Book of Common Prayer

55 To victory in organs, the learning of David. God, hear thou my prayer, and despise thou not my beseeching; (To victory, on instruments, the teaching of David. God, hear thou my prayer, and despise thou not my plea;)

² give thou attention to me, and hear thou me. I am sorrowful in mine exercising (I am grieved by my distress);

³ and I am disturbed of the face of the enemy, and of the tribulation of the sinner. For they bowed wickednesses into me; and in ire they were dis-easeful to me. (and I am made afraid by my enemies, and by the trouble which the sinners have brought upon me. For they bowed down wickednesses upon me; and with great anger they were very hateful to me.)

⁴ Mine heart was troubled in me; and the dread of death felled on me. (My heart was troubled within me; and the fear of death fell upon me.)

⁵ Dread and trembling came on me (Fear and trembling came upon me); and darknesses covered me.

⁶ And I said, Who shall give to me feathers, as of a culver; and I shall fly, and shall take rest? (And I said, Who shall give me wings like a dove? and then I can fly away, and get some rest.)

⁷ Lo! I went far away, and fled; and I dwelled in wilderness. (Lo! I would flee far away; and I would live in the wilderness.)

⁸ I abode him, that made me safe from the littleness, either dread, of spirit; and from tempest. (I would hasten, and make myself safe from the wind, and from the tempest.)

⁹ Lord, cast thou down, [and] part thou the tongues of them; for I saw wickedness and against-saying in the city.

¹⁰ By day and night wickedness shall (en)compass it on the walls thereof; and travail and unrightfulness be in the midst of them. (Day and night they surround the city, all along its walls; and trouble and unrighteousness be in its midst.)

¹¹ And usury and guile failed not; from the streets thereof. (And greed, and deceit, always be found in its streets.)

¹² For if mine enemy had cursed me; soothly I had suffered. And if he, that hated me, had spoken great things on me; in hap I had hid me from him. (For if my enemy had cursed me; truly I would have suffered it. And if he, who hated me, had spoken great things against me; I would have hid myself from him.)

¹³ But thou art a man of one will (with me); my leader, and my known. (But thou art a man of one mind with me; my leader, and my dear friend.)

¹⁴ Which tookest together sweet meats with me; we went with consent in(to) the house of God. (Who shared his good counsel with me; and we went together to the House of God.)

¹⁵ Death come on them; and go they down quick into hell (May death come upon them; and may they go down alive into Sheol, or the land of the dead). For waywardnesses be in the dwelling places of them; (and) in the midst of them.

¹⁶ But I cried to thee, Lord; and the Lord saved me. (But I shall cry to thee, Lord; and the Lord will save me.)

¹⁷ In the eventide, and [the] morrowtide, and in midday (and at midday), I shall tell, and show (him); and he shall hear my voice.

¹⁸ He shall again-buy my soul in peace from them, that nigh to me; for among many they were with me. (And he shall deliver my soul unto peace again, from those who come against me; for there were many against me.)

¹⁹ God shall hear; and he that is before the worlds shall make them low. For changing is not to them, and they dreaded not God; (God shall hear; and he who was before the worlds, shall humble them. For changing is not to them, and they do not fear God;)

²⁰ he holdeth forth his hand in yielding. They defouled his testament, (indeed, they put forth their hands, against those who be at peace with them. They have broken their promise, or their covenant,)

²¹ the cheers thereof were parted from ire; and his heart nighed. The words thereof were softer than oil; and they be darts. (their words were smoother than butter; but battle was in their hearts. Their words were softer than oil; but they were as sharp as darts.)

²² Cast thy care, or thought, [(or) busyness,] on the Lord, and he shall fully nourish thee; and he shall not give [into] without end fluttering to a just man. (Cast thy burdens upon the Lord, and he shall nourish and protect thee; yea, he shall not allow the righteous to be moved, or shaken.)

²³ But thou, God, shalt lead them forth; into the pit of death. Men-quellers and beguilers shall not have half their days; but, Lord, I shall hope in thee. (But murderers and deceivers shall not have half their days; for thou, God, shalt lead them forth, into the pit of death. But, O Lord, I shall put my trust in thee.)

