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.)

¹⁶⁹ [Tau]. Lord, my beseeching come nigh in thy sight; by thy speech give thou understanding to me. (Lord, let my plea come before thee; give thou me understanding of thy word/give thou me understanding according to thy word.)

¹⁷⁰ Mine asking enter into thy sight; by thy speech deliver thou me. (Let my asking come before thee; save thou me according to thy word.)

¹⁷¹ My lips shall tell out an hymn; when thou hast taught me thy justifyings. (My lips shall tell out thy praises/My lips shall praise thee; because thou hast taught me thy statutes.)

¹⁷² My tongue shall pronounce thy speech; for why all thy commandments be equity. (My tongue shall tell out thy word; for all thy commandments be just, or fair.)

¹⁷³ Thine hand be made, that it save me; for I have chosen thy behests. (Let thy hand swiftly save me; for I have chosen thy precepts.)

¹⁷⁴ Lord, I coveted thine health; and thy law is my thinking. (Lord, I desire thy salvation, or thy deliverance; and thy Law is my delight.)

¹⁷⁵ My soul shall live, and it shall praise thee; and thy dooms shall help me. (Let me live, and I shall praise thee; and let thy judgements help me/and let thy decrees guide me.)

¹⁷⁶ I erred as a sheep that perished; Lord, seek thy servant, for I forgat not thy commandments. (I have wandered about like a lost sheep; Lord, search for thy servant, for I have not forgotten thy commandments.)

128 The song of degrees. Blessed be all men, that dread the Lord; that go in his ways. (Happy be all those, who fear the Lord/who revere the Lord; and who go in his ways.)

² For thou shalt eat the travails of thine hands; thou art blessed, and it shall be well to thee. (For thou shalt eat the fruit of thy labour; thou shalt be happy, and it shall be well with thee.)

³ Thy wife shall be as a plenteous vine; in the sides of thine house. Thy sons as the new springs of olive trees; in the compass of thy board. (Thy wife shall be like a fruitful vine; by the side of thy house. And thy sons and thy daughters shall be like the new branches of olive trees; all around thy table.)

⁴ Lo! so a man shall be blessed; that dreadeth the Lord. (Lo! so shall the man be blessed; who feareth the Lord/who hath reverence for the Lord.)

⁵ The Lord bless thee from Zion; and see thou the goods of Jerusalem in all the days of thy life. (May the Lord bless thee from Zion; and may thou see the prosperity of Jerusalem/and may thou share in the prosperity of Jerusalem, all the days of thy life.)

⁶ And see thou the sons of thy sons; see thou peace on Israel. (And may thou see the sons of thy sons/the children of thy children. May peace be upon Israel.)

129 The song of degrees. Israel say now; Oft they have fought against me from my youth. (Let Israel say now; they have often fought against me from my youth.)

² Oft they [have] fought against me from my youth; and soothly they might not to me (Yea, they have often fought against me from my youth; but truly they could never overcome me.)

³ Sinners forged on my back; they made long their wickedness. (The sinners scourged my back; they made their furrows deep and long in me.)

⁴ The Lord is just, (he) shall beat (together) the nolls of sinners; (But the Lord is just, and he shall free me from the bonds of the wicked;)

⁵ all that hate Zion be they shamed, and turned aback. (let all who hate Zion be put to shame, and be turned, or driven, back.)

⁶ Be they made as the hay of housetops; that dried up, before that it be drawn up. (Be they made like the grass on the rooftops; it dried up, before that it could be pulled up.)

⁷ Of which hay he that shall reap, shall not fill his hand; and he that shall gather handfuls, shall not fill his bosom. (Of which grass he who shall reap, shall not get a handful; and he who shall gather handfuls, shall not get an armful.)

⁸ And they that passed forth said not, The blessing of the Lord be on you; we blessed you in the name of the Lord. (And so they who pass by, shall never say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.)

130 The song of degrees. Lord, I cried to thee from the depths;

² Lord, hear thou my voice. Thine ears be made attentive into the voice of my beseeching (Let thy ears be made attentive to the words of my plea).

