Book of Common Prayer

88 The song of the psalm, to the sons of Korah, to victory on Mahalath, for to answer the learning of Heman, (the) Ezrahite. Lord God of mine health; I cried in day and night before thee. (The song of the psalm, for the sons of Korah, to victory on Mahalath, to answer the teaching of Heman, the Ezrahite. Lord God of my salvation; I have cried day and night before thee.)

² My prayer enter before thy sight (Let my prayer come before thee); bow down thine ear to my prayer.

³ For my soul is [full-]filled with evils; and my life nighed to hell. (For my soul is filled full of evils; and my life came near to Sheol, that is, the land of the dead/and my life nighed to the grave.)

⁴ I am guessed with them that go down into the pit; I am made as a man without help,

⁵ and free among dead men. As men wounded sleeping in sepulchres, of which men none (thou) is mindful (of) after; and they be put away from thine hand. (and free among the dead. Like the slain who sleep in tombs, or graves, of whom there is no one thou remembereth any more; yea, they all be cut off from thy help, or thy care.)

⁶ They have put me in the lower pit; in dark places, and in the shadow of death.

⁷ Thy strong vengeance is confirmed on me (Thy fury hath raged against me); and thou hast brought in all thy waves on me.

⁸ Thou hast made far from me my known; they have set me (an) abomination to themselves. I am taken (in), and I went not out; (Thou hast taken all my friends far away from me; thou hast made me an abomination to them. I am enclosed, and I cannot go out;)

⁹ mine eyes were sick for poverty [mine eyes (were) (en)feebled for mis-ease]. Lord, I cried to thee; all day I spreaded abroad mine hands to thee. (my eyes have been weakened from suffering. Lord, I cried to thee; and every day I spread abroad my hands to thee.)

¹⁰ Whether thou shalt do marvels to dead men; either leeches shall raise (them up), and they shall acknowledge to thee? (Shalt thou do marvellous deeds for the dead? or shall physicians raise them up, and then they shall praise thee?)

¹¹ Whether any man in sepulchre shall tell thy mercy; and thy truth in perdition? (Shall any man in the tomb, or in the grave, tell of thy love? or in perdition, tell of thy faithfulness?)

¹² Whether thy marvels shall be known in darknesses; and thy rightfulness in the land of forgetting? (Shall thy marvellous deeds be known in the dark places? or thy righteousness in the land of the forgotten?/in the land of oblivion?)

¹³ And, Lord, I cried to thee; and early my prayer shall before come to thee. (But, Lord, I cried to thee; and every morning my prayer hath come before thee.)

¹⁴ Lord, why puttest thou away my prayer; thou turnest away thy face from me? (Lord, why puttest thou me away? why rejectest me? why turnest thou away thy face from me?)

¹⁵ I am poor, and in travails from my youth; soothly I am enhanced, and I am made low, and troubled. (I am poor, and have had troubles from my youth; truly I am abased, and greatly troubled.)

¹⁶ Thy wraths passed on me; and thy dreads troubled me. (Thy rages have swept over me/Thy anger hath come upon me; and thy terrors have made me afraid.)

¹⁷ They (en)compassed me as water all day; they (en)compassed me (al)together. (They surrounded me like water all day long; they have completely surrounded me.)

¹⁸ Thou madest far from me a friend and neighbour; and my known from wretchedness. (Thou hast taken my friends and my neighbours far away from me; and now wretchedness is my only companion.)

91 He that dwelleth in the help of the highest God; shall dwell in the protection of God of heaven. (He who dwelleth in the shelter of the Most High God, shall live under the protection of the God of heaven.)

² He shall say to the Lord, Thou art mine up-taker, and my refuge; my God, I shall hope in him. (He shall say to the Lord, Thou art my defender, and my refuge; my God, I trust in thee.)

³ For he delivered me from the snare of hunters; and from a sharp word. (For he shall save me from the hunter’s snare; and from a sharp word.)

⁴ With his shoulders he shall make shadow to thee; and thou shalt have hope under his feathers. His truth shall (en)compass thee with a shield; (With his feathers he shall make a shadow for thee; and thou shalt have hope under his wings. His faithfulness shall surround thee like a shield.)

⁵ thou shalt not dread of the night’s dread. Of an arrow flying in the day, (Thou shalt not fear the terror in the night; nor an arrow flying in the day.)

⁶ of a goblin going in darknesses; of assailing, and of a midday fiend. (Nor the pestilence going in darkness; nor the assailing of the plague at midday.)

⁷ A thousand shall fall down from thy side, and ten thousand from thy right side; forsooth it shall not nigh to thee. (A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right side; but it shall not come even close to thee.)

