Book of Common Prayer
140 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, deliver thou me from an evil man; deliver thou me from a wicked man. (To victory, the song of David. Lord, save thou me from evil people; yea, save thou me from violent, or wicked, people.)
2 Which thought wickednesses in the heart; all day they ordained battles. (Who always think in their hearts about doing wicked things; who plan out battles all day long/day after day.)
3 They sharpened their tongues as serpents; the venom of snakes is under the lips of them. (Their tongues be sharp like the fangs of serpents; the venom of snakes is on their lips.)
4 Lord, keep thou me from the hand of the sinner; and deliver thou me from wicked men. Which thought to deceive my goings; (Lord, keep thou me safe from the power of the sinner; and save thou me from the wicked, from those who think out ways to thwart my progress.)
5 proud men hid a snare to me. And they laid forth cords into a snare; they setted (a) trap to me beside the way. (Proud people hid a snare for me, yea, they laid out cords for a snare; they set a trap for me along the way.)
6 I said to the Lord, Thou art my God; Lord, hear thou the voice of my beseeching (Lord, hear thou the words of my plea).
7 Lord, Lord, the virtue of mine health; thou madest shadow on mine head in the day of battle. (Lord, Lord, my strong salvation/my strong deliverance; thou madest a shadow upon my head on the day of battle.)
8 Lord, betake thou not me from my desire to the sinner; they thought against me, forsake thou not me, lest peradventure they be enhanced. (Lord, do not thou deliver me unto the desires of the sinners; they have planned to harm me, so abandon thou me not, lest they gain an advantage over me.)
9 The head of the compass of them; the travail of their lips shall cover them. (As for the leaders of those who surround me; let the treachery of their own lips ensnare them.)
10 Coals shall fall on them, thou shalt cast them down into fire; in(to) wretchednesses (where) they shall not (be able to) stand. (Let burning coals fall upon them, and be they thrown down into the fire; yea, into a wretchedness from which they shall never be able to escape.)
11 A man that is a great jangler shall not be (well-) directed in earth (A man who is a great gossip, or a slanderer, shall not be successful in the world); evils shall take an unjust man in(to) perishing.
12 I have known, that the Lord shall make doom of a needy man; and the vengeance of poor men. (I know, that the Lord shall make judgement in favour of the needy; and he shall take vengeance for the poor.)
13 Nevertheless just men shall acknowledge to thy name; and rightful men shall dwell with thy cheer. (Truly the righteous shall give thanks to thy name; and the upright shall live in thy presence./Truly the righteous shall praise thy name; and the upright shall worship before thee.)
142 The learning of David; his prayer, when he was in the den. With my voice I cried to the Lord; with my voice I prayed heartily to the Lord. (The teaching of David; his prayer, when he was in the cave. With my voice I cried to the Lord; with my voice I heartily prayed to the Lord.)
2 I shedded out my prayer in his sight; and I pronounce(d) my tribulation before him. (I poured out my complaints before him; and I told him about all my troubles.)
3 While my spirit faileth of me; and thou hast known my paths. In this way in which I went; proud men hid a snare to me. (Yea, when my spirit failed within me; thou knewest which path I should take. For on the way in which I went; proud people hid a snare for me.)
4 I beheld to the right side, and I saw; and none there was that knew me. Flight perished from me; and none there is that seeketh (to help) my soul. (I looked to the right; and I saw, that there was no one there who knew me. I had no way to escape; there was no one to rescue me.)
5 Lord, I cried to thee; I said, Thou art mine hope; my part in the land of livers. (Lord, I cried to thee; I said, Thou art my only hope, my portion in the land of the living.)
6 Give thou attention to my beseeching; for I am made low full greatly. Deliver thou me from them that pursue me; for they be comforted on me. (Give thou attention to my plea; for I am brought down so very low. Save thou me from those who pursue me; for they be stronger than me.)
7 Lead my soul out of keeping to acknowledge to thy name; just men abide me, till thou yield to me. (Lead me out of this prison, so that I can praise thy name; the righteous shall gather around me, when thou shalt reward me.)
141 The psalm of David. (The song of David.) Lord, I cried to thee, hear thou me; give thou attention to my voice, when I shall cry to thee.
2 My prayer be (ad)dressed as incense in thy sight; the raising up of mine hands be as the eventide sacrifice. (Let my prayer be directed before thee like incense; and let the raising up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.)
3 Lord, set thou a keeping to my mouth; and a door of standing about to my lips. (Lord, set thou a guard at my mouth; yea, a sentry at the door of my lips.)
4 Bow thou not [down] mine heart into words of malice; to excuse excusings in sin. With men working wickedness; and I shall not commune with the chosen men of them. (Help thou me not to turn my heart to words of malice; to make excuses for sins, and for those who do evil. I shall not commune with their chosen ones/I shall not feast with their chosen ones.)
