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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 98

Psalm 98^[a]

A psalm.

98 Sing to the Lord a new song,^[b]
for he performs^[c] amazing deeds.
His right hand and his mighty arm
accomplish deliverance.^[d]
²The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver;^[e]
in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.
³He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel.^[f]
All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us.^[g]
⁴Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth.
Break out in a joyful shout and sing!
⁵Sing to the Lord accompanied by a harp,
accompanied by a harp and the sound of music.
⁶With trumpets and the blaring of the ram’s horn,
shout out praises before the king, the Lord.
⁷Let the sea and everything in it shout,
along with the world and those who live in it.
⁸Let the rivers clap their hands!
Let the mountains sing in unison
⁹before the Lord.
For he comes to judge the earth.
He judges the world fairly,^[h]
and the nations in a just manner.

Daniel 3:1-18

Daniel’s Friends Are Tested

3 ^[a] King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden^[b] statue made.^[c] It was 90 feet^[d] tall and 9 feet^[e] wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. ²Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent out a summons to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates,^[f] and all the other authorities of the province to attend the dedication of the statue that he^[g] had erected. ³So the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial authorities assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. They were standing in front of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.^[h]

⁴Then the herald^[i] made a loud^[j] proclamation: “To you, O peoples, nations, and language groups, the following command is given:^[k] ⁵When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither,^[l] trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must^[m] bow down and pay homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has erected. ⁶Whoever does not bow down and pay homage will immediately^[n] be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire!” ⁷Therefore when they all^[o] heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes,^[p] and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations, and language groups began bowing down and paying homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected.

⁸Now^[q] at that time certain^[r] Chaldeans came forward and brought malicious accusations against^[s] the Jews. ⁹They said^[t] to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever!^[u] ¹⁰You have issued an edict, O king, that everyone must bow down and pay homage to the golden statue when they hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music. ¹¹And whoever does not bow down and pay homage must be thrown into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. ¹²But there are Jewish men whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego—and these men^[v] have not shown proper respect to you, O king. They don’t serve your gods and they don’t pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

¹³Then Nebuchadnezzar in a fit of rage^[w] demanded that they bring^[x] Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before him. So they brought them^[y] before the king. ¹⁴Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my gods and that you don’t pay homage to the golden statue that I erected? ¹⁵Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don’t pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?”^[z] ¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar,^[aa] “We do not need to give you a reply^[ab] concerning this. ¹⁷If^[ac] our God whom we are serving exists,^[ad] he is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and he will rescue us, O king, from your power as well. ¹⁸But if he does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we don’t serve your gods, and we will not pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

