Book of Common Prayer

87 The psalm of the song of the sons of Korah. The foundaments thereof be in holy hills; (The psalm of the song for the sons of Korah. Its foundations be upon the holy hill/s;)

² (and) the Lord loveth the gates of Zion, more than all the tabernacles of Jacob.

³ Thou city of God, without end; glorious things be said of thee. (Thou city of God; may glorious things be said of thee forever.)

⁴ I shall be mindful of Rahab, and Babylon; knowing me. Lo! aliens, and Tyre, and the people of Ethiopians; they were there. (I shall remember the people of Rahab, and of Babylon; they all know me. Lo! Philistia, and Tyre, and the Ethiopian people; they all were there.)

⁵ Whether a man shall say to Zion, And a man is born therein; and that man, (the) alder Highest, founded it? (And of Zion it shall be said, This person, and that person, were born there; and the Most High himself founded it.)

⁶ The Lord shall tell in the scriptures of (these) peoples; and of these princes, that were therein. (The Lord shall write of these peoples; and of their princes, or their leaders, who all were there.)

⁷ As the dwelling of all that be glad; is in thee. (And they all shall dance; and they shall sing, In Zion is the Source of all our blessings.)

90 The prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, thou art made (a) help to us; from generation into generation. (Lord, thou hast helped us; from generation unto generation.)

² Before that (the) hills were made, either the earth and the world was formed; from the world and into the world, thou art God (forever and ever, thou art God).

³ Turn thou not away a man into lowness; and thou saidest, Ye sons of men, be turned again. (Thou hast turned people back to the lowness from whence they came; yea, thou sayest, Ye sons and daughters of men, return to dust.)

⁴ For a thousand years be before thine eyes; as yesterday, which is passed, and as [the] keeping in the night. (For in thine eyes a thousand years be like yesterday, which is just passed; yea, as fleeting as the night watch.)

⁵ The years of them shall be; that be had for nought. Early pass he, as an herb, (And their years shall be as if nothing. In the morning they shall come forth, like a blade of grass,)

⁶ early flourish he, and pass; in the eventide fall he down, be he hard, and wax he dry. (yea, that flourisheth in the morning, and groweth up; and then, in the evening, it falleth down, and hardeneth, and groweth dry.)

⁷ For we have failed in thine ire; and we be troubled in thy strong vengeance. (For we be brought to an end by thy anger; and we be dis-eased, or distressed, by thy fury.)

⁸ Thou hast set our wickednesses in thy sight; our world in the lightening of thy cheer. (Thou hast set our wickednesses before thee; our secret sins in the full light of thy face.)

⁹ For all our days have failed; and we have failed in thine ire. Our years (we) shall bethink upon as a spider; (For all our days be brought to an end by thy anger. All our years we shall remember as but a whisper;)

¹⁰ the days of our years be those seventy years. Forsooth, if fourscore years/if eighty years be in mighty men; and (yet) the more time of them is travail and sorrow. For mildness came above; and we shall be chastised. (and the days of our years be those seventy years. For strong people, they be eighty years; yet most of that time is trouble, or labour, and sorrow. For life is short; and then we be gone.)

¹¹ Who knew the power of thine ire; and durst number thine ire for thy dread? (Who knoweth the power of thy anger? and who knoweth thy anger better than those who fear thee?)

¹² Make thy right hand so known; and make men learned in heart by wisdom. (Make thy right hand, or thy power, known to us/Teach us that our days be short; and so make people learned in their hearts with thy wisdom.)

¹³ Lord, be thou converted some-deal; and be thou able to be prayed of (by) thy servants. (Lord, how long until thou be turned somewhat; and then thou be able to be prayed to, or petitioned by, thy servants?)

¹⁴ We were [ful]filled early with thy mercy; we made full out joy, and we delighted in all our days. (Fulfill us/Fill us full each morning with thy love; so that we can rejoice, and be glad, in all our days.)

¹⁵ We were glad for the days in which thou madest us meek; for the years in which we saw evils. (Make us glad now in recompense for the days in which thou hast humbled us; yea, for the years in which we endured evils.)

¹⁶ Lord, behold thou into thy servants, and into thy works; and (ad)dress thou, (or direct thou,) the sons of them. (Lord, let thy servants see thy mighty works; and our sons and daughters see thy glory.)

