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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 134

Psalm 134^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]

134 Attention!^[c] Praise the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord,
who serve^[d] in the Lord’s temple during the night.
²Lift your hands toward the sanctuary
and praise the Lord.
³May the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth,
bless you^[e] from Zion.^[f]

Exodus 24:1-11

The Lord Ratifies the Covenant

24 ^[a] But to Moses the Lord^[b] said, “Come up^[c] to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance.^[d] ²Moses alone may come near^[e] the Lord, but the others^[f] must not come near,^[g] nor may the people go up with him.”

³Moses came^[h] and told the people all the Lord’s words^[i] and all the decisions. All the people answered together,^[j] “We are willing to do^[k] all the words that the Lord has said,” ⁴and Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning he built^[l] an altar at the foot^[m] of the mountain and arranged^[n] twelve standing stones^[o]—according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵He sent young Israelite men,^[p] and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls for peace offerings^[q] to the Lord. ⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he splashed on the altar.^[r] ⁷He took the Book of the Covenant^[s] and read it aloud^[t] to the people, and they said, “We are willing to do and obey^[u] all that the Lord has spoken.” ⁸So Moses took the blood and splashed it on^[v] the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant^[w] that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up,^[x] ¹⁰and they saw^[y] the God of Israel. Under his feet^[z] there was something like a pavement^[aa] made of sapphire, clear like the sky itself.^[ab] ¹¹But he did not lay a hand^[ac] on the leaders of the Israelites, so they saw God,^[ad] and they ate and they drank.^[ae]

