◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 105:1-11 45b (Give thanks to God); Genesis 29:9-14 (Jacob meets Rachel’s family); Acts 7:44-53 (Solomon’s temple cannot contain God) (New English Translation)

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July 28, 2023

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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 105:1-11

Psalm 105^[a]

105 Give thanks to the Lord.
Call on his name.
Make known his accomplishments among the nations.
²Sing to him.
Make music to him.
Tell about all his miraculous deeds.
³Boast about his holy name.
Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
⁴Seek the Lord and the strength he gives.
Seek his presence continually.
⁵Recall the miraculous deeds he performed,
his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed,^[b]
⁶O children^[c] of Abraham,^[d] God’s^[e] servant,
you descendants^[f] of Jacob, God’s^[g] chosen ones.
⁷He is the Lord our God;
he carries out judgment throughout the earth.^[h]
⁸He always remembers his covenantal decree,
the promise he made^[i] to a thousand generations—
⁹the promise^[j] he made to Abraham,
the promise he made by oath to Isaac.
¹⁰He gave it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as a lasting promise,^[k]
¹¹saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion of your inheritance.”

Psalm 105:45

⁴⁵so that they might keep his commands
and obey^[a] his laws.
Praise the Lord.

Genesis 29:9-14

⁹While he was still speaking with them, Rachel arrived with her father’s sheep, for she was tending them.^[a] ¹⁰When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban,^[b] and the sheep of his uncle Laban, he^[c] went over^[d] and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban.^[e] ¹¹Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep loudly.^[f] ¹²When Jacob explained^[g] to Rachel that he was a relative of her father^[h] and the son of Rebekah, she ran and told her father. ¹³When Laban heard this news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he rushed out to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his house. Jacob^[i] told Laban how he was related to him.^[j] ¹⁴Then Laban said to him, “You are indeed my own flesh and blood.”^[k] So Jacob^[l] stayed with him for a month.^[m]

Footnotes

Genesis 29:9 tn Heb “was a shepherdess.”
Genesis 29:10 tn Heb “Laban, the brother of his mother” (twice in this verse).
Genesis 29:10 tn Heb “Jacob.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Genesis 29:10 tn Heb “drew near, approached.”
Genesis 29:10 tn Heb “Laban, the brother of his mother.” The text says nothing initially about the beauty of Rachel. But the reader is struck by the repetition of “Laban the brother of his mother.” G. J. Wenham is no doubt correct when he observes that Jacob’s primary motive at this stage is to ingratiate himself with Laban (Genesis [WBC], 2:231).
Genesis 29:11 tn Heb “and he lifted up his voice and wept.” The idiom calls deliberate attention to the fact that Jacob wept out loud.
Genesis 29:12 tn Heb “declared.”
Genesis 29:12 tn Heb “that he [was] the brother of her father.”
Genesis 29:13 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 29:13 tn Heb “and he told to Laban all these things.” This might mean Jacob told Laban how he happened to be there, but Laban’s response (see v. 14) suggests “all these things” refers to what Jacob had previously told Rachel (see v. 12).
Genesis 29:14 tn Heb “indeed, my bone and my flesh are you.” The expression sounds warm enough, but the presence of “indeed” may suggest that Laban had to be convinced of Jacob’s identity before permitting him to stay. To be one’s “bone and flesh” is to be someone’s blood relative. For example, the phrase describes the relationship between Abimelech and the Shechemites (Judg 9:2; his mother was a Shechemite); David and the Israelites (2 Sam 5:1); David and the elders of Judah (2 Sam 19:12); and David and his nephew Amasa (2 Sam 19:13; see 2 Sam 17:2; 1 Chr 2:16-17).
Genesis 29:14 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 29:14 tn Heb “a month of days.”

Acts 7:44-53

⁴⁴Our ancestors^[a] had the tabernacle^[b] of testimony in the wilderness,^[c] just as God^[d] who spoke to Moses ordered him^[e] to make it according to the design he had seen. ⁴⁵Our^[f] ancestors^[g] received possession of it and brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors,^[h] until the time^[i] of David. ⁴⁶He^[j] found favor^[k] with^[l] God and asked that he could^[m] find a dwelling place^[n] for the house^[o] of Jacob. ⁴⁷But Solomon built a house^[p] for him. ⁴⁸Yet the Most High^[q] does not live in houses made by human hands,^[r] as the prophet says,

⁴⁹‘Heaven is my throne,
and earth is the footstool for my feet.
What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,
or what is my resting place?^[s]
⁵⁰Did my hand^[t] not make all these things?’^[u]

⁵¹“You stubborn^[v] people, with uncircumcised^[w] hearts and ears!^[x] You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors^[y] did! ⁵²Which of the prophets did your ancestors^[z] not persecute?^[aa] They^[ab] killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One,^[ac] whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!^[ad] ⁵³You^[ae] received the law by decrees given by angels,^[af] but you did not obey^[ag] it.”

