Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
ט (Tet)
65 You are good[a] to your servant,
O Lord, just as you promised.[b]
66 Teach me proper discernment[c] and understanding.
For I consider your commands to be reliable.[d]
67 Before I was afflicted I used to stray off,[e]
but now I keep your instructions.[f]
68 You are good and you do good.
Teach me your statutes.
69 Arrogant people smear my reputation with lies,[g]
but I observe your precepts with all my heart.
70 Their hearts are calloused,[h]
but I find delight in your law.
71 It was good for me to suffer,
so that I might learn your statutes.
72 The law you have revealed is more important to me
than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.[i]
Footnotes
- Psalm 119:65 tn Heb “do good.”
- Psalm 119:65 tn Heb “according to your word.”
- Psalm 119:66 tn Heb “goodness of taste.” Here “taste” refers to moral and ethical discernment.
- Psalm 119:66 tn Heb “for I believe in your commands.”
- Psalm 119:67 tn Heb “before I suffered, I was straying off.”
- Psalm 119:67 tn Heb “your word.”
- Psalm 119:69 tn Heb “smear over me a lie.”
- Psalm 119:70 tn Heb “their heart is insensitive like fat.”
- Psalm 119:72 tn Heb “better to me [is] the law of your mouth than thousands of gold and silver.”
2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you in one of your villages[a] that the Lord your God is giving you who sins before the Lord your God[b] and breaks his covenant 3 by serving other gods and worshiping them—the sun,[c] moon, or any other heavenly bodies that I have not permitted you to worship.[d] 4 When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing[e] is being done in Israel, 5 you must bring to your city gates[f] that man or woman who has done this wicked thing—that very man or woman—and you must stone that person to death.[g] 6 At the testimony of two or three witnesses the person must be executed. They cannot be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 7 The witnesses[h] must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people[i] are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge the evil from among you.
Appeal to a Higher Court
8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge—bloodshed,[j] legal claim,[k] or assault[l]—matters of controversy in your villages[m]—you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses.[n] 9 You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict. 10 You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught. 11 You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you. 12 The person who pays no attention[o] to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the judge—that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel. 13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 17:2 tn Heb “gates.”
- Deuteronomy 17:2 tn Heb “does the evil in the eyes of the Lord your God.”
- Deuteronomy 17:3 tc The MT reads “and to the sun,” thus including the sun, the moon, and other heavenly spheres among the gods. However, Theodotion and Lucian read “or to the sun,” suggesting perhaps that the sun and the other heavenly bodies are not in the category of actual deities.
- Deuteronomy 17:3 tn Heb “which I have not commanded you.” The words “to worship” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
- Deuteronomy 17:4 tn Heb “an abomination” (תּוֹעֵבָה); see note on the word “offensive” in v. 1.
- Deuteronomy 17:5 tn Heb “gates.”
- Deuteronomy 17:5 tn Heb “stone them with stones so that they die” (KJV similar); NCV “throw stones at that person until he dies.”
- Deuteronomy 17:7 tn Heb “the hand of the witnesses.” This means the two or three witnesses are to throw the first stones (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
- Deuteronomy 17:7 tn Heb “the hand of all the people.”
- Deuteronomy 17:8 tn Heb “between blood and blood.”
- Deuteronomy 17:8 tn Heb “between claim and claim.”
- Deuteronomy 17:8 tn Heb “between blow and blow.”
- Deuteronomy 17:8 tn Heb “gates.”
- Deuteronomy 17:8 tc Several Greek recensions add “to place his name there,” thus completing the usual formula to describe the central sanctuary (cf. Deut 12:5, 11, 14, 18; 16:6). However, the context suggests that the local Levitical towns, and not the central sanctuary, are in mind.
- Deuteronomy 17:12 tn Heb “who acts presumptuously not to listen” (cf. NASB).
Submission to Civil Government
13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment,[a] and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2 So the person who resists such authority[b] resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment 3 (for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation 4 because it is God’s servant for your well-being. But be afraid if you do wrong because government[c] does not bear the sword for nothing. It is God’s servant to administer punishment on the person who does wrong. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath of the authorities[d] but also because of your conscience.[e] 6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities[f] are God’s servants devoted to governing.[g] 7 Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
Footnotes
- Romans 13:1 tn Grk “by God.”
- Romans 13:2 tn Grk “the authority,” referring to the authority just described.
- Romans 13:4 tn Grk “it.”
- Romans 13:5 tn Grk “its wrath”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Romans 13:5 tn Grk “because of (the) conscience,” but the English possessive “your” helps to show whose conscience the context implies.
- Romans 13:6 tn Grk “they”; the referent (the governing authorities) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Romans 13:6 tn Grk “devoted to this very thing.”
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.