◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 27:1-6 (God is light and salvation); 1 Samuel 9:27—10:8 (Saul anointed by Samuel as king); Galatians 2:1-10 (Paul’s authority in the growing church) (New English Translation)

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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 27:1-6

Psalm 27^[a]

By David.

27 The Lord is my light^[b] and my salvation.
I fear no one.^[c]
The Lord protects my life.
I am afraid of no one.^[d]
²When evil men attack me^[e]
to devour my flesh,^[f]
when my adversaries and enemies attack me,^[g]
they stumble and fall.^[h]
³Even when an army is deployed against me,
I do not fear.^[i]
Even when war is imminent,^[j]
I remain confident.^[k]
⁴I have asked the Lord for one thing—
this is what I desire!
I want to live^[l] in the Lord’s house^[m] all the days of my life,
so I can gaze at the splendor^[n] of the Lord
and contemplate in his temple.
⁵He will surely^[o] give me shelter^[p] in the day of danger;^[q]
he will hide me in his home.^[r]
He will place me^[s] on an inaccessible rocky summit.^[t]
⁶Now I will triumph
over my enemies who surround me.^[u]
I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy.^[v]
I will sing praises to the Lord.

Footnotes

Psalm 27:1 sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.
Psalm 27:1 sn “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).
Psalm 27:1 tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one.”
Psalm 27:1 tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”
Psalm 27:2 tn Heb “draw near to me.”
Psalm 27:2 sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).
Psalm 27:2 tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.
Psalm 27:2 tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”
Psalm 27:3 tn Heb “my heart does not fear.”
Psalm 27:3 tn Heb “if war rises up against me.”
Psalm 27:3 tn Heb “in this [i.e., “during this situation”] I am trusting.”
Psalm 27:4 tn Heb “for me to live.”
Psalm 27:4 sn The Lord’s house. This probably refers to the tabernacle (if one accepts Davidic authorship) or the temple (see Judg 19:18; 1 Sam 1:7, 24; 2 Sam 12:20; 1 Kgs 7:12, 40, 45, 51).
Psalm 27:4 tn Or “beauty.”
Psalm 27:5 tn Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.
Psalm 27:5 tn Heb “he will hide me in his hut.”
Psalm 27:5 tn Or “trouble.”
Psalm 27:5 tn Heb “tent.”
Psalm 27:5 tn The three imperfect verb forms in v. 5 anticipate a positive response to the prayer offered in vv. 7-12.
Psalm 27:5 tn Heb “on a rocky summit he lifts me up.” The Lord places the psalmist in an inaccessible place where his enemies cannot reach him. See Ps 18:2.
Psalm 27:6 tn Heb “and now my head will be lifted up over my enemies all around me.”sn In vv. 1-3 the psalmist generalizes, but here we discover that he is facing a crisis and is under attack from enemies (see vv. 11-12).
Psalm 27:6 tn Heb “I will sacrifice in his tent sacrifices of a shout for joy” (that is, “sacrifices accompanied by a joyful shout”).

1 Samuel 9:27-10:8

²⁷While they were going down to the edge of town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” So he did.^[a] Samuel then said,^[b] “You remain here awhile, so I can inform you of God’s message.”

Samuel Anoints Saul

10 Then Samuel took a small container of olive oil and poured it on Saul’s^[c] head. Samuel^[d] kissed him and said, “The Lord has chosen you^[e] to lead his people Israel! You will rule over the Lord’s people and you will deliver them from the power of the enemies who surround them. This will be your sign that the Lord has chosen^[f] you as leader over his inheritance.^[g] ²When you leave me today, you will find two men near Rachel’s tomb at Zelzah on Benjamin’s border. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you have gone looking for have been found. Your father is no longer concerned about the donkeys but has become anxious about you two!^[h] He is asking, “What should I do about my son?”’

