Book of Common Prayer

70 To the victory, [the psalm] of David, to have mind. God, behold thou into mine help; Lord, haste thou to help me. (To victory, the song of David, to bring to mind or remembrance. God, look thou to help me; Lord, hasten thou to help me.)^[a]

² Be they shamed, and ashamed; that seek my life. Be they turned aback; and shame they, that will evils to me. (Be they shamed, and ashamed; all who seek to take my life. Be they turned back, and be ashamed; all who desire evil for me.)

³ Be they turned away anon, and shame they; that say to me, Well! well! (Be they turned away at once, and be they ashamed; who scornfully say to me, Well! well!)

⁴ All men that seek thee, make fully joy, and be glad in thee; and they that love thine health, say ever[more], The Lord be magnified. (But let all those who seek thee, make full out joy, or rejoice, and be glad in thee; and let those who love thy salvation, or thy deliverance, say forevermore, The Lord be magnified.)

⁵ Forsooth I am a needy man, and poor (But I am a poor and needy man); God help thou me. Thou art mine helper and my deliverer; Lord, tarry thou not.

71 Lord, I hoped in thee; be I not shamed [into] without end; (Lord, I put my trust in thee; never let me be put to shame;)

² in thy rightwiseness deliver thou me, and ravish me out. Bow down thine ear to me; and make me safe. (in thy righteousness save thou me, and rescue me. Bow down thy ear to me; and save me.)

³ Be thou to me into God a defender; and into a strengthened place, that thou make me safe. For thou art my steadfastness; and my refuge. (God, be thou my defender; and a place of strength, where I shall be safe. For thou art my steadfastness; and my refuge.)

⁴ My God, deliver thou me from the hand of the sinner; and from the hand of a man doing against the law, and of the wicked man. (My God, rescue thou me from the power of the sinner; and from the power of the law-breakers, and of the wicked.)

⁵ For thou, Lord, art my patience (For thou, Lord, art whom I put my trust in); Lord, thou art mine hope from my youth.

⁶ In thee I am confirmed, that is, defended, from the womb; thou art my defender from the womb of my mother. My singing is ever[more] in thee (My praises shall be to thee forevermore);

⁷ I am made as a great wonder to many men; and thou art a strong helper. (I am made a great example to many men; but thou art my strong helper.)

⁸ My mouth be filled with praising; that I sing thy glory, all day thy greatness. (My mouth shall be filled with praise; and I shall sing of thy glory, and of thy greatness, all day long.)

⁹ Cast thou not away me in the time of eld (age)/in the time of oldness; when my strength faileth, forsake thou not me. (Cast thou me not away in the time of old age; when my strength faileth, desert thou me not.)

¹⁰ For mine enemies said of me; and they that kept my life made counsel together. (For my enemies spoke against me; those who laid ambush for me took counsel together.)

¹¹ Saying, God hath forsaken him; pursue ye, and take him; for none there is that shall deliver. (And they said, God hath deserted him; pursue ye after him, and take hold of him; for there is no one who will save him.)

¹² God, be thou not made afar from me; my God, behold thou into mine help. (God, be thou not made far away from me; my God, hasten thou to help me.)

¹³ Men that backbite my soul, be shamed, and fail they; and be they covered with reproof and shame, that seek evils to me. (Let those who backbite me be shamed, and fail they; let those who seek evil for me, be covered with reproach and shame.)

¹⁴ But I shall hope ever[more]; and I shall add to ever over all thy praising. (But I shall have hope in thee forevermore; and I shall praise thee more and more.)

¹⁵ My mouth shall tell thy rightfulness; all day thine health. For I knew not (by) literature, that is, by man’s teaching, but by God’s revelation, (My mouth shall tell out thy righteousness; and thy salvation, or thy deliverance, all day long. For I know not by literature, that is, by man’s teaching, or by reading and study, but by the revelation of God.)

¹⁶ I shall enter into the powers of the Lord; Lord, I shall bethink on thy rightfulness alone. (I shall walk in the Lord’s strength; I shall tell out thy righteousness, thine alone.)

¹⁷ God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and till to now; I shall tell out thy marvels. (God, thou hast taught me from my youth; and I have told out all thy marvellous deeds.)

¹⁸ And till into eld (age)/into oldness, and the last age; God, forsake thou not me. Till I tell thine arm, or power, to each generation that shall come. (And now in my old age, and in the last moments; O God, do not thou desert, or abandon, me. And I shall tell of thy power, or of thy might, to each generation yet to come.)

