Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

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;)

38 In the same time, Judah went down from his brethren, and turned to a man of Adullam, Hirah by name; (At that time, Judah went forth from his brothers, and came to a man of Adullam, named Hirah;)

² and he saw there a daughter of a man of Canaan, Shuah by name. And when he had taken her to wife, he entered [in] to her (her slept with her),

³ and she conceived, and childed a son, and (he) called his name Er.

⁴ And again when another child was conceived, she named the child (that was) born, Onan.

⁵ And she childed the third son, whom she called Shelah, and when he was born, she ceased to bear child more (she ceased to bear any more children). (And she bare her third son, whom she called Shelah, when she was at Chezib.)

⁶ Soothly Judah gave a wife, that was called Tamar, to his first begotten son Er.

⁷ And Er, the first begotten son of Judah, was wayward in the sight of the Lord, and therefore he was slain of the Lord (and so the Lord killed him).

⁸ Therefore Judah said to Onan, his son, Enter thou [in] to the wife of thy brother, and be thou fellowshipped to her, that thou raise seed to thy brother. (And so Judah said to his son Onan, Sleep with thy brother’s wife, and be fellowshipped to her, and so raise thou up seed, or some sons, for thy brother.)

⁹ And he knew that sons should not be born to him; and he entered [in] to the wife of his brother, and shedded his seed into the earth, lest the free children should be born by the name of the dead brother; (But Onan knew that any sons who would be born would not be his; so he slept with his brother’s wife, but he poured out his seed onto the ground, so that no children would be born in the name of his dead brother;)

¹⁰ and therefore the Lord smote him (and so the Lord struck him down), for he did (an) abominable thing.

¹¹ Wherefore Judah said to Tamar, his son’s wife, Be thou a widow in the house of thy father, till Shelah my son waxed (until my son Shelah hath grown up); for he dreaded lest also he should die as his brethren (did). And (so) she went, and dwelled in the house of her father.

¹² Forsooth when many years were passed, the daughter of Shuah, Judah’s wife, died; and when comfort was taken after mourning, Judah went up to the shearers of his sheep (After many years had passed, Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shuah, died; and after mourning her, when comfort was taken, Judah went up to his sheep-shearers); (yea,) he and Hirah of Adullam, that was [the] keeper of the flock, went up into Timnath.

¹³ And it was told to Tamar, that her husband’s father went up into Timnath, to shear sheep.

¹⁴ And she did away the clothes of (her) widowhood, and she took a rochet cloth with many wrinkles, and when the clothing was changed, she sat in the way-lot that leadeth to Timnath; for Shelah had waxed, and she had not (yet) taken him into husband (for although Shelah was now a grown man, she had not been given to him for a wife).

¹⁵ And when Judah had seen her, he supposed her to be a whore; for she had covered her face, lest she was known.

¹⁶ And Judah entered to her, and said, Suffer me that I lie with thee (And Judah went over to her, and said, Let me lie with you); for he knew not that she was the wife of his son. And when she answered, What shalt thou give to me, that thou lie with me?

¹⁷ he said, I shall send to thee a kid of the flocks. And again when she said, I shall suffer that that thou wilt, if thou shalt give to me a wed, till thou send that that thou promisest. (he said, I shall send thee a goat kid from the flocks. And she said, I shall give thee what thou desirest, if thou shalt give me a pledge, until thou send what thou hast promised.)

¹⁸ Judah said, What wilt thou that be given to thee for a wed? She answered, Thy ring, and thy band of the arm, and the staff which thou holdest in thine hand. Therefore the woman conceived at one lying-by, (Judah said, What desirest thou to be given to thee for a pledge? She answered, Thy ring, and thy arm band, and the staff which thou holdest in thy hand. And so he gave them to her, and lay with her, and the woman conceived in one lying-by,)

¹⁹ and she rose (up), and went [away]; and when the cloth was put away which she had taken, she was clothed (once again) in the clothes of widowhood.

²⁰ Forsooth Judah sent a kid by his shepherd of Adullam, that he should receive the wed which he had given to the woman; and when he had not found her, (And Judah sent a goat kid by his shepherd from Adullam, so that he could receive back the pledge which he had given to the woman; and when Hirah could not find her,)

²¹ he asked men of that place, Where is the woman that sat in the way-lot? And when all (the) men answered, A whore was not in this place;

²² he turned again to Judah, and said to him, I found not her, but also the men of that place said to me, that a whore sat never there. (Hirah returned to Judah, and said to him, I could not find her, and the men of that place told me, that a whore never sat there.)

²³ Judah said, Have she (those things) to herself, that we be not despised, certainly she may not reprove us of a leasing; I sent the kid which I promised, and thou foundest not her. (And Judah said, Let her have those things for herself, so that we be not despised, certainly she cannot rebuke us for lying; I sent the goat kid which I promised, but thou could not find her.)

²⁴ Lo! soothly after three months they told to Judah, and said, Tamar, thy son’s wife, hath done fornication, and her womb seemeth to wax great. Judah said, Bring her forth, (so) that she (can) be burnt(!).

²⁵ And when she was led (out) to her pain, she sent to her husband’s father, and said, I have conceived of the man, whose these things be; know thou whose is the ring, and the band of the arm, and the staff? (And when she was led out to her punishment, she sent to her husband’s father, and said, I have conceived by the man whose these things be; know thou whose ring, and arm band, and staff these be?)

²⁶ And when the gifts were known, Judah said, She is more just than I, for I gave not her to Shelah, my son; nevertheless Judah knew her no more fleshly. (And when the gifts were seen, Judah said, She is more in the right than I am, for I did not give her to my son Shelah; but Judah did not know her fleshly any more.)

¹⁰ And Paul answered, when the president granted [to] him to say, Of many years I know thee, that thou art doomsman to this folk, and I shall do enough for me with good reason.

¹¹ For thou mayest know, for to me be not more than twelve days [for to me be no more than twelve days], since I came up [for] to worship in Jerusalem;

¹² and neither in the temple they found me disputing with any man, neither making concourse of the people, neither in the synagogues, neither in city;

¹³ neither they be able to prove to thee, of the which things they now accuse me. [neither they may prove to thee, of which things they now accuse me.]

¹⁴ But I acknowledge to thee this thing, that after the sect which they say heresy, so I serve to God the Father, believing to all things that be written in the law and prophets;

¹⁵ and I have hope in God, which also they themselves abide, the again-rising to coming of just men and wicked.^[a]

¹⁶ In this thing [and] I study without hurting, to have conscience to God, and to men evermore.

¹⁷ But after many years, I came to do almsdeeds to my folk, and offerings, and avows [and offerings, and vows];

¹⁸ in which they found me purified in the temple, not with company, neither with noise. And they caught me, and they cried, and said [And they caught me, crying, and saying], Take away our enemy. And some Jews of Asia,

¹⁹ which it behooved to be now present at thee [whom it behooved to be now present at thee], and accuse, if they had any thing against me,

²⁰ either these themselves say [or these themselves say], if they found in me any thing of wickedness, since I stand in the council,

²¹ but only of this [one] voice, by which I cried standing among them, For of the again-rising of dead men I am deemed this day of you [For of the again-rising of dead I am deemed this day of you].

²² Soothly Felix delayed them, and knew most certainly of the way [Soothly Felix deferred them, most certainly he knowing of the way], and said, When Lysias, the tribune, shall come down, I shall hear you.

²³ And he commanded to a centurion to keep him, and that he had rest^[b], neither to forbid any man to minister of his own things to him.