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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 6

Psalm 6^[a]

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments, according to the sheminith style;^[b] a psalm of David.

6 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger.
Do not discipline me in your raging fury.^[c]
²Have mercy on me,^[d] Lord, for I am frail.
Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking.^[e]
³I am absolutely terrified,^[f]
and you, Lord—how long will this continue?^[g]
⁴Relent, Lord, rescue me!^[h]
Deliver me because of your faithfulness.^[i]
⁵For no one remembers you in the realm of death.^[j]
In Sheol who gives you thanks?^[k]
⁶I am exhausted as I groan.
All night long I drench my bed in tears;^[l]
my tears saturate the cushion beneath me.^[m]
⁷My eyes^[n] grow dim^[o] from suffering;
they grow weak^[p] because of all my enemies.^[q]
⁸Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly,^[r]
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.^[s]
⁹The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy;
the Lord has accepted^[t] my prayer.
¹⁰They will be humiliated^[u] and absolutely terrified.^[v]
All my enemies will turn back and be suddenly humiliated.

Footnotes

Psalm 6:1 sn Psalm 6. The psalmist begs the Lord to withdraw his anger and spare his life. Having received a positive response to his prayer, the psalmist then confronts his enemies and describes how they retreat.
Psalm 6:1 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term שְׁמִינִית (sh^eminit, “sheminith”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. See 1 Chr 15:21.
Psalm 6:1 sn The implication is that the psalmist has sinned, causing God to discipline him by bringing a life-threatening illness upon him (see vv. 2-7).
Psalm 6:2 tn Or “show me favor.”
Psalm 6:2 tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.
Psalm 6:3 tn Heb “my being is very terrified.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.
Psalm 6:3 tn Heb “and you, Lord, how long?” The suffering psalmist speaks in broken syntax. He addresses God, but then simply cries out with a brief, but poignant, question: How long will this (= his suffering) continue?
Psalm 6:4 tn Heb “my being,” or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.
Psalm 6:4 sn Deliver me because of your faithfulness. Though the psalmist is experiencing divine discipline, he realizes that God has made a commitment to him in the past, so he appeals to God’s faithfulness in his request for help.
Psalm 6:5 tn Heb “for there is not in death your remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זֵכֶר (zekher, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 30:4; 97:12. “Death” here refers to the realm of death where the dead reside. See the reference to Sheol in the next line.
Psalm 6:5 tn The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”sn In Sheol who gives you thanks? According to the OT, those who descend into the realm of death/Sheol are cut off from God’s mighty deeds and from the worshiping covenant community that experiences divine intervention (Pss 30:9; 88:10-12; Isa 38:18). In his effort to elicit a positive divine response, the psalmist reminds God that he will receive no praise or glory if he allows the psalmist to die. Dead men do not praise God!
Psalm 6:6 tn Heb “I cause to swim through all the night my bed.”
Psalm 6:6 tn Heb “with my tears my bed I flood/melt.”
Psalm 6:7 tn The Hebrew text has the singular “eye” here.
Psalm 6:7 tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”
Psalm 6:7 tn Or perhaps, “grow old.”
Psalm 6:7 sn In his weakened condition the psalmist is vulnerable to the taunts and threats of his enemies.
Psalm 6:8 tn Heb “all [you] workers of wickedness.” See Ps 5:5.
Psalm 6:8 sn The Lord has heard. The psalmist’s mood abruptly changes because the Lord responded positively to the lament and petition of vv. 1-7 and promised him deliverance.
Psalm 6:9 tn The prefixed verbal form is probably a preterite here; it is parallel to a perfect and refers to the fact that the Lord has responded favorably to the psalmist’s request.
Psalm 6:10 tn In the structure of the Psalm, this verse is either another petition or a statement of confidence. If a petition, the four prefixed verbal forms in this verse should be understood as jussives. By form, many prefixed verbs can be either imperfect or jussive. But the third verb in the series, יָשֻׁבוּ (yashuvu), can be distinguished as an imperfect by its qibbuts theme vowel, and is not a jussive (which would have had a qamets hatuph or holem). Expecting all four verbs to be the same due to parallelism leads to the conclusion that this section is a statement of confidence, in which the imperfect verbs should be treated as future.
Psalm 6:10 sn The psalmist uses the same expression in v. 3 to describe the terror he was experiencing. He is confident that the tables will be turned and his enemies will know what absolute terror feels like.

Job 30:16-31

Job’s Despondency

¹⁶“And now my soul pours itself out within me;^[a]
days of suffering take hold of me.
¹⁷Night pierces^[b] my bones;^[c]
my gnawing pains^[d] never cease.
¹⁸With great power God^[e] grasps my clothing;^[f]
he binds me like the collar^[g] of my tunic.
¹⁹He has flung me into the mud,
and I have come to resemble dust and ashes.
²⁰I cry out to you,^[h] but you do not answer me;
I stand up,^[i] and you only look at me.^[j]
²¹You have become cruel to me;^[k]
with the strength of your hand you attack me.^[l]
²²You pick me up on the wind and make me ride on it;^[m]
you toss me about^[n] in the storm.^[o]
²³I know that you are bringing^[p] me to death,
to the meeting place for all the living.

