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.)

⁹ Therefore doom is made far from us, and rightfulness shall not (over)take us; we abided light, and lo! darknesses be; we abided shining, and we went in darknesses. (And so justice is made far from us, and right shall not overtake us; we wait for the light, but lo! there is only darkness; we wait for the sun to shine, but still we walk in darkness.)

¹⁰ We groped as blind men the wall, and we as without eyes touched; we stumbled in midday, as in darknesses, in dark places, as dead men. (We grope the wall like the blind, and we touch it, like those without eyes; we stumble at midday, like in the darkness, yea, in dark places, like the dead.)

¹¹ All we shall roar as bears, and we shall wail thinking as culvers; we abided doom, and none there is; we abided health, and it is made far from us. (We all shall roar like bears, and we shall wail thinking like doves; we wait for justice, but there is none; we wait for deliverance, or salvation, but it is made far from us.)

¹² For why our wickednesses be multiplied before thee, and our sins answered to us (and our sins witnessed against us); for our great trespasses be with us, and we knew our wickednesses,

¹³ to do sin, and to lie against the Lord. And we be turned away, that we went not after the back of our God, that we speak false challenge, and trespassing. We conceived, and spake of (the) heart, words of leasing; (to do sin, and to lie against the Lord. And we turned away, so that we went not after the back of our God, and we speak of oppression, and of trespassing. We conceived lies, and spoke them out from our hearts;)

¹⁴ and doom was turned aback, and rightfulness stood [a]far; for why truth fell down in the street, and equity, either evenness, might not enter. (and justice was turned back, and right stood afar off; and truth fell down in the street, and integrity, or honesty, could not even come in.)

¹⁵ And truth was made into forgetting, and he that went away from evil, was open to prey, either robbing. And the Lord saw, and it appeared evil in his eyes, for there is no doom. (And the truth was forgotten, and he who went away from evil, was laid open to theft, or to robbery. And the Lord saw, and it appeared evil to him, that there was no justice.)

¹⁶ And God saw, that a man is not, and he was anguished, for none there is that runneth to. And his arm shall save to himself, and his rightfulness itself shall confirm him. (And God saw, that no one gave any help, and he was anguished that no one runneth to give aid. And so his arm shall save him, and his uprightness shall uphold him.)

¹⁷ He is clothed with rightfulness as with an habergeon, and the helmet of health is in his head; he is clothed with [the] clothes of vengeance, and he is covered as with a mantle of fervent working. (He is clothed with a breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation is on his head; he is clothed with the clothes of vengeance, and he is covered with a cloak of jealous anger.)

¹⁸ As to vengeance, as to (the) yielding of indignation to his enemies, and to requiting of time to his adversaries (and the time of requiting for his adversaries), (yea,) he shall yield while (even) to [the] isles.

¹⁹ And they that be at the west, shall dread the name of the Lord, and they that be at the rising of the sun, shall dread the glory of him; when he shall come as a violent flood, whom the spirit of the Lord compelleth. (And they who be at the west, shall fear the name of the Lord, and they who be at the rising of the sun, shall fear his glory; when he shall come like a rushing river, which the Spirit of the Lord compelleth.)

2 Therefore put ye away all malice, and all guile, and feignings, and envies, and all backbitings; [Therefore putting away all malice, and all guile, and simulations, or feignings, and envies, and all detractions;]

² as now born young children, reasonable, without guile, covet ye milk [of full teaching], that in it ye wax into health;

³ if nevertheless ye have tasted, that the Lord is sweet.

⁴ And approach ye to him, that is a living stone, and reproved of men [To whom ye going nigh, a quick stone, reproved soothly of men], but chosen of God, and honoured;

⁵ and yourselves as quick stones be ye above builded [and yourselves as quick stones be above builded] into spiritual houses, and an holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

⁶ For which thing the scripture saith, Lo! I shall set in Sion the highest corner stone, chosen and precious [For which thing the scripture holdeth, Lo! I shall put in Sion the highest stone, a corner stone, chosen, precious]; and he that shall believe in him, shall not be confounded.

⁷ Therefore honour to you that believe; but to men that believe not, the stone whom the builders reproved, this is made into the head of the corner;

⁸ and the stone of hurting, and the stone of stumbling, to them that offend to the word, neither believe it, in which they be set.^[a]

⁹ But ye be a chosen kin, a kingly priesthood, holy folk, a people of purchasing, that ye tell the virtues of him, that called you from darknesses into his wonderful light.

¹⁰ Which sometime were not a people of God, but now ye be the people of God; which had not mercy, but now ye have mercy.