◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 146 (God lifts those bowed down); Numbers 15:17-26 (God commands a donation of bread); Acts 26:1-11 (Paul pursued believers even to foreign cities) (New English Translation)

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June 3, 2016

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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 146

Psalm 146^[a]

146 Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.
²I will praise the Lord as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist.
³Do not trust in princes,
or in human beings, who cannot deliver.^[b]
⁴Their life’s breath departs, they return to the ground.
On that day their plans die.^[c]
⁵How blessed is the one whose helper is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
⁶the one who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who remains forever faithful,^[d]
⁷vindicates the oppressed,^[e]
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord releases the imprisoned.
⁸The Lord gives sight to the blind.
The Lord lifts up all who are bent over.^[f]
The Lord loves the godly.
⁹The Lord protects the resident foreigner.
He lifts up the fatherless and the widow,^[g]
but he opposes the wicked.^[h]
¹⁰The Lord rules forever,
your God, O Zion, throughout the generations to come.^[i]
Praise the Lord!

Numbers 15:17-26

Rules for Firstfruits

¹⁷The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁸“Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land to which I am bringing you^[a] ¹⁹and you eat^[b] some of the food of the land, you must offer up a raised offering^[c] to the Lord. ²⁰You must offer up a cake of the first of your finely ground flour^[d] as a raised offering; as you offer the raised offering of the threshing floor, so you must offer it up. ²¹You must give to the Lord some of the first of your finely ground flour as a raised offering in your future generations.

Rules for Unintentional Offenses

²²^[e] “‘If you^[f] sin unintentionally and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses— ²³all that the Lord has commanded you by the authority^[g] of Moses, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses and continuing through your future generations— ²⁴then if anything is done unintentionally^[h] without the knowledge of^[i] the community, the whole community must prepare one young bull for a burnt offering—for a pleasing aroma to the Lord—along with its grain offering and its customary drink offering, and one male goat for a purification offering. ²⁵And the priest is to make atonement^[j] for the whole community of the Israelites, and they will be forgiven, because it was unintentional and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the Lord, and their purification offering before the Lord, for their unintentional offense. ²⁶And the whole community^[k] of the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them will be forgiven, since all the people were involved in the unintentional offense.

Footnotes

Numbers 15:18 tn The relative clause is literally, “which I am causing you to enter there.” The final adverb is resumptive, and must be joined with the relative pronoun.
Numbers 15:19 tn The verse has a temporal clause that actually continues or supplements the temporal clause of the preceding verse. It is made up of the temporal indicator, the infinitive construct with the preposition, and the suffixed subjective genitive: “and it shall be when you eat.” Here it is translated simply “and eat” since the temporal element was introduced in the last verse.
Numbers 15:19 tn This is the תְּרוּמָה (t^erumah), the “raised offering” or “heave offering” (cf. KJV, ASV). It may simply be called a “contribution” (so NAB). The verb of the sentence is from the same root: “you shall lift up/raise up.” It was to be an offering separated from the rest and raised up to the Lord in the sight of all. It was designed to remind the Israelites that the produce and the land belonged to God.
Numbers 15:20 tn Or “the first of your dough.” The phrase is not very clear. N. H. Snaith thinks it means a batch of loaves from the kneading trough—the first batch of the baking (Leviticus and Numbers [NCB], 251).
Numbers 15:22 sn These regulations supplement what was already ruled on in the Levitical code for the purification and reparation offerings. See those rulings in Lev 4-7 for all the details. Some biblical scholars view the rules in Leviticus as more elaborate and therefore later. However, this probably represents a misunderstanding of the purpose of each collection.
Numbers 15:22 tn The verb is the plural imperfect; the sin discussed here is a sin committed by the community, or the larger part of the community.
Numbers 15:23 tn Heb “hand.”
Numbers 15:24 tn The idea of לִשְׁגָגָה (lishgagah) seems to be that of “inadvertence” or “without intent.” The text gives no indication of how this offense might be committed, or what it might include. It probably describes any transgressions done in ignorance of the Law that involved a violation of tabernacle procedure or priestly protocol or social misdemeanor. Even though it was done unintentionally, it was still a violation and called for ritual purification.
Numbers 15:24 tn Heb “[away] from the eyes of the community.”
Numbers 15:25 tn The verb is the Piel perfect with vav (ו) consecutive (וְכִפֶּר, v^ekhipper) to continue the instruction of the passage: “the priest shall make atonement,” meaning the priest is to make atonement for the sin (thus the present translation). This verb means “to expiate,” “to atone for,” “to pacify.” It describes the ritual events by which someone who was separated from the holy Lord God could find acceptance into his presence through the sacrificial blood of the substitutionary animal. See Lev 1 and Num 16:41-50.
Numbers 15:26 tn Again, rather than translate literally “and it shall be forgiven [to] them” (all the community), one could say, “they (all the community) will be forgiven.” The meaning is the same.

