◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 119:49-56 (Your promise gives me life); Jeremiah 32:16-35 (Jeremiah’s prayer God’s assurance); Revelation 3:14-22 (Being rich or poor in God) (New English Translation)

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September 26, 2022

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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.

Jeremiah 32:16-35

Jeremiah’s Prayer of Praise and Bewilderment

¹⁶“After I had given the copies of the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, ¹⁷‘Oh, Sovereign Lord,^[a] you did indeed^[b] make heaven and earth by your mighty power and great strength.^[c] Nothing is too hard for you! ¹⁸You show unfailing love to thousands.^[d] But you also punish children for the sins of their parents.^[e] You are the great and powerful God whose name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.^[f] ¹⁹You plan great things and you do mighty deeds.^[g] You see everything people do.^[h] You reward each of them for the way they live and for the things they do.^[i] ²⁰You did miracles and amazing deeds in the land of Egypt that have had lasting effect. By this means you gained both in Israel and among humankind a renown that lasts to this day.^[j] ²¹You used your mighty power and your great strength to perform miracles and amazing deeds and to bring great terror on the Egyptians. By this means you brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt.^[k] ²²You kept the promise that you swore on oath to their ancestors.^[l] You gave them a land flowing with milk and honey.^[m] ²³But when they came in and took possession of it, they did not obey you or live as you had instructed them. They did not do anything that you commanded them to do.^[n] So you brought all this disaster on them. ²⁴Even now siege ramps have been built up around the city^[o] in order to capture it. War,^[p] starvation, and disease are sure to make the city fall into the hands of the Babylonians^[q] who are attacking it.^[r] Lord,^[s] you threatened that this would happen. Now you can see that it is already taking place.^[t] ²⁵The city is sure to fall into the hands of the Babylonians.^[u] Yet, in spite of this,^[v] you, Sovereign Lord,^[w] have said to me, “Buy that field with silver and have the transaction legally witnessed.”’”^[x]

The Lord Answers Jeremiah’s Prayer

²⁶The Lord’s message came to Jeremiah: ²⁷“I am the Lord, the God of all humankind. There is, indeed, nothing too difficult for me.^[y] ²⁸Therefore I, the Lord, say:^[z] ‘I will indeed hand^[aa] this city over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonian army.^[ab] They will capture it. ²⁹The Babylonian soldiers^[ac] that are attacking this city will break into it and set it on fire. They will burn it down along with the houses where people have made me angry by offering sacrifices to the god Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to other gods on their rooftops.^[ad] ³⁰This will happen because the people of Israel and Judah have repeatedly done what displeases me^[ae] from their earliest history until now^[af] and because they^[ag] have repeatedly made me angry by the things they have done.^[ah] I, the Lord, affirm it!^[ai] ³¹This will happen because^[aj] the people of this city have aroused my anger and my wrath since the time they built it until now.^[ak] They have made me so angry that I am determined to remove^[al] it from my sight. ³²I am determined to do so because the people of Israel and Judah have made me angry with all their wickedness—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, and especially the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem have done this wickedness.^[am] ³³They have turned away from me instead of turning to me.^[an] I tried over and over again^[ao] to instruct them, but they did not listen and respond to correction.^[ap] ³⁴They set up their disgusting idols in the temple that I have claimed for my own^[aq] and defiled it. ³⁵They built places of worship for the god Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they could sacrifice their sons and daughters to the god Molech.^[ar] Such a disgusting practice was not something I commanded them to do. It never even entered my mind to command them to do such a thing! So Judah is certainly liable for punishment.’^[as]

