◀ All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary) / Psalm 139:1-6 13-18 (You have searched me out); Judges 2:16-23 (God calls forth the judges); Acts 13:16-25 (Leaders prior to Christ’s coming) (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 139:1-6

Psalm 139^[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

139 O Lord, you examine me^[b] and know me.
²You know when I sit down and when I get up;
even from far away you understand my motives.
³You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest;^[c]
you are aware of everything I do.^[d]
⁴Certainly^[e] my tongue does not frame a word
without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it.^[f]
⁵You squeeze me in from behind and in front;
you place your hand on me.
⁶Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension;
it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it.^[g]

Psalm 139:13-18

¹³Certainly^[a] you made my mind and heart;^[b]
you wove me together^[c] in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing.^[d]
You knew me thoroughly;^[e]
¹⁵my bones were not hidden from you,
when^[f] I was made in secret
and sewed together in the depths of the earth.^[g]
¹⁶Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb.^[h]
All the days ordained for me
were recorded in your scroll
before one of them came into existence.^[i]
¹⁷How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God!^[j]
How vast is their sum total.^[k]
¹⁸If I tried to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
Even if I finished counting them,
I would still have to contend with you.^[l]

Footnotes

Psalm 139:13 tn Or “for.”
Psalm 139:13 tn Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (NAB, NIV); “inward parts” (NASB, NRSV); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (NLT). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).
Psalm 139:13 tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.
Psalm 139:14 tc Heb “because awesome things, I am distinct, amazing [are] your works.” The text as it stands is syntactically problematic and makes little, if any, sense. The Niphal of פָּלָה (palah) occurs elsewhere only in Exod 33:16. Many take the form from פָלָא (palaʾ; see GKC 216 §75.qq), which in the Niphal perfect means “to be amazing” (see 2 Sam 1:26; Ps 118:23; Prov 30:18). Some, following the LXX and some other ancient witnesses, also prefer to emend the verb from first to second person, “you are amazing” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 249, 251). The present translation assumes the text conflates two variants: נִפְלָאִים (niflaʾim), the otherwise unattested masculine plural participle of פָלָא, and נִפְלָאוֹת (niflaʾot), the usual (feminine) plural form of the Niphal participle. The latter has been changed to a verb by later scribes in an attempt to accommodate it syntactically. The original text likely read, נוראות נפלאותים מעשׂיך (“your works [are] awesome [and] amazing”).
Psalm 139:14 tc Heb “and my being knows very much.” Better parallelism is achieved (see v. 15a) if one emends יֹדַעַת (yodaʿat), a Qal active participle, feminine singular form, to יָדַעְתָּ (yadaʿta), a Qal perfect second masculine singular perfect. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252.
Psalm 139:15 tc The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (ʾasher, “which”) should probably be emended to כֲּאַשֶׁר (kaʾasher, “when”). The כ (kaf) may have been lost by haplography (note the kaf at the end of the preceding form).
Psalm 139:15 sn The phrase depths of the earth may be metaphorical (euphemistic) or it may reflect a prescientific belief about the origins of the embryo deep beneath the earth’s surface (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 96-97). Job 1:21 also closely associates the mother’s womb with the earth.
Psalm 139:16 tn Heb “Your eyes saw my shapeless form.” The Hebrew noun גֹּלֶם (golem) occurs only here in the OT. In later Hebrew the word refers to “a lump, a shapeless or lifeless substance,” and to “unfinished matter, a vessel wanting finishing” (Jastrow 222 s.v. גּוֹלֶם). The translation employs the dynamic rendering “when I was inside the womb” to clarify that the speaker was still in his mother’s womb at the time he was “seen” by God.
Psalm 139:16 tn Heb “and on your scroll all of them were written, [the] days [which] were formed, and [there was] not one among them.” This “scroll” may be the “scroll of life” mentioned in Ps 69:28 (see the note on the word “living” there).
Psalm 139:17 tn Heb “and to me how precious are your thoughts, O God.” The Hebrew verb יָקַר (yaqar) probably has the sense of “difficult [to comprehend]” here (see HALOT 432 s.v. יקר qal.1 and note the use of Aramaic יַקִּר in Dan 2:11). Elsewhere in the immediate context the psalmist expresses his amazement at the extent of God’s knowledge about him (see vv. 1-6, 17b-18).
Psalm 139:17 tn Heb “how vast are their heads.” Here the Hebrew word “head” is used of the “sum total” of God’s knowledge of the psalmist.
Psalm 139:18 tc Heb “I awake and I [am] still with you.” A reference to the psalmist awaking from sleep makes little, if any, sense contextually. For this reason some propose an emendation to הֲקִצּוֹתִי (haqitsoti), a Hiphil perfect form from an otherwise unattested verb קָצַץ (qatsats) understood as a denominative of קֵץ (qets, “end”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252-53.

