Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
90 The prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, thou art made (a) help to us; from generation into generation. (Lord, thou hast helped us; from generation unto generation.)
2 Before that (the) hills were made, either the earth and the world was formed; from the world and into the world, thou art God (forever and ever, thou art God).
3 Turn thou not away a man into lowness; and thou saidest, Ye sons of men, be turned again. (Thou hast turned people back to the lowness from whence they came; yea, thou sayest, Ye sons and daughters of men, return to dust.)
4 For a thousand years be before thine eyes; as yesterday, which is passed, and as [the] keeping in the night. (For in thine eyes a thousand years be like yesterday, which is just passed; yea, as fleeting as the night watch.)
5 The years of them shall be; that be had for nought. Early pass he, as an herb, (And their years shall be as if nothing. In the morning they shall come forth, like a blade of grass,)
6 early flourish he, and pass; in the eventide fall he down, be he hard, and wax he dry. (yea, that flourisheth in the morning, and groweth up; and then, in the evening, it falleth down, and hardeneth, and groweth dry.)
7 For we have failed in thine ire; and we be troubled in thy strong vengeance. (For we be brought to an end by thy anger; and we be dis-eased, or distressed, by thy fury.)
8 Thou hast set our wickednesses in thy sight; our world in the lightening of thy cheer. (Thou hast set our wickednesses before thee; our secret sins in the full light of thy face.)
9 For all our days have failed; and we have failed in thine ire. Our years (we) shall bethink upon as a spider; (For all our days be brought to an end by thy anger. All our years we shall remember as but a whisper;)
10 the days of our years be those seventy years. Forsooth, if fourscore years/if eighty years be in mighty men; and (yet) the more time of them is travail and sorrow. For mildness came above; and we shall be chastised. (and the days of our years be those seventy years. For strong people, they be eighty years; yet most of that time is trouble, or labour, and sorrow. For life is short; and then we be gone.)
11 Who knew the power of thine ire; and durst number thine ire for thy dread? (Who knoweth the power of thy anger? and who knoweth thy anger better than those who fear thee?)
12 Make thy right hand so known; and make men learned in heart by wisdom. (Make thy right hand, or thy power, known to us/Teach us that our days be short; and so make people learned in their hearts with thy wisdom.)
13 Lord, be thou converted some-deal; and be thou able to be prayed of (by) thy servants. (Lord, how long until thou be turned somewhat; and then thou be able to be prayed to, or petitioned by, thy servants?)
14 We were [ful]filled early with thy mercy; we made full out joy, and we delighted in all our days. (Fulfill us/Fill us full each morning with thy love; so that we can rejoice, and be glad, in all our days.)
15 We were glad for the days in which thou madest us meek; for the years in which we saw evils. (Make us glad now in recompense for the days in which thou hast humbled us; yea, for the years in which we endured evils.)
16 Lord, behold thou into thy servants, and into thy works; and (ad)dress thou, (or direct thou,) the sons of them. (Lord, let thy servants see thy mighty works; and our sons and daughters see thy glory.)
17 And the shining of our Lord God be on us; and (ad)dress thou the works of our hands on us; and (ad)dress thou the works of our hands. (And let the shining of the Lord our God be upon us, and direct thou the works of our hands for us; yea, direct thou the works of our hands.)
17 And the Lord spake to Moses, saying,
2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and take thou rods, by their kindreds, by each kindred one rod, take thou of all the princes of the lineages twelve rods; and thou shalt write the name of each lineage upon his rod; (Speak thou to the Israelites, and take thou staffs, from their kindreds, one staff from each kindred, yea, take thou twelve staffs from all the leaders, or all the chief men, of the tribes; and thou shalt write the name of each leader on his staff;)
3 soothly the name of Aaron shall be written in the lineage of Levi, and one rod shall contain all the families of Levi. (and Aaron’s name shall be written on the staff of Levi; yea, one staff shall be for the head of each family.)
4 And thou shalt put those rods in the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, before the witnessing, where I shall speak with thee; (And thou shalt put those staffs in the Tabernacle of the Covenant, before the Ark of the Witnessing, that is, the Box containing the tablets of the Law, where I speak with thee;)
5 the rod of him shall burgeon, whom I shall choose of them to the office of priesthood; and I shall thereby refrain, or quench, from me the complainings, or grouchings, of the sons of Israel, by which they grouch against you. (and the staff of him shall sprout, whom I shall choose out of them for the office, or for the duties, of the priesthood; and I shall thereby quench the complaints, or the grumblings, of the Israelites, by which they grumble against you.)