Footnotes

Exodus 24:1 sn Exod 24 is the high point of the book in many ways, but most importantly, here Yahweh makes a covenant with the people—the Sinaitic Covenant. The unit not only serves to record the event in Israel’s becoming a nation, but it provides a paradigm of the worship of God’s covenant people—entering into the presence of the glory of Yahweh. See additionally W. A. Maier, “The Analysis of Exodus 24 According to Modern Literary, Form, and Redaction Critical Methodology,” Springfielder 37 (1973): 35-52. The passage may be divided into four parts for exposition: vv. 1-2, the call for worship; vv. 3-8, the consecration of the worshipers; vv. 9-11, the confirmation of the covenant; and vv. 12-18, the communication with Yahweh.
Exodus 24:1 tn Heb “And he;” the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Exodus 24:1 sn They were to come up to the Lord after they had made the preparations that are found in vv. 3-8.
Exodus 24:1 sn These seventy-four people were to go up the mountain to a certain point. Then they were to prostrate themselves and worship Yahweh as Moses went farther up into the presence of Yahweh. Moses occupies the lofty position of mediator (as Christ in the NT), for he alone ascends “to Yahweh” while everyone waits for his return. The emphasis of “bowing down” and that from “far off” stresses again the ominous presence that was on the mountain. This was the holy God—only the designated mediator could draw near to him.
Exodus 24:2 tn The verb is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive; it and the preceding perfect tense follow the imperative, and so have either a force of instruction, or, as taken here, are the equivalent of an imperfect tense (of permission).
Exodus 24:2 tn Heb “they.”
Exodus 24:2 tn Now the imperfect tense negated is used; here the prohibition would fit (“they will not come near”), or the obligatory (“they must not”) in which the subjects are obliged to act—or not act in this case.
Exodus 24:3 sn The general consensus among commentators is that this refers to Moses’ coming from the mountain after he made the ascent in 20:21. Here he came and told them the laws (written in 20:22-23:33), and of the call to come up to Yahweh.
Exodus 24:3 sn The Decalogue may not be included here because the people had heard those commands themselves earlier.
Exodus 24:3 tn The text simply has “one voice” (קוֹל אֶחָד, qol ʾekhad); this is an adverbial accusative of manner, telling how the people answered—“in one voice,” or unanimously (see GKC 375 §118.q).
Exodus 24:3 tn The verb is the imperfect tense (נַעֲשֶׂה, naʿaseh), although the form could be classified as a cohortative. If the latter, they would be saying that they are resolved to do what God said. If it is an imperfect, then the desiderative would make the most sense: “we are willing to do.” They are not presumptuously saying they are going to do all these things.
Exodus 24:4 tn The two preterites quite likely form a verbal hendiadys (the verb “to get up early” is frequently in such constructions). Literally it says, “and he got up early [in the morning] and he built”; this means “early [in the morning] he built.” The first verb becomes the adverb.
Exodus 24:4 tn “under.”
Exodus 24:4 tn The verb “arranged” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied to clarify exactly what Moses did with the twelve stones.
Exodus 24:4 tn The thing numbered is found in the singular when the number is plural—“twelve standing-stone.” See GKC 433 §134.f. The “standing-stone” could be a small piece about a foot high, or a huge column higher than men. They served to commemorate treaties (Gen 32), or visions (Gen 28) or boundaries, or graves. Here it will function with the altar as a place of worship.
Exodus 24:5 tn The construct has “young men of the Israelites,” and so “Israelite” is a genitive that describes them.
Exodus 24:5 tn The verbs and their respective accusatives are cognates. First, they offered up burnt offerings (see Lev 1), which is וַיַּעֲלוּ עֹלֹת (vayyaʿalu ʿolot); then they sacrificed young bulls as peace sacrifices (Lev 3), which is in Hebrew וַיִּזְבְּחוּ זְבָחִים (vayyizb^ekhu z^evakhim). In the first case the cognate accusative is the direct object; in the second it is an adverbial accusative of product. See on this covenant ritual H. M. Kamsler, “The Blood Covenant in the Bible,” Dor le Dor 6 (1977): 94-98; E. W. Nicholson, “The Covenant Ritual in Exodus 24:3-8, ” VT 32 (1982): 74-86.
