◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 139:13-18 (Wonderful are God’s works); Genesis 33:1-17 (Jacob and Esau meet); Galatians 4:21—5:1 (An allegory about those saved) (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 139:13-18

¹³Certainly^[a] you made my mind and heart;^[b]
you wove me together^[c] in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing.^[d]
You knew me thoroughly;^[e]
¹⁵my bones were not hidden from you,
when^[f] I was made in secret
and sewed together in the depths of the earth.^[g]
¹⁶Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb.^[h]
All the days ordained for me
were recorded in your scroll
before one of them came into existence.^[i]
¹⁷How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God!^[j]
How vast is their sum total.^[k]
¹⁸If I tried to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
Even if I finished counting them,
I would still have to contend with you.^[l]

Footnotes

Psalm 139:13 tn Or “for.”
Psalm 139:13 tn Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (NAB, NIV); “inward parts” (NASB, NRSV); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (NLT). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).
Psalm 139:13 tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.
Psalm 139:14 tc Heb “because awesome things, I am distinct, amazing [are] your works.” The text as it stands is syntactically problematic and makes little, if any, sense. The Niphal of פָּלָה (palah) occurs elsewhere only in Exod 33:16. Many take the form from פָלָא (palaʾ; see GKC 216 §75.qq), which in the Niphal perfect means “to be amazing” (see 2 Sam 1:26; Ps 118:23; Prov 30:18). Some, following the LXX and some other ancient witnesses, also prefer to emend the verb from first to second person, “you are amazing” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 249, 251). The present translation assumes the text conflates two variants: נִפְלָאִים (niflaʾim), the otherwise unattested masculine plural participle of פָלָא, and נִפְלָאוֹת (niflaʾot), the usual (feminine) plural form of the Niphal participle. The latter has been changed to a verb by later scribes in an attempt to accommodate it syntactically. The original text likely read, נוראות נפלאותים מעשׂיך (“your works [are] awesome [and] amazing”).
Psalm 139:14 tc Heb “and my being knows very much.” Better parallelism is achieved (see v. 15a) if one emends יֹדַעַת (yodaʿat), a Qal active participle, feminine singular form, to יָדַעְתָּ (yadaʿta), a Qal perfect second masculine singular perfect. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252.
Psalm 139:15 tc The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (ʾasher, “which”) should probably be emended to כֲּאַשֶׁר (kaʾasher, “when”). The כ (kaf) may have been lost by haplography (note the kaf at the end of the preceding form).
Psalm 139:15 sn The phrase depths of the earth may be metaphorical (euphemistic) or it may reflect a prescientific belief about the origins of the embryo deep beneath the earth’s surface (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 96-97). Job 1:21 also closely associates the mother’s womb with the earth.
Psalm 139:16 tn Heb “Your eyes saw my shapeless form.” The Hebrew noun גֹּלֶם (golem) occurs only here in the OT. In later Hebrew the word refers to “a lump, a shapeless or lifeless substance,” and to “unfinished matter, a vessel wanting finishing” (Jastrow 222 s.v. גּוֹלֶם). The translation employs the dynamic rendering “when I was inside the womb” to clarify that the speaker was still in his mother’s womb at the time he was “seen” by God.
Psalm 139:16 tn Heb “and on your scroll all of them were written, [the] days [which] were formed, and [there was] not one among them.” This “scroll” may be the “scroll of life” mentioned in Ps 69:28 (see the note on the word “living” there).
Psalm 139:17 tn Heb “and to me how precious are your thoughts, O God.” The Hebrew verb יָקַר (yaqar) probably has the sense of “difficult [to comprehend]” here (see HALOT 432 s.v. יקר qal.1 and note the use of Aramaic יַקִּר in Dan 2:11). Elsewhere in the immediate context the psalmist expresses his amazement at the extent of God’s knowledge about him (see vv. 1-6, 17b-18).
Psalm 139:17 tn Heb “how vast are their heads.” Here the Hebrew word “head” is used of the “sum total” of God’s knowledge of the psalmist.
Psalm 139:18 tc Heb “I awake and I [am] still with you.” A reference to the psalmist awaking from sleep makes little, if any, sense contextually. For this reason some propose an emendation to הֲקִצּוֹתִי (haqitsoti), a Hiphil perfect form from an otherwise unattested verb קָצַץ (qatsats) understood as a denominative of קֵץ (qets, “end”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252-53.

