Book of Common Prayer

103 A psalm of David. (A song of David.) My soul, bless thou the Lord, and all things that be within me, bless his holy name.

² My soul, bless thou the Lord; and do not thou forget all the yieldings of him. (My soul, bless thou the Lord; and do not thou forget about all his gifts to thee.)

³ Which doeth mercy to all thy wickednesses; which healeth all thy sicknesses. (Who showeth mercy to all thy sins, or all thy wickednesses; who healeth all thy sicknesses.)

⁴ Which again-buyeth thy life from death; which crowneth thee in mercy and merciful doings. (Who redeemeth thy life from death; who crowneth thee with love and merciful doings.)

⁵ Which [ful]filleth thy desire in goods; thy youth shall be renewed as the youth of an eagle. (Who fulfilleth thy desires with good things; thy youth shall be renewed like the youth of an eagle.)

⁶ The Lord doing mercies; and doom, to all men suffering wrong. (The Lord giveth mercy, and justice, to all who suffer wrong.)

⁷ He made his ways known to Moses; his wills to the sons of Israel (his deeds to the Israelites).

⁸ The Lord is a merciful doer, and merciful in will (The Lord is a giver of love, and a giver of mercy); long abiding, and much merciful.

⁹ He shall not be wroth [into] without end; and he shall not threaten [into] without end. (He shall not be angry forever; and he shall not threaten forever.)

¹⁰ He did not to us after our sins; neither he yielded to us after our wickednesses. (He did not do to us what we deserved for our sins; nor did he punish us for all our wickednesses.)

¹¹ For by the highness of heaven from earth; he made strong his mercy on men dreading him. (For as high as the heavens be above the earth, is how strong his love is, for those who fear him/for those who revere him.)

¹² As much as the east is from the west; he made [a]far our wickednesses from us.

¹³ As a father hath mercy on his sons, the Lord had mercy on men dreading him; (Like a father hath love for his sons and daughters, so the Lord hath love for those who fear him/for those who revere him;)

¹⁴ for he knew our making. He bethought that we be dust (He remembered that we be but dust),

¹⁵ a man is as hay; his day[s] shall flower out so as a flower of the field. (for a person’s days be like the hay, or the grass; and he shall flower out like the flowers in the field.)

¹⁶ For the spirit shall pass in him, and it shall not abide; and it shall no more know his place. (For the wind passeth over it, and it shall not remain there long; and then its place shall know it no more.)

¹⁷ But the mercy of the Lord is from without beginning, and till into without end; on men dreading him. And his rightfulness is into the sons of sons; (But the Lord’s love is without beginning, and without end; for those who fear him/for those who revere him. And his righteousness shall never fail the children of their children,)

¹⁸ to them that keep his testament. And be mindful of his commandments; to do those. (yea, they who keep his covenant; and who remember his commandments, and who do them.)

¹⁹ The Lord hath made ready his seat in heaven; and his realm shall be lord of all. (The Lord hath prepared his throne in heaven; and he shall rule over all as their King.)

²⁰ Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; ye mighty in virtue, doing his word, to hear the voice of his words. (Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; ye mighty and strong, who do his word, yea, ye who obey him.)

²¹ All virtues of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; ye ministers of him, that do his will. (All the hosts of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; ye who be his servants, who do his will.)

²² All works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, in each place of his lordship (All his creatures, bless ye the Lord, everywhere that he ruleth); my soul, bless thou the Lord.

48 And Elijah, the prophet, rose (up) as fire, that is, burning in the fervent love of God; for why his word burnt as a brand (or as a torch). [And Elijah, the prophet, rose as fire; and his word as a brand burned.]

² Which brought in hunger on them, and they (pur)suing him were made few for envy; for they might not suffer the commandments of the Lord. [The which brought in to them hunger, and following him by their envy be made few; forsooth they might not suffer the behests of the Lord.]

