Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

5 (For the one directing. For the flutes. Mizmor Dovid) Give ear to my words, Hashem, consider my meditation.

^2 (3) Pay heed unto the voice of my cry, Malki v’Elohai; for unto Thee will I daven.

^3 (4) My voice shalt Thou hear in the boker, Hashem; in the boker will I bring my prayer before Thee as a spiritual sacrifice and wait for an answer.

^4 (5) For Thou art not El that hath pleasure in resha; neither shall rah dwell with Thee.

^5 (6) The holelim (arrogant) shall not stand in Thy sight; Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

^6 (7) Thou shalt destroy them that speak kazav (falsehood); Hashem will abhor the ish damim u’mirmah (bloody and deceitful man).

^7 (8) But as for me, I will come into Thy Bais in the multitude of Thy chesed; and in Thy fear will I bow down toward Thy Heikhal Kodesh.

^8 (9) Lead me, Hashem, in Thy tzedakah because of mine enemies; make Thy Derech straight before my face.

^9 (10) For there is nothing trustworthy in their mouth; their inwardness is a corruptible abyss; their throat is an open kever; they speak smooth deceit with their leshon.

^10 (11) Punish them, Elohim; let them fall by their own intrigues; in the multitude of their peysha’im cast them out; for they have rebelled against Thee.

^11 (12) But let all those that take refuge in Thee rejoice; let them shout for joy l’olam, and spread Thou protection over them that they be joyful in Thee, who love Shemecha (Thy Name).

^12 (13) For Thou, Hashem, wilt bless the Tzaddik; with ratzon (favor) wilt Thou encompass him as with a tzinnah (large rectangular shield).

1 The Divrei Nechemyah ben Chachalyah. And it came to pass in the month Kislev, in the twentieth year [i.e., 445 B.C.E.], as I was in Shushan the capital [of Persia],

² That Chanani, one of my achim [see 7:2], came, he and certain men, from Yehudah; and I asked them concerning the remnant of the Yehudim that had survived the Exile [the Golus], and concerning Yerushalayim.

³ And they said unto me, The remnant that have survived the Exile [the Golus] there in the province are in ra’ah gedolah and reproach; the Chomat Yerushalayim also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with eish.

⁴ And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for several yamim, and did a tzom, and davened before Elohei HaShomayim,

⁵ And said, O Hashem Elohei HaShomayim, HaEl HaGadol vHaNora, that is shomer habrit vachesed for them that love Him and are shomer mitzvot over His commandments,

⁶ Let Thine ear now be attentive, and Thine eyes open, that Thou mayest hear the tefillah of Thy eved, which I am davening before Thee now, yomam valailah, for the Bnei Yisroel Thy avadim, and mitvaddeh al chattot (confess the sins) of the Bnei Yisroel, which we have sinned against Thee. Both I and the Bais Avi have sinned.

⁷ We have dealt very corruptly against Thee, and have not been shomer mitzvot, neither over the chukkim, nor the mishpatim, which Thou commandedst Moshe Thy eved.

⁸ Remember, the word that Thou commandedst Moshe Thy eved, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations,

⁹ But if ye make teshuvah and turn unto Me, and are shomer over My mitzvot, and do them; though there were of you those exiled unto the uttermost part of HaShomayim, yet will I gather them from there, and will bring them unto the place [i.e., Yerushalayim] that I have chosen to make dwell Shmi (My Name) there.

¹⁰ Now these are Thy Avadim and Thy Am, whom Thou hast redeemed by Thy ko’ach hagadol, and by Thy Yad HaChazakah.

¹¹ O Adonoi, let now Thine ear be attentive to the tefillah of Thy eved, and to the tefillah of Thy Avadim, who desire to fear Thy Shem; and give success to Thy eved today, and grant him rachamim in the sight of this man. For I was the Mashkeh L’Melech.

3 Now Kefa and Yochanan were going up to the Beis Hamikdash at the hour of tefillah, the ninth hour (three o’clock in the afternoon). [TEHILLIM 55:17]

² And a certain ish, an ish (pisei’ach from the womb of his em), was being carried and they were putting him bederech klal (usually) yom yom at the sha’ar of the Beis Hamikdash, the one being called the Sha’ar Hatiferet, in order to beg for tzedakah from the ones entering into the Beis Hamikdash.

³ When the ish pisei’ach (lame man) saw Kefa and Yochanan being about to enter into the Beis Hamikdash, he began begging them for tzedakah.

⁴ But Kefa, as did Yochanan, gazed at him, saying, "Look at us!"

⁵ And the ish pisei’ach was paying heed to them, expecting to receive something from them.

⁶ And Kefa said, "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give to you. In ha-Shem of the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua of Natzeret, get up and walk!"

⁷ And having grasped him by the yad yamin, Kefa lifted him up, and immediately the man’s feet and ankles were strengthened.

⁸ And leaping up, he stood and was walking around, and he entered with them into the Beis Hamikdash, walking and leaping and shouting "Baruch Hashem!" [YESHAYAH 35:6]

⁹ And all the people saw him walking and shouting, "Baruch Hashem!"

¹⁰ And they recognized him, that he was the one sitting at the Sha’ar Hatiferet (Beautiful Gate) of the Beis Hamikdash begging for tzedakah; and they were mishpoyel (standing in awe) and amazement at what had happened to him.