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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 52

Psalm 52^[a]

For the music director, a well-written song^[b] by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.”^[c]

52 Why do you boast about your evil plans,^[d] O powerful man?
God’s loyal love protects me all day long.^[e]
²Your tongue carries out your destructive plans;^[f]
it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver.^[g]
³You love evil more than good,
lies more than speaking the truth.^[h] (Selah)
⁴You love to use all the words that destroy,^[i]
and the tongue that deceives.
⁵Yet^[j] God will make you a permanent heap of ruins.^[k]
He will scoop you up^[l] and remove you from your home;^[m]
he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)
⁶When the godly see this, they will be filled with awe,
and will mock the evildoer, saying:^[n]
⁷“Look, here is the man who would not make^[o] God his protector.
He trusted in his great wealth
and was confident about his plans to destroy others.”^[p]
⁸But I^[q] am like a flourishing^[r] olive tree in the house of God;
I continually^[s] trust in God’s loyal love.
⁹I will continually^[t] thank you when^[u] you execute judgment;^[v]
I will rely on^[w] you,^[x] for your loyal followers know you are good.^[y]

Footnotes

Psalm 52:1 sn Psalm 52. The psalmist confidently confronts his enemy and affirms that God will destroy evildoers and vindicate the godly.
Psalm 52:1 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
Psalm 52:1 tn Heb “when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’”sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm during the period when Saul was seeking his life. On one occasion Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s head shepherd (1 Sam 21:7), informed Saul of David’s whereabouts (see 1 Sam 21-22).
Psalm 52:1 tn Heb “Why do you boast in evil?”
Psalm 52:1 tn Heb “the loyal love of God [is] all the day.” In this context, where the psalmist is threatened by his enemy, the point seems to be that the psalmist is protected by God’s loyal love at all times.
Psalm 52:2 tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”
Psalm 52:2 tn Heb “like a sharpened razor, doer of deceit.” The masculine participle עָשָׂה (ʿasah) is understood as a substantival vocative, addressed to the powerful man.
Psalm 52:3 tn Or “deceit more than speaking what is right.”
Psalm 52:4 tn Heb “you love all the words of swallowing.” Traditionally בַּלַּע (balaʿ) has been taken to mean “swallowing” in the sense of “devouring” or “destructive” (see BDB 118 s.v. בָּלַע). HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע proposes a homonym here, meaning “confusion.” This would fit the immediate context nicely and provide a close parallel to the following line, which refers to deceptive words.
Psalm 52:5 tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.
Psalm 52:5 tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”
Psalm 52:5 tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.
Psalm 52:5 tn Heb “from [your] tent.”
Psalm 52:6 tn Heb “and the godly will see and will fear and at him will laugh.”
Psalm 52:7 tn The imperfect verbal form here draws attention to the ongoing nature of the action. The evildoer customarily rejected God and trusted in his own abilities. Another option is to take the imperfect as generalizing, “[here is the man who] does not make.”
Psalm 52:7 tn Heb “he was strong in his destruction.” “Destruction” must refer back to the destructive plans mentioned in v. 2. The verb (derived from the root עָזַז, ʿazaz, “be strong”) as it stands is either an imperfect (if so, probably used in a customary sense) or a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive). However the form should probably be emended to וַיָּעָז (vayyaʿaz), a Qal preterite (with vav [ו] consecutive) from עָזַז. Note the preterite form without vav (ו) consecutive in the preceding line (וַיִּבְטַח, vayyivtakh, “and he trusted”). The prefixed vav (ו) was likely omitted by haplography (note the suffixed vav [ו] on the preceding עָשְׁרוֹ, ʿoshro, “his wealth”).
Psalm 52:8 tn The disjunctive construction (vav [ו] + subject) highlights the contrast between the evildoer’s destiny (vv. 5-7) and that of the godly psalmist’s security.
Psalm 52:8 tn Or “luxuriant, green, leafy.”
Psalm 52:8 tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever and ever.”
Psalm 52:9 tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”
Psalm 52:9 tn Or “for.”
Psalm 52:9 tn Heb “you have acted.” The perfect verbal form (1) probably indicates a future perfect here. The psalmist promises to give thanks when the expected vindication has been accomplished. Other options include (2) a generalizing (“for you act”) or (3) rhetorical (“for you will act”) use.
Psalm 52:9 tn Or “wait on.”
Psalm 52:9 tn Heb “your name.” God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character.
Psalm 52:9 tn Heb “for it is good in front of your loyal followers.”

