◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 139:1-6 13-18 (You have searched me out); Judges 2:6-15 (Uncertain times after Joshua’s death); 2 Corinthians 10:1-11 (Corinthian behavior during Paul’s absence) (New English Translation)

Prev Day

January 14, 2027

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

January 2027
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
31

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 139:1-6

Psalm 139^[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

139 O Lord, you examine me^[b] and know me.
²You know when I sit down and when I get up;
even from far away you understand my motives.
³You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest;^[c]
you are aware of everything I do.^[d]
⁴Certainly^[e] my tongue does not frame a word
without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it.^[f]
⁵You squeeze me in from behind and in front;
you place your hand on me.
⁶Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension;
it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it.^[g]

Psalm 139:13-18

¹³Certainly^[a] you made my mind and heart;^[b]
you wove me together^[c] in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing.^[d]
You knew me thoroughly;^[e]
¹⁵my bones were not hidden from you,
when^[f] I was made in secret
and sewed together in the depths of the earth.^[g]
¹⁶Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb.^[h]
All the days ordained for me
were recorded in your scroll
before one of them came into existence.^[i]
¹⁷How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God!^[j]
How vast is their sum total.^[k]
¹⁸If I tried to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
Even if I finished counting them,
I would still have to contend with you.^[l]

Footnotes

Psalm 139:13 tn Or “for.”
Psalm 139:13 tn Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (NAB, NIV); “inward parts” (NASB, NRSV); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (NLT). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).
Psalm 139:13 tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.
Psalm 139:14 tc Heb “because awesome things, I am distinct, amazing [are] your works.” The text as it stands is syntactically problematic and makes little, if any, sense. The Niphal of פָּלָה (palah) occurs elsewhere only in Exod 33:16. Many take the form from פָלָא (palaʾ; see GKC 216 §75.qq), which in the Niphal perfect means “to be amazing” (see 2 Sam 1:26; Ps 118:23; Prov 30:18). Some, following the LXX and some other ancient witnesses, also prefer to emend the verb from first to second person, “you are amazing” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 249, 251). The present translation assumes the text conflates two variants: נִפְלָאִים (niflaʾim), the otherwise unattested masculine plural participle of פָלָא, and נִפְלָאוֹת (niflaʾot), the usual (feminine) plural form of the Niphal participle. The latter has been changed to a verb by later scribes in an attempt to accommodate it syntactically. The original text likely read, נוראות נפלאותים מעשׂיך (“your works [are] awesome [and] amazing”).
Psalm 139:14 tc Heb “and my being knows very much.” Better parallelism is achieved (see v. 15a) if one emends יֹדַעַת (yodaʿat), a Qal active participle, feminine singular form, to יָדַעְתָּ (yadaʿta), a Qal perfect second masculine singular perfect. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252.
Psalm 139:15 tc The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (ʾasher, “which”) should probably be emended to כֲּאַשֶׁר (kaʾasher, “when”). The כ (kaf) may have been lost by haplography (note the kaf at the end of the preceding form).
Psalm 139:15 sn The phrase depths of the earth may be metaphorical (euphemistic) or it may reflect a prescientific belief about the origins of the embryo deep beneath the earth’s surface (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 96-97). Job 1:21 also closely associates the mother’s womb with the earth.
Psalm 139:16 tn Heb “Your eyes saw my shapeless form.” The Hebrew noun גֹּלֶם (golem) occurs only here in the OT. In later Hebrew the word refers to “a lump, a shapeless or lifeless substance,” and to “unfinished matter, a vessel wanting finishing” (Jastrow 222 s.v. גּוֹלֶם). The translation employs the dynamic rendering “when I was inside the womb” to clarify that the speaker was still in his mother’s womb at the time he was “seen” by God.
Psalm 139:16 tn Heb “and on your scroll all of them were written, [the] days [which] were formed, and [there was] not one among them.” This “scroll” may be the “scroll of life” mentioned in Ps 69:28 (see the note on the word “living” there).
Psalm 139:17 tn Heb “and to me how precious are your thoughts, O God.” The Hebrew verb יָקַר (yaqar) probably has the sense of “difficult [to comprehend]” here (see HALOT 432 s.v. יקר qal.1 and note the use of Aramaic יַקִּר in Dan 2:11). Elsewhere in the immediate context the psalmist expresses his amazement at the extent of God’s knowledge about him (see vv. 1-6, 17b-18).
Psalm 139:17 tn Heb “how vast are their heads.” Here the Hebrew word “head” is used of the “sum total” of God’s knowledge of the psalmist.
Psalm 139:18 tc Heb “I awake and I [am] still with you.” A reference to the psalmist awaking from sleep makes little, if any, sense contextually. For this reason some propose an emendation to הֲקִצּוֹתִי (haqitsoti), a Hiphil perfect form from an otherwise unattested verb קָצַץ (qatsats) understood as a denominative of קֵץ (qets, “end”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252-53.

