◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / 2 Samuel 7:1-14a (God’s promise to David); Psalm 89:20-37 (God’s steadfast love); Ephesians 2:11-22 (Reconciled to God through Christ); Mark 6:30-34 53-56 (Christ healing the multitudes) (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

2 Samuel 7:1-14

The Lord Establishes a Covenant with David

7 The king settled into his palace,^[a] for the Lord gave him relief^[b] from all his enemies on all sides.^[c] ²The king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look! I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of God sits in the middle of a tent.” ³Nathan replied to the king, “You should go^[d] and do whatever you have in mind,^[e] for the Lord is with you.” ⁴That night the Lord’s message came to Nathan, ⁵“Go, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord has said: Do you really intend to build a house for me to live in? ⁶I have not lived in a house from the time I brought the Israelites up from Egypt to the present day. Instead, I was traveling with them and living in a tent.^[f] ⁷Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say^[g] to any of their leaders^[h] whom I appointed to care for^[i] my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?”’

⁸“So now, say this to my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd^[j] to make you leader of my people Israel. ⁹I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated^[k] all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth.^[l] ¹⁰I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle^[m] them there; they will live there and not be disturbed^[n] anymore. Violent men^[o] will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning ¹¹and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. Instead, I will give you relief^[p] from all your enemies. The Lord declares^[q] to you that he himself^[r] will build a dynastic house^[s] for you. ¹²When the time comes for you to die,^[t] I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you,^[u] and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent.^[v] ¹⁴I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings.

Footnotes

2 Samuel 7:1 tn Heb “house” (also in the following verse).
2 Samuel 7:1 tn Or “rest.”
2 Samuel 7:1 tn The translation understands the disjunctive clause in v. 1b as circumstantial-causal.
2 Samuel 7:3 tc Several medieval Hebrew mss and the Syriac Peshitta lack this word.
2 Samuel 7:3 tn Heb “all that is in your heart.”
2 Samuel 7:6 tn Heb “in a tent and in a dwelling.” The expression is a hendiadys, using two terms to express one idea.
2 Samuel 7:7 tn Heb “Did I speak a word?” In the Hebrew text the statement is phrased as a rhetorical question.
2 Samuel 7:7 tn Heb “tribes of Israel” (so KJV, NASB, NCV), but the parallel passage in 1 Chr 17:6 has “judges of Israel.”
2 Samuel 7:7 tn Heb “whom I commanded to shepherd” (so NIV, NRSV).
2 Samuel 7:8 tn Heb “and from after the sheep.”
2 Samuel 7:9 tn Heb “cut off.”
2 Samuel 7:9 tn Heb “and I will make for you a great name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.”
2 Samuel 7:10 tn Heb “plant.”
2 Samuel 7:10 tn Heb “shaken.”
2 Samuel 7:10 tn Heb “the sons of violence.”
2 Samuel 7:11 tn Or “rest.”
2 Samuel 7:11 tn In the Hebrew text the verb is apparently perfect with vav consecutive, which would normally suggest a future sense (“he will declare”; so the LXX, ἀπαγγελεῖ [apangelei]). But the context seems instead to call for a present or past nuance (“he declares” or “he has declared”). The synoptic passage in 1 Chr 17:10 has וָאַגִּד (vaʾaggid, “and I declared”). The construction used in 2 Sam 7:11 highlights this important statement.
2 Samuel 7:11 tn Heb “the Lord.”
2 Samuel 7:11 tn Heb “house,” but used here in a metaphorical sense, referring to a royal dynasty. Here the Lord’s use of the word plays off the literal sense that David had in mind as he contemplated building a temple for the Lord. To reflect this in the English translation the adjective “dynastic” has been supplied.
2 Samuel 7:12 tn Heb, “when your days are full and you lie down with your ancestors.”
2 Samuel 7:12 tn Heb “your seed after you who comes out from your insides.”
2 Samuel 7:13 tn Heb “and I will establish the throne of his kingdom permanently.”

