Book of Common Prayer

101 The psalm of David. Lord, I shall sing to thee; mercy and doom. I shall sing, (The song of David. Lord, I shall sing of love and justice/I shall sing of mercy and judgement. I shall sing unto thee,)

² and I shall understand in a way without wem; when thou shalt come to me. I went perfectly in the innocence of mine heart; in the middle of mine house. (and I shall go on the way without blemish, or without fault; but when shalt thou come to me? I shall go about with purity in the midst of my house; yea, in the innocence of my heart.)

³ I setted not forth before mine eyes an unjust thing; I hated them that made trespassings. (I shall not set any impure thing before my eyes; I hate those who trespass, but I know, that that shall not cleave to me.)

⁴ A shrewd heart cleaved not to me; I knew not a wicked man bowing away from me. (I shall turn away from anyone with a depraved heart; and I shall not have any dealings with the wicked.)

⁵ I pursued him that backbited privily his neighbour. With the proud eye and an heart unable to be filled; I ate not with this. (I shall silence anyone who privately, or secretly, backbiteth his neighbour. And I shall not eat with anyone who hath a proud eye, and a heart unable to be filled, or ever satisfied.)

⁶ Mine eyes were to the faithful men of earth, that they sit with me; he that went in a way without wem, ministered to me. (But I look favourably upon those who be faithful, or loyal, and they shall sit with me; and he who goeth on the way without blemish, or without fault, shall serve me/shall be my servant.)

⁷ He that doeth pride, shall not dwell in the middle of mine house; he that speaketh wicked things, served not in the sight of mine eyes. (He who hath pride, shall not live in the midst of my house; he who speaketh wicked things, shall not serve me/shall not be my servant.)

⁸ In the morrowtide I killed all the sinners of earth; that I should lose from the city of the Lord all men working wickedness. (In the morning/Morning after morning, I shall kill all the sinners of the land; yea, I shall destroy all who do wickedness in the city of the Lord.)

109 To victory, the psalm of David. God, hold thou not still my praising; (To victory, the song of David. God of my praises, be thou not silent;)

² for the mouth of the sinner, and the mouth of the guileful man, is opened on me. They spake against me with a guileful tongue, (for the mouth of the sinner, and the mouth of the deceitful, were opened against me. Yea, they spoke against me with their lying tongues,)

³ and they (en)compassed me with words of hatred; and fought against me without cause. (and they surrounded me with hateful words; and fought against me for no reason.)

⁴ For that thing that they should love me (for), they backbited me; but I prayed (for them).

⁵ And they setted against me evils for goods (And they paid me back evil for good); and hatred for my love.

⁶ Ordain thou a sinner on him; and the devil stand on his right half. (Ordain thou a sinner over my enemy; and let the devil stand at his right hand.)

⁷ When he is deemed, go he out condemned; and his prayer be made into sin. (When he is judged, let him go out condemned; and let his prayer be made into sin.)

⁸ His days be made few; and another take his bishopric. (Let his days be made few; and another take his office.)

⁹ (Let) His sons be made fatherless; and his wife a widow.

¹⁰ His sons trembling be borne over, and beg; and be they cast out of their habitations. (Let his sons and daughters be made vagrants, and go begging; yea, let them be thrown out of their dwelling places.)

¹¹ An usurer seek all his chattel; and aliens ravish his travails. (Let an usurer take away all his chattel, or his substance; and let foreigners, or strangers, take all that he hath worked for.)

¹² None helper be to him; neither any be that have mercy on his motherless children. (Let there be no one to help him; nor let anyone have mercy on his motherless children.)

¹³ His sons be made into perishing (Let all his sons and daughters die); (and) the name of him be done away in one generation.

¹⁴ The wickedness of his fathers come again into mind in the sight of the Lord; and the sin of his mother be not done away. (Let the wickedness of his forefathers be remembered by the Lord; and let his mother’s sin be not done away, or wiped out.)

¹⁵ Be they made ever[more] against the Lord; and the mind of them perish from earth. (Let their sins be before the Lord forevermore; but let the remembrance of these people perish from all the earth.)

¹⁶ For that thing that he thought not to do mercy, and he pursued a poor man and a beggar; and to slay a man compunct in heart. (Because he never thought to show mercy, or love, but he persecuted the poor and the needy; and he even killed the broken-hearted.)

