Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

18 To victory, the word of the Lord to David; which spake the words of this song, in the day in which the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul; and he said: Lord, my strength, I shall love thee; (To victory, the word of the Lord to David; who spoke the words of this song, on the day in which the Lord rescued him from the power of all his enemies, and from the power of Saul; and he said, O Lord, my strength, I shall love thee;)^[a]

² the Lord is my steadfastness, and my refuge, and my deliverer. My God is mine helper; and I shall hope in him. My defender, and the horn of mine health; and mine up-taker (My God is my helper; and I shall trust him. My defender, and the horn of my salvation, or of my deliverance; and my rescuer).

³ I shall praise, and inwardly call the Lord; and I shall be safe from mine enemies. (I shall praise him, and I shall call on the Lord; and I shall be saved from my enemies.)

²⁰ And the Lord shall yield to me by my rightfulness; and he shall yield to me by the cleanness of mine hands. (And the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; he rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands.)

²¹ For I (have) kept the ways of the Lord; and I did not (go away) unfaithfully from my God.

²² For all his dooms be in my sight; and I putted not away from me his rightfulnesses. (For all his laws were before me; and I did not go away from his commands.)

²³ And I shall be unwemmed with him; and I shall keep me from my wickedness. (And I was without blemish, or without fault, before him; for I have kept myself from my own wickedness.)

²⁴ And the Lord shall yield to me by my rightfulness; and by the cleanness of mine hands in the sight of his eyes. (And so the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; and according to the cleanness of my hands before him.)

²⁵ With the holy, thou shalt be holy; and with an innocent man, thou shalt be innocent. (With the holy, O Lord, thou shalt be holy; and with the innocent, thou shalt be innocent.)

²⁶ And with a chosen man, thou shalt be chosen; and with a wayward man, thou shalt be wayward. (And with the chosen, thou shalt be chosen; but to the wicked, thou shalt be vengeful, or punishing.)

²⁷ For thou shalt make safe a meek people; and thou shalt make meek the eyes of proud men. (And thou shalt save, or help, the poor; but thou shalt humble those who be high in their own eyes/but thou shalt look with contempt upon the proud.)

²⁸ For thou, Lord, lightenest my lantern; my God, lighten thou my darknesses. (For thou, Lord, brightenest my lantern; my God, thou lightest up my darknesses.)

²⁹ For by thee I shall be delivered from temptation; and in my God I shall go over the wall. (For I shall be rescued, or saved, from temptation by thee; and by my God/and with God’s help, I shall go over the wall.)

³⁰ My God, his way is undefouled; the speeches of the Lord be examined by fire; he is [the] defender of all men hoping in him. (My God, his way is undefiled; the words of the Lord be assayed by fire, that is, they be tried and tested, and found to be true; he is the defender of all who put their trust in him.)

³¹ For why, who is God, except the Lord? either who is God, except our God? (For who else is God, except the Lord? yea, who else is God, except our God?)

³² God that hath girded me with virtue; and hath set my way unwemmed. (God who hath girded me with strength; and hath made my way without blemish, or without fault.)

¹⁸ Thou hast forsaken God that begat thee, and thou hast forgotten thy Lord creator/the Lord thy maker. (Thou hast forsaken the God who begat thee, and thou hast forgotten the Lord thy Creator/the Lord thy Maker.)

¹⁹ The Lord saw that, and he was stirred to wrathfulness; for his sons, and daughters stirred him to vengeance. (The Lord saw this, and he was stirred to rage; yea, his sons and his daughters, stirred him to vengeance.)

²⁰ And the Lord said, I shall hide my face from them, and I shall behold their last things; for this is a wayward generation, and unfaithful sons they be. (And the Lord said, I shall hide my face from them, and then I shall see what will happen to them; for this is a wayward generation, they be unfaithful children.)

²⁸ It is a folk without counsel, and without prudence, or wariness; (They be a nation without counsel, and without wisdom, or without caution;)

²⁹ I would that they savoured, and understood, and purveyed the last things. (O that they considered, and understood this, and gave some thought to their end.)

³⁰ How pursued one of (their) enemies a thousand of Jews, and twain drove away ten thousand? Whether not therefore for their God had sold them, forsaking them, and the Lord had enclosed them altogether in their enemies’ hands? (How could just one of their enemies pursue a thousand Jews, and two drive away ten thousand? Was it not because their God had forsaken them, and had sold them out to their enemies, yea, the Lord had given them up into the hands of their enemies?)

³¹ For our God is not as the gods of them, and our enemies be judges (of this). (For our enemies have no god like our God, ours is strong, and they know that their gods be weak.)

³² The vine of them is of the vine of Sodom, and of the suburbs of Gomorrah; the grape of them is the grape of gall, and the cluster is most bitter. (Their vines be like the vines of Sodom, and like those grown in the suburbs of Gomorrah; their grapes be grapes of gall, and their clusters be most bitter.)

³³ The gall of dragons is the wine of them, and the venom of adders, that may not be healed. (The gall of dragons is their wine, yea, the cruel venom of adders.)

³⁴ Whether these things be not hid with me, and be sealed (up) in my treasuries, (or in my storehouses)?

³⁵ Vengeance is mine, and I shall yield (it) to them in time, (so) that the foot of them slide; the day of perdition is nigh, and the times hasten to be present.

³⁶ The Lord shall deem his people, and he shall do mercy in his servants; the people shall see that the hand of (the) fighters is sick, or feeble, and also men (en)closed failed, and the remnant people, or left, be wasted. (The Lord shall judge his people, and he shall do mercy to his servants; for he shall see that the hands of their fighters be feeble, or weak, and that the enclosed men have failed, and that the remnant, that is, the people who were left, now is gone.)

³⁷ And they shall say, Where be their gods, in which they had trust? (And then the Lord shall say, Where be your gods, in which ye had trust?)

³⁸ Of whose sacrifices they ate the fatnesses, and they drank the wine of flowing sacrifices, rise they and help you, and defend they you in (time of) need. (Yea, the gods which ate the fat of your offerings, and which drank the wine of your wine offerings, now let them rise up and help you, and defend they you in your time of need!)

³⁹ See, or understand, ye, that I am God alone, and none other God is except me; I shall slay, and I shall make to live; I shall smite, and I shall make whole; and none is that may deliver from mine hand. (See ye, that is, understand ye, that I am God alone, and there is no other god except me; I shall kill, and I shall make to live; I shall strike down, and I shall make whole; no one can rescue anyone out of my hands.)

³³ O! the highness of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowing of God; how incomprehensible be his dooms, and his ways be unsearchable. [O! the depth of the riches of wisdom and knowing of God; how incomprehensible be his dooms, and his ways unsearchable.]

³⁴ For why who knew the wit of the Lord, or who was his counsellor?

³⁵ or who former gave to him, and it shall be requited [again] to him?

³⁶ For of him, and by him, and in him be all things. To him be glory into worlds [of worlds]. Amen.