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.)

7 Then Jerubbaal, which also is Gideon, rose by night, and all the people with him, and came to the well which is called Harod. And the tents of Midian were in the valley, at the north coast of the high hill. (Then Jerubbaal, that is Gideon, and all the people with him, rose up early, and they came to the well which is called Harod. And the tents of the Midianites were pitched in the valley to the north of Mount Moreh.)

² And the Lord said to Gideon, (Too) Much people is with thee, and Midian shall not be betaken into the hands thereof, lest Israel have glory against me, and say, I am delivered by my strengths. (And the Lord said to Gideon, Too many people be with thee, and the Midianites shall not be delivered into their hands, lest the people of Israel take the glory from me, and say, We were saved by our own strength.)

³ Speak thou to the people, and preach thou, while all men hear, (and say,) He that is fearedful, and dreadful, turn again. And (so) they (who were afraid) went away from the hill of Gilead, and (in all) two and twenty thousand of men turned again from the people; and only ten thousand (still) dwelled (there).

⁴ And the Lord said to Gideon, Yet the people is (too) much; lead thou them to the waters, and there I shall prove them, and he (shall) go with thee, of whom I shall say, that he (should) go; and turn he again, whom I shall forbid to go.

⁵ And when the people had gone down to the waters, the Lord said to Gideon, Thou shalt separate them by themselves that lap (up the) waters with hand and tongue, as dogs be wont to lap (it up); and those, that drink with knees bowed, shall be in the tother part.

⁶ And so the number of them, that lapped (up the) waters, by the hand casting (it) to the mouth, was three hundred men; and all the tother multitude drank kneeling.

⁷ And the Lord said to Gideon, In three hundred men, that lapped waters, I shall deliver you, and I shall betake Midian in thine hand; and all the tother multitude turn again into their place. (And the Lord said to Gideon, With the three hundred men who lapped up the water, I shall save you, and I shall deliver the Midianites into thy hands; and all the other multitude should return to their homes.)

⁸ And [so] when they had taken meats and trumps for the number of them, he commanded all the tother multitude to go (back) to their tabernacles; and Gideon, with (those) three hundred men, gave himself to [the] battle. And the tents of Midian were beneath in the valley (And the tents of the Midianites were pitched below him in the valley).

⁹ In the same night the Lord said to him, Rise thou (up), and go down into their tents, for I have betaken them in thine hand (for I have delivered them into thy hands);

¹⁰ and if thou dreadest to go alone, Phurah, thy servant, go down with thee. (and if thou fearest to go down alone, let thy servant Phurah go down with thee.)

¹¹ And when thou shalt hear what they speak, then thine hands shall be strengthened, and thou shalt go down securer to the tents of [the] enemies. Therefore he went down, and Phurah, his servant (And so he, and his servant Phurah, went down), into the part of [the] tents, where the watches of (the) armed men were.

¹² And Midian, and Amalek, and all the peoples of the east lay spread abroad in the valley, as the multitude of locusts; and the camels were unnumberable, as gravel that lieth in the brink of the sea. (And the Midianites, and the Amalekites, and all the peoples of the east lay spread abroad in the valley, like a multitude of locusts; and their camels were innumerable, like the gravel, or the sand, that lieth at the seashore.)

¹³ And when Gideon had come down, a man told (of) a dream to his neighbour, and he told by this manner that, that he had seen, (saying,) I saw a dream, and it seemed to me, that as a barley loaf, baken under ashes, was wallowed, and it came down into the tents of Midian; and when it had come to a tabernacle, it smote it, and destroyed it, and made it even utterly to the earth. (And when Gideon had come down, a man told his neighbour about a dream that he had, and he told in this manner what he had seen, saying, I had a dream, and it seemed to me, that a barley loaf, baked under ashes, was rolled down into the tents of the Midianites; and when it came to a tent, it struck it, and destroyed it, and made it utterly even to the ground.)

¹⁴ That man answered, to whom he spake (And that man to whom he spoke, answered), This is none other thing, no but the sword of Gideon, [the] son of Joash, a man of Israel; for the Lord God hath betaken Midian, and all [the] tents thereof, into the hands of Gideon.

¹⁵ And when Gideon had heard the dream, and the interpreting thereof, he worshipped the Lord, and turned again to the tents of Israel, and said, Rise ye (up); for the Lord hath betaken into our hands the tents of Midian (for the Lord hath delivered the host, or the army, of the Midianites into our hands).

¹⁶ And he parted the three hundred men into three parts, and he gave them trumps in their hands, and empty pots, and lamps (with lamps), that is, (with) burning brands, either torches, that might not lightly be quenched, in the midst of the pots.

¹⁷ And he said to them, Do ye this thing which ye see me do; I shall enter into a part of the tents, and follow ye that, that I do.

¹⁸ When the trump in my hand shall sound, sound ye also all about the tents, and cry ye together, To the Lord, and to Gideon.

3 And Peter and John went up into the temple, at the ninth hour of praying [at the ninth hour of prayer].

² And a man, that was lame from the womb of his mother, was borne, and was laid each day at the gate of the temple [And some man that was lame from the womb of his mother, was borne, whom they put each day at the gate of the temple], that is said fair, to ask alms of men that entered into the temple.

³ This, when he saw Peter and John beginning to enter into the temple, prayed that he should take alms.

⁴ And Peter with John beheld on him, and said, Behold thou into us. [Forsooth Peter with John beholding him, said, Behold into us.]

⁵ And he beheld into them, and hoped, that he should take somewhat of them. [And he beheld into them, hoping him to take something of them.]

⁶ But Peter said, I have neither silver nor gold [Forsooth Peter said, Silver and gold is not to me]; but that that I have, I give to thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up, and go.

⁷ And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up; and at once [and anon] his legs and his feet were strengthened together;

⁸ and he leaped, and stood, and wandered. And he entered with them into the temple, and wandered, and leaped, and praised God. [and he leaping stood, and wandered. And he entered with them into the temple, wandering, and leaping, and praising God.]

⁹ And all the people saw him walking, and praising God.

¹⁰ And they knew him, that he it was that sat at alms at the fair gate of the temple. And they were filled with wondering, and astonishing, in that thing that befelled to him [And they were full-filled with wonder, and ecstasy, that is losing of mind and reason, and letting of tongue, in that thing that befell to him].

¹¹ But when they saw Peter and John, all the people ran to them at the porch that was called of Solomon, and wondered greatly. [Soothly when they saw Peter and John, all the people ran to them at the porch that is called of Solomon, wondering greatly.]

¹⁹ And this is the witnessing of John, when Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and deacons to him, that they should ask him, Who art thou?

²⁰ [And] He acknowledged, and denied not, and he acknowledged, For I am not Christ.

²¹ And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he said, I am not. Art thou a prophet [Art thou the prophet]? And he answered, Nay.

²² Therefore they said to him, Who art thou? That we give an answer to these that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?

²³ He said, I am a voice of a crier in desert [I am a voice of a man crying in desert], Dress ye the way of the Lord, as Esaias, the prophet, said.

²⁴ And they that were sent, were of the Pharisees.

²⁵ And they asked him, and said to him, What then baptizest thou, if thou art not Christ, neither Elias, neither a prophet?

²⁶ John answered to them, and said [saying], I baptize in water, but in the middle of you hath stand one, that ye know not [whom ye know not];

²⁷ he it is, that shall come after me [he it is, that is to coming after me], that was made before me, of whom I am not worthy to loose the thong of his shoe.

²⁸ These things were done in Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.