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.)

5 Forsooth in the third day, Esther was clothed in royal clothes, and she stood in the porch of the king’s house, that was withinforth over against the king’s hall; and the king sat upon his throne, in the consistory of his palace, (over) against the door of the house. (And on the third day, Esther was clothed in royal robes, and she went and stood in the inner courtyard of the king’s palace, facing the palace; and the king sat on his throne, in the consistory of his palace, facing the entrance to the palace.)

² And when he had seen Esther, the queen, standing there, she pleased his eyes, and he held forth against her the golden rod, that he held in his hand; and she nighed, and kissed the highness of his rod. (And when he had seen Queen Esther standing there, she pleased his eyes, and he held forth toward her the gold sceptre, which he held in his hand; and she came over, and touched the top of the sceptre.)

³ And the king said to her, Esther, the queen, what wilt thou? what is thine asking? Yea, though thou ask the half part of my realm, it shall be given to thee. (And the king said to her, Queen Esther, what wilt thou have? what is thy asking? Yea, if thou ask for half my kingdom, it shall be given to thee!)

⁴ And she answered, If it pleaseth the king, I beseech, that thou come to me today, and Haman with thee, to the feast, that I have made ready. (And she answered, If it please the king, I beseech thee, that thou, and Haman with thee, come today to the feast, that I have prepared for thee.)

⁵ And anon the king said, Call ye anon Haman, that he obey to the will of Esther. And then the king and Haman came to the feast, which the queen had made ready to them. (And at once the king said, Call ye Haman at once, so that he obey the will of Esther. And so the king and Haman went to the feast, which the queen had prepared for them.)

⁶ And the king said to Esther, after that he had drunk (the) wine plenteously, What thing askest thou of me, that it be given to thee, and for what thing askest thou? Yea, though thou ask the half part of my realm, thou shalt get it (Yea, if thou ask for half my kingdom, thou shalt get it).

⁷ To whom Esther answered, My asking and [my] prayers be these.

⁸ If I have found grace in the sight of the king, and if it pleaseth the king, that he give to me that thing, that I ask, and that he fulfill mine asking, the king and Haman come they tomorrow to the feast, that I have made ready to them; and tomorrow, I shall open my will to the king. (If I have found favour before the king, and if it please the king, that he give me what I ask for, and that he grant my request, then may the king and Haman come to the feast that I shall prepare for them tomorrow; and then tomorrow, I shall tell my desire to the king.)

⁹ Therefore Haman went out glad and swift in that day. And when he had seen Mordecai sitting before the gates of the palace, and not only to have not risen up to him, but soothly neither moved from the place of his sitting, he was full wroth; (And so Haman went out that day happy and well pleased with himself. But when he saw Mordecai in attendance at the royal court, and he did not rise up before him to show respect, or even move from the place where he was sitting, he was enraged;)

¹⁰ and Haman feigned him(self) as not wroth therefore, and turned again into his house, and he called together his friends, and Zeresh, his wife; (but Haman feigned himself as not being angry because of that, and returned to his house, and he called together his friends, and his wife Zeresh;)

¹¹ and he told to them (of) the greatness of his riches, and the company of his children, and with how great glory the king had enhanced him above all his princes and servants. (and he told them of his great riches, and of the multitude, or the great number, of his children, and how the king had promoted him to great glory above all his other leaders and servants.)

¹² And he said after these things, Also the queen Esther called none other man with the king to the feast, except me, with whom I shall eat also tomorrow with the king. (And after these things he said, And Queen Esther called no other man to the feast with the king, except me, and tomorrow I shall also eat with her and the king.)

¹³ And though I have all these things, I guess that I have nothing, as long as I see Mordecai, the Jew, sitting before the king’s gates. (And yet, even though I have all these things, I feel like I have nothing, as long as I see that Jew Mordecai, in attendance at the royal court.)

