Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

140 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, deliver thou me from an evil man; deliver thou me from a wicked man. (To victory, the song of David. Lord, save thou me from evil people; yea, save thou me from violent, or wicked, people.)

² Which thought wickednesses in the heart; all day they ordained battles. (Who always think in their hearts about doing wicked things; who plan out battles all day long/day after day.)

³ They sharpened their tongues as serpents; the venom of snakes is under the lips of them. (Their tongues be sharp like the fangs of serpents; the venom of snakes is on their lips.)

⁴ Lord, keep thou me from the hand of the sinner; and deliver thou me from wicked men. Which thought to deceive my goings; (Lord, keep thou me safe from the power of the sinner; and save thou me from the wicked, from those who think out ways to thwart my progress.)

⁵ proud men hid a snare to me. And they laid forth cords into a snare; they setted (a) trap to me beside the way. (Proud people hid a snare for me, yea, they laid out cords for a snare; they set a trap for me along the way.)

⁶ I said to the Lord, Thou art my God; Lord, hear thou the voice of my beseeching (Lord, hear thou the words of my plea).

⁷ Lord, Lord, the virtue of mine health; thou madest shadow on mine head in the day of battle. (Lord, Lord, my strong salvation/my strong deliverance; thou madest a shadow upon my head on the day of battle.)

⁸ Lord, betake thou not me from my desire to the sinner; they thought against me, forsake thou not me, lest peradventure they be enhanced. (Lord, do not thou deliver me unto the desires of the sinners; they have planned to harm me, so abandon thou me not, lest they gain an advantage over me.)

⁹ The head of the compass of them; the travail of their lips shall cover them. (As for the leaders of those who surround me; let the treachery of their own lips ensnare them.)

¹⁰ Coals shall fall on them, thou shalt cast them down into fire; in(to) wretchednesses (where) they shall not (be able to) stand. (Let burning coals fall upon them, and be they thrown down into the fire; yea, into a wretchedness from which they shall never be able to escape.)

¹¹ A man that is a great jangler shall not be (well-) directed in earth (A man who is a great gossip, or a slanderer, shall not be successful in the world); evils shall take an unjust man in(to) perishing.

¹² I have known, that the Lord shall make doom of a needy man; and the vengeance of poor men. (I know, that the Lord shall make judgement in favour of the needy; and he shall take vengeance for the poor.)

¹³ Nevertheless just men shall acknowledge to thy name; and rightful men shall dwell with thy cheer. (Truly the righteous shall give thanks to thy name; and the upright shall live in thy presence./Truly the righteous shall praise thy name; and the upright shall worship before thee.)

¹⁶ The Lord of hosts saith these things, Do not ye hear the words of [the] prophets, that prophesy to you, and deceive you; they speak the vision of their heart, not of the mouth of the Lord. (The Lord of hosts saith these things, Do not ye listen to the words of the prophets, who prophesy to you, and deceive you; they speak the vision of their own hearts, and not from the mouth of the Lord.)

¹⁷ They say to them that blaspheme me, The Lord spake, Peace shall be to you; and they said to each man that goeth in the shrewdness of his heart, Evil shall not come [up]on you. (They say to those who blaspheme me, The Lord spoke, Peace shall be to you; and they said to each person who goeth in the depravity of his own heart, Evil shall not come upon you.)

¹⁸ For why who is present in the counsel of the Lord (For who hath stood in the council of the Lord), and saw, and heard his word? who beheld, and heard the word of him?

¹⁹ Lo! the whirlwind of the Lord’s indignation shall go out, and tempest breaking [out] shall come on the head of wicked men.

²⁰ The strong vengeance of the Lord shall not turn again, till that he do, and till that he [ful]fill the thought of his heart. In the last days ye shall understand the counsel of him.

²¹ I sent not the prophets, and they ran; I spake not to them, and they prophesied.

²² If they had stood in my counsel, and had made known my words to my people, forsooth I had turned them away from their evil way, and from their worst thoughts. (But if they had stood in my council, and had told out my words to my people, then they would have turned them away from their evil ways, and from their worst thoughts.)

¹⁶ Lo! I send you as sheep in the middle of wolves; therefore be ye sly as serpents, and simple as doves.^[a]

¹⁷ But be ye ware of men, for they shall take you in councils, and they shall beat you in their synagogues;

¹⁸ and to mayors, or presidents, and to kings, ye shall be led for me, in witnessing to them, and to heathen men.

¹⁹ But when they take you, do not ye think, how or what thing ye shall speak [But when they shall take, or betray, you, do not ye think, how or what ye shall speak], for it shall be given to you in that hour, what ye shall speak;

²⁰ for it be not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father, that speaketh in you.

²¹ And the brother shall betake the brother into death, and the father the son, and [the] sons shall rise against [their] father and mother, and shall torment them by death [and shall torment them to death].

²² And ye shall be in hate to all men for my name; but he that shall dwell still into the end, shall be made safe. [And ye shall be in hatred to all men for my name; forsooth he that shall continue till into the end, shall be safe.]

²³ And when they pursue you in this city, flee ye into another. Truly I say to you, ye shall not end the cities of Israel, before that man's Son come [till that man's Son come].

²⁴ The disciple is not above the master [The disciple is not above his master], nor the servant above his lord;

²⁵ it is enough to the disciple, that he be as his master, and to the servant as his lord. If they have called the husbandman Beelzebub [If they have called the husbandman, or the father of (the) household, Beelzebub], how much more his household members?