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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 48

Psalm 48^[a]

A song, a psalm by the Korahites.

48 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise
in the city of our God,^[b] his holy hill.
²It is lofty and pleasing to look at,^[c]
a source of joy to the whole earth.^[d]
Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon;^[e]
it is the city of the great king.
³God is in its fortresses;
he reveals himself as its defender.^[f]
⁴For^[g] look, the kings assemble;^[h]
they advance together.
⁵As soon as they see,^[i] they are shocked;^[j]
they are terrified, they quickly retreat.^[k]
⁶Look at them shake uncontrollably,^[l]
like a woman writhing in childbirth.^[m]
⁷With an east wind
you shatter^[n] the large ships.^[o]
⁸We heard about God’s mighty deeds; now we have seen them,^[p]
in the city of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,^[q]
in the city of our God.
God makes it permanently secure.^[r] (Selah)
⁹Within your temple
we reflect on your loyal love, O God.
¹⁰The praise you receive as far away as the ends of the earth
is worthy of your reputation, O God.^[s]
You execute justice.^[t]
¹¹Mount Zion rejoices;
the towns^[u] of Judah are happy,^[v]
because of your acts of judgment.^[w]
¹²Walk around^[x] Zion. Encircle it.
Count its towers.
¹³Consider its defenses.^[y]
Walk through^[z] its fortresses,
so you can tell the next generation about it.^[aa]
¹⁴For God, our God, is our defender forever.^[ab]
He guides^[ac] us.^[ad]