Footnotes

Jeremiah 32:17 tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” For an explanation of the rendering here see the study note on 1:6.sn The parallel usage of this introduction in Jer 1:6; 4:10; 14:13 shows that though this prayer has a lengthy introductory section of praise in vv. 17-22, this prayer is really one of complaint or lament.
Jeremiah 32:17 tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle normally translated “behold.” See the translator’s note on 1:6 for the usage of this particle.
Jeremiah 32:17 tn Heb “by your great power and your outstretched arm.” See 21:5; 27:5; and the marginal note on 27:5 for this idiom.
Jeremiah 32:18 tn Or “to thousands of generations.” In Exod 20:5-6; Deut 5:9-10; Exod 34:7 the contrast between showing steadfast love to “thousands” and the limitation of punishing the third and fourth generation of children for their parents’ sins has suggested to many commentators and translators (cf., e.g., NRSV, TEV, NJPS) that reference here is to “thousands of generations.” The statement is, of course, rhetorical, emphasizing God’s great desire to bless as opposed to the reluctant necessity of punishing. It is part of the attributes of God spelled out in Exod 34:6-7.
Jeremiah 32:18 tn Heb “pays back into the bosom of their children the sin of their parents.”
Jeremiah 32:18 tn Heb “Nothing is too hard for you who show…and who punishes…the great [and] powerful God whose name is Yahweh of Armies, [you who are] great in counsel…whose eyes are open…who did signs…” Jer 32:18-22 is a long series of relative clauses introduced by participles or relative pronouns (vv. 18-20a) followed by second person vav consecutive imperfects carrying on the last of these relative clauses (vv. 20b-22). This is typical of hymnic introductions to hymns of praise (cf., e.g., Ps 136), but it is hard to sustain the relative subordination that all goes back to the suffix on “hard for you.” The sentences have been broken up, but the connection with the end of v. 17 has been sacrificed for conformity to contemporary English style.
Jeremiah 32:19 tn Heb “[you are] great in counsel and mighty in deed.”
Jeremiah 32:19 tn Heb “your eyes are open to the ways of the sons of men.”
Jeremiah 32:19 tn Heb “giving to each according to his way [= behavior/conduct] and according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Jeremiah 32:20 tn Or “You did miracles and amazing deeds in the land of Egypt. And you continue to do them until this day both in Israel and among mankind. By this means you have gained a renown…” The translation here follows the syntactical understanding reflected also in NJPS. The Hebrew text reads, “You did miracles and marvelous acts in the land of Egypt until this day and in Israel and in mankind, and you made for yourself a name as this day.” The majority of English versions and commentaries understand the phrases “until this day and in Israel and in mankind” to be an elliptical sentence with the preceding verb and objects supplied, as reflected in the alternate translation. However, the emphasis on the miraculous deeds in Egypt in this section, both before and after this elliptical phrase, and the dominant usage of the terms “signs and wonders” to refer to the plagues and other miraculous signs in Egypt, call this interpretation into question. The key here is understanding “both in Israel and in mankind” as an example of a casus pendens construction (a dangling subject, object, or other modifier) before a conjunction introducing the main clause (cf. GKC 327 §111.h and 458 §143.d and compare the usage in Jer 6:19; 33:24; 1 Kgs 15:13). This verse is the topic sentence, which is developed further in v. 21, and initiates a narrative history of the distant past that continues until v. 22b, where reference is made to the long history of disobedience that has led to the present crisis.
Jeremiah 32:21 tn Heb “You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and with wonders and with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great terror.” For the figurative expressions involved here see the marginal notes on 27:5. The sentence has been broken down to better conform to contemporary English style.
Jeremiah 32:22 tn Heb “fathers.”
Jeremiah 32:22 tn For an alternative translation of the expression “a land flowing with milk and honey,” see the translator’s note on 11:5.
