◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 66:1-12 (God holds our souls in life); Jeremiah 28:1-17 (Hananiah opposes Jeremiah); Luke 5:12-16 (A leper healed) (New English Translation)

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October 12, 1968

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 66:1-12

Psalm 66^[a]

For the music director, a song, a psalm.

66 Shout out praise to God, all the earth!
²Sing praises about the majesty of his reputation.^[b]
Give him the honor he deserves!^[c]
³Say to God:
“How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power your enemies cower in fear^[d] before you.
⁴All the earth worships^[e] you
and sings praises to you.
They sing praises to your name.” (Selah)
⁵Come and witness^[f] God’s exploits!^[g]
His acts on behalf of people are awesome.^[h]
⁶He turned the sea into dry land;^[i]
they passed through the river on foot.^[j]
Let us rejoice in him there.^[k]
⁷He rules^[l] by his power forever;
he watches^[m] the nations.
Stubborn rebels should not exalt^[n] themselves. (Selah)
⁸Praise^[o] our God, you nations.
Loudly proclaim his praise.^[p]
⁹He preserves our lives^[q]
and does not allow our feet to slip.
¹⁰For^[r] you, O God, tested us;
you purified us like refined silver.
¹¹You led us into a trap;^[s]
you caused us to suffer.^[t]
¹²You allowed men to ride over our heads;
we passed through fire and water,
but you brought us out into a wide open place.^[u]

Footnotes

Psalm 66:1 sn Psalm 66. The psalmist praises God because he has delivered his people from a crisis.
Psalm 66:2 tn Heb “his name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
Psalm 66:2 tn Heb “make honorable his praise.”
Psalm 66:3 tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 81:15 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 “be weak, powerless” (see also Ps 109:24).
Psalm 66:4 tn Or “bows down to.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 are taken (1) as imperfects expressing what is typical. Another option (2) is to interpret them as anticipatory (“all the earth will worship you”) or (3) take them as jussives, expressing a prayer or wish (“may all the earth worship you”).
Psalm 66:5 tn Or “see.”
Psalm 66:5 tn Or “acts” (see Ps 46:8).
Psalm 66:5 tn Heb “awesome [is] an act toward the sons of man.” It is unclear how the prepositional phrase relates to what precedes. If collocated with “act,” it may mean “on behalf of” or “toward.” If taken with “awesome” (see 1 Chr 16:25; Pss 89:7; 96:4; Zeph 2:11), one might translate “his awesome acts are beyond human comprehension” or “his awesome acts are superior to anything men can do.”
Psalm 66:6 sn He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist alludes to Israel’s crossing the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).
Psalm 66:6 tn Because of the reference to “the river,” some understand this as an allusion to Israel’s crossing the Jordan River. However, the Hebrew term נָהָר (nahad) does not always refer to a “river” in the technical sense; it can be used of sea currents (see Jonah 2:4). So this line may also refer to the Red Sea crossing (cf. NEB).
Psalm 66:6 tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).
Psalm 66:7 tn Heb “[the] one who rules.”
Psalm 66:7 tn Heb “his eyes watch.” “Eyes” are an anthropomorphism, attributed to God here to emphasize his awareness of all that happens on earth.
Psalm 66:7 tn The verb form is jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ʾal). The Kethib (consonantal text) has a Hiphil form of the verb, apparently to be understood in an exhibitive sense (“demonstrate stubborn rebellion”; see BDB 927 s.v. רוּם Hiph), while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Qal form, to be understood in an intransitive sense. The preposition ל (lamed) with pronominal suffix should be understood in a reflexive sense (“for themselves”) and indicates that the action is performed with the interest of the subject in mind.
Psalm 66:8 tn Heb “bless,” in the sense of declaring “God to be the source of…special power” (see HALOT 160 s.v. II ברך pi).
Psalm 66:8 tn Heb “cause the voice of his praise to be heard.”
Psalm 66:9 tn Heb “the one who places our soul in life.”
Psalm 66:10 tn Or “indeed.”
Psalm 66:11 tn Heb “you brought us into a net.” This rare word for “net” also occurs in Ezek 12:13; 13:21; 17:20.
Psalm 66:11 tn Heb “you placed suffering on our hips.” The noun מוּעָקָה (muʿaqah, “suffering”) occurs only here in the OT.
Psalm 66:12 tc The MT reads רְוָיָה (r^evayah, “saturation”) but this should be emended to רְוָחָה (r^evakhah, “wide open place”; i.e., “relief”), a reading supported by several ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Jerome, Targum).