5 A just man shall reprove me in mercy, and he shall blame me; but the oil of a sinner make not fat mine head. For why and yet my prayer is in the well pleasant things of them; (The righteous shall rebuke me in love, and they shall reproach me; but my head shall not be anointed with the oil of sinners. For my prayer is still against what is pleasing to them.)
6 for the doomsmen of them joined to the stone were sopped up. Hear they my words, for they were mighty. (And when their judges shall be thrown down from stony places, then the people shall listen to my words; for they be true.)
7 As fatness is broken out on the earth; our bones be scattered nigh hell. (As wood chopped into pieces lieth on the ground; so their bones shall be scattered nigh to Sheol/close to the grave.)
8 Lord, Lord, for mine eyes be to thee, I hoped in thee; take thou not away my soul. (Lord, Lord, I fix my eyes upon thee, and I put my trust in thee; do not let me die!)
9 Keep thou me from the snare which they ordained to me; and from the traps of them that work wickedness. (Keep thou me safe from the snare which they have set for me; yea, from the traps of those who do evil.)
10 Sinners shall fall in the net thereof; I am alone till I pass. (Let the sinners fall into their own nets; while I alone shall safely pass by.)
143 The psalm of David. Lord, hear thou my prayer, with ears perceive thou my beseeching; in thy truth hear thou me, in thy rightwiseness. (The song of David. Lord, hear thou my prayer, and listen thou to my plea; and answer thou me in thy faithfulness, and in thy righteousness.)
2 And enter thou not into doom with thy servant; for each man living shall not be made just in thy sight. (And enter thou not into the judgement of thy servant; for no one living can be made right, or justified, before thee.)
3 For the enemy pursued my soul; he made low my life in [the] earth. He hath set me in dark places, as the dead men of the world, (For the enemy hath pursued me; and he hath brought me down low to the ground. He hath put me in dark places, like the dead of the world,)
4 and my spirit was anguished on me; mine heart was troubled in me. (and my spirit was anguished within me; and my heart was troubled within me.)
5 I was mindful of eld days, I bethought in all thy works; I bethought in the deeds of thine hands. (I remembered the old days, and I thought about all thy works; yea, I thought about the deeds of thy hands.)
6 I held forth mine hands to thee; my soul (was) as earth without water to thee. (I held out my hands to thee; my soul was like dry ground without water, thirsting for thee.)
7 Lord, hear thou me swiftly; my spirit failed. Turn thou not away thy face from me; and I shall be like them that go down into the pit. (Lord, swiftly answer thou me; for my spirit faileth/for my spirit fainteth. Turn thou not away thy face from me; or I shall be like those who go down into the pit.)
8 Make thou early thy mercy heard to me; for I hoped in thee. Make thou known to me the way in which I shall go; for I raised my soul to thee. (Let me know thy love in the morning; for I put my trust in thee. Let me know which way I should go; for I raise up my soul to thee.)
9 Deliver thou me from mine enemies; Lord, I fled to thee; (Save thou me from my enemies; Lord, I fled to thee/Lord, I flee to thee;)
10 teach thou me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy good spirit shall lead me forth into a rightful land; (teach thou me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy good spirit shall lead me forth on the right path;)
11 Lord, for thy name thou shalt quicken me in thine equity. Thou shalt lead my soul out of tribulation; (Lord, for the sake of thy name, save me/let me live. And because of thy fairness, lead thou my soul out of trouble, or tribulation;)
12 and in thy mercy thou shalt scatter mine enemies. And thou shalt lose all them, that trouble my soul; for I am thy servant. (and in thy love for me, waste thou my enemies. Yea, destroy thou all those who trouble me; for I am thy servant.)
14 These men shall raise [up] their voice, and shall praise, when the Lord shall be glorified; they shall show signs of gladness from the sea (they shall shout with joy from the west).
15 For this thing glorify ye the Lord in teachings; in the isles of the sea glorify ye the name of the Lord God of Israel. (And so glorify ye the Lord in the east; on the islands of the sea glorify ye the name of the Lord God of Israel.)
16 From the ends of [the] earth we have heard praisings, the glory of the just. And I said, My private to me, my private to me (But I said, Treasons! treasons!). Woe to me, [the] trespassers have trespassed, and have trespassed by [the] trespassing of (the) breakers of the law.
17 Fearedfulness, and a ditch, and a snare on thee, that art a dweller of [the] earth. (Let fearfulness, and a ditch, and a snare be upon thee, who art an inhabitant of the land.)
18 And it shall be, he that shall flee from the face of fearedfulness, shall fall into the ditch; and he that shall deliver himself from the ditch, shall be holden of the snare; for why the windows of high things be opened, and the foundaments of [the] earth shall be shaken together. (And it shall be, that he who shall flee from the face of fearfulness, shall fall into the ditch; and he who shall get himself out of the ditch, shall be caught by the snare; for the windows of the high places, or of the heavens, be opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be altogether shaken.)
