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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 20

Psalm 20^[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

20 May the Lord answer^[b] you^[c] when you are in trouble;^[d]
may the God of Jacob^[e] make you secure.
²May he send you help from his temple;^[f]
from Zion may he give you support.
³May he take notice of^[g] all your offerings;
may he accept^[h] your burnt sacrifice. (Selah)
⁴May he grant your heart’s desire;^[i]
may he bring all your plans to pass.^[j]
⁵Then we will shout for joy over your^[k] victory;
we will rejoice^[l] in the name of our God.
May the Lord grant all your requests.
⁶Now I am sure^[m] that the Lord will deliver^[n] his chosen king;^[o]
he will intervene for him^[p] from his holy, heavenly temple,^[q]
and display his mighty ability to deliver.^[r]
⁷Some trust in chariots and others in horses,^[s]
but we^[t] depend on^[u] the Lord our God.
⁸They will fall down,^[v]
but we^[w] will stand firm.^[x]
⁹The Lord will deliver the king;^[y]
he will answer us^[z] when we call to him for help!^[aa]

Footnotes

Psalm 20:1 sn Psalm 20. The people pray for the king’s success in battle. When the king declares his assurance that the Lord will answer the people’s prayer, they affirm their confidence in God’s enablement.
Psalm 20:1 tn The prefixed verbal forms here and in vv. 1b-5 are interpreted as jussives of prayer (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). Another option is to understand them as imperfects, “the Lord will answer,” etc. In this case the people declare their confidence that the Lord will intervene on behalf of the king and extend to him his favor.
Psalm 20:1 sn May the Lord answer you. The people address the king as they pray to the Lord.
Psalm 20:1 tn Heb “in a day of trouble.”
Psalm 20:1 tn Heb “the name of the God of Jacob.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his very person and to the divine characteristics suggested by his name, in this case “God of Jacob,” which highlights his relationship to Israel.
Psalm 20:2 tc Heb “from [the] temple.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix (וֹ, holem vav) has probably been accidentally omitted by haplography. Note that the following word begins with a prefixed vav (ו). See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 184.
Psalm 20:3 tn Or “remember.” For other examples of the verb זָכַר (zakhar) carrying the nuance “take notice of,” see Pss 8:4 and 9:12.
Psalm 20:3 tc Heb “consider as fat.” The verbal form should probably be emended to יְדַשְּׁנֶהָ (y^edash^eneha), the final he (ה) being understood as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix referring back to the feminine noun “burnt sacrifice.”
Psalm 20:4 tn Heb “may he give to you according to your heart.” This probably refers to the king’s prayer for protection and victory in battle. See vv. 5-6.
Psalm 20:4 sn May he bring all your plans to pass. This probably refers to the king’s strategy for battle.
Psalm 20:5 sn Your victory. Here the king is addressed (see v. 1).
Psalm 20:5 tc The Hebrew verb דָּגַל (dagal) occurs only here in the Qal. If accepted as original, it may carry the nuance “raise a banner,” but it is preferable to emend the form to נָגִיל (nagil, “we will rejoice”) which provides better parallelism with “shout for joy” and fits well with the prepositional phrase “in the name of our God” (see Ps 89:16).
Psalm 20:6 tn Or “know.”sn Now I am sure. The speaker is not identified. It is likely that the king, referring to himself in the third person (note “his chosen king”), responds to the people’s prayer. Perhaps his confidence is due to the reception of a divine oracle of salvation.
Psalm 20:6 tn The perfect verbal form is probably used rhetorically to state that the deliverance is as good as done. In this way the speaker emphasizes the certainty of the deliverance. Another option is to take the statement as generalizing; the psalmist affirms that the Lord typically delivers the king.
Psalm 20:6 tn Heb “his anointed one.” This title refers to the Davidic king. See Pss 2:2 and 18:50.
Psalm 20:6 tn Heb “he will answer him.”
Psalm 20:6 tn Heb “from his holy heavens.”
Psalm 20:6 tn Heb “with mighty acts of deliverance of his right hand.” The Lord’s “right hand” here symbolizes his power to protect and deliver (see Ps 17:7).
Psalm 20:7 tn Heb “these in chariots and these in horses.” No verb appears; the verb “invoke” is to be supplied from the following line. The convention of backward ellipsis can apply to the final word of the 2nd line, as in this verse. In this case the idea would be that some “invoke” (i.e., trust in) their military might for victory (cf. NEB “boast”; NIV “trust”; NRSV “take pride”). Verse 8 suggests that the “some/others” mentioned here are the nation’s enemies.
Psalm 20:7 tn The grammatical construction (conjunction + pronominal subject) highlights the contrast between God’s faithful people and the others mentioned in the previous line.
Psalm 20:7 tc The LXX translates the verb as μεγαλυνθησόμεθα (megalunthēsometha) “we will boast.” This may reflect another verb, the Hiphil of גָּבַר (gavar), and depends on two letter confusions, ג (gimel) for ז (zayin) and ב (bet) for כ (kaf).tn Heb “we invoke the name of.” The Hiphil of זָכַר (zakhar), when combined with the phrase “in the name,” means “to invoke” (see Josh 23:7; Isa 48:1; Amos 6:10). By invoking the Lord’s name in prayer, the people demonstrate their trust in him.
Psalm 20:8 tn Or “stumble and fall down.”
Psalm 20:8 tn The grammatical construction (conjunction + pronominal subject) highlights the contrast between God’s victorious people and the defeated enemies mentioned in the previous line. The perfect verbal forms either generalize or, more likely, state rhetorically the people’s confidence as they face the approaching battle. They describe the demise of the enemy as being as good as done.
Psalm 20:8 tn Or “rise up and remain upright.” On the meaning of the Hitpolel of עוּד (ʿud), see HALOT 795 s.v. I עוד. The verbal forms (a perfect followed by a prefixed form with vav [ו] consecutive) either generalize or, more likely, state rhetorically the people’s confidence as they face the approaching battle.
Psalm 20:9 tc This translation assumes an emendation of the verbal form הוֹשִׁיעָה (hoshiʿah). As it stands, the form is an imperative. In this case the people return to the petitionary mood with which the psalm begins (“O Lord, deliver”). But the immediate context is one of confidence (vv. 6-8), not petition (vv. 1-5). If one takes the final he on the verb “deliver” as dittographic (note the initial he (ה) on the following phrase, “the king”), one can repoint the verbal form as a perfect and understand it as expressing the people’s confidence, “the Lord will deliver the king” (see v. 6). The Hebrew scribal tradition takes “the king” with the following line, in which case it would be best interpreted as a divine title, “may the King answer us” or “the king will answer us” (see Pss 98:6; 145:1). However, the poetic parallelism is better balanced if “the king” is taken with the first line. In this case the referent is the Davidic king, who is earlier called the Lord’s “anointed one” (cf. note on “chosen king” in v. 6; see Pss 21:7; 45:5, 11; 63:11).
Psalm 20:9 tn If the imperative is retained in the preceding line, then the prefixed verbal form is best taken as a jussive of prayer, “may he answer us.” However, if the imperative in the previous line is emended to a perfect, the prefixed form is best taken as imperfect, “he will answer us” (see the note on the word “king” at the end of the previous line).
Psalm 20:9 tn Heb “in the day we call.”