Judges 2:16-23

¹⁶The Lord raised up leaders^[a] who delivered them from these robbers.^[b] ¹⁷But they did not obey^[c] their leaders. Instead they prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped^[d] them. They quickly turned aside from the path^[e] their ancestors^[f] had walked. Their ancestors had obeyed the Lord’s commands, but they did not.^[g] ¹⁸When the Lord raised up leaders for them, the Lord was with each leader and delivered the people^[h] from their enemies while the leader remained alive. The Lord felt sorry for them^[i] when they cried out in agony because of what their harsh oppressors did to them.^[j] ¹⁹When a leader died, the next generation^[k] would again^[l] act more wickedly than the previous one.^[m] They would follow after other gods, worshiping them^[n] and bowing down to them. They did not give up^[o] their practices or their stubborn ways.

A Divine Decision

²⁰The Lord was furious with Israel.^[p] He said, “This nation^[q] has violated the terms of the covenant I made with their ancestors^[r] by disobeying me.^[s] ²¹So I will no longer remove before them any of the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died, ²²in order to test Israel.^[t] ^[u] I want to see^[v] whether or not the people^[w] will carefully walk in the path^[x] marked out by^[y] the Lord, as their ancestors^[z] were careful to do.” ²³This is why^[aa] the Lord permitted these nations to remain and did not conquer them immediately;^[ab] he did not hand them over to Joshua.

Footnotes

Judges 2:16 tn Or more traditionally, “judges” (also in vv. 17, 18 [3x], 19). Since these figures carried out more than a judicial function, also serving as rulers and (in several instances) as military commanders, the translation uses the term “leaders.”
Judges 2:16 tn Heb “and they delivered them from the hand of the ones robbing them.”
Judges 2:17 tn Or “did not listen to.”
Judges 2:17 tn Or “bowed before.”
Judges 2:17 tn Or “way [of life].”
Judges 2:17 tn Or “fathers.”
Judges 2:17 tn Heb “…walked, obeying the Lord’s commands. They did not do this.”
Judges 2:18 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Judges 2:18 tn The phrase “for them” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
Judges 2:18 tn Heb “the ones oppressing them and afflicting them.” The synonyms “oppressing” and “afflicting” are joined together in the translation as “harsh oppressors” to emphasize the cruel character of their enemies.
Judges 2:19 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the next generation) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Judges 2:19 tn The verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return; to turn”) is sometimes translated “turn back” here, but it is probably used in an adverbial sense, indicating that the main action (“act wickedly”) is being repeated.
Judges 2:19 tn Heb “their fathers.”sn The statement the next generation would again act more wickedly than the previous one must refer to the successive sinful generations after Joshua, not Joshua’s godly generation (cf. vv. 7, 17).
Judges 2:19 tn Or “serving [them]”; or “following [them].”
Judges 2:19 tn Or “drop.”
Judges 2:20 tn Or “The Lord’s anger burned [or “raged”] against Israel.”
Judges 2:20 tn Heb “Because this nation.”
Judges 2:20 tn Heb “my covenant which I commanded their fathers.”
Judges 2:20 tn Heb “and has not listened to my voice.” The expression “to not listen to [God’s] voice” is idiomatic here for disobeying him.
Judges 2:22 tn The Hebrew text of v. 22 simply begins with “to test.” Some subordinate this phrase to “I will no longer remove” (v. 21). In this case the Lord announces that he has now decided to leave these nations as a test for Israel. Another possibility is to subordinate “to test” to “He said” (v. 20; see B. Lindars, Judges 1-5, 111). In this case the statement recorded in vv. 20b-21 is the test in that it forces Israel to respond either positively (through repentance) or negatively to the Lord’s declaration. A third possibility is to subordinate “to test” to “left unconquered” (v. 21). In this case the Lord recalls that Joshua left these nations as a test. Israel has failed the test (v. 20), so the Lord announces that the punishment threatened earlier (Josh 23:12-13; see also Judg 2:3) will now be implemented. As B. G. Webb (Judges [JSOTSup], 115) observes, “The nations which were originally left as a test are now left as a punishment.” This view harmonizes v. 23, which explains that the Lord did not give all the nations to Joshua, with v. 22. (For a grammatical parallel, where the infinitive construct of נָסָה [nasah] is subordinated to the perfect of עָזַב [ʿazav], see 2 Chr 32:31.)
Judges 2:22 tn The Hebrew text includes the phrase “by them,” but this is somewhat redundant in English and has been omitted from the translation for stylistic reasons.
Judges 2:22 tn The words “I [i.e., the Lord] want to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
Judges 2:22 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Judges 2:22 tn Or “way [of life].”
Judges 2:22 tn “The words “marked out by” are interpretive.
Judges 2:22 tn Or “fathers.”
Judges 2:23 tn The words “this is why” are interpretive and not in the original text.
Judges 2:23 tn Or “quickly.”

