Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

77 To the victory on Jeduthun, the psalm of Asaph. (To victory, to Jeduthun, the song of Asaph.) With my voice I cried to the Lord, with my voice to God; and he gave attention to me.

² In the day of my tribulation I sought God with mine hands; in the night before him/in the night toward him, and I am not deceived. My soul forsook to be comforted; (In the day of my trouble I sought out God; all night long, I raised up my hands before him/I raised up my hands toward him. But my soul forsook to be comforted;)

³ I was mindful of God, and I delighted, and I was exercised; and my spirit failed. (I remembered God, and I was troubled, and I was upset; and my spirit failed.)

⁴ Mine eyes before took wakings; I was troubled, and I spake not. (My eyes opened in the morning; I was troubled, and I did not speak.)

⁵ I thought eld days; and I had in mind everlasting years. (I thought about the old days; I remembered the years long ago.)

⁶ And I thought (deeply) in the night with mine heart; and I was exercised (and I was upset), and I cleansed my spirit.

⁷ Whether God shall cast away [into] without end; either shall he not lay to, that he be more pleased yet? (Shall God throw us away, or reject us, forever? shall he never be pleased with us again?)

⁸ Either shall he cut away his mercy into the end; from generation into generation? (Or hath he taken away his love from us forever; yea, for all generations?)

⁹ Either shall God forget to do mercy; either shall he withhold his mercies in his ire? (Or shall God forget to do mercy to us? or in his anger, shall he withhold his constant love from us?)

¹⁰ And I said, Now I began; this is the changing of the right hand of the high God. (And I said, Indeed; hath the right hand of the Most High God now lost its power?)

¹¹ I had mind on the works of the Lord; for I shall have mind from the beginning of thy marvels. (But I remembered the works of the Lord; I shall always remember thy marvellous deeds done in the beginning.)

¹² And I shall think on all thy works; and I shall be exercised, either occupied, in thy findings. (And I shall think about all thy works; and about all thy deeds.)

¹³ God, thy way was in the holy (place); what God is great as our God? (God, thy way is in the holy place, or in the sanctuary/God, thy way is holy; and what god is as great as our God?)

¹⁴ thou art God, that doest marvels. Thou madest thy virtue known among peoples; (thou art God, who doest marvellous deeds. Thou madest thy strength known among the nations;)

¹⁵ thou again-boughtest in thine arm thy people, the sons of Jacob and of Joseph. (with thy arm thou hast redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and of Joseph.)

¹⁶ God, waters saw thee, waters saw thee, and dreaded; and depths of waters were troubled. (God, the waters saw thee, the waters saw thee, and were afraid; and the depths of the waters were troubled.)

¹⁷ The multitude of the sound of waters; clouds gave voice. For why thine arrows pass [through]; (The clouds gave forth water, or the rain; the heavens sent out a multitude of sounds. Thy arrows passed through them;)

¹⁸ the voice of thy thunder was in a wheel. Thy lightnings shined to the world; the earth was moved, and trembled. (the sound of thy thunder was in the whirlwind. Thy lightnings shone upon the world; the earth was shaken, and trembled.)

¹⁹ Thy way in the sea, and thy paths in many waters; and thy steps shall not be known.

²⁰ Thou leddest forth thy people as sheep; in the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Thou leddest forth thy people like sheep; by the guidance of Moses and Aaron.)

4 Then Eliphaz (the) Temanite answered, and said,

² If we begin to speak to thee, in hap thou shalt take it heavily (perhaps thou shalt take it personally); but who may hold (back) a word (once) conceived?

³ Lo! thou hast taught full many men, and thou hast strengthened hands made faint.

⁴ Thy words have confirmed men doubting, and thou hast comforted knees trembling. (Thy words have confirmed men who were doubting, and thou hast strengthened trembling knees.)

⁵ But now a wound is come upon thee, and thou hast failed, (or fainted); it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.

⁶ Where is thy dread (Where is thy fear/Where is thy reverence), thy strength, and thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?

⁷ I beseech thee, have thou mind, what innocent man perished ever, either when rightful men were done away? (I beseech thee, remember, did an innocent person ever perished, or were the upright ever done away with?)

⁸ Certainly rather I saw them, that work wickedness, and sow sorrows, and reap those, (Rather, I saw those, who work wickedness, and sow sorrows, and reap them,)

⁹ to have perished by God blowing, and to be wasted by the spirit of his ire. (to have perished by God blowing on them, and to be destroyed by the breath from his nostrils.)

¹⁰ The roaring of a lion, and the voice of a lioness, and the teeth of (the) whelps of lions, be all-broken.

¹¹ Tigers perished (The tiger perished), for she had not (any) prey; and [the] whelps of the lion be destroyed.

¹² Certainly an hid word was said to me, and mine ear took as it were thief-like the veins of the privy speaking thereof. (Truly a hidden word was said to me, and my ear caught it like the stolen whispers of private speaking.)

¹³ In the hideousness of [the] night’s sight, when heavy sleep is wont to occupy men,

¹⁴ dread and trembling held me; and all my bones were afeared. (fear and trembling held me; and all my bones were made afraid.)

¹⁵ And when the spirit went in my presence, the hairs of my flesh had hideousness. (And when a breeze passed by me, all the hairs of my flesh stood up.)

¹⁶ One stood, whose cheer, or likeness, I knew not, an image before mine eyes; and I heard a voice as of [a] soft wind. (And something stood, whose face, or likeness, I knew not, or could not see, yea, there was a figure before my eyes; and I heard a voice like a soft wind.)

¹⁷ Whether a man shall be made just in comparison of God? either a man shall be cleaner than his Maker? (And it said, Can anyone be seen as righteous in comparison to God? or is anyone purer than his Maker?)

¹⁸ Lo! they that serve him be not steadfast; and he hath found shrewdness in his angels. (Lo! they who serve him be not trustworthy; and he hath found depravity even in his angels.)

¹⁹ How much more they that dwell in houses of clay, which have an earthly foundament, shall be wasted as of a moth. (How much more they who live in clay houses, whose foundations be dust, and who can be squashed like a bug?)

²⁰ From morrowtide till to eventide they shall be cut down; and for no man understandeth, they shall perish without end. (From morning until evening they shall be cut down; they shall perish forevermore, with no one taking heed.)

²¹ And they, that be left, shall be taken away; they shall die, and not in wisdom. (And what is left to them shall be taken away from them; they shall die, without ever finding wisdom.)

2 And when ye were dead in your guilts and sins,

² in which ye wandered sometime after the course of this world, after the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that worketh now into the sons of unbelief;

³ in which also we all lived sometime [in whom we all lived sometime] in the desires of our flesh, doing the wills of the flesh and of the thoughts, and we were by kind the sons of wrath, as other men [as and others];

⁴ but God, that is rich in mercy, for his full much charity in which he loved us,

⁵ yea, when we were dead in sins, quickened us together in Christ, by whose grace ye be saved,

⁶ and again-raised together, and made together to sit in heavenly things in Christ Jesus;

⁷ that he should show in the worlds above coming the plenteous riches of his grace in goodness on [upon] us in Christ Jesus.

⁸ For by grace ye be saved by faith, and this not of you [and that not of you]; for it is the gift of God,

⁹ not of works, that no man have glory.

¹⁰ For we be the making of him, made of nought in Christ Jesus, in good works, which God hath ordained, that we go in those works [that God made ready before, that in them we go].