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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 42

Book 2 (Psalms 42-72)

Psalm 42^[a]

For the music director, a well-written song^[b] by the Korahites.

42 As a deer^[c] longs^[d] for streams of water,
so I long^[e] for you, O God!
²I thirst^[f] for God,
for the living God.
I say,^[g] “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?”^[h]
³I cannot eat; I weep day and night.^[i]
All day long they say to me,^[j] “Where is your God?”
⁴I will remember and weep.^[k]
For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,
shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.^[l]
⁵Why are you depressed,^[m] O my soul?^[n]
Why are you upset?^[o]
Wait^[p] for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.^[q]
⁶I am depressed,^[r]
so I will pray to you while in the region of the upper Jordan,^[s]
from Hermon,^[t] from Mount Mizar.^[u]
⁷One deep stream calls out to another^[v] at the sound of your waterfalls;^[w]
all your billows and waves overwhelm me.^[x]
⁸By day the Lord decrees his loyal love,^[y]
and by night he gives me a song,^[z]
a prayer^[aa] to the God of my life.
⁹I will pray^[ab] to God, my high ridge:^[ac]
“Why do you ignore^[ad] me?
Why must I walk around mourning^[ae]
because my enemies oppress me?”
¹⁰My enemies’ taunts cut me to the bone,^[af]
as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”^[ag]
¹¹Why are you depressed,^[ah] O my soul?^[ai]
Why are you upset?^[aj]
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.^[ak]

