Book of Common Prayer

137 On the floods of Babylon, there we sat, and wept; while we bethought on Zion. (By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, and wept; when we thought about Zion.)

² In sallows in the midst thereof; we hanged up our organs. (On the willows nearby; we hung up our harps.)

³ For they that led us prisoners; asked us there the words of songs. And they that led away us said; Sing ye to us an hymn of the songs of Zion. (For they who led us away as prisoners; told us to sing there. Yea, they who led us away said, Sing ye for us a hymn of the songs of Zion.)

⁴ How shall we sing a song of the Lord; in an alien land? (But how can we sing a song to the Lord, in a foreign, or a strange, land?)

⁵ If I forget thee, Jerusalem; my right hand be given to forgetting. (Yea, if I forget thee, Jerusalem; may my right hand forget how to play my harp/may my right hand wither away.)

⁶ My tongue cleave to my cheeks; if I bethink not on thee. If I purposed not of thee, Jerusalem; in the beginning of my gladness. (And may my tongue cleave to my cheeks; if I do not remember thee, Jerusalem. Yea, if I do not think of thee, as my greatest joy.)

⁷ Lord, have thou mind on the sons of Edom; for the day of Jerusalem. Which say, Extinguish ye, extinguish ye; till to the foundament therein. (Lord, remember what the Edomites did; on that day that Jerusalem fell. They said, Destroy ye it! destroy ye it! unto its foundations!)

⁸ Thou wretched daughter of Babylon; he is blessed, that yieldeth to thee thy yielding, which thou yieldest to us. (O wretched daughter of Babylon; happy is he, who doeth to thee, what thou hast done to us/happy be those, who repay thee, for all that thou hast done to us.)

⁹ He is blessed, that shall hold; and hurtle down his little children at the stone. (Happy is he/Happy be they, who shall take hold of thy little children; and hurtle them against a stone.)

144 A psalm of David. Blessed be my Lord God, that teacheth mine hands to war; and my fingers to battle. (A song of David. Blessed be the Lord my God, who traineth my hands for war; and my fingers for battle.)

² My mercy, and my refuge; my taker up, and my deliverer. My defender, and I hoped in him; and thou makest subject my people under me. (My mercy, and my refuge; my defender, and my deliverer. Yea, my defender, and in whom I trust; and thou makest the peoples to be subject under me.)

³ Lord, what is a man, for thou hast made (thyself) known to him; either the son of man, for thou areckonest him of some value? (Lord, what is man, that thou hast taken notice of him?/that thou carest for him? or the son of a man, that thou reckonest, or esteemest, him of some value?)

⁴ A man is made like vanity; his days pass as shadow. (A person is but like vanity, yea, but a puff of air; his days pass like a shadow.)

⁵ Lord, bow down thine heavens, and come thou down; touch thou [the] hills, and they shall make smoke.

⁶ Light thou shining, and thou shalt scatter them (Send thou forth thy lightning, and thou shalt scatter thy enemies); send thou out thine arrows, and thou shalt trouble them.

⁷ Send out thine hand from on high, ravish me out, and deliver thou me from many waters; and from the hand of alien sons. (Send out thy hand from on high, and take me out of here, that is, rescue me; save thou me from the deep waters, and from the power of foreigners, or of strangers.)

⁸ The mouth of whom spake vanity (Their mouths spoke lies); and the right hand of them is the right hand of wickedness.

⁹ God, I shall sing to thee a new song; I shall say psalm to thee in psaltery of ten strings (yea, I shall sing a song to thee to the strains of a ten-stringed lute).

¹⁰ Which givest health to kings, which again-boughtest David, thy servant; from the wicked sword ravish thou out me. (Who givest salvation, or deliverance, to kings, and redeemest thy servant David; rescue thou me from the wicked sword.)

¹¹ And deliver thou me from the hand of alien sons; the mouth of which spake vanity, and the right hand of them is the right hand of wickedness. (And save thou me from the power of foreigners, or of strangers; whose mouths spoke lies, and whose right hands be the right hands of wickedness, that is, they always break their oaths, or their pledges.)

¹² Whose sons be as new plantings in their youth. The daughters of them be arrayed; adorned about as the likeness of a temple. (May our sons be like plants fully grown in their youth; may our daughters be arrayed, or adorned, like a palace.)

