◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 119:33-40 (The path of your commandments); Ezekiel 24:15-27 (God opens the prophet’s mouth); Romans 10:15b-21 (God reaches out to erring Israel) (New English Translation)

Prev Day

September 4, 2026

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

September 2026
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30

Return to today's reading

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 119:33-40

ה (He)

³³Teach me, O Lord, the lifestyle prescribed by your statutes,^[a]
so that I might observe it continually.^[b]
³⁴Give me understanding so that I might observe your law,
and keep it with all my heart.^[c]
³⁵Guide me^[d] in the path of your commands,
for I delight to walk in it.^[e]
³⁶Give me a desire for your rules,^[f]
rather than for wealth gained unjustly.^[g]
³⁷Turn my eyes away from what is worthless.^[h]
Revive me with your word.^[i]
³⁸Confirm to your servant your promise,^[j]
which you made to the one who honors you.^[k]
³⁹Take away the insults that I dread.^[l]
Indeed,^[m] your regulations are good.
⁴⁰Look, I long for your precepts.
Revive me with your deliverance.^[n]

Ezekiel 24:15-27

Ezekiel’s Wife Dies

¹⁵The Lord’s message came to me: ¹⁶“Son of man, realize that I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a jolt,^[a] but you must not mourn or weep or shed tears. ¹⁷Groan to moan for the dead,^[b] but do not perform mourning rites.^[c] Bind on your turban^[d] and put your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your lip^[e] and do not eat food brought by others.”^[f]

¹⁸So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening. In the morning^[g] I acted just as I was commanded. ¹⁹Then the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things you are doing mean for us?”

²⁰So I said to them: “The Lord’s message came to me: ²¹Say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Realize I am about to desecrate my sanctuary—the source of your confident pride,^[h] the object in which your eyes delight,^[i] and your life’s passion.^[j] Your very own sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die^[k] by the sword. ²²Then you will do as I have done: You will not cover your lip or eat food brought by others.^[l] ²³Your turbans will be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you will not mourn or weep, but you will rot^[m] for your iniquities^[n] and groan among yourselves. ²⁴Ezekiel will be an object lesson for you; you will do all that he has done. When it happens, then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’

²⁵“And you, son of man, this is what will happen on the day I take^[o] from them their stronghold—their beautiful source of joy, the object in which their eyes delight, and the main concern of their lives,^[p] as well as their sons and daughters:^[q] ²⁶On that day a fugitive will come to you to report the news.^[r] ²⁷On that day you will be able to speak again;^[s] you will talk with the fugitive and be silent no longer. You will be an object lesson for them, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

Footnotes

Ezekiel 24:16 tn Heb “a strike.”
Ezekiel 24:17 tn As it stands in the MT, the syntax is difficult. Most translations say something like “groan in silence,” but this is problematic. According to their form, the two verbs that begin the verse, הֵאָנֵק (heʾanek; to groan) and דֹּם (dom; to be silent), may each be parsed as either imperative or infinitive construct. This allows four possible sequences. An infinitive followed by an infinitive would lack a main verb and can be dismissed. An infinitive followed by an imperative is improper syntax and nowhere occurs with both in the same clause. An imperative followed by an infinitive is very rare. The only three clear cases (Ps 33:3; Isa 1:16; 23:16) appear to involve infinitive complements, which does not fit these terms. Two imperatives back to back are common, occurring over 200 times, but in no case does the second imperative tell the manner of the action in the first (except perhaps a couple disputable parsings of מַהֵר (maher; be quick). So there is no combination of the forms in the MT that supports the common translation. It may also be said that groaning and being silent are mutually exclusive concepts. However, there is a rare homonym, also attested in the cognate languages Ugaritic and Akkadian, another root דמם (dmm), which means to moan. The translation above follows the suggestion of M. Greenberg that דֹּם מֵתִים (dom metim) be taken together and דֹּם be derived from דָּמַם (damam, “to moan, murmur”) meaning: “Groan a moaning for the dead.” See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:508. Note that in verse 23 Ezekiel affirms that the people will moan to each other (though there the root is נָהַם, naham); therefore, it is reasonable to suppose that Ezekiel is moaning here, since his actions forecast theirs.
Ezekiel 24:17 tn Heb “(For) the dead mourning you shall not conduct.” In the Hebrew text the word translated “dead” is plural, indicating that mourning rites are in view. Such rites would involve outward demonstrations of one’s sorrow, including wailing and weeping.
Ezekiel 24:17 sn The turban would normally be removed for mourning (Josh 7:6; 1 Sam 4:12).
Ezekiel 24:17 sn Mourning rites included covering the lower part of the face. See Lev 13:45.
Ezekiel 24:17 tn Heb “the bread of men.” The translation follows the suggestion accepted by M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 2:509) that this refers to a meal brought by comforters to the one mourning. Some repoint the consonantal text to read “the bread of despair” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:56), while others, with support from the Targum and Vulgate, emend the consonantal text to read “the bread of mourners” (see D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:784).
Ezekiel 24:18 tn This almost certainly refers to the following morning. For a discussion of various interpretive options in understanding the chronology reflected in verse 18, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:790.
Ezekiel 24:21 tn Heb “the pride of your strength” means “your strong pride.”
Ezekiel 24:21 sn Heb “the delight of your eyes.” Just as Ezekiel was deprived of his beloved wife (v. 16, the “desire” of his “eyes”), so the Lord would be forced to remove the object of his devotion, the temple, which symbolized his close relationship to his covenant people.
Ezekiel 24:21 tn Heb “the object of compassion of your soul.” The accentuation in the traditional Hebrew text indicates that the descriptive phrases (“the source of your confident pride, the object in which your eyes delight, and your life’s passion”) modify the preceding “my sanctuary.”
Ezekiel 24:21 tn Heb “fall.”
Ezekiel 24:22 tn See v. 17.
Ezekiel 24:23 tn The same verb appears in 4:17 and 33:10.
Ezekiel 24:23 tn Or “in your punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18:17, 18, 19, 20; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.
Ezekiel 24:25 tn Heb “(Will) it not (be) in the day I take?”
Ezekiel 24:25 tn Heb “the uplifting of their soul.” According to BDB 672 s.v. מַשָּׂא 2, the term “uplifting” refers to “that to which they lift up their soul, their heart’s desire.” However, this text is the only one listed for this use. It seems more likely here that the term has its well-attested nuance of “burden, load,” referring to that which weighs them down emotionally and is a constant source of concern or worry.
Ezekiel 24:25 tn In the Hebrew text there is no conjunction before “their sons and daughters.” For this reason one might assume that the preceding descriptive phrases refer to the sons and daughters, but verse 21 suggests otherwise. The descriptive phrases appear to refer to the “stronghold,” which parallels “my sanctuary” in verse 21. The children constitute a separate category.
Ezekiel 24:26 tn Heb “to make the ears hear.”
Ezekiel 24:27 tn Heb “your mouth will open.”

