Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
39 For victory, to Jeduthun, the psalm of David. I said, I shall keep my ways; that I trespass not in my tongue. I setted keeping to my mouth; when a sinner stood against me. (To victory, to Jeduthun, the song of David. I said, I shall keep watch over my ways; so that I do not trespass with my tongue. And I guarded my mouth; when a sinner stood against me.)
2 I was dumb, and I was meeked full greatly, and was still, (even) from goods; and my sorrow was renewed. (I was dumb, and was very greatly humbled, and I was silent, even about good things; and so my sorrow was renewed.)
3 Mine heart was hot within me; and fire shall burn out in my thinking. I spake in my tongue; (My heart was hot within me; and the fire burned forever as I thought about all this. And then I said with my tongue,)
4 Lord, make thou mine end known to me. And the number of my days, what it is; that I know, what faileth to me (so that I know what falleth to me/so that I know when I shall fail, or die).
5 Lo! thou hast set my days measurable; and my substance is as nought before thee. Nevertheless all vanity; each man living. (Lo! thou hast made my days able to be measured, or counted; and my substance is like but nothing before thee, yea, but a puff of air. And all is emptiness, or uselessness; for each person alive.)
6 Nevertheless a man passeth in an image; but also he is troubled vainly. He treasureth; and he know not, to whom he shall gather those things. (And a person passeth by like a shadow; and he travaileth, or laboureth, in vain, that is, he worketh for nothing. For he buildeth up treasure; yet he truly knoweth not, for whom he gathered those things.)
7 And now which is mine abiding? whether not the Lord? and my substance is at thee. (And now, who do I wait for? is it not for the Lord? yea, for my hope is in thee.)
8 Deliver thou me from all my wickednesses; thou hast given me (as a) shame to the unknowing. (Rescue thou me/Save thou me from all of my wickednesses; thou hast made me a shame, or a reproach, to the ignorant.)
9 I was dumb, and opened not my mouth; for thou hast made (this happen), (But I was dumb, and did not open my mouth; for thou hast done this.)
10 remove thou thy wounds from me. From the strength of thine hand I failed in blamings; (Cease thou from wounding me; for I am failing from the strokes of thy hand.)
11 for wickedness thou hast chastised [a] man. And thou madest his life to fail as a spider; nevertheless each man is troubled in vain. (For when thou hast chastised someone for wickedness, thou hast destroyed his life; yea, like a moth that eateth up a piece of cloth. Nevertheless, each person is troubled over nothing anyway, for his life is nothing but emptiness.)
12 Lord, hear thou my prayer, and my beseeching; perceive thou with ears my tears. Be thou not still, for I am a comeling with thee; and a pilgrim, as all my fathers. (Lord, hear thou my prayer; and listen to my plea. Be thou not silent before my tears, for I am but a newcomer, or a visitor, here with thee; yea, a pilgrim, like all my forefathers were before me.)
13 Forgive thou to me, that I be refreshed, before that I go; and I shall no more be. (Forgive thou me, so that I can be refreshed, before that I go away; and then I shall be no more.)
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.
29 Also Job added, taking his parable, and said, (And Job added again to his parable, and said,)
2 Who giveth to me, that I be beside the eld months, by the days in which God kept me? (Who giveth to me, that once more I be, like in the months gone by, yea, those days in which God looked after me?)
3 When his lantern shined on mine head, and I went in darknesses at his light (and I walked through the darkness by his light).
4 As I was in the days of my youth, when in private God was in my tabernacle (when privately, or secretly, God watched over my tent, or my home).
5 When Almighty God was with me, and my children were in my compass (and my children were all about me);
6 when I washed my feet in butter, and the stone shedded out to me the streams of oil; [(when I washed my feet with butter, and the stone poured out for me rivers of oil;)]
7 when I went forth to the gate of the city, and in the street they made ready a chair to me (and in the street they prepared a chair for me).
8 Young wanton men saw me, and were hid, and eld men rising up stood (and old men rose, and stood up to honour me);
9 princes ceased to speak, and they putted their finger on their mouth; (leaders ceased to speak, and they covered their mouths with their hands;)
10 dukes refrained their voice, and their tongue cleaved to their throat. (rulers refrained their voices, and their tongues cleaved to the roofs of their mouths.)
8 And when he had opened the seventh seal, a silence was made in heaven [silence was made in heaven], as half an hour.
2 And I saw seven angels standing in the sight of God, and seven trumpets were given to them [and seven trumps were given to them].
3 And another angel came, and stood before the altar, and had a golden censer; and many incenses were given to him, that he should give of the prayers of all saints on the golden altar, that is before the throne of God.[a]
4 And the smoke of the incenses of the prayers of the holy men ascended up from the angel's hand before God. [And the smoke of incenses of the prayers of hallows ascended up of the angel's hand before God.]
5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it of the fire of the altar, and cast [it] into the earth. And thunders, and voices, and lightnings were made, and a great earth-moving.
2001 by Terence P. Noble