⁸ Nevertheless thou shalt behold with thine eyes; and thou shalt see the yielding of sinners. (Nevertheless thou shalt see with thine eyes; yea, thou shalt see the punishment of the sinners.)

⁹ For thou, Lord, art mine hope; thou hast set thine help (to be the) alder-Highest. (For thou hast made the Lord to be thy hope; yea, the Most High to be thy help.)

¹⁰ Evil shall not come to thee; and a scourge shall not (come) nigh to thy tabernacle.

¹¹ For God hath commanded to his angels of thee; that they keep thee in all thy ways. (For God hath commanded his angels to be all around thee; so that they keep thee safe on all thy ways.)

¹² They shall bear thee in the hands; lest peradventure thou hurt thy foot at a stone. (They shall lift thee up with their hands; lest thou hurt thy foot on a stone.)

¹³ Thou shalt go upon a snake, and a cockatrice; and thou shalt defoul a lion, and a dragon (and thou shalt trample upon a lion, and a dragon).

¹⁴ (For God saith,) For he hoped in me, I shall deliver him (For God saith, Because he loved me, I shall save him); I shall defend him, for he knew my name.

¹⁵ He cried to me, and I shall hear him; I am with him in tribulation; I shall deliver him, and I shall glorify him. (When he crieth to me, I shall answer him; I shall be with him in all his troubles; I shall rescue him, and I shall honour him.)

¹⁶ I shall [ful]fill him with the length of days; and I shall show mine health to him. (I shall fulfill him with length of days, that is, with a long life; and I shall give my salvation, or my deliverance, to him/and I shall save him.)

92 The psalm of song, in the day of sabbath. It is good to acknowledge to the Lord; and to sing to thy name, thou Highest. (The psalm of the song, on the sabbath day. It is good to give thanks to the Lord; and to sing unto thy name, O Most High.)

² To show early thy mercy; and thy truth by night. (To declare thy love in the morning; and thy faithfulness every night.)

³ In a psaltery of ten cords; with song in harp. (On a lute with ten strings; and with a song on the harp.)

⁴ For thou, Lord, hast delighted me in (the works of) thy making; and I shall make full out joy in the works of thine hands. (For thou, Lord, hast delighted me with thy deeds, or thy acts; and I shall rejoice over the works of thy hands.)

⁵ Lord, thy works be magnified greatly; thy thoughts be made full deep. (Lord, thy works be truly great; thy thoughts be so very deep!)

⁶ An unwise man shall not know; and a fool shall not understand these things. (But this is what the ignorant do not know; and what the foolish do not understand.)

⁷ When sinners come forth, as hay; and all they appear, that work wickedness. That they perish into the world of world; (That even though the sinners come forth like hay, or like grass, and that those who do evil prosper; they shall all utterly perish forever.)

⁸ forsooth thou, Lord, art the Highest, [into] without end. (But thou, Lord, art the Most High, forever.)

⁹ For lo! Lord, thine enemies, for lo! thine enemies shall perish; and all they shall be scattered that work wickedness (and all who do evil shall be destroyed).

¹⁰ And mine horn shall be raised as an unicorn; and mine eld (age shall be) in plenteous mercy. (But my head shall be raised up, like the horn of a wild ox; and I shall be richly anointed with oil.)

¹¹ And mine eye despised mine enemies; and when wicked men rise against me, mine ear shall hear (their downfall). (And my eyes shall see my heart’s desire for my enemies/And my eyes shall see the defeat of my enemies; and my ears shall hear the downfall of the wicked people who rise up against me.)

¹² A just man shall flower as a palm tree; he shall be multiplied as a cedar of Lebanon. (The righteous shall flourish like the palm trees; they shall be multiplied like the cedars of Lebanon.)

¹³ Men planted in the house of the Lord; shall flower in the porches of the house of our God. (Those who be planted in the House of the Lord; shall flourish in the courtyards of the House of our God.)

¹⁴ Yet they shall be multiplied in plenteous eld (age); and they shall be suffering well. (They shall be granted a plentiful old age; and they shall be strong, and vigorous/and they shall be prosperous, and flourishing.)

¹⁵ That they tell, that our Lord God is rightful; and no wickedness is in him. (And they shall declare that the Lord our God is righteous; and there is no wickedness in him.)

⁴¹ And king Antiochus wrote to all his realm, that all the people should be one.

⁴² And they forsook each man his law; and all folks consented by [or after] the word of king Antiochus,

⁴³ and many of Israel consented to him, and sacrificed to idols, and defouled (or defiled) (the) sabbath.

