Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
5 Lord, heavens shall acknowledge thy marvels; and thy truth in the church of saints. (Lord, the heavens shall praise thy marvellous deeds; and the council of the saints shall praise thy faithfulness.)
6 For who in the clouds shall be made even to the Lord; shall be like God among the sons of God? (For who in heaven shall be made equal to the Lord? who shall be like God among the heavenly beings?/who shall be like God in the council of heaven?)
7 God, that is glorified in the council of saints; is great, and dreadful over all that be in his compass. (God, thou art feared/thou art revered, in the council of the saints; thou art great, and glorified above all who surround thee.)
8 Lord God of virtues, who is like thee? Lord, thou art mighty, and thy truth is in thy compass. (Lord God of hosts, who is like thee? Lord, thou art mighty, and thy faithfulness surroundeth thee.)
9 Thou art Lord of the power of the sea; forsooth thou assuagest the stirring of the waves thereof.
10 Thou madest low the proud, as (those who be) wounded (and slain); in the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thine enemies. (Thou hast crushed Rahab to death; thou hast scattered thy enemies with thy strong arm, or with thy power.)
11 (The) Heavens be thine, and the earth is thine; thou hast founded the world, and the fullness thereof;
12 thou madest of nought the north and the sea. Tabor and Hermon shall make full out joy in thy name; (thou madest the north and the south out of nothing. Tabor and Hermon shall make full out joy, or shall rejoice, in thy name.)
13 thine arm with power. Thine hand be made steadfast, and thy right hand be enhanced; (Thy arm hath power; let thy hand be made firm, and thy right hand be lifted high.)
14 rightfulness and doom is the making ready of thy seat. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face; (Righteousness and judgement be the foundations of thy throne; love and faithfulness go forth before thee.)
15 blessed is the people that know (a) hearty song. Lord, they shall go in the light of thy cheer; (Happy be the people who know a hearty song; Lord, they shall go forth by the light of thy face.)
16 and in thy name they shall make full out joy all day; and they shall be enhanced in thy rightfulness. (And in thy name, they shall make full out joy, or shall rejoice, all day long; and they shall be exalted, or shall be lifted up, by thy righteousness.)
17 For thou art the glory of the virtue of them; and in thy good pleasance our horn shall be enhanced. (For thou art the glory of their strength/For thou art the strength in which they have glory; and in thy good favour our horn shall be exalted.)
18 For our taking up is of the Lord; and of the holy of Israel our king. (For the Lord is our defender; yea, the Holy One of Israel is our King.)
19 Then thou spakest in revelation to thy saints, and saidest, I have set help in the mighty (man); and I have enhanced the chosen man of my people. (Then thou spokest in revelation to thy saints, and saidest, I have given help to the mighty man; yea, I have exalted, or lifted up, the chosen man of my people.)
20 I found David, my servant; I anointed him with mine holy oil. (I found my servant David; and I anointed him with my holy oil.)
21 For mine hand shall help him; and mine arm shall confirm him. (For my hand shall help him; and my arm, or my power, shall strengthen him.)
22 The enemy shall nothing profit in him (The enemy shall not gain any advantage over him); and the son of wickedness shall not lay to/shall not put to, for to harm him.
23 And I shall slay his enemies from his face; and I shall turn into flight them that hate him. (And I shall kill all his enemies before his face; and I shall turn to flight, or make to flee, those who hate him.)
24 And my truth and mercy shall be with him; and his horn shall be enhanced in my name. (And my faithfulness and love shall be with him; and in my name his horn shall be exalted/his head shall be lifted up on high.)
25 And I shall set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in floods. (And I shall extend his power unto the Mediterranean Sea; and his right hand unto the Euphrates River.)
26 He shall inwardly call me, (saying,) Thou art my father; my God, and the up-taker of mine health. (And he shall say to me, Thou art my father; yea, my God, and my defender, my saviour.)
27 And I shall set him the first begotten son; higher than the kings of earth. (And I shall make him my first-born son; higher than all the kings of the earth.)
28 [Into] Without end I shall keep my mercy to him; and my testament faithful to him. (I shall hold onto my love for him forever; and faithfully keep my covenant with him.)
29 And I shall set his seed into the world of world; and his throne as the days of heaven. (And I shall establish his descendants forever and ever; and his throne for as long as the days of the heavens, that is, for as long as the heavenly bodies endure.)
30 Forsooth if his sons forsake my law; and go not in my dooms. (But if his sons abandon my Law; and do not go in my judgements.)
31 If they make unholy my rightfulnesses; and keep not my commandments. (If they break my statutes; and do not obey my commandments.)
32 I shall visit in a rod the wickednesses of them; and in beatings the sins of them. (Then I shall punish their wickednesses with a rod; and their sins with beatings.)
33 But I shall not scatter my mercy from him; and in my truth I shall not harm him. (But I shall not take away my love from him; and I shall be faithful to him.)
34 Neither I shall make unholy my testament; and I shall not make void those things that come forth of my lips. (Nor shall I break my covenant; and I shall not make void those things which come forth from my lips, that is, I shall not break my promises.)
35 Once I swore in mine holiness, I shall not lie to David; (Once I swore by my holiness, that I would never lie to David;)
36 his seed shall dwell [into] without end. And his throne as [the] sun in my sight, (his children, that is, his descendants, shall live forever. And his throne shall be before me like the sun,)
37 and as a perfect moon without end; and a faithful witness in heaven. (and like the moon, which shall endure forever; yea, like a faithful witness in the heavens.)
