Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 25[a]
By David.
25 O Lord, I come before you in prayer.[b]
2 My God, I trust in you.
Please do not let me be humiliated;
do not let my enemies triumphantly rejoice over me.
3 Certainly none who rely on you will be humiliated.
Those who deal in treachery will be thwarted[c] and humiliated.
4 Make me understand your ways, O Lord.
Teach me your paths.[d]
5 Guide me into your truth[e] and teach me.
For you are the God who delivers me;
on you I rely all day long.
6 Remember[f] your compassionate and faithful deeds, O Lord,
for you have always acted in this manner.[g]
7 Do not hold against me[h] the sins of my youth[i] or my rebellious acts.
Because you are faithful to me, extend to me your favor, O Lord.[j]
8 The Lord is both kind and fair;[k]
that is why he teaches sinners the right way to live.[l]
9 May he show[m] the humble what is right.[n]
May he teach[o] the humble his way.
Footnotes
- Psalm 25:1 sn Psalm 25. The psalmist asks for divine protection, guidance and forgiveness as he affirms his loyalty to and trust in the Lord. This psalm is an acrostic; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for v. 18, which, like v. 19, begins with ר (resh) instead of the expected ק (qof). The final verse, which begins with פ (pe), stands outside the acrostic scheme.
- Psalm 25:1 tn Heb “to you, O Lord, my life I lift up.” To “lift up” one’s “life” to the Lord means to express one’s trust in him through prayer. See Pss 86:4; 143:8.
- Psalm 25:3 tn Heb “those who deal in treachery in vain.” The adverb רֵיקָם (reqam, “in vain”) probably refers to the failure (or futility) of their efforts. Another option is to understand it as meaning “without cause” (cf. NIV “without excuse”; NRSV “wantonly treacherous”).
- Psalm 25:4 sn Teach me your paths. In this context the Lord’s “ways” and “paths” refer to the moral principles which the Lord prescribes for his followers. See vv. 8-10.
- Psalm 25:5 sn The Lord’s commandments are referred to as truth here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will.
- Psalm 25:6 tn That is, “remember” with the intention of repeating.
- Psalm 25:6 tn Heb “for from antiquity [are] they.”
- Psalm 25:7 tn Heb “do not remember,” with the intention of punishing.
- Psalm 25:7 sn That is, the sins characteristic of youths, who lack moral discretion and wisdom.
- Psalm 25:7 tn Heb “according to your faithfulness, remember me, you, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.”
- Psalm 25:8 tn Heb “good and just.”
- Psalm 25:8 tn Heb “teaches sinners in the way.”
- Psalm 25:9 tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive; the psalmist expresses his prayer.
- Psalm 25:9 tn Heb “may he guide the humble into justice.” The Hebrew term עֲנָוִים (ʿanavim, “humble”) usually refers to the oppressed, but in this context, where the psalmist confesses his sin and asks for moral guidance, it apparently refers to sinners who humble themselves before God and seek deliverance from their sinful condition.
- Psalm 25:9 tn The prefixed verbal form is interpreted as a jussive (it stands parallel to the jussive form, “may he guide”).
19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not suffer[a] for his father’s iniquity?’ When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live. 20 The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer[b] for his father’s iniquity, and a father will not suffer[c] for his son’s iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness.[d]
21 “But if the wicked person turns from all the sin he has committed and observes all my statutes and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. 22 None of the sins he has committed will be held[e] against him; because of the righteousness he has done, he will live. 23 Do I actually delight in the death of the wicked, declares the Sovereign Lord? Do I not prefer that he turn from his wicked conduct and live?
24 “But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die.[f]
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 18:19 tn Heb “lift up, bear.”
- Ezekiel 18:20 tn Heb “lift up, bear.”
- Ezekiel 18:20 tn Heb “lift up, bear.”
- Ezekiel 18:20 tn Heb “the righteousness of the righteous one will be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked one will be upon him.”
- Ezekiel 18:22 tn Heb “remembered.”
- Ezekiel 18:24 tn Heb “because of them he will die.”
The Authority of Jesus
27 They came again to Jerusalem. While Jesus[a] was walking in the temple courts,[b] the chief priests, the experts in the law,[c] and the elders came up to him 28 and said, “By what authority[d] are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?” 29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30 John’s baptism—was it from heaven or from people?[e] Answer me.” 31 They discussed with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 32 But if we say, ‘From people—’” (they feared the crowd, for they all considered John to be truly a prophet). 33 So[f] they answered Jesus,[g] “We don’t know.”[h] Then Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you[i] by what authority[j] I am doing these things.”
Footnotes
- Mark 11:27 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Mark 11:27 tn Grk “the temple.”
- Mark 11:27 tn Or “the chief priests, the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.
- Mark 11:28 tn On this phrase, see BDAG 844 s.v. ποῖος 2.a.γ.
- Mark 11:30 tn The plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anthrōpōn) is probably used here (and in v. 32) in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NAB, NRSV, “of human origin”; TEV, “from human beings”; NLT, “merely human”).sn The question is whether John’s ministry was of divine or human origin.
- Mark 11:33 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.
- Mark 11:33 tn Grk “answering, they said to Jesus.” The participle ἀποκριθέντες (apokrithentes) is redundant, but the syntax of the phrase has been modified to conform to English style.
- Mark 11:33 sn Very few questions could have so completely revealed the wicked intentions of the religious leaders. Jesus’ question revealed the motivation of the religious leaders and exposed them for what they really were—hypocrites. They indicted themselves when they cited only two options and chose neither of them (“We do not know”). The point of Mark 11:27-33 is that no matter what Jesus said in response to their question they were not going to believe it and would in the end use it against him.
- Mark 11:33 sn Neither will I tell you. Though Jesus gave no answer, the analogy he used to their own question makes his view clear. His authority came from heaven.
- Mark 11:33 tn On this phrase, see BDAG 844 s.v. ποῖος 2.a.γ. This is exactly the same phrase as in v. 28.
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