◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 119:97-104 (God’s word sweeter than honey); Exodus 16:31-35 (Manna sustains for forty years); Romans 16:1-16 (Diverse women and men are coworkers in Christ) (New English Translation)

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September 25, 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 119:97-104

מ (Mem)

⁹⁷O how I love your law!
All day long I meditate on it.
⁹⁸Your commandments^[a] make me wiser than my enemies,
for I am always aware of them.
⁹⁹I have more insight than all my teachers,
for I meditate on your rules.
¹⁰⁰I am more discerning than those older than I,
for I observe your precepts.
¹⁰¹I stay away^[b] from every evil path,
so that I might keep your instructions.^[c]
¹⁰²I do not turn aside from your regulations,
for you teach me.
¹⁰³Your words are sweeter
in my mouth than honey!^[d]
¹⁰⁴Your precepts give me discernment.
Therefore I hate all deceitful actions.^[e]

Exodus 16:31-35

³¹The house of Israel^[a] called its name “manna.”^[b] It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted^[c] like wafers with honey.

³²Moses said, “This is what^[d] the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it to be kept^[e] for generations to come,^[f] so that they may see^[g] the food I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.’” ³³Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put in it an omer full of manna, and place it before the Lord to be kept for generations to come.” ³⁴Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the ark of the testimony^[h] for safekeeping.^[i]

³⁵Now the Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was inhabited; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

Romans 16:1-16

Personal Greetings

16 Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant^[a] of the church in Cenchrea, ²so that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and provide her with whatever help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many, including me.

³Greet Prisca and Aquila,^[b] my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, ⁴who risked their own necks for my life. Not only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them. ⁵Also greet the church in their house. Greet my dear friend Epenetus,^[c] who was the first convert^[d] to Christ in the province of Asia.^[e] ⁶Greet Mary, who has worked very hard for you. ⁷Greet Andronicus and Junia,^[f] my compatriots^[g] and my fellow prisoners. They are well known^[h] to the apostles,^[i] and they were in Christ before me. ⁸Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. ⁹Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my good friend Stachys. ¹⁰Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus. ¹¹Greet Herodion, my compatriot.^[j] Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. ¹²Greet Tryphena^[k] and Tryphosa, laborers in the Lord. Greet my dear friend^[l] Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. ¹³Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother who was also a mother to me.^[m] ¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters^[n] with them. ¹⁵Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the believers^[o] who are with them. ¹⁶Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

Footnotes

Romans 16:1 tn Or “deaconess.” It is debated whether διάκονος (diakonos) here refers to a specific office within the church. One contextual argument used to support this view is that Phoebe is associated with a particular church, Cenchrea, and as such would therefore be a deacon of that church. In the NT some who are called διάκονος are related to a particular church, yet the scholarly consensus is that such individuals are not deacons, but “servants” or “ministers” (other viable translations for διάκονος). For example, Epaphras is associated with the church in Colossians and is called a διάκονος in Col 1:7, but no contemporary translation regards him as a deacon. In 1 Tim 4:6 Paul calls Timothy a διάκονος; Timothy was associated with the church in Ephesus, but he obviously was not a deacon. In addition, the lexical evidence leans away from this view: Within the NT, the διακον- word group rarely functions with a technical nuance. In any case, the evidence is not compelling either way. The view accepted in the translation above is that Phoebe was a servant of the church, not a deaconess, although this conclusion should be regarded as tentative.
Romans 16:3 sn On Prisca and Aquila see also Acts 18:2, 18, 26; 1 Cor 16:19; 2 Tim 4:19. In the NT “Priscilla” and “Prisca” are the same person. Paul uses the name Prisca, while the author of Acts uses the diminutive form of the name Priscilla.
Romans 16:5 sn The spelling Epenetus is also used by NIV, NLT; the name is alternately spelled Epaenetus (NASB, NKJV, NRSV).
Romans 16:5 tn Grk “firstfruit.” This is a figurative use referring to Epenetus as the first Christian convert in the region.
Romans 16:5 tn Grk “Asia”; in the NT this always refers to the Roman province of Asia. The Roman province of Asia made up about one-third of modern Asia Minor and was on the western side of it. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. The words “the province of” are supplied to indicate to the modern reader that this does not refer to the continent of Asia.
Romans 16:7 tn Or “Junias.” sn The feminine name Junia, though common in Latin, is quite rare in Greek (apparently only three instances of it occur in Greek literature outside Rom 16:7, according to the data in the TLG [D. Moo, Romans [NICNT], 922]). The masculine Junias (as a contraction for Junianas), however, is rarer still: Only one instance of the masculine name is known in extant Greek literature (Epiphanius mentions Junias in his Index discipulorum 125). Further, since there are apparently other husband-wife teams mentioned in this salutation (Prisca and Aquila [v. 3], Philologus and Julia [v. 15]), it might be natural to think of Junia as a feminine name. (This ought not be pressed too far, however, for in v. 12 all three individuals are women [though the first two are linked together], and in vv. 9-11 all the individuals are men.) In Greek only a difference of accent distinguishes between Junias (male) and Junia (female). If it refers to a woman, it is possible (1) that she had the gift of apostleship (not the office), or (2) that she was not an apostle but along with Andronicus was esteemed by (or among) the apostles. As well, the term “prominent” probably means “well known,” suggesting that Andronicus and Junia(s) were well known to the apostles (see note on the phrase “well known” which follows).
Romans 16:7 tn Or “kinsmen,” “relatives,” “fellow countrymen.”
Romans 16:7 tn Or “prominent, outstanding, famous.” The term ἐπίσημος (episēmos) is used either in an implied comparative sense (“prominent, outstanding”) or in an elative sense (“famous, well known”). The key to determining the meaning of the term in any given passage is both the general context and the specific collocation of this word with its adjuncts. When a comparative notion is seen, that to which ἐπίσημος is compared is frequently, if not usually, put in the genitive case (cf., e.g., 3 Macc 6:1 [Ελεαζαρος δέ τις ἀνὴρ ἐπίσημος τῶν ἀπὸ τής χώρας ἱερέων “Eleazar, a man prominent among the priests of the country”]; cf. also Pss. Sol. 17:30). When, however, an elative notion is found, ἐν (en) plus a personal plural dative is not uncommon (cf. Pss. Sol. 2:6). Although ἐν plus a personal dative does not indicate agency, in collocation with words of perception, (ἐν plus) dative personal nouns are often used to show the recipients. In this instance, the idea would then be “well known to the apostles.” See M. H. Burer and D. B. Wallace, “Was Junia Really an Apostle? A Re-examination of Rom 16.7,” NTS 47 (2001): 76-91, who argue for the elative notion here.
Romans 16:7 tn Or “among the apostles.” See discussion in the note on “well known” for these options.
Romans 16:11 tn Or “kinsman,” “relative,” “fellow countryman.”
Romans 16:12 sn The spelling Tryphena is also used by NIV, NKJV, NLT; the name is alternately spelled Tryphaena (NASB, NRSV).
Romans 16:12 tn Grk “Greet the beloved.”
Romans 16:13 tn Grk “and his mother and mine.”
Romans 16:14 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
Romans 16:15 tn Grk “saints.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

מ (Mem)

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Personal Greetings

Footnotes