◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Psalm 50:16-23 (God does not remain silent); 2 Samuel 13:1-19 (The rape of Tamar); 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 (You are the body of Christ) (New English Translation)

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August 6, 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 50:16-23

¹⁶God says this to the evildoer:^[a]
“How can you declare my commands,
and talk about my covenant?^[b]
¹⁷For you hate instruction
and reject my words.^[c]
¹⁸When you see a thief, you join him;^[d]
you associate with men who are unfaithful to their wives.^[e]
¹⁹You do damage with words,^[f]
and use your tongue to deceive.^[g]
²⁰You plot against your brother;^[h]
you slander your own brother.^[i]
²¹When you did these things, I was silent,^[j]
so you thought I was exactly like you.^[k]
But now I will condemn^[l] you
and state my case against you.^[m]
²²Carefully consider this, you who reject God.^[n]
Otherwise I will rip you to shreds^[o]
and no one will be able to rescue you.
²³Whoever presents a thank offering honors me.^[p]
To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.”^[q]

Footnotes

Psalm 50:16 tn Heb “evil [one].” The singular adjective is used here in a representative sense; it refers to those within the larger covenant community who have blatantly violated the Lord’s commandments. In the psalms the “wicked” (רְשָׁעִים, r^eshaʿim) are typically proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander, and cheat others (Ps 37:21).
Psalm 50:16 tn Heb “What to you to declare my commands and lift up my covenant upon your mouth?” The rhetorical question expresses sarcastic amazement. The Lord is shocked that such evildoers would give lip-service to his covenantal demands, for their lifestyle is completely opposed to his standards (see vv. 18-20).
Psalm 50:17 tn Heb “and throw my words behind you.”
Psalm 50:18 tn Heb “you run with him.”
Psalm 50:18 tn Heb “and with adulterers [is] your portion.”
Psalm 50:19 tn Heb “your mouth you send with evil.”
Psalm 50:19 tn Heb “and your tongue binds together [i.e., “frames”] deceit.”
Psalm 50:20 tn Heb “you sit, against your brother you speak.” To “sit” and “speak” against someone implies plotting against that person (see Ps 119:23).
Psalm 50:20 tn Heb “against the son of your mother you give a fault.”
Psalm 50:21 tn Heb “these things you did and I was silent.” Some interpret the second clause (“and I was silent”) as a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer, “[When you do these things], should I keep silent?” (cf. NEB). See GKC 335 §112.cc.sn The Lord was silent in the sense that he delayed punishment. Of course, God’s patience toward sinners eventually runs out. The divine “silence” is only temporary (see v. 3, where the psalmist, having described God’s arrival, observes that “he is not silent”).
Psalm 50:21 tn The Hebrew infinitive construct (הֱיוֹת, heyot) appears to function like the infinitive absolute here, adding emphasis to the following finite verbal form (אֶהְיֶה, ʾehyeh). See GKC 339-40 §113.a. Some prefer to emend הֱיוֹת (heyot) to the infinitive absolute form הָיוֹ (hayo).
Psalm 50:21 tn Or “rebuke” (see v. 8).
Psalm 50:21 tn Heb “and I will set in order [my case against you] to your eyes.” The cohortative form expresses the Lord’s resolve to accuse and judge the wicked.
Psalm 50:22 tn Heb “[you who] forget God.” “Forgetting God” here means forgetting about his commandments and not respecting his moral authority.
Psalm 50:22 sn Elsewhere in the psalms this verb is used (within a metaphorical framework) of a lion tearing its prey (see Pss 7:2; 17:12; 22:13).
Psalm 50:23 sn The reference to a thank-offering recalls the earlier statement made in v. 14. Gratitude characterizes genuine worship.
Psalm 50:23 tn Heb “and [to one who] sets a way I will show the deliverance of God.” Elsewhere the phrase “set a way” simply means “to travel” (see Gen 30:36; cf. NRSV). The present translation assumes an emendation of וְשָׂם דֶּרֶךְ (v^esam derekh) to וְשֹׁמֵר דְּרָכַּי (v^eshomer d^erakhay, “and [the one who] keeps my ways” [i.e., commands, see Pss 18:21; 37:34). Another option is to read וְשֹׁמֵר דַּרְכּוֹ (v^eshomer darko, “and [the one who] guards his way,” i.e., “the one who is careful to follow a godly lifestyle”; see Ps 39:1).

2 Samuel 13:1-19

The Rape of Tamar

13 Now David’s son Absalom had a beautiful sister named Tamar. In the course of time David’s son Amnon fell madly in love with her.^[a] ²But Amnon became frustrated because he was so lovesick^[b] over his sister Tamar. For she was a virgin, and to Amnon it seemed out of the question to do anything to her.

³Now Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah. Jonadab was a very crafty man. ⁴He asked Amnon,^[c] “Why are you, the king’s son,^[d] so depressed every morning? Can’t you tell me?” So Amnon said to him, “I’m in love with Tamar the sister of my brother Absalom.” ⁵Jonadab replied to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be sick.^[e] When your father comes in to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can fix some food for me. Let her prepare the food in my sight so I can watch. Then I will eat from her hand.’”

