Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

50 The psalm of Asaph. God, the Lord of gods, spake/God, the God of gods, spake; and called the earth, from the rising of the sun till to the going down. (The song of Asaph. God, the Lord of gods, spoke/God, the God of gods, spoke; and called to the people of the earth, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of it.)

² The shape of his fairness from Zion, God shall come openly; (God shineth from Zion, perfect in beauty;)

³ our God, and he shall not be still. Fire shall burn on high in his sight; and a strong tempest in his compass. (our God shall come, and he shall not be silent. Fire shall burn on high before him; and it shall be a strong tempest surrounding him/and a strong tempest shall surround him.)

⁴ He called heaven above; and the earth, to (witness him) deem his people. (He calleth heaven above, and the earth beneath, to the judgement of his people.)

⁵ Gather ye to him his saints; that ordain his testament above sacrifices. (And he saith, Gather my saints to me; those who have made a covenant with me, by offering a sacrifice.)

⁶ And heavens shall show his rightwiseness/And heavens shall tell his rightfulness; for God is the judge. (And the heavens shall tell out his righteousness; for God himself is the judge.)

⁷ My people, hear thou, and I shall speak to Israel; and I shall witness to thee, I am God, thy God. (My people, hear thou, and I shall speak; Israel, I shall testify against thee; I am God, thy God.)

⁸ I shall not reprove thee in thy sacrifices; and thy burnt sacrifices be ever[more] before me. (I shall not rebuke thee for thy sacrifices, and for thy burnt sacrifices, that be before me forevermore./Shall I not rebuke thee for thy sacrifices, and for thy burnt sacrifices, that be before me forevermore?)

⁹ I shall not take calves of thine house; neither goat bucks of thy flocks. (But I do not need calves from thy house, or thy farm; or goat bucks from thy flocks.)

¹⁰ For all the wild beasts of (the) woods be mine; work beasts, and oxes in hills (and the work beasts as well, and the oxen on the hills).

¹¹ I have known all the volatiles of the firmament; and the fairness of the field is with me. (I know all the birds on those hills; and the wild beasts of the fields be mine.)

¹² If I shall be hungry, I shall not say to thee; for the world and the fullness thereof is mine. (If I am hungry, I have no need to tell thee; for the world and its fullness be mine.)

¹³ Whether I shall eat the flesh of bulls? either shall I drink the blood of goat bucks? (Shall I eat the flesh of bulls? or drink the blood of goat bucks? Nay!)

¹⁴ Offer thou to God the sacrifice of praising; and yield thine avows to the highest God. (Offer, or give, thou to God the sacrifice of praise; and pay thy vows to the Most High God.)

¹⁵ And inwardly call thou me in the day of tribulation; and I shall deliver thee, and thou shalt honour me. (And call thou on me in the day of trouble; and I shall save thee, and then thou shalt honour me.)

¹⁶ But God said to the sinner, Why tellest thou out my rightfulnesses; and takest my testament by thy mouth? (But God said to the sinner, Why should thou tell out my statutes? and why hast thou my covenant in thy mouth?)

¹⁷ Soothly thou hatedest lore, or discipline; and hast cast away my words behind (thee). (Truly thou hatedest chastisement; and hast thrown away my words behind thee.)

¹⁸ If thou sawest a thief, thou rannest with him; and thou settedest thy part with adulterers.

¹⁹ Thy mouth was plenteous of malice; and thy tongue meddled together guiles. (Thy mouth is full of malice; and thy tongue mixeth up batches of lies.)

²⁰ Thou sitting spakest against thy brother, and thou settedest slander against the son of thy mother; (And thou sitteth down, and speakest against thy brother, yea, thou settest forth slander against thy mother’s son;)

²¹ thou didest these things, and I was still. Thou guessedest wickedly, that I shall be like thee; I shall reprove thee, and I shall set (them) against thy face. (thou didest these things, and I was silent. And thou wickedly guessedest that I was just like thee; but I shall rebuke thee, and I shall do it to thy face.)

²² Ye that forget God, understand these things; lest sometime he ravish, and none be that shall deliver. (Ye who forget God, understand these things; lest sometime I tear thee in pieces, and there be no one who shall save thee.)

²³ The sacrifice of praising shall honour me; and there is the way, wherein I shall show to him the health of God. (The sacrifice of praise shall honour me; and to those who follow my way/and to those who obey me, I shall give them the salvation of God.)

¹² For I knew your great trespasses many, and your strong sins; enemies of the rightwise man, taking a gift, and bearing down poor men in the gate. (For I know of your great many trespasses, and of your strong, or your mighty, sins; ye, the enemies of the righteous, taking bribes, and oppressing the poor in the courts.)

