enjoy[v] life with your beloved wife[w] during all the days of your fleeting[x] life
that God[y] has given you on earth[z] during all your fleeting days;[aa]
for that is your reward in life and in your burdensome work[ab] on earth.[ac]
10 Whatever you find to do with your hands,[ad]
do it with all your might,
because there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave,[ae]
the place where you will eventually go.[af]

Wisdom Cannot Protect against Seemingly Chance Events

11 Again,[ag] I observed this on the earth:[ah]
the race is not always[ai] won by the swiftest,
the battle is not always won by the strongest;
prosperity[aj] does not always belong to those who are the wisest,
wealth does not always belong to those who are the most discerning,
nor does success[ak] always come to those with the most knowledge—
for time and chance may overcome[al] them all.
12 Surely, no one[am] knows his appointed time.[an]
Like fish that are caught in a deadly[ao] net, and like birds that are caught in a snare—
just like them, all people[ap] are ensnared[aq] at an unfortunate[ar] time that falls upon them suddenly.

Most People Are Not Receptive to Wise Counsel

13 This is what I also observed about wisdom on earth,[as]
and it is a great burden[at] to me:
14 There was once[au] a small city with a few men in it,
and a mighty king attacked it, besieging[av] it and building strong[aw] siege works against it.
15 However, a poor but wise man lived in the city,[ax]
and he could have delivered[ay] the city by his wisdom,
but no one listened to[az] that poor man.
16 So I concluded that wisdom is better than might,[ba]
but a poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens[bb] to his advice.[bc]

Wisdom versus Fools, Sin, and Folly

17 The words of the wise are heard in quiet,
more than the shouting of a ruler is heard[bd] among fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war,
but one sinner can destroy much that is good.

