◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 121 (The Lord watches over you); Isaiah 51:4-8 (God’s word means justice for all); Luke 7:1-10 (Room at the table of Abraham) (New English Translation)

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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 121

Psalm 121^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]

121 I look up^[c] toward the hills.
From where^[d] does my help come?
²My help comes from the Lord,^[e]
the Creator^[f] of heaven and earth.
³May he not allow your foot to slip.
May your Protector^[g] not sleep.^[h]
⁴Look! Israel’s Protector^[i]
does not sleep or slumber.
⁵The Lord is your protector;
the Lord is the shade at your right hand.
⁶The sun will not harm you by day,
or the moon by night.^[j]
⁷The Lord will protect you from all harm;
he will protect your life.
⁸The Lord will protect you in all you do,^[k]
now and forevermore.

Footnotes

Psalm 121:1 sn Psalm 121. The psalm affirms that the Lord protects his people Israel. Unless the psalmist addresses an observer (note the second person singular forms in vv. 3-8), it appears there are two or three speakers represented in the psalm, depending on how one takes v. 3. The translation assumes that speaker one talks in vv. 1-2, that speaker two responds to him with a prayer in v. 3 (this assumes the verbs are true jussives of prayer), and that speaker three responds with words of assurance in vv. 4-8. If the verbs in v. 3 are taken as a rhetorical use of the jussive, then there are two speakers. Verses 3-8 are speaker two’s response to the words of speaker one. See the note on the word “sleep” at the end of v. 3.
Psalm 121:1 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
Psalm 121:1 tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”
Psalm 121:1 tn The Hebrew term מֵאַיִן (meʾayin) is interrogative, not relative, in function. Rather than directly stating that his source of help descends from the hills, the psalmist is asking, “From where does my help come?” Nevertheless, the first line does indicate that he is looking toward the hills for help, probably indicating that he is looking up toward the sky, or up toward the temple, in anticipation of supernatural intervention. The psalmist assumes the dramatic role of one needing help. He answers his own question in v. 2.
Psalm 121:2 tn Heb “my help [is] from with the Lord.”
Psalm 121:2 tn Or “Maker.”
Psalm 121:3 tn Heb “the one who guards you.”
Psalm 121:3 tn The prefixed verbal forms following the negative particle אַל (ʾal) appear to be jussives. As noted above, if they are taken as true jussives of prayer, then the speaker in v. 3 would appear to be distinct from both the speaker in vv. 1-2 and the speaker in vv. 4-8. However, according to GKC 322 §109.e), the jussives are used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one should probably translate, “he will not allow your foot to slip, your protector will not sleep,” and understand just one speaker in vv. 4-8. But none of the examples in GKC for this use of the jussive are compelling.
Psalm 121:4 tn Heb “the one who guards Israel.”
Psalm 121:6 sn One hardly thinks of the moon’s rays as being physically harmful, like those of the sun. The reference to the moon may simply lend poetic balance to the verse, but it is likely that the verse reflects an ancient, primitive belief that the moon could have an adverse effect on the mind (note the English expression “moonstruck,” which reflects such a belief). Another possibility is that the sun and moon stand by metonymy for harmful forces characteristic of the day and night, respectively.
Psalm 121:8 tn Heb “your going out and your coming in.”

Isaiah 51:4-8

⁴Pay attention to me, my people.
Listen to me, my people!
For^[a] I will issue a decree,^[b]
I will make my justice a light to the nations.^[c]
⁵I am ready to vindicate,^[d]
I am ready to deliver,^[e]
I will establish justice among the nations.^[f]
The coastlands^[g] wait patiently for me;
they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power.^[h]
⁶Look up at the sky.
Look at the earth below.
For the sky will dissipate^[i] like smoke,
and the earth will wear out like clothes;
its residents will die like gnats.
But the deliverance I give^[j] is permanent;
the vindication I provide^[k] will not disappear.^[l]
⁷Listen to me, you who know what is right,
you people who are aware of my law.^[m]
Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;
don’t be discouraged because of their abuse.
⁸For a moth will eat away at them like clothes;
a clothes moth will devour them like wool.
But the vindication I provide^[n] will be permanent;
the deliverance I give will last.”

