◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 128 (It shall be well with you); Joshua 10:12-14 (Sun and moon stand still); Matthew 15:1-9 (Lips that misrepresent the heart) (New English Translation)

Prev Day

November 8, 2023

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

November 2023
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30

Return to today's reading

Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with sequential stories told across multiple weeks.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 128

Psalm 128^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]

128 How blessed is every one of the Lord’s loyal followers,^[c]
each one who keeps his commands.^[d]
²You^[e] will eat what you worked so hard to grow.^[f]
You will be blessed and secure.^[g]
³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine^[h]
in the inner rooms of your house;
your children^[i] will be like olive branches,
as they sit all around your table.
⁴Yes indeed, the man who fears the Lord
will be blessed in this way.^[j]
⁵May the Lord bless you^[k] from Zion,
that you might see^[l] Jerusalem prosper
all the days of your life,
⁶and that you might see^[m] your grandchildren.^[n]
May Israel experience peace.^[o]

Footnotes

Psalm 128:1 sn Psalm 128. The psalmist observes that the godly individual has genuine happiness because the Lord rewards such a person with prosperity and numerous children.
Psalm 128:1 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 128:1 tn Heb “every fearer of the Lord.”
Psalm 128:1 tn Heb “the one who walks in his ways.”
Psalm 128:2 tn The psalmist addresses the representative God-fearing man, as indicated by the references to “your wife” (v. 3) and “the man” (v. 4), as well as the second masculine singular pronominal and verbal forms in vv. 2-6.
Psalm 128:2 tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”
Psalm 128:2 tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”
Psalm 128:3 sn The metaphor of the fruitful vine pictures the wife as fertile; she will give her husband numerous children (see the next line).
Psalm 128:3 tn One could translate “sons” (see Ps 127:3 and the note on the word “sons” there), but here the term seems to refer more generally to children of both genders.
Psalm 128:4 tn Heb “look, indeed thus will the man, the fearer of the Lord, be blessed.”
Psalm 128:5 tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer (note the imperatives that are subordinated to this clause in vv. 5b-6a). Having described the blessings that typically come to the godly, the psalmist concludes by praying that this ideal may become reality for the representative godly man being addressed.
Psalm 128:5 tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding jussive.
Psalm 128:6 tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the jussive in v. 5a.
Psalm 128:6 tn Heb “sons to your sons.”
Psalm 128:6 tn Heb “peace [be] upon Israel.” The statement is understood as a prayer (see Ps 125:5).

Joshua 10:12-14

¹²The day the Lord delivered the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua prayed to the Lord before Israel:^[a]

“O sun, stand still over Gibeon;
O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon!”

¹³The sun stood still and the moon stood motionless while the nation took vengeance on its enemies. The event is recorded in the Scroll of the Upright One.^[b] The sun stood motionless in the middle of the sky and did not set for about a full day.^[c] ¹⁴There has not been a day like it before or since. The Lord listened to a human being, for the Lord fought for Israel!

Matthew 15:1-9

Breaking Human Traditions

15 Then Pharisees^[a] and experts in the law^[b] came from Jerusalem to Jesus and said,^[c] ²“Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their^[d] hands when they eat.”^[e] ³He answered them,^[f] “And why do you disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? ⁴For God said,^[g] ‘Honor your father and mother’^[h] and ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’^[i] ⁵But you say, ‘If someone tells his father or mother, “Whatever help you would have received from me is given to God,”^[j] ⁶he does not need to honor his father.’^[k] You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition. ⁷Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said,

⁸‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart^[l] is far from me,
⁹and they worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”^[m]

Footnotes

Matthew 15:1 sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.
Matthew 15:1 tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
Matthew 15:1 tn The participle λέγοντες (legontes) has been translated as a finite verb so that its telic (i.e., final or conclusive) force can be more easily detected: The Pharisees and legal experts came to Jesus in order to speak with him.
Matthew 15:2 tc ‡ Although most witnesses read the genitive plural pronoun αὐτῶν (autōn, “their”), it may have been motivated by clarification (as it is in the translation above). Several other authorities do not have the pronoun, however (א B Δ 073 ƒ¹ 579 700 892 1424 f g¹); the lack of an unintentional oversight as the reason for omission strengthens their combined testimony in this shorter reading. NA²⁸ has the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.
Matthew 15:2 tn Grk “when they eat bread.”
Matthew 15:3 tn Grk “But answering, he said to them.”
Matthew 15:4 tc Most mss (א*^,2b C L N W Γ Δ 0106 33 565 1241 1424 M) have an expanded introduction here; instead of “For God said,” they read “For God commanded, saying” (ὁ γὰρ θεὸς ἐνετείλατο λέγων, ho gar theos eneteilato legōn). But such expansions are generally motivated readings; in this case, most likely it was due to the wording of the previous verse (“the commandment of God”) that caused early scribes to add to the text. Although it is possible that other witnesses reduced the text to the simple εἶπεν (eipen, “[God] said”) because of perceived redundancy with the statement in v. 3, such is unlikely in light of the great variety and age of these authorities (א^2a B D Θ 073 ƒ^{1, 13} 579 700 892 lat co, as well as other versions and fathers).
Matthew 15:4 sn A quotation from Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16.
Matthew 15:4 sn A quotation from Exod 21:17; Lev 20:9.
Matthew 15:5 tn Grk “is a gift,” that is, something dedicated to God.
Matthew 15:6 tc The logic of v. 5 would seem to demand that both father and mother are in view in v. 6. Indeed, the majority of mss (C L N W Γ Δ Θ 0106 ƒ¹ 1424 M) have “or his mother” (ἢ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ, ē tēn mētera autou) after “honor his father” here. However, there are significant witnesses that have variations on this theme (καὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ [kai tēn mētera autou, “and his mother”] in Φ 565 1241 bo and ἢ τὴν μητέρα [“or mother”] in 073 ƒ¹³ 33 579 700 892), which is usually an indication of a predictable addition to the text rather than an authentic reading. Further, the shorter reading (without any mention of “mother”) is found in early and significant witnesses (א B D a e sy^c sa). Although it is possible that the shorter reading came about accidentally (due to the repetition of—ερα αὐτοῦ), the evidence more strongly suggests that the longer readings were intentional scribal alterations.tn Grk “he will never honor his father.” Here Jesus is quoting the Pharisees, whose intent is to release the person who is giving his possessions to God from the family obligation of caring for his parents. The verb in this phrase is future tense, and it is negated with οὐ μή (ou mē), the strongest negation possible in Greek. A literal translation of the phrase does not capture the intended sense of the statement; it would actually make the Pharisees sound as if they agreed with Jesus. Instead, a more interpretive translation has been used to focus upon the release from family obligations that the Pharisees allowed in these circumstances.sn Here Jesus refers to something that has been set aside as a gift to be given to God at some later date, but which is still in the possession of the owner. According to contemporary Jewish tradition, the person who made this claim was absolved from responsibility to support or assist his parents, a clear violation of the Mosaic law to honor one’s parents (v. 4).
Matthew 15:8 tn The term “heart” is a collective singular in the Greek text.
Matthew 15:9 sn A quotation from Isa 29:13.

New English Translation (NET)

Prev Day

Top

Next Day

Use the calendar to view readings from this devotional.

Log in to read this devotional and:

Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 128[a]

A song of ascents.[b]

Footnotes

Footnotes

Breaking Human Traditions

Footnotes

Psalm 128^[a]

A song of ascents.^[b]