Jeremiah 28

Jeremiah Confronted by a False Prophet

28 The following events occurred in that same year, early in the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah. To be more precise, it was the fifth month of the fourth year of his reign.^[a] The prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, spoke to Jeremiah^[b] in the Lord’s temple in the presence of the priests and all the people:^[c] ²“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,^[d] says, ‘I will break the yoke of servitude^[e] to the king of Babylon. ³Before two years are over, I will bring back to this place everything that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from it and carried away to Babylon. ⁴I will also bring back to this place Jehoiakim’s son King Jeconiah of Judah and all the exiles who were taken to Babylon.’ Indeed, the Lord affirms,^[f] ‘I will break the yoke of servitude to the king of Babylon.’”

⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah responded to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the Lord’s temple. ⁶The prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do all this! May the Lord make your prophecy come true! May he bring back to this place from Babylon all the valuable articles taken from the Lord’s temple and the people who were carried into exile. ⁷But listen to what I say to you and to all these people.^[g] ⁸From earliest times, the prophets who preceded you and me invariably^[h] prophesied war, disaster,^[i] and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹So if a prophet prophesied^[j] peace and prosperity, it was only known that the Lord truly sent him when what he prophesied came true.”

¹⁰The prophet Hananiah then took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. ¹¹Then he spoke up in the presence of all the people. “The Lord says, ‘In the same way I will break the yoke of servitude of all the nations to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon^[k] before two years are over.’” After he heard this, the prophet Jeremiah departed and went on his way.^[l]

¹²But shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, the Lord’s message came to Jeremiah. ¹³“Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says,^[m] ‘You have indeed broken the wooden yoke. But you have^[n] only succeeded in replacing it with an iron one!^[o] ¹⁴For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,^[p] says, “I have put an irresistible yoke of servitude on all these nations^[q] so they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. And they will indeed serve him. I have even given him control over the wild animals.”’”^[r] ¹⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you! You are making these people trust in a lie.^[s] ¹⁶So the Lord says, ‘I will most assuredly remove^[t] you from the face of the earth. You will die this very year because you have counseled rebellion against the Lord.’”^[u]

