◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 111 (The beginning of wisdom); Deuteronomy 13:1-5 (Beware of false prophets); Matthew 8:28—9:1 (Jesus heals the Gadarene demoniacs) (New English Translation)

Prev Day

January 30, 2021

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

January 2021
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31

Return to today's reading

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 111

Psalm 111^[a]

111 Praise the Lord!
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
in the assembly of the godly and the congregation.
²The Lord’s deeds are great,
eagerly awaited^[b] by all who desire them.
³His work is majestic and glorious,^[c]
and his faithfulness endures^[d] forever.
⁴He does^[e] amazing things that will be remembered;^[f]
the Lord is merciful and compassionate.
⁵He gives^[g] food to his faithful followers;^[h]
he always remembers his covenant.^[i]
⁶He announced that he would do mighty deeds for his people,
giving them a land that belonged to other nations.^[j]
⁷His acts are characterized by^[k] faithfulness and justice;
all his precepts are reliable.^[l]
⁸They are forever firm,
and should be faithfully and properly carried out.^[m]
⁹He delivered his people;^[n]
he ordained that his covenant be observed forever.^[o]
His name is holy and awesome.
¹⁰To obey the Lord is the fundamental principle for wise living;^[p]
all who carry out his precepts acquire good moral insight.^[q]
He will receive praise forever.^[r]

Deuteronomy 13:1-5

13 ¹Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams^[a] should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder,^[b] ²and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, “Let us follow other gods”—gods whom you have not previously known—“and let us serve them.” ³You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer,^[c] for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him^[d] with all your mind and being.^[e] ⁴You must follow the Lord your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him. ⁵As for that prophet or dreamer,^[f] he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge evil from among you.^[g]

Matthew 8:28-9:1

Healing the Gadarene Demoniacs

²⁸When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes,^[a] two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were extremely violent, so that no one was able to pass by that way.^[b] ²⁹They^[c] cried out, “Son of God, leave us alone!^[d] Have you come here to torment us before the time?”^[e] ³⁰A^[f] large herd of pigs^[g] was feeding some distance from them. ³¹Then the demons begged him,^[h] “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”^[i] ³²And he said,^[j] “Go!” So^[k] they came out and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and drowned in the water.^[l] ³³The^[m] herdsmen ran off, went into the town,^[n] and told everything that had happened to the demon-possessed men. ³⁴Then^[o] the entire town^[p] came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

Healing and Forgiving a Paralytic

9 After getting into a boat^[q] he crossed to the other side and came to his own town.^[r]

Footnotes

Matthew 8:28 tc The textual tradition here is quite complicated. A number of mss (B C (Δ) Θ sy^s,p,h) read “Gadarenes,” which is the better reading here. Many other mss (א² L W ƒ^{1, 13} 565 579 700 1424 M al bo) have “Gergesenes.” Others (892^c latt sy^hmg sa mae) have “Gerasenes,” which is the reading followed in Luke 8:26. The difference between Matthew and Luke may be due to uses of variant regional terms. Of the three readings, Gergesa is most likely the right location for this exorcism (the only region close to the Sea of Galilee and with a steep bank [κρημνός in Mark 5:13]) but almost surely a secondary reading in all the Synoptics. As Baarda articulated, this variant is quite possibly due to a conjecture made by Origen, a reading which then made its way into sevral mss (Tjitze Baarda, “Gadarenes, Gerasenes, Gergesenes and the ‘Diatassaron’ Traditions,” in Neotestamentica et Semitica: Studies in Honour of Matthew Black, ed. E. Earle Ellis and Max Wilcox [Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1969], 181-97). sn The region of the Gadarenes would be in Gentile territory on the southeastern side of the Sea of Galilee across from Galilee. Luke 8:26 and Mark 5:1 record this miracle as occurring “in the region of the Gerasenes.” “Irrespective of how one settles this issue . . . the chief concern is that Jesus has crossed over into Gentile territory, ‘opposite Galilee’” (J. B. Green, Luke [NICNT], 337). The region of Gadara extended to the Sea of Galilee and included the town of Sennabris on the southern shore—the town that the herdsmen most likely entered after the drowning of the pigs.
Matthew 8:28 sn Unlike the portrayal of the demoniac in the parallel passage in Mark 5:5-6 which evokes some pity for the afflicted man, Matthew’s account merely suggests the demoniacs were a public nuisance: they were extremely violent and rendered the road impassable.
Matthew 8:29 tn Grk “And behold, they cried out, saying.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1). The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.
Matthew 8:29 tn Grk “what to us and to you?” (an idiom). The phrase τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί (ti hēmin kai soi) is Semitic in origin, though it made its way into colloquial Greek (BDAG 275 s.v. ἐγώ). The equivalent Hebrew expression in the OT had two basic meanings: (1) When one person was unjustly bothering another, the injured party could say “What to me and to you?” meaning, “What have I done to you that you should do this to me?” (Judg 11:12, 2 Chr 35:21, 1 Kgs 17:18). (2) When someone was asked to get involved in a matter he felt was no business of his own, he could say to the one asking him, “What to me and to you?” meaning, “That is your business, how am I involved?” (2 Kgs 3:13, Hos 14:8). These nuances were apparently expanded in Greek, but the basic notions of defensive hostility (option 1) and indifference or disengagement (option 2) are still present. BDAG suggests the following as glosses for this expression: What have I to do with you? What have we in common? Leave me alone! Never mind! Hostility between Jesus and the demons is certainly to be understood in this context, hence the translation: “Leave us alone….”
Matthew 8:29 sn The question reflects the view that there was an appointed time in which demons would face their judgment, and they seem to have viewed Jesus’ arrival on the scene as an illegitimate change in God’s plan regarding the time when their sentence would be executed.
Matthew 8:30 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
Matthew 8:30 sn The commercial raising of pigs indicates that this is not Jewish territory (cf. m. B. Qam. 7:7, “They do not rear pigs anywhere”).
Matthew 8:31 tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
Matthew 8:31 sn No explanation is given in the text for the relationship between the demons and the herd of pigs. Some have suggested a link between the uncleanness of demons and the ceremonial uncleanness of pigs within Judaism. Less likely is the suggestion that pigs as sacrificial animals in the non-Jewish world somehow alludes to worship of demons.
Matthew 8:32 tn Grk “And he said to them.”
Matthew 8:32 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate a conclusion and transition in the narrative.
Matthew 8:32 sn Whatever the relationship between the demons and the pigs, the destructiveness of the demons is certainly emphasized by the drowning of their new hosts.
Matthew 8:33 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
Matthew 8:33 tn Or “city.” But see the sn on “Gadarenes” in 8:28.
Matthew 8:34 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
Matthew 8:34 tn Or “city.” Here the term is a metonymy for the inhabitants.
Matthew 9:1 sn See the note at Matt 4:21 for a description of the first-century fishing boat discovered in 1986 near Tiberias on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Matthew 9:1 sn His own town refers to Capernaum. Capernaum was a town located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It existed since Hasmonean times and was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region. The population in the first century is estimated to be around 1,500. Capernaum became the hub of operations for Jesus’ Galilean ministry (Matt 4:13; Mark 2:1). For more information, see the note at Matt 8:5.

New English Translation (NET)

Prev Day

Top

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

Log in to read this devotional and:

Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 111[a]

Footnotes

Footnotes

Healing the Gadarene Demoniacs

Healing and Forgiving a Paralytic

Footnotes

Psalm 111^[a]