The Contrast With the Past

²⁴“Surely one does not stretch out his hand
against a broken man^[q]
when he cries for help in his distress.^[r]
²⁵Have I not wept for the unfortunate?^[s]
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
²⁶But when I hoped for good, trouble came;
when I expected light, then darkness came.
²⁷My heart^[t] is in turmoil^[u] unceasingly;^[v]
the days of my affliction confront me.
²⁸I go about blackened,^[w] but not by the sun;
in the assembly I stand up and cry for help.
²⁹I have become a brother to jackals
and a companion of ostriches.^[x]
³⁰My skin has turned dark on me;^[y]
my body^[z] is hot with fever.^[aa]
³¹My harp is used for^[ab] mourning
and my flute for the sound of weeping.

Footnotes

Job 30:16 tn This line can either mean that Job is wasting away (i.e., his life is being poured out), or it can mean that he is grieving. The second half of the verse gives the subordinate clause of condition for this.
Job 30:17 tn The subject of the verb “pierces” can be the night (personified), or it could be God (understood), leaving “night” to be an adverbial accusative of time—“at night he pierces.”
Job 30:17 tc The MT concludes this half-verse with “upon me.” That phrase is not in the LXX, and so many commentators delete it as making the line too long.
Job 30:17 tn Heb “my gnawers,” which is open to several interpretations. The NASB and NIV take it as “gnawing pains”; cf. NRSV “the pain that gnaws me.” Some suggest worms in the sores (7:5). The LXX has “my nerves,” a view accepted by many commentators.
Job 30:18 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Job 30:18 tc This whole verse is difficult. The first problem is that this verb in the MT means “is disguised [or disfigured],” indicating that Job’s clothes hang loose on him. But many take the view that the verb is a phonetic variant of חָבַשׁ (khavash, “to bind; to seize”) and that the Hitpael form is a conflation of the third and second person because of the interchange between them in the passage (R. Gordis, Job, 335). The commentaries list a number of conjectural emendations, but the image in the verse is probably that God seizes Job by the garment and throws him down.
Job 30:18 tn The phrase “like the collar” is difficult, primarily because their tunics did not have collars. A translation of “neck” would suit better. Some change the preposition to ב (bet), getting a translation “by the neck of my tunic.”
Job 30:20 sn The implication from the sentence is that this is a cry to God for help. The sudden change from third person (v. 19) to second person (v. 20) is indicative of the intense emotion of the sufferer.
Job 30:20 sn The verb is simple, but the interpretation difficult. In this verse it probably means he stands up in prayer (Jer 15:1), but it could mean that he makes his case to God. Others suggest a more figurative sense, like the English expression “stand pat,” meaning “remain silent” (see Job 29:8).
Job 30:20 tn If the idea of prayer is meant, then a pejorative sense to the verb is required. Some supply a negative and translate “you do not pay heed to me.” This is supported by one Hebrew ms and the Vulgate. The Syriac has the whole colon read with God as the subject, “you stand and look at me.”
Job 30:21 tn The idiom uses the Niphal verb “you are turned” with “to cruelty.” See Job 41:20b, as well as Isa 63:10.
Job 30:21 tc The LXX reads this verb as “you scourged/whipped me.” But there is no reason to adopt this change.
Job 30:22 sn Here Job changes the metaphor again, to the driving storm. God has sent his storms, and Job is blown away.
Job 30:22 tn The verb means “to melt.” The imagery would suggest softening the ground with the showers (see Ps 65:10 [11]). The translation “toss…about” comes from the Arabic cognate that is used for the surging of the sea.
Job 30:22 tc The Qere is תּוּשִׁיָּה (tushiyyah, “counsel”), which makes no sense here. The Kethib is a variant orthography for תְּשֻׁאָה (t^eshuʾah, “storm”).
Job 30:23 tn The imperfect verb would be a progressive imperfect, it is future, but it is also already underway.
Job 30:24 tc Here is another very difficult verse, as the differences among commentaries and translations attest. The MT has “surely not against a ruinous heap will he [God] put forth his [God’s] hand.” But A. B. Davidson takes Job as the subject, reading “does not one stretch out his hand in his fall?” The RSV suggests a man walking in the ruins and using his hand for support. Dillmann changed it to “drowning man” to say “does not a drowning man stretch out his hand?” Beer has “have I not given a helping hand to the poor?” Dhorme has, “I did not strike the poor man with my hand.” Kissane follows this but retains the verb form, “one does not strike the poor man with his hand.”
Job 30:24 tc The second colon is also difficult; it reads, “if in his destruction to them he cries.” E. Dhorme (Job, 425-26) explains how he thinks “to them” came about, and he restores “to me.” This is the major difficulty in the line, and Dhorme’s suggestion is the simplest resolution.
Job 30:25 tn Heb “for the hard of day.”
Job 30:27 tn Heb “my loins,” “my bowels” (archaic), “my innermost being.” The last option is reflected in the translation; some translations take the inner turmoil to be literal (NIV “The churning inside me never stops”).
Job 30:27 tn Heb “boils.”
Job 30:27 tn The last clause reads “and they [it] are not quiet” or “do not cease.” The clause then serves adverbially for the sentence—“unceasingly.”
Job 30:28 tn The construction uses the word קֹדֵר (qoder) followed by the Piel perfect of הָלַךְ (halakh, “I go about”). The adjective “blackened” refers to Job’s skin that has been marred by the disease. Adjectives are often used before verbs to describe some bodily condition (see GKC 374-75 §118.n).
Job 30:29 sn The point of this figure is that Job’s cries of lament are like the howls and screeches of these animals, not that he lives with them. In Job 39:13 the female ostrich is called “the wailer.”
Job 30:30 tn The MT has “become dark from upon me,” prompting some editions to supply the verb “falls from me” (RSV, NRSV), or “peels” (NIV).
Job 30:30 tn The word “my bones” may be taken as a metonymy of subject, the bony framework indicating the whole body.
Job 30:30 tn The word חֹרֶב (khorev) also means “heat.” The heat in this line is not that of the sun, but obviously a fever.
Job 30:31 tn The verb הָיָה (hayah, “to be”) followed by the preposition ל (lamed) means “to serve the purpose of” (see Gen 1:14ff., 17:7, etc.).

