Book of Common Prayer

16 Of the meek and simple, the psalm of David. Lord, keep thou me, for I have hoped in thee; (To the humble and the innocent, the song of David. Lord, keep thou me safe, for I put my trust in thee;)

² I said to the Lord, Thou art my God; for thou hast no need of my goods. (I said to the Lord, Thou art my God; and every good thing that I have, cometh from thee.)

³ To the saints that be in the land of him; he made wonderful all my wills in them. (To the wonderful saints of him who be in the land; in whom be all my delight.)

⁴ The sicknesses of them be multiplied; afterward they hasted. I shall not gather together the conventicles, either little covents/or small covents, of them of bloods; and I shall not be mindful of their names by my lips. (May the sicknesses of those who hasten after other gods, be multiplied. I shall not offer their blood offerings; and I shall not remember, or speak, their names with my lips.)

⁵ The Lord is [the] part of mine heritage, and of my passion; thou art, that shall restore mine heritage to me. (The Lord is the portion of my inheritance, and of my cup; thou art he, who shall restore my inheritance to me.)

⁶ Cords felled to me in full clear things; for mine heritage is full clear to me. (The cords, or the boundary-lines, fell to me in pleasant places; I am well content with my inheritance.)

⁷ I shall bless the Lord, that hath given understanding to me; furthermore and my reins have blamed me unto the night. (I shall bless the Lord, who hath given me understanding; and furthermore my innards have taught me, that is, my conscience hath taught me, in the night.)

⁸ I saw before (me) ever[more] the Lord in my sight; for he is at the right half to me, that I be not moved. (I see the Lord before me forevermore; for he is at my right hand, and I shall not be moved/and I cannot be shaken.)

⁹ For this thing mine heart was glad, and my tongue joyed fully; furthermore and my flesh shall rest in hope. (For this thing my heart was glad, and my tongue full out joyed, or rejoiced; and furthermore, my flesh shall rest with trust, or with confidence.)

¹⁰ For thou shalt not leave my soul in hell; neither thou shalt give thine holy (man) to see corruption. (For thou shalt not leave my soul in Sheol, or the land of the dead; nor shalt thou allow thy holy man to see corruption, or decay.)

¹¹ Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt [full-]fill me with gladness with thy cheer; delightings be in thy right half unto the end. (Thou hast made known to me the way of life; thou shalt fill me full of gladness when I go before thee; delights be at thy right hand forever.)

17 The prayer of David. Lord, hear thou my rightfulness; behold thou my prayer. Perceive thou with ears my prayer; not made in guileful lips. (The prayer of David. Lord, hear thou my plea for justice; consider thou my prayer. Listen thou to my prayer; for it is not made with deceitful, or lying, lips.)

² My doom come forth of thy cheer; thine eyes see they equity. (Let my judgement come forth from thy lips; let thine eyes be fixed on justice.)

³ Thou hast proved mine heart, and hast visited (me) in [the] night; thou hast examined, or assayed, me by fire, and wickedness is not found in me.

⁴ That my mouth speak not (of) the works of men; for the words of thy lips I have kept hard ways. (My mouth shall not speak of the works of men; by the words of thy lips I have kept myself from bad ways.)

⁵ Make thou perfect my goings in thy paths; that my steps be not moved. (Make thou perfect my goings on thy paths; so that my steps will not slip, or stumble/so that I do not fall.)

⁶ I cried, for thou, God, heardest me; bow down thy ear to me, and hear thou my words. (I cried, for I know that thou, God, shalt answer me; bow down thy ear to me, and listen to my words.)

⁷ Make wonderful thy mercies; that makest safe them that hope in thee. (Show thou me thy constant love, thou who savest me; with thy right hand save thou those who trust in thee, from those who stand against them.)

⁸ Keep thou me as the apple of thine eye; and from them that against-stand thy right hand. Cover thou me under the shadow of thy wings; (Keep thou me as the apple of thine eye. Cover thou me, or hide me, under the shadow of thy wings;)

⁹ from the face of unpious men, that have tormented me. Mine enemies have (en)compassed my soul; (from the face of the unpious, or of the wicked, who torment me. My enemies have surrounded me;)

¹⁰ they have closed (al)together their fatness; the mouth of them spake pride. (they be enclosed in their own fatness; their mouths have spoken proudly, or boastfully.)

¹¹ They casted me forth, and have (en)compassed me now; they ordained to bow down their eyes into [the] earth. (They surround me now, wherever I turn; they lie in wait, to bring me down to the ground.)

