◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 90:12-17 (Teach us to number our days); Amos 3:13—4:5 (Judgment against oppressors); Matthew 15:1-9 (Jesus teaches true commandments) (New English Translation)

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October 9, 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 90:12-17

¹²So teach us to consider our mortality,^[a]
so that we might live wisely.^[b]
¹³Turn back toward us, O Lord.
How long must this suffering last?^[c]
Have pity on your servants.^[d]
¹⁴Satisfy us in the morning^[e] with your loyal love.
Then we will shout for joy and be happy^[f] all our days.
¹⁵Make us happy in proportion to the days you have afflicted us,
in proportion to the years we have experienced^[g] trouble.
¹⁶May your servants see your work.^[h]
May their sons see your majesty.^[i]
¹⁷May our Sovereign God extend his favor to us.^[j]
Make our endeavors successful.
Yes, make them successful.^[k]

Amos 3:13-4:5

¹³Listen and warn^[a] the family^[b] of Jacob!”^[c]
The Sovereign Lord, the God who commands armies,^[d] is speaking!
¹⁴“Certainly when^[e] I punish Israel for their^[f] covenant transgressions,^[g]

I will destroy^[h] Bethel’s altars.
The horns^[i] of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
¹⁵I will destroy both the winter and summer houses.^[j]
The houses filled with ivory^[k] will be ruined,
the great^[l] houses will be swept away.”^[m]
The Lord is speaking!
4 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan^[n] who live on Mount Samaria!

You^[o] oppress the poor;
you crush the needy.
You say to your^[p] husbands,
“Bring us more to drink!”^[q]
²The Sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character:^[r]
“Certainly the time is approaching^[s]
when you will be carried away^[t] in baskets,^[u]
every last one of you^[v] in fishermen’s pots.^[w]
³Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls;^[x]
you will be thrown out^[y] toward Harmon.”^[z]
The Lord is speaking.

Israel has an Appointment with God

⁴“Go to Bethel^[aa] and rebel!^[ab]
At Gilgal^[ac] rebel some more!
Bring your sacrifices in^[ad] the morning,
your tithes on^[ae] the third day!
⁵Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast!^[af]
Make a public display of your voluntary offerings!^[ag]
For you love to do this, you Israelites.”
The Sovereign Lord is speaking.