Psalm 89:20-37

²⁰I have discovered David, my servant.
With my holy oil I have anointed him as king.^[a]
²¹My hand will support him,^[b]
and my arm will strengthen him.
²²No enemy will be able to exact tribute^[c] from him;^[d]
a violent oppressor will not be able to humiliate him.^[e]
²³I will crush his enemies before him;
I will strike down those who hate him.
²⁴He will experience my faithfulness and loyal love,^[f]
and by my name he will win victories.^[g]
²⁵I will place his hand over the sea,
his right hand over the rivers.^[h]
²⁶He will call out to me,
‘You are my father,^[i] my God, and the protector who delivers me.’^[j]
²⁷I will appoint him to be my firstborn son,^[k]
the most exalted of the earth’s kings.
²⁸I will always extend my loyal love to him,
and my covenant with him is secure.^[l]
²⁹I will give him an eternal dynasty,^[m]
and make his throne as enduring as the skies above.^[n]
³⁰If his sons reject my law
and disobey my regulations,
³¹if they break^[o] my rules
and do not keep my commandments,
³²I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club,^[p]
their sin by inflicting them with bruises.^[q]
³³But I will not remove^[r] my loyal love from him,
nor be unfaithful to my promise.^[s]
³⁴I will not break^[t] my covenant
or go back on what I promised.^[u]
³⁵Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness,
I will never deceive^[v] David.
³⁶His dynasty will last forever.^[w]
His throne will endure before me, like the sun;^[x]
³⁷it will remain stable, like the moon.^[y]
His throne will endure like the skies.”^[z] (Selah)

Footnotes

Psalm 89:20 tn The words “as king” are supplied in the translation for clarification, indicating that a royal anointing is in view.
Psalm 89:21 tn Heb “with whom my hand will be firm.”
Psalm 89:22 tn Heb “an enemy will not exact tribute.” The imperfect is understood in a modal sense, indicating capability or potential.
Psalm 89:22 tn The translation understands the Hiphil of נָשַׁא (nashaʾ) in the sense of “act as a creditor.” This may allude to the practice of a conqueror forcing his subjects to pay tribute in exchange for “protection.” Another option is to take the verb from a homonymic verbal root meaning “to deceive,” “to trick.” Still another option is to emend the form to יִשָּׂא (yissaʾ), a Qal imperfect from נָאַשׂ (naʾas, “rise up”) and to translate “an enemy will not rise up against him” (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 2:317).
Psalm 89:22 tn Heb “and a son of violence will not oppress him.” The imperfect is understood in a modal sense, indicating capability or potential. The reference to a “son of violence” echoes the language of God’s promise to David in 2 Sam 7:10 (see also 1 Chr 17:9).
Psalm 89:24 tn Heb “and my faithfulness and my loyal love [will be] with him.”
Psalm 89:24 tn Heb “and by my name his horn will be lifted up.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 92:10; Lam 2:17).
