Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Song for the King’s Wedding
For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” A ·maskil [skillful psalm; meditation]. A love song of the sons of Korah [C descendants of Kohath, son of Levi, who served as Temple musicians; 1 Chr. 6:22].
45 ·Beautiful words fill my mind [L My heart is stirred with a good word].
I ·am speaking of royal things [or address my work to the king].
My tongue is like the pen of a skilled writer [Ezra 7:6].
2 You are more ·handsome [or excellent] than anyone,
and ·you are an excellent speaker [L grace flows from your lips; Prov. 22:11],
so God has blessed you forever.
6 ·God, your throne will last [or Your throne is a throne of God] forever and ever.
·You will rule your kingdom with fairness [L A scepter of virtue will be the scepter of your kingdom].
7 You love ·right [righteousness] and hate ·evil [wickedness],
so God has ·chosen [anointed] you from among your ·friends [companions];
·he has set you apart with much joy [L …with the oil of joy; C kings were anointed with oil at their coronation; 1 Sam. 10:1; 16:13; Heb. 1:8–9].
8 Your clothes smell like myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
From palaces of ivory
·music [stringed instruments] comes to make you happy.
9 Kings’ daughters are among your honored women.
Your ·bride [queen; consort] stands at your right side
wearing gold from Ophir [C perhaps a region in southern Arabia].
Hosea Redeems His Wife
3 The Lord said to me again, “Go, show your love to a woman [C probably Gomer (1:3), who has since deserted him] ·loved by [or who loves] someone else, who ·has been unfaithful to you [is committing adultery]. In the same way the Lord loves the ·people [L sons; T children] of Israel, even though they ·worship [turn to] other gods and love to eat the raisin cakes [C food eaten at pagan temples].”
2 So I bought her for six ·ounces of silver [shekels] and ·ten bushels [L a homer and a lethek; C a homer was 5–6 bushels; a lethek was about half that] of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You must ·wait for [or live with] me for many days. You must not be a prostitute, and you must not have sexual relations with any other man. I will act the same way toward you.”
4 In the same way the ·people [L sons; T children] of Israel will live many days without a king or ·leader [prince], without sacrifices or holy stone pillars [C used in pagan worship; 2 Kin. 3:2; 10:26–28; 17:10], and without ·the holy vest [ephod; Ex. 28:6–14; Judg. 8:27] or ·an idol [household idols; L teraphim; Gen. 31:19]. 5 After this, the people of Israel will return and ·follow [seek] the Lord their God and ·the king from David’s family [L David their king; C an heir from David’s line]. In the last days they will ·turn in fear [come in reverence/awe] to the Lord, and he will bless them.
Jesus Is Brought Before Pilate(A)
28 Early in the morning they [C the Jewish leaders] led Jesus from Caiaphas’s house to the ·Roman governor’s palace [or governor’s headquarters; L Praetorium]. They would not go inside the ·palace [L Praetorium], because they did not want to make themselves ·unclean [C according to early Jewish sources a Jew who entered the house of a Gentile would become ritually unclean]; they wanted to eat the Passover meal. 29 So Pilate [C Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea from ad 26 to 37] went outside to them and asked, “What ·charges [accusation] do you bring against this man?”
30 They answered, “If he were not a ·criminal [L evildoer], we wouldn’t have brought him to you.”
31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But ·we are not allowed [it is not legal for us] to put anyone to death,” the Jews answered. [C The Jewish people had to concede the authority for capital punishment to their Roman occupiers.] 32 (This happened so that what Jesus said about how he would die [C by crucifixion rather than stoning] would ·come true [L be fulfilled; see 12:32–33].)
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