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Wycliffe's Bible with Modern Spelling

English: Wycliffe's Bible Modern Spelling (with Deuterocanon)

Copyright © 2001,2010,2011,2012,2013,2015 Terry Noble
Language: English
Dialect: Archaic
Translation by: Terry Noble

Wycliffe’s Bible with Modern Spelling, was made in response to requests from readers who wanted my Wycliffe’s Old and New Testaments and Apocrypha in one volume. Printing limitations dictated the number of pages available to me and the letter size. In my previous books, Wycliffe’s Bible, Wycliffe’s Old Testament, Vols. 1 amp 2, Wycliffe’s New Testament, and Wycliffe’s Apocrypha, I have tens of thousands of rewritten verses, presented in parentheses “( )”, to provide help in comprehending the 14th century Middle English vocabulary and grammar. In this present volume, with space at a premium, those “helps” had to be eliminated, to make room for the text of the Apocrypha.

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2019-09-26

ePub generated by Haiola 11 Mar 2026 from source files dated 10 Feb 2022
eBible.org certified

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GENESIS

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GENESIS

CHAPTER 1

1 In the beginning God made of nought heaven and earth.

2 Forsooth the earth was idle and void, and darknesses were on the face of depth; and the Spirit of the Lord was borne on the waters [or the Spirit of God was borne upon the waters].

3 And God said, Light be made, and the light was made.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good, and he parted the light from darknesses;

5 and he called the light, day, and the darknesses, night. And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, one day.

6 And God said, The firmament be made in the midst of waters, and part waters from waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and parted the waters that were under the firmament, from the waters that were on the firmament [or that were above the firmament]; and it was done so.

8 And God called the firmament, heaven. And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, the second day.

9 Forsooth God said, The waters, that be under heaven, be gathered into one place, and a dry place appear; and it was done so.

10 And God called the dry place, earth; and he called the gatherings together of waters, the seas. And God saw that it was good;

11 and said, The earth bring forth green herb, and making seed, and an apple tree making fruit by his kind, whose seed be in itself, on [the] earth; and it was done so.

12 And the earth brought forth green herb and making seed by his kind, and a tree making fruit, and each having seed by his kind. And God saw that it was good.

13 And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, the third day.

14 Forsooth God said, Lights be made in the firmament of heaven, and part they the day and night; and be they into signs, and times, and days, and years;

15 and shine those in the firmament of heaven, and lighten they the earth; and it was done so.

16 And God made two great lights, the greater light that it should be before to the day, and the lesser light that it should be before to the night; and God made stars;

17 and setted them in the firmament of heaven, that they should shine on [the] earth,

18 and that they should be before to the day and [to the] night, and should part light and darkness. And God saw that it was good.

19 And the eventide and the morrow-tide was made, the fourth day.

20 Also God said, The waters bring forth a reptile, either a creeping beast, of living soul, and a volatile, either a bird flying above [the] earth, under the firmament of heaven.

21 And God made of nought great whales, and each living soul and movable, which the waters have brought forth in their kinds; and God made of nought each volatile by his kind. And God saw that it was good;

22 and blessed them, and said, Wax ye, and be ye multiplied, and fill ye the waters of the sea, and [the] birds be multiplied on [the] earth.

23 And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, the fifth day.

24 And God said, The earth bring forth a living soul in his kind, work beasts, and reptiles, either creeping beasts, and unreasonable beasts of [the] earth, by their kinds; and it was done so.

25 And God made unreasonable beasts of the earth by their kinds, and work beasts, and each creeping beast of the earth in his kind. And God saw that it was good;

26 and said, Make we man to our image and likeness, and be he sovereign to the fishes of the sea, and to the volatiles of heaven, and to [the] unreasonable beasts of [the] earth, and to each creature, and to each creeping beast or each reptile, which is moved in [the] earth.

27 And God made of nought a man to his image and likeness; God made of nought a man, to the image of God; God made of nought them, male and female.

28 And God blessed them, and said, Increase ye, and be ye multiplied, and fill ye the earth, and make ye it subject; and be ye lords to the fishes of the sea, and to [the] volatiles of heaven, and to all living beasts that be moved on [the] earth.

29 And God said, Lo! I have given to you each herb bearing seed on [the] earth, and all trees that have in themselves the seed of their kind, that they be into meat to you;

30 and to all living beasts of [the] earth, and to each bird of heaven, and to all things that be moved in [the] earth, and in which is a living soul, that they have to eat; and it was done so.

31 And God saw all things which he made, and they were full good. And the eventide and the morrowtide was made, the sixth day.

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore heavens and earth be made perfect, and all the ornament of those [or them].

2 And God [ful] filled in the seventh day his work which he made; and he rested in the seventh day from all his work which he had made;

3 and he blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; for in that day God ceased of all his work which he made of nought, that he should make.

4 These be the generations of heaven and of earth, in the day wherein the Lord God made heaven and earth,

5 and each little tree of [the] earth before that it sprang out in [the] earth; and he made each herb of the field before that it burgeoned. For the Lord God had not rained on the earth, and no man there was that wrought [or might work] the earth;

6 but a well went out of [the] earth, and moisted all the higher part of the earth.

7 Therefore the Lord God formed man of the slime of [the] earth, and breathed into his face the breathing of life; and man was made into a living soul.

8 Forsooth the Lord God planted at the beginning paradise of liking or the garden of Eden, wherein he set man whom he had formed.

9 And the Lord God brought forth of the earth each tree fair in sight, and sweet to eat; also he brought forth the tree of life in the midst of paradise, and the tree of knowing of good and of evil.

10 And a river went out from the place of liking or Eden to moist paradise or the garden, which river is parted from thence into four heads.

11 The name of the one river is Pishon, that it is that encompasseth all the land of Havilah, where gold cometh forth,

12 and the gold of that land is the best, and there is found bdellium, that is, a tree of spicery, and the stone onyx;

13 and the name of the second river is Gihon, that it is that encompasseth all the land of Ethiopia;

14 forsooth the name of the third river is Tigris, that goeth against Assyrians; soothly the fourth river is that Euphrates.

15 Therefore the Lord God took man, and set him in paradise of liking, that he should work and keep it.

16 And God commanded to him and said, Eat thou of each tree of paradise;

17 forsooth eat thou not of the tree of knowing of good and of evil; for in whatever day thou shalt eat thereof, thou shalt die by death.

18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that a man be alone; make we to him an helper like to himself.

19 And therefore when all living beasts of [the] earth, and all the volatiles of heaven, were formed of [the] earth, the Lord God brought those [or them] to Adam, that he should see what he should call those [or them]; for all thing that Adam called of living soul, that is the name thereof.

20 And Adam called by their names all living things, and all volatiles [of heavens], and all unreasonable beasts of [the] earth. Forsooth to Adam was not found an helper like him.

21 Therefore the Lord God sent sleep into Adam, and when he slept, God took one of his ribs, and filled flesh for it.

22 And the Lord God builded the rib which he had taken from Adam into a woman, and brought her to Adam.

23 And Adam said, This is now a bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; this shall be called virago, for she is taken of man.

24 Wherefore a man shall forsake [his] father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be twain [or two] in one flesh.

25 Forsooth ever either was naked, that is, Adam and his wife, and they were not ashamed.

CHAPTER 3

1 But the serpent was feller or more sly than all living beasts of [the] earth, which the Lord God had made. The which serpent said to the woman, Why commanded God to you, that ye should not eat of each tree of paradise?

2 To whom the woman answered, We eat of the fruit of trees that be in paradise;

3 soothly God commanded to us, that we should not eat of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of paradise, and that we should not touch it, lest peradventure we die.

4 Forsooth the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not die by death;

5 for why God knoweth that in what-ever day ye shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.

6 Therefore the woman saw that the tree was good, and sweet to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightable in beholding; and she took of the fruit thereof, and ate, and gave to her husband, and he ate.

7 And the eyes of both were opened; and when they knew that they were naked, they sewed [together] the leaves of a fig tree, and made breeches to themselves.

8 And when they heard the voice of the Lord God going in paradise at the wind after midday, Adam and his wife hid them from the face of the Lord God in [the] midst of the trees of paradise.

9 And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him, Where art thou?

10 And Adam said, I heard thy voice in paradise, and I dreaded, for I was naked, and I hid me.

11 To whom the Lord said, Who showed to thee that thou were naked, no but for thou hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded to thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12 And Adam said, The woman which thou gavest for fellowship to me, gave me of the tree, and I ate.

13 And the Lord said to the woman, Why didest thou this thing? The which answered, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, For thou didest this, thou shalt be cursed among all [the] living things, and unreasonable beasts of [the] earth; thou shalt go on thy breast, and thou shalt eat earth in all the days of thy life.

15 I shall set [or put] enmities betwixt thee and the woman, and betwixt thy seed and her seed; she shall break thine head, and thou shalt set ambushes to her heel.

16 Also God said to the woman, I shall multiply thy wretchednesses and thy conceivings; in sorrow thou shalt bear thy children; and thou shalt be under power of thine husband, and he shall be lord of thee.

17 Soothly God said to Adam, For thou heardest the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded to thee that thou shouldest not eat, the earth shall be cursed in thy work, that is, for thy sin; in travails thou shalt eat thereof in all the days of thy life;

18 it shall bring forth thorns and briars to thee, and thou shalt eat herbs of the earth;

19 in [the] sweat of thy cheer, [or face], thou shalt eat thy bread, till thou turn again into the earth of which thou art taken; for thou art dust, and thou shalt turn again into dust.

20 And Adam called the name of his wife Eve, for she was the mother of all men living.

21 And the Lord God made coats of skins to Adam and Eve his wife, and clothed them;

22 and said, Lo! Adam is made as one of us, and knoweth good and evil; now therefore see ye, lest peradventure he put [out] his hand, and take [also] of the tree of life, and eat, and live without end.

23 And the Lord God sent him out of paradise of liking or the garden of Eden, that he should work the earth, of which he was taken.

24 And God casted out Adam, and setted before paradise of liking cherubim, that is, gave it unto the keeping of angels, and a sword of flame turning about to keep charge of the way of the tree of life.

CHAPTER 4

1 Forsooth Adam knew Eve his wife, which conceived, and childed Cain, and said, I have gotten a man by God.

2 And again she childed his brother Abel. Forsooth Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain was an earth-tiller.

3 Soothly it was done after many days, that Cain offered gifts to the Lord of the fruits of the earth*;

4 and Abel offered of the first engendered of his flock, and of the fatness of those [or them]. And the Lord beheld to Abel and to the gifts of him;

5 soothly he beheld not to Cain and to his gifts. And Cain was wroth greatly, and his cheer felled down.

6 And the Lord said to him, Why art thou wroth, and why felled down thy face?

7 Whether not if thou shalt do well, thou shalt receive well; but if thou doest evil, thy sin shall be present anon in the gates? but the desire thereof, that is, of sin, shall be under thee, and thou shalt be lord thereof.

8 And Cain said to Abel, his brother, Go we out. And when they were in the field, Cain rose against his brother Abel, and killed him.

9 And the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? Which answered, I know not; whether I am the keeper of my brother?

10 And God said to Cain, What hast thou done? the voice of the blood of thy brother crieth to me from [the] earth.

11 Now therefore thou shalt be cursed on [the] earth, that opened his mouth, and received of thine hand the blood of thy brother.

12 When thou shalt work the earth, it shall not give his fruits to thee; thou shalt be unstable of dwelling, and fleeing about on [the] earth, in all the days of thy life.

13 And Cain said to the Lord, My wickedness is more than that I deserve forgiveness;

14 lo! today thou castest me out from the face of the earth; and I shall be hid from thy face, and I shall be unstable of dwelling, and fleeing about in earth; therefore each man that shall find me shall slay me.

15 And the Lord said to him, It shall not be done so, but each man that shall slay Cain shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a sign in Cain, that each man that should find him should not slay him.

16 And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelled fleeing about in [the] earth, at the east coast of Eden, that is, of earthly paradise.

17 Forsooth Cain knew his wife, which conceived, and childed Enoch; and Cain builded a city, and called the name thereof of the name of his son, Enoch.

18 Forsooth Enoch begat Irad; and Irad begat Mehujael; and Mehujael begat Methusael; and Methusael begat Lamech;

19 that took two wives, the name to the one wife was Adah, and the name to the other was Zillah.

20 And Adah begat Jabal, that was the father of dwellers in tents, and of shepherds;

21 and the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the father of the singers in harp and organ.

22 And Zillah begat Tubalcain, that was an hammer-beater, and [a] smith on all works of brass and of iron; forsooth the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

23 And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Ye wives of Lamech, hear my voice, and hearken to my words; for I have slain a man by my wounding, and a young waxing man by my violent beating;

24 vengeance shall be given seven-fold of Cain, forsooth of Lamech seventy times seven times.

25 Also yet Adam knew his wife, and she childed a son, and called his name Seth†, and said, God hath put [or set] to me another seed for Abel, whom Cain killed.

26 But also a son was born to Seth, which son he called Enos; this began to call inwardly the name of the Lord.

CHAPTER 5

1 This is the book of the generations of Adam, in the day wherein God made man of nought. God made man to the image and likeness of God;

2 God formed them male and female, and blessed them, and called the name of them Adam, in the day in which they were formed.

3 Forsooth Adam lived an hundred years and thirty, and begat a son to his image and likeness, and called his name Seth.

4 And the days of Adam after that he begat Seth were made eight hundred years, and he begat sons and daughters.

5 And all the time in which Adam lived was made nine hundred years and thirty, and he was dead.

6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos.

7 And Seth lived after that he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

8 And all the days of Seth were made nine hundred and twelve years, and he was dead.

9 Forsooth Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan;

10 after whose birth Enos lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

11 And all the days of Enos were made nine hundred and five years, and he was dead.

12 Also Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel.

13 And Cainan lived after that he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters.

14 And all the days of Cainan were made nine hundred and ten years, and he was dead.

15 Forsooth Mahalaleel lived sixty years and five, and begat Jared.

16 And Mahalaleel lived after that he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were made eight hundred [and] ninety and five years, and he was dead.

18 And Jared lived an hundred and two and sixty years, and begat Enoch.

19 And Jared lived after that he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

20 And all the days of Jared were made nine hundred and two and sixty years, and he was dead.

21 Forsooth Enoch lived five and sixty years, and begat Methuselah.

22 And Enoch went with God; and Enoch lived after that he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and five and sixty years.

24 And Enoch went with God, and appeared not afterward, for God took him away.

25 Also Methuselah lived an hundred and seven and eighty years, and begat Lamech.

26 And Methuselah lived after that he begat Lamech seven hundred and two and eighty years, and begat sons and daughters.

27 And all the days of Methuselah were made nine hundred and nine and sixty years, and he was dead.

28 Forsooth Lamech lived an hundred and two and eighty years, and begat a son;

29 and [he] called his name Noah*, and said, This man shall comfort us of the works and travails of our hands, in the land which the Lord cursed.

30 And Lamech lived after that he begat Noah five hundred [and] ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters.

31 And all the days of Lamech were made seven hundred [and] seventy and seven years, and he was dead.

32 Forsooth Noah, when he was of five hundred years, begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

CHAPTER 6

1 And when men began to be multiplied on [the] earth, and had begat daughters,

2 the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and took wives to them of all which they had chosen.

3 And God said, My spirit shall not dwell in man without end, for he is flesh; and the days of him shall be an hundred and twenty years.

4 Soothly giants were on the earth in those days, forsooth after that the sons of God entered [in] to the daughters of men, and those daughters begat; these were mighty of the world and famous men.

5 Soothly God saw that much malice of men was in [the] earth, and that all the thought of their heart was attentive, either given, to evil in all time,

6 and it repented him that he had made man in earth; and God was wary before against time to coming [or to come], and was touched with sorrow of heart within;

7 and said, I shall do away man, whom I made of nought, from the face of the earth; from man till to living things, from creeping beast till to the birds of heaven; for it repenteth me that I made them.

8 Forsooth Noah found grace before the Lord.

9 These be the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations; Noah went with God,

10 and begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11 Forsooth the earth was corrupt before God, and was filled with wickedness.

12 And when God saw, that the earth was corrupt, for each flesh, or man, had corrupted his way on [the] earth,

13 he said to Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; the earth is filled with wickedness of the face of them, and I shall destroy them with the earth.

14 Make thou to thee a ship* of wood hewn and planed; thou shalt make dwelling places in the ship, and thou shalt anoint it with pitch within and withoutforth.

15 And so thou shalt make it. The length of the ship shall be of three hundred cubits, the breadth shall be of fifty cubits, and the highness thereof shall be of thirty cubits.

16 Thou shalt make a window in the ship, and thou shalt end the highness thereof in a cubit; soothly thou shalt set the door of the ship in the side beneath; thou shalt make solars or upper rooms, and places of three chambers in the ship.

17 Lo! I shall bring waters of deluge, or great flood, on the earth, and I shall slay each flesh in which is the spirit of life under heaven, and all things that be in [the] earth, shall be wasted.

18 And I shall set my covenant of peace with thee; and thou shalt enter into the ship, [thou], and thy sons, and thy wife, and the wives of thy sons shall enter with thee.

19 And of all living beasts of all flesh, thou shalt bring into the ship twain [or two] and twain, of male kind and female, that they live with thee;

20 of birds by their kind, and of work beasts in their kind, and of each creeping beast of [the] earth, by their kind; twain [or two] and twain of all shall enter with thee, that they may live.

21 Therefore thou shalt take with thee of all meats that may be eaten, and thou shalt bear together at thee, and those shall be as well to thee as to the beasts into meat.

22 Therefore Noah did all things which God commanded to him.

CHAPTER 7

1 Also the Lord said to Noah, Enter thou and all thine house into the ship, for I saw thee alone were just before me in this generation.

2 Of all clean living beasts, thou shalt take by seven and by seven, male and female; forsooth of unclean living beasts, thou shalt take by twain and by twain [or two and two], male and female;

3 and also of [the] volatiles [or fowls] of heaven, thou shalt take, by seven and by seven, male and female, that their seed be saved on the face of all earth.

4 For yet and after seven days, I shall rain on [the] earth forty days and forty nights, and I shall do away all substance which I made, from the face of [the] earth.

5 Therefore Noah did all things which the Lord commanded to him.

6 And he was of six hundred years, when the waters of the great flood flowed on [the] earth.

7 And Noah entered into the ship, and his sons, and his wife, and the wives of his sons, entered with him, for the waters of the great flood.

8 And of living beasts clean and unclean, and of [the] birds of heaven, and of each beast which is moved on [the] earth,

9 by twain and by twain [or two and two], male and female entered to Noah into the ship, as the Lord commanded to Noah.

10 And when seven days had passed, the waters of the great flood flowed on [the] earth.

11 In the six hundredth year of the life of Noah, in the second month, in the seventeenth day of the month, all the wells of the great sea were broken, and the windows of heaven were opened,

12 and rain was made on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 In the end of that day Noah entered, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, his sons, and his wife, and the [three] wives of his sons, entered with them into the ship.

14 They entered, and each beast by his kind, and all work beasts in their kind, and each beast which is moved on [the] earth in his kind, and each volatile by his kind; all birds and all volatiles [or fowls],

15 entered to Noah into the ship, by twain and by twain [or two and two] of each flesh in which the spirit of life was.

16 And those that entered, entered male and female of each flesh, as God commanded to him. And the Lord enclosed him from withoutforth.

17 And the great flood was made forty days and forty nights on [the] earth, and the waters were multiplied, and raised the ship on high from the earth.

18 The waters flowed greatly, and filled all things in the face of the earth. Forsooth the ship was borne on the waters.

19 And the waters had mastery greatly on [the] earth, and all [the] high hills under all of heaven were covered;

20 the water was higher, by fifteen cubits, over the hills which it covered.

21 And each flesh was wasted that moved on [the] earth, of birds, of living beasts, of unreasonable beasts, and of all reptiles or all creeping beasts that creep on [the] earth.

22 All men, and all things in which the breathing of life was in [the] earth, were dead.

23 And God did away all the substance that was on [the] earth, from man till to beast, as well a creeping beast, as the birds of heaven; and those [or they] were done away from [the] earth. Forsooth Noah dwelled alone, and they that were with him in the ship.

24 And the waters of the great flood over-went the earth an hundred and fifty days.

CHAPTER 8

1 Forsooth the Lord had mind of Noah, and of all living beasts, and of all work beasts, that were with him in the ship; and [he] brought a wind on the earth. And [the] waters were decreased, or assuaged,

2 and the wells of the sea were closed, and the windows of heaven were closed, and rains of heaven were ceased.

3 And [the] waters turned again from off the earth, and went again, and began to be decreased, or assuaged, after an hundred and fifty days.

4 And the ship rested in the seventh month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, on the hills [or mounts] of Armenia.

5 And soothly the waters went and decreased till to the tenth month, for in the tenth month, in the first day of the month, the tops of [the] hills appeared.

6 And when forty days had passed, Noah opened the window of the ship which he had made,

7 and sent out a crow, which went out, and turned not again till the waters were dried on [the] earth.

8 Also Noah sent out a culver after him, to see if the waters had ceased then on the face of the earth;

9 and when the culver found not where her foot should rest, she turned again to him into the ship, for the waters were on all [the] earth; and Noah held forth his hand, and brought the culver taken into the ship.

10 Soothly when other seven days were abided afterward, again he sent out a culver from the ship;

11 and she came to him at eventide, and bare in her mouth a branch of an olive tree with green leaves. There-fore Noah understood that the waters had ceased or abated on earth;

12 and nevertheless he abode seven other days, and sent out a culver, which turned not again to him.

13 Therefore in the six hundred and one year of the life of Noah, in the first month, in the first day of the month, [the] waters were decreased on earth; and Noah opened the roof of the ship, and beheld, and saw that the face of the earth was dried.

14 In the second month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, the earth was made dry.

15 Soothly the Lord spake to Noah; and said,

16 Go out of the ship, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and the wives of thy sons with thee;

17 and lead out with thee all living beasts that be with thee of each flesh, as well in volatiles, as in unreason-able beasts, and all reptiles or all creeping beasts that creep on [the] earth; and enter ye on the earth, increase ye, and be ye multiplied on earth.

18 Therefore Noah went out, and his sons, and his wife, and the wives of his sons with him;

19 but also all living beasts, and work beasts, and birds, and reptiles that creep on [the] earth, by their kind, went out of the ship.

20 Forsooth Noah builded an altar to the Lord, and he took of all clean beasts and birds, and offered burnt sacrifices on the altar.

21 And the Lord savoured the odour of sweetness, and said to him, I shall no more curse the earth for men, for the wit and thought of man’s heart be ready, either prone, into evil from young waxing age; therefore I shall no more smite each living soul, as I did;

22 in all the days of [the] earth, seed and ripe corn, cold and heat, summer and winter, night and day, shall not rest.

CHAPTER 9

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Increase ye, and be ye multiplied, and fill ye the earth;

2 and your dread and trembling be on all [the] unreasonable beasts of the earth, and on all [the] birds of heaven, with all things that be moved in earth; all fishes of the sea be given to your hand.

3 And all thing which is moved and liveth shall be to you into meat; I have given to you all things, as I gave the green worts before,

4 except that ye shall not eat flesh with the blood,

5 for I shall seek the blood of your lives, of the hand of all unreasonable beasts and of the hand of man, of the hand of man and of his brother, I shall seek the life of man.

6 Whoever sheddeth out man’s blood, his blood shall be shed; for man is made to the image of God.

7 Forsooth increase ye, and be ye multiplied, and enter ye on [the] earth, and fill ye it.

8 Also the Lord said these things to Noah, and to his sons with him,

9 Lo! I shall make my covenant with you, and with your seed after you,

10 and to each living soul which is with you, as well in birds as in work beasts and small beasts of [the] earth, and to all things that went out of the ship, and to all unreasonable beasts of [the] earth.

11 I shall make my covenant with you, and each flesh shall no more be slain of the waters of the great flood, neither the great flood destroying all [the] earth shall be any more.

12 And God said, This is the sign of bond of peace, which I give between me and you, and to each living soul which is with you, into everlasting generations.

13 I shall set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of bond of peace between me and [the] earth;

14 and when I shall cover [the] heaven with clouds, my bow shall appear in the clouds,

15 and I shall have mind of my bond of peace which I made with you, and with each soul living that nourisheth flesh; and the waters of the great flood shall no more be to do away all flesh.

16 And my bow shall be in the clouds, and I shall see it, and I shall have mind of the everlasting bond of peace, which is made between God and man, and each soul living of all flesh which is on [the] earth.

17 And God said to Noah, This shall be a sign of [the] bond of peace, which I made between me and each flesh on earth.

18 Therefore they that went out of the ship were Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; forsooth Ham, that is the father of Canaan.

19 These three were the sons of Noah, and all the kind of men was sown of them on all [the] earth.

20 And Noah, an earth-tiller, began to till the earth, and he planted a vinery [or a vineyard],

21 and one day he drank wine, and was drunken; and he was naked, and lay in his tabernacle.

22 And when Ham, the father of Canaan, had seen this thing, that is, that the shameful members of his father were made naked, he told his two brethren withoutforth.

23 And Shem and Japheth putted a mantle on their shoulders, and they went backward, and covered the shameful members of their father, and their faces were turned away, and they saw not the privy members of their father.

24 And Noah waked of the wine, and when he had learned what things his lesser, or younger*, son had done to him,

25 he said, Cursed be the child Canaan, he shall be a servant of servants to his brethren.

26 And Noah said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem, and Canaan be the servant of Shem;

27 God alarge Japheth, and dwell he in the tabernacles of Shem, and Canaan be the servant of him.

28 Forsooth Noah lived after the great flood three hundred and fifty years;

29 and all the days of him were filled nine hundred and fifty years, and he was dead.

CHAPTER 10

1 These be the generations of the sons of Noah; Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the great flood.

2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

3 Forsooth the sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

4 Forsooth the sons of Javan were Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim;

5 of these sons the isles of the heathen men were parted in their countries, each by his language, and meines, in his nations.

6 Soothly the sons of Ham were Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

7 Forsooth the sons of Cush were Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah. The sons of Raamah were Sheba, and Dedan.

8 Forsooth Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be mighty in [the] earth,

9 and he was a strong hunter, or oppressor, of men before the Lord; of him a proverb went out, As Nimrod, a strong hunter before the Lord.

10 Soothly the beginning of his realm was Babylon, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

11 Asshur went out of that land, and builded Nineveh, and [the] streets of the city, and Calah,

12 and Resen betwixt Nineveh and Calah; this is a great city.

13 And soothly Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,

14 and Pathrusim, and Casluhim; of which the Philistines and Caphtorim came forth.

15 Forsooth Canaan engendered Sidon, his first engendered son, Heth,

16 and Jebusites, and Amorites, Girgashites,

17 Hivites, and Arkites, Sinites,

18 and Arvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites; and [the] peoples of Canaanites were sown abroad by these men.

19 And the terms of Canaan were made to men coming from Sidon to Gerar, till to Gaza, till thou enter into Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboiim, till to Lasha.

20 These were the sons of Ham, in their kindreds, and languages, and generations, and lands, and folks.

21 Also of Shem were born the fathers of all the sons of Eber, and Japheth was the more, or elder, brother of Shem[or Shem was the more or elder brother of Japheth].

22 The sons of Shem were Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

23 The sons of Aram were Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.

24 And soothly Arphaxad begat Salah, of whom Eber was born.

25 And two sons were born to Eber, the name to the one son was Peleg, for the land was parted in his days; and the name of his brother was Joktan.

26 And that Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

27 and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,

28 and Obal, and Abimael, Sheba,

29 and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.

30 And the habitation of them was made from Mesha, as men goeth till to Sephar, an hill of the east.

31 These be the sons of Shem, by kindreds, and languages, and countries, in their folks.

32 These be the meines of Noah, by their peoples, and nations; [the] folks [or Gentiles] in [the] earth were parted of these after the great flood.

CHAPTER 11

1 Forsooth the land was of one language, and of the same speech [or the same words].

2 And when they went forth from the east, they found a field in the land of Shinar, and they dwelled therein.

3 And one said to his neighbour, Come ye, and make we tilestones, and bake we those [or them] with fire; and they had tile for stones, and pitch, either strong glue, for mortar;

4 and they said, Come ye, and make we to us a city and a tower, whose highness stretch till to heaven; and make we solemn our name, before that we be parted into all lands.

5 Forsooth the Lord came down to see the city, and the tower, which the sons of Adam builded.

6 And he said, Lo! the people is one, and one language is to all, and they have begun to make this; neither they shall cease of their thoughts, till they [ful] fill those [or them] in work;

7 therefore come ye, go we down, and shame [or confound] we there the tongue of them, that each man hear not the voice of his neighbour.

8 And so the Lord separated them from that place into all lands; and they ceased to build the city.

9 And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, for the language of all [the] earth was confounded there; and from thence the Lord scattered them on the face of all countries.

10 These be the generations of Shem. Shem was an hundred years when he begat Arphaxad, two years after the great flood.

11 And Shem lived after that he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

12 Forsooth Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah;

13 and Arphaxad lived after that he begat Salah three hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber;

15 and Salah lived after that he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

16 Soothly Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg;

17 and Eber lived after that he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

18 Also Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu;

19 and Peleg lived after that he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug;

21 and Reu lived after that he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

22 Soothly Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor;

23 and Serug lived after that he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

24 Forsooth Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah;

25 and Nahor lived after that he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram*, Nahor, and Haran.

27 Soothly these be the generations of Terah. Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Forsooth Haran begat Lot;

28 and Haran died before Terah, his father, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of Chaldees.

29 Forsooth Abram and Nahor wedded wives; the name of the wife of Abram was Sarai, and the name of the wife of Nahor was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, father of Milcah, and father of Iscah.

30 Soothly Sarai was barren, and had no children.

31 And so Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, his son, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram, his son, and led them out of Ur of Chaldees, that they should go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelled there.

32 And the days of Terah were made two hundred years and five, and he was dead in Haran.

CHAPTER 12

1 Forsooth the Lord said to Abram, Go thou out of thy land, and of thy kindred, and of the house of thy father, and come thou into the land which I shall show to thee;

2 and I shall make thee into a great folk, and I shall bless thee, and I shall magnify thy name, and thou shalt be blessed;

3 I shall bless them that bless thee, and I shall curse them that curse thee; and all kindreds of [the] earth shall be blessed in thee.

4 And so Abram went out, as the Lord commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was five and seventy years when he went out of Haran.

5 And he took Sarai, his wife, and Lot, the son of his brother, and all the substance which they had in possession, and the men which they had begotten in Haran; and they went out that they should go into the land of Canaan. And when they came into it,

6 Abram passed through the land till to the place of Shechem, and till to the noble valley. Forsooth Canaanite was then in the land.

7 Soothly the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, I shall give this land to thy seed. And Abram built there an altar to the Lord, that appeared to him.

8 And from thence he passed forth to the hill [or the mount of] Bethel, that was against the east, and setted there his tabernacle, having Bethel from the west, and Hai from the east. And he builded also there an altar to the Lord, and inwardly called his name.

9 And Abram went going, and going forth over to the south.

10 Soothly hunger was made in the land; and Abram went down into Egypt, to be a pilgrim there, for hunger had the mastery in the land.

11 And when he was nigh to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai, his wife, I know that thou art a fair woman,

12 and that when Egyptians shall see thee, they shall say, It is his wife, and they shall slay me, and keep thee.

13 Therefore, I beseech thee, say that thou art my sister, that it be well to me for thee, and that my life live for the love of thee.

14 And so when Abram had entered into Egypt, Egyptians saw the woman, that she was full fair;

15 and the princes told to Pharaoh, and praised her with him; and the woman was taken up into the house of Pharaoh.

16 Forsooth they used well Abram for her; and sheep, and oxen, and asses, and servants, and servantesses, and she-asses, and camels were given to him.

17 Forsooth the Lord beat Pharaoh and his house with most vengeances for Sarai, the wife of Abram.

18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said to him, What is it that thou hast done to me? why showedest thou not to me that she was thy wife?

19 for what cause saidest thou, that she was thy sister, that I should take her into wife to me? Now therefore lo! thy wife; take thou her, and go.

20 And Pharaoh commanded to men on Abram, and they led forth him, and his wife, and all things that he had.

CHAPTER 13

1 Therefore Abram ascended from Egypt, he, and his wife, and all things that he had; and Lot went with him, to the south coast.

2 Forsooth he was full rich in possessions of silver, and of gold.

3 And he turned again by the way in which he came from the south into Bethel, till to the place, in which before he had set a tabernacle, betwixt Bethel and Hai,

4 in the place of the altar which he made before, and inwardly called there the name of the Lord.

5 But also flocks of sheep, and droves of oxen, and tabernacles were to Lot, that was with Abram;

6 and the land might not take them, that they should dwell together, for the cattle of them was much, and they might not dwell in common.

7 Wherefore also strife was made betwixt the keepers of [the] flocks of Abram and of Lot. Forsooth Canaanites and Perizzites dwelled in that land in that time.

8 Therefore Abram said to Lot, I beseech thee, that no strife be betwixt me and thee, and betwixt my shepherds and thy shepherds; for we be brethren.

9 Lo! all the land is before thee, I beseech, depart thou from me; if thou go to the left side, I shall hold the right side; if thou choose the right side, I shall go to the left side.

10 And so Lot raised [up] his eyes, and saw about all the country of Jordan, which was all-moisted, before that the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, as paradise of the Lord, and as Egypt, as men come into Zoar.

11 And Lot chose to him the country about Jordan, and departed from the east; and they were parted each from his brother.

12 Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan; soothly Lot dwelled in [the] towns about Jordan, and abode in Sodom.

13 Forsooth men of Sodom were full wicked, and sinners greatly before the Lord.

14 And the Lord said to Abram, after that Lot was parted from him, Raise [up] thine eyes forthright, and see from the place in which thou art now, to the north and south, to the east and west;

15 I shall give all the land which thou seest to thee, and to thy seed, till into without end.

16 And I shall make thy seed as the dust of the earth; if any man may number the dust of the earth, also he shall be able to number thy seed.

17 Therefore rise thou, and pass through the land in his length and breadth, for I shall give it to thee.

18 Therefore Abram, moving his tabernacle, came and dwelled beside the valley of Mamre, which is in Hebron; and he builded there an altar to the Lord.

CHAPTER 14

1 Forsooth it was done in that time, that Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar, and Chedor-laomer, king of Elamites, and Tidal, king of folks,

2 began battle against Bera, king of Sodom, and against Birsha, king of Gomorrah, and against Shinab, king of Admah, and against Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and against the king of Bela, that Bela is Zoar.

3 All these came together into the valley of wood, which is now the sea of salt.

4 For in twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year they departed from him.

5 Therefore Chedorlaomer came in the fourteenth year, and [the] kings that were with him, and they smited Rephaims in Ashteroth Karnaim, and Zuzims with them, and Emims in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

6 and Horites in the hills of Seir, till to the field places of Elparan, which is in wilderness.

7 And they turned again, and came till to the well of Mishpat; that is Kadesh. And they smited all the country of men of Amalek, and Amorites, that dwelled in Hazazontamar.

8 And the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, also and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, went out, and [they] dressed battle array against them in the valley of wood,

9 that is, against Chedorlaomer, king of Elamites, and Tidal, king of folks or of Goiim, and Amraphel, king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar; four kings against five.

10 Forsooth the valley of wood had many pits of pitch, either strong glue; and so the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah turned their backs, and felled down there; and they that were left fled to the hills.

11 Soothly they took away all the chattel [or substance] of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all things that pertain[ed] to meat, and went away;

12 also and they took away Lot and his chattel [or substance], the son of the brother of Abram, which Lot dwelled in Sodom.

13 And, lo! one that escaped, told to Abram the Hebrew, that dwelled in the valley of Mamre of Amorites, [the] brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; for these [had] made covenant of peace with Abram.

14 And when Abram had heard this thing, that is, Lot, the son of his brother, was taken, he numbered his born servants made ready, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them till to Dan.

15 And when his fellows were separated, he felled on them in the night, and smote them, and pursued them till to Hobah, and Phenice, which is at the left side of Damascus.

16 And he brought again all the chattel [or substance], and Lot, the son of his brother, with his chattel [or substance], also women, and the people.

17 Soothly the king of Sodom went out into the meeting of him, after that he turned again from [the] slaying of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, in the valley of Shaveh, which is the valley of the king.

18 And soothly Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine, for he was the priest of the highest God;

19 and he blessed Abram, and said, Blessed be Abram of [the] high God, that made heaven and earth of nought,

20 and blessed be [the] high God, by whom defending, thine enemies be betaken into thine hands. And Abram gave tithes of all things to him.

21 Forsooth the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give thou the men to me; take thou other things to thee.

22 And Abram answered to him, I raise [up] mine hand to the high Lord God, Lord of heaven and of earth,

23 that from the thread of [the] woof till to the lanyard of the hose, I shall not take anything of all things that be thine, lest thou say, I [have] made Abram rich;

24 except these things which the young men ate, and the parts of men that came with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; these men shall take their parts.

CHAPTER 15

1 And so when these things were done, the word of the Lord was made to Abram by a vision, and said, Abram, do not thou dread, I am thy defender, and thy meed is full great.

2 And Abram said, Lord God, what shalt thou give to me? I shall go without free children, and this Damascus, son of Eliezer, the procurator of mine house, shall be mine heir.

3 And Abram added, Soothly thou hast not given seed to me, and, lo! my born servant shall be mine heir.

4 And anon the word of the Lord was made to him, and said, This shall not be thine heir, but thou shalt have him heir, that shall go out of thy womb.

5 And the Lord led out Abram, and said to him, Behold thou heaven, and number the stars, if thou mayest. And the Lord said to Abram, So thy seed shall be.

6 Abram believed to God, and it was reckoned to him to rightwiseness.

7 And God said to him, I am the Lord, that led thee out of Ur of Chaldees, that I should give this land to thee, and thou shouldest have it in possession.

8 And Abram said, Lord God, where-by shall I know that I shall wield it?

9 And the Lord answered, and said, Take thou to me a cow of three years, and a goat of three years, and a ram of three years, and a turtledove, and a culver.

10 Which took all these things, and parted those [or them] by the midst [or the middle], and setted [or put] ever either part each against other; but he parted not the birds.

11 And fowls came down on the carrions, and Abram drove them away.

12 And when the sun was gone down, dread felled on Abram, and a great hideousness and dark assailed him.

13 And it was said to him, Know thou a before-knowing, that thy seed shall be [a] pilgrim four hundred years in a land not his own, and they shall make them subject to servage, and they shall torment them;

14 nevertheless I shall deem the folk to whom they shall serve; and after these things they shall go out with great chattel [or substance].

15 Forsooth thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and shalt be buried in good [eld] age.

16 Soothly in the fourth generation they shall turn again hither, for the wickedness of [the] Amorites be not yet [full-]filled, till to present time.

17 Therefore when the sun was gone down, a dark mist was made, and a furnace smoking appeared, and a lamp of fire, and passed through those partings.

18 In that day the Lord made a covenant of peace with Abram, and said, I shall give to thy seed this land, from the river of Egypt till to the great river Euphrates;

19 the lands of the Kenites, and Kenizzites, and Kadmonites,

20 and Hittites, and Perizzites, and Rephaims,

21 and Amorites, and Canaanites, and Girgashites, and Jebusites.

CHAPTER 16

1 Therefore Sarai, the wife of Abram, had not engendered [to him] free children; but she had a servantess of Egypt, Hagar by name,

2 and Sarai said to her husband, Lo! the Lord hath closed me, that I should not bear child; enter thou [in] to my servantess, if in hap I shall take children, namely of her. And when he assented to her praying,

3 she took Hagar the Egyptian, her servantess, after ten years after that they began to inhabit the land of Canaan, and she gave Hagar as[a] wife to her husband.

4 And Abram entered [in] to Hagar; and Hagar saw that she had conceived, and she despised her lady.

5 And Sarai said to Abram, Thou doest wickedly against me; I gave my servantess into thy bosom, which seeth that she [hath] conceived, and despiseth me; the Lord deem betwixt me and thee.

6 And Abram answered and said to her, Lo! thy servantess is in thine hand; use thou her as thee liketh. Therefore for Sarai tormented her, she fled away.

7 And when the angel of the Lord had found her beside a well of water in wilderness, which well is in the way of Shur in desert,

8 he said to her, From whence comest thou Hagar, the servantess of Sarai, and whither goest thou? Which answered, I flee from the face of Sarai, my lady.

9 And the angel of the Lord said to her, Turn thou again to thy lady, and be thou meeked under her hands.

10 And again he said, I multiplying shall multiply thy seed, and it shall not be numbered for multitude.

11 And afterward he said, Lo! thou hast conceived, and thou shalt bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Ishmael, for the Lord hath heard thy torment;

12 this shall be a wild man; his hand shall be against all men, and the hands of all men shall be against him; and he shall set his tabernacles even against all his brethren.

13 Forsooth Hagar called the name of the Lord that spake to her, Thou God that sawest me; for she said, Forsooth here I saw the hinder things of him that saw me.

14 Therefore she called that well, The well of him that liveth and seeth me; that well is betwixt Kadesh and Bered.

15 And Hagar childed a son to Abram, which called his name Ishmael.

16 Abram was eighty years and six, when Hagar childed Ishmael to him.

CHAPTER 17

1 Forsooth after that Abram began to be of ninety years and nine, the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, I am Almighty God; go thou before me, and be thou perfect;

2 and I shall set my covenant of peace betwixt me and thee; and I shall multiply thee full greatly.

3 And Abram felled down low on his face. And God said to him,

4 I am, and my covenant of peace is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of many folks;

5 and thy name shall no more be called Abram, but thou shalt be called Abraham, for I have made thee [the] father of many folks;

6 and I shall make thee to wax full greatly, and I shall set thee in folks, and kings shall go out of thee;

7 and I shall make my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee, in their generations, by everlasting bond of peace, that I be thy God, and of thy seed after thee;

8 and I shall give to thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy pilgrimage, all the land of Canaan, into everlasting possession, and I shall be the God of them.

9 God said again to Abraham, And therefore thou shalt keep my covenant, and thy seed after thee, in their generations.

10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, betwixt me and you, and thy seed after thee; each male kind of you shall be circumcised,

11 and ye shall circumcise the flesh of your man’s rod, that it be into a sign of bond of peace betwixt me and you.

12 A young child of eight days shall be circumcised in you, all male kind in your generations, as well a born servant [of your household], as a servant bought, shall be circumcised,

13 and whoever is of your kindred, he shall be circumcised; and my covenant shall be in your flesh into everlasting bond of peace.

14 A man whose flesh of his rod shall not be circumcised, that man shall be done away from his people; for he made void my covenant.

15 Also God said to Abraham, Thou shalt not call Sarai, thy wife, Sarai, but Sarah;

16 and I shall bless her, and of her I shall give to thee a son, whom I shall bless, and he shall be into nations, and kings of peoples shall be born of him.

17 Abraham felled down on his face, and laughed in his heart, and said, Guessest thou, whether a child shall be born to a man of an hundred years, and Sarah of ninety years shall bear a child?

18 And he said to the Lord, I would that Ishmael might live before thee.

19 And the Lord said to Abraham, Sarah, thy wife, shall bear a son to thee, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I shall make my covenant with him into everlasting bond of peace, and to his seed after him;

20 also on Ishmael I have heard thee, lo! I shall bless him, and I shall increase him, and I shall multiply him greatly; he shall engender twelve dukes, and I shall make him into a great folk.

21 Forsooth I shall make my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall child to thee in this time in the tother year.

22 And when the word of the speaker with him was ended, God ascended from Abraham.

23 Forsooth Abraham took Ishmael, his son, and all the born servants of his house, and all which he had bought, all the males of all men of his house, and circumcised the flesh of their rods, anon in that day, as the Lord commanded to him.

24 Abraham was of ninety years and nine when he circumcised the flesh of his rod,

25 and Ishmael, his son, had filled thirteen years in the time of his circumcision.

26 Abraham was circumcised in the same day, and Ishmael his son,

27 and all the men of his house, as well born servants, as those bought and aliens, were circumcised together.

CHAPTER 18

1 Forsooth in the valley of Mamre the Lord appeared to Abraham, sitting in the door of his tabernacle, in that heat of the day.

2 And when Abraham had raised up his eyes, three men appeared to him, and stood nigh [to] him. And when he had seen them, he ran from the door of his tabernacle into the meeting of them, and he worshipped on [the] earth,

3 and said, Lord, if I have found grace in thine eyes, pass thou not thy servant,

4 but I shall bring a little water, and your feet be washed, and rest ye under the tree;

5 and I shall set before you a morsel of bread, and your heart be comforted; afterward ye shall pass [forth]; for therefore be ye bowed aside to your servant. Which said, Do thou as thou hast spoken.

6 Abraham hasted into the tabernacle, to Sarah, and said to her, Haste thou, mix three half bushels of clean flour; and make thou loaves baken under ashes.

7 Forsooth he ran to the drove of beasts, and took thereof a calf most tender and best, and gave to a servant, which hasted, and seethed the calf;

8 and he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had sodden, and set before them; forsooth Abraham stood beside them under the tree. And when they had eaten,

9 they said to him, Where is Sarah thy wife? He answered, Lo! she is in the tabernacle.

10 To whom the Lord said, I shall turn again, and I shall come to thee in this time, if I live; and Sarah, thy wife, shall have a son. When this was heard, Sarah laughed behind the door of the tabernacle.

11 Forsooth both were old, and of great age, and woman’s terms ceased to be made to Sarah.

12 And she laughed, saying privily, After that I waxed eld [or old], and my lord is eld [or old], shall I give diligence [or busyness] to lust?

13 Forsooth the Lord said to Abraham, Why laughed Sarah, thy wife, saying, Whether I an eld [or old] woman shall bear a child verily?

14 whether anything is hard to God? By the promise I shall turn again to thee in this same time, if I live; and Sarah shall have a son.

15 Sarah was afeared for dread, and denied, saying, I laughed not. Forsooth the Lord said, It is not so, but thou laughedest.

16 Therefore when the men had risen from thence, they dressed the eyes against Sodom; and Abraham went together, leading them forth.

17 And the Lord said, Whether I may cover from Abraham what things I shall do,

18 since he shall be into a great folk and most strong, and all nations of [the] earth shall be blessed in him?

19 For I know that Abraham shall command his children, and his house after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, and that they do rightfulness [or rightwiseness] and doom, that the Lord bring for Abraham all things which he spake to Abraham.

20 And so the Lord said, The cry of men of Sodom and of men of Gomorrah is multiplied, and their sin is egregious greatly;

21 I shall come down, and see whether they have [ful] filled in work the cry that came to me, that I know whether it is not so.

22 And they turned them[selves] from thence, and went to Sodom. Abraham soothly stood yet before the Lord,

23 and nighed, and said, Whether thou shalt lose a just man [or the rightwise] with the wicked?

24 if fifty just [or rightwise] men be in the city, shall they perish altogether, and shalt thou not spare that place for fifty just [or rightwise] men, if they be therein?

25 Far be it from thee that thou do this thing, and slay the just [or rightwise] with the wicked, and that a just [or rightwise] man be made as a wicked man; this is not thine that deemest all [the] earth; thou shalt not make this doom.

26 And the Lord said to him, If I shall find in Sodom fifty just [or rightwise] men in the midst of the city, I shall forgive to all the place for them.

27 Abraham answered and said, For I began once, I shall speak to my Lord, since I am dust and ashes;

28 what if less than fifty just [or rightwise] men by five be, shalt thou do away all the city for five and forty? And the Lord said, I shall not do away, if I shall find five and forty there.

29 And again Abraham said to him, But if forty be there, what shalt thou do? The Lord said, I shall not smite for forty.

30 Abraham said, Lord, I beseech, take thou not into indignation, if I speak; what if thirty be found there? The Lord answered, I shall not do, if I shall find thirty there.

31 Abraham said, For I began once, I shall speak to my Lord; what if twenty be found there? The Lord said, I shall not slay for twenty.

32 Abraham said, Lord, I beseech, be thou not wroth, if I speak yet once more; what if ten be found there? The Lord said, I shall not do away for ten.

33 The Lord went forth, after that he [had] ceased to speak to Abraham, and Abraham turned again into his place.

CHAPTER 19

1 And twain angels came to Sodom in the eventide, while Lot sat in the gates of the city. And when he had seen them, he rose, and went to meet them, and worshipped or honoured low to the earth,

2 and said, My lords, I beseech, bow ye [down] into the house of your servant, and dwell ye there; wash ye your feet, and in the morrowtide ye shall go into your way. Which said, Nay, but we shall dwell in the street.

3 He constrained them greatly, that they should turn in to him. And when they entered into his house, he made a feast, and baked therf bread, and they ate.

4 Forsooth before that they went to sleep, men of the city compassed his house, from a child till to an eld [or old] man, all the people together;

5 and they called Lot, and said to him, Where be the men that entered to thee tonight? bring them out hither, that we know them, that is, by lechery against kind.

6 And Lot went out to them behind the back, and closed the door,

7 and said, I beseech, do not ye, my brethren, do not ye do this evil.

8 I have two daughters, that knew not yet a man; I shall lead out them to you, and mis-use ye them as it pleaseth you, so that ye do none evil to these men, for they entered under the shadow of my roof.

9 And they said, Go thou from hence. And again they said, Thou enteredest [in] hither as a comeling; whether that thou shalt deem us? therefore we shall torment thee more than these. And they did violently to Lot full greatly. Then it was nigh that they would break the doors;

10 and lo! the men put forth their hands, and led in Lot to them, and they closed the door.

11 And they smote with blindness they that were withoutforth, from the least till to the most; so that they might not find the door.

12 Forsooth they said to Lot, Hast thou here any man of thine, husband of thy daughter, or sons, or daughters; if so, lead thou out of this city all men that be thine,

13 for we shall do away this place, for the cry of them increased before the Lord, which sent us that we lose them.

14 And Lot went out, and spake to the husbands to be of his daughters, that should take his daughters, and said, Rise ye, and go ye out of this place; for the Lord shall do away this city. And he was seen to them to speak as playing.

15 And when the morrowtide was, the angels constrained Lot, and said, Rise thou, and take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which thou hast, lest also thou perish altogether in the sin of the city.

16 While he dissembled, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters; for the Lord spared him. And they led out him, and set [or put]him without the city.

17 There they spake to him, and said, Save thou thy life; do not thou behold behind thy back, neither stand thou in all the country about, but make thee safe in the hills; lest also thou perish altogether.

18 And Lot said to them, My Lord, I beseech,

19 for thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy grace and mercy, which thou hast done to me, that thou shouldest save my life; I may not be saved in the hills, lest peradventure evil overtake me, and I die;

20 a little city is here beside, to which I may flee, and I shall be safe therein; whether it is not such a little city? and my soul shall live therein.

21 And he said to Lot, Lo! also in this I have received thy prayers, that I destroy not the city, for which thou hast spoken;

22 haste thee, and be thou saved there, for I may not do anything till thou enter [in] thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Zoar.

23 The sun rose on [the] earth, and Lot entered into Zoar.

24 Therefore the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire, from the Lord of heaven,

25 and destroyed these cities, and all the country about; he destroyed all the dwellers of those cities, and all green things of [the] earth.

26 And Lot’s wife looked aback, and she was turned into an image of salt.

27 Forsooth Abraham rising early, went to where he stood before with the Lord,

28 beheld Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the land of that country; and he saw a dead spark going up from the earth, as the smoke of a furnace.

29 For when God destroyed the cities of that country, he had mind of Abraham, and delivered Lot from [the] destroying of the cities in which he dwelled.

30 And Lot went up from Zoar, and dwelled in the hills, and his two daughters with him, for he dreaded to dwell in Zoar; and he dwelled in a den, he and his two daughters with him.

31 And the more daughter said to the less, Our father is eld [or old], and no man is left on earth that may enter [in] to us, by the custom of all earth;

32 come thou, make we him drunken of wine, and sleep we with him, that we may keep the seed of our father.

33 And so they gave to their father to drink wine in that night, and the more, or the elder, daughter entered, and slept with her father; and he feeled not, neither when the daughter lay down, neither when she [a] rose.

34 And the tother day the more daughter said to the less, or the younger, Lo! I slept yesterday with my father; give we to him to drink wine also in this night; and thou sleep with him, that we save the seed of our father.

35 And they gave to their father also in that night to drink wine, and the less daughter entered, and slept with him; and soothly he feeled not then when she lay down, neither when she [a] rose.

36 Therefore the two daughters of Lot conceived of their father.

37 And the more daughter childed a son, and called his name Moab; he is the father of men of Moab unto this present day.

38 And the less daughter childed a son, and called his name Benammi, that is, The son of my people; he is the father of men of Ammon till to [this] day.

CHAPTER 20

1 Abraham went forth from thence into the land of the south, and dwelled betwixt Kadesh and Shur, and was a pilgrim in Gerar;

2 and he said of Sarah, his wife, She is my sister. Therefore Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent, and took her.

3 Soothly God came to Abimelech by a sweven in the night, and said to him, Lo! thou shalt die, for the woman which thou hast taken, for she hath an husband.

4 Forsooth Abimelech [had] touched not her; and he said, Lord, whether thou shalt slay a folk unknowing and just [or rightwise]?

5 Whether he said not to me, She is my sister, and she said, He is my brother? In the simpleness of mine heart, and in the cleanness of mine hands, I did this.

6 And the Lord said to him, And I know that thou didest by simple heart, and therefore I kept thee, lest thou didest sin against me, and I suffered not that thou touchedest her;

7 now therefore yield thou the wife to her husband, for he is a prophet; and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live; soothly if thou wilt not yield her, know thou that thou shalt die by death, thou, and all things that be thine.

8 And at once Abimelech rose by night, and called all his servants, and spake all these words in the ears of them; and all men dreaded greatly.

9 Soothly Abimelech called also Abraham, and said to him, What hast thou done to us? what sinned we against thee, that thou hast brought in on me and on my realm such a great sin? thou hast done to us which things thou oughtest not to do.

10 And again Abimelech asked, and said, What thing sawest thou, that thou wouldest do this?

11 Abraham answered, I thought within me, and said, In hap the dread of God is not in this place; and they shall slay me for my wife;

12 in other manner forsooth and she is my sister verily, the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother; and I wedded her into wife;

13 soothly after that God led me out of the house of my father, I said to her, Thou shalt do this mercy with me in each place to which we shall enter; thou shalt say, that I am thy brother.

14 Therefore Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and servants, and handmaids, and gave to Abraham; and he yielded to him Sarah, his wife,

15 and said, The land is before you; dwell thou, wherever it pleaseth thee.

16 Forsooth Abimelech said to Sarah, Lo! I gave a thousand pieces of silver to thy brother; this shall be to thee into a covering of eyes, to all men that be with thee; and whither ever thou goest, have thou mind that thou art taken.

17 Soothly for Abraham prayed, God cured Abimelech, and his wife, and handmaids, and they childed;

18 for God had closed each womb of the house of Abimelech, for Sarah, the wife of Abraham.

CHAPTER 21

1 Forsooth God visited Sarah, as he promised, and [ful] filled those things, that he spake.

2 And she conceived, and childed a son in her eld age, in the time wherein God before-said to her.

3 And Abraham called the name of his son, whom Sarah childed to him, Isaac.

4 And Abraham circumcised him in the eighth day, as God commanded to him,

5 when he was of an hundred years; for Isaac was born in this age of the father.

6 And Sarah said, The Lord hath made laughing to me, and whoever shall hear shall laugh with me.

7 And again she said, Who should hear, and believe to Abraham, that Sarah should give sucking to a son, whom she childed to him, when he is now an eld [or old] man?

8 Therefore the child increased, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast in the day of his weaning.

9 And when Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, playing, or doing idolatry, with Isaac her son,

10 she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son; for the son of the handmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac.

11 Abraham took this heavily for his son;

12 and God said to him, Be it not seen sharp to thee on the child, and on thine handmaid; all things which Sarah saith to thee, hear thou her voice, for in Isaac seed shall be called to thee;

13 but also I shall make the son of the handmaid into a great folk, for he is thy seed.

14 And so Abraham rose early, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and put it on Hagar’s shoulder, and he betook to her the child*, and let go her; and when she had gone, she went out of the way in the wilderness of Beersheba.

15 And when the water in the bottle was ended, she cast away the child under a tree that was there;

16 and she went away, and she sat even against, as far as a bow may cast; for she said, I shall not see the child dying; and she sat against, and raised [up] her voice, and wept.

17 Forsooth the Lord heard the voice of the child, and the angel of the Lord called Hagar from heaven, and said, What doest thou, Hagar? do not thou dread, for God hath heard the voice of the child, from the place wherein he is.

18 Rise thou, and take the child, and hold his hand; for I shall make him into a great folk.

19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water, and she went, and filled the bottle, and she gave drink to the child;

20 and God was with him, and he increased, and dwelled in wilderness, and he was made a young man an archer,

21 and dwelled in the desert of Paran; and his mother took to him a wife of the land of Egypt.

22 In the same time, Abimelech, and Phicol, prince of his host, said to Abraham, God is with thee in all things that thou doest;

23 therefore swear thou by God that thou harm not me, and mine heirs, and my kindred; but by the mercy which I did to thee, do thou to me, and to the land in which thou livedest as a comeling.

24 And Abraham said, I shall swear.

25 And he blamed Abimelech for the well of water, which his servants took away by violence.

26 And Abimelech answered, I wist not who did this thing, but also thou showedest not to me, and I heard not except today.

27 And so Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave to Abimelech, and both smote together a bond of peace.

28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock asides half.

29 And Abimelech said to him, What will these seven ewe lambs mean to themselves, which thou madest stand asides half?

30 And he said, Thou shalt take of mine hand seven ewe lambs, that those [or they] be into witnessing to me, for I digged this well.

31 Therefore that place was called Beersheba, that is, The Well of the Oath†, for ever either swore there;

32 and they made bond of peace for the well of an oath. Forsooth Abimelech rose, and Phicol, the prince of his chivalry, and they turned again into the land of Palestines.

33 Soothly Abraham planted a wood in Beersheba, and inwardly called there the name of [the] everlasting God;

34 and he was an earth-tiller, or a comeling, of the land of Palestines in many days.

CHAPTER 22

1 And after that these things were done, God assayed Abraham, and said to him, Abraham! Abraham! He answered, I am present.

2 God said to him, Take thine one begotten son, whom thou lovest, Isaac; and go into the land of vision, and offer thou him there into burnt sacrifice on one of the hills which I shall show to thee.

3 Therefore Abraham rose by night, and saddled his ass, and led with him two young men, and Isaac his son; and when he had hewn trees into burnt sacrifice, he went to the place which God had commanded to him.

4 Forsooth in the third day, he raised [up] his eyes, and saw a place afar;

5 and he said to his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, I and the child* shall go thither; and after that we have worshipped, we shall turn again to you.

6 And he took the wood of burnt sacrifice, and laid it on Isaac his son; forsooth he bare fire, and a sword in his hands. And when they twain [or two] went together,

7 Isaac said to his father, My father! And he answered, What wilt thou, son? He said, Lo! fire and wood, where is the beast of burnt sacrifice?

8 Abraham said, My son, God shall purvey to him the beast of burnt sacrifice. Therefore they went together,

9 and came to the place which God had showed to him; in which place Abraham builded an altar, and dressed [the] wood above; and when he had bound altogether Isaac, his son, he laid Isaac on the altar, upon the heap of wood.

10 And he held forth his hand, and took the sword to sacrifice his son.

11 And lo! the angel of the Lord cried from heaven, and said, Abraham! Abraham! Which answered, I am present.

12 And the angel said to him, Hold thou not forth thine hand on the child, neither do thou anything of harm to him; now I know that thou dreadest God, and sparedest not thine one begotten son for me.

13 Abraham raised [up] his eyes, and he saw behind him a ram cleaving by the horns among briars, which he took, and offered as burnt sacrifice for the son.

14 And he called the name of that place The Lord seeth; wherefore it is said, till to this day, The Lord shall see in the hill.

15 Forsooth the angel of the Lord called to Abraham the second time from heaven,

16 and said, The Lord saith, I have sworn by myself, for thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thine one begotten son for me,

17 I shall bless thee, and I shall multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the gravel, either sand, which is in the brink of the sea; thy seed shall wield the gates of his enemies;

18 and all the folks of [the] earth shall be blessed in thy seed, for thou obeyedest to my voice.

19 Abraham turned again to his young men, and they went to Beersheba together, and he dwelled there.

20 And so when these things were done, it was told to Abraham that also Milcah had borne sons to Nahor his brother;

21 Huz the first begotten, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

22 and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel,

23 of whom Rebecca was born; Milcah childed these eight to Nahor, the brother of Abraham.

24 Forsooth his concubine, or secon-dary wife, Reumah by name, childed Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

CHAPTER 23

1 Forsooth Sarah lived an hundred and seven and twenty years,

2 and died in the city of Arba, which is Hebron, in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to bewail and beweep her.

3 And when he had risen from the office of the dead body, he spake to the sons of Heth, and said,

4 I am a comeling and a pilgrim with you; give ye to me right of [a] sepulchre with you, that I bury my dead body.

5 And the sons of Heth answered, and said,

6 Lord, hear thou us; thou art the prince of God with us; bury thou thy dead body in our chosen sepulchres, and no man shall be able to forbid thee, that not thou bury thy dead body in the sepulchre of him.

7 And Abraham [a] rose, and worship-ped or honoured the people of the land, that is, the sons of Heth.

8 And he said to them, If it pleaseth your soul that I bury my dead body, hear ye me, and pray ye for me to Ephron, the son of Zohar,

9 that he give to me the double cave, which he hath in the uttermost part of his field; for sufficient money give he it to me before you into possession of [a] sepulchre.

10 Forsooth Ephron dwelled in the midst of the sons of Heth. And Ephron answered to Abraham, while all men heard that entered by the gate of that city, and said,

11 My lord, it shall not be done so, but more hearken thou to that that I say; I give to thee the field, and the cave which is therein, while the sons of my people be present; bury thou thy dead body.

12 Abraham worshipped before the Lord, and before the people of the land,

13 and he spake to Ephron, while his people stood about, I beseech, that thou hear me; I shall give money for the field, receive thou it, and so I shall bury my dead body in the field.

14 And Ephron answered,

15 My lord, hear thou me; the land which thou askest for is worth four hundred shekels of silver, that is the price betwixt me and thee; but how much is this? bury thou thy dead body.

16 And when Abraham had heard this, he numbered out the money which Ephron asked for, while the sons of Heth heard, four hundred shekels of silver, and of proved common money.

17 And the field that was sometime of Ephron, in which field was a double den, beholding to Mamre, as well that field, as the den, and all the trees thereof, in all the terms thereof by compass,

18 was confirmed to Abraham into possession, while the sons of Heth saw, and all men that entered by the gate of that city.

19 And so Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the double den of the field, that beheld to Mamre; this is Hebron in the land of Canaan.

20 And the field, and the den that was therein, was confirmed of the sons of Heth to Abraham, into possession of a sepulchre.

CHAPTER 24

1 Forsooth Abraham was eld [or old], and of many days, and the Lord had blessed him in all things.

2 And he said to the elder servant of his house, that was sovereign on all things that he had, Put thou thine hand under mine hip,

3 that I conjure or adjure thee by the Lord God of heaven and of earth, that thou take not a wife to my son of the daughters of Canaan, among which I dwell;

4 but that thou go to my land and kindred, and thereof take a wife to my son Isaac.

5 The servant answered, If the woman will not come with me into this land, whether I owe to lead again thy son to the place, from which thou wentest out?

6 Abraham said, Beware, lest any time thou lead again thither my son;

7 the Lord God of heaven that took me from the house of my father, and from the land of my birth, which spake to me, and swore, and said, I shall give this land to thy seed, he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take from thence a wife to my son;

8 forsooth if the woman will not follow thee, thou shalt not be holden by the oath; nevertheless lead not again my son thither.

9 Therefore the servant putted his hand under the hip of Abraham, his lord, and swore to him on this word.

10 And he took ten camels of the flock of his lord, and went forth, and bare with him of all the goods of his lord; and he went forth, and came to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor.

11 And when he had made the camels to rest without the city, beside a pit or well of water, in the eventide, in that time in which women be wont to go out to draw water,

12 he said, Lord God of my lord Abraham, I beseech, meet with me today, and do mercy with my lord Abraham.

13 Lo! I stand nigh the well of water, and the daughters of the dwellers of this city shall go out to draw water;

14 therefore the damsel to which I shall say, Bow down thy water pot that I drink, and [she] shall answer, Drink thou, but also I shall give drink to thy camels, that it is which thou hast made ready to thy servant Isaac; and by this I shall understand that thou hast done mercy to my lord Abraham.

15 And he had not yet [full-]filled the words within himself, and lo! Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, son of Milcah, wife of Nahor, brother of Abraham, went out, having a water pot in her shoulder;

16 a damsel full comely/full shapely, and fairest virgin, and unknown of man. Soothly she came down to the well, and filled the water pot, and turned again.

17 And the servant met her, and said, Give thou to me a little of the water of thy pot to drink.

18 Which answered, Drink thou, my lord. And anon she did down the water pot on her shoulder, and gave drink to him.

19 And when he had drunk, she said, But also I shall draw water to thy camels, till all have drunk.

20 And she poured out the water pot in[to] troughs, and ran again to the pit, to draw water, and she gave water drawn to all the camels.

21 Soothly he beheld her privily, and would wit whether the Lord had sped his way, or nay.

22 Therefore after that the camels had drunk, the man brought forth golden earrings, weighing two shekels, and as many bands of the arm, in the weight of ten shekels.

23 And he said to her, Whose daughter art thou? show thou to me, is [there] any place in the house of thy father to dwell in?

24 Which answered, I am the daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, whom Milcah childed to him.

25 And she added, saying, Also full much of provender and of hay is at us, and a large place to dwell in.

26 The man bowed himself, and worshipped the Lord,

27 and said, Blessed be the Lord God of my lord Abraham, which took not away his mercy and truth from my lord, and led me by the right way, into the house of the brother of my lord.

28 And so the damsel ran, and told in the house of her mother all things which she had heard.

29 Soothly Rebecca had a brother, Laban by name, which went out hastily to the man, where he was withoutforth.

30 And when he had seen the earrings, and bands of the arm in the hands of his sister, and had heard all the words of her, telling, The man spake to me these things, he came to the man that stood beside the camels, and nigh the well of water,

31 and said to him, Enter thou, the blessed of the Lord; why standest thou withoutforth? I have made ready the house, and a place to thy camels.

32 And he brought him into the inn, and unsaddled the camels, and gave provender, and hay, and water to wash the feet of the camels, and of men that came with him.

33 And bread was set forth in his sight, the which said, I shall not eat till I speak my words. He answered to the man, Speak thou.

34 And the man said, I am the servant of Abraham,

35 and the Lord hath blessed my lord greatly, and he is made great; and God gave to him sheep, and oxen, silver, and gold, servants, and handmaids, and camels, and asses.

36 And Sarah, my lord’s wife, childed a son to my lord in his eld age, and Abraham, my lord, hath given all things that he had to that son.

37 And my lord charged me greatly, and said, Thou shalt not take to my son a wife of the daughters of Canaan, in whose land I dwell,

38 but thou shalt go to the house of my father, and of my kindred thou shalt take a wife to my son.

39 Forsooth I answered to my lord, What if the woman will not come with me?

40 He said, The Lord, in whose sight I go, shall send his angel with thee, and shall dress thy way; and thou shalt take a wife to my son of my kindred, and of my father’s house.

41 Thou shalt be innocent from my curse, when thou comest to my kins-men, and they give not her to thee.

42 Therefore I came today to the well of water, and said, Lord God of my lord Abraham, if thou hast dressed my way in which I go now,

43 lo! I stand beside the well of water, and the maid[en] that shall go out to draw water, heareth me say to her, Give thou to me a little of water to drink of thy pot,

44 and she say to me, And thou drink, and I shall draw water to thy camels, that is the woman which the Lord hath made ready to the son of my lord.

45 While I turned in thought these things with me, Rebecca appeared, coming with a pot which she bare in her shoulder; and she went down to the well, and drew water. And I said to her, Give thou a little to me to drink;

46 and she hasted, and did down the pot off the shoulder, and said to me, And thou drink, and I shall give drink to thy camels; I drank, and she watered the camels.

47 And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? Which answered, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Nahor, whom Milcah childed to him. And so I hanged earrings to adorn her face, and I put bands of the arm in her hands,

48 and low-like I worshipped the Lord, and I blessed the Lord God of my lord Abraham, which God led me by the right way, that I should take the daughter of the brother of my lord to his son.

49 Wherefore if ye do mercy and truth with my lord, show ye to me; else if other thing pleaseth, also say ye this, that I go to the right side or to the left side.

50 Laban and Bethuel answered, The word is gone out of the Lord; we may not speak any other thing with thee without his pleasance [or pleasing].

51 Lo! Rebecca is before thee; take thou her, and go forth, and be she [the] wife of the son of thy lord, as the Lord spake.

52 And when the servant of Abraham had heard this, he felled down, and worshipped the Lord in earth.

53 And when vessels of silver, and of gold, and clothes were brought forth, he gave those to Rebecca for a gift, and he gave gifts to her brethren, and mother.

54 And when a feast was made, they ate and drank together, and dwelled there. Forsooth the servant rose early, and said, Deliver ye me, that I go to my lord.

55 Her brethren and mother answered, The damsel dwell namely ten days at us, and afterward she shall go forth.

56 The servant said, Do not ye hold me, for the Lord hath dressed my way; deliver ye me, that I go to my lord.

57 And they said, Call we the damsel, and ask we her will.

58 And when she was called, and came, they asked her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I shall go.

59 Therefore they delivered her, and her nurse, and the servant of Abraham, and his fellows,

60 and wished prosperities to their sister, and said, Thou art our sister, increase thou into a thousand thousands, and thy seed wield the gates of his enemies.

61 Therefore Rebecca and her damsels ascended [or went up] on the camels, and pursued [or followed] the man, which turned again hastily to his lord.

62 In that time Isaac walked by the way that leadeth to the pit or well, whose name is of him that liveth and seeth; for he dwelled in the south land.

63 And he went out to think in the field, for the day was bowed [down] then; and when he had raised [up] his eyes, he saw camels coming from afar.

64 And when Isaac was seen, Rebecca lighted down off the camel,

65 and said to the servant, Who is that man that cometh by the field into the meeting of us? And the servant said to her, It is my lord. And she took soon a mantle, and covered herself.

66 Forsooth the servant told to his lord Isaac all things which he had done;

67 Isaac led her into the tabernacle of Sarah, his mother, and took her to wife; and so much he loved her, that he assuaged the sorrow which befell to him of the death of his mother.

CHAPTER 25

1 Forsooth Abraham wedded another wife, Keturah by name,

2 which childed to him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.

3 Also Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. Forsooth the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.

4 And soothly of Midian was born Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah; all these were the sons of Keturah.

5 And Abraham gave all things which he had in possession to Isaac;

6 soothly he gave gifts to the sons of [the] concubines, that is, secondary wives; and Abraham, while he lived yet, separated them from Isaac, his son, to the east coast.

7 Forsooth the days of the life of Abraham were an hundred and threescore and fifteen years;

8 and he failed, and died in [a] good eld age, and of great age, and full of days, and he was gathered to his people.

9 And Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the double den, which is set in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar the Hittite, even against Mamre,

10 which den he bought of the sons of Heth; and he was buried there, and Sarah his wife.

11 And after the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son, which dwelled beside the pit by name of him that liveth and seeth.

12 These be the generations of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, whom Hagar Egyptian, handmaid of Sarah, childed to Abraham;

13 and these be the names of the sons of Ishmael, in their names and generations. The first begotten of Ishmael was Nebajoth, afterward Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

14 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,

15 and Hadar, and Tema, and Jetur, and Naphish, and Kedemah.

16 These were the sons of Ishmael, and these were the names by castles, and towns of them, [the] twelve princes of their lineages.

17 And the years of [the] life of Ishmael were made an hundred and seven and thirty years, and he failed, and died, and was put to his people.

18 Forsooth he inhabited from Havilah till to Shur, that beholdeth Egypt, as men entereth into [the] Assyrians; he died before all his brethren.

19 Also these be the generations of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac,

20 and when Isaac was of forty years, he wedded a wife, Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel, of Syria, of Mesopotamia, the sister of Laban.

21 And Isaac besought the Lord for his wife, for she was barren; and the Lord heard him, and gave conceiving to Rebecca.

22 But the little children were hurtled together in her womb; and she said, If it was so to coming [or to come] to me, what need was it to conceive? And she went to ask counsel of the Lord,

23 which answered, and said, Two folks be in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy womb, and one people shall overturn a people, and the more shall serve the less.

24 Then the time of child-bearing came, and lo! two children were found in her womb.

25 He that went out first was red, and all rough in the manner of a skin; and his name was called Esau.

26 Anon the other went out, and held with his hand the heel of his brother; and therefore he called him Jacob*. Isaac was sixty years eld, when the little children were born.

27 And when they were waxen, Esau was a man knowing of hunting, and a man an earth-tiller; forsooth Jacob was a simple man, and dwelled in tabernacles.

28 Isaac loved Esau, for he ate of the hunting of Esau; and Rebecca loved Jacob.

29 Soothly Jacob seethed pottage; and when Esau came weary from the field,

30 he said to Jacob, Give thou to me of this red seething, for I am full weary; for which cause his name was called Edom or Red.

31 And Jacob said to him, Sell to me the rights of the first begotten child.

32 Esau answered, Lo! I die, what shall the first begotten things profit to me?

33 Jacob said, Therefore swear thou to me. Therefore Esau swore, and sold the first engendered things.

34 And so when he had taken bread and pottage, Esau ate and drank, and went forth, and charged or cared little that he had sold the rights of the first begotten child.

CHAPTER 26

1 Forsooth for hunger rose on the land, after that barrenness that befelled in the days of Abraham, Isaac went forth to Abimelech, king of Palestines, in Gerar.

2 And the Lord appeared to him, and said, Go not down into Egypt, but rest thou in the land which I shall say to thee,

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

4 And I shall multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and I shall give all these countries to thine heirs, and all folks of the earth shall be blessed in thy seed,

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

6 And so Isaac dwelled in Gerar.

7 And when he was asked of [the] men of that place of his wife, he answered, She is my sister; for he dreaded to acknowledge that she was fellowshipped to him in matrimony, and he guessed lest peradventure they would slay him for the fairness of her.

8 And when full many days were passed, and he dwelled there, Abimelech, king of Palestines, beheld by a window, and saw him playing with Rebecca, his wife.

9 And when Isaac was called, the king said, It is open, that she is thy wife; why saidest thou, that she was thy sister? Isaac answered, For I dreaded, lest I should die for her.

10 And Abimelech said, Why hast thou deceived us? Some man of the people might do lechery with thy wife, and thou haddest brought in grievous sin on us.

11 And the king commanded to all the people, and said, He that toucheth the wife of this man shall die by death.

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

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

14 Also he had possessions of sheep and of great beasts, and full much of menials. For this thing Palestines had envy to him,

15 and they stopped in that time and filled with earth all the pits or wells which the servants of Abraham his father had digged,

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

17 And he went away, that he should come to the strand of Gerar, and dwelled there.

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

19 They digged in the strand, and they found quick, or welling up, water.

20 But also strife of [the] shepherds of Gerar was there against the shep-herds of Isaac, and they said, The water is ours; wherefore of that strife that befelled, Isaac called the name of that well False Challenge, or Esek, or Quarrel.

21 And they digged another well, and they strived also for that, and Isaac called that well Enmities, or Sitnah, or Enmity.

22 And he went forth from thence, and digged another pit, for which they strived not, [and] therefore he called the name of that well Breadth, either Largeness; and said, Now God hath alarged us, and hath made us to increase on [the] earth.

23 Isaac forsooth went up from that place into Beersheba,

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

25 And so Isaac builded there an altar to the Lord; and when the name of the Lord was inwardly called, he stretched forth a tabernacle; and he commanded his servants that they should dig pits.

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

27 Isaac spake to them, What came ye to me, a man whom ye have hated, and putted away from you?

28 Which answered, We saw that God is with thee, and therefore we said now, An oath be betwixt us, and make we a covenant of peace,

29 that thou do not any [thing of] evil to us, as we touched nothing of thine, neither did that that hurted thee, but with peace we let go thee increased by the blessings of the Lord.

30 Therefore Isaac made them a feast; and after meat and drink,

31 they rose early, and swore each to other; and Isaac let go them peaceably into their place.

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

33 Wherefore Isaac called that pit Abundance or Shebah; and the name of the city was set Beersheba till into this present day.

34 Esau forsooth forty years eld [or old] wedded two wives, Judith*, the daughter of Beeri Hittite, and Bashemath†, the daughter of Elon, of the same place;

35 which both offended the soul of Isaac and of Rebecca.

CHAPTER 27

1 Forsooth Isaac waxed eld [or old], and his eyes dimmed, and he might not see. And he called Esau, his more or older son, and said to him, My son! Which answered, I am present.

2 To whom the father said, Thou seest that I have waxed eld, and I know not the day of my death*.

3 Take thine arms, an arrow case, and a bow, and go out; and when thou hast taken anything by hunting,

4 make me a stew thereof, as thou knowest that I will or desire, and bring it to me that I eat, that my soul bless thee before that I die.

5 And when Rebecca had heard this thing, and he had gone forth into the field that he fulfill the behest of his father,

6 she said to her son Jacob, I heard thy father speaking with Esau, thy brother, and saying to him,

7 Bring thou to me of thine hunting, and make thou meats, that I eat, and that I bless thee before the Lord before that I die.

8 Now therefore, my son, assent to my counsels,

9 and go to the flock, and bring to me twain [or two]of the best kids, that I make meats of those to thy father, which he shall eat gladly;

10 and that when thou hast brought in those meats, and he hath eaten, he bless thee before that he die.

11 To whom Jacob answered, Thou knowest that Esau my brother is an hairy man, and I am smooth;

12 if my father shall touch or draw me to him, and feel me, I dread lest he guess that I would scorn him, and he bring in cursing on me for blessing.

13 To whom his mother said, My son, this cursing be in me; only hear thou my voice, and go, and bring that that I said.

14 He went, and brought it, and gave it to his mother. She made ready meats, as she knew that his father would have,

15 and she clothed Jacob in [the] full good clothes of Esau, which she had at home with herself.

16 And she wrapped his hands about with little skins of goat kids, and covered the nakedness of his neck;

17 and she gave to him the stew, and betook him [the] loaves, which she had baked.

18 And when these were brought in, he said, My father! And he answered, I am here; who art thou, my son?

19 And Jacob said, I am Esau, thy first begotten son. I have done to thee as thou commandedest to me; rise thou up, and sit, and eat of my venison, that thy soul bless me.

20 Again Isaac said to his son, My son, how mightest thou find this venison so soon? Which answered, It was God’s will, that this thing that I would, should come soon to me.

21 And Isaac said, My son, come thou hither, that I touch thee, and that I prove whether thou be my son Esau, or nay.

22 Jacob nighed to his father; and when Isaac had feeled him, he said, Soothly the voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands be the hands of Esau.

23 And Isaac knew not Jacob, for the hairy hands showed the likeness of the elder son. Therefore Isaac blessed Jacob,

24 and said again, Art thou my son Esau? Jacob answered, I am.

25 And Isaac said, My son, bring thou to me meats of thine hunting, that my soul bless thee. And when Isaac had eaten these meats brought, Jacob brought also wine to Isaac, and when this was drunken,

26 Isaac said to him, My son, come thou hither, and give to me a kiss.

27 Jacob nighed, and kissed him; and anon as Isaac feeled the odour of his clothes, he blessed him, and said, Lo! the odour of my son as the odour of a plenteous field which the Lord hath blessed.

28 God give to thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of [the] earth, abundance [or plenty] of wheat, and of wine, and of oil;

29 and peoples serve thee, and lineages worship thee; be thou lord of thy brethren, and the sons of thy mother be bowed before thee; be he cursed that curseth thee, and he that blesseth thee, be he [full-]filled with blessings.

30 Scarcely Isaac had filled the word, and when Jacob was gone out, Esau came,

31 and brought in meats sodden of the hunting to the father, and said, My father, rise thou, and eat of the hunting of thy son, that thy soul bless me.

32 And Isaac said, Who art thou? Which answered, I am Esau, thy first begotten son.

33 Isaac dreaded with a great aston-ishing; and he wondered more than it may be believed, and said, Who therefore is he which a while ago brought to me venison taken, and I ate of all things before that thou camest; and I blessed him? and he shall be blessed.

34 When the words of the father were heard, Esau roared with a great cry, and was astonied, and said, My father, bless thou also me.

35 Which said, Thy brother came prudently [or beguilingly], and took thy blessing.

36 And Esau added, Justly his name is called Jacob, for lo! he [hath] supplanted me another time; before he took away my first begotten things, and now the second time, he [hath] ravished privily my blessing. And again he said to the father, Whether thou hast not reserved a blessing also to me?

37 Isaac answered, I have made him thy lord, and I have made subject all his brethren to his servage; I have stablished him in wheat, and wine, and oil; and so, my son, what shall I do to thee after these things?

38 To whom Esau said, Father, whether thou hast only one blessing? I beseech thee, that also thou bless me. And when Esau wept with great yelling,

39 Isaac was stirred, and said to him, Thy blessing shall not be in the fatness of [the] earth, and in the dew of heaven from above;

40 thou shalt live by sword, and thou shalt serve thy brother, and time shall come when thou shalt shake away, and unbind his yoke from [off] thy nolls.

41 Therefore Esau hated evermore Jacob for the blessing by which the father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning of my father shall come, and I shall slay Jacob, my brother.

42 These things were told to Rebecca, and she sent, and called her son Jacob, and said to him, Lo! Esau, thy brother, menaceth [or threateneth] to slay thee;

43 now therefore, my son, hear thou my voice, and rise thou up, and flee to Laban, my brother, into Haran;

44 and thou shalt dwell with him a few days, till the strong vengeance of thy brother rest, and his indignation cease,

45 and till he forget those things which thou hast done against him. Afterward I shall send, and I shall bring thee from thence hither. Why shall I be made sonless of ever either son in one day?

46 And Rebecca said to Isaac, It annoyeth or vexeth me of my life for the daughters of Heth; if Jacob take a wife of the kindred of this land, I will not live.

CHAPTER 28

1 And so Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded to him, and said, Do not thou take a wife of the kin of Canaan;

2 but go thou, and walk forth into Mesopotamia of Syria, to the house of Bethuel, [the] father of thy mother, and take to thee from thence a wife of the daughters of Laban, thine uncle.

3 Soothly Almighty God bless thee, and make thee to increase, and multiply thee, that thou be into companies of peoples;

4 and God give to thee the blessing of Abraham, and to thy seed after thee, that thou wield the land of thy pilgrimage, which he promised to thy grand-sire.

5 And when Isaac had let go Jacob, he went forth, and came into Mesopotamia of Syria, to Laban, the son of Bethuel of Syria, the brother of Rebecca, his mother.

6 Forsooth Esau saw that his father had blessed Jacob, and had sent him into Mesopotamia of Syria, that he should wed a wife of thence, and that after the blessing he commanded to Jacob, and said, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;

7 and that Jacob obeyed to his father and mother, and went into Syria;

8 also Esau proved thereby that his father beheld not gladly the daughters of Canaan.

9 And Esau went to Ishmael, and wedded a wife, without these which he had before, Mahalath*, the daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham, the sister of Nebajoth.

10 Therefore Jacob went out of Beersheba, and went to Haran.

11 And when he had come to some place, and would rest therein after the going down of the sun, he took of the stones that lay there, and he put under his head, and slept in the same place.

12 And he saw in [his] sleep a ladder standing on the earth, and the top thereof touching heaven; and he saw God’s angels ascending or going up and going down thereby,

13 and the Lord nighed to the ladder, saying to him, I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and God of Isaac; I shall give to thee and to thy seed the land in which thou sleepest.

14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of [the] earth, thou shalt be alarged to the east, and west, and to the north, and south; and all the lineages of [the] earth shall be blessed in thee and in thy seed.

15 And I shall be thy keeper, whither ever thou shalt go; and I shall lead thee again into this land, and I shall not leave thee, no but I shall fulfill all [the] things which I have said.

16 And when Jacob had waked of [the] sleep, he said, Verily the Lord is in this place, and I knew not.

17 And he said dreading, How fearedful, or worshipful, is this place! Here is none other thing, no but the house of God, and the gate of heaven.

18 Therefore Jacob rose early, and took the stone which he had put under his head, and raised it up into a title, or sign, and poured out oil above.

19 And he called the name of that city Bethel, which was called Luz before.

20 Also Jacob avowed a vow, and said, If God is with me, and keepeth me in the way in which I go, and giveth to me loaves to eat, and clothes to be clothed with,

21 and I turn again in prosperity to the house of my father, the Lord shall be into God to me.

22 And this stone, which I raised into a title, shall be called the house of God; and I shall offer tithes to thee of all things which thou shalt give to me.

CHAPTER 29

1 Therefore Jacob passed forth, and came into the east land;

2 and he saw a pit or well in the field, and three flocks of sheep resting beside it, for why sheep were watered thereof, and the mouth thereof was closed with a great stone.

3 And the custom was that when all the sheep were gathered together, they should turn away the stone, and when the flocks were watered, they should put it again on the mouth of the pit.

4 And Jacob said to the shepherds, Brethren, of whence be ye? Which answered, Of Haran.

5 And he asked them and said, Whether ye know Laban, the son of Nahor? They said, We know him.

6 Jacob said, Is he whole? They said, He is in good state; and lo! Rachel, his daughter, cometh with his flock.

7 And Jacob said, Yet much of the day is to come, and it is not time that the flocks be led again to the folds; soothly give ye drink to the sheep, and so lead ye them again to meat or feeding.

8 Which answered, We may not till all the sheep be gathered together, and till we remove the stone from the mouth of the pit, to water the flocks.

9 Yet they spake, and lo! Rachel came with the sheep of her father.

10 And when Jacob saw her, and knew her to be the daughter of his mother’s brother, and the sheep to be of Laban his uncle, he removed the stone with which the pit was closed; and when the flock was watered,

11 he kissed her, and he wept with voice raised.

12 And Jacob showed to her that he was the brother of her father, and the son of Rebecca; and she hasted, and told to her father.

13 And when he had heard, that Jacob, the son of his sister, came, he ran to meet him, and he embraced Jacob, and kissed him, and led him into his house. Forsooth when the causes of the journey were heard,

14 Laban answered, Thou art my bone and my flesh. And after that the days of a month were filled,

15 Laban said to Jacob, Whether for thou art my brother, thou shalt serve me freely? say thou what meed thou shalt take.

16 Forsooth Laban had two daughters, the name of the elder was Leah, soothly the younger was called Rachel;

17 but Leah was bleary-eyed, and Rachel was of fair face, and lovely in sight.

18 And Jacob loved Rachel, and said, I shall serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.

19 Laban answered, It is better that I give her to thee than to another man; dwell thou with me.

20 Therefore Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and the days seemed few to him for the greatness of his love.

21 And at last he said to Laban, Give thou my wife to me, for the time is fulfilled that I enter [in] to her.

22 And when many companies of friends were called to the feast, he made [the] weddings,

23 and in the eventide Laban brought in to him Leah his daughter,

24 and gave an handmaid, Zilpah by name, to his daughter.

25 And when Jacob had entered [in] to her by custom, when the morrow-tide was made, he saw Leah, and he said to his wife’s father, What is it that thou wouldest do? whether I served not thee for Rachel? why hast thou deceived me?

26 Laban answered, It is not custom in our place that we give first the younger daughter to weddings;

27 fulfill thou the week of days of this wedding, and I shall give to thee also this Rachel, for the work in which thou shalt serve me by other seven years.

28 Jacob assented to the covenant, and when the week was passed, he wedded Rachel,

29 to whom her father had given Bilhah an handmaid.

30 And at the last Jacob used the weddings desired, and set the love of the latter wife before the first; and Jacob served Laban seven other years.

31 Forsooth the Lord saw that Jacob despised Leah, that is, loved her less than Rachel, and he opened Leah’s womb, while her sister dwelled barren.

32 And Leah childed a son conceived, and she called his name Reuben, and said, The Lord hath seen my meek-ness; now mine husband shall love me.

33 And again she conceived, and childed a son, and said, For the Lord saw that I was despised, he gave also this son to me; and she called his name Simeon.

34 And she conceived the third time, and childed another son, and she said also, Now mine husband shall be coupled to me, for I have childed three sons to him; and therefore she called his name Levi.

35 The fourth time she conceived, and childed a son, and said, Now I shall acknowledge to the Lord; and therefore she called his name Judah; and ceased to child.

CHAPTER 30

1 Forsooth Rachel saw, that she was unfruitful, and she had envy to her sister, and said to her husband, Give thou free children to me, else I shall die.

2 To whom Jacob was wroth, and answered, Whether I am for God, which have deprived thee from the fruit of thy womb?

3 And she said, I have an handmaid Bilhah; enter thou [in] to her that she child on my knees, and that I have sons of her.

4 And she gave to him Bilhah into matrimony; and when her husband had entered [in] to her,

5 she conceived, and childed a son.

6 And Rachel said, The Lord hath deemed to me, and hath heard my prayer, and gave a son to me; and therefore she called his name Dan.

7 And again Bilhah conceived, and childed another son,

8 for whom Rachel said, The Lord hath made me like my sister, and I [have] waxed strong; and she called him Naphtali.

9 Leah feeled that she ceased to bear child, and she gave Zilpah, her handmaid, to her husband.

10 And when Zilpah, after conceiving, childed a son,

11 Leah said, Blessedly; and therefore she called his name Gad.

12 Also Zilpah childed another son,

13 and Leah said, This is for my bliss, for all women shall say me blessed; therefore she called him Asher.

14 Forsooth Reuben went out into the field in the time of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes, which he brought to Leah, his mother. And Rachel said, Give thou to me a part of the mandrakes of thy son.

15 Leah answered, Whether it seemeth little to thee, that thou hast ravished my husband from me, no but thou take also the mandrakes of my son? Rachel said, The husband sleep with thee in this night for the mandrakes of thy son.

16 And when Jacob came again from the field at the eventide, Leah went out into his meeting, and said, Thou shalt enter [in] to me, for I have hired thee with hire for the mandrakes of my son. He slept with her in that night;

17 and God heard her prayers, and she conceived, and childed the fifth son;

18 and said, God hath given meed to me, for I gave mine handmaid to mine husband; and she called his name Issachar.

19 Again Leah conceived, and childed the sixth son,

20 and said, The Lord hath made me rich with a good dower; also in this time mine husband shall be with me, for I have engendered six sons to him; and therefore she called his name Zebulun.

21 After whom she childed a daughter, Dinah by name.

22 Also the Lord had mind on Rachel, and he heard her, and opened her womb.

23 And she conceived, and childed a son, and said, God hath taken away my shame;

24 and she called his name Joseph, and said, The Lord give to me another son.

25 Soothly when Joseph was born, Jacob said to his wife’s father, Deliver thou me, that I turn again to my country, and to my land.

26 Give thou to me my wives, and my free children, for which I have served thee, that I go; forsooth thou knowest the service by which I have served thee.

27 Laban said to him, Find I grace in thy sight; I have learned by experience, that God hath blessed me for thee;

28 ordain thou the meed which I shall give to thee.

29 And Jacob answered, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how great thy possession was in mine hands;

30 thou haddest little before that I came to thee, and now thou art made rich, and the Lord [hath] blessed thee at mine entering; therefore it is just that I purvey sometime also for mine house.

31 And Laban said, What shall I give to thee? And Jacob said, I will or desire nothing, that is, of thy gift, but if thou doest that that I ask, again I shall feed and keep thy sheep.

32 Go about all thy flocks, and separate thou all diversely-coloured sheep, and of spotted fleeces, and whatever thing shall be of dun hue, and spotted, and diverse of colour, as well in sheep as in goats; that shall be my meed.

33 And my rightfulness [or rightwise-ness] shall answer to me tomorrow, when the time of covenant shall come before thee; and all that be not diverse, and spotted, and dunned, as well in sheep as in goats, be found at me thou shalt reprove me of theft.

34 And Laban said, I have it acceptable that that thou askest.

35 And Laban separated in that day [the] goats, and sheep, goat bucks, and rams, diverse and spotted. Soothly he betook all the flock of one colour, that is, of white, and of black fleece, into the hands of his sons;

36 and he set the space of a way of three days betwixt his sons, and the husband of his daughters, that fed his other flocks.

37 Therefore Jacob took green rods of poplars, and of almonds, and of planes, and in part he did away the rind of them; and when the rinds were drawn away, either shaved, whiteness appeared in these that were made bare; soothly those that were whole dwelled green, and by this manner the colour was made diverse.

38 And Jacob put those rods in the troughs, where the water was poured out, that when the flocks should come to drink,

39 they should have the rods before their eyes, and they should conceive in [the] sight of the rods. And it was done that in that heat of riding, or engendering, the sheep should behold those rods, and that they should bring forth spotted beasts, and diverse, and besprinkled with diverse colour.

40 And Jacob separated the flock, and put the rods in the [water] troughs, before the eyes of the rams. Soothly all the white and [the] black were Laban’s; soothly all the others were Jacob’s; for the flocks were separated betwixt themselves.

41 Therefore when the sheep were ridden in the first time, Jacob put the rods in the water troughs before the eyes of rams, and of ewe sheep, that they should conceive in the sight of the rods.

42 Forsooth when the late mixing, or engendering, and the last conceivings were, Jacob put not those rods; and those that were late engendered, were made Laban’s, and those that were of the first time engendered, were Jacob’s.

43 And Jacob was made full rich, and had many flocks, handmaids, and menservants, camels, and asses.

CHAPTER 31

1 After that, Jacob heard the words of the sons of Laban, that said, Jacob hath taken away all things that were our father’s, and of his chattel Jacob is made rich, and noble.

2 Also Jacob perceived the face of Laban, that it was not against him as yesterday, and the third day ago,

3 mostly for the Lord said to Jacob, Turn again into the land of thy fathers, and to thy generation, and I shall be with thee.

4 Jacob sent, and called Rachel and Leah into the field, where he kept [the] flocks,

5 and he said to them, I see the face of your father, that it is not against me as yesterday, and the third day ago; but God of my father was with me.

6 And ye know that with all my strengths I have served your father;

7 but and your father hath deceived me, and changed my meed ten times; and nevertheless God suffered not him to annoy me.

8 If he said any time, Diversely-coloured sheep shall be thy meed, all the sheep brought forth diversely-coloured lambs; forsooth when he said, on the contrary, Thou shalt take all the white for thy meed, all the flocks brought forth white beasts;

9 and God took away the substance of your father, and gave it to me.

10 For after that the time of con-ceiving of sheep came, I raised [up] mine eyes, and saw in sleep males diverse, and spotty, and of diverse colours, going up on females.

11 And the angel of the Lord said to me in sleep, Jacob! and I answered, I am ready.

12 Which said, Raise [up] thine eyes, and see all [the] males that be diverse, [and] besprinkled, and spotty, going [up] on [the] females; for I have seen all things which Laban hath done to thee;

13 I am God of Bethel, where thou anointedest a stone, and madest a vow to me. Now therefore rise thou, and go out of this land, and turn again into the land of thy birth.

14 And Rachel and Leah answered, Whether we have anything residue, or left, in the chattels, and heritage of our father?

15 Whether he areckoned not, or held, us as aliens, and sold us, and ate our price?

16 But God took away the riches of our father, and gave those [or them] to us, and to our sons; wherefore do thou all things which God hath commanded to thee.

17 Forsooth Jacob rose, and put his free children and wives on camels, and went forth;

18 and he took all his cattle, flocks, and whatever thing he had gotten in Mesopotamia, and went to Isaac, his father, into the land of Canaan.

19 In that time Laban went to shear sheep, and Rachel stole the idols of her father.

20 And Jacob would not acknowledge to the father of his wives, that he would flee;

21 and when he had gone, as well he as all things that were of his right, and when he had passed [over] the water, and he went against the hill of Gilead,

22 it was told to Laban, in the third day, that Jacob fled.

23 And Laban took his brethren [with him], and pursued him seven days, and [over] took him in the hill of Gilead.

24 And Laban saw in sleep the Lord saying to him, Beware that thou speak not anything sharply against Jacob.

25 And then Jacob had stretched forth the tabernacle in the hill; and when Laban had pursued Jacob with his brethren, Laban set a tent in the same hill of Gilead;

26 and he said to Jacob, Why hast thou done so, that the while I knew not, thou wouldest drive away my daughters as captives, either taken prisoners, by sword?

27 Why wouldest thou flee the while I knew not, neither wouldest show to me, that I should pursue [or follow] thee with joy, and songs, and tympans, and harps?

28 Thou sufferedest not that I should kiss my sons and daughters; thou hast wrought follily.

29 And now soothly mine hand may yield evil to thee, but the God of thy father said to me yesterday, Beware that thou speak not any hard thing with Jacob.

30 Suppose, if thou covetedest to go to thy kinsmen, and the house of thy father was in desire to thee, why hast thou stolen my gods?

31 Jacob answered, That I went forth while thou knewest not, I dreaded lest thou wouldest take away thy daughters from me violently;

32 soothly that thou reprovest me of theft, at whomever thou findest thy gods, be he slain before our brethren; seek thou, whatever thing of thine thou findest at me, and take it away. Jacob said these things, and knew not that Rachel had stolen the idols.

33 And so Laban entered into the tabernacles of Jacob, and of Leah, and of ever either menial, and he found not; and when Laban had entered into the tent of Rachel,

34 she hasted, and hid the idols under the strewings of the camel, and she sat above.

35 And she said to Laban, seeking throughout all the tent, and finding nothing, My lord, be not wroth that I may not rise before thee, for it befelled now to me by the custom of women; so the busyness of the seeker was scorned.

36 And Jacob swelled, and said with strife, For what cause of me, and for what sin of me, hast thou come so fiercely after me,

37 and hast sought through all the appurtenance of mine house? What hast thou found of all the chattel of thine household? Put thou here before my brethren and thy brethren, and deem they betwixt me and thee.

38 Was I not with thee therefore twenty years? Thy sheep and goats were not barren, I ate not the rams of thy flock,

39 neither I showed to thee anything taken of a beast; I yielded all [the] harm; whatever thing perished by theft, thou askedest of me;

40 I was anguished in day and night with heat and frost, and sleep fled from mine eyes;

41 so I served thee by twenty years in thine house, fourteen years for thy daughters, and six years for thy flocks; and thou changedest my meed ten times.

42 But if [the] God of my father Abraham, and the dread of Isaac had not helped me, peradventure now thou haddest left me naked; the Lord hath beheld my tormenting and the travail of mine hands, and reproved thee yesterday.

43 Laban answered to Jacob, The daughters, and the sons, and the flocks, and all things which thou seest, be mine; what may I do to my sons, and to the sons of my sons?

44 Therefore come thou, and make we bond of peace, that it be a witnessing betwixt me and thee.

45 And so Jacob took a stone, and raised it into a title, either a sign,

46 and said to his brethren, Bring ye stones; which gathered, and made an heap, and ate on it.

47 And Laban called it The heap of witness, and Jacob called it The heap of witnessing; ever either called it by the property of his language.

48 And Laban said, This heap shall be witness betwixt me and thee today, and therefore the name thereof was called Galeed, that is, The heap of witness.

49 And Laban added, The Lord behold, and deem betwixt us, when we shall go away from you;

50 if thou shalt torment my daughters, and if thou shalt bring in other wives on them, none is witness of our word, except God, which is present, and beholdeth.

51 And again Laban said to Jacob, Lo! this heap, and the stone, or the pillar, which I have raised betwixt me and thee,

52 shall be witnesses; soothly this heap, and the stone be into witnessing, forsooth if I shall pass it, and go to thee, either thou shalt pass it, and think to do evil to me.

53 God of Abraham, and God of Nahor, [the] God of the father of them, deem betwixt us. Therefore Jacob swore by the dread of his father Isaac;

54 and when slain sacrifices were offered in the hill, Jacob called his brethren to eat bread, and when they had eaten, they dwelled there.

55 Forsooth Laban rose by night, and kissed his sons, and daughters, and blessed them, and turned again into his place.

CHAPTER 32

1 Forsooth Jacob went forth in the way in which he began, and the angels of the Lord met him.

2 And when he had seen them, he said, These be the castles of God; and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

3 Soothly Jacob sent before him also messengers to Esau, his brother, into the land of Seir, in the country of Edom;

4 and he commanded to them, and said, Thus speak ye to my lord Esau, Thy brother Jacob saith these things, I have been a pilgrim at Laban, and I was till into this present day;

5 I have oxen, and asses, and sheep, and menservants, and handmaids, and I send now a message to my lord, that I find grace in thy sight.

6 And the messengers turned again to Jacob, and said, We came to Esau, thy brother, and lo! he hasteth him into thy coming, with four hundred men.

7 Jacob dreaded greatly, and he was afeared, and he parted the people that was with him, and he parted the flocks, and sheep, and oxen, and camels, into two companies;

8 and he said, If Esau shall come to one company, and shall smite it, the other company which is left unsmitten, shall be saved.

9 And Jacob said, O! God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O! Lord, that saidest to me, Turn thou again into thy land, and to the place of thy birth, and I shall do well to thee,

10 I am less than all thy merciful doings, and than thy truth which thou hast [ful] filled to thy servant; with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I go again with two companies;

11 deliver thou me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I dread him greatly, lest he come and smite or slay the mothers with the sons [or with the children].

12 Thou spakest that thou shouldest do well to me, and wouldest alarge my seed as [the] gravel of the sea, that may not be numbered for muchliness.

13 And when Jacob had slept there in that night, he separated of those things which he had as gifts to Esau, his brother,

14 two hundred she goats, and twenty bucks of goats, two hundred sheep, and twenty rams,

15 camels full with their foals thirty, forty kine, and twenty bulls, twenty she-asses, and [the] ten foals of them.

16 And he sent by the hands of his servants all the flocks by themselves; and he said to his servants, Go ye before me, and a space be betwixt flock and flock.

17 And he commanded to the former or first, and said, If thou shalt meet my brother Esau, and he shall ask thee, whose man thou art, or whither thou goest, or whose be these things which thou followest,

18 thou shalt answer, Of thy servant Jacob; he hath sent gifts to his lord Esau, and he cometh after us.

19 In like manner, he gave command-ments to the second, and to the third, and to all that pursued [or followed] the flocks; and said, Speak ye by the same words to Esau, when ye find him,

20 and ye shall add, Also Jacob himself thy servant pursueth [or followeth] our way. For Jacob said, I shall please Esau with gifts that go before, and afterward I shall see him; in hap he shall be merciful to me.

21 And so the gifts went before him; soothly he dwelled in that night in the tents.

22 And when Jacob had risen hastily, he took his two wives, and so many handmaids, with his eleven sons, and he passed over the ford of Jabbok.

23 And when all things that pertained to him were led over,

24 Jacob dwelled there alone, and, lo! a man came, and wrestled with him till to the morrowtide.

25 And when the man saw that he might not overcome Jacob, he touched the sinew of Jacob’s hip, and it dried anon.

26 And he said to Jacob, Let go thou me, for the morrowtide goeth up now. Jacob answered, I shall not let go thee, no but thou bless me.

27 Therefore he said, What name is to thee? He answered, Jacob.

28 And the man said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel; for if thou were strong against God, how much more shalt thou have power against men.

29 Jacob asked him, Say thou to me by what name thou art called? He answered, Why askest thou my name, which is wonderful? And he blessed Jacob in the same place.

30 And Jacob called the name of that place Penuel, and said, I saw the Lord face to face, and my life is made safe.

31 And anon the sun rose to him, after that he had passed over from Penuel; forsooth he halted in the foot.

32 For which cause the sons of Israel eat not unto this present day the sinew, like that that dried in the hip of Jacob; for the man touched the sinew of Jacob’s hip, and it dried up.

CHAPTER 33

1 Forsooth Jacob raised up his eyes, and saw Esau coming, and four hundred men with him; and he parted the sons of Leah, and of Rachel, and of both the servantesses.

2 And he put ever either handmaid, and the free children of them, in the beginning; soothly he put Leah, and her sons, in the second place; forsooth he put Rachel and Joseph the last.

3 And Jacob went before, and worshipped or honoured lowly to the earth seven times, till his brother nighed.

4 And so Esau ran against his brother, and embraced him, and Esau held his neck, and kissed him, and wept.

5 And when Esau’s eyes were raised up, he saw the women, and the little children of them, and said, What will these mean to themselves? and whether they pertain to thee? Jacob answered, They be the little children, which God hath given to me, thy servant.

6 And the handmaids and their sons nighed, and were bowed.

7 Also Leah nighed with her free children; and when they had worshipped in like manner, Joseph and Rachel last worshipped.

8 And Esau said, What be these companies, which I met? And Jacob answered, That I should find grace before my lord.

9 And he said, My brother, I have full many things, thy things be to thee.

10 And Jacob said, I beseech thee, do not thou so, but if I have found grace in thine eyes, take thou a little gift of mine hands; for I saw so thy face as if I had seen the cheer of God; be thou merciful to me,

11 and receive the blessing which I have brought to thee, and which blessing God giving all things gave to me. Scarcely desiring it, while the brother compelled, he received,

12 and said, Go we together, and I shall be a fellow of thy way.

13 And Jacob said, My lord, thou knowest that I have little children tender, and sheep, and kine with calves with me, and if I shall make them for to travail more in going, all the flocks shall die in one day;

14 my lord go before his servant, and I shall pursue [or follow] little and little his steps, as I see that my little children be able, till I come to my lord, into Seir.

15 Esau answered, I pray thee, that of the people which is with me, dwell they namely fellows of thy way. Jacob said, It is no need; I have need to this one thing only, that I find grace in thy sight, my lord.

16 And so Esau turned again in that day in the way by which he came, into Seir.

17 And Jacob came into Succoth, where when he had builded an house, and had set tents, he called the name of that place Succoth, that is, taber-nacles.

18 And Jacob passed into Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, after that he turned again from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he dwelled beside the city.

19 And he bought for an hundred lambs a part of the field, in which he set tabernacles, of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem.

20 And when he had raised an altar there, he inwardly called on it the full strong God of Israel.

CHAPTER 34

1 Forsooth Dinah, the daughter of Leah, went out to see the women of that country.

2 And when Shechem, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of that land, had seen her, he loved her, and he ravished her, and slept with her, and oppressed the virgin by violence.

3 And his soul was bound fast with her, and he pleased her sorry with flatterings.

4 And he went to Hamor, his father, and said, Take to me this damsel for a wife.

5 And when Jacob had heard this thing, while his sons were absent, and occupied in the feeding or the pasturing of [the] sheep, he was still, till they came again.

6 Soothly when Hamor, the father of Shechem, was gone out to speak to Jacob,

7 lo! his sons came from the field. And when this thing that befelled was heard, they were wroth greatly; for he had wrought a foul thing in Israel, and he had done a thing unleaveful in the defouling of the daughter of Jacob.

8 And so Hamor spake to them, The soul of my son Shechem hath cleaved to your daughter; give ye her a wife to him,

9 and join we weddings together; give ye your daughters to us, and take ye our daughters,

10 and dwell ye with us; the land is in your power; till ye, and make ye merchandise, and wield ye it.

11 But also Shechem said to the father and brethren of her, Find I grace before you, and whatever things ye ordain I shall give;

12 increase ye the dower, and ask ye for gifts, and I shall give willfully that that ye ask; only give ye this damsel a wife to me.

13 The sons of Jacob answered in guile to Shechem and to Hamor, his father, and they were made fierce for the defouling of the maidenhood of their sister,

14 We may not do this that ye ask, neither we may give our sister to a man uncircumcised, which thing is unleaveful and abominable with us.

15 But in this we shall be able to be bound in peace, if ye will be like us, and each of male kind be circumcised in you;

16 then we shall give and take together our daughters and yours; and we shall dwell with you, and we shall be one people.

17 Forsooth if ye will not be cir-cumcised, we shall take our daughter, and we shall go away.

18 The proffering of them pleased Hamor, and Shechem, his son,

19 and the young waxing man delayed not, that not he fulfilled anon that that was asked; for he loved the damsel greatly, and he was the most noble in all the house of his father.

20 And they entered into the gate of the city, and spake to the people,

21 These men be peaceable, and will dwell with us; make they merchandise in the land, and till they it, which is large and broad, and hath need to tillers; we shall take their daughters to wives, and we shall give our daughters to them.

22 One thing is, for which so great good is delayed; if we circumcise our males, and follow the custom of the folk,

23 both their substance, and sheep, and all things which they wield, shall be ours; only assent we in this, that we dwell together, and make one people.

24 And all men assented, and all [the] males were circumcised.

25 And lo! in the third day, when the sorrow of [the] wounds was most grievous, two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, [the] brethren of Dinah, took swords, and entered into the city boldly; and when all [the] males were slain,

26 they killed Hamor and Shechem together, and took Dinah, their sister, from the house of Shechem. And when they were gone out,

27 [the] other sons of Jacob felled in on the slain men, and rifled the city, for the vengeance of [the] defouling of the virgin.

28 And they wasted the sheep of those men, and droves of oxen, and asses, and all things that were in the houses and fields,

29 and led away as prisoners the little children, and [the] wives of those men. And when these things were done hardily,

30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, and have made me hateful to Canaanites and Perizzites, [the] dwellers of this land; we be few, [and] they shall be gathered together against me, and shall slay me, and I shall be done away, and mine house.

31 Simeon and Levi answered, Whether they ought to mis-use our sister as a whore?

CHAPTER 35

1 In the meantime the Lord spake to Jacob, Rise thou, and go up to Bethel, and dwell there; and make thou an altar to the Lord, that appeared to thee when thou fleddest Esau, thy brother.

2 Soothly Jacob said, when all his house was called together, Cast ye away alien gods, that be in the midst of you, and be ye cleansed, and change ye your clothes;

3 rise ye, and go we up into Bethel, that we make there an altar to the Lord, which heard me in the day of my tribulation, and was fellow of my way.

4 Therefore they gave to Jacob all the alien gods which they had, and [the] earrings, that were in their ears; and Jacob delved them under a terebinth tree, which is behind the city of Shechem.

5 And when they went forth, dread assailed all men by compass of the city, and they were not hardy to pursue them going away.

6 Therefore Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, by the sire-name Bethel, he and all his people with him.

7 And he builded there an altar to the Lord, and called the name of that place The house of God, for God appeared there to him, when he fled his brother.

8 Deborah, the nurse of Rebecca, died in the same time, and she was buried at the root[s] of Bethel, under an oak, and the name of the place was called The Oak of Weeping.

9 Forsooth God appeared again to Jacob, after that he turned again from Mesopotamia of Syria, and came into Bethel, and blessed him,

10 and said, Thou shalt no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And God called him Israel,

11 and said to him, I am God Almighty; increase thou, and be thou multiplied, folks and peoples of nations shall be of thee, kings shall go out of thy loins;

12 and I shall give to thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac.

13 And God departed from him.

14 Forsooth Jacob raised a title, or a memorial, of stones, in the place wherein God spake to him, and he sacrificed thereon flowing sacrifices, and shedded out oil,

15 and he called the name of that place Bethel.

16 Soothly Jacob went out from thence, and he came in the beginning of summer to the land that leadeth to Ephratah; in which land when Rachel travailed in child bearing,

17 she began to be in peril for the hardness of childbearing; and the mid-wife said to her, Do not thou dread, for thou shalt have also this son.

18 Forsooth while the soul passed from her for sorrow, and death nighed then, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, the son of my sorrow; forsooth his father called him Benjamin, that is, the son of the right side.

19 Therefore Rachel died, and was buried in the way that leadeth to Ephratah, that is Bethlehem.

20 And Jacob builded a memorial upon the sepulchre of her; this is the memorial of the burial of Rachel unto this present day.

21 Jacob went from thence, and setted a tabernacle over the tower of the flock.

22 And while he dwelled in that country, Reuben went, and slept with Bilhah, the secondary wife of his father, which thing was not hid from him. Forsooth the sons of Jacob were twelve;

23 the sons of Leah were, the first begotten Reuben, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun;

24 the sons of Rachel were Joseph, and Benjamin;

25 the sons of Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel, were Dan, and Naphtali;

26 and the sons of Zilpah, [the] handmaid of Leah, were Gad, and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria.

27 Also Jacob came to Isaac, his father, into Mamre, the city of Arbah, this is Hebron, in which Mamre Abraham and Isaac was a pilgrim.

28 And the days of Isaac were filled an hundred and fourscore of years;

29 and he was wasted in age, and died, and he was put to his people, and was eld [or old], and full of days; and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

CHAPTER 36

1 Forsooth these be the generations of Esau; he is Edom.

2 Esau took wives* of the daughters of Canaan; Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite;

3 also Bashemath, the daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Nebajoth.

4 And Adah childed Eliphaz; Bashemath childed Reuel;

5 Oholibamah childed Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau, that were born to him in the land of Canaan.

6 Soothly Esau took his wives, and his sons, and daughters, and each soul of his house, and his cattle, and sheep, and all things which he had in the land of Canaan, and went into another country, and departed from his brother Jacob;

7 for they were full rich, and they might not dwell together, and the land of their pilgrimage sustained not them, for the multitude of flocks.

8 And Esau dwelled in the hill of Seir; he is Edom.

9 Forsooth these were the genera-tions of Esau, father of Edom, in the hill of Seir,

10 and these were the names of his sons; Eliphaz, the son of Adah, wife of Esau, also Reuel, the son of Bashemath, wife of Esau.

11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.

12 Forsooth Timna was the secondary wife of Eliphaz, Esau’s son, which Timna childed to him Amalek. These were the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife.

13 Forsooth the sons of Reuel were Nahath, and Zerah, and Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the sons of Bashemath, Esau’s wife.

14 And these were the sons of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, son of Zibeon, Esau’s wife, which she childed to him; Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.

15 These were dukes of the sons of Esau; the sons of Eliphaz, the first engendered of Esau; duke Teman, duke Omar, duke Zepho, duke Kenaz,

16 duke Korah, duke Gatam, and duke Amalek. These were the sons of Eliphaz, in the land of Edom, and these were the sons of Adah.

17 Also these were the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son; duke Nahath, duke Zerah, duke Shammah, duke Mizzah; forsooth these dukes were of Reuel, in the land of Edom. These were the sons of Bashemath, Esau’s wife.

18 Forsooth these were the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife; duke Jeush, duke Jaalam, duke Korah; these were [the] dukes of Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife.

19 These were the sons of Esau, and these were dukes of them; he is Edom.

20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite, inhabiters of the land; Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah,

21 and Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan; these dukes were of Horites, the son[s] of Seir, in the land of Edom.

22 Forsooth the sons of Lotan were Hori, and Hemam; soothly the sister of Lotan was Timna.

23 And these were the sons of Shobal; Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

24 And these were the sons of Zibeon; Ajah, and Anah; this is Ahan that found hot waters in the wilderness, when he kept the asses of Zibeon, his father;

25 and he had a son, Dishon, and a daughter, Oholibamah.

26 And these were the sons of Dishon; Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.

27 Also these were the sons of Ezer; Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan.

28 And Dishon had sons; Uz, and Aran.

29 These were the dukes of Horites; duke Lotan, duke Shobal, duke Zibeon, duke Anah,

30 duke Dishon, duke Ezer, duke Dishan; these were the dukes of Horites, that were lords in the land of Seir.

31 Forsooth [the] kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before that the sons of Israel had a king, were these;

32 Bela, the son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

33 Forsooth Bela died, and Jobab, the son of Zerah of Bozrah, reigned for him.

34 And when Jobab was dead, Husham of the land of Temani reigned for him.

35 And when he was dead, Hadad, the son of Bedad, that smote Midian in the land of Moab, and the name of his city was Avith, reigned for him.

36 And when Hadad was dead, Samlah of Masrekah reigned for him.

37 And when he was dead, Saul of the flood [of] Rehoboth reigned for him.

38 And when he was dead, Baal-hanan, the son of Achbor, was successor into the realm.

39 And when he was dead, Hadar reigned for him, and the name of the city of Hadar was Pau, and the name of his wife was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

40 Therefore these were the names of the dukes of Esau, in their kindreds, and places, and names; duke Timnah, duke Alvah, duke Jetheth,

41 duke Oholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon,

42 duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar,

43 duke Magdiel, duke Iram; these were the dukes of Edom, dwelling in the land of his lordship; he was Esau, the father of Idumeans.

CHAPTER 37

1 Forsooth Jacob dwelled in the land of Canaan, in which his father was a pilgrim;

2 and these were the generations of him. Joseph when he was of sixteen years, yet a child, kept a flock with his brethren, and he was with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, the wives of his father; and he accused his brethren at the father of the worst sin.

3 Forsooth Israel loved Joseph above all his sons, for he had begotten him in his eld age; and he made to Joseph a coat of many colours.

4 Forsooth his brethren saw that he was loved of the father more than all they, and they hated him, and might not speak anything peaceably to him.

5 And it befelled that he told to his brethren a sweven that he saw, which cause was the seed of more hatred.

6 And Joseph said to his brethren, Hear ye the sweven which I saw,

7 I guessed that we bound together sheaves, or handfuls, [in the field], and that as mine handful rose up, and stood upright, and that your handfuls stood about, and worshipped or honoured mine handful.

8 His brethren answered, Whether thou shalt be our king, either we shall be made subject to thy lordship? Therefore this cause of dreams and words ministered the nourishing of envy, and of hatred.

9 Also Joseph saw another sweven, which he told to his brethren, and said, I saw a dream that as the sun, and the moon, and the eleven stars worshipped me.

10 And when he had told this dream to his father, and his brethren, his father blamed him, and said, What will this dream mean to itself that thou hast seen? Whether I, and thy mother, and thy brethren, shall worship thee on earth?

11 Therefore his brethren had envy to him. Forsooth the father beheld privily the thing,

12 and when his brethren dwelled in Shechem, about [the] keeping of [the] flocks of their father,

13 Israel said to Joseph, Thy brethren keep sheep in Shechem; come thou, I shall send thee to them. And when Joseph answered, I am ready,

14 Israel said, Go thou, and see whether all things be welsome with thy brethren, and the sheep; and then tell thou to me what is done. And so he was sent from the valley of Hebron, and came into Shechem;

15 and a man found him erring in the field, and the man asked him, what he sought.

16 And he answered, I seek my brethren; show thou to me where they keep their flocks.

17 And the man said to him, They went away from this place; forsooth I heard them saying, Go we into Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.

18 And when they had seen him afar, before he nighed to them, they thought to slay him,

19 and they spake together, Lo! the dreamer cometh,

20 come ye, slay we him, and put we him into an eld [or old] cistern, and we shall say, A wild beast full wicked hath devoured him; and then it shall appear what his dreams profit to him.

21 Soothly Reuben heard this, and enforced or endeavoured to deliver him from their hands, and said, Slay we not the life of him,

22 neither shed we out his blood, but cast ye him into an eld [or old] cistern, which is in the wilderness, and keep ye your hands guiltless. Forsooth he said this, willing to deliver him from their hands, and to yield him to his father.

23 Therefore anon as Joseph came to his brethren, they despoiled him of his coat, that went down to the heel, and was of many colours,

24 and they put him in[to] an eld [or old] cistern, that had no water.

25 And they sat to eat bread; and they saw that Ishmaelite way-goers came from Gilead, and that their camels bare sweet smelling spiceries, and resin, and stacte, into Egypt.

26 Therefore Judah said to his brethren, What shall it profit to us, if we shall slay our brother, and shall hide his blood?

27 It is better that he be sold to Ishmaelites, and our hands be not defouled, for he is our brother and our flesh. His brethren assented to these words;

28 and when [the] merchants of Midian passed thereforth, they drew Joseph out of the cistern, and sold him to Ishmaelites, for twenty pieces of silver; which led him into Egypt.

29 And Reuben turned again to the cistern, and found not the child; and he rent his clothes,

30 and he went to his brethren, and said, The child appeareth not, and whither shall I go?

31 Forsooth they took his coat, and dipped it in the blood of a kid, which they had slain;

32 and they sent men that bare it to their father, and said, We have found this coat; see thou, whether it is the coat of thy son, or nay.

33 And when their father had known it, he said, It is the coat of my son; a wild beast full wicked hath eaten him; a beast hath devoured Joseph.

34 And he rent his clothes, and he was clothed with an hair-shirt, and bewailed his son in much time.

35 Soothly when his free children were gathered together, that they should appease the sorrow of their father, he would not take comfort; but said, I shall go down into hell, and shall bewail my son. And while Jacob continued in weeping,

36 Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, a chaste and honest servant [or the gelding] of Pharaoh, master of the chivalry.

CHAPTER 38

1 In the same time, Judah went down from his brethren, and turned to a man of Adullam, Hirah by name;

2 and he saw there a daughter of a man of Canaan, Shuah by name. And when he had taken her to wife, he entered [in] to her,

3 and she conceived, and childed a son, and he called his name Er.

4 And again when another child was conceived, she named the child that was born Onan.

5 And she childed the third son, whom she called Shelah, and when he was born, she ceased to bear child more.

6 Soothly Judah gave a wife, that was called Tamar, to his first begotten son Er.

7 And Er, the first begotten son of Judah, was wayward in the sight of the Lord, and therefore he was slain of the Lord.

8 Therefore Judah said to Onan, his son, Enter thou [in] to the wife of thy brother, and be thou fellowshipped to her, that thou raise seed to thy brother.

9 And he knew that sons should not be born to him; and he entered [in] to the wife of his brother, and shedded his seed into the earth, lest the free children should be born by the name of the dead brother;

10 and therefore the Lord smote him, for he did abominable thing.

11 Wherefore Judah said to Tamar, his son’s wife, Be thou a widow in the house of thy father, till Shelah my son waxed; for he dreaded lest also he should die as his brethren. And she went, and dwelled in the house of her father.

12 Forsooth when many years were passed, the daughter of Shuah, Judah’s wife, died; and when comfort was taken after mourning, Judah went up to the shearers of his sheep; he and Hirah of Adullam, that was[the] keeper of the flock, went up into Timnath.

13 And it was told to Tamar, that her husband’s father went up into Timnath, to shear sheep.

14 And she did away the clothes of widowhood, and she took a rochet cloth or veil with many wrinkles, and when the clothing was changed, she sat in the way-lot that leadeth to Timnath; for Shelah had waxed, and she had not taken him into husband.

15 And when Judah had seen her, he supposed her to be a whore; for she had covered her face, lest she was known.

16 And Judah entered to her, and said, Suffer me that I lie with thee; for he knew not that she was the wife of his son. And when she answered, What shalt thou give to me, that thou lie with me?

17 he said, I shall send to thee a kid of the flocks. And again when she said, I shall suffer that that thou wilt, if thou shalt give to me a wed, till thou send that that thou promisest.

18 Judah said, What wilt thou that be given to thee for a wed? She answered, Thy ring, and thy band of the arm, and the staff which thou holdest in thine hand. Therefore the woman conceived at one lying-by,

19 and she rose, and went [away]; and when the cloth or veil was put away which she had taken, she was clothed in the clothes of widowhood.

20 Forsooth Judah sent a kid by his shepherd of Adullam, that he should receive the wed which he had given to the woman; and when he had not found her,

21 he asked men of that place, Where is the woman that sat in the way-lot? And when all men answered, A whore was not in this place;

22 he turned again to Judah, and said to him, I found not her, but also the men of that place said to me, that a whore sat never there.

23 Judah said, Have she those things to herself, that we be not despised, certainly she may not reprove us of a leasing; I sent the kid which I promised, and thou foundest not her.

24 Lo! soothly after three months they told to Judah, and said, Tamar, thy son’s wife, hath done fornication, and her womb seemeth to wax great. Judah said, Bring her forth, that she be burnt.

25 And when she was led to her pain, she sent to her husband’s father, and said, I have conceived of the man, whose these things be; know thou whose is the ring, and the band of the arm, and the staff?

26 And when the gifts were known, Judah said, She is more just [or rightwise] than I, for I gave not her to Shelah, my son; nevertheless Judah knew her no more fleshly.

27 Soothly when the childbearing nighed, two children appeared in the womb,

28 and in that birth of the children, one put forth the hand, in which hand the midwife bound a red thread, and said, This shall go out before.

29 Soothly while he withdrew the hand, the tother went out, and the woman said, Why, was the skin in which the child lay in the womb parted for thee? And for this cause she called his name Perez.

30 Afterward his brother went out, in whose hand was the red thread, whom she called Zarah, that is, Redness.

CHAPTER 39

1 Therefore Joseph was led into Egypt, and Potiphar, a gelding of Pharaoh, prince of the host, a man of Egypt, bought him of the hand of Ishmaelites, of which he was brought thither.

2 And the Lord was with him, and he was a man doing with prosperity in all things. And Joseph dwelled in the house of his lord,

3 which knew full well that the Lord was with Joseph, and that all things which he did, were dressed of the Lord in his hand.

4 And Joseph found grace before his lord, and he served him, of whom Joseph was made sovereign of all things, and he governed the house betaken to him, and all things that were betaken to him.

5 And the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph, and multiplied all his chattel [or substance], as well in houses, as in fields;

6 neither he knew any other thing, but [the] bread which he ate. Forsooth Joseph was fair in face, and shapely in sight.

7 And so after many days the lady of his lord cast her eyes into Joseph, and said, Sleep thou with me;

8 which assented not to the unleave-ful work, and said to her, Lo! while all things be betaken to me, my lord wot not what he hath in his house,

9 neither anything is, which is not in my power, either which he hath not betaken to me, except thee, which art his wife; how therefore may I do this evil, and do sin against my lord?

10 They spake such words by all days or by long time, and the woman was dis-easeful to the young man, and he forsook the adultery.

11 Forsooth it befelled in a day, that Joseph entered into the house, and did some work without witnesses.

12 And she took the hem of his cloth, and she said, Sleep thou with me; and he left the mantle in her hand, and he fled, and went out.

13 And when the woman had seen the cloth in her hands, and that she was despised,

14 she called to her the men of her house, and said to them, Lo! my lord hath brought in an Hebrew man, that he should scorn us; he entered to me to do lechery with me, and when I cried,

15 and he heard my voice, he left the mantle which I held, and he fled out.

16 Therefore into proving of the truth, she showed the mantle, that she held, to her husband turning again home.

17 And she said, The Hebrew servant, whom thou broughtest in, entered to me to scorn me;

18 and when he saw me cry, he left the mantle that I held, and he fled out.

19 And when these things were heard, the lord believed over much to the words of the wife, and he was full wroth;

20 and he betook Joseph into prison, where the bound men of the king were kept, and he was enclosed there.

21 Forsooth the Lord was with Joseph, and had mercy on him, and gave grace to him, in the sight of the prince of the prison,

22 which betook in the hand of Joseph all the prisoners that were holden in keeping, and whatever thing was done, it was done under Joseph,

23 neither the prince knew anything, for all things were betaken to Joseph; for the Lord was with him, and dressed all his works.

CHAPTER 40

1 When these things were done, it befelled that two geldings, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, sinned to their lord.

2 And Pharaoh was wroth against them, for the one was master butler, and the tother was master baker.

3 And he sent them into the prison of the prince of knights, in which also Joseph was bound.

4 And the keeper of the prison betook them to Joseph, which also served, or kept, them. Somewhat of time passed, and they were holden in keeping,

5 and both saw a dream in one night, by covenable expounding to them.

6 And when Joseph had entered to them early, and had seen them sorry,

7 he asked them, and said, Why is your cheer heavier today than it is wont to be?

8 Which answered, We each saw a dream, and there is no man that expoundeth it to us. And Joseph said to them, Whether the expounding is not of God? Tell ye to me what ye have seen.

9 The master butler told first his dream; I saw before me that a vine,

10 in which were three scions, waxed little and little into burgeonings, and that after the flowers, the grapes waxed ripe,

11 and the cup of Pharaoh was in mine hand; therefore I took the grapes, and pressed them out into the cup that I held, and I gave drink to Pharaoh.

12 Joseph answered, This is the expounding of the dream; three scions be yet three days,

13 after which Pharaoh shall have mind of thy service, and he shall restore thee into the first degree, and thou shalt give to him the cup, by thine office, as thou were wont to do before.

14 Only have thou mind of me, when it is well to thee, and thou shalt do mercy with me, that thou make suggestion to Pharaoh, that he lead me out of this prison;

15 for thiefly, that is, by thievery, I am taken away from the land of Hebrews, and here I am sent innocent into prison.

16 The master baker saw that Joseph had declared prudently the dream, and he said, And I saw a dream, that I had three baskets of meal on mine head,

17 and I guessed that I bare in one basket, that was highest, all meats or baked foods that be made for Pharaoh by the craft of bakers, and that birds ate thereof.

18 Joseph answered, This is the expounding of the dream; three baskets be yet three days,

19 after which Pharaoh shall take away thine head, and he shall hang thee in a cross, and birds shall draw thy flesh.

20 From thence the third day was the day of the birth of Pharaoh, which made a great feast to his servants, and he had mind among the meats or during the meal, of the master butler, and of the prince of bakers;

21 and he restored the one into his place, that he should dress the cup, either drink, to the king,

22 and he hanged the tother in a gibbet, that the truth of Joseph declaring the dreams should be proved.

23 And nevertheless when prosperities befelled to the master butler, he forgat Joseph that declared his dream.

CHAPTER 41

1 After two years Pharaoh saw a dream; he guessed that he stood on a river,

2 from which seven fair kine and full fat went up, and [they] were fed in the places of marshes;

3 and another seven, foul and lean, came out of the river, and were fed in that brink of the water, in green places;

4 and those foul and lean kine devoured those kine of which the fairness and comeliness of their bodies were wonderful. Pharaoh waked,

5 and slept again, and he saw another dream; seven ears of corn, full and fair, came forth in one stalk,

6 and others, as many ears of corn, thin and smitten with corruption of burning wind, came forth,

7 devouring all the fairness of the first. Pharaoh waked after this rest,

8 and when the morrowtide was made, he was afeared by inward dread, and he sent to all the expounders of Egypt, and to all the wise men; and when they were called, he told the dream, and none was that expounded it.

9 Then at the last, the master butler bethought to him, and said to Pharaoh, I acknowledge my sin;

10 the king was wroth to his servants, and commanded me and the master baker to be cast down into the prison of the prince of knights,

11 where we both saw a dream in one night, before-showing of things to come.

12 An Hebrew child, servant of the same duke of knights, was there, to whom we told the dreams, and heard whatever thing the befalling of [the] thing proved afterward;

13 for I am restored to mine office, and he was hanged in a cross.

14 Anon at the behest of the king, they polled Joseph, led him out of the prison, and when his clothing was changed, they brought him to the king.

15 To whom the king said, I saw dreams, and none [there] is that expoundeth those things that I saw; I have heard that thou expoundest such things most prudently.

16 Joseph answered, Without me, God shall answer prosperities to Pharaoh.

17 Therefore Pharaoh told that that he saw; I guessed that I stood on the brink of the flood,

18 and seven kine, full fair, with flesh able to eating, went up from the water, which kine gathered green sedges in the pasture of the marshes;

19 and lo! seven other kine, so foul and lean, followed these, that I saw never such in the land of Egypt;

20 and when the former kine were devoured and wasted of the lean kine,

21 the lean kine gave no step, or token, of fullness, but were slow, or feeble, by like leanness and paleness. I waked,

22 and again I was oppressed by sleep, and I saw a dream; seven ears of corn, full and most fair, came forth on one stalk,

23 and another seven, thin and smitten with [a] burning wind, came forth of the stubble,

24 which devoured the fairness of the former; I told this dream to [the] expounders, and no man there is that expoundeth it.

25 Joseph answered, The dream of the king is one; God hath showed to Pharaoh what things he shall do.

26 Seven fair kine, and seven full ears of corn, be seven years of plenty, and the same things comprehend the strength of the dream;

27 and [the] seven kine, thin and lean, that went up after the fair kine, and the seven thin ears of corn, and smitten with [a] burning wind, be seven years of hunger to coming [or to come],

28 which shall be fulfilled by this order.

29 Lo! seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt shall come,

30 and seven other years of so great barrenness shall pursue [or follow] those, that all the abundance before shall be given to forgetting; for hunger shall waste all the land,

31 and the greatness of neediness shall waste the greatness of plenty.

32 Forsooth this that thou sawest the second time in a dream pertaining to the same thing, is a showing of firm-ness, that is, a confirming of the first, for the word of God shall be done, and it shall be [ful] filled full swiftly.

33 Now therefore purvey the king a wise man and a ready, and make the king him sovereign to the land of Egypt,

34 which man ordain governors by all countries, and gather he into barns the fifth part of fruits by [the] seven years of plenty, that shall come now;

35 and all the wheat be kept under the power of Pharaoh, and be it kept in [the] cities,

36 and be it made ready to the hunger to coming [or to come] of the seven years that shall oppress Egypt, and the land be not wasted by poverty.

37 The counsel of Joseph pleased Pharaoh, and all his servants,

38 and he spake to them, Whether we be able to find such a man which is full of God’s spirit?

39 Therefore Pharaoh said to Joseph, For God hath showed to thee all things which thou hast spoken, whether I may find a wiser man than thou, and like to thee?

40 Therefore thou shalt be over mine house, and all the people shall obey to the behest of thy mouth; I shall pass thee only by one throne of the realm.

41 And again Pharaoh said to Joseph, Lo! I have ordained thee on all the land of Egypt.

42 And Pharaoh took off the ring from his hand, and gave it in the hand of Joseph, and he clothed Joseph with a stole of bis, or of white silk, and he put a golden wreath about his neck;

43 and Pharaoh made Joseph to go upon his second chariot, while a beadle cried, that all men should kneel before him, and should know that he was sovereign of all the land of Egypt.

44 And the king said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, without thy behest no man shall stir hand either foot in all the land of Egypt.

45 And Pharaoh turned the name of Joseph, and called him by the Egyptian language, The Saviour of the World*, or Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave to Joseph a wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, a priest of Heliopolis, that is, The City of the Sun. And so Joseph went out to the land of Egypt.

46 Forsooth Joseph was of thirty years, when he stood in the sight of king Pharaoh, and compassed all the countries [or regions] of Egypt.

47 And the plenty of [the] seven years came, and [the] ripe corns were bound into handfuls or sheaves,

48 and they were gathered into the barns of Egypt, also all the abundance of ripe corns was kept in all cities,

49 and so great abundance was of wheat, that it was made even to the gravel, or the sand, of the sea, and the plenty passed measure.

50 Soothly two sons were born to Joseph before that the hunger came, which Asenath, the daughter of Potipherah, a priest of Heliopolis, childed to him.

51 And Joseph called the name of the first begotten son, Manasseh, and said, God hath made me to forget all my travails, and the house of my father;

52 and he called the name of the second son Ephraim, and said, God hath made me to increase in the land of my poverty.

53 Therefore when seven years of plenty that were in Egypt were passed,

54 [the] seven years of poverty began to come, which Joseph before-said, and hunger had the mastery in all the world; also hunger was in all the land of Egypt;

55 and when that land hungered, the people cried to Pharaoh, and asked for meats; to whom he answered, Go ye to Joseph, and do ye whatever thing he saith to you.

56 Forsooth hunger increased each day in all the land, and Joseph opened all the barns, and sold corn to the Egyptians, for also hunger oppressed them;

57 and all [the] provinces came into Egypt to buy corns, and to abate the evil of neediness.

CHAPTER 42

1 Forsooth Jacob heard that foods were sold in Egypt, and he said to his sons, Why be ye negligent?

2 I [have] heard that wheat is sold in Egypt; go ye down, and buy ye necessaries to us, that we may live, and be not wasted by neediness.

3 Therefore ten brethren of Joseph went down to buy wheat in Egypt,

4 and Benjamin was withholden of Jacob at home, that said to his brethren, Lest peradventure in the way he suffer any evil.

5 Soothly they entered into the land of Egypt, with other men that went thither to buy corn; forsooth hunger was in the land of Canaan.

6 And Joseph was the prince of Egypt, and at his will wheats were sold to [the] peoples. And when his brethren had worshipped or honoured him,

7 and he had known them, he spake harder to them, as to aliens, and asked them, From whence came ye? Which answered, From the land of Canaan, that we buy necessaries to our lifelode.

8 And nevertheless he knew his brethren, and he was not known of them,

9 and he bethought on the dreams which he saw sometime. And he said to them, Ye be spyers [or spies], ye came to see the feebler things of the land.

10 Which said, Lord, it is not so, but thy servants came to buy meats;

11 all we be [the] sons of one man, we came hither peaceably, and thy servants imagine not any evil.

12 To which he answered, It is in other manner, ye came to see the feeble things of the land.

13 And they said, We thy servants be twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; the youngest is with our father, another is not alive.

14 This it is, he said, that I spake to you, ye be spyers [or spies],

15 right now I shall take experience or very knowing of you; by the health of Pharaoh ye shall not go from hence, till your least brother come hither;

16 send ye one of you, that he bring him, forsooth ye shall be in bonds till those things that ye said be proved, whether those [or they] be false or true; else, by the health of Pharaoh, ye be spies.

17 Therefore he betook them into keeping three days;

18 soothly in the third day, when they were led out of prison, Joseph said, Do ye that that I said, and ye shall live, for I dread God;

19 if ye be peaceable, one brother of you be bound in prison; forsooth the rest go ye, and bear the wheat, which ye have bought, into your houses,

20 and bring ye your youngest brother to me, that I may prove your words, and ye die not. They did as he said,

21 and they spake together, Worthily we suffer these things, for we sinned against our brother, and we saw the anguish of his soul, while he prayed us, and we heard him not; therefore this tribulation cometh on us.

22 Of which one, Reuben, said, Whether I said not to you, Do not ye sin against the child, and ye heard not me? lo! his blood is sought.

23 Soothly they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake to them by an interpreter or an expounder.

24 And he turned away himself a little, and wept; and he turned again, and spake to them. And he took Simeon, and bound him, while they were present;

25 and he commanded the servants, that they should fill their sacks with wheat, and that they should put all their money in their bags, and over this give to them meats in the way; which did so.

26 And they bare [the] wheats on their asses, and went forth,

27 and when the sack of one of them was opened that he should give meat to the work beast in the inn, he beheld the money in the mouth of the bag,

28 and he said to his brethren, My money is yielded to me, lo! it is had in the bag; and they were astonied, and troubled, and said together, What thing is this that God hath done to us?

29 And they came to Jacob, their father, in the land of Canaan, and told to him all things that befelled to them, and said,

30 The lord of the land spake hard to us, and guessed that we were spyers [or spies] of the province;

31 to whom we answered, We be peaceable, neither we purpose any treasons;

32 we be twelve brethren, engendered of one father, one is not alive, the youngest dwelleth with the father in the land of Canaan.

33 And he said to us, Thus I shall prove that ye be peaceable; leave ye one brother of you with me, and take ye meats needful to your houses, and go ye,

34 and bring ye to me your youngest brother, that I know that ye be not spyers [or spies], and that ye may receive this brother which is holden in bonds, and that from thenceforth ye have license to buy what things ye will.

35 While these things were said, when they all poured out the wheats, they found the money bound in the mouths of their sacks. And when they altogether were afeared,

36 their father Jacob said, Ye have made me to be without children; Joseph is not alive, Simeon is holden in bonds, ye shall take away from me Benjamin; all these evils have fallen in on me.

37 To whom Reuben answered, Slay thou my two sons, if I shall not bring him again to thee; take thou him in mine hand, and I shall restore him to thee.

38 And Jacob said, My son shall not go down with you; his brother is dead, he alone is left; if any adversity shall befall to him in the land to which ye shall go, ye shall lead forth mine hoar hairs with sorrow to hell.

CHAPTER 43

1 In the meantime hunger oppressed greatly all the land,

2 and when the meats were wasted or consumed, which they [had] brought from Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, Turn ye again, and buy ye a little of meats to us.

3 Judah answered, That man announced to us, under witnessing of an oath, and said, Ye shall not see my face, if ye shall not bring with you your least brother;

4 therefore if thou wilt send him with us, we shall go down together, and we shall buy necessaries to thee;

5 else if thou wilt not, we shall not go down; for as we said oft, the man announced to us, and said, Ye shall not see my face without your least brother.

6 Forsooth Israel said to them, Ye did this into my wretchedness, that ye showed to him, that ye had also another brother.

7 And they answered, The man asked us by order our generation, if our father lived, if we had another brother; and we answered pursuingly to him, by that that he asked; whether we might know that he would say, Bring ye your brother with you?

8 And Judah said to his father, Send the child with me*, that we go, and may live, lest we die, and thou, and our little children;

9 I shall take the child, require thou him again of mine hand; if I shall not bring him again, and betake him to thee, I shall be guilty of sin against thee in all time;

10 if this delay, or tarrying, had not been, we had come thence now another time.

11 Therefore Israel, their father, said to them, If it is need so to be, do ye that that ye will; take ye of the best fruits of the land in your vessels, and bear ye gifts to the man, a little of gum, and of honey, and of storax, that is, a precious gum, and of myrrh, that is, a bitter gum, and of terebinth, that is, best resins, and of almonds;

12 and bear ye with you double money, and bear ye again that money which ye found in [the] bags, lest peradventure it be done by error, or unwittingly, or by negligence;

13 but also take ye your brother, and go ye to the man;

14 forsooth my God Almighty make him peaceable or pleasable, or queme-ful, to you, and send he again your brother, whom he holdeth in bonds, and also this Benjamin; forsooth I shall be now as made bare without sons.

15 Therefore the men took gifts, and double money, and Benjamin; and they went down into Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

16 And when he had seen them and Benjamin together, he commanded the dispenser of his house, and said, Lead these men into the house, and slay some beasts, and make a feast; for they shall eat with me today.

17 He did as it was commanded or as it was bidden to him, and he led the men into the house;

18 and there they were afeared, and they said together, We be brought in for the money which we bare again before in our sacks, that he put challenge against us, and make subject by violence to servage both us and our asses.

19 Wherefore they nighed in the gates, and spake to the dispenser,

20 Lord, we pray, that thou hear us; we came down now before that we should buy meats;

21 when those were bought, and we headed home, when we came to the inn, we opened our bags, and we found the money in the mouths of our sacks, which money we have brought again now in the same weight;

22 but also we have brought other silver, that we can buy those things that be needful to us; it is not in our knowing who put the money in our purses.

23 And he answered, Peace be to you, do not ye dread; your God, and [the] God of your father, gave to you treasures in your bags; for I have the money proved, which ye gave to me. And he led out Simeon to them;

24 and when they were brought into the house, he brought water, and they washed their feet, and he gave their asses meats.

25 Soothly they made ready their gifts till Joseph entered at midday, for they had heard that they should eat bread there.

26 Therefore Joseph entered into his house, and they offered gifts to him, and held them in their hands, and worshipped low to the earth.

27 And he greeted them again meekly; and he asked them, and said, Whether your father, the eld [or old] man, is safe, of whom ye said to me? liveth he yet?

28 Which answered, He is whole, thy servant our father liveth yet; and they were bowed, and worshipped him.

29 Forsooth Joseph raised [up] his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother of the same womb, and he said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom ye said to me? And again Joseph said, My son, God have mercy on thee.

30 And Joseph hasted into another part of the house, for his entrails were moved on his brother, and tears burst out, and he entered into a closet, and wept.

31 And again when his face was washed, he went out, and refrained himself from weeping, and said, Set ye forth loaves.

32 Which were set forth to Joseph by himself, and to his brethren by themselves, and to the Egyptians that ate together by themselves; for it is unleaveful to Egyptians to eat with Hebrews, and they guess such a feast unholy.

33 Therefore they sat before him, the first begotten by right of the first begotten, and so on down to the youngest by his age; and they wondered greatly,

34 when the parts were taken which they had received of him, and the more part came to Benjamin, so that it passed the others in five parts; and they drank, and were [ful] filled with him.

CHAPTER 44

1 Forsooth Joseph commanded the dispenser of his house, and said, Fill thou their sacks with wheat, as much as they may take, and put thou the money of each in the height [or the top] of the sack;

2 forsooth put thou in the sack’s mouth of the youngest my silver cup, and the price of the wheat which he gave; and it was done so.

3 And when the morrowtide arose, they were delivered with their asses.

4 And now they had gone out of the city, and had gone forth a little; then Joseph said, when the dispenser of his house was called, Rise thou, pursue the men, and say thou when they be taken, Why have ye yielded evil for good?

5 The cup, which ye have stolen, is that in which my lord drinketh, and in which he is wont to divine; ye have done a full wicked thing.

6 He did as Joseph commanded, and when they were overtaken, he spake by order these things;

7 the which answered, Why speaketh our lord so, that thy servants have done so great a trespass?

8 We brought again to thee from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the height [or the top] of our sacks, and how is it pursuing [or following] that we have stolen from thy lord’s house gold or silver?

9 At whomever of thy servants this that thou seekest is found, die he, and we shall be servants of my lord.

10 Which said to them, Be it done by your sentence; at whom it is found, be he my servant; forsooth ye shall be guiltless.

11 And so they did down hastily their sacks on the earth, and all they opened them,

12 the which he sought through; and he began at the most till to the least, and he found the cup in Benjamin’s sack.

13 And when they had rent their clothes, and had charged again their asses, they turned again into the city.

14 And Judah entered with his brethren to Joseph; for Joseph had not gone yet from the place; and all they fell together on the earth before him.

15 To whom he said, Why would ye do so? whether ye wot not, that none is like me in the knowing of divining?

16 To whom Judah said, What shall we answer to my lord, or what shall we speak, either what may we justly against-say? God hath found the wickedness of thy servants; lo! all we be the servants of my lord, both we and he at whom the cup is found.

17 Joseph answered, Far be it from me, that I do so; he be my servant that stole the cup; forsooth go ye free to your father.

18 Soothly Judah nighed near, and said trustily, My lord, I pray thee, thy servant speak a word in thine ears, and be thou not wroth to thy servant; for after Pharaoh thou art my lord.

19 Thou askedest first thy servants, Have ye a father, or a brother?

20 And we answered to my lord, An eld [or old] father is to us, and a little child that was born in his eld age, whose brother of the same womb is dead, and his mother hath him alone; forsooth his father loveth him tenderly.

21 And thou saidest to thy servants, Bring ye him to me, and I shall set mine eyes on him.

22 We made suggestion to thee, my lord, the child may not forsake his father; for if he shall leave his father, his father shall die.

23 And thou saidest to thy servants, If your youngest brother shall not come down with you, ye shall no more see my face.

24 Therefore when we had gone up to thy servant, our father, we told to him all things which my lord spake to us;

25 and our father said, Turn ye again, and buy ye to you a little of wheat;

26 to whom we said, We may not go; only if our least brother shall go down with us, we shall go forth together; else, if he is absent, we dare not see the lord’s face.

27 To which things our father answered, Ye know that my wife childed two sons to me;

28 one went out, and ye said, A beast [hath] devoured him, and hither-to he appeareth not;

29 if ye take also this son, and anything befall to him in the way, ye shall lead forth mine hoar hairs with mourning to hells [or to hell].

30 Therefore if I enter again to thy servant, our father, and the child fail to be with us, since his life hangeth of the life of the child,

31 and he see that the child is not with us, he shall die, and thy servants shall lead forth his hoar hairs with sorrow to hells [or to hell].

32 Be I properly thy servant, which received this child on my faith, and I promised, and said, If I shall not bring again him to thee, I shall be guilty of sin against my father in all time;

33 and so I shall dwell thy servant for the child into the service of my lord, and the child go up with his brethren;

34 for I may not go again to my father, if the child be absent, lest I stand a witness of the wretchedness that shall oppress my father.

CHAPTER 45

1 Joseph might no longer abstain himself, while many men stood there before him; wherefore he commanded that all men should go out, and that none alien were present in the knowing of Joseph and his brethren.

2 And Joseph raised up his voice with weeping, which the Egyptians heard, and all the household of Pharaoh.

3 And he said to his brethren, I am Joseph; liveth my father yet? His brethren might not answer, and were aghast with full much dread.

4 To whom Joseph said meekly, Cometh nigh to me. And when they had nighed nigh, he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt;

5 do not ye dread, neither seem it to be hard to you, that ye sold me into these countries; for God hath sent me before you into Egypt for your health.

6 For it is two years that hunger began to be in the land, yet five more years shall pursue, in which men shall not be able to ear, neither reap;

7 and God before-sent me, that ye be kept alive on earth, and may have meats to live.

8 I was sent hither not by your counsel, but by God’s will, which hath made me as the father of Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and prince in all the land of Egypt.

9 Haste ye, and goeth up to my father, and ye shall say to him, Thy son Joseph sendeth these things to thee; God hath made me lord of all the land of Egypt; come down here to me, and tarry not,

10 and dwell in the land of Goshen; and thou shalt be beside me, thou, and thy sons, and the sons of thy sons, thy sheep, and thy great beasts, and all things which thou wieldest,

11 and there I shall feed thee; for yet five years of hunger be left, lest both thou perish, and thine house, and all things which thou wieldest.

12 Lo! your eyes, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that my mouth speaketh to you;

13 tell ye to my father all my glory, and all things which ye saw in Egypt; haste ye, and bring ye him to me.

14 And when he had embraced, and felled into the neck of Benjamin, his brother, he wept, the while also Benjamin wept in like manner on the neck of Joseph.

15 And Joseph kissed all his brethren, and wept on them all; after which things they were hardy to speak to him.

16 And it was heard, and published by famous word in the king’s hall, The brethren of Joseph be come. And Pharaoh joyed, and all his household;

17 and Pharaoh said to Joseph, that he should command his brethren, and say to them, Charge ye your beasts, and go ye into the land of Canaan,

18 and take ye from thence your father, and your kindred, and come ye back to me; and I shall give you all the goods of Egypt, that ye eat the marrow of the land.

19 Command thou also, that they take wains of the land of Egypt to the carriage of their little children, and wives, and say thou, Take ye your father, and haste ye in coming soon,

20 neither leave ye anything of the appurtenance of your house, for all the riches of Egypt shall be yours.

21 The sons of Israel did as it was commanded to them; to which Joseph gave wains, by the behest of Pharaoh, and meats in the way;

22 and he commanded two stoles to be brought forth to each; forsooth he gave to Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver, with five of the best stoles;

23 and he sent to his father so much of silver, and of clothes, and he added to them ten male asses, that should bear of the riches of Egypt, and so many female asses, bearing wheat and loaves in the way.

24 Therefore he let go his brethren, and said to them going forth, Be ye not wroth in the way.

25 Which went up from Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob;

26 and they told to him, and said, Joseph, thy son, liveth, and he is lord in all the land of Egypt. And when this was heard, Jacob waked as of a grievous sleep; nevertheless he believed not to them.

27 They told on the contrary to him all the order of the thing; and when Jacob had seen the wains, and all things which Joseph had sent, his spirit lived again,

28 and he said, It sufficeth to me, if Joseph my son liveth yet; I shall go and see him before that I die.

CHAPTER 46

1 And Israel went forth with all things that he had, and he came to the well of oath or Beersheba; and when sacrifices were slain there to [the] God of his father Isaac,

2 he heard God by a vision in that night calling to him, and saying to him, Jacob! Jacob! To whom he answered, Lo! I am present.

3 God said to him, I am the full strong God of thy father; do not thou dread, go down into Egypt, for I shall make thee there into a great folk;

4 I shall go down thither with thee, and I shall bring thee turning again from thence, and Joseph shall set his hand on thine eyes.

5 Jacob rose from the well of oath, and his sons took him, with their little children, and wives, in the wains which Pharaoh had sent to bear the eld [or old] man,

6 and all things which he wielded in the land of Canaan; and he came into Egypt with [all] his seed,

7 his sons, and their sons, and daughters, and all the generations together.

8 Forsooth these be the names of the sons of Israel, that entered into Egypt; Jacob with his free children. The first begotten is Reuben;

9 the sons of Reuben; Hanoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.

10 The sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan.

11 The sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

12 The sons of Judah; Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zarah. Forsooth Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were born, Hezron, and Hamul.

13 The sons of Issachar; Tola, and Phuvah, and Job, and Shimron.

14 The sons of Zebulun; Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.

15 These be the sons of Leah, which she childed to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, with Dinah, her daughter; all the souls of his sons and daughters by Leah, three and thirty.

16 The sons of Gad; Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.

17 The sons of Asher; Jimnah, and Ishuah, and Isui, and Beriah; and Serah, the sister of them. The sons of Beriah; Heber, and Malchiel.

18 These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and through whom Jacob begat these sixteen persons.

19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin.

20 And two sons were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath, [the] daughter of Potipherah, priest of Heliopolis, childed to him.

21 The sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, and Ehi, and Rosh, and Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.

22 These were the sons of Rachel, the which Jacob begat through her; all the persons were fourteen.

23 The son of Dan; Hushim.

24 The sons of Naphtali; Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem.

25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter. And Jacob begat these through Bilhah; all the souls were seven.

26 And all the men that entered with Jacob into Egypt, and went out of his thigh, without his sons’ wives, were sixty and six.

27 Forsooth the sons of Joseph, that were born to him in the land of Egypt, were two men. All the souls of the house of Jacob, that entered into Egypt, were seventy.

28 Forsooth Jacob sent Judah before him to Joseph, that he should tell to him, and he meet with them in Goshen. And when Jacob had come thither,

29 Joseph went up in his chariot to meet his father at the same place. And he saw Jacob, and felled on his neck, and wept betwixt embraces.

30 And the father said to Joseph, Now I shall die joyful, for I have seen thy face, and I leave thee living.

31 And Joseph spake to his brethren, and to all his father’s household, I shall go up, and tell to Pharaoh, and I shall say to him, My brethren, and the household of my father, that were in the land of Canaan, be come to me,

32 and they be men keepers of sheep, and have busyness of flocks to be fed; they brought with them their sheep, and great beasts, and all things which they might have.

33 And when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your work?

34 ye shall answer, We be thy servants, men shepherds, from our childhood till into this present time, both we and our fathers. Soothly ye shall say these things, that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen, for Egyptians loathe all keepers of sheep.

