Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁶⁹ [Tau]. Lord, my beseeching come nigh in thy sight; by thy speech give thou understanding to me. (Lord, let my plea come before thee; give thou me understanding of thy word/give thou me understanding according to thy word.)

¹⁷⁰ Mine asking enter into thy sight; by thy speech deliver thou me. (Let my asking come before thee; save thou me according to thy word.)

¹⁷¹ My lips shall tell out an hymn; when thou hast taught me thy justifyings. (My lips shall tell out thy praises/My lips shall praise thee; because thou hast taught me thy statutes.)

¹⁷² My tongue shall pronounce thy speech; for why all thy commandments be equity. (My tongue shall tell out thy word; for all thy commandments be just, or fair.)

¹⁷³ Thine hand be made, that it save me; for I have chosen thy behests. (Let thy hand swiftly save me; for I have chosen thy precepts.)

¹⁷⁴ Lord, I coveted thine health; and thy law is my thinking. (Lord, I desire thy salvation, or thy deliverance; and thy Law is my delight.)

¹⁷⁵ My soul shall live, and it shall praise thee; and thy dooms shall help me. (Let me live, and I shall praise thee; and let thy judgements help me/and let thy decrees guide me.)

¹⁷⁶ I erred as a sheep that perished; Lord, seek thy servant, for I forgat not thy commandments. (I have wandered about like a lost sheep; Lord, search for thy servant, for I have not forgotten thy commandments.)

13 And lo! a man of God came from Judah, by the word of the Lord, into Bethel, while Jeroboam stood upon the altar, casting incense (while Jeroboam stood by the altar, throwing incense).

² And he cried out against the altar, by the word of the Lord, and said, Altar! altar! the Lord saith these things, Lo! a son, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and he shall offer upon thee the priests of (the) high things, the which burn now incense in thee, and he shall burn the bones of men upon thee (and he shall offer upon thee the priests of the hill shrines, who now burn incense upon thee, and he shall burn men’s bones upon thee).

³ And he gave a sign in that day, and said, This shall be the sign that the Lord spake, Lo! the altar shall be cut, and the ash which is therein, shall be shed out. (And he gave a sign on that day, and said, This shall be the sign that the Lord spoke, Lo! the altar shall be split open, and the ashes that are upon it, shall be poured out.)

⁴ And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried against the altar in Bethel, the king held forth his hand from the altar, and said, Take ye him. And his hand dried (up), which he had held forth, and he might not draw it again to himself.

⁵ Also the altar was cut, and the ash was shed out of the altar, by the sign which the man of God before-said, in the word of the Lord. (And the altar was split open, and the ashes were poured out of the altar, by the sign which the man of God had foretold, by the word of the Lord.)

⁶ And the king said to the man of God, Beseech thou (before) the face of the Lord thy God, and pray thou for me, that mine hand be restored to me. And the man of God prayed (before) the face of the Lord; and the hand of the king turned again to him (and the king’s hand was restored to him), and it was made as it was before.

⁷ And the king spake to the man of God, (and said,) Come thou home with me, that thou eat, and I shall give gifts to thee.

⁸ And the man of God said to the king, Though thou shalt give to me the half part of thine house, I shall not come with thee, neither I shall eat bread, neither I shall drink water in this place.

⁹ for so it was commanded to me by the word of the Lord, commanding, Thou shalt not eat bread, neither thou shalt drink water, neither thou shalt turn again by the way by which thou camest.

¹⁰ Therefore he went by another way, and turned not again by the way, by which he came into Bethel.

⁹ What then? Surpass we them? Nay; for we have showed by skill, that all both Jews and Greeks be under sin,^[a]

¹⁰ as it is written, For there is no man just [For there is not any man just];

¹¹ there is no man understanding [there is not a man understanding], neither seeking God.

¹² All bowed away, together they be made unprofitable; there is none that doeth good thing, there is none till to one [there is not till to one].

¹³ The throat of them is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they did guilefully; the venom of snakes is under their lips^[b].

¹⁴ The mouth of whom is full of cursing and bitterness;

¹⁵ the feet of them be swift to shed blood.

¹⁶ Sorrow and cursedness be in the ways of them,^[c]

¹⁷ and they knew not the way of peace;

¹⁸ the dread of God is not before their eyes.

¹⁹ And we know [Forsooth we know], that whatever things the law speaketh, it speaketh to them that be in the law, that each mouth be stopped, and each world be made subject to God.

²⁰ For of the works of the law each flesh shall not be justified before him; for by the law there is knowing of sin [for by the law is knowing of sin].