Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

104 My soul, bless thou the Lord; my Lord God, thou art magnified greatly. Thou hast clothed acknowledging and fairness; (My soul, bless thou the Lord; my Lord God, thou art greatly magnified. Thou art clothed with majesty and glory;)

² and thou art clothed with light, as with a cloth. And thou stretchest forth heaven as a skin; (and thou art clothed with light, like with a cloak. And thou stretchest forth, or spreadest out, the heavens like a tent;)

³ and thou coverest with waters the higher parts thereof. Which settest a cloud thy ascending; which goest on the feathers of winds. (and thou layest the beams of thy chambers upon the waters. Thou who makest a cloud thy chariot; and who goest upon the wings of the wind.)

⁴ Which makest spirits thine angels; and thy ministers (a) burning fire. (Who makest the winds to be thy messengers; and flames of fire, or flashes of lightning, to be thy servants.)

⁵ Which hast founded the earth on his stableness; it shall not be bowed into the world of world. (Who hast set the earth on its foundations; yea, it shall never be moved, or shaken.)

⁶ The depth of waters as a cloth is the clothing thereof; waters shall stand on hills. (The depth of waters, like a cloak, is its clothing; and the waters rose above, or covered, the mountains.)

⁷ Those shall flee from thy blaming; men shall be afeared of the voice of thy thunder. (The waters fled from thy rebuke; they were afraid of the sound of thy thunder.)

⁸ Hills go up, and fields go down; into the place which thou hast founded to those. (They went up over the mountains, and down into the valleys; to the place which thou hast prepared for them.)

⁹ Thou hast set a term, which they shall not pass (over); neither those shall be turned (again), for to cover the earth (nor shall they ever return to cover the earth).

²⁴ Lord, thy works be magnified full much, thou hast made all things in wisdom; the earth is filled with thy possession(s). (Lord, thou hast made a great many things, thou hast made all things by thy wisdom; the earth is filled with thy creatures.)

³⁵ Sinners fail from the earth, and wicked men fail, so that they be not; my soul, bless thou the Lord. (May the sinners perish from the earth, and the wicked fail, so that they be not; but my soul, bless thou the Lord.)

39 Whether thou knowest the time of birth of wild goats in (the) stones, either hast thou espied hinds bringing forth calves? (Knowest thou the time of birth for the wild mountain goats, or hast thou seen the deer bringing forth their calves?)

² Hast thou numbered the months of their conceiving, and hast thou known the time of their calving?

³ They be bowed down to [the] calf, and so calve; and they send out then roarings (and then they send out their roarings).

⁴ Their calves be separated from them, and go forth to pasture; they go out, and they turn not again to their mothers.

⁵ Who hath let go the wild ass free, and who hath loosed the bonds of him? (Who hath let the wild donkey go free, and who hath loosened his bonds?)

⁶ To whom I have given an house in (the) wilderness, and the tabernacles of him in the land of saltness. (To whom I have given a home in the desert, and his dwelling places in the salty land.)

⁷ He despiseth the multitude of the city; he heareth not the cry of the asker.

⁸ He looketh about the hills of his pasture, and he seeketh (after) all green things.

⁹ Whether an unicorn shall desire to serve thee, either shall dwell at thy cratch? (Shall a wild ox desire to serve thee, or shall he stay in thy stall?)

¹⁰ Whether thou shalt bind the unicorn with thy chain, for to ear thy land, either shall he break the clots of the valleys after thee? (Shalt thou bind the wild ox with thy chain, to plow thy land, or shall he break up the clods of the valleys after thee?)

¹¹ Whether thou shalt have trust in his great strength, and shalt thou leave to him thy travails? (Shalt thou have trust in his great strength, and shalt thou leave thy work for him to do?)

¹² Whether thou shalt believe to him (Shalt thou believe him), that he shall yield seed to thee, and shall gather (it) together (for) thy cornfloor?

¹³ The feather of an ostrich is like the feathers of a gyrfalcon, and of an hawk;

¹⁴ the which ostrich forsaketh his eggs in the earth, in hap thou shalt make those hot in the dust. (who forsaketh his eggs in the earth, and warmeth them under the sand.)

¹⁵ He forgetteth, that a foot treadeth those eggs, either that a beast of the field all-breaketh them.

¹⁶ He is made hard to his young, as if they were not his; he travailed in vain, while no dread constrained him. (He is hardened against his young, as if they were not his; he laboured in vain, while no fear constrained him.)

¹⁷ For God hath deprived him from wisdom, and he hath not given understanding to him. (For God hath deprived him of wisdom, and he hath not given him understanding.)

¹⁸ When time is, he raiseth the wings on high (And then the time cometh that he raise up his wings on high); he scorneth the horse, and his rider.

¹⁹ Whether thou shalt give strength to an horse, either shalt give neighing about his neck? (Hast thou given strength to a horse, and hast thou clothed his neck with a mane?)

²⁰ Whether thou shalt raise him as locusts? The glory of his nostrils is dreaded. (Hast thou made that horse as frightening as a horde of locusts? The glory of his nostrils is fearful indeed!)

²¹ He diggeth [the] earth with his foot, he full out joyeth; and he goeth boldly against [the] armed men.

²² He despiseth fearedfulness, and he giveth not stead to [the] sword.

²³ An arrow case shall sound upon him; a spear and a shield shall shine.

²⁴ He is hot, or fervent, and gnasheth, and swalloweth the earth; and he areckoneth not that the cry of the trump soundeth (and he cannot be held when the cry of the trumpet soundeth).

²⁵ When he heareth a clarion, he saith, Joy! he smelleth (the) battle afar (off); the exciting of dukes, and the yelling of the host (the orders of the leaders, and the yelling of the army).

²⁶ Whether an hawk spreading abroad his wings to the south, beginneth to have feathers by thy wisdom? (Be it by thy wisdom that a hawk haveth feathers, and spreadeth his wings towards the south?)

²⁷ Whether an eagle shall be raised up at thy commandment, and shall set his nest in high places?

²⁸ He dwelleth in stones, and he abideth in flints broken before, and in rocks, to which men may not nigh. (He liveth on the stones, yea, on broken stones and rocks, to which men cannot come near.)

²⁹ From thence he beholdeth (his) meat (From there he seeth his prey), and his eyes look from [a]far.

³⁰ His young suck blood, and wherever a carrion is, anon he is present. (His young suck up the blood, and wherever there is a carcass, at once he is present.)

²⁴ And strife was made among them, which of them should be seen to be greatest.

²⁵ But he said to them, Kings of heathen men be lords of them, and they that have power on them be called good doers, [Forsooth he said to them, Kings of heathen men be lords, or lordship, of them, and they that have power upon them be called good doers,]

²⁶ but ye not so; but he that is greatest among you, be made as a younger [be made as the younger], and he that is [a] before-goer, as a servant.

²⁷ For who is greater, he that sitteth at the meat, or he that ministereth? whether not he that sitteth at the meat? And I am in the middle of you [Forsooth I am in the midst of you], as he that ministereth.

²⁸ And ye [it] be, that have dwelled with me in my temptations; [Soothly ye it be that have dwelt with me in my temptations;]

²⁹ and I assign to you, as my Father hath assigned to me, a realm, [and I dispose to you, as my Father hath disposed to me, a realm,]

³⁰ that ye eat and drink on my board in my realm, and sit on thrones, and deem the twelve kindreds of Israel [deeming the twelve kindreds of Israel].