Footnotes

Psalm 48:1 sn Psalm 48. This so-called “Song of Zion” celebrates the greatness and glory of the Lord’s dwelling place, Jerusalem. His presence in the city elevates it above all others and assures its security.
Psalm 48:1 sn The city of our God is Jerusalem, which is also referred to here as “his holy hill,” that is, Zion (see v. 2, as well as Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; 87:1; Dan 9:16).
Psalm 48:2 tn Heb “beautiful of height.” The Hebrew term נוֹף (nof, “height”) is a genitive of specification after the qualitative noun “beautiful.” The idea seems to be that Mount Zion, because of its lofty appearance, is pleasing to the sight.
Psalm 48:2 sn A source of joy to the whole earth. The language is hyperbolic. Zion, as the dwelling place of the universal king, is pictured as the world’s capital. The prophets anticipated this idealized picture becoming a reality in the eschaton (see Isa 2:1-4).
Psalm 48:2 tn Heb “Mount Zion, the peaks of Zaphon.” Like all the preceding phrases in v. 2, both phrases are appositional to “city of our God, his holy hill” in v. 1, suggesting an identification in the poet’s mind between Mount Zion and Zaphon. “Zaphon” usually refers to the “north” in a general sense (see Pss 89:12; 107:3), but here, where it is collocated with “peaks,” it refers specifically to Mount Zaphon, located in the vicinity of ancient Ugarit and viewed as the mountain where the gods assembled (see Isa 14:13). By alluding to West Semitic mythology in this way, the psalm affirms that Mount Zion is the real divine mountain, for it is here that the Lord God of Israel lives and rules over the nations. See P. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 353, and T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 103.
Psalm 48:3 tn Heb “its elevated place,” or “its refuge.”
Psalm 48:4 tn The logical connection between vv. 3-4 seems to be this: God is the protector of Zion and reveals himself as the city’s defender—this is necessary because hostile armies threaten the city.
Psalm 48:4 tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 4-6 are understood as descriptive. In dramatic style (note הִנֵּה, hinneh, “look”) the psalm describes an enemy attack against the city as if it were occurring at this very moment. Another option is to take the perfects as narrational (“the kings assembled, they advanced”), referring to a particular historical event, such as Sennacherib’s siege of the city in 701 b.c. (cf. NIV, NRSV). Even if one translates the verses in a dramatic-descriptive manner (as the present translation does), the Lord’s victory over the Assyrians was probably what served as the inspiration of the description (see v. 8).
Psalm 48:5 tn The object of “see” is omitted, but v. 3b suggests that the Lord’s self-revelation as the city’s defender is what they see.
Psalm 48:5 tn Heb “they look, so they are shocked.” Here כֵּן (ken, “so”) has the force of “in the same measure.”
Psalm 48:5 tn The translation attempts to reflect the staccato style of the Hebrew text, where the main clauses of vv. 4-6 are simply juxtaposed without connectives.
Psalm 48:6 tn Heb “trembling seizes them there.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).
Psalm 48:6 tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”sn The language of vv. 5-6 is reminiscent of Exod 15:15.
Psalm 48:7 tn The switch to the imperfect, as well as the introduction of the ship metaphor, perhaps signals a change to a generalizing tone; the Lord typically shatters these large ships, symbolic of the human strength of hostile armies (see the following note on “large ships”). The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Pss 29:5; 46:9). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3).
Psalm 48:7 tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to and from the distant western port of Tarshish. These ships, which were the best of their class, here symbolize the mere human strength of hostile armies, which are incapable of withstanding the Lord’s divine power (see Isa 2:16).
Psalm 48:8 tn Heb “As we have heard, so we have seen.” The community had heard about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history. Having personally witnessed his saving power with their own eyes, they could now affirm that the tradition was not exaggerated or inaccurate.
Psalm 48:8 tn Heb “the Lord of hosts.” The title “Lord of hosts” here pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle (see Pss 24:10; 46:7, 11).
Psalm 48:8 tn Or “God makes it secure forever.” The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.
Psalm 48:10 tn Heb “like your name, O God, so [is] your praise to the ends of the earth.” Here “name” refers to God’s reputation and revealed character.
Psalm 48:10 tn Heb “your right hand is full of justice.” The “right hand” suggests activity and power.
Psalm 48:11 tn Heb “daughters.” The reference is to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 97:8 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).
Psalm 48:11 tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as generalizing imperfects. (For other examples of an imperfect followed by causal לְמַעַן [l^emaʿan], see Ps 23:3; Isa 49:7; 55:5.) Another option is to interpret the forms as jussives, “Let Mount Zion rejoice! Let the towns of Judah be happy!” (cf. NASB, NRSV; note the imperatives in vv. 12-13.)
Psalm 48:11 sn These acts of judgment are described in vv. 4-7.
Psalm 48:12 tn The verb forms in vv. 12-13 are plural; the entire Judahite community is addressed.
Psalm 48:13 tn Heb “set your heart to its rampart.”
Psalm 48:13 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word translated “walk through,” which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Cf. NEB “pass…in review”; NIV “view.”
Psalm 48:13 sn The city’s towers, defenses, and fortresses are outward reminders and tangible symbols of the divine protection the city enjoys.
Psalm 48:14 tn Heb “for this is God, our God, forever and ever.” “This” might be paraphrased, “this protector described and praised in the preceding verses.”
Psalm 48:14 tn The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.
Psalm 48:14 tn In the Hebrew text the psalm ends with the words עַל־מוּת (ʿal-mut, “upon [unto?] dying”), which make little, if any, sense. M. Dahood (Psalms [AB], 1:293) proposes an otherwise unattested plural form עֹלָמוֹת (ʿolamot; from עוֹלָם, ʿolam, “eternity”). This would provide a nice parallel to עוֹלָם וָעֶד (ʿolam vaʿed, “forever”) in the preceding line, but elsewhere the plural of עוֹלָם appears as עֹלָמִים (ʿolamim). It is preferable to understand the phrase as a musical direction of some sort (see עַל־מוּת [ʿal-mut] in the superscription of Ps 9) or to emend the text to עַל־עֲלָמוֹת (ʿal ʿalamot, “according to the alamoth style”; see the heading of Ps 46). In either case it should be understood as belonging with the superscription of the following psalm.

Joel 2:18-29

The Lord’s Response

¹⁸Then the Lord became zealous^[a] for his land;
he had compassion on his people.
¹⁹The Lord responded^[b] to his people,
“Look! I am about to restore your grain^[c]
as well as fresh wine and olive oil.
You will be fully satisfied.^[d]
I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.
²⁰I will remove the one from the north^[e] far from you.
I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place.
Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea,^[f]
and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea.^[g]
His stench will rise up as a foul smell.”^[h]
Indeed, the Lord^[i] has accomplished great things!
²¹Do not fear, my land.

