Book of Common Prayer

89 The learning of Ethan, (the) Ezrahite. I shall sing [into] without end; the mercies of the Lord. In generation and into generation; I shall tell thy truth with my mouth. (The teaching of Ethan, the Ezrahite. I shall sing of the Lord’s constant love forever. To all generations, I shall tell out thy faithfulness with my mouth.)

² For thou saidest, [Into] Without end mercy shall be builded in heavens; thy truth shall be made ready in those. (For thy love shall last forever; thy faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.)

³ I disposed a testament to my chosen men; I swore to David, my servant, (Thou saidest, I made a covenant with my chosen man; I swore to my servant David,)

⁴ Till into without end I shall make ready thy seed. And I shall build thy seat; in generation, and into generation. (that I shall establish thy children, or thy descendants, forever. And I shall preserve thy throne; for all generations.)

⁵ Lord, heavens shall acknowledge thy marvels; and thy truth in the church of saints. (Lord, the heavens shall praise thy marvellous deeds; and the council of the saints shall praise thy faithfulness.)

⁶ For who in the clouds shall be made even to the Lord; shall be like God among the sons of God? (For who in heaven shall be made equal to the Lord? who shall be like God among the heavenly beings?/who shall be like God in the council of heaven?)

⁷ God, that is glorified in the council of saints; is great, and dreadful over all that be in his compass. (God, thou art feared/thou art revered, in the council of the saints; thou art great, and glorified above all who surround thee.)

⁸ Lord God of virtues, who is like thee? Lord, thou art mighty, and thy truth is in thy compass. (Lord God of hosts, who is like thee? Lord, thou art mighty, and thy faithfulness surroundeth thee.)

⁹ Thou art Lord of the power of the sea; forsooth thou assuagest the stirring of the waves thereof.

¹⁰ Thou madest low the proud, as (those who be) wounded (and slain); in the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thine enemies. (Thou hast crushed Rahab to death; thou hast scattered thy enemies with thy strong arm, or with thy power.)

¹¹ (The) Heavens be thine, and the earth is thine; thou hast founded the world, and the fullness thereof;

¹² thou madest of nought the north and the sea. Tabor and Hermon shall make full out joy in thy name; (thou madest the north and the south out of nothing. Tabor and Hermon shall make full out joy, or shall rejoice, in thy name.)

¹³ thine arm with power. Thine hand be made steadfast, and thy right hand be enhanced; (Thy arm hath power; let thy hand be made firm, and thy right hand be lifted high.)

¹⁴ rightfulness and doom is the making ready of thy seat. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face; (Righteousness and judgement be the foundations of thy throne; love and faithfulness go forth before thee.)

¹⁵ blessed is the people that know (a) hearty song. Lord, they shall go in the light of thy cheer; (Happy be the people who know a hearty song; Lord, they shall go forth by the light of thy face.)

¹⁶ and in thy name they shall make full out joy all day; and they shall be enhanced in thy rightfulness. (And in thy name, they shall make full out joy, or shall rejoice, all day long; and they shall be exalted, or shall be lifted up, by thy righteousness.)

¹⁷ For thou art the glory of the virtue of them; and in thy good pleasance our horn shall be enhanced. (For thou art the glory of their strength/For thou art the strength in which they have glory; and in thy good favour our horn shall be exalted.)

¹⁸ For our taking up is of the Lord; and of the holy of Israel our king. (For the Lord is our defender; yea, the Holy One of Israel is our King.)

¹⁹ Then thou spakest in revelation to thy saints, and saidest, I have set help in the mighty (man); and I have enhanced the chosen man of my people. (Then thou spokest in revelation to thy saints, and saidest, I have given help to the mighty man; yea, I have exalted, or lifted up, the chosen man of my people.)

²⁰ I found David, my servant; I anointed him with mine holy oil. (I found my servant David; and I anointed him with my holy oil.)

²¹ For mine hand shall help him; and mine arm shall confirm him. (For my hand shall help him; and my arm, or my power, shall strengthen him.)

²² The enemy shall nothing profit in him (The enemy shall not gain any advantage over him); and the son of wickedness shall not lay to/shall not put to, for to harm him.

²³ And I shall slay his enemies from his face; and I shall turn into flight them that hate him. (And I shall kill all his enemies before his face; and I shall turn to flight, or make to flee, those who hate him.)

²⁴ And my truth and mercy shall be with him; and his horn shall be enhanced in my name. (And my faithfulness and love shall be with him; and in my name his horn shall be exalted/his head shall be lifted up on high.)

²⁵ And I shall set his hand in the sea; and his right hand in floods. (And I shall extend his power unto the Mediterranean Sea; and his right hand unto the Euphrates River.)

²⁶ He shall inwardly call me, (saying,) Thou art my father; my God, and the up-taker of mine health. (And he shall say to me, Thou art my father; yea, my God, and my defender, my saviour.)

²⁷ And I shall set him the first begotten son; higher than the kings of earth. (And I shall make him my first-born son; higher than all the kings of the earth.)

