◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 34:15-22 (God’s eyes are upon the righteous); Joshua 22:1-9 (Joshua blesses eastern tribes); 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 (The breastplate of faith and love) (New English Translation)

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August 19, 2021

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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 34:15-22

¹⁵The Lord pays attention to the godly
and hears their cry for help.^[a]
¹⁶But the Lord opposes evildoers
and wipes out all memory of them from the earth.^[b]
¹⁷The godly^[c] cry out and the Lord hears;
he saves them from all their troubles.^[d]
¹⁸The Lord is near the brokenhearted;
he delivers^[e] those who are discouraged.^[f]
¹⁹The godly^[g] face many dangers,^[h]
but the Lord saves^[i] them^[j] from each one of them.
²⁰He protects^[k] all his bones;^[l]
not one of them is broken.^[m]
²¹Evil people self-destruct;^[n]
those who hate the godly are punished.^[o]
²²The Lord rescues his servants;^[p]
all who take shelter in him escape punishment.^[q]

Footnotes

Psalm 34:15 tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord [are] toward the godly, and his ears [are] toward their cry for help.”
Psalm 34:16 tn Heb “the face of the Lord [is] against the doers of evil to cut off from the earth memory of them.”
Psalm 34:17 tn Heb “they” (i.e., the godly mentioned in v. 15).
Psalm 34:17 tn The three perfect verbal forms are taken in a generalizing sense in v. 17 and translated with the present tense (note the generalizing mood of vv. 18-22).
Psalm 34:18 tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the oppressed and needy.
Psalm 34:18 tn Heb “the crushed in spirit.”
Psalm 34:19 tn The Hebrew text uses the singular form; the representative or typical godly person is envisioned.
Psalm 34:19 tn Or “trials.”
Psalm 34:19 tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the godly.
Psalm 34:19 tn Heb “him,” agreeing with the singular form in the preceding line.
Psalm 34:20 tn The Hebrew participial form suggests such protection is characteristic.
Psalm 34:20 tn That is, he protects the godly from physical harm.
Psalm 34:20 sn Not one of them is broken. The author of the Gospel of John saw a fulfillment of these words in Jesus’ experience on the cross (see John 19:31-37), for the Roman soldiers, when they saw that Jesus was already dead, did not break his legs as was customarily done to speed the death of crucified individuals. John’s use of the psalm seems strange, for the statement in its original context suggests that the Lord protects the godly from physical harm. Jesus’ legs may have remained unbroken, but he was brutally and unjustly executed by his enemies. John seems to give the statement a literal sense that is foreign to its original literary context by applying a promise of divine protection to a man who was seemingly not saved by God. However, John saw in this incident a foreshadowing of Jesus’ ultimate deliverance and vindication. His unbroken bones were a reminder of God’s commitment to the godly and a sign of things to come. Jesus’ death on the cross was not the end of the story; God vindicated him, as John goes on to explain in the following context (John 19:38-20:18).
Psalm 34:21 tn Heb “evil kills the wicked [one].” The singular form is representative; the typical evil person is envisioned. The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the typical nature of the action.
Psalm 34:21 tn Heb “are guilty,” but the verb is sometimes used metonymically with the meaning “to suffer the consequences of guilt,” the effect being substituted for the cause.
Psalm 34:22 tn Heb “redeems the life of his servants.” The Hebrew participial form suggests such deliverance is characteristic.
Psalm 34:22 tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 31:19).

Joshua 22:1-9

Joshua Sends Home the Eastern Tribes

22 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh ²and told them: “You have carried out all the instructions of Moses the Lord’s servant, and you have obeyed all I have told you.^[a] ³You have not abandoned your fellow Israelites^[b] this entire time,^[c] right up to this very day. You have completed the task given you by the Lord your God.^[d] ⁴Now the Lord your God has made your fellow Israelites secure,^[e] just as he promised them. So now you may turn around and go to your homes^[f] in your own land^[g] that Moses the Lord’s servant assigned to you east of the Jordan. ⁵But carefully obey the commands and instructions Moses the Lord’s servant gave you. Love^[h] the Lord your God, follow all his instructions,^[i] obey^[j] his commands, be loyal to him,^[k] and serve him with all your heart and being!”^[l]

