Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 The Lord is merciful and compassionate;
he is patient[a] and demonstrates great loyal love.[b]
9 The Lord is good to all,
and has compassion on all he has made.[c]
10 All your works will give thanks to you, Lord.
Your loyal followers will praise you.
11 They will proclaim the splendor of your kingdom;
they will tell about your power,
12 so that mankind[d] might acknowledge your mighty acts,
and the majestic splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom,[e]
and your dominion endures through all generations.
14 [f] The Lord supports all who fall,
and lifts up all who are bent over.[g]
Footnotes
- Psalm 145:8 tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).
- Psalm 145:8 tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Pss 86:15; 103:8).
- Psalm 145:9 tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”
- Psalm 145:12 tn Heb “the sons of man.”
- Psalm 145:13 tn Heb “a kingdom of all ages.”
- Psalm 145:14 tc Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, with each successive verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, in the traditional Hebrew (Masoretic) text of Psalm 145 there is no verse beginning with the letter nun. One would expect such a verse to appear as the fourteenth verse, between the (מ) (mem) and (ס) (samek) verses. Several ancient witnesses, including one medieval Hebrew manuscript, the Qumran scroll from cave 11, the LXX, and the Syriac, supply the missing (נ) (nun) verse, which reads as follows: “The Lord is reliable in all his words, and faithful in all his deeds.” One might paraphrase this as follows: “The Lord’s words are always reliable; his actions are always faithful.” Scholars are divided as to the originality of this verse. L. C. Allen argues for its inclusion on the basis of structural considerations (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 294-95), but there is no apparent explanation for why, if original, it would have been accidentally omitted. The psalm may be a partial acrostic, as in Pss 25 and 34 (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:335). The glaring omission of the nun line would have invited a later redactor to add such a line.
- Psalm 145:14 tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).
Introduction
1 In the eighth month of Darius’[a] second year,[b] the Lord’s message came to the prophet Zechariah,[c] son of Berechiah son of Iddo:
2 “The Lord was very angry with your ancestors.[d] 3 Therefore say to the people:[e] The Lord of Heaven’s Armies[f] says, ‘Turn[g] to me,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘and I will turn to you,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 4 Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said, “Turn now from your evil wickedness.”’ But they would by no means obey me, says the Lord. 5 As for your ancestors, where are they? And did the prophets live forever? 6 But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers?[h] Then they paid attention[i] and confessed, ‘The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.’”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 1:1 sn Darius is Darius Hystaspes, king of Persia from 522-486 b.c.
- Zechariah 1:1 sn The eighth month of Darius’ second year was late October—late November, 520 b.c., by the modern (Julian) calendar. This is two months later than the date of Haggai’s first message to the same community (cf. Hag 1:1).
- Zechariah 1:1 sn Both Ezra (5:1; 6:14) and Nehemiah (12:16) speak of Zechariah as a son of Iddo only. A probable explanation is that Zechariah’s actual father Berechiah had died and the prophet was raised by his grandfather Iddo. The “Zechariah son of Barachiah” of whom Jesus spoke (Matt 23:35; Luke 11:51) was probably the martyred prophet by that name who may have been a grandson of the priest Jehoiada (2 Chr 24:20-22).
- Zechariah 1:2 tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB); NIV “forefathers” (also in vv. 4, 5).
- Zechariah 1:3 tn Heb “to them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Zechariah 1:3 sn The epithet Lord of Heaven’s Armies occurs frequently as a divine title throughout Zechariah (53 times total). This name (יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, yehvah tsevaʾot), traditionally translated “Lord of hosts” (so KJV, NAB, NASB; cf. NIV, NLT “Lord Almighty”; NCV, CEV “Lord All-Powerful”), emphasizes the majestic sovereignty of the Lord, an especially important concept in the postexilic world of great human empires and rulers. For a thorough study of the divine title, see T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 123-57.
- Zechariah 1:3 tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּב (shuv) is common in covenant contexts. To turn from the Lord is to break the covenant and to turn to him (i.e., to repent) is to renew the covenant relationship (cf. 2 Kgs 17:13).
- Zechariah 1:6 tc BHS suggests אֶתְכֶם (ʾetkhem, “you”) for the MT אֲבֹתֵיכֶם (ʾavotekhem, “your fathers”) to harmonize with v. 4. In v. 4 the ancestors would not turn but in v. 6 they appear to have done so. The subject in v. 6, however, is to be construed as Zechariah’s own listeners.
- Zechariah 1:6 tn Heb “they turned” (so ASV). Many English versions have “they repented” here; cf. CEV “they turned back to me.”
The Believer’s Relationship to the Law
7 Or do you not know, brothers and sisters[a] (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person[b] as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her[c] husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.[d] 3 So then,[e] if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress. But if her[f] husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress. 4 So, my brothers and sisters,[g] you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.[h] 5 For when we were in the flesh,[i] the sinful desires,[j] aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body[k] to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, because we have died[l] to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.[m]
Footnotes
- Romans 7:1 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
- Romans 7:1 sn Here person refers to a human being.
- Romans 7:2 tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
- Romans 7:2 tn Grk “husband.”sn Paul’s example of the married woman and the law of the marriage illustrates that death frees a person from obligation to the law. Thus, in spiritual terms, a person who has died to what controlled us (v. 6) has been released from the law to serve God in the new life produced by the Spirit.
- Romans 7:3 tn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
- Romans 7:3 tn Grk “the,” with the article used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).
- Romans 7:4 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
- Romans 7:4 tn Grk “that we might bear fruit to God.”
- Romans 7:5 tn That is, before we were in Christ.
- Romans 7:5 tn Or “sinful passions.”
- Romans 7:5 tn Grk “our members”; the words “of our body” have been supplied to clarify the meaning.
- Romans 7:6 tn Grk “having died.” The participle ἀποθανόντες (apothanontes) has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.
- Romans 7:6 tn Grk “in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.