◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 128 (God promises life); Numbers 21:4-9 (Moses lifts up the serpent); Hebrews 3:1-6 (Moses the servant Christ the son) (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 128

Psalm 128^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]

128 How blessed is every one of the Lord’s loyal followers,^[c]
each one who keeps his commands.^[d]
²You^[e] will eat what you worked so hard to grow.^[f]
You will be blessed and secure.^[g]
³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine^[h]
in the inner rooms of your house;
your children^[i] will be like olive branches,
as they sit all around your table.
⁴Yes indeed, the man who fears the Lord
will be blessed in this way.^[j]
⁵May the Lord bless you^[k] from Zion,
that you might see^[l] Jerusalem prosper
all the days of your life,
⁶and that you might see^[m] your grandchildren.^[n]
May Israel experience peace.^[o]

Footnotes

Psalm 128:1 sn Psalm 128. The psalmist observes that the godly individual has genuine happiness because the Lord rewards such a person with prosperity and numerous children.
Psalm 128:1 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 128:1 tn Heb “every fearer of the Lord.”
Psalm 128:1 tn Heb “the one who walks in his ways.”
Psalm 128:2 tn The psalmist addresses the representative God-fearing man, as indicated by the references to “your wife” (v. 3) and “the man” (v. 4), as well as the second masculine singular pronominal and verbal forms in vv. 2-6.
Psalm 128:2 tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”
Psalm 128:2 tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”
Psalm 128:3 sn The metaphor of the fruitful vine pictures the wife as fertile; she will give her husband numerous children (see the next line).
Psalm 128:3 tn One could translate “sons” (see Ps 127:3 and the note on the word “sons” there), but here the term seems to refer more generally to children of both genders.
Psalm 128:4 tn Heb “look, indeed thus will the man, the fearer of the Lord, be blessed.”
Psalm 128:5 tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer (note the imperatives that are subordinated to this clause in vv. 5b-6a). Having described the blessings that typically come to the godly, the psalmist concludes by praying that this ideal may become reality for the representative godly man being addressed.
Psalm 128:5 tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding jussive.
Psalm 128:6 tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the jussive in v. 5a.
Psalm 128:6 tn Heb “sons to your sons.”
Psalm 128:6 tn Heb “peace [be] upon Israel.” The statement is understood as a prayer (see Ps 125:5).

Numbers 21:4-9

Fiery Serpents

⁴Then they traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea,^[a] to go around the land of Edom, but the people^[b] became impatient along the way. ⁵And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we^[c] detest this worthless^[d] food.”

⁶So the Lord sent venomous^[e] snakes^[f] among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died. ⁷Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that he would take away^[g] the snakes from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks^[h] at it, he will live.” ⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that if a snake had bitten someone, when he looked at the bronze snake he lived.^[i]

Footnotes

Numbers 21:4 tn The “Red Sea” is the general designation for the bodies of water on either side of the Sinai peninsula, even though they are technically gulfs from the Red Sea.
Numbers 21:4 tn Heb “the soul of the people,” expressing the innermost being of the people as they became frustrated.
Numbers 21:5 tn Heb “our souls.”
Numbers 21:5 tn The Israelites’ opinion about the manna was clear enough—“worthless.” The word used is קְלֹקֵל (q^eloqel, “good for nothing, worthless, miserable”).
Numbers 21:6 tn Heb “flaming serpents”; KJV, NASB “fiery serpents”; NAB “saraph serpents.” This figure of speech (metonymy) probably describes the venomous and painful results of snakebite. The feeling from such an experience would be like a burning fire (שָׂרָף, saraf).
Numbers 21:6 tn The designation of the serpents/ snakes is נְחָשִׁים (n^ekhashim), which is similar to the word for “bronze” (נְחֹשֶׁת, n^ekhoshet). This has led some scholars to describe the serpents as bronze in color. The description of them as fiery indicates they were poisonous. Perhaps the snake in question is a species of adder.
Numbers 21:7 tn The verb is the Hiphil jussive with a vav (ו) consecutive from the verb סוּר (sur); after the imperative this form may be subordinated to become a purpose clause.
Numbers 21:8 tn The word order is slightly different in Hebrew: “and it shall be anyone who is bitten when he looks at it he shall live.”
Numbers 21:9 sn The image of the snake was to be a symbol of the curse that the Israelites were experiencing; by lifting the snake up on a pole Moses was indicating that the curse would be drawn away from the people—if they looked to it, which was a sign of faith. This symbol was later stored in the temple, until it became an object of worship and had to be removed (2 Kgs 18:4). Jesus, of course, alluded to it and used it as an illustration of his own mission. He would become the curse, and be lifted up, so that people who looked by faith to him would live (John 3:14). For further material, see D. J. Wiseman, “Flying Serpents,” TynBul 23 (1972): 108-10; and K. R. Joines, “The Bronze Serpent in the Israelite Cult,” JBL 87 (1968): 245-56.

Hebrews 3:1-6

Jesus and Moses

3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters,^[a] partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess,^[b] ²who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God’s^[c] house.^[d] ³For he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! ⁴For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. ⁵Now Moses was faithful in all God’s^[e] house^[f] as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken. ⁶But Christ^[g] is faithful as a son over God’s^[h] house. We are of his house,^[i] if in fact we hold firmly^[j] to our confidence and the hope we take pride in.^[k]

Footnotes

Hebrews 3:1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 2:11.
Hebrews 3:1 tn Grk “of our confession.”
Hebrews 3:2 tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
Hebrews 3:2 tc ‡ The reading adopted by the translation follows a few early mss and some versions (P^13,46vid B vg^ms co Ambr). The majority of mss (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 M lat sy) insert “all” (“in all his house”), apparently in anticipation of Heb 3:5 which quotes directly from Num 12:7. On balance, the omission better explains the rise of ὅλῳ (holō, “all”) than vice versa. NA²⁸ puts ὅλῳ in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.
Hebrews 3:5 tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
Hebrews 3:5 sn A quotation from Num 12:7.
Hebrews 3:6 sn The Greek makes the contrast between v. 5 and v. 6a more emphatic and explicit than is easily done in English.
Hebrews 3:6 tn Grk “his”; in the translation the referent (God) has been specified for clarity.
Hebrews 3:6 tn Grk “whose house we are,” continuing the previous sentence.
Hebrews 3:6 tc The reading adopted by the translation is found in P^13,46 B sa, while the vast majority of mss (א A C D Ψ 0243 0278 33 1739 1881 M latt) add μέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν (mechri telous bebaian, “secure until the end”). The external evidence for the omission, though minimal, has excellent credentials. Considering the internal factors, B. M. Metzger (TCGNT 595) finds it surprising that the feminine adjective βεβαίαν should modify the neuter noun καύχημα (kauchēma, here translated “we take pride”), a fact that suggests that even the form of the word was borrowed from another place. Since the same phrase occurs at Heb 3:14, it is likely that later scribes added it here at Heb 3:6 in anticipation of Heb 3:14. While these words belong at 3:14, they seem foreign to 3:6.
Hebrews 3:6 tn Grk “the pride of our hope.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 128[a]

A song of ascents.[b]

Footnotes

Fiery Serpents

Footnotes

Jesus and Moses

Footnotes

Psalm 128^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]