Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

44 To victory, learning to the sons of Korah. God, we heard with our ears; our fathers told to us. The work, which thou wroughtest in the days of them; and in the old days. (To victory, for the sons of Korah, for their teaching. God, we heard with our ears, for our forefathers told us, of the work which thou hast wrought in their days; yea, in the old days.)

² Thine hand lost heathen men, and thou plantedest them (Thy hand destroyed the heathen/Thy power drove out the heathen, and thou plantedest our forefathers there); thou tormentedest (the) peoples, and castedest them out.

³ For the children of Israel wielded the land not by their sword; and the arm of them saved not them. But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the lightening of thy cheer; for thou were pleased in them. (For the children of Israel took the land not by their own swords; and their own power did not save them. But it was thy right hand, and thy power, and the shining of thy face; for thou gavest favour to them.)

⁴ Thou art thyself, my king, and my God; that sendest healths to Jacob. (Thou art my King, and my God; who sendest help to Jacob.)

⁵ By thee we shall winnow our enemies with [the] horn; and in thy name we shall despise them, that rise against us. (By thy power we shall winnow our enemies; and in thy name, we shall defeat those who rise up against us.)

⁶ For I shall not hope in my bow (For I shall not trust in my bow); and my sword shall not save me.

⁷ For thou hast saved us from men tormenting us; and thou hast shamed men hating us.

⁸ We shall be pleased in God all day; and in thy name we shall acknowledge to thee into the world. (We shall glory in God all day long; and we shall praise thy name forever.)

⁹ But now thou hast put us aback, and hast shamed us; and thou, Lord, shalt not go out in our virtues. (But now thou hast rejected us, and hast humbled us; and O Lord, thou no longer goeth out with our hosts, or our armies.)

¹⁰ Thou hast turned us away behind after our enemies; and they, that hated us, ravished diversely to themselves. (Thou hast made us turn back, or run away, from our enemies; and those, who hate us, took for themselves what was ours.)

¹¹ Thou hast given us as sheep of meats; and among heathen men thou hast scattered us. (Thou hast given us up like sheep for meat, or for food; and thou hast scattered us among the heathen.)

¹² Thou hast sold thy people without price; and multitude there was not in the (ex)changings of them. (Thou hast sold thy people for nothing; and there was no profit from their sale.)

¹³ Thou hast set us (as a) shame to our neighbours; mocking and scorn to them that be in our compass. (Thou hast made us a shame, or a reproach, to our neighbours; a mockery, and scorned by those who be all around us.)

¹⁴ Thou hast set us into likeness to heathen men; and stirring of the head/wagging of (the) head among peoples. (Thou hast made us into a likeness, or a byword, to the heathen; and they shook their heads over us among the nations.)

¹⁵ All day my shame is against me; and the shame of my face covered me. (All day long my shame is before me; and the shame on my face covered me.)

¹⁶ From the voice of [the] despiser, and evil speaker; from the face of the enemy, and [the] pursuer. (From the voice of him who despiseth, and speaketh evil; from before the enemy, and the pursuer.)

¹⁷ All these things came on us, and we have not forgotten thee; and we did not wickedly in thy testament. (All these things came upon us, but we did not forget thee; and we have not broken thy covenant.)

¹⁸ And our heart went not away behind; and thou hast (not) bowed away our paths from thy way. (And our hearts did not turn away from thee/And our hearts did not turn back from thee; and our steps have not turned away from thy way.)

¹⁹ For thou hast made us low in the place of torment; and the shadow of death covered us. (Though thou hast made us low, or hast humbled us, in the place of torment; and hast covered us with the shadow of death.)

²⁰ If we forgat the name of our God; and if we held forth our hands to an alien God. (And if we had forgotten the name of our God; or if we had held forth our hands to a foreign, or another, god;)

²¹ Whether God shall not seek these things? for he knoweth the hid things of heart. (shall not God seek out these things? for he knoweth the hidden things of the heart.)

²² For why we be slain all day for thee; we be deemed as sheep of slaying. (But we be killed all day long for thee; we be judged, or treated, like sheep for the slaughter.)

²³ Lord, rise up, why sleepest thou? rise up, and put not us away into the end (rise up, and do not shun us forever).

²⁴ Why turnest thou away thy face? thou forgettest our poverty, and our tribulation. (Why turnest thou away thy face? forgettest thou our poverty, and all our troubles?)

²⁵ For our life is made low in dust; our womb is glued together in the earth. (For our life is brought down low into the dust; our womb is glued together with the earth/and we lie flat on our backs.)

²⁶ Lord, rise up thou, and help us; and again-buy us for thy name. (Lord, rise thou up, and help us; and redeem us for the sake of thy name.)

¹¹ but also thou, Judah, set [the] harvest to thee, when I shall turn (again) the captivity of my people. (and also thou, Judah, a time of reckoning hath been set for thee.)

