Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
18 (For the one directing. Of Dovid Eved Hashem who sang to Hashem the lyrics of this shirah on the day Hashem delivered him from the hand of all his oyevim and from the hand of Sha’ul; and he said) I will love Thee, Hashem, my strength.
2 (3) Hashem is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; Eli my Tzur (rock), in whom I take refuge; my mogen, and the keren of my salvation, and my misgav (high place as a refuge).
3 (4) I will call upon Hashem, Who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from mine oyevim.
4 (5) The chevlei mavet entangled me, and the floods of Beliya’al terrorized me.
5 (6) The chevlei Sheol snaked around me; the snares of mavet confronted me.
6 (7) In my distress I called upon Hashem, and cried unto Elohai; He heard my voice out of His Heikhal, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears.
7 (8) Ha’aretz shook and trembled; the foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because He was angry.
8 (9) Smoke went up from His nostrils, and eish out of His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it.
9 (10) He parted Shomayim, and descended, and dark clouds were under His feet.
10 (11) And He rode upon a keruv (cherub), and did fly; yea, He soared upon the wings of the ruach.
11 (12) He made choshech His secret place; His sukkah round about Him was dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 (13) Out of the brightness that was before Him there broke through barad (hailstones) and coals of eish out of His clouds.
13 (14) Hashem also thundered in Shomayim, and Elyon gave His voice amid barad and coals of eish.
14 (15) Yea, He sent out His khitzim (arrows), and scattered them; and He shot out great lightning bolts, and did put them to rout.
15 (16) Then the channels of waters were exposed, and the foundations of the tevel (world) were laid bare at Thy rebuke, Hashem, at the blast of the ruach of Thy nostrils.
16 (17) He sent from on high, He took hold of me, He drew me out of mayim rabbim (many waters).
17 (18) He delivered me from my strong oyev, and from them which hated me; for they were too strong for me.
18 (19) They confronted me in the day of my calamity; but Hashem was my stay.
19 (20) He brought me forth also into a place merkhav (spacious); He delivered me, because He delighted in me.
19 And there came two malachim to Sodom at erev; and Lot sat in the sha’ar Sodom; and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
2 And he said, Hinei, adonai (my masters), turn in, now, into the bais avdechem, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Lo; but we will abide the night in the rekhov.
3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his bais; and he made them a mishteh (meal, feast), and did bake matzot, and they did eat.
4 But before they lay down, the men of the Ir, even the anshei Sodom, surrounded the bais, from na’ar to zeken, all the people from every quarter [of the city];
5 And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the anashim which came in to thee halailah (this night)? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them [carnally].
6 And Lot went outside unto them, and shut the delet after him,
7 And said, Now, achai (my brethren), do not so wickedly.
8 Hinei now, I have two banot which have not known man; now let me bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes; only unto these anashim do nothing; for therefore came they under the tzel (shadow) of my korah (beam, roof).
9 And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn as a ger (alien), and he will now play the shofet; now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed strongly upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break down the delet.
10 But the anashim put forth their yad, and pulled Lot into the bais to them, and shut the delet.
11 And they struck the men that were at the petach of the bais with blindness, both katan and gadol; so that they wearied themselves to find the petach.
12 And the anashim said unto Lot, Hast thou here any one else? Choson (Son-in-law), and thy banim, and thy banot, and whatsoever thou hast in the Ir, bring them out of this makom (place);
13 For we are the mashchitim (ones destroying) this makom (place), because the cry of them is so gedolah before the face of Hashem; and Hashem hath sent us to destroy it.
14 And Lot went out, and spoke unto his chosonim, which were pledged to marry his banot, and said, Up, get you out of makom hazeh; for Hashem is mashchit (destroying) the Ir (City). But he seemed as one that metzachek (joked) unto his chosonim.
15 And when the shachar came, then the malachim urged Lot, saying, Arise, take thy isha, and thy two banot, which are here or thou be swept away in the avon haIr.
16 And while he lingered hesitating, the anashim laid hold upon his yad, and upon the yad of his isha, and upon the yad of his two banot; Hashem being merciful unto him; and they brought him out and set him outside the Ir.
17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth outside, that he said, Flee and escape for thy nefesh; look not back behind thee, neither stop thou anywhere in all the plain; flee and escape to the mountain, lest thou be swept away.
