Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

28 To David. [The psalm to this David.] Lord, I shall cry to thee; my God, be thou not still from me, be thou not still any time from me; and I shall be made like to them, that go down into the pit. (The song of David. Lord, I shall cry to thee. My God, be thou not deaf to me, and never be thou silent with me; or I shall be made like those who go down into the pit.)

² Lord, hear thou the voice of my beseeching, while I pray to thee; while I raise mine hands to(ward) thine holy temple. (Lord, hear thou the words of my plea, when I pray to thee; when I raise up my hands toward thy holy Temple.)

³ Betake thou not me together with sinners; and lose thou not me with them that work wickedness. Which speak peace to their neighbour(s); but evils be in their hearts. (Take thou me not away with the sinners; and destroy thou me not with those who do evil. Yea, those who speak peacefully to their neighbours; but evil is in their hearts.)

⁴ Give thou to them after the works of them; and after the wickedness of their findings. Give thou to them after the works of their hands; yield thou their yielding to them. (Punish thou them according to their works; yea, according to the wickedness of their deeds. Punish thou them according to the works of their hands; give thou them their just reward.)

⁵ For they understood not the works of the Lord, and by the works of his hands thou shalt destroy them; and thou shalt not build them. (Because they do not respect the works of the Lord, or the works of his hands, he shall destroy them; and he shall not build them up again.)

⁶ Blessed be the Lord; for he heard the voice of my beseeching (for he heard the words of my plea).

⁷ The Lord is mine helper and my defender; and mine heart hoped in him, and I am helped. And my flesh flowered again; and (out) of my will I shall acknowledge to him. (The Lord is my helper and my defender; and my heart trusted him, and I was helped. And my heart full out joyed, or rejoiced; and I shall praise him with my song.)

⁸ The Lord is the strength of his people; and he is the defender of the savings of his christ (The Lord is the strength of his people; and he is the defender and the saviour of his anointed king/and he is the defender and the safe place, or the refuge, for his anointed king.)

⁹ Lord, make thou safe thy people, and bless thou thine heritage; and rule thou them, and enhance thou them till into without end. (Lord, save thou thy people, and bless thou thy inheritance; and rule thou over them, and lift thou them up, yea, take good care of them, forever.)

²⁹ And Reuben turned again to the cistern, and found not the child; and he rent his clothes, (And when Reuben returned to the cistern, he did not find the boy; and he tore his clothes,)

³⁰ and he went to his brethren, and said, The child appeareth not, and whither shall I go? (and he went to his brothers, and said, The boy is gone, now what shall I do?)

³¹ Forsooth they took his coat, and dipped it in the blood of a kid, which they had slain;

³² and they sent men that bare it to their father, and said, We have found this coat; see thou, whether it is the coat of thy son, or nay. (and they brought it to their father, and said to him, We have found this coat; see thou, is it thy son’s coat, or not.)

³³ And when the(ir) father had known it (to be such), he said, It is the coat of my son; a wild beast full wicked hath eaten him (a wicked wild beast must hath eaten him); a beast hath devoured Joseph.

³⁴ And he rent his clothes, and he was clothed with an hair shirt, and bewailed his son in much time (and for a long time he bewailed his son).

³⁵ Soothly when his free children were gathered together, that they should appease the sorrow of their father, he would not take comfort; but said, I shall go down into hell, and shall bewail my son. And while Jacob continued in weeping, (And his children gathered together, to try to appease their father’s sorrow, but he would not take comfort from them; and he said, I shall go down into the grave/I shall go down to Sheol, bewailing my son. And while Jacob continued weeping,)

³⁶ (the) Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, (a) chaste and honest servant of Pharaoh [the gelding of Pharaoh], master of the chivalry. (the Midianites now in Egypt, sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s eunuchs, and the captain of the guard.)

⁴ For if God spared not angels sinning, but betook them to be tormented, and to be drawn down with bonds of hell into hell [but betook them to be tormented, drawn down with bonds of hell into hell], to be kept into doom;

⁵ and spared not the first world, but kept Noah, the eighth man, the before-goer of rightwiseness, and brought in the great flood to the world of unfaithful men [bringing in the deluge, or great flood, to the world of unpious men];

⁶ and he drove into powder [and driving into powder] the cities of men of Sodom and of men of Gomorrha, and condemned by turning upside-down, and put them the ensample of them that were to doing evil [putting example of them that were to doing evil, or unpiously];

⁷ and delivered the just Lot, oppressed of the wrong, and of the lecherous conversation of cursed men;

⁸ for in sight and hearing he was just, and dwelled amongst them [dwelling with them] that from day into day tormented with wicked works a just soul.

⁹ For the Lord knoweth how to deliver pious men from temptation, and keep wicked men into the day of doom to be tormented; [The Lord knew to deliver pious men of temptation, soothly to keep wicked men into the day of doom to be tormented;]

¹⁰ but more them that walk after the flesh, in coveting of uncleanness, and despise lordshipping, and be bold, pleasing themselves, and dread not to bring in sects, blaspheming;