Joshua 8:30-35

Covenant Renewal

³⁰Then Joshua built an altar for the Lord God of Israel on Mount Ebal, ³¹just as Moses the Lord’s servant had commanded the Israelites. As described in the law scroll of Moses, it was made with uncut stones untouched by an iron tool.^[a] On it they offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord and sacrificed tokens of peace.^[b] ³²There, in the presence of the Israelites, Joshua inscribed on the stones a duplicate of the law written by Moses.^[c] ³³All the people,^[d] rulers,^[e] leaders, and judges were standing on either side of the ark, in front of the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Both resident foreigners and native Israelites were there.^[f] Half the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the Lord’s servant had previously instructed them to do for the formal blessing ceremony.^[g] ³⁴Then^[h] Joshua read aloud all the words of the law, including the blessings and the curses, just as they are written in the law scroll. ³⁵Joshua read aloud every commandment Moses had given^[i] before the whole assembly of Israel, including the women, children, and resident foreigners who lived among them.^[j]

Romans 2:1-11

The Condemnation of the Moralist

2 ^[a] Therefore^[b] you are without excuse,^[c] whoever you are,^[d] when you judge someone else.^[e] For on whatever grounds^[f] you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things. ²Now we know that God’s judgment is in accordance with truth^[g] against those who practice such things. ³And do you think,^[h] whoever you are, when you judge^[i] those who practice such things and yet do them yourself,^[j] that you will escape God’s judgment? ⁴Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know^[k] that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? ⁵But because of your stubbornness^[l] and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed!^[m] ⁶He^[n] will reward^[o] each one according to his works:^[p] ⁷eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality, ⁸but^[q] wrath and anger to those who live in selfish ambition^[r] and do not obey the truth but follow^[s] unrighteousness. ⁹There will be^[t] affliction and distress on everyone^[u] who does evil, on the Jew first and also the Greek,^[v] ¹⁰but^[w] glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also the Greek. ¹¹For there is no partiality with God.

Footnotes

Romans 2:1 sn Rom 2:1-29 presents unusual difficulties for the interpreter. There have been several major approaches to the chapter and the group(s) it refers to: (1) Rom 2:14 refers to Gentile Christians, not Gentiles who obey the Jewish law. (2) Paul in Rom 2 is presenting a hypothetical viewpoint: If anyone could obey the law, that person would be justified, but no one can. (3) The reference to “the ones who do the law” in 2:13 are those who “do” the law in the right way, on the basis of faith, not according to Jewish legalism. (4) Rom 2:13 only speaks about Christians being judged in the future, along with such texts as Rom 14:10 and 2 Cor 5:10. (5) Paul’s material in Rom 2 is drawn heavily from Diaspora Judaism, so that the treatment of the law presented here cannot be harmonized with other things Paul says about the law elsewhere (E. P. Sanders, Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People, 123); another who sees Rom 2 as an example of Paul’s inconsistency in his treatment of the law is H. Räisänen, Paul and the Law [WUNT], 101-9. (6) The list of blessings and curses in Deut 27-30 provide the background for Rom 2; the Gentiles of 2:14 are Gentile Christians, but the condemnation of Jews in 2:17-24 addresses the failure of Jews as a nation to keep the law as a whole (A. Ito, “Romans 2: A Deuteronomistic Reading,” JSNT 59 [1995]: 21-37).
Romans 2:1 tn Some interpreters (e.g., C. K. Barrett, Romans [HNTC], 43) connect the inferential Διό (dio, “therefore”) with 1:32a, treating 1:32b as a parenthetical comment by Paul.
Romans 2:1 tn That is, “you have nothing to say in your own defense” (so translated by TCNT).
Romans 2:1 tn Grk “O man.”
Romans 2:1 tn Grk “Therefore, you are without excuse, O man, everyone [of you] who judges.”
Romans 2:1 tn Grk “in/by (that) which.”
Romans 2:2 tn Or “based on truth.”
Romans 2:3 tn Grk “do you think this,” referring to the clause in v. 3b.
Romans 2:3 tn Grk “O man, the one who judges.”
Romans 2:3 tn Grk “and do them.” The other words are supplied to bring out the contrast implied in this clause.
Romans 2:4 tn Grk “being unaware.”
Romans 2:5 tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.
Romans 2:5 tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
Romans 2:6 tn Grk “who.” The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
Romans 2:6 tn Or “will render,” “will recompense.” In this context Paul is setting up a hypothetical situation, not stating that salvation is by works.
Romans 2:6 sn A quotation from Ps 62:12; Prov 24:12; a close approximation to Matt 16:27.
Romans 2:8 tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.
Romans 2:8 tn Grk “those who [are] from selfish ambition.”
Romans 2:8 tn Grk “are persuaded by, obey.”
Romans 2:9 tn No verb is expressed in this verse, but the verb “to be” is implied by the Greek construction. Literally “suffering and distress on everyone…”
Romans 2:9 tn Grk “every soul of man.”
Romans 2:9 sn Paul uses the term Greek here and in v. 10 to refer to non-Jews, i.e., Gentiles.
Romans 2:10 tn Grk “but even,” to emphasize the contrast. The second word has been omitted since it is somewhat redundant in English idiom.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 52[a]

For the music director, a well-written song[b] by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.”[c]

Footnotes

Covenant Renewal

Footnotes

The Condemnation of the Moralist

Footnotes

Psalm 52^[a]

For the music director, a well-written song^[b] by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.”^[c]