Footnotes

Amos 3:13 tn Or “testify against.”
Amos 3:13 tn Heb “house.”
Amos 3:13 tn These words are spoken to either the unidentified heralds addressed at the beginning of v. 9, or to the Egyptians and Philistines (see v. 9b). Another possibility is that one is not to look for a specific addressee but rather appreciate the command simply as a rhetorical device to grab the attention of the listeners and readers of the prophetic message.
Amos 3:13 tn Traditionally, “the God of hosts.”
Amos 3:14 tn Heb “in the day.”
Amos 3:14 tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.
Amos 3:14 tn Traditionally, “transgressions, sins,” but see the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3.
Amos 3:14 tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).
Amos 3:14 sn The horns of an ancient altar projected upwards from the four corners and resembled an animal’s horns in appearance. Fugitives could seek asylum by grabbing hold of these corners (see Exod 21:14; 1 Kgs 1:50; 2:28). When the altar’s horns were cut off, there would be no place of asylum left for the Lord’s enemies.
Amos 3:15 tn Heb “the winter house along with the summer house.”sn Like kings, many in Israel’s wealthy class owned both winter and summer houses (cf. 1 Kgs 21:1, 18; Jer 36:22). For a discussion of archaeological evidence relating to these structures, see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 64-65.
Amos 3:15 tn Heb “houses of ivory.” These houses were not made of ivory, but they had ivory panels and furniture decorated with ivory inlays. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 139-48.
Amos 3:15 tn Or “many,” cf. NAB “their many rooms.”
Amos 3:15 tn The translation assumes the form is from the Hebrew verb סָפָה (safah, “to sweep away”) rather than סוּף (suf, “to come to an end”), which is the choice of most versions. Either option effectively communicates the destruction of the structures.
Amos 4:1 sn The expression cows of Bashan is used by the prophet to address the wealthy women of Samaria, who demand that their husbands satisfy their cravings. The derogatory language perhaps suggests that they, like the livestock of Bashan, were well fed, ironically in preparation for the coming slaughter. This phrase is sometimes cited to critique the book’s view of women.
Amos 4:1 tn Heb “the ones who” (three times in this verse).
Amos 4:1 tn Heb “their.”
Amos 4:1 sn Some commentators relate this scene to the description of the marzeah feast of 6:3-6, in which drinking played a prominent part (see the note at 6:6).
Amos 4:2 tn Heb “swears by his holiness.”sn The message that follows is an unconditional oath, the fulfillment of which is just as certain as the Lord’s own holy character.
Amos 4:2 tn Heb “Look, certainly days are coming upon you”; cf. NRSV “the time is surely coming upon you.”
Amos 4:2 tn Heb “one will carry you away”; cf. NASB “they will take you away.”
Amos 4:2 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “baskets” is uncertain. The translation follows the suggestion of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (130-32): “shields” (cf. NEB); “ropes”; “thorns,” which leads to the most favored interpretation, “hooks” (cf. NASB “meat hooks,” and NIV, NRSV “hooks”); “baskets,” and (derived from “baskets”) “boats.” Against the latter, it is unlikely that Amos envisioned a deportation by boat for the inhabitants of Samaria! See also the note on the expression “fishermen’s pots” later in this verse.
Amos 4:2 tn Or “your children”; cf. KJV “your posterity.”
Amos 4:2 tn The meaning of the Hebrew expression translated “in fishermen’s pots” is uncertain. The translation follows that of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (132-33): “thorns,” understood by most modern interpreters to mean (by extension) “fishhooks” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV); “boats,” but as mentioned in the previous note on the word “baskets,” a deportation of the Samaritans by boat is geographically unlikely; and “pots,” referring to a container used for packing fish (cf. NEB “fish-baskets”). Paul (p. 134) argues that the imagery comes from the ancient fishing industry. When hauled away into exile, the women of Samaria will be like fish packed and transported to market.sn The imagery of catching fish in connection with the captivity of Israel is also found in Jer 16:16 and Hab 1:14.
Amos 4:3 tn Heb “and [through the] breaches you will go out, each straight ahead.”
Amos 4:3 tn The Hiphil verb form has no object. It may be intransitive (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 425), though many emend it to a Hophal.
Amos 4:3 tn The meaning of this word is unclear. Many understand it as a place name, though such a location is not known. Some (e.g., H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia], 204) emend to “Hermon” or to similarly written words, such as “the dung heap” (NEB, NJPS), “the garbage dump” (NCV), or “the fortress” (cf. NLT “your fortresses”).
Amos 4:4 sn Bethel and Gilgal were important formal worship centers because of their importance in Israel’s history. Here the Lord ironically urges the people to visit these places so they can increase their sin against him. Their formal worship, because it was not accompanied by social justice, only made them more guilty in God’s sight by adding hypocrisy to their list of sins. Obviously, theirs was a twisted view of the Lord. They worshiped a god of their own creation in order to satisfy their religious impulses (see 4:5: “For you love to do this”). Note that none of the rituals listed in 4:4-5 have to do with sin.
Amos 4:4 tn The Hebrew word translated “rebel” (also in the following line) could very well refer here to Israel’s violations of their covenant with God (see also the term “crimes” in 1:3 [with note] and the phrase “covenant transgressions” in 2:4 [with note] and 3:14).
Amos 4:4 sn See the note on Bethel earlier in this verse.
Amos 4:4 tn Or “for.”
Amos 4:4 tn Or “for.”
Amos 4:5 sn For the background of the thank offering of bread made with yeast, see Lev 7:13.
Amos 4:5 tn Heb “proclaim voluntary offerings, announce.”

