Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

94 God is Lord of vengeances; God of vengeance did freely. (God is the Lord of vengeance; O God of vengeance, show thyself!)

² Be thou enhanced that deemest the earth; yield thou (a) yielding to proud men. (Be thou raised up, who judgest the earth; and punish thou those, who be proud.)

³ Lord, how long sinners; how long shall sinners have glory? (Lord, how long shall the sinners, yea, how long shall the sinners have glory?)

⁴ They shall tell out, and shall speak wickedness; all men shall speak that work unrightfulness. (They boast, and they all speak wickedness; yea, all who work unrighteousness have glory in themselves.)

⁵ Lord, they have made low thy people; and they have dis-eased thine heritage. (Lord, they have beaten down thy people; and they have distressed thy inheritance.)

⁶ They killed a widow and a comeling; and they have slain fatherless children and motherless. (They have killed widows and newcomers, or strangers; and they have slain the fatherless and the motherless, or the orphans.)

⁷ And they said, The Lord shall not see (it); and, (The) God of Jacob shall not understand.

⁸ Ye unwise men in the people, understand; and, ye fools, learn sometime. (Understand this, ye ignorant among the people; and learn something, ye fools.)

⁹ Shall not he hear, that planted the ear; either beholdeth not he, that made the eye? (Shall he not hear, who formed the ear? shall he not see, who made the eye?)

¹⁰ Shall not he reprove, that chastiseth folks; (shall he not know,) which teacheth man knowing? (Shall he not rebuke, who chastiseth the nations? shall he not know, who teacheth the people knowledge?)

¹¹ The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men; that those be (in) vain. (The Lord knoweth, that the thoughts of the people be all in vain, that is, empty, and useless, or worthless.)

¹² Blessed is the man, whom thou, Lord, hast learned; and hast taught him of thy law. (Happy is the person whom thou, Lord, hast taught; yea, whom thou hast taught thy Law.)

¹³ That thou assuage him from evil days; till a ditch be digged to the sinner. (That thou assuage him from the evil days; until a ditch be dug for the sinners.)

¹⁴ For the Lord shall not put away his people; and he shall not forsake his heritage. (For the Lord shall not reject his people; and he shall not abandon his inheritance.)

¹⁵ Till rightfulness be turned (again) into doom; and who be nigh it, all that be of rightful heart. (For judgement shall return unto righteousness; and all who have an upright heart shall follow it.)

¹⁶ Who shall rise with me against mis-doers; either who shall stand with me against them that work wickedness? (Who shall rise up for me against the evil-doers? and who shall stand up for me against those who do evil?)

¹⁷ No but for the Lord helped me; almost my soul had dwelled in hell. (If the Lord had not helped me; soon I would have slept in Sheol, or in the land of the dead/soon I would have slept in the grave.)

¹⁸ If I said, My foot was stirred; Lord, thy mercy helped me. (But when I said, My foot is slipping! Lord, thy love held me up.)

¹⁹ After the multitude of my sorrows in mine heart; thy comforts made glad my soul. (And after a multitude of sorrows gathered together in my heart; once again thy comfort gladdened my soul.)

²⁰ Whether the seat of wickedness cleaveth to thee; that makest travail in commandment? (Shall the throne of wickedness cleave to thee; thou who makest trespass within the commandments?/thou who makest trespass by the commandments?)

²¹ They shall take (hold) against the soul of a just man; and they shall condemn innocent blood. (For they gather themselves together against the life of the righteous; and they condemn the innocent to death.)

²² And the Lord was made to me into refuge (But the Lord was made my refuge); and my God was made into the help of mine hope.

²³ And he shall yield to them the wickedness of them; and in the malice of them he shall lose them, our Lord God shall lose them. (And he shall punish them for their wickedness; he shall destroy them for their malice, yea, the Lord our God shall destroy them.)

5 Compass ye the ways of Jerusalem, and look, and behold ye, and seek ye in the streets thereof, whether ye find a man doing doom, and seeking faith; and I shall be merciful to them. (Go ye about the ways of Jerusalem, and look, and behold ye, and seek ye in its streets, whether ye can find anyone doing justice, and seeking faith; and I shall be merciful to them.)

² That if also they say, The Lord liveth, yea, they shall swear this falsely. (But even if they say, As the Lord liveth, yea, they shall swear this falsely.)

