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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.

Duration: 1245 days

Psalm 27

Psalm 27^[a]

By David.

27 The Lord is my light^[b] and my salvation.
I fear no one.^[c]
The Lord protects my life.
I am afraid of no one.^[d]
²When evil men attack me^[e]
to devour my flesh,^[f]
when my adversaries and enemies attack me,^[g]
they stumble and fall.^[h]
³Even when an army is deployed against me,
I do not fear.^[i]
Even when war is imminent,^[j]
I remain confident.^[k]
⁴I have asked the Lord for one thing—
this is what I desire!
I want to live^[l] in the Lord’s house^[m] all the days of my life,
so I can gaze at the splendor^[n] of the Lord
and contemplate in his temple.
⁵He will surely^[o] give me shelter^[p] in the day of danger;^[q]
he will hide me in his home.^[r]
He will place me^[s] on an inaccessible rocky summit.^[t]
⁶Now I will triumph
over my enemies who surround me.^[u]
I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy.^[v]
I will sing praises to the Lord.
⁷Hear me,^[w] O Lord, when I cry out.
Have mercy on me and answer me.
⁸My heart tells me to pray to you,^[x]
and I do pray to you, O Lord.^[y]
⁹Do not reject me.^[z]
Do not push your servant away in anger.
You are my deliverer.^[aa]
Do not forsake or abandon me,
O God who vindicates me.
¹⁰Even if my father and mother abandoned me,^[ab]
the Lord would take me in.^[ac]
¹¹Teach me how you want me to live,^[ad] Lord;
lead me along a level path^[ae] because of those who wait to ambush me.^[af]
¹²Do not turn me over to my enemies,^[ag]
for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me.^[ah]
¹³Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience
the Lord’s favor in the land of the living?^[ai]
¹⁴Rely^[aj] on the Lord!
Be strong and confident!^[ak]
Rely on the Lord!

Footnotes

Psalm 27:1 sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.
Psalm 27:1 sn “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).
Psalm 27:1 tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one.”
Psalm 27:1 tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”
Psalm 27:2 tn Heb “draw near to me.”
Psalm 27:2 sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).
Psalm 27:2 tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.
Psalm 27:2 tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”
Psalm 27:3 tn Heb “my heart does not fear.”
Psalm 27:3 tn Heb “if war rises up against me.”
Psalm 27:3 tn Heb “in this [i.e., “during this situation”] I am trusting.”
Psalm 27:4 tn Heb “for me to live.”
Psalm 27:4 sn The Lord’s house. This probably refers to the tabernacle (if one accepts Davidic authorship) or the temple (see Judg 19:18; 1 Sam 1:7, 24; 2 Sam 12:20; 1 Kgs 7:12, 40, 45, 51).
Psalm 27:4 tn Or “beauty.”
Psalm 27:5 tn Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.
Psalm 27:5 tn Heb “he will hide me in his hut.”
Psalm 27:5 tn Or “trouble.”
Psalm 27:5 tn Heb “tent.”
Psalm 27:5 tn The three imperfect verb forms in v. 5 anticipate a positive response to the prayer offered in vv. 7-12.
Psalm 27:5 tn Heb “on a rocky summit he lifts me up.” The Lord places the psalmist in an inaccessible place where his enemies cannot reach him. See Ps 18:2.
Psalm 27:6 tn Heb “and now my head will be lifted up over my enemies all around me.”sn In vv. 1-3 the psalmist generalizes, but here we discover that he is facing a crisis and is under attack from enemies (see vv. 11-12).
Psalm 27:6 tn Heb “I will sacrifice in his tent sacrifices of a shout for joy” (that is, “sacrifices accompanied by a joyful shout”).
Psalm 27:7 tn Heb “my voice.”
Psalm 27:8 tc Heb “concerning you my heart says, ‘Seek my face.’” The verb form “seek” is plural, but this makes no sense here, for the psalmist is addressed. The verb should be emended to a singular form. The first person pronominal suffix on “face” also makes little sense, unless it is the voice of the Lord he hears. His “heart” is viewed as speaking, however, so it is better to emend the form to פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”).
Psalm 27:8 tn Heb “your face, O Lord, I seek.” To “seek the Lord’s face” means to seek his favor through prayer (see 2 Sam 21:1; Pss 24:6; 105:4).
Psalm 27:9 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
Psalm 27:9 tn Or “[source of] help.”
Psalm 27:10 tn Or “though my father and mother have abandoned me.”
Psalm 27:10 tn Heb “gather me in”; or “receive me.”
Psalm 27:11 tn Heb “teach me your way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the moral principles which he expects the psalmist to follow. See Ps 25:4.
Psalm 27:11 sn The level path refers to God’s moral principles (see the parallel line), which, if followed, will keep the psalmist blameless before his accusers (see v. 12).
Psalm 27:11 tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 54:5; 56:2.
Psalm 27:12 tn Heb “do not give me over to the desire of my enemies.”
Psalm 27:12 tn Heb “for they have risen up against me, lying witnesses and a testifier of violence.” The form יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) is traditionally understood as a verb meaning “snort, breathe out”: “for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (KJV; cf. BDB 422 s.v.). A better option is to take the form as a noun meaning “a witness” (or “testifier”). See Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3.
Psalm 27:13 tn In the Hebrew text the sentence is incomplete: “If I had not believed [I would] see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” The words “Where would I be” are supplied in the translation to clarify the intent of the statement.
Psalm 27:14 tn Or “wait.”
Psalm 27:14 tn Heb “be strong and let your heart be confident.”

