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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 81

Psalm 81^[a]

For the music director, according to the gittith style;^[b] by Asaph.

81 Shout for joy to God, our source of strength!
Shout out to the God of Jacob!
²Sing^[c] a song and play the tambourine,
the pleasant-sounding harp, and the ten-stringed instrument.
³Sound the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon,^[d]
and on the day of the full moon when our festival begins.^[e]
⁴For observing the festival is a requirement for Israel;^[f]
it is an ordinance given by the God of Jacob.
⁵He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph,
when he attacked the land of Egypt.^[g]
I heard a voice I did not recognize.^[h]
⁶It said:^[i] “I removed the burden from his shoulder;
his hands were released from holding the basket.^[j]
⁷In your distress you called out and I rescued you.
I answered you from a dark thundercloud.^[k]
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.^[l] (Selah)
⁸I said,^[m] ‘Listen, my people!
I will warn^[n] you.
O Israel, if only you would obey me!^[o]
⁹There must be^[p] no other^[q] god among you.
You must not worship a foreign god.
¹⁰I am the Lord, your God,
the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.’
¹¹But my people did not obey me;^[r]
Israel did not submit to me.^[s]
¹²I gave them over to their stubborn desires;^[t]
they did what seemed right to them.^[u]
¹³If only my people would obey me!^[v]
If only Israel would keep my commands!^[w]
¹⁴Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and attack^[x] their adversaries.”
¹⁵(May those who hate the Lord^[y] cower in fear^[z] before him.
May they be permanently humiliated.)^[aa]
¹⁶“I would feed Israel the best wheat,^[ab]
and would satisfy your appetite^[ac] with honey from the rocky cliffs.”^[ad]

Footnotes

Psalm 81:1 sn Psalm 81. The psalmist calls God’s people to assemble for a festival and then proclaims God’s message to them. The divine speech (vv. 6-16) recalls how God delivered the people from Egypt, reminds Israel of their rebellious past, expresses God’s desire for his people to obey him, and promises divine protection in exchange for obedience.
Psalm 81:1 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument. See the superscription to Ps 8.
Psalm 81:2 tn Heb “lift up.”
Psalm 81:3 tn Heb “at the new moon.”sn New moon festivals were a monthly ritual in Israel (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 469-70). In this context the New Moon festival of the seventh month, when the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated (note the reference to a “festival” in the next line), may be in view.
Psalm 81:3 tn Heb “at the full moon on the day of our festival.” The Hebrew word כֶּסֶה (keseh) is an alternate spelling of כֶּסֶא (keseʾ, “full moon”).sn The festival in view is probably the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths), which began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when the moon was full. See Lev 23:34; Num 29:12.
Psalm 81:4 tn Heb “because a statute for Israel [is] it.”
Psalm 81:5 tn Heb “in his going out against the land of Egypt.” This apparently refers to the general time period of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The LXX reads, “from Egypt,” in which case “Joseph” (see the preceding line) would be the subject of the verb, “when he [Joseph = Israel] left Egypt.”
Psalm 81:5 tn Heb “a lip I did not know, I heard.” Here the term “lip” probably stands for speech or a voice. Apparently the psalmist speaks here and refers to God’s voice, whose speech is recorded in the following verses.
Psalm 81:6 tn The words “It said” are not included in the Hebrew text. They are supplied in the translation for clarification.
Psalm 81:6 sn I removed the burden. The Lord speaks metaphorically of how he delivered his people from Egyptian bondage. The reference to a basket/burden probably alludes to the hard labor of the Israelites in Egypt, where they had to carry loads of bricks (see Exod 1:14).
Psalm 81:7 tn Heb “I answered you in the hidden place of thunder.” This may allude to God’s self-revelation at Mount Sinai, where he appeared in a dark cloud accompanied by thunder (see Exod 19:16).
Psalm 81:7 sn The name Meribah means “strife.” Two separate but similar incidents at the place called Meribah are recorded in the Pentateuch (Exod 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13). In both cases the Israelites complained about lack of water and the Lord miraculously provided for them.
Psalm 81:8 tn The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Verses 8-10 appear to recall what the Lord commanded the generation of Israelites that experienced the events described in v. 7. Note the statement in v. 11, “my people did not listen to me.”
Psalm 81:8 tn Or perhaps “command.”
Psalm 81:8 tn The Hebrew particle אִם (ʾim, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (GKC 321 §109.b). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.
Psalm 81:9 tn The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 have a modal function, expressing what is obligatory.
Psalm 81:9 tn Heb “different”; “illicit.”
Psalm 81:11 tn Heb “did not listen to my voice.”
Psalm 81:11 tn The Hebrew expression אָבָה לִי (ʾavah li) means “submit to me” (see Deut 13:8).
Psalm 81:12 tn Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their heart.”
Psalm 81:12 tn Heb “they walked in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite (“walked”) or a customary imperfect (“were walking”).
Psalm 81:13 tn Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The Hebrew particle לוּ (lu, “if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12).
Psalm 81:13 tn Heb “[and if only] Israel would walk in my ways.”
Psalm 81:14 tn Heb “turn my hand against.” The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack” (see Isa 1:25; Ezek 38:12; Amos 1:8; Zech 13:7).
Psalm 81:15 tn “Those who hate the Lord” are also mentioned in 2 Chr 19:2 and Ps 139:21.
Psalm 81:15 tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.
Psalm 81:15 tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (ʿittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the Lord. Some propose an emendation to בַּעֲתָתָם (baʿatatam) or בִּעֻתָם (biʿutam; “their terror”; i.e., “may their terror last forever”), but the omission of bet (ב) in the present Hebrew text is difficult to explain, making the proposed emendation unlikely.tn The verb form at the beginning of the line is jussive, indicating that this is a prayer. The translation assumes that v. 15 is a parenthetical “curse” offered by the psalmist. Having heard the reference to Israel’s enemies (v. 14), the psalmist inserts this prayer, reminding the Lord that they are God’s enemies as well.
Psalm 81:16 tn Heb “and he fed him from the best of the wheat.” The Hebrew text has a third person form of the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive attached. However, it is preferable, in light of the use of the first person in v. 14 and in the next line, to emend the verb to a first person form and understand the vav as conjunctive, continuing the apodosis of the conditional sentence of vv. 13-14. The third masculine singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in v. 6.sn I would feed. After the parenthetical “curse” in v. 15, the Lord’s speech continues here.
Psalm 81:16 tn Heb “you.” The second person singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in vv. 7-10.
Psalm 81:16 sn The language in this verse, particularly the references to wheat and honey, is reminiscent of Deut 32:13-14.