7 When I would heal Israel, the wickedness of Ephraim was showed, and the malice of Samaria was showed, for they wrought leasing. And a night thief entered, and robbed; (and) a day thief was withoutforth. (When I desired to restore the prosperity of my people, and to heal Israel, then the wickedness of Ephraim was shown, and the malice of Samaria, for they were all liars. And they entered inside like a night thief, and robbed; and outside, like a day thief, they stole from the people.)

² And lest they say in their hearts, that I have mind on all the malice of them, now their findings have compassed them, those be made before my face. (And lest they say in their hearts, that I only remember all their malice, now their own deeds have surrounded them, and they all be before me.)

³ In their malice they gladded the king, and in their leasings the princes. (They gladdened the king with their malice, and the princes with their lies.)

⁴ All that do adultery, be as an oven made hot of a baker. The city rested a little from the meddling of sourdough, till all was made sour. (All of them who do adultery, or idolatry, be made hot like a baker’s oven. Then the city rested a little from the mixing of the sourdough, until all was made sour.)

⁵ The day of our king, the princes began to be wild of wine; he stretched forth his hand with scorners. (On the day of our king’s celebration, the princes began to be wild with wine; yea, he stretched forth his hand with mockers.)

⁶ For they applied their heart as an oven, when he setted treason to them. All the night he slept (while) baking them; in the morrowtide he was made hot, as the fire of flame. (For they heated up their hearts like an oven, while they plotted their treasons. They slept through the night while baking them; and in the morning their anger was made as hot as a flame of fire.)

⁷ All were made hot as an oven, and they devoured their judges. All the kings of them fell down, and none is among them that crieth to me. (All of them were made as hot as an oven, and they destroyed their rulers, or their leaders. All their kings fell down, and no one is among them who crieth to me.)

⁸ Ephraim himself was meddled among peoples; Ephraim was made a loaf baken under ashes, which is not turned again. (The people of Ephraim have mixed, or mingled, themselves in among the nations; Ephraim was made like a loaf baked under ashes, that is not turned, or is only half-baked.)

⁹ Aliens ate the strength of him, and he knew not; but also hoar hairs were shed out in him, and he knew not. (Strangers, or foreigners, ate up their strength, but they knew it not; and their gray hair turned white, but they knew it not.)

¹⁰ And the pride of Israel shall be made low in the face thereof; they turned not again to their Lord God, and they sought not him in all these things. (And the pride of Israel shall be made low before them; but they did not return to the Lord their God, and they have not sought him, even after all these things.)

¹¹ And Ephraim was made like to a culver deceived, not having heart. They called Egypt to help, they went to Assyrians. (And Ephraim was made like a silly pigeon, yea, without having any sense. First they called to Egypt for help, then they went to Assyria, or to the Assyrians.)

¹² And when they be gone forth, I shall spread abroad on them my net, I shall draw them down as a bird of the air. I shall beat them, by the hearing of the company of them. (And when they be gone forth, I shall spread abroad my net upon them, and I shall draw them down like a bird in the air. I shall beat them, like their company, or their congregation, hath heard/I shall beat them, for the evil which they have done.)

¹³ Woe to them for they went away from me; they shall be destroyed, for they trespassed against me. And I again-bought them, and they spake leasings against me (And I wanted to save, or rescue, them, but they spoke lies about me).

¹⁴ And they cried not to me in their heart, but yelled in their beds. They chewed cud on wheat, and wine, and they went away from me. (And they did not cry to me in their hearts, but wailed upon their beds. They gashed, or wounded, themselves for corn, and for wine, and they went away from me.)

¹⁵ And I taught, and comforted the arms of them, and they thought malice against me. (And I taught them, and I strengthened them, and still they thought malice against me.)

¹⁶ They turned again, that they should be without yoke; they be made as a guileful bow. The princes of them shall fall down by sword for the strong vengeance of their tongue; this is the scorning of them in the land of Egypt. (They turned away again, so that they would be without my yoke; they be made like a crooked bow. And so their leaders shall fall down by the sword because of the boasting and the deceitfulness of their tongues; this shall be their mocking in the land of Egypt.)

⁴³ Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

⁴⁴ But I say to you, love ye your enemies, do ye well to them that hate you, and pray ye for them that pursue, and slander you [and pray ye for men pursuing, and falsely challenging you];

⁴⁵ that ye be the sons of your Father that is in heavens, that maketh his sun to rise upon good men and evil [that maketh his sun to rise on good and on evil men], and raineth on just men and unjust.

⁴⁶ For if ye love them that love you, what meed shall ye have? whether [the] publicans do not this thing?

⁴⁷ And if ye greet your brethren only, what shall ye do more? do not heathen men this? [And if ye greet, or salute, your brethren only, what moreover shall ye do? whether and pagans do not this thing?]

⁴⁸ Therefore be ye perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.