Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

51 To victory, the psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him, when he entered to Bathsheba. God, have thou mercy on me; by thy great mercy. And by the muchliness of thy merciful doings; do thou away my wickedness. (To victory, the song of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had slept with Bathsheba. God, have thou mercy on me; because of thy great love. And in the multitude of thy merciful doings; do thou away my wickedness.)

² Moreover wash thou me from my wickedness; and cleanse thou me from my sin.

³ For I acknowledge my wickedness; and my sin is ever[more] against me. (For I confess my sinfulness; yea, my sin is before me forevermore.)

⁴ I have sinned to thee alone, and I have done evil before thee; that thou be justified in thy words, and overcome when thou art deemed. (I have sinned against thee alone, and I have done evil before thee; so that thou art justified with thy words, and proved right when thou judgest me.)

⁵ For lo! I was conceived in wickednesses; and my mother conceived me in sins. (For lo! I was conceived in sinfulness; yea, my mother conceived me in sin.)

⁶ For lo! thou lovedest truth; thou hast showed to me the uncertain things, and privy things of thy wisdom. (For lo! thou lovedest the truth; and thou hast shown me the uncertain things, and the secret things, of thy wisdom.)

⁷ Lord, sprinkle thou me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; wash thou me, and I shall be made white more than snow (wash thou me, and I shall be made more white than snow).

⁸ Give thou joy, and gladness to mine hearing; and bones made meek shall full out make joy. (Let me hear the sounds of joy, and of gladness; and then the bones, which thou hast broken and bruised, shall make great joy, or rejoice.)

⁹ Turn away thy face from my sins; and do away all my wickednesses.

¹⁰ God, make thou a clean heart in me; and make thou new a rightful spirit in my entrails. (God, make my heart clean in me; and put thou a new and right spirit deep within me.)

¹¹ Cast thou me not away from thy face; and take thou not away from me thine holy spirit. (Do not throw thou me away from before thee; and take thou not away thy holy spirit from me/and take thou not away thy Holy Spirit from me.)

¹² Give thou to me the gladness of thine health; and confirm thou me with the principal spirit. (Give thou to me the gladness of thy salvation, or of thy deliverance; and give thou to me a spirit willing to obey thee.)

¹³ I shall teach wicked men thy ways; and unfaithful men shall be converted to thee. (I shall teach the wicked thy ways; and the unfaithful shall return to thee.)

¹⁴ God, the God of mine health, deliver thou me from bloods, or sins; and my tongue shall joyfully sing (of) thy rightfulness. (God, the God of my salvation/the God of my deliverance, save thou me from bloodshed, or from death; and my tongue shall joyfully sing of thy righteousness, or of thy justice.)

¹⁵ Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall tell (out) thy praising.

¹⁶ For if thou haddest would sacrifice, I had given it; truly thou shalt not delight in burnt sacrifice. (For if thou haddest desired a sacrifice, that is, an offering, I would have given it to thee; but truly thou delightest not in burnt sacrifice.)

¹⁷ A sacrifice to God is a spirit troubled, that is, (one made) sorry for sin; God, thou shalt not despise a contrite heart, and made meek. (A sacrifice to God is a troubled spirit, that is, one made sorry because of sinning; God, thou shalt not despise a contrite and humble heart.)

¹⁸ Lord, do thou benignly in thy good will to Zion; (so) that the walls of Jerusalem (may) be builded.

¹⁹ Then thou shalt take pleasantly the sacrifice of rightfulness, (with) offerings, and burnt sacrifices; then they shall put calves on thine altar. (Then thou shalt be pleased with a righteous sacrifice, yea, with offerings, and burnt sacrifices; and then they shall put calves upon thy altar.)

58 Cry thou (out), cease thou not; as a trump enhance thy voice (lift up thy voice like a trumpet), and show thou to my people their great trespasses, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

² For they seek me from day into day, and they will (to) know my ways; as a folk, that hath done rightfulness, and that hath not forsaken the doom of their God; they pray (to) me (for the) dooms of rightfulness, and they will (to) nigh to God. (For they seek me from day to day, and they say that they delight to know my ways; like a nation that truly hath done rightfully, and hath not deserted the justice of their God; they pray to me for judgements of righteousness/they pray to me for laws that be just, or that be right, and they say that they delight to come near, or close, to God.)

