◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Daniel 7:9-10 13-14 (The coming one rules over all); Psalm 93 (Your throne has been established); Revelation 1:4b-8 (Christ the ruler of the earth); John 18:33-37 (The kingdom of Christ) (New English Translation)

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November 21, 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

Daniel 7:9-10

⁹“While I was watching,

thrones were set up,
and the Ancient of Days^[a] took his seat.
His attire was white like snow;
the hair of his head was like lamb’s^[b] wool.
His throne was ablaze with fire
and its wheels were all aflame.^[c]
¹⁰A river of fire was streaming forth
and proceeding from his presence.
Many thousands were ministering to him;
many tens of thousands stood ready to serve him.^[d]
The court convened^[e]
and the books were opened.

Daniel 7:13-14

¹³“I was watching in the night visions,
And with^[a] the clouds of the sky^[b]
one like a son of man^[c] was approaching.
He went up to the Ancient of Days
and was escorted^[d] before him.
¹⁴To him was given ruling authority, honor, and sovereignty.
All peoples, nations, and language groups were serving^[e] him.
His authority is eternal and will not pass away.^[f]
His kingdom will not be destroyed.^[g]

Psalm 93

Psalm 93^[a]

93 The Lord reigns.
He is robed in majesty.
The Lord is robed;
he wears strength around his waist.^[b]
Indeed, the world is established; it cannot be moved.
²Your throne has been secure from ancient times;
you have always been king.^[c]
³The waves^[d] roar, O Lord,
the waves roar,
the waves roar and crash.^[e]
⁴Above the sound of the surging water,^[f]
and the mighty waves of the sea,
the Lord sits enthroned in majesty.^[g]
⁵The rules you set down^[h] are completely reliable.^[i]
Holiness^[j] aptly adorns your house, O Lord, forever.^[k]

Revelation 1:4-8

⁴From John,^[a] to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia:^[b] Grace and peace to you^[c] from “he who is,”^[d] and who was, and who is still to come,^[e] and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵and from Jesus Christ—the faithful^[f] witness,^[g] the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free^[h] from our sins at the cost of^[i] his own blood ⁶and has appointed^[j] us as a kingdom,^[k] as priests^[l] serving his God and Father—to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever!^[m] Amen.

⁷(Look! He is returning with the clouds,^[n]
and every eye will see him,
even^[o] those who pierced him,^[p]
and all the tribes^[q] on the earth will mourn because^[r] of him.
This will certainly come to pass!^[s] Amen.)^[t]

⁸“I am the Alpha and the Omega,”^[u] says the Lord God—the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come—the All-Powerful!^[v]