51 Hear ye me, that follow that that is just, and seek the Lord (Listen ye to me, ye who follow what is right, and seek the Lord). Take ye heed to the stone, from whence ye be hewn down, and to the cave of the pit, from which ye be cut down.
2 Take ye heed to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, that childed you (who gave birth to you); for I called him, (when he was but) one, (or without an heir,) and I blessed him, and I multiplied him.
3 Therefore the Lord shall comfort Zion, and he shall comfort all the fallings thereof; and he shall set the desert thereof in delights, and the wilderness thereof as a garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, the doing of thankings and the voice of praising. (And so the Lord shall comfort Zion, and he shall comfort all who live in its fallings, or in its ruins; and he shall turn its desert into an Eden, and its wilderness into a garden of the Lord; joy and happiness shall be found there, and thanksgiving and praising.)
4 My people, take ye heed to me, and, my lineage, hear ye me; for why a law shall go out from me, and my doom shall rest into the light of peoples. (My people, take ye heed to me, and, my tribe, listen ye to me; for the Law shall go out from me, and my judgement shall be a light for the peoples, or for the nations.)
5 My just man is nigh, my saviour is gone out, and mine arms shall deem peoples; isles shall abide me, and shall suffer mine arm. (My justice is near, my salvation hath gone out, and my arm shall rule the peoples; the islands shall wait for me, and shall have trust in my arm.)
6 Raise your eyes to heaven, and see ye under earth beneath; for why heavens shall melt away as smoke, and the earth shall be all-broken as a cloth, and the dwellers thereof shall perish as these things; but mine health shall be without end, and my rightfulness shall not fail. (Raise up your eyes to the heavens, and see ye under the earth beneath; for the heavens shall melt away like smoke, and the earth shall be torn like a cloak, and its inhabitants shall perish like these things; but my deliverance, or my salvation, shall be forever, and my justice, or my judgement, shall not fail.)
7 Ye people, that know the just man, hear me, my law is in the heart of them; do not ye dread the shame of men, and dread ye not the blasphemies of them. (Ye people, who know what is just, hear me, for my Law is in your hearts; do not ye fear the shame of men, and fear ye not their blasphemies.)
8 For why a worm shall eat them so as a cloth, and a moth shall devour them so as wool; but mine health shall be without end, and my rightfulness into generations of generations. (For a worm shall eat them up like a cloak, and a moth shall devour them like wool; but my deliverance, or my salvation, shall be forever, and my justice, or my victory, for all generations.)
9 Rise thou, rise thou, arm of the Lord, be thou clothed in strength; rise thou, as in [the] eld days, in generations of worlds. Whether thou smitedest not the proud man (Strikedest thou not Rahab), woundedest not the dragon?
10 Whether thou driedest not the sea, the water of the great depth, which settedest the depth of the sea to be a way, that men that were delivered, should pass [over]? (Didest thou not dry up the sea, the water of the great depth, and make the depth of the sea to be a way, so that those who were delivered, or saved, could cross over it?)
11 And now they that be again-bought of the Lord shall turn again, and shall come praising into Zion, and everlasting gladness on the heads of them; they shall hold joy and gladness, and sorrow and wailing shall flee away. (And now they who be redeemed, or who be rescued, by the Lord shall return, and shall come with praising into Zion, and everlasting happiness shall be upon them; they shall hold onto joy and happiness, and sorrow and wailing shall flee away.)
12 I, I myself, that is, I am he, I am he, that shall comfort you; who art thou, that thou dreadest of a deadly man, and of the son of man, that shall wax dry so as hay? (I, I myself, shall comfort you; so why then fearest thou any mortal, yea, the son of a man, who shall grow as dry as grass, or like straw?)
13 And thou hast forgotten the Lord, thy Creator, that stretched abroad (the) heavens, and founded the earth; and thou dreadedest continually all day of the face of his strong vengeance, that did tribulation to thee, and made ready for to lose. Where is now the strong vengeance of the troubler? (But thou hast forgotten the Lord, thy Creator, who stretched abroad the heavens, and founded the earth; and, instead, all day long, thou hast continually feared the strong vengeance of the one who gave thee trials and tribulation, and who is ready to destroy thee. But now, where is the strong vengeance of the troubler?)
14 Soon he shall come, going for to open; and he shall not slay till to death, neither his bread shall fail. (Yea, he who now is captive of this fear, shall soon be set free; and he shall live a long life, and his food shall not fail.)
15 Forsooth I am thy Lord God, that trouble the sea, and the waves thereof wax great; the Lord of hosts is my name. (For I am the Lord thy God, who troubleth the sea, and its waves grow great; the Lord of hosts is my name.)
16 I have put my words in thy mouth, and I defended thee in the shadow of mine hand; that thou plant (the) heavens, and found the earth, and say to Zion, Thou art my people. (I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have hid thee under the shadow of my hand; so that I might firmly plant the heavens, and found, or form, the earth, and say to Zion, Thou art my people.)
15 And Jesus knew it, and went away from thence; and many followed him, and he healed them all.
16 And he commanded to them, that they should not make him known;
17 that that thing were fulfilled [that that thing should be fulfilled], that was said by Esaias, the prophet, saying,
18 Lo! my child, whom I have chosen, my darling, in whom it hath well pleased to my soul; I shall put my Spirit on him, and he shall tell doom to heathen men.
19 He shall not strive, nor cry, neither any man shall hear his voice in streets.
20 A bruised reed he shall not break, and he shall not quench smoking flax, till he cast out doom to victory;
21 and heathen men shall hope in his name.
2001 by Terence P. Noble