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.)

⁴ And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

⁵ Before that I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before that thou wentest out of the womb, I hallowed thee; and I gave thee to be a prophet among folks. (Before that I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before that thou wentest out of the womb, I consecrated, or dedicated, thee; and I gave thee to be a prophet among the nations.)

⁶ And I said, A! A! A! Lord God, lo! I cannot speak, for I am a child. (And I said, O! O! O! Lord God, lo! I cannot speak, for I am but a child.)

⁷ And the Lord said to me, Do not thou say, that I am a child; for thou shalt go to all things, to which I shall send thee, and thou shalt speak all things, whatever things I shall command to thee. (And the Lord said to me, Do not thou say, that I am but a child; for thou shalt go to whatever people I shall send thee, and thou shalt say whatever words I shall command thee.)

⁸ Dread thou not of the face of them; for I am with thee, to deliver thee, saith the Lord. (Fear thou not them; for I am with thee, to keep thee safe, saith the Lord./Do not thou fear them, for I am with thee, to protect thee, saith the Lord.)

⁹ And the Lord sent his hand, and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, Lo! I have given my words in thy mouth; (And the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, Lo! I have put my words in thy mouth;)

¹⁰ lo! I have ordained thee today on folks, and on realms (lo! today I have ordained thee over nations, and over kingdoms), that thou draw up, and destroy, and lose, and scatter, and build, and plant.

²¹ Therefore again Jesus said to them, Lo! I go, and ye shall seek me, and ye shall die in your sin; whither I go, ye be not able to come [whither I go, ye may not come].

²² Therefore the Jews said, Whether he shall slay himself, for he saith, Whither I go, ye be not able to come [Whither I go, ye may come]?

²³ And he said to them, Ye be of beneath, I am of above; ye be of this world, I am not of this world.

²⁴ Therefore I said to you, that ye shall die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins.

²⁵ Therefore they said to him, Who art thou? Jesus said to them, The beginning, which also speak to you [Jesus said to them, The beginning, or the first of all thing, the which and I speak to you].

²⁶ I have many things to speak, and to deem of you, but he that sent me is soothfast; and I speak in the world these things, that I heard of him.

²⁷ And they knew not, that he called his Father God. [And they knew not, for he said his Father God.]

²⁸ Therefore Jesus said to them, When ye have araised man's Son, then ye shall know, that I am, and of myself I do nothing; but as my Father taught me, I speak these things.

²⁹ And he that sent me is with me, and left me not alone; for I do evermore those things, that be pleasing to him. [And he that sent me is with me, and left not me alone; for I do ever those things, that be pleasant to him.]

³⁰ When he spake these things, many believed in him.

³¹ Therefore Jesus said to the Jews, that believed in him, If ye dwell in my word, verily ye shall be my disciples;

³² and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

³³ Therefore the Jews answered to him, We be the seed of Abraham, and we served never to [no] man; how sayest thou, That ye shall be free [how sayest thou, Ye shall be free]?

³⁴ Jesus answered to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, each man that doeth sin, is [the] servant of sin.

³⁵ And the servant dwelleth not in the house without end [into without end], but the Son dwelleth without end [into without end].

³⁶ Therefore if the Son [shall] make you free, verily ye shall be free.

³⁷ I know that ye be Abraham's sons, but ye seek to slay me, for my word taketh not in you.

³⁸ I speak those things, that I saw at my Father; and ye do those things, that ye saw at your father.