Footnotes

Psalm 42:1 sn Psalm 42. The psalmist recalls how he once worshiped in the Lord’s temple, but laments that he is now oppressed by enemies in a foreign land. Some medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalms 42 and 43 into a single psalm.
Psalm 42:1 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
Psalm 42:1 tn Since the accompanying verb is feminine in form, the noun אָיִּל (ʾayyil, “male deer”) should be emended to אַיֶּלֶת (ʾayyelet, “female deer”). Haplography of the letter tav has occurred; note that the following verb begins with tav.
Psalm 42:1 tn Or “pants [with thirst].”
Psalm 42:1 tn Or “my soul pants [with thirst].” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
Psalm 42:2 tn Or “my soul thirsts.”
Psalm 42:2 tn The words “I say” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
Psalm 42:2 tn Heb “When will I go and appear [to] the face of God?” Some emend the Niphal verbal form אֵרָאֶה (ʾeraʾeh, “I will appear”) to a Qal אֶרְאֶה (ʾerʾeh, “I will see”; see Gen 33:10), but the Niphal can be retained if one understands ellipsis of אֶת (ʾet) before “face” (see Exod 34:24; Deut 31:11).
Psalm 42:3 tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”
Psalm 42:3 tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (beʾ^emor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (b^eʾomram, “when they say”) in v. 10.
Psalm 42:4 tn Heb “These things I will remember and I will pour out upon myself my soul.” “These things” are identified in the second half of the verse as those times when the psalmist worshiped in the Lord’s temple. The two cohortative forms indicate the psalmist’s resolve to remember and weep. The expression “pour out upon myself my soul” refers to mourning (see Job 30:16).
Psalm 42:4 tc Heb “for I was passing by with the throng [?], I was walking with [?] them to the house of God; with a voice of a ringing shout and thanksgiving a multitude was observing a festival.” The Hebrew phrase בַּסָּךְ אֶדַּדֵּם (bassakh ʾeddaddem, “with the throng [?] I was walking with [?]”) is particularly problematic. The noun סָךְ (sakh) occurs only here. If it corresponds to הָמוֹן (hamon, “multitude”) then one can propose a meaning “throng.” The present translation assumes this reading (cf. NIV, NRSV). The form אֶדַּדֵּם (“I will walk with [?]”) is also very problematic. The form can be taken as a Hitpael from דָּדָה (dadah; this verb possibly appears in Isa 38:15), but the pronominal suffix is problematic. For this reason many emend the form to ם[י]אַדִּרִ (ʾaddirim, “nobles”) or ר[י]אַדִּ (ʾaddir, “great,”) plus enclitic ם (mem). The present translation understands the latter and takes the adjective “great” as modifying “throng.” If one emends סָךְ (sakh, “throng [?]”) to סֹךְ (sokh, “shelter”; see the Qere of Ps 27:5), then ר[י]אַדִּ (ʾaddir) could be taken as a divine epithet, “[in the shelter of] the majestic one,” a reading which may find support in the LXX and Syriac Peshitta.
Psalm 42:5 tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”
Psalm 42:5 sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.
Psalm 42:5 tn Heb “and [why] are you in turmoil upon me?” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the descriptive present nuance of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.
Psalm 42:5 tn According to HALOT the term יָחַל (yakhal) means “to wait” in both the Piel and the Hiphil stems. The many contexts where the subjects are biding their time (e.g. Gen 8:10; Job 29:21; 1 Sam 10:8; 13:8; 2 Sam 18:14; 2 Kgs 6:33) suggest that simple waiting is its base meaning. In some contexts the person waiting is hopeful or expectant (Isa 42:4; Ezek 13:6). A number of translations use “hope” in Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5 (NASB, NIV, NRSV, ESV). This makes assumptions about what the Psalmist says to himself. The Psalmist presents a mixture of emotions and is at odds within himself. Given his level of distress, it is very possible that he is telling himself (his soul) to just hang on and not give up, while another part of him is confident that he will have reason to praise God in the future. The translation “wait for God” invites more consideration of the possible emotional state of the Psalmist. The nuance may be to “hope against hope,” to “gut it out” in faith despite not feeling hopeful, to trust, or to have hope.
Psalm 42:5 tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of his face.” The verse division in the Hebrew text is incorrect. אֱלֹהַי (ʾelohay, “my God”) at the beginning of v. 7 belongs with the end of v. 6 (see the corresponding refrains in 42:11 and 43:5, both of which end with “my God” after “saving acts of my face”). The Hebrew term פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”) should be emended to פְּנֵי (p^ene, “face of”). The emended text reads, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention.
Psalm 42:6 tn Heb “my God, upon me my soul bows down.” As noted earlier, “my God” belongs with the end of v. 6.
Psalm 42:6 tn Heb “therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan.” The term זָכַר (zakhar) most frequently means “to remember” but can also mean “to mention.” “Mentioning” may be viewed as an act of remembering. Or this may stand metonymically for prayer (see vv. 8-9). Based on the geography of the next line, the region of the upper Jordan, where the river originates and receives tributaries from the Hermon range, is in view.
Psalm 42:6 tc Heb “Hermons.” The plural form of the name occurs only here in the OT. Some suggest the plural refers to multiple mountain peaks (cf. NASB) or simply retain the plural in the translation (cf. NEB), but the final mem (ם) is probably dittographic (note that the next form in the text begins with the letter mem) or enclitic. At a later time it was misinterpreted as a plural marker and vocalized accordingly.
Psalm 42:6 tn The Hebrew term מִצְעָר (mitsʿar) is probably a proper name (“Mizar”), designating a particular mountain in the Hermon region. The name appears only here in the OT.
Psalm 42:7 tn Heb “deep calls to deep.” The Hebrew noun תְּהוֹם (t^ehom) often refers to the deep sea, but here, where it is associated with Hermon, it probably refers to mountain streams. The word can be used of streams and rivers (see Deut 8:7; Ezek 31:4).
Psalm 42:7 tn The noun צִנּוֹר (tsinnor, “waterfall”) occurs only here and in 2 Sam 5:8, where it apparently refers to a water shaft. The psalmist alludes to the loud rushing sound of mountain streams and cascading waterfalls. Using the poetic device of personification, he imagines the streams calling out to each other as they hear the sound of the waterfalls.
Psalm 42:7 tn Heb “pass over me” (see Jonah 2:3). As he hears the sound of the rushing water, the psalmist imagines himself engulfed in the current. By implication he likens his emotional distress to such an experience.
Psalm 42:8 sn The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the Lord”).
Psalm 42:8 tn Heb “his song [is] with me.”
Psalm 42:8 tc A few medieval Hebrew mss read תְּהִלָּה (t^ehillah, “praise”) instead of תְּפִלָּה (t^efillah, “prayer”).
Psalm 42:9 tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.
Psalm 42:9 tn This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28; Pss 18:2; 31:3.
Psalm 42:9 tn Or “forget.”
Psalm 42:9 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.
Psalm 42:10 tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and Symmachus’ Greek version read “like” instead of “with.”
Psalm 42:10 sn “Where is your God?” The enemies ask this same question in v. 3.
Psalm 42:11 tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”
Psalm 42:11 sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.
Psalm 42:11 tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”
Psalm 42:11 tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (y^eshuʿot f^eney ʾelohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God”), that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is almost identical to the one in v. 5. See also Ps 43:5.

