◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Leviticus 19:1-2 9-18 (Acts of mercy and justice); Psalm 119:33-40 (Walking in the path of the law); 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 16-23 (Allegiance to Christ not human leaders); Matthew 5:38-48 (The teaching of Christ: love) (New English Translation)

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February 19, 2017

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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

Leviticus 19:1-2

Religious and Social Regulations

19 The Lord spoke to Moses: ²“Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

Leviticus 19:9-18

Leaving the Gleanings

⁹“‘When you gather in the harvest^[a] of your land, you must not completely harvest the corner of your field,^[b] and you must not gather up the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰You must not pick your vineyard bare,^[c] and you must not gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the resident foreigner.^[d] I am the Lord your God.

Dealing Honestly

¹¹“‘You must not steal, you must not tell lies, and you must not deal falsely with your fellow citizen.^[e] ¹²You must not swear falsely^[f] in my name, so that you do not profane^[g] the name of your God. I am the Lord. ¹³You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against your neighbor.^[h] You must not withhold^[i] the wages of the hired laborer overnight until morning. ¹⁴You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person.^[j] You must fear^[k] your God; I am the Lord.

Justice, Love, and Propriety

¹⁵“‘You^[l] must not deal unjustly in judgment:^[m] You must neither show partiality to the poor nor honor the rich.^[n] You must judge your fellow citizen fairly.^[o] ¹⁶You must not go about as a slanderer among your people.^[p] You must not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake.^[q] I am the Lord. ¹⁷You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him.^[r] ¹⁸You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against^[s] any of your people,^[t] but you must love your neighbor as yourself.^[u] I am the Lord.

Footnotes

Leviticus 19:9 tn Heb “And in your harvesting the harvest.”
Leviticus 19:9 tn Heb “you shall not complete the corner of your field to harvest.”
Leviticus 19:10 tn Heb “And you shall not deal severely with your vineyard.”
Leviticus 19:10 sn On the Hebrew ger (גֵּר) “resident foreigner” see notes at Exod 12:19 and Deut 29:11. On the privilege of gleaning see also Lev 23:22; Deut 14:29; 24:19-21.
Leviticus 19:11 tn Heb “you shall not deal falsely a man with his fellow citizen.”
Leviticus 19:12 tn Heb “And you shall not swear to the falsehood.”
Leviticus 19:12 tn Heb “and you shall not profane”; NAB “thus profaning.”
Leviticus 19:13 tn Heb “You shall not oppress your neighbor and you shall not rob.”
Leviticus 19:13 tn Heb “hold back with you”; perhaps “hold back for yourself” (cf. NRSV “keep for yourself”).
Leviticus 19:14 tn Heb “You shall not curse a deaf [person] and before a blind [person] you shall not put a stumbling block.”
Leviticus 19:14 tn Heb “And you shall fear.” Many English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV) regard the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) as adversative in force here (“but”).
Leviticus 19:15 tc Smr has the singular rather than the plural “you” of the MT, which brings this verb form into line with the ones surrounding it.
Leviticus 19:15 tn Heb “You shall not do injustice in judgment” (NASB similar); cf. NIV “do not pervert justice.”
Leviticus 19:15 tn Heb “You shall not lift up faces of poor [people] and you shall not honor faces of great.”
Leviticus 19:15 tn Heb “In righteousness you shall judge your fellow citizen.”
Leviticus 19:16 tn The term רָכִיל (rakhil) is traditionally rendered “slanderer” here (so NASB, NIV, NRSV; see also J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 304, 316), but the exact meaning is uncertain (see the discussion in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129). It is sometimes related to I רָכַל (rakhal, “to go about as a trader [or “merchant”]”; BDB 940 s.v. רָכַל), and taken to refer to cutthroat business dealings, but there may be a II רָכַל, the meaning of which is dubious (HALOT 1237 s.v. II *רכל). Some would render it “to go about as a spy.”
Leviticus 19:16 tn Heb “You shall not stand on the blood of your neighbor.” This part of the verse is also difficult to interpret. The rendering here suggests that one will not allow a neighbor to be victimized, whether in court (cf. v. 15) or in any other situation (see the discussion in B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129).
Leviticus 19:17 tn Heb “and you will not lift up on him sin.” The meaning of the line is somewhat obscure. It means either (1) that one should rebuke one’s neighbor when he sins lest one also becomes guilty, which is the way it is rendered here (see NIV, NRSV, NEB, JB; see also B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 129-30, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 303, and the discussion on pp. 316-17), or (2) one may rebuke one’s neighbor without incurring sin just as long as he does not hate him in his heart (see the first part of the verse; cf. NASB, NAB).
Leviticus 19:18 tn Heb “and you shall not retain [anger?].” This line seems to refer to the retaining or maintaining of some vengeful feelings toward someone. Compare the combination of the same terms for taking vengeance and maintaining wrath against enemies in Nahum 1:2 (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 305).
Leviticus 19:18 tn Heb “the sons of your people.”
Leviticus 19:18 sn Some scholars make a distinction between the verb אָהֵב (ʾahev, “to love”) with the direct object and the more unusual construction with the preposition ל (lamed) as it is here and in Lev 19:34 and 2 Chr 19:2 only. If there is a distinction, the construction here probably calls for direct and helpful action toward one’s neighbor (see the discussion in J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 305, and esp. 317-18). Such love stands in contrast to taking vengeance or bearing a grudge against someone and, in NT terms, amounts to fulfilling the so-called “golden rule” (Matt 7:12).