¹⁷ And he loved cursing, and it shall come to him; and he would not blessing, and it shall be made far from him. (And because he loved to curse others, now let it come to him; and because he delighted not to give anyone a blessing, now let it be made far from him.)

¹⁸ And he clothed cursing as a cloth, and it entered as water into his inner things; and as oil in his bones. (He clothed himself in cursing, like with a cloak, and it entered into his inner things, like water; yea, like oil into his bones.)

¹⁹ Be it made to him as a cloth, with which he is covered; and as a girdle, with which he is ever[more] girded. (Let it be made to him like a cloak, with which he is covered; yea, like a girdle, with which he is girded forevermore.)

²⁰ This is the work of them that backbite me with the Lord; and that speak evils against my life. (Let this be the reward of those who backbite me with the Lord; yea, those who speak evil against me.)

²¹ And thou, Lord God, do with me for thy name; for thy mercy is sweet. Deliver thou me, (But thou, Lord God, do with me for the sake of thy name; for thy love is good. Save thou me,)

²² for I am needy and poor (for I am poor and needy); and mine heart is troubled within me.

²³ I am taken away as a shadow, when it boweth away; and I am shaken away as locusts. (I fade away like a shadow in the evening; and I am shaken off like a bug.)

²⁴ My knees be made feeble with fasting; and my flesh was changed for oil. (My knees be made weak with fasting; and my flesh wasteth away for lack of oil.)

²⁵ And I am made (a) shame to them; they saw me, and moved their heads (they saw me, and shook their heads).

²⁶ My Lord God, help thou me; make thou me safe by thy mercy. (My Lord God, help thou me; save thou me in thy mercy/save thou me because of thy love.)

²⁷ And they shall know, that this is thine hand; and (that) thou, Lord, hast done it.

²⁸ And they shall curse, and thou shalt bless, they that rise against me, be shamed; but thy servant shall be glad. (And they shall curse, but thou shalt bless, so let those who rise against me, be put to shame; but thy servant shall be glad.)

²⁹ They that backbite me, be clothed with shame; and be they covered with their shame, as with a double cloth. (Let those who backbite me, be clothed with shame; yea, let them be covered with their shame, like with a cloak.)

³⁰ I shall acknowledge to the Lord greatly with my mouth; and I shall praise him in the middle of many men. (With my mouth I shall greatly thank the Lord; yea, I shall praise him in the midst of many people.)

¹²¹ [Ain]. I did doom and rightwiseness; betake thou not me to them that falsely challenge me. (I did what is just and right; so do not thou deliver me up to those who will oppress me.)

¹²² Take up thy servant into goodness; they that be proud challenge not me. (Yea, protect thy servant; let not those who be proud oppress me.)

¹²³ Mine eyes failed into thine health; and into the speech of thy rightfulness. (My eyes fail looking for thy salvation, or for thy deliverance; and for the word of thy righteousness.)

¹²⁴ Do thou with thy servant after thy mercy; and teach thou me thy justifyings. (Do thou with thy servant according to thy love; and teach thou me thy statutes.)

¹²⁵ I am thy servant; give thou understanding to me, that I know thy witnessings (so that I can know thy teachings).

¹²⁶ Lord, it is time to do; they have destroyed thy law. (Lord, it is time to act; for they have destroyed thy Law.)

¹²⁷ Therefore I loved thy commandments; more than gold and topaz. (Truly I love thy commandments; yea, more than gold and topaz.)

¹²⁸ Therefore I was (ad)dressed to all thy behests; I hated all wicked way. (And so I am directed, or guided, by all thy precepts; and I hate all wicked ways.)

¹²⁹ [Pe]. Lord, thy witnessings be wonderful; therefore my soul sought those. (Lord, thy teachings be wonderful; and so my soul gladly keepeth them/and so I gladly obey them.)

¹³⁰ Declaring of thy words lighteneth; and it giveth understanding to meek men. (The declaring, or the exposition, of thy words bringeth light, or enlightenment; and it giveth understanding even to the simple, or the untaught.)

¹³¹ I opened my mouth, and drew the spirit (and drew my breath, yea, I panted); for I desired thy commandments.

¹³² Behold thou on me, and have mercy on me; by the doom of them that love thy name. (Look thou upon me, and have mercy on me; as thou hast decreed thou shalt do, for those who love thy name.)