Footnotes

Daniel 3:1 sn The LXX introduces this chapter with the following chronological note: “in the eighteenth year of.” Such a date would place these events at about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. (cf. 2 Kgs 25:8). However, there seems to be no real basis for associating the events of Daniel 3 with this date.
Daniel 3:1 sn There is no need to think of Nebuchadnezzar’s image as being solid gold. No doubt the sense is that it was overlaid with gold (cf. Isa 40:19; Jer 10:3-4), with the result that it presented a dazzling self-compliment to the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar’s achievements.
Daniel 3:1 sn According to a number of patristic authors, the image represented a deification of Nebuchadnezzar himself. This is not clear from the biblical text, however.
Daniel 3:1 tn Aram “60 cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 90 feet (27.4 m) high.
Daniel 3:1 tn Aram “6 cubits.” Assuming a length of 18 inches for the standard cubit, the image would be 9 feet (2.74 m) wide.sn The dimensions of the image (90 feet high and 9 feet wide) imply that it did not possess normal human proportions, unless a base for the image is included in the height dimension. The ancient world knew of other tall statues. For example, the Colossus of Rhodes—the huge statue of Helios which stood (ca. 280-224 b.c.) at the entrance to the harbor at Rhodes and was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world—was said to be 70 cubits (105 ft or 32 m) in height, which would make it even taller than Nebuchadnezzar’s image.
Daniel 3:2 sn The specific duties of the seven types of officials listed here (cf. vv. 3, 27) are unclear. The Aramaic words that are used are transliterations of Akkadian or Persian technical terms whose exact meanings are uncertain. The translations given here follow suggestions set forth in BDB.
Daniel 3:2 tn Aram “Nebuchadnezzar the king.” The proper name and title have been replaced by the relative pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Daniel 3:3 tc The LXX and Theodotion lack the words “that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.”
Daniel 3:4 tn According to BDB 1097 s.v. כָּרוֹז the Aramaic word used here is a Greek loanword, but other scholars have argued instead for a Persian derivation (HALOT 1902 s.v. *כָּרוֹז).
Daniel 3:4 tn Aram “in strength.”
Daniel 3:4 tn Aram “they are saying.”
Daniel 3:5 sn The word zither (Aramaic קִיתָרוֹס [qitaros]), and the words for harp (Aramaic פְּסַנְתֵּרִין [p^esanterin]) and pipes (Aramaic סוּמְפֹּנְיָה [sumpon^eyah]), are of Greek derivation. Though much has been made of this in terms of suggesting a date in the Hellenistic period for the writing of the book, it is not surprising that a few Greek cultural terms, all of them the names of musical instruments, should appear in this book. As a number of scholars have pointed out, the bigger surprise (if, in fact, the book is to be dated to the Hellenistic period) may be that there are so few Greek loanwords in Daniel.
Daniel 3:5 tn The imperfect Aramaic verbs have here an injunctive nuance.
Daniel 3:6 tn Aram “in that hour.”
Daniel 3:7 tn Aram “all the peoples.”
Daniel 3:7 tc Though not in the Aramaic text of BHS, this word appears in many medieval Hebrew mss, some LXX mss, and the Vulgate (cf. vv. 5, 10, 15).
Daniel 3:8 tc This expression is absent in Theodotion.
Daniel 3:8 tn Aram “men.”
Daniel 3:8 tn Aram “ate the pieces of.” This is a rather vivid idiom for slander.
Daniel 3:9 tn Aram “answered and said,” a common Aramaic idiom that occurs repeatedly in this chapter.
Daniel 3:9 sn O king, live forever! is a comment of typical court courtesy that is not necessarily indicative of the real sentiments of the speaker. Ancient oriental court protocol could sometimes require a certain amount of hypocrisy.
Daniel 3:12 sn Daniel’s absence from this scene has sparked the imagination of commentators, some of whom have suggested that perhaps he was unable to attend the dedication due to sickness or absence prompted by business. Hippolytus supposed that Daniel may have been watching from a distance.
Daniel 3:13 tn Aram “in anger and wrath”; NASB “in rage and anger.” The expression is a hendiadys.
Daniel 3:13 tn The Aramaic infinitive is active.
Daniel 3:13 tn Aram “these men.” The pronoun is used in the translation to avoid undue repetition.
Daniel 3:15 tn Aram “hand,” as also in v. 17.
Daniel 3:16 tc In the MT this word is understood to begin the following address (“answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar’”). However, it seems unlikely that Nebuchadnezzar’s subordinates would address the king in such a familiar way, particularly in light of the danger that they now found themselves in. The present translation implies moving the verse-dividing atnakh from “king” to “Nebuchadnezzar.”
Daniel 3:16 tn Aram “to return a word to you.”
Daniel 3:17 tc The ancient versions typically avoid the conditional element of v. 17.
Daniel 3:17 tn The Aramaic expression used here is very difficult to interpret. The question concerns the meaning and syntax of אִיתַי (ʾitay, “is” or “exist”). There are several possibilities. (1) Some interpreters take this word closely with the participle later in the verse יָכִל (yakhil, “able”), understanding the two words to form a periphrastic construction (“if our God is…able”; cf. H. Bauer and P. Leander, Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, 365, §111b). But the separation of the two elements from one another is not an argument in favor of this understanding. (2) Other interpreters take the first part of v. 17 to mean “If it is so, then our God will deliver us” (cf. KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB). However, the normal sense of ʾitay is existence; on this point see F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 41, §95. The present translation maintains the sense of existence for the verb (“If our God…exists”), even though the statement is admittedly difficult to understand in this light. The statement may be an implicit reference back to Nebuchadnezzar’s comment in v. 15, which denies the existence of a god capable of delivering from the king’s power, thus their statement is rhetorically adapted to the perspective of the person they are addressing.