Footnotes

Acts 7:44 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
Acts 7:44 tn Or “tent.”sn The tabernacle was the tent used to house the ark of the covenant before the construction of Solomon’s temple. This is where God was believed to reside, yet the people were still unfaithful.
Acts 7:44 tn Or “desert.”
Acts 7:44 tn Grk “the one”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Acts 7:44 tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
Acts 7:45 tn Grk “And.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
Acts 7:45 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
Acts 7:45 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”sn Before our ancestors. Stephen has backtracked here to point out how faithful God had been before the constant move to idolatry just noted.
Acts 7:45 tn Grk “In those days.”
Acts 7:46 tn Grk “David, who” The relative pronoun was replaced by the pronoun “he” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style.
Acts 7:46 tn Or “grace.”
Acts 7:46 tn Grk “before,” “in the presence of.”
Acts 7:46 tn The words “that he could” are not in the Greek text, but are implied as the (understood) subject of the infinitive εὑρεῖν (heurein). This understands David’s request as asking that he might find the dwelling place. The other possibility would be to supply “that God” as the subject of the infinitive: “and asked that God find a dwelling place.” Unfortunately this problem is complicated by the extremely difficult problem with the Greek text in the following phrase (“house of Jacob” vs. “God of Jacob”).
Acts 7:46 tn On this term see BDAG 929 s.v. σκήνωμα a (Ps 132:5).
Acts 7:46 tc Some mss read θεῷ (theō, “God”) here, a variant much easier to understand in the context. The reading “God” is supported by א² A C E Ψ 33 1739 M lat sy co. The more difficult οἴκῳ (oikō, “house”) is supported by P⁷⁴ א* B D H 049. Thus the second reading is preferred both externally because of better ms evidence and internally because it is hard to see how a copyist finding the reading “God” would change it to “house,” while it is easy to see how (given the LXX of Ps 132:5) a copyist might assimilate the reading and change “house” to “God.” However, some scholars think the reading “house” is so difficult as to be unacceptable. Others (like Lachmann and Hort) resorted to conjectural emendation at this point. Others (Ropes) sought an answer in an underlying Aramaic expression. Not everyone thinks the reading “house” is too difficult to be accepted as original (see Lake and Cadbury). A. F. J. Klijn, “Stephen’s Speech—Acts vii.2-53, ” NTS 4 (1957): 25-31, compared the idea of a “house within the house of Israel” with the Manual of Discipline from Qumran, a possible parallel that seems to support the reading “house” as authentic. (For the more detailed discussion from which this note was derived, see TCGNT 308-9.)
Acts 7:47 sn See 1 Kgs 8:1-21.
Acts 7:48 sn The title the Most High points to God’s majesty (Heb 7:1; Luke 1:32, 35; Acts 16:7).
Acts 7:48 sn The phrase made by human hands is negative in the NT: Mark 14:58; Acts 17:24; Eph 2:11; Heb 9:11, 24. It suggests “man-made” or “impermanent.” The rebuke is like parts of the Hebrew scripture where the rebuke is not of the temple, but for making too much of it (1 Kgs 8:27; Isa 57:15; 1 Chr 6:8; Jer 7:1-34).
Acts 7:49 sn What kind…resting place? The rhetorical questions suggest mere human beings cannot build a house to contain God.
Acts 7:50 tn Or “Did I.” The phrase “my hand” is ultimately a metaphor for God himself.
Acts 7:50 tn The question in Greek introduced with οὐχί (ouchi) expects a positive reply.sn A quotation from Isa 66:1-2. If God made the heavens, how can a human building contain him?
Acts 7:51 sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.
Acts 7:51 tn The term ἀπερίτμητοι (aperitmētoi, “uncircumcised”) is a NT hapax legomenon (occurs only once). See BDAG 101-2 s.v. ἀπερίτμητος and Isa 52:1.
Acts 7:51 tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)
Acts 7:51 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
Acts 7:52 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”
Acts 7:52 sn Which…persecute. The rhetorical question suggests they persecuted them all.
Acts 7:52 tn Grk “And they.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
Acts 7:52 sn The Righteous One is a reference to Jesus Christ.
Acts 7:52 sn Whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. The harsh critique has OT precedent (1 Kgs 19:10-14; Neh 9:26; 2 Chr 36:16).
Acts 7:53 tn Grk “whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, who received the law” The two consecutive relative clauses make for awkward English style, so the second was begun as a new sentence with the pronoun “You” supplied in place of the Greek relative pronoun to make a complete sentence in English.
Acts 7:53 tn Traditionally, “as ordained by angels,” but εἰς (eis) with the accusative here should be understood as instrumental (a substitute for ἐν [en]); so BDAG 291 s.v. εἰς 9, BDF §206. Thus the phrase literally means “received the law by the decrees [orders] of angels” with the genitive understood as a subjective genitive, that is, the angels gave the decrees.sn Decrees given by angels. According to Jewish traditions in the first century, the law of Moses was mediated through angels. See also the note on “angel” in 7:35.
Acts 7:53 tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (phulassō, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 105[a]

Footnotes

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Footnotes

Psalm 105^[a]