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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 52

Psalm 52^[a]

For the music director, a well-written song^[b] by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.”^[c]

52 Why do you boast about your evil plans,^[d] O powerful man?
God’s loyal love protects me all day long.^[e]
²Your tongue carries out your destructive plans;^[f]
it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver.^[g]
³You love evil more than good,
lies more than speaking the truth.^[h] (Selah)
⁴You love to use all the words that destroy,^[i]
and the tongue that deceives.
⁵Yet^[j] God will make you a permanent heap of ruins.^[k]
He will scoop you up^[l] and remove you from your home;^[m]
he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)
⁶When the godly see this, they will be filled with awe,
and will mock the evildoer, saying:^[n]
⁷“Look, here is the man who would not make^[o] God his protector.
He trusted in his great wealth
and was confident about his plans to destroy others.”^[p]
⁸But I^[q] am like a flourishing^[r] olive tree in the house of God;
I continually^[s] trust in God’s loyal love.
⁹I will continually^[t] thank you when^[u] you execute judgment;^[v]
I will rely on^[w] you,^[x] for your loyal followers know you are good.^[y]

Footnotes

Psalm 52:1 sn Psalm 52. The psalmist confidently confronts his enemy and affirms that God will destroy evildoers and vindicate the godly.
Psalm 52:1 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
Psalm 52:1 tn Heb “when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’”sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm during the period when Saul was seeking his life. On one occasion Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s head shepherd (1 Sam 21:7), informed Saul of David’s whereabouts (see 1 Sam 21-22).
Psalm 52:1 tn Heb “Why do you boast in evil?”
Psalm 52:1 tn Heb “the loyal love of God [is] all the day.” In this context, where the psalmist is threatened by his enemy, the point seems to be that the psalmist is protected by God’s loyal love at all times.
Psalm 52:2 tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”
Psalm 52:2 tn Heb “like a sharpened razor, doer of deceit.” The masculine participle עָשָׂה (ʿasah) is understood as a substantival vocative, addressed to the powerful man.
Psalm 52:3 tn Or “deceit more than speaking what is right.”
Psalm 52:4 tn Heb “you love all the words of swallowing.” Traditionally בַּלַּע (balaʿ) has been taken to mean “swallowing” in the sense of “devouring” or “destructive” (see BDB 118 s.v. בָּלַע). HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע proposes a homonym here, meaning “confusion.” This would fit the immediate context nicely and provide a close parallel to the following line, which refers to deceptive words.
Psalm 52:5 tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.
Psalm 52:5 tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”
Psalm 52:5 tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.
Psalm 52:5 tn Heb “from [your] tent.”
Psalm 52:6 tn Heb “and the godly will see and will fear and at him will laugh.”
Psalm 52:7 tn The imperfect verbal form here draws attention to the ongoing nature of the action. The evildoer customarily rejected God and trusted in his own abilities. Another option is to take the imperfect as generalizing, “[here is the man who] does not make.”
Psalm 52:7 tn Heb “he was strong in his destruction.” “Destruction” must refer back to the destructive plans mentioned in v. 2. The verb (derived from the root עָזַז, ʿazaz, “be strong”) as it stands is either an imperfect (if so, probably used in a customary sense) or a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive). However the form should probably be emended to וַיָּעָז (vayyaʿaz), a Qal preterite (with vav [ו] consecutive) from עָזַז. Note the preterite form without vav (ו) consecutive in the preceding line (וַיִּבְטַח, vayyivtakh, “and he trusted”). The prefixed vav (ו) was likely omitted by haplography (note the suffixed vav [ו] on the preceding עָשְׁרוֹ, ʿoshro, “his wealth”).
Psalm 52:8 tn The disjunctive construction (vav [ו] + subject) highlights the contrast between the evildoer’s destiny (vv. 5-7) and that of the godly psalmist’s security.
Psalm 52:8 tn Or “luxuriant, green, leafy.”
Psalm 52:8 tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever and ever.”
Psalm 52:9 tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”
Psalm 52:9 tn Or “for.”
Psalm 52:9 tn Heb “you have acted.” The perfect verbal form (1) probably indicates a future perfect here. The psalmist promises to give thanks when the expected vindication has been accomplished. Other options include (2) a generalizing (“for you act”) or (3) rhetorical (“for you will act”) use.
Psalm 52:9 tn Or “wait on.”
Psalm 52:9 tn Heb “your name.” God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character.
Psalm 52:9 tn Heb “for it is good in front of your loyal followers.”

Jeremiah 22:1-9

22 The Lord told me,^[a] “Go down^[b] to the palace of the king of Judah. Give him a message from me there.^[c] ²Say: ‘Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David’s succession.^[d] You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to the Lord’s message.^[e] ³The Lord says, “Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those^[f] who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat resident foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows.^[g] Do not kill innocent people^[h] in this land. ⁴If you are careful to^[i] obey these commands, then the kings who follow in David’s succession and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to come through the gates of this palace, as will their officials and their subjects.^[j] ⁵But, if you do not obey these commands, I solemnly swear^[k] that this palace will become a pile of rubble. I, the Lord, affirm it!”’^[l]

⁶“For the Lord says concerning the palace of the king of Judah,

“‘This place looks like a veritable forest of Gilead to me.
It is like the wooded heights of Lebanon in my eyes.
But I swear that I will make it like a wilderness
whose towns have all been deserted.^[m]
⁷I will send men against it to destroy it^[n]
with their axes and hatchets.
They will hack up its fine cedar panels and columns
and throw them into the fire.