Revelation 18:1-10

Babylon is Destroyed

18 After these things I saw another angel, who possessed great authority, coming down out of heaven, and the earth was lit up by his radiance.^[a] ²He^[b] shouted with a powerful voice:

“Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great!
She^[c] has become a lair for demons,
a haunt^[d] for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
a haunt for every unclean and detested beast.^[e]
³For all the nations^[f] have fallen^[g] from
the wine of her immoral passion,^[h]
and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior.”^[i]

⁴Then^[j] I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, so you will not take part in her sins and so you will not receive her plagues, ⁵because her sins have piled^[k] up all the way to heaven^[l] and God has remembered^[m] her crimes.^[n] ⁶Repay her the same way she repaid others;^[o] pay her back double^[p] corresponding to her deeds. In the cup she mixed, mix double the amount for her. ⁷As much as^[q] she exalted herself and lived in sensual luxury,^[r] to this extent give her torment and grief because she said to herself,^[s] ‘I rule as queen and am no widow; I will never experience grief!’ ⁸For this reason, she will experience her plagues^[t] in a single day: disease,^[u] mourning,^[v] and famine, and she will be burned down^[w] with fire, because the Lord God who judges her is powerful!”

⁹Then^[x] the kings of the earth who committed immoral acts with her and lived in sensual luxury^[y] with her will weep and wail for her when they see the smoke from the fire that burns her up.^[z] ¹⁰They will stand a long way off because they are afraid of her torment, and will say,

“Woe, woe, O great city,
Babylon the powerful city!
For in a single hour your doom^[aa] has come!”

