Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

64 To victory, the psalm of David. God, hear thou my prayer, when I beseech; deliver thou my soul from dread of the enemy. (To victory, the song of David. God, hear thou my prayer, when I beseech thee; save thou me from the threats of my enemies.)

² Thou hast defended me from the covent of evil-doers; from the multitude of them that work wickedness. (Thou hast protected me from the plots of the evil-doers; yea, from the many who do evil.)

³ For they sharpened their tongues as a sword, they bend their bow, a bitter thing; (For they sharpened their tongues like swords, yea, they bent their bows, and shot out bitter words;)

⁴ for to shoot in huddles, or privates, him that is unwemmed. Suddenly they shall shoot him, and they shall not dread; (to secretly attack he who is without blemish, or without fault. Suddenly they shall shoot at him, and they shall not fear;)

⁵ they made steadfast to themselves a wicked word. They told, that they should hide snares; they said, Who shall see them? (for they encouraged each other in their evil plots. And they told one another to hide their snares; even though they also said, But who shall see them?)

⁶ They sought wickednesses; they sought, and failed (not) in seeking. A man nighed to [a] deep heart; (They sought out wickednesses; yea, they sought them out, and failed not in finding them, for their hearts be dark and deep.)

⁷ and God shall be enhanced. The arrows of little men, that is, (of) envious men, be made the wounds of them; (But God shall shoot his arrows at them; and then suddenly they shall be the ones who be wounded.)

⁸ and the tongues of them be made sick against them. All men be troubled, that saw them; (And their tongues, that is, their own evil words, shall be their own undoing. And all who see them shall shake their heads;)

⁹ and each man dreaded. And they told the works of God; and they understood the deeds of him. (and every person shall be afraid. And they shall tell about the works of God; for they shall understand his deeds, that is, why he hath done all this.)

¹⁰ The just man shall be glad in the Lord, and shall hope in him; and all men of rightful heart shall be praised. (The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust him; and all who have upright hearts shall praise him.)

18 Then Bildad (the) Shuhite answered, and said,

² Unto what end shalt thou boast with words? Understand thou us first, and so speak we together. (Unto what end shalt thou continue to boast with your words? First listen to us, and then we shall speak together.)

³ Why be we areckoned as beasts, and why have we been (judged) foul before thee?

⁴ What, or why, losest thou thy soul in thy strong vengeance? Whether the earth shall be forsaken for thee, and hard stones shall be borne over from their place, (just for thee)?

⁵ Whether the light of a wicked man shall not be quenched; and the flame of his fire shall not shine? (The light of the wicked shall be quenched; and the flame of his fire shall not shine!)

⁶ Light shall wax dark in his tabernacle; and the lantern, which is on him, shall be quenched. (The light shall grow dark in his tent; and the lantern, which shineth on him, shall be quenched.)

⁷ The steps of his strength shall be made strait; and his (own) counsel shall cast him down.

⁸ For he hath sent, or put, his feet into a net; and he goeth in the meshes, or knittings, thereof.

⁹ His foot shall be holden with a snare; and thirst shall burn out against him.

¹⁰ The foot-trap of him is hid in the earth, and his snare is laid on the path. (A foot-trap is hid on the ground for him, and a snare is laid on the path for him.)

¹¹ Dreads shall make him afeared on every side, and shall bewrap his feet. (Terror shall make him afraid on every side, and shall enwrap, or shall bind, his feet.)

¹² His strength [shall] be made feeble by hunger; and poverty (shall) assail his ribs.

¹³ Devour it the fairness of his skin; the first engendered (of) death waste his arms. (Disease shall devour the beauty of his skin; and Death’s first-born shall destroy, or shall eat up, his arms and his legs.)

¹⁴ His trust be taken away from his tabernacle; and perishing, as a king, above-tread on him. (He shall be torn away from the safety of his tent; and perishing, or destruction, shall tread all over him, like a king.)

¹⁵ The fellows of him that is not, that is, the fellows of a dead man, dwell in his tabernacle; and brimstone be sprinkled in his tabernacle. (The fellows, or friends, of him who is not, that is, the friends of he who is dead, shall live in his tent; and brimstone, or sulphur, shall be sprinkled all around it to ward off evil.)

¹⁶ The roots of him be made dry beneath; and be his ripe corn all-broken above. (His roots shall be made dry beneath; and all his branches shall wither above.)

¹⁷ His mind perish from the earth; and his name be not made solemn in streets. (His memory shall perish from the earth; and his name shall be forgotten in the streets.)

¹⁸ He shall put him out from light into darknesses; and he shall bear him over from the world. (He shall be put out from the light into the darkness; and he shall be carried over from this world into the next.)

¹⁹ Neither his seed, neither his kindred, shall be in his people, neither any remnants of them (shall be) left in his countries. (Neither his descendants, nor his kindred, shall be among his own people, nor shall any remnant of them be left in his land.)

²⁰ The last men (of him) shall wonder in his days; and hideousness shall assail the first men. (The people who come after him shall wonder at his day; just as horror assailed those who came before him.)

²¹ Therefore these be the tabernacles of a wicked man; and this is the place of him, that knoweth not God. (And so such shall be the fate of the wicked; the end, or the place, of those, who do not know God.)

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to them that perish; but to them that be made safe, that is to say, to us, it is the virtue of God.

¹⁹ For it is written, I shall destroy the wisdom of wise men [I shall lose the wisdom of wise men], and I shall reprove the prudence of prudent men.

²⁰ Where is the wise man? where is the wise lawyer [where is the writer, or man of law]? where is the purchaser of this world? Whether God hath not made the wisdom of this world fond [Whether God hath not made the wisdom of this world foolish]?

²¹ For the world in wisdom of God knew not God by wisdom [For why for in the wisdom of God the world knew not God by wisdom], it pleased to God, by [the] folly of preaching, to make them safe that believed.

²² For Jews seek signs, and Greeks seek wisdom;

²³ but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews cause of stumbling [to Jews soothly offence], and to heathen men folly;

²⁴ but to those Jews and Greeks that be called, we preach Christ the virtue of God and the wisdom of God. [forsooth to them called, Jews and Greeks, Christ the virtue of God, and the wisdom of God.]

²⁵ For that that is folly thing of God, is wiser than men; and that that is the feeble thing of God [and that that is the sick thing, or frail, of God], is stronger than men.

²⁶ But, brethren, see ye your calling [Forsooth, see ye your calling, brethren]; for not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble.

²⁷ But God chose those things that be fond of the world, to confound wise men; and God chose the feeble things of the world, to confound the strong things; [But God chose those things that be foolish of the world, that he confound wise men; and God chose the sick things, or frail, of the world, that he confound the strong things;]

²⁸ and God chose the unnoble things and despisable things of the world, and those things that be not, to destroy those things that be;

²⁹ that each man have not glory in his sight. [that each flesh, or man, glory not in his sight.]

³⁰ But of him ye be in Christ Jesus, which is made of God to us wisdom, and rightwiseness, and holiness, and again-buying;

³¹ that, as it is written, He that glorieth, have glory in the Lord [He that glorieth, glory in the Lord].