Jeremiah 32:23 tn Or “They did not do everything that you commanded them to do.” This is probably a case where the negative (לֹא, loʾ) negates the whole category indicated by “all” (כָּל, kol; see BDB 482 s.v. כֹּל 1.e(c) and compare usage in Deut 12:16 and 28:14). Jeremiah has repeatedly emphasized that the history of Israel since their entry into the land has been one of persistent disobedience and rebellion (cf., e.g. 7:22-26; 11:7-8). The statement, of course, is somewhat hyperbolical, as all categorical statements of this kind are.
Jeremiah 32:24 tn Heb “Siege ramps have come up to the city to capture it.”
Jeremiah 32:24 tn Heb “sword.”
Jeremiah 32:24 tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.
Jeremiah 32:24 tn Heb “And the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans, who are fighting against it, because of the sword, starvation, and disease.” The verb “has been given” is one of those perfects that view the action as good as done (the perfect of certainty or prophetic perfect).
Jeremiah 32:24 tn The word “Lord” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation as a reminder that it is he who is being addressed.
Jeremiah 32:24 tn Heb “And what you said has happened, and, behold, you see it.”
Jeremiah 32:25 tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.
Jeremiah 32:25 tn Heb “And you, Lord Yahweh, have said to me, ‘Buy the field for…,’ even though the city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians.” The sentence has been broken up and the order reversed for English stylistic purposes. For the rendering “is sure to fall into the hands of,” see the translator’s note on the preceding verse.
Jeremiah 32:25 tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” For the rendering of this title see the study note on 1:6.
Jeremiah 32:25 tn Heb “call in witnesses to witness.”
Jeremiah 32:27 tn Heb “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” The question is rhetorical expecting an emphatic negative answer (cf. E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 949, citing the parallel in Gen 18:14). The Hebrew particle “Behold” (הִנֵּה, hinneh) introduces the grounds for this rhetorical negative (cf. T. O. Lambdin, Introduction to Biblical Hebrew, 170, §135 [3]), i.e., “Since I am the Lord, the God of all mankind, there is indeed nothing too hard for me [or is there anything too hard for me?].”sn This statement furnishes the grounds both for the assurance that the city will indeed be delivered over to Nebuchadnezzar (vv. 28-29a) and that it will be restored and repopulated (vv. 37-41). This can be seen from the parallel introductions in v. 28: “Therefore the Lord says” and “Now therefore the Lord says.” As the creator of all and God of all mankind, he has the power and authority to do with his creation what he wishes (cf. Jer 27:5-6).
Jeremiah 32:28 tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” However, the speech has already been introduced as first person, so the first person style has been retained for smoother narrative style.
Jeremiah 32:28 tn Heb “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of…”
Jeremiah 32:28 tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.
Jeremiah 32:29 tn Heb “The Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for further explanation.
Jeremiah 32:29 sn Cf. Jer 19:13.
Jeremiah 32:30 tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.” For this idiom see BDB 744 s.v. עַיִן 3.c and compare usage in 18:10.
Jeremiah 32:30 tn Heb “from their youth.”sn Cf. Jer 3:24-25 and 11:21. The nation is being personified, and reference is made to her history from the time she left Egypt onward (cf. 2:2).
Jeremiah 32:30 tn Heb “the people of Israel.” However, since “people of Israel” has been used in the preceding line for the northern kingdom as opposed to the kingdom of Judah, it might lead to confusion to translate literally. Moreover, the pronoun “they” accomplishes the same purpose.
Jeremiah 32:30 tn Heb “by the work of their hands.” See the translator’s note on 25:6 and the parallelism in 25:14 for this rendering rather than referring it to the making of idols as in 1:16 and 10:3.
Jeremiah 32:30 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