¹³ The cellars of them be full; bringing out from this vessel into that/from one vessel into another. The sheep of them be with lambs, plenteous in their goings out; (May our cellars be full; and we be able to bring forth from this vessel into that one/and we be able to bring forth from one vessel into another. May our sheep be with lambs; yea, plentiful and innumerable.)

¹⁴ their kine be fat. There is no falling of their wall, neither passing over (of it); neither cry is in the streets of them. (May all our kine be fat; and be there no parting in the walls of their wombs, nor any passing over of them. And may there be no cries of distress in all our streets.)

¹⁵ They said, The people is blessed, that hath these things; blessed is the people, whose Lord is the God of it. (And so we say, Happy be the people, who have things like we do; happy be the people, whose God is the Lord.)

104 My soul, bless thou the Lord; my Lord God, thou art magnified greatly. Thou hast clothed acknowledging and fairness; (My soul, bless thou the Lord; my Lord God, thou art greatly magnified. Thou art clothed with majesty and glory;)

² and thou art clothed with light, as with a cloth. And thou stretchest forth heaven as a skin; (and thou art clothed with light, like with a cloak. And thou stretchest forth, or spreadest out, the heavens like a tent;)

³ and thou coverest with waters the higher parts thereof. Which settest a cloud thy ascending; which goest on the feathers of winds. (and thou layest the beams of thy chambers upon the waters. Thou who makest a cloud thy chariot; and who goest upon the wings of the wind.)

⁴ Which makest spirits thine angels; and thy ministers (a) burning fire. (Who makest the winds to be thy messengers; and flames of fire, or flashes of lightning, to be thy servants.)

⁵ Which hast founded the earth on his stableness; it shall not be bowed into the world of world. (Who hast set the earth on its foundations; yea, it shall never be moved, or shaken.)

⁶ The depth of waters as a cloth is the clothing thereof; waters shall stand on hills. (The depth of waters, like a cloak, is its clothing; and the waters rose above, or covered, the mountains.)

⁷ Those shall flee from thy blaming; men shall be afeared of the voice of thy thunder. (The waters fled from thy rebuke; they were afraid of the sound of thy thunder.)

⁸ Hills go up, and fields go down; into the place which thou hast founded to those. (They went up over the mountains, and down into the valleys; to the place which thou hast prepared for them.)

⁹ Thou hast set a term, which they shall not pass (over); neither those shall be turned (again), for to cover the earth (nor shall they ever return to cover the earth).

¹⁰ And thou sendest out wells into great valleys (And thou sendest forth springs in the great valleys); (and the) waters shall pass betwixt the midst of (the) hills.

¹¹ All the beasts of the field shall drink; wild asses shall abide in their thirst, that is, to be filled in their thirst. (All the beasts of the field shall drink from these waters; the wild donkeys shall quench their thirst there.)

¹² [The] Birds of the air shall dwell on those; from the midst of the stones they shall give voices. (The birds of the air shall live on trees nearby; from the midst of the leaves they shall give out their voices.)

¹³ And thou moistest [the] hills of their higher things; the earth shall be [ful]filled of the fruit of thy works. (And thou waterest the hills from thy high places; and the earth shall be filled full with the fruit of thy works.)

¹⁴ And thou bringest forth hay to beasts; and herb to the service of men. That thou bring forth bread (out) of the earth; (And thou bringest forth hay, or grass, for the beasts; and plants for service to people. So that thou bring forth food from the earth;)

¹⁵ and that wine make glad the heart of men. That he make glad the face with oil; and that bread make steadfast the heart of man. (and wine to make the hearts of people glad. And oil to make their faces shine; and bread to make their hearts strong.)

¹⁶ The trees of the field shall be [full-]filled (The trees of the field be filled full with sap), and the cedars of the Lebanon, which he planted;

¹⁷ sparrows shall make nest there. The house of the gyrfalcon is the leader of those; (the sparrows make their nests there; and the homes of the gyrfalcons be on the tops of them.)

¹⁸ high hills be refuge to harts; the stone is refuge to urchins. (The high hills, or the mountains, be a refuge for the harts; and the stones be a refuge for the conies, or the rock badgers.)

¹⁹ He made the moon into times; the sun knew his going down. (Thou hast made the moon for telling times, or months; and the sun, it knoweth its time to go down, and when to set.)

²⁰ Thou hast set darknesses, and night is made; all beasts of the wood shall go therein.

²¹ Lions’ whelps roaring for to ravish (prey); and to seek of God meat to themselves. (The lions’ whelps roar while they hunt the prey; seeking food for themselves from God.)

