Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 89[a]
A well-written song[b] by Ethan the Ezrahite.
89 I will sing continually[c] about the Lord’s faithful deeds;
to future generations I will proclaim your faithfulness.[d]
2 For I say, “Loyal love is permanently established;[e]
in the skies you set up your faithfulness.”[f]
3 The Lord said,[g]
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant:
4 ‘I will give you an eternal dynasty[h]
and establish your throne throughout future generations.’”[i] (Selah)
Footnotes
- Psalm 89:1 sn Psalm 89. The psalmist praises God as the sovereign creator of the world. He recalls God’s covenant with David, but then laments that the promises of the covenant remain unrealized. The covenant promised the Davidic king military victories, but the king has now been subjected to humiliating defeat.
- Psalm 89:1 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 88.
- Psalm 89:1 tn Or “forever.”
- Psalm 89:1 tn Heb “to a generation and a generation I will make known your faithfulness with my mouth.”
- Psalm 89:2 tn Heb “built.”
- Psalm 89:2 sn You set up your faithfulness. This may allude to the Lord’s heavenly throne, which symbolizes his just rule and from which the Lord decrees his unconditional promises (see vv. 8, 14).
- Psalm 89:3 tn The words “the Lord said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. It is clear that the words of vv. 3-4 are spoken by the Lord, in contrast to vv. 1-2, which are spoken by the psalmist.
- Psalm 89:4 tn Heb “forever I will establish your offspring.”
- Psalm 89:4 tn Heb “and I will build to a generation and a generation your throne.”
15 How blessed are the people who worship you![a]
O Lord, they experience your favor.[b]
16 They rejoice in your name all day long,
and are vindicated[c] by your justice.
17 For you give them splendor and strength.[d]
By your favor we are victorious.[e]
18 For our shield[f] belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel.[g]
Footnotes
- Psalm 89:15 tn Heb “who know the shout.” “Shout” here refers to the shouts of the Lord’s worshipers (see Pss 27:6; 33:3; 47:5).
- Psalm 89:15 tn Heb “in the light of your face they walk.” The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; Dan 9:17).
- Psalm 89:16 tn Heb “are lifted up.”
- Psalm 89:17 tn Heb “for the splendor of their strength [is] you.”
- Psalm 89:17 tn Heb “you lift up our horn,” or if one follows the marginal reading (Qere), “our horn is lifted up.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:24; 92:10; Lam 2:17).
- Psalm 89:18 tn The phrase “our shield” refers metaphorically to the Davidic king, who, as God’s vice-regent, was the human protector of the people. Note the parallelism with “our king” here and with “your anointed one” in Ps 84:9.
- Psalm 89:18 sn The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” The Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior. This expression is a common title for the Lord in the book of Isaiah.
8 “Therefore, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies[a] says, ‘You have not listened to what I said.[b] 9 So I, the Lord, affirm that[c] I will send for all the peoples of the north[d] and my servant,[e] King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and all the nations that surround it. I will utterly destroy[f] the land, its inhabitants, and all the surrounding nations[g] and make them everlasting ruins.[h] I will make them objects of horror and hissing scorn.[i] 10 I will put an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and the glad celebration of brides and grooms in these lands.[j] I will put an end to the sound of people grinding meal. I will put an end to lamps shining in their houses.[k] 11 This whole area[l] will become a desolate wasteland. These nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years.’[m]
12 “‘But when the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation[n] for their sins. I will make the land of Babylon[o] an everlasting ruin.[p] I, the Lord, affirm it![q] 13 I will bring on that land everything that I said I would. I will bring on it everything that is written in this book. I will bring on it everything that Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.[r] 14 For many nations and great kings will make slaves of the king of Babylon and his nation[s] too. I will repay them for all they have done.’”[t]
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 25:8 tn Heb “Yahweh of Armies.” sn See the study note on 2:19 for an explanation of this title.
- Jeremiah 25:8 tn Heb “You have not listened to my words.”
- Jeremiah 25:9 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
- Jeremiah 25:9 sn The many allusions to trouble coming from the north are now clarified: it is the armies of Babylon, which included within them contingents from many nations. See 1:14, 15; 4:6; 6:1, 22; 10:22; and 13:20 for earlier allusions.
- Jeremiah 25:9 sn Nebuchadnezzar is called the Lord’s servant also in Jer 27:6 and 43:10. He was the Lord’s servant in that he was the agent used by the Lord to punish his disobedient people. Assyria was earlier referred to as the Lord’s “rod” (Isa 10:5-6), and Cyrus is called his “shepherd” and his “anointed” (Isa 44:28; 45:1). P. C. Craigie, P. H. Kelley, and J. F. Drinkard (Jeremiah 1-25 [WBC], 364) make the interesting observation that the terms here are very similar to the terms in v. 4. The people of Judah ignored the servants, the prophets, he sent to turn them away from evil. So he will send other servants whom they cannot ignore.
