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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 58

Psalm 58^[a]

For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;^[b] a prayer^[c] of David.

58 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions?^[d]
Do you judge people^[e] fairly?
²No!^[f] You plan how to do what is unjust;^[g]
you deal out violence in the earth.^[h]
³The wicked turn aside from birth;^[i]
liars go astray as soon as they are born.^[j]
⁴Their venom is like that of a snake,^[k]
like a deaf serpent^[l] that does not hear,^[m]
⁵that does not respond to^[n] the magicians,
or to a skilled snake charmer.
⁶O God, break the teeth in their mouths!
Smash the jawbones of the lions, O Lord.
⁷Let them disappear^[o] like water that flows away.^[p]
Let them wither like grass.^[q]
⁸Let them be^[r] like a snail that melts away as it moves along.^[s]
Let them be like^[t] stillborn babies^[u] that never see the sun.
⁹Before the kindling is even placed under your pots,^[v]
he^[w] will sweep it away along with both the raw and cooked meat.^[x]
¹⁰The godly^[y] will rejoice when they see vengeance carried out;
they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹Then^[z] observers^[aa] will say,
“Yes indeed, the godly are rewarded.^[ab]
Yes indeed, there is a God who judges^[ac] in the earth.”

Footnotes

Psalm 58:1 sn Psalm 58. The psalmist calls on God to punish corrupt judges because a vivid display of divine judgment will convince observers that God is the just judge of the world who vindicates the godly.
Psalm 58:1 tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 57, 59, and 75.
Psalm 58:1 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam) which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 56-57, 59-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”
Psalm 58:1 tn Heb “Really [in] silence, what is right do you speak?” The Hebrew noun אֵלֶם (ʾelem, “silence”) makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some feel that this is an indictment of the addressees’ failure to promote justice; they are silent when they should make just decisions. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֵלִם (ʾelim), which in turn is understood as a defectively written form of אֵילִים (ʾelim, “rulers,” a metaphorical use of אַיִל, ʾayil, “ram”; see Exod 15:15; Ezek 17:13). The rhetorical question is sarcastic, challenging their claim to be just. Elsewhere the collocation of דָּבַר (davar, “speak”) with צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “what is right”) as object means “to speak the truth” (see Ps 52:3; Isa 45:19). Here it refers specifically to declaring what is right in a legal setting, as the next line indicates.
Psalm 58:1 tn Heb “the sons of mankind.” The translation assumes the phrase is the object of the verb “to judge.” Some take it as a vocative, “Do you judge fairly, O sons of mankind?” (Cf. NASB; see Ezek 20:4; 22:2; 23:36.)
Psalm 58:2 tn The particle אַף (ʾaf, “no”) is used here as a strong adversative emphasizing the following statement, which contrasts reality with the rulers’ claim alluded to in the rhetorical questions (see Ps 44:9).
Psalm 58:2 tn Heb “in the heart unjust deeds you do.” The phrase “in the heart” (i.e., “mind”) seems to refer to their plans and motives. The Hebrew noun עַוְלָה (ʿavlah, “injustice”) is collocated with פָּעַל (paʿal, “do”) here and in Job 36:23 and Ps 119:3. Some emend the plural form עוֹלֹת (ʿolot, “unjust deeds”; see Ps 64:6) to the singular עָוֶל (ʿavel, “injustice”; see Job 34:32), taking the final tav (ת) as dittographic (note that the following verbal form begins with tav). Some then understand עָוֶל (ʿavel, “injustice”) as a genitive modifying “heart” and translate, “with a heart of injustice you act.”
Psalm 58:2 tn Heb “in the earth the violence of your hands you weigh out.” The imagery is from the economic realm. The addressees measure out violence, rather than justice, and distribute it like a commodity. This may be ironic, since justice was sometimes viewed as a measuring scale (see Job 31:6).
Psalm 58:3 tn Heb “from the womb.”
Psalm 58:3 tn Heb “speakers of a lie go astray from the womb.”
Psalm 58:4 tn Heb “[there is] venom to them according to the likeness of venom of a snake.”
Psalm 58:4 tn Or perhaps “cobra” (cf. NASB, NIV). Other suggested species of snakes are “asp” (NEB) and “adder” (NRSV).