⁸“‘People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?” ⁹The answer will come back, “It is because they broke their covenant with the Lord their God and worshiped and served other gods.”

Footnotes

Jeremiah 22:1 tn The word “me” is not in the text. It is, however, implicit and is supplied in the translation for clarity.
Jeremiah 22:1 sn The allusion here is to going down from the temple to the palace, which was on a lower eminence. See 36:12 in its context.
Jeremiah 22:1 tn Heb “And speak there this word:” The translation is intended to eliminate an awkward and lengthy sentence.
Jeremiah 22:2 tn Heb “who sits on David’s throne.”
Jeremiah 22:2 tn Heb “Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah who sits on the throne of David, you, and your officials, and your people who pass through these gates.”
Jeremiah 22:3 tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”
Jeremiah 22:3 tn Heb “aliens, orphans, or widows,” treating the terms as generic or collective. However, the term “alien” carries faulty connotations, and the term “orphan” is not totally appropriate because the Hebrew term does not necessarily mean that both parents have died.sn These were classes of people who had no one to look out for their rights. The laws of Israel, however, were careful to see that their rights were guarded (cf. Deut 10:18) and that provision was made for meeting their needs (cf. Deut 24:19-21). The Lord promised to protect them (cf. Ps 146:9), and a curse was called down on any who deprived them of justice (cf. Deut 27:19).
Jeremiah 22:3 tn Heb “Do not shed innocent blood.”sn Do not kill innocent people. For an example of one of the last kings who did this, see Jer 36:20-23. Manasseh was notorious for having done this, and the book of 2 Kgs attributes the ultimate destruction of Judah to this crime and his sin of worshiping false gods (2 Kgs 21:16; 24:4).
Jeremiah 22:4 tn The translation here reflects the emphasizing infinitive absolute before the verb.
Jeremiah 22:4 tn Heb “There will come through the gates of this city the kings…riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials…” The structure of the original text is broken up here because of the long compound subject, which would make the English sentence too long. Cf. 17:25 for the structure and wording of this sentence.
Jeremiah 22:5 sn Heb “I swear by myself.” Oaths were guaranteed by invoking the name of a god or swearing by “his life.” See Jer 12:16 and 44:26. Since the Lord is incomparably great, he could swear by none higher (see Heb 6:13-16) than to swear by himself or his own great name.
Jeremiah 22:5 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
Jeremiah 22:6 tn Heb “Gilead you are to me, the height of Lebanon, but I will surely make you a wilderness, [with] cities uninhabited.” The points of comparison are made explicit in the translation for the sake of clarity. See the study note for further explanation. For the use of the preposition ל (lamed) = “in my eyes/in my opinion,” see BDB 513 s.v. ל 5.a(d) and compare Jonah 3:3 and Esth 10:3. For the use of the particles אִם לֹא (ʾim loʾ) to introduce an emphatic oath, see BDB 50 s.v. אִם 1.b(2).sn Lebanon was well known for its cedars, and the palace (and the temple) had used a good deal of such timber in its construction (see 1 Kgs 5:6, 8-10; 7:2-3). In this section several references are made to cedar (see vv. 7, 14, 15, 23), and allusion has also been made to the paneled and colonnade armory of the Forest of Lebanon (2:14). It appears to have been a source of pride and luxury, perhaps at the expense of justice. Gilead was also noted in antiquity for its forests as well as for its fertile pastures.
Jeremiah 22:7 sn Heb “I will sanctify destroyers against it.” If this is not an attenuated use of the term “sanctify,” the traditions of Israel’s holy wars are being turned against her. See also 6:4. In Israel’s early wars in the wilderness and in the conquest, the Lord fought for her against the enemies (cf., e.g., Josh 10:11, 14, 42; 24:7; Judg 5:20; 1 Sam 7:10). Now he is going to fight against them (21:5, 13) and use the enemy as his instruments of destruction. For a similar picture of destruction in the temple see the lament in Ps 74:3-7.

Luke 6:43-45

⁴³“For^[a] no good tree bears bad^[b] fruit, nor again^[c] does a bad tree bear good fruit, ⁴⁴for each tree is known^[d] by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered^[e] from thorns, nor are grapes picked^[f] from brambles.^[g] ⁴⁵The good person out of the good treasury of his^[h] heart^[i] produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury^[j] produces evil, for his mouth speaks^[k] from what fills^[l] his heart.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 52[a]

For the music director, a well-written song[b] by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.”[c]

Footnotes

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 52^[a]

For the music director, a well-written song^[b] by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.”^[c]