- Jeremiah 25:9 tn The word used here was used in the early years of Israel’s conquest for the action of killing all the men, women, and children in the cities of Canaan, destroying all their livestock, and burning their cities down. This policy was intended to prevent Israel from being corrupted by paganism (Deut 7:2; 20:17-18; Josh 6:18, 21). It was to be extended to any city that led Israel away from worshiping God (Deut 13:15) and any Israelite who brought an idol into his house (Deut 7:26). Here the policy is being directed against Judah as well as against her neighbors because of her persistent failure to heed God’s warnings through the prophets. For further usage of this term in application to foreign nations in the book of Jeremiah, see 50:21, 26 and 51:3.
- Jeremiah 25:9 tn Heb “will utterly destroy them.” The referent (the land, its inhabitants, and the surrounding nations) has been specified in the translation for clarity, since the previous “them” referred to Nebuchadnezzar and his armies.sn This is essentially the introduction to the “judgment on the nations” in vv. 15-29, which begins with Jerusalem and Judah (v. 18) and ultimately ends with Babylon itself (“Sheshach” in v. 26; see note there for explanation of the term).
- Jeremiah 25:9 sn The Hebrew word translated “everlasting” is the word often translated “eternal.” However, it sometimes has a more limited time reference. For example, it refers to the lifetime of a person who became a “lasting slave” to another person (see Exod 21:6; Deut 15:17). It is also used to refer to the long life wished for a king (1 Kgs 1:31; Neh 2:3). The time frame here is to be qualified, at least with reference to Judah and Jerusalem, as seventy years (see 29:10-14 and compare v. 12).
- Jeremiah 25:9 tn Heb “I will make them an object of horror and a hissing and everlasting ruins.” The sentence has been broken up to separate the last object from the first two, which are of slightly different connotation, i.e., they denote the reaction to the third.sn Cf. Jer 18:16; 19:8; and the study note at 18:16.
- Jeremiah 25:10 sn Cf. Jer 7:24 and 16:9 for this same dire prediction limited to Judah and Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 25:10 sn The sound of people grinding meal and the presence of lamps shining in their houses were signs of everyday life. The Lord is going to make these lands desolate (v. 11), destroying all signs of life. (The statement is, of course, hyperbolic or poetic exaggeration; even after the destruction of Jerusalem many people were left in the land.) For these same descriptions of everyday life applying to the end of life, see the allegory in Eccl 12:3-6.
- Jeremiah 25:11 tn Heb “All this land.”
- Jeremiah 25:11 sn It should be noted that the text says that the nations will be subject to the king of Babylon for seventy years, not that they will lie desolate for seventy years. Though several proposals have been made for dating this period, many ignore this fact. This most likely refers to the period beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s defeat of Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish in 605 b.c. and the beginning of his rule over Babylon. At this time Babylon became the dominant force in the area and continued to be so until the fall of Babylon in 538 b.c. More particularly Judah became a vassal state (cf. Jer 46:2; 2 Kgs 24:1) in 605 b.c. and was allowed to return to her homeland in 538 when Cyrus issued his edict allowing all the nations exiled by Babylon to return to their homelands. (See 2 Chr 36:21 and Ezra 1:2-4; the application there is made to Judah, but the decree of Cyrus was broader.)
- Jeremiah 25:12 tn Heb “that nation.”
- Jeremiah 25:12 tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for the use of the term “Chaldeans.”
- Jeremiah 25:12 tn Heb “I will visit upon the king of Babylon and upon that nation, oracle of the Lord, their iniquity, even upon the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it everlasting ruins.” The sentence has been restructured to avoid ambiguity and to conform the style more to contemporary English.sn Cf. Isa 13:19-22; Jer 50:39-40.
- Jeremiah 25:12 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”
- Jeremiah 25:13 tn Or “I will bring upon it everything that is to be written in this book. I will bring upon it everything that Jeremiah is going to prophesy concerning all the nations.” The references to “this book” and “what Jeremiah has prophesied against the nations” raise issues about the editorial process underlying the current form of the Book of Jeremiah. As the book now stands, there is no earlier reference to any judgments against Babylon or any book (really “scroll”; books were a development of the first or second century a.d.) containing them. A common assumption is that this “book” of judgment refers to the judgments against Babylon and the other nations contained at the end of the book of Jeremiah (46:1-51:58). The Greek version actually inserts the prophecies of 46:1-51:58 here (but in a different order) and interprets “Which (= What) Jeremiah prophesied concerning all the nations” as a title. It is possible that the Greek version may represent an earlier form of the book. At least two earlier forms of the book are known that date roughly to the period dealt with here (Cf. 36:1 with 25:1 and see 36:2, 4 and 36:28, 32). Whether reference here is made to the first or second of these scrolls, and whether the Greek version represents either, is impossible to determine. It is not inconceivable that the referent here is the prophecies that Jeremiah has already uttered in vv. 8-12 and is about to utter in conjunction with the symbolical act that the Lord commands him to perform (vv. 15-26, 30-38), and that these are proleptic of the latter prophecies which will be given later and will be incorporated in a future book. That is the tenor of the alternate translation. The verb forms involved are capable of either a past/perfect translation or a proleptic/future translation. For the use of the participle (in the alternate translation = Heb “that is to be written”; הַכָּתוּב, hakkatuv) to refer to what is proleptic, see GKC 356-57 §116.d, e, and compare usage in Jonah 1:3 and 2 Kgs 11:2. For the use of the perfect to refer to a future act (in the alternate translation “is going to prophesy,” נִבָּא, nibbaʾ), see GKC 312 §106.m and compare usage in Judg 1:2. In support of this interpretation is the fact that the first verb in the next verse (Heb “they will be subjected,” עָבְדוּ, ʿovdu) is undoubtedly prophetic [it is followed by a vav consecutive perfect; cf. Isa 5:14]). Reading the text this way has the advantage of situating it within the context of the passage itself, which involves prophecies against the nations and against Babylon. Babylon is both the agent of wrath (the cup from which the nations drink, cf. 51:7) and the recipient of it (cf. v. 26). However, this interpretation admittedly does not explain the reference to “this book,” except as a proleptic reference to some future form of the book, and there would be clearer ways of expressing this view if that were what was definitely intended.
