◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 51:1-10 (Have mercy upon me O God); Genesis 8:20—9:7 (A new covenant through Noah); John 10:11-21 (Jesus the good shepherd) (New English Translation)

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September 10, 2022

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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 51:1-10

Psalm 51^[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba.^[b]

51 Have mercy on me, O God, because of^[c] your loyal love.
Because of^[d] your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts.^[e]
²Wash away my wrongdoing.^[f]
Cleanse me of my sin.^[g]
³For I am aware of^[h] my rebellious acts;
I am forever conscious of my sin.^[i]
⁴Against you—you above all^[j]—I have sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
So^[k] you are just when you confront me;^[l]
you are right when you condemn me.^[m]
⁵Look, I was guilty of sin from birth,
a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.^[n]
⁶Look,^[o] you desire^[p] integrity in the inner man;^[q]
you want me to possess wisdom.^[r]
⁷Cleanse me^[s] with hyssop^[t] and I will be pure;^[u]
wash me^[v] and I will be whiter than snow.^[w]
⁸Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven.^[x]
May the bones^[y] you crushed rejoice.^[z]
⁹Hide your face^[aa] from my sins.
Wipe away^[ab] all my guilt.
¹⁰Create for me a pure heart, O God.^[ac]
Renew a resolute spirit within me.^[ad]

Footnotes

Psalm 51:1 sn Psalm 51. The psalmist confesses his sinfulness to God and begs for forgiveness and a transformation of his inner character. According to the psalm superscription, David offered this prayer when Nathan confronted him with his sin following the king’s affair with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11-12). However, the final two verses of the psalm hardly fit this situation, for they assume the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and that the sacrificial system has been temporarily suspended. These verses are probably an addition to the psalm made during the period of exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. The exiles could relate to David’s experience, for they, like him, and had been forced to confront their sin. They appropriated David’s ancient prayer and applied it to their own circumstances.
Psalm 51:1 tn Heb “a psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him when he had gone to Bathsheba.”
Psalm 51:1 tn Or “according to.”
Psalm 51:1 tn Or “according to.”
Psalm 51:1 tn Traditionally “blot out my transgressions.” Because of the reference to washing and cleansing in the following verse, it is likely that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to wiping an object clean (note the use of the verb מָחָה (makhah) in the sense of “wipe clean; dry” in 2 Kgs 21:13; Prov 30:20; Isa 25:8). Another option is that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to erasing or blotting out names from a register (see Exod 32:32-33). In this case one might translate, “erase all record of my rebellious acts.”
Psalm 51:2 tn Heb “Thoroughly wash me from my wrongdoing.”
Psalm 51:2 sn In vv. 1b-2 the psalmist uses three different words to emphasize the multifaceted character and degree of his sin. Whatever one wants to call it (“rebellious acts,” “wrongdoing,” “sin”), he has done it and stands morally polluted in God’s sight. The same three words appear in Exod 34:7, which emphasizes that God is willing to forgive sin in all of its many dimensions. In v. 2 the psalmist compares forgiveness and restoration to physical cleansing. Perhaps he likens spiritual cleansing to the purification rites of priestly law.
Psalm 51:3 tn Heb “know.”
Psalm 51:3 tn Heb “and my sin [is] in front of me continually.”
Psalm 51:4 tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hataʾ, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “above all,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”
Psalm 51:4 tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (l^emaʿan) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea—the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.
Psalm 51:4 tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).
Psalm 51:4 tn Heb “when you judge.”
Psalm 51:5 tn Heb “Look, in wrongdoing I was brought forth, and in sin my mother conceived me.” The prefixed verbal form in the second line is probably a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive), stating a simple historical fact. The psalmist is not suggesting that he was conceived through an inappropriate sexual relationship (although the verse has sometimes been understood to mean that, or even that all sexual relationships are sinful). The psalmist’s point is that he has been a sinner from the very moment his personal existence began. By going back beyond the time of birth to the moment of conception, the psalmist makes his point more emphatically in the second line than in the first.
Psalm 51:6 sn The juxtaposition of two occurrences of “look” in vv. 5-6 draws attention to the sharp contrast between the sinful reality of the psalmist’s condition and the lofty ideal God has for him.
Psalm 51:6 tn The perfect is used in a generalizing sense here.
Psalm 51:6 tn Heb “in the covered [places],” i.e., in the inner man.
Psalm 51:6 tn Heb “in the secret [place] wisdom you cause me to know.” The Hiphil verbal form is causative, while the imperfect is used in a modal sense to indicate God’s desire (note the parallel verb “desire”).sn You want me to possess wisdom. Here “wisdom” does not mean “intelligence” or “learning,” but refers to moral insight and skill.
Psalm 51:7 tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.
Psalm 51:7 sn “Hyssop” was a small plant (see 1 Kgs 4:33) used to apply water or blood in purification rites (see Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4-6, 49-52; Num 19:6-18). The psalmist uses the language and imagery of such rites to describe spiritual cleansing through forgiveness.
Psalm 51:7 tn After the preceding imperfect, the imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates result.
Psalm 51:7 tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.
Psalm 51:7 sn I will be whiter than snow. Whiteness here symbolizes the moral purity resulting from forgiveness (see Isa 1:18).
Psalm 51:8 tn Heb “cause me to hear happiness and joy.” The language is metonymic: the effect of forgiveness (joy) has been substituted for its cause. The psalmist probably alludes here to an assuring word from God announcing that his sins are forgiven (a so-called oracle of forgiveness). The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request. The synonyms “happiness” and “joy” are joined together as a hendiadys to emphasize the degree of joy he anticipates.
Psalm 51:8 sn May the bones you crushed rejoice. The psalmist compares his sinful condition to that of a person who has been physically battered and crushed. Within this metaphorical framework, his “bones” are the seat of his emotional strength.
Psalm 51:8 tn In this context of petitionary prayer, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, expressing the psalmist’s wish or request.
Psalm 51:9 sn In this context Hide your face from my sins means “Do not hold me accountable for my sins.”
Psalm 51:9 tn See the note on the similar expression “wipe away my rebellious acts” in v. 1.
Psalm 51:10 sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s motives and moral character.
Psalm 51:10 tn Heb “and a reliable spirit renew in my inner being.”

