Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

138 By David. I confess Thee, with all my heart, Before the gods I do praise Thee.

² I bow myself toward Thy holy temple, And I confess Thy name, For Thy kindness, and for Thy truth, For Thou hast made great Thy saying above all Thy name.

³ In the day I called, when Thou dost answer me, Thou dost strengthen me in my soul [with] strength.

⁴ O Jehovah, all kings of earth confess Thee, When they have heard the sayings of Thy mouth.

⁵ And they sing in the ways of Jehovah, For great [is] the honour of Jehovah.

⁶ For high [is] Jehovah, and the lowly He seeth, And the haughty from afar He knoweth.

⁷ If I walk in the midst of distress Thou quickenest me, Against the anger of mine enemies Thou sendest forth Thy hand, And Thy right hand doth save me.

⁸ Jehovah doth perfect for me, O Jehovah, Thy kindness [is] to the age, The works of Thy hands let not fall!

6 And the ark of Jehovah is in the field of the Philistines seven months,

² and the Philistines call for priests and for diviners, saying, `What do we do to the ark of Jehovah? let us know wherewith we send it to its place?'

³ And they say, `If ye are sending away the ark of the God of Israel, ye do not send it away empty; for ye do certainly send back to Him a guilt-offering; then ye are healed, and it hath been known to you why His hand doth not turn aside from you.'

⁴ And they say, `What [is] the guilt-offering which we send back to Him?' and they say, `The number of the princes of the Philistines -- five golden emerods, and five golden mice -- for one plague [is] to you all, and to your princes,

⁵ and ye have made images of your emerods, and images of your mice that are corrupting the land, and have given honour to the God of Israel; it may be He doth lighten His hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land;

⁶ and why do ye harden your heart as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? do they not -- when He hath rolled Himself upon them -- send them away, and they go?

⁷ `And now, take and make one new cart, and two suckling kine, on which a yoke hath not gone up, and ye have bound the kine in the cart, and caused their young ones to turn back from after them to the house,

⁸ and ye have taken the ark of Jehovah, and put it on the cart, and the vessels of gold which ye have returned to Him -- a guilt-offering -- ye put in a coffer on its side, and have sent it away, and it hath gone;

⁹ and ye have seen, if the way of its own border it goeth up to Beth-Shemesh -- He hath done to us this great evil; and if not, then we have known that His hand hath not come against us; an accident it hath been to us.'

¹⁰ And the men do so, and take two suckling kine, and bind them in the cart, and their young ones they have shut up in the house;

¹¹ and they place the ark of Jehovah upon the cart, and the coffer, and the golden mice, and the images of their emerods.

¹² And the kine go straight in the way, on the way to Beth-Shemesh, in one highway they have gone, going and lowing, and have not turned aside right or left; and the princes of the Philistines are going after them unto the border of Beth-Shemesh.

¹³ And the Beth-Shemeshites are reaping their wheat-harvest in the valley, and they lift up their eyes, and see the ark, and rejoice to see [it].

¹⁴ And the cart hath come in unto the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemeshite, and standeth there, and there [is] a great stone, and they cleave the wood of the cart, and the kine they have caused to ascend -- a burnt-offering to Jehovah.

¹⁵ And the Levites have taken down the ark of Jehovah, and the coffer which [is] with it, in which [are] the vessels of gold, and place [them] on the great stone; and the men of Beth-Shemesh have caused to ascend burnt-offerings and sacrifice sacrifices in that day to Jehovah;

¹⁶ and the five princes of the Philistines have seen [it], and turn back [to] Ekron, on that day.

¹⁷ And these [are] the golden emerods which the Philistines have sent back -- a guilt-offering to Jehovah: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;

¹⁸ and the golden mice -- the number of all the cities of the Philistines -- for the five princes, from the fenced city even unto the hamlet of the villages, even unto the great meadow on which they placed the ark of Jehovah -- [are] unto this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-Shemeshite.

⁴ And a great multitude having gathered, and those who from city and city were coming unto him, he spake by a simile:

⁵ `The sower went forth to sow his seed, and in his sowing some indeed fell beside the way, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the heaven did devour it.

⁶ `And other fell upon the rock, and having sprung up, it did wither, through not having moisture.

⁷ `And other fell amidst the thorns, and the thorns having sprung up with it, did choke it.

⁸ `And other fell upon the good ground, and having sprung up, it made fruit an hundred fold.' These things saying, he was calling, `He having ears to hear -- let him hear.'

⁹ And his disciples were questioning him, saying, `What may this simile be?'

¹⁰ And he said, `To you it hath been given to know the secrets of the reign of God, and to the rest in similes; that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

¹¹ `And this is the simile: The seed is the word of God,

¹² and those beside the way are those hearing, then cometh the Devil, and taketh up the word from their heart, lest having believed, they may be saved.

¹³ `And those upon the rock: They who, when they may hear, with joy do receive the word, and these have no root, who for a time believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

¹⁴ `And that which fell to the thorns: These are they who have heard, and going forth, through anxieties, and riches, and pleasures of life, are choked, and bear not to completion.

¹⁵ `And that in the good ground: These are they, who in an upright and good heart, having heard the word, do retain [it], and bear fruit in continuance.