Book of Common Prayer

78 The learning of Asaph. My people, perceive ye my law; bow your ear into the words of my mouth. (The teaching of Asaph. My people, listen ye to my teaching; bow down your ear to the words of my mouth.)

² I shall open my mouth in parables; I shall speak perfect reasons from the beginning (I shall speak perfect reasoning from the old days).

³ How great things have we heard, and we have known those; and our fathers told to us. (What great things we have heard, and we have known; and our fathers told us.)

⁴ Those be not hid from the sons of them; in another generation. And they told the praisings of the Lord, and the virtues of him; and his marvels, which he did. (We will not hide these things from their sons and daughters; yea, from the generations to come. We shall tell out the praises of the Lord, and his strength, or his power; and the marvellous deeds which he did.)

⁵ And he raised witnessing in Jacob; and he setted law in Israel. How great things commanded he to our fathers, to make those known to their sons; (And he raised up a testimony in Jacob; and he set a law in Israel. He commanded to our fathers to make these things known to their sons and daughters;)

⁶ that another generation know. Sons, that shall be born, and shall rise up; shall tell out to their sons. (so that another generation would know them. And so that the sons and daughters who shall be born, shall rise up; and shall tell these things to their sons and daughters.)

⁷ That they set their hope in God, and forget not the works of God; and that they seek his commandments/and that they search his commandments. (So that they put their trust in God, and forget not the works of God; and that they obey his commandments.)

⁸ Lest they be made a shrewd generation; and (one) stirring to wrath, as the fathers of them. A generation that (ad)dressed not his heart; and his spirit was not believed with God. (Lest they be made a depraved, and a rebellious generation; like their fathers. For they were a generation who did not direct their hearts towards him; and their spirits were not steadfast with God, or firmly fixed on God.)

⁹ The sons of Ephraim, bending a bow, and sending arrows; were turned (aback) in the day of battle. (The sons of Ephraim, bending a bow, and sending arrows; turned and ran away on the day of battle.)

¹⁰ They kept not the testament of God; and they would not go in his law. (They kept not the covenant of God; and they would not follow, or obey, his Law.)

¹¹ And they forgat his benificences; and his marvels, which he showed to them. (And they forgot his good gifts; and his marvellous deeds, which he showed to them.)

¹² He did marvels before the fathers of them, in the land of Egypt; in the field of Tanis. (Yea, he did marvellous deeds before their forefathers, in the land of Egypt; on the plain of Zoan.)

¹³ He brake the sea, and led them through it; and he ordained the waters as in a bouget, (or a bottle). (He broke the sea apart, and led them through it; he made the waters to stand up like walls.)

¹⁴ And he led them forth in a cloud of the day; and all night in the lightening of fire. (And he led them forth by a cloud during the day; and all night long by the light of a fire.)

¹⁵ He brake a stone in desert; and he gave water to them as in a much depth. (He broke open a rock in the wilderness; and he gave water to them as if out of the great depths of the ocean.)

¹⁶ And he led water out of the stone; and he led forth waters as floods. (Yea, he brought forth water out of that rock; and it came forth like a river.)

¹⁷ And they putted yet to do sin against him; they excited the high God into ire, in a place without water. (And still they sinned against him; they incited the Most High God to anger, in a place without water.)

¹⁸ And they tempted God in their hearts; that they asked meats to their lives. (And they tempted God in their hearts; by demanding food for their hunger.)

¹⁹ And they spake evil of God; they said, Whether God may make ready a board in desert? (And they spoke evil against God; they said, Can God truly prepare a table for us here in the wilderness?)

²⁰ For he smote a stone, and waters flowed; and streams went out in abundance. Whether also he may give bread; either make ready a board to his people? (For he struck a stone, and waters flowed; yea, streams went out in abundance. But can he also give bread, or food, to us? can he also prepare a table here in the wilderness for his people?)

²¹ Therefore the Lord heard, and delayed; and fire was kindled in Jacob, and the ire of God ascended on Israel. (And so the Lord heard them, and was angry; and fire was kindled against the people of Jacob, yea, God’s anger descended upon the people of Israel.)

²² For they believed not in God; neither hoped in his health. (For they did not believe in God; nor trusted in his salvation, or his deliverance.)

