◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 80:1-7 17-19 (Show the light of your countenance); 2 Samuel 7:1-17 (God will build you a house); Galatians 3:23-29 (Children of God by Christ’s coming) (New English Translation)

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December 19, 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 80:1-7

Psalm 80^[a]

For the music director, according to the shushan-eduth style;^[b] a psalm of Asaph.

80 O Shepherd of Israel, pay attention,
you who lead Joseph like a flock of sheep.
You who sit enthroned above the cherubim,^[c] reveal your splendor.^[d]
²In the sight of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh reveal^[e] your power.
Come and deliver us.^[f]
³O God, restore us.
Smile on us.^[g] Then we will be delivered.^[h]
⁴O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,^[i]
how long will you remain angry at your people while they pray to you?^[j]
⁵You have given them tears as food;^[k]
you have made them drink tears by the measure.^[l]
⁶You have made our neighbors dislike us,^[m]
and our enemies insult us.
⁷O God of Heaven’s Armies,^[n] restore us.
Smile on us.^[o] Then we will be delivered.^[p]

Footnotes

Psalm 80:1 sn Psalm 80. The psalmist laments Israel’s demise and asks the Lord to show favor toward his people, as he did in earlier times.
Psalm 80:1 tn The Hebrew expression shushan-eduth means “lily of the testimony.” It may refer to a particular music style or to a tune title. See the superscription to Ps 60.
Psalm 80:1 sn Cherubim are winged angels. As depicted in the OT, they possess both human and animal (lion, ox, and eagle) characteristics (see Ezek 1:10; 10:14, 21; 41:18). They are pictured as winged creatures (Exod 25:20; 37:9; 1 Kgs 6:24-27; Ezek 10:8, 19) and serve as the very throne of God when the ark of the covenant is in view (Ps 99:1; see Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15). The picture of the Lord seated on the cherubim suggests they might be used by him as a vehicle, a function they carry out in Ezek 1:22-28 (the “living creatures” mentioned here are identified as cherubim in Ezek 10:20). In Ps 18:10 the image of a cherub serves to personify the wind.
Psalm 80:1 tn Heb “shine forth.”sn Reveal your splendor. The psalmist may allude to Deut 33:2, where God “shines forth” from Sinai and comes to superintend Moses’ blessing of the tribes.
Psalm 80:2 tn Heb “stir up”; “arouse.”
Psalm 80:2 tn Heb “come for our deliverance.”
Psalm 80:3 tn The idiom “cause your face to shine” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 89:15; Dan 9:17).
Psalm 80:3 tn Heb “cause your face to shine in order that we may be delivered.” After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.
Psalm 80:4 tn Heb “Lord, God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (ʾelohe) before צְבָאוֹת (ts^evaʾot; “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ʾelohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (ts^evaʾot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. In this context the term “hosts” has been rendered “Heaven’s Armies.”
Psalm 80:4 tn Heb “How long will you remain angry during the prayer of your people.” Some take the preposition ב (bet) in an adversative sense here (“at/against the prayer of your people”), but the temporal sense is preferable. The psalmist expects persistent prayer to pacify God.
Psalm 80:5 tn Heb “you have fed them the food of tears.”
Psalm 80:5 tn Heb “[by] the third part [of a measure].” The Hebrew term שָׁלִישׁ (shalish, “third part [of a measure]”) occurs only here and in Isa 40:12.
Psalm 80:6 tn Heb “you have made us an object of contention to our neighbors.”
Psalm 80:7 tn Heb “O God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי before צְבָאוֹת (ts^evaʾot, “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ʾelohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (ts^evaʾot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. See also v. 4 for a similar construction.
Psalm 80:7 tn The idiom “cause your face to shine” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 89:15; Dan 9:17).
Psalm 80:7 tn Heb “cause your face to shine in order that we may be delivered.” After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.

Psalm 80:17-19

¹⁷May you give support to the one you have chosen,^[a]
to the one whom you raised up for yourself.^[b]
¹⁸Then we will not turn away from you.
Revive us and we will pray to you.^[c]
¹⁹O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,^[d] restore us.
Smile on us.^[e] Then we will be delivered.^[f]

2 Samuel 7:1-17

The Lord Establishes a Covenant with David

7 The king settled into his palace,^[a] for the Lord gave him relief^[b] from all his enemies on all sides.^[c] ²The king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent.” ³Nathan replied to the king, “You should go^[d] and do whatever you have in mind,^[e] for the Lord is with you.” ⁴That night the Lord’s message came to Nathan, ⁵“Go, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord has said: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in? ⁶I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent.^[f] ⁷Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say^[g] to any of their leaders^[h] whom I appointed to care for^[i] my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’

⁸“So now, say this to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd^[j] to make you leader of my people Israel. ⁹I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated^[k] all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth.^[l] ¹⁰I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle^[m] them there; they will live there and not be disturbed^[n] anymore. Violent men^[o] will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning ¹¹and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. Instead, I will give you relief^[p] from all your enemies. The Lord declares^[q] to you that he himself^[r] will build a dynastic house^[s] for you. ¹²When the time comes for you to die,^[t] I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you,^[u] and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent.^[v] ¹⁴I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings. ¹⁵But my loyal love will not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶Your house and your kingdom will stand before me^[w] permanently; your dynasty^[x] will be permanent.’” ¹⁷Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him.^[y]