Jeremiah 32:31 tn The statements in vv. 28-29 regarding the certain destruction of the city are motivated by three parallel causal clauses in vv. 30a, 30b and 31, the last of which extends through subordinate and coordinate clauses until the end of v. 35. An attempt has been made to bring out this structure by repeating the idea “This/it will happen” in front of each of these causal clauses in the English translation.
Jeremiah 32:31 tn Heb “from the day they built it until this day.”sn The Israelites did not in fact “build” Jerusalem. They captured it from the Jebusites in the time of David. This refers perhaps to the enlarging and fortifying of the city after it came into the hands of the Israelites (2 Sam 5:6-10).
Jeremiah 32:31 tn Heb “For this city has been to me for a source of my anger and my wrath from the day they built it until this day, so as remove it.” The preposition לְ (lamed) with the infinitive (Heb “so as to remove it”; לַהֲסִירָהּ, lahasirah) expresses degree (cf. R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 37, §199, and compare usage in 2 Sam 13:2).
Jeremiah 32:32 tn Heb “remove it from my sight 32:32 because of all the wickedness of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they have done to make me angry, they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” The sentence has been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style, and an attempt has been made to preserve the causal connections.
Jeremiah 32:33 tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.” Compare the same idiom in 2:27.
Jeremiah 32:33 tn For the idiom involved here see the translator’s note on 7:13. The verb that introduces this clause is a Piel infinitive absolute that is functioning in place of the finite verb (see, e.g., GKC 346 §113.ff and compare usage in Jer 8:15 and 14:19. This grammatical point means that the versions cited in BHS fn a may not be reading a different text after all, but may merely be interpreting the form as syntactically equivalent to a finite verb, as the present translation has done.).sn This refers to God teaching them through the prophets whom he has sent, as indicated by the repeated use of this idiom elsewhere in 7:13, 25; 11:7; 25:3, 4; 26:5, 19.
Jeremiah 32:33 tn Heb “But they were not listening so as to accept correction.”
Jeremiah 32:34 tn Heb “the house that is called by my name” (cf. 7:10, 11, 14, and see the translator’s note on 7:10 for the explanation for this rendering).
Jeremiah 32:35 sn Cf. Jer 7:30-31; 19:5; and the study notes on 7:30. The god Molech is especially associated with the practice of child sacrifice (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; 2 Kgs 23:10). In 1 Kgs 11:7 this god is identified as the god of the Ammonites, who is also called Milcom in 1 Kgs 11:5 and 2 Kgs 23:13. Child sacrifice, however, was not confined to this god; it was also made to the god Baal (Jer 19:5) and to other idols that the Israelites had set up (Ezek 16:20-21). Yet this behavior was strictly prohibited in Israel (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut 12:31; 18:10). It was this practice, as well as other pagan rites that Manasseh had instituted in Judah, that ultimately led to Judah’s demise (2 Kgs 24:3-4). Though Josiah tried to root these pagan traditions (2 Kgs 23:4-14) out of Judah, he could not do so. The people had only made a pretense of following his reforms; their hearts were still far from God (Jer 3:10; 12:2).
Jeremiah 32:35 tn Heb “They built high places to Baal, which are in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, to cause their sons and daughters to pass through [the fire] to Molech, [a thing] which I did not command them and [which] did not go up into my heart [= “mind” in modern psychology], to do this abomination so as to make Judah liable for punishment.” For the use of the Hiphil of חָטָא (khataʾ) to refer to the liability for punishment, see BDB s.v. חָטָא Hiph.3 and compare the usage in Deut 24:8. Coming at the end as this does, this nuance is much more likely than “cause Judah to sin,” which is the normal translation assigned to the verb here. The particle לְמַעַן (l^emaʿan) that precedes it is here once again introducing a result and not a purpose (compare other clear examples in 27:10, 15). The sentence has been broken down in conformity to contemporary English style, and an attempt has been made to make clear that what is detestable and not commanded is not merely child sacrifice to Molech but child sacrifice in general.

