◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 119:49-56 (God’s commandments are my songs); Deuteronomy 5:1-21 (The commandments at Sinai); 1 Peter 2:4-10 (Christ the cornerstone) (New English Translation)

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October 5, 2020

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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 119:49-56

ז (Zayin)

⁴⁹Remember your word to your servant,
for you have given me hope.
⁵⁰This^[a] is what comforts me in my trouble,
for your promise revives me.^[b]
⁵¹Arrogant people do nothing but scoff at me.^[c]
Yet I do not turn aside from your law.
⁵²I remember your ancient regulations,^[d]
O Lord, and console myself.^[e]
⁵³Rage takes hold of me because of the wicked,
those who reject your law.
⁵⁴Your statutes have been my songs^[f]
in the house where I live.^[g]
⁵⁵I remember your name during the night, O Lord,
and I will keep^[h] your law.
⁵⁶This^[i] has been my practice,
for I observe your precepts.

Deuteronomy 5:1-21

The Opening Exhortation

5 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them:^[a] “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them! ²The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. ³He^[b] did not make this covenant with our ancestors^[c] but with us, we who are here today, all of us living now. ⁴The Lord spoke face to face with you at the mountain, from the middle of the fire. ⁵(I was standing between the Lord and you at that time to reveal the Lord’s message to you, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.) He said:

The Ten Commandments

⁶“I am the Lord your God—he who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the place of slavery.

⁷“You must not have any other gods^[d] besides me.^[e]

⁸“You must not make for yourself an image^[f] of anything in heaven above, on earth below, or in the waters beneath.^[g] ⁹You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish^[h] the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject^[i] me,^[j] ¹⁰but I show covenant faithfulness^[k] to the thousands^[l] who choose^[m] me and keep my commandments.

¹¹“You must not make use of the name of the Lord your God for worthless purposes,^[n] for the Lord will not exonerate anyone who abuses his name that way.^[o]

¹²“Be careful to observe^[p] the Sabbath day just as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹³You are to work and do all your tasks in six days, ¹⁴but the seventh day is the Sabbath^[q] of the Lord your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the resident foreigner who lives with you,^[r] so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest. ¹⁵Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there by strength and power.^[s] That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to observe^[t] the Sabbath day.

¹⁶“Honor^[u] your father and your mother just as the Lord your God has commanded you to do, so that your days may be extended and that it may go well with you in the land that he^[v] is about to give you.

¹⁷“You must not murder.^[w]

¹⁸“You must not commit adultery.

¹⁹“You must not steal.

²⁰“You must not offer false testimony against another.^[x] ²¹You must not desire^[y] another man’s^[z] wife, nor should you crave his^[aa] house, his field, his male and female servants, his ox, his donkey, or anything else he owns.”^[ab]

