◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 31:1-5 19-24 (I commit my spirit); Exodus 24:1-8 (The blood of the covenant); Romans 2:17-29 (Real circumcision a matter of the heart) (New English Translation)

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May 29, 2008

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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 31:1-5

Psalm 31^[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

31 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter.
Never let me be humiliated.
Vindicate me by rescuing me.^[b]
²Listen to me.^[c]
Quickly deliver me.
Be my protector and refuge,^[d]
a stronghold where I can be safe.^[e]
³For you are my high ridge^[f] and my stronghold;
for the sake of your own reputation^[g] you lead me and guide me.^[h]
⁴You will free me^[i] from the net they hid for me,
for you are my place of refuge.
⁵Into your hand I entrust my life;^[j]
you will rescue^[k] me, O Lord, the faithful God.

Footnotes

Psalm 31:1 sn Psalm 31. The psalmist confidently asks the Lord to protect him. Enemies threaten him and even his friends have abandoned him, but he looks to the Lord for vindication. In vv. 19-24, which were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18, the psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him.
Psalm 31:1 tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me.”
Psalm 31:2 tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”
Psalm 31:2 tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”
Psalm 31:2 tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”
Psalm 31:3 sn The metaphor of the high ridge pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.
Psalm 31:3 tn Heb “name.” The Hebrew term שֵׁם (shem, “name”) refers here to the Lord’s reputation. (The English term “name” is often used the same way.)
Psalm 31:3 tn The present translation assumes that the imperfect verbal forms are generalizing, “you lead me and guide me.” Other options are to take them as an expression of confidence about the future, “you will lead me and guide me” (cf. NASB), or as expressing a prayer, “lead me and guide me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).
Psalm 31:4 tn Heb “bring me out.” The translation assumes that the imperfect verbal form expresses the psalmist’s confidence about the future. Another option is to take the form as expressing a prayer, “free me.”
Psalm 31:5 tn Heb “my spirit.” The noun רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) here refers to the animating spirit that gives the psalmist life.
Psalm 31:5 tn Or “redeem.” The perfect verbal form is understood here as anticipatory, indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer that he can describe his deliverance as if it had already happened. Another option is to take the perfect as precative, expressing a wish or request (“rescue me”; cf. NIV). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

Psalm 31:19-24

¹⁹How great is your favor,^[a]
which you store up for your loyal followers.^[b]
In plain sight of everyone you bestow it on those who take shelter^[c] in you.^[d]
²⁰You hide them with you, where they are safe from the attacks^[e] of men;^[f]
you conceal them in a shelter, where they are safe from slanderous attacks.^[g]
²¹The Lord deserves praise^[h]
for he demonstrated his amazing faithfulness to me when I was besieged by enemies.^[i]
²²I jumped to conclusions and said,^[j]
“I am cut off from your presence!”^[k]
But you heard my plea for mercy when I cried out to you for help.
²³Love the Lord, all you faithful followers^[l] of his!
The Lord protects those who have integrity,
but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly.^[m]
²⁴Be strong and confident,^[n]
all you who wait on the Lord.

Exodus 24:1-8

The Lord Ratifies the Covenant

24 ^[a] But to Moses the Lord^[b] said, “Come up^[c] to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance.^[d] ²Moses alone may come near^[e] the Lord, but the others^[f] must not come near,^[g] nor may the people go up with him.”

³Moses came^[h] and told the people all the Lord’s words^[i] and all the decisions. All the people answered together,^[j] “We are willing to do^[k] all the words that the Lord has said,” ⁴and Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning he built^[l] an altar at the foot^[m] of the mountain and arranged^[n] twelve standing stones^[o]—according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵He sent young Israelite men,^[p] and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls for peace offerings^[q] to the Lord. ⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar.^[r] ⁷He took the Book of the Covenant^[s] and read it aloud^[t] to the people, and they said, “We are willing to do and obey^[u] all that the Lord has spoken.” ⁸So Moses took the blood and splashed it on^[v] the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant^[w] that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