Psalm 58:4 tn Heb “[that] stops up its ear.” The apparent Hiphil jussive verbal form should be understood as a Qal imperfect with “i” theme vowel (see GKC 168 §63.n).
Psalm 58:5 tn Heb “does not listen to the voice of.”
Psalm 58:7 tn Following the imperatival forms in v. 6, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive expressing the psalmist’s wish. Another option is to take the form as an imperfect (indicative) and translate, “they will scatter” (see v. 9). The verb מָאַס (maʾas; which is a homonym of the more common מָאַס, “to refuse, reject”) appears only here and in Job 7:5, where it is used of a festering wound from which fluid runs or flows.
Psalm 58:7 tn Heb “like water, they go about for themselves.” The translation assumes that the phrase “they go about for themselves” is an implied relative clause modifying “water.” Another option is to take the clause as independent and parallel to what precedes. In this case the enemies would be the subject and the verb could be taken as jussive, “let them wander about.”
Psalm 58:7 tc The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult and the meaning uncertain. The text reads literally, “he treads his arrows (following the Qere; Kethib has “his arrow”), like they are cut off/dry up.” It is not clear if the verbal root is מָלַל (malal, “circumcise”; BDB 576 s.v. IV מָלַל) or the homonym מָלַל (“wither”; HALOT 593-94 s.v. I מלל). Since the verb מָלַל (“to wither”) is used of vegetation, it is possible that the noun חָצִיר (khatsir, “grass,” which is visually similar to חִצָּיו, khitsayv, “his arrows”) originally appeared in the text. The translation above assumes that the text originally was כְּמוֹ חָצִיר יִתְמֹלָלוּ (k^emo khatsir yitmolalu, “like grass let them wither”). If original, it could have been accidentally changed to חִצָּיו כְּמוֹ יִתְמֹלָלוּ (khitsayv k^emo yitmolalu, “his arrow(s) like they dry up”) with דָּרַךְ (darakh, “to tread”) being added later in an effort to make sense of “his arrow(s).”
Psalm 58:8 tn There is no “to be” verb in the Hebrew text at this point, but a jussive tone can be assumed based on vv. 6-7.
Psalm 58:8 tn Heb “like a melting snail [that] moves along.” A. Cohen (Psalms [SoBB], 184) explains that the text here alludes “to the popular belief that the slimy trail which the snail leaves in its track is the dissolution of its substance.”
Psalm 58:8 tn The words “let them be like” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The jussive mood is implied from the preceding context, and “like” is understood by ellipsis (see the previous line).
Psalm 58:8 tn This rare word also appears in Job 3:16 and Eccles 6:3.
Psalm 58:9 tn Heb “before your pots perceive thorns.”
Psalm 58:9 tn Apparently God (v. 6) is the subject of the verb here.
Psalm 58:9 tn Heb “like living, like burning anger he will sweep it away.” The meaning of the text is unclear. The translation assumes that within the cooking metaphor (see the previous line) חַי (khay, “living”) refers here to raw meat (as in 1 Sam 2:15, where it modifies בָּשָׂר, basar, “flesh”) and that חָרוּן (kharun; which always refers to God’s “burning anger” elsewhere) here refers to food that is cooked. The pronominal suffix on the verb “sweep away” apparently refers back to the “thorns” of the preceding line. The image depicts swift and sudden judgment. Before the fire has been adequately kindled and all the meat cooked, the winds of judgment will sweep away everything in their path.
Psalm 58:10 tn The singular is representative here, as is the singular from “wicked” in the next line.
Psalm 58:11 tn Following the imperfects of v. 10, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates a result or consequence of what precedes.
Psalm 58:11 tn Heb “man.” The singular is representative here.
Psalm 58:11 tn Heb “surely [there] is fruit for the godly.”
Psalm 58:11 tn The plural participle is unusual here if the preceding אֱלֹהִים (ʾelohim) is here a plural of majesty, referring to the one true God. Occasionally the plural of majesty does take a plural attributive (see GKC 428-29 §132.h). It is possible that the final mem (ם) on the participle is enclitic, and that it was later misunderstood as a plural ending. Another option is to translate, “Yes indeed, there are gods who judge in the earth.” In this case, the statement reflects the polytheistic mindset of pagan observers who, despite their theological ignorance, nevertheless recognize divine retribution when they see it.

