Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

63 The psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Judah. God, my God, I wake to thee full early. My soul thirsted to thee; my flesh thirsted to thee full manyfold. In a land forsaken without way, and without water, (The song of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. God, my God, I wake up early, and I seek thee. My soul thirsteth for thee; my flesh greatly thirsteth for thee. Here in a desert/ed land, without a way, and without water.)

² so I appeared to thee in holy; that I should see thy virtue, and thy glory. (So I came to thee in the holy place; so that I could see thy strength, and thy glory.)

³ For thy mercy is better than lives (For thy love is better than living/is better than life itself); my lips shall praise thee.

⁴ So I shall bless thee in my life; and in thy name I shall raise mine hands. (So I shall bless thee all my life; and in thy name I shall raise up my hands.)

⁵ My soul be [ful]filled as with inner fatness and uttermore fatness; and my mouth shall praise with lips of full out joying (and my mouth shall praise thee with lips of rejoicing).

⁶ So I had mind on thee on my bed, in the morrowtides I shall think of thee; (And I remember thee as I lie on my bed, and in the morning, I think of thee;)

⁷ for thou hast been mine helper. And in the covering of thy wings I shall make full out joy, (for thou hast been my helper. And under the covering of thy wings I shall make great joy,)

⁸ my soul cleaved after thee; thy right hand took me up. (for my soul cleaveth to thee/for my soul followeth after thee; thy right hand lifteth me up.)

⁹ Forsooth they sought in vain my life, they shall enter into the lower things of earth; (And they, who seek to take my life, shall enter into the lower things of the earth, that is, into Sheol;)

¹⁰ they shall be betaken into the hands of sword, they shall be made the parts of foxes. (they shall be delivered into the hands of the sword, they shall be made a portion for foxes.)

¹¹ But the king shall be glad in God; and all men shall be praised that swear in him; for the mouth of them, that speak wicked things, is stopped. (But the king shall rejoice in God; and all those who swear by him shall praise him; for the mouths of them who speak wicked things shall be stopped.)

1 The word of the Lord is this, that was made to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

² Eld men, hear ye this, and all dwellers of the land, perceive ye with ears. If this thing was done in your days, either in the days of your fathers. (Old men, hear ye this, and all the inhabitants of the land, listen! Was such a thing as this ever done in your days, or in the days of your forefathers?)

³ Of this thing tell ye to your sons, and your sons tell to their sons, and the sons of them tell to another generation. (Tell ye this thing to your children, and your children tell their children, and their children tell to another generation.)

⁴ A locust ate the residue of a wortworm, and a bruchus ate the residue of a locust, and rust ate the residue of a bruchus.

⁵ Drunken men, wake ye, and weep; and yell ye, all that drink wine in sweetness; for it perished from your mouth. (Drunken people, wake ye up, and weep; and yell ye, all who drink wine for its sweetness; for it hath perished from your mouth.)

⁶ For why a folk strong and unnumberable ascended on my land. The teeth thereof be as the teeth of a lion, and the cheek teeth thereof be as of a whelp of a lion. (For a people, strong and innumerable, came upon my land. Their teeth be like the teeth of a lion; and their molars be like that of a lion’s cub.)

⁷ It setted my vinery into desert, and took away the rind of my fig tree. It made naked and spoiled that vinery, and casted forth; the branches thereof be made white. (They destroyed my vines, and took the rind off my fig trees. They made bare and spoiled that vineyard, and cast it down; its branches were made white.)

⁸ Wail thou, as a virgin girded with a sackcloth on the husband of her time of marriage. (Wail thou, like a virgin clothed with a sackcloth for her husband, at the time of her marriage.)

⁹ Sacrifice and moist sacrifice perished from the house of the Lord; and priests, the ministers of the Lord, mourned. (There is no grain or wine to offer in the House of the Lord; and the priests, the ministers of the Lord, mourned.)

¹⁰ The country is made bare of people. The earth mourned; for wheat is destroyed. Wine is shamed, and oil was sick, either failed. (The land is made bare of people. The earth mourned, for the corn, or the grain, is destroyed. The wine is dried up, and the oil languished, or failed.)

¹¹ The earth-tillers be shamed, the vine-tillers yelled on wheat and barley; for the ripe corn of the field is perished. (The earth-tillers despaired, the vine-tillers mourned for the wheat and the barley; for the harvest of the field hath perished.)

¹² The vinery is shamed; and the fig tree was sick. The pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the fir tree, and all the trees of the field dried up; for joy is shamed from the sons of men. (The vines be dried up, and the fig trees languished, or failed. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree, the fir tree, and all the trees of the field have dried up; and joy is gone away from among the people.)

¹³ Ye priests, gird you(rselves), and wail; ye ministers of the altar, yell. Ministers of my God, enter ye, lie ye in sackcloth; for why sacrifice and moist sacrifice perished from the house of your God (for there is no grain or wine to offer in the House of your God).

¹⁴ Hallow ye fasting, call ye the company, gather ye together eld men, and all dwellers of the earth, into the house of your God; and cry ye to the Lord, (Call ye for a fast, call ye the congregation, gather ye together the old men, that is, the elders, and all the people of the land, into the House of your God; and cry ye to the Lord,)

⁶ But now, when Timothy shall come to us from you, and tell to us your faith and charity, and that ye have good mind of us, ever desiring to see us, as we also you; [Now forsooth Timothy coming to us from you, and telling to us your faith and charity, and for ye have evermore good mind of us, desiring to see us, as we also you;]

⁷ therefore, brethren, we be comforted in you, in all our need and tribulation, by your faith.

⁸ For now we live, if ye stand in the Lord.

⁹ For what doing of thankings be we able to yield to God for you [For why what doing of thankings may we yield to God for you], in all joy, in which we joy for you before our Lord?

¹⁰ night and day more plenteously praying, that we see your face, and fulfill those things that fail to your faith [and fulfill those things that fail of your faith].

¹¹ But God himself and our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you [dress our way to you].

¹² And the Lord multiply you, and make your charity to be plenteous of each to other [and make your charity for to abound together], and into all men, as also we in you;

¹³ that your hearts be confirmed without plaint in holiness, before God and our Father, in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Amen.