Book of Common Prayer
120 The song of degrees. When I was set in tribulation, I cried to the Lord; and he heard me. (When I was beset with troubles, I cried to the Lord; and he answered me.)
2 Lord, deliver thou my soul from wicked lips; and from a guileful tongue. (Lord, save thou me from wicked lips; and from a deceitful tongue.)
3 What shall be given to thee, either what shall be laid to thee; to a guileful tongue? (What shall be given to thee; that is, how shall he punish thee, O deceitful tongue?)
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty; with coals that make desolate. (With sharp arrows from the mighty; and with coals that shall make thee desolate.)
5 Alas to me! for my dwelling in an alien land is made long, I dwelled with men dwelling in Kedar; (Alas for me! for my stay here in Mesech is prolonged, and I must live among the people, or in the tents, of Kedar!)
6 my soul was much (time) a comeling. I was peaceable with them that hated peace; (I am here too long as a newcomer, or a stranger; yea, too long living with those who hate peace.)
7 when I spake to them, they impugned, either against-said, me without cause. (I am for peace; but whenever I speak of it to them, they be for war.)
121 The song of degrees. I raised mine eyes to the hills; from whence help shall come to me. (I raised up my eyes to the hills, or the mountains; O where shall I find help?/from where help shall come to me.)
2 Mine help is of the Lord; that made heaven and earth. (My help is from the Lord; who made heaven and earth.)
3 The Lord give not thy foot into moving; neither he nap, that keepeth thee. (The Lord shall not let thy foot slip, or stumble; nor shall he nap, who keepeth thee safe.)
4 Lo! he shall not nap, neither sleep; that keepeth Israel. (Lo! he, who keepeth Israel safe; shall not nap, or sleep.)
5 The Lord keepeth thee; the Lord is thy protection above thy right hand. (The Lord keepeth thee safe; the Lord is thy protection at thy right hand.)
6 The sun shall not burn thee by day; neither the moon by night.
7 The Lord keep thee from all evil; the Lord keep thy soul. (The Lord shall keep thee safe from all evil; yea, the Lord shall keep thee safe.)
8 The Lord keep thy going in and thy going out; from this time now and into the world. (The Lord shall guard thy coming in, and thy going out; from this time now, and forever.)
122 The song of degrees of David. I am glad in these things, that be said to me; We shall go into the house of the Lord. (The song of degrees for David. I was glad, when they said to me, We shall go to the House of the Lord.)
2 Our feet were standing; in thy halls/in thy foreyards, thou Jerusalem. (And now our feet stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem.)
3 Jerusalem, which is builded as a city; whose partaking thereof is into the same thing. (Jerusalem is built to be a city, where people be together, yea, with one heart and mind.)
4 For the lineages, the lineages of the Lord, ascended thither, the witnessing of Israel; to acknowledge to the name of the Lord. (For the tribes, the Lord’s tribes, come there to give thanks to the Lord; that is Israel’s duty.)
5 For they sat there on seats in doom; seats on the house of David. (For the thrones of judgement, or of justice, be put there; yea, the thrones of the house of David.)
6 Pray ye those things, that be to the peace of Jerusalem; and abundance be to them that love thee. (Pray ye for the peace of Jerusalem; and say, May those who love thee prosper, or have great abundance.)
7 Peace be made in thy strength; and abundance in thy towers. (May there be peace within thy strongholds, or thy fortresses; and prosperity within thy palaces.)
8 For my brethren and my neighbours; I spake peace of thee. (For the sake of my brothers, or my kinsmen, and my neighbours; I say, Peace be with thee.)
9 For the house of our Lord God; I sought goods to thee. (For the sake of the House of the Lord our God; I shall seek thy good, or thy prosperity/I shall pray for good things for thee.)
123 The song of degrees. To thee I have raised mine eyes; that dwellest in heavens. (I raise up my eyes to thee; who livest in heaven.)
2 Lo! as the eyes of servants be in the hands of their lords. As the eyes of the handmaid be in the hands of her lady; so our eyes be to our Lord God, till he have mercy on us. (Lo! like the eyes of the servant look to the hand of his lord; and like the eyes of the servantess look to the hand of her lady; so let our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us.)