Exodus 24:6 sn The people and Yahweh through this will be united by blood, for half was spattered on the altar and the other half spattered on/toward the people (v. 8).
Exodus 24:7 tn The noun “book” would be the scroll just written containing the laws of chaps. 20-23. On the basis of this scroll the covenant would be concluded here. The reading of this book would assure the people that it was the same that they had agreed to earlier. But now their statement of willingness to obey would be more binding, because their promise would be confirmed by a covenant of blood.
Exodus 24:7 tn Heb “read it in the ears of.”
Exodus 24:7 tn A second verb is now added to the people’s response, and it is clearly an imperfect and not a cohortative, lending support for the choice of desiderative imperfect in these commitments—“we want to obey.” This was their compliance with the covenant.
Exodus 24:8 tn Given the size of the congregation, the preposition might be rendered here “toward the people” rather than on them (all).
Exodus 24:8 sn The construct relationship “the blood of the covenant” means “the blood by which the covenant is ratified” (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 254). The parallel with the inauguration of the new covenant in the blood of Christ is striking (see, e.g., Matt 26:28, 1 Cor 11:25). When Jesus was inaugurating the new covenant, he was bringing to an end the old.
Exodus 24:9 tn The verse begins with “and Moses went up, and Aaron….” This verse may supply the sequel to vv. 1-2. At any rate, God was now accepting them into his presence.sn This next section is extremely interesting, but difficult to interpret. For some of the literature, see: E. W. Nicholson, “The Interpretation of Exodus 24:9-11, ” VT 24 (1974): 77-97; “The Antiquity of the Tradition in Exodus 24:9-11, ” VT 26 (1976): 148-60; and T. C. Vriezen, “The Exegesis of Exodus 24:9-11, ” OTS 17 (1967): 24-53.
Exodus 24:10 sn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 254) wishes to safeguard the traditional idea that God could not be seen by reading “they saw the place where the God of Israel stood” so as not to say they saw God. But according to U. Cassuto there is not a great deal of difference between “and they saw the God” and “the Lord God appeared” (Exodus, 314). He thinks that the word “God” is used instead of “Yahweh” to say that a divine phenomenon was seen. It is in the LXX that they add “the place where he stood.” In v. 11b the LXX has “and they appeared in the place of God.” See James Barr, “Theophany and Anthropomorphism in the Old Testament,” VTSup 7 (1959): 31-33. There is no detailed description here of what they saw (cf. Isa 6; Ezek 1). What is described amounts to what a person could see when prostrate.
Exodus 24:10 sn S. R. Driver suggests that they saw the divine Glory, not directly, but as they looked up from below, through what appeared to be a transparent blue sapphire pavement (Exodus, 254).
Exodus 24:10 tn Or “tiles.”
Exodus 24:10 tn Heb “and like the body of heaven for clearness.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven” or “sky” depending on the context; here, where sapphire is mentioned (a blue stone) “sky” seems more appropriate, since the transparent blueness of the sapphire would appear like the blueness of the cloudless sky.
Exodus 24:11 tn Heb “he did not stretch out his hand,” i.e., to destroy them.
Exodus 24:11 tn The verb is חָזָה (khazah); it can mean “to see, perceive” or “see a vision” as the prophets did. The LXX safeguarded this by saying, “appeared in the place of God.” B. Jacob says they beheld—prophetically, religiously (Exodus, 746)—but the meaning of that is unclear. The fact that God did not lay a hand on them—to kill them—shows that they saw something that they never expected to see and live. Some Christian interpreters have taken this to refer to a glorious appearance of the preincarnate Christ, the second person of the Trinity. They saw the brilliance of this manifestation—but not the detail. Later, Moses will still ask to see God’s glory—the real presence behind the phenomena.
Exodus 24:11 sn This is the covenant meal, the peace offering, that they are eating there on the mountain. To eat from the sacrifice meant that they were at peace with God, in covenant with him. Likewise, in the new covenant believers draw near to God on the basis of sacrifice, and eat of the sacrifice because they are at peace with him, and in Christ they see the Godhead revealed.

