◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 138 (Your love endures forever); 1 Samuel 5:1-12 (Trouble for the Philistines); 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (What is mortal is swallowed up in life) (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 138

Psalm 138^[a]

By David.

138 I will give you thanks with all my heart;
before the heavenly assembly^[b] I will sing praises to you.
²I will bow down toward your holy temple,
and give thanks to your name,
because of your loyal love and faithfulness,
for you have exalted your promise above the entire sky.^[c]
³When^[d] I cried out for help, you answered me.
You made me bold and energized me.^[e]
⁴Let all the kings of the earth give thanks^[f] to you, O Lord,
when they hear the words you speak.^[g]
⁵Let them sing about the Lord’s deeds,^[h]
for the Lord’s splendor is magnificent.^[i]
⁶Though the Lord is exalted, he looks after the lowly,
and from far away humbles^[j] the proud.
⁷Even when I must walk in the midst of danger,^[k] you revive me.
You oppose my angry enemies,^[l]
and your right hand delivers me.
⁸The Lord avenges me.^[m]
O Lord, your loyal love endures.
Do not abandon those whom you have made.^[n]

Footnotes

Psalm 138:1 sn Psalm 138. The psalmist vows to thank the Lord for his deliverance and protection.
Psalm 138:1 tn The referent of the Hebrew term אֱלֹהִים (ʾelohim) is unclear. It refers either to the angelic assembly (see Gen 3:5; Ps 8:5) or to the pagan gods (see Pss 82:1, 6; 86:8; 97:7), in which case the psalmist’s praise takes on a polemical tone.
Psalm 138:2 tc The MT reads, “for you have made great over all your name your word.” If retained, this must mean that God’s mighty intervention, in fulfillment of his word of promise, surpassed anything he had done prior to this. However, the statement is odd and several emendations have been proposed. Some read, “for you have exalted over everything your name and your word,” while others suggest, “for you have exalted over all the heavens your name and your word.” The translation assumes an emendation of “your name” to “your heavens” (a construction that appears in Pss 8:3 and 144:5). The point is that God has been faithful to his promise and the reliability of that promise is apparent to all. For a fuller discussion of these options, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 244.
Psalm 138:3 tn Heb “in the day.”
Psalm 138:3 tn Heb “you made me bold in my soul [with] strength.”
Psalm 138:4 tn The prefixed verbal forms here and in the following verse are understood as jussives, for the psalmist appears to be calling upon the kings to praise God. Another option is to take them as imperfects and translate, “the kings of the earth will give thanks…and will sing.” In this case the psalmist anticipates a universal response to his thanksgiving song.
Psalm 138:4 tn Heb “the words of your mouth.”
Psalm 138:5 tn Heb “ways.”
Psalm 138:5 tn Heb “great.”
Psalm 138:6 tc The form of the verb is יְיֵדָע (y^eyedaʿ) commonly understood to be Qal of יָדַע I (yadaʿ), although the Qal should not have two yod’s. Most likely one י (yod) should be deleted as dittography, or the second should be read as a ו (vav) and the form be understood as a Hifil.tn The Hifil of יָדַע II (yadaʿ) means “to humiliate,” causative of the Qal “be submissive, humbled, quiet” (cf. Job 21:19; Prov 5:6; Isa 45:4; Jer 14:18; Hos 9:7). DCH supposes that the Qal can mean “to humiliate” in this verse. The more common homophonous root יָדַע means “to know,” sometimes with the nuance “to care for.” Alternatively the adjective גָּבֹהַּ (gavoah) can be understood as the subject, referring to God, “the exalted one cares for [the lowly] from a distance,” but the parallel thought in the next verse favors a contrast in this verse also.
Psalm 138:7 tn Or “distress.”
Psalm 138:7 tn Heb “against the anger of my enemies you extend your hand.”
Psalm 138:8 tn Heb “avenges on my behalf.” For the meaning “to avenge” for the verb גָּמַר (gamar), see HALOT 197-98 s.v. גמר.
Psalm 138:8 tn Heb “the works of your hands.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the singular, “work of your hands.”

1 Samuel 5

God Sends Trouble for the Philistines Who Have the Ark

5 Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ²The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the temple of Dagon, where they positioned it beside Dagon. ³When the residents of Ashdod got up early the next day,^[a] Dagon was lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place. ⁴But when they got up early the following day, Dagon was again lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were sheared off and were lying at the threshold. Only Dagon’s body was left intact.^[b] ⁵(For this reason, to this very day, neither Dagon’s priests nor anyone else who enters Dagon’s temple steps on Dagon’s threshold in Ashdod.)

