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.)

3 It is said commonly, If a man forsaketh his wife, and she go away from him, and be wedded to another husband, whether he shall turn again [any] more to her? whether that woman shall not be defouled, and made unclean? (shall he return to her again? shall that woman not be defiled, and made unclean?) Forsooth thou hast done fornication with many lovers; nevertheless turn thou again to me, saith the Lord, and I shall receive thee.

² Raise thine eyes into straight, and see, where thou art not cast down. Thou hast sat in ways, abiding them as a thief in wilderness, and thou hast defouled the earth in thy fornications and in thy malices. (Raise up thine eyes into the high places, and see, if there is any place where thou hast not laid down. Thou hast sat in ways, waiting for them like a thief in the wilderness, and thou hast defiled the earth with thy fornications and thy malices.)

³ Wherefore the drops of rains were forbidden, and no late rain was. The forehead of a woman whore is made to thee; thou wouldest not be ashamed. (And so the drops of rain were forbidden, and there was no late rain for thee. Thou haddest the forehead, or the face, of a whorewoman, but thou wouldest not be ashamed.)

⁴ Namely from this time forth call thou me, Thou art my father, the leader of my virginity. (Yet now thou sayest to me, Thou art my father, my guide in my younger years.)

⁵ (And,) Whether thou shalt be wroth without end, either shalt continue (to feel so) into the end? Lo! thou hast spoken, and hast done evils, and thou were mighty (in them). And for words of penance thou blasphemedest by words of pride; and thou filledest thine evil thought(s), and showedest thy strength against thy husband, (so) that thou mayest do that thing that thou treatedest by word.

⁶ And the Lord said to me, in the days of Josiah, the king, Whether thou hast seen what thing the adversary, Israel, hath done? She went [away] to herself on each high hill, and under each tree full of boughs, and did fornication there. (And the Lord said to me, in the days of King Josiah, Hast thou seen what my adversary, Israel, hath done? She went upon each high hill, and under each tree full of branches, and she did fornication there.)

⁷ And I said, when she had done all these things, Turn thou again to me; and she turned not again. And her sister, Judah, breaker of the law, saw, (And I said to her, when she had done all these things, Return thou again to me; but she did not return. And her sister, Judah, the law-breaker, saw,)

⁸ that for the adversary, Israel, did adultery, I had let go her, and I had given to her a libel, (or a little book,) of forsaking; and Judah, her sister, breaker of the law, dreaded not, but also she went, and did fornication. (that my adversary, Israel, had done adultery, and that I had let her go, and that I had given her a note of divorce; and her sister Judah, the law-breaker, did not fear, but she also went, and did fornication.)

⁹ And by lightness of her fornication she defouled the earth, and did adultery with a stone, and with a tree. (And with the indifference of her fornication she defiled the land, and did idolatry with a stone, and with a piece of wood.)

¹⁰ And in all these things her sister, Judah, breaker of the law, turned not again to me, in all her heart, but in a leasing, saith the Lord God. (And in all these things her sister, Judah, the law-breaker, did not return to me, with all her heart, but in a lie, or falsely, saith the Lord God.)

¹¹ And the Lord said to me, The adversary, Israel, hath justified her soul, in comparison of Judah, breaker of the law. (And the Lord said to me, My adversary, Israel, hath justified her soul, in comparison to Judah, the law-breaker.)

¹² Go thou, and cry these words against the north; and thou shalt say, Thou adversary, Israel, turn again, saith the Lord, and I shall not turn away my face from you; for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I shall not be wroth without end. (Go thou, and cry out these words against the north; and thou shalt say, O my adversary, Israel, return to me, saith the Lord, and I shall not turn away my face from you; for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I shall not be angry forever.)

¹³ Nevertheless know thou thy wickedness; for thou hast trespassed against thy Lord God, and thou hast spread abroad thy ways to aliens under each tree full of boughs; and thou heardest not my voice, saith the Lord. (Nevertheless know thou thy wickedness; for thou hast trespassed against the Lord thy God, and thou hast spread abroad thy ways to strangers, or to foreigners, under each tree full of branches; and thou hast not listened to, or obeyed, my voice, saith the Lord.)

¹⁴ Be ye converted, sons, turning again, saith the Lord, for I am your husband; and I shall take you, one of a city, and twain of a kindred, and I shall lead you into Zion; (Come back to me/Return to me, ye people who be turned away, saith the Lord, for I am your husband; and I shall take you, one from a city, and two from a tribe, and I shall lead you unto Mount Zion;)

1 Paul, the servant of God, and apostle of Jesus Christ, by the faith of the chosen of God, and by the knowing of the truth [after the faith of the chosen of God, and knowing of the truth], which is after piety,

² into the hope of everlasting life [in hope of everlasting life], which life God that lieth not, promised before times of the world [before worldly times];

³ but he hath showed in his times his word in preaching, that is betaken to me by the commandment of God, our Saviour [after the commandment of our Saviour God],

⁴ to Titus, most dear-worthy son by the common faith [to Titus, beloved son after the common faith], grace and peace of God the Father, and of Christ Jesus, our Saviour.

⁵ For cause of this thing I left thee at Crete, that thou amend those things that fail, and ordain priests by cities, as also I assigned to thee [as and I disposed to thee].

⁶ If any man is without crime, an husband of one wife, and hath faithful sons [If any man is without crime, or great sin, husband of one wife, having faithful sons], not in accusation of lechery, or not subject.

⁷ For it behooveth a bishop to be without crime, [as] a dispenser of God, not proud, not wrathful, not given to drunkenness [not vinolent, that is, much given to wine], not [a] smiter, not covetous of foul winning;

⁸ but holding hospitality, benign, prudent, sober, just, holy, continent,

⁹ taking that true word, that is after doctrine; that he be mighty to admonish in wholesome teaching, and to reprove them that gainsay.^[a]