Isaiah 4:2-6

The Branch of the Lord

²At that time^[a]
the crops given by the Lord will bring admiration and honor;^[b]
the produce of the land will be a source of pride and delight
to those who remain in Israel.^[c]
³Those remaining in Zion,^[d] those left in Jerusalem,
will be called “holy,”^[e]
all in Jerusalem who are destined to live.^[f]
⁴At that time^[g] the Lord will wash the excrement^[h] from Zion’s women,
he will rinse the bloodstains from Jerusalem’s midst,^[i]
as he comes to judge
and to bring devastation.^[j]
⁵Then the Lord will create
over all Mount Zion^[k]
and over its convocations
a cloud and smoke by day
and a bright flame of fire by night;^[l]
indeed a canopy will accompany the Lord’s glorious presence.^[m]
⁶By day it will be a shelter to provide shade from the heat,
as well as safety and protection from the heavy downpour.^[n]

Footnotes

Isaiah 4:2 tn Or “in that day” (KJV).
Isaiah 4:2 tn Heb “and the vegetation of the Lord will become beauty and honor.” Many English versions understand the phrase צֶמַח יְהוָה (tsemakh y^ehvah) as a messianic reference and render it, “the Branch of the Lord” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT, and others). Though צֶמַח (tsemakh) is used by later prophets of a royal descendant (Jer 23:5; 33:15; Zech 3:8; 6:12), those passages contain clear contextual indicators that a human ruler is in view and that the word is being used in a metaphorical way of offspring. However, in Isa 4:2 there are no such contextual indicators. To the contrary, in the parallel structure of the verse צֶמַח יְהוָה corresponds to “produce of the land,” a phrase that refers elsewhere exclusively to literal agricultural produce (see Num 13:20, 26; Deut 1:25). In the majority of its uses צֶמַח refers to literal crops or vegetation (in Ps 65:10 the Lord is the source of this vegetation). A reference to the Lord restoring crops would make excellent sense in Isa 4 and the prophets frequently included this theme in their visions of the future age (see Isa 30:23-24; 32:20; Jer 31:12; Ezek 34:26-29; and Amos 9:13-14).
Isaiah 4:2 tn Heb “and the fruit of the land will become pride and beauty for the remnant of Israel.”
Isaiah 4:3 tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
Isaiah 4:3 tn Or “set apart,” cf. CEV “special.”
Isaiah 4:3 tn Heb “all who are written down for life in Jerusalem.” A city register is envisioned; everyone whose name appears on the roll will be spared. This group comprises the remnant of the city referred to earlier in the verse.
Isaiah 4:4 tn Heb “when” (so KJV, NAB, NASB); CEV “after”; NRSV “once.”
Isaiah 4:4 tn The word refers elsewhere to vomit (Isa 28:8) and fecal material (Isa 36:12). Many English versions render this somewhat euphemistically as “filth” (e.g., NAB, NIV, NRSV). Ironically in God’s sight the beautiful jewelry described earlier is nothing but vomit and feces, for it symbolizes the moral decay of the city’s residents (cf. NLT “moral filth”).
Isaiah 4:4 sn See 1:21 for a related concept.
Isaiah 4:4 tn Heb “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” The precise meaning of the second half of the verse is uncertain. רוּחַ (ruakh) can be understood as “wind,” in which case the passage pictures the Lord using a destructive wind as an instrument of judgment. However, this would create a mixed metaphor, for the first half of the verse uses the imagery of washing and rinsing to depict judgment. Perhaps the image would be that of a windstorm accompanied by heavy rain. רוּחַ can also mean “spirit,” in which case the verse may be referring to the Lord’s Spirit or, more likely, to a disposition that the Lord brings to the task of judgment. It is also uncertain if בָּעַר (baʿar) here means “burning” or “sweeping away, devastating.”
