◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 50:7-15 (The salvation of God); Exodus 34:1-9 (Moses makes new tablets); Matthew 9:27-34 (Jesus heals those who are blind or mute) (New English Translation)

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June 7, 1969

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 50:7-15

⁷He says:^[a]
“Listen, my people. I am speaking!
Listen, Israel. I am accusing you.^[b]
I am God, your God!
⁸I am not condemning^[c] you because of your sacrifices,
or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me.^[d]
⁹I do not need to take^[e] a bull from your household
or goats from your sheepfolds.
¹⁰For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,
as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills.^[f]
¹¹I keep track of^[g] every bird in the hills,
and the insects^[h] of the field are mine.
¹²Even if I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all it contains belong to me.
¹³Do I eat the flesh of bulls?
Do I drink the blood of goats?^[i]
¹⁴Present to God a thank offering.
Repay your vows to the Most High.^[j]
¹⁵Pray to me when you are in trouble.^[k]
I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”^[l]

Footnotes

Psalm 50:7 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s charges against his people follow.
Psalm 50:7 tn Heb “Israel, and I will testify against you.” The imperative “listen” is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
Psalm 50:8 tn Or “rebuking.”
Psalm 50:8 tn Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”
Psalm 50:9 tn Or “I will not take.”
Psalm 50:10 tn Heb “[the] animals on a thousand hills.” The words “that graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The term בְּהֵמוֹה (b^ehemot, “animal”) refers here to cattle (see Ps 104:14).
Psalm 50:11 tn Heb “I know.”
Psalm 50:11 tn The precise referent of the Hebrew word, which occurs only here and in Ps 80:13, is uncertain. Aramaic, Arabic and Akkadian cognates refer to insects, such as locusts or crickets.
Psalm 50:13 tn The rhetorical questions assume an emphatic negative response, “Of course not!”
Psalm 50:14 sn The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ʿelyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.
Psalm 50:15 tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”
Psalm 50:15 sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

Exodus 34:1-9

The New Tablets of the Covenant

34 ^[a] The Lord said to Moses, “Cut out^[b] two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write^[c] on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed. ²Be prepared^[d] in the morning, and go up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and station yourself^[e] for me there on the top of the mountain. ³No one is to come up with you; do not let anyone be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks or the herds may graze in front of that mountain.” ⁴So Moses^[f] cut out two tablets of stone like the first;^[g] early in the morning he went up^[h] to Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

⁵The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the Lord by name.^[i] ⁶The Lord passed by before him and proclaimed:^[j] “The Lord, the Lord,^[k] the compassionate and gracious^[l] God, slow to anger,^[m] and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness,^[n] ⁷keeping loyal love for thousands,^[o] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression^[p] of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸Moses quickly bowed^[q] to the ground and worshiped ⁹and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord^[r] go among us, for we^[s] are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Footnotes

