Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁰ I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go to the gates of hell. I sought the residue of my years; (I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go now to the gates of Sheol, that is, to the gates of the land of the dead/I shall go now to the gates of the grave; I shall be deprived of the rest of my years;)

¹¹ I said, I shall not see the Lord God in the land of livers; I shall no more behold a man, and a dweller of rest. (I said, I shall no longer see the Lord God in the land of the living; I shall no longer see any person, or any other inhabitant of this world.)

¹² My generation is taken away, and is folded together from me, as the tabernacle of shepherds is folded together. My life is cut down as of a web; he cutted down me, the while I was woven yet. (My source of life is folded up, and taken away from me, like a shepherd’s tent is folded up. My life is cut down like a web; he cut me down, while I was still weaving it.)

¹³ From the morrowtide till to the eventide (I felt like) thou shalt end me; I hoped till to the morrowtide; as a lion, so he all-brake my bones. From the morrowtide till to the eventide (I felt like) thou shalt end me; (From the morning until the evening I felt like thou shalt end me; then I was in pain until the morning again; like a lion, thou hast broken all my bones. From the morning until the evening I felt like thou shalt end me;)

¹⁴ as the young of a swallow, so I shall cry; I shall bethink as a culver (I shall moan like a dove). Mine eyes beholding on high, be made feeble. Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me;

¹⁵ what shall I say, either what shall he answer to me, when he hath done (this)? I shall bethink to thee all my years, in the bitterness of my soul. (what shall I say, or what shall he answer to me, when he himself hath done this? I shall think about thee all my years, in the bitterness of my soul.)

¹⁶ Lord, if men liveth so (Lord, if people so liveth), and the life of my spirit is in such things, (then) thou shalt chastise me, and shalt quicken me.

¹⁷ Lo! my bitterness is most bitter in peace (Lo! peace was my bitterness, and it was most bitter); forsooth thou hast delivered my soul, that it perished not; thou hast cast away behind thy back all my sins.

¹⁸ For not hell shall acknowledge to thee, neither death shall praise thee; they that go down into the pit, shall not abide thy truth. (For Sheol, or the grave, shall not acknowledge thee, nor shall death praise thee; and they who go down into the pit, shall not wait for thy truth.)

¹⁹ A living man, a living man, he shall acknowledge to thee, as and I today; the father shall make known thy truth to [the] sons. (But a living man, yea, a living man, he shall acknowledge thee, like I do today; and the father shall make thy truth known to his children.)

²⁰ Lord, make thou me safe, and we shall sing our psalms in all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. (Lord, thou hast saved me, and so we shall sing our songs all the days of our lives in the House of the Lord.)

8 And the Lord said to Joshua, Neither dread thou, nor be thou afeared; take with thee all the multitude of fighting men, and rise thou, and go up into the city of Ai; lo, I have betaken into thine hand the king thereof, and the people, and the city, and the land.

² And thou shalt do to the city of Ai, and to the king thereof, as thou didest to Jericho, and the king thereof; soothly ye shall take to you the prey (but this time ye can take the prey for yourselves), and all [the] living beasts; (and this time,) set thou ambushes, either ambushments, to the city behind it.

³ And Joshua rose, and all the host of fighting men with him, for to go up into Ai; and by night he sent (away) thirty chosen thousand of strong men; (And so Joshua, and all his army of fighters, rose up to go into Ai; and he chose thirty thousand strong men, and sent them away in the night;)

⁴ and he commanded to them, and said, Set ye ambushments behind the city, and go ye not further; and all ye shall be ready (and all of ye be ready to fight);

⁵ forsooth I, and the tother multitude which is with me, shall come on the contrary side against the city; and when they shall go out against us, as we did before, we shall flee, and turn the backs, (and I, and the other multitude who be with me, shall come on the opposite side toward the city; and when they shall go out against us, we shall turn our backs, and flee, as we did before,)

⁶ till they pursue us, and be drawn away further from the city; for they shall guess, that we shall flee them as we did before. Then while we shall flee, and while they pursue,

⁷ ye shall rise from the ambushments, and shall waste the city; and your Lord God shall betake it into your hands. (ye shall rise up from ambush, or from lying in wait, and shall destroy the city; and the Lord your God shall deliver it into your hands.)

⁸ And when ye have taken it, burn ye it; (yea,) do ye all things, as I have commanded to you.

⁹ And Joshua let go them, and they went to the place of [the] ambushments, and sat betwixt Bethel and Ai, at the west coast of the city of Ai. Forsooth Joshua dwelled in that night in the midst of the people. (And Joshua let them go, and they went to the place of ambush, and sat between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city of Ai. But Joshua stayed that night in the midst of his people.)

