Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
10 I said in the cutting short of my yamim, I shall go to the Sha’arei Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my shanot.
11 I said, I shall not see Hashem, even Hashem, in the Eretz HaChayyim; I shall behold adam no more with the inhabitants of the world.
12 Mine dwelling is pulled up, and is sent into the Golus from me like ohel ro’i; As an oreg (weaver) I rolled up my life; He would have cut me loose from the roll; from yom even to lailah wilt Thou make an end of me.
13 I waited until boker, that, like an ari (lion), so will He break all my atzmot; from yom even to lailah wilt Thou make an end of me.
14 Like a swallow or a crane, so did I chirp; I did moan like a yonah; mine eyes grew weak from looking heavenward; Adonoi, I am oppressed; go surety for me.
15 What shall I say? He hath both promised me, and Himself hath done it; I shall walk quietly all my shanot in the mar (bitterness) of my nefesh.
16 Adonoi, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my ruach; so Thou recovered me to health, and made me to live.
17 Hinei, for shalom (benefit) did I have great bitterness; for Thou hast in love to my nefesh delivered it from the shachat (pit) of destruction; for Thou hast cast all my chatta’im behind Thy back.
18 For Sheol cannot thank Thee, mavet can not praise Thee; they that go down into the bor (pit) cannot hope for Thy emes.
19 The living, the living, he shall thank Thee, as I do today; av to banim shall make known Thy emes.
20 Hashem will save me; therefore we will sing with stringed instruments kol yemei chayyeinu (all the days of our life) in the Beis Hashem.
8 And Hashem said unto Yehoshua, Fear not, neither be thou discouraged; take kol Am HaMilchamah with thee, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into thy yad the melech HaAi, and his people, and his city, and his land;
2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her melech just as thou didst unto Yericho and her melech; only the plunder thereof, and the livestock thereof, shall ye carry off for yourselves. Behind it set thee an ambush for the Ir (city [of Ai]).
3 So Yehoshua arose, and kol Am HaMilchamah, to go up against Ai; and Yehoshua chose out shloshim elef ish gibborei hachayil, and sent them out by lailah.
4 And he commanded them, saying, See, ye shall set an ambush against the Ir, even behind the Ir; go not very far from the Ir, but be ye all nekhonim (ready, on alert, set, prepared);
5 And I, and Kol HaAm that are with me, will approach unto the Ir; and it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the rishonah, that we will flee before them,
6 (For they will come out after us) until we have drawn them from the Ir; for they will say, They flee before us, just as at the rishonah; therefore we will flee before them.
7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush, and seize upon the Ir; for Hashem Eloheichem will deliver it into your yad.
8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the Ir, that ye shall set eish to the Ir; according to the Davar Hashem shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
9 Yehoshua therefore sent them forth; and they went to the place of ambush, and waited between Beit-El and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Yehoshua spent that lailah among HaAm.
10 And Yehoshua rose up early in the boker, and mustered HaAm, and went up, he and the Ziknei Yisroel, before HaAm to Ai.
11 And Kol HaAm HaMilchamah that were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the Ir, and encamped on the north side of Ai; now there was the gey (valley) between them and Ai.
12 And he took about chameshet alafim ish, and set them to lie in ambush between Beit-El and Ai, on the west side of the Ir.
13 And when they had set HaAm, even Kol HaMachaneh that was on the north of the Ir, and the ambush to the west of the Ir, Yehoshua went that lailah into the midst of the emek (valley).
14 And it came to pass, when the melech of Ai saw it, that they hastened and rose up early, and the anshei HaIr went out against Yisroel in the milchamah, he and all his people, at the place, before the Aravah; but he had no da’as that there was an ambush against him set up behind the Ir.
15 And Yehoshua and kol Yisroel let themselves be driven before them, and fled by the derech hamidbar.
16 And kol HaAm that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them; and they pursued after Yehoshua, and were lured from the Ir.
17 And there was not an ish left in Ai or Beit-El, that went not out after Yisroel; and they left the Ir open, and pursued after Yisroel.
18 And Hashem said unto Yehoshua, Stretch out the kidon (javelin) that is in thy yad toward Ai; for I will give it into thine yad. And Yehoshua stretched out the kidon that he had in his yad toward the Ir.
19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their makom, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his yad; and they entered into the Ir, and took it, and hastened and set eish to the Ir.
20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, hinei, the ashan HaIr (smoke of the city) ascended up to Shomayim, and they had no way to flee here or there; and HaAm that fled to the midbar turned back upon the pursuers.
21 And when Yehoshua and kol Yisroel saw that the ambush had taken the Ir, and that the ashan HaIr ascended, then they turned again, and attacked the anshei HaAi.
22 Then these came out of the Ir against them; so they were in the midst of Yisroel, some on this side, and some on that side; and they struck them down, until they left none of them sarid (remnant, survivor) or palit (refugee, fugitive).
23 And the melech HaAi (literally, the King of Ruin) they took alive, and brought him to Yehoshua.
3 Let your hitbonenut (meditation) be on the one who endured such opposition from chote’im (sinners), that you may not be weary in your neshamot, losing heart.
4 For you have not yet resisted to the point of death al kiddush ha-Shem in your struggle against Chet;
5 And you have let slip from zikaron (remembrance) the dvar haChizzuk which he speaks to you as banim, "My son, do not despise the musar of Hashem, do not lose heart, resent when rebuked by Him”;
6 KI ES ASHER YE’EHAV HASHEM YOKHI’ACH ("for whom Hashem loves he disciplines" and he punishes ES BEN YIRTZEH every son he receives" MISHLE 3:11-12; IYOV 5:17).
7 For you endure nisyonos for the sake of musar. And Hashem is dealing with you as banim. For what ben is there whom an Abba does not give musar?
8 But if you are without musar, in which all the yeladim share, then you are not banim but mamzerim.
9 Furthermore, we had Avot on HaAretz, who were morim that we reverenced and treated with kavod. Should we not even more subject ourselves to the Avi HaRuchot and live?
10 For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed tov to them, but Hashem disciplines us for tov lanu in order that we might share in his kedushah.
11 All musar for the moment seems not to be na’im (pleasant), but seems to bring agmat nefesh; yet afterwards to those who have been taught by musar, it yields the p’ri haShalom and the p’ri haTzedek.
12 Therefore, "Bring chizzuk to the weak hands and the feeble knees; Isa 35:3),
13 And make the drakhim straight for your feet, so that the ever (limb, member) which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather have refu’ah (healing).
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International