Book of Common Prayer
120 The song of degrees. When I was set in tribulation, I cried to the Lord; and he heard me. (When I was beset with troubles, I cried to the Lord; and he answered me.)
2 Lord, deliver thou my soul from wicked lips; and from a guileful tongue. (Lord, save thou me from wicked lips; and from a deceitful tongue.)
3 What shall be given to thee, either what shall be laid to thee; to a guileful tongue? (What shall be given to thee; that is, how shall he punish thee, O deceitful tongue?)
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty; with coals that make desolate. (With sharp arrows from the mighty; and with coals that shall make thee desolate.)
5 Alas to me! for my dwelling in an alien land is made long, I dwelled with men dwelling in Kedar; (Alas for me! for my stay here in Mesech is prolonged, and I must live among the people, or in the tents, of Kedar!)
6 my soul was much (time) a comeling. I was peaceable with them that hated peace; (I am here too long as a newcomer, or a stranger; yea, too long living with those who hate peace.)
7 when I spake to them, they impugned, either against-said, me without cause. (I am for peace; but whenever I speak of it to them, they be for war.)
121 The song of degrees. I raised mine eyes to the hills; from whence help shall come to me. (I raised up my eyes to the hills, or the mountains; O where shall I find help?/from where help shall come to me.)
2 Mine help is of the Lord; that made heaven and earth. (My help is from the Lord; who made heaven and earth.)
3 The Lord give not thy foot into moving; neither he nap, that keepeth thee. (The Lord shall not let thy foot slip, or stumble; nor shall he nap, who keepeth thee safe.)
4 Lo! he shall not nap, neither sleep; that keepeth Israel. (Lo! he, who keepeth Israel safe; shall not nap, or sleep.)
5 The Lord keepeth thee; the Lord is thy protection above thy right hand. (The Lord keepeth thee safe; the Lord is thy protection at thy right hand.)
6 The sun shall not burn thee by day; neither the moon by night.
7 The Lord keep thee from all evil; the Lord keep thy soul. (The Lord shall keep thee safe from all evil; yea, the Lord shall keep thee safe.)
8 The Lord keep thy going in and thy going out; from this time now and into the world. (The Lord shall guard thy coming in, and thy going out; from this time now, and forever.)
122 The song of degrees of David. I am glad in these things, that be said to me; We shall go into the house of the Lord. (The song of degrees for David. I was glad, when they said to me, We shall go to the House of the Lord.)
2 Our feet were standing; in thy halls/in thy foreyards, thou Jerusalem. (And now our feet stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.)
3 Jerusalem, which is builded as a city; whose partaking thereof is into the same thing. (Jerusalem is built to be a city, where people be together, yea, with one heart and mind.)
4 For the lineages, the lineages of the Lord, ascended thither, the witnessing of Israel; to acknowledge to the name of the Lord. (For the tribes, the Lord’s tribes, come there to give thanks to the Lord; that is Israel’s duty.)
5 For they sat there on seats in doom; seats on the house of David. (For the thrones of judgement, or of justice, be put there; yea, the thrones of the house of David.)
6 Pray ye those things, that be to the peace of Jerusalem; and abundance be to them that love thee. (Pray ye for the peace of Jerusalem; and say, May those who love thee prosper, or have great abundance.)
7 Peace be made in thy strength; and abundance in thy towers. (May there be peace within thy strongholds, or thy fortresses; and prosperity within thy palaces.)
8 For my brethren and my neighbours; I spake peace of thee. (For the sake of my brothers, or my kinsmen, and my neighbours; I say, Peace be with thee.)
9 For the house of our Lord God; I sought goods to thee. (For the sake of the House of the Lord our God; I shall seek thy good, or thy prosperity/I shall pray for good things for thee.)
123 The song of degrees. To thee I have raised mine eyes; that dwellest in heavens. (I raise up my eyes to thee; who livest in heaven.)
2 Lo! as the eyes of servants be in the hands of their lords. As the eyes of the handmaid be in the hands of her lady; so our eyes be to our Lord God, till he have mercy on us. (Lo! like the eyes of the servant look to the hand of his lord; and like the eyes of the servantess look to the hand of her lady; so let our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us.)
3 Lord, have thou mercy on us, have thou mercy on us; for we be much filled with despising (for we be greatly despised).
4 For our soul is much filled; we be shame to them that be abundant with riches, and despising to proud men. (For our soul is filled full, with the scorn of those who have abundant riches; and with disdain from the proud.)
