◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 17:1-7 15 (I shall see your face); Isaiah 14:1-2 (Compassion for Jacob); Philippians 4:10-15 (Being well fed and yet hungry) (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 17:1-7

Psalm 17^[a]

A prayer of David.

17 Lord, consider my just cause.^[b]
Pay attention to my cry for help.
Listen to the prayer
I sincerely offer.^[c]
²Make a just decision on my behalf.^[d]
Decide what is right.^[e]
³You have scrutinized my inner motives;^[f]
you have examined me during the night.^[g]
You have carefully evaluated me, but you find no sin.
I am determined I will say nothing sinful.^[h]
⁴As for the actions of people^[i]—
just as you have commanded,
I have not followed in the footsteps of violent men.^[j]
⁵I carefully obey your commands;^[k]
I do not deviate from them.^[l]
⁶I call to you because you will answer me, O God.
Listen to me!^[m]
Hear what I say!^[n]
⁷Accomplish awesome, faithful deeds,^[o]
you who powerfully deliver those who look to you for protection from their enemies.^[p]

Footnotes

Psalm 17:1 sn Psalm 17. The psalmist asks God to intervene on his behalf because his life is threatened by dangerous enemies. He appeals to divine justice, for he is certain of his own innocence. Because he is innocent, he expects to encounter God and receive an assuring word.
Psalm 17:1 tn Heb “hear, Lord, what is just.”
Psalm 17:1 tn Heb “Listen to my prayer, [made] without lips of deceit.”
Psalm 17:2 tn Heb “From before you may my justice come out.” The prefixed verbal form יָצָא (yatsaʾ) could be taken as an imperfect, but following the imperatives in v. 1, it is better understood as a jussive of prayer.
Psalm 17:2 tn Heb “May your eyes look at what is right.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as jussive. (See also the preceding note on the word “behalf.”)
Psalm 17:3 tn Heb “you tested my heart.”
Psalm 17:3 tn Heb “you visited [at] night.”
Psalm 17:3 tc Heb “you tested me, you do not find, I plan, my mouth will not cross over.” The Hebrew verbal form זַמֹּתִי (zammoti) is a Qal perfect, first person singular from the root זָמַם (zamam, “plan, plan evil”). Some emend the form to a suffixed form of the noun, זִמָּתִי (zimmati, “my plan/evil plan”), and take it as the object of the preceding verb “find.” However, the suffix seems odd, since the psalmist is denying that he has any wrong thoughts. If one takes the form with what precedes, it might make better sense to read זִמּוֹת (zimmot, “evil plans”). However, this emendation leaves an unclear connection with the next line. The present translation maintains the verbal form found in the MT and understands it in a neutral sense, “I have decided” (see Jer 4:28). The words “my mouth will not cross over” (i.e., “transgress, sin”) can then be taken as a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb.
Psalm 17:4 tn Heb “with regard to the deeds of man[kind].”
Psalm 17:4 tn Heb “by the word of your lips, I, I have watched the paths of the violent” (i.e., “watched” in the sense of “watched for the purpose of avoiding”).
Psalm 17:5 tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.
Psalm 17:5 tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”
Psalm 17:6 tn Heb “Turn your ear toward me.”
Psalm 17:6 tn Heb “my word.”
Psalm 17:7 tn Heb “Set apart faithful acts.”
Psalm 17:7 tn Heb “[O] one who delivers those who seek shelter from the ones raising themselves up, by your right hand.” The Lord’s “right hand” here symbolizes his power to protect and deliver.sn Those who look to you for protection from their enemies. “Seeking 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 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

Psalm 17:15

¹⁵As for me, because I am innocent I will see your face;^[a]
when I awake you will reveal yourself to me.^[b]

Isaiah 14:1-2

14 The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob;^[a] he will again choose Israel as his special people^[b] and restore^[c] them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family^[d] of Jacob. ²Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Israel will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land.^[e] They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

Philippians 4:10-15

Appreciation for Support

¹⁰I have great joy in the Lord because now at last you have again expressed your concern for me. (Now I know you were concerned before but had no opportunity to do anything.)^[a] ¹¹I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content in any circumstance. ¹²I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment,^[b] whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing. ¹³I am able to do all things^[c] through the one^[d] who strengthens me. ¹⁴Nevertheless, you did well to share with me in my trouble.

¹⁵And as you Philippians know, at the beginning of my gospel ministry, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in this matter of giving and receiving except you alone.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 17[a]

A prayer of David.

Footnotes

Footnotes

Footnotes

Appreciation for Support

Footnotes

Psalm 17^[a]