◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 126 (Sowing with tears reaping with joy); Jeremiah 29:24-32 (A false prophet exposed by Jeremiah); Mark 8:22-26 (Jesus heals a blind man) (New English Translation)

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October 27, 2018

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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 126

Psalm 126^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]

126 When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion,^[c]
we thought we were dreaming.^[d]
²At that time we laughed loudly
and shouted for joy.^[e]
At that time the nations said,^[f]
“The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”
³The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us.
We were happy.
⁴O Lord, restore our well-being,
just as the streams in the arid south are replenished.^[g]
⁵Those who shed tears as they plant
will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.^[h]
⁶The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag^[i] of seed,
will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain.^[j]

Footnotes

Psalm 126:1 sn Psalm 126. Recalling the joy of past deliverance, God’s covenant community asks for a fresh display of God’s power and confidently anticipate their sorrow being transformed into joy.
Psalm 126:1 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
Psalm 126:1 tn Heb “turns with a turning [toward] Zion.” The Hebrew noun שִׁיבַת (shivat) occurs only here in the OT. For this reason many prefer to emend the form to the more common שְׁבִית (sh^evit) or שְׁבוּת (sh^evut), both of which are used as a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv; see Ps 14:7). However an Aramaic cognate of שְׁבִית appears in an eighth century b.c. Old Aramaic inscription with the verb שׁוּב. This cognate noun appears to mean “return” (see J. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Treaties of Sefire [BibOr], 119-20) or “restoration” (see DNWSI 2:1125). Therefore it appears that שְׁבִית should be retained and understood as a cognate accusative of שׁוּב. In addition to Fitzmyer (119-20) see L. C. Allen, who offers the literal translation, “turn with a turning toward” (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 170). Allen takes שְׁבִית as construct and understands “Zion” as an objective genitive.
Psalm 126:1 tn Heb “we were like dreamers.” This could mean the speakers were so overcome with ecstatic joy (see v. 3b) that they were like those who fantasize about pleasurable experiences in their sleep (see Isa 29:7-8). Since dreams are more commonly associated in the OT with prophetic visions, the community may be comparing their experience of God’s renewed favor to a prophet’s receiving divine visions. Just as a prophetic dream sweeps the individual into a different dimension and sometimes brings one face-to-face with God himself (see Gen 28:11-15; 1 Kgs 3:5-15), so the community was aware of God’s presence in a special way in the day of Zion’s restoration. Though the MT as it stands makes good sense, some choose to understand a homonymic root here meaning “to be healthy; to be strong” (see BDB 321 s.v. I חָלַם) and translate, “we were like those restored to health.” This reading appears to have the support of several ancient translations as well as 11QPs^a. See L. C. Allen (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 170-71) for a discussion of the viewpoints.
Psalm 126:2 tn Heb “then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with a shout.”
Psalm 126:2 tn Heb “they said among the nations.”
Psalm 126:4 tn Heb “like the streams in the Negev.”sn The streams in the arid south. Y. Aharoni writes of the streams in the Negev: “These usually dry wadis collect water on rainy days from vast areas. The situation is also aggravated by floods from the desert mountains and southern Judah. For a day or two or, more frequently, for only a few hours they turn into dangerous torrents” (Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 26). God’s people were experiencing a “dry season” after a time of past blessing; they pray here for a “flash flood” of his renewed blessing. This does not imply that they are requesting only a brief display of God’s blessing. Rather the point of comparison is the suddenness with which the wadis swell during a rain, as well as the depth and power of these raging waters. The community desires a sudden display of divine favor in which God overwhelms them with blessings.
Psalm 126:5 sn O. Borowski says regarding this passage: “The dependence on rain for watering plants, the uncertainty of the quantity and timing of the rains, and the possibility of crop failure due to pests and diseases appear to have kept the farmer in a gloomy mood during sowing” (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 54). Perhaps the people were experiencing a literal drought, the effects of which cause them to lament their plight as they plant their seed in hopes that the rain would come. However, most take the language as metaphorical. Like a farmer sowing his seed, the covenant community was enduring hardship as they waited for a new outpouring of divine blessing. Yet they are confident that a time of restoration will come and relieve their anxiety, just as the harvest brings relief and joy to the farmer.
Psalm 126:6 tn The noun occurs only here and in Job 28:18 in the OT. See HALOT 646 s.v. I מֶשֶׁךְ which gives “leather pouch” as the meaning.
Psalm 126:6 tn The Hebrew noun אֲלֻמָּה (ʾalummah, “sheaf”) occurs only here and in Gen 37:7 in the OT.sn Verse 6 expands the image of v. 5. See the note on the word “harvest” there.