John 4:46-54

Healing the Royal Official’s Son

⁴⁶Now he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had made the water wine.^[a] In^[b] Capernaum^[c] there was a certain royal official^[d] whose son was sick. ⁴⁷When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him^[e] to come down and heal his son, who was about to die. ⁴⁸So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people^[f] see signs and wonders you will never believe!”^[g] ⁴⁹“Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰Jesus told him, “Go home;^[h] your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home.^[i]

⁵¹While he was on his way down,^[j] his slaves^[k] met him and told him that his son was going to live. ⁵²So he asked them the time^[l] when his condition began to improve,^[m] and^[n] they told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon^[o] the fever left him.” ⁵³Then the father realized that it was the very time^[p] Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed along with his entire household. ⁵⁴Jesus did this as his second miraculous sign^[q] when he returned from Judea to Galilee.

Footnotes

John 4:46 sn See John 2:1-11.
John 4:46 tn Grk “And in.”
John 4:46 sn Capernaum was a town located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (207 m) below sea level. It existed since Hasmonean times and was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region. The population in the first century is estimated to be around 1,500. Capernaum became the hub of operations for Jesus’ Galilean ministry (Matt 4:13; Mark 2:1). In modern times the site was discovered in 1838 by the American explorer E. Robinson, and major excavations began in 1905 by German archaeologists H. Kohl and C. Watzinger. Not until 1968, however, were remains from the time of Jesus visible; in that year V. Corbo and S. Loffreda began a series of annual archaeological campaigns that lasted until 1985. This work uncovered what is thought to be the house of Simon Peter as well as ruins of the first century synagogue beneath the later synagogue from the fourth or fifth century A.D. Today gently rolling hills and date palms frame the first century site, a favorite tourist destination of visitors to the Galilee.
John 4:46 tn Although βασιλικός (basilikos) has often been translated “nobleman” it almost certainly refers here to a servant of Herod, tetrarch of Galilee (who in the NT is called a king, Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29). Capernaum was a border town, so doubtless there were many administrative officials in residence there.
John 4:47 tn The direct object of ἠρώτα (ērōta) is supplied from context. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
John 4:48 tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the verb is second person plural (referring to more than the royal official alone).
John 4:48 tn Or “you never believe.” The verb πιστεύσητε (pisteusēte) is aorist subjunctive and may have either nuance.
John 4:50 tn Grk “Go”; the word “home” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
John 4:50 tn Grk “and went.” The words “for home” are implied by the following verse.
John 4:51 sn While he was on his way down. Going to Capernaum from Cana, one must go east across the Galilean hills and then descend to the Sea of Galilee. The 20 mi (33 km) journey could not be made in a single day. The use of the description on his way down shows the author was familiar with Palestinian geography.
John 4:51 tn Traditionally, “servants.” 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.
John 4:52 tn Grk “the hour.”
John 4:52 tn BDAG 558 s.v. κομψότερον translates the idiom κομψότερον ἔχειν (kompsoteron echein) as “begin to improve.”
John 4:52 tn The second οὖν (oun) in 4:52 has been translated as “and” to improve English style by avoiding redundancy.
John 4:52 tn Grk “at the seventh hour.”
John 4:53 tn Grk “at that hour.”
John 4:54 tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. 2:11 where the same construction occurs.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 6[a]

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments, according to the sheminith style;[b] a psalm of David.

Footnotes

Job’s Despondency

The Contrast With the Past

Footnotes

Healing the Royal Official’s Son

Footnotes

Psalm 6^[a]

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments, according to the sheminith style;^[b] a psalm of David.