◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 98 (Shout with joy to God); Isaiah 42:5-9 (God declares new things); Acts 10:34-43 (God shows no partiality) (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 98

Psalm 98^[a]

A psalm.

98 Sing to the Lord a new song,^[b]
for he performs^[c] amazing deeds.
His right hand and his mighty arm
accomplish deliverance.^[d]
²The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver;^[e]
in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.
³He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel.^[f]
All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us.^[g]
⁴Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth.
Break out in a joyful shout and sing!
⁵Sing to the Lord accompanied by a harp,
accompanied by a harp and the sound of music.
⁶With trumpets and the blaring of the ram’s horn,
shout out praises before the king, the Lord.
⁷Let the sea and everything in it shout,
along with the world and those who live in it.
⁸Let the rivers clap their hands!
Let the mountains sing in unison
⁹before the Lord.
For he comes to judge the earth.
He judges the world fairly,^[h]
and the nations in a just manner.

Isaiah 42:5-9

⁵This is what the true God,^[a] the Lord, says—
the one who created the sky and stretched it out,
the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it,^[b]
the one who gives breath to the people on it,
and life to those who live on it:^[c]
⁶“I, the Lord, officially commission you;^[d]
I take hold of your hand.
I protect you^[e] and make you a covenant mediator for people,^[f]
and a light^[g] to the nations,^[h]
⁷to open blind eyes,^[i]
to release prisoners^[j] from dungeons,
those who live in darkness from prisons.

The Lord Intervenes

⁸“I am the Lord! That is my name!
I will not share my glory with anyone else,
or the praise due me with idols.
⁹Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass;^[k]
now I announce new events.
Before they begin to occur,
I reveal them to you.”^[l]

Footnotes

Isaiah 42:5 tn Heb “the God.” The definite article here indicates distinctiveness or uniqueness.
Isaiah 42:5 tn Heb “and its offspring” (so NASB); NIV “all that comes out of it.”
Isaiah 42:5 tn Heb “and spirit [i.e., “breath”] to the ones walking in it” (NAB, NASB, and NRSV all similar).
Isaiah 42:6 tn Heb “call you in righteousness.” The pronoun “you” is masculine singular, referring to the servant. See the note at 41:2.
Isaiah 42:6 tn The translation assumes the verb is derived from the root נָצַר (natsar, “protect”). Some prefer to derive it from the root יָצַר (yatsar, “form”).
Isaiah 42:6 tn Heb “a covenant of people.” A person cannot literally be a covenant; בְּרִית (b^erit) is probably metonymic here, indicating a covenant mediator. The precise identity of עָם (ʿam, “people”) is uncertain. In v. 5 עָם refers to mankind, and the following reference to “nations” also favors this. But in 49:8, where the phrase בְּרִית עָם occurs again, Israel seems to be in view.
Isaiah 42:6 sn Light here symbolizes deliverance from bondage and oppression; note the parallelism in 49:6b and in 51:4-6.
Isaiah 42:6 tn Or “the Gentiles” (so KJV, ASV, NIV); the same Hebrew word can be translated “nations” or “Gentiles” depending on the context.
Isaiah 42:7 sn This does not refer to literal physical healing of the blind. As the next two lines suggest, this refers metonymically to freeing captives from their dark prisons where their eyes have grown unaccustomed to light.
Isaiah 42:7 sn This does not refer to hardened, dangerous criminals, who would have been executed for their crimes in ancient Near Eastern society. This verse refers to political prisoners or victims of social injustice.
Isaiah 42:9 tn Heb “the former things, look, they have come.”
Isaiah 42:9 tn Heb “before they sprout up, I cause you to hear.” The pronoun “you” is plural, referring to the people of Israel. In this verse “the former things” are the Lord’s earlier predictive oracles which have come to pass, while “the new things” are predicted events that have not yet begun to take place. “The former things” are earlier events in Israel’s history which God announced beforehand, such as the Exodus (see 43:16-18). “The new things” are the predictions about the servant (42:1-7). and may also include Cyrus’ conquests (41:25-27).

Acts 10:34-43

³⁴Then Peter started speaking:^[a] “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism in dealing with people,^[b] ³⁵but in every nation^[c] the person who fears him^[d] and does what is right^[e] is welcomed before him. ³⁶You know^[f] the message^[g] he sent to the people^[h] of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace^[i] through^[j] Jesus Christ^[k] (he is Lord^[l] of all)— ³⁷you know what happened throughout Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John announced:^[m] ³⁸with respect to Jesus from Nazareth,^[n] that^[o] God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He^[p] went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil,^[q] because God was with him.^[r] ³⁹We^[s] are witnesses of all the things he did both in Judea^[t] and in Jerusalem. They^[u] killed him by hanging him on a tree,^[v] ⁴⁰but^[w] God raised him up on the third day and caused him to be seen,^[x] ⁴¹not by all the people, but by us, the witnesses God had already chosen,^[y] who ate and drank^[z] with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴²He^[aa] commanded us to preach to the people and to warn^[ab] them^[ac] that he is the one^[ad] appointed^[ae] by God as judge^[af] of the living and the dead. ⁴³About him all the prophets testify,^[ag] that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins^[ah] through his name.”

