◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 82 (O God rule the earth); 1 Samuel 6:1-16 (The Philistines atone for sacrilege); Matthew 24:15-27 (The desolating sacrilege) (New English Translation)

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August 17, 2019

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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 82

Psalm 82^[a]

A psalm of Asaph.

82 God stands in^[b] the assembly of El;^[c]
in the midst of the gods^[d] he renders judgment.^[e]
²He says,^[f] “How long will you make unjust legal decisions
and show favoritism to the wicked?^[g] (Selah)
³Defend the cause of the poor and the fatherless.^[h]
Vindicate the oppressed and suffering.
⁴Rescue the poor and needy.
Deliver them from the power^[i] of the wicked.
⁵They^[j] neither know nor understand.
They stumble around^[k] in the dark,
while all the foundations of the earth crumble.^[l]
⁶I thought,^[m] ‘You are gods;
all of you are sons of the Most High.’^[n]
⁷Yet you will die like mortals;^[o]
you will fall like all the other rulers.”^[p]
⁸Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth!
For you own^[q] all the nations.

Footnotes

Psalm 82:1 sn Psalm 82. The psalmist pictures God standing in the “assembly of El” where he accuses the “gods” of failing to promote justice on earth. God pronounces sentence upon them, announcing that they will die like men. Having witnessed the scene, the psalmist then asks God to establish his just rule over the earth.
Psalm 82:1 tn Or “presides over.”
Psalm 82:1 tn The phrase עֲדַת אֵל (ʿadat ʾel, “assembly of El”) appears only here in the OT. (1) Some understand “El” to refer to God himself. In this case he is pictured presiding over his own heavenly assembly. (2) Others take אֵל as a superlative here (“God stands in the great assembly”), as in Pss 36:6 and 80:10. (3) The present translation assumes this is a reference to the Canaanite high god El, who presided over the Canaanite divine assembly. (See Isa 14:13, where El’s assembly is called “the stars of El.”) In the Ugaritic myths the phrase ʿdt ʾilm refers to the “assembly of the gods,” who congregate in King Kirtu’s house, where Baal asks El to bless Kirtu’s house (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 91). If the Canaanite divine assembly is referred to here in Ps 82:1, then the psalm must be understood as a bold polemic against Canaanite religion. Israel’s God invades El’s assembly, denounces its gods as failing to uphold justice, and announces their coming demise. For an interpretation of the psalm along these lines, see W. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” EBC 5:533-36.
Psalm 82:1 sn The present translation assumes that the Hebrew term אֱלֹהִים (ʾelohim, “gods”) here refers to the pagan gods who supposedly comprise El’s assembly according to Canaanite religion. Those who reject the polemical view of the psalm prefer to see the referent as human judges or rulers (אֱלֹהִים sometimes refers to officials appointed by God, see Exod 21:6; 22:8-9; Ps 45:6) or as angelic beings (אֱלֹהִים sometimes refers to angelic beings, see Gen 3:5; Ps 8:5).
Psalm 82:1 sn The picture of God rendering judgment among the gods clearly depicts his sovereign authority as universal king (see v. 8, where the psalmist boldly affirms this truth).
Psalm 82:2 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to indicate that the following speech is God’s judicial decision (see v. 1).
Psalm 82:2 tn Heb “and the face of the wicked lift up.”
Psalm 82:3 tn The Hebrew noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9). Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 10:14; 68:5; 94:6; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).
Psalm 82:4 tn Heb “hand.”
Psalm 82:5 sn Having addressed the defendants, God now speaks to those who are observing the trial, referring to the gods in the third person.
Psalm 82:5 tn Heb “walk.” The Hitpael stem indicates iterative action, picturing these ignorant “judges” as stumbling around in the darkness.
Psalm 82:5 sn These gods, though responsible for justice, neglect their duty. Their self-imposed ignorance (which the psalmist compares to stumbling around in the dark) results in widespread injustice, which threatens the social order of the world (the meaning of the phrase all the foundations of the earth crumble).
Psalm 82:6 tn Heb “said.”
Psalm 82:6 sn Normally in the OT the title Most High belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El (see v. 1, as well as Isa 14:13).
Psalm 82:7 tn Heb “men.” The point in the context is mortality, however, not maleness.sn You will die like mortals. For the concept of a god losing immortality and dying, see Isa 14:12-15, which alludes to a pagan myth in which the petty god “Shining One, son of the Dawn,” is hurled into Sheol for his hubris.
Psalm 82:7 tn Heb “like one of the rulers.” The comparison does not necessarily imply that they are not rulers. The expression “like one of” can sometimes mean “as one of” (Gen 49:16; Obad 11) or “as any other of” (Judg 16:7, 11).
Psalm 82:8 tn The translation assumes that the Qal of נָחַל (nakhal) here means “to own; to possess,” and that the imperfect emphasizes a general truth. Another option is to translate the verb as future, “for you will take possession of all the nations” (cf. NIV “all the nations are your inheritance”).