Genesis 33:1-17

Jacob Meets Esau

33 Jacob looked up^[a] and saw that Esau was coming^[b] along with 400 men. So he divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants. ²He put the servants and their children in front, with Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph behind them.^[c] ³But Jacob^[d] himself went on ahead of them, and he bowed toward the ground seven times as he approached^[e] his brother. ⁴But Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged his neck, and kissed him. Then they both wept. ⁵When Esau^[f] looked up^[g] and saw the women and the children, he asked, “Who are these people with you?” Jacob^[h] replied, “The children whom God has graciously given^[i] your servant.” ⁶The female servants came forward with their children and bowed down.^[j] ⁷Then Leah came forward with her children and they bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down.

⁸Esau^[k] then asked, “What did you intend^[l] by sending all these herds to meet me?”^[m] Jacob^[n] replied, “To find favor in your sight, my lord.” ⁹But Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother. Keep what belongs to you.” ¹⁰“No, please take them,” Jacob said.^[o] “If I have found favor in your sight, accept^[p] my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me,^[q] it is as if I have seen the face of God.^[r] ¹¹Please take my present^[s] that was brought to you, for God has been generous^[t] to me and I have all I need.”^[u] When Jacob urged him, he took it.^[v]

¹²Then Esau^[w] said, “Let’s be on our way!^[x] I will go in front of you.” ¹³But Jacob^[y] said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young,^[z] and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young.^[aa] If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die. ¹⁴Let my lord go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the herds and the children,^[ab] until I come to my lord at Seir.”

¹⁵So Esau said, “Let me leave some of my men with you.”^[ac] “Why do that?” Jacob replied.^[ad] “My lord has already been kind enough to me.”^[ae]

¹⁶So that same day Esau made his way back^[af] to Seir. ¹⁷But^[ag] Jacob traveled to Sukkoth^[ah] where he built himself a house and made shelters for his livestock. That is why the place was called^[ai] Sukkoth.^[aj]

Footnotes

Genesis 33:1 tn Heb “and Jacob lifted up his eyes.”
Genesis 33:1 tn Or “and look, Esau was coming.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through Jacob’s eyes.
Genesis 33:2 sn This kind of ranking according to favoritism no doubt fed the jealousy over Joseph that later becomes an important element in the narrative. It must have been painful to the family to see that they were expendable.
Genesis 33:3 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 33:3 tn Heb “until his drawing near unto his brother.” The construction uses the preposition with the infinitive construct to express a temporal clause.
Genesis 33:5 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 33:5 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes.”
Genesis 33:5 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 33:5 tn The Hebrew verb means “to be gracious; to show favor”; here it carries the nuance “to give graciously.”
Genesis 33:6 tn Heb “and the female servants drew near, they and their children and they bowed down.”
Genesis 33:8 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 33:8 tn Heb “Who to you?”
Genesis 33:8 tn Heb “all this camp which I met.”
Genesis 33:8 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 33:10 tn Heb “and Jacob said, ‘No, please.’” The words “take them” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse rearranged for stylistic reasons.
Genesis 33:10 tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, expressing a contingent future nuance in the “then” section of the conditional sentence.
Genesis 33:10 tn The verbal form is the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive, indicating result here.
Genesis 33:10 tn Heb “for therefore I have seen your face like seeing the face of God and you have accepted me.”sn This is an allusion to the preceding episode (32:22-31) in which Jacob saw the face of God and realized his prayer was answered.
Genesis 33:11 tn Heb “blessing.” It is as if Jacob is trying to repay what he stole from his brother twenty years earlier.
Genesis 33:11 tn Or “gracious,” but in the specific sense of prosperity.
Genesis 33:11 tn Heb “all.”
Genesis 33:11 tn Heb “and he urged him and he took.” The referent of the first pronoun in the sequence (“he”) has been specified as “Jacob” in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 33:12 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 33:12 tn Heb “let us travel and let us go.” The two cohortatives are used in combination with the sense, “let’s travel along, get going, be on our way.”
Genesis 33:13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 33:13 tn Heb “weak.”
Genesis 33:13 tn Heb “and the sheep and the cattle nursing [are] upon me.”
Genesis 33:14 tn Heb “and I, I will move along according to my leisure at the foot of the property which is before me and at the foot of the children.”
Genesis 33:15 tn The cohortative verbal form here indicates a polite offer of help.
Genesis 33:15 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why this?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Genesis 33:15 tn Heb “I am finding favor in the eyes of my lord.”
Genesis 33:16 tn Heb “returned on his way.”
Genesis 33:17 tn The disjunctive clause contrasts Jacob’s action with Esau’s.
Genesis 33:17 sn But Jacob traveled to Sukkoth. There are several reasons why Jacob chose not to go to Mt. Seir after Esau. First, as he said, his herds and children probably could not keep up with the warriors. Second, he probably did not fully trust his brother. The current friendliness could change, and he could lose everything. And third, God did tell him to return to his land, not Seir. But Jacob is still not able to deal truthfully, probably because of fear of Esau.
Genesis 33:17 tn Heb “why he called.” One could understand “Jacob” as the subject of the verb, but it is more likely that the subject is indefinite, in which case the verb is better translated as passive.
Genesis 33:17 sn The name Sukkoth means “shelters,” an appropriate name in light of the shelters Jacob built there for his livestock.

