Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

129 The song of degrees. Israel say now; Oft they have fought against me from my youth. (Let Israel say now; they have often fought against me from my youth.)

² Oft they [have] fought against me from my youth; and soothly they might not to me (Yea, they have often fought against me from my youth; but truly they could never overcome me.)

³ Sinners forged on my back; they made long their wickedness. (The sinners scourged my back; they made their furrows deep and long in me.)

⁴ The Lord is just, (he) shall beat (together) the nolls of sinners; (But the Lord is just, and he shall free me from the bonds of the wicked;)

⁵ all that hate Zion be they shamed, and turned aback. (let all who hate Zion be put to shame, and be turned, or driven, back.)

⁶ Be they made as the hay of housetops; that dried up, before that it be drawn up. (Be they made like the grass on the rooftops; it dried up, before that it could be pulled up.)

⁷ Of which hay he that shall reap, shall not fill his hand; and he that shall gather handfuls, shall not fill his bosom. (Of which grass he who shall reap, shall not get a handful; and he who shall gather handfuls, shall not get an armful.)

⁸ And they that passed forth said not, The blessing of the Lord be on you; we blessed you in the name of the Lord. (And so they who pass by, shall never say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.)

39 In the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his host (and all his army), came to Jerusalem, and they besieged it.

² Forsooth in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month (on the fifth day of the mouth), the city was opened;

³ and all the princes of the king of Babylon entered, and sat in the middle gate, Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, (another) Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all [the] other princes of the king of Babylon. (and all the leaders, or all the officers, of the king of Babylon entered, and sat at the Middle Gate, yea, Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, another Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all the other officers of the king of Babylon.)

⁴ And when Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and all the men warriors had seen them, they fled, and went out by night from the city, by the way of the garden of the king, and by the gate that was betwixt (the) two walls; and they went out to the way of (the) desert.

⁵ Forsooth the host of Chaldees pursued them, and they took Zedekiah in the field of wilderness of Jericho; and they took him, and brought to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath; and Nebuchadnezzar spake dooms to him. (And the Chaldean army pursued them, and they took hold of Zedekiah in the field of the Jericho wilderness; and they took him, and brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, in Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath; and Nebuchadnezzar passed judgement upon him/and Nebuchadnezzar spoke out his sentence, or his fate.)

⁶ And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah, before his eyes; and the king of Babylon (also) killed all the noble men of Judah.

⁷ Also he putted out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, that he should be led into Babylon. (And he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with fetters, so that he could be led to Babylon.)

⁸ And [the] Chaldees burnt with fire the house of the king (And the Chaldeans burned down the palace), and the house(s) of the common people, and destroyed the wall of Jerusalem.

⁹ And Nebuzaradan, the master of knights, translated into Babylon the residues of the people, that dwelled in the city, and the fleers-away, that had fled over to him, and the superfluous men of the common people, that were left. (And Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried away captive to Babylon the rest of the people, who lived in the city, and the fleers-away, who had fled over to him, and the rest of the common people, who were left there.)

¹⁰ And Nebuzaradan, the master of knights, left in the land of Judah, of the people of poor men, and gave to them vineries and cisterns in that day. (But Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left some of the poor people in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and cisterns on that day.)

¹¹ Forsooth Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had commanded of Jeremy to Nebuzaradan, master of the chivalry, and said, (And Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, gave custody of Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, and said,)

¹² Take thou him, and set thine eyes on him, and do thou nothing of evil to him; but as he will, so do thou to him (but whatever he desireth, do thou for him).

¹³ Therefore Nebuzaradan, the prince of the chivalry (And so Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard), sent Nebushazban, and Rabsaris, and Nergalsharezer, and Rabmag, and all the principal men of the king of Babylon,

¹⁴ sent, and took Jeremy from the porch of the prison, and they betook him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, that he should enter into the house, and dwell among the people. (yea, he sent them, and they took Jeremiah from the courtyard of the prison, and they delivered him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, so that he could go to his house, and live among the people.)

¹⁵ Forsooth the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, when he was closed in the porch of the prison, and said (And the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah, when he was enclosed in the courtyard of the prison, and said,)

¹⁶ Go thou, and say to Ebedmelech (the) Ethiopian, and speak thou, The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring my words on this city into evil, and not into good; and those shall be in thy sight in that day. (Go thou, and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, and say thou, The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring to pass my words upon this city, for evil, and not for good, and it shall happen before thine eyes on that day.)

¹⁷ And I shall deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord, and thou shalt not be betaken into the hands of [the] men, which thou dreadest; (And I shall rescue thee on that day, saith the Lord, and thou shalt not be delivered into the hands of the people, whom thou fearest;)

¹⁸ but I delivering shall deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall down by (the) sword; but thy soul shall be into health to thee (but thy soul shall be saved for thee), for thou haddest trust in me, saith the Lord.

⁷ Therefore, brethren, be ye patient, till to the coming of the Lord. Lo! an earth-tiller abideth [the] precious fruit of the earth, patiently suffering, till he receive timeful and lateful fruit.

⁸ And be ye patient, and confirm ye your hearts, for the coming of the Lord shall approach. [And be ye patient, and confirm your hearts, for the coming of the Lord shall nigh.]

⁹ Brethren, do not ye be sorrowful each to other [Brethren, do not ye be scornful each to other], that ye be not deemed. Lo! the judge standeth nigh before the gate.

¹⁰ Brethren, take ye ensample of evil going out, and of long abiding, and travail [Brethren, take ye example of evil going out, and of long abiding of travail], and of patience, the prophets, that spake to you in the name of the Lord.

¹¹ Lo! we bless them that suffered. Ye have heard the patience of Job, and ye saw the end of the Lord, for the Lord is merciful, and doing mercy.

¹² Before all things, my brethren, do not ye swear, neither by heaven, neither by earth, neither by whatever other oath. But be your word Yea, yea, Nay, nay, that ye fall not under doom.