²² The sun is risen, and those be gathered together; and those shall be set (down) in their couches. (Then the sun riseth, and they be gathered together; and they return to their dens.)

²³ A man shall go out to his work; and to his working, till to the eventide. (A man goeth out to his work; and doeth his labour, until the evening.)

²⁴ Lord, thy works be magnified full much, thou hast made all things in wisdom; the earth is filled with thy possession(s). (Lord, thou hast made a great many things, thou hast made all things by thy wisdom; the earth is filled with thy creatures.)

²⁵ This sea is great and large to hands; there be creeping beasts, of which is no number. Little beasts with [the] great; (The sea is great, and too large to hold in our hands; and in it be creeping things of which there is no number. Yea, little beasts with the great.)

²⁶ ships shall pass there. This dragon which thou hast formed, for to scorn him. (Ships pass there; and that dragon, or Leviathan, which thou hast formed, playeth there.)

²⁷ All things abide of thee; that thou give to them meat in time. (All things wait for thee; to give them their food at the proper time.)

²⁸ When thou shalt give to them, they shall gather; when thou shalt open thine hand, all things shall be filled with goodness. (What thou givest to them, they gather up; when thou openest up thy hand, they be filled with good things.)

²⁹ But when thou shalt turn away thy face, they shall be troubled; thou shalt take away the spirit of them, and they shall fail; and they shall turn again into their dust. (But when thou turnest away thy face, they be troubled; and when thou takest away their breath, they fail; and then they return to the dust from whence they came.)

³⁰ Send out thy spirit, and they shall be formed of the new/and they shall be reformed of new; and thou shalt renew the face of the earth. (Give thou them breath, and they shall be formed anew; yea, thou shalt renew the face of all the earth.)

³¹ The glory of the Lord be into the world; the Lord shall be glad in his works. (May the glory of the Lord be forever; may the Lord be satisfied with, or happy over, his works.)

³² Which beholdeth the earth, and maketh it to tremble; which toucheth hills, and those smoke. (Who looketh upon the earth, and maketh it to tremble; who toucheth the hills, and they smoke.)

³³ I shall sing to the Lord in my life; I shall say psalm to my God, as long as I am. (I shall sing to the Lord all my life; yea, I shall sing psalms, or songs of praise, to my God, as long as I am.)

³⁴ My speech be merry to him/My speech be mirth to him; forsooth I shall delight in the Lord. (May my words please him; for my delight is in the Lord.)

³⁵ Sinners fail from the earth, and wicked men fail, so that they be not; my soul, bless thou the Lord. (May the sinners perish from the earth, and the wicked fail, so that they be not; but my soul, bless thou the Lord.)

5 Now thou, daughter of a thief, shalt be destroyed; they putted on us besieging, in a rod they shall smite the cheek of the judge of Israel. (Now, daughter of a thief, thou shalt be destroyed; they have put besieging against us, and they shall strike the cheek of the judge, or of the ruler, of Israel with a rod.)

² And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, art little in the thousands of Judah; he that is the lordly governor in Israel shall go out of thee to me (but he who shall be the ruler, or the governor, in Israel shall go out of thee to me); and the going out of him is from [the] beginning, from (the) days of everlastingness.

³ For this thing he shall give them (up), till to the time in which the (woman) travailing of child shall bear child, and the remnants of his brethren shall be turned again to the sons of Israel. (For this thing he shall give them all up, until the time in which the woman with child in labour shall give birth to her child, and then the remnants of his kinsmen shall return to the Israelites.)

⁴ And he shall stand, and shall feed in the strength of the Lord, in the height of the name of his Lord God; and they shall be converted, for now he shall be magnified till to the ends of all earth. (And he shall stand, and shall rule them in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall continue in safety and security, for now he shall be magnified unto the ends of the earth.)

¹⁰ And it shall be, in that day, saith the Lord, I shall take away thine horses from the middle of thee, and I shall destroy thy four-horsed carts. (And it shall be, on that day, saith the Lord, I shall take away thy horses from thy midst, and I shall destroy thy chariots.)

¹¹ And I shall lose the cities of thy land, and I shall destroy all thy strongholds, either wardings; (And I shall destroy the cities of thy land, and I shall destroy all thy fortresses;)

¹² and I shall do away witchcrafts from thine hand, and divinations, either tellings by devil’s craft, shall not be in thee. (and I shall do away witchcraft from thee, and no more shall there be divinations, or fortunetelling by the devil’s craft, among thee.)

