Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁰ I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go to the gates of hell. I sought the residue of my years; (I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go now to the gates of Sheol, that is, to the gates of the land of the dead/I shall go now to the gates of the grave; I shall be deprived of the rest of my years;)

¹¹ I said, I shall not see the Lord God in the land of livers; I shall no more behold a man, and a dweller of rest. (I said, I shall no longer see the Lord God in the land of the living; I shall no longer see any person, or any other inhabitant of this world.)

¹² My generation is taken away, and is folded together from me, as the tabernacle of shepherds is folded together. My life is cut down as of a web; he cutted down me, the while I was woven yet. (My source of life is folded up, and taken away from me, like a shepherd’s tent is folded up. My life is cut down like a web; he cut me down, while I was still weaving it.)

¹³ From the morrowtide till to the eventide (I felt like) thou shalt end me; I hoped till to the morrowtide; as a lion, so he all-brake my bones. From the morrowtide till to the eventide (I felt like) thou shalt end me; (From the morning until the evening I felt like thou shalt end me; then I was in pain until the morning again; like a lion, thou hast broken all my bones. From the morning until the evening I felt like thou shalt end me;)

¹⁴ as the young of a swallow, so I shall cry; I shall bethink as a culver (I shall moan like a dove). Mine eyes beholding on high, be made feeble. Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me;

¹⁵ what shall I say, either what shall he answer to me, when he hath done (this)? I shall bethink to thee all my years, in the bitterness of my soul. (what shall I say, or what shall he answer to me, when he himself hath done this? I shall think about thee all my years, in the bitterness of my soul.)

¹⁶ Lord, if men liveth so (Lord, if people so liveth), and the life of my spirit is in such things, (then) thou shalt chastise me, and shalt quicken me.

¹⁷ Lo! my bitterness is most bitter in peace (Lo! peace was my bitterness, and it was most bitter); forsooth thou hast delivered my soul, that it perished not; thou hast cast away behind thy back all my sins.

¹⁸ For not hell shall acknowledge to thee, neither death shall praise thee; they that go down into the pit, shall not abide thy truth. (For Sheol, or the grave, shall not acknowledge thee, nor shall death praise thee; and they who go down into the pit, shall not wait for thy truth.)

¹⁹ A living man, a living man, he shall acknowledge to thee, as and I today; the father shall make known thy truth to [the] sons. (But a living man, yea, a living man, he shall acknowledge thee, like I do today; and the father shall make thy truth known to his children.)

²⁰ Lord, make thou me safe, and we shall sing our psalms in all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. (Lord, thou hast saved me, and so we shall sing our songs all the days of our lives in the House of the Lord.)

⁹ Then the Philistines went up into the land of Judah, and they setted tents in the place, that was called afterward Lehi, that is, a cheek[bone], where their host was spread abroad. (Then the Philistines went up into the land of Judah, and they pitched their tents at the place, that later was called Lehi, that is, Jawbone, where their army was spread out over all the land.)

¹⁰ And men of the lineage of Judah said to them, Why have ye gone up against us? The which answered, We come that we bind Samson (And they answered, We have come so that we can bind up Samson), and yield to him (for) those things the which he [hath] wrought against us.

¹¹ Therefore three thousand of men of Judah went down to the den of the flint of Etam; and they said to Samson, Knowest thou not, that [the] Philistines command to us, that is, they have lordship on us? (And so three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the Rock of Etam; and they said to Samson, Knowest thou not, that the Philistines command, or rule, over us?) Why wouldest thou do this thing to them? To whom he said, As they did to me, so I did to them.

¹² They said, We come to bind thee, and to betake thee into the hands of Philistines. To whom Samson answered, Swear ye, and promise ye to me, that ye slay not me. (And they said to him, We have come to bind thee up, and to deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines. To whom Samson answered, Swear ye, and promise ye to me, that ye shall not kill me.)

¹³ And they said, We shall not slay thee, but we shall betake thee bound to them. And (so) they bound him with two new cords, and took him from the stone of Etam.

¹⁴ And when they had come to the place that is called Cheek[bone], and the Philistines crying high had run (out) to him, the spirit of the Lord felled into him, and as sticks be wont to be wasted at the hot tasting of fire, so and the bonds, with which he was bound, were scattered and loosed. (And when they had come to the place that now is called Lehi, or Jawbone, and the Philistines came running toward him, and shouting, the spirit of the Lord fell upon him, and as sticks be wont to be wasted with the hot tasting of the fire, so the bonds, with which he was bound, were scattered and loosed from off his hands.)

¹⁵ And when he had found a cheek[bone], that is, the nether cheekbone, of an ass, that there lay, he took it, and killed therewith a thousand men; (And when he had found a jawbone, that is, the lower jawbone, of a donkey, that lay there, he took it, and killed a thousand men with it;)

¹⁶ and he said, With the cheek[bone] of an ass, that is, with the nether cheek[bone] of a colt of she-asses, I have done away Philistines, and I have killed therewith a thousand men. (and he said, With the jawbone of a donkey, that is, with the lower jawbone of the colt of a female donkey, I have done away the Philistines, and I have killed a thousand men with it.)

¹⁷ And when he had high cried these words, and had fully ended them, he threw away from his hand the nether cheekbone; and he called the name of that place Ramathlehi, that is to say, the Raising (up) of a cheekbone. (And after that he had sung these words, and had finished them, he threw away the lower jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramathlehi, that is to say, the Raising up of a jawbone.)

¹⁸ And (then) he thirsted greatly, and cried to the Lord, and said, Thou, Lord, hast given into the hand of thy servant this greatest health and victory (Thou, Lord, hast given thy servant this great victory); and lo! I die for thirst, and I shall fall into the hands of uncircumcised men.

¹⁹ Therefore the Lord opened a wang tooth in the cheekbone of the ass, and waters went out thereof, and when he had drunken he refreshed his spirit, and received strengths; therefore the name of that place was called the Well of the inwardly caller of the cheekbone, unto this present day. (And so the Lord opened a molar tooth in the jawbone of the donkey, and water went out of it, and when he had drunk, it refreshed his spirit, and he received strength; and so the name of the spring there in Lehi is called Enhakkore, or the Spring of the Caller, unto this present day).

²⁰ And Samson deemed Israel in the days of [the] Philistines (for) twenty years.

¹⁴ And when he came to the people [And when he came to the company], a man came to him, and felled [fell] down on his knees before him, and said [saying],

¹⁵ Lord, have mercy on my son; for he is lunatic, and suffereth evil, for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft times into the water.

¹⁶ And I brought him to thy disciples, and they might not heal him.

¹⁷ Jesus answered, and said, A! thou generation unbelieveful [unbelieveful, or out of the faith,] and wayward; how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Bring ye him hither to me.

¹⁸ And Jesus blamed him, and the devil went out from him; and the child was healed from that hour.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus privily, and said to him, Why might not we cast him out?

²⁰ Jesus saith to them [Jesus said to them], For your unbelief. Truly I say to you, if ye have faith, as a corn of mustard seed, ye shall say to this hill, Pass thou hence [Pass thou from hence], and it shall pass; and nothing shall be impossible to you;

²¹ but this kind is not cast out, but by prayer and fasting.