124 The song of degrees of David. Israel say now, No but for the Lord was in us; (The song of degrees for David. Let Israel say now, If the Lord was not with us/If the Lord had not been for us,)
2 no but for the Lord was in us. When men rose up against us; (yea, if the Lord was not with us/if the Lord had not been for us; then when men rose up against us,)
3 in hap they had swallowed us quick. When the strong vengeance of them was wroth against us; (they would have swallowed us up alive. Yea, when their fury raged against us;)
4 in hap water had swallowed us up. Our soul passed through a strand; (the water would have swallowed us up. When the stream had gone up over our heads;)
5 in hap our soul had passed through a water unsufferable. (when the insufferable waters had gone up over our heads.)
6 Blessed be the Lord; that gave not us into taking, [(or) the catching,] of the teeth of them. (Blessed be the Lord; who did not allow us to be caught by their teeth.)
7 Our soul, as a sparrow, is delivered; from the snare of hunters. The snare is all-broken; and we be delivered. (We have escaped, like a sparrow, from the hunter’s snare. The snare is all-broken; and we be set free.)
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord; that made heaven and earth (who made heaven and earth).
125 The song of degrees. They that trust in the Lord be as the hill of Zion; he shall not be moved [into] without end, that dwelleth in Jerusalem. (They who trust in the Lord be like Mount Zion; it cannot be shaken, but it remaineth firm, or steadfast, forever.)
2 Hills be in the compass of it, and the Lord is in the compass of his people; from this time now, and into the world. (Like the mountains, or the hills, be all around Jerusalem, so the Lord is all around his people; from this time now, and forever.)
3 For the Lord shall not leave the rod of sinners on the part of just men; that just men hold not forth their hands to wickedness. (For the rod of the sinners shall not remain over the land of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands to wickedness.)
4 Lord, do thou well to good men; and to rightful in heart. (Lord, do thou good to good people; yea, to those with an upright heart.)
5 But the Lord shall lead them that bow into obligations, with them that work wickedness; peace be upon Israel. (But may the Lord lead forth those, who turn aside into depraved ways, with those who do evil. May peace be upon Israel.)
126 The song of degrees. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion; we were made as comforted. (When the Lord returned the captives to Zion/When the Lord returned prosperity to Zion; we were made like in a dream.)
2 Then our mouth was filled with joy; and our tongue with full out joying. Then they shall say among heathen men; The Lord magnified to do with them. (Then our mouths were filled with joy; and ours tongues with rejoicing. And the heathen said to each other, The Lord hath done great things for them.)
3 The Lord magnified to do with us; we be made glad. (Yea, the Lord did great things for us; and we were glad.)
4 Lord, turn thou (again) our captivity; as a strand in the south. (Lord, return thou the captives/return thou our prosperity; like the streams return to the south.)
5 They that sow in tears; shall reap in full out joying. (Then they who sowed in tears; shall reap with rejoicing.)
6 They going, went, and wept; sending their seeds. But they coming, shall come with full out joying; bearing their handfuls (They going, went, and wept; sending out their seeds. But when they shall return, they shall come back rejoicing; carrying their harvest.)
127 The song of degrees of Solomon. No but the Lord build the house; they that built it have travailed in vain. No but the Lord keepeth the city; he waketh in vain that keepeth it./But if the Lord build the house; they that built it have travailed in vain. But (if) the Lord keepeth the city; he waketh in vain that keepeth it. (The song of degrees for Solomon. Unless the Lord build the house; those who have built it, have laboured in vain. Unless the Lord guardeth the city; he who standeth watch, guardeth in vain.)
2 It is vain to you to rise before the light; rise ye after ye have set, that eat the bread of sorrow. When he shall give sleep to his loved; (It is useless for you to rise before the light; and then to stay up late, only so that ye can eat the bread of sorrows. For he giveth to his beloved; even while they sleep.)
3 lo! the heritage of the Lord is sons, the meed is the fruit of womb. (Lo! sons and daughters be thy inheritance/be thy gift from the Lord; yea, the fruit of thy womb is his reward to you.)
4 As arrows be in the hand of the mighty; so the sons of them that be shaken out. (Like arrows be in the hand of the mighty; so be the sons and daughters that a man hath when he is young.)
5 Blessed is the man, that hath [full-]filled his desire of those; he shall not be shamed, when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate. (Happy is the man who hath filled his quiver full of them; he shall not be put to shame, or defeated, when he shall speak to his enemies in court.)
22 Josiah was of eight years, when he began to reign, and he reigned one and thirty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
2 And he did that, that was pleasant before the Lord, and he went by all the ways of David, his father; he bowed not, neither to the right side, nor of the left side. (And he did what was pleasing before the Lord, and he went in all the ways of his forefather David; he turned not, neither to the right, nor to the left.)