Psalm 43

Psalm 43^[a]

43 Vindicate me, O God!
Fight for me^[b] against an ungodly nation.
Deliver me^[c] from deceitful and evil men.^[d]
²For you are the God who shelters me.^[e]
Why do you reject me?^[f]
Why must I walk around^[g] mourning^[h]
because my enemies oppress me?
³Reveal^[i] your light^[j] and your faithfulness.
They will lead me;^[k]
they will escort^[l] me back to your holy hill,^[m]
and to the place where you live.^[n]
⁴Then I will go^[o] to the altar of God,
to the God who gives me ecstatic joy,^[p]
so that I may express my thanks to you,^[q] O God, my God, with a harp.
⁵Why are you depressed,^[r] O my soul?^[s]
Why are you upset?^[t]
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.^[u]

Footnotes

Psalm 43:1 sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalm 43 and Psalm 42 into one psalm. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading, suggesting that it was originally the third and concluding section of Psalm 42. Ps 43:5 is identical to the refrain in Ps 42:11 and almost identical to the refrain in Ps 42:5.
Psalm 43:1 tn Or “argue my case.”
Psalm 43:1 tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.
Psalm 43:1 tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.
Psalm 43:2 tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.
Psalm 43:2 tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).
Psalm 43:2 tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.
Psalm 43:2 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.
Psalm 43:3 tn Heb “send.”
Psalm 43:3 sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.
Psalm 43:3 tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.
Psalm 43:3 tn Heb “bring.”
Psalm 43:3 sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.
Psalm 43:3 tn Or “to your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the Lord’s special dwelling place (see Pss 46:4; 84:1; 132:5, 7).
Psalm 43:4 tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”
Psalm 43:4 tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.
Psalm 43:4 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.
Psalm 43:5 tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”
Psalm 43:5 sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.
Psalm 43:5 tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”
Psalm 43:5 tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (y^eshuʿot f^ene ʾelohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is identical to the one in Ps 42:11. See also 42:5, which differs only slightly.

Genesis 24:1-21

The Wife for Isaac

24 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years,^[a] and the Lord had blessed him^[b] in everything. ²Abraham said to his servant, the senior one^[c] in his household who was in charge of everything he had, “Put your hand under my thigh^[d] ³so that I may make you solemnly promise^[e] by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth: You must not acquire^[f] a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living. ⁴You must go instead to my country and to my relatives^[g] to find^[h] a wife for my son Isaac.”

⁵The servant asked him, “What if the woman is not willing to come back with me^[i] to this land? Must I then^[j] take your son back to the land from which you came?”

⁶“Be careful^[k] never to take my son back there!” Abraham told him.^[l] ⁷“The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives,^[m] promised me with a solemn oath,^[n] ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel^[o] before you so that you may find^[p] a wife for my son from there. ⁸But if the woman is not willing to come back with you,^[q] you will be free^[r] from this oath of mine. But you must not take my son back there!” ⁹So the servant placed his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and gave his solemn promise he would carry out his wishes.^[s]

¹⁰Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal.^[t] He journeyed^[u] to the region of Aram Naharaim^[v] and the city of Nahor. ¹¹He made the camels kneel down by the well^[w] outside the city. It was evening,^[x] the time when the women would go out to draw water. ¹²He prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, guide me today.^[y] Be faithful^[z] to my master Abraham. ¹³Here I am, standing by the spring,^[aa] and the daughters of the people^[ab] who live in the town are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴I will say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jar so I may drink.’ May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’^[ac] In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.”^[ad]

¹⁵Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah^[ae] with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah (Milcah was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor).^[af] ¹⁶Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever been physically intimate with her.^[ag] She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up. ¹⁷Abraham’s servant^[ah] ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a sip of water from your jug.” ¹⁸“Drink, my lord,” she replied, and quickly lowering^[ai] her jug to her hands, she gave him a drink. ¹⁹When she had done so,^[aj] she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have drunk as much as they want.” ²⁰She quickly emptied^[ak] her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well to draw more water until she had drawn enough for all his camels. ²¹Silently the man watched her with interest to determine^[al] if the Lord had made his journey successful^[am] or not.

