Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁴ For this thing lo! I shall give milk to it, and I shall bring it into wilderness, and I shall speak to the heart thereof. (And then lo! I shall give her milk, and I shall bring her into the wilderness again, and I shall speak to her heart/and I shall speak words of love to her.)

¹⁵ And I shall give to it vine-tillers thereof of the same place, and the valley of Achor, that is, of troubling, for to open hope. And it shall sing there by the days of her youth, and by the days of her going up from the land of Egypt. (And I shall give her back her vineyards from the same place, and turn the Valley of Achor, that is, the Valley of Trouble, into a door of hope. And she shall sing there like in the days of her youth, and like in the days of her going out of the land of Egypt.)

¹⁶ And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord, she shall call me Mine husband, and she shall no more call me Baali; (And it shall be on that day, saith the Lord, that she shall call me Ishi, or My husband, and she shall no more call me Baali, or My Lord;)

¹⁷ and I shall take away the names of Baalim from her mouth, and she shall no more have mind of the name(s) of those. (and I shall take away the names of the Baalim from out of her mouth, and no more shall she remember their names.)

¹⁸ And I shall smite to them a bond of peace in that day, with the beast of the field, and with the bird of the air, and with the creeping beast of the earth. And I shall all-break bow, and sword, and battle from [the] earth; and I shall make them to sleep trustily. (And on that day, I shall strike a covenant for them with the wild beasts, and with the birds of the air, and with the creeping beasts of the earth. And I shall altogether break the bow, and the sword, and the battle from off the earth, and then they all shall be able to sleep with trust, or in peace.)

¹⁹ And I shall spouse thee to me [into] without end; and I shall spouse thee to me in rightfulness, and in doom, and in mercy, and in merciful doings. (And I shall betroth thee to me forever; and I shall betroth thee to me in righteousness, and in judgement, and in love, and in giving mercy.)

²⁰ And I shall spouse thee to me in faith; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. (And I shall betroth thee to me in faith; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.)

103 A psalm of David. (A song of David.) My soul, bless thou the Lord, and all things that be within me, bless his holy name.

² My soul, bless thou the Lord; and do not thou forget all the yieldings of him. (My soul, bless thou the Lord; and do not thou forget about all his gifts to thee.)

³ Which doeth mercy to all thy wickednesses; which healeth all thy sicknesses. (Who showeth mercy to all thy sins, or all thy wickednesses; who healeth all thy sicknesses.)

⁴ Which again-buyeth thy life from death; which crowneth thee in mercy and merciful doings. (Who redeemeth thy life from death; who crowneth thee with love and merciful doings.)

⁵ Which [ful]filleth thy desire in goods; thy youth shall be renewed as the youth of an eagle. (Who fulfilleth thy desires with good things; thy youth shall be renewed like the youth of an eagle.)

⁶ The Lord doing mercies; and doom, to all men suffering wrong. (The Lord giveth mercy, and justice, to all who suffer wrong.)

⁷ He made his ways known to Moses; his wills to the sons of Israel (his deeds to the Israelites).

⁸ The Lord is a merciful doer, and merciful in will (The Lord is a giver of love, and a giver of mercy); long abiding, and much merciful.

⁹ He shall not be wroth [into] without end; and he shall not threaten [into] without end. (He shall not be angry forever; and he shall not threaten forever.)

¹⁰ He did not to us after our sins; neither he yielded to us after our wickednesses. (He did not do to us what we deserved for our sins; nor did he punish us for all our wickednesses.)

¹¹ For by the highness of heaven from earth; he made strong his mercy on men dreading him. (For as high as the heavens be above the earth, is how strong his love is, for those who fear him/for those who revere him.)

¹² As much as the east is from the west; he made [a]far our wickednesses from us.

¹³ As a father hath mercy on his sons, the Lord had mercy on men dreading him; (Like a father hath love for his sons and daughters, so the Lord hath love for those who fear him/for those who revere him;)

²² All works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, in each place of his lordship (All his creatures, bless ye the Lord, everywhere that he ruleth); my soul, bless thou the Lord.

3 Begin we therefore again to praise us selves? or whether we need, as some men, epistles of praising to you, or of you? [Begin we again to commend, or praise, ourselves? or whether we need, as some, praising letters to you, or of you?]

² Ye be our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read of all men,

³ and made open [and ye be made open], for ye be the epistle of Christ ministered of us, and written, not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not in stone tables [not in stony tables], but in fleshly tables of heart.

⁴ For we have such trust by Christ to God;

⁵ not that we be sufficient to think any thing of us[selves], as of us, but our sufficience is of God.

⁶ Which also made us able ministers of the new testament, not by letter, but by Spirit; for the letter slayeth, but the Spirit quickeneth.

¹³ And he went out again to the sea, and all the people [and all the company of people] came to him; and he taught them.

¹⁴ And when he passed, he saw Levi of Alphaeus sitting at the tollbooth, and he said to him, Follow me. And he rose, and followed him.

¹⁵ And it was done, when he sat at the meat in his house, many publicans and sinful men sat together at the meat [sat together at meat] with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many that followed him.

¹⁶ And scribes and Pharisees seeing, that he ate with publicans and sinful men, said to his disciples, Why eateth and drinketh your master with publicans and sinners [Why your master eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners]?

¹⁷ When this was heard, Jesus said to them, Whole men have no need to a physician, but they that be evil-at-ease [This thing heard, Jesus saith to them, Whole men have no need to a leech, but they that have evil]; for I came not to call just men, but sinners.

¹⁸ And the disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came, and said to him, Why fast the disciples of John, and the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? [And the disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came, and say to him, Why the disciples of John and of Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?]

¹⁹ And Jesus said to them, Whether the sons of the spousals be able to fast [Whether the sons of the weddings may fast], as long as the spouse is with them? As long time as they have the spouse with them, they be not able to fast [they may not fast].

²⁰ But days shall come, when the spouse shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.

²¹ No man seweth a patch of new cloth to an old cloak [to an old cloth], else he taketh away [else it taketh away] the new patch from the old, and a more breaking is made.

²² And no man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the wine shall burst the bottles, and the wine shall be shed out [and the wine shall be poured out], and the bottles shall perish. But new wine shall be put into new bottles [But new wine oweth to be put into new wine vessels].