Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

63 (Mizmor Dovid. When he was in the midbar Yehudah). O Elohim, Thou art Eli; early will I seek Thee; my nefesh thirsteth for Thee; my basar longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no mayim is;

^2 (3) To see Thy oz (might, power) and Thy kavod, as I have beheld Thee in the Kodesh (holy place, sanctuary).

^3 (4) Because Thy chesed is better than chayyim, my lips shall praise Thee.

^4 (5) Thus will I bless Thee while I live; I will lift up my hands b’Shimcha (in Thy Name.)

^5 (6) My nefesh shall be satisfied as with chelev (fat) and deshen (abundance); and my mouth shall praise Thee with lips of joyful singing;

^6 (7) When I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the ashmurot (night watches).

^7 (8) Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the tzel (shadow) of Thy wings will I sing with joy.

^8 (9) My nefesh followeth hard after Thee; Thy Yamin (Right Hand) upholdeth me.

^9 (10) But those that seek my nefesh, to destroy it, shall go into the abysses of ha’aretz.

^10 (11) They deliver him into the power of the cherev; they shall be a portion for jackals.

^11 (12) But HaMelech shall rejoice in Elohim; every one that sweareth by Him shall glory; but the mouth of them that speak sheker shall be stopped.

1 The Devar Hashem that came to Yoel Ben Petuel:

² Hear this, ye zekenim, and give ear, all ye yoshvei ha’aretz (inhabitants of the land). Hath anything like this been in your days, or even in the days of your avot (fathers)?

³ Tell ye your banim (children) of it, and let your banim tell their banim, and their banim to the next generation.

⁴ That which the locust swarm hath left hath the arbeh (great locust) eaten; and that which the arbeh hath left hath the crawling locust eaten; and that which the crawling locust hath left hath the other locust eaten.

⁵ Awake, ye shikkorim (drunkards), and weep; and wail, all ye drinkers of yayin, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.

⁶ For a Goy is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of an aryeh (lion), and he hath the fangs of a lioness.

⁷ He hath laid my gefen (vine) waste, and barked my teenah (fig tree); he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

⁸ Lament like a betulah girded with sackcloth for the ba’al (husband) of her youth.

⁹ The minchah and the nesekh is cut off from the Beis Hashem; the kohanim, the mesharetim (ministers) of Hashem, mourn.

¹⁰ The sadeh (field) is wasted, the adamah (land) mourneth; for the grain is wasted; the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth.

¹¹ Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen [i.e., farmers]; wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the katzir (harvest) of the sadeh is perished.

¹² The gefen is dried up, and the teenah languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the sadeh, are withered; because sasson (joy) is withered away from the bnei Adam.

¹³ Gird yourselves, and lament, ye kohanim; howl, ye mesharetim of the Mizbe’ach; come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye mesharetim of my G-d; for the minchah and the nesekh is withheld from the Beis of your G-d [i.e., the Beis Hamikdash].

¹⁴ Sanctify ye a tzom (fast), call an atzarah (solemn assembly), gather the zekenim and all the yoshvei ha’aretz into the Beis Hashem Eloheichem, and cry unto Hashem,

⁶ But, just now, when Timotiyos has come to us from you and has brought us good news of your [correct orthodox Jewish] Emunah and your ahavah and that you always have zochrim tovim (good memories) of us, yearning to see us, just as we yearn to see you.

⁷ For this reason, Achim b’Moshiach, in all our tzoros and redifah, we received chozek because of you through your emunah.

⁸ For now we have Chayyim if you have a firm standing and remain ne’emanot (faithful) in Hashem.

⁹ For what hodayah are we able to return to Hashem concerning you because of all the simcha with which we rejoice on account of you before Eloheinu,

¹⁰ As, yomam valailah, we are davening with all retzinut (earnestness) in order to see your penemer (faces) and to bring to shleimut what is lacking in your [orthodox Jewish] emunah?

¹¹ And may Eloheinu and Avinu, may Hashem Himself and Adoneinu Yehoshua direct our way to you.

¹² And may Hashem cause you to grow and to overflow and abound in ahavah (agape) for one another and for kol Bnei Adam, just as also we have ahavah (agape) for you,

¹³ With this tachlis (purpose): to establish your levavot faultless in kedushah (holiness) in the presence of Hashem and Avinu at the Bi’as Moshiach (Coming of Moshiach) of Adoneinu Yehoshua with all His Kadoshim. Omein.