Revelation 3:14-22

To the Church in Laodicea

¹⁴“To^[a] the angel of the church in Laodicea write the following:^[b]

“This is the solemn pronouncement of^[c] the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator^[d] of God’s creation: ¹⁵‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.^[e] I wish you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going^[f] to vomit^[g] you out of my mouth! ¹⁷Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth,^[h] and need nothing,” but^[i] do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful,^[j] poor, blind, and naked, ¹⁸take my advice^[k] and buy gold from me refined by fire so you can become rich! Buy from me^[l] white clothing so you can be clothed and your shameful nakedness^[m] will not be exposed, and buy eye salve^[n] to put on your eyes so you can see! ¹⁹All those^[o] I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent! ²⁰Listen!^[p] I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home^[q] and share a meal with him, and he with me. ²¹I will grant the one^[r] who conquers^[s] permission^[t] to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered^[u] and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²²The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Footnotes

Revelation 3:14 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated due to differences between Greek and English style.
Revelation 3:14 tn The phrase “the following” after “write” is supplied to clarify that what follows is the content of what is to be written.
Revelation 3:14 tn Grk “These things says [the One]…” See the note on the phrase “this is the solemn pronouncement of” in 2:1.sn The expression This is the solemn pronouncement of reflects an OT idiom. See the note on this phrase in 2:1.
Revelation 3:14 tn Or “the beginning of God’s creation”; or “the ruler of God’s creation.” From a linguistic standpoint all three meanings for ἀρχή (archē) are possible. The term is well attested in both LXX (Gen 40:13, 21; 41:13) and intertestamental Jewish literature (2 Macc 4:10, 50) as meaning “ruler, authority” (BDAG 138 s.v. 6). Some have connected this passage to Paul’s statements in Col 1:15, 18 which describe Christ as ἀρχή and πρωτότοκος (prōtotokos; e.g., see R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 124) but the term ἀρχή has been understood as either “beginning” or “ruler” in that passage as well. The most compelling connection is to be found in the prologue to John’s Gospel (1:2-4) where the λόγος (logos) is said to be “in the beginning (ἀρχή) with God,” a temporal reference connected with creation, and then v. 3 states that “all things were made through him.” The connection with the original creation suggests the meaning “originator” for ἀρχή here. BDAG 138 s.v. 3 gives the meaning “the first cause” for the word in Rev 3:14, a term that is too philosophical for the general reader, so the translation “originator” was used instead. BDAG also notes, “but the mng. beginning = ‘first created’ is linguistically probable (s. above 1b and Job 40:19; also CBurney, Christ as the ᾿Αρχή of Creation: JTS 27, 1926, 160-77).” Such a meaning is unlikely here, however, since the connections described above are much more probable.
Revelation 3:15 sn Laodicea was near two other towns, each of which had a unique water source. To the north was Hierapolis which had a natural hot spring, often used for medicinal purposes. To the east was Colossae which had cold, pure waters. In contrast to these towns, Laodicea had no permanent supply of good water. Efforts to pipe water to the city from nearby springs were successful, but it would arrive lukewarm. The metaphor in the text is not meant to relate spiritual fervor to temperature. This would mean that Laodicea would be commended for being spiritually cold, but it is unlikely that Jesus would commend this. Instead, the metaphor condemns Laodicea for not providing spiritual healing (being hot) or spiritual refreshment (being cold) to those around them. It is a condemnation of their lack of works and lack of witness.
Revelation 3:16 tn Or “I intend.”
Revelation 3:16 tn This is the literal meaning of the Greek verb ἐμέω (emeō). It is usually translated with a much weaker term like “spit out” due to the unpleasant connotations of the English verb “vomit,” as noted by L&N 23.44. The situation confronting the Laodicean church is a dire one, however, and such a term is necessary if the modern reader is to understand the gravity of the situation.
Revelation 3:17 tn Grk “and have become rich.” The semantic domains of the two terms for wealth here, πλούσιος (plousios, adjective) and πλουτέω (plouteō, verb) overlap considerably, but are given slightly different English translations for stylistic reasons.
Revelation 3:17 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
Revelation 3:17 tn All the terms in this series are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.
Revelation 3:18 tn Grk “I counsel you to buy.”
Revelation 3:18 tn Grk “rich, and.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation, repeating the words “Buy from me” to make the connection clear for the English reader.
Revelation 3:18 tn Grk “the shame of the nakedness of you,” which has been translated as an attributed genitive like καινότητι ζωῆς (kainotēti zōēs) in Rom 6:4 (ExSyn 89-90).
Revelation 3:18 sn The city of Laodicea had a famous medical school and exported a powder (called a “Phrygian powder”) that was widely used as an eye salve. It was applied to the eyes in the form of a paste the consistency of dough (the Greek term for the salve here, κολλούριον, kollourion [Latin collyrium], is a diminutive form of the word for a long roll of bread).
Revelation 3:19 tn The Greek pronoun ὅσος (hosos) means “as many as” and can be translated “All those” or “Everyone.”
Revelation 3:20 tn Grk “Behold.”
Revelation 3:20 tn Grk “come in to him.”sn The expression in Greek does not mean entrance into the person, as is popularly taken, but entrance into a room or building toward the person. See ExSyn 380-82. Some interpreters understand the door here to be the door to the Laodicean church, and thus a collective or corporate image rather than an individual one.
Revelation 3:21 tn Grk “The one who conquers, to him I will grant.”
Revelation 3:21 tn Or “who is victorious”; traditionally, “who overcomes.”
Revelation 3:21 tn Grk “I will give [grant] to him.”
Revelation 3:21 tn Or “have been victorious”; traditionally, “have overcome.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

ז (Zayin)

Footnotes

Jeremiah’s Prayer of Praise and Bewilderment

The Lord Answers Jeremiah’s Prayer

Footnotes

To the Church in Laodicea

Footnotes