◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 134 (Praise God day and night); Proverbs 8:32—9:6 (Wisdom serves a meal); 1 Peter 2:1-3 (Long for the pure spiritual milk) (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 134

Psalm 134^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]

134 Attention!^[c] Praise the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord,
who serve^[d] in the Lord’s temple during the night.
²Lift your hands toward the sanctuary
and praise the Lord.
³May the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth,
bless you^[e] from Zion.^[f]

Proverbs 8:32-9:6

³²“So now, children,^[a] listen to me;

blessed are those who keep my ways.
³³Listen to my instruction^[b] so that you may be wise,^[c]
and do not neglect it.
³⁴Blessed is the one^[d] who listens to me,
watching^[e] at my doors day by day,
waiting^[f] beside my doorway.^[g]
³⁵For the one who finds me has found^[h] life
and received^[i] favor from the Lord.
³⁶But the one who misses me^[j] brings harm^[k] to himself;^[l]
all who hate^[m] me love death.”

The Consequences of Accepting Wisdom or Folly^[n]

9 Wisdom has built her house;
she has carved out its seven pillars.^[o]
²She has prepared her meat,^[p] she has mixed her wine;
she also has arranged her table.^[q]
³She has sent out her female servants;
she calls out^[r] on the highest places^[s] of the city.
⁴“Whoever is naive, let him turn in here.”
To those^[t] who lack understanding,^[u] she has said,^[v]
⁵“Come, eat^[w] some of my food,
and drink some of the wine I have mixed.^[x]
⁶Abandon your foolish ways^[y] so that you may live,^[z]
and proceed^[aa] in the way of understanding.”