138 [The psalm of David.] Lord, I shall acknowledge to thee in all mine heart; for thou heardest the words of my mouth. My God, I shall sing to thee in the sight of angels; (The song of David. Lord, I shall praise thee with all my heart. My God, I shall sing praises to thee before the angels, or before the gods.)

² I shall worship to(ward) thine holy temple, and I shall acknowledge to thy name. On thy mercy and thy truth; for thou hast magnified thine holy name above all thing. (I shall worship towards thy holy Temple, and I shall praise thy name; because of thy love, and thy faithfulness; for thou hast magnified thy holy name above all things.)

³ In whatever day I shall inwardly call thee, hear thou me; thou shalt multiply virtue in my soul. (On whatever day I called to thee, thou answeredest me; and thou hast multiplied the strength in my soul/and thou hast made me strong.)

⁴ Lord, all the kings of earth acknowledge to thee; for they heard all the words of thy mouth. (Lord, all the kings of the earth shall praise thee; for they have heard all the words of thy mouth.)

⁵ And sing they in the ways of the Lord (And they shall sing of the ways of the Lord); for the glory of the Lord is great.

⁶ For the Lord is high, and beholdeth meek things; and knoweth afar high things. (For though the Lord is high above, he looketh upon the meek/he careth for the humble; and he knoweth the proud from afar.)

⁷ If I shall go in the midst of tribulation, thou shalt quicken me; and thou stretchedest forth thine hand on the ire of mine enemies, and thy right hand made me safe. (Yea, though I go in the midst of trouble, or of tribulation, thou keepest me safe/thou keepest me alive; and thou stretchest forth thy hand against the rage of my enemies, and thy right hand savest me.)

⁸ The Lord shall yield for me, Lord, thy mercy is [into] without end; despise thou not the works of thine hands. (The Lord shall bring to pass his promises to me. O Lord, thy love is forever; so complete thy work.)

139 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, thou hast proved me, and hast known me; (To victory, the song of David. Lord, thou hast assayed, or tested, me, and thou knowest me;)

² thou hast known my sitting, and my rising again. Thou hast understood my thoughts from [a]far; (thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up. Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar;)

³ thou hast inquired (of) my path and my cord. And thou hast before-seen all my ways; (thou hast examined my path, and my resting places. And thou hast foreseen all my ways.)

⁴ for no word is in my tongue. Lo! Lord, thou hast known all things, (Yea, there is no word on my tongue, lo! Lord; but that thou not knowest it first.)

⁵ the new things and eld; thou hast formed me, and hast set thine hand on me. (Thou art behind me, and before me; and thou hast set thy hand upon me.)

⁶ Thy knowing is made wonderful of me; it is comforted, and I shall not be able to it. (Thy abundant knowledge is so wonderful to me; yea, it is so very great, and I shall never be able to comprehend it all.)

⁷ Whither shall I go from thy spirit; and whither shall I flee from thy face? (Where shall I go from thy spirit; and where shall I flee from thy presence?)

⁸ If I shall ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I shall go down into hell, thou art present. (If I shall go up into heaven, thou art there; if I shall go down into Sheol, or into the land of the dead, thou art there also.)

⁹ If I shall take my feathers full early; and shall dwell in the last parts of the sea. (If I shall take flight early in the morning; or if I shall live on the farthest edge, or the coast, of the sea.)

¹⁰ And soothly thither thine hand shall lead me forth; and thy right hand shall hold me. (Even there thy hand shall lead me forth; and thy right hand shall keep me safe.)

¹¹ And I said, In hap darknesses shall defoul me; and the night is my lightening in my delights. (And I said, Perhaps the darkness shall cover me; or the light all around me shall become my night.)

¹² For why darknesses shall not be made dark from thee, and the night shall be lightened as the day; as the darknesses thereof, so and the light thereof. (But the darkness shall not be dark for thee, and the night shall be like the daylight; yea, to you, the darkness is no different than the light.)

¹³ For thou haddest in possession my reins; thou tookest me up from the womb of my mother. (For thou haddest my reins in thy possession/For thou formedest my inner parts; yea, thou madest me in my mother’s womb.)