Habakkuk 3:2-15

²Lord, I have heard the report of what you did;^[a]
I am awed,^[b] Lord, by what you accomplished.^[c]
In our time^[d] repeat those deeds;^[e]
in our time reveal them again.^[f]
But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy!^[g]
³God comes^[h] from Teman,^[i]
the Holy One^[j] from Mount Paran.^[k] Selah.^[l]
His splendor has covered the skies,^[m]
the earth is full of his glory.^[n]
⁴His brightness will be as lightning;^[o]
a two-pronged lightning bolt flashing from his hand.^[p]
This is the outward display of his power.^[q]
⁵Plague will go^[r] before him;
pestilence^[s] will march^[t] right behind him.^[u]
⁶He took his battle position^[v] and shook^[w] the earth;
with a mere look he frightened^[x] the nations.
The ancient mountains disintegrated;^[y]
the primeval hills were flattened.
His are ancient roads.^[z]
⁷I saw the tents of Cushan overwhelmed by trouble;^[aa]
the tent curtains of the land of Midian were^[ab] shaking.^[ac]
⁸Was^[ad] the Lord mad at the rivers?
Were you angry with the rivers?
Were you enraged at the sea?^[ae]
Such that^[af] you would climb into your horse-drawn chariots,^[ag]
your victorious chariots?^[ah]
⁹Your bow is ready for action;^[ai]
you commission your arrows.^[aj] Selah.
You cause flash floods on the earth’s surface.^[ak]
¹⁰When the mountains see you, they shake.
The torrential downpour sweeps through.^[al]
The great deep^[am] shouts out;
it lifts its hands high.^[an]
¹¹The sun and moon stand still in their courses;^[ao]
the flash of your arrows drives them away,^[ap]
the bright light of your lightning-quick spear.^[aq]
¹²You furiously stomp on the earth;
you angrily trample down the nations.
¹³You march out to deliver your people,
to deliver your special servant.^[ar]
You strike the leader of the wicked nation,^[as]
laying him open from the lower body to the neck.^[at] Selah.
¹⁴You pierce the heads of his warriors^[au] with a spear.^[av]
They storm forward to scatter us;^[aw]
they shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition.^[ax]
¹⁵But you trample on the sea with your horses,
on the surging, raging waters.^[ay]