Jeremiah 29:24-32

A Response to the Letter and a Subsequent Letter

²⁴The Lord told Jeremiah, “Tell^[a] Shemaiah the Nehelamite^[b] ²⁵that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,^[c] has a message for him.^[d] Tell him,^[e] ‘On your own initiative^[f] you sent a letter^[g] to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah^[h] and to all the other priests and to all the people in Jerusalem. In your letter you said to Zephaniah,^[i] ²⁶“The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada.^[j] He has put you in charge in the Lord’s temple of controlling^[k] any lunatic^[l] who pretends to be a prophet.^[m] And it is your duty to put any such person in the stocks^[n] with an iron collar around his neck.^[o] ²⁷You should have reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth who is pretending to be a prophet among you!^[p] ²⁸For he has even sent a message to us here in Babylon. He wrote and told us,^[q] ‘You will be there a long time. Build houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat what they produce.’”’”^[r]

²⁹Zephaniah the priest read that letter to the prophet Jeremiah.^[s] ³⁰Then the Lord’s message came to Jeremiah: ³¹“Send a message to all the exiles in Babylon. Tell them, ‘The Lord has spoken about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: “Shemaiah has spoken to you as a prophet even though I did not send him. He is making you trust in a lie.^[t] ³²Because he has done this,”^[u] the Lord says, “I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his whole family. There will not be any of them left to experience the good things that I will do for my people. I, the Lord, affirm it! For he counseled rebellion against the Lord.”’”^[v]

