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October 12, 2022

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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 61

Psalm 61^[a]

For the music director, to be played on a stringed instrument; written by David.

61 O God, hear my cry for help.
Pay attention to my prayer.
²From the remotest place on earth^[b]
I call out to you in my despair.^[c]
Lead me^[d] up to a rocky summit where I can be safe.^[e]
³Indeed,^[f] you are^[g] my shelter,
a strong tower that protects me from the enemy.^[h]
⁴I will be a permanent guest in your home;^[i]
I will find shelter in the protection of your wings.^[j] (Selah)
⁵For you, O God, hear my vows;
you grant me the reward that belongs to your loyal followers.^[k]
⁶Give the king long life.
Make his lifetime span several generations.^[l]
⁷May he reign^[m] forever before God.
Decree that your loyal love and faithfulness should protect him.^[n]
⁸Then I will sing praises to your name continually,^[o]
as I fulfill^[p] my vows day after day.

Footnotes

Psalm 61:1 sn Psalm 61. The psalmist cries out for help and expresses his confidence that God will protect him.
Psalm 61:2 tn Heb “from the end of the earth.” This may indicate (1) the psalmist is exiled in a distant land, or (2) it may be hyperbolic (the psalmist feels alienated from God’s presence, as if he were in a distant land).
Psalm 61:2 tn Heb “while my heart faints.”
Psalm 61:2 tn The imperfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s wish or prayer.
Psalm 61:2 tn Heb “on to a rocky summit [that] is higher than I.”
Psalm 61:3 tn Or “for.”
Psalm 61:3 tn Or “have been.”
Psalm 61:3 tn Heb “a strong tower from the face of an enemy.”
Psalm 61:4 tn Heb “I will live as a resident foreigner in your tent permanently.” The cohortative is understood here as indicating resolve. Another option is to take it as expressing a request, “please let me live” (cf. NASB, NRSV).
Psalm 61:4 sn I will find shelter in the protection of your wings. The metaphor compares God to a protective mother bird.
Psalm 61:5 tn Heb “you grant the inheritance of those who fear your name.” “Inheritance” is normally used of land which is granted as an inheritance; here it refers metaphorically to the blessings granted God’s loyal followers. To “fear” God’s name means to have a healthy respect for his revealed reputation which in turn motivates one to obey God’s commands (see Ps 86:11).
Psalm 61:6 tn Heb “days upon days of the king add, his years like generation and generation.”sn It is not certain if the (royal) psalmist is referring to himself in the third person in this verse, or if an exile is praying on behalf of the king.
Psalm 61:7 tn Heb “sit [enthroned].” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive here, expressing the psalmist’s prayer.
Psalm 61:7 tn Heb “loyal love and faithfulness appoint, let them protect him.”
Psalm 61:8 tn Or “forever.”
Psalm 61:8 tn Or perhaps, “and thereby fulfill.” The preposition with the infinitive construct here indicates an accompanying circumstance.

2 Kings 15:1-7

Azariah’s Reign over Judah

15 In the twenty-seventh year of King Jeroboam’s reign over Israel, Amaziah’s son Azariah became king over Judah. ²He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah, who was from Jerusalem. ³He did what the Lord approved, just as his father Amaziah had done.^[a] ⁴But the high places were not eliminated; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. ⁵The Lord afflicted the king with an illness; he suffered from a skin disease^[b] until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters,^[c] while his son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land.

⁶The rest of the events of Azariah’s reign, including all his accomplishments, are recorded in the scroll called the Annals of the Kings of Judah.^[d] ⁷Azariah passed away^[e] and was buried^[f] with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Jotham replaced him as king.

Matthew 10:5-15

⁵Jesus sent out these twelve, instructing them as follows:^[a] “Do not go on a road that leads to Gentile regions^[b] and do not enter any Samaritan town.^[c] ⁶Go^[d] instead to the lost sheep^[e] of the house of Israel. ⁷As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near!’ ⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead,^[f] cleanse lepers,^[g] cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. ⁹Do not take gold, silver, or copper^[h] in your belts, ¹⁰no bag^[i] for the journey, or an extra tunic,^[j] or sandals or staff,^[k] for the worker deserves his provisions. ¹¹Whenever^[l] you enter a town or village,^[m] find out who is worthy there^[n] and stay with them^[o] until you leave. ¹²As you enter the house, greet those within it.^[p] ¹³And if the house is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.^[q] ¹⁴And if anyone will not welcome you or listen to your message, shake the dust off^[r] your feet as you leave that house or that town. ¹⁵I tell you the truth,^[s] it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah^[t] on the day of judgment than for that town!