³ Lord, if thou keepest wickednesses; Lord, who shall sustain, or abide? (Lord, if thou keepest a record of our wickednesses; then Lord, who shall survive?/then Lord, who will not be condemned?)

⁴ For mercy is at thee; (But there is mercy with thee, and I stand in awe of thee;)

⁵ and, Lord, for thy law I abode thee. My soul sustained in his word; (yea, Lord, I wait for thee. My soul is sustained, and I hope, and I trust, in his word.)

⁶ my soul hoped in the Lord. From the morrowtide keeping till to the night; (My soul waiteth for the Lord, more eagerly than those who wait for the morning light; yea, more eagerly than those who stand guard, or be on watch, until the morning light.)

⁷ Israel hope in the Lord. For why mercy is at the Lord; and plenteous redemption is at him. (Israel, trust in the Lord. For there is always love with the Lord; and there is plentiful redemption with him.)

⁸ And he shall again-buy Israel; from all the wickednesses thereof. (And he shall redeem the people of Israel; from all their wickednesses.)

2 Forsooth (there was) a mighty man and a man of great riches, Boaz by name, (who) was (a) kinsman of Elimelech.

² And Ruth of Moab said to her mother-in-law, If thou commandest, I shall go into the field, and I shall gather ears of corn that flee the hands of (the) reapers, wherever I shall find grace of an husbandman merciful in me (wherever I shall find favour from a farmer, who is merciful to me). To whom she answered, Go, my daughter.

³ Therefore she went, and gathered ears of corn after the backs of (some) reapers. And it befelled, that Boaz was (the) lord of that field, (he) that was of the kindred of Elimelech.

⁴ And lo! (one day) Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to his reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered to him, The Lord bless thee.

⁵ And Boaz said to the young man that was chief over the reapers, Who is this damsel?

⁶ And he answered, This is the woman of Moab, that came with Naomi from the country of Moab;

⁷ and she prayed, that she should gather ears of corn leaving behind, and follow the steps of [the] reapers; and from the morrowtide till now she standeth in the field, and soothly neither at a moment she turned again home. (and she prayed us, that she could gather some ears of corn that were left behind, and follow the steps of the reapers; and so from the morning until now she standeth in the field, and not for a moment hath she purposed to return home.)

⁸ And Boaz said to Ruth, Daughter, hear thou; go thou not into another field to gather, neither go (thou) away from this place, but be thou joined to my damsels,

⁹ and follow thou where they reap; for I [have] commanded to my young men, that no man be dis-easeful to thee; but also if thou thirstest, go to the fardels, and drink waters, of which my young men drink (and if thou thirstest, go and drink from the water jars, which my young men have filled).

¹⁰ And she felled on her face, and worshipped on the earth; and she said to him, Whereof is this to me, that I should find grace before thine eyes, that thou wouldest know me, a strange woman? (And she fell on her face, and honoured him on the ground; and she said to him, Whereof is this to me, that I should find favour in thine eyes, and that thou wouldest acknowledge me, who is but a stranger?)

¹¹ To whom Boaz answered, All things be told to me, that thou hast done to thy mother-in-law after the death of thine husband (All things have been told to me, what thou hast done for thy mother-in-law after the death of thy husband), and that thou hast forsaken thy father and thy mother, and the land that thou were born in, and thou art come to a people, that thou hast not known before.

¹² The Lord yield to thee for thy work, and receive thou full meed of the Lord God of Israel, to whom thou camest, and under whose wings thou fleddest. (May the Lord reward thee for thy good deeds, yea, may thou receive thy full reward from the Lord God of Israel, to whom thou hast come, and under whose wings thou hast fled.)

¹³ And she said, My lord, I have found grace before thine eyes, and thou hast comforted me, and thou hast spoken to the heart of thine handmaid, which am not like one of thine handmaids. (And she said, My lord, for I have found favour in thine eyes, and thou hast spoken to the heart of thy servantess, though I am not equal to one of thy servantesses, yea, thou hast greatly comforted me.)