Footnotes

Habakkuk 3:2 tn Heb “your report,” that is, “the report concerning you.”
Habakkuk 3:2 tn Heb “I fear.” Some prefer to read, “I saw, Lord, what you accomplished” (cf. NEB).
Habakkuk 3:2 tn Heb “your work.”
Habakkuk 3:2 tn Heb “in the midst of years.” The meaning of the phrase, which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain (cf. NIV “in our day”; NEB, NASB “in the midst of the years”).
Habakkuk 3:2 tn Heb “revive it” (i.e., “your work”).
Habakkuk 3:2 tn Heb “make known.” The implied object is “your deeds”; the pronoun “them,” referring to “deeds” in the previous line, was employed in the translation to avoid redundancy. The suffix on the form חַיֵּיהוּ (khayyehu, “revive it”) does double duty in the parallelism.
Habakkuk 3:2 tn Heb “in turmoil remember [to show] compassion.”
Habakkuk 3:3 tn In vv. 3-15 there is a mixture of eleven prefixed verbal forms (without vav [ו] consecutive or with vav conjunctive), sixteen suffixed forms, and three prefixed forms with vav consecutive. All of the forms are best taken as indicating completed action from the speaker’s standpoint (all of the prefixed forms being regarded as preterites). The forms could be translated with the past tense, but this would be misleading, for this is not a mere recital of God’s deeds in Israel’s past history. Habakkuk here describes, in terms reminiscent of past theophanies, his prophetic vision of a future theophany (see v. 7, “I saw”). From the prophet’s visionary standpoint the theophany is “as good as done.” This translation uses the English present tense throughout these verses to avoid misunderstanding. A similar strategy is followed by the NEB; in contrast note the NIV and NRSV, which consistently use past tenses throughout the section, and the NASB, which employs present tenses in vv. 3-5 and mostly past tenses in vv. 6-15.
Habakkuk 3:3 sn Teman was a city or region in southern Edom.
Habakkuk 3:3 tn Or “Sovereign One.” The term קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy [one]”) here refers to God’s sovereignty. See v. 3b.
Habakkuk 3:3 sn The precise location of Mount Paran is unknown, but like Teman it was located to the southeast of Israel. Habakkuk saw God marching from the direction of Sinai.
Habakkuk 3:3 tn Selah. The meaning of this musical term (which also appears in vv. 9, 13, and in the Psalms as well) is unknown.
Habakkuk 3:3 tn Or “heavens.”
Habakkuk 3:3 tn Heb “praise.” This could mean that the earth responds in praise as God’s splendor is observed in the skies. However, the Hebrew term תְּהִלָּה (t^ehillah, “praise”) can stand by metonymy for what prompts it (i.e., fame, glory, deeds).
Habakkuk 3:4 tc The subject, נֹגָהּ (nogah, “brightness”), is masculine but the verb is feminine. The LXX and most English translations add “his” to the subject. The verb form in the MT, an imperfect form of the stative verb הָיָה (hayah, “to be”) should always be future tense, as here in the LXX, and in English translations in the Psalms. But here most English translations use past or present. The BHS editors suggest emending the verb תִּהְיֶה (tihyeh) to the preposition and suffix תַּחְתָּיו (takhtayv) to make “[his] brightness is as lightning beneath him.” While this gets rid of the grammatical problem using similar looking consonants, it is speculative.tn Heb “[His] radiance is like light.” Some see a reference to sunlight, but the Hebrew word אוֹר (ʾor) here refers to lightning, as the context indicates (see vv. 4b, 9, 11). The word also refers to lightning in Job 36:32 and 37:3, 11, 15.
Habakkuk 3:4 tn Heb “two horns from his hand [belong] to him.” Sharp, pointed lightning bolts have a “horn-like” appearance. The weapon of “double lightning” appears often in Mesopotamian representations of gods. See Elizabeth Van Buren, Symbols of the Gods in Mesopotamian Art (AnOr), 70-73. The term קֶרֶן (qeren), here in the dual form, commonly means “horn” but can also be used metaphorically (HALOT 1145 s.v. 4).
Habakkuk 3:4 tn Heb “and there [is] the covering of his strength”; or “and there is his strong covering.” The meaning of this line is unclear. The point may be that the lightning bolts are merely a covering, or outward display, of God’s raw power. In Job 36:32 one reads that God “covers his hands with light [or, “lightning”].”
Habakkuk 3:5 tn Or “goes.” The imperfect form of a dynamic verbal root may be either present or future. Here it is translated in parallel to the future tense in v. 4.
Habakkuk 3:5 tn Because of parallelism with the previous line, the meaning “pestilence” is favored for רֶשֶׁף (reshef) here, but usage elsewhere suggests a destructive bolt of fire may be in view. See BDB 958 s.v. sn There are mythological echoes here, for in Canaanite literature the god Resheph aids Baal in his battles. See J. Day, “New Light on the Mythological Background of the Allusion to Resheph in Habakkuk III 5, ” VT 29 (1979): 353-55.
Habakkuk 3:5 tn Or “marches.” See note 1.
Habakkuk 3:5 tn Heb “will go out at his feet.”
