Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

2 Why gnashed with teeth heathen men; and peoples thought vain things? (Why do the heathen gnash with their teeth? and the peoples think up useless plans?)

² The kings of earth stood together; and princes came together against the Lord, and against his Christ. (The kings of the earth stood together; yea, the rulers came together against the Lord, and against his anointed king.)

³ Break we the bonds of them; and cast we away the yoke of them from us. (And they said, Let us break their bonds, that is, their rule over us; yea, let us throw off their yoke from us.)

⁴ He that dwelleth in heavens shall scorn them; and the Lord shall bemock them. (But he who liveth in heaven shall scorn them; yea, the Lord shall mock them.)

⁵ Then he shall speak to them in his wrath; and he shall trouble them in his strong vengeance. (And then he shall speak to them in his anger; and he shall trouble them with his fury.)

⁶ Soothly I am ordained of him a king upon Zion, his holy hill; (And the Lord saith of me, I have set my king upon Zion; upon my holy hill.)

⁷ preaching his commandment. The Lord said to me, Thou art my son; I have begotten thee today. (And I said, I shall tell out his decree. Then the Lord said to me, Thou art my son; and today I have become thy father.)

⁸ Ask thou of me, and I shall give to thee heathen men (for) thine heritage; and (for) thy possession the terms of earth. (Ask thou of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thy inheritance; and the ends of the earth for thy possession.)

⁹ Thou shalt govern them in an iron rod; and thou shalt break them together as the vessel of a potter. (Thou shalt govern them with an iron rod; and thou shalt break them in pieces, like a clay pot.)

¹⁰ And now, ye kings, understand; ye that deem the earth, be ye learned. (And so now, ye kings, understand; ye who judge, or who rule, the earth, learn your lesson!)

¹¹ Serve ye the Lord with dread; and make ye full out joy to him with trembling. (Serve ye the Lord in fear/Serve ye the Lord with reverence; and bow down before him with trembling.)

¹² Take ye lore of chastising; lest the Lord be wroth sometime, and ye perish from the just way. When his wrath shall burn out in short time; blessed be all they, that trust in him. (Kiss ye the King, that is, worship and serve him; lest sometime, the Lord be angry. And then, ye perish on the way; when, in a moment of time, his anger flareth up. Happy be all they, who trust in him.)

⁹ the Lord said to him, Right now I shall come to thee in the darkness of a cloud, (so) that the people hear me speaking to thee, and believe to thee [into] without end (and then they shall always believe thee). Therefore Moses told the words of the people to the Lord,

¹⁰ which said to Moses (who said to Moses), Go thou (back) to the people, and make them holy today and tomorrow, and wash they their clothes,

¹¹ and be they ready into the third day; for in the third day the Lord shall come down before all the people on the hill of Sinai. (and be they ready by the third day; for on the third day the Lord shall come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.)

¹² And thou shalt set terms to the people, by compass; and thou shalt say to them, Be ye ware, that ye go not up into the hill, neither touch ye the ends thereof; each man that shall touch the hill, shall die by death. (And thou shalt set a boundary for the people, all around the mountain; and thou shalt say to them, Beware, that ye go not up onto the mountain, nor even touch its edges; for anyone who shall touch the mountain, shall die.)

¹³ Hands shall not touch him, but he shall be oppressed with stones, or he shall be pierced with darts; whether it shall be a beast, or a man, it shall not live; (but) when a clarion shall begin to sound, then go they up into the hill. (No hands shall touch him, but he shall be thrown down with stones, or shall be pierced with arrows; whether it be a beast, or a person, they shall not live; but when the trumpet shall begin to sound, then the people can come up onto the mountain.)

¹⁴ And Moses came down from the hill to the people, and hallowed it (And so Moses came down from the mountain to the people, and hallowed them); and when they had washed their clothes,

¹⁵ he said to them, Be ye ready into the third day (Be ye ready by the third day); nigh ye not to your wives.

¹⁶ And now the third day was come, and the morrowtide was clear; and, lo! thunders began to be heard, and lightnings to shine, and a most thick cloud to cover the mountain; and the sounding of a clarion made noise full greatly, and the people dreaded, that was in the tents (and the sounding of a trumpet made a very great noise, and the people in their tents had great fear).

¹⁷ And when Moses had led them out into the coming of God, from the place of the tents, they stood at the roots of the hill. (And when Moses had led them out from the place of the tents to meet with God, they stood at the foot of the mountain.)

¹⁸ Forsooth all the hill of Sinai smoked, for the Lord had come down thereon in fire; and the smoke thereof went up as of a furnace, and all the hill was fearful; (And all of Mount Sinai smoked, for the Lord had come down on it in fire; and its smoke went up like that of a furnace, and all the mountain fearfully shook;)

¹⁹ and the sound of a clarion increased little and little, and it was holden forth longer (and longer). (And) Moses spake, and the Lord answered him (with a clap of thunder/by a voice),

²⁰ and the Lord came down on the hill of Sinai, in that top of the hill (and the Lord came down on Mount Sinai, onto the top of the mountain), and he called Moses (up) to the top thereof. And when he had gone up thither,

²¹ the Lord said to him, Go thou down, and witness thou to the people, lest peradventure it will pass [over] the terms to see the Lord (lest they pass over the boundary to see the Lord), and [a] full great multitude thereof perish;

²² and [the] priests, that nigh to the Lord, be they hallowed, lest I smite them (or I shall strike them down).

²³ And Moses said to the Lord, The common people may not go up into the hill of Sinai; for thou hast witnessed, and hast commanded, saying, Set thou terms about the hill, and hallow it. (And Moses said to the Lord, The common people cannot come up onto Mount Sinai; for thou hast witnessed, and hast commanded, saying, Set thou a sacred boundary all around the mountain, and hallow it, and they have heard thee.)

²⁴ To whom the Lord said, Go thou down, and (then) thou shalt go up, and (bring) Aaron with thee; forsooth the priests and the people pass not (over) the terms, neither go they up to the Lord, lest peradventure he slay them. (To whom the Lord said, Go thou down, and then come back up, and bring Aaron with thee; but the priests and the people must not pass over the boundary, nor let them come up to the Lord, lest I kill them.)

²⁵ (And so) Moses went down to the people, and told all (these) things to them.

²³ By faith Moses born, was hid three months of his father and mother, for that they saw the young child fair [for that they saw the young child fair, or seemly]; and they dreaded not the commandment of the king.

²⁴ By faith Moses was made great, and denied that he was the son of Pharaoh's daughter, [By faith Moses made great, denied him to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter,]

²⁵ and chose more to be tormented with the people of God [choosing rather for to be tormented with the people of God], than to have mirth of temporal sin;

²⁶ deeming the reproof of Christ more riches than the treasures of [the] Egyptians; for he beheld into the rewarding.

²⁷ By faith he forsook Egypt, and dreaded not the hardness of the king; for he abode, as seeing him that was invisible. [By faith he forsook Egypt, not dreading the hardness of the king; forsooth he as seeing sustained the invisible.]

²⁸ By faith he hallowed pask, and the shedding out of blood, that he that destroyed the first things of Egyptians, should not touch them. [By faith he hallowed pask, and shedding of blood, lest he that destroyed the first things of the Egyptians, should touch them.]