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 5:1 tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”
Deuteronomy 5:3 tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
Deuteronomy 5:3 tn Heb “fathers.”
Deuteronomy 5:7 tn Heb “there must not be for you other gods.” The expression “for you” indicates possession.
Deuteronomy 5:7 tn Heb “upon my face,” or “before me” (עַל־פָּנָיַ, ʿal panaya). Some understand this in a locative sense: “in my sight.” The translation assumes that the phrase indicates exclusion. The idea is that of placing any other god before the Lord in the sense of taking his place. Contrary to the view of some, this does not leave the door open for a henotheistic system where the Lord is the primary god among others. In its literary context the statement must be taken in a monotheistic sense. See, e.g., 4:39; 6:13-15.
Deuteronomy 5:8 tn Heb “an image, any likeness.”
Deuteronomy 5:8 tn Heb “under the earth” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV); NCV “below the land.”
Deuteronomy 5:9 tn In the Hebrew text the form is a participle, which is subordinated to what precedes. For the sake of English style, the translation divides this lengthy verse into two sentences.
Deuteronomy 5:9 tn Heb “who hate” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). Just as “to love” (אָהֵב, ʾahev) means in a covenant context “to choose, obey,” so “to hate” (שָׂנֵא, saneʾ) means “to reject, disobey” (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37; see also 5:10).
Deuteronomy 5:9 tn Heb “visiting the sin of fathers upon sons and upon a third (generation) and upon a fourth (generation) of those who hate me.” God sometimes punishes children for the sins of a father (cf. Num 16:27, 32; Josh 7:24-25; 2 Sam 21:1-9). On the principle of corporate solidarity and responsibility in OT thought see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). In the idiom of the text, the father is the first generation and the “sons” the second generation, making grandsons the third and great-grandsons the fourth. The reference to a third and fourth generation is a way of emphasizing that the sinner’s punishment would last throughout his lifetime. In this culture, where men married and fathered children at a relatively young age, it would not be unusual for one to see his great-grandsons. In an Aramaic tomb inscription from Nerab dating to the seventh century b.c., Agbar observes that he was surrounded by “children of the fourth generation” as he lay on his death bed (see ANET 661). The language of the text differs from Exod 34:7, the sons are the first generation, the grandsons (literally, “sons of the sons”) the second, great-grandsons the third, and great-great-grandsons the fourth. One could argue that formulation in Deut 5:9 (see also Exod 20:5) is elliptical/abbreviated or that the text suffers from an accidental scribal omission (the repetition of the words “sons” would invite accidental omission).
Deuteronomy 5:10 tn This theologically rich term (חֶסֶד, khesed) describes God’s loyalty to those who keep covenant with him. Sometimes it is used synonymously with בְּרִית (b^erit, “covenant”; Deut 7:9), and sometimes interchangeably with it (Deut 7:12). See H.-J. Zobel, TDOT 5:44-64.
Deuteronomy 5:10 tc By a slight emendation (לֲאַלֻּפִים [laʾallufim] for לַאֲלָפִים [laʾalafim]) “clans” could be read in place of the MT reading “thousands.” However, no ms or versional evidence exists to support this emendation.tn Another option is to understand this as referring to “thousands (of generations) of those who love me” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). See Deut 7:9.
Deuteronomy 5:10 tn Heb “love.” See note on the word “reject” in v. 9.
Deuteronomy 5:11 tn Heb “take up the name of the Lord your God to emptiness”; KJV “take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The idea here is not cursing or profanity in the modern sense of these terms, but rather the use of the divine Name for unholy, mundane purposes, that is, for meaningless (Hebrew שָׁוְא [shavʾ]) and empty ends. In ancient Israel this would include using the Lord’s name as a witness in vows one did not intend to keep.
Deuteronomy 5:11 tn Heb “who takes up his name to emptiness.”
Deuteronomy 5:12 tn Heb “to make holy,” that is, to put to special use, in this case, to sacred purposes (cf. vv. 13-15).
Deuteronomy 5:14 tn There is some degree of paronomasia (wordplay) here: “the seventh (הַשְּׁבִיעִי, hash^eviʿi) day is the Sabbath (שַׁבָּת, shabbat).” Otherwise, the words have nothing in common, since “Sabbath” is derived from the verb שָׁבַת (shavat, “to cease”).
Deuteronomy 5:14 tn Heb “in your gates”; NRSV, CEV “in your towns”; TEV “in your country.”
Deuteronomy 5:15 tn Heb “by a strong hand and an outstretched arm,” the hand and arm symbolizing divine activity and strength. Cf. NLT “with amazing power and mighty deeds.”
Deuteronomy 5:15 tn Or “keep” (so KJV, NRSV).
Deuteronomy 5:16 tn The imperative here means, literally, “regard as heavy” (כַּבֵּד, kabbed). The meaning is that great importance must be ascribed to parents by their children.
Deuteronomy 5:16 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “He” in 5:3.
Deuteronomy 5:17 tn Traditionally “kill” (so KJV, ASV, RSV, NAB). The verb here (רָצַח, ratsakh) is generic for homicide but in the OT both killing in war and capital punishment were permitted and even commanded (Deut 13:5, 9; 20:13, 16-17), so the technical meaning here is “murder.”
Deuteronomy 5:20 tn Heb “your neighbor.” Clearly this is intended generically, however, and not to be limited only to those persons who live nearby (frequently the way “neighbor” is understood in contemporary contexts). So also in v. 20.
Deuteronomy 5:21 tn The Hebrew verb used here (חָמַד, khamad) is different from the one translated “crave” (אָוַה, ʾavah) in the next line. The former has sexual overtones (“lust” or the like; cf. Song of Sol 2:3) whereas the latter has more the idea of a desire or craving for material things.
Deuteronomy 5:21 tn Heb “your neighbor’s.” See note on the term “fellow man” in v. 19.
Deuteronomy 5:21 tn Heb “your neighbor’s.” The pronoun is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Deuteronomy 5:21 tn Heb “or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

