1 A Song of Degrees.
When the Lord turned the captivity of Sion, we became as comforted ones. 2 Then was our mouth filled with joy, and our tongue with exultation: then would they say among the Gentiles, 3 The Lord has done great things among them. The Lord has done great things for us, we became joyful.
4 Turn, O Lord, our captivity, as the streams in the south. 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6 They went on and wept as they cast their seeds; but they shall surely come with exultation, bringing their sheaves with them.
About this text. This is Sir Lancelot Brenton’s 1851 translation of the Septuagint — the Greek Old Testament the Orthodox Church reads, rather than the Hebrew text behind most English Bibles. It is in the public domain. Words in italics are ones Brenton supplied that the Greek does not have; he marked them so that a reader could tell the difference, and they are kept that way here. The numbered notes are his own. Its English is Victorian, and does not match the modern English of the New Testament pages on this site.
On the numbering. The Psalms are numbered here as the Septuagint numbers them, which is how Orthodox service books cite them. From Psalm 10 onward that is one behind a Hebrew-numbered Bible: Psalm 50 here is the Psalm 51 of most English Bibles. The Septuagint also carries a hundred and fifty-first Psalm, which those Bibles do not.