1 Samuel 6:1-16

The Philistines Return the Ark

6 When the ark of the Lord had been in the land^[a] of the Philistines for seven months,^[b] ²the Philistines called the priests and the omen readers, saying, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Advise us as to how we should send it back to its place.”

³They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of^[c] the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand has not been removed from you.” ⁴They inquired, “What is the guilt offering that we should send to him?”

They replied, “The Philistine leaders number five. So send five gold sores and five gold mice, for it is the same plague that has afflicted both you and your leaders. ⁵You should make images of the sores and images of the mice^[d] that are destroying the land. You should honor the God of Israel. Perhaps he will release his grip on you, your gods, and your land.^[e] ⁶Why harden your hearts like the Egyptians and Pharaoh did?^[f] When God^[g] treated them harshly, didn’t the Egyptians send the Israelites on their way?^[h] ⁷So now go and make a new cart. Get two cows that have calves and that have never had a yoke placed on them. Harness the cows to the cart, and take their calves from them back to their stalls. ⁸Then take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart, and put in a chest beside it the gold objects you are sending to him as a guilt offering. You should then send it on its way. ⁹But keep an eye on it. If it should go up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity on us. But if that is not the case, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us; rather, it just happened to us by accident.”

¹⁰So the men did as instructed.^[i] They took two cows that had calves and harnessed the cows to a cart; they also removed their calves to their stalls. ¹¹They put the ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the chest, the gold mice, and the images of the sores. ¹²Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along that route, bellowing^[j] more and more;^[k] they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³Now the residents of Beth Shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the ark, they were pleased at the sight. ¹⁴The cart was coming to the field of Joshua, who was from Beth Shemesh. It paused there near a big stone. Then they cut up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that was with it, which contained the gold objects. They placed them near the big stone. At that time the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. ¹⁶The five leaders of the Philistines watched what was happening and then returned to Ekron on the same day.

Matthew 24:15-27

The Abomination of Desolation

¹⁵“So when you see the abomination of desolation^[a]—spoken about by Daniel the prophet—standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand),^[b] ¹⁶“then those in Judea must flee^[c] to the mountains. ¹⁷The one on the roof^[d] must not come down^[e] to take anything out of his house, ¹⁸and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. ¹⁹Woe^[f] to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! ²⁰Pray^[g] that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. ²¹For then there will be great suffering^[h] unlike anything that has happened^[i] from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen. ²²And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ²³Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’^[j] or ‘There he is!’ do not believe him. ²⁴For false messiahs^[k] and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵Remember,^[l] I have told you ahead of time. ²⁶So then, if someone^[m] says to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’^[n] do not go out, or ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe him. ²⁷For just like the lightning^[o] comes from the east and flashes to the west, so the coming of the Son of Man will be.

Footnotes

Matthew 24:15 sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c., the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:14, 19, 24; Rev 3:10).
Matthew 24:15 sn This parenthetical comment is generally regarded as a command by the author made directly to the readers, not as part of Jesus’ original speech. For this reason the statement is not placed within quotation marks.
Matthew 24:16 sn Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17; Judg 6:2; Isa 15:5; Jer 16:16; Zech 14:5.
Matthew 24:17 sn On the roof. Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.
Matthew 24:17 sn The swiftness and devastation of the judgment will require a swift escape. There will be no time to come down from the roof and pick up anything from inside one’s home.
Matthew 24:19 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
Matthew 24:20 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
Matthew 24:21 tn Traditionally, “great tribulation.”
Matthew 24:21 sn Suffering unlike anything that has happened. Some refer this event to the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70. While the events of a.d. 70 may reflect somewhat the comments Jesus makes here, the reference to the scope and severity of this judgment strongly suggest that much more is in view. Most likely Jesus is referring to the great end-time judgment on Jerusalem in the great tribulation.
Matthew 24:23 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”sn See the note on Christ in 1:16.
Matthew 24:24 tn Or “false christs”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
Matthew 24:25 tn Or “Pay attention!” Grk “Behold.”
Matthew 24:26 tn Grk “they say.” The third person plural is used here as an indefinite and translated “someone” (ExSyn 402).
Matthew 24:26 tn Or “in the desert.”
Matthew 24:27 sn The Son of Man’s coming in power will be sudden and obvious like lightning. No one will need to point it out.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 82[a]

A psalm of Asaph.

Footnotes

The Philistines Return the Ark

Footnotes

The Abomination of Desolation

Footnotes

Psalm 82^[a]