²⁸ [Into] Without end I shall keep my mercy to him; and my testament faithful to him. (I shall hold onto my love for him forever; and faithfully keep my covenant with him.)

²⁹ And I shall set his seed into the world of world; and his throne as the days of heaven. (And I shall establish his descendants forever and ever; and his throne for as long as the days of the heavens, that is, for as long as the heavenly bodies endure.)

³⁰ Forsooth if his sons forsake my law; and go not in my dooms. (But if his sons abandon my Law; and do not go in my judgements.)

³¹ If they make unholy my rightfulnesses; and keep not my commandments. (If they break my statutes; and do not obey my commandments.)

³² I shall visit in a rod the wickednesses of them; and in beatings the sins of them. (Then I shall punish their wickednesses with a rod; and their sins with beatings.)

³³ But I shall not scatter my mercy from him; and in my truth I shall not harm him. (But I shall not take away my love from him; and I shall be faithful to him.)

³⁴ Neither I shall make unholy my testament; and I shall not make void those things that come forth of my lips. (Nor shall I break my covenant; and I shall not make void those things which come forth from my lips, that is, I shall not break my promises.)

³⁵ Once I swore in mine holiness, I shall not lie to David; (Once I swore by my holiness, that I would never lie to David;)

³⁶ his seed shall dwell [into] without end. And his throne as [the] sun in my sight, (his children, that is, his descendants, shall live forever. And his throne shall be before me like the sun,)

³⁷ and as a perfect moon without end; and a faithful witness in heaven. (and like the moon, which shall endure forever; yea, like a faithful witness in the heavens.)

³⁸ But thou hast put away, and despised; and hast delayed thy christ. (But thou hast rejected, and despised, and hast raged against thy anointed king.)

³⁹ Thou hast turned away the testament of thy servant; thou madest unholy his saintuary in earth. (Thou hast made void the covenant with thy servant; thou hast defiled his crown, and hast thrown it to the ground.)

⁴⁰ Thou destroyedest all the hedges thereof; thou hast set the steadfastness thereof (into) dread (thou hast brought his strongholds, or his fortresses, into ruin).

⁴¹ All men passing by the way ravished him; he is made (a) shame to his neighbours. (All who pass by him, on the way, rob him; he is shamed by his neighbours.)

⁴² Thou hast enhanced the right hand of men oppressing him; thou hast gladdened all his enemies.

⁴³ Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and thou helpedest not him in battle (and thou hast not helped him in the battle).

⁴⁴ Thou destroyedest him from cleansing; and thou hast hurled down his seat in earth. (Thou hast destroyed his purity; and thou hast thrown down his throne to the ground.)

⁴⁵ Thou hast made less the days of his time; thou hast beshed him with shame.

⁴⁶ Lord, how long turnest thou away, into the end; shall thine ire burn out as fire? (Lord, how long turnest thou away, forever? shall thy anger always burn like fire?)

⁴⁷ Bethink thou what is my substance; for whether thou hast ordained vainly all the sons of men? (Remember thou what my substance is/how short my time is; hast thou ordained all the sons of men in vain?)

⁴⁸ Who is a man, that shall live, and shall not see death; shall (he) deliver his soul from the hand of hell? (What man shall live, and shall not see death? can he save his soul from the power of Sheol, or the land of the dead?/from the power of the grave?)

⁴⁹ Lord, where be thine eld mercies; as thou hast sworn to David in thy truth? (Lord, where be the former acts, or the earlier proofs, of thy constant love? yea, those promises that thou hast sworn to David in thy faithfulness?)

⁵⁰ Lord, be thou mindful of the shame of thy servants; (of the curses) of many heathen men, which I held together in my bosom. (Lord, remember thy servant’s shame; remember the curses of many of the heathen, which I carried in my heart.)

⁵¹ Which thine enemies, Lord, did shamefully; for they despised the changing of thy christ. (Which thy enemies, Lord, spoke shamefully to me; for they despised the footsteps of thy anointed king/for they despised the successors of thy anointed king.)

⁵² Blessed be the Lord [into] without end (Blessed be the Lord forever); be it done, be it done.

3 And Judas, that was called Maccabeus, the son of Mattathias, rose (up) for him.

² And all his brethren helped him, and all that joined them(selves) to his father, and they fought the battle of Israel with gladness.

³ And he alarged (or enlarged) glory to his people, and clothed him(self) with an habergeon as a giant, and girt him(self) with his armours of battle in battles, and defended castles (or the host, or his army) with his sword.

⁴ He was made like a lion in his works, and as a whelp of a lion roaring in his hunting.

⁵ And he pursued wicked men, and sought them (out); and he burnt them in flames, that disturbed, or troubled, his people.

⁶ And his enemies were put aback for dread of him, and all workers of wickedness were troubled (al)together; and health was (ad)dressed in his hand (or deliverance was directed by his hand).

⁷ And he wrathed many kings, and gladded Jacob, that is, the people of Israel, in his works, and into (the) world (or forevermore) his mind (or his memory) is in blessing.

⁸ And he went through the cities of Judea, and lost (or destroyed) (the) unpious men of them, and turned away wrath from Israel.