¹³ And I shall make for to perish thy graven images, and I shall break together from the middle of thee thine images, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thine hands. (And I shall make thy carved idols to perish, and I shall altogether break thy images, or thy figures, in thy midst, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands.)

¹⁴ And I shall draw out of the midst of thee thy woods (dedicated to idols), and I shall all-break thy cities. (And I shall pull down thy sacred poles in thy midst, and I shall altogether break, or completely destroy, thy cities.)

¹⁵ And I shall make in wrath and indignation vengeance in all folks, which heard not. (And in anger and indignation, I shall take vengeance upon all the nations, who did not obey me.)

¹³ And when some days were passed, Agrippa king, and Bernice came down to Caesarea, to welcome Festus [to greet well Festus].

¹⁴ And when they dwelled there many days, Festus showed to the king of Paul, and said, A man is left bound of Felix [saying, Some man is left bound of Felix],

¹⁵ of which, when I was at Jerusalem, princes of priests and the elder men of the Jews came to me, and asked damnation against him [asking damnation against him].

¹⁶ To whom I answered, That it is not custom to Romans, to damn any man, before that he that is accused have his accusers present, and take place of defending, to put away the crimes, that be put against him.^[a]

¹⁷ Therefore when they came together hither, without any delay, in the day following I sat for doomsman, and commanded the man to be brought.

¹⁸ And when his accusers stood [Of whom when the accusers stood nigh], they said no cause, of which things I had suspicion of evil.

¹⁹ But they had against him some questions of their vain worshipping [of their vain worshipping, or religion], and of one Jesus dead, whom Paul affirmed to live.

²⁰ And I doubted of such manner questions, and said, Whether he would go to Jerusalem, and there be deemed of these things?

²¹ But for Paul appealed, that he should be kept to the knowing of the emperor, I commanded him to be kept, till I send him to the emperor [till I shall send him to Caesar].

²² And Agrippa said to Festus, I myself would hear the man. And he said, To morrow thou shalt hear him. [Soothly Agrippa said to Festus, And I myself would hear the man. To morrow, he said, thou shalt hear him.]

²³ And on the tother day, when Agrippa and Bernice came with great desire [when Agrippa and Bernice came with much ambition, or pride of state], and entered into the auditorium, with tribunes and the principal men of the city, when Festus bade, Paul was brought.

²⁴ And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men that be with us, ye see this man, of which all the multitude of Jews prayed me at Jerusalem, and asked, and cried, that he should live no longer^[b].

²⁵ But I found, that he had done nothing worthy of death; and I deemed to send him to the emperor, for he appealed this thing [soothly him appealing this thing to the emperor, I deemed to send].

²⁶ Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. Wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially before thee, O king Agrippa, that, after examination had, I might have somewhat to write.

²⁷ For it is seen to me without reason, to send a bound man, and not to signify the cause of him.

¹⁶ No man lighteth a lantern, and covereth it with a vessel [Forsooth no man lighting a lantern, covereth it with a vessel], or putteth it under a bed, but on a candlestick, that men that enter see light.

¹⁷ For there is no privy thing, which shall not be opened, neither hid thing, which shall not be known, and come into open.^[a]

¹⁸ Therefore see ye, how ye hear; for it shall be given to him that hath, and whoever hath not, also that that he weeneth that he have^[b], shall be taken away from him.

¹⁹ And his mother and brethren came to him; and they might not come to him for the people [and they might not go fully to him for the company of people].

²⁰ And it was told to him, Thy mother and thy brethren stand withoutforth, willing to see thee.

²¹ And he answered, and said to them, My mother and my brethren be these, that hear the word of God [which hear the word of God], and do it.

²² And it was done in one of the days, he went up into a boat, and his disciples. And he said to them, Pass we over the sea [Pass we over the standing water]. And they went up.

²³ And while they rowed, he slept. And a tempest of wind came down into the water, and they were driven hither and thither with waves, and were in peril.

²⁴ And they came nigh, and raised him, and said [saying], Commander, we perish. And he rose up, and blamed the wind, and the tempest of the water; and it ceased, and peaceability was made.

²⁵ And he said to them, Where is your faith? Which dreading wondered, and said together [saying together], Who, guessest thou, is this? for he commandeth to the winds and to the sea, and they obey to him.