Psalm 89:25 tn Some identify “the sea” as the Mediterranean and “the rivers” as the Euphrates and its tributaries. However, it is more likely that “the sea” and “the rivers” are symbols for hostile powers that oppose God and the king (see v. 9, as well as Ps 93:3-4).
Psalm 89:26 sn You are my father. The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.
Psalm 89:26 tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”
Psalm 89:27 sn The firstborn son typically had special status and received special privileges.
Psalm 89:28 tn Heb “forever I will keep for him my loyal love and will make my covenant secure for him.”
Psalm 89:29 tn Heb “and I will set in place forever his offspring.”
Psalm 89:29 tn Heb “and his throne like the days of the heavens.”
Psalm 89:31 tn Or “desecrate.”
Psalm 89:32 tn Heb “I will punish with a club their rebellion.”sn Despite the harsh image of beating…with a club, the language reflects a father-son relationship (see v. 30; 2 Sam 7:14). According to Proverbs, a שֵׁבֶט (shevet, “club”) was sometimes utilized to administer corporal punishment to rebellious children (see Prov 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15).
Psalm 89:32 tn Heb “with blows their sin.”
Psalm 89:33 tn Heb “break”; “make ineffectual.” Some prefer to emend אָפִיר (ʾafir; the Hiphil of פָּרַר, parar, “to break”) to אָסִיר (ʾasir; the Hiphil of סוּר, sur, “to turn aside”), a verb that appears in 2 Sam 7:15.
Psalm 89:33 tn Heb “and I will not deal falsely with my faithfulness.”
Psalm 89:34 tn Or “desecrate.”
Psalm 89:34 tn Heb “and what proceeds out of my lips I will not alter.”
Psalm 89:35 tn Or “lie to.”
Psalm 89:36 tn Heb “his offspring forever will be.”
Psalm 89:36 tn Heb “and his throne like the sun before me.”
Psalm 89:37 tn Heb “like the moon it will be established forever.”
Psalm 89:37 tn Heb “and a witness in the sky, secure.” Scholars have offered a variety of opinions as to the identity of the “witness” referred to here, none of which is very convincing. It is preferable to join וְעֵד (v^eʿed) to עוֹלָם (ʿolam) in the preceding line and translate the commonly attested phrase עוֹלָם וְעֵד (“forever”). In this case one may translate the second line, “[it] will be secure like the skies.” Another option (the one reflected in the present translation) is to take עד as a rare noun meaning “throne” or “dais.” This noun is attested in Ugaritic; see, for example, CTA 16 vi 22-23, where ksi (= כִּסֵּא, kisseʾ, “throne”) and ʿd (= עד, “dais”) appear as synonyms in the poetic parallelism (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 91). Emending בַּשַּׁחַק (bashakhaq, “in the heavens”) to כַּשַׁחַק (kashakhaq, “like the heavens”)—bet/kaf (כ/ב) confusion is widely attested—one can then read “[his] throne like the heavens [is] firm/stable.” Verse 29 refers to the enduring nature of the heavens, while Job 37:18 speaks of God spreading out the heavens (שְׁחָקִים, sh^ekhaqim) and compares their strength to a bronze mirror. Ps 89:29 uses the term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim, “skies”) which frequently appears in parallelism to שְׁחָקִים.

