◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 128 (God promises life); Ezekiel 36:22-32 (God will renew the people); John 7:53—8:11 (Jesus does not condemn the sinner) (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).

Ezekiel 36:22-32

²²“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake that I am about to act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation,^[a] which you profaned among the nations where you went. ²³I will magnify^[b] my great name that has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. The nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I magnify myself among you in their sight.

²⁴“‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land. ²⁵I will sprinkle you with pure water,^[c] and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols. ²⁶I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone^[d] from your body and give you a heart of flesh.^[e] ²⁷I will put my Spirit within you;^[f] I will take the initiative, and you will obey my statutes^[g] and carefully observe my regulations.^[h] ²⁸Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.^[i] ²⁹I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it; I will not bring a famine on you. ³⁰I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the fields, so that you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹Then you will remember your evil behavior^[j] and your deeds that were not good; you will loathe yourselves on account of your sins and your abominable deeds. ³²Understand that^[k] it is not for your sake I am about to act, declares the Sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and embarrassed by your behavior, O house of Israel.

John 7:53-8:11

A Woman Caught in Adultery^[a]

⁵³[[ And each one departed to his own house. 8 ¹But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.^[b] ²Early in the morning he came to the temple courts again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach^[c] them. ³The experts in the law^[d] and the Pharisees^[e] brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of them ⁴and said to Jesus,^[f] “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery. ⁵In the law Moses commanded us to stone to death^[g] such women.^[h] What then do you say?” ⁶(Now they were asking this in an attempt to trap him, so that they could bring charges against^[i] him.)^[j] Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.^[k] ⁷When they persisted in asking him, he stood up straight^[l] and replied,^[m] “Whoever among you is guiltless^[n] may be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸Then^[o] he bent over again and wrote on the ground.

⁹Now when they heard this, they began to drift away one at a time, starting with the older ones,^[p] until Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰Jesus stood up straight^[q] and said to her, “Woman,^[r] where are they? Did no one condemn you?” ¹¹She replied, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”]]^[s]

