Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

52 (For the one directing. A maskil of Dovid. When Doeg HaAdomi [the Edomite] went to Sha’ul and said to him, Dovid has gone to Bais Achimelech). Why boastest thou thyself in ra’ah, O gibbor? The chesed El is kol hayom.

^2 (4) The leshon (tongue) deviseth treachery; like a sharp ta’ar (razor), working remiyyah (deceit).

^3 (5) Thou lovest rah more than tov; and sheker rather than to speak tzedek. Selah.

^4 (6) Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou leshon mirmah (deceitful tongue).

^5 (7) El shall likewise demolish thee for netzach (eternity), He shall break thee, and pluck thee out of thy ohel, and uproot thee out of the Eretz Chayyim. Selah.

^6 (8) The tzaddikim also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:

^7 (9) Hinei, this is the gever (man) that made not Elohim his ma’oz; but trusted in the abundance of his osher (riches), and strengthened himself in his treachery.

^8 (10) But I am like a green zayit (olive tree) in the Beis Elohim; I trust in the chesed Elohim olam va’ed.

^9 (11) I will give Thee thanks l’olam, because Thou hast done it; and I will wait on Shimecha; for it is tov before Thy chasidim.

22 Thus saith Hashem; Go down to the Bais Melech Yehudah, and speak there this Davar,

² And say, Hear the Devar Hashem, O Melech Yehudah, that sittest upon the kisse of Dovid, thou, and thy avadim, and thy people that enter in by these she’arim (gates);

³ Thus saith Hashem; Execute ye mishpat (justice) and tzedakah (righteousness), and save the plundered out of the yad of the oshek (oppressor); and do no wrong, do no violence to the ger (alien), the yatom (orphan), nor the almanah (widow), neither shed dahm naki (innocent blood) in this makom (place).

⁴ For if ye carry out this davar indeed, then, shall there enter in by the she’arim (gates) of this Bais, melachim sitting upon the kisse Dovid, riding in chariots and on susim, he, and his avadim, and his people.

⁵ But if ye will not hear these devarim, I swear a shevuah by Myself, saith Hashem, that this Bais shall become a desolation.

⁶ For thus saith Hashem unto the Bais Melech Yehudah: Thou art [in grandeur] Gil‘ad unto Me, and the summit of the Levanon; yet surely I will make thee a midbar, and towns which are not inhabited.

⁷ And I will prepare mashchitim (destroyers) against thee, every ish with his weapons; and they shall cut down thy choice arazim (cedars), and cast them into the eish.

⁸ And Goyim rabbim shall pass by this city, and they shall say every ish to his re’a (neighbor), Why hath Hashem done thus unto this ir hagedolah (great city)?

⁹ Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the Brit Hashem Eloheihem, and worshiped elohim acherim, and served them.

⁴³ For there is no etz tov producing pri rah, nor again an etz rah producing pri tov.

⁴⁴ For each etz by its own pri will be known. For not from thorns do they gather figs nor from a thorn bush do they pick grapes.

⁴⁵ The ish tov from the good storehouse of the lev produces tov, and the ish rah out of the evil storehouse produces rah. For from the abundance of the lev the peh (mouth) speaks.