John 21:1-14

Jesus’ Appearance to the Disciples in Galilee

21 After this^[a] Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias.^[b] Now this is how he did so.^[c] ²Simon Peter, Thomas^[d] (called Didymus),^[e] Nathanael^[f] (who was from Cana in Galilee), the sons^[g] of Zebedee,^[h] and two other disciples^[i] of his were together. ³Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they replied.^[j] They went out and got into the boat,^[k] but that night they caught nothing.

⁴When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish,^[l] do you?”^[m] They replied,^[n] “No.” ⁶He told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”^[o] So they threw the net,^[p] and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish.

⁷Then the disciple whom^[q] Jesus loved^[r] said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” So Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, tucked in his outer garment (for he had nothing on underneath it),^[s] and plunged^[t] into the sea. ⁸Meanwhile the other disciples came with the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, only about a hundred yards.^[u]

⁹When they got out on the beach,^[v] they saw a charcoal fire ready^[w] with a fish placed on it, and bread. ¹⁰Jesus said,^[x] “Bring some of the fish you have just now caught.” ¹¹So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was^[y] full of large fish, 153,^[z] but although there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹²“Come, have breakfast,” Jesus said.^[aa] But none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Footnotes

John 21:1 tn The time reference indicated by μετὰ ταῦτα (meta tauta) is indefinite, in comparison with the specific “after eight days” (μεθ᾿ ἡμέρας ὀκτώ, meth’ hēmeras oktō) between the two postresurrection appearances of Jesus in 20:26.
John 21:1 sn The Sea of Tiberias is another name for the Sea of Galilee (see 6:1).
John 21:1 tn Grk “how he revealed himself.”
John 21:2 tn Grk “and Thomas.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
John 21:2 sn Didymus means “the twin” in Greek.
John 21:2 tn Grk “and Nathanael.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
John 21:2 tn Grk “and the sons.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
John 21:2 sn The sons of Zebedee were James and John.
John 21:2 sn The two other disciples who are not named may have been Andrew and Philip, who are mentioned together in John 6:7-8 and 12:22.
John 21:3 tn Grk “they said to him.”
John 21:3 sn See the note at John 6:17 for a description of the first-century fishing boat discovered in 1986 near Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
John 21:5 tn The word προσφάγιον (prosphagion) is unusual. According to BDAG 886 s.v. in Hellenistic Greek it described a side dish to be eaten with bread, and in some contexts was the equivalent of ὄψον (opson), “fish.” Used in addressing a group of returning fishermen, however, it is quite clear that the speaker had fish in mind.
John 21:5 tn Questions prefaced with μή (mē) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “do you?”).
John 21:5 tn Grk “They answered him.”
John 21:6 tn The word “some” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
John 21:6 tn The words “the net” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
John 21:7 tn Grk “the disciple, that one whom.”
John 21:7 sn On the disciple whom Jesus loved see 13:23-26.
John 21:7 tn Grk “for he was naked.” Peter’s behavior here has been puzzling to many interpreters. It is usually understood that the Greek word γυμνός (gumnos, usually translated “naked”) does not refer to complete nudity (as it could), since this would have been offensive to Jewish sensibilities in this historical context. It is thus commonly understood to mean “stripped for work” here (cf. NASB, NLT), that is, with one’s outer clothing removed, and Peter was wearing either a loincloth or a loose-fitting tunic (a long shirt-like garment worn under a cloak, cf. NAB, “for he was lightly clad”). Believing himself inadequately dressed to greet the Lord, Peter threw his outer garment around himself and dived into the sea. C. K. Barrett (St. John, 580-81) offered the explanation that a greeting was a religious act and thus could not be performed unless one was clothed. This still leaves the improbable picture of a person with much experience around the water putting on his outer garment before diving in. R. E. Brown’s suggestion (John [AB], 2:1072) seems much more probable here: The Greek verb used (διαζώννυμι, diazōnnumi) does not necessarily mean putting clothing on, but rather tying the clothing around oneself (the same verb is used in 13:4-5 of Jesus tying the towel around himself). The statement that Peter was “naked” could just as well mean that he was naked underneath the outer garment, and thus could not take it off before jumping into the water. But he did pause to tuck it up and tie it with the girdle before jumping in, to allow himself more freedom of movement. Thus the clause that states Peter was naked is explanatory (note the use of for), explaining why Peter girded up his outer garment rather than taking it off—he had nothing on underneath it and so could not remove it.sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
John 21:7 tn Grk “threw himself.”
John 21:8 tn Or “about a hundred meters”; Grk “about 200 cubits.” According to BDAG 812 s.v., a πῆχυς (pēchus) was about 18 inches or .462 meters, so two hundred πηχῶν (pēchōn) would be about 100 yards (92.4 meters).
John 21:9 tn Grk “land.”
John 21:9 tn Grk “placed,” “laid.”
John 21:10 tn Grk “said to them.”
John 21:11 tn The words “It was” are not in the Greek text. Here a new sentence was begun in the translation in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences. For this reason the words “It was” had to be supplied.
John 21:11 sn Here the author makes two further points about the catch of fish: (1) there were 153 large fish in the net, and (2) even with so many, the net was not torn. Many symbolic interpretations have been proposed for both points (unity, especially, in the case of the second), but the reader is given no explicit clarification in the text itself. It seems better not to speculate here, but to see these details as indicative of an eyewitness account. Both are the sort of thing that would remain in the mind of a person who had witnessed them firsthand. For a summary of the symbolic interpretations proposed for the number of fish in the net, see R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:1074-75), where a number are discussed at length. Perhaps the reader is simply to understand this as the abundance which results from obedience to Jesus, much as with the amount of wine generated in the water jars in Cana at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (2:6).
John 21:12 tn Grk “said to them.” The words “to them” are omitted because it is clear in context to whom Jesus was speaking, and the words are slightly redundant in English.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 134[a]

A song of ascents.[b]

Footnotes

The Lord Ratifies the Covenant

Footnotes

Jesus’ Appearance to the Disciples in Galilee

Footnotes

Psalm 134^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]