Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

58 To victory, lose thou not the sweet song, either the seemly psalm, of David. Forsooth if ye speak rightfulness verily; ye sons of men, deem rightfully. (To victory, destroy thou not the sweet song, that is, the comely song, of David. Speak ye truly with righteousness, ye sons and daughters of men? judge ye justly? Nay!)

² For in heart ye work wickedness in earth; your hands make ready unrightfulnesses. (For in your hearts ye do evil; and your hands bring forth unrightfulnesses, or wickedness, in all the earth.)

³ Sinners were made aliens from the womb (Sinners, or evil-doers, go wrong from the womb); they erred from the womb, they spake false things.

⁴ Strong vengeance is to them, by the likeness of a serpent; as of a deaf snake, and stopping his ears. (Strong venom cometh forth from them, like that of serpents; and they be like a deaf snake that stoppeth its ears.)

⁵ Which shall not hear the voice of charmers; and of a venom-maker charming (ever so) wisely.

⁶ God shall all-break the teeth of them in their mouth; the Lord shall break (al)together the great teeth of lions. (O God, break all the teeth in their mouths; O Lord, break all in pieces the great teeth of these lions.)

⁷ They shall come to nought, as water running away; he bent his bow, till they be made sick. (They shall come to nothing, like water running forth; and when they go to bend their bows, they shall be made feeble, or weak.)

⁸ As wax that floateth away, they shall be taken away; fire fell above, and they saw not the sun. (Like a snail that melteth away into slime, they shall be taken away; like a dead-born child, they shall not see the sun.)

⁹ Before that your thorns understood the rhamn, either thieve-thorn; he swalloweth them so in ire, as (with) living men. (Before that the rhamn, or the thieve-thorn, that is, a weed, can grow, he shall swallow them up in his anger; yea, while they still be living.)

¹⁰ The just man shall be glad, when he shall see vengeance; he shall wash his hands in the blood of a sinner. (The righteous shall be glad when they see the vengeance taken; they shall wash their hands in the blood of the sinners.)

¹¹ And a man shall say truly, For fruit is to a just man; truly God is deeming them in earth. (And someone shall say, Truly there is a reward for the righteous; truly God is judging people here on earth.)

²³ How sayest thou, I am not defouled, I went not after Baalim? (How sayest thou, I am not defiled, and I did not go after the Baalim?) See thy ways in the great valley, know thou what thou hast done; a swift runner ordaining his ways.

²⁴ A wild ass accustomable in wilderness, drew the wind of his love in the desire of his soul; no man shall turn away it. All that seek it, shall not fail; they shall find it in the flux of unclean blood thereof. (Like a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, that drew up the scent of the lust that her soul desired; not one shall turn away from her. All that seek her, shall not fail to find her; they shall find her in the flowing of her unclean blood.)

²⁵ Forbid thy foot from nakedness, and thy throat from thirst; and thou saidest, I despaired, (for) I shall not do (that); for I loved burningly alien gods, and I shall go after them (for I have burningly loved these strange, or these foreign, gods, and I shall go after them).

²⁶ As a thief is shamed, when he is taken, so the house of Israel be shamed; they, and [the] kings of them, the princes, and priests, and the prophets of them, (Like a thief is shamed, when he is caught, so let the house of Israel be shamed; they, and their kings, and the princes, or the leaders, and the priests, and their prophets,)

²⁷ that say to a tree, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast engendered me. They turned to me the back, and not the face; and in the time of their torment they shall say, Rise thou, and deliver us. (who say to a piece of wood, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast begat me. They turned their backs on me/They turned their backs to me, and not their faces; yet in the time of their torment they shall say, Rise thou up, and save us!)

²⁸ Where be thy gods, which thou madest to thee? Rise they, and deliver thee in the time of thy torment; for after the number of thy cities were thy gods, thou Judah. (And then I shall say to them, Where be thy gods, which thou madest for thyselves? Let them rise up, and save thee in the time of thy torment; for the number of thy gods, O Judah, were as many as the number of thy cities.)