Footnotes

Jeremiah 29:24 tn The words “The Lord told Jeremiah” are not in the text. They are supplied in the translation here to indicate the shift in topic and the shift in addressee (the imperative “tell” is second singular). The introduction supplied in the translation here matches that in v. 30, where the words are in the text.
Jeremiah 29:24 tn It is unclear whether this is a family name or a place name. The word occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
Jeremiah 29:25 tn Heb “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel.”sn See study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for the explanation of this title.
Jeremiah 29:25 tn Heb “Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, ‘Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel….” The indirect quotation is used in the translation to avoid the complexity of embedding a quotation within a quotation.
Jeremiah 29:25 sn Jer 29:24-32 are concerned with Jeremiah’s interaction with a false prophet named Shemaiah. The narrative in this section is not in strict chronological order and is somewhat elliptical. It begins with a report of a message that Jeremiah appears to have delivered directly to Shemaiah and refers to a letter that Shemaiah sent to the priest Zephaniah, encouraging him to reprimand Jeremiah for what Shemaiah considered treasonous words in his letter to the exiles (vv. 24-28; compare v. 28 with v. 5). However, Jeremiah is in Jerusalem, and Shemaiah is in Babylon. The address must then be part of a second letter Jeremiah sent to Babylon. Following this the narrative refers to Zephaniah reading Shemaiah’s letter to Jeremiah and Jeremiah sending a further letter to the captives in Babylon (vv. 29-32). This is probably not a third letter but part of the same letter in which Jeremiah reprimands Shemaiah for sending his letter to Zephaniah (vv. 25-28; the same letter referred to in v. 29). So here is the order of events. Jeremiah sent a letter to the captives counseling them to settle down in Babylon (vv. 1-23). Shemaiah sent a letter to Zephaniah asking him to reprimand Jeremiah (vv. 26-28). After Zephaniah read that letter to Jeremiah (v. 29), Jeremiah wrote a further letter to Babylon reprimanding Shemaiah (vv. 25-28, 31) and pronouncing judgment on him (v. 32). The elliptical nature of the narrative is reflected in the fact that vv. 25-27 are part of a long causal sentence that sets forth an accusation but has no corresponding main clause or announcement of judgment. This kind of construction involves a rhetorical figure (called aposiopesis) where what is begun is not finished for various rhetorical reasons. Here the sentence that is broken off is part of an announcement of judgment that is not picked up until v. 32 after a further (though related) accusation (v. 31b).
Jeremiah 29:25 tn Heb “In your [own] name.” See the study note on 23:27 for the significance of this idiom.
Jeremiah 29:25 tn Heb “letters.” Though GKC 397 §124.b, n. 1 denies it, this is probably a case of the plural of extension. For a similar usage see Isa 37:14, where the plural “letters” is referred to later as an “it.” Even if there were other “letters,” the focus is on the letter to Zephaniah.
Jeremiah 29:25 sn According to Jer 52:24 and 2 Kgs 25:18, Zephaniah son of Maaseiah was second in command to the high priest. He was the high ranking priest who was sent, along with a civic official, by Zedekiah to inquire of the Lord’s will from Jeremiah on two separate occasions (Jer 21:1; 37:3).
Jeremiah 29:25 tn The words “In your letter you said to Zephaniah” are not in the text: Heb “you sent a letter to…, saying.” The sentence has been broken up to conform better to contemporary English style, and these words have been supplied in the translation to make the transition to the address to Zephaniah in vv. 26-28.
Jeremiah 29:26 tn Heb “in place of Jehoiada the priest.” The word “the priest” is unnecessary to the English sentence.
Jeremiah 29:26 tc Heb “The Lord has appointed you priest in place of the priest Jehoiada to be overseer in the house of the Lord for/over.” The translation is based on a reading presupposed by several of the versions. The Hebrew text reads, “The Lord has…to be overseers [in] the house of the Lord for/over.” The reading here follows that of the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions in reading פָּקִיד בְּבֵית (paqid b^evet) in place of פְּקִדִים בֵּית (p^eqidim bet). There has been a confusion of the ם (mem) and בּ (bet) and a transposition of the י (yod) and ד (dalet).
Jeremiah 29:26 sn The Hebrew term translated lunatic applies to anyone who exhibits irrational behavior. It was used for example of David, who drooled and scratched on the city gate to convince Achish not to arrest him as a politically dangerous threat (1 Sam 21:14). It was often used contemptuously of the prophets by those who wanted to play down the significance of their words (2 Kgs 9:11; Hos 9:7, and here).
Jeremiah 29:26 tn The verb here is a good example of what IBHS 431 §26.2f calls the estimative-declarative reflexive, where a person presents himself in a certain light. For examples of this usage see 2 Sam 13:5 and Prov 13:7.
Jeremiah 29:26 tn See the translator’s note on 20:2 for this word, which only occurs here and in 20:2-3.
Jeremiah 29:26 tn This word only occurs here in the Hebrew Bible. All the lexicons are agreed that it refers to a collar placed around the neck. The cognate languages are the basis for this definition (see, e.g., HALOT 958-59 s.v. צִינֹק for the most complete discussion).
Jeremiah 29:27 tn Heb “So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah…?” The rhetorical question functions as an emphatic assertion made explicit in the translation.
Jeremiah 29:28 tn Heb “For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying….” The quote, however, is part of the earlier letter.
Jeremiah 29:28 sn See v. 5.
Jeremiah 29:29 tn Heb “in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.”
Jeremiah 29:31 tn Or “is giving you false assurances.”
Jeremiah 29:32 tn Heb “Therefore.”
Jeremiah 29:32 sn Compare the same charge against Hananiah in Jer 28:16 and see the note there. In this case, the false prophecy of Shemaiah is not given, but it likely had the same tenor, since he wants Jeremiah reprimanded for saying that the exile will be long and the people are to settle down in Babylon.

Mark 8:22-26

A Two-stage Healing

²²Then^[a] they came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to Jesus^[b] and asked him to touch him. ²³He took the blind man by the hand and brought him outside of the village. Then^[c] he spit on his eyes, placed his hands on his eyes^[d] and asked, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴Regaining his sight^[e] he said, “I see people, but they look like trees walking.” ²⁵Then Jesus^[f] placed his hands on the man’s^[g] eyes again. And he opened his eyes,^[h] his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. ²⁶Jesus^[i] sent him home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.”^[j]

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 126[a]

A song of ascents.[b]

Footnotes

A Response to the Letter and a Subsequent Letter

Footnotes

A Two-stage Healing

Footnotes

Psalm 126^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]