²³ And he commanded to the clouds above; and he opened the gates of heaven. (But then he commanded to the clouds above; and he opened the gates of the heavens.)

²⁴ And he rained to them manna for to eat; and he gave to them bread of heaven. (And he rained down manna for them to eat; yea, he gave them the bread of heaven.)

²⁵ Man ate the bread of angels; he sent to them meats in abundance (he sent them an abundance of food).

²⁶ He turned over the south wind from heaven; and he brought in by his virtue the west wind. (He sent the south wind down from the heavens; and he brought in the west wind by his strength, or his power.)

²⁷ And he rained fleshes as dust on them; and also volatiles feathered, as the gravel of the sea. (And he rained down flesh upon them, like a dust storm; yea, as many feathered fowls as the sand of the sea.)

²⁸ And those felled in the midst of their castles; about the tabernacles of them. (And they fell in the midst of their camp; all about their tents.)

²⁹ And they ate, and were filled greatly, and he brought their desire to them; (And so they ate, and were greatly filled, for he had brought them the desire of their hearts;)

³⁰ they were not defrauded of their desire. Yet their meats were in their mouth; (but their desire, or their yearning, was not yet quenched. And so while the food were yet in their mouths;)

³¹ and the wrath of God ascended on them. And he killed the fat men of them; and he hindered the chosen men of Israel. (God’s anger descended upon them. And he killed their most stout-hearted men; yea, he struck down Israel’s chosen men.)

³² In all these things they sinned yet; and believed not in the marvels of God. (Yet in spite of all these things, they still sinned; and did not believe/and had no faith in God’s marvellous deeds.)

³³ And the days of them failed in vanity; and the years of them failed with haste. (And so he ended their days like a breath; and their years with sudden disaster.)

³⁴ When he killed them, they sought him; and they turned again, and early they came to him. (And after he killed some of them, then they sought him again; and they returned, and they came eagerly to him.)

³⁵ And they bethought (again), that God is the helper of them; and the high God is the again-buyer of them. (And they remembered that God is their helper; and that the Most High God is their redeemer.)

³⁶ And they loved him in their mouth; and with their tongue they lied to him. (And they loved him with their mouths; but with their tongues they still lied to him.)

³⁷ Forsooth the heart of them was not rightful with him; neither they were had faithful in his testament. (And they were not loyal to him in their hearts; nor were they steadfast, or faithful, to obey his covenant.)

³⁸ But he is merciful, and he shall be made merciful to the sins of them; and he shall not destroy them. And he did greatly, to turn away his ire; and he kindled not all his ire. (But he was merciful, and he forgave their sins; and so he did not destroy them. And he had great restraint, and turned away his anger; and he did not kindle, or release, all of his wrath.)

³⁹ And he bethought, that they be flesh; a spirit going, and not turning again. (And he remembered, that they be but flesh; like the wind passing by, and never returning.)

⁴⁰ How oft made they him wroth in desert; they stirred him into ire in a place without water. (How often they made him angry in the wilderness; yea, they stirred him to anger in a place without water.)

⁴¹ And they were turned, and tempted God; and they wrathed the holy of Israel. (Again and again they tempted God; and they angered the Holy One of Israel.)

⁴² They bethought not on his hand; in the day in which he again-bought them from the hand of the troubler. (They did not remember his power; yea, the day when he saved them from the hand of the troubler.)

⁴³ As he setted his signs in Egypt; and his great wonders in the field of Tanis. (How he showed his signs, or his miracles, in Egypt; yea, his great wonders on the plain of Zoan.)

⁴⁴ And he turned the floods of them, and the rains of them, into blood; that they should not drink. (And he turned their rivers, and their rains, into blood; so that they could not drink them.)

⁴⁵ He sent a flesh fly into them, and it ate them; and he sent a paddock, and it lost them. (He sent swarms of flies into them, and they bit them all over; and he sent frogs among them, and they ruined their land.)

⁴⁶ And he gave the fruits of them to rust; and he gave the travails of them to locusts. (And he gave their crops over to mildew; and he gave the produce from their labour over to locusts.)

⁴⁷ And he killed the vines of them with hail; and the (syca)more trees of them with frost.

⁴⁸ And he betook the beasts of them (un)to hail; and the possession(s) of them (un)to fire.

