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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 124

Psalm 124^[a]

A song of ascents;^[b] by David.

124 “If the Lord had not been on our side”—
let Israel say this.—
²if the Lord had not been on our side,
when men attacked us,^[c]
³they would have swallowed us alive,
when their anger raged against us.
⁴The water would have overpowered us;
the current^[d] would have overwhelmed^[e] us.^[f]
⁵The raging water
would have overwhelmed us.^[g]
⁶The Lord deserves praise,^[h]
for^[i] he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth.
⁷We escaped with our lives,^[j] like a bird from a hunter’s snare.
The snare broke, and we escaped.
⁸Our deliverer is the Lord,^[k]
the Creator^[l] of heaven and earth.

Daniel 1

Daniel Finds Favor in Babylon

1 In the third^[a] year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar^[b] of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem and laid it under siege.^[c] ²Now the Lord^[d] delivered^[e] King Jehoiakim of Judah into his power,^[f] along with some of the vessels^[g] of the temple of God.^[h] He brought them to the land of Babylonia^[i] to the temple of his god^[j] and put^[k] the vessels in the treasury of his god.

³The king commanded^[l] Ashpenaz,^[m] who was in charge of his court officials,^[n] to choose^[o] some of the Israelites who were of royal and noble descent^[p]— ⁴young men in whom there was no physical defect and who were handsome,^[q] well versed in all kinds of wisdom, well educated^[r] and having keen insight,^[s] and who were capable^[t] of entering the king’s royal service^[u]—and to teach them the literature and language^[v] of the Babylonians.^[w] ⁵So the king assigned them a daily ration^[x] from his royal delicacies^[y] and from the wine he himself drank. They were to be trained^[z] for the next three years. At the end of that time they were to enter the king’s service.^[aa] ⁶As it turned out,^[ab] among these young men^[ac] were some from Judah:^[ad] Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.^[ae] ⁷But the overseer of the court officials renamed them. He gave^[af] Daniel the name Belteshazzar, Hananiah he named Shadrach, Mishael he named Meshach, and Azariah he named Abednego.^[ag]

⁸But Daniel made up his mind^[ah] that he would not defile^[ai] himself with the royal delicacies or the royal wine.^[aj] He therefore asked the overseer of the court officials for permission not to defile himself. ⁹Then God made the overseer of the court officials sympathetic to Daniel.^[ak] ¹⁰But he^[al] responded to Daniel, “I fear my master the king. He is the one who has decided^[am] your food and drink. What would happen if he saw that you looked malnourished in comparison to the other young men your age?^[an] If that happened,^[ao] you would endanger my life^[ap] with the king!” ¹¹Daniel then spoke to the warden^[aq] whom the overseer of the court officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: ¹²“Please test your servants for ten days by providing us with some vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³Then compare our appearance^[ar] with that of^[as] the young men who are eating the royal delicacies;^[at] deal with us^[au] in light of what you see.” ¹⁴So the warden^[av] agreed to their proposal^[aw] and tested them for ten^[ax] days.

¹⁵At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier^[ay] than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies. ¹⁶So the warden removed the delicacies and the wine^[az] from their diet^[ba] and gave them a diet of vegetables instead. ¹⁷Now as for these four young men, God endowed them with knowledge and skill in all sorts of literature and wisdom—and Daniel had insight into all kinds of visions and dreams.

¹⁸When the time appointed by the king arrived,^[bb] the overseer of the court officials brought them into Nebuchadnezzar’s presence. ¹⁹When the king spoke with them, he did not find among the entire group^[bc] anyone like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, or Azariah. So they entered the king’s service.^[bd] ²⁰In every matter of wisdom and^[be] insight the king asked them about, he found them to be ten times^[bf] better than any of the magicians and astrologers that were in his entire empire. ²¹Now Daniel lived on until the first^[bg] year of Cyrus the king.