¹² They, as a lion made ready to his prey, have taken me; and as the whelp of a lion dwelling in hid places. (They be ready to catch me, like a lion catcheth its prey; and like the cub of a lion living in hidden places.)

¹³ Lord, rise thou up, before come thou him, and deceive thou him/and overturn thou him; deliver thou my life from the unpious, deliver thou thy sword; (Lord, rise thou up, come thou before him, and overturn thou him; save thou my life from the unpious, with thy sword,)

¹⁴ from the enemies of thine hand. Lord, part thou them from a few men of the land in the life of them; their womb is [full-]filled of thine hid things. They be [full-]filled with sons; and they left their remnants, either residue, to their little children. (yea, from the enemies of thy hand. Lord, save thou me from those of the land who have their portion in this life; their womb is filled full of thy good things. They be filled full with sons and daughters; and they have left all that they have to their little children.)

¹⁵ But I in rightfulness shall appear to thy sight; I shall be [ful]filled, when thy glory shall appear. (But I shall appear upright, or righteous, before thee; and I shall be fulfilled, when thy glory shall appear.)

22 To (the) overcomer, for the morrowtide hind, the psalm of David. God, my God, behold thou on me, why hast thou forsaken me? the words of my trespasses be far from mine health. (To the overcomer, for the labourer in the morning, the song of David. God, my God, look thou upon me, why hast thou abandoned me? why is thy help so far from me, yea, from answering my plea?)

² My God, I shall cry by day, and thou shalt not hear; and by night, and not to unwisdom to me. (My God, I cry to thee all day long, but thou answerest me not; and I cry to thee all night, without any ceasing.)

³ Forsooth thou, the praising of Israel, dwellest in holiness;

⁴ our fathers hoped in thee; they hoped, and thou deliveredest them. (our forefathers put their trust in thee; yea, they trusted thee, and thou deliveredest them.)

⁵ They cried to thee, and they were made safe; they hoped in thee, and they were not shamed. (They cried to thee, and they were saved; they trusted thee, and they were not put to shame, or were not disappointed.)

⁶ But I am a worm, and not a man; the shame of men, and the outcasting of the people. (But I am a worm, and not a man; despised, and an outcast among the people.)

⁷ All men seeing me scorned me; they spake with lips, and wagged the head, and said,

⁸ He hoped in the Lord, deliver he him; make he him safe, for he will him. (He hoped in the Lord, that he would rescue him; so let him save him, if he delighteth in him.)

⁹ For thou it art that drewest me out of the womb, that art mine hope from the teats of my mother; (For thou art he who drew me out of the womb, thou who art my hope from my mother’s breast;)

¹⁰ into thee I am cast forth from the womb. From the womb of my mother thou art my God; (and I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother’s womb;)

¹¹ depart thou not from me. For tribulation is next; for none there is that helpeth. (go thou not away from me. For trouble is near; and there is no one to help me.)

¹² Many calves (en)compassed me; fat bulls besieged me. (Many calves surrounded me; the strong bulls of Bashan besieged me.)

¹³ They opened their mouth on me; as a lion ravishing and roaring. (They opened their mouths upon me; like a roaring and ravaging lion.)

¹⁴ I am poured out as water; and all my bones be scattered. Mine heart is made, as wax floating abroad; in the midst of my womb. (I am poured out like water; and all my bones be out of joint. My heart hath turned to wax; and it melteth within me.)

¹⁵ My virtue dried as a tilestone, and my tongue cleaved to my cheeks; and thou hast brought forth me into the dust of death. (My strength dried up like a tilestone, and my tongue cleaved to my cheeks; and thou hast brought me down into the dust of death.)

¹⁶ For many dogs (en)compassed me; the council of wicked men besieged me. They delved mine hands and my feet; (For many dogs surrounded me; yea, a band of wicked men besieged me. They pierced my hands and my feet;)

¹⁷ they numbered all my bones. Soothly they looked (at), and beheld me; (and they counted up all my bones. Yea, they beheld me;)

¹⁸ they parted my clothes to themselves, and they sent lot on my cloth. (then they parted my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my cloak.)

¹⁹ But thou, Lord, delay not thine help from me; behold thou to my defence (hasten thou to my defence).

²⁰ God, deliver thou my life from sword; and deliver thou mine one alone from the hand, or power, of the dog. (God, deliver thou my life from the sword; yea, rescue thou my very life from the power of these dogs.)