Acts 26:1-11

Paul Offers His Defense

26 So Agrippa^[a] said to Paul, “You have permission^[b] to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand^[c] and began his defense:^[d]

²“Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa,^[e] I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today, ³because you are especially^[f] familiar with all the customs and controversial issues^[g] of the Jews. Therefore I ask^[h] you to listen to me patiently. ⁴Now all the Jews know the way I lived^[i] from my youth, spending my life from the beginning among my own people^[j] and in Jerusalem. ⁵They know,^[k] because they have known^[l] me from time past,^[m] if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party^[n] of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee.^[o] ⁶And now I stand here on trial^[p] because of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors,^[q] ⁷a promise^[r] that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God^[s] night and day. Concerning this hope the Jews are accusing me,^[t] Your Majesty!^[u] ⁸Why do you people^[v] think^[w] it is unbelievable^[x] that^[y] God raises the dead? ⁹Of course,^[z] I myself was convinced^[aa] that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene. ¹⁰And that is what I did in Jerusalem: Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received^[ab] from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote^[ac] against them when they were sentenced to death.^[ad] ¹¹I punished^[ae] them often in all the synagogues^[af] and tried to force^[ag] them to blaspheme. Because I was so furiously enraged^[ah] at them, I went to persecute^[ai] them even in foreign cities.