³“As you continue on from there, you will come to the tall tree of Tabor. At that point three men who are going up to God at Bethel will meet you. One of them will be carrying three young goats, one of them will be carrying three round loaves of bread, and one of them will be carrying a container of wine. ⁴They will ask you how you’re doing and will give you two loaves of bread. You will accept them. ⁵Afterward you will go to Gibeah of God, where there are Philistine officials.^[i] When you enter the town, you will meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place. They will have harps, tambourines, flutes, and lyres, and they will be prophesying. ⁶Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you and you will prophesy with them. You will be changed into a different person.

⁷“When these signs have taken place, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God will be with you.^[j] ⁸You will go down to Gilgal before me. I am going to join you there to offer burnt offerings and to make peace offerings. You should wait for seven days until I arrive and tell you what to do.”

Galatians 2:1-10

Confirmation from the Jerusalem Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas, taking Titus along too. ²I went there^[a] because of^[b] a revelation and presented^[c] to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so^[d] only in a private meeting with the influential people,^[e] to make sure that I was not running—or had not run^[f]—in vain. ³Yet^[g] not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, although he was a Greek. ⁴Now this matter arose^[h] because of the false brothers with false pretenses^[i] who slipped in unnoticed to spy on^[j] our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves.^[k] ⁵But^[l] we did not surrender to them^[m] even for a moment,^[n] in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.^[o]

⁶But from those who were influential^[p] (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people^[q])—those influential leaders^[r] added^[s] nothing to my message.^[t] ⁷On the contrary, when they saw^[u] that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised^[v] just as Peter was entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised^[w] ⁸(for he who empowered^[x] Peter for his apostleship^[y] to the circumcised^[z] also empowered me for my apostleship to the Gentiles)^[aa] ⁹and when James, Cephas,^[ab] and John, who had a reputation as^[ac] pillars,^[ad] recognized^[ae] the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me^[af] the right hand of fellowship, agreeing^[ag] that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.^[ah] ¹⁰They requested^[ai] only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.