Acts 13:16-25

¹⁶So Paul stood up,^[a] gestured^[b] with his hand and said,

“Men of Israel,^[c] and you Gentiles who fear God,^[d] listen: ¹⁷The God of this people Israel^[e] chose our ancestors^[f] and made the people great^[g] during their stay as foreigners^[h] in the country^[i] of Egypt, and with uplifted arm^[j] he led them out of it. ¹⁸For^[k] a period of about forty years he put up with^[l] them in the wilderness.^[m] ¹⁹After^[n] he had destroyed^[o] seven nations^[p] in the land of Canaan, he gave his people their land as an inheritance.^[q] ²⁰All this took^[r] about 450 years. After this^[s] he gave them judges until the time of^[t] Samuel the prophet. ²¹Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled^[u] forty years. ²²After removing him, God^[v] raised up^[w] David their king. He testified about him:^[x] ‘I have found David^[y] the son of Jesse to be a man after my heart,^[z] who will accomplish everything I want him to do.’^[aa] ²³From the descendants^[ab] of this man^[ac] God brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, just as he promised.^[ad] ²⁴Before^[ae] Jesus^[af] arrived, John^[ag] had proclaimed a baptism for repentance^[ah] to all the people of Israel. ²⁵But while John was completing his mission,^[ai] he said repeatedly,^[aj] ‘What do you think I am? I am not he. But look, one is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet!’^[ak]