Habakkuk 3:6 tn Heb “he stood” or “took a stand.” The verb forms change to perfects and preterites in this verse, signaling past time and therefore a shift in perspective. The section starting here, the memory of the past, functions to certify the character of the future.
Habakkuk 3:6 tn This verb has been traditionally understood as “measure” (from מָדַד, madad), but the immediately following context (vv. 6b-7) favors the meaning “shake” from מוּד (mud; see HALOT 555 s.v.).
Habakkuk 3:6 tn Heb “he looked and made [the] nations jump back [in fear].”
Habakkuk 3:6 tn Or “crumbled,” “broke into pieces.”
Habakkuk 3:6 tn Heb “ancient ways [or, “doings”] are his.” The meaning of this line is unclear. Traditionally it has been translated, “his ways are eternal.” However, in this context (see vv. 3, 7) it is more likely that the line speaks of the Lord taking the same route as in the days of Moses and Deborah (see Deut 33:2; Judg 5:4). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 154.
Habakkuk 3:7 tn Heb “under trouble I saw the tents of Cushan.”sn Cushan was located in southern Transjordan.
Habakkuk 3:7 tn The prefixed verb form is understood as past habitual just as the imperfect functions in background clauses in narrative.
Habakkuk 3:7 tn R. D. Patterson takes תַּחַת אֲוֶן (takhat ʾaven) in the first line as a place name, “Tahath-Aven.” (Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [WEC], 237.) In this case one may translate the verse as a tricolon: “I look at Tahath-Aven. The tents of Cushan are shaking, the tent curtains of the land of Midian.”
Habakkuk 3:8 tn The verb is a perfect form and the root is stative so it could be past or present. Most translations render it as past (e.g. NASB, NIV, ESV, KJV, NRSV), though Holman renders it present tense.
Habakkuk 3:8 sn The following context suggests these questions should be answered, “Yes.” The rivers and the sea, symbolizing here the hostile nations (v. 12), are objects of the Lord’s anger (vv. 10, 15).
Habakkuk 3:8 tn Heb “so that.” Here כִּי (ki) is resultative. See the note on the phrase “make it” in 2:18.
Habakkuk 3:8 tn Heb “you mount your horses.” As the next line makes clear, the Lord is pictured here as a charioteer, not a cavalryman. Note NRSV here, “when you drove your horses, // your chariots to victory.”
Habakkuk 3:8 tn Or “chariots of deliverance.”
Habakkuk 3:9 tn Heb “[into] nakedness your bow is laid bare.”
Habakkuk 3:9 tn Heb “sworn in are the arrow-shafts with a word.” The passive participle of שָׁבַע (shava’), “swear an oath,” also occurs in Ezek 21:23 ET (21:28 HT) referencing those who have sworn allegiance. Here the Lord’s arrows are personified and viewed as having received a commission which they have vowed to uphold. In Jer 47:6-7 the Lord’s sword is given such a charge. In the Ugaritic myths Baal’s weapons are formally assigned the task of killing the sea god Yam.
Habakkuk 3:9 tn Heb “[with] rivers you split open the earth.” A literal rendering like “You split the earth with rivers” (so NIV, NRSV) suggests geological activity to the modern reader, but in the present context of a violent thunderstorm, the idea of streams swollen to torrents by downpours better fits the imagery.sn As the Lord comes in a thunderstorm the downpour causes streams to swell to river-like proportions and spread over the surface of the ground, causing flash floods.
Habakkuk 3:10 tn Heb “a heavy rain of waters passes by.” Perhaps the flash floods produced by the downpour are in view here.
Habakkuk 3:10 sn The great deep, which is to be equated with the sea (vv. 8, 15), is a symbol of chaos and represents the Lord’s enemies.
Habakkuk 3:10 sn Lifting the hands here suggests panic and is accompanied by a cry for mercy (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19). The forces of chaos cannot withstand the Lord’s power revealed in the storm.
Habakkuk 3:11 tn Heb “in their lofty dwelling places.”
Habakkuk 3:11 tn Or “at the light of your arrows they vanish.”
Habakkuk 3:11 tn Heb “at the brightness of the lightning of your spear.”
Habakkuk 3:13 tn Heb “anointed one.” In light of the parallelism with “your people” in the preceding line this could refer to Israel, but elsewhere the Lord’s anointed one is always an individual. The Davidic king is the more likely referent here.
Habakkuk 3:13 tn Heb “you strike the head from the house of wickedness.”
Habakkuk 3:13 tn Heb “laying bare [from] foundation to neck.”
Habakkuk 3:14 tn Some take “warriors” with the following line, in which case one should translate, “you pierce [his] head with a spear; his warriors storm forward to scatter us” (cf. NIV). The meaning of the Hebrew term פְּרָזוֹ (p^erazo), translated here “his warriors,” is uncertain.
Habakkuk 3:14 tc Heb “his shafts.” Some emend to “your shafts.” The translation above assumes an emendation to מַטֶּה (matteh, “shaft, spear”), the vav-yod (ו-י) sequence being derived from an original he (ה).
Habakkuk 3:14 tn Heb “me,” but the author speaks as a representative of God’s people.
Habakkuk 3:14 tn Heb “their rejoicing is like devouring the poor in secret.”
Habakkuk 3:15 tn Heb “the foaming of the mighty [or “many”] waters.”

