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August 7, 2027

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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 34:1-8

Psalm 34^[a]

By David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away.^[b]

34 I will praise^[c] the Lord at all times;
my mouth will continually praise him.^[d]
²I will boast^[e] in the Lord;
let the oppressed hear and rejoice.^[f]
³Magnify the Lord with me.
Let us praise^[g] his name together.
⁴I sought the Lord’s help^[h] and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
⁵Look to him and be radiant;
do not let your faces be ashamed.^[i]
⁶This oppressed man cried out and the Lord heard;
he saved him^[j] from all his troubles.
⁷The angel of the Lord camps around
the Lord’s^[k] loyal followers^[l] and delivers them.^[m]
⁸Taste^[n] and see that the Lord is good.
How blessed^[o] is the one^[p] who takes shelter in him.^[q]

Footnotes

Psalm 34:1 sn Psalm 34. In this song of thanksgiving the psalmist praises God for delivering him from distress. He encourages others to be loyal to the Lord, tells them how to please God, and assures them that the Lord protects his servants. The psalm is an acrostic; vv. 1-21 begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (Verse 6 begins with the letter he (ה) and v. 7 with the letter zayin (ז). The letter vav (ו), which comes between ה and ז, seems to be omitted, although it does appear at the beginning of v. 6b. The final verse of the psalm, which begins with the letter pe (פ), is outside the acrostic scheme.
Psalm 34:1 tn Heb “By David, when he changed his sense before Abimelech and he drove him away and he went.”sn Pretended to be insane. The psalm heading appears to refer to the account in 1 Sam 21:10-15 which tells how David, fearful that King Achish of Gath might kill him, pretended to be insane in hopes that the king would simply send him away. The psalm heading names the king Abimelech, not Achish, suggesting that the tradition is confused on this point. However, perhaps “Abimelech” was a royal title, rather than a proper name. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 278.
Psalm 34:1 tn Heb “bless.”
Psalm 34:1 tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”
Psalm 34:2 tn Heb “my soul will boast”; or better, “let my soul boast.” Following the cohortative form in v. 1, it is likely that the prefixed verbal form here is jussive.
Psalm 34:2 tn The two prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best taken as jussives, for the psalmist is calling his audience to worship (see v. 3).
Psalm 34:3 tn Or “exalt.”
Psalm 34:4 tn Heb “I sought the Lord.”
Psalm 34:5 tc The translation follows the LXX. The MT reads “they looked to him and were radiant; let their faces not be ashamed.” The MT reads the first verb as a perfect (הִבִּיטוּ, hibbitu), which would be past time, while the LXX (supported by Aquila, the Syriac, Jerome, and some medieval Hebrew mss) reads an imperative (הַבִּיטוּ, habbitu). The MT reads the second verb as a vav plus perfect, while the LXX reads it as an imperative, again a difference of the initial vowel. The third verb is a jussive preceded by אַל (ʾal), which supports reading the first two as imperatives. The second masculine plural pronoun (“your faces”) of the LXX and the Syriac, matches this understanding of the preceding verbs. The MT reading (“their faces”) is consistent with its view of the previous verbs. The reading adopted here interprets the verse as interrupting a testimony given to the congregation with an admonition based on that testimony.
Psalm 34:6 tn The pronoun refers back to “this oppressed man,” namely, the psalmist.
Psalm 34:7 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Psalm 34:7 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
Psalm 34:7 tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the same generalizing force as the active participle in the first line. See GKC 329 §111.u.
Psalm 34:8 tn This verb is normally used of tasting food, as in eating a little bit of food (1 Sam 14:43; Jonah 3:7) or evaluating it (Job 12:11; 34:3). The two references to the physical senses stand for invitation and realization. Even a small or beginning experience of God reveals that he is good.
Psalm 34:8 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
Psalm 34:8 tn Heb “man.” The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.”
Psalm 34:8 tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

