Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

133 The song of degrees. Lo! how good and how merry it is; that brethren dwell together. (Lo! how good and how pleasant it is; for brothers, or God’s people, to live together in unity, or in harmony.)

² As ointment in the head; that goeth down into the beard, into the beard of Aaron. That goeth down into the collar of his cloth; (Like ointment on the head, that goeth down onto the beard, onto Aaron’s beard; yea, that goeth down onto the collar of his cloak.)

³ as the dew of Hermon, that goeth down into the hill of Zion. For there the Lord sent blessing; and life till into the world, that is, without end. (Like the dew of Mount Hermon, that goeth down onto the hills of Zion. For there the Lord sent blessing; and life forevermore.)

¹⁴ Anon at the behest of the king, they polled Joseph (At once at the king’s command, they shaved Joseph), (and) led (him) out of the prison, and when his clothing was changed, they brought him to the king.

¹⁵ To whom the king said, I saw dreams, and none [there] is that expoundeth those things that I saw; I have heard that thou expoundest such things most prudently. (To whom the king said, I had two dreams, and there is no one who can interpret what I saw; but I have heard that thou interpretest such things most prudently.)

¹⁶ Joseph answered, Without me, God shall answer prosperities to Pharaoh. (And Joseph answered, Not I, but God himself shall answer good things to Pharaoh.)

¹⁷ Therefore Pharaoh told that that he saw; I guessed that I stood on the brink of the flood, (And so Pharaoh told him what he had dreamed, saying, I stood on the bank of the river,)

¹⁸ and seven kine, full fair, with flesh able to eating, went up from the water, which kine gathered green sedges in the pasture of the marshes; (and seven cows, sleek and with flesh good for eating, came out of the water, and they gathered green sedges in the pasture of the marshes;)

¹⁹ and lo! seven other kine, so foul and lean, followed these, that I saw never such in the land of Egypt; (and lo! seven other cows followed them, so foul and lean, that I never before had seen such as these in all the land of Egypt;)

²⁰ and when the former kine were devoured and wasted of the lean kine, (and when the first cows, the fat ones, were devoured and destroyed by the lean cows,)

²¹ the lean kine gave no step, or token, of fullness, but were slow, or feeble, by like leanness and paleness. I waked, (the lean cows gave no sign of fullness, but were as feeble, and with the same leanness and paleness, as before. I awakened,)

²² and again I was oppressed by sleep, and I saw a dream (and then again I was oppressed by sleep, and again I dreamed); seven ears of corn, full and most fair, came forth on one stalk,

²³ and other seven (and seven others), thin and smitten with [a] burning wind, came forth (out) of the stubble,

²⁴ which devoured the fairness of the former; I told this dream to [the] expounders, and no man there is that expoundeth it (I told these dreams to the interpreters, but there was no one who could interpret them for me).

²⁵ Joseph answered, The dream of the king is one (The dreams of the king be one dream); God hath showed to Pharaoh what things he shall do.

²⁶ Seven fair kine, and seven full ears of corn, be seven years of plenty, and the same things comprehend the strength of the dream; (The seven fat and sleek cows, and the seven full ears of corn, be seven years of plenty, and they tell the same thing, and so the dreams be one dream;)

²⁷ and [the] seven kine, thin and lean, that went up after the fair kine, and the seven thin ears of corn, and smitten with [a] burning wind, be seven years of hunger to coming, (and the seven foul and lean cows, that came out after the good cows, and the seven thin ears of corn, that be struck by a burning wind, be seven years of famine to come,)

²⁸ which shall be fulfilled by this order. (which shall be fulfilled in this order.)

²⁹ Lo! seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt shall come, (Lo! seven years of great plenty shall come in all the land of Egypt,)

³⁰ and seven other years of so great barrenness shall follow those, that all the abundance before shall be given to forgetting; for hunger shall waste all the land, (and then seven more years of such great famine shall follow them, that all the abundance of before shall be forgotten; for the famine shall destroy all the land,)

³¹ and the greatness of neediness shall waste the greatness of plenty.

³² Forsooth this that thou sawest the second time (in) a dream pertaining to the same thing (For what thou sawest in a second dream pertaining to the same thing), is (a) showing of firmness, that is, (a) confirming of the first, for the word of God shall be done, and it shall be [ful]filled full swiftly.

³³ Now therefore purvey the king a wise man and a ready (one), and make the king him sovereign to the land of Egypt, (And so now, let the king find a wise and able man, and make him the ruler over all the land of Egypt,)

³⁴ which man ordain governors by all countries, and gather he into barns the fifth part of fruits by [the] seven years of plenty, that shall come now; (and that man ordain governors over all the countryside, and gather he into the barns the fifth part of the harvest of the land during the seven years of plenty that shall now come;)

³⁵ and all the wheat be kept under the power of Pharaoh (and let all the corn, or the grain, be kept under Pharaoh’s power), and be it kept in [the] cities,

³⁶ and be it made ready to the hunger to coming of the seven years that shall oppress Egypt, and the land be not wasted by poverty. (and have it made ready for the seven years of famine to come that shall oppress Egypt, and so the land shall not be destroyed by neediness.)

15 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful; seven angels having the seven last vengeances [seven angels having seven the last plagues], for the wrath of God is ended in them.

² And I saw as a glassen sea mingled with fire, and them that overcame the beast, and his image, and the number of his name, standing above the glassen sea, having the harps of God;

³ and singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb, and said [saying], Great and wonderful be thy works, Lord God almighty; thy ways be just and true, Lord, king of worlds.

⁴ Lord, who shall not dread thee, and magnify thy name? for thou alone art merciful [for thou alone art pious, or merciful]; for all folks shall come, and worship in thy sight, for thy dooms be open [for thy dooms be opened].