Judges 2:6-15

The End of an Era

⁶When Joshua dismissed^[a] the people, the Israelites went to their allotted portions of territory,^[b] intending to take possession of the land. ⁷The people worshiped^[c] the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and as long as the elderly men^[d] who outlived him remained alive. These men had witnessed^[e] all the great things the Lord had done for Israel.^[f] ⁸Joshua son of Nun, the Lord’s servant, died at the age of 110. ⁹The people^[g] buried him in his allotted land^[h] in Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰That entire generation passed away;^[i] a new generation grew up^[j] that had not personally experienced the Lord’s presence or seen what he had done for Israel.^[k]

A Monotonous Cycle

¹¹The Israelites did evil before^[l] the Lord by worshiping^[m] the Baals. ¹²They abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors^[n] who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods—the gods of the nations who lived around them. They worshiped^[o] them and made the Lord angry. ¹³They abandoned the Lord and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.^[p]

¹⁴The Lord was furious with Israel^[q] and handed them over to robbers who plundered them.^[r] He turned them over to^[s] their enemies who lived around them. They could no longer withstand their enemies’ attacks.^[t] ¹⁵Whenever they went out to fight,^[u] the Lord did them harm,^[v] just as he had warned and solemnly vowed he would do.^[w] They suffered greatly.^[x]

2 Corinthians 10:1-11

Paul’s Authority from the Lord

10 Now I, Paul, appeal to you^[a] personally^[b] by the meekness and gentleness^[c] of Christ (I who am meek^[d] when present among^[e] you, but am full of courage^[f] toward you when away!)— ²now I ask that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence that (I expect) I will dare to use against some who consider us to be behaving^[g] according to human standards.^[h] ³For though we live^[i] as human beings,^[j] we do not wage war according to human standards,^[k] ⁴for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons,^[l] but are made powerful by God^[m] for tearing down strongholds.^[n] We tear down arguments^[o] ⁵and every arrogant obstacle^[p] that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey^[q] Christ. ⁶We are also ready to punish every act of disobedience,^[r] whenever your obedience is complete. ⁷You are looking at outward appearances.^[s] If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should reflect on this again: Just as he himself belongs to Christ, so too do we. ⁸For if I boast somewhat more about our authority that the Lord gave us^[t] for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of doing so.^[u] ⁹I do not want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters, ¹⁰because some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but his physical presence is weak^[v] and his speech is of no account.”^[w] ¹¹Let such a person consider this: What we say^[x] by letters when we are absent, we also are in actions when we are present.

Footnotes

2 Corinthians 10:1 tn The Greek pronoun (“you”) is plural.
2 Corinthians 10:1 tn The word “personally” is supplied to reflect the force of the Greek intensive pronoun αὐτός (autos) at the beginning of the verse.
2 Corinthians 10:1 tn Or “leniency and clemency.” D. Walker, “Paul’s Offer of Leniency of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:1): Populist Ideology and Rhetoric in a Pauline Letter Fragment (2 Cor 10:1-13:10)” (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, 1998), argues for this alternative translation for three main reasons: (1) When the two Greek nouns πραΰτης and ἐπιείκεια (prautēs and epieikeia) are used together, 90% of the time the nuance is “leniency and clemency.” (2) “Leniency and clemency” has a military connotation, which is precisely what appears in the following verses. (3) 2 Cor 10-13 speaks of Paul’s sparing use of his authority, which points to the nuance of “leniency and clemency.”
2 Corinthians 10:1 tn Or “who lack confidence.”
2 Corinthians 10:1 tn Or “when face-to-face with.”
2 Corinthians 10:1 tn Or “but bold.”
2 Corinthians 10:2 tn Grk “consider us as walking.”
2 Corinthians 10:2 tn Grk “according to the flesh.”
2 Corinthians 10:3 tn Grk “we walk.”
2 Corinthians 10:3 tn Grk “in the flesh.”
2 Corinthians 10:3 tn Grk “according to the flesh.”
2 Corinthians 10:4 tn Grk “are not fleshly [weapons].” The repetition of the word “warfare” does not occur in the Greek text, but is supplied for clarity.
2 Corinthians 10:4 tn Or “but (are) divinely powerful,” “but they have divine power,” or “but are powerful for God’s [service]”; Grk “but are powerful to God.”
2 Corinthians 10:4 sn Ultimately Paul is referring here to the false arguments of his opponents, calling them figuratively “strongholds.” This Greek word (ὀχύρωμα, ochurōma) is used only here in the NT.
2 Corinthians 10:4 tn Or “speculations.”
2 Corinthians 10:5 tn The phrase “every arrogant obstacle” could be translated simply “all arrogance” (so L&N 88.207).
2 Corinthians 10:5 tn Grk “to the obedience of Christ,” but since Χριστοῦ (Christou) is clearly an objective genitive here, it is better to translate “to make it obey Christ.”
2 Corinthians 10:6 tn Or “punish all disobedience.”
2 Corinthians 10:7 tn The phrase is close to a recognized idiom for judging based on outward appearances (L&N 30.120). Some translators see a distinction, however, and translate 2 Cor 10:7a as “Look at what is in front of your eyes,” that is, the obvious facts of the case (so NRSV).
2 Corinthians 10:8 tn The word “us” is not in the Greek text but is supplied. Indirect objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, and must be supplied for the modern English reader.
2 Corinthians 10:8 tn Grk “I will not be put to shame,” “I will not be ashamed.” The words “of doing so” are supplied to clarify for the reader that Paul will not be ashamed of boasting somewhat more about the authority the Lord gave him (beginning of v. 8).
2 Corinthians 10:10 tn Or “unimpressive.”
2 Corinthians 10:10 tn Or “is contemptible”; Grk “is despised.”
2 Corinthians 10:11 tn Grk “what we are in word.”

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)

Psalm 139[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

Footnotes

Footnotes

The End of an Era

A Monotonous Cycle

Footnotes

Paul’s Authority from the Lord

Footnotes

Psalm 139^[a]