Footnotes

Daniel 1:1 sn The third year of the reign of Jehoiakim would be ca. 605 b.c. At this time Daniel would have been a teenager. The reference to Jehoiakim’s third year poses a serious crux interpretum, since elsewhere these events are linked to his fourth year (Jer 25:1; cf. 2 Kgs 24:1; 2 Chr 36:5-8). Apparently Daniel is following an accession year chronology, whereby the first partial year of a king’s reign was reckoned as the accession year rather than as the first year of his reign. Jeremiah, on the other hand, is following a nonaccession year chronology, whereby the accession year is reckoned as the first year of the king’s reign. In that case, the conflict is only superficial. Most modern scholars, however, have concluded that Daniel is historically inaccurate here.
Daniel 1:1 sn King Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon from ca. 605-562 b.c.
Daniel 1:1 sn This attack culminated in the first of three major deportations of Jews to Babylon. The second one occurred in 597 b.c. and included among many other Jewish captives the prophet Ezekiel. The third deportation occurred in 586 b.c., at which time the temple and the city of Jerusalem were thoroughly destroyed.
Daniel 1:2 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay).
Daniel 1:2 tn Heb “gave.”
Daniel 1:2 tn Heb “hand,” which is often used idiomatically for one’s power and authority. See BDB 390 s.v. יָד 2.
Daniel 1:2 tn Or “utensils”; or “articles.”
Daniel 1:2 tn Heb “house of God.”
Daniel 1:2 sn The land of Babylonia (Heb “the land of Shinar”) is another name for Sumer and Akkad, where Babylon was located (cf. Gen 10:10; 11:2; 14:1, 9; Josh 7:21; Isa 11:11; Zech 5:11).
Daniel 1:2 tn Or “gods” (NCV, NRSV, TEV; also later in this verse). The Hebrew term can be used as a numerical plural for many gods or as a plural of majesty for one particular god. Since Nebuchadnezzar was a polytheist, it is not clear if the reference here is to many gods or one particular deity. The plural of majesty, while normally used for Israel’s God, is occasionally used of foreign gods (cf. BDB 43 s.v. אֱלֹהִים 1, 2). See Judg 11:24 (of the Moabite god Chemosh); 1 Sam 5:7 (of the Philistine god Dagon); 1 Kgs 11:33 (of the Canaanite goddess Astarte, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god Milcom); and 2 Kgs 19:37 (of the Assyrian god Nisroch). Since gods normally had their own individual temples, Dan 1:2 probably refers to a particular deity, perhaps Marduk, the supreme god of Babylon, or Marduk’s son Nabu, after whom Nebuchadnezzar was named. The name Nebuchadnezzar means “Nabu has protected the son who will inherit” (HALOT 660 s.v. נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר). For a discussion of how temples functioned in Babylonian religion, see H. Ringgren, Religions of the Ancient Near East, 77-81.
Daniel 1:2 tn Heb “brought.” Though the Hebrew verb “brought” is repeated in this verse, the translation uses “brought…put” for stylistic variation.
Daniel 1:3 tn Or “gave orders to.” Heb “said to.”
Daniel 1:3 sn It is possible that the word Ashpenaz is not a proper name at all but a general term for “innkeeper.” See J. J. Collins, Daniel (Hermeneia), 127, n. 9. However, the ancient versions understand the term to be a name, and the present translation (along with most English versions) understands the word in this way.
Daniel 1:3 sn The word court official (Hebrew saris) need not mean “eunuch” in a technical sense (see Gen 37:36, where the term refers to Potiphar, who had a wife), although in the case of the book of Daniel there was in Jewish literature a common tradition to that effect. On the OT usage of this word see HALOT 769-70 s.v. סָרֹיס.
Daniel 1:3 tn Heb “bring.”
Daniel 1:3 tn Heb “and from the seed of royalty and from the nobles.”
Daniel 1:4 tn Heb “good of appearance.”
Daniel 1:4 tn Heb “knowers of knowledge.”
Daniel 1:4 tn Heb “understanders of knowledge.”
Daniel 1:4 tn Heb “who had strength.”
Daniel 1:4 tn Heb “to stand in the palace of the king” (cf. vv. 5, 19).
Daniel 1:4 sn The language of the Chaldeans referred to here is Akkadian, an East Semitic cuneiform language.
Daniel 1:4 tn Heb “Chaldeans” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV). This is an ancient name for the Babylonians.
Daniel 1:5 tn Heb “a thing of a day in its day.”
Daniel 1:5 tn Heb “from the delicacies of the king.”
Daniel 1:5 tn Or “educated.” See HALOT 179 s.v. I גדל.
Daniel 1:5 tn Heb “stand before the king.”
