Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

139 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, thou hast proved me, and hast known me; (To victory, the song of David. Lord, thou hast assayed, or tested, me, and thou knowest me;)

² thou hast known my sitting, and my rising again. Thou hast understood my thoughts from [a]far; (thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up. Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar;)

³ thou hast inquired (of) my path and my cord. And thou hast before-seen all my ways; (thou hast examined my path, and my resting places. And thou hast foreseen all my ways.)

⁴ for no word is in my tongue. Lo! Lord, thou hast known all things, (Yea, there is no word on my tongue, lo! Lord; but that thou not knowest it first.)

⁵ the new things and eld; thou hast formed me, and hast set thine hand on me. (Thou art behind me, and before me; and thou hast set thy hand upon me.)

⁶ Thy knowing is made wonderful of me; it is comforted, and I shall not be able to it. (Thy abundant knowledge is so wonderful to me; yea, it is so very great, and I shall never be able to comprehend it all.)

⁷ Whither shall I go from thy spirit; and whither shall I flee from thy face? (Where shall I go from thy spirit; and where shall I flee from thy presence?)

⁸ If I shall ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I shall go down into hell, thou art present. (If I shall go up into heaven, thou art there; if I shall go down into Sheol, or into the land of the dead, thou art there also.)

⁹ If I shall take my feathers full early; and shall dwell in the last parts of the sea. (If I shall take flight early in the morning; or if I shall live on the farthest edge, or the coast, of the sea.)

¹⁰ And soothly thither thine hand shall lead me forth; and thy right hand shall hold me. (Even there thy hand shall lead me forth; and thy right hand shall keep me safe.)

¹¹ And I said, In hap darknesses shall defoul me; and the night is my lightening in my delights. (And I said, Perhaps the darkness shall cover me; or the light all around me shall become my night.)

¹² For why darknesses shall not be made dark from thee, and the night shall be lightened as the day; as the darknesses thereof, so and the light thereof. (But the darkness shall not be dark for thee, and the night shall be like the daylight; yea, to you, the darkness is no different than the light.)

¹³ For thou haddest in possession my reins; thou tookest me up from the womb of my mother. (For thou haddest my reins in thy possession/For thou formedest my inner parts; yea, thou madest me in my mother’s womb.)

¹⁴ I shall acknowledge to thee, for thou art magnified dreadfully; thy works be wonderful, and my soul shall know (that) full much. (I shall praise thee, for thou art greatly to be feared/for thou hath filled me with awe; thy works be wonderful, and I truly know that.)

¹⁵ My bone, which thou madest in private, is not hid from thee; and my substance (formed) in the lower parts of earth. (My bones, which thou madest in secret, be not a mystery to thee; yea, when my substance was formed in the lower parts of the earth.)

¹⁶ Thine eyes saw mine unperfect thing, and all men shall be written in thy book; days shall be formed, and no man is in those. (Thine eyes saw my imperfect substance, and all was written in thy Book; but when those days were formed, no man was there.)

¹⁷ Forsooth, God, thy friends be made honourable full much to me; the princehood of them is comforted full much. (But, God, how deep be thy thoughts to me; and how many of them there be!)

¹⁸ I shall number them, and they shall be multiplied above the gravel; I rose up, and yet I am with thee. (If I tried to count them all up, their number would be more than all the grains of sand. And then I awake; and still I am with thee.)

5 Naaman, prince of the chivalry of the king of Syria, was a great man, and worshipped with his lord; for by him the Lord gave health to Syria; soothly he was a strong man and rich, but he was leprous. (Naaman, the leader of the cavalry, or of the army, of the king of Syria, was a great man, and honoured by his lord; and by him the Lord gave victory to Syria; truly he was a strong man, and a rich one, but he was also a leper.)

² Forsooth thieves went out of Syria, and led (away as) prisoner from the land of Israel a little damsel, that was in the service of the wife of Naaman (who was now in the service of Naaman’s wife).

³ And she said to her lady, Would God, that my lord had been at the prophet that is in Samaria (If only my lord had been to the prophet who is in Samaria); soothly the prophet would have cured him of [the] leprosy that he hath.

