◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 21 (The king trusts in the Lord); 2 Samuel 5:17-25 (David fights the Philistines); John 7:1-9 (Unbelief of Jesus’ brothers) (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 21

Psalm 21^[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

21 O Lord, the king rejoices in the strength you give;^[b]
he takes great delight in the deliverance you provide.^[c]
²You grant^[d] him his heart’s desire;
you do not refuse his request.^[e] (Selah)
³For you bring him^[f] rich^[g] blessings;^[h]
you place a golden crown on his head.
⁴He asked you to sustain his life,^[i]
and you have granted him long life and an enduring dynasty.^[j]
⁵Your deliverance brings him great honor;^[k]
you give him majestic splendor.^[l]
⁶For you grant him lasting blessings;
you give him great joy by allowing him into your presence.^[m]
⁷For the king trusts^[n] in the Lord,
and because of the Most High’s^[o] faithfulness he is not shaken.^[p]
⁸You^[q] prevail over^[r] all your enemies;
your power is too great for those who hate you.^[s]
⁹You burn them up like a fiery furnace^[t] when you appear.^[u]
The Lord angrily devours them;^[v]
the fire consumes them.
¹⁰You destroy their offspring^[w] from the earth,
their descendants^[x] from among the human race.^[y]
¹¹Yes,^[z] they intend to do you harm;^[aa]
they dream up a scheme,^[ab] but they do not succeed.^[ac]
¹²For you make them retreat^[ad]
when you aim your arrows at them.^[ae]
¹³Rise up, O Lord, in strength!^[af]
We will sing and praise^[ag] your power.

Footnotes

Psalm 21:1 sn Psalm 21. The psalmist praises the Lord for the way he protects and blesses the Davidic king.
Psalm 21:1 tn Heb “in your strength.” The translation interprets the pronominal suffix as subjective, rather than merely descriptive (or attributive).
Psalm 21:1 tn Heb “and in your deliverance, how greatly he rejoices.”
Psalm 21:2 tn The translation assumes the perfect verbal forms in v. 2 are generalizing, stating factually what God typically does for the king. Another option is to take them as present perfects, “you have granted…you have not refused.” See v. 4, which mentions a specific request for a long reign.
Psalm 21:2 tn Heb “and the request of his lips you do not refuse.”
Psalm 21:3 tn Or “meet him [with].”
Psalm 21:3 tn Heb “good.”
Psalm 21:3 sn You bring him rich blessings. The following context indicates that God’s “blessings” include deliverance/protection, vindication, sustained life, and a long, stable reign (see also Pss 3:8; 24:5).
Psalm 21:4 tn Heb “life he asked from you.” Another option is to translate the perfect verbal forms in v. 4 with the present tense, “he asks…you grant.”
Psalm 21:4 tn Heb “you have granted him length of days forever and ever.” The phrase “length of days,” when used of human beings, usually refers to a lengthy period of time (such as one’s lifetime). See, for example, Deut 30:20; Job 12:12; Ps 91:16; Prov 3:2, 16; Lam 5:20. The additional phrase “forever and ever” is hyperbolic. While it seems to attribute eternal life to the king (see Pss 61:6-7; 72:5 as well), the underlying reality is the king’s enduring dynasty. He will live on, as it were, through his descendants, who will continue to rule over his kingdom long after he has passed off the scene.
Psalm 21:5 tn Or “great glory.”
Psalm 21:5 tn Heb “majesty and splendor you place upon him.” For other uses of the phrase הוֹד וְהָדָר (hod v^ehadar, “majesty and splendor”) see 1 Chr 16:27; Job 40:10; Pss 96:6; 104:1; 111:3.
Psalm 21:6 tn Heb “you make him happy with joy with [i.e., “close by” or “in”] your face.” On the idiom “with your face” (i.e., “in your presence”) see Ps 16:11 and BDB 816 s.v. פָּנֻה II.2.a.
Psalm 21:7 tn The active participle draws attention to the ongoing nature of the action.
Psalm 21:7 sn The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ʿelyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. Note the focus of vv. 8-12 and see Ps 47:2.
Psalm 21:7 tn Another option is to translate the imperfect verbal form as future, “he will not be shaken” (cf. NRSV “he shall not be moved”). Even if one chooses this option, the future tense must be understood in a generalizing sense.
Psalm 21:8 tn The king is now addressed. One could argue that the Lord is still being addressed, but v. 9 militates against this proposal, for there the Lord is mentioned in the third person and appears to be distinct from the addressee (unless, of course, one takes “Lord” in v. 9 as vocative; see the note on “them” in v. 9b). Verse 7 begins this transition to a new addressee by referring to both the king and the Lord in the third person (in vv. 1-6 the Lord is addressed and only the king referred to in the third person).
Psalm 21:8 tn Heb “your hand finds.” The idiom pictures the king grabbing hold of his enemies and defeating them (see 1 Sam 23:17). The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 8-12 may be translated with the future tense, as long as the future is understood as generalizing.
Psalm 21:8 tn Heb “your right hand finds those who hate you.”
Psalm 21:9 tn Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. NEB, “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).
Psalm 21:9 tn Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.
Psalm 21:9 tn Heb “the Lord, in his anger he swallows them, and fire devours them.” Some take “the Lord” as a vocative, in which case he is addressed in vv. 8-9a. But this makes the use of the third person in v. 9b rather awkward, though the king could be the subject (see vv. 1-7).
Psalm 21:10 tn Heb “fruit.” The next line makes it clear that offspring is in view.
Psalm 21:10 tn Heb “seed.”
Psalm 21:10 tn Heb “sons of man.”
Psalm 21:11 tn Or “for.”
Psalm 21:11 tn Heb “they extend against you harm.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 11 are taken as generalizing, stating factually what the king’s enemies typically do. Another option is to translate with the past tense (“they intended…planned”).
Psalm 21:11 sn See Ps 10:2.
Psalm 21:11 tn Heb “they lack ability.”
Psalm 21:12 tn Heb “you make them a shoulder,” i.e., “you make them turn and run, showing the back of their neck and shoulders.”
Psalm 21:12 tn Heb “with your bowstrings you fix against their faces,” i.e., “you fix your arrows on the bowstrings to shoot at them.”
Psalm 21:13 tn Heb “in your strength,” but English idiom does not require the pronoun.sn The psalm concludes with a petition to the Lord, asking him to continue to intervene in strength for the king and nation.
Psalm 21:13 tn Heb “sing praise.”