¹⁰ And he rose (up) early, and numbered his fellows, and he went up with the elder men in the front of the host (and he went up with the elders at the front of the army), and was compassed with the help of (his) fighters.

¹¹ And when they had come, and had gone up against the city, they stood at the north coast of the city, betwixt the which city and them a valley was in the midst. (And they came toward the city, and arrived at the north side of it, and there was a valley between them and the city.)

¹² And Joshua had chosen five thousand men, and he had set them in [the] ambushments betwixt Bethel and Ai, in the west part of the same city. (And Joshua chose five thousand men, and he put them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city.)

¹³ And all the tother host dressed the battle array to the north, so [that] the last men of the multitude reached to the west coast of the city. Then Joshua went in that night, and stood in the midst of [the] valley;

¹⁴ and when the king of Ai had seen this, he hasted (and rose up) early, and went out with all the host of the city, and he dressed (the) battle array against the desert; and he wist not that ambushments were hid behind his back. (and when the king of Ai had seen this, he hastened, and rose up early, and went out of the city with all of his army, and he directed the battle array toward the wilderness; but he did not know that men were hidden in ambush behind his back.)

¹⁵ Forsooth Joshua and all the multitude of Israel gave place, feigning dread, and fleeing (away) by the way of (the) wilderness;

¹⁶ and the men cried together, and with gladness stirred themselves together (and with gladness stirred themselves up), and they pursued the men of Israel. And when they had gone away from the city,

¹⁷ and soothly not one had (been) left in the city of Ai and Bethel, that pursued not Israel, and they left the cities open, as they had broken out, (and truly there was no one left in the city of Ai, who did not pursue Israel, and they left the city wide open, when they had broken out,)

¹⁸ the Lord said to Joshua, Raise up the shield that is in thine hand, against the city of Ai; for I shall give it to thee. And when Joshua had raised up his banner against the city of Ai, [the Lord said to Joshua, Heave up thy sword that is in thine hand, against the city of Ai; for to thee I shall take it (for I shall deliver it to thee). And when he had heaved up the sword over against the city,]

¹⁹ the ambushments, that were hid, rose up anon; and they went to the city, and took [it], and burnt it. (those in ambush, who were hid, rose up at once; and they went into the city, and took it, and set it afire.)

²⁰ Forsooth the men of the city, that pursued Joshua, beheld, and saw the smoke of the(ir) city ascend till to (the) heaven(s); and they might no more flee hither and thither; most(ly) since they that had feigned flight, and went to (the) wilderness, withstood strongliest against the pursuers (now strongly withstood their pursuers).

²¹ And Joshua saw, and all Israel, that the city was taken, and that the smoke of the city went up; and he turned again, and killed the men of Ai. (And Joshua, and all of Israel, saw that the city was taken, and that the smoke of the city went up; and then they turned, and killed the men of Ai.)

²² And also those men that had taken and burnt the city, went out of the city against their enemies, and they began to smite the middle men of their enemies (And those men who had taken and set the city afire, now came out of the city against their enemies, and they began to strike down the enemies who were in their midst); and when their adversaries were slain behind and before, so that no man of so great [a] multitude was saved,

²³ they took also the king of Ai living (they took the king of Ai alive), and they brought him to Joshua.

³ And bethink ye on him that suffered such gainsaying of sinful men against himself [Forsooth bethink ye on him that sustained such against-saying of sinful men against himself], that ye be not made weary, failing in your souls.

⁴ For ye against-stood not yet unto blood, fighting against sin.

⁵ And ye have forgotten the comfort that speaketh to you as to sons, and saith, My son, do not thou despise the teaching of the Lord [saying, My son, do not thou despise the discipline of the Lord], neither be thou made weary, the while thou art chastised of him.

⁶ For the Lord chastiseth him that he loveth; he beateth every son that he receiveth.^[a]

⁷ Abide ye still in chastising; God proffereth him(self) to you as to sons^[b]. For what son is it, whom the father chastiseth not?

⁸ That if ye be out of chastising, whose partners be ye all made [That if ye be out of discipline, of which all be made partners], then ye be adulterers, and not sons.

⁹ And afterward we had fathers of our flesh, teachers, and we with reverence dreaded them. Whether not much more we shall obey to the Father of spirits, and we shall live?

¹⁰ And they [soothly] in time of few days taught us by their will; but this Father teacheth to that thing that is profitable [forsooth this Father to that thing that is profitable], in receiving the hallowing of him.

¹¹ And each chastising in [this] present time seemeth to be not of joy, but of sorrow; but afterward it shall yield fruit of rightwiseness most peaceable to men exercised by it.

¹² For which thing raise ye [up] slow hands, and knees unbound,

¹³ and make ye rightful steps to your feet [and make rightful goings, or steps, to your feet]; that no man halting err, but more be healed.