Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

37 To David. [The psalm of David.] Do not thou follow wicked men; neither love thou men doing wickedness. (The song of David. Do not thou follow the wicked; nor love thou those who do wickedly.)

² For they shall wax dry swiftly as hay; and they shall fall down soon as the worts of herbs. (For they shall quickly grow dry like the hay, or the grass; and soon they shall fall down like the best herbs, or the plants.)

³ Hope thou in the Lord, and do thou goodness (Trust thou in the Lord, and do good); and inhabit thou the land, and thou shalt be fed with his riches.

⁴ Delight thou in the Lord; and he shall give to thee the askings of thine heart.

⁵ Show thy way to the Lord; and hope in him, and he shall do. (Give all thy ways to the Lord, and trust in him; and he shall make it happen.)

⁶ And he shall lead out thy rightfulness as light, and thy doom as midday; (And he shall lead forth thy righteousness like the light, and thy judgement like the midday sun;)

⁷ be thou subject to the Lord, and pray thou him. Do not thou follow him, that hath prosperity in his way; (nor) a man doing unrightfulness. (be thou subject to the Lord, and wait thou for him. Do not thou follow a man, simply because he hath prospered along his way; nor a man doing unrighteousness, or wickedness.)

⁸ Cease thou of ire, and forsake strong vengeance; do not thou follow, that thou do wickedly. (Cease thou from anger, and abandon taking vengeance; do not thou follow after these things, so that thou do wickedly.)

⁹ For they, that do wickedly, shall be destroyed; but they that suffer the Lord, shall inherit the land. (For they, who do wickedly, shall be destroyed; but they who hope in the Lord, shall inherit the earth.)

¹⁰ And yet a little, and a sinner shall not be (For after but just a little time, that sinner shall not be); and thou shalt seek his place, and thou shalt not find it.

¹¹ But mild men shall inherit the land (And the humble, or the meek, shall inherit the earth); and shall delight in the multitude of peace.

³⁹ But the health of just men is of the Lord; and he is their defender in the time of tribulation. (But the salvation, or the deliverance, of the righteous is from the Lord; and he is their defender in their time of trouble.)

⁴⁰ And the Lord shall help them, and shall make them free, and he shall deliver them from sinners; and he shall save them, for they hoped in him (and he shall save them, for they trusted in him).

¹⁸ Soothly Judah nighed near, and said trustily (and plaintively said), My lord, I pray thee, (let) thy servant speak a word in thine ears, and be thou not wroth to thy servant; for after Pharaoh thou art my lord.

¹⁹ Thou askedest first thy servants (Thou first askedest thy servants), Have ye a father, or a brother?

²⁰ And we answered to my lord, An eld father is to us, and a little child that was born in his eld (age), whose brother of the same womb is dead, and his mother hath him alone; forsooth his father loveth him tenderly. (And we answered to my lord, We have an old father, and he hath a young son who was born in his old age, whose brother from the same womb is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children; and his father tenderly loveth him.)

²¹ And thou saidest to thy servants, Bring ye him (down) to me, and I shall set mine eyes on him.

²² We made (the) suggestion to thee, my lord, the child may not forsake his father (that the youngest son cannot leave his father); for if he shall leave his father, his father shall die.

²³ And thou saidest to thy servants, If your youngest brother shall not come (down) with you, ye shall no more see my face (ye shall not see my face again).

²⁴ Therefore when we had gone up to thy servant, our father, we told to him all things which my lord spake to us;

²⁵ and our father said, Turn ye again, and buy ye to you a little of wheat; (and later our father said to us, Return ye there, and buy ye some corn, or some grain, for us;)

²⁶ to whom we said, We may not go; (only) if our least brother shall go down with us, we shall go forth together; else, if he is absent, we dare not see the lord’s face (to whom we said, We cannot go down there; only if our youngest brother shall go down with us, then shall we go forth together; for if he is absent, we shall not be able to see our lord’s face.)

²⁷ To which things our father answered, Ye know that my wife childed two sons to me;

²⁸ one went out (from me), and ye said, A beast [hath] devoured him (and it was said, A beast hath devoured him), and hitherto he appeareth not;

²⁹ if ye take also this son, and anything befall to him in the way, ye shall lead forth mine hoar hairs with mourning to hells. (and now if ye take also this son from me, and if anything should befall him on the way, ye shall lead forth my hoar hairs in sorrow to the grave/unto Sheol.)

³⁰ Therefore if I enter again to thy servant, our father, and the child fail (to come back with us), since his life hangeth of the life of the child, (And so if I return again to thy servant, our father, and his youngest son faileth to come back with us, since his life hangeth on the life of his youngest son,)

³¹ and he see that the child is not with us, he shall die, and thy servants shall lead forth his hoar hairs with sorrow to hells. (and he see that his youngest son is not with us, he shall die, and thy servants shall have led forth his hoar hairs in sorrow to the grave/unto Sheol.)

³² Be I properly thy servant, which received this child on my faith, and I promised, and said, If I shall not bring again him (to thee), I shall be guilty of sin against my father in all time; (So let me be thy slave, for I received his youngest son on my pledge, and I promised, and said, If I shall not bring him back to thee, I shall be guilty of sin against my father for all time;)

³³ and so I shall dwell thy servant for the child into the service of my lord, and the child go up with his brethren; (and so let me stay here in my lord’s service as thy slave in place of the youngest son, and let him go back with his brothers;)

³⁴ for I may not go again to my father, if the child be absent (if his youngest son be absent), lest I stand a witness of the wretchedness that shall oppress my father.

⁵⁷ But what and of yourselves ye deem not that that is just? [Forsooth why and of yourselves deem ye not this thing that is just?]

⁵⁸ But when thou goest with thine adversary in the way to the prince, do busyness to be delivered from him; lest peradventure he take thee to the doomsman [Forsooth when thou goest with thine adversary to the prince in the way, give thou busyness to be delivered from him; lest peradventure he draw thee to the doomsman], and the doomsman betake thee to the masterful asker, and the masterful asker send thee into prison.

⁵⁹ I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence [I say to thee, Thou shalt not go thence], till thou yield the last farthing.