18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, Adonoi (My L-rd):
19 Hinei now, thy eved hath found chen in Thy sight, and Thou hast magnified Thy chesed, which Thou hast showed unto me in sparing my nefesh; and I cannot flee to escape to the mountain, lest some ra’ah overtake me, and I die;
20 Hinei now, this Ir is near to run unto, and it is a little one; Oh, let me flee to escape there, (is it not mitzar [small]?) and my nefesh shall live.
21 And He said unto him, Hinei, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the Ir, for the which thou hast spoken.
22 Haste thee, flee to escape there; for I cannot do anything till thou arrive there. Therefore the shem of the Ir was called Tzoar [sounds like mitzar].
23 The shemesh rose over ha’aretz when Lot entered Tzoar.
24 Then Hashem rained upon Sodom and upon Amora gofrit and eish from Hashem out of Shomayim;
25 And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and tzemach (what grew) upon haadamah.
26 But his isha, from behind him, looked back, and she became a netziv melach (pillar of salt).
27 And Avraham got up early in the boker to the makom where he stood there before Hashem;
28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Amora, and toward all the eretz of the plain, and hinei, he saw kitor (smoke, steam) of the eretz go up like kitor of a furnace.
29 And it came to pass, when Elohim destroyed the cities of the plain, that zikron Avraham came to Elohim, and He sent Lot out of the midst of the hafekhah (upheaval, destruction, overthrow), when He overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
14 What then shall we say? There is no avla (injustice) with G-d, is there? Chas v’shalom!
15 For to Moshe Rabbeinu Hashem says, V’CHANNOTI ES ASHER ACHON V’RICHAMETTI ES ASHER ARACHEM ("I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" SHEMOT 33:19).
16 So then, it is not a matter of the one who wills or the one who runs. It is a matter of the YAD HASHEM HACHANINAH (the hand of the G-d of gracious, free mercy).
17 For the Kitvei Hakodesh says to Pharaoh, BA’AVUR ZOT HE’EMADTICHA BA’AVUR HAROTECHA ES KOCHI ULEMA’AN SAPER SHMI BECHOL HA’ARETZ ("For this purpose I raised you up, in order that I might demonstrate in you my power and in order that my Name might be proclaimed in all the earth" SHEMOT 9:16).
18 So then, to whom Hashem wills Hashem shows chaninah (mercy, free grace), but whom Hashem wills he hardens (that is, makes unresponsive or more mired down in KESHI (stubbornness, hardness)[DEVARIM 9:27].
19 You will say to me, “Then why does Hashem still find fault? For who has resisted His will?"
20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to answer back to G-d? VEYETZER AMAR LEYOTZRO ("Can the pot say to the potter" YESHAYAH 29:16), "Why have you made me thus?"
21 Or does the potter not have the right over the clay [YIRMEYAH 18:6] to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
22 But what if naniach (supposing) Hashem, willing to demonstrate His Charon Af Hashem (burning anger of G-d) and to make known His ko’ach (power)[1:18,16], put up with and endured with zitzfleisch (patience) vessels which are objects of G-d’s Charon Af (burning anger), objects made ready for Churban [9:3],
23 And in order that He might make known the wealth of His kavod (glory) on vessels which are objects of Hashem’s chaninah (mercy, free grace) which He prepared beforehand for kavod? [8:29-30]
24 By which I mean us, whom also He called, not only from the Yehudim but also from the non-Jews,
25 As it says in Hoshea, V’AMARTI L’LO AMMI AMI ATAH ("And I will call the ‘not my people’ my people" HOSHEA 2:25 [23]) and the ‘not loved’ loved;
26 "And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called B’NEI EL CHAI ("sons of the living G-d—HOSHEA 2:1)"
27 Yeshayah proclaims concerning Yisroel, "Even if the number of the Bnei Yisroel are as the sand of the sea, only the She’erit (Remnant) will return (be saved),
28 For Hashem will complete and cut short and will perform His Word on the earth YESHAYAH 10:22-23.
29 And as Yeshayah said beforehand, "Except Adonoi Tzvaot had left us SARID KIM’AT ("some survivors" (Ro 9:7), we would have become like S’dom and we would have been the same as Amora" [YESHAYAH 1:9].
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