◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 80:1-7 (Show the light of your countenance); Isaiah 66:7-11 (God as a nursing mother); Luke 13:31-35 (Jesus as mother hen laments over Jerusalem) (New English Translation)

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December 18, 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 80:1-7

Psalm 80^[a]

For the music director, according to the shushan-eduth style;^[b] a psalm of Asaph.

80 O Shepherd of Israel, pay attention,
you who lead Joseph like a flock of sheep.
You who sit enthroned above the cherubim,^[c] reveal your splendor.^[d]
²In the sight of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh reveal^[e] your power.
Come and deliver us.^[f]
³O God, restore us.
Smile on us.^[g] Then we will be delivered.^[h]
⁴O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,^[i]
how long will you remain angry at your people while they pray to you?^[j]
⁵You have given them tears as food;^[k]
you have made them drink tears by the measure.^[l]
⁶You have made our neighbors dislike us,^[m]
and our enemies insult us.
⁷O God of Heaven’s Armies,^[n] restore us.
Smile on us.^[o] Then we will be delivered.^[p]

Footnotes

Psalm 80:1 sn Psalm 80. The psalmist laments Israel’s demise and asks the Lord to show favor toward his people, as he did in earlier times.
Psalm 80:1 tn The Hebrew expression shushan-eduth means “lily of the testimony.” It may refer to a particular music style or to a tune title. See the superscription to Ps 60.
Psalm 80:1 sn Cherubim are winged angels. As depicted in the OT, they possess both human and animal (lion, ox, and eagle) characteristics (see Ezek 1:10; 10:14, 21; 41:18). They are pictured as winged creatures (Exod 25:20; 37:9; 1 Kgs 6:24-27; Ezek 10:8, 19) and serve as the very throne of God when the ark of the covenant is in view (Ps 99:1; see Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15). The picture of the Lord seated on the cherubim suggests they might be used by him as a vehicle, a function they carry out in Ezek 1:22-28 (the “living creatures” mentioned here are identified as cherubim in Ezek 10:20). In Ps 18:10 the image of a cherub serves to personify the wind.
Psalm 80:1 tn Heb “shine forth.”sn Reveal your splendor. The psalmist may allude to Deut 33:2, where God “shines forth” from Sinai and comes to superintend Moses’ blessing of the tribes.
Psalm 80:2 tn Heb “stir up”; “arouse.”
Psalm 80:2 tn Heb “come for our deliverance.”
Psalm 80:3 tn The idiom “cause your face to shine” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 89:15; Dan 9:17).
Psalm 80:3 tn Heb “cause your face to shine in order that we may be delivered.” After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.
Psalm 80:4 tn Heb “Lord, God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (ʾelohe) before צְבָאוֹת (ts^evaʾot; “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ʾelohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (ts^evaʾot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. In this context the term “hosts” has been rendered “Heaven’s Armies.”
Psalm 80:4 tn Heb “How long will you remain angry during the prayer of your people.” Some take the preposition ב (bet) in an adversative sense here (“at/against the prayer of your people”), but the temporal sense is preferable. The psalmist expects persistent prayer to pacify God.
Psalm 80:5 tn Heb “you have fed them the food of tears.”
Psalm 80:5 tn Heb “[by] the third part [of a measure].” The Hebrew term שָׁלִישׁ (shalish, “third part [of a measure]”) occurs only here and in Isa 40:12.
Psalm 80:6 tn Heb “you have made us an object of contention to our neighbors.”
Psalm 80:7 tn Heb “O God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי before צְבָאוֹת (ts^evaʾot, “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ʾelohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (ts^evaʾot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. See also v. 4 for a similar construction.
Psalm 80:7 tn The idiom “cause your face to shine” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 89:15; Dan 9:17).
Psalm 80:7 tn Heb “cause your face to shine in order that we may be delivered.” After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.

Isaiah 66:7-11

⁷Before she goes into labor, she gives birth!
Before her contractions begin, she delivers a boy!
⁸Who has ever heard of such a thing?
Who has ever seen this?
Can a country^[a] be brought forth in one day?
Can a nation be born in a single moment?
Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons!
⁹Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?”
asks the Lord.
“Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?”
asks your God.^[b]
¹⁰“Be happy for Jerusalem
and rejoice with her, all you who love her!
Share in her great joy,
all you who have mourned over her!
¹¹For^[c] you will nurse from her satisfying breasts and be nourished;^[d]
you will feed with joy from her milk-filled breasts.^[e]

