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.)

¹¹ Therefore keep thou, and beware, lest any time thou forget thy Lord God, and despise his commandments, and dooms, and ceremonies, which I command to thee today; (And so remember thou, and be careful, lest any time thou forget the Lord thy God, and fail to obey his commandments, and laws, or judgements, and statutes, which I command to thee today;)

¹² lest after that thou hast eaten, and art full-filled (and art filled full), (and) hast builded fair houses, and hast dwelled in them,

¹³ and hast droves of oxen (and hast herds of oxen), and flocks of sheep, and plenty of silver, and of gold, and of all things,

¹⁴ thine heart be then raised, and thou think not upon thy Lord God, that led thee out of the land of Egypt, and from the house of servage, (then thy heart be raised up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, who led thee out of the land of Egypt, and from the house of servitude, or of slavery,)

¹⁵ and he was thy leader in the great wilderness and fearful, in which wilderness was a serpent burning with blast, and a scorpion, and (a) dipsas, that is, an adder, that maketh them whom he stingeth to die for thirst, and utterly no waters were in the desert, the which Lord brought out streams of the hardest stone, (for he was thy leader in the great and fearful wilderness, in which wilderness there were poisonous serpents, and scorpions, and dipsas, that is, snakes that make those that they sting to die from thirst, and when there was utterly no water in that wilderness, the Lord brought forth streams out of the hardest stone,)

¹⁶ and he fed thee with manna (there) in the wilderness, which manna thy fathers knew not. And after that the Lord had tormented thee, and proved thee, at the last he had mercy on thee (And after that the Lord had humbled thee, and had tested thee, finally he had mercy on thee),

¹⁷ lest thou wouldest say in thine heart, My strength, and the might of mine hand, hath given all these things to me. (lest thou shouldest say in thy heart, My own strength, and the might of my own hand, hath given me all these things.)

¹⁸ But think thou upon thy Lord God, that he hath given strengths to thee (to become prosperous), that he should fulfill his covenant, of which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day showeth. (But rather, remember the Lord thy God, that it is he who hath given thee the power to become prosperous, in order to fulfill his covenant which he swore to thy fathers, as he doeth in this present day.)

¹⁹ Forsooth if thou forgettest thy Lord God, and followest alien gods, and worshippest them in (thine) heart, and honourest [them] withoutforth, lo! now I before-say to thee, that thou shalt perish utterly; (But if thou forgettest the Lord thy God, and followest foreign, or other, gods, and worshippest them inwardly, and honourest them outwardly, lo! I now say to thee beforehand, that is, I warn thee, that thou shalt utterly perish;)

²⁰ as [the] heathen men perished, which the Lord did away in thine entering, so also ye shall perish, if ye shall be unobedient to the voice of your Lord God. (as the heathen shall perish, whom the Lord shall do away when thou shalt enter into the land, so also ye shall perish, if ye do not obey the voice of the Lord your God.)

¹⁶ Therefore [And so], my most dear-worthy brethren, do not ye err.

¹⁷ Each good gift, and each perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is none other changing, nor overshadowing of reward.^[a]

¹⁸ For willfully he begat us by the word of truth [Forsooth willfully he gendered us with the word of truth], that we be a beginning of his creature.

¹⁹ Know ye, my brethren most loved, be each man swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to wrath;

²⁰ for the wrath of man worketh not the rightwiseness of God.

²¹ For which thing cast ye away all uncleanness, and plenty of malice, and in mildness receive ye the word that is planted^[b], that may save your souls.

²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

²³ For if any man is an hearer of the word, and not a doer, this shall be likened to a man that beholdeth the face of his birth in a mirror [this shall be comparisoned, or likened, to a man beholding the cheer of his birth in a mirror];

²⁴ for he beheld himself, and went away, and at once he forgot which he was. [for he beheld himself, and went away, and anon he forgot what manner man he was.]

²⁵ But he that beholdeth into the law of perfect freedom, and dwelleth in it, and is not made a forgetful hearer, but a doer of work, this shall be blessed in his deed.

²⁶ And if any man guesseth himself to be religious, and refraineth not his tongue, but deceiveth his heart, the religion of him is vain.

²⁷ A clean religion, and unwemmed with God and the Father, is this, to visit fatherless and motherless children, and widows in their tribulation, and to keep himself undefouled from this world [and to keep himself undefouled from the world].

11 And it was done, when he was praying in a place [when he was praying in some place], as he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as [and] John taught his disciples.

² And he said to them, When ye pray, say ye, Father [Father ours], hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come to; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

³ Give to us to day our each day's bread.

⁴ And forgive to us our sins, as [and] we forgive to each man that oweth to us [as and we forgive to each owing to us]. And lead us not into temptation.

⁵ And he said to them, Who of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him, Friend, lend to me three loaves;

⁶ for my friend cometh to me from the way [for my friend cometh to me of the way], and I have not what I shall set before him.

⁷ And he withinforth answer and say, Do not thou be heavy to me; the door is now shut, and my children be with me in bed; I may not rise, and give to thee.

⁸ And if he shall dwell still knocking, I say to you, though he shall not rise, and give to him, for that that he is his friend, nevertheless for his continual asking he shall rise, and give to him [And if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, though he shall not give to him, for he is his friend, nevertheless for his improbity, or continual asking, he shall rise, and give to him], as many as he hath need to.

⁹ And I say to you, ask ye, and it shall be given to you; seek ye, and ye shall find; knock ye, and it shall be opened to you.

¹⁰ For each that asketh, taketh, and he that seeketh, findeth; and to a man that knocketh, it shall be opened.

¹¹ Therefore who of you asketh his father bread, whether he shall give him a stone? or if he asketh fish, whether he shall give him a serpent for the fish?

¹² or if he asketh an egg [or if he shall ask an egg], whether he shall areach him a scorpion?

¹³ Therefore if ye, when ye be evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more your Father of heaven shall give a good Spirit to men that ask him.