Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

138 (Of Dovid) I will thank Thee with my whole lev; before the elohim will I sing praise unto Thee.

² I will worship toward Thy Heikhal Kodesh, and praise Shmecha (Thy Name) for Thy chesed and for Thy emes; for Thou hast magnified Thy Word above Kol Shimcha (all Thy Name; Yn 1:1, 14 OJBC).

³ In the day when I called out, Thou answeredst me, and madest me bold with oz (strength) in my nefesh.

⁴ Kol Malchei Aretz shall praise Thee, Hashem, when they hear the words of Thy mouth.

⁵ Yes, they shall sing of the Darkhei Hashem; for gadol is the Kavod Hashem.

⁶ Though Hashem be on high, yet He looks upon the lowly; but the proud He knoweth from afar.

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of tzoros, Thou wilt preserve me alive; Thou shalt stretch forth Thine yad against the wrath of mine enemies, and Thy Yamin (Right Hand) shall save me.

⁸ Hashem will fulfill that which concerneth me; Thy chesed, O Hashem, endureth l’olam; forsake not the works of Thine own yadayim.

6 And the Aron Hashem was in the teritory of the Pelishtim (Philistines) shivah chodashim.

² And the Pelishtim (Philistines) called for the [Dagon] kohanim and the kosemim (sorcerers), saying, What shall we do with the Aron Hashem? Tell us wherewith we shall send it to its makom (place).

³ And they said, If ye send away the Aron Elohei Yisroel, send it not away empty; but ye shall surely return to Him an asham (trespass offering); then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why His Yad is not removed from you.

⁴ Then they said, What shall be the asham (trespass offering) which we shall return to Him? They answered, Five techorim of zahav, and five akhbarim (rats) of zahav, according to the number of rulers of the Pelishtim: for one magefah (plague) was on you all, and on your rulers.

⁵ So ye shall make tzalmei techorim (likenesses of tumors) of yours, and tzalmei akhabarim (likenesses of rats) of yours, of that which mar the land; and ye shall give kavod unto Elohei Yisroel; perhaps He will lighten His Yad from off you, and from off eloheichem (your g-ds), and from off your land.

⁶ Now then why do ye harden levavchem, as the Mitzrayim and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not send them away, so that they departed?

⁷ Now therefore make an agalah chadashah (new cart, wagon), and take two milch [milk-yielding] cows, [i.e., nursing cows] on which there hath come no ol (yoke), and hitch the cows to the agalah, and take their calves home, away from them;

⁸ And take the Aron Hashem, and lay it upon the agalah; and put the kelei hazahav, which ye send back to Him for an asham (trespass offering), in a box by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.

⁹ And see: if it [the Aron Hashem] goeth up by the derech of its own territory [i.e., Eretz Yisroel] toward Beit Shemesh, then He hath done us this ra’ah hagedolah (great disaster); but if not, then we shall know that it is not His Yad that struck us; the evil came upon us mikreh (by chance, by accident).

¹⁰ And the anashim did so; and took two milch cows, and hitched them to the agalah, and penned up their calves babayit;

¹¹ And they laid the Aron Hashem upon the agalah, and the box with the akhbarim of zahav and the tzalmei techorim (likenesses of tumors) of theirs.

¹² And the cows took the straight derech to the derech Beit Shemesh, and went along the path, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the yamin or to the semol; and the rulers of the Pelishtim went after them as far as the border of Beit Shemesh.

¹³ And they of Beit Shemesh were kotzerim (harvesting) their ketzir chittim (wheat harvest) in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the Aron, and they rejoiced to see it.

¹⁴ And the agalah came into the sadeh of Yehoshua, a man of Beit Shemesh, and stopped there, where there was an even gedolah (a large rock); and they chopped up the wood of the agalah, and offered the cows as an olah (burnt offering) unto Hashem.

¹⁵ And the Levi’im took down the Aron Hashem, and the box that was with it, wherein were the kelei zahav, and put them on the even hagedolah (large rock); and the anashim of Beit Shemesh offered olot (burnt offerings) and sacrificed zevakhim (sacrifices) on that day unto Hashem.

¹⁶ And when the five rulers of the Pelishtim saw it, they returned to Ekron on that same day.

¹⁷ And these are the techorim (tumors) of zahav which the Pelishtim (Philistines) returned for an asham (trespass offering) unto Hashem; for Ashdod one, for Azah (Gaza) one, for Askelon one, for Gat one, for Ekron one;

¹⁸ And the akhbarim of zahav, according to the mispar of all the towns of the Pelishtim (Philistines) belonging to the five rulers, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even unto Avel HaGedolah, whereon they set down the Aron Hashem; it (the even hagedolah [See verse 15]) remaineth unto this day in the sadeh of Yehoshua, the man of Beit Shemesh.

⁴ Now when a large multitude was coming together and the ones in every shtetl were making their derech to him, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach spoke by way of a mashal:

⁵ The one sowing went out to sow his seed; and as he sows, some [seeds] fell beside the road; and it was trampled upon, and the birds of the air devoured it.

⁶ And other seed fell upon the rock, and as soon as it grew up, it dried up because it has no moisture.

⁷ And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.

⁸ And other seed fell in the adamah tovah (good ground) and, having grown up, produced pri a hundredfold. As Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach said these things, he was calling out, The one having oznayim (ears) to hear, let him hear.

⁹ Now Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach’s talmidim began questioning him as to what this mashal might be.

¹⁰ And he said, To you it has been granted to have daas of the razei Malchut Hashem (mysteries of the Kingdom of G-d), but to the others I speak in mashalim, in order that YIRU they may not see and VSHIMU they may not have binah. [YESHAYAH 6:9]

¹¹ Now the mashal is this: The seed is the dvar Hashem.

¹² The ones beside the road are the ones having heard, then Hasatan comes and takes away the dvar Hashem from their levavot, so that they may not have emunah (faith) and come to Yeshua’at Eloheinu.

¹³ Now the ones upon the rock are those who when they hear, with simcha they receive the dvar; but these have no shoresh (root). They have emunah for a while, but in time of nisayon (trial, temptation), they become shmad and they fall away.

¹⁴ Now the seed which fell among thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their derech, they are choked by the deagot (worries, anxieties) and ashires (riches) and taanugot (pleasures) of the Olam Hazeh and they bring no pri to maturity.

¹⁵ Now the one in the adamah tova (good ground), these are those who have heard the dvar Hashem with a lev (heart) tov and yashir (straight), and retain the dvar Hashem and bear pri with zitzfleisch (patience).