Rejoice and be glad,
because the Lord has accomplished great things!
²²Do not fear, wild animals.^[j]
For the pastures of the wilderness are again green with grass.
Indeed, the trees bear their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield to their fullest.^[k]
²³Citizens of Zion,^[l] rejoice!
Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done!^[m]
For he has given to you the early rains^[n] as vindication.
He has sent^[o] to you the rains—
both the early and the late rains^[p] as formerly.
²⁴The threshing floors are full of grain;
the vats overflow with fresh wine and olive oil.
²⁵I will make up for the years^[q]
that the ‘arbeh-locust^[r] consumed your crops^[s]—
the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust—
my great army^[t] that I sent against you.
²⁶You will have plenty to eat,
and your hunger will be fully satisfied;^[u]
you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has acted wondrously in your behalf.
My people will never again be put to shame.
²⁷You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel.
I am the Lord your God; there is no other.
My people will never again be put to shame.

An Outpouring of the Spirit

²⁸(3:1)^[v] After all of this^[w]
I will pour out my Spirit^[x] on all kinds of people.^[y]
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your elderly will have prophetic dreams;^[z]
your young men will see visions.
²⁹Even on male and female servants
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

Footnotes

Joel 2:18 tn The time-frame entertained by the verbs of v. 18 constitutes a crux interpretum in this chapter. The Hebrew verb forms used here are preterites with vav consecutive and are most naturally understood as describing a past situation. However, some modern English versions render these verbs as futures (e.g., NIV, NASB), apparently concluding that the context requires a future reference. According to Joüon 2:363 §112.h, n.1 Ibn Ezra explained the verbs of Joel 2:18 as an extension of the so-called prophetic perfect; as such, a future fulfillment was described with a past tense as a rhetorical device lending certainty to the fulfillment. But this lacks adequate precedent and is very unlikely from a syntactical standpoint. It seems better to take the verbs in the normal past sense of the preterite. This would require a vantage point for the prophet at some time after the people had responded favorably to the Lord’s call for repentance and after the Lord had shown compassion and forgiveness toward his people, but before the full realization of God’s promises to restore productivity to the land. In other words, it appears from the verbs of vv. 18-19 that at the time of Joel’s writing this book the events of successive waves of locust invasion and conditions of drought had almost run their course and the people had now begun to turn to the Lord.
Joel 2:19 tn Heb “answered and said.”
Joel 2:19 tn Heb “Look! I am sending grain to you.” The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to suggest imminent action.
Joel 2:19 tc One of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXII^c) inserts “and you will eat” before “and you will be fully satisfied,” the latter phrase being the reading of the MT and LXX.
Joel 2:20 sn The allusion to the one from the north is best understood as having locusts in view. It is not correct to say that this reference to the enemy who came form the north excludes the possibility of a reference to locusts and must be understood as human armies. Although locust plagues usually approached Palestine from the east or southeast, the severe plague of 1915, for example, came from the northeast.
Joel 2:20 tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.
Joel 2:20 tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.
Joel 2:20 sn Heb “and his foul smell will ascend.” The foul smell probably refers to the unpleasant odor of decayed masses of dead locusts. The Hebrew word for “foul smell” is found only here in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for “stench” appears only here and in Isa 34:3 and Amos 4:10. In the latter references it refers to the stench of dead corpses on a field of battle.
Joel 2:20 tn The Hebrew text does not have “the Lord.” Two interpretations are possible. This clause may refer to the enemy described in the immediately preceding verses, in which case it would have a negative sense: “he has acted in a high-handed manner.” Or it may refer to the Lord, in which case it would have a positive sense: “the Lord has acted in a marvelous manner.” This is clearly the sense of the same expression in v. 21, where in fact “the Lord” appears as the subject of the verb. It seems best to understand the clause the same way in both verses.
Joel 2:22 tn Heb “beasts of the field.”
Joel 2:22 tn Heb “their strength.” The trees and vines will produce a maximum harvest, in contrast to the failed agricultural conditions previously described.
Joel 2:23 tn Heb “sons of Zion.”
