Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

17 The prayer of David. Lord, hear thou my rightfulness; behold thou my prayer. Perceive thou with ears my prayer; not made in guileful lips. (The prayer of David. Lord, hear thou my plea for justice; consider thou my prayer. Listen thou to my prayer; for it is not made with deceitful, or lying, lips.)

² My doom come forth of thy cheer; thine eyes see they equity. (Let my judgement come forth from thy lips; let thine eyes be fixed on justice.)

³ Thou hast proved mine heart, and hast visited (me) in [the] night; thou hast examined, or assayed, me by fire, and wickedness is not found in me.

⁴ That my mouth speak not (of) the works of men; for the words of thy lips I have kept hard ways. (My mouth shall not speak of the works of men; by the words of thy lips I have kept myself from bad ways.)

⁵ Make thou perfect my goings in thy paths; that my steps be not moved. (Make thou perfect my goings on thy paths; so that my steps will not slip, or stumble/so that I do not fall.)

⁶ I cried, for thou, God, heardest me; bow down thy ear to me, and hear thou my words. (I cried, for I know that thou, God, shalt answer me; bow down thy ear to me, and listen to my words.)

⁷ Make wonderful thy mercies; that makest safe them that hope in thee. (Show thou me thy constant love, thou who savest me; with thy right hand save thou those who trust in thee, from those who stand against them.)

¹⁵ But I in rightfulness shall appear to thy sight; I shall be [ful]filled, when thy glory shall appear. (But I shall appear upright, or righteous, before thee; and I shall be fulfilled, when thy glory shall appear.)

³ Soothly Jacob sent before him also messengers to Esau, his brother, into the land of Seir, in the country of Edom; (And Jacob sent messengers on before him to his brother Esau, who was in the land of Seir, in the country of Edom;)

⁴ and he commanded to them, and said, Thus speak ye to my lord Esau, (and say,) Thy brother Jacob saith these things, I have been a pilgrim at Laban (I have been living with Laban), and I was (there) till into this present day;

⁵ I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and handmaids, and I send now a message to my lord, that I find grace in thy sight. (I have oxen, and donkeys, and sheep, and male and female slaves, and I have sent this message to my lord, so that I may find grace in thy sight.)

⁶ And the messengers turned again to Jacob, and said, We came to Esau, thy brother, and lo! he hasteth him into thy coming, with four hundred men. (And the messengers returned to Jacob, and said, We came to thy brother Esau, and told him your message, and lo! now he hasteneth himself to come to meet thee, with four hundred men.)

⁷ Jacob dreaded greatly, and he was afeared, and he parted the people that was with him, and he parted the flocks, and sheep, and oxen, and camels, into two companies; (And Jacob greatly feared, and he was afraid, and so he divided all the people who were with him, as well as the flocks, and sheep, and oxen, and camels, into two groups;)

⁸ and he said, If Esau shall come to one company, and shall smite it, the other company which is left unsmitten, shall be saved. (and he said, If Esau shall come to one group, and shall strike them down, the other group which is left, shall be able to escape.)

⁹ And Jacob said, O! God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O! Lord, that saidest to me, Turn thou again into thy land, and to the place of thy birth, and I shall do well to thee (O! Lord, who saidest to me, Return thou to thy land, and to the place of thy birth, and I shall deal well with thee),

¹⁰ I am less than all thy merciful doings, and than (all) thy truth which thou hast [ful]filled to thy servant; with (only) my staff I passed (over) this Jordan, and now I go (back over) again with two companies; (I am not worthy of all thy merciful doings, and all thy faithfulness which thou hast shown to thy servant; for I crossed over this Jordan River with only my staff, and now I go back again with these two plentiful groups;)

¹¹ deliver thou me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I dread him greatly (for I greatly fear him), lest he come and smite (me, and) the mothers with the sons.

¹² Thou spakest that thou shouldest do well to me, and wouldest alarge my seed as [the] gravel of the sea, that may not be numbered for muchliness. (Thou saidest that thou wouldest deal well with me, and that thou wouldest enlarge my descendants like the gravel, or like the sand, of the sea, that cannot be counted for all of its muchliness.)

¹³ And when Jacob had slept there in that night, he separated of those things which he had, (as) gifts to Esau, his brother, (And after Jacob had slept there that night, he separated out from the things which he had, as gifts for his brother Esau,)

¹⁴ two hundred (she) goats, and twenty bucks of goats, (and) two hundred sheep, and twenty rams,

¹⁵ camels full with their foals thirty, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she-asses, and [the] ten foals of them. (thirty milk camels with their foals, forty cows, and twenty bulls, and twenty female donkeys, and their ten foals.)

¹⁶ And he sent by the hands of his servants all the flocks by themselves; and he said to his servants, Go ye before me, and (let) a space be betwixt (a) flock and (a) flock.

¹⁷ And he commanded to the former, and said, If thou shalt meet my brother Esau, and he shall ask thee, whose man thou art, or whither thou goest, or whose be these things which thou followest, (And he commanded to the first servant, and said, When thou shalt meet my brother Esau, and he shall ask thee, Whose man art thou? and where goest thou? and whose things be these which thou followest?)

¹⁸ thou shalt answer, (They be) Of thy servant Jacob; he hath sent (them as) gifts to his lord Esau, and he cometh after us.

¹⁹ In like manner, he gave commandments to the second, and to the third (he gave the same orders to the second, and the third servants), and to all that followed the flocks; and said, Speak ye by the same words to Esau, when ye find him,

²⁰ and ye shall add, Also Jacob himself thy servant followeth our way (and ye shall add, And thy servant Jacob himself followeth on our way). For Jacob said, I shall please Esau with (the) gifts that go before (me), and (then) afterward I shall see him; in hap he shall be merciful to me.

²¹ And so the gifts went before him; soothly he dwelled in that night in the tents.

³⁷ When they heard these things, they were compuncted in heart; and they said to Peter and [to] other apostles, Brethren [Men brethren], what shall we do?

³⁸ And Peter said to them, Do ye penance [Penance, he said, do ye], and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, into remission of your sins; and ye shall take the gift of the Holy Ghost.

³⁹ For the promise is to you, and to your sons, and to all that be far, whichever our Lord God hath called. [Forsooth repromission is to you, and to your sons, and to all that be far, whomever the Lord our God hath called to.]

⁴⁰ Also with other words full many he witnessed to them, and admonished them, and said, Be ye saved from this depraved generation [saying, Be ye saved from this wicked, or shrewd, generation].

⁴¹ Then they that received his word were baptized, and in that day souls were increased, about three thousand;

⁴² and [they] were lasting stably in the teaching of the apostles, and in communing of the breaking of bread [and communing of breaking of bread], and in prayers.

⁴³ And dread was made to each man [Forsooth dread was made to each soul]. And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles in Jerusalem, and great dread was in all.

⁴⁴ And all that believed were together, and had all things common.

⁴⁵ They sold possessions and chattel [They sold possessions and substances, or goods], and parted those things to all men, as it was need to each.

⁴⁶ And each day they dwelled stably with one will in the temple, and brake bread about houses, and took meat with full out joy and simpleness of heart, [Forsooth day by day they lasting together in the temple, and breaking bread about houses, took meat with gladness and simpleness of heart,]

⁴⁷ and praised together God, and had grace to all the folk [praising together God, and having grace to all the people]. And the Lord increased them that were made safe, each day into the same thing.