²¹ Make thou me safe from the mouth of a lion; and my meekness from the horns of unicorns. (Save thou me from the lion’s mouth; yea, my poor body from the horns of these bulls.)

²² I shall tell thy name to my brethren; I shall praise thee in the midst of the church. (I shall tell out thy name to my brothers, or my kinsmen; and I shall praise thee in the midst of the congregation.)

²³ Ye that dread the Lord, praise him; all the seed of Jacob, glorify him. All the seed of Israel, dread him; (Ye who fear the Lord, praise him; all of Jacob’s children, glorify him. All of Israel’s descendants, fear him;/Ye who revere the Lord, praise him; all of Jacob’s children, glorify him. All of Israel’s descendants, revere him;)

²⁴ for he forsook not, neither despised the prayer of a poor man. Neither he turned away his face from me; and when I cried to him, he heard me. (for he forsook not, nor despised the prayer of the poor man. Nor hath he turned his face away from him; but when he cried to him, he answered him.)

²⁵ My praising is with thee in a great church; I shall yield my vows in the sight of men dreading him. (My praises shall be for thee before the great congregation; I shall pay my vows before those who fear thee/before those who revere thee.)

²⁶ Poor men shall eat, and shall be [ful]filled, and they shall praise the Lord, that seek him; the hearts of them shall live into the world of world. (The poor shall eat, and shall be satisfied; and they who seek the Lord shall praise him, and their hearts shall live forever and ever.)

²⁷ All the ends of earth shall bethink; and shall be converted to the Lord. And all the families of heathen men, shall worship in his sight. (All the ends of the earth shall remember the Lord; and shall turn to him. And all the families of the heathen, shall worship before him.)

²⁸ For the realm is the Lord’s; and he shall be Lord of heathen men. (For the Lord is the King; and he is the Lord of the heathen, yea, of all the nations.)

²⁹ All the fat men of earth ate and worshipped; all men, that go down into earth, shall fall down in his sight. And my soul shall live to him; (All the proud people of the earth shall eat at his feasts, and they shall worship him; all those, who go down into the earth, yea, who go down into the grave, shall bow down before him. And my soul shall live for him;)

³⁰ and my seed shall serve him. A generation to coming shall be told to the Lord; (and my children, or my descendants, shall serve him. The generations to come shall be told about the Lord;)

³¹ and heavens shall tell his rightfulness to the people that shall be born, whom the Lord made. (they shall tell of his righteousness to the people yet to be born, yea, what the Lord hath done/that the Lord hath done this.)

¹⁷ And Jesse said to David his son, Take thou to thy brethren meat made of meal, the measure of ephah, and these ten loaves, and run thou in to the tents to thy brethren; (And Jesse said to his son David, Take thou to thy brothers this meal of roasted grain, an ephah in measure, and these ten loaves, and run thou to thy brothers’ camp;)

¹⁸ and thou shalt bare to the tribune these ten small cheeses; and thou shalt visit thy brethren, whether they do rightly (and see if all is well), and learn thou, with which men they be ordained.

¹⁹ Forsooth Saul, and they, and all the sons of Israel in the valley of Terebinth fought against the Philistines. (Now Saul, and David’s brothers, and all the Israelites were in the Elah Valley fighting against the Philistines.)

²⁰ And so David rose (up) early, and he betook the flock to a keeper, and he went charged, as Jesse commanded to him; and he came to the place of Magal, and to the host, the which host went out to the fight, and it cried [out] in the fighting (and he came to the place of the circle of the camp, and to the army, who were going out to the battle, and were shouting out the war-cry).

²¹ For Israel had ordained (the) battle array; and even against them, the Philistines were ready also (and opposite them, the Philistines were also ready).

²² Then David left the vessels, that he had brought, under the hand of a keeper at the fardels, and he ran to the place of [the] battle, and he asked, if all things were done rightly with his brethren (and he asked his brothers if all was well).

²³ And when he spake yet to them, that bastard appeared, Goliath by name, the Philistine of Gath, and he went up from the tents of the Philistines; and while he spake these same words, David heard. (And while he spoke to them, that champion appeared, Goliath by name, the Philistine of Gath, and he went up from the Philistines’ camp; and when he spoke the same words as before, then David heard them.)

²⁴ And when all the men of Israel had seen the man, they fled from his sight, and dreaded him greatly (and were greatly afraid of him).