6 And Moses spake to the sons of Israel; and all the princes gave to him rods, by all their lineages; and the rods were twelve, without the rod of Aaron. (And Moses spoke to the Israelites; and each leader from each tribe gave him a staff; and so there were twelve staffs, and Aaron’s staff was among them.)
7 And when Moses had put those rods before the Lord, in the tabernacle of witnessing, (And when Moses had put those staffs before the Lord, in the Tabernacle of the Witnessing,)
8 he went again in the day following, and found that the rod of Aaron, in the house of Levi, had burgeoned; and when [the] knops were great, the blossoms had broken out, which were alarged in (the) leaves, and were formed into almonds. (he went back on the following day, and found that Aaron’s staff, for the house of Levi, had sprouted; and first the buds grew great, and then the blossoms broke out, and enlarged themselves amid the leaves, and then they were formed into almonds.)
9 Therefore Moses brought forth all the rods from the sight of the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they saw, and received each his rod. (And so Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites; and they looked at all of them, and then each man received back his own staff.)
10 And the Lord said to Moses, Bear thou again the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of witnessing, that it be kept there into a token of the rebel sons of Israel, and that their complainings, or grouchings, cease from me, lest they die. (And the Lord said to Moses, Bring thou back Aaron’s staff into the Tabernacle of the Witnessing, so that it can be kept there as a sign, or as a warning, to all the rebellious Israelites, so that their complaints, or their grumblings, cease, or else they shall die.)
11 And Moses did, as the Lord commanded.
3 Lo! ye most dear-worthy brethren, I write to you this second epistle [Lo! I write to you, most dear, this second epistle], in which I stir your clear soul by admonishing together,
2 that ye be mindful of those words [that ye be mindful of the words], that I before-said of the holy prophets, and of the commandments of the holy apostles of the Lord and Saviour.
3 First know ye this thing, that in the last days deceivers shall come in deceit [First knowing this thing, that in the last days scorners shall come in deceit], going after their own covetings,
4 saying, Where is the promise, or the coming of him? for since the fathers died, all things last from the beginning of creature [for since fathers slept, either died, so all things last from the beginning of creature].
5 But it is hid from them willing this thing, that heavens were before, and the earth of water was standing by water, by God's word [that heavens were first, and the earth of water and by water being, or standing, together by God's word];
6 by which [things] that same world cleansed, then by water perished.
7 But the heavens that now be, and the earth, be kept by the same word, and be reserved to fire into the day of doom and perdition of wicked men. [Forsooth the heavens that now be, and the earth, by the same word put again, be kept to fire into the day of doom and perdition of unpious men.]
8 But, ye most dear, this one thing be not hid to you [be not unknown], that one day with God is as a thousand years, and a thousand years be as one day [and a thousand years as one day].
9 The Lord tarrieth not his promise, as some [men] guess, but he doeth patiently for you, and will not that any man perish [not willing any to perish], but that all turn again to penance.
10 For the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which heavens with great rush shall pass [in which heavens with great rush, or fierceness, shall pass], and elements shall be dissolved by heat, and the earth, and all the works that be in it, shall be burnt.
11 Therefore when all these things shall be dissolved, what manner men behooveth it you to be in holy livings and piety [in holy livings and pieties],
12 abiding and hieing into the coming of the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom heavens burning shall be dissolved, and elements shall fail by burning of fire[a].
13 Also we abide by his promises [Soothly we abide after his promise] new heavens and new earth, in which rightwiseness dwelleth.
14 For which thing, ye most dear, abiding these things, be ye busy to be found to him in peace unspotted and undefouled [in peace unspotted and unfouled].
15 And deem ye long abiding of our Lord Jesus Christ your health, as also our most dear brother Paul wrote to you, by wisdom given to him. [And deem ye the long abiding of our Lord your health, as and our most dear brother Paul wrote to you, after wisdom given to him.]
16 As and in all his epistles he speaketh in them of these things; in which be some hard things to understand, which unwise and unstable men deprave [As and in all epistles he speaking in them of these things; in which be some hard things in understanding, the which unwise, or untaught, and unstable men deprave], as also they do other scriptures, to their own perdition.
17 Therefore ye, brethren, before-witting keep yourselves, lest ye be deceived by error of unwise men, and fall away from your own firmness. [Therefore ye, brethren, before-witting keep yourselves, lest ye over-led, or deceived, by error of unwise men, fall away from your own firmness.]
18 But wax ye in the grace and the knowing of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Saviour; to him be glory now and into the day of everlastingness. Amen.
2001 by Terence P. Noble