1 Peter 2:4-10

A Living Stone, a Chosen People

⁴So as you come to him,^[a] a living stone rejected by men but^[b] chosen and precious^[c] in God’s sight, ⁵you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer^[d] spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶For it says^[e] in scripture, “Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and precious cornerstone,^[f] and whoever believes^[g] in him^[h] will never^[i] be put to shame.”^[j] ⁷So you who believe see^[k] his value,^[l] but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the^[m] cornerstone,^[n] ⁸and a stumbling-stone^[o] and a rock to trip over.^[p] They stumble^[q] because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.^[r] ⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues^[s] of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰You^[t] once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy,^[u] but now you have received mercy.

Footnotes

1 Peter 2:4 tn Grk “to whom coming…you are built up…” as a continuation of the reference to the Lord in v. 3.
1 Peter 2:4 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two phrases more than can be easily expressed in English.
1 Peter 2:4 tn Grk “chosen, precious.”
1 Peter 2:5 tn Grk “unto a holy priesthood to offer.”
1 Peter 2:6 tn Grk “it contains,” “it stands.”
1 Peter 2:6 tn Grk “chosen, precious.”
1 Peter 2:6 tn Grk “the one who believes.”
1 Peter 2:6 tn Grk either “in him” or “in it,” but the OT and NT uses personify the stone as the King, the Messiah whom God will establish in Jerusalem.
1 Peter 2:6 tn The negative (οὐ μή, ou mē) is emphatic: “will certainly not.”
1 Peter 2:6 sn A quotation from Isa 28:16.
1 Peter 2:7 tn Grk “to you who believe is the value,” referring to their perception of the stone in contrast to those who reject (vv. 7b-8). But the expression may also be translated as “to you who believe is this honor,” referring to the lack of shame cited in v. 6b.
1 Peter 2:7 tn Grk “the value” or “the honor,” but the former is preferred since it comes from the same root as “priceless” in vv. 4, 6, and it is in contrast to the negative estimate of the stone by those who reject (vv. 7b-8).
1 Peter 2:7 tn Grk “the head of the corner.”
1 Peter 2:7 sn A quotation from Ps 118:22 (cf. Matt 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17; Acts 4:11).
1 Peter 2:8 tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” The latter phrase uses the term σκάνδαλον (skandalon), denoting an obstacle to faith, something that arouses anger and rejection.
1 Peter 2:8 sn A quotation from Isa 8:14.
1 Peter 2:8 tn Grk “who stumble,” referring to “those who do not believe” in vs. 7. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
1 Peter 2:8 tn Grk “to which they were also destined.”
1 Peter 2:9 sn This verse contains various allusions and quotations from Exod 19:5-6; 23:22 (LXX); Isa 43:20-21; and Mal 3:17.
1 Peter 2:10 tn Grk “who,” continuing the description of the readers from vs. 9. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
1 Peter 2:10 sn The quotations in v. 10 are from Hos 1:6, 9; 2:23.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

ז (Zayin)

Footnotes

The Opening Exhortation

The Ten Commandments

Footnotes

A Living Stone, a Chosen People

Footnotes