Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

^8 (9) I will hear what HaEl Hashem will say; for He will speak shalom unto His people, and to His Chasidim; but let them not turn again to folly.

^9 (10) Surely His salvation is karov (near) them that fear Him; that kavod may dwell in Artzeinu (our land).

^10 (11) Chesed and emes will meet together; tzedek and shalom will kiss each other.

^11 (12) Emes shall titzmach (sprout forth [T.N. Tzemach—Branch, Sprout—is the code name for Moshiach and the coming Tzemach’s Namesake in Zecharyah 6:11-12 is Yehoshua, Yeshua—see Ezra 3:8; Zech 3:8; 6:11-12. Go to Jer 23:5 and look at all the references. These are among the most important Scriptures in the Bible because it is here that the saving Name of Moshiach Tzidkeinu is prophetically communicated for salvation; the word Tzemach means “Moshiach” and it is the code word par excellence for Moshiach in the post-Exilic references in the minor prophets; this veiled reference to Moshiach was necessary in the situation of the Return under Persian rule when talk of a coming king was a delicate matter.]) out of ha’aretz; and tzedek shall look down from Shomayim.

^12 (13) Yes, Hashem shall give that which is tov; and Artzeinu (our land) shall yield her yevul (increase, produce).

^13 (14) Tzedek shall go before Him; and shall set us in the Derech of His steps.

⁶ Thus saith Hashem: For shloshah peysha’im of Yisroel, even for arba’ah, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the tzaddik for kesef, and the needy for a pair of sandals;

⁷ They who pant after the dust of the ground on the rosh of the poor, and turn aside the derech of the anavim; and an ish and his av will go in unto the same na’arah, to commit chillul Hashem against My Shem kodesh;

⁸ And they lay themselves down upon clothes taken in pledge by every mizbe’ach, and they guzzle the yayin of the fined in the Beis Eloheichem.

⁹ Yet destroyed I HaEmori before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his p’ri from above, and his shorashim from beneath.

¹⁰ Also I brought you up from Eretz Mitzrayim, and led you arba’im shanah through the midbar, to possess the Eretz HaEmori (land of the Amorite).

¹¹ And I raised up of your banim for nevi’im, and of your bochurim for Nezirim. Is it not even thus, O ye Bnei Yisroel? saith Hashem.

¹² But ye gave the Nezirim yayin to drink; and commanded the nevi’im, saying, Prophesy not.

¹³ Hinei, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

¹⁴ Therefore flight shall perish from the swift, and the chazak shall not strengthen his ko’ach, neither shall the gibbor deliver his own nefesh;

¹⁵ Neither shall he stand that handleth the keshet; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver his own nefesh; neither shall he that rideth the sus deliver himself.

¹⁶ And he that is courageous among the gibborim shall flee away naked in that Yom, saith Hashem.

2 For I want you to have da’as of how great a ma’avak (struggle) I have for you and the ones in Laodicea, and as many as have not seen me panim el panim (directly, in person),

² That their levavot may be given chozek (strength), having been made an aguda of ahavah and all osher (wealth) of the full assurance of binah, resulting in the da’as of the raz of Hashem, namely Moshiach,

³ In whom is nistar (hidden) all the otzarot (treasures) of chochmah and da’as. [YESHAYAH 11:2; YIRMEYAH 23:5]

⁴ This I say so that no one may delude you with the sleight of hand of the ba’al melitzot (rhetorician).

⁵ For, though absent in basar, but present with you in the Ruach Hakodesh, with lev same’ach (glad heart) I am seeing your order and the firmness of your [Orthodox Jewish] emunah in Moshiach.