¹⁷In the seventh month of that very same year^[v] the prophet Hananiah died.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 28:1 tc The original text is unusually full here: Heb “And it happened in that year in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah…said to…” Many scholars see a contradiction between “in the fourth year” and “in the beginning of the reign.” These scholars point to the fact that the Greek version does not have “in that year” and “in the beginning of the reign of”; it merely reads, “in the fourth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month.” These scholars generally also regard the heading at 27:1 to be unoriginal and interpret the heading in the MT here as a faulty harmonization of the original (that in the Greek version) with the erroneous one in the Hebrew of 27:1. However, it is just as possible that the Greek version in both places is an attempt to harmonize the data of 27:1 and 28:1. That is, it left out both the heading at 27:1, and “in that year” and “at the beginning of the reign of” in the heading here because it thought the data was contradictory. On the other hand, it is just as likely that no contradiction really exists here because the term “beginning of the reign” can include the fourth year. E. H. Merrill has argued that the term here refers not to the accession year (see the translator’s note on 26:1) but to the early years in general (“The ‘Accession Year’ and Davidic Chronology,” JANESCU 19 [1989]: 105-6, and cf. note 18 for bibliography on Akkadian parallels). Hence the phrase has been translated both here and in 27:1 as “early in the reign of…” For other attempts at harmonization see the discussion in G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 (WBC), 41, n. 1a.sn The dating here is very full and precise. “In that same year” ties the events here in with the messages that Jeremiah delivered to the envoys, the king and his court, and the priests and people while wearing the yoke symbolizing servitude to Nebuchadnezzar. The text wants to show that the events here transpired shortly after those in Jer 27 and that Jeremiah is still wearing the yoke. The supplying of the precise month is important because the end of the chapter will show that Jeremiah’s prophecy regarding Hananiah was fulfilled two months later. Hence Jeremiah is the true prophet, and Hananiah and the others (27:16) are false. The supplying of the year is perhaps significant because the author states in 51:59 that Zedekiah went to Babylon that same year, probably to pledge his loyalty. The suggestion lies ready to hand that the events of this chapter and the preceding one lead to his dismissal of the false prophet Hananiah’s advice and the acceptance of Jeremiah’s.
Jeremiah 28:1 tn Heb “to me.” The rest of the chapter is all in third person narrative (see vv. 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 15). Hence, many explain the first person here as a misunderstanding of the abbreviation “to Jeremiah” (אֶל יִרְמִיָּה [ʾel yirmiyyah] = אֵלַי, [ʾelay]). It is just as likely that there is a similar kind of disjunction here that occurred in 27:1-2, only in the opposite direction. There what started out as a third person report was really a first person report. Here what starts out as a first person report is really a third person report. The text betrays both the hands of the narrator, probably Baruch, and the account-giver, Jeremiah, who dictated a synopsis of his messages and his stories to Baruch to write down (Jer 36:4, 32).
Jeremiah 28:1 tn Heb “And it happened in that year in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah son of Azzur, the prophet, who was from Gibeon, said to me in…” The sentence has been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style and the flavor given in modern equivalent terms.
Jeremiah 28:2 tn Heb “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel.” See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for the explanation of this title.
Jeremiah 28:2 sn See the study note on 27:2 for this figure. Hananiah is given the same title, “the prophet,” as Jeremiah throughout the chapter, and he claims to speak with the same authority (compare v. 2a with 27:21a). He even speaks like the true prophet; the verb form “I will break” is in the “prophetic perfect,” emphasizing certitude. His message here is a contradiction of Jeremiah’s message recorded in the preceding chapter (compare especially v. 3 with 27:16, 19-22, and v. 4 with 22:24-28). The people and the priests are thus confronted with a choice of whom to believe. Who is the “true” prophet and who is the “false” one? Only fulfillment of their prophecies will prove which is which (see Deut 18:21-22).
Jeremiah 28:4 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”sn Notice again that the “false” prophet uses the same formula and claims the same source for his message as the true prophet has (cf. 27:22).
Jeremiah 28:7 tn Heb “Listen to this word/message which I am about to speak in your ears and the ears of all these people.”
Jeremiah 28:8 tn The word “invariably” is not in the text but is implicit in the context and in the tense of the Hebrew verb. It is supplied in the translation for clarity and to help bring out the contrast in the next verse.
Jeremiah 28:8 tc Many Hebrew mss read “starvation/famine,” which is the second member of a common triad, “sword, famine, and plague,” in Jeremiah. This triad occurs thirteen times in the book and undoubtedly influenced a later scribe to read “starvation [= famine]” here. For this triad see the note on 14:14. The words “disaster and plagues” are missing in the LXX.
Jeremiah 28:9 tn The verbs in this verse are to be interpreted as iterative imperfects in past time, rather than as futures, because of the explicit contrast that is drawn between verses 8 and 9 by the emphatic syntactical construction of the verses. Both verses begin with a casus pendens construction to throw the verses into contrast: Heb “The prophets who were before me and you from ancient times, they prophesied…The prophet who prophesied peace, when the word of that prophet came true, that prophet was known that the Lord truly sent him.”
Jeremiah 28:11 tn Heb “I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from upon the necks of all the nations.”
Jeremiah 28:11 tn Heb “Then the prophet Jeremiah went his way.”
Jeremiah 28:13 tn Heb “Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord….” The translation uses an indirect quotation here used to eliminate one level of embedded quotation.
Jeremiah 28:13 tn The Greek version has “I have made/put” rather than “you have made/put.” This is the easier reading and is therefore rejected.
Jeremiah 28:13 tn Heb “the yoke bars of wood you have broken, but you have made in its stead yoke bars of iron.”sn This whole incident (and the preceding one in Jer 28) is symbolic. Jeremiah’s wearing of the yoke was symbolic of the Lord’s message to submit to Babylonian authority. Hananiah’s breaking of the yoke was a prediction that that authority would not last beyond two years. By breaking the yoke he was encouraging rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar’s (and hence the Lord’s) authority (cf. 27:9, 14). However, rebelling would only result in further, harsher, more irresistible measures by Nebuchadnezzar to control such rebellion.
Jeremiah 28:14 tn Heb “Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel.” See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for this title.
Jeremiah 28:14 tn Heb “An iron yoke I have put on the necks of all these nations.”
Jeremiah 28:14 sn The emphasis is on the absoluteness of Nebuchadnezzar’s control. The statement is once again rhetorical and not to be taken literally. See the study note on 27:6.
Jeremiah 28:15 tn Or “You are giving these people false assurances.”
Jeremiah 28:16 sn There is a play on words here in Hebrew between “did not send you” and “will…remove you.” The two verbs are from the same root word in Hebrew. The first is the simple active and the second is the intensive.
Jeremiah 28:16 sn In giving people false assurances of restoration when the Lord had already told them to submit to Babylon, Hananiah was really counseling rebellion against the Lord. What Hananiah had done was contrary to the law of Deut 13:5 and was punishable by death.
Jeremiah 28:17 sn Comparison with Jer 28:1 shows that this whole incident took place in the space of two months. Hananiah had prophesied that the captivity would be over before two years had past. However, before two months were past, Hananiah himself died in fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy of his death. His death was a validation of Jeremiah as a true prophet. The subsequent events of 588 b.c. would validate Jeremiah’s prophecies and invalidate those of Hananiah.