Footnotes

Revelation 18:1 tn Grk “glory”; but often in the sense of splendor, brightness, or radiance (see L&N 14.49).
Revelation 18:2 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style
Revelation 18:2 tn Or “It” (the subject is embedded in the verb in Greek; the verb only indicates that it is third person). Since the city has been personified as the great prostitute, the feminine pronoun was used in the translation.
Revelation 18:2 tn Here BDAG 1067 s.v. φυλακή 3 states, “a place where guarding is done, prison…Of the nether world or its place of punishment (πνεῦμα 2 and 4c) 1 Pt 3:19 (BReicke, The Disobedient Spirits and Christian Baptism ’46, 116f). It is in a φ. in the latter sense that Satan will be rendered harmless during the millennium Rv 20:7. The fallen city of Babylon becomes a φυλακή haunt for all kinds of unclean spirits and birds 18:2ab.”
Revelation 18:2 tc There are several problems in this verse. It seems that according to the ms evidence the first two phrases (i.e., “and a haunt for every unclean spirit, and a haunt for every unclean bird” [καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς πνεύματος ἀκαθάρτου καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς ὀρνέου ἀκαθάρτου, kai phulakē pantos pneumatos akathartou kai phulakē pantos orneou akathartou]) are to be regarded as authentic, though there are some ms discrepancies. The similar beginnings (καὶ φυλακὴ παντός) and endings (ἀκαθάρτου) of each phrase would easily account for some mss omitting one or the other phrase. The third phrase (“a haunt for every unclean animal” [καὶ φυλακὴ παντὸς θηρίου ἀκαθάρτου, kai phulakē pantos thēriou akathartou]), however, is more problematic since it is missing in several significant mss (א C 051 M). The passage as a whole, including the third phrase, seems to be an allusion to Isa 13:21 and 34:11. It seems reasonable, in such a case, to assume that since there is good ms evidence to support the third phrase (A 1611 2329 al), it probably dropped out of certain mss because of its similarity to the two preceding clauses. It is the presence of all three phrases in the initial text that most likely gave rise to the divergent ms evidence extant today.
Revelation 18:3 tn Or “all the Gentiles” (the same Greek word may be translated “Gentiles” or “nations”).
Revelation 18:3 tc ‡ Several mss (א A C 1006* 1611 1841 2030 M^K), including the best witnesses, read “have fallen” (πεπτώκασιν or πέπτωκαν [peptōkasin or peptōkan]). The singular πέπτωκεν (peptōken), which is better grammatically with the neuter plural subject πάντα τὰ ἔθνη (panta ta ethnē, “all the nations”), is read by 1854 2062; 2042 reads πεπότικεν (pepotiken). A few mss (1006^c 2329 latt sy^h) read “have drunk” (πέπωκαν/πεπώκασιν, pepōkan/pepōkasin); the singular πέπωκεν (pepōken) is read by P 051 1 2053* al. The more difficult reading and that which has the best ms support is “have fallen.” That it is not too difficult is evidenced by the fact that the great majority of Byzantine minuscules, which have a tendency to smooth out problems, left it stand as is. Nonetheless, it is somewhat difficult (TCGNT 683 says that this reading is “scarcely suitable in the context”), and for that reason certain mss seem to have changed it to “have drunk” to agree with the idea of “wine” (οἴνου, oinou). One can understand how this could happen: A scribe coming to the text and seeing the term “wine” expects a verb of drinking. When he sees “have fallen” and knows that in Greek the verbs “have fallen” and “have drunk” are spelled similarly, he concludes that there has been a slip of the pen in the ms he is using, which he then seeks to correct back to the “have drunk” reading. This appears to be more reasonable than to conclude that three early majuscules (i.e., א A C) as well as a great number of other witnesses all felt the need to change “have drunk” (πέπωκαν) to “have fallen” (πέπτωκαν), even if “fallen” occurs in the immediate context (“fallen, fallen, [ἔπεσεν ἔπεσεν, epesen epesen] Babylon the great” in the preceding verse). The preferred reading, on both external and internal grounds, is “have fallen,” and thus the Seer intends to focus on the effects of wine, namely, a drunken stupor.
Revelation 18:3 tn See the notes on the words “passion” in Rev 14:8 and “wrath” in 16:19.
Revelation 18:3 tn According to BDAG 949 s.v. στρῆνος and στρηνιάω, these terms can refer either to luxury or sensuality. In the context of Rev 18, however (as L&N 88.254 indicate) the stress is on gratification of the senses by sexual immorality, so that meaning was emphasized in the translation here.
Revelation 18:4 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
Revelation 18:5 tn On ἐκολλήθησαν (ekollēthēsan) BDAG 556 s.v. κολλάω 2.a.β states, “fig. cling to = come in close contact with (cp. Ps 21:16; 43:26 ἐκολλήθη εἰς γῆν ἡ γαστὴρ ἡμῶν. The act.=‘bring into contact’ PGM 5, 457 κολλήσας τ. λίθον τῷ ὠτίῳ) ἐκολλήθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι ἄχρι τ. οὐρανοῦ the sins have touched the heaven = reached the sky (two exprs. are telescoped) Rv 18:5.”
Revelation 18:5 tn Or “up to the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).
Revelation 18:5 tn That is, remembered her sins to execute judgment on them.
Revelation 18:5 tn Or “her sins.”
Revelation 18:6 tn The word “others” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
Revelation 18:6 tn On this term BDAG 252 s.v. διπλόω states, “to double τὰ διπλᾶ pay back double Rv 18:6.”
Revelation 18:7 tn “As much as” is the translation of ὅσα (hosa).
Revelation 18:7 tn On the term ἐστρηνίασεν (estrēniasen) BDAG 949 s.v. στρηνιάω states, “live in luxury, live sensually Rv 18:7. W. πορνεύειν vs. 9.”
Revelation 18:7 tn Grk “said in her heart,” an idiom for saying something to oneself.
Revelation 18:8 tn Grk “For this reason, her plagues will come.”
Revelation 18:8 tn Grk “death.” θάνατος (thanatos) can in particular contexts refer to a manner of death, specifically a contagious disease (see BDAG 443 s.v. 3; L&N 23.158).
Revelation 18:8 tn This is the same Greek word (πένθος, penthos) translated “grief” in vv. 7-8.
Revelation 18:8 tn Here “burned down” was used to translate κατακαυθήσεται (katakauthēsetai) because a city is in view.
Revelation 18:9 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the vision.
Revelation 18:9 tn On the term ἐστρηνίασεν (estrēniasen) BDAG 949 s.v. στρηνιάω states, “live in luxury, live sensually Rv 18:7. W. πορνεύειν vs. 9.”
Revelation 18:9 tn Grk “from the burning of her.” For the translation “the smoke from the fire that burns her up,” see L&N 14.63.
Revelation 18:10 tn Or “judgment,” condemnation,” “punishment.” BDAG 569 s.v. κρίσις 1.a.β states, “The word oft. means judgment that goes against a person, condemnation, and the sentence that follows…ἡ κ. σου your judgment Rv 18:10.”

Revelation 18:19-20

¹⁹And they threw dust on their heads and were shouting with weeping and mourning,^[a]

“Woe, Woe, O great city—
in which all those who had ships on the sea got rich from her wealth—
because in a single hour she has been destroyed!”^[b]
²⁰(Rejoice over her, O heaven,
and you saints and apostles and prophets,
for God has pronounced judgment^[c] against her on your behalf!)^[d]

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 98[a]

A psalm.

Footnotes

Daniel’s Friends Are Tested

Footnotes

Babylon is Destroyed

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 98^[a]