Romans 10:15-21

¹⁵And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How timely^[a] is the arrival^[b] of those who proclaim the good news.”^[c] ¹⁶But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”^[d] ¹⁷Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word^[e] of Christ.^[f]

¹⁸But I ask, have they^[g] not heard?^[h] Yes, they have:^[i] Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.^[j] ¹⁹But again I ask, didn’t Israel understand?^[k] First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger.”^[l] ²⁰And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me.”^[m] ²¹But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!”^[n]

Footnotes

Romans 10:15 tn The word in this context seems to mean “coming at the right or opportune time” (see BDAG 1103 s.v. ὡραῖος 1); it may also mean “beautiful, attractive, welcome.”
Romans 10:15 tn Grk “the feet.” The metaphorical nuance of “beautiful feet” is that such represent timely news.
Romans 10:15 sn A quotation from Isa 52:7; Nah 1:15.
Romans 10:16 sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.
Romans 10:17 tn The Greek term here is ῥῆμα (rhēma), which often (but not exclusively) focuses on the spoken word.
Romans 10:17 tc Most mss (א¹ A D¹ Ψ 33 1175 1241 1505 1881 2464 M sy) have θεοῦ (theou) here rather than Χριστοῦ (Christou; found in א* B C D* 6 81 629 1506 1739 lat co). Although the Nestle-Aland apparatus includes P^46vid for this reading, more recent photographs by CSNTM reveal it to be κυρίου (“Lord”), a singular reading. External evidence strongly favors the reading “Christ” here. Internal evidence is also on its side, for the expression ῥῆμα Χριστοῦ (rhēma Christou) occurs nowhere else in the NT; thus scribes would be prone to change it to a known expression.tn The genitive could be understood as either subjective (“Christ does the speaking”) or objective (“Christ is spoken about”), but the latter is more likely here.
Romans 10:18 tn That is, Israel (see the following verse).
Romans 10:18 tn Grk “they have not ‘not heard,’ have they?” This question is difficult to render in English. The basic question is a negative sentence (“Have they not heard?”), but it is preceded by the particle μή (mē) which expects a negative response. The end result in English is a double negative (“They have not ‘not heard,’ have they?”). This has been changed to a positive question in the translation for clarity. See BDAG 646 s.v. μή 3.a.; D. Moo, Romans (NICNT), 666, fn. 32; and C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans (ICC), 537, for discussion.
Romans 10:18 tn Here the particle μενοῦνγε (menounge) is correcting the negative response expected by the particle μή (mē) in the preceding question. Since the question has been translated positively, the translation was changed here to reflect that rendering.
Romans 10:18 sn A quotation from Ps 19:4.
Romans 10:19 tn Grk “Israel did not ‘not know,’ did he?” The double negative in Greek has been translated as a positive affirmation for clarity (see v. 18 above for a similar situation).
Romans 10:19 sn A quotation from Deut 32:21.
Romans 10:20 sn A quotation from Isa 65:1.
Romans 10:21 sn A quotation from Isa 65:2.

New English Translation (NET)

Prev Day

Top

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

Log in to read this devotional and:

Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

ה (He)

Footnotes

Ezekiel’s Wife Dies

Footnotes

Footnotes