3 Lord, have thou mercy on us, have thou mercy on us; for we be much filled with despising (for we be greatly despised).
4 For our soul is much filled; we be shame to them that be abundant with riches, and despising to proud men. (For our soul is filled full, with the scorn of those who have abundant riches; and with disdain from the proud.)
124 The song of degrees of David. Israel say now, No but for the Lord was in us; (The song of degrees for David. Let Israel say now, If the Lord was not with us/If the Lord had not been for us,)
2 no but for the Lord was in us. When men rose up against us; (yea, if the Lord was not with us/if the Lord had not been for us; then when men rose up against us,)
3 in hap they had swallowed us quick. When the strong vengeance of them was wroth against us; (they would have swallowed us up alive. Yea, when their fury raged against us;)
4 in hap water had swallowed us up. Our soul passed through a strand; (the water would have swallowed us up. When the stream had gone up over our heads;)
5 in hap our soul had passed through a water unsufferable. (when the insufferable waters had gone up over our heads.)
6 Blessed be the Lord; that gave not us into taking, [(or) the catching,] of the teeth of them. (Blessed be the Lord; who did not allow us to be caught by their teeth.)
7 Our soul, as a sparrow, is delivered; from the snare of hunters. The snare is all-broken; and we be delivered. (We have escaped, like a sparrow, from the hunter’s snare. The snare is all-broken; and we be set free.)
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord; that made heaven and earth (who made heaven and earth).
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.)
126 The song of degrees. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion; we were made as comforted. (When the Lord returned the captives to Zion/When the Lord returned prosperity to Zion; we were made like in a dream.)
2 Then our mouth was filled with joy; and our tongue with full out joying. Then they shall say among heathen men; The Lord magnified to do with them. (Then our mouths were filled with joy; and ours tongues with rejoicing. And the heathen said to each other, The Lord hath done great things for them.)
3 The Lord magnified to do with us; we be made glad. (Yea, the Lord did great things for us; and we were glad.)
4 Lord, turn thou (again) our captivity; as a strand in the south. (Lord, return thou the captives/return thou our prosperity; like the streams return to the south.)
5 They that sow in tears; shall reap in full out joying. (Then they who sowed in tears; shall reap with rejoicing.)
6 They going, went, and wept; sending their seeds. But they coming, shall come with full out joying; bearing their handfuls (They going, went, and wept; sending out their seeds. But when they shall return, they shall come back rejoicing; carrying their harvest.)
127 The song of degrees of Solomon. No but the Lord build the house; they that built it have travailed in vain. No but the Lord keepeth the city; he waketh in vain that keepeth it./But if the Lord build the house; they that built it have travailed in vain. But (if) the Lord keepeth the city; he waketh in vain that keepeth it. (The song of degrees for Solomon. Unless the Lord build the house; those who have built it, have laboured in vain. Unless the Lord guardeth the city; he who standeth watch, guardeth in vain.)
2 It is vain to you to rise before the light; rise ye after ye have set, that eat the bread of sorrow. When he shall give sleep to his loved; (It is useless for you to rise before the light; and then to stay up late, only so that ye can eat the bread of sorrows. For he giveth to his beloved; even while they sleep.)
3 lo! the heritage of the Lord is sons, the meed is the fruit of womb. (Lo! sons and daughters be thy inheritance/be thy gift from the Lord; yea, the fruit of thy womb is his reward to you.)
4 As arrows be in the hand of the mighty; so the sons of them that be shaken out. (Like arrows be in the hand of the mighty; so be the sons and daughters that a man hath when he is young.)
5 Blessed is the man, that hath [full-]filled his desire of those; he shall not be shamed, when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate. (Happy is the man who hath filled his quiver full of them; he shall not be put to shame, or defeated, when he shall speak to his enemies in court.)