CHAPTER 47

1 Therefore Joseph entered, and told to Pharaoh, and said, My father and brethren, the sheep and the great beasts of them, and all things that they wield, have come from the land of Canaan; and lo! they stand in the land of Goshen.

2 And Joseph ordained five, the least, or meekest, men of his brethren, to come before the king,

3 whom he asked, What work have ye? They answered, We thy servants be keepers of sheep, both we and our fathers;

4 we came into thy land to be pilgrims, that is, to dwell for a time, for no grass is to the flocks of thy servants; for hunger waxeth grievous in the land of Canaan, and we ask that thou command us thy servants to be in the land of Goshen.

5 And so the king said to Joseph, Thy father and thy brethren have come to thee;

6 the land of Egypt is in thy sight; make thou them to dwell in the best place, and give thou to them the land of Goshen; that if thou knowest that witting men be in them, ordain them masters of my beasts.

7 After these things Joseph brought in his father to the king, and set him before the king, and he blessed the king;

8 and he was asked of the king, How many be the days of the years of thy life?

9 And he answered, The days of [the] pilgrimage of my life be few and evil, of an hundred and thirty years, and those [or they] have not come to the days of my fathers, in which they were pilgrims.

10 And when Jacob had blessed the king again, he went out.

11 Forsooth Joseph gave to his father and [his] brethren a possession in Egypt, in Rameses, the best soil of [the] earth, as Pharaoh commanded;

12 and he fed them, and all the household of his father, and gave meats to them all.

13 For bread failed in all the world, and hunger oppressed the land, mostly of Egypt and of Canaan;

14 of which lands Joseph gathered all the money for the selling of wheat, and brought it into the king’s treasury.

15 And when price failed to the buyers, all Egypt came to Joseph, and said, Give thou loaves to us; why shall we die before thee, while money faileth?

16 To whom he answered, Bring ye your beasts, and I shall give you meats for those [or them], if ye have not price.

17 And when they had brought those, he gave them meats for horses, and sheep, and oxen, and asses; and he sustained them in that year for the exchange of beasts.

18 And they came in the second year, and said to him, We cover not from our lord, that the while money faileth, also our beasts failed altogether, neither it is hid from thee, that without bodies and land, we have nothing;

19 why therefore shall we die, while thou seest this? both we and our land shall be thine; buy thou us into the king’s servage, and give thou us seeds to sow, lest while the tiller perisheth, the land be turned into wilderness.

20 Therefore Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, while all men sold him their possessions, for the greatness of hunger; and he made it and all the peoples thereof subject to Pharaoh,

21 from the last terms of Egypt till to the last ends thereof,

22 except the land of priests, that was given of the king to them, to which priests also meats were given of the common barns, and therefore they were not compelled to sell their possessions.

23 Therefore Joseph said to the peoples, Lo! as ye see, Pharaoh wieldeth both you and your land; now take ye seeds, and sow ye fields,

24 that ye may have fruits; ye shall give the fifth part to the king; I suffer to you the four residue parts into seed, and into meats, to you, and to your free children.

25 Which answered, Our health is in thine hands; only our God behold us, and we shall joyfully serve the king.

26 From that time till to this present day, in all the land of Egypt, the fifth part is paid to the kings, and it is made as into a law, without the land of priests, that was free from this condition.

27 Therefore Israel dwelled in Egypt, that is, in the land of Goshen, and wielded it; and he was increased, and multiplied full much.

28 And he lived therein sixteen [or seventeen] years; and all the days of his life were made an hundred and seven and forty years.

29 And when he saw the day of his death [to] nigh, he called his son Joseph to his bed, and said to him, If I have found grace in thy sight, put thine hand under mine hip, and swear that thou shalt do mercy and truth to me, that thou bury not me in Egypt;

30 but I shall sleep with my fathers, and take thou away me from this land, and bury me in the sepulchre of my greaters. To whom Joseph answered, I shall do that that thou commandest.

31 And Israel said, Therefore swear thou to me; and when Joseph swore, Israel turned to the head of the bed, and worshipped God.

CHAPTER 48

1 And so when these things were done, it was told to Joseph, that his father was sick. And he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and he disposed him to go.

2 And it was said to the eld [or old] man, Lo! thy son Joseph cometh to thee; which was comforted, and sat up in the bed.

3 And when Joseph entered to him, he said, Almighty God appeared to me in Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

4 and said, I shall increase thee, and multiply thee, and I shall make thee into companies of peoples, and I shall give to thee this land, and to thy seed after thee, into everlasting possession.

5 Therefore thy two sons, that be born to thee in the land of Egypt, before that I came hither to thee, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, as Reuben and Simeon, shall be areckoned to me;

6 forsooth the others which thou shalt beget after them shall be thine; and they shall be called by the name of their brethren in their possessions.

7 Forsooth when I came from Mesopotamia, Rachel was dead to me in the land of Canaan, in that way; and it was the beginning of summer; and before that I entered into Ephratah, and I buried her beside the way of Ephratah, which by another name is called Bethlehem.

8 Forsooth Jacob saw the sons of Joseph, and said to him, Who be these?

9 He answered, They be my sons, which God gave me in this place. Jacob said, Bring them to me, that I bless them.

10 For the eyes of Israel dimmed for great eld age, and he might not see clearly; and he kissed and embraced those children joined to him,

11 and he said to his son, I am not defrauded of thy sight; furthermore God hath showed to me thy seed.

12 And when Joseph had taken them from his father’s lap, he worshipped or honoured low to the earth.

13 And he set Ephraim on his right side, that is, on the left side of Israel; forsooth he set Manasseh on his left side, that is, on the right side of his father; and he joined both to him.

14 Which held forth the right hand, and laid it on Ephraim’s head, the younger brother; soothly he laid his left hand on Manasseh’s head, that was the more through birth. Jacob changed his hands,

15 and blessed his son Joseph*, and said, God, in whose sight my fathers Abraham and Isaac went; God that feedeth me from my young waxing age till into this present day;

16 the angel that delivered me from all evils, bless these children, and my name be called on them, and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac; and wax they in multitude on earth.

17 Forsooth Joseph saw that his father had set [or put] his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and he took that heavily, and he enforced or endeavoured him to raise his father’s hand, and take it from the head of Ephraim, and to bear it over upon the head of Manasseh.

18 And Joseph said to his father, Father, it accordeth not so; for this is the first begotten; set [or put] thy right hand on his head.

19 Which forsook to do so, and said, I know, my son, I know; and soothly this child shall be into peoples, and he shall be multiplied; but his younger brother shall be more than he, and his seed shall increase into a multitude of folks.

20 And he blessed them in that time, and said, Israel shall be blessed in thee, and it shall be said, God do to thee as to Ephraim and as to Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh;

21 and Jacob said to Joseph, his son, Lo! I die, and God shall be with you, and shall lead you again to the land of your fathers;

22 I give to thee one part over thy brethren, which I took from the hand of Amorite, in my sword and bow.

CHAPTER 49

1 Forsooth Jacob called his sons, and said to them, Be ye gathered together, that I tell what things shall come to you in the last days;

2 be ye gathered [together], and hear, ye sons of Jacob, hear ye Israel your father.

3 Reuben, my first begotten son, thou art my strength, and the beginning of my sorrow; thou oughtest to be the former in gifts, the more in lordship;

4 thou art shed [or poured] out as water; wax thou not, for thou ascend-edest [or went up] on the bed of thy father, and defouledest his bed.

5 Simeon and Levi, brethren, fighting vessels of wickedness;

6 my soul come not into the counsel of them, and my glory be not in the congregation of them; for in their strong vengeance, they killed a man, and in their [own] will, they under-mined the wall;

7 cursed be the strong vengeance of them, for it is obstinate, and the indignation of them, for it is hard; I shall part them in Jacob, and I shall scatter them in Israel.

8 Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee, thine hands shall be in the nolls of thine enemies; the sons of thy father shall worship thee.

9 Judah, the whelp of a lion; my son, thou hast gone up to the prey; thou restedest, and hast lain as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall raise him?

10 The sceptre shall not be taken away from Judah, and a duke of his hip, till he come that shall be sent, and he shall be the abiding of heathen men;

11 and he shall tie his colt at the vinery [or vineyard], and his she-ass at the vine; O! my son, he shall wash his stole in wine, and his mantle in the blood of the grape;

12 his eyes be fairer than wine, and his teeth be whiter than milk.

13 Zebulun shall dwell in the brink of the sea, and in the standing of ships; and he shall stretch till to Sidon.

14 Issachar, a strong ass, lying betwixt [the] terms,

15 saw rest, that it was good, and saw the land, that it was best, and he underset his shoulder to bear, and he was made serving to tributes*.

16 Dan shall deem his people, as also another lineage in Israel.

17 Dan be made a serpent in the way, and a cerastes, that is, an horned adder, in the path, and bite he the feet of an horse, that the rider of him fall backward;

18 Lord, I shall abide thine health.

19 Gad shall be girded, and he shall fight before him, and he shall be girded behind.

20 Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall give delights to kings.

21 Naphtali shall be an hart sent out, and giving speeches of fairness.

22 Joseph, a son increasing, a son increasing, and fair in beholding; [the] daughters run about on the wall,

23 but his brethren wrathed at him, and chided him, and they had darts, and had envy to him.

24 His bow sat in the Strong, that is, the Lord, and the bonds of his arms and his hands were unbound by the hand of the mighty God of Jacob; of him a shepherd went out, the stone of Israel.

25 God of thy father shall be thine helper, and Almighty God shall bless thee, with blessings of heaven from above, and with blessings of the sea lying beneath, with blessings of teats, and of the womb;

26 the blessings of thy father be comforted, that is, be better than the blessings of his fathers, till the desire of everlasting hills came; blessings be made on the head of Joseph, and in the noll of Nazarite, that is, holy, among his brethren.

27 Benjamin, a ravishing wolf, shall eat the prey early, and in the eventide he shall part spoils.

28 All these were in [the] twelve kindreds of Israel; their father spake these things to them, and he blessed them all by proper blessings,

29 and he commanded to them, and said, I am soon to be gathered to my people; bury ye me with my fathers in the double den, that is in the land of Ephron the Hittite,

30 that is, in the den in the field at Machpelah, against Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which den Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite, into possession of a sepulchre.

31 There they buried him, and Sarah his wife; also Isaac was buried there, with Rebecca his wife; there also Leah lieth buried.

32 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

33 And when the behests were ended, by which he taught his sons, he gathered together his feet on the bed, and died, and he was put to his people.

CHAPTER 50

1 Which thing Joseph saw, and he fell on his father’s face, and wept, and kissed him;

2 and he commanded his servants, leeches, that they should anoint his father with sweet smelling spiceries.

3 While they fulfilled his behests, forty days passed, for this was the custom of dead bodies that were anointed; and Egypt bewept him seventy days.

4 And when the time of wailing was fulfilled, Joseph spake to the meine of Pharaoh, If I have found grace in your sight, speak ye in the ears of Pharaoh;

5 for my father charged me [with an oath], and said, Lo! I die; thou shalt bury me in my sepulchre which I digged to me in the land of Canaan; therefore I shall go up that I bury my father, and I shall turn again.

6 And Pharaoh said to him, Go up, and bury thy father, as thou art charged.

7 And when Joseph went up, all the elder men of the household of Pharaoh went with him, and all the greater men in birth of the land of Egypt;

8 and all the household of Joseph with their brethren, without little children, and flocks, and great beasts, which they left in the land of Goshen, went with him.

9 And he had chariots, and horse-men, and fellowship with him, and the company was made not little.

10 And they came to the cornfloor of Atad, which is set over Jordan, where they made the service of the dead body, with great wailing and strong, and filled seven days.

11 And when the dwellers of the land of Canaan had seen this, they said, This is a time of great wailing to the Egyptians; therefore they called the name of that place The wailing of Egypt.

12 Therefore the sons of Jacob did, as he had commanded to them;

13 and they bare him into the land of Canaan, and they buried him in the double den, which den with the field Abraham had bought of Ephron the Hittite, against the face of Mamre, into possession of a sepulchre.

14 And Joseph turned again into Egypt with his brethren and all the fellowship, when his father was buried.

15 And when their father was dead, the brethren of Joseph dreaded, and spake together, Lest peradventure he be mindful of the wrong which he suffered, and yield to us all the evil, that we did.

16 And they sent to him, and said, Thy father commanded to us, before that he died,

17 that we should say to thee these things by his words; I beseech thee, that thou forget the wickedness of thy brethren, and the sin, and [the] malice that they haunted against thee; also we pray thee, that thou forgive this wickedness which we did to thy father, the servant of God. When these things were heard, Joseph wept.

18 And his brethren came to him, and worshipped low to the earth, and said, We be thy servants.

19 To which he answered, Do not ye dread; whether we may against-stand God’s will?

20 Ye thought evil of me, and God turned it into good, that he should enhance me, as ye see in this present time, and that he should make safe many peoples;

21 do not ye dread, I shall feed you and your little children. And he comforted them, and spake sweetly and lightly to them;

22 and Joseph dwelled in Egypt, with all the house of his father. And he lived an hundred [and ten] years,

23 and he saw the sons of Ephraim till to the third generation; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were borne in the knees of Joseph.

24 When these things were done, Joseph spake to his brethren, After my death God shall visit you, and he shall make you to go up from this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

25 And when Joseph had charged them with an oath, and had said, God shall visit you, bear ye out with you my bones from this place;

26 he died, when an hundred and ten years of his life were filled; and he was anointed with sweet smelling spiceries, and he was kept in a bier in Egypt.

* CHAPTER 4:3 Not the first fruits, or the best, or it would have been so stated.

† CHAPTER 4:25 The name sounds like the Hebrew for ‘has given’.

* CHAPTER 5:29 This name sounds like the Hebrew for ‘rest’ or ‘relief’.

* CHAPTER 6:14 Throughout Genesis, whenever the “Later Version” refers to Noah’s ‘ship’, the “Early Version” refers to Noah’s ‘ark’.

* CHAPTER 9:24 Most modern translations and Bible dictionaries refer to Ham as Noah’s youngest son, though he is second in all the lists in the Bible. The KJV, like the “Wycliffe Bible” (both versions), uses ‘younger’ in this verse.

* CHAPTER 11:26 God would later change Abram’s name to Abraham.

* CHAPTER 21:14 Ishmael would be about 15 years old at this time.

† CHAPTER 21:31 Beersheba also means ‘the Well of the Seven’.

* CHAPTER 22:5 According to Jewish tradition, Isaac was probably 25 years old at this time (Gehman/Josephus).

* CHAPTER 25:26 The name sounds like the Hebrew for ‘He who takes by the heel, or supplants’.

* CHAPTER 26:34 She is also known as Oholibamah or Aholibamah.

† CHAPTER 26:34 She is also known as Adah.

* CHAPTER 27:2 Isaac would still be alive more than 20 years after this event(!).

* CHAPTER 28:9 Mahalath is also called Bashemath, but she is a different person than Esau’s 2nd wife, who was also called Bashemath(!).

* CHAPTER 36:2 Each of Esau’s three wives were known by two names: Adah, also known as Bashemath; Judith, also known as Oholibamah or Aholibamah; and another Bashemath, also known as Mahalath.

* CHAPTER 41:45 In Hebrew, it is ‘showing privates’, as Jerome and Lira here say, (or it is ‘The one showing secrets’, or revealing mysteries, as Jerome and Nicholas of Lira say here).

* CHAPTER 43:8 Benjamin would have been over 30 years old at this time.

* CHAPTER 48:15 In blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob was in fact blessing Joseph. (Good News Bible)

* CHAPTER 49:15 Either to rent, (Or to pay rent or taxes), as it is in Hebrew.

EXODUS

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EXODUS

CHAPTER 1

1 These be the names of the sons of Israel, that entered into Egypt with Jacob; all entered with their households;

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

4 Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

5 Therefore all the souls of them that went out of the hip of Jacob were seventy and five. Forsooth Joseph was in Egypt;

6 and when he was dead, and all his brethren, and all his kindred,

7 the sons of Israel* increased, and were multiplied as burgeoning, and they were made strong greatly, and filled the land.

8 A new king, that knew not Joseph, rose [up] in the meantime on Egypt,

9 and said to his people, Lo! the people of the sons of Israel is much, and stronger than we;

10 come ye, wisely oppress we it, lest peradventure it be multiplied; and lest, if battle riseth against us, it be added to our enemies, and go out of the land, when we be overcome.

11 And so he made masters of works sovereigns to them, that they should torment them with charges. And they made [the] cities of tabernacles, either of treasures, as it is in Hebrew, to Pharaoh, Pithom, and Raamses.

12 And by how much they oppressed them, by so much they were multiplied, and increased the more.

13 And the Egyptians hated the sons of Israel, and tormented, and scorned them;

14 and they brought their life to bitterness, by hard works of clay and of tilestone, and by all servage, by which they were oppressed in the works of [the] earth.

15 Forsooth the king of Egypt said to the midwives of Hebrews, of which one was called Shiphrah, [and] the tother Puah;

16 and he commanded to them, When ye shall do the office of midwives to [the] Hebrew women, and the time of child-bearing shall come, if it is a knave child, slay ye him; if it is a woman child, keep ye it.

17 But the midwives dreaded God, and did not by the commandment of the king of Egypt, but kept the knave children.

18 To the which called to him, the king said, What is this thing that ye would do, that ye would keep the knave children?

19 The which answered, Hebrew women be not as the women of Egypt, for they have knowing of the craft of midwifing, and childed before that we come to them.

20 Therefore God did well to the midwives; and the people increased, and was comforted greatly.

21 And for the midwives dreaded God, God builded them houses.

22 Therefore Pharaoh commanded all his people, and said, Whatever thing of male kind is born to Hebrews, cast ye into the flood; whatever thing of women kind, keep ye.

CHAPTER 2

1 After these things a man of the house of Levi went out, and took a wife of his kin into fleshly coupling*,

2 which conceived, and childed a son. And she saw him well-faring, and hid him three months.

3 And when she might not cover [him], then she took a basket of sedge, and balmed it with tar and pitch, and put the young child within, and put him forth in a place of spires of the brink of the flood,

4 the while his sister stood afar, and beheld the befalling of the thing.

5 Lo! forsooth the daughter of Pharaoh came down to be washed in the flood, and her damsels walked by the brink of the flood. And when she had seen a basket in the place of spires, she sent one of her servantesses,

6 and she opened the basket brought to her, and she saw a little child weeping therein. And she had mercy on the child, and said, It is of the young children of Hebrews.

7 To whom the child’s sister said, Wilt thou that I go, and call to thee an Hebrew woman, that may nourish the young child?

8 She answered, Go thou. The damsel went, and called the child’s mother.

9 To whom Pharaoh’s daughter spake, and said, Take thou this child, and nourish it to me; and I shall give to thee thy meed. The woman took, and nourished the child,

10 and she betook him, waxen, to Pharaoh’s daughter, whom she purchased into the place of a son; and she called his name Moses†, and said, For I took him from the water.

11 In those days, after that Moses increased, he went out to his brethren, and saw the torment of them, and a man Egyptian smiting an Hebrew man, one of his brethren.

12 And when he had beholden hither and thither, and had seen, that no man was present, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

13 And he went out in another day, and saw twain [or two] Hebrew men chiding, and he said to him that did [the] wrong, Why smitest thou thy brother?

14 Which answered, Who ordained thee prince, or judge, [or prince and doomsman] [up] on us? Whether thou wilt slay me, as thou killedest yesterday the Egyptian? Moses dreaded, and said, How is this word made open?

15 And Pharaoh heard this word, and sought to slay Moses, which fled from his face, and dwelled in the land of Midian; and he sat beside a well.

16 Forsooth seven daughters were to the priest of Midian, that came to draw water; and when the troughs were filled, they coveted to water their father’s flocks.

17 Shepherds came upon them, and drove them away; and Moses rose, and defended the damsels; and he watered their sheep.

18 And when they had turned again to Jethro, their father, he said to them, Why came ye swifter than ye were wont?

19 They answered, A man of Egypt delivered us from the hand of the shepherds; furthermore and he drew water with us, and gave drink to the sheep.

20 And he said, Where is that man? why left ye the man? call ye him, that he eat bread.

21 Therefore Moses swore, that he would dwell with Jethro, and he took a wife, Zipporah, Jethro’s daughter.

22 And she childed a son to him, whom he called Gershom‡, and said, I was a comeling in an alien land. Forsooth she childed another son, whom he called Eliezer§, and said, For [the] God of my father is mine helper, and he delivered me from the hand of Pharaoh.

23 Forsooth after much time the king of Egypt died, and the sons of Israel inwardly wailed for [the] works, and they cried [out], and the cry of them for their works went up to God.

24 And he heard the wailing of them, and he had mind of the bond of peace, which he had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;

25 and he beheld the sons of Israel, and knew them, that is, showed love to them.

CHAPTER 3

1 Forsooth Moses kept the sheep of Jethro, his wife’s father, priest of Midian; and when he had driven the flock to the inner parts of the desert, he came to Horeb, the hill of God.

2 Forsooth the Lord appeared to him there in a flame of fire from the middle of a bush, and Moses saw that the bush burnt, and it was not burnt up.

3 Therefore Moses said, I shall go and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

4 Soothly the Lord saw that Moses went to see, and he called him from the midst of the bush, and said, Moses! Moses! Which answered, I am present.

5 And the Lord said, Nigh thou not hither, but unbind thou the shoes of thy feet, for the place in which thou standest is holy land.

6 And the Lord said, I am God of thy fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he durst not look against God.

7 To whom the Lord said, I saw the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I heard the cry thereof, for the hardness of them that be sovereigns of the works. And I knew the sorrow of the people,

8 and I came down to deliver them from the hands of Egyptians, and lead out of that land into a good land and broad, into a land that floweth with milk and honey, to the places of Canaanites, and of Hittites, of Amorites, and of Perizzites, and of Hivites, and of Jebusites.

9 Therefore the cry of the sons of Israel came to me, and I saw the torment of them, by which they be oppressed of the Egyptians.

10 But come thou, I shall send thee to Pharaoh, that thou lead out my people, the sons of Israel, from Egypt.

11 And Moses said to him, Who am I, that I go to Pharaoh, and lead out the sons of Israel from Egypt?

12 And the Lord said to Moses, I shall be with thee, and thou shalt have this sign, that I have sent thee; when thou hast led out my people from Egypt, thou shalt offer to God on this hill.

13 Moses said to God, Lo! I shall go to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, [The] God of your fathers sent me to you; if they shall say to me, What is his name, what shall I say to them?

14 The Lord said to Moses, I am that I am. The Lord said, Thus thou shalt say to the sons of Israel, He that is, sent me to you.

15 And again God said to Moses, Thou shalt say these things to the sons of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, sent me to you; this name is to me without end, and this is my memorial in generation and into generation.

16 Go thou, gather thou the elder men, that is, judges, of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, The Lord God of your fathers appeared to me, God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, and he said, I visiting have visited you, and I have seen all things that befelled to you in Egypt;

17 and I said, that I should lead out you from the affliction of Egypt, into the land of Canaanites, and of Hittites, and of Amorites, and of Perizzites, and of Hivites, and of Jebusites, to the land flowing with milk and honey.

18 And they shall hear thy voice; and thou shalt enter, and the elder men of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and thou shalt say to him, The Lord God of Hebrews hath called us; we shall go the way of three days into wilderness, that we offer to our Lord God.

19 But I know, that the king of Egypt shall not deliver you that ye go, but by strong hand;

20 for I shall hold forth mine hand, and I shall smite Egypt in all my marvels which I shall do in the midst of them; after these things he shall deliver you.

21 And I shall give grace to this people before [the] Egyptians, and when ye shall go out, ye shall not go out void;

22 but a woman shall ask of her neighbouress, and of her that she is harboured with, silveren vessels, and golden, and clothes, and ye shall put those [or them] upon your sons and daughters, and ye shall make naked Egypt.

CHAPTER 4

1 Moses answered, and said, The commons shall not believe to me, neither they shall hear my voice; but they shall say, The Lord appeared not to thee.

2 Therefore the Lord said to him, What is that that thou holdest in thine hand? Moses answered, A rod, that is, a shepherd’s staff.

3 And the Lord said, Cast it forth into the earth; and he cast it forth, and it was turned into a serpent, so that Moses fled.

4 And the Lord said, Hold forth thine hand, and take the tail thereof; he stretched forth his hand, and held it, and it was turned again into a rod.

5 And the Lord said, That they believe, that the Lord God of thy fathers appeared to thee, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob.

6 And the Lord said again to Moses, Put thine hand into thy bosom; and when he had put it into his bosom, he brought forth it leprous, at the likeness of snow.

7 The Lord said, Again draw thine hand into thy bosom; Moses again drew in his hand, and brought it forth again, and it was like to the tother flesh.

8 The Lord said, If they shall not believe to thee, neither shall hear the word of the former sign, either miracle, they shall believe to the word of the sign pursuing [or that followeth];

9 that if they believe not to these two signs, neither hear thy voice, take thou water of the flood, and shedded out it [or pour it out] [up] on the dry land, and whatever thing thou shalt draw up of the flood, it shall be turned into blood.

10 Moses said, Lord, I beseech, I am not eloquent, that is, a fair speaker, from yesterday and the third day ago; and since thou hast spoken to thy servant, I am of more hindered, and of slower tongue.

11 The Lord said to him, Who made the mouth of [a] man, or who made a dumb man, and deaf, seeing, and blind? whether not I?

12 Therefore go thou, and I shall be in thy mouth, and I shall teach thee what thou shalt speak.

13 And Moses said, Lord, I beseech thee, send whom thou shalt.

14 And the Lord was wroth against Moses, and said, I know, that Aaron, thy brother, of the lineage of Levi, is eloquent, that is, a fair speaker; lo! he shall go out into thy coming, and he shall see thee, and he shall be glad in heart.

15 Speak thou to him, and put thou my words in his mouth, and I shall be in thy mouth, and in his mouth; and I shall show to you what ye ought to do.

16 He shall speak for thee to the people, and he shall be thy mouth; forsooth thou shalt be to him in these things, that pertain to God.

17 Also take thou this rod in thine hand, in which thou shalt do miracles.

18 Moses went, and turned again to Jethro, his wife’s father, and said to him, I shall go, and turn again to my brethren into Egypt, that I see, whether they live yet. To whom Jethro said, Go thou in peace.

19 Therefore the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go thou, and turn again into Egypt; for all they be dead that sought thy life.

20 Moses took his wife, and his sons, and set them on an ass, and he turned again into Egypt, and he bare the rod of God in his hand.

21 And the Lord said to him turning again into Egypt, See, that thou do all the wonders, which I have put in thine hand, before Pharaoh; I shall make hard his heart, and he shall not deliver the people;

22 and thou shalt say to him, The Lord saith these things, My first begotten son is Israel;

23 I said to thee, Deliver thou my son, that he serve me, and thou wouldest not deliver him; lo! I shall slay thy first begotten son.

24 And when Moses was in the way, in an inn, the Lord came to him, and would slay him.

25 Zipporah took anon a most sharp stone, and circumcised the rod of her son; and she touched Moses’ feet, and said, Thou art an husband of bloods to me.

26 And he let go him, after that she had said, Thou art an husband of bloods to me, for [the] circumcision.

27 Forsooth the Lord said to Aaron, Go thou into the coming of Moses into desert; which went against Moses into the hill of God, and kissed him.

28 And Moses told to Aaron all the words of the Lord, for which he had sent Moses; and he told him about the miracles, which the Lord had commanded.

29 And they came together, and gathered all the elder men of the sons of Israel.

30 And Aaron spake all the words, which the Lord had said to Moses, and he did the signs before the people;

31 and the people believed; and they heard, that the Lord had visited the sons of Israel, and that he had beheld the torment of them; and they worshipped lowly, or meekly, the Lord.

CHAPTER 5

1 After these things Moses and Aaron entered, and said to Pharaoh, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Deliver thou my people, that it make sacrifice to me in desert,.

2 And Pharaoh answered, Who is the Lord, that I hear his voice, and deliver Israel? I know not the Lord, and I shall not deliver Israel.

3 They said, [The] God of Hebrews called us, that we go the way of three days into wilderness, and that we make sacrifice to our Lord God, lest peradventure pestilence, or sword, befall to us.

4 The king of Egypt said to them, Moses and Aaron, why stir ye the people from their works? Go ye to your charges.

5 And Pharaoh said, The people of the land is much; ye see that the company hath increased; how much more shall it increase, if ye shall give to them rest from works.

6 Therefore Pharaoh commanded in that day to the masters of works, and to the rent gatherers of the people, and said,

7 Ye shall no more give straw to the people, to make tilestones, as ye have done before; but go they, and gather stubble;

8 and ye shall set on them the measure of tilestones, which they made before, neither ye shall abate anything; for they be idle, and therefore they cry, and say, Go we, and make we sacrifice to our God;

9 be they oppressed by works, and fulfill they those [or them], that they assent not to false words.

10 Therefore the masters of the works and the rent gatherers went out to the people, and said, Thus saith Pharaoh, I give not to you straw;

11 go ye, and gather ye, if ye may find anywhere; neither anything shall be decreased of your work.

12 And the people was scattered by all the land of Egypt to gather straw.

13 And the masters of the works were busy, and said, Fulfill ye your work each day, as ye were wont to do, when the straw was given to you.

14 And they, that were masters of the works of the sons of Israel, were beaten of the rent gatherers of Pharaoh, that said, Why fulfilled ye not the measure of tilestones, as ye did before, neither yesterday, neither today?

15 And the sovereigns [or masters] of the children of Israel came, and cried to Pharaoh, and said, Why doest thou so against thy servants?

16 Straw is not given to us, and tilestones be commanded in like manner. Lo! we thy servants be beaten with scourges, and it is done unjustly against thy people.

17 Pharaoh said, Ye give attention to idleness, and therefore ye say, Go we, and make we sacrifice to the Lord;

18 therefore go ye, and work; straw shall not be given to you, and ye shall yield the customable number of tile-stones.

19 And the sovereigns of the children of Israel saw themselves in evil, for it was said to them, Nothing shall be decreased of tilestones by all days.

20 And they coming out from Pharaoh, met Moses and Aaron, that stood even there against,

21 and they said to them, The Lord see, and deem, for ye have made our odour, or fame, stink before Pharaoh, and his servants, that is, ye have made us abominable and hateful; and ye have given to him a sword, that he should slay us.

22 And Moses turned again to the Lord, and said, Lord, why hast thou tormented this people? why sentest thou me?

23 For since I entered to Pharaoh, that I should speak in thy name, thou hast tormented thy people, and hast not delivered them.

CHAPTER 6

1 And the Lord said to Moses, Now thou shalt see, what things I shall do to Pharaoh; for by [a] strong hand he shall deliver them, that is, the sons of Israel, and in [a] mighty hand he shall cast them out of his land.

2 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said, I am the Lord,

3 that appeared to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, I am Almighty God; and I showed not to them my great name Adonai, that is, Tetragrammaton.

4 and I made [a] covenant with them, that I should give to them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were comelings.

5 I heard the wailing of the sons of Israel, in which the Egyptians oppressed them, and I had mind of my covenant.

6 Therefore say thou to the sons of Israel, I am the Lord, that shall lead you out of the prison of the Egyptians; and I shall deliver you from servage; and I shall again-buy you in an arm straight out, and in great dooms;

7 and I shall take you to me into a people, and I shall be your God; and ye shall know, for I am your Lord God, which have led you out of the prison of Egyptians,

8 and have led you into the land, on which I raised [up] mine hand, that I should give it to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I shall give to you that land to be had in possession; I [am] the Lord.

9 Therefore Moses told all things to the sons of Israel, which assented not to him for the anguish of spirit, and for the full hard work by which they were troubled.

10 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

11 Enter thou, and speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that he deliver the children of Israel from his land.

12 Moses answered before the Lord, Lo! the children of Israel hear not me; and how shall Pharaoh hear, mostly since I am uncircumcised in lips?

13 And the Lord spake to Moses and to Aaron, and he gave behests to the sons of Israel, and to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that they should lead out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt.

14 These be the princes of the houses by their meines. The sons of Reuben, the first begotten of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these be the kindreds of Reuben.

15 The sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan; these be the kindreds of Simeon.

16 And these be the names of the sons of Levi by their kindreds; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. Forsooth the years of the life of Levi were an hundred and seven and thirty.

17 The sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimi, by their kindreds.

18 The sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel; and the years of the life of Kohath were an hundred and three and thirty.

19 The sons of Merari were Mahali and Mushi. These were the kindreds of Levi by their meines.

20 Forsooth Amram took a wife, Jochebed, the daughter of his father’s brother, and she childed to him Aaron, and Moses, and Marie; and the years of the life of Amram were an hundred and seven and thirty.

21 Also the sons of Izhar were Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.

22 Also the sons of Uzziel were Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Zithri.

23 Soothly Aaron took a wife, Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Naashon, and she childed to him Nadab, and Abihu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar.

24 Also the sons of Korah were Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these were the kindreds of Korah.

25 And soothly Eleazar, son of Aaron, took a wife of the daughters of Putiel, and she childed Phinehas to him. These be the princes of the meines of Levi by their kindreds.

26 This is Aaron and Moses, to which the Lord commanded, that they should lead out of the land of Egypt the sons of Israel by their companies;

27 these it be, that spake to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that they lead the sons of Israel out of Egypt; this is Moses and Aaron,

28 in the day in which the Lord spake to Moses in the land of Egypt.

29 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said, I am the Lord; speak thou to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all things which I speak to thee.

30 And Moses said before the Lord, Lo! I am uncircumcised in lips; how shall Pharaoh hear me?

CHAPTER 7

1 And the Lord said to Moses, Lo! I have made thee the god of Pharaoh; and Aaron, thy brother, shall be thy prophet.

2 Thou shalt speak to Aaron all things which I command to thee, and he shall speak to Pharaoh, that he deliver the sons of Israel from his land.

3 But I shall make hard his heart, and I shall multiply my signs and marvels in the land of Egypt,

4 and he shall not hear you; and I shall send mine hand on Egypt, and I shall lead out mine host, and my people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by most dooms;

5 and [the] Egyptians shall know, that I am the Lord, which have held forth mine hand on Egypt, and have led out of the midst of them the sons of Israel.

6 And so Moses did and Aaron; as the Lord commanded, so they did.

7 Forsooth Moses was of fourscore years, and Aaron of fourscore years and three, when they spake to Pharaoh.

8 And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron,

9 When Pharaoh shall say to you, Show ye signs to us, thou shalt say to Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast forth it before Pharaoh, and be it turned into a serpent.

10 And so Moses and Aaron entered to Pharaoh, and did as the Lord commanded; and Aaron took the rod, and cast forth it before Pharaoh and his servants, the which rod was turned into a serpent.

11 Forsooth Pharaoh called forth wise men, and witches, and they also did by enchantments of Egypt, and by some privy things, in like manner;

12 and all casted forth their rods, which were turned into dragons; but the rod of Aaron devoured their rods.

13 And the heart of Pharaoh was made hard, and he heard not them, as the Lord commanded.

14 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, The heart of Pharaoh is made grievous, he will not deliver the people;

15 go thou to him early; lo! he shall go out to the waters, and thou shalt stand in the coming of him on the brink of the flood; and thou shalt take in thine hand the rod, that was turned into a dragon,

16 and thou shalt say to him, The Lord God of Hebrews sent me to thee, and said, Deliver thou my people, that it make sacrifice to me in desert; and till to this present time thou wouldest not hear.

17 Therefore the Lord saith these things, In this thou shalt know, that I am the Lord; lo! I shall smite with the rod, that is in mine hand, the water of the flood, and it shall be turned into blood;

18 and the fishes that be in the flood shall die; and the waters shall wax rotten, and the Egyptians drinking the water of the flood shall be tormented.

19 Also the Lord said to Moses, Say thou to Aaron, Take thy rod, and hold forth thine hand on the waters of Egypt, and on the floods of them, and on the streams of them, and on the marshes, and on all the lakes of waters, that those [or they] be turned into blood; and blood be in all the land of Egypt, as well in vessels of wood, as of stone.

20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the Lord commanded; and Aaron raised the rod, and smote the water of the flood before Pharaoh and his servants, which water was turned into blood;

21 and [the] fishes, that were in the flood, died; and the flood was rotten, and [the] Egyptians might not drink the water of the flood; and blood was in all the land of Egypt.

22 And the witches of [the] Egyptians did in like manner by their enchant-ments; and the heart of Pharaoh was made hard, and he heard not them, as the Lord commanded.

23 And he turned away himself, and entered into his house, neither he took it to heart, yea, in this time.

24 Forsooth all [the] Egyptians digged water about the flood, to drink; for they might not drink of [the] water of the flood.

25 And seven days were fulfilled, after that the Lord smote the flood.

CHAPTER 8

1 Also the Lord said to Moses, Enter thou to Pharaoh, and thou shalt say to him, The Lord saith these things, Deliver thou my people, that it make sacrifice to me;

2 soothly if thou wilt not deliver, lo! I shall smite all thy terms, or coasts, with paddocks [or frogs];

3 and the flood shall boil out paddocks [or frogs], that shall go up, and enter into thine house, and into the closet of thy bed, and on thy bed, and into the houses of thy servants, and into thy people, and into thine ovens, and into the remnants of thy meats;

4 and the paddocks [or frogs] shall enter to thee, and to thy people, and to all thy servants.

5 And the Lord said to Moses, Say thou to Aaron, Hold forth thine hand on the floods, and on the streams, and on the marshes; and bring out paddocks on the land of Egypt.

6 And Aaron held forth the hand on the waters of Egypt; and paddocks went up, and covered the land of Egypt.

7 Forsooth and the witches did in like manner by their enchantments; and they brought forth paddocks [or frogs] on the land of Egypt.

8 Forsooth Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said to them, Pray ye the Lord, that he do away the paddocks [or frogs] from me, and from my people; and I shall deliver the people, that it make sacrifice to the Lord.

9 And Moses said to Pharaoh, Ordain thou a time to me, when I shall pray for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the paddocks be driven away from thee, and from thine houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and [they] dwell only in the flood.

10 And he answered, Tomorrow. And Moses said, I shall do by thy word, that thou know, that none is as our Lord God;

11 and the paddocks shall go away from thee, and from thine houses, and from thy children, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and they shall dwell only in the flood.

12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses cried to the Lord, for the promise of paddocks [or frogs], which he had said to Pharaoh.

13 And the Lord did by the word of Moses; and the paddocks [or frogs] were dead from [the] houses, and from [the] towns, and from [the] fields;

14 and they gathered them [together] into great heaps [without number], and the land was rotten, or corrupted with stink, [or the earth stank].

15 Soothly Pharaoh saw that rest was given, and he made grievous his heart, and he heard not them, as the Lord commanded.

16 And the Lord said to Moses, Speak thou to Aaron, Hold forth thy rod, and smite the dust of the earth, and little flies, or gnats, be in all the land of Egypt.

17 And they did so; and Aaron held forth the hand, and held the rod, and smote the dust of [the] earth; and gnats were made in men, and in work beasts; all the dust of the earth was turned into gnats by all the land of Egypt.

18 And the witches did in like manner by their enchantments, that they should bring forth gnats, and they might not; and gnats were as well in men as in work beasts.

19 And the witches said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. And the heart of Pharaoh was made hard, and he heard not them, as the Lord commanded.

20 And the Lord said to Moses, Rise thou early, and stand before Pharaoh, for he shall go out to the waters; and thou shalt say to him, The Lord saith these things, Deliver thou my people, that it make sacrifice to me;

21 that if thou wilt not deliver the people, lo! I shall send into thee, and into thy servants, and into thy people, and into thine houses, all the kinds of flies; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full-filled with flies of diverse kinds, and all the land in which they shall be.

22 And in that day I shall make wonderful the land of Goshen, in which my people is, that flies be not there; and that thou know that I am the Lord in the midst of [the] earth;

23 and I shall set parting betwixt my people and thy people; this sign shall be tomorrow.

24 And the Lord did so. And a most grievous fly, that is, a multitude of flies, came into the house of Pharaoh, and into the houses of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt; and the land was corrupted of such flies.

25 And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said to them, Go ye, make ye sacrifice to the Lord your God, in this land.

26 And Moses said, It may not be [done] so, for why shall we offer to the Lord our God the abominations of Egyptians; that if we shall slay before the Egyptians those things which they worship, they shall throw us down with stones.

27 We shall go the way of three days into wilderness, and we shall make sacrifice to our Lord God, as he commanded us.

28 And Pharaoh said, I shall deliver you, that ye make sacrifice to the Lord your God in desert; nevertheless go ye not further; pray ye for me.

29 And Moses said, I shall go out from thee, and I shall pray the Lord; and the fly, that is, the multitude of flies, shall go away from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and his people, tomorrow; nevertheless do not thou more deceive me, that thou deliver not the people to make sacrifice to the Lord.

30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed the Lord,

31 the which did by the word of Moses, and took away the flies from Pharaoh, and from his servants, and from his people; none left, soothly not one.

32 And the heart of Pharaoh was made hard, so that he delivered not the people, soothly neither in this time.

CHAPTER 9

1 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Enter thou to Pharaoh, and speak thou to him, The Lord God of Hebrews saith these things, Deliver thou my people, that it make sacrifice to me;

2 that if thou forsakest yet, and withholdest them,

3 lo! mine hand shall be on thy fields, on the horses, and asses, and camels, and oxen, and sheep, a pestilence full grievous;

4 and the Lord shall make a marvellous thing betwixt the possessions of Israel and the possessions of the Egyptians, that utterly nothing perish of these things that pertain to the sons of Israel.

5 And the Lord ordained a time, and said, Tomorrow the Lord shall do this word in the land.

6 Therefore the Lord made this word in the tother day, and all the living beasts of the Egyptians were dead; forsooth utterly nothing perished of the beasts of the sons of Israel.

7 And Pharaoh sent to see, neither anything was dead of these things which Israel wielded; and the heart of Pharaoh was made full grievous, and he delivered not the people.

8 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Take ye your hands full of ashes of a chimney, and Moses sprinkle it into heaven before Pharaoh;

9 and be there dust on all the land of Egypt; for why botches shall be in men, and in work beasts, and swelling bladders shall be in all the land of Egypt.

10 And they took ashes of a chimney, and they stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it into heaven; and wounds of swelling bladders were made in men, and in work beasts;

11 and the witches might not stand before Moses, for the wounds, or sores, that were in them, and in all the land of Egypt.

12 And the Lord made hard the heart of Pharaoh, and he heard not them, as the Lord spake to Moses.

13 Also the Lord said to Moses, Rise thou early, and stand before Pharaoh, and thou shalt say to him, The Lord God of Hebrews saith these things, Deliver thou my people, that it make sacrifice to me;

14 for in this time I shall send all my vengeances on thine heart, and on thy servants, and on thy people, that thou know, that none is like me in all [the] earth.

15 For now I shall hold forth mine hand, and I shall smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt perish from the earth;

16 forsooth therefore I have set thee, that I show my strength in thee, and that my name be told in each land.

17 Yet thou withholdest my people, and wilt not deliver it?

18 Lo! tomorrow, in this same hour, I shall rain full much hail, what manner hail was not in Egypt, from the day in which it was founded, till into this present time.

19 Therefore send thou right now, and gather thy work beasts, and all things that thou hast in the field; for men, and work beasts, and all things that be in fields withoutforth, and be not gathered from the fields, and [the] hail fall on those [or them], they shall die.

20 He that dreaded the word of the Lord, of the servants of Pharaoh, made his servants and work beasts flee into houses;

21 soothly he that despised the Lord’s word, left his servants and his work beasts in the fields.

22 And the Lord said to Moses, Hold forth thine hand into heaven, that hail be made in all the land of Egypt, on men, and on work beasts, and on each herb of the field in the land of Egypt.

23 And Moses held forth the rod into heaven; and the Lord gave thunders, and hail, and lightnings running about on the land; and the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt;

24 and hail and fire meddled [or mingled] together were borne forth; and it was of so much greatness, how great appeared never before in all the land of Egypt, since that people was made.

25 And the hail smote in all the land of Egypt all things that were in the fields, from man till to work beast; and the hail smote all the herb of the field, and brake all the flax of the country;

26 only the hail felled not in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were.

27 And Pharaoh sent, and called Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned also now; the Lord is just [or rightwise], and I and my people be wicked;

28 pray ye the Lord, that the thunders and hail of God cease, and I shall deliver you, and dwell ye no more here.

29 Moses said, When I shall go out of the city, I shall hold forth mine hands to the Lord, and [the] lightnings and thunders shall cease, and hail shall not be, that thou know, that the earth is the Lord’s;

30 forsooth I know, that thou and thy servants dread not yet the Lord [God].

31 Therefore the flax and barley was hurt, for the barley was green, and the flax had burgeoned then knops;

32 forsooth wheat and beans were not hurt, for those [or they] were late sown.

33 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and from the city, and held forth his hands to the Lord, and thunders and hail ceased, and [the] rain dropped no more on the earth.

34 Soothly Pharaoh saw that the rain had ceased, and the hail, and thunders, and he increased sin; and the heart of him, and of his servants, was made grievous,

35 and his heart was made hard greatly; neither he let go the sons of Israel, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.

CHAPTER 10

1 And the Lord said to Moses, Enter thou to Pharaoh, for I have made hard the heart of him, and of his servants, that I do these signs of me in him;

2 and that thou tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s sons, how oft I all-brake the Egyptians, and did signs in them; and that ye know that I am the Lord.

3 Therefore Moses and Aaron entered to Pharaoh, and said to him, The Lord God of Hebrews saith these things, How long wilt thou not be made subject to me? Deliver thou my people, that it make sacrifice to me;

4 else soothly if thou against-standest, and wilt not deliver it, lo! I shall bring in tomorrow a locust, that is, a multitude of locusts, into thy coasts,

5 that shall cover the over-part of the earth, neither anything thereof shall appear, but that, that was left of the hail shall be eaten of locusts; for the locusts shall gnaw all the trees that burgeon in [the] fields;

6 and they shall full-fill thine houses, and the houses of thy servants, and of all the Egyptians, how great thy fathers and thy grand-sires saw not, since they were born on earth, till into this present day. And Moses turned away himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

7 Forsooth the servants of Pharaoh said to him, How long shall we suffer this offense? Deliver the men, that they make sacrifice to their Lord God; seest thou not that Egypt hath perished?

8 And they again called Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh, and he said to them, Go ye, and make ye sacrifice to your Lord God; which be they, that shall go?

9 Moses said, We shall go with our little children and elders, and with sons, and daughters, with sheep, and great beasts; for it is the solemnity of our Lord God.

10 And Pharaoh answered, So the Lord be with you*; how therefore shall I deliver you, and your little children? to whom is it doubtful, that ye think not the worst things?

11 It shall not be done so; but go ye men only, and make ye sacrifice to the Lord; for also ye asked this. And anon they were cast out from the sight of Pharaoh.

12 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Hold forth thine hand on the land of Egypt, to a locust, that is, a multitude of locusts, that it ascend [or go up] on the land, and devour all the herb which is left of the hail.

13 And Moses held forth the rod on the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought in a burning wind all that day and night; and when the morrowtide was made, the burning wind raised [up] locusts,

14 which ascended [or went up] on all the land of Egypt, and sat in all the coasts of Egyptians; and the locusts were unnumberable, and such were not before that time, neither shall come afterward.

15 And those [or they] covered all the face of the earth, and wasted all things; therefore the herb of the earth was devoured, and whatever of apples was in trees, which the hail had left, it was devoured; and utterly no green thing was left in trees, and in herbs of the earth, in all Egypt.

16 Wherefore Pharaoh hasted, and called Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned against your Lord God, and against you;

17 but now forgive ye the sin to me; also in this time pray ye your Lord God, that he take away from me this death.

18 And Moses went out of the sight of Pharaoh, and prayed the Lord;

19 the which made a full strong wind to blow from the west, and it took, and cast the locusts into the Red Sea†; soothly there left not one, in all the coasts of Egypt.

20 And the Lord made hard the heart of Pharaoh, and he let go not the sons of Israel.

21 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Hold forth thine hand into heaven, and darkness/es be on the land of Egypt, so thick that they may be groped.

22 And Moses held forth his hand into heaven, and horrible darknesses were made in all the land of Egypt;

23 and in three days no man saw his brother, neither moved himself from that place in which he was. Wherever the children of Israel dwelled, light was.

24 And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said to them, Go ye, make ye sacrifice to the Lord; only your sheep and your great beasts dwell still; your little children go with you.

25 And Moses said, Also thou shalt give to us offerings and burnt sacrifices, which we shall offer to our Lord God;

26 all the flocks shall go with us, for a claw shall not dwell of those things, that be needful into the worshipping of our Lord God, mostly since we know not what oweth to be offered, till we come to that place.

27 Forsooth the Lord made hard the heart of Pharaoh, and he would not deliver them.

28 And Pharaoh said to Moses, Go away from me, and beware that thou see no more my face; in whatever day thou shalt appear to me, thou shalt die.

29 Moses answered, Be it done so, as thou hast spoken; I shall no more see thy face.

CHAPTER 11

1 And the Lord said to Moses, Yet I shall touch Pharaoh and Egypt with one vengeance, and after these things he shall deliver you, and he shall constrain you to go out.

2 Therefore thou shalt say to all the people, that a man ask of his friend, and a woman of her neighbouress, silver vessels and golden, and clothes;

3 forsooth the Lord shall give grace to his people before the Egyptians. And Moses was a full great man in the land of Egypt, before the servants of Pharaoh and all the people;

4 and he said, The Lord saith these things, At midnight I shall enter into Egypt;

5 and each first begotten thing in the land of Egyptians shall die, from the first begotten of Pharaoh, that sitteth in the throne of him, till to the first begotten of the handmaid, which is at [the] quern; and all the first engendered of beasts shall die;

6 and [a] great cry shall be in all the land of Egypt, what manner cry was not before, neither shall be afterward.

7 Forsooth at all the children of Israel, a dog shall not make privy noise, from man till to beast; that ye know by how great miracle the Lord parteth [the] Egyptians and Israel.

8 And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and they shall pray me, and shall say, Go out thou, and all the people which is subject to thee; after these things we shall go out. And Moses full wroth went out from Pharaoh.

9 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh shall not hear you, that many signs be made in the land of Egypt.

10 Soothly Moses and Aaron made all the signs and wonders, that be here written, before Pharaoh; and the Lord made hard the heart of Pharaoh, neither he delivered the sons of Israel from his land.

CHAPTER 12

1 Also the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

2 This month, the beginning of months to you, shall be the first in the months of the year.

3 Speak ye to all the company of the sons of Israel, and say ye to them, In the tenth day of this month, each man take a lamb by his meines and houses;

4 but if the number is less, that it may not suffice to eat the lamb, he shall take it with his neighbour, which is joined to his house, by the number of souls, that may suffice to the eating of the lamb.

5 Forsooth the lamb shall be a male of one year, without wem; by which custom ye shall take also a kid, if a lamb may not be had in good manner;

6 and ye shall keep him till to the fourteenth day of this month; and all the multitude of the sons of Israel shall offer him at eventide.

7 And they shall take of his blood, and they shall put it on ever either doorpost, and in the lintels, or higher thresholds, of the houses, in which they shall eat him;

8 and in that night they shall eat flesh, roasted with fire, and therf loaves, with the herb lettuce or with bitternesses of the field.

9 Ye shall not eat thereof any raw thing, neither sodden in water, but roasted only by fire; ye shall devour the head with the feet, and with the entrails thereof;

10 neither anything thereof shall abide till to the morrowtide; if anything is left, ye shall burn it in the fire.

11 Forsooth thus ye shall eat him; ye shall gird your reins, and ye shall have shoes in your feet, and ye shall hold staves in your hands, and ye shall eat it hastily; for it is pask, that is, the passing [forth] of the Lord.

12 And I shall pass through the land of Egypt in that night, and I shall smite all the first engendered or the first begotten things in the land of Egypt, from man till to beast; and I the Lord shall make dooms in all the gods of Egypt.

13 Forsooth [the] blood shall be to you into sign, in the houses in which ye shall be; and I shall see the blood, and I shall pass over you; neither a wound destroying shall be in you, when I shall smite the land of Egypt.

14 Forsooth ye shall have this day into mind, and ye shall make it solemn to the Lord in your generations, by everlasting worshipping.

15 Seven days ye shall eat therf bread; in the first day nothing dighted with sourdough shall be in your houses; whoever shall eat anything dighted with sourdough, from the first day till to the seventh day, that soul shall perish from Israel.

16 The first day shall be holy and solemn, and the seventh day shall be worshipful by the same hallowing; ye shall not do any work in those days, except these things that pertain to meat;

17 and ye shall keep therf bread. For in that same day I shall lead out of the land of Egypt your host; and ye shall keep this day in your generations by everlasting custom.

18 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, at eventide, ye shall eat therf bread, till to the one and twentieth day of the same month at eventide.

19 In seven days nothing dighted with sourdough shall be found in your houses; if any eateth anything dighted with sourdough, his soul shall perish from the company of Israel, as well of comelings, that be heathen men converted to the faith of Jews, as of them that be born in the land.

20 Ye shall not eat anything made with sourdough, and ye shall eat therf bread in all your dwelling places.

21 Forsooth Moses called all the elder men of the sons of Israel, and said to them, Go ye, and take ye a beast by your meines, and offer ye pask;

22 and dip ye a bundle of hyssop, in the blood which is in the threshold, either in a vessel beside the threshold, and sprinkle ye thereof on the lintel, and ever either doorpost; none of you shall go out at the door of his house till the morrowtide.

23 For the Lord shall pass [forth] smiting the Egyptians; and when he shall see the blood in the lintel, and in ever either doorpost, he shall pass over the door of the house; and he shall not suffer the smiter to enter into your houses, and to hurt you.

24 Keep thou this word; it shall be a lawful thing to thee and to thy sons till into without end.

25 And when ye shall enter into the land which the Lord shall give to you, as he promised, ye shall keep these ceremonies;

26 and when your sons shall say to you, What is this religion?

27 ye shall say to them, It is the sacrifice of the passing of the Lord, when he passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, and smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people was bowed, and worshipped.

28 And the sons of Israel went out, and did as the Lord commanded to Moses and Aaron.

29 Forsooth it was done in the midst of the night, the Lord smote all the first begotten things in the land of Egypt, from the first begotten of Pharaoh, that sat in the throne of him, till to the first begotten of a captive woman, that was in prison, and all the first engendered of beasts.

30 And Pharaoh rose in the night, and all his servants, and all Egypt; and a great cry was made in Egypt; for none house was, in which a dead man lay not.

31 And when Moses and Aaron were called in the night, Pharaoh said, Rise ye, and go ye out from my people, both ye and the sons of Israel; go ye, offer ye to the Lord, as ye say;

32 take ye your sheep and [your] great beasts, as ye asked; and go ye, and bless ye me.

33 And the Egyptians constrained the people to go out of the land swiftly, and said, All we shall die!

34 Therefore the people took meal sprinkled together, before that it was dighted with sourdough; and they bound it in mantles, and put it on their shoulders.

35 And the sons of Israel did as the Lord commanded to Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians silver vessels and golden, and full much clothing.

36 Forsooth the Lord gave grace to the people before the Egyptians, that the Egyptians lent to them; and they made bare the Egyptians.

37 And the children of Israel went forth from Rameses into Succoth, almost six hundred thousand of footmen, without little children and women;

38 but also the common people of males and of females unnumberable went up with them; sheep, and oxen, and full many beasts of diverse kind also.

39 And they baked meal, which sprinkled altogether a while ago they took from Egypt, and made therf loaves baken under ashes; for the loaves might not be dighted with sourdough, for [the] Egyptians compelled them to go out, and suffered not them to make any tarrying, neither it was leisure to make any stew.

40 Forsooth the dwelling of the sons of Israel, by which they dwelled in Egypt, was of four hundred and thirty years;

41 and when those years were fulfilled, all the host of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt in the same day.

42 This night is worthy to be kept in the worshipping of the Lord, when he led them out of the land of Egypt; all the sons of Israel ought to keep this night in their generations.

43 Also the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the religion of pask; each alien shall not eat thereof;

44 soothly each servant bought shall be circumcised, and so he shall eat;

45 a comeling and a hired man shall not eat thereof;

46 it shall be eaten in one house; neither ye shall bear out the flesh thereof; neither ye shall break a bone thereof.

47 Each company of the sons of Israel shall make that pask;

48 that if any pilgrim will pass into your faith and worshipping, and make [the] pask of the Lord, each male kind of him shall be circumcised before the solemnity, and then he shall make it lawfully, and he shall be together with them as a man born of the land; forsooth if any man is not circum-cised, he shall not eat thereof.

49 The same law shall be to a man born of the land, and to a comeling, that taketh your faith, the which is a pilgrim with you.

50 And all the sons of Israel did as the Lord commanded to Moses and Aaron.

51 And in the same day the Lord led out of the land of Egypt the sons of Israel, by their companies.

CHAPTER 13

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Hallow thou to me each first begotten thing that openeth the womb among the sons of Israel, as well of men as of beasts, for why all be mine.

3 And Moses said to the people, Have ye mind of this day, in which ye went out of Egypt, and of the house of servage, for in [a] strong hand the Lord led you out of this place, that ye eat no bread dighted with sourdough.

4 Today ye go out, in the month of new fruits;

5 and when the Lord hath led thee into the land of Canaanites, and of Hittites, and of Amorites, and of Hivites, and of Jebusites, which land he swore to thy fathers, that he should give to thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, thou shalt hallow this custom of holy things in this month.

6 Seven days thou shalt eat therf loaves, and the solemnity of the Lord shall be in the seventh day;

7 ye shall eat therf loaves seven days, nothing dighted with sourdough shall appear at thee, neither in all thy coasts.

8 And thou shalt tell to thy son in that day, and shalt say, This it is that the Lord did to me, when I went out of Egypt.

9 And it shall be as a sign in thine hand, and as a memorial before thine eyes, and that the law of the Lord be ever[more] in thy mouth; for in a strong hand the Lord led thee out of Egypt, and of the house of servage.

10 Thou shalt keep such a worship-ping in time ordained, from days into days, that is, from year into year.

11 And when the Lord hath brought thee into the land of Canaanites, as he swore to thee, and to thy fathers, and hath given it to thee,

12 thou shalt separate to the Lord all male thing that openeth the womb, and that that is first in thy beasts; whatever thing thou hast of male kind, thou shalt hallow it to the Lord.

13 Thou shalt exchange the first engendered of an ass for a sheep, that if thou again-buyest it not, thou shalt slay it; forsooth thou shalt again-buy with price all the first begotten of a man of thy sons.

14 And when thy son shall ask thee tomorrow, and say, What is this? thou shalt answer to him, In a strong hand the Lord led us out of the land of Egypt, of the house of servage;

15 for when Pharaoh was made hard in heart, and would not deliver us, the Lord slew all the first begotten thing in the land of Egypt, from the first begotten of man, till to the first engendered of beasts; therefore I offer to the Lord all thing of male kind that openeth the womb, and I again-buy all the first begotten things of my sons.

16 Therefore it shall be as a sign in thine hand, and as a thing hanged for mind before thine eyes, for in a strong hand the Lord led us out of Egypt.

17 Therefore when Pharaoh had sent out the people, God led not them out by the way of the land of Philistines, which is nigh; and areckoning lest peradventure it would repent the people, if he had seen battles rise against him, and the people would turn again into Egypt;

18 but God led the people about by the way of desert, which way is beside the Red Sea. And the sons of Israel were armed, and went up from the land of Egypt.

19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had charged the sons of Israel, and had said, God shall visit you, and bear ye out from hence my bones with you.

20 And they went forth from Succoth, and setted tents in Etham, in the last ends of the wilderness.

21 Forsooth the Lord went before them to show them the way, by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire, that he should be leader of the way in ever either time;

22 the pillar of cloud failed never by day, neither the pillar of fire by night, before the people.

CHAPTER 14

1 Forsooth the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel; turn they again, and set they tents even against Pihahiroth, which is betwixt Migdol and the sea, against Baalzephon; and in the sight thereof ye shall set tents on the sea.

3 And Pharaoh shall say on the sons of Israel, They be made strait in the land, the desert hath enclosed them altogether.

4 And I shall make hard his heart, and he shall pursue you, and I shall be glorified in Pharaoh, and in all his host; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord; and they did so.

5 And it was told to the king of the Egyptians, that the people had fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed on the people, and they said, What would we do, that we let go Israel, that it should not serve us?

6 Therefore Pharaoh joined the chariot, and took with him all his people;

7 and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and whatever thing of chariots was in Egypt, and [the] dukes of all the host.

8 And the Lord made hard the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he pursued the sons of Israel; and they were gone out in an high hand.

9 And when the Egyptians pursued the steps of the sons of Israel before-going, they found them in tents on the sea; all the chivalry, and [the] chariots of Pharaoh, and all the host were in Pihahiroth, against Baalzephon.

10 And when Pharaoh had nighed, the sons of Israel raised [up] their eyes, and they saw the Egyptians behind them, and they dreaded greatly; and they cried to the Lord,

11 and said to Moses, In hap sepulchres were not in Egypt, therefore thou hast taken us away, that we shall die in wilderness? what wouldest thou do this, that thou leddest us out of Egypt?

12 Whether this is not the word that we spake to thee in Egypt, saying, Go away from us, that we serve the Egyptians? for it is much better to serve them, than to die in wilderness.

13 And Moses said to the people, Do not ye dread, stand ye, and see the great works of God, which he shall do today; for ye shall no more see the Egyptians, which ye see now, till into without end;

14 the Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall be still.

15 And the Lord said to Moses, What criest thou to me? Speak thou to the sons of Israel, that they go forth;

16 forsooth raise thou thy rod, and stretch forth thine hand on the sea, and part thou it, that the sons of Israel go in the midst of the sea, by dry place.

17 Forsooth I shall make hard the hearts of [the] Egyptians, that they pursue you, and I shall be glorified in Pharaoh, and in all the host of him, and in the chariots of him, and in the knights of him;

18 and [the] Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord God, when I shall be glorified in Pharaoh, and in the chariots, and in the knights of him.

19 And the angel of the Lord, that went before the castles or tents of Israel, took himself, and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went together with him, and left the former things after the back,

20 and stood betwixt the castles [or the tents] of Egyptians and the castles [or the tents] of Israel; and the cloud was dark toward the Egyptians, and it was lightening the night toward Israel, so that in all the time of the night, they might not [come] nigh together to themselves.

21 And when Moses had stretched forth his hand on the sea, the Lord took away the sea, the while a great wind and a burning blew in all the night, and turned the sea into dryness; and the water was parted.

22 And the sons of Israel entered by the midst of the dry sea; for the water was as a wall at the right side, and the left side of them.

23 And the Egyptians pursued, and entered after them, all the riding of Pharaoh, his chariots, and [his] knights, by the midst of the sea.

24 And the watch of the morrowtide came then, and lo! the Lord beheld on the castles [or the tents] of the Egyptians, by a pillar of fire, and of cloud, and killed the host of them;

25 and he destroyed the wheels of [the] chariots, and those [or they] were borne into the depth. Therefore the Egyptians said, Flee we Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against us.

26 And the Lord said to Moses, Hold forth thine hand on the sea, that the waters turn again to [the] Egyptians, on the chariots, and on the knights of them.

27 And when Moses had held forth his hand against the sea, it turned again first in the morrowtide to the former place; and when the Egyptians fled, the waters came against them, and the Lord wrapped them in the midst of the flood.

28 And the waters turned again, and covered the chariots, and [the] knights of all the host of Pharaoh, which pursued [or were following], and entered into the sea; soothly not one of them was left alive.

29 Forsooth the sons of Israel went through the midst of the dry sea, and the waters were to them as for a wall, on the right side, and on the left side.

30 And in that day the Lord delivered Israel from the hand of [the] Egyptians, and they saw the Egyptians dead on the brink of the sea,

31 and they saw the great hand, or power, or might, which the Lord had used against the Egyptians; and the people dreaded the Lord, and they believed to the Lord, and to Moses his servant.

CHAPTER 15

1 Then Moses sang, and the sons of Israel, this song to the Lord; and they said, Sing we to the Lord, for he is magnified gloriously; he hath cast down the horse and the horseman into the sea.

2 My strength and my praising is the Lord; and he is made to me into health. This is my God, and I shall glorify him; the God of my father, and I shall enhance or exalt him.

3 The Lord is a man-fighter, his name is Almighty;

4 he casted down into the sea the chariots of Pharaoh, and his host. His chosen princes were drowned in the Red Sea or the Sea of Reeds;

5 the deep waters covered them; they went down into the depth as a stone.

6 Lord, thy right hand is magnified in strength; Lord, thy right hand smote the enemy.

7 And in the multitude of thy glory, thou hast put down all thine adver-saries; thou sentest thine ire, that devoured them as stubble.

8 And waters were gathered [together] in the spirit of thy strong vengeance; [the] flowing water stood, [the] deep waters were gathered [together] in the midst of the sea.

9 The enemy said, I shall pursue, and I shall overtake; I shall part spoils, my soul, that is, my will, shall be fulfilled. I shall draw out my sword; mine hand shall slay them.

10 Thy spirit blew, and the sea covered them; they were drowned as lead in great waters.

11 Lord, who is like thee in strong men, who is like thee? thou art a great doer in holiness; fearful, and praiseable, and doing miracles.

12 Thou heldest forth thine hand, and the earth devoured them;

13 thou were leader in thy mercy to thy people, which thou again-boughtest; and thou hast borne him in thy strength to thine holy dwelling place.

14 Peoples went up, and were wroth; sorrows held the dwellers of Philistia.

15 Then the princes of Edom were troubled; trembling held the strong men of Moab. All the dwellers of Canaan dreaded, or were encumbered;

16 inward dread fall on them, and outward dread in the greatness of thine arm. Be they made unmoveable as a stone, till thy people pass, Lord; till thy people pass, whom thou wield-edest.

17 Thou shalt bring them in, and thou shalt plant them in the hill of thine heritage; in the most steadfast dwelling place which thou hast wrought, Lord; Lord, thy saintuary, which thine hands made steadfast.

18 The Lord shall reign without end, and over all things.

19 Forsooth Pharaoh, on horse, entered with his chariots and [his] horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought the waters of the sea on them; soothly the sons of Israel went by the dry place, in [the] midst of the sea.

20 Therefore Marie, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tympan in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tympans and companies;

21 to which she sang before, and said, Sing we to the Lord, for he is magnified gloriously; he hath cast down into the sea the horse and the rider of him.

22 Forsooth Moses took Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the desert of Shur; and they went three days by the wilderness, and they found not water.

23 And they came into Marah, and they might not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; wherefore he putted a covenable name to the place, and called it Marah, that is, bitterness.

24 And the people grutched against Moses, and said, What shall we drink?

25 And Moses cried to the Lord, which showed to him a tree; and when he had put that tree into the waters, those [or they] were turned into sweetness. There the Lord ordained commandments and dooms to the people, and there he assayed the people,

26 and said, If thou shalt hear the voice of thy Lord God, and shalt do that that is rightful before him, and shalt obey to his commandments, and shalt keep all his behests, I shall not bring in on thee all the sickness, which I have put in Egypt, for I am thy Lord Saviour.

27 Forsooth the sons of Israel came into Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees, and they setted tents beside the waters.

CHAPTER 16

1 And they went forth from Elim, and all the multitude of the sons of Israel came into the desert of Sin, which is betwixt Elim and Sinai, in the fifteenth day of the second month, after that they went out of the land of Egypt.

2 And all the congregation of the sons of Israel grutched against Moses, and against Aaron, in the wilderness.

3 And the sons of Israel said to them, We would that we had been dead by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat on the flesh pots, and ate loaves in plenty; why led ye us into this desert, that ye should slay all the multitude with hunger?

4 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Lo! I shall rain to you loaves from heaven; the people go out, that it gather those things that suffice by each day; that I assay the people, whether it go in my law, or not.

5 Soothly in the sixth day, make they ready that that they shall bear in, and be it double over that they were wont to gather by each day.

6 And Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, At eventide ye shall know that the Lord [hath] led you out of the land of Egypt;

7 and in the morrowtide ye shall see the glory of the Lord; for I heard your grutching against the Lord; soothly what be we, for ye grutch against us?

8 And Moses said, The Lord shall give to you at eventide flesh to eat, and loaves in the morrowtide in plenty, for he [hath] heard your grutchings, by which ye grutched against him; for why, what be we? your grutching is not against us, but against the Lord.

9 And Moses said to Aaron, Say thou to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, Nigh ye before the Lord, for he [hath] heard your grutching.

10 And when Aaron spake to all the company of the sons of Israel, they beheld to the wilderness, and lo! the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud.

11 Forsooth the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

12 I heard the grutchings of the sons of Israel; speak thou to them, At eventide ye shall eat flesh, and in the morrowtide ye shall be filled with loaves, and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.

13 Therefore eventide was made, and curlews went up, and covered the castles [or the tents]; and in the morrowtide dew came before the face of the castles [or the tents].

14 And when it had covered the earth, a little thing, and as pounded with a pestle, in the likeness of an hoarfrost on the earth, appeared in the wilderness.

15 And when the sons of Israel had seen that, they said together, Man na? which signifieth, What is this? for they wist not what it was. To whom Moses said, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.

16 This is the word which the Lord commanded, Each man gather thereof as much as it sufficeth to be eaten, omer by each head, by the number of your souls that dwell in the tabernacle, so ye shall take.

17 And the sons of Israel did so, and they gathered, one more, and another less;

18 and they meted [or measured it] at the measure of omer; neither he that gathered more had more, neither he that made ready less found less, but all gathered by that that they might eat.

19 And Moses said to them, No man leave thereof into the morrowtide;

20 which heard not him, but some of them left thereof till to the morrow-tide, and it began to boil with worms, and it was rotten; and Moses was wroth against them.

21 Forsooth all they gathered in the morrowtide as much as sufficed to be eaten; and when the sun was hot, it was molten or melted.

22 Soothly in the sixth day they gathered double meats, that is, two omers each man. Forsooth all the princes of the multitude came, and told to Moses,

23 which said to them, This it is that the Lord spake, The rest of the sabbath is hallowed to the Lord; do ye what-ever thing shall be wrought tomorrow, and seethe ye those things that shall be sodden; soothly whatever thing is residue, or left over, keep ye it till into the morrow.

24 And they did so as Moses commanded, and it was not rotten, neither a worm was found therein.

25 And Moses said, Eat ye that in this day, for it is the sabbath of the Lord, it shall not be found today in the field;

26 gather ye it in six days, forsooth the sabbath of the Lord is in the seventh day, therefore in that day it shall not be found.

27 The seventh day came, and some of the people went out to gather, and they found not.

28 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, How long will ye not keep my commandments, and my law?

29 See ye that the Lord gave to you the sabbath, and for that he hath given to you in the sixth day double meats; each man dwell at himself, no man go out of his place in the seventh day.

30 And the people kept sabbath in the seventh day.

31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna, which was white, as the seed of coriander, and the taste thereof was as of flour with honey.

32 Forsooth Moses said, This is the word which the Lord commanded, Fill thou an omer thereof, and be it kept into generations to coming [or to come] afterward, that they know the bread with which I fed you in wilder-ness, when ye were led out of the land of Egypt.

33 And Moses said to Aaron, Take thou a vessel, and put therein manna, as much as an omer may take, and put it before the Lord, to be kept into your generations,

34 as the Lord commanded to Moses; and Aaron put that to be kept in the tabernacle.

35 Forsooth the sons of Israel ate manna forty years, till they came into the land habitable, that is, able to be inhabited; they were fed with this meat, till they touched the coasts of the land of Canaan.

36 Forsooth omer is the tenth part of ephah.

CHAPTER 17

1 Therefore all the multitude of the sons of Israel went forth from the desert of Sin, by their dwellings, by the word of the Lord, and setted tents in Rephidim, where was no water to the people to drink.

2 Which people chided against Moses, and said, Give water to us, that we drink. To whom Moses answered, What chide ye against me, and why tempt ye the Lord?

3 Therefore the people thirsted there for the scarceness of water, and they grutched against Moses, and said, Why madest thou us to go out of Egypt, to slay us, and our free children, and our beasts, for thirst?

4 Forsooth Moses cried to the Lord, and said, What shall I do to this people? yet a little, and it shall stone me.

5 The Lord said to Moses, Go thou before the people, and take with thee of the elder men of Israel, and take in thine hand the rod, with the which thou hast smitten the flood, and go;

6 lo! I shall stand there before thee, above the stone of Horeb, and thou shalt smite the stone, and water shall go out thereof, that the people drink. Moses did so before the elder men of Israel;

7 and he called the name of that place Temptation, for the chiding of the sons of Israel, and for they tempted the Lord, and said, Whether the Lord is in us, or nay?

8 Forsooth Amalek came, and fought against Israel in Rephidim.

9 And Moses said to Joshua, Choose thou men, and go out, and fight tomorrow against the men of Amalek; lo! I shall stand in the top of the hill, and I shall have the rod of God in mine hand.

10 Joshua did as Moses spake, and he fought against Amalek. Forsooth Moses, and Aaron, and Hur went up on the top of the hill;

11 and when Moses raised [up] his hands, Israel overcame; forsooth if he let them down a little, Amalek over-came.

12 Soothly Moses’ hands were made heavy, therefore they took a stone, and put under him, on which stone he sat. Forsooth Aaron and Hur sustained his hands, on ever either side; and it was done, that his hands were not made weary, till to the going down of the sun.

13 And Joshua drove away Amalek and his people, in the mouth of [the] sword, that is, by the sharpness of the sword, he killed all the strong men of Amalek in that battle.

14 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Write thou this in a book, for mind, and take in the ears of Joshua; for I shall do away the mind of Amalek from under heaven.

15 And Moses builded an altar, and called the name thereof, The Lord is mine enhancer,

16 and he said, For it is the hand of the Lord alone, and the battle of God shall be against Amalek, from generation into generation.

CHAPTER 18

1 And when Jethro, the priest of Midian, the ally, either father of the wife of Moses, had heard all things which God had done to Moses, and to Israel his people, for the Lord had led Israel out of the land of Egypt,

2 Jethro took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, whom Moses had sent again,

3 and his two sons, of which one was called Gershom, for the father at his birth said, I was a comeling in an alien land,

4 forsooth the tother was called Eliezer, for Moses at his birth said, God of my father is mine helper, and he delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.

5 Therefore Jethro, ally of Moses, came, and the sons of Moses and his wife came to Moses, into desert, where Jethro set tents beside the hill of God;

6 and he sent to Moses, and said, I Jethro, thine ally, come to thee, and thy wife, and thy two sons with her.

7 And Moses went out into the coming of his ally, and worshipped or honoured, and kissed him, and they greeted themselves together with peaceable words. And when Jethro had entered into the tabernacle,

8 Moses told to him all things which God had done to Pharaoh, and to the Egyptians, for Israel, and he told to him all the travail that befell to them in the way, of which the Lord had delivered them.

9 And Jethro was glad on all the goods which the Lord had done to Israel, for he [had] delivered Israel from the hand of [the] Egyptians.

10 And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, that delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians, and from the hand of Pharaoh, the which Lord delivered his people from the hand or power of Egypt;

11 now I know that the Lord is great above all gods, for they did proudly against them.

12 Therefore Jethro, ally of Moses, offered burnt sacrifices and offerings to God; and Aaron, and all the elder men of Israel, came to eat bread with Jethro before God.

13 Forsooth in the tother day, Moses sat that he should deem the people, which stood nigh to Moses, from the morrowtide till to the eventide.

14 And when his ally had seen this, that is, all things which he did in the people, he said, What is this that thou doest in the people? why sittest thou alone, and all the people abideth thee from the morrowtide till to eventide?

15 To whom Moses answered, The people cometh to me, and asketh the sentence of God;

16 and when any strife befalleth to them, they come to me, that I deem betwixt them, and show the command-ments of God, and his laws.

17 And Jethro said, Thou doest a thing that is not good,

18 thou art wasted with a fond [or folly] travail, both thou, and this people that is with thee; the work is above thy strengths, thou alone mayest not suffer it.

19 But hear thou my words, and my counsels, and the Lord shall be with thee; be thou to the people in these things that pertain to God, that thou tell the things that be said to the people;

20 and show to the people the ceremonies, and [the] customs of worshipping, and the way by which they owe to go, and the work which they owe to do.

21 Forsooth purvey thou of all the people wise men, and dreading God, in which is truth, and which hate avarice; and ordain thou of them tribunes [or rulers upon thousands], and centurions [or rulers upon hundreds], and quinquagenaries [or rulers upon fifty], and deans [or rulers upon ten],

22 which shall deem the people in all time; soothly whatever thing is greater, tell they to thee, and deem they only [the] lesser things, and be it easier to thee, when the burden is parted into other men.

23 If thou shalt do this, thou shalt fulfill the commandment of God, and thou shalt be able to bear his com-mandments; and all this people shall turn again with peace to their places.

24 And when these things were heard, Moses did all things which Jethro counselled.

25 And when noble men of all Israel were chosen, Moses ordained them princes of the people, tribunes [or rulers upon thousands], and centurions [or rulers upon hundreds], and quin-quagenaries [or rulers upon fifty], and deans [or rulers upon ten],

26 which deemed the people in all time; forsooth, whatever thing was harder, they told to Moses, and they deemed [the] easier things only.

27 And Moses let go his ally, which turned again, and went into his land.

CHAPTER 19

1 In the third month of the going of Israel out of the land of Egypt, in this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai;

2 for they went forth from Rephidim, and came till into the desert of Sinai, and they setted tents in the same place; and there Israel setted tents, even against the hill.

3 Forsooth Moses went up into the hill to God; and the Lord called him from the mount, and said, Thou shalt say these things to the house of Jacob, and thou shalt tell to the sons of Israel,

4 Ye yourselves have seen what things I have done to [the] Egyptians, how I bare you on the wings of eagles, and took you to me.

5 Therefore if ye shall hear my voice, and shall keep my covenant, ye shall be to me into a specialty of all peoples, that is, a thing loved excellently; for all the earth is mine;

6 and ye shall be to me into a realm of priesthood, and an holy folk; these be the words which thou shalt speak to the sons of Israel.

7 Moses came, and when the greater men in birth of the people were called together, he expounded all the words which the Lord commanded him.

8 And all the people answered together, We shall do all [the] things which the Lord hath spoken. And when Moses had told the words of the people to the Lord,

9 the Lord said to him, Right now I shall come to thee in the darkness of a cloud, that the people hear me speaking to thee, and believe to thee without end. Therefore Moses told the words of the people to the Lord,

10 which said to Moses, Go thou to the people, and make them holy today and tomorrow, and wash they their clothes,

11 and be they ready into the third day; for in the third day the Lord shall come down before all the people on the hill of Sinai.

12 And thou shalt set terms to the people, by compass; and thou shalt say to them, Be ye ware, that ye go not up into the hill, neither touch ye the ends thereof; each man that shall touch the hill, shall die by death.

13 Hands shall not touch him, but he shall be oppressed with stones, or he shall be pierced with darts; whether it shall be a beast, or a man, it shall not live; when a clarion shall begin to sound, then go they up into the hill.

14 And Moses came down from the hill to the people, and hallowed it; and when they had washed their clothes,

15 he said to them, Be ye ready into the third day; nigh ye not to your wives.

16 And now the third day was come, and the morrowtide was clear; and, lo! thunders began to be heard, and lightnings to shine, and a most thick cloud to cover the mountain; and the sounding of a clarion made noise full greatly, and the people dreaded, that was in the tents.

17 And when Moses had led them out into the coming of God, from the place of the tents, they stood at the roots of the hill.

18 Forsooth all the hill of Sinai smoked, for the Lord had come down thereon in fire; and the smoke thereof went up as of a furnace, and all the hill was fearful;

19 and the sound of a clarion increased little and little, and it was holden forth longer. Moses spake, and the Lord answered him,

20 and the Lord came down on the hill of Sinai, in that top of the hill, and he called Moses to the top thereof. And when he had gone up thither,

21 the Lord said to him, Go thou down, and witness thou to the people, lest peradventure it will pass [over] the terms to see the Lord, and [a] full great multitude thereof perish;

22 and [the] priests, that nigh to the Lord, be they hallowed, lest I smite them.

23 And Moses said to the Lord, The common people may not go up into the hill of Sinai; for thou hast witnessed, and hast commanded, saying, Set thou terms about the hill, and hallow it.

24 To whom the Lord said, Go thou down, and thou shalt go up, and bring Aaron with thee; forsooth the priests and the people pass not over the terms, neither go they up to the Lord, lest peradventure he slay them.

25 Moses went down to the people, and told all things to them.

CHAPTER 20

1 And the Lord spake all these words,

2 I am thy Lord God, that led thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of servage.

3 Thou shalt not have alien gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make to thee a graven image, neither any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, and that is in earth beneath, neither of those things that be in waters under the earth;

5 thou shalt not bow down to them, neither worship them; for I am thy Lord God, a strongly jealous lover; I visit the wickedness of fathers in children into the third and fourth generation of them that hated me,

6 and I do mercy into thousands, to them that love me, and keep my behests.

7 Thou shalt not take in vain the name of thy Lord God, for the Lord shall not have him guiltless, that taketh in vain the name of his Lord God.

8 Have thou mind, that thou hallow the sabbath day;

9 in six days thou shalt work, and do all thy works;

10 forsooth in the seventh day is the sabbath of thy Lord God; thou shalt not do any work on that day, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thine handmaid, thy work beast, and the comeling that is within thy gates;

11 for in six days God made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that be in those [or them], and rested in the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou be long living on the land, which thy Lord God shall give to thee.

13 Thou shalt not slay.

14 Thou shalt not do lechery.

15 Thou shalt not do theft.

16 Thou shalt not speak false witness-ing [or false witness] against thy neigh-bour.

17 Thou shalt not covet the house of thy neighbour, neither thou shalt desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, neither all things that be his.

18 Forsooth all the people heard voices, that is, the thunder, and saw lamps, that is, shining lights, and the sound of a clarion, and the hill smoking; and they were afeared, and shaken with inward dread, and stood afar,

19 and said to Moses, Speak thou to us, and we shall hear; the Lord speak not to us, lest peradventure we die.

20 And Moses said to the people, Do not ye dread, for God came to prove you, and that his dread should be in you, and that ye should not do sin.

21 And the people stood afar; and Moses nighed to the darkness, wherein God was.

22 And the Lord said furthermore to Moses, Thou shalt say these things to the sons of Israel, Ye saw that from heaven I have spoken to you;

23 ye shall not make gods of silver, neither ye shall make to you gods of gold.

24 Ye shall make an altar of earth to me, and ye shall offer thereon your burnt sacrifices, and peaceable sacrifices, your sheep, and oxen; in each place in which the mind of my name shall be, I shall come to thee, and I shall bless thee.

25 That if thou shalt make an altar of stone to me, thou shalt not build it of stones hewn; for if thou shalt raise thy knife thereupon, or other instrument wherewith blood may be shed out, it shall be polluted.

26 Thou shalt not go up by degrees to mine altar, lest thy filthhood be showed.

CHAPTER 21

1 These be the dooms, which thou shalt set forth to them.

2 If thou buyest an Hebrew servant, he shall serve thee six years; in the seventh year he shall go out free, without price;

3 with what manner clothes he entered, with such clothes go he out; if he entered having a wife, also the wife shall go out together with him.

4 But if the lord of a servant gave a wife to him, and she childed sons and daughters, the woman and her children shall be her lord’s; soothly the servant shall go out with his own clothes.

5 And if the servant saith, I love my lord, and my wife, and children, I will not go out free;

6 his lord shall bring him to [the] gods, that is, judges; and he shall be set to the door, and to the doorposts; and his lord shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall be servant to him till into the world.

7 If any man selleth his daughter into a servantess, she shall not go out as handmaids were wont to go out;

8 if she displeaseth in the eyes of her lord, to whom she was betaken, he shall deliver her; soothly he shall not have power to sell her to an alien people, if he forsaketh her.

9 Forsooth if he weddeth her to his son, he shall do to her by the custom of daughters;

10 and if he take with this handmaid another woman, or wife, to his son, he shall purvey to the first damsel, or handmaid, weddings, and clothes, and he shall not deny her the price of her chastity, that is, the hour of yielding debt.

11 If he doeth not to her these three, she shall go out freely without money.

12 He that smiteth a man, and will slay him, die he by death;

13 forsooth if a man setteth not ambush, but God betook him into his hands, I shall ordain a place to thee, whither he oweth to flee.

14 If any man slayeth his neighbour by before-casting, and by ambush, draw thou him away from mine altar, that he die.

15 He that smiteth his father, or his mother, die he by death.

16 He that curseth his father, or mother, die he by death.

17 He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, if he is convicted of the guilt, die he by death.

18 If men chide, and the tother smite his neighbour with a stone, or with the fist, and he is not dead, but lieth in the bed,

19 if he riseth, and goeth forth on his staff, he that smote shall be innocent; so nevertheless that he restore to him for his travails, and his costs in leeches.

20 He that smiteth his servant, or handmaid, with a rod, and they be dead in his hands, he shall be guilty of the crime, or hideous trespass.

21 Soothly if the servant liveth over this beating one day, or twain [or two], the smiter shall not be subject to the pain of death, for the servant is his master’s chattel.

22 If men chide, and a man smiteth a woman with child, and soothly he maketh the child dead-born, but the woman liveth over that smiting, he shall be subject to the harm, as much as the woman’s husband asketh, and as the judges deem.

23 Soothly if the death of her pursueth [or follow], he shall yield life for life,

24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25 burning for burning, wound for wound, sore for sore.

26 If a man smiteth the eye of his servant, either of his handmaid, and maketh them one-eyed, he shall deliver them free for the eye which he put out.

27 Also if he smite out a tooth of his servant, or [his] handmaid, in like manner he shall deliver them free.

28 If an ox smiteth with his horn either man, or woman, and they be dead, the ox shall be thrown down with stones, and his flesh shall not be eaten, and the lord of the ox shall be guiltless.

29 That if the ox was an horn-putter from yesterday and the third day ago, and men warned his lord, neither the lord enclosed him, and he slayeth a man, or a woman, both the ox shall be thrown adown with stones, and they shall slay his lord;

30 that if the price be put to the lord, he shall give for his life whatever he is asked.

31 And if he smiteth with horn a man’s son, and his daughter, his lord shall be subject to the same sentence.

32 If the ox assaileth a manservant, and an handmaid, the lord of the ox shall give thirty shekels of silver to the lord of that servant; forsooth the ox shall be oppressed with stones.

33 If any man openeth a cistern, or a pit, and diggeth it, and covereth it not, and an ox either an ass falleth into it,

34 the lord of the cistern shall yield the price of the beasts; forsooth that that is dead shall be his.

35 If one man’s ox woundeth the ox of another man, and he is dead, they shall sell the quick ox, and they shall part [or divide] the price; soothly they shall part betwixt them the carcass of the dead ox.

36 Forsooth if the lord knew, that his ox was a horn-putter from yesterday and the third day ago, and kept not him in, he shall yield ox for ox, and he shall take the whole dead carcass.

CHAPTER 22

1 If any man stealeth a sheep, or ox, and slayeth, or selleth, he shall restore five oxen for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep.

2 And if a night thief breaking into an house, either undermining, is found, and he taken is dead by a wound, or hurt, the smiter shall not be guilty of his blood, or death;

3 that if he did this when the sun was risen, he did manslaying, and he shall die. If a thief have not that, that he shall yield for [the] theft, he shall be sold;

4 if that thing that he stole, is found quick at him, either ox, either ass, either sheep, he shall restore the double.

5 If a man harmeth a field, or a vinery [or vineyard], and suffereth his beast, that it waste other men’s things, he shall restore for the value of [the] harm, the best things what-ever he hath in his field, either in his vinery [or vineyard].

6 If fire goeth out, and findeth, or burneth, ears of corn, and catcheth heaps of corn, or corns standing in fields, he that kindled the fire shall yield the harm.

7 If a man betaketh into keeping money to a friend, or a vessel, and it is taken away by theft from him that received it, if the thief is found, he shall restore the double.

8 If the thief is hid, or unknown, the lord of the house that received that good shall be brought to the gods, that is, to judges, and he shall swear, that he held not forth his hand into his neighbour’s thing, to defraud;

9 as well in ox, as in ass, and in sheep, and in clothes; and in what-ever thing may bring in harm, the cause of ever either shall come to the judges, and if they deem him guilty, he shall restore the double to his neighbour.

10 If any man betaketh to his neighbour ox, ass, sheep, and all work beast to keeping, and it is dead, or is made feeble, or is taken of enemies, and no man seeth this,

11 an oath shall be in the midst, that he held not forth his hand to the impairing of his neighbour’s thing; and the lord that owned that good shall receive his oath, and he to whom it was taken shall not be compelled to yield, or restore it.

12 That if it is taken away by theft, he shall restore the harm to the lord;

13 if it is eaten of a beast, he shall bring to the lord that that is slain, and he shall not restore it otherwise.

14 He that asketh of his neighbour anything of these foresaid things by borrowing, and it is enfeebled, either dead, while the lord thereof is not present, he shall be constrained to yield it;

15 that if the lord is in presence, he shall not restore it, mostly if it came hired, that is, if to hire he took it, for meed of his work.

16 If a man deceiveth a virgin not yet wedded, and sleepeth with her, he shall give dower to her, and shall have her to wife.

17 If the father of the virgin will not give her to him, he shall give money, by the manner of dower, which virgins were wont to take.

18 Thou shalt not suffer witches to live.

19 He that doeth lechery with a beast, die he by death.

20 He that offereth to gods, except to the Lord alone, be he slain.

21 Thou shalt not make sorrowful a comeling, neither thou shalt torment him; for also ye were comelings in the land of Egypt.

22 Ye shall not harm a widow, and a fatherless or a motherless child.

23 If ye hurt them, they shall cry to me, and I shall hear the cry of them,

24 and my great vengeance shall have indignation on you, and I shall smite you with sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your sons shall be fatherless.

25 If thou givest money to loan to my poor people, that dwelleth with thee, thou shalt not constrain him as an extortioner doeth, neither thou shalt oppress him by usuries.

26 If thou takest of thy neighbour a cloth to wed or a cloak for a pledge, thou shalt yield it to him before the going down of the sun;

27 for that alone is the clothing of his flesh, with which he is covered, neither he hath another, in which he shall sleep; if he crieth to me, I shall hear him; for I am merciful.

28 Thou shalt not backbite [the] gods, that is, priests, or judges, and thou shalt not curse the prince of thy people.

29 Thou shalt not tarry to offer to the Lord thy tithes, and thy first fruits. Thou shalt give to me the first begotten of thy sons;

30 also of [thine] oxen, and of sheep, thou shalt do in like manner; seven days be he with his mother, in the eighth day thou shalt yield him to me.

31 Ye shall be holy men to me; ye shall not eat the flesh that is before-tasted of beasts, but ye shall cast it forth to hounds.

CHAPTER 23

1 Thou shalt not receive a voice of leasing, thou shalt not raise thine hand, that is, make covenant, either promise, that thou say false witnessing for a wicked man.

2 Thou shalt not follow a company to do evil, neither thou shalt assent to the sentence of full many men in doom, that thou go away from truth.

3 Also thou shalt not have mercy of a poor man in a cause, or doom.

4 If thou meetest thine enemy’s ox, either his ass, straying, lead it again to him.

5 If thou seest that the ass of him that hateth thee lieth under a burden, thou shalt not pass by, but thou shalt raise up it with him.

6 Thou shalt not bow [away]from truth in the doom of a poor man.

7 Thou shalt flee leasing. Thou shalt not slay an innocent man, and just [or rightwise]; for I am adversary to a wicked man.

8 Take thou not gifts, that blind, yea, prudent men, and destroy the words of just [or rightwise] men.

9 Thou shalt not be dis-easeful of a pilgrim, for ye know the souls of comelings, for also ye were pilgrims in the land of Egypt.

10 Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and thou shalt gather [the] fruits thereof;

11 forsooth in the seventh year thou shalt leave it, and make it to rest, that the poor men of thy people eat, and whatever is left ungathered, the beasts of the field eat it; so thou shalt do in thy vinery [or vineyard], and in the place of thine olive trees.

12 Six days thou shalt work, and in the seventh day thou shalt cease, that thine ox, and thine ass rest, and the son of thine handmaid, and the comeling be refreshed.

13 Keep ye all things, which I [have] said to you; and ye shall not swear by the name of alien gods, neither it shall be heard of your mouth.

14 In three times by all years ye shall hallow feasts to me.

15 Thou shalt keep the solemnity of therf loaves; seven days thou shalt eat therf bread, as I commanded to thee, in the time of [the] month of new things, when thou wentest out of Egypt; thou shalt not appear void in my sight.

16 And thou shalt keep the solemnity of the month of the first things of thy works*, whatever things thou hast sown in the field. Also thou shalt keep the solemnity in the going out of the year†, when thou hast gathered all thy fruits of the field.

17 Thrice in the year all thy male kind shall appear before thy Lord God.

18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of thy slain sacrifice on sourdough; neither the fatness of my solemnity shall dwell till to the morrowtide.

19 Thou shalt bear the first things of the fruits of thy land into the house of thy Lord God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in the milk of his mother.

20 Lo! I send mine angel, that shall go before thee, and shall keep thee in the way, and shall lead thee to the place which I have made ready to thee.

21 Take thou heed to him, and hear thou his voice, neither guess thou him to be despised, or despisable; for he shall not forgive, when thou sinnest, and my name is in him.

22 For if thou hearest his voice, and doest all things which I speak, I shall be enemy to thine enemies, and I shall torment them, that torment thee;

23 and mine angel shall go before thee, and he shall lead in thee to Amorites, and Hittites, and Perizzites, and Canaanites, and Hivites, and Jebus-ites, which I shall break, or destroy.

24 Thou shalt not honour the gods of them, neither thou shalt worship them; thou shalt not do the works of them, but thou shalt destroy their gods, and thou shalt break the images of them.

25 And ye shall serve to your Lord God, that I bless thy loaves, and thy waters, and do away sickness from the midst of thee;

26 neither a woman unfruitful, neither barren, shall be in thy land; I shall fulfill the number of thy days.

27 I shall send my dread into thy before-going, and I shall slay all the people, to which thou shalt enter, and I shall turn the backs of all thine enemies before thee;

28 and I shall send out before thee crabrones, or stinging flies, that shall drive away Hivite, and Canaanite, and Hittite, before that thou enter.

29 I shall not cast them out from thy face in one year, lest the land be turned into wilderness, and beasts increase against thee;

30 little and little I shall cast them out from thy sight, till thou be increased, and wield the land.

31 Forsooth and I shall set thy terms from the Red Sea till to the sea of Palestines, and from the desert till to the flood. I shall give into your hands the dwellers of the land, and I shall cast them out from your sight;

32 thou shalt not make bond of peace with them, neither with their gods.

33 Dwell they not in thy land, lest peradventure they make thee to do sin against me; if thou servest their gods, which thing certainly shall be to thee into cause of stumbling.

CHAPTER 24

1 Also he said to Moses, Go thou up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, and Nadab, and Abihu, and [the] seventy elder men of Israel; and ye shall worship afar,

2 and Moses alone go up to the Lord, and they shall not nigh, neither the people shall go up with him.

3 Therefore Moses came, and told to the people all the words and the dooms of the Lord; and all the people answered with one voice, We shall do all the words of the Lord which he hath spoken.

4 Forsooth Moses wrote all the words of the Lord; and he rose early, and builded an altar to the Lord at the roots of the hill, and he builded twelve titles, or stones, by twelve lineages of Israel.

5 And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt sacrifices, and peaceable sacrifices to the Lord, twelve calves/two calves.

6 And so Moses took half the part of the blood, and put it into great cups; forsooth he shedded or poured the residue part on the altar.

7 And he took the book of the bond of peace, and read [it], while the people heard; the which said, We shall do all things that the Lord spake, and we shall be obedient.

8 Forsooth Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, This is the blood of the bond of peace, which the Lord covenanted with you on all these words.

9 And Moses, and Aaron, and Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elder men of Israel went up,

10 and saw [the] God of Israel; under his feet, they saw as the work of a sapphire stone, and as heaven when it is clear.

11 And he sent not his hand on the lords of the sons of Israel, that had gone far away; and they saw God, and ate and drank.

12 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Come thou up to me into the hill, and be thou there, and I shall give to thee tables of stone, and the law, and commandments, which I have written, that thou teach them.

13 [And] Moses and Joshua, his minister or servant, rose, and Moses went up into the hill of God,

14 and said to the elder men, Abide ye here, till we turn again to you; ye have Aaron and Hur with you, if anything of question be made, ye shall tell [it] to them.

15 And when Moses had gone up, a cloud covered the hill,

16 and the glory of the Lord dwelled upon Sinai, and covered it with a cloud six days; forsooth in the seventh day, the Lord called him from the midst of the cloud;

17 forsooth the likeness of the glory of the Lord was as fire burning on the top of the hill in the sight of the sons of Israel.

18 And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the hill, and he was there forty days and forty nights.

CHAPTER 25

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, that they take to me the first fruits; of each man that offereth willfully, ye shall take those [things].

3 Forsooth these things it be, which ye shall take, gold, and silver, and brass,

4 and jacinth, and purple, and red silk twice-dyed, and bis, that is, white silk, [and] hairs of goats,

5 and skins of wethers made red, and skins of jacinth, and wood of shittim,

6 and oil to lights to be ordained, sweet smelling spiceries into ointment, and incense of good odour,

7 onyx stones, and gems to adorn ephod, that is, a chasuble, and the rational, that is, an ouch hanging on the priest’s breast, in which was written doom and truth.

8 And they shall make a saintuary to me, and I shall dwell in the midst of them,

9 by all the likeness of the taber-nacle that I shall show to thee, and of all the vessels of [the] adorning thereof.

10 And thus ye shall make it; join together an ark, or a coffer, of the wood of shittim, whose length shall have two cubits and an half, the breadth shall have one cubit and an half, the height in like manner one cubit and an half.

11 And thou shalt overgild it with cleanest gold within and without; and thou shalt make a golden crown above by compass,

12 and four golden rings, which thou shalt set by [the] four corners of the ark; two rings be in [the] one side, and two rings in the other side.

13 Also thou shalt make bars of the wood of shittim, and thou shalt cover them with gold,

14 and thou shalt bring in by the rings that be in the sides of the ark, that it be borne in them,

15 the which bars shall ever[more] be in the rings, neither they shall any time be drawn out of them.

16 And thou shalt put into the ark the witnessing, that is, law, which I shall give to thee.

17 And thou shalt make a propiti-atory* of cleanest gold; that is, a table covering the ark, [or a place of purchasing mercy]; the length thereof shall hold two cubits and an half, [and] the breadth shall hold one cubit and an half.

18 Also thou shalt make on ever either side of God’s answering place, two cherubims [or cherubim] of gold, and beaten out with an hammer;

19 one cherub be on one side of God’s answering place, and the tother in the tother side; cover they ever either side of the propitiatory,

20 and hold they forth their wings, and cover they God’s answering place; and behold they themselves together, while their faces be turned in to the propitiatory,

21 with which the ark of the Lord shall be covered, in which ark thou shalt put the witnessing [or the testimony], that is, the tables of the law, that I shall give to thee.

22 From thence I shall command, and I shall speak to thee above the propitiatory, that is, from the midst of [the] two cherubims [or cherubim], that shall be on the ark of witnessing, all things which I shall command by thee to the sons of Israel.

23 Also thou shalt make a board of the wood of shittim, having two cubits of length, and one cubit of broadness, and one cubit and an half in height.

24 And thou shalt overgild the board with most pure gold, and thou shalt make to it a golden brink about;

25 and thou shalt make to that brink a crown raised betwixt four fingers high, and thou shalt make on that another little golden crown.

26 And thou shalt make ready four golden rings, and thou shalt put them in [the] four corners of the same board, by all the feet thereof.

27 Under the crown shall be golden rings, that the bars be put through them, and so the table may be borne.

28 Thou shalt make the bars of the wood of shittim, and thou shalt com-pass them with gold to bear the board.

29 And thou shalt make ready vessels of vinegar, and vials, and censers, and cups of purest gold, in which flowing sacrifices shall be offered.

30 And thou shalt set on the board loaves of proposition, or of setting forth, in my sight ever[more].

31 And thou shalt make a candle-stick beaten out with an hammer, of cleanest gold, [and]thou shalt make the shaft thereof, and [the] rods, and cups, and little roundels [or balls], and lilies coming forth thereof.

32 Six rods shall go out of the sides of it, three of the one side, and three of the other.

33 Three cups as in the manner of a nut by each rod, and [the] little roundels [or balls] together, and a lily, and in like manner three cups at the likeness of a nut in the tother rod, and little roundels together, and a lily; this shall be the work of six rods, that shall be brought forth [out] of the candlestick shaft.

34 Forsooth in that candlestick shall be four cups in the manner of a nut, and little roundels [or balls] and lilies by each cup;

35 and the little roundels [or balls] shall be under two rods by three places, the which rods altogether be made six, coming forth of one shaft;

36 and therefore the little roundels and the rods thereof shall be all beaten out with an hammer, of cleanest gold.

37 And thou shalt make seven lanterns, and thou shalt set them on the candlestick, that they shine even against each other.

38 Also tongs to snuff the candles, and the vessels where those snuffs, that be snuffed out, be quenched, be made of cleanest gold.

39 All the weight of the candlestick with all his vessels shall have, or weigh, a talent of cleanest gold.

40 Behold thou, and make all things by the exemplar, which is showed to thee in the hill.

CHAPTER 26

1 Forsooth the tabernacle shall be made thus; thou shalt make ten curtains of bis folded again, and of jacinth, and of purple, and of red silk twice-dyed, made diverse by embroidery work.

2 The length of one curtain shall have eight and twenty cubits, the breadth shall be of four cubits; all the curtains* shall be made of one measure.

3 Five curtains shall be joined to themselves together, and other five shall cleave together by like bond.

4 Thou shalt make small rings, or eyelets, of jacinth in the sides, and in the heights of the curtains, that they may be coupled together.

5 One curtain shall have fifty eye-lets in ever either part, so set in, that one eyelet come against another eyelet, and that the one curtain may be shaped to the tother.

6 And thou shalt make fifty golden rings, by which the veils of [the] curtains shall be joined, that one tabernacle be made.

7 Also thou shalt make eleven says to cover the covering of the tabernacle;

8 the length of one say shall have thirty cubits, and the breadth shall have four cubits; even measure shall be of all the says.

9 Of which thou shalt join five by themselves, and thou shalt couple six to themselves together, so that thou double the sixth say in the front of the roof.

10 And thou shalt make fifty eyelets in the hem of [the] one say, that it may be joined to the tother; and fifty eyelets in the hem of the tother say, that it be coupled with the tother;

11 and thou shalt make fifty fastenings, or buckles, of brass, with which the small rings, or eyelets, of the curtains shall be joined together, and so one covering be made of all.

12 Soothly that that is left over in the says, that be made ready to the covering, that is, one say that is more, of the half thereof, thou shalt cover the hinder part of the tabernacle;

13 and a cubit shall hang on [the] one part, and the tother cubit on the tother part, which cubit is more in the length of [the] says, and it shall cover ever either side of the tabernacle.

14 And thou shalt make another covering to the roof, of skins of wethers made red, and over this thou shalt make again another covering of skins of jacinth.

15 Also thou shalt make [the] standing boards† of the tabernacle, of the wood of shittim,

16 which boards shall have each by themselves ten cubits in length, and in breadth a cubit and an half.

17 Forsooth two indentings [or rabbet-ings] shall be in the sides of a board, by which one board shall be joined to another board; and in this manner all the boards shall be made ready.

18 Of which boards twenty shall be in the midday side, that goeth to the south;

19 to the which boards thou shalt set forty silveren bases, that two bases be set [or put] under each board, by two corners.

20 And in the second side of the tabernacle, that goeth to the north, shall be twenty boards,

21 having forty silveren bases; two bases shall be set [or put] under each board.

22 Soothly at the west coast of the tabernacle thou shalt make six boards;

23 and again thou shalt make twain [or two] other boards, that shall be raised, or set up, in the corners on the back half of the tabernacle;

24 and the boards shall be joined to themselves from beneath till to above, and one joining shall withhold [or hold] all the boards. And like joining shall be kept to the two boards, that shall be set [or put] in the corners,

25 and they shall be eight boards altogether; the silveren bases of them shall be sixteen, while two bases be reckoned by one board.

26 Thou shalt make also five bars of [the] wood of shittim, to hold together the boards in one side of the tabernacle,

27 and five other bars in the other side, and of the same number at the west coast;

28 the which bars shall be put through the middle of the boards from the one end till to the other.

29 And thou shalt overgild those boards, and thou shalt set golden rings in them, by the which rings, the bars shall hold together the work of the boards, the which bars thou shalt cover with golden plates.

30 And thou shalt raise up the tabernacle, by the exemplar that was showed to thee in the hill.

31 Thou shalt make also a veil of jacinth, and purple, and of red silk twice-dyed, and of bis folded again, by embroidery work, and woven together by fair diversity;

32 which veil thou shalt hang before four pillars of the wood of shittim; and soothly those pillars shall be overgilt; and they shall have golden hooks‡, but the bases shall be silver.

33 Forsooth the veil shall be set in by the rings, within which veil thou shalt set [or put] the ark of witnessing, whereby the saintuary, and the saintuary of saintuaries, shall be separated.

34 And thou shalt set [or put] the propitiatory, that is, a golden table covering the ark of God, on the ark of [the] witnessing, into the holy of holy things;

35 and thou shalt set a board without the veil, and against the board thou shalt set the candlestick in the south side of the tabernacle; for the board shall stand in the north side.

36 Thou shalt make also a curtain in the entering of the tabernacle, of jacinth, and purple, and of red silk twice-dyed, and of bis folded again, by embroidery work.

37 And thou shalt overgild five pillars of [the] wood of shittim, before which pillars the curtain shall be led, of which pillars the hooks shall be of gold, and the bases of brass.

CHAPTER 27

1 Also thou shalt make an altar of the wood of shittim, which shall have five cubits in length, and so many in breadth, that is, square, and three cubits in height.

2 Forsooth horns shall be by [the] four corners thereof; and thou shalt cover it with brass.

3 And thou shalt make into the uses of the altar, pans to receive [the] ashes, and tongs, and fleshhooks, and firepans; thou shalt make all these vessels of brass.

4 And thou shalt make a brazen griddle in the manner of a net, and by the four corners thereof shall be four brazen rings,

5 which griddle thou shalt put under the firepan of the altar; and the griddle shall be till to the midst of the altar.

6 And thou shalt make the two bars of the altar, of the wood of shittim, the which bars thou shalt cover with plates of brass;

7 and thou shalt lead in the bars by the rings, and they shall be on ever either side of the altar, to bear.

8 Thou shalt make that altar not massive or solid, but void, and hollow within, as it was showed to thee in the hill.

9 Also thou shalt make a large porch of the tabernacle, in the manner of a churchyard, in whose midday coast against the south shall be curtains of bis folded again; one side shall hold an hundred cubits in length,

10 and twenty pillars, with so many brazen bases*, which pillars shall have silver hooks, and the holdings of those†.

11 In like manner in the north side, by the length, shall be curtains of an hundred cubits, twenty pillars, and brazen bases of the same number; and the hooks of the pillars, and the holdings of those, shall be of silver.

12 Forsooth in the breadth of the large porch, that beholdeth to the west, shall be curtains by fifty cubits, and ten pillars shall be, and as many bases.

13 In that breadth of the large porch, that beholdeth to the east, shall be fifty cubits,

14 in which the curtains of fifteen cubits shall be assigned to one side, and three pillars, and so many bases;

15 and in the other side shall be curtains holding fifteen cubits, and three pillars, and so many bases.

16 Forsooth in the large entry of the porch shall be made a curtain of twenty cubits, of jacinth, and purple, and of red silk twice-dyed, and of bis folded again, by embroidery work; it shall have four pillars, with so many bases.

17 All the pillars of the great porch by compass shall be clothed with plates of silver, with hooks of silver, and with bases of brass.

18 The great porch shall occupy an hundred cubits in length, fifty in breadth; the height of the curtains shall be of five cubits; and it shall be made of bis folded again; and it shall have brazen bases.

19 Thou shalt make of brass all the vessels of the tabernacle, into all uses and ceremonies, as well the stakes thereof, as of the great entry.

20 Command thou also to the sons of Israel, that they bring to thee the cleanest oil of olive trees, and pounded with a pestle, that a lantern burn ever[more]

21 in the tabernacle of witnessing without the veil, which is hanged in the tabernacle of witnessing; and Aaron and his sons shall set it, that it shine before the Lord from eventide till the morrowtide; it shall be everlasting worshipping by their successions, or after-comings, of the sons of Israel.

CHAPTER 28

1 Also apply [or present] thou to thee, or bring to thy presence, Aaron, thy brother, with his sons, from the midst of the sons of Israel, that Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, be set in priesthood to me.

2 And thou shalt make an holy cloth to Aaron, thy brother, into glory and fairness.

3 And thou shalt speak to all [the] wise men in heart, which I have filled with the spirit of prudence, that they make clothes to Aaron, in which he shall be hallowed, and shall minister to me.

4 Forsooth these shall be the clothes, which they shall make; they shall make a rational, that is, an ouch or brooch upon the breast, in which doom and truth, or Urim and Thum-mim shall be written, and a cloth on the shoulders [or cape], a coat, and a strait linen cloth, a mitre, and a girdle; holy clothes to Aaron, thy brother, and to his sons, that they be set in priesthood to me.

5 And they shall take gold, and jacinth, and purple, and red silk twice-dyed, and bis;

6 forsooth they shall make the cloth on the shoulders [or cape] of gold, and of jacinth, and of purple, and of red silk twice-dyed, and of bis folded again, by embroidery work [or needle-work] of diverse colours.

7 It shall have two hems joined to ever either side of [the] highness, that they go into one.

8 That weaving, and all [the] diversity of the work shall be of gold, and of jacinth, and of purple, and of red silk twice-dyed, and of bis folded again.

9 And thou shalt take two stones of onyx, and thou shalt engrave in them the names of the sons of Israel,

10 six names in one stone, and six others in the tother stone, by the order of their birth;

11 by the work of an engraver, and by the painting of a man that adorneth with gems, thou shalt engrave those stones with the names of the sons of Israel; and thou shalt enclose and encompass with gold.

12 And thou shalt set those stones in ever either side of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], as a memorial to the sons of Israel; and Aaron shall bear the names of them before the Lord on ever either shoulder, for remembering.

13 And thou shalt make hooks of gold,

14 and two little chains of cleanest gold, cleaving to themselves together, which little chains thou shalt set in the hooks.

15 Also thou shalt make the rational of doom by work of diverse colours, after the weaving of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], of gold, jacinth, and purple, of red silk twice-dyed, and of bis folded again.

16 It shall be four-cornered, and double; it shall have the measure of a palm of an hand, as well in the length, as in breadth.

17 And thou shalt set therein four orders of stones; in the first order shall be the stone sardius, topaz, and smaragdus;

18 in the second order shall be carbuncle, sapphire, and jasper;

19 in the third order shall be ligure, agate, and amethyst;

20 and in the fourth order shall be crystallite, onyx, and beryl; these [or they] shall be enclosed in gold, by their orders,

21 and shall have the names of the sons of Israel; these [or they] shall be engraved with twelve names; all the stones by themselves, with the names of all the sons by themselves, by [the] twelve lineages.

22 Thou shalt make in the rational chains cleaving to themselves together of purest gold,

23 and thou shalt make two golden rings, which thou shalt set in ever either highness of the rational.

24 And thou shalt join the golden chains with the rings that be in the margins thereof,

25 and thou shalt couple the ends of the chains to the two hooks in ever either side of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], that beholdeth the rational.

26 And thou shalt make two golden rings, which thou shalt set in the high-ness of the rational, and in the hems of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], that be even against, and behold the latter things thereof.

27 Also and thou shalt make twain [or two] other golden rings, that shall be set in ever either side of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape] beneath, that beholdeth against the face of the lower joining, that it may be set covenably with the cloth on the shoulders [or cape].

28 And the rational be bound by his rings with the rings of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], with a lace of jacinth, that the joining made may craftily dwell, and that the rational and the cloth on the shoulders [or cape] may not be separated each from other.

29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the rational of doom on his breast, when he entereth into the saintuary, a memorial before the Lord without end.

30 Forsooth thou shalt set in the rational of doom, teaching and truth or Urim and Thummim, which shall be in the breast of Aaron, when he entereth before the Lord; and he shall bear the doom of the sons of Israel in his breast in the sight of the Lord ever[more].

31 And thou shalt make the coat of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape] all of jacinth,

32 in whose middle above shall be an hood, that is, an hole for the head, and a woven hem by compass thereof, as it is wont to be done in the hems of clothes, lest it be broken lightly.

33 Forsooth beneath at the feet of the same coat, by compass, thou shalt make as pomegranates, of jacinth, and purple, and of red silk twice-dyed, and of bis folded again;

34 while small bells be meddled [or mingled] in the midst, so that a little gold bell be and a pomegranate, and again another little bell of gold and a pomegranate.

35 And Aaron shall be clothed with that coat, or alb, in the office of his service, that the sound be heard, when he entereth into the saintuary, and goeth out, in the sight of the Lord; and that he die not.

36 And thou shalt make a plate of purest gold, in which thou shalt engrave by the work of an engraver, The Holy to the Lord, that is, the name of the Lord, Tetragrammaton.

37 And thou shalt bind that plate with a lace of jacinth, and it shall be on the mitre, and it shall nigh [to] the forehead of the bishop.

38 And Aaron shall bear the wicked-nesses of those things that the sons of Israel shall offer, and hallow in all their gifts to God, and in their free gifts to men; and the plate shall ever[more] be in Aaron’s forehead, that the Lord be pleased to them.

39 And thou shalt bind the coat of bis, that is, the linen cloth, and the mitre of bis, and thou shalt make also a girdle, by embroidery work.

40 Forsooth thou shalt make ready to Aaron’s sons linen coats, that is, linen clothes, and girdles, and mitres, into glory and fairness.

41 And thou shalt clothe Aaron, thy brother, with all these things, and his sons with him. And thou shalt anoint them, and make sacred the hands of them all; and thou shalt hallow them, that they be set in priesthood to me.

42 Also thou shalt make to them linen breeches, that they cover the flesh of their filth[hood], from the reins unto their hips.

43 And Aaron and his sons shall use those breeches, when they shall enter into the tabernacle of witnessing, or when they nigh to the altar, that they minister in the saintuary, lest they be guilty of wickedness, and die; it shall be a lawful thing everlasting to Aaron, and to his seed after him.

CHAPTER 29

1 But also thou shalt do this, that they be made sacred to me in priest-hood; take thou a calf of the drove, and two rams without wem,

2 and therf loaves, and a cake with-out sourdough, which be sprinkled altogether with oil, and therf pastes sodden in water, balmed, either fried, with oil; thou shalt make all these things of pure wheat flour,

3 and thou shalt offer them put in a basket. Forsooth thou shalt present the calf, and [the] two rams,

4 and Aaron and his sons, at the door of the tabernacle of witnessing; and when thou hast washed the father and his sons in water,

5 thou shalt clothe Aaron with his clothes, that is, the linen cloth, and coat, and the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], and the rational, which thou shalt bind with a girdle.

6 And thou shalt set the mitre on his head, and the holy plate on the mitre,

7 and thou shalt shed [or pour] the oil of anointing on his head; and by this custom he shall be made sacred.

8 Also thou shalt present his sons, and thou shalt clothe them with linen clothes,

9 and thou shalt gird Aaron and his sons with a girdle; and thou shalt set mitres on them; and they shall be my priests by everlasting religion. [And] After that thou hast hallowed their hands,

10 also thou shalt present the calf before the tabernacle of witnessing; and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the calf’s head;

11 and thou shalt slay it in the sight of the Lord, beside the door of the tabernacle of witnessing.

12 And thou shalt take the blood of the calf, and thou shalt put it with thy finger upon the corners of the altar. Forsooth thou shalt shed [or pour] the other blood that is left beside the foundament or base of the altar.

13 And thou shalt take all the fatness that covereth the entrails, and the caul of the maw, and the two kidneys, and the fatness that is on them; and thou shalt offer them as incense upon the altar.

14 Forsooth thou shalt burn without-forth the tents the flesh of the calf, and the skin, and the dung, for it is slain for sin.

15 Also thou shalt take one ram, on whose head Aaron and his sons shall set hands;

16 and when thou hast slain that ram, thou shalt take of his blood, and shalt shed [or pour] it about the altar.

17 Forsooth thou shalt cut that ram into small gobbets, and thou shalt put his entrails washed, and his feet, upon his flesh carved, and upon his head;

18 and thou shalt offer thus all the ram into incense on the altar; it is an offering to the Lord, the sweetest odour of the slain sacrifice of the Lord.

19 And thou shalt take the tother ram, on whose head Aaron and his sons shall set their hands;

20 and when thou hast offered that ram, thou shalt take of his blood, and thou shalt put it upon the last part of the right ear of Aaron, and of his sons, and upon the thumbs of their right hand, and the big toes of their right foot; and thou shalt shed [or pour] the blood on the altar by compass.

21 And when thou hast taken of the blood, that is on the altar, and of the oil of anointing, thou shalt sprinkle Aaron and his clothes, [and] his sons and their clothes. And when they and their clothes be made sacred,

22 thou shalt take the inner fatness of the ram, and the tail, and the fatness that covereth the entrails, and the caul of the maw, and the two kidneys, and the fatness that is on them; and thou shalt take the right shoulder, for it is the ram of consecration;

23 and thou shalt take a tender cake of one loaf, sprinkled with oil, and the paste that is sodden in water, and after fried in oil, of the pannier of therf loaves, which is set in the sight of the Lord.

24 And thou shalt put all these things upon the hands of Aaron, and of his sons, and thou shalt hallow them, and raise them [up] before the Lord.

25 And thou shalt take all these things from their hands, and thou shalt burn them on the altar, into burnt sacrifice, [the] sweetest odour in the sight of the Lord, for it is the offering of the Lord.

26 Also thou shalt take the breast of the ram, by which Aaron was hallowed, and thou shalt hallow it, raised [up] before the Lord; and it shall turn into thy part.

27 And thou shalt hallow also the breast made sacred, and the shoulder which thou separatedest from the ram, by which Aaron was hallowed, and his sons;

28 and they shall turn into the part of Aaron, and of his sons, by everlasting right, of the sons of Israel; for they be the first things, and the beginning/s of the peaceable sacrifices of them, which they offer to the Lord.

29 Forsooth the sons of Aaron shall have after him the holy clothes, which Aaron shall use, that they be anointed therein, and that their hands be made sacred.

30 That of his sons, that shall be made bishop for him, shall use that cloth seven days, and which son shall enter into the tabernacle of witnessing, that he minister in the saintuary.

31 And soothly thou shalt take the wether of hallowing, that is, the ram of consecration, and thou shalt seethe his flesh in the holy place,

32 which flesh Aaron and his sons shall eat, and they shall eat the loaves, that be in the basket, in the porch of the tabernacle of witnessing,

33 that it be a pleasing sacrifice, and that the hands of the offerers be hallowed. An alien shall not eat of these things, for they be holy.

34 That if anything leaveth of the flesh hallowed, either of the loaves, till to the morrowtide, thou shalt burn the remnants with fire; they shall not be eaten, for they be hallowed.

35 Thou shalt do on Aaron, and on his sons, all things which I commanded to thee. Seven days thou shalt make sacred their hands,

36 and thou shalt offer a calf for sin by each day to cleanse; and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou hast offered the sacrifice of cleansing, and thou shalt anoint the altar into [the] hallowing of it.

37 Seven days thou shalt cleanse and hallow the altar, and it shall be the holy of holy things; each man that shall touch it shall be hallowed.

38 This it is, that thou shalt do in the altar; two lambs of one year continually by each day,

39 one lamb in the morrowtide, and the tother in the eventide;

40 thou shalt do in one lamb the tenth part of flour sprinkled with oil, pounded, that shall have a measure, the fourth part of hin, that is, of two pounds, and wine of the same measure, to make the flowing sacrifice.

41 Soothly thou shalt offer the tother lamb at eventide, by the custom of the offering of the morrowtide, and by those things, which we said, into the odour of sweetness;

42 it is a sacrifice to the Lord by everlasting offering into your gener-ations, at the door of the tabernacle of witnessing before the Lord, where I shall ordain that I speak to thee;

43 and there I shall command to the sons of Israel; and the altar shall be hallowed in my glory.

44 And I shall hallow also the tabernacle of witnessing with the altar, and Aaron and his sons, that they be set in priesthood to me.

45 And I shall dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel, and I shall be God to them;

46 and they shall know, that I am their Lord God, which led them out of the land of Egypt, that I should dwell among them; for I am their Lord God.

CHAPTER 30

1 Also thou shalt make an altar of the wood of shittim, for to burn incense;

2 and the altar shall have a cubit of length, and another cubit of breadth, that is four-cornered, and two cubits in height; and the corners [or horns] shall come forth of the altar.

3 And thou shalt clothe it with cleanest gold, as well the roof thereof, that is, the higher part, as the walls, and [the] corners by compass thereof; and thou shalt make to the altar a little golden crown by compass,

4 and two golden circles under the crown by all sides, that bars be put into those rings, and so the altar be borne.

5 Also thou shalt make the bars of the wood of shittim, and thou shalt overgild them;

6 and thou shalt set the altar against the veil, that hangeth before the ark of witnessing, before the propitiatory, with which the witnessing is covered, where I shall speak to thee.

7 And Aaron shall burn thereon incense smelling sweetly early; when he shall array the lanterns, he shall burn it;

8 and when he setteth the lanterns at eventide, he shall burn everlasting incense before the Lord, into your generations.

9 Ye shall not offer thereon incense of other making, neither offering, nor slain sacrifice, neither ye shall offer flowing offerings thereon.

10 And Aaron shall pray on the horns thereof once by the year, in the blood which is offered for sin, and he shall please the Lord thereon in your generations; it shall be the holy of holy things to the Lord.

11 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

12 When thou shalt take the sum of the sons of Israel, all by themselves shall give by the number price for their souls to the Lord, and vengeance shall not be in them, when they be numbered.

13 Soothly each that passeth to the named, that is, of twenty years, shall give this price, half a shekel by the measure of the temple; a shekel hath twenty half-pence; the half part of a shekel shall be offered to the Lord.

14 He that is had in the number, from twenty years and above, shall give this price;

15 a rich man shall not add to the half of a shekel, and a poor man shall nothing abate.

16 And thou shalt betake into the uses of the tabernacle of witnessing the money taken, which is gathered of the sons of Israel, that it be a mind of them before the Lord, and he shall be merciful to their souls.

17 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

18 Also thou shalt make a great vessel of brass with his foundament to wash in, and thou shalt set it betwixt the tabernacle of witnessing and the altar; and when water is put therein,

19 Aaron and his sons shall wash therein their hands and their feet,

20 when they shall enter into the tabernacle of witnessing, and when they shall nigh to the altar, that they offer therein incense to the Lord, lest peradventure they die;

21 it shall be a lawful thing everlasting to him and to his seed by successions.

22 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

23 Take to thee sweet smelling spiceries, of the first and chosen myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of canel the half, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels; [and] in like manner of calamus, that is, a sweet smelling tree, small and full of knots, two hundred and fifty shekels;

24 also of cassia five hundred shekels, in the weight of [the] saintuary; the oil of olives trees, the measure of hin;

25 and thou shalt make the holy oil of anointing, an ointment made by the craft of an ointment maker.

26 And thou shalt anoint thereof the tabernacle of witnessing, and the ark of the testament,

27 and the board with his vessels, [and] the candlestick, and the appur-tenances thereof, the altars of incense,

28 and of burnt sacrifice, and all the appurtenance, that pertaineth to the adorning of those things.

29 And thou shalt hallow all things, and they shall be the holy of holy things; he that shall touch those [or them], shall be hallowed beforehand.

30 Thou shalt anoint Aaron, and his sons, and thou shalt hallow them, that they be set in priesthood to me.

31 And thou shalt say to the sons of Israel, This oil of anointing shall be holy to me into your generations.

32 The flesh of a man shall not be anointed thereof, and by the making thereof ye shall not make another such oil, for it is hallowed, and it shall be holy to you.

33 Whatever man maketh such oil, and giveth thereof to an alien, he shall be put out of his people.

34 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Take to thee sweet smelling spiceries, stacte, and onycha, galbanum of good odour, and most pure frankincense, all these shall be of even weight.

35 And thou shalt make incense, made by the craft of an ointment maker, meddled [or mingled]together diligently, and pure, and most worthy of hallowing.

36 And when thou hast pounded all these things into smallest powder, thou shalt put thereof before the tabernacle of witnessing, in which place I shall appear to thee; the made incense shall be to you the holy of holy things.

37 Ye shall not make such a making into your [own] uses, for it is holy to the Lord.

38 Whatever man maketh like thing to it, that he use the odour thereof, he shall perish from his people.

CHAPTER 31

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, saying,

2 Lo! I have called Bezaleel by name, the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the lineage of Judah;

3 and I have filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom, and under-standing, and knowing in all work,

4 to find out, or cast, whatever thing may be made subtly of gold, and silver, and brass,

5 and marble, and gems, and of diversity of woods.

6 And I have given to him a fellow, Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the kindred of Dan; and I have put in their hearts the wisdom of each learned man, that they make all things which I have commanded to thee;

7 the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, and the ark of witnessing, and the propitiatory, or the table, that is thereon, and all the vessels of the tabernacle;

8 also the board, and the vessels thereof, the cleanest candlestick with his vessels, and the altars of incense,

9 and of burnt sacrifice, and all the vessels of them; the great washing vessel with his foundament;

10 [the] holy clothes in service to Aaron the priest, and to his sons, that they be set in their office in holy things;

11 the oil of anointing, and the incense of sweet smelling spiceries in the saintuary; they shall make all these things that I have commanded to thee.

12 And the Lord spake to Moses, saying,

13 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, See ye that ye keep my sabbath, for it is a sign betwixt me and you in your generations; that ye know, that I am the Lord, which hallow[eth] you.

14 Keep ye my sabbath, for it is holy to you; he that defouleth it, shall die by death; the soul of him, that doeth work in the sabbath, shall perish from the midst of his people.

15 Six days ye shall do work; in the seventh day is sabbath, the holy rest to the Lord; each man that doeth work in this day shall die.

16 The sons of Israel keep [the] sabbath, and hallow it in their generations; it is a covenant everlasting

17 betwixt me and the sons of Israel, and it is a sign everlasting; for in six days God made heaven and earth, and in the seventh day he ceased of work.

18 And when he had [ful] filled to speak to Moses, the Lord gave to Moses, in the hill of Sinai, two stone tables of witnessing, written with the finger of God.

CHAPTER 32

1 Forsooth the people saw, that Moses made tarrying to come down from the hill, and it was gathered together against Aaron, and said, Rise thou, and make gods to us, that shall go before us, for we wot not what is befallen to this man Moses, that led us out of the land of Egypt.

2 And Aaron said to them, Take ye the golden earrings from the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring ye them to me.

3 The people did those things, that he commanded, and brought the earrings to Aaron;

4 and when he had taken those, he formed them by work of melting, and he made of them a molten calf. And they said, Israel, these be thy gods, that led thee out of the land of Egypt.

5 And when Aaron had seen this thing, he builded an altar before the calf, and he cried by the voice of a crier, and said, Tomorrow is the solemnity of the Lord.

6 And they rose early, and offered burnt sacrifices, and peaceable sacri-fices; and the people sat to eat and to drink, and they rose up to play, or to scorn, for idolatry is scorning of God.

7 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said, Go thou, go down, thy people hath sinned, whom thou leddest out of the land of Egypt.

8 They have gone away soon from the way that thou showedest them, and they have made to them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and they have offered sacrifices to it, and said, Israel, these be thy gods, that led thee out of the land of Egypt.

9 And again the Lord said to Moses, I see [well], that this people is of hard noll;

10 suffer thou me, that my strong vengeance be wroth against them, and that I do away them; and I shall make thee into a great folk.

11 Forsooth Moses prayed the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why is thy vengeance wroth against thy people, whom thou hast led out of the land of Egypt in great strength, and in a strong hand?

12 I beseech, that [the] Egyptians say not, He led them out fellily or slyly, to slay in the hills, and to do them away from [the] earth; thine ire cease, and be thou quemeful on the wicked-ness of thy people.

13 Have thou mind of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, thy servants, to which thou hast sworn by thyself, and saidest, I shall multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and I shall give to your seed all the land of which I spake, and ye shall wield it ever[more].

14 And the Lord was pleased with Moses’ words, that he did not the evil which he spake against his people.

15 And Moses turned again from the hill, and bare in his hands two tables of witnessing, written in either side,

16 and made by the work of God; and the writing of God was engraved in the tables.

17 Forsooth Joshua heard the noise of the people crying [out], and he said to Moses, Yelling of fighting is heard in the tents.

18 To whom Moses answered, It is not a cry of men exciting to battle, neither the cry of men compelled to fleeing, but I hear the voices of singers.

19 And when Moses had nighed to the tents, he saw the calf, and dances; and he was wroth greatly, and he threw out of his hands the tables, and he brake them at the roots of the hill.

20 And he took the calf, which they had made, and he burnt it, and brake it till to powder, which he sprinkled into the water, and gave thereof drink to the sons of Israel.

21 And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people to thee, that thou hast brought in on them the greatest sin?

22 To whom he answered, My lord, be not thou wroth, for thou knowest this people, that it is inclined, either ready, to evil;

23 they said to me, Make thou gods to us, that shall go before us, for we wot not, what hath befallen to this Moses, that led us out of the land of Egypt.

24 To whom I said, Who of you hath gold? They took, and gave to me, and I casted it forth into the fire, and this calf went out.

25 Therefore Moses saw the people, that it was made bare; for Aaron had spoiled it for the shame of the filthhood of making of the idol, and he had made the people naked among enemies.

26 And Moses stood in the gate of the tents, and said, If any man is of the Lord, be he joined to me; and all the sons of Levi were gathered to him.

27 To which he said, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, A man put his sword upon his hip, go ye, and turn ye again from gate unto gate by the middle of the tents, and each man slay his brother, his friend, and [his] neighbour, which consented to this idolatry.

28 And the sons of Levi did by the word of Moses, and as three thousand of men felled down in that day.

29 And Moses said, Ye have hallowed your hands today to the Lord, each man in his son, and [his] brother, that blessing be given to you.

30 Soothly when the tother day was made, Moses spake to the people, Ye have sinned the most sin; I shall go up to the Lord, if in any manner I shall be able to beseech him for your felony.

31 And he turned again to the Lord, and said, Lord, I beseech thee, this people hath sinned a great sin, and they have made golden gods to them;

32 either forgive thou this guilt to them, either if thou doest not, do away me from thy book, which thou hast written.

33 To whom the Lord answered, I shall do away from my book him that sinneth against me;

34 forsooth go thou, and lead this people, whither I spake to thee; mine angel shall go before thee; forsooth in the day of vengeance I shall visit also this sin of them.

35 Therefore the Lord smote the people, for the guilt of the calf, which Aaron made.

CHAPTER 33

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said, Go, and go up from this place, thou, and thy people, that thou hast led out of the land of Egypt, into the land, which I have sworn to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, I shall give it to thy seed.

2 And I shall send thy before-goer, an angel, that I cast out Canaanite, and Amorite, and Hittite, and Perizzite, and Hivite, and Jebusite;

3 and that thou enter into the land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up with thee, for thou art a people of hard noll, lest per-adventure I lose thee in the way.

4 The people heard this worst word, and mourned, and none was clothed with his adorning, that is, precious clothes, by custom.

5 And the Lord said to Moses, Speak thou to the sons of Israel, Thou art a people of hard noll; at once I shall go up in the midst of thee, and I shall do away thee; right now put thou away thine adorning, that is, crowns which they made in receiving of the law, that I know, what I shall do to thee.

6 Therefore the sons of Israel putted away their adorning, from the hill of Horeb onwards.

7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and set it far without the tents, and he called the name thereof the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace. And all the people that had any question, went out to the tabernacle of the bond of peace, without the tents.

8 And when Moses went out to the tabernacle, all the people rose, and each man stood in the door of his tent, and they beheld after Moses, till he entered into the tent.

9 Soothly when he entered into the tabernacle of the bond of peace, a pillar of cloud came down, and stood at the door of the tabernacle; and the Lord spake with Moses,

10 while all men saw that the pillar of cloud stood at the door of the tabernacle; and they stood, and worshipped, at the doors of their tabernacles.

11 Forsooth the Lord spake to Moses face to face, that is openly, as a man is wont to speak with his friend; and when Moses turned again into his tabernacle, Joshua, his servant, the son of Nun, a young man, went not out of the tabernacle.

12 Forsooth Moses said to the Lord, Thou commandest, that I lead out this people, and thou hast not showed to me, whom thou shalt send with me, namely since thou saidest, I knew thee by name, and thou hast found grace before me.

13 Therefore if I have found grace in thy sight, show thy face to me, that I know thee, and find grace before thine eyes; behold thy people, and this folk.

14 And God said, My face shall go before thee, and I shall give rest to thee.

15 And Moses said, If thou thyself shalt not go before us, lead thou not us out of this place;

16 for in what thing may we know, I and thy people, that we have found grace in thy sight, if thou shalt not go with us, that we be glorified of all peoples that dwell on [the] earth?

17 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, I shall do also this word, that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found grace before me, and I know thyself by name.

18 And Moses said, Lord, show thou thy glory to me.

19 God answered, I shall show all my goodness to thee, and I shall call in the name of the Lord before thee, and I shall do mercy to whom I will, and I shall be merciful, either goodly, on whom it pleaseth me.

20 And again God said, Thou mayest not see my face, for a man shall not see me, and live.

21 And again God said, A place is with me, and thou shalt stand upon a stone;

22 and when my glory shall pass by, I shall set [or put] thee in the hole of the stone, and I shall cover thee with my right hand, till that I pass by;

23 and I shall take away mine hand, and thou shalt see mine hinder parts, forsooth thou mayest not see my face.

CHAPTER 34

1 And afterward God said, Hew to thee two tables of stone at the like-ness of the former, and I shall write on those tables those words, which the tables, that thou brakest, had.

2 Be thou ready in the morrowtide, that thou go up anon into the hill of Sinai; and thou shalt stand with me on the top of the hill;

3 no man go up with thee, neither any man be seen by all the hill; and oxen and sheep be not fed against the hill.

4 Therefore Moses hewed two tables of stone, which manner the tables were before, and he rose by night, and went up into the hill of Sinai, as the Lord commanded to him; and he bare with him the tables.

5 And when the Lord had come down by a cloud, Moses stood with him, and called inwardly the name of the Lord;

6 and when the Lord passed before him, he said, Lordshipper, Lord God, merciful, and pious, patient, and of much mercy doing, and soothfast,

7 which keepest covenant and mercy into thousands, which doest away wickedness, and trespasses, and sins, and no man by himself is innocent with thee, which yieldest the wicked-ness of fathers to their sons, and to the sons of their sons, into the third and the fourth generation.

8 And hastily Moses was bowed low to [the] earth, and worshipped,

9 and said, Lord, if I have found grace in thy sight, I beseech thee, that thou go with us, for the people is of hard noll; and that thou do away our wickednesses and sins, and wield us.

10 The Lord answered, I shall make covenant, and in sight of all men I shall make signs, that were never seen on [the] earth, neither in any folks, that this people, in whose midst thou art, see the fearedful work of the Lord, that I shall make.

11 Keep thou all things, which I command to thee today; I myself shall cast out before thy face Amorites, and Canaanites, and Hittites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites.

12 Beware, lest any time thou join friendships with the dwellers of that land, which friendships be into falling to thee.

13 But also destroy thou their altars, break the images, and cut thou down their [maumet] woods;

14 do not thou worship an alien God; a jealous lover is the Lord’s name, God is a fervent lover;

15 make thou not covenant with the men of those countries, lest when they have done fornication, that is, idolatry, with their gods, and have worshipped the simulacra of them, any man call thee, that thou eat of the things offered to an idol.

16 Neither thou shalt take a wife of their daughters to thy sons, lest after those daughters have done fornication, that is, idolatry, they make also thy sons to do fornication into their gods.

17 Thou shalt not make to thee molten gods.

18 Thou shalt keep the solemnity of therf loaves; seven days thou shalt eat therf loaves, as I commanded to thee, in the time of the month of new fruits; for in the month of ver or spring time thou wentest out of Egypt.

19 All thing of male kind that open-eth the womb shall be mine, of all living beasts, as well of oxen, as of sheep, it shall be mine.

20 Thou shalt again-buy with a sheep the first engendered of an ass, else if thou givest not [the] price therefore, it shall be slain. Thou shalt again-buy the first begotten of thy sons; neither thou shalt appear void in my sight.

21 Six days thou shalt work, in the seventh day thou shalt cease to ear and to reap.

22 Thou shalt make to thee the solemnity of weeks, in the first things of fruits of thy ripe corn of wheat, and the solemnity when all things be gathered into barns, when the time of the year cometh again*.

23 Each male kind of thee shall appear in three times of the year in the sight of the Lord Almighty, thy God of Israel.

24 For when I shall take away folks from thy face, and I shall alarge thy terms, none shall set treasons to thy land, while thou goest up, and appearest in the sight of thy Lord God, thrice in the year.

25 Thou shalt not offer on sour-dough the blood of my sacrifice, neither anything of the slain sacrifice of the solemnity of pask shall abide unto the morrowtide.

26 Thou shalt offer in the house of thy Lord God the first of the fruits of thy land. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in the milk of his mother.

27 And the Lord said to Moses, Write thou these words, by which I smote a bond of peace, both with thee and with Israel.

28 Therefore Moses was there with the Lord by forty days and forty nights, and he ate not bread, and drank not water; and he wrote in [the] tables the ten words of the bond of peace.

29 And when Moses came down from the hill of Sinai, he held in his hands two tables of witnessing, and he wist not that his face was horned with wonderful shining beams, of the fellowship of God’s word.

30 Forsooth Aaron and the sons of Israel saw Moses’ face horned, and they dreaded to nigh [or come] nigh,

31 and they were called of him, and they turned again, as well Aaron as the princes of the synagogue; and after that Moses spake,

32 they came to him, yea all the sons of Israel; to which he commanded all things, which he had heard of the Lord in the hill of Sinai.

33 And when the words were fulfilled, he put a veil on his face;

34 and he entered to the Lord, and spake with him, and he did away that veil, till he went out; and then he spake to the sons of Israel all things that were commanded to him;

35 which saw that the face of Moses going out was horned, but again he covered his face, if any time he spake to them.

CHAPTER 35

1 Therefore when all the company of the sons of Israel was gathered, Moses said to them, These things it be, which the Lord commanded to be done.

2 Six days ye shall do work, the seventh day shall be holy to you, the sabbath and the rest of the Lord; he that doeth work in the sabbath shall be slain.

3 Ye shall not kindle fire in all your dwelling places by the sabbath day.

4 And Moses said to all the company of the sons of Israel, This is the word which the Lord commanded, and said,

5 Separate ye at you the first fruits to the Lord; each willful man and of ready will offer them to the Lord, gold, and silver, and brass,

6 and jacinth, and purple, and red silk twice-dyed, and bis, and hairs of goats,

7 and skins of rams made red, and skins of jacinth, and [the] wood of shittim,

8 and oil to the lights to be ordained, and spices so that the ointment be made, and the incense most sweet,

9 stones of onyx, and gems, to the adorning of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], and of the rational.

10 Whoever of you is wise, come he, and make that, that the Lord commanded,

11 that is, the tabernacle, and the roof thereof, and the covering; rings, and the buildings of boards, with [the] bars, stakes, and foundaments;

12 the ark, and bars; the propitiatory, and the veil, which is hanged before it;

13 the board, with bars, and vessels, and with [the] loaves of setting forth;

14 the candlestick to sustain [the] lights, the vessels, and lanterns thereof, and oil to the nourishing of fires;

15 the altar of incense, and the bars; the oil of anointing, and [the] incense of sweet smelling spiceries [or spices]; the curtain at the door of the tabernacle;

16 the altar of burnt sacrifice, and his brazen griddle, with his bars, and vessels; the great washing vessel, and his foundament;

17 the curtains of the large entry, with the pillars, and their bases; the curtain in the doors of the porch;

18 the stakes of the tabernacle, and of the large entry, with their cords;

19 the clothes, whose use is in the service of the saintuary; the clothes of Aaron the bishop, and of his sons, that they be set in priesthood to me.

20 And all the multitude of the sons of Israel went out of the sight of Moses,

21 and offered with most ready soul and devout the first things to the Lord, to make the work of the tabernacle of witnessing, whatever was needful to the adorning, and to the holy clothes.

22 Men and women gave bies of the arms, and earrings, and other rings, and ornaments of their arms nigh the hand; each golden vessel was separated into the gifts of the Lord.

23 If any man had jacinth, and purple, and red silk twice-dyed, bis, and the hairs of goats, skins of rams made red, and skins of jacinth, either blue,

24 metals of silver, and of brass, they offered to the Lord, and [the] wood of shittim into diverse uses.

25 But also women taught gave those things, which they had spun, jacinth, and purple, and vermilion, and bis,

26 and the hairs of goats; and they gave all things by their own free will.

27 Forsooth princes offered stones of onyx, and gems, to the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], and to the rational,

28 and sweet smelling spiceries [or spices], and oil to the lights to be ordained, and to make ready the ointment, and to make the incense of the sweetest odour.

29 All men and women offered gifts with devout souls, that the works should be made, which the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses; all the sons of Israel hallowed will-fully things to the Lord.

30 And Moses said to the sons of Israel, Lo! the Lord hath called Bezaleel by name, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the lineage of Judah;

31 and the Lord hath filled him with the spirit of God, of wisdom, and of understanding, and of knowing, and with all doctrine,

32 to find out and to make work in gold, and silver, and brass,

33 and in stones to be engraved, and in work of carpentry; whatever thing may be found craftily,

34 the Lord hath given in his heart; and the Lord hath called Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the lineage of Dan;

35 the Lord [hath] taught both with wisdom, that they make the works of a carpenter, of a stainer, and of an embroiderer, of jacinth, and of purple, and of red silk twice-dyed, and of bis, and that they make all things, and find all new things.

CHAPTER 36

1 Therefore Bezaleel, and Aholiab, and each wise man, to whom the Lord gave wisdom and understanding, that they know how to work craftily, made things that were needful into the uses of the saintuary, and which the Lord commanded to be made.

2 And when Moses had called them, and each learned man, to whom the Lord had given wisdom and knowing, and the which proffered themselves by their own free will to make the work,

3 Moses betook to them all the gifts of the sons of Israel. And when they were busy in their work each day, the people offered their avows early.

4 Wherefore the workmen were compelled to come,

5 and they said to Moses, The people offereth more than is needful.

6 Therefore Moses commanded to be cried by the voice of a crier, Neither man nor woman offer more anything in the work of [the] saintuary; and so it was ceased from gifts to be offered,

7 for the things offered sufficed, and were over-abundant.

8 And all the wise men in heart, to fulfill the work of the tabernacle, made ten curtains of bis folded again, and of jacinth, and purple, and of red silk twice-dyed, by diverse work, and by craft of many colours.

9 Of which curtains one had in length eight and twenty cubits, and four cubits in breadth; one measure was of all the curtains.

10 And he joined five curtains one to another, and he coupled other five to themselves together;

11 and he made eyelets of jacinth in the hem of the one curtain on ever either side, and in like manner in the hem of the tother curtain,

12 that the eyelets shall come together against themselves, and they shall be joined together;

13 wherefore he melted out also fifty golden rings, that shall hold the eyelets of the curtains; and so one tabernacle was made.

14 He made also eleven says of the hairs of goats, to cover the roof of the tabernacle;

15 one say had thirty cubits in length, [and] four cubits in breadth; all the says were of one measure;

16 of which says he joined five by themselves, and six others by them-selves.

17 And he made fifty eyelets in the hem of one say, and fifty in the hem of the tother say, that those [or they] should be joined to themselves together;

18 and he made fifty buckles of brass by which the roof was fastened together, that one covering were made of all the says.

19 He made also a covering of the tabernacle of the skins of rams made red, and another veil above, of the skins of jacinth.

20 He made also [the] standing boards of the tabernacle, of the wood of shittim;

21 the length of one board was of ten cubits, and the breadth held one cubit and an half.

22 Two indentings [or rabbetings] were by each board, that the one should be joined to the tother; so he made in all the boards of the taber-nacle.

23 Of which boards twenty were at the midday coast against the south,

24 with forty bases of silver; two bases were set under one board on ever either side of the corners, where the indentings [or rabbetings] of the sides were ended in the corners.

25 And at the coast of the tabernacle that beholdeth to the north, he made twenty boards,

26 with forty bases of silver, two bases by each board.

27 Forsooth against the west, he made six boards,

28 and twain [or two] other boards by each corner of the tabernacle behind,

29 which were joined from beneath till to above, and were borne into one joining altogether; so he made on ever either part by the corners,

30 that they were eight boards altogether, and they had sixteen bases of silver, that is, two bases under each board.

31 He made also bars of the wood of shittim, five bars to hold together the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,

32 and five other bars to shape together the boards of the tother side; and without these, he made five other bars for the boards at the west coast of the tabernacle against the sea.

33 He made also another bar, that should come by the middle boards, from corner till to corner.

34 Forsooth he overgilded the walls made of the boards, and he melted out their silveren bases, and he made their golden rings, by which the bars might be brought in, and he covered those same bars with golden plates.

35 He made also a veil diverse and parted, of jacinth, and purple, and red silk twice-dyed, and bis folded again, by the work of embroidery.

36 He made also four pillars of wood of shittim, which pillars with the hooks he overgilded, and he melted out their silveren bases.

37 He made also in the entering of the tabernacle a curtain of jacinth, and purple, and red silk twice-dyed, and bis folded again, by the work of embroidery.

38 And he made five pillars with their hooks, which he covered with gold; and he melted out their brazen bases, and their holdings, which he covered with gold.

CHAPTER 37

1 Forsooth Bezaleel made also an ark of the wood of shittim, having two cubits and an half in length, and a cubit and an half in breadth; forsooth the height was of one cubit and an half;

2 and he covered the ark with purest gold, within and withoutforth. And he made to it a golden crown by compass,

3 and he melted out four golden rings, to be set by the four corners thereof, two rings in one side, and two rings in the other side.

4 And he made bars of the wood of shittim, or acacia wood, the which he covered with gold,

5 and which bars he put into the rings that were in the sides of the ark, to bear it.

6 He made also a propitiatory, that is, God’s answering place, of purest gold, of two cubits and an half in length, and one cubit and an half in breadth.

7 Also he made two cherubims [or cherubim] of gold, beaten out with an hammer, which he set on ever either side of the propitiatory,

8 one cherub in the height of the one part, and the tother cherub in the height of the tother part; two cherubims [or cherubim], one in each highness of the propitiatory,

9 stretching out the wings, and covering the propitiatory, and beholding themselves together, and that propitiatory.

10 He made also a board of the wood of shittim, in the length of two cubits, and in the breadth of one cubit, which board had a cubit and an half in height.

11 And he compassed the table with cleanest gold, and made to it a golden brink by compass;

12 and he made to that brink a golden crown, raised betwixt of four fingers; and on the same crown he made another golden crown.

13 Also he melted out four golden rings, which he put into the four corners, by all the feet of the table against the crown,

14 and he put bars into the circles, or rings, that the table might be borne.

15 And he made the bars of the wood of shittim, and compassed those [or them] with gold.

16 And he made[the] vessels to diverse uses of the board, vessels of vinegar, vials, and little cups, and censers of pure gold, in which the flowing sacrifices shall be offered.

17 And he made a candlestick, beaten out with an hammer, of cleanest gold, of whose stock, rods, cups, and little roundels [or balls], and lilies came forth;

18 six in ever either side, three rods on one side, and three on the other side;

19 three cups in the manner of a nut by each rod, and little roundels [or balls] together, and lilies; and three cups at the likeness of a nut in the tother rod, and little roundels together, and lilies; forsooth the work of six shafts that came forth of the stock of the candlestick, was even.

20 Soothly in that stock were four cups, in the manner of a nut, and little roundels [or balls] and lilies were by all the cups;

21 and [the] little roundels were under the two shafts by three places, which altogether be made six shafts coming forth of one stock;

22 therefore the little roundels [or balls], and the shafts thereof, were all beaten out with hammer, of purest gold.

23 He made also seven lanterns, with their snuffing tongs, and the vessels where the snuffs be quenched, of cleanest gold.

24 The candlestick with all his vessels weighed a talent of gold.

25 He made also the altar of incense, of the wood of shittim, having a cubit by square, that is, on each side one cubit, and two cubits in height, of whose corners came forth horns.

26 And he covered it with cleanest gold, and the griddle, and walls, and the horns; and he made to it a little golden crown by compass,

27 and two golden rings under the crown, by each side, that [the] bars be put into those [or them], and the altar may be borne.

28 Forsooth he made those bars of the wood of shittim, or acacia wood, and covered them with golden plates.

29 He made also oil to the ointment of hallowing, and [the] incense of sweet smelling spiceries [or spices], most clean, by the work of apothecary.

CHAPTER 38

1 He made also the altar of burnt sacrifice of the wood of shittim, of five cubits by square, and of three cubits in height;

2 whose horns came forth [out] of the corners, and he covered it with plates of brass.

3 And into the uses thereof he made ready of brass diverse vessels, caul-drons, tongs, fleshhooks, hooks, and firepans.

4 He made also the brazen griddle thereof, in manner of a net, and a firepan under it, in the midst of the altar.

5 And he melted out four rings, by so many ends of the griddle, to put in the bars [for] to bear it;

6 and he made those same bars of the wood of shittim, and covered them with plates of brass.

7 And he led them into the rings that stood forth in the sides of the altar. Forsooth that altar was not massive or solid, but hollow of the building of the boards, and void within.

8 He made also a great washing vessel of brass, with his foundament, of the mirrors of brass of the women that watched in the great street of the tabernacle.

9 And he made the great porch, or great entry, in whose south coast were [the] curtains of bis folded again, of an hundred cubits,

10 twenty brazen pillars with their bases; the hooks of [the] pillars, and the holdings of those*, were of silver;

11 evenly at the north coast, the curtains, pillars, and bases, and the hooks of pillars, and the holdings of those, were of the same measure, and work, and metal.

12 Forsooth in that coast that be-holdeth [to] the west were curtains of fifty cubits, ten brazen pillars with their bases; and the hooks of pillars, and the holdings of those, were of silver.

13 Soothly against the east he made ready curtains of fifty cubits,

14 of which curtains one side had fifteen cubits, of three pillars with their bases;

15 and in the other side, for he made the entering of the tabernacle betwixt ever either, were curtains evenly of fifteen cubits, three pillars, and so many bases.

16 Bis folded again covered all the curtains of the great entry.

17 The bases of the pillars were of brass; forsooth the hooks of those pillars, and the holdings of those, were of silver; but also he covered with silver the heads of the pillars of the great entry.

18 And in the entering thereof he made a curtain, by embroidery work, of jacinth, purple, vermilion, either red cloth, and of bis folded again, which curtain had twenty cubits in length, and the height was of five cubits, by the measure which all the curtains of the great entry had.

19 Forsooth the pillars in the entering were four, with brazen bases, and the hooks of pillars, and the holdings of those, were of silver;

20 and he made [the] brazen stakes of the tabernacle, and of the great entry, by compass.

21 These be the numbers of the amounts of metals of the tabernacle of witnessing, that be numbered, by the commandment of Moses, in the ceremonies, that is, services, of Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron, [the] priest.

22 Which instruments Bezaleel, the son of Uri, [the] son of Hur, of the lineage of Judah, fulfilled; for the Lord commanded by Moses,

23 while Aholiab, the son of Ahisa-mach, of the lineage of Dan, was joined fellow to him, and he himself was a noble craftsman of wood, and a tapicer, that is, a weaver of diverse colours, and an embroiderer of jacinth, purple, vermilion, and bis.

24 All the gold that was spended in the work of the saintuary, and that was offered in gifts, was of nine and twenty talents, and of seven hundred and thirty shekels, at the measure of the saintuary.

25 Forsooth the silver of numbering of the people was an hundred hundreds, and a thousand and seven hundred and seventy and five shekels, at the weight of saintuary,

26 half a shekel by each head of all that passed to be numbered, from twenty years and above, of six hundred thousand and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty men.

27 Furthermore there were an hundred talents of silver, of which the bases of the saintuary were melted out alto-gether, and the bases of the entering, where the veil hangeth; an hundred bases were made of an hundred talents, for to each base was ordained a talent.

28 Forsooth of a thousand seven hundred and seventy and five shekels, he made the hooks of [the] pillars, and covered the heads of the pillars with silver.

29 Also of brass were offered two and seventy thousand talents, and four hundred shekels over.

30 Of which the bases in the entering of the tabernacle of witnessing were melted out, and the brazen altar, with his griddle, and all the vessels that pertain to the use thereof,

31 and the bases of the great entry, as well in the compass, as in the entering thereof, and the stakes of the tabernacle, and of the great entry by compass.

CHAPTER 39

1 Forsooth of jacinth, and purple, vermilion, and bis, he made [the] clothes in which Aaron was clothed, when he ministered in [the] holy things, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

2 Therefore he made the cloth on the shoulders [or cape] of gold, jacinth, and purple, and of red silk twice-dyed, and of bis folded again, by work of embroidery;

3 also he cut thin golden plates, and made thin into threads, that those [or they] may be folded again, with the warp of the former colours;

4 and he made twain [or two] hems coupled to themselves together, in ever either side of the ends;

5 and he made a girdle of the same colours, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

6 And he made ready two onyx stones, bound and enclosed in gold, and engraved by the craft of a worker in gems with the names of the sons of Israel;

7 six names in one stone, and six in the tother stone, by the order of their birth. And he set those stones in the sides of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], into a memorial of the sons of Israel, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

8 He made also the rational, by work of embroidery, by the work of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], of gold, jacinth, purple, and red silk twice-dyed, and of bis folded again;

9 he made the rational four-cornered, double, of the measure of four fingers.