Luke 7:1-10

Healing the Centurion’s Slave

7 After Jesus^[a] had finished teaching all this to the people,^[b] he entered Capernaum.^[c] ²A centurion^[d] there^[e] had a slave^[f] who was highly regarded,^[g] but who was sick and at the point of death. ³When the centurion^[h] heard^[i] about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders^[j] to him, asking him to come^[k] and heal his slave. ⁴When^[l] they came^[m] to Jesus, they urged^[n] him earnestly,^[o] “He is worthy^[p] to have you do this for him, ⁵because he loves our nation,^[q] and even^[r] built our synagogue.”^[s] ⁶So^[t] Jesus went with them. When^[u] he was not far from the house, the centurion^[v] sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself,^[w] for I am not worthy^[x] to have you come under my roof! ⁷That is why^[y] I did not presume^[z] to come to you. Instead, say the word, and my servant must be healed.^[aa] ⁸For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me.^[ab] I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes,^[ac] and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”^[ad] ⁹When Jesus heard this, he was amazed^[ae] at him. He turned and said to the crowd that followed him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith!”^[af] ¹⁰So^[ag] when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave^[ah] well.

Footnotes

Luke 7:1 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Luke 7:1 tn Grk “After he had completed all his sayings in the hearing of the people.”
Luke 7:1 sn Capernaum was a town located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It existed since Hasmonean times and was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region. The population in the first century is estimated to be around 1,500. Capernaum became the hub of operations for Jesus’ Galilean ministry (Matt 4:13; Mark 2:1). In modern times the site was discovered in 1838 by the American explorer E. Robinson, and major excavations began in 1905 by German archaeologists H. Kohl and C. Watzinger. Not until 1968, however, were remains from the time of Jesus visible; in that year V. Corbo and S. Loffreda began a series of annual archaeological campaigns that lasted until 1985. This work uncovered what is thought to be the house of Simon Peter as well as ruins of the first century synagogue beneath the later synagogue from the fourth or fifth century A.D. Today gently rolling hills and date palms frame the first century site, a favorite tourist destination of visitors to the Galilee.
Luke 7:2 sn A centurion was a noncommissioned officer in the Roman army or one of the auxiliary territorial armies, commanding a centuria of (nominally) 100 men. The responsibilities of centurions were broadly similar to modern junior officers, but there was a wide gap in social status between them and officers, and relatively few were promoted beyond the rank of senior centurion. The Roman troops stationed in Judea were auxiliaries, who would normally be rewarded with Roman citizenship after 25 years of service. Some of the centurions throughout the region may have served originally in the Roman legions (regular army) and thus gained their citizenship at enlistment. Others may have inherited it, like the apostle Paul did (cf. Acts 22:28).
Luke 7:2 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
Luke 7:2 tn 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. 1). 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. Later in this passage (v. 7) Luke uses the Greek term παῖς (pais), to refer to the centurion’s slave. This was a term often used of a slave who was regarded with some degree of affection, possibly a personal servant.
Luke 7:2 tn The term ἔντιμος (entimos) could mean “highly valued,” but this sounds too much like the slave was seen as an asset, while the text suggests a genuine care for the person. More archaically, it could be said the centurion was fond of this slave.
Luke 7:3 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the centurion) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Luke 7:3 tn The participle ἀκούσας (akousas) has been taken temporally.
Luke 7:3 sn Why some Jewish elders are sent as emissaries is not entirely clear, but the centurion was probably respecting ethnic boundaries, which were important in ancient Greco-Roman and Jewish culture. The parallel account in Matt 8:5-13 does not mention the emissaries.