⁴⁴ And king Antiochus sent books by the hands of messengers into Jerusalem, and into all cities of Judea, that they should (pur)sue (or follow) (the) laws of (the) folks of (the) earth,

⁴⁵ and should forbid burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices, and pleasings for to be done in the temple of God, and that they should forbid the sabbath for to be hallowed, and solemn days,

⁴⁶ and holy things for to be defouled (or that they should defile the Temple), and the holy people of Israel.

⁴⁷ And he commanded altars for to be builded, and temples, and idols; and swine’s flesh for to be sacrificed, and unclean beasts;

⁴⁸ and for to leave their sons uncircumcised, and the souls of them for to be defouled (or defiled) in all uncleannesses and abominations,

⁴⁹ so that they should forget the law, and should change all the justifyings of God.

⁵⁰ And (that) whoever did not by the word of king Antiochus, should die.

⁵¹ By all these words he wrote to all his realm, and above-set [or before-set] princes to the people (and set leaders over the people), which should constrain these things for to be done. And they commanded to (the) cities of Judea for to make sacrifice.

⁵² And many of the people were gathered to them, which forsook the law of the Lord, and did evils on (the) earth (or in the land).

⁵³ And they drived out the people of Israel from (or into) privy places, and in(to) hid places of fugitives, either fleeing men. [and drove out the people of Israel of privy places, and in hid places of fugitives, or fleeing men.]

⁵⁴ In the fifteenth day of the month Kislev, that answereth to our November, in the hundred and five and fortieth year, king Antiochus builded (the) abominable idol of desolation, either [or (of)] discomfort, on the altar of God; and by all (the) cities of Judea in compass they builded altars.

⁵⁵ And before the gates of the houses and in streets, they burnt incenses, and sacrificed;

⁵⁶ and burnt by fire the books of the law of God, and carved them (up).

⁵⁷ And with whomever the books of [the] testament of the Lord were found, and whoever kept the law of the Lord, by [or after] the commandment of the king, they slew him.

⁵⁸ In their virtue, either power, they did these things to the people of Israel, that was found in each month in the cities.

⁵⁹ And in the five and twentieth day of the month, they sacrificed on the (idol) altar, that was against (or on top of) the altar of God.

⁶⁰ And women, that circumcised their sons, were strangled, by [or after] (the) commandment of king Antiochus;

⁶¹ and they hanged (the) children by the necks, by all (the) houses of them, and strangled them that (had) circumcised them.

⁶² And many of the people of Israel determined, either fully deemed, with(in) them(selves), that they should not eat unclean things,

⁶³ and choosed more for to die, than for to be defouled with unclean meats. And they would not break the holy law of God, and they were slain;

¹¹ And I saw heaven opened, and lo! a white horse, and he that sat on [upon] him was called Faithful and soothfast; and with rightwiseness he deemeth, and fighteth.

¹² And his eyes were as flame of fire, and in his head many diadems; and he had a name written, which no man knew, but he.

¹³ And he was clothed in a cloak sprinkled with blood; and the name of him was called The Son of God. [And he was clothed in a cloth sprinkled with blood; and the name of him was called The word, or Son, of God.]

¹⁴ And the hosts that be in heaven, followed him on white horses, clothed with fine linen [clothed with bisso], white and clean.

¹⁵ And a sword sharp on either side [And a sword sharp on each side] came forth of his mouth, that with it he smite folks; and he shall rule them with an iron rod. And he treadeth the presser of wine of strong vengeance [and] of the wrath of almighty God.

¹⁶ And he hath written in his cloak, and in the hip [And he hath written in his cloth, and in his hem], King of kings and Lord of lords.

¹³ And Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea of Philippi, and asked his disciples, and said [saying], Whom say men to be man's Son?

¹⁴ And they said, Some John Baptist; others Elias; and others Jeremy, or one of the prophets.

¹⁵ Jesus said to them [Jesus saith to them], But whom say ye me to be?

¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, and said, Thou art Christ, the Son of God living [Thou art Christ, the Son of quick God].

¹⁷ [Forsooth] Jesus answered, and said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood showed not to thee, but my Father that is in heavens.

¹⁸ And I say to thee, that thou art Peter, and on this stone I shall build my church, and the gates of hell shall not have power against it. [And I say to thee, for thou art Peter, and upon this stone I shall build my church, and the gates of hell shall not have might, or strength, against it.]

¹⁹ And to thee I shall give the keys of the kingdom of heavens; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound also in heavens; and whatever thou shalt unbind on earth, shall be unbound also in heavens.

²⁰ Then he commanded to his disciples, that they should say to no man, that he was Jesus Christ.