Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

5 To the Overseer, `Concerning the Inheritances.' -- A Psalm of David. My sayings hear, O Jehovah, Consider my meditation.

² Be attentive to the voice of my cry, My king and my God, For unto Thee I pray habitually.

³ Jehovah, [at] morning Thou hearest my voice, [At] morning I set in array for Thee, And I look out.

⁴ For not a God desiring wickedness [art] Thou, Evil inhabiteth Thee not.

⁵ The boastful station not themselves before Thine eyes: Thou hast hated all working iniquity.

⁶ Thou destroyest those speaking lies, A man of blood and deceit Jehovah doth abominate.

⁷ And I, in the abundance of Thy kindness, I enter Thy house, I bow myself toward Thy holy temple in Thy fear.

⁸ O Jehovah, lead me in Thy righteousness, Because of those observing me, Make straight before me Thy way,

²³ And the servants of the king of Aram said unto him, `Gods of hills [are] their gods, therefore they were stronger than we; and yet, we fight with them in the plain -- are we not stronger than they?

²⁴ `And this thing do thou: turn aside the kings each out of his place, and set captains in their stead;

²⁵ and thou, number to thee a force as the force that is fallen from thee, and horse for horse, and chariot for chariot, and we fight with them in the plain; are we not stronger than they?' and he hearkeneth to their voice, and doth so.

²⁶ And it cometh to pass at the turn of the year, that Ben-Hadad inspecteth the Aramaeans, and goeth up to Aphek, to battle with Israel,

²⁷ and the sons of Israel have been inspected, and supported, and go to meet them, and the sons of Israel encamp before them, like two flocks of goats, and the Aramaeans have filled the land.

²⁸ And there cometh nigh a man of God, and speaketh unto the king of Israel, and saith, `Thus said Jehovah, Because that the Aramaeans have said, God of hills [is] Jehovah, and He [is] not God of valleys -- I have given the whole of this great multitude into thy hand, and ye have known that I [am] Jehovah.'

²⁹ And they encamp one over-against another seven days, and it cometh to pass on the seventh day, that the battle draweth near, and the sons of Israel smite Aram -- a hundred thousand footmen in one day.

³⁰ And those left flee to Aphek, unto the city, and the wall falleth on twenty and seven chief men who are left, and Ben-Hadad hath fled, and cometh in unto the city, into the innermost part.

³¹ And his servants say unto him, `Lo, we pray thee, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel -- that they are kind kings; let us put, we pray thee, sackcloth on our loins, and ropes on our heads, and we go out unto the king of Israel; it may be he doth keep thee alive.'

³² And they gird sackcloth on their loins, and ropes [are] on their heads, and they come in unto the king of Israel, and say, `Thy servant Ben-Hadad hath said, Let me live, I pray thee;' and he saith, `Is he yet alive? he [is] my brother.'

³³ And the men observe diligently, and hasten, and catch it from him, and say, `Thy brother Ben-Hadad;' and he saith, `Go ye in, bring him;' and Ben-Hadad cometh out unto him, and he causeth him to come up on the chariot.

³⁴ And he saith unto him, `The cities that my father took from thy father, I give back, and streets thou dost make for thee in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria;' -- `and I, with a covenant, send thee away;' and he maketh with him a covenant, and sendeth him away.

11 I say, then, Did God cast away His people? let it not be! for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin:

² God did not cast away His people whom He knew before; have ye not known -- in Elijah -- what the Writing saith? how he doth plead with God concerning Israel, saying,

³ `Lord, Thy prophets they did kill, and Thy altars they dug down, and I was left alone, and they seek my life;'

⁴ but what saith the divine answer to him? `I left to Myself seven thousand men, who did not bow a knee to Baal.'

⁵ So then also in the present time a remnant according to the choice of grace there hath been;

⁶ and if by grace, no more of works, otherwise the grace becometh no more grace; and if of works, it is no more grace, otherwise the work is no more work.

⁷ What then? What Israel doth seek after, this it did not obtain, and the chosen did obtain, and the rest were hardened,

⁸ according as it hath been written, `God gave to them a spirit of deep sleep, eyes not to see, and ears not to hear,' -- unto this very day,

⁹ and David saith, `Let their table become for a snare, and for a trap, and for a stumbling-block, and for a recompense to them;

¹⁰ let their eyes be darkened -- not to behold, and their back do Thou always bow down.'