Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

17 (Tefillah of Dovid) Hear the tzedek (righteous plea of a just cause), Hashem, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my tefillah, that goeth not out of lips of mirmah (deceit).

² Let my mishpat (right) come forth from Thy presence; let Thine eyes behold the things that are right.

³ Thou hast probed mine lev; Thou hast visited me in the lailah; Thou hast tested me and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

⁴ Concerning the works of men, by the Devar of Thy lips I have kept myself from the paths of the cruel.

⁵ Uphold my goings in Thy paths, that my footsteps stumble not.

⁶ I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, O El; incline Thine ear unto me, and hear my prayer.

⁷ Show Thy marvellous chesed, O Thou Moshi’a Who saves by Thy right hand them which put their trust in Thee from those that rise up against them.

⁸ Be shomer over me as the apple of Thy eye; hide me in the shadow of Thy wings,

⁹ From the resha’im that oppress me, from my deadly enemies threatening my nefesh, who surround me.

¹⁰ They have closed up callously and mercilessly against me; with their mouth they speak with ge’ut (pride).

¹¹ At every step they have surrounded me; their purpose is to strike down to ha’aretz;

¹² Like aryeh eager to tear his prey, and like a young lion lurking in ambush.

¹³ Arise, Hashem, confront him, cast him down; deliver my nefesh from the resha with Thy cherev;

¹⁴ From men with Thy yad, Hashem, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life, and with Thy treasures Thou fillest their belly; they are satisfied with children, and leave their abundance to their babes.

¹⁵ As for me, in tzedek I will behold Thy face; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy temunah (form; see Num 12:8).

3 And he [the malach] showed me Yehoshua the Kohen HaGadol standing before the Malach Hashem, and HaSatan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

² And Hashem said unto HaSatan, Hashem rebuke thee, O HaSatan; even Hashem that hath chosen Yerushalayim rebuke thee. Is not this a brand, a burning stick, snatched out of the eish?

³ Now Yehoshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the malach.

⁴ And he [the malach] answered and spoke unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, See, I have taken away thine avon (iniquity, guilt) from thee, and I will clothe thee with machalatzot (extra fine, white clothing).

⁵ And I said, Let them set a tzanif tahor (clean turban, mitznefet, Shemot 28:4) upon his head. So they set a tzanif tahor upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the Malach Hashem stood by.

⁶ And the Malach Hashem testified unto Yehoshua, saying,

⁷ Thus saith Hashem Tzva’os: If thou shalt walk in My ways, and if thou shalt keep My charge, then thou shalt also judge My Beis [Hamikdash], and shalt also keep My courts, and I will give thee ways to walk among these standing here.

⁸ Hear now, O Yehoshua the Kohen HaGadol, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are Anshei Mofet (men of portent); for, hinei, I will bring forth Avdi Tzemach [My Servant, the Branch i.e., Moshiach Ben Dovid Yehoshua, see Jer 23:5; 30:9; 33:15; Ezra 3:8; Zech 6:11-12; Mt 2:23; Isa 4:2; 9:2-7; 11:1-12; 53:2, 11; Moshiach the new "Joshua" Isa 49:8].

⁹ For hinei the even (stone) that I have set before Yehoshua; upon one even (stone) shall be shivah einayim (seven eyes); hineni, I will engrave the inscription thereof, saith Hashem Tzva’os, and I will remove the avon (iniquity, guilt) of that land in Yom Echad.

¹⁰ In Yom HaHu, saith Hashem Tzva’os, shall ye invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.

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,

¹¹ Whereas malachim, being greater b’oz and koach (in strength and power), al kol panim (nevertheless) do not bring against them a slanderous judgment before Hashem.

¹² But these men, like irrational beasts born b’derech hatevah (naturally) to be caught and killed, commit Chillul Hashem in matters where they lack da’as. In the destruction of [the beasts], they also will be destroyed,

¹³ Suffering harm as onesh (penalty) for harm done. They actually think there is ta’anug (pleasure) in reveling in broad daylight. They are mumim (defects) and spots reveling in their ta’nugot (evil pleasures) even while they sit at seudot (banquet dinners) with you.

¹⁴ Having eyes full of ni’uf (adultery), ceaselessly committing averos (sins), enticing unstable nefashot (souls), having levavot trained in chomed (covetous) greed—banim mekulalim (accursed children)!

¹⁵ Forsaking the Derech HaYashar (Straight Way), they went astray, having followed the Derech HaBil’am Ben B’or, who loved the sachar haresha (reward of unrighteousness).

¹⁶ But he had tochachah (reproof) for his own peysha (transgression): a dumb chamor (donkey), having spoken in a man’s voice, hindered the madness of the meshuga navi.

¹⁷ These men are mikva’ot without mayim and mists being driven by storms, for whom has been reserved the gloom of choshech (darkness).

¹⁸ Using high sounding words of hevel, they entice, with licentious ta’avot of the basar, the ones barely escaped from those living in toyus (error) and delusion.

¹⁹ They offer them the havtachah (promise) of cherut (freedom), but they themselves are avadim (slaves) of shachat (corruption), for whatever defeats a man also enslaves him.

²⁰ For if, having escaped the tumot (defilements) of Olam Hazeh by da’as of Adoneinu and Moshieinu Rebbe Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua, they are again entangled in these, then their last state is worse for them than their first.

²¹ For better it was for them not to have da’as of the Derech HaTzidkanut (the Way of Righteousness) than, having known it, to turn away from the mitzvah hakedosha handed down to them.