⁶Joshua rewarded^[m] them and sent them on their way; they returned to their homes.^[n] ⁷(Now to one half-tribe of Manasseh, Moses had assigned land in Bashan; and to the other half Joshua had assigned land on the west side of the Jordan with their fellow Israelites.) When Joshua sent them home,^[o] he rewarded^[p] them, ⁸saying, “Take home^[q] great wealth, a lot of cattle,^[r] silver, gold, bronze, iron, and a lot of^[s] clothing. Divide up the goods captured from your enemies with your brothers.” ⁹So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites in Shiloh in the land of Canaan and headed home to their own land in Gilead,^[t] which they acquired by the Lord’s command through Moses.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

The Day of the Lord

5 Now on the topic of times and seasons,^[a] brothers and sisters,^[b] you have no need for anything to be written to you. ²For you know quite well that the day of the Lord^[c] will come in the same way as a thief in the night.^[d] ³Now when^[e] they are saying, “There is peace and security,”^[f] then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains^[g] on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape. ⁴But you, brothers and sisters,^[h] are not in the darkness for the day to overtake you like a thief would. ⁵For you all are sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of the darkness. ⁶So then we must not sleep as the rest, but must stay alert and sober. ⁷For those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night. ⁸But since we are of the day, we must stay sober by putting on the breastplate^[i] of faith and love and as a helmet our hope for salvation.^[j] ⁹For God did not destine us for wrath^[k] but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁰He died^[l] for us so that whether we are alert or asleep^[m] we will come to life together with him. ¹¹Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, just as you are in fact doing.

Footnotes

1 Thessalonians 5:1 tn Grk “concerning the times and the seasons,” a reference to future periods of eschatological fulfillment (cf. Acts 1:7).
1 Thessalonians 5:1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.
1 Thessalonians 5:2 sn The day of the Lord is the period of time in the future when the Lord will intervene in the events of this earth to consummate his redemption and his judgment (Isa 2:11-12; 13:6-13; Ezek 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:32; 3:18; Amos 5:18-20; Obad 15-17; Zeph 1:7-18; 2:2-3; Zech 14:1, 13, 20-21; Mal 4:1, 5; 1 Cor 1:8; 5:5; 2 Cor 1:14; 2 Thess 2:2; 2 Pet 3:10). It includes both blessings and curses, though the latter is emphasized here.
1 Thessalonians 5:2 sn Jesus used a thief coming at night as an illustration of the unexpected and hostile nature of the coming of God’s judgment in the future. This is repeated in various ways in v. 4; 2 Pet 3:10; Rev 3:3; 16:15.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 tc ‡ δέ (de, “now”) is found in א² B D 0226 6 1505 1739 1881 2464 al, but lacking in א* A F G 33 it. γάρ (gar, “for”) is the reading of the Byzantine text and a few other witnesses (Ψ 0278 1175 1241 M al). Although normally the shorter reading is to be preferred, the external evidence is superior for δέ (being found in the somewhat better Alexandrian and Western witnesses). What, then, is to explain the γάρ? Scribes were prone to replace δέ with γάρ, especially in sentences suggesting a causal or explanatory idea, thus making the point more explicit. Internally, the omission of δέ looks unintentional, a case of homoioarcton (otandelegwsin). Although a decision is difficult, in this instance δέ has the best credentials for authenticity.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 tn Grk “peace and security,” with “there is” understood in the Greek construction.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 tn Grk a singular “birth pain.”
1 Thessalonians 5:4 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:4.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 sn An allusion to Isa 59:17.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 tn Grk “hope of salvation” (“a helmet…for salvation” is an allusion to Isa 59:17).
1 Thessalonians 5:9 sn God did not destine us for wrath. In context this refers to the outpouring of God’s wrath on the earth in the day of the Lord (1 Thess 5:2-4).
1 Thessalonians 5:10 tn Grk “the one who died,” describing Jesus Christ (1 Thess 5:9). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 10 in the translation.
1 Thessalonians 5:10 sn The phrases alert or asleep may be understood (1) of moral alertness (living in faith, love, and hope as vv. 6, 8 call for, versus being unresponsive to God) or (2) of physical life and death (whether alive or dead). The first fits better with the context of 5:1-9, while the second returns to the point Paul started with in 4:13-18 (no disadvantage for the believing dead).

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Footnotes

Joshua Sends Home the Eastern Tribes

Footnotes

The Day of the Lord

Footnotes