Footnotes

  1. Ecclesiastes 9:1 tn Heb “I laid all this to my heart.”
  2. Ecclesiastes 9:1 tn The term וְלָבוּר (velavur, conjunction plus Qal infinitive construct from בּוּר, bur, “to make clear”) denotes “to examine; to make clear; to clear up; to explain” (HALOT 116 s.v. בור; BDB 101 s.v. בּוּר). The term is related to Arabic baraw “to examine” (G. R. Driver, “Supposed Arabisms in the Old Testament,” JBL 55 [1936]: 108). This verb is related to the Hebrew noun בֹּר (bor, “cleanness”) and adjective בַּר (bar, “clean”). The term is used in the OT only in Ecclesiastes (1:13; 2:3; 7:25; 9:1). This use of the infinitive has a connotative sense (“attempting to”), and functions in a complementary sense, relative to the main verb.
  3. Ecclesiastes 9:1 tn The words “I concluded that” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.
  4. Ecclesiastes 9:1 tn Heb “whether love or hatred.”
  5. Ecclesiastes 9:1 tn Heb “man does not know anything before them.”
  6. Ecclesiastes 9:2 tn Heb “all things just as to everyone, one fate.”
  7. Ecclesiastes 9:2 tc The MT reads simply “the good,” but the Greek versions read “the good and the bad.” In contrast to the other four pairs in v. 2 (“the righteous and the wicked,” “those who sacrifice, and those who do not sacrifice,” “the good man…the sinner,” and “those who make vows…those who are afraid to make vows”), the MT has a triad in the second line: לַטּוֹב וְלַטָּהוֹר וְלַטָּמֵא (lattov velattahor velattameʾ, “the good, and the clean, and the unclean”). This reading in the Leningrad Codex (ca. a.d. 1008)—the basis of the BHS and BHK publications of the MT—is also supported by the Ben Asher text of the First Rabbinic Bible (“the Soncino Bible”) published in a.d. 1488-94. On the other hand, the Greek version in B (Aquila) has two pairs: “the good and the bad, and the clean and the unclean.” Either Aquila inserted καὶ τῷ κακῷ (kai tō kakō, “and the bad”) to fill out a pair and to create six parallel pairs in v. 2, or Aquila reflects an early Hebrew textual tradition tradition of לַטּוֹב וְלַרָע (lattov velaraʿ, “the good and the bad”). Since Aquila is well known for his commitment to a literal—at times even a mechanically wooden—translation of the Hebrew, with no room for improvisation, it is more than likely that Aquila is reflecting an authentic Hebrew textual tradition. Aquila dates to a.d. 130, while the Leningrad Codex dates to a.d. 1008; therefore, the Vorlage of Aquila might have been the original Hebrew textual tradition, being much earlier than the MT of the Leningrad Codex. The alternate textual tradition of Aquila is also seen in the Syriac and Latin versions (but these are dependent upon the Greek = Aquila). On the other hand, the editors of BHK and BHS suggest that the presence of the anomalous לַטּוֹב was an addition to the Hebrew text, and should be deleted. They also suggest that the Greek pair τῷ ἀγαθῷ καὶ τῷ κακῷ (tō agathō kai tō kakō, “the good and the bad”) does not reflect an alternate textual tradition, but that their Vorlage contained only לַטּוֹב: the Greek version intentionally added καὶ τῷ κακῷ (kai tō kakō, “and the bad”) to create a pair. The English versions are divided. Several follow the Greek: “the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean” (NEB, NAB, RSV, NRSV, NIV, Moffatt, NLT). Others follow the Hebrew: “the good and the clean and the unclean” (KJV, ASV, MLB, NJPS). None, however, delete “the good” (לַטּוֹב) as suggested by the BHK and BHS editors. If the shorter text were original, the addition of καὶ τῷ κακῷ would be intentional. If the longer text were original, the omission of וְלַרָע (“and the bad”) could have caused by unintentional homoioarcton (“similar beginning”) in the three-fold repetition of לט in וְלַרָע וְלַטָּהוֹר וְלַטָּמֵא לַטּוֹב (lattov velaraʿ velattahor velattameʾ, “the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean”). The term וְלַרָע (“and the bad”) was accidentally omitted when a scribe skipped from the first occurrence of לט in לַטּוֹב to its second occurrence in the word וְלַטָּהוֹר (“the clean”).
  8. Ecclesiastes 9:2 tn Heb “As is the good (man), so is the sinner.”
  9. Ecclesiastes 9:3 tn Heb “evil.”
  10. Ecclesiastes 9:3 tn Heb “under the sun.”
  11. Ecclesiastes 9:3 tn The term “awaits” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for smoothness and stylistic reasons.