¹⁷ And the shining of our Lord God be on us; and (ad)dress thou the works of our hands on us; and (ad)dress thou the works of our hands. (And let the shining of the Lord our God be upon us, and direct thou the works of our hands for us; yea, direct thou the works of our hands.)

136 Alleluia. Acknowledge ye to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is [into] without end. (Alleluia. Give ye thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his love is forever.)

² Acknowledge ye to the God of gods. (Give ye thanks to the God of gods.)

³ Acknowledge ye to the Lord of lords. (Give ye thanks to the Lord of lords.)

⁴ Which alone maketh great marvels. (Who alone doeth marvellous deeds, or great miracles.)

⁵ Which made heavens by understanding. (Who made the heavens by his wisdom.)

⁶ Which made steadfast [the] earth on waters. (Who made the earth firm upon the waters.)

⁷ Which made great lights. (Who made the great lights.)

⁸ The sun into the power of the day. (The sun to have power over the day.)

⁹ The moon and the stars into power of the night. (The moon and the stars to have power over the night.)

¹⁰ Which smote Egypt with the first engendered things of them. (Who struck down the first-born of the Egyptians.)

¹¹ Which led out Israel from the midst of them. (Who led out Israel from their midst.)

¹² In a mighty hand, and in an high arm. (Yea, with a mighty hand, and a powerful arm.)

¹³ Which parted the Red Sea into partings. (Who divided the Red Sea, or the Sea of Reeds, in two.)

¹⁴ And led out Israel through the midst thereof.

¹⁵ And he cast adown Pharaoh and his power, or virtue, in the Red Sea. (And he threw down Pharaoh, and his host, or his army, into the Red Sea, or the Sea of Reeds.)

¹⁶ Which led over his people through desert. (Who led his people through the wilderness.)

¹⁷ Which smote great kings. (Who struck down great kings.)

¹⁸ And killed strong kings.

¹⁹ Sihon, the king of Amorites.

²⁰ And Og, the king of Bashan.

²¹ And he gave the land of them to be heritage. (And he gave their land for an inheritance to his people.)

²² Heritage to Israel, his servant. (Yea, for an inheritance to his servant Israel.)

²³ For in our lowness he had mind on us. (For he remembered us in our defeat./For he remembered us when we were brought down so very low.)

²⁴ And he again-bought us from our enemies. (And he redeemed us, or he rescued us, from our enemies.)

²⁵ Which giveth meat to each flesh. (Who giveth food to all his creatures.)

²⁶ Acknowledge ye to the God of heaven. Acknowledge ye to the Lord of lords; for his mercy is [into] without end. (Give ye thanks to the God of heaven. Give ye thanks to the Lord of lords; for his love is forever.)

2 In those days Mattathias, the son of John, son of Simeon, and he was a priest of the sons of Joarib, rose from Jerusalem, and sat in the hill Modin. [In those days Mattathias rose, the son of John, son of Simeon, he a priest of the sons of Joarib, of Jerusalem, and sat in the hill Modin.]

² And he had five sons; John was named Gaddis;

³ and Simon, that was named Thassis;

⁴ and Judas, that was called Maccabeus;

⁵ and Eleazar, that was named Avaran; and Jonathan, that was named Apphus.

⁶ These saw the evils that were done in (or to) the people of Judea and Jerusalem.

⁷ And Mattathias said, Woe to me! whereto am I born, for to see the destroying [or (the) constriction] of my people, and the defouling (or the defiling) of the holy city, and for to sit there, when it is given into the hands of (our) enemies? Holy things be made in the hand of strangers (The Temple is given into the hands of strangers);

⁸ the temple thereof (is) as a man unnoble;

⁹ (the) vessels of glory thereof be led away captive. Eld men thereof be slain in (the) streets [or Old men be slain in streets thereof], and young men thereof fell down by (the) sword of (the) enemies.

¹⁰ What folk inherited not the kingdom thereof, and wielded not (the) preys thereof?

¹¹ All (the) adorning thereof is borne away; she that was free, is made the handmaiden.

¹² And lo! our holy thing, and our fairness, and our clarity, is desolate, and heathen men defouled it. (And lo! our Temple, yea, our beauty, and our glory, is made desolate, and the heathen men have defiled it.)

¹³ What therefore is it to us for to live (any longer)? [What therefore yet to us for to live?]

¹⁴ And Mattathias and his sons rent their clothes, and covered them(selves) with hair-shirts, and wailed greatly.