10 And he set therein four orders of gems; in the first order was sardius, topaz, smaragdus;

11 in the second order was car-buncle, sapphire, jasper;

12 in the third order was ligure, agate, amethyst;

13 in the fourth order was crystallite, onyx, and beryl; compassed and enclosed with gold, by their orders.

14 And those twelve stones were engraved with [the] twelve names of the lineages of Israel, all the stones by themselves, by the names of all the lineages by themselves.

15 They made also in the rational, little chains, cleaving to themselves together, of purest gold,

16 and twain [or two] hooks, and so many rings of gold.

17 Forsooth they setted the rings on ever either side of the rational,

18 on which rings [the] two golden chains hanged, which they setted in the hooks, that stood forth in the corners of the cloth on the shoulders [or cape].

19 These accorded so to themselves, both before and behind, that the cloth on the shoulders [or cape], and the rational,

20 were knitted together, and fastened to the girdle,

21 and coupled full strongly with the rings, which rings a lace of jacinth joined together, lest they were loosened, and slackened, and were moved each from other; as the Lord commanded to Moses.

22 They made also a coat on the shoulders, or alb, all of jacinth;

23 and the hood, or the amice, in the higher part, about the midst, and a woven hem, by the compass of the hood;

24 forsooth beneath at the feet they made pineapples of jacinth, and purple, and vermilion, and bis folded again;

25 and they made little bells of purest gold, which they setted betwixt the pomegranates, in the hem of the alb, by compass;

26 a golden little bell, and a pine-apple; with which the bishop went adorned, when he was set in service, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

27 They made also coats of bis, that is, linen clothes, by woven work, to Aaron and to his sons,

28 and mitres with small crowns of bis, and linen clothes of bis;

29 forsooth they made a girdle of bis folded again, of jacinth, purple, and vermilion, parted by craft of embroidery, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

30 They made also a plate of holy worshipping, of purest gold, and they wrote therein by the craft of an engraver in gems, The Holy of the Lord.

31 And they bound it with the mitre by a lace of jacinth, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

32 Therefore all the work of the tabernacle, and the covering of the witnessing, was performed; and the sons of Israel did all things which the Lord commanded to Moses.

33 And they offered the tabernacle, and the roof, and all the appurtenances, rings, boards, bars, and pillars, and the bases;

34 the covering of skins of rams made red, and another covering of skins of jacinth; the veil,

35 the ark, the bars, and the propitiatory;

36 the board with vessels, and with the loaves of setting forth;

37 the candlestick, lanterns, and the appurtenances of those, with [the] oil;

38 the golden altar, and the ointment, and [the] incense of sweet smelling spiceries [or spices]; and the curtain in the entering of the tabernacle;

39 the brazen altar, [the] griddle, bars, and all the vessels thereof; the great washing vessel, with his found-ament;

40 the curtains of the great entry, and the pillars with their bases; the curtain in the entering of the great porch, and the cords, and the stakes thereof. Nothing of the vessels failed, that was commanded to be made into [the] service of the tabernacle, and into the roof of the bond of peace.

41 Also the sons of Israel offered the clothes which the priests, that is, Aaron and his sons, use in the saintuary,

42 as the Lord commanded.

43 And after that Moses saw all those things fulfilled, he blessed them.

CHAPTER 40

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, saying,

2 In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt raise the tabernacle of witnessing.

3 And thou shalt set the ark therein, and thou shalt leave a veil before it.

4 And when the board is borne in, thou shalt set thereon those things that be commanded justly, either by the law. The candlestick shall stand with his lanterns,

5 and the golden altar, wherein the incense is burnt before the ark of witnessing. Thou shalt set a curtain in the entering of the tabernacle;

6 and before it thou shalt set the altar of burnt sacrifice,

7 thou shalt set the washing vessel betwixt the altar and the tabernacle, which washing vessel thou shalt fill with water.

8 And thou shalt encompass the great porch, and the entering thereof, with curtains.

9 And when thou hast taken the oil of anointing, thou shalt anoint the tabernacle, with his vessels, that those [or they] be hallowed;

10 the altar of burnt sacrifice, and all the vessels thereof;

11 the washing vessel, with his foundament or base. Thou shalt anoint all things with the oil of anointing, that they be holy of holy things.

12 And thou shalt present Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle of witnessing; and, when they be washed with water,

13 thou shalt clothe them in holy clothes, that they minister to me,

14 (See verse 13 above.)

15 and that the anointing of them profit into everlasting priesthood.

16 And Moses did all things that the Lord commanded.

17 Therefore in the first month of the second year, in the first day of the month, the tabernacle was set.

18 And Moses areared it, and he set the boards, and bases, and bars, and he ordained [the] pillars;

19 and he stretched out the roof upon the tabernacle, and he put a covering above, as the Lord commanded.

20 He put also the witnessing, that is, the tables of the law, in the ark, and he set the bars within, and God’s answering place above.

21 And when he had brought the ark into the tabernacle, he hanged a veil before it, that he should fulfill the commandment of the Lord.

22 He setted [or put] also the board in the tabernacle of witnessing, at the north coast, without the veil,

23 and he ordained the loaves of setting forth before, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

24 He set [or put] also the candlestick in the tabernacle of witnessing, even against the board, in the south side,

25 and he set the lanterns by order, by the commandment of the Lord.

26 He put also the golden altar under the roof of witnessing, that is, of the tabernacle, against the veil,

27 and he burnt thereon incense of sweet smelling spiceries [or spices], as the Lord commanded to Moses.

28 He set [or put] also a curtain in the entering of the tabernacle,

29 and the altar of burnt sacrifice in the porch of the witnessing, and he offered there burnt sacrifice, and sacrifices, as the Lord commanded.

30 Also he ordained the washing vessel, betwixt the tabernacle of witnessing and the altar, and filled it with water.

31 And Moses, and Aaron, and his sons, washed their hands and their feet therein,

32 when they entered into the tabernacle of the bond of peace, and nighed to the altar, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

33 He areared also the great porch, by compass of the tabernacle and of the altar, and setted a curtain in the entering thereof.

34 After that all things were perfectly made, a cloud covered the tabernacle of witnessing, and the glory of the Lord filled it;

35 neither Moses might enter into the tabernacle of the bond of peace, while the cloud covered all things, and the majesty of the Lord shined, for the cloud covered all things.

36 If any time the cloud left the tabernacle, the sons of Israel went forth by their companies;

37 if the cloud hanged there above, they dwelled in the same place;

38 for the cloud of the Lord rested on the tabernacle by day, and fire in the night, in the sight of the people of Israel, by all their dwellings.

* CHAPTER 1:7 The phrase ‘sons of Israel’ at times refers to the twelve sons of Jacob (whose name God changed to ‘Israel’), at times to only the Israelite men, and other times to all of the people of Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel, ‘the Israelites’.

* CHAPTER 2:1 ‘into fleshly coupling’; for she was his wife before, and had childed Aaron, and Marie or Miriam, his sister.

† CHAPTER 2:10 In Hebrew, ‘Moses’ sounds like the words for ‘pull out’.

‡ CHAPTER 2:22 In Hebrew, ‘Gershom’ sounds like the word for ‘foreigner’.

§ CHAPTER 2:22 In Hebrew, ‘Eliezer’ sounds like the words for ‘God helps me’.

* CHAPTER 10:10 He said this in scorn, understanding the contrary.

† CHAPTER 10:19 In Hebrew, ‘the Sea of Reeds’; in Greek, ‘the Red Sea’ (Gehman).

* CHAPTER 23:16 Also known as the Feast of the Harvest, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of the First Fruits.

† CHAPTER 23:16 Also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Booths, the Feast of Shelters, and the Feast of Ingathering.

* CHAPTER 25:17 Also known as ‘God’s answering place’ and ‘the mercy seat’.

* CHAPTER 26:2 In the original text, throughout the rest of Exodus, ‘curtain/s’ and ‘tent/s’ are used interchangeably. To avoid confusion, only ‘curtain/s’ will be used in this context. As well, ‘say/s’ and ‘serge/s’ are also used for ‘curtain/s’; they appear in this text where they appear in the original text.

† CHAPTER 26:15 In the original text, throughout the rest of Exodus, ‘board/s’ and ‘table/s’ are used interchangeably to refer to construction materials. To avoid confusion, only ‘board/s’ will be used in this context.

‡ CHAPTER 26:32 In the original text, throughout the rest of Exodus, ‘hook/s’ and ‘head/s’ are used interchangeably. To avoid confusion, only ‘hook/s’ will be used in this context.

* CHAPTER 27:10 In the original text, throughout the rest of Exodus, ‘foundament/s’ and ‘base/s’ are used interchangeably in reference to the pillars. To avoid confusion, only ‘base/s’ will be used in this context.

† CHAPTER 27:10 From the gloss for verse 38:10.

* CHAPTER 34:22 See Exodus 23:16, and footnote #7.

* CHAPTER 38:10 From the gloss in copies G, Q, and X.

LEVITICUS

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

LEVITICUS

CHAPTER 1

1 Forsooth the Lord called Moses, and spake to him from the tabernacle of witnessing, saying,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, A man of you, that offereth to the Lord a sacrifice of beasts, that is, of oxen and of sheep, and offereth slain sacrifices,

3 if his offering is burnt sacrifice, and of the drove of oxen, he shall offer a male beast without wem at the door of the tabernacle of witnessing, to make the Lord pleased to him.

4 And he shall set his hands on the head of the sacrifice, and it shall be acceptable, and profiting into the cleansing of him.

5 And he shall offer a calf before the Lord, and the sons of Aaron, [the] priests, shall offer the blood thereof, and they shall shed it by compass of the altar, that is before the door of the tabernacle.

6 And when the skin of the sacrifice is drawn away, they shall cut the members into gobbets;

7 and they shall put under the altar the fire, and they shall make an heap of wood ready before;

8 and they shall ordain above that wood those things that be cut, that is, the head, and all things that cleave to the maw,

9 when the entrails and the feet be washed with water; and the priest shall burn those [or them] on the altar, into burnt sacrifice, and to sweet odour to the Lord.

10 That if the offering is of little beasts, a burnt sacrifice of sheep, either of goats, he shall offer a male beast without wem,

11 and he shall offer that at the side of the altar that beholdeth to the north, before the Lord. Soothly the sons of Aaron shall pour the blood thereof on the altar by compass,

12 and they shall part the members, the head, and all things that cleave to the maw, and they shall put them on the wood, under which the fire shall be set [or put];

13 soothly they shall wash in water the entrails and [the] feet; and the priest shall burn all things offered on the altar, into burnt sacrifice, and sweetest odour to the Lord.

14 Forsooth if the offering of burnt sacrifice to the Lord is of birds, of turtles, or of culver birds,

15 the priest shall offer it at the altar; and when the head is writhed to the neck, and the place of the wound is broken, he shall make the blood run down on the brink of the altar.

16 Soothly he shall cast forth the little bladder of the throat, or the crop, and the feathers beside the altar, at the east coast, in the place in the which the ashes be wont to be cast out;

17 and the priest shall break the wings thereof, and he shall not carve it, neither part it with iron; and he shall burn it on the altar, when fire is put under the wood; it is a burnt sacrifice, and an offering of sweetest odour to the Lord.

CHAPTER 2

1 When a soul, that is, a poor man, offereth an offering of sacrifice to the Lord, [tried] flour of wheat shall be his offering. And he shall pour oil thereon, and he shall put incense,

2 and he shall bear it to the sons of Aaron, [the] priest, of the which sons one of them shall take an handful of tried wheat flour, and of oil, and all the incense; and he shall put these as a memorial on the altar, into the sweetest odour to the Lord.

3 Forsooth that that is left of the sacrifice shall be Aaron’s and his sons’, the holy of holy things of offerings to the Lord.

4 Forsooth when thou offerest a sacrifice baked in an oven, of tried wheat flour, that is, loaves without sourdough, sprinkled with oil, and therf bread sodden in water, balmed with oil;

5 if thine offering is of tried wheat flour sprinkled with oil, and without sourdough, taken of the frying pan,

6 thou shalt part it in small parts, and thou shalt pour oil thereon.

7 Else if the sacrifice is taken of the griddle, evenly the [tried]wheat flour shall be sprinkled with oil;

8 the which wheat flour thou shalt offer to the Lord, and thou shalt betake it in the hands of the priest. And when he hath offered it,

9 he shall take a memorial of the sacrifice, and he shall burn it on the altar, into odour of sweetness to the Lord.

10 Soothly whatever thing is left, it shall be Aaron’s and his sons, the holy of holy things of the offerings to the Lord.

11 Each offering which is offered to the Lord, shall be without sourdough, neither anything of sourdough, and of honey, shall be burnt in the sacrifice of the Lord.

12 Ye shall offer only the first fruits of those [or them], and gifts; soothly those [or they] shall not be put on the altar, into odour of sweetness.

13 Whatever thing of sacrifice thou shalt offer, thou shalt make it savory with salt, neither thou shalt take away the salt of the bond of peace of thy God from thy sacrifice; in each offering thou shalt offer salt.

14 Forsooth if thou offerest a gift of the first things of thy fruits to the Lord, of ears of corn yet green, thou shalt scorch, or singe, them in fire, and thou shalt break them in the manner of bruised corn; and so thou shalt offer thy first fruits to the Lord,

15 and thou shalt pour oil there-upon, and thou shalt put incense, for it is the offering of the Lord.

16 Of which the priest shall burn, into mind of the gift, a part of the bruised corn, and of the oil, and all the incense.

CHAPTER 3

1 That if his offering is a sacrifice of peaceable things, and he will offer of [the] oxen, he shall offer before the Lord a male, either a female, without wem.

2 And he shall set his hand upon the head of his slain sacrifice, which shall be offered in the entering of the tabernacle; and the sons of Aaron, [the] priest, shall pour the blood by compass of the altar.

3 And they shall offer of the sacrifice of peaceable things into offering to the Lord, the fatness that covereth the entrails, and whatever thing of fatness is within;

4 they shall offer[the] two kidneys with the fatness by which the guts called ileum be covered, and the caul of the liver, with the little reins.

5 And they shall burn those [or them] on the altar, into burnt sacrifice, when fire is put under the wood, into offering of the sweetest odour to the Lord.

6 Soothly if his offering is of sheep, and a sacrifice of peaceable things, whether he offereth a male or a female, they shall be without wem.

7 If he offer a lamb before the Lord,

8 he shall set his hand upon the head of his sacrifice, that shall be offered in the porch of the tabernacle of witnessing; and the sons of Aaron shall pour the blood thereof by environ of the altar.

9 And they shall offer of the sacrifice of peaceable things a sacrifice to the Lord, the inner fatness, and all the tail with the reins, and the fatness that covereth the womb, and all the entrails,

10 and ever either little rein, with the fatness which is beside the guts called ileum, and the caul of the maw, with the little reins.

11 And the priest shall burn them upon the altar, into the feeding, or nourishing, of the fire, and of the offering to the Lord.

12 If his offering is a goat, and he offereth it to the Lord,

13 he shall set his hand on the head thereof, and he shall offer it in the entry of the tabernacle of witnessing; and the sons of Aaron shall pour the blood thereof by compass of the altar.

14 And they shall take thereof, into the feeding, or nourishing, of the Lord’s fire, the fatness that covereth the womb, and that covereth all the entrails,

15 and the two little reins with the caul that is on those [or them] beside the ileum, and the fatness of the maw, with the entrails that cleave to the little reins.

16 And the priest shall burn those [or them] on the altar, into the feeding, or nourishing, of the fire, and of sweetest odour; all the fatness shall be the Lord’s,

17 by everlasting right in generations, and in all your dwelling places, neither in any manner ye shall eat blood, neither fatness.

CHAPTER 4

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, When a soul, that is, a man, hath done sin by ignorance, and hath done anything of all the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded that those [or they] shall not be done, thou shalt follow these ordinances;

3 if a priest that is anointed, hath done sin, making the people to trespass, he shall offer for his sin a calf without wem to the Lord.

4 And he shall bring it to the door of the tabernacle of witnessing, before the Lord, and he shall put his hand on the head thereof, and he shall offer it to the Lord.

5 And he shall take up of the blood of the calf, and shall bring it into the tabernacle of witnessing.

6 And when he hath dipped his finger into the blood, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, against the veil of the saintuary.

7 And he shall put of the same blood on the corners of the altar of incense most acceptable to the Lord, which altar is in the tabernacle of witnessing; soothly he shall pour all the tother blood into the foundament of the altar of burnt sacrifice in the entering of the tabernacle.

8 And he shall offer for his sin the inner fatness of the calf, as well it that covereth the entrails, as all things that be within,

9 two little reins, and the caul, which is on them, beside [the] ileum, and the fatness of the maw, with the little reins,

10 as it is offered of the calf of the sacrifice of peaceable things; and the priest shall burn those things on the altar of burnt sacrifice.

11 Soothly the priest shall bear out of the tents, the skin, and all the flesh, with the head, and the feet, and [the] entrails, and the dung,

12 and the body that is left, into a clean place, where [the] ashes be wont to be poured out; and he shall burn those things upon the heap of wood, the which shall be burnt in the place of ashes poured out.

13 That if all the company of the sons of Israel knoweth not, and doeth by unknowing that that is against the commandment of the Lord,

14 and afterward understandeth his sin, he shall offer a calf for that sin, and he shall bring the calf to the door of the tabernacle.

15 And the elder men of the people shall set [or put] hands on the head thereof before the Lord; and when the calf is offered in the sight of the Lord,

16 the priest that is anointed shall bear in of his blood into the tabernacle of witnessing;

17 and when he hath dipped his finger, he shall sprinkle the blood seven times against the veil.

18 And he shall put of the same blood in the horns of the altar, which is before the Lord in the tabernacle of witnessing; soothly he shall pour the blood that leaveth beside the foundament of the altar of burnt sacrifice, which is in the door of the tabernacle of witnessing.

19 And he shall take all the fatness thereof, and shall burn it on the altar;

20 and he shall do also of this calf, as he did before of the tother; and when the priest shall pray for them, the Lord shall be merciful.

21 Forsooth he shall bear out [of the tents] that calf, and he shall burn it, as he did also the former calf, for it is for the sin of the multitude.

22 If a prince sinneth, and doeth by ignorance one thing of many, which is forbidden in the law of the Lord,

23 and afterward understandeth his sin, he shall offer to the Lord a sacrifice, a goat buck, without wem;

24 and he shall set his hand on the head thereof. And when he hath offered it in the place, where [the] burnt sacrifice is wont to be slain, before the Lord, for it is for sin;

25 the priest shall dip his finger in the blood of [the] sacrifice for sin, and he shall touch with his bloody finger the corners of the altar of burnt sacrifice, and he shall pour the blood that leaveth at the foundament thereof.

26 Soothly the priest shall burn the inner fatness above the altar, as it is wont to be done in the sacrifice of peaceable things, and the priest shall pray for him, and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven to him.

27 That if a soul, that is, a singular man, of the people of the land sinneth by ignorance, that he do anything of these [things] that be forbidden in the law of the Lord, and trespasseth,

28 and knoweth his sin, he shall offer a she-goat without wem;

29 and he shall set his hand upon the head of the sacrifice which is for [the] sin, and he shall offer it in the place of [the] burnt sacrifice.

30 And the priest shall take of the blood thereof upon his finger, and he shall touch the horns of the altar of burnt sacrifice, and he shall pour the blood that is left at the foundament of the altar.

31 Soothly he shall take away all the inner fatness, as it is wont to be done away of the sacrifices of peaceable things, and he shall burn it on the altar, into odour of sweetness to the Lord; and the priest shall pray for him, and it shall be forgiven to him.

32 Soothly if he offereth of little beasts a sacrifice for sin, that is, a sheep without wem,

33 he shall put his hand on the head thereof, and he shall offer it in the place where the beasts of burnt sacrifices be wont to be slain.

34 And the priest shall take of the blood thereof in his finger, and he shall touch therewith the horns of the altar of burnt sacrifice, and he shall pour the blood that is left at the foundament of the altar.

35 And he shall do away all the inner fatness, as the inner fatness of the ram, that is offered for peaceable things, is wont to be done away, and the priest shall burn it upon the altar of incense of the Lord; and the priest shall pray for him, and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven to him.

CHAPTER 5

1 If a soul, that is, man, sinneth, and heareth the voice of an oath, and is witness, that is, required to bear witnessing of a thing that he knoweth, for either he saw, either is witting, if he showeth not, but hideth the truth, he shall bear his sin.

2 A person that toucheth any unclean thing, or which is slain of a beast, either is dead by itself, either toucheth any other creeping beast, and forgetteth his uncleanness, he is guilty, and trespasseth.

3 And if he toucheth anything of the uncleanness of man, by all the uncleanness by which he is wont to be defouled, and he forgetteth it, and knoweth this afterward, he shall be subject to that trespass.

4 A soul that sweareth, and bringeth forth with his lips, that he should do either evil, or well, and doeth it not, and confirmeth the same thing with an oath, either with a word, and forgetteth what he swore, or said, and afterward understandeth his trespass,

5 do he penance for his sin,

6 and offer he of the flocks a female lamb, either a goat; and the priest shall pray for him, and for his sin.

7 But if he may not offer a beast, offer he two turtles, either two culver birds to the Lord, one for [the] sin, and the tother into burnt sacrifice.

8 And he shall give those [or them] to the priest, which shall offer the first for [the] sin, and shall fold again the head thereof to the wings, so that it cleave to the neck, and be not broken utterly.

9 And the priest shall sprinkle the wall of the altar, of the blood thereof; soothly whatever is residue, he shall make to drop down at the foundament of the altar, for it is for sin.

10 Soothly he shall burn the tother bird into burnt sacrifice, as it is wont to be done; and the priest shall pray for him, and for his sin, and it shall be forgiven to him.

11 That if his hand for poverty may not offer two turtles, either two culver birds, he shall offer for his sin the tenth part of ephah of tried wheat flour; he shall not put oil into it, neither he shall put anything of incense, for it is for sin.

12 And he shall give it to the priest, which priest shall take up an handful thereof, and shall burn it on the altar, into mind of him that offered it,

13 and the priest shall pray for him, and cleanse him; forsooth the priest shall have the tother part into gift.

14 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

15 If a soul, that is, a man, breaketh [the] ceremonies by error, and sin in these things that be hallowed to the Lord, he shall offer for his trespass a ram without wem of the flocks, that may be bought for two shekels, at the weight of the saintuary.

16 And he shall restore that harm that he did, and he shall put the fifth part thereof above, and he shall give it to the priest, which priest shall pray for him, and offer the ram, and it shall be forgiven to him.

17 A soul, that is, a man, that sinneth by ignorance, and doeth one of these things that be forbidden in the law of the Lord, and is guilty of [the] sin, and understandeth his wickedness,

18 he shall offer to the priest, a ram without wem of the flocks, by the measure and estimation, or value, of the sin; and the priest shall pray for him, for he did unwittingly, and it shall be forgiven to him,

19 for by error he trespassed against the Lord.

CHAPTER 6

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 A soul, that is, a man, that sinneth, and despiseth the Lord, and denieth to his neighbour a thing betaken to his keeping, that was betaken to his faith, either taketh masterfully a thing by violence, either maketh false challenge,

3 either findeth a thing lost, and denieth it furthermore, and forsweareth, and doeth any other thing of many, in which things men be wont to do sin,

4 if it is convicted of the guilt, he shall yield whole all things which he would get by fraud,

5 and furthermore the fifth part to the lord, to whom he did [the] harm.

6 Soothly for his sin he shall offer a ram unwemmed of the flock, and he shall give that ram to the priest, by the value and the measure of the trespass;

7 and the priest shall pray for him before the Lord, and it shall be forgiven to him, for all things which he sinned in doing.

8 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

9 Command thou to Aaron, and to his sons, This is the law of burnt sacrifice; it shall be burnt in the altar all night till the morrow; fire that is given from heaven shall be of the same altar.

10 The priest shall be clothed with a coat, and with linen breeches; and he shall take away the ashes, which the fire devouring hath burnt out, and he shall put those beside the altar;

11 and he shall be spoiled of the former clothes, and he shall be clothed with other, and he shall bear those ashes out of the tents, and in a most clean place he shall make them to be wasted, or quenched, till to a dead spark.

12 Forsooth [the] fire shall burn ever[more] in the altar, which fire the priest shall nourish, putting wood under, in the morrowtide by each day; and when [the] burnt sacrifice is put above, the priest shall burn the inner fatness of peaceable things.

13 This is everlasting fire, that shall never fail in the altar.

14 This is the law of sacrifice, and of the flowing offerings, which the sons of Aaron shall offer before the Lord, and before the altar.

15 The priest shall take an handful of tried wheat flour, which is sprinkled with oil, and all the incense which is put on the flour, and he shall burn it on the altar, into mind of sweetest odour of the Lord.

16 Forsooth Aaron with his sons shall eat the tother part of [the] tried wheat flour, without sourdough; and he shall eat this in the holy place of the great porch of the tabernacle.

17 Soothly therefore it shall not be dighted with sourdough, for a part thereof is offered into incense of the Lord; it shall be holy of holy things, as offering for sin and trespass.

18 Males only of the kindred of Aaron shall eat it; it is a lawful thing and everlasting in your generations, of the sacrifice of the Lord; each man that toucheth them shall be hallowed.

19 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

20 This is the offering of Aaron, and of his sons, which they owe to offer to the Lord, in the day of his anointing; they shall offer the tenth part of ephah of [tried]wheat flour, into everlasting sacrifice, the half thereof in the morrowtide, and the half thereof in the eventide;

21 which shall be sprinkled with oil in a frying pan, and it shall be fried.

22 Soothly the priest which is successor to his father, shall offer it hot, into [the] sweetest odour to the Lord; and all it shall be burnt in the altar.

23 For all the sacrifice of priests shall be burnt with fire, neither any man shall eat thereof.

24 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

25 Speak thou to Aaron and to his sons, This is the law of sacrifice for sin; it shall be offered before the Lord, in the place where burnt sacrifice is offered; it is holy of holy things.

26 The priest that offereth it, shall eat it in the holy place, in the great porch of the tabernacle.

27 Whatever thing shall touch the flesh thereof, shall be hallowed; if a cloth is besprinkled with the blood thereof, it shall be washed in the holy place.

28 Soothly the earthen vessel, in which it is sodden, shall be broken; that if the vessel is of brass [or brazen], it shall be scoured, and washed with water.

29 Each male of the priests’ kin shall eat of the flesh thereof; for it is holy of holy things.

30 Soothly the sacrifice which is slain for sin, whose blood is borne into the tabernacle of witnessing to cleanse in the saintuary, shall not be eaten, but it shall be burnt in fire.

CHAPTER 7

1 And this is the law of sacrifice for trespass; it is holy of holy things.

2 Therefore where burnt sacrifice is offered, also the sacrifice for trespass shall be slain; the blood thereof shall be shed [or poured] by compass of the altar.

3 They shall offer the tail thereof, and the fatness that covereth the entrails,

4 the two little reins, and the fatness which is beside the ileum, and the caul of the maw, with the little reins.

5 And the priest shall burn those [or them] on the altar; it is incense of the Lord, for trespass.

6 Each male of the priests’ kin shall eat these fleshes in the holy place, for it is holy of holy things.

7 As a sacrifice is offered for sin, so and for trespass, one law shall be of ever either sacrifice; it shall pertain to the priest, that offereth it.

8 The priest that offereth the beast of burnt sacrifice shall have the skin thereof.

9 And each sacrifice of [tried]wheat flour, that is baked in an oven, and whatever is made ready in a griddle, either in a frying pan, it shall be that priest’s, of whom it is offered,

10 whether it is sprinkled with oil, either dry. To all the sons of Aaron even measure shall be parted, to each [one] by themselves.

11 This is the law of the sacrifice of peaceable things, which is offered to the Lord.

12 If the offering is for the doing of thankings, they shall offer loaves without sourdough sprinkled with oil, and thin therf cakes, that be anointed with oil; and they shall offer[tried]wheat flour baked, and little round loaves, sprinkled altogether with the meddling [or mingling] of oil.

13 Also they shall offer loaves dighted with sourdough, with the sacrifice of thankings which is offered for peace-able things;

14 of all one loaf shall be offered to the Lord for the first fruits, and it shall be the priest’s that shall pour the blood of the sacrifice,

15 whose flesh shall be eaten in the same day, neither anything of those shall dwell till the morrowtide.

16 If a man offereth a sacrifice by a vow, either by free will, it shall be eaten in like manner in the same day; but also if anything dwelleth into the morrow, it is leaveful to eat it;

17 soothly [the] fire shall waste what-ever thing the third day shall find.

18 If any man eateth in the third day of the flesh of [the] sacrifice of peaceable things, his offering shall be made void, neither it shall profit to the offerer; but rather, whatever soul defouleth himself with such meat, he shall be guilty of breaking of the law.

19 [The] Flesh that toucheth any unclean thing shall not be eaten, but it shall be burnt by fire; he that is clean, shall eat it.

20 A polluted soul, that is, a defouled man, that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peaceable things, which is offered to the Lord, shall perish from his peoples.

21 And he that toucheth [the] uncleanness of man, either of beast, either of all thing that may defoul, and eateth of such fleshes, shall perish from his peoples.

22 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

23 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, Ye shall not eat the inner fatness of a sheep, of an ox, and of a goat;

24 ye shall have into diverse uses the inner fatness of a carcass dead by itself, and of that beast which is taken, or slain, of a ravenous beast.

25 If any man eateth the inner fatness, that oweth to be offered into incense to the Lord, he shall perish from his people.

26 Also ye shall not take in meat the blood of any beast, as well of birds, as of beasts;

27 each man that eateth blood shall perish from his peoples.

28 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

29 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, He that offereth a sacrifice of peaceable things to the Lord, offer he together also a sacrifice, that is, the flowing offerings thereof.

30 He shall hold in his hands the inner fatness of the sacrifice, and the breast; and when he hath hallowed both these offered to the Lord, he shall take them to the priest,

31 the which shall burn the inner fatness upon the altar; soothly the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’;

32 and the right shoulder of the sacrifices of peaceable things shall turn into the first fruits of the priest.

33 He that of Aaron’s sons offereth the blood, and the inner fatness, shall have also the right shoulder in his portion.

34 For I have taken from the sons of Israel the breast of raising, and the shoulder of separating, of their peace-able sacrifices, and I have given those to Aaron the priest and to his sons, by everlasting law, of all the people of Israel.

35 This is the anointing of Aaron, and of his sons, that is, the offering in the day of their anointing, in the ceremonies of the Lord, in the day wherein Moses offered them, that they should be set in priesthood,

36 and which things the Lord commanded to be given to them of the sons of Israel, by everlasting [or perpetual] religion in their generations.

37 This is the law of burnt sacrifice, and of sacrifice for sin, and for trespass, and for hallowing, and for the sacrifices of peaceable things;

38 which law the Lord ordained to Moses in the hill of Sinai, when he commanded to the sons of Israel that they should offer their offerings to the Lord, in the desert of Sinai.

CHAPTER 8

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Take thou Aaron with his sons, their clothes, and the oil of anointing, a calf for sin, and two rams, a basket with therf loaves;

3 and thou shalt gather together all the company to the door of the tabernacle.

4 Moses did as the Lord commanded; and when all the company was gathered before the gates of the tabernacle,

5 Moses said, This is the word which the Lord commanded to be done.

6 And at once Moses offered, or presented to priest’s office, Aaron and his sons; and when he had washed them,

7 he clothed the bishop with a linen shirt, and girded him with a girdle, and clothed [him] with a coat of jacinth, and putted the cloth on the shoulders [or cape] above, which cloth on the shoulders he bound with a girdle,

8 and joined thereto the rational, wherein doctrine and truth was.

9 And Moses covered Aaron’s head with a mitre, and upon the mitre, about the front, he put the golden plate, made sacred in the hallowing, as the Lord commanded to him.

10 And he took also the oil of anointing, with which he anointed the tabernacle with all his appurtenance; and when he had hallowed,

11 and had sprinkled the altar seven times, he anointed it, and hallowed with oil all the vessels thereof, and the great washing vessel with his foundament.

12 Which oil he shedded [or pouring] upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, and hallowed.

13 And his sons offered, or presented, Moses clothed with linen coats, and he girded them with girdles, and he set [or put] on their heads mitres, as the Lord commanded.

14 He offered also a calf for sin; and when Aaron and his sons had put their hands on the head of that calf,

15 he offered it, and drew up [the] blood; [and] when the finger was dipped in the blood thereof, he touched the corners of the altar by compass; when the altar was cleansed and hallowed, Moses poured the blood that was left at the altar’s foot.

16 Soothly he burnt on the altar the inner fatness that was on the entrails, and the caul of the maw, and the two little reins with their little fatnesses;

17 and he burnt without the tents the calf, with the skin, the flesh, and the dung, as the Lord commanded.

18 And he offered a ram into burnt sacrifice; and when Aaron and his sons had set [or put] their hands upon the head thereof,

19 he offered it, and he poured the blood thereof by compass of the altar.

20 And he cutted that ram into gobbets, and he burnt with fire the head thereof, and the members, and the inner fatness,

21 when the entrails and the feet were washed before; and he burnt all the ram together upon the altar, for it was the burnt sacrifice of sweetest odour to the Lord, as the Lord commanded to him.

22 He offered also the second ram, into the hallowing of priests; and Aaron and his sons putted [or put] their hands upon the head thereof.

23 And when Moses had offered that ram, he took of the blood, and touched therewith the last part of the right ear of Aaron, and the thumb of his right hand, and in like manner of his foot.

24 He offered also the sons of Aaron. And when he had touched of the blood of the ram offered the last part of the right ears of all, and the thumbs of the right hand and foot, he poured the blood that was left upon the altar by compass.

25 Soothly he separated the inner fatness, and the tail, and all the fatness that covereth the entrails, and the caul of the maw, and the two reins with their fatnesses, and with the right shoulder.

26 Forsooth he took of the pannier of therf loaves, that was before the Lord, loaves without sourdough, and a cake sprinkled with oil, and he putted [or put] loaves first sodden in water, and afterward fried in oil, on the inner fatness, and the right shoulder;

27 and he betook all these things together to Aaron, and to his sons. And after that they [had] raised those [or them] before the Lord,

28 again he took them of their hands, and burnt them upon the altar of burnt sacrifice, for it was the offering of hallowing, into the odour of sweetness of sacrifice, into his part to the Lord.

29 He took also the breast of the ram of consecration into his part, and raised it before the Lord, as the Lord commanded to him.

30 And he took the ointment, and the blood that was in the altar, and he sprinkled them upon Aaron, and on his clothes, and upon his sons, and on their clothes. And when Moses had hallowed them in their clothing,

31 he commanded to them, and said, Seethe ye the flesh before the tabernacle gates, and there eat ye it; also eat ye the loaves of hallowing, that be put in the basket, as God commanded to me, and said, Aaron and his sons shall eat those loaves;

32 soothly whatever thing is left of the flesh and of the loaves, [the] fire shall waste it.

33 Also ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle in seven days, till to the day in which the time of your hallowing shall be fulfilled; for the hallowing is ended in seven days,

34 as it is done now in this present time, that the rightfulness of the sacrifice were fulfilled.

35 Ye shall dwell day and night in the tabernacle, and ye shall keep the keepings of the Lord, that ye die not; for so it is commanded to me.

36 And Aaron and his sons did all things, which the Lord spake by the hand of Moses.

CHAPTER 9

1 Forsooth when the eighth day was made, Moses called Aaron, and his sons, and the greater men in birth of Israel;

2 and he said to Aaron, Take thou of the drove a calf for sin, and a ram for burnt sacrifice, ever either without wem, and offer thou them before the Lord.

3 And thou shalt speak to the sons of Israel, Take ye a buck of goats for sin, and a calf, and a lamb, of one year, and without wem, into burnt sacrifice,

4 an ox and a ram for peaceable things; and offer ye them before the Lord, and offer ye [tried]wheat flour sprinkled with oil in the sacrifice of each of them; for today the Lord shall appear to you.

5 Therefore they took all things, which Moses commanded, to the door of the tabernacle, where, when all the multitude stood,

6 Moses said, This is the word which the Lord commanded, do ye it, and his glory shall appear to you.

7 And Moses said to Aaron, Nigh thou to the altar, and offer thou for thy sin; offer thou burnt sacrifice, and pray for thee, and for the people; and when thou hast slain the sacrifice of the people, pray thou for them, as the Lord commanded.

8 And anon Aaron nighed to the altar, and offered a calf for his sin;

9 whose blood his sons offered, or brought, to him, in which blood Aaron dipped his finger, and he touched the horns of the altar, and he poured the blood that was left at the foundament of the altar;

10 and he burnt upon the altar the inner fatness, and the little reins, and the caul of the maw, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

11 Forsooth Aaron burnt with fire without the tents the flesh and the skin thereof.

12 And he offered the beast of burnt sacrifice, and his sons brought to him the blood thereof, which he shedded [or poured] by compass of the altar;

13 they offered also that sacrifice cut into gobbets, with the head, and all the members; and he burnt by fire all these things upon the altar,

14 when the entrails and the feet were washed before with water.

15 And he offered and killed a buck of goats, for the sin of the people; and when the altar was cleansed, he made burnt sacrifice,

16 and he added into the sacrifice flowing offerings, that be offered together;

17 and he burnt those [or them] on the altar, without the ceremonies of [the] burnt sacrifice of the morrowtide.

18 He offered also an ox, and a ram, [the] peaceable sacrifices of the people; and his sons offered to him the blood, the which he poured by compass of the altar.

19 Forsooth they putted [or put] on the breasts the inner fatness of the ox, and the tail of the ram, and the little reins with their fatnesses, and the caul of the maw.

20 And when the inner fatnesses were burnt upon the altar,

21 Aaron separated the breasts, and the right shoulders of them, and raised them before the Lord, as Moses commanded.

22 And he stretched forth his hands to the people, and blessed it; and so when the sacrifices for sin, and [the] burnt sacrifices, and [the] peaceable sacrifices, were fulfilled, Aaron came down from the place of sacrificing.

23 Soothly Moses and Aaron entered into the tabernacle of witnessing, and went out afterward, and blessed the people;

24 and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the multitude. And lo! fire went out from the Lord, and devoured the burnt sacrifice, and the inner fatnesses that were upon the altar; and when the companies had seen this thing, they praised the Lord, and felled on their faces.

CHAPTER 10

1 And when Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, had taken censers, and putted [or put] fire, and incense [there] above, and offered before the Lord alien fire, which thing was not commanded to them.

2 And fire went out from the Lord, and devoured them, and they were dead before the Lord.

3 And Moses said to Aaron, This thing it is that the Lord spake, I shall be hallowed in them that nigh to me, and I shall be glorified in the sight of all the people; which thing Aaron heard, and was still.

4 Soothly when Moses had called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel, the brother of Aaron’s father, he said to them, Go ye, and take away your brethren from the sight of [the] saintuary, and bear ye them out of the tents.

5 And anon they went, and took them, as they lay clothed with linen coats, and casted them out, as it was commanded to them.

6 And Moses spake to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron, Do not ye make naked your heads, and do not ye rend your clothes, lest peradventure ye die, and indignation of God rise upon all the company; your brethren and all the house of Israel bewail the burning which the Lord hath raised up.

7 But ye shall not go out of the gates of the tabernacle, else ye shall perish; for the oil of holy anointing is on you. The which did all things by the behest of Moses.

8 Also the Lord said to Aaron,

9 Thou and thy sons shall not drink wine, and all thing that may make drunken, when ye shall enter into the tabernacle of witnessing, lest ye die; for it is everlasting behest into your generations,

10 [and] that ye have knowing to make doom betwixt holy thing and unholy, betwixt polluted thing and clean;

11 and that ye teach the sons of Israel all my lawful things, which the Lord spake to them by the hand of Moses.

12 And Moses spake to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons that were left, Take ye the sacrifice that [was] left of the offering of the Lord, and eat ye it without sourdough, beside the altar, for it is holy of holy things.

13 Soothly ye shall eat in the holy place that that is given to thee, and to thy sons, of the offerings of the Lord, as it is commanded to me.

14 Also thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee, shall eat in the cleanest place the breast which is offered, and the shoulder which is separated; for those be kept to thee, and to thy free sons, of the healthful sacrifices of the sons of Israel;

15 for they raised before the Lord the shoulder and the breast, and the inner fatnesses that be burnt in the altar; and pertain they to thee, and to thy sons, by everlasting law, as the Lord commanded.

16 Among these things when Moses sought the goat buck that was offered for sin, he found it burnt, and he was wroth against Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons, that were left alive. And he said,

17 Why ate not ye the sacrifice for sin in the holy place, the which sacrifice is holy of holy things, and it is given to you, that ye bear the wickedness of the multitude, and pray for it in the sight of the Lord;

18 mostly since of the blood thereof is not borne in within [the] holy things, and ye ought to eat it in the saintuary, as it is commanded to me?

19 And Aaron answered, Sacrifice for sin, and burnt sacrifice is offered today before the Lord; soothly this thing that thou seest, befelled to me; how might I eat it, either please God in ceremonies, with sorrowful soul?

20 And when Moses had heard this, he received satisfaction, or covenable answer.

CHAPTER 11

1 And the Lord spake to Moses and Aaron, and said,

2 Say ye to the sons of Israel, Keep ye all things which I wrote to you, that I be your God. These be the beasts, which ye shall eat, of all the living beasts of earth;

3 ye shall eat all things among beasts that have the claw parted, and cheweth the cud;

4 soothly whatever thing cheweth cud, and hath a claw, but parteth not it, as a camel, and other beasts, ye shall not eat it, and ye shall areckon it among unclean things.

5 A coney, which cheweth cud, and parteth not the claw, is unclean;

6 and an hare, for also he cheweth cud, but parteth not the claw;

7 and a swine, that cheweth not the cud, though he parteth the claw.

8 Ye shall not eat the flesh of these beasts, neither ye shall touch their dead bodies, for those [or they] be unclean to you.

9 Also these things be that be engendered in waters, and [it] is leaveful to eat; ye shall eat all things that have fins and scales, as well in the sea, as in [the] fresh floods, and standing waters;

10 soothly whatever thing of them that be moved and live in waters, hath not fins and scales, shall be abominable, and loathsome to you;

11 and ye shall not eat the flesh of those [or them], and ye shall eschew their bodies dead by themselves.

12 All things in [the] waters that have not fins and scales, shall be polluted.

13 These things be of fowls which ye shall not eat, and shall be eschewed [or shunned] of you; an eagle, and a gripe, [and] an aliet,

14 and a kite, and a vulture by his kind;

15 and all the kind of ravens by his likeness;

16 a struthio, and a night crow, [and] a lari, or a coot, and a hawk by his kind;

17 an owl, and a dipper, and ciconia;

18 a swan, and a cormorant, and a pelican;

19 a falcon, [and] a jay by his kind; [and] a lapwing, and a rearmouse, or a bat.

20 All thing of fowls or insects that goeth on four feet, shall be abominable to you;

21 soothly whatever thing goeth on four feet, but hath longer hips behind, by which it skippeth on the earth, ye shall eat;

22 as is a bruchus, that is, the fruit of locusts before it hath wings, in his kind, and accatus, that is, the fruit of locusts when it beginneth to have wings, and ophimachus, [that is, a foul enemy to serpents], and a locust, all by their kind.

23 Forsooth whatever thing of birds or insects hath four feet only, it shall be abominable to you;

24 and whoever toucheth their bodies dead by themselves, shall be polluted, or defouled, and shall be unclean till to eventide;

25 and if it is need, that he bear any dead thing of these [or them], he shall wash his clothes, and he shall be unclean till to the going down of the sun.

26 Soothly each beast that hath a claw, but parteth not it, neither cheweth cud, shall be unclean; and whatever thing toucheth it, shall be defouled.

27 That that goeth on hands, of all beasts that go on four feet, shall be unclean; he that toucheth their bodies dead by themselves, shall be defouled till to eventide;

28 and he, that beareth such dead bodies, shall wash his clothes, and he shall be unclean till to eventide; for all these things be unclean to you.

29 Also these things shall be areckoned among defouled things, of these things that be moved on earth; a weasel, and a mouse, and a crocodile, each after his kind;

30 a migale, a chameleon, and [a] stellion, and a lacert, and a mouldwarp.

31 All these be unclean; he that toucheth their bodies dead by them-selves, shall be unclean till to eventide;

32 and that thing shall be defouled, on which anything of their bodies dead by themselves falleth, as well a vessel of wood, and a cloth, as skins, or pilches, either hair-shirts; and in whatever thing work is made, it shall be dipped in water, and those things shall be defouled till to eventide, and so afterward they shall be cleansed.

33 Soothly a vessel of earth, in which anything of these falleth within, shall be defouled, and therefore it shall be broken.

34 Each meat, that ye shall eat, shall be unclean, if water of such a vessel is poured out thereon; and each flowing thing, that is drunken of such a vessel, shall be unclean;

35 and whatever thing of such dead bodies by themselves shall fall upon, it shall be unclean, whether furnaces, or kettles standing upon three feet, they shall be destroyed, and shall be unclean.

36 Soothly wells and cisterns, and all the gatherings together of waters, shall be clean. He that toucheth their body dead by itself, shall be defouled.

37 If it falleth upon seed, it shall not defoul the seed;

38 soothly if any man sheddeth [or pour] out [the] seed with water, and afterward the water is touched with dead bodies by themselves, it shall be defouled anon.

39 If a beast is dead, which it is leaveful to you to eat, he that toucheth the dead body thereof shall be unclean till to eventide;

40 and he that eateth thereof anything, either beareth it, shall wash his clothes, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

41 All thing that creepeth upon earth, shall be abominable, neither it shall be into meat.

42 Whatever thing goeth upon the breast, and on four feet, and hath many feet, either is drawn by the earth, ye shall not eat it, for it is abominable.

43 Do not ye defoul your souls, neither touch ye anything of them, lest ye be unclean;

44 for I am your Lord God; be ye holy, for I am holy. Defoul ye not your souls in each creeping thing that is moved upon earth;

45 for I am the Lord, that led you out of the land of Egypt, that I should be to you into God; ye shall be holy, for I am holy.

46 This is the law of living beasts, and of fowls, and of each living thing that is moved in water, and creepeth in earth;

47 that ye know the differences of clean thing and unclean, and that ye know what ye shall eat, and what ye owe to forsake.

CHAPTER 12

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, If a woman, when she hath received seed, childeth a knave child, she shall be unclean by seven days, by the days of her separating of corruptible blood, that runneth from her by months;

3 and the young child shall be circumcised in the eighth day.

4 Soothly she shall dwell three and thirty days in the blood of her purifying; she shall not touch any holy thing, neither she shall enter into the saintuary, till the days of her cleansing be [ful] filled.

5 Soothly if she childeth a female, she shall be unclean two weeks, by the custom of [the] flowing of unclean blood, and threescore and six days she shall dwell in the blood of her cleansing.

6 And when the days of her cleansing, for a son, or for a daughter, be fulfilled, she shall bring a lamb of one year into burnt sacrifice, and a culver bird, either a turtle, for sin, to the door of the tabernacle of witnessing; and she shall give to the priest,

7 which shall offer those before the Lord, and shall pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed from the flowing of her blood. This is the law of a woman that childeth male, or female.

8 That if her hand find not, neither she may offer a lamb, she shall take two turtles, either two culver birds, one into burnt sacrifice, and the tother for sin; and the priest shall pray for her, and so she shall be cleansed.

CHAPTER 13

1 The Lord spake to Moses and Aaron, and said,

2 A man in whose skin and flesh riseth diverse colour, either whelk, either as some shining thing, that is, a wound [or a plague] of leprosy, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, either to one of any of his sons;

3 and when he seeth the leprosy, or meselry, in the skin, and the hair changed into white colour, and that the species of leprosy is lower than the other skin and the flesh, it is a wound [or a plague] of leprosy, and he shall be separated at the doom of the priest.

4 Soothly if the shining whiteness that is in the skin, neither is lower than the tother flesh, and the hairs be of the former colour, the priest shall enclose him seven days;

5 and the priest shall behold him in the seventh day, and soothly if the leprosy wax not further, neither passeth the former terms in the flesh, again the priest shall enclose him again seven other days;

6 and he shall behold him in the seventh day; if the leprosy is then dark, and waxeth not in the flesh, the priest shall cleanse him, that is, shall deem him to be clean, for it is a scab; and the man shall wash his clothes, and he shall be clean.

7 That if the leprosy waxeth again, after that he is seen of the priest, and is yielded to cleanness, he shall be brought again to the priest,

8 and he shall be deemed to be of uncleanness.

9 If the wound [or the plague] of leprosy is in a man, he shall be brought to the priest,

10 and he shall see the man; and when white colour is in the flesh, and it changeth the sight, or former colour, of [the] hairs, and that flesh appeareth quick, or waxing,

11 it shall be deemed the eldest [or most old] leprosy, and grown to the skin; therefore the priest shall defoul him, that is, deem him to be foul, and the priest shall not enclose him again, for it is of open uncleanness.

12 But if the leprosy running about in the skin flowereth out, and covereth all the flesh, from the head till to the feet, whatever thing falleth under the sight of eyes;

13 the priest shall behold him, and he shall deem him to be holden with the cleanest leprosy, for all the skin is turned into whiteness, and therefore the man shall be clean.

14 Soothly when quick flesh appeareth in him, he shall be defouled

15 by the doom of the priest, and he shall be areckoned among unclean men; for quick flesh is unclean, if it is sprinkled with leprosy.

16 That if the flesh is turned again into whiteness, and covereth all the man,

17 the priest shall behold him, and shall deem that he is clean.

18 The flesh and the skin, in which a botch is bred, and is healed,

19 and the place of the botch, or a fell sore, appeareth white, either red, the man shall be brought to the priest;

20 and when the priest seeth the place of the leprosy lower than the other flesh, and the hairs turned into whiteness, the priest shall defoul him, that is, deem him foul; for the wound [or the plague] of leprosy is bred [or sprung] in the botch.

21 That if the hair is of the former colour, and the sign of the wound is some-deal dark, and is not lower than the flesh beside, the priest shall enclose the man seven days;

22 and soothly, if his sore waxeth, the priest shall deem the man to be a leper;

23 forsooth if it standeth in his place, it is a sign of a botch, and the man shall be clean.

24 Flesh, and skin, which the fire hath burnt, and is healed, and hath a white, either red, sign of wound, the priest shall behold it,

25 and lo! if it is turned into white-ness, and the place thereof is lower than the tother skin, the priest shall defoul the man, for a wound [or the plague] of leprosy is bred [or sprung] in the sign of wound.

26 That if the colour of [the] hairs is not changed, neither the wound, or soreness, is lower than the tother flesh, and that species of leprosy is some-deal dark, the priest shall enclose the man seven days;

27 and in the seventh day he shall behold him; if the leprosy waxeth in the flesh, the priest shall defoul the man;

28 else if the whiteness standeth in his place, and is not clear enough, it is a wound, or soreness, of burning, and therefore the man shall be cleansed, for it is a sign of burning.

29 A man or a woman, in whose head or beard leprosy burgeoneth,

30 the priest shall see them; and if the place is lower than the tother flesh, and the hair is white, and is subtler, either smaller, than it is wont, the priest shall defoul them, for it is leprosy of the head, and of the beard.

31 Else if he seeth the place of the wem, or the sore, even with the nigh flesh, and the hair black, the priest shall enclose them seven days,

32 and he shall see them in the seventh day; if the wem waxeth not, and the hair is of his colour, and the place of wound is even with the tother flesh,

33 the man shall be shaven, without the place of the wem, and he shall be enclosed again by seven other days.

34 If in the seventh day the wound, or soreness, is seen to have stand in his place, neither is lower than the tother flesh, the priest shall cleanse the man; and when his clothes be washed, he shall be clean.

35 Else if after the cleansing, a spot waxeth again in the skin,

36 the priest shall no more inquire, whether the hair is changed into white colour, for apertly he is unclean.

37 Soothly if the spot standeth still, and the hairs be black, know then the priest that the man is healed, and trustily pronounce he the man clean.

38 A man or a woman, in whose skin whiteness appeareth,

39 the priest shall behold them; if he perceiveth, that whiteness some-deal dark shineth in the skin, know he, that it is no leprosy, but a spot of white colour, and that the man is clean.

40 A man of whose head the hairs float away, he is bald, and clean;

41 and if the hairs fall from the forehead, he is bald, and is clean;

42 else if in the baldness before, either in the baldness behind, white either red colour is bred, or is sprung up,

43 and the priest seeth this, he shall condemn the man, without doubt of leprosy, which is bred in the baldness.

44 Therefore whoever is defouled with leprosy, and is separated from other men, at the doom of the priest,

45 he shall have his clothes unsewed, and his head bare, and his mouth covered with a cloth, [and] he shall cry himself defouled, and vile;

46 in all the time that he is leprous and unclean, he shall dwell alone, without the tents.

47 A woollen cloth, either linen,

48 that hath leprosy in the warp, either woof, either certainly a skin, or a pilch, either whatever thing is made of skin,

49 if it is corrupted with a white spot, either red, it shall be areckoned leprosy, and it shall be showed to the priest;

50 the which when he hath beheld, shall enclose it up seven days.

51 And again he shall behold it in the seventh day, and if he perceiveth, that the leprosy therein hath waxed, it shall be deemed[a] continual leprosy; he shall deem that cloth defouled, and all thing in which it is found;

52 and therefore the cloth shall be burnt with flames of fire.

53 And if the priest seeth that the spot hath waxen not,

54 he shall command, and they shall wash that thing wherein the leprosy is, and he shall enclose it again seven other days;

55 and when he seeth the former like-ness not changed again, nevertheless that neither the leprosy hath waxed, he shall deem that thing unclean, and he shall burn it in fire, for the leprosy is shed [or spread] in the over-part of that cloth, either through[out]it all.

56 Else if the place of [the] leprosy is darker, after that the cloth is washed, he shall break away that dark place, and he shall part it from the whole.

57 That if fleeing leprosy and unstead-fast appeareth furthermore in these places, that were unwemmed before, it oweth to be burnt in fire;

58 if it ceaseth, he shall wash the second time those things that be clean, and they shall be clean.

59 This is the law of leprosy of a cloth, woollen and linen, of warp and woof, and of all purtenance of skin, how it oweth to be cleansed, either to be defouled.

CHAPTER 14

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 This is the custom of a leprous man, when he shall be cleansed. He shall be brought to the priest,

3 the which priest shall go out of the tents, and when he shall find that the leprosy is cleansed,

4 he shall command to the man that is cleansed, that he offer for himself two quick sparrows, which is leaveful to eat, and cedar wood, and vermilion, that is, a red thread, and hyssop.

5 And the priest shall command that one of the sparrows be offered in an earthen vessel upon quick waters;

6 soothly he shall dip the tother sparrow quick, with the cedar wood, and with the red thread, and hyssop, in the blood of the sparrow offered,

7 with which he shall sprinkle seven times him that shall be cleansed, that he be purged rightfully; and he shall deliver the quick sparrow, that it fly [away] into the field.

8 And when the man hath washed his clothes, he shall shave all the hairs of his body, and he shall be washed in water, and he shall be cleansed, and he shall enter into the tents; so only that he dwell without his tabernacle by seven days;

9 and that in the seventh day, he shave the hairs of the head, and his beard, and his brows, and the hairs of all his body. And when his clothes and his body be washed again,

10 in the eighth day he shall take two lambs without wem, and a sheep of one year without wem, and three dimes, or three tenth parts, of [tried]wheat flour, into sacrifice, which be sprinkled with oil, and by itself a sextary, or a pint, of oil.

11 And when the priest that purgeth the man, hath set him and all his things before the Lord, in the door of the tabernacle of witnessing,

12 he shall take a lamb, and shall offer it for trespass, and shall offer the pint of oil; and when all things be offered before the Lord,

13 he shall offer the lamb, where the sacrifice for sin and the burnt sacrifice is wont to be offered, that is, in the holy place; for as for sin, so and for trespass, the offering pertaineth to the priest; it is holy of holy things.

14 And the priest shall take of the blood of [the] sacrifice which is offered for trespass, and shall put on the last part of the right ear of him which is cleansed, and on the thumbs of the right hand and foot.

15 And he shall put of the pint of oil into his left hand,

16 and the priest shall dip his right finger therein, and he shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord.

17 Soothly he shall pour that that is left of the oil in the left hand, on the last part of the right ear of him which is cleansed, and on the thumbs of the right hand and foot, and on the blood which is shed for trespass,

18 and on his head.

19 And the priest shall pray for him before the Lord, and shall make sacrifice for sin;

20 then the priest shall offer the burnt sacrifice, and he shall put it in the altar with his flowing sacrifices, and the man shall be cleansed rightfully.

21 That if he is poor, and his hand may not find those things that be said, he shall take for his trespass a lamb to [the] offering, that the priest pray for him, and the tenth part of [tried]wheat flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice, and a pint of oil,

22 and two turtles, either two culver birds, of which one shall be for sin, and the tother into burnt sacrifice;

23 and he shall offer those [or them] in the eighth day of his cleansing to the priest, at the door of the tabernacle of witnessing, before the Lord.

24 And the priest shall take the lamb offered for trespass, and the pint of oil, and he shall raise or rear them up together;

25 and when the lamb is offered, he shall put of the blood thereof on the last part of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and on the thumbs of his right hand and foot.

26 Soothly the priest put the part of oil into his own left hand,

27 in which he shall dip the finger of his right hand, and he shall sprinkle it seven times against or before the Lord;

28 and the priest shall touch the last part of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and the thumbs of the right hand and foot, in the place of [the] blood which is shed out for trespass.

29 Soothly the priest shall put the tother part of [the] oil, that is in his left hand, upon the head of the man that is cleansed, that he please the Lord for him.

30 And he shall offer a turtle, or a culver bird,

31 one for trespass, and the tother into burnt sacrifice, with their flowing offerings.

32 This is the sacrifice of a leprous man, that may not have all things into the cleansing of himself.

33 And the Lord spake to Moses and Aaron, and said,

34 When ye have entered into the land of Canaan, which I shall give to you into possession, if the wound of leprosy is in the houses,

35 he shall go, whose the house is, and shall tell to the priest, and shall say, It seemeth to me, that as it were a wound of leprosy is in mine house.

36 And the priest shall command, that they bear out of the house all things, before that he enter into it, that he may see whether it be leprosy, lest all things that be in the house be made unclean; and the priest shall enter afterward, that he see the leprosy of the house.

37 And when he seeth in the walls thereof as little valleys, or crevices, defouled with paleness, either with redness, and lower than the tother higher part,

38 he shall go out at the door of the house, and anon he shall enclose it by seven days.

39 And he shall turn again in the seventh day, and shall see it; [and] if he findeth that the leprosy hath increased,

40 he shall command that the stones be cast out, in which the leprosy is, and that those stones be cast out of the city into an unclean place.

41 Soothly he shall command that that house be razed within by compass, and that the dust of the razing be sprinkled without the city, in an unclean place,

42 and that other stones be put again for these, that be taken away, and that the house be daubed with other mortar.

43 But if after that the stones be taken away, and the dust is borne out, and [with] other earth is daubed,

44 the priest entereth, and seeth the leprosy turned again, and the walls sprinkled with spots, the leprosy is then steadfastly dwelling, and the house is unclean;

45 which house they shall destroy anon, and they shall cast out of the city, into an unclean place, the stones thereof, and the wood, and all the dust.

46 He that entereth into the house, when it is shut, shall be unclean till to eventide,

47 and he that sleepeth [in it], and eateth anything therein, he shall wash his clothes.

48 That if the priest entereth, and seeth that the leprosy increased not in the house, after that it was daubed the second time, the priest shall cleanse it; for health is yielded [again]thereto.

49 And to the cleansing thereof, the priest shall take two sparrows, and cedar wood, and vermilion, that is, a red thread, and hyssop.

50 And when one sparrow is offered in a vessel of earth, on quick waters,

51 the priest shall take the cedar wood, and hyssop, and the red thread, and the quick sparrow, and he shall dip, or wet, all these things in the blood of the sparrow offered, or slain, and in the quick waters; and he shall sprinkle the house seven times;

52 and he shall cleanse it as well in the blood of the sparrow, as in the living waters, and in the quick sparrow, and in the cedar wood, and in the hyssop, and red thread.

53 And when he hath let go the sparrow to fly away into the field freely, he shall pray for the house, and it shall be cleansed rightfully.

54 This is the law of all leprosy, and of smiting,

55 [and] of leprosy of clothes, and of houses,

56 [and] of the sign of wound, and of little whelks breaking out, [and] of spot shining, and in colours changed into diverse spots,

57 that it may be known, what is clean, or unclean.

CHAPTER 15

1 And the Lord spake to Moses and Aaron, saying,

2 Speak ye to the sons of Israel, and say ye to them, A man that suffereth the running out of seed, shall be unclean;

3 and then he shall be deemed to be subject to this vice, when by all moments foul humour, either moisture, cleaveth to his flesh, and groweth altogether.

4 Each bed in which he sleepeth shall be unclean, and wherever he sitteth.

5 If any man toucheth his bed, he shall wash his clothes, and he shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

6 If a man sitteth where he sat, also that man shall wash his clothes, and he shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

7 He that toucheth his flesh, shall wash his clothes, and he shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

8 If such a man casteth out spittle upon him that is clean, he shall wash his clothes, and he shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

9 The saddle on which he sitteth, shall be unclean; and each man that toucheth whatever thing is under him that suffereth the flowing out of seed, shall be defouled, till to eventide.

10 He that beareth any of these things, shall wash his clothes, and he shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

11 Each man, whom he that is such toucheth with hands not washed before, shall wash his clothes, and he shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

12 Any earthen vessel that he toucheth, shall be broken; but a wooden vessel shall be washed in water.

13 If he that suffereth such a passion, is healed, he shall number seven days after his cleansing, and when his clothes and all his body be washed in living waters, he shall be clean.

14 Forsooth in the eighth day he shall take two turtles, or two culver birds, and he shall come in the sight of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of witnessing, and shall give those [or them] to the priest;

15 and the priest shall make, or offer, one of them for the man’s sin, and the tother into burnt sacrifice; and the priest shall pray for him before the Lord, that he be cleansed from the flowing out of his seed.

16 A man from whom the seed of lechery, either of fleshly coupling, goeth out, shall wash in water all his body, and he shall be unclean till to eventide.

17 He shall wash in water the cloth and skin, or pilch, that he hath used that time, and it shall be unclean till to eventide.

18 The woman with which he is coupled fleshly, shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

19 A woman that suffereth the flowing out of blood, when the month cometh again, she shall be separated by seven days; each man that toucheth her shall be unclean till to eventide,

20 and the place in which she sleepeth either sitteth in the days of her separating, shall be defouled.

21 He that toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and he shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

22 Whoever toucheth any vessel, or thing, upon which she sitteth, he shall wash his clothes, and he shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

23 (See verse 22 above.)

24 If a man is coupled fleshly with her in the time of blood that cometh, or runneth, from her by months, he shall be unclean by seven days, and each bed in which he sleepeth shall be unclean.

25 A woman that suffereth in many days the flowing out of blood, not in the time of [the] months, either which woman ceaseth not to flow out blood after the blood of [the] months, shall be unclean as long as she shall be subject to this passion, as if she is in the time of [the] months.

26 Each bed in which she sleepeth, and whatever thing she sitteth upon, shall be unclean.

27 Whoever toucheth her shall wash his clothes, and he shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

28 If her blood standeth, and ceaseth to flow out, she shall number seven days of her cleansing,

29 and in the eighth day she shall offer for herself to the priest two turtles, either culver birds, at the door of the tabernacle of witnessing;

30 and the priest shall offer one for her sin, and the tother into burnt sacrifice; and the priest shall pray for her before the Lord, and for the flowing out of her uncleanness.

31 Therefore ye shall teach the sons of Israel, that they eschew unclean-nesses, and that they die not for their filths, when they defoul my tabernacle that is among them.

32 This is the law of him that suffereth the flowing out of seed, and that is defouled with fleshly coupling,

33 and also of the woman that is separated in the time of months, either that floweth out in continual blood, and of the man that sleepeth with her.

CHAPTER 16

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered alien fire, and were slain,

2 and commanded to him and said, Speak thou to Aaron, thy brother, that he enter not in all time into the saintuary, which is within the veil before the propitiatory, with which the ark is covered, that he die not; for I shall appear in a cloud on God’s answering place;

3 no but he do these things before. He shall offer a calf for sin, and a ram into burnt sacrifice;

4 he shall be clothed with a linen cloth, [and] he shall hide his shame-fast members with linen breeches; he shall be girded with a linen girdle, [and] he shall put a linen mitre on his head; for these clothes be holy, with them all he shall be clothed, when he is washed.

5 And he shall take of all the multitude of the sons of Israel two kids for sin, and one ram into burnt sacrifice;

6 and when he offereth a calf, and prayeth, for himself, and for his house,

7 he shall make two goat bucks to stand before the Lord, in the door of the tabernacle of witnessing;

8 and Aaron shall cast lot upon ever either, one lot to the Lord, and another lot to the goat that shall be sent out.

9 Whose lot goeth out to the Lord, he shall offer it for sin;

10 soothly whose lot goeth out into the goat that shall be sent out, he shall set him quick before the Lord, that he send prayers on him, and send him out into wilderness.

11 When these things be done rightfully, he shall offer the calf, and he shall pray for himself, and for his house, and shall offer the calf.

12 And when he hath taken a censer, which he hath [full-]filled of the coals of the altar, and he hath taken in [his] hand the sweet smelling spicery [or spices] made into incense, he shall enter over the veil into the holy things;

13 that when sweet smelling spiceries [or spices] be put on the fire, the cloud and vapour of those [or them] cover God’s answering place, that is, the propitiatory, which is on the witnessing, that is, on the ark with the tables of law, and he die not.

14 Also Aaron shall take of the calf’s blood, and he shall sprinkle seven times with his finger against God’s answering place, eastward.

15 And when Aaron hath slain the goat buck, offered for [the] sin of the people, he shall bring in the blood thereof within the veil, as it is commanded of the calf’s blood, that he sprinkle it even against God’s answering place,

16 and he shall cleanse the saintuary from [the] uncleanness of the sons of Israel, and from their trespassings, and [from] all their sins. By this custom he shall do in the tabernacle of witnessing, which is set among them, in the midst of [the] filths of the habitation of them.

17 No man be in the tabernacle, when the bishop shall enter into the saintuary, that he pray for himself, and for his house, and for all the company of Israel, till he go out of the tabernacle.

18 Soothly when he hath gone out to the altar which is before the Lord, pray he for himself, and shed [or pour] he on the horns thereof, by compass, the blood that is taken of the calf, and of the goat buck;

19 and sprinkle he it seven times with his finger, and cleanse he, and hallow he the altar from [the] unclean-nesses of the sons of Israel.

20 After that he hath cleansed the saintuary, and the tabernacle, and the altar, then offer he the living goat buck;

21 and when his ever either hand is put upon the head thereof, acknowledge the priest all the wickednesses of the sons of Israel, and all their trespasses and sins, which sins the priest shall wish, or will, over to the goat’s head, and he shall send the goat out into desert by a man made ready thereto,.

22 And when the goat buck hath borne all their wickednesses into desert land, and he is let go there,

23 Aaron shall turn again into the tabernacle of witnessing; and when the clothes be put off, in which he was clothed before, when he entered into the saintuary of God, and those clothes be left there,

24 he shall wash his flesh in the holy place, and he shall be clothed in his own clothes, and after that he hath gone out, and hath offered the burnt sacrifice of himself, and of the people, he shall pray as well for himself, as for the people;

25 and he shall burn on the altar the inner fatness which is offered for sin.

26 Soothly he that let go the goat buck able to be sent out, shall wash his clothes and his body with water, and so he shall enter into the tents.

27 Forsooth they shall bear out of the tents the calf and the goat buck, that were offered for sin, and whose blood was brought into the saintuary, that the cleansing were fulfilled; and they shall burn in fire as well the skins, as the flesh, and [the] dung of those beasts.

28 And whoever burneth those [or them], he shall wash his clothes and flesh in water, and so he shall enter into the tents.

29 And this shall be to you a lawful thing everlasting; in the seventh month, in the tenth day of the month, ye shall torment your souls, and ye shall not do any work, neither a man born in the land, neither a comeling that is a pilgrim among you.

30 The delivering from sin, and the cleansing of you, shall be in this day, ye shall be cleansed before the Lord from all your sins;

31 for it is the sabbath of resting, and ye shall torment your souls by ever-lasting religion.

32 Soothly the priest shall cleanse, the which is anointed, and whose hands be hallowed, that he be set in priesthood for his father; and he shall be clothed in a linen stole, and in holy clothes,

33 and he shall cleanse the saintuary, and the tabernacle of witnessing, and the altar, and the priests, and all the people.

34 And this shall be to you a lawful thing everlasting, that ye pray for the sons of Israel, and for all their sins, once in the year. Therefore Aaron did, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

CHAPTER 17

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and say thou to them, This is the word which the Lord commanded, and said,

3 Each man of the house of Israel shall be guilty of blood, or great sin, if he slayeth an ox, or a sheep, either a goat, in the tents, either out of the tents,

4 and offereth not an offering to the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of witnessing; as if he shedded man’s blood, so he shall perish from the midst of his people.

5 Therefore the sons of Israel owe to offer their sacrifices to the priest, which they slay in the field, that those [or they] be hallowed to the Lord, before the door of the tabernacle of witnessing, and that they offer those peaceable sacrifices to the Lord.

6 And the priest shall pour out the blood upon the altar of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of witnessing; and he shall burn the inner fatness into odour of sweetness to the Lord.

7 And they shall no more offer their sacrifices to fiends, with which they did fornication, that is, idolatry; it shall be a lawful thing everlasting to them, and to their after-comers.

8 And thou shalt say to them, A man of the house of Israel, and of the comelings that be pilgrims among you, that offereth a burnt sacrifice, either a slain sacrifice,

9 and bringeth it not to the door of the tabernacle of witnessing, that it be offered to the Lord, he shall perish from his people.

10 If any man of the sons of Israel, and of the comelings that be pilgrims among you, eateth any blood, I shall set fast my face against his soul, and I shall lose him from his people;

11 for the life of flesh is in the blood, and I gave that blood to you, that ye cleanse therewith upon mine altar for your souls, and that the blood be sprinkled for [the] sin of the soul.

12 Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, Each living man of you shall not eat blood, neither any of the comelings that be pilgrims among you.

13 Whatever man of the sons of Israel, or of the comelings that be pilgrims with you, taketh a wild beast, either a bird, which it is leaveful to eat, whether by hunting, whether by hawking, pour he out the blood thereof, and cover it with earth;

14 for the life of [all] flesh is in blood. Wherefore I said to the sons of Israel, Ye shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of flesh is in the blood, and whoever eateth blood, shall perish.

15 A man that eateth a thing dead by itself, either taken of a beast, as well of men born in the land, as of comelings, he shall wash his clothes, and himself in water, and he shall be defouled, till to eventide; and by this order, he shall be made clean;

16 that if he washeth not his clothes, or his body, he shall bear his wicked-ness.

CHAPTER 18

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, I am your Lord God;

3 ye shall not do by the custom of the land of Egypt, in which ye dwelled; ye shall not do by the custom of the land of Canaan, to which I shall bring you in, neither ye shall go in the lawful things of them, that is, in their custom of worshipping.

4 Ye shall do my dooms, and ye shall keep my behests, and ye shall go in them; I am your Lord God.

5 Keep ye my laws and dooms, which a man shall do, and he shall live in those [or them]; I am your Lord God.

6 A man shall not nigh to a nigh woman of his blood, that he show her filthhood or nakedness; I am the Lord.

7 Thou shalt not discover the filth-hood of thy father, and the filthhood of thy mother; she is thy mother, thou shalt not show her filthhood.

8 Thou shalt not uncover the filth-hood of the wife of thy father, for it is the filthhood of thy father.

9 Thou shalt not show the filthhood of thy sister, of father, either of mother, which sister is begotten at home, that is, in wedlock, either withoutforth, that is, out of wedlock.

10 Thou shalt not show the filthhood of the daughter of thy son, either of thy niece, that is, the daughter of thy daughter, for it is thy filthhood.

11 Thou shalt not show the filthhood of the daughter of the wife of thy father, which she childed to thy father, and she is thy sister.

12 Thou shalt not open the filthhood of thy father’s sister, for she is the flesh of thy father.

13 Thou shalt not show the filthhood of the sister of thy mother, for she is the flesh of thy mother.

14 Thou shalt not show the filthhood of the brother of thy father, neither thou shalt nigh to his wife, that is joined to thee by affinity.

15 Thou shalt not show the filthhood of thy son’s wife, for she is the wife of thy son, neither thou shalt discover her shame; and no man take his brother’s wife.

16 Thou shalt not show the filth-hood of thy brother’s wife, for it is the filthhood of thy brother.

17 Thou shalt not show the filthhood of a woman, and of her daughter; thou shalt not take the daughter of her son, and the daughter of her daughter, that thou show her shame; they be the flesh of her, and such lechery is incest, that is, lechery of them that be kin.

18 Thou shalt not take the sister of thy wife, to anguish of her, neither thou shalt show her filthhood, while thy wife liveth yet.

19 Thou shalt not nigh to a woman that suffereth the running of blood of month, neither thou shalt show her filthhood.

20 Thou shalt not do lechery with thy neighbour’s wife, neither thou shalt be defouled with meddling [or mingling together] of seed.

21 Thou shalt not give of thy seed, that it be offered to the idol Moloch, neither thou shalt defoul the name of thy God; I am the Lord.

22 Thou shalt not be meddled [or mingled] with a man, by lechery of a woman, for it is abomination.

23 Thou shalt not do lechery with any beast, neither thou shalt be defouled with it. A woman shall not lie under a beast, neither shall be meddled [or mingled] therewith, that is, defouled by fleshly knowing thereof, for it is great sin.

24 Be ye not defouled in all these things, in which all folks, either heathen men, be defouled, which folks I shall cast out before your sight,

25 of whom the land is defouled, of which land I shall visit the great sins, that it vomit, or throw out, his dwellers.

26 Keep ye my lawful things, and my dooms, that ye do not any of all these abominations, as well a man born in the land, as a comeling that is a pilgrim with you.

27 For the dwellers of the land, that were before you, did all these abominations, and defouled that land.

28 Therefore beware, lest it cast out vilely you in the same manner, when ye shall do such sins, as it casted out vilely the folk, that was before you.

29 Each man that shall do anything of these abominations, shall perish from the midst of his people.

30 Keep ye my behests; do not ye do those things, which they that were before you did, and be ye not defouled in those [or them]; I am your Lord God.

CHAPTER 19

1 The Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to all the company of the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, Be ye holy, for I am holy, your Lord God.

3 Each man dread his father, and his mother. Keep ye my sabbaths; I am your Lord God.

4 Do not ye be turned to idols, neither ye shall make to you molten gods; I am your Lord God.

5 If ye offer a sacrifice of peaceable things to the Lord, that it be quemeful,

6 ye shall eat it in that day, in which it is offered, and in the tother day; soothly whatever thing is left into the third day, ye shall burn it in fire.

7 If any man eateth thereof after two days, he shall be unholy, and guilty of unfaithfulness, either wicked-ness;

8 and he shall bear his wickedness, for he defouled the holy thing of the Lord, and his soul shall perish from his people.

9 When thou shalt reap the fruits of thy land, thou shalt not cut till to the ground the corns of the land, neither thou shalt gather the ears of corn that be left;

10 neither in thy vineyard thou shalt gather the raisins and the grains falling down, but thou shalt leave them to be gathered of poor men and of pilgrims; I am your Lord God.

11 Ye shall not do theft. Ye shall not lie, and no man deceive his neighbour.

12 Thou shalt not forswear in my name, neither thou shalt defoul the name of thy God; I am the Lord.

13 Thou shalt not make false challenge to thy neighbour, neither thou shalt oppress him by violence. The hire of thy workman shall not dwell with thee unto the morrowtide.

14 Thou shalt not curse a deaf man, neither thou shalt set [or put] an hurting before a blind man; but thou shalt dread thy Lord God, for I am the Lord.

15 Thou shalt not do that, that is wicked, neither thou shalt deem unjustly; behold thou not the person of a poor man, neither honour thou the face of a mighty man; deem thou justly to thy neighbour.

16 Thou shalt not be a slanderer, that is, a false accuser, neither a privy backbiter in the people; thou shalt not stand against the blood of thy neighbour; I am the Lord.

17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart, but reprove thou him openly, lest thou have sin on him.

18 Thou shalt not seek vengeance, neither thou shalt be mindful of the wrong of thy citizens; thou shalt love thy friend as thyself; I am the Lord.

19 Keep ye my laws. Thou shalt not make thy beasts to engender with the beasts of another kind. Thou shalt not sow a field with diverse seed. Thou shalt not be clothed in a cloth which is woven of two things.

20 If a man sleepeth with a woman by fleshly knowing of seed, which woman is an handmaid, or bond, yea, a noble woman of kin, and nevertheless is not again-bought by price, neither rewarded with freedom, she shall be beaten [or both shall be scourged], and they shall not die, for she was not free.

21 Soothly the man for his trespass shall offer a ram to the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of witnessing;

22 and the priest shall pray for him, and for his trespass, before the Lord; and the Lord shall be merciful to him, and the sin shall be forgiven.

23 When ye have entered into the land of promise, and have planted therein apple trees, ye shall do away the first fruits; the apples which those trees bring forth shall be unclean to you, neither ye shall eat of them.

24 Forsooth in the fourth year all the fruit of the trees shall be hallowed and be praiseable to the Lord;

25 forsooth in the fifth year ye shall eat the fruits, and ye shall gather apples, which those trees bring forth; I am your Lord God.

26 Ye shall not eat flesh with [the] blood. Ye shall not make vain divining, neither ye shall keep dreams;

27 neither ye shall clip the hair round, neither ye shall shave the beard;

28 and on dead men ye shall not cut your flesh, neither ye shall make to you any figures, either marks in your flesh; I am the Lord.

29 Set thou not thy daughter to do lechery for hire, and the land be defouled, and be [full-]filled with sin.

30 Keep ye my sabbaths, and dread ye my saintuary; I am the Lord.

31 Bow ye not to astronomers or astrologers, neither ask ye anything of false diviners, that ye be defouled by them; I am your Lord God.

32 Rise thou before an hoar head, and honour thou the person of an eld [or old] man, and dread thou thy Lord God; I am the Lord.

33 If a comeling dwelleth in your land, and abideth among you, despise ye not him,

34 but be he among you as a man born in the land; and ye shall love him as yourself, for also ye were comelings in the land of Egypt; I am your Lord God.

35 Do not ye do any wicked thing in doom, in rule, in weight, and in measure;

36 the balance be just [or right], and the weights be even, the bushel be just [or right], and the pint be even; I am your Lord God, that led you out of the land of Egypt.

37 Keep ye all my behests, and all my dooms, and do ye them; I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 20

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou these things to the sons of Israel, If any man of the sons of Israel, and of the comelings that dwell in Israel, giveth of his seed to the idol Moloch, die he by death; the people of the land shall stone him.

3 And I shall set fast my face against him, and I shall cut away him from the midst of my people, for he gave of his seed to Moloch, and defouled my saintuary, and defouled mine holy name.

4 That if the people of the land is negligent, and little chargeth or careth for my behest, and suffereth the man that gave of his seed to Moloch, neither will slay him,

5 I shall set my face on that man, and on his kindred, and I shall cut him down, and all that consented to him, that they should do fornication, that is, idolatry, with Moloch, from the midst of their people.

6 If a man boweth to astronomers, and to false diviners, and doeth fornication with them, I shall set my face against him, and I shall slay him from the midst of his people.

7 Be ye hallowed, and be ye holy, for I am holy, your Lord God.

8 Keep ye my behests, and do ye those [or them], for I am the Lord that halloweth you.

9 Therefore he that curseth his father, either mother, die he by death; if a man curseth his father and mother, his blood be on him.

10 If a man doeth lechery with another man’s wife, and doeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress die they by death.

11 If a man sleepeth with his step-dame, and showeth his father’s shame, both they die by death; their blood be on them.

12 If any man sleepeth with his son’s wife, ever either die, for they have wrought great sin; their blood be on them.

13 If a man sleepeth with a man, by lechery of a woman, ever either hath wrought unleaveful thing, die they by death; their blood be on them.

14 He that weddeth over his wife her mother, hath wrought great sin; he shall be burnt quick with them, and so great unleaveful doing shall not dwell in the midst of you.

15 He that doeth lechery with a great beast, or with a little, die he by death, also slay ye the beast.

16 A woman that lieth under any beast, be she slain together with it; their blood be on them.

17 He that taketh his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and seeth her filth[hood], and she seeth the shame of her brother, they have wrought an unleaveful thing, both shall be slain in the sight of their people; for they showed together their filth[hood], and they shall bear together their wickedness.

18 If a man doeth fleshly knowing with a woman in the flowing of blood of the month, and showeth her filth[hood], and she openeth the well of her blood, both they shall be slain from the midst of their people.

19 Thou shalt not discover the filth[hood] of thy mother’s sister, and of thy father’s sister; he, that doeth this, shall make naked the shame of his flesh, and both they shall bear their wickedness.

20 He that doeth fleshly knowing with the wife of his father’s brother, either of his mother’s brother, and showeth the filthhood of his kin, both they shall bear their sin, [and] they shall die without free children.

21 He that weddeth his brother’s wife, doeth an unleaveful thing; he showed his brother’s filth[hood], [and] he shall be without free children.

22 Keep ye my laws and my dooms, and do ye those [or them], lest the land, into which ye shall enter and dwell in, cast out vilely also you.

23 Do not ye go in the lawful things, that is, in worshipping and in the manner of living of them, of the nations, which I shall cast out before you, for they did all these things, and I had abomination of them.

24 Forsooth I spake to you, Wield ye their land, that I shall give to you into heritage, that land flowing with milk and honey; I am your Lord God, that parted you from other peoples.

25 Therefore also ye part a clean beast from an unclean, and a clean bird from an unclean, lest ye defoul your souls in beasts, and in birds, and in all things that be moved in earth, and which things I showed to you to be defouled.

26 Ye shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and I separated you from other peoples, that ye shall be mine.

27 A man either a woman, in which is an unclean spirit [of witchcraft] speaking in the womb, either a spirit of false divining, die they by death; men shall oppress them with stones; their blood be on them.

CHAPTER 21

1 And the Lord said to Moses, Speak thou to [the] priests, the sons of Aaron, and thou shalt say to them, A priest be not defouled in the dead men of his citizens,

2 no but only in his kinsmen, and nigh of blood, that is, on father, and mother, and son, and daughter, and brother,

3 and sister, a virgin, that is not wedded to man;

4 but neither he shall be defouled in the prince of his people.

5 Priests shall not shave their head, neither beard, neither they shall make carvings in their fleshes;

6 they shall be holy to their God, and they shall not defoul his name; for they offer incense of the Lord, and the loaves of their God, and therefore they shall be holy.

7 A priest shall not wed a wife a corrupt woman, and a foul whore, neither he shall wed her that is forsaken of the husband, for he is hallowed to his God,

8 and offereth the loaves of setting forth; therefore be he holy, for I am the holy Lord that halloweth you.

9 If the daughter of a priest is taken in defouling of virginity, and defouleth the name of her father, she shall be burnt in fire.

10 The bishop, that is the most priest among his brethren, upon whose head the oil of anointing is poured, and whose hands be made sacred in priesthood, and he is clothed in holy clothes, shall not discover his head, he shall not tear his clothes,

11 and utterly he shall not enter [in] to any dead man; and he shall not be defouled on his father, and mother,

12 neither he shall go out of [the] holy places, lest he defoul the saintuary of the Lord, for the oil of holy anointing of his God is on him; I am the Lord.

13 He shall wed to wife a virgin;

14 he shall not take a widow, and a forsaken woman, and a foul woman, and whore, but a virgin of his people;

15 meddle [or mingle] he not the generation of his kin to the common people of his folk, for I am the Lord, that halloweth him.

16 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

17 Speak thou to Aaron; a man of thy seed, by meines, that hath a wem, that is, a notable foulness, shall not offer bread to his God,

18 neither shall nigh to his service; if he is blind; if he is crooked; if he is either of little, either of great, or wrong nose;

19 if he is of broken foot, either hand;

20 if he hath a botch, or a bulge, on his back; either if he is bleary-eyed; if he hath white colour, or a pearl, in his eye, that hindereth his sight; if he hath continual scab; if he hath a dry scab in his body; either if he be bruised in privy members.

21 Each man of the seed of Aaron the priest, that hath a wem, shall not nigh to offer sacrifices to the Lord, neither to offer loaves to his God;

22 nevertheless he shall eat the loaves that be offered in the saintuary,

23 so only that he enter not within the veil; he shall not nigh to the altar, for he hath a wem, and he shall not defoul my saintuary; I am the Lord, that hallow them.

24 Therefore Moses spake to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all Israel, all things that were commanded to him.

CHAPTER 22

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to Aaron and to his sons, that they beware of these things of the sons of Israel, which things be hallowed, or offered; and that they defoul not the name of the things hallowed to me, which they offer; I am the Lord.

3 Say thou to them, and to the after-comers of them, Each man of your kindred, that nigheth to those things that be hallowed, and which things the sons of Israel offered to the Lord, in whom is uncleanness, he shall perish before the Lord; I am the Lord.

4 A man of the seed of Aaron that is leprous, either suffereth flowing out of seed, shall not eat of these things, that be hallowed to me, till he be healed. He that toucheth any unclean thing on a dead body, and from whom the seed as of lechery goeth out,

5 and that toucheth a creeping beast, and whatever unclean thing, whose touching is foul,

6 he shall be unclean till to eventide, and he shall not eat these things that be hallowed to me; but when he hath washed his flesh in water,

7 and the sun hath gone down, then he shall be cleansed, and shall eat hallowed things, for it is his meat.

8 He shall not eat a thing dead by itself, and taken of a beast, neither he shall be defouled in those things; I am the Lord.

9 They shall keep my behests, that they be not subject to sin, and die in the saintuary, when they have defouled it; I am the Lord that hallow you.

10 Each alien shall not eat of things hallowed; the hind that is a stranger, and the hired man of the priest, shall not eat of those things.

11 Soothly these servants, that the priest hath bought, and he that is a born servant of his house, shall eat of those things.

12 If the priest’s daughter is wedded to any man of the people, she shall not eat of these things that be hallowed, and of the first fruits;

13 soothly if she is a widow, either forsaken, and turneth again without free children to her father’s house, she shall be sustained by the meats of her father, as a damsel was wont; each alien hath not power to eat of those things.

14 He that eateth by ignorance of hallowed things, shall add to the fifth part with that that he ate, and he shall give it to the priest in the saintuary,

15 and they shall not defoul the hallowed things of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the Lord,

16 lest peradventure they suffer the wickedness of their trespass, when they have eaten the hallowed things; I am the Lord that hallow them.

17 The Lord spake to Moses, and said,

18 Speak thou to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, A man of the house of Israel, and of the comelings that dwell with them, that offereth his offering to the Lord, and either payeth avows [or vows], either offereth by his free will, whatever thing he offereth into burnt sacrifice of the Lord,

19 that it be offered by you, it shall be a male without wem, of oxen, and of sheep, and of goats;

20 if it hath a wem, ye shall not offer it, neither it shall be acceptable.

21 A man that offereth a sacrifice of peaceable things to the Lord, and either payeth avows [or vows], either offereth by free will, as well of oxen as of sheep, he shall offer a beast without wem, that it be acceptable; no wem shall be therein.

22 If it is blind, if it is broken, if it hath a wound or a scar, if it hath whelks, either scab, either dry scab, ye shall not offer those beasts to the Lord, neither ye shall burn of those beasts upon the altar of the Lord.

23 A man may offer willfully a sheep and an ox superfluous and diminished, that is, having a member superfluous, either failing a member; but a vow may not be paid of these beasts.

24 Ye shall not offer to the Lord any beast, whose privy members be broken, either bruised, either cut, and taken away, and utterly ye shall not do these things in your land.

25 Of the hand of an alien ye shall not offer loaves to your God, and whatever other thing he will give, for all things be corrupt and defouled; ye shall not receive those [or them].

26 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

27 When an ox, sheep, and goat be brought forth of the mother’s womb, in seven days those [or they] shall be under the teat of their mother; soothly in the eighth day, and from thenceforth, those [or they] may be offered to the Lord,

28 whether that is a cow, whether a sheep; those [or they] shall not be offered in one day with their fruits.

29 If ye offer to the Lord a sacrifice for the doing of thankings, that it may be pleasant [or be pleasable],

30 ye shall eat it in the same day in which it is offered; anything thereof shall not leave into the morrowtide of the tother day; I am the Lord.

31 Keep ye my behests, and do ye those [or them]; I am the Lord.

32 Defoul ye not mine holy name, that I be hallowed in the midst of the sons of Israel; I am the Lord, that hallow you,

33 and led you out of the land of Egypt, that I should be to you into God; I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 23

1 And the Lord spake to Moses and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, These be the fairs, that is, holidays or holy days, of the Lord, which ye shall call holy.

3 Six days ye shall do work, the seventh day shall be called holy, for it is the rest of the sabbath; ye shall not do any work therein; it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwelling places.

4 These be the holy fairs, either solemnities, of the Lord, which ye ought to hallow in their times.

5 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, at eventide, is [the] pask of the Lord;

6 and in the fifteenth day of this month is the solemnity of therf loaves of the Lord; seven days ye shall eat therf loaves;

7 the first day shall be most solemn and holy to you; ye shall not do any servile work therein,

8 but ye shall offer sacrifice in fire to the Lord seven days; soothly the seventh day shall be more solemn and holier, and ye shall not do any servile work therein.

9 And the Lord spake to Moses and said,

10 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, When ye have entered into the land which I shall give to you, and have reaped [the] corn, ye shall bear handfuls of ears of corn, the first fruits of your ripe corn, to the priest;

11 and the priest shall raise up a bundle before the Lord, that it be acceptable for you, in the tother day of the sabbath, that is, of pask; and the priest shall hallow that bundle;

12 and the same day, wherein the handful is hallowed, a lamb of one year without wem shall be slain into burnt sacrifice of the Lord;

13 and [the] flowing offerings shall be offered therewith, two tenth parts of [tried] wheat flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into incense of the Lord, and sweetest odour, and [the] flowing offerings of wine, the fourth part of hin.

14 Ye shall not eat a loaf, neither cake, nor pottage of the corn, till to the day in which ye shall offer thereof to your God; it is a behest everlasting in your generations, and [in] all your dwelling places.

15 Therefore ye shall number from the tother day of the sabbath, in which ye offered handfuls of the first fruits, seven full weeks,

16 till to the tother day of filling of the seventh week, that is, fifty days; and so ye shall offer [a] new sacrifice to the Lord,

17 of all your dwelling places, two loaves of the first fruits, of two tenth parts of [tried] flour, dighted with sour-dough, which loaves ye shall bake into the first fruits to the Lord.

18 And ye shall offer with the loaves seven lambs of one year without wem, and one calf of the drove, and two rams; and these shall be in burnt sacrifice, with their flowing offerings, into the sweetest odour to the Lord.

19 Ye shall make also a goat buck for sin, and two lambs of one year, [the] sacrifices of peaceable things.

20 And when the priest hath raised those [or them], with the loaves of the first fruits, before the Lord, those [or they] shall fall into the priest’s use.

21 And ye shall call this day most solemn, and most holy; ye shall not do therein any servile work; it shall be a lawful thing everlasting in all your dwellings, and generations.

22 Forsooth after that ye have reaped the corn of your land, ye shall not cut it till to the ground, neither ye shall gather the ears of corn that abide, but ye shall leave those [or them] to poor men and pilgrims; I am the Lord your God.

23 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

24 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be [a] sabbath, a memorial to you, sounding with trumps, and it shall be called holy;

25 ye shall not do any servile work therein, and ye shall offer burnt sacrifice to the Lord.

26 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

27 In the tenth day of this seventh month, the day of cleansings [or purging] shall be most solemn, and it shall be called holy; and ye shall torment your souls to God, and ye shall offer burnt sacrifice to the Lord;

28 ye shall not do any work in the time of this day, for it is the day of cleansing, that your Lord God be merciful to you.

29 Each man which is not tormented in this day, shall perish from his peoples,

30 and I shall do away from his people that man that doeth anything of work in that day;

31 therefore ye shall not do anything of work in that day; it shall be a lawful thing everlasting to you in all your generations and dwellings;

32 it is the sabbath of resting. Ye shall therein torment your souls from the ninth day of the month; from the eventide till to eventide ye shall hallow your sabbaths.

33 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

34 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, From the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the fairs of tabernacles*, in seven days to the Lord;

35 the first day shall be called most solemn and most holy, ye shall not do any servile work therein;

36 and seven days ye shall offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord, and the eighth day shall be most solemn and most holy; and ye shall offer burnt sacrifice to the Lord, for it is the day of company, and of gathering; ye shall not do any servile work therein.

37 These be the fairs of the Lord, which ye shall call most solemn and most holy; and in them ye shall offer offerings to the Lord, burnt sacrifices, and flowing offerings, by the custom of each day,

38 besides the sabbaths of the Lord, and your gifts, and that that ye offer by avows, either that that ye give by free will to the Lord.

39 Therefore from the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered all the fruits of your land, ye shall hallow the fairs of the Lord seven days; in the first day and the eighth day shall be sabbath, that is, rest.

40 And ye shall take to you in the first day fruits of the fairest tree, and [the] branches of palm trees, and the branches of a thick-boughed tree, and sallows of the running stream, and ye shall be glad before your Lord God;

41 and ye shall hallow his solemnity seven days in the year; it shall be a lawful thing everlasting in your generations. In the seventh month ye shall hallow the feast days,

42 and ye shall dwell in shadowing places seven days; each man that is of the kin of Israel, shall dwell in tabernacles,

43 that your after-comers learn, that I made the sons of Israel to dwell in tabernacles, when I led them out of the land of Egypt; I am your Lord God.

44 And Moses spake of the solemnities of the Lord to the sons of Israel.

CHAPTER 24

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Command thou to the sons of Israel, that they bring to thee oil of olives, most pure oil, and bright, to the lanterns to be ordained continually,

3 without the veil of witnessing, in the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace; and Aaron shall array those lanterns from eventide till to eventide before the Lord, by religion and custom everlasting in your generations;

4 those lanterns shall be set ever-[more] upon a cleanest candlestick in the sight of the Lord.

5 Also thou shalt take [tried] wheat flour, and thou shalt bake thereof twelve loaves, which shall have each by themselves two tenth parts,

6 of which thou shalt set six on ever either side, on a full clean board before the Lord;

7 and thou shalt set [or put] clearest incense upon those loaves, that the loaves be into mind of [the] offering of the Lord;

8 by each sabbath those [or they] shall be changed before the Lord, and shall be taken of the sons of Israel by everlasting bond of peace;

9 and they shall be Aaron’s and his sons’, that they eat those [or them] in the holy place, for it is holy of holy things, of the sacrifices of the Lord, by everlasting law.

10 Lo! forsooth the son of a woman of Israel, whom she childed of an Egyptian, went out among the sons of Israel, and he chided in the tents with a man of Israel,

11 and when he had blasphemed the name of the Lord, and had cursed the Lord, he was brought to Moses; soothly his mother was called Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the lineage of Dan;

12 and they sent him into prison, till they knew what the Lord commanded.

13 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

14 Lead out the blasphemer without the tents, and all men that heard him, set [or put] they their hands upon his head, and all the people stone him.

15 And thou shalt speak to the sons of Israel, A man that curseth his God, shall bear his sin,

16 and he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, die he by death; all the multitude of the people shall oppress him with stones; whether he that blasphemed the name of the Lord is a citizen, or a pilgrim, die he by death.

17 He that smiteth and slayeth a man, die he by death;

18 he that smiteth a beast, yield one in his stead, that is, life for life.

19 If a man giveth a wem to any of his citizens, as he did, so be it done to him;

20 he shall restore breaking for breaking, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; what manner wem he gave, he shall be compelled to suffer such a wem.

21 He that smiteth a work beast, yield he another; he that smiteth a man, shall die.

22 Even doom be among you, whether a pilgrim either a citizen sinneth, for I am your Lord God.

23 And Moses spake to the sons of Israel, and they brought forth out of the tents him that blasphemed, and oppressed him with stones. And the sons of Israel did, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

CHAPTER 25

1 And the Lord spake to Moses in the hill [or mount] of Sinai, and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, When ye have entered into the land which I shall give to you, the earth keep the sabbath of the Lord;

3 six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt cut thy vine-yard, and thou shalt gather the fruits thereof;

4 forsooth in the seventh year shall be the sabbath of the earth, of [the] resting of the Lord; thou shalt not sow the field, and thou shalt not cut the vineyard,

5 thou shalt not reap those things which the earth bringeth forth freely, and thou shalt not gather the grapes of thy first fruits, as vintage; for it is the year of resting of the land;

6 but those fruits shall be to you into meat, to thee, and to thy servant, and to thine handmaid, and to thine hired man, and to the comeling that is a pilgrim with thee;

7 all things that come forth, shall give meat to thy work beasts, and [thy] small beasts.

8 Also thou shalt number to thee seven weeks of years, that is, seven times seven, which altogether make nine and forty years;

9 and thou shalt sound with a clarion in the seventh month, in the tenth day of the month, in the time of propitiation, that is, mercy, in all your land.

10 And thou shalt hallow the fiftieth year, and thou shalt call it remission, or forgiveness, to all the dwellers of thy land; for that year is [the] jubilee, that is, the joyful year; a man shall turn again to his possession, and each man shall go again to his first meine,

11 for it is the jubilee, and the fiftieth year. Ye shall not sow, neither ye shall reap those things, that come forth freely in the field, and ye shall not gather the first fruits of [the] vintage,

12 for the hallowing of [the] jubilee; but anon ye shall eat things taken away;

13 in the year of jubilee, all men go again to their possessions.

14 When thou shalt sell anything to thy fellow citizen, either shalt buy of him, make thou not sorry thy brother,

15 but by the number of the years of [the] jubilee thou shalt buy of him, and by the reckoning of fruits, he shall sell to thee.

16 By as much as more years dwell after the jubilee, by so much also the price shall increase, and by as much as thou numberest less of time, by so much and the buying shall cost less; for he shall sell to thee the time of fruits.

17 Do not ye torment men of your lineages, but each man dread his God; for I am your Lord God.

18 Do ye my behests, and keep ye my dooms, and fulfill ye those, that ye may dwell in this land without any dread,

19 and that the earth bring forth his fruits to you, which ye shall eat till to fullness, and dread not the assailing of any man.

20 That if ye say, What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we sow not, neither gather our fruits?

21 I shall give my blessing to you in the sixth year, and it shall make [the] fruits of three years;

22 and ye shall sow in the eighth year, and ye shall eat eld [or old] fruits till to the ninth year; till new things come forth, ye shall eat the eld [or old] things.

23 Also the land shall not be sold into without end, for it is mine, and ye be my comelings, and [my] tenants;

24 wherefore all the country of your possession shall be sold under the condition of again-buying.

25 If thy brother is made poor, and selleth his little possession, and his nigh kinsmen will, he may again-buy that that he sold;

26 soothly if he hath no nigh kinsman, and he may find [the] price to again-buy,

27 the fruits shall be reckoned from that time in which he sold it, and he shall yield that that is left to the buyer, and he shall receive so his possession again.

28 That if his hand findeth not, that he yield the price, the buyer shall have that that he bought, till to the year of jubilee; for in that year each selling shall go again to the lord, and to the first wielder.

29 He that selleth his house, within the walls of a city, shall have license to again-buy, till one year be [full-]filled;

30 if he again-buyeth not, and the circle of the year is passed, the buyer shall wield it, and his heirs into without end, and it shall not be able to be again-bought, yea, in the jubilee.

31 Forsooth if the house is in a town that hath not walls, it shall be sold by the law of [the] fields; soothly if it is not again-bought in the jubilee, it shall turn again to the lord thereof.

32 The houses of [the] deacons [or Levites], that be in [the] cities, may ever[more] be again-bought;

33 if those [or they] be not again-bought, those [or they] shall turn again in the jubilee to the lords; for the houses of the cities of deacons [or Levites] be for possessions among the sons of Israel;

34 forsooth the suburbs of them shall not be sold, for it is everlasting possession.

35 If thy brother is made poor, and feeble in power, and thou receivest him as a comeling, and a pilgrim, and he liveth with thee,

36 take thou not usuries of him, neither more than thou hast given; dread thou thy God, that thy brother may live with thee.

37 Thou shalt not give to him thy money to usury, and thou shalt not ask over that that thou lendest, increases of fruits;

38 I am your Lord God, that led you out of the land of Egypt, that I should give to you the land of Canaan, and that I should be your God.

39 If thy brother compelled by poverty selleth himself to thee, thou shalt not oppress him by servage of servants,

40 but he shall be as an hired man and a tenant; till to the year of jubilee he shall work with thee,

41 and afterward he shall go out with his free children, and he shall turn again to his kindred, and to the possession of his fathers.

42 For they be my servants, and I led them out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold by the condition of servants;

43 torment thou not them by thy power, but dread thou thy Lord.

44 A servant and handmaid be to you of [the] nations that be in your compass, and of [the] comelings the which be pilgrims with you,

45 either they that be born of comelings in your land; ye shall have these servants, and by right of heritage ye shall leave them to your after-comers, and ye shall wield them without end;

46 soothly oppress ye not by power your brethren, the sons of Israel.

47 If the hand of a comeling or of a pilgrim waxeth strong at you, and thy brother is made poor, and selleth himself to that comeling, either to any of his kin,

48 he may be again-bought after the selling; he that will of his brethren, again-buy him;

49 both his father’s brother, and the son of his father’s brother, and his kins-man, and his ally. Else if also he shall be able, he shall again-buy himself,

50 while the years be reckoned only from the time of his selling till into the year of jubilee; and while the money, for which he was sold, is reckoned by the number of years, and while the hire of an hired man is reckoned.

51 If more years be that dwell till to the jubilee, by these years he shall yield also the price;

52 if few years be, he shall set reckoning with him by the number of these years; and he shall yield to the buyer that that is left of [the] years,

53 while those years, in which he served before, be reckoned for hires; a stranger shall not torment an home-born man violently in thy sight.

54 That if he may not be again-bought by this manner, he shall go out with his free children in the year of jubilee;

55 for the sons of Israel be my servants, which I led out of the land of Egypt. I am your Lord God;

CHAPTER 26

1 ye shall not make to you an idol, and a graven image, neither ye shall raise up titles, that is, altars for idolatry, neither ye shall set [or put] a noble stone in your land, that ye worship [or honour] it; for I am your Lord God.

2 Keep ye my sabbaths, and dread ye at my saintuary; I am the Lord.

3 If ye go in my behests, and keep my commandments, and do those [or them],

4 I shall give to you rain in their times, and the earth shall bring forth his fruit, and [the] trees shall be filled with apples;

5 the threshing of ripe corns shall take the vintage, and the vintage shall occupy the seed time, and ye shall eat your bread in fullness, and ye shall dwell in your land without dread.

6 I shall give peace in your coasts; ye shall sleep, and none shall be that shall make you afeared; I shall do away evil beasts from you, and a sword shall not pass by your terms.

7 Ye shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you;

8 five of your men shall pursue an hundred aliens, and an hundred of you shall pursue ten thousand; your enemies shall fall by sword in your sight.

9 I shall behold you, and I shall make you to increase; ye shall be multiplied; and I shall make steadfast my covenant with you;

10 ye shall eat the eldest [or most old] of eld [or old] things, and ye shall cast away the eld [or old] things, when [the] new things shall come above;

11 I shall set my tabernacle in the midst of you, and my soul shall not cast you away;

12 I shall go among you, and I shall be your God, and ye shall be a people to me.

13 I am your Lord God, that led you out of the land of Egyptians, that ye should not serve them, and I have broken the chains off your nolls, that ye should go upright.

14 That if ye hear not me, neither do all my behests,

15 and if ye forsake my laws, and despise my dooms, that ye do not those things that be ordained of me, and that ye bring follily my covenant to nought,

16 also I shall do these things to you; I shall visit you swiftly in neediness, and in burning, which shall torment your eyes, and waste your lives; in vain ye shall sow seed, that shall be devoured of enemies;

17 I shall set my face against you, and ye shall fall before your enemies, and ye shall be subjects [or be subject] to them that hate you; ye shall flee, while no man pursueth you.

18 But if neither so ye obey to me, I shall increase your chastising sevenfold for your sins;

19 and I shall all-break the pride of your hardness, and I shall give to you heaven above as iron, and the earth as brass;

20 your travail shall be wasted in vain, neither the earth shall bring forth fruit, neither [the] trees shall give apples.

21 If ye go contrary to me, neither will hear me, I shall increase your wounds, either vengeances, till into sevenfold for your sins;

22 I shall send out into you cruel beasts of the field, that shall waste you, and your beasts, and shall bring all things to fewness, and your ways shall be forsaken.

23 That if neither so ye will receive doctrine, either chastising, but go contrary to me,

24 also I shall go adversary against you, and I shall smite you seven times for your sins;

25 and I shall bring in on you the sword, avenger of my bond of peace; and when ye flee into [your] cities, I shall send pestilence in[to] the midst of you, and ye shall be betaken in the hands of [your] enemies,

26 after that I have broken the staff of your bread, so that ten women shall bake their loaves in one oven, and yield, or deliver, those loaves at weight; and ye shall eat, and ye shall not be fulfilled.

27 But if neither by these things ye will hear me, but go against me,

28 and I shall go against you in contrary strong vengeance, and I shall chastise you by seven vengeances for your sins,

29 so that ye eat the flesh of your sons, and of your daughters;

30 I shall destroy your high things, and I shall break your simulacra; ye shall fall betwixt the fallings of your idols, and my soul shall have you abominable,

31 in so much that I shall turn your cities into wilderness, and make your saintuaries forsaken, neither I shall receive more the sweetest odour;

32 and I shall destroy your land, and your enemies shall be astonied thereon, when they shall be dwellers thereof;

33 forsooth I shall scatter you into folks, or into heathen men, and I shall draw out of the sheath the sword after you, and your land shall be forsaken, and your cities shall be cast down.

34 Then his sabbaths shall please the earth, in all the days of his wilderness; when ye be in the land of enemies, it shall keep sabbath,

35 and it shall rest in the sabbaths of his wilderness, for it rested not in your sabbaths, when ye dwelled therein.

36 And I shall give dread in their hearts, that shall abide of you, in the countries of your enemies; the sound of a leaf flying shall make them afeared, and so they shall flee it as a sword; they shall fall, while none pursueth,

37 and all they shall fall upon their brethren, as men fleeing battles; no man of you shall be hardy to against-stand enemies;

38 ye shall perish among heathen men, and the land of enemies shall waste you.

39 That if some of these Jews dwell, they shall fail in their wickednesses, in the land of their enemies; and they shall be tormented for the sins of their fathers, and for their own sins,

40 till they acknowledge their wicked-nesses, and have mind of their evils, by which they trespassed against me, and went contrary to me.

41 Therefore and I shall go against them, and I shall bring them into the land of their enemies, till the uncir-cumcised soul of them be ashamed; then they shall pray for their wicked-ness,

42 and I shall have mind of my bond of peace, that I covenanted with Jacob, Isaac, and with Abraham; also I shall be mindful of the land,

43 which, when it is left of them, shall please to itself in his sabbaths, and shall suffer wilderness for them; forsooth they shall pray for their sins, for they casted away my dooms, and despised my laws;

44 nevertheless, yea, when they were in the land of enemies, I casted not them away utterly, neither I despised them, so that they were wasted, and that I made void my covenant with them; for I am the Lord God of them.

45 And I shall have mind of my former bond of peace, when I led them out of the land of Egypt, in the sight of heathen men, that I should be their God; I am the Lord God.

46 These be the behests, and dooms, and laws, which the Lord gave betwixt himself and the sons of Israel, in the hill [or mount] of Sinai, by the hand of Moses.

CHAPTER 27

1 And the Lord spake to Moses and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, A man that maketh a vow, and promiseth his soul to God, he shall give the price under value, either appraising thereof.

3 If it is a male, from the twentieth year till to the sixtieth year, he shall give fifty shekels of silver, at the measure of the saintuary,

4 if it is a woman, she shall give thirty shekels;

5 forsooth from the fifth year till to the twentieth year, a male shall give twenty shekels, a woman shall give ten shekels;

6 from one month till to the fifth year, five shekels shall be given for a male, three shekels for a woman;

7 a male of sixty years and over shall give fifteen shekels, a woman shall give ten shekels.

8 If it is a poor man, and [he] may not yield the value, he shall stand before the priest, and as much as the priest appraiseth, and seeth that the poor man may yield, so much he shall give.

9 Soothly if any man avoweth a beast, that may be offered to the Lord, it shall be holy,

10 and it shall not be able to be changed, that is, neither a better for a worse, neither an evil for a good; and if he changeth it, both that, that is changed, and that, for which it is changed, shall be hallowed to the Lord.

11 Soothly if any man avoweth an unclean beast, that may not be offered to the Lord, it shall be brought before the priest,

12 and the priest shall deem whether it is good either evil, and he shall set the price;

13 which price, if he that offereth will not give, he shall add the fifth part over the value.

14 If a man avoweth his house, and halloweth it to the Lord, the priest shall behold, whether it is good either evil, and by the price which is ordained of him, it shall be sold;

15 soothly if he that avowed will again-buy it, he shall give the fifth part of the value above, and he shall have the house.

16 That if a man avoweth the field of his possession, and halloweth it to the Lord, the price shall be deemed by the measure of [the] seed; if the field is sown with thirty bushels of barley, it shall be sold for fifty shekels of silver.

17 If he avoweth the field anon from the year of [the] beginning of the jubilee, as much as it may be worth, by so much it shall be appraised;

18 but if it be after some part of time, the priest shall reckon, either determine, the money by the number of the years that be left till to the jubilee, and it shall be withdrawn of the price.

19 That if he that avowed will again-buy the field, he shall add the fifth part of the money that is appraised, and he shall wield it;

20 but if he will not again-buy it, but it is sold to any other man, he that avowed it shall never be able to again-buy it;

21 for when the day of jubilee cometh, that field shall be hallowed to the Lord, and the possession hallowed pertaineth to the right of priests.

22 If the field is bought, and is not of the possession of greater men, that is, of ancestors, and it is hallowed to the Lord,

23 the priest shall determine the price by the number of years till to the jubilee, and he that avowed the field shall give the price thereof to the Lord;

24 forsooth in the jubilee it shall turn again to the former lord that sold it, and he shall have it into the heritage of his possession.

25 All the appraising, or value, shall be weighed by the shekel of the saintuary; a shekel hath twenty half-pence.

26 No man may hallow and avow the first engendered things that pertain to the Lord, whether it is ox, or sheep, they be the Lord’s part.

27 That if the beast is unclean that is avowed, he that offered it shall again-buy it after the value that it is appraised, and he shall add to the fifth part of the price; if he will not again-buy it, it shall be sold to another man, for as much as it is appraised.

28 All thing that is hallowed to the Lord, whether it is man, or beast, whether field of his heritage, it shall not be sold, neither it shall be able to be again-bought; whatever thing is hallowed once, it shall be holy of holy things to the Lord,

29 and each hallowing which is offered of man, shall not be again-bought, but it shall die by death.

30 All the tithes of [the] earth, whether of fruits of corn, whether of apples of trees, be the Lord’s part, and be hallowed to him;

31 soothly if any man will again-buy his tithes, he shall add to the fifth part of those [or them];

32 of all the tithes of sheep, and of oxen, and of goats, that pass under the shepherd’s rod, whatever thing cometh to the tenth part, it shall be hallowed to the Lord;

33 it shall not be chosen, neither good, neither evil; neither it shall be changed for another; if any man changeth it, both that, that is changed, and that, for which it is changed, shall be hallowed to the Lord, and it shall not be again-bought.

34 These be the commandments which the Lord commanded to Moses, and to the sons of Israel, in the hill [or mount] of Sinai.

* CHAPTER 23:34 Also known as the Feast, or the Festival, of Tabernacles, Booths, Shelters, or Ingathering.

NUMBERS

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

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20

21

22

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26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

NUMBERS

CHAPTER 1

1 And the Lord spake to Moses in the desert of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the bond of peace*, in the first day of the second month, in the tother year of their going out of Egypt, and said,

2 Take ye the sum or the number of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their kindreds, and meines, and all their names each by them-selves, whatever thing of male kind,

3 from the twentieth year and above, of all the strong men of Israel; and thou and Aaron shall number them by their companies.

4 And the princes of the lineages, and of the meines, in their kindreds, shall be with you,

5 of which princes, these be the names; of Reuben, Elizur, the son of Shedeur;

6 of Simeon, Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai;

7 of Judah, Nahshon, the son of Amminadab;

8 of Issachar, Nethaneel, the son of Zuar;

9 of Zebulun, Eliab, the son of Helon;

10 soothly of the sons of Joseph; of Ephraim, Elishama, the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh, Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur;

11 of Benjamin, Abidan, the son of Gideoni;

12 of Dan, Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai;

13 of Asher, Pagiel, the son of Ocran;

14 of Gad, Eliasaph, the son of Deuel;

15 of Naphtali, Ahira, the son of Enan.

16 These were the noblest princes of the multitude, by their lineages, and kindreds, and the heads of the hosts of Israel,

17 the which princes Moses and Aaron took, with all the multitude of the common people.

18 And they gathered in the first day of the second month, and they told [or numbered] them by kindreds, and houses, and meines, and heads, and names of each by themselves, from the twentieth year and above,

19 as the Lord commanded to Moses; [and they be numbered in the desert of Sinai].

20 And of Reuben, the first begotten of Israel, were numbered, in the desert of Sinai, [or Of Reuben, the first begotten of Israel], by their generations, and meines, and houses, and by the names of all the heads, all thing that is of male kind, from twenty years and above, of men going forth to battle,

21 six and forty thousand and five hundred.

22 Of the sons of Simeon, by their generations, and meines, and houses of their kindreds, were numbered, by the names and heads of all, all that is of male kind, from twenty years and above, of men going forth to battle,

23 nine and fifty thousand and three hundred.

24 Of the sons of Gad, by generations, and meines, and houses of their kindreds, were numbered, by the names of all, from twenty years and above, all men that went forth to battle,

25 five and forty thousand six hundred and fifty.

26 Of the sons of Judah, by generations, and meines, and houses of their kindreds, by the names of all, from twenty years and above, all men that might go [forth] to battles,

27 were numbered four and seventy thousand and six hundred.

28 Of the sons of Issachar, by their generations, and meines, and houses of their kindreds, by the names of all, from twenty years and above, all men that went forth to battles,

29 were numbered four and fifty thousand and four hundred.

30 Of the sons of Zebulun, by generations, and meines, and houses of their kindreds, were numbered, by the names of all, from twenty years and above, all men that might go forth to battles,

31 seven and fifty thousand and four hundred.

32 Of the sons of Joseph, of the sons of Ephraim, by generations, and meines, and houses of their kindreds, were numbered, by the names of all, from twenty years and above, all men that might go forth to battles,

33 forty thousand and five hundred.

34 Forsooth of the sons of Manasseh, by their generations, and meines, and houses of their kindreds, were numbered, by the names of all, from twenty years and above, all men that might go forth to battles,

35 two and thirty thousand and two hundred.

36 Of the sons of Benjamin, by generations, and meines, and houses of their kindreds, were numbered, by the names of all, from twenty years and above, all men that might go forth to battles,

37 five and thirty thousand and four hundred.

38 Of the sons of Dan, by generations, and meines, and houses of their kin-dreds, were numbered, by the names of all, from twenty years and above, all men that might go forth to battles,

39 two and sixty thousand and seven hundred.

40 Of the sons of Asher, by gener-ations, and meines, and houses of their kindreds, were numbered, by the names of all, from twenty years and above, all men that might go forth to battles,

41 forty thousand and a thousand and five hundred.

42 Of the sons of Naphtali, by generations, and meines, and houses of their kindreds, were numbered, by the names of all, from twenty years and above, all men that might go forth to battles,

43 three and fifty thousand and four hundred.

44 These men it be, which Moses and Aaron and the twelve princes of Israel numbered, each by their houses and kindreds.

45 And all men of the sons of Israel, by their houses, and meines, from twenty years and above, that might go forth to battles,

46 were all together six hundred thousand and three thousand men, and five hundred and fifty.

47 Soothly the deacons† in the lineage of their meines were not numbered with them.

48 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

49 Do not thou number the lineage of Levi, neither set thou the sum of them with the sons of Israel;

50 but thou shalt ordain them upon the tabernacle of witnessing, and upon all the vessels thereof, and upon what-ever thing pertaineth to [the] cere-monies, either sacrifices. They shall bear the tabernacle, and all the appur-tenances thereof, and they shall be in the service of it, and they shall set [their] tents by compass of the taber-nacle.

51 When men shall go forth, or be removed, the deacons shall take down the tabernacle; when the tents shall be set, they shall set it up. Whoever of strangers nigheth, he shall be slain.

52 Soothly the sons of Israel shall set tents, each man by his companies, and his fellowships, and his host;

53 forsooth the deacons shall set their tents by compass of the tabernacle, lest indignation be made on the multitude of the sons of Israel; and they shall wake [or watch] in the keepings of the tabernacle of witnessing.

54 Therefore the sons of Israel did by all things which the Lord commanded to Moses.

CHAPTER 2

1 And the Lord spake to Moses and to Aaron, and said,

2 All men of the sons of Israel shall set tents by the companies, signs, and banners, and houses of their kindreds, by compass of the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace.

3 At the east Judah shall set tents, by the companies of his host; and Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, shall be prince of the sons of Judah;

4 and all the number of fighters of his kindred, four and seventy thousand and six hundred.

5 Men of the lineage of Issachar setted tents beside him, of which the prince was Nethaneel, the son of Zuar;

6 and all the number of his fighters, four and fifty thousand and four hundred.

7 Eliab, the son of Helon, was prince of the lineage of Zebulun;

8 all the host of fighters of his kindred, seven and fifty thousand and four hundred.

9 All that were numbered in the tents of Judah, were an hundred thousand and fourscore thousand and six thousand and four hundred; and they shall go out first by their companies.

10 In the tents of the sons of Reuben, at the south coast, Elizur, the son of Shedeur, shall be prince;

11 and all the host of his fighters, that were numbered, six and forty thousand and five hundred.

12 Men of the lineage of Simeon setted tents beside him, of which the prince was Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai;

13 and all the host of his fighters, that were numbered, nine and fifty thousand and three hundred.

14 Eliasaph, the son of Reuel, was prince in the lineage of Gad;

15 and all the host of his fighters, that were numbered, five and forty thousand and six hundred and fifty.

16 All that were numbered of the tents of Reuben, an hundred thousand and fifty thousand and one thousand and four hundred and fifty; they shall go forth in the second place by their companies.

17 Soothly the tabernacle of witnessing shall be raised up by the offices of deacons [or Levites], and by their companies; as it shall be raised up by them, so it shall be taken down by them; all they shall go forth by their places and orders.

18 The tents of the sons of Ephraim shall be at the west coast, of which the prince was Elishama, the son of Ammihud;

19 and all the host of his fighters, that were numbered, forty thousand and five hundred.

20 And with them was the lineage of the sons of Manasseh, of which the prince was Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur;

21 all the host of his fighters, that were numbered, were two and thirty thousand and two hundred.

22 In the lineage of the sons of Benjamin, the prince was Abidan, the son of Gideoni;

23 and all the host of his fighters, that were numbered, were five and thirty thousand and four hundred.

24 All men that were numbered in the tents of Ephraim were an hundred thousand and eight thousand and one hundred; they shall go forth in the third place by their companies.

25 At the north coast the sons of Dan setted tents, of which the prince was Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai;

26 all the host of his fighters, that were numbered, were two and sixty thousand and seven hundred.

27 And men of the lineage of Asher setted tents beside him, of which the prince was Pagiel, the son of Ocran;

28 and all the host of his fighters, that were numbered, were one and forty thousand and five hundred.

29 Of the lineage of the sons of Naphtali, the prince was Ahira, the son of Enan;

30 and all the host of his fighters, were three and fifty thousand and four hundred.

31 All that were numbered in the tents of Dan were an hundred thousand and seven and fifty thousand and six hundred; they shall go forth the last.

32 This is the number of the sons of Israel, by the houses of their kindreds, and by companies of the host parted, six hundred thousand and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

33 Soothly the deacons were not numbered among the sons of Israel; for God commanded so to Moses.

34 And the sons of Israel did by all things which the Lord commanded; they setted tents by their companies, and they went forth by the meines, and houses of their fathers.

CHAPTER 3

1 These be the generations of Aaron and of Moses, in the day in which the Lord spake to Moses, in the hill [or mount] of Sinai.

2 And these be the names of the sons of Aaron; his first engendered, Nadab; afterward, Abihu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar;

3 these be the names of Aaron’s sons, priests, that were anointed, and whose hands were [ful] filled and hallowed, that they should be set in priesthood.

4 Nadab and Abihu [died], when they offered alien fire in the sight of the Lord, in the desert of Sinai, and were dead without free children; and Eleazar and Ithamar were set in priesthood before Aaron their father.

5 And the Lord spake to Moses, saying,

6 Present thou the lineage of Levi, and make it to stand in the sight of Aaron, the priest, that they minister to him;

7 and wake or watch, and that they keep whatever thing pertaineth to the religion of the multitude, before the tabernacle of witnessing;

8 and that they keep the vessels of the tabernacle, and serve in the service of it.

9 And thou shalt give by free gift the Levites to Aaron and to his sons, to whom they be given of the sons of Israel.

10 Soothly thou shalt ordain Aaron and his sons on the religion of priesthood; a stranger that nigheth for to minister, shall die.

11 And the Lord spake to Moses, saying,

12 I have taken the Levites of the sons of Israel for each first engendered thing that openeth the womb in the sons of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine,

13 for each first engendered thing is mine; since the time I smote the first engendered thing in the land of Egypt, I have hallowed to me whatever thing is born first in Israel; from man unto beast they be mine; I am the Lord.

14 And the Lord spake to Moses in the desert of Sinai, and said,

15 Number thou the sons of Levi by their fathers’ houses, and by their meines, each male from one month and above.

16 [And] Moses numbered them, as the Lord commanded.

17 And the sons of Levi were found, by their names, Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari;

18 the sons of Gershon were Libni, and Shimei;

19 the sons of Kohath were Amram, and Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel;

20 and the sons of Merari were Mahli, and Mushi.

21 Of Gershon were two meines, of Libni, and of Shimei;

22 of which the people of male kind was numbered, from one month and above, seven thousand and five hundred.

23 These shall set tents behind the tabernacle at the west part,

24 under the prince Eliasaph, the son of Lael.

25 And they shall have the keepings in the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, the tabernacle itself, and the covering thereof, the tent that is drawn before the gates of the covering of the witnessing of the bond of peace;

26 and the curtains of the great entry, also the tent that is hanged in the entering of the great entry of the tabernacle, and whatever thing per-taineth to the use of the altar, the cords of the tabernacle, and to all the service thereof.

27 The kindred of Kohath shall have the peoples of Amram, and of Izhar, and of Hebron, and of Uzziel; these be the meines of Kohathites,

28 numbered by their names, all of male kind, from one month and above, eight thousand and six hundred. They shall have the keepings of the saintuary,

29 and they shall set their tents at the south coast thereof;

30 and the prince of them shall be Elizaphan, the son of Uzziel.

31 And they shall keep the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, the altars, and the vessels of the saintuary in which it is served, and the veil, and all such manner appurtenance.

32 Soothly the prince of princes of Levites shall be Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest; and he shall be upon the keepers of the keeping of the saintuary.

33 And soothly of Merari shall be the peoples of Mahli, and of Mushi,

34 numbered by their names, all the male kind, from one month and above, six thousand and two hundred;

35 the prince of them shall be Zuriel, the son of Abihail; they shall set their tents in the north coast.

36 And under the keeping of them shall be the tables of the tabernacle, and the bars, and the pillars, and their foundaments, and all things that pertain to such adorning,

37 and the pillars of the great entry by compass, with their bases, and the stakes with their cords.

38 Forsooth Moses, and Aaron with his sons, shall set their tents before the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, that is, at the east coast, and shall have the keeping of the saintuary, in the midst of the sons of Israel; what-ever alien nigheth thereto, he shall die.

39 All the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered, by the commandment of the Lord, by their meines, in male kind, from one month and above, were two and twenty thousand.

40 And the Lord said to Moses, Number thou the first begotten of male kind of the sons of Israel, from one month and above; and thou shalt have the sum or the number of them;

41 and thou shalt take the Levites to me for all the first begotten of the sons of Israel; I am the Lord; and thou shalt take their beasts for all the first begotten of the sons of Israel.

42 And as the Lord commanded, Moses numbered the first begotten children of the sons of Israel;

43 and the males were by their names, from one month and above, two and twenty thousand two hundred and seventy and three.

44 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

45 Take thou the Levites for the first begotten of the sons of Israel, and take the beasts of the Levites for the beasts of them, and the Levites shall be mine; I am the Lord.

46 Forsooth in the price of two hundred and seventy and three persons, that pass the number of the Levites, of the first begotten of the sons of Israel,

47 thou shalt take five shekels by each head, at the measure of the saintuary; a shekel hath twenty halfpence;

48 and thou shalt give the money to Aaron and to his sons, the price of them that be numbered above the number of the Levites.

49 Therefore Moses took the money of them that were numbered above, and which they had again-bought of the Levites,

50 for the first begotten of the sons of Israel, a thousand three hundred and sixty and five of shekels, by the weight of the saintuary;

51 and he gave that money to Aaron and to his sons, by the word that the Lord commanded to him.

CHAPTER 4

1 And the Lord spake to Moses and to Aaron, and said,

2 Take thou the sum or the number of the sons of Kohath, from the midst of Levites, by their houses and meines,

3 from the thirtieth year and above unto the fiftieth year, of all that enter, that they stand and minister in the tabernacle of the bond of peace.

4 This is the religion of the sons of Kohath; Aaron and his sons shall enter into the tabernacle of the bond of peace, and into the holy of holy things,

5 when the tents shall be moved; and they shall do down the veil that hangeth before the gates, and they shall wrap in it the ark of witnessing;

6 and they shall cover it again with a veil of jacinthine skins, and they shall stretch forth above a mantle all of jacinth, and they shall lead in [the] bearing staves.

7 Also they shall wrap the table of proposition, either of setting forth, in a mantle of jacinth, and they shall put therewith the censers, and mortars or spoons of gold, little cups, and great cups to shed [or pour] flowing [or liquor] sacrifices; loaves shall ever-[more] be in the table.

8 And they shall stretch forth there-above a red mantle, which they shall cover again with a covering of jacinthine skins, and they shall lead in the bearing staves.

9 They shall take also a mantle of jacinth with which they shall cover the candlestick, with his lanterns, and tongs, and snuffers, and all the oil vessels that be needful to the lanterns to be ordained;

10 and upon all these things they shall put a covering of jacinthine skins, and they shall lead in the bearing staves.

11 Also they shall wrap the golden altar in a cloth of jacinth; and they shall stretch forth above it a covering of jacinthine skins, and they shall lead in [the] bearing staves.

12 They shall wrap in a mantle of jacinth all the vessels in which it is ministered in the saintuary, and they shall stretch forth above it a covering of jacinthine skins, and they shall lead in the bearing staves.

13 But also they shall cleanse the altar from ashes, and they shall wrap it in a cloth of purple.

14 And they shall put with it all the vessels which they use in the service thereof, that is, the resets or recepticles of fire, the tongs, and fleshhooks, and other hooks, and the censers, or the pans of coals; they shall cover all the vessels of the altar altogether in a veil of jacinthine skins, and they shall lead in the bearing staves.

15 And when Aaron and his sons have wrapped the saintuary, and all [the] vessels thereof, in the moving of tents, then the sons of Kohath shall enter, that they bear the things wrapped, and touch not the vessels of the saintuary, lest they die. These be the burdens of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace,

16 on which Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, shall be; to whose care the oil pertaineth to ordain lanterns, and the incense which is made by craft, and the sacrifice which is offered ever[more], that is, in each day, and the oil of anointing, and whatever thing pertaineth to the adorning of the tabernacle, and of all vessels that be in the saintuary.

17 And the Lord spake to Moses and to Aaron, and said,

18 Do not ye lose the people of Kohath from the midst of the Levites;

19 but do ye this thing to them, that they live, and die not, if they touch the holy of holy things. Aaron and his sons shall enter, and they shall dispose the works of all the sons of Kohath, and they shall part what who oweth to bear.

20 Other men see not by any curiosity those things that be in the saintuary, before that those [or they] be wrapped; else they shall die.

21 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

22 Take thou the sum or the number also of the sons of Gershon, by their houses, and meines, and kindreds;

23 number thou them from thirty years and above unto fifty years, all that enter and serve in the tabernacle of the bond of peace.

24 This is the office of the sons of Gershonites,

25 that they bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the roof, or covering, of the bond of peace, another covering, and the veil of jacinth that shall be above all things, and the tent that hangeth in the entry of the tabernacle of the bond of peace;

26 and the curtains of the great entry, and the veil in the entry, that is before the tabernacle.

27 When Aaron commandeth and his sons, the sons of Gershon shall bear all things that pertain to the altar, the cords, and the vessels, or instruments, of their service; and all they shall know, to what charge they owe to be bound.

28 This is the office of the meines of Gershonites, in the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace; and they shall be under the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron, [the] priest.

29 Also thou shalt number the sons of Merari, by the meines and houses of their fathers,

30 from thirty years and above unto fifty years, all that enter to the office of their service, and to the adorning of the bond of peace of witnessing.

31 These be their charges or burdens; they shall bear the tables of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, the pillars, and their foundaments or bases;

32 also the pillars of the great entry by compass, with their foundaments, and their stakes, and their cords; and they shall take all the instruments and the appurtenance of the tabernacle, by number, and so they shall bear them.

33 This is the office of the meine of Merarites, and the service in the tabernacle of the bond of peace; and they shall be under the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron, the priest.

34 Therefore Moses and Aaron and the princes of the synagogue, numbered the sons of Kohath, by the kindreds, and houses of their fathers,

35 from thirty years and above unto the fiftieth year, all that enter to the service of the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace;

36 and they were found two thousand seven hundred and fifty.

37 This is the number of the people of Kohath, which entereth into the taber-nacle of [the] bond of peace; Moses and Aaron numbered these, by the word of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

38 And the sons of Gershon were numbered, by the kindreds and houses of their fathers,

39 from thirty years and above unto fifty years, all that enter that they serve in the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace;

40 and they were found two thousand six hundred and thirty.

41 This is the people of Gershonites, that Moses and Aaron numbered, by the kindreds and houses, by the word of the Lord.

42 And the sons of Merari were numbered, by the kindreds, and houses of their fathers,

43 from thirty years and above unto fifty years, all that enter to fulfill the customs, or the services, of the tabernacle of the bond of peace;

44 and they were found three thousand and two hundred.

45 This is the number of the sons of Merari, which Moses and Aaron numbered, by the commandment of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.

46 All that were numbered of the Levites, and which Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel made to be numbered, by the kindreds, and houses of their fathers,

47 from thirty years and above unto fifty years, and entered to the service of the tabernacle, and to bear the charges thereof,

48 were altogether eight thousand five hundred and fourscore.

49 By the word of the Lord Moses numbered them, each man by his office and his charges, as the Lord commanded to him.

CHAPTER 5

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Command thou to the sons of Israel, that they cast out of the tents each leprous man, and that floweth out the seed, and that is defouled upon a dead body;

3 cast ye out of the tents, as well a male as a female, lest they defoul those [or them], when they dwell with you.

4 And the sons of Israel did so; and they putted them out of the tents, as the Lord spake to Moses.

5 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

6 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, When a man either a woman hath done any of all the sins that be wont to fall to men, and have broken by negligence the behest of the Lord, and have trespassed,

7 they shall acknowledge their sin, and they shall yield that head, or debt, and the fifth part above, to him against whom they sinned.

8 But if none there is that shall receive that, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be the priest’s part, besides the ram that is offered for cleansing, that it be a quemeful sacrifice.

9 Also all the first fruits, which the sons of Israel offer, pertain to the priest;

10 and whatever thing is offered of each man in the saintuary, which a man hallowed, and gave to the hands of the priest, it shall be the priest’s part.

11 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

12 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, If a man’s wife hath erred, and hath despised her husband,

13 and hath slept with another man, and the husband may not take, either prove this, but the adultery is hid, and may not be proved by witnesses, for she is not found in lechery;

14 if the spirit of jealousy stirreth the husband against his wife, which is either defouled, either she is impeached by false suspicion,

15 the man shall bring her to the priest, and he shall offer an offering for her, the tenth part of a measure called a saton of barley meal; he shall not pour oil thereupon, neither he shall put incense thereto, for it is the sacrifice of jealousy, and an offering inquiring adultery.

16 Therefore the priest shall offer her, and shall set her before the Lord;

17 and he shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall put into it a little earth of the pavement of the tabernacle.

18 And when the woman standeth in the sight of the Lord, the priest shall uncover her head, and he shall put upon her hands the sacrifice of remembering, and the offering of jealousy. Soothly he shall hold the most bitter waters, in which he hath gathered together curses with cursing.

19 And he shall conjure or adjure her, and say, If an alien man slept not with thee, and if thou art not defouled in forsaking the bed of thine husband, these bitter waters shall not harm thee, into which I have gathered together curses;

20 else if thou bowedest away from thine husband, and art defouled, and hast lain with another man,

21 thou shalt be subject to these cursings; the Lord give thee into cursing, and into ensample of all men in his people; the Lord make thine hip to wax rotten, and thy womb swell, and be it broken;

22 these cursed waters enter into thy womb, and while thy womb swelleth, thine hip wax rotten. And the woman shall answer, Amen! amen!

23 And the priest shall write these curses in a little book, and he shall do away those curses with the bitterest waters,

24 into which he gathered curses, and he shall give to her the waters to drink. And when she hath drunk those waters,

25 the priest shall take of her hand the sacrifice of jealousy, and he shall raise it [up] before the Lord, and he shall put it on the altar;

26 so only that he take before an handful of that sacrifice that is offered, and burn it upon the altar, and so give drink to the woman the most bitter waters.

27 And when she hath drunk those waters, if she is defouled, and is guilty of adultery, for her husband is despised of her, the waters of cursing shall pass through her, and while her womb is swollen, her hip shall wax rotten, and the woman shall be into cursing and into ensample to all the people.

28 That if she is not defouled, she shall be harmless, and shall bring forth free children.

29 This is the law of jealousy, if a woman boweth away from her husband, and is defouled,

30 and the husband is stirred with the spirit of jealousy, and bringeth her into the sight of the Lord, and the priest doeth to her by all things that be written,

31 the husband shall be without sin, and she shall receive her wickedness.

CHAPTER 6

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, When a man either a woman maketh a vow, that they be hallowed, and they will hallow themselves to the Lord,

3 they shall abstain from wine, and from all thing that may make drunken; they shall not drink vinegar of wine, and of anything able to make drunken, and whatever thing is pressed out of the grape; they shall not eat fresh grapes and dry,

4 all [the] days in which they be hallowed by a vow to the Lord; they shall not eat whatever thing may be of the vinery [or vine], from the rind till to the little grains that be in the midst of the grape.

5 All the time of his separating, or of his avow holding, a razor shall not pass upon his head, unto the day be fulfilled in which he is hallowed to the Lord; he shall be holy, and the hair of his head shall wax.

6 In all the time of his hallowing, he shall not enter upon a dead body,

7 and soothly he shall not be defouled upon the dead body of his father and of his mother, of brother and of sister, for the hallowing of his God is upon his head;

8 each day of his separating, or avowing, shall be holy to the Lord.

9 But if any man is dead suddenly before him, the head of his hallowing shall be defouled, which he shall shave anon in the same day of his cleansing, and again in the seventh day;

10 forsooth in the eighth day he shall offer two turtles, either two culver birds, to the priest, in the entering of the bond of peace of witnessing.

11 And the priest shall make, or offer, one for sin, and the tother into burnt sacrifice; and the priest shall pray for him, for he sinned upon a dead body, and he shall hallow his head in that day.

12 And he shall hallow to the Lord the days of his separating, and he shall offer a lamb of one year for his sin, so nevertheless that the former days be made void, for his hallowing is defouled.

13 This is the law of hallowing. When the days shall be fulfilled, which he deemed to fulfill by a vow, the priest shall bring him to the door of the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace,

14 and he shall offer his offering to the Lord, a lamb of one year without wem, into burnt sacrifice, and a sheep of one year without wem, for sin, and a ram without wem, a peaceable sacrifice;

15 also a basket of therf loaves, that be sprinkled altogether with oil, and cakes sodden in water, and after anointed with oil, without sourdough, and [the] flowing sacrifices of all these by themselves;

16 which the priest shall offer before the Lord, and he shall make, or offer these, as well for sin as into burnt sacrifice.

17 Soothly he shall offer the ram a peaceable sacrifice to the Lord, and he shall offer therewith a basket of therf loaves, and flowing [or liquor] sacrifices, that be due by custom.

18 Then the Nazarite, or he that is hallowed, shall be shaved from the hair of his hallowing, before the door of the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace; and the priest shall take his hairs, and he shall put them upon the fire, which is put under the sacrifice of peaceable things.

19 And he shall take the shoulder sodden of the ram, and one therf cake from the basket, and one [thin] therf cake first sodden in water and after-ward fried in oil, and he shall betake them into the hands of the Nazarite, after that his head is shaved.

20 And the priest shall raise in the sight of the Lord the things taken again of him. And those things hallowed shall be the priest’s part, as the breast which is commanded to be separated, and the hip. After these things the Nazarite may drink wine.

21 This is the law of the Nazarite, when he hath avowed his offering to the Lord, in the time of his consecration, or hallowing, besides these things which his hand findeth. By this that he [hath] avowed in soul, or in will, so he shall do, to the perfection of his hallowing.

22 And the Lord spake to Moses and said,

23 Speak thou to Aaron and to his sons, Thus ye shall bless the sons of Israel, and ye shall say to them,

24 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee;

25 the Lord show his face to thee, and have mercy upon thee;

26 the Lord turn his cheer to thee, and give peace to thee.

27 They shall call inwardly my name on the sons of Israel, and I shall bless them.

CHAPTER 7

1 And it was done in the day in which Moses fulfilled, or ended, the tabernacle, and areared it, and anointed it, and hallowed it with all the vessels, or instruments, thereof, and the altar he hallowed in like manner, and the vessels thereof.

2 And the princes of Israel, and the heads of meines, that were, by all lineages, the sovereigns of them that were numbered,

3 offered gifts before the Lord, six wains covered, with twelve oxen; two dukes offered one wain, and each offered one ox. And they offered those wains before the tabernacle.

4 Soothly the Lord said to Moses,

5 Take thou of them, that they serve in the service of the tabernacle, and betake thou those things to the deacons, by the order of their service.

6 And so when Moses had taken the wains, and the oxen, he betook them to the deacons [or Levites].

7 He gave two wains and four oxen to the sons of Gershon, after that they had need.

8 He gave four other wains and eight oxen to the sons of Merari, by their offices and religion, under the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron, the priest.

9 Forsooth he gave not wains and oxen to the sons of Kohath, for they serve in the saintuary, and bear the charges with their own shoulders.

10 Therefore the dukes offered, in the hallowing of the altar, in the day in which it was anointed, their offering to the Lord, before the altar.

11 And the Lord said to Moses, All the dukes by themselves offer they gifts, by all days by themselves, into the hallowing of the altar.

12 Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, prince of the lineage of Judah, offered his offering in the first day; and there were in that offering

13 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, in the weight of an hundred and thirty shekels, a vial or basin* of silver, having seventy shekels by the weight of the saintuary, ever either full of[tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

14 a mortar or spoon † of ten golden shekels, full of incense.

15 He offered an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

16 and a buck of goats, for sin.

17 And he offered in the sacrifice of peaceable things, twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This is the offering of Nahshon, the son of Amminadab.

18 In the second day, Nethaneel, the son of Zuar, duke of the lineage of Issachar, offered

19 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels by the weight of the saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

20 a golden spoon, having ten shekels, full of incense;

21 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

22 and a buck of goats, for sin.

23 And in the sacrifice of peaceable things he offered twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This was the offering of Nethaneel the son of Zuar.

24 In the third day, Eliab, the son of Helon, the prince of the sons of Zebulun, offered

25 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels at the weight of [the] saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

26 a golden spoon, weighing ten shekels, full of incense;

27 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

28 and a buck of goats, for sin.

29 And in the sacrifice of peaceable things he offered twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This is the offering of Eliab, the son of Helon.

30 In the fourth day, Elizur, the son of Shedeur, the prince of the sons of Reuben, offered

31 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels at the weight of [the] saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

32 a golden spoon weighing ten shekels, full of incense;

33 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

34 and a buck of goats, for sin.

35 And into [the] sacrifice of peace-able things he offered twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This was the offering of Elizur, the son of Shedeur.

36 In the fifth day, Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai, the prince of the sons of Simeon, offered

37 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels at the weight of [the] saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

38 a golden spoon, weighing ten shekels, full of incense;

39 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

40 and a buck of goats, for sin.

41 And into [the] sacrifice of peaceable things he offered twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This was the offering of Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai.

42 In the sixth day, Eliasaph, the son of Deuel, the prince of the sons of Gad, offered

43 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels at the weight of [the] saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

44 a golden spoon, weighing ten shekels, full of incense;

45 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

46 and a buck of goats, for sin.

47 And into sacrifice of peaceable things he offered two oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This was the offering of Eliasaph, the son of Deuel.

48 In the seventh day, Elishama, the son of Ammihud, the prince of the sons of Ephraim, offered

49 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels at the weight of [the] saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

50 a golden spoon, weighing ten shekels, full of incense;

51 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

52 and a buck of goats, for sin.

53 And into sacrifice of peaceable things he offered twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This was the offering of Elishama, the son of Ammihud.

54 In the eighth day, Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur, the prince of the sons of Manasseh, offered

55 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels at the weight of [the] saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

56 a golden spoon, weighing ten shekels, full of incense;

57 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

58 and a buck of goats, for sin.

59 And into sacrifices of peaceable things he offered twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This was the offering of Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur.

60 In the ninth day, Abidan, the son of Gideoni, the prince of the sons of Benjamin, offered

61 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels at the weight of [the] saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

62 a golden spoon, weighing ten shekels, full of incense;

63 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

64 and a buck of goats, for sin.

65 And into the sacrifice of peaceable things he offered twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This was the offering of Abidan, the son of Gideoni.

66 In the tenth day, Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai, the prince of the sons of Dan, offered

67 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels at the weight of [the] saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

68 a golden spoon, weighing ten shekels, full of incense;

69 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

70 and a buck of goats, for sin.

71 And into sacrifices of peaceable things he offered twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This was the offering of Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai.

72 In the eleventh day, Pagiel, the son of Ocran, the prince of the sons of Asher, offered

73 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels at the weight of [the] saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

74 a golden spoon, weighing ten shekels, full of incense;

75 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

76 and a buck of goats, for sin.

77 And into sacrifice of peaceable things he offered twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This was the offering of Pagiel, the son of Ocran.

78 In the twelfth day, Ahira, the son of Enan, the prince of the sons of Naphtali, offered

79 a silver vessel to prove incense and such things, weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, a silver basin, having seventy shekels at the weight of [the] saintuary, ever either full of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, into sacrifice;

80 a golden spoon, weighing ten shekels, full of incense;

81 an ox of the drove, and a ram, and a lamb of one year, into burnt sacrifice;

82 and a buck of goats, for sin.

83 And into sacrifice of peaceable things he offered twain [or two] oxen, five rams, five goat bucks, five lambs of one year. This was the offering of Ahira, the son of Enan.

84 These things were offered of the sons of Israel, in the hallowing of the altar, in the day in which it was hallowed; silver vessels to prove incense and such things twelve, silver basins twelve, golden spoons twelve;

85 so that one vessel to prove incense and such things had an hundred and thirty shekels of silver, and one basin had seventy shekels, that is, in com-mon, two thousand and four hundred shekels of all the vessels of silver, by the weight of [the] saintuary;

86 golden spoons twelve, full of incense, weighing ten shekels, by weight of the saintuary, that is, altogether, an hundred and twenty shekels of gold;

87 oxen of the drove into burnt sacrifice twelve, twelve rams, twelve lambs of one year, and the flowing sacrifices of those, twelve bucks of goats for sin;

88 the sacrifices of peaceable things, four and twenty oxen, sixty rams, sixty goat bucks, sixty lambs of one year. These things were offered in the hallowing of the altar, when it was anointed.

89 And when Moses entered into the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, to ask counsel of God’s answering place, he heard the voice of God speaking to him from the propitiatory, which was on the ark of witnessing, betwixt [the] two cherubims, from whence also God spake to Moses.

CHAPTER 8

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to Aaron, and thou shalt say to him, When thou hast set the seven lanterns, the candlestick be raised in the south part; therefore command thou this, that the lanterns behold even against the north to the board of [the] loaves of setting forth, those lanterns shall shine against that part that the candlestick beholdeth to.

3 And Aaron did so, and he putted the lanterns upon the candlestick, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

4 Soothly this was the making of the candlestick; it was of gold beaten out with hammers, as well the middle stalk, as all the things that came forth on ever either side of the rods; by the sample which the Lord showed to Moses, so he wrought the candlestick.

5 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

6 Take thou the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel; and thou shalt cleanse them by this custom.

7 Be they sprinkled with water of cleansing, or of purification, and shave they all the hairs of their flesh. And when they have washed their clothes and be cleansed,

8 take they an ox of the droves, and the flowing [or liquor] sacrifice thereof, [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil; forsooth thou shalt take another ox of the drove for sin;

9 and thou shalt present the Levites before the tabernacle of the bond of peace, when all the multitude of the sons of Israel is called together.

10 And when the Levites be presented before the Lord, the sons of Israel shall set [or put] their hands upon them;

11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites in the sight of the Lord, a gift of the sons of Israel, that they serve in the service of him.

12 Also the Levites shall set their hands upon the heads of the oxen, of which oxen thou shalt make, or ordain, one for sin, and the tother into burnt sacrifice of the Lord, that thou pray for them.

13 And thou shalt ordain the Levites in the sight of Aaron, and of his sons, and thou shalt make sacred them offered to the Lord;

14 and thou shalt separate them from the midst of the sons of Israel, that they be mine.

15 And afterward enter they into the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, that they serve me; and so thou shalt cleanse and hallow them, into an offering of the Lord,

16 for by free gift they be given to me of the sons of Israel. I have taken them for the first begotten things that open each womb in Israel;

17 for all the first begotten things of the sons of Israel be mine, as well of men as of beasts, from the day in which I smote each first engendered thing in the land of Egypt, I [have] hallowed them to me.

18 And I took the Levites for all the first begotten of the sons of Israel;

19 and I gave them by free gift to Aaron and to his sons, from the midst of the people, that they serve me for Israel, in the tabernacle of the bond of peace, and that they pray for them, lest vengeance be in the people, if they be hardy to nigh to the saintuary.

20 And Moses and Aaron, and all the multitude of the sons of Israel, did upon the Levites those things that the Lord commanded to Moses.

21 And the Levites were cleansed, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron raised, or presented, them in the sight of the Lord, and he prayed for them, that they shall be cleansed,

22 and should enter to their offices into the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, before Aaron and his sons; as the Lord commanded to Moses of the Levites, so it was done.

23 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

24 This is the law of [the] Levites; from five and twenty years and above they shall enter, for to minister in the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace;

25 and when they have filled the fiftieth year of age, they shall cease to serve.

26 And they shall be the ministers of their brethren in the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, that they keep those things that be betaken to them; soothly they shall not do those works, as they did before; thus thou shalt dispose [the] Levites in their keepings.

CHAPTER 9

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, in the desert of Sinai, in the second year after they went out of the land of Egypt, in the first month, and said,

2 The sons of Israel make they pask in his time,

3 that is, in the fourteenth day of this month, at eventide, by all the ceremonies and justifyings thereof.

4 And Moses commanded to the sons of Israel, that they should make pask;

5 which made pask in his time, in the fourteen day of the month, at eventide, in the hill [or mount] of Sinai; by all things that the Lord commanded to Moses, the sons of Israel did.

6 Lo! forsooth some men unclean on the soul of man, that might not make pask in that day, nighed to Moses and to Aaron,

7 and said to them, We be unclean on the soul of man; why be we defrauded, that we may not offer an offering to the Lord in his time, among the sons of Israel?

8 To which Moses answered, Stand ye aside, or abideth, that I take counsel, what the Lord commandeth of you.

9 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

10 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, A man of your folk that is unclean upon a soul, either is in the way far off*, make he pask to the Lord

11 in the second month, in the fourteenth day of the month, at eventide; with therf loaves and lettuces of the field he shall eat it.

12 They shall not leave anything thereof till to the morrowtide, and they shall not break a bone thereof; they shall keep all the custom of pask.

13 Forsooth if any man is clean, and is not in the way, and nevertheless made not [the] pask, that man shall be des-troyed from his peoples, for he offered not sacrifice to the Lord in his time set, or covenable; he shall bear his sin.

14 Also if a pilgrim and a comeling is with you, make he pask to the Lord, by the ceremonies and the justifyings thereof; the same behest shall be with you, as well to a comeling as to a man born in the land.

15 Therefore in the day in which the tabernacle was raised, a cloud covered it; soothly as the likeness of fire was on the tent, that is, tabernacle, from eventide till to the morrowtide.

16 Thus it was done continually, a cloud covered it by day, and as the likeness of fire by night.

17 And when the cloud that covered the tabernacle was taken away, then the sons of Israel went forth; and in the place where the cloud stood, there they setted tents.

18 At the commandment of the Lord they went forth, and at his command-ment they setted the tabernacle. In all the days in which the cloud stood upon the tabernacle, they dwelled in the same place.

19 And if it befelled that it dwelled much time upon the tabernacle, the sons of Israel were in the watches of the Lord, and they went not forth,

20 in how many ever days the cloud was upon the tabernacle. At the commandment of the Lord they raised [the] tents, and at his commandment they did them down.

21 If the cloud was standing upon the tabernacle from the eventide unto the morrowtide, and anon in the morrowtide had left, or gone thence, they went forth; and if, after a day and a night, the cloud had gone away, they scattered, either did down, the tents.

22 Whether in two months, either in one month, either in longer time, the cloud had been upon the tabernacle, the sons of Israel dwelled in the same place, and went not forth; but anon as it had gone away, they moved the tents.

23 By the word of the Lord they setted their tents, and by his word they went forth; and they were in the watches of the Lord, by his command-ment, by the hand of Moses.

CHAPTER 10

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Make to thee two silver trumps, beaten out with hammers, by which thou mayest call together the multitude, when the tents shall be moved.

3 And when thou shalt sound with trumps, all the company shall be gathered to thee at the door of the tabernacle of the bond of peace.

4 If thou shalt trump with one trump, the princes and the chief men of the multitude of Israel shall come to thee;

5 but if a longer, and a parted trumping of two trumps shall sound, they that be at the east coast shall move their tents first.

6 Forsooth in the second sound[ing], and in like noise of the trump, they that dwell at the south coast shall raze their tents; and by this manner, other men shall do, when the trumps shall sound into going forth.

7 Forsooth when the people shall be gathered together, simple cry of trumps shall be, and the trumps shall not sound partingly.

8 The sons of Aaron, [the] priests, shall sound with [the] trumps, and this shall be a lawful thing everlasting in your generations.

9 If ye shall go out of your land to battle against the enemies that fight against you, ye shall cry with trumps sounding, and the bethinking of you shall be before your Lord God, that ye be delivered from the hands of your enemies.

10 If any time ye shall have a feast, and holidays, and calends, that is, the first day of the month, ye shall sing in trumps upon the burnt sacrifices, and [the] peaceable sacrifices, that those [or they] be to you into remembering of your God; I am your Lord God.

11 In the second year, in the second month, in the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was raised [up] from the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace.

12 And the sons of Israel went forth by their companies from the desert of Sinai; and the cloud rested in the wilderness of Paran.

13 And the sons of Judah by their companies, of which the prince was Nahshon, the son of Amminadab,

14 moved first tents, by the Lord’s commandment, made in the hand of Moses.

15 In the lineage of the sons of Issachar the prince was Nethaneel, the son of Zuar.

16 In the lineage of the sons of Zebulun the prince was Eliab, the son of Helon.

17 And the tabernacle was taken down, which the sons of Gershon and Merari bare, and they went forth.

18 And the sons of Reuben went forth by their companies and order, of which the prince was Elizur, the son of Shedeur.

19 Forsooth in the lineage of the sons of Simeon the prince was Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai.

20 Soothly in the lineage of the sons of Gad the prince was Eliasaph, the son of Deuel.

21 And the sons of Kohath went forth, and bare the saintuary; and they raised the tabernacle till to the coming of them.

22 Also the sons of Ephraim, by their companies, moved their tents, in whose host the prince was Elishama, the son of Ammihud.

23 Forsooth in the lineage of the sons of Manasseh the prince was Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur.

24 And in the lineage of the sons of Benjamin the duke was Abidan, the son of Gideoni.

25 The sons of Dan, by their com-panies, went forth the last of all the tents, in whose host the prince was Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai.