Galatians 4:21-5:1

An Appeal from Allegory

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand the law?^[a] ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the^[b] slave woman and the other by the free woman. ²³But one, the son by the slave woman, was born by natural descent,^[c] while the other, the son by the free woman, was born through the promise. ²⁴These things may be treated as an allegory,^[d] for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar. ²⁵Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem above is free,^[e] and she is our mother. ²⁷For it is written:

“Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children;^[f]
break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains,
because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous
than those of the woman who has a husband.”^[g]

²⁸But you,^[h] brothers and sisters,^[i] are children of the promise like Isaac. ²⁹But just as at that time the one born by natural descent^[j] persecuted the one born according to the Spirit,^[k] so it is now. ³⁰But what does the scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the son”^[l] of the free woman. ³¹Therefore, brothers and sisters,^[m] we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.

Freedom of the Believer

5 For freedom^[n] Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke^[o] of slavery.

Footnotes

Galatians 4:21 tn Or “will you not hear what the law says?” The Greek verb ἀκούω (akouō) means “hear, listen to,” but by figurative extension it can also mean “obey.” It can also refer to the process of comprehension that follows hearing, and that sense fits the context well here.
Galatians 4:22 tn Paul’s use of the Greek article here and before the phrase “free woman” presumes that both these characters are well known to the recipients of his letter. This verse is given as an example of the category called “well-known (‘celebrity’ or ‘familiar’) article” by ExSyn 225.
Galatians 4:23 tn Grk “born according to the flesh”; BDAG 916 s.v. σάρξ 4 has “Of natural descent τὰ τέκνα τῆς σαρκός children by natural descent Ro 9:8 (opp. τὰ τέκνα τῆς ἐπαγγελίας). ὁ μὲν ἐκ τῆς παιδίσκης κατὰ σάρκα γεγέννηται Gal 4:23; cp. vs. 29.”
Galatians 4:24 tn Grk “which things are spoken about allegorically.” Paul is not saying the OT account is an allegory, but rather that he is constructing an allegory based on the OT account.
Galatians 4:26 sn The meaning of the statement the Jerusalem above is free is that the other woman represents the second covenant (cf. v. 24); she corresponds to the Jerusalem above that is free. Paul’s argument is very condensed at this point.
Galatians 4:27 tn The direct object “children” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied for clarity. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
Galatians 4:27 tn Grk “because more are the children of the barren one than of the one having a husband.”sn A quotation from Isa 54:1.
Galatians 4:28 tc Most mss (א A C D² Ψ 062 1241 1505 2464 M lat sy bo) read “we” here, while “you” is found in P⁴⁶ B D* F G 0261^vid 0278 33 1175 1739 al sa. It is more likely that a copyist, noticing the first person pronouns in vv. 26 and 31, changed a second person pronoun here to first person for consistency.
Galatians 4:28 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.
Galatians 4:29 tn Grk “according to the flesh”; see the note on the phrase “by natural descent” in 4:23.
Galatians 4:29 tn Or “the one born by the Spirit’s [power].”
Galatians 4:30 sn A quotation from Gen 21:10. The phrase of the free woman does not occur in Gen 21:10.
Galatians 4:31 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.
Galatians 5:1 tn Translating the dative as “For freedom” shows the purpose for Christ setting us free; however, it is also possible to take the phrase in the sense of means or instrument (“with [or by] freedom”), referring to the freedom mentioned in 4:31 and implied throughout the letter.
Galatians 5:1 sn Here the yoke figuratively represents the burdensome nature of slavery.

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Footnotes

Jacob Meets Esau

Footnotes

An Appeal from Allegory

Freedom of the Believer

Footnotes