2 Samuel 5:17-25

Conflict with the Philistines

¹⁷When the Philistines heard that David had been designated^[a] king over Israel, they all^[b] went up to search for David. When David heard about it, he went down to the fortress. ¹⁸Now the Philistines had arrived and spread out in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹So David asked the Lord, “Should I march up against the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?” The Lord said to David, “March up, for I will indeed^[c] hand the Philistines over to you.”

²⁰So David marched against Baal Perazim and defeated them there. Then he said, “The Lord has burst out against my enemies like water bursts out.” So he called the name of that place Baal Perazim.^[d] ²¹The Philistines^[e] abandoned their idols^[f] there, and David and his men picked them up.

²²The Philistines again came up and spread out in the valley of Rephaim. ²³So David asked the Lord what he should do.^[g] This time^[h] the Lord^[i] said to him, “Don’t march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees.^[j] ²⁴When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, act decisively. For at that moment the Lord is going before you to strike down the army^[k] of the Philistines.” ²⁵David did just as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines from Gibeon all the way to Gezer.^[l]

John 7:1-9

The Feast of Shelters

7 After this^[a] Jesus traveled throughout Galilee.^[b] He^[c] stayed out of Judea^[d] because the Jewish leaders^[e] wanted^[f] to kill him. ²Now the Jewish Feast of Shelters^[g] was near.^[h] ³So Jesus’ brothers^[i] advised him, “Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing.^[j] ⁴For no one who seeks to make a reputation for himself^[k] does anything in secret.^[l] If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵(For not even his own brothers believed in him.)^[m]

⁶So Jesus replied,^[n] “My time^[o] has not yet arrived,^[p] but you are ready at any opportunity!^[q] ⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I am testifying about it that its deeds are evil. ⁸You go up^[r] to the feast yourselves. I am not going up to this feast^[s] because my time^[t] has not yet fully arrived.”^[u] ⁹When he had said this, he remained in Galilee.