26 Soothly in the lineage of the sons of Asher the prince was Pagiel, the son of Ocran.

27 And in the lineage of the sons of Naphtali the prince was Ahira, the son of Enan.

28 These be the tents and the goings forth of the sons of Israel, by their companies, when they went forth.

29 And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Raguel, of Midian, his ally, either father of his wife, We go forth to the place which the Lord shall give to us; come thou with us, that we do well to thee, for the Lord [hath] promised good things to Israel.

30 To whom he answered, I shall not go with thee, but I shall turn again into my land, in which I was born.

31 And Moses said, Do not thou forsake us, for thou knowest in which places we owe to set tents, and thou shalt be our leader;

32 and when thou shalt come with us, whatever thing shall be best of the riches that the Lord shall give to us, we shall give to thee.

33 And therefore they went forth from the hill [or mount] of the Lord the way of three days; and the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord went before them, by those three days, and purveyed the places of their tents.

34 And the cloud of the Lord was upon, or over, them by day, when they went forth.

35 And when the ark was raised, Moses said, Rise thou, Lord, and thine enemies be scattered, and they that hate thee, flee from thy face;

36 forsooth when the ark was put down, he said, Lord, turn again to the multitude of the host of Israel.

CHAPTER 11

1 In the meantime grutching of the people, as of men sorrowing for travail, rose against the Lord. And when Moses had heard this thing, he was wroth; and the fire of the Lord was kindled upon them, and devoured the last part of the tents.

2 And when the people had cried to Moses, Moses prayed [to] the Lord, and the fire was quenched.

3 And he called the name of that place Burning, for the fire of the Lord was kindled against them.

4 And the common people of men and women, that had gone up with them, burnt with desire of flesh, and they sat, and wept, with the sons of Israel joined together with them, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

5 We think upon the fish that we ate in Egypt freely; gourds, and melons, and leeks, and onions, and garlic come into our minds;

6 our soul is dry; our eyes behold none other thing than manna.

7 Soothly manna was as the seed of coriander, of the colour of bdellium, which is white, and bright as crystal.

8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and brake it with a quernstone, either pounded it in a mortar, and seethed it in a pot; and made thereof little cakes of the savour as of bread made with oil.

9 And when [the] dew came down in the night upon the tents, also manna came down together therewith.

10 Then Moses heard the people weeping by meines, and each of them by the doors of their tents; and the strong vengeance of the Lord was wroth greatly, but also the grutching was seen unsufferable to Moses.

11 And he said to the Lord, Why hast thou tormented thy servant? why find I not grace before thee? and why hast thou put the burden of all this people onto me?

12 whether I have conceived all this multitude, either have begotten it, that thou say to me, Bear thou them in thy bosom, as a nurse is wont to bear a little young child, and bear thou this people into the land for the which thou swore to their fathers?

13 whereof be meats to me, that I feed so great a multitude? They weep before me, and say, Give us flesh, that we eat;

14 I may not alone sustain all this people, for it is grievous to me.

15 If in other manner it seemeth to thee, I beseech thee, that thou slay me, and that I find grace in thine eyes, that I be not punished, or travailed, with so great evils.

16 And the Lord said to Moses, Gather thou to me seventy men of the elder men of Israel, whom thou knowest to be elder men, and masters of the people; and thou shalt lead them to the door of the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, and thou shalt make them to stand there with thee,

17 that I come down, and speak to thee; and I shall take away of thy spirit, and I shall give to them, that they sustain with thee the burden of the people, and not thou alone be grieved.

18 And thou shalt say to the people, Be ye hallowed; tomorrow ye shall eat flesh; for I heard you say, Who shall give us the meats of flesh? it was well to us in Egypt; that the Lord give you flesh,

19 and ye eat not only one day, either twain [or two], either five, either ten, soothly neither twenty days,

20 but till to a month of days, till it go out by your nostrils, and turn into loathing; for by your grutching ye have put away the Lord, which is in the midst of you, and ye wept before him, and said, Why went we out of Egypt?

21 And Moses said to the Lord, Six hundred thousand of footmen be of this people, and thou sayest, I shall give them to eat flesh an whole month.

22 Whether the multitude of sheep and of oxen shall be able to be slain, that it may suffice this people to meat, either whether all the fishes of the sea shall be gathered together, that those [ful] fill them?

23 To whom the Lord answered, Whether the Lord’s hand is unmighty? right now thou shalt see, whether my word shall be fulfilled in work.

24 Therefore Moses came, and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of Israel, which he made stand about the tabernacle.

25 And the Lord came down by a cloud, and spake to Moses, and took away of the spirit that was in Moses, and gave to the seventy men; and when the spirit had rested in them, they prophesied, and moreover they ceased not.

26 Forsooth two men dwelled still in the tents, of which men one was called Eldad, and the tother Medad, on which the spirit rested; for also they were described, or ordained, or chosen, and they went not out to the tabernacle. And when they prophesied in the tents,

27 a young man ran, and told to Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad prophesy in the tents.

28 Anon Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, and chosen of many, said, My lord Moses, forbid thou them.

29 And Moses said, What, hast thou envy for me? who giveth, whether not God, that all the people prophesy, and that God give his spirit to them?

30 And Moses turned again, and the elder men in birth of Israel, into the tents.

31 Forsooth a wind went forth from the Lord, and it took curlews, and brought them over the sea, and he left them in the tents, in journey, as much as may be performed in one day, by each part of the tents by compass; and they flew in the air by two cubits in height above the earth.

32 Therefore the people rose in all that day, and that night, and into the tother day, and gathered a multitude of curlews; he that gathered little, gathered ten cors; and they dried those curlews by compass of the tents.

33 Yet flesh was in their teeth, and such meat failed them not; and lo! the wrath of the Lord was raised against his people, and he smote it with a full great vengeance.

34 And that place was called The Sepulchres of Covetousness, or Lust, for there they buried the people that desired flesh.

35 Soothly they went forth from The Sepulchres of Covetousness, or Lust, and came into Hazeroth, and dwelled there.

CHAPTER 12

1 And Marie spake and Aaron against Moses, for his wife a woman of Ethiopia,

2 and they said, Whether God spake his will only by Moses? whether he spake not also to us in like manner? And when the Lord had heard this, he was wroth greatly;

3 for Moses was the mildest man, over all men that dwelled in earth.

4 And suddenly the Lord spake to Moses and to Aaron and to Marie, Go out ye three alone to the tabernacle of the bond of peace. And when they were gone in,

5 the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and he stood in the entering of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Marie. And when they had gone forth,

6 he said to them, Hear ye my words; if any among you is a prophet of the Lord, I shall appear to him in revelation, either I shall speak to him by a dream.

7 And he said, And my servant Moses is not such, the which is most faithful in all mine house;

8 for I speak to him mouth to mouth, and he seeth God openly, and not by dark speeches, either dark likenesses, and figures. Why therefore dreaded ye not to backbite my servant Moses?

9 And the Lord was wroth against them, and he went away.

10 And the cloud went away, that was on the tabernacle, and lo! Marie appeared shining with leprosy, white as snow. And when Aaron beheld her, and saw her besprinkled with leprosy,

11 he said to Moses, My lord, I beseech thee, put thou not this sin upon us, which we did follily,

12 that this woman be not made as dead, and as a dead-born thing that is cast out of the mother’s womb; lo! now the half of her flesh is devoured, or over-covered, with leprosy.

13 And Moses cried to the Lord, and said, Lord, I beseech thee, heal thou her.

14 To whom the Lord answered, If her father had spit into her face, whether she ought not to be full-filled with shame, namely seven days? Therefore be she separated out of the tents by seven days, and afterward she shall be called again.

15 And so Marie was excluded or put out of the tents by seven days; and the people was not moved from that place, till Marie was called again.

16 And the people went forth from Hazeroth, when the tents were set in the desert of Paran.

CHAPTER 13

1 And there the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Send thou men, that shall behold the land of Canaan, which I shall give to the sons of Israel; of each lineage send thou one man of the princes.

3 Moses did that that the Lord commanded, and sent from the desert of Paran princes, men of which these be the names.

4 Of the lineage of Reuben, Sham-mua, the son of Zaccur.

5 Of the lineage of Simeon, Shaphat, the son of Hori.

6 Of the lineage of Judah, Caleb, the son of Jephunneh.

7 Of the lineage of Issachar, Igal, the son of Joseph.

8 Of the lineage of Ephraim, Hoshea, the son of Nun.

9 Of the lineage of Benjamin, Palti, the son of Raphu.

10 Of the lineage of Zebulun, Gaddiel, the son of Sodi.

11 Of the lineage of Joseph, of the generation of Manasseh, Gaddi, the son of Susi.

12 Of the lineage of Dan, Ammiel, the son of Gemalli.

13 Of the lineage of Asher, Sethur, the son of Michael.

14 Of the lineage of Naphtali, Nahbi, the son of Vophsi.

15 Of the lineage of Gad, Geuel, the son of Machi.

16 These be the names of [the] men, which Moses sent to behold the land of Canaan; and Moses called Hoshea, the son of Nun, Joshua.

17 Therefore Moses sent them to behold the land of Canaan, and said to them, Go ye up by the south coast; and when ye come [in] to the hills,

18 behold ye the land, what manner land it is; and behold ye the people which is the dweller thereof, whether it is strong, either feeble, few in number, either many;

19 whether that land is good, either evil; what manner cities be there, walled, either without walls;

20 whether the land is fat, either barren, whether it is full of woods, either without trees. Be ye comforted, and bring ye to us of the fruits of that land. Soothly then the time was, when [the] grapes first ripe might be eaten.

21 And when they had gone up, they espied the land, from the desert of Zin till to Rehob, as men enter to Hamath.

22 And they went up to the south coast, and came into Hebron, where Ahiman, and Sheshai, and Talmai, the sons of Anak, were; for Hebron was made seven years before Tanis, the city of Egypt.

23 And they went to the strand or stream of [the] cluster, and they cutted down a scion with his grapes, which two men bare with a bearing staff; also they took of [the] pomegranates, and of the figs of that place,

24 which is called Nahal-eshcol, that is, the strand of grapes, or the strand of cluster, for the sons of Israel bare a cluster from thence.

25 And the spyers of the land [turned again], when they had compassed all the country, after forty days

26 they came to Moses and Aaron, and to all the company of the sons of Israel, into the desert of Paran, which is in Kadesh. And the spyers spake to them, and showed the fruits of the land to all the multitude,

27 and they told, and said, We came to the land, to which thou sentest us, which land truly floweth with milk and honey, as it may be known by these fruits;

28 but it hath most strong dwellers, and great cities, and walled; we saw there the kindred of Anakim, that is, giants;

29 Amalek dwelleth there in the south; Hittites, and Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the hilly places; forsooth Canaanites dwell beside the sea, and beside the floods of Jordan.

30 Among these things, or sayings, Caleb peaced the grutching of the people, that was made against Moses, and said, Go we up, and wield we the land, for we be able to get it.

31 Soothly the other spyers, that were with him, said, We be not able to go up to this people, for it is stronger than we.

32 And they spake evil of the land which they had beheld, to the sons of Israel, and said, The land that we compassed devoureth his dwellers; the people that we beheld is of large stature;

33 there we saw some wonders against kind, of the sons of Anak, of the kind of giants, to which we were com-parisoned, and were seen as locusts.

CHAPTER 14

1 Therefore all the company cried, and wept in that night,

2 and all the sons of Israel grutched against Moses and Aaron, and said, We would that we had been dead in Egypt, either that we were dead in this wilderness; we would that we perished,

3 and that the Lord lead us not into this land, lest we fall by sword, and our wives and our free children be led, or taken, prisoners; whether it is not better to us to turn again into Egypt?

4 And they said one to another, Ordain we a duke, or a leader, to us, and turn we again into Egypt.

5 And when this was heard, Moses and Aaron fell down low to the earth, before all the multitude of the sons of Israel.

6 And soothly Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which also compassed the land, rent their clothes,

7 and they spake thus to all the multitude of the sons of Israel, The land which we compassed is full good;

8 if the Lord is merciful to us, he shall lead us into it, and he shall give us the land flowing with milk and honey.

9 Do not ye rebel against the Lord, neither dread ye the people of this land, for we be able to devour them so as bread; all their help hath passed away from them, the Lord is with us, do not ye dread.

10 And when all the multitude cried, and would have oppressed them with stones, the glory of the Lord appeared upon the roof of the bond of peace, while all the sons of Israel saw.

11 And the Lord said to Moses, How long shall this people backbite me, or mis-deem me? How long shall they not believe to me, in all the signs which I have done before them?

12 Therefore I shall smite them with pestilence, and I shall waste them; soothly I shall make thee prince upon a greater folk, and stronger than is this.

13 And Moses said to the Lord, [The] Egyptians hear not, from whose middle thou leddest out this people,

14 and the dwellers of this land, which heard that thou, Lord, art in this people, and art seen face to face, and that thy cloud defendeth them, and that thou goest before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night,

15 that thou hast slain so great a multitude as one man, and say,

16 He might not bring this people into the land for which he swore to give to them, therefore he killed them in wilderness;

17 therefore the strength of the Lord be magnified, or made great, as thou hast sworn,

18 [The] Lord is patient, and of much mercy, doing away wickedness and trespasses, and leaving no man unguilty, which visitest the sins of fathers into sons into the third and fourth generation,

19 I beseech thee, forgive thou the sin of this thy people, after the greatness of thy mercy, as thou were merciful to them going out of Egypt till to this place.

20 And the Lord said, I have forgiven to them, by thy word.

21 And as soothly I live; and the glory of the Lord shall be filled in all [the] earth;

22 nevertheless all [the] men that saw my majesty, and my signs, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and [have] tempted me now by ten times, and obeyed not to my voice,

23 shall not see the land for which I swore to their fathers, neither any of them that backbited me, shall see it.

24 I shall lead my servant Caleb, that was full of another spirit and followed me, into this land, which he compassed, and his seed shall wield it.

25 For Amalek and Canaanites dwell in the valleys, tomorrow move ye [the] tents, and turn ye again into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.

26 And the Lord spake to Moses and to Aaron, and said,

27 How long grutcheth this worst multitude against me? I have heard the grutching complaints of the sons of Israel.

28 Therefore say thou to them, I live, saith the Lord; as ye spake while I heard, so I shall do to you;

29 your carrions, or dead bodies, shall lie in this wilderness. All ye that be numbered, from twenty years and above, and have grutched against me,

30 shall not enter into the land, upon which I have raised mine hand, that I should make you to dwell there, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun.

31 Forsooth I shall lead in your little children, of which ye said that they should be preys, either ravens, to enemies, that they see the land which displeased you.

32 Forsooth your carrions shall lie in the wilderness;

33 your sons shall be walkers-about in the desert by forty years, and they shall bear your fornication, till the carrions of their fathers be wasted in desert,

34 by the number of forty days, in which ye beheld the land; a year shall be reckoned for a day, and by forty years ye shall receive your wickedness, or be punished for your grutching, and ye shall know my vengeance.

35 For as I spake, so I shall do to all this worst multitude, that rose together against me; it shall fail, and shall die in this wilderness.

36 Therefore all the men which Moses had sent to see the land, and which turned again, and made all the multitude to grutch against him, and depraved the land,

37 that it was evil, were dead, and smitten in the sight of the Lord*.

38 Soothly Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, lived, of all the men, that went to see the land.

39 And Moses spake all these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.

40 And, lo! they rose in the morrow-tide first, and they went up into the top of the hill, and said, We be ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord spake, for we have sinned.

41 To whom Moses said, Why over-pass ye the word of the Lord, that shall not befall to you into prosperity?

42 Do not ye go up, for the Lord is not with you, lest ye fall before your enemies.

43 Amalek and Canaanites be before you, by the sword of which ye shall fall, for ye would not assent to the Lord, neither the Lord shall be with you.

44 And they were made dark, that is, blinded in their sin, and went up into the top of the hill; forsooth the ark of the testament of the Lord and Moses went not away from the tents.

45 And Amalek came down, and Canaanites, that dwelled in the hill, and he smote the children of Israel, and he cutted them down, and pursued them to Hormah.

CHAPTER 15

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, When ye have entered into the land of your habitation, which I shall give to you,

3 and ye shall make an offering to the Lord into burnt sacrifice, either a peaceable sacrifice, and ye pay avows, either offer gifts by free will, either in your solemnities ye burn odour of sweetness to the Lord, of oxen, either of sheep;

4 whoever offereth the slain sacrifice, shall offer a sacrifice of flour, the tenth part of ephah, sprinkled altogether with oil, which oil shall have a measure the fourth part of hin;

5 and he shall give wine to [the] flowing sacrifices to be poured, of the same measure, into burnt sacrifice, and slain sacrifice.

6 By each lamb and ram shall be the sacrifice of [tried] flour, of two tenth parts, which shall be sprinkled alto-gether with oil, of the third part of hin;

7 and he shall offer wine to the flowing sacrifice, of the third part of the same measure, into odour of sweet-ness to the Lord.

8 Forsooth when thou makest a burnt sacrifice, either an offering, of oxen, that thou [ful] fill a vow, either peaceable sacrifice[s],

9 thou shalt give, by each ox, three tenth parts of tried flour, sprinkled altogether with oil, which shall have the half measure of hin;

10 and thou shalt give wine to [the] flowing sacrifice to be poured, of the same measure, into offering of the sweetest odour to the Lord.

11 So ye shall do by each ox, and ram, and lamb, and kid;

12 (See verse 11 above.)

13 as well men born in the land, as pilgrims, shall offer sacrifices by the same custom;

14 (See verse 13 above.)

15 (See verse 16 below.)

16 one commandment and doom shall be, as well to you as to [the] comelings of the land.

17 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

18 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, When ye come into the land which I shall give to you,

19 and ye eat of the loaves of that country, ye shall separate a little cake of your pastes to the Lord;

20 as ye shall separate the first fruits of your cornfloors,

21 so ye shall give the first fruits also of your sowls or pottage to the Lord.

22 That if by ignorance ye pass by any of those things which the Lord spake to Moses,

23 and [hath] commanded by him to you, from the day in which he began to command, and over,

24 and the multitude hath forgotten to do this, it shall offer a calf of the drove, burnt sacrifice into sweetest odour to the Lord, and the sacrifices thereof, and flowing offerings, as the ceremonies thereof ask; and it shall offer a buck of goats for sin.

25 And the priest shall pray for all the multitude of the sons of Israel, and it shall be forgiven to them, for they sinned not willfully. And nevertheless they shall offer incense to the Lord for themselves, and for their sin, and their error;

26 and it shall be forgiven to all the people of the sons of Israel, and to the comelings that be pilgrims among them, for it is the sin of all the multitude by ignorance.

27 That if a soul sinneth unwittingly, it shall offer a [she]-goat of one year for his sin;

28 and the priest shall pray for that soul, for it sinned unwittingly before the Lord; and the priest shall get forgiveness to it, and the sin shall be forgiven to it.

29 As well to men born in the land, as to comelings, one law shall be of all that sin unwittingly.

30 Forsooth a man that doeth any sin by pride, shall perish from the people, whether he be a citizen, either a pilgrim, for he was rebel against the Lord;

31 for he despised the word of the Lord, and made void his command-ment; therefore he shall be done away, and shall bear his own wickedness.

32 Soothly it was done, when the sons of Israel were in wilderness, and they had found a man gathering wood in the sabbath day,

33 they brought him to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the multitude;

34 the which enclosed, or put, him into prison, and they knew not what they should do to him.

35 And the Lord said to Moses, This man die by death; all the company oppress him with stones without or away from the tents.

36 And when they had led him withoutforth, they killed him with stones, and he was dead, as the Lord commanded.

37 Also the Lord said to Moses,

38 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, that they make to them hems by four corners of their mantles, and fasten they in them laces of jacinth;

39 and when they see those, have they mind of all the commandments of the Lord, lest they pursue [or follow] their [own] thoughts and their eyes, doing fornication by diverse things.

40 but more be they mindful of the behests of the Lord, and do they those [or them], and be they holy to their God.

41 I am your Lord God, which led you out of the land of Egypt, that I should be your God.

CHAPTER 16

1 Forsooth Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, of the sons of Reuben,

2 rose against Moses, and others of the sons of Israel, two hundred men and fifty, princes of the synagogue, and which were called by their names in the time of counsel.

3 And when these stood against Moses and Aaron, they said, Suffice it to you, for all the multitude is of holy men, and the Lord is in them; why be ye raised up presumptuously on the people of the Lord?

4 And when Moses had heard this, he fell down low upon his face.

5 And he spake to Korah, and to all the multitude; he said, Early the Lord shall make known which men pertain to him, and he shall apply, or draw, to him holy men; and they which he hath chosen, shall nigh to him.

6 Therefore do ye this thing; each man take his censer, thou Korah, and all thy counsel;

7 and tomorrow when fire is taken up, put ye incense above before the Lord, and whomever the Lord chooseth, he shall be holy. Ye sons of Levi be much raised.

8 And again Moses said to Korah, Ye sons of Levi, hear.

9 Whether it is little to you, that God of Israel [hath] separated you from all the people, and hath joined you to himself, that ye should serve him in the service of the tabernacle, and that ye should stand before the multitude of the people, and serve him?

10 Made he therefore thee, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi, to nigh to himself, that ye challenge to you also priesthood,

11 and all thy gathering together stand against the Lord? For why, what is Aaron, that ye grutch against him?

12 Therefore Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; which answered, We come not.

13 Whether is it little to thee, that thou leddest us out of the land that flowed with milk and honey, to slay us in the desert, no but also thou be lord of us?

14 Verily * thou hast brought us into the land that floweth with streams of milk and honey, and[thou] hast given to us possession of fields, and of vineyards; whether also thou wilt put out our eyes? We come not to thee.

15 And Moses was wroth greatly, and said to the Lord, Behold thou not the sacrifices of them; thou knowest that I took never of them a little ass, neither I tormented any of them.

16 And Moses said to Korah, Thou and all thy congregation stand asides half before the Lord, and Aaron tomorrow by himself.

17 Take ye all by yourselves your censers, and put ye incense in those, and offer ye to the Lord, twain [or two] hundred and fifty censers; and Aaron hold he his censer.

18 And when they had done this, while Moses and Aaron stood there,

19 and they had gathered all the multitude to the door of the tabernacle against them, the glory of the Lord appeared to all.

20 And the Lord spake to Moses and to Aaron, and said,

21 Be ye separated from the midst of this congregation, that I lose them suddenly.

22 The which fell down low upon their faces, and said, Most strong God of the spirits of all flesh, whether thy wrath shall be fierce against all men, for one man sinneth?

23 And the Lord said to Moses,

24 Command thou to all the people, that it be separated from the tabernacles of Korah, and of Dathan, and of Abiram.

25 And Moses rose, and went to Dathan and Abiram; and while the elder men of Israel followed him,

26 he said to the company, Go ye away from the tabernacles of the wicked men, and do not ye touch those things that pertain to them, lest ye be wrapped in the sins of them.

27 And when they had gone away from their tents by compass, Dathan and Abiram went out, and stood in the entry of their tents, with their wives, and their free children, and with all the multitude.

28 And Moses said, In this ye shall know that the Lord sent me, that I should do all things which ye see, and that I brought them not forth of mine own heart.

29 If they perish by customable death of men, and wound, either pestilence, visit them, by which also other men be wont to be visited, the Lord sent not me;

30 but if the Lord doeth a new thing, that the earth open his mouth, and swallow them, and all things that pertain to them, and they go down quick into hell, ye shall know that they blasphemed the Lord.

31 Therefore anon as he ceased to speak, the earth was broken under their feet,

32 and the earth opened his mouth, and devoured them, with their tabernacles, and all their chattel;

33 and they went down quick, into hell, and were covered with earth, and they perished from the midst of the multitude.

34 And soothly all Israel that stood about, fled from the cry of men perishing, and said, Lest peradventure the earth swallow also us.

35 But also fire went out from the Lord, and killed twain [or two] hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

36 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

37 Command thou to Eleazar, the son of Aaron, [the] priest, that he take, or gather up, the censers that lie in the burning, and that he scatter the fire hither and thither; for those censers be hallowed

38 in the deaths of sinners; and that he bring forth those censers into plates, and nail them to the altar, for incense is offered in those [or them] to the Lord, and those be hallowed, that the sons of Israel see them for a sign and a memorial.

39 Therefore Eleazar, the priest, took the brazen censers, in which they, which the burning had devoured had offered, and he beat out those censers into plates, and nailed them to the altar;

40 that the sons of Israel should have those censers with them afterward, by which they should remember this great vengeance of God, lest any alien, and which is not of the seed of Aaron, nigh to offer incense to the Lord; lest he suffer, as Korah suffered, and all his multitude, while the Lord spake to Moses.

41 Forsooth all the multitude of the sons of Israel grutched in the day pursuing [or following] against Moses and Aaron, and said, Ye have slain the people of the Lord.

42 And when dissension arose, and the noise increased, Moses and Aaron fled to the tabernacle of the bond of peace; and after that they entered into it, a cloud covered the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord appeared.

43 (See verse 42 above.)

44 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

45 Go ye away from the midst of this multitude, also now I shall do away them. And when they lay in the earth,

46 Moses said to Aaron, Take thy censer, and when the fire is taken up from the altar, cast thou incense above, and go thou forth soon to the people, that thou pray for them; for now wrath is gone out from the Lord, and the vengeance is fierce.

47 And when Aaron had done this, and had run to the midst of the multitude, which the burning wasted then, he offered incense;

48 and he stood betwixt the dead men and the living, and he prayed for the people, and the vengeance ceased.

49 Soothly they that were slain were fourteen thousand of men and seven hundred, without them that perished in the dissension of Korah.

50 And Aaron turned again to Moses, to the door of the tabernacle of the bond of peace, after that the perishing of men ceased.

CHAPTER 17

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, saying,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and take thou rods, by their kindreds, by each kindred one rod, take thou of all the princes of the lineages twelve rods; and thou shalt write the name of each lineage upon his rod;

3 soothly the name of Aaron shall be written in the lineage of Levi, and one rod shall contain all the meines of Levi.

4 And thou shalt put those rods in the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, before the witnessing, where I shall speak with thee;

5 the rod of him shall burgeon, whom I shall choose of them to the office of priesthood; and I shall thereby refrain, or quench, from me the complainings, or grutchings, of the sons of Israel, by which they grutch against you.

6 And Moses spake to the sons of Israel; and all the princes gave to him rods, by all their lineages; and the rods were twelve, without the rod of Aaron.

7 And when Moses had put those rods before the Lord, in the tabernacle of witnessing,

8 he went again in the day pursuing [or following], and found that the rod of Aaron, in the house of Levi, had burgeoned; and when [the] knops were great, the blossoms had broken out, which were alarged in leaves, and were formed into almonds.

9 Therefore Moses brought forth all the rods from the sight of the Lord to all the sons of Israel; and they saw, and received each his rod.

10 And the Lord said to Moses, Bear thou again the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of witnessing, that it be kept there into a token of the rebel sons of Israel, and that their complainings, or grutchings, cease from me, lest they die.

11 And Moses did, as the Lord commanded.

12 Soothly the sons of Israel said to Moses, Lo! we be wasted, all we have perished;

13 whoever nigheth to the tabernacle of the Lord, he dieth; whether we shall all be done away unto the death?

CHAPTER 18

1 And the Lord said to Aaron, Thou, and thy sons, and the house of thy father with thee, shall bear the wickedness of the saintuary; and thou and thy sons together shall suffer the sins of your priesthood.

2 But also take thou with thee thy brethren of the lineage of Levi, and the sceptre, or power, of thy father, and be they ready, that they minister to thee. Forsooth thou and thy sons shall minister in the tabernacle of witnessing;

3 and the deacons [or Levites] shall wake at thy commandments, and at all the works of the tabernacle; so only that they nigh not to the vessels of the saintuary, and to the altar, lest both they die, and ye, and perish together.

4 Soothly be they with thee, and wake they in the keepings of the tabernacle, and in all the ceremonies thereof. An alien shall not be meddled [or mingled] with you.

5 Wake ye or Watch in the keeping of the saintuary, and in the service of the altar, lest indignation rise upon the sons of Israel.

6 Lo! I have given to you your brethren, the deacons [or Levites], from the midst of the sons of Israel, and I have given you them a free gift of the Lord, that they serve in the services of the tabernacle.

7 Soothly thou and thy sons, keep your priesthood; and all things that pertain to the adorning of the altar, and be within the veil, shall be ministered by [the] priests; if any stranger nigheth thereto, he shall be slain.

8 The Lord spake to Aaron, Lo! I have given to thee the keeping of my first fruits; I have given to thee, and to thy sons, all things that be hallowed of the sons of Israel, for [the] priest’s office everlasting lawful things.

9 Therefore thou shalt take these things of those things that be hallowed, and be offered to the Lord; each offering, and sacrifice, and whatever thing is yielded to me for sin and for trespass, and cometh into holy of holy things, shall be thine and thy sons.

10 Thou shalt eat it in the saintuary; males only shall eat thereof, for it is hallowed to the Lord.

11 Soothly I have given to thee, and to thy sons and thy daughters, by everlasting right, the first fruits which the sons of Israel avow and offer; he that is clean in thine house, shall eat those things.

12 I have given to thee all the mar-row, or the best, of oil, and of wine, and of wheat, whatever thing of the first fruits they shall offer to the Lord.

13 All the beginnings of fruits which the earth bringeth forth, and be brought to the Lord, shall fall into thine uses; he that is clean in thine house, shall eat of those [or them].

14 All things that the sons of Israel yield by a vow, shall be thine.

15 Whatever thing cometh first forth of the womb of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it is of men, either of beasts, it shall be of thy right; so only that thou take price for the first begotten child of man, and that thou make each beast that is unclean to be bought again;

16 whose again-buying shall be after one month, for five shekels of silver, by the weight of [the] saintuary; a shekel hath twenty halfpence.

17 Forsooth thou shalt not make the first engendered of an ox, and of sheep, and of goat, to be again-bought, for those [or they] be hallowed to the Lord; only thou shalt pour the blood of those [or them] upon the altar, and thou shalt burn the inner fatness into sweetest odour to the Lord.

18 Soothly the flesh shall fall into thine use, as the breast hallowed and the right shoulder, shall be thine.

19 I have given to thee, and to thy sons and thy daughters, by everlasting right, all the first fruits of the saintuary, which the sons of Israel offer to the Lord; it is everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord, to thee, and to thy sons.

20 And the Lord said to Aaron, Ye shall not wield anything of heritage in the land of Israel, neither ye shall have part among them; I am thy part and thine heritage, in the midst of the sons of Israel.

21 Soothly, I gave to the sons of Levi all the tithes of Israel into possession, for the service by which they serve me in the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace;

22 that the sons of Israel nigh no more to the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, neither do deadly sin.

23 To the sons alone of Levi, serving me in the tabernacle, and bearing the people’s sins, it shall be a lawful thing everlasting in your generations.

24 They shall wield none other thing, and they shall be satisfied with the offering of tithes, which I separated into [the] uses and necessaries of them.

25 And the Lord spake to Moses and said,

26 Command thou, and announce to the deacons [or Levites], When ye have taken tithes of the sons of Israel, which I gave to you, offer ye the first fruits of those [or them] to the Lord, that is, the tenth part of the tenth,

27 that it be areckoned to you into [the] offering of the first fruits, as well of the cornfloors, as of the presses;

28 and of all things of which ye take tithes, offer ye the first fruits to the Lord, and give ye those to Aaron, the priest.

29 All things which ye shall offer of tithes, and shall separate into the gifts of the Lord, shall be the best, and all the choice things.

30 And thou shalt say to them, If ye offer to the Lord all the [more] clean and better things of tithes, it shall be areckoned to you, as if ye gave the first fruits of the cornfloor, and of the press.

31 And ye shall eat those tithes in all your places, as well ye as your meines, for it is the price for the service, for which ye serve in the tabernacle of witnessing.

32 And ye shall not do sin on this thing, and reserve [the] noble things and [the] fat to you, lest ye defoul the offerings of the sons of Israel, and ye die.

CHAPTER 19

1 And the Lord spake to Moses and to Aaron, and said,

2 This is the religion of sacrifice, which the Lord ordained. Command thou to the sons of Israel, that they bring to thee a red cow of whole colour, in which is no wem, neither she hath borne yoke.

3 And ye shall betake her to Eleazar, the priest, that shall offer her, led out of the tents, in the sight of all men.

4 And he shall dip his finger in the blood thereof, and shall sprinkle seven times against the gates of the tabernacle.

5 And he shall burn that cow, while all men see; and he shall give as well the skin, and the flesh thereof, as the blood, and the dung, to [the] burning.

6 Also the priest shall put cedar wood, and hyssop, and red thread dyed twice, into the fire, that burneth the cow.

7 And then at the last, when the priest’s clothes and his body be washed, he shall enter into the tents, and he shall be defouled, or unclean, till to eventide.

8 But also he that burnt the cow, shall wash his clothes, and his body, and he shall be unclean till to eventide.

9 Soothly a clean man shall gather the ashes of the cow, and he shall pour them out without the tents, in a place most clean, that those ashes be to the multitude of the sons of Israel into keeping, and into water of sprinkling; for that cow is burnt for sin.

10 And when he that bare out the ashes of the cow, hath washed his clothes, he shall be unclean till to eventide. And the sons of Israel, and the comelings that dwell among them, shall have, or hold, this holy by ever-lasting law.

11 He that toucheth a dead body of a man, and is unclean for this by seven days,

12 shall be sprinkled of this water in the third [day], and in the seventh day; and so he shall be cleansed. If he is not sprinkled in the third day, he shall not be able to be cleansed in the seventh day.

13 Each that toucheth the dead body by itself of man’s soul, and is not sprinkled with this meddling [or mingling], defouleth the tabernacle of the Lord, and he shall perish from Israel; for he is not sprinkled with the water of cleansing, he shall be unclean, and his filth shall dwell upon him.

14 This is the law of a man that dieth in the tabernacle; all that enter into his tent, and all the vessels that be there, shall be defouled by seven days.

15 A vessel that hath not a covering, neither a binding above, shall be unclean.

16 If any man toucheth the dead body of a man slain in the field, either dead by himself, either a bone of him, either his sepulchre, he shall be unclean by seven days.

17 And they shall take of the ashes of the burning, and of the sin, that is, of the cow offered for sin, and they shall put quick waters into a vessel, upon those ashes;

18 in which when a clean man hath dipped hyssop, he shall sprinkle there-with the tent, and all the appurtenance of the household, and the men also defouled with such defouling.

19 And in this manner a clean man shall cleanse an unclean thing, in the third and in the seventh day; and he shall be cleansed in the seventh day. And he shall wash himself, and his clothes, and he shall be unclean till to eventide.

20 If any man is not cleansed by this custom, the soul of him shall perish from the midst of the church; for he defouleth the saintuary of the Lord, and he is not sprinkled with the water of cleansing.

21 This behest shall be a lawful thing everlasting. Also he that shall sprinkle the waters shall wash his clothes; each man that toucheth the waters of cleansing, shall be unclean till to eventide.

22 Whatever thing an unclean man toucheth, he shall make unclean; and a soul that toucheth any of these things defouled so, shall be unclean till to eventide.

CHAPTER 20

1 And the sons of Israel and all the multitude came into the desert of Zin, in the first month. And the people dwelled in Kadesh; and Marie was dead there, and buried in the same place.

2 And when the people had need to water, they went together against Moses and Aaron;

3 and they were turned into dissension, that is, rebelty and striving, and said, We would that we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.

4 Why have ye led out the church of the Lord into wilderness, that both we and our beasts die?

5 Why have ye made us to go up from Egypt, and have brought us into this worst place, which may not be sown, which neither bringeth forth fig trees, nor vines, neither pomegranates; furthermore and it hath not water to drink?

6 And when the multitude was left, Moses and Aaron entered into the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, and they fell down low upon the earth, and they cried to God, and said, Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a well of quick water, that when they be filled, the grutching of them cease. And the glory of the Lord appeared upon them;

7 and the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

8 Take the rod of Aaron, and gather together the people, thou, and Aaron thy brother; and speak ye to the stone before them, and it shall give out waters. And when thou hast led water out of the stone, all the multitude shall drink, and their beasts thereof.

9 Therefore Moses took the rod that was in the sight of the Lord, as the Lord commanded to him,

10 when the multitude was gathered before the stone; and he said to them, Hear ye, rebel[s], and unbelieveful; whether we may bring out of this stone water to you?

11 And when Moses had raised his hand, and had smitten the flint twice with the rod, most large waters went out, so that the people drank, and their beasts.

12 And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, For ye believed not to me, that ye should hallow me before the sons of Israel, ye shall not lead these peoples into the land which I shall give to them.

13 This is the water of Against-saying; there the sons of Israel strived against the Lord, and he was hallowed in them.

14 In the meantime Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, the which said, Israel thy brother, sendeth these things to thee. Thou knowest all the travail that hath taken us,

15 how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we dwelled there much time, and Egyptians tormented us, and our fathers;

16 and how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel that [hath] led us out of Egypt. And lo! we be set in the city of Kadesh, that is in thine uttermost coasts,

17 and we beseech thee that it be leaveful to us to pass through thy land; we shall not go by thy fields, neither by thy vineries [or vines], neither we shall drink waters of thy pits or wells; but we shall go in the common way, and we shall not bow to the right side, neither to the left side, till we pass thy terms.

18 To whom Edom answered, Ye shall not pass by me, else I shall be armed, and come against thee.

19 And the sons of Israel said, We shall go by the way commonly used, and if we and our beasts drink thy waters, we shall give that that is just; no hardness shall be in the price, only pass we in haste.

20 And he answered, Ye shall not pass by me. And anon he went out against Israel, with a multitude with-out number, and [with a] strong hand or with strong power,

21 neither he would assent to Israel beseeching, that he should grant passage by his coasts.

22 Wherefore Israel turned away from him. And when Israel had moved their tents from Kadesh, they came into the hill of Hor,

23 which is in the ends of the land of Edom; where the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

24 Aaron go to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I gave to the sons of Israel, for he was unbelieveful to my word, at the waters of Against-saying.

25 Take thou Aaron, and his son with him, and thou shalt lead them into the hill of Hor;

26 and when thou hast made naked the father of his cloth, thou shalt clothe therewith Eleazar, his son, and Aaron shall be gathered, and shall die there.

27 And Moses did as the Lord commanded; and they ascended [or went up] into the hill of Hor, before all the multitude.

28 And when Moses had made naked Aaron of his clothes, he clothed with those [or them] Eleazar, his son. Soothly when Aaron was dead in the top of the hill, Moses came down with Eleazar.

29 Soothly all the multitude saw that Aaron was dead, and it wept upon him thirty days, by all their meines.

CHAPTER 21

1 And when [the] Canaanite, the king of Arad, that dwelled at the south, had heard this, that is, that Israel came by the way of [the] spyers, he fought against them; and Canaanite was the overcomer, and he led away prey the men of Israel.

2 And Israel bound himself by a vow to the Lord, and said, If thou shalt betake this people in mine hand, I shall do away their cities.

3 And the Lord heard the prayers of Israel, and betook to them the Canaanites; and Israel killed him, and destroyed his cities; and Israel called the name of that place Hormah, that is, cursing.

4 Soothly Israel went forth from the hill of Hor, by the way that leadeth to the Red Sea, that they would compass the land of Edom; and it began to annoy the people, of the way and [of the] travail.

5 And the people spake against the Lord, and Moses, and said, Why leddest thou us out of Egypt, that we should die in wilderness? bread faileth, waters be not; our soul loatheth now on this meat most light.

6 Wherefore the Lord sent fired serpents or fiery adders into the people; at the wounds of which serpents, and the deaths of full many men,

7 they came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we spake against the Lord, and thee; pray thou, that he take away from us the serpents. And Moses prayed for the people;

8 and the Lord said to him, Make thou a [brazen] serpent, and set thou it in a perch; he that is smitten and beholdeth it, shall live.

9 Therefore Moses made a serpent of brass, and setted in a perch; and men hurt, and beholding it, were healed.

10 And the sons of Israel went forth, and setted tents in Oboth;

11 from whence they went forth, and setted tents in Iyeabarim, in the wilderness that beholdeth Moab, against the east coast.

12 And they moved from thence, and came to the strand of Zared;

13 which they left, and setted tents against Arnon, which is in the desert, and it appeareth in the coasts of Amorites. Forsooth Arnon is the term of Moab, and parteth Moabites and Amorites.

14 Wherefore it is said in the book of battles of the Lord, As he did in the Red Sea, so he shall do in the strands of Arnon;

15 the hard rocks of the strands were bowed down, that they shall rest in Ar, or abide there, and should lie in the coasts of Moabites.

16 From that place the pit appeared, of which the Lord spake to Moses, Gather thou together the people, and I shall give water to it.

17 Then Israel sang this song, The water of the pit, ascend or go up; they sang together,

18 The pit which the princes digged, and the dukes of the multitude made ready, in the giver of the law, and in their staves. And they went forth from the wilderness to Mattanah,

19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel into Bamoth;

20 Bamoth is a valley in the country of Moab, in the top of Pisgah, that beholdeth against the desert.

21 Soothly Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of Amorites, and said,

22 I beseech thee, that it be leaveful to me to pass through thy land; we shall not bow into thy fields, and vineries [or vines]; we shall not drink waters of thy pits; we shall go in the king’s way, till we pass by thy terms.

23 Which would not grant that Israel should pass through his coasts, but rather, when his host was gathered, he went out against Israel, into desert. And he came into Jahaz, and fought against Israel;

24 of whom he was smitten in the sharpness of sword, and his land was wielded of Israel from Arnon unto Jabbok, and Ammon’s sons, or his host; for the coasts of Ammonites were holden with strong help, or power.

25 Therefore Israel took all his cities, and dwelled in the cities of Amorites, that is, in Heshbon, and in his towns.

26 The city of Heshbon was Sihon’s, king of Amorites, which Sihon fought against the king of Moab, and took all the land that was of his lordship, till to Arnon.

27 Therefore it is said in proverb, Come ye into Heshbon, be it builded, and made, the city of Sihon;

28 fire went out of Heshbon, flame went out of the city of Sihon, and devoured Ar of Moabites, and the dwellers of the high places of Arnon.

29 Moab, woe to thee! thou, people of Chemosh, hast perished; it gave the sons thereof into flight, and the daughters into captivity to Sihon, king of Amorites;

30 the yoke, or lordship, of them perished, from Heshbon unto Dibon; the weary men came into Nophah, and unto Medeba.

31 And so Israel dwelled in the land of Amorites.

32 And Moses sent men that should espy Jaazer, whose towns they took, and wielded the dwellers.

33 And they turned themselves, and went up by the way of Bashan. And Og, the king of Bashan, with all his people, came against them, to fight in Edrei.

34 And the Lord said to Moses, Dread thou not him, for I have betaken him, and all his land, and all his people, in thine hand; and thou shalt do to him as thou didest to Sihon, king of Amorites, the dweller of Heshbon.

35 Therefore they smote Og with his sons, and all his people, unto [the] death; and they wielded his land.

CHAPTER 22

1 And the sons of Israel went forth, and setted tents in the field places of Moab, where Jericho is set, over Jordan.

2 Soothly Balak, the son of Zippor, saw all things that Israel had done to Amorites,

3 and that men of Moab dreaded Israel, and they might not bear the assailing of Israel.

4 And he said to the greater men in birth of Midian, So this people shall do away all men that dwell in our coasts, as an ox is wont to do away an herb till to the roots. Forsooth he, that is, Balak, was king in that time in Moab.

5 Therefore he sent messengers to Balaam, the son of Beor, a false diviner, that dwelled on, or nigh, the flood of the land of the sons of Amaw, that they should call him, and should say, Lo! a people went out of Egypt, which people covered the face of the earth, and sitteth against me.

6 Therefore come thou, and curse this people, that is stronger than I, if in any manner I may smite and drive him out of my land; for I know, that he is blessed whom thou blessest, and he is cursed whom thou hast cursed.

7 The elder men of Moab and the elder men of Midian went forth, having in their hands the price of false divining; and when they had come to Balaam, and had told to him all the words of Balak,

8 he answered, Dwell ye here tonight, and I shall answer to Balak whatever thing the Lord shall say to me. And the princes of Moab dwelled at Balaam.

9 God came, and said to him, What will or desire these men with thee?

10 Balaam answered, Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moabites, sent to me, and said,

11 Lo! a people that is gone out of Egypt hath covered the face of the earth; come thou, and curse them, if in any manner I may fight with them, and drive them away.

12 And God said to Balaam, Do not thou go with them, neither curse thou the people, for it is blessed.

13 And Balaam rose early, and said to the princes, Go ye into your land, for God hath forbade me to come with you.

14 The princes turned again, and said to Balak, Balaam would not come with us.

15 Again Balak sent many more, and nobler, men, than he had sent before;

16 which said, when they had come to Balaam, Balak, the son of Zippor, saith thus, Tarry thou not to come to me,

17 ready to honour thee; and what-ever thing thou wilt, I shall give to thee; come thou, and curse this people.

18 Balaam answered, Though Balak shall give to me his house full of silver and of gold, I shall not be able to change the word of my God, that I speak either more or less.

19 I beseech you, that ye dwell here also in this night, that I may know what the Lord shall answer again to me.

20 Therefore the Lord came to Balaam in that night, and said to him, If these men come to call thee, rise thou, and go with them, so only that thou do that that I shall command to thee.

21 Balaam rose early, and when his she-ass was saddled, he went forth with them.

22 And God was wroth with Balaam. And the angel of the Lord stood in the way against Balaam, that sat upon the she-ass, and had two servants with him.

23 The she-ass saw the angel standing in the way, with sword drawn, and the ass turned herself from the way, and went by the field. And when Balaam beat her, and would lead her again to the path,

24 the angel stood in the straitness of two walls with which the vineries [or vines] were encompassed.

25 And the female ass saw the angel, and she went herself nigh to the wall, and she hurtled the foot of the sitter upon her; and he beat again her.

26 And nevertheless the angel went to a strait place, where was no going out of the way, neither to the right side, nor to the left, and stood against Balaam

27 And when the she-ass saw the angel standing, she felled down under the feet of the sitter upon her, the which was wroth full greatly, and he beat her sides with a staff.

28 And the Lord opened the mouth of the she-ass, and she spake, What have I done to thee? why smitest thou me, lo! now the third time?

29 Balaam answered, For thou hast dis-served, and hast scorned me; I would that I had a sword to slay thee.

30 And the she-ass said, Whether I am not thy beast upon which thou were wont to ride ever[more] till into this present day? say thou, what like thing to this I did ever to thee? And Balaam said, Never thus thou servedest me.

31 Anon the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel standing in the way, holding a drawn sword in his hand; and Balaam worshipped him lowly into the earth.

32 To whom the angel said, Why hast thou thrice beaten thine she-ass? I came to be adversary to thee, for thy way is wayward, and contrary to me;

33 and if the she-ass had not bowed away from the way, and given place to the against-stander, I had slain thee, and the ass should have lived.

34 Balaam said, I have sinned, not witting that thou stoodest against me; and now, if it displeaseth thee that I go, I shall turn again.

35 The angel said, Go thou with these men, but beware, that thou speak not [any] other thing than I shall command to thee. Therefore Balaam went with the princes.

36 And when Balak heard that Balaam was nigh, he went out into the coming of him, in Ar, the city of Moabites, which is set in the last coast of Arnon.

37 And Balak said to Balaam, I sent messengers to call thee; why camest thou not anon to me? whether for I may not yield meed to thy coming?

38 To whom Balaam answered, Lo! I am present, whether I shall be able to speak other thing than that, that God shall put in my mouth?

39 Therefore they went forth together, and they came into a city, which was in the last coast of his realm.

40 And when Balak had slain sheep, and oxen, he sent gifts to Balaam and the princes that were with him.

41 Forsooth when the morrowtide was made, Balak led Balaam to the high places of Baal, and he beheld the last part of the people, that is, all the host till to the last part.

CHAPTER 23

1 And Balaam said to Balak, Build thou here to me seven altars, and make thou ready so many calves, and rams of the same number.

2 And when Balak had done by the word of Balaam, they putted a calf and a ram together on the altar.

3 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand thou a little while beside thy burnt sacrifice, while I go, if in hap the Lord meet me; and I shall tell thee what-ever thing he shall command. And when he had gone [away] swiftly,

4 God came to him; and Balaam spake to him, and said, I have raised up seven altars, and I have put a calf and a ram above each of them.

5 Forsooth the Lord putted a word in his mouth, and said, Turn again to Balak, and thou shalt speak these things.

6 He turned again, and found Balak standing beside his burnt sacrifice, and all the princes of Moabites.

7 And when his parable was taken, he said, Balak, the king of Moabites, brought me from Aram, from the hills of the east; and he said, Come thou, and curse Jacob; haste thou, and curse Israel.

8 How shall I curse, whom God hath cursed not? by what reason shall I loathe, whom God loatheth not?

9 From the highest flints I shall see him, and from the little hills I shall behold him; the people shall dwell alone, and it shall not be reckoned among heathen men.

10 Who may number the dust, that is, the kindred, of Jacob, and who may know the number of the generation of Israel? My life die in the death of just [or rightwise] men, and my last things be made like them!

11 And Balak said to Balaam, What is this that thou doest? I called thee, that thou shouldest curse mine enemies, and on the contrary, thou blessest them.

12 To whom Balaam answered, Whether I may speak other thing, no but that that the Lord commandeth?

13 Therefore Balak said to Balaam, Come with me into another place, from whence thou mayest see a part of Israel, and thou mayest not see all; from thence curse thou him.

14 And when he had led Balaam into an high place, on the top of the hill of Pisgah, he builded there seven altars to Balaam, and when calves and rams were put above them,

15 Balaam said to Balak, Stand here beside thy burnt sacrifice, while I go to meet with the Lord.

16 And when the Lord had met with Balaam, and had put a word in his mouth, he said, Turn again to Balak, and thou shalt say these things to him.

17 He turned again, and found Balak standing beside his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of Moabites with him. To whom Balak said, What hath spoken the Lord?

18 And when his parable was taken, he said, Stand thou, Balak, and hearken; hear, thou son of Zippor.

19 God is not a man, that he lie, neither he is as the son of a man, that he be changed; therefore he hath said, and shall he not do it? he hath spoken, and shall he not fulfill it?

20 I am brought hither by the Lord to bless; I may not forbid, or hinder, blessing.

21 None idol is in Jacob, neither simulacrum is seen in Israel; his Lord God is with him, and the sound of the victory of a king is in him.

22 The Lord God led him out of Egypt, whose strength is like an unicorn;

23 false divining by chittering of birds is not in Jacob, neither false divining is in Israel. In his times, when, where, and how God will, it shall be said to Jacob and to Israel, What the Lord hath wrought!

24 Lo! the people shall rise together as a lioness, and it shall be raised as a lion; the lion shall not rest, till he devour [the] prey, and drink the blood of them that be slain.

25 And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse thou, neither bless thou him.

26 And Balaam said, Whether I said not to thee, that whatever thing God commanded to me, I would do that?

27 And Balak said to him, Come, and I shall lead thee to another place, if in hap it pleaseth God that from thence thou curse him.

28 And when Balak had led him out on the top of the hill of Peor, that beholdeth the wilderness,

29 Balaam said to Balak, Build here seven altars to me, and make ready so many calves, and rams of the same number.

30 Balak did as Balaam said, and he put the calves and the rams, by all the altars.

CHAPTER 24

1 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord that he should bless Israel, he went not as he had gone before, that he should seek false divining by chittering of birds, but he dressed his face against the desert,

2 and he raised up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling in tents by his lineages. And when the Spirit of God fell upon him,

3 and when the parable was taken, he said, Balaam, the son of Beor, said, a man, whose eye is stopped, said,

4 the hearer of God’s words said, which beheld the revelation of Almighty God, which falleth down, and his eyes be opened so,

5 How fair be thy tabernacles, Jacob, and thy tents, Israel!

6 as valleys full of trees, and moist gardens beside floods, as tabernacles which the Lord hath set, as cedar trees beside waters;

7 water shall flow of his bucket, and his seed shall be into many waters, that is, peoples. The king of him shall be taken away for Agag, and the realm of him shall be done away.

8 God led him out of Egypt, whose strength is like an unicorn; the sons of Israel shall waste, or devour, heathen men, their enemies; and they shall break the bones of them, and pierce with arrows.

9 He rested, and slept as a lion, and as a lioness, whom no man shall dare raise. He that blesseth thee, shall be blessed; and he that curseth, shall be areckoned into cursing.

10 And Balak was wroth against Balaam, and he said, when his hands were wrung together, I called thee to curse mine enemies, whom, on the contrary, thou hast blessed thrice.

11 Turn again to thy place; forsooth I deemed to honour thee greatly, but the Lord deprived thee from [thine] honour disposed.

12 Balaam answered to Balak, Whether I said not to thy messengers, which thou sentest to me,

13 Though Balak shall give to me his house full of silver and of gold, I shall not be able to pass [over] the word of my Lord God, that I bring forth of mine heart anything, either of good or of evil, but whatever thing the Lord shall say, I shall speak that?

14 Nevertheless I shall go to my people, and I shall give counsel to thee, what thy people shall do in the last time to this people.

15 Therefore when a parable was taken, he said again, Balaam, the son of Beor said, a man, whose eye is stopped, said,

16 the hearer of God’s words said, which knoweth the doctrine of the Highest, and seeth the revelation of Almighty God, which falleth down, and hath open eyes,

17 I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh; a star shall be born of Jacob, and a rod shall rise of Israel; and he shall smite the dukes of Moab, and he shall waste all the sons of Seth;

18 and Idumea shall be his possession, the heritage of Seir shall befall to his enemies; soothly Israel shall do strongly,

19 of Jacob shall be he that shall be lord, and shall lose the relics, or remnants, of the city.

20 And when he had seen Amalek, he took a parable, and said, Amalek is the beginning of heathen men, whose last things shall be lost.

21 Also he saw Kenites, and when a parable was taken, he said, Soothly thy dwelling place is strong, but if thou shalt set thy nest in a stone,

22 and shalt be chosen of the generation of Kenites, how long shalt thou be able to dwell? soothly Assur shall take thee.

23 And when a parable was taken, or showed to him, he said again, Alas! who shall live, when the Lord shall do these things?

24 They shall come in great ships from Italy, they shall overcome Assyria, and they shall destroy Eber, and at the last also they themselves shall perish.

25 And Balaam rose, and turned again into his place; and Balak went again by the way in which he came.

CHAPTER 25

1 Soothly in that time Israel dwelled in Shittim; and the people did forni-cation with the daughters of Moab;

2 which daughters called them to their sacrifices, and they ate, and wor-shipped the gods of those daughters;

3 and Israel made sacrifice to Baalpeor. And the Lord was wroth,

4 and said to Moses, Take thou all the princes of the people, and hang them against the sun in gibbets, that my strong vengeance be turned away from Israel.

5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Each man slay his neighbours, that made sacrifice to Baalpeor.

6 And lo! one of the sons of Israel entered before his brethren to an whore of Midian, in the sight of Moses, and of all the company of the sons of Israel, which wept before the gates of the tabernacle.

7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, had seen this unshamefast doing, he rose from the midst of the multitude; and when he had taken a sword,

8 he entered after the man of Israel into the whorehouse, and sticked through both together, that is, the man and the woman, in the places of engendering. And the vengeance ceased from the sons of Israel,

9 and four and twenty thousand of men were slain.

10 And the Lord said to Moses,

11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, priest, hath turned away my wrath from the sons of Israel; for he was moved against them by my fervent love, that, I myself not do away the sons of Israel in my great ferventness of vengeance.

12 Therefore speak thou to him, Lo! I give to him the peace of my covenant,

13 and it shall be an everlasting covenant of priesthood, as well to himself as to his seed; for he loved fervently for his God, and he hath cleansed the great trespass of the sons of Israel.

14 Forsooth the name of the man of Israel, that was slain with the woman of Midian, was Zimri, the son of Salu, duke, of the kindred and lineage of Simeon.

15 Soothly the woman of Midian that was slain together with the whoreling, was called Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, the noblest prince of Midianites.

16 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

17 Midianites feel you enemies, and smite ye them;

18 for also they have done enemy-like against you, and deceived you by treasons, by the idol of Peor, and by their sister Cozbi, daughter of the duke of Midian, which daughter was slain in the day of vengeance, for the sacrilege of Peor.

CHAPTER 26

1 After that the blood of guilty men was shed out, the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar, the priest, [the] son of Aaron,

2 Reckon ye all the number of the sons of Israel, from twenty years and above, by their houses, and their kindreds, all men that be able to go forth to battles.

3 And so Moses and Eleazar, the priest, spake in the field places of Moab, over Jordan, against Jericho,

4 to them that were of twenty years and above, as the Lord commanded; of which this is the number.

5 Reuben, the first begotten of Israel; the son of him was Hanoch, of whom came the meine of Hanochites; and Pallu, of whom came the meine of Palluites;

6 and Hezron, of whom came the meine of Hezronites; and Carmi, of whom came the meine of Carmites.

7 These were the meines of the generation of Reuben, of which meines the number was found three and forty thousand seven hundred and thirty.

8 The son of Pallu was Eliab;

9 the sons of him were Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. These were Dathan and Abiram, [the] princes of the people, that rose against Moses and Aaron, in the rebelty of Korah, when they rebelled against the Lord;

10 and the earth opened his mouth, and devoured Korah, and full many men died, when the fire burnt two hundred men and fifty; and a great miracle was done,

11 that when Korah perished, his sons perished not.

12 The sons of Simeon by their kindreds; Nemuel, of him was the meine of Nemuelites; Jamin, of him the meine of Jaminites; Jachin, of him the meine of Jachinites;

13 Zerah, of him the meine of Zarhites; Shaul, of him the meine of Shaulites.

14 These were the meines of Simeon, of which all the number was two and twenty thousand and two hundred.

15 The sons of Gad by their kindreds; Zephon, of him the meine of Zephonites; Haggi, of him the meine of Haggites; Shuni, of him the meine of Shunites;

16 Ozni, of him the meine of Oznites; Eri, of him the meine of Erites;

17 Arod, of him the meine of Arodites; Areli, of him the meine of Arelites.

18 These were the meines of Gad, of which all the number was forty thousand and five hundred.

19 The sons of Judah were Er and Onan, which both were dead in the land of Canaan.

20 And the sons of Judah were these by their kindreds; Shelah, of whom came the meine of Shelanites; Perez, of him the meine of Perezites; Zerah, of him the meine of Zarhites.

21 Soothly the sons of Perez were Hezron, of him the meine of Hezronites; and Hamul, of him the meine of Hamulites.

22 These were the meines of Judah, of which all the number was seventy thousand and five hundred.

23 The sons of Issachar by their kindreds; Tola, of him the meine of Tolaites; Pua, of him the meine of Punites;

24 Jashub, of him the meine of Jashubites; Shimron, of him the meine of Shimronites.

25 These were the kindreds of Issachar, of which the number was four and sixty thousand and three hundred.

26 The sons of Zebulun by their kindreds; Sered, of him the meine of Sardites; Elon, of him the meine of Elonites; Jahleel, of him the meine of Jahleelites.

27 These were the kindreds of Zebulun, of which the number was sixty thousand and five hundred.

28 The sons of Joseph by their kindreds were Manasseh and Ephraim.

29 Of Manasseh was born Machir, of him the meine of Machirites. Machir begat Gilead, of him, the meine of Gileadites.

30 Gilead had these sons; Jeezer, of him the meine of Jeezerites; and Helek, of him the meine of Helekites;

31 and Asriel, of him the meine of Asrielites; and Shechem, of him the meine of Shechemites;

32 and Shemida, of him the meine of Shemidaites; and Hepher, of him the meine of Hepherites.

33 Soothly Hepher was the father of Zelophehad, that had not sons, but only daughters; of which these were the names; Mahlah, and Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.

34 These were the meines of Manasseh, and the number of them was two and fifty thousand and seven hundred.

35 Soothly the sons of Ephraim by their kindreds were these; Shuthelah, of him the meine of Shuthalhites; Becher, of him the meine of Bachrites; Tahan, of him the meine of Tahanites.

36 Soothly the son of Shuthelah was Eran, of him the meine of Eranites.

37 These were the kindreds of the sons of Ephraim, of which the number was two and thirty thousand and five hundred. These were the sons of Joseph, by their meines.

38 The sons of Benjamin in their kindreds; Bela, of him the meine of Belaites; Ashbel, of him the meine of Ashbelites; Ahiram, of him the meine of Ahiramites;

39 Shupham, of him the meine of Shuphamites; Hupham, of him the meine of Huphamites.

40 The sons of Bela, Ard and Naaman; of Ard, the meine of Ardites; of Naaman, the meine of Naamites.

41 These were the sons of Benjamin by their kindreds, of which the number was five and forty thousand and six hundred.

42 The sons of Dan by their kindreds; Shuham, of him the meine of Shuhamites. These were the kindreds of Dan by their meines;

43 all were Shuhamites, of which the number was four and sixty thousand and four hundred.

44 The sons of Asher by their kindreds; Jimna, of him the meine of Jimnites; Jesui, of him the meine of Jesuites; Beriah, of him the meine of Beriites.

45 The sons of Beriah; Heber, of him the meine of Heberites; and Malchiel, of him the meine of Malchielites.

46 Soothly the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah.

47 These were the kindreds of the sons of Asher, and the number of them was four and fifty thousand and four hundred.

48 The sons of Naphtali by their kindreds; Jahzeel, of him the meine of Jahzeelites; Guni, of him the meine of Gunites;

49 Jezer, of him the meine of Jezerites; Shillem, of him the meine of Shillemites.

50 These were the kindreds of the sons of Naphtali by their meines, of which the number was five and forty thousand and four hundred.

51 This is the sum of the sons of Israel, that were numbered, six hun-dred thousand and a thousand seven hundred and thirty.

52 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

53 The land shall be parted to these, by the number of names into their possessions;

54 thou shalt give the greater part to [the] more men, and the less part to [the] fewer men; possession shall be given to all by themselves, as they be numbered now;

55 so only that lot part the land to lineages and to meines.

56 Whatever thing befalleth by lot, either more, either fewer men, take that.

57 Also this is the number of the sons of Levi by their meines; Gershon, of whom is the meine of Gershonites; Kohath, of him the meine of Kohathites; Merari, of him the meine of Merarites.

58 These were the meines of Levi; the meine of Libni, the meine of Hebron, the meine of Mahli, the meine of Mushi, the meine of Korah. And soothly Kohath begat Amram,

59 which had a wife, Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, which daughter was born to him in Egypt. This Jochebed engendered to her husband Amram, sons, Aaron and Moses, and Marie, the sister of them.

60 Nadab, and Abihu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar were begotten of Aaron;

61 of which Nadab and Abihu were dead, when they had offered alien fire before the Lord.

62 And all that were numbered of this lineage were three and twenty thousand of male kind, from a month and above, which were not numbered among the sons of Israel, neither possession was given to them with other men.

63 This is the number of the sons of Israel, that be described of Moses and Eleazar, [the] priest, in the field places of Moab, over Jordan, against Jericho;

64 among which none of them was that were numbered before of Moses and Aaron, in the desert of Sinai;

65 for the Lord before-said, that all should die in the wilderness; and none of them dwelled alive, but Caleb, Jephunneh’s son, and Joshua, the son of Nun.

CHAPTER 27

1 Soothly the daughters of Zelophe-had, the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, that was the son of Joseph, nighed; of which daughters these be the names; Mahlah, and Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.

2 And they stood before Moses, and Eleazar, the priest, and before all the princes of the people, at the door of the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace; and said,

3 Our father was dead in the desert, neither he was in the rebelty that was raised against the Lord under Korah, but he was dead in his sin; he had no male sons [or he had not male children].

4 Why is his name taken away from his meine, for he hath no son? Give ye possession to us among our father’s kinsmen.

5 And Moses told their cause to the doom of the Lord;

6 the which said to Moses,

7 The daughters of Zelophehad ask a just thing; give thou possession to them among their father’s kinsmen, and be they successors to him into heritage.

8 Forsooth thou shalt speak these things to the sons of Israel, When a man is dead without son, the heritage shall go to his daughter;

9 if he hath no daughter, he shall have his heirs his brethren;

10 that and if brethren be not, ye shall give the heritage to the brethren of his father;

11 soothly if he have no brethren of his father, the heritage shall be given to them that be next to him. And this shall be holy by everlasting law to the sons of Israel, as the Lord commanded to Moses.

12 Also the Lord said to Moses, Go up into this hill of Abarim, and behold thou from thence the land, which I shall give to the sons of Israel.

13 And when thou hast seen it, also thou shalt go to thy people, as thy brother Aaron went;

14 for thou offendedest me in the desert of Zin, in the against-saying of the multitude, neither thou wouldest hallow me before the people, upon the waters. These be the waters of Against-saying in Kadesh, in the desert of Zin.

15 To whom Moses answered,

16 The Lord God of the spirits of all flesh, purvey a man, that he be on this multitude,

17 and that may go out, and enter in before them, and lead them out, and lead them in, lest the people of the Lord be as sheep without shepherd.

18 And the Lord said to Moses, Take thou Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom the spirit of God is, and put thine hand upon him;

19 and he shall stand before Eleazar, the priest, and before all the multitude. And thou shalt give to him behests, in the sight of all men,

20 and a part of thy glory, that all the synagogue of the sons of Israel hear him.

21 If anything shall be worthy to be done for this man, Joshua, Eleazar, the priest, shall counsel the Lord; he shall go out, and shall go in, at the word of Eleazar; he, and all the sons of Israel with him, and the tother multitude.

22 Moses did as the Lord commanded, and when he had taken Joshua, he set him before Eleazar, the priest; and before all the multitude of the people;

23 and when he had put his hands upon his head, he rehearsed all things that the Lord commanded.

CHAPTER 28

1 Also the Lord said to Moses,

2 Command thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, Offer ye by their times mine offering, and loaves, and incense of sweetest odour.

3 These be the sacrifices which ye owe to offer; two lambs of one year, without wem, each day, into ever-lasting burnt sacrifice.

4 Ye shall offer one lamb early, and the tother at eventide.

5 The tenth part of ephah of tried flour, that shall be sprinkled with purest oil, and have it the fourth part of hin.

6 It is continual burnt sacrifice, which ye offered in the hill [or mount] of Sinai, into odour of sweetest incense to the Lord.

7 And ye shall offer the fourth part of hin of wine, by each lamb, in the saintuary of the Lord.

8 And ye shall offer in like manner the tother lamb at eventide, by all the custom of the morrow sacrifice, and of the moist [or liquor] sacrifices thereof, an offering of sweetest odour to the Lord.

9 Soothly in the sabbath day ye shall offer two lambs of one year, without wem, and two tenth parts of tried flour sprinkled altogether with oil, in sacrifice,

10 and the moist [or liquor] sacrifices that be poured by custom, by all sabbaths, into everlasting burnt sacrifice.

11 Soothly in the calends, that is, in the beginnings of months, ye shall offer burnt sacrifice to the Lord, twain [or two] calves of the drove, one ram, seven lambs of one year, without wem,

12 and three tenth parts of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, in the sacrifice, by each calf, and two tenth parts of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, by each ram;

13 and the tenth part of the tenth of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, in the sacrifice, by each lamb; it is burnt sacrifice of sweetest odour, and of incense to the Lord.

14 Soothly the moist [or liquor] sacrifices of wine, that shall be poured by all the slain sacrifices, shall be these; the half part of a hin by each calf, the third part by a ram, the fourth part by a lamb; this shall be the burnt sacrifices by each month, that come one after another while the year turneth about.

15 Also a buck of goats shall be offered to the Lord for sins, into everlasting burnt sacrifice, with his moist [or liquor] offerings.

16 Soothly in the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, shall be pask, either passing over, of the Lord;

17 and in the fifteenth day shall be the solemnity of therf loaves. By seven days ye shall eat therf loaves;

18 of which the first day shall be worshipful and holy; ye shall not do any servile work therein.

19 And ye shall offer burnt sacrifice to the Lord, two calves, one ram, seven lambs of one year, without wem;

20 and the sacrifices of each by itself of [tried] flour, which be sprinkled altogether with oil, three tenth parts by each calf, and two tenth parts by a ram,

21 and the tenth part of the tenth by each lamb, that is, by seven lambs.

22 And ye shall offer one buck of goats for sin, that cleansing be made for you,

23 besides the burnt sacrifice of the morrowtide, which ye shall offer ever-[more].

24 So ye shall do by each day of [the] seven days, into the nourishing of fire, and into the sweetest odour to the Lord, that shall rise of the burnt sacrifice, and of the moist [or liquor] sacrifices of each offering.

25 Also the seventh day shall be most solemn and holy to you; ye shall not do any servile work therein.

26 Also the day of the first fruits, when ye shall offer new fruits to the Lord, when the weeks shall be fulfilled, shall be worshipful and holy; ye shall not do any servile work therein.

27 And ye shall offer burnt sacrifice to the Lord, into sweetest odour; two calves of the drove, one ram, and seven lambs of one year, without wem;

28 and in the sacrifices of those [or them]ye shall offer three tenth parts of tried flour sprinkled altogether with oil, by each calf, two tenth parts by the rams,

29 the tenth part of the tenth by the lambs, which be altogether seven lambs.

30 And ye shall offer a buck of goats, which is offered for cleansing,

31 besides [the] burnt sacrifice ever-lasting, and the moist [or liquor] sacrifices thereof; ye shall offer all things without wem, with their moist [or liquor] sacrifices.

CHAPTER 29

1 Forsooth the first day of the seventh month shall be holy, and worshipful to you; ye shall not do any servile work therein, for it is the day of sounding, and of trumps.

2 And ye shall offer burnt sacrifice, into sweetest odour to the Lord, one calf of the drove, one ram, and seven lambs of one year, without wem;

3 and in the sacrifice of those [or them]ye shall offer three tenth parts of tried flour sprinkled altogether with oil, by each calf, two tenth parts by a ram,

4 one tenth part by a lamb, which all together be seven lambs.

5 And ye shall offer a buck of goats, which is offered for sin, into the cleansing of the people,

6 without [the] burnt sacrifice of the beginning of months, with his sacrifices, and without the everlasting burnt sacrifice, with customable flowing offerings; and by the same ceremonies, or customs, ye shall offer incense, into sweetest odour to the Lord.

7 Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be holy and worshipful to you, and ye shall torment your souls; ye shall not do any servile work therein.

8 And ye shall offer burnt sacrifice to the Lord, into sweetest odour; one calf of the drove, one ram, seven lambs of one year, without wem.

9 And in the sacrifices of those [or them]ye shall offer three tenth parts of [tried] flour sprinkled altogether with oil, by each calf, two tenth parts by a ram,

10 the tenth part of the tenth by each lamb, that be altogether seven lambs.

11 And ye shall offer a buck of goats for sin, without these things that be wont to be offered for sin into cleansing, and everlasting burnt sacrifice in the sacrifice, and flowing offerings of those things.

12 Forsooth in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, that shall be holy and worshipful to you, ye shall not do any servile work [in it], but ye shall hallow the solemnity to the Lord by seven days;

13 and ye shall offer burnt sacrifice, into sweetest odour to the Lord, thirteen calves of the drove, two rams, fourteen lambs of one year, without wem.

14 And in the moist [or liquor] sacrifices of those [or them]ye shall offer three tenth parts of tried flour sprinkled altogether with oil, by each calf, that be altogether thirteen calves, and ye shall offer two tenth parts to two rams together, that is, one tenth part to one ram,

15 and the tenth part of the tenth to each lamb, which be altogether fourteen lambs.

16 And ye shall offer a buck of goats for sin, without [the] everlasting burnt sacrifice, and the sacrifice, and [the] moist [or liquor] offering thereof.

17 In the tother day ye shall offer twelve calves of the drove, two rams, fourteen lambs of one year, without wem.

18 And ye shall hallow rightfully the sacrifices, and [the] moist [or liquor] offerings of all, by the calves, and rams, and lambs.

19 And ye shall offer a buck of goats for sin, without the everlasting burnt sacrifice, and the sacrifice, and the moist [or liquor] offering thereof.

20 In the third day, ye shall offer eleven calves, two rams, fourteen lambs of one year, without wem.

21 And ye shall hallow rightfully the sacrifices, and the moist offerings of all these, by the calves, and rams, and lambs.

22 And ye shall offer a buck of goats for sin, without everlasting burnt sacrifice, and the sacrifice, and [the] moist offering thereof.

23 In the fourth day, ye shall offer ten calves, two rams, fourteen lambs of one year, without wem.

24 And ye shall hallow rightfully the sacrifices, and the moist [or liquor] offerings of all, by the calves, and rams, and lambs.

25 And ye shall offer a buck of goats for sin, without the everlasting burnt sacrifice, and the sacrifice, and the moist [or liquor] offering thereof.

26 In the fifth day, ye shall offer nine calves, two rams, fourteen lambs of one year, without wem.

27 And ye shall hallow rightfully the sacrifices, and [the] moist [or liquor] offerings of all, by the calves, and rams, and lambs.

28 And ye shall offer a buck of goats for sin, without [the] everlasting burnt sacrifice, and the sacrifice, and [the] moist [or liquor] offering thereof.

29 In the sixth day, ye shall offer eight calves, two rams, fourteen lambs of one year, without wem.

30 And ye shall hallow rightfully the sacrifices, and [the] moist [or liquor] offerings of all, by the calves, and rams, and lambs.

31 And ye shall offer a buck of goats for sin, without [the] everlasting burnt sacrifice, and the sacrifice, and [the] moist [or liquor] offering thereof.

32 In the seventh day, ye shall offer seven calves, two rams, fourteen lambs of one year, without wem.

33 And ye shall hallow rightfully the sacrifices, and [the] moist [or liquor] offerings of all, by the calves, and rams, and lambs.

34 And ye shall offer a buck of goats for sin, without [the] everlasting burnt sacrifice, and the sacrifice, and [the] moist [or liquor] offering thereof.

35 In the eighth day, which is most solemn, ye shall not do any servile work,

36 and ye shall offer burnt sacrifice, into sweetest odour to the Lord, one calf, one ram, seven lambs of one year, without wem.

37 And ye shall hallow rightfully the sacrifices, and [the] moist [or liquor] offerings of all, by the calves, and rams, and lambs.

38 And ye shall offer a buck of goats for sin, without [the] everlasting burnt sacrifice, and the sacrifice, and [the] moist [or liquor] offering thereof.

39 Ye shall offer these things to the Lord, in your solemnities, without your avows [or beside the vows], and your willful offerings, in the burnt sacrifice, in sacrifice, in the moist [or liquor] offering, and in peaceable sacrifices.

40 And Moses told to the sons of Israel all things which the Lord com-manded to him.

CHAPTER 30

1 And he spake to the princes of the lineages of the sons of Israel, This is the word, which the Lord commanded,

2 If any of men maketh a vow to the Lord, either bindeth himself by an oath, he shall not make void, or false, his word, but he shall fulfill all thing that he promised.

3 If a woman that is in the house of her father, and is yet in the age of a young damsel, avoweth anything, either bindeth herself by an oath,

4 her father knoweth the avow [or vow], that she promised, and the oath, by which she bound her soul, and he is still, she shall be guilty of that oath, if she break it; whatever thing she promised, and swore, she shall fulfill in work.

5 Forsooth if her father against-said, anon as he heard, both [the] vows, and her oaths shall be void, and she shall not be holden bound to the promise, for her father against-said it.

6 If she hath an husband, and she avoweth anything, and a word going out of her mouth, at once bindeth her soul with an oath,

7 in what day her husband heareth this, and against-saith it not, she shall be guilty, or bound, to that vow; she shall yield, whatever thing she promised.

8 But if the husband heareth it, and anon against-saith, and maketh void all her promises, and words by which she bound her soul, the Lord shall be merciful to her.

9 A widow, and a woman forsaken of her husband, shall yield, whatever thing they avow.

10 When a wife in her husband’s house bindeth herself by a vow, and an oath,

11 if her husband heareth it, and is still, and against-saith not her promise, she shall yield, whatever thing she promised.

12 Soothly if the husband against-said anon, she shall not be holden guilty of the promise, for her husband against-said it anon, and the Lord shall be merciful to her.

13 If she avoweth, and bindeth herself by an oath, that she torment her soul by fasting, either by abstinence of other things, it shall be in the doom of her husband, that she do that, either do it not.

14 That if the husband heareth it, and he is still, and delayeth the sentence in[to] the tother day, she shall yield whatever thing she avowed and promised, for he was still, anon as he heard.

15 Soothly if her husband against-said her avow, and her oath, after that he knew thereof, he shall bear his wickedness.

16 These be the laws, which the Lord ordained to Moses, betwixt the husband and the wife, betwixt the father and the daughter, which is yet in the age of a young damsel, or that yet dwelleth in her father’s house unmarried.

CHAPTER 31

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Avenge thou first the sons of Israel of Midianites, and so thou shalt be gathered to thy people.

3 And anon Moses said, Arm ye men of you to battle, that be able to take of the Midianites the vengeance of the Lord.

4 Of each lineage be chosen a thousand men of Israel, that shall be sent to battle.

5 And of each lineage they gave a thousand, that is, twelve thousand of men, ready to battle;

6 which Moses sent forth with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the priest. And Moses betook to them [the] holy vessels, and trumps to make sound.

7 And when they had fought against Midianites, and had overcome them, Israel killed all the males,

8 and the kings of them, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five princes of the folk of them. Also Israel killed with sword Balaam, the son of Beor.

9 And Israel took the women of them, and their little children, and all their beasts, and all the appurtenance of their household; whatever they might have, they spoiled, that is, destroyed;

10 the flame burnt as well the cities, as little towns, and castles.

11 And they took prey, and all things which they had taken, as well of men as of beasts,

12 and they brought to Moses, and to Eleazar, the priest, and to all the multitude of the sons of Israel. Soothly they bare other useable things to their tents, standing in the field places of Moab, beside Jordan, against Jericho.

13 [And] Moses and Eleazar, the priest, and all the princes of the synagogue, went out into the coming of them, without the tents.

14 And Moses was wroth to the princes of the host, to the tribunes, and the centurions, [or leaders of thousands, and governors of hundreds], that came from the battle;

15 and he said to them, Why kept ye [the] women?

16 whether it be not these that deceived the sons of Israel, at the suggestion of Balaam, and made you to do trespass against the Lord, upon the sin of Peor, wherefore also the people was slain?

17 And therefore slay ye all the men, whatever is of male kind, and the little children; and strangle ye the women that have known men fleshly;

18 soothly keep ye to you the young damsels, and all women virgins,

19 and dwell ye without the tents seven days. He that slayeth a man, or toucheth a slain man, shall be cleansed in the third [day], and the seventh day;

20 and of all the prey, whether it is cloth, or vessel, and anything made ready to things pertaining to use, of the skins and hairs of goats, and wood, it shall be cleansed.

21 And Eleazar, the priest, spake thus to the men of the host that fought, This is the commandment of the law, which the Lord commanded to Moses,

22 The gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and tin, and lead,

23 and all thing that may pass by flame, shall be purged by fire; soothly whatever thing may not suffer fire, shall be hallowed with the water of cleansing.

24 And ye shall wash your clothes in the seventh day, and ye shall be cleansed; and afterward ye shall enter into the tents.

25 And the Lord said to Moses,

26 Take ye the sum or the number of those things that be taken, from man till to beast, thou, and Eleazar, [the] priest, and all the princes of the common people.

27 And thou shalt part evenly the prey betwixt them that fought and went out to battle, and betwixt all the other multitude.

28 And thou shalt separate a part to the Lord, of them that have fought, and were in battle, one soul of five hundred, as well of men, as of oxen, and of asses, and of sheep.

29 And thou shalt give that part to Eleazar, the priest, for those [or they] be the first fruits of the Lord.

30 Also of the half part of the sons of Israel, thou shalt take the fiftieth head of men, and of oxen, and of asses, and of sheep, and of all living beasts; and thou shalt give those [or them] to the deacons [or Levites], that wake in the keepings of the tabernacle of the Lord.

31 And Moses and Eleazar did, as the Lord commanded.

32 Forsooth the prey which the host had taken, was six hundred and five and seventy thousand of sheep,

33 of oxen, two and seventy thousand,

34 of asses, sixty thousand and a thousand;

35 the souls of the persons of women-kind, that knew not men, were two and thirty thousand.

36 And the half part was given to them that were in the battle, of sheep three hundred seven and thirty thousand, and five hundred;

37 of which six hundred five and seventy sheep were numbered into the part of the Lord;

38 and of six and thirty thousand oxen, two and seventy oxen;

39 and of thirty thousand asses and five hundred, one and sixty asses;

40 of [the] sixteen thousand persons of men, two and thirty persons befelled into the part of the Lord.

41 And Moses betook the number of the first fruits of the Lord to Eleazar, the priest, as it was commanded to him,

42 of the half part of the sons of Israel, which he parted to them that were in battle.

43 And of the half part that befelled to the tother multitude, that is, of three hundred seven and thirty thousand sheep and five hundred,

44 and of six and thirty thousand oxen,

45 and of thirty thousand asses and five hundred,

46 and of sixteen thousand women,

47 Moses took the fiftieth head, and he gave them to the deacons [or Levites], that wake or watch in the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded.

48 And when the princes of the host, and the tribunes [or the leaders of thousands], and the centurions [or rulers of hundreds] had nighed to Moses,

49 they said, We thy servants have told or totalled the number of fighters, which we had under our hand, or power, and soothly not one failed;

50 for which cause we offer, or bring, to thee free gifts of the Lord, all by ourselves, that that we might find of gold in the prey, girdles for the women’s middles, and bies of the arms, and rings, and ornaments of the arm nigh the hand, and bies of the necks of women, that thou pray the Lord for us.

51 And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, took all the gold in diverse kinds,

52 by the weight of the saintuary, sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, of the tribunes [or the leaders of thousands], and the centurions [or rulers of hundreds].

53 For that that each man ravished in the prey, was his own;

54 and they bare the gold taken into the tabernacle of witnessing, into mind of the sons of Israel, before the Lord.

CHAPTER 32

1 Soothly the sons of Reuben and of Gad had many beasts, and cattle without number was to them, in work beasts. And when they had seen Jazer and Gilead, to be covenable lands to beasts to be fed,

2 they came to Moses, and to Eleazar, the priest, and to the princes of the multitude, and said,

3 Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon,

4 the land which the Lord smote in the sight of the sons of Israel, is of most plenteous country to the pasture of beasts; and we thy servants have full many beasts;

5 and we pray thee, if we have found grace before thee, that thou give to us thy servants that country into possession, and make not us to pass [over] Jordan.

6 To whom Moses answered, Whether your brethren shall go to battle, and ye shall sit here?

7 Why mis-turn ye the thoughts of the sons of Israel, that they dare not pass into the place, which the Lord shall give to them?

8 Whether your fathers did not so, when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to espy the land,

9 and when they came to the valley of Cluster, when all the country was compassed, they turned into fear the heart of the sons of Israel, that they entered not into the coasts, which the Lord had given to them.

10 And the Lord therefore was wroth, and he swore, saying,

11 These men that went up from Egypt, from twenty years of age and above, shall not see the land which I promised under an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and [they] would not pursue me,

12 except Caleb, the Kenezite, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun; these twain fulfilled my will.

13 And the Lord was wroth against Israel, and led him about the desert by forty years, till all the generation was wasted, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord.

14 And Moses said, Lo! ye the increasings, and nourished children, of sinful men, have risen for your fathers, that ye should increase the strong vengeance of the Lord against Israel.

15 That if ye will not pursue [or follow] the Lord, in the wilderness he shall forsake the people, and ye shall be [the] cause of the death of all men.

16 And they went nigh, and said, We shall make sheepfolds, and stables of beasts, and we shall make strengthened cities to our little children.

17 Forsooth we ourselves shall be armed to defense, and shall be girded with arms to assailing, and shall go to battle before the sons of Israel, till we bring them into their places; our little children, and whatever thing we may have, shall be in strengthened cities, for the treasons of the dwellers.

18 We shall not turn again into our houses, till the sons of Israel wield their heritage;

19 and we shall not ask anything over Jordan, for we have now our possession in the east coast thereof.

20 To whom Moses said, If ye do that, that ye promise, be ye made ready, and go ye to battle before the Lord;

21 and each fighting man be armed, and pass he [over] Jordan, till the Lord destroy his enemies,

22 and all the land be made subject to him; then ye shall be made guilt-less with God, and with Israel, and ye shall wield the countries, which ye will or desire, before the Lord.

23 But if ye do not that, that ye say, it is no doubt to any man, that not ye sin against God; and know ye, that your sin shall take you.

24 Therefore build ye cities to your little children, and folds, and stables to your sheep, and to beasts; and [ful] fill ye that, that ye have promised.

25 And the sons of Gad and of Reuben said to Moses, We be thy servants; we shall do that, that our lord commandeth.

26 We shall leave our little children, and women, and our sheep, and beasts, in the cities of Gilead;

27 forsooth all we thy servants shall go ready to battle, as thou, lord, speakest.

28 Therefore Moses commanded to Eleazar, the priest, and to Joshua, the son of Nun, and to the princes of the meines, by the lineages of Israel,

29 and he said to them, If the sons of Gad, and the sons of Reuben, go all armed with you [over Jordan], to battle before the Lord, and the land be made subject to you, give ye to them Gilead into possession;

30 but if they will not pass with you into the land of Canaan, take they then places to dwell among you.

31 And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, As the Lord hath spoken to his servants, so we shall do;

32 we shall go armed before the Lord, into the land of Canaan, and we acknowledge, that we have taken now possession over Jordan.

33 And so Moses gave to the sons of Gad, and of Reuben, and to half the lineage of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, the realm of Sihon, king of Amorites, and the realm of Og, king of Bashan, and their lands, with their cities, by compass.

34 Therefore the sons of Gad builded Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,

35 and Atroth, Shophan, and Jaazer, and Jogbehah,

36 and Bethnimrah, and Bethharan, strengthened cities; and folds to their beasts.

37 Soothly the sons of Reuben builded Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kiriathaim,

38 and Nebo, and Baalmeon, when the names were turned, and they builded Shibmah; and they putted names to the cities, which they had builded.

39 Soothly the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, went into Gilead, and destroyed it, and they killed Amorites, the dwellers thereof.

40 Therefore Moses gave the land of Gilead to Machir, the son of Manasseh, the which Machir dwelled therein.

41 Soothly Jair, the son of Manasseh, went, and occupied the towns thereof, which he called Havothjair, that is, the towns of Jair.

42 Also Nobah went, and took Kenath, with his towns, and called it, by his name, Nobah.

CHAPTER 33

1 These be the dwellings of the sons of Israel, that went out of the land of Egypt, by their companies, in the hand of Moses and Aaron;

2 which dwellings Moses described by the places of tents, that were changed by commandment of the Lord.

3 Therefore the sons of Israel went forth in an high hand from Rameses, in the first month, in the fifteenth day of the first month, in the tother day of pask, that is, in the morrow of the offering of the lamb of pask, while all [the] Egyptians saw,

4 and the Egyptians buried their first begotten children, which the Lord had slain; for the Lord took vengeance also upon their gods.

5 The sons of Israel setted tents in Succoth,

6 and from Succoth they came into Etham, which is in the last coasts of the wilderness;

7 from thence they went forth, and came against Pihahiroth, which beholdeth Baalzephon, and setted tents before Migdol.

8 And they went forth from Piha-hiroth, and they passed through the midst of the sea into wilderness, and they went three days by the desert of Etham, and setted tents in Marah.

9 And they went forth from Marah, and came into Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees; and there they setted tents.

10 But also they went forth from thence, and setted tents on the Red Sea.

11 And they went forth from the Red Sea, and setted tents in the desert of Sin,

12 from whence they went forth, and came into Dophkah.

13 And they went forth from Dophkah, and setted tents in Alush.

14 And they went forth from Alush, and setted tents in Rephidim, where water failed to the people to drink.

15 And they went forth from Rephidim, and setted tents in the desert of Sinai.

16 But also they went out of the wilderness of Sinai, and came to the Sepulchres of Covetousness, or Lust.

17 And they went forth from the Sepulchres of Covetousness, or Lust, and setted tents in Hazeroth.

18 And from Hazeroth they came into Rithmah.

19 And they went forth from Rithmah, and setted tents in Rimmonparez;

20 from whence they went forth, and came into Libnah.

21 And from Libnah they setted tents in Rissah.

22 And they went forth from Rissah, and came into Kehelathah;

23 from whence they went forth, and setted tents in the hill of Shapher.

24 And they went forth from the hill of Shapher, and they came into Haradah;

25 from thence they went forth, and setted tents in Makheloth.

26 And they went forth from Makheloth, and came into Tahath.

27 From Tahath they setted tents in Tarah;

28 from whence they went forth, and setted tents in Mithcah.

29 And from Mithcah they setted tents in Hashmonah.

30 And they went forth from Hash-monah, and came into Moseroth;

31 and from Moseroth they setted tents in Benejaakan.

32 And they went forth from Bene-jaakan, and came into the hill of Gidgad;

33 from whence they went forth, and setted tents in Jotbathah.

34 And from Jotbathah they came into Ebronah.

35 And they went forth from Ebronah, and setted tents in Eziongaber;

36 from thence they went forth, and came into the desert of Zin; this is Kadesh.

37 And they went forth from Kadesh, and they setted tents in the hill of Hor, in the last coasts of the land of Edom.

38 And Aaron, the priest, ascended [or went up] into the hill of Hor, for the Lord commanded, and there he was dead, in the fortieth year of the going out of the sons of Israel from Egypt, in the fifth month, in the first day of the month;

39 when he was of an hundred and three and twenty years old.

40 And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, that dwelled at the south, in the land of Canaan, heard that the sons of Israel came thither.

41 And they went forth from the hill of Hor, and setted tents in Zalmonah;

42 from thence they went forth, and came into Punon.

43 And they went forth from Punon, and setted tents in Oboth.

44 And from Oboth they came into Iyeabarim, that is, into the wilderness of Abarim, which is in the ends of Moabites.

45 And they went forth from Iyea-barim, and they setted tents in Dibon of Gad;

46 from whence they went forth, and setted tents in Almon of Diblathaim,

47 And they went forth from Almon of Diblathaim, and they came to the hills of Abarim, against Nebo.

48 And they went forth from the hills of Abarim, and passed to the field places of Moab, over Jordan, against Jericho.

49 And there they setted tents, from Bethjesimoth till to Abelshittim, in the plainer places of Moabites,

50 where the Lord spake to Moses,

51 Command thou to the sons of Israel, and say thou to them, When ye have passed over Jordan, and have entered into the land of Canaan,

52 destroy ye all the dwellers of that country; break ye the titles, that is, altars, and drive ye to powder the images, and destroy ye all high things,

53 and cleanse ye the land, and all the men dwelling therein. For I have given to you that land into possession,

54 which ye shall part to you by lot; to more men in number ye shall give larger land, and to fewer men in number straiter, or less, land, as the lot falleth to all men, so [the] heritage shall be given; the possession shall be parted to lineages and meines.

55 But if ye will not slay the dwellers of the land, they, that abide, shall be to you as nails in the eyes, and as spears in the sides; and they shall be adversaries to you in the land of your habitation;

56 and whatever thing I thought to do to them, I shall do to you.

CHAPTER 34

1 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

2 Command thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, When ye have entered into the land of Canaan, and it befall into possession to you by lot, it shall be ended by these ends.

3 The south part shall begin at the wilderness of Zin, which is beside Edom, and it shall have the terms against the east, the saltiest sea,

4 the which terms shall compass the south coast by the going up of the hill Scorpion, so that those terms pass into Zin, and come to the south, unto Kadeshbarnea; from whence the terms shall go forth to the town, Addar by name, and they shall stretch forth unto Azmon;

5 and the term shall go by compass from Azmon unto the strand of Egypt, and it shall be ended by the brink of the great sea.

6 Soothly the west coast shall begin at the great sea, and it shall be closed by that end.

7 Soothly at the north coast, the terms shall begin at the great sea, and they shall come unto the highest hill,

8 from which hill those terms shall come into Hamath, unto the terms of Zedad;

9 and the coasts shall go unto Ziphron, and to the town of Enan. These shall be the terms in the north part.

10 From thence they shall mete the coasts against the east coast, from the town Enan to Shepham;

11 and from Shepham the terms shall go down into Riblah, against the well of Ain; from thence those terms shall come against the east to the sea of Chinnereth;

12 and those terms shall stretch forth till to Jordan, and at the last those shall be closed with the saltiest sea. Ye shall have this land by his coasts in compass.

13 And Moses commanded to the sons of Israel, and said, This shall be the land which ye shall wield by lot, and which the Lord commanded to be given to the nine lineages, and to the half lineage;

14 for the lineage of the sons of Reuben, by their meines, and the lineage of the sons of Gad, by their kindred and number, and half the lineage of Manasseh,

15 that is, two lineages and an half, have taken their part over Jordan, against Jericho, at the east coast.

16 And the Lord said to Moses,

17 These be the names of [the] men that shall part the land to you, Eleazar, the priest, and Joshua, the son of Nun,

18 and of each lineage, one prince;

19 of which these be the names; of the lineage of Judah, Caleb, the son of Jephunneh;

20 of the lineage of Simeon, Shemuel, the son of Ammihud;

21 of the lineage of Benjamin, Elidad, the son of Chislon;

22 of the lineage of the sons of Dan, Bukki, the son of Jogli;

23 of the sons of Joseph, of the lineage of Manasseh, Hanniel, the son of Ephod;

24 of the lineage of Ephraim, Kemuel, the son of Shiphtan;

25 of the lineage of Zebulun, Elizaphan, the son of Parnach;

26 of the lineage of Issachar, duke Paltiel, the son of Azzan;

27 of the lineage of Asher, Ahihud, the son of Shelomi;

28 of the lineage of Naphtali, Pedahel, the son of Ammihud.

29 These men it be, to which the Lord commanded, that they should part to the sons of Israel the land of Canaan.

CHAPTER 35

1 And the Lord spake these things to Moses, in the field places of Moab, above Jordan, against Jericho,

2 Command thou to the sons of Israel, that they give to the deacons [or Levites], of their possessions, cities to dwell in, and the suburbs of those [or them] by compass,

3 that they dwell in the cities, and the suburbs be to beasts, and work beasts;

4 which suburbs shall be stretched forth from the walls of the cities withoutforth by compass, in the space of a thousand paces;

5 against the east coast shall be two thousand cubits, and against the south in like manner shall be two thousand cubits, and at the sea that beholdeth to the west shall be the same measure, and the north coast shall be ended by even term. And the cities shall be in the midst, and the suburbs withoutforth.

6 Forsooth of those cities which ye shall give to [the] deacons [or Levites], six shall be separated into [the] helps of fugitives, either of fleeing men, that he that shedded blood, flee to those;

7 and besides these six cities, ye shall give to the deacons another two and forty cities, that is, altogether eight and forty, with their suburbs.

8 And those cities that shall be given of the possession of the sons of Israel, more cities shall be taken away from them that have more, and fewer from them that have less; all the sons of Israel by themselves shall give by the measure of their heritage, cities to the deacons [or Levites].

9 The Lord said to Moses,

10 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, When ye have passed [over] Jordan, in[to] the land of Canaan,

11 deem ye which cities owe to be into the helps of fugitives which not willfully have shed blood.

12 In which cities when the fleer hath fled, the kinsman of him that is slain, shall not be able to slay him, till he stand in the sight of the multitude, and the cause of him be deemed.

13 Forsooth of those cities that be separated to the helps of fugitives,

14 three shall be beyond Jordan, and three in the land of Canaan;

15 as well to the sons of Israel as to comelings, and pilgrims; that he flee to those cities, that shedded blood not willfully.

16 If any man smiteth a man with iron, and he that is smitten is dead, the smiter shall be guilty of man-slaying, and he shall die.

17 If he casteth a stone, and a man is dead by the stroke thereof, the caster shall be punished in like manner.

18 If a man smitten with a staff dieth, he shall be avenged by the blood of the smiter.

19 The nigh kinsman of him that is slain shall slay the manslayer; anon as he taketh the manslayer, he shall slay him.

20 If by hatred a man hurtleth, either shoveth, a man, either casteth anything into him by ambushings,

21 either when he was enemy to him, smite him with his hand, and he is dead, the smiter shall be guilty of manslaying. The kinsman of him that is slain, anon as he findeth him, that is, the slayer, shall slay him.

22 That if by sudden case, and with-out hatred and enmities, a man doeth anything of these;

23 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

24 and this is proved, the people hearing, and the question of the blood, or death, is discussed betwixt the smiter and the kinsman of him that is slain,

25 the innocent shall be delivered from the hand of the avenger, and by sentence of judges he shall be led again into the city, to which he fled, and he shall dwell there, till the great priest die, which is anointed with [holy] oil.

26 If the slayer is found without or outside the coasts of the cities that be assigned to exiled men,

27 and he is slain of him that is avenger [of the blood], he that slayeth him shall be without guilt;

28 for the exiled man ought to sit or abide in the city till to the death of the bishop; forsooth after that that bishop is dead, the manslayer shall turn again into his land.

29 These shall be everlasting and lawful things in all your dwellings.

30 A manslayer shall be punished under witnesses; no man shall be condemned at the witnessing of one man.

31 Ye shall not take price of him which is guilty of blood, or death, anon and he shall die.

32 Men exiled, and fugitives, shall not be able to turn again in any manner into their cities, before the death of the bishop,

33 lest ye defoul the land of your habitation, which is defouled by the blood of innocent men; and it may not be cleansed in other manner, no but by the blood of him, that shedded the blood of another man.

34 And so your possession shall be cleansed, for I shall dwell with you; for I am the Lord, that dwell among the sons of Israel.

CHAPTER 36

1 Soothly and the princes of the meines of Gilead, the son of Machir, son of Manasseh, of the generation of the sons of Joseph, nighed, and spake to Moses before the princes of Israel,

2 and said, The Lord commanded to thee our lord, that thou shouldest part the land by lot to the sons of Israel, and that thou shouldest give to the daughters of Zelophehad, our brother, the possession due to their father.

3 And if men of another lineage shall take to wives these daughters, their possession shall pursue [or follow]them, and it shall be translated or brought over to another lineage, and so it shall be decreased from our heritage;

4 and so it shall be done, that when the jubilee, that is, the fiftieth year of remission, cometh, the parting of lots be confounded, or fail, and that the possession of other men pass to other men.

5 Moses answered to the sons of Israel, and said, for the Lord com-manded, The lineage of the sons of Joseph hath spoken rightfully,

6 and this law is announced of the Lord on the daughters of Zelophehad; be they wedded to which men they will, only to the men of their lineage;

7 lest the possession of the sons of Joseph be meddled [or mingled] from lineage into lineage. For all men shall wed wives of their lineage and kindred;

8 and each daughter, that shall have the heritage, shall be wife to one man of the kindred of her father,

9 and [the] lineages be not meddled [or mingled] to themselves, but dwell so, as those be parted of the Lord.

10 And the daughters of Zelophehad did, as it was commanded to them.

11 And Mahlah, and Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, were wedded to the sons of their father’s brothers,

12 of the meine of Manasseh, that was the son of Joseph; and the possession that was given to them, dwelled in the lineage, and in the meine, of their father.

13 These be the commandments and dooms, which the Lord commanded, by the hand of Moses, to the sons of Israel, in the field places of Moab, above Jordan, against Jericho.

* CHAPTER 1:1 In Numbers, the Tabernacle is called ‘the tabernacle of the bond of peace’, that is, ‘the Tabernacle of the Covenant’; in the rest of the Old Testament of the “Wycliffe Bible”, it is usually referred to as ‘the tabernacle of witnessing’.

† CHAPTER 1:47 Often in the Old Testament of the “Wycliffe Bible”, where the “Later Version” has ‘deacon’ or ‘deacons’, the “Early Version” has ‘Levite’ or ‘Levites’.

* CHAPTER 7:13 In Hebrew it is, a basin of silver.

† CHAPTER 7:14 In Hebrew it is, a spoon of ten golden shekels.

* CHAPTER 9:10 In Latin books it is added, ‘in your folk’, but this is not in Hebrew.

* CHAPTER 14:37 That is, suddenly and horribly, by the sentence of the Lord, to the dread of other men.

* CHAPTER 16:14 They said this in scorn, to signify that Moses deceived the people by false promises.

DEUTERONOMY

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DEUTERONOMY

CHAPTER 1

1 These be the words which Moses spake to all Israel over Jordan, in the wilderness of the field, against the Red Sea, betwixt Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, where is full much gold,

2 by eleven days journey from Horeb by the way of the hill of Seir, till to Kadeshbarnea.

3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, in the first day of the month, Moses spake to the sons of Israel all things which the Lord commanded to him that he should say to them,

4 after that he had smitten, or killed, Sihon, the king of Amorites, that dwelled in Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, that dwelled in Ashtaroth, and in Edrei,

5 over Jordan, in the land of Moab. And Moses began to declare the law, and to say,

6 Our Lord God spake to us in Horeb, and said, It sufficeth to you that ye have dwelled in this hill;

7 turn ye again, and come ye to the hill of Amorites, and to other places that be next to it; and to the places of fields, and of hills, and to [the] lower places against the south, and beside the brink of the sea, to the land of Canaanites, and of Lebanon, till to the great flood Euphrates.

8 Lo, he saith, I have given to you that land; enter ye, and have it in possession, on which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he should give that land to them, and to their seed after them.

9 And I said to you in that time, I may not alone sustain you,

10 for your Lord God hath multiplied you, and ye be full many today, as the stars of heaven;

11 the Lord God of your fathers add to this number many thousands, and bless you, as he spake.

12 I may not alone sustain, or bear, your causes, and your burdens, and strives;

13 give ye of you men wise, and witting, whose conversation is proved in your lineages, that I set [or put] them princes to you.

14 Then ye answered to me, The thing is good which thou wilt do.

15 And I took of your lineages men wise, and noble; and I ordained them to be your princes, your tribunes, and centurions, and quinquagenaries, and deans, which shall teach you all things.

16 And I commanded to them, and said, Hear ye the people, and deem ye that that is just, whether he be a citizen, or a pilgrim.

17 No difference shall be in doom of persons; ye shall hear so a little man, that is, poor, as a great man, neither ye shall take heed to the person of any man, for it is the doom of God. That if anything seemeth hard to you, tell ye that to me, and I shall hear it.

18 And I commanded all things which ye ought to do.

19 Forsooth we went forth from Horeb, and passed by a fearedful desert, and greatest wilderness, which ye saw, by the way of the hill of Amorites, as our Lord God commanded to us. And when we had come into Kadeshbarnea,

20 I said to you, Ye be come to the hill of Amorites, which your Lord God shall give to you;

21 see thou, Israel, the land that the Lord God shall give to thee; go thou up, and wield it, as our Lord God spake to thy fathers; dread thou not, neither in thine heart be thou anything aghast.

22 And all ye nighed to me, and ye said, Send we men, that shall behold the land, and shall tell us by what way we owe to go up thither, and to which cities we owe to go.

23 And when the word pleased to me, I sent of you twelve men, of each lineage one.

24 And when they had gone forth, and had gone up into the hilly places, they came unto the valley of Cluster; and when they had beheld the land,

25 they took of the fruits thereof, to show the plenty of it, and they brought those fruits to us, and said, The land is good that our Lord God shall give to us.

26 And ye would not go up thither, but ye were unbelieveful to the word of our Lord God.

27 And ye grutched in your taber-nacles, and ye said, The Lord hateth us, and therefore he led us out of the land of Egypt, that he should betake us in the hand of Amorites, and do away us.

28 Whither shall we ascend [or go up]? the messengers made afeared our heart, and said, A greatest multitude is, and larger in stature than we; the cities be great, and walled till to heaven; we saw there the sons of Anakim, that is, giants.

29 And I said to you, Have ye no dread, nor be ye aghast;

30 the Lord God himself, which is your leader, shall fight for you, as he did in Egypt, while all men saw.

31 And ye saw in the wilderness, thy Lord God bare thee, as a man is wont to bear his little son, in all the way by which ye went, till ye came to this place.

32 And soothly neither so ye believed to your Lord God,

33 that went before you in the way, and measured the place in which ye ought to set your tents, and he showed in the night the way to you by fire, and in the day by a pillar of cloud.

34 And when the Lord had heard the voice of your words, he was wroth, and swore, and said,

35 None of the men of this worst generation shall see the good land, which I promised under an oath to your fathers,

36 except Caleb, the son of Jephun-neh; forsooth he shall see it, and I shall give to him the land upon which he hath trodden, and to his sons, for he pursued [or followed] the Lord.

37 Neither the Lord’s indignation against the people is to be marvelled, since the Lord was wroth also to me for you, and said, Neither thou shalt enter thither,

38 but Joshua, the son of Nun, thy servant, he shall enter into that land for thee; excite, and strengthen thou him, and he shall part the land by lot to Israel.

39 Your little children, of which ye said, that they should be led prisoners, and the sons that know not today the diversity of good and of evil, they shall enter thither; and I shall give to them the land, and they shall wield it.

40 Soothly turn ye again, and go ye into the wilderness, by the way of the Red Sea.

41 And ye answered to me, We have sinned to the Lord; we shall go up, and we shall fight, as our Lord God commanded. And when ye were arrayed with arms, and went into the hill,

42 the Lord said to me, Say thou to them, Do not ye go up, neither fight ye, for I am not with you, lest ye fall before your enemies.

43 I spake this to you, and ye heard me not; but ye were adversaries to the commandment of the Lord, and swelling with pride, went up into the hill.

44 Therefore Amorites went out, that dwelled in the hills, and he came against you, and pursued you, as bees be wont to pursue, and he killed you down from Seir unto Hormah.

45 And when ye turned again, and wept before the Lord, he heard not you, neither would assent to your voice;

46 therefore ye sat in Kadesh by much time.

CHAPTER 2

1 And we went forth from thence, and came into the wilderness that leadeth to the Red Sea, as the Lord said to me; and we compassed the hill of Seir in long time.

2 And the Lord said to me,

3 It sufficeth to you to compass this hill; go ye against the north.

4 And command thou to the people, and say, Ye shall pass by the terms of your brethren, the sons of Esau, that dwell in Seir, and they shall dread you. Therefore see ye diligently,

5 that ye be not moved against them; for I shall not give to you of their land as much as the step of one foot may tread, for I have given the hill of Seir into the possession of Esau.

6 Ye shall buy of them meats for money, and ye shall eat; and ye shall draw, and drink water bought.

7 Thy Lord God hath blessed thee in all the works of thine hands; he hath known thy way, how thou hast passed through this most wilderness, by forty years; and thy Lord God dwelled with thee, and nothing failed to thee.

8 And when we had passed by our brethren, the sons of Esau, that dwelled in Seir, by the way of the field of Elath, and of Eziongaber, we came to the way that leadeth into the desert of Moab.

9 And the Lord said to me, Fight thou not against Moabites, neither begin thou battle against them; for I shall not give to thee anything of their land, for I have given Ar into possession to the sons of Lot.

10 Emim were the first dwellers thereof, a great people, and strong, and so high,

11 that they were believed to be as giants, of the generation of Anakim, and they were like the sons of Anakim; forsooth Moabites call them Emim.

12 Soothly Horims dwelled before in Seir, and when they were put out, and were done away, the sons of Esau dwelled there, as Israel did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave to him.

13 Therefore we rose up, that we should pass over the strand [or stream] of Zered, and we came to it.

14 Soothly the time in which we went from Kadeshbarnea till to the passing over of the strand [or stream] of Zered, was of eight and thirty years, till all the generation of fighting men was wasted from their tents, as the Lord had sworn;

15 whose hand was against them, that they should perish from the midst of their tents.

16 Soothly after that all the fighters had fallen down,

17 the Lord spake to me, and said,

18 Thou shalt pass by today the coasts of Moab, the city, Ar by name,

19 and thou shalt nigh into the coasts of the sons of Ammon; be thou ware that thou fight not against them, nor be moved to battle; for I shall not give to thee of the land of the sons of Ammon, for I have given it to the sons of Lot into possession.

20 It is reckoned the land of giants, and giants inhabited therein sometime, which giants Ammonites call Zamzum-mims;

21 a much people, and great, and of noble length, as Anakim, which the Lord did away from the face of them, and made them to dwell for those giants,

22 as he did to the sons of Esau, that dwelled in Seir, and did away Horims, and gave to them the land of Horims, which the sons of Esau wield till into present time.

23 Also men of Cappadocia putted out Avims, that dwelled in Hazerim, till to Gaza; which went out from Cappadocia, and did away Avims, and dwelled there for them.

24 Rise ye, and pass ye over the strand [or the stream] of Arnon; lo! I have betaken in thine hand Sihon, king of Heshbon, of Amorites; and his land begin thou to wield, and smite thou battle against him.

25 Today I shall begin to send thy dread, and thy fear into the peoples that dwell under all heaven, that when thy name is heard, they dread, and tremble, by the manner of women travailing of child, and be holden with sorrow.

26 Therefore I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon, king of Heshbon; and I said with peaceable words,

27 We shall pass through thy land, we shall go in the common way; we shall not bow neither to the right side, nor to the left side.

28 Sell thou us meats for price, that we eat; give thou us water for money, and so we shall drink. Only it is that we ask of thee that thou grant passage to us,

29 as the sons of Esau did, that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites, that dwell in Ar, till we come to Jordan, and pass over to the land which our Lord God shall give to us.

30 And Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not give passage to us; for thy Lord God made hard his spirit, and made firm in evil the heart of him, that he should be betaken into thine hands, as thou seest now.

31 And the Lord said to me, Lo, I have begun to betake to thee Sihon, and his land; begin thou to wield it.

32 And Sihon went out against us with all his people, to battle in Jahaz.

33 And our Lord God betook him to us, and we have smitten him, with his sons, and all his people.

34 And we took in that time all the cities, when the dwellers of those cities, men, and women, and children, were slain; we left not in them any-thing,

35 except beasts that fell into the part of men taking prey, and except spoils of the cities which we took.

36 From Aroer, which is on the brink of the strand [or the stream] of Arnon, from the town which is set in the valley, unto Gilead, no town was, nor city, that escaped our hands. Our Lord God betook all to us;

37 except the land of the sons of Ammon, to which land we nighed not, and all things that lie to the strand [or the stream] of Jabbok, and except the cities of the mountains, and all the places from which our Lord God forbade us.

CHAPTER 3

1 And so we turned, and went up by the way of Bashan; and Og, the king of Bashan, went out against us with his people, to fight in Edrei.

2 And the Lord said to me, Dread thou not him, for he is betaken into thine hand, with all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him, as thou didest to Sihon, king of Amorites, that dwelled in Heshbon.

3 Therefore our Lord God betook in our hands also Og, the king of Bashan, and all his people; and we have smitten him unto death,

4 and we wasted all his cities in one time; no town there was of his that escaped us; we destroyed sixty cities, all the country of Argob, of the realm of Og in Bashan.

5 All the cities were strengthened with most high walls, and with gates and bars; without towns unnumberable, that had no walls.

6 And we did away those men, as we did to Sihon, king of Heshbon; and we destroyed each city of that land, and the men, and the women, and little children;

7 and we took by prey beasts, and spoils of the cities.

8 And we took in that time the land from the hand of the two kings of Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, from the strand [or stream] of Arnon unto the hill of Hermon,

9 which hill Sidonians call Sirion, and Amorites call Shenir.

10 And we took all the cities that were set in the plain, and all the land of Gilead, and of Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the realm of Og, in Bashan.

11 For Og alone, king of Bashan, was left of the generation of giants; and his iron bed is showed, which is in Rabbath, of the sons of Ammon, and it hath nine cubits of length, and four cubits of breadth, at the measure of a cubit of a man’s hand.

12 And we wielded in that time the land, from Aroer, which is on the brink of the strand [or stream] of Arnon, unto the half part of the hill of Gilead; and I gave his cities to Reuben and to Gad.

13 And I gave the tother part of Gilead, and all Bashan, of the realm of Og, to the half lineage of Manasseh, and all the country of Argob. All Bashan was called the land of giants.

14 Jair, the son of Manasseh, wielded all the country of Argob, unto the land of Geshuri and of Maachathi; and he called by his name Bashanhavothjair, that is, the towns of Jair, till into this present day.

15 Also I gave Gilead to Machir;

16 and to the lineages of Reuben and of Gad I gave the land of Gilead, till to the strand [or stream] of Arnon, the middle of the strand, and of the ends till to the strand of Jabbok, which is the term of the sons of Ammon.

17 And I gave to them the plain of the wilderness, unto Jordan, and the terms of Chinnereth unto the sea of desert, the which is the most salty sea, at the roots of the hill of Pisgah, against the east.

18 And I commanded to you in that time, and said, Your Lord God giveth to you this land into heritage; all ye strong men,

19 without wives, and little children, and beasts, be ye made ready, and go ye before your brethren, the sons of Israel. For I know that ye have many beasts, and those shall dwell in the cities that I have given to you,

20 till the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he hath given to you, and till they also wield the land which the Lord shall give to them beyond Jordan; then each man shall turn again into his possession that I have given to you.

21 Also I commanded to Joshua in that time, and said, Thine eyes have seen what things your Lord God did to these two kings; so he shall do to all the realms, to which thou shalt go;

22 dread thou not them; [the Lord our God shall fight for us].

23 And I prayed the Lord in that time, and said,

24 Lord God, thou hast begun to show to me thy servant thy greatness, and thy full strong hand, for none other God there is, either in heaven, either in earth, that may do thy works, and may be comparisoned to thy strength.

25 Therefore I shall pass over, and shall see this best land beyond Jordan, and this noble hill, and Lebanon.

26 And the Lord was wroth to me for you, neither he heard me, but he said to me, It sufficeth to thee; speak thou no more of this thing to me.

27 Go thou up into the highness of Pisgah, and cast about thine eyes to the west, and north, and south, and east, and behold, for thou shalt not pass over this Jordan.

28 Command thou to Joshua, and strengthen thou him, and comfort him; for he shall go before this people, and he shall part to them the land, which thou shalt see.

29 And we dwelled in the valley against the temple of Bethpeor.

CHAPTER 4

1 And now, thou Israel, hear the behests and dooms which I teach thee, that thou do those [or them], and live, and that thou enter and wield the land which the Lord God of your fathers shall give to you.

2 Ye shall not add to the word which I speak to you, neither ye shall take away from it; keep ye the commandments of your Lord God, which I command to you.

3 Your eyes saw all things which the Lord did against Baalpeor; how he all-brake all the worshippers of him from the midst of you.

4 Forsooth ye that cleaved to your Lord God live all till into present day.

5 Ye know that I taught you the behests and the rightwisenesses, as my Lord God commanded to me; so ye shall do them in the land that ye shall wield,

6 and ye shall keep, and fulfill them in work. For this is your wisdom and understanding before [the] peoples, that all men hear these behests, and say, Lo! a wise people and an under-standing! a great folk!

7 None other nation is so great, that hath Gods nighing to itself, as our God is ready to all our beseechings.

8 For what other folk is so noble, that it hath ceremonies, and just [or rightwise] dooms, and all the law, which I shall set forth today before your eyes?

9 Therefore keep thyself, and thy soul busily; forget thou not the words which thine eyes have seen, and fall they not down from thine heart, in all the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach those [or them]to thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.

10 Tell thou to them the day in which thou stoodest before thy Lord God in Horeb, when the Lord spake to me, and said, Gather thou the people to me, that it hear my words, and that it learn for to dread me in all time in which it liveth in earth, and teach his sons.

11 And ye nighed to the root of the hill, that burnt till to heaven; and darknesses, and cloud, and mist were therein.

12 And the Lord spake to you from the midst of [the] fire; ye heard the voice of his words, and utterly ye saw no form, or shape.

13 And he showed to you his covenant, which he commanded that ye should do, and [the] ten words, which he wrote in two tables of stone.

14 And he commanded to me in that time, that I should teach you ceremonies and dooms, which ye owe to do in the land which ye shall wield.

15 Therefore keep ye busily your minds; ye saw not any likeness in the day in which the Lord spake to you in Horeb, from the midst of the fire;

16 lest peradventure ye be deceived, and make to you a graven likeness, either an image of male, either female;

17 or a likeness of all beasts that be on earth, either of birds flying under heaven,

18 either of creeping beasts that be moved in the earth, either of fishes that dwell under the earth in waters;

19 lest peradventure, when thine eyes be raised up to heaven, thou see the sun, and the moon, and all the stars of heaven, and thou be deceived by error, and worship those things, and honour them, the which things thy Lord God made of nought, into the service of all folks that be under heaven.

20 Forsooth the Lord took you, and led you out of the iron furnace, or strong tribulation, of Egypt, that he should have a people of heritage, as it is in [the] present day.

21 And the Lord was wroth against me for your words, and swore that I should not pass over Jordan, and that I should not enter into the best land, which he shall give to you.

22 Lo! I die in this land; I shall not pass over Jordan; ye shall pass over it, and shall wield the noble land.

23 Be ye ware, lest any time thou forget the covenant of thy Lord God, which he made with thee, and lest thou make to thee a graven likeness of those things which the Lord hath forbidden thee to make.

24 For thy Lord God is a fire wasting; a jealous God.

25 If ye beget sons, and sons of sons, and ye dwell in the land, and ye be deceived, and make to you any likeness, or image, and do evil before your Lord God, that ye stir him to great wrath,

26 I call witness today heaven and earth, that ye shall perish soon from the land, that ye shall wield, when ye have passed over Jordan; ye shall not live long time therein, but the Lord shall do away you,

27 and he shall scatter you abroad among all heathen men, and ye shall dwell few among the nations, to which the Lord shall lead you.

28 And there ye shall serve to gods, that be made by men’s hands, to tree and to stone, that neither see, neither hear, neither eat, neither smell.

29 And when thou hast sought there thy Lord God, thou shalt find him; if nevertheless thou seekest him with all thy heart, and with all the tribulation of thy soul.

30 After that all things have found thee, that be before-said, soothly in the last time, thou shalt turn again to thy Lord God, and thou shalt hear his voice.

31 For thy Lord God is a merciful God; he shall not forsake thee, neither he shall do thee away utterly, neither he shall forget the covenant, in which he swore to thy fathers.

32 Ask thou of [the] eld [or old] days, or times, that were before thee, from the day in which thy Lord God made of nought man upon earth, ask thou from the one end of heaven unto the tother end thereof, that is, take heed to all things that ever were done, if such a thing was done any time,

33 either if it was ever known, that a people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard and seen;

34 either if that God went in, and took to himself a folk from the midst of nations, by temptations, miracles, and great wonders, by battle, and strong hand, and arm stretched forth, and horrible sights, by all things which your Lord God did for you in Egypt, in sight of thine eyes;

35 that thou shouldest know, that the Lord himself is God, and none other is, besides one.

36 From heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he should teach thee; and in [the] earth he showed to thee his full great fire, and thou heardest his words from [the] midst of the fire;

37 for he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them. And he led thee out of Egypt, and went before thee in his great strength,

38 that he should do away the greatest nations, and stronger than thou, in thine entering, and that he should lead thee in, and should give to thee their land into possession, as thou seest in present day.

39 Therefore know thou today, and think in thine heart, that the Lord himself is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath, and none other is.

40 Keep thou his behests, and his commandments, which I command to thee, that it be well to thee, and to thy sons after thee, and that thou dwell much time upon the land, which thy Lord God shall give to thee.

41 Then Moses separated three cities beyond Jordan at the east coast,

42 that he flee to those [or them], that slayeth his neighbour not willfully, and was not enemy before one and the tother day, and that he may flee to some of these cities;

43 Bezer in the wilderness, which is set in the field land, of the lineage of Reuben; and Ramoth in Gilead, which is in the lineage of Gad; and Golan in Bashan, which is in the lineage of Manasseh.

44 This is the law which Moses setted forth [or purposed] before the sons of Israel,

45 and these be the witnessings, and ceremonies, and the dooms, which he spake to the sons of Israel, when they went out of Egypt,

46 beyond Jordan, in the valley against the temple of Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon, king of Amorites, that dwelled in Heshbon, whom Moses killed. And the sons of Israel went out of Egypt,

47 and wielded his land, and the land of Og, king of Bashan, two kings of Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, at the rising of the sun;

48 from Aroer, which is set on the brink of the strand [or stream] of Arnon, till to the hill of Sion, which is Hermon;

49 and they wielded all the plain beyond Jordan, at the east coast, unto the sea of wilderness, and unto the roots of the hill of Pisgah.

CHAPTER 5

1 And Moses called all Israel, and said to him, Hear, thou Israel, the ceremonies and dooms, which I speak today in your ears; learn ye them, and fulfilleth in deed.

2 Our Lord God made a bond of peace with us in Horeb;

3 he made not covenant with our fathers, but with us that be present, and live.

4 Face to face he spake to us in the hill, from the midst of the fire.

5 I was reconciler and a mediator betwixt God and you in that time, that I should tell to you his words, for ye dreaded the fire, and ye went not up into the hill. And he said,

6 I am thy Lord God, that led thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of servage.

7 Thou shalt not have alien Gods in my sight.

8 Thou shalt not make to thee a graven image, neither a likeness of all things that be in heaven above, and that be in earth beneath, and that be in waters under earth;

9 thou shalt not praise them, nor worship them; for I am thy Lord God, a jealous God; and I yield the wickedness of fathers into the sons, into the third and the fourth generation to them that hate me,

10 and I do mercy into many thousands to them that love me, and keep my behests.

11 Thou shalt not mistake the name of thy Lord God in vain, for he shall not be unpunished, that taketh the name of God in a vain thing.

12 Keep thou the sabbath day that thou hallow it, as thy Lord God commanded to thee.

13 In six days thou shalt work, and do all thy works;

14 the seventh day is the day of sabbath, that is, the rest of thy Lord God. Thou shalt not do therein anything of work; thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy servant, and thine handmaid, and thine ox, and thine ass, and all thy work beasts, and the pilgrim that is within thy gates; that thy servant rest and thine hand-maid, as also thou.

15 Have mind, that also thyself servedest in Egypt, and thy Lord God led thee out from thence, in a strong hand, and in an arm stretched forth; therefore he commanded to thee, that thou shouldest keep the sabbath day.

16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as thy Lord God commanded to thee, that thou live in long time, and that it be well to thee, in the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee.

17 Thou shalt not slay.

18 Thou shalt not do lechery.

19 Thou shalt not do theft.

20 Thou shalt not speak false witness-ing against thy neighbour.

21 Thou shalt not covet thy neigh-bour’s wife, nor his house, nor his field, nor his servant, nor his hand-maid, nor his ox, nor ass, and all things, that is, nothing of all the things, that be his.

22 The Lord spake these words to all your multitude, in the hill, from the midst of the fire, and of the cloud, and of the mist, with great voice, and he added to nothing more; and he wrote those words in two tables of stone, which he gave to me.

23 And after that ye heard the voice from the midst of the darknesses, and ye saw the hill burn, all ye princes of the lineages, and the greater men in birth, nighed to me,

24 and ye said, Lo! our Lord God hath showed to us his majesty and greatness; we heard his voice from [the] midst of the fire, and we have proved today that a man liveth, God speaking with man.

25 Why therefore shall we die, and shall this greatest fire devour us? For if we hear more the voice of our Lord God, we shall die.

26 What is each man, that he hear the voice of God living, that speaketh from [the] midst of the fire, as we have heard, and that he may live?

27 Rather nigh thou, and hear thou all things which our Lord God shall say to thee; and thou shalt speak to us, and we shall hear, and do those words.

28 And when the Lord had heard this, he said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to thee; they have spoken well all things.

29 Who shall give that they have such soul, that they dread me, and keep all my commandments in all time, that it be well to them, and to the sons of them, without end?

30 Go thou, and say to them, Turn ye again into your tents.

31 Soothly stand thou here with me, and I shall speak to thee all [the] commandments, and ceremonies, and dooms, which thou shalt teach them, that they do those [or them] in the land which I shall give to them into possession.

32 Therefore keep ye, and do ye those things, which the Lord God hath commanded to you; ye shall not bow away, neither to the right side, nor to the left side,

33 but ye shall go by the way which your Lord God commanded, that ye live, and that it be well to you, and that your days be lengthened in the land of your possession.

CHAPTER 6

1 These be the commandments, ceremonies, and dooms, which your Lord God commanded that I should teach you, and that ye do them in the land to which ye pass over to wield;

2 that thou dread thy Lord God, and keep all his commandments, and behests, which I command to thee, and to thy sons, and to the sons of thy sons, in all the days of thy life, that thy days be lengthened.

3 Thou Israel, hear, and keep, that thou do those things which the Lord commanded to thee, and that it be well to thee, and thou be multiplied more, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised, to give to thee a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 Thou Israel, hear, thy Lord God is one God.

5 Thou shalt love thy Lord God of all thine heart, and of all thy soul, and of all thy strength.

6 And these words which I command to thee today, shall be in thine heart;

7 and thou shalt tell those [or them] to thy sons, and thou shalt think upon them, sitting in thine house, and going in the way, lying down, and rising.

8 And thou shalt bind those [or them] as a sign in thine hand; and those [or they] shall be, and shall be moved before thine eyes;

9 and thou shalt write them in the lintel, and in the doorposts of thine house.

10 And when thy Lord God hath brought thee into the land, for which he swore to thy fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he hath given to thee great cities, and best, which thou buildedest not,

11 houses full of all riches, which thou madest not, and cisterns, which thou diggedest not, vineyards, and olive places, which thou plantedest not, and when thou hast eaten, and art full-filled,

12 beware diligently, lest thou forget the Lord, that led thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of servage.

13 Thou shalt dread thy Lord God, and thou shalt serve him alone, and thou shalt swear by his name.

14 Ye shall not go after alien gods, of all heathen men that be in your compass or be about you;

15 for God is a fervent lover, thy Lord God is in the midst of thee, lest any time the strong vengeance or the fierceness of thy Lord God be wroth against thee, and do away thee from the face of the earth.

16 Thou shalt not tempt thy Lord God, as thou temptedest him in the place of tempting.

17 Keep thou the commandments of thy Lord God, and the witnessings, and ceremonies, which he hath commanded to thee;

18 and do thou that that is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it be well to thee, and that thou enter, and wield the best land, of which the Lord swore to thy fathers,

19 that he should do away all thine enemies before thee, as he hath spoken.

20 And when thy son shall ask thee tomorrow, that is, in time to coming, and shall say, What will or mean these witnessings, and ceremonies, and dooms to themselves, which our Lord God commanded to us?

21 thou shalt say to him, We were Pharaoh’s servants in Egypt, and the Lord led us out of Egypt, in a strong hand;

22 and he did miracles, and great wonders, and worst, that is, most painful vengeances, in Egypt, against Pharaoh, and all his house, in our sight.

23 And he led us out thereof, that he should give to us led in, the land of which he swore to our fathers.

24 And the Lord commanded to us, that we do all these lawful things, and dread our Lord God, that it be well to us, in all the days of our life, as it is today.

25 And he shall be merciful to us, if we shall do and keep all his behests, before our Lord God, as he commanded to us.

CHAPTER 7

1 When thy Lord God hath led thee into the land, into which thou shalt enter to wield, and hath done away many folks before thee, Hittites, and Girgashites, and Amorites, Canaanites, and Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites; seven folks, of much greater number than thou art, and stronger than thou;

2 and when thy Lord God hath betaken them to thee, thou shalt smite them unto death, thou shalt not make with them a bond of peace, neither thou shalt have mercy upon them,

3 neither thou shalt fellowship marriages with them; thou shalt not give thy daughter to his son, neither thou shalt take his daughter to thy son;

4 for she shall deceive thy son, that he pursue [or follow] not me, that he serve more alien gods; and then the fierce vengeance of the Lord shall be wroth, and shall do away thee soon.

5 But rather thou shalt do these things to them; destroy ye their altars, and break ye their molten images of metal, and cut ye down their woods, and burn ye their graven images.

6 For thou art an holy people to thy Lord God; thy Lord God chose thee, that thou be a special people to him, of all peoples that be on earth.

7 Not for ye overcame in number all folks, the Lord is joined to you, and chose you, since ye be fewer than all peoples;

8 but for the Lord loved you, and kept the oath which he swore to your fathers; and he led you out in [a] strong hand, and again-bought you from the house of servage, from the house of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

9 And thou shalt know, that thy Lord God himself is a strong God, and faithful, and keepeth covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments, into a thousand generations;

10 and he yieldeth anon to them that hate him, so that he destroy them, and defer, or tarry, no longer; restoring, or yielding, anon to them that that they deserve.

11 Therefore keep thou the command-ments, and ceremonies, and dooms, which I command to thee today, that thou do them.

12 If after that thou hearest these dooms, thou keepest, and doest them, thy Lord God shall keep to thee covenant, and mercy, which he swore to thy fathers.

13 And he shall love thee, and multiply thee, and he shall bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy wheat, and thy vintage, thine oil, and thy droves of beasts, and the flocks of thy sheep, on the land for which he swore to thy fathers, that he should give it to thee.

14 Thou shalt be blessed among all peoples; none barren of ever either kind shall be with thee, as well in men, as in thy flocks.

15 The Lord shall do away from thee all ache; and he shall not bring to thee the full evil sicknesses of Egypt, that thou hast known, but to all thine enemies these sicknesses shall come.

16 And thou shalt devour, that is, destroy, all [the] peoples, which thy Lord God shall give to thee; thine eye shall not spare them, neither thou shalt serve their gods, lest they be into the falling of thee.

17 If thou sayest in thine heart, These folks be more than I, how may I do away them?

18 do not thou dread, but have thou mind, what things thy Lord God did to Pharaoh, and all the Egyptians;

19 he did to them the greatest vengeances, which thine eyes saw, and miracles, and great wonders, and the strong hand, and an arm stretched out, that thy Lord God should lead thee out thence; so he shall do to all peoples which thou dreadest.

20 Furthermore and thy Lord God shall send venomous flies into them, till he do away, and destroy all men, that fled thee, and they shall not be able to be hid.

21 Thou shalt not dread them, for thy Lord God is in the midst of thee, a great God, and fearful.

22 He himself shall waste these nations in thy sight, little and little, and by parts; thou shalt not be able to do away them altogether, lest per-adventure [the] beasts of the earth be multiplied against thee;

23 and thy Lord God shall give them to thee in thy sight, and he shall slay them, till they be done away utterly.

24 And he shall betake their kings into thine hands, and thou shalt destroy their names under heaven; none shall be able to against-stand thee, till thou all-break them.

25 Thou shalt burn in fire their graven images; thou shalt not covet the silver and gold, of which those images be made, neither thou shalt take of those [or them] anything to thee, lest thou offend therefore, for it is the abom-ination of thy Lord God.

26 Neither thou shalt bring anything of the idol into thine house, lest thou be made cursed, as also that idol is; thou shalt loathe it as filth, and thou shalt have it as defouling, and as filths of abomination, for it is cursed.

CHAPTER 8

1 Be thou ware diligently, that thou do each commandment which I command to thee today, that ye may live, and be multiplied, and that ye enter, and wield the land, for which the Lord swore to your fathers.

2 And thou shalt have mind of all the way, by which thy Lord God led thee by forty years, in desert, that he should torment thee, and should assay thee; and that those things that were treated in thy soul should be known, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, either nay.

3 And he tormented thee with neediness, and he gave to thee meat, manna to eat, which thou knewest not, and thy fathers knew not, that he should show to thee, that a man liveth not in bread alone, but in each word that cometh out of the Lord’s mouth.

4 Thy clothes, with which thou were covered, failed not for eldness, and thy foot was not bruised under-neath, lo! the fortieth year is;

5 that thou think in thine heart, for as a man teacheth his son, so thy Lord God hath taught thee,

6 that thou keep the commandments of thy Lord God, and go in his ways, and dread him.

7 For thy Lord God shall lead thee into a good land, into the land of rivers, and of standing waters or ponds, and of wells, in whose fields and mountains the depths of floods break out;

8 into the land of wheat, of barley, and of vines, in which land fig trees, and pomegranates, and olives come forth; into the land of oil, and honey;

9 where thou shalt eat thy bread without neediness, and thou shalt use the plenty of all things; of which land the stones be iron, and metals of tin be digged of the hills thereof;

10 that when thou hast eaten, and art full-filled, thou bless thy Lord God for the best land which he hath given to thee.

11 Therefore keep thou, and beware, lest any time thou forget thy Lord God, and despise his commandments, and dooms, and ceremonies, which I command to thee today;

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

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

14 thine heart be then raised, and thou think not upon thy Lord God, that led thee out of the land of Egypt, and from the house of servage,

15 and he was thy leader in the great wilderness and fearful, in which wilder-ness was a serpent burning with blast, and a scorpion, and dipsas, that is, an adder, that maketh them whom he stingeth to die for thirst, and utterly no waters were in the desert, the which Lord brought out streams of the hardest stone,

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

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

18 But think thou upon thy Lord God, that he hath given strengths to thee, that he should fulfill his covenant, of which he swore to thy fathers, as this present day showeth.

19 Forsooth if thou forgettest thy Lord God, and pursuest [or followest] alien gods, and worshippest them in heart, and honourest [them]withoutforth, lo! now I before-say to thee, that thou shalt perish utterly;

20 as [the] heathen men perished, which the Lord did away in thine entering, so also ye shall perish, if ye shall be unobedient to the voice of your Lord God.

CHAPTER 9

1 Hear thou, Israel; thou shalt pass over Jordan today, that thou wield the most nations, and stronger than thou; great cities, and walled till to heaven;

2 a great people, and high; the sons of Anakim, which thyself hast seen, and heard, which no man may against-stand in the contrary part.

3 Therefore thou shalt know today that thy Lord God himself shall pass over before thee; he is a fire devour-ing and wasting, that shall all-break them, and he shall do them away, and destroy them before thy face swiftly, as he spake to thee.

4 Say thou not in thine heart, when thy Lord God hath done them away in thy sight, For my rightwiseness the Lord hath brought me in hither, that I should wield the land; since these nations be done away for their wicked-nesses.

5 For not for thy rightwiseness, and for the equity of thine heart thou shalt enter, that thou wield their land; but for they did wickedly, they were done away, when thou enteredest, and that the Lord should [ful] fill his word which he promised under an oath to thy fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Therefore know thou that not for thy rightwisenesses thy Lord God hath given to thee this best land into possession, since thou art a people of most hard noll.

7 Have thou mind, and forget not, how in the wilderness thou stirredest thy Lord God to great wrath; from that day in which thou wentest out of Egypt till to this place, thou hast striven ever[more] against the Lord.

8 For why also in Horeb, thou stirredest him, and he was wroth, and would have done thee away,

9 and when I went up into the hill, that I should take two tables of stone, the tables of covenant which the Lord made with you, and I abode in the hill forty days and forty nights, and I ate not bread, and I drank not water.

10 And the Lord gave to me two tables of stone, ever either written with God’s finger, and containing all the words which he spake to you in the hill, from the midst of the fire, when the company of people was gathered together.

11 And when forty days and so many nights had passed, the Lord gave to me two tables of stone, tables of the bond of peace;

12 and he said to me, Rise thou, and go down from hence soon, for thy people, that thou hast led out of Egypt, have forsaken swiftly the way that thou showedest to them, and they have made to them[selves] a molten calf.

13 And again the Lord said to me, I see that this people is of an hard noll;

14 suffer thou me, that I all-break him, and do away his name from under heaven; and I shall ordain thee on a folk which is greater and stronger than this folk.

15 And when I came down from the hill burning, and I held with either hand the two tables of the bond of peace,

16 and I saw, that ye had sinned to your Lord God, and had made to you a molten calf, and that ye had forsaken swiftly the way of God that he had showed to you,

17 then I threw down the tables from mine hands, and I brake those tables in your sight.

18 And I felled down before the Lord as before, in forty days and forty nights, and I ate not bread, and drank not water, for all your sins which ye did against the Lord, and stirred him to great wrath;

19 for I dreaded the indignation and the wrath of the Lord, by which he was stirred against you, and would do you away. And the Lord heard me also in this time praying for you.

20 Also the Lord was wroth greatly against Aaron, and would have all-broken him, and I prayed in like manner for him.

21 Forsooth I took your sin which ye made, that is, the calf, and burnt it in fire, and I all-brake it into gobbets, and I made it utterly into dust, and I cast it forth into the strand [or stream], that came down from the hill.

22 Also in the burning, and in the temptation at the waters of Against-saying, and in the Sepulchres of Covet-ousness, ye stirred the Lord;

23 and when I sent you from Kadesh-barnea, and said, Go ye up, and wield ye the land which I have given to you, and ye despised the com-mandment of your Lord God, and ye believed not to him, neither ye would hear his voice;

24 but ever[more] ye were rebel, from the day in which I began to know you.

25 And I lay before the Lord forty days and forty nights, in which I besought him meekly, that he should not do away you, as he menaced [or threatened].

26 And I prayed him, and said, Lord God, destroy not thy people, and thine heritage, which thou again-boughtest in thy greatness, which thou leddest out of Egypt in strong hand.

27 Have thou mind of thy servants, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; behold thou not the hardness of this people, and the wickedness, and the sin thereof,

28 lest peradventure the dwellers of the land, out of which thou leddest us, say, The Lord might not bring them into the land which he promised to them, and he hated them; therefore he led them out that he should slay them in wilderness;

29 and Lord, they be thy people, and thine heritage, which thou leddest out in thy great strength, and in thine arm stretched forth.

CHAPTER 10

1 In that time the Lord said to me, Hew thou two tables of stone to thee, as the former were; and go thou up to me into the hill. And thou shalt make an ark, either a coffer, of wood,

2 and I shall write in the tables, the words that were in these tables which thou brakest before; and thou shalt put those tables into the ark.

3 Therefore I made an ark of the wood of shittim, and when I had hewn the two tables of stone, at the likeness of the former tables, I went up into the hill, and I had the tables in mine hands.

4 And he wrote in the tables, by that that he had written before, the ten words, which the Lord spake to you in the hill, from the midst of the fire, when the people was gathered, and the Lord gave the tables to me.

5 And I turned again from the hill, and came down, and I put the tables into the ark that I had made, which tables be there hitherto, as the Lord commanded to me.

6 And the sons of Israel moved their tents from Beeroth of the sons of Jaakan into Mosera, where Aaron was dead, and buried, for whom his son Eleazar was set in priesthood.

7 From thence they came into Gudgodah; from which place they went forth, and setted tents in Jot-bathah, in the land of waters and of strands [or streams].

8 In that time I separated the lineage of Levi, that it should bear the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, and it should stand before him in service, and should bless in his name, into this present day.

9 For which thing Levi had no part, neither possession with his brethren, for the Lord himself is his possession, as thy Lord God promised to him.

10 And I stood in the hill as I did before, forty days and forty nights, and the Lord heard me also in this time, and he would not lose thee.

11 And he said to me, Go thou, and go before this people, that it enter, and wield the land which I swore to their fathers, that I should give to them.

12 And now, Israel, what asketh thy Lord God of thee, but that thou dread thy Lord, and go in his ways, and that thou love him, and serve thy Lord God in all thine heart, and in all thy soul;

13 and that thou keep the command-ments of thy Lord God, and the ceremonies of him, which I command to thee today, that it be well to thee.

14 Lo! heaven is of thy Lord God, and heaven of heaven; the earth and all things that be therein be his;

15 and nevertheless the Lord was joined to thy fathers, and he loved them, and he chose their seed after them, and you of all folks, as it is proved today.

16 Therefore circumcise ye the prepuce, that is, the uncleanness, of your heart, and no more make ye hard your noll.

17 For your Lord God himself is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, and mighty, and fearful, which taketh not a person, neither gifts, but justly he deemeth rich and poor.

18 He maketh doom to the father-less, and motherless, and to the widow; he loveth a pilgrim, and giveth to him lifelode and clothing.

19 And therefore love ye pilgrims, for also ye were comelings in the land of Egypt.

20 Thou shalt dread thy Lord God, and thou shalt serve him alone, and thou shalt cleave to him, and thou shalt swear in his name.

21 He is thy praising, and thy God, that made to thee these great works, and fearful, which thine eyes have seen.

22 In seventy men thy fathers went down into Egypt, and lo! now thy Lord God hath multiplied thee as the stars of heaven.

CHAPTER 11

1 Therefore love thy Lord God, and keep thou his commandments, and ceremonies, and dooms, and his behests, in all time.

2 Know ye today those things which your sons know not, which sons have not seen the doctrine of your Lord God, nor his great works, and his strong hand, and his stretched arm,

3 his miracles, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt, to Pharaoh, [the] king, and to all his land,

4 and to all the host of the Egyptians, and to their horses, and cars [or chariots]; how the waters of the Red Sea covered them, when they pursued you, and the Lord did away them till into present day;

5 and which things the Lord did to you in wilderness, till ye came to this place;

6 and to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, that was the son of Reuben, which the earth swallowed, when his mouth was opened, with their households, and tabernacles, and all the chattel that they had, in the midst of Israel.

7 Your eyes saw all the great works of the Lord, which he did,

8 that ye keep all his behests which I command today to you, and that ye may enter, and wield the land,

9 to which ye shall enter, and ye live therein much time; which land, flowing with milk and honey, the Lord promised under an oath to your fathers and their seed.

10 For the land, to which thou shalt enter to wield, is not as the land of Egypt, out of which thou wentest, where when the seed is sown in the manner of gardens, moist waters be led thereto;

11 but the land that Israel shall wield is hills, and fields, and it abideth rains from heaven,

12 which land thy Lord God behold-eth, and his eyes be therein, from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof.

13 Therefore if ye shall obey to my behests which I command today to you, that ye love your Lord God, and serve him in all your heart, and in all your soul;

14 he shall give to your land rain timely and late, that ye gather wheat, and wine, and oil,

15 hay of the fields to feed beasts, that ye both eat and be full-filled.

16 Be ye ware, lest peradventure your heart be deceived, and ye go away from the Lord, and serve alien gods, and worship them;

17 and the Lord therefore be wroth, and close heaven, and rain come not down, neither the earth give his fruit, and ye perish swiftly from the full good land that the Lord shall give to you.

18 Put ye these my words in your hearts and in your souls, and hang ye them up for a token, or a sign, in your hands, and set ye them betwixt your eyes.

19 Teach ye your sons, that they think upon those words, when thou sittest in thine house, and goest in the way, and liest down, and risest up.

20 Thou shalt write those words upon the doorposts, and the gates of thine house,

21 that the days of thee and of thy sons be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to thy fathers, that he should give to them, as long as heaven is above earth.

22 For if ye keep the behests which I command to you, and do those [or them], that ye love your Lord God, and go in all his ways, and cleave to him,

23 the Lord shall destroy all these heathen men before your face, and ye shall wield those folks that be greater and stronger than ye.

24 Each place which your foot shall tread, shall be yours; from the desert, and from Lebanon, and from the great flood Euphrates unto the west sea, shall be your terms.

25 None shall stand against you; your Lord God shall give your outward dread and your inward dread upon each land that ye shall tread, as he spake to you.

26 Lo! I set forth in your sight today blessing and cursing;

27 blessing, if ye obey to the behests of your Lord God, which I command to you today;

28 cursing, if ye hear not the behests of your Lord God, but go away from the way which I show now to you, and go after alien gods, which ye know not.

29 Soothly when thy Lord God hath brought thee into the land, to which to inhabit thou goest, thou shalt set blessing upon the hill Gerizim, cursing upon the hill Ebal,

30 which hills be beyond Jordan, after the way that goeth to the going down of the sun, in the land of Canaanites, that dwell in the field places against Gilgal, which is beside the valley going and entering far.

31 For ye shall pass over Jordan, that ye wield the land which your Lord God shall give to you, and that ye have and wield that land.

32 Therefore see ye, that ye fulfill the ceremonies and dooms, which I shall set today in your sight.

CHAPTER 12

1 These be the behests and dooms, which ye owe to do, in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers shall give to thee, that thou wield it, in all days in which thou shalt go upon [the] earth.

2 Destroy ye all the places wherein [the] heathen men which ye shall wield, worshipped their gods, on high mountains, and little hills, and under each tree full of boughs.

3 Destroy ye their altars, and break their images; and burn ye the woods with fire, and all-break ye the idols; destroy ye their names from the places.

4 Ye shall not do so to your Lord God;

5 but ye shall come to the place which your Lord God choose of all your lineages, that he put his name there, and dwell therein;

6 and ye shall come thither, and offer in that place your burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, the tithes, and first fruits of your hands, and avows [or vows], and gifts, and the first engendered things of your oxen, and of sheep.

7 And ye and your houses shall eat there in the sight of your Lord God; and ye shall be glad in all things to which ye put the hand, in which your Lord God hath blessed you.

8 Ye shall not do there those things which we do here today, each man that that seemeth rightful [or right] to himself.

9 For unto the time that is now, ye came not to rest, and to [the] pos-session, which the Lord God shall give to you.

10 Ye shall pass over Jordan, and ye shall dwell in the land which your Lord God shall give to you, that ye rest from all enemies about, and that ye dwell without any dread.

11 In the place which your Lord God choose that his name be therein. Thither ye shall bear all things, which I command to you, burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices, and the tithes, and the first fruits of your hands, and whatever is the best thing in gifts, which ye avow to the Lord.

12 There ye shall eat before your Lord God, ye, and your sons, and daughters, your menservants, and womenservants, and the deacons [or Levites], that dwell in your cities; for they have none other part and possession among you.

13 Be thou ware lest thou offer thy burnt sacrifices in each place that thou seest,

14 but in that place which the Lord [shall] choose in one of thy lineages, thou shalt offer sacrifices, and thou shalt do whatever things I command to thee.

15 For if thou wilt eat, and the eating of flesh delighteth thee, slay thou, and eat, by the blessing of thy Lord God, that he hath given to thee in thy cities, whether it is unclean, that is, spotted, either wemmed, and feeble, either clean, and without wem, that is, whole in each member, which is leaveful to be offered, thou shalt eat those, as a capret, and an hart;

16 only without eating of [the] blood, which thou shalt shed [or pour] out as water upon the earth.

17 Thou shalt not be able to eat in thy cities the tithes of thy wheat, thy wine, and of thine oil, nor the first engendered things of thy droves, and of thy sheep, and all things which thou hast avowed, and wilt offer by free will, and the first fruits of thine hands;

18 but thou shalt eat those things before thy Lord God, in the place which thy Lord God choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant, and thy womanservant, and the deacon [or Levite] that dwelleth in thy cities; and thou shalt be glad, and thou shalt be fulfilled before thy Lord God in all things to which thou holdest forth thine hand.

19 Be thou ware lest thou forsake the deacon [or the Levite] in all time, in which thou livest in earth.

20 When thy Lord God hath alarged thy terms, as he spake to thee, and thou wilt eat flesh, which thy soul desireth,

21 forsooth if the place is far, which thy Lord God choose, that his name be there, thou shalt slay of thine oxen, and sheep, which thou hast, as the Lord commanded to thee; and thou shalt eat in thy cities as it pleaseth thee.

22 As a capret and an hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat those [or them]; both a clean man and an unclean shall eat thereof in common.

23 Only eschew thou this, that thou eat not blood; for the blood of those beasts is for the life, and therefore thou owest not eat the life with fleshes,

24 but thou shalt pour it out as water upon the earth,

25 that it be well to thee, and to thy sons after thee, when thou hast done that, that pleaseth in the sight of the Lord.

26 Soothly thou shalt take that that thou hast avowed, and hallowed to the Lord, and thou shalt come to the place which the Lord choose;

27 and thou shalt offer there thine offerings, and flesh, and blood, upon the altar of thy Lord God; thou shalt pour in the altar the blood of the sacrifices; but thou shalt eat the flesh.

28 Keep thou and hear all things which I command to thee, that it be well to thee, and to thy sons after thee, without end, when thou hast done that, that is good and pleasing in the sight of thy Lord God.

29 When thy Lord God hath destroyed before thy face [the] folks, to which thou shalt enter and wield, and when thou hast wielded those folks, and hast dwelled in their land,

30 be thou ware lest thou pursue [or follow] them, after that they be destroyed, when thou enterest, and thou seek their ceremonies, and say, As these folks worshipped their gods, so and I shall worship.

31 Thou shalt not do in like manner to thy Lord God; for they did to their gods all the abominations which the Lord loatheth, and they offered their sons and their daughters, and they burnt them with fire.

32 Do thou to the Lord this thing only which I command to thee, neither add thou anything, neither abate.

CHAPTER 13

1 If a prophet riseth in the midst of thee, either he that saith himself to have seen a dream, and he before-saith a sign, and a wonder to come after,

2 and this thing that he said befalleth, and he saith to thee, Go we, and pursue [or follow] we alien gods, which thou knowest not, and serve we them,

3 thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet, either of that dreamer; for your Lord God assayeth you, that he know openly whether ye love him, either nay, in all your heart, and in all your soul.

4 Pursue [or follow] ye your Lord God, and dread ye him; keep ye his commandments, and hear ye his voice; ye shall serve him, and ye shall cleave to him.

5 And that prophet, either feigner of dreams, shall be slain; for he spake that he should turn you away from your Lord God, that led you out of the land of Egypt, and again-bought you from the house of servage, that he make thee to err from the way that thy Lord God commanded to thee; and in killing of him thou shalt do away evil from the midst of thee.

6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, either thy son, either thy daughter, either the wife which is in thy bosom, either thy friend, whom thou lovest as thy soul, will counsel thee, and saith privily, Go we and serve alien gods, which thou knowest not, and thy fathers know not,

7 of all the folks about, that be nigh either far, from the beginning unto the end of the land,

8 assent thou not to him, neither hear thou him, neither thine eye spare him, that thou have mercy of him, and hide him,

9 but anon thou shalt slay him. Thine hand be first upon him, and after thee, all the people put to hand.

10 He shall be oppressed with stones, and shall be slain; for he would draw thee away from thy Lord God, that led thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of servage,

11 that all Israel hear this and dread, and do no more anything like this thing.

12 If thou hearest any men saying in one of thy cities, which thy Lord God shall give thee to dwell in,

13 The sons of Belial went out from the midst of thee, and turned away the dwellers of the city, and said, Go we, and serve alien gods, which ye knew not,

14 inquire thou busily, and when the truth of the thing is beholden diligently, if thou findest that this thing is certain, that is said, and that this abomination is done indeed,

15 anon thou shalt smite the dwellers of that city with the sharpness of sword, and thou shalt destroy that city, and all things that be therein, unto the beasts.

16 Also whatever thing of appurtenance of household is found there, thou shalt gather it together in [the] midst of the streets thereof, and thou shalt burn it with that city, so that thou waste all things before thy Lord God, and it be a burial everlasting; it shall no more be builded.

17 And nothing of that cursing shall dwell in thine hand, that the Lord be turned away from the wrath of his strong vengeance, and have mercy upon thee, and multiply thee, as he swore to thy fathers.

18 When thou hast heard the voice of thy Lord God, thou shalt keep all his behests which I command to thee today, that thou do that thing that is pleasing in the sight of thy Lord God.

CHAPTER 14

1 Be ye the sons of your Lord God; ye shall not cut yourselves, neither ye shall make baldness, upon a dead man,

2 for thou art an holy people to thy Lord God, and he chose thee that thou be to him into a special people, of all the folks that be upon earth.

3 Eat ye not those things that be unclean.

4 This is a beast which ye shall eat; an ox, and a sheep, and a goat,

5 an hart, a capret, a wild ox, tragelaph, that is, a beast in part like a goat buck, and in part like an hart, a pygarg, an ostrich, a camelopard.

6 Ye shall eat each beast that parteth the claw into two parts, and cheweth the cud.

7 And ye shall not eat these beasts, of them that chew the cud, and part not the claw; a camel, an hare, and a coney; for these chew the cud, and part not the claw, they shall be unclean to you;

8 also a swine, for it parteth the claw, and cheweth not the cud, shall be unclean; ye shall not eat the flesh of them, and ye shall not touch their dead bodies.

9 Ye shall eat these things, of all that dwell in waters; eat ye those things that have fins and scales;

10 eat ye not those things that be without fins and scales, for those be unclean.

11 Eat ye all clean birds;

12 eat ye not unclean birds, that is, an eagle, and a gripe, and an aliet,

13 an heron, and a vulture, and a kite by his kind,

14 and all thing of ravens’ kind,

15 and a struthio, and a night crow, and a lari, and an hawk by his kind,

16 a falcon, and a swan, and a ciconia,

17 and a dipper, a porphyrio, and a rearmouse, a cormorant,

18 and a calidris, all in their kind; also a lapwing and a bat.

19 And all thing that creepeth, and hath fins, shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten.

20 Eat ye all thing that is clean;

21 but whatever thing is dead by itself, eat ye not thereof. Give thou meat to the pilgrim that is within thy gates, that he eat, either sell thou meat to him, for thou art an holy people of thy Lord God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

22 Thou shalt separate the tenth part of all thy fruits that come forth in the land by each year;

23 and thou shalt eat in the sight of thy Lord God, in the place which he choose, that his name be called therein; thou shalt offer the tithe of thy wheat, of wine, and oil, and the first engendered things of thy droves, and of thy sheep, that thou learn to dread thy Lord God in all time.

24 But when the way is longer, and the place that thy Lord God choose is far, and he hath blessed, or increased, thee, and thou mayest not bring all these things to that place,

25 thou shalt sell all these things, and shalt turn them into price, and thou shalt bear them in thine hand, and thou shalt go to the place which thy Lord God choose;

26 and thou shalt buy of the same money whatever thing pleaseth to thee, either of droves, either of sheep; also thou shalt buy wine, and cider, and all things that thy soul desireth; and thou shalt eat before thy Lord God, and thou shalt make feast, thou, and thine house,

27 and the deacon [or Levite] that is within thy gates; be thou ware lest thou forsake him, for he hath not other part in thy possession.

28 In the third year thou shalt separate another tithe of all things that grow to thee in that year, and thou shalt keep it within thy gates.

29 And the deacon [or Levite] shall come, that hath none other part nor possession with thee, and the pilgrim, and the fatherless, either motherless child, and the widow, that be within thy gates, and they shall eat, and be fulfilled, that thy Lord God bless thee, in all the works of thine hands which thou shalt do.

