Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 106[a]
106 Praise the Lord.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
and his loyal love endures.[b]
2 Who can adequately recount the Lord’s mighty acts,
or relate all his praiseworthy deeds?[c]
3 How blessed are those who promote justice,
and do what is right all the time.
4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people.
Pay attention to me, when you deliver,
5 so I may see the prosperity[d] of your chosen ones,
rejoice along with your nation,[e]
and boast along with the people who belong to you.[f]
6 We have sinned like[g] our ancestors;[h]
we have done wrong, we have done evil.
7 Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds.
They failed to remember your many acts of loyal love,
and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea.[i]
8 Yet he delivered them for the sake of his reputation,[j]
that he might reveal his power.
9 He shouted at[k] the Red Sea and it dried up;
he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.
10 He delivered them from the power[l] of the one who hated them,
and rescued[m] them from the power[n] of the enemy.
11 The water covered their enemies;
not even one of them survived.[o]
12 They believed his promises;[p]
they sang praises to him.
Footnotes
- Psalm 106:1 sn Psalm 106. The psalmist recalls Israel’s long history of rebellion against God, despite his mighty saving deeds on their behalf.
- Psalm 106:1 tn Heb “for forever [is] his loyal love.”
- Psalm 106:2 tn Heb “[or] cause to be heard all his praise.”
- Psalm 106:5 tn Heb “good.”
- Psalm 106:5 tn Heb “in order that [I may] rejoice with the rejoicing of your nation.”
- Psalm 106:5 tn Heb “with your inheritance.”
- Psalm 106:6 tn Heb “with.”
- Psalm 106:6 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 7).
- Psalm 106:7 tn Heb “Reed Sea” (also in vv. 9, 22). “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See the note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.sn They rebelled. The psalmist recalls the people’s complaint recorded in Exod 14:12.
- Psalm 106:8 tn Heb “his name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
- Psalm 106:9 tn Or “rebuked.”
- Psalm 106:10 tn Heb “hand.”
- Psalm 106:10 tn Or “redeemed.”
- Psalm 106:10 tn Heb “hand.”
- Psalm 106:11 tn Heb “remained.”
- Psalm 106:12 tn Heb “his words.”
The Lord Challenges the Nations
41 “Listen to me in silence, you coastlands![a]
Let the nations find renewed strength!
Let them approach and then speak;
let us come together for debate.[b]
2 Who stirs up this one from the east?[c]
Who[d] officially commissions him for service?[e]
He hands nations over to him,[f]
and enables him to subdue[g] kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
like windblown straw with his bow.[h]
3 He pursues them and passes by unharmed;[i]
he advances with great speed.[j]
4 Who acts and carries out decrees?[k]
Who[l] summons the successive generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, am present at the very beginning,
and at the very end—I am the one.[m]
5 The coastlands[n] see and are afraid;
the whole earth[o] trembles;
they approach and come.
6 They help one another;[p]
one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’
7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith,
the one who wields the hammer encourages[q] the one who pounds on the anvil.
He approves the quality of the welding,[r]
and nails it down so it won’t fall over.
The Lord Encourages His People
8 “You, my servant Israel,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
offspring of Abraham my friend,[s]
9 you whom I am bringing back[t] from the earth’s extremities,
and have summoned from the remote regions—
I told you, ‘You are my servant.’
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!
Don’t be frightened, for I am your God![u]
I strengthen you—
yes, I help you—
yes, I uphold you with my victorious right hand![v]
11 Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated;
your adversaries[w] will be reduced to nothing[x] and perish.
12 When you will look for your opponents,[y] you will not find them;
your enemies[z] will be reduced to absolutely nothing.
13 For I am the Lord your God,
the one who takes hold of your right hand,
who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.’
Footnotes
- Isaiah 41:1 tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV, CEV); TEV “distant lands”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”
- Isaiah 41:1 tn The Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) could be translated “judgment,” but here it seems to refer to the dispute or debate between the Lord and the nations.
- Isaiah 41:2 sn The expression this one from the east refers to the Persian conqueror Cyrus, as later texts indicate (see 44:28-45:6; 46:11; 48:14-16).
- Isaiah 41:2 tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis.
- Isaiah 41:2 tn Heb “[in] righteousness called him to his foot.”
- Isaiah 41:2 tn Heb “he [the Lord] places before him [Cyrus] nations.”