Psalm 119:33-40

ה (He)

³³Teach me, O Lord, the lifestyle prescribed by your statutes,^[a]
so that I might observe it continually.^[b]
³⁴Give me understanding so that I might observe your law,
and keep it with all my heart.^[c]
³⁵Guide me^[d] in the path of your commands,
for I delight to walk in it.^[e]
³⁶Give me a desire for your rules,^[f]
rather than for wealth gained unjustly.^[g]
³⁷Turn my eyes away from what is worthless.^[h]
Revive me with your word.^[i]
³⁸Confirm to your servant your promise,^[j]
which you made to the one who honors you.^[k]
³⁹Take away the insults that I dread.^[l]
Indeed,^[m] your regulations are good.
⁴⁰Look, I long for your precepts.
Revive me with your deliverance.^[n]

1 Corinthians 3:10-11

¹⁰According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds. ¹¹For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:16-23

¹⁶Do you not know that you are God’s temple^[a] and that God’s Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.

¹⁸Guard against self-deception, each of you.^[b] If someone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he can become wise. ¹⁹For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”^[c] ²⁰And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”^[d] ²¹So then, no more boasting about mere mortals!^[e] For everything belongs to you, ²²whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas^[f] or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you, ²³and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Matthew 5:38-48

Retaliation

³⁸“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’^[a] ³⁹But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer.^[b] But whoever strikes you on the^[c] right cheek, turn the other to him as well. ⁴⁰And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic,^[d] let him have your coat also. ⁴¹And if anyone forces you to go one mile,^[e] go with him two. ⁴²Give to the one who asks you,^[f] and do not reject^[g] the one who wants to borrow from you.

Love for Enemies

⁴³“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’^[h] and ‘hate your enemy.’^[i] ⁴⁴But I say to you, love your enemy and^[j] pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵so that you may be like^[k] your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors^[l] do the same, don’t they? ⁴⁷And if you only greet your brothers, what more do you do? Even the Gentiles do the same, don’t they? ⁴⁸So then, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.^[m]

Footnotes

Matthew 5:38 sn A quotation from Exod 21:24; Lev 24:20.
Matthew 5:39 tn The articular πονηρός (ponēros, “the evildoer”) cannot be translated simply as “evil” for then the command would be “do not resist evil.” Every instance of this construction in Matthew is most likely personified, referring either to an evildoer (13:49) or, more often, “the evil one” (as in 5:37; 6:13; 13:19, 38).
Matthew 5:39 tc ‡ Many mss (B D K L Δ Θ ƒ¹³ 565 579 700 1424 pm; SBL) have σου (sou) here (“your right cheek”), but many others lack the pronoun (א W ƒ¹ 33 892 1241 pm). The pronoun was probably added by way of clarification, as is evident by the fact that it floats in the verse: it is found both before and after “cheek.” NA²⁸ has σου in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.
Matthew 5:40 tn Or “shirt” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). The name for this garment (χιτών, chitōn) presents some difficulty in translation. Most modern readers would not understand what a “tunic” was any more than they would be familiar with a “chiton.” On the other hand, attempts to find a modern equivalent are also a problem: “Shirt” conveys the idea of a much shorter garment that covers only the upper body, and “undergarment” (given the styles of modern underwear) is more misleading still. “Tunic” was therefore employed, but with a note to explain its nature.
Matthew 5:41 sn If anyone forces you to go one mile. In NT times Roman soldiers had the authority to press civilians into service to carry loads for them. The Greek verb is a semi-technical term and its only other NT uses are in Matt 27:32 and Mark 15:21, both of which refer to Simon of Cyrene being forced to carry Jesus’ cross.
Matthew 5:42 sn Jesus advocates a generosity and a desire to meet those in dire need with the command give to the one who asks you. This may allude to begging; giving alms was viewed highly in the ancient world (Matt 6:1-4; Deut 15:7-11).
Matthew 5:42 tn Grk “do not turn away from.”
Matthew 5:43 sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.
Matthew 5:43 sn The phrase hate your enemy does not occur explicitly in the OT, but was commonly inferred from passages like Deut 7:2; 30:7; Ps 26:5; Ps 139:21-22. Jesus’ hearers (and Matthew’s readers) would not have been surprised by the statement. It is the antithesis Jesus gives in the following verses that would have shocked them.
Matthew 5:44 tc Most mss (D L W Δ Θ ƒ¹³ 33 565 579 700 1241 1424 M lat sy^(p),h) read “bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you,” before “those who persecute you.” But this is surely a motivated reading, importing the longer form of this aphorism from Luke 6:27-28. The shorter text is found in א B ƒ¹ sy^s,c sa bo^pt mae, as well as several fathers.
Matthew 5:45 tn Grk “be sons of your Father in heaven.” Here, however, the focus is not on attaining a relationship (becoming a child of God) but rather on being the kind of person who shares the characteristics of God himself (a frequent meaning of the Semitic idiom “son of”). See L&N 58.26.
Matthew 5:46 sn The Roman system of taxation was frequently characterized by “tax farming” where an individual would bid to collect taxes for the Roman government throughout an entire district and then add a surcharge or commission (often exorbitant) which they kept for themselves as their profit. The tax collectors referred to in the NT were generally not the holders of these tax contracts themselves, but hired subordinates who were often local residents. Since these tax collectors worked for Rome (even indirectly), they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked. In addition, the system offered many opportunities for dishonesty and greed, both of which were often associated with local tax collectors.
Matthew 5:48 sn This remark echoes OT statements in Lev 11:44-45 and Lev 19:2: “you must be holy as I am holy.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Religious and Social Regulations

Leaving the Gleanings

Dealing Honestly

Justice, Love, and Propriety

Footnotes

ה (He)

Footnotes

Footnotes

Retaliation

Love for Enemies

Footnotes