Isaiah 4:5 tn Heb “over all the place, Mount Zion.” Cf. NLT “Jerusalem”; CEV “the whole city.”
Isaiah 4:5 tn Heb “a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire, a flame by night.” Though the accents in the Hebrew text suggest otherwise, it might be preferable to take “smoke” with what follows, since one would expect smoke to accompany fire.sn The imagery of the cloud by day and fire by night recalls the days of Moses, when a cloud and fire were tangible reminders that the Lord was guiding and protecting his people (Exod 13:21-22; 14:19, 24). In the future age envisioned in Isa 4, the Lord’s protective presence will be a reality.
Isaiah 4:5 tn Heb “indeed (or “for”) over all the glory, a canopy.” This may allude to Exod 40:34-35, where a cloud overshadows the meeting tent as it is filled with God’s glory.
Isaiah 4:6 tn Heb “a shelter it will be for shade by day from heat, and for a place of refuge and for a hiding place from cloudburst and rain.” Since both of the last nouns of this verse can mean rain, they can either refer to the rain storm and the rain as distinct items or together refer to a heavy downpour. Regardless, they do not represent unrelated phenomena.

Acts 11:1-18

Peter Defends His Actions to the Jerusalem Church

11 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted^[a] the word of God.^[b] ²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers^[c] took issue with^[d] him, ³saying, “You went to^[e] uncircumcised men and shared a meal with^[f] them.” ⁴But Peter began and explained it to them point by point,^[g] saying, ⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision,^[h] an object something like a large sheet descending,^[i] being let down from heaven^[j] by its four corners, and it came to me. ⁶As I stared^[k] I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles,^[l] and wild birds.^[m] ⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; slaughter^[n] and eat!’ ⁸But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord, for nothing defiled or ritually unclean^[o] has ever entered my mouth!’ ⁹But the voice replied a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not consider^[p] ritually unclean!’ ¹⁰This happened three times, and then everything was pulled up to heaven again. ¹¹At that very moment,^[q] three men sent to me from Caesarea^[r] approached^[s] the house where we were staying.^[t] ¹²The Spirit told me to accompany them without hesitation. These six brothers^[u] also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³He informed us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, ¹⁴who will speak a message^[v] to you by which you and your entire household will be saved.’ ¹⁵Then as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on^[w] them just as he did^[x] on us at the beginning.^[y] ¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord,^[z] as he used to say,^[aa] ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’^[ab] ¹⁷Therefore if God^[ac] gave them the same gift^[ad] as he also gave us after believing^[ae] in the Lord Jesus Christ,^[af] who was I to hinder^[ag] God?” ¹⁸When they heard this,^[ah] they ceased their objections^[ai] and praised^[aj] God, saying, “So then, God has granted the repentance^[ak] that leads to life even to the Gentiles.”^[al]