Jeremiah 3:1-14

3 “If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,
he may not take her back again.^[a]
Doing that would utterly defile the land.^[b]
But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods.^[c]
So what makes you think you can return to me?”^[d]
says the Lord.
²“Look up at the hilltops and consider this.^[e]
Where have you not been ravished?^[f]
You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the wilderness.^[g]
You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.^[h]
³That is why the rains have been withheld
and the spring rains have not come.
Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute.^[i]
You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.
⁴Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father!^[j]
You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.
⁵You will not always be angry with me, will you?
You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’^[k]
That is what you say,
but you continually do all the evil that you can.”^[l]

⁶When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done.^[m] You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods.^[n] ⁷Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me.^[o] But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did.^[p] ⁸She also saw^[q] that, because of wayward Israel’s adulterous worship of other gods,^[r] I sent her away and gave her divorce papers. But still her unfaithful sister Judah was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods.^[s] ⁹Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land^[t] through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone.^[u] ¹⁰In spite of all this,^[v] Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,”^[w] says the Lord. ¹¹Then the Lord said to me, “Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah.^[x]

The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent

¹²“Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north.^[y] Tell them:

‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord.
‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure.^[z]
For I am merciful,’ says the Lord.
‘I will not be angry with you forever.
¹³However, you must confess that you have done wrong^[aa]
and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God.
You must confess^[ab] that you have given yourself to^[ac] foreign gods under every green tree
and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord.

¹⁴“Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the Lord, “for I am your true master.^[ad] If you do,^[ae] I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 3:1 tn Heb “May he go back to her again?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.sn For the legal background for the illustration that is used here, see Deut 24:1-4.
Jeremiah 3:1 tn Heb “Would the land not be utterly defiled?” The stative is here rendered actively to connect better with the preceding. The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.
Jeremiah 3:1 tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”
Jeremiah 3:1 tn Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive, which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative: “Yet, return to me!” However, it is more likely that a question is intended, expressing surprise in the light of the law alluded to and the facts cited. For the use of the infinitive absolute in the place of a finite verb, cf. GKC 346 §113.ee. For the introduction of a question without a question marker, cf. GKC 473 §150.a.
Jeremiah 3:2 tn Heb “and see.”
Jeremiah 3:2 sn The rhetorical question expects the answer “nowhere,” which asserts the widespread nature of the nation’s idolatry. The prophets often compare Judah’s religious infidelity, idolatry, to adultery or prostitution. Jeremiah goes a step further in exposing their folly by portraying their willing acts of idolatry as being sexually violated.
Jeremiah 3:2 tn Heb “You sat for them [the lovers, i.e., the foreign gods] beside the road like an Arab in the desert.”
Jeremiah 3:2 tn Heb “by your prostitution and your wickedness.” This is probably an example of hendiadys where, when two nouns are joined by “and,” one expresses the main idea and the other qualifies it.
Jeremiah 3:3 tn Heb “you have the forehead of a prostitute.”
Jeremiah 3:4 tn Heb “Have you not just now called out to me, ‘[You are] My father!’?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer.
Jeremiah 3:5 tn Heb “Will he keep angry forever? Will he maintain [it] to the end?” The questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer. The change to direct address in the English translation is intended to ease the problem of the rapid transition, common in Hebrew style (but not in English), from second person direct address in the preceding lines to third person indirect address in these two lines. See GKC 462 §144.p.
Jeremiah 3:5 tn Heb “You do the evil and you are able.” This is an example of hendiadys, meaning, “You do all the evil that you are able to do.”
Jeremiah 3:6 tn “Have you seen…” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.
Jeremiah 3:6 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.
Jeremiah 3:7 tn Or “I said to her, ‘Come back to me!’” The verb אָמַר (ʾamar) usually means “to say,” but here it means “to think,” of an assumption that turns out to be wrong (so HALOT 66 s.v. אמר 4) (cf. Gen 44:28; Jer 3:19; Pss 82:6; 139:11; Job 29:18; Ruth 4:4; Lam 3:18).sn Open theists suggest that passages such as this indicate God has limited foreknowledge; however, more traditional theologians view this passage as an extended metaphor in which God presents himself as a deserted husband, hoping against hope that his adulterous wife might return to him. The point of the metaphor is not to make an assertion about God’s foreknowledge, but to develop the theme of God’s heartbreak due to Israel’s unrepentance.
Jeremiah 3:7 tn The words “what she did” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarification.
Jeremiah 3:8 tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew ms, some Greek mss, and the Syriac version. The MT reads, “I saw,” which may be a case of attraction to the verb at the beginning of the previous verse.
Jeremiah 3:8 tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.
Jeremiah 3:8 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.
Jeremiah 3:9 tc The translation reads the form as a causative (Hiphil, תַּהֲנֵף, tahanef) with some of the versions in place of the simple stative (Qal, תֶּחֱנַף, tekhenaf) in the MT.
Jeremiah 3:9 tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”
Jeremiah 3:10 tn Heb “And even in all this.”
Jeremiah 3:10 tn Heb “has not turned back to me with all her heart but only in falsehood.”
Jeremiah 3:11 tn Heb “Wayward Israel has proven herself to be more righteous than unfaithful Judah.”sn A comparison is drawn here between the greater culpability of Judah, who has had the advantage of seeing how God disciplined her sister nation for having sinned and yet ignored the warning and committed the same sin, and the culpability of Israel, who had no such advantage.
Jeremiah 3:12 tn Heb “Go and proclaim these words to the north.” The translation assumes that the message is directed toward the exiles of northern Israel who have been scattered in the provinces of Assyria to the north.
Jeremiah 3:12 tn Heb “I will not cause my face to fall on you.”
Jeremiah 3:13 tn Heb “Only acknowledge your iniquity.”
Jeremiah 3:13 tn The words “You must confess” are repeated to convey the connection. The Hebrew text has an introductory “that” in front of the second line and a coordinative “and” in front of the next two lines.
Jeremiah 3:13 tc MT reads דְּרָכַיִךְ (d^erakhayikh, “your ways”), but the BHS editors suggest דּוֹדַיִךְ (dodayikh, “your breasts”) as an example of orthographic confusion. While the proposal makes sense, it remains a conjectural emendation since it is not supported by any actual manuscripts or ancient versions.tn Heb “scattered your ways with foreign [gods]” or “spread out your breasts to strangers.”
Jeremiah 3:14 tn Or “I am your true husband.”sn There is a wordplay between the term “true master” and the name of the pagan god Baal. The pronoun “I” is emphatic, creating a contrast between the Lord as Israel’s true master/husband versus Baal as Israel’s illegitimate lover/master. See 2:23-25.
Jeremiah 3:14 tn The words “If you do” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection of the Hebrew verb with the preceding.