3 Forsooth in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, [the] scribe, either doctor, of the temple of the Lord (to the Temple of the Lord), and said to him,
4 Go thou to Hilkiah, the great priest, (and command) that the money, which is borne into the temple of the Lord, be molten together, which money the porters of the temple have gathered of the people; (Go thou to the High Priest Hilkiah, and command that the money, which is brought into the Temple of the Lord, be melted down, which money the guards, or the door-keepers, of the Temple have gathered from the people;)
5 and that it be given to craftsmen by the sovereigns of the house of the Lord; which also parted that money to them that work in the temple of the Lord, to repair the roofs of the temple of the Lord, (and that it be given to the craftsmen by the foremen of the House of the Lord; and they deal out that money to those who work in the Temple of the Lord, to make the needed repairs to the Temple of the Lord,)
6 that is, to carpenters, and to masons, and to them that make [together] broken things (and to those who put together broken things), and (also) that timber and stones of quarriers be bought, to repair the temple of the Lord;
7 nevertheless the silver, which they take/that the workmen take, be not reckoned to them, but have they it in (their own) power, and in faith (but trust them to have it under their own power, or control).
8 And Hilkiah, the bishop, said to Shaphan, the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, the scribe, which also read it. (And the High Priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan, the writer, I have found The Book of the Law in the House of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, the writer, and he read it.)
9 Also Shaphan, the scribe, came to the king, and told to him those things, which Hilkiah had commanded, and he said, Thy servants have spended the money, that was found in the house of the Lord, and they have given, that it should be parted to [the] craftsmen of the sovereigns of [the] works of the temple of the Lord. (And Shaphan, the writer, came to the king, and reported to the king about those things which he had commanded, and he said, Thy servants have spent the money that was found in the House of the Lord, and they have ordained that it be dealt out to the craftsmen by the foremen of the repairs to the Temple of the Lord.)
10 Also Shaphan, the scribe, told to the king, and said, Hilkiah, the priest of God, hath given to me a book; and when Shaphan had read that book before the king,
11 and the king had heard the words of the book of the law of the Lord, he rent his clothes. (and the king had heard the words of The Book of the Law of the Lord, he tore his clothes.)
12 And he commanded to Hilkiah, the priest, and to Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and to Achbor, the son of Michaiah, and to Shaphan the scribe, and to Asahiah, (a) servant of the king, and said,
13 Go ye, and ask, or counsel ye, the Lord on me, and on the people, and on all Judah, of the words of this book, that is found; for (the) great ire of the Lord is kindled against us, for our fathers heard not the words of this book, to do all thing which is written to us. (Go ye, and ask ye the Lord’s counsel for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, about the words of this book, that is found; for great is the Lord’s anger that is kindled against us, for our forefathers did not listen to the words of this book, to do all the things which be written to us.)
2 And, brethren, I praise you, that by all things ye be mindful of me; and as I betook to you my commandments, ye hold [and as I betook to you my commandments, ye keep].
17 But this thing I command, not praising, that ye come together not into the better, but into the worse.
18 First for when ye come together into the church, I hear that dissensions be, and in part I believe [I hear that partings, or dissensions, be, and of part I believe].
19 For it behooveth heresies to be, that they that be approved, be openly known in you.[a]
20 Therefore when ye come together into one, now it is not to eat the Lord's supper;
21 for why each man before taketh his supper to eat, and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
22 Whether ye have not houses [for] to eat and drink, or ye despise the church of God, and confound them that have none? What shall I say to you? I praise you, but herein I praise you not.[b]
9 And Jesus went up into a boat, and passed over the water, and came into his city.
2 And lo! they brought to him a man sick in palsy, lying in a bed. And Jesus saw the faith of them, and said to the man sick in palsy, Son, have thou trust; thy sins be forgiven to thee [Forsooth Jesus, seeing the faith of them, said to the man sick in palsy, Son, have trust; thy sins be forgiven to thee].
3 And lo! some of the scribes said within themselves, This blasphemeth.
4 And when Jesus had seen their thoughts, he said, Whereto think ye evil things in your hearts?
5 What is lighter to say, Thy sins be forgiven to thee, either to say [or to say], Rise thou, and walk?
6 But that ye know that man's Son hath power to forgive sins in earth, then he said to the sick man in palsy [then he said to the man sick in palsy], Rise up; take thy bed, and go into thine house.
7 And he rose, and went into his house.
8 And the people seeing dreaded [Soothly the companies seeing dreaded], and glorified God, that gave such power to men.
2001 by Terence P. Noble