◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 119:97-104 (God’s word is sweet); Nehemiah 9:1-15 (God’s care of the people); Ephesians 5:21—6:9 (A household code) (New English Translation)

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August 23, 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 119:97-104

מ (Mem)

⁹⁷O how I love your law!
All day long I meditate on it.
⁹⁸Your commandments^[a] make me wiser than my enemies,
for I am always aware of them.
⁹⁹I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your rules.
¹⁰⁰I am more discerning than those older than I,
for I observe your precepts.
¹⁰¹I stay away^[b] from every evil path,
so that I might keep your instructions.^[c]
¹⁰²I do not turn aside from your regulations,
for you teach me.
¹⁰³Your words are sweeter
in my mouth than honey!^[d]
¹⁰⁴Your precepts give me discernment.
Therefore I hate all deceitful actions.^[e]

Nehemiah 9:1-15

The People Acknowledge Their Sin before God

9 On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust. ²Those truly of Israelite descent^[a] separated from all the foreigners,^[b] standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.^[c] ³For one-fourth of the day they stood in their place and read from the book of the law of the Lord their God, and for another fourth they were confessing their sins^[d] and worshiping the Lord their God. ⁴Then the Levites—Jeshua, Binnui,^[e] Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani—stood on the steps and called out loudly^[f] to the Lord their God. ⁵The Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up and bless the Lord your God!”

“May you be blessed, O Lord our God, from age to age.^[g] May your glorious name^[h] be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise. ⁶You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens,^[i] along with all their multitude of stars,^[j] the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

⁷“You are the Lord God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham. ⁸When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a^[k] covenant with him to give his descendants^[l] the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise,^[m] for you are righteous.

⁹“You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea.^[n] ¹⁰You performed awesome signs^[o] against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians^[p] had acted presumptuously^[q] against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day. ¹¹You split the sea before them, and they crossed through^[r] the sea on dry ground. But you threw their pursuers^[s] into the depths, like a stone into surging^[t] waters. ¹²You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.

¹³“You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments. ¹⁴You made known to them your holy Sabbath; you issued commandments, statutes, and laws to them through^[u] Moses your servant. ¹⁵You provided bread from heaven for them in their time of hunger, and you brought forth water from the rock for them in their time of thirst. You told them to enter in order to possess the land that you had sworn^[v] to give them.

Footnotes

Nehemiah 9:2 tn Heb “the seed of Israel.”
Nehemiah 9:2 tn Heb “sons of a foreigner.”
Nehemiah 9:2 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 9, 16, 23, 32, 34, 36).
Nehemiah 9:3 tn Heb “confessing.” The words “their sins” are not present in the Hebrew text of v. 3, but are clearly implied here because they are explicitly stated in v. 2.
Nehemiah 9:4 tc Heb “Bani.” The translation reads “Binnui” (so also NAB) rather than the MT reading “Bani.” Otherwise there are two individuals with the same name in this verse. The name “Binnui” appears, for example, in Neh 10:10.
Nehemiah 9:4 tn Heb “in a great voice.”
Nehemiah 9:5 tc The MT reads here only “from age to age,” without the preceding words “May you be blessed, O Lord our God” which are included in the present translation. But apparently something has dropped out of the text. This phrase occurs elsewhere in the OT as a description of the Lord (see Pss 41:13; 106:48), and it seems best to understand it here in that light. The LXX adds “And Ezra said” at the beginning of v. 6 as a transition: “And Ezra said, ‘You alone are the Lord.” Without this addition (which is not included by most modern English translations) the speakers of vv. 9:5b-10:1 continue to be the Levites of v. 5a.
Nehemiah 9:5 tn Heb “the name of your glory.”
Nehemiah 9:6 tn Heb “the heavens of the heavens.”
Nehemiah 9:6 tn Heb “all their host.”
Nehemiah 9:8 tn Heb “the” (so NAB).
Nehemiah 9:8 tn Heb “seed.”
Nehemiah 9:8 tn Heb “your words.”
Nehemiah 9:9 tn Heb “the Sea of Reeds.” Traditionally this is identified as the Red Sea, and the modern designation has been used in the translation for clarity.
Nehemiah 9:10 tn Heb “signs and wonders.” This phrase is a hendiadys. The second noun functions adjectivally, while the first noun retains its full nominal sense: “awesome signs” or “miraculous signs.”
Nehemiah 9:10 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Egyptians) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Nehemiah 9:10 tn Or “arrogantly” (so NASB); NRSV “insolently.”
Nehemiah 9:11 tn Heb “in the midst of.”
Nehemiah 9:11 tn Heb “those who pursued them.”
Nehemiah 9:11 tn Heb “mighty.”
Nehemiah 9:14 tn Heb “by the hand of.”
Nehemiah 9:15 tn Heb “had lifted your hand.”

