Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

139 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, thou hast proved me, and hast known me; (To victory, the song of David. Lord, thou hast assayed, or tested, me, and thou knowest me;)

² thou hast known my sitting, and my rising again. Thou hast understood my thoughts from [a]far; (thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up. Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar;)

³ thou hast inquired (of) my path and my cord. And thou hast before-seen all my ways; (thou hast examined my path, and my resting places. And thou hast foreseen all my ways.)

⁴ for no word is in my tongue. Lo! Lord, thou hast known all things, (Yea, there is no word on my tongue, lo! Lord; but that thou not knowest it first.)

⁵ the new things and eld; thou hast formed me, and hast set thine hand on me. (Thou art behind me, and before me; and thou hast set thy hand upon me.)

⁶ Thy knowing is made wonderful of me; it is comforted, and I shall not be able to it. (Thy abundant knowledge is so wonderful to me; yea, it is so very great, and I shall never be able to comprehend it all.)

¹³ For thou haddest in possession my reins; thou tookest me up from the womb of my mother. (For thou haddest my reins in thy possession/For thou formedest my inner parts; yea, thou madest me in my mother’s womb.)

¹⁴ I shall acknowledge to thee, for thou art magnified dreadfully; thy works be wonderful, and my soul shall know (that) full much. (I shall praise thee, for thou art greatly to be feared/for thou hath filled me with awe; thy works be wonderful, and I truly know that.)

¹⁵ My bone, which thou madest in private, is not hid from thee; and my substance (formed) in the lower parts of earth. (My bones, which thou madest in secret, be not a mystery to thee; yea, when my substance was formed in the lower parts of the earth.)

¹⁶ Thine eyes saw mine unperfect thing, and all men shall be written in thy book; days shall be formed, and no man is in those. (Thine eyes saw my imperfect substance, and all was written in thy Book; but when those days were formed, no man was there.)

¹⁷ Forsooth, God, thy friends be made honourable full much to me; the princehood of them is comforted full much. (But, God, how deep be thy thoughts to me; and how many of them there be!)

¹⁸ I shall number them, and they shall be multiplied above the gravel; I rose up, and yet I am with thee. (If I tried to count them all up, their number would be more than all the grains of sand. And then I awake; and still I am with thee.)

1 There was a man of Ramathaim in Zophim, of the hill (country) of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, son of Elihi, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, of Ephraim.

² And Elkanah had two wives; the name to the one was Hannah, and the name of the second was Peninnah; and sons were to Peninnah; but Hannah had none free children. (And Elkanah had two wives; the name of the first was Hannah, and the name of the second was Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.)

³ And that man went up from his city in the days that were ordained, to worship and to offer sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And [the] two sons of Eli were there, Hophni and Phinehas, priests of the Lord.

⁴ Then the day came, and Elkanah offered, and he gave parts to Peninnah, his wife (and he gave portions to his wife Peninnah), and to all his sons and daughters;

⁵ forsooth he gave sorrowfully one part, either double, to Hannah, for he loved Hannah; forsooth the Lord had closed her womb. (and sorrowfully he gave only one special portion to Hannah; for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed up her womb.)

⁶ And (Peninnah,) her enemy tormented her, and anguished (her) greatly, in so much that she upbraided her, that the Lord had closed (up) her womb.

⁷ And so Peninnah did each year, when the time came that they went up into the house of the Lord; and so she stirred Hannah. And then she wept, and took no meat. (And Peninnah did so each year, when the time came that they went up to the House of the Lord; and so she tormented Hannah. And then Hannah wept, and ate no food.)

⁸ Therefore Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why weepest thou, and why eatest thou not, and why is thine heart tormented? Whether I am not better to thee than be ten sons? (Am I not better to thee than ten sons?)

⁹ Soothly Hannah rose, after that she had eaten and drunk in Shiloh. And the while Eli [the priest] was on his great seat before the posts of the house of the Lord, (And Hannah rose up, after that she had eaten and drunk in Shiloh. And while Eli the priest was on his great throne, beside the door of the House of the Lord,)

¹⁰ and when she was in bitter sorrow of soul, she prayed (to) the Lord, and wept largely (and greatly wept);

¹¹ and she made a vow to the Lord, and said, Lord God of hosts, if thou beholdest, and seest the torment of thy servantess, and if thou hast mind of me, and forgettest not thine handmaid, and givest a son to thy servantess, I shall give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall not come upon his head.

¹² And it was done, when she multiplied her prayers before the Lord, that Eli espied her mouth.

¹³ Forsooth Hannah spake in her heart, and only her lips were moved, and utterly her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli guessed her drunken, (And Hannah spoke in her heart, so that only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. And so Eli guessed that she was drunk.)

¹⁴ and he said to her, How long shalt thou be drunken? Avoid thou a little the wine, by which thou art moist (Be thou done with the wine, by which thou art made drunk).

¹⁵ Hannah answered, and said, Nay, my lord, for I am an unhappy woman; I have not drunk wine, neither anything that may make drunken, but I have poured out my soul in the Lord’s sight (but I have poured out my soul before the Lord);

¹⁶ guess thou not thine handmaid as one of the daughters of Belial, for of the multitude of my sorrow and of my mourning I have spoken unto this present time. (think thou not that thy servantess is one of the daughters of Belial, for until this present time I have spoken out of the multitude of my sorrow, and of my mourning.)

¹⁷ Then Eli said to her, Go thou in peace, and (the) God of Israel give to thee the asking that thou hast prayed him (for).

¹⁸ And she said, I would that thine handmaid find grace in thine eyes. And the woman went into her way, and ate, and her cheers were no more changed diversely. (And she said, I desire that thy servantess find favour in thine eyes. And the woman went her way, and ate, and her face was no longer sad.)

25 Therefore when Festus came into the province, after the third day he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

² And the princes of priests, and the worthiest of the Jews went to him against Paul [And the prince of priests, and the first of Jews went to him against Paul], and prayed him,

³ and asked grace against him, that he should command him to be led to Jerusalem; and they set ambush to slay him in the way [setting ambush to slay him in the way].

⁴ But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept in Caesarea; soothly that he himself should proceed more advisedly [soothly that he himself should go forth more ripely, or hastily].

⁵ Therefore he said, They that in you be mighty, come down together; and if any crime is in the man, accuse they him [accuse him].

⁶ And he dwelled among them no more than eight either ten days, and came down to Caesarea [Soothly he dwelling among them no more than eight or ten days, came down to Caesarea]; and the tother day he sat for doomsman, and commanded Paul to be brought.

⁷ And when he was brought forth, Jews stood about him, which came down from Jerusalem, putting against him many and grievous causes, which they might not prove.

⁸ For Paul yielded reason in all things, That neither against the law of Jews, neither against the temple, neither against the emperor [neither against Caesar], I sinned any thing.

⁹ But Festus would do grace to the Jews, and answered to Paul, and said [Forsooth Festus willing to give grace to the Jews, answering to Paul, said], Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be deemed of these things before me?

¹⁰ And Paul said, At the doom place of the emperor I stand [At the doom place of Caesar I stand], where it behooveth me to be deemed. I have not harmed the Jews, as thou knowest well.

¹¹ For if I have harmed, either done any thing worthy death, I forsake not to die; but if nothing of those is, that they accuse me, no man may give me to them. I appeal to the emperor.^[a]

¹² Then Festus spake with the council, and answered, To the emperor thou hast appealed, to the emperor thou shalt go [To Caesar thou hast appealed, to Caesar thou shalt go].