Luke 5:12-16

Healing a Leper

¹²While^[a] Jesus^[b] was in one of the towns,^[c] a man came^[d] to him who was covered with^[e] leprosy.^[f] When^[g] he saw Jesus, he bowed down with his face to the ground^[h] and begged him,^[i] “Lord, if^[j] you are willing, you can make me clean.” ¹³So^[k] he stretched out his hand and touched^[l] him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴Then^[m] he ordered the man^[n] to tell no one,^[o] but commanded him,^[p] “Go^[q] and show yourself to a priest, and bring the offering^[r] for your cleansing, as Moses commanded,^[s] as a testimony to them.”^[t] ¹⁵But the news about him spread even more,^[u] and large crowds were gathering together to hear him^[v] and to be healed of their illnesses. ¹⁶Yet Jesus himself^[w] frequently withdrew^[x] to the wilderness^[y] and prayed.

Footnotes

Luke 5:12 tn Grk “And it happened that while.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
Luke 5:12 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Luke 5:12 tn Or “cities.”
Luke 5:12 tn Grk “towns, behold, a man covered with leprosy.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou, “behold”) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
Luke 5:12 tn Grk “full of leprosy” (an idiom for a severe condition).
Luke 5:12 sn See the note on lepers in Luke 4:27.
Luke 5:12 tn Grk “And seeing.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, δέ (de) has not been translated here. The participle ἰδών (idōn) has been taken temporally.
Luke 5:12 tn Grk “he fell on his face”; an idiom for bowing down with one’s face to the ground.
Luke 5:12 tn Grk “and begged him, saying.” The participle λέγων (legōn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
Luke 5:12 tn This is a third class condition. The report portrays the leper making no presumptions about whether Jesus will heal him or not.
Luke 5:13 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the response of Jesus to the man’s request.
Luke 5:13 sn Touched. This touch would have rendered Jesus ceremonially unclean (Lev 14:46; also Mishnah, m. Nega’im 3.1; 11.1; 12.1; 13.6-12).
Luke 5:14 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
Luke 5:14 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Luke 5:14 sn The silence ordered by Jesus was probably meant to last only until the cleansing took place with the priests and sought to prevent Jesus’ healings from becoming the central focus of the people’s reaction to him. See also 4:35, 41; 8:56 for other cases where Jesus asks for silence with reference to miracles.
Luke 5:14 tn The words “commanded him” are not in the Greek text but have been supplied for clarity. This verse moves from indirect to direct discourse. This abrupt change is very awkward, so the words have been supplied to smooth out the transition.
Luke 5:14 tn Grk “Going, show.” The participle ἀπελθών (apelthōn) has been translated as an attendant circumstance participle. Here the syntax also changes somewhat abruptly from indirect discourse to direct discourse.
Luke 5:14 tn The words “the offering” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
Luke 5:14 sn On the phrase as Moses commanded see Lev 14:1-32.
Luke 5:14 tn Or “as an indictment against them”; or “as proof to the people.” This phrase could be taken as referring to a positive witness to the priests, a negative testimony against them, or as a testimony to the community that the man had indeed been cured. In any case, the testimony shows that Jesus is healing and ministering to those in need.
Luke 5:15 sn That is, in spite of Jesus’ instructions to the man to tell no one about the healing (v. 14).
Luke 5:15 tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
Luke 5:16 tn Here αὐτός (autos) has been translated reflexively.
Luke 5:16 tn Grk “was withdrawing” (ἦν ὑποχωρῶν, ēn hupochōrōn). The adverb “frequently” has been added in the translation to bring out what is most likely an iterative force to the imperfect. However, the imperfect might instead portray an ingressive idea: “he began to withdraw.” See ExSyn 542-43.
Luke 5:16 tn Or “desert.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 66[a]

For the music director, a song, a psalm.

Footnotes

Jeremiah Confronted by a False Prophet

Footnotes

Healing a Leper

Footnotes

Psalm 66^[a]