¹³³ (Ad)dress thou my goings by thy speech; that all unrightfulness have not lordship on me. (Direct thou my ways according to thy word; and do not let any unrighteousness have lordship, or rule, over me.)

¹³⁴ Again-buy thou me from the false challenges of men; that I keep thy behests. (Save thou me from those who would oppress me; so that I can obey thy precepts.)

¹³⁵ Lighten thy face on thy servant; and teach thou me thy justifyings. (Let thy face shine upon thy servant; and teach thou me thy statutes.)

¹³⁶ Mine eyes led forth the outgoings of waters; for they kept not thy law. (My eyes stream with tears; because of those who do not obey thy Law.)

¹³⁷ [Tzaddi]. Lord, thou art just; and thy doom is rightful. (Lord, thou art just; and thy judgements, or thy decrees, be righteous.)

¹³⁸ Thou hast commanded rightfulness, thy witnessings; and thy truth greatly to be kept. (The teachings that thou hast commanded be right, and true; and greatly to be obeyed.)

¹³⁹ My fervent love made me to be melted, either languished; for mine enemies forgat thy words. (My fervent love for thee made me feel greatly distressed; because my enemies did not obey thy words.)

¹⁴⁰ Thy speech is set afire; and thy servant loved it. (Thy word is tried by fire; and thy servant loveth it.)

¹⁴¹ I am young, and despised; I forgat not thy justifyings. (I am young and despised; but I do not forget thy precepts.)

¹⁴² Lord, thy rightfulness is rightfulness [into] without end; and thy law is truth. (Lord, thy righteousness is righteousness forever; and thy Law is true forever/and thy Law is the truth forever.)

¹⁴³ Tribulation and anguish have found me; thy behests is my thinking. (Though trouble and anguish have found me; thy commandments still be my delight.)

¹⁴⁴ Thy witnessings is equity [into] without end (Thy teachings be just forever); give thou understanding to me, and I shall live.

⁹ In the fourth year of king Hezekiah, that was the seventh year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyrians, went up to Samaria, and fought against it,

¹⁰ and took it. For after three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, in the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken;

¹¹ and the king of Assyrians translated Israel into (the) Assyrians, and he set them in Halah, and in Habor, (by the) rivers of Gozan, (and) in the cities of (the) Medes; (and the king of Assyria carried away the Israelites to Assyria, and he put them in Halah, and on the banks of the Habor River, that is, the river in Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes;)

¹² for they heard not the voice of their Lord God, but they brake his covenant (because they did not listen to, or obey, the voice of the Lord their God, but they broke his covenant); they heard not, neither did all things, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, [had] commanded.

¹³ In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyrians, went up to all the strengthened cities of Judah, and took them.

¹⁴ Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent messengers to the king of Assyrians into Lachish, and said, I have sinned (I have done wrong); go away from me, and I shall bear all things, that thou shalt put to me. Therefore the king of Assyrians putted on Hezekiah, king of Judah, (a fine of) three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold.

¹⁵ And Hezekiah gave all the silver, that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the king’s treasures, to the king of Assyrians. (And Hezekiah gave all the silver, that was found in the House of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the palace, to the king of Assyria.)

¹⁶ In that time Hezekiah (also) brake (up) the gates of the temple of the Lord, and the plates of gold, which he had fastened (to them), and he gave those to the king of Assyrians. (And at that time Hezekiah also broke apart the gates of the Temple of the Lord; and he gave the gold plates, which he had fastened to the gates, to the king of Assyria.)

¹⁷ Forsooth the king of Assyrians sent Tartan (and Rabsaris) and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah, with strong hand to Jerusalem; and when they had gone up, they came to Jerusalem, and stood beside the water conduit of the higher cistern, which is in the way of the fuller, or of (the) tucker. (And the king of Assyria sent Tartan, and Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, from Lachish to King Hezekiah, with a strong army against Jerusalem; and when they had gone up, they came to Jerusalem, and stood beside the water conduit of the higher cistern, which is on the way to the fullers, or to the tuckers.)

¹⁸ And they called (for) the king; soothly Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, the sovereign of the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, (the) chancellor, the son of Asaph, went out to them.

¹⁹ And Rabshakeh said to them, Speak ye to Hezekiah, (and say,) The great king, the king of Assyrians, saith these things, What is this trust, in which thou endeavourest thee?