CHAPTER 15

1 In the seventh year thou shalt make remission,

2 that shall be fulfilled by this order. To whom anything is owed, of his friend, either neighbour, and brother, he shall not be able to ask it, for it is the year of remission, or forgiveness, of the Lord.

3 Thou shalt ask it of a pilgrim, that is, a stranger, or he that is not of the faith of Jews, and of a comeling; thou hast no power to ask it of a citizen and of a neighbour;

4 and utterly a needy man and a beggar shall not be among you, that thy Lord God bless thee, in the land which he shall give to thee into possession.

5 If nevertheless thou shalt hear the voice of thy Lord God, and shalt keep all things which he commanded, and which I command today to thee,

6 he shall bless thee, as he promised. Thou shalt lend to many folks, and thou shalt not take borrowing of any man; thou shalt be lord of full many nations, and no man shall be lord of thee.

7 If one of thy brethren that dwell within the gates of thy city, in the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee, cometh to poverty, thou shalt not make hard thine heart, neither thou shalt withdraw thine hand,

8 but thou shalt open it to the poor man, and thou shalt lend him whatso thou seest him have need to.

9 Be thou ware lest peradventure [a] wicked thought creep privily to thee, and thou say in thine heart, The seventh year of remission, nigheth; and thou turn away thine eyes from thy poor brother, and thou wilt not give to him the loan that he asketh; lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be made to thee into sin.

10 But thou shalt give to him, and thou shalt not do anything falsely in relieving his needs, that thy Lord God bless thee in all time, and in all things to which thou shalt put to thine hand.

11 Poor men shall not fail in the land of thy dwelling; therefore I command to thee, that thou open thy hand to thy brother needy poor, that live with thee in the land.

12 When thy brother, an Hebrew man, either an Hebrew woman, is sold to thee, and hath served thee six years, in the seventh year thou shalt deliver him free.

13 And thou shalt not suffer him go away from thee void, to whom thou hast given freedom;

14 but thou shalt give him lifelode in the way, of thy flocks, and of thy cornfloor, and of thy presser [or wine press], in which thy Lord God hath blessed thee.

15 Have thou mind that also thou servedest in the land of Egypt, and thy Lord God delivered thee, and therefore I command now to thee.

16 But if he say, I will not go out, for he loveth thee, and thine house, and he feeleth that it is well to him with thee,

17 thou shalt take an awl, and thou shalt pierce his ear in the door of thine house, and he shall serve thee till into the world; also thou shalt do in like manner to an handmaid.

18 Thou shalt not turn away from them thine eyes, when thou shalt deliver them free, for by the hire of an hired man they served thee by six years; that thy Lord God bless thee, in all the works which thou doest.

19 Of the first engendered things that be born in thy droves, and in thy sheep, whatever is of male kind, thou shalt hallow to thy Lord God. Thou shalt not work with the first engend-ered thing of oxen, and thou shalt not shear the first engendered things of sheep.

20 Thou shalt eat those [or them] by all years in the sight of thy Lord God, thou, and thine house, in the place which the Lord choose.

21 And if it have a wem, either is crooked, either blind, either is foul, either feeble in any part, it shall not be offered to thy Lord God;

22 but thou shalt eat it within the gates of thy city, both a clean man and an unclean shall eat of those [or them] in like manner, as of a capret, and of an hart.

23 Only thou shalt keep this, that thou eat not the blood of those [or them], but shed [or pour] it out as water into the earth.

CHAPTER 16

1 Keep thou the month of new fruits, and of the beginning of summer, that thou make pask to thy Lord God; for in this month thy Lord God led thee out of Egypt in the night.

2 And thou shalt offer pask to thy Lord God, of sheep, and of oxen, in the place which thy Lord God choose, that his name dwell there.

3 Thou shalt not eat therein bread dighted with sourdough; in seven days thou shalt eat bread of affliction, with-out sourdough, for suddenly, either hastily, thou wentest out of Egypt, that thou have mind of the day of thy going out of Egypt, in all the days of thy life.

4 Nothing dighted with sourdough shall appear in all thy coasts by seven days, and of the flesh of that that is offered in the eventide, shall not dwell in the first day in the morrowtide.

5 Thou shalt not be able to offer pask in each of thy cities which thy Lord God shall give to thee,

6 but in the place which thy Lord God choose, that his name dwell there; thou shalt offer pask in the eventide, at the going down of the sun, when thou wentest out of Egypt.

7 And thou shalt seethe thy offering, and eat it, in the place which thy Lord God hath chosen, and thou shalt rise in the morrowtide of the second day, and thou shalt go into thy tabernacles.

8 Six days thou shalt eat therf bread; and in the seventh day, for it is the gathering of thy Lord God, thou shalt not do work.

9 Thou shalt number to thee seven weeks, from that day in which thou settedest a sickle into the corn;

10 and thou shalt hallow the feast days of weeks to thy Lord God, a willful offering of thine hand, which thou shalt offer by the blessing of thy Lord God.

11 And thou shalt eat before thy Lord God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy servant, and thine handmaid, and the deacon or Levite that is within thy gates, and the comeling, and the fatherless, either motherless child, and the widow, that dwell with you, in the place which thy Lord God choose, that his name dwell there.

12 And thou shalt have mind for thou were servant in Egypt, and thou shalt keep and do those things that be commanded.

13 And thou shalt hallow the solemnity of tabernacles by seven days, when thou hast gathered thy fruits of thy cornfloor, and of the presser [or wine press].

14 And thou shalt eat in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thine hand-maid, also the deacon [or Levite], and the comeling, and the fatherless, either motherless child, and the widow, that be within thy gates.

15 By seven days thou shalt hallow feasts to thy Lord God, in the place which the Lord choose; and thy Lord God shall bless thee, in all thy fruits, and in all the work of thine hands, and thou shalt be in gladness.

16 In three times by the year all thy male kind shall appear in the sight of thy Lord, in the place which he choose, in the solemnity of therf loaves, and in the solemnity of weeks, and in the solemnity of tabernacles. A man shall not appear void before the Lord;

17 but each man shall offer after that that he hath, by the blessing of his Lord God, that he gave to him.

18 Thou shalt ordain judges, and exactors, in all thy gates which thy Lord God shall give to thee, by each of thy lineages, that they deem the people by just [or right] doom,

19 and bow they not into the other part for favour, either gift. Thou shalt not take a person, neither gifts, for why gifts blind the eyes of wise men, and change the words of just [or rightwise] men.

20 Thou shalt pursue justly [or right-wisely] that that is just [or right], that thou live, and wield the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee.

21 Thou shalt not plant a wood, and each tree, by the altar of thy Lord God;

22 neither thou shalt make to thee, and ordain an image; which things thy Lord God hateth.

CHAPTER 17

1 Thou shalt not offer to thy Lord God an ox and a sheep in which is a wem, either anything of vice or reproof, for it is abomination to thy Lord God.

2 And when a man either a woman, that do evil in the sight of thy Lord God, be found with thee, within one of thy gates which thy Lord God shall give to thee, and they break the covenant of God,

3 that they go and serve alien gods, and worship them, the sun, and the moon, and all the knighthood of heaven, which things I commanded not;

4 and this is told to thee, and thou hearest it, and inquirest diligently, and thou findest that it is sooth, and that abomination is done in Israel;

5 thou shalt lead out the man and the woman, that did that most cursed thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be oppressed with stones.

6 He that shall be slain, shall perish in the mouth of twain [or two], either of three witnesses; no man be slain, for one man saith witnessing against him.

7 The hand of the witnesses shall first slay him, and at the last the hand of the other people shall be put to, for to throw him down with stones, that thou do away evil from the midst of thee.

8 If thou perceivest, that hard and doubtful doom is with thee, betwixt blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and not leprosy, and thou seest that the words of [the] judges within thy gates be diverse in their deeming; rise thou, and go up to the place that thy Lord God hath chosen;

9 and thou shalt come to the priests of the kin of Levi, and to the judge that is in that time, and thou shalt ask of them, which shall show to thee the truth of [the] doom.

10 And thou shalt do, whatever thing they say, that be sovereigns in the place which the Lord choose, and teach thee by the law of the Lord;

11 thou shalt pursue [or follow] the sentence of them; thou shalt not bow therefrom to the right side, either to the left.

12 For that man shall die, that is proud, and will not obey to the behest of the priest, that ministereth in that time to thy Lord God, and to the sentence of the judge, and thou shalt do away evil from the midst of Israel;

13 and all the people shall hear, and dread, that no man from thenceforth swell with pride.

14 When thou hast entered into the land, which thy Lord God shall give to thee, and wieldest it, and dwellest therein, and sayest, I shall ordain a king on me, as all nations by compass have;

15 thou shalt ordain him, whom thy Lord God chooseth, of the number of thy brethren. Thou shalt not be able to make king a man of another folk, which man is not thy brother.

16 And when the king is ordained, he shall not multiply horses to him, neither he shall lead again the people into Egypt, neither he shall be raised into pride, or tyranny, by the number of knights, mostly since the Lord commanded to you, that ye turn no more again by the same way.

17 The king shall not have many wives, that draw his mind to lusts, neither he shall have great weights of silver and of gold.

18 Forsooth after that he hath set in the throne of his realm, he shall write to himself, that is, shall make to be written, the deuteronomy, that is, declaration, of this law in a book, and he shall take exemplar of priests of the kin of Levi;

19 and he shall have it with him, and he shall read it in all the days of his life, that he learn to dread his Lord God, and to keep his words and his ceremonies, that be commanded in the law;

20 neither his heart be raised into pride on his brethren, neither bow he into the right side, either left side, that he reign long time, he and his sons on Israel.

CHAPTER 18

1 Priests and deacons [or Levites], and all men that be of the same lineage, shall have no part and heritage with the tother people of Israel, for they shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord, and the offerings of him;

2 and they shall not take any other thing of the possession of their brethren; for the Lord himself is their heritage, as he spake to them.

3 This shall be the doom of priests, that is, the thing justly given, either granted, of the people, and of them that offer sacrifices; whether they offer an ox, either a sheep, they shall give to the priest the shoulder, and the paunch,

4 the first fruits of wheat, and of wine, and of oil, and a part of wools of the shearing of sheep.

5 For thy Lord God hath chosen him of all thy lineages, that he stand and minister to the name of the Lord, he and his sons, without end.

6 If a deacon [or Levite] goeth out of one of thy cities of all Israel, in which he dwelleth, and will come and desireth the place which the Lord choose,

7 he shall minister in the name of his Lord God, as all his brethren deacons [or Levites], that shall stand in that time before the Lord.

8 He shall take the same part of meats, that also other deacons shall take; besides that that is due to him in his city, by succession, either heritage, of father.

9 When thou hast entered into the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee, be thou ware lest thou wilt pursue [or follow] the abominations of those folks;

10 none be found in thee that cleanseth his son, either his daughter, and leadeth by the fire, either that asketh questions of diviners that divine about the altars, and that taketh heed to dreams, and chittering of birds; neither any witch be,

11 neither any enchanter or tregetour, that is, he who deceiveth men’s eyes so that a thing seem that which it is not; neither a man take counsel of them that have a fiend speaking within them, neither of false diviners, neither seek of dead men the truth.

12 For the Lord hath abomination of all these things, and for such wicked-nesses he shall do away them in thine entering.

13 Thou shalt be perfect, and without filth, with thy Lord God.

14 These heathen men, whose land thou shalt wield, hear them that work by chittering of birds, and false diviners; but thou art taught in other manner of thy Lord God.

15 Thy Lord God shall raise a prophet of thy folk, and of thy brethren, as me, to thee, thou shalt hear him;

16 as thou askedest of thy Lord God in Horeb, when the company was gathered together, and thou saidest, I shall no more hear the voice of my Lord God, and I shall no more see this greatest fire, lest I die.

17 And the Lord said to me, They have spoken well all things.

18 I shall raise to them a prophet, like thee, of the midst of their brethren, and I shall put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all things, which I shall command to him.

19 And I shall be avenger of him, that will not hear his words, which he shall speak in my name.

20 Soothly a prophet shall be slain, which is depraved with pride, and will speak in my name those things, which I commanded not to him, that he should say, either by the name of alien gods.

21 That if thou answerest by privy thought, How may I understand the word, which the Lord spake not?

22 thou shalt have this sign, or token, if that that that prophet saith before in the name of the Lord, cometh not, the Lord spake it not, but he feigned it through pride of his soul, and there-fore thou shalt not dread him.

CHAPTER 19

1 When thy Lord God hath destroyed the folks, whose land he shall give to thee, and thou hast wielded it, and hast dwelled in the cities, and in [the] houses thereof;

2 thou shalt separate three cities to thee in the midst of the land, which thy Lord God shall give to thee into possession.

3 Thou shalt make ready diligently the way, and thou shalt part evenly into three parts all the provinces of thy land, that he that is exiled for manslaying, have nigh hand whither he may escape.

4 This shall be the law of a man-slayer fleeing, whose life shall be kept. If a man smiteth unwittingly his neighbour, and which is proved to have not had any hatred against him yesterday, and the third day ago,

5 but to have gone simply with him into the wood to hew down trees, and in the felling down of trees the ax flieth from his hand, and the iron slideth from the helve, and smiteth, and slayeth his friend; this man shall flee to one of the foresaid cities, and shall live;

6 lest peradventure the next kinsman of him, whose blood is shed out, be pricked with sorrow, and pursue, and take him, if the way is longer, and slay his life, that is not guilty of death; for it is showed that he had not any hatred before against him that is slain.

7 Therefore I command to thee, that thou separate three cities of even space betwixt themselves.

8 Forsooth when thy Lord God hath alarged thy terms, as he swore to thy fathers, and hath given to thee all the land which he promised to them;

9 if nevertheless thou keepest his commandments, and doest those things which I command to thee today, that thou love thy Lord God, and go in his ways in all time, thou shalt add to thee three other cities, and thou shalt double the number of the foresaid cities,

10 that guiltless blood be not shed out in the midst of the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee to have in possession, lest thou be guilty of blood.

11 Forsooth if any man hateth his neighbour, and setteth ambushes to his life, and riseth up against him privily, and smiteth him, and he is dead, and the manslayer fleeth to one of the foresaid cities,

12 the elder men of that city shall send, and take him from the place of refuge; and they shall betake him into the hand of the next kinsman of him, whose blood is shed out, and he shall die,

13 and thou shalt not have mercy upon him; and thou shalt do away guilty blood from Israel, that it be well to thee.

14 Thou shalt not take, and turn over, the terms of thy neighbour, which the former men set in thy possession, which thy Lord God shall give to thee in the land, which land thou shalt take to be wielded.

15 One witness shall not stand against any man, whatever thing it is of sin, and of wickedness; but each word shall stand in the mouth of twain [or two], either of three witnesses.

16 If a false witness standeth against a man, and accuseth him of breaking of the law,

17 both they, of whom the cause is, shall stand before the Lord, in the sight of priests, and of judges, that be in those days.

18 And when they seeking the cause most diligently, have found that the false witness said a lie against his brother,

19 they shall yield to him, as he thought to have done to his brother; and thou shalt do away evil from the midst of thee,

20 that other men hear, and have dread, and be no more hardy to do such things. Thou shalt not have mercy on him,

21 but thou shalt ask life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

CHAPTER 20

1 If thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and thou seest a multitude of knights, and of chariots, and a greater multitude of the adversary’s host than thou hast, thou shalt not dread them; for thy Lord God is with thee, that led thee out of the land of Egypt.

2 Soothly when the battle nigheth now, the priest shall stand before the battle array, and thus he shall speak to the people,

3 Thou, Israel, hear today, ye have battle against your enemies; your heart dread not, be ye not afeared; do not ye give stead, dread ye not them;

4 for your Lord God is in the midst of you, and he shall fight for you against your adversaries, that he deliver you from peril.

5 But the leaders shall cry by all the companies, while the host shall hear, Who is the man that hath builded a new house, and hath hallowed not it? go he and turn again into his house, lest peradventure he die in battle, and another man hallow it.

6 Who is the man that planted a vinery [or vine], and hath not yet made it to be common, and of which it is leaveful to all men to eat? go he, and turn again into his house, lest peradventure he die in battle, and another man be set in his office.

7 Who is the man that hath espoused a wife, and hath not taken her by fleshly knowing? go he, and turn again into his house, lest peradventure he die in battle, and another man take her.

8 When these things be said, the leaders of the host shall add to other things, and they shall speak to the people, and say, Who is a fearful man, and of dreadful heart? go he, and turn again into his house, lest he make his brethren’s hearts to dread, as he is aghast by dread.

9 And when the dukes of the host be still, and have made end of speaking, each chieftain of thy host shall make ready his companies to battle.

10 If any time thou shalt go to a city to overcome it, first thou shalt proffer peace to it.

11 If the city receiveth thy peace, and openeth to thee the gates, all the people that is therein shall be saved, and it shall serve thee under tribute.

12 But if they will not make bond of peace with thee, and begin battle against thee, thou shalt fight against it.

13 And when thy Lord God hath betaken it in thine hands, thou shalt smite by the sharpness of sword all thing of male kind that is therein,

14 without women, and young chil-dren, beasts, and other things that be in the city. Thou shalt part all the prey to the host, and thou shalt eat of the spoils of thine enemies, which spoils thy Lord God hath given to thee.

15 Thus thou shalt do to all the cities, that be full far from thee, and be not of these cities which thou shalt take into possession.

16 But of these cities that shall be given to thee, thou shalt not suffer any to live, but thou shalt slay by the sharpness of sword;

17 that is to say, Hittites, and Amorites, and Canaanites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, as thy Lord God hath commanded to thee;

18 lest peradventure they teach you to do all the abominations, which they have wrought to their gods, and ye do sin against your Lord God.

19 When thou hast besieged a city by long time, and thou hast compassed it with strongholds that thou overcome it, thou shalt not cut down the trees, of which men may eat/of which fruit may be eaten, neither thou shalt waste the country about with axes; for it is a tree, and not a man, neither it may increase the number of fighters against thee.

20 And if any of them be not apple trees, but be wild, and able into other uses, cut them down, and make of them engines, till thou take the city that fighteth against thee.

CHAPTER 21

1 When the carrion of a man slain is found in the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee, and he that is guilty of his death is unknown,

2 the greater men in birth and thy judges shall go out, and they shall mete from the place of the carrion the spaces of all the cities about;

3 and which city they see to be nearer that carrion, than another, the elder men of that city shall take of [the] drove a cow calf, that hath not drawn yoke, neither hath cut the earth with a ploughshare;

4 and they shall lead that cow calf to a sharp stony valley, that was never eared, nor received seed; and in that valley they shall cut the head off the cow calf.

5 And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall nigh, which thy Lord God chose, that they minister to him, and bless in his name, and all the cause shall hang at their word; and whatever thing is clean either unclean, be it deemed by them.

6 And the greater men in birth of that city shall come to the slain man, and they shall wash their hands on the cow calf, that was slain in the valley;

7 and they shall say, Our hands shed not out this blood, neither our eyes have seen who shed it.

8 Lord, be merciful to thy people Israel, whom thou hast again-bought, and areckon thou not innocent blood in the midst of thy people Israel. And the guilt of blood shall be done away from them.

9 Forsooth thou shalt be alien, or unguilty, from the blood of the innocent which is shed, when thou hast done that that the Lord commanded.

10 If thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, that thy Lord God betaketh them in thine hand, and thou leadest prisoners,

11 and thou seest in the number of those prisoners a fair woman, and thou lovest her, and will have her to wife,

12 thou shalt bring her into thine house; which woman shall shave her hair, and she shall cut her nails about,

13 and she shall put away the cloth, wherein she was taken, and she shall sit in thine house, and she shall beweep her father and her mother by a month; and afterward thou shalt enter to her, and thou shalt sleep with her, and she shall be thy wife.

14 But if afterward she sitteth not in thy soul, that is, pleaseth not thy will, thou shalt deliver her free, neither thou shalt be able to sell her for money, neither oppress by power, for thou madest her low.

15 If a man hath two wives, one loved, and another hateful, and he begetteth of her free children, and the son of the odious wife is the first begotten,

16 and the father will part his chattel [or substance] betwixt his sons, he shall not be able to make the son of the loved wife his first begotten son, and set [or put] him before the son of the hateful wife,

17 but he shall know the son of the hateful wife to be his first begotten son, and he shall give to that son all things double of those things that he hath; for this son is the beginning of his free children, and the first engendered things be due to him.

18 If a man beget a son rebel, and a froward, that heareth not the behest of his father and mother, and he is chastised, and despiseth to obey to them,

19 they shall take him, and lead him to the elder men of that city, and to the gate of doom;

20 and they shall say to them, This our son is overthwart, and rebel; he despiseth to hear our behests, or admonishings, he giveth attention to gluttonies, and to lechery, and to feasts.

21 The people of the city shall oppress him with stones, and he shall die, that ye do away evil from the midst of you, and that all Israel hear it, and dread.

22 When a man doeth a sin which is worthy to be punished by death, and he is deemed to death, and is hanged in a gibbet,

23 his carrion shall not dwell in the tree, but it shall be buried in the same day; for he that hangeth in the tree or in the cross is cursed of God, and thou shalt not defoul thy land which thy Lord God gave thee into possession.

CHAPTER 22

1 Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ox, either sheep, erring or wandering, and shalt pass thereby, but thou shalt bring it again to thy brother.

2 And if thy brother is not nigh, neither thou knowest him, thou shalt lead those beasts into thine house, and those [or they] shall be with thee, as long as thy brother seeketh them, and till he receive them.

3 In like manner thou shalt do of thy brother’s ass, and of his cloth, and of each thing of thy brother, that was lost; if thou findest it, be thou not negligent, as of an alien thing.

4 If thou seest that the ass, either the ox, of thy brother hath fallen in the way, thou shalt not despise, but thou shalt raise with him.

5 A woman shall not be clothed in a man’s clothes, neither a man shall use a woman’s clothes; for he that doeth these things is abominable before God.

6 If thou goest in the way, and findest a bird’s nest in a tree, either in the earth, and findest the mother sitting on the birds, either [the] eggs, thou shalt not hold the mother with the children,

7 but thou shalt suffer the mother[to] go, and shalt hold the sons taken, that it be well to thee, and that thou live in long time.

8 When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a wall of the roof by compass, lest blood be shed out in thine house, and thou be guilty, if another man slideth, and falleth into a ditch.

9 Thou shalt not sow thy vinery [or vineyard] with another seed, lest both the seed which thou hast sown, and those things that come forth of the vinery [or vineyard], that is, the fruit of the vinery, be defouled* together.

10 Thou shalt not ear with an ox and an ass together.

11 Thou shalt not be clothed in a cloth, which is woven together of wool and of flax.

12 Thou shalt make little cords by four corners in the hems of thy mantle, with which thou art covered.

13 If a man weddeth a wife, and afterward hateth her,

14 and seeketh occasions by which he may leave her, and he putteth against her the worst name, and saith, I have taken this wife, and I have entered to her, and I found not her a virgin;

15 the father and mother of her shall take her, and they shall bear with them the tokens of her virginity to the elder men of the city, that be in the gate;

16 and her father shall say, I gave my daughter wife to this man, and for he hateth her,

17 he putteth to her the worst name, that he saith, I found not thy daughter a virgin; and lo! these be the tokens of the virginity of my daughter; they shall spread forth a cloth before the elder men of the city.

18 And the elder men of that city shall take the man, and shall beat him,

19 and furthermore they shall con-demn him in an hundred shekels of silver, which he shall give to the father of the damsel, for he defamed her by the worst name that may be upon a virgin of Israel; and he shall have her to wife, and he shall not be able to forsake her, in all his lifetime.

20 That if it is found sooth, that he putteth against her, and virginity is not found in the damsel,

21 they shall cast her out of her father’s gates; and men of that city shall oppress her with stones, and she shall die, for she did [an] unleaveful thing in Israel, that she did lechery in her father’s house; and so thou shalt do away evil from the midst of thee.

22 If a man sleepeth with the wife of another man, ever either shall die, that is, the adulterer, and the adulteress; and thus thou shalt do away evil from Israel.

23 If a man espouseth a damsel virgin [or a woman maiden], and another man findeth her in the city, and doeth lechery with her,

24 thou shalt lead ever either to the gate of that city, and they shall be killed with stones; the damsel shall be stoned, for she cried not, when she was in the city; the man shall be stoned, for he defouled his neighbour’s wife; and thus thou shalt do away evil from the midst of thee.

25 But if a man findeth in the field a damsel, which is espoused, and he taketh her, and doeth lechery with her, he alone shall die;

26 the damsel shall suffer nothing of evil, neither is guilty of death; for as a thief riseth against his brother, and slayeth him, so and the damsel suffered;

27 she was alone in the field, she cried, and none was present, that should deliver her.

28 If a man findeth a damsel virgin [or a woman maiden], that hath no spouse, and taketh, and doeth lechery with her, and the thing cometh to the doom,

29 he that slept with her shall give to the father of the damsel fifty shekels of silver, and he shall have her to wife, for he made her low; he shall not be able to forsake her, in all the days of his life.

30 A man shall not take his father’s wife, neither he shall show her privates.

CHAPTER 23

1 A gelding when his stones be broken, either cut away, and his rod cut off, he shall not enter into the church of the Lord.

2 A child born of whoredom shall not enter into the church of the Lord, unto the tenth generation.

3 Ammonites and Moabites, yea after the tenth generation, shall not enter into the church of the Lord without end;

4 for they would not come to you with bread and water in the way, when ye went out of Egypt; and for they hired against thee Balaam, the son of Beor, of Mesopotamia of Syria, that he should curse thee;

5 and thy Lord God would not hear Balaam, and God turned his curse into thy blessing, for he loved thee.

6 Thou shalt not make peace with them, neither thou shalt seek good things to them, in all the days of thy life into without end.

7 Thou shalt not loathe a man of Idumea, for he is thy brother, neither of a man of Egypt, for thou were a comeling in the land of him.

8 They that be born of them, shall enter in the third generation into the church of the Lord.

9 When thou shalt go out into battle against thine enemies, thou shalt keep thee from all evil thing.

10 If a man is among you, that is defouled in his night sleep, he shall go out of your tents; and he shall not turn again

11 before that he be washed in water at the eventide, and after the going down of the sun, he shall turn again into the tents.

12 Thou shalt have a place without the tents, to which thou shalt go out to do the needful things of mankind;

13 and thou shalt bear a little stake in thy girdle; and when thou hast set, thou shalt dig about, and thou shalt cover with earth things voided out, where thou art relieved.

14 For thy Lord God goeth in midst of the tents, that he deliver thee, and betake thine enemies to thee, that thy tents be holy, and nothing of filth appear in them, lest for uncleanness he forsake thee.

15 Thou shalt not take a servant to his lord, which fleeth to thee;

16 he shall dwell with thee in the place that pleaseth him, and he shall abide in one of thy cities; and make thou not him sorry, or heavy.

17 None whore/No strumpet shall be of the daughters of Israel, neither a lecher of the sons of Israel.

18 Thou shalt not offer the hire of an whorehouse, neither the price of a dog, in the house of thy Lord God, whatever thing it is that thou hast avowed; for ever either is abomination before thy Lord God.

19 Thou shalt not lend to thy brother to usury, money, neither fruits, neither any other thing,

20 but to an alien. For thou shalt lend to thy brother without usury that that he needeth, that thy Lord God bless thee in all thy work in the land to which thou shalt enter to wield.

21 When thou makest a vow to thy Lord God, thou shalt not tarry to yield it, for thy Lord God shall ask that of thee; and if thou tarriest, it shall be reckoned to thee into sin.

22 If thou wilt not promise, thou shalt be without sin.

23 Forsooth thou shalt keep, and do that that went out once of thy lips, as thou promisedest to thy Lord God, and hast spoken with thine own will and thy mouth.

24 If thou enterest into the vineyard of thy neighbour, eat thou grapes, as much as [it] pleaseth thee; but bear thou none out with thee.

25 If thou enterest into the corn field of thy friend, thou shalt break off the ears of the corn, and rub them together with thine hands; but thou shalt not reap them with a sickle.

CHAPTER 24

1 If a man taketh a wife, and hath her, and she findeth not grace before his eyes for some vileness, or unclean-ness, he shall write a little book of forsaking, and he shall give it in her hand, and he shall deliver her from his house.

2 And when she goeth out from him, and weddeth another husband,

3 and he also hateth her, and giveth to her a little book of forsaking, and delivereth her from his house, either certainly he is dead,

4 the former husband shall not be able to receive her again into wife, for she is defouled, and made abominable before the Lord; lest thou make thy land to do sin, which thy Lord God hath given thee to wield.

5 When a man hath taken late a wife, he shall not go forth to battle, neither anything of the common needs shall be enjoined to him, but he shall give attention without blame to his household, that he be glad in one year with his wife.

6 Thou shalt not take instead of a wed the lower and the higher quern-stone of thy brother, for he hath put his life to thee.

7 If a man is taken, that is, convicted in doom, busily ambushing to steal his brother of the sons of Israel, and when he hath sold him, taketh price, he shall be slain; and thus thou shalt do away evil from the midst of thee.

8 Keep thou diligently, lest thou run into the sickness of leprosy, but thou shalt do whatever things that the priests of the kin of Levi teach thee, by that that I commanded to them, and fulfill thou it diligently.

9 Have ye mind what things your Lord God did to Marie, in the way, when ye went out of Egypt.

10 When thou shalt ask of thy neighbour anything that he oweth to thee, thou shalt not enter into his house, that thou take away from him a wed;

11 but thou shalt stand withoutforth, and he shall bring forth to thee that that he hath.

12 And if he is poor, his wed shall not abide by night with thee,

13 but anon thou shalt yield his wed to him before the going down of the sun, that he sleep in his cloth, and bless thee, and thou have rightwise-ness before thy Lord God.

14 Thou shalt not deny the hire of thy brother needy and poor, either of the comeling that dwelleth with thee in thy land, and is within thy gates;

15 but in the same day thou shalt yield to him the price of his travail, before the going down of the sun, for he is poor, and sustaineth thereof his life; lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be reckoned to thee into sin.

16 The fathers shall not be slain for the sons, neither the sons for the fathers, but each man shall die for his own sin.

17 Thou shalt not waywardly turn, or mis-deem, the doom of the comeling, or of the fatherless, either motherless child; neither thou shalt take away instead of a wed the cloth of a widow.

18 Have thou mind, that thou servedest in Egypt, and thy Lord God delivered thee from thence; therefore I command to thee that thou do this thing.

19 When thou reapest corn in thy field, and forgettest, and leavest a reap, thou shalt not turn again to take it, but thou shalt suffer that a comeling, and a fatherless, either motherless child, and a widow take it away, that thy Lord God bless thee in all the work of thine hands.

20 If thou gatherest the fruits of olives, whatever thing leaveth in the trees, thou shalt not turn again to gather it, but thou shalt leave it to a comeling, a fatherless, either motherless [child], and to a widow.

21 If thou gatherest grapes of thy vinery [or vine], thou shalt not gather [the] raisins that leave or be left, but those [or they] shall fall into the uses of the comeling, of the fatherless, either motherless [child], and of the widow.

22 Have thou mind, that also thou servedest in Egypt, and therefore I command to thee, that thou do this thing.

CHAPTER 25

1 If a cause is betwixt any men, and they ask judges, they shall give the victory of rightwiseness to him, whom they perceive to be just [or rightwise], and they shall condemn him of wicked-ness, whom they perceive to be wicked.

2 And if they see him that hath sinned, worthy of beatings, they shall cast him down, and they shall make him to be beaten before them; and the manner of the beatings shall be for the measure of the sin,

3 so only that they pass not the number of forty strokes, lest thy brother be rent vilely before thine eyes, and go then away.

4 Thou shalt not bind the mouth of the ox treading thy fruits in the corn-floor.

5 When brethren dwell together, and one of them is dead without free children, the wife of the dead brother shall not be wedded to another man, but his brother shall take her, and he shall raise the seed of his brother.

6 And he shall call her first begotten son by his name, that is, of the dead brother, that his name be not done away from Israel.

7 And if he will not take the wife of his brother, which is due to him by law, the woman shall go to the gate of the city; and she shall ask the greater men in birth, and she shall say to them, My husband’s brother will not raise the seed of his brother in Israel, neither he will take me into marriage.

8 And anon they shall make him to be called, and they shall ask him. If he answer, and say, I will not take her to wife;

9 the woman shall go to him before the elder men of Israel, and she shall take his shoe off from his foot, and she shall spit into his face, and she shall say to them, Thus it shall be done to the man, that buildeth not his brother’s house;

10 and his name shall be called in Israel, The house of the man unshod.

11 If two men have strife betwixt themselves, and one beginneth to strive against another, and the wife of the one man will deliver her husband from the hand of the stronger man, and she putteth forth her hand, and holdeth him by his privy members,

12 thou shalt cut off her hand, neither thou shalt be bowed on her with any mercy.

13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag diverse weights, a greater to buy with, and a lesser to sell with,

14 neither a bushel more and a bushel less shall be in thine house.

15 Thou shalt have a just weight and true, and an even bushel and true shall be to thee, that thou live in much time on the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee.

16 For the Lord shall have him abominable that doeth these things, and he loatheth, either curseth, all unrightfulness [or unrightwiseness].

17 Have mind what things Amalek did to thee in the way, when thou wentest out of Egypt;

18 how he came to thee, and killed the last men of thine host, that sat behind weary, when thou were dis-eased with hunger and travail, and he dreaded not God.

19 Therefore when thy Lord God hath given rest to thee, and hath made subject to thee all nations about, in the land that he promised to thee, thou shalt do away Amalek’s name from under heaven; be thou ware lest thou forget this.

CHAPTER 26

1 And when thou hast entered into the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee to wield, and thou hast gotten it, and hast dwelled therein,

2 thou shalt take the first fruits of all thy fruits, and thou shalt put them in a basket; and thou shalt go to the place which thy Lord God choose, that his name be inwardly called there.

3 And thou shalt go to the priest, that shall be in those days, and thou shalt say to him, I acknowledge today before thy Lord God, that I have entered into the land, which he swore to our fathers, that he should give it to us.

4 And the priest shall take the basket of thine hand, and he shall set [or put] it before the altar of thy Lord God.

5 And thou shalt say in the sight of thy Lord God, Syrian pursued my father, that went down into Egypt, and was a pilgrim there in fewest number; and he increased into a great folk, and strong, and of multitude without number.

6 And [the] Egyptians tormented us, and pursued us, and they putted upon us most grievous burdens.

7 And we cried to the Lord God of our fathers, which heard us, and he beheld our meekness, and our travail, and our anguish;

8 and he led us out of Egypt in a mighty hand, and in an arm stretched out, in great dread, and in miracles, and in great wonders,

9 and he led us into this place; and he hath given to us a land flowing with milk and honey.

10 And therefore I offer now to thee the first fruits of the fruits of the land which, the Lord, gave to me. And thou shalt leave them in the sight of thy Lord God. And when thy Lord God is worshipped,

11 thou shalt eat in all the goods which thy Lord God gave to thee, and to thine house, thou, and the deacon [or Levite], and the comeling that is with thee.

12 When thou hast fulfilled the tithe of all thy fruits, in the third year of thy tithes, thou shalt give to the deacon [or Levite], and to the comeling, and to the fatherless, either the motherless child, and to the widow, that they eat within thy gates, and be full-filled.

13 And thou shalt speak in the sight of thy Lord God, and say, I have taken away that that is hallowed of mine house, and I gave it to the deacon [or Levite], and to the comeling, and to the fatherless, either motherless child, and to the widow, as thou command-edest to me; I passed not by thy commandments, I forgot not thy behest or thy bidding.

14 I ate not of those things in my mourning, neither I separated them in any uncleanness, neither I spended of those [or them] anything in burying of a dead body. I obeyed to the voice of my Lord God, and I did all things as thou commandedest to me.

15 Behold thou from thy saintuary, from the high dwelling place of heaven, and bless thou thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given to us, as thou hast sworn to our fathers, the land flowing with milk and honey.

16 Today Israel, thy Lord God commanded to thee, that thou do these behests and dooms, that thou keep and fulfill them of all thine heart, and of all thy soul.

17 Thou hast chosen the Lord today, that he be God to thee, and that thou go in his ways, and that thou keep his ceremonies, and his behests, and his dooms, and obey to his commandment or his bidding.

18 Lo! the Lord hath chosen thee today, that thou be a special people to him, as he hath spoken to thee, and that thou keep all his commandments;

19 and he shall make thee higher than all folks, which he made into his praising, and name, and glory; that thou be an holy people to thy Lord God, as he hath spoken to thee.

CHAPTER 27

1 And Moses commanded, and the elder men, to the people of Israel, and said, Keep ye each commandment which I command to you today.

2 And when ye have passed over Jordan, into the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee, thou shalt raise great stones, and thou shalt make them plane with chalk,

3 that thou may write in them all the words of this law, when Jordan is passed over, that thou enter into the land which thy Lord God shall give to thee, the land flowing with milk and honey, as he promised to thy fathers.

4 Therefore when thou hast passed over Jordan, raise thou up the stones which I command today to thee, in the hill [or mount] of Ebal; and thou shalt make them plane with chalk.

5 And there thou shalt build an altar to thy Lord God, of stones which iron touched not,

6 and of stones unformed and un-polished; and thou shalt offer thereon burnt sacrifices to thy Lord God;

7 and thou shalt offer peaceable sacrifices, and thou shalt eat there, and thou shalt make feast before thy Lord God.

8 And thou shalt write plainly and clearly on the stones all the words of this law.

9 And Moses and the priests of the kindred of Levi said to all Israel, Israel, take heed thou, and hear; today thou art made the people of thy Lord God;

10 thou shalt hear his voice, and thou shalt do the commandments, and his rightwisenesses, which I command to thee today.

11 And Moses commanded to the people in that day, and said,

12 These men shall stand upon the hill of Gerizim to bless the Lord, when Jordan they have over-passed; Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

13 And even against, these men shall stand in the hill of Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

14 And the deacons [or Levites] shall pronounce, and shall say with high voice to all the men of Israel,

15 Cursed is the man that maketh a graven image and molten, abomination of the Lord, the work of the hands of craftsmen, and shall set it in a privy place; and all the people shall answer, and say, Amen!

16 He is cursed that honoureth not, or despiseth, his father and mother; and all the people shall say, Amen!

17 Cursed is he that over-beareth, or undoeth, the terms of his neighbour; and all the people shall say, Amen!

18 Cursed is he that maketh a blind man to err in the way; and all the people shall say, Amen!

19 He is cursed that perverteth the doom of a comeling, of a fatherless, either motherless child, and of a widow; and all the people shall say, Amen!

20 Cursed is that sleepeth with his father’s wife, and showeth the privates of his bed; and all the people shall say, Amen!

21 Cursed is he that sleepeth with any beast; and all the people shall say, Amen!

22 Cursed is he that sleepeth with his sister, the daughter of his father, either of his mother; and all the people shall say, Amen!

23 Cursed is he that sleepeth with his wife’s mother; and all the people shall say, Amen!

24 Cursed is he that slayeth privily his neighbour; and all the people shall say, Amen! Cursed is he that sleepeth with his neighbour’s wife; and all the people shall say, Amen!

25 Cursed is he that taketh gifts, that he smite the life of innocent blood; and all the people shall say, Amen!

26 Cursed is he that abideth not in the words of this law, neither fulfilleth them in work; and all the people shall say, Amen!

CHAPTER 28

1 Forsooth if thou hearest the voice of thy Lord God, that thou do and keep all his commandments, which I command to thee today, thy Lord God shall make thee higher than all folks that live in earth.

2 And all these blessings shall come [up] on thee, and shall take thee; if nevertheless thou hearest his behests.

3 Thou shalt be blessed in [the] city, and blessed in the field;

4 blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, and the fruit of thy beasts, the flocks of thy great beasts, and the folds of thy sheep;

5 blessed shall be thy barns, and blessed shall be thy remnants;

6 thou shalt be blessed entering in, and going out.

7 The Lord shall give thine enemies to fall in thy sight, that shall rise against thee; by one way they shall come against thee, and by seven ways they shall flee from thy face.

8 The Lord shall send out blessings upon thy cellars, and upon all the works of thine hands; and he shall bless thee in the land which thou hast taken.

9 The Lord shall raise thee to him-self into an holy people, as he swore to thee, if thou keepest the behests of thy Lord God, and goest in his ways.

10 And all the peoples of other lands shall see, that the name of the Lord is inwardly called upon thee, and they shall dread thee.

11 The Lord shall make thee to be plenteous in all goods, in the fruit of thy womb, and in the fruit of thy beasts, in the fruit of thy land, which the Lord swore to thy fathers, that he would give to thee.

12 The Lord shall open his best treasure, heaven, that he give rain to thy land in his time; and he shall bless all the works of thine hands; and thou shalt lend to many folks, and of no man thou shalt take borrowing.

13 The Lord God shall set thee into the head, and not into the tail, and ever[more] thou shalt be above, and not beneath; if nevertheless thou hearest the commandments of thy Lord God, which I command to thee today, and keepest, and doest them,

14 and bowest not away from them, neither to the right side, neither to the left side, neither pursuest [or followed] alien gods, nor worshippest them.

15 That if thou wilt not hear the voice of thy Lord God, that thou keep and do all his behests, and ceremonies, which I command to thee today, all these cursings shall come upon thee, and shall take thee.

16 Thou shalt be cursed in city, and cursed in field.

17 Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed shall be thy remnants.

18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, the droves of thine oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep.

19 Thou shalt be cursed going in, and cursed going out.

20 The Lord shall send upon thee hunger, and thirst, and blaming, into all the works which thou shalt do, till he all-break thee, and lose thee swiftly, for thy full wicked findings, in which thou hast forsaken me.

21 The Lord shall join pestilence to thee, till he waste thee from the land, to which thou shalt enter to wield.

22 The Lord shall smite thee with neediness, with fever, and cold, with burning, and heat, with corrupt air, and mildew, either rust; and he shall pursue thee till thou perish.

23 Heaven, that is above thee, be it brazen; and the earth, that thou tread-est on, be it iron.

24 The Lord give dust for rain to thy land, and ash come down from heaven upon thee, till thou be all-broken.

25 The Lord give thee falling before thine enemies; by one way go thou [out] against them, and by seven ways flee thou from them, and be thou scattered by all the realms of [the] earth;

26 and thy dead body be it into meat to all birds of heaven, and to beasts of the earth, and none be that may drive them away.

27 The Lord smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and the Lord smite the part of body whereby ordures, or turds, be voided out; also the Lord smite thee with scab, and itching, so that thou mayest not be cured.

28 The Lord smite thee with madness, and blindness, and wildness of thought;

29 and grope thou in midday, as a blind man is wont to grope in dark-nesses; and dress he not thy ways; in all time suffer thou false challenge, and be thou oppressed by violence, neither have thou any that shall deliver thee.

30 Take thou a wife, and another man sleep with her; build thou an house, and dwell thou not therein; plant thou a vinery [or vine], and gather thou not grapes thereof.

31 Thine ox be offered before thee, and eat thou not thereof; thine ass be ravished in thy sight, and be it not yielded again to thee; thy sheep be given to thine enemies, and none be that help thee to recover them.

32 Thy sons and thy daughters be given to another people, while thine eyes see, and fail at the sight of them all day; and no strength be in thine hand.

33 A people whom thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land, and all thy travails; and ever[more] be thou suffering false challenges, and be thou oppressed in all days, or all time,

34 and be thou wondering at the fearfulness of those things which thine eyes shall see.

35 The Lord smite thee with the worst botch in the knees, and in the hinder parts of the leg; and thou may not be healed from the sole of thy foot till to thy top or unto the noll.

36 And the Lord shall lead thee, and thy king, whom thou shalt ordain on thee, into a folk which thou knowest not, thou, and thy fathers; and thou shalt serve there to alien gods, to tree, and to stone.

37 And thou shalt be lost, or forgotten, into a proverb, and into a fable, to all peoples, to whom the Lord shall bring thee in.

38 Thou shalt cast much seed into the earth, and thou shalt gather again little; for locusts shall devour all things.

39 Thou shalt plant, and dig a vinery [or vine], and thou shalt not drink the wine of it, neither thou shalt gather thereof anything; for it shall be wasted with worms.

40 Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy coasts, and thou shalt not be anointed with oil of them; for they shall fall down, and perish.

41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and thou shalt not use them; for they shall be led into captivity.

42 Rust, or mildew, shall waste all thy trees and the fruits of thy land.

43 A comeling, that dwelleth with thee in the land, shall go up upon thee, and he shall be the higher; forsooth thou shalt go down, and shalt be the lower.

44 He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be into the head, and thou shalt be into the tail.

45 And all these cursings shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and take thee, till thou perish; for thou heardest not the voice of thy Lord God, neither keptest his commandments and ceremonies, which he commanded to thee.

46 And signs, and great wonders shall be in thee, and in thy seed, till into without end;

47 for thou servedest not thy Lord God in joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things that God sent thee.

48 Thou shalt serve thine enemy, whom God shall send to thee, in hunger, and thirst, and in nakedness, and in poverty of all things; and he shall put an iron yoke on thy noll, till he all-break thee.

49 The Lord shall bring on thee a folk from far place, and from the last ends of [the] earth, into the likeness of an eagle flying with rush, of which folk thou mayest not understand their language;

50 a folk most greedy asker this shall be, that shall not give reverence to an eld [or old] man, neither have mercy upon a little child.

51 And it shall devour the fruit of thy beasts, and the fruits of thy land, till thou perishest, and this folk shall not leave to thee wheat, wine, and oil, nor droves of oxen, and flocks of sheep, till he lose thee,

52 and all-break [thee] in all thy cities, and till thy firm and high walls be destroyed, in which thou haddest trust in all thy land. Thou shalt be besieged within thy gates in all thy land, which thy Lord God shall give to thee.

53 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy womb, and the flesh of thy sons, and of thy daughters, which thy Lord God shall give to thee, in the anguish, and in the destroying, by which thine enemies shall oppress thee.

54 A man delicate of life, and full lecherous, shall have envy greatly to his brother, and to his wife that lieth in his bosom, and also toward the remnant of his children, that he hath left,

55 lest he give to them of the flesh of his sons which he shall eat; for he hath none other thing in [the] besieging, and poverty, by which thine enemies shall waste thee within all thy gates.

56 A tender woman and delicate, that might not go upon the earth, neither set a step of [the] foot, for her most softness and tenderness, shall have envy to her husband that lieth in her bosom, on the flesh of her son, and daughter,

57 and on the filth of [the] skins, wherein the child is wrapped in the mother’s womb, that go out of the midst of her hip bones, or loins, and on [the] free children that be born in the same hour. They shall eat those children privily, for the scarcity of all things in besieging and destroying, by which thine enemy shall oppress thee within thy gates.

58 No but thou shalt keep and do all the words of this law, that be written in this volume, either book, and shalt dread his glorious name and fearful, that is, thy Lord God,

59 the Lord shall increase thy wounds, or torments, and the wounds of thy seed; great wounds and continual, sicknesses worst and everlasting.

60 And he shall turn into thee all the torments of Egypt, which thou dread-edest, and those [or they] shall cleave to thee.

61 Furthermore the Lord shall bring upon thee also all the sorrows and wounds, that be not written in the book of this law, till he all-break thee.

62 And ye shall dwell few in number, that were before as the stars of heaven for multitude, for thou heardest not the voice of thy Lord God.

63 And as the Lord was glad before upon you, and did well to you, and multiplied you; so he shall be glad to lose [or scatter] you, and to destroy you, that ye be taken away from the land, to which thou shalt enter to wield.

64 The Lord shall scatter thee into all peoples, from [the] highness of the earth unto the coasts thereof; and thou shalt serve there to alien gods, which thou knowest not, and thy fathers knew not, to trees and stones.

65 Also thou shalt not rest in those folks, neither rest shall be to the step of thy foot. For the Lord shall give to thee there a fearful heart, and eyes failing, and a soul wasted with privy sorrow.

66 And thy life shall be as hanging before thee; thou shalt dread night and day, and thou shalt not trust to thy life.

67 In the morrowtide thou shalt say, Who shall give the eventide to me? and in the eventide thou shalt say, Who shall give the morrowtide to me? for the dread of thine heart, by which thou shalt be made afeared, and for those things which thou shalt see with thine eyes.

68 The Lord shall lead thee again by ships into Egypt, by the way of which he said to thee, Thou shouldest no more see it. There thou shalt be sold to thine enemies, into menservants and womenservants; and none shall be that shall deliver thee.

CHAPTER 29

1 These be the words of the bond of peace, which the Lord commanded to Moses, that he should make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the bond of peace, which he covenanted with them in Horeb.

2 And Moses called all Israel, and said to them, Ye have seen all things which the Lord did before you in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land;

3 the great temptations which thine eyes have seen, those signs, and the great wonders.

4 And the Lord gave not to you an heart understanding, and eyes seeing, and ears that may hear, till into this present day.

5 He led you by forty years through desert; your clothes were not broken, neither the shoes of your feet were wasted by eldness;

6 ye ate not bread, neither ye drank wine and cider, that ye should know that he is your Lord God.

7 And ye came to this place; and Sihon, the king of Heshbon went out, and Og, the king of Bashan, and they came to us to battle. And we smote them,

8 and we took away their land, and we gave it to possession, to Reuben, and to Gad, and to the half lineage of Manasseh.

9 Therefore keep ye the words of this covenant, and fulfill ye them, that ye understand all things which ye shall do.

10 All ye stand today before your Lord God, your princes, and lineages, and the greater men in birth, and your teachers or doctors, all the people of Israel,

11 your free children, and your wives, and the comelings that dwell with thee in the tents, besides the hewers of wood, and besides they [or them] that bear water;

12 that thou go into the bond of peace of thy Lord God, and in the oath which thy Lord God smiteth with thee,

13 that he raise thee up into a people to himself, and that he be thy Lord God, as he spake to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 And not to you alone I make this bond of peace, and confirm these oaths,

15 but to all men, present and absent.

16 For ye know how we dwelled in the land of Egypt, and how we passed by the midst of nations; which ye passed,

17 and saw abominations and filths, that is, their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which they worshipped.

18 Lest peradventure among you be man either woman, meine either lineage, whose heart is turned away today from your Lord God, that he go, and serve the gods of those folks; and a root burgeoning gall and bitter-ness be among you;

19 and when he hath heard the words of this oath, he bless himself in his heart, and say, Peace shall be to me, and I shall go in the shrewdness of mine heart; and lest the drunken take the thirsty,

20 and the Lord forgive not to him, but then full greatly his strong vengeance be fierce, and his fervour burst out against that man, and all the curses that be written in this book rest upon him; and the Lord do away his name from under heaven,

21 and waste him into perdition from all the lineages of Israel, by the curses that be contained in the book of this law, and of the bond of peace.

22 And the generation pursuing [or following] shall see, and the sons that shall be born afterward, and pilgrims that shall come from [a] far, seeing the vengeances of that land, and the sick-nesses by which the Lord tormented that land,

23 burning that land with brimstone, and heat of the sun, so that it be no more sown, neither bring forth any green thing, into ensample of [the] destroying of Sodom, and Gomorrah, of Admah, and of Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath, and strong vengeance.

24 And all folks shall say, Why did the Lord so to this land? What is the great wrath of his strong vengeance?

25 and they shall answer, For they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he covenanted with their fathers, when he led them out of the land of Egypt,

26 and they served alien gods, and worshipped them, which they knew not, and to which they were not given;

27 therefore the strong vengeance of the Lord was wroth against this land, that he brought in upon it all the curses that be written in this book;

28 and he casted them out of their land, in wrath and strong vengeance, and in full great indignation; and he casted forth them into an alien land, as it is proved today.

29 Diverse things be hid, or privy, of our Lord God, that is, in his before-knowing, which things be showed to us, and to our sons without end, that we do all the words of this law.

CHAPTER 30

1 Therefore when all these come upon thee, blessing either cursing, which I have set forth in thy sight, and if thou art led by repentance of thine heart among all folks, into which thy Lord God hath scattered thee,

2 and if thou turnest again to him, and obeyest to his behests, as I have commanded to thee today, with thy sons, in all thine heart, and in all thy soul,

3 thy Lord God shall lead thee again from thy captivity, and shall have mercy on thee, and again he shall gather thee from all peoples, into which he hath scattered thee before.

4 If thou art scattered to the ends of heaven, from thence thy Lord God shall draw thee;

5 and he shall take thee, and bring thee into the land which thy fathers wielded; and thou shalt hold it, and he shall bless thee, and shall make thee to be of more number than thy fathers were.

6 Thy Lord God shall circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, that thou love thy Lord God in all thine heart, and in all thy soul, and thou mayest live.

7 Forsooth the Lord shall turn all these cursings on thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, and pursue thee.

8 Soothly thou shalt turn again, and thou shalt hear the voice of thy Lord God, and shalt do all the behests which I command to thee today;

9 and thy Lord God shall make thee to be plenteous, in all the works of thine hands, in the children of thy womb, and in the fruit of thy beasts, and in abundance of thy land, and in largeness of all things. For the Lord shall turn again, that he have joy upon thee in all goods, as he joyed in thy fathers;

10 if nevertheless thou hearest the voice of thy Lord God, and keepest his behests and his ceremonies, that be written in this law, and if thou turn again to thy Lord God in all thine heart, and in all thy soul.

11 This commandment which I command to thee today, is not above thee, neither it is set [or put] far from thee,

12 neither it is set in heaven, that thou say, Who of us may ascend or go up to heaven, that he bring it to us, and we hear it, and fulfill it in work?

13 neither it is set beyond the sea, that thou complain, and say, Who of us may pass over the sea, and bring it hither to us, that we may hear, and do that that is commanded to us?

14 But the word is full nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thine heart, that thou do it.

15 Behold thou, that today I have set forth in thy sight life and good, and, on the contrary, death and evil;

16 that thou love thy Lord God, and go in his ways, and keep his behests, and his ceremonies, and his dooms; and that thou live, and he multiply thee, and bless thee in the land to which thou shalt enter to wield.

17 But if thine heart is turned away, and thou wilt not hear, and thou art deceived by error, and worshippest alien gods, and servest them,

18 I before-say to thee today, that thou shalt perish, and thou shalt dwell little time in the land, to which thou shalt enter to wield, when thou shalt pass over the Jordan.

19 I call today heaven and earth to witness, that is, angels and men, that I have set forth to you life and death, good and evil, blessing and cursing; therefore choose thou life, that both thou live and thy seed,

20 and that thou love thy Lord God, and obey to his voice, and cleave to him, for he is thy life, and the length of thy days; that thou dwell in the land, for which the Lord swore to thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he should give it to them.

CHAPTER 31

1 And so Moses went, and spake all these words to all Israel,

2 and said to them, I am today of an hundred and twenty years, I may no further go out and go in, mostly since also the Lord said to me, Thou shalt not pass over this Jordan.

3 Therefore thy Lord God shall pass over before thee; he shall do away these folks in thy sight, and thou shalt wield them; and this Joshua shall go before thee, as the Lord spake.

4 And the Lord shall do to them as he did to Sihon, and to Og, the kings of Amorites, and to their land; and he shall do them away.

5 Therefore when the Lord hath betaken to you also them, ye shall do in like manner to them, as I have commanded to you.

6 Do ye manly, and be ye comforted; do not ye dread in heart, neither dread ye at the sight of them, for thy Lord God himself is thy leader, and he shall not leave thee, neither forsake thee.

7 And Moses called Joshua, and said to him before all the multitude of the sons of Israel, Be thou comforted, and be thou strong; for thou shalt lead this people into the land that the Lord swore that he shall give to their fathers; and thou shalt part it by lot.

8 And the Lord himself, which is your leader, shall be with thee, he shall not leave [thee], neither forsake thee; do not thou dread outwardly, neither dread thou in heart.

9 Therefore Moses wrote this law, and betook it to the priests, the sons of Levi, that bare the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, and to all the elder men of Israel.

10 And Moses commanded to them, and said, After seven years, in the year of remission, in the solemnity of tabernacles,

11 when all men of Israel shall come together, that they appear in the sight of their Lord God, in the place which the Lord choose, thou shalt read the words of this law before all Israel, while they hear,

12 and while all the people is gathered together, as well to men, as to women, to little children, and to comelings that be within thy gates; that they hear, and learn, and dread your Lord God, and keep and [ful] fill all the words of this law;

13 also that the sons of them, that now know not, may hear, and that they dread their Lord God in all days in which they live in the land to which ye shall go to get, when Jordan is passed over.

14 And the Lord said to Moses, Lo! the days of thy death be nigh; call thou Joshua, and stand ye in the tabernacle of witnessing, that I command to him. Therefore Moses and Joshua went, and they stood in the tabernacle of witnessing;

15 and the Lord appeared there in a pillar of cloud, that stood in the entering of the tabernacle.

16 And the Lord said to Moses, Lo! thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people shall rise up, and it shall do fornication, or idolatry, going after alien gods in the land, into which it shall enter, that it dwell therein; there it shall forsake me, and shall make void the bond of peace, which I covenanted with it.

17 And my strong vengeance shall be wroth against that people in that day, and I shall forsake it, and I shall hide my face from it, and it shall be into devouring; all evils and tormentings shall find it, so that it say in that day, Verily for the Lord is not with me, these evils have found me.

18 Soothly I shall hide my face, and cover it in that day, for all the evils which this people hath done, for it hath pursued [or followed] alien gods.

19 Now therefore write ye to you this song, and teach ye the sons of Israel, that they hold it in mind, and sing it in mouth; and that this song be to me for a witnessing among the sons of Israel.

20 For I shall lead him into the land, for which I swore to his fathers, flowing with milk and honey; and when they have eaten, and be full-filled, and be made fat, they shall turn to alien gods, and they shall serve them; and they shall backbite me, and shall make void my covenant.

21 After that many evils and tormentings have found them, this song shall answer to him for witness-ing, which song no forgetting shall do away from the mouth of thy seed. For I know the thoughts thereof today, what things it shall do, before that I bring it into the land which I promised to it.

22 Therefore Moses wrote the song, and he taught it to the sons of Israel.

23 And the Lord commanded to Joshua, the son of Nun, and said, Be thou comforted, and be thou strong; for thou shalt lead the sons of Israel into the land which I promised, and I shall be with thee.

24 Therefore after that Moses had written the words of this law in a book, and fulfilled them,

25 he commanded to the Levites that bare the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, and said,

26 Take ye this book, and put ye it in the side of the ark of the bond of peace of your Lord God, that it be there against thee into witnessing.

27 For I know thy striving, and thy most hard noll; yet while I lived and entered with you, ye did ever[more] strivingly against the Lord; how much more when I shall be dead.

28 Gather ye to me all the greater men in birth, and teachers [or doctors], by your lineages, and I shall speak to them, hearing these words, and I shall call against them heaven and earth.

29 For I know, that after my death, ye shall do wickedly, and shall bow away soon from the way which I commanded to you; and evils shall come to you in the last times, when ye have done evil in the sight of the Lord, that ye stir him to wrath by the works of your hands.

30 Therefore while all the company of the sons of Israel heard, Moses spake the words of this song, and he fulfilled it unto the end.

CHAPTER 32

1 Ye heavens, hear what things I shall speak; the earth hear the words of my mouth.

2 My teaching wax altogether as rain; my speech flow out as dew, as soft rain upon herb, and as drops upon grass.

3 For I shall inwardly call the name of the Lord; give ye glory to our God.

4 The works of God be perfect, and all his ways be dooms; God is faith-ful, and without any wickedness; he is just [or rightwise] and rightful.

5 They sinned against him, and not his sons in the filths of idolatry; shrewd and wayward generation.

6 Whether thou yieldest these things to the Lord, thou fond [or foolish] people and unwise? Whether he is not thy father, that wielded thee, and made, and formed thee of nought?

7 Have thou mind of eld [or old] days, think thou all generations; ask thy father, and he shall tell to thee, ask thy greater men, and they shall say to thee.

8 When the Highest parted folks, when he separated the sons of Adam, he ordained the terms of peoples by the number of the sons of Israel.

9 Forsooth the part of the Lord is his people; Jacob is the little part of his heritage.

10 The Lord found him in a desert land, in the place of horror, either hideousness, and of waste wilderness; the Lord led him about, and taught him, and he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11 As an eagle stirring his birds to fly, and flying above them, he spreaded forth his wings, and took them into his protection, and he bare them in his shoulders.

12 The Lord alone was his leader, and none alien god was with him.

13 The Lord ordained him on an high land, that he should eat the fruits of fields, that he should suck honey of a stone, and oil of the hardest rock;

14 butter of the drove, and milk of sheep, with the fatness of lambs, and of rams, of the sons of Bashan; and that he should eat kids with [the] marrow, or tried flour, of wheat, and he should drink the clearest blood, or wine, of the grape.

15 The beloved people was made fat, and kicked against; made fat without-forth, made fat within, and alarged; he forsook God his maker, and went away from God his health or his saviour.

16 They stirred God to wrath in alien gods that they praised, they stirred him to wrathfulness in their abominations, that is, their own findings.

17 They offered to fiends, or devils, and not to God, to gods which they knew not, new gods, and freshly came up by their findings, which their fathers worshipped not.

18 Thou hast forsaken God that begat thee, and thou hast forgotten thy Lord creator or the Lord thy maker.

19 The Lord saw that, and he was stirred to wrathfulness; for his sons, and daughters stirred him to vengeance.

20 And the Lord said, I shall hide my face from them, and I shall behold their last things; for this is a wayward generation, and unfaithful sons they be.

21 They have stirred me to wrath in worshipping him that was not God, and they have moved me to vengeance in their vain idols; and I shall stir them in him, that is not a people, and I shall stir them to ire in a fond [or foolish] folk.

22 Fire is kindled in my strong vengeance, and it shall burn unto the last things of hell; and it shall devour the land with his fruit, and it shall burn the foundaments of hills.

23 I shall gather evils on them, and I shall [ful] fill mine arrows in them.

24 They shall be wasted with hunger, and birds shall devour them with most bitter biting; I shall send into them the teeth of beasts, with the strong vengeance of drawing upon earth, and of serpents.

25 Sword withoutforth, and dread within, shall waste them; a young man and a virgin together, a sucking child with an eld [or old] man.

26 And I said, Where be they now? I shall make the mind or memory of them to cease of all men.

27 But I delayed, or tarried, for the wrath of enemies, lest peradventure their enemies should be proud, and say, Our high hand, and not the Lord’s, did all these things.

28 It is a folk without counsel, and without prudence, or wariness;

29 I would that they savoured, and understood, and purveyed the last things.

30 How pursued one man of enemies a thousand of Jews, and two men drove away ten thousand? Whether not therefore for their God had sold them, forsaking them, and the Lord had enclosed them altogether in their enemies? hands?

31 For our God is not as the gods of them, and our enemies be judges.

32 The vine of them is of the vine of Sodom, and of the suburbs of Gomorrah; the grape of them is the grape of gall, and the cluster is most bitter.

33 The gall of dragons is the wine of them, and the venom of adders, that may not be healed.

34 Whether these things be not hid with me, and be sealed in my treasuries [or treasures]?

35 Vengeance is mine, and I shall yield to them in time, that the foot of them slide; the day of perdition is nigh, and the times hasten to be present.

36 The Lord shall deem his people, and he shall do mercy in his servants; the people shall see that the hand of fighters is sick, or feeble, and also men enclosed failed, and the remnant people, or left, be wasted.

37 And they shall say, Where be their gods, in which they had trust?

38 Of whose sacrifices they ate the fatnesses, and they drank the wine of flowing sacrifices, rise they and help you, and defend they you in need.

39 See, or understand, ye, that I am God alone, and none other God is except me; I shall slay, and I shall make to live; I shall smite, and I shall make whole; and none is that may deliver from mine hand.

40 And I shall raise up mine hand to heaven, and I shall say, I live without end.

41 If I shall whet my sword as lightning, and mine hand shall take doom, I shall yield vengeance to mine enemies, and I shall requite to them that hate me.

42 I shall full-fill mine arrows with blood, and my sword shall devour fleshes of the blood of them that be slain, and of the captivity, of the heads of enemies made naked.

43 Folks, praise ye the people of him, for he shall avenge the blood of his servants, and he shall yield vengeance to the enemies of them; and he shall be merciful to the land of his people.

44 Therefore Moses came, and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people; both he and Joshua, the son of Nun.

45 And Moses fulfilled all these words, and spake to all Israel,

46 and said to them, Put ye your hearts into all the words which I witness to you today, that ye command to your sons, to keep, and to do those [or them], and to fulfill all things that be written in the book of this law;

47 for not in vain these things be commanded to you, but that all men should live in doing those things; which if ye shall do, then ye shall abide, and shall continue long time in the land, to which ye shall enter to wield, when Jordan ye have over-passed.

48 And the Lord spake to Moses in the same day, and said,

49 Go thou up into this hill Abarim, that is, passing, into the hill of Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, against Jericho; and see thou the land of Canaan, which I shall give to the sons of Israel to hold,

50 and die thou there in this hill. Into which hill thou shalt go up, and thou shalt be joined to thy peoples, as Aaron, thy brother, was dead in the hill of Hor, and was put to his peoples.

51 For ye trespassed against me, in the midst of the sons of Israel, at the waters of Against-saying, in Kadesh, of the desert of Zin; and ye hallowed not me among the sons of Israel.

52 Opposite, thou shalt see the land, and thou shalt not enter into it, which I shall give to the sons of Israel.

CHAPTER 33

1 This is the blessing, with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the sons of Israel before his death;

2 and said, The Lord came from Sinai, and he rose to us from Seir; he appeared from the hill of Paran, and thousands of saints with him; a law of fire in his right hand.

3 He loved peoples; all saints be in his hand, and they that nigh to his feet shall take of his doctrine.

4 Moses commanded the law to us, the heritage of the multitude of Jacob.

5 And the king shall be at the most rightful, when princes of the people be gathered together with the lineages of Israel.

6 Reuben live, and die not, and be he little in number.

7 This is the blessing of Judah; Lord, hear thou the voice of Judah, and bring in him to his people; his hands shall fight for him, and the helper of him, shall be against his adversaries.

8 Also he said to Levi, Thy perfection and thy teaching is of an holy man, whom thou hast proved in temptation, and hast deemed at the waters of Against-saying;

9 which Levi said to his father and to his mother, I know not you, and to his brethren, I know not them; and knew not his sons. These kept thy speech, and these kept thy covenant;

10 O! Jacob, they kept thy dooms, and thy law, O! Israel; they shall put incense in thy strong vengeance, and burnt sacrifice on thine altar.

11 Lord, bless thou the strength of him, and receive thou the works of his hands; smite thou the backs of his enemies, and they that hate him, rise they not.

12 And he said to Benjamin, The most loved of the Lord shall dwell trustily in him; he shall dwell all day as in a chamber, and he shall rest betwixt the shoulders of the Lord.

13 Also he said to Joseph, His land is of the Lord’s blessing; of the apples of heaven, and of the dew, and of water lying beneath;

14 of the apples of the fruits of the sun, and moon;

15 [and] of the top of eld [or old] mountains, and of the apples of ever-lasting little hills;

16 and of the fruits of the land, and of the fullness thereof. The blessing of him that appeared in the bush come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the foretop, that is, the crown of the head, of the Nazarite, or holy one, among his brethren.

17 As the first engendered of a bull is the fairness of him; the horns of an unicorn be the horns of him; in those [or them] he shall winnow folks, till to the terms of [the] earth. These be the multitudes of Ephraim, and these be the thousands of Manasseh.

18 And he said to Zebulun, Zebulun, be thou glad in thy going out, and Issachar, in thy tabernacles.

19 They shall call peoples to the hill, [and] there they shall offer sacrifices of rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; which shall suck the flowing of the sea as milk, and hid treasures of gravel.

20 And he said to Gad, Gad is blessed in broadness; he rested as a lion, and he took from his adversary the arm and the noll or head.

21 And he saw his princehood, that he was kept a teacher in his part; the which was with princes of the people, and he did the rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses] of the Lord, and his doom with Israel.

22 Also he said to Dan, Dan, a whelp of a lion, shall flow largely from Bashan.

23 And he said to Naphtali, Naphtali shall use abundance, and he shall be full with blessings of the Lord; and he shall wield the sea* and the south.

24 Also he said to Asher, Asher, be blessed in sons, and please he his brethren; dip he his foot in oil.

25 Iron and brass the shoes of him; as the day of thy youth, so and thine eld age.

26 None other god is as the God of the most rightful [or the most right God]; the rider of heaven is thine helper; clouds run about by the glory of him.

27 His dwelling place is above, and his arms everlasting be beneath; he shall cast out from thy face the enemy, and he shall say to them, Be thou all-broken.

28 Israel shall dwell trustily and alone; the eye of Jacob is in the land of wheat, and of wine; and heavens shall be dark with dew.

29 Blessed art thou, Israel; thou people that art saved in the Lord, who is like thee? The shield of thine help and the sword of thy glory is thy God; thine enemies shall deny thee, and thou shalt tread their necks.

CHAPTER 34

1 Therefore Moses went up from the field places of Moab upon the hill of Nebo, into the top of Pisgah, against Jericho. And the Lord showed to him all the land of Gilead, till to Dan,

2 and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and of Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the last, or furtherest, sea;

3 and the south part, and the breadth of the field of Jericho, of the city of Palms, till to Zoar.

4 And the Lord said to him, This is the land for which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I said, I shall give it to thy seed; thou hast seen it with thine eyes, and thou shalt not pass over to it.

5 And Moses, the servant of the Lord, was dead there, in the land of Moab, for the Lord commanded.

6 And the Lord buried him in a valley of the land of Moab, against Bethpeor; and no man knew his sepulchre unto this day.

7 Moses was of an hundred and twenty years when he died; his eye dimmed not, neither his teeth were stirred.

8 And the sons of Israel bewept him thirty days in the field places of Moab; and the days of wailing of men bemourning Moses were fulfilled.

9 Soothly Joshua, the son of Nun, was full-filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had put his hands upon him; and the sons of Israel obeyed to Joshua, and did as the Lord commanded to Moses.

10 And a prophet rose no more in Israel as Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,

11 in all the miracles, and great wonders, which the Lord sent, or did, by him, that he should do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,

12 and all the strong hand, or power, and the great marvels, which Moses did before all Israel.

Here endeth Pentateuch, see now the prologue of Joshua*.

* CHAPTER 22:9 The Hebrew word here signifieth both ‘defouling’ and ‘hallowing’.

* CHAPTER 33:23 For the Sea of Galilee, as to the south part thereof, felled in the lot of Naphtali.

* CHAPTER 34:12 This rubric appears in one copy of the Later Version.

JOSHUA

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JOSHUA

CHAPTER 1

1 And it was done after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake to Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, and said to him,

2 Moses, my servant is dead; rise thou, and pass [over] this Jordan, thou, and all the people with thee, into the land which I shall give to the sons of Israel.

3 I shall give to you each place which the step of your foot shall tread, as I spake to Moses,

4 from the desert and Lebanon till to the great flood Euphrates; all the land of Hittites, unto the great sea against the going down of the sun, shall be your term.

5 None shall be able to against-stand you in all the days of thy life; as I was with Moses, so I shall be with thee; I shall not leave, neither I shall forsake thee.

6 Be thou comforted, and be thou strong; for thou shalt part by lot to this people the land, for which I swore to thy fathers, that I should give it to them.

7 Therefore be thou comforted, and be thou full strong, that thou keep and do all the law, which Moses, my servant, commanded to thee; bow thou not from it to the right side, either to the left side, that thou understand all things which thou doest.

8 The book of this law depart not from thy mouth, but thou shalt think therein in days and nights, that thou keep and do all things that be written therein; then thou shalt dress thy way, and thou shalt understand it.

9 Lo! I command to thee; be thou comforted, and be thou strong; do not thou dread, nor be thou afeared; for thy Lord God is with thee in all things, to which thou goest.

10 And Joshua commanded to the princes of the people, and said,

11 Pass ye through the midst of the castles [or tents], and command ye to the people, and say ye, Make ye ready meats to you; for after the third day ye shall pass [over] Jordan, and ye shall enter to wield the land, which your Lord God shall give to you.

12 Also Joshua said to men of Reuben, and to men of Gad, and to the half lineage of Manasseh*.

13 Have ye mind of the word which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded to you, and said, Your Lord God hath given to you rest, and all the land;

14 your wives, and your sons, and your beasts shall dwell in the land that Moses gave to you beyond Jordan; but pass ye over armed, all strong in hand, before your brethren; and fight ye for them,

15 till the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he gave also to you, and till also they wield the land which your Lord God shall give to them; and so turn ye again into the land of your possession, and ye shall dwell in that land which Moses, [the] servant of the Lord, gave to you over Jordan, against the rising of the sun.

16 And they answered to Joshua, and said, We shall do all things which thou commandest to us, and we shall go, whither ever thou sendest us;

17 as we obeyed in all things to Moses, so we shall obey also to thee; only thy Lord God be with thee, as he was with Moses.

18 Die he that against-saith thy word, and obeyeth not to all thy biddings, which thou commandest to him; only be thou comforted, and do thou manly.

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore Joshua, the son of Nun, sent from Shittim two men, spyers [or spies] in huddles, and said to them, Go ye, and behold ye the land, and the city of Jericho. Which went, and entered into the house of a woman whore, Rahab by name, and rested at her.

2 And it was told, and said to the king of Jericho, Lo! men of the sons of Israel have entered hither by night, to espy the land.

3 Therefore the king of Jericho sent to Rahab the whore, and said, Bring out the men, that came to thee, and that entered into thine house; for they be spyers [or spies], and they came to behold all the land.

4 And the woman took the men, and hid them, and said, I acknowledge, that they came to me, but I wist not of whence they were;

5 and when the gate was closed in darknesses, and they went out together, I know not whither they went; pursue ye them soon, and ye shall overtake them.

6 Forsooth she had made the men to go up into the solar of her house, and she covered them with stubble, or sheaves, of flax, that was there.

7 And they, that were sent, pursued [or followed]after them by the way that leadeth to the fords of Jordan; and when they were gone out, anon the gate was closed.

8 [And] They that were hid, slept not yet, and lo! the woman went up to them,

9 and said, I know that the Lord hath betaken to you this land; for your fearedfulness is fallen into us, and all the dwellers of the land be abashed.

10 We have heard, that the Lord hath dried up the waters of the Red Sea at your entering, when ye went out of Egypt; and what things ye did to the two kings of Amorites, that were beyond Jordan, to Sihon and Og, which ye killed;

11 and we heard these things, and we dreaded, and our heart was sick, and spirit dwelled not in us at your entering; for the Lord your God himself is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.

12 Now therefore swear ye to me by the Lord God, that as I did mercy with you, so and ye do with the house of my father; and give ye to me a very sign,

13 that ye save my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and [my] sisters, and all things that be theirs, and deliver our lives from death.

14 Which answered to her, Our life be for you into death, if nevertheless thou betrayest not us; and when the Lord hath betaken to us the land, we shall do mercy and truth with thee.

15 Then she let them down from the window by a cord; for her house was joined to the town wall.

16 And she said to them, Go ye up to the hilly places [or mountains], lest peradventure the men turning again meet you; and be ye hid there three days, till they come again; and so ye shall go by your way.

17 Which said to her, We shall be guiltless of this oath, by which thou hast charged us,

18 if, when we enter into the land, this red cord is not a sign, and thou bindest it not in the window, by which thou lettest us down; and thou gatherest not into thine house thy father, and mother, and brethren, and all thy kindred;

19 the blood of him shall be on his head, that goeth out at the door of thine house, and we shall be guiltless; forsooth the blood of all men that be in the house with thee, shall turn into our head, if any man toucheth them.

20 That if thou wilt betray us, and bring forth into the midst this word, we shall be clean of this oath, by which thou hast charged us.

21 And she answered, As ye have spoken, so be it done. And she let them go, that they should go forth, and she hanged the red cord in her window.

22 And they went forth, and came into the hilly places [or mountains], and dwelled there three days, till they turned again that pursued them; for they sought them by each way, and found not them.

23 And when the seekers entered into the city again, the spyers [or spies] turned again, and came down from the hill; and when they had passed [over] Jordan, they came to Joshua, the son of Nun; and they told to him all things that befelled to them,

24 and said, The Lord hath betaken all the land into our hands, and all the dwellers thereof be cast down by dread.

CHAPTER 3

1 Therefore Joshua rose by night, and moved thence the tents; and they went out of Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and dwelled there three days.

2 And when those days were passed, criers or beadles went through the midst of the tents,

3 and began to cry, When ye see the ark of [the] bond of peace of your Lord God, and the priests of the generation of Levi bearing it, also then rise ye, and follow the before-goers;

4 and a space of two thousand cubits be betwixt you and the ark, that ye may see [a] far, and know by which way ye shall enter, for ye have not gone before by it; and be ye ware, that ye nigh not to the ark.

5 And Joshua said to the people, Be ye hallowed, for tomorrow the Lord shall make marvels among you.

6 And Joshua said to the priests, Take ye the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, and go ye before the people. The which fulfilled the behests of Joshua, and they took the ark, and went before the people.

7 And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I shall begin to enhance thee before all Israel, that they know, that as I was with Moses, so I am also with thee.

8 Forsooth command thou to the priests, that bear the ark of [the] bond of peace, and say thou to them, When ye have entered into a part of the water of Jordan, stand ye therein.

9 And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, Nigh ye hither, and hear ye the word of your Lord God.

10 And again he said, In this ye shall know that the Lord God living is in the midst of you; and he shall destroy in your sight Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, and Perizzites, and Girgashites, and Jebusites, and Amorites.

11 Lo! the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord of all earth shall go before you through the Jordan.

12 Make ye ready twelve men of the twelve lineages of Israel, by each lineage one man.

13 And when the priests, that bear the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord God of all earth, have set the steps of their feet in the waters of Jordan, the waters that be lower shall run down, and shall fail; soothly the waters that come from above shall stand together in one gathering, or a certain place.

14 Therefore the people went out of their tabernacles for to pass over the Jordan; and the priests that bare the ark of [the] bond of peace went before the people.

15 And when the priests entered into the Jordan, and their feet were dipped in the part of [the] water; forsooth the Jordan had filled the brinks of his trough in the time of ripe corn;

16 the waters went down, and stood in one place, and waxed great at the likeness of an hill, and appeared far from the city that was called Adam, till to the place of Zaretan; soothly the waters that were lower went down into the sea of wilderness, which is now called the Dead Sea, till the waters failed utterly. Forsooth the people went through the Jordan;

17 and the priests, that bare the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, stood girded on the dry earth in the midst of the Jordan, and all the people passed [over] through the dry trough.

CHAPTER 4

1 And when the sons of Israel were passed over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua,

2 Choose thou twelve men, by each lineage one man,

3 and command thou to them, that they take from the midst of the trough of Jordan, where the feet of [the] priests stood, twelve hardest stones; the which thou shalt set in [the] place of the tents, where ye shall set tents in this night.

4 And Joshua called twelve men, which he had chosen of the sons of Israel, of each lineage one man;

5 and he said to them, Go ye before the ark of your Lord God to the midst of Jordan, and bear ye from thence in your shoulders each man one stone, by the number of the sons of Israel,

6 that it be a sign betwixt you. And when your sons shall ask you tomorrow, that is, in time to coming, and shall say, What will these stones be meaning?

7 ye shall answer to them, The waters of Jordan failed before the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, when the ark passed over the Jordan; therefore these stones be set into mind of the sons of Israel, till into without end.

8 Therefore the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded to them, and bare from the midst of the trough of Jordan twelve stones, as the Lord commanded to him, by the number of the sons of Israel, unto the place in which they setted tents; and there they putted those stones.

9 Also Joshua putted other twelve stones in the midst of the trough of Jordan, where the priests stood, that bare the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord; and those stones be there unto this present day.

10 Forsooth the priests, that bare the ark, stood in the midst of Jordan, till all things were [ful] filled, which the Lord commanded, that Joshua should speak to the people, as Moses had said to him. And the people hasted, and passed over Jordan.

11 And when all men had passed [over], also the ark of the Lord passed [over], and the priests went before the people.

12 Also the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and half the lineage of Manasseh, went armed before the sons of Israel, as Moses commanded to them.

13 And forty thousand of fighters went by their companies, and by their gatherings, on the plain and field places of the city of Jericho.

14 In that day the Lord magnified Joshua before all Israel, that they should dread him, as they dreaded Moses, while he lived yet.

15 And the Lord said to Joshua,

16 Command thou to the priests that bear the ark of [the] bond of peace, that they go up from the Jordan.

17 And Joshua commanded to them, and said, Go ye up from the Jordan.

18 And when they had gone up, bearing the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, and had begun to tread on the dry earth, the waters turned again into their trough, and flowed again, as they were wont before.

19 And the people went up from the Jordan in the tenth day of the first month, and they setted tents in Gilgal, against the east coast of the city of Jericho.

20 Also Joshua putted in Gilgal the twelve stones, which they had taken from the trough of Jordan.

21 And he said to the sons of Israel, When your sons shall ask tomorrow their fathers, and shall say to them, What will these stones be meaning?

22 ye shall teach them, and say, We passed this Jordan by the dry bottom,

23 for our Lord God dried the waters thereof in our sight, till that we over-passed it, as he did before in the Red Sea, which he dried while we passed [over],

24 that all the peoples of earth learn, or know, the full strong might of the Lord, and that ye dread your Lord God in all time.

CHAPTER 5

1 Therefore after that all the kings of Amorites heard, that dwelled over Jordan at the west coast, and all the kings of Canaan, that wielded the nigh places of the great sea, that the Lord had dried the flowings of Jordan before the sons of Israel, till they passed over, the heart of them failed, and the spirit dwelled not in them, dreading the entering of the sons of Israel.

2 In that time the Lord said to Joshua, Make to thee knives of stone, and circumcise thou the sons of Israel the second time.

3 Joshua did those things which the Lord commanded, and he circumcised the sons of Israel in the hill of prepuces.

4 And this is the cause of the second circumcision; all the people of male kind, that went out of Egypt, all the men fighters of them, were dead in desert by the full long compasses of way,

5 the which all were circumcised. But the other people that was born in desert by forty years, in the way of the full broad wilderness, was un-circumcised,

6 till they were wasted, that heard not the voice of the Lord, and to which he swore before, that he should show to them the land flowing with milk and honey.

7 The sons of them came afterward into the place of [the] fathers, and they were circumcised of Joshua; which, as they were born, were in prepuce, neither any man had circumcised them in the way.

8 And after that they all were circumcised, they dwelled in the same place of their tents, till they were healed.

9 And the Lord said to Joshua, Today I have taken away from you the shame of Egypt. And the name of the place was called Gilgal*, unto this present day.

10 And the sons of Israel dwelled in Gilgal, and made pask in the four-teenth day of the month at eventide, in the field places of Jericho;

11 and they ate of the fruits of the land in the tother day, therf loaves, and pottage of the same year, either corns singed, and rubbed in the hand.

12 And manna failed after that they ate of the fruits of the land; and the sons of Israel used no more that meat, but they ate of the fruits of present year of the land of Canaan.

13 And when Joshua was in the field of the city of Jericho, he raised up his eyes, and saw a man standing against him, and holding a drawn sword; and Joshua went out to him, and said, Art thou with us, either our adversary?

14 To whom he answered, Nay, but I am prince of the host of the Lord, and now I come. Joshua felled low to the earth, and worshipped, and said, What speaketh my Lord to his servant?

15 He said, Unlace thy shoes from thy feet, for the place, in which thou standest, is holy. And Joshua did, as it was commanded to him.

CHAPTER 6

1 Forsooth Jericho was enclosed and warded, for the dread of the sons of Israel, and no man durst enter, either go out.

2 And the Lord said to Joshua, Lo! I have given into thine hands Jericho, and the king thereof, and all the strong men of it.

3 All ye fighters, compass the city once by the day; so ye shall do in six days.

4 And in the seventh day, the priests shall take seven clarions, which be used in the jubilee; and they shall go before the ark of [the] bond of peace; and seven times ye shall compass the city, and the priests shall trump with the clarions.

5 And when the voice of the trump shall sound longer, and more by whiles, and shall sound in your ears, all the people shall cry together with greatest cry; and the walls of the city shall fall all-down, and all men shall enter by the place, against which they stand.

6 Therefore Joshua, the son of Nun, called the priests, and said to them, Take ye the ark of the bond of peace, and seven other priests take they seven clarions of the jubilee years, and go they before the ark of the Lord.

7 Also Joshua said to the people, Go ye, and compass ye the city, and go ye armed before the ark of the Lord.

8 And when Joshua had ended these words, and the seven priests trumped with seven trumps before the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord,

9 and all the people armed went before, and the tother common people of fighters pursued [or followed] the ark, and all things sounded with the trumps.

10 And Joshua commanded to the people, and said, Ye shall not cry, neither your voice shall be heard, neither any word shall go out of your mouth, till the day come, in which I shall say to you, Cry ye, and make ye noise.

11 Therefore the ark of the Lord compassed the city once by the day, and it turned again into the tents, and dwelled there.

12 Therefore while Joshua rose early in the morrowtide, [the] priests took the ark of the Lord;

13 and seven of the priests took seven clarions, which were used in the jubilee, and the priests went before the ark of the Lord, and trumped; and the people went armed before them. And the tother common people pursued [or followed] the ark, and sounded with trumps.

14 And they compassed the city in the second day once, and turned again into the tents; so they did six days.

15 And in the seventh day they rose early, and compassed the city, as it was ordained, seven times.

16 And when in the seventh compass, the priests sounded with clarions, Joshua said to all Israel, Cry ye, for the Lord hath betaken the city to us;

17 and this city be cursed, either destroyed, and all things that be therein be hallowed to the Lord. Rahab the whore alone live, with all the men that be with her in the house; for she hid the messengers which we sent.

18 And be ye ware, lest ye touch anything of these [things] that be forbidden to you, and ye be guilty of trespassing; and all the tents of Israel be under sin, and be troubled.

19 For whatever thing is of gold, and of silver, and of brazen vessels, and of iron, be it hallowed to the Lord, and be it kept in his treasuries.

20 Then while all the people cried, and the trumps sounded, after that the sound sounded in the ears of the multitude, the walls felled down anon; and each man went up by the place that was against him. And they took the city,

21 and they killed all things that were therein, from man unto woman, from a young child unto an eld [or old] man; also they killed by sharp-ness of sword, oxen, sheep, and asses.

22 Forsooth Joshua said to [the] two men, that were sent spyers, Enter ye into the house of the woman whore, and bring ye forth her, and all things that be hers, as ye made steadfast to her by an oath.

23 And the young men entered in, and they led out Rahab, and her father, and mother, and all her brethren, and all the appurtenance of her, and kindred; and they made them to dwell without the tents of Israel.

24 And the men of Israel burnt the city, and all things that were found therein, except [the] gold, and silver, and brazen vessels, and iron, which they hallowed into the treasury of the Lord.

25 Soothly Joshua made Rahab the whore to live, and her father’s house, and all things that she had; and they dwelled in the midst of Israel, unto this present day; for she hid the messengers, which Joshua sent to espy Jericho.

26 In that time Joshua prayed heartily, and said, Cursed before the Lord be the man, that raiseth up and buildeth the city of Jericho! Lay he the founda-ments thereof in his first engendered son, and put he the gates thereof in the last of his free children.

27 Therefore the Lord was with Joshua, and his name was published in each land.

CHAPTER 7

1 Forsooth the sons of Israel brake the commandment, and mis-took of the cursed thing; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, [the] son of Zerah, of the lineage of Judah, took something of the cursed thing; and the Lord was wroth against the sons of Israel.

2 And when Joshua sent men from Jericho against Ai, which is beside Bethaven, at the east coast of the city of Bethel, he said to them, Go ye up, and espy the land. Which [ful] filled the commandments, and espied Ai;

3 and they turned again, and said to him, All the people go not up thither, but two either three thousand of men go, and do away the city; why shall all the people be travailed in vain against full few enemies?

4 Therefore three thousand of fighters ascended or went up, which turned the backs anon, and were smitten of the men of Ai;

5 and six and thirty men of them were slain; and the adversaries pursued them from the gate unto Shebarim; and they felled down fleeing by low places. And the heart of the people dreaded much, and it was made unsteadfast at the likeness of water.

6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and he fell down low to the earth before the ark of the Lord, unto the eventide, as well he, as all the elder men of Israel; and they casted powder on their heads.

7 And Joshua said, Alas! alas! Lord God, what wouldest thou lead this people over the flood Jordan, that thou shouldest betake us in the hand of Amorites, and should lose us? I would, that as we began, we had dwelled beyond Jordan.

8 My Lord God, what shall I say, seeing Israel turning the backs to his enemies?

9 Canaanites, and all the dwellers of the land shall hear this, and they shall be gathered together, and shall compass us, and they shall do away our name from [the] earth; and what shalt thou do to thy great name?

10 And the Lord said to Joshua, Rise thou up; why liest thou low in the earth?

11 Israel hath sinned, and hath broken my covenant; they have taken of the cursed thing, and they have stolen of it, and lied, and hid among their vessels.

12 And therefore Israel may not stand before his enemies, and he shall flee them, for it is defouled with cursing; I shall no more be with you, till that ye destroy him that is guilty of this trespass.

13 Rise thou, hallow the people, and say thou to them, Be ye hallowed against tomorrow; for the Lord God of Israel saith these things, O thou Israel! cursing is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not be able to stand before thine enemies, till he that is defouled by this trespass, be done away from thee.

14 And ye shall come early, all men by your lineages; and whatever lineage the lot shall find, it shall come by his meines; and the meine shall come by houses, and the house shall come by men.

15 And whoever shall be taken with this trespass, he shall be burnt with fire with all his chattel [or substance], for he brake the covenant of the Lord, and did unleaveful thing in Israel.

16 Therefore Joshua rose early, and setted in order Israel by his lineages; and the lineage of Judah was found;

17 and when that lineage was brought forth by his meines, the meine of Zerah was found. And Joshua brought forth it by men, either houses, and found Zabdi;

18 whose house he parted into all men by themselves; and he found Achan, the son of Carmi, [the] son of Zabdi, [the] son of Zerah, of the lineage of Judah.

19 And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give thou glory to the Lord God of Israel, and acknowledge thou, and show to me what thou hast done; hide thou it not.

20 And Achan answered to Joshua, and said to him, Verily, I have sinned before the Lord God of Israel, and I have done thus and thus;

21 for among the spoils I saw a red mantle full good, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a golden rule of fifty shekels; and I coveted those, and took away, and I hid those in the earth, against the midst of my tabernacle; and I covered the silver with the earth delved.

22 Then Joshua sent servants, the which ran to his tabernacle, and found all these things hid in the same place, and the silver together;

23 and they took these things away from the tent, and they brought them to Joshua, and to all the sons of Israel; and they casted them forth before the Lord.

24 Then Joshua took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the golden rule, and his sons, and daughters, his oxen, asses, and sheep, and the tabernacle itself, and all the appurtenance of his house-hold; and all Israel with Joshua; and they led them to the valley of Achor;

25 where Joshua said, For thou hast troubled us, the Lord shall full out trouble thee in this day. And all Israel stoned him; and all things that were his, were wasted by fire.

26 And they gathered upon him a great heap of stones, the which abide there still into this day. And the strong vengeance of the Lord was turned away from Israel; and the name of that place is called the valley of Achor unto this day.

CHAPTER 8

1 And the Lord said to Joshua, Neither dread thou, nor be thou afeared; take with thee all the multitude of fighting men, and rise thou, and go up into the city of Ai; lo, I have betaken into thine hand the king thereof, and the people, and the city, and the land.

2 And thou shalt do to the city of Ai, and to the king thereof, as thou didest to Jericho, and the king thereof; soothly ye shall take to you the prey, and all [the] living beasts, set [or put] thou ambushes, either ambushments, to the city behind it.

3 And Joshua rose, and all the host of fighting men with him, for to go up into Ai; and by night he sent thirty chosen thousand of strong men;

4 and he commanded to them, and said, Set [or Put] ye ambushments behind the city, and go ye not further; and all ye shall be ready;

5 forsooth I, and the tother multitude which is with me, shall come on the contrary side against the city; and when they shall go out against us, as we did before, we shall flee, and turn the backs,

6 till they pursue us, and be drawn away further from the city; for they shall guess, that we shall flee them as we did before. Then while we shall flee, and while they pursue,

7 ye shall rise from the ambushments, and shall waste the city; and your Lord God shall betake it into your hands.

8 And when ye have taken it, burn ye it; do ye all things, as I have commanded to you.

9 And Joshua let them go, and they went to the place of [the] ambushments, and sat betwixt Bethel and Ai, at the west coast of the city of Ai. Forsooth Joshua dwelled in that night in the midst of the people.

10 And he rose early, and numbered his fellows, and he went up with the elder men in the front of the host, and was compassed with the help of fighters.

11 And when they had come, and had gone up against the city, they stood at the north coast of the city, betwixt the which city and them a valley was in the midst.

12 And Joshua had chosen five thousand men, and he had set them in [the] ambushments betwixt Bethel and Ai, in the west part of the same city.

13 And all the tother host dressed the battle array to the north, so [that] the last men of the multitude reached to the west coast of the city. Then Joshua went in that night, and stood in the midst of [the] valley;

14 and when the king of Ai had seen this, he hasted early, and went out with all the host of the city, and he dressed battle array against the desert; and he wist not that ambushments were hid behind his back.

15 Forsooth Joshua and all the multitude of Israel gave place, feigning dread, and fleeing by the way of wilderness;

16 and the men cried together, and with gladness stirred themselves together, and they pursued the men of Israel. And when they had gone away from the city,

17 and soothly not one had [or was] left in the city of Ai and Bethel, that pursued not Israel, and they left the cities open, as they had broken out,

18 the Lord said to Joshua, Raise up the shield [or the sword] that is in thine hand, against the city of Ai; for I shall give it to thee. And when Joshua had raised up his banner or the shield [or the sword] against the city of Ai,

19 the ambushments, that were hid, rose up anon; and they went to the city, and took [it], and burnt it.

20 Forsooth the men of the city, that pursued Joshua, beheld, and saw the smoke of the city ascend [or go up] till to heaven; and they might no more flee hither and thither; mostly since they that had feigned flight, and went to wilderness, withstood strongliest against the pursuers.

21 And Joshua saw, and all Israel, that the city was taken, and that the smoke of the city went up; and he turned again, and killed the men of Ai.

22 And also those men that had taken and burnt the city, went out of the city against their enemies, and they began to smite the middle men of their enemies; and when their adversaries were slain behind and before, so that no man of so great [a] multitude was saved,

23 they took also the king of Ai living, and they brought him to Joshua.

24 Therefore, when all the men were slain, that pursued Israel fleeing to desert, and had fallen by sword in the same place, the sons of Israel turned again, and destroyed the city of Ai.

25 Forsooth they that felled down in the same day, from man till to woman, were twelve thousand of men, all men of the city of Ai.

26 For Joshua withdrew not his hand, which he had dressed on high holding up his banner or the shield [or the sword], till that all the dwellers of Ai were slain.

27 And the sons of Israel parted to themselves the work beasts, and the prey of the city, as the Lord com-manded to Joshua;

28 and Joshua burnt that city, and made it an everlasting burial.

29 And he hanged the king thereof in a gibbet, till to the eventide, and the going down of the sun. And Joshua commanded, and they putted down his dead body from the cross; and they casted forth him in that entering of the city, and gathered on him a great heap of stones, which heap dwelleth till into present day.

30 Then Joshua builded an altar to the Lord God of Israel in the hill of Ebal,

31 as Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded to the sons of Israel, and it is written in the book of Moses’ law, an altar of stones unpolished, that iron hath not touched. And he offered thereon burnt sacrifices to the Lord, and he offered also peaceable sacrifices;

32 and he wrote on the stones the Deuteronomy of Moses’ law, not all the book, but the ten behests only, which he had declared before the sons of Israel.

33 And all the people, and the greater men in birth, and dukes, and judges, stood on either side of the ark, in the sight of priests and deacons [or Levites], that bare the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord; as a comeling, so and a man born in the land; the half part of them stood beside the hill Gerizim, and the half part of them stood beside the hill Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded. And Joshua first blessed the people of Israel.

34 And after these things he read all the words of blessing and of cursing, and all things that were written in the book of law.

35 Joshua left nothing untouched of these things that Moses commanded; but he declared all things before all the multitude of Israel, to women, and little children, and to comelings that dwelled among them.

CHAPTER 9

1 And when these things were heard, all the kings beyond Jordan, that dwelt in hilly places, and in plain places, in coasts of the sea, and in the brink of the great sea, and they that dwelt beside Lebanon, Hittite, and Amorite, Canaanite, and Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite,

2 were gathered together to fight against Joshua and Israel, with one will, and with the same accord.

3 And they that dwelt in Gibeon, heard all the things that Joshua had done to Jericho, and to Ai;

4 and they thought fellily or slyly, and took to themselves meats, and putted eld [or old] sackcloths on asses, and wine bottles broken, and sewed or patched,

5 and full eld [or old] shoes, the which were sewed together with old patches, to show their oldness; and these men were clothed with full old clothes; also the loaves, which they bare for lifelode in the way, were hard and broken into gobbets.

6 And they went to Joshua, that dwelled then in tents in Gilgal; and they said to him, and to all Israel together, We [have] come from a far land, and we covet to make peace with you.

7 And the men of Israel answered to them, and said, Lest peradventure ye dwell in the land, which is due to us by heritage, and we may not make bond of peace with you.

8 And they said to Joshua, We be thy servants. To whom Joshua said, What men be ye, and from whence came ye?

9 They answered, Thy servants came from a full far land in the name of thy Lord God; for we have heard the fame of his power, and all things which he did in Egypt,

10 and to the two kings of Amorites beyond Jordan; to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, that were in Ashtaroth.

11 And the elder men and all the dwellers of our land said to us, Take ye meats in your hands, for the full long way; and go ye to them, and say ye, We be your servants; make ye bond of peace with us.

12 And we took hot loaves, when we went out of our houses to come to you; now they be made dry and broken, for great eldness;

13 we filled new bottles of wine; now they be broken and unsewed; the clothes and shoes, with which we be clothed, and which we have on our feet, be broken and well-nigh wasted, from the length of long way.

14 Then they took of [the] meats of these men, and they asked not counsel of the Lord.

15 And Joshua made peace with them. And when the bond of peace was made, he promised, that they should not be slain; and the princes of the multitude swore to them.

16 And after three days of the bond of peace made, the men of Israel heard, that those men dwelled in nigh place, and that they should be soon among those men.

17 And the sons of Israel moved their tents, and came in the third day into the cities of them, of which cities these be the names; Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriathjearim.

18 And Israel destroyed not them, for the princes of the multitude had sworn to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel. Therefore all the common people grutched against the princes of Israel;

19 and the princes answered to them, We swore to them in the name of the Lord God of Israel, and therefore we may not touch them;

20 but we shall do this thing to them; be they kept that they live, lest the ire of the Lord be stirred against us, if we forswear us to them;

21 but so live they, that they hew trees, and bear waters, into the uses of all the multitude. And while they spake these things,

22 Joshua called Gibeonites, and said to them, Why would ye deceive us by fraud, that ye said, We dwell full far from you, since ye be in the midst of us?

23 Therefore ye shall be under cursing, and none shall fail of your generation, hewing trees and bearing waters, into the house of my God.

24 Which answered, It was told to us thy servants, that thy Lord God promised to Moses, his servant, that he should betake to you all the land, and should lose all the dwellers thereof; therefore we dreaded greatly, and purveyed to our lives, and we were compelled by your dread, and we took this counsel.

25 Now forsooth we be in thine hand; do thou to us that, that seemeth rightful [or right] and good to thee.

26 Therefore Joshua did, as he said, and delivered them from the hands of the sons of Israel, that they should not be slain.

27 And in that day Joshua deemed them to be into the service of all the people, and of the altar of the Lord, and to hew trees, and to bear waters, till into present time, in the place which the Lord had chosen.

CHAPTER 10

1 And when Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, had heard these things, that is, that Joshua had taken Ai, and had destroyed it; for as Joshua had done to Jericho and to the king thereof, so he did to Ai and to the king thereof; and that men of Gibeon had fled to Israel, and were bound in peace with them,

2 Adonizedek dreaded greatly; for Gibeon was a great city, and one of the king’s cities, and greater than the city of Ai, and all the fighters thereof were most strong.

3 Therefore Adonizedek, king of Jerusalem, sent to Hoham, king of Hebron, and to Piram, king of Jarmuth, and to Japhia, king of Lachish, and to Debir, king of Eglon, and said,

4 Ascend ye [or Go ye up] to me, and help me, that we fight against Gibeon, for it was yielded to Joshua, and to the sons of Israel.

5 Therefore five kings of Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, were gathered, and ascended [or went up] together with their hosts; and setted tents against Gibeon, and fought against it.

6 Soothly the dwellers of the city of Gibeon sent to Joshua, that dwelled then in tents at Gilgal, and said to him, Withdraw not thine hands from the help of thy servants; go up soon, and deliver us, and [bring] help; for all the kings of Amorites, that dwelled in the hilly places, came together against us.

7 And Joshua went up from Gilgal, and all the host of fighters with him, the most strong men.

8 And the Lord said to Joshua, Dread thou not them, for I have given them into thine hands; and none of them shall be able to against-stand thee.

9 Therefore Joshua felled suddenly on them, and went up all that night from Gilgal;

10 and the Lord troubled them from the face of Israel, and all-brake with great vengeance in Gibeon. And Joshua pursued them by the way of the ascending [or going up] of Bethhoron, and smote till to Azekah and Makkedah.

11 And when they fled the sons of Israel, and were in the going down of Bethhoron, the Lord sent great stones upon them from heaven, till they came to Azekah; and many more were dead by the hailstones, than they which the sons of Israel killed with sword.

12 Then Joshua spake to the Lord, in the day in which he betook Amorites in the sight of the sons of Israel; and Joshua said before the people, Sun, be thou not moved against Gibeon, and the moon, against the valley of Ajalon.

13 And the sun and the moon stood, unto the time the folk of God had avenged themselves of their enemies. Whether this is not written in the book of just [or rightwise] men? And so the sun stood in the midst of heaven, and it hasted not to go down in the space of a day;

14 so long a day was not before and afterward; for the Lord obeyed to the voice of a man, and he fought for Israel.

15 And Joshua turned again, with all Israel, into the tents of Gilgal.

16 For the five kings fled, and hid themselves in the den of the city of Makkedah.

17 And it was told to Joshua, that the five kings were found hid in the den of the city of Makkedah.

18 And Joshua commanded to fellows, and said, Wallow ye great stones to the mouth of the den, and put ye witting men, that shall keep the enclosed kings;

19 soothly do not ye stand, but pursue ye the enemies, and slay ye all the last of fleers; and suffer ye not them to enter into the strongholds of their cities, the which enemies your Lord God hath betaken in your hands.

20 Then when the adversaries were beaten with great vengeance, and were almost wasted unto the death, they that might flee Israel, entered into the strengthened cities.

21 And all the host turned again whole, and in whole number to Joshua, into Makkedah, where the tents were then; and no man was hardy to grutch against the sons of Israel.

22 And Joshua commanded, and said, Open ye the mouth of the den, and bring forth to me the five kings that be hid therein.

23 And the servants did, as it was commanded to them; and they brought forth to Joshua the five kings from the den; the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

24 And when they were led out to Joshua, he called all the men of Israel, and said to the princes of the host, that were with him, Go ye, and set [or putteth] your feet on the necks of these kings. And when they had gone, and treaded the necks of the kings subject to their feet,

25 again Joshua said to Israel, Do not ye dread, neither be ye afeared, be ye comforted, and be ye strong; for so the Lord shall do to all your enemies, against which ye shall fight.

26 And Joshua smote those kings, and killed them, and he hanged them on five trees; and they were hanged unto the eventide.

27 And when the sun went down, he commanded to fellows, that they should put them down from the gibbets; and when they were put down, they casted forth them into the den, in which they were hid; and they putted great stones on the mouth thereof, which stones dwell till to [the] present time.

28 In the same day, Joshua took Makkedah, and smote by the sharpness of sword, and killed the king thereof, and all the dwellers thereof; he left not therein, namely, little relics; and he did to the king of Makkedah, as he had done to the king of Jericho.

29 And Joshua passed with all Israel from Makkedah into Libnah, and he fought against it,

30 which city the Lord betook, with the king thereof, in the hand of Israel; and men of Israel smote that city by the sharpness of sword, and all the dwellers thereof, and they left not therein anything of value, or relics; and they did to the king of Libnah as they had done to the king of Jericho.

31 From Libnah, Joshua passed with all Israel, into Lachish; and when the host was ordained by compass, he fought against it.

32 And the Lord betook Lachish in the hand of the sons of Israel; and Joshua took Lachish in the second day, and smote by the sharpness of sword, and each man, that was therein, as he had done to Libnah.

33 In that time, Horam, king of Gezer, went up to help Lachish; whom Joshua smote, with all his people, till to [the] death.

34 And Joshua passed from Lachish into Eglon, and compassed it, and overcame it in the same day;

35 and he smote by the sharpness of sword all men that were therein, by all things that he had done to Lachish.

36 Also Joshua went up with all Israel from Eglon into Hebron, and he fought against Hebron,

37 and he took, and smote it by the sharpness of sword; and the king thereof, and all the cities of that country, and all men that dwelled therein; he left not any things of value, or relics, therein; as he had done to Eglon so he did also to Hebron, and wasted by sword all things that were therein.

38 From thence Joshua turned into Debir, and took, and wasted it;

39 and he smote by sharpness of sword the king thereof, and all the towns about it; and he left not any things of value, or relics, therein; as he had done to Hebron, and to Libnah, and to their kings, so he did to Debir, and to the king thereof.

40 And so Joshua smote all the land of the hills [or all the mountain land], and of the south, and of the field, and Ashdod, with their kings; he left not therein any relics, but he killed all thing that might breath, as the Lord God of Israel commanded to him;

41 from Kadeshbarnea unto Gaza, and all the land of Goshen, unto Gibeon,

42 Joshua took, and wasted with one fierceness all the kings, and their countries; for the Lord God of Israel fought for him.

43 And Joshua turned again with all Israel to the place of tents in Gilgal.

CHAPTER 11

1 And when Jabin, king of Hazor, had heard these things, he sent to Jobab, king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph;

2 forsooth to the kings of the north, that dwelled in the hilly places [or mountains], and in the plain against the south of Chinneroth, and in the field places, and countries of Dor, beside the sea,

3 and to Canaanite from the east and west, and to Amorite, and Hittite, and Perizzite, and Jebusite in the mountains, and to Hivite, that dwelled at the roots of the hill of Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh.

4 And all went out with their companies, a full much people, as the gravel which is in the brink of the sea, and horses, and chariots, of great multitude.

5 And all these kings came together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

6 And the Lord said to Joshua, Dread thou not them, for tomorrow, in this same hour, I shall betake all these men to be wounded in the sight of Israel; thou shalt hock the horses of them, and thou shalt burn the chariots by fire.

7 And Joshua came, and all his host with him, against them suddenly, at the waters of Merom, and felled on them.

8 And the Lord betook them into the hands of Israel; which smited them, and pursued till to Great Sidon, and the waters of Misrephothmaim, and to the field of Mizpeh, which is at the east part thereof.

9 And Joshua smote so all them, that he left no things of them; and he did as the Lord commanded to him; he hocked their horses, and burnt their chariots.

10 And he turned again anon, and took Hazor, and smote by sword the king thereof; for Hazor held by eld [or old] time the princehood among all these realms.

11 And he smote all persons that dwelled there, he left not any relics therein, but he wasted all things till to death; also he destroyed that city by burning.

12 And he took all cities by compass, and the kings of them, and smote, and did away, as Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded to him,

13 without [the] cities that were set in the great hills, and in [the] little hills [or hillocks]; and Israel burnt the other cities; flame wasted only one city, Hazor, the strongest.

14 And the sons of Israel parted to themselves all the prey, and the work beasts of these cities, when all the men of them were slain.

15 As the Lord commanded to his servant Moses, so Moses commanded to Joshua, and Joshua fulfilled all things; neither soothly he passed over one word of all the behests, that the Lord commanded to Moses.

16 And so Joshua took all the land of the hills, and of the south, [and] the land of Goshen, and the plain, and the west coast, and the hill of Israel, and the field places thereof;

17 and the part of the hill that ascendeth [or goeth up] to Seir till to Baalgad, by the plain of Lebanon under the hill of Hermon; Joshua took, and smote, and killed all the kings of those places.

18 Joshua fought much time against these kings;

19 there was no city, which betook not itself to the sons of Israel, except Hivites that dwelled in Gibeon; he took all men by battle.

20 For it was the sentence of the Lord, that the hearts of them should be made hard, and that they should fight against Israel, and should fall, and [they] should not deserve any mercy, and should perish, as the Lord commanded, to Moses.

21 Joshua came in that time, and killed Anakim, that is, giants, from the hilly places of Hebron, and of Debir, and of Anab, and from all the hill of Judah, and of Israel, and did away their cities.

22 He left not any man of the generation of Anakim in the land of the sons of Israel, without the cities of Gaza, and Gath, and Ashdod, in which alone they were left.

23 Then Joshua took all the land, as the Lord spake to Moses, and he gave it into possession to the sons of Israel, by their parts and lineages; and the land rested from battles.

CHAPTER 12

1 These be the kings which the sons of Israel have smitten, and wielded their lands, beyond Jordan, at the east, from the strand [or stream] of Arnon unto the hill of Hermon, and all the east coast that beholdeth the wilderness.

2 Sihon, the king of Amorites, that dwelled in Heshbon, was lord from Aroer, which is set on the brink of the strand [or stream] of Arnon, and of the middle part in the valley, and of half Gilead, till to the strand [or stream] of Jabbok, which is the term of the sons of Ammon;

3 and from the wilderness unto the sea of Chinneroth, against the east, and unto the sea of desert, which is the saltiest sea, at the east coast, in the way that leadeth to Bethjeshimoth, and from the south part that lieth under Ashdoth, unto Pisgah.

4 The term of Og, king of Bashan, of the relics of Rephaim, that is, giants, that dwelled in Ashtaroth and in Edrei,

5 and he was lord in the hill of Hermon, and in Salcah, and in all Bashan, till to the terms of Geshurites and Maachathites, and of the half part of Gilead, and to the term of Sihon, king of Heshbon.

6 Moses, the servant of the Lord, and the sons of Israel, smited them; and Moses gave the land of them into possession to Reubenites, and to Gadites, and to half the lineage of Manasseh.

7 These be the kings of the land, which Joshua and the sons of Israel smited beyond Jordan, at the west coast, from Baalgad in the field of Lebanon, till to the hill whose part ascendeth [or goeth up] into Seir; and Joshua gave it into possession to the lineages of Israel, to each his own part,

8 as well in hilly places, as in plain and field places; in Ashtoreth, and in [the] wilderness, and in the south, was Hittites, and Amorites, Canaanites, and Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

9 The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is at the side of Bethel, one;

10 the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;

11 the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;

12 the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;

13 the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;

14 the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;

15 the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;

16 the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;

17 the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;

18 the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one;

19 the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;

20 the king of Shimronmeron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;

21 the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;

22 the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam of Carmel, one;

23 the king of Dor and of the province of Dor, one; the king of folks of Gilgal, one;

24 the king of Tirzah, one; all the kings, one and thirty.

CHAPTER 13

1 Joshua was eld [or old] and of great age; and the Lord said to him, Thou hast waxed eld, and art of long time; and the most large land is left, that is not yet parted by lot;

2 that is, all the terms of Philistines, and all Geshuri,

3 from the troubled flood that moisteth Egypt, till to the terms of Ekron against the north; the land of Canaan, which is parted into five little kings of Philistines, of Gaza, and of Ashdod, of Ashkelon, of Gath, and of Ekron. Forsooth at the south be Avites,

4 all the land of Canaan, and Mearah of Sidonians, till to Aphek, and to the terms of Amorites,

5 and the coasts of him; and the country of Lebanon against the east, from Baalgad, under the hill of Hermon, till thou enterest into Hamath,

6 of all men that dwelled in the hill, from the Lebanon till to the waters of Misrephothmaim, and all men of Sidon; I am, that shall do away them from the face of the sons of Israel; therefore come it into the part of heritage of Israel, as I commanded to thee.

7 And thou now part the land into possession to the nine lineages, and to the half lineage of Manasseh,

8 with which lineage Reuben, and Gad, wielded the land, which land Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave to them beyond the flowings of Jordan, at the east coast;

9 from Aroer, that is set in the brink of the strand [or stream] of Arnon, in [the] midst of the valley, and all the field places of Medeba, unto Dibon,

10 and all the cities of Sihon, king of Amorites, that reigned in Heshbon, till to the terms of the sons of Ammon,

11 and of Gilead, and to the terms of Geshurites, and of Maachathites, and all the hill of Hermon, and all Bashan, till to Salcah;

12 all the realm of Og in Bashan, that reigned in Ashtaroth, and in Edrei; he was of the relics of Rephaim, that is, of giants; and Moses smote them, and did away them.

13 And the sons of Israel would not destroy Geshurites, and Maachathites; and they dwelled in the midst of Israel, till into [the] present day.

14 Soothly he gave not possession to the lineage of Levi, but [the] sacrifices, and [the] slain sacrifices of the Lord God of Israel; that is his heritage, as God spake to him.

15 Therefore Moses gave possession to the lineage of the sons of Reuben, by their kindreds;

16 and their term was from Aroer, that is in the brink of the strand [or stream] of Arnon, and in the middle valley of the same strand [or stream], all the plain also that leadeth to Medeba,

17 and to Heshbon, and all the towns of them, that be in the field places; and Dibon, and Bamothbaal, and the city of Bethbaalmeon,

18 and Jahaza, and Kedemoth, and Mephaath,

19 and Kiriathaim, and Sibmah, and Zarethshahar in the hill of the valley

20 of Bethpeor, and of Ashdothpisgah, and Bethjeshimoth;

21 all the field cities, and all the realms of Sihon, king of Amorites, that reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses smote, with his princes Midian, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the dukes of Sihon, dwellers of the land.

22 And the sons of Israel killed by sword, Balaam, the false diviner, the son of Beor, with other men slain there.

23 And the term of the sons of Reuben was made the flood of Jordan; this is the possession of men of Reuben, by their kindreds, of cities and towns.

24 And Moses gave a possession to the lineage of Gad, and to his sons, by their kindreds, of the which possession this is the parting;

25 he gave the terms of Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and the half part of the land of the sons of Ammon, unto Aroer that is against Rabbah;

26 and from Heshbon unto Ramath of Mizpeh, and Betonim, and Mahanaim, unto the terms of Debir;

27 and in the valley he gave to them Betharam, and Bethnimrah, and Succoth, and Zaphon, that was the tother part of the realm of Sihon, the king of Heshbon; and the end of that term is Jordan, unto the last part of the sea of Chinnereth over Jordan, at the east coast.

28 This is the possession of the sons of Gad, by their meines, the cities and the towns of them.

29 Moses gave also possession to the half lineage of Manasseh, and to his sons, by their kindreds, of which possession this is the beginning;

30 he gave Mahanaim, and all Bashan, and all the realms of Og, king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, that be in Bashan, sixty cities;

31 and half the part of Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, the cities of the realm of Og, king of Bashan; he gave to the sons of Machir, the sons of Manasseh, and to half the part of the sons of Machir, by their kindreds.

32 Moses parted this possession in the field places of Moab over Jordan, against Jericho, at the east coast.

33 Forsooth Moses gave no possession to the lineage of Levi; for the Lord God himself of Israel is the pos-session of the kindred of Levi, as the Lord said to him.

CHAPTER 14

1 This is the possession that the sons of Israel wielded in the land of Canaan, which land Eleazar the priest, and Joshua, the son of Nun, and the princes of the meines of the lineages of Israel gave to them,

2 and these parted all things by lot, as the Lord commanded in the hand of Moses, to the nine lineages, and to the half lineage.

3 For Moses had given to the two lineages and to the half lineage possession over Jordan; without the Levites, that took nothing of the land among their brethren;

4 but the sons of Joseph were parted into two lineages, of Manasseh, and of Ephraim, and were heirs into the place of them. And the Levites took none other part in the land, no but cities to dwell in, and the suburbs of those [or them] to their work beasts and their sheep to be fed in.

5 As the Lord commanded to Moses, so the sons of Israel did, and they parted the land.

6 And so the sons of Judah went to Joshua in Gilgal; and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, of Kenaz, spake to him, Thou knowest, what the Lord spake to Moses, the man of God, of me and of thee in Kadeshbarnea.

7 I was of forty years, when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadeshbarnea, that I should behold the land, and I told to him that, that seemed sooth to me.

8 And my brethren, that went up with me, discomforted the heart of the people, and nevertheless I pursued [or followed] my Lord God.

9 And Moses swore in that day, and said, The land, that thy foot hath trodden, shall be thy possession, and of thy sons without end; for thou pursuedest [or hast followed] thy Lord God.

10 Soothly the Lord granted life to me, as he promised, till into present day. Forty years and five be, since the Lord spake this word to Moses, when Israel went through wilderness. Today I am of fourscore years and five,

11 and I am as mighty, as I was mighty in that time, when I was sent to espy; the strength of that time dwelleth stably in me till to this day, as well to fight, as to go.

12 Therefore give thou to me this hill, which the Lord promised to me, while also thou heardest, in which hill be Anakim, and great cities, and strengthened; if in hap the Lord is with me, and I may do them away, as he promised to me.

13 And Joshua blessed Caleb, and he gave to him Hebron into possession.

14 And from that time Hebron was of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, of Kenaz, unto this present day; for he pursued [or followed] the Lord God of Israel.

15 The name of Hebron was called before Kiriatharba. Arba, the greatest, was set there in the land of Anakim; and the land ceased from battles.

CHAPTER 15

1 Then this was the part of the sons of Judah, by their kindreds; from the term of Edom till to the desert of Zin against the south, and till to the last part of the south coast,

2 the beginning thereof from the height of the saltiest sea, and from the arm thereof, that beholdeth to the south.

3 And it goeth out against the ascending [or going up] of Scorpion, and passeth into Zin; and it ascendeth [or went up] into Kadeshbarnea, and cometh into Hezron, and it ascendeth to Adar, and compasseth Karkaa;

4 and from thence it passeth into Azmon, and cometh to the strand [or stream] of Egypt; and the terms thereof shall be the great sea; this shall be the end of the south coast.

5 And from the east the beginning shall be the saltiest sea, unto the last parts of Jordan, and those parts that behold the north, from the arm of the sea unto the same flood of Jordan.

6 And the term ascendeth into Bethhogla, and passeth from the north into Betharabah; and it ascendeth to the stone of Bohan, [the] son of Reuben,

7 and it goeth unto the terms of Debir, from the valley of Achor against the north; and it beholdeth Gilgal, which is on the contrary part of the ascending [or going up] of Adummim, from the south part of the strand [or stream]; and it passeth the waters, that be called the well of the sun; and the outgoings thereof shall be to the well of Rogel.

8 And it goeth up by the valley of the son of Hinnom, by the side of Jebusites, at the south; this is Jerusalem; and from thence it up-raiseth itself to the top of the hill, that is against Hinnom at the west, in the height of the valley of Rephaim, against the north;

9 and it passeth forth from the top of the hill to the well of the water of Nephtoah, and it cometh unto the towns of the hill of Ephron; and it is bowed into Baalah, that is Kiriath-jearim, that is, the city of woods;

10 and it compasseth from Baalah against the west, unto the hill of Seir, and it passeth by the side of the hill of Jearim to the north in Chesalon, and it goeth down into Bethshemesh; and it passeth forth into Timnah,

11 and it cometh against the parts of the north by the side of Ekron; and it is bowed to Shicron, and it passeth the hill of Baalah; and it cometh into Jabneel,

12 and it is closed with the end of the great sea, against the west. These be the terms of the sons of Judah, by compass in their meines.

13 And Joshua gave to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, part in the midst of the sons of Judah, as the Lord commanded to him, this part called Kiriatharba, of the father of Anak; that is Hebron.

14 And Caleb did away from thence three sons of Anak, Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, of the generation of Anak.

15 And Caleb went up from thence, and he came to the dwellers of Debir, that was called before Kiriathsepher, that is, the city of letters.

16 And Caleb said, I shall give Achsah, my daughter, wife to him that shall smite Kiriathsepher, and shall take it.

17 And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb, took the city: and Caleb gave Achsah, his daughter, wife to him.

18 And when she went together, her husband counselled her, that she should ask of her father a field; and she sighed, as she sat upon the ass; and Caleb said to her, What hast thou in thy mind?

19 And she answered, Give thou a blessing to me; thou hast given to me the south land and dry; join thou also thereto a moist land. And Caleb gave to her the moist land, above and beneath.

20 This is the possession of the lineage of the sons of Judah, by their meines.

21 And the cities from the last parts of the sons of Judah, beside the terms of Edom, from the south were these cities; Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur,

22 Kinah, and Dimonah, Adadah,

23 and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Ithnan,

24 and Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth,

25 and Hazor, Hadattah, and Kerioth, Hezron, this is Hazor,

26 Amam, Shema, and Moladah,

27 and Hazargaddah, and Heshmon, Bethpalet,

28 and Hazarshual, and Beersheba, and Bizjothjah,

29 and Baalah, and Iim, and Azem,

30 and Eltolad, and Chesil, and Hormah,

31 and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah,

32 Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon; all the cities, nine and twenty, and their towns.

33 And in the field places, Eshtaol, and Zoreah, and Ashnah,

34 and Zanoah, and Engannim, and Tappuah, and Enam,

35 and Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah,

36 and Sharaim, Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim; fourteen cities, and their towns;

37 Zenan, and Hadashah, and Migdal-gad,

38 Dilean, and Mizpeh, Joktheel,

39 Lachish, and Bozkath, and Eglon,

40 Cabbon, and Lahmam, and Kithlish,

41 and Gederoth, and Bethdagon, and Naamah, and Makkedah; sixteen cities, and their towns, by name,

42 Libnah, and Ether, and Ashan,

43 Jiphtah, and Ashnah, and Nezib,

44 and Keilah, and Achzib, and Mare-shah; nine cities, and their towns;

45 Ekron, with his towns and villages;

46 from Ekron till to the sea, all that go to Ashdod, and the towns thereof;

47 Ashdod with his towns and villages; Gaza with his towns and villages, till to the strand [or stream] of Egypt; and the great sea is the term thereof;

48 and in the hill, Shamir, and Jattir, and Socoh,

49 and Dannah, Kiriathsannah, this is Debir,

50 Anab, and Eshtemoh, and Anim,

51 Goshen, and Holon, and Giloh; eleven cities, and the towns of those [or them];

52 Arab, and Dumah, and Eshean,

53 and Janum, and Bethtappuah, and Aphekah,

54 Humtah, and Kiriatharba, this is Hebron, and Zior; nine cities, and their towns;

55 Maon, and Carmel, and Ziph, and Juttah,

56 Jezreel, and Jokdeam, and Zanoah,

57 and Cain, Gibeah, and Timnah; ten cities, and their towns;

58 Halhul, and Bethzur, and Gedor,

59 Maarath, and Bethanoth, and Eltekon; six cities, and their towns;

60 Kiriathbaal, this is Kiriathjearim, the city of woods, and Rabbah; two cities, and their towns;

61 in the desert, Betharabah, Middin, and Secacah,

62 Nibshan, and the city of Salt, and Engedi; six cities, and their towns; the cities were altogether an hundred and fifteen.

63 Soothly the sons of Judah might not do away Jebusites, the dweller of Jerusalem; and Jebusites dwelled with the sons of Judah in Jerusalem unto this present day.

CHAPTER 16

1 And the lot, either part, of the sons of Joseph felled from Jordan against Jericho, and to the waters thereof, from the east; is, the wilder-ness, that goeth up from Jericho to the hill of Bethel,

2 and it goeth out from Bethel into Luz, and it passeth the term of Archi to Ataroth,

3 and it goeth down to the west, beside the term of Japhleti, unto the terms of the lower Bethhoron, and of Gezer; and the countries thereof be ended with the great sea,

4 which countries Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons of Joseph, wielded.

5 And the term of the sons of Ephraim, by their meines, and the possession of them was made against the east, Atarothaddar till to the higher Bethhoron.

6 And the coasts go out into the sea; for Michmethah beholdeth the north, and it compasseth the terms against the east in Taanathshiloh, and it passeth from the strand [or stream] of Janohah;

7 and it goeth down from Janohah into Atarothaddar, and into Naarath, and it cometh into Jericho; and it goeth out to Jordan

8 from Tappuah, and passeth against the sea into the valley of the place of reeds; and the goings out thereof be unto the saltiest sea. This is the possession [of the lineage] of the sons of Ephraim, by their meines;

9 and the cities and the towns of those [or them] be separated to the sons of Ephraim, in the midst of the possession of the sons of Manasseh.

10 And the sons of Ephraim killed not Canaanites, that dwelled in Gezer; and Canaanites dwelled tributary in the midst of Ephraim till to this day.

CHAPTER 17

1 Forsooth lot felled to the lineage of Manasseh, for he is the first engendered son of Joseph; lot felled to Machir, the first engendered son of Manasseh, to the father of Gilead, that was a warrior, and he had [the] possession Gilead and Bashan.

2 And lot felled to the others of the sons of Manasseh, by their meines; to the sons of Abiezer, and to the sons of Helek, and to the sons of Asriel, and to the sons of Shechem, and to the sons of Hepher, and to the sons of Shemida; these be the sons of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, the male children, by their meines.

3 But to Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, there were not sons, but daughters alone; of which these be the names, Mahlah, and Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.

4 And they came in the sight of Eleazar, [the] priest, and of Joshua, [the] son of Nun, and of the princes, and said, The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, that possession should be given to us in the midst of our brethren. And Joshua gave to them possession, by the commandment of the Lord, in the midst of the brethren of their father.

5 And ten cords, that is, lands measured by ten cords, felled to Manasseh, without the land of Gilead and Bashan, beyond Jordan;

6 for the daughters of Manasseh wielded heritage in the midst of the sons of him. For the land of Gilead felled into the part of the sons of Manasseh, that were left alive.

7 And the term of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethah, that beholdeth Shechem, and it goeth forth to the right side, beside the dwellers of the well Tappuah;

8 for the land of Tappuah, which is beside the terms of Manasseh, and of the sons of Ephraim, felled in the lot of Manasseh.

9 And the term of the valley of the place of reeds goeth down in the south of the strand [or stream] of the cities of Ephraim, that be in the midst of the cities of Manasseh. The term of Manasseh is from the north of the strand [or stream], and the going out thereof goeth to the sea;

10 so that the possession of Ephraim is from the south, and the possession of Manasseh is from the north, and the sea closeth ever either; and those possessions be joined to themselves in the lineage of Asher from the north, and in the lineage of Issachar from the east.

11 And the heritage of Manasseh was in Issachar and in Asher, Bethshean, and the towns thereof, and Ibleam, with his towns, and the dwellers of Dor, with their cities, and the dwellers of Endor, with their towns, and also the dwellers of Taanach, with their towns, and the dwellers of Megiddo, with their towns, and the third part of the city Naphath*.

12 And the sons of Manasseh might not destroy these cities, but Canaanites began to dwell in this land.

13 And after that the sons of Israel had waxed strong, they made subject Canaanites, and they made them tributaries to themselves, and they killed them not.

14 And the sons of Joseph spake to Joshua, and said, Why hast thou given to me land into possession of one lot and [one] part, since I am of so great multitude, and the Lord hath blessed me, that is, hath alarged me in children?

15 To whom Joshua said, If thou art a much people, go thou up into the wood, and cut down to thee spaces in the land of Perizzites, and of Rephaim, for the possession of the hill of Ephraim is strait to thee.

16 To whom the sons of Joseph answered, We may not ascend [or go up] to the hilly places, since Canaanites, that dwell in the land of the field, use iron chariots; in which land Bethshean, with his towns, and Jezreel, wielding the middle valley, be set.

17 And Joshua said to the house of Joseph, and of Ephraim, and of Manasseh, Thou art [a] much people, and of great strength; thou shalt not have one lot,

18 but thou shalt pass to the hill, and thou shalt cut down to thee trees; and thou shalt cleanse spaces to dwell in. And thou shalt be able to go forth further, when thou hast destroyed Canaanites, whom thou sayest to have iron chariots, and to be most strong.

CHAPTER 18

1 And all the sons of Israel were gathered in Shiloh, and there they setted fast [or pitched] the tabernacle of witnessing; and the land was subject to them.

2 And seven lineages of the sons of Israel dwelt there, that had not yet taken their possessions.

3 To the which Joshua said, How long fade ye, or wallow through sloth, and enter not to wield the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given to you?

4 Choose ye of each lineage three men, that I send them, and they go, and compass the land; and that they describe the land by the number of each multitude, and bring to me that, that ye have described.

5 Part ye the land to you into seven parts; Judah be in his terms at the south coast, and the house of Joseph at the north;

6 describe ye the middle land betwixt them into seven parts; and then ye shall come to me, that I send lot to you here before your Lord God;

7 for the part of Levites is not among you, but the priesthood of the Lord, this is the heritage of them. For Gad, and Reuben, and the half lineage of Manasseh, have taken now their possession beyond Jordan, at the east coast, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave to them.

8 And when the men had risen up to go, to describe the land, Joshua commanded to them, and said, Compass ye the land, and describe it, and turn again to me, that I send lot to you here in Shiloh, before your Lord God.

9 And so they went forth, and compassed that land, and parted it into seven parts, writing it in a book; and they turned again to Joshua, into the tents in Shiloh.

10 And Joshua sent lots before the Lord God in Shiloh, and he parted the land to the sons of Israel, into seven parts.

11 And the first lot of the sons of Benjamin, by their meines, went up, that they should wield the land betwixt the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph.

12 And the term of them was against the north from Jordan, and it passed by the side of Jericho at the north coast; and it ascended from thence against the west to the hilly places, and it came to the wilderness of Bethaven;

13 and it passed beside Luz to the south; that is Bethel; and it goeth down into Atarothaddar, into the hill which is at the south of Lower Bethhoron;

14 and it is bowed, and it compasseth against the sea, at the south of the hill that beholdeth Bethhoron against the north; and the outgoings thereof be into Kiriathbaal, which is called also Kiriathjearim, the city of the sons of Judah; this is the great coast against the sea, at the west.

15 And from the south, by the part of Kiriathjearim, the term goeth out against the sea, and cometh till to the well of waters of Nephtoah;

16 and it goeth down into the part of the hill that beholdeth the valley of the sons of Hinnom, and it is against the north coast, in the last part of the valley of Rephaim; and Ge Hinnom, that is, the valley of Hinnom, goeth down by the side of Jebusites, at the south, and cometh to the well of Rogel,

17 and it passeth to the north, and it goeth out to Enshemesh, that is, the well of the sun, and it passeth unto the little hills that be against the ascending or going up of Adummim; and it goeth down to Even Bohan, that is, the stone of Bohan, the son of Reuben,

18 and passed by the side of the north to the field places; and it goeth down into the plain,

19 and it passeth forth against the north to Bethhoglah; and the outgoings thereof be against the arm of the saltiest sea, from the north, and the end of Jordan is at the south coast,

20 which is the term thereof from the east. This is the possession of the sons of Benjamin, by their terms in compass, and by their meines;

21 and the cities thereof were Jericho and Bethhoglah, and the valley of Keziz,

22 Betharabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel,

23 and Avim, and Parah, and Ophrah,

24 the town of Chepharhaammonai, and Ophni, and Geba; twelve cities, and their towns;

25 Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth,

26 and Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah,

27 and Rekem, Irpeel, and Taralah,

28 and Zela, Eleph, and Jebus, which is Jerusalem, Gibeath, and Kiriathjearim; fourteen cities, and their towns; this is the possession of the sons of Benjamin, by their meines.

CHAPTER 19

1 And the second lot of the sons of Simeon went out, by their meines; and the heritage of them, in the midst of the possession of the sons of Judah,

2 was Beersheba, and Sheba, and Moladah,

3 and Hazarshual, and Balah, and Azem,

4 and Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah,

5 and Ziklag, and Bethmarcaboth, and Hazarsusah,

6 and Bethlebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities*, and their towns;

7 Ain, and Remmon, and Ether, and Ashan; four cities, and their towns;

8 all the towns by compass of these cities, unto Baalathbeer Ramath, against the south coast, were seventeen cities. This is the heritage of the sons of Simeon, by their meines,

9 in the possession and part of the sons of Judah, for it was more; and therefore the sons of Simeon had possession in the midst of the heritage thereof.

10 And the third lot of the sons of Zebulun felled, by their meines; and the term of possession of the sons of Zebulun was made unto Sarid;

11 and it goeth up from the sea, and from Maralah; and it cometh into Dabbasheth, unto the strand [or stream] that is against Jokneam;

12 and it turneth again from Sarid, against the east, into the coasts of Chislothtabor; and it goeth out to Daberath; and it goeth up against Japhia;

13 and from thence it passeth forth to the east coast to Gittahhepher, and to Ittahkazin; and it goeth out into Remmonmethoar, and Neah;

14 and it compasseth to the north, and to Hannathon; and the goings out thereof be the valley of Jiphthahel,

15 and Kattath, and Nahallal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem; twelve cities, and their towns.

16 This is the heritage of the lineage of the sons of Zebulun, by their meines, and these be the cities and their towns and villages.

17 The fourth lot went out to Issachar, by his meines;

18 and the heritage thereof was Jez-reel, and Chesulloth, and Shunem,

19 and Haphraim, and Shihon, and Anaharath,

20 and Rabbith, and Kishion, Abez,

21 and Remeth, and Engannim, and Enhaddah, and Bethpazzez.

22 And the term thereof cometh unto Tabor, and Shahazimah, and Bethshe-mesh; and the outgoings thereof were Jordan; sixteen cities, and their towns.

23 This is the possession of the sons of Issachar, by their meines, the cities and the towns of those [or them].

24 And the fifth lot felled to the lineage of the sons of Asher, by their meines;

25 and the term of them was Helkath, and Hali, and Beten, and Achshaph,

26 and Alammelech, and Amad, and Misheal; and it cometh till to Carmel of the sea, and Shihor, and Libnath;

27 and it turneth again, against the east, to Bethdagon; and it passeth unto Zebulun, and to the valley of Jiphthahel, against the north, in[to] Bethemek, and Neiel; and it goeth out to the left side to Cabul,

28 and Hebron, and Rehob, and Hammon, and Kanah, unto Great Sidon;

29 and it turneth again into Ramah, unto the strongest city Tyre, and unto Hosah; and the outgoings thereof shall be into the sea, from the part of Achzib,

30 and Ummah, and Aphek, and Rehob; two and twenty cities, and their towns.

31 This is the possession of the sons of Asher, by their meines, and their cities, and their towns.

32 The sixth lot of the sons of Naphtali felled, by their meines;

33 and the term began from Heleph, and Allon, and Zaanannim, and Adami, which is Nekeb, and Jabneel, till to Lakum; and the outgoings of them till to Jordan;

34 and the term turneth again, against the west, into Aznoth of Tabor; and from thence it goeth out into Hukkok, and it passeth into Zebulun, against the south, and into Asher, against the west, and into Judah, at Jordan, against the rising of the sun;

35 of the strongest city Ziddim, Zer, and Hammath, and Rakkath, Chinnereth,

36 and Adamah, and Ramah, Hazor,

37 and Kedesh, and Edrei, Enhazor,

38 and Iron, and Migdalel, Horem, and Bethanath, and Bethshemesh; nineteen cities, and their towns.

39 This is the possession of the lineage of the sons of Naphtali, by their meines, the cities, and the towns of those [or them].

40 The seventh lot went out to the lineage of the sons of Dan, by their meines;

41 and the term of the possession thereof was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Irshemesh, that is, the city of the sun,

42 Shaalabbin, and Ajalon, and Jethlah,

43 Elon, and Thimnathah, and Ekron,

44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, and Baalath,

45 Jehud, and Beneberak, and Gath-rimmon,

46 and Mejarkon, and Rakkon, with the term that beholdeth Joppa, and is closed with that end.

47 And the sons of Dan went up, and fought against Leshem; and they took it, and they smote it by the sharpness of sword, and they had it in possession, and dwelled therein; and they called the name thereof Leshem Dan, by the name of Dan, their father.

48 This is the possession of the lineage of Dan, by their meines, the cities, and the towns of those [or them].

49 And when they had fulfilled to part the land by lot to all men by their lineages, the sons of Israel gave possession to Joshua, the son of Nun, in the midst of them,

50 by the commandment of the Lord, the city which he asked, Timnathserah, in the hill of Ephraim; and he builded the city, and dwelled therein.

51 These be the possessions which Eleazar, the priest, and Joshua, the son of Nun, and the princes of the meines, and of the lineages of the sons of Israel, parted by lot in Shiloh, before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of witnessing; and they parted the land.

CHAPTER 20

1 And the Lord spake to Joshua, and said,

2 Speak thou to the sons of Israel, and say thou to them, Separate ye the cities of fugitives, either of men exiled for unwillful shedding of blood, of which cities I spake to you by the hand of Moses,

3 that whoever slayeth unwittingly a man, flee to those cities; that when he hath fled to one of those cities, he may escape the ire [or wrath] of the neighbour, which is avenger of blood.

4 And he shall stand before the gates of the city, and he shall speak to the elder men of that city those things that shall prove him innocent; and so they shall receive him, and they shall give to him a place to dwell in.

5 And when the avenger of blood pursueth him, they of that city shall not betake him into the hands of the avenger; for unwittingly he killed his neighbour, and he is not proved his enemy before the second day either the third day.

6 And he shall dwell in that city, till he stand before the doom, and yield, or show, the cause of his deed. And he that killed a man, dwell in that city, till the great priest die, which is in that time; then the manslayer shall turn again, and he shall enter into his city, and house, from which he fled.

7 And they ordained Kedesh in Galilee, of the hill of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill of Ephraim, and Kiriatharba, that is Hebron, in the hill of Judah.

8 And beyond Jordan, against the east coast of Jericho, they ordained Bezer, that is set in the field wilderness of the lineage of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead, of the lineage of Gad, and Golan in Bashan, of the lineage of Manasseh.

9 These cities were ordained to all the sons of Israel, and to the comelings that dwell among them, that he that killed unwittingly a man, should flee to those cities; and he should not die in the hand of the neighbour, coveting to avenge the blood shed out, till he stood before the people, to declare his cause.

CHAPTER 21

1 And the princes of the meines of Levi nighed to Eleazar, the priest, and to Joshua, the son of Nun, and to the dukes of the kindreds, by all the lineages of the sons of Israel;

2 and they spake to them in Shiloh, a city of the land of Canaan, and they said, The Lord commanded by the hand of Moses, that cities should be given to us to dwell in, and the suburbs of those [or them] for our work beasts to be fed in.

3 And the sons of Israel gave of their possessions, by commandment of the Lord, cities and the suburbs of those [or them].

4 And the lot went out into the meine of Kohath, of the sons of Aaron, the priest, of the lineages of Judah, and of Simeon, and of Benjamin, thirteen cities;

5 and to the others of the sons of Kohath, that is, to the deacons [or Levites] that were left, of the lineages of Ephraim, and of Dan, and of the half lineage of Manasseh, ten cities.

6 And lot went out to the sons of Gershon, that they should take of the lineages of Issachar, and of Asher, and of Naphtali, and of the half lineage of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities in number;

7 and to the sons of Merari, by their meines, of the lineages of Reuben, and of Gad, and of Zebulun, twelve cities.

8 And the sons of Israel gave to the deacons [or Levites] cities, and their suburbs, as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses; and all gave by lot.

9 Of [the]possessions of the lineages of the sons of Judah, and of Simeon, Joshua gave cities;

10 to the sons of Aaron, by the meines of Kohath, of the kin of Levi, of the which cities these be the names; for the first lot went out to them;

11 Kiriatharba, of the father of Anak, which is called Hebron, in the hill of Judah, and the suburbs thereof by compass;

12 soothly he gave the fields and towns thereof to Caleb, son of Jephunneh, to have in possession.

13 Therefore Joshua gave to the sons of Aaron, the priest, Hebron, to be a city of refuge, and the suburbs thereof, and Libnah with his suburbs,

14 and Jattir, and Eshtemoa,

15 and Holon, and Debir,

16 and Ain, and Juttah, and Bethshe-mesh, with their suburbs; nine cities, of [the] two lineages, as it is said.

17 And of the lineage of the sons of Benjamin, he gave Gibeon, and Geba,

18 and Anathoth, and Almon, with their suburbs; four cities.

19 All the cities together of the sons of Aaron, the priest, were thirteen, with their suburbs.

20 But to the others, by the meines of the sons of Kohath, of the kin of Levi, this possession was given; of the lineage of Ephraim,

21 the city of refuge, Shechem, with his suburbs, in the hill of Ephraim, and Gezer,

22 and Kibzaim, and Bethhoron, with their suburbs; four cities;

23 also of the lineage of Dan, El-tekeh, and Gibbethon,

24 and Aijalon, and Gathrimmon, with their suburbs; four cities;

25 soothly of the half lineage of Manasseh, Taanach and Gathrimmon, with their suburbs; two cities.

26 All the cities were ten, and their suburbs, that were given to the sons of Kohath, of the lower degree.

27 Also to the sons of Gershon, of the kin of Levi, Joshua gave of the half lineage of Manasseh, cities of refuge, Golan in Bashan, and Beeshterah, with their suburbs; two cities.

28 And of the lineage of Issachar, he gave Kishon, and Dabereh,

29 and Jarmuth, and Engannim, with their suburbs; four cities.

30 Of the lineage of Asher, he gave Mishal, and Abdon,

31 and Helkath, and Rehob, with their suburbs; four cities.

32 Also of the lineage of Naphtali, he gave the city of refuge, Kedesh in Galilee, and Hammothdor, and Kartan, with their suburbs; three cities.

33 All the cities of the meines of Gershon were thirteen, with their suburbs.

34 Soothly to the sons of Merari, deacons [or Levites] of the lower degree, by their meines, was given Jokneam, of the lineage of Zebulun, and Kartah,

35 and Dimnah, and Nahalal; four cities, with their suburbs.

36 And of the lineage of Gad, he gave the city of refuge, Ramoth in Gilead, and Mahanaim,

37 and Heshbon, and Jazer; four cities, with their suburbs.

38 And of the lineage of Reuben, beyond Jordan, against Jericho, he gave the city of refuge, Bezer in the wilderness of Mizar, and Jahazah,

39 and Kedemoth, and Mephaath; four cities, with their suburbs.

40 All the cities given to the sons of Merari, by their meines and kindreds, were twelve.

41 And so all the cities of Levites, in the midst of [the] possession of the sons of Israel, were eight and forty, with their suburbs;

42 and all cities were parted by meines.

43 And the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore himself to give to their fathers, and they had it in possession, and dwelled therein.

44 And peace was given of the Lord into all nations about; and none of [the] enemies were hardy to withstand the sons of Israel, but all men were driven into their lordship.

45 Forsooth neither one word, that he promised himself to give to Israel, was void, but all his words were fulfilled in works.

CHAPTER 22

1 In the same time Joshua called the men of Reuben, and the men of Gad, and half the lineage of Manasseh,

2 and said to them, Ye have done all things which Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded to you, also ye [have] obeyed to me in all things;

3 neither ye have left your brethren in much time till into present day, and ye kept the commandment of your Lord God.

4 Therefore for your Lord God hath given rest and peace to your brethren, as he promised, turn ye again, and go ye into your tabernacles, and into the land of your possession, which land Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave to you beyond Jordan;

5 so only that ye keep busily, and [ful] fill in work the commandment and [the] law, which law Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded to you; that ye love your Lord God, and go in all his ways, and keep his behests, and cleave to him, and serve him in all your heart, and in all your soul.

6 And Joshua blessed them, and let them go, which turned again into their tabernacles.

7 Soothly Moses had given pos-session in Bashan to the half lineage of Manasseh; and therefore to the half lineage that was left [over], Joshua gave part among their other brethren beyond Jordan, at the west coast thereof. And when Joshua let them go into their tabernacles, and had blessed them,

8 he said to them, With much cattle and riches turn ye again to your seats; with silver and gold, and brass, and iron, and with much clothing; part ye the prey of [the] enemies with your brethren.

9 And the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the half lineage of Manasseh turned again, and went from the sons of Israel from Shiloh, which is set in the land of Canaan, that they should enter into Gilead, the land of their possession, which they got by [the] commandment of the Lord in the hand of Moses.

10 And when they had come to the terms of Jordan, into the land of Canaan, they builded beside Jordan an altar of greatest sight.

11 And when the sons of Israel had heard this, and certain messengers had told to them, that the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and the half lineage of Manasseh, had builded an altar in the land of Canaan, on the heaps of Jordan, against the sons of Israel,

12 all they came together in Shiloh, that they should go up, and fight against them.

13 And in the meantime, they sent to them into the land of Gilead, Phinehas, the priest, the son of Eleazar,

14 and ten princes with him; of each lineage one prince.

15 The which came to the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and to the half lineage of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, and they said to them,

16 All the people of the Lord sendeth to you, these things; What is this trespassing? Why have ye forsaken the Lord God of Israel, and have builded a cursed altar, and have gone away from the worshipping of him?

17 Whether the sin of Peor is little to you, of which we be not clean till to this day, and many of the people felled down?

18 And today ye have forsaken the Lord, and tomorrow, that is, in time to coming, the ire [or wrath] of him shall be fierce against all Israel.

19 That if ye guess that the land of your possession is unclean, pass ye to the land, in which the tabernacle of the Lord is, and dwell ye among us, only that ye go not away from the Lord, and from our fellowship, by an altar builded beside the altar of our Lord God.

20 Whether not Achan, the son of Zerah, trespassed the commandment of the Lord, and his ire felled on all the people of Israel? And he was one man; and we would that he alone had perished in his trespass.

21 And the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and of half the lineage of Manasseh, answered to the princes of the message of Israel,

22 The strongest Lord God himself of Israel knoweth, and Israel shall understand altogether;

23 if we builded this altar for intent of trespassing, that is, of idolatry, the Lord keep not us, but punish he us in this present time; and if we did by that mind, that we should put thereon burnt sacrifice[s], and sacrifice, and peaceable sacrifices, he seek, and deem;

24 and not more, rather, we did it with this thinking and treating, that we should say thus, Your sons here-after shall say to our sons, What is to you and to the Lord God of Israel? or, What claim ye to be of his people?

25 O! ye sons of Reuben, and ye sons of Gad, the Lord hath set a term, the flood Jordan, betwixt us and you; and therefore ye have no part in the Lord; and by this occasion your sons shall turn away our sons from the dread of the Lord.

26 Therefore we guessed better, and we said, Build we an altar to us, not into burnt sacrifices, neither to sacrifices to be offered,

27 but into witnessing betwixt us and you, and betwixt our children and your generation, that we serve the Lord, and that it be of our right to offer burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices, and peaceable sacrifices; and that your sons say not tomorrow to our sons, No part in the Lord is to you.

28 And if your sons will say this, our sons shall answer them, Lo! the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not into burnt sacrifices, neither into slain sacrifices, but into our and your witnessing everlasting.

29 Far be this trespass from us, that we go away from the Lord, and forsake his steps, by an altar builded to burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, and sacrifices of praising to be offered thereon, besides the altar of the Lord our God, that is builded before his tabernacle.

30 And when these things were heard, Phinehas, [the] priest, and [the] princes of the message of Israel, that were with him, were pleased; and they received gladly the words of the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and of the half lineage of Manasseh.

31 And Phinehas, the priest, the son of Eleazar, said to them, Now we know, that the Lord is with you; for ye be alien, or guiltless, from this trespassing, and ye have delivered the sons of Israel from the hand, or punishing, of the Lord.

32 And Phinehas turned again with the princes from the sons of Reuben and of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the coast of Canaan, to the sons of Israel; and he told these things to them.

33 And the word pleased to all men hearing it; and the sons of Israel praised God, and said, that they would no more ascend [or go up] against them, and fight, and do away the land of their possession.

34 And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar, which they had builded, Our Witnessing that the Lord Himself is God.

CHAPTER 23

1 And when much time was passed after that the Lord had given peace to Israel, and when all nations about were subjected; and when Joshua was now of long life, and of full eld [or old] age,

2 Joshua called all Israel, and the greater men in birth, and the princes, and dukes, and masters, and he said to them, I have elded, and I am of full great age;

3 and ye behold all things which your Lord God hath done to all nations about, how he hath fought for you.

4 And now for he hath parted to you by lot all the land, from the east part of Jordan unto the great sea, and many nations be left yet,

5 your Lord God shall destroy them, and he shall take them away from your face; and ye shall wield their land, as he promised to you.

6 Only be ye comforted, and be ye busy, that ye keep all things that be written in the book of Moses’ law, and bow ye not away from those things, neither to the right side, neither to the left side,

7 lest after that ye have entered to the heathen men, that shall be among you, ye swear in the name of their gods, and serve those gods, and worship them.

8 But cleave ye to your Lord God, the which thing ye have done unto this day;

9 and then the Lord God shall do away in your sight great folks, and strongest; and none shall be able to against-stand you.

10 One of you shall pursue a thousand men of enemies, for your Lord God shall fight for you, as he hath promised.

11 Be ye ware before most diligently of this thing only, that ye love your Lord God.

12 That if ye will cleave to the errors of these folks that dwell among you, and will meddle [or mingle] marriages with them, and couple friendships,

13 know ye right now, that the Lord your God shall not do away them before your face, but they shall be to you into a ditch, and into a snare, and into hurting of your side, and into stakes in your eyes, till your Lord God take away you, and destroy you from this best land, which he gave to you.

14 Lo! I enter today into the way of all earth, for soon I shall die, as each man shall; and ye shall know with all soul, that of all [the] words which the Lord promised himself to give to you, not one passed by in vain.

15 Therefore as he [ful] filled in work that, that he promised, and all things befelled by prosperity, so he shall bring on you whatever thing of evils he menaced [or threatened], till he take away you, and destroy [you] from this best land, which he gave to you.

16 For ye brake the covenant of your Lord God, which he made with you, and served alien gods, and worship-ped them, soon and swiftly the strong vengeance of the Lord shall rise onto you; and ye shall be taken away from this best land, which he gave to you.

CHAPTER 24

1 And Joshua gathered all the lineages of Israel into Shechem; and he called the greater men in birth, and the princes, and judges, and masters; and they stood in the sight of the Lord.

2 And Joshua spake thus to the people, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Your fathers dwelled at the beginning beyond the flood Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and Nachor, and they served alien gods.

3 Therefore I took your father Abraham from the coasts of Mesopotamia, and I brought him into the land of Canaan; and I multiplied his seed, and I gave Isaac to him;

4 and again, I gave to Isaac, Jacob, and Esau; of which I gave to Esau the hill of Seir, to have in possession; and Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt.

5 And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I smote Egypt with many signs and wonders, and I led you

6 and your fathers out of Egypt. And ye came to the Sea, and Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots, and multitude of knights, unto the Red Sea.

7 And the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, and he put darknesses betwixt you and [the] Egyptians; and he brought the sea on them, and covered them. Your eyes have seen all things, which I did in Egypt. And ye dwelled in wilderness much time.

8 And I brought you into the land of Amorites, that dwelled beyond Jordan; and when they fought against you, I betook them into your hands, and ye had their land in possession, and ye killed them.

9 And Balak, the son of Zippor, the king of Moab, rose, and fought against Israel; and he sent, and called Balaam, the son of Beor, that he should curse you.

10 And I would not hear him, but on the contrary by Balaam I blessed you, and I delivered you from the hands of Balak.

11 And ye passed [over] Jordan, and came to Jericho; and men of that city fought against you, Amorites, and Perizzites, and Canaanites, Hittites, and Girgashites, and Hivites, and Jebusites; and I betook them into your hands.

12 And I sent flies with venomous tongues before you, and I casted them out of their places; I killed [the] two kings of Amorites, not in thy sword, nor in thy bow.

13 And I gave to you the land in which ye travailed not, and cities which ye builded not, that ye should dwell in those, and vineries, and places of olive trees, which ye planted not.

14 Now therefore dread ye the Lord, and serve ye him with perfect heart and most true; and do ye away the gods, to which your fathers served in Mesopotamia, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord.

15 But if it seemeth evil to you, that ye serve the Lord, choosing is given to you; choose ye to you today that, that pleaseth, whom ye owe most to serve; whether to gods, which your fathers served in Mesopotamia, whether to the gods of Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; forsooth I, and mine house, shall serve the Lord.

16 And all the people answered, and said, Far be it from us that we forsake the Lord, and serve alien gods.

17 Our Lord God himself led us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of servage, and did great signs in our sight; and he kept us in all the way, by which we went, and in all peoples, by which we passed;

18 and he casted out all folks, Amorites, the dwellers of the land, into which we entered. Therefore we shall serve the Lord, for he is our Lord God.

19 And Joshua said to the people, Ye may not serve the Lord; for God is holy, and a strong fervent lover, and he forgiveth not your trespasses and sins.

20 If ye forsake the Lord, and serve alien gods, the Lord shall turn himself from you, and he shall torment, and destroy you, after that he hath given good things to you.

21 And the people said to Joshua, It shall not be so, as thou speakest, but we shall serve the Lord.

22 And Joshua said to the people, Ye be witnesses, that ye have chosen the Lord to you, that ye serve him. And they answered, We be witnesses.

23 Therefore, he said, now do ye away alien gods from the midst of you, and bow ye your hearts to the Lord God of Israel.

24 And the people said to Joshua, We shall serve the Lord our God, and we shall be obedient to his behests.

25 Therefore Joshua smote a bond of peace in that day, and setted forth to the people commandments and dooms in Shechem.

26 And he wrote all these words in the book of God’s law. And he took a great stone, and putted it under an oak, that was in the saintuary of the Lord.

27 And he said to all the people, Lo! this stone shall be to you into witnessing, that ye [have] heard all the words of the Lord, which he spake to you, lest peradventure ye would deny afterward, and lie to your Lord God.

