Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁸¹ [Caph]. My soul failed into thine health; and I hoped more in thy word. (My soul fainteth waiting for thy salvation, or thy deliverance; but still I trust in thy word.)

⁸² Mine eyes failed into thy speech; saying, When shalt thou comfort me? (My eyes fail waiting for thy word; and so I ask, When shalt thou comfort me?)

⁸³ For I am made as a bouget, (or a bottle,) in frost; (yet) I have not forgotten thy justifyings. (For I am shriveled up, like a wineskin in the smoke; but I have not forgotten thy statutes.)

⁸⁴ How many be the days of thy servant; when thou shalt make doom of them that pursue me? (How many days must thy servant wait? when shalt thou bring judgement upon those who persecute me?)

⁸⁵ Wicked men told to me janglings; but (they be) not as thy law. (The wicked gossiped about me; and they do not obey thy Law.)

⁸⁶ All thy commandments be truth; wicked men have pursued me, help thou me. (All thy commandments be faithful/be trustworthy, and shall stand forever; the wicked persecute me, help thou me!)

⁸⁷ Almost they ended me in [the] earth; but I forsook not thy commandments. (Yea, they almost brought me to an end here on the earth; but I did not forsake thy precepts.)

⁸⁸ By thy mercy quicken thou me; and I shall keep the witnessings of thy mouth. (In thy mercy/In thy love, grant thou me life; so that I can obey the teachings from thy mouth.)

16 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

² Thou shalt not take a wife, and sons and daughters shall not be to thee in this place.

³ For the Lord saith these things on sons and daughters, that be engendered in this place, and on the mothers of them, that engendered them, and on the fathers of them, of whose generation they be born in this land. (For the Lord saith these things about the sons and daughters, who be begotten in this place, and about their mothers, who begat them, and about their fathers, from whose generation they be born in this land.)

⁴ They shall die by deaths of sicknesses, they shall not be bewailed, and they shall not be buried; they shall be into a dunghill on the face of [the] earth, and they shall be wasted by sword and hunger; and the carrion of them shall be into meat to the volatiles of heaven, and to [the] beasts of the earth. (They shall die by the death of sicknesses, but they shall not be bewailed, and they shall not be buried; they shall be like a mound of dung upon the face of the earth, and they shall be wasted by the sword and by hunger; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens, or of the air, and for the beasts of the earth.)

⁵ For the Lord saith these things, Enter thou not into an house of feast, neither go thou to bewail, neither comfort thou them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, and (my) mercy and merciful doings.

⁶ And great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall be bewailed; and they shall not cut themselves, neither baldness shall be made for them.

⁷ And they shall not break bread among them to him that mourneth, to comfort on a dead man, and they shall not give to them drink of a cup, to comfort on their father and mother. (And they shall not break bread among themselves with him who mourneth, to comfort him over the dead, and they shall not give a drink from a cup to anyone, to comfort them over the loss of even their father or their mother.)

⁸ And thou shalt not enter into the house of (the) feast, that thou sit with them, and eat, and drink.

⁹ For why the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall take away from this place, before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness (and the voice of happiness), the voice of the spouse, and the voice of spousess.

¹⁰ And when thou shalt tell all these words to this people, and they shall say to thee, Why spake the Lord all this great evil on us? what is our wickedness, either what is our sin which we sinned to our Lord God? (And when thou shalt tell all these things to this people, and they shall say to thee, Why spoke the Lord all this great evil against us? what is our wickedness, or what is our sin which we sinned against the Lord our God?)

¹¹ thou shalt say to them, For your fathers forsook me, saith the Lord, and went after alien gods, and served them, and worshipped them, and they forsook me, and kept not my law. (thou shalt say to them, For your forefathers deserted me, saith the Lord, and went after strange, or foreign, gods, and served them, and worshipped them, yea, they deserted me, and did not keep, or obey, my law.)

¹² But also ye wrought worse than your fathers; for lo! each man goeth after the shrewdness of his evil heart, that he hear not me. (And ye have wrought worse than your forefathers; for lo! each person goeth after the depravity of his own evil heart, so that they do not listen to, or obey, me.)

¹³ And I shall cast you out of this land, into the land which ye and your fathers know not; and ye shall serve there to alien gods day and night, which shall not give rest to you. (And I shall throw you out of this land, into the land which ye and your forefathers know not; and there ye shall serve strange, or foreign, gods day and night, and I shall not show you any mercy/and I shall not show you any favour.)

⁷ Therefore, brethren, be ye patient, till to the coming of the Lord. Lo! an earth-tiller abideth [the] precious fruit of the earth, patiently suffering, till he receive timeful and lateful fruit.

⁸ And be ye patient, and confirm ye your hearts, for the coming of the Lord shall approach. [And be ye patient, and confirm your hearts, for the coming of the Lord shall nigh.]

⁹ Brethren, do not ye be sorrowful each to other [Brethren, do not ye be scornful each to other], that ye be not deemed. Lo! the judge standeth nigh before the gate.

¹⁰ Brethren, take ye ensample of evil going out, and of long abiding, and travail [Brethren, take ye example of evil going out, and of long abiding of travail], and of patience, the prophets, that spake to you in the name of the Lord.

¹¹ Lo! we bless them that suffered. Ye have heard the patience of Job, and ye saw the end of the Lord, for the Lord is merciful, and doing mercy.

¹² Before all things, my brethren, do not ye swear, neither by heaven, neither by earth, neither by whatever other oath. But be your word Yea, yea, Nay, nay, that ye fall not under doom.