Footnotes

John 7:1 sn Again, the transition is indicated by the imprecise temporal indicator After this. Clearly, though, the author has left out much of the events of Jesus’ ministry, because chap. 6 took place near the Passover (6:4). This would have been the Passover between winter/spring of a.d. 32, just one year before Jesus’ crucifixion (assuming a date of a.d. 33 for the crucifixion), or the Passover of winter/spring a.d. 29, assuming a date of a.d. 30 for the crucifixion.
John 7:1 tn Grk “Jesus was traveling around in Galilee.”
John 7:1 tn Grk “For he.” Here γάρ (gar, “for”) has not been translated.
John 7:1 tn Grk “he did not want to travel around in Judea.”
John 7:1 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase should be restricted to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents.
John 7:1 tn Grk “were seeking.”
John 7:2 tn Or “Feast of Tabernacles” or Or “Feast of Booths” (the feast where people lived in tents or huts, which was celebrated in the autumn after harvest). John’s use of σκηνοπηγία (skēnopēgia) for the Feast of Shelters constitutes the only use of this term in the New Testament.
John 7:2 sn Since the present verse places these incidents at the Feast of Shelters (a.d. 29 or 32, depending on whether one dates the crucifixion in a.d. 30 or 33) there would have been a 6-month interval during which no events are recorded. The author is obviously selective in his approach; he is not recording an exhaustive history (as he will later tell the reader in John 21:25). After healing the paralytic on the Sabbath in Jerusalem (John 5:1-47), Jesus withdrew again to Galilee because of mounting opposition. In Galilee the feeding of the 5,000 took place, which marked the end of the Galilean ministry for all practical purposes. John 7:1-9 thus marks Jesus’ final departure from Galilee.
John 7:3 tn Grk “his brothers.”sn Jesus’ brothers. Jesus’ brothers (really his half brothers) were mentioned previously by John in 2:12 (see the note on brothers there). They are also mentioned elsewhere in Matt 13:55 and Mark 6:3.
John 7:3 tn Grk “your deeds that you are doing.”sn Should the advice by Jesus’ brothers, Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing, be understood as a suggestion that he should attempt to win back the disciples who had deserted him earlier (6:66)? Perhaps. But it is also possible to take the words as indicating that if Jesus is going to put forward messianic claims (i.e., through miraculous signs) then he should do so in Jerusalem, not in the remote parts of Galilee. Such an understanding seems to fit better with the following verse. It would also indicate misunderstanding on the part of Jesus’ brothers of the true nature of his mission—he did not come as the royal Messiah of Jewish apocalyptic expectation, to be enthroned as king at this time.
John 7:4 tn Or “seeks to be well known.”
John 7:4 sn No one who seeks to make a reputation for himself does anything in secret means, in effect: “if you’re going to perform signs to authenticate yourself as Messiah, you should do them at Jerusalem.” (Jerusalem is where mainstream Jewish apocalyptic tradition held that Messiah would appear.)
John 7:5 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
John 7:6 tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”
John 7:6 tn Or “my opportunity.”
John 7:6 tn Or “is not yet here.”
John 7:6 tn Grk “your time is always ready.”
John 7:8 sn One always speaks of “going up” to Jerusalem in Jewish idiom, even though in western thought it is more common to speak of south as “down” (Jerusalem lies south of Galilee). The reason for the idiom is that Jerusalem was identified with Mount Zion in the OT, so that altitude was the issue.
John 7:8 tc Most mss (P^66,75 B L T W Θ Ψ 070 0105 0250 ƒ^1,13 M sa), including most of the better witnesses, have “not yet” (οὔπω, oupō) here. Those with the reading οὐκ are not as impressive (א D K 1241 al lat), but οὐκ is the more difficult reading here, especially because it stands in tension with v. 10. On the one hand, it is possible that οὐκ arose because of homoioarcton: A copyist who saw oupw wrote ouk. However, it is more likely that οὔπω was introduced early on to harmonize with what is said two verses later. As for Jesus’ refusal to go up to the feast in v. 8, the statement does not preclude action of a different kind at a later point. Jesus may simply have been refusing to accompany his brothers with the rest of the group of pilgrims, preferring to travel separately and “in secret” (v. 10) with his disciples.
John 7:8 tn Although the word is καιρός (kairos) here, it parallels John’s use of ὥρα (hōra) elsewhere as a reference to the time appointed for Jesus by the Father—the time of his return to the Father, characterized by his death, resurrection, and ascension (glorification). In the Johannine literature, synonyms are often interchanged for no apparent reason other than stylistic variation.
John 7:8 tn Or “my time has not yet come to an end” (a possible hint of Jesus’ death at Jerusalem); Grk “my time is not yet fulfilled.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 21[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

Footnotes

Conflict with the Philistines

Footnotes

The Feast of Shelters

Footnotes

Psalm 21^[a]