¹⁹ Till I tell (of) thy might, and thy rightfulness, God, till into the highest great deeds which thou hast done; God, who is like thee? (Yea, until I tell of thy might, or of thy power, and thy righteousness, O God; and of the greatest deeds which thou hast done! O God, who is like thee!)

²⁰ How great tribulations, many and evil, hast thou showed to me; and thou converted, hast quickened me, and hast again-brought me again from the depths of earth. (What great troubles, many and evil, thou hast sent me! and then turned, thou hast granted me life, and hast brought me up again from the watery depths of the earth/and hast brought me up again from the grave.)

²¹ Thou hast multiplied thy great doing; and thou converted (and thou turned), hast comforted me.

²² For why and I shall acknowledge to thee, thou God, thy truth in the instruments of psalm; I shall sing in an harp to thee, that art the holy of Israel. (And I shall praise thee, O God, for thy faithfulness, with the instruments of song; I shall sing to thee on a harp, O Holy One of Israel.)

²³ My lips shall make fully joy, when I shall sing to thee; and my soul, which thou again-boughtest. (My lips shall make full out joy, when I shall sing to thee; as will my soul, which thou hast bought back, or redeemed.)

²⁴ But and my tongue shall think all day on thy rightfulness; when they shall be shamed and ashamed, that seek evils to me. (And my tongue shall tell of thy righteousness all day long; and they, who seek evil for me, shall be shamed, and ashamed.)

74 The learning of Asaph. God, why hast thou put (us) away into the end; thy strong vengeance is wroth on the sheep of thy pasture? (The teaching of Asaph. God, why hast thou deserted us? is it forever? and why is thy anger, yea, thy fury, so strong against the sheep of thy pasture?)

² Be thou mindful of thy gathering together; which thou haddest in possession from the beginning. Thou again-boughtest the rod of thine heritage; the hill of Zion, in which thou dwelledest therein. (Remember thy congregation; whom thou haddest in possession since the old days. Thou redeemedest this tribe for thy inheritance. And remember Mount Zion; where thou dwelledest.)

³ Raise thine hands into the prides of them; how great things the enemy did wickedly in the holy (place). (How greatly wicked were the things that the enemy did in the holy place; raise up thy hands against their pride.)

⁴ And they that hated thee; had glory in the midst of thy solemnity. They setted their signs, either banners, to be signs on the highest (place), as in the out-going; and they knew not. (For they who hated thee, had glory in the midst of thy holy place. They set up their signs, or their banners, there, as signs of victory.)

⁵ As in a wood of trees, they hewed down with axes the gates thereof into itself; (Like in a forest, they hewed down its gates with their axes, as if they were woodsmen;)

⁶ they casted down it with an ax, and a broad falling ax. (they threw them down with their axes, yea, with their broad falling axes.)

⁷ They burnt with fire thy saintuary; they defouled the tabernacle of thy name in earth. (They burned thy sanctuary with fire; they defiled the Temple of thy name, and razed it to the ground.)

⁸ The kindred of them said together in their heart; Make we all the feast days of God to cease in the earth. (They said in their hearts, Let us altogether destroy them; and they burned down all the synagogues of God in the land/and they burned down all the holy places of God in the land.)

⁹ We have not seen our signs, now there is no prophet; and he shall no more know us. (We cannot see our signs, that is, the future, for now there is no prophet here; and none of us know how long this shall last.)

¹⁰ God, how long shall the enemy say despite? the adversary stirreth to ire thy name into the end. (God, how long shall the enemy show their despising of us? shall the adversary scorn thy name forever?)

¹¹ Why turnest thou away thine hand, and to (not) draw out thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom, till into the end? (Why turnest thou away thy hand, and why draw thou not out thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom?)

¹² Forsooth God our king before worlds, wrought health in the midst of earth. (But God, our King forever, hath given salvation, or deliverance, all the world over.)

¹³ Thou madest firm the sea by thy virtue; thou hast troubled the heads of the dragons in waters. (Thou dividedest the sea by thy strength, or thy power; thou hast broken the heads of the dragons in the water/thou hast broken the heads of the Dragon in the water.)

¹⁴ Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon; thou hast given him to be meat to the peoples of Ethiopians. (Thou hast broken the heads of the Dragon, or of Leviathan; thou hast given him to be food for the peoples of the desert.)

¹⁵ Thou hast broken wells, and strands; thou madest dry the floods of Eitan. (Thou hast broken open the wells, or the springs, and the streams; thou hast dried up the mighty rivers.)

