Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 34:1-8 [19-22] (Taste and see); Job 42:7-9 (God corrects Job’s friends); Mark 8:22-26 (Jesus heals a blind man) (New English Translation)
Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.
Duration: 1245 days
New English Translation (NET)
Psalm 34:1-8
Psalm 34[a]
By David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away.[b]
34 I will praise[c] the Lord at all times;
my mouth will continually praise him.[d]
2 I will boast[e] in the Lord;
let the oppressed hear and rejoice.[f]
3 Magnify the Lord with me.
Let us praise[g] his name together.
4 I sought the Lord’s help[h] and he answered me;
he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Look to him and be radiant;
do not let your faces be ashamed.[i]
6 This oppressed man cried out and the Lord heard;
he saved him[j] from all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord camps around
the Lord’s[k] loyal followers[l] and delivers them.[m]
8 Taste[n] and see that the Lord is good.
How blessed[o] is the one[p] who takes shelter in him.[q]
Footnotes
- Psalm 34:1 sn Psalm 34. In this song of thanksgiving the psalmist praises God for delivering him from distress. He encourages others to be loyal to the Lord, tells them how to please God, and assures them that the Lord protects his servants. The psalm is an acrostic; vv. 1-21 begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (Verse 6 begins with the letter he (ה) and v. 7 with the letter zayin (ז). The letter vav (ו), which comes between ה and ז, seems to be omitted, although it does appear at the beginning of v. 6b. The final verse of the psalm, which begins with the letter pe (פ), is outside the acrostic scheme.
- Psalm 34:1 tn Heb “By David, when he changed his sense before Abimelech and he drove him away and he went.”sn Pretended to be insane. The psalm heading appears to refer to the account in 1 Sam 21:10-15 which tells how David, fearful that King Achish of Gath might kill him, pretended to be insane in hopes that the king would simply send him away. The psalm heading names the king Abimelech, not Achish, suggesting that the tradition is confused on this point. However, perhaps “Abimelech” was a royal title, rather than a proper name. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 278.
- Psalm 34:1 tn Heb “bless.”
- Psalm 34:1 tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”
- Psalm 34:2 tn Heb “my soul will boast”; or better, “let my soul boast.” Following the cohortative form in v. 1, it is likely that the prefixed verbal form here is jussive.
- Psalm 34:2 tn The two prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best taken as jussives, for the psalmist is calling his audience to worship (see v. 3).
- Psalm 34:3 tn Or “exalt.”
- Psalm 34:4 tn Heb “I sought the Lord.”
- Psalm 34:5 tc The translation follows the LXX. The MT reads “they looked to him and were radiant; let their faces not be ashamed.” The MT reads the first verb as a perfect (הִבִּיטוּ, hibbitu), which would be past time, while the LXX (supported by Aquila, the Syriac, Jerome, and some medieval Hebrew mss) reads an imperative (הַבִּיטוּ, habbitu). The MT reads the second verb as a vav plus perfect, while the LXX reads it as an imperative, again a difference of the initial vowel. The third verb is a jussive preceded by אַל (ʾal), which supports reading the first two as imperatives. The second masculine plural pronoun (“your faces”) of the LXX and the Syriac, matches this understanding of the preceding verbs. The MT reading (“their faces”) is consistent with its view of the previous verbs. The reading adopted here interprets the verse as interrupting a testimony given to the congregation with an admonition based on that testimony.
- Psalm 34:6 tn The pronoun refers back to “this oppressed man,” namely, the psalmist.
- Psalm 34:7 tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Psalm 34:7 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
- Psalm 34:7 tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the same generalizing force as the active participle in the first line. See GKC 329 §111.u.
- Psalm 34:8 tn This verb is normally used of tasting food, as in eating a little bit of food (1 Sam 14:43; Jonah 3:7) or evaluating it (Job 12:11; 34:3). The two references to the physical senses stand for invitation and realization. Even a small or beginning experience of God reveals that he is good.
- Psalm 34:8 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
- Psalm 34:8 tn Heb “man.” The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.”
- Psalm 34:8 tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).
Psalm 34:19-22
19 The godly[a] face many dangers,[b]
but the Lord saves[c] them[d] from each one of them.
20 He protects[e] all his bones;[f]
not one of them is broken.[g]
21 Evil people self-destruct;[h]
those who hate the godly are punished.[i]
22 The Lord rescues his servants;[j]
all who take shelter in him escape punishment.[k]
Footnotes
- Psalm 34:19 tn The Hebrew text uses the singular form; the representative or typical godly person is envisioned.
- Psalm 34:19 tn Or “trials.”
- Psalm 34:19 tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the godly.
- Psalm 34:19 tn Heb “him,” agreeing with the singular form in the preceding line.
- Psalm 34:20 tn The Hebrew participial form suggests such protection is characteristic.
- Psalm 34:20 tn That is, he protects the godly from physical harm.