Footnotes

2 Samuel 7:1 tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).
2 Samuel 7:1 tn Or “rest.”
2 Samuel 7:1 tn The translation understands the disjunctive clause in v. 1b as circumstantial-causal.
2 Samuel 7:3 tc Several medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack this word.
2 Samuel 7:3 tn Heb “all that is in your heart.”
2 Samuel 7:6 tn Heb “in a tent and in a dwelling.” The expression is a hendiadys, using two terms to express one idea.
2 Samuel 7:7 tn Heb “Did I speak a word?” In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question.
2 Samuel 7:7 tn Heb “tribes of Israel” (so KJV, NASB, NCV), but the parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:6 has “judges of Israel.”
2 Samuel 7:7 tn Heb “whom I commanded to shepherd” (so NIV, NRSV).
2 Samuel 7:8 tn Heb “and from after the sheep.”
2 Samuel 7:9 tn Heb “cut off.”
2 Samuel 7:9 tn Heb “and I will make for you a great name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.”
2 Samuel 7:10 tn Heb “plant.”
2 Samuel 7:10 tn Heb “shaken.”
2 Samuel 7:10 tn Heb “the sons of violence.”
2 Samuel 7:11 tn Or “rest.”
2 Samuel 7:11 tn In the Hebrew text the verb is apparently perfect with vav consecutive, which would normally suggest a future sense (“he will declare”; so the LXX, ἀπαγγελεῖ [apangelei]). But the context seems instead to call for a present or past nuance (“he declares” or “he has declared”). The synoptic passage in 1 Chr 17:10 has וָאַגִּד (vaʾaggid, “and I declared”). The construction used in 2 Sam 7:11 highlights this important statement.
2 Samuel 7:11 tn Heb “the Lord.”
2 Samuel 7:11 tn Heb “house,” but used here in a metaphorical sense, referring to a royal dynasty. Here the Lord’s use of the word plays off the literal sense that David had in mind as he contemplated building a temple for the Lord. To reflect this in the English translation the adjective “dynastic” has been supplied.
2 Samuel 7:12 tn Heb, “when your days are full and you lie down with your ancestors.”
2 Samuel 7:12 tn Heb “your seed after you who comes out from your insides.”
2 Samuel 7:13 tn Heb “and I will establish the throne of his kingdom permanently.”
2 Samuel 7:16 tc Heb “before you.” A few medieval Hebrew mss read instead “before me,” which makes better sense contextually. (See also the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta.) The MT reading is probably the result of dittography (note the כ [kaf] at the beginning of the next form), with the extra כ then being interpreted as a pronominal suffix.
2 Samuel 7:16 tn Heb “throne.”
2 Samuel 7:17 tn Heb “according to all these words and according to all this revelation, so Nathan said to David.”

Galatians 3:23-29

Sons of God Are Heirs of Promise

²³Now before faith^[a] came we were held in custody under the law, being kept as prisoners^[b] until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴Thus the law had become our guardian^[c] until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous^[d] by faith. ²⁵But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.^[e] ²⁶For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.^[f] ²⁷For all of you who^[g] were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave^[h] nor free, there is neither male nor female^[i]—for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants,^[j] heirs according to the promise.

Footnotes

Galatians 3:23 tn Or “the faithfulness [of Christ] came.”
Galatians 3:23 tc Instead of the present participle συγκλειόμενοι (sunkleiomenoi; found in P⁴⁶ א A B D* F G P Ψ 33 1739 2464 al), C D¹ 0176 0278 1175 1505 M have the perfect συγκεκλεισμένοι (sunkekleismenoi). The syntactical implication of the perfect is that the cause or the means of being held in custody was confinement (“we were held in custody [by/because of] being confined”). The present participle of course allows for such options, but also allows for contemporaneous time (“while being confined”) and result (“with the result that we were confined”). Externally, the perfect participle has little to commend it, being restricted for the most part to later and Byzantine witnesses.tn Grk “being confined.”
Galatians 3:24 tn Or “disciplinarian,” “custodian,” or “guide.” According to BDAG 748 s.v. παιδαγωγός, “the man, usu. a slave…whose duty it was to conduct a boy or youth…to and from school and to superintend his conduct gener.; he was not a ‘teacher’ (despite the present mng. of the derivative ‘pedagogue’…When the young man became of age, the π. was no longer needed.” L&N 36.5 gives “guardian, leader, guide” here.
Galatians 3:24 tn Or “be justified.”
Galatians 3:25 tn See the note on the word “guardian” in v. 24. The punctuation of vv. 25, 26, and 27 is difficult to represent because of the causal connections between each verse. English style would normally require a comma either at the end of v. 25 or v. 26, but in so doing the translation would then link v. 26 almost exclusively with either v. 25 or v. 27; this would be problematic as scholars debate which two verses are to be linked. Because of this, the translation instead places a period at the end of each verse. This preserves some of the ambiguity inherent in the Greek and does not exclude any particular causal connection.
Galatians 3:26 tn Or “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3:27 tn Grk “For as many of you as.”
Galatians 3:28 tn See the note on the word “slave” in 1:10.
Galatians 3:28 tn Grk “male and female.”
Galatians 3:29 tn Grk “seed.” See the note on the first occurrence of the word “descendant” in 3:16.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 80[a]

For the music director, according to the shushan-eduth style;[b] a psalm of Asaph.

Footnotes

Footnotes

The Lord Establishes a Covenant with David

Footnotes

Sons of God Are Heirs of Promise

Footnotes

Psalm 80^[a]

For the music director, according to the shushan-eduth style;^[b] a psalm of Asaph.