¹⁶ The day is thine, and the night is thine; thou madest the morrowtide and the sun.

¹⁷ Thou madest all the ends of the earth; summer, and ver time, either springing time (or spring time), thou formedest those.

¹⁸ Be thou mindful of this thing, the enemy hath said shame to the Lord; and the unwise people hath excited to ire thy name. (Remember this, that the enemy hath said shame to the Lord; and that the foolish and the ignorant have scorned thy name.)

¹⁹ Betake thou not (over) to beasts men acknowledging to thee; and forget thou not into the end the souls of thy poor men. (Give thou not over to beasts those who confess thee; and forget thou not forever the suffering of thy poor.)

²⁰ Behold into thy testament; for they that be made dark of (the) earth, be [full-]filled with the houses of wickednesses. (Remember thy covenant; for the dark places of the earth, be filled full with the houses of wickedness.)

²¹ A meek man be not turned away made ashamed; a poor man and needy shall praise thy name. (Let not the humble be turned away, and be made ashamed; yea, let the poor and the needy praise thy name.)

²² God, rise up, deem thou thy cause; be thou mindful of thy shames, either upbraidings, of those that be all day of the unwise man. (God, rise up, defend thou thy own case; remember the reproaches, or the upbraidings, that come to thee all day long, from the foolish and the ignorant.)

²³ Forget thou not the voices of thine enemies; the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth ever[more]. (Do not thou forget the words, or the shouts, of thy enemies; the noise of those who hate thee goeth up forevermore.)

28 Silver hath [the] beginning of his veins (Silver hath the beginning of its veins); and a place is to gold, in which it is welled together.

² Iron is taken from the earth, and a stone dissolved, or melted, by heat, is turned into money (is turned into bronze).

³ God hath set (a) time to darknesses, and he beholdeth the end of all things. Also a strand parteth a stone of darkness, and the shadow of death, (God hath set an end for darkness, and he beholdeth the end of all things; a stone of darkness, and the shadow of death.)

⁴ from the people going in pilgrimage; it parteth those hills, which the foot of a needy man forgat, and hills without (a) way. (The stream departeth from the people going in pilgrimage; it parteth those hills, which the foot of the needy forgot, and the hills be without a way.)

⁵ The earth, whereof bread came forth in his place, is destroyed by fire. (Though bread came forth in its place, underneath the earth is destroyed by fire.)

⁶ The place of a sapphire be the stones thereof, and the clots thereof be gold. (Its stones be the place for sapphires, and its dust containeth gold.)

⁷ A bird knew not the way, and the eye of a vulture beheld it not.

⁸ The sons of merchants trode not upon that way, and a lioness passed not thereby. (The sons of a lion trod not on that way, and a lioness passed not by it.)

⁹ God stretched forth his hand to a flint; he destroyed [the] hills from the roots thereof. (God stretched forth his hand to the stones; he destroyed the mountains down to their roots.)

¹⁰ He hewed down rivers in stones (He hewed out rivers among the stones); and his eye saw all precious thing/s.

¹¹ And he sought out the depths/the deepness of (the) floods; and he brought forth hid things into light. (And he dammed up the sources of the rivers; and he brought forth hidden things into the light.)

¹² But where is wisdom found, and which is the place of understanding? (But where is wisdom found, and where is the place of understanding?)

¹³ Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither it is found in the land of men living delicately. (Man knoweth not its price, or its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.)

¹⁴ The depth of (the) waters saith, It is not in me; and the sea speaketh, It is not with me.

¹⁵ Gold full clean shall not be given for wisdom, neither silver shall be weighed in the (ex)changing thereof. (Pure gold cannot purchase wisdom, or be exchanged for it, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.)

¹⁶ It shall not be comparisoned to the dyed colours of India (It cannot be compared to the gold of Ophir), nor to the most precious stone sardius, neither to the sapphire.

¹⁷ Neither gold, neither glass shall be made even worth thereto; and high and far appearing vessels of gold shall not be (ex)changed for wisdom, (Neither gold, nor crystal, can be made equal in worth to it; and high-priced and outstanding vessels of gold cannot be exchanged for wisdom,)

¹⁸ neither they shall be had in mind in comparison thereof. Forsooth wisdom is drawn out of privy things; (nor shall they even be considered when compared to it. For wisdom is drawn from private, or hidden, things;)

¹⁹ topaz of Ethiopia shall not be made even worth to wisdom (the topaz of Ethiopia cannot be made equal in worth to wisdom), and most precious dyeings shall not be set together in price, or comparisoned, thereto.