15 To whom Naomi said, Lo! thy kinswoman turned again to her people, and to her gods; go thou with her.
16 And Ruth answered, Be thou not against me, that I forsake thee, and go away; whither ever thou shalt go, I shall go, and where thou shalt dwell, I shall dwell together (with thee); thy people is my people, and thy God is my God; (And Ruth answered, Be thou not against me, that I should desert thee, and go away from thee; wherever thou shalt go, I shall go, and where thou shalt live, I shall live with thee; thy people is my people, and thy God is my God;)
17 what land shall receive thee dying, I shall die therein also, and there I shall take place of burying; God do to me these things, and add these things, if death alone shall not part me and thee. (whatever land shall receive thee when thou diest, I shall die there also, and that shall be the place where I am buried; yea, God do to me terrible things, and add other things as well, if anything but death separate me and thee.)
18 Therefore Naomi saw, that Ruth had deemed with steadfast soul to go with her, and she would not be against her, neither counsel further turning again to her countrymen (and so she would not be against her, nor further counsel her to return to her own people).
19 And (so) they went forth together, and came into Bethlehem; and when they entered into the city, swift fame (a)rose with all men, and women said, This is that Naomi.
20 To whom she said, Call ye not me Naomi, that is, fair, but call ye me Mara, that is, bitter; for Almighty God hath filled me greatly with bitterness. (To whom she said, Do not ye call me Naomi, or Delightful, or Pleasant, but call ye me Mara, or Bitter; for Almighty God hath filled me with great bitterness.)
21 I went out full, and the Lord led me again void; why therefore call ye me Naomi, whom the Lord hath made low, and (whom) Almighty God hath tormented?
22 Therefore Naomi came with Ruth of Moab, the wife of her son, from the land of her pilgrimage, and turned again into Bethlehem, when barley was reaped first. (And so Naomi came with Ruth the Moabite, her son’s wife, from the land where she had lived, and returned to Bethlehem with her, when the barley was first harvested.)
12 For our glory is this, the witnessing of our conscience, that in simpleness and cleanness of God, and not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we lived in this world, but more plenteously to you.
13 And we write not other things to you, than those that ye have read and know, and I hope that into the end ye shall know,
14 as also ye have known us a part [as and ye have known us of part]; for we be your glory, as also ye be ours in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 And in this trusting I would first come to you, that ye should have the second grace,
16 and pass by you into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia come to you, and of you be led into Judaea.
17 But when I would this thing, whether I used unsteadfastness, either those things that I think, I think after the flesh, that at me be, it is and it is not?[a]
18 But God is true, for our word that was at you, is and is not, is not therein, but is is in it.[b]
19 For why Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which is preached among you by us, by me, and Silvanus, and Timothy, there was not in him, is and is not, but is was in him[c].
20 For why how many ever be promises of God, in that is, be fulfilled [Forsooth how many ever be promises of God, in him is, that is, in him they be fulfilled]. And therefore by him we say Amen to God, to our glory.
21 Soothly it is God that confirmeth us with you in Christ, and which anointed us, [The which soothly confirmeth us with you in Christ, and the which God anointed us,]
22 and which marked us [and that marked us], and gave earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
13 Ye be salt of the earth; that if the salt [shall] vanish away, wherein shall it be salted? To nothing it is worth over, but that it be cast out, and be defouled of men.
14 Ye be [the] light of the world; a city set on an hill may not be hid;
15 nor men tendeth a lantern, and putteth it under a bushel [neither men tend a lantern, and put it under a bushel], but on a candlestick, that it give light to all that be in the house.
16 So shine your light before men, that they see your good works, and glorify your Father that is in heavens.
17 Do not ye deem, that I came to undo the law, or the prophets; I came not to undo the law, but to fulfill.[a]
18 Forsooth I say to you, till heaven and earth pass, one letter [one i, that is the least letter,] or one tittle shall not pass from the law, till all things be done.
19 Therefore he that breaketh one of these least commandments, and teacheth thus men, shall be called the least in the realm of heavens; but he that doeth, and teacheth, shall be called great in the kingdom of heavens.
20 And I say to you, that but your rightwiseness [shall] be more plenteous than of scribes and of Pharisees[b], ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heavens.
2001 by Terence P. Noble