²⁵ And each man of Israel said to (the) other, Whether thou hast seen this man that hath gone up? forsooth he went up to say shame, or reproof, to Israel; therefore the king shall make rich with great riches the man that slayeth that Philistine; and the king shall give his daughter to that man, and shall make the house of his father without (having to pay) tribute in Israel (and he shall let his father’s family be exempt from paying any taxes in Israel).

²⁶ And David spake to the men that stood with him, and said, What shall be given to the man that slayeth this Philistine, and doeth away shame from Israel? for who is this Philistine uncircumcised, that despiseth the battle arrays of God living? (for who is this uncircumcised Philistine who despiseth the battle arrays of the living God?)

²⁷ Forsooth the people told to him the same word, and said, These things shall be given to the man that slayeth him.

²⁸ And when Eliab, his more brother/the elder brother of David, had heard this, while he spake with other men, he was wroth against David, and said, Why camest thou hither, and why hast thou left those few sheep in desert, (and why hast thou left those few sheep back in the wilderness)? I know thy pride, and the waywardness of thine heart; for thou camest down to see the battle.

²⁹ And David said, What have I done? Whether it is not but a word? (Did I not just ask a question?)

³⁰ And David went thence a little from him to another man; and David said the same word, and the people answered to him the word as they did before (and David asked the same question, and the people gave him the same answer).

³⁴ And Peter opened his mouth, and said, In truth I have found, that God is no acceptor of persons;

³⁵ but in each folk he that dreadeth God, and worketh rightwiseness, is accept to him [is accepted to him].

³⁶ God sent a word to the children of Israel, showing peace by Jesus Christ; this is Lord of all things [this is the Lord of all men].

³⁷ Ye know the word that is made through all Judaea, and began at Galilee [forsooth beginning from Galilee], after the baptism that John preached, Jesus of Nazareth;

³⁸ how God anointed him with the Holy Ghost, and virtue; which passed forth in doing well [which passed forth in well-doing], and healing all men oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.

³⁹ And we be witnesses of all things, which he did in the country of Jews, and of Jerusalem [and Jerusalem]; whom they slew, hanging on a tree.

⁴⁰ And God raised this in the third day, and gave him to be made known,

⁴¹ not to all the people, but to witnesses before-ordained of God; to us that ate and drank with him, after that he rose again from death [from dead].

⁴² And he commanded to us to preach to the people, and to witness, that he it is, that is ordained of God doomsman of the quick and of the dead [that is ordained of God doomsman of quick and dead].

⁴³ To this all prophets bear witnessing [To this all prophets bear witness], that all men that believe in him, shall receive remission of sins by his name.

⁴⁴ And yet while that Peter spake these words, the Holy Ghost felled [fell] on all that heard the word.

⁴⁵ And the faithful men of circumcision, that came with Peter, wondered [And the faithful of circumcision wondered, that came with Peter], that also into nations the grace of the Holy Ghost is shed out.

⁴⁶ For they heard them speaking in languages [Forsooth they heard them speak with tongues, or languages], and magnifying God. Then Peter answered,

⁴⁷ Whether any man may forbid water, that these be not baptized, that have also received the Holy Ghost as we [that have received the Holy Ghost as and we]?

⁴⁸ And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they prayed him, that he should dwell with them some days.

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

² As it is written in Esaias, the prophet, Lo! I send mine angel before thy face, that shall make thy way ready before thee.

³ The voice of a crier in desert, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make ye his paths right. [The voice of one crying in desert, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make ye his paths rightful.]

⁴ John was in desert baptizing, and preaching the baptism of penance, into remission of sins.

⁵ And all the country of Judaea went out to him, and all men of Jerusalem; and they were baptized of him in the flume Jordan [and were baptized of him in the flood of Jordan], acknowledging their sins.

⁶ And John was clothed with hairs of camels, and a girdle of skin was about his loins; and he ate honeysuckles, and wild honey,^[a]

⁷ and preached, and said [saying], A stronger than I shall come after me, and I am not worthy to kneel down, and unloose [the thong of] his shoes.

⁸ I have baptized you in water; but he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost.

⁹ And it was done in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

¹⁰ And at once he went up of the water, and saw heavens opened, and the Holy Ghost coming down as a culver [And anon he ascending up of the water, saw heavens opened, and the Spirit coming down as a culver], and dwelling on him.

¹¹ And a voice was made from heavens, Thou art my loved Son, in thee I am pleased.

¹² And at once the Spirit put him forth into desert. [And anon the Spirit putted out him into desert.]

¹³ And he was in desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted of Satan, and he was with beasts [and was with beasts], and angels ministered to him.