Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

52 To victory, the psalm of David, when Doeg (the) Idumaean came, and told to Saul, and said to him, David came into the house of Ahimelech. What hast thou glory in malice; which art mighty in wickedness? (To victory, the song of David, when Doeg the Edomite came, and told Saul, and said to him, David went into the house of Ahimelech. Why hast thou glory in evil, or in wickedness, mighty man? but the goodness of God endureth forever.)

² All day thy tongue thought unrightfulness; as a sharp razor thou hast done guile. (Thy tongue speaketh unrighteousness, sharp like a razor; yea, thou hast been deceitful.)

³ Thou lovedest malice more than benignity; and wickedness more than to speak equity. (Thou lovedest evil more than good; and lying more than telling the truth.)

⁴ Thou lovedest all words of casting down; with a guileful tongue. (Thou with a deceitful, or a lying, tongue.)

⁵ Therefore God shall destroy thee into the end, he shall draw thee out by the root, and he shall make thee to pass away from thy tabernacle; and thy root from the land of living men. (And so God shall destroy thee, or ruin thee, forever, yea, he shall draw thee out, and he shall make thee go far away from thy home; he shall root thee out from the land of the living.)

⁶ Just men shall see, and shall dread; and they shall laugh on him, (The righteous shall see it, and shall have fear; and then they shall laugh at him,)

⁷ and they shall say, Lo! the man that setted not God his helper. But he hoped in the multitude of his riches; and had mastery in his vanity. (and they shall say, Lo! the man who did not want God to be his helper. But he trusted in the multitude of his riches; and had the mastery through his wickedness.)

⁸ Forsooth I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God; hoped in the mercy of God [into] without end, and into the world of world. (But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the House of God; I trust in God’s love, forever and ever.)

⁹ I shall acknowledge to thee into the world, for thou hast done mercy to me; and I shall abide thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints. (O God, I shall praise thee forever, for thou hast done mercy to me; and I shall wait on thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.)

¹² But where is wisdom found, and which is the place of understanding? (But where is wisdom found, and where is the place of understanding?)

¹³ Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither it is found in the land of men living delicately. (Man knoweth not its price, or its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.)

¹⁴ The depth of (the) waters saith, It is not in me; and the sea speaketh, It is not with me.

¹⁵ Gold full clean shall not be given for wisdom, neither silver shall be weighed in the (ex)changing thereof. (Pure gold cannot purchase wisdom, or be exchanged for it, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.)

¹⁶ It shall not be comparisoned to the dyed colours of India (It cannot be compared to the gold of Ophir), nor to the most precious stone sardius, neither to the sapphire.

¹⁷ Neither gold, neither glass shall be made even worth thereto; and high and far appearing vessels of gold shall not be (ex)changed for wisdom, (Neither gold, nor crystal, can be made equal in worth to it; and high-priced and outstanding vessels of gold cannot be exchanged for wisdom,)

¹⁸ neither they shall be had in mind in comparison thereof. Forsooth wisdom is drawn out of privy things; (nor shall they even be considered when compared to it. For wisdom is drawn from private, or hidden, things;)

¹⁹ topaz of Ethiopia shall not be made even worth to wisdom (the topaz of Ethiopia cannot be made equal in worth to wisdom), and most precious dyeings shall not be set together in price, or comparisoned, thereto.

²⁰ Therefore whereof cometh wisdom, and which is the place of understanding? (And so from where cometh wisdom, and where is the place of understanding?)

²¹ It is hid from the eyes of all living men; and also it is hid from the birds of (the) heaven(s), or of the air.

²² Perdition and death said, With our ears we have heard (of) the fame of wisdom.

²³ God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.

²⁴ For he beholdeth the ends of the world, and beholdeth all things that be under heaven.

²⁵ He hath made weight to winds (He hath made a counter-weight for the winds), and he hath weighed (the) waters in measure.

²⁶ When he set law to rain, and way to tempests sounding; (When he made a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding tempests;)

²⁷ then he saw wisdom, and told it out, and he made it ready, and sought it out.

²⁸ And he said to man, Lo! the dread of the Lord, that is wisdom (And he said to man, Lo! the fear of the Lord/Lo! reverence for the Lord, that is wisdom); and to go away from evil, (that) is understanding.

¹³ Enter ye by the strait gate; for the gate that leadeth to perdition is large, and the way is broad, and there be many that enter by it. [Enter ye by the strait gate; for the gate is broad, and the way that leadeth to perdition, either damnation, is large, and many be that enter by it.]

¹⁴ How strait is the gate, and narrow the way, that leadeth to life, and there be few that find it [and few be that find it].

¹⁵ Be ye ware of false prophets, that come to you in clothings of sheep, but withinforth they be wolves of raven;^[a]

¹⁶ of their fruits ye shall know them. Whether men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of briers?

¹⁷ So every good tree maketh good fruits; but an evil tree maketh evil fruits.

¹⁸ A good tree may not make evil fruits, neither an evil tree [may] make good fruits.

¹⁹ Every tree that maketh not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire.

²⁰ Therefore of their fruits ye shall know them.