  12. Ecclesiastes 9:3 tn Heb “also the heart of the sons of man.” Here “heart” is a collective singular.
  13. Ecclesiastes 9:3 tn Heb “and after that [they go] to [the place of] the dead.”
  14. Ecclesiastes 9:4 tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has “is chosen, selected.” The translation follows the marginal reading (Qere), “is joined.” See BDB 288 s.v. חָבַר Pu.
  15. Ecclesiastes 9:4 tn Heb “all the living.”
  16. Ecclesiastes 9:5 tn Heb “for their memory is forgotten.” The pronominal suffix is an objective genitive, “memory of them.”
  17. Ecclesiastes 9:6 tn Heb “their love.”
  18. Ecclesiastes 9:6 tn Heb “their hatred.”
  19. Ecclesiastes 9:6 tn Heb “their envy.”
  20. Ecclesiastes 9:6 tn Heb “under the sun.”
  21. Ecclesiastes 9:7 tn Heb “your bread.”
  22. Ecclesiastes 9:9 tn Heb “see.”
  23. Ecclesiastes 9:9 tn Heb “the wife whom you love.”
  24. Ecclesiastes 9:9 tn As discussed in the note on the word “futile” in 1:2, the term הֶבֶל (hevel) has a wide range of meanings, and should not be translated the same in every place (see HALOT 236-37 s.v. I הֶבֶל; BDB 210-11 s.v. I הבֶל). The term is used in two basic ways in OT, literally and figuratively. The literal, concrete sense is used in reference to the wind, man’s transitory breath, evanescent vapor (Isa 57:13; Pss 62:10; 144:4; Prov 21:6; Job 7:16). In this sense, it is often a synonym for “breath; wind” (Eccl 1:14; Isa 57:13; Jer 10:14). The literal sense lent itself to the metaphorical sense. Because breath/vapor/wind is transitory and fleeting, the figurative connotation “fleeting; transitory” arose (e.g., Prov 31:30; Eccl 6:12; 7:15; 9:9; 11:10; Job 7:16). In this sense, it is parallel to “few days” and “[days] which he passes like a shadow” (Eccl 6:12). It is used in reference to youth and vigor (11:10) or life (6:12; 7:15; 9:9) which are “transitory” or “fleeting.” In this context, the most appropriate meaning is “fleeting.”
  25. Ecclesiastes 9:9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  26. Ecclesiastes 9:9 tn Heb “under the sun”
  27. Ecclesiastes 9:9 tc The phrase כָּל יְמֵי הֶבְלֶךָ (kol yeme hevlekha, “all your fleeting days”) is present in the MT, but absent in the Greek versions, other medieval Hebrew mss, and the Targum. Its appearance in the MT may be due to dittography (repetition: the scribe wrote twice what should have been written once) from כָּל יְמֵי חַיֵּי הֶבְלֶךָ (kol yeme khayye hevlekha, “all the days of your fleeting life”) which appears in the preceding line. On the other hand, its omission in the alternate textual tradition may be due to haplography (accidental omission of repeated words) with the earlier line.
  28. Ecclesiastes 9:9 tn Heb “in your toil in which you toil.”
  29. Ecclesiastes 9:9 tn Heb “under the sun.”
  30. Ecclesiastes 9:10 tn Heb “Whatever your hand finds to do.”
  31. Ecclesiastes 9:10 tn Heb “Sheol.”
  32. Ecclesiastes 9:10 tn Or “where you are about to go.”
  33. Ecclesiastes 9:11 tn Heb “I returned and.” In the Hebrew idiom, “to return and do” means “to do again.”
  34. Ecclesiastes 9:11 tn Heb “under the sun.”
  35. Ecclesiastes 9:11 tn The term “always” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation (five times in this verse) for clarity.
  36. Ecclesiastes 9:11 tn Heb “bread.”
  37. Ecclesiastes 9:11 tn Heb “favor.”
  38. Ecclesiastes 9:11 tn Heb “happen to.”
  39. Ecclesiastes 9:12 tn Heb “man.” The term is used here in a generic sense and translated “no one.”
  40. Ecclesiastes 9:12 tn Heb “time.” BDB 773 s.v. עֵת 2.d suggests that עֵת (ʿet, “time”) refers to an “uncertain time.” On the other hand, HALOT 901 s.v. עֵת 6 nuances it as “destined time,” that is, “no one knows his destined time [i.e., hour of destiny].” It is used in parallelism with זְמָן (zeman, “appointed time; appointed hour”) in 3:1 (HALOT 273 s.v. זְמָן; BDB 273 s.v. זְמָן). Eccl 3:9-15 teaches God’s sovereignty over the appointed time-table of human events. Similarly, Qoheleth here notes that no one knows what God has appointed in any situation or time. This highlights the limitations of human wisdom and human ability, as 9:11 stresses.
  41. Ecclesiastes 9:12 tn Heb “bad, evil.” The moral connotation hardly fits here. The adjective would seem to indicate that the net is the instrument whereby the fish come to ruin.