Genesis 8:20-9:7

²⁰Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.^[a] ²¹And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma^[b] and said^[c] to himself,^[d] “I will never again curse^[e] the ground because of humankind, even though^[f] the inclination of their minds^[g] is evil from childhood on.^[h] I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

²²“While the earth continues to exist,^[i]
planting time^[j] and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
and day and night will not cease.”

God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah

9 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. ²Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you.^[k] Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority.^[l] ³You may eat any moving thing that lives.^[m] As I gave you^[n] the green plants, I now give^[o] you everything.

⁴“But^[p] you must not eat meat^[q] with its life (that is,^[r] its blood) in it.^[s] ⁵For your lifeblood^[t] I will surely exact punishment,^[u] from^[v] every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person^[w] I will exact punishment for the life of the individual^[x] since the man was his relative.^[y]

⁶“Whoever sheds human blood,^[z]
by other humans^[aa]
must his blood be shed;
for in God’s image^[ab]
God^[ac] has made humankind.

⁷“But as for you,^[ad] be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it.”

Footnotes

Genesis 8:20 sn Offered burnt offerings on the altar. F. D. Maurice includes a chapter on the sacrifice of Noah in The Doctrine of Sacrifice. The whole burnt offering, according to Leviticus 1, represented the worshiper’s complete surrender and dedication to the Lord. After the flood Noah could see that God was not only a God of wrath, but a God of redemption and restoration. The one who escaped the catastrophe could best express his gratitude and submission through sacrificial worship, acknowledging God as the sovereign of the universe.
Genesis 8:21 tn The Lord “smelled” (וַיָּרַח, vayyarakh) a “soothing smell” (רֵיחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ, reakh hannikhoakh). The object forms a cognate accusative with the verb. The language is anthropomorphic. The offering had a sweet aroma that pleased or soothed. The expression in Lev 1 signifies that God accepts the offering with pleasure, and in accepting the offering he accepts the worshiper.
Genesis 8:21 tn Heb “and the Lord said.”
Genesis 8:21 tn Heb “in his heart.”
Genesis 8:21 tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.
Genesis 8:21 tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.
Genesis 8:21 tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”
Genesis 8:21 tn Heb “from his youth.”
Genesis 8:22 tn Heb “yet all the days of the earth.” The idea is “[while there are] yet all the days of the earth,” meaning, “as long as the earth exists.”
Genesis 8:22 tn Heb “seed,” which stands here by metonymy for the time when seed is planted.
Genesis 9:2 tn Heb “and fear of you and dread of you will be upon every living creature of the earth and upon every bird of the sky.” The suffixes on the nouns “fear” and “dread” are objective genitives. The animals will fear humans from this time forward.
Genesis 9:2 tn Heb “into your hand are given.” The “hand” signifies power. To say the animals have been given into the hands of humans means humans have been given authority over them.
Genesis 9:3 tn Heb “every moving thing that lives for you will be for food.”
Genesis 9:3 tn The words “I gave you” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Genesis 9:3 tn The perfect verb form describes the action that accompanies the declaration.
Genesis 9:4 tn Heb “only.”