Footnotes

Genesis 24:1 tn Heb “days.”
Genesis 24:1 tn Heb “Abraham.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.
Genesis 24:2 tn The Hebrew term זָקֵן (zaqen) may refer to the servant who is oldest in age or senior in authority (or both).
Genesis 24:2 sn Put your hand under my thigh. The taking of this oath had to do with the sanctity of the family and the continuation of the family line. See D. R. Freedman, “Put Your Hand Under My Thigh—the Patriarchal Oath,” BAR 2 (1976): 2-4, 42.
Genesis 24:3 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose.
Genesis 24:3 tn Heb “because you must not take.”
Genesis 24:4 tn Heb “for to my country and my relatives you must go.”
Genesis 24:4 tn Heb “and take.”
Genesis 24:5 tn Heb “to go after me.”
Genesis 24:5 tn In the Hebrew text the construction is emphatic; the infinitive absolute precedes the imperfect. However, it is difficult to reflect this emphasis in an English translation.
Genesis 24:6 tn Heb “guard yourself.”
Genesis 24:6 tn The introductory clause “And Abraham said to him” has been moved to the end of the opening sentence of direct discourse in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Genesis 24:7 tn Or “the land of my birth.”
Genesis 24:7 tn Heb “and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying.”
Genesis 24:7 tn Or “his messenger.”
Genesis 24:7 tn Heb “before you and you will take.”
Genesis 24:8 tn Heb “ to go after you.”
Genesis 24:8 sn You will be free. If the prospective bride was not willing to accompany the servant back to Canaan, the servant would be released from his oath to Abraham.
Genesis 24:9 tn Heb “and he swore to him concerning this matter.”
Genesis 24:10 tn Heb “and every good thing of his master was in his hand.” The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, explaining that he took all kinds of gifts to be used at his discretion.
Genesis 24:10 tn Heb “and he arose and went.”
Genesis 24:10 tn The words “the region of” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.sn Aram Naharaim means in Hebrew “Aram of the Two Rivers,” a region in northern Mesopotamia.
Genesis 24:11 tn Heb “well of water.”
Genesis 24:11 tn Heb “at the time of evening.”
Genesis 24:12 tn Heb “make it happen before me today.” Although a number of English translations understand this as a request for success in the task (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV) it is more likely that the servant is requesting an omen or sign from God (v. 14).
Genesis 24:12 tn Heb “act in loyal love with” or “show kindness to.”
Genesis 24:13 tn Heb “the spring of water.”
Genesis 24:13 tn Heb “the men.”
Genesis 24:14 sn I will also give your camels water. It would be an enormous test for a young woman to water ten camels. The idea is that such a woman would not only be industrious but hospitable and generous.
Genesis 24:14 tn Heb “And let the young woman to whom I say, ‘Lower your jar that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink and I will also give your camels water,’—her you have appointed for your servant, for Isaac, and by it I will know that you have acted in faithfulness with my master.”
Genesis 24:15 tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out!” Using the participle introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator dramatically transports the audience back into the event and invites them to see Rebekah through the servant’s eyes.
Genesis 24:15 tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out—[she] who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham—and her jug [was] on her shoulder.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Genesis 24:16 tn Heb “And the young woman was very good of appearance, a virgin, and a man had not known her.” The first two terms נַעֲרָה (naʿarah) and בְּתוּלָה (betulah) can refer to young girls, either unmarried or married; see Judges 9:3 and Joel 1:8, respectively, for examples of a married נַעֲרָה (naʿarah) and בְּתוּלָה (betulah). While the term בְּתוּלָה (betulah) does not have to mean “virgin” it can refer to a girl who is a virgin. Further, in legal literature it is used as a technical term for “virgin” (Exod 22:16-17; Deut 22:19, 23, 28). Akkadian behaves similarly in that the cognate term batultu, meaning an adolescent girl but not necessarily a “virgin,” is used to mean “virgin” in Neo-Assyrian laws and Neo-Babylonian marriage contracts (CAD B 173-174). This passage is not legal literature, so the meaning “virgin” is clarified by an additional clause. The expression “to know” is a euphemism for sexual relations, and the English euphemism “be intimate with” is close in meaning to the Hebrew. The Semitic languages may have lacked a term that specifically meant “virgin” and so promoted other terms to indicate a virgin, whether by the context of the type of literature (e.g. legal literature) or by the addition of explanatory clauses.
Genesis 24:17 tn Heb “and the servant.” The word “Abraham’s” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Genesis 24:18 tn Heb “and she hurried and lowered.”
Genesis 24:19 tn Heb “when she had finished giving him a drink.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Genesis 24:20 tn Heb “and she hurried and emptied.”
Genesis 24:21 tn Heb “to know.”
Genesis 24:21 tn The Hebrew term צָלָה (tsalah), meaning “to make successful” in the Hiphil verbal stem, is a key term in the story (see vv. 40, 42, 56).