28 And Joshua let the people go, each man into his possession.

29 And after these things Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, an hundred years eld and ten.

30 And they buried him in the coasts of his possession, in Timnath of Serah, which is set in the hill of Ephraim, from the north part of the hill Gaash.

31 And Israel served the Lord in all the days of Joshua, and of the elder men, that lived long time after Joshua, and which elder men knew all the works of the Lord, which he had done in Israel.

32 Also the bones of Joseph, the which the sons of Israel bare from Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in a part of the field, the which field Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for an hundred young sheep; and that field was into possession of the sons of Joseph.

33 Also Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, died; and Phinehas and his sons buried him in Gibeah, which was given to him in the hill of Ephraim.

* CHAPTER 1:12 The tribe of Manasseh divided in two after the defeat of Sihon and Og; one half settled on the east side of the Jordan River, and the other half on the west side.

* CHAPTER 5:9 ‘Gilgal’ sounds like the Hebrew for ‘removed’ or ‘taken away’. Good News Bible

* CHAPTER 17:11 The Hebrew meaning of this phrase, ‘and the third part of the city Naphath’, is unclear; other possibilities include: ‘even the three countries, or regions’, ‘even the three heights’, and ‘and the third is Naphath, that is, the hills of Dor’.

* CHAPTER 19:6 In verse 2, the Hebrew text adds, ‘and Sheba’, making fourteen cities.

JUDGES

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

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13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

JUDGES

CHAPTER 1

1 After the death of Joshua the sons of Israel counselled with the Lord, and said, Who shall go up before us against Canaanites, and shall be duke of the battle?

2 And the Lord said, Judah shall go up; lo! I have given the land into his hands.

3 And Judah said to Simeon, his brother, Go thou up with me in my lot, and fight thou against Canaanites, that I go with thee in thy lot. And Simeon went with him;

4 and Judah went up. And the Lord betook Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they killed in Bezek ten thousand men.

5 And they found Adonibezek in Bezek, and they fought against him, and they overcame Canaanites, and Perizzites.

6 And Adonibezek fled, whom they pursued, and took, and they cut off the ends of his hands and of his feet.

7 And Adonibezek said, Seventy kings, when the ends of their hands and of their feet were cut away, gathered remnants of meats under my board; as I have done, so God hath yielded to me. And they brought him into Jerusalem, and there he died.

8 Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and they took it, and they smote it by the sharpness of sword, and they betook all the city to burning.

9 And afterward they went down, and fought against Canaanites, that dwelled in the hilly places, and at the south, in [the] wild fields.

10 And Judah went against Canaanites, that dwelled in Hebron, whose name was by eld [or old] time Kiriatharba; and Judah killed Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

11 And from thence he went forth, and he came to the dwellers of Debir, whose eld [or old] name was Kiriath-sepher, that is, the city of letters.

12 And Caleb said, I shall give Achsah, my daughter, wife to him that shall smite Kiriathsepher, and shall waste it.

13 And when Othniel, the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb, had taken it, Caleb gave Achsah, his daughter, wife to him.

14 And her husband stirred her, going in the way, that she should ask of her father a field; and when she had sighed, sitting on the ass, Caleb said to her, What hast thou?

15 And she answered, Give thou [a] blessing to me, for thou hast given a dry land to me; give thou to me also a moist land with waters. And Caleb gave to her the moist land above, and the moist land beneath.

16 Forsooth the sons of Kenite, the father of Moses’ wife, went up from the city of Palms with the sons of Judah, into the desert of his lot, which desert is at the south of Arad; and [they] dwelled with him.

17 And Judah went with Simeon, his brother; and they smote altogether Canaanites, that dwelled in Zephath, and they killed him; and the name of that city was called Hormah, that is, cursing, either perfect destroying, for that city was destroyed utterly.

18 And Judah took Gaza with his coasts, and Askelon, and Ekron with his terms.

19 And the Lord was with Judah, and he had in possession the hilly places; and he might not do away the dwellers of the valley, for they were plenteous in iron chariots, full of weapons, sharp as scythes.

20 And the sons of Israel gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said, and Caleb did away from it three sons of Anak.

21 But the sons of Benjamin did not away Jebusites, the dwellers of Jerusalem; and Jebusites dwelled with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this present day.

22 Also the house of Joseph went up into Bethel, and the Lord was with them.

23 For when they besieged the city, that was called Luz before,

24 they saw a man going out of the city, and they said to him, Show thou to us the entering of the city, and we shall do mercy with thee.

25 And when he had showed to them, they smote the city by sharpness of sword; and they delivered that man and all his kindred.

26 And when he was delivered, he went into the land of Hittites, and builded there a city, and called it Luz; which is called so till into this present day.

27 Also Manasseh did not away Beth-shean and Taanach with their towns, and the dwellers of Dor, and Ibleam, and Megiddo, with their towns; and Canaanites began to dwell with them.

28 Soothly after that Israel was comforted, he made them tributaries, either to pay tribute, and would not do away them.

29 Soothly Ephraim killed not Canaanites that dwelled in Gezer, but dwelled with him.

30 Zebulun did not away the dwellers of Kitron, and of Nahalol; but Canaanites dwelled in the midst of him, and was made tributary to him.

31 Also Asher did not away the dwellers of Accho, and of Sidon, of Ahlab, and of Achzib, and of Helbah, and of Aphik, and of Rehob;

32 and Asher dwelled in the midst of Canaanites, the dwellers of that land, and Asher killed not him.

33 Naphtali did not away the dwellers of Bethshemesh, and of Bethanath; and he dwelled among Canaanites, the dwellers of the land; and Bethshe-mesh and Bethanath were tributaries to him.

34 And Amorites held strait the sons of Dan in the hill, and he gave not place to them to go down to [the] plainer places;

35 and he dwelled in the hill of Heres, which is interpreted, Witnessing, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim. And the hand of the house of Joseph was made heavy, and he was made tributary to him.

36 And the term of Amorites was from the ascending or going up of Scorpion, and from the stone, and [the] higher places.

CHAPTER 2

1 And the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to the place of Weepers, and said, I led you out of Egypt, and I brought you into the land, for which I swore to your fathers, and promised, that I should not make void my covenant with you into without end;

2 so only that ye should not smite bond of peace with the dwellers of this land, and that ye destroy their altars; and you would not hear my voice. Why did ye these things?

3 Wherefore I would not do them away from your face, that ye have them enemies, and that their gods be to you into falling.

4 And when the angel of the Lord spake these words to all the sons of Israel, they raised [up] their voice, and wept;

5 and the name of the place was called, the place of Weepers, either of tears; and they offered there sacrifices to the Lord.

6 Then Joshua let the people go; and the sons of Israel went forth, each man into his possession, that they should get it.

7 And they served the Lord in all the days of Joshua, and of the elder men that lived after him long time, and knew all the great works of the Lord, which he had done with Israel.

8 Forsooth Joshua, [the] son of Nun, [the] servant of the Lord, was dead of an hundred years and ten;

9 and they buried him in the ends of his possession, in Timnath of Heres, in the hill of Ephraim, at the north coast of the hill Gaash.

10 And all that generation was gathered to their fathers; and other men of Israel rose up, that knew not the Lord, and the works which he had done with Israel.

11 And the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they served Baalim and Ashtaroth;

12 and forsook the Lord God of their fathers, that led them out of the land of Egypt; and they pursued [or followed] alien gods, the gods of peoples, that dwelled in the compass of them, and worshipped those gods, and they stirred the Lord to great wrath,

13 and they forsook him, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

14 And the Lord was wroth against Israel, and he betook them into the hands of ravishers, the which took them, and sold them to enemies, that dwelled by compass; and they might not against-stand their adversaries;

15 but whither ever they would go, the hand of the Lord was on them, that is, to torment them, as he spake and swore to them; and they were tormented greatly.

16 And the Lord raised judges, that delivered them from the hands of destroyers,

17 but they would not hear them, and they did fornication, that is, idolatry, with alien gods, and worshipped them. Soon they forsook the way, by which their fathers entered; and they heard the commandments of the Lord, and did all things contrary.

18 And when the Lord raised up judges in their days, he was bowed by mercy, and he heard the wailings of them that were tormented, and he delivered them from the slaying of their destroyers.

19 Soothly after that the judge was dead, they turned again, and did many things greater in evil than their fathers did; and they pursue [or following] alien gods, and served them, and worshipped them; they left not their own findings, and the hardest way by which they were wont to go.

20 And the strong vengeance of the Lord was wroth against Israel, and he said, For this people hath made void my covenant which I covenanted with their fathers, and have despised to hear my voice;

21 also I shall not do away the folks, which Joshua left, and was dead;

22 that in them I assay Israel, whether they keep the way of the Lord, and go therein, as their fathers kept it, either nay.

23 Therefore the Lord left alive all these nations, and he would not destroy them soon, neither he betook them into the hands of Joshua.

CHAPTER 3

1 These be the folks which the Lord left alive, that in them he should teach Israel, and all men that knew not the battles of Canaanites;

2 and that afterward the sons of them should learn to fight with enemies, and to have custom of battle.

3 He left five princes of the Philistines, and all Canaanites, and the people of Sidon, and Hivites that dwelled in the hill Lebanon, from the hill Baalhermon till to the entering of Hamath.

4 And he left them, that in them he should assay Israel, whether they would hear the behests of the Lord, which he commanded to their fathers by the hand of Moses, either nay.

5 And so the sons of Israel dwelled in the midst of Canaanites, of Hittites, and of Amorites, and of Perizzites, and of Hivites, and of Jebusites,

6 and they wedded wives, the daughters of them; and the sons of Israel gave their daughters to their sons, and they served to their gods.

7 And the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgat their Lord God, and served Baalim, and Asheroth.

8 And the Lord was wroth against Israel, and he betook them into the hands of Chushanrishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, and they served him eight years.

9 And they cried to the Lord, and he raised to them a saviour, and delivered them, that is, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, and the younger brother of Caleb.

10 And the spirit of the Lord was in him, and he deemed Israel. And he went out to battle, and the Lord betook into his hand Chushanrishathaim, king of Syria; and Othniel oppressed him.

11 And the land rested forty years; and Othniel, the son of Kenaz, died.

12 Forsooth the sons of Israel added to do evil in the sight of the Lord; and he comforted against them Eglon, the king of Moab, for they did evil in the sight of the Lord.

13 And the Lord coupled to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek; and he went, and smote Israel, and had in possession the city of Palms.

14 And the sons of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, eighteen years.

15 And afterward they cried to the Lord; and he raised to them a saviour, Ehud by name, the son of Gera, son of Benjamin, the which Ehud used ever either hand for the right hand. And the sons of Israel sent by him gifts, that is, tribute, to Eglon, king of Moab;

16 [the] which Ehud made to him a sword carving on ever either side, of the length of the palm of an hand; and he was girded therewith under the say, that is, a knight’s mantle, in the right hip.

17 And he brought gifts to Eglon, king of Moab; and Eglon was full fat.

18 And when he had given gifts to the king, he pursued [or followed] forth after his fellows that came with him;

19 and he turned again from Gilgal, where the graven idols were, and he said to the king, O king, I have a privy word to thee. And the king commanded silence. And when all men were gone out, that were about him,

20 Ehud entered to him; and the king sat alone in a summer parlour. And Ehud said, I have the word of God to thee. The which rose anon from his throne.

21 And Ehud held forth his left hand, and took his sword from his right hip; and he put it into the king’s womb so strongly,

22 that the pommel, either hilt, pursued [or followed] the iron in the wound, and was holden strait in the thickest fatness within; and Ehud drew not out the sword, but so as he had smitten Eglon, he left it in his body; and anon by the privates of mankind, the turds of the womb burst out.

23 Forsooth when the doors of the parlour were closed most diligently, and fastened with a lock,

24 Ehud went out by a porch. And the king’s servants entered, not into the parlour, but into the porch, and they saw the doors of the parlour closed, and they said, In hap he purgeth the womb in the summer parlour.

25 And they abode so long, till they were ashamed; and they saw that no man opened the door, and they took the key, and they opened, and they found their lord lying dead on the earth.

26 And while they were troubled, Ehud fled out, and passed the place of the graven idols, from whence he turned again; and he came into Seirath.

27 And anon he sounded with a clarion in the hill of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came down with him, and he went in the front.

28 Which said to them, Follow ye me, for the Lord hath betaken our enemies, Moabites, into our hands. And they came down after him, and occupied the fords of Jordan, that led over into Moab. And they suffered not any man to pass [over],

29 but they smote in that time about ten thousand Moabites, all mighty men and strong; no man of them might escape.

30 And Moab was made low in that day under the hand of Israel, and the land rested eighty years.

31 After him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, that smote of Philistines six hundred men with a goad of ox; and he also defended Israel.

CHAPTER 4

1 And the sons of Israel added to do evil in the sight of the Lord, after the death of Ehud.

2 And the Lord betook them into the hands of Jabin, king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; and he had a duke of his host, Sisera by name; and he dwelled in Harosheth of heathen men.

3 And the sons of Israel cried to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots, full of weapons, sharp as scythes, and twenty years he oppressed Israel greatly.

4 And Deborah was a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, the which Deborah deemed the people of Israel in that time;

5 and she sat under a palm tree, that was called by her name, betwixt Ramah and Bethel, in the hill of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel went up to her at each doom.

6 And she sent, and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, of Kedesh of Naphtali, and she said to him, The Lord God of Israel commanded to thee, Go thou, and lead an host into the hill of Tabor, and thou shalt take with thee ten thousand of fighters of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun.

7 And I shall bring to thee, in the place of the strand [or stream] of Kishon, Sisera, the prince of Jabin’s host, and his chariots, and all the multitude; and I shall betake them in thine hand.

8 And Barak said to her, If thou comest with me, I shall go; if thou wilt not come with me, I shall not go.

9 And she said to him, Soothly I shall go with thee; but in this time the victory shall not be areckoned to thee; for Sisera shall be betaken into the hand of a woman. And so Deborah rose, and went with Barak into Kedesh.

10 And when Zebulun and Naphtali were called, Barak ascended [or went up] with ten thousand of fighters, and had Deborah in his fellowship.

11 Forsooth Heber of Kenites had parted some time from other Kenites his brethren, [the] sons of Hobab, the father of Moses’ wife; and he had set forth tabernacles till to the valley, which is called Zaanaim, and was beside Kedesh.

12 And it was told to Sisera, that Barak, the son of Abinoam, had gone up into the hill of Tabor.

13 And Sisera gathered nine hundred iron chariots, full of weapons, carving as scythes, and all the host, from Harosheth of heathen men to the strand [or stream] of Kishon.

14 And Deborah said to Barak, Rise thou up, for this is the day, in which the Lord hath betaken Sisera into thine hands; lo! the Lord is thy leader. And so Barak came down from the hill of Tabor, and ten thousand of fighters with him.

15 And the Lord made afeared Sisera, and all his chariots, and all the multitude, by the sharpness of sword, at the sight of Barak, in so much that Sisera leaped down off the chariot, and fled on foot.

16 And Barak pursued the chariots fleeing, and the host, till to Harosheth of heathen men; and all the multitude of [the] enemies felled down till to death.

17 And Sisera fled, and came to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for peace was betwixt Jabin, king of Hazor, and betwixt the house of Heber the Kenite.

18 Therefore Jael went out into the coming of Sisera, and said to him, My lord, enter thou to me, enter thou to me; dread thou not. And he entered into her tabernacle, and he was covered of her with a mantle.

19 And he said to her, I beseech thee, give me a little water, for I thirst greatly. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave to him to drink, and covered him.

20 And Sisera said to her, Stand thou before the door of the tabernacle, and when any man cometh, and asketh thee, and saith, Whether any man is here? thou shalt answer, No man is here.

21 And so Jael, the wife of Heber, took a nail of the tabernacle, and she took also an hammer; and she entered privily, and with silence she put the nail upon the temple of his head, and she fastened the nail smitten with the hammer into his brain, unto the earth; and he slept, and died together, and he failed life, and was dead.

22 And lo! Barak pursued [or followed] Sisera, and came; and Jael went out into his coming, and said to him, Come, and I shall show to thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he had entered to her, he saw Sisera lying dead, and a nail fastened into his temples.

23 Therefore in that day, God made low Jabin, the king of Canaan, before the sons of Israel;

24 which increased each day, and with strong hand they oppressed Jabin, the king of Canaan, till they did him away.

CHAPTER 5

1 And Deborah and Barak, the son of Abinoam, sang in that day, and said,

2 Ye men of Israel, that have willfully offered your lives to peril, bless ye the Lord.

3 Ye kings, hear; ye princes, perceive with ears; I am, I am the woman, that shall sing to the Lord; I shall sing to the Lord God of Israel.

4 Lord, when thou wentest out from Seir, and passedest by the countries of Edom, the earth was moved, and heavens and clouds dropped with waters;

5 hills flowed from the face of the Lord, and Sinai from the face of the Lord God of Israel.

6 In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, [the] paths rested, and they that entered by those [or them], went [away] by paths out of the way.

7 Strong men in Israel ceased, and rested, till Deborah arose, a mother in Israel.

8 The Lord chose new battles, and he destroyed the gates of enemies; shield and spear appeared not in forty thousand of Israel.

9 Mine heart loveth the princes of Israel; ye that offered you to peril by your own will, bless ye the Lord;

10 speak ye, that ascend [or go up] on shining asses, and sit above in doom, and go in the way.

11 Where the chariots were hurled down altogether, and the host of [the] enemies was strangled, there the Lord’s rightwiseness be told out, and his mercy among the strong men of Israel; then the Lord’s people came down to the gates, and got the princehood.

12 Rise, rise thou, Deborah, rise thou, and speak a song; rise thou, Barak, and thou, son of Abinoam, take thy prisoners.

13 The remnants of the people be saved; the Lord fought against strong men of Ephraim.

14 He did away them into Amalek, and after him from Benjamin into thy peoples, thou Amalek. Princes of Machir and of Zebulun went down, that led the host to fight.

15 The dukes of Issachar were with Deborah, and pursued [or followed] the steps of Barak, that gave himself to peril, as into a ditch head-long, and into hell. While Reuben was parted against himself; the strife of great hearted men was found.

16 Why dwellest thou betwixt twain ends, that thou hear the hissings of flocks? While Reuben was parted against himself, the strife of great hearted men was found.

17 Gilead rested beyond Jordan, and Dan gave attention to ships. Asher dwelled in the brink of the sea, and dwelled in havens.

18 And Zebulun and Naphtali offered their lives to the death, in the country of Meromei, that is interpreted, high.

19 Kings came, and fought; kings of Canaan fought in Taanach, beside the waters of Megiddo; and nevertheless they took nothing by prey.

20 From heaven, it was fought against them; stars dwelled in their order, and in their course, and they fought against Sisera.

21 The strand [or stream] of Kishon drew their dead bodies, the strand [or stream] of Kedumim, the strand [or stream] of Kishon. My soul, tread thou strong men.

22 The horse hoofs fell away, while the strongest of enemies fled with rush, and felled headlong.

23 Curse ye the land of Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye the dwellers of him, for they came not to the help of the Lord, into the help of the strongest of him.

24 Blessed among women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed be she in her tabernacle.

25 To Sisera asking water she gave milk, and in a basin of princes she gave him butter.

26 She put the left hand to the nail, and her right hand to the smith’s hammer; and she smote Sisera, and sought in his head a place of wound, and she pierced strongly his temple.

27 He felled betwixt her feet, he failed, and died; he was weltered before her feet, and he lay without life, and wretchedful.

28 His mother beheld by a window, and yelled; and she spake from the solar, Why tarrieth his chariot to come again? Why tarry the feet of his four-horsed carts?

29 One wiser than [the] other wives of him answered these words to the mother of her husband,

30 In hap now he parteth spoils, and the fairest of women is chosen to him; clothes of diverse colours be given to Sisera into prey, and diverse array of household is gathered to adorn necks.

31 Lord, all thine enemies perish so; soothly, they that love thee, shine so, as the sun shineth in his strength. And the land rested forty years.

CHAPTER 6

1 Forsooth the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he betook them into the hand of Midian seven years.

2 And Israel was oppressed of them greatly; and Israel made ditches, and dens to themselves in hills, and most strong places to fight against Midian.

3 And when Israel had sown, Midian ascended [or went up], and Amalek, and others of the nations of the east;

4 and they setted their tents beside the sons of Israel, and they wasted all things that were in herbs, either green corn, unto the entering of Gaza, and utterly they left not in Israel anything pertaining to life, not sheep, not oxen, not asses.

5 For they and all their flocks came with their tabernacles, and at the likeness of locusts they full-filled all things, and a multitude of men and of camels was without number, and they wasted whatever thing they touched.

6 And Israel was made low greatly in the sight of Midian. And Israel cried to the Lord,

7 and asked help against Midianites;

8 and he sent to them a man, a prophet, and he spake to them, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, I made you to go up from Egypt, and I led you out of the house of servage,

9 and I delivered you from the hand of Egyptians, and of all [the] enemies that tormented you; and I casted them out at your entering, and I gave to you the land of them;

10 and I said, I am the Lord your God; dread ye not the gods of Amorites, in whose land ye dwell; and ye would not hear my voice.

11 And an angel of the Lord came, and sat under an oak, that was in Ophrah, and it pertained to Joash, the father of the meine of Abiezrites. And when Gideon, the son of Joash, threshed, and purged wheat in a presser, that he should flee Midian,

12 an angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said, The Lord be with thee, thou strongest of men.

13 And Gideon said to him, My lord, I beseech, if the Lord is with us, why then have all these evils taken us? Where be the marvels of him, which our fathers told, and said, The Lord hath led us out of Egypt? For now he hath forsaken us, and hath betaken us into the hand of Midian.

14 And the Lord beheld to him, and said, Go thou in this strength of thee, and thou shalt deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; know thou, that I have sent thee.

15 And Gideon answered, and said, My lord, I beseech, in what thing shall I deliver Israel? Lo! my meine is the lowest in Manasseh, and I am the least in the house of my father.

16 And the Lord said to him, I shall be with thee, and thou shalt smite Midian as one man.

17 And Gideon said, If I have found grace before thee, give to me a sign, that thou, that speakest to me, art sent of God’s part;

18 go thou not away from hence, till I turn again to thee, and bring sacrifice, and offer to thee. Which answered, I shall abide thy coming.

19 And so Gideon went in, and seethed a kid, and took therf loaves of a bushel of meal, and the flesh in a pannier; and he put the broth of the flesh in a pot, and he bare all these things under the oak, and offered those to him.

20 To whom the angel of the Lord said, Take thou the flesh, and the therf loaves, and put them on that stone, and pour the broth above. And when he had done so,

21 the angel of the Lord held forth the end of the staff, which he held in the hand, and he touched the fleshes, and the therf loaves; and fire ascend-ed [or went up] from the stone, and wasted the fleshes, and [the] therf loaves. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his eyes.

22 And Gideon saw that he was an angel of the Lord, and he said, Lord God, alas to me, for I saw the angel of the Lord face to face.

23 And the Lord said to him, Peace be with thee; dread thou not, thou shalt not die.

24 Then Gideon builded there an altar to the Lord, and he called it the Peace of the Lord, unto this present day. And when he was yet in Ophrah, which is of the meine of Abiezrites,

25 the Lord said to him in that night, Take thou thy father’s bull, and another bull of seven years, and thou shalt destroy the altar of Baal, that is thy father’s, and cut thou down the wood, which is about the altar;

26 and thou shalt build an altar to thy Lord God in the highness of this stone, on which thou puttedest sacrifice before; and thou shalt take the second bull, and thou shalt offer burnt sacrifice on the heap of trees, which thou cuttedest down of the wood.

27 Therefore Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord commanded to him. And Gideon dreaded the house of his father, and the men of that city, and he would not do by day, but he fulfilled all things by night.

28 And when men of that city had risen early, they saw the altar of Baal destroyed, and the wood cut down, and the tother bull put on the altar, that was builded.

29 And they said together, Who hath done this? And when they inquired the doer of the deed, it was said, Gideon, the son of Joash, did all these things.

30 And they said to Joash, Bring forth thy son hither, that he die, for he hath destroyed the altar of Baal, and hath cut down the wood about it.

31 To whom Joash answered, Whether ye be the avengers of Baal, that ye fight for him? he that is adversary of him, die he, before the morrow light come; if he is God, avenge he himself of him that hath cast down his altar.

32 From that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, for-thy that Joash had said, Baal take vengeance of him that hath cast down his altar.

33 Therefore all Midian, and Amalek, and the peoples of the east were gathered together, and they passed over Jordan, and setted tents in the valley of Jezreel.

34 Forsooth the spirit of the Lord clothed, or full-filled, Gideon; and he sounded with a clarion, and called together the house of Abiezer, that it should follow him.

35 And he sent messengers into all Manasseh, and he pursued [or followed] Gideon; and he sent other messengers into Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali, and they came to him.

36 And Gideon said to the Lord, If thou makest safe Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken,

37 I shall put this fleece of wool in the cornfloor; if the dew is in the fleece alone, and dryness is in all the earth, I shall know, that thou shalt deliver Israel by mine hand, as thou hast spoken.

38 And it was done so. And he rose by night, and when the fleece was wrung out, he filled a basin with dew;

39 and he said again to the Lord, Thy strong vengeance be not wroth against me, if I assay yet once, and seek a sign in the fleece; I pray, that the fleece alone be dry, and that all the earth be moist with dew.

40 And the Lord did in that night, as Gideon asked; and dryness was in the fleece alone, and dew was in all the earth.

CHAPTER 7

1 Then Jerubbaal, which also is Gideon, rose by night, and all the people with him, and came to the well which is called Harod. And the tents of Midian were in the valley, at the north coast of the high hill.

2 And the Lord said to Gideon, Much people is with thee, and Midian shall not be betaken into the hands thereof, lest Israel have glory against me, and say, I am delivered by my strengths.

3 Speak thou to the people, and preach thou, while all men hear, He that is fearedful, and dreadful, turn again. And they went away from the hill of Gilead, and two and twenty thousand of men turned again from the people; and only ten thousand dwelled.

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

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

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

7 And the Lord said to Gideon, In three hundred men, that lapped waters, I shall deliver you, and I shall betake Midian in thine hand; and all the tother multitude turn again into their place.

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

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

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

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

12 And Midian, and Amalek, and all the peoples of the east lay spread abroad in the valley, as the multitude of locusts; and the camels were unnumberable, as gravel that lieth in the brink of the sea.

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

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

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

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

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

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

19 And Gideon entered, and the three hundred men that were with him, into a part of the tents, when the watches of midnight began; and when the keepers were raised, they began to sound with trumps, and to beat together the pots among themselves.

20 And when they sounded in three places by compass, and had broken the pots, they held [the] lamps in their left hands, and [the] sounding trumps in their right hands; and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon;

21 and they stood all in their place, about the tents of their enemies. And so all the tents were troubled; and they cried [out], and yelled, and fled;

22 and nevertheless the three hundred men continued, sounding with trumps. And the Lord sent [in] sword in all the tents, and they killed themselves by death each other; and they fled till to Bethshittah, in Zererath, and by the side, from Abelmeholah into Tabbath.

23 And men of Israel cried together, of Naphtali, and of Asher, and of all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian; and the Lord gave victory to the people of Israel in that day.

24 And Gideon sent messengers into all the hill country of Ephraim, and said, Come ye down against the coming of Midian, and occupy ye the waters till to Bethbarah and Jordan. And all Ephraim cried, and before-occupied the waters of the Jordan until Bethbarah.

25 And Ephraim killed two chief men of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; he killed Oreb in the stone of Oreb, and Zeeb in the presser of Zeeb; and Ephraim pursued Midian, and they bare the heads of Oreb and of Zeeb to Gideon, over the floods of Jordan.

CHAPTER 8

1 And the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, What is this thing, that thou wouldest do, that thou calledest not us, when thou wentest to battle against Midian? And they chided with him strongly, and well-nigh they did to him violence.

2 To whom he answered, And what such thing might I have done, what manner thing ye have done? Whether a raisin of Ephraim is not better than the vintages of Abiezer?

3 And the Lord hath betaken into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What such thing might I have done, what manner thing ye have done? And when he had spoken this thing, the spirit of them rested, by which they swelled against him.

4 And when Gideon had come to Jordan, he passed it with three hundred men, that were with him; and for weariness they might not pursue them that fled.

5 And he said to the men of Succoth, I beseech, give ye loaves to the people, that is with me; for they failed greatly, that we may then pursue Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.

6 And the princes of Succoth answered in scorn, In hap the palms of the hands of Zebah and of Zalmunna be in thine hands, and therefore thou askest, that we give loaves to thine host.

7 To whom Gideon said, Therefore, when the Lord shall betake Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hands, and when I shall turn again overcomer in peace, I shall rend your flesh with thorns and briars of the desert.

8 And Gideon went up from thence, and came into Penuel; and he spake like things to men of that place, to whom also they answered, as the men of Succoth had answered.

9 And so he said to them, When I shall turn again overcomer in peace, I shall destroy this tower.

10 Forsooth Zebah and Zalmunna rested with all their host; for fifteen thousand men left of all the companies of the peoples of the east, when an hundred and twenty thousand of fighters and of men drawing out sword were slain.

11 And Gideon ascended or went up by the way of them that dwelled in tabernacles at the east coast of Nobah and of Jogbehah, and smote the tents of [the] enemies, that were secure, and supposed not anything of adversity.

12 And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, whom Gideon pursued, and took, when all their host was troubled.

13 And he turned again from battle before the rising of the sun,

14 and he took a young man of the men of Succoth; and he asked him the names of the princes, and of the elder men of Succoth; and he described seven and seventy men in number.

15 And he came to Succoth, and said to them, Lo, Zebah and Zalmunna! of which ye upbraided me, and said, In hap the hands of Zebah and of Zalmunna be in thine hands, and therefore thou askest, that we give loaves to men, that be weary and failed.

16 Therefore Gideon took the elder men of the city, and thorns and briars of desert, and he rent with those [or them], and all-brake the men of Succoth;

17 also he destroyed the tower of Penuel, when the dwellers of the city were slain.

18 And he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner men were they, that ye killed in Tabor? Which answered, They were like thee, and one of them was as the son of a king.

19 To whom Gideon said, They were my brethren, the sons of my mother; the Lord liveth, if ye had saved them, I would not slay you.

20 And he said to Jether, his first begotten son, Rise thou, and slay them. And Jether drew not his sword; for he dreaded, for he was yet a child.

21 And Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall on us; for thou art by the age and strength of [a] man. Gideon rose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the ornaments, and bells, with which the necks of kings’ camels be wont to be made fair.

22 And all the men of Israel said to Gideon, Be thou lord of us, thou, and thy son, and the son of thy son; for thou deliveredest us from the hand of Midian.

23 To whom he said, I shall not be lord of you, neither my son shall be lord on you, but the Lord shall be lord on you.

24 And Gideon said to them, I ask one asking of you, give ye to me the earrings of your prey; for Ishmaelites were wont to have golden earrings.

25 Which answered, We shall give most gladly. And they spreaded forth a mantle on the earth, and casted forth therein [the] earrings of the prey;

26 and the weight of the earrings that he asked was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, without [the] ornaments, and brooches, and clothes of purple, which the kings of Midian were wont to use, and besides [the] golden bies of camels.

27 And Gideon made thereof ephod, that is, a priest’s cloth, and he put it in his city Ophrah; and all Israel did fornication, that is, idolatry, therein; and it was made to Gideon, and to all his house, into falling.

28 But Midian was made low before the sons of Israel, and they might no more raise up their nolls; and the land rested forty years, in which Gideon was sovereign.

29 And so Jerubbaal, the son of Joash, went, and dwelled in his house;

30 and he had seventy sons, that went out of his thigh, for he had many wives.

31 And a concubine, that is, second-ary wife, of him, whom he had in Shechem, engendered to him a son, Abimelech by name.

32 And Gideon, the son of Joash, died in [a] good eld [age], and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash, his father, in Ophrah, of the meine of Abiezrites.

33 And after that Gideon was dead, the sons of Israel turned away, and they did fornication, that is, idolatry, with Baalim; and they smote bond of peace with Baalberith, that he should be to them into God,

34 neither Israel had mind of their Lord God, that had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies by compass or about;

35 neither they did mercy to the meine of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, after all the good things that he did to Israel.

CHAPTER 9

1 Forsooth Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went into Shechem to the brethren of his mother; and he spake to them, and to all the kindred of the house of his mother, and said,

2 Speak ye to all the men of Shechem, What is better to you, that seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, be lords of you, whether that one man be lord to you? and also behold, that I am your bone, and your flesh.

3 And the brethren of his mother spake of him all these words to all the men of Shechem; and they bowed their hearts after Abimelech, and said, He is our brother.

4 And they gave to him seventy plates or pieces of silver of the temple of Baalberith; and he hired to him thereof men poor and having no certain dwelling, and they pursued [or followed] him.

5 And he came into the house of his father in Ophrah, and killed his brethren the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. And Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, was left, and hid.

6 And all the men of Shechem, and all the meines of the city of Millo, were gathered together, and they went, and made Abimelech king, beside the oak that stood in Shechem.

7 And when this thing was told to Jotham, he went, and stood in the top of the hill Gerizim, and cried with voice raised [up], and said, Ye men of Shechem, hear me, so that God hear you.

8 Trees went to anoint a king on them; and they said to the olive tree, Command thou to us.

9 Which answered, Whether I may forsake my fatness, which both Gods and men use, and come, that I be advanced among trees?

10 And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and take the realm on us. Which answered to them,

11 Whether I may forsake my sweet-ness, and my full sweet fruits, and go that I be advanced among other trees?

12 Also the trees spake to the vine, Come thou, and command to us.

13 Which answered, Whether I may forsake my wine, that gladdeth God and men, and be advanced among other trees?

14 And all the trees said to the rhamn, or the thieve-thorn, Come thou, and be lord on us.

15 Which answered to them, If ye make me verily king to you, come, and rest ye under my shadow; and, if ye will not, fire go out of the rhamn, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

16 Now therefore, if rightfully [or rightly] and without sin ye have made Abimelech king on you, and if ye have done well with Jerubbaal, and with his house, and if ye have yielded while to the beneficences [or benefits] of him,

17 that fought for you, and gave his life for perils, that he should deliver you from the hand of Midian;

18 and ye have risen now against the house of my father, and have slain his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and have made Abimelech, [the] son of his handmaid, king on the dwellers of Shechem, for he is your brother;

19 therefore if ye have done right-fully [or rightly], and without sin with Jerubbaal and his house, today be ye glad in Abimelech, and be he glad in you;

20 but if ye have done waywardly, fire go out from Abimelech, and waste the dwellers of Shechem, and the city of Millo; and fire go out from the men of Shechem, and from the city of Millo, and devour Abimelech.

21 And when Jotham had said these things, he fled, and went into Beer, and dwelled there, for dread of Abimelech, his brother.

22 And Abimelech reigned on Israel three years.

23 And the Lord sent the worst spirit betwixt Abimelech and the dwellers of Shechem, which began to hold him abominable,

24 and to areckon the felony of [the] slaying of the seventy sons of Jerub-baal, and the shedding out of their blood, into Abimelech their brother, and into [the] other princes of Shechem, that had helped him.

25 And men of Shechem set ambush-ments against the king in the highness [or tops] of hills; and while they abode his coming, they haunted thefts, and took preys of men passing thereforth; and it was told to Abimelech.

26 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, came with his brethren, and passed into Shechem; at whose entering the dwellers of Shechem were raised,

27 and went out into [the] fields, and wasted vineries [or vines], and trode grapes; and with companies of singers made, they entered into the temple of their God, and among meats and drinks they cursed Abimelech,

28 while Gaal, the son of Ebed, cried, Who is this Abimelech? And what is Shechem, that we serve him? Whether he is not the son of Jerub-baal, and made Zebul, his servant, prince on the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem? Why therefore shall we serve him?

29 Would God, some man would give this people under mine hand, and I should do away Abimelech from the midst of Shechem. And it was said to Abimelech, Gather thou the multitude of an host, and come thou.

30 For when the words of Gaal, the son of Ebed, were heard, Zebul, the prince of the city was full wroth;

31 and he sent privily messengers to Abimelech, and said, Lo! Gaal, the son of Ebed, is come into Shechem with his brethren, and he exciteth the city to fight against thee;

32 therefore rise thou by night, with the people that is with thee, and be thou hid in the field;

33 and first in the morrowtide, when the sun riseth, fall thou upon the city; and when Gaal goeth out with his people against thee, do thou to him that that thou mayest.

34 And so Abimelech rose with all his host by night, and set ambush-ments beside Shechem, in four places.

35 And Gaal, the son of Ebed, went out, and stood in the entering of the gate of the city. And Abimelech, and all the host with him, rose from the place of [the] ambushments.

36 And when Gaal had seen the people, he said to Zebul, Lo! a multitude cometh down from the hills. To whom Zebul answered, Thou seest the shadows of hills as the heads of men, and thou art deceived by this error.

37 And again Gaal said, Lo! a people cometh down from the midst of the earth, and one company cometh by the way that beholdeth the oak.

38 To whom Zebul said, Where is now thy mouth, by which thou speakest, Who is Abimelech, that we serve him? Whether this is not the people, whom thou despisedest? Go thou out, and fight against him.

39 Therefore Gaal went, while the people of Shechem abode; and he fought against Abimelech.

40 And pursued him fleeing, and constrained him to flee into the city; and full many of the part of Gaal felled down, unto the gate of the city.

41 And Abimelech sat in Arumah; and Zebul put Gaal and his fellows out of the city of Shechem, and he suffered them not to dwell therein.

42 Therefore in the day pursuing [or following], the people went out into the field; and when this thing was told to Abimelech,

43 he took his host, and parted it in three companies, and he set ambush-ments in the fields; and he saw that the people went out of the city, and he rose, and felled upon them with his company,

44 and besieged them and fought against the city. And two companies went about openly by the field, and pursued their adversaries.

45 And Abimelech fought against that city all that day, the which he took, when the dwellers thereof were slain, and that city was destroyed, so that he sprinkled abroad salt therein.

46 And when they, that dwelled in the tower of Shechem, had heard this, they entered into the temple of their god Berith, where they had made [a] bond of peace with him; and of that idol the place took the name, the which place was full strong.

47 And Abimelech heard that [the] men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together,

48 and he went up into the hill of Zalmon with all his people; and with an ax taken, he cut down a bough of a tree, and he bare it, put upon his shoulder, and he said to his fellows, Do ye anon this thing, that ye see me do.

49 Therefore with strife they cutted down boughs of the trees, and pursued [or followed] the duke; the which compassed the tower and burnt it up; and so it was done, that with smoke and fire a thousand men were slain, men and women together, of the dwellers of the tower of Shechem.

50 And Abimelech went forth from thence, and came to the city of Thebez, which he compassed, and besieged with an host.

51 And the tower was high in the midst of the city, to which men and women fled together, and all the princes of the city, while the gate was closed full strongly; and they stood on the roof of the tower by [the] turrets.

52 And Abimelech came beside the tower, and fought strongly against it, and he nighed to the door, and enforced or endeavoured him to put fire under it;

53 and lo! a woman casted from above a gobbet of a mill-stone, and hurtled to the head of Abimelech, and it brake his noll.

54 And he called anon his squire, and said to him, Draw out thy sword, and slay me, lest peradventure it be said, that I am slain of a woman. Which performed the commandments, and killed Abimelech;

55 and when Abimelech was dead, all men of Israel that were with him turned again to their places.

56 And God yielded to Abimelech the evil that he did against his father, for he killed his seventy brethren.

57 Also that evil was yielded to [the] men of Shechem, that they wrought, and the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal, came upon them.

CHAPTER 10

1 After Abimelech rose a duke in Israel, Tola, the son of Puah, son of Dodo; Tola was a man of Issachar, that dwelled in Shamir, of the hill of Ephraim;

2 and he deemed Israel three and twenty years, and he died, and was buried in Shamir.

3 His successor was Jair, a man of Gilead, that deemed Israel two and twenty years;

4 and he had thirty sons, sitting upon thirty colts of she-asses, and they were princes of thirty cities, the which be called by their father’s name, Havothjair, that is, the cities of Jair, unto this present day, in the land of Gilead.

5 And Jair died, and was buried in a place that is called Camon.

6 Forsooth the sons of Israel joined new sins to eld [or old] sins, and did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served to the idols of Baalim, and to Ashtaroth, and to the gods of Syria, and of Sidon, and of Moab, and of the sons of Ammon, and of Philistines; and they left the Lord, and worshipped not him.

7 And the Lord was wroth against them, and he betook them into the hands of Philistines, and of the sons of Ammon.

8 And all the sons of Israel that dwelled beyond Jordan in the land of Amorites, that is, in Gilead, were tormented and oppressed greatly by eighteen years,

9 in so much that the sons of Ammon, when they had passed [over] Jordan, wasted Judah, and Benjamin, and Ephraim; and Israel was tormented greatly.

10 And they cried to the Lord, and said, We have sinned to thee, for we forsook our God, and served Baalim.

11 To whom the Lord said, Whether not the Egyptians, and Amorites, and the sons of Ammon, and Philistines,

12 and Sidonians, and Amalek, and Canaan or Maonites, have oppressed you, and ye cried to me, and I delivered you from their hands?

13 And nevertheless ye have forsaken me, and worshipped alien gods; there-fore I shall not add to, that I deliver you [any] more.

14 Go ye, and call [the] gods which ye have chosen; deliver they you in the time of anguish.

15 And the sons of Israel said to the Lord, We have sinned; yield thou to us whatever thing pleaseth to thee; only deliver us now.

16 And they said these things, and casted forth from their coasts all the idols of alien gods, and served the Lord; which had ruth, either compassion, on the wretchednesses of them.

17 And so the sons of Ammon cried together, each moving other to battle against Israel, and setted tents in Gilead, and the sons of Israel were gathered against them, and setted tents in Mizpeh.

18 And the princes of Gilead said each to his neighbours, He, that beginneth first of us to fight against the sons of Ammon, shall be duke of the people of Gilead.

CHAPTER 11

1 And so in that time Jephthah, a man of Gilead, was a full strong man, and a fighter, the son of a woman whore, the which Jephthah was born of Gilead.

2 And Gilead had a wife, of whom he had sons, which after that they increased, casted out Jephthah, and said, Thou mayest not be heir in the house of our father, for thou art born of another mother.

3 And he fled his brethren, and eschewed them, and dwelled in the land of Tob; and poor men were gathered to him, and pursued him as a prince.

4 In those days the sons of Ammon fought against Israel;

5 and when they continued sharply, the greater men in birth of Gilead, went to take into the help of them-selves Jephthah from the land of Tob;

6 and they said to him, Come thou, and be our prince, and fight against the sons of Ammon.

7 To which he answered, Whether not ye it be, that hated me, and threw me out of the house of my father, and now ye have come to me, and were compelled by need?

8 And the princes of Gilead said to Jephthah, Therefore for this cause we came now to thee, that thou go with us, and fight against the sons of Ammon; and that thou be the duke of all men that dwell in Gilead.

9 And Jephthah said to them, Whether ye came verily, or without fraud, to me, that I fight for you against the sons of Ammon, and if the Lord shall betake them into mine hands, shall I be your prince?

10 The which answered to him, The Lord himself, that heareth these things, is mediator and witness, that we shall fulfill our promises to thee.

11 And so Jephthah went with the princes of Gilead, and all the people made him their prince; and Jephthah spake all his words before the Lord in Mizpeh.

12 And he sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, which messengers should say of his person, What is to me and to thee, for thou hast come against me to waste my land?

13 To the which messengers the king answered, For Israel, when he ascended [or went up] from Egypt, took away my land, from the coasts of Arnon unto Jabbok, and to Jordan, now there-fore yield it to me again with peace.

14 By the which messengers Jephthah sent again, and commanded to them, that they should say to the king of Ammon,

15 Jephthah saith these things, Israel took not the land of Moab, neither the land of the sons of Ammon;

16 but when they went up from Egypt, Israel went by the wilderness unto the Red Sea, and came into Kadesh;

17 and he sent messengers to the king of Edom, and said, Suffer thou me, that I go through thy land; the which king would not assent to the prayers of Israel. Also Israel sent to the king of Moab, and he despised to give Israel passage; and so Israel dwelled in Kadesh,

18 and he compassed by the side the land of Edom, and the land of Moab; and he came to the east coast of the land of Moab, and setted tents beyond Arnon, neither he would enter into the terms of Moab; for Arnon is the end of the land of Moab.

19 And so Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of Amorites, that dwelled in Heshbon; and they said to him, Suffer thou, that I pass through thy land unto the river.

20 And he despised the words of Israel, and suffered not him pass by his terms, but with a multitude with-out number gathered together, Sihon went out against Israel at Jahaz, and against-stood him strongly.

21 And the Lord betook Sihon with all his host into the hands of Israel; and Israel smote him, and had in possession all the land of Amorites, the dwellers of that country,

22 and all the coasts thereof, from Arnon unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness unto Jordan.

23 Therefore the Lord God of Israel destroyed Amorites, fighting against him for his people Israel. And wilt thou now have in possession his land?

24 Whether not those things which Chemosh, thy god, had in possession, be due to thee by right? Soothly those things which the Lord our God over-comer hath gotten, shall fall into our possession;

25 but in hap thou art better than Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, either thou mayest say, that Balak strived against Israel, and fought against him,

26 when Israel dwelled in Heshbon, and in [the] towns thereof, and in Aroer, and in towns thereof, and in all [the] cities beyond Jordan, by three hundred years. Why in so much time assayed ye nothing on this asking again?

27 Therefore not I do sin against thee, but thou doest evil against me, and bringest in battles not just to me; the Lord, judge of this day, deem betwixt the sons of Israel and betwixt the sons of Ammon.

28 And the king of the sons of Ammon would not assent to the words of Jephthah, which he sent by the messengers.

29 Therefore the spirit of the Lord was made upon Jephthah, and he compassed Gilead, and Manasseh, Mizpeh and Gilead; and he passed from thence to the sons of Ammon,

30 and he made a vow to the Lord, and said, If thou shalt betake the sons of Ammon into mine hands,

31 whoever goeth out first of the doors of mine house, and cometh against me turning again with peace from the sons of Ammon, I shall offer him burnt sacrifice to the Lord.

32 And Jephthah went to the sons of Ammon, to fight against them, which the Lord betook into his hands;

33 and he smote from Aroer till that he came into Minnith, twenty cities, and unto Abel, which is set about with vineries [or vines], with full great vengeance; and the sons of Ammon were made low of the sons of Israel.

34 And when Jephthah turned again into Mizpeh, his house, his one begotten daughter came to meet him with tympans, and crowds dancing; for he had not other free children.

35 And when he saw her, he rent his clothes, and said, Alas! my daughter, thou hast troubled me, and thou art troubled; for I opened my mouth to the Lord, and I may do none other thing.

36 To whom she answered, My father, if thou openedest thy mouth to the Lord, do to me whatever thing thou promisedest, while vengeance and victory of thine enemies be granted to thee.

37 And she said to her father, Give thou to me only this thing, which I beseech; suffer thou me that in two months I compass [the] hills, and bewail my maidenhood with my fellows.

38 To whom he answered, Go thou. And he suffered her in two months. And when she had gone forth with her fellows, and her play-frères, she bewept her maidenhood in the hills.

39 And when two months were fulfilled, she turned again to her father, and he did to her as he avowed [or vowed]; and she knew no man fleshly. From that time a custom came in Israel, and that custom is kept,

40 that after the end of the year the daughters of Israel come together, and bewail the daughter of Jephthah of Gilead four days.

CHAPTER 12

1 And, lo! dissension rose in Ephraim; for they, that passed toward the north, said to Jephthah, Why wentest thou to battle against the sons of Ammon, and wouldest not call us, that we should go with thee. Therefore we shall burn thine house.

2 To which he answered, Great strife was to me and to my people against the sons of Ammon, and I called you, that ye should give help to me, and you would not do so.

3 Which thing I saw, and putted my life in mine hands; and I passed to the sons of Ammon, and the Lord betook them into mine hands; what have I deserved, that ye rise together against me into battle?

4 Therefore when all the men of Gilead were called to Jephthah, he fought against Ephraim; and [the] men of Gilead smote Ephraim; for he said, Gilead is fugitive, either exiled, from Ephraim, and in the midst of Ephraim, and of Manasseh.

5 And the men of Gilead occupied the fords of Jordan, by which Ephraim should turn again. And when a man, fleeing of the number of Ephraim, had come to the fords, and had said, I beseech, that ye suffer me pass; men of Gilead said to him, Whether thou art a man of Ephraim? And when he had said, I am not,

6 they asked him, Say thou therefore Shibboleth, which is interpreted, an ear of corn. Which answered, Sibboleth, and he might not bring forth an ear of corn by the same letter. And anon they took and strangled him in that passing over of Jordan; and two and forty thousand men of Ephraim felled down in that time.

7 And so Jephthah, a man of Gilead, deemed Israel six years; and he died, and was buried in his city Gilead.

8 Ibzan of Bethlehem, that had thirty sons, and so many daughters, deemed Israel after Jephthah;

9 which daughters he sent out, and gave them to husbands, and he took wives to his sons of the same number, and he brought them into his house; and Ibzan deemed Israel seven years;

10 and he died, and was buried in Bethlehem.

11 Whose successor was Elon of Zebulun; and he deemed Israel ten years;

12 and he was dead, and buried in Zebulun.

13 After him Abdon, the son of Hillel, of Pirathon, deemed Israel;

14 the which Abdon had forty sons, and of them were thirty sons, going upon seventy colts of she-asses, and Abdon deemed Israel eight years;

15 and he died, and was buried in Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of Amalek.

CHAPTER 13

1 And again the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he betook them in[to] the hands of [the] Philistines forty years.

2 Forsooth a man was of Zorah, of the kindred of Dan, Manoah by name, and he had a barren wife.

3 To which wife an angel of the Lord appeared, and said to her, Thou art barren, and without free children; but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.

4 Therefore be thou ware, lest thou drink wine, and cider, neither eat thou any unclean thing;

5 for thou shalt conceive, and bear a son, whose head a razor shall not touch; for he shall be a Nazarite, that is, holy of God, from his young age, and from the mother’s womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of [the] Philistines.

6 And when she had come to her husband, she said to him, A man of God came to me, and he had an angel’s cheer, and he was full fearedful; and when I had asked him, who he was, and from whence he came, and by what name he was called, he would not say to me;

7 but he answered thus, Lo! thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; be thou ware, that thou drink no wine nor cider, neither eat any unclean thing; for the child shall be a Nazarite, that is, holy of the Lord, from his young age, and from the mother’s womb, till to the day of his death.

8 Therefore Manoah prayed the Lord, and said, Lord, I beseech, that the man of God, whom thou sentest, come again, and teach us, what we owe to do of the child, that shall be born.

9 And the Lord heard Manoah praying; and the angel of the Lord appeared again to his wife sitting in the field; forsooth Manoah, her husband, was not with her.

10 And when she had seen the angel, she hasted, and ran to her husband, and told to him, and said, Lo! the man whom I saw before, appeared to me.

11 Which rose, and pursued [or followed] his wife; and he came to the man, and said to him, Art thou he, that hast spoken to the woman? And he answered, I am.

12 To whom Manoah said, When thy word shall be fulfilled, what wilt thou, that the child do, either from what thing shall he keep himself?

13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, Abstain he himself from all things which I spake to thy wife.

14 And eat he not whatever thing cometh forth of the vine, drink he not wine, and cider, eat he not any unclean thing, and fulfill he; and keep that, that I commanded to him.

15 Therefore Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, I beseech, that thou assent to my prayers, and we array to thee, that is, make ready to meat, a kid of the goats.

16 To whom the angel of the Lord answered, Though thou constrain me, I shall not eat thy bread; but if thou wilt make burnt sacrifice, offer thou it to the Lord. And Manoah knew not, that it was an angel of the Lord.

17 And Manoah said to him, What name is to thee, that if thy word be fulfilled, we honour thee?

18 To whom he answered, Why askest thou my name, which is hid, either unknown?

19 Therefore Manoah took a goat kid, and flowing sacrifices, and he put upon a stone, and he offered them to the Lord that doeth wonderful things. And he and his wife beheld.

20 And when the flame of the altar ascended into heaven, the angel of the Lord ascended or went up together in the flame. And when Manoah and his wife had seen this, they felled low to the earth.

21 And the angel of the Lord appeared no more to them. And anon Manoah understood, that he was the angel of the Lord.

22 And he said to his wife, We shall die by death, for we have seen the Lord.

23 To whom the woman answered, If the Lord would slay us, he would not have taken of our hands burnt sacrifices, and moist sacrifices, but neither he would have showed all these things to us, neither have said to us those things, that be to coming [or to come].

24 And so she childed a son, and called his name Samson; and the child increased, and the Lord blessed him.

25 And the spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the tents of Dan, betwixt Zorah and Eshtaol.

CHAPTER 14

1 Therefore Samson went down into Timnath, and he saw there a woman of the daughters of Philistines;

2 and he went up, and he told this to his father and mother, and said, I saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of Philistines, and I beseech, that ye take her a wife to me.

3 To whom his father and mother said, Whether there is no woman among the daughters of thy brethren, and in all my people, for thou wilt take a wife of the Philistines, that be uncircumcised? And Samson said to his father, Take thou this wife to me, for she hath pleased mine eyes.

4 But his father and mother knew not, that this thing was done of the Lord; and that he sought occasions against [the] Philistines; for in that time Philistines were lords of Israel.

5 Therefore Samson went down with his father and mother into Timnath; and when they had come to the vineries [or vines] of the city, a fierce and roaring whelp of a lion appeared, and ran to Samson.

6 And the spirit of the Lord felled into Samson, and he rent the lion into gobbets, as if he had rent a kid, and utterly he had nothing in his hand; and he would not show this to his father and mother.

7 And he went down, and spake to the woman, that pleased his eyes.

8 And after some days he turned [again] to take her; and he went aside to see the lion’s carrion; and lo! a swarm of bees was in the lion’s mouth, and an honeycomb.

9 And when Samson had taken the comb in his hands, he ate it in the way; and he came to his father and mother, and gave them part thereof, and they ate; nevertheless he would not show to them, that he had taken that honey of the lion’s mouth.

10 And so his father went down to the woman, and made a feast to his son Samson; for so young men were wont to do.

11 Therefore when the citizens of that place had seen him, they gave to him thirty fellows, which should be with him.

12 To which Samson spake, I shall put forth to you a problem, that is, a doubtful word and privy, and if ye solve it to me within seven days of the feast, I shall give to you thirty linen clothes, and coats of the same number;

13 soothly if ye may not solve, ye shall give to me thirty linen clothes, and coats of the same number. Which answered to him, Set forth the problem, that we hear it.

14 And he said to them, Meat went out of the eater, and sweetness went out of the strong. And by three days they might not solve the proposition, that is, the reasoning set forth.

15 And when the seventh day came, they said to the wife of Samson, Gloss or flatter thine husband, and counsel him, that he show to thee what the problem signifieth. That if thou wilt not do it, we shall burn thee and the house of thy father. Whether therefore ye called us to [the] weddings, that ye should rob us?

16 And she shedded tears at Samson, and complained, and said, Thou hatest me, and lovest me not, therefore thou wilt not expound to me the problem, which thou hast put forth to the sons of my people. And he answered, I would not say this thing to my father and mother, and shall I be able to show it to thee?

17 Therefore by seven days of the feast she wept upon him; and at the last in the seventh day, he told it to her clearly, when she was dis-easeful to him. And anon she told it to her citizens.

18 And they said to him in the seventh day before the going down of the sun, What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If ye had not eared, or busied you, in my cow calf, that is, my wife, ye had not found my proposition.

19 Therefore the spirit of the Lord felled into him; and he went down to Ashkelon, and killed there thirty men, whose clothes he took away, and he gave to them that solved the problem; and he was full wroth, and went up into his father’s house.

20 Forsooth his wife took an husband, one of the friends and privy keepers of her [or one of his friends and wooers].

CHAPTER 15

1 But a little time after, when the days of wheat harvest nighed, Samson came, and would visit his wife, and he brought to her a goat kid; and when he would enter into her bed by custom, her father forbade him,

2 and said, I guessed that thou haddest hated her, and therefore I gave her to thy friend; but she hath a sister, which is younger and fairer than she, be she [a] wife to thee for her.

3 To whom Samson answered, From this day forth no blame shall be in me against [the] Philistines, for I shall do evils to you.

4 And he went, and took three hundred foxes, and he joined together their tails to tails, and he bound fire brands in middle of the tails,

5 which he kindled with fire, and let them go, that they should run about hither and thither; which went anon into the corns of [the] Philistines, by which kindled, both the corns borne now together, and yet standing in the stubble, were burnt, in so much that the flame wasted vineries [or vines], and places of olive trees.

6 And the Philistines said, Who did this thing? To whom it was said, Samson, the husband of Timnite’s daughter, for he took away Samson’s wife, and gave her to another man. And the Philistines went up, and burnt both the woman and her father.

7 To the which Philistines Samson said, Though ye have done this thing, nevertheless yet I shall ask and take vengeance of you, and then I shall rest.

8 And he smote them with great wound, so that they wondered, and putted the hinder part of the hip on the thigh; and he went down, and dwelled in the den of the stone of Etam.

9 Then the Philistines went up into the land of Judah, and they setted tents in the place, that was called afterward Lehi, that is, a cheek[bone], where their host was spread abroad.

10 And men of the lineage of Judah said to them, Why have ye gone up against us? The which answered, We come that we bind Samson, and yield to him those things the which he [hath] wrought against us.

11 Therefore three thousand of men of Judah went down to the den of the flint of Etam; and they said to Samson, Knowest thou not, that [the] Philistines command to us, that is, they have lordship on us? Why wouldest thou do this thing to them? To whom he said, As they did to me, so I did to them.

12 They said, We come to bind thee, and to betake thee into the hands of Philistines. To whom Samson answered, Swear ye, and promise ye to me, that ye slay not me.

13 And they said, We shall not slay thee, but we shall betake thee bound to them. And they bound him with two new cords, and took him from the stone of Etam.

14 And when they had come to the place that is called Cheek[bone], and the Philistines crying high had run to him, the spirit of the Lord felled into him, and as sticks be wont to be wasted at the hot tasting of fire, so and the bonds, with which he was bound, were scattered and loosed.

15 And when he had found a cheek-[bone], that is, the nether cheekbone, of an ass, that there lay, he took it, and killed therewith a thousand men;

16 and he said, With the cheek[bone] of an ass, that is, with the nether cheek[bone] of a colt of she-asses, I have done away Philistines, and I have killed therewith a thousand men.

17 And when he had high cried these words, and had fully ended them, he threw away from his hand the nether cheekbone; and he called the name of that place Ramathlehi, that is to say, the Raising up of a cheekbone.

18 And he thirsted greatly, and cried to the Lord, and said, Thou, Lord, hast given into the hand of thy servant this greatest health and victory; and lo! I die for thirst, and I shall fall into the hands of uncircumcised men.

19 Therefore the Lord opened a wang tooth in the cheekbone of the ass, and waters went out thereof, and when he had drunken he refreshed his spirit, and received strengths; therefore the name of that place was called the Well of the inwardly caller of the cheek-bone, unto this present day.

20 And Samson deemed Israel in the days of [the] Philistines twenty years.

CHAPTER 16

1 Also Samson went into Gaza, and he saw there a woman whore, and he entered to her.

2 And when the Philistines had seen this, and it was published among them, that Samson had entered into the city, they encompassed him, the keepers set in the gates of the city; and the Philistines abiding there all that night privily, that in the morrowtide they should kill Samson going out.

3 And Samson slept till to midnight; and he rose up to go thence, and he took both the closings, or the leaves, of the city gate, with the posts and the lock; and he bare those gates upon his shoulders, to the top of the hill that beholdeth Hebron.

4 After these things Samson loved a woman that dwelled in the valley of Sorek, and she was called Delilah.

5 And the princes of the Philistines came to her, and said, Deceive thou him, and learn thou of him, in what thing he hath so great strength, and how we may overcome him, and torment him when he is bound; the which thing if thou doest, we shall give to thee, each man, a thousand and an hundred plates of silver.

6 Then Delilah spake to Samson, I beseech thee, say thou to me, where-in is thy greatest strength, and what is that thing, with which if thou were bound, thou mayest not break?

7 To whom Samson answered, If I be bound with seven cords of moist sinews not yet dry, I shall be feeble as other men.

8 And the princes of [the] Philistines brought to her seven cords, as he had said; with which she bound him,

9 while ambushments were hid at her, and abided in a closet the end of the thing. And she cried to him, Samson, the Philistines be upon thee! And he brake those bonds, as if a man breaketh a thread of hards, thrown with spittle, when it hath touched the heat of fire; and it was not yet known wherein his strength was.

10 And Delilah said to Samson, Lo! thou hast scorned me, and thou hast spoken falsely; nevertheless now show thou to me, with what thing thou shouldest be bound.

11 To whom he answered, If I be bound with new cords, that were not yet in work, I shall be feeble, and like other men.

12 With the which Delilah bound him again, and she cried, Samson, the Philistines be upon thee! the while ambushments were made ready in a closet. And Samson brake his bonds as threads of webs.

13 And Delilah said again to him, How long shalt thou deceive me, and speak falsely? Show thou to me, with what thing thou shalt be bound. To whom Samson answered, he said, If thou pleatest seven gobbets of hair of mine head with a strong bond,

14 and fastenest to the earth a nail bound about with these hairs, I shall be feeble. And when Delilah had done this, she said to him, Samson, the Philistines be upon thee! And he rose from sleep, and he drew out the nail, with the hairs and a strong bond tied thereto.

15 And Delilah said to him, How sayest thou, that thou lovest me, since thine inward affection is not with me? By three times thou hast lied to me, and wouldest not say to me, wherein is thy most strength.

16 And when she was dis-easeful to him, and cleaved to him continually by many days, and to him gave no space to rest, his life failed, and was made weary unto the death.

17 Then he opened the truth of the thing, and said to her, Iron came never yet upon mine head, for I am a Nazarite, that is, hallowed to the Lord, from my mother’s womb; if mine head be shaven, my strength shall go away from me, and I shall fail, and I shall be as other men.

18 And she saw that he [had] acknowledged to her all his will, either heart; and she sent to the princes of Philistines, and commanded, Go ye up yet once more, for now he hath opened his heart to me. The which went up, the money taken with them that they promised.

19 And she made him sleep upon her knees, and to lay his head in her bosom; and she called a barber, and he shaved seven gobbets of hairs of him; and she began to shove him away, and to put him from her; for anon the strength went away from him.

20 And she said, Samson, the Philistines be upon thee! And he rose from sleep, and said in his soul, I shall go out, as I did before, and I shall shake me from these bonds; and he knew not, that the Lord had gone away from him.

21 And when the Philistines had taken him, anon they put out his eyes, and led him bound with chains to Gaza, and they enclosed him in prison, and made him to grind.

22 And then his hairs began to grow again;

23 and [the] princes of Philistines came together to offer great sacrifices to Dagon, their god, and they made feasts and ate, saying, Our god hath betaken Samson, our enemy, into our hands.

24 And the people seeing also this thing praised their god, and said the same things, Our god hath betaken our adversary into our hands, which did away our land, and killed full many men.

25 And they were gladdened by making of feasts, and then when they had eaten, they commanded that Samson should be called, and play before them; the which was led out of prison, and played before them; and they made him stand betwixt two pillars.

26 And Samson said to the boy that governed his steps, Suffer thou me, that I touch the pillars on which all the house standeth, that I be bowed upon those [or them], and rest a little.

27 And the house was full of men and of women, and the princes of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand of men and of women, beholding from the roof, and from the solar, Samson playing.

28 And he called inwardly the Lord, and said, My Lord God, have mind on me, and my God, yield thou now to me the former strength, that I avenge me of mine enemies, and that I take one vengeance for the loss of my two eyes.

29 And he took both [the] pillars, on which the house stood, and he held the one of those [or them] in his right hand, and the tother in his left hand;

30 and he said, My life die with these Philistines! And when the pillars were shaken altogether strongly, the house felled upon all the princes, and upon the multitude that was there; and Samson dying killed many more, than he alive had slain before.

31 And his brethren and all his kindred came down, and took his body, and they buried it betwixt Zorah and Eshtaol, in the sepulchre of Manoah, his father; and he deemed Israel twenty years.

CHAPTER 17

1 In that time was a man, that was called Micah, of the hill of Ephraim.

2 And he said to his mother, Lo! I have a thousand and an hundred plates of silver, which thou separatedest to thee, and on which thou cursedest, while I heard; and those be with me. To whom she answered, Blessed be my son of the Lord.

3 Therefore he yielded those [or them] to his mother; and she said to him, I hallowed and avowed this silver to the Lord, that my son receive of mine hand, and make a graven image and a molten image; and now I give it to thee.

4 Therefore he yielded to his mother; and she took two hundred plates of silver, and gave those [or them] to a workman of silver, that he should make of those [or them] a graven image and molten image, that was in the house of Micah.

5 And Micah also separated a little house, or an oratory, therein to God; and made ephod, and teraphim, that is, a priest’s cloth, and idols; and he filled the hand of one of his sons, and he was made a priest to him.

6 In those days was no king in Israel, but each man did that, that seemed rightful [or right] to himself.

7 Also another young waxing man was of Bethlehem of Judah, of the kindred of Judah, and he was a deacon [or Levite], and dwelled there.

8 And he went out of the city of Bethlehem, and would be a pilgrim, wherever he found profitable to him-self. And when he made journey, and had come into the hill of Ephraim, and had bowed [down] a little into the house of Micah,

9 Micah asked him, From whence comest thou? Which answered, I am a deacon [or Levite] of Bethlehem of Judah, and I go, that I dwell where I may, and where I see that it is profitable to me.

10 And Micah said, Dwell thou with me, and be thou to me a father and priest; and I shall give to thee by each year ten plates of silver, and a double clothing, and those things that be necessary to lifelode. [And] He assented,

11 and dwelled with that man; and he was to that man as one of his sons.

12 And Micah filled his hand, and he had the young man priest with him,

13 and he said, Now I know, that God shall do well to me, having a priest of the kin of Levi.

CHAPTER 18

1 In those days was no king in Israel; and the lineage of Dan sought possession to itself, to dwell therein; for till to that day it had not taken heritage among other lineages.

2 Therefore the sons of Dan sent five the strongest men of their generation, and meine, from Zorah and Eshtaol, that they should espy the land, and behold diligently. And they said to them, Go ye, and behold the land. And when they going forth had come into the hill country of Ephraim, and had entered into the house of Micah, they rested there.

3 And they knew the voice of the young waxing deacon [or Levite]; and they rested in his place, and said to him, Who brought thee hither? What doest thou here? For what cause wouldest thou come hither?

4 The which answered, Micah hath given to me these things and these, and he hath hired me for meed, that I be priest to him.

5 And they prayed him, that he should counsel with the Lord, and that they might know, whether they went in the way of prosperity, and that the thing of their purpose should have effect.

6 Which answered to them, Go ye with peace, the Lord beholdeth your way, and the journey whither ye go.

7 Then those five men went forth, and came to Laish; and they saw the people dwelling therein without any dread, by the custom of Sidonians, secure and restful, for no man utterly against-stood them, and they were full rich, and dwelled far from Sidon, and were parted from all men.

8 And they turned again to their brethren in Zorah and Eshtaol; and they answered to brethren, asking what they had done,

9 and said, Rise ye, and go we up to them of Laish, for we have seen the land full rich and plenteous; do not ye be negligent, do not ye cease, go we forth, and have we it into possession;

10 no travail shall be to us; we shall enter to secure men, into a full large country; and the Lord shall betake to us a place, wherein is not poverty of anything of those things that be brought forth in [the] earth.

11 Therefore six hundred men girded with arms of battle went forth of the kindred of Dan, that is, from Zorah and Eshtaol.

12 And they went up, and dwelled in Kiriathjearim of Judah, the which place took from that time the name of [the] Tents of Dan, and it is behind the back of Kiriathjearim.

13 From thence they passed into the hill country of Ephraim; and when they had come to the house of Micah,

14 the five men, that were sent before to behold the land of Laish, said to their other brethren, Know ye, that ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image or idol, and a molten image is in these houses; see ye what pleaseth you.

15 And when they had bowed a little aside, they entered into the house of the young deacon, that was in the house of Micah, and they greeted him with peaceable words.

16 And six hundred men stood before the door, so as they were armed.

17 And they, that entered into the house of the young man, enforced or endeavoured to take away the graven image, and the ephod, and teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood before the door, while six hundred full strong men abode not far thence.

18 Therefore they that entered took the graven image, ephod, and idols, and the molten image; to whom the priest said, What do ye?

19 To whom they answered, Be thou still, and put thy finger on thy mouth, and come with us, that we have thee father and priest. What is better to thee, that thou be priest in the house of one man, either in a lineage and meine of Israel?

20 And when he had heard this, he assented to their words, and he took the ephod, and idols, and the graven image, and went forth with them.

21 And when they went forth, and had made their little children, and their work beasts, and all thing that was precious, to go before them;

22 and when they were now far from the house of Micah, [the] men that dwelled in the houses of or near Micah cried together, and pursued [or followed],

23 and began to cry after the backs. Which when they had beheld, [they] said to Micah, What wilt thou to thee? why criest thou?

24 Which answered, Ye have taken away my gods, which I made to me, and the priest, and what dwelleth over? and ye say, What is to thee?

25 And the sons of Dan said to him, Beware, lest thou speak [any] more to us, and men stirred in soul come to thee, and thou perish with all thine house.

26 And so Dan went forth in the journey begun. And Micah saw, that they were stronger than he, and [he] turned again into his house.

27 Forsooth six hundred men took the priest, and the things which we before-said, and came into Laish to the people resting and secure; and they smited them by the sharpness of sword, and betook the city to burning,

28 while no man utterly gave help, for they dwelled far from Sidon, and had not anything of fellowship and cause with any men. And the city was set in the countryside of Bethrehob; the which city Dan builded again, and dwelled therein;

29 and the name of the city was called Dan, by the name of their father, whom Israel had begat, the which city was called Laish before.

30 And Dan setted there the graven image, and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, [the] son of Moses, and Jonathan’s sons, the priests, in the lineage of Dan, till into the day of their captivity.

31 And the idol of Micah dwelled with them, in all [the] time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

CHAPTER 19

1 In those days was no king in Israel. A man was a deacon [or Levite], dwelling in the side of the hill of Ephraim, the which took a secondary wife of Bethlehem of Judah.

2 And she did fornication on him, and turned again into the house of her father in Bethlehem, and she dwelled at him four months.

3 And her husband pursued [or followed] her, and he would be reconciled to her, and to speak fair with her, and to lead her again with him; and he had in his company a servant, and twain [or two] asses. And she received him, and brought him into her father’s house; and when his wife’s father had heard this, and saw him, he ran gladly to him, and embraced the man.

4 And the husband of the daughter dwelled in the house of his wife’s father three days, and ate and drank at home with him.

5 And the fourth day, the deacon [or Levite] rose by night, and would have gone forth; whom his wife’s father held, and said to him, Taste thou first a little bread, and comfort thy stomach, and so thou shalt go forth.

6 And they sat together, and ate, and drank. And the father of the damsel said to his daughter’s husband, I beseech thee, that thou dwell here today, and that we be glad together.

7 And he rose, and began to desire to go; and nevertheless, his wife’s father held him again meekly, and made him to dwell with him.

8 And when the morrowtide was made, the deacon [or Levite] made him ready to go his way; to whom his wife’s father said again, I beseech thee, that thou take a little meat, and make thee strong till the day increase, and afterward go thou forth. Then they ate together.

9 And the young man rose to go forth with his wife, and with the servant; to whom the father of his wife spake again, Behold thou, that the day is far forth gone toward the [sun] going down, and it nigheth to the eventide; dwell thou with me also today, and lead thou with me a glad day, and tomorrow thou shalt go forth, that thou go into thine house.

10 The daughter’s husband would not assent to his words; but he went forth anon, and came against Jebus, which by another name is called Jerusalem; and he led with him two asses charged, and his [secondary] wife.

11 And now they were beside Jebus, and the day was changed into night. And the servant said to his lord, Come thou, I beseech thee, bow we [down] to the city of Jebus, and dwell we therein.

12 To whom his lord answered, I shall not enter into the city of an alien folk, which is not of the sons of Israel, but I shall pass forth into Gibeah;

13 and when I shall come thither, we shall dwell therein, or else in the city of Ramah.

14 Therefore they passed Jebus, and took the way begun. And the sun went down to them beside Gibeah, which is in the lineage of Benjamin;

15 and they turned to Gibeah, that they would dwell there. Whither when they had entered, they sat in the street of the city, and no man would receive them to harbour.

16 And lo! an eld [or old] man turned again from the field, and from his work in the eventide, and appeared to them, which also himself was of the hill of Ephraim, and he dwelled a pilgrim in Gibeah. And men of that country were of the sons of Benjamin.

17 And when the eld man raised up his eyes, he saw a man sitting with his fardels in the street of the city; and he said to him, From whence comest thou? and whither goest thou?

18 Which answered to him, We went forth from Bethlehem of Judah, and we go to our place, which is in the side of the hill of Ephraim, from whence we went to Bethlehem; and now we go to the house of God, and no man will receive us under his roof,

19 and we have provender and hay into meat of our asses, and bread and wine into mine uses, and of thine handmaid, and of the servant which is with me; we have no need to anything, but to harbour.

20 To whom the eld [or old] man answered, Peace be with thee; I shall give all things, that be needful; only, I beseech, dwell thou not in the street.

21 And he brought him into his house, and gave meat to the asses; and after that they washed their feet, he received them into feast.

22 While they ate, and refreshed their bodies with meat and drink after the travail of their way, men of that city came, the sons of Belial, that is, without yoke, and they encompassed the old man’s house, and began to knock on the doors; and they cried to the lord of the house, and said, Lead out the man that entered into thine house, that we misuse him.

23 And the eld [or old] man went out to them, and said, Do not ye, brethren, do not ye do this evil; for the man hath entered into mine harbour; and cease ye of this folly.

24 I have a daughter a virgin, and this man hath a [secondary] wife; and I shall bring out them to you, that ye make low them, and fulfill your lust; only, I beseech you, that ye work not this cursedness against kind with this man.

25 They would not assent to his words; the which thing the man seeing, he led out his [secondary] wife to them, and he betook to them her to be defouled. And when they had misused her all night, they let her go in the morrowtide.

26 And when the darknesses of night departed, the woman came to the door of the house, where her lord dwelled, and there she felled down.

27 And when the morrowtide was made, the man rose, and opened the door, for to go forth on his journey; and lo! his [secondary] wife lay at the door, her hands spread abroad in the threshold.

28 And he guessed her to rest, and spake to her, Rise thou, and go we. And when she answered nothing, he understood that she was dead; and he took her, and put on the ass, and turned again into his house.

29 And when he entered into that house, he took a sword, and parted into twelve parts and gobbets, the dead body of the secondary wife, [with her bones], and sent into all the terms of Israel.

30 And when all men had heard this, they cried, Never such a thing was done in Israel, from that day in which our fathers ascended [or went up] from Egypt, till into [the] present time; say ye sentence, and deem ye in common, what is needed to be done.

CHAPTER 20

1 Therefore all the sons of Israel went [out], and were gathered together as one man, from Dan till to Beersheba, and from the land of Gilead, to the Lord in Mizpeh;

2 and all the corners or chiefs of peoples, and all the lineages of Israel, came together into the church of the people of God, four hundred thousand of footmen fighters.

3 And it was not hid from the sons of Benjamin, that the sons of Israel had gone up into Mizpeh.

4 And the deacon [or Levite], [the] husband of the secondary wife that was slain, was asked, how so great felony was done; and he answered, I came with my secondary wife into Gibeah of Benjamin, and I turned thither.

5 And lo! [the] men of that city encompassed in the night the house, in which I dwelled, and they would slay me, and they travailed my secondary wife with unbelieveful madness of lechery; and at the last she was dead.

6 And I took, and cut her into gobbets, and I sent those parts of her into all the terms of your possession; for so great felony and so grievous or so great sin was never done in Israel.

7 Now all ye sons of Israel be present; deem ye, what ye owe to do.

8 And all the people stood, and answered as by the word of one man, We shall not go hence into our tabernacles, neither any of us shall enter into his house;

9 but we shall do this thing in common against Gibeah.

10 Ten men be chosen of an hundred, of all the lineages of Israel, and an hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, that they bear meats to the host, and that we, fighting against Gibeah of Benjamin, may yield to it for the trespass that that it deserveth.

11 And all the people, as one man, came together to the city, by the same thought and one counsel.

12 And Israel sent messengers to all the lineage of Benjamin, and they said, Why so great felony is found in you?

13 Betake ye the men of Gibeah, that did this wickedness, that they die, and evil be done away from Israel. Which would not hear the commandment of their brethren, the sons of Israel,

14 but men of all the cities, that were of the part of Benjamin, came together into Gibeah, to help them, and to fight against all the people of Israel.

15 And twenty-six thousand were found of Benjamin, of men drawing out sword, besides the dwellers of Gibeah, which were seven hundred strongest men,

16 fighting so with the left hand as with the right hand, and casting so stones with slings at a certain thing, that they might smite also an hair, and the stroke of the stone should not be borne [away] into the tother part.

17 Also of the men of Israel, without the sons of Benjamin, were found four hundred thousand drawing out sword, and ready to battle.

18 Which rose, and came into the house of God, that is in Shiloh; and they counselled with God, and said, Who shall be prince in our host of the battle against the sons of Benjamin? To whom the Lord answered, Judah be your duke.

19 And anon the sons of Israel rose early, and setted tents against Gibeah.

20 And from thence they went out to battle against Benjamin, and Israel began to fight against Gibeah.

21 And the sons of Benjamin went out of Gibeah, and killed of the sons of Israel in that day two and twenty thousand men.

22 And again, the sons of Israel trusted in their own strength, and in number of people, and they dressed [the] battle array, in the same place in which they fought before;

23 so nevertheless that they went up before to the house of God, and they wept before the Lord unto [the] night, and they counselled with him, and said, Shall I go forth more to fight against the sons of Benjamin, my brethren, either nay? To whom he answered, Ascend ye [or Goeth up] to them, and begin ye the battle.

24 And when the sons of Israel had gone forth to battle in the tother day against Benjamin,

25 the sons of Benjamin brake out from the gates of Gibeah, and came to Israel; and the sons of Benjamin were wild against Israel by so fierce slaying, that they threw down eighteen thousand men of Israel drawing out sword.

26 Wherefore all the sons of Israel came into the house of God, and they sat, and wept before the Lord, and they fasted in that day unto the eventide; and they offered to the Lord burnt sacrifices, and peaceable sacrifices,

27 and they asked the Lord of their state. In that time, the ark of the bond of peace of God was there;

28 and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was sovereign of the Lord’s house. Then they counselled with the Lord, and said, Shall we go out more to battle against the sons of Benjamin, our brethren, either shall we rest? To whom the Lord said, Go ye up against them, for tomorrow I shall betake Benjamin into your hands.

29 And the sons of Israel setted ambushments by compass of the city of Gibeah;

30 and the third time, as once and twice before, they brought forth the host against Benjamin.

31 But also then the sons of Benjamin brake out from the city boldly, and they pursued further the adversaries fleeing, so that they wounded of Israel, as they did in the first day, and the second, and they killed by two paths Israel turning backs; of the which paths one was straight out into Bethel, and the tother into Gibeah. And Benjamin threw down about thirty men of Israel;

32 for they guessed to destroy Israel as they did before; and by craft, Israel took counsel, feigning them to flee, that they should draw Benjamin from the city, and that they as fleeing should bring forth Benjamin to the foresaid paths.

33 Therefore all the sons of Israel rose of their seats, and setted battle array in the place which is called Baaltamar. And the ambushments, that were about the city, began to open themselves little and little, and to go forth from the west part of the city.

34 But also other ten thousand of men of all Israel excited the dwellers of the city to battles; and the battle was made grievous against the sons of Benjamin, and they understood not, that perishing nighed to them on each part.

35 And the Lord smote Benjamin in the sight of the sons of Israel, and Israel killed of them in that day five and twenty thousand and an hundred men, and all these were warriors and men drawing out sword.

36 Soothly the sons of Benjamin began to flee, when they saw, that they were the lower. And the sons of Israel saw this, and gave to them place to flee, that they should come to the ambushments made ready, which they had set beside the city.

37 And when these ambushments had risen up suddenly from [the] hid places, and Benjamin gave backs to the slayers, they entered into the city, and they smote it by sharpness of sword.

38 Soothly the sons of Israel had given a sign to them which they had set in ambushments, that after that they had taken the city, they should kindle fire, and that by smoke ascending [or going up] on high, they should show the city taken.

39 And when the sons of Israel set in that battle saw this; for the sons of Benjamin guessed them to flee, and they pursued them busilier, when thirty men of their host were slain;

40 and they saw as a pillar of smoke go up from the city. And also Benjamin beholding behind, when he saw his city taken, and the flames be borne on high,

41 they that feigned to flee before, turned their face to Benjamin, and more strongly withstood him. And when the sons of Benjamin had seen this thing,

42 they were turned into flight, and they began to go to the way of desert; while also adversaries pursued them there; but also they, that had burnt the city, came against them.

43 And so it was done, that Benjamin was slain of enemies on each part, neither there was any rest of men dying; and they felled, and were cast down at the east coast of the city of Gibeah.

44 Forsooth they, that were slain in the same place, were eighteen thousand of men, all strongest fighters.

45 And when they that left alive of Benjamin had seen this, they fled into wilderness, and they went to the stone, whose name is Rimmon. And in that flight the sons of Israel went openly after, into diverse places, and they killed of them five thousand men; and when Benjamin fled further, they pursued them, and killed also of them other two thousand men.

46 And so it was done, that all that felled down of Benjamin in diverse places, were five and twenty thousand, fighters most ready to battles.

47 And so six hundred men were left of all the number of Benjamin, that might escape, and flee into wilder-ness; and they sat in the stone of Rimmon four months.

48 And the sons of Israel went out, and they smote with sword all the remnants of the city, from men unto work beasts; and devouring flame wasted all the cities and towns of Benjamin.

CHAPTER 21

1 Also the sons of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, and said, None of us shall give to the sons of Benjamin a wife of his daughters.

2 And all came to the house of God in Shiloh, and they sat in the sight of him till to eventide, and they raised their voice, and began to weep with great yelling,

3 and said, Lord God of Israel, why is this evil done in thy people, that today one lineage be taken away of us?

4 Soothly in the tother day they rised early, and builded an altar, and offered there burnt sacrifices and peaceable sacrifices,

5 and said, Who of all the lineages of Israel went not up into the host of the Lord? For when they were in Mizpeh, they had bound themselves with a full great oath, that they that failed thence should be dead.

6 And the sons of Israel were led by penance on their brother Benjamin, and began to say, One lineage of Israel is taken away;

7 whereof shall they take wives? certainly all we have sworn in common, that we shall not give our daughters to them.

8 Then they said, Who is it of all the lineages of Israel, that went not up to the Lord in Mizpeh? And lo! the dwellers of Jabesh of Gilead were found, that they were not in that host.

9 Also in that time, when they were in Shiloh, none of them was found there.

10 Therefore they sent ten thousand strongest men, and commanded to them, Go ye, and smite the dwellers of Jabesh of Gilead by the sharpness of sword, as well the wives as the little children of them.

11 And this thing shall be to you, that ye shall keep; slay ye all of male kind, and the women that have known men fleshly; reserve ye the virgins or but keep ye the maidens.

12 And four hundred virgins, that knew not the bed of man, were found of Jabesh of Gilead; and they brought them to the tents in Shiloh, into the land of Canaan.

13 And Israel sent messengers to the sons of Benjamin, that were in the stone of Rimmon; and they commanded to them, that they should receive those women in peace.

14 And the sons of Benjamin came in that time, and the daughters of Jabesh of Gilead were given to them to wives; for they found none other women, which they should give to them in like manner.

15 And all Israel sorrowed greatly, and did penance on the slaying of one lineage of Israel.

16 And the greater men in birth said, What shall we do to the other men, that have not taken wives? All the women in the lineage of Benjamin have fallen down,

17 and it is to us to purvey with great care and great study, that one lineage be not done away from Israel.

18 We may not give our daughters to them, for we be bound with an oath and cursing, by which we said, Be he cursed that giveth of his daughters a wife to Benjamin.

19 And they took counsel, and said, Lo! the solemnity of the Lord is in Shiloh, the year’s turning about, that is set at the north coast of the city of Bethel, and at the east coast of the way that goeth from Bethel to Shechem, and at the south of the city of Lebonah.

20 And they commanded to the sons of Benjamin, and said, Go ye, and be ye hid in [the] vineries [or vines];

21 and when ye see [the] daughters of Shiloh go forth by custom to lead dances, go ye out of the vineries suddenly, and ravish ye them, each man one wife, and go ye into the land of Benjamin.

22 And when the fathers and brethren of them shall come, and begin to complain and plead against you, we shall say to them, Have ye mercy of them; for we took not from a man his wife in battle, neither ye gave to them, why ye shall be blamed in time.

23 And the sons of Benjamin did as it was commanded to them, and by their number they ravished wives to them, each man one wife, of them that led dances. And they went into their possession, and builded cities, and dwelled in those [or them].

24 And the sons of Israel turned again, by their lineages and meines, into their tabernacles.

25 In those days was no king in Israel, but each man did that thing, that seemed rightful [or right] to himself.

RUTH

1

2

3

4

RUTH

CHAPTER 1

1 In the days of one judge, when judges were sovereigns in Israel, hunger was made in the land; and a man of Bethlehem of Judah went to be a pilgrim in the country of Moab, with his wife and [his] two free sons.

2 He was called Elimelech, and his wife Naomi, and his two sons, the one was called Mahlon, and the tother Chilion, they were Ephrathites of Bethlehem of Judah; and they entered into the country of Moab, and they dwelled there.

3 And Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, died, and she was left with her sons;

4 and they took wives of Moab, of which wives one was called Orpah, the tother Ruth. And the sons dwelled there ten years,

5 and both died, that is, Mahlon and Chilion; and so the woman was left, and was made bare of her two free sons, and her husband.

6 And she rose to go with ever either wife of her sons into her country from the country of Moab; for she had heard, that the Lord had beheld his people, and had given meats to them.

7 And so she went out from the place of her pilgrimage with ever either wife of her sons; and now when she was set in the way of turning again into the land of Judah,

8 she said to them, Go ye back into the house of your mother; the Lord do mercy with you, as ye did with the dead men, and with me;

9 the Lord give to you to find rest in the houses of [the] husbands which ye shall take. And she kissed them. And they began to weep with high voice,

10 and to say, We shall go with thee to thy people.

11 To whom she answered, My daughters, turn ye again, why come ye with me? I have no more sons in my womb, that ye may hope husbands of me;

12 my daughters of Moab, turn ye again, and go; for now I am made eld, and I am not able to the bond of marriage; yea, though I might conceive in this night, and bear sons,

13 though ye will abide till they waxed, and [ful] fill the years of marriage, ye shall sooner be eld [or old] women than ye shall be wedded; I beseech, my daughters, mourn ye not, for your an-guish oppresseth me the more, and the hand of the Lord is gone out against me.

14 Therefore, when the voice was raised, again they began to weep. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, and turned again, and Ruth abode with her mother-in-law.

15 To whom Naomi said, Lo! thy kinswoman turned again to her people, and to her gods; go thou with her.

16 And Ruth answered, Be thou not against me, that I forsake thee, and go away; whither ever thou shalt go, I shall go, and where thou shalt dwell, I shall dwell together; thy people is my people, and thy God is my God;

17 what land shall receive thee dying, I shall die therein also, and there I shall take place of burying; God do to me these things, and add these things, if death alone shall not part me and thee.

18 Therefore Naomi saw, that Ruth had deemed with steadfast soul to go with her, and she would not be against her, neither counsel further turning again to her countrymen.

19 And they went forth together, and came into Bethlehem; and when they entered into the city, swift fame rose with all men, and women said, This is that Naomi.

20 To whom she said, Call ye not me Naomi, that is, fair, but call ye me Mara, that is, bitter; for Almighty God hath filled me greatly with bitterness.

21 I went out full, and the Lord led me again void; why therefore call ye me Naomi, whom the Lord hath made low, and Almighty God hath tormented?

22 Therefore Naomi came with Ruth of Moab, the wife of her son, from the land of her pilgrimage, and turned again into Bethlehem, when barley was reaped first.

CHAPTER 2

1 Forsooth a mighty man and a man of great riches, Boaz by name, was kinsman of Elimelech.

2 And Ruth of Moab said to her mother-in-law, If thou commandest, I shall go into the field, and I shall gather ears of corn that flee the hands of reapers, wherever I shall find grace of an husbandman merciful in me. To whom she answered, Go, my daughter.

3 Therefore she went, and gathered ears of corn after the backs of reapers. And it befelled, that Boaz was lord of that field, that was of the kindred of Elimelech.

4 And lo! Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to his reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered to him, The Lord bless thee.

5 And Boaz said to the young man that was chief over the reapers, Who is this damsel?

6 And he answered, This is the woman of Moab, that came with Naomi from the country of Moab;

7 and she prayed, that she should gather ears of corn leaving behind, and follow the steps of [the] reapers; and from the morrowtide till now she standeth in the field, and soothly neither at a moment she turned again home.

8 And Boaz said to Ruth, Daughter, hear thou; go thou not into another field to gather, neither go away from this place, but be thou joined to my damsels,

9 and follow thou where they reap; for I [have] commanded to my young men, that no man be dis-easeful to thee; but also if thou thirstest, go to the fardels, and drink waters, of which my young men drink.

10 And she felled on her face, and worshipped or honoured on the earth; and she said to him, Whereof is this to me, that I should find grace before thine eyes, that thou wouldest know me, a strange woman?

11 To whom Boaz answered, All things be told to me, that thou hast done to thy mother-in-law after the death of thine husband, and that thou hast forsaken thy father and thy mother, and the land that thou were born in, and thou art come to a people, that thou hast not known before.

12 The Lord yield to thee for thy work, and receive thou full meed of the Lord God of Israel, to whom thou camest, and under whose wings thou fleddest.

13 And she said, My lord, I have found grace before thine eyes, and thou hast comforted me, and thou hast spoken to the heart of thine handmaid, which am not like one of thine handmaids.

14 And Boaz said to her, When the hour of eating is, come thou hither, and eat bread, and wet thy morsel in vinegar. Therefore she sat at the side of [the] reapers; and he dressed to her pottage, and she ate, and was filled; and she took the remnants.

15 And she rose from thence to gather the ears of corn, by custom. And Boaz commanded to his young men, and said, Also if she will reap with you, forbid ye not her,

16 and also cast ye forth to her handfuls of or on purpose, and suffer ye those to abide, that she gather those without shame; and no man reprove her gathering them.

17 Therefore she gathered in the field till to eventide; and she beat with a rod, and shook out those things that she had gathered; and she found of barley as the measure of ephah.

18 Which she bare, and turned again into the city, and showed to her mother-in-law; furthermore she brought forth, and gave to her the remnants of her meat, with which meat she was fulfilled.

19 And her mother-in-law said to her, Where hast thou gathered this today, and where hast thou done this work? Blessed be he, that had mercy on thee. And Ruth told to her mother-in-law with whom she wrought; and she said that the man’s name was called Boaz.

20 To whom Naomi answered, Blessed be he of the Lord, for he [hath] kept also to dead men the same grace, which he gave to the quick. And again she said, He is our kinsman.

21 And Ruth said, Also he commanded this thing to me, that so long I should be joined to his reapers, till all his corns were reaped.

22 To whom her mother-in-law said, My daughter, it is better, that thou go out to reap with his damsels, lest in an-other field any man against-stand thee.

23 And so Ruth was joined to the damsels of Boaz; and so long she reaped with them, till both the barley and the wheat were enclosed in the barns.

CHAPTER 3

1 And after that Ruth had turned to her mother-in-law, she heard of her, My daughter, I shall seek rest to thee, and I shall purvey that it be well to thee.

2 This Boaz, to whose damsels thou were joined in the field, is our kinsman, and in this night he winnoweth the cornfloor or threshing floor of barley.

3 Therefore be thou washed, and anointed, and be thou clothed with more honest or best clothes, and go thou down into the cornfloor; the man see not thee, till he have ended to eat and to drink.

4 Forsooth when he goeth to sleep, mark thou the place in which he sleepeth; and thou shalt come, and uncover the cloth, with which he is covered, from the part of the feet, and thou shalt cast thee down, and thou shalt lie there. Forsooth he shall say to thee, what thou shalt do.

5 And Ruth answered, Whatever thing thou commandest to me, I shall do.

6 And she went down into the cornfloor, and did all things which her mother-in-law commanded to her.

7 And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and was made more glad, and had gone to sleep beside the mound of sheaves, Ruth came, and hid herself; and when the cloth was uncovered from his feet, she casted down herself.

8 And lo! now at midnight, the man dreaded, and was troubled; and he saw a woman lying at his feet;

9 and he said to her, Who art thou? She answered, I am Ruth, thine handmaid; stretch forth thy cloth on thy servantess, for thou art nigh of kin.

10 And he said, Daughter, thou art blessed of the Lord, and thou hast overcome the former mercy with the latter; for thou followedest not young men, poor either rich.

11 Therefore, do not thou dread, but whatever thing thou shalt say to me, I shall do to thee; for all the people that dwelleth within the gates of my city know, that thou art a woman of virtue.

12 And I forsake not, that I am of nigh kin, but another man is nearer kin than I;

13 rest thou here this night, and when the morrowtide is made, if the man will hold thee to wife by right of nigh kin, the thing is well done; and if he will not, I shall take thee without any doubt, the Lord liveth; sleep thou till the morrowtide.

14 Therefore she slept at his feet till to the going away of [the] night, and then she rose, before that men should know each other. And Boaz said to her, Be thou ware lest any man know, that thou camest hither.

15 And again he said, Stretch forth thy mantle with which thou art covered, and hold thou with ever either hand. And while she stretched forth and held, he meted [or measured] six measures of barley, and putted [or put up] on her; and she bare, and entered into the city,

16 and came to her mother-in-law. Which said to Ruth, What hast thou done, daughter? And Ruth told to her all things, which the man had done to her.

17 And Ruth said, Lo! he gave to me six measures of barley; and he said, I will or desire not that thou turn again void to thy mother-in-law.

18 And Naomi said, Abide, daughter, till we see what issue the thing shall have; for the man shall not cease, no but he [ful] fill those things which he spake.

CHAPTER 4

1 Therefore Boaz went up to the gate, and sat there; and when he had seen the kinsman pass forth, of whom the word was had, Boaz said to him, Bow thou a little, and sit here; and he called him by his name. And he turned, and sat.

2 And Boaz took ten elder men of the city, and he said to them, Sit ye down here. And while they sat,

3 Boaz spake to the kinsman, Naomi, that turned again from the country of Moab, sold, that is, is in purpose to sell, for it was not yet sold, the part of the field of our brother Elimelech,

4 which thing I would that thou hear; and I would say to thee before all men sitting, and greater in birth of my people. If thou wilt have in possession the field by right of nigh kin, buy thou, and have thou in possession; soothly if it displeaseth thee, show thou this same thing to me, that I know what I shall do; for none is nigh in kin, besides thee which art the former, and besides me which am the second. And the man answered, I shall buy the field.

5 To whom Boaz said, When thou hast bought the field of the hand of the woman, thou owest also to take to wife Ruth of Moab, that was the wife of the dead man, that thou raise the name of thy kinsman in his heritage.

6 And he answered, I forsake the right of nigh kin; for I owe not to do away the heritage of mine own meine; use thou my privilege, the which I acknowledge me to want gladly.

7 Forsooth this was the custom by eld [or old] time in Israel among kinsmen, that if a man gave his right to another man, that the granting were steadfast, the man should unlace his shoe, and give it to his kinsman; this thing was witnessing of a gift in Israel.

8 Therefore Boaz said to his kinsmen, Take off thy shoe from thee; and he unlaced it anon from his foot.

9 And Boaz said to the greater men in birth, and to all the people, Ye be witnesses today, that I have taken in possession all things that were of Elimelech, and of Chilion, and of Mahlon, by the gift of Naomi;

10 and that I have taken into wedlock Ruth of Moab, the wife of Mahlon, that I raise up the name of the dead man in his heritage; lest his name be done away from his meine, and from his brethren, and his people. Ye, he said, be witnesses of this thing.

11 All the people, that was in the gate, answered, and the greater men in birth, We be witnesses; the Lord make this woman, that entereth into thine house, as Rachel and Leah, that builded the house of Israel, that she be ensample of virtue in Ephratah, and have a solemn name in Bethlehem;

12 and thine house be made as the house of Perez, whom Tamar childed to Judah, of the seed which the Lord shall give to thee of this damsel.

13 Then Boaz took Ruth, and he took her to wife; and he entered [in] to her, and the Lord gave to her, that she conceived, and childed a son.

14 And women said to Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which suffered not, that an heir failed to thy meine, and his name were called in Israel;

15 and that thou have, that shall comfort thy soul, and nourish thine eld age. For a child is born of thy daughter-in-law, that shall love thee, and he is better to thee, than if thou haddest seven sons.

16 And Naomi putted [or put] the child, whom she received, in her bosom; and she did the office of a nurse, and of a bearer-about.

17 And [the] women neighbours thanked her or joyed together with her, and said, A son is born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed. This is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

18 These be the generations of Perez; Perez begat Hezron;

19 Hezron begat Ram; Ram begat Amminadab;

20 Amminadab begat Nahshon; Nahshon begat Salmon;

21 Salmon begat Boaz; Boaz begat Obed;

22 Obed begat Jesse; Jesse begat David the king.

1ST SAMUEL

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1ST SAMUEL

CHAPTER 1

1 There was a man of Ramathaim in Zophim, of the hill of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, son of Elihi, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, of Ephraim.

2 And Elkanah had two wives; the name to the one was Hannah, and the name of the second was Peninnah; and sons were to Peninnah; but Hannah had none free children.

3 And that man went up from his city in the days that were ordained, to worship and to offer sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And [the] two sons of Eli were there, Hophni and Phinehas, priests of the Lord.

4 Then the day came, and Elkanah offered, and he gave parts to Peninnah, his wife, and to all his sons and daughters;

5 forsooth he gave sorrowfully one part, either double, to Hannah, for he loved Hannah; forsooth the Lord had closed her womb.

6 And her enemy Peninnah tormented her, and anguished her greatly, in so much that she upbraided her, that the Lord had closed her womb.

7 And so Peninnah did each year, when the time came that they went up into the house of the Lord; and so she stirred Hannah. And then she wept, and took no meat.

8 Therefore Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why weepest thou, and why eatest thou not, and why is thine heart tormented? Whether I am not better to thee than be ten sons?

9 Soothly Hannah rose, after that she had eaten and drunk in Shiloh. And the while Eli [the priest] was on his great seat before the doorposts of the house of the Lord,

10 and when she was in bitter sorrow of soul, she prayed the Lord, and wept largely;

11 and she made a vow to the Lord, and said, Lord God of hosts, if thou beholdest, and seest the torment of thy servantess, and if thou hast mind of me, and forgettest not thine handmaid, and givest a son to thy servantess, I shall give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall not come upon his head.

12 And it was done, when she multiplied her prayers before the Lord, that Eli espied her mouth.

13 Forsooth Hannah spake in her heart, and only her lips were moved, and utterly her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli guessed her drunken,

14 and he said to her, How long shalt thou be drunken? Avoid thou a little the wine, by which thou art moist.

15 Hannah answered, and said, Nay, my lord, for I am an unhappy woman; I have not drunk wine, neither any-thing that may make drunken, but I have poured out my soul in the Lord’s sight;

16 guess thou not thine handmaid as one of the daughters of Belial, for of the multitude of my sorrow and of my mourning I have spoken unto this present time.

17 Then Eli said to her, Go thou in peace, and God of Israel give to thee the asking that thou hast prayed him.

18 And she said, I would that thine handmaid find grace in thine eyes. And the woman went into her way, and ate, and her cheers were no more changed diversely.

19 And they rised early, and worship-ped before the Lord; and they turned again, and came into their house in Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah, his wife; and the Lord thought on her.

20 And it was done after the compass of days, Hannah conceived, and childed a son, and called his name Samuel; for she had asked him of the Lord.

21 And her husband Elkanah went up, and all his house, to offer a solemn sacrifice, and his avow [or vow] to the Lord.

22 And Hannah went not up to that solemnity or feast, for she had said to her husband, I shall not go, till the young child be weaned, and till I lead him thither, and he appear before the sight of the Lord, and dwell there continually.

23 And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Do thou that that seemeth good to thee, and dwell thou still till thou have weaned him; and I beseech, that the Lord [ful] fill his word. There-fore the woman abode, and gave milk to her son, till the time she removed him from the milk.

24 And she brought him with her, after that she had weaned him, with three calves, and three bushels of meal, and an amphora, either a pot, of wine; and she brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. And the child was yet full young.

25 And they sacrificed a calf, and they offered the child to Eli.

26 And Hannah said, My lord, I beseech thee, thy soul liveth; I am the woman, that stood before thee here, and prayed the Lord;

27 for this child I prayed, and the Lord gave to me mine asking which I asked of him;

28 therefore and I have given him to the Lord in all [the] days, in which he is given to the Lord. And they worshipped there the Lord.

CHAPTER 2

1 And Hannah worshipped, and said, Mine heart fully joyed in the Lord, and mine horn is raised in my God; my mouth is alarged on mine enemies, for I was glad in thine health.

2 None is holy as the Lord is; for none other is, except thee, and none is strong as our God.

3 Do not ye multiply to speak high things, and have glory therein; eld [or old] things go away from your mouth; for God is Lord of knowings, and thoughts be made ready to him.

4 The bow of strong men is over-come, and feeble men be girded with strength.

5 Men full-filled before, setted them-selves to hire for loaves, and hungry men be filled; while the barren woman childed full many, and she that had many sons, was made sick.

6 The Lord slayeth, and quickeneth; he leadeth forth to hells, and bringeth again.

7 The Lord maketh poor, and he maketh rich; he maketh low, and he raiseth up.

8 He raiseth a needy man from powder, and he raiseth a poor man from drit, that he sit with princes, and hold the seat of glory; for the ends of [the] earth be of the Lord, and he hath set the world on those [or them].

9 He shall keep the feet of his saints, and wicked men shall be still altogether in darknesses; for a man shall not be made strong in his own strength.

10 [The] Adversaries of the Lord shall dread him, and from heavens he shall thunder upon them; the Lord shall deem the ends of [the] earth, and he shall give lordship to his king, and he shall enhance the horn, that is, power, of his Christ, or his anointed.

11 And Elkanah went into Ramah, into his house; and the child was a servant in the sight of the Lord before the face of Eli the priest.

12 Forsooth the sons of Eli were the sons of Belial, and they knew not the Lord,

13 neither the office of priests to the people; but whoever had offered sacrifice, the child or servant of the priest came, while the fleshes were in seething, and he had a fleshhook with three teeth in his hand;

14 and he sent it into the great vessel of stone, either into the cauldron, either into the pot, either into the pan; and whatever thing the fleshhook raised, the priest took that to himself; so they did to all Israel of men coming into Shiloh.

15 Yea, before that they burnt the inner fatness, the priest’s child came, and said to the offerer, Give thou flesh to me or Give to me the flesh, that I seethe it to the priest; for I shall not take of thee sodden flesh, but raw.

16 And he that offered said to him, Be first the inner fatness burnt today after the custom, and take thou then to thee how much ever thy soul desireth. The which answered, and said to him, Nay, but thou shalt give it now; for else I shall take it by violence.

17 Therefore the sin of the children or young men was full grievous before the Lord; for they withdrew men from the sacrifice of the Lord.

18 Forsooth Samuel, a child girded with a linen cloth, ministered before the face of the Lord.

19 And his mother made to him a little coat, the which she brought to him in the days ordained to offer, and she went up with her husband, that he would offer a solemn offering, and his avow [or vow].

20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife; and said, The Lord yield to thee seed of this woman, for the gift which thou hast given to the Lord. And they went into their place again.

21 Therefore the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived, and childed three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel was magnified at the Lord.

22 And Eli was full eld [or old], and he heard all the things that his sons did in all Israel, and how they slept with women, that waited at the door of the tabernacle.

23 And he said to them, Why do ye such things, the worst things, which I hear of all the people?

24 Do not ye, my sons; it is not a good fame, that I hear, that ye make the Lord’s people to do trespass.

25 If a man sinneth against a man, God may be pleased to him by prayers and sacrifices; but if a man sinneth against the Lord, who shall pray for him? And they heard not the voice of their father, for God would slay them.

26 Forsooth the child Samuel profited, and increased, and pleased both God and men.

27 Soothly a man of God came to Eli, and said to him, The Lord saith these things, Whether I was not showed apertly to the house of thy father, when he was in Egypt, in the house of Pharaoh?

28 And I chose him of all the lineages of Israel to be a priest to me, that he should go up to mine altar, and should burn incense to me, and that he should bear before me a priest’s cloth; and I gave to the house of thy father all things of the sacrifices of the sons of Israel.

29 Why hast thou cast away with the heel my sacrifice, and my gifts, which I [have] commanded to be offered in the temple; and thou honouredest more thy sons than me, that ye eat the principal parts of each sacrifice of Israel my people?

30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel saith these things, I speaking spake, that thine house, and the house of thy father, should minister in my sight till into without end; now forsooth the Lord saith, Far be this from me; but whoever honoureth me, I shall glorify him; forsooth they that despise me, shall be unnoble.

31 Lo! [the] days come, and I shall cut away thine arm, or thy power, and the arm of the house of thy father, that an eld [or old] man be not in thine house.

32 And thou shalt see thine enemy in the temple, in all the prosperities of Israel; and an eld [or old] man shall not be in thine house in all days.

33 Nevertheless I shall not utterly take away of thee a man from mine altar, but that thine eyes fail, and thy soul fail or thy life languish; and a great part of thine house shall die, when it shall come to man’s age.

34 Forsooth this shall be [the] sign, that shall come to thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas; both they shall die in one day.

35 And I shall raise to me a faithful priest, that shall do by mine heart and my soul; and I shall build to him a faithful house, and he shall go before my Christ, or mine anointed in all days.

36 Forsooth it shall come, that who-ever [still] dwelleth in thine house, that he come to bow for himself, in an half-penny of silver, and a cake of bread, and say, I beseech, suffer thou me to one part of the priests’ offices, that I eat a morsel of bread.

CHAPTER 3

1 Forsooth the child Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious; in those days was none open revelation.

2 Therefore it was done in a day, Eli lay in his bed, and his eyes dimmed, and he might not see;

3 the lantern of the Lord was not yet quenched. And Samuel slept in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.

4 And the Lord called Samuel; and he answered and said, Lo! I or Lo! I am ready.

5 And he ran to Eli, and said to him, Lo! I; for thou calledest me. And Eli said, I called not thee; turn thou again and sleep. And he went and slept.

6 And the Lord added again to call Samuel; and Samuel rose, and went to Eli, and said, Lo! I am here; for thou calledest me. And Eli answered, I called not thee, my son; turn thou again and sleep.

7 Forsooth Samuel knew not yet the Lord, neither the word of the Lord was showed to him.

8 And the Lord added, and called yet Samuel the third time; the which rose up and went to Eli, and said, Lo! I; for thou calledest me. Then Eli understood, that the Lord had called the child;

9 and Eli said to Samuel, Go thou and sleep; and if he calleth thee afterward, thou shalt say, Speak thou, Lord, for thy servant heareth. Then Samuel went and slept in his place.

10 And the Lord came, and stood, and called as he had called the second time, Samuel, Samuel. And Samuel said, Speak thou, Lord, for thy servant heareth.

11 And the Lord said to Samuel, Lo! I shall make a word, that is, a thing signified by a word, in Israel, which word whoever shall hear, both his ears shall ring, that is, he shall be astonied for wonder and dread.

12 In that day I shall raise up against Eli all things that I have spoken upon his house; I shall begin it, and I shall end it.

13 For I before-said to him, that I should deem his house without end for the wickedness thereof; for he knew, that his sons did unworthily, and he chastised not them.

14 Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the wickedness of his meine, or house, shall not be cleansed with sacrifices and gifts till into without end.

15 And then Samuel slept till the morrowtide, and he opened the doors of the house of the Lord; and Samuel dreaded to show the revelation to Eli.

16 Therefore Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he answered and said, I am ready.

17 And Eli asked him, What is the word that the Lord hath spoken to thee? I pray thee, hide it not from me; God do to thee these things, and increase these things, if thou hidest from me a word of all [the] words that be said to thee.

18 And Samuel showed to him all the words, and hid not anything from him. And Eli answered, He is the Lord; do he that, that is good in his eyes.

19 Forsooth Samuel increased, and the Lord was with him, and none of all his words felled into [the] earth, that is, in vain, for all was fulfilled.

20 And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew, that faithful Samuel was a prophet of the Lord.

21 And the Lord added to appear again in Shiloh, for the Lord was showed to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord;

CHAPTER 4

1 and the word of Samuel came to all Israel. And it was done in those days Philistines came together into battle; for Israel went out against the Philistines into battle, and setted tents beside the stone of help or Ebenezer. And the Philistines came into Aphek,

2 and made ready battle array against Israel. And when the battle was begun, Israel turned their backs to [the] Philistines; and as four thousand of men were slain in that battle every-where by fields; and the people of Israel turned again to their tents.

3 And the greater men in birth of Israel said, Why hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? Bring we to us from Shiloh the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, and come it into the midst of us, that it save us from the hand of our enemies.

4 Therefore the people sent into Shiloh, and they took from thence the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord of hosts, that sat on cherubim. And Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were with the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord.

5 And when the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord had come into the tents, all Israel cried [out] with [a] great cry, and the earth sounded.

6 And the Philistines heard the voice of their cry, and they said, And what is this voice of great cry in the tents of Hebrews? And they knew, that the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord had come into the tents of Israel.

7 And the Philistines dreaded, and said, God is come into their tents; and they wailed, and said, Woe to us! for so great out-joying was not there yesterday, and the third day passed;

8 woe to us! who shall keep us from the hand of these high gods? these be the gods, that smited Egypt with all vengeance in desert.

9 Philistines, be ye comforted, and be ye men, serve ye not to the Hebrews, as they have served to you; be ye comforted, and fight ye against Israel.

10 Then the Philistines fought, and Israel was overcome, and each man fled into his tabernacle; and a full great vengeance was made, and thirty thousand of footmen of Israel felled down.

11 And the ark of God was taken; and, the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were dead.

12 And a man of Benjamin ran from the battle array, and came into Shiloh in that day, with his cloth rent, and with his head besprinkled with dust;

13 and when he was come, Eli sat upon a seat, and beheld against the way; for his heart was dreading for the ark of the Lord. And after that that man had entered, he told what had happened to the men of the city, and all the city yelled.

14 And Eli heard the sound of the cry, and he said, What is the sound of this noise? And the man hasted, and came, and told to Eli.

15 And Eli was of fourscore years and eighteen, and his eyes dimmed or darkened, and he might not see.

16 And the man said to Eli, I am he that came from the battle, and I am he that fled today from the battle array. To whom Eli said, My son, what is there done?

17 And he that told answered, and said, Israel hath fled before the Philistines, and a great falling is made in the people of Israel; furthermore and thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, be dead, and the ark of God is taken.

18 And when he named the ark of God, Eli felled from the seat back-ward beside the door, and was dead; for his neck was broken. For he was an eld [or old] man, and of great age; and he deemed Israel forty years.

19 And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, and nigh the child bearing; and when the message was heard or when she heard by the messenger, that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law was dead, and her husband, she bowed herself down, and childed; for sudden sorrows felled into her.

20 And in that moment of her death, women that stood about her said to her, Dread thou not, for thou hast childed a son. And she answered not to them, neither she took heed.

21 And she called the child Ichabod, that is, without glory, and said, The glory of the Lord is translated from Israel, for the ark of God is taken; and for her father-in-law and for her husband

22 she said, The glory of God is translated or is taken from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.

CHAPTER 5

1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and bare it away from the stone of help into Ashdod.

2 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and setted it beside Dagon.

3 And when men of Ashdod had risen early in the tother day, lo! Dagon lay low in the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and restored him in his place.

4 And again they rose early in the tother day, and they found Dagon lying on his face upon the earth before the ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon, and the two palms of his hands, were broken off, and were lying upon the threshold; and the stock alone of Dagon was left in his place.

5 For this cause the priests of Dagon, and all that enter into his temple, tread not upon the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.

6 Forsooth the hand of the Lord was made grievous upon [the] men of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and he smote Ashdod and the coasts thereof in the privier part of [the] buttocks or in the more privy part of their tail ends.

7 And men of Ashdod saw such a vengeance, and they said, The ark of God of Israel dwell not with us; for his hand is hard on us, and on Dagon our god.

8 And they sent, and gathered all the wise men, either princes, of Philistines to them, and said, What shall we do of the ark of God of Israel? And the men of Gath answered, The ark of God of Israel be led about; and they led about the ark of God of Israel.

9 And while they led it about, the hand of the Lord was made upon all the cities about, of full great slaughter; and he smote men of each city, from a little man till to the more, and the lower entrails of them waxed rotten, and came forth; and men of Gath took counsel, and they made to them-selves seats of skins, either cushions.

10 Therefore they sent the ark of the Lord into Ekron. And when the ark of the Lord had come into Ekron, men of Ekron cried [out], and said, They have brought to us the ark of God of Israel, that he slay us and our people.

11 Then they sent, and gathered together all the wise men, either princes, of Philistines; which said, Deliver ye the ark of God of Israel, and turn it again into his place, and slay not us with our people. For dread of death was made in all [the] cities, and the hand of the Lord was full grievous.

12 And the men, that were not dead, were smitten in the privy parts of their buttocks, and the yelling of each city went up into heaven.

CHAPTER 6

1 Therefore the ark of the Lord was in the country of [the] Philistines for seven months;

2 and after these things the Philistines called together [the] priests and false diviners, and said, What shall we do of the ark of God? Show ye to us, how we shall send it into his place.

3 Which said, If ye send again the ark of God of Israel, do not ye deliver it void, but yield ye to him that thing, that ye owe for [the] sin; and then ye shall be healed, and ye shall know, why his hand goeth not away from you.

4 And they said, What is it, that we owe to yield to him for trespass? And they answered to them, By the number of the provinces of Philistines, ye shall make five golden arses, and five golden mice; for one vengeance was to all of you, and to your wise men, either princes.

5 And ye shall make the likeness of your arses, and the likeness of [the] mice that destroyed your land; and ye shall give glory to [the] God of Israel, if in hap he withdraw his hand from you, and from your gods, and from your land.

6 Why make ye heavy your hearts, as Egypt and Pharaoh grieved their hearts? Whether not after that he was smitten, then he delivered God’s people, and they went forth?

7 Now therefore take ye, and make a new wain, and join ye therein two kine having calves, on which kine no yoke was put; and enclose ye their calves at home.

8 And ye shall take the ark of the Lord, and ye shall set it in the wain; and ye shall put in a little coffer at the side of the ark the golden vessels, which ye have paid to the Lord for your trespass; and deliver ye the ark, that it go forth.

9 And ye shall behold it, and soothly if it goeth up against Bethshemesh by the way of his coasts, the Lord hath then done to you this great evil; but if it go not thither, we shall know that the hand of the Lord touched not us, but this thing hath fallen to us by hap.

10 Then they did in this manner; and they took two kine that gave milk to their calves, and they joined them to the wain; and they enclosed their calves at home.

11 And they put the ark of God upon the wain, and the little coffer, that had the gold mice, and the likeness of their arses.

12 And the kine went straightly by the way that leadeth to Bethshemesh; and those kine went in one way going and lowing, and they bowed not neither to the right side nor to the left side; but also the wise men of Philistines followed unto the coasts of Bethshemesh.

13 Forsooth men of Bethshemesh reaped wheat in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and they were joyful, when they had seen it.

14 And the wain came into the field of Joshua of Bethshemesh, and stood there. And a great stone was there; and they cutted the wood of the wain, and putted the kine on that wood, as a burnt sacrifice to the Lord.

15 And the deacons [or Levites] took down the ark of God, and the little coffer that was beside it, where-in the golden vessels were; and they putted those upon the great stone. And the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt sacrifices, and offered slain sacrifices in that day to the Lord.

16 And [the] five princes of Philistines saw, and turned again into Ekron in that day.

17 Soothly these be the golden arses, which the Philistines yielded to the Lord for their trespass; Ashdod yielded one; Gaza one; Askelon one; Gath one; Ekron one;

18 and the Philistines yielded golden mice by the number of cities of Philistines of [the] five provinces, from a walled city unto an unwalled town, and unto the great stone that was called Abel, on which they putted the ark of the Lord, the which stone was there unto that day in the field of Joshua of Bethshemesh.

19 Forsooth the Lord smote of the men of Bethshemesh, for they had seen the ark of the Lord, and he smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the poor-all*. And the people mourned, for the Lord had smitten the people with [a] great vengeance.

20 And men of Bethshemesh said, Who shall now stand in the sight of the Lord God of this holy thing, and to whom shall it go up from us?

21 And they sent messengers to the dwellers of Kiriathjearim, and said, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord; come ye down, and lead it again to you.

CHAPTER 7

1 Therefore men of Kiriathjearim came, and led again the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in Gibeah. And they hallowed Eleazar his son, that he should keep the ark of the Lord.

2 And it was done, from which day the ark of the Lord dwelled in Kiriath-jearim, that the days were multiplied; for the twentieth year was now, after that Samuel began to teach the people; and all Israel rested after the Lord.

3 And Samuel spake to all the house of Israel, and said, If in all your heart ye turn again to the Lord, do ye away alien gods, Baalim, and Ashtaroth, from the midst of you; and make ye ready your hearts to the Lord, and serve ye him alone; and he shall deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.

4 Therefore the sons of Israel did away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord alone.

5 And Samuel said, Gather ye all Israel into Mizpah, that I pray the Lord for you.

6 And they came together into Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out in the Lord’s sight; and they fasted in that day, and said, Lord, we have sinned to thee. And Samuel deemed the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.

7 And the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel were gathered together in Mizpeh; and the princes of Philistines went up to Israel. And when the sons of Israel had heard this, they dreaded of the face of Philistines.

8 And they said to Samuel or And Israel cried to Samuel, Cease thou not to cry for us to our Lord God, that he save us from the hand of Philistines.

9 And Samuel took one sucking lamb, and offered it whole into burnt sacrifice to the Lord. And Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him.

10 And it was done, when Samuel offered the burnt sacrifice, that the Philistines began battle against Israel. And the Lord thundered with great thunder in that day upon the Philistines, and made them afeared; and they were slain of the sons of Israel.

11 And the sons of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them unto the place that was under Bethcar.

12 And Samuel took one stone, and put it betwixt Mizpeh, and Shen; and he called the name of that place The stone of help or Ebenezer. And he said, Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.

13 And the Philistines were made low, and they added no more to come into the terms of Israel. And so the hand of the Lord was made [up] on Philistines in all the days of Samuel.

14 And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel, were yielded again to Israel, from Ekron unto Gath, and the coasts of Gath; and the Lord delivered Israel from the hand of Philistines; and peace was betwixt Israel and Amorites.

15 And Samuel deemed Israel all the days of his life, that is, till to the ordaining and confirming of Saul;

16 and he went by each year, and compassed Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and he deemed Israel in the foresaid places.

17 And he turned again into Ramah, for his house was there; and he deemed Israel there, and he builded there also an altar to the Lord.

CHAPTER 8

1 And it was done, when Samuel waxed eld [or old], he set [or put] his sons to be judges of Israel.

2 And the name of his first begotten son was Joel, and the name of the second was Abiah, that were judges in Beersheba.

3 And his sons went not in his ways, but they bowed after avarice, and they took gifts, and perverted doom.

4 Therefore all the greater men in birth of Israel were gathered together, and came to Samuel into Ramah.

5 And they said to him, Lo! thou hast waxed eld [or old], and thy sons go not in thy ways; ordain thou a king to us, that he deem us, as also all other nations have.

6 And the word displeased in the eyes of Samuel, for they had said, Give thou to us a king, that he deem us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord.

7 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hear thou the voice of the people in all things that they speak to thee; for they have not cast away thee, but me, that I reign not upon them.

8 By all the works that they have done, from the day in which I led them out of Egypt unto this day, as they have forsaken me, and they have served alien gods, so they do also to thee.

9 Now therefore hear thou their voice; nevertheless witness thou to them; and before-say thou to them the right of the king, that shall reign upon them.

10 Then Samuel said all the words of the Lord to the people, that had asked of him a king;

11 and he said, This shall be the right of the king, that shall command to you; he shall take your sons, and he shall set them in his chariots; and he shall make them to himself riders, and before-goers of his carts;

12 and he shall ordain to him tribunes, that is, sovereigns of a thousand, and centurions, that is, sovereigns of an hundred, and earers or tillers of his fields, and reapers of his corns, and smiths of his arms, and of his chariots.

13 Also he shall make your daughters to be makers of his ointments, and his fire-makers, and bakers or his makers of bread.

14 And he shall take your fields, and your vineries [or vines], and the best places of olives, and he shall give those to his servants.

15 But also he shall take the tenth part of your corns, and the rents of your vineries [or vines], that he give those to his chamberlains, and [to his] servants.

16 And he shall take away your servants, and your handmaids, and your best young men, and your asses, and he shall set [or put] these in his work.

17 Also he shall take the tenth part of your flocks; and ye shall be his servants.

18 And ye shall cry in that day from the face of your king, whom ye have chosen to you; and the Lord shall not hear you in that day; for ye [have] asked for a king to you.

19 Soothly the people would not hear the voice of Samuel, but they said, Nay, for a king shall be on us;

20 and we also shall be as all folks, and our king shall deem us, and he shall go out before us, and he shall fight our battles for us.

21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he spake them in the ears of the Lord.

22 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hear thou their voices, and ordain thou a king upon them. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, Each man go into his city.

CHAPTER 9

1 And there was a man of Benjamin, that was called Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a man that was called Benjamin, a strong man in bodily might.

2 And to him was a son, Saul by name, chosen and goodly; and no man of the sons of Israel was better than he; from the shoulders and above, he appeared over all the people.

3 And the she-asses of Kish, the father of Saul, were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take with thee one of the children, and rise thou, and go seek the she-asses.

4 And when they had gone forth by the hill of Ephraim, and by the land of Shalisha, and they had not found them, they passed forth also by the land of Shalim, and they were not there; but also they passed by the land of Benjamin, and yet they found them not.

5 And when they had come into the land of Zuph, and had not found them, Saul said to his child that was with him, Come thou, and turn we again; lest peradventure my father hath left off caring about the female asses, and is busy for us.

6 And the child said to him, Lo! a man of God is in this city, a noble man; all thing that he speaketh, cometh without doubt. Now therefore go we thither, if peradventure he show to us of our way, for which we came.

7 And Saul said to his child, Lo! we shall go there; what shall we bear to the man of God? Bread hath failed in our scrips, and we have no present, that we can give to the man of God, neither any other thing.

8 Again the child answered to Saul, and said, Lo! the fourth part of a stater, that is, a shekel, of silver is found in mine hand; give we it to the man of God, that he show to us our way.

9 Sometime in Israel each man going to counsel with God spake thus, Come ye, and go we to the seer; for he, that is said now a prophet, was called sometime a seer.

10 And Saul said to his child, Thy word is the best; come thou, go we. And they went into the city, in which the man of God was.

11 And when they went up into the highness of the city, they found damsels going out to draw water, and they said to the damsels, Whether the seer is here?

12 And the damsels answered, and said to them, He is here; lo! he is before thee; haste thou now, for today he came into the city; for today is sacrifice of the people in the high place.

13 Ye shall enter into the city, and at once ye shall find him, before that he ascend [or go up] into the high place to eat; for the people shall not eat till he come, for he shall first bless the sacrifice, and afterward they shall eat that be called. Now therefore go ye up, for today ye shall find him.

14 And they went up into the city. And when they went into the midst of the city, Samuel appeared going out against them, that he should go up into the high place.

15 And the day before that Saul came, the Lord made revelation in the ear of Samuel, and said,

16 In this same hour which is now, tomorrow, I shall send to thee a man of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him duke upon my people Israel, and he shall save my people from the hands of Philistines; for I have beheld my people, forsooth their cry hath come to me.

17 And when Samuel had beheld Saul, the Lord said to Samuel, Lo! the man, whom I said to thee; this man shall be lord of my people.

18 And Saul nighed to Samuel in the midst of the gate, and said, I pray thee, show thou to me, where is the house of the seer?

19 And Samuel answered to Saul, and said, I am the seer; go thou up before me into the high place, that thou eat with me today, and I shall deliver thee in the morrowtide, and I shall show to thee all things that be in thine heart.

20 And be thou not busy of the female asses, which thou lostest the third day ago, for those [or they] be found; and whose shall be all the best things of Israel, whether not to thee, and to all the house of thy father?

21 And Saul answered, and said, Whether I am not a son of Benjamin, of the least lineage of Israel, and my kindred is the last among all the meines of the lineage of Benjamin? Why therefore hast thou spoken to me this word?

22 And so Samuel took Saul, and his child, and led them into the chamber of three orders of seats, or benches, and he gave to them a place in the beginning of them that were called, or bidden to the meat; for they were as thirty men.

23 And Samuel said to the cook, Give thou the part which I gave to thee, and commanded, that thou shouldest keep by itself with thee.

24 And the cook took up a shoulder, and he set [or put] it before Saul. And Samuel said, Lo! that, that hath been left, take before thee, and eat; for of this purpose it was kept to thee, when I called the people hither. And Saul ate with Samuel that day.

25 And they came down from the high place into the city; and Samuel spake with Saul in the solar, and Saul arrayed a bed in the solar, and slept.

26 And when they had risen early, and the day began to be clear, Samuel called Saul into the solar, and said, Rise thou up, that I deliver thee. And Saul rose up, and both went out, that is, he, and Samuel.

27 And when they went down into the last part of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Say thou to the child, that he go before us, and pass [forth]; forsooth stand thou [still] a little, that I show to thee the word of the Lord.

CHAPTER 10

1 Forsooth Samuel took a vessel of oil, and he poured it out on the head of Saul, and kissed him, and said, Lo! the Lord hath anointed thee into prince on his heritage;

2 when thou shalt go from me today, thou shalt find two men beside the sepulchre of Rachel, in the ends of Benjamin, in midday; and they shall say to thee, The female asses be found, which thou wentest to seek; and while the asses be left off caring about, thy father is now busy for you, and saith, What shall I do of my son?

3 And when thou hast gone from thence, and hast passed further, and hast come to the oak of Tabor, three men, going up to God into Bethel, shall find thee there, one man bearing three kids, and another man bearing three cakes of bread, and another man bearing a gallon of wine.

4 And when they have greeted thee, they shall give to thee two loaves, and thou shalt take those of their hand.

5 After these things thou shalt come into the hill of the Lord, where is the standing place, that is, the forcelet, of Philistines; and when thou shalt enter into the city, there thou shalt have meeting thee a flock, or a company, of prophets, coming down from the high place, and a psaltery, and a tympan, and a pipe, and an harp before them, and them prophesying.

6 And the Spirit of the Lord shall at once fall into thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and thou shalt be changed into another man.

7 Therefore when all these signs befall to thee, do thou, whatever things thine hand findeth, for the Lord is with thee.

8 And thou shalt go down before me into Gilgal; for I shall come down to thee, to offer an offering, and sacrifice peaceable sacrifices; by seven days thou shalt abide, till I come to thee, and show thee what thou shalt do.

9 Therefore when Saul had turned away his shoulder to go from Samuel, God exchanged another heart to Saul, and all these signs came in that day.

10 And Saul and his child came to the foresaid hill, and lo! a company of prophets were meeting with him; and the Spirit of the Lord fell at once upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the prophets.

11 And all men, that knew Saul yesterday and the third day ago, saw that he was with the prophets, and that he prophesied, and they said together, What thing hath befallen to the son of Kish? Whether also Saul is among [the] prophets?

12 And one man answered to another, and said, And who is the father of them? Therefore it was turned into a proverb, Whether also Saul is among the prophets?

13 And Saul ceased to prophesy, and he came to an high place.

14 And the brother of Saul’s father said to him, and to his child, Whither went ye? And they answered, To seek [the] she-asses; and when we found them not, we came to Samuel.

15 And the brother of Saul’s father said to him, Show thou to me what Samuel said to thee.

16 And Saul said to his uncle, Samuel showed to us, that the she-asses were found. But he showed not to his uncle of the word of the realm, that Samuel spake to him.

17 And Samuel called together the people to the Lord in Mizpeh;

18 and he said to the sons of Israel, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, I led Israel out of the land of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of Egyptians, and from the hand of all the kings that tormented you.

19 And today ye have cast away your Lord God, which alone saved you from all your evils and [your] tribulations; and ye [have] said, Nay, but ordain thou a king upon us. Now therefore stand ye before the Lord by your lineages, and by meines.

20 And Samuel set together all the lineages of Israel, and [the] lot felled upon the lineage of Benjamin.

21 And he set together the lineage of Benjamin, and the meines thereof; and lot felled upon the meine of Matri, and it came unto Saul, the son of Kish. Therefore they sought him, and he was not found there.

22 And after these things they counselled with the Lord, whether Saul should come thither. And the Lord answered, Lo! he is hid among vessels.

23 Therefore they ran, and took him from thence; and he stood in the middle of the people, and [he] was higher than all the people from the shoulder[s] and above.

24 And Samuel said to all the people, Certainly ye see whom the Lord hath chosen; for none in all the people is like him. And all the people cried, and said, Live the king!

25 And Samuel spake to the people the law of the realm, and he wrote it in a book, and put it up before the Lord. And Samuel delivered all the people, each man into his house;

26 but also Saul went into his house in Gibeah; and a part of the host went with him, whose hearts God had touched.

27 And the sons of Belial said, Whether this man may save us? And they despised him, and brought not gifts, that is, presents, to him; and he let it go as though he heard it not.

CHAPTER 11

1 And it was done as after a month, Nahash of Ammon went up, and began to fight against Jabesh of Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Have thou us bound in peace, and we shall serve thee.

2 And Nahash of Ammon answered to them, In this I shall smite bond of peace with you, that I put out the right eyes of all you, and that I put you to be reproof in all Israel.

3 And the elder men of Jabesh said to him, Grant thou to us seven days, that we send messengers to all the coasts of Israel; and if none be that defend us, we shall go out to thee.

4 Then messengers came into Gibeah of Saul, and spake these words, while the people heard; and all the people raised their voice, and wept.

5 And lo! Saul came from the field, and he pursued [or following] [the] oxen; and he said, What hath the people, for it weepeth? And they told to him the words of the men of Jabesh.

6 And the Spirit of the Lord fell at once into Saul, when he had heard these words, and his fierce wrath was greatly stirred.

7 And he took ever either ox, and he cut them into gobbets, and he sent those into all the coasts of Israel, by the hands of messengers; and he said, Whoever goeth not out, and pursueth [or followed] not Saul and Samuel, so it shall be done to his oxen. Therefore the dread of the Lord went into the people, and they went out as one man.

8 And Saul numbered them in Bezek; and three hundred thousand were there of the sons of Israel; and of the men of Judah were thirty thousand.

9 And they said to the messengers that came, Thus ye shall say to the men that be in Jabesh of Gilead, Tomorrow shall be health to you, when the sun is hot. Then the messengers came, and told to the men of Jabesh; the which were glad,

10 and said to Ammon, Early we shall go out to you, and ye shall do to us all that pleaseth to you*.

11 And it was done, when the morrowtide came, Saul ordained the people into three parts; and he entered into the middle tents in the waking of the morrowtide, and he smote Ammon till the day was hot; forsooth the residues were scattered, so that twain together were not left in them.

12 And the people said to Samuel, Who is this, that said, Saul shall not reign upon us? Give ye up the men, and we shall slay them.

13 And Saul said, No man shall be slain in this day, for today the Lord hath made health in Israel.

14 And Samuel said to the people, Come ye, and go we into Gilgal, and renew we there the realm.

15 And all the people went into Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal; and they offered there peaceable sacrifices before the Lord. And Saul was glad there, and all the men of Israel greatly.

CHAPTER 12

1 Forsooth Samuel said to all Israel, Lo! I [have] heard your voice by all things which ye spake to me, and I [have] ordained a king upon you;

2 and now the king goeth before you. And I have waxed eld and hoary; and my sons be with you; also I have lived before you from my young waxing age unto this day.

3 And lo! I am ready; speak ye to me before the Lord, and before the christ of him or his anointed, or king; whether I have taken any man’s ox, either his ass; if I have falsely challenged any man; if I have oppressed any man; if I have taken gift of any man’s hand; I shall despise it today, and I shall restore to you.

4 And they said, Thou hast not falsely challenged us, neither thou hast oppressed us, neither thou hast taken anything of any man’s hand.

5 And he said to them, The Lord is witness against you, and his christ, or his anointed, or king, is witness in this day; for ye have not found any-thing in mine hand. And they said, He is witness.

6 And Samuel said to the people, The Lord, that made Moses and Aaron, and that led your fathers out of the land of Egypt, is present;

7 now therefore stand ye, that I strive by doom against you before the Lord, of all the mercies of the Lord, which he did with you, and with your fathers.

8 How that Jacob entered into Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord; and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and led your fathers out of Egypt, and hath set them in this place.

9 Which forgat their Lord God; and he betook them into the hand of Sisera, master of the chivalry of Hazor, and in the hand of Philistines, and in the hand of the king of Moab; and they fought against them.

10 And after this your fathers cried to the Lord, and said, We have sinned, for we forsook the Lord, and served Baalim and Ashtaroth; now therefore deliver thou us from the hand of our enemies, and we shall serve thee.

11 And the Lord sent Jerubbaal, that is Gideon, and Bedan, that is, Samson, and Barak, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you from the hand of your enemies by compass; and then ye dwelled securely.

12 And ye saw, that Nahash, the king of the sons of Ammon, came against you; and ye said to me, counselling you to ask none other king than God, Nay, but a king shall command to us; when your Lord God reigned in you.

13 Now therefore your king is ready, whom ye have chosen and asked for; lo! the Lord hath given to you a king.

14 If ye dread the Lord, and serve him, and hear his voice, and wrath not the mouth of the Lord; ye and your king, that commandeth to you, shall pursue [or following] your Lord God.

15 Forsooth if ye hear not the voice of the Lord, but wrath his word, the hand of the Lord shall be on you, and on your fathers.

16 But also now stand ye, and see this great thing, that the Lord shall do in your sight.

17 Whether harvest of wheat is not today? I shall inwardly call the Lord, and he shall give voices, that is, thunders, and rains; and ye shall know, and see, for ye asking a king upon you, ye have done grievous evil to yourself in the sight of the Lord.

18 And Samuel cried to the Lord, and the Lord gave thunders and rains in that day. And all the people dreaded greatly the Lord and Samuel;

19 and all the people said to Samuel, Pray thou for thy servants to thy Lord God, that we die not; for we [have] added evil to all our sins, that we ask a king to us.

20 And Samuel said to the people, Dread ye not; ye have done all this evil; nevertheless go ye not away from following the back of the Lord, but serve ye the Lord in all your heart;

21 and do not ye bow after vain things, that shall not profit you, neither they shall deliver you; for those [or they] be vain things.

22 And then the Lord shall not forsake his people for his great name; for the Lord hath sworn to make you a people to himself.

23 And this sin be far from me against the Lord, that I cease to pray for you; and I shall teach you a rightful [or right] way and a good.

24 Therefore dread ye the Lord, and serve ye him in truth, and of all your heart; for ye saw those great things, that he hath done to you;

25 that if ye continue in malice, both ye and your king shall perish altogether.

CHAPTER 13

1 Saul was a son of one year, that is, as innocent and clean of sin as a child of one year, when he began to reign; and he reigned upon Israel two and twenty years.

2 And Saul chose to him three thousand men of Israel, and two thousand of them were with Saul in Michmash, in the hill of Bethel; and a thousand were with his son Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; soothly he sent again the tother people each man into his tabernacle.

3 And Jonathan smote the station, that is, forcelet, either stronghold, of Philistines, that was in Geba. And when Philistines had heard this, Saul sounded with a clarion in all the land, and said, Hebrews, hear.

4 And all Israel heard such a fame, that Saul smote the station of Philistines; and Israel raised up himself against the Philistines; then the people cried after Saul in Gilgal.

5 And the Philistines were gathered together to fight against Israel; thirty thousand of chariots, and six thousand of knights, and the tother common people, as gravel which is full much in the brink of the sea; and they went up, and setted their tents in Mich-mash, at the east coast of Bethaven.

6 And when [the] men of Israel had seen, that they were set in straitness, for the people was tormented, they hid themselves in dens, and in privy places, and in stones, and in ditches, and in cisterns.

7 And the men of Hebrews passed over Jordan, into the land of Gad and of Gilead. And when Saul was yet in Gilgal, all the people was afeared that pursued [or followed] him.

8 And seven days he abode Samuel by [the] covenant, and Samuel came not into Gilgal; and the people went away from Saul.

9 Therefore Saul said, Bring ye to me burnt sacrifice, and peaceable offerings; and he offered burnt sacrifice.

10 And when he had ended offering the burnt sacrifice, lo! Samuel came; and Saul went out against him, to greet him.

11 And Samuel said to Saul, What hast thou done? Saul answered, Lo! for I saw that the people went away from me, and thou camest not by the days of covenant; and the Philistines were gathered together in Michmash;

12 I said, Now Philistines shall come down to me in Gilgal, and I have not pleased the face of the Lord; I was compelled by need, and I offered burnt sacrifice to the Lord.

13 And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done follily, and thou hast not kept the behests of thy Lord God, which he commanded to thee; and if thou haddest not done this thing, right now the Lord had made ready thy realm upon Israel without end;

14 but thy realm shall not rise further. The Lord hath sought a man to himself after his heart; and the Lord hath commanded to him, that he should be duke on his people, for thou keptest not those things which the Lord commanded.

15 And Samuel rose, and went up from Gilgal into Gibeah of Benjamin; and the people that were left went up after Saul against the people that fought against them; and they came from Gilgal into Gibeah, in the hill of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people, that were found with him, as six hundred men.

16 And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that was found with them, was in Gibeah of Benjamin; and the Philistines sat together in Michmash.

17 And three companies went out of the Philistines’ tents to take prey; one company went against the way of Ophrah, to the land of Shual;

18 and another company entered by the way of Bethhoron; and the third company turned itself to the way of the term in the land of Diba; and that term nigheth to the valley of Zeboim against the desert.

19 And none ironsmith was found in all the land of Israel; for the Philistines were wary, either eschewed, lest per-adventure the Hebrews made sword either spear.

20 Therefore all Israel went down to the Philistines, that each man should sharpen his share, and his pickaxe, and his ax, and his cutting hook;

21 for all the edges of their shares were blunt, and of their pickaxes, and of their three-toothed forks, and of axes, unto a prick to be amended.

22 And when the day of battle came, no sword nor spear was found in the hand of all the people that was with Saul and Jonathan, except Saul, and Jonathan his son.

23 Forsooth the station of Philistines went out, that it should pass into Michmash.

CHAPTER 14

1 And it befelled in a day, that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said to his squire, a young man, Come thou, and pass we to the station of the Philistines, which is beyond that place; soothly he showed not this same thing to his father.

2 And Saul dwelled in the last part of Gibeah, under a pomegranate tree, that was in the field of Gibeah; and the people as of six hundred men was with him.

3 And Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, [the] brother of Ichabod, the son of Phinehas, that was engendered of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh, bare the ephod, that is, the priest’s cloth; but also the people knew not whither Jonathan had gone.

4 And betwixt the goings up, by which Jonathan enforced or endeavour-ed to pass to the station of Philistines, were stones standing forth on ever either side, and scars broken before, by the manner of teeth, on each side; name to the one was Bozez, and name to the tother was Seneh;

5 one scar was standing forth to the north against Michmash, and the tother scar to the south against Gibeah.

6 And Jonathan said to his young squire, Come thou, pass we to the station of these uncircumcised men, if in hap the Lord do for us; for it is not hard to the Lord to save, either in many, either in few.

7 And his squire said to him, Do thou all things that please thy soul; go whither thou covetest, I shall be with thee, wherever thou wilt.

8 And Jonathan said, Lo! we pass to these men; and when we appear to them,

9 if they speak thus to us, Dwell ye, till we come to you; stand we in our place, and go we not up to them.

10 And if they say, Go ye up to us; go we up to them, for the Lord hath betaken them into our hands; this shall be a sign to us.

11 Therefore ever either appeared to the station of Philistines; and the Philistines said, Lo! the Hebrews go out of [the] caves, in which they were hid.

12 And men of the station spake to Jonathan and to his squire, and said, Go ye up to us, and we shall show to you a thing. And Jonathan said to his squire, Wend we up to them, pursue [or follow] thou me; for the Lord hath betaken them into the hands of Israel.

13 And Jonathan went up, creeping on hands and feet, and his squire after him; and when they had seen the face of Jonathan, some felled down before Jonathan, his squire killed others, and pursued [or following] him.

14 And the first wound was made, which Jonathan and his squire smote, as of twenty men, in the middle part of land, which a pair of oxen was wont to ear in the day.

15 And a miracle was done in the Philistines’ tents, and by their fields, but also all the people of the Philistines’ station that went out to take prey, dreaded, and their tents were troubled; and it befelled as a miracle of God.

16 And the espyers of Saul beheld this doing, that were in Gibeah of Benjamin, and lo! a multitude of the Philistines was cast down, and fleeing away hither and thither.

17 And Saul said to the people that were with him, Seek ye, and see ye, who went away from us. And when they had sought, it was found, that Jonathan and his squire were not present.

18 And Saul said to Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of the Lord; for the ark of God was there in that time with the sons of Israel.

19 And when Saul spake to the priest, a great noise arose in the tents of the Philistines; and it increased little and little, and it sounded more clearly. And Saul said to the priest, Withdraw thine hand.

20 Therefore Saul cried, and all the people that was with him; and they came unto the place of battle, and, lo! the sword of each man was turned to his neighbour, and a full great slaying was.

21 But also the Hebrews that were with Philistines yesterday and the third day ago, and had gone up with them into their tents, turned again to be with the men of Israel, that were with Saul and Jonathan.

22 Also all the men of Israel, that had hid themselves in the hill of Ephraim, heard that the Philistines had fled; and they fellowshipped them-selves with their men in [the] battle, and as ten thousand of men were with Saul.

23 And the Lord saved Israel in that day. And the battle came till to Bethaven.

24 And men of Israel were fellow-shipped to themselves in that day; forsooth Saul swore to the people, and said, Cursed be the man that eateth bread till to eventide, till I avenge me of mine enemies. And all the people ate no bread.

25 And all the common people of the land came into a forest, in which was honey on the face of earth.

26 And so the people entered into the forest, and flowing honey appeared; and no man put his hand to his mouth thereof, for the people dreaded the oath.

27 And Jonathan heard not, when his father forbade this to the people; and Jonathan held forth the end of a little rod, that he held in his hand, and he dipped it into an honeycomb; and he turned his hand to his mouth, and his eyes were lightened.

28 And one of the people answered, and said, Thy father bound the people with an oath, and said, Cursed be the man that eateth bread today. And the people was faint.

29 And Jonathan said, My father hath troubled the land; ye see, that mine eyes be lightened, for I tasted a little of this honey;

30 how much more if the people had eaten of the prey of their enemies, that they found; whether not greater vengeance had been made in [the] Philistines?

31 Therefore they smote [the] Philistines in that day from Michmash into Aijalon. And the people was made full weary;

32 and the people turned to [the] prey, and took sheep and oxen, and calves; and they killed these beasts upon the earth; and the people ate the flesh with blood.

33 And they told to Saul, and said, that the people eating with blood had sinned to the Lord. And Saul said, Ye have trespassed; wallow ye anon to me a great stone.

34 And Saul said, Go ye forth abroad into the common people, and say ye to them, that each man bring to me his ox and his wether; and slay ye those upon this stone, and eat ye them, and ye shall not do sin to the Lord, eating them with blood. And so all the people brought each man an ox in his hand unto the night, and they killed them there.

35 And Saul builded there an altar to the Lord; and then first he began to build an altar to the Lord.

36 And Saul said, Fall we upon the Philistines in the night, and waste or destroy we them till the morrowtide shine; and leave we not of them a man alive. And the people said, Do thou all thing that seemeth good to thee in thine eyes. And the priest said, Nigh we hither to God.

37 And Saul counselled with the Lord, and said, Whether I shall pursue the Philistines? whether thou shalt betake them into the hands of Israel? And the Lord answered not to him in that day.

38 And Saul said, Bring ye hither all the corners, or the uttermost parties, or chiefs, of the people, and know ye, and see ye, by whom this sin hath fallen today.

39 The Lord the saviour of Israel liveth; for if it is done by Jonathan my son, he shall die without again-drawing. At which oath no man of all the people against-said him.

40 And he said to all Israel, Be ye separated into one part, and I with my son Jonathan shall be in the tother part. And the people answered to Saul, Do thou that, that seemeth good to thine eyes.

41 And Saul said to the Lord God of Israel, Lord God of Israel, give thou doom, what is it, that thou answerest not today to thy servant? If this wicked-ness is in me, either in Jonathan, my son, make thou showing thereof; either if this wickedness is in thy people, give thou holiness. And Jonathan was taken, and Saul, by lot; forsooth the people went out.

42 And Saul said, Send ye lot be-twixt me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.

43 And Saul said to Jonathan, Show thou to me, what thou didest. And Jonathan showed to him, and said, I tasting tasted a little of honey in the end of the rod, that was in mine hand; and lo! I die.

44 And Saul said, God do to me these things, and add these things, for thou, Jonathan, shalt die by death.

45 And the people said to Saul, Therefore whether Jonathan shall die, that did this great health in Israel? this is unleaveful; the Lord liveth; none hair of his head shall fall into the earth; for he hath wrought with God today. Therefore the people delivered Jonathan, that he died not.

46 And Saul went away, and he pursued not the Philistines; and the Philistines went into their places.

47 And Saul, when his realm was stabled upon Israel, fought by compass against all his enemies, against Moab, and the sons of Ammon, and Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines; and whither ever he turned him[self], he overcame.

48 And when his host was gathered together, he smote Amalek; and delivered Israel from the hand of his destroyers.

49 And the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishui, and Melchishua; the names of his two daughters be these, the name of the first engendered daughter was Merab, and the name of the younger was Michal.

50 And the name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz; and the name of the prince of his chivalry was Abner, the son of Ner, the brother of the father of Saul.

51 And Kish was the father of Saul; and Ner, the son of Abiel, was the father of Abner.

52 Soothly mighty battle was against Philistines in all the days of Saul; for whomever Saul saw to be a strong man, and shapely to battle, he fellow-shipped to himself that man.

CHAPTER 15

1 And Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me, that I should anoint thee into king on his people Israel; now therefore hear thou the voice of the Lord.

2 The Lord of hosts saith these things, I have brought to mind what-ever things Amalek hath done to Israel; how Amalek against-stood Israel in the way, when Israel went up from Egypt.

3 Now therefore go thou, and slay Amalek, and destroy thou all his things; spare thou not him, nor covet thou anything of his things; but slay thou from man unto woman, and little child, and sucking, ox, and sheep, and camel, and ass.

4 And so Saul commanded the people to be gathered together, and he numbered them as lambs, two hundred thousand of footmen, and ten thousand of men of Judah.

5 And when Saul came to the city of Amalek, he made ready ambush-ments in the dry bed of the strand [or stream].

6 And Saul said to Kenites, Go ye, depart ye, and go ye away from Amalek, lest peradventure I wrap thee in with them; for thou didest mercy with all the sons of Israel, when they went up from Egypt. And Kenites departed from the midst of Amalek.

7 And Saul smote Amalek, from Havilah, till thou come to Shur, which is even against Egypt.

8 And Saul took Agag alive, the king of Amalek; and he killed by sharpness of sword all the common people.

9 And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best flocks of sheep, and of great beasts, and clothes, and rams, and all things that were fair; and they would not destroy those [or them]; but whatever thing was vile, and reprovable, they destroyed that thing.

10 Forsooth the word of the Lord was made to Samuel, and said,

11 It repenteth me, that I made Saul king; for he hath forsaken me, and hath not fulfilled my words in work. And Samuel was sorry, and he cried to the Lord in all that night.

12 And when Samuel had risen up by night to go early to Saul, it was told to Samuel, that Saul had come into Carmel, and had raised up to him a sign of victory; and that he had turned again from Amalek, and had passed forth, and had gone down into Gilgal.

13 Then Samuel came to Saul, and Saul offered burnt sacrifice to the Lord of the chief things of the preys, which he had brought from Amalek. And the while Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have [ful] filled the word of the Lord.

14 And Samuel said, And what is this voice of flocks, that soundeth in mine ears, and of great beasts, which I hear?

15 And Saul said, They brought those from Amalek; for the people spared the best sheep and great beasts, that those should be offered to thy Lord God; and we killed the tother beasts.

16 And Samuel said to Saul, Suffer thou me, and I shall show to thee what things the Lord hath spoken to me in this night. And Saul said to Samuel, Speak thou.

17 And Samuel said, Whether not, when thou were little in thine own eyes, thou were made head in the lineages of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee into king on Israel;

18 and the Lord sent thee into the way, and said, Go thou, and slay the sinners of Amalek, and thou shalt fight against them till to the slaying of them.

19 Why therefore heardest thou not the voice of the Lord, but thou were turned to the prey, and didest evil in the eyes of the Lord?

20 And Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I heard the voice of the Lord, and I have gone in the way, by which the Lord sent me, and I have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and I have killed Amalek.

21 Forsooth the people took of the prey, sheep and oxen, the first fruits or the chief fruits of those things that be slain, that they make sacrifice to their Lord God in Gilgal.

22 And Samuel said, Whether the Lord will or desireth burnt sacrifices, either slain sacrifices, and not more, rather, that men obey to the voice of the Lord? Forsooth obedience to him is better than sacrifices, and to take heed to his word is more than to offer the inner fatness of rams;

23 for it is as the sin of maumetry to fight against God’s behest, and it is as the wickedness of idolatry to not assent to God’s behest. Therefore for that, that thou castedest away the word of the Lord, the Lord casted thee away, that thou be not king.

24 And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have broken the word of the Lord, and thy words; and I dreaded the people, and obeyed to the voice of them;

25 but now, I beseech thee, bear thou my sin, and turn thou again with me, that I worship the Lord.

26 And Samuel said to Saul, I shall not turn again with thee, for thou castedest away the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath cast away thee, that thou be not king upon Israel.

27 And Samuel turned to go away; soothly Saul took the end of the mantle of Samuel, which also was rent.

28 And Samuel said to him, The Lord hath cut the realm of Israel from thee today, and he hath given it to thy neighbour, better than thou;

29 certainly the Overcomer in Israel shall not spare them that will not obey to him, and he shall not be bowed by repentance; for he is not man, that is, changeable, that he do repentance.

30 And Saul said, I have sinned; but now honour thou me before the elder men of my people, and before Israel, and turn thou again with me, that I worship thy Lord God.

31 Therefore Samuel turned again, and followed Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.

32 And Samuel said, Bring ye to me Agag, the king of Amalek. And Agag, most fat and trembling, was brought to him. And Agag said, Whether thus departeth bitter death?

33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women without free children, so thy mother shall be without free children among women. And Samuel hewed Agag into gobbets before the Lord in Gilgal.

34 And Samuel went into Ramah; and Saul went up into his house in Gibeah.

35 And Samuel saw no more Saul unto the day of his death; nevertheless Samuel bewailed Saul, for it repented the Lord, that he had ordained Saul king upon Israel.

CHAPTER 16

1 And the Lord said to Samuel, How long bewailest thou Saul, since I have cast him away, that he reign not upon Israel; fill thine horn with oil, and come, that I send thee to Jesse of Bethlehem; for among his sons I have purveyed a king to me.

2 And Samuel said, How shall I go? for Saul shall hear, and he shall slay me. And the Lord said, Thou shalt take a calf of the drove in thy hand, and thou shalt say, I came to make sacrifice to the Lord.

3 And thou shalt call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I shall show to thee, what thou shalt do; and thou shalt anoint whomever I shall show to thee.

4 Then Samuel did, as the Lord spake to him; and he came into Bethlehem, and the elder men of the city wondered, and came to him, and said, Whether thine entry be peaceable?

5 And he said, It is peaceable; I came to make sacrifice to the Lord; be ye hallowed, and come ye with me, that I make sacrifice. Therefore he hallowed Jesse, and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

6 And when they had entered, he saw Eliab, and said, in his heart, Whether before the Lord is his christ, or his anointed?

7 And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold thou not his cheer, neither the highness of his stature; for I have cast him away, and I deem not by man’s sight; for man seeth those things that be open, but the Lord beholdeth the heart.

8 And Jesse called Abinadab, and brought him before Samuel; and he said, Neither the Lord hath chosen this.

9 And Jesse brought forth Shammah; of whom Samuel said, Also the Lord hath not chosen this.

10 And so Jesse brought forth his seven sons before Samuel; and Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord hath chosen none of these.

11 And Samuel said to Jesse, Whether thy sons be now filled? And Jesse answered, Yet there is another little child, and he pastureth sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send ye, and bring him hither; for we shall not sit to meat, before that he come hither.

12 Therefore Jesse sent, and brought him; soothly he was ruddy, and fair in sight, and of seemly face. And the Lord said, Rise thou, and anoint him; for it is he.

13 Therefore Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the Spirit of the Lord was dressed [or full sent] into David from that day forth. And Samuel rose up, and went into Ramah.

14 And so the Spirit of the Lord went away from Saul, and a wicked spirit of the Lord travailed Saul.

15 And the servants of Saul said to him, Lo! an evil spirit of the Lord travaileth thee;

16 our lord the king command, and thy servants, that be before thee, shall seek a man, that can sing with an harp, and when the evil spirit of the Lord taketh thee, he harp with his hand, and thou bear it more easily.