Footnotes

Galatians 2:2 tn Grk “I went up”; one always spoke idiomatically of going “up” to Jerusalem.
Galatians 2:2 tn Or “in accordance with.” According to BDAG 512 s.v. κατά B.5.a.δ, “Oft. the norm is at the same time the reason, so that in accordance with and because of are merged…Instead of ‘in accordance w.’ κ. can mean simply because of, as a result of, on the basis of…κ. ἀποκάλυψιν Gal 2:2.”
Galatians 2:2 tn Or “set before them.”
Galatians 2:2 tn Grk “Gentiles, but only privately…to make sure.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with “But” and the words “I did so,” an implied repetition from the previous clause, were supplied to make a complete English sentence.
Galatians 2:2 tn L&N 87.42 has “important persons, influential persons, prominent persons” for οἱ δοκοῦντες and translates this phrase in Gal 2:2 as “in a private meeting with the prominent persons.” The “prominent people” referred to here are the leaders of the Jerusalem church.
Galatians 2:2 tn Here the first verb (τρέχω, trechō, “was not running”) is present subjunctive, while the second (ἔδραμον, edramon, “had not run”) is aorist indicative.
Galatians 2:3 tn Grk “But,” translated here as “Yet” for stylistic reasons (note the use of “but” in v. 2).
Galatians 2:4 tn No subject and verb are expressed in vv. 4-5, but the phrase “Now this matter arose,” implied from v. 3, was supplied to make a complete English sentence.
Galatians 2:4 tn The adjective παρεισάκτους (pareisaktous), which relates to someone joining a group with false motives or false pretenses, applies to the “false brothers.” Although the expression “false brothers with false pretenses” is somewhat redundant, it captures the emphatic force of Paul’s expression, which labels both these “brothers” as false (ψευδαδέλφους, pseudadelphous) as well as their motives. See L&N 34.29 for more information.
Galatians 2:4 tn The verb translated here as “spy on” (κατασκοπέω, kataskopeō) can have a neutral nuance, but here the connotation is certainly negative (so F. F. Bruce, Galatians [NIGTC], 112-13, and E. Burton, Galatians [ICC], 83).
Galatians 2:4 tn Grk “in order that they might enslave us.” The ἵνα (hina) clause with the subjunctive verb καταδουλώσουσιν (katadoulōsousin) has been translated as an English infinitival clause.
Galatians 2:5 tn Grk “slaves, nor did we…” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, οὐδέ (oude) was translated as “But…even” and a new sentence started in the translation at the beginning of v. 5.
Galatians 2:5 tn Or “we did not cave in to their demands.”
Galatians 2:5 tn Grk “even for an hour” (an idiom for a very short period of time).
Galatians 2:5 sn In order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. Paul evidently viewed the demands of the so-called “false brothers” as a departure from the truth contained in the gospel he preached. This was a very serious charge (see Gal 1:8).
Galatians 2:6 tn Or “influential leaders.” BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.a.β has “the influential men Gal 2:2, 6b. A fuller expr. w. the same mng., w. inf. added…vss. 6a, 9.” This refers to the leadership of the Jerusalem church.
Galatians 2:6 tn Grk “God does not receive the face of man,” an idiom for showing favoritism or partiality (BDAG 887-88 s.v. πρόσωπον 1.b.α; L&N 88.238).
Galatians 2:6 tn Or “influential people”; here “leaders” was used rather than “people” for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy with the word “people” in the previous parenthetical remark. See also the note on the word “influential” at the beginning of this verse.
Galatians 2:6 tn Or “contributed.” This is the same word translated “go to ask advice from” in 1:16, but it has a different meaning here; see L&N 59.72.
Galatians 2:6 tn Or “added nothing to my authority.” Grk “added nothing to me,” with what was added (“message,” etc.) implied.
Galatians 2:7 tn The participle ἰδόντες (idontes) has been taken temporally to retain the structure of the passage. Many modern translations, because of the length of the sentence here, translate this participle as a finite verb and break the Greek sentences into several English sentences (NIV, for example, begins new sentences at the beginning of both vv. 8 and 9).
Galatians 2:7 tn Grk “to the uncircumcision,” that is, to the Gentiles.
Galatians 2:7 tn Grk “to the circumcision,” a collective reference to the Jewish people.
Galatians 2:8 tn Or “worked through”; the same word is also used in relation to Paul later in this verse.
Galatians 2:8 tn Or “his ministry as an apostle.”
Galatians 2:8 tn Grk “to the circumcision,” i.e., the Jewish people.
Galatians 2:8 tn Grk “also empowered me to the Gentiles.”
Galatians 2:9 sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211). Both the Aramaic name “Cephas” and the Greek name “Peter” are related to words in each language which mean “rock.”
Galatians 2:9 tn Or “who were influential as,” or “who were reputed to be.” See also the note on the word “influential” in 2:6.
Galatians 2:9 sn Pillars is figurative here for those like James, Peter, and John who were leaders in the Jerusalem church.
Galatians 2:9 tn The participle γνόντες (gnontes) has been taken temporally. It is structurally parallel to the participle translated “when they saw” in v. 7.
Galatians 2:9 tn Grk “me and Barnabas.”
Galatians 2:9 tn Grk “so,” with the ἵνα (hina) indicating the result of the “pillars” extending the “right hand of fellowship,” but the translation “they gave…the right hand of fellowship so that we would go” could be misunderstood as purpose here. The implication of the scene is that an agreement, outlined at the end of v. 10, was reached between Paul and Barnabas on the one hand and the “pillars” of the Jerusalem church on the other.
Galatians 2:9 tn Grk “to the circumcision,” a collective reference to the Jewish people.
Galatians 2:10 tn Grk “only that we remember the poor”; the words “They requested” have been supplied from the context to make a complete English sentence.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 27[a]

By David.

Footnotes

Samuel Anoints Saul

Footnotes

Confirmation from the Jerusalem Apostles

Footnotes

Psalm 27^[a]