Footnotes

Revelation 1:4 tn Grk “John.” The word “From” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
Revelation 1:4 tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia. The Roman province of Asia made up about one-third of modern Asia Minor and was on the western side of it. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.
Revelation 1:4 tn It is probable that the ὑμῖν (humin) applies to both elements of the greeting, i.e., to both grace and peace.
Revelation 1:4 tc The earliest and best mss (P^18vid א A C P 2050 al lat sy co) lack the term “God” (θεοῦ, theou) between “from” (ἀπό, apo) and “he who is” (ὁ ὤν, ho ōn). Its inclusion, as supported by the bulk of the Byzantine witnesses, is clearly secondary and a scribal attempt to achieve two things: (1) to make explicit the referent in the passage, namely, God, and (2) to smooth out the grammar. The preposition “from” in Greek required a noun in the genitive case. But here in Rev 1:4 the words following the preposition “from” (ἀπό) are in another case, i.e., the nominative. There are two principal ways in which to deal with this grammatical anomaly. First, it could be a mistake arising from someone who just did not know Greek very well, or as a Jew, was heavily influenced by a Semitic form of Greek. Both of these unintentional errors are unlikely here. Commenting on this ExSyn 63 argues: “Either of these is doubtful here because (1) such a flagrant misunderstanding of the rudiments of Greek would almost surely mean that the author could not compose in Greek, yet the Apocalypse itself argues against this; (2) nowhere else does the Seer [i.e., John] use a nom. immediately after a preposition (in fact, he uses ἀπό 32 times with the gen. immediately following).” The passage appears to be an allusion to Exod 3:14 (in the LXX) where God refers to himself as “he who is” (ὁ ὤν), the same wording in Greek as here in Rev 1:4. Thus, it appears that John is wanting to leave the divine name untouched (perhaps to allude to God’s immutability, or as a pointer to the Old Testament as the key to unlocking the meaning of this book), irrespective of what it “looks” like grammatically. The translation has placed the “he who is” in quotation marks to indicate to the reader that the syntactical awkwardness is intentional. (For further comments, see ExSyn 63).
Revelation 1:4 tn BDAG 106 s.v. ἀπό 5.d states: “The expr. εἰρήνη ἀπὸ ‘ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος’ Rv 1:4 is quite extraordinary. It may be an interpretation of the name Yahweh already current, or an attempt to show reverence for the divine name by preserving it unchanged, or simply one more of the grammatical peculiarities so frequent in Rv.”
Revelation 1:5 tn Or “Jesus Christ—the faithful one, the witness…” Some take ὁ πιστός (ho pistos) as a second substantive in relation to ὁ μάρτυς (ho martus). In the present translation, however, ὁ πιστός was taken as an adjective in attributive position to ὁ μάρτυς. The idea of martyrdom and faithfulness are intimately connected. See BDAG 820 s.v. πιστός 1.a.α: “ὁ μάρτυς μου ὁ πιστός μου Rv 2:13 (μάρτυς 3); in this ‘book of martyrs’ Christ is ὁ μάρτυς ὁ πιστὸς (καὶ ὁ ἀληθινός) 1:5; 3:14; cp. 19:11 (the combination of ἀληθινός and πιστός in the last two passages is like 3 Macc 2:11). Cp. Rv 17:14.”
Revelation 1:5 sn The Greek term translated witness can mean both “witness” and “martyr.”
Revelation 1:5 tc The reading “set free” (λύσαντι, lusanti) has better ms support (P¹⁸ א A C 1611 2050 2329 2351 M^A sy) than its rival, λούσαντι (lousanti, “washed”; found in P 1006 1841 1854 2053 2062 M^K lat bo). Internally, it seems that the reading “washed” could have arisen in at least one of three ways: (1) as an error of hearing (both “released” and “washed” are pronounced similarly in Greek); (2) an error of sight (both “released” and “washed” look very similar—a difference of only one letter—which could have resulted in a simple error during the copying of a ms); (3) through scribal inability to appreciate that the Hebrew preposition ב can be used with a noun to indicate the price paid for something. Since the author of Revelation is influenced significantly by a Semitic form of Greek (e.g., 13:10), and since the Hebrew preposition “in” (ב) can indicate the price paid for something, and is often translated with the preposition “in” (ἐν, en) in the LXX, the author may have tried to communicate by the use of ἐν the idea of a price paid for something. That is, John was trying to say that Christ delivered us at the price of his own blood. This whole process, however, may have been lost on a later scribe, who being unfamiliar with Hebrew, found the expression “delivered in his blood” too difficult, and noticing the obvious similarities between λύσαντι and λούσαντι, assumed an error and then proceeded to change the text to “washed in his blood”—a thought more tolerable in his mind. Both readings, of course, are true to scripture; the current question is what the author wrote in this verse.tn Or “and released us” (L&N 37.127).
Revelation 1:5 tn The style here is somewhat Semitic, with the use of the ἐν (en) + the dative to mean “at the price of.” The addition of “own” in the English is stylistic and is an attempt to bring out the personal nature of the statement and the sacrificial aspect of Jesus’ death—a frequent refrain in the Apocalypse.
Revelation 1:6 tn The verb ποιέω (poieō) can indicate appointment or assignment rather than simply “make” or “do.” See Mark 3:14 (L&N 37.106).
Revelation 1:6 tn See BDAG 168 s.v. βασιλεία 1.a for the idea of “he made us a kingdom,” which was translated as “he appointed us (to be or function) as a kingdom” (see the note on the word “appointed” earlier in the verse).
Revelation 1:6 tn Grk “a kingdom, priests.” The term ἱερεῖς (hiereis) is either in apposition to βασιλείαν (basileian) or as a second complement to the object “us” (ἡμᾶς, hēmas). The translation retains this ambiguity.
Revelation 1:6 tc Both the longer reading τῶν αἰώνων (tōn aiōnōn, “to the ages of the ages” or, more idiomatically, “for ever and ever”; found in א C M) and the shorter (“for ever”; found in P¹⁸ A P 2050 bo) have good ms support. The author uses the longer expression (εἰς [τοὺς] αἰῶνας [τῶν] αἰώνων, eis [tous] aiōnas [tōn] aiōnōn) in every other instance of αἰών in Revelation, twelve passages in all (1:18; 4:9, 10; 5:13; 7:12; 10:6; 11:15; 14:11; 15:7; 19:3; 20:10; 22:5). Thus, on the one hand, the style of the author is consistent, while on the other hand, the scribes may have been familiar with such a stylistic feature, causing them to add the words here. The issues are more complex than can be presented here; the longer reading, however, is probably authentic (the shorter reading arising from accidental omission of the genitive phrase due to similarity with the preceding words).
Revelation 1:7 sn An allusion to Dan 7:13.
Revelation 1:7 tn Here καί (kai) was translated as ascensive.
Revelation 1:7 sn An allusion to Zech 12:10.
Revelation 1:7 tn In this context, tribes (φυλαί, phulai) could also be translated as “nations” or “peoples” (L&N 11.56).
Revelation 1:7 tn The conjunction ἐπί (epi) is most likely causal here. The people who crucified him are those of every tribe on the earth and they will mourn because he comes as judge.
Revelation 1:7 tn Grk “Yes, Amen.” The expression “This will certainly come to pass” is an attempt to capture the force of the juxtaposition of the Greek ναί (nai) and the Hebrew ἀμήν (amēn). See L&N 69.1.
Revelation 1:7 sn These lines are placed in parentheses because they form an aside to the main argument.
Revelation 1:8 tc The shorter reading “Omega” (ὦ, ō) has superior ms evidence (א¹ A C 1611) to the longer reading which includes “the beginning and the end” (ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος or ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος, archē kai telos or hē archē kai to telos), found in א*^,2 1854 2050 2329 2351 M^A lat bo. There is little reason why a scribe would have deleted the words, but their clarifying value and the fact that they harmonize with 21:6 indicate that they are a secondary addition to the text.
Revelation 1:8 tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π.…Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22.”