²⁰ Therefore whereof cometh wisdom, and which is the place of understanding? (And so from where cometh wisdom, and where is the place of understanding?)

²¹ It is hid from the eyes of all living men; and also it is hid from the birds of (the) heaven(s), or of the air.

²² Perdition and death said, With our ears we have heard (of) the fame of wisdom.

²³ God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.

²⁴ For he beholdeth the ends of the world, and beholdeth all things that be under heaven.

²⁵ He hath made weight to winds (He hath made a counter-weight for the winds), and he hath weighed (the) waters in measure.

²⁶ When he set law to rain, and way to tempests sounding; (When he made a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding tempests;)

²⁷ then he saw wisdom, and told it out, and he made it ready, and sought it out.

²⁸ And he said to man, Lo! the dread of the Lord, that is wisdom (And he said to man, Lo! the fear of the Lord/Lo! reverence for the Lord, that is wisdom); and to go away from evil, (that) is understanding.

²⁵ And at midnight Paul and Silas worshipped, and praised God; and they that were in [the] keeping heard them.

²⁶ And suddenly a great earth-moving was made, so that the foundaments of the prison were moved. And at once [And anon] all the doors were opened, and the bonds of all were loosed.

²⁷ And the keeper of the prison was awaked, and saw the gates of the prison opened [and seeing the gates of the prison opened], and with a sword drawn out he would have slain himself, and guessed that the men that were bound had fled [weening the bound men to have fled].

²⁸ But Paul cried with a great voice, and said [saying], Do thou no harm to thyself, for all we be here.

²⁹ And he asked light, and entered [in], and trembled, and fell down to Paul and to Silas at their feet [and trembling he fell down to Paul and Silas at the feet].

³⁰ And he brought them withoutforth, and said, Lords, what behooveth me to do, that I be made safe?

³¹ And they said, Believe thou in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be safe, and thine house.

³² And they spake to him the word of the Lord, with all that were in his house.

³³ And he took them in the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds. And he was baptized, and all his house at once [anon].

³⁴ And when he had brought them into his house, he set to them a board. And he was glad with all his house, and believed to God [And he gladded with all his house, believing to God].

³⁵ And when day was come, the magistrates sent constables, and said, Deliver thou those men. [And when day was made, the magistrates sent tormentors, saying, Dismiss, or deliver, ye those men.]

³⁶ And the keeper of the prison told these words to Paul, That the magistrates have sent, that ye be delivered; now therefore go ye out, and go ye in peace [and go in peace].

³⁷ And Paul said to them, They sent us men of Rome into prison, that were beaten openly and uncondemned, and now privily they bring us out; not so, but come they themselves, and deliver us out. [Forsooth Paul said to them, They sent into prison us, beaten openly uncondemned, men Romans, and now privily they cast us out; not so, but come they, and themselves cast us out.]

³⁸ And the constables told these words to the magistrates; and they dreaded, for they heard that they were Romans.

³⁹ And they came, and besought them, and they brought them out, and prayed, that they should go out of the city.

⁴⁰ And they went out of the prison, and entered to Lydia [entered into Lydia]. And when they saw brethren [And the brethren seen], they comforted them, and went forth.

²⁷ Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour; but therefore [but for that thing] I came into this hour;

²⁸ Father, clarify thy name. And a voice came from heaven, and said [saying], And I have clarified, and again I shall clarify.

²⁹ Therefore the people that stood, and heard, said, that thunder was made; other men said, an angel spake to him.

³⁰ Jesus answered, and said, This voice came not for me, but for you.

³¹ Now is the doom of the world, now the prince of this world shall be cast out.

³² And if I shall be enhanced from the earth, I shall draw all things to myself.

³³ And he said this thing [Soothly this thing he said], signifying by what death he was to die.

³⁴ And the people answered to him, We have heard of the law, that Christ dwelleth without end [for Christ dwelleth into without end]; and how sayest thou, It behooveth man's Son to be areared? Who is this man's Son?

³⁵ And then Jesus saith to them, Yet a little light is in you; walk ye, the while ye have light, that darkness catch you not [that darknesses catch not you]; he that wandereth in darknesses, knoweth not whither he goeth.

³⁶ While ye have light, believe ye in the light, that ye be the children of light. Jesus spake these things, and went, and hid him(self) from them.