1 Kings 2:1-9

David’s Final Words to Solomon

2 When David was close to death,^[a] he told^[b] Solomon his son: ²“I am about to die.^[c] Be strong and become a man! ³Do the job the Lord your God has assigned you^[d] by following his instructions^[e] and obeying^[f] his rules, commandments, regulations, and laws as written in the law of Moses. Then you will succeed in all you do and seek to accomplish,^[g] ⁴and the Lord will fulfill his promise to me,^[h] ‘If your descendants watch their step^[i] and live faithfully in my presence^[j] with all their heart and being,^[k] then,’ he promised,^[l] ‘you will not fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’^[m]

⁵“You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether.^[n] During peacetime he struck them down as if in battle;^[o] when he shed their blood, he stained the belt on his waist and the sandals on his feet.^[p] ⁶Do to him what you think is appropriate,^[q] but don’t let him live long and die a peaceful death.^[r]

⁷“Treat fairly^[s] the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and provide for their needs,^[t] because they helped me^[u] when I had to flee from your brother Absalom.

⁸“Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim,^[v] who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim.^[w] He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised^[x] him by the Lord, ‘I will not strike you down^[y] with the sword.’ ⁹But now^[z] don’t treat him as if he were innocent. You are a wise man and you know how to handle him;^[aa] make sure he has a bloody death.”^[ab]

Footnotes

1 Kings 2:1 tn Heb “and the days of David approached to die.”
1 Kings 2:1 tn Or “commanded.”
1 Kings 2:2 tn Heb “going the way of all the earth.”
1 Kings 2:3 tn Heb “keep the charge of the Lord your God.”
1 Kings 2:3 tn Heb “by walking in his ways.”
1 Kings 2:3 tn Or “keeping.”
1 Kings 2:3 tn Heb “then you will cause to succeed all which you do and all which you turn there.”
1 Kings 2:4 tn Heb “then the Lord will establish his word which he spoke to me, saying.”
1 Kings 2:4 tn Heb “guard their way.”
1 Kings 2:4 tn Heb “by walking before me in faithfulness.”
1 Kings 2:4 tn Or “soul.”
1 Kings 2:4 tn Heb “saying.”
1 Kings 2:4 tn Heb “there will not be cut off from you a man from upon the throne of Israel.”
1 Kings 2:5 tn Heb “what he did to the two commanders…and he killed them.”
1 Kings 2:5 tn Heb “he shed the blood of battle in peace.”
1 Kings 2:5 tn Heb “and he shed the blood of battle on his belt which is on his waist and on his sandal[s] which are on his feet.” That is, he covered himself with guilt and his guilt was obvious to all who saw him.
1 Kings 2:6 tn Heb “according to your wisdom.”
1 Kings 2:6 tn Heb “and do not bring down his grey hair in peace [to] Sheol.”
1 Kings 2:7 tn Heb “do loyalty with”; or “act faithfully toward.”
1 Kings 2:7 tn Heb “and let them be among the ones who eat [at] your table.”
1 Kings 2:7 tn Heb “thus drew near to.”
1 Kings 2:8 tn Heb “Look, with you is Shimei….”
1 Kings 2:8 tn Heb “and he cursed me with a horrible curse on the day I went to Mahanaim.”
1 Kings 2:8 tn Or “swore an oath to.”
1 Kings 2:8 tn Heb “kill you.”
1 Kings 2:9 tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek and the Vulgate have here “you” rather than “now.” The two words are homonyms in Hebrew.
1 Kings 2:9 tn Heb “what you should do to him.”
1 Kings 2:9 tn Heb “bring his grey hair down in blood [to] Sheol.”

Matthew 7:7-11

Ask, Seek, Knock

⁷“Ask^[a] and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door^[b] will be opened for you. ⁸For everyone who asks^[c] receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹Is^[d] there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?^[e] ¹¹If you then, although you are evil,^[f] know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts^[g] to those who ask him!

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 34[a]

By David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away.[b]

Footnotes

David’s Final Words to Solomon

Footnotes

Ask, Seek, Knock

Footnotes

Psalm 34^[a]

By David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away.^[b]