Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

55 To victory in organs, the learning of David. God, hear thou my prayer, and despise thou not my beseeching; (To victory, on instruments, the teaching of David. God, hear thou my prayer, and despise thou not my plea;)

² give thou attention to me, and hear thou me. I am sorrowful in mine exercising (I am grieved by my distress);

³ and I am disturbed of the face of the enemy, and of the tribulation of the sinner. For they bowed wickednesses into me; and in ire they were dis-easeful to me. (and I am made afraid by my enemies, and by the trouble which the sinners have brought upon me. For they bowed down wickednesses upon me; and with great anger they were very hateful to me.)

⁴ Mine heart was troubled in me; and the dread of death felled on me. (My heart was troubled within me; and the fear of death fell upon me.)

⁵ Dread and trembling came on me (Fear and trembling came upon me); and darknesses covered me.

⁶ And I said, Who shall give to me feathers, as of a culver; and I shall fly, and shall take rest? (And I said, Who shall give me wings like a dove? and then I can fly away, and get some rest.)

⁷ Lo! I went far away, and fled; and I dwelled in wilderness. (Lo! I would flee far away; and I would live in the wilderness.)

⁸ I abode him, that made me safe from the littleness, either dread, of spirit; and from tempest. (I would hasten, and make myself safe from the wind, and from the tempest.)

⁹ Lord, cast thou down, [and] part thou the tongues of them; for I saw wickedness and against-saying in the city.

¹⁰ By day and night wickedness shall (en)compass it on the walls thereof; and travail and unrightfulness be in the midst of them. (Day and night they surround the city, all along its walls; and trouble and unrighteousness be in its midst.)

¹¹ And usury and guile failed not; from the streets thereof. (And greed, and deceit, always be found in its streets.)

¹² For if mine enemy had cursed me; soothly I had suffered. And if he, that hated me, had spoken great things on me; in hap I had hid me from him. (For if my enemy had cursed me; truly I would have suffered it. And if he, who hated me, had spoken great things against me; I would have hid myself from him.)

¹³ But thou art a man of one will (with me); my leader, and my known. (But thou art a man of one mind with me; my leader, and my dear friend.)

¹⁴ Which tookest together sweet meats with me; we went with consent in(to) the house of God. (Who shared his good counsel with me; and we went together to the House of God.)

¹⁵ Death come on them; and go they down quick into hell (May death come upon them; and may they go down alive into Sheol, or the land of the dead). For waywardnesses be in the dwelling places of them; (and) in the midst of them.

8 Then Bildad (the) Shuhite answered, and said,

² How long shalt thou speak such things? The spirit of the word of thy mouth is manyfold (The many words from thy mouth be just so much wind).

³ Whether God supplanteth, either deceiveth, doom, and whether Almighty God destroyeth that, that is just? (Did God ever pervert judgement, and did Almighty God ever destroy what is fair?)

⁴ Yea, though thy sons sinned against him, and he left them in the hand of their wickedness;

⁵ nevertheless, if thou risest early to God, and beseechest Almighty God,

⁶ if thou goest clean and rightful, anon he shall wake fully to thee, and shall make peaceable the dwelling place of thy rightfulness; (if thou goest clean and upright, at once he shall watch over thee, and he shall make the dwelling place of thy righteousness prosperous;)

⁷ in so much that thy former things were little, and that thy last things be multiplied greatly. (in so much that though thy first things were few, but thy last things shall be greatly multiplied.)

⁸ For why, ask thou the former generations, and seek thou diligently the mind of [the] fathers (and diligently seek thou the wisdom of the forefathers).

⁹ For we be men of yesterday, and know not (anything); for our days be as (a) shadow on the earth.

¹⁰ And they shall teach thee, [and] they shall speak to thee, and (out) of their heart they shall bring forth true speeches (and they shall bring forth truth from their hearts).

¹¹ Whether a (bul)rush may grow without moisture? either a reed (can grow) without water?

¹² When it is yet in the flower, neither it is taken with hand, it waxeth dry before all herbs. (When it is still flowering, and it hath not yet been picked by hand, it groweth dry before all the other plants.)

¹³ So be the ways of all men, that forget God (who forget God); and the hope of an hypocrite shall perish.

¹⁴ His cowardice shall not please God, and his trust shall be as a web of spiders.

¹⁵ He shall lean, either rest, upon his house, and it shall not stand; he shall underset it, and it shall not rise up altogether. (He shall lean, or shall rest, upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall undergird it, but it shall not endure.)

¹⁶ The (bul)rush seemeth moist, before that the sun come; and in the rising of the sun, the seed thereof shall go out.

¹⁷ The roots thereof shall be made thick upon an heap of stones, and it shall dwell among [the] stones.

¹⁸ If a man draweth it out of the place thereof, that place shall deny it, and it shall say (in effect), I know thee not.

¹⁹ For this is the gladness of his way, that again other rushes spring out of the earth. (For this is the joy of its way, that other bulrushes shall spring out of the earth.)

²⁰ Forsooth God shall not cast away a simple man, neither he shall address his hand to (help) wicked men; (But God shall not throw away a person who is without guile, nor shall he direct his hand to help the wicked;)

²¹ till thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with hearty song.

²² They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the tabernacle of wicked men shall not stand (and the tents, or the homes, of the wicked shall not stand).

7 But of those things that ye have written to me, it is good to a man to touch not a woman [it is good to a man for to not touch a woman].

² But for fornication each man have his own wife, and each woman have her own husband.

³ The husband yield debt to the wife, and also the wife to the husband.

⁴ The woman hath not power of her body, but the husband; [also forsooth] and the husband hath not power of his body, but the woman [but the wife].

⁵ Do not ye defraud each to other [Do not defraud together], but peradventure of consent for a time, that ye give attention to prayer; and again turn again to the same thing, lest Satan tempt you for your uncontinence.

⁶ But I say this thing as giving leave, not by commandment.^[a]

⁷ For I will, that all men be as myself. But each man hath his proper gift of God; one thus, and another thus.

⁸ But I say to them, that be not wedded, and to widows [and widows], it is good to them, if they dwell so as I.

⁹ And if they contain not themselves, be they wedded; for it is better to be wedded, than to be burnt.