Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
ט (Tet)
65 You are good[a] to your servant,
O Lord, just as you promised.[b]
66 Teach me proper discernment[c] and understanding.
For I consider your commands to be reliable.[d]
67 Before I was afflicted I used to stray off,[e]
but now I keep your instructions.[f]
68 You are good and you do good.
Teach me your statutes.
69 Arrogant people smear my reputation with lies,[g]
but I observe your precepts with all my heart.
70 Their hearts are calloused,[h]
but I find delight in your law.
71 It was good for me to suffer,
so that I might learn your statutes.
72 The law you have revealed is more important to me
than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.[i]
Footnotes
- Psalm 119:65 tn Heb “do good.”
- Psalm 119:65 tn Heb “according to your word.”
- Psalm 119:66 tn Heb “goodness of taste.” Here “taste” refers to moral and ethical discernment.
- Psalm 119:66 tn Heb “for I believe in your commands.”
- Psalm 119:67 tn Heb “before I suffered, I was straying off.”
- Psalm 119:67 tn Heb “your word.”
- Psalm 119:69 tn Heb “smear over me a lie.”
- Psalm 119:70 tn Heb “their heart is insensitive like fat.”
- Psalm 119:72 tn Heb “better to me [is] the law of your mouth than thousands of gold and silver.”
The Day of Atonement
16 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons when they approached the presence of the Lord[a] and died, 2 and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother that he must not enter at any time into the Holy Place inside the special curtain[b] in front of the atonement lid[c] that is on the ark so that he may not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the atonement lid.
Day of Atonement Offerings
3 “In this way Aaron is to enter into the sanctuary—with a young bull[d] for a sin offering[e] and a ram for a burnt offering.[f] 4 He must put on a holy linen tunic,[g] linen leggings are to cover his body,[h] and he is to wrap himself with a linen sash[i] and wrap his head with a linen turban.[j] They are holy garments, so he must bathe[k] his body in water and put them on. 5 He must also take[l] two male goats[m] from the congregation of the Israelites for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 16:1 tn Heb “in their drawing near to the faces of the Lord.” The rendering here relies on the use of this expression for the very “presence” of God in Exod 33:14-15 and in the Lev 9:24-10:2 passage, where the Nadab and Abihu catastrophe referred to here is narrated.
- Leviticus 16:2 tn Heb “into the holy place from house to the veil-canopy.” In this instance, the Hebrew term “the holy place” refers to “the most holy place” (lit. “holy of holies”), since it is the area “inside the special curtain” (cf. Exod 26:33-34). The Hebrew term פָּרֹכֶת (parokhet) is usually translated “veil” or “curtain.” It seems to have stretched not only in front of but also over the top of the ark of the covenant which stood behind and under it inside the most holy place, and thus it formed a kind of canopy. (see R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:687-89).
- Leviticus 16:2 tn Heb “to the faces of the atonement lid.” The exact meaning of the Hebrew term כַּפֹּרֶת (kapporet) here rendered “atonement lid” is much debated. The traditional “mercy seat” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV) does not suit the cognate relationship between this term and the Piel verb כִּפֶּר (kipper, “to make atonement, to make expiation”). The translation of the word should also reflect the fact that the most important atonement procedures on the Day of Atonement were performed in relation to it. Since the Lord would “appear in the cloud over the atonement plate,” and since it was so closely associated with the ark of the covenant (the ark being his “footstool”; cf. 1 Chr 28:2 and Ps 132:7-8), one could take it to be the place of his throne at which he accepts atonement. See J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:1014; J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 234-35; and R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:691, 699. Cf. NIV “the atonement cover”; NCV “the lid on the Ark”; NLT “the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement.”
- Leviticus 16:3 tn Heb “with a bull, a son of the herd.”
- Leviticus 16:3 sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”
- Leviticus 16:3 sn For the “burnt offering” see the note on Lev 1:3.
- Leviticus 16:4 sn The term “tunic” refers to a shirt-like garment worn next to the skin and, therefore, put on first (cf. Exod 28:4, 39-40; 29:5, 8; 39:27). It covered the upper body only. For detailed remarks on the terminology for the priestly clothing in this verse (except the “linen leggings”) see the notes on Lev 8:7-9 and the literature cited there.
- Leviticus 16:4 tn Heb “shall be on his flesh.” As in many instances in Lev 15, the term “flesh” or “body” here is euphemistic for the male genitals (J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:1017, and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 222; cf. the note on Lev 15:2), which the priest must be careful not to expose during such ritual procedures (see Exod 20:26 with 28:42-43).
- Leviticus 16:4 sn The sash fastened the tunic around the waist (Exod 28:4, 39; 29:9; 39:29).