¹³ Therefore a prudent man shall be still in that time, for the time is evil. (And so the prudent shall be silent at that time, for the time is evil.)

¹⁴ Seek ye good, and not evil, (so) that ye live, and the Lord God of hosts shall be with you, as ye said (that he is).

¹⁵ Hate ye evil, and love ye good, and ordain ye in the gate doom (and ordain ye justice in the court); if peradventure the Lord God of hosts have mercy on the remnants of Joseph.

¹⁶ Therefore the Lord God of hosts, having lordship (And so the Lord God of hosts, who ruleth, or who is sovereign), saith these things, Wailing shall be in all streets, and in all things that be withoutforth it shall be said, Woe! Woe! and they shall call an earth-tiller to mourning, and them that know how to wail, to wailing.

¹⁷ And wailing shall be in all ways, for I shall pass forth in the middle of thee, saith the Lord. (And there shall be wailing on all the ways, for I shall pass through in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.)

¹⁸ Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord; whether to desire ye it to you? This day of the Lord shall be darknesses, and not light. (Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord; do ye desire it for yourselves?/do ye desire that it come to you? This day of the Lord shall be darkness, and not light.)

¹⁹ As if a man run from the face of a lion, and a bear run to him; and he enter into the house, and lean with his hand on the wall, and a serpent dwelling in (the) shadow bite him.

²⁰ Whether the day of the Lord shall not be darknesses, and not light; and mist, and not shining therein? (Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not light; and cloud, or fog, and not sunshine, or brightness.)

²¹ I hated and casted away your feast days, and I shall not take the odour of your companies. (I hated and threw away your feast days, and I shall not receive the aroma from your offerings.)

²² That if ye offer to me your burnt sacrifices, and gifts, I shall not receive, and I shall not behold the avows of your fat things. (And if ye offer me your burnt sacrifices, and gifts, I shall not receive them, and I shall not look upon the fat beasts of your vows, or of your offerings.)

²³ Do thou away from me the noise of thy songs, and I shall not hear the songs of thine harp.

²⁴ And doom shall be showed as water, and rightwiseness as a strong stream. (Let justice flow like a river, and righteousness like a strong stream.)

¹¹ When they heard these things, he added, and said a parable, for that he was nigh to Jerusalem, and for they guessed, that at once the kingdom of God should be showed [and for they guessed, that the kingdom of God should be showed anon].

¹² Therefore he said, A worthy man went into a far country [Some nobleman went into a far country], to take to him a kingdom, and to turn again.

¹³ And when his ten servants were called, he gave to them ten bezants; and said to them, Chaffer ye [Merchandize ye], till I come.

¹⁴ But his citizens hated him, and sent a messenger after him, and said, We will not, that he reign on us.^[a]

¹⁵ And it was done, that he turned again, when he had taken the kingdom; and he commanded his servants to be called, to which he had given money, to know [to whom he gave money, that he should know], how much each had won by chaffering.

¹⁶ And the first came, and said [saying], Lord, thy bezant hath won ten bezants.

¹⁷ He said to him, Well be, thou good servant; for in little thing thou hast been true, thou shalt be having power on ten cities [thou shalt have power upon ten cities].

¹⁸ And the tother came, and said [And the tother came, saying], Lord, thy bezant hath made five bezants.

¹⁹ And to this he said, And be thou on five cities. [And he said to this, And be thou upon five cities.]

²⁰ And the third came, and said, Lord, lo! thy bezant, that I had, put up in a sudarium.^[b]

²¹ For I dreaded thee, for thou art an austere man; thou takest away that that thou settedest not, and thou reapest that that thou hast not sown.

²² He saith to him, Wicked servant, of thy mouth I deem thee. Knewest thou, that I am an austere man, taking away that thing that I setted not, and reaping that thing that I sowed not^[c]?

²³ and why hast thou not given my money to the board, and I coming should have asked it with usuries? [and why hast thou not given my money to the board, that and I coming should have received it soothly with usuries?]

²⁴ And he said to men standing nigh, Take away from him the bezant, and give ye to him that hath ten bezants.^[d]

²⁵ And they said to him, Lord, he hath ten bezants.

²⁶ And I say to you, to each man that hath, it shall be given, and he shall increase [and he shall abound]; but from him that hath not, also that thing that he hath, shall be taken of him [shall be taken from him].

²⁷ Nevertheless bring ye hither those mine enemies, that would not that I reigned on them [that would not me to reign upon them], and slay ye before me.