Footnotes

Acts 10:34 tn Grk “Opening his mouth Peter said” (a Semitic idiom for beginning to speak in a somewhat formal manner). The participle ἀνοίξας (anoixas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
Acts 10:34 tn Grk “God is not one who is a respecter of persons,” that is, “God is not one to show partiality” (cf. BDAG 887 s.v. προσωπολήμπτης). L&N 88.239 translates this verse “I realize that God does not show favoritism (in dealing with people).” The underlying Hebrew idiom includes the personal element (“respecter of persons”) so the phrase “in dealing with people” is included in the present translation. It fits very well with the following context and serves to emphasize the relational component of God’s lack of partiality. The latter is a major theme in the NT: Rom 2:11; Eph 2:11-22; Col 3:25; Jas 2:1; 1 Pet 1:17. This was the lesson of Peter’s vision.
Acts 10:35 sn See Luke 24:47.
Acts 10:35 tn Or “shows reverence for him.”
Acts 10:35 tn Grk “works righteousness”; the translation “does what is right” for this phrase in this verse is given by L&N 25.85.sn Note how faith and response are linked here by the phrase and does what is right.
Acts 10:36 tn The subject and verb (“you know”) do not actually occur until the following verse, but have been repeated here because of the requirements of English word order.
Acts 10:36 tn Grk “the word.”
Acts 10:36 tn Grk “to the sons.”
Acts 10:36 sn Peace is a key OT concept: Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15; also for Luke: Luke 1:79; 2:14; Acts 9:31. See also the similar phrase in Eph 2:17.
Acts 10:36 tn Or “by.”
Acts 10:36 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
Acts 10:36 sn He is Lord of all. Though a parenthetical remark, this is the theological key to the speech. Jesus is Lord of all, so the gospel can go to all. The rest of the speech proclaims Jesus’ authority.
Acts 10:37 tn Or “proclaimed.”
Acts 10:38 sn The somewhat awkward naming of Jesus as from Nazareth here is actually emphatic. He is the key subject of these key events.
Acts 10:38 tn Or “how.” The use of ὡς (hōs) as an equivalent to ὅτι (hoti) to introduce indirect or even direct discourse is well documented. BDAG 1105 s.v. ὡς 5 lists Acts 10:28 in this category.
Acts 10:38 tn Grk “power, who.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he,” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.
Acts 10:38 tn The translation “healing all who were oppressed by the devil” is given in L&N 22.22.sn All who were oppressed by the devil. Note how healing is tied to the cosmic battle present in creation. Christ’s power overcomes the devil and his forces, which seek to destroy humanity.
Acts 10:38 sn See Acts 7:9.
Acts 10:39 tn Grk “And we.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
Acts 10:39 tn Grk “the land of the Jews,” but this is similar to the phrase used as the name of the province of Judea in 1 Macc 8:3 (see BDAG 1093-94 s.v. χώρα 2.b).
Acts 10:39 tn Grk “in Jerusalem, whom they killed.” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “him” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.
Acts 10:39 tn Or “by crucifying him” (“hang on a tree” is by the time of the 1st century an idiom for crucifixion). The allusion is to the judgment against Jesus as a rebellious figure, appealing to the language of Deut 21:23. The Jewish leadership has badly “misjudged” Jesus.
Acts 10:40 tn The conjunction “but” is not in the Greek text, but the contrast is clearly implied in the context. This is technically asyndeton, or lack of a connective, in Greek.
Acts 10:40 tn Grk “and granted that he should become visible.” The literal Greek idiom is somewhat awkward in English. L&N 24.22 offers the translation “caused him to be seen” for this verse.
Acts 10:41 tn Or “the witnesses God had previously chosen.” See Acts 1:8.
Acts 10:41 sn Ate and drank. See Luke 24:35-49.
Acts 10:42 tn Grk “and he.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
Acts 10:42 tn The verb διαμαρτύρομαι (diamarturomai) can mean “warn,” and such a meaning is highly probable in this context where a reference to the judgment of both the living and the dead is present. The more general meaning “to testify solemnly” does not capture this nuance.
Acts 10:42 tn The word “them” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
Acts 10:42 tn Grk “that this one is the one,” but this is awkward in English and has been simplified to “that he is the one.”
Acts 10:42 tn Or “designated.” BDAG 723 s.v. ὁρίζω 2.b has “the one appointed by God as judge” for this phrase.
Acts 10:42 sn Jesus has divine authority as judge over the living and the dead: Acts 17:26-31; Rom 14:9; 1 Thess 5:9-10; 1 Tim 4:1; 1 Pet 4:5.
Acts 10:43 tn Or “All the prophets testify about him.” Although modern English translations tend to place “about him” after “testify” (so NIV, NRSV) the phrase “about him” has been left at the beginning of v. 43 for emphatic reasons.
Acts 10:43 sn Forgiveness of sins. See Luke 24:47; also Acts 14:23; 19:4; 9:42; 11:17; 16:31. The gospel is present in the prophetic promise, Rom 1:1-7. The message is in continuity with the ancient hope.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 98[a]

A psalm.

Footnotes

The Lord Intervenes

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 98^[a]