Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
5 Lord, your ·love [loyalty; covenant love] ·reaches [extends] to the heavens,
your ·loyalty [faithfulness] to the skies.
6 Your ·goodness [righteousness] is like the mighty mountains [C majestic].
Your ·justice [judgment] is like the great ocean [C deep].
Lord, you ·protect [save] both people and animals.
7 God, ·your love is so precious [L how precious is your loyalty/covenant love?]!
You ·protect [provide refuge for] people in the shadow of your wings.
8 They ·eat [feast on; are filled with] ·the rich food [L from the fat/abundance] in your house,
and you let them drink from your river of ·pleasure [delights].
9 You are the ·giver [L fountain] of life.
·Your light lets us enjoy life [L In your light we see light].
10 Continue to ·love [show loyalty/covenant love to] those who know you
and ·to do good [L your good/righteousness] to those who are ·good [upright/virtuous in heart].
19 “I, the Lord, said,
‘How ·happy I would be to treat you as [L I would set you among] my own children
and give you a ·pleasant [favored; coveted; desired] land,
a ·land [inheritance] more beautiful than that of any other nation [Ex. 3:8, 17; Lam. 2:15; Ezek. 20:6; Dan. 11:16, 41].’
I thought you would call me ‘My Father’
and not turn away from me.
20 But like a woman who is ·unfaithful [a traitor; treacherous] to her husband,
·family [L house] of Israel, you have been unfaithful [a traitor; treacherous] to me,” says the Lord.
21 You can hear ·crying [L a voice] on the bare hilltops [3:2].
It is the people of Israel crying and ·praying for mercy [supplicating].
They have ·become very evil [L wandered off their path]
and have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Come back to me, you ·unfaithful [apostate] children,
and I will ·forgive [L heal] you for being ·unfaithful [apostate].”
“Yes, we will come to you,
because you are the Lord our God.
23 ·It was foolish to worship idols on [L Deception/Illusions come from] the hills
and ·orgies [L a tumult] on the mountains.
Surely the salvation of Israel
comes from the Lord our God.
24 Since our youth, shameful things [C false gods] have eaten up
everything our ·ancestors [fathers] worked for—
their flocks and herds,
their sons and daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our ·shame [humiliation],
and let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned against the Lord our God,
both we and our ·ancestors [fathers].
From our youth until now,
we have not ·obeyed [L listened to the voice of] the Lord our God.”
About Marriage
7 Now ·I will discuss [L concerning] the things you wrote me about [C in a letter from the Corinthians; see 8:1; 12:1; 16:1]. It is good for a man not to ·have sexual relations with [L touch; C a euphemism for sex] a woman [C probably another slogan (6:12; 8:1, 4; 10:23) asserting that a celibate lifestyle was spiritually superior]. 2 But because ·sexual sin is a danger [of sexual temptations; L of sexual sins], each man should ·have [or have sexual relations with] his own wife, and each woman should ·have [or have sexual relations with] her own husband. 3 The husband should give his wife all that he owes her as his wife [C meet her sexual needs]. And the wife should give her husband all that she owes him as her husband [C meet his sexual needs]. 4 The wife does not have ·full rights [L authority] over her own body; her husband shares them. And the husband does not have ·full rights [authority] over his own body; his wife shares them [C revolutionary teaching in the first century, when wives were generally viewed as the possession of their husbands]. 5 Do not ·refuse to give your bodies to [refuse sex to; L deprive] each other, unless you both agree to stay away from sexual relations for a time so you can ·give your time [devote yourselves] to prayer. Then ·come together again [resume your sexual relationship] so Satan cannot tempt you because of a lack of self-control. 6 I say this ·to give you permission to stay away from sexual relations for a time [L as a concession/allowance]. It is not a command to do so. 7 I wish that everyone were like me [C unmarried], but each person has his own gift from God. One has one gift, another has another gift.
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.