Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise God Who Saved the Nation
For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.
68 Let God rise up and scatter his enemies;
let those who hate him ·run away [flee] from him.
2 Blow them away as smoke
is ·driven [blown] away by the wind [Hos. 13:3].
As wax melts before a fire,
let the wicked ·be destroyed [perish] before God [Mic. 1:4].
3 But ·those who do right [the righteous] should be glad
and should rejoice before God;
they should be happy and glad.
4 Sing to God; ·sing praises [make a psalm] to his name.
Prepare the way for him
who rides ·through the desert [on the clouds; C as on a chariot; 18:10–19; 104:3; Is. 19:1; Dan. 7:13–14; Luke 21:27; Rev. 1:7],
whose name is the Lord.
Rejoice before him.
5 God is in his holy ·Temple [L abode].
He is a father to orphans [10:14; 146:9],
and he defends the widows [146:9].
6 God gives the lonely a home.
He leads prisoners out ·with joy [with singing; or to prosperity],
but ·those who turn against God [L the rebellious] will live in a dry land.
7 God, you led your people out
when you marched through the ·desert [wasteland; wilderness]. ·
8 The ·ground [earth; land] shook
and the ·sky [heavens] poured down rain
before God, the God of Mount Sinai [Ex. 19],
before God, the God of Israel.
9 God, you sent much rain;
you ·refreshed [restored] your ·tired [withering] ·land [L inheritance].
10 Your people settled there.
God, in your goodness
you took care of the poor.
19 ·Praise [Blessed be] the Lord, God our ·Savior [Victor],
who ·helps us [L bears our burdens] every day. ·
20 Our God is a God who ·saves us [gives us victory];
the Lord God ·saves us [L brings us out] from death.
Jephthah’s Promise
29 Then the Spirit of the Lord ·entered [empowered; came/was upon; 3:10; 6:34] Jephthah. Jephthah passed through Gilead and Manasseh and the city of Mizpah in Gilead to the land of the ·Ammonites [L sons/descendants of Ammon]. 30 Jephthah made a ·promise [vow] to the Lord, saying, “If you will ·hand over the Ammonites to me [L give the sons of Ammon into my hand], 31 I will ·give you [offer; sacrifice] as a burnt offering [Lev. 1:1–17] the first thing that comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return ·from the victory [L in peace]. It will be the Lord’s.”
32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the ·Ammonites [L sons/descendants of Ammon], and the Lord ·handed them over to him [L gave them into his hand]. 33 Jephthah ·struck them down [crushed/defeated them with a great slaughter] from the city of Aroer to the area of Minnith, twenty cities in all, and as far as the city of Abel Keramim. So the ·Ammonites [L sons/descendants of Ammon] were ·defeated [subdued] by the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel].
34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, [L look; T behold] his daughter was the first one to come out to meet him, ·playing a tambourine [L with tambourines] and dancing [Ex. 15:20]. She was his only child; he had no other sons or daughters. 35 When Jephthah saw his daughter, he tore his clothes [C to show his sorrow] and said, “[L Ah!] My daughter! You have ·made me so sad [devastated me; brought me to my knees]. You have brought me disaster! I ·made a promise [have given my word; L opened my mouth] to the Lord, and I cannot ·break it [recant; L return]!”
36 Then his daughter said, “Father, you ·made a promise [gave your word; L opened your mouth] to the Lord. So do to me just what ·you promised [L came out of your mouth], because the Lord ·helped you defeat [avenged you of; or vindicated you before] your enemies, the ·Ammonites [L sons/descendants of Ammon].” 37 She also said, “But let me do one thing. Let me be alone for two months to go ·to [L down and up in] the mountains. Let me and my friends go and ·cry together since I will never marry [L weep for my virginity].”
38 Jephthah said, “Go.” So he sent her away for two months. She and her friends ·stayed [walked] in the mountains and ·cried for her because she would never marry [L wept for her virginity]. 39 After two months she returned to her father, and Jephthah did to her what he had ·promised [vowed; v. 31]. Jephthah’s daughter ·never had a husband [or died a virgin; L never knew a man; C some claim Jephthah committed her to lifelong service as a virgin at the sanctuary (Ex. 38:8); more likely, he literally fulfilled his rash vow (see next verse)].
From this came a custom in Israel that 40 every year the young women of Israel would go out for four days to ·remember [commemorate] the daughter of Jephthah from Gilead.
Paul Shows that Peter Was Wrong
11 [L But] When ·Peter [L Cephas; C Peter’s name in Aramaic; 1:18] came to Antioch, I challenged him to his face, because he ·was wrong [L stood condemned]. 12 [L For; Because] ·Peter [L He] ate with the Gentiles until ·some Jewish people [L certain people] sent from James [1:19] came to Antioch [C a major city in Syria]. When they arrived, Peter ·stopped eating with those who weren’t Jewish [L backed off; withdrew], and he separated himself from them. […because] He was afraid of the ·Jews [circumcised; or the pro-circumcision group]. 13 Then the rest of the ·Jewish believers [L Jews] joined him in this hypocrisy. Even Barnabas was ·influenced [swept along; carried away] by their hypocrisy. 14 [L But] When I saw they were not ·following [acting in line with] the truth of the ·Good News [Gospel], I spoke to ·Peter [L Cephas; v. 11] in front of them all. I said, “You are a Jew, but you are living like a Gentile and not a Jew. So how can you now try to force Gentiles to live like Jews?”
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