¹⁴ And Zeresh, his wife, and his friends answered to him, Command thou an high beam, or a gallows tree, to be made ready, having fifty cubits of height; and speak thou tomorrow early to the king, and ask of him, that Mordecai be hanged thereon; and so thou shalt go glad with the king to the queen’s feast. And the counsel of them pleased him, and he commanded an high cross, that is a gibbet, to be made ready. (And his wife Zeresh, and his friends, answered to him, Command thou that a gallows be prepared, that is fifty cubits in height; and then early tomorrow speak thou to the king, and ask him to have Mordecai hanged on it; and then thou shalt go with the king to the queen’s feast in high spirits. And their counsel pleased him, and he commanded that the gallows be prepared.)

¹² But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, [the] Jews rose up [rised up] with one will against Paul, and led him to the doom,

¹³ and said [saying], Against the law this counseleth men to worship God.

¹⁴ And when Paul began to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, If there were any wicked thing, either evil trespass, ye Jews, rightly I should suffer you;^[a]

¹⁵ but if questions be of the word, and of names of your law, busy yourselves [ye yourselves see]; I will not be doomsman of these things.

¹⁶ And he drove them from the doom place.

¹⁷ And all took Sosthenes, prince of the synagogue, and smote him before the doom place; and nothing of these was to care to Gallio [and nothing of these was to charge to Gallio].

¹⁸ And when Paul had abided many days, he said farewell to brethren, and by boat came to Syria. And Priscilla and Aquila came with him [saying farewell to brethren, by boat came to Syria, and with him, Priscilla and Aquila], which had clipped his head in Cenchrea; for he had a vow.

¹⁹ And he came to Ephesus, and there he left them; and he went into the synagogue, and disputed with Jews.

²⁰ And when they prayed, that he should dwell more time, he consented not,

²¹ but he made farewell to brethren, and said [and saying], [It behooveth me to make the solemn day coming at Jerusalem, and] again I shall turn again to you, if God will [God willing]; and he went forth from Ephesus.

²² And he came down to Caesarea, and he went up [and ascended up], and greeted the church, and came down to Antioch.

²³ And when he had dwelled there somewhat of time, he went forth, walking by row [walking by order] through the country of Galatia, and Phrygia, and confirmed all the disciples [confirming all the disciples].

²⁴ But a Jew, Apollos by name, a man of Alexandria of kind, a man eloquent, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in scriptures. [Soothly some Jew, Apollos by name, a man of Alexandria of kind, a man eloquent, came to Ephesus, mighty in scriptures.]

²⁵ This man was taught the way of the Lord, and was fervent in spirit, and spake, and taught diligently those things that were of Jesus, and knew only the baptism of John [knowing only the baptism of John].

²⁶ And this man began to do trustily in the synagogue. Whom when Priscilla and Aquila heard, they took him [to], and more diligently expounded to him the way of the Lord.

²⁷ And when he would go to Achaia, brethren excited [Soothly when he would go to Achaia, brethren admonished, or counseled], and wrote to the disciples, that they should receive him; which when he came, gave much to them that believed.

²⁸ For he greatly overcame Jews, and showed openly by scriptures [showing openly by scriptures], that Jesus is Christ.

¹⁵ When all the people guessed, and all men thought in their hearts of John, lest peradventure he were Christ,

¹⁶ John answered, and said [saying] to all men, [Soothly] I baptize you in water; but a stronger than I shall come after me, of whom I am not worthy to unbind the lace of his shoes [of whose I am not worthy to unbind the thong of his shoes]; he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire.

¹⁷ Whose fan in his hand/Whose winnowing tool is in his hand, and he shall purge his floor of corn [and he shall purge his corn floor], and shall gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he shall burn with fire unquenchable.

¹⁸ And many other things also he spake, and preached to the people. [Forsooth and he stirring, or admonishing, many other things, evangelized to the people.]

¹⁹ But Herod [the] tetrarch, when he was blamed of John for Herodias, the wife of his brother, and for all the evils that Herod did,

²⁰ he increased this over all, and shut John in prison.^[a]

²¹ And it was done, when all the people was baptized, and when Jesus was baptized, and prayed [and praying], heaven was opened.

²² And the Holy Ghost came down in bodily likeness, as a dove on him; and a voice was made from heaven, Thou art my dear-worthy Son, in thee it hath well pleased to me.