- Isaiah 41:2 tn The verb יַרְדְּ (yard) is an otherwise unattested Hiphil form from רָדָה (radah, “rule”). But the Hiphil makes no sense with “kings” as object; one must understand an ellipsis and supply “him” (Cyrus) as the object. The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has יוֹרִיד (yorid), which appears to be a Hiphil form from יָרַד (yarad, “go down”). Others suggest reading יָרֹד (yarod), a Qal form from רָדַד (radad, “beat down”).
- Isaiah 41:2 sn The point is that they are powerless before Cyrus’ military power and scatter before him.
- Isaiah 41:3 tn Heb “[in] peace”; KJV, ASV “safely”; NASB “in safety”; NIV “unscathed.”
- Isaiah 41:3 tn Heb “a way with his feet he does not come [or “enter”].” One could translate, “by a way he was not [previously] entering with his feet.” This would mean that he is advancing into new territory and expanding his conquests. The present translation assumes this is a hyperbolic description of his speedy advance. He moves so quickly he does not enter the way with his feet, i.e., his feet don’t even touch the ground. See C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 94.
- Isaiah 41:4 tn Heb “Who acts and accomplishes?”; NASB “Who has performed and accomplished it.”
- Isaiah 41:4 tn The interrogative particle is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
- Isaiah 41:4 tn Heb “I, the Lord, [am with] the first, and with the last ones I [am] he.”
- Isaiah 41:5 tn Or “islands” (NIV, CEV); NCV “faraway places”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”
- Isaiah 41:5 tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.
- Isaiah 41:6 tn Heb “each his neighbor helps”; NCV “The workers help each other.”
- Isaiah 41:7 tn The verb “encourages” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
- Isaiah 41:7 tn Heb “saying of the welding, ‘It is good.’”
- Isaiah 41:8 tn Or perhaps, “covenantal partner” (see 1 Kgs 5:15 HT [5:1 ET]; 2 Chr 20:7).
- Isaiah 41:9 tn Heb “whom I have taken hold of [i.e., to lead back].”
- Isaiah 41:10 tn According to BDB (1043 s.v. שָׁעָה), the verb תִּשְׁתָּע (tishtaʿ) in the second line of the poetic couplet is a Hitpael form from the root שָׁעָה (shaʿah, “gaze,” with metathesis of the stem prefix and the first root letter). Taking the Hitpael as iterative, one may then translate “do not anxiously look about.” However, the alleged Hitpael form of שָׁעָה (shaʿah) only occurs here and in verse 23. HALOT 1671 s.v. שׁתע proposes that the verb is instead a Qal form from the root שׁתע (“fear”). Its attestation in cognate Semitic languages, including Ugaritic (discovered after the publishing of BDB), suggests the existence of this root. The poetic structure of v. 10 also supports the proposal, for the form in question is in synonymous parallelism to יָרֵא (yareʾ, “fear”).
- Isaiah 41:10 tn The “right hand” is a symbol of the Lord’s power to deliver (Exod 15:6, 12) and protect (Ps 63:9 HT [63:8 ET]). Here צֶדֶק (tsedeq) has its well-attested nuance of “vindicated righteousness,” i.e., “victory, deliverance” (see 45:8; 51:5, and BDB 841-42 s.v.).
- Isaiah 41:11 tn Heb “the men of your strife”; NASB “those who contend with you.”
- Isaiah 41:11 tn Heb “like nothing”; NAB “come to nought.”
- Isaiah 41:12 tn Heb “the men of your struggle”; NASB “those who quarrel with you.”
- Isaiah 41:12 tn Heb “the men of your battle”; NAB “who do battle with you.”
Questions About the Greatest
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a child, had him stand among them, 3 and said, “I tell you the truth,[a] unless you turn around and become like little children,[b] you will never[c] enter the kingdom of heaven! 4 Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes[d] a child like this in my name welcomes me.
Footnotes
- Matthew 18:3 tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amēn), I say to you.”
- Matthew 18:3 sn The point of the comparison become like little children has more to do with a child’s trusting spirit, as well as willingness to be dependent and receive from others, than any inherent humility the child might possess.
- Matthew 18:3 tn The negation in Greek (οὐ μή, ou mē) is very strong here.
- Matthew 18:5 tn This verb, δέχομαι (dechomai), is a term of hospitality (L&N 34.53).
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