Joel 2:23 tn Heb “be glad in the Lord your God.”
Joel 2:23 tn Normally the Hebrew word הַמּוֹרֶה (hammoreh) means “the teacher,” but here and in Ps 84:7 it refers to “early rains.” Elsewhere the word for “early rains” is יוֹרֶה (yoreh). The phrase here הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה (hammoreh litsdaqah) is similar to the expression “teacher of righteousness” (Heb., מוֹרֶה הַצֶּדֶק, moreh hatsedeq) found in the Dead Sea Scrolls referring to a particular charismatic leader, although the Qumran community seems not to have invoked this text in support of that notion.
Joel 2:23 tn Heb “caused to come down.”
Joel 2:23 sn For half the year Palestine is generally dry. The rainy season begins with the early rains usually in late October to early December, followed by the latter rains in March and April. Without these rains productive farming would not be possible, as Joel’s original readers knew only too well.
Joel 2:25 tn Heb “I will restore to you the years.”sn The plural years suggests that the plague to which Joel refers was not limited to a single season. Apparently the locusts were a major problem over several successive years. One season of drought and locust invasion would have been bad enough. Several such years would have been devastating.
Joel 2:25 sn The same four terms for locust are used here as in 1:4, but in a different order. This fact creates some difficulty for the notion that the four words refer to four distinct stages of locust development.
Joel 2:25 tn The term “your crops” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.
Joel 2:25 sn Here Joel employs military language to describe the locusts. In the prophet’s thinking this invasion was far from being a freak accident. Rather, the Lord is pictured here as a divine warrior who leads his army into the land as a punishment for past sin and as a means of bringing about spiritual renewal on the part of the people.
Joel 2:26 tn Heb “you will surely eat and be satisfied.”
Joel 2:28 sn Beginning with 2:28, the verse numbers through 3:21 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 2:28 ET = 3:1 HT, 2:29 ET = 3:2 HT, 2:30 ET = 3:3 HT, 2:31 ET = 3:4 HT, 2:32 ET = 3:5 HT, 3:1 ET = 4:1 HT, etc., through 3:21 ET = 4:21 HT. Thus Joel in the Hebrew Bible has 4 chapters, the 5 verses of ch. 3 being included at the end of ch. 2 in the English Bible.
Joel 2:28 tn Heb “Now it will be after this.”
Joel 2:28 sn This passage plays a key role in the apostolic explanation of the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2:17-21. Peter introduces his quotation of this passage with “this is that spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16; cf. the similar pesher formula used at Qumran). The New Testament events at Pentecost are thus seen in some sense as a fulfillment of this Old Testament passage, even though that experience did not exhaustively fulfill Joel’s words. Some portions of Joel’s prophecy have no precise counterpart in that experience. For example, there is nothing in the events recorded in Acts 2 that exactly corresponds to the earthly and heavenly signs described in Joel 3:3-4. But inasmuch as the messianic age had already begun and the “last days” had already commenced with the coming of the Messiah (cf. Heb 1:1-2), Peter was able to point to Joel 3:1-5 as a text that was relevant to the advent of Jesus and the bestowal of the Spirit. The equative language that Peter employs (“this is that”) stresses an incipient fulfillment of the Joel passage without precluding or minimizing a yet future and more exhaustive fulfillment in events associated with the return of Christ.
Joel 2:28 tn Heb “all flesh.” As a term for humanity, “flesh” suggests the weakness and fragility of human beings as opposed to God, who is “spirit.” The word “all” refers not to all human beings without exception (cf. NAB, NASB “all mankind,” NLT “all people”), but to all classes of human beings without distinction (cf. NCV).
Joel 2:28 tn Heb “your old men will dream dreams.” In context these are prophetic visions, messages from God, as are the visions mentioned in the next line.

1 Corinthians 2:1-11

2 When I came^[a] to you, brothers and sisters,^[b] I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony^[c] of God. ²For I decided to be concerned about nothing^[d] among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. ³And I was with you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling. ⁴My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Wisdom from God

⁶Now we do speak wisdom among the mature,^[e] but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. ⁷Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. ⁸None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined,^[f] are the things God has prepared for those who love him.”^[g] ¹⁰God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 48[a]

A song, a psalm by the Korahites.

Footnotes

The Lord’s Response

An Outpouring of the Spirit

Footnotes

Wisdom from God

Footnotes

Psalm 48^[a]