Ephesians 5:21-6:9

²¹and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.^[a]

Exhortations to Households

²²^[b] Wives, submit^[c] to your husbands as to the Lord, ²³because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church (he himself being the savior of the body). ²⁴But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. ²⁵Husbands, love your^[d] wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her ²⁶to sanctify her by cleansing her^[e] with the washing of the water by the word, ²⁷so that he^[f] may present the church to himself as glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless.^[g] ²⁸In the same way^[h] husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one has ever hated his own body,^[i] but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, ³⁰because we are members of his body.^[j] ³¹For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become^[k] one flesh.^[l] ³²This mystery is great—but I am actually^[m] speaking with reference to Christ and the church. ³³Nevertheless,^[n] each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself,^[o] and the wife must^[p] respect^[q] her husband.

6 Children,^[r] obey your parents in the Lord,^[s] for this is right. ²“Honor your father and mother,”^[t] which is the first commandment accompanied by a promise, namely, ³“that it will go^[u] well with you and that you will live^[v] a long time on the earth.”^[w]

⁴Fathers,^[x] do not provoke your children to anger,^[y] but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

⁵Slaves,^[z] obey your human masters^[aa] with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ, ⁶not like those who do their work only when someone is watching^[ab]—as people-pleasers—but as slaves of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.^[ac] ⁷Obey^[ad] with enthusiasm, as though serving the Lord^[ae] and not people, ⁸because you know that each person, whether slave or free, if he does something good, this^[af] will be rewarded by the Lord.

⁹Masters,^[ag] treat your slaves^[ah] the same way,^[ai] giving up the use of threats,^[aj] because you know that both you and they have the same master in heaven,^[ak] and there is no favoritism with him.