²⁰ In hap thou hast taken counsel, that thou wouldest make thee ready to battle. In whom trustest thou, that thou be (so) (fool-)hardy to rebel against Sennacherib?

²¹ Whether thou hopest in a staff of (a) reed and broken, (that is, upon) Egypt (Hopest thou in the staff of a broken reed, that is, upon Egypt), on which, if a man leaneth, it shall be broken, and shall enter into his hand, and shall pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all men that trust in him.

²² That if thou sayest to me, We have trust in the Lord our God; whether this is not he, whose high things and altars Hezekiah took away, and commanded to Judah and to Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? (But if thou sayest to me, We have trust in the Lord our God; is this not he, whose hill shrines and altars Hezekiah took away, and commanded to Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship only before this altar in Jerusalem?)

²³ Now therefore, give ye pledges to my lord, the king of Assyrians, and I shall give to you two thousand of horses, and see ye, whether ye be able to have riders of them? (And so now, give ye pledges to my lord, the king of Assyria, and I shall give you two thousand horses, and see ye, if ye be able to have enough riders for them.)

²⁴ And how may ye withstand before one prince of the least servants of my lord? Whether thou hast trust in Egypt, for chariots and knights thereof?

²⁵ Whether I ascended without God’s will to this place, that I should destroy it? The Lord said to me, Ascend thou to this land, and destroy thou it. (Did I come up to destroy this place outside of God’s will? No! The Lord said to me, Go thou up to this land, and destroy it!)

8 But of these things that be sacrificed to idols, we know, for all we have knowing. But knowing bloweth, charity edifieth [Soothly science, or knowing, in-bloweth with pride, charity edifieth].

² But if any man guesseth [Forsooth if any man guess, or deem], that he knoweth any thing, he hath not yet known how it behooveth him to know.

³ And if any man loveth God, this is known of him.

⁴ But of meats that be offered to idols, we know, that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.

⁵ For though there be some that be said gods [For why though there be that be said gods], either in heaven, either in earth, as there be many gods, and many lords;

⁶ nevertheless to us is one God, the Father, of whom be all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom be all things, and we by him.

⁷ But not in all men is knowing. For some men with conscience of idol till now eat as thing offered to idols; and their conscience is defouled, for it is frail [when it is sick].

⁸ [Forsooth] Meat commendeth us not to God; for neither we shall fail, if we eat not, neither if we eat, we shall have plenty [we shall abound, or have plenty].

⁹ But see ye, lest peradventure this your leave be made hurting to frail men. [See ye forsooth, lest peradventure this your license, or leave, be made hurting, or offence, to sick men, or frail.]

¹⁰ For if any man shall see him, that hath knowing, eating in a place where idols be worshipped, whether his conscience, since it is frail [since it is sick], shall not be edified to eat things offered to idols?

¹¹ And the frail brother [And the sick brother], for whom Christ died, shall perish in thy knowing.

¹² For thus ye sinning against brethren, and smiting their frail conscience [and smiting their sick conscience], sin against Christ.

¹³ Wherefore if meat causeth my brother to stumble, I shall never eat flesh, lest I cause my brother to stumble. [Wherefore if meat causeth my brother to offend, I shall not eat flesh into without end, lest I cause my brother to offend.]

¹³ Enter ye by the strait gate; for the gate that leadeth to perdition is large, and the way is broad, and there be many that enter by it. [Enter ye by the strait gate; for the gate is broad, and the way that leadeth to perdition, either damnation, is large, and many be that enter by it.]

¹⁴ How strait is the gate, and narrow the way, that leadeth to life, and there be few that find it [and few be that find it].

¹⁵ Be ye ware of false prophets, that come to you in clothings of sheep, but withinforth they be wolves of raven;^[a]

¹⁶ of their fruits ye shall know them. Whether men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of briers?

¹⁷ So every good tree maketh good fruits; but an evil tree maketh evil fruits.

¹⁸ A good tree may not make evil fruits, neither an evil tree [may] make good fruits.

¹⁹ Every tree that maketh not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire.

²⁰ Therefore of their fruits ye shall know them.

²¹ Not every man that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heavens; but he that doeth the will of my Father that is in heavens, he shall enter into the kingdom of heavens.^[b]