Footnotes

John 7:53 tc This entire section, 7:53-8:11, traditionally known as the pericope adulterae, is not contained in the earliest and best mss and was almost certainly not an original part of the Gospel of John. Among modern commentators and textual critics, it is a foregone conclusion that the section is not original but represents a later addition to the text of the Gospel. B. M. Metzger summarizes: “the evidence for the non-Johannine origin of the pericope of the adulteress is overwhelming” (TCGNT 187). External evidence is as follows. For the omission of 7:53-8:11: P^66,75 א B L N T W Δ Θ Ψ 0141 0211 33 565 1241 1424* 2768 al. In addition codices A and C are defective in this part of John, but it appears that neither contained the pericope because careful measurement shows that there would not have been enough space on the missing pages to include the pericope 7:53-8:11 along with the rest of the text. Among the mss that include 7:53-8:11 are D M lat. In addition E S Λ 1424^mg al include part or all of the passage with asterisks or obeli, 225 places the pericope after John 7:36, ƒ¹ places it after John 21:25, 115 and a few others after John 8:12, ƒ¹³ after Luke 21:38, and the corrector of 1333 includes it after Luke 24:53. (For a more complete discussion of the locations where this “floating” text has ended up, as well as a minority opinion on the authenticity of the passage, see M. A. Robinson, “Preliminary Observations regarding the Pericope Adulterae Based upon Fresh Collations of nearly All Continuous-Text Manuscripts and All Lectionary Manuscripts containing the Passage,” Filologia Neotestamentaria 13 [2000]: 35-59, especially 41-42.) In evaluating this ms evidence, it should be remembered that in the Gospels A is considered to be Byzantine (unlike in the epistles and Revelation, where it is Alexandrian), as are E F G (mss with the same designation are Western in the epistles). This leaves D as the only major Western majuscule witness in the Gospels for the inclusion. Therefore the evidence could be summarized by saying that almost all early mss of the Alexandrian text-form omit the pericope, while most mss of the Western and Byzantine families include it. But it must be remembered that “Western mss” here refers only to D, a single witness (as far as Greek mss are concerned). Thus it can be seen that practically all of the earliest and best mss extant omit the pericope; it is found only in mss of secondary importance. But before one can conclude that the passage was not originally part of the Gospel of John, internal evidence needs to be considered as well. Internal evidence in favor of the inclusion of 8:1-11 (7:53-8:11): (1) 7:53 fits in the context. If the “last great day of the feast” (7:37) refers to the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles, then the statement refers to the pilgrims and worshipers going home after living in “booths” for the week while visiting Jerusalem. (2) There may be an allusion to Isa 9:1-2 behind this text: John 8:12 is the point when Jesus describes himself as the Light of the world. But the section in question mentions that Jesus returned to the temple at “early dawn” (῎Ορθρου, Orthrou, in 8:2). This is the “dawning” of the Light of the world (8:12) mentioned by Isa 9:2. (3) Furthermore, note the relationship to what follows: Just prior to presenting Jesus’ statement that he is the Light of the world, John presents the reader with an example that shows Jesus as the light. Here the woman “came to the light” while her accusers shrank away into the shadows, because their deeds were evil (cf. 3:19-21). Internal evidence against the inclusion of 8:1-11 (7:53-8:11): (1) In reply to the claim that the introduction to the pericope, 7:53, fits the context, it should also be noted that the narrative reads well without the pericope, so that Jesus’ reply in 8:12 is directed against the charge of the Pharisees in 7:52 that no prophet comes from Galilee. (2) The assumption that the author “must” somehow work Isa 9:1-2 into the narrative is simply that—an assumption. The statement by the Pharisees in 7:52 about Jesus’ Galilean origins is allowed to stand without correction by the author, although one might have expected him to mention that Jesus was really born in Bethlehem. And 8:12 does directly mention Jesus’ claim to be the Light of the world. The author may well have presumed familiarity with Isa 9:1-2 on the part of his readers because of its widespread association with Jesus among early Christians. (3) The fact that the pericope deals with the light/darkness motif does not inherently strengthen its claim to authenticity, because the motif is so prominent in the Fourth Gospel that it may well have been the reason why someone felt that the pericope, circulating as an independent tradition, fit so well here. (4) In general the style of the pericope is not Johannine either in vocabulary or grammar (see D. B. Wallace, “Reconsidering ‘The Story of the Woman Taken in Adultery Reconsidered’,” NTS 39 [1993]: 290-96). According to R. E. Brown it is closer stylistically to Lukan material (John [AB], 1:336). Interestingly one significant family of mss (ƒ¹³) places the pericope after Luke 21:38. Conclusion: In the final analysis, the weight of evidence in this case must go with the external evidence. The earliest and best mss do not contain the pericope. It is true with regard to internal evidence that an attractive case can be made for inclusion, but this is by nature subjective (as evidenced by the fact that strong arguments can be given against such as well). In terms of internal factors like vocabulary and style, the pericope does not stand up very well. The question may be asked whether this incident, although not an original part of the Gospel of John, should be regarded as an authentic tradition about Jesus. It could well be that it is ancient and may indeed represent an unusual instance where such a tradition survived outside of the bounds of the canonical literature. However, even that needs to be nuanced (see B. D. Ehrman, “Jesus and the Adulteress,” NTS 34 [1988]: 24-44).sn Double brackets have been placed around this passage to indicate that most likely it was not part of the original text of the Gospel of John. In spite of this, the passage has an important role in the history of the transmission of the text, so it has been included in the translation.
John 8:1 sn The Mount of Olives is a hill running north to south about 1.8 mi (3 km) long, lying east of Jerusalem across the Kidron Valley. It was named for the large number of olive trees that grew on it.
John 8:2 tn An ingressive sense for the imperfect fits well here following the aorist participle.
John 8:3 tn Or “The scribes.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateus) as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.
John 8:3 sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.
John 8:4 tn Grk “to him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
John 8:5 sn An allusion to Lev 20:10 and Deut 22:22-24.
John 8:5 sn The accusers themselves subtly misrepresented the law. The Mosaic law stated that in the case of adultery, both the man and woman must be put to death (Lev 20:10, Deut 22:22), but they mentioned only such women.
John 8:6 tn Grk “so that they could accuse.”
John 8:6 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author of 7:53-8:11.
John 8:6 tn Or possibly “Jesus bent down and wrote an accusation on the ground with his finger.” The Greek verb καταγράφω (katagraphō) may indicate only the action of writing on the ground by Jesus, but in the overall context (Jesus’ response to the accusation against the woman) it can also be interpreted as implying that what Jesus wrote was a counteraccusation against the accusers (although there is no clue as to the actual content of what he wrote, some scribes added “the sins of each one of them” either here or at the end of v. 8 [U 264 700 al]).
John 8:7 tn Or “he straightened up.”
John 8:7 tn Grk “and said to them.”
John 8:7 tn Or “sinless.”
John 8:8 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “Then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.
John 8:9 tn Or “beginning from the eldest.”
John 8:10 tn Or “straightened up.”
John 8:10 sn Woman was a polite form of address (see BDAG 208-9 s.v. γυνή 1), similar to “Madam” or “Ma’am” used in English in different regions.
John 8:11 tc The earliest and best mss do not contain 7:53-8:11 (see note on 7:53).

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 128[a]

A song of ascents.[b]

Footnotes

Footnotes

A Woman Caught in Adultery[a]

Footnotes

Psalm 128^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]

A Woman Caught in Adultery^[a]