John 18:33-37

Pilate Questions Jesus

³³So Pilate went back into the governor’s residence,^[a] summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”^[b] ³⁴Jesus replied,^[c] “Are you saying this on your own initiative,^[d] or have others told you about me?” ³⁵Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I?^[e] Your own people^[f] and your chief priests handed you over^[g] to me. What have you done?”

³⁶Jesus replied, “My kingdom^[h] is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being^[i] handed over^[j] to the Jewish authorities.^[k] But as it is,^[l] my kingdom is not from here.” ³⁷Then Pilate said,^[m] “So you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world—to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to^[n] my voice.”

Footnotes

John 18:33 tn Grk “into the praetorium.”
John 18:33 sn It is difficult to discern Pilate’s attitude when he asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Some have believed the remark to be sarcastic or incredulous as Pilate looked at this lowly and humble prisoner: “So you’re the king of the Jews, are you?” Others have thought the Roman governor to have been impressed by Jesus’ regal disposition and dignity, and to have sincerely asked, “Are you really the king of the Jews?” Since it will later become apparent (v. 38) that Pilate considered Jesus innocent (and therefore probably also harmless) an attitude of incredulity is perhaps most likely, but this is far from certain in the absence of clear contextual clues.
John 18:34 tn Grk “Jesus answered.”
John 18:34 tn Grk “saying this from yourself.”
John 18:35 sn Many have seen in Pilate’s reply “I am not a Jew, am I?” the Roman contempt for the Jewish people. Some of that may indeed be present, but strictly speaking, all Pilate affirms is that he, as a Roman, has no firsthand knowledge of Jewish custom or belief. What he knows of Jesus must have come from the Jewish authorities. They are the ones (your own people and your chief priests) who have handed Jesus over to Pilate.
John 18:35 tn Or “your own nation.”
John 18:35 tn Or “delivered you over.”
John 18:36 sn The kingdom (of God) is a major theme of Jesus’ teaching. The nature of the kingdom of God in the NT and in Jesus’ teaching has long been debated by interpreters and scholars, with discussion primarily centering around the nature of the kingdom (earthly, heavenly, or both) and the kingdom’s arrival (present, future, or both). An additional major issue concerns the relationship between the kingdom of God and the person and work of Jesus himself, as here where Jesus refers to My kingdom.
John 18:36 tn Grk “so that I may not be.”
John 18:36 tn Or “delivered over.”
John 18:36 tn Or “the Jewish leaders”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin. See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 12. In the translation “authorities” was preferred over “leaders” for stylistic reasons.
John 18:36 tn Grk “now.”
John 18:37 tn Grk “said to him.”
John 18:37 tn Or “obeys”; Grk “hears.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

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Psalm 93[a]

Footnotes

Footnotes

Pilate Questions Jesus

Footnotes

Psalm 93^[a]