Jeremiah 31:1-6

31 At that time I will be the God of all the clans of Israel^[a]
and they will be my people.
I, the Lord, affirm it!”^[b]

Israel Will Be Restored and Join Judah in Worship

²The Lord says:

“The people of Israel who survived
death at the hands of the enemy^[c]
will find favor in the wilderness
as they journey to find rest for themselves.
³In a faraway land^[d] the Lord will manifest himself to them.
He will say to them, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love.
That is why I have continued to be faithful to you.^[e]
⁴I will rebuild you, my dear children Israel,^[f]
so that you will once again be built up.
Once again you will take up the tambourine
and join in the happy throng of dancers.^[g]
⁵Once again you will plant vineyards
on the hills of Samaria.
Those who plant them
will once again enjoy their fruit.^[h]
⁶Yes, a time is coming
when watchmen^[i] will call out on the mountains of Ephraim,
“Come! Let us go to Zion
to worship the Lord our God!”’”^[j]

Footnotes

Jeremiah 31:1 sn This verse repeats v. 22 but with specific reference to all the clans of Israel, i.e., to all Israel and Judah. It functions here as a transition to the next section, which will deal with the restoration of Israel (31:3-20) and Judah (31:21-25) and their reunification in the land (31:27-29) under a new covenant relation with God (31:31-37). See also the study note on 30:3 for further reference to this reunification in Jeremiah and the other prophets.
Jeremiah 31:1 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
Jeremiah 31:2 tn Heb “who survived the sword.”sn This refers to the remnant of northern Israel who had not been killed when Assyria conquered Israel in 722 b.c. or who had not died in exile. References to Samaria in v. 5 and Ephraim in vv. 6, 9 make clear that northern Israel is in view here.
Jeremiah 31:3 tn The first word מֵרָחוּק (merakhoq, “distant”) can mean at a distance in location or time (2 Kgs 19:25). While built from the preposition מִן (min, “from, of, since, than”) and the adjective רָחוּק (rakhoq), “far, distant”), the pieces work as one unit and typically do not mean “from a distant place,” as is especially evident when one stands at a distance (Exod 2:4) or goes to a distant place (Isa 22:3). Both options, location and time, are possible here. Either the Lord appears at a distant place (where the exiles are), or, understanding the verb as past time, he appeared long ago. In the latter view, this is probably reminiscent of God’s appearance at Sinai, reminding the people of the eternal love he covenanted with them, on the basis of which he maintains his faithful love to and will restore them.
Jeremiah 31:3 tn Or the translation of verses 2-3 could be, “The people of Israel who survived the onslaughts of Egypt and Amalek found favor in the wilderness as they journeyed to find rest. At that time long ago the Lord manifested himself to them. He said, ‘I have…That is why I have drawn you to myself through my unfailing kindness.’” There is debate whether the reference here is to God’s preservation of Israel during their wandering in the Sinai desert or his promise to protect and preserve them on their return through the Arabian desert on the way back from Assyria and Babylon (see e.g., Isa 42:14-16; 43:16-21; Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8). The only finite verbs in vv. 2-3a before the introduction of the quote are perfects, which can denote either a past act or a future act viewed as certain of fulfillment (the prophetic perfect; see GKC 312-13 §106.n, and see examples in Jer 11:16; 13:17; 25:14; 28:4). The phrase at the beginning of v. 3 can either refer to temporal (cf. BDB 935 s.v. רָחוֹק 2.b, and Isa 22:11) or spatial distance (cf. BDB 935 s.v. רָחוֹק 2.a[2], and Isa 5:29; 59:14). The verb in the final clause in v. 3 can refer to either the extension of God’s love, as in Pss 36:10 and 109:12 (cf. HALOT 645-46 s.v. מָשַׁךְ Qal.3), or the drawing of someone to him in electing, caring love, as in Hos 11:4 (cf. BDB 604 s.v. מָשַׁךְ Qal.1). The translation has opted for the prophetic reference to future deliverance because of the preceding context, the use of מֵרָחוֹק (merakhoq) to refer to the far-off land of exile in Jer 30:10; 46:27; and 51:50, and the reference to survivors from the sword being called on to remember the Lord in that far-off land in 51:50.
Jeremiah 31:4 tn Heb “Virgin Israel.”sn For the significance of this metaphor see the note on Jer 14:17. Here the emphasis rests on his special love and care for his people and the hint (further developed in vv. 21-22) that, though they are guilty of sin, he views them like an innocent young virgin.
Jeremiah 31:4 sn Contrast Jer 7:34 and 25:10.
Jeremiah 31:5 sn The terms used here refer to the enjoyment of a period of peace and stability and to the reversal of the curse (contrast, e.g., Deut 28:30). The Hebrew word translated “enjoy its fruit” is a technical one that refers to the owner of a vineyard getting to enjoy its fruit in the fifth year after it was planted, the crops of the first three years lying fallow, and those of the fourth being given to the Lord (cf. Lev 19:23-25).
Jeremiah 31:6 sn Watchmen were stationed at vantage points to pass on warning of coming attack (Jer 6:17; Ezek 33:2, 6) or to spread the news of victory (Isa 52:8). Here reference is made to the watchmen who signaled the special times of the year, such as the new moon and festival times, when Israel was to go to Jerusalem to worship. Reference is not made to these in the Hebrew Bible, but there is a good deal of instruction regarding them in the later Babylonian Talmud.
Jeremiah 31:6 sn Not only will Israel and Judah be reunited under one ruler (cf. 23:5-6), but they will share a unified place and practice of worship once again, in contrast to Israel using the illicit places of worship, illicit priesthood, and illicit feasts instituted by Jeroboam (1 Kgs 12:26-31) and continued until the downfall of Samaria in 722 b.c.