³ By the word of the Lord he held together heaven, and casted down from it fire to the earth, that is, by the virtue of his prayer, he made fire come down from heaven, on his burnt sacrifice. [Through the word of the Lord he withheld heaven, and cast down from him fire to the earth.]

⁴ So Elijah was alarged, (or was enlarged, or was magnified) in his marvels; and who may have glory in like manner with thee, [So made large is Elijah in his marvels; and who may (in) like manner glory to thee,]

⁵ which tookest away a dead man from hells, (or from the grave), (yea), from the heritage of death, in the word of the Lord God? [the which hast borne up the dead from hell, from the lot of death, in the word of the Lord God?]

⁶ Which castedest down kings to death, and hast broken (al)together lightly (or easily) the power of them, and glorious men from their bed. [The which threw down kings to death, and thou broke lightly the might of them, and the glorious from their bed.]

⁷ Which heardest (the) doom in Sinai, and in Horeb dooms of defence, that is, of God’s vengeance.

⁸ Which anointest kings to penance, and makest prophets (to be) successors after thee.

⁹ Which were received in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot of horses of fire. [That art received in (a) whirlwind of fire, in a chariot of fiery horses.]

¹⁰ Which art written in the dooms of (their) times, to please (or to appease) the wrathfulness of the Lord, to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the lineages of Jacob. [That art in-written in dooms of times, to assuage the wrath of the Lord, and to join, or accord, the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the lineages of Jacob.]

¹¹ They be blessed, that saw thee, and were made fair in thy friendship; for why we live only in life, but after death our name shall not be such. [Blessful be they, that thee have heard, and in thy friendship be made fair; for why we with life live only, after death forsooth such shall not be our name.]

⁵ In the days of Herod, king of Judaea, there was a priest [there was some priest], Zacharias by name, of the sort of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

⁶ And [they] both were just before God, going in all the commandments and justifyings of the Lord, without plaint.

⁷ And they had no child, for [that] Elisabeth was barren, and both were of great age in their days [and both had gone far in their days].

⁸ And it befell [Soothly it was done], that when Zacharias should do the office of priesthood, in the order of his course before God,

⁹ after the custom of the priesthood, he went forth by lot [by sort he went forth], and entered into the temple [of the Lord], to incense.

¹⁰ And all the multitude of the people was withoutforth, and prayed in the hour of incensing [praying in the hour of incense].

¹¹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, and stood on the right half of the altar of incense [standing on the right half of the altar of incense].

¹² And Zacharias seeing was afraid [And Zacharias seeing was distroubled], and dread fell upon him.

¹³ And the angel said to him, Zacharias, dread thou not; for thy prayer is heard, and Elisabeth, thy wife, shall bear to thee a son, and his name shall be called John.

¹⁴ And joy and gladding shall be to thee; and many shall have joy in his nativity, or birth.

¹⁵ For he shall be great before the Lord, and he shall not drink wine nor cider, and he shall be full-filled with the Holy Ghost [and he shall be filled of the Holy Ghost] yet from his mother's womb.

¹⁶ And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to their Lord God; [And he shall convert many of the sons of Israel to the Lord God of them;]

¹⁷ and he shall go before him in the spirit and virtue of Elias; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers into the sons [and shall turn the hearts of the fathers into the sons], and men out of belief to the prudence of just men, to make ready a perfect people to the Lord.

¹⁸ And Zacharias said to the angel, Whereof shall I know this? for I am old, and my wife hath gone far in her days.

¹⁹ And the angel answered, and said to him [And the angel answering said to him], For I am Gabriel, that stand nigh before God; and I am sent to thee to speak, and to evangelize to thee these things [and to evangelize, or tell, to thee these things].

²⁰ And lo! thou shalt be dumb, and thou shalt not be able to speak till into the day, in which these things shall be done; for thou hast not believed to my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time.

²¹ And the people was abiding Zacharias, and they wondered, that he tarried in the temple.

²² And he went out, and might not speak to them, and they knew that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he beckoned to them, and dwelled still dumb.

²³ And it was done, when the days of his office were fulfilled, he went into his house.