Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
44 To the Overseer. -- By sons of Korah. An Instruction. O God, with our ears we have heard, Our fathers have recounted to us, The work Thou didst work in their days, In the days of old.
2 Thou, [with] Thy hand, nations hast dispossessed. And Thou dost plant them. Thou afflictest peoples, and sendest them away.
3 For, not by their sword Possessed they the land, And their arm gave not salvation to them, But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, And the light of Thy countenance, Because Thou hadst accepted them.
4 Thou [art] He, my king, O God, Command the deliverances of Jacob.
5 By Thee our adversaries we do push, By Thy name tread down our withstanders,
6 For, not in my bow do I trust, And my sword doth not save me.
7 For Thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And those hating us Thou hast put to shame.
8 In God we have boasted all the day, And Thy name to the age we thank. Selah.
9 In anger Thou hast cast off and causest us to blush, And goest not forth with our hosts.
10 Thou causest us to turn backward from an adversary, And those hating us, Have spoiled for themselves.
11 Thou makest us food like sheep, And among nations Thou hast scattered us.
12 Thou sellest Thy people -- without wealth, And hast not become great by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, A scorn and a reproach to our surrounders.
14 Thou makest us a simile among nations, A shaking of the head among peoples.
15 All the day my confusion [is] before me, And the shame of my face hath covered me.
16 Because of the voice of a reproacher and reviler, Because of an enemy and a self-avenger.
17 All this met us, and we did not forget Thee, Nor have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.
18 We turn not backward our heart, Nor turn aside doth our step from Thy path.
19 But Thou hast smitten us in a place of dragons, And dost cover us over with death-shade.
20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, And spread our hands to a strange God,
21 Doth not God search out this? For He knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Surely, for Thy sake we have been slain all the day, Reckoned as sheep of the slaughter.
23 Stir up -- why dost Thou sleep, O Lord? Awake, cast us not off for ever.
24 Why Thy face hidest Thou? Thou forgettest our afflictions and our oppression,
25 For bowed to the dust hath our soul, Cleaved to the earth hath our belly.
26 Arise, a help to us, And ransom us for thy kindness' sake.
11 Also, O Judah, appointed is a harvest to thee, In My turning back [to] the captivity of My people!
7 `When I give healing to Israel, Then revealed is the iniquity of Ephraim, And the wickedness of Samaria, For they have wrought falsehood, And a thief doth come in, Stript off hath a troop in the street,
2 And they do not say to their heart, [That] all their evil I have remembered, Now compassed them have their doings, Over-against My face they have been.
3 With their wickedness they make glad a king, And with their lies -- princes.
4 All of them [are] adulterers, Like a burning oven of a baker, He ceaseth from stirring up after kneading the dough, till its leavening.
5 A day of our king! Princes have polluted themselves [with] the poison of wine, He hath drawn out his hand with scorners.
6 For they have drawn near, As an oven [is] their heart, In their lying in wait all the night sleep doth their baker, Morning! he is burning as a flaming fire.
7 All of them are warm as an oven, And they have devoured their judges, All their kings have fallen, There is none calling unto Me among them.
8 Ephraim! among peoples he mixeth himself, Ephraim hath been a cake unturned.
9 Devoured have strangers his power, And he hath not known, Also old age hath sprinkled [itself] on him, And he hath not known.
10 And humbled hath been the excellency of Israel to his face, And they have not turned back unto Jehovah their God, Nor have they sought Him for all this.
11 And Ephraim is as a simple dove without heart, Egypt they called on -- [to] Asshur they have gone.
12 When they go I spread over them My net, As the fowl of the heavens I bring them down, I chastise them as their company hath heard.
13 Wo to them, for they wandered from Me, Destruction to them, for they transgressed against Me, And I -- I ransom them, and they have spoken lies against Me,
14 And have not cried unto Me with their heart, but howl on their beds, For corn and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn aside against Me.
15 And I instructed -- I strengthened their arms, And concerning Me they think evil!
16 They turn back -- not to the Most High, They have been as a deceitful bow, Fall by sword do their princes, From the insolence of their tongue, This [is] their derision in the land of Egypt!
43 `Ye heard that it was said: Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and shalt hate thine enemy;
44 but I -- I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those cursing you, do good to those hating you, and pray for those accusing you falsely, and persecuting you,
45 that ye may be sons of your Father in the heavens, because His sun He doth cause to rise on evil and good, and He doth send rain on righteous and unrighteous.
46 `For, if ye may love those loving you, what reward have ye? do not also the tax-gatherers the same?
47 and if ye may salute your brethren only, what do ye abundant? do not also the tax-gatherers so?
48 ye shall therefore be perfect, as your Father who [is] in the heavens is perfect.