◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 93 (God reigns above the floods); Deuteronomy 11:1-17 (The rewards of obedience); 1 Timothy 6:13-16 (Keep the commandments until Christ comes) (New English Translation)

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May 7, 2024

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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 93

Psalm 93^[a]

93 The Lord reigns.
He is robed in majesty.
The Lord is robed;
he wears strength around his waist.^[b]
Indeed, the world is established; it cannot be moved.
²Your throne has been secure from ancient times;
you have always been king.^[c]
³The waves^[d] roar, O Lord,
the waves roar,
the waves roar and crash.^[e]
⁴Above the sound of the surging water,^[f]
and the mighty waves of the sea,
the Lord sits enthroned in majesty.^[g]
⁵The rules you set down^[h] are completely reliable.^[i]
Holiness^[j] aptly adorns your house, O Lord, forever.^[k]

Deuteronomy 11:1-17

Reiteration of the Call to Obedience

11 You must love the Lord your God and do what he requires; keep his statutes, ordinances, and commandments^[a] at all times. ²Bear in mind today that I am not speaking^[b] to your children who have not personally experienced the judgments^[c] of the Lord your God, which revealed^[d] his greatness, strength, and power.^[e] ³They did not see^[f] the awesome deeds he performed^[g] in the midst of Egypt against Pharaoh king of Egypt and his whole land, ⁴or what he did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when he made the waters of the Red Sea^[h] overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and he^[i] annihilated them.^[j] ⁵They did not see^[k] what he did to you in the wilderness before you reached this place, ⁶or what he did to Dathan and Abiram,^[l] sons of Eliab the Reubenite,^[m] when the earth opened its mouth in the middle of the Israelite camp^[n] and swallowed them, their families,^[o] their tents, and all the property they brought with them.^[p] ⁷I am speaking to you^[q] because you are the ones who saw with your own eyes all the great deeds of the Lord.

The Abundance of the Land of Promise

⁸Now pay attention to all the commandments^[r] I am giving^[s] you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed,^[t] ⁹and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors^[u] and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰For the land where you are headed^[v] is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, a land where you planted seed and which you irrigated by hand^[w] like a vegetable garden. ¹¹Instead, the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy^[x] is one of hills and valleys, a land that drinks in water from the rains,^[y] ¹²a land the Lord your God looks after.^[z] He is constantly attentive to it^[aa] from the beginning to the end of the year.^[ab] ¹³Now, if you pay close attention^[ac] to my commandments that I am giving you today and love^[ad] the Lord your God and serve him with all your mind and being,^[ae] ¹⁴then he promises,^[af] “I will send rain for your land^[ag] in its season, the autumn and the spring rains,^[ah] so that you may gather in your grain, new wine, and olive oil. ¹⁵I will provide pasture^[ai] for your livestock and you will eat your fill.”

Exhortation to Instruction and Obedience

¹⁶Make sure you do not turn away to serve and worship other gods!^[aj] ¹⁷Then the anger of the Lord will erupt^[ak] against you, and he will close up the sky^[al] so that it does not rain. The land will not yield its produce, and you will soon be removed^[am] from the good land that the Lord^[an] is about to give you.