- Jeremiah 25:14 tn Heb “make slaves of them.” The verb form here indicates that the action is as good as done (the Hebrew prophetic perfect). For the use of the verb rendered “makes slaves,” see parallel usage in Lev 25:39, 46 (cf. BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3).
- Jeremiah 25:14 tn Heb “according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.” The two phrases are synonymous; it would be hard to represent them both in translation without being redundant. The translation attempts to represent them by the qualifier “all” before the first phrase.
7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying[a] the truth? 8 This persuasion[b] does not come from the one who calls you! 9 A little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise![c] 10 I am confident[d] in the Lord that you will accept no other view.[e] But the one who is confusing[f] you will pay the penalty,[g] whoever he may be. 11 Now, brothers and sisters,[h] if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?[i] In that case the offense of the cross[j] has been removed.[k] 12 I wish those agitators[l] would go so far as to[m] castrate themselves![n]
Footnotes
- Galatians 5:7 tn Or “following.” BDAG 792 s.v. πείθω 3.b states, “obey, follow w. dat. of the pers. or thing…Gal 3:1 v.l.; 5:7.”
- Galatians 5:8 tn Grk “The persuasion,” referring to their being led away from the truth (v. 7). There is a play on words here that is not easily reproducible in the English translation: The words translated “obey” (πείθεσθαι, peithesthai) in v. 7 and “persuasion” (πεισμονή, peismonē) in v. 8 come from the same root in Greek.
- Galatians 5:9 tn Grk “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.”
- Galatians 5:10 tn The verb translated “I am confident” (πέποιθα, pepoitha) comes from the same root in Greek as the words translated “obey” (πείθεσθαι, peithesthai) in v. 7 and “persuasion” (πεισμονή, peismonē) in v. 8.
- Galatians 5:10 tn Grk “that you will think nothing otherwise.”
- Galatians 5:10 tn Or “is stirring you up”; Grk “is troubling you.” In context Paul is referring to the confusion and turmoil caused by those who insist that Gentile converts to Christianity must observe the Mosaic law.
- Galatians 5:10 tn Or “will suffer condemnation” (L&N 90.80); Grk “will bear his judgment.” The translation “must pay the penalty” is given as an explanatory gloss on the phrase by BDAG 171 s.v. βαστάζω 2.b.β.
- Galatians 5:11 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.
- Galatians 5:11 sn That is, if Paul still teaches observance of the Mosaic law (preaches circumcision), why is he still being persecuted by his opponents, who insist that Gentile converts to Christianity must observe the Mosaic law?
- Galatians 5:11 sn The offense of the cross refers to the offense to Jews caused by preaching Christ crucified.
- Galatians 5:11 tn Or “nullified.”
- Galatians 5:12 tn Grk “the ones who are upsetting you.” The same verb is used in Acts 21:38 to refer to a person who incited a revolt. Paul could be alluding indirectly to the fact that his opponents are inciting the Galatians to rebel against his teaching with regard to circumcision and the law.
- Galatians 5:12 tn Grk “would even.”
- Galatians 5:12 tn Or “make eunuchs of themselves”; Grk “cut themselves off.” This statement is rhetorical hyperbole on Paul’s part. It does strongly suggest, however, that Paul’s adversaries in this case (“those agitators”) were men. Some interpreters (notably Erasmus and the Reformers) have attempted to soften the meaning to a figurative “separate themselves” (meaning the opponents would withdraw from fellowship) but such an understanding dramatically weakens the rhetorical force of Paul’s argument. Although it has been argued that such an act of emasculation would be unthinkable for Paul, it must be noted that Paul’s statement is one of biting sarcasm, obviously not meant to be taken literally. See further G. Stählin, TDNT 3:853-55.
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