Footnotes

Acts 11:1 tn See BDAG 221 s.v. δέχομαι 5 for this translation of ἐδέξαντο (edexanto) here.
Acts 11:1 tn Here the phrase “word of God” is another way to describe the gospel (note the preceding verb ἐδέξαντο, edexanto, “accepted”). The phrase could also be translated “the word [message] from God.”
Acts 11:2 tn Or “the Jewish Christians”; Grk “those of the circumcision.” Within the larger group of Christians were some whose loyalties ran along ethnic-religious lines.
Acts 11:2 tn Or “believers disputed with,” “believers criticized” (BDAG 231 s.v. διακρίνω 5.b).
Acts 11:3 tn Or “You were a guest in the home of” (according to L&N 23.12).
Acts 11:3 tn Or “and ate with.” It was table fellowship and the possibility of eating unclean food that disturbed them.
Acts 11:4 tn Or “to them in logical sequence,” “to them in order.” BDAG 490 s.v. καθεξῆς has “explain to someone point by point” for this phrase. This is the same term used in Luke 1:3.
Acts 11:5 tn This term describes a supernatural vision and reflects a clear distinction from something imagined (BDAG 718 s.v. ὅραμα 1). Peter repeated the story virtually word for word through v. 13. The repetition with this degree of detail shows the event’s importance.
Acts 11:5 tn Or “coming down.”
Acts 11:5 tn Or “the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).
Acts 11:6 tn Grk “Staring I looked into it.” The participle ἀτενίσας (atenisas) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
Acts 11:6 tn Or “snakes.” Grk “creeping things.” According to L&N 4.51, in most biblical contexts the term (due to the influence of Hebrew classifications such as Gen 1:25-26, 30) included small four-footed animals like rats, mice, frogs, toads, salamanders, and lizards. In this context, however, where “creeping things” are contrasted with “four-footed animals,” the English word “reptiles,” which primarily but not exclusively designates snakes, is probably more appropriate.
Acts 11:6 tn Grk “the birds of the sky” or “the birds of the heaven”; the Greek word οὐρανός (ouranos) may be translated either “sky” or “heaven,” depending on the context. The idiomatic expression “birds of the sky” refers to wild birds as opposed to domesticated fowl (cf. BDAG 809 s.v. πετεινόν).
Acts 11:7 tn Or “kill.” Traditionally θῦσον (thuson) is translated “kill,” but in the case of animals intended for food, “slaughter” is more appropriate.
Acts 11:8 tn Possibly there is a subtle distinction in meaning between κοινός (koinos) and ἀκάθαρτος (akathartos) here, but according to L&N 53.39 it is difficult to determine precise differences in meaning based on existing contexts. The sentiment Peter expressed is like Ezek 4:14.
Acts 11:9 tn Or “declare.” The wording matches Acts 10:15.
Acts 11:11 tn Grk “And behold.”
Acts 11:11 sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.
Acts 11:11 tn See BDAG 418 s.v. ἐφίστημι 1 for this meaning for ἐπέστησαν (epestēsan) here.
Acts 11:11 tn The word “staying” is not in the Greek text but is implied.
Acts 11:12 sn Six witnesses is three times more than what would normally be required. They could confirm the events were not misrepresented by Peter.
Acts 11:14 tn Grk “words” (ῥήματα, rhēmata), but in this context the overall message is meant rather than the individual words.
Acts 11:15 tn Or “came down on.”
Acts 11:15 tn The words “he did” are not in the Greek text but are implied. They form an ellipsis which must be supplied for the modern English reader. Some modern translations supply “it” rather than “he” because the gender of πνεῦμα (pneuma) in Greek is neuter, but there are sufficient NT contexts that use masculine pronouns to refer to the Spirit to justify the use of a masculine pronoun here in the translation.
Acts 11:15 sn At the beginning is an allusion to Acts 2 and Pentecost. The beginning is a way to refer to the start of the period of the realization of Jesus’ promise in Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8. Peter was arguing that God gave Gentiles the same benefits he gave the Jews at the start of their mission.
Acts 11:16 sn The word of the Lord is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rhēma tou kuriou; here and in Luke 22:61, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logos tou kuriou; Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8; 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said.
