◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 31:9-16 (I commend my spirit); Lamentations 3:55-66 (A cry for help); Mark 10:32-34 (Going up to Jerusalem) (New English Translation)

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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 31:9-16

⁹Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress!
My eyes grow dim^[a] from suffering.^[b]
I have lost my strength.^[c]
¹⁰For my life nears its end in pain;
my years draw to a close as I groan.^[d]
My strength fails me because of^[e] my sin,
and my bones become brittle.^[f]
¹¹Because of all my enemies, people disdain me;^[g]
my neighbors are appalled by my suffering^[h]—
those who know me are horrified by my condition;^[i]
those who see me in the street run away from me.
¹²I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about;^[j]
I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar.^[k]
¹³For I hear what so many are saying,^[l]
the terrifying news that comes from every direction.^[m]
When they plot together against me,
they figure out how they can take my life.
¹⁴But I trust in you, O Lord!
I declare, “You are my God!”
¹⁵You determine my destiny.^[n]
Rescue me from the power of my enemies and those who chase me.
¹⁶Smile^[o] on your servant.
Deliver me because of your faithfulness.

Footnotes

Psalm 31:9 tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”
Psalm 31:9 tn Cf. Ps 6:7, which has a similar line.
Psalm 31:9 tn Heb “my breath and my stomach [grow weak].” Apparently the verb in the previous line (“grow dim, be weakened”) is to be understood here. The Hebrew term נפשׁ can mean “life,” or, more specifically, “throat, breath.” The psalmist seems to be lamenting that his breathing is impaired because of the physical and emotional suffering he is forced to endure.
Psalm 31:10 tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”
Psalm 31:10 tn Heb “stumbles in.”
Psalm 31:10 tn Heb “grow weak.”
Psalm 31:11 tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”
Psalm 31:11 tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests a revision may be needed. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (meʾod, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (ʾed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (ʾed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).
Psalm 31:11 tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”
Psalm 31:12 tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.
Psalm 31:12 tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.
Psalm 31:13 tn Heb “the report of many.”
Psalm 31:13 tn Heb “the terror from all around.”
Psalm 31:15 tn Heb “in your hand [are] my times.”
Psalm 31:16 tn Heb “cause your face to shine.”

Lamentations 3:55-66

ק (Qof)

⁵⁵I have called on your name, O Lord,
from the deepest pit.^[a]
⁵⁶You heard^[b] my plea:^[c]
“Do not close your ears to my cry for relief!”^[d]
⁵⁷You came near^[e] on the day I called to you;
you said,^[f] “Do not fear!”

ר (Resh)

⁵⁸O Lord,^[g] you championed^[h] my cause;^[i]
you redeemed my life.
⁵⁹You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
pronounce judgment on my behalf!^[j]
⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance,
all their plots against me.^[k]

ש (Sin/Shin)

⁶¹You have heard^[l] their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
⁶²My assailants revile and conspire^[m]
against me all day long.
⁶³Watch them from morning to evening;^[n]
I am the object of their mocking songs.

ת (Tav)

⁶⁴Pay them back^[o] what they deserve,^[p] O Lord,
according to what they^[q] have done.^[r]
⁶⁵Give them a distraught heart;^[s]
may your curse be on them!
⁶⁶Pursue them^[t] in anger and eradicate them
from under the Lord’s heaven.