Romans 2:17-29

The Condemnation of the Jew

¹⁷But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law^[a] and boast of your relationship to God^[b] ¹⁸and know his will^[c] and approve the superior things because you receive instruction from the law,^[d] ¹⁹and if you are convinced^[e] that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰an educator of the senseless, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the essential features of knowledge and of the truth— ²¹therefore^[f] you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? ²²You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor^[g] idols, do you rob temples? ²³You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! ²⁴For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”^[h]

²⁵For circumcision^[i] has its value if you practice the law, but^[j] if you break the law,^[k] your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶Therefore if the uncircumcised man obeys^[l] the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷And the physically uncircumcised man,^[m] by keeping the law, will judge you to be the transgressor of the law, even though^[n] you have the letter^[o] and circumcision! ²⁸For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, ²⁹but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart^[p] by the Spirit^[q] and not by the letter.^[r] This person’s^[s] praise is not from people but from God.

Footnotes

Romans 2:17 sn The law refers to the Mosaic law, described mainly in the OT books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Romans 2:17 tn Grk “boast in God.” This may be an allusion to Jer 9:24.
Romans 2:18 tn Grk “the will.”
Romans 2:18 tn Grk “because of being instructed out of the law.”
Romans 2:19 tn This verb is parallel to the verbs in vv. 17-18a, so it shares the conditional meaning even though the word “if” is not repeated.
Romans 2:21 tn The structure of vv. 21-24 is difficult. Some take these verses as the apodosis of the conditional clauses (protases) in vv. 17-20; others see vv. 17-20 as an instance of anacoluthon (a broken off or incomplete construction).
Romans 2:22 tn Or “detest.”
Romans 2:24 sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.
Romans 2:25 sn Circumcision refers to male circumcision as prescribed in the OT, which was given as a covenant to Abraham in Gen 17:10-14. Its importance for Judaism can hardly be overstated: According to J. D. G. Dunn (Romans [WBC], 1:120) it was the “single clearest distinguishing feature of the covenant people.” J. Marcus has suggested that the terms used for circumcision (περιτομή, peritomē) and uncircumcision (ἀκροβυστία, akrobustia) were probably derogatory slogans used by Jews and Gentiles to describe their opponents (“The Circumcision and the Uncircumcision in Rome,” NTS 35 [1989]: 77-80).
Romans 2:25 tn This contrast is clearer and stronger in Greek than can be easily expressed in English.
Romans 2:25 tn Grk “if you should be a transgressor of the law.”
Romans 2:26 tn The Greek word φυλάσσω (phulassō, traditionally translated “keep”) in this context connotes preservation of and devotion to an object as well as obedience.
Romans 2:27 tn Grk “the uncircumcision by nature.” The word “man” is supplied here to make clear that male circumcision (or uncircumcision) is in view.
Romans 2:27 tn Grk “through,” but here the preposition seems to mean “(along) with,” “though provided with,” as BDAG 224 s.v. διά A.3.c indicates.
Romans 2:27 tn Or “written code.”
Romans 2:29 sn On circumcision is of the heart see Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:9.
Romans 2:29 tn Some have taken the phrase ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati, “by/in [the] S/spirit”) not as a reference to the Holy Spirit, but referring to circumcision as “spiritual and not literal” (RSV).
Romans 2:29 tn Or “written code.”
Romans 2:29 tn Grk “whose.” The relative pronoun has been replaced by the phrase “this person’s” and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started in the translation.

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Book 2 (Psalms 42-72)

Psalm 42[a]

For the music director, a well-written song[b] by the Korahites.

Footnotes

Psalm 43[a]

Footnotes

The Wife for Isaac

Footnotes

The Condemnation of the Jew

Footnotes

Psalm 42^[a]

For the music director, a well-written song^[b] by the Korahites.

Psalm 43^[a]