Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

146 Alleluia. My soul, praise thou the Lord;

² I shall praise the Lord in my life (I shall praise the Lord all my life); I shall sing to my God as long as I shall be.

³ Do not ye trust in princes; neither in the sons of men, in whom is no health. (Do not ye trust in princes, or in your leaders; nor in other people, in whom there is no help, or deliverance.)

⁴ The spirit of him shall go out, and he shall turn again into his earth; in that day all the thoughts of them shall perish. (The breath of your prince, or of your leader, shall go out of him, and he shall return to the dust; and on that day all his thoughts shall perish.)

⁵ He is blessed, of whom the God of Jacob is his helper; his hope is in his Lord God, (He is blessed, whom the God of Jacob is his helper; his hope is in the Lord his God,)

⁶ that made heaven, and earth; the sea, and all things that be in those. Which keepeth truth into the world, (who made heaven, and earth; and the sea, and all the creatures that be in them. Who keepeth the truth safe forever,)

⁷ he maketh doom to them that suffer wrong; he giveth meat to them that be hungry. The Lord unbindeth fettered men; (he maketh justice for those who suffer wrong; he giveth food to those who be hungry. The Lord unbindeth the fettered;)

⁸ the Lord lighteneth blind men. The Lord raiseth men hurtled down; the Lord loveth just men. (the Lord giveth light to the blind/the Lord giveth sight to the blind. The Lord raiseth up those who be hurtled down; the Lord loveth the righteous.)

⁹ The Lord keepeth comelings; he shall take up a motherless child, and a widow; and he shall destroy the ways of sinners. (The Lord keepeth newcomers, or strangers, safe/The Lord keepeth watch over newcomers, or strangers; he taketh up the causes of a motherless child, and of a widow; but he destroyeth the ways of the sinners.)

¹⁰ The Lord shall reign into the worlds; Zion, thy God shall reign in generation and into generation. (The Lord shall reign forever; Zion, thy God shall reign for all generations/thy God shall reign in all generations.)

⁹ Therefore doom is made far from us, and rightfulness shall not (over)take us; we abided light, and lo! darknesses be; we abided shining, and we went in darknesses. (And so justice is made far from us, and right shall not overtake us; we wait for the light, but lo! there is only darkness; we wait for the sun to shine, but still we walk in darkness.)

¹⁰ We groped as blind men the wall, and we as without eyes touched; we stumbled in midday, as in darknesses, in dark places, as dead men. (We grope the wall like the blind, and we touch it, like those without eyes; we stumble at midday, like in the darkness, yea, in dark places, like the dead.)

¹¹ All we shall roar as bears, and we shall wail thinking as culvers; we abided doom, and none there is; we abided health, and it is made far from us. (We all shall roar like bears, and we shall wail thinking like doves; we wait for justice, but there is none; we wait for deliverance, or salvation, but it is made far from us.)

¹² For why our wickednesses be multiplied before thee, and our sins answered to us (and our sins witnessed against us); for our great trespasses be with us, and we knew our wickednesses,

¹³ to do sin, and to lie against the Lord. And we be turned away, that we went not after the back of our God, that we speak false challenge, and trespassing. We conceived, and spake of (the) heart, words of leasing; (to do sin, and to lie against the Lord. And we turned away, so that we went not after the back of our God, and we speak of oppression, and of trespassing. We conceived lies, and spoke them out from our hearts;)

¹⁴ and doom was turned aback, and rightfulness stood [a]far; for why truth fell down in the street, and equity, either evenness, might not enter. (and justice was turned back, and right stood afar off; and truth fell down in the street, and integrity, or honesty, could not even come in.)

¹⁵ And truth was made into forgetting, and he that went away from evil, was open to prey, either robbing. And the Lord saw, and it appeared evil in his eyes, for there is no doom. (And the truth was forgotten, and he who went away from evil, was laid open to theft, or to robbery. And the Lord saw, and it appeared evil to him, that there was no justice.)