⁶So Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. When the king came in to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come in so she can make a couple of cakes in my sight. Then I will eat from her hand.”

⁷So David sent Tamar to the house saying, “Please go to the house of Amnon your brother and prepare some food for him.” ⁸So Tamar went to the house of Amnon her brother, who was lying down. She took the dough, kneaded it, made some cakes while he watched,^[f] and baked them.^[g] ⁹But when she took the pan and set it before him, he refused to eat. Instead Amnon said, “Get everyone out of here!”^[h] So everyone left.^[i]

¹⁰Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the cakes into the bedroom; then I will eat from your hand.” So Tamar took the cakes that she had prepared and brought them to her brother Amnon in the bedroom. ¹¹As she brought them to him to eat, he grabbed her and said to her, “Come on! Get in bed with me,^[j] my sister!”

¹²But she said to him, “No, my brother! Don’t humiliate me! This just isn’t done in Israel! Don’t do this foolish thing! ¹³How could I ever be rid of my humiliation? And you would be considered one of the fools^[k] in Israel! Just^[l] speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.” ¹⁴But he refused to listen to her.^[m] He overpowered her and humiliated her by raping her.^[n] ¹⁵Then Amnon greatly despised her.^[o] His disdain toward her surpassed the love he had previously felt toward her.^[p] Amnon said to her, “Get up and leave!”

¹⁶But she said to him, “No I won’t, for sending me away now would be worse than what you did to me earlier!”^[q] But he refused to listen to her. ¹⁷He called his personal attendant and said to him, “Take this woman out of my sight^[r] and lock the door behind her!” ¹⁸(Now she was wearing a long robe,^[s] for this is what the king’s virgin daughters used to wear.) So Amnon’s^[t] attendant removed her and bolted the door^[u] behind her. ¹⁹Then Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went on her way, wailing as she went.

Footnotes

2 Samuel 13:1 tn Heb “Amnon the son of David loved her.” The following verse indicates the extreme nature of his infatuation, so the translation uses “madly in love” here.sn Amnon was the half-brother of Tamar; Absalom was her full blood-brother.
2 Samuel 13:2 tn Heb “and there was distress to Amnon so that he made himself sick.”
2 Samuel 13:4 tn Heb “and he said to him.”
2 Samuel 13:4 tn A more idiomatic translation might be “Why are you of all people…?”
2 Samuel 13:5 tn This verb is used in the Hitpael stem only in this chapter of the Hebrew Bible. With the exception of v. 2 it describes not a real sickness but one pretended in order to entrap Tamar. The Hitpael sometimes, as here, describes the subject making oneself appear to be of a certain character. On this use of the stem, see GKC 149-50 §54.e.
2 Samuel 13:8 tn Heb “in his sight.”
2 Samuel 13:8 tn Heb “the cakes.”
2 Samuel 13:9 tn Heb “from upon me.”
2 Samuel 13:9 tc A few medieval Hebrew mss supported by the LXX and Vulgate read the Hiphil וַיּוֹצִיאוּ (vayyotsiʾu) “and they removed everyone,” rather than the MT’s Qal וַיֵּצְאוּ (vayyets^eʾu, “they left”). This verb would then match the instructions more closely.
2 Samuel 13:11 tn Heb “lie with me” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “come and have sexual relations with me.”
2 Samuel 13:13 tn Heb “and you will be like one of the fools.”
2 Samuel 13:13 tn Heb “Now.”
2 Samuel 13:14 tn Heb “to her voice.”
2 Samuel 13:14 tn Heb “and he humiliated her and lay with her.”
2 Samuel 13:15 tn Heb “and Amnon hated her with very great hatred.”
2 Samuel 13:15 tn Heb “for greater was the hatred with which he hated her than the love with which he loved her.”
2 Samuel 13:16 tn Heb “No, because this great evil is [worse] than the other which you did with me, by sending me away.” Perhaps the broken syntax reflects her hysteria and outrage.
2 Samuel 13:17 tn Heb “send this [one] from upon me to the outside.”
2 Samuel 13:18 tn The Hebrew expression used here (כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים, k^etonet passim) is found only here and in Gen 37:3, 23, 32. Hebrew פַּס (pas) can refer to the palm of the hand or the sole of the foot; here the idea is probably that of a long robe reaching to the feet and having sleeves reaching to the wrists. The notion of a “coat of many colors” (KJV, ASV “garment of divers colors”), a familiar translation for the phrase in Genesis, is based primarily on the translation adopted in the LXX χιτῶνα ποικίλον (chitōna poikilon) and does not have a great deal of support.
2 Samuel 13:18 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Amnon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 Samuel 13:18 tn The Hebrew verb is a perfect with nonconsecutive vav, probably indicating an action (locking the door) that complements the preceding one (pushing her out the door).

1 Corinthians 12:27-31

²⁷Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it. ²⁸And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues. ²⁹Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform miracles, do they? ³⁰Not all have gifts of healing, do they? Not all speak in tongues, do they? Not all interpret, do they?^[a] ³¹But you should be eager for the greater gifts.

And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison.^[b]

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Footnotes

The Rape of Tamar

Footnotes

Footnotes