Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

120 The song of degrees. When I was set in tribulation, I cried to the Lord; and he heard me. (When I was beset with troubles, I cried to the Lord; and he answered me.)

² Lord, deliver thou my soul from wicked lips; and from a guileful tongue. (Lord, save thou me from wicked lips; and from a deceitful tongue.)

³ What shall be given to thee, either what shall be laid to thee; to a guileful tongue? (What shall be given to thee; that is, how shall he punish thee, O deceitful tongue?)

⁴ Sharp arrows of the mighty; with coals that make desolate. (With sharp arrows from the mighty; and with coals that shall make thee desolate.)

⁵ Alas to me! for my dwelling in an alien land is made long, I dwelled with men dwelling in Kedar; (Alas for me! for my stay here in Mesech is prolonged, and I must live among the people, or in the tents, of Kedar!)

⁶ my soul was much (time) a comeling. I was peaceable with them that hated peace; (I am here too long as a newcomer, or a stranger; yea, too long living with those who hate peace.)

⁷ when I spake to them, they impugned, either against-said, me without cause. (I am for peace; but whenever I speak of it to them, they be for war.)

¹⁸ Zedekiah had one and twenty years of age, when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremy of Libnah. (Zedekiah was twenty-one years old, when he began to reign, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.)

¹⁹ And he did evil before the Lord, by all things that Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰ For the Lord was wroth against Jerusalem, and against Judah, till he casted them away from his face; and Zedekiah went away from the king of Babylon. (And because of that, the Lord was so angry against Jerusalem, and Judah, that he threw them away from his face; and then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.)

25 Forsooth it was done in the ninth year of his realm, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he, and all his host, into Jerusalem; and they compassed it, and builded strongholds in the compass thereof. (And it was done in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came, he, and all his army, into Jerusalem; and they encompassed, or surrounded, it, and built strongholds all around it.)

² And the city was closed, and compassed, till to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah, (And the city was enclosed, and encompassed, or surrounded, until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.)

³ in the ninth day of the month; and hunger had mastery in the city, and there was not bread to the people of the land. (And on the ninth day of the month, famine had the mastery in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land.)

⁴ And the city was broken (into), and all (the) men warriors fled in the night by the way of the gate, that is betwixt the double wall, toward the garden of the king; soothly the Chaldees besieged the city in compass/about. Therefore Zedekiah fled by the way that leadeth to the field places of the wilderness;

⁵ and the host of Chaldees pursued the king, and took him in the plain of Jericho; and all the warriors, that were with him, were scattered abroad, and left him. (and the Chaldean army pursued the king, and overtook him/and took hold of him on the plains of Jericho; and all the warriors, who were with him, scattered everywhere, and left him all alone.)

⁶ Therefore they led the king taken to the king of Babylon, into Riblah, which spake doom with him, that is, with Zedekiah. (And so they captured the king, and led him to the king of Babylon, at Riblah, who spoke judgement upon him, that is, upon Zedekiah.)

⁷ Soothly he killed the sons of Zedekiah before him, and putted out his eyes, and bound him with chains, and led him into Babylon.

⁸ In the fifth month, in the seventh day of the month, that is the nineteenth year of (Nebuchadnezzar,) the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, prince of the host, [the] servant of the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem; (In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, that is the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the leader of the army/the captain of the guard, the servant of the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem;)

⁹ and he burnt the house of the Lord, and the house of the king, and the houses of Jerusalem, and he burnt by fire each house thereof; (and he burned down the House of the Lord, and the house of the king, and the houses of Jerusalem, yea, he burned down every house there;)

¹⁰ and all the host of Chaldees, that was with the prince of knights, destroyed the walls of Jerusalem in compass. (and all the army of the Chaldeans, that was with the leader of the horsemen, or of the army, destroyed the walls of Jerusalem all around.)

¹¹ Forsooth Nebuzaradan, prince of the chivalry, translated the tother part of the people, that dwelled in the city, and the fleers, that had fled over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant common people; (And Nebuzaradan, the leader of the cavalry, or of the army/the captain of the guard, carried away the other part of the people, who lived in the city, and the fleers, who had fled over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the common people;)

¹² and he left of the poor men of the land vine-tillers, and earth-tillers. (but he left of the poor people of the land the vine-tillers, and the earth-tillers.)

¹³ Soothly Chaldees brake the brazen pillars, that were in the temple, and the foundaments, and the sea of brass, that was in the house of the Lord; and they translated, or bare over, all the metal into Babylon. (And the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars, that were in the Temple, and their bases, and the Sea of bronze, that was in the House of the Lord; and they carried away all the bronze to Babylon.)

