Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

2 Sing ye with a trump in Zion, yell ye in mine holy hill. All the dwellers of earth be disturbed; for the day of the Lord cometh, (Sing ye with a trumpet in Zion, yell ye upon my holy hill. All the people of the land be troubled; for the day of the Lord cometh,)

² for the day of darknesses and of mist is nigh, the day of cloud and of whirlwind. (These locusts be) As the morrowtide spread abroad on hills, (like) a much people and strong. None was like it from the beginning, and after it shall not be, till into years of generation and of generation. (for the day of darkness and of mist is near, the day of cloud and of whirlwind. These locusts be like the morning spread abroad upon the hills, like a strong, innumerable host, or army. Nothing was ever like them before, and after them, nothing shall ever be like them again.)

¹² Now therefore saith the Lord, Be ye turned again to me in all your heart, in fasting, and weeping, and wailing; (And yet even now, saith the Lord, turn ye again to me/return to me, with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and wailing;)

¹³ and carve ye your hearts, and not your clothes, and be ye turned again to your Lord God, for he is benign, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy, and abiding, either forgiving, on malice. (and carve ye, or rend ye, your hearts, and not your clothes, and turn ye again to the Lord your God/and return to the Lord your God, for he is benign, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy, and forgiving of malice.)

¹⁴ Who knoweth, if God be (not) turned again, and forgive, and leave blessing after him? sacrifice and moist sacrifice to our Lord God. (Who knoweth, if God shall not turn again, or repent, and forgive, and even leave a blessing behind him? so, offer ye grain and wine to the Lord our God!)

¹⁵ Sing ye with a trump in Zion, hallow ye fasting, call ye (a) company; (Sing ye with a trumpet in Zion, call ye for a fast, call ye the congregation;)

¹⁶ gather together the people, hallow ye the church (gather together the people, call ye the congregation), gather ye together (the) eld men, gather ye together (the) little children, and (those) sucking the breasts; a spouse go out of his bed, and a spousess (out) of her chamber.

¹⁷ Priests, the ministers of the Lord, shall weep betwixt the porch and the altar, and shall say, Lord! spare thou, spare thy people, and give thou not thine heritage into shame, that nations be lords of them. Why say they among peoples, Where is the God of them? (The priests, the ministers of the Lord, shall weep between the porch and the altar, and shall say, Lord! spare thou, spare thy people, and give thou not thy own inheritance into shame, so that the nations be their lords. Why let the heathen say, Where is their God?)

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.

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.)

²⁰ Therefore we use message for Christ [Therefore we be set in legacy, or message, for Christ], as if God admonisheth by us; we beseech you for Christ, be ye reconciled to God.

²¹ God the Father made him sin for us, which knew not sin, that we should be made [the] rightwiseness of God in him.

6 But we helping [you in work and word] admonish [you], that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

² For he saith, In time well pleasing I have heard thee [In time accepted, or well pleasing, I have heard thee], and in the day of health I have helped thee. Lo! now a time acceptable, lo! now a day of health.

³ Give we to no man any offence, that our service be not reproved; [To no man giving any offence, or hurting, that our ministry, or service, be not reproved;]

⁴ but in all things give we us selves [but in all things give we ourselves] as the ministers of God, in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in anguishes,

⁵ in beatings [in scourgings], in prisons, in dissensions within, in travails, in wakings, in fastings,

⁶ in chastity, in knowing [in science, or knowing], in long abiding, in sweetness, in the Holy Ghost, in charity not feigned,

⁷ in the word of truth, in the virtue of God; by armours of rightwiseness on the right half and on the left half;

⁸ by glory and unnobleness [by glory and unnobility]; by evil fame and good fame; as deceivers, and true men;

⁹ as they that be unknown and known; as men dying, and lo! we live; as chastised, and not made dead;

¹⁰ as sorrowful, and evermore joying; as having need, but making many men rich [as sorrowful, but evermore joying; as needy men, soothly making many rich]; as nothing having, and wielding all things.

6 Take heed, that ye do not your rightwiseness before men, to be seen of them, else ye shall have no meed at your Father that is in heavens [else ye shall not have meed of your Father which is in heavens].

² Therefore when thou doest alms, do not thou trumpet before thee, as hypocrites do in synagogues and streets, that they be worshipped of men^[a]; soothly I say to you, they have received their meed.

³ But when thou doest alms, know not thy left hand what thy right hand doeth,

⁴ that thine alms be in huddles, and thy Father that seeth in huddles, shall requite thee [shall yield to thee].

⁵ And when ye pray, ye shall not be as hypocrites, that love to pray standing in synagogues and [in] corners of streets, to be seen of men [that they be seen of men]; truly I say to you, they have received their meed.

⁶ But when thou shalt pray, enter into thy bedchamber, and when the door is shut, pray thy Father in huddles, and thy Father that seeth in huddles, shall yield to thee.

¹⁶ But when ye fast, do not ye be made as hypocrites sorrowful, for they deface themselves, to seem fasting to men [for they put their faces out of natural terms, that they seem fasting to men]; truly I say to you, they have received their meed.

¹⁷ But when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face,

¹⁸ that thou be not seen fasting to men, but to thy Father that is in huddles, and thy Father that seeth in privy [and thy Father that seeth in huddles], shall yield to thee.

¹⁹ Do not ye treasure to you treasures [here] in earth, where rust and moth destroyeth, and where thieves delve out and steal;

²⁰ but gather to you treasures in heaven [but treasure to you treasures in heaven], where neither rust nor moth destroyeth, and where thieves delve not out, nor steal.

²¹ For where thy treasure is, there also thine heart is.