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.)
11 For the Lord saith these things to Shallum, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, that reigned for Josiah, his father, He that went out of this place, shall no more turn again hither; (For the Lord saith these things to Shallum, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned for his father Josiah, He who went out of this place, shall no more return here;)
12 but in the place to which I have translated him, there he shall die, and he shall no more see this land. (but in the place to which I have carried him away captive, there he shall die, and he shall never see this land again.)
13 Woe to him that buildeth his house in unrightfulness, and his solars not in doom; he shall oppress his friend in vain, and he shall not yield his hire to him. (Woe to him who buildeth his house in unrighteousness, and his rooms with injustice; he shall make his neighbours work for nothing, and he shall not pay them their wages.)
14 Which saith, I shall build to me a large house, and wide solars; which openeth windows to himself, and maketh couples of cedar, and painteth with red colour. (Who saith, I shall build for myself a large house with wide rooms; and I shall cut out windows for it, and make couplings out of cedar, and paint it with red colour.)
15 Whether thou shalt reign, for thou comparisonest thee to a cedar? whether thy father ate not, and drank, and did doom and rightfulness then, when it was well to him? (Shalt thou reign, because thy cedar is finer in comparison to others? did not thy father eat, and drink, and did justly and with righteousness, and was it not well with him?)
16 He deemed the cause of a poor man, and needy, into his good; whether not therefore for he knew me? saith the Lord. (He judged the cases of the poor and the needy, for their good; did this not show that he knew me? saith the Lord.)
17 Forsooth thine eyes and heart be to avarice, and to shed innocent blood, and to false challenge, and to the performing of evil work. (But thine eyes and thy heart be turned to greed, and to pour out innocent blood, and to oppression, and to the performing of evil work.)
37 And when he spake, a Pharisee prayed him [some Pharisee prayed], that he should eat with him. And he entered, and sat to meat [And he gone in, sat at the meat].
38 And the Pharisee began to say, guessing within himself, why he was not washed before [the] meat.
39 And the Lord said to him, Now ye Pharisees cleanse that that is withoutforth of the cup and the platter; but that thing that is within of you [but that thing of you that is within], is full of raven and wickedness.
40 Fools, whether he that made that that is withoutforth, made not also that that is within?
41 Nevertheless that that is over-plus [Nevertheless that thing that is over, or superfluous], give ye alms, and lo! all things be clean to you.
42 But woe to you, Pharisees, that tithe mint, and rue, and each herb, and leave doom and the charity of God [that tithe mint, and rue, and all wort, or herb, and pass doom and the charity of God]. For it behooved to do these things, and not to leave those.
43 Woe to you, Pharisees, that love the first chairs in synagogues, and salutations in market [and salutations in markets].
44 Woe to you, that be as sepulchres, that be not seen [which appear not], and men walking above know not.
45 But one of the wise men of the law answered, and said to him, Master, thou saying these things, also to us doest despite. [Forsooth one of the wise men of law answering, said to him, Master, thou saying these things, doest despite also to us.]
46 And he said, Also woe to you, wise men of [the] law, for ye charge men with burdens which they be not able to bear [for ye charge men with burdens which they may not bear], and ye yourselves with your one finger touch not the heavinesses.
47 Woe to you, that build tombs of prophets [Woe to you, that build burials, or tombs, of prophets]; and your fathers slew them.
48 Truly ye witness, that ye consent to the works of your fathers; for [soothly] they slew them, but ye build their sepulchres.
49 Therefore [and] the wisdom of God said, I shall send to them prophets and apostles, and of them they shall slay and pursue,
50 that the blood of all [the] prophets, that was shed from the making of the world [that was shed out from the beginning of the world], be sought of this generation;
51 from the blood of just Abel to the blood of Zacharias that was slain betwixt the altar and the house[a]. So I say to you, it shall be sought of this generation.
52 Woe to you, wise men of the law [wise men of law], for ye have taken away the key of knowing; and ye yourselves entered not [ye yourselves entered not in], and ye have forbidden them that entered.
2001 by Terence P. Noble