Footnotes

Ephesians 5:21 sn Eph 5:19-21. In Eph 5:18 the author gives the command to be filled by means of the Holy Spirit. In 5:19-21 there follows five participles: (1) speaking; (2) singing; (3) making music; (4) giving thanks; (5) submitting. These participles have been variously interpreted, but perhaps the two most likely interpretations are (1) the participles indicate the means by which one is filled by the Spirit; (2) the participles indicate the result of being filled by the Spirit. The fact that the participles are present tense and follow the command (i.e., “be filled”) would tend to support both of these options. But it seems out of Paul’s character to reduce the filling of the Spirit to a formula of some kind. To the extent that this is true, it is unlikely then that the author is here stating the means for being filled by the Spirit. Because it is in keeping with Pauline theology and has good grammatical support, it is better to take the participles as indicating certain results of being filled by the Spirit. See ExSyn 639.
Ephesians 5:22 tn Many scholars regard Eph 5:21 as the verse which introduces this section, rather than 5:22. This is due in part to the lack of a main verb in this verse (see tc note which follows). This connection is not likely, however, because it requires the participle ὑποτασσόμενοι (hupotassomenoi, “submitting”) in 5:21 to act as the main verb of the section, and this participle more likely is linked to the command “be filled by the Spirit” in 5:18 as a participle of result (see sn above). In any case, 5:21 does form a strong link between 5:18-21 and what follows, so the paragraph division which has been placed between 5:21 and 22 should not be viewed as a complete break in the author’s thought.
Ephesians 5:22 tc The witnesses for the shorter reading (in which the verb “submit” is only implied) are minimal (P⁴⁶ B Cl Hier^mss), but significant and early. The rest of the witnesses add one of two verb forms as required by the sense of the passage (picking up the verb from v. 21). Several of these witnesses have ὑποτασσέσθωσαν (hupotassesthōsan), the third person imperative (so א A I P Ψ 0278 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 2464 al lat co), while other witnesses, especially the later Byzantine cursives, read ὑποτάσσεσθε (hupotassesthe), the second person imperative (D F G M sy). The text virtually begs for one of these two verb forms, but the often cryptic style of Paul’s letters argues for the shorter reading. The chronology of development seems to have been no verb—third person imperative—second person imperative. It is not insignificant that early lectionaries began a new day’s reading with v. 22; these may have caused copyists to add the verb at this juncture.
Ephesians 5:25 tn The Greek article has been translated as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
Ephesians 5:26 tn The direct object “her” is implied, but not found in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the English translation to clarify the sense of the passage.
Ephesians 5:27 tn The use of the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is intensive and focuses attention on Christ as the one who has made the church glorious.
Ephesians 5:27 tn Grk “but in order that it may be holy and blameless.”
Ephesians 5:28 tn Grk “So also.”
Ephesians 5:29 tn Grk “flesh.”
Ephesians 5:30 tc Most Western witnesses, as well as the majority of Byzantine mss and a few others (א² D F G Ψ 0278 0285^vid 1175 1505 1739^mg M lat), add the following words to the end of the verse: ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὀστέων αὐτοῦ (ek tēs sarkos autou kai ek tōn osteōn autou, “of his flesh and of his bones”). This is a (slightly modified) quotation from Gen 2:23a (LXX). The Alexandrian text is solidly behind the shorter reading (P⁴⁶ א* A B 048 33 81 1739* 1881 co). Although it is possible that an early scribe’s eye skipped over the final αὐτοῦ, there is a much greater likelihood that a scribe added the Genesis quotation in order to fill out and make explicit the author’s incomplete reference to Gen 2:23. Further, on intrinsic grounds, it seems unlikely that the author would refer to the physical nature of creation when speaking of the “body of Christ” which is spiritual or mystical. Hence, as is often the case with OT quotations, the scribal clarification missed the point the author was making; the shorter reading stands as autographic.
Ephesians 5:31 tn Grk “the two shall be as one flesh.”
Ephesians 5:31 sn A quotation from Gen 2:24.
Ephesians 5:32 tn The term “actually” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to bring out the heightened sense of the statement.
Ephesians 5:33 tn The translation of πλήν (plēn) is somewhat difficult in this context, though the overall thrust of the argument is clear. It could be an adversative idea such as “but,” “nevertheless,” or “however” (see NIV, NASB, NRSV), or it could simply be intended to round out and bring to conclusion the author’s discussion. In this latter case it could be translated with the use of “now” (so A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians [WBC], 384).
Ephesians 5:33 tn Grk “Nevertheless, you also, one by one, each his own wife so let him love as himself.” This statement is cumbersome and was cleaned up to reflect better English style.
Ephesians 5:33 tn The ἵνα (hina) clause was taken as imperatival, i.e., “let the wife respect….”
Ephesians 5:33 tn The Greek verb φοβέομαι (phobeomai) here has been translated “respect” and the noun form of the word, i.e., φόβος (phobos), has been translated as “reverence” in 5:21.
Ephesians 6:1 tn The use of the article τά (ta) with τέκνα (tekna) functions in a generic way to distinguish this group from husbands, wives, fathers and slaves and is left, therefore, untranslated. The generic article is used with γύναῖκες (gunaikes) in 5:22, ἄνδρες (andres) in 5:25, δοῦλοι (douloi) in 6:5, and κύριοι (kurioi) in 6:9.
Ephesians 6:1 tc B D* F G as well as a few versional and patristic representatives lack “in the Lord” (ἐν κυρίῳ, en kuriō), while the phrase is well represented in P⁴⁶ א A D¹ I^vid Ψ 0278 0285 33 1175 1505 1739 1881 2464 M sy co. Scribes may have thought that the phrase could be regarded a qualifier on the kind of parents a child should obey (viz., only Christian parents), and would thus be tempted to delete the phrase to counter such an interpretation. It is unlikely that the phrase would have been added later, since the form used to express such sentiment in this Haustafel is ὡς τῷ κυρίῳ/Χριστῷ (hōs tō kuriō/Christō, “as to the Lord/Christ”; see 5:22; 6:5). Even though the witnesses for the omission are impressive, it is more likely that the phrase was deleted than added by scribal activity.
Ephesians 6:2 sn A quotation from Exod 20:12 and Deut 5:16.
Ephesians 6:3 tn Grk “be.”
Ephesians 6:3 tn Grk “will be.”
Ephesians 6:3 sn A quotation from Deut 5:16.
Ephesians 6:4 tn Or perhaps “Parents” (so TEV, CEV). The plural οἱ πατέρες (hoi pateres, “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.b).
Ephesians 6:4 tn Or “do not make your children angry.” BDAG 780 s.v. παροργίζω states “make angry.” The Greek verb in Col 3:21 is a different one with a slightly different nuance.
Ephesians 6:5 tn Traditionally, “Servants” (KJV). Though δοῦλος (doulos) is often translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). One good translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος) in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force. Also, many slaves in the Roman world became slaves through Rome’s subjugation of conquered nations, kidnapping, or by being born into slave households.
Ephesians 6:5 tn Grk “the masters according to the flesh.” In the translation above, the article τοῖς (tois) governing κυρίοις (kuriois) is rendered in English as a possessive pronoun (i.e., “your”) and the prepositional phrase κατὰ σάρκα (kata sarka) is taken as modifying κυρίοις (indicating that the author is referring to human masters) and not modifying the imperative ὑπακούετε (hupakouete, which would indicate that obedience was according to a human standard or limitation).
Ephesians 6:6 tn Grk “not according to eye-service.”
Ephesians 6:6 tn Grk “from the soul.”
Ephesians 6:7 tn Though the verb does not appear again at this point in the passage, it is nonetheless implied and supplied in the English translation for the sake of clarity.
Ephesians 6:7 tn Grk “serving as to the Lord.”
Ephesians 6:8 sn The pronoun “this” (τοῦτο, touto) stands first in its clause for emphasis, and stresses the fact that God will reward those, who in seeking him, do good.
Ephesians 6:9 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
Ephesians 6:9 tn Though the Greek text only has αὐτούς (autous, “them”), the antecedent is the slaves of the masters. Therefore, it was translated this way to make it explicit in English.
Ephesians 6:9 tn Grk “do the same things to them.”
Ephesians 6:9 tn Grk “giving up the threat.”
Ephesians 6:9 tn Grk “because of both they and you, the Lord is, in heaven…”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

מ (Mem)

Footnotes

The People Acknowledge Their Sin before God

Footnotes

Exhortations to Households

Footnotes