Footnotes

Proverbs 8:32 tn Heb “sons.”
Proverbs 8:33 tn Heb “discipline.”
Proverbs 8:33 tn The construction uses two imperatives joined with the vav (ו); this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is being expressed.
Proverbs 8:34 tn Heb “the man.”
Proverbs 8:34 tn The form לִשְׁקֹד (lishqod) is the infinitive construct serving epexegetically in the sentence. It explains how the person will listen to wisdom.
Proverbs 8:34 tn Heb “keeping” or “guarding.”
Proverbs 8:34 tn Heb “at the posts of my doors” (so KJV, ASV).
Proverbs 8:35 tc The Kethib reads the verb as a plural participle: “the one who finds me are finders of life.” The LXX reads a plural subject: “those who find me.” But the Hebrew Qere reads a singular perfect verb. The next verb is a preterite, which commonly follows the perfect but very rarely a participle. The perfect form of a dynamic verb should be translated as past or perfective.
Proverbs 8:35 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive continues the time frame of the perfect verb that came before it. sn The sage uses these verb forms in contrast with the following verse, which is present tense. The antithetic parallelism contrasts not just the subject (who finds vs. who misses) and the verb (to find vs. to harm) but also the state of the outcome. This person found life and continues in the benefit: “had found life.”
Proverbs 8:36 tn Heb “the one sinning [against] me.” The verb חָטָא (khataʾ, “to sin, to err”) forms a contrast with “find” in the previous verse, and so has its basic meaning of “failing to find, miss.”
Proverbs 8:36 tn The Qal active participle functions verbally here. The word stresses both social and physical harm and violence. sn Brings harm. While the previous verse used past time verbs, the sage employs the participle here as an ongoing activity. Whoever tries to live without wisdom is inviting all kinds of disaster into his life.
Proverbs 8:36 tn Heb “his soul.”
Proverbs 8:36 tn The basic idea of the verb שָׂנֵא (saneʾ, “to hate”) is that of rejection. Its antonym is also used in the line, “love,” which has the idea of choosing. So not choosing (i.e., hating) wisdom amounts to choosing (i.e., loving) death.
Proverbs 9:1 sn Chapter 9 forms the conclusion of the lengthy introduction to the book. Both wisdom and folly will make their final appeals; and both appeal to the simpletons. Wisdom offers life with no mention of pleasure; folly offers pleasure with no mention of death. The first twelve verses concern accepting wisdom: the invitation of wisdom (1-6), the description of the responses (7-11), and the consequence (12). Verses 13-18 concern accepting folly: the invitation (13-17) and the consequence (18).
Proverbs 9:1 sn Wisdom is personified as a wise woman. She has prepared a house and established it on seven pillars. This is a reference to the habitable world (e.g., 8:31). For the equation of the house and the world, e.g., 8:29; Job 38:6; Ps 104:5 (also G. Boström, Proverbiastudien [LUÅ], 1-14). The “seven pillars” have been variously interpreted, but since seven is a number for completeness and sacredness, the idea seems to be that wisdom produced a perfect world.
Proverbs 9:2 tn Heb “she has slaughtered her slaughter [animals].” English does not prefer to use a cognate verb and noun for butchering an animal in food preparation. Cf. KJV “hath killed her beasts”; NAB “has dressed her meat”; NASB “has prepared her food.”
Proverbs 9:2 sn Wisdom has prepared a sumptuous banquet in this house and sends out her maids to call the simple to come and eat (M. Lichtenstein, “The Banquet Motif in Keret and in Proverbs 9, ” JANESCU 1 [1968/69]: 19-31). The figures of meat and wine represent the good teaching of wisdom that will be palatable and profitable (implied comparisons). Cf. Isaiah 55:1-2 and John 6:51, 55 for similar uses of the figures. The idea of mixing wine could refer to the practice of mixing wine with spices or with water (as the LXX text assumes; e.g., Prov 23:30; Isa 5:22). Mixed wine was the most intoxicating; thus, her wisdom is attractive. All the imagery lets the simple know that what wisdom has to offer is marvelous.
Proverbs 9:3 tn The Hebrew imperfect can be a general present. The prior perfect verbs tell what she has done in preparation, while the imperfect tells what she now does. But it is also possible, given the past time context of the previous verbs, that the imperfect should be understood as past habitual, “she would call,” or as a preterite (without the vav consecutive), “she called.” This would be in line with the next verse which uses a perfect, “she has said.”
Proverbs 9:3 tn The text uses two synonymous terms in construct to express the superlative degree.
Proverbs 9:4 tn Heb “[As for one] lacking of mind—she has said to him.” The pronominal suffix is a resumptive pronoun, meaning, “she has said to the [person] lacking of mind.”
Proverbs 9:4 tn The Hebrew word לֵב (lev) means both the “heart” and the “mind.” By metonymy, the mind stands for understanding or judgment.
Proverbs 9:4 tn The Hebrew switches to the perfect verb form to introduce the speech in the following verses. It lets us know what her message has been. It is possible that the imperfect verb in the previous verse should be understood as a past habitual, “she would call” or as a preterite (without the vav consecutive), “she called.” tc The LXX supports the reading of the verb as a perfect. But at the similar construction in 9:16, the LXX reads a participle, which would be present time. The consonants are the same for both forms. It is possible that the verb should be read as a participle in both verses. The present tense could certainly fit the context.
Proverbs 9:5 tn The construction features a cognate accusative (verb and noun from same root). The preposition ב (bet) has the partitive use “some” (GKC 380 §119.m).
Proverbs 9:5 tn The final verb actually stands in a relative clause although the relative pronoun is not present; it modifies “wine.”sn The expressions “eat” and “drink” carry the implied comparison forward; they mean that the simple are to appropriate the teachings of wisdom.
Proverbs 9:6 tn There are two ways to take this word: either as “fools” or as “foolish ways.” The spelling for “foolishness” in v. 13 differs from this spelling, and so some have taken that as an indicator that this should be “fools.” But this could still be an abstract plural here as in 1:22. Either the message is to forsake fools (i.e., bad company; cf. KJV, TEV) or forsake foolishness (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT).
Proverbs 9:6 tn The two imperatives are joined with vav; this is a volitive sequence in which result or consequence is expressed.
Proverbs 9:6 tn The verb means “go straight, go on, advance” or “go straight on in the way of understanding” (BDB 80 s.v. אָשַׁר).

1 Peter 2:1-3

2 So get rid of^[a] all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. ²And^[b] yearn^[c] like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk,^[d] so that by it you may grow up to^[e] salvation,^[f] ³if you have experienced^[g] the Lord’s kindness.^[h]

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 134[a]

A song of ascents.[b]

Footnotes

The Consequences of Accepting Wisdom or Folly[n]

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 134^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]

The Consequences of Accepting Wisdom or Folly^[n]