Luke 13:31-35

Going to Jerusalem

³¹At that time,^[a] some Pharisees^[b] came up and said to Jesus,^[c] “Get away from here,^[d] because Herod^[e] wants to kill you.” ³²But^[f] he said to them, “Go^[g] and tell that fox,^[h] ‘Look, I am casting out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day^[i] I will complete my work.^[j] ³³Nevertheless I must^[k] go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, because it is impossible^[l] that a prophet should be killed^[m] outside Jerusalem.’^[n] ³⁴O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,^[o] you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you!^[p] How often I have longed^[q] to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but^[r] you would have none of it!^[s] ³⁵Look, your house is forsaken!^[t] And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”^[u]

Footnotes

Luke 13:31 tn Grk “At that very hour.”
Luke 13:31 sn See the note on Pharisees in 5:17.
Luke 13:31 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Luke 13:31 tn Grk “Go away and leave from here,” which is redundant in English and has been shortened to “Get away from here.”
Luke 13:31 sn Herod refers here to Herod Antipas. See the note on Herod Antipas in 3:1.
Luke 13:32 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
Luke 13:32 tn The participle πορευθέντες (poreuthentes) has been taken as indicating attendant circumstance.
Luke 13:32 sn That fox. This is not fundamentally a figure for cleverness as in modern western culture, but could indicate (1) an insignificant person (Neh 4:3; 2 Esd 13:35 LXX); (2) a deceiver (Song Rabbah 2.15.1 on 2:15); or someone destructive, a destroyer (Ezek 13:4; Lam 5:18; 1 En. 89:10, 42-49, 55). Luke’s emphasis seems to be on destructiveness, since Herod killed John the Baptist, whom Luke calls “the greatest born of women” (Luke 7:28) and later stands opposed to Jesus (Acts 4:26-28). In addition, “a person who is designated a fox is an insignificant or base person. He lacks real power and dignity, using cunning deceit to achieve his aims” (H. W. Hoehner, Herod Antipas [SNTSMS], 347).
Luke 13:32 sn The third day is a figurative reference to being further on in time, not a reference to three days from now. Jesus is not even in Jerusalem yet, and the events of the last days in Jerusalem take a good week.
Luke 13:32 tn Or “I reach my goal.” The verb τελειόω (teleioō) is a key NT term for the completion of God’s plan: See Luke 12:50; 22:37; John 19:30; and (where it has the additional component of meaning “to perfect”) Heb 2:10; 5:8-9; 7:28.
Luke 13:33 tn This is the frequent expression δεῖ (dei, “it is necessary”) that notes something that is a part of God’s plan.
Luke 13:33 tn Or “unthinkable.” See L&N 71.4 for both possible meanings.
Luke 13:33 tn Or “should perish away from.”
Luke 13:33 sn Death in Jerusalem is another key theme in Luke’s material: 7:16, 34; 24:19; Acts 3:22-23. Notice that Jesus sees himself in the role of a prophet here. Jesus’ statement, it is impossible that a prophet should be killed outside Jerusalem, is filled with irony; Jesus, traveling about in Galilee (most likely), has nothing to fear from Herod; it is his own people living in the very center of Jewish religion and worship who present the greatest danger to his life. The underlying idea is that Jerusalem, though she stands at the very heart of the worship of God, often kills the prophets God sends to her (v. 34). In the end, Herod will be much less a threat than Jerusalem.
Luke 13:34 sn The double use of the city’s name betrays intense emotion.
Luke 13:34 tn Although the opening address (“Jerusalem, Jerusalem”) is direct (second person), the remainder of this sentence in the Greek text is third person (“who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her”). The following sentences then revert to second person (“your…you”), so to keep all this consistent in English, the third person pronouns in the present verse were translated as second person (“you who kill…sent to you”).
Luke 13:34 sn How often I have longed to gather your children. Jesus, like a lamenting prophet, speaks for God here, who longed to care tenderly for Israel and protect her.
Luke 13:34 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
Luke 13:34 tn Grk “you were not willing.”
Luke 13:35 sn Your house is forsaken. The language here is from Jer 12:7 and 22:5. It recalls exilic judgment.
Luke 13:35 sn A quotation from Ps 118:26. The judgment to come will not be lifted until the Lord returns. See Luke 19:41-44.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 80[a]

For the music director, according to the shushan-eduth style;[b] a psalm of Asaph.

Footnotes

Footnotes

Going to Jerusalem

Footnotes

Psalm 80^[a]

For the music director, according to the shushan-eduth style;^[b] a psalm of Asaph.