³ Lord, thine eyes behold faith; thou hast smitten them, and they made not sorrow; thou hast all-broken them, and they forsook to take chastising; they made their faces harder than a stone, and would not turn again. (Lord, thine eyes look for faithfulness; thou hast struck them, but they did not have sorrow; thou hast all-broken them, but they refused to accept their discipline, or their correction; they made their faces harder than a stone, and would not return to thee.)

⁴ Forsooth I said, In hap they be poor men, and fools, that know not the way of the Lord, and the doom of their God. (And I said, Perhaps they be the poor, and the foolish, and they do not know the way of the Lord, and the judgement, or the justice, of their God.)

⁵ Therefore I shall go to the principal men, and I shall speak to them; for they knew the way of the Lord, and the doom of their God. And lo! they have more broken together the yoke, and have broken [the] bonds. (And so I shall go to the principal men, or to the leaders, and I shall speak to them; for they knew the way of the Lord, and the judgement, or the justice, of their God. But lo! they also have altogether broken the yoke, and have broken their bonds.)

⁶ Therefore a lion of the wood smote them; a wolf at eventide wasted them, a leopard watching on the cities of them. Each man that goeth out of them, shall be taken; for the trespassings of them be multiplied, the turnings away of them be comforted (Each person who goeth out of them, shall be taken, or shall be torn apart; for their trespassings be multiplied, their turnings away be increased).

⁷ On what thing may I be merciful to thee? Thy sons have forsaken me, and swear by them that be not gods. I [full-]filled them, and they did adultery, and in the house of an whore they did lechery. (For what thing can I be merciful to thee? Thy children have deserted me, and swear by those that be not gods. I filled them full, and they still did adultery, that is, idolatry, yea, they still did lechery in a whorehouse.)

⁸ They be made horses, and stallions, lovers to women (lovers of women); each man neighed to the wife of his neighbour.

⁹ Whether I shall not visit on these things, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul take vengeance on such a folk? (Shall I not punish them for these things? saith the Lord, and shall not my soul take vengeance on such a nation?)

¹⁰ Go ye up on the walls thereof, and destroy ye; but do not ye make an ending. Do ye away the scions thereof, for they be not servants of the Lord.

¹¹ For why the house of Israel and the house of Judah hath trespassed by trespassing against me, saith the Lord; (Because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have trespassed by trespassing against me, saith the Lord;)

¹² they denied the Lord, and said, He is not, neither evil shall come [up]on us; we shall not see sword and hunger (we shall not see the sword and hunger).

¹³ The prophets spake against the wind, and none answer was in them; therefore these things shall come to them. (The prophets spoke nothing but wind, and there was no word of God in them; and so these things shall come to them.)

¹⁴ The Lord God of hosts saith these things, For ye spake this word, lo! I give my words in thy mouth into fire, and this people into trees, and it shall devour them. (The Lord God of hosts saith these things, Because ye spoke these words, lo! I shall make my words in thy mouth into fire, and this people into wood, and it shall devour them.)

¹⁵ Lo! thou house of Israel, saith the Lord, I shall bring on you a folk from [a]far; a strong folk, an old folk, a folk whose language thou shalt not know, neither shalt understand what it speaketh. (Lo! O house of Israel, saith the Lord, I shall bring upon you a nation from far away; a strong nation, an old nation, a nation whose language thou shalt not know, nor shalt thou understand what they say.)

¹⁶ The arrow case thereof is as an open sepulchre; all be strong men. (Its arrow case, or its quiver, is an open grave, or an empty tomb; they all be strong men.)

¹⁷ And it shall eat thy corns, and it shall devour thy bread, thy sons and thy daughters; it shall eat thy flock, and thy droves, it shall eat also thy vinery, and thy fig tree; it shall all-break thy strong cities with sword, in which thou hast trusted. (And they shall eat thy corn, or thy harvest, and shall devour thy bread, or thy food, and thy sons and thy daughters; they shall eat thy flocks, and thy herds, and they shall eat thy vines, and thy fig trees; and they shall all-break with the sword thy strong cities, in which thou hast trusted.)

¹⁸ I betake this commandment to thee, thou son Timothy, after the prophecies that have been heretofore in thee, that thou travail in them a good travail, [I commend this precept to thee, son Timothy, after prophecies before-going in thee, that thou fight in them a good knighthood,]

¹⁹ having faith and good conscience, which some men cast away, and perished about the faith [the which some casting away, perished about the faith].

²⁰ Of which is Hymenaeus and Alexander [Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander], whom I betook to Satan, that they learn not to blaspheme.