Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

2 Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of Jehovah cometh, for it is at hand;

² a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and gross darkness, as the dawn spread upon the mountains;—a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after them, to the years of generations and generations.

¹² Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning;

¹³ and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

¹⁴ Who knoweth? He might return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, an oblation and a drink-offering for Jehovah your God?

¹⁵ Blow the trumpet in Zion, hallow a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly;

¹⁶ gather the people, hallow the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her closet.

¹⁷ Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare, O Jehovah, thy people, and give not thine inheritance to reproach, that they should be a byword of the nations. Wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God?

58 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

² Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that doeth righteousness, and hath not forsaken the ordinance of their God; they ask of me the ordinances of righteousness, they take delight in approaching to God:

³ —Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not; have afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find what pleaseth [you], and exact all your labours.

⁴ Behold, ye have fasted for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye do not at present fast, to cause your voice to be heard on high.

⁵ Is such the fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul,—that he should bow down his head as a bulrush, and spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? Wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to Jehovah?

⁶ Is not this the fast which I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, and to send forth free the crushed, and that ye break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring to thy house the needy wanderers; when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

⁸ Then shall thy light break forth as the dawn, and thy health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearguard.

⁹ Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and the unjust speech,

¹⁰ and thou proffer thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in the darkness, and thine obscurity be as midday;

¹¹ and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and strengthen thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a water-spring, whose waters deceive not.

¹² And they [that come] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations [that have remained] from generation to generation; and thou shalt be called, Repairer of the breaches, restorer of frequented paths.

To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba.

51 Be gracious unto me, O God, according to thy loving-kindness; according to the abundance of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

² Wash me fully from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is continually before me.

⁴ Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done what is evil in thy sight; that thou mayest be justified when thou speakest, be clear when thou judgest.

⁵ Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

⁶ Behold, thou wilt have truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden [part] thou wilt make me to know wisdom.

⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

⁸ Make me to hear gladness and joy; [that] the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

⁹ Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

¹¹ Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not the spirit of thy holiness from me.

¹² Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and let a willing spirit sustain me.

¹³ I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall return unto thee.

¹⁴ Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

¹⁵ Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise.

¹⁶ For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering.

¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

²⁰ We are ambassadors therefore for Christ, God as [it were] beseeching by us, we entreat for Christ, Be reconciled to God.

²¹ Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that *we* might become God's righteousness in him.

6 But [as] fellow-workmen, we also beseech that ye receive not the grace of God in vain:

² (for he says, I have listened to thee in an accepted time, and I have helped thee in a day of salvation: behold, now [is the] well-accepted time; behold, now [the] day of salvation:)

³ giving no manner of offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed;

⁴ but in everything commending ourselves as God's ministers, in much endurance, in afflictions, in necessities, in straits,

⁵ in stripes, in prisons, in riots, in labours, in watchings, in fastings,

⁶ in pureness, in knowledge, in longsuffering, in kindness, in [the] Holy Spirit, in love unfeigned,

⁷ in [the] word of truth, in [the] power of God; through the arms of righteousness on the right hand and left,

⁸ through glory and dishonour, through evil report and good report: as deceivers, and true;

⁹ as unknown, and well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as disciplined, and not put to death;

¹⁰ as grieved, but always rejoicing; as poor, but enriching many; as having nothing, and possessing all things.

6 Take heed not to do your alms before men to be seen of them, otherwise ye have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens.

² When therefore thou doest alms, sound not a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may have glory from men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

³ But thou, when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does;

⁴ so that thine alms may be in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render [it] to thee.

⁵ And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets so that they should appear to men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

⁶ But *thou*, when thou prayest, enter into thy chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who sees in secret will render [it] to thee.

¹⁶ And when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, downcast in countenance; for they disfigure their faces, so that they may appear fasting to men: verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

¹⁷ But *thou*, [when] fasting, anoint thy head and wash thy face,

¹⁸ so that thou mayest not appear fasting unto men, but to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who sees in secret shall render [it] to thee.

¹⁹ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust spoils, and where thieves dig through and steal;

²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust spoils, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal;

²¹ for where thy treasure is, there will be also thy heart.