Footnotes

Matthew 10:5 tn Grk “instructing them, saying.”
Matthew 10:5 tn Grk “on the way/road of the Gentiles.” The objective genitive “of the Gentiles” indicates the direction (BDAG 554 s.v. ὁδός 1.a); the restriction is on the territory to be visited rather than contact with individual Gentiles or Samaritans (compare the mission of the seventy-two in Luke 10:4 where even standard greetings along the road are prohibited). sn Since Galilee was surrounded on all sides by Gentile territory except the south, where it bordered on Samaria, this restriction effectively limited the mission of the twelve to Galilee on this occasion.
Matthew 10:5 tn Grk “town [or city] of the Samaritans.”sn This is the only mention of Samaritans or Samaria in the Gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 10:6 tn Grk “But go.” The Greek μᾶλλον (mallon, “rather, instead”) conveys the adversative nuance here so that δέ (de) has not been translated.
Matthew 10:6 sn The imagery of lost sheep probably alludes to Jer 50:6, where the Jewish people have been abandoned by their leaders (“shepherds”) and allowed to go astray.
Matthew 10:8 tc The majority of Byzantine minuscules, along with a few other witnesses (C³ K L Γ Θ 579 700^txt* 1424^c sa mae), lack νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε (nekrous egeirete, “raise the dead”), most likely because of oversight due to a string of similar endings (-ετε in the second person imperatives, occurring five times in v. 8). The longer version of this verse is found in several diverse and ancient witnesses such as א B C* (D) N 0281^vid ƒ^{1, 13} 33 565 579^mg lat bo; P W Δ 348 sy^h have a word-order variation, but nevertheless include νεκροὺς ἐγείρετε. Although some Byzantine-text proponents charge the Alexandrian witnesses with theologically-motivated alterations toward heterodoxy, it is interesting to find a variant such as this in which the charge could be reversed (do the Byzantine scribes have something against the miracle of resurrection?). In reality, such charges of wholesale theologically-motivated changes toward heterodoxy are immediately suspect due to lack of evidence of intentional changes (here the change is evidently due to accidental omission).
Matthew 10:8 sn See the note on leper in Matt 8:2.
Matthew 10:9 sn The gold, silver, and copper probably represent varying degrees of provision, with gold the most valuable and copper the least. Jesus’ point appears to be that not even minimal provision (copper) was to be taken along, forcing the disciple to be totally dependent on God.
Matthew 10:10 tn Or “no traveler’s bag”; or possibly “no beggar’s bag” (L&N 6.145; BDAG 811 s.v. πήρα).
Matthew 10:10 tn Grk “two tunics,” that is, wearing one and carrying one as a spare. See the note on the word “tunic” in Matt 5:40.
Matthew 10:10 tn Mark 6:8 allows one staff. It is possible that Matthew’s “two” with regard to the tunics (NET “an extra tunic”) extends to cover the sandals and staff as well (although “staff” is singular), making this a summary (cf. Luke 9:3) meaning not taking an extra pair of sandals or an extra staff (like the tunics). It is also possible the expression is merely rhetorical for “traveling light” which has been rendered in two slightly different ways.sn The point of the prohibitions seems to be not so much urgency as total dependence on God. Lack of a staff, in particular, would leave the traveler extremely vulnerable to wild animals and robbers.
Matthew 10:11 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
Matthew 10:11 tn Grk “Into whatever town or village you enter.” This acts as a distributive, meaning every town or village they enter; this is expressed more naturally in English as “whenever you enter a town or village.”
Matthew 10:11 tn Grk “in it” (referring to the city or village).
Matthew 10:11 tn Grk “there.” This was translated as “with them” to avoid redundancy in English and to clarify where the disciples were to stay.sn Jesus telling his disciples to stay with them in one house contrasts with the practice of religious philosophers in the ancient world who went from house to house begging. Staying in one location would give the disciples a base of operations for mission in the area as long as they were there.
Matthew 10:12 tn Grk “give it greetings.” The expression “give it greetings” is a metonymy; the “house” is put for those who live in it. The translation clarifies this because it sounds odd in contemporary English to speak of greeting a building.
Matthew 10:13 sn The response to these messengers determines how God’s blessing is bestowed—if the messengers are not welcomed, their blessing will return to them. Jesus shows just how important their mission is by this remark.
Matthew 10:14 sn To shake the dust off represented, on one level, shaking off the uncleanness from one’s feet; see Luke 10:11; Acts 13:51; 18:6. At another level, however, it is similar to a prophetic sign, representing the termination of all fellowship with those individuals or localities that have rejected the messengers along with their message of the coming kingdom of heaven. This in essence constitutes a sign of eschatological judgment, as confirmed in the following verse.
Matthew 10:15 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amēn), I say to you.”
Matthew 10:15 sn Sodom and Gomorrah were widely regarded as the most wicked of OT cities from the actions described in Gen 19:1-29; even in OT times their wickedness had become proverbial (Isa 1:9-10). The allusion to God’s judgment on these cities is not intended to indicate that they might be shown mercy on the day of judgment, but to warn that rejecting the messengers with their current message about the coming kingdom is even more serious than the worst sins of Sodom and Gomorrah and will result in even more severe punishment.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 61[a]

For the music director, to be played on a stringed instrument; written by David.

Footnotes

Azariah’s Reign over Judah

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 61^[a]