Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

126 The song of degrees. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion; we were made as comforted. (When the Lord returned the captives to Zion/When the Lord returned prosperity to Zion; we were made like in a dream.)

² Then our mouth was filled with joy; and our tongue with full out joying. Then they shall say among heathen men; The Lord magnified to do with them. (Then our mouths were filled with joy; and ours tongues with rejoicing. And the heathen said to each other, The Lord hath done great things for them.)

³ The Lord magnified to do with us; we be made glad. (Yea, the Lord did great things for us; and we were glad.)

⁴ Lord, turn thou (again) our captivity; as a strand in the south. (Lord, return thou the captives/return thou our prosperity; like the streams return to the south.)

⁵ They that sow in tears; shall reap in full out joying. (Then they who sowed in tears; shall reap with rejoicing.)

⁶ They going, went, and wept; sending their seeds. But they coming, shall come with full out joying; bearing their handfuls (They going, went, and wept; sending out their seeds. But when they shall return, they shall come back rejoicing; carrying their harvest.)

¹² And Jeremy said to all the princes (And Jeremiah said to all the princes, or to all the leaders), and to all the people, saying, The Lord sent me, that I should prophesy to this house, and to this city, all the words which ye heard.

¹³ Now therefore make ye good your ways, and your studies, and hear ye the voice of your Lord God; and it shall repent the Lord of the evil which he spake against you. (And so now if ye make good your ways, and your deeds, and listen to the voice of the Lord your God, then the Lord shall repent for the evil which he spoke against you.)

¹⁴ Lo! forsooth I am in your hands; do ye to me, as it is good and rightful before your eyes.

¹⁵ Nevertheless know ye, and [well] know, that if ye slay me, ye shall betray innocent blood against yourselves, and against this city, and the dwellers thereof; for in truth the Lord sent me to you, that I should speak in your ears all these words. (Nevertheless know ye, and know ye well, that if ye kill me, ye shall betray innocent blood against yourselves, and against this city, and its inhabitants; for in all truth, the Lord hath sent me to you, so that I could speak all these words in your ears.)

¹⁶ And the princes and all the people said to the priests and prophets, Doom of death is not to this man; for he spake to us in the name of our Lord God. (And the princes, or the leaders, and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, A judgement, or a sentence, of death should not be given to this man; for he spoke to us in the name of the Lord our God.)

¹⁷ Therefore men of the elder men of the land rose up, and said to all the company of the people, and spake, (And so some of the elders of the land rose up, and spoke to all the company of the people, and said,)

¹⁸ Micah of Moresheth was a prophet in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah; and he said to all the people of Judah, saying, The Lord of hosts saith these things, Zion shall be eared as a field, and Jerusalem shall be into an heap of stones, and the hill of the house of the Lord shall be into high things of woods. (Micah of Moresheth was a prophet in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah; and he said to all the people of Judah, saying, The Lord of hosts saith these things, Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become a heap of stones, and the hill of the House of the Lord shall become the high places of a forest.)

¹⁹ Whether Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah condemned him by death? Whether they dreaded not the Lord, and besought the face of the Lord? and it repented the Lord of the evil which he spake against them. Therefore do we not great evil against our souls. (Did Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah condemn him to death? Rather, did they not fear the Lord, and besought the face of the Lord? and then the Lord repented for the evil which he spoke against them. And so let us not do this great evil against ourselves.)

²⁰ Also Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, of Kiriathjearim, was a man prophesying in the name of the Lord; and he prophesied against this city, and against this land, by all the words of Jeremy (with words like those of Jeremiah).

²¹ And king Jehoiakim, and all the mighty men, and princes of them (and their leaders), heard these words; and the king sought to slay him; and Urijah heard, and dreaded, and he fled, and entered into Egypt.

²² And king Jehoiakim sent men into Egypt, (namely,) Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and (the other) men with him, into Egypt;

²³ and they led Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him to king Jehoiakim; and the king killed him with sword, and casted forth his carrion in the sepulchres of the common people unnoble. (and they led Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him to King Jehoiakim; and the king killed him with a sword, and cast forth his dead body onto the graves of the common, or the unnoble, people.)

²⁴ Therefore the hand of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, was with Jeremy, that he was not betaken into the hands of the people, and that it killed not him (And so the hand, or the power, of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, was with Jeremiah, so that he was not delivered into the hands of the people, and so that they did not kill him.)

¹¹ Therefore if perfection was by the priesthood of Levi, for under him the people took the law, what yet was it needful, another priest to rise, by the order of Melchisedec, and not to be said by the order of Aaron [what yet was it needful, another priest to rise, after the order of Melchisedec, and not to be said after the order of Aaron]?

¹² For why when the priesthood is translated, it is need [it is needful] that also [the] translation of the law be made.

¹³ But he in whom these things be said, is of another lineage, of which no man was priest to the altar [of which no man was priest, or ready, to the altar].

¹⁴ For it is open [Soothly it is openly known], that our Lord is born of Juda, in which lineage Moses spake nothing of priests.

¹⁵ And more yet it is known, if by the order of Melchisedec another priest is risen up; [And more yet it is known, if after the order of Melchisedec another priest riseth;]

¹⁶ which is not made by the law of fleshly commandment, but by [the] virtue of life that may not be undone. [the which is not made after the law of fleshly commandment, but after virtue of life indissoluble, or that may not be undone.]

¹⁷ For he witnesseth, That thou art a priest without end, by the order of Melchisedec; [Soothly he witnesseth, For thou art a priest into without end, after the order of Melchisedec;]

¹⁸ that reproving of the commandment before-going is made, for the unfirmness and unprofit of it.

¹⁹ For why the law brought nothing to perfection, but there is a bringing in of a better hope, by which we approach to God [by which we nigh to God].

²⁰ And how great it is, not without swearing [that Christ is made priest after the order of Melchisedec];

²¹ but the others [forsooth others] be made priests without an oath; but this priest with an oath, by him that said to him, The Lord swore, and it shall not rue him, Thou art a priest without end, by the order of Melchisedec [Thou art a priest into without end, after the order of Melchisedec];

²² in so much Jesus is made [better] promiser of the better testament.