Genesis 9:4 tn Or “flesh.”
Genesis 9:4 tn Heb “its life, its blood.” The second word is in apposition to the first, explaining what is meant by “its life.” Since the blood is equated with life, meat that had the blood in it was not to be eaten.
Genesis 9:4 tn The words “in it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.sn You must not eat meat with its life…in it. Because of the carnage produced by the flood, people might conclude that life is cheap and therefore treat it lightly. But God will not permit them to kill or even to eat anything with the lifeblood still in it, serving as a reminder of the sanctity of life.
Genesis 9:5 tn Again the text uses apposition to clarify what kind of blood is being discussed: “your blood, [that is] for your life.” See C. L. Dewar, “The Biblical Use of the Term ‘Blood,’” JTS 4 (1953): 204-8.
Genesis 9:5 tn The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification. The verb דָּרָשׁ (darash) means “to require, to seek, to ask for, to exact.” Here it means that God will exact punishment for the taking of a life. See R. Mawdsley, “Capital Punishment in Gen. 9:6, ” CentBib 18 (1975): 20-25.
Genesis 9:5 tn Heb “from the hand of,” which means “out of the hand of” or “out of the power of” and is nearly identical in sense to the preposition מִן (min) alone.
Genesis 9:5 tn Heb “and from the hand of the man.” The article has a generic function, indicating the class, i.e., humankind.
Genesis 9:5 tn Heb “of the man.”
Genesis 9:5 tn Heb “from the hand of a man, his brother.” The point is that God will require the blood of someone who kills, since the person killed is a relative (“brother”) of the killer. The language reflects Noah’s situation (after the flood everyone would be part of Noah’s extended family), but also supports the concept of the brotherhood of humankind. According to the Genesis account the entire human race descended from Noah.
Genesis 9:6 tn Heb “the blood of man.”
Genesis 9:6 tn Heb “by man,” a generic term here for other human beings.
Genesis 9:6 sn See the notes on the words “humankind” and “likeness” in Gen 1:26, as well as J. Barr, “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis—A Study of Terminology,” BJRL 51 (1968/69): 11-26.
Genesis 9:6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 9:7 sn The disjunctive clause (vav plus subject plus verb) here indicates a strong contrast to what has preceded. Against the backdrop of the warnings about taking life, God now instructs the people to produce life, using terms reminiscent of the mandate given to Adam (Gen 1:28).

John 10:11-21

¹¹“I am the good^[a] shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life^[b] for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand,^[c] who is not a shepherd and does not own sheep, sees the wolf coming and abandons^[d] the sheep and runs away.^[e] So the wolf attacks^[f] the sheep and scatters them. ¹³Because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep,^[g] he runs away.^[h]

¹⁴“I am the good shepherd. I^[i] know my own^[j] and my own know me— ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life^[k] for^[l] the sheep. ¹⁶I have^[m] other sheep that do not come from^[n] this sheepfold.^[o] I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice,^[p] so that^[q] there will be one flock and^[r] one shepherd. ¹⁷This is why the Father loves me^[s]—because I lay down my life,^[t] so that I may take it back again. ¹⁸No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down^[u] of my own free will.^[v] I have the authority^[w] to lay it down, and I have the authority^[x] to take it back again. This commandment^[y] I received from my Father.”