  42. Ecclesiastes 9:12 tn Heb “the sons of man.”
  43. Ecclesiastes 9:12 tn The Masoretes pointed the consonantal form יוקשׁים (“are ensnared”) as יוּקָשִׁים (yuqashim, Pual participle mpl from יָקֹשׁ , yaqosh, “to be ensnared”). This is an unusual form for a Pual participle: (1) The characteristic doubling of the middle consonant was omitted due to the lengthening of the preceding short vowel from יֻקָּשִׁים to יוּקָשִׁים (GKC 74 §20.n and 143 §52.s), and (2) The characteristic prefix מ (mem) is absent, as in a few other Pual participles, e.g., Exod 3:2; Judg 13:8; 2 Kgs 2:10; Isa 30:24; 54:11 (GKC 143 §52.s). On the other hand, the consonant form יוקשים might actually be an example of the old Qal passive participle which dropped out of Hebrew at an early stage, and was frequently mistaken by the Masoretes as a Pual form (e.g., Jer 13:10; 23:32) (GKC 143 §52.s). Similarly, the Masoretes pointed אכל as אֻכָּל (ʾukkal, Pual perfect third person masculine singular “he was eaten”); however, it probably should be pointed אֻכַל (ʾukhal, old Qal passive perfect third person masculine singular “he was eaten”) because אָכַל (ʾakhal) only occurs in the Qal (see IBHS 373-74 §22.6a).
  44. Ecclesiastes 9:12 tn Heb “evil.” The term רָעָה (raʿah, “evil; unfortunate”) is repeated in v. 12 in the two parts of the comparison: “fish are caught in an evil (רָעָה) net” and “men are ensnared at an unfortunate (רָעָה) time.”
  45. Ecclesiastes 9:13 tn Heb “under the sun.”
  46. Ecclesiastes 9:13 tn The term “burden” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.
  47. Ecclesiastes 9:14 tn The verbs in this section function either as past definite actions (describing a past situation) or as hypothetical past actions (describing an imaginary hypothetical situation for the sake of illustration). The LXX uses subjunctives throughout vv. 14-15 to depict the scenario as a hypothetical situation: “Suppose there was a little city, and a few men [lived] in it; and there should come against it a great king, and surround it, and build great siege-works against it; and should find in it a poor wise man, and he should save the city through his wisdom; yet no man would remember that poor man.”
  48. Ecclesiastes 9:14 tn The two perfect tense verbs וְסָבַב (vesavav, “he besieged”) and וּבָנָה (uvanah, “he built”) may be taken in a complementary sense, qualifying the action of the main perfect tense verb וּבָא (uvaʾ, “he attacked it”).
  49. Ecclesiastes 9:14 tn The root גדל (“mighty; strong; large”) is repeated in 9:13b for emphasis: “a mighty (גָדוֹל, gadol) king…building strong (גְדֹלִים, gedolim) siege works.” This repetition highlights the contrast between the vast power and resources of the attacking king, and the meager resources of the “little” (קְטַנָּה, qetannah) city with “few” (מְעָט, meʿat) men in it to defend it.
  50. Ecclesiastes 9:15 tn Heb “was found in it”; the referent (the city) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  51. Ecclesiastes 9:15 tn Or “he delivered.” The verb וּמִלַּט (umillat, from מָלַט, malat, “to deliver”) is functioning either in an indicative sense (past definite action: “he delivered”) or in a modal sense (past potential: “he could have delivered”). The literal meaning of זָכַר (zakhar, “to remember”) in the following line harmonizes with the indicative: “but no one remembered that poor man [afterward].” However, the modal is supported by v. 16: “A poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens to his advice.” This approach must nuance זָכַר (“to remember”) as “[no one] listened to [that poor man].” Most translations favor the indicative approach: “he delivered” or “he saved” (KJV, RSV, NRSV, NAB, ASV, NASB, MLB, NIV); however, some adopt the modal nuance: “he might have saved” (NEB, NJPS, NASB margin).
  52. Ecclesiastes 9:15 tn Heb “remembered.”
  53. Ecclesiastes 9:16 tn Or “power.”
  54. Ecclesiastes 9:16 tn The participle form נִשְׁמָעִים (nishmaʿim, Niphal participle masculine plural from שָׁמַע, [shamaʿ] “to listen”) is used verbally to emphasize a continual, durative, gnomic action.
  55. Ecclesiastes 9:16 tn Heb “his words are never listened to.”
  56. Ecclesiastes 9:17 tn The phrase “is heard” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity and smoothness. Note its appearance in the previous line.
Titus 1