¹⁴ I shall acknowledge to thee, for thou art magnified dreadfully; thy works be wonderful, and my soul shall know (that) full much. (I shall praise thee, for thou art greatly to be feared/for thou hath filled me with awe; thy works be wonderful, and I truly know that.)

¹⁵ My bone, which thou madest in private, is not hid from thee; and my substance (formed) in the lower parts of earth. (My bones, which thou madest in secret, be not a mystery to thee; yea, when my substance was formed in the lower parts of the earth.)

¹⁶ Thine eyes saw mine unperfect thing, and all men shall be written in thy book; days shall be formed, and no man is in those. (Thine eyes saw my imperfect substance, and all was written in thy Book; but when those days were formed, no man was there.)

¹⁷ Forsooth, God, thy friends be made honourable full much to me; the princehood of them is comforted full much. (But, God, how deep be thy thoughts to me; and how many of them there be!)

¹⁸ I shall number them, and they shall be multiplied above the gravel; I rose up, and yet I am with thee. (If I tried to count them all up, their number would be more than all the grains of sand. And then I awake; and still I am with thee.)

¹⁹ For thou, God, shalt slay sinners; ye men-quellers, bow away from me. (O God, I wish that thou wouldest kill the sinners; ye murderers, go far away from me!)

²⁰ For they say in thought; Take they their cities in vanity. (For out loud they say against thee, We shall take thy name in vain.)

²¹ Lord, whether I hated not them that hated thee; and I failed, that is, mourned greatly, on (those who be) thine enemies? (Lord, how I hate those who hate thee; and I am greatly grieved by those who be thy enemies!)

²² By perfect hatred I hated them; they were made enemies to me. (Yea, with perfect hatred I hate them; they be made my enemies too.)

²³ God, prove thou me, and know thou mine heart; ask thou me, and know thou my paths. (God, assay, or test, thou me, and know thou my heart; ask thou me, and know thou my thoughts.)

¹⁸ Put ye these my words in your hearts and in your souls, and hang ye them up for a token, or a sign, in your hands, and set ye them betwixt your eyes. (Put ye these my words in your hearts and in your souls, and bind ye them for a sign upon your hands, and set ye them before your eyes forevermore.)

¹⁹ Teach ye your sons, (so) that they think upon those words, when thou sittest in thine house, and goest in the way (and goest on the way), and liest down, and risest up.

²⁰ Thou shalt write those words upon the (door-)posts, and the gates of thine house(s),

²¹ that the days of thee and of thy sons be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to thy fathers, that he should give to them, as long as heaven is above (the) earth. (so that the days of thee and of thy sons, can be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to thy fathers to give them, for as long as the heavens be above the earth.)

²² For if ye keep the behests which I command to you, and do those (For if ye obey all these commandments which I command to you, and do them), that ye love your Lord God, and go in all his ways, and cleave to him,

²³ the Lord shall destroy all these heathen men before your face, and ye shall wield those folks that be greater and stronger than ye.

²⁴ Each place which your foot shall tread, shall be yours; from the desert, and from Lebanon, and from the great flood Euphrates unto the west sea, shall be your terms. (Every place where your feet shall tread, shall be yours; from the wilderness to the mountains of Lebanon, and from the great Euphrates River unto the Great Sea, or the Mediterranean Sea, shall be yours.)

²⁵ None shall stand against you; your Lord God shall give your outward dread and your inward dread upon each land that ye shall tread, as he spake to you. (No one shall stand against you; the Lord your God shall put the fear of you and the dread of you upon every land where ye shall tread, as he promised you.)

²⁶ Lo! I set forth in your sight today blessing and cursing; (Lo! I set before you today the choice of a blessing and a curse;)

²⁷ blessing, if ye obey to the behests of your Lord God, which I command to you today; (a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command to you today;)

²⁸ cursing, if ye hear not the behests of your Lord God, but go away from the way which I show now to you, and go after alien gods, which ye know not. (and a curse, if ye hear not the commandments of the Lord your God, and ye go away from the way which I now show to you, and follow foreign, or other, gods, which ye do not know.)

