Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

30 The psalm of [the] song, for the hallowing of the house of David. Lord, I shall enhance thee, for thou hast up-taken me; and thou delightedest not mine enemies on me. (The psalm of the song, for the dedication of the house of David. Lord, I shall exalt thee, for thou hast taken me up/for thou hast lifted me up; and thou hast not let my enemies have delight, or to gloat, over me.)

² My Lord God, I cried to thee; and thou madest me whole.

³ Lord, thou leddest out my soul from hell; thou savedest me from them that go down into the pit. (Lord, thou hast led me up from Sheol, or the land of the dead; thou hast pulled me out from among those who go down into the pit.)

⁴ Ye saints of the Lord, sing to the Lord; and acknowledge ye to the mind of his holiness (and give ye thanks at the remembrance of his holiness).

⁵ For ire is in his indignation; and life is in his will (For there is anger in his indignation; but there is life in his favour). Weeping shall dwell at eventide; and gladness at the morrowtide.

⁶ Forsooth I said in my plenty; I shall not be moved [into] without end. (But I said in the midst of my plenty, or of my abundance, I shall never be shaken, or defeated.)

⁷ Lord, in thy will; thou hast given virtue to my fairness. Thou turnedest away thy face from me; and I am made troubled. (Lord, by thy favour, thou hast protected me; yea, like a mountain stronghold. But then thou hast turned thy face away from me; and I was greatly troubled.)

⁸ Lord, I shall cry to thee; and I shall pray to my God. (Lord, I cried to thee; yea, I prayed to my God.)

⁹ What profit is in my blood; while I go down into corruption? Whether dust shall acknowledge to thee; either it shall tell thy truth? (And I said, What profit is there in my death; if I go down into the pit? Shall the dust then praise thee? or can it tell about thy truth?)

¹⁰ The Lord heard, and had mercy on me; the Lord is made mine helper. (Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me; Lord, be thou my helper.)

¹¹ Thou hast turned my wailing into joy to me; thou hast rent my sackcloth, and hast (en)compassed me with gladness. (And now, thou hast turned my wailing into joy for me; thou hast torn off my sackcloth, and surrounded me with gladness.)

¹² That my glory sing to thee, and I be not compunct; my Lord God, I shall acknowledge to thee [into] without end. (So that my spirit may sing to thee, and I shall never be silent; my Lord God, I shall thank thee forever.)

14 Forsooth Joab, the son of Zeruiah, understood, that the heart of the king was turned to(ward) Absalom;

² and he sent to Tekoah, and took from thence a wise woman, and he said to her, Feign thee to mourn, and be thou clothed with a cloak of dole, and be thou not anointed with oil, that thou be as a woman by mourning now in full much time a dead man (so that thou be like a woman now after a great deal of time mourning for her husband).

³ And thou shalt enter to the king, and thou shalt speak to him such manner words. And Joab put the words in her mouth.

⁴ Therefore when the woman of Tekoah had entered to the king, she felled before him on the earth, and worshipped, and said, O! king, keep thou me. (And so when the woman from Tekoah had entered before the king, she fell on the ground before him, and honoured him, and said, O! king, help thou me.)

⁵ And the king said to her, What hast thou of cause? And she answered, Alas! I am a woman widow, for mine husband is dead; (And the king said to her, What is thy problem? And she answered, Alas! I am a widow woman, for my husband is dead;)

⁶ and twain sons were of thine handmaid, which debated against themselves in the field, and none was that might forbid them, and the one smote the tother, and killed him. (and thy servantess had two sons, who raged against each other out in the field, and no one could separate them, and one of them struck the other, and killed him.)

⁷ And lo! all the kindred riseth against thine handmaid, and saith, Give thou him to us that killed his brother, that we slay him, for the life of his brother whom he killed, and that we do away the heir; and they seek to quench my spark that is left, that the name dwell not to mine husband, and that remnants be not to him on earth. (And lo! all the kinsmen riseth against thy servantess, and saith, Give thou to us he who killed his brother, so that we can kill him for taking his brother’s life, and so that we can do away the heir; yea, they seek to quench what is left of my spark, so that my husband’s name not remain, and that there be no remnant of him left here on the earth.)

⁸ And the king said to the woman, Go into thine house, and I shall (give a) command for thee.

⁹ And the woman of Tekoah said to the king, My lord the king, this wickedness be on me, and on the house of my father; forsooth (let) the king and his throne be innocent/be guiltless.

¹⁰ And the king said, Bring thou him to me, that against-saith thee, and he shall no more add to (it,) that he touch thee.

¹¹ And she said, The king have mind on his Lord God, and the next (kins)men of blood to take vengeance be not multiplied, and they shall not slay my son. And the king said, The Lord liveth, for none of the hairs of thy son shall fall upon the earth. (And she said, May the king pray to the Lord his God, that the kinsmen who be next of blood, and who desire vengeance, be not able to take it, and so they shall not kill my son. And the king said, As the Lord liveth, none of the hairs of thy son shall fall on the ground!)

⁶ And it was done, while I went, and approached to Damascus, at midday suddenly from heaven a great plenty of light shone about me. [Forsooth it was done, while I went and nighed to Damascus, in the midday suddenly from heaven a copious light shone about me.]

⁷ And I felled down to the earth, and heard a voice from heaven, saying to me, Saul, Saul, what pursuest thou me? It is hard to thee to kick against the prick [It is hard for thee for to kick against the prick].

⁸ And I answered, Who art thou Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou pursuest.

⁹ And they that were with me saw but the light [And they that were with me saw soothly the light], but they heard not the voice of him, that spake with me.

¹⁰ And I said, Lord, what shall I do? And the Lord said to me, Rise thou, and go to Damascus; and there it shall be said to thee, of all things which it behooveth thee to do.

¹¹ And when I saw not, for the clarity of that light, I was led by the hand of fellows, and I came to Damascus.

¹² And a man, Ananias, that by the law had witnessing of all Jews dwelling in Damascus, [Forsooth some man, Ananias, after the law having witnessing of all Jews dwelling in Damascus,]

¹³ came to me, and stood nigh, and said to me, Saul, brother, behold. And I in the same hour beheld into him.

¹⁴ And he said, God of our fathers hath before-ordained thee, that thou shouldest know the will of him, and shouldest see the rightful man [and shouldest see just Christ], and hear the voice of his mouth.

¹⁵ For thou shalt be his witness to all men, of those things that thou hast seen and heard.

¹⁶ And now, what dwellest thou? Rise up, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, by the name of him called to help [Rise up, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, in-call the name of him].

¹⁷ And it was done to me, as I turned again into [to] Jerusalem, and prayed in the temple, that I was made in ravishing of soul,

¹⁸ and I saw him saying to me, Hie thou, and go out fast of Jerusalem, for they shall not receive thy witnessing of me.

¹⁹ And I said, Lord, they know, that I was closing together in prison, and beating by synagogues them that believed into thee [them that believed in thee].

²⁰ And when the blood of Stephen, thy witness, was shed out [was shed], I stood nigh, and consented, and kept the clothes of men that slew him.

²¹ And he said to me, Go thou, for I shall send thee far to nations.