Daniel 1:6 tn Heb “and it happened that.”
Daniel 1:6 tn Heb “among them.” The referent (the young men taken captive from Judah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Daniel 1:6 tn Heb “the sons of Judah.”
Daniel 1:6 sn The names reflect a Jewish heritage. In Hebrew Daniel means “God is my judge”; Hananiah means “the Lord is gracious”; Mishael means “who is what God is?”; and Azariah means “the Lord has helped.”
Daniel 1:7 tc The LXX and Vulgate lack the verb here.
Daniel 1:7 sn The meanings of the Babylonian names are more conjectural than is the case with the Hebrew names. The probable etymologies are as follows: Belteshazzar means “protect his life,” although the MT vocalization may suggest “Belti, protect the king” (cf. Dan 4:8); Shadrach perhaps means “command of Aku”; Meshach is of uncertain meaning; and Abednego means “servant of Nego.” Assigning Babylonian names to the Hebrew youths may have been an attempt to erase from their memory their Israelite heritage.
Daniel 1:8 tn Heb “placed on his heart.”
Daniel 1:8 tn Or “would not make himself ceremonially unclean”; TEV “become ritually unclean.”sn Various reasons have been suggested as to why such food would defile Daniel. Perhaps it had to do with violations of Mosaic law with regard to unclean foods, or perhaps it was food that had been offered to idols. Daniel’s practice in this regard is strikingly different from that of Esther, who was able successfully to conceal her Jewish identity.
Daniel 1:8 tn Heb “with the delicacies of the king and with the wine of his drinking.”
Daniel 1:9 tn Heb “Then God granted Daniel loyal love and compassion before the overseer of the court officials.” The expression “loyal love and compassion” is a hendiadys; the two words combine to express one idea.
Daniel 1:10 tn Heb “The overseer of the court officials.” The subject has been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.
Daniel 1:10 tn Heb “assigned” (see v. 5).
Daniel 1:10 tn Heb “Why should he see your faces thin from the young men who are according to your age?” The term translated “thin” occurs only here and in Gen 40:6, where it appears to refer to a dejected facial expression. The word is related to an Arabic root meaning “be weak.” See HALOT 277 s.v. II זעף.
Daniel 1:10 tn The words “if that happened” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
Daniel 1:10 tn Heb “my head.” Presumably this is an implicit reference to capital punishment (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT), although this is not entirely clear.
Daniel 1:11 sn Having failed to convince the overseer, Daniel sought the favor of the warden whom the overseer had appointed to care for the young men.
Daniel 1:13 tn Heb “let our appearance be seen before you.”
Daniel 1:13 tn Heb “the appearance of.”
Daniel 1:13 tn Heb “delicacies of the king,” as also in v. 15.
Daniel 1:13 tn Heb “your servants.”
Daniel 1:14 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the warden mentioned in v. 11) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Daniel 1:14 tn Heb “listened to them with regard to this matter.”
Daniel 1:14 sn The number ten is sometimes used in the OT as an ideal number of completeness (cf. v. 20; Zech 8:23; Rev 2:10).
Daniel 1:15 tn Heb “fat of flesh”; KJV, ASV “fatter in flesh”; NASB, NRSV “fatter” (although this is no longer a sign of health in Western culture).
Daniel 1:16 tn Heb “the wine of their drinking.”
Daniel 1:16 tn The words “from their diet” are not in the Hebrew text but have been added in the translation for clarity.
Daniel 1:18 tn Heb “at the end of the days that the king said to bring them.”
Daniel 1:19 tn Heb “from all of them.”
Daniel 1:19 tn Heb “stood before the king.”
Daniel 1:20 tc The MT lacks the conjunction, reading the first word in the phrase as a construct (“wisdom of insight”). While this reading is not impossible, it seems better to follow Theodotion, the Syriac, the Vulgate, and the Sahidic Coptic, all of which have the conjunction.
Daniel 1:20 tn Heb “hands.”
Daniel 1:21 sn The Persian king Cyrus’ first year in control of Babylon was 539 b.c. Daniel actually lived beyond the first year of Cyrus, as is clear from 10:1. The purpose of the statement in 1:21 is merely to say that Daniel’s life spanned the entire period of the neo-Babylonian empire. His life span also included the early years of the Persian control of Babylon. However, by that time his age was quite advanced; he probably died sometime in the 530’s b.c.

