Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

121 (Shir HaMa’alot) I will lift up mine eyes unto the harim (hills), from whence cometh ezri (my help).

² Ezri (my help) cometh from Hashem, Oseh Shomayim v’Aretz.

³ He will not allow thy regel to slip; He that is shomer over thee will not slumber.

⁴ Hinei, He that is shomer over Yisroel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ Hashem is the One shomer over thee; Hashem is thy shade upon thy right hand.

⁶ The shemesh shall not strike thee by day, nor the yarei’ach by night.

⁷ Hashem shall preserve thee from kol rah; He shall preserve thy nefesh.

⁸ Hashem shall be shomer over thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even v’ad olam.

1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, while I was among those of the Golus by the Nahar Kevar, that Shomayim was opened, and I saw mar’ot Elohim.

² In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of the Golus of HaMelech Yoyakhin [593 B.C.E.},

³ The Devar Hashem came expressly unto Yechezkel the kohen, ben Buzi, in Eretz Kasdim (Chaldeans) by the Nahar Kevar; and the Yad Hashem was there upon him.

⁴ And I looked, and, hinei, a ruach se’arah came out of the tzafon, an anan gadol, and flashing fire, with brilliant light all about it, and out of the midst thereof something gleaming, shining out of the midst of the eish.

⁵ Also out of the midst thereof came the demut (likeness) of four Chayos. And this was their appearance: they had the demut adam.

⁶ And every one had arba’ah panim, and every one had arba kenafayim.

⁷ And their regalim were regel yesharah; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a regel egel; and they gleamed like the shining of burnished nechoshet.

⁸ And they had the hands of an adam under their kenafayim on their four sides; and they four had their panim and their kenafayim.

⁹ Their kenafayim were joined one to another; they turned not as they went; they went every one face forward.

¹⁰ As for the demut of their panim, they four had the face of an adam, and the face of an aryeh, on the right side; and they four had the face of a shor on the left side; they four also had the face of a nesher.

¹¹ Thus were their panim; and their kenafayim were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their geviyot.

¹² And they went every one face forward; whither the Ruach was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

¹³ As for the demut of the Chayos, their appearance was like coals of eish burning, and like the appearance of lapidim (torches); it spread back and forth among the Chayos; and the eish was brilliant, and out of the eish went forth barak (lightning).

¹⁴ And the Chayos ran and returned as the appearance of bazak (a flash of lightning).

¹⁵ Now as I beheld the Chayos, hinei there was one Ofan ba’aretz etzel the Chayos, with its four panim.

¹⁶ The appearance of the Ofanim and their making was like unto the color of tarshish; and they four had one demut; and their appearance and their making was as it were an Ofan within an Ofan.

¹⁷ Arba’at (four) sidedly they went; and they turned not as they went.

¹⁸ As for their rims, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rims were mele’ot einayim saviv (full of eyes round about) the four of them.

¹⁹ And when the Chayos went, the Ofanim went beside them; and when the Chayos were lifted up from ha’aretz, the Ofanim were lifted up.

²⁰ Whithersoever the Ruach was to go, they went, thither was the Ruach to go; and the Ofanim were lifted facing them; for Ruach HaChayah was in the Ofanim.

²¹ When those went, these went; and when those stood still, these stood still; and when those were lifted up from ha’aretz, the Ofanim were lifted up facing them; for the Ruach HaChayah was in the Ofanim.

²² And the demut of the raki’a upon the rashei HaChayah was as the color of terrible ice crystal, spread out upward above their rashim.

²³ And under the raki’a were their kenafayim stretched out, the one toward the other; every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their geviyot.

²⁴ And when they went, I heard the kol of their kenafayim, like the kol of mayim rabbim, as the Kol Shaddai, the voice of a tumult, as the sound of a machaneh; when they stood still, they let down their kenafayim.

²⁵ And there was a kol (voice) from the raki’a that was over their rosh, when they stood still, and had let down their kenafayim.

¹⁹ And having received okhel (food), Rav Sha’ul regained strength. Now he was with the talmidim in Damascus several yamim.

²⁰ And immediately in the shuls Rav Sha’ul was preaching Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua, saying, "He is the Ben HaElohim."

²¹ And all the ones listening were astonished, and they were saying, "Is this not the one making havoc in Yerushalayim among the ones invoking this shem and was not his tachlis (purpose) in coming here to bind them over before the Rashei Hakohanim?"

²² But Rav Sha’ul even more was being strengthened and was confounding the unbelieving Yehudim dwelling in Damascus, by proving that this Yehoshua is the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.

²³ But when yamim rabbim were completed, the ones of the Yehudim who were unbelieving plotted to kill him.

²⁴ But the mezimma (evil design, intrigue) of their kesher (plot) became known to Rav Sha’ul. And they were also watching the she’arim (gates) both yomam valailah that they might kill him,

²⁵ but Moshiach’s talmidim had taken him b’lailah and they let him down through an opening in the wall, having lowered him in a large basket. [SHMUEL ALEF 19:12]

²⁶ And having arrived in Yerushalayim, Rav Sha’ul was trying to associate with the Moshiach’s talmidim, and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he is a talmid.

²⁷ But Bar-Nabba, having taken hold of him, brought him to Moshiach’s Shluchim and told them how on the derech he saw Moshiach Adoneinu, who had spoken to Rav Sha’ul, and how in Damascus Rav Sha’ul spoke with ometz lev (boldness) b’Shem Yehoshua.

²⁸ And Rav Sha’ul was with them, going in and coming out in Yerushalayim, speaking boldly b’Shem Moshiach Adoneinu.

²⁹ And Rav Sha’ul was speaking and debating keneged (against) the Greekspeaking Yehudim; but they were attempting to kill him.

³⁰ But having learned of this, the Achim b’Moshiach brought Rav Sha’ul down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

³¹ Then Moshiach’s Kehillah throughout all of Yehudah and the Galil and Shomron had shalom and was increasing, being built up, and going on in the yir’at Shomayim and in the yir’at Moshiach Adoneinu and beNechamat HaRuach Hakodesh.