Book of Common Prayer
145 [Koph]. I cried in all mine heart, Lord, hear thou me; I shall seek thy justifyings. (I cried with all my heart, O Lord, please answer me; for I shall follow thy statutes.)
146 I cried to thee, make thou me safe; that I keep thy commandments. (I cried to thee, save thou me; so that I can keep thy commandments/and I shall obey thy commandments.)
147 I before came in ripeness, and I cried; I hoped above on thy words. (I came before thee in the morning; I have great hope in thy words.)
148 Mine eyes before came to thee full early; that I should bethink (on) thy speeches. (My eyes be open through the night/I lie awake all night; so that I can think about thy words.)
149 Lord, hear thou my voice by thy mercy; and quicken thou me by thy doom. (Lord, hear thou me in thy mercy; and grant thou me life according to thy judgement./Lord, hear thou me in thy love; and grant thou me life by thy decree.)
150 They that pursue me nighed to wickedness; forsooth they be made far from thy law. (They who pursue me approach near to wickedness; and they be made far from thy Law./They who wickedly pursue me come near to me; but they be made far from thy Law.)
151 Lord, thou art nigh; and all thy ways be truth. (Lord, thou art near; and all thy commandments be true.)
152 In the beginning I knew of thy witnessings; for thou hast founded those [into] without end. (Long ago I knew of thy teachings; for thou hast founded them to last forever.)
153 [Resh]. See thou my meekness, and deliver thou me; for I forgat not thy law. (See thou my troubles, and save thou me; for I have not forgotten thy Law.)
154 Deem thou my doom, and again-buy thou me; quicken me for thy speech. (Judge thou my case, and buy thou me back, that is, rescue me; yea, grant thou me life according to thy word, or thy promise.)
155 Health is far from sinners; for they sought not thy justifyings. (Salvation is far from sinners; for they did not search out thy statutes/for they do not obey thy laws.)
156 Lord, thy mercies be many; quicken thou me by thy doom. (Lord, thy constant love is great; grant thou me life according to thy judgement./Lord, thy mercy is great; grant thou me life by thy decree.)
157 They be many that pursue me, and do tribulation to me; I bowed not away from thy witnessings. (There be many who persecute me, and give me trouble; but I have not turned away from thy teachings.)
158 I saw breakers of the law, and I was melted, either languished; for they kept not thy speeches. (I saw the law-breakers, and I was greatly distressed; for they did not obey thy words, or thy commands.)
159 Lord, see thou, for I loved thy commandments; quicken thou me in thy mercy. (Lord, see thou, how I love thy precepts; grant thou me life according to thy love.)
160 The beginning of thy word is truth; all the dooms of thy rightwiseness be [into] without end. (The beginning of thy word is truth; and all thy righteous judgements be forever.)
161 [Schin]. Princes pursued me without cause; and my heart dreaded of thy words. (The rulers persecuted me for no reason; but my heart is in awe of thy words.)
162 I shall be glad on thy speeches; as he that findeth many spoils. (I shall be glad, or rejoice, in thy words; yea, like he who findeth much prey.)
163 I hated and loathed wickedness; forsooth I loved thy law. (I hate and loathe all lies; but I love thy Law.)
164 I said praisings to thee seven times in the day; on the dooms of thy rightfulness. (Seven times a day I praise thee; for thy righteous judgements/for thy rightful decrees.)
165 Much peace is to them that love thy law; and no cause of stumbling is to them. (There is much peace for those who love thy Law; and they have no reason to slip, or to stumble.)
166 Lord, I abode thine health; and I loved thy behests. (Lord, I wait for thy salvation, or thy deliverance; and I follow thy commandments.)
167 My soul kept thy witnessings; and loved those greatly. (I obey thy teachings; and I love them so very much.)
168 I kept thy commandments, and thy witnessings; for all my ways be in thy sight. (I obey thy precepts, and thy teachings; and all my ways be before thee.)
18 Forsooth, Lord, thou showedest to me, and I knew; thou showedest to me the studies of them. (But, Lord, thou hast shown me, and so I knew; yea, thou hast shown me their deeds.)
19 And I am as a mild lamb, which is borne to slain sacrifice; and I knew not, that they thought counsels on me, and said, Send we a tree into the bread of him, and raze we him away from the land of livers, and his name be no more had in mind. (And I am like a meek lamb, which is carried to the slain sacrifice; and I knew not that they thought up plans against me, and said, Destroy we the tree with its fruit, and raze we him down from the land of the living, and his name shall no longer be remembered.)
20 But thou, Lord of hosts, that deemest justly, and provest reins and hearts, see I thy vengeance of them; for to thee I showed my cause. (But thou, Lord of hosts, who judgest justly, and provest reins and hearts, let me see thy vengeance against them; for I have shown my cause to thee/for I have made my case to thee.)
21 Therefore the Lord saith these things to the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, and say, Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of the Lord, and thou shalt not die in our hands. (And so the Lord saith these things to those people of Anathoth, who seek thy life, and say, Prophesy thou no more in the name of the Lord, and then thou shalt not die by our hands.)
