Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁹⁷ [Mem]. Lord, how loved I thy law; all day it is my thinking. (Lord, how I love thy Law! I think about it all day long.)

⁹⁸ Above mine enemies thou madest me prudent by thy commandment; for it is to me [into] without end. (By thy commandments, thou hast made me more prudent than all my enemies; for thy commandments shall be with me forever.)

⁹⁹ I understood over all men teaching me; for thy witnessings is my thinking. (I have more understanding than all those who teach me; because I think about thy teachings.)

¹⁰⁰ I understood above eld men; for I sought thy commandments. (I have more understanding than the old men, that is, the elders; because I have kept thy precepts.)

¹⁰¹ I forbade my feet from all evil way; that I keep thy words (so that I obey thy commands).

¹⁰² I bowed not from thy dooms; for thou hast set law to me. (I turned not away from thy judgements; for thou thyself hast taught me.)

¹⁰³ Thy speeches be full sweet to my cheeks; above honey to my mouth. (Thy words be exceedingly sweet to my taste; yea, sweeter in my mouth than honey.)

¹⁰⁴ I understood of thy behests; therefore I hated all the ways of wickedness. (I gained understanding through thy precepts; and now I hate all wicked ways.)

¹⁵ The Lord saith these things, A voice of wailing, and of weeping, and of mourning, was heard on high (was heard in Ramah); the voice of Rachel beweeping her sons, and not willing to be comforted on them, for they be not.

¹⁶ The Lord saith these things, Thy voice rest of weeping, and thine eyes rest of tears; for why meed is to thy work, saith the Lord; and they shall turn again from the land of the enemy. (The Lord saith these things, Let thy voice rest from weeping, and thine eyes rest from tears; for there shall be a reward for thy work, saith the Lord; and they shall return from the land of the enemy.)

¹⁷ And hope is to thy last things, saith the Lord; and thy sons shall turn again to their ends. (And there is hope in thy last things, saith the Lord, and thy sons and daughters shall return to their own lands.)

¹⁸ I hearing heard Ephraim passing over; saying, thou chastisedest me, and I am learned as a young one untamed, either wild; turn thou me, and I shall be turned again, for thou art my Lord God. (Hearing I heard Ephraim mourning, saying, thou hast disciplined, or hast corrected, me, and now I am taught, I who before was like a young calf, untamed and wild; restore thou me, yea, let me return, for thou art the Lord my God.)

¹⁹ For after that thou convertedest me, I did penance; and after that thou showedest to me, I smote mine hip (I struck my hip); I am ashamed, and I (am) shamed, for I (have) suffered the shame of my youth.

²⁰ For Ephraim is a worshipful son to me, for he is a delicate child; for since I spake of him, yet I shall have mind on him; therefore mine entrails be troubled on him, I doing mercy shall have mercy on him, saith the Lord. (For Ephraim is a dear son to me, he is a delightful child; for though I spoke against him, still I remembered him; and so my bowels, or my innards, be concerned for him, I doing mercy shall have mercy on him, saith the Lord.)

²¹ Ordain to thee an high lookout place, set to thee bitternesses; (ad)dress thine heart into a straight way, in which thou went; turn again, thou virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. (Ordain for thyself a high lookout place, put up signposts for thyself; direct thy heart toward the straight way in which thou went before; return, O virgin of Israel, return to these thy cities.)

²² How long, daughter of unsteadfast dwelling, art thou made dissolute in delights? for the Lord hath made a new thing on earth, a woman shall compass a man (for the Lord hath made something new on the earth, a woman shall go about, or shall protect, a man).

²³ The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Yet they shall say this word in the land of Judah, and in the cities thereof, when I shall turn (again) the captivity of them (when I shall restore their fortunes), The Lord bless thee, thou fairness of rightfulness, thou holy hill.

²⁴ And Judah, and all the cities thereof shall dwell in it together, (yea,) earth-tillers, and they that drive flocks.

²⁵ For I filled greatly a faint soul, and I have [full-]filled each hungry soul. (For I have greatly filled a faint soul, and I have filled full each hungry soul.)

²⁶ Therefore I am as raised from sleep, and I saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.

⁴⁶ And they came to Jericho; and when he went forth from Jericho, and his disciples, and a full much people, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat beside the way, and begged.^[a]

⁴⁷ And when he heard, that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry, and say, Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me.

⁴⁸ And many threatened him, that he should be still; and he cried much the more, Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me.

⁴⁹ And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be called; and they called the blind man, and said to him [and they call the blind man, saying to him], Be thou of better heart, rise up, he calleth thee.

⁵⁰ And he cast away his cloak [his cloth], and skipped, and came to him.

⁵¹ And Jesus answered, and said to him, What wilt thou, that I shall do to thee? The blind man said to him, Master, that I see.

⁵² Jesus said to him, Go thou, thy faith hath made thee safe. And at once [And anon] he saw, and followed him in the way.