Footnotes

Lamentations 3:55 tn Heb “from a pit of lowest places.”
Lamentations 3:56 tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Hear my plea”) parallel to the following volitive verb, “do not close.”
Lamentations 3:56 tn Heb “my voice.”
Lamentations 3:56 tn The preposition ל (lamed) continues syntactically from “my plea” in the previous line (e.g. Ex 5:2; Josh 22:2; 1 Sam 8:7; 12:1; Jer 43:4).
Lamentations 3:57 tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Draw near”). The perspective of the poem seems to be that of prayer during distress rather than a testimony that God has delivered someone.
Lamentations 3:57 tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Say”).
Lamentations 3:58 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (ʾadonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) as in the following verse. See the tc note at 1:14.
Lamentations 3:58 tn This verb, like others in this stanza, could be understood as a precative (“Plead”).
Lamentations 3:58 tn Heb “the causes of my soul.” The term נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”) is a synecdoche of a part (= my soul) for the whole person (= me).
Lamentations 3:59 tn Heb “Please judge my judgment.”
Lamentations 3:60 tc The MT reads לִי (li, “to me”), but many medieval Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (Aramaic Targum, Syriac Peshitta, Latin Vulgate) all reflect a Vorlage of עָלָי (ʿalay, “against me”).
Lamentations 3:61 tn The verb could be understood as a precative (“Hear”).
Lamentations 3:62 tn Heb “the lips of my assailants and their thoughts.”
Lamentations 3:63 tn Heb “their rising and their sitting.” The two terms שִׁבְתָּם וְקִימָתָם (shivtam v^eqimatam, “their sitting and their rising”) form a merism: two terms that are polar opposites are used to encompass everything in between. The idiom “from your rising to your sitting” refers to the earliest action in the morning and the latest action in the evening (e.g., Deut 6:7; Ps 139:3). The enemies mock Jerusalem from the moment they arise in the morning until the moment they sit down in the evening.
Lamentations 3:64 tn Heb “Please cause to return.” The imperfect verb תָּשִׁיב (tashiv), Hiphil imperfect second person masculine singular from שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”), functions in a volitional sense, like an imperative of request. The Hiphil stem of שׁוּב (shuv, in the Hiphil “to cause to return”) often means “to make requital, to pay back” (e.g., Judg 9:5, 56; 1 Sam 25:39; 1 Kgs 2:32, 44; Neh 3:36 HT [4:4 ET]; Prov 24:12, 29; Hos 12:3; Joel 4:4, 7 HT [3:4, 7 ET]) (BDB 999 s.v. שׁוּב 4.a).
Lamentations 3:64 tn Heb “recompense to them.” The noun גְּמוּל (g^emul, “dealing, accomplishment”) has two metonymical (cause-effect) meanings: (1) positive “benefit” and (2) negative “retribution, requital, recompense,” the sense used here (e.g., Pss 28:4; 94:2; 137:8; Prov 19:17; Isa 35:4; 59:18; 66:6; Jer 51:6; Lam 3:64; Joel 4:4, 7 HT [3:4, 7 ET]). The phrase תָּשִׁיב גְּמוּל (tashiv g^emul) means “to pay back retribution” (e.g., Joel 4:4, 7 HT [3:4, 7 ET]), that is, to return the deeds of the wicked upon them as a display of talionic or poetic justice.
Lamentations 3:64 tn Heb “their hands.” The term “hand” is a synecdoche of a part (= hands) for the whole person (= they).
Lamentations 3:64 tn Heb “according to the work of their hands.”
Lamentations 3:65 tn The noun מְגִנַּה (m^eginnah) is a hapax legomenon. Its meaning is debated; earlier lexicographers suggested that it meant “covering” (BDB 171 s.v.), but more recent lexicons suggest “shamelessness” or “insanity” (HALOT 546 s.v.). The translation is based on the term being parallel to “curse” and needing to relate to “heart.” Cf. NRSV’s “anguish of heart.”
Lamentations 3:66 tn Heb “pursue.” The accusative direct object is implied in the Hebrew and inserted in the translation.

Mark 10:32-34

Third Prediction of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

³²They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem. Jesus was going ahead of them, and they were amazed, but those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was going to happen to him. ³³“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and experts in the law.^[a] They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles. ³⁴They will mock him, spit on him, flog^[b] him severely, and kill him. Yet^[c] after three days,^[d] he will rise again.”

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Footnotes

ק (Qof)

ר (Resh)

ש (Sin/Shin)

ת (Tav)

Footnotes

Third Prediction of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection

Footnotes