²⁹ What, will ye strive with me in doom? All ye have forsaken me, saith the Lord. (What, will ye contend, or will ye argue, with me in judgement? All of ye have deserted me, saith the Lord.)

³⁰ In vain I smote your sons, they received not chastising; your sword devoured your prophets, your generation is destroyed as a lion. (In vain I struck down your sons and daughters, for they would not receive their discipline, or their correction; your own sword devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.)

³¹ See ye the word of the Lord, whether I am made a wilderness to Israel, either a land late bringing forth fruit? Why therefore said my people, We have gone away, we shall no more come to thee? (See ye the word of the Lord, am I made like a wilderness to Israel, or like a land bringing forth late fruit? And so why did my people say, We have gone away, we shall no longer come to thee?)

³² Whether a virgin shall forget her ornament? and a spousess her breast girdle? But my people hath forgotten me by days without number.

³³ What enforcest thou to show thy way good to seek love, which furthermore both hast taught thy malices thy ways, (How well thou endeavourest to find thy lovers, even the worst women can learn from thy ways!)

³⁴ and the blood of poor men and innocents is found in thy wings? I found not them in ditches, but in all things which I remembered before. (and the blood of the poor and the innocent is found on thy wings. Yea, it got there not from breaking into houses, but from sacrifices made under every tree.)

³⁵ And thou saidest, I am without sin and innocent; and therefore thy strong vengeance be turned away from me. Lo! I shall strive with thee in doom; for thou saidest, I sinned not. (And still thou saidest, I am without sin and innocent; and so let thy strong vengeance be turned away from me, O Lord. Lo! I shall contend, or shall argue, with thee in judgement; for thou saidest, I did not sin.)

³⁶ How vile art thou made, rehearsing thy ways? and thou shalt be shamed of Egypt, as thou were shamed of Assur. (How vile thou art made, changing thy ways! and thou shalt be shamed by Egypt, as thou were shamed by Assyria.)

³⁷ For why and thou shalt go out of this land, and thine hands shall be on thine head; for why the Lord hath all-broken thy trust, and thou shalt have nothing to prosperity. (And so thou shalt go out of this land, and thy hands shall be upon thy head; for the Lord hath all-broken those in whom thou trusted, and thou shalt get, or gain, nothing from them.)

⁷ Have ye mind of your sovereigns, that have spoken to you the word of God; of whom behold ye the going out of living, and follow ye the faith of them,^[a]

⁸ Jesus Christ, yesterday, and to day, he is also into worlds.

⁹ Do not ye be led away with diverse and strange teachings. For it is best to stable the heart with grace, not with meats, which profited not to men wandering in them.

¹⁰ We have an altar, of which they that serve to the tabernacle, have not power [have not power, or leave,] to eat.

¹¹ For of which beasts the blood is borne in for sin into holy things by the bishop, the bodies of them be burnt without the castles.

¹² For which thing Jesus, that he should hallow the people by his blood, suffered without the gate.

¹³ Therefore go we out to him without the castles, bearing his reproof.^[b]

¹⁴ For we have not here a city dwelling, but we seek a city to coming.^[c]

¹⁵ Therefore by him offer we a sacrifice of praising evermore to God [By him therefore offer we an host of praising allway to God], that is to say, the fruit of lips acknowledging to his name.

¹⁶ And do not ye forget well-doing, and communing; for by such sacrifices God is well served^[d].

¹⁷ Obey ye to your sovereigns, and be ye subject to them; for they perfectly wake^[e], as to yielding reason for your souls, that they do this thing with joy, and not sorrowing; for this thing speedeth not to you.

¹⁸ Pray ye for us, and we trust that we have good conscience in all things, willing to live well.

¹⁹ Moreover I beseech you to do [this thing], that I be restored the sooner to you.

²⁰ And God of peace, that led out from death the great shepherd of sheep, in the blood of [the] everlasting testament, our Lord Jesus Christ,^[f]

²¹ shape you in all good thing, that ye do the will of him; and he do in you that thing that shall please before him, by Jesus Christ^[g], to whom be glory into worlds of worlds. Amen.