Acts 11:16 tn The imperfect verb ἔλεγεν (elegen) is taken as a customary imperfect.
Acts 11:16 sn John…Spirit. This remark repeats Acts 1:5.
Acts 11:17 tc Codex Bezae (D) and a few other Western witnesses here lack ὁ θεός (ho theos, “God”), perhaps because these scribes considered the Holy Spirit to be the gift of Christ rather than the gift of God; thus leaving the subject implicit would naturally draw the reader back to v. 16 to see the Lord Jesus as the bestower of the Spirit.
Acts 11:17 sn That is, the same gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 11:17 tn Or “gave us when we believed”; or “gave us after we believed”; or “gave us who believed”; or “gave them when they believed the same gift as he also gave us.” The aorist dative plural participle πιστεύσασιν (pisteusasin) can be understood in several different ways: (1) It could modify ἡμῖν (hēmin, “us”) or αὐτοῖς (autois, “them”). Proximity (it immediately follows ἡμῖν) would suggest that it belongs with ἡμῖν, so the last option (“gave them when they believed the same gift he also gave us”) is less likely. (2) The participle could be either adverbial or adjectival, modifying ἡμῖν. This decision is primarily a contextual one. The point Peter made is not whether or not the Gentiles believed, since both groups (“us” and “they”) had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. The point was whether or not the Gentiles received the Spirit when they believed, just as Jewish Christians had received the Spirit on the day of Pentecost when they believed. Translated as an adjectival participle, πιστεύσασιν only affirms the fact of belief, however, and raises somewhat of a theological problem if one realizes, “Would God have given the Gentiles the Spirit if they had not believed?” (In other words, belief in itself is a theological prerequisite for receiving the Spirit. As such, in the case of the Gentiles, it is assumed.) Thus in context it makes more sense to understand the participle πιστεύσασιν as adverbial, related to the time of belief in connection with the giving of the Spirit. (3) The participle πιστεύσασιν as a temporal participle can refer to action antecedent to the action of the main verb ἔδωκεν (edōken) or contemporaneous with it. Logically, at least, the gift of the Spirit followed belief in the case of the original Christians, who had believed before the day of Pentecost. In the case of Cornelius and his household, belief and the reception of the Spirit were virtually simultaneous. One can argue that Peter is “summarizing” the experience of Jewish Christians, and therefore the actions of belief and reception of the Spirit, while historically separate, have been “telescoped” into one (“gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed”), but to be technically accurate the participle πιστεύσασιν should be translated “gave them the same gift as he also gave us after we believed.” A number of these problems can be avoided, however, by using a translation in English that maintains some of the ambiguity of the Greek original. Thus “if God gave them the same gift as he also gave us after believing” is used, where the phrase “after believing” can refer either to “them” or to “us,” or both.
Acts 11:17 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
Acts 11:17 tn Or “prevent,” “forbid” (BDAG 580 s.v. κωλύω 1.a). Peter’s point is that he will not stand in the way of God.
Acts 11:18 tn Grk “these things.”
Acts 11:18 tn Or “became silent,” but this would create an apparent contradiction with the subsequent action of praising God. The point, in context, is that they ceased objecting to what Peter had done.
Acts 11:18 tn Or “glorified.”
Acts 11:18 sn Here the summary phrase for responding to the gospel is the repentance that leads to life. Note how the presence of life is tied to the presence of the Spirit (cf. John 4:7-42; 7:37-39).
Acts 11:18 sn In the Greek text the phrase even to the Gentiles is in an emphatic position.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 27[a]

By David.

Footnotes

The Branch of the Lord

Footnotes

Peter Defends His Actions to the Jerusalem Church

Footnotes

Psalm 27^[a]