19 The earth shall be broken with breaking, the earth shall be defouled with defouling (the earth shall be defiled with defiling), the earth shall be moved with moving,
20 the earth shall be shaken with shaking, as a drunken man. And it shall be taken away, as the tabernacle of one night (like a tent in the night), and the wickedness thereof shall grieve it; and it shall fall down, and it shall not add, for to rise again.
21 And it shall be, in that day the Lord shall visit on the knighthood of heaven on high, and on the kings of (the) earth, that be on earth. (And it shall be, on that day the Lord shall punish the host of heaven on high, and the kings of the earth, who be on the earth.)
22 And they shall be gathered together in the gathering together of a bundle into the pit, and they shall be closed there in prison; and after many days they shall be visited. (And they shall be gathered together like prisoners be gathered together in a pit, and they shall be enclosed there in prison; and after many days they shall be punished.)
23 And the moon shall be ashamed, and the sun shall be confounded, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in the hill of Zion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of his elder men. (And the moon shall be shamed, and the sun shall be shamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified before its elders.)
13 And who is it that shall harm you, if ye be followers and lovers of goodness [if ye shall be good followers]?
14 But also if ye suffer any thing for rightwiseness, ye be blessed; but dread ye not the dread of them, that ye be not disturbed.[a]
15 But hallow ye the Lord Christ in your hearts, and evermore be ye ready to [do] satisfaction to each man asking you reason of that faith and hope that is in you, but with mildness and dread,
16 having good conscience; that in that thing that they backbite of you, they be confounded, which challenge falsely your good conversation in Christ.
17 For it is better that ye do well, and suffer, if the will of God will, than doing evil. [Soothly it is better, if the will of God will, ye well-doing, to suffer, than evil-doing.]
18 For also Christ once died for our sins, he just for unjust, that he should offer to God us [that he should offer us to God], made dead in flesh, but made quick in Spirit.
19 For which thing he came in Spirit, and also to them that were closed together in prison;
20 which were sometime unbelieveful, when they abided the patience of God in the days of Noah, when the ship was made [when the ark, or ship, was made], in which a few, that is to say, eight souls were made safe by water.
21 And so baptism of like form maketh us safe [The which thing and baptism of like form maketh us safe]; not the putting away of the filths of flesh, but the asking of a good conscience in God, by the again-rising of our Lord Jesus Christ,
22 that is in the right half of God, and swalloweth death [he swallowing death], that we should be made heirs of everlasting life. He went into heaven [He gone into heaven], and angels, and powers, and virtues, be made subject to him.
4 Therefore for Christ suffered in flesh, be ye also armed by the same thinking; for he that suffered in flesh ceased from sins,
2 that that is left now of time in flesh live not now to the desires of men, but to the will of God. [that he live not now to the desires of men, but to the will of God, that that is more of time in flesh.]
3 For the time that is passed [Soothly the time passed] is enough to the will of heathen men to be ended, which walked in lecheries, and lusts, in much drinking of wine, in unmeasurable eatings [in oft eatings], and drinkings, and unleaveful worshipping of maumets [and unleaveful worshippings of idols].
4 In which now they be astonished, in which thing they wonder, for ye run not together into the same confusion of lechery, and blaspheme [blaspheming].
5 And they shall give reason to him, that is ready to deem the quick and the dead.
6 For why for this thing it is preached also to dead men, that they be deemed by men in flesh, and that they live by God in spirit.[b]
17 And Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and took his twelve disciples in private, and said to them, [And Jesus, ascending up to Jerusalem, took his twelve disciples in private, and said to them,]
18 Lo! we go up to Jerusalem, and man's Son shall be betaken to princes of priests, and to scribes; and they shall condemn him to death.
19 And they shall betake him to heathen men, for to be scorned, and scourged, and crucified; and the third day he shall rise again to life. [And they shall betake him to heathen men, to be scorned, and scourged, and crucified; and the third day he shall rise again.]
20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, honouring, and asking something of him. [Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came nigh to him with her sons, worshipping, and asking something of him.]
21 And he said to her, What wilt thou? She saith to him, Say that these two my sons sit [Say that these my two sons sit], one at thy right half, and one at thy left half, in thy kingdom.
22 [Forsooth] Jesus answered, and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Be ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of [Be ye able to drink the cup that I am to drink]? They say to him, We be able.
23 He saith to them, Ye shall drink my cup; but to sit at my right half or [at my] left half, is not mine to give to you; but to whom it is made ready of my Father.
24 And the ten hearing, had indignation of the two brethren.
25 But Jesus called them to him, and said, Ye know, that [the] princes of heathen men be lords of them, and they that be [the] greater, use power on them [and they that be more, haunt power on them].
26 It shall not be so among you; but whoever will be made greater among you [but whoever will be made more among you], be he your minister;
27 and whoever among you will be the first [and whoever among you will be first], he shall be your servant.
28 As man's Son came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life redemption for many.
2001 by Terence P. Noble