17 And Saul said to his servants, Purvey ye to me some man singing well, and bring ye him to me.

18 And one of his children answered and said, Lo! I saw a son of Jesse of Bethlehem, knowing how to sing, and most strong man, and a man able to battle, and prudent in words, and a fair man; and the Lord is with him.

19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, Send thou to me David thy son, that is keeping thy beasts.

20 And so Jesse took an ass charged with loaves, and a gallon of wine, and a goat kid; and he sent those by the hand of David his son to Saul.

21 And David came to Saul, and stood before him; and Saul loved him greatly, and he was made his squire.

22 And Saul sent to Jesse, and said, David stand in my sight, for he hath found grace in mine eyes.

23 Then whenever the evil spirit of the Lord travailed Saul, David took his harp, and harped with his hand, and Saul was comforted, and he had it more lightly; for the evil spirit went away from him.

CHAPTER 17

1 Soothly the Philistines gathered together their companies into battle, and came together in Shochoh of Judah, and they setted tents betwixt Shochoh and Azekah, in the coasts of Dammim or Ephesdammim.

2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and came into the valley of Terebinth, and they dressed battle array to fight against [the] Philistines.

3 And the Philistines stood above the hill on this part, and Israel stood on the hill on the tother part of the valley, that was betwixt them.

4 And a man in the midst, that is, a strong man, and hardy, that goeth before the host, and is ready to fight against one of the enemies in singular battle, that is, man-to-man, went out of the Philistines’ tents, Goliath by name, of Gath, of six cubits high and a span;

5 and a brazen basinet on his head; and he was clothed with a mailed habergeon; and the weight of his habergeon was five thousand shekels of brass;

6 and he had on his thighs brazen boots, and a brazen shield covered his shoulders.

7 Forsooth the shaft of his spear was as the beam of webs; and the iron of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his squire went before him.

8 And he stood, and cried against the companies of armed men of Israel, and said to them, Why came ye ready to battle? Whether I am not a Philistine, and ye be the servants of Saul? Choose ye a man of you, and come he down to a singular battle, that is, man-to-man;

9 if he may fight with me, and slay me, we shall be your servants; forsooth if I have the mastery, and slay him, ye shall be bond, and serve us.

10 And the Philistine said, I have said shame today to the companies of Israel; give ye [to me] a man, and begin he singular battle with me.

11 Soothly Saul and all men of Israel heard such words of the Philistine, and they were astonied, and dreaded greatly.

12 Forsooth David was the son of a man of Ephrath, of whom it is said before, of Bethlehem of Judah, to whom the name was Jesse, and he had eight sons; and in the days of Saul, Jesse was an old man, and of great age among men.

13 And the three eldest sons of Jesse went after Saul into battle; and the names of his three sons, that went to battle, were Eliab, the first begotten, and the second, Abinadab, and the third, Shammah.

14 And David was the youngest. Then while the three eldest sons pursued [or following] Saul,

15 David went, and turned again from Saul, that he should keep the flock of his father in Bethlehem.

16 Forsooth the Philistine came forth in the morrowtide, and [at] eventide; and stood by forty days [or standing and reproving the children of Israel for forty days].

17 And Jesse said to David his son, Take thou to thy brethren meat made of meal, the measure of ephah, and these ten loaves, and run thou into the tents to thy brethren;

18 and thou shalt bare to the tribune these ten small cheeses; and thou shalt visit thy brethren, whether they do rightly, and learn thou, with which men they be ordained.

19 Forsooth Saul, and they, and all the sons of Israel in the valley of Terebinth fought against the Philistines.

20 And so David rose early, and he betook the flock to a keeper, and he went charged, as Jesse commanded to him; and he came to the place of Magal or the circle of the camp, and to the host, the which host went out to the fight, and it cried [out] in the fighting.

21 For Israel had ordained battle array; and even against them, the Philistines were ready also.

22 Then David left the vessels, that he had brought, under the hand of a keeper at the fardels, and he ran to the place of [the] battle, and he asked, if all things were done rightly with his brethren.

23 And when he spake yet to them, that bastard [man] appeared, Goliath by name, the Philistine of Gath, and he went up from the tents of the Philistines; and while he spake these same words, David heard.

24 And when all the men of Israel had seen the man, they fled from his sight, and dreaded him greatly.

25 And each man of Israel said to other, Whether thou hast seen this man that hath gone up? forsooth he went up to say shame or reproof to Israel; therefore the king shall make rich with great riches the man that slayeth that Philistine; and the king shall give his daughter to that man, and shall make the house of his father without having to pay tribute in Israel.

26 And David spake to the men that stood with him, and said, What shall be given to the man that slayeth this Philistine, and doeth away shame from Israel? for who is this Philistine uncircumcised, that despiseth the battle arrays of God living?

27 Forsooth the people told to him the same word, and said, These things shall be given to the man that slayeth him.

28 And when Eliab, his more brother or the elder brother of David, had heard this, while he spake with other men, he was wroth against David, and said, Why camest thou hither, and why hast thou left those few sheep in desert? I know thy pride, and the waywardness of thine heart; for thou camest down to see the battle.

29 And David said, What have I done? Whether it is not but a word?

30 And David went thence a little from him to another man; and David said the same word, and the people answered to him the word as they did before.

31 And the words were heard, that David spake, and they were told before Saul. And when David was brought to Saul,

32 David spake to him thus, The heart of any man fall not down in him, for I thy servant shall go, and fight against the Philistine.

33 And Saul said to David, Thou mayest not against-stand this Philistine, neither fight against him, for thou art a child; forsooth this man is a warrior from his young waxing age.

34 And David said to Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s flock, and when a lion came, also or either a bear, and took away a ram from the midst of the flock;

35 I pursued, and killed them, and I ravished it from their mouth; and they rose against me, and I took their nether jowl, and I strangled, and killed them.

36 For I thy servant killed both the lion and the bear; therefore and this Philistine uncircumcised shall be as one of them. Now I shall go, and I shall do away the shame or the reproof of the people; for who is this Philistine uncircumcised, that was hardy to curse the host of God living?

37 And again David said, The Lord that delivered me from the mouth of the lion, and from the hand, that is, power, of the bear, he shall deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go thou, and the Lord be with thee.

38 And Saul clothed David with his clothes, and he set a brazen basinet on his head, and clothed him with an habergeon.

39 Therefore David was girded with his sword on his cloth, and began to assay if he might go armed; for he had not [the] custom. And David said to Saul, I may not go thus, for I have not the uses of it. And David put away those [things],

40 and he took his staff, that he had ever[more] in his hands. And he chose to him five full clear round stones, that is, hard, plain, and round, of the strand [or stream]; and he put those [or them] into his shepherd’s scrip, that he had with him; and he took a sling in his hand, and he went forth against the Philistine.

41 Soothly the Philistine went, going and nighing against David; and his squire went before him.

42 And when the Philistine had beheld David, and saw him, he despised David; forsooth David was a young waxing man, ruddy, and fair in sight.

43 And the Philistine said to David, Whether I am a dog, for thou comest to me with a staff? And the Philistine cursed David in his gods;

44 and he said to David, Come thou to me, and I shall give thy flesh to the fowls of the air, and to [the] beasts of the earth.

45 And David said to Goliath, Thou comest to me with a sword, and spear, and shield; but I come to thee in name of the Lord of hosts, God of the companies of Israel, to whom thou hast said reproof today.

46 And the Lord shall give thee into mine hand, and I shall slay thee, and I shall take thine head from thee; and today I shall give the dead bodies of the tents of Philistines to the fowls of heavens, and to the beasts of the earth; that all the earth know, that the Lord God is in Israel,

47 and that all this church know, that the Lord saveth not in sword neither in spear; for the battle is his, and he shall betake you into our hands.

48 Therefore when the Philistine had risen, and came, and nighed against David, David hasted, and ran to battle against the Philistine.

49 And David put his hand in his scrip, and he took out a stone, and he casted it with his sling, and led [it] about, and smote the Philistine in the forehead; and the stone was fastened in his forehead, and he felled down into his face on the earth.

50 And David had the mastery against the Philistine in a sling and a stone, and he killed the Philistine smitten. And when David had no sword in his hand,

51 he ran, and stood on the Philistine, and took his sword; and David drew out the sword of his sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head. And the Philistines saw, that the strongest of them was dead, and they fled.

52 And the sons of Israel and of Judah rose up together, and cried [out], and pursued the Philistines, till the time they came into the valley, and unto the gates of Ekron. And the wounded men of the Philistines fell down in the way of Shaaraim, and unto Gath, and unto Ekron.

53 And the sons of Israel turned again, after that they had pursued the Philistines, and they assailed their tents.

54 Forsooth David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it into Jerusalem; soothly he putted his arms or armours in the tabernacle of the Lord.

55 Forsooth in that time in which Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, [the] prince of his chivalry, Abner, of what generation is this young man? And Abner said, King, thy soul liveth, I know not.

56 And the king said, Ask thou, whose son this boy is.

57 And when David had come again, when the Philistine was slain, Abner took David, and brought him in, having in the hand the head of the Philistine, before Saul.

58 And Saul said to him, Of what generation art thou, young man? And David said, I am the son of thy servant, Jesse of Bethlehem.

CHAPTER 18

1 And it was done, when David had ended to speak to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was glued together to the soul of David, that is, joined together by the glue of charity, that may not be broken, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

2 And Saul took David in that day, and granted not to him, that he should turn again into the house of his father.

3 And Jonathan and David made a bond of peace; for Jonathan loved David as his own soul;

4 for why Jonathan unclothed him-self from the coat that he was clothed in, and he gave it to David, and his other clothes, unto his sword and his bow, and unto his girdle.

5 And David went forth to all things, to whatever things Saul sent him, and he governed himself prudently; and Saul setted him over the men of battle, and he was accepted in the eyes of all the people, and mostly in the sight of the servants of Saul.

6 Forsooth when David turned again, when the Philistine was slain, and bare the head of the Philistine into Jerusalem, women went out of all the cities of Israel, and sang, and led dances, against the coming of king Saul, in tympans of gladness, and in trumps.

7 And the women sang, playing, and saying, Saul hath slain a thousand, and David ten thousand.

8 And Saul was wroth greatly, and this word displeased before him; and he said, They have given ten thousand to David, and but one thousand to me; what leaveth to him, no but the realm alone?

9 Therefore Saul beheld David not with rightful eye, from that day and afterward.

10 Soothly after the tother day, a wicked spirit of God assailed Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of his house. And David harped with his hand, as by all days before; and Saul held a spear,

11 and cast it, and guessed that he might preen David with the wall, that is, pierce right through him with the spear, so that it should pass into the wall; and David bowed [aside] from his face the second time.

12 And Saul dreaded David, for the Lord was with David, and had gone away from him.

13 Then Saul removed David from himself, and made him chieftain upon a thousand men; and David went out and he came in before the people.

14 And David did wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him;

15 and so Saul saw that David was full prudent or full wise, and he began to beware of David.

16 And all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went in and out before them.

17 And Saul said to David, Lo! mine elder daughter Merab, I shall give her for a wife to thee; only be thou a strong man, and fight thou the Lord’s battles. Forsooth Saul areckoned, and said, Mine hand be not in him, but the hand of Philistines be on him.

18 And David said to Saul, Who am I, either what is my life, either the family of my father in Israel, that I be made the son-in-law of the king?

19 And when the time came that Merab, the daughter of Saul, should have been given wife to David, she was given wife to Adriel the Meholathite.

20 Forsooth David loved Michal, the [tother] daughter of Saul; and it was told to Saul, and it pleased him.

21 And Saul said, I shall give her to him, that it be to him into cause of stumbling, and the hand of Philistines be upon him. Therefore Saul said to David, In wedding one of my two daughters thou shalt be my son-in-law today.

22 And Saul commanded to his servants, Speak ye privily to David, as if it were me unwitting, and say ye to him, Lo! thou pleasest the king, and all his servants love thee; now there-fore be thou [the] husband of the king’s daughter.

23 And the servants of Saul spake all these words in the ears of David. And David said, Whether it seem little to you for me to be the king’s son-in-law? Forsooth I am a poor man, and a feeble.

24 And the servants told to Saul, and said, David spake such words.

25 Soothly Saul said, Thus speak ye to David, The king hath no need to gifts for spousals, no but only to an hundred prepuces, that is, men’s rods uncircumcised, of the Philistines, that vengeance be made of the king’s enemies. Certainly Saul thought to betake David into the hands of Philistines.

26 And when the servants of Saul had told to David the words, which Saul had said, the word pleased in the eyes of David, that he should be made the king’s son-in-law. And after a few days,

27 David rose up, and went into Ekron, with the men that were with him, and he killed of Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their prepuces, and he numbered those [or them] to the king, that he should be the king’s son-in-law. And so Saul gave Michal, his daughter, wife to him.

28 And Saul saw, and understood, that the Lord was with David. Certainly Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David,

29 and Saul began more to dread David; and Saul was made enemy to David in all days.

30 And the princes of Philistines went out to fight; but from the beginning of their going out, David bare himself more wisely than all the men of Saul; and the name of David was made full solemn.

CHAPTER 19

1 Soothly Saul spake to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants, that they should slay David;

2 certainly Jonathan, the son of Saul, loved David greatly. And Jonathan showed to David, and said, Saul, my father, seeketh to slay thee; wherefore, I beseech, keep thyself tomorrow early; and thou shalt dwell privily, and thou shalt be hid.

3 And I shall go out, and stand be-side my father in the field, wherever he shall be; and I shall speak of thee to my father, and whatever thing I shall see or whatever thing I shall understand of him, I shall tell thee.

4 Then Jonathan spake good things of David to Saul, his father, and said to him, King, do thou not sin against thy servant David, for he hath not sinned to thee, and his works be full good to thee;

5 and he putted his life in his hand, and he killed the Philistine. And the Lord made great help to all Israel; thou sawest, and were glad; why therefore sinnest thou in guiltless blood, and wilt slay David, that is without guilt?

6 And when Saul had heard this, he was pleased with the speaking of Jonathan, and he swore, The Lord liveth, for David shall not be slain.

7 And so Jonathan called David, and showed to him all these words. And Jonathan brought in David to Saul, and he was before him as [he was] yesterday and the third day ago.

8 Forsooth battle was moved again; and David went out, and fought against the Philistines, and he smote them with a great wound or great fierceness, and they fled from his face.

9 And the evil spirit of the Lord was made upon Saul; and he sat in his house, and held a spear; certainly David harped with his hand.

10 And Saul enforced or endeavour-ed to preen, that is pierce, with the spear right through David into the wall; and David bowed [aside] from the face of Saul; and the spear without hurt of David was fixed into the wall; and David fled, and so he was saved in that night.

11 Therefore Saul sent his knights in the night into the house of David, that they should keep him, and that he should be slain in the morrowtide. And when Michal, the wife of David, had told this to David, and said, If thou savest not thee in this night, thou shalt die tomorrow;

12 and she let him down by a window. And David went, and fled thence, and he was saved.

13 And Michal took an image, and laid it on the bed of David, and she put a rough goatskin at the head thereof, and covered it with clothes.

14 Forsooth Saul sent sergeants, that should ravish [or take] David, and it was answered, that he was sick.

15 And again Saul sent messengers, that they should see David, and he said, Bring ye him to me in the bed, that he be slain.

16 And when the messengers had come, a simulacrum was found on the bed, and skins of goat at the head thereof.

17 And Saul said to Michal, Why scornedest thou me so, and deliver-edest mine enemy, that he fled? And Michal answered to Saul, For he spake to me, and said, Deliver thou me, else I shall slay thee.

18 Forsooth David fled, and was saved; and he came to Samuel into Ramah, and told to him all things which Saul had done to him; and he and Samuel went, and dwelled in Naioth.

19 And it was told to Saul of men, saying to him, Lo! David is in Naioth in Ramah.

20 Therefore Saul sent menslayers, that they should ravish [or take]from thence David; and when they had seen the company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing over them, the Spirit of the Lord was made in them, and they also began to prophesy.

21 And when this was told to Saul, he sent also other messengers; soothly and they prophesied. And again Saul sent the third messengers, and they prophesied.

22 And Saul was wroth with ireful-ness; and he also went into Ramah, and he came unto the great cistern which is in Sechu, and he asked, and said, In what place be Samuel and David? And it was said to him, Lo! they be in Naioth in Ramah.

23 And he went thither into Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of the Lord was made also on him; and he went, and entered, and prophesied, till the while he came into Naioth in Ramah.

24 And Saul also unclothed him of his clothes, and he prophesied with other men before Samuel, and he prophesied naked all that day and night. Wherefore a common saying went out, Whether and Saul be among [the] prophets?

CHAPTER 20

1 Forsooth David fled from Naioth, which is in Ramah, and came and spake before Jonathan, What have I done? what is my wickedness, and what is my sin against thy father, for he seeketh my life?

2 And Jonathan said to him, Far be it from thee, thou shalt not die, for my father shall not do anything great either little, no but he show first to me; therefore, my father kept privy from me this word only, forsooth it shall not be. And again he swore to David.

3 And David said, Truly thy father knoweth, that I have found grace in thine eyes, and he shall say, Jonathan know not this, lest peradventure he be sorry; certainly the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, for, that I say so, I and death be parted only by one degree.

4 And Jonathan said to David, Whatever thing thy soul shall say to me, I shall do it to thee.

5 And David said to Jonathan, Lo! calends be tomorrow, that is the feast of the new moon, and by custom I am wont to sit by the king to eat; therefore suffer thou me, that I be hid in the field till to [the] eventide of the third day.

6 And if thy father beholdeth, and asketh after me, thou shalt answer to him, David prayed me, that he might go at once into Bethlehem, his city, for solemn sacrifices be now there to all [the] men of his lineage.

7 If he saith, Well, peace shall be to thy servant; forsooth if he is wroth, know thou, that his malice is filled.

8 Therefore do thou mercy into thy servant, for thou hast made me thy servant to make with thee bond of peace of the Lord; but if any wicked-ness is in me, slay thou me, and bring thou not in me to thy father.

9 And Jonathan said, Far be this from me, for it may not be done, that I tell not to thee, if I know certainly, that the malice of my father is filled against thee.

10 And David answered to Jonathan, Who shall tell me, if in case thy father answereth hard [to thee] anything of me?

11 And Jonathan said to David, Come thou, and go we forth into the field. And when they both had gone into the field,

12 Jonathan said to David, Thou Lord God of Israel, if I inquire the sentence of my father tomorrow, either in the next day after, and any good thing be said of thee, David, and I send not at once to thee, and make it known to thee,

13 God do these things to Jonathan, and add these things. And if the malice of my father continue against thee, I shall show it to thine ear, and I shall deliver thee, that thou go in peace; and the Lord be with thee, as he was with my father.

14 And if I live, do thou the mercies of the Lord to me; forsooth if I am dead,

15 take thou not away thy mercy from mine house unto without end; and if I do it not, when the Lord shall draw out by the root the enemies of David, each man from the land, take he away Jonathan from his house, and seek the Lord of the hand of the enemies of David.

16 Therefore Jonathan made [a] bond of peace with the house of David, and the Lord sought it of the hand of [the] enemies of David.

17 And Jonathan added to swear steadfastly to David, for he loved him; for he loved so David, as his own soul.

18 And Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the first day of the month, that is solemn, and thou shalt be sought after;

19 and thy sitting shall be asked of till after the morrow. Therefore thou shalt go down hastily, and thou shalt come into a place, where thou shalt be hid in the day, when it is leaveful to work; and thou shalt sit beside the stone, that is called Ezel.

20 And I shall shoot three arrows beside that stone, and I shall cast as exercising, either playing me at a sign.

21 I shall send my child, and I shall say to him, Go thou, and bring to me the arrows. If I say to the child, Lo! the arrows be on this side of thee, take thou those [or them]; then come thou to me, for peace is to thee, and nothing is of evil, the Lord liveth.

22 But if I speak thus to the child, Lo! the arrows be beyond thee; go thou in peace, for the Lord hath delivered thee.

23 Certainly of the word that thou and I have spoken, that is, of the bond of peace betwixt us and our heirs, the Lord be witness betwixt me and thee till into without end.

24 Therefore David was hid in the field; and the calends or solemn feast came, and the king sat to eat bread.

25 And when the king had set on his chair by custom, which chair was beside the wall, Jonathan rose, and sat after Abner, and Abner sat at the side of Saul, and the place of David appeared void.

26 And Saul spake not anything in that day; for he thought, that in hap it befelled to him, that he was not clean, neither purified.

27 And when the second day after the calends had shined, again the place of David appeared void. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why cometh not the son of Jesse, neither yesterday, neither today, to eat?

28 And Jonathan answered to Saul, He prayed me meekly that he should go into Bethlehem;

29 and he said, Suffer thou me, for solemn sacrifice is in my city; one of my brethren [hath] called me; now therefore, if I [have] found grace in thine eyes, I shall go soon, and I shall see my brethren; for this cause he cometh not to the table of the king.

30 And Saul was wroth against Jonathan, and said to him, Thou son of the woman willfully ravishing a man, whether I know not, that thou lovest the son of Jesse into thy [own] confusion or shame, and into the confusion of thy shameful mother?

31 For in all the days in which the son of Jesse liveth on [the] earth, thou shalt not be stablished, neither thy realm; therefore right now or anon send thou, and bring him to me, for he is the son of death.

32 And Jonathan answered to Saul his father, and said, Why shall he die? what hath he done?

33 And Saul took a spear, that he should smite him, and Jonathan under-stood, that it was determined of his father, that David should be slain.

34 Then Jonathan rose from the table in full fierce wrath, and he ate not bread in the second day of calends; for he was sorry for David, for his father had shamed him.

35 And when the morrowtide had shined, Jonathan came into the field, and a little child with him, by the covenant made of David.

36 And Jonathan said to his child, Go thou, and bring to me the arrows that I shoot. And when the child had run forth, he shot another arrow beyond the child.

37 Therefore when the child came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried behind the back of the child, and said, Lo! the arrow is not there, certainly it is beyond thee.

38 And Jonathan cried again behind the back of the child, Haste thou swiftly, stand thou not. Soothly the child gathered up the arrows of Jonathan, and brought them to his lord,

39 and utterly the child knew not what was done; for only Jonathan and David knew the thing.

40 Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the child, and said to him, Go thou, bear these into the city.

41 And when the child had gone, David rose from the place that went to the south; and he felled low upon the earth, and worshipped or honour-ed the third time, and they kissed themselves together, and wept together; but David wept more.

42 Then Jonathan said to David, Go thou in peace; whatever things we both have sworn in the name of the Lord, and said, The Lord be betwixt me and thee, and betwixt my seed and thy seed, till into without end, be steadfast. And David rose up, and went forth, but and Jonathan went into the city.

CHAPTER 21

1 Forsooth David came into Nob to Ahimelech, the priest; and Ahimelech wondered, for David had come; and he said to David, Why art thou alone, and no man is with thee?

2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded to me a word, and said, No man know this thing, for which thou art sent from me, and what manner behests I have given to thee; for I said also to my children, that they should go into that and that place;

3 now therefore if thou hast anything at hand, either five loaves, give thou to me, either whatever thing thou findest.

4 And the priest answered to David, and said to him, I have not lay, that is, common, loaves at hand, but only holy bread; whether the children be clean, and mostly of women?

5 And David answered to the priest, and said to him, And soothly if it is done of women, we have abstained us from yesterday and the third day ago, when we went out, and the vessels, that is, bodies, of the children were clean; certainly this way is defouled, but and it shall be hallowed today in the vessels.

6 Therefore the priest gave to him hallowed bread, for none other bread was there, but only loaves of setting forth, that were taken away from the face of the Lord, that hot loaves shall be set forth.

7 And a man of the servants of Saul was there that day, within in the tabernacle of the Lord; and his name was Doeg of Idumea, the mightiest man of the herdsmen of Saul.

8 And David said to Ahimelech, If thou hast here at hand spear, either sword, give it to me; for I took not with me my sword, neither mine arms; for why the king’s word constrained me to go in haste.

9 And the priest said, Lo! the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou killedest in the valley of Terebinth, is wrapped in a cloth next after [the] ephod; if thou wilt take this, take it; for there is none other except that. And David said, None other is like this, give thou it to me.

10 And so David rose up, and fled in that day from the face of Saul, and came to Achish, the king of Gath.

11 And the servants of Achish said to him, when they had seen David, Whether this is not David, [the] king of the land? Whether they sang not to him by quires [or with dances], and said, Saul smote a thousand, and David smote ten thousand?

12 And David took these words in his heart, and he dreaded greatly of the face of Achish, king of Gath.

13 And David changed his mouth before Achish, and felled down betwixt their hands, and he painted on the doors of the gate, and his dribbles, that is, spittles, flowed down into his beard.

14 And Achish said to his servants, See ye the mad man? why brought ye him to me?

15 whether mad men fail to us? why have ye brought in him, that he should be mad, while I am present? Deliver ye him from hence, lest he enter into mine house.

CHAPTER 22

1 Therefore David went from thence, and fled into the den of Adullam; and when his brethren, and all the house of his father had heard this, they came down thither to him.

2 And all men that were set in anguish, and oppressed with other men’s debt, and in bitter soul, came together to him; and he was made the prince of them, and as four hundred men were with him.

3 And David went forth from thence into Mizpeh, that is in Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, I pray, dwell my father and my mother with you, till I know what thing God shall do to me.

4 And he left them there before the face of the king of Moab; and they dwelled at him in all the days, that David was in the forcelet, either strong-hold.

5 And Gad, the prophet, said to David, Do not thou dwell in the forcelet or stronghold; go thou forth, and go into the land of Judah. And David went forth, and came into the forest of Hareth.

6 And Saul heard, that David appeared, and the men that were with him. And when Saul dwelled in Gibeah, and was in a wood that is in Ramah, and he held a spear in his hand, and all his servants stood about him,

7 he said to his servants that stood nigh [to] him, Ye sons of Benjamin, hear me now; whether the son of Jesse shall give to all you fields and vineries [or vines], and he shall make all you chieftains upon thousands, and [leaders] upon hundreds of men?

8 For all ye have sworn, either conspired, together against me, and none is that telleth to me; mostly since also my son hath joined bond of peace with the son of Jesse; none is of you, that sorroweth for my stead or my while, neither that telleth to me, for my son hath raised my servant against me, setting treason to me, unto this day.

9 Soothly Doeg of Idumea answered, that stood nigh, and was the first among the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse in Nob, at Ahimelech, the priest, the son of Ahitub;

10 and Ahimelech counselled with the Lord for David, and gave him meats, but also he gave to David the sword of Goliath Philistine.

11 Therefore the king sent to call Ahimelech, the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all the house of his father, of [the] priests that were in Nob; which all came to the king.

12 And Saul said to Ahimelech, Hear me, thou son of Ahitub. Which answered, Lord, I am ready.

13 And Saul said to him, Why hast thou conspired against me, thou, and the son of Jesse, and [thou] hast given loaves and a sword to him, and hast counselled with the Lord for him, that he should rise against me, and he dwelleth a traitor unto this day?

14 And Ahimelech answered to the king, and said, Who among all thy servants is so faithful as David, and he is thy son-in-law, and going at thy behest, and glorious in all thine house?

15 Whether I began today to counsel with the Lord for him? Far be this from me; suppose not the king such thing against his servant, in all the house of my father; for thy servant knew not anything, either little, either great, of this cause.

16 And the king said, Ahimelech, thou shalt die by death, thou, and all the house of thy father.

17 And the king said to men able to be sent out, that stood about him, Turn ye, and slay the priests of the Lord, for the hand of them is with David; and they knew that he fled, and they showed not to me. Soothly the servants of the king would not hold forth their hand into the priests of the Lord.

18 And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and hurtle into the priests of the Lord. And Doeg of Idumea turned, and hurtled into the priests, and strangled in that day fourscore and five men, clothed with ephods of linen cloth [or surplices].

19 Forsooth he smote Nob, the city of the priests, by the sharpness of sword, men and women, little children and those sucking, and ox, and ass, and sheep, by the sharpness of sword.

20 But one son of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, escaped, of which son the name was Abiathar; and he fled to David,

21 and told him that Saul had slain the priests of the Lord.

22 And David said to Abiathar, Soothly I knew in that day, that when Doeg of Idumea was there, he would tell without doubt to Saul; I am guilty of all the lives that be slain of thy father’s house.

23 Dwell thou with me, dread thou not; if any man seeketh thy life, he shall seek also my life, and thou shalt be kept with me.

CHAPTER 23

1 And they told to David, and said, Lo! The Philistines fight against Keilah, and ravish the cornfloors.

2 Therefore David counselled with the Lord, and said, Whether I shall go, and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, Go forth, and thou shalt smite the Philistines, and thou shalt save Keilah.

3 And men, that were with David, said to him, Lo! we be here in Judah, and have dread; how much more if we shall go into Keilah against the companies of Philistines.

4 Therefore again David counselled with the Lord; the which answered, and said to David, Rise thou up, and go into Keilah; for I shall betake [the] Philistines into thine hand.

5 Therefore David went, and his men, into Keilah, and fought against the Philistines; and he drove away their work beasts, and smote them with [a] great wound; and David saved the dwellers of Keilah.

6 And in that time, wherein Abiathar, [the] son of Ahimelech, fled to David into Keilah, he came down, and had with him ephod, that is, the cloth of the highest priest.

7 And it was told to Saul, that David had come into Keilah; and Saul said, The Lord hath taken him into mine hands, and he is enclosed, and entered into a city, in which be gates and locks.

8 And Saul commanded to all the people, that it should go down to battle into Keilah, and besiege David and his men.

9 And when David perceived, that Saul made ready evil privily to him, he said to Abiathar, the priest, Bring hither [the] ephod.

10 And David said, Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath heard say, that Saul disposeth to come to Keilah, that he destroy the city for me;

11 if the men of Keilah shall betake me into his hands, and if Saul shall come down, as thy servant hath heard, thou Lord God of Israel, show to thy servant? And the Lord said, He shall come down.

12 And David said again, Whether the men of Keilah shall betake me, and the men that be with me, into the hands of Saul? And the Lord said, They shall betake thee to Saul, if thou abidest him there.

13 Therefore David rose, and his men, as six hundred; and they went out of Keilah, and wandered uncertain hither and thither. And it was told to Saul, that David had fled from Keilah, and was saved; wherefore Saul dis-sembled to go out.

14 But David dwelled in the desert, in full strong places, and he dwelled in the hill of wilderness of Ziph, in a dark hill; nevertheless Saul sought him in all days, and the Lord betook not him into the hands of Saul.

15 And David saw, that Saul went out, that he would seek his life. And David was in the desert of Ziph, in a wood.

16 And Jonathan, the son of Saul, rose up, and went to David into the wood, and comforted his hands in God.

17 And he said to David, Dread thou not; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee, and thou shalt reign on Israel, and I shall be the second to thee; but also Saul my father knoweth this.

18 Therefore ever either smote bond of peace before the Lord. And David dwelled in the wood; and Jonathan turned again into his house.

19 Certainly men of Ziph went up to Saul in Gibeah, and said, Lo! whether not David is hid with us in the full secure places in the thick woods, in the hill of Hachilah, that is at the right side of desert?

20 Now therefore come thou down, as thy soul desired, that thou shouldest come down; forsooth it shall be our doing, that we betake him into the hands of the king.

21 And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the Lord, for ye [have] sorrowed for my stead or for my while.

22 Therefore, I pray you, go ye, and make ready more diligently, and do ye more curiously, either attentively, and behold ye swiftly, where his foot is, either who saw him there, where ye said; for he thinketh on me, that fellily or slyly I ambush him.

23 Behold ye, and see all his hiding places, in which he is hid, and then turn ye again to me at a certain thing, that I go with you; that if he encloseth himself yea in [the] earth, I shall seek him with all the thousands of Judah.

24 And they rose up, and went into Ziph before Saul. And David and his men were in the desert of Maon, in the field places, at the right half of Jeshimon.

25 Therefore Saul went and his fellows to seek David, and it was told to David; and anon he went down to the stone, and lived in the desert of Maon; and when Saul had heard this, he pursued David in the desert of Maon.

26 And Saul went and his men at the side of the hill on [the] one part; forsooth David and his men were in the side of the hill on the tother part; soothly David despaired, that he might not escape from the face of Saul. And so Saul and his men compassed by the manner of a crown round about David and his men, that they should take them.

27 And a messenger came to Saul, and said, Haste thou, and come, for the Philistines have spread themselves on the land.

28 Therefore Saul turned again, and ceased to pursue David; and went against the coming of Philistines. For this thing they called that place The Stone of Parting.

29 Therefore David went up from thence, and dwelled in the most secure places of Engedi.

CHAPTER 24

1 And when Saul turned again, after that he pursued [the] Philistines, they told to him, and said, Lo! David is in the desert of Engedi.

2 Therefore Saul took three thousand chosen men of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men, yea upon the most broken rocks, the which be thorough-ways [or throughways] to wild goats alone.

3 And he came to the folds of sheep, that offered themselves to the way-goer. And there was a cave, into which Saul entered, that he would purge his womb; forsooth David and his men were hid in the inner part of the den.

4 And the servants of David said to him, Lo! the day of which the Lord spake to thee, I shall betake to thee thine enemy, that thou do to him as it pleaseth in thine eyes. Therefore David rose up, and cutted the hem of the mantle of Saul privily.

5 After these things, David smote his heart, that is, his conscience reproved him, for he had cut away the hem of the mantle of Saul.

6 And David said to his men, The Lord be merciful to me, lest I do this thing to my lord, the anointed of the Lord, or that I send mine hand on him, for he is the christ or the anointed of the Lord.

7 The Lord liveth, for but the Lord smite him, either his day come, that he die, either he go down into battle, and perish, the Lord be merciful to me, that I send not mine hand into the christ of the Lord; and David brake his men by such words, and suffered not them, that they rised against Saul. And Saul rose out of the den, and went in the way begun.

8 And David rose up after him, and he went out of the den, and cried after the back of Saul, and said, My lord, the king! And Saul beheld behind himself; and David bowed him-self low to the earth, and worshipped him.

9 And David said to Saul, Why hearest thou the words of men speak-ing, David seeketh evil against thee?

10 Lo! today thine eyes saw, that the Lord betook thee in mine hand in the den, and I thought that I would slay thee, but mine eye spared thee; for I said, I shall not hold forth mine hand into my lord, for he is the anointed of the Lord.

11 But rather, my father, see thou, and know the hem of thy mantle in mine hand; for when I cutted away the hem off thy mantle, I would not hold forth mine hand against thee; perceive thou, and see, for neither evil neither wickedness is in mine hand, neither I have sinned against thee; but thou ambushest my life, that thou do it away.

12 The Lord deem betwixt me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee; but mine hand be not against thee,

13 as it is said in [the] eld [or old] proverb, Wickedness shall go out of wicked men; therefore mine hand be not against thee.

14 Whom pursuest thou, king of Israel, whom pursuest thou? Thou pursuest a dead hound, and a quick flea.

15 The Lord be judge, and the Lord deem betwixt me and thee, and see, and deem my cause, and deliver me from thine hand.

16 And when David had filled, or ended, speaking such manner words to Saul, Saul said, Whether this is thy voice, my son David? And Saul raised up his voice, and wept.

17 And he said to David, Thou art more just [or rightwise] than I; for thou gavest good things to me; but I have yielded evils [or evil things] to thee.

18 And thou hast showed to me today, what goods [or good things] thou hast done to me, how the Lord betook me in thine hand, and thou killedest not me.

19 For who, when he findeth his enemy, shall deliver him into good way? But the Lord yield to thee this while, for that, thou hast wrought today in me.

20 And now, for I know, that thou shalt reign most certainly, and shalt have in thine hand the realm of Israel,

21 swear thou to me in the Lord, that thou do not away my seed after me, neither take away my name from the house of my father.

22 And David swore to Saul. There-fore Saul went into his house, and David and his men went up to secure places.

CHAPTER 25

1 Forsooth Samuel was dead; and all Israel was gathered together, and they bewailed him greatly, and buried him in his house in Ramah. And David rose up, and went down into the desert of Paran.

2 And in Maon there was a man, and his possession was in Carmel; and that man was full great, and there were to him three thousand sheep, and a thousand of goats; and it befelled that his flock was shorn in Carmel.

3 And the name of that man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail; and that woman was most prudent and fair; but her husband was hard and full wicked and malicious; and he was of the kin of Caleb.

4 Therefore when David had heard in desert, that Nabal clipped his flock,

5 he sent ten young men, and said to them, Go ye up into Carmel, and ye shall come to Nabal, and ye shall greet him of [or in] my name peaceably;

6 and ye shall say thus, Peace be to my brethren and to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be to all things, whatever thou hast.

7 I have heard that thy shepherds, that were with us in desert, have shorn thy flocks; we were never dis-easeful to them, neither any time anything of the flock failed to them, in all the time in which they were with us in Carmel;

8 ask thy children, and they shall show to thee. Now therefore thy children find grace in thine eyes; for in a good day we come to thee; whatever thing thine hand findeth, give it to thy servants, and to thy son David.

9 And when the children of David had come, they spake to Nabal all these words in the name of David, and held [their] peace.

10 Forsooth Nabal answered to the children of David, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? Today servants [have] increased that flee their lords.

11 Therefore shall I take my loaves, and my waters, and the flesh of beasts, which I have slain to my shearers, and shall I give to men, that I know not of whence they be?

12 Therefore the children of David went again by their way; and they turned again, and came, and told to him all words which Nabal had said.

13 Then David said to his children, Each man be gird with his sword. And all men were girded with their swords, and David also was girded with his sword; and as four hundred men pursued [or followed] David, for two hundred were left at the fardels.

14 And one of the children told to Abigail, the wife of Nabal, and said, Lo! David sent messengers from desert, that they should bless our lord, and he turned them away;

15 these men were good enough, and not dis-easeful to us, and nothing of ours perished in all the time in which we were with them in desert;

16 they were to us for a wall, both in night and day, in all the days in which we pastured flocks with them.

17 Wherefore behold thou, and think, what thou shalt do; for malice is full-filled against thine husband, and against thine house; and he is the son of Belial, so that no man may speak sense to him.

18 Therefore Abigail hasted, and took two hundred loaves, and two vessels of wine, and five wethers sodden, and seven bushels and an half of flour, and an hundred bundles of dried grapes, or raisins, and two hundred pieces of dried figs; and she put all this upon asses,

19 and said to her children, Go ye before me; lo! I shall pursue [or follow] you behind your back. And she showed not this to her husband Nabal.

20 Therefore when she had gone upon an ass, and came down to the foot of the hill, David and his men came down into her coming; the which she met.

21 And David had just said, Verily in vain I have kept all these things that were of this Nabal in the desert, and nothing perished of all things that pertained to him, and he hath yielded to me evil for good.

22 The Lord do these things, and add he these things to the enemies of David, if I shall leave undestroyed of all things that pertain to him till tomorrow, yea, even a pisser to a wall.

23 And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and went down off the ass; and she fell down before David on her face, and worshipped him on the earth.

24 And she felled down to his feet, and said, My lord the king, this wicked-ness be in me; I beseech thee, speak thine handmaid in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy servantess;

25 I pray, my lord the king, set not his heart on this wicked man Nabal, for by his name he is a fool, and folly is with him; but, my lord, I thine handmaid saw not thy children, which thou sentest.

26 Now therefore, my lord, the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, the which Lord hath forbidden thee, that thou shouldest come into blood, and the Lord saved thy life to thee; and now thine enemies, and they that seek evil to thee my lord, be they made as Nabal.

27 Wherefore receive thou this bless-ing, or gift, which thine handmaid [hath] brought to thee, my lord, and give it to the children that pursue [or follow] thee, my lord.

28 Do thou away the wickedness of thy servantess; for the Lord making shall make a faithful house to thee, my lord, for thou, my lord, fightest the battles of the Lord; therefore malice be not found in thee in all the days of thy life.

29 For if a man riseth any time, and pursueth thee, and seeketh thy life, the life of my lord shall be kept as in a bundle of living trees, at thy Lord God; but the soul of thine enemies shall be hurled round about as in [the] fierceness, and [the] circle of a sling.

30 Therefore when the Lord hath done to thee, my lord, all these good things, which he hath spoken of thee, and hath ordained thee duke upon Israel,

31 this shall not be into sighing, that is, into mourning of soul, and into remorse of conscience, and into doubt of heart to thee, my lord, that thou hast shed out guiltless blood, either that thou hast avenged thyself. And when the Lord hath done well to thee, my lord, thou shalt have mind on thine handmaid, and thou shalt do well to her.

32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that sent thee today into my coming,

33 and blessed be thy speech; and blessed be thou, that hast forbade me, lest I went today to shed blood, and had avenged me with mine hand;

34 else the Lord God of Israel liveth, which forbade me, lest I did evil to thee, if thou haddest not soon come into meeting to me, a pisser to the wall should not have been left to Nabal till to the morrow light.

35 Therefore David received of her hand all things which she had brought to him; and he said to her, Go thou in peace into thine house; lo! I have heard thy voice, and I honoured thy face.

36 Forsooth Abigail came to Nabal; and lo! a feast was to him in his house, as the feast of a king; and the heart of Nabal was merry, certainly he was full drunken; and she showed not to him a word, little or great, till the morrow.

37 But in the morrowtide, when Nabal had voided the wine, his wife showed to him all these words; and his heart was almost dead within, and he was made as a stone.

38 And when ten days had passed, the Lord smote Nabal, and he was dead.

39 The which thing when David had heard, Nabal to be dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord God, that hath avenged the cause of my shame of the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil, and the Lord hath yielded the malice of Nabal into the head of him. Therefore David sent, and spake to Abigail, that he would take her as a wife to him.

40 And the children of David came to Abigail into Carmel, and spake to her, and said, David sent us to thee, that he take thee into wife to him.

41 And she rose up, and worshipped low to the earth, and said, Lo! thy servantess be into an handmaid, that she wash the feet of the servants of my lord.

42 And Abigail hasted, and rose, and ascended or went upon an ass; and five damsels, pursuers [or followers] of her feet, went with her, and she followed the messengers of David, and was made [a] wife to him.

43 But also David took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and ever either was wife to him;

44 and Saul gave Michal his daughter, [the] wife of David, to Phalti, the son of Laish, that was of Gallim.

CHAPTER 26

1 And Ziphites came to Saul into Gibeah, and said, Lo! David is hid in the hill of Hachilah, which is even against the wilderness.

2 And Saul rose up, and went down into the desert of Ziph, and with him three thousand of men of the chosen of Israel, that he should seek David in the desert of Ziph.

3 And Saul setted his tents in the hill of Hachilah, that was even against the wilderness, in the way. And David dwelled in the desert. Forsooth David saw that Saul had come after him into desert;

4 and David sent spyers [or spies], and learned most certainly, that Saul had come thither.

5 And David rose up privily, and came to the place where Saul was. And when David had seen the place, wherein Saul slept, and Abner, the son of Ner, the prince of his chivalry; and Saul sleeping in the tent, and the tother common people by his compass;

6 David said to Ahimelech, the Hittite, and to Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, saying, Who shall go down with me to Saul into his tents? And Abishai said, I shall go down with thee.

7 Therefore David and Abishai came to the people in the night, and they found Saul lying and sleeping in the tent, and a spear set fast in the earth at his head; forsooth they found Abner and the people sleeping in his compass.

8 And Abishai said to David, God hath enclosed today thine enemy into thine hands; now therefore I shall pierce him with the spear once through, and into the earth, and no need shall be the second time.

9 And David said to Abishai, Slay thou not him, for who shall hold forth his hand into the christ or the anointed of the Lord, and shall be innocent?

10 And David said, The Lord liveth, for no but the Lord smite him, either his day come that he die, either he go down into battle, and perish;

11 the Lord be merciful to me, that I hold not forth mine hand into the christ of the Lord; now therefore take thou the spear, that is at his head, and the cup of water, and go we away.

12 Then David took the spear, and the cup of water, that was at the head of Saul, and they went forth, and no man was that saw, and understood, and waked, but all men slept; for the sleep of the Lord had fallen [up] on them.

13 And when David had passed [over] even against, and had stood on the top of the hill afar, and a great space was betwixt them,

14 David cried to the people, and to Abner, the son of Ner, and said, Abner, whether thou wilt not answer? And Abner answered, and said, Who art thou, that criest, and dis-easest the king?

15 And David said to Abner, Whether thou art not a man, and what other man is like thee in Israel? why there-fore hast thou not kept thy lord the king? For one man of the company entered, that he should slay thy lord the king;

16 this that thou hast done, is not good; the Lord liveth, for ye be sons of death, that kept not your lord, the christ of the Lord. Now therefore see thou, where is the spear of the king, and where is the cup of water, that was at his head.

17 Forsooth Saul knew the voice of David, and said, Whether this voice is thine, my son David? And David said, My lord the king, it is my voice.

18 And David said, For what cause pursueth my lord his servant? What have I done, either what evil is in mine hand?

19 Now therefore, my lord the king, I pray, hear the words of thy servant; if the Lord stirreth thee against me, the sacrifice be smelled; forsooth if [the] sons of men stir thee, they be cursed in the sight of the Lord, which have cast me out today, that I dwell not in the heritage of the Lord, and say, Go thou, serve thou alien gods.

20 And now my blood be not shed out in the earth before the Lord; for the king of Israel hath gone out, that he seek a quick flea, as a partridge is pursued in hills.

21 And Saul said, I have sinned; turn thou again, my son David, for I shall no more do evil to thee, for my life was precious today in thine eyes; for it seemeth, that I have done follily, and I have unknown full many things.

22 And David answered and said, Lo! the spear of the king, one of the children of the king pass over hither, and take it;

23 forsooth the Lord shall yield to each man after his rightfulness [or rightwiseness] and his faith; for the Lord betook thee today into mine hand, and I would not hold forth mine hand into the christ or the anointed of the Lord;

24 and as thy life is magnified today in mine eyes, so my life be magnified in the eyes of the Lord, and deliver he me from all anguish.

25 Therefore Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David; and soothly thou doing shalt do, and thou mighty shalt be mighty. Then David went forth into his way, and Saul turned again into his place.

CHAPTER 27

1 And David said in his heart, Sometime I shall fall in one day in the hand of Saul; whether it is not better, that I flee, and be saved in the land of Philistines, that Saul despair, and cease to seek me in all the ends of Israel; therefore flee we his hands.

2 And David rose up, and went forth, he and six hundred men with him, to Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

3 And David dwelled with Achish in Gath, he, and his men, and his house; that is, David, and his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel.

4 And it was told to Saul, that David fled into Gath; and he added no more that he should seek David [or he added no more for to seek him].

5 Forsooth David said to Achish, If I have found grace in thine eyes, a place be given to me in one of the cities of this country, that I dwell there; for why dwelleth thy servant in the city of the king with thee?

6 Therefore Achish gave him Ziklag in that day, for the which cause Ziklag was made into possession of the kings of Judah unto this day.

7 And the number of days, in which David dwelled in the country of Philistines, was days, that is a year, and four months.

8 And David went up, and his men, and they took preys of Geshurites, and of Gezrites, and of men of Amalek; for these towns were inhabited by eld [or old] time in the land, to men going to Shur, unto the land of Egypt.

9 And David smote all the land of them, and he left not man nor woman living; and he took sheep, and oxen, and asses, and camels, and clothes, and turned again, and came to Achish.

10 And Achish said to him, Into whom hurled ye today?/Against whom have ye hurled today? And David answered, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of Jerahmeel, and against the south of Kenites.

11 David left not quick man and woman, neither brought into Gath, and said, Lest peradventure they speak against us. David did these things, and this was his doom, in all [the] days in which he dwelled in the country of Philistines.

12 Therefore Achish believed to David, and said, Certainly he hath wrought many evils against his people Israel, therefore he shall be a servant to me for evermore.

CHAPTER 28

1 Forsooth it was done in those days, the Philistines gathered together their companies, that they should be made ready against Israel to battle. And Achish said to David, Thou witting know now, for thou shalt go out with me in tents, thou and thy men.

2 And David said to Achish, Now thou shalt know what things thy servant shall do. And Achish said to David, And I shall set thee keeper of mine head in all days.

3 Forsooth Samuel was dead, and all Israel bewailed him, and they buried him in Ramah, his city. And Saul did away from the land witches and false diviners.

4 And Philistines were gathered, and came, and setted tents in Shunem; soothly and Saul gathered all Israel, and came into Gilboa.

5 And Saul saw the castles [or tents] of Philistines, and he dreaded, and his heart dreaded greatly.

6 And he counselled with the Lord; and the Lord answered not to him, neither by priests, nor by dreams, nor by prophets.

7 And Saul said to his servants, Seek ye to me a woman having a fiend speaking in the womb; and I shall go to her, and I shall inquire by her. And his servants said to him, A woman having a fiend speaking in the womb is in Endor.

8 Therefore Saul changed his clothing, and he was clothed with other clothes; and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman in the night. And he said, Divine thou to me in a fiend speaking in the womb, and raise thou up to me whom I shall say to thee.

9 And the woman said to him, Lo! thou knowest how great things Saul hath done, and how he hath done away from the land witches, and false diviners; why therefore settest thou treason to my life, that I be slain?

10 And Saul swore to her in the Lord, and said, The Lord liveth; for nothing of evil shall come to thee for this thing.

11 And the woman said to him, Whom shall I raise up to thee? And he said, Raise thou Samuel up to me.

12 Soothly when the woman had seen Samuel, she cried with [a] great voice, and said to Saul, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.

13 And the king said to her, Do not thou dread; what hast thou seen? And the woman said to Saul, I saw gods ascending or going up from [the] earth.

14 And Saul said to her, What manner form is of him? [or What manner is the form of him?] And she said, An eld [or old] man goeth up, and he is clothed with a mantle. And Saul understood that it was Samuel; and Saul bowed himself on his face to the earth, and worshipped.

15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou dis-eased me, that I should be raised? And Saul said, I am constrained greatly; for the Philistines fight against me, and God hath gone away from me, and he would not hear me, neither by the hand of prophets, nor by dreams; therefore I called thee, that thou shouldest show to me what I shall do.

16 And Samuel said, What askest thou me, when God hath gone away from thee, and hath passed to thine enemy?

17 For the Lord shall do to thee as he spake in mine hand, and he shall cut away thy realm from thine hand, and he shall give it to David, thy neighbour;

18 for thou obeyedest not the voice of the Lord, neither thou didest the fierce wrath of the Lord in Amalek. Therefore the Lord hath done to thee today that that thou sufferest;

19 and the Lord shall give also Israel with thee in the hand of Philistines. Forsooth tomorrow thou and thy sons shall be with me; but also the Lord shall betake the castles [or tents] of Israel in the hand of the Philistines.

20 And anon Saul fell down and was stretched forth upon the earth; for he dreaded the words of Samuel, and strength was not in him, for he had not eaten bread in all that day and all that night.

21 Therefore that woman entered to Saul, and said; for he was troubled greatly; and she said to him, Lo! thine handmaid hath obeyed to thy voice, and I have put my life in mine hand, and I heard thy words, which thou spakest to me.

22 And now therefore thou hear the voice of thine handmaid, and I shall set a morsel of bread before thee, and that thou eating wax strong, and mayest do thy journey.

23 And he forsook it, and said, I shall not eat. But his servants and the woman compelled him; and at the last, when the voice of them was heard, he rose up from the earth, and sat on the bed.

24 Soothly that woman had a fat calf in the house, and she hasted, and killed it; and she took meal, and meddled [or mingled] it together, and made therf bread;

25 and she set forth before Saul, and before his servants, and when they had eaten, they rose up, and walked in all the night.

CHAPTER 29

1 Therefore all the companies of the Philistines were gathered in Aphek, but also Israel setted tents above the well that was in Jezreel.

2 And soothly the princes of the Philistines went in companies of an hundred, and in thousands; but David and his men were in the last company with Achish.

3 And the princes of Philistines said to Achish, What will or desire these Hebrews to or for themselves? And Achish said to the princes of Philistines, Whether ye know not David, that was the servant of Saul, king of Israel? and he was with me many days, either years, and I found not in him anything of imagining to evil, from the day in which he fled to me unto this day.

4 Certainly the princes of Philistines were wroth against Achish, and they said to him, The man turn again, and abide he in his place, in which thou hast ordained him, and come he not down with us into battle, lest he be made adversary to us, when we have begun to fight; for how may he please his lord in other manner, but in our heads?

5 Whether this is not David, to whom they sang in dances, and said, Saul smote in [his] thousands, and David smote in his ten thousands?

6 Therefore Achish called David, and said to him, The Lord liveth; for thou art rightful, and good in my sight, and thy going out and thy coming in is with me in [the] tents, and I have not found in thee anything of evil, from the day in which thou camest to me till to this day; but thou pleasest not the princes, or satraps.

7 Therefore turn thou again, and go in peace, and offend thou not the eyes of the princes, or satraps, of the Philistines.

8 And David said to Achish, And what have I done, and what hast thou found in me thy servant, from the day in which I was in thy sight till into this day, that I come not, and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

9 And Achish answered, and spake to David, I know that thou art good, and as the angel of God in my eyes; but the princes of Philistines said, He shall not go up with us into battle.

10 Therefore rise thou up early, thou, and thy servants that came with thee; and when ye have risen by night, and it beginneth to be clear day, go ye forth.

11 Therefore David rose up by night, he and his men, that they should go forth early, and turn again to the land of Philistines; but the Philistines went up into Jezreel.

CHAPTER 30

1 And when David and his men had come into Ziklag in the third day, they learned that men of Amalek had made assault on the south part of Judah, in Ziklag; and had smitten Ziklag, and burnt it by fire.

2 And they led away the women as prisoners from thence, from the least unto the most; and they had not slain any, but they led them forth with them, and went in their way.

3 Therefore when David and his men had come to the city, and had found it burnt with fire, and that their wives, and their sons, and daughters were led away as prisoners,

4 then David and the people that was with him raised [up] their voices, and wailed, till the tears failed in them.

5 And also [the] two wives of David were led away as prisoners, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel.

6 And David was full sorry; certainly all the people would have stoned David, for the soul of each man was bitter on their sons and daughters. Forsooth David was comforted in his Lord God.

7 And he said to Abiathar, the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Bring thou [the] ephod to me. And Abiathar brought the ephod to David;

8 and David counselled with the Lord, and said, Shall I pursue these thieves, either no? and shall I take them? And the Lord said to him, Pursue thou; for without doubt thou shalt take them, and thou shalt take away from them their prey.

9 Therefore David went forth, he and six hundred men that were with him, and they came unto the strand [or stream] of Besor; and there the weary men of the host of David abode behind.

10 Forsooth David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred abided behind, that were weary, and might not pass [over] the strand [or stream] of Besor.

11 And they found a young man of Egypt in the field, and they brought him to David; and they gave him bread, that he should eat, and water to drink;

12 but also they gave to him a gobbet of a bundle of dried figs, and two clusters of dried grapes. And when he had eaten those, his spirit turned again to him, and he was comforted; for he had not eaten bread, neither had drunk water in three days and three nights.

13 Then David said to him, Whose man art thou, either from whence and whither goest thou? And he said, I am a child of Egypt, the servant of a man of Amalek; but my lord forsook me, for I began to be sick the third day ago.

14 For we brake out at the south coast of Cherethites, and against Judah, and at the south of Caleb, and we burnt Ziklag with fire.

15 And David said to him, Mayest thou lead me to this company? Which said, Swear thou to me by God, that thou shalt not slay me, and that thou shalt not betake me into the hands of my lord; and I shall lead thee to this company. And David swore to him.

16 And when the child had led him thither, lo! they sat at the meat, upon the face of all the earth, eating and drinking, and as hallowing a feast day, for all the prey and spoils which they had taken of the land of Philistines, and of the land of Judah.

17 And David smote them from the eventide unto the eventide of the tother day, and not any of them escaped, no but four hundred young men, that went upon camels, and fled.

18 Forsooth David delivered all things which the men of Amalek took, and he delivered his two wives;

19 neither any of them failed, from little till to great, as well of sons as of daughters, and of spoils; and what-ever things they had ravished, David led again all things;

20 and he took all the flocks and great beasts, and drove them before his face. And they said, This is the prey of David.

21 Forsooth David came to the two hundred men, that were weary, and abided behind, and might not follow David; and he [had] commanded them to sit at the strand [or stream] of Besor; which went out against David, and the people that was with him. Forsooth David nighed to the people, and he greeted it peaceably.

22 And one man, the worst and unjust [or wicked] of the men that were with David, answered, and said, For they came not with us, we shall not give to them anything of the prey, that we have ravished, but suffice it to each man his wife and his children; and when they have taken them, go they away.

23 And David said, My brethren, ye shall not do so, as ye speak, of these things, which the Lord hath given to us, and he hath kept us, and gave the thieves, that brake out against us, into our hands;

24 neither any shall hear us strive on this word. For even part shall be of him that goeth down to battle, and of him that dwelleth at the fardels; and in like manner they shall part the prey.

25 And this was made a constitution and a doom from that day and after-ward, and as a law in Israel till into this day.

26 Then David came into Ziklag, and he sent gifts of the prey to the elder men of Judah, his neighbours, and said, Take ye blessing of the prey of [the] enemies of the Lord;

27 to them that were in Bethel, and that were in Ramoth, at the south, and that were in Jattir,

28 and that were in Aroer, and that were in Siphmoth, and that were in Eshtemoa,

29 and that were in Rachal, and that were in the cities of Jerahmeel, and that were in the cities of Kenites,

30 and that were in Hormah, and that were in Chorashan, and that were in Athach,

31 and that were in Hebron, and to other men, that were in these places, in which David dwelled and his men.

CHAPTER 31

1 Forsooth the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the face of Philistines, and they fell down slain in the hill of Gilboa.

2 And the Philistines hurled fiercely into Saul, and into his sons, and they killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchishua, [the] sons of Saul.

3 And all the weight or charge of the battle was turned against Saul; and men archers pursued him, and he was wounded greatly of the archers.

4 And Saul said to his squire, Draw out thy sword, and slay me, lest per-adventure these uncircumcised men come, and slay me, and scorn me. And his squire would not, for he was afeared by full great dread; therefore Saul took his sword, and felled thereon.

5 And when his squire had seen this, that Saul was dead, also he felled upon his sword, and was dead with him.

6 And so Saul was dead, and his three sons, and his squire, and all his men in that day together.

7 And the sons of Israel, that were beyond the valley, and beyond Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled, and that Saul was dead, and his sons, and they left their cities, and fled; and the Philistines came, and dwelled there.

8 Forsooth in the tother day made, Philistines came, that they should despoil the slain men, and they found Saul, and his three sons, lying in the hill of Gilboa;

9 and they cutted away the head of Saul, and despoiled him of his armours [or arms]; and sent into the land of Philistines by compass, that it should be told in the temple of idols, and in the peoples.

10 And they putted his armours [or arms] in the temple of Ashtaroth; but they hanged his body in the wall of Bethshan.

11 And when the dwellers of Jabesh of Gilead had heard this, and whatever things the Philistines had done to Saul,

12 and all the strongest men rose, and went forth all that night, and they took down the dead body of Saul, and the dead bodies of his sons, from the wall of Bethshan; and the men of Jabesh of Gilead came, and burnt those dead bodies with fire.

13 And they took the bones of them, and buried them in the wood of Jabesh, and fasted by seven days.

* CHAPTER 6:19 Hebrews understand thus the number of men slain here; they say that only seventy men were smitten, which were of so great reputation, that they were each comparisoned to almost one thousand of the common people.

* CHAPTER 11:10 They said this in scorn, for they knew that help shall come to them in the morrow.

2ND SAMUEL

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2ND SAMUEL

CHAPTER 1

1 And it was done, after that Saul was dead, that David turned again from the slaying of Amalek, and he dwelled two days in Ziklag.

2 And in the third day a man appeared, coming from the tents of Saul with a cloth rent, and his head sprinkled with dust; and as he came to David, he felled upon his face, and worshipped or honoured him.

3 And David said to him, From whence comest thou? And he said to David, I fled from the tents of Israel.

4 And David said to him, What is the word that is done there; show thou to me. And he said, The people of Israel hath fled from the battle, and many of the people felled, and be dead; but also Saul, and Jonathan, his son, have perished.

5 And David said to the young man, that told to him, Whereof knowest thou, that Saul is dead, and Jonathan, his son?

6 And the young man said, that told to him, By hap I came into the hill of Gilboa, and Saul leaned upon his spear; and chariots and horsemen nighed to him;

7 and he turned behind his back, and saw me, and called. To whom when I had answered, I am present;

8 he said to me, Who art thou? And I said to him, I am a man of Amalek.

9 And he spake to me, Stand thou upon me, and slay me; for anguishes hold me, and yet all my life is in me.

10 And I stood upon him, and I slew him; for I knew that he might not live after the falling; and I took the diadem, that was on his head, and the bie from his arm, and I have brought them hither to thee, my lord.

11 Forsooth David took and rent his clothes, and [all] the men that were with him;

12 and they wailed, and wept, and fasted till to eventide, on Saul, and Jonathan, his son, and on the people of the Lord, and on the house of Israel, for they had felled by sword.

13 And David said to the young man, that told to him, Of whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a man comeling, of a man of Amalek.

14 And David said to him, Why dreadest thou not to send thine hand, that thou shouldest slay the christ of the Lord?

15 And David called one of his children or young men, and said, Go thou, and fall on him. And he smote that young man, and he was dead.

16 And David said to him, Thy blood be on thine head; for thy mouth spake against thee, and said, I killed the christ or the anointed of the Lord.

17 Forsooth David bewailed such a wailing on Saul, and on Jonathan, his son;

18 and he commanded, that they should teach the sons of Judah the bow, that is, the craft of shooting, as it is written in the Book of Just Men.

19 And David said, Israel, behold thou, for these that be dead, be wounded on thine high places; the noble men of Israel be slain upon thine hills. How have fallen [the] strong men?

20 do not ye tell this in Gath, neither tell ye in the way-lots of Askelon; lest peradventure the daughters of Philis-tines be glad, lest the daughters of uncircumcised men joy.

21 Hills of Gilboa, neither dew, neither rain come upon you, neither be they the fields of first fruits; for the shield of strong men was cast away there, the shield of Saul, as if he had not been anointed with oil.

22 Of the blood of slain men, of the fatness of strong men, the arrow of Jonathan went never aback, and the sword of Saul turned not again void.

23 Saul and Jonathan, amiable, and fair in their life, were not parted also in their death; they were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.

24 Daughters of Israel, weep ye on Saul, that clothed you with fine red, and in other delights, that gave golden ornaments to your attire.

25 How have strong men fallen down in battle? Jonathan was slain in the high places.

26 I make sorrow upon thee, my brother Jonathan, full fair and amiable more than the love of women; as a mother loveth her only son, so I loved thee.

27 How therefore felled down strong men, and arms of battle perished?

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore after these things David counselled with the Lord, and said, Whether I shall go up into one of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said to him, Go thou up. And David said to the Lord, Whither shall I go up? And the Lord answered to him, Into Hebron.

2 Therefore David went up, and his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel.

3 But also David led the men that were with him, each man with his house; and they dwelled in the towns of Hebron.

4 And the men of Judah came, and anointed there David, that he should reign upon the house of Judah. And it was told to David, that [the] men of Jabesh of Gilead had buried Saul.

5 Therefore David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh of Gilead, and said to them, Blessed be ye of the Lord, that did this mercy with your lord Saul, and buried him.

6 And now soothly the Lord shall yield to you mercy and truth, but also I shall yield thanking, for ye did this word.

7 Your hands be comforted, and be ye the sons of strength; for though your lord Saul is dead, nevertheless the house of Judah hath anointed me king to him.

8 Forsooth Abner, the son of Ner, prince of the host of Saul, took Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, and led him about by the castles [or tents],

9 and made him king on Gilead, and on Ashurites, and on Jezreel, and on Ephraim, and on Benjamin, and on all Israel.

10 Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, was of forty years, when he began to reign upon Israel; and he reigned two years. Soothly the house alone of Judah pursued [or followed] David.

11 And the number of days, by which David dwelled reigning in Hebron on the house of Judah, was of seven years and six months.

12 And Abner, the son of Ner, went out, and the children or young men of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, from the castles [or tents] in[to] Gibeon.

13 And Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and the children of David, went out, and they came to them beside the cistern of Gibeon. And when they had come together into one place even against either other, these sat on one part of the cistern, and they on the tother.

14 And Abner said to Joab, The children rise, and play before us*. And Joab answered, Rise they up.

15 Then they rose up, and passed forth twelve in number of Benjamin, of the part of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul; and twelve of the servants of David.

16 And each man, when he had taken his fellow by the head, fixed his sword into the side of his adversary; and they felled down together. And the name of that place was called The Field of Men Slain Together, in Gibeon.

17 And full hard battle rose in that day; and Abner and the sons of Israel were driven away of the servants of David.

18 Forsooth three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel; and Asahel was a full swift runner, as one of the caprets that dwell in woods.

19 And Asahel pursued Abner, and he bowed neither to the right side, nor to the left side, ceasing to pursue Abner.

20 Therefore Abner beheld behind his back, and said, Whether thou art Asahel? Which answered, I am.

21 And Abner said to him, Go thou to the right side, either to the left side; and take one of the young men, and take to thee his spoils. But Asahel would not cease, that not he pursued him.

22 And again Abner spake to Asahel, Go thou away; do not thou pursue me, lest I be compelled to pierce thee into the earth, and I shall not be able to raise then my face to Joab, thy brother.

23 And Asahel despised to hear, and would not bow away. Therefore Abner smote him with the spear turned away, that is, turned against him, in the share-bone, that is, behind the maw, in the fifth rib, under which be the members of life, and pierced [him] through, and he was dead in the same place; and all men that passed by the place, in which place Asahel felled down, and was dead, stood still.

24 And while Joab and Abishai pursued Abner fleeing, the sun went down; and they came to the little hill of a water conduit, that is even against the valley, and the way of desert in Gibeon.

25 And the sons of Benjamin were gathered to Abner, and they were gathered together into one company, and they stood in the height of an heap of earth.

26 And Abner cried to Joab, and said, Whether thy sword shall be fierce unto slaying? Whether thou knowest not, that despair is perilous? How long sayest thou not to the people, that it cease to pursue his brethren?

27 And Joab said, The Lord liveth, for if thou haddest spoken thus early, the people pursuing his brother had gone away.

28 And Joab sounded with a clarion, and all the host stood still; and they pursued no further Israel, neither began battle.

29 And Abner and his men went from thence by the field places of Moab in all that night, and they passed [over] Jordan; and when all Bithron was compassed, they came to the castles [or tents].

30 And when Abner was left off, Joab turned again, and gathered together all his people; and ten men and nine, besides Asahel, failed of the servants of David.

31 Forsooth the servants of David smited of Benjamin, and of the men that were with Abner, three hundred men and sixty, which also were dead.

32 And they took Asahel, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father in Bethlehem. And Joab, and the men that were with him, went in all that night, and in that morrowtide they came into Hebron.

CHAPTER 3

1 Therefore a long strife was made betwixt the house of David and the house of Saul; and David profited and ever[more] was stronger than himself, in comparison of time passed, for his power increased ever, but the house of Saul decreased each day.

2 And sons were born to David in Hebron; and his first begotten son was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel;

3 and after him was Chileab, of Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel; and the third was Absalom, the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur;

4 and the fourth was Adonijah, the son of Haggith; and the fifth was Shephatiah, the son of Abital;

5 and the sixth was Ithream, of Eglah, the wife of David. These were born to David in Hebron.

6 Therefore when battle was betwixt the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner, the son of Ner, governed the house of Saul.

7 And to Saul was a concubine, that is, a secondary wife, Rizpah by name, the daughter of Aiah; and Abner entered [in] to her. And Ishbosheth said to Abner, Why hast thou entered [in] to the concubine of my father?

8 And Abner was wroth greatly for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, Whether I am the head of a dog against Judah today, and I have done mercy on the house of Saul, thy father, and on his brethren, and neighbours, and I betook not thee into the hands of David, and thou hast sought in me that, that thou shouldest reprove for a woman today?

9 God do these things to Abner, and add these things to him, no but as the Lord swore to David, so I do with him,

10 that the realm be translated from the house of Saul, and the throne of David be raised on Israel and on Judah, from Dan till to Beersheba.

11 And Ishbosheth might not answer anything to Abner, for he dreaded Abner.

12 Therefore Abner sent messengers to David, and they said for him, Whose is the land? and that the messengers should speak thus, Make thou friend-ships with me, and mine hand shall be with thee, and I shall bring all Israel to thee.

13 And David said, Best, I shall make friendships with thee; but I ask of thee one thing, and say, Thou shalt not see my face, before that thou bring Michal, the daughter of Saul, and so thou shalt come, and shalt see me.

14 Therefore David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, and said, Yield thou my wife Michal, whom I espoused to me for an hundred prepuces of Philistines.

15 Therefore Ishbosheth sent, and took her from her husband, Phaltiel, the son of Laish;

16 and her husband pursued [or followed] her, and wept till to Bahurim. And Abner said to him, Go thou, and turn again; and he turned again.

17 Also Abner brought in a word to the elder men of Israel, and said, Both yesterday and the third day ago ye sought David, that he should reign upon you.

18 Now therefore do ye; for the Lord spake to David, and said, In the hand of my servant David I shall save my people Israel from the hand of Philistines, and of all his enemies.

19 And also Abner spake to Benjamin; and he went, that he should speak to David, in Hebron, all things that pleased Israel and all Benjamin.

20 And he came to David, in Hebron, with twenty men. And David made a feast to Abner, and to the men that came with him.

21 And Abner said to David, I shall rise up, that I gather all Israel to thee, my lord the king, and that I make bond of peace with thee, and that thou reign on all, as thy soul desireth. Therefore when David had led forth Abner, and he had gone in peace,

22 anon the children of David and Joab came with a full great prey, when the thieves were slain; and Abner was not then with David, in Hebron, for David had let him go, and he went forth in peace.

23 And Joab, and the hosts that were with him, came afterward; therefore it was told to Joab of tellers, Abner, the son of Ner, came to the king, and the king let him go, and he went forth in peace.

24 And Joab entered to the king, and said, What hast thou done? Lo! Abner came to thee; why lettest thou him go, and he went, and departed from thee?

25 Knowest thou not Abner, the son of Ner, for hereto he came to thee, that he should deceive thee, and that he should know thy going out and thine entering, and should know all things which thou doest?

26 Therefore Joab went out from David, and sent messengers after Abner; and led him again from the cistern of Sirah, while David knew not.

27 And when Abner had come again into Hebron, Joab led him asides half to the middle of the gate, that he should speak to him in guile; and he smote Abner there in the share-bone, and he was dead, into vengeance of the blood of his brother Asahel.

28 That when David had heard this thing done, he said, I am clean, and my realm, with God into without end from the blood of Abner, the son of Ner;

29 and come it on the head of Joab, and upon all the house of his father; and fail there not from the house of Joab a man suffering flowing of seed, and a leprous man, and a man holding a spindle, and a man falling by sword, and a man having need to bread.

30 Therefore Joab, and Abishai, his brother, killed Abner, for he had slain Asahel, their brother, in Gibeon, in battle.

31 And David said to Joab, and to all the people that was with him, Rend ye your clothes, and be ye gird with sackcloths, and bewail ye before the hearses, either dirge, of Abner. Forsooth king David pursued [or followed] the bier.

32 And when they had buried Abner in Hebron, king David raised his voice, and wept on the burial of Abner; and certainly all the people wept.

33 And the king bewailed, and be-mourned Abner, and said, Abner, thou diedest not as dreadful men, either cowards, be wont to die.

34 Thine hands were not bound, and thy feet were not grieved with stocks, but thou hast fallen down, as men be wont to fall before the sons of wicked-ness. And all the people doubled together, and wept on him.

35 And when all the multitude came to take meat with David, while the day was yet clear, David swore, and said, God do to me these things, and add these things too, if I shall taste bread, either any other thing, before the going down of the sun.

36 And all the people heard this; and all things which the king did in the sight of all the people pleased them;

37 and all the common people and all Israel knew in that day, that it was not done of the king, that Abner, the son of Ner, was slain.

38 Also the king said to his servants, Whether ye know not, that the prince and the greatest hath fallen down today in Israel?

39 And I am yet tender, and anointed king; and these sons of Zeruiah be hard to me; the Lord yield to him that doeth evil after his malice.

CHAPTER 4

1 And Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, heard that Abner had fallen down in Hebron; and his hands were discomfort-ed, and all Israel was troubled.

2 And two men, princes of companies, were to the son of Saul; name to the one was Baanah, and name to the tother was Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin; for also Beeroth is areckoned in Benjamin.

3 And men of Beeroth fled into Gittaim; and they were comelings there till to that time.

4 And a son feeble in his feet was to Jonathan, the son of Saul; and he was five years eld [or old], when the messenger came from Saul and Jonathan, from Jezreel, telling that they were dead. Therefore his nurse took him, and fled; and when she hasted to flee, she felled down, and the child was made lame; and the name of the child was Mephibosheth.

5 Therefore Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, came, and entered in the hot day into the house of Ishbosheth, that slept upon his bed at midday; and the woman that kept the doors of the house, who had been purging wheat, now slept fast.

6 And they came till to the midst of the house, and took wheat; and Rechab, and Baanah, his brother, smote Ishbo-sheth in the share-bone, and fled.

7 Soothly when they had entered into the house, he slept on his bed in a bed-closet; and they smited and killed him; and when they had taken [off] his head, they went by the way of desert in all that night.

8 And they brought the head of Ishbosheth to David, in Hebron, and they said to the king, Lo! the head of Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, thine enemy, that sought thy life; and the Lord hath given today to our lord the king vengeance of Saul, and of his seed.

9 And David answered to Rechab, and Baanah, his brother, the sons of Rimmon of Beeroth, and said to them, The Lord liveth, that hath delivered my life from all anguish,;

10 for I held him that told to me, and said, Saul is dead, which man guessed himself to tell prosperities, and I killed him in Ziklag, to whom it behooved me give meed for his message;

11 how much more now, when wicked men have slain a guiltless man in his house upon his bed, shall I not seek his blood of your hand, and shall not I do away you from the earth?

12 Therefore David commanded to his servants, and they killed them; and they cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them over the cistern in Hebron. Forsooth they took the head of Ishbosheth, and they buried it in the sepulchre of Abner, in Hebron.

CHAPTER 5

1 And all the lineages of Israel came to David, in Hebron, and said, Lo! we be thy bone and thy flesh.

2 But also yesterday and the third day ago, when Saul was king upon us, thou leddest out, and leddest again Israel; forsooth the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be duke upon Israel.

3 Also and the elder men of Israel came to the king, into Hebron; and king David smote with them bond of peace in Hebron, before the Lord; and they anointed David into king upon Israel.

4 David was a son of thirty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years

5 in Hebron; he reigned upon Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years upon all Israel and Judah.

6 And the king went, and all [the] men that were with him, into Jerusalem, to Jebusites, the dwellers of the land. And it was said of them to David, Thou shalt not enter hither, no but thou do away blind men and lame, saying, David shall not enter hither.

7 Forsooth David took the tower of Zion; this is the city of David.

8 For David had purposed in that day to have given meed to him, that had smitten Jebusites, and that had touched the gutters of the house roofs, and that had taken away lame men and blind, hating the life of David. Therefore it is said in common speech, A blind man and a lame shall not enter into the temple.

9 And David dwelled in the tower, and called it the city of David; and he builded by compass from Millo, and within.

10 And he entered profiting, and increasing; and the Lord God of hosts was with him.

11 Also Hiram, king of Tyre, sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and craftsmen of wood, and craftsmen of stones to make walls; and they builded the house of David.

12 And David knew, that the Lord had confirmed him king upon Israel, and that he had enhanced his realm upon his people Israel.

13 Therefore David took yet more concubines, and wives of Jerusalem, after that he came from Hebron; and also other sons and daughters were born to David.

14 And these be the names of them that were born to him in Jerusalem; Shammuah, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon,

15 and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia,

16 and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphalet.

17 Then the Philistines heard, that they had anointed David king upon Israel, and all the Philistines went up to seek David. And when David had heard this, he went down into a stronghold.

18 And the Philistines came, and they were spread abroad in the valley of Rephaim.

19 And David counselled with the Lord, and said, Whether I shall go up to Philistines, and whether thou shalt give them into mine hand? And the Lord said to David, Go thou up, for I shall betake the Philistines, and I shall give them into thine hand.

20 Therefore David came into Baal-perazim, and smote them there, and said, The Lord hath parted mine enemies before me, as waters be parted. Therefore the name of that place was called Baalperazim, that is, The Field, either Plain, of Parting.

21 And they left there their sculptures, or their images, which David burnt, and his men.

22 And [the] Philistines added yet, that they should ascend [or go up], and they were spread abroad in the valley of Rephaim.

23 And David counselled with the Lord, and said, Whether I shall go up against the Philistines, and whether thou shalt betake them into mine hands? And the Lord answered, Thou shalt not go up against them, but compass thou them behind their back, and thou shalt come to them on the contrary side of the pear trees.

24 And when thou shalt hear the sound of cry going in the tops of pear trees, then thou shalt begin battle; for then the Lord shall go out before thy face, that he smite the tents of Philistines.

25 Therefore David did as the Lord commanded to him; and he smote the Philistines from Geba till they came to Gazer.

CHAPTER 6

1 Forsooth David gathered again all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.

2 And David rose, and went, and all the people that was with him of the men of Judah, to bring the ark of God, on which the name of the Lord of hosts, sitting in cherubim on that ark, was called.

3 And they putted [or put] the ark of God on a new wain, and they took it from the house of Abinadab, that was in Gibeah. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new wain.

4 And when they had taken it from the house of Abinadab, that was in Gibeah, and kept the ark of God, Ahio went before the ark.

5 And David and all Israel played before the Lord, in all treen instruments of melody, and in harps, and citoles, and tympans, and trumps, and cymbals.

6 Forsooth after that they came to the cornfloor of Nachon, Uzzah held forth his hand to the ark of God, and held it, for the oxen kicked, and bowed it.

7 And the Lord was wroth by indignation against Uzzah, and smote him on the folly; and he was dead there beside the ark of God.

8 And David was sorry, for the Lord had slain Uzzah; and the name of that place was called The Smiting of Uzzah till into this day.

9 And David dreaded the Lord in that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord enter to me?

10 And he would not turn [aside] the ark of the Lord to himself into the city of David, but he turned it [aside] into the house of Obededom of Gath.

11 And the ark of the Lord dwelled in the house of Obededom of Gath three months; and the Lord blessed Obededom, and all his house.

12 And it was told to king David, that the Lord had blessed Obededom, and all his things, for the ark of God. And David said, I shall go, and bring the ark with blessing into mine house. Therefore David went, and brought the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with joy.

13 And when they, that bare the ark of the Lord, had gone six paces, they offered an ox and a ram.

14 And David smote in organs fastened to his arm; and he danced with all his strengths before the Lord; and David was clothed with a linen surplice.

15 And David, and all the house of Israel, led forth the ark of [the] testament or of [the] witnessing of the Lord in hearty song, and in sound of trump.

16 And when the ark of the Lord had entered into the city of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, beheld by a window, and she saw the king skipping or hopping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

17 And they brought in the ark of the Lord, and setted [or put] it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle, which tabernacle David had made therefore or had made ready thereto; and David offered burnt sacrifices and peaceable sacrifices before the Lord.

18 And when David had ended those [or them], and had offered burnt sacrifices and peaceable sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts.

19 And he gave to all the multitude of Israel, as well to man as to woman, to each a cake of bread, and one part roasted of bugle flesh, and flour of wheat fried with oil; and all the people went forth, each into his house.

20 And David turned again to bless his house, and Michal, the daughter of Saul, went out into the coming of David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself before the handmaids of his servants, and he was made naked, as if one of the knaves had been made naked?

21 And David said to Michal, The Lord liveth, for I shall play, or I shall dance, before the Lord, that chose me rather than thy father, and rather than all the house of him, and commanded to me, that I should be duke on the people of the Lord of Israel; and I shall play,

22 and I shall be made more vile than I am yet made, and I shall be meek in mine eyes, and I shall appear more glorious with those handmaidens, of which thou hast spoken.

23 Therefore a son was not born to Michal, the daughter of Saul, till into the day of her death.

CHAPTER 7

1 Forsooth it was done, when king David had sat in his house, and the Lord had given rest to him on each side from all his enemies,

2 he said to Nathan the prophet, Seest thou not, that I dwell in an house of cedar, and the ark of God is put in the midst of skins?

3 And Nathan said to the king, Go thou, and do all thing that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee.

4 And it was done in that night, and lo! the word of the Lord, was made to Nathan, [saying],

5 Go thou, and speak to my servant David, The Lord saith these things, Whether thou shalt build to me an house to dwell in?

6 Soothly I have not dwelled in an house from the day in which I led the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt till into this day; but I have gone in a tabernacle and in a tent,

7 by all places, to which I passed with all the sons of Israel? Whether I speaking spake to anyone of the lineages of Israel, to whom I commanded, that he should feed my people Israel, and said, Why builded-est thou not an house of cedar to me?

8 And now thou shalt say these things to my servant David, The Lord of hosts saith these things, I took thee from [the] pastures following flocks, that thou shouldest be duke on my people Israel,

9 and I was with thee in all things, wherever thou hast gone, and I have killed all thine enemies from thy face, and I have made to thee a great name, by the name of great men that be in earth;

10 and I shall set a place to my people Israel, and I shall plant him, and I shall dwell with him, and he shall no more be troubled, and the sons of wickedness shall not add to, that they torment him as before,

11 like they did from the day in which I ordained judges upon my people Israel; and I shall give rest to thee from all thine enemies. And the Lord before-saith to thee, that he shall make an house to thee;

12 and when thy days be fulfilled, and thou hast slept with thy fathers, that is, when thou hast died, I shall raise up thy seed after thee, which shall go out of thy womb, and I shall make steadfast his realm.

13 He shall build an house to my name, and I shall make stable the throne of his realm till into without end;

14 I shall be to him into a father, and he shall be to me into a son; and if he shall do anything wickedly, I shall chastise him in the rod of men, and in the wounds of the sons of men.

15 Forsooth I shall not do away my mercy from him, as I did it away from Saul, whom I removed from my face.

16 And thine house shall be faithful, and thy realm shall be till into without end before my face, and thy throne shall be steadfast continually.

17 By all these words, and by all this revelation, so Nathan spake to David.

18 Forsooth David the king entered into the tabernacle, and he sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, Lord God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?

19 But also this is seen little in thy sight, my Lord God; no but thou shouldest speak also of the house of thy servant into long time. For this is the law of Adam, Lord God;

20 what therefore may David add yet, that he speak to thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant;

21 thou hast done all these great things, for thy word, and by thine heart, so that thou madest those known to thy servant.

22 Therefore, Lord God, thou art made great, for none is like thee, nor there is no God except thee, in all things which we have heard with our ears.

23 Soothly what folk in earth is as the people of Israel, for which the Lord God went, that he should again-buy it to him into a people, and should set to himself a name, and should do to it great things, and horrible, on [the] earth, in casting out thereof the folks, and gods thereof, from the face of thy people, which thou again-boughtest to thee from Egypt?

24 And thou hast confirmed to thee thy people Israel into a people ever-lasting, and thou, Lord, art made into God to them.

25 Now therefore, Lord God, raise up without end the word that thou hast spoken upon thy servant, and upon his house, and do as thou hast spoken;

26 and thy name be magnified or be made great till into without end, and be it said, The Lord of hosts is God upon Israel; and the house of thy servant David shall be stablished before the Lord;

27 for thou, Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast made revelation to the ear of thy servant, and saidest, I shall build an house to thee; therefore thy servant hath found by his heart, that he should pray thee by this prayer.

28 Now therefore, Lord God, thou art very God, and thy words shall be true; for thou hast spoken these good things to thy servant;

29 therefore begin thou, and bless the house of thy servant, that it be into without end before thee; for thou, Lord God, hast spoken these things, and through thy blessing the house of thy servant shall be blessed without end.

CHAPTER 8

1 And it was done after these things, David smote the Philistines, and made low them; and David took away the bridle of tribute from the hand of Philistines.

2 And David smote Moab, and meted them with a cord, and he made them even to the earth; forsooth he meted them by two cords, one to slay, and one to quicken. And Moab served David under tribute.

3 And David smote Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went forth to be lord over the flood Euphrates.

4 And when a thousand and seven hundred horsemen of his part were taken, and twenty thousand of foot-men, David hocked all [the] drawing beasts in chariots; but David left of those [or them] an hundred chariots, that is, the horses of an hundred chariots.

5 Also Syrians of Damascus came, that it should bear help to Hadadezer, king of Zobah; and David smote of Syrians two and twenty thousand of men.

6 And David setted [or put] a strong-hold in Syria of Damascus, and Syria was made serving David under tribute. And the Lord kept David in all things, to whatever things he went forth.

7 And David took golden armours and bies, which the servants of Hadadezer had, and he brought those [or them] into Jerusalem.

8 And of Betah, and of Berothai, the cities of Hadadezer, David [the] king took full much brass.

9 Forsooth Toi, king of Hamath, heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer.

10 And Toi sent Joram, his son, to king David, that he should greet him, and thank, and do thankings, for he had overcome Hadadezer, and had smitten him; for Toi was enemy of Hadadezer; and vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass were in his hand.

11 And the same vessels king David hallowed to the Lord, with the silver and gold, which he had hallowed of all heathen men, which he had made subject

12 of Syria, and of Moab, and of the sons of Ammon, and of Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoils of Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

13 Also David made to him a name, when he turned again when Syria was taken, for eighteen thousand men were slain in the valley, where salt was made, and in Helam, to three and twenty thousand*.

14 And he setted keepers in Idumea, and ordained [a] stronghold, and all Idumea was made serving to David; and the Lord kept David in all things, to whatever things he went forth.

15 And David reigned upon all Israel, and David did doom, and rightwise-ness to all his people.

16 And Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was over the host of David; and Jehosha-phat, the son of Ahilud, was recorder;

17 and Zadok, the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, were priests; and Seraiah was a scribe.

18 But Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was over Cherethites and Pelethites, that is, over archers and arrowblasters; and the sons of David were priests.

CHAPTER 9

1 And David said, Whether any man is, that is left of the house of Saul, that I do mercy with him for Jonathan?

2 And there was a servant, Ziba by name, of the house of Saul; whom when the king had called to himself, the king said to him, Whether thou art not Ziba? And he answered, I am thy servant.

3 And the king said, Whether any man liveth of the house of Saul, that I do with him the mercy of God? And Ziba said to the king, A son of Jonathan liveth, feeble in the feet.

4 And the king said, Where is he? And Ziba said to the king, Lo! he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar.

5 Therefore king David sent, and took Jonathan’s son from the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar.

6 And when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, [the] son of Saul, had come to David, he felled into his face, and worshipped. And David said, Mephibosheth! And he answered, I am present, thy servant.

7 And David said to him, Dread thou not, for I doing shall do mercy to thee for Jonathan, thy father; and I shall restore to thee all the fields of Saul, thy father, and thou shalt eat bread in my table ever[more].

8 Which worshipped him, and said, Who am I, thy servant, for thou hast beheld on a dead dog like me?

9 Therefore the king called Ziba, the child of Saul; and said to him, I have given to the son of thy lord all things, whichever were of Saul, and all the house of him;

10 therefore work thou the land to him, thou, and thy sons, and thy servants, and thou shalt bring in meats to the son of thy lord, that he be fed; but Mephibosheth, the son of thy lord, shall eat ever bread on my board. And fifteen sons and twenty servants were to Ziba.

11 And Ziba said to the king, As thou, my lord the king, hast commanded to thy servant, so thy servant shall do; and Mephibosheth, as one of the sons of the king, shall eat on thy board.

12 And Mephibosheth had a little son, Micha by name; and all the family of the house of Ziba served Mephibosheth.

13 And Mephibosheth dwelled in Jerusalem; for he ate continually of the king’s board, and was crooked, or halt, on either foot.

CHAPTER 10

1 Forsooth it was done after these things, that Nahash, [the] king of the sons of Ammon, died; and Hanun, his son, reigned for him,.

2 And David said, I shall do mercy with Hanun, the son of Nahash, as his father did mercy with me. There-fore David sent comforting to him by his servants on the death of the father. And when the servants of David had come into the land of the sons of Ammon,

3 the princes of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, their lord, Guessest thou, that for the honour of thy father David hath sent comforters to thee; and not rather therefore David sent his servants to thee, that he should espy, and ensearch the city, and destroy it?

4 Therefore Hanun took the servants of David, and shaved half the part of the beard of them, and he cutted away the middle clothes of them, till to the buttocks; and let them go.

5 And when this was told to David, he sent into the coming of them, for the men were shamed full vilely. And David commanded to them, Dwell ye in Jericho, till your beard waxed, and then turn ye again.

6 And the sons of Ammon saw, that they had done wrong to David, and they sent, and hired with meed of Bethrehob of Syria, and of Zoba of Syria, twenty thousand of footmen, and of king Maacah, a thousand men, and of Ishtob, twelve thousand of men.

7 And when David had heard this, he sent Joab, and all the host of fighters.

8 Therefore the sons of Ammon went out, and dressed battle array before them in the entering of the gate. And Zoba, and Rehob of Syria, and Ishtob, and Maacah, were asides half in the field.

9 Therefore Joab saw, that the battle was made ready against him, both even against him and behind his back; and he chose to himself of all the chosen men of Israel, and ordained battle array against Syrians.

10 Forsooth he betook to Abishai, his brother, the tother part of the people, which dressed battle array against the sons of Ammon.

11 And Joab said, If men of Syria have the mastery against me, thou shalt be to me into help; and if the sons of Ammon have the mastery against thee, I shall help thee;

12 be thou a strong man, and fight we for our people, and for the city of our God; for the Lord shall do that, that is good in his sight.

13 Therefore Joab and the people that was with him, began battle against men of Syria, which fled anon from his face.

14 And the sons of Ammon saw, that [the] men of Syria had fled; and they fled also from the face of Abishai, and entered into the city; and Joab turned again from the sons of Ammon, and came into Jerusalem.

15 And [the] men of Syria saw that they had fallen before Israel, and they were gathered together.

16 And Hadadezer* sent, and led out [the] men of Syria that were beyond the flood, and he brought forth the host of them; and Shobach, [the] master of the chivalry of Hadadezer, was the prince of them.

17 And when this was told to David, he drew together all Israel, and he passed over Jordan, and came into Helam. And [the] men of Syria dressed battle array against David, and fought against him.

18 And Syrians fled from the face of Israel; and David killed of the Syrians the men in seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand of horsemen; and he smote Shobach, the prince of the chivalry, the which was dead anon.

19 And all the kings, that were in help of Hadadezer, saw that they were overcome of Israel, and they made peace with Israel, and served them; and the Syrians dreaded to give help to the sons of Ammon.

CHAPTER 11

1 And it was done, when the year turned again, in that time in which kings be wont to go forth to battles, David sent forth Joab, and with him his servants, and all Israel; and they destroyed the sons of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah; and David dwelled in Jerusalem.

2 While these things were done, it befelled, that David rose in a day from his bed after midday, and walked in the solar of the king’s house; and he saw a woman washing herself even against him upon her solar; and the woman was full fair.

3 Therefore the king sent, and inquired, what woman it was; and it was told to him that she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, and she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite.

4 Then by messengers sent, David took her; and when she entered to him, he slept with her, and anon she was hallowed from her uncleanness*. And she turned again into her house,

5 with a child conceived; and she sent, and told to David, and said, I have conceived.

6 And David sent to Joab, and said, Send thou Uriah the Hittite to me; and Joab sent Uriah to David.

7 And Uriah came to David; and David asked, how rightfully Joab did and the people, and how the battle was administered, or served.

8 And David said to Uriah, Go into thine house, and wash thy feet. [And] Uriah went out from the house of the king, and the king’s meat pursued [or followed] him.

9 Soothly Uriah slept before the gate of the king’s house with other servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

10 And it was told to David of men, saying, Uriah went not to his house. And David said to Uriah, Whether thou camest not from the way? why wentest thou not down into thine house?

11 And Uriah said to David, The ark of God, [and] Israel, and Judah dwell in tents, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord dwell upon the face of the earth, and shall I go into mine house, to eat and drink, and sleep with my wife? By thine health, and by the health of thy soul, I shall not do this thing.

12 Therefore David said to Uriah, Dwell thou here also today, and tomorrow I shall deliver thee. Uriah dwelled in Jerusalem in that day, and the tother.

13 And David called him, that he should eat and drink before him, and David made drunken Uriah; and he went out in the eventide, and slept in his bed with the servants of his lord; and went not down into his house.

14 Therefore when the morrowtide was made, David wrote [an] epistle to Joab, and sent by the hand of Uriah,

15 and wrote in the epistle, Put ye Uriah even against the battle, where the battle is strongest, that is, where the adversaries be strongest, and forsake ye him, that he be smitten and perish.

16 Therefore when Joab besieged the city, he setted [or put] Uriah in the place where he knew that strongest men were.

17 And [the] men went out of the city, and fought against Joab, and they killed of the people of the servants of David, and also Uriah the Hittite was dead there.

18 Therefore Joab sent, and told all the words of the battle;

19 and he commanded to the mes-senger, and said, When thou hast fulfilled all the words of the battle to the king,

20 if thou seest, that he is wroth, and saith, Why nighed ye to the wall to fight? whether ye knew not, that many darts, or arrows, be sent out from the wall above?

21 who smote Abimelech, the son of Jerubbesheth? whether not a woman sent on him a gobbet of a millstone from the wall, and killed him in Thebez? why nighed ye beside the wall? thou shalt say, Also thy servant, Uriah the Hittite, died.

22 Therefore the messenger went, [and came], and told to David all things which Joab had commanded to him.

23 And the messenger said to David, [The] Men had the mastery against us, and they went out to us into the field; and with great fierceness we pursued them unto the gate of the city.

24 And [the] archers sent darts to thy servants from the wall above, and some of the king’s servants be dead; and also thy servant, Uriah the Hittite, is dead.

25 And David said to the messenger, Thou shalt say these things to Joab, This thing break not thee; for the hap of battle is diverse, and sword wasteth now this man, [and] now that man; comfort thy fighters against the city, that thou destroy it, and stir or excite thou them.

26 And the wife of Uriah heard, that Uriah her husband was dead, and she bewailed him.

27 And when the mourning was passed, David sent, and brought her into his house; and she was made wife to him, and she childed a son to him. And this word or thing that David had done displeased before the Lord.

CHAPTER 12

1 Therefore the Lord sent Nathan to David; and when he had come to David, he said to him, Answer thou a doom to me; two men were in one city; one man was rich, and the tother was poor.

2 The rich man had full many sheep, and oxen;

3 and the poor man had utterly nothing, except one little sheep, which he had bought, and nourished, and which had waxed at or with him, and with his sons, and ate together of his bread, and drank of his cup, and slept in his bosom; and it was as a daughter to him.

4 But when a pilgrim came to this rich man, he spared to take of his own sheep and oxen, that he should make a feast to that pilgrim, that came to him; and he took the sheep of the poor man, and prepared meats to the man that came to him.

5 Certainly David was full wroth with indignation against that man, and he said to Nathan, The Lord liveth, for the man that did this thing is the son of death, that is, is worthy of death, for the hideousness of the deed;

6 he shall yield the sheep into four-fold, for he did this word, and spared not.

7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art that man, that hast done this thing. The Lord God of Israel saith these things, I anointed thee into king on Israel, and I delivered thee from the hand of Saul,

8 and I gave to thee the house of thy lord, and the wives of thy lord in thy bosom, and I gave to thee the house of Israel, and of Judah; and if these things be little, I shall add to thee much greater things.

9 Why therefore hast thou despised the word of the Lord, that thou didest evils in my sight? Thou hast killed by sword Uriah the Hittite, and thou hast taken his wife into wife to thee, and thou hast slain him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.

10 Wherefore a sword shall not go away from thine house till into with-out end; for thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite, that she should be thy wife.

11 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall raise upon thee the evil of thine house, and I shall take thy wives in thine eyes or thy sight, and I shall give them to thy neigh-bour, and he shall sleep with thy wives in the eyes of this sun.

12 For thou hast done thy sin privily; forsooth I shall do this word in the sight of all Israel, and in the sight of this sun.

13 And David said to Nathan, I have sinned to the Lord. And Nathan said to David, Also the Lord hath turned away thy sin; thou shalt not die.

14 Nevertheless for thou hast made [the] enemies to blaspheme the name of the Lord, for this word the child that is born to thee shall die by death.

15 And Nathan turned again into his house. And the Lord smote the little child, whom the wife of Uriah childed to David, and he despaired.

16 And David prayed to the Lord for the little child; and David fasted by fasting, and entered asides half, and lay on the earth.

17 And the elder men of his house came, and constrained him, that he should rise up from the earth; and he would not, neither he ate meat with them.

18 And it befelled in the seventh day, that the young child died; and the servants of David dreaded to tell to him, that the little child was dead; for they said, Lo! while the little child lived yet, we spake to him, and he heard not our voice; how much more, if we say the child is dead, he shall torment himself?

19 Therefore when David had heard his servants speaking privily, either muttering, he understood that the young child was dead; and he said to his servants, Whether the child is dead? Which answered to him, He is dead.

20 Therefore David rose up from the earth, and was washed, and anointed; and when he had changed his clothes, he entered into the house of the Lord, and worshipped, and came into his house; and he asked, that they should set bread to him, and he ate.

21 And his servants said to him, What is the word that thou hast done? Thou hast fasted, and wept for the young child, while he lived yet; but when the child was dead, thou risedest or hast risen up, and atest bread?

22 And David said, I fasted and wept for the young child, when he lived yet; for I said, Who knoweth, if per-adventure the Lord give him to me, and the young child live?

23 But now for he is dead, why fast I? whether I shall be able to again-call him more? I shall go more to him, but he shall not turn again to me.

24 And David comforted Bathsheba, his wife; and he entered [in] to her, and slept with her. And she engendered a son, and David called his name Solomon; and the Lord loved him.

25 And he sent him in the hand of Nathan, the prophet; and he called his name Amiable to the Lord, for the Lord loved him.

26 Then Joab fought against Rabbah, of the sons of Ammon, and he fought against the king’s city.

27 And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and the city of waters shall be taken.

28 Now therefore gather thou the tother part of the people, and besiege thou the city, and take thou it, lest when the city is wasted of me, the victory be areckoned to my name.

29 Therefore David gathered together all the people, and he went forth against Rabbah; and when he had fought against that city, he took it.

30 And he took the diadem of the king of them* from his head, by weight [of] a talent of gold, and having precious pearls; and it was put on the head of David; but also David bare away full much prey of the city.

31 And he led forth the people thereof, and sawed them, and did about them iron instruments of torment, and parted with knives, and led over by the likeness of tilestones; so he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And David turned again, and all his host, into Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 13

1 And it was done after these things, that Amnon, the son of David, loved the fairest sister, Tamar by name, of Absalom, the son of David.

2 And Amnon perished greatly for her, so that he was sick for her love. For since she was a virgin, it seemed hard to him, that he should do any-thing unhonestly with her.

3 But there was a friend to Amnon, Jonadab by name, the son of Shimeah, the brother of David; and Jonadab was a full prudent [or a full sly] man.

4 Which said to Amnon, Son of the king, why art thou made feeble so by leanness, by all days? why showest thou not to me? And Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.

5 And Jonadab answered to him, Lie thou on thy bed, and feign thou sickness; and when thy father cometh, that he visit thee, say thou to him, I pray, come Tamar, my sister, that she give meat to me, and make a stew, that I eat it of her hand.

6 Therefore Amnon lay down, and feigned to be sick. And when the king had come to visit him, Amnon said to the king, I beseech, come Tamar, my sister, that she make two suppings before my eyes, and that I take of her hand the meat made ready.

7 Therefore David sent to the house of Tamar, and said, Come thou into the house of Amnon, thy brother, and make thou a stew to him.

8 And Tamar came into the house of Amnon, her brother. And he lay down; and she took meal, and mixed together, and made moist before his eyes, and seethed [the] suppings;

9 and she took that, that she had sodden, and poured it out, and set it before him, and he would not eat. And Amnon said, Put ye out all men from me. And when they had put out all men,

10 Amnon said to Tamar, Bear the meat into the bed-closet, that I eat of thine hand. Therefore Tamar took the suppings which she had made, and brought in to Amnon, her brother, in the bed-closet.

11 And when she had proffered the meat to him, he took her, and said, Come thou, my sister, lie thou with me.

12 And she answered to him, My brother, do not thou, do not thou oppress me, for this is not leaveful in Israel; do not thou do this folly.

13 For I shall not be able to bear my shame, and thou shalt be as one of the unwise men in Israel; but rather speak thou to the king, and he shall not deny me to thee.

14 Soothly he would not assent to her prayers; but he was stronger in mights, and oppressed her, and lay with her.

15 And then, with full great hatred Amnon hated her, so that the hatred was greater, by which he hated her, than the love by which he loved her before. And Amnon said to her, Rise thou, and go.

16 And she answered to him, This evil is more which thou doest now against me, and puttest me out, than that, that thou didest before. And he would not hear her;

17 but when the child was called, that ministered to him, he said, Put thou out this woman from me, and close thou the door after her.

18 And she was clothed with a coat down to the heel; for the king’s daughters who were virgins used such clothes. Then the servant of Amnon put her out, and closed the door after her.

19 And she sprinkled ashes onto her head, and when her long coat was rent, and her hands put on her head, she went entering [in] and crying.

20 And Absalom, her brother, said to her, Whether Amnon, thy brother, hath lain with thee? But now, sister, be still; he is thy brother, and torment thou not thine heart for this thing. Therefore Tamar dwelled mourning in the house of Absalom, her brother.

21 Forsooth when king David had heard these words, he was full sorry, and he would not make sore the spirit of Amnon, his son; for he loved Amnon, for he was his first begotten son.

22 And Absalom spake not to Amnon, neither evil nor good; for Absalom hated Amnon, for he had defouled Tamar, his sister.

23 And it was done after the time of two years, that the sheep of Absalom were shorn in Baalhazor, which is beside Ephraim. And Absalom called all the sons of the king.

24 And he came to the king, and said to him, Lo! the sheep of thy servant be shorn; I pray, come the king with his servants to his servant.

25 And the king said to Absalom, Do not thou, my son, do not thou pray, that all we come, and charge thee. And when he constrained David, and he would not go, he blessed Absalom.

26 And Absalom said to David, If thou wilt not come, I beseech thee, come namely Amnon, my brother, with us. And the king said to him, It is no need, that he go with thee.

27 Therefore Absalom constrained him; and he delivered with him Amnon, and all the sons of the king.

28 And Absalom had made a feast as the feast of a king. And Absalom [had] commanded to his children, and said, Espy ye, when Amnon is drunken of wine, and when I say to you, Smite ye, and slayeth him. Do not ye dread, for I am that command to you; be ye strengthened, and be ye strong men.

29 Therefore the children of Absalom did against Amnon, as Absalom had commanded to them; and all the sons of the king rose up, and ascended [or went] each upon his mule, and fled.

30 And when they went yet in the way, the fame came thereof to the king, and it was said, Absalom hath slain all the sons of the king, and namely not one is left of them.

31 Therefore the king rose up, and rent his clothes, and felled down on the earth; and all his servants that stood nigh to him, rent their clothes.

32 But Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, brother of David, answered and said, My lord the king, guess thou not, that all the young men, and sons of the king, be slain; Amnon alone is dead, for he was set in hatred to Absalom, from the day in which he oppressed Tamar, his sister.

33 Now therefore, my lord the king, set not this word on his heart, and say, All the sons of the king be slain; for Amnon alone is dead.

34 Forsooth Absalom fled. And a child, espyer, raised [up] his eyes, and beheld, and lo! much people came by a way out of the common way, by the side of the hill.

35 And Jonadab said to the king, Lo! the sons of the king come; after the word of thy servant, so it is done.

36 And when he had ceased to speak, also the sons of the king appeared; and they entered, and raised up their voice, and wept; but also the king and all his servants wept with full great weeping.

37 Forsooth Absalom fled, and went to Talmai, the son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur. Therefore David bewailed his son Amnon in many days.

38 Forsooth Absalom, when he had fled, and had come into Geshur, was there three years.

39 And [king] David ceased to pursue Absalom, for he was comforted upon the death of Amnon.

CHAPTER 14

1 Forsooth Joab, the son of Zeruiah, understood, that the heart of the king was turned to Absalom;

2 and he sent to Tekoah, and took from thence a wise woman, and he said to her, Feign thee to mourn, and be thou clothed with a cloth of dole, and be thou not anointed with oil, that thou be as a woman by mourning now in full much time a dead man.

3 And thou shalt enter to the king, and thou shalt speak to him such manner words. And Joab put the words in her mouth.

4 Therefore when the woman of Tekoah had entered to the king, she felled before him on the earth, and worshipped, and said, O! king, keep thou me.

5 And the king said to her, What hast thou of cause? And she answered, Alas! I am a woman widow, for mine husband is dead;

6 and twain [or two] sons were of thine handmaid, which debated against themselves in the field, and none was that might forbid them, and the one smote the tother, and killed him.

7 And lo! all the kindred riseth against thine handmaid, and saith, Give thou him to us that killed his brother, that we slay him, for the life of his brother whom he killed, and that we do away the heir; and they seek to quench my spark that is left, that the name dwell not to mine husband, and that remnants be not to him on earth.

8 And the king said to the woman, Go into thine house, and I shall command for thee.

9 And the woman of Tekoah said to the king, My lord the king, this wicked-ness be on me, and on the house of my father; forsooth the king and his throne be innocent or guiltless.

10 And the king said, Bring thou him to me, that against-saith thee, and he shall no more add to, that he touch thee.

11 And she said, The king have mind on his Lord God, and the next kins-men of blood to take vengeance be not multiplied, and they shall not slay my son. And the king said, The Lord liveth, for none of the hairs of thy son shall fall upon the earth.

12 Therefore the woman said, Thine handmaid speak a word to my lord the king. And the king said, Speak thou.

13 And the woman said, Why hast thou thought such a thing against the people of God? and the king spake this word, that he do sin, and bring not again his son who is cast out?

14 All we die, and as waters that shall not turn again, we slide into the earth; and God will not that a soul perish, but he withdraweth, and thinketh, lest he perish utterly, which is cast away.

15 Now therefore come thou, that I speak to my lord the king this word, while the people is present; and thine handmaid said, I shall speak to the king, if in any manner the king do the word of his handmaid.

16 And the king heard the words, that he should deliver his handmaid from the hands of all men, that would do away me, and my son together, from the heritage of the Lord.

17 Therefore thine handmaid say, that the word of my lord the king be made as sacrifice, that is, that the sentence given of him be pleasant to God, as sacrifice pleaseth God; for as an angel of the Lord, so is my lord the king, that he be not moved by blessing neither by cursing. Wherefore and thy Lord God is with thee.

18 And the king answered, and said to the woman, Hide thou not from me the word which I ask thee. And the woman said to him, Speak thou, my lord the king.

19 And the king said, Whether the hand of Joab is with thee in all these things? The woman answered, and said, By the health of thy soul, my lord the king, neither to the left side neither to the right side is anything of all these things, which my lord the king hath spoken. For thy servant Joab himself commanded to me, and he putted [or put] all these words into the mouth of thine handmaid,

20 that I should turn the figure of this word; for thy servant Joab commanded this thing. Forsooth thou, my lord the king, art wise, as an angel of God that hath wisdom, that thou understand all things on earth.

21 And the king said to Joab, Lo! I am pleased, and I have done thy word; therefore go thou, and again-call thou the child Absalom.

22 And Joab felled upon his face to the earth, and he worshipped, and blessed the king; and Joab said, Thy servant hath understood today, that I have found grace in thine eyes, my lord king, for thou hast done the word of thy servant.

23 Therefore Joab rose up, and went into Geshur, and brought Absalom into Jerusalem.

24 And the king said, Turn he again into his house, and see not he my face. Therefore Absalom turned again into his house, and saw not the face of the king.

25 Soothly no man in all Israel was so fair as Absalom, and full comely; from the step of the foot unto the top, there was no wem in him;

26 and inasmuch as he clipped more his hairs, by so much the more they waxed; but he was clipped once in the year, for his hair grieved him. And when he clipped the hairs, he weighed the hairs of his head by two hundred shekels by common weight.

27 And three sons, and a daughter, Tamar by name, of seemly shape, or excellent form, were born to Absalom.

28 And Absalom dwelled in Jerusalem two years, and he saw not the face of the king.

29 Therefore he sent to Joab, that he should send him to the king; and Joab would not come to him. And when he had sent the second time, and Joab would not come,

30 Absalom said to his servants, Ye know the field of Joab beside my field having ripe barley; therefore go ye, and burn ye it [up] with fire. Therefore the servants of Absalom burnt the corn with fire.

31 And Joab rose up, and came to Absalom into his house, and said, Why have thy servants burnt [up] my corn with fire?

32 And Absalom answered to Joab, I sent to thee, and besought that thou shouldest come to me, and that I should send thee to the king, that thou shouldest say to him, Why came I from Geshur? It was better to me to have been there; therefore I beseech, that I see the face of the king, that if he is mindful of my wickedness, slay he me.

33 Joab entered to the king, and told to him. And Absalom was called, and he entered to the king, and he worshipped on the face of [the] earth before him, and the king kissed Absalom.

CHAPTER 15

1 Therefore after these things, Absalom made a chariot to him, and had knights and fifty men, that should go before him.

2 And Absalom rose early, and stood beside the entering of the gate in the way; and Absalom called to him each man, that had a cause [or a need] that he should come to the doom of the king, and Absalom said, Of what city art thou? Which answered, and said, Of one lineage of Israel I am, thy servant.

3 And Absalom answered to him, Thy words seem to me good and just, but none is ordained of the king to hear thee.

4 And Absalom said, Who shall ordain me judge on the land, that all men that have a cause [or need] come to me, and I deem justly [or right-wisely]?

5 But when a man came to Absalom to greet him, he held forth his hand, and took, and kissed that man;

6 and Absalom did this to all Israel, that came to doom to be heard of the king; and Absalom stole the hearts of [the] men of Israel.

7 But after four years, Absalom said to king David, I shall go, and shall yield my vows, which I vowed to the Lord in Hebron;

8 for thy servant vowing vowed, when he was in Geshur of Syria, and said, If the Lord bringeth again me [or me again] into Jerusalem, I shall make sacrifice to the Lord.

9 And the king said to him, Go thou in peace. And Absalom rose up, and went into Hebron.

10 Forsooth Absalom sent spyers into all the lineage[s] of Israel, and said, Anon as ye hear the sound of [the] clarion, say ye, Absalom shall reign in Hebron.

11 And two hundred men called out of Jerusalem went forth with Absalom, and went with simple heart, and utterly they knew not the cause.

12 Also Absalom called for Ahithophel of Giloh, the counsellor of David, from his city Giloh. And when he offered sacrifices, a strong swearing together was made, and the people running together was increased with Absalom.

13 Therefore a messenger came to David, and said, With all [the] heart all Israel followeth Absalom,

14 And David said to his servants that were with him in Jerusalem, Rise ye up, and flee we; for none escaping shall be to us from the face of Absalom; therefore haste ye to go out, lest he come, and occupy us, and fulfill upon us his falling, and smite the city with sharpness of [the] sword.

15 And the servants of the king said to him, We thy servants shall perform gladly all things, whatever our lord the king shall command.

16 Then the king went out, and all his house, upon their feet; and the king left ten women concubines, that is, secondary wives, to keep the house.

17 And the king went out, and all Israel, upon their feet, and the king stood far from the house.

18 And all his servants went beside him, and the legions of Cherethites and of Pelethites, and all the strong fighting men of Gath, six hundred men, that pursued [or followed] him from Gath, went on foot before the king.

19 And the king said to Ittai of Gath, Why comest thou with us? Turn thou again, and dwell with the new king, for thou art a pilgrim, and wentest out from thy place.

20 Thou camest yesterday, and today thou art compelled to go out with us. Soothly I shall go, whither I shall go; turn again, and lead again thy brethren with thee, and the Lord do mercy and truth with thee, for thou hast showed to me grace and faith.

21 And Ittai answered to the king, and said, The Lord liveth, and my lord the king liveth, for in whatever place thou shalt be, my lord the king, either in death either in life, there thy servant shall be.

22 And David said to Ittai, Come thou, and pass forth. And Ittai of Gath passed forth, and the king, and all men that were with him, and the tother multitude.

23 And all men wept with great voice, and all the people passed forth; and the king went over the strand [or stream] of Kidron, and all the people went against the way of the olive trees, that beholdeth to the desert.

24 Forsooth and Zadok the priest came, and all the deacons [or Levites] with him, and they bare the ark of [the] bond of peace of God, and they setted [or set] down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, till all the people was passed forth that went out of the city.

25 And the king said to Zadok, Bear again the ark of God into the city; if I shall find grace in the eyes of the Lord, he shall lead me again, and he shall show to me that ark, and his tabernacle.

26 Soothly if the Lord saith, Thou pleasest not me; I am ready, do he that, that is good before himself.

27 And the king said to Zadok, the priest, O! thou seer, that is, prophet, turn again into the city, with peace; and Ahimaaz, thy son, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, your two sons, be with you.

28 Lo! I shall be hid in [the] field places of the desert, till word come from you, and show to me.

29 Therefore Zadok and Abiathar bare again the ark of God into Jerusalem, and they dwelled there.

30 Forsooth David went up upon the hill of olive trees, going up and weeping, with his head covered, and with bare feet passing forth; but also all the people that was with him, went up with their heads covered, and wept.

31 And it was told to David, that Ahithophel was in the swearing together with Absalom; and David said, Lord, I beseech, make thou fond [or folly] the counsel of Ahithophel.

32 And when David went up into [the] highness of the hill, in which he should worship the Lord, lo! Hushai of Archi, with his cloth rent, and with his head full of earth, came to him.

33 And David said to him, If thou comest with me, thou shalt be to me a charge;

34 soothly if thou turnest again to the city, and sayest to Absalom, I am thy servant, O king, suffer thou me to live; as I was the servant of thy father, so I shall be thy servant; thou shalt destroy the counsel of Ahithophel.

35 And thou hast with thee Zadok and Abiathar, the priests; and what-ever word thou shalt hear in the house of the king, thou shalt show it to the priests, Zadok and Abiathar.

36 And their two sons be with them, Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, and Jonathan, the son of Abiathar; and ye shall send by them to me each word that ye shall hear.

37 Therefore when Hushai, friend of David, came into the city, also Absalom entered into Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 16

1 And when David had passed a little the top of the hill, Ziba, the child of Mephibosheth, appeared into his coming, with twain [or two] asses, that were charged with two hundred loaves, and with an hundred bundles of dried grapes, and with an hundred gobbets of pressed figs, and with two vessels of wine.

2 And the king said to Ziba, What will or mean these things to themselves? And Ziba answered, My lord the king, the asses be to the menials of the king, that they sit on them; and the loaves and the pressed figs be to thy children to eat; forsooth the wine is, that if any man fail in desert, he may drink.

3 And the king said, Where is the son of thy lord? And Ziba answered to the king, He dwelled [still] in Jerusalem, and said, Today the Lord of the house of Israel shall restore to me the realm of my father.

4 And the king said to Ziba, All things that were of Mephibosheth be thine. And Ziba said, I pray, find I grace before thee, my lord the king.

5 Therefore king David came to Bahurim, and lo! a man of the family of the house of Saul, Shimei by name, [the] son of Gera, went out from thence; he went forth going out, and cursed.

6 And he sent stones against David, and against all the servants of king David; and all the people, and all the fighting men went at the right side and at the left side of the king.

7 And Shimei spake thus, when he cursed the king, Go out, go out, thou man of bloods, that is, the shedder out of much guiltless blood, and man of Belial!

8 The Lord hath yielded to thee all the blood of the house of Saul, for thou hast ravished the realm from him; and the Lord hath given the realm into the hand of Absalom, thy son; and lo! thine evils oppress thee, for thou art a man of bloods.

9 And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, said to the king, Why curseth this dog, that shall die, my lord the king? I shall go, and I shall gird off his head.

10 And the king said, Ye sons of Zeruiah, what is it to me and to you? Suffer ye him, that he curse; forsooth the Lord hath commanded to him, that he should curse David; and who is he that dare say, Why did he so?

11 And the king said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Lo! my son, that went out of my womb, seeketh my life; how much more now this son of Benjamin? Suffer ye him, that he curse me by [the] commandment of the Lord;

12 if in hap the Lord behold my tormenting, and yield good to me for this day’s cursing.

13 Therefore David went forth, and his fellows, by the way with him; but Shimei went aside by the slade of the hill against David; and cursed David, and threw stones against him, and sprinkled earth.

14 And so king David came, and all the people weary with him, and they were refreshed there.

15 And Absalom, and all the people of Israel entered into Jerusalem, but also Ahithophel with him.

16 And when Hushai of Archi, the friend of David, had come to Absalom, he said to him, Hail, king! hail, king!

17 To whom Absalom said, This is thy grace to thy friend; why wentest thou not with thy friend?

18 And Hushai answered to Absalom, Nay, for I shall be the servant of him, whom the Lord hath chosen, and all this people, and all Israel; and I shall dwell with him.

19 But that I say also this, to whom shall I serve? whether not to the son of the king? as I obeyed to thy father, so I shall obey to thee.

20 And Absalom said to Ahithophel, Take ye counsel, what we owe to do.

21 And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Enter thou [in] to the concubines of thy father, which he left to keep the house; that when all Israel heareth, that thou hast defouled thy father’s bed, the hands of them be strengthened with thee.

22 Therefore they stretched out for Absalom a tabernacle in the solar, and he entered [in] to the concubines of his father before all Israel.

23 And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man had counselled with God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel, both when he was with David, and when he was with Absalom.

CHAPTER 17

1 Then Ahithophel said to Absalom, I shall choose to me twelve thousand of men, and I shall rise up, and pursue David in this night.

2 And I shall fall on him, for he is weary, and with unbound hands I shall smite him. And when all the people fleeth that is with him, I shall smite the king left alone.

3 And I shall lead again all the people, as one man is wont to be turned again; for thou seekest one man, and all the people shall be in peace.

4 And the words of Ahithophel pleased Absalom, and all the greater men in birth of Israel.

5 And Absalom said, Call ye also Hushai of Archi, and hear we what also he saith.

6 And when Hushai had come to Absalom, Absalom said to him, Ahith-ophel hath spoken such a word; owe we to do thereafter, either nay? what counsel givest thou?

7 And Hushai said to Absalom, This is not good counsel, that Ahith-ophel hath given in this time.

8 And again Hushai said, Thou knowest, that thy father, and the men that be with him, be most strong, and in bitter soul, as if a she bear is fierce in the forest, when her whelps be ravished from her; but also thy father is a man warrior, and he shall not dwell with the people.

9 In hap now he is hid, either lurketh, in ditches, either in one place, in which he will hide him; and when any man falleth in the beginning, whoever shall hear it, he shall hear, and shall say, Vengeance is done in the people that pursued Absalom.

10 And each full strong man, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, shall be discomforted for dread; for all the people of Israel knoweth, that thy father is strong, and that all the men be strong, that be with him.

11 But this seemeth to me to be rightful [or right] counsel; all Israel be gathered to thee, from Dan till to Beersheba, unnumberable as the sand of the sea; and thou shalt be in the midst of them.

12 And we shall fall upon him, in whatever place he is found, and we shall cover him, as dew is wont to fall on the earth; and we shall not leave of the men that be with him, soothly not one.

13 That if he entereth into any city, all Israel shall compass that city with ropes, and we shall draw it into the strand [or stream], yea that nothing be found, soothly not a little stone thereof.

14 And Absalom said, and all the men of Israel, The counsel of Hushai of Archi is better than the counsel of Ahithophel; and the profitable counsel of Ahithophel was destroyed by God’s will, that the Lord should bring in evil on Absalom.

15 And Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar, the priests, Ahithophel gave counsel to Absalom, and to the elder men of Israel in this and this manner, and I gave such and such counsel.

16 Now therefore send ye soon, and tell ye to David, and say ye, Dwell thou not this night in [the] field places of the desert, but pass thou [over] without delay; lest peradventure the king be swallowed up, and all the people that is with him.

17 And Jonathan and Ahimaaz stood beside the well of Rogel; and an handmaid went, and told to them, and they went forth to tell the message to king David; for they might not be seen, neither enter into the city.

18 And a child saw them, and he showed it to Absalom; and they entered with swift going into the house of a man in Bahurim, that had a pit or well in his place, and they went down into that pit.

19 And a woman took, and spread abroad a covering over the mouth of the pit, as if drying barley with the peel taken away, and so the thing was hid.

20 And when the servants of Absalom had come into the house, they said to the woman, Where is Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman answered to them, They passed the river of waters, that is, Jordan. And when they that sought them had not found them, they turned again into Jerusalem.

21 And when they had gone forth, they went up from the pit; and they went, and told to king David, and said, Rise ye up, and passeth soon [over] the flood, for Ahithophel hath given such counsel against you.

22 Therefore David rose up, and all the people that was with him, and they passed over Jordan, till it was clear day, before that the word was published; and soothly not one was left, that passed not over the flood.

23 And Ahithophel saw, that his counsel was not done, and he saddled his ass, and rose up, and went into his house, and into his city; and when his house was disposed, he perished by hanging himself, and he was buried in the sepulchre of his father.

24 And David came into the castles, and Absalom passed [over] Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

25 And Absalom ordained Amasa for Joab upon his host; and Amasa was the son of a man that was called Ithra of Jezreel, the which entered to Abigail, the daughter of Nahash, and the sister of Zeruiah, that was the mother of Joab.

26 And Israel setted tents with Absalom in the land of Gilead.

27 And when David had come into the castles or Mahanaim, Shobi, the son of Nahash of Rabbah, of the sons of Ammon, and Machir, the son of Ammiel, of Lodebar, and Barzillai, of Gilead, of Rogelim,

28 brought to him beddings, and tapets, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and flour, and beans, and lentils or vetches, and fried chickpeas,

29 and honey, and butter, and sheep, and fat calves. And they gave those to David, and to the people that were with him, to eat; for they supposed the people to be made faint for hunger and thirst in desert.

CHAPTER 18

1 Therefore David, when he had beheld his people, ordained chieftains of thousands, and of hundreds, upon them.

2 And he gave the third part of the people under the hand of Joab; and the third part under the hand of Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab; and the third part under the hand of Ittai, that was of Gath. And the king said to the people, Also I shall go out with you.

3 And the people answered, Thou shalt not go out; for whether we flee, it shall not pertain to them by great work of us; whether half the part fall down of us, they shall not reckon enough, for thou art reckoned for ten thousand; therefore it is better, that thou be to us in the city in strong succour.

4 And the king said to them, I shall do that, that seemeth rightful [or right] to you. Therefore the king stood beside the gate, and the people went out by their companies, by hundreds, and by thousands.

5 And the king commanded to Joab, and to Abishai, and to Ittai, and said, Keep ye to me the child Absalom. And all the people heard the king commanding to all the princes for Absalom.

6 Therefore the people went out into the field against Israel; and the battle was made in the forest of Ephraim.

7 And the people of Israel was slain there of the host of David, and a great slaughter of twenty thousand was made in that day.

8 And the battle was scattered there upon the face of all the land, and many more were of the people which the forest wasted, than they which the sword devoured in that day.

9 Soothly it befelled, that Absalom, sitting on a mule, came against the servants of David; and when the mule had entered under a thick oak, and great, the head of Absalom cleaved to the oak; and when he was hanged betwixt heaven and earth, the mule, on which he sat, passed forth.

10 And some man saw this, and told it to Joab, and said, I saw Absalom hanged on an oak.

11 And Joab said to the man that told to him, If thou saw him, why piercedest thou not him through to the earth, and I should have given to thee ten shekels of silver, and a girdle?

12 And he said to Joab, Though thou paidest in mine hands a thousand plates of silver, I would not send [or put] mine hand into the son of the king; for while we heard, the king commanded to thee, and to Abishai, and to Ittai, and said, Keep ye to me the child Absalom.

13 But and though I had done fool hardily against my life, this might not be hid from the king, and thou wouldest stand on the contrary side.

14 And Joab said, Not as thou wilt, but I shall assail him before thee. Therefore Joab took three spears in his hand, and fixed those [or them] in the heart of Absalom. And when he sprawled, yet cleaving in the oak,

15 ten young squires of Joab ran, and smote, and killed him.

16 And Joab trumped with a clarion, and held with him the people, lest it pursued Israel fleeing, and he would spare the multitude.

17 And they took Absalom, and casted forth him into a great ditch in the forest, and bare together a full great heap of stones on him; and all Israel fled into their tabernacles.

18 Forsooth Absalom, while he lived yet, had raised to him a memorial, which is in the valley of the king; for he said, I have no son, and this shall be the mind of my name; and he called the memorial by his name, and it is called The Hand, that is, the Work, of Absalom, till to this day.

19 And Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, said, I shall run, and I shall tell to the king, that the Lord hath made doom to him of the hand of his enemies.

20 To whom Joab said, Thou shalt not be a messenger in this day, but thou shalt tell in another day; I will or desire not that thou tell this today, for the son of the king is dead.

21 And Joab said to Cushi, Go thou, and tell to the king those things that thou hast seen. Cushi worshipped Joab, and ran forth.

22 And again Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, said to Joab, What hindereth, if also I run after Cushi? And Joab said to him, What wilt thou run, my son? Come thou hither, thou shalt not be a bearer of good message.

23 The which answered, But what if I shall run? And Joab said to him, Run thou. Therefore Ahimaaz ran by the way of shortness, and speed, and passed Cushi.

24 And David sat betwixt two gates; soothly the espyer, that was in the highness of the gate on the wall, raised up his eyes, and he saw a man alone running;

25 and the espyer cried, and showed to the king. And the king said to him, If he is alone, good message is in his mouth. But while he hasted, and nighed near,

26 the espyer saw another man run-ning; and the espyer cried on high, and said, Another man running alone appeareth to me. And the king said to him, And this man is a good mes-senger.

27 Soothly the espyer said, I behold the running of the former, as the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and he cometh bringing a good message.

28 And Ahimaaz cried, and said to the king, Hail king! And he worshipped the king lowly before him to the earth, and said, Blessed be thy Lord God, that hath enclosed altogether the men, that raised their hands against my lord the king.

29 And the king said, Whether peace is to the child Absalom? And Ahimaaz said, I saw, that is, I heard, a great noise, when Joab, thy servant, thou king, sent me, thy servant; I know none other thing.

30 To whom the king said, Pass thou, and stand here. And when he had passed, and stood,

31 Cushi appeared; and he came and said, My lord the king, I bring good message; for the Lord hath deemed today for thee of the hand of all men that rised against thee.

32 And the king said to Cushi, Whether peace is to the child Absalom? To whom Cushi answered, and said, The enemies of my lord the king, and all men that rise against him into evil, be made as the child.

33 Therefore the king was sorry, and went up into the solar of the gate, and he wept, and spake thus going, My son, Absalom! Absalom, my son! who giveth to me, that I die for thee? Absalom, my son! my son, Absalom!

CHAPTER 19

1 Forsooth it was told to Joab, that the king wept, and bewailed his son;

2 and the victory in that day was turned into mourning to all the people; for the people heard, that it was said in that day, The king maketh sorrow on his son.

3 And the people eschewed to enter into the city in that day, as the people turned and fleeing from [the] battle is wont to bow away.

4 And the king covered his head, and cried with great voice, My son, Absalom! Absalom, my son!

5 Therefore Joab entered to the king into the house, and said, Thou hast shamed today the cheers of all thy servants, that have made safe thy life, and the life of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the life of thy wives, and the life of thy secondary wives.

6 Thou lovest them that hate thee, and thou hatest them that love thee; and thou hast showed today that thou reckest not of thy dukes and of thy servants; and verily I have known now, that if Absalom lived, and all we had been dead, then it should please thee.

7 Now therefore rise up, and go thou forth, and speak thou, and make satisfaction to thy servants; for I swear to thee by the Lord, that if thou shalt not go forth, soothly not one man shall dwell with thee in this night; and this shall be worse to thee, than all the evils that came [up] on thee from thy young waxing age till into this present time.

8 Therefore the king rose up, and sat in the gate; and it was told to all the people, that the king sat in the gate, and all the multitude came before the king. Forsooth Israel fled into their tabernacles.

9 And all the people strived in all the lineages of Israel, and said, The king delivered us from the hand of all our enemies, and he saved us from the hand of Philistines; and now he hath fled from the land for Absalom.

10 Certainly Absalom, whom we anointed upon us, is dead in battle; how long be ye still, and bring not again the king? And the counsel of all Israel came to the king.

11 And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar, the priests, and said, Speak ye to the greater men in birth of Judah, and say ye, Why came ye the last to bring again the king into his house? Soothly the word of all Israel came to the king, that they would bring him again into his house. For the king said, Ye shall say these things to the people,

12 Ye be my brethren, ye be my bone and my flesh; why the last bring ye again the king?

13 And say ye to Amasa, Whether thou art not my bone and my flesh? God do these things to me, and add these things too, if thou shalt not be master of chivalry, before me in all time after Joab.

14 And David bowed to him the heart of all [the] men of Judah as of one man; and they sent to the king, and said, Turn thou again, and all thy servants.

15 And the king turned again, and came till to Jordan; and all Judah came till into Gilgal to meet the king, and to lead him over the Jordan.

16 But Shimei, the son of Gera, the son of Benjamin, of Bahurim, hasted, and came down with the men of Judah into the meeting of king David,

17 with a thousand men of Benjamin; and Ziba, the child of the house of Saul, and fifteen sons of him, and twenty servants were with him; and they brake into the Jordan, before the king,

18 and they passed over the fords, that they should lead over the house of the king, and do by the behest of the king. Soothly Shimei, the son of Gera, kneeled before the king, when he had passed now Jordan,

19 and said to the king, My lord the king, areckon thou not wickedness to me, neither have thou mind of the wrongs of thy servant in the day, in which thou, my lord the king, wentest out of Jerusalem, neither set thou, king, those wrongs in thine heart;

20 for I thy servant acknowledge my sin; and therefore today I came the first of all the house of Joseph, and I came down into the meeting of my lord the king.

21 And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, answered and said, Whether Shimei, that cursed the christ of the Lord, shall not be slain for these words?

22 And David said, What is it to me and to you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Why be ye made to me today into Satan, that is, adversary? Therefore whether a man shall be slain today in Israel? Whether I know not me made king today on Israel?

23 And the king said to Shimei, Thou shalt not die; and the king swore to him.

24 Also Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down with unwashed feet, and with his beard unclipped, into the coming of the king. And Mephibosheth had not washed his clothes, from the day in which the king went out of Jerusalem till to the day of his coming again in peace.

25 And when at Jerusalem he had come to the king, the king said to him, Mephibosheth, why camest thou not with me?

26 And he answered and said, My lord the king, my servant despised me; and I thy servant said to him, that he should saddle the ass to me, and I should ascend, and I should go with the king; for I thy servant am crooked.

27 Moreover and he accused me, thy servant, to thee, my lord the king; but thou, my lord the king, art as the angel of God; do thou that, that is pleasant [or pleasing] to thee.

28 For the house of my father was no but guilty to [the] death to my lord the king; soothly thou hast set [or puttest] me thy servant among the guests of thy board; what therefore have I of just complaint, either what may I more cry to the king?

29 And the king said to him, What speakest thou more? that that I have spoken is steadfast; thou and Ziba part the possessions.

30 And Mephibosheth answered to the king, Yea, take he all things, after that my lord the king turned again peaceably into his house.

31 Also Barzillai of Gilead, a full eld [or old] man, came down from Rogelim, and led the king over Jordan, ready also to pursue [or follow] him over the flood.

32 And Barzillai of Gilead was full eld [or old], that is, of fourscore years; and he gave meats to the king, when the king dwelled in castles; for Barzillai was a full rich man.

33 And so the king said to Barzillai, Come thou with me, that thou rest securely with me in Jerusalem.

34 And Barzillai said to the king, How many be the days of [the] years of my life, that I go up with the king into Jerusalem?

35 I am of fourscore years today; whether my wits be quick to deem sweet thing either bitter, either meat and drink may delight thy servant, either may I hear more the voice of singers either of singsters? Why is thy servant to be a charge to my lord the king?

36 I thy servant shall go forth a little from the Jordan with thee, I have no need to this yielding;

37 but I beseech thee, that I thy servant turn again, and die in my city, and be buried beside the sepulchre of my father and of my mother; forsooth my son Chimham is thy servant, my lord the king, go he with thee, and do thou to him that that seemeth good to thee.

38 Therefore the king said to Bar-zillai, Chimham go forth with me; and I shall do to him whatever thing pleaseth thee, and thou shalt get all thing, that thou askest of me.

39 And when all the people and the king had passed [over] Jordan, the king abode; and the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he turned again into his place.

40 Then the king passed forth into Gilgal, and Chimham with him. And all the people of Judah had led the king over, and the half part only of the people of Israel was present.

41 Therefore all the men of Israel came together to the king, and said to him, Why have our brethren, the men of Judah, stolen thee, and have led the king and his house over Jordan, and all the men of David with him?

42 And each man of Judah answered to the men of Israel, For the king is near of kin to me; why art thou wroth upon this thing? Whether we have eaten anything of the king’s, either gifts be given to us?

43 And a man of Israel answered to the men of Judah, and said, I am greater by ten parts to the king, and David pertaineth more to me than to thee; why hast thou done wrong to me, and it was not told to me the former, that I should bring again my king? Forsooth the men of Judah answered harder to the men of Israel.

CHAPTER 20

1 Also it befelled, that a man of Belial was there, Sheba by name, the son of Bichri, a man of the generation of Benjamin; and he sounded with a trump, and said, No part is to us in David, neither heritage in the son of Jesse; thou Israel, turn again into thy tabernacles.

2 And all Israel was parted from David, and followed Sheba, the son of Bichri; and the men of Judah cleaved to their king, from Jordan till to Jerusalem.

3 And when the king had come into his house in Jerusalem, he took [the] ten women, his secondary wives, which he had left to keep the house, and he betook them into keeping, and gave meat to them; and he entered not [in] to them; but they were enclosed till to the day of their death, and lived in widowhood.

4 And David said to Amasa, Call thou together to me all the men of Judah into the third day, and be thou present.

5 Therefore Amasa went forth, that he call together the people of Judah; and he dwelled over the covenanted time, which the king had set to him.

6 And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba, the son of Bichri, shall torment us more than Absalom did; therefore take the servants of thy lord, and pursue him, lest in hap he find strengthened cities, and escape us.

7 Therefore the men of Joab went out with Abishai, and Cherethites and Pelethites, and all the strong men, went out of Jerusalem to pursue Sheba, the son of Bichri.

8 And when they were beside the great stone, which is in Gibeon, Amasa came, and ran to them; and Joab was clothed with a strait coat at the measure of his shape, and he was girded above with a sword hanging down unto his entrails in a sheath; and it went out, and felled down.

9 And so Joab said to Amasa, Hail, my brother! And Joab held with his right hand the chin of Amasa, as kissing him.

10 Forsooth Amasa took not keep of the sword, which sword Joab had, and Joab smote Amasa in the side, and shedded out his entrails into the earth, and Amasa was dead; and Joab added not the second wound. And Joab, and Abishai, his brother, pursued Sheba, the son of Bichri.

11 In the meantime, when some of the children of David, of the fellows of Joab, had stood beside the dead body of Amasa, they said, Lo! he that would be the fellow of David, be for Joab.

12 And Amasa was besprinkled with blood, and lay in the middle of the way. Some man saw this, that all the people abode to see Amasa, and he removed Amasa from the way into the field, and he covered Amasa with a cloth, lest men passing by should abide [still] for him.

13 Therefore when he was removed from the way, each man passed forth, pursuing [or following] Joab to pursue Sheba, the son of Bichri.

14 Forsooth Sheba had passed by all the lineages of Israel till into Abel, and into Bethmaacah; and all the chosen men were gathered to him.

15 Therefore they came, and fought against him in Abel, and in Beth-maacah, and encompassed the city with strongholds; and the city was besieged. And all the company, that was with Joab, enforced or endeav-oured to destroy the walls.

16 And a wise woman of the city cried on high, Hear ye! hear ye! say ye to Joab, Nigh thou hither, and I shall speak with thee.

17 And when he had nighed to her, she said to him, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am. To whom she spake thus, Hear thou the words of thine handmaid. Joab answered, I hear.

18 And again she said, A word was said in eld [or old] proverb, They that ask, ask in Abel; and so they profited.

19 Whether I am not, that answer truth to Israel? and seekest thou to destroy a city, and to do away a mother city in Israel*? why castedest or throwest thou down the heritage of the Lord?

20 And Joab answered, and said, Far be, far be this from me; I cast not down, neither I destroy.

21 The thing hath not so itself; but a man of the hill of Ephraim, Sheba, the son of Bichri, by surname, raised his hand against king David; betake ye him alone to us, and we shall go away from the city. And the woman said to Joab, Lo! his head shall be sent to thee by the wall.

22 Then the woman went in to all the people, and she spake to them wisely; and they threw out to Joab the head of Sheba, the son of Bichri, girded off. And Joab sounded with a trump, and they departed from the city, each man into his tabernacles; and Joab turned again to Jerusalem to the king.

23 Therefore Joab was on all the host of Israel; forsooth Benaiah, [the] son of Jehoiada, was on Cherethites and Pelethites;

24 and Adoram was upon the tributes; and Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was chancellor;

25 and Sheva was scribe; but Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

26 and Ira of Jairites was the priest of David.

CHAPTER 21

1 And hunger was made in the land of Israel in the days of David, by three years continually. And David counselled the answer of the Lord, that is, asked counsel of the Lord in the answering place; and the Lord said, It is for Saul, and for his house, and for [the] blood, for he killed the men of Gibeon.

2 Therefore when [the] Gibeonites were called, the king said to them; soothly Gibeonites be not of the sons of Israel, but they be the relics or remnants of Amorites; and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, that they should not slay them, and Saul would smite them for his fervent love, as for the sons of Israel and of Judah;

3 therefore David said to Gibeonites, What shall I do to you, and what shall be your amends, that ye bless the heritage of the Lord?

4 And Gibeonites said to him, No question is to us upon gold and silver, but against Saul, and against his house; neither we will, that a man of Israel be slain. To whom the king said, What therefore will ye, that I do to you?

5 And they said to the king, We owe so to do away the man, that defouled and oppressed us wickedly, that not one soothly be left of his generation in all the coasts of Israel.

6 Seven men of his sons be given to us, that we crucify them to the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, sometime the chosen man of the Lord. And the king said, I shall give them to you.

7 And the king spared Mephibo-sheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, for the oath of the Lord, that was betwixt David and Jonathan, the son of Saul.

8 And so the king took two sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, which she childed to Saul, Armoni, and Mephibosheth; and he took[the] five sons of Michal, the daughter of Saul, which she engendered to Adriel, the son of Barzillai, that was of Meholathites.

9 And he gave them into the hands of Gibeonites, and they did those seven sons upon a cross in an hill before the Lord; and these seven fell down slain together in the days of the first reaping, when the reaping of barley began.

10 Forsooth Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, took an hair-shirt, and arrayed to herself a place above the stone or laid it under her upon a stone, from the beginning of harvest till water dropped on them from heaven; and she suffered not birds to tear them by day, neither beasts by night.

11 And those things which Rizpah, the secondary wife of Saul, the daughter of Aiah, had done, were told to David.

12 And David went, and took the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan, his son, from the men of Jabesh of Gilead; which had stolen those bones from the street of Bethshan, in which Philistines had hanged them, when they had slain Saul in Gilboa.

13 And David bare out from thence the bones of Saul, and the bones of Jonathan, his son; and they gathered the bones of them that were crucified,

14 and they buried those [or them] with the bones of Saul and of Jonathan, his son, in the land of Benjamin, in the side of the sepulchre of Kish, the father of Saul. And they did all things, whatever the king commanded them; and the Lord did mercy to the land after these things.

15 Forsooth battle of the Philistines was made again against Israel; and David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. Soothly when David failed,

16 Ishbibenob, that was of the kin of Harapha, that is, the father of the giants, and the iron of his spear weighed three hundred ounces, and he was girded with a new sword, enforced or endeavoured to smite David.

17 And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, was in help to David; and he smote and killed the Philistine. Then the men of David swore, and said, Now thou shalt not go out with us into battle, lest thou quench the lantern of Israel.

18 Also the second battle was in Gob against [the] Philistines; then Sibbechai of Hushathites smote Saph, of the gen-eration of Harapha, of the kin of giants.

19 Also the third battle was in Gob against [the] Philistines; in which battle a man given of God, the son of a forest, and an embroiderer, a man of Bethlehem, smote the brother of Goliath of Gath, whose spear shaft was as a beam of webs or a weaver.

20 The fourth battle was in Gath; wherein was an high man, that had six fingers in his hands and six toes in his feet, that is, four and twenty digits; and he was of the kin of Harapha, that is, the father of the giants;

21 and he blasphemed Israel; and Jonathan, the son of Shimeah, the brother of David, killed him.

22 These four were born of Harapha in Gath, and they felled down in the hand of David, and of his servants.

CHAPTER 22

1 Soothly David spake to the Lord the words of this song, in the day in which the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.

2 And David said, The Lord is my stone, and my strength or my strong-hold, and my saviour;

3 my God, my strength, I shall hope into him; my shield, and the horn of mine health, my raiser up, and my refuge; my saviour, thou shalt deliver me from wickedness, that is, hast delivered.

4 I shall inwardly call the Lord, worthy to be praised; and I shall be safe from mine enemies.

5 For the sorrows of death com-passed me; the strands [or streams] of Belial made me afeared.

6 The cords of hell encompassed me; the snares of death have gone before me.

7 In tribulation I shall call thee, Lord, that is, I have called thee, Lord, and I shall cry to my God; and he heard from his holy temple my voice, and my cry shall come to his ears.

8 The earth was moved, and trembled; the foundaments of hills were smitten and shaken together, for the Lord was wroth to them.

9 Smoke went up from his nostrils, and fire of his mouth shall devour; coals were kindled of it.

10 And he bowed heavens, and came down; and mist under his feet.

11 And he went upon cherubim, and flew; and he slid [up] on the pens or wings of the wind.

12 He put darkness a hiding place in his compass, and riddled or winnowed waters from the clouds of heavens;

13 for brightness in his sight coals of fire were kindled.

14 The Lord shall thunder from heavens; and [the] high God shall give his voice.

15 He sent his arrows, and scattered them; and sent lightnings, and wasted them.

16 And the sheddings out of the sea appeared, and the foundaments of the world were showed; from the blaming of the Lord, from the breathing of the spirit of his strong vengeance.

17 He sent from heaven, and took me; and drew me out of many waters.

18 He delivered me from my might-iest enemy, and from them that hated me; for they were stronger than I.

19 They came before me in the day of my tormenting; and the Lord was made my steadfastness.

20 And he led me out into largeness, and he delivered me; for I pleased him.

21 The Lord shall yield to me after my rightwiseness; and he shall yield to me after the cleanness of mine hands.

22 For I [have] kept the ways of the Lord; and I did not turn wickedly from my God.

23 For all his dooms were in my sight; and I did not away from me his behests.

24 And I shall be perfect with him; and I shall keep me from my wicked-ness.

25 And the Lord shall restore to me after my rightwiseness; and after the cleanness of mine hands in the sight of his eyes.

26 With the holy thou shalt be holy, and with the strong, that is, to suffer adversities patiently, thou shalt be perfect;

27 and with a chosen man thou shalt be chosen, and with a wayward man thou shalt be made wayward*.

28 And thou shalt make safe a poor people; and with thine eyes thou shalt make low them that be high.

29 For thou, Lord, art my lantern, and thou, Lord, shalt lighten my darkness.

30 For I girded, that is, made ready to battle, shall run in thee, that is, in thy strength; and in my God I shall skip over the wall.

31 God, his way is without wem; the speech of the Lord is examined with fire, that is, is pure and clean as metal proved in the furnace; he is a shield of all men hoping in him.

32 For who is God, except the Lord; and who is strong, except our God?

33 God, that hath girded me with strength, and hath made plane my perfect way;

34 and he hath made even my feet with harts’, and hath set me upon mine high things;

35 and he taught mine hands to battle, and a brazen bow was granted to mine arms.

36 Thou hast given to me the shield of thine health; and thy mildness hath multiplied me.

37 Thou shalt alarge my steps under me; and mine heels shall not fail.

38 I shall pursue mine enemies, and I shall all-brake them; and I shall not turn again, till I waste them.

39 I shall waste them, and I shall break them, that they rise not; they shall fall under my feet.

40 Thou hast girded me with strength to battle; thou hast bowed under me them that stood against me.

41 Thou hast given mine enemies’ aback to me, men hating me; and I shall destroy them.

42 They shall cry, that is, to idols either to men’s help, and none shall be that shall save them; they shall cry to the Lord, and he shall not hear them.

43 I shall do away them as the dust of [the] earth; I shall pound them, and I shall do [them] away as the clay, or the fen, of streets.

44 Thou shalt save me from [the] against-sayings of my people; thou shalt keep me into the head of folks; the people, whom I know not, shall serve me.

45 Alien sons shall not against-stand me; by hearing of [the] ear, they shall obey to me.

46 Alien sons floated away; and they shall be drawn together in their enclosings.

47 The Lord liveth, and my God is blessed; and the strong God of mine health shall be enhanced.

48 God, that givest vengeances to me, and hast cast down peoples under me.

49 Which leadest me out from mine enemies, and raisest me from men against-standing me; thou shalt deliver me from the wicked man.

50 Therefore, Lord, I shall acknowl-edge to thee in heathen men; and I shall sing to thy name.

51 That he maketh great the healths of his king; and doeth mercy to his christ, David, and to his seed till into without end.

CHAPTER 23

1 Forsooth these be the last words, which David, the son of Jesse, said. The words that the man said, to whom it is ordained of Christ, of the God of Jacob, the noble psalm-maker of Israel;

2 The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word by my tongue.

3 David said, God of Israel spake to me, the strong help of Israel, the just [or rightwise] Lord of men, is Lord in the dread of God.

4 As the light of the morrowtide, when the sun riseth early, is bright without clouds; and as an herb cometh forth of the earth by rains.

5 And mine house is not so great with God, that he should make with me everlasting covenant, steadfast and made strong in all things; for all mine health is of him, and all my will, that is, all my desire, goeth into him, and nothing is thereof, that maketh not fruit*.

6 Forsooth all trespassers shall be drawn out as thorns, that be not taken with hands.

7 And if any man will touch those [or them], he shall be armed with iron, and with a piece of wood formed into a spear; and the thorns shall be kindled, and shall be burnt till to nought.

8 These be the names of the strong men of David. David sitteth in the chair, the wisest prince among the three; he is as a most tender worm of a tree, that killed eight hundred with one fierceness.

9 After him was Eleazar, the son of his father’s brother, Ahohite; he was among [the] three strong men, that were with David, when they said shame to the Philistines, and were gathered thither into battle. And when the men of Israel had gone up,

10 he/Eleazar stood in battle, when his fellows went aback, and smote the Philistines, till that his hand failed, and was stark with or fixed to the sword. And the Lord made great health or victory in that day; and the people that fled turned again, to draw away the spoils of [the] slain men.

11 And after him was Shammah, the son of Agee, of Hararites. And Philistines were gathered in the station; and there was a field full of lentils, or vetches; and when the people of Israel[had] fled from the face of Philistines,

12 he stood in the midst of the field, and beheld it, for he defended the field; and he smote the Philistines, and the Lord made there [a] great health.

13 Also and three men went down before, that were princes among the thirty, and came to David in the time of reaping into the den of Adullam. And the tents of Philistines were set in the valley of giants.

14 And David was in a stronghold; and the station of Philistines was then in Bethlehem.

15 Then David desired water of the well, and said, If any man would give to me drink of the water of the cistern, which is in Bethlehem, beside the gate.

16 Therefore the three strong men brake into the tents of Philistines, and drew water of the cistern of Beth-lehem, that was beside the gate, and they brought it to David; and he would not drink, but offered it to the Lord,

17 and said, The Lord be merciful to me, that I do not this; whether I shall drink the blood of these men, that went forth, and the peril of their lives? Therefore he would not drink. The Three full strong men did these things.

18 Also Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was prince of [the] three; he it is that raised his spear against three hundred men, which he killed; he was named among [the] three,

19 and was the nobler among the three, and he was the prince of them; but he came not to the three first men.

20 And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, the strongest man of great works, of Kabzeel, he smote [the] two lions of Moab, that is, two knights hardy as lions or two strong hardy knights; and he went down, and smote a lion in the middle of a cistern in the days of snow.

21 Also he killed a man of Egypt, a man worthy of beholding, having a spear in his hand; and so when he had gone down with a rod to that man, by might he wrung out the spear from the hand of the man of Egypt, and killed him with his own spear.

22 Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, did these things; and he was named among [the] three strong men,

23 that were among the thirty nobler men; nevertheless he came not to the first three. And David made him a counsellor of private to himself.

24 Asahel, the brother of Joah, was among the thirty men; Elhanan, the son of his father’s brother, of Bethlehem;

25 Shammah, of Harodites; Elika, of Harodites;

26 Helez, of Paltites; Ira, the son of Ikkesh, of Tekoa;

27 Abiezer, of Anathoth; Mebunnai, of Hushathites;

28 Zalmon, of Ahohites; Maharai, of Netophah;

29 Heleb, the son of Baanah, and he was of Netophah; Ittai, the son of Ribai, of Gibeah, of the sons of Benjamin;

30 Benaiah, of Pirathon; Hiddai, of the strand [or stream] of Gaash;

31 Abialbon, of Arabah; Azmaveth, of Barhumites;

32 Eliahba, of Shaalbonites; the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, and Jashen;

33 Shammah, of Hararites; Ahiam, the son of Sharar, of Hararites;

34 Eliphelet, the son of Ahasbai, the son of Maachathite; Eliam, the son of Ahithophel, of Giloh;

35 Hezrai, of Carmel; Paarai, of Arbites;

36 Igal, the son of Nathan, of Zobah; Bani, of Gadites;

37 Zelek, of Ammonites; Nahari, of Beeroth, the squire of Joab, the son of Zeruiah;

38 Ira, of Ithrites; Gareb, and he was of Ithrites;

39 Uriah of Hittites; all these were seven and thirty men.

CHAPTER 24

1 And the strong vengeance of the Lord added to be wroth against Israel, and he stirred against them David, saying to Joab, Go thou, and number thou Israel and Judah.

2 And the king said to Joab, the prince of his host, Go thou by all the lineages of Israel, from Dan till to Beersheba, and number thou the people, that I know the number thereof.

3 And Joab said to the king, Thy Lord God increase to this people, how great it is now, and again multiply he it an hundredfold in the sight of my lord the king; but what will or mean my lord the king to himself in such a thing?

4 But the word of the king overcame the words of Joab, and of the princes of the host; and Joab went out, and the princes of the knights, from the face of the king, that they should number the people of Israel.

5 And when they had passed [over] Jordan, they came into Aroer, to the right side of the city that is in the valley of Gad; and they passed forth by Jazer

6 into Gilead, and into the lower land of Hodshi, and they came into the woody places of Dan; and they went about beside Sidon,

7 and passed nigh the walls of Tyre, and nigh all the land of Hivites, and of Canaanites; and they came to the south of Judah, in[to] Beersheba.

8 And when all the land was com-passed, they came after nine months and twenty days into Jerusalem.

9 And so Joab gave the number of [the] describing of the people to the king. And of Israel were found nine hundred thousand of strong men, that drew out sword; and of Judah five hundred thousand of fighters.

10 And the heart of David smote him, that is, his conscience reproved him, after that the people was numbered; and David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in this deed; but, Lord, I pray, that thou turn away the wickedness of thy servant, for I have done full follily.

11 Therefore David rose early; and the word of the Lord was made to Gad, the prophet and seer, and said,

12 Go thou, and speak to David, The Lord saith these things, The choice of three things is given to thee; choose thou one, which thou wilt of these, that I do to thee.

13 And when Gad had come to David, he told to him, and said, Either hunger shall come to thee in thy land seven years; either three months thou shalt flee thine adversaries, and they shall pursue thee; either certainly three days pestilence shall be in thy land; now therefore deliver thou, either advise or examine thou, and see, what word I shall answer to him that sent me.

14 And David said to Gad, I am constrained on each side greatly; but it is better that I fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies be many, than into the hands of men.

15 And the Lord sent pestilence into Israel from the morrowtide till to the time ordained; and seventy thousand of men were dead of the people from Dan till to Beersheba.

16 And when the angel of the Lord had held forth his hand over Jerusalem, that he should destroy it, the Lord had mercy on the tormenting; and said to the angel smiting the people, It sufficeth now; withhold thine hand. And the angel of the Lord was beside the cornfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 And David said to the Lord, when he had seen the angel slaying the people, I am he that have sinned, and I have done wickedly; what have these [or they] done, that be sheep? I beseech, thine hand be turned against me, and against the house of my father.

18 Forsooth Gad, the prophet, came to David in that day, and said to him, Go thou up, and ordain an altar to the Lord in the cornfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

19 And David went up, after the word of Gad, which the Lord had commanded to him.

20 And Araunah beheld, and per-ceived, that the king and his servants passed over to him; and he went out, and worshipped the king with low cheer to the earth;

21 and said, What is the cause, that my lord the king cometh to his servant? To whom David said, That I buy of thee the cornfloor, and build an altar to the Lord, and the slaying cease, that is cruel in the people.

22 And Araunah said to David, My lord the king take, and offer, as it pleaseth to him; thou hast oxen into burnt sacrifice, and a wain and yokes of oxen into uses of wood.

23 Araunah gave, that is, would give, all things to the king. And Araunah said to the king, Thy Lord God receive thy vow.

