Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
88 The song of the psalm, to the sons of Korah, to victory on Mahalath, for to answer the learning of Heman, (the) Ezrahite. Lord God of mine health; I cried in day and night before thee. (The song of the psalm, for the sons of Korah, to victory on Mahalath, to answer the teaching of Heman, the Ezrahite. Lord God of my salvation; I have cried day and night before thee.)
2 My prayer enter before thy sight (Let my prayer come before thee); bow down thine ear to my prayer.
3 For my soul is [full-]filled with evils; and my life nighed to hell. (For my soul is filled full of evils; and my life came near to Sheol, that is, the land of the dead/and my life nighed to the grave.)
4 I am guessed with them that go down into the pit; I am made as a man without help,
5 and free among dead men. As men wounded sleeping in sepulchres, of which men none (thou) is mindful (of) after; and they be put away from thine hand. (and free among the dead. Like the slain who sleep in tombs, or graves, of whom there is no one thou remembereth any more; yea, they all be cut off from thy help, or thy care.)
6 They have put me in the lower pit; in dark places, and in the shadow of death.
7 Thy strong vengeance is confirmed on me (Thy fury hath raged against me); and thou hast brought in all thy waves on me.
8 Thou hast made far from me my known; they have set me (an) abomination to themselves. I am taken (in), and I went not out; (Thou hast taken all my friends far away from me; thou hast made me an abomination to them. I am enclosed, and I cannot go out;)
9 mine eyes were sick for poverty [mine eyes (were) (en)feebled for mis-ease]. Lord, I cried to thee; all day I spreaded abroad mine hands to thee. (my eyes have been weakened from suffering. Lord, I cried to thee; and every day I spread abroad my hands to thee.)
10 Whether thou shalt do marvels to dead men; either leeches shall raise (them up), and they shall acknowledge to thee? (Shalt thou do marvellous deeds for the dead? or shall physicians raise them up, and then they shall praise thee?)
11 Whether any man in sepulchre shall tell thy mercy; and thy truth in perdition? (Shall any man in the tomb, or in the grave, tell of thy love? or in perdition, tell of thy faithfulness?)
12 Whether thy marvels shall be known in darknesses; and thy rightfulness in the land of forgetting? (Shall thy marvellous deeds be known in the dark places? or thy righteousness in the land of the forgotten?/in the land of oblivion?)
13 And, Lord, I cried to thee; and early my prayer shall before come to thee. (But, Lord, I cried to thee; and every morning my prayer hath come before thee.)
14 Lord, why puttest thou away my prayer; thou turnest away thy face from me? (Lord, why puttest thou me away? why rejectest me? why turnest thou away thy face from me?)
15 I am poor, and in travails from my youth; soothly I am enhanced, and I am made low, and troubled. (I am poor, and have had troubles from my youth; truly I am abased, and greatly troubled.)
16 Thy wraths passed on me; and thy dreads troubled me. (Thy rages have swept over me/Thy anger hath come upon me; and thy terrors have made me afraid.)
17 They (en)compassed me as water all day; they (en)compassed me (al)together. (They surrounded me like water all day long; they have completely surrounded me.)
18 Thou madest far from me a friend and neighbour; and my known from wretchedness. (Thou hast taken my friends and my neighbours far away from me; and now wretchedness is my only companion.)
21 And the Lord said to Moses, Speak thou to [the] priests, the sons of Aaron, and thou shalt say to them, A priest be not defouled in the dead men of his citizens (A priest shall not be defiled with the dead among his fellow citizens),
2 no but only in his kinsmen, and nigh of blood, that is, on father, and mother, and son, and daughter, and brother, (only with his own relatives, and next of kin, that is, with his father, and mother, and son, and daughter, and brother,)
3 and sister, (who is) a virgin, that is not wedded to man;
4 but neither he shall be defouled in the prince of his people. (but he shall not be defiled even with the ruler of his people.)
5 Priests shall not shave their head, neither beard, neither they shall make (any) carvings in their fleshes;
6 they shall be holy to their God, and they shall not defoul his name; for they offer incense of the Lord, and the loaves of their God, and therefore they shall be holy. (they shall be holy to their God, and they shall not defile his name; for they offer incense to the Lord, and the loaves to their God, and so they shall be holy.)
7 A priest shall not wed (for) a wife a corrupt woman, and a foul whore, neither he shall wed her that is forsaken of the husband, for he is hallowed to his God, (A priest shall not wed for a wife any corrupt woman, or a foul whore, nor shall he wed she who is forsaken by her husband, for he is holy to his God,)
8 and offereth the loaves of setting forth; therefore be he holy, for I am the holy Lord that halloweth you. (and offereth the loaves of proposition; and so regard him as holy, for I am holy, the Lord who maketh you holy.)
9 If the daughter of a priest is taken in defouling of virginity, and defouleth the name of her father, she shall be burnt in fire. (If a priest’s daughter is caught in defiling her own virginity, and so defileth her father’s name, she shall be burned in the fire.)
10 The bishop, that is the most priest among his brethren, upon whose head the oil of anointing is poured, and whose hands be (made) sacred in priesthood, and he is clothed in holy clothes, shall not discover his head, he shall not tear his clothes, (The High Priest, who is the highest priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil was poured, who is consecrated in priesthood, and who is clothed in holy clothes, shall not uncover his head, and he shall not tear his clothes,)
11 and utterly he shall not enter [in] to any dead man; and he shall not be defouled on his father, and mother (yea, he shall not even be defiled for his father, or his mother),
12 neither he shall go out of [the] holy places, lest he defoul the saintuary of the Lord, for the oil of holy anointing of his God is on him; I am the Lord. (nor shall he go out of the holy place, lest he defile the Lord’s sanctuary, for the holiness of the anointing oil of his God is upon him; I am the Lord.)
13 He shall wed to wife a virgin; (He shall wed a virgin for his wife;)
14 he shall not take a widow, and a forsaken woman, and a foul woman, and (a) whore, but a virgin of his people; (he shall not wed a widow, or a forsaken woman, or a defiled woman, or a whore, but only a virgin out of his people;)
15 meddle he not the generation of his kin to the common people of his folk, for I am the Lord, that halloweth him. (and so he shall not mix together, or dishonour, any of the generation of his kin among the common people, for I am the Lord, who maketh him holy.)
16 And I do thankings to God, that gave the same busyness for you in the heart of Titus,
17 for [soothly] he received exhortation; but when he was busier, by his will he went forth to you [with his will he went forth to you].
18 And we sent with him a brother, whose praising is in the gospel by all churches.
19 And not only [praised], but also he is ordained of churches the fellow of our pilgrimage into this grace, that is ministered of us to the glory of the Lord, and to our ordained will;
20 eschewing this thing, that no man blame us in this plenty, that is ministered of us to the glory of the Lord.
21 For we purvey good things, not only before God, but also before all men.
22 For we sent with them also our brother, whom we have proved in many things oft, that he was busy, but now much busier, for much trust in you, [Forsooth we sent with them and our brother, whom we have proved in many things oft, to be busy, now forsooth much busier, in much trust in you,]
23 either for Titus, that is my fellow and helper in you, either for our brethren [either our brethren], apostles of the churches of the glory of Christ.
24 Therefore show ye to them in the face of churches, that showing that is of your charity [the showing that is of your charity] and of our glory for you.
2001 by Terence P. Noble