- Psalm 34:20 sn Not one of them is broken. The author of the Gospel of John saw a fulfillment of these words in Jesus’ experience on the cross (see John 19:31-37), for the Roman soldiers, when they saw that Jesus was already dead, did not break his legs as was customarily done to speed the death of crucified individuals. John’s use of the psalm seems strange, for the statement in its original context suggests that the Lord protects the godly from physical harm. Jesus’ legs may have remained unbroken, but he was brutally and unjustly executed by his enemies. John seems to give the statement a literal sense that is foreign to its original literary context by applying a promise of divine protection to a man who was seemingly not saved by God. However, John saw in this incident a foreshadowing of Jesus’ ultimate deliverance and vindication. His unbroken bones were a reminder of God’s commitment to the godly and a sign of things to come. Jesus’ death on the cross was not the end of the story; God vindicated him, as John goes on to explain in the following context (John 19:38-20:18).
- Psalm 34:21 tn Heb “evil kills the wicked [one].” The singular form is representative; the typical evil person is envisioned. The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the typical nature of the action.
- Psalm 34:21 tn Heb “are guilty,” but the verb is sometimes used metonymically with the meaning “to suffer the consequences of guilt,” the effect being substituted for the cause.
- Psalm 34:22 tn Heb “redeems the life of his servants.” The Hebrew participial form suggests such deliverance is characteristic.
- Psalm 34:22 tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 31:19).
Job 42:7-9
VII. The Epilogue (42:7-17)
Job’s Restoration
7 After the Lord had spoken these things to Job, he[a] said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up[b] against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right,[c] as my servant Job has. 8 So now take[d] seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job will intercede[e] for you, and I will respect him,[f] so that I do not deal with you[g] according to your folly,[h] because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has.”[i]
9 So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and did just as the Lord had told them; and the Lord had respect for Job.[j]
Footnotes
- Job 42:7 tn Heb “the Lord.” The title has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Job 42:7 tn Heb “is kindled.”
- Job 42:7 tn The form נְכוֹנָה (nekhonah) is from כּוּן (kun, “to be firm; to be fixed; to be established”). Here it means “the right thing” or “truth.” The Akkadian cognate kīnu means “true, just, honest, firm” (CAD K: 389).
- Job 42:8 tn The imperatives in this verse are plural, so all three had to do this together.
- Job 42:8 tn The verb “pray” is the Hitpael from the root פָּלַל (palal). That root has the main idea of arbitration; so in this stem it means “to seek arbitration [for oneself],” or “to pray,” or “to intercede.”
- Job 42:8 tn Heb “I will lift up his face,” meaning, “I will regard him.”
- Job 42:8 tn This clause is a result clause, using the negated infinitive construct.
- Job 42:8 tn The word “folly” can also be taken in the sense of “disgrace.” If the latter is chosen, the word serves as the direct object. If the former, then it is an adverbial accusative.
- Job 42:8 sn The difference between what they said and what Job said, therefore, has to do with truth. Job was honest, spoke the truth, poured out his complaints, but never blasphemed God. For his words God said he told the truth. He did so with incomplete understanding, and with all the impatience and frustration one might expect. Now the friends, however, did not tell what was right about God. They were not honest; rather, they were self-righteous and condescending. They were saying what they thought should be said, but it was wrong.
- Job 42:9 tn The expression “had respect for Job” means God answered his prayer.
Mark 8:22-26
A Two-stage Healing
22 Then[a] they came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to Jesus[b] and asked him to touch him. 23 He took the blind man by the hand and brought him outside of the village. Then[c] he spit on his eyes, placed his hands on his eyes[d] and asked, “Do you see anything?” 24 Regaining his sight[e] he said, “I see people, but they look like trees walking.” 25 Then Jesus[f] placed his hands on the man’s[g] eyes again. And he opened his eyes,[h] his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. 26 Jesus[i] sent him home, saying, “Do not even go into the village.”[j]
Footnotes
- Mark 8:22 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
- Mark 8:22 tn Grk “to him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Mark 8:23 tn Grk “village, and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
- Mark 8:23 tn Grk “on him,” but the word πάλιν in v. 25 implies that Jesus touched the man’s eyes at this point.
- Mark 8:24 tn The verb ἀναβλέπω, though normally meaning “look up,” when used in conjunction with blindness means “regain sight.”
- Mark 8:25 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Mark 8:25 tn Grk “his”; the referent (the blind man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Mark 8:25 tn Or “he looked intently”; or “he stared with eyes wide open” (BDAG 226 s.v. διαβλέπω 1).
- Mark 8:26 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Mark 8:26 tc Codex Bezae (D) replaces “Do not even go into the village” with “Go to your house, and do not tell anyone, not even in the village.” Other mss with some minor variations (Θ ƒ13 28 565 2542) expand on this prohibition to read “Go to your house, and if you go into the village, do not tell anyone.” There are several other variants here as well. While these expansions are not part of Mark’s original text, they do accurately reflect the sense of Jesus’ prohibition.
New English Translation (NET)
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