Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

8 To the overcomer, for pressers, the psalm of David. Lord, thou art our Lord; thy name is full wonderful in all [the] earth. For thy great doing is raised up, above (the) heavens. (To the overcomer, at the winepresses, the song of David. Lord, thou art our Lord; thy name is most wonderful in all the earth. And thy great doing is raised up, above the heavens.)

² Of the mouth of young children, not speaking and sucking milk, thou hast made perfect praising, for thine enemies; that thou destroy the enemy and the avenger. (Out of the mouths of young children, who do not speak, but who suck milk, thou hast rebuked thy mighty enemies; yea, thou hast destroyed the enemy and the avenger.)

³ For I shall see thine heavens, the works of thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which thou hast founded.

⁴ What is a man, that is mankind, that thou art mindful of him; either the son of a virgin [or the son of man], for thou visitest him? (What is a man, that is humankind, that thou art mindful of him; or who is the son of a man, that thou should care about him?)

⁵ Thou hast made him a little less than (the) angels; (but) thou hast crowned him with glory and honour,

⁶ and thou hast ordained him above the works of thine hands. Thou hast made subject all things under his feet; (and thou hast ordained him over all thy creatures. Yea, thou hast put all things under his feet;)

⁷ all sheep and oxen, furthermore and the beasts of the field; (all the sheep and the oxen, and furthermore, the beasts of the fields, that is, the wild beasts;)

⁸ the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, (and all the other creatures) that pass by the paths of the sea. (and the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and all the other creatures that go along the paths of the sea.)

⁹ Lord, our Lord; how wonderful is thy name in all [the] earth.

20 Abraham went forth from thence into the land of the south, and dwelled betwixt Kadesh and Shur, and was a pilgrim in Gerar; (And Abraham went forth from there to the land of the south, and lived between Kadesh and Shur, and was a foreigner in Gerar;)

² and (again) he said of Sarah, his wife, She is my sister. Therefore Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent (for her), and took her (And so Abimelech, king of Gerar, had her brought to him).

³ Soothly God came to Abimelech by a sweven in the night (And God came to Abimelech by a dream in the night), and said to him, Lo! thou shalt die, for the woman which thou hast taken, for she hath an husband.

⁴ Forsooth Abimelech [had] touched not her; and he said, Lord, whether thou shalt slay (a) folk unknowing and just? (But Abimelech had not yet touched her; and he said, Lord, shalt thou slay an unknowing and a righteous nation?)

⁵ Whether he said not to me, She is my sister, and she said, He is my brother? In the simpleness of mine heart, and in the cleanness of mine hands, I did this (I did this with a pure heart, and with clean hands).

⁶ And the Lord said to him, And I know that thou didest by simple heart, and therefore I kept thee, lest thou didest sin against me, and I suffered not that thou touchedest her; (And the Lord said to him, Yea, I know that thou didest this with a pure heart, and so I kept thee, so that thou didest not sin against me, and I did not allow thee to touch her;)

⁷ now therefore yield thou the wife to her husband, for he is a prophet; and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; soothly if thou wilt not yield her, know thou that thou shalt die by death, thou, and all things that be thine (but if thou wilt not give her back to him, know thou that thou shalt die, thou, and all who be thine).

⁸ And at once Abimelech rose (up) by night, and called (for) all his servants, and spake all these words in the ears of them; and all men dreaded greatly (and all the men had great fear).

⁹ Soothly Abimelech called also Abraham (And then Abimelech called for Abraham), and said to him, What hast thou done to us? what sinned we against thee, that thou hast brought in on me and on my realm (such) a great sin? thou hast done to us which things thou oughtest not to do.

¹⁰ And again Abimelech asked, and said, What thing sawest thou, that thou wouldest do this? (And again Abimelech asked Abraham, Why did thou do this?)

¹¹ (And) Abraham answered, I thought within me, and said, In hap the dread of God is not in this place; and they shall slay me for my wife;

¹² in other manner forsooth and she is my sister verily, (for she is) the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother; and I wedded her into wife; (and truly in one way she is my sister, for she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and so I wedded her for a wife;)

¹³ soothly after that God led me out of the house of my father, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy with me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say, that I am thy brother. (and after that God led me out of my father’s house, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy for me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say that I am thy brother.)

¹⁴ Therefore Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and servants, and handmaids, and gave to Abraham; and he yielded to him Sarah, his wife, (And so Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and male and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham; and he gave him back his wife Sarah,)

¹⁵ and said, The land is before you; dwell thou, wherever it pleaseth thee.

¹⁶ Forsooth Abimelech said to Sarah, Lo! I gave a thousand pieces of silver to thy brother; this shall be to thee into (a) covering of (the) eyes, to all men that be with thee; and whither ever thou goest, have thou mind that thou art taken. (And Abimelech said to Sarah, Lo! I have given a thousand pieces of silver to thy brother; this shall be proof to all thy own people that thou art guiltless; but wherever thou goest, remember that thou art already taken.)

¹⁷ Soothly for Abraham prayed, God cured Abimelech, and his wife, and handmaids, and they childed; (And because Abraham prayed to God, God cured Abimelech, and his wife, and his slave-girls, and they gave birth;)

¹⁸ for God had closed each womb of the house of Abimelech, for Sarah, the wife of Abraham. (for God had closed up each womb in Abimelech’s household, because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.)

²³ And before that belief came, they were kept under the law, enclosed into that belief that was to be showed. [Forsooth before that the faith came, we were kept under the law, shut together into that faith that was to be showed.]

²⁴ And so the law was our under-master in Christ, that we be justified of belief.^[a]

²⁵ But after that belief came [But after that the faith came], we be not now under the under-master.

²⁶ For all ye be the children of God through the belief of Jesus Christ. [For all ye be the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.]

²⁷ For all ye that be baptized, be clothed with Christ. [Forsooth whoever ye be baptized in Christ, ye have clothed in Christ.]

²⁸ There is no Jew, nor Greek, no bondman, nor free man, no male, nor female [There is not Jew, neither Greek; there is not servant, neither free man; there is not male, neither female]; for all ye be one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹ And if ye be one in Jesus Christ, then ye be the seed of Abraham, and heirs by promise. [Forsooth if ye be of Christ, therefore ye be seed of Abraham, after the promise ye be heirs.]