John 6:35-40

³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty.^[a] ³⁶But I told you^[b] that you have seen me^[c] and still do not believe. ³⁷Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away.^[d] ³⁸For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. ³⁹Now this is the will of the one who sent me—that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up^[e] at the last day. ⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up^[f] at the last day.”^[g]

Footnotes

John 6:35 tn Grk “the one who believes in me will not possibly thirst, ever.”sn The one who believes in me will never be thirsty. Note the parallelism between “coming to Jesus” in the first part of v. 35 and “believing in Jesus” in the second part of v. 35. For the author of the Gospel of John these terms are virtually equivalent, both referring to a positive response to Jesus (see John 3:17-21).
John 6:36 tn Grk “But I said to you.”
John 6:36 tc A few witnesses lack με (me, “me”; א A a b e q sy^s,c), while the rest of the tradition has the word (P^66,75vid rell). It is possible that the mss that lack the pronoun preserve the original wording here, with the rest of the witnesses adding the pronoun for clarity’s sake. This likelihood increases since the object is not required in Greek. Without it, however, ambiguity increases: The referent could be “me” or it could be “signs,” reaching back to vv. 26 and 30. However, the oblique form of ἐγώ (egō, the first person personal pronoun) occurs some two dozen times in this chapter alone, yet it vacillates between the emphatic form and the unemphatic form. Although generally the unemphatic form is used with verbs, there are several exceptions to this in John (cf. 8:12; 12:26, 45, 48; 13:20; 14:9). If the pronoun is a later addition here, one wonders why it is so consistently the unemphatic form in the mss. Further, that two unrelated Greek witnesses lack this small word could easily be due to accidental deletion. Finally, the date and diversity of the witnesses for the pronoun are so weighty that it is likely to be authentic and should thus be retained in the text.
John 6:37 tn Or “drive away”; Grk “cast out.”
John 6:39 tn Or “resurrect them all,” or “make them all live again”; Grk “raise it up.” The word “all” is supplied to bring out the collective nature of the neuter singular pronoun αὐτό (auto) in Greek. The plural pronoun “them” is used rather than neuter singular “it” because this is clearer in English, which does not use neuter collective singulars in the same way Greek does.
John 6:40 tn Or “resurrect him,” or “make him live again.”
John 6:40 sn Notice that here the result (having eternal life and being raised up at the last day) is produced by looking on the Son and believing in him. Compare John 6:54 where the same result is produced by eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. This suggests that the phrase in 6:54 (eats my flesh and drinks my blood) is to be understood in terms of the phrase here (looks on the Son and believes in him).

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 81[a]

For the music director, according to the gittith style;[b] by Asaph.

Footnotes

Israel Will Be Restored and Join Judah in Worship

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 81^[a]

For the music director, according to the gittith style;^[b] by Asaph.