⁶The Lord attacked^[c] the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them. He struck the people of^[d] both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores.^[e] ⁷When the people^[f] of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, for he has attacked^[g] both us and our god Dagon!”

⁸So they assembled^[h] all the leaders of the Philistines and asked, “What should we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They replied, “The ark of the God of Israel should be moved to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.

⁹But after it had been moved the Lord attacked^[i] that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city^[j] with sores.^[k] ¹⁰So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.

But when the ark of God arrived at Ekron, the residents of Ekron cried out saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel here^[l] to kill our^[m] people!” ¹¹So they assembled^[n] all the leaders of the Philistines and said, “Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us^[o] and our^[p] people!” The terror^[q] of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there.^[r] ¹²The people^[s] who did not die were struck with sores; the city’s cry for help went all the way up to heaven.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5

Living by Faith, Not by Sight

5 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in,^[a] is dismantled,^[b] we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens. ²For in this earthly house^[c] we groan, because we desire to put on^[d] our heavenly dwelling, ³if indeed, after we have put on^[e] our heavenly house,^[f] we will not be found naked. ⁴For we groan while we are in this tent,^[g] since we are weighed down,^[h] because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose^[i] is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.^[j]

Footnotes

2 Corinthians 5:1 sn The expression the tent we live in refers to “our earthly house, our body.” Paul uses the metaphor of the physical body as a house or tent, the residence of the immaterial part of a person.
2 Corinthians 5:1 tn Or “destroyed.”
2 Corinthians 5:2 tn Or “dwelling place.”
2 Corinthians 5:2 tn Or “to be clothed with.”
2 Corinthians 5:3 tc ‡ Some mss read “taken off” (ἐκδυσάμενοι, ekdusamenoi) instead of “put on” (ἐνδυσάμενοι, endusamenoi). This alternative reading would change the emphasis of the verse from putting on “our heavenly house” to taking off “our earthly house” (see the following note regarding the specification of the referent). The difference between the two readings is one letter (ν or κ), either of which may be mistaken for the other especially when written in majuscule script. ἐνδυσάμενοι enjoys strong support from the Alexandrian text (P⁴⁶ א B C 33 1739 1881), Byzantine witnesses, versions (lat sy co), and Clement of Alexandria. The Western text is the only text-form to differ: D*^,c reads ἐκδυσάμενοι, as does ar f^c Mcion Tert Spec; F and G read εκλ for εκδ which indirectly aligns them with D (and was surely due to confusion of letters in majuscule script). Thus “put on” has the oldest and best external attestation by far. Internal evidence also favors this reading. At first glance, it may seem that “after we have put on our heavenly house we will not be found naked” is an obvious statement; the scribe of D may have thought so and changed the participle. But v. 3 seems parenthetical (so A. Plummer, Second Corinthians [ICC], 147), and the idea that “we do not want to be unclothed but clothed” is repeated in v. 4 with an explanatory “for.” This concept also shows up in v. 2 with the phrase “we desire to put on.” So the context can be construed to argue for “put on” as the reading of the initial text. B. M. Metzger argues against the reading of NA²⁸, stating that ἐκδυσάμενοι is “an early alteration to avoid apparent tautology” (TCGNT 511; so also Plummer, 148). In addition, the reading ἐνδυσάμενοι fits the Pauline pattern of equivalence between apodosis and protasis that is found often enough in his conditional clauses. Thus, “put on” has the mark of authenticity and should be considered autographic.
2 Corinthians 5:3 tn Grk “it”; the referent (the “heavenly dwelling” of the previous verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 Corinthians 5:4 sn See the note in 5:1 on the phrase the tent we live in.
2 Corinthians 5:4 tn Or “we are burdened.”
2 Corinthians 5:5 tn Grk “for this very thing.”
2 Corinthians 5:5 tn Or “first installment,” “pledge,” “deposit” (see the note on the phrase “down payment” in 1:22).

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 138[a]

By David.

Footnotes

God Sends Trouble for the Philistines Who Have the Ark

Footnotes

Living by Faith, Not by Sight

Footnotes

Psalm 138^[a]