Ephesians 2:11-22

New Life Corporately

¹¹Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh—who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body^[a] by human hands— ¹²that you were at that time without the Messiah,^[b] alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise,^[c] having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.^[d] ¹⁴For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one^[e] and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, ¹⁵when he nullified^[f] in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man^[g] out of two,^[h] thus making peace, ¹⁶and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.^[i] ¹⁷And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, ¹⁸so that^[j] through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, ²⁰because you have been built^[k] on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,^[l] with Christ Jesus himself as^[m] the cornerstone.^[n] ²¹In him^[o] the whole building,^[p] being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Footnotes

Ephesians 2:11 tn Grk “in the flesh.”
Ephesians 2:12 tn Or “without Christ.” Both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.” Because the context refers to ancient Israel’s messianic expectation, “Messiah” was employed in the translation at this point rather than “Christ.”
Ephesians 2:12 tn Or “covenants of the promise.”
Ephesians 2:13 tn Or “have come near in the blood of Christ.”sn See the note on “his blood” in 1:7.
Ephesians 2:14 tn Grk “who made the both one.”
Ephesians 2:15 tn Or “rendered inoperative.” This is a difficult text to translate because it is not easy to find an English term which communicates well the essence of the author’s meaning, especially since legal terminology is involved. Many other translations use the term “abolish” (so NRSV, NASB, NIV), but this term implies complete destruction which is not the author’s meaning here. The verb καταργέω (katargeō) can readily have the meaning “to cause someth. to lose its power or effectiveness” (BDAG 525 s.v. 2, where this passage is listed), and this meaning fits quite naturally here within the author’s legal mindset. A proper English term which communicates this well is “nullify” since this word carries the denotation of “making something legally null and void.” This is not, however, a common English word. An alternate term like “rendered inoperative [or ineffective]” is also accurate but fairly inelegant. For this reason, the translation retains the term “nullify”; it is the best choice of the available options, despite its problems.
Ephesians 2:15 tn In this context the author is not referring to a new individual, but instead to a new corporate entity united in Christ (cf. BDAG 497 s.v. καινός 3.b: “All the Christians together appear as κ. ἄνθρωπος Eph 2:15”). This is clear from the comparison made between the Gentiles and Israel in the immediately preceding verses and the assertion in v. 14 that Christ “made both groups into one.” This is a different metaphor than the “new man” of Eph 4:24; in that passage the “new man” refers to the new life a believer has through a relationship to Christ.
Ephesians 2:15 tn Grk “in order to create the two into one new man.” Eph 2:14-16 is one sentence in Greek. A new sentence was started here in the translation for clarity since contemporary English is less tolerant of extended sentences.
Ephesians 2:16 tn Grk “by killing the hostility in himself.”
Ephesians 2:18 tn Or “for.” BDAG gives the consecutive ὅτι (hoti) as a possible category of NT usage (BDAG 732 s.v. 5.c).
Ephesians 2:20 tn Grk “having been built.”
Ephesians 2:20 sn Apostles and prophets. Because the prophets appear after the mention of the apostles and because they are linked together in 3:5 as recipients of revelation about the church, they are to be regarded not as Old Testament prophets, but as New Testament prophets.
Ephesians 2:20 tn Grk “while Christ Jesus himself is” or “Christ Jesus himself being.”
Ephesians 2:20 tn Or perhaps “capstone” (NAB). The meaning of ἀκρογωνιαῖος (akrogōniaios) is greatly debated. The meaning “capstone” is proposed by J. Jeremias (TDNT 1:792), but the most important text for this meaning (T. Sol. 22:7-23:4) is late and possibly not even an appropriate parallel. The only place ἀκρογωνιαῖος is used in the LXX is Isa 28:16, and there it clearly refers to a cornerstone that is part of a foundation. Furthermore, the imagery in this context has the building growing off the cornerstone upward, whereas if Christ were the capstone, he would not assume his position until the building was finished, which vv. 21-22 argue against.
Ephesians 2:21 tn Grk “in whom” (v. 21 is a relative clause, subordinate to v. 20).
Ephesians 2:21 tc Although several significant witnesses (א¹ A C P 6 81 326 1739^c 1881) have πᾶσα ἡ οἰκοδομή (pasa hē oikodomē), instead of πᾶσα οἰκοδομή (the reading of א* B D F G Ψ 33 1175 1505 1739* M), the article is almost surely a scribal addition intended to clarify the meaning of the text, for with the article the meaning is unambiguously “the whole building.”tn Or “every building.” Although “every building” is a more natural translation of the Greek, it does not fit as naturally into the context, which (with its emphasis on corporate unity) seems to stress the idea of one building.

Mark 6:30-34

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

³⁰Then^[a] the apostles gathered around Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught. ³¹He said to them, “Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while” (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat). ³²So they went away by themselves in a boat^[b] to some remote place. ³³But many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they hurried on foot^[c] from all the towns^[d] and arrived there ahead of them.^[e] ³⁴As Jesus^[f] came ashore^[g] he saw the large crowd and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So^[h] he taught them many things.

Mark 6:53-56

Healing the Sick

⁵³After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret^[a] and anchored there. ⁵⁴As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Jesus.^[b] ⁵⁵They ran through that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever he was rumored to be.^[c] ⁵⁶And wherever he would go—into villages, towns, or countryside—they would place the sick in the marketplaces,^[d] and would ask him if^[e] they could just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord Establishes a Covenant with David

Footnotes

Footnotes

New Life Corporately

Footnotes

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

Footnotes

Healing the Sick

Footnotes