¹⁹Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people^[z] because of these words. ²⁰Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind!^[aa] Why do you listen to him?” ²¹Others said, “These are not the words^[ab] of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see,^[ac] can it?”^[ad]

Footnotes

John 10:11 tn Or “model” (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:386, who argues that “model” is a more exact translation of καλός [kalos] here).
John 10:11 tn Or “The good shepherd dies willingly.”sn Jesus speaks openly of his vicarious death twice in this section (John 10:11, 15). Note the contrast: The thief takes the life of the sheep (10:10), the good shepherd lays down his own life for the sheep. Jesus is not speaking generally here, but specifically: He has his own substitutionary death on the cross in view. For a literal shepherd with a literal flock, the shepherd’s death would have spelled disaster for the sheep; in this instance it spells life for them (Compare the worthless shepherd of Zech 11:17, by contrast).
John 10:12 sn Jesus contrasts the behavior of the shepherd with that of the hired hand. This is a worker who is simply paid to do a job; he has no other interest in the sheep and is certainly not about to risk his life for them. When they are threatened, he simply runs away.
John 10:12 tn Grk “leaves.”
John 10:12 tn Or “flees.”
John 10:12 tn Or “seizes.” The more traditional rendering, “snatches,” has the idea of seizing something by force and carrying it off, which is certainly possible here. However, in the sequence in John 10:12, this action precedes the scattering of the flock of sheep, so “attacks” is preferable.
John 10:13 tn Grk “does not have a care for the sheep.”
John 10:13 tc The phrase “he runs away” is lacking in several significant mss (P^{44vid,45, 66, 75} א A*^vid B D L [W] Θ 1 33 1241 al co). Most likely it was added by a later scribe to improve the readability of vv. 12-13, which is one long sentence in Greek. It has been included in the translation for the same stylistic reasons.
John 10:14 tn Grk “And I.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
John 10:14 tn The direct object is frequently omitted in Greek and must be supplied from the context. Here it could be “sheep,” but Jesus was ultimately talking about “people.”
John 10:15 tn Or “I die willingly.”
John 10:15 tn Or “on behalf of” or “for the sake of.”
John 10:16 tn Grk “And I have.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
John 10:16 tn Or “that do not belong to”; Grk “that are not of.”
John 10:16 sn The statement I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold almost certainly refers to Gentiles. Jesus has sheep in the fold who are Jewish; there are other sheep which, while not of the same fold, belong to him also. This recalls the mission of the Son in 3:16-17, which was to save the world—not just the nation of Israel. Such an emphasis would be particularly appropriate to the author if he were writing to a non-Palestinian and primarily non-Jewish audience.
John 10:16 tn Grk “they will hear my voice.”
John 10:16 tn Grk “voice, and.”
John 10:16 tn The word “and” is not in the Greek text, but must be supplied to conform to English style. In Greek it is an instance of asyndeton (omission of a connective), usually somewhat emphatic.
John 10:17 tn Grk “Because of this the Father loves me.”
John 10:17 tn Or “die willingly.”
John 10:18 tn Or “give it up.”
John 10:18 tn Or “of my own accord.” “Of my own free will” is given by BDAG 321 s.v. ἐμαυτοῦ c.
John 10:18 tn Or “I have the right.”
John 10:18 tn Or “I have the right.”
John 10:18 tn Or “order.”
John 10:19 tn Or perhaps “the Jewish religious leaders”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase could be taken to refer to the Jewish religious leaders, since the Pharisees were the last to be mentioned specifically by name, in John 9:40. However, in light of the charge about demon possession, which echoes 8:48, it is more likely that Jewish people in general (perhaps in Jerusalem, if that is understood to be the setting of the incident) are in view here.
John 10:20 tn Or “is insane.” To translate simply “he is mad” (so KJV, ASV, RSV; “raving mad” NIV) could give the impression that Jesus was angry, while the actual charge was madness or insanity.
John 10:21 tn Or “the sayings.”
John 10:21 tn Grk “open the eyes of the blind” (“opening the eyes” is an idiom referring to restoration of sight).
John 10:21 tn Questions prefaced with μή (mē) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “can it?”).

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 51[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba.[b]

Footnotes

God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 51^[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba.^[b]