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.)

¹⁵ and I shall give to you shepherds after mine heart, and they shall feed you with knowing and teaching.

¹⁶ And when ye shall be multiplied, and increase(d) in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall no more say, The ark of [the] testament of the Lord (they shall no more speak of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord); neither it shall ascend on the heart, neither they shall think on it, neither it shall be visited, neither it shall be further (needed).

¹⁷ In that time they shall call Jerusalem The seat of the Lord, and all heathen men shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem; and they shall not go after the shrewdness of their worst heart. (At that time they shall call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all the heathen shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem; and they shall not go after the depravity of the worst desires of their hearts.)

¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah shall go to the house of Israel; and they shall come together from the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers.

¹⁹ Forsooth I said, How shall I set thee among (my) sons, and shall give to thee a desirable land, a full clear heritage of the hosts of heathen men? And I said, Thou shalt call me, Father, and thou shalt not cease to enter after me. (And I said, Yea, I shall put thee among my sons and daughters, and I shall give thee a desirable land, an inheritance better than anything of the heathen! And I said, Thou shalt call me Father, and thou shalt not cease to follow me.)

²⁰ But as if a woman despiseth her lover (But like a woman can despise her lover), so the house of Israel despised me, saith the Lord.

²¹ A voice is heard in (the) ways, the weeping and yelling of the sons of Israel; for they made wicked their way, they forgat their Lord God. (A sound is heard on the way, the weeping and yelling of the Israelites; for they made their way wicked, they forgot the Lord their God.)

²² Be ye converted, sons, turning again, and I shall heal your turnings away. Lo! we come to thee; for thou art our Lord God. (Come back to me/Return to me, ye people who be turned away, and I shall heal your turnings away. And ye shall say, Lo! we come to thee; for thou art the Lord our God.)

²³ Verily the little hills were liars, the multitude of mountains was false; verily in our Lord God is the health of Israel. (Truly there was no help from our worship on the little hills, or on the mountains; truly in the Lord our God is Israel’s only salvation, or deliverance.)

²⁴ Shame ate the travail of our fathers, from our youth; shame ate the flocks of them, and the droves of them, the sons of them, and the daughters of them. (From our early days, Baal, the god of shame ate the fruits of our forefathers’ labours; yea, the god of shame ate their flocks, and their herds, and their sons, and their daughters.)

²⁵ We shall sleep in our shame, and our shame shall cover us; for we sinned to our Lord God, both we and our fathers, from our youth unto this day; and we have not heard the voice of our Lord God. (We shall sleep in our shame, and our shame shall cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our forefathers, from our early days until this day; and we have not heard the voice of the Lord our God.)

¹⁵ And when one of them that sat together at the meat had heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is he, that shall eat bread in the realm of God.

¹⁶ And he said to him, A man made a great supper [Some man made a great supper], and called many.

¹⁷ And he sent his servant in the hour of supper, to say to men that were bidden to the feast, that they should come, for now all things be ready.

¹⁸ And all began together to excuse them(selves). The first said [to him], I have bought a town, and I have need to go out, and see it; I pray thee, have me excused.

¹⁹ And the tother said, I have bought five yokes of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee, have me excused.

²⁰ And another said, I have wedded a wife; and therefore I may not come.

²¹ And the servant turned again, and told these things to his lord. Then the husbandman was wroth, and said to his servant, Go out swiftly into the great streets and the small streets of the city [Then the husbandman wroth, said to his servant, Go out soon into great streets and small streets of the city], and bring in hither poor men, and feeble, [and] blind men, and crooked.

²² And the servant said, Lord, it is done, as thou hast commanded, and yet there is a void place [and yet there is a place].

²³ And the lord said to the servant, Go out into ways and hedges, and constrain men to enter, that mine house be full-filled [that mine house be filled].

²⁴ For I say to you, that none of those men that be called, shall taste my supper.