Footnotes

Acts 26:1 sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.
Acts 26:1 tn Grk “It is permitted for you.”
Acts 26:1 tn Or “extended his hand” (a speaker’s gesture).
Acts 26:1 tn Or “and began to speak in his own defense.”
Acts 26:2 sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.
Acts 26:3 tn BDAG 613 s.v. μάλιστα 1 states, “μ. γνώστην ὄντα σε since you are outstandingly familiar Ac 26:3.”
Acts 26:3 tn Grk “several controversial issues.” BDAG 428 s.v. ζήτημα states, “in our lit. only in Ac, w. the mng. it still has in Mod. Gk. (controversial) question, issue, argument…Ac 15:2; 26:3. ζ. περί τινος questions about someth.…18:15; 25:19.”
Acts 26:3 tn BDAG 218 s.v. δέομαι states, “In our lit. only w. the mng. to ask for something pleadingly, ask, request,” and then in section a.α states, “w. inf. foll.…Ac 26:3.”
Acts 26:4 tn Grk “my manner of life.”
Acts 26:4 tn Or “nation.”
Acts 26:5 tn These words are repeated from v. 4 (“all the Jews know”). Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, it was necessary to begin a new sentence at the beginning of v. 5 in the translation, but for this to make sense, the main verb ἵσασι (hisasi) has to be repeated to connect with the ὅτι (hoti) clause (indirect discourse) in v. 5.
Acts 26:5 tn Grk “having known me from time past.” The participle προγινώσκοντες (proginōskontes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
Acts 26:5 tn BDAG 866 s.v. προγινώσκω 2 has “Know from time past…προγινώσκοντές με ἄνωθεν Ac 26:5.” L&N 28.6 states, “‘they have already known me beforehand, if they are willing to testify’ Ac 26:5.”
Acts 26:5 tn That is, strictest religious party. “Party” alone is used in the translation because “the strictest religious party of our religion” would be redundant.
Acts 26:5 sn See the note on Pharisee in 5:34.
Acts 26:6 tn BDAG 568 s.v. κρίνω 5.a.α has “κρίνεσθαι ἐπί τινι be on trial because of a thing Ac 26:6.”
Acts 26:6 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
Acts 26:7 tn Grk “to which [promise] our twelve tribes…” The antecedent of the relative pronoun (the promise in v. 6) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Acts 26:7 tn Or “earnestly worship.” The object of this service, God, is omitted but implied: BDAG 587 s.v. λατρεύω states, “Without the dat. of the one to whom service is given: ἐν ἐκτενείᾳ νύκτα κ. ἡμέραν λ. serve (God) earnestly night and day Ac 26:7.” Although clear from the context in Greek, “God” must be supplied as the recipient of the service for the modern English reader.
Acts 26:7 tn Grk “I am being accused by the Jews.” The passive construction was simplified by converting it to an active one in the translation.
Acts 26:7 tn Grk “O King!”
Acts 26:8 tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate that the second person pronoun (“you”) is plural (others in addition to King Agrippa are being addressed).
Acts 26:8 tn BDAG 568 s.v. κρίνω 3 states, “τί ἄπιστον κρίνεται παρ᾿ ὑμῖν; why do you think it is incredible? Ac 26:8.” The passive construction (“why is it thought unbelievable…”) has been converted to an active one to simplify the translation.
Acts 26:8 tn Or “incredible.” BDAG 103 s.v. ἄπιστος 1 states, “unbelievable, incredible…τί ἄπιστον κρίνεται παρ᾿ ὑμῖν…; why does it seem incredible to you? Ac 26:8.”
Acts 26:8 tn Grk “if”; εἰ has been translated as “that” indicating indirect discourse.
Acts 26:9 tn BDAG 737 s.v. οὖν 3 states, “It has been proposed that some traces of older Gk. usage in which οὖν is emphatic, = certainly, really, to be sure etc. (s. L-S-J-M s.v. 1) remain in the pap…and in the NT…indeed, of course Ac 26:9.”
Acts 26:9 tn Grk “I thought to myself.” BDAG 255 s.v. δοκέω 2.a has “ἔδοξα ἐμαυτῷ δεῖν πρᾶξαι = Lat. mihi videbar I was convinced that it was necessary to do Ac 26:9.”
Acts 26:10 tn Grk “by receiving authority.” The participle λαβών (labōn) has been taken instrumentally.
Acts 26:10 tn Grk “cast down a pebble against them.” L&N 30.103 states, “(an idiom, Grk ‘to bring a pebble against someone,’ a reference to a white or black pebble used in voting for or against someone) to make known one’s choice against someone—‘to vote against.’…‘when they were sentenced to death, I also voted against them’ Ac 26:10.”
Acts 26:10 tn Grk “when they were being executed,” but the context supports the sentencing rather than the execution itself (cf. L&N 30.103).
Acts 26:11 tn Grk “and punishing…I tried.” The participle τιμωρῶν (timōrōn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
Acts 26:11 sn See the note on synagogue in 6:9.
Acts 26:11 tn The imperfect verb ἠνάγκαζον (ēnankazon) has been translated as a conative imperfect (so BDAG 60 s.v. ἀναγκάζω 1, which has “ἠνάγκαζον βλασφημεῖν I tried to force them to blaspheme Ac 26:11”).
Acts 26:11 tn Or “was so insanely angry with them.” BDAG 322 s.v. ἐμμαίνομαι states, “to be filled with such anger that one appears to be mad, be enraged…περισσῶς ἐμμαινόμενος αὐτοῖς being furiously enraged at them Ac 26:11”; L&N 88.182 s.v. ἐμμαίνομαι, “to be so furiously angry with someone as to be almost out of one’s mind—‘to be enraged, to be infuriated, to be insanely angry’…‘I was so infuriated with them that I even went to foreign cities to persecute them’ Ac 26:11.”
Acts 26:11 tn Or “I pursued them even as far as foreign cities.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 146[a]

Footnotes

Rules for Firstfruits

Rules for Unintentional Offenses

Footnotes

Paul Offers His Defense

Footnotes

Psalm 146^[a]