22 Therefore the Lord of hosts saith these things, Lo! I shall visit on them; the young men of them shall die by sword, the sons of them, and the daughters of them, shall die for hunger; (And so the Lord of hosts saith these things, Lo! I shall punish them; their young men shall die by the sword, and their sons, and their daughters, shall die by hunger;)
23 and no remnants, either children left, shall be of them; for I shall bring in evil on the men of Anathoth, the year of the visitation of them. (and there shall be no remnant, or any children, left of them; for I shall bring in evil upon the people of Anathoth, yea, the time of their punishment.)
16 Lo! I send you as sheep in the middle of wolves; therefore be ye sly as serpents, and simple as doves.[a]
17 But be ye ware of men, for they shall take you in councils, and they shall beat you in their synagogues;
18 and to mayors, or presidents, and to kings, ye shall be led for me, in witnessing to them, and to heathen men.
19 But when they take you, do not ye think, how or what thing ye shall speak [But when they shall take, or betray, you, do not ye think, how or what ye shall speak], for it shall be given to you in that hour, what ye shall speak;
20 for it be not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father, that speaketh in you.
21 And the brother shall betake the brother into death, and the father the son, and [the] sons shall rise against [their] father and mother, and shall torment them by death [and shall torment them to death].
22 And ye shall be in hate to all men for my name; but he that shall dwell still into the end, shall be made safe. [And ye shall be in hatred to all men for my name; forsooth he that shall continue till into the end, shall be safe.]
112 Alleluia. Blessed is the man that dreadeth the Lord; he shall delight full much in his commandments. (Alleluia. Happy is the person who feareth the Lord/who hath reverence for the Lord; he shall take great delight, or joy, in his commandments.)
2 His seed shall be mighty in [the] earth; the generation of rightful men shall be blessed. (His children shall be mighty in the earth; the descendants of good people shall be blessed/the generations of the upright shall be blessed.)
3 Glory and riches be in his house; and his rightfulness dwelleth into the world of world. (There shall be glory and riches in his house; and his righteousness remaineth forever and ever.)
4 Light is risen up in darknesses to rightful men; the Lord is merciful in will, and a merciful doer, and rightful. (Light riseth up in the darkness for the upright; the Lord is merciful in will, a giver of mercy, and fair to all.)
5 The man is merry, that doeth mercy, and lendeth; he disposeth his words in doom; (Happy is the person who giveth favour when he lendeth; he disposeth his deeds with justice, or with good judgement;)
6 for he shall not be moved [into] without end. A just man shall be in everlasting mind; (and nothing shall shake him. A good person’s deeds shall always be remembered;)
7 he shall not dread of an evil hearing. His heart is ready for to hope in the Lord; (he shall not fear to hear bad news. His heart is always ready to trust in the Lord;)
8 his heart is confirmed, he shall not be moved, till he despise his enemies. (his heart is firm, he shall not be moved, and he shall gloat over his enemies./his heart is steadfast, he shall not be shaken, and he shall see his enemies defeated.)
9 He spreaded abroad, he gave to poor men; his rightwiseness dwelleth into the world of world; his horn shall be raised in glory. (He spreadeth abroad much money, yea, he giveth to the poor; his righteousness remaineth forever and ever, his horn shall be raised up in glory.)
10 A sinner shall see (it), and shall be wroth; he shall gnash with his teeth, and shall fail, either shall wax rotten; the desire of sinners shall perish.
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.)
12 For which thing raise ye [up] slow hands, and knees unbound,
13 and make ye rightful steps to your feet [and make rightful goings, or steps, to your feet]; that no man halting err, but more be healed.
14 Follow ye peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God.
15 Behold ye, that no man fail to the grace of God [Beholding that no man fail to the grace of God], that no root of bitterness burrowing upward hinder [us], and many be defouled by it [and by it be many men defouled];
16 that no man be lecher, either unholy, as Esau, which for one meat sold his first things.[a]
17 For know ye, that afterward he coveting to inherit blessing, was reproved. For he found not place of penance, though he sought it with tears.
18 But ye have not come [Forsooth ye have not come] to the fire able to be touched, and able to come to, and to the whirlwind, and mist, and tempest,
19 and sound of trumpet [and sound of the trump], and voice of words; which they that heard, excused them(selves), that the word should not be made to them.
20 For they bare not that that was said, And if a beast touched the hill, it was stoned [it shall be stoned].
21 And so dreadful it was that was seen, that Moses said, I am afeared, and full of trembling.
22 But ye have come nigh to the hill Sion, and to the city of God living [and to the city of living God], the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the multitude of many thousand angels,
23 and to the church of the first men, which be written in heavens, and to God, doomsman of all, and to the spirit of just perfect men [and to the spirits of just perfect men],
24 and to Jesus, mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood, speaking better than Abel [better speaking than Abel's blood].
2001 by Terence P. Noble