Luke 18:31-34

Another Prediction of Jesus’ Passion

³¹Then^[a] Jesus^[b] took the twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.^[c] ³²For he will be handed over^[d] to the Gentiles; he will be mocked,^[e] mistreated,^[f] and spat on.^[g] ³³They will flog him severely^[h] and kill him. Yet^[i] on the third day he will rise again.” ³⁴But^[j] the twelve^[k] understood none of these things. This^[l] saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp^[m] what Jesus meant.^[n]

Footnotes

Luke 18:31 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
Luke 18:31 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Luke 18:31 tn Or “fulfilled.” Jesus goes to Jerusalem by divine plan as the scripture records (Luke 2:39; 12:50; 22:37; Acts 13:29). See Luke 9:22, 44.
Luke 18:32 sn The passive voice verb be handed over does not indicate by whom, but other passages note the Jewish leadership and betrayal (9:22, 44).
Luke 18:32 sn See Luke 22:63; 23:11, 36.
Luke 18:32 tn Or “and insulted.” L&N 33.390 and 88.130 note ὑβρίζω (hubrizō) can mean either “insult” or “mistreat with insolence.”
Luke 18:32 sn And spat on. Later Luke does not note this detail in the passion narrative in chaps. 22-23, but see Mark 14:65; 15:19; Matt 26:67; 27:30 where Jesus’ prediction is fulfilled.
Luke 18:33 tn Traditionally, “scourge” (the term means to beat severely with a whip, L&N 19.9). BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1. states, “Of the beating (Lat. verberatio) given those condemned to death…J 19:1; cf. Mt 20:19; Mk 10:34; Lk 18:33.” Here the term has been translated “flog…severely” to distinguish it from the term φραγελλόω (phragelloō) used in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15.
Luke 18:33 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “yet” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
Luke 18:34 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast.
Luke 18:34 tn Grk “they”; the referent (the twelve, v. 31) has been specified in the context for clarity.
Luke 18:34 tn Grk “And this.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
Luke 18:34 sn This failure of the Twelve to grasp what Jesus meant probably does not mean that they did not understand linguistically what Jesus said, but that they could not comprehend how this could happen to him, if he was really God’s agent. The saying being hidden probably refers to God’s sovereign timing.
Luke 18:34 tn Grk “the things having been said.” The active agent, Jesus, has been specified for clarity, and “said” has been translated as “meant” to indicate that comprehension of the significance is really in view here.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 20[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

Footnotes

Footnotes

Another Prediction of Jesus’ Passion

Footnotes

Psalm 20^[a]