- Leviticus 16:4 tn Heb “and in a turban of linen he shall wrap.” sn The turban consisted of wound up linen (cf. Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:31; Lev 16:4). It is usually thought to be a “turban,” but it might be only a “turban-like headband” wound around the forehead area (HALOT 624 s.v. מִצְנֶפֶת).
- Leviticus 16:4 tn Heb “and he shall bathe….”
- Leviticus 16:5 tn Heb “And he shall take.”
- Leviticus 16:5 tn Heb “he-goats of goats”; CEV “two goats, both of them males.”
The Live Goat Ritual Procedures
20 “When Aaron[a] has finished purifying the Holy Place,[b] the Meeting Tent, and the altar, he is to present the live goat. 21 Aaron is to lay his two hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the Israelites and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins,[c] and thus he is to put them[d] on the head of the goat and send it away into the desert by the hand of a man standing ready.[e] 22 The goat is to bear on itself all their iniquities into an inaccessible land,[f] so he is to send the goat away[g] into the desert.
The Concluding Rituals
23 “Aaron must then enter[h] the Meeting Tent and take off the linen garments which he had put on when he entered the sanctuary, and leave them there. 24 Then he must bathe his body in water in the Holy Place, put on his clothes, and go out and make his burnt offering and the people’s burnt offering. So he is to make atonement[i] on behalf of himself and the people.[j]
25 “Then he is to offer up the fat of the sin offering[k] in smoke on the altar, 26 and the one who sent the goat away to Azazel[l] must wash his clothes, bathe his body in water, and afterward he may reenter the camp. 27 The bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought to make atonement in the Holy Place, must be brought outside the camp[m] and their hide, their flesh, and their dung must be burned up,[n] 28 and the one who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may reenter the camp.
Footnotes
- Leviticus 16:20 tn Heb “he.”
- Leviticus 16:20 tn Heb “And he shall finish from atoning the holy place.” In this case, the “holy place” etc. are direct objects of the verb “to atone” (cf. v. 33a below). In this case, therefore, the basic meaning of the verb (i.e., “to purge” or “wipe clean”) comes to the forefront. When the prepositions עַל (ʿal) or בֲּעַד (baʿad) occur with the verb כִּפֶּר (kipper) the purging is almost always being done “for” or “on behalf of” priests or people (see the note on Lev 1:4 as well as R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:698, the literature cited there, and B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 110, for more details).
- Leviticus 16:21 tn Heb “transgressions to all their sins.”
- Leviticus 16:21 tn Heb “and he shall give them.”
- Leviticus 16:21 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term עִתִּי (ʿitti) is uncertain. It is apparently related to עֵת (ʿet, “time”), and could perhaps mean either that he has been properly “appointed” (i.e., designated) for the task (e.g., NIV and NRSV) or “ready” (e.g., NASB and NEB).
- Leviticus 16:22 tn The Hebrew term rendered “inaccessible” derives from a root meaning “to cut off” (cf. NAB “an isolated region”). Another possible translation would be “infertile land” (see HALOT 187 s.v. *גָּזֵּר and cf. NRSV “a barren region”; NLT “a desolate land.”
- Leviticus 16:22 tn Heb “and he [the man (standing) ready, v. 21] shall send the goat away.”
- Leviticus 16:23 tn Heb “And Aaron shall enter.”
- Leviticus 16:24 tn Heb “And he shall make atonement.”
- Leviticus 16:24 tn Heb “on behalf of himself and on behalf of the people.” After “on behalf of himself” the LXX adds the expected “and on behalf of his household” (cf. vv. 6, 11, and 17).
- Leviticus 16:25 tn Heb “And the fat of the sin offering he is to offer up.”
- Leviticus 16:26 tn For “Azazel” see the note on v. 8 above.
- Leviticus 16:27 tn Heb “he shall bring into from outside to the camp.”
- Leviticus 16:27 tn Heb “they shall burn with fire”; KJV “burn in the fire.” Because “to burn with fire” is redundant in contemporary English the present translation simply has “must be burned up.”
The Withered Fig Tree
18 Now early in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. 19 After noticing a fig tree[a] by the road he went to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “Never again will there be fruit from you!” And the fig tree withered at once. 20 When the disciples saw it they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” 21 Jesus[b] answered them, “I tell you the truth,[c] if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe,[d] you will receive.”
Footnotes
- Matthew 21:19 tn Grk “one fig tree.”sn The fig tree is a variation on the picture of a vine as representing the nation; see Isa 5:1-7.
- Matthew 21:21 tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.
- Matthew 21:21 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amēn), I say to you.”
- Matthew 21:22 tn Grk “believing”; the participle here is conditional.
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