Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

14 (For the one directing. Of Dovid) The naval (fool) hath said in his lev, There is no Elohim. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, ein oseh tov (there is none that doeth good).

² Hashem looked down from Shomayim upon Bnei Adam, to see if there is any with seichel, that seeketh Elohim.

³ They are all turned aside, they are all together become corrupt; there is none that doeth tov, no, not one.

⁴ Have all the workers of iniquity no da’as? Who eat up my people as they eat lechem, and call not upon Hashem.

⁵ There they shall be in great dread, for Elohim is with the dor tzaddik.

⁶ Would ye confound the etzah (counsel, plan) of the oni (poor), for Hashem is indeed his refuge!

⁷ Oh that the Yeshuah (salvation) of Yisroel were come out of Tziyon! When Hashem turns misfortune and brings back the captives of His people, Ya’akov shall rejoice, and Yisroel shall be glad.

4 If thou wilt make teshuvah, O Yisroel, saith Hashem, return unto Me; and if thou wilt put away thine shikkutzim (abominations) out of My sight, then shalt thou not be moved [to wander].

² And thou shalt swear, Chai Hashem, in emes, in mishpat, and in tzedakah; and the Goyim shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory.

³ For thus saith Hashem to Ish Yehudah and Yerushalayim, Break up your unplowed ground, and sow not among kotzim (thorns).

⁴ Circumcise yourselves to Hashem, and take the mohel knife to the arelot of your levav, ye Ish Yehudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim: lest My fury break out like eish, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.

⁵ Declare ye in Yehudah, and publish in Yerushalayim; and say, Blow ye the shofar in HaAretz. Cry out, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities.

⁶ Raise up a nes (a banner, a flag pointing to the place of refuge) over Tziyon; take refuge, delay not; for I will bring ra’ah (evil, disaster) from the tzafon (north), and shever gadol (great destruction).

⁷ The aryeh (lion) is come up from his thicket, and the Mashkhit Goyim (Destroyer of the Nations, i.e., Babylon) is on his way, he is gone forth from his place to make thy eretz desolate; and thy cities shall be made to lie in ruins, without an inhabitant.

⁸ For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the charon af Hashem is not turned away from us.

⁹ And it shall come to pass at that day, saith Hashem, that the lev HaMelech shall be disheartened, and the lev hasarim; and the kohanim shall be horror-struck, and the nevi’im dumbfounded.

¹⁰ Then said I, Adonoi Hashem! Surely Thou hast greatly misled HaAm HaZeh and Yerushalayim, saying, Shalom yeheyeh lachem (Ye shall have shalom); whereas the cherev is near unto the nefesh.

2 But there were also nevi’ei sheker (false prophets) among Am Yisroel just as also there will be morei sheker among you. These false teachers will secretly bring in heretical doctrines of koferim baikkarim (deniers of fundamentals), producing machshelah (ruin), as these heretics even become meshummad, denying the Ribbono Shel Olam who redeemed them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

² And many will follow them in walking in darchei zimah (the ways of licentiousness), and because of them the Derech HaEmes will be libeled with lashon hora.

³ And in their chomed (covetous) greed, they will exploit you with deceptive words. For them the Mishpat (Judgment) of old is not drei (idle) and their churban (ruin) does not slumber.

⁴ For if Hashem did not spare malachim that sinned, but cast them into Gehinnom, consigning them to the sharsherot (chains) of choshech to be kept for Mishpat;

⁵ And if Hashem, when he brought a mabbul (flood) upon the world of resha’im (evildoers), did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noach, the eighth of the nefashot [in the Teva (Ark)] and a maggid of Tzidkanut (Righteousness);

⁶ And if Hashem judged the cities of S’dom and Amora, reducing them to ashes by a churban catastrophe, making them a mofet (an example) for the ones intending to be resha’im;

⁷ And if Hashem delivered Lot, a tzaddik distressed by the hitnahagut (conduct) of the mufkarim (lawless 2:8,10; 3:17) walking in darchei zimah (the ways of licentiousness)

⁸ —For that tzaddik, living among them day after day, was tortured in his nefesh hayesharah (honest soul) by the darchei mufkarim (the ways of lawless ones) that he saw and heard

⁹ —Then Hashem knows how to rescue the chasidim from trial and how to preserve the anshei resha (men of wickedness) for punishment for the Yom HaDin,

¹⁰ Especially the ones going after the basar (flesh) in ta’avah (lust) producing tum’a (defilement) and the ones despising kol samchut (Mt 28:18). Bold and selfwilled, these have no yirat Shomayim and therefore commit Chillul Hashem as they slander the glorious ones,