5 For each bishop taken of men, is ordained for men in these things that be to God [in those things that be to God], that he offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

² Which may together sorrow with them, that be unknowing and err [that know not and err]; for also he is environed with infirmity.

³ And therefore he oweth, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.

⁴ Neither any man taketh to him honour, but he that is called of God, as Aaron was.

⁵ So [and] Christ clarified not himself, that he were bishop, but he that spake to him, Thou art my Son, to day I engendered thee [to day I gendered thee].

⁶ As [and] in another place he saith, Thou art a priest without end [Thou art a priest into without end], after the order of Melchisedec.

⁷ Which in the days of his flesh offered, with great cry and tears, prayers and beseechings to him that might make him safe from death, and was heard for his reverence.

⁸ And when he was God's Son, he learned obedience of these things that he suffered;

⁹ and he brought to the end is made cause of everlasting health [and he led to perfection is made cause of everlasting health] to all that obey him,

¹⁰ and is called of God a bishop, by the order of Melchisedec. [called of God a bishop, by the order of Melchisedec.]

4 Therefore as Jesus knew, that the Pharisees heard, that Jesus maketh and baptizeth more disciples than John,

² though Jesus baptized not, but his disciples,

³ he left Judaea, and went again into Galilee.

⁴ And it behooved him to pass by Samaria.

⁵ Therefore Jesus came into a city of Samaria, that is called Sychar, beside the place [beside the manor, or field], that Jacob gave to Joseph, his son.

⁶ And the well of Jacob was there; and Jesus was weary of the journey, and sat thus upon the well [soothly Jesus made weary of the journey, sat thus on the well]. And the hour was, as it were the sixth.

⁷ And a woman came from Samaria, to draw water. And Jesus saith to her, Give me [to] drink.

⁸ And his disciples were gone into the city, to buy meat.

⁹ Therefore that woman of Samaria saith to him, How thou, that art a Jew, askest of me a drink, that am a woman of Samaria [which am a woman of Samaria]? for [the] Jews used not to deal with [the] Samaritans.

¹⁰ Jesus answered, and said to her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is, that saith to thee, Give me [to] drink, thou peradventure wouldest have asked of him, and he should have given to thee quick water.

¹¹ The woman saith to him, Sire, thou hast not wherein to draw [Sire, neither thou hast in what thing thou shalt draw], and the pit is deep; whereof then hast thou quick water?

¹² Whether thou art greater than our father Jacob, that gave to us the pit? and he drank thereof, and his sons, and his beasts.

¹³ Jesus answered, and said to her, Each man that drinketh of this water, shall thirst again;

¹⁴ but he that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall not thirst without end [shall not thirst into without end]; but the water that I shall give him, shall be made in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.

¹⁵ The woman saith to him, Sire, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

¹⁶ Jesus saith to her, Go, call thine husband, and come hither.

¹⁷ The woman answered, and said, I have none husband [I have not an husband]. Jesus saith to her, Thou saidest well, That I have none husband [For I have not an husband];

¹⁸ for thou hast had five husbands, and he that thou hast, is not thine husband [and he whom thou hast now, is not thine husband]. This thing thou saidest soothly.

¹⁹ The woman saith to him, Lord, I see, that thou art a prophet.

²⁰ Our fathers worshipped in this hill, and ye say, that at Jerusalem is a place, where it behooveth to worship.

²¹ Jesus saith to her, Woman, believe thou to me, for the hour shall come, when neither in this hill, neither in Jerusalem [nor in Jerusalem], ye shall worship the Father.

²² Ye worship that that ye know not; we worship that that we know; for health is of the Jews.

²³ But the time is come [But the hour cometh], and now it is, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for also the Father seeketh such, that worship him.

²⁴ God is a Spirit, and it behooveth them that worship him, to worship in spirit and truth.

²⁵ The woman saith to him, I know that Messias is come, that is said Christ; therefore when he cometh [therefore when he shall come], he shall tell us all things.

²⁶ Jesus saith to her, I am he, that speaketh with thee. [Jesus saith to her, I am, that speak with thee.]