Luke 7:3 tn The participle ἐλθών (elthōn) has been translated as an infinitive in parallel with διασώσῃ (diasōsē) due to requirements of contemporary English style.
Luke 7:4 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
Luke 7:4 tn Although the participle παραγενόμενοι (paragenomenoi) is preceded by the Greek article (οἱ, hoi) which would normally cause it to be regarded as an adjectival or substantival participle, most modern translations, probably as a result of the necessities of contemporary English style, render it as a temporal participle (“when they came”).
Luke 7:4 tn Or “implored.”
Luke 7:4 tn Grk “urged him earnestly, saying”; the participle λέγοντες (legontes) is pleonastic (redundant) and has not been translated.
Luke 7:4 tn Grk “Worthy is he to have you do this”; the term “worthy” comes first in the direct discourse and is emphatic.
Luke 7:5 tn Or “people.” The use of ἔθνος (ethnos, “nation”) here instead of “God” probably meant the man was not a full proselyte, but that he had simply been supportive of the Jews and their culture. He could have been a God-fearer. The Romans saw a stable religious community as politically helpful and often supported it (Josephus, Ant. 16.6.2 [16.162-165], 19.6.3 [19.300-311]).
Luke 7:5 tn In the Greek text, the pronoun αὐτός (autos) is included, making this emphatic. Naturally the force of this statement is causative, meaning the centurion either had the synagogue built or donated the cost of its construction.
Luke 7:5 sn See the note on synagogues in 4:15.
Luke 7:6 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the resultative action.
Luke 7:6 tn The participle ἀπέχοντος (apechontos) has been taken temporally.
Luke 7:6 sn See the note on the word centurion in 7:2.
Luke 7:6 tn Or “do not be bothered.”
Luke 7:6 sn Note the humility in the centurion’s statement I am not worthy in light of what others think (as v. 4 notes). See Luke 5:8 for a similar example of humility.
Luke 7:7 tn Or “roof; therefore.”
Luke 7:7 tn Grk “I did not consider myself worthy to come to you.” See BDAG 94 s.v. ἀξιόω 1. “Presume” assumes this and expresses the idea in terms of offense.
Luke 7:7 tc The aorist imperative ἰαθήτω (iathētō, “must be healed”) is found in P^75vid B L 1241 sa. Most mss (א A C D W Θ Ψ ƒ^1,13 33 M latt bo) have instead a future indicative, ἰαθήσεται (iathēsetai, “will be healed”). This is most likely an assimilation to Matt 8:8, and thus, as a motivated reading, should be considered secondary. The meaning either way is essentially the same.tn The aorist imperative may be translated as an imperative of command (“must be healed” or, more periphrastically, “command [my servant] to be healed”) or as a permissive imperative (“let my servant be healed”), which lessens the force of the imperative somewhat in English.
Luke 7:8 tn Grk “having soldiers under me.”
Luke 7:8 sn I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes. The illustrations highlight the view of authority the soldier sees in the word of one who has authority. Since the centurion was a commander of a hundred soldiers, he understood what it was both to command others and to be obeyed.
Luke 7:8 tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
Luke 7:9 tn Or “pleased with him and amazed.” The expanded translation brings out both Jesus’ sense of wonder at the deep insight of the soldier and the pleasure he had that he could present the man as an example of faith.
Luke 7:9 sn There are two elements to the faith that Jesus commended: The man’s humility and his sense of Jesus’ authority which recognized that only Jesus’ word, not his physical presence, were required.
Luke 7:10 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the summarization at the end of the account.
Luke 7:10 tc Most mss, especially later ones (A C [D] Θ Ψ ƒ¹³ 33 M), have “the sick slave” here instead of “the slave.” This brings out the contrast of the healing more clearly, but this reading looks secondary both internally (scribes tended toward clarification) and externally (the shorter reading is well supported by a variety of witnesses: P⁷⁵ א B L W ƒ¹ 579 700 892* 1241 2542 it co).

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 121[a]

A song of ascents.[b]

Footnotes

Footnotes

Healing the Centurion’s Slave

Footnotes

Psalm 121^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]