Luke 1:46-55

Mary’s Hymn of Praise

⁴⁶And Mary^[a] said,^[b]

“My soul exalts^[c] the Lord,^[d]
⁴⁷and my spirit has begun to rejoice^[e] in God my Savior,
⁴⁸because he has looked upon the humble state of his servant.^[f]
For^[g] from now on^[h] all generations will call me blessed,^[i]
⁴⁹because he who is mighty^[j] has done great things for me, and holy is his name;
⁵⁰from^[k] generation to generation he is merciful^[l] to those who fear^[m] him.
⁵¹He has demonstrated power^[n] with his arm; he has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance^[o] of their hearts.
⁵²He has brought down the mighty^[p] from their thrones, and has lifted up those of lowly position;^[q]
⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things,^[r] and has sent the rich away empty.^[s]
⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel, remembering^[t] his mercy,^[u]
⁵⁵as he promised^[v] to our ancestors,^[w] to Abraham and to his descendants^[x] forever.”

Footnotes

Luke 1:46 tc A few witnesses, especially Latin mss, (a b l* Ir^arm Or^lat mss Nic) read “Elizabeth” here, since she was just speaking, but the ms evidence overwhelmingly supports “Mary” as the speaker.
Luke 1:46 sn The following passage has been typeset as poetry because many scholars regard this passage as poetic or hymnic. These terms are used broadly to refer to the genre of writing, not to the content. There are two broad criteria for determining if a passage is poetic or hymnic: “(a) stylistic: a certain rhythmical lilt when the passages are read aloud, the presence of parallelismus membrorum (i.e., an arrangement into couplets), the semblance of some metre, and the presence of rhetorical devices such as alliteration, chiasmus, and antithesis; and (b) linguistic: an unusual vocabulary, particularly the presence of theological terms, which is different from the surrounding context” (P. T. O’Brien, Philippians [NIGTC], 188-89). Classifying a passage as hymnic or poetic is important because understanding this genre can provide keys to interpretation. However, not all scholars agree that the above criteria are present in this passage, so the decision to typeset it as poetry should be viewed as a tentative decision about its genre.
Luke 1:46 tn Or “lifts up the Lord in praise.”
Luke 1:46 sn This psalm (vv. 46-55) is one of the few praise psalms in the NT. Mary praises God and then tells why both in terms of his care for her (vv. 46-49) and for others, including Israel (vv. 50-55). Its traditional name, the “Magnificat,” comes from the Latin for the phrase My soul magnifies the Lord at the hymn’s start.
Luke 1:47 tn Or “rejoices.” The translation renders this aorist, which stands in contrast to the previous line’s present tense, as ingressive, which highlights Mary’s joyous reaction to the announcement. A comprehensive aorist is also possible here.
Luke 1:48 tn See the note on the word “servant” in v. 38.
Luke 1:48 tn Grk “for behold.”
Luke 1:48 sn From now on is a favorite phrase of Luke’s, showing how God’s acts change things from this point on (5:10; 12:52; 22:18, 69; Acts 18:6).
Luke 1:48 sn Mary is seen here as an example of an object of God’s grace (blessed) for all generations.
Luke 1:49 tn Traditionally, “the Mighty One.”
Luke 1:50 tn Grk “and from.” Here καί (kai) has been translated by a semicolon to improve the English style.
Luke 1:50 sn God’s mercy refers to his “loyal love” or “steadfast love,” expressed in faithful actions, as the rest of the psalm illustrates.
Luke 1:50 tn That is, “who revere.” This refers to those who show God a reverential respect for his sovereignty.
Luke 1:51 tn Or “shown strength,” “performed powerful deeds.” The verbs here switch to aorist tense through 1:55. This is how God will act in general for his people as they look to his ultimate deliverance.
Luke 1:51 tn Grk “in the imaginations of their hearts.” The psalm rebukes the arrogance of the proud, who think that power is their sovereign right. Here διανοίᾳ (dianoia) can be understood as a dative of sphere or reference/respect.
Luke 1:52 tn Or “rulers.”
Luke 1:52 tn Or “those of humble position”sn The contrast between the mighty and those of lowly position is fundamental for Luke. God cares for those that the powerful ignore (Luke 4:18-19).
Luke 1:53 sn Good things refers not merely to material blessings, but blessings that come from knowing God.
Luke 1:53 sn Another fundamental contrast of Luke’s is between the hungry and the rich (Luke 6:20-26).
Luke 1:54 tn Or “because he remembered mercy,” understanding the infinitive as causal.
Luke 1:54 tn Or “his [God’s] loyal love.”
Luke 1:55 tn Grk “as he spoke.” Since this is a reference to the covenant to Abraham, ἐλάλησεν (elalēsen) can be translated in context “as he promised.” God keeps his word.
Luke 1:55 tn Grk “fathers.”
Luke 1:55 tn Grk “his seed” (an idiom for offspring or descendants).

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 124[a]

A song of ascents;[b] by David.

Footnotes

Daniel Finds Favor in Babylon

Footnotes

Mary’s Hymn of Praise

Footnotes

Psalm 124^[a]

A song of ascents;^[b] by David.