⁴⁹ He sent into them the ire of his indignation; indignation, and ire, and tribulation, sendings-in by evil angels. (He sent into them the anger of his indignation; yea, his indignation, and anger, and trouble, by sending in evil angels among them.)

⁵⁰ He made (a) way to the path of his ire, and he spared not from the death of their lives; and he closed together in death the beasts of them. (He made a way for the path of his anger, and he did not spare their lives from death; but rather he altogether ended them with a pestilence.)

⁵¹ And he smote all the first engendered thing(s) in the land of Egypt [And he smote all the first begotten in the land of Egypt]; the first fruits of all the travail of them in the tabernacles of Ham. (And he struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt; yea, the first fruits of all their travail in the tents of Ham.)

⁵² And he took away his people as sheep; and he led them forth as a flock in desert. (But he took away his own people from there, like sheep; yea, he led them forth like a flock in the wilderness.)

⁵³ And he led them forth in hope, and they dreaded not; and the sea covered the enemies of them. (And he led them forth in hope, and they were not afraid; and the sea covered their enemies.)

⁵⁴ And he brought them into the hill of his hallowing; into the hill which his right hand (had) gat. (And he brought them to his holy hill; to the Mount which his right hand, or his power, had won.)

⁵⁵ And he casted out heathen men from the face of them; and by lot he parted to them the land in a cord of dealing. And he made the lineages of Israel to dwell in the tabernacles of them. (And he threw out the heathen before them; and by lot he parted the land to them with a measuring cord. And he let the tribes of Israel to live in the tents, or the homes, of the heathen.)

⁵⁶ And they tempted, and wrathed the high God; and they kept not his witnessings. (And still they tempted, and angered, the Most High God; and they did not obey his teachings, or his commands.)

⁵⁷ And they turned away themselves, and they kept not covenant; as their fathers, (they) were turned into a shrewd bow. (And they turned themselves away/And they rebelled, and they did not obey the covenant; like their forefathers, they were bent like a crooked bow.)

⁵⁸ They stirred him into ire in their little hills; and they stirred him to indignation in their graven images. (They stirred him to anger with their high places, or their hill shrines; and they stirred him to indignation with their carved images, or their idols.)

⁵⁹ God heard, and forsook; and brought to nought Israel greatly. (God saw and heard all of this; and then he abandoned them, and he brought down Israel into nothing.)

⁶⁰ And he putted away the tabernacle of Shiloh; his tabernacle in which he dwelled among men. (And he deserted his Tabernacle at Shiloh; the Tent in which he lived among his people.)

⁶¹ And he betook the virtue of them into captivity; and the fairness of them into the hands of the enemy. (And he delivered the symbol of his strength, that is, the Ark of the Covenant, into captivity; yea, the symbol of his beauty, or of his glory, into the hands of the enemy.)

⁶² And he closed together his people in sword; and he despised his heritage. (And he altogether ended his people by the sword; and he despised his inheritance.)

⁶³ Fire ate the young men of them; and the virgins of them were not bewailed/were not bewept. (The fire ate up their young men; and their virgins did not bewail them/and their virgins did not weep for them.)

⁶⁴ The priests of them fell down by sword; and the widows of them were not bewept. (Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows did not weep for them.)

⁶⁵ And the Lord was raised, as sleeping; as mighty greatly filled of wine. (Then the Lord was raised up; like one who had been sleeping, like a mighty man excited by wine.)

⁶⁶ And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts; he gave to them everlasting shame. (And he struck his enemies on their back-sides; yea, he gave them up to everlasting shame.)

⁶⁷ And he putted away the tabernacle of Joseph; and he chose not the lineage of Ephraim. (And he rejected the house of Joseph; and he chose not the tribe of Ephraim.)

⁶⁸ But he chose the lineage of Judah; he chose the hill of Zion, which he loved. (But he chose the tribe of Judah; and he chose Mount Zion, which he loved.)

⁶⁹ And he as an unicorn builded his holy place; in the land, which he founded into worlds. (And he built his holy place like his home in heaven/And he built his holy place as high as the heavens; and he founded it like the earth, to last forever.)