²³ For I call God to witness against my soul [Forsooth I in-call God witness into my soul], that I sparing you came not over to Corinth;

²⁴ not that we be lords of your faith [not for we be lords of your faith], but we be helpers of your joy; for through belief ye stand.

2 And I ordained this [same] thing at me, that I should not come again in heaviness to you [in sorrow to you].

² For if I make you sorry, who is he that gladdeth me, but he that is sorrowful of me?

³ And this same thing I wrote to you, that when I come, I have not sorrow on sorrow, of the which it behooved me to have joy. And I trust in you all, that my joy is of all you^[a].

⁴ For of much tribulation and anguish of heart I wrote to you by many tears, not that ye be sorry, but that ye know what charity I have more plenteously in you.

⁵ For if any man hath made me sorrowful, he hath not made me sorrowful but a part [he hath not made me sorrowful but in part], that I charge not you all.

⁶ This blaming that is made of many, sufficeth to him, that is such one [that is such a manner man];

⁷ so that on the contrary ye rather forgive and comfort, lest peradventure he that is such a manner man, be swallowed up [be sopped up, or despair,] by more great heaviness.

⁸ For which thing I beseech you, that ye confirm charity into him.

⁹ For why therefore [and] I wrote this, that I know your proof, whether in all things ye be obedient.

¹⁰ For to whom ye have forgiven any thing, also I have forgiven. For I, that that I forgave, if I forgave any thing, have forgiven for you in the person of Christ,

¹¹ that we be not deceived of Satan; for we know his thoughts. [that we be not deceived of Satan; soothly we unknow not his thoughts.]

¹² But when I was come to Troas [Forsooth when I had come to Troas] for the gospel of Christ, and a door was opened to me in the Lord,

¹³ I had not rest to my spirit, for I found not my brother Titus, but I said to them farewell, and I passed into Macedonia. [I had not rest in my spirit, for I found not my brother Titus, but I saying to them farewell, passed into Macedonia.]

¹⁴ And I do thankings to God, that evermore maketh us to have victory in Christ Jesus, and showeth by us the odour of his knowing in each place;^[b]

¹⁵ for we be the good odour of Christ to God, among these that be made safe, and among these that perish. [for we be the good odour, or savour, of Christ to God, in these that be made safe, and in these that perish.]

¹⁶ To others soothly odour of death into death [Soothly to others we be odour of death into death], but to the others we be odour of life into life. And to these things who is so able?

¹⁷ For we be not as many, that do adultery by the word of God, but we speak of cleanness, as of God, before God in Christ. [Soothly we be not as full many, adulterating the word of God, but of cleanness, but as of God, before God in Christ we speak.]

²¹ Ye have heard that it was said to old men, Thou shalt not slay; and he that slayeth, shall be guilty to the doom [shall be guilty of doom].

²² But I say to you, that each man that is wroth to his brother, shall be guilty to doom; and he that saith to his brother, Fie! shall be guilty to the council; but he that saith Fool, shall be guilty to the fire of hell. [But I say to you, that ever-each that is wroth to his brother, shall be guilty of doom; forsooth he that shall say to his brother, Raca, that is, a word of scorn, shall be guilty of council; soothly he that shall say, Fool, that is, a word of despising, shall be guilty of the fire of hell.]

²³ Therefore if thou offerest thy gift at the altar, and there thou bethinkest, that thy brother hath somewhat against thee [and there bethinkest, that thy brother hath something against thee],

²⁴ leave there thy gift before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then thou shalt come, and shalt offer thy gift.

²⁵ Be thou consenting to thine adversary soon, while thou art in the way with him, lest peradventure thine adversary take thee to the doomsman, and the doomsman take thee to the minister [lest peradventure thine adversary take thee to the judge, and the judge take thee to the minister], and thou be sent into prison.

²⁶ Truly I say to thee, Thou shalt not go out from thence [Thou shalt not go thence], till thou yield the last farthing.