Matthew 15:1-9

Breaking Human Traditions

15 Then Pharisees^[a] and experts in the law^[b] came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said,^[c] ²“Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their^[d] hands when they eat.”^[e] ³He answered them,^[f] “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? ⁴For God said,^[g] ‘Honor your father and mother’^[h] and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’^[i] ⁵But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,”^[j] ⁶he does not need to honor his father.’^[k] You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. ⁷Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

⁸‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart^[l] is far from me,
⁹and they worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”^[m]

Footnotes

Matthew 15:1 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
Matthew 15:1 tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
Matthew 15:1 tn The participle λέγοντες (legontes) has been translated as a finite verb so that its telic (i.e., final or conclusive) force can be more easily detected: The Pharisees and legal experts came to Jesus in order to speak with him.
Matthew 15:2 tc ‡ Although most witnesses read the genitive plural pronoun αὐτῶν (autōn, “their”), it may have been motivated by clarification (as it is in the translation above). Several other authorities do not have the pronoun, however (א B Δ 073 ƒ¹ 579 700 892 1424 f g¹); the lack of an unintentional oversight as the reason for omission strengthens their combined testimony in this shorter reading. NA²⁸ has the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.
Matthew 15:2 tn Grk “when they eat bread.”
Matthew 15:3 tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.”
Matthew 15:4 tc Most mss (א*^,2b C L N W Γ Δ 0106 33 565 1241 1424 M) have an expanded introduction here; instead of “For God said,” they read “For God commanded, saying” (ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἐνετείλατο λέγων, ho gar theos eneteilato legōn). But such expansions are generally motivated readings; in this case, most likely it was due to the wording of the previous verse (“the commandment of God”) that caused early scribes to add to the text. Although it is possible that other witnesses reduced the text to the simple εἶπεν (eipen, “[God] said”) because of perceived redundancy with the statement in v. 3, such is unlikely in light of the great variety and age of these authorities (א^2a B D Θ 073 ƒ^{1, 13} 579 700 892 lat co, as well as other versions and fathers).
Matthew 15:4 sn A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.
Matthew 15:4 sn A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9.
Matthew 15:5 tn Grk “is a gift,” that is, something dedicated to God.
Matthew 15:6 tc The logic of v. 5 would seem to demand that both father and mother are in view in v. 6. Indeed, the majority of mss (C L N W Γ Δ Θ 0106 ƒ¹ 1424 M) have “or his mother” (ἢ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, ē tēn mētera autou) after “honor his father” here. However, there are significant witnesses that have variations on this theme (καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ [kai tēn mētera autou, “and his mother”] in Φ 565 1241 bo and ἢ τὴν μητέρα [“or mother”] in 073 ƒ¹³ 33 579 700 892), which is usually an indication of a predictable addition to the text rather than an authentic reading. Further, the shorter reading (without any mention of “mother”) is found in early and significant witnesses (א B D a e sy^c sa). Although it is possible that the shorter reading came about accidentally (due to the repetition of—ερα αὐτοῦ), the evidence more strongly suggests that the longer readings were intentional scribal alterations.tn Grk “he will never honor his father.” Here Jesus is quoting the Pharisees, whose intent is to release the person who is giving his possessions to God from the family obligation of caring for his parents. The verb in this phrase is future tense, and it is negated with οὐ μή (ou mē), the strongest negation possible in Greek. A literal translation of the phrase does not capture the intended sense of the statement; it would actually make the Pharisees sound as if they agreed with Jesus. Instead, a more interpretive translation has been used to focus upon the release from family obligations that the Pharisees allowed in these circumstances.sn Here Jesus refers to something that has been set aside as a gift to be given to God at some later date, but which is still in the possession of the owner. According to contemporary Jewish tradition, the person who made this claim was absolved from responsibility to support or assist his parents, a clear violation of the Mosaic law to honor one’s parents (v. 4).
Matthew 15:8 tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.
Matthew 15:9 sn A quotation from Isa 29:13.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Footnotes

Israel has an Appointment with God

Footnotes

Breaking Human Traditions

Footnotes