⁷⁰ And he chose David his servant, and took him up from the flocks of sheep; (And he chose David to be his servant, and took him away from the flocks of sheep;)

⁷¹ he took him from behind sheep with lambs. To feed Jacob his servant; and Israel his heritage. (yea, he brought him out from following behind the sheep with their lambs, to feed his people Jacob; yea, his inheritance Israel.)

⁷² And he fed them in the innocence of his heart; and he led them forth in the understandings of his hands. (And David fed them from the innocence of his heart; and he led them forth by the skillfulness of his hands.)

26 Forsooth for hunger rose on the land, after that barrenness that befelled in the days of Abraham, Isaac went forth to Abimelech, king of Palestines, in Gerar. (And another famine arose in the land, like the one which had come in Abraham’s days, and Isaac went to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, in Gerar.)

² And the Lord appeared to him, and said, Go not down into Egypt, but rest thou in the land which I shall say to thee, (For the Lord had appeared to him, and said, Do not go down to Egypt, but rest thou in this land, where I tell thee to stay,)

³ and be thou a pilgrim therein; and I shall be with thee, and I shall bless thee; for I shall give all these countries to thee, and to thy seed, and I shall [ful]fill the oath which I promised to Abraham, thy father. (and live thou there; and I shall be with thee, and I shall bless thee; for I shall give all these lands to thee, and to thy descendants, and I shall fulfill the oath which I promised to thy father Abraham.)

⁴ And I shall multiply thy seed as the stars of (the) heaven(s), and I shall give all these countries to thine heirs, and all folks of the earth shall be blessed in thy seed, (And I shall multiply thy descendants like the stars of the night sky, and I shall give all these lands to thy heirs, and all the nations of the earth shall pray to be blessed as thy descendants be blessed/and through thy descendants I shall bless all the nations of the earth,)

⁵ for Abraham obeyed to my voice, and kept my behests, and my commandments, and my ceremonies, and my laws.

⁶ And so Isaac dwelled in Gerar.

¹² Forsooth Isaac sowed in that land, and he found an hundredfold increase in that year (and he received a hundredfold increase that year); and the Lord blessed him.

¹³ And the man was made rich, and he went profiting and increasing, till he was made full great.

¹⁴ Also he had possessions of sheep and of great beasts, and full much of menials. For this thing Palestines had envy to him, (And he had possessions of sheep and of great beasts, and many servants and slaves. And because of this, the Philistines envied him,)

¹⁵ and they stopped in that time and filled with earth all the wells which the servants of Abraham his father had digged, (and so they stopped up, and filled with earth, all the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug,)

¹⁶ in so much that Abimelech himself said to Isaac (and finally Abimelech himself said to Isaac), Go thou away from us, for thou art made greatly mightier than we (be).

¹⁷ And he went away, that he should come to the strand of Gerar, and dwelled there. (And so he went away from that place, and came to the Gerar Valley, and lived there.)

¹⁸ And he digged again other wells, which the servants of Abraham his father had digged, and which the Philistines had stopped sometime, when Abraham was dead (and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died); and he called those wells by the same names, by which his father had called (them) before.

¹⁹ They digged in the strand (And they dug in the valley), and they found quick, or welling up, water.

²⁰ But also strife of [the] shepherds of Gerar was there against the shepherds of Isaac, and they said, The water is ours; wherefore of that strife that befelled, Isaac called the name of that well False Challenge. (But the shepherds of Gerar also quarreled with Isaac’s shepherds, and they said, This water is ours; and so for the strife that befell, Isaac called the name of that well Esek, or Quarrel.)

²¹ And they digged another (well), and they strived also for that, and Isaac called that well Enmities. (And they dug another well, and they also quarreled over that one, and Isaac called that well Sitnah, or Enmity.)

²² And he went forth from thence, and digged another well, for which they strived not, [and] therefore he called the name of that well Breadth, either Largeness; and said, Now God hath alarged us, and hath made us to increase on [the] earth. (And he went forth from there, and dug another well, which they did not quarrel over, and so he called the name of that well Rehoboth, or Broad Places; and he said, Now God hath enlarged us, and we shall be fruitful in this land.)

²³ Isaac forsooth went up from that place into Beersheba, (And Isaac went up from that place to Beersheba,)

²⁴ where the Lord appeared to him in that night; and said, I am [the] God of Abraham, thy father; do not thou dread (do not thou fear), for I am with thee, and I shall bless thee, and I shall multiply thy seed for (the sake of) my servant Abraham.