Exodus 34:1 sn The restoration of the faltering community continues in this chapter. First, Moses is instructed to make new tablets and take them to the mountain (1-4). Then, through the promised theophany God proclaims his moral character (5-7). Moses responds with the reiteration of the intercession (8-9), and God responds with the renewal of the covenant (10-28). To put these into expository form, as principles, the chapter would run as follows: I. God provides for spiritual renewal (1-4), II. God reminds people of his moral standard (5-9), III. God renews his covenant promises and stipulations (10-28).
Exodus 34:1 tn The imperative is followed by the preposition with a suffix expressing the ethical dative; it strengthens the instruction for Moses. Interestingly, the verb “cut out, chisel, hew,” is the same verb from which the word for a “graven image” is derived—פָּסַל (pasal).
Exodus 34:1 tn The perfect tense with vav consecutive makes the value of this verb equal to an imperfect tense, probably a simple future here. sn Nothing is said of how God was going to write on these stone tablets at this point, but in the end it is Moses who wrote the words. This is not considered a contradiction, since God is often credited with things he has people do in his place. There is great symbolism in this command—if ever a command said far more than it actually said, this is it. The instruction means that the covenant had been renewed, or was going to be renewed, and that the sanctuary with the tablets in the ark at its center would be built (see Deut 10:1). The first time Moses went up he was empty-handed; when he came down he smashed the tablets because of the Israelites’ sin. Now the people would see him go up with empty tablets and be uncertain whether he would come back with the tablets inscribed again (B. Jacob, Exodus, 977-78).
Exodus 34:2 tn The form is a Niphal participle that means “be prepared, be ready.” This probably means that Moses was to do in preparation what the congregation had to do back in Exod 19:11-15.
Exodus 34:2 sn The same word is used in Exod 33:21. It is as if Moses was to be at his post when Yahweh wanted to communicate to him.
Exodus 34:4 tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified here and the name “Moses,” which occurs later in this verse, has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”), both for stylistic reasons.
Exodus 34:4 sn Deuteronomy says that Moses was also to make an ark of acacia wood before the tablets, apparently to put the tablets in until the sanctuary was built. But this ark may not have been the ark built later; or, it might be the wood box, but Bezalel still had to do all the golden work with it.
Exodus 34:4 tn The line reads “and Moses got up early in the morning and went up.” These verbs likely form a verbal hendiadys, the first one with its prepositional phrase serving in an adverbial sense.
Exodus 34:5 tn Some commentaries wish to make Moses the subject of the second and the third verbs, the first because he was told to stand there and this verb suggests he did it, and the last because it sounds like he was worshiping Yahweh (cf. NASB). But it is clear from v. 6 that Yahweh was the subject of the last clause of v. 5—v. 6 tells how he did it. So if Yahweh is the subject of the first and last clauses of v. 5, it seems simpler that he also be the subject of the second. Moses took his stand there, but God stood by him (B. Jacob, Exodus, 981; U. Cassuto, Exodus, 439). There is no reason to make Moses the subject in any of the verbs of v. 5.
Exodus 34:6 tn Here is one of the clearest examples of what it means “to call on the name of the Lord,” as that clause has been translated traditionally (וַיִּקְרָא בְשֵׁם יְהוָה, vayyiqraʾ v^eshem y^ehvah). It seems more likely that it means “to make proclamation of Yahweh by name.” Yahweh came down and made a proclamation—and the next verses give the content of what he said. This cannot be prayer or praise; it is a proclamation of the nature or attributes of God (which is what his “name” means throughout the Bible). Attempts to make Moses the subject of the verb are awkward, for the verb is repeated in v. 6 with Yahweh clearly doing the proclaiming.
Exodus 34:6 sn U. Cassuto (Exodus, 439) suggests that these two names be written as a sentence: “Yahweh, He is Yahweh.” In this manner it reflects “I am that I am.” It is impossible to define his name in any other way than to make this affirmation and then show what it means.
Exodus 34:6 tn See Exod 33:19.
Exodus 34:6 sn This is literally “long of anger.” His anger prolongs itself, allowing for people to repent before punishment is inflicted.
Exodus 34:6 sn These two words (“loyal love” and “truth”) are often found together, occasionally in a hendiadys construction. If that is the interpretation here, then it means “faithful covenant love.” Even if they are left separate, they are dual elements of a single quality. The first word is God’s faithful covenant love; the second word is God’s reliability and faithfulness.
Exodus 34:7 tn That is, “for thousands of generations.”
Exodus 34:7 sn As in the ten commandments (20:5-6), this expression shows that the iniquity and its punishment will continue in the family if left unchecked. This does not go on as long as the outcomes for good (thousands versus third or fourth generations), and it is limited to those who hate God.
Exodus 34:8 tn The first two verbs form a hendiadys: “he hurried…he bowed,” meaning “he quickly bowed down.”
Exodus 34:9 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” two times here is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
Exodus 34:9 tn Heb “it is.” Hebrew uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here in agreement with the noun “people.”

Matthew 9:27-34

Healing the Blind and Mute

²⁷As Jesus went on from there, two blind men began to follow^[a] him, shouting,^[b] “Have mercy^[c] on us, Son of David!”^[d] ²⁸When^[e] he went into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus^[f] said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” ²⁹Then he touched their eyes saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” ³⁰And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about this!” ³¹But they went out and spread the news about him throughout that entire region.^[g]

³²As^[h] they were going away,^[i] a man who was demon-possessed and unable to speak^[j] was brought to him. ³³After the demon was cast out, the man who had been mute began to speak.^[k] The crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel!” ³⁴But the Pharisees^[l] said, “By the ruler^[m] of demons he casts out demons!”

Footnotes

Matthew 9:27 tn The aorist verb has been translated here as ingressive, stressing the beginning of the action. So Wallace: “The following verse makes it clear that an ingressive idea is meant, for the blind men are still following Jesus” (ExSyn 559).
Matthew 9:27 tn Grk “shouting, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
Matthew 9:27 sn Have mercy on us is a request for healing. Implicit in the request is the assumption that Jesus had the power to heal them and restore their sight.
Matthew 9:27 sn There was a tradition in Judaism that the Son of David (Solomon) had great powers of healing (Josephus, Ant. 8.2.5 [8.42-49]). By extension this would apply to the ultimate royal Davidic descendant, the Messiah, as well. At this point in his narrative Matthew picks up again the theme of Jesus as Davidic descendant which had appeared in chaps. 1–2, but had not been developed further until now.
Matthew 9:28 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
Matthew 9:28 tn Grk “to him, and Jesus.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in Greek, but a new sentence was started here in the translation.
Matthew 9:31 tn For the translation of τὴν γῆν ἐκείνην (tēn gēn ekeinēn) as “that region,” see L&N 1.79; BDAG 196 s.v. γῆ 3.
Matthew 9:32 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
Matthew 9:32 tn Grk “away, behold, they brought a man to him.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
Matthew 9:32 tn Grk “a man mute, demon-possessed.” Some translations infer a causal relationship here (“was mute because he was demon-possessed”; cf. TEV, CEV). The present translation allows for this interpretation (“was demon-possessed and [thus] unable to speak”) without making it explicit.
Matthew 9:33 tn The aorist verb has been translated here as ingressive, stressing the beginning of the action. The context clearly indicates an ingressive force here.
Matthew 9:34 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
Matthew 9:34 tn Or “prince.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Footnotes

The New Tablets of the Covenant

Footnotes

Healing the Blind and Mute

Footnotes