¹⁴ And they took the pots of brass, and trowels, and fleshhooks, and cups, and mortars, and all [the] brazen vessels, in which they ministered; (And they took away the bronze pots, and the trowels, and fleshhooks, and cups, and spoons, and all the other bronze vessels, with which they ministered;)

¹⁵ and censers also, and vials. The prince of the chivalry took those things that were of gold, and those that were of silver, (and also the censers, and basins. The leader of the cavalry, or of the army/The captain of the guard took away those things that were made out of gold, and made out of silver,)

¹⁶ that is, two pillars, one sea, and the foundaments, or bases, which king Solomon had made to the temple of the Lord (that is, the two pillars, the one Sea, and the foundations, or the bases, which King Solomon had made for the Temple of the Lord); and there was no certain weight of [the] metal of all the vessels.

¹⁷ One pillar had eighteen cubits of height, and a brazen pommel upon it of the height of three cubits, and a work like a net, and pomegranates upon the pommel of the pillar, all things of brass; and the second pillar had like adorning. (One pillar was eighteen cubits in height, and had a bronze capital upon it the height of three cubits, and a network, and pomegranates upon the capital of the pillar, all things made out of bronze; and the second pillar had like adorning.)

¹⁸ Also the prince of the chivalry took Seraiah, the first priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and [the] three porters, (And the leader of the cavalry, or of the army/the captain of the guard took Seraiah, the first priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three guards,)

¹⁹ and an honest (and chaste) servant of the city, that was sovereign over [the] men warriors, and five men of them that stood before the king, which he found in the city; and he took (the) Sopher, (that is,) the prince of the host, that proved [the] young knights, either (the) men able to battle, of the people of the land, and six(ty) men of the commons, that were found in the city; (and a eunuch of the city, who was the ruler over the warriors, and five men of those who stood before the king, whom he found in the city; and he took the Sopher, that is, the leader in the army, who proved the young soldiers to be able for battle, of the people of the land, and sixty common men, who were also found in the city;)

²⁰ (all of) which Nebuzaradan, prince of the chivalry, took, and led to the king of Babylon, into Riblah. (all of whom Nebuzaradan, the leader of the cavalry, or of the army/the captain of the guard, took hold of, and led captive to the king of Babylon, in Riblah.)

²¹ And the king of Babylon smote them, and killed them in Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and Judah was translated from his land. (And the king of Babylon struck them down, and killed them in Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and so the people of Judah were taken away from their land.)

²⁰ But now Christ hath risen again from death, the first fruit of dead men; [Now forsooth Christ rose again, from dead, the first fruits of sleeping men;]

²¹ for death was by a man, and by a man is again-rising from death. [for soothly by a man death, and by a man again-rising of dead.]

²² And as in Adam all men die, so [and] in Christ all men shall be quickened.

²³ But each man in his order; the first fruit, Christ [first fruits, Christ], afterward they that be of Christ, that believed in the coming of Christ;

²⁴ afterward an end, when he shall betake the kingdom to God and to the Father, when he shall void all princehood, and power, and virtue.

²⁵ But it behooveth him to reign, till he put all his enemies under his feet.

²⁶ And at the last, death the enemy shall be destroyed; [Forsooth at the last, the enemy death shall be destroyed;]

²⁷ for he hath made subject all things under his feet. And when he saith, all things be subject to him, without doubt except him that subjected all things to him.

²⁸ And when all things [shall] be subjected to him, then the Son himself shall be subject to him, that made all things subject to him [that subjected all things to him], that God be all things in all things.

²⁹ Else what shall they do, that be baptized for dead men, if in no wise dead men rise again [if in all manner dead men rise not again]? whereto [also] be they baptized for them?

³⁰ And whereto be we in peril every hour?

³¹ Each day I die for your glory, brethren, which glory I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

³² If after man I have fought to beasts at Ephesus [If after man I have fought to beasts, or against beasts, at Ephesus], what profiteth it to me, if dead men rise not again? Eat we, and drink we, for we shall die to morrow [Eat we, and drink we, to morrow forsooth we shall die].

³³ Do not ye be deceived; for evil speeches destroy good conduct. [Do not ye be deceived; forsooth evil speeches corrupt, or destroy, good conduct, or virtues.]

³⁴ Awake ye, just men, and do not ye do sin; for some men have ignorance of God, but to reverence I speak to you. [Wake ye, just, and do not ye sin; forsooth some have ignorance of God, to reverence I speak to you.]