Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

139 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, thou hast proved me, and hast known me; (To victory, the song of David. Lord, thou hast assayed, or tested, me, and thou knowest me;)

² thou hast known my sitting, and my rising again. Thou hast understood my thoughts from [a]far; (thou hast known my sitting down, and my rising up. Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar;)

³ thou hast inquired (of) my path and my cord. And thou hast before-seen all my ways; (thou hast examined my path, and my resting places. And thou hast foreseen all my ways.)

⁴ for no word is in my tongue. Lo! Lord, thou hast known all things, (Yea, there is no word on my tongue, lo! Lord; but that thou not knowest it first.)

⁵ the new things and eld; thou hast formed me, and hast set thine hand on me. (Thou art behind me, and before me; and thou hast set thy hand upon me.)

⁶ Thy knowing is made wonderful of me; it is comforted, and I shall not be able to it. (Thy abundant knowledge is so wonderful to me; yea, it is so very great, and I shall never be able to comprehend it all.)

¹³ For thou haddest in possession my reins; thou tookest me up from the womb of my mother. (For thou haddest my reins in thy possession/For thou formedest my inner parts; yea, thou madest me in my mother’s womb.)

¹⁴ I shall acknowledge to thee, for thou art magnified dreadfully; thy works be wonderful, and my soul shall know (that) full much. (I shall praise thee, for thou art greatly to be feared/for thou hath filled me with awe; thy works be wonderful, and I truly know that.)

¹⁵ My bone, which thou madest in private, is not hid from thee; and my substance (formed) in the lower parts of earth. (My bones, which thou madest in secret, be not a mystery to thee; yea, when my substance was formed in the lower parts of the earth.)

¹⁶ Thine eyes saw mine unperfect thing, and all men shall be written in thy book; days shall be formed, and no man is in those. (Thine eyes saw my imperfect substance, and all was written in thy Book; but when those days were formed, no man was there.)

¹⁷ Forsooth, God, thy friends be made honourable full much to me; the princehood of them is comforted full much. (But, God, how deep be thy thoughts to me; and how many of them there be!)

¹⁸ I shall number them, and they shall be multiplied above the gravel; I rose up, and yet I am with thee. (If I tried to count them all up, their number would be more than all the grains of sand. And then I awake; and still I am with thee.)

²¹ Therefore the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived, and childed three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel was magnified at the Lord (But their boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord).

²² And Eli was full eld, and he heard all the things that his sons did in all Israel, and how they slept with women, that waited at the door of the tabernacle. (And Eli grew very old, and he heard of all the improper things that his sons did to all Israel, and how they slept with the women, who served at the entrance to the Tabernacle of the Witnessing.)

²³ And he said to them, Why do ye such things, (yea,) the worst things, which I hear of (from) all the people?

²⁴ Do not ye, my sons; it is not a good fame, that I hear, that ye make the Lord’s people to do trespass. (Do not ye do this, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear, that ye make the Lord’s people to trespass.)

²⁵ If a man sinneth against a man, God may be pleased to him by prayers and sacrifices; but if a man sinneth against the Lord, who shall pray for him? And they heard not the voice of their father, for God would slay them. (If a man sinneth against another man, God may make him appeased by prayers and sacrifices; but if a man sinneth against the Lord, who shall pray for him? But they would not listen to their father, for God had decided to kill them.)

25 Then the kingdom of heavens shall be like to ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went out to meet the husband and the wife^[a];

² and five of them were fools, and five prudent.

³ But the five fools took their lamps, and took not oil with them;

⁴ but the prudent took oil in their vessels with the lamps.

⁵ And whiles the husband [the spouse, or husband,] tarried, all they napped and slept.

⁶ But at midnight a cry was made, Lo! the spouse cometh, go ye out to meet with him [go ye out to meet him].

⁷ Then all those virgins rose up, and arrayed their lamps [and adorned their lamps].

⁸ And the fools said to the wise, Give ye to us of your oil, for our lamps be quenched.

⁹ The prudent answered, and said [saying], Lest peradventure it suffice not to us and to you, go ye rather to men that sell, and buy to you.

¹⁰ And while they went to buy, the spouse came; and those that were ready, entered [in] with him to the weddings; and the gate was shut.

¹¹ And at the last the other virgins came, and said, Lord, Lord, open to us.^[b]

¹² And he answered, and said, Truly I say to you, I know you not.

¹³ Therefore wake ye, for ye know not the day nor the hour.