Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

² Lo! God is my saviour, I shall do faithfully, and I shall not dread. For why the Lord is my strength and my praising, and he is made to me into health. (Lo! God is my Saviour, I shall do faithfully, and I shall not fear. For the Lord is my strength and my praising, and he is my deliverance, or my salvation.)

³ Ye shall draw waters with joy of the wells of the saviour. (Yea, with joy, ye shall draw water from the wells of salvation.)

⁴ And ye shall say in that day, Acknowledge ye to the Lord, and call ye his name into help; make ye known his findings among peoples; have ye mind, that his name is high. (And ye shall say on that day, Praise ye the Lord, and call ye on his name for help/and call ye his name for help; make ye known his deeds among the peoples; remember that his name is the highest of all.)

⁵ Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath done worshipfully (for he hath done honourably/for he hath done magnificently); tell ye this [out] in all [the] earth.

⁶ Thou dwelling of Zion, make full out joy, and praise; for why the Holy of Israel is great in the midst of thee. (O inhabitants of Zion, rejoice, and praise ye; for the great Holy One of Israel is in thy midst.)

6 Woe to you, that be full of riches in Zion, and trust in the hill of Samaria, ye principal men, the heads of peoples, that go proudly to the house of Israel. (Woe to you, who be very rich in Zion, and trust in the hill of Samaria, ye principal men, yea, the leaders of the people, whom the house of Israel proudly followeth.)

² Go ye into Calneh, and see ye, and go ye from thence into Hemath the great; and go ye down into Gath of Palestines, and to all the best realms of them, if their term be broader than your term. (Go ye into Calneh, and see ye, and go ye from there into the great city of Hamath; and go ye down into Gath of the Philistines, for be those kingdoms any better than yours? or be their territories any broader, or larger, than your territories?)

³ And ye be parted into the evil day, and nigh to the seat of wickedness; (And ye declare that the evil day is far off, and yet ye do the very wicked things that shall bring it nigh;)

⁴ and ye sleep in beds of ivory, and do lechery in your beds; and ye eat a lamb of the flock, and calves of the middle of the drove (and ye eat a lamb from the flock, and calves out of the midst of the herd);

⁵ and ye sing at the voice of (the) psaltery. As David they guessed them, for to have (made) instruments of song, (and ye sing with the voice of the lute, for ye think yourselves like David, and so make instruments of song;)

⁶ and drink wine in vials; and with best ointment they were anointed; and in nothing they had compassion on the sorrow, either defouling, of Joseph. (and drink wine from basins, and anoint yourselves with the best ointment; but ye have no compassion on the sorrow, or on the defiling, of Joseph.)

⁷ Wherefore now they shall pass in the head of men passing over, and the doing, or treason, of men doing lechery, shall be done away. (And so now ye shall be the first to go into captivity, and then the treason of people doing lechery, shall be done away, or shall be ended.)

⁸ The Lord God swore in his soul, saith the Lord God of hosts, I loathe the pride of Jacob, and I hate the houses of him, and I shall betake the city with his dwellers; (The Lord God swore in his soul, saith the Lord God of hosts, yea, I loathe Jacob’s pride, or his arrogance, and I hate his houses, and I shall deliver the city and its inhabitants unto the enemy;)

8 But, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God, that is given in the churches of Macedonia,

² that in much assaying of tribulation, the plenty of the joy of them was [the abundance, or plenty, of the joy of them was], and the highest poverty of them was plenteous into the riches of the simpleness of them.

³ For I bear witnessing to them, after might and above might they were willful [after virtue, or power, and above virtue they were willful],

⁴ with much admonishing beseeching us the grace and the communing of [the] ministering, that is made to holy men.

⁵ And not as we hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, afterward to us by the will of God.

⁶ So that we prayed Titus, that as he began, so also he perform in you this grace.

⁷ But as ye abound in all things, in faith, and word, and knowing [and science, or knowing], and all busyness, moreover and in your charity into us, that also in this grace ye abound.

⁸ I say not as commanding, but by the busyness of other men proving also the good wit of your charity.

⁹ And ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he was made needy for you, when he was rich, that ye should be made rich by his neediness [that ye should be made rich by his mis-ease, or neediness].

¹⁰ And I give counsel in this thing; for this is profitable to you, that not only have begun to do, but also ye began to have will from the former year [but and to desire from the former year].

¹¹ But now [Now forsooth] perform ye in deed, that as the discretion of will is ready [to desire good], so be it also of performing of that that ye have.

¹² For if the will be ready, it is accepted after that that it hath, not after that that it hath not.

¹³ And not that it be remission to other men^[a], and to you tribulation;

¹⁴ but of evenness in the present time your abundance fulfill the need of them, that also the abundance of them be a fulfilling of your need, that evenness be made; [but of evenness, in this present time your abundance fulfill the mis-ease of them, that and the abundance of them be supplement, or fulfilling, of your mis-ease, or need, that evenness be made;]

¹⁵ as it is written, He that [hath] gathered much, was not increased, and he that [had] gathered little, had not less.