¹⁵ And they that were sent of (or by) king Antiochus, came thither, for to constrain them that fled together into the city of Modin, for to offer and burn incenses, and for to depart from the law of God.

¹⁶ And many of the people of Israel consented, and came to them; but Mattathias and his sons stood steadfastly.

¹⁷ And they answered, that were sent of (or by) Antiochus, and said to Mattathias, Thou art (a) prince, and most clear (or glorious), and great in this city, and adorned with sons and brethren.

¹⁸ Therefore go thou the former (or be the first), and do the commandment of the king, as all (the) folks have done, and (the) men of Judea, and they that (be) left in Jerusalem. And thou shalt be, and thy sons, among (the) friends of the king, and made large in silver and gold, and many gifts.

¹⁹ And Mattathias answered, and said with (a) great (or with a loud) voice, Though all (the) folks obey to king Antiochus, (so) that they go away each man from the service of the law of his fathers, and consent to his commandments,

²⁰ I, and my sons, and my brethren shall obey to the law of our fathers.

²¹ God be helpful to us; it is not profitable to us for to forsake the law, and (the) rightfulnesses of God.

²² We shall not hear the words of king Antiochus, neither shall make sacrifice/s to idols, and break the commandments of our law, that we go by another way.

²³ And as he ceased for to speak these words, some Jew went to, before the eyes of all men, for to sacrifice to idols on the altar, in the city of Modin, by [or after] (the) commandment of the king.

²⁴ And Mattathias saw, and sorrowed, and his reins trembled together, and his madness, that is, great wrath by (or because of) (his) fervent love, was kindled by [or after] (the) doom of the law; and he leaped in, and slew him on the altar.

²⁵ But and (or also) he slew in that time the man whom king Antiochus sent, which compelled (them) for to offer, and he destroyed the altar.

²⁶ And he loved fervently the law, as Phinehas did to Zimri, son of Salu.

²⁷ And Mattathias cried with (a) great (or with a loud) voice in the city, and said, Each man that hath fervent love of (or for) the law, ordain a testament, that is, a covenant, and go he out after me.

²⁸ And he flew (or fled), and his sons, into (the) mountains, and left whatever things they had in the city.

20 And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of deepness, and a great chain in his hand.

² And he caught the dragon, the old serpent, that is the Devil and Satan; and he bound him by a thousand years.

³ And he sent him into deepness, and closed, and marked on him, that he deceive no more the folks, till a thousand years be filled [And he sent him into deepness, and closed, and signed, or sealed, upon him, that he deceive no more folks, till a thousand years be fulfilled]. After these things it behooveth him to be unbound a little time.

⁴ And I saw seats, and they sat on them, and doom was given to them. And the souls of men beheaded for the witnessing of Jesus, and for the word of God, and them that worshipped not the beast, neither the image of it, neither took the character of it in their foreheads, neither in their hands [or in their hands]. And they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

⁵ And others of dead men lived not [The others of dead lived not], till a thousand years were ended. This is the first again-rising.

⁶ Blessed and holy is he, that hath part in the first again-rising. In these men the second death hath not power [In these the second death hath no power]; but they shall be priests of God, and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years.

²¹ From that time Jesus began to show to his disciples, that it behooved him to go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things, of the elder men, and of the scribes, and of princes of priests [of the elders, and scribes, and princes of priests]; and be slain, and the third day to rise again.

²² And Peter took him, and began to blame him, and said [saying], Far be it from thee, Lord; this shall not be to thee.

²³ And he turned, and said to Peter, Satan, go thou after me; thou art a cause of stumbling to me; for thou savourest not those things that be of God, but those things that be of men. [The which, turned, said to Peter, Satan, go after me; thou art (an) offence to me; for thou savourest not, or understandest not, those things that be of God, but those things that be of men.]

²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man will come after me, deny he himself, and take his cross, and follow me;

²⁵ for he that will make his life safe, shall lose it; and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it.

²⁶ For what profiteth it to a man [Soothly what profiteth to a man], if he win all the world, and suffer impairing of his soul? or what (ex)changing shall a man give for his soul?

²⁷ For man's Son shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and then he shall yield to every man after his works.

²⁸ Truly I say to you, there be some of them that stand here [there be some of men standing here], which shall not taste death, till they see man's Son coming in his kingdom.