³ Why fasted we, and thou beheldest not; we meeked our souls, and thou knewest not? Lo! your will is found in the day of your fasting, and ye ask all your debtors. (But they also say, Why did we fast, if thou beheldest not? why did we meek, or humble, our souls, if thou knewest not? And I replieth, Lo! ye pursue your own desires on the day of your fast, and ye oppress all your workers.)

⁴ Lo! ye fast to chidings and strivings, and smite with the fist wickedly (Lo! your fasting leadeth only to chiding and to arguments, and to wickedly striking with the fist). Do not ye fast, as ye have unto this day, (so) that your cry (can once again) be heard on high.

⁵ Whether such is the fasting which I choose, a man to torment his soul by (a) day? whether to bind his head as a circle, and to make ready a sackcloth and ashes (to lie upon)? Whether thou shalt call this a fasting, and a day acceptable to the Lord? (Is that the fast which I would choose, yea, a day for a person to torment his soul? to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to prepare sackcloth and ashes to lie upon? Shalt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?)

⁶ Whether not this is more the fasting, which I choose? Unbind thou the bindings together of unpity, either of cruelty, release thou [the] burdens pressing down; deliver thou them free, that be broken, and break thou each burden. (Rather, is not this the fast, which I would choose? To unbind the bindings up of pitilessness, or of cruelty, to release the burdens of oppression, to set free those who be broken, and to break each burden.)

⁷ Break thy bread to the hungry man, and bring into thine house needy men and harbourless; when thou seest a naked man, cover thou him, and despise not thy flesh, that is, brother or sister. (Yea, break thy bread with the hungry, and bring into thy house the needy and the harbourless, that is, the homeless; when thou seest a naked person, cover thou him, and despise not thy flesh, that is, thy own brother, or thy own sister.)

⁸ Then thy light shall break out as the morrowtide, and thine health shall rise full soon; and thy rightfulness shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee to rest. (Then thy light shall break out like the dawn, and thy healing shall come quickly; and thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall protect thee.)

⁹ Then thou shalt call to help, and the Lord shall hear; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Lo! I am present, for I am merciful, thy Lord God (Then thou shalt call for help, and the Lord shall answer thee; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Lo! I am here, for I am merciful, the Lord thy God). If thou takest away the chain from the midst of thee, and ceasest to hold forth the finger, and to speak that that profiteth not;

¹⁰ when thou sheddest out thy soul, either thy will, to an hungry man, and [ful]fillest a soul that is tormented, thy light shall rise in darknesses, and thy darknesses shall be as midday. (if thou pourest out thy plenty to the hungry, and fulfillest a soul who is tormented, thy light shall rise in the darkness, and thy darkness shall be like midday.)

¹¹ And the Lord thy God shall give ever rest to thee, and shall [ful]fill thy soul with shinings, and shall deliver thy bones; and thou shalt be as a watered garden, and as a well of waters, whose waters shall not fail. (And the Lord thy God shall guide thee forever, and shall fulfill, or shall satisfy, thy soul in the shimmering heat, and shall strengthen thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a well of water, whose waters shall not fail.)

¹² And the forsaken things of (the) world’s shall be builded (again) in thee (And thou shalt rebuild the deserted things of the world), and thou shalt raise (up) the foundaments of generation and generation; and thou shalt be called, A builder of hedges, turning away the paths of wickednesses.

18 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, and said [saying], Who, guessest thou, is [the] greater in the kingdom of heavens?

² And Jesus called a little child, and put him in the middle of them; [And Jesus, calling a little child, set him in the midst of them;]

³ and said, I say truth to you [and said, Truly I say to you], but ye be turned, and [be] made as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heavens.

⁴ Therefore whoever meeketh him[self] as this little child, he is [the] greater in the kingdom of heavens.^[a]

⁵ And he that receiveth one such little child in my name, receiveth me.

⁶ But whoso causeth to stumble one of these small^[b], that believe in me, it speedeth to him that a millstone of asses be hanged in his neck, and [that] he be drowned in the deepness of the sea.

⁷ Woe to the world, for causes of stumbling; for it is need that causes of stumbling come; nevertheless woe to that man by whom a cause of stumbling cometh. [Woe to the world, for offences; truly it is need, that offences come; nevertheless, woe to that man by whom an offence cometh.]