Titus 1:1-9

Salutation

1 From Paul,^[a] a slave^[b] of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith^[c] of God’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that is in keeping with godliness, ²in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before time began.^[d] ³But now in his own time^[e] he has made his message evident through the preaching I was entrusted with according to the command of God our Savior. ⁴To Titus, my genuine son in a common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior!

Titus’ Task on Crete

⁵The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters and to appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. ⁶An elder must be blameless,^[f] the husband of one wife,^[g] with faithful children^[h] who cannot be charged with dissipation or rebellion. ⁷For the overseer^[i] must be blameless as one entrusted with God’s work,^[j] not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain. ⁸Instead he must be hospitable, devoted to what is good, sensible, upright, devout, and self-controlled. ⁹He must hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught,^[k] so that he will be able to give exhortation in such healthy teaching^[l] and correct those who speak against it.

Footnotes

Titus 1:1 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.
Titus 1:1 tn Traditionally, “servant” or “bondservant.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). One good translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος) in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force. Also, many slaves in the Roman world became slaves through Rome’s subjugation of conquered nations, kidnapping, or by being born into slave households. sn Undoubtedly the background for the concept of being the Lord’s slave or servant is to be found in the Old Testament scriptures. For a Jew this concept did not connote drudgery, but honor and privilege. It was used of national Israel at times (Isa 43:10), but was especially associated with famous OT personalities, including such great men as Moses (Josh 14:7), David (Ps 89:3; cf. 2 Sam 7:5, 8) and Elijah (2 Kgs 10:10); all these men were “servants (or slaves) of the Lord.”
Titus 1:1 tn Grk “for the faith,” possibly, “in accordance with the faith.”
Titus 1:2 tn Grk “before eternal times.”
Titus 1:3 tn The Greek text emphasizes the contrast between vv. 2b and 3a: God promised this long ago but now has revealed it in his own time.
Titus 1:6 tn Grk “if anyone is blameless…” as a continuation of v. 5b, beginning to describe the elder’s character.
Titus 1:6 tn Or “married only once,” “devoted solely to his wife.” See the note on “wife” in 1 Tim 3:2; also 1 Tim 3:12; 5:9.
Titus 1:6 tn Or “believing children.” The phrase could be translated “believing children,” but the parallel with 1 Tim 3:4 (“keeping his children in control”) argues for the sense given in the translation.
Titus 1:7 sn The overseer is another term for the same official position of leadership as the “elder.” This is seen in the interchange of the two terms in this passage and in Acts 20:17, 28, as well as in the parallels between these verses and 1 Tim 3:1-7.
Titus 1:7 tn Grk “as God’s steward.”
Titus 1:9 tn Grk “the faithful message in accordance with the teaching” (referring to apostolic teaching).
Titus 1:9 tn Grk “the healthy teaching” (referring to what was just mentioned).

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 58[a]

For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;[b] a prayer[c] of David.

Footnotes

The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent

Footnotes

Salutation

Titus’ Task on Crete

Footnotes

Psalm 58^[a]

For the music director, according to the al-tashcheth style;^[b] a prayer^[c] of David.