Footnotes

Exodus 24:1 sn Exod 24 is the high point of the book in many ways, but most importantly, here Yahweh makes a covenant with the people—the Sinaitic Covenant. The unit not only serves to record the event in Israel’s becoming a nation, but it provides a paradigm of the worship of God’s covenant people—entering into the presence of the glory of Yahweh. See additionally W. A. Maier, “The Analysis of Exodus 24 According to Modern Literary, Form, and Redaction Critical Methodology,” Springfielder 37 (1973): 35-52. The passage may be divided into four parts for exposition: vv. 1-2, the call for worship; vv. 3-8, the consecration of the worshipers; vv. 9-11, the confirmation of the covenant; and vv. 12-18, the communication with Yahweh.
Exodus 24:1 tn Heb “And he;” the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Exodus 24:1 sn They were to come up to the Lord after they had made the preparations that are found in vv. 3-8.
Exodus 24:1 sn These seventy-four people were to go up the mountain to a certain point. Then they were to prostrate themselves and worship Yahweh as Moses went farther up into the presence of Yahweh. Moses occupies the lofty position of mediator (as Christ in the NT), for he alone ascends “to Yahweh” while everyone waits for his return. The emphasis of “bowing down” and that from “far off” stresses again the ominous presence that was on the mountain. This was the holy God—only the designated mediator could draw near to him.
Exodus 24:2 tn The verb is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive; it and the preceding perfect tense follow the imperative, and so have either a force of instruction, or, as taken here, are the equivalent of an imperfect tense (of permission).
Exodus 24:2 tn Heb “they.”
Exodus 24:2 tn Now the imperfect tense negated is used; here the prohibition would fit (“they will not come near”), or the obligatory (“they must not”) in which the subjects are obliged to act—or not act in this case.
Exodus 24:3 sn The general consensus among commentators is that this refers to Moses’ coming from the mountain after he made the ascent in 20:21. Here he came and told them the laws (written in 20:22-23:33), and of the call to come up to Yahweh.
Exodus 24:3 sn The Decalogue may not be included here because the people had heard those commands themselves earlier.
Exodus 24:3 tn The text simply has “one voice” (קוֹל אֶחָד, qol ʾekhad); this is an adverbial accusative of manner, telling how the people answered—“in one voice,” or unanimously (see GKC 375 §118.q).
Exodus 24:3 tn The verb is the imperfect tense (נַעֲשֶׂה, naʿaseh), although the form could be classified as a cohortative. If the latter, they would be saying that they are resolved to do what God said. If it is an imperfect, then the desiderative would make the most sense: “we are willing to do.” They are not presumptuously saying they are going to do all these things.
Exodus 24:4 tn The two preterites quite likely form a verbal hendiadys (the verb “to get up early” is frequently in such constructions). Literally it says, “and he got up early [in the morning] and he built”; this means “early [in the morning] he built.” The first verb becomes the adverb.
Exodus 24:4 tn “under.”
Exodus 24:4 tn The verb “arranged” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied to clarify exactly what Moses did with the twelve stones.
Exodus 24:4 tn The thing numbered is found in the singular when the number is plural—“twelve standing-stone.” See GKC 433 §134.f. The “standing-stone” could be a small piece about a foot high, or a huge column higher than men. They served to commemorate treaties (Gen 32), or visions (Gen 28) or boundaries, or graves. Here it will function with the altar as a place of worship.
Exodus 24:5 tn The construct has “young men of the Israelites,” and so “Israelite” is a genitive that describes them.
Exodus 24:5 tn The verbs and their respective accusatives are cognates. First, they offered up burnt offerings (see Lev 1), which is וַיַּעֲלוּ עֹלֹת (vayyaʿalu ʿolot); then they sacrificed young bulls as peace sacrifices (Lev 3), which is in Hebrew וַיִּזְבְּחוּ זְבָחִים (vayyizb^ekhu z^evakhim). In the first case the cognate accusative is the direct object; in the second it is an adverbial accusative of product. See on this covenant ritual H. M. Kamsler, “The Blood Covenant in the Bible,” Dor le Dor 6 (1977): 94-98; E. W. Nicholson, “The Covenant Ritual in Exodus 24:3-8, ” VT 32 (1982): 74-86.
Exodus 24:6 sn The people and Yahweh through this will be united by blood, for half was spattered on the altar and the other half spattered on/toward the people (v. 8).
Exodus 24:7 tn The noun “book” would be the scroll just written containing the laws of chaps. 20-23. On the basis of this scroll the covenant would be concluded here. The reading of this book would assure the people that it was the same that they had agreed to earlier. But now their statement of willingness to obey would be more binding, because their promise would be confirmed by a covenant of blood.
Exodus 24:7 tn Heb “read it in the ears of.”
Exodus 24:7 tn A second verb is now added to the people’s response, and it is clearly an imperfect and not a cohortative, lending support for the choice of desiderative imperfect in these commitments—“we want to obey.” This was their compliance with the covenant.
Exodus 24:8 tn Given the size of the congregation, the preposition might be rendered here “toward the people” rather than on them (all).
Exodus 24:8 sn The construct relationship “the blood of the covenant” means “the blood by which the covenant is ratified” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 254). The parallel with the inauguration of the new covenant in the blood of Christ is striking (see, e.g., Matt 26:28, 1 Cor 11:25). When Jesus was inaugurating the new covenant, he was bringing to an end the old.

Romans 2:17-29

The Condemnation of the Jew

¹⁷But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law^[a] and boast of your relationship to God^[b] ¹⁸and know his will^[c] and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law,^[d] ¹⁹and if you are convinced^[e] that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth— ²¹therefore^[f] you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²²You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor^[g] idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! ²⁴For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”^[h]

²⁵For circumcision^[i] has its value if you practice the law, but^[j] if you break the law,^[k] your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys^[l] the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷And the physically uncircumcised man,^[m] by keeping the law, will judge you to be the transgressor of the law, even though^[n] you have the letter^[o] and circumcision! ²⁸For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, ²⁹but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart^[p] by the Spirit^[q] and not by the letter.^[r] This person’s^[s] praise is not from people but from God.

Footnotes

Romans 2:17 sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Romans 2:17 tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.
Romans 2:18 tn Grk “the will.”
Romans 2:18 tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”
Romans 2:19 tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.
Romans 2:21 tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).
Romans 2:22 tn Or “detest.”
Romans 2:24 sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.
Romans 2:25 sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomē) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).
Romans 2:25 tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.
Romans 2:25 tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”
Romans 2:26 tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (phulassō, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.
Romans 2:27 tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.
Romans 2:27 tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.
Romans 2:27 tn Or “written code.”
Romans 2:29 sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.
Romans 2:29 tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).
Romans 2:29 tn Or “written code.”
Romans 2:29 tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 31[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

Footnotes

Footnotes

The Lord Ratifies the Covenant

Footnotes

The Condemnation of the Jew

Footnotes

Psalm 31^[a]