Footnotes

Acts 13:16 tn This participle, ἀναστάς (anastas), and the following one, κατασείσας (kataseisas), are both translated as adverbial participles of attendant circumstance.
Acts 13:16 tn Or “motioned.”
Acts 13:16 tn Or “Israelite men,” although this is less natural English. The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anēr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context involving an address to a synagogue gathering, it is conceivable that this is a generic usage, although it can also be argued that Paul’s remarks were addressed primarily to the men present, even if women were there.
Acts 13:16 tn Grk “and those who fear God,” but this is practically a technical term for the category called God-fearers, Gentiles who worshiped the God of Israel and in many cases kept the Mosaic law, but did not take the final step of circumcision necessary to become a proselyte to Judaism. See further K. G. Kuhn, TDNT 6:732-34, 743-44.
Acts 13:17 tn Or “people of Israel.”
Acts 13:17 tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”sn Note how Paul identifies with his audience by referring to our ancestors. He speaks as a Jew. God’s design in history is the theme of the speech. The speech is like Stephen’s, only here the focus is on a promised Son of David.
Acts 13:17 tn That is, in both numbers and in power. The implication of greatness in both numbers and in power is found in BDAG 1046 s.v. ὑψόω 2.
Acts 13:17 tn Or “as resident aliens.”
Acts 13:17 tn Or “land.”
Acts 13:17 sn Here uplifted arm is a metaphor for God’s power by which he delivered the Israelites from Egypt. See Exod 6:1, 6; 32:11; Deut 3:24; 4:34; Ps 136:11-12.
Acts 13:18 tn Grk “And for.” 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.
Acts 13:18 tn For this verb, see BDAG 1017 s.v. τροποφορέω (cf. also Deut 1:31; Exod 16:35; Num 14:34).
Acts 13:18 tn Or “desert.”
Acts 13:19 tn Grk “And after.” 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.
Acts 13:19 tn The participle καθελών (kathelōn) is taken temporally.
Acts 13:19 sn Seven nations. See Deut 7:1.
Acts 13:19 tn Grk “he gave their land as an inheritance.” The words “his people” are supplied to complete an ellipsis specifying the recipients of the land.
Acts 13:20 tn The words “all this took” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to make a complete statement in English. There is debate over where this period of 450 years fits and what it includes: (1) It could include the years in Egypt, the conquest of Canaan, and the distribution of the land; (2) some connect it with the following period of the judges. This latter approach seems to conflict with 1 Kgs 6:1; see also Josephus, Ant. 8.3.1 (8.61).
Acts 13:20 tn Grk “And after these things.” 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.
Acts 13:20 tn The words “the time of” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.
Acts 13:21 tn The words “who ruled” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. They have been supplied as a clarification for the English reader. See Josephus, Ant. 6.14.9 (6.378).
Acts 13:22 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Acts 13:22 sn The expression raised up refers here to making someone king. There is a wordplay here: “raising up” refers to bringing someone onto the scene of history, but it echoes with the parallel to Jesus’ resurrection.
Acts 13:22 tn Grk “about whom.” The relative pronoun (“whom”) was replaced by the pronoun “him” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek. The verb εἶπεν (eipen) has not been translated (literally “he said testifying”) because it is redundant when combined with the participle μαρτυρήσας (marturēsas, “testifying”). Instead the construction of verb plus participle has been translated as a single English verb (“testified”).
Acts 13:22 sn A quotation from Ps 89:20.
Acts 13:22 sn A quotation from 1 Sam 13:14.
Acts 13:22 tn Or “who will perform all my will,” “who will carry out all my wishes.”
Acts 13:23 tn Or “From the offspring”; Grk “From the seed.”sn From the descendants (Grk “seed”). On the importance of the seed promise involving Abraham, see Gal 3:6-29.
Acts 13:23 sn The phrase this man is in emphatic position in the Greek text.
Acts 13:23 tn Grk “according to [his] promise.” The comparative clause “just as he promised” is less awkward in English.sn Just as he promised. Note how Paul describes Israel’s history carefully to David and then leaps forward immediately to Jesus. Paul is expounding the initial realization of Davidic promise as it was delivered in Jesus.
Acts 13:24 tn Grk “John having already proclaimed before his coming a baptism…,” a genitive absolute construction which is awkward in English. A new sentence was begun in the translation at this point.
Acts 13:24 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the context for clarity, since God is mentioned in the preceding context and John the Baptist in the following clause.
Acts 13:24 sn John refers here to John the Baptist.
Acts 13:24 tn Grk “a baptism of repentance”; the genitive has been translated as a genitive of purpose.
Acts 13:25 tn Or “task.”
Acts 13:25 tn The verb ἔλεγεν (elegen) has been translated as an iterative imperfect, since John undoubtedly said this or something similar on numerous occasions.
Acts 13:25 tn Literally a relative clause, “of whom I am not worthy to untie the sandals of his feet.” Because of the awkwardness of this construction in English, a new sentence was begun here.

New English Translation (NET)

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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 139[a]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

Footnotes

Footnotes

A Divine Decision

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 139^[a]