⁹ And he was named till to the utmost of (the) earth, and he gathered men perishing.

¹⁰ And Apollonius gathered (the) folks, and from Samaria much virtue, and great (or a very great host, or army, from Samaria), for to fight against Israel.

¹¹ And Judas knew, and went out against him, and smote, and slew him. And many wounded fell down, and the others fled;

¹² and he took (the) preys of them. And Judas took away the sword of Apollonius, and was fighting therewith in all (his) days.

¹³ And Seron, (a) prince of the host of Syria, heard, that Judas gathered a gathering, and the church (or the congregation) of faithful men with him.

¹⁴ And he said, I shall make to me a name, and I shall be glorified in the realm, and I shall overcome Judas, and them that be with him, which despised the king’s word.

¹⁵ And he made ready him(self); and the castles (or the host) of unpious men, strong helpers, went up with him, for to do vengeance on the sons of Israel.

¹⁶ And they nighed (or approached) unto Beth-horon; and Judas went out against them, with (a) few men.

¹⁷ Forsooth as they saw the host coming to them in meeting, they said to Judas, How may we few (or How be we few able to), fight against so great (a) multitude, (and) so strong; and we be made weary by fasting this day?

¹⁸ And Judas said, It is light, either easy, that many be closed (up) (al)together in (the) hand(s) of (a) few; and difference is not in (the) sight of God of heaven, for to deliver in (or with) many either in (or with) (a) few; [And Judas saith, It is light, or easy, many for to be closed together in hand of few; and difference is not in the sight of God of heaven, for to deliver in many or in few;]

¹⁹ for not in (the) multitude of host is the victory of battle, but of (or from) heaven is strength.

²⁰ They come to us in rebel multitude, and pride, for to destroy us, and our wives, and our sons, and for to rob us.

²¹ Forsooth we shall fight for our lives, and our laws;

²² and the Lord himself shall all-break them before our face; forsooth dread ye not them. [and he the Lord shall break them (al)together before our face; forsooth dread ye not them.]

²³ Soothly as he ceased for to speak, he hurled into them suddenly; and Seron was all-broken, and his host, in the sight of him.

²⁴ And he pursued him in the going down of Beth-horon, till into the field; and eight hundred men of them fell down, the others forsooth fled into the land of (the) Philistines.

⁷ And when a thousand years shall be ended, Satan shall be unbound of his prison;

⁸ and he shall go out, and shall deceive folks, that be on four corners of the earth [that be in four corners of the earth], Gog and Magog. And he shall gather them [together] into battle, whose number is as the gravel of the sea.

⁹ And they ascended up on the broadness of the earth, and environed the castles of saints, and the loved city. And fire came down of God from heaven, and devoured them [And fire came down from God from heaven, and devoured them].

¹⁰ And the devil, that deceived them, was sent into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and false prophets shall be tormented day and night, into worlds of worlds. Amen.

¹¹ And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting on it, from whose sight earth fled and heaven [from whose sight earth flew away and heaven]; and the place is not found of them.

¹² And I saw dead men, great and small, standing in the sight of the throne; and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and dead men were deemed of these things that were written in the books, after the works of them.

¹³ And the sea gave his dead men, that were in it; and death and hell gave their dead men [and death and hell gave their dead], that were in them. And it was deemed of each [And it is deemed of all], after the works of them.

¹⁴ And hell and death were sent into the pool of fire [And death and hell be sent into pool of fire]. This is the second death.

¹⁵ And he that was not found written in the book of life, was sent into the pool of fire.

17 And after six days Jesus took Peter, and James, and John, his brother, and led them aside into an high hill,

² and was transfigured into another likeness before them [and was transfigured, or turned into another likeness, before them]. And his face shone as the sun; and his clothes were made white as snow.

³ And lo! Moses and Elias appeared to them, and spake with him. [And lo! Moses and Elias appeared to them, speaking with him.]

⁴ And Peter answered, and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good us to be here. If thou wilt, make we here three tabernacles; to thee one, to Moses one, and one to Elias.

⁵ Yet while he spake, lo! a bright cloud overshadowed them; and lo! a voice out of the cloud, that said, This is my dear-worthy Son, in whom I have well pleased to me; hear ye him.

⁶ And the disciples heard, and felled down [fell down] on their faces, and dreaded greatly.

⁷ And Jesus came, and touched them, and said to them, Rise up, and do not ye dread.

⁸ And they lifted up their eyes, and saw no man, but Jesus alone.

⁹ And as they came down of the hill, Jesus commanded to them, and said, Say ye to no man the vision, till man's Son rise again from death.^[a]

¹⁰ And his disciples asked him, and said, What then say the scribes, that it behooveth that Elias come first? [And his disciples asked him, saying, What therefore say scribes, that it behooveth Elias first come?]

¹¹ [And] He answered, and said to them, [Forsooth] Elias shall come, and he shall restore all things.

¹² And I say to you, that Elias is now come, and they knew him not, but they did in him whatever things they would; and so man's Son shall suffer of them.

¹³ Then the disciples understood, that he said to them of John the Baptist.