Salutation

1 From Paul,[a] a slave[b] of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith[c] of God’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before time began.[d] 3 But now in his own time[e] he has made his message evident through the preaching I was entrusted with according to the command of God our Savior. 4 To Titus, my genuine son in a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior!

Titus’ Task on Crete

5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters and to appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. 6 An elder must be blameless,[f] the husband of one wife,[g] with faithful children[h] who cannot be charged with dissipation or rebellion. 7 For the overseer[i] must be blameless as one entrusted with God’s work,[j] not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain. 8 Instead he must be hospitable, devoted to what is good, sensible, upright, devout, and self-controlled. 9 He must hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught,[k] so that he will be able to give exhortation in such healthy teaching[l] and correct those who speak against it.

10 For there are many[m] rebellious people, idle talkers, and deceivers, especially those with Jewish connections,[n] 11 who must be silenced because they mislead whole families by teaching for dishonest gain what ought not to be taught. 12 A certain one of them, in fact, one of their own prophets, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”[o] 13 Such testimony is true. For this reason rebuke them sharply that they may be healthy in the faith 14 and not pay attention to Jewish myths[p] and commands of people who reject the truth. 15 All is pure to those who are pure. But to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and consciences are corrupted. 16 They profess to know God but with their deeds they deny him, since they are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.

Footnotes

  1. Titus 1:1 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
  2. Titus 1:1 tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). One good translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος) in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force. Also, many slaves in the Roman world became slaves through Rome’s subjugation of conquered nations, kidnapping, or by being born into slave households. sn Undoubtedly the background for the concept of being the Lord’s slave or servant is to be found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew this concept did not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege. It was used of national Israel at times (Isa 43:10), but was especially associated with famous OT personalities, including such great men as Moses (Josh 14:7), David (Ps 89:3; cf. 2 Sam 7:5, 8) and Elijah (2 Kgs 10:10); all these men were “servants (or slaves) of the Lord.”
  3. Titus 1:1 tn Grk “for the faith,” possibly, “in accordance with the faith.”
  4. Titus 1:2 tn Grk “before eternal times.”
  5. Titus 1:3 tn The Greek text emphasizes the contrast between vv. 2b and 3a: God promised this long ago but now has revealed it in his own time.
  6. Titus 1:6 tn Grk “if anyone is blameless…” as a continuation of v. 5b, beginning to describe the elder’s character.
  7. Titus 1:6 tn Or “married only once,” “devoted solely to his wife.” See the note on “wife” in 1 Tim 3:2; also 1 Tim 3:12; 5:9.
  8. Titus 1:6 tn Or “believing children.” The phrase could be translated “believing children,” but the parallel with 1 Tim 3:4 (“keeping his children in control”) argues for the sense given in the translation.
  9. Titus 1:7 sn The overseer is another term for the same official position of leadership as the “elder.” This is seen in the interchange of the two terms in this passage and in Acts 20:17, 28, as well as in the parallels between these verses and 1 Tim 3:1-7.
  10. Titus 1:7 tn Grk “as God’s steward.”
  11. Titus 1:9 tn Grk “the faithful message in accordance with the teaching” (referring to apostolic teaching).
  12. Titus 1:9 tn Grk “the healthy teaching” (referring to what was just mentioned).
  13. Titus 1:10 tc ‡ The earliest and best mss lack καί (kai) after πολλοί (polloi; so א A C P 088 81 104 365 614 629 630 al sy co), though the conjunction is found in several significant witnesses, chiefly of the Western and Byzantine texts (D F G I Ψ 33 1241 1505 1739 1881 M lat), giving the sense “also many.” Although it is possible that some scribes omitted the word, thinking it was superfluous, it is also possible that others added the conjunction for clarification. Judging by the pedigree of the witnesses and the inconclusiveness of the internal evidence, the shorter reading is considered to be most likely autographic. NA28 puts the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.
  14. Titus 1:10 tn Grk “those of the circumcision.” Some translations take this to refer to Jewish converts to Christianity (cf. NAB “Jewish Christians”; TEV “converts from Judaism”; CEV “Jewish followers”) while others are less clear (cf. NLT “those who insist on circumcision for salvation”).
  15. Titus 1:12 sn A saying attributed to the poet Epimenides of Crete (6th century b.c.).
  16. Titus 1:14 sn Jewish myths were legendary tales characteristic of the false teachers in Ephesus and Crete. See parallels in 1 Tim 1:4; 4:7; and 2 Tim 4:4.
New English Translation (NET)

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