¹⁶ And God saw, that a man is not, and he was anguished, for none there is that runneth to. And his arm shall save to himself, and his rightfulness itself shall confirm him. (And God saw, that no one gave any help, and he was anguished that no one runneth to give aid. And so his arm shall save him, and his uprightness shall uphold him.)

¹⁷ He is clothed with rightfulness as with an habergeon, and the helmet of health is in his head; he is clothed with [the] clothes of vengeance, and he is covered as with a mantle of fervent working. (He is clothed with a breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation is on his head; he is clothed with the clothes of vengeance, and he is covered with a cloak of jealous anger.)

¹⁸ As to vengeance, as to (the) yielding of indignation to his enemies, and to requiting of time to his adversaries (and the time of requiting for his adversaries), (yea,) he shall yield while (even) to [the] isles.

¹⁹ And they that be at the west, shall dread the name of the Lord, and they that be at the rising of the sun, shall dread the glory of him; when he shall come as a violent flood, whom the spirit of the Lord compelleth. (And they who be at the west, shall fear the name of the Lord, and they who be at the rising of the sun, shall fear his glory; when he shall come like a rushing river, which the Spirit of the Lord compelleth.)

9 But Saul, yet a blower of menaces and of beatings [yet a breather, or blower, of menaces, and beating, or slaying,] against the disciples of the Lord, came to the prince of priests,

² and asked of him letters into Damascus, to the synagogues; that if he found any men or women of this life, he should lead them bound to Jerusalem.

³ And when he made his journey, it befelled [And when he made journey, it befell], that he came nigh to Damascus. And suddenly a light from heaven shone about him;

⁴ and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, what pursuest thou me?

⁵ And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou pursuest. It is hard to thee, to kick against the prick [It is hard to thee, for to kick against the prick].

⁶ And he trembled, and wondered, and said, Lord, what wilt thou that I do [And he trembling and wondering, said, Lord, what wilt thou me to do]? And the Lord said to him, Rise up, and enter into the city, and it shall be said to thee, what it behooveth thee to do.

⁷ And those men that went with him, stood astonished; for they heard a voice, but they saw no man. [Forsooth those men that went with him, stood made afeared, or out of mind; soothly hearing a voice, forsooth seeing no man.]

⁸ And Saul rose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. And they drew him by the hands, and led him into Damascus.

⁹ And he was three days not seeing; and he ate not, neither drank.

¹⁰ And a disciple, Ananias by name, was at Damascus [Forsooth some disciple was at Damascus, by name Ananias]. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Lo! I, Lord.

¹¹ And the Lord said to him, Rise thou, and go into a street that is called Rectus; and seek, in the house of Judas, Saul by name, of Tarsus. For lo! he prayeth;

¹² and he saw a man, Ananias by name, entering and laying on him hands [entering and putting to him hands], that he receive sight.

¹³ And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard of many of this man, how great evil he did to thy saints in Jerusalem;

¹⁴ and this hath power of the princes of priests, to bind all men that call thy name to help.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to him, Go thou, for this is to me a vessel of choosing, that he bear my name before heathen men, and kings, and before the sons of Israel [that he bear my name before heathen men, and kings, and the sons of Israel].

¹⁶ For I shall show to him, how great things it behooveth him to suffer for my name.

¹⁷ And Ananias went, and entered into the house; and laid on him his hands, and said [and he putting to him the hands, said], Saul brother, the Lord Jesus sent me, that appeared to thee in the way, in which thou camest, that thou see, and be full-filled with the Holy Ghost.

¹⁸ And at once as the scales felled from his eyes, he received sight [And anon there felled from his eyes as scales, and he received sight]. And he rose, and was baptized.

¹⁹ And when he had taken meat, he was comforted. And he was by some days with the disciples, that were at Damascus.

²⁰ And at once [And anon] he entered into the synagogues, and preached the Lord Jesus, for this is the Son of God.