Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

10 Lord, why hast thou gone far away? thou despisest us in covenable times in tribulation. (Lord, why hast thou gone so far away? despisest thou us in our time of trouble?)

² While the wicked man waxeth proud, the poor man is burnt; they be taken in the wicked counsels, which they thinked. (While the wicked grow proud, the poor be persecuted; let the wicked be caught in the wicked plans, which they themselves have thought out.)

³ For why the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul; and the wicked is blessed. The sinner hath stirred the Lord to wrath; (For the sinner glorieth in the desires of his own soul; and he blesseth the wicked, who have stirred the Lord to anger.)

⁴ after the multitude of his wrath, he shall not seek (after God). God is not in his sight; (And because of the multitude of his pride, he shall not seek after God. Indeed God is not in any of his thoughts;)

⁵ his ways be defouled in all time. Thy dooms be taken away from his face; he shall be lord of all his enemies. (his ways be defiled forever. And though thy judgements be far away from him, that is, beyond his grasp; he shall still be lord, or he shall still rule, over all his enemies.)

⁶ For he said in his heart, I shall not be moved, from generation into generation without evil. (For he said in his heart, I shall never be shaken; yea, for all generations, I shall never have any trouble.)

⁷ Whose mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of guile; travail and sorrow is under his tongue. (His mouth is full of curses, and of bitterness, and of deceit, or lies; trouble and sorrow be upon his tongue.)

⁸ He sitteth in ambushes with rich men in privates; to slay the innocent man. His eyes behold cruelly on the poor man; (He sitteth in ambush in villages; to secretly kill the innocent. His eyes look cruelly upon the poor;)

⁹ he setteth ambushes in hid place, as a lion in his den. He setteth ambushes, for to ravish a poor man; for to ravish a poor man, while he draweth (in) the poor man. In his snare he shall make meek the poor man; (he setteth ambush from a hidden place, like a lion in his den. He setteth ambush to catch a poor man; yea, to catch a poor man, when he draweth him into his trap. And with his snare, he shall bring down that poor man;)

¹⁰ he shall bow himself down, and he shall fall, when he hath been lord of poor men. (yea, that good man shall fall down, and so the poor shall be brought down by his brute strength.)

¹¹ For he said in his heart, God hath forgotten; he hath turned away his face, that he see not into the end. (For he said in his heart, God hath forgotten them; he hath turned away his face, and he shall never see this.)

¹² Lord God, rise thou up, and thine hand be enhanced; forget thou not poor men. (Lord God, rise thou up, and let thy hand be lifted up; do not thou forget the poor.)

¹³ For what thing stirred the wicked man God to wrath? for he said in his heart, God shall not seek. (And why hath the wicked person made God angry? for he said in his heart, God shall not see this/God shall not care about this.)

¹⁴ Thou seest, for thou beholdest travail and sorrow; that thou take them into thine hands. The poor man is left to thee; thou shalt be an helper to the fatherless and motherless. (But thou do see it, for thou beholdest all trouble, or all tribulation, and sorrow; and thou hast taken the matter into thy own hands. And the poor commit themselves to thee; and thou art a helper to the fatherless and the motherless.)

¹⁵ All-break thou the arm of the sinner, and evil-willed; his sin shall be sought, and it shall not be found. (Break thou the arm, or the power, of the sinner, and those who be evil-willed; let their sins be sought out until no more be found.)

¹⁶ The Lord shall reign [into] without end, and into the world of world; folks, ye shall perish from the land of him. (The Lord shall reign forever and ever; and all the nations have vanished from his land/and all the peoples shall vanish from his land.)

¹⁷ The Lord hath heard the desire of poor men; thine ear hath heard the making ready of their heart. (The Lord hath heard the desire of the poor; yea, thy ears have heard the desires of their hearts.)

¹⁸ To deem for the motherless and meek; that a man presume no more to make himself great on earth. (And thou shalt judge in favour of the motherless, and the fatherless, and the humble; so that no longer shall anyone presume to make themselves great upon the earth.)

¹⁶ Therefore do not thou pray for this people, neither take thou praising and prayer for them; and against-stand thou not me, for I shall not hear thee. (And so do not thou pray for this people, neither make thou praising or prayer for them; and do not thou stand before me for them, for I shall not listen to thee.)

¹⁷ Whether thou seest not, what these men do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

¹⁸ The sons gather sticks, and the fathers kindle a fire; and women sprinkle together (the) inner fatness, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, (and) to make sacrifice (of wine) to alien gods, and to stir me to wrathfulness. (The sons gather sticks, and their fathers kindle a fire, and the women altogether sprinkle the inner fatness, to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they also offer a wine offering to strange, or foreign, gods, all to stir me to anger.)

¹⁹ Whether they stir me to wrathfulness? saith the Lord; whether they stir not themselves into [the] shame of their cheer? (Do they hurt me? saith the Lord; rather, do they not cover themselves with shame?)

²⁰ Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! my strong vengeance and mine indignation is welled together on this place, on men, and on beasts, and on the tree(s) of the country(side), and on the fruits of [the] earth; and it shall be kindled, and it shall not be quenched.

²¹ The Lord of hosts, (the) God of Israel, saith these things, Heap ye your burnt sacrifices (on)to your slain sacrifices, and eat ye fleshes.

²² For I spake not with your fathers, and I commanded not to them of the word of burnt sacrifices, and of slain sacrifices, in the day in which I led them out of the land of Egypt. (For I spoke not to your forefathers, and I commanded not to them about burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, on the day when I led them out of the land of Egypt.)

²³ But I commanded this word to them, and I said, Hear ye my voice, and I shall be God to you, and ye shall be a people to me; and go ye in all the way which I commanded to you, that it be well to you. (But I commanded this word to them, and I said, Listen ye to my voice, and I shall be your God, and ye shall be my people; and go ye in all the ways to which I command you, so that it can be well with you.)

²⁴ And they heard not, neither bowed down their ear, but they went in their lusts, and in the shrewdness of their evil heart; and they be made behind, and not before, (But they did not listen to me, nor bowed down their ear, but they went in their lusts, and in the depravity of their own evil hearts; and so they be made behind, and not before,)

²⁵ from the day in which their fathers went out of the land of Egypt till to this day. And I sent to you all my servants (the) prophets, and I rose early by the day, and I sent (yea, I rose up early in the day, and I sent them).

²⁶ And they heard not me, neither bowed down their ear; but they made hard their noll, and wrought worse than the fathers of them. (But they did not listen to me, nor bowed down their ear; but they stiffened their necks, or were stubborn, and did worse than their forefathers.)

⁷ And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia write thou, These things saith the holy and true, that hath the key of David; which openeth, and no man closeth, he closeth, and no man openeth^[a].

⁸ I know thy works, and lo! I gave before thee a door opened, which no man may close^[b]; for thou hast a little virtue, and hast kept my word, and deniedest not my name.

⁹ Lo! I shall give to thee of the synagogue of Satan, which say that they be Jews, and be not, but lie. Lo! I shall make them, that they come, and worship before thy feet; and they shall know, that I loved thee,

¹⁰ for thou keptest the word of my patience. And I shall keep thee from the hour of temptation, that is to coming [that is to come] into all the world, to tempt men that dwell in earth.

¹¹ Lo! I come soon; hold thou that that thou hast [hold that that thou hast], that no man take thy crown.

¹² And him that shall overcome, I shall make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall no more go out; and I shall write on [upon] him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, of the new Jerusalem, that cometh down from heaven of my God, and my new name.

¹³ He that hath ears, hear he, what the Spirit saith to the churches.