⁴ Therefore Naaman entered to his lord, and told to him, and said, A damsel of the land of Israel spake so and so.

⁵ Therefore the king of Syria said to him, Go thou, and I shall send letters to the king of Israel. And when Naaman had gone forth, and had taken with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand golden pieces, either florins, and ten changings of clothes (and ten changes of clothing),

⁶ he brought (the) letters to the king of Israel by these words (he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read thus); When thou hast taken this epistle, know thou, that I have sent to thee Naaman, my servant, (so) that thou (can) cure him of his leprosy.

⁷ And when the king of Israel had read the letters, he rent his clothes, and said, Whether I am God, that may slay and quicken, for this king sent to me, that I cure a man of his leprosy? Perceive ye, and see, that he seeketh occasions against me. (And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes, and said, Am I God, who may kill and make alive, for this king sent to me, that I should cure a man of his leprosy? See ye, and understand, that he seeketh a reason, or an excuse, to attack me.)

⁸ And when Elisha, the man of God, had heard this, that is, that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, and said, Why rentest thou thy clothes? come he to me, and know he, that there is a prophet in Israel. (And when Elisha, the man of God, had heard this, that is, that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, and said, Why tearest thou thy clothes? Let him come to me, and then know he, that there is a prophet in Israel.)

⁹ Then Naaman came with horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

¹⁰ And Elisha sent to him a messenger (And Elisha sent a messenger to him), and said, Go, and be thou washed seven times in Jordan; and thy flesh shall receive health, and thou shalt be cleansed.

¹¹ Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, I guessed, that he would have gone out to me, and that he would have stood, and inwardly have called (on) the name of the Lord his God, and that he should have touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and should have cured me so. (And Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, I guessed, that he would have come out to me, and that he would have stood there, and inwardly called on the name of the Lord his God, and then he would have touched the place of the leprosy with his hand, and thus he would have cured me.)

¹² Whether Abana and Pharpar, the floods of Damascus, be not better than all the waters of Israel, that I be washed in them, and be cleansed? Therefore when he had turned himself, and went away, having indignation, (Be not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, and that I be washed in them, and be cleansed? And so when he had turned, and went away, having indignation,)

¹³ his servants nighed to him, and spake to him, Father, though the prophet had said to thee a great thing, certainly thou oughtest to do it; how much more for now he said to thee, Be thou washed, and thou shalt be cleansed. (his servants came to him, and spoke to him, and said, Father, if the prophet had said to thee to do a great thing, certainly thou wouldest have done it; how much more now for that he hath simply said to thee, Be thou washed, and thou shalt be cleansed, or healed.)

¹⁴ Then Naaman went down, and washed him(self) seven times in Jordan, by the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored as the flesh of a little child, and he was cleansed (and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young child, and he was healed).

⁸ Approach ye to God, and he shall approach to you. Ye sinners, cleanse ye the hands, and ye double in soul, purge ye the hearts.^[a]

⁹ Be ye wretches, and wail ye [and weep ye]; your laughing be [it] turned into weeping, and [your] joy into sorrow of heart.

¹⁰ Be ye meeked in the sight of the Lord, and he shall enhance you.

¹¹ My brethren, do not ye backbite each other. He that backbiteth his brother, either that deemeth his brother [or that deemeth his brother], backbiteth the law, and deemeth the law. And if thou deemest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a doomsman.

¹² But one is maker of the law, and judge, that may destroy, and deliver [that may lose, and deliver]. And who art thou, that deemest thy neighbour?

¹³ Lo! now ye, that say, To day either to morrow [To day or to morrow] we shall go into that city, and there we shall dwell a year, and we shall make merchandise, and we shall make winning;

¹⁴ which know not [that know not], what is to you in the morrow. For what is your life? A smoke [A vapour, or smoke,] appearing at a little time, and afterward it shall be wasted.

¹⁵ Therefore that ye say, If the Lord will, and if we [shall] live, we shall do this thing, either that thing [or that thing].

¹⁶ And now ye make full out joy in your prides; every such joying is wicked.

¹⁷ Therefore it is sin to him, that knoweth to do good, and doeth not. [Therefore to a man knowing to do good, and not doing, sin is to him.]