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 11:1 tn This collocation of technical terms for elements of the covenant text lends support to its importance and also signals a new section of paraenesis in which Moses will exhort Israel to covenant obedience. The Hebrew term מִשְׁמָרוֹת (mishmarot, “obligations”) sums up the three terms that follow—חֻקֹּת (khuqot), מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim), and מִצְוֹת (mitsvot).
Deuteronomy 11:2 tn Heb “that not.” The words “I am speaking” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Deuteronomy 11:2 tn Heb “who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord.” The collocation of the verbs “know” and “see” indicates that personal experience (knowing by seeing) is in view. The term translated “discipline” (KJV, ASV “chastisement”) may also be rendered “instruction,” but vv. 2b-6 indicate that the referent of the term is the various acts of divine judgment the Israelites had witnessed.
Deuteronomy 11:2 tn The words “which revealed” have been supplied in the translation to show the logical relationship between the terms that follow and the divine judgments. In the Hebrew text the former are in apposition to the latter.
Deuteronomy 11:2 tn Heb “his strong hand and his stretched-out arm.”
Deuteronomy 11:3 tn In the Hebrew text vv. 2-7 are one long sentence. For stylistic reasons the English translation divides the passage into three sentences. To facilitate this stylistic decision the words “They did not see” are supplied at the beginning of both v. 3 and v. 5, and “I am speaking” at the beginning of v. 7.
Deuteronomy 11:3 tn Heb “his signs and his deeds which he did” (NRSV similar). The collocation of “signs” and “deeds” indicates that these acts were intended to make an impression on observers and reveal something about God’s power (cf. v. 2b). The word “awesome” has been employed to bring out the force of the word “signs” in this context.
Deuteronomy 11:4 tn Heb “Reed Sea.” “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.
Deuteronomy 11:4 tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
Deuteronomy 11:4 tn Heb “and the Lord destroyed them to this day” (cf. NRSV); NLT “he has kept them devastated to this very day.” The translation uses the verb “annihilated” to indicate the permanency of the action.
Deuteronomy 11:5 tn See note on these same words in v. 3.
Deuteronomy 11:6 sn Dathan and Abiram. These two (along with others) had challenged Moses’ leadership in the desert with the result that the earth beneath them opened up and they and their families disappeared (Num 16:1-3, 31-35).
Deuteronomy 11:6 tn Or “the descendant of Reuben”; Heb “son of Reuben.”
Deuteronomy 11:6 tn Heb “in the midst of all Israel” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB “among all Israel.” In the Hebrew text these words appear at the end of the verse, but they are logically connected with the verbs. To make this clear the translation places the phrase after the first verb.
Deuteronomy 11:6 tn Heb “their houses,” referring to all who lived in their household. Cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “households.”
Deuteronomy 11:6 tn Heb “and all the substance which was at their feet.”
Deuteronomy 11:7 tn On the addition of these words in the translation see note on “They did not see” in v. 3.
Deuteronomy 11:8 tn Heb “the commandment.” The singular מִצְוָה (mitsvah, “commandment”) speaks here as elsewhere of the whole corpus of covenant stipulations in Deuteronomy (cf. 6:1, 25; 7:11; 8:1).
Deuteronomy 11:8 tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation (likewise in vv. 13, 27).
Deuteronomy 11:8 tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”
Deuteronomy 11:9 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 21).
Deuteronomy 11:10 tn Heb “you are going there to possess it”; NASB “into which you are about to cross to possess it”; NRSV “that you are crossing over to occupy.”
Deuteronomy 11:10 tn Heb “with your foot” (so NASB, NLT). There is a two-fold significance to this phrase. First, Egypt had no rain so water supply depended on human efforts at irrigation. Second, the Nile was the source of irrigation waters but those waters sometimes had to be pumped into fields and gardens by foot-power, perhaps the kind of machinery (Arabic shaduf) still used by Egyptian farmers (see C. Aldred, The Egyptians, 181). Nevertheless, the translation uses “by hand,” since that expression is the more common English idiom for an activity performed by manual labor.
Deuteronomy 11:11 tn Heb “which you are crossing over there to possess it.”
Deuteronomy 11:11 tn Heb “rain of heaven.”
Deuteronomy 11:12 tn Heb “seeks.” The statement reflects the ancient belief that God (Baal in Canaanite thinking) directly controlled storms and rainfall.
Deuteronomy 11:12 tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it” (so NIV); NASB, NRSV “always on it.” sn Constantly attentive to it. This attention to the land by the Lord is understandable in light of the centrality of the land in the Abrahamic covenant (cf. Gen 12:1, 7; 13:15; 15:7, 16, 18; 17:8; 26:3).
Deuteronomy 11:12 sn From the beginning to the end of the year. This refers to the agricultural year that was marked by the onset of the heavy rains, thus the autumn. See note on the phrase “the former and the latter rains” in v. 14.
Deuteronomy 11:13 tn Heb “if hearing, you will hear.” The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute to emphasize the verbal idea. The translation renders this emphasis with the word “close.”
Deuteronomy 11:13 tn Again, the Hebrew term אָהֵב (ʾahev) draws attention to the reciprocation of divine love as a condition or sign of covenant loyalty (cf. Deut 6:5).
Deuteronomy 11:13 tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.
Deuteronomy 11:14 tn The words “he promises” do not appear in the Hebrew text but are needed in the translation to facilitate the transition from the condition (v. 13) to the promise and make it clear that the Lord is speaking the words of vv. 14-15.
Deuteronomy 11:14 tn Heb “the rain of your land.” In this case the genitive (modifying term) indicates the recipient of the rain.
Deuteronomy 11:14 sn The autumn and the spring rains. The “former” (יוֹרֶה, yoreh) and “latter” (מַלְקוֹשׁ, malqosh) rains come in abundance respectively in September/October and March/April. Planting of most crops takes place before the former rains fall and the harvests follow the latter rains.
Deuteronomy 11:15 tn Heb “grass in your field.”
Deuteronomy 11:16 tn Heb “Watch yourselves lest your heart turns and you turn aside and serve other gods and bow down to them.”
Deuteronomy 11:17 tn Heb “will become hot”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “will be kindled”; NAB “will flare up”; NIV, NLT “will burn.”
Deuteronomy 11:17 tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
Deuteronomy 11:17 tn Or “be destroyed”; NAB, NIV “will soon perish.”
Deuteronomy 11:17 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 11:4.

1 Timothy 6:13-16

¹³I charge you^[a] before God who gives life to all things and Christ Jesus who made his good confession^[b] before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴to obey^[c] this command^[d] without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ ¹⁵—whose appearing^[e] the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will reveal at the right time. ¹⁶He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 93[a]

Footnotes

Reiteration of the Call to Obedience

The Abundance of the Land of Promise

Exhortation to Instruction and Obedience

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 93^[a]