²⁵ And so Isaac builded there an altar to the Lord; and when the name of the Lord was inwardly called, he stretched forth a tabernacle; and he commanded his servants that they should dig wells. (And so Isaac built an altar there to the Lord; and after he had inwardly called on the Lord’s name, he pitched his tent there; and then he commanded his servants to dig a well.)

²⁶ And when Abimelech, and Ahuzzath, (one of) his friends, and Phicol, [the] duke of knights (the leader of his soldiers), had come from Gerar to that place,

²⁷ Isaac spake to them, (and said,) What came ye to me, a man whom ye have hated, and putted away from you? (Isaac said to them, Why have ye come to me, a man whom ye hate, and whom ye sent away from you?)

²⁸ Which answered, We saw that God is with thee, and therefore we said now, An oath be betwixt us, and make we a covenant of peace, (And they answered, We saw that God was with thee, and so we said, Now let there be an oath between us, and make we a covenant of peace,)

²⁹ (so) that thou do not any[thing of] evil to us, as we (have) touched nothing of thine, neither did that that hurted thee, but with peace we let go thee (but we let thee go away in peace), (and now thou art) increased by the blessing(s) of the Lord.

³⁰ Therefore Isaac made them a feast; and after meat and drink, (And so Isaac made a feast for them; and after food and drink,)

³¹ they rose early, and swore each to (the) other; and Isaac let go them peaceably into their place. (they rose up early, and swore an oath to each other; and then Isaac let them go away in peace.)

³² Lo! forsooth in that day the servants of Isaac came, telling to him of the well which they had digged, and said, We have found water.

³³ Wherefore Isaac called that well Abundance; and the name of the city was set Beersheba till into this present day. (And so Isaac called that well Shebah; and the city there is called Beersheba unto this present day.)

¹⁷ Obey ye to your sovereigns, and be ye subject to them; for they perfectly wake^[a], as to yielding reason for your souls, that they do this thing with joy, and not sorrowing; for this thing speedeth not to you.

¹⁸ Pray ye for us, and we trust that we have good conscience in all things, willing to live well.

¹⁹ Moreover I beseech you to do [this thing], that I be restored the sooner to you.

²⁰ And God of peace, that led out from death the great shepherd of sheep, in the blood of [the] everlasting testament, our Lord Jesus Christ,^[b]

²¹ shape you in all good thing, that ye do the will of him; and he do in you that thing that shall please before him, by Jesus Christ^[c], to whom be glory into worlds of worlds. Amen.

²² And, brethren, I pray you, that ye suffer a word of solace; for by full few things I have written to you [and soothly by few I have written to you].

²³ Know ye our brother Timothy, that is sent forth, with whom if he shall come more hastily, I shall see you.

²⁴ Greet ye well all your sovereigns, and all holy men [Greet well all your provosts, and all saints]. The brethren of Italy greet you well.

²⁵ The grace of God be with you all. Amen. [Grace with you. Amen.]

⁵³ And they turned again, each into his house.

8 But Jesus went into the mount of Olives.

² And early again he came into the temple; and all the people came to him; and he sat, and taught them.

³ And scribes and Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery, and they setted her in the middle [and set her in the middle],

⁴ and said to him, Master, this woman is now taken in adultery.

⁵ And in the law Moses commanded us to stone such; therefore what sayest thou?

⁶ And they said this thing tempting him, that they might accuse him. And Jesus bowed himself down, and wrote with his finger in the earth.

⁷ And when they abided asking him [Soothly when they lasted, or continued, asking him], he raised himself, and said to them, He of you that is without sin, first cast a stone into her.

⁸ And again he bowed [down] himself, and wrote in the earth.

⁹ And they hearing these things, went away one after another, and they began from the elder men [Soothly they hearing these things, went away one after another, they beginning at the elder men]; and Jesus dwelt alone, and the woman standing in the middle.

¹⁰ And Jesus raised himself, and said to her, Woman, where be they that accused thee? no man hath condemned thee.

¹¹ She said, No man, Lord. Jesus said to her, Neither I shall condemn thee; go thou, and now after do not thou sin no more^[a].