24 To whom the king answered, and said, Not as thou wilt, but I shall buy it of thee for price, and I shall not offer to the Lord my God burnt sacrifices given freely. Therefore David bought the cornfloor for six hundred shekels of gold*, and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 And David builded there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt sacrifices and peaceable sacrifices; and the Lord did mercy to the land, and the vengeance was refrained from Israel.

* CHAPTER 2:14 That is, ‘show their strength and nobility’; and here ‘play’ is set for ‘slay’ either ‘fight’.

* CHAPTER 8:13 See 2nd Samuel 10:16-19.

* CHAPTER 10:16 Also known as Hadarezer.

* CHAPTER 11:4 That is, from flux of unclean blood that should come till to the child bearing, for she conceived in that lying-by.

* CHAPTER 12:30 That is, ‘the crown of the idol of them’, which is called Malcham or Milcom, that is interpreted ‘the king of them’.

* CHAPTER 20:19 The woman speaketh in the person of the city, as if she said, ‘This city held ever truth and faith to the king’; and therefore in Hebrew it is thus, ‘I am one of peaceable and true’, that is, one of the number of cities that be peaceable and true to the king.

* CHAPTER 22:27 For when wayward men be justly punished of God, they say that God doeth waywardly with them.

* CHAPTER 23:5 And this is done, when all thing that cometh forth of the will, either of advisement, is done into the glory of God.

* CHAPTER 24:24 As written in the first book of Chronicles, Chapter 21.

1ST KINGS

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

1ST KINGS

CHAPTER 1

1 And king David waxed eld, and had full many days of age; and when he was covered with clothes, he was not made hot.

2 Therefore his servants said to him, Seek we to our lord the king a young waxing virgin; and stand she before the king, and nurse she him, and sleep in his bosom, and make hot our lord the king.

3 Therefore they sought a young waxing virgin, fair in all the coasts of Israel; and they found Abishag of Shunem, and they brought her to the king.

4 And the damsel was full fair, and she slept with the king, and ministered to him; forsooth the king knew not her fleshly.

5 And Adonijah, the son of Haggith, was raised up, and said, I shall reign. And he made to him a chariot, and knights, and fifty men, that ran before him.

6 Neither David, his father, reproved him any time, nor said, Why hast thou done this? But also he was full fair, the second child after Absalom;

7 and his word was with Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar, priest, that helped the parts of Adonijah.

8 But Zadok, the priest, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan, the prophet, and Shimei, and Cherethites and Pelethites, and all the strength of the host of David, were not with Adonijah.

9 Therefore when rams were offered, and calves, and all fat things, beside the stone [of] Zoheleth, that was nigh the well of Rogel, Adonijah called all his brethren, the sons of the king, and all the men of Judah, servants of the king.

10 Soothly he called not Nathan, the prophet, and Benaiah, and all the strong men, and Solomon, his brother.

11 And so Nathan said to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, Whether thou hast heard, that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, hath reigned, and our lord David knoweth not this?

12 Now therefore come thou, take thou counsel of me, and save thy life, and of Solomon, thy son.

13 Go thou, and enter to king David, and say thou to him, Whether not thou, my lord the king, hast sworn to me, thine handmaid, and saidest, that Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit in my throne? Why therefore reigneth Adonijah?

14 And yet while thou shalt speak there with the king, I shall come after thee, and fulfill thy words.

15 Therefore Bathsheba entered to the king in the closet or bed-place; and the king was full eld, and Abishag of Shunem ministered to him.

16 And Bathsheba bowed herself, and worshipped or honoured the king; to whom the king said, What wilt thou to thee?

17 And she answered, and said, My lord the king, thou hast sworn to thine handmaid by thy Lord God, Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit in my throne;

18 and lo! Adonijah hath reigned now, while thou, my lord the king, knowest not;

19 he hath slain oxen, and all fat things, and full many rams; and he hath called all the sons of the king, also Abiathar [the] priest, and Joab, the prince of the chivalry; but he called not Solomon, thy servant.

20 Nevertheless, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel behold into thee, that thou show to them, who oweth to sit in thy throne, my lord the king, after thee;

21 and it shall be, when my lord the king hath slept with his fathers, I and my son Solomon shall be reckoned as sinners, that is, Adonijah shall put on us crimes, to deprive us from life.

22 While she spake yet with the king, Nathan, the prophet, came.

23 And they told to the king, and said, Nathan, the prophet, is present. And when he had entered in the sight of the king, and had worshipped him lowly to the earth,

24 Nathan said, My lord the king, saidest thou, Adonijah reign after me, and sit he on my throne?

25 For he came down today, and offered oxen, and fat things, and full many wethers; and he called all the sons of the king, [and the princes of the host], and also Abiathar, [the] priest; and when they ate, and drank before him, and said, King Adonijah live;

26 he called not me, thy servant, and Zadok, the priest, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and Solomon, thy son.

27 Whether this word went out from my lord the king, and thou showedest not to me, thy servant, who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

28 And king David answered, and said, Call ye Bathsheba to me. And when she had entered before the king, and had stood before him,

29 the king swore, and said, The Lord liveth, that hath delivered my life from all anguish;

30 for as I swore to thee by the Lord God of Israel, and said, Solomon, thy son, shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne for me, so I shall do today.

31 And Bathsheba, with her cheer bowed down into the earth, worship-ped the king, and said, My lord king David live without end.

32 And king David said, Call ye Zadok, the priest, to me, and Nathan, the prophet, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada. And when they had entered before the king,

33 the king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and put ye my son Solomon upon my mule, and lead ye him into Gihon.

34 And [there] Zadok, the priest, and Nathan, the prophet, anoint him into king upon Israel and Judah; and ye shall sing with a trump, and ye shall say, Live king Solomon!

35 Ye shall go up after him, and ye shall come to Jerusalem; and he shall sit upon my throne, and he shall reign for me; and I shall command to him, that he be duke on Israel and on Judah.

36 And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, answered to the king, and said, Amen; so speak the Lord God of my lord the king.

37 As the Lord was with my lord the king, so be he with Solomon, and make he the throne of Solomon higher than the throne of my lord king David.

38 Then Zadok, the priest, went down, and Nathan, the prophet, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and Cherethites, and Pelethites; and they putted [or put] Solomon upon the mule of David, the king, and they brought him into Gihon.

39 And Zadok, the priest, took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon; and they sang with a clarion; and all the people said, Live king Solomon!

40 And all the multitude went up after him, and the people of men singing with pipes, and being glad with great joy; and the earth sounded of the cry of them.

41 And Adonijah heard, and all that were called of him to the feast; and then the feast was ended. But also Joab said, when the voice of the trump was heard, What will or mean it to itself the cry of the city making noise?

42 Yet while he spake, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, the priest, came; to whom Adonijah said, Enter thou, for thou art a strong man, and telling good things.

43 And Jonathan answered to Adon-ijah, Nay; for our lord king David hath ordained Solomon king;

44 and David hath sent with Solomon Zadok, the priest, and Nathan, the prophet, and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and Cherethites, and Peleth-ites; and they have put Solomon upon the mule of the king.

45 And Zadok, the priest, and Nathan, the prophet, have anointed him king in Gihon; and they came down from thence being glad, and the city resound-ed; this is the voice that ye heard.

46 But also Solomon sitteth on the throne of realm;

47 and the servants of the king have entered, and have blessed our lord king David, and said, God make large the name of Solomon above thy name, and make great his throne above thy throne. And king David worshipped in his bed;

48 and furthermore he spake these things, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that hath given today a sitter in my throne, while mine eyes see.

49 Therefore all that were called of Adonijah to the feast, were afeared, and rose up, and each man went into his way.

50 And Adonijah dreaded Solomon, and rose up, and went into the tabernacle of the Lord, and he held the horn, or corner, of the altar.

51 And they told to Solomon, and said, Lo! Adonijah dreadeth the king Solomon, and he holdeth the horn, or corner, of the altar, and said, King Solomon swear to me today, that he shall not slay his servant with sword.

52 And Solomon said, If he is a good man, soothly not an hair of him shall fall into the earth; but if evil be found in him, he shall die.

53 Therefore king Solomon sent, and led out Adonijah from the altar; and he entered, and worshipped king Solomon; and Solomon said to him, Go into thine house.

CHAPTER 2

1 Forsooth the days of David nighed, that he should die; and he commanded to Solomon, his son, and said,

2 Lo! I enter into the way of all earth; be thou comforted, and be thou a strong man.

3 And keep thou the keepings and the behests of thy Lord God, that thou go in his ways, and keep his ceremonies, and his behests, and his dooms, and witnessings, as it is written in the law of Moses; that thou under-stand all things which thou doest, and whither ever thou shalt turn thee.

4 That the Lord confirm his words, which the Lord spake of me, and said, If thy sons keep my ways, and go before me in truth, in all their heart, and in all their soul, a man shall not be taken away of thee from the throne of Israel.

5 Also thou knowest what things Joab, the son of Zeruiah, did to me; what things he did to [the] two princes of the host of Israel, to Abner, the son of Ner, and to Amasa, the son of Jether, which he killed, and shedded the blood of battle in peace; and putted [or put] the blood of battle in his girdle, that was about his loins, and in his shoes, that was in his feet.

6 Therefore thou shalt do by thy wisdom, and thou shalt not lead forth his hoariness peaceably to hells, either sepulchre.

7 But also thou shalt yield grace to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead, and they shall be eating in thy board; for they met me, when I fled from the face of Absalom, thy brother.

8 Also thou hast with thee Shimei, the son of Gera, the son of Benjamin, of Bahurim, the which Shimei cursed me by the worst cursing, when I went to the defensible places; but for-thy he came down to me into my meeting, when I passed over the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, and said, I shall not slay thee with sword,

9 do not thou suffer him to be unpunished; forsooth thou art a wise man, and thou shalt know what thou shalt do to him, and thou shalt lead forth his hoar hairs with blood to hells [or hell].

10 And David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

11 And the days, in which David reigned upon Israel, be forty years; in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem three and thirty years.

12 Forsooth Solomon sat upon the throne of David, his father, and his realm was made steadfast greatly.

13 And Adonijah, the son of Haggith, entered to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon; and she said to him, Whether thine entering is peaceable? And he answered, It is peaceable.

14 And he added, A word of me is to thee. And she said, Speak thou.

15 And he said, Thou knowest that the realm was mine, and all Israel purposed to make me into king to them; but the realm is translated or transferred, and is made my brother’s; for of the Lord it is ordained to him.

16 Now therefore I pray of thee one asking; shame thou not my face. And she said to him, Speak thou.

17 And he said, I pray, that thou say to Solomon the king; for he may not deny anything to thee; that he give me Abishag of Shunem to wife.

18 And Bathsheba said, Well, I shall speak for thee to the king.

19 Therefore Bathsheba came to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah; and the king rose against the coming of her, and worshipped her, and sat on his throne; and a throne was set to the mother of the king, and she sat at his right side.

20 And she said to him, I pray of thee one little asking; shame thou not my face. And the king said to her, My mother, ask thou; for it is not leaveful that I turn away thy face.

21 And she said, Abishag of Shunem be given wife to Adonijah, thy brother.

22 And king Solomon answered, and said to his mother, Why askest thou Abishag of Shunem to Adonijah? Ask thou to him also the realm; certainly he is mine elder brother, and he hath Abiathar, priest, and Joab, the son of Zeruiah.

23 Therefore king Solomon swore by the Lord, and said, God do to me these things, and add these things too, for Adonijah hath spoken this word against his life.

24 And now the Lord liveth, that hath confirmed me, and hath set me on the throne of [David], my father, and that hath made to me an house, as he spake, for Adonijah shall be slain today.

25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada; and Benaiah slew Adonijah, and he was dead.

26 Also the king said to Abiathar, the priest, Go thou into Anathoth, to thy field; and soothly thou art a man of death, that is, worthy of death, for conspiring against me, and David, my father; but today I shall not slay thee, for thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David, my father, and thou sufferedest travail in all things, in which my father travailed.

27 Therefore Solomon putted out Abiathar, that he should not be priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord were [ful] filled, which he spake on the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28 And a messenger came to Solo-mon, and said that Joab had bowed after Adonijah, and that he had not bowed after Solomon. Therefore Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and took the horn of the altar.

29 And it was told to king Solomon, that Joab had fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and was beside the altar; and Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and said, Go thou, and slay him.

30 And Benaiah came to the taber-nacle of the Lord, and said to Joab, The king saith these things, Go thou out. And he said, I shall not go out, but I shall die here. Benaiah told the word to the king, and said, Joab spake these things, and answered these things to me.

31 And the king said to Benaiah, Do thou as he hath spoken, and slay thou him, and bury him; and thou shalt remove the innocent blood, that was shed out of Joab, from me, and from the house of my father.

32 And the Lord yield on his head his blood, for he killed two just men, and better than himself, and he killed them by sword, while David, my father, knew not, Abner the son of Ner, the prince of the chivalry of Israel, and Amasa, the son of Jether, the prince of the host of Judah.

33 And the blood of them shall turn again into the head of Joab, and into the head of his seed without end; but peace be of the Lord till into without end to David, and to his seed, and to the house, and [the] throne of him.

34 Therefore Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, went up, and assailed Joab, and killed him; and Joab was buried in his house in desert.

35 And the king ordained Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, upon the host for Joab; and the king put Zadok the priest for Abiathar.

36 Also the king sent, and called Shimei, and said to him, Build to thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell thou there, and thou shalt not go out from thence hither and thither;

37 for in whatever day thou goest out, and passest [over] the strand [or stream] of Kidron, know thou thee worthy to be slain; thy blood shall be on thine head.

38 And Shimei said to the king, The word of the king is good; as my lord the king spake, so thy servant shall do. And so Shimei dwelled in Jerusalem many days.

39 But it was done after three years, that the servants of Shimei fled to Achish, the son of Maachah, king of Gath; and it was told to Shimei, that his servants had gone into Gath.

40 And Shimei rose up, and saddled his ass, and went to Achish, into Gath, to seek his servants; and he brought them again from Gath.

41 And it was told to king Solomon, that Shimei had gone to Gath from Jerusalem, and had come again.

42 And Solomon sent, and called him, and said to him, Whether I witnessed not to thee by the Lord, and before-said to thee, In whatever day thou shalt go out hither and thither, know thou that thou shalt die; and thou answeredest to me, The word is good, which I heard?

43 Why therefore keptest thou not the oath of the Lord, and the command-ment which I commanded to thee?

44 And the king said to Shimei, Thou knowest all the evil, of which thine heart is guilty to thee, which evil thou didest to [David] my father; the Lord hath yielded thy malice into thine head.

45 And king Solomon shall be blessed; and the throne of David shall be stable before the Lord till into without end.

46 Therefore the king commanded to Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada; and he assailed Shimei, and smote him, and he was dead. Therefore the realm was confirmed into the hands of Solomon;

CHAPTER 3

1 and by affinity, either alliance, he was joined to Pharaoh, king of Egypt; for he took the daughter of Pharaoh, and brought her into the city of David, till he [ful] filled building his house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem by compass.

2 Nevertheless the people offered in high places; for the temple was not builded to the name of the Lord till into that day.

3 Soothly Solomon loved the Lord, and went in the behests of David, his father, except that Solomon offered in high places and burnt incense.

4 And so Solomon went into Gibeon, to offer there; for that was the most high place. Solomon offered upon that altar in Gibeon a thousand offerings into burnt sacrifice.

5 Soothly the Lord appeared to Solomon by sleep in the night, and said, Ask thou that, that thou wilt, that I give it to thee.

6 And Solomon said, Thou hast done great mercy with thy servant David, my father, as he went in thy sight, in truth, and [in] rightwiseness, and in rightful [or right] heart with thee; thou hast kept to him thy great mercy, and hast given to him a son, sitting on his throne, as it is today.

7 And now, Lord God, thou hast made thy servant to reign for David, my father; forsooth I am a little child, and not knowing mine out-going and mine in-coming.

8 And thy servant is in the midst of the people, which thou hast chosen, of [a] people without number, that may not be numbered and reckoned, for multitude.

9 Therefore thou shalt give to thy servant an heart able to be taught, that is, enlightened of thee, that he may deem thy people, and judge betwixt good and evil; for who may deem this people, thy people, this much people?

10 Therefore the word pleased before the Lord, that Solomon had asked such a thing.

11 And the Lord said to Solomon, For thou askedest this word, and askedest not to thee many days, neither riches, neither the lives of thine enemies, but thou askedest to thee wisdom to deem doom,

12 lo! I have done to thee after thy words, and I have given to thee a wise heart and an understanding, in so much that no man before thee was like thee, neither shall rise up after thee.

13 But also I have given to thee these things, which thou askedest not, that is, riches, and glory, that no man be like thee in kings in all times afterward.

14 Forsooth if thou goest in my ways, and keepest my biddings and [my] commandments, as thy father went in them, I shall make thy days long.

15 Therefore Solomon waked, and understood what the sweven was. And when he had come to Jerusalem, he stood before the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, and he offered burnt sacrifices, and made peaceable sacrifices, and a great feast to all his household or menials.

16 Then two women whores came to the king, and stood before him;

17 of which one said, My lord, I beseech, I and this woman dwelled in one house, and I childed at her in a couch.

18 And in the third day after that I had childed, also this woman childed; and we were together in the house, and none other was with us in the house, except us twain [or two].

19 And the son of this woman was dead in the night, for she slept, and over-lay him;

20 and she rose up in the fourth part of the night in silence, and took my son from the side of me, while thine handmaid was sleeping, and she laid it in her bosom; and she putted [or put] in my bosom her son, that was dead.

21 And when I had risen early, to give milk to my son, he appeared dead; whom I beheld more diligently by clear light, and I perceived, that he was not mine, whom I had engendered.

22 The tother woman answered, It is not as thou sayest, but thy son is dead; forsooth my son liveth. The contrary, she said, Thou liest; for my son liveth, and thy son is dead. And by this manner they strove before the king.

23 Then the king said, This woman saith, My son liveth, and thy son is dead; and this woman answereth, Nay, but thy son is dead, and my son liveth.

24 Therefore the king said, Bring ye to me a sword. And when they had brought a sword before the king,

25 he said, Part ye the quick young child in two parts, and give ye the half part to the one, and the half part to the tother.

26 And the woman, whose son was quick, said to the king; for her entrails were moved on her son; Lord, I beseech, give ye to her the quick child, and do not ye slay him. The contrary, she said, Be he neither to me, neither to thee, but be he parted.

27 The king answered, and said, Give ye to this woman the young child quick, and be he not slain; forsooth this is his mother.

28 Therefore all Israel heard the doom, which the king had deemed; and they dreaded the king, and saw, that the wisdom of God was in him, to make doom.

CHAPTER 4

1 Forsooth king Solomon was reign-ing on all Israel.

2 And these were the princes which he had; Azariah, the son of Zadok, the priest;

3 Elihoreph, and Ahiah, sons of Shisha, were scribes; Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was chancellor;

4 Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was prince upon the host; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

5 Azariah, the son of Nathan, was upon them that stood nigh [to] the king; Zabud, the son of Nathan, was[a] priest, a friend of the king;

6 and Ahishar was steward of the house; and Adoniram, the son of Abda, was upon the tributes.

7 Forsooth Solomon had twelve prefects, either chief ministers, on all Israel, that gave lifelode to the king, and to his house; soothly by each month by itself in the year, each prefect by himself ministered necessaries.

8 And these be the names of them; Ben-hur, in the hill of Ephraim;

9 Ben-dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaal-bim, and in Bethshemesh, and in Elon, and in Bethhanan;

10 Ben-hesed, in Aruboth; and Soch-oh, and all the land of Hepher, was his;

11 Ben-abinadab, whose was all Naph-ath, had Dor Taphath, the daughter of Solomon, to wife.

12 Baana, the son of Ahilud, governed Taanach, and Megiddo, and all Bethshean, which is beside Zartanah, under Jezreel, from Bethshean unto Abelmeholah, even against Jokneam.

13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth of Gilead, had Havoth-jair, of the son of Man-asseh, in Gilead; he was sovereign in all the country of Argob, which is in Bashan, to sixty great cities and walled, that had brazen locks.

14 Ahinadab, the son of Iddo, was sovereign in Mahanaim;

15 Ahimaaz was in Naphtali, but also he had Basmath, the daughter of Solomon, in wedlock;

16 Baanah, the son of Hushai, was in Asher, and in Aloth;

17 Jehoshaphat, the son of Paruah, was in Issachar;

18 Shimei, the son of Elah, was in Benjamin:

19 Geber, the son of Uri, was in the land of Gilead, and in the land of Sihon, king of Amorites, and in the land of Og, king of Bashan, and upon all things that were in that land.

20 The people of Judah and Israel were unnumberable, as the sand of the sea in multitude, eating, and drinking, and being glad.

21 Forsooth Solomon was in his lord-ship, and had all the realms, as from the flood of the land of Philistines, unto the last part of Egypt, of men offering gifts, that is, tributes, to him, and serving to him, in all the days of his life.

22 Forsooth the meat of Solomon was by each day, thirty cors of clean flour of wheat, and sixty cors of meal,

23 ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen of the pasture, and an hundred wethers, besides hunting of harts, of goats, and of bugles, and of birds made fat.

24 For he held all the country that was beyond the flood, as from Tiphsah unto Azzah, and all the kings of those countries; and he had peace by each part in compass.

25 And Judah and Israel dwelled without any dread, each man under his vine, and under his fig tree, from Dan unto Beersheba, in all the days of Solomon.

26 And Solomon had forty thousand cratches of horses for chariots, and twelve thousand of road horses;

27 and the foresaid prefects or chief masters of the king nourished those horses. But also with great busyness they gave [the] necessaries to the board of king Solomon, in their time;

28 also they brought barley, and forage of horses and of work beasts, into the place where the king was, after it was ordained to them.

29 Also God gave to Solomon wisdom, and prudence full much, and largeness of heart, as the sand that is in the brink of the sea.

30 And the wisdom of Solomon passed the wisdom of all [the] east men, and Egyptians;

31 and he was wiser than all men; he was wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and than Heman, and than Chalcol, and than Darda, the sons of Mahol; and he was named among all folks by compass.

32 And Solomon spake three thousand parables, and his songs were a thousand and five;

33 and he disputed of trees, from a cedar which is in Lebanon, till to the hyssop that goeth out of the wall; he disputed of work beasts, and birds, and of creeping beasts, and of fishes.

34 And they came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of [the] earth, that heard his wisdom.

CHAPTER 5

1 Also Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants to Solomon; for he heard that they had anointed him king for his father; for Hiram was friend of David in all time.

2 And also Solomon sent to Hiram, and said,

3 Thou knowest the will of David, my father, and for he might not build an house to the name of his God, for [the] battles nighing by compass, till the Lord gave them under the step of his feet.

4 But now my Lord God hath given rest to me by compass, and none adversary is, neither evil assailing;

5 wherefore I think to build a temple to the name of my Lord God, as God spake to David, my father, and said, Thy son, whom I shall give to thee for thee upon thy throne, he shall build an house to my name.

6 Therefore command thou, that thy servants hew down to me cedars of the Lebanon; and my servants be with thy servants; and I shall give to thee the meed of thy servants, whatever thou shalt ask; for thou knowest, that in my people is not a man that can hew trees, as Sidonians or the men of Sidon can.

7 Therefore when Hiram had heard the words of Solomon, he was full glad, and said, Blessed be the Lord God today, that hath given to David the son most wise upon this people full much.

8 And Hiram sent to Solomon, and said, I have heard whatever things thou sentest to me; I shall do all thy will, in trees of cedars, and in trees of box.

9 My servants shall put down those trees from the Lebanon to the sea, and I shall array those trees in ships in the sea, unto the place that thou shalt signify to me; and I shall dress those [or them] there, that thou take those [or them]; and thou shalt give necessaries to me, that meat be given to mine house.

10 And so Hiram gave to Solomon cedar trees, and box trees, by all his will;

11 and Solomon gave to Hiram twenty thousand cors of wheat, into meat to his house, and twenty cors of purest oil; Solomon gave these things to Hiram by all years.

12 Also the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, as he spake to him; and peace was betwixt Hiram and Solomon, and both they smote together bond of peace.

13 And king Solomon chose work-men out of all Israel; and the sum was thirty thousand of men.

14 And Solomon sent them into the Lebanon, ten thousand by each month by whiles, so that in two months by whiles they were in their houses; and Adoniram was on such a sum.

15 And so seventy thousand of them, that bare burdens, were to Solomon, and fourscore thousand of masons in the hills,

16 without the sovereigns, that were masters of all the works, by the number of three thousand and three hundred, commanding to the people, and to them that made work.

17 And the king commanded, that they should take great stones, and precious or heavy stones, into the foundament of the temple,

18 and that they should make those square; which stones the masons of Solomon and the masons of Hiram hewed. And [the] men of Byblos made ready [the] trees and stones, to the house to be builded.

CHAPTER 6

1 Forsooth it was done in the four hundred and fourscore year of the going out of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of the realm of Solomon, in the month Zif; that is, the second month of the fourth year of the realm of Solomon on Israel; he began to build an house to the Lord.

2 Forsooth the house which king Solomon builded to the Lord, had sixty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and thirty cubits in height.

3 And a porch was before the temple of twenty cubits of length, by the measure of the breadth of the temple; and the porch had ten cubits of breadth, before the face of the temple.

4 And Solomon made in the temple narrow windows withoutforth and large within.

5 And he builded on the wall of the temple, buildings of boards by compass, in the walls of the house, by compass of the temple, and of God’s answering place; and he made [the] sides in the compass.

6 The building of boards, that was under, had five cubits of breadth; and the middle building of boards was of six cubits of breadth; and the third building of boards was having seven cubits of breadth. And he put beams in the house by compass withoutforth, that those cleaved not to the walls of the temple.

7 And when the house was builded, it was built of perfectly hewn stones; and hammer, and ax, and all thing made of iron, were not heard in the house, while it was in building.

8 The door of the middle side was in the wall of the right half of the house; and by a vice men went up into the middle solar, and from the middle solar into the third solar.

9 And Solomon builded the house, and ended it. And Solomon covered the house with couples of cedar,

10 and he builded a building of boards over all the house, by five cubits of height, and covered the house with cedar wood.

11 And the word of the Lord was made to Solomon, and said,

12 This is the house, which thou buildest; if thou goest in my behests, and doest my dooms, and keepest all my commandments, and goest by those [or them], I shall make steadfast my word to thee, which word I spake to David, thy father;

13 and I shall dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel, and I shall not forsake my people Israel.

14 Therefore Solomon builded the house, and ended it;

15 and he builded the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, from the pavement of the house unto the highness of the wall, and unto the couples; and he covered them with wood of cedar within; and he covered the pavement of the house with boards of box wood.

16 And he builded a wall of boards of cedar of twenty cubits at the hinder part of the temple, from the pavement unto the higher parts; and he made the inner house of God’s answering place into the holy of holy things.

17 And that temple before the doors of God’s answering place was of forty cubits.

18 And all the house within was clothed with cedar, and had his smoothnesses, and his joinings made subtly, and engravings appearing above; all things were clothed with boards of cedar, and utterly a stone might not appear in the wall.

19 And Solomon made God’s answering place in the midst of the house, in the inner part, that he should set [or put] there the ark of bond of peace of the Lord.

20 And God’s answering place had twenty cubits of length, and twenty cubits of breadth, and twenty cubits of height; and he covered, and clothed it with purest gold; but also he clothed the altar with cedar.

21 Also he covered with purest gold the house before God’s answering place, or the oracle, and he fastened the plates with golden nails.

22 Nothing was in the temple that was not covered with gold; but also he covered with gold all the altar of God’s answering place.

23 And he made in God’s answering place two cherubims [or cherubim] of the trees of olives, of ten cubits of height;

24 one wing of cherub was of five cubits, and the tother wing of cherub was of five cubits, that is, having ten cubits, from the highness of the one wing till to the highness of the tother wing.

25 And the second cherub was of ten cubits in even measure; and one work was in the two cherubims,

26 that is, one cherub had the height of ten cubits, and in like manner the tother cherub.

27 And he set [the] cherubims [or cherubim] in the midst of the inner temple; and the cherubims [or cher-ubim] held forth their wings, and one wing touched the one wall, and the wing of the second cherub touched the tother wall; and the other wings in the middle part of the temple touched themselves together.

28 And he covered the cherubims [or cherubim] with gold, and all the walls of the temple by compass/about;

29 and he engraved them with di-verse engravings and smoothness; and he made in those walls cherubims [or cherubim], and palms, and diverse paintures, as standing forth and going out of the wall.

30 But also he covered with gold the pavement of the house, within and withoutforth.

31 And in the entering of God’s answering place he made two little doors of the trees of olives; and he made doorposts of five corners,

32 and [the] two doors of the trees of olives; and he engraved in those [or them] the painture of cherubims [or cherubim], and the likenesses of palms, and engravings above standing forth greatly; and he covered those [or them] with gold; and he covered as well the cherubims [or cherubim], as [the] palms, and other things, with gold.

33 And in the entering of the temple he made doorposts four-cornered of trees of olives;

34 and he made [the] two doors of the trees of box, each against other; and ever either door was double, and it was opened holding itself together.

35 And he engraved cherubims [or cherubim], and palms, and engravings appearing greatly; and he covered all things with golden plates, by square work at rule.

36 And he builded a large street, or an alley, within, by three orders of stones made fair, and by one order of wood of cedar.

37 The house of the Lord was founded in the fourth year of the realm of Solomon, in the month Zif;

38 and the house was made perfect, or ended, in all his work, and in all his vessels, either appurtenances, in the eleventh year, in the month [of] Bul; that is the eighth month; and he builded that house in seven years.

CHAPTER 7

1 Forsooth Solomon builded his own house in thirteen years, and brought it till to perfection, or perfect end.

2 He builded an house of the forest, or out of the wood, of Lebanon, of an hundred cubits of length, and of fifty cubits of breadth, and of thirty cubits of height; and he builded four alleys betwixt the pillars of cedars; for he had hewn down [the] trees of cedars into pillars.

3 And he clothed all the chambers with walls of cedar; the which chamber was sustained, or borne up, with five and forty pillars. And one order had fifteen pillars, set against themselves together,

4 and beholding themselves each even against other by even space betwixt the pillars;

5 and on the pillars were four-square posts, even in all things.

6 And he made a porch of pillars of fifty cubits of length, and of thirty cubits of breadth; and he made an-other porch in the face of the greater porch; and he made pillars, and [the] pommels on the pillars.

7 Also he made a porch of the king’s seat, in which the seat of doom was; and he covered it with wood of cedar, from the pavement unto the highness.

8 And a little house, in which he sat to deem, was in the middle porch, by like work. Also Solomon made an house to the daughter of Pharaoh, whom he had wedded, by such work, by what manner work he made and this porch.

9 He made all things of precious stones, that were sawed at a rule and measure, both within and without-forth, from the foundament unto the highness of [the] walls, and within and till to the great street, either courtyard.

10 And the foundaments were of precious stones, great stones of ten, either of eight cubits;

11 and precious stones hewn of even measure were above; in like manner and of cedar.

12 And the greater court, either void space, was round, of three orders of hewn stones, and of one order of hewn cedar beams; also and in the inner large street of the house of the Lord, and in the porch of the house of the Lord.

13 Also king Solomon sent, and brought from Tyre, Hiram*,

14 the son of a woman widow, of the lineage of Naphtali, of the father of a man of Tyre, a craftsman of brass, and full of wisdom, and understanding, and doctrine, or teaching, to make all work of brass. And when he had come to king Solomon, he made all his work.

15 And he made two pillars of brass, one pillar of eighteen cubits of height; and a line of twelve cubits compassed ever either pillar.

16 Also he made two pommels or capitals, molten of brass, which were set [or put] on the heads of the pillars; one pommel of five cubits of height, and the tother pommel of five cubits of height;

17 and by the manner of a net, and of chains knit together to themselves, by wonderful work. Ever either pommel of the pillars was molten; seven works like nets of orders were in one pommel, and seven works like nets in the tother pommel.

18 And he made perfectly the pillars, and two orders about all the works like nets, that those [or they] should cover the pommels, which were upon the highness of [the] pomegranates; in the same manner he did also to the second pommel.

19 And the pommels, that were upon the heads of the pillars in the porch, were made as by work of lily, of four cubits;

20 and again other pommels in the highness of [the] pillars above, by the measure of the pillar, set against the works like nets; and two hundred orders of pomegranates were in the compass of the second pommel.

21 And he set the two pillars in the porch of the temple; and when he had set the right half pillar, he called it by name Jachin, that is, steadfast; in like manner he raised up the second pillar, and he called the name thereof Boaz, that is, strength.

22 And he set upon the heads of the pillars a work by the manner of a lily; and the work of the pillars was made perfect.

23 Also he made a molten sea, that is, a washing vessel for priests, round in compass, of ten cubits from brink to brink; the highness thereof was of five cubits; and a cord of thirty cubits went about it by compass.

24 And the engraving under the brink compassed it, and it compassed or came about the sea by ten cubits; twain [or two] orders of engravings containing some stories were molten,

25 and stood upon twelve oxen; of which oxen three beheld to the north, and three to the west, and three to the south, and three to the east; and the sea was above upon those oxen, of which all the hinder things were hid within.

26 And the thickness of the sea was of four fingers, or a palm, and the brink thereof was as the brink of a cup, and as the leaf of a lily crooked again; the sea contained two thousand baths, that is, three thousand metretes.

27 And he made ten brazen found-aments or bases, each foundament of four cubits of length, and of four cubits of breadth, and of three cubits of highness.

28 And that work of the foundaments was raised betwixt; and engravings were between the jointures.

29 And between the little crowns and the circles were lions, oxen, and cherubims [or cherubim]; and in the jointures in like manner above; and under the lions and the oxen were as reins of bridles of brass hanging down.

30 And by each foundament were four wheels, and brazen axletrees; and by four parts were as little shoulder-ings under the washing vessel, the shoulderings, that is, short pillars to sustain the washing vessel, molten, and beholding against themselves together.

31 And the mouth of the washing vessel within was in the highness of the head, and that, that appeared withoutforth, was of one cubit, and it was all-round, and had altogether one cubit and an half; and diverse engravings were in the corners of [the] pillars, and the middle pillar between was square, not round.

32 And the four wheels, which were by [the] four corners of the found-ament, cleaved together to themselves under the foundament; one wheel had one cubit and an half of height.

33 And the wheels were such, which manner wheels be wont to be made in a chariot; and the axletrees, and the nave-stocks, and the spokes, and [the] felloes or the dowels of those wheels, all things were molten.

34 For also the four little shoulderings, by all the corners of one foundament, were joined together, and [were] molten of that foundament, that is, were molten together with that foundament, and made one body.

35 And in the highness of the founda-ment was a roundness, of one cubit and an half, so made craftily, that the washing vessel might be set above, having his portrayings, and diverse engravings of itself.

36 Also he engraved in those walls, that were of brass, and in the corners, cherubims [or cherubim], and lions, and palms, as by the likeness of a man standing, that those [or they] seemed not engraved, but put to by compass.

37 By this manner he made ten foundaments, by one melting out, and one measure, and like engraving.

38 Also he made ten washing vessels of brass; one washing vessel took, or held, forty baths, and it was of four cubits; and he put each washing vessel by itself by each foundament by itself, that is, ten.

39 And he made ten foundaments, five at the right half of the temple, and five at the left half; and he set the sea at the right half of the temple, against the east, at the south.

40 Also Hiram made cauldrons, and pans, and wine vessels; and he made perfectly all the work of king Solomon in the temple of the Lord.

41 He made two pillars, and two cords of the pommels, that is, circles compassing the pommels, at the manner of cords, upon the pommels of the pillars, and two works like nets, that those [or they] should cover the two cords, that were upon the heads of the pillars.

42 And he made pomegranates four hundred in two works like nets; and two orders of pomegranates in each work like a net, to cover the cords of the pommels, that were on the heads of [the] pillars.

43 And he made[the] ten founda-ments, and [the] ten washing vessels on the foundaments;

44 and one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea;

45 and cauldrons, and pans, and wine vessels. All the vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon in the house of the Lord, were of latten.

46 And the king melted out those vessels in the field country of Jordan, in [the] clay land, betwixt Succoth and Zarthan.

47 And Solomon setted [or put] all the vessels in their places; but for the great multitude, no weight was of the brass.

48 And Solomon made all the vessels in the house of the Lord; soothly he made the golden altar, that is, the altar of incense, that was within the temple, and the golden board, upon which the loaves of setting forth were set;

49 and he made of most pure gold golden candlesticks, five at the right half, and five at the left half, against God’s answering place; and he made as the flowers of a lily, and golden lanterns above, and golden tongs;

50 and pots, and hooks, and vials, and mortars, and censers of purest gold; and the hinges of the doors of the inner house of the holy of holy things, and of the doors of the house of the temple, were of gold.

51 And Solomon performed all the work, that he made in the house of the Lord; and he brought in the things, which David, his father, had hallowed; silver, and gold, and vessels; and he kept those in the treasures of the house of the Lord.

CHAPTER 8

1 Then all the greater men in birth in Israel, with [the] princes of the lineages, and the dukes of [the] meines of the sons of Israel, were gathered to king Solomon, into Jerusalem, that they should bear the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord from the city of David, that is, from Zion.

2 And all Israel came together [to king Solomon] in the month [of] Ethanim, that is September, in the solemn day; which is the seventh month.

3 And all the eld men of Israel came; and the priests took the ark,

4 and they bare the ark of the Lord, and the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace, and all the vessels of the saintuary, that were in the tabernacle; and the priests and deacons bare those [or them].

5 And king Solomon, and all the multitude of Israel, that came together to him, went with him before the ark; and they offered sheep and oxen, without guessing and number*.

6 And [the] priests brought the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord into his place, into God’s answering place of the temple, into the holy of holy things, under the wings of the cherubims [or cherubim].

7 And the cherubims [or cherubim] spreaded forth their wings over the place of the ark; and they covered the ark, and the bars thereof above.

8 And when the bars stood forth, and the highness of those [or them] appeared without the saintuary, before God’s answering place, those bars appeared no further withoutforth; the which bars also were there unto this present day.

9 And in the ark was none other thing, no but [the] two tables of stone, which Moses in Horeb had put in the ark, when the Lord made bond of peace with the sons of Israel, when they went out of the land of Egypt.

10 And it was done when the priests had gone out of the saintuary, a cloud filled the house of the Lord;

11 and the priests might not stand and minister, for the cloud; for why the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.

12 Then Solomon said, The Lord said, that he would dwell in a cloud or a mist.

13 I building have builded an house into thy dwelling place, into thy most steadfast throne without end.

14 And the king turned his face, and blessed all the church in Israel; for all the church of Israel stood.

15 And Solomon said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that spake with his mouth to David, my father, and performed it in his hands, and said,

16 From the day in which I led my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose not a city of all the lineages of Israel, that an house should be builded, and my name should be there; but I chose David, that he should be over my people Israel.

17 And David, my father, would build or would have builded an house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

18 And the Lord said to David, my father, That thou thoughtest in thine heart to build an house to my name, thou didest well, treating this same thing in thy soul;

19 nevertheless thou shalt not build an house to me, but thy son, that shall go out of thy reins, he shall build an house to my name.

20 The Lord hath now confirmed his word, that he spake; and I stood for David, my father, and I sat upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord spake; and I have builded an house to the name of the Lord God of Israel.

21 And I have ordained there a place of the ark, in which ark the bond of peace of the Lord is, which he smote with our fathers, when they went out of the land of Egypt.

22 And Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord, in the sight of the church of Israel; and he held forth his hands against heaven,

23 and said, Lord God of Israel, no God in heaven above, neither on earth beneath, is like thee, which keepest covenant and mercy to thy servants, that go before thee in all their heart;

24 and thou keepest to David, my father, thy servant, those things which thou hast spoken to him; by mouth thou hast spoken it, and by hands thou hast fulfilled it, as this day proveth.

25 Now therefore, Lord God of Israel, keep thou to thy servant David, my father, those things which thou spakest to him, and saidest, A man of thee shall not be taken away from before me, which man shall sit on the throne of Israel, so nevertheless if thy sons keep thy way, that they go before me, as thou wentest in my sight.

26 And now, Lord God of Israel, thy words be made steadfast, which thou spakest to thy servant David, my father.

27 Therefore whether it is to guess, that God dwelleth verily on earth; for if heaven, and heaven of heavens be not able to take thee, how much more this house, that I have builded to thee.

28 But, my Lord God, behold thou to the prayer of thy servant, and to the beseechings of him; hear thou the hymn, either praising, and [the] prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee today;

29 that thine eyes be opened on this house by night and day, on the house of which thou saidest, My name shall be there; that thou hear the prayer, which thy servant prayeth to thee in this place;

30 that thou hear the beseeching of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, whatever thing he prayeth in this place, and hear thou in the place of thy dwelling in heaven; and when thou hast heard, thou shalt be merciful.

31 If a man sinneth against a man, and hath any oath, by which he is holden bound, and cometh for the oath into thine house, before thine altar,

32 thou shalt hear in heaven, and thou shalt do, and thou shalt deem thy servants; and thou shalt condemn the wicked man, and shalt yield his way on his head, and thou shalt justify the just [or rightwise] man, and shalt yield to him after his rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

33 If thy people Israel fleeth his enemies, for he shall do sin to thee, and they do penance, or repent their sin, and acknowledge to thy great name, and come, and worship, and beseech thee in this house,

34 hear thou in heaven, and forgive thou the sin of thy people [Israel]; and thou shalt lead them again into the land, which thou hast given to the fathers of them.

35 If heaven is closed, and it raineth not for the sins of them, and they pray in this place, and do penance to thy name, and be converted, or altogether turned, from their sins for their torment,

36 hear thou them in heaven, and forgive thou the sins of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, and show thou to them a good way, by which they shall go, and give thou rain to them upon the land, which thou hast given to them into possession.

37 If hunger riseth in the land, either pestilence is, either corrupt air is, either rust, either locust, either mildew, and if his enemy tormenteth him, and besiegeth the gates of him, and bringeth in all wound, all sickness,

38 all cursing, and all wishing of evil, that befalleth to each man of thy people Israel, if any man knoweth the wound of his heart, and holdeth forth his hands in this house,

39 thou shalt hear in heaven, in the place of thy dwelling, and thou shalt do mercy, and thou shalt do that thou give to each man after all his ways, as thou seest his heart; for thou alone knowest the heart of all the sons of men,

40 that they dread thee in all days in which they live on the face of the land, which thou hast given to our fathers.

41 Furthermore and when an alien, that is not of thy people Israel, cometh from a far land for thy name;

42 for thy great name, and thy strong hand, and thine arm stretched out, shall be heard everywhere; therefore when he cometh, and prayeth in this place,

43 thou shalt hear in heaven, in the firmament of thy dwelling place, and thou shalt do all things, for which the alien calleth thee; that all peoples of lands learn to dread thy name, as thy people Israel doeth, and prove [they], that thy name is called on this house, which I [have] builded.

44 If thy people goeth out to battle against his enemies, by the way whither ever thou sendest them, they shall pray thee against the way of the city which thou hast chosen, and over against the house that I have builded to thy name,

45 and thou shalt hear in heaven the prayers of them, and the beseechings of them, and thou shalt make the doom of them.

46 That if they sin to thee, for no man is that sinneth not, and thou art wroth, and betakest them to their enemies, and they be led prisoners into the land of enemies, far either nigh,

47 and they do penance in their heart in the place of their imprisoning, and be converted, or altogether turned, and beseech in their imprisoning, and say, We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we have done unfaithfully;

48 and they turn again to thee in all their heart, and in all their soul, in the land of their enemies, to which they be led prisoners, and they pray thee over against the way of their land, which thou hast given to their fathers, and of the city which thou hast chosen, and of the temple which I [have] builded to thy name,

49 thou shalt hear in heaven, in the firmament of thy seat, the prayers of them, and the beseechings of them, and thou shalt make the doom of them;

50 and thou shalt be merciful to thy people, that have sinned to thee, and to all the wickednesses, by which they have trespassed against thee; and thou shalt do mercy before those men, that had them prisoners, that those men do mercy to them.

51 For it is thy people, and thine heritage, which thou leddest out of the land of Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace;

52 that thine eyes be open to the beseeching of thy servant, and of thy people Israel; and thou shalt hear them in all things, for which they call thee.

53 For thou hast separated them to thee into thine heritage from all the peoples of [the] earth, as thou spakest by Moses, thy servant, when thou, Lord God, leddest our fathers out of Egypt.

54 Forsooth it was done, when Solomon, praying the Lord, had filled all this prayer and beseeching, he rose up from [the] sight of the altar of the Lord; for he had set fast ever either knee to the earth, and he had held forth his hands to heaven.

55 Therefore he stood, and blessed all the church of Israel, and said with [a] great voice,

56 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that hath given rest to his people Israel, by all things which he spake; a word felled not down, soothly neither one, of all the goods which he spake by Moses, his servant.

57 Our Lord God be with us, as he was with our fathers, and forsake not us, neither cast us away;

58 but bow he our hearts to himself, that we go in all his ways, and keep his commandments, and ceremonies, and dooms, whichever he commanded to our fathers.

59 And these words of me, by which I have prayed before the Lord, be they nighing to our Lord God by day and night, that he make doom to me his servant, and to his people Israel by all days;

60 and all the peoples of [the] earth know, that the Lord himself is God, and [there is] none other without him.

61 Also our heart be perfect with our Lord God, that we go in his dooms, and keep his commandments, as also today.

62 Therefore the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifices before the Lord.

63 And Solomon slew peaceable sacrifices, which he offered to the Lord; of oxes two and twenty thousand, and of sheep sixscore thousand; and the king and the sons of Israel hallowed the temple of the Lord.

64 In that day the king hallowed the middle of the great street, that was before the house of the Lord; for he made there burnt sacrifice[s], and offering, and the inner fatness of peaceable things; for the brazen altar that was before the Lord was too little, and it might not take the burnt sacrifice, and the offering, and the inner fatness of peaceable things.

65 Therefore Solomon made in that time a solemn feast, and all Israel with him, a great multitude, from the entering of Hamath unto the strand [or river] of Egypt, before our Lord God, in seven days and seven days, that is, fourteen days.

66 And in the eighth day he delivered the peoples, which blessed the king, and went forth into their tabernacles, and they were glad and of joyful heart on all the goods that God had done to David, his servant, and to Israel, his people.

CHAPTER 9

1 And it was done, when Solomon had performed the building of the house of the Lord, and the building of the king, and all thing that he coveted, and would make,

2 the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as he appeared to him in Gibeon.

3 And the Lord said to him, I have heard thy prayer, and thy beseeching, that thou hast besought before me; I have hallowed this house, that thou hast builded, that I should set [or put] there my name without end; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there in all days.

4 Also if thou goest before me, as thy father went, in simpleness of heart, and in equity, and doest all things which I have commanded to thee, and keepest my dooms, and my lawful things,

5 I shall set the throne of thy realm upon Israel without end, as I spake to David, thy father, and said, A man of thy kin shall not be taken away from the throne of Israel.

6 Forsooth if by turning away, ye and your sons turn away, and pursue [or follow] not me, and keep not my behests and ceremonies, which I have set forth to you, but ye go, and worship alien gods, and honour them,

7 I shall do away Israel from the face of the land which I gave to them; and I shall cast away from my sight the temple, which I [have] hallowed to my name; and Israel shall be into a proverb and into a fable, to all peoples.

8 And this house shall be into ensample of God’s offence; each man that shall pass by it, shall wonder, and shall hiss, and shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house?

9 And they shall answer, For they forsook their Lord God, that led the fathers of them out of Egypt; and they pursued [or followed] alien gods, and worshipped them, and honoured them; therefore the Lord hath brought in upon them all this evil.

10 Soothly when twenty years were [ful] filled, after that Solomon had builded twain [or two] houses, that is, the house of the Lord, and the house of the king,

11 while Hiram, king of Tyre, gave to Solomon trees of cedar, and of fir, and gold, by all thing that he had needful; then Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

12 And Hiram went out of Tyre that he should see the cities, which Solo-mon had given to him, and those [or they] pleased not him;

13 and he said, Whether these be the cities, which thou, brother, hast given to me? And he called those cities the land of Cabul, that is, displeasing, unto this day.

14 Also Hiram sent to king Solomon sixscore talents of gold.

15 This is the rent, which Solomon raised, to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and the Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.

16 For Pharaoh, king of Egypt, ascended or went up, and took Gezer, and burnt it by fire; and he killed Canaanites, that dwelled in the city, and gave it into a dower to his daughter, the wife of Solomon.

17 Therefore Solomon builded Gezer, and the lower Bethhoron,

18 and Baalath, and Tadmor in the land of wilderness;

19 and he made strong all the towns, that pertained to him, and were with-out wall, and the cities of chariots, and the cities of knights, and what-ever thing pleased him to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his power.

20 Solomon made tributaries unto this day all the people, that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, which be not of the sons of Israel,

21 the sons of these heathen men, that dwelled in the land, that is, which the sons of Israel might not destroy.

22 Soothly king Solomon ordained not any man of the sons of Israel to serve, that is, in vile works, and of the fields, but they were men of war, and servants of him, and princes, and dukes, and masters of his chariots and horses.

23 And five hundred and fifty princes were sovereigns over all the works of Solomon, the which princes had the people subject to them, and command-ed to [the] works ordained.

24 And the daughter of Pharaoh went up from the city of David into her house, which house Solomon had builded to her; then he builded the Millo.

25 Also Solomon offered in three times by all years burnt sacrifices and peaceable sacrifices, on the altar which he had builded to the Lord; and he burnt incense before the Lord, and the temple was performed.

26 Also king Solomon made a navy in Eziongeber, which is beside Elath, in the brink of the Red Sea, in the land of Idumea.

27 And Hiram sent in that navy his servants, those who were shipmen, and knowing of the sea, with the servants of Solomon;

28 and when they had come into Ophir, they brought from thence gold of four hundred and twenty talents to king Solomon.

CHAPTER 10

1 But also the queen of Sheba, when the fame of Solomon was heard, came in the name of the Lord to assay him in dark and doubtful questions.

2 And she entered with much fellow-ship and riches into Jerusalem, and with camels bearing sweet smelling things, and gold greatly without number, and precious stones; and she came to king Solomon, and spake to him all things which she had in her heart.

3 And Solomon taught her all [the] words which she had put forth; no word was, that might be hid from the king, and which he answered not to her.

4 And the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had builded,

5 and the meats of his table, and the dwelling places of his servants, and the orders of the men serving him, and the clothes of them, and the butlers, and the burnt sacrifices which he offered in the house of the Lord; and she had no more spirit.

6 And she said to the king, The word is true, that I heard in my land, of thy words, and of thy wisdom;

7 and I believed not to men telling to me, till I myself came, and saw with mine eyes, and proved that the half part was not told to me; thy wisdom is more and thy works, than the fame that I heard.

8 Thy men be blessed, and thy servants be blessed, these that stand before thee ever[more], and hear thy wisdom.

9 Blessed be thy Lord God, whom thou pleasedest, and hath set thee on the throne of Israel; for the Lord loved Israel without end, and hath ordained thee king, that thou shouldest do doom and rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

10 Therefore she gave to the king sixscore talents of gold, and full many sweet smelling things, and precious stones; so many sweet smelling things were no more brought, as those which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

11 But also the ships of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir full many trees of thyine, and precious stones.

12 And king Solomon made of the trees of thyine undersettings of the house of the Lord, and of the king’s house, and harps, and citoles to singers; such trees of thyine were not brought there, neither seen again, till into this present day.

13 Soothly king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all things which she would have, and asked of him, besides these things which he had given to her by the king’s gift will-fully; and she turned again, and went into her land with her servants.

14 Forsooth the weight of gold, that was offered to Solomon by each year, was of six hundred and six and sixty talents of gold,

15 besides that which the men that were on the tollages, that is, rents of things borne about in the land, and that merchants, and all men selling shields, and that all the kings of Arabia, and the dukes of the land, gave.

16 And king Solomon made two hundred shields of purest gold; he gave six hundred shekels of gold into the plates of one shield;

17 and he made three hundred buck-lers of proved gold; three hundred talents of gold covered one buckler. And the king put those bucklers in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

18 Also king Solomon made a great throne of ivory, and covered it with full fine gold;

19 and the throne had six degrees; and the highness of the throne was round in the hinder part; and twain [or two] hands were on this side and on that side, holding the seat, and two lions stood beside each hand;

20 and twelve little lions standing on [the] six degrees, on this side and on that side; such a work was not made in all realms.

21 But also all the vessels, of which king Solomon drank, were of gold, and all the appurtenance of the house of the forest of Lebanon was of purest gold; silver was not used at all, neither it was areckoned of any price in the days of Solomon.

22 For the ships of the king went once by three years with the ships of Hiram into Tharshish, and brought from thence gold, and silver, and teeth of elephants, and apes, and peacocks.

23 Therefore king Solomon was magnified above all [the] kings of [the] earth in riches and wisdom.

24 And all earth desired to see the cheer of Solomon, to hear the wisdom of him, which wisdom God had given in his heart.

25 And all men brought gifts to him, vessels of gold, and of silver, clothes, and armours [or arms] of battle, and sweet smelling things, and horses, and mules, by each year.

26 And Solomon gathered together chariots, and horsemen; and a thou-sand and four hundred chariots were made to him, and twelve thousand horsemen; and he disposed them by [the] strengthened cities, and with the king in Jerusalem.

27 And he made, that so great abundance of silver was in Jerusalem, how great was also of stones; and he gave the multitude of cedars as syca-mores, that grow in field places.

28 And the horses of Solomon were led out of Egypt, and of Coa; for merchants of the king bought them of Coa, and brought them to him, for [the] price ordained.

29 For a chariot went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty shekels; and by this manner all the kings of Hittites, and of Syria, sold horses.

CHAPTER 11

1 Forsooth king Solomon loved burningly many alien women, and the daughter of Pharaoh, and women of Moab, and Ammonites, and Idu-means, and Sidonians, and Hittites;

2 of the folks of which the Lord said to the sons of Israel, Ye shall not enter to those folks, neither any of them shall enter to you; for most certainly they shall turn away your hearts, that ye follow the gods of them. And so king Solomon was coupled to these women, by most burning love.

3 And wives as queens were seven hundred to him, and three hundred secondary wives; and the women turned away his heart.

4 And when he was then eld [or old], his heart was beshrewd by women, that he pursued [or followed] alien gods; and his heart was not perfect with his Lord God, as the heart of David, his father, was perfect.

5 But Solomon worshipped Astarte, the goddess of Sidonians, and Chemosh, the god of Moabites, and Moloch, the idol of Ammonites;

6 and Solomon did that, that pleased not before the Lord, and he full-filled not that he pursued [or followed] the Lord, as David, his father.

7 Then Solomon builded a temple to Chemosh, the idol of Moab, in the hill which is against Jerusalem, and to Moloch, the idol of the sons of Ammon.

8 And by this manner he did to all his alien wives, the which burnt incenses, and offered to their gods.

9 Therefore the Lord was wroth to Solomon, for his soul was turned away from the Lord God of Israel; that appeared to him the second time,

10 and [had] commanded of this word, that he should not pursue [or follow] alien gods; and he kept not those things, which the Lord commanded to him.

11 Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, For thou haddest this thing with thee, and keptest not my covenant, and my behests, which I commanded to thee, I shall break, and I shall part thy realm, and I shall give it to thy servant.

12 Nevertheless I shall not do it in thy days, for David, thy father; I shall cut it from the hand of thy son;

13 neither I shall do away all the realm, but I shall give one lineage to thy son, for David, my servant, and for Jerusalem, which I chose.

14 Forsooth the Lord raised to Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Idumean, of the king’s seed, that was in Edom.

15 For when David was in Idumea, and Joab, the prince of his chivalry, had gone up to bury them that were slain, and he had slain each male kind in Idumea;

16 for Joab, and all Israel, dwelled there by six months, till they had killed each male kind in Idumea;

17 Hadad himself fled, and some men of Idumea, of the servants of his father, with him, that he should enter into Egypt; soothly Hadad was a little child.

18 And when they had risen from Midian, they came into Paran; and they took with them men of Paran, and entered into Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and Pharaoh gave an house to him, and ordained to him meats, and assigned to him land.

19 And Hadad found grace before Pharaoh greatly, in so much that Pharaoh gave to him a wife, the sister of his wife, that is, the sister of the queen, the sister of Tahpenes.

20 And the sister of Tahpenes engen-dered to him a son, Genubath; and Tahpenes nursed him in the house of Pharaoh; and Genubath dwelled before Pharaoh, with the sons of Pharaoh.

21 And when Hadad had heard in Egypt, that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab, the prince of chivalry, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, Suffer thou me, that I go into my land.

22 And Pharaoh said to him, And of what thing hast thou need with me, that thou seekest to go to thy land? And he answered, Of nothing; but I beseech thee, that thou deliver me or let me go.

23 And God raised up another adversary to Solomon, Rezon, the son of Eliadah, that fled Hadadezer, king of Zobah, his lord;

24 and [he] gathered men against him, and was made the prince of thieves, when David killed them of Zobah; and they went to Damascus, and dwelled there; and they made him king in Damascus.

25 And he was [an] adversary of Israel in all the days of Solomon; and this is besides the evil of Hadad, and his hatred against Israel; and he reigned in Syria.

26 Also Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, of Ephraim of Zereda, the servant of Solomon, of which Jeroboam, a woman widow, Zeruah by name, was his mother, he also raised his hand against the king.

27 And this was [the] cause of his rebelty against the king; for Solomon builded the Millo, and made even the swallow of the city of David, his father.

28 Forsooth Jeroboam was a mighty man and strong; and Solomon saw the young waxing man to be of good kindred, and witting in things to be done, and Solomon made him prefect, either sovereign, upon the tributes of all the house of Joseph.

29 Therefore it was done in that time, that Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem; and Ahijah of Shiloh, a prophet, covered with a new mantle, found him in the way; and they twain [or two] were alone in the field.

30 And Ahijah took his new mantle, with which he was covered, and he cut it into twelve parts;

31 and said to Jeroboam, Take to thee ten cuttings of the mantle; for the Lord God of Israel saith these things, Lo! I shall cut the realm from the hand of Solomon, and I shall give to thee ten lineages;

32 but one lineage shall dwell to him, for David, my servant, and for Jerusalem, the city which I chose of all the lineages of Israel;

33 this cutting of the realm shall be; for Solomon forsook me, and worship-ped Astarte, the goddess of Sidonians, and Chemosh, the god of Moab, and Moloch, the god of the sons of Ammon; and [he] went not in my ways, that he did rightwiseness before me, and my behests, and my dooms, as David, his father, did.

34 And I shall not take away all the realm from his hand, but I shall put him duke in all the days of his life, for David, my servant, whom I chose, which kept my behests, and my commandments.

35 Soothly I shall take away the realm from the hand of his son, and I shall give [the] ten lineages to thee;

36 forsooth I shall give one lineage to his son, that a lantern dwell to David, my servant, in all days before me in Jerusalem, the city which I chose, that my name should be there.

37 Forsooth I shall take thee, and thou shalt reign on all things which thy soul desireth, and thou shalt be king upon Israel.

38 Therefore if thou shalt hear all things which I shall command to thee, and if thou shalt go in my ways, and if thou shalt do that, that is rightful [or right] before me, and if thou shalt keep my commandments, and my behests, as David, my servant, did, I shall be with thee, and I shall build a faithful house to thee, as I builded an house to David, and I shall give Israel to thee;

39 and I shall torment the seed of David on this thing, nevertheless not in all days.

40 Therefore Solomon would slay Jeroboam, which rose, and fled into Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt; and he was in Egypt unto the death of Solomon.

41 Forsooth the residue of the words of Solomon, and all things which he did, and his wisdom, lo! all those things be written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of Solomon.

42 And the days in which Solomon reigned in Jerusalem upon all Israel, be forty years.

43 And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David, his father; and Rehoboam, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 12

1 Forsooth Rehoboam came into Shechem; for all Israel was gathered thither to make him king.

2 And soothly Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, when he was yet in Egypt, and fled from the face of king Solomon, turned again from Egypt, for the death of Solomon was heard;

3 and they sent, and called him. Therefore Jeroboam came, and all the multitude of Israel, and they spake to Rehoboam, and said,

4 Thy father putted the most hard yoke upon us, therefore abate thou a little now of the hardest commandment of thy father, and of the full grievous yoke that he hath put upon us, and we shall serve to thee.

5 And Rehoboam said to them, Go ye till to the third day, and turn ye again to me. And when the people had gone,

6 king Rehoboam took counsel with the elder men, that stood before Solomon, his father, while he lived yet; and Rehoboam said, What counsel give ye to me, that I answer to the people?

7 Which said to him, If thou obeyest today to this people, and servest this people, and givest stead to their asking, and speakest to them light, or easy, words, they shall be servants to thee in all days.

8 And Rehoboam forsook the counsel of [the] eld [or old] men, which they gave to him, and took young men, that were nourished with him, and stood nigh [to] him;

9 and he said to them, What counsel give ye to me, that I answer to this people, that said to me, Make thou easier the yoke that thy father hath put upon us?

10 And the young men, that were nourished with him, said to him, Thus speak thou to this people, that spake to thee, and said, Thy father made grievous our yoke, relieve thou us; thus thou shalt speak to them, My least finger is greater than the back of my father;

11 and now though my father putted [or put] on you a grievous yoke, forsooth I shall add on your yoke; my father beat you with scourges, but I shall beat you with scorpions*.

12 Therefore Jeroboam, and all the people, came to Rehoboam, in the third day, as the king spake, saying, Turn ye again to me in the third day.

13 And the king answered hard things to the people, while the counsel of [the] elder men was forsaken, that they had given to him;

14 and he spake to them by the counsel of [the] young men, and said, My father made grievous your yoke, forsooth I shall add to your yoke; my father beat you with scourges, but I shall beat you with scorpions.

15 And the king assented not to the people, for the Lord had turned him away, that the Lord should raise up his word, that he had spoken in the hand of the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh to Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

16 Then the people saw, that the king would not hear them, and the people answered to the king, and said, What part is to us in David, either what heritage in the son of Jesse? Israel, turn thou again into thy tabernacles; now, David, see thou to thine house. And Israel went into his tabernacles.

17 Forsooth Rehoboam reigned on the sons of Israel, which dwelled in the cities of Judah.

18 Therefore king Rehoboam sent Adoram, that was on the tributes; and all the people of Israel stoned him, and he was dead. Forsooth king Rehoboam went up hastily upon his chariot, and fled into Jerusalem;

19 and Israel departed from the house of David, till into this present day.

20 Forsooth it was done, when all Israel had heard that Jeroboam [was] turned again, they sent, and called him, when the company was gathered together, and they made him king upon all Israel; and no man followed the house of David, except the lineage alone of Judah.

21 And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, and gathered together all the house of Judah, and the lineage of Benjamin, an hundred and fourscore thousand of chosen men and warriors, that they should fight against the house of Israel, and should bring again the realm to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.

22 Forsooth the word of God was made to Shemaiah, the man of God, and said,

23 Speak thou to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and of Benjamin, and to the residue of the people, and say thou,

24 The Lord saith these things, Ye shall not go up, neither ye shall fight against your brethren, the sons of Israel; turn each man again into his house, for this word is done of me. They heard the word of the Lord, and they turned again from the journey, as the Lord commanded to them.

25 And Jeroboam builded Shechem, in the hill of Ephraim, and dwelled there; and he went out from thence, and builded Penuel.

26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the realm shall turn again to the house of David,

27 if this people ascendeth [or go up] to Jerusalem, that it make sacrifice in the house of the Lord in Jerusalem; and then the heart of this people shall turn again to their lord, Rehoboam, king of Judah; and they shall slay me, and shall turn again to him.

28 And by counsel thought out, Jeroboam made twain [or two] golden calves, and he said to the people, Do not ye ascend [or go up] more into Jerusalem; Israel, lo! thy gods, that led thee out of the land of Egypt.

29 And he set one calf in Bethel, and the tother in Dan.

30 And this word was made to Israel into sin; for the people went into Dan, to worship the calf.

31 And Jeroboam made temples in high places, and he made priests of the last men of the people, the which were not of the sons of Levi.

32 And the king ordained a solemn day in the eighth month, in the fifteen day of the month, by [the] likeness of the solemnity that was hallowed in Judah. And the king went up, and made in like manner an altar in Bethel, that he should offer to the calves, which he had made; and he ordained in Bethel priests of the high places, which he had made.

33 And he went up upon the altar, which he had builded in Bethel, in the fifteenth day of the eighth month, which he had feigned of his heart; and he made a solemnity to the sons of Israel, and he went upon the altar, that he should burn incense.

CHAPTER 13

1 And lo! a man of God came from Judah, by the word of the Lord, into Bethel, while Jeroboam stood upon the altar, casting incense.

2 And he cried out against the altar, by the word of the Lord, and said, Altar! altar! the Lord saith these things, Lo! a son, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and he shall offer upon thee the priests of high things, the which burn now incense in thee, and he shall burn the bones of men upon thee.

3 And he gave a sign in that day, and said, This shall be the sign that the Lord spake, Lo! the altar shall be cut, and the ash which is therein, shall be shed out.

4 And when the king had heard the word of the man of God, which he had cried against the altar in Bethel, the king held forth his hand from the altar, and said, Take ye him. And his hand dried up, which he had held forth, and he might not draw it again to himself.

5 Also the altar was cut, and the ash was shed out of the altar, by the sign which the man of God before-said, in the word of the Lord.

6 And the king said to the man of God, Beseech thou before the face of the Lord thy God, and pray thou for me, that mine hand be restored to me. And the man of God prayed before the face of the Lord; and the hand of the king turned again to him, and it was made as it was before.

7 And the king spake to the man of God, Come thou home with me, that thou eat, and I shall give gifts to thee.

8 And the man of God said to the king, Though thou shalt give to me the half part of thine house, I shall not come with thee, neither I shall eat bread, neither I shall drink water in this place.

9 for so it was commanded to me by the word of the Lord, commanding, Thou shalt not eat bread, neither thou shalt drink water, neither thou shalt turn again by the way by which thou camest.

10 Therefore he went by another way, and turned not again by the way, by which he came into Bethel.

11 Forsooth an eld [or old] prophet dwelled then in Bethel, to whom his sons came, and told to him all the works which the man of God had done in that day in Bethel; and they [also] told to their father the words which he spake to the king.

12 And the father of them said to them, By what way went he? His sons showed to him the way, by which the man of God went, that came from Judah.

13 And he said to his sons, Saddle ye an ass to me. And when they had saddled the ass, he ascended or went up,

14 and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under a terebinth. And he said to the man of God, Whether thou art the man of God, that camest from Judah? He answered, I am.

15 And he said to him, Come thou with me home, that thou eat bread.

16 And he said, I may not turn again, neither come with thee, neither I shall eat bread, neither I shall drink water in this place;

17 for the Lord spake to me in the word of the Lord, and said, Thou shalt not eat bread, and thou shalt not drink water there, neither thou shalt turn again by the way by which thou wentest thither.

18 And he said to him, And I am a prophet like thee; and an angel spake to me by the word of the Lord, and said, Lead again him into thine house, that he eat bread, and drink water. He deceived the man of God,

19 and brought him again with him. Therefore he ate bread in his house, and drank water.

20 And when he sat at the table, the word of the Lord was made to the prophet* that brought him again;

21 and he cried [out] to the man of God that came from Judah, and said, The Lord saith these things, For thou obeyedest not to the mouth of the Lord, and keptest not the command-ment which thy Lord God commanded to thee,

22 and thou turnedest again, and atest bread, and drankest water in the place in which I commanded to thee, that thou shouldest not eat bread, neither shouldest drink water, thy dead body shall not be borne into the sepulchre of thy fathers.

23 And when he had eaten and drunk, the prophet, whom he had brought again, saddled his ass.

24 And when he had gone forth, a lion found him in the way, and killed him. And his dead body was cast forth in the way; soothly the ass stood beside him, and the lion also stood beside the dead body.

25 And lo! men passing saw the dead body cast forth in the way, and the lion standing beside the dead body; and they came, and published it in the city, in which the eld [or old] prophet dwelled.

26 And when that prophet, that brought him again from the way, had heard this, he said, It is the man of God, that was unobedient to the mouth of God; and the Lord betook him to the lion, that hath broken him, and killed him, by the word of the Lord which he spake to him.

27 And he said to his sons, Saddle ye an ass to me. And when they had saddled,

28 and he had gone, he found his dead body cast forth in the way, and the ass and the lion standing beside the dead body; and the lion ate not the dead body, neither hurted the ass.

29 Therefore the prophet took the dead body of the man of God, and put it on the ass; and he turned again, and brought it into the city of the eld [or old] prophet, that he should bewail him.

30 And he put his dead body in his sepulchre, and they bewailed him, and said, Alas! alas! my brother!

31 And when they had bewailed him, he said to his sons, When I shall be dead, bury me in the sepulchre, in which the man of God is buried; put ye my bones beside his bones.

32 For soothly the word shall come, which he before-said in the word of the Lord, against the altar that is in Bethel, and against all the temples of [the] high places, which be in the cities of Samaria.

33 After these words Jeroboam turned not again from his worst way, but on the contrary, of the last of the people he made priests of high places; who-ever would, [he] fulfilled his hand, and he was made [a] priest of high places.

34 And for this cause the house of Jeroboam sinned, and it was destroyed, and done away from the face of the earth.

CHAPTER 14

1 In that time Abijah, son of Jeroboam, was sick.

2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Rise thou up, and change clothing, that thou be not known, that thou art the wife of Jeroboam; and go thou into Shiloh, where Ahijah, the prophet, is, which spake to me, that I should reign upon this people.

3 Also take thou in thine hand ten loaves, and a cake, and a vessel of honey, and go thou to him; for he shall show to thee, what shall befall to this child.

4 The wife of Jeroboam did as he said, and she rose up, and went into Shiloh, and came into the house of Ahijah; and Ahijah might not see, for his eyes dimmed for eld age.

5 Forsooth the Lord said to Ahijah, Lo! the wife of Jeroboam entereth, that she counsel with thee on her son, which is sick; thou shalt speak these and these things to her. Therefore when she had entered, and had feigned herself to be that which she was not,

6 Ahijah heard the sound of the feet of her entering by the door, and he said, Enter thou, the wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thee to be another? Forsooth I am sent to be an hard messenger, that is, telling hard things, to thee.

7 Go thou, and say to Jeroboam, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, For I enhanced thee from the midst of the people, and I gave thee to be duke on my people Israel,

8 and I cutted the realm of the house of David, and I gave it to thee, and thou were not as my servant David, that kept my behests, and pursued [or followed] me in all his heart, and did that that was pleasant [or pleasing] in my sight;

9 but thou hast wrought evil, over all men that were before thee, and madest to thee alien gods, and welled those together, that thou shouldest excite me or stir me to wrathfulness, soothly thou hast cast forth me behind thy back.

10 Therefore lo! I shall bring in evils upon the house of Jeroboam, and I shall smite the house of Jeroboam unto a pisser to the wall, and unto him that is imprisoned, and the last in Israel; and I shall cleanse the relics, or remnants, of the house of Jeroboam, as dung is wont to be cleansed unto purity, either cleanness*;

11 soothly dogs shall eat them, that shall die of the house of Jeroboam in the city; and birds of the air shall devour them, that shall die in the field; for the Lord spake.

12 Therefore rise thou, and go into thine house; and in that entering of thy feet into the city, the child shall die.

13 And all Israel shall bewail him, and shall bury him; for this child alone of Jeroboam shall be borne into the sepulchre, for a good word is found on him of the Lord God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

14 Forsooth the Lord shall ordain to him a king upon Israel, that shall smite the house of Jeroboam, in this day, and in this time, that is, of nigh;

15 and the Lord God of Israel shall smite, as a reed in the water is wont to be moved; and he shall draw out Israel from this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and he shall winnow them over the flood, for they made to them maumet woods, that they should stir the Lord to ire.

16 And the Lord God shall betake Israel to his enemies, for the sins of Jeroboam, that sinned, and made Israel to do sin.

17 Therefore the wife of Jeroboam rose, and went, and came into Tirzah; and when she entered into the thresh-old of the house, the child was dead.

18 And they buried him; and all Israel bewailed him, by the word of the Lord, which he spake in the hand of his servant, Ahijah the prophet.

19 Forsooth, lo! the residue of the words of Jeroboam, how he fought, and how he reigned, be written in the book of [the] words of the days of [the] kings of Israel.

20 Forsooth the days, in which Jeroboam reigned, be two and twenty years; and Jeroboam slept with his fathers, and Nadab, his son, reigned for him.

21 Forsooth Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah; Rehoboam was of one and forty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned seven-teen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose of all the lineages of Israel, that he should set [or put] his name there. And the name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonite.

22 And Judah did evil before the Lord, and they stirred him to ire on all things, which their fathers did in their sins, by which they sinned.

23 For also they builded to them-selves altars, and images, and woods, on each high hill, and under each tree full of boughs.

24 But also men of women’s condi-tions or womanish men were in the land, and they did all the abomin-ations of heathen men, which the Lord all-brake before the face of the sons of Israel.

25 Forsooth in the fifth year of the realm of Rehoboam, Shishak, the king of Egypt, went up into Jerusalem;

26 and he took the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the king’s treasures, and he ravished all things; also he ravished the golden shields which Solomon made.

27 For which king Rehoboam made brazen shields, and gave those [or them] into the hands of [the] dukes of shield-makers, and of them that waked [or watched] before the door of the house of the king.

28 And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, they that had office to go before, bare those [or them], and they bare those again to the place of arms [or the armory place] of [the] shield-makers.

29 Forsooth, lo! the residue of the words of Rehoboam, and all things which he did, be written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of [the] kings of Judah.

30 And battle was betwixt Rehoboam and Jeroboam, in all days.

31 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David. And the name of his mother was Naamah the Ammonite; and Abijam, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 15

1 Therefore in the eighteenth year of the realm of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, Abijam reigned upon Judah.

2 Three years he reigned in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom.

3 And he went in all the sins of his father, which he did before him; and his heart was not perfect with his Lord God, as the heart of David, his father, was perfect.

4 But for David, his Lord God gave to him a lantern in Jerusalem, that he should raise his son after him, and that he should stand in Jerusalem;

5 for David had done rightfulness [or right] in the eyes of the Lord, and had not bowed [away] from all things that the Lord had commanded to him, in all the days of his life, except the word of Uriah the Hittite*.

6 Nevertheless battle was betwixt Abijam and Jeroboam, in all the time of his life.

7 Soothly the residue of the words of Abijam, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah? And battle was betwixt Abijam and Jeroboam.

8 And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa, his son, reigned for him.

9 And Asa, king of Judah, reigned in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel;

10 and Asa reigned one and forty years in Jerusalem. The name of his grandmother was Maachah, the daugh-ter of Abishalom.

11 And Asa did rightfulness [or right] in the sight of the Lord, as David, his father, did;

12 and he took away from the land men of women’s conditions [or the womanish-made men], and he purged all the filths of idols, which his fathers made.

13 Furthermore and he removed Maachah, his grandmother, that she should not be princess in the solemn things of the idol Priapus, and in his maumet woods that she had hallow-ed; and he destroyed the den of him, and he brake the foulest simulacrum, and burnt it in the strand [or stream] of Kidron;

14 soothly he did not away the high things†; nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with his Lord God, in all his days.

15 And he brought into the house of the Lord those things, which his father had hallowed, and avowed [or vowed], silver, and gold, and vessels.

16 Forsooth battle was betwixt Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, in all the days of them.

17 And Baasha, king of Israel, went up into Judah, and builded Ramah, that no man of the part of Asa, king of Judah, might go out, either go in.

18 Therefore Asa took all the silver and gold, that were left in the treasuries of the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and gave it into the hands of his servants; and he sent it to Benhadad, the son of Tab-rimon, son of Hezion, the king of Syria, that dwelled in Damascus, and said,

19 A bond of peace is betwixt me and thee, and betwixt my father and thy father, and therefore I sent to thee gifts, gold, and silver; and I ask, that thou come, and make void the bond of peace, that thou hast with Baasha, king of Israel, and that he go away from me.

20 Benhadad assented to king Asa, and sent the princes of his host into the cities of Israel; and they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel, the house of Maachah or Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, that is, all the land of Naphtali.

21 And when Baasha had heard this thing, he left off to build Ramah, and turned again into Tirzah.

22 Forsooth king Asa sent [a] message into all Judah, and said, No man be excused. And they took away the stones of Ramah, and the trees thereof, by which Baasha had builded; and king Asa builded of the same stones and trees Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah.

23 Soothly the residue of all the words of Asa, and of all his strength, and all things that he did, and the cities which he builded, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of [the] kings of Judah? Nevertheless Asa had ache in his feet, in the time of his eld age.

24 And Asa slept with his fathers, and he was buried with them in the city of David, his father; and Jehosh-aphat, his son, reigned for him.

25 Forsooth Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, reigned on Israel, in the second year of Asa, king of Judah; and he reigned on Israel two years.

26 And he did that, that was evil in the sight of the Lord, and he went in the ways of his father, and in the sins of him, in which he made Israel to do sin.

27 And Baasha, the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, setted treason to him, and he smote him in Gibbe-thon‡, which is a city of Philistines; and Nadab and all Israel besieged Gibbethon.

28 Therefore Baasha killed him, in the third year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned for him.

29 And when he had reigned, he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not one man of his seed, till he did away him, by the word of the Lord, which he spake in the hand of his servant, Ahijah of Shiloh, a prophet,

30 for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and in which he made Israel to do sin, and for the trespass, by which he wrathed the Lord God of Israel.

31 Soothly the residue of the words of Nadab, and all things which he wrought, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

32 And battle was betwixt Asa and Baasha, king of Israel, in all the days of them.

33 In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha, the son of Ahijah, reigned upon all Israel, in Tirzah, four and twenty years.

34 And he did evil before the Lord, and he went in the ways of Jeroboam, and in his sins, by which he made Israel to do sin.

CHAPTER 16

1 Forsooth the word of the Lord was made to Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasha, and said,

2 For that that I raised thee from dust, and setted [or set] thee duke on Israel, my people; soothly thou wentest in the way of Jeroboam, and thou hast made my people Israel to do sin, that thou shouldest stir me to ire, in the sins of them;

3 lo! I shall cut away the hinder things of Baasha, and the hinder things of his house, and I shall make thine house as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

4 Dogs shall eat that man of Baasha, that shall be dead in the city, and [the] birds of the air shall eat that man of Baasha, that shall die in the field.

5 Soothly the residue of the words of Baasha, and whatever things he did, and his battles, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

6 And so Baasha slept with his fathers, and he was buried in Tirzah; and Elah, his son, reigned for him.

7 Forsooth when the word of the Lord was made in the hand of Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasha, and against his house, and against all the evil which he did before the Lord, to stir him to ire in the works of his hands, that he should be as the house of Jeroboam, for this cause he killed him*.

8 In the six and twentieth year of Asa, king of Judah, Elah, the son of Baasha, reigned upon Israel, in Tirzah, two years.

9 And Zimri, his servant, duke of the half part of his knights, rebelled against him; soothly Elah was in Tirzah, and drank and was drunken in the house of Arza, prefect of Tirzah.

10 Therefore Zimri felled in, and smote Elah, and killed him, in the seven and twentieth year of Asa, king of Judah; and [he] reigned for him.

11 And when he had reigned, and sat upon his throne, he smote all the house of Baasha, and he left not thereof a pisser to the wall, and his kinsmen, and friends.

12 And Zimri did away all the house of Baasha, by the word of the Lord, which he spake to Baasha, in the hand of Jehu, the prophet,

13 for all the sins of Baasha, and for the sins of Elah, his son, which sinned, and made Israel to do sin, and wrathed the Lord God of Israel in their vanities.

14 Soothly the residue of the words of Elah, and all things which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

15 In the seven and twentieth year of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah; forsooth the host of Israel besieged Gibbethon, the city of Philistines.

16 And when it had heard, that Zimri had rebelled, and had slain the king, all Israel made Omri king to them, that was prince of the chivalry, on Israel, in that day, in their tents.

17 Therefore Omri went up, and all Israel with him, from Gibbethon, and besieged Tirzah.

18 And Zimri saw, that the city should be overcome, and he entered into the palace, and burnt himself with the king’s house; and he was dead

19 in his sins which he sinned, doing evil before the Lord, and going in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sins, by which he made Israel to do sin.

20 Soothly the residue of the words of Zimri, and of his treasons, and tyranny, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

21 Then the people of Israel was parted into two parts; the half part of the people followed Tibni, the son of Ginath, to make him king, and the other half part followed Omri.

22 And the people that was with Omri, had the mastery over the people that followed Tibni, the son of Ginath; and Tibni was dead, and Omri reigned.

23 In the one and thirtieth year of Asa, king of Judah, Omri reigned upon Israel, twelve years; in Tirzah, he reigned six years.

24 And he bought of Shemer, for two talents of silver, the hill of Samaria, and builded on that hill; and he called the name of the city, which he had builded, by the name of Shemer, [the] lord of the hill of Samaria.

25 Forsooth Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, and wrought waywardly, or wickedly, over all men that were before him.

26 And he went in all the way of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and in his sins, by which he made Israel to do sin, that he should stir to ire, in his vanities, the Lord God of Israel.

27 Forsooth the residue of the words of Omri, and his battles, which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

28 And Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria; and Ahab, his son, reigned for him.

29 Forsooth Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned upon Israel, in the eight and thirtieth year of Asa, king of Judah; and Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned upon Israel, in Samaria, two and twenty years.

30 And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord, over all men that were before him;

31 and it sufficed not to him that he went in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, furthermore and he wedded a wife, Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidonians; and he went and served Baal, and worshipped him.

32 And he set up an altar to Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had builded in Samaria,

33 and he planted a maumet woods; and Ahab added to that in his work, and stirred to ire the Lord God of Israel, more than all [the] kings of Israel that were before him.

34 Forsooth in his days Hiel of Bethel builded Jericho; in Abiram, his first son, he founded it†, and in Segub, his last son, he setted [or set] the gates thereof, by the word of the Lord, which he had spoken in the hand of Joshua, the son of Nun.

CHAPTER 17

1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the dwellers of Gilead, said to Ahab, The Lord God of Israel liveth, in whose sight I stand, dew and rain shall not be in these years, no but by the words of my mouth.

2 And the word of the Lord was made to him, and said,

3 Go thou away from hence, and go against the east, and be thou hid in the strand [or stream] of Cherith, that is against Jordan,

4 and there thou shalt drink of the strand; and I have commanded to [the] crows, that they feed thee there.

5 Therefore he went, and did by the word of the Lord; and when he had gone, he sat in the strand [or stream] of Cherith, that is against Jordan.

6 And [the] crows bare to him bread and flesh early; and in like manner in the eventide; and he drank of the strand [or stream].

7 And after some days the strand was dried; for it had not rained on the earth.

8 Therefore the word of the Lord was made to him, and said,

9 Rise thou, and go into Zarephath of Sidonians, and thou shalt dwell there; for I have commanded to a woman widow there, that she feed thee.

10 He rose, and went into Zarephath of Sidonians; and when he had come to the gate of the city, a woman widow gathering sticks appeared to him; and he called her, and said to her, Give thou to me a little of water in a vessel, that I drink.

11 And when she went to bring it, he cried behind her back, and said, I beseech, bring thou to me also a morsel of bread in thine hand.

12 And she answered, Thy Lord God liveth, for I have no bread, no but as much of meal in a pot, as a fist[ful] may take, and a little of oil in a vessel; lo! I gather two sticks, that I enter, and make it to me, and to my son, that we eat, and die.

13 And Elijah said to her, Do not thou dread, but go, and make as thou saidest; nevertheless make thou first to me of that little meal a little loaf, baked under ashes, and bring thou it to me; soothly thou shalt make after-ward to thee and to thy son.

14 Forsooth the Lord God of Israel saith these things, The pot of meal shall not fail, and the vessel of oil shall not be abated, till to the day in which the Lord shall give rain on the face of the earth.

15 And she went, and did by the word of Elijah; and he ate, and she, and her house.

16 And from that day the pot of meal failed not, and the vessel of oil was not abated, by the word of the Lord, which he had spoken in the hand of Elijah.

17 Forsooth it was done after these words, the son of a woman house-wife, was sick, and the sickness was full strong, so that breath dwelled not in him.

18 Therefore she said to Elijah, What to me and to thee, thou man of God? Enteredest thou to me, that my wicked-ness should be remembered, and that thou shouldest slay my son?

19 And Elijah said to her, Give thy son to me. And he took that son from her bosom, and bare into the solar, where he dwelled; and he put him on his bed.

20 And he cried to the Lord, and said, My Lord God, whether thou hast tormented also the widow, with whom I am sustained in all manner, that thou killedest her son?

21 He spread abroad himself, and was meted [or measured] upon the child by three times; and he cried to the Lord, and said, My Lord God, I beseech, the soul of this child turn again into the entrails of him.

22 The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child turned again within him, and he lived again.

23 And Elijah took the child, and put him down of the solar into the lower house, and betook him to his mother; and he said to her, Lo! thy son liveth.

24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now in this I have known, that thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord is sooth in thy mouth.

CHAPTER 18

1 After many days the word of the Lord was made to Elijah, in the third year, and said, Go, and show thee to Ahab, that I give rain upon the face of the earth.

2 Therefore Elijah went to show him-self to Ahab; forsooth a great hunger was made in Samaria.

3 And Ahab called Obadiah, the dispenser, either steward, of his house; forsooth Obadiah dreaded greatly the Lord God of Israel.

4 For when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, he took an hundred prophets, and hid them, by fifties and fifties, in dens, and fed them with bread and water.

5 Then Ahab said to Obadiah, Go thou into the land, to all the wells of waters, and into all valleys, if in hap we may find grass, and save horses and mules; and [the] work beasts perish not utterly.

6 And they parted the countries to themselves, that they should compass those [or them]; Ahab went by one way, and Obadiah went by another way, by himself.

7 And when Obadiah was in the way, Elijah met him; and when he had known Elijah, he felled on his face, and said, Whether thou art my lord Elijah?

8 To whom he answered, I am. And Elijah said, Go thou, and say to thy lord, Elijah is present.

9 And Obadiah said, What have I sinned, for thou betakest me in the hand of Ahab, that he slay me?

10 Thy Lord God liveth, for no folk either realm is, whither my lord, seeking thee, sent not; and when all men answered, He is not here, he charged greatly all realms and folks, for thou were not found;

11 and now thou sayest to me, Go, and say to thy lord, Elijah is present.

12 And when I shall depart from thee, the Spirit of the Lord shall bear thee away into a place which I know not; and I shall enter, and tell to Ahab, and he shall not find thee, and he shall slay thee; forsooth thy servant dreadeth the Lord from his young childhood.

13 Whether it is not showed to thee, my lord, what I did, when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, that I hid of the prophets of the Lord an hundred men, by fifty and fifty, in dens, and I fed them with bread and water?

14 And now thou sayest, Go, and say to thy lord, Elijah is present or is nigh, that he slay me.

15 And Elijah said, The Lord of hosts liveth, before whose sight I stand, for today I shall appear to him.

16 Therefore Obadiah went into the meeting of Ahab, and showed it to him; and Ahab came into the meeting of Elijah.

17 And when he had seen Elijah, he said, Whether thou art he, that troublest Israel?

18 And he said, Not I trouble Israel, but thou, and the house of thy father, which have forsaken the command-ments of the Lord, and pursued [or followed] Baalim.

19 Nevertheless now send thou, and gather to me all Israel, into the hill of Carmel, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and [the] four hundred prophets of maumet woods, that eat of the table of Jezebel.

20 Ahab sent to all the sons of Israel, and gathered together the prophets in the hill of Carmel.

21 Forsooth Elijah nighed to all the people of Israel, and said, How long halt ye into two parts? If the Lord is God, pursue ye [or followeth] him; and if Baal is God, pursue ye [or followeth] him. And the people answered not one word to him.

22 And Elijah said again to the people, I dwelled alone a prophet of the Lord; soothly the prophets of Baal be four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the maumet woods be four hundred men.

23 Twain oxes [or two oxen] be given to us; and choose they one ox, and they shall cut it into gobbets, and put it on wood, but put they not fire under; and I shall make ready the tother ox into sacrifice, and I shall put it on the wood, and I shall not put fire under it either.

24 Call ye the name of your gods, and I shall call the name of my God; and the God that heareth by fire falling down, given from heaven to waste the sacrifice, be he God. And all the people answered, and said, The reason is best, that Elijah hath spoken.

25 Therefore Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose ye one ox to you, and make ye ready first your sacrifice, for ye be the more; and call ye the names of your gods, and put ye not fire under.

26 And when they had taken the ox, whom [or that] Elijah gave to them, they made ready the sacrifice, and called the name of Baal, from the morrowtide till to midday, and said, Baal, hear us! And no voice was, neither any that answered; and they skipped over the altar, which they had made.

27 And when it was then midday, Elijah scorned them, and said, Cry ye with [a] greater voice, for Baal is your god, and in hap he speaketh with another, either he is in a harbourgerie, either in the way, either certainly he sleepeth, that he be raised up.

28 Therefore they cried with [a] greater voice, and they cut themselves with knives and lancets, after their custom, till they were beshed with blood.

29 But after that midday passed, and while they prophesied, or prayed, the time came, in which the sacrifice is wont to be offered, neither voice was heard of their gods, neither any answered, neither perceived them praying.

30 [And] Elijah said to all the people, Come ye to me. And when the people came to him, he arrayed the altar of the Lord, that was destroyed.

31 And he took twelve stones, by the number of the lineages of the sons of Jacob, to which Jacob the word of the Lord was made, and said, Israel shall be thy name.

32 And he builded an altar of stones, in the name of the Lord, and he made a leading-to of water, either a ditch, as by two little ditches, or furrows, in the compass of the altar*.

33 And he dressed [the] wood, and he parted the ox by its members, and put it upon the wood, and said, Fill ye four pots with water, and pour ye it upon the burnt sacrifice, and upon the wood.

34 And again he said, Also the second time do ye this. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do ye the same thing the third time; and they did it the third time.

35 And the waters ran about the altar, and the ditch, or rut, of [the] leading-to of water was filled.

36 And when the time was then, that the burnt sacrifice should be offered, Elijah the prophet nighed, and said, Lord God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, show thou today that thou art God of Israel, and that I am thy servant, and have done all these words by thy commandment.

37 Lord, hear thou me; Lord, hear thou me; that this people learn, that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast converted again the heart of them.

38 Soothly [the] fire of the Lord felled down then, and devoured the burnt sacrifice, the wood, and the stones, and it licked up also the powder, and the water that was in the leading-to, or the rut, of water.

39 And when all the people had seen this, the people felled into his face, and said, The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.

40 And Elijah said to them, Take ye the prophets of Baal; not one soothly escape of them. And when they had taken them, Elijah led them to the strand [or stream] of Kishon, and killed them there.

41 And Elijah said to Ahab, Go thou up, and eat, and drink, for the sound of much rain is nigh.

42 Ahab went up to eat and drink; but Elijah went up into the top of the hill of Carmel, and he set lowly his face to the earth, betwixt his knees;

43 and said to his servant, Go thou up, and behold thou against the sea. And when he had gone up, and beheld, he said, Nothing is there. And again Elijah said to him, Turn thou again, seven times.

44 And in the seventh time, lo! a little cloud, as the step of a man, went up from the sea. And Elijah said, Go thou up, and say to Ahab, Join thy chariot, and go down, lest the rain before-occupy thee.

45 And when they turned them hither and thither, lo! heavens were made dark, and cloud, and wind, and great rain was made. Therefore Ahab went up into his chariot, and went into Jezreel;

46 and the hand of the Lord was made upon Elijah, and when his loins were girded, he ran before Ahab, till he came into Jezreel.

CHAPTER 19

1 Forsooth Ahab told to Jezebel all things that Elijah had done, and how he had slain with sword all the prophets of Baal.

2 And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, and said, Gods do these things to me, and add these things too, no but tomorrow in this hour I shall put thy life as the life of one of them.

3 Therefore Elijah dreaded, and rose, and went whither ever his will bare him; and he came into Beersheba of Judah, and he left there his child;

4 and went into desert, the way of one day. And when he came, and sat under one juniper tree, he asked to his soul, that he should die; and he said, Lord, it sufficeth to me, take my soul; for I am not better than my fathers.

5 And he casted forth himself, and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree. And lo! the angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him, Rise thou, and eat.

6 He beheld, and, lo! at his head was a loaf baked under ashes, and a vessel of water. Therefore he ate, and drank, and slept again.

7 And the angel of the Lord turned again the second time, and touched him; and he said to him, Rise thou, and eat; for a great way is to thee.

8 And when he had risen, he ate, and drank; and he went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb, the hill of God.

9 And when he had come thither, he dwelled in a den; and lo! the word of the Lord was made to him, and said to him, Elijah, what doest thou here?

10 And he answered, By fervent love, that is, of all the heart, I have loved fervently, for the Lord God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken the covenant of the Lord; they have destroyed thine altars, and killed with sword thy prophets; and I am left alone, and they seek my life, that they do it away.

11 And he said to Elijah, Go thou out, and stand in the hill, before the Lord. And lo! the Lord passeth by, and a great wind, and strong, turning upside-down hills, and all-breaking stones before the Lord; not in the wind is the Lord. And after the wind is a stirring; not in the stirring is the Lord.

12 And after the stirring is a fire; not in the fire is the Lord. And after the fire is an hissing of thin wind, or breathing softly; there is the Lord.

13 And when Elijah had heard this, he covered his face with a mantle, and he went out, and stood in the door of the den. And a voice spake to him, and said, Elijah, what doest thou here?

14 And he answered, With fervent love I have loved fervently, for the Lord God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken thy covenant; they have destroyed thine altars, and they have killed with sword thy prophets; and I am left alone, and they seek my life, that they do it away.

15 And the Lord said to him, Go, and turn again into thy way, by the desert, into Damascus; and when thou shalt come thither, thou shalt anoint Hazael king upon Syria;

16 and thou shalt anoint king upon Israel, Jehu, the son of Nimshi; and thou shalt anoint a prophet for thee, Elisha, the son of Shaphat, that is of Abelmeholah.

17 And it shall be, whoever shall flee the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall slay him; and whoever shall flee the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall slay him.

18 And I shall leave to me in Israel seven thousand of men, of which the knees be not bowed before Baal, and each mouth that worshipped not him, and kissed not his hand.

19 Therefore Elijah went forth from thence, and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, earing in twelve yokes of oxen; and he was one in the twelve yokes of oxen, earing. And when Elijah had come to him, Elijah [or he] casted his mantle upon him.

20 And he ran anon after Elijah, when the oxen were left, and said, I pray thee, kiss I my father and my mother, and so I shall pursue [or follow] thee. And Elijah said to him, Go thou, and turn again, for I have done to thee that that was mine to do.

21 Soothly he turned again from Elijah, and took twain [or a pair of] oxen, and killed them; and with the plow of the oxen he seethed the flesh, and gave to the people, and they ate; and he rose, and went, and pursued [or followed] Elijah, and ministered to him.

CHAPTER 20

1 Forsooth Benhadad, king of Syria, gathered together all his host, and two and thirty kings with him, and horses, and chariots; and he went up against Samaria, and fought, and besieged it.

2 And he sent messengers to Ahab, king of Israel, into the city, and they said to him, Benhadad saith these things,

3 Thy silver and thy gold is mine, and thy wives, and thy best sons be mine.

4 And the king of Israel answered, By thy word, my lord the king, I am thine, and all my things be thine.

5 And the messengers turned again, and said, Benhadad, that sent us to thee, saith these things, Thou shalt give to me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy sons.

6 Therefore tomorrow, in this same hour, I shall send my servants to thee, and they shall seek throughout thine house, and the house of thy servants; and they shall put in their hands, and take away all thing that shall please them.

7 Forsooth the king of Israel called all the elder men of the land, and said, Perceive ye, and see, that he setteth treason to us; for he sent to me for my wives, and sons, and for silver, and gold, and I forsook not.

8 And all the greater men in birth, and all the people said to him, Hear thou not, neither assent thou to him.

9 And he answered to the messengers of Benhadad, Say ye to my lord the king, I shall do all things, for which thou sentest in the beginning to me, thy servant; but I may not do this thing. And the messengers turned again, and told all things to him.

10 Which sent again, and said, Gods do these things to me, and add these things too, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice to the fist[ful] s of all the people that pursueth [or followeth] me.

11 And the king of Israel answered, and said, Say ye to him, A girded man, that is, he that goeth to battle, have not glory evenly as a man ungirded, that is, as he that hath the victory, and hath put off his armours.

12 And it was done, when Benhadad had heard this word, he drank, and also the kings, in shadowing places; and he said to his servants, Encompass ye the city. And they encompassed it.

13 And lo! one prophet nighed to Ahab, king of Israel, and said to him, The Lord God saith these things, Certainly thou hast seen all this multitude full great; lo! I shall betake it into thine hand today, that thou know that I am the Lord.

14 And Ahab said, By whom? And he said to Ahab, The Lord saith these things, By the squires, or the footmen, of the princes of provinces. And Ahab said, Who shall begin to fight? And the prophet said, Thou.

15 Therefore he numbered the chil-dren or servants of the princes of [the] provinces, and he found the number of two hundred and two and thirty; and after them he numbered the people, all the sons of Israel, seven thousand.

16 And they went out in midday. Forsooth Benhadad drank, and was drunken in his shadowing place, and two and thirty kings with him, that came to the help of him.

17 And the children of the princes of provinces went out in the first front. Therefore Benhadad sent men, which told to him, and said, Men went out of Samaria.

18 And he said, Whether they come for peace, take ye them quick; whether to fight, take ye them quick. [And he saith, Whether for peace they come, taketh them alive; whether that they fight, taketh them alive.]

19 Therefore the children of the princes of provinces went out, and the residue host pursued [or followed];

20 and each smote the man that came against him. And men of Syria fled, and Israel pursued them; also Benhadad, the king of Syria, fled on an horse with his knights.

21 Also the king of Israel went out, and smote horses and chariots, and he smote Syria with a full great vengeance.

22 Forsooth a prophet nighed to the king of Israel, and said, Go thou, and be comforted, and know, and see, what thou shalt do; for the king of Syria shall ascend [or go up] against thee in the year pursuing [or following].

23 Soothly the servants of the king of Syria said to him, The Gods of hills be the Gods of the sons of Israel, therefore they overcame us; but it is better that we fight against them in [the] field places, and we shall get them there.

24 Therefore do thou this word, or counsel; remove thou all [the] kings from thine host, and set thou [or put] princes for them;

25 and restore thou the number of knights, that felled [or fell] of thine, and [the] horses after the former horses, and restore thou[the] chariots, by the chariots which thou haddest before; and we shall fight against them in [the] field places, and thou shalt see, that we shall get them. He believed to the counsel of them, and did so.

26 Therefore after that the year had passed, Benhadad numbered men of Syria, and he went up into Aphek, to fight against Israel.

27 Forsooth the sons of Israel were numbered; and when meats were taken, they went forth even against; and they, as two little flocks of goats, setted tents against men of Syria. Forsooth men of Syria filled the land.

28 And one prophet of God nighed, and said to the king of Israel, The Lord God saith these things, For men of Syria said, God of hills is the Lord of them, and he is not God of valleys, I shall give all this great multitude in thine hand, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

29 And seven days these and they dressed battle arrays even against each other; and in the seventh day the battle was joined altogether, and the sons of Israel smote of the men of Syria an hundred thousand of footmen in one day.

30 And they that were left fled into the city of Aphek, and the wall felled [or fell] down upon seven and twenty thousand of men that were left. Forsooth Benhadad fled, and entered into the city, into a closet that was within a bed-closet;

31 and his servants said to him, [Lo!] We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel be merciful, therefore put we sackcloths in our loins, and cords in our heads, and go we out to the king of Israel; in hap he shall save our lives.

32 They girded their loins with sackcloths, and put cords in their heads, and they came to the king of Israel, and said to him, Thy servant Benhadad saith, I pray thee, let my soul live. And he said, If Benhadad liveth yet, he is my brother.

33 Which thing the men of Syria took for a gracious word, and they ravished hastily the word of his mouth, and said, Thy brother Benhadad liveth. And Ahab said to them, Go ye, and bring ye him to me. Therefore Benhadad went out to him, and he raised up Benhadad into his chariot.

34 [The] Which Benhadad said to him, I shall yield the cities which my father took from thy father, and make thou streets to thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria; and I shall be bound to peace, and I shall depart from thee. Therefore Ahab made [a] bond of peace with him, and delivered him.

35 Then a man of the sons of the prophets said to his fellow, in the word of the Lord, Smite thou me. And he would not smite.

36 To whom the prophet said, For thou wouldest not hear the voice of the Lord, lo! thou shalt go [away] from me, and a lion shall smite thee. And when he had gone a little from him, a lion found him, and slew him.

37 But also the prophet found another man, and he said to that man, Smite thou me. And he smote him, and wounded him.

38 Therefore the prophet went, and met the king in the way; and he changed with a cloth, that is, by wrap-ping of a cloth, his mouth and eyes.

39 And when the king had passed by, he cried to the king, and said, Thy servant went out to fight anon, and when one man had fled, a man brought him to me, and said, Keep thou this man; and if he escapeth, thy life shall be for his life, either thou shalt pay a talent of silver.

40 Soothly while I was troubled, and turned me hither and thither, suddenly he appeared not. And the king of Israel said to him, This is thy doom that thou [thyself] hast deemed.

41 And anon he removed the cloth, either binding, from his face, and the king of Israel knew him, that he was of the prophets.

42 The which said to the king, The Lord saith these things, For thou deliveredest from thine hand a man worthy of death, thy life shall be for his life, and thy people for his people.

43 Therefore the king of Israel turned again into his house, and despised to hear God’s word, and came wroth into Samaria*.

CHAPTER 21

1 Forsooth after these words, in that time, the vinery [or vine] of Naboth of Jezreel, that was in Jezreel, was beside the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria.

2 Therefore Ahab spake to Naboth, and said, Give thou to me thy vineyard, that I make to me thereof a garden of worts, for it is nigh to me, and nigh mine house; and I shall give to thee a better vinery [or vineyard] for it; either if thou guessest it more profitable to thee, I shall give thee the price of silver, as much as it is worth.

3 To whom Naboth answered, The Lord be merciful to me, that I give not to thee the heritage of my fathers.

4 Therefore Ahab came into his house, having indignation, and gnashing on the word which Naboth of Jezreel had spoken to him, and said, I shall not give to thee the heritage of my fathers. And Ahab casted down himself into his bed, and turned away his face to the wall, and ate not bread.

5 And Jezebel, his wife, entered to him, and said to him, What is this thing, whereof thy soul is made sorry? and why eatest thou not bread?

6 Which answered to her, I spake to Naboth of Jezreel, and I said to him, Give thy vineyard to me for money taken, either if it pleaseth thee, I shall give to thee a better vinery [or vineyard] for it. And he said, I shall not give to thee my vineyard.

7 Therefore Jezebel, his wife, said to him, Thou art of great authority, and thou governest well [the realm of] Israel; rise thou, and eat bread, and be thou patient, either comforted; I shall give to thee the vinery [or vineyard] of Naboth of Jezreel.

8 Therefore she wrote letters in the name of Ahab, and sealed those [or them] with the ring of him; and she sent to the greater men in birth, and to the best men, that were in the city of Naboth, and dwelled with him.

9 And this was the sentence of the letters; Preach ye fasting, and make ye Naboth to sit among the first men of the people;

10 and send ye privily two men, the sons of Belial, against him, and say they false witnessing, Naboth hath blessed God, and the king*, that is, hath cursed; and lead ye out him, and stone ye him, and die he so.

11 Therefore his citizens, the greater men in birth, and the best men that dwelled with him in the city, did as Jezebel had commanded [to them], and as it was written in the letters, which she had sent to them.

12 They preached fasting, and made Naboth to sit among the first men of the people;

13 and when two men, sons of the devil, were brought, they made them to sit against him, and they, that is, as men of the devil, said false witnessing against him before all the multitude, Naboth blessed God, and the king, that is, Naboth hath cursed God, and the king; for which thing they led him without the city, and killed him with stones.

14 And they sent to Jezebel, and said, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.

15 Forsooth it was done, when Jezebel had heard Naboth stoned and dead, she spake to Ahab, Rise thou, take in possession the vinery [or vineyard] of Naboth of Jezreel, which would not assent to thee, and give it for [the] money taken; for Naboth liveth not, but is dead.

16 And when Ahab had heard this, that is, Naboth to be dead, he rose, and went down into the vinery [or vineyard] of Naboth of Jezreel, to have it into possession.

17 Therefore the word of the Lord was made to Elijah of Tishbe, and said,

18 Rise thou, go down into the coming of Ahab, king of Israel, which is in Samaria; lo! he goeth down to the vinery [or vineyard] of Naboth, that he have it in possession.

19 And thou shalt speak to him, and say, The Lord saith these things, Thou hast slain Naboth, furthermore and thou hast taken his vineyard in possession; and after these things thou shalt add, [These things saith the Lord], In this place, wherein dogs licked the blood of Naboth, they shall lick also thy blood.

20 And Ahab said to Elijah, Whether thou hast found me thine enemy? And Elijah said, I have found thee so, for thou art sold to the devil that thou shouldest do evil in the sight of the Lord.

21 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in upon thee evil, and I shall cut away thine hinder things, and I shall slay of Ahab a pisser to the wall, and the imprisoned, and the last in Israel;

22 and I shall give thine house to be as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah; for thou didest evil to excite [or stir] me to wrathfulness, and madest Israel to do sin.

23 But also the Lord spake of Jezebel, and said, Dogs shall eat Jezebel in the field of Jezreel;

24 if Ahab shall die in the city, dogs shall eat him; soothly if he shall die in the field, birds of the air shall eat him.

25 Therefore none other was such as Ahab, that was sold to do evil in the sight of the Lord; for Jezebel his wife excited [or stirred] him thereto;

26 and he was made abominable, in so much that he followed the idols that Amorites made, which men the Lord wasted from before the face of the sons of Israel.

27 Therefore when Ahab had heard these words, he rent his cloth, and covered his flesh with an hair-shirt, and he fasted, and slept in a sackcloth, and went with the head cast down.

28 And the word of the Lord was made to Elijah of Tishbe, and said,

29 Whether thou hast not seen Ahab made low before me? Therefore for he is made low for the cause of me, I shall not bring in evil in his days, but in the days of his son I shall bring in evil to his house.

CHAPTER 22

1 Therefore three years passed with-out battle betwixt Syria and Israel.

2 And in the third year Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, went down to the king of Israel.

3 And the king of Israel said to his servants, Know ye not, that Ramoth of Gilead is ours, and we be negligent to not take it back from the hand of the king of Syria?

4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, Whether thou shalt come with me to fight in Ramoth of Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, As I am, so and thou; my people and thy people be one; and my knights and thy knights be one.

5 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I pray thee, ask thou today the word of the Lord.

6 Therefore the king of Israel gathered together [the] prophets, about four hundred men, and he said to them, Owe I to go into Ramoth of Gilead to fight, either owe I to rest? Which answered, Go thou up, and the Lord shall give it into the hand of the king.

7 Forsooth Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here any other prophet of the Lord, that we ask by him?

8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, One man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, is left, by whom we may ask the Lord; but I hate him, for he prophesieth not good to me, but evil. To whom Jehoshaphat said, King, speak thou not so.

9 Therefore the king of Israel called some chamberlain, and said to him, Haste thou to bring Micaiah, [the] son of Imlah.

10 Forsooth the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, sat, each in his throne, clothed with king’s ornament, in the large house beside the door, or wicket, of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied in the sight of them.

11 Also Zedekiah, the son of Chena-anah, made to himself horns of iron, and said, The Lord God saith these things, With these thou shalt scatter Syria, till thou do away it.

12 And all [the] prophets prophesied in like manner, and said, Ascend thou [or Go up] into Ramoth of Gilead, and go thou with prosperity; and the Lord shall betake thine enemies into the hand of the king.

13 Soothly the messenger, that went to call Micaiah, spake to him, and said, Lo! the words of the prophets with one mouth preach goods [or good things] to the king; therefore thy word be like them, and speak thou goods.

14 To whom Micaiah said, The Lord liveth, for whatever thing the Lord shall say to me, I shall speak this.

15 Therefore he came to the king. And the king said to him, Micaiah, owe we go into Ramoth of Gilead to fight, either cease? To which king he answered, Ascend thou or Go up, and go in prosperity; and the Lord shall betake it into the hand of the king.

16 Forsooth the king said to him, Again and again I conjure [or adjure] thee, that thou speak not to me, no but that that is sooth in the name of the Lord.

17 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered in the hills, as sheep not having a shepherd; and the Lord said, These have no lord, each man turn again into his house in peace.

18 Therefore the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Whether I said not to thee, that he prophesieth not good to me, but ever[more] evil?

19 Soothly that Micaiah added, and said, Therefore hear thou the word of the Lord; I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and I saw all the host of heaven standing nigh [to] him, on the right side and on the left side.

20 And the Lord said, Who shall deceive Ahab, king of Israel, that he ascend or go up, and fall in Ramoth of Gilead? And one said such words, and another in another manner.

21 Soothly a spirit went out, and went before the Lord, and said, I shall deceive him.

22 To whom the Lord spake, In what thing? And he said, I shall go out, and I shall be a spirit of leasing in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, Thou shalt deceive him, and shalt have the mastery; go thou out, and do so.

23 Now therefore, lo! the Lord gave a spirit of leasing in the mouth of all prophets that be here; and the Lord spake evil against thee.

24 Forsooth Zedekiah, [the] son of Chenaanah, nighed, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Whether the Spirit of the Lord forsook me, and spake to thee?

25 And Micaiah said, Thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into a closet within a bed-closet, that thou be hid.

26 And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and dwell he at Amon, [the] prince of the city, and at Joash, the son of Amalek;

27 and say ye to them, The king saith these things, Send ye this man into prison, and sustain ye him with bread of tribulation, and with water of anguish, till I turn again in peace.

28 And Micaiah said, If thou shalt turn again in peace, the Lord spake not in me. And he said, Hear ye, all peoples.

29 Therefore the king of Israel ascended or went up, and Jehosh-aphat, king of Judah, into Ramoth of Gilead.

30 Therefore the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Take thou armours [or arms], and enter thou into battle, and be thou clothed in thy clothes, that is, in the noble signs of the king. Certainly the king of Israel changed his clothing, and entered into battle.

31 Soothly the king of Syria had commanded to [the] two and thirty princes of chariots, and said, Ye shall not fight against any man [the] less, either [the] more, but against the king of Israel only.

32 Therefore when the princes of chariots had seen Jehoshaphat, they supposed that he was king of Israel, and by fierceness made, they fought against him. And Jehoshaphat cried [out], calling for God’s help, and declaring his banner;

33 and the princes of [the] chariots understood, that it was not the king of Israel, and they ceased from pursuing him.

34 Soothly some man bent a bow, and dressed an arrow into uncertain, and by hap he smote the king of Israel betwixt the lung and the stomach. And the king said to his charioteer, Turn thine hand, and cast me out of the host, for I am wounded grievously.

35 Therefore [the] battle was joined in that day, and the king of Israel stood in his chariot against men of Syria, and he was dead at eventide. Forsooth the blood of the wound floated [or flowed] down into the bottom of the chariot.

36 And a crier sounded in all the host, before that the sun went down, and said, Each man turn again into his city, and into his land.

37 Forsooth the king was dead, and was borne into Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.

38 And they washed his chariot in the cistern of Samaria, and dogs licked his blood, and they washed the armours, by the word of the Lord which he had spoken.

39 Soothly the residue of [the] words of Ahab, and all things which he did, and the house of ivory which he builded, and of all [the] cities which he builded, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

40 Therefore Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah, his son, reigned for him.

41 Forsooth Jehoshaphat, [the] son of Asa, began to reign on Judah in the fourth year of Ahab, king of Israel.

42 Jehoshaphat was of five and thirty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned five and twenty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Azubah, [the] daughter of Shilhi.

43 And he went in all the way of Asa, his father, and [he] bowed not [aside] from it; and he did that, that was rightful [or right] in the sight of the Lord. Nevertheless he did not away [the] high things, for yet the people made sacrifice, and burnt incense, in high places.

44 And Jehoshaphat had peace with the king of Israel.

45 Soothly the residue of [the] words of Jehoshaphat, and the works and battles, which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

46 But also he took away from the land the relics of [the] men turned into women’s conditions [or womanish-made men], that were left in the days of Asa, his father.

47 Neither a king was ordained then in Edom; but a deputy, appointed by the king of Judah, ruled over it.

48 Forsooth king Jehoshaphat made ships in the sea, that should sail into Ophir for gold, and those [or they] might not go, for they were broken in Eziongeber.

49 Then Ahaziah, [the] son of Ahab, said to Jehoshaphat, My servants go with thine in our ships. And Jehosh-aphat would not consent to that.

50 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, his father; and Jehoram*, his son, reigned for him.

51 Forsooth Ahaziah, [the] son of Ahab, began to reign on Israel, in Samaria, in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; and Ahaziah reigned on Israel two years.

52 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went in the way of his father, and of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam, [the] son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin.

53 And he served Baal, and worship-ped him, and wrathed the Lord God of Israel, by all things which his father had done.

* CHAPTER 7:13 Also known as Huram.

* CHAPTER 8:5 This is said by figurative speech, called hyperbole, to signify the multitude of sacrifices.

* CHAPTER 12:11 That is, a kind of hardest scourge, that hath knots of lead, either of iron, in the ends of cords.

* CHAPTER 13:20 Revelation of prophesy is given some-time to evil men, as to Balaam, in the 22 nd Chapter of Numbers.

* CHAPTER 14:10 That is, dung is not cleansed in itself, but the place in which the dung is, is cleansed, when the dung is cast out.

* CHAPTER 15:5 David sinned in the numbering of the people, and in sentence given against Mephibosheth, as it is told in the2nd bookofSamuel, but these sins were full little (sic*), in comparison of the sin in the deed of Uriah, and therefore these be not areckoned; for a little thing is areck-oned as nothing, as the Philosopher saith in2nd book of Physics. (*David’s decision to number, or count, the people led to the death of 70,000 innocent Israelites. TPN.)

† CHAPTER 15:14 That is, high places, in which the sons of Israel made sacrifice to God, before that the temple was builded; and for that time it was leaveful, not afterward.

‡ CHAPTER 15:27 Gibbethon was a city in the lineage of Dan, but Philistines occupied it, against which city Nadab went to recover it.

* CHAPTER 16:7 The words that follow, ‘that is, Jehu, the prophet, the son of Hanani, the prophet,’ are not in Hebrew; it is a gloss.

† CHAPTER 16:34 That is, when he setted the foundaments, Abiram, his first engendered son, died, and when he went forth in building, his sons died each after the other, till to the last son, that was dead in the filling of the work.

* CHAPTER 18:32 In Hebrew it is thus, ‘And he made a furrow of three bushels of seed, that is, so much seed as might be sown within the compass of the furrow’, as Rabbi Solomon saith.

* CHAPTER 20:43 Josephus saith that he killed the prophet.

* CHAPTER 21:10 That is, ‘cursed’, as in the 2nd Chapter ofJob, ‘Bless thou God, and die thou’; for the horror of cursing, Jews signified it by the contrary name.

* CHAPTER 22:50 Also known as Joram.

2ND KI

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2ND KINGS

CHAPTER 1

1 Forsooth Moab trespassed against Israel, after that Ahab was dead.

2 And Ahaziah felled [or fell] through the alures, [or windows]or lattice of his solar, which he had in Samaria, and was made sick; and he sent messengers, and said to them, Go ye, and counsel with Baalzebub, [the] god of Ekron, whether I may live after this sickness of me.

3 Forsooth the angel of the Lord spake to Elijah of Tishbe, and said, Rise thou, and go down into the meeting of the messengers of the king of Samaria; and thou shalt say to them, Whether God is not in Israel, that ye go to counsel Baalzebub, [the] god of Ekron?

4 For which thing the Lord saith these things, Thou shalt not go down off the bed, on which thou ascended-est [or wentest upon]. And Elijah went forth.

5 And the messengers turned again to Ahaziah. And he said to them, Why turned ye again?

6 And they answered to him, A man met us, and said to us, Go ye, turn ye again to the king, that sent you; and ye shall say to him, The Lord saith these things, Whether for God was not in Israel, thou sendest, that Baalzebub, [the] god of Ekron, be counselled? Therefore thou shalt not go down off the bed, on which thou ascendedest [or wentest upon], but thou shalt die by death.

7 Which Ahaziah said to them, Of what figure and habit is that man, that met you, and spake to you these words?

8 And they said, An hairy man, and gird with a girdle of leather in the reins. Which said to them, It is Elijah of Tishbe.

9 And he sent to Elijah a prince of fifty, and [the] fifty men that were under him. Which prince ascended [or went up] to him, and said to him, sitting in the top of the hill, Man of God, the king commandeth, that thou come down.

10 And Elijah answered, and said to the prince of fifty men, If I am the man of God, fire come down from heaven, and devour thee and thy fifty men. Therefore fire came down from heaven, and devoured him, and the fifty men that were with him.

11 Again he sent to Elijah another prince of fifty, and fifty men with him, which spake to Elijah, Man of God, the king saith these things, Haste thou, come thou down.

12 Elijah answered, and said, If I am the man of God, fire come down from heaven, and devour thee and thy fifty men. Therefore the fire of God came down from heaven, and devour-ed him and his fifty men.

13 Again he sent the third prince of fifty men, and [the] fifty men that were with him. And when the prince had come, he bowed the knees against Elijah, and prayed him, and said, Man of God, do not thou despise my life, and the lives of these fifty men, thy servants, that be with me.

14 Lo! fire came down from heaven, and devoured twain [or two], the first two princes of fifty men, and the fifty men that were with them; but now, I beseech, that thou have mercy on my life.

15 Forsooth the angel of the Lord spake to Elijah of Tishbe, and said, Go thou down with him; dread thou not. Therefore Elijah rose up, and came down with him to the king;

16 and he spake to the king, The Lord saith these things, For thou sentest messengers to counsel Baalzebub, god of Ekron, as if no God were in Israel, of whom thou mightest ask a word; therefore thou shalt not go down off the bed, on which thou ascendedest [or wentest upon], but thou shalt die by death.

17 Therefore he was dead by the word of the Lord, which word Elijah spake; and Joram*, his brother, reigned for him, in the second year of Jehoram†, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; for Ahaziah had no son.

18 Soothly the residue of [the] words of Ahaziah, which he wrought, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

CHAPTER 2

1 Forsooth it was done, when the Lord would raise Elijah by a whirl-wind into heaven, Elijah and Elisha went from Gilgal.

2 And Elijah said to Elisha, Sit thou here, for the Lord [hath] sent me till into Bethel. To whom Elisha said, The Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, for I shall not forsake thee. And when they had come down to Bethel,

3 the sons of prophets, that were in Bethel, went out to Elisha, and said to him, Whether thou knowest, that the Lord shall take away thy lord today from thee? Which answered, And I know; be ye still.

4 Forsooth Elijah said to Elisha, Sit thou here, for the Lord [hath] sent me into Jericho. And he said, The Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, for I shall not forsake thee. And when they had come to Jericho,

5 the sons of prophets, that were in Jericho, nighed to Elisha, and said to him, Whether thou knowest, that the Lord shall take away thy lord today from thee? And he said, I know; be ye still.

6 Forsooth Elijah said to Elisha, Sit thou here, for the Lord [hath] sent me to the Jordan. Which said, The Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, for I shall not forsake thee. Therefore both went together;

7 and fifty men of the sons of prophets pursued [or followed], which also stood far even against; soothly they both stood over the Jordan.

8 And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it, and smote the waters; which were parted into ever either part, and both went by [or through] the dry.

9 And when they had passed [over], Elijah said to Elisha, Ask thou that, that thou wilt that I do to thee, before that I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I beseech, that thy double spirit be made in me or with me*.

10 Which Elijah answered, Thou askest an hard thing; nevertheless if thou shalt see me, when I shall be taken away from thee, that that thou askest shall be; soothly if thou shalt not see, it shall not be.

11 And when they went, and spake going, lo! a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, parted ever either; and Elijah ascended [or went up] by a whirlwind into heaven†.

12 Forsooth Elisha saw, and cried, My father! my father! the chariot of Israel, and the charioteer thereof. And he saw no more Elijah. And he took his clothes, and rent those into two parts.

13 And he raised the mantle of Elijah, that felled down to him; and he turned again, and stood over the river of Jordan.

14 And with the mantle of Elijah, that felled down to him, he smote the waters, which were not parted. And he said, Where is [the] God of Elijah also now? And he smote the waters, and those [or they] were parted hither and thither; and Elisha passed [over].

15 Soothly the sons of [the] prophets, that were in Jericho even against, saw, and said, The spirit of Elijah rested on Elisha. And they came into the meeting of him, and worshipped or honoured him lowly to [the] earth.

16 And they said to him, Lo! with thy servants be fifty strong men, that may go, and seek thy lord, lest per-adventure the Spirit of the Lord hath taken him, and hath cast forth him in one of the hills, either in one of the valleys. And Elisha said, Do not ye send.

17 And they constrained him, till he assented to them, and said, Send ye. And they sent fifty men; and when they had sought him by three days, they found him not.

18 And they turned again to Elisha; and he dwelled in Jericho. And he said to them, Whether I said not to you, Do not ye send?

19 Therefore the men of the city said to Elisha, Lo! the dwelling of this city is full good, as thou thyself, lord, seest; but the waters be most evil, and the land is barren.

20 And he said, Bring ye to me a new vessel, and put ye salt into it. And when they had brought it to him,

21 he went out to the well of waters, and sent salt into it, and said, The Lord saith these things, I have healed these waters, and neither death, nor barrenness, shall be more in them.

22 Therefore the waters were healed till into this day, by the word of Elisha, which he spake.

23 Forsooth Elisha went up from thence into Bethel; and when he went up by the way, little children went out of the city, and scorned him, and said, Go up, thou bald one! go up, thou bald one!

24 And when he had beheld, he saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two bears went out of the forest, and rent two and forty children of them.

25 Soothly Elisha went from thence into the hill of Carmel, and from thence he turned again to Samaria.

CHAPTER 3

1 Forsooth Joram*, [the] son of Ahab, reigned on Israel, in Samaria, in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. And he reigned twelve years,

2 and he did evil before the Lord, but not as his father and his mother; for he took away the images of Baal, which his father had made,

3 nevertheless he cleaved to the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin; and he went not away from them.

4 Forsooth Mesha, king of Moab, nourished many beasts, and paid to the king of Israel an hundred thousand of lambs, and an hundred thousand wethers, with their fleeces.

5 And when Ahab was dead, he brake the bond of peace, which he had with the king of Israel.

6 Therefore king Joram went out of Samaria in that day, and numbered all Israel.

7 And he sent to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and said, The king of Moab hath gone away from me; come thou with me against him to battle. And Jehoshaphat answered, I shall go up with thee; he that is mine, is thine; my people is thy people; and mine horses be thine horses.

8 And he said, By what way shall we ascend [or go up]? And Joram answered, By the desert of Idumea.

9 Therefore the king of Israel, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom, went forth, and compassed by the way of seven days; and there was not water to the host, and to the beasts, that pursued [or followed] them.

10 And the king of Israel said, Alas! alas! alas! the Lord hath gathered together us three kings to betake us into the hand of Moab.

11 And Jehoshaphat said, Whether any prophet of the Lord is here, that we beseech the Lord by him? And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered, Elisha, the son of Shaphat, is here, that poured water upon the hands of Elijah.

12 And Jehoshaphat said, Is the word of the Lord at him? Which said, Yea or It is. And the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and the king of Edom, went down to him.

13 And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What is to me and to thee, an idolater? Go thou to the prophets of thy father and of thy mother. And the king of Israel said to him, Why hath the Lord gathered together these three kings, to betake them into the hands of Moab?

14 And Elisha said to him, The Lord of hosts liveth, in whose sight I stand, if I were not ashamed† of the cheer of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, truly I had not perceived, neither I had beheld thee.

15 Now forsooth bring ye to me a psalterer. And when the psalterer sang, the hand of the Lord was made upon Elisha,

16 and he said, The Lord saith these things, Make ye the womb, either the depth, of this strand [or stream], ditches and ditches.

17 For the Lord saith these things, Ye shall not see wind, neither rain, and this depth shall be filled with waters, and ye shall drink, and your families, and your beasts.

18 And this is little thing in the sight of the Lord. Furthermore also he shall betake Moab into your hands;

19 and ye shall smite each strength-ened city, and each chosen city, and ye shall cut down each tree bearing fruit, and ye shall stop all the wells of waters, and ye shall cover with stones each noble field.

20 Therefore it was done early, when sacrifice is wont to be offered, and, lo! waters came by the way of Edom, and the land was filled with waters.

21 Soothly all the men of Moab heard, that these kings had gone up to fight against them; and they called together all men, that were gird with a knight’s girdle above, and they stood in the terms.

22 And men of Moab rose full early, and when the sun was risen then even against the waters, they saw the waters red as blood even against them.

23 And they said, It is the blood of sword, that is, shed out by sword; [the] kings have fought against them-selves, and they be slain together; now go thou, Moab, to the prey.

24 And they went into the castles [or tents] of Israel; forsooth Israel rose, and smote Moab, and they fled before the men of Israel. Then they that had overcome, came, and smote Moab,

25 and destroyed their cities; and all men sending stones filled each best field, and stopped all the wells of waters, and cut down all the trees bearing fruit, so that only [the] earthen walls were left; and the city was encompassed of men setting engines, and it was smitten by great part thereof.

26 And when the king of Moab had seen this, that is, that the enemies had the mastery, he took with him seven hundred men drawing out swords, that they should break through into the king of Edom; and they might not.

27 And he took his first engendered son, that should reign for him, and offered him as a burnt sacrifice on the wall; and great indignation was made in Israel; and anon they went away from him, and turned again into their land.

CHAPTER 4

1 Forsooth a woman of the wives of prophets cried to Elisha, and said, Thy servant, mine husband, is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant dreaded God; and lo! the creancer, that is, he to whom debt is owed, cometh to take my two sons to serve him.

2 To whom Elisha said, What wilt thou that I do to thee? say thou to me, what hast thou in thine house? And she answered, I thine handmaid have not anything in mine house, no but a little of oil, with which I shall be anointed.

3 To whom he said, Go thou, and ask by borrowing of all thy neighbours void vessels, not a few.

4 And enter, and close thy door, when thou art within, thou and thy sons; and put ye thereof into all these vessels; and when those [or they] shall be full, thou shalt take away.

5 Therefore the woman went, and closed the door on herself and on her sons, they brought the vessels, and she poured in.

6 And when the vessels were full, she said to her son, Bring yet a vessel to me. And he answered, I have not. And then the oil stood, increasing no more.

7 Forsooth she came, and showed it to the man of God; and he said, Go thou, sell the oil, and yield to thy creancer; and thou and thy children live ye off the remnant, or the residue.

8 Forsooth a day was made, and Elisha passed by a city, Shunem; and a great woman was there, which held him, that he should eat bread, that is, busily prayed him to come to meat or to a meal. And when he passed oft thereby, he turned to her, that he would eat bread with her.

9 And she said to her husband, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, that passeth oft by us;

10 therefore make we a little solar to him, and put we therein a little bed to him, and a board, and a chair, and a candlestick; that when he cometh to us, he dwell there.

11 Therefore a day was made, and Elisha came, and turned in to the solar, and rested there.

12 And he said to Gehazi, his child or servant, Call thou this Shunammite. And when he had called her, and she had stood before him,

13 he said to his child, Speak thou to her, Lo! thou hast ministered to us busily in all things; what wilt thou that I do to thee? Whether thou hast a cause, and wilt that I speak to the king, either to the prince of the chivalry? And she answered, I dwell in the midst of my people. And then she went away.

14 And he said, What then will she that I do to her? [And] Gehazi said to him, Ask thou not, for she hath no son, and her husband is eld [or old].

15 Therefore Elisha commanded, that he should call her. And when she was called, and stood before the door,

16 he said to her, In this time, as in time of life, thou shalt embrace a son*. And she answered, Do not thou, my lord, the man of God, I beseech, do not thou lie to thine handmaid.

17 And the woman conceived, and childed a son in the time, and in the same hour, in which Elisha had said.

18 Soothly the child increased; and when some day was, and the child was gone out, and went to his father, and to the reapers,

19 he said to his father, Mine head acheth, mine head acheth. And his father said to a servant, Take, and lead him to his mother.

20 And when he had taken, and had brought him to his mother, she setted [or put] him on her knees unto midday, and he was dead.

21 Certainly she went up, and laid him on the little bed of the man of God, and closed the door. And she went out,

22 and called her husband, and said, I beseech, send thou with me one of the children or servants, and an ass, and I shall run out unto the man of God, and I shall turn again.

23 And he said to her, For what cause goest thou to him? today be not calends, neither sabbath. And she answered, I shall go.

24 And she saddled the ass, and commanded to the child, Drive thou, and haste thee; make thou no tarrying to me in going, and do thou this thing which I command to thee.

25 Then she went forth, and came to the man of God, into the hill of Carmel. And when the man of God had seen her even against him, he said to Gehazi, his child, Lo! that Shunammite;

26 go thou therefore into the meeting of her, and say thou to her, Whether it is done rightfully about thee, and about thine husband, and about thy son? And when the servant came and asked her, she answered, It is done rightfully.

27 And when she had come to the man of God, into the hill, she took hold of his feet; and Gehazi nighed, that he should remove her. And the man of God said, Suffer thou her; for her soul is in bitterness, and the Lord hath held it privy from me, and showed it not to me.

28 And she said to him, Whether I asked a son of thee, my lord? Whether I said not to thee, Scorn thou not me?

29 And he said to Gehazi, Gird thy loins, and take my staff in thine hand, and go; and if a man meet thee, greet thou not him; and if any man greeteth thee, answer thou not him; and put thou my staff upon the face of the child.

30 Forsooth the mother of the child said, The Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, I shall not leave thee. Therefore he rose, and pursued [or followed] her.

31 And Gehazi went before them, and putted [or put] the staff upon the face of the child; and there was not voice in him, neither wit. And Gehazi turned again into the meeting of him; and told to him, and said, The child rose not.

32 Therefore Elisha entered into the house, and, lo! the dead child lay in his bed.

33 And he entered, and closed the door on himself, and on the child; and prayed to the Lord.

34 And Elisha went up, and lay upon the child; and he putted [or put] his mouth upon the mouth of the child, and his eyes upon the eyes of the child, and his hands upon the hands of the child. And he bowed himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child was made hot.

35 And he turned again, and walked in the house once hither and thither; and again Elisha went up, and lay upon the child, and the child sobbed seven times, and opened the eyes.

36 And he called Gehazi, and said to him, Call thou this Shunammite. And she was called, and entered to him. And he said, Take thy son.

37 She came, and felled [or fell] down to his feet, and worshipped [or honoured] on the earth; and she took her son, and went out.

38 And Elisha turned again into Gilgal. Forsooth hunger was in the land, and the sons of prophets dwelled before him. And Elisha said to one of his servants, Set thou a great pot on the fire, and seethe thou pottage to the sons of prophets†.

39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs of the field; and he found as it were a wild vine, and he gathered thereof gourds of the field. And he [full-]filled his mantle, and he turned again, and shredded those into the pot of pottage; for he knew not what it was.

40 Therefore they poured in to fellows to eat; and when they had tasted of the seething, they cried out, and said, Death is in the pot! death is in the pot! thou man of God. And they might not eat it.

41 And he said, Bring ye meal. And when they had brought, he put it into the pot, and said, Pour ye out to the company, that they eat; and anything of bitterness was no more in the pot.

42 Forsooth some man came from Baalshalisha, and bare to the man of God loaves of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and thing made of corns, in his scrip. And the man of God said, Give thou to the people, that it eat.

43 And his servant answered to him, What is this, that I set [or put] before an hundred men? Again Elisha said, Give thou to the people, that it eat; for the Lord saith these things, They shall eat, and there shall leave [over].

44 Then he put before them, the which ate; and there was left some meat, after the word of the Lord.

CHAPTER 5

1 Naaman, prince of the chivalry of the king of Syria, was a great man, and worshipped with his lord; for by him the Lord gave health or victory to Syria; soothly he was a strong man and rich, but he was leprous.

2 Forsooth thieves went out of Syria, and led away as prisoner from the land of Israel a little damsel, that was in the service of the wife of Naaman.

3 And she said to her lady, Would God, that my lord had been at the prophet that is in Samaria; soothly the prophet would have cured him of [the] leprosy that he hath.

4 Therefore Naaman entered to his lord, and told to him, and said, A damsel of the land of Israel spake so and so.

5 Therefore the king of Syria said to him, Go thou, and I shall send letters to the king of Israel. And when Naaman had gone forth, and had taken with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand golden plates, either florins, and ten changings of clothes,

6 he brought letters to the king of Israel by these words; When thou hast taken this epistle, know thou, that I have sent to thee Naaman, my servant, that thou cure him of his leprosy.

7 And when the king of Israel had read the letters, he rent his clothes, and said, Whether I am God, that may slay and quicken, for this king sent to me, that I cure a man of his leprosy? Perceive ye, and see, that he seeketh occasions against me.

8 And when Elisha, the man of God, had heard this, that is, that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, he sent to the king, and said, Why rentest thou thy clothes? come he to me, and know he, that there is a prophet in Israel.

9 Then Naaman came with horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

10 And Elisha sent to him a mes-senger, and said, Go, and be thou washed seven times in Jordan; and thy flesh shall receive health, and thou shalt be cleansed.

11 Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, I guessed, that he would have gone out to me, and that he would have stood, and inwardly have called the name of the Lord his God, and that he should have touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and should have cured me so.

12 Whether Abana and Pharpar, the floods of Damascus, be not better than all the waters of Israel, that I be washed in them, and be cleansed? Therefore when he had turned himself, and went away, having indignation,

13 his servants nighed to him, and spake to him, Father, though the prophet had said to thee a great thing, certainly thou oughtest to do it; how much more for now he said to thee, Be thou washed, and thou shalt be cleansed.

14 Then Naaman went down, and washed him seven times in the Jordan, by the word of the man of God; and his flesh was restored as the flesh of a little child, and he was cleansed.

15 And he turned again with all his fellowship to the man of God, and came, and stood before him; and said, Verily I know, that none other God is in all [the] earth, no but only [the] God of Israel; therefore, I beseech, that thou take [a] blessing, that is, a gift, of thy servant.

16 And Elisha answered, The Lord liveth before whom I stand, for I shall not take it of thee. And when he made great force thereto, Elisha assented not utterly.

17 Then Naaman said, As thou wilt; but, I beseech, grant thou to me, thy servant, that I take of this earth the charge of two burdens; for thy servant shall no more make burnt sacrifice, either slain sacrifice, to alien gods, no but to the Lord.

18 Forsooth this thing is only, of which thou shalt pray the Lord for thy servant, that when my lord shall enter into the temple of Rimmon, that he worship there, and while he shall lean on mine hand, if I worship in the temple of Rimmon, while he worship-peth in the same place, that the Lord forgive to thy servant, for this thing.

19 And Elisha said to him, Go thou in peace. And so Naaman went from Elisha in a chosen time of the land.

20 And Gehazi, the child of the man of God, said in his heart, My lord hath spared this man of Syria, that he took not of him that, that he brought; the Lord liveth, for I shall run after him, and I shall take of him something.

21 And Gehazi pursued [or followed] after the back of Naaman; and when Naaman had seen Gehazi running to him, he skipped down off the chariot into the meeting of Gehazi; and said, Whether all things be rightful?

22 And he said, Rightfully; my lord sent me to thee, and said, Two young men of the hill of Ephraim, of the sons of prophets, came now to me; give thou to them a talent of silver, and double changing of clothes.

23 And Naaman said, It is better that thou take two talents. And Naaman constrained him; and Naaman bound the two talents of silver in two bags, and the double clothes, and he put those upon his two servants, the which also bare it before Gehazi.

24 And when Gehazi had come then in the eventide, he took it from the hand of them, and laid it up in the house; and he delivered the men, and they went forth.

25 And then Gehazi entered, and stood before his lord. And Elisha said, Gehazi, from whence comest thou? Which answered, Thy servant went not to any place.

26 And Elisha said, Whether mine heart was not present there, when the man turned again from his chariot into the meeting of thee? Now there-fore thou hast taken silver, and thou hast taken clothes, that thou buy places of olives, and vineries [or vines], and sheep, and oxen, and servants, and handmaids;

27 but also the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to thee, and to thy seed without end. And Gehazi went out from him leprous as snow.

CHAPTER 6

1 Forsooth the sons of prophets said to Elisha, Lo! the place in which we dwell before thee, is strait to us;

2 go we therefore to Jordan, and each man take a portion of wood for himself, that we build to us there a place to dwell therein. And Elisha said, Go ye.

3 And one of them said, Therefore and thou come with thy servants. He answered, I shall come.

4 And he went with them. And when they came to Jordan, they hewed trees.

5 And it befelled, that when a man of them had cut down [a] matter, or a piece of wood, the iron of the ax felled [or fell] into the water; and he cried [out], and said, Alas! alas! alas! my lord, and I had taken this same thing by borrowing.

6 Soothly the man of God said, Where felled [or fell] it? And he showed to him the place. Therefore he cutted down a tree, and sent it thither where the iron was; and the iron floated.

7 And Elisha said, Take thou. Which held forth the hand, and took it.

8 Forsooth the king of Syria fought against Israel; and he took counsel with his servants, and said, Set we ambushments in this place, and in that.

9 And therefore the man of God sent to the king of Israel, and said, Beware, lest thou pass to that place, for men of Syria be there in ambushments.

10 Therefore the king of Israel sent to the place, which the man of God had said to him, and before-occupied it, and kept himself there, not once, neither twice.

11 And the heart of the king of Syria was troubled for this thing; and when his servants were called together, he said, Why show ye not to me, who is my traitor with the king of Israel?

12 And one of his servants said, Nay, my lord the king, but Elisha, the prophet, that is in Israel, showeth to the king of Israel all things, whatever things thou speakest in thy bed-closet.

13 And the king said to them, Go ye, and see, where he is, that I send, and take him. And they told to him, and said, Lo! he dwelleth in Dothan.

14 And the king sent thither horses, and chariots, and the strength of his host; which, when they had come by night, encompassed the city.

15 Soothly the minister [or servant] of the man of God rose early, and went out, and he saw an host in the compass of the city, and horses, and chariots. And he told to the man of God, and said, Alas! alas! alas! my lord, what shall we do?

16 And he answered, Do not thou dread; for more be with us than with them.

17 And when Elisha had prayed, he said, Lord, open thou the eyes of this child, that he see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the child, and he saw. And, lo! the hill was full of horses, and of chariots of fire, in the compass of Elisha.

18 And the enemies came down to him; but Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, I beseech thee, smite this folk with blindness. And the Lord smote them, that they saw not, by the word of Elisha.

19 Forsooth Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither this is the city; pursue ye [or followeth] me, and I shall show you the man, whom ye seek. And he led them into Samaria.

20 And when they had entered into Samaria, Elisha said, Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they see now. And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw, that they were in the midst of Samaria.

21 And the king of Israel, when he had seen them, said to Elisha, My father, whether I shall smite them?

22 And he said, Thou shalt not smite them, for thou hast not taken them by thy sword and bow, that thou smite them; but set [or put] thou bread and water before them, that they eat and drink, and go to their lord again.

23 And much preparing of meats was set [or put] forth to them; and they ate, and drank. And the king let them go, and they went to their lord; and [the] thieves of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

24 Forsooth it was done after these things, Benhadad, king of Syria, gather-ed all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.

25 And great hunger was made in Samaria; and so long it was besieged, till [that] the head of an ass were sold for fourscore plates of silver, and the fourth part of a measure called [a] cab, out of the craw of culvers*, was sold for five plates of silver.

26 And when the king of Israel passed by the wall of the city, a woman cried to him, and said, My lord the king, save thou me.

27 Which said, Nay, the Lord save thee; whereof may I save thee? out of [the] cornfloor, either out of [the] presser [or wine press]?

28 And the king said to her, What wilt thou that I do to thee? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give thy son, that we eat him today, and we shall eat my son tomorrow.

29 Therefore we seethed my son, and ate him. And I said to her in the tother day, Give thy son, that we eat him; and she hid her son.

30 And when the king had heard this, he rent his clothes, and passed by the wall; and all the people saw the hair-shirt, with which the king was clothed at the flesh within;

31 And the king said, God do to me these things, and add these things too, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, shall stand on him today.

32 Soothly Elisha sat in his house, and eld [or old] men sat with him; then the king before-sent a man to Elisha, and before that that messenger came, Elisha said to the eld [or old] men, Whether ye know, that Benhadad the son of a man-queller [hath] sent hither, that mine head be girded off? Therefore see ye, when the messenger cometh, shut ye the door, and suffer ye not him to enter; for lo! the sound of the feet of his lord is behind him.

33 And yet while he spake to them, the messenger that came to him appear-ed; and then also the king who said, Lo! so great evil is of the Lord; sooth-ly what more shall I abide of the Lord?

CHAPTER 7

1 Forsooth Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord; the Lord saith these things, In this time tomorrow, a bushel of [tried] flour shall be sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, in the gate of Samaria.

2 And one of the dukes, on whose hand the king leaned, answered to the man of God, and said, Though the Lord make also the gutters of heaven to be opened, whether that, that thou speakest, may be? And Elisha said, Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof.

3 Therefore four leprous men were beside the entering of the city’s gate, which said together, What will we be here, till we die?

4 Whether we will enter into the city, we shall die for hunger; whether we dwell here, we shall die. Therefore come ye, and flee we over to the tents of Syria; if they shall spare us, we shall live; soothly if they will slay us, nevertheless we shall die.

5 Then they rose up in the even-tide, to come to the tents of Syria; and when they had come to the beginning of the tents of Syria, they found not any man there.

6 Forsooth the Lord had made a sound of chariots, and of horses, and of a full much host to be heard in the tents of Syria; and they said together, Lo! the king of Israel hath hired by meed against us the kings of Hittites, and of Egyptians; and they came suddenly upon us.

7 Therefore they rose up, and fled in darkness, and left their tents, and their horses, and mules, and asses, in the castles [or with the tents]; and they fled, coveting to save their lives only.

8 Therefore when those leprous men had come to the beginning of the castles, or tents, they entered into one tabernacle, and ate, and drank; and they took from thence silver, and gold, and clothes; and went, and hid it; and again they turned again to another tabernacle, and in like manner they took away from thence, and hid.

9 And they said together, We do not rightfully, for this is a day of good message; if we hold it still, and do not tell till the morrowtide, we shall be reproved of trespassing; come ye, go we, and tell it in the king’s hall.

10 And when they had come to the gate of the city, they told to them, and said, We went to the castles [or tents] of Syria, and we found not any man there, but horses and asses tied up, and [the] tents fastened in place.

11 And so the porters went, and told these things in the palace of the king within.

12 And the king rose up by night, and said to his servants, I say to you, what the men of Syria have done to us; they know, that we travail with hunger, therefore they have gone out of the castles [or tents], and be hid in the fields, and say, When they shall go out of the city, we shall take them quick, and then we shall be able to enter into the city.

13 And one of his servants answered, Take we [the] five horses, that [be] left in the city; for those [or they] be left only in all the multitude of Israel, for [the] other horses be wasted; and we sending may espy.

14 Therefore they brought forth two horses; and the king sent men upon them into the tents of the men of Syria, and said, Go ye, and see.

15 The which went after them unto the Jordan; lo! forsooth all the way was full of clothes, and of vessels, which the men of Syria casted forth, when they were troubled. And the messengers turned again, and showed it to the king.

16 And the people went out, and ravished the castles [or tents] of Syria; and a bushel of tried flour was made sold for a stater, and two bushels of barley for a stater, by the word of the Lord.

17 Forsooth the king ordained at the gate that duke, in whose hand the king leaned; whom the company trode with their feet, and he was dead, by the word, which the man of God spake, when the king came down to him.

18 And it was done by the word of the man of God, that he [had] said to the king, when he said, Two bushels of barley shall be sold for a stater, and a bushel of tried wheat flour for a stater, in this same time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria;

19 when that duke answered to the man of God, and said, Yea, though the Lord shall make the gutters in heaven to be opened, whether this that thou speakest may be? and the man of God said, Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof.

20 Therefore it befelled to him, as it was before-said; and the people trode him with their feet in the gate, and he was dead.

CHAPTER 8

1 Forsooth Elisha spake to the woman, whose son he made to live, and said, Rise thou, and go, both thou and thine house, and go in pilgrimage or make pilgrimage, wherever thou shalt find it best; for the Lord shall call hunger, and it shall come upon the land seven years.

2 And she rose, and did after the word of the man of God; and she went with her house, and was in pilgrimage in the land of Philistines many days.

3 And when seven years were ended, the woman turned again from the land of Philistines; and she went out, to ask the king for her house, and [for] her fields.

4 And the king spake with Gehazi, the child of the man of God, and said, Tell thou to me all the great deeds that Elisha did.

5 And when he told to the king, how Elisha had raised a dead man, the woman appeared, whose son he had made to live, and she cried to the king for her house, and for her fields. And Gehazi said, My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha raised.

6 And the king asked the woman, and she told to him, that the things were sooth. And the king gave, or assigned, to her a chamberlain, and said, Restore thou to her all things that be hers, and all [the] fruits of the fields, from the day in which she left the land unto this present time.

7 Also Elisha came to Damascus, and Benhadad, king of Syria, was sick; and they told to him, and said, The man of God came hither.

8 And the king said to Hazael, Take with thee gifts, and go thou into the meeting of the man of God, and ask thou counsel by him of the Lord, and say thou, Whether I may escape from this my sickness?

9 Therefore Hazael went in to the meeting of him, and had with him gifts, and all the goods of Damascus, the burdens of forty camels. And when he had stood before Elisha, he said, Thy son, Benhadad, king of Syria, sent me to thee, and said, Whether I may be healed of this my sickness?

10 And Elisha said, Go thou, and say to him, Thou shalt be healed; forsooth the Lord [hath] showed to me that he shall die by death.

11 And he stood with him, and he was troubled, unto the casting down of his cheer; and the man of God wept.

12 And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, For I know what evils thou shalt do to the sons of Israel; thou shalt burn [up] by fire the strengthened cities of them, and thou shalt slay by sword the young men of them, and thou shalt hurtle down the little children of them, and thou shalt part the women with child.

13 And Hazael said, What soothly am I, thy servant, a dog, that I do this great thing? And Elisha said, The Lord hath showed to me that thou shalt be king of Syria.

14 And when he had departed from Elisha, he came to his lord; which said to Hazael, What said Elisha to thee? And he answered, Elisha said to me, Thou shalt receive health.

15 And when the tother day had come, Hazael took the cloth [or coverlet] that lay on the bed of Benhadad, and he beshedded it with water, and he spreaded it abroad upon the face of Benhadad; and when he was dead, Hazael reigned for him.

16 In the fifth year of Joram*, son of Ahab, king of Israel, and of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Jehoram†, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, reigned.

17 He was of two and thirty years when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

18 And he went in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had gone; for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did that, that was evil in the sight of the Lord.

19 Forsooth the Lord would not destroy Judah, for David, his servant, as he promised to David, that he should give to him a lantern, and to his sons in all days.

20 In those days Edom, that is, Idumea, went away, that it should not be under Judah; and made a king to itself.

21 And Jehoram came to Zair, and all the chariots with him; and he rose by night, and smote Idumeans, that encompassed him, and the princes of chariots; soothly the people fled into their tabernacles.

22 Therefore Edom went away, that it was not under Judah till to this day; then also Libnah went away in that time.

23 Certainly the residue of the words of Jehoram, and all things which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

24 And Jehoram slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David; and Ahaziah, his son, reigned for him.

25 In the twelfth year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned.

26 Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, was of two and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, king of Israel.

27 And he went in the ways of the house of Ahab, and did that, that is evil, in sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab did; for he was [the] husband of a daughter of the house of Ahab.

28 Also he went with Joram, the son of Ahab, to fight against Hazael, king of Syria, in Ramoth of Gilead; and men of Syria wounded Joram.

29 Which turned again, to be healed in Jezreel; for men of Syria wounded him in Ramoth, fighting against Hazael, king of Syria. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, came down to see Joram, the son of Ahab, into Jezreel, that was sick there.

CHAPTER 9

1 Forsooth Elisha, the prophet, called one of the sons of prophets, and said to him, Gird thy loins, and take this vessel of oil in thine hand, and go into Ramoth of Gilead.

2 And when thou shalt come thither, thou shalt see Jehu, the son of Jehosh-aphat, the son of Nimshi; and thou shalt enter, and shalt raise him up from the midst of his brethren, and thou shalt lead him into an inner closet.

3 And thou shalt hold the vessel of oil, and thou shalt pour it on his head, and thou shalt say, The Lord saith these things, I have anointed thee into king upon Israel; and then thou shalt open the door, and shalt flee thence, and thou shalt not abide there.

4 Therefore the young waxing man, the child of the prophet, went into Ramoth of Gilead,

5 and entered thither. Lo! soothly the princes of the host sat there; and he said, O! prince, I have a word to thee. And Jehu said, To whom of all us? And he said, To thee, thou prince.

6 And he rose, and entered into the bed-closet. And that child poured the oil upon the head of him, and said, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, I have anointed thee into king on the people of the Lord, of Israel;

7 and thou shalt smite the house of Ahab, thy lord, that I avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, of the hand of Jezebel.

8 And I shall lose all the house of Ahab, and I shall slay of the house of Ahab a pisser to the wall, and the enclosed, and the last in Israel.

9 And I shall give or make the house of Ahab as the house of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, and as the house of Baasha, the son of Ahijah.

10 Also dogs shall eat Jezebel in the field of Jezreel; and there shall be none that shall bury her. And the child opened the door, and fled.

11 And Jehu went out to the servants of his lord, which said to him, Whether all things be rightful? What came this mad man to thee? Which said to them, Ye know the man, and what he spake.

12 And they answered, It is false; but more rather tell thou us what he said. The which said to them, He spake these things and these to me, and said, The Lord saith these things, I have anointed thee king of Israel.

13 Therefore they hasted, and each man took his mantle, and putted [or put] under his feet by the likeness of a throne. And they sang with a trump, and said, Jehu shall reign.

14 Therefore Jehu, the son of Jehosh-aphat, the son of Nimshi, swore with others together against Joram*. For-sooth Joram had besieged Ramoth of Gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael, king of Syria.

15 And Joram turned again to be healed in Jezreel for wounds that he had; for men of Syria had smitten him fighting against Hazael, king of Syria. And Jehu said, If it please you, let no man go out fleeing from the city, lest he go, and tell it in Jezreel.

16 And Jehu went up, and went forth into Jezreel; for Joram was sick there; and Ahaziah, king of Judah, came down to visit Joram.

17 Therefore an espyer, that stood above in a tower of Jezreel, saw the multitude of Jehu coming, and he said, I see a multitude. And Joram said, Take thou a chariot, and send it into the meeting of him; and say the goer, Whether all things be rightful?

18 Then he, that went upon the chariot, went into the meeting of Jehu, and said, The king saith these things, Whether all things be peaced? And Jehu said to him, What to thee and to peace? Pass thou from Joram, and pursue [or follow] me. And the espyer told to Joram, and said, The messenger came to them, and he turneth not again.

19 Also the king sent the second chariot of horses, and he came to them, and said, The king saith these things, Whether peace is with you? And Jehu said, What to thee and to peace? Pass thou forth, and pursue [or follow] me.

20 And the espyer told to Joram, and said, He came unto them, and he turneth not again; forsooth the going of the duke is as the going of Jehu, son of Nimshi; certainly he goeth fast.

21 And Joram said, Join ye up a chariot. And they joined up his chariot. And Joram, king of Israel, went out, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out, each in his chariot; and they went out into the meeting of Jehu, and they found him in the field of Naboth of Jezreel.

22 And when Joram had seen Jehu, he said, Jehu, is peace? And he answered, What peace? Yet the fornications, that is, idolatries, of Jezebel, thy mother, and many poisonings of her be in strength.

23 And Joram turned his hand, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, Treasons! treasons! Ahaziah.

24 Certainly Jehu bent a bow with his hand, and smote Joram betwixt the shoulders, and the arrow went out through his heart; and at once he felled [or fell] down in his chariot.

25 And Jehu said to Bidkar the duke, Take thou him away, and cast forth him in the field of Naboth of Jezreel; for I have mind, when I and thou sat in the chariot, and pursued [or followed] Ahab, his father, that the Lord raised on him this burden, and said,

26 If not for the blood of Naboth, and for the blood of his sons, which I saw yesterday, saith the Lord, I shall yield to thee in this field, saith the Lord. Now therefore do thou away him, and cast forth him in the field, by the word of the Lord.

27 Forsooth Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw this, and fled by the way of the house of the garden; and Jehu pursued him, and said, Also smite ye this man in his chariot. And men smote Ahaziah in the going up of Gur, that is beside Ibleam; and Ahaziah fled into Megiddo, and was dead there.

28 And his servants putted [or put] him on his chariot, and brought him into Jerusalem; and they buried him in a sepulchre with his fathers, in the city of David.

29 In the eleventh year of Joram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, Ahaziah reigned upon Judah.

30 And Jehu came into Jezreel. For-sooth when his entering was heard, Jezebel painted her eyes with ointment of lecherous women, and adorned her head; and she beheld by a window

31 Jehu entering by the gate, and she said, Whether peace may be to Zimri, that killed or slew his lord?

32 And Jehu raised up his face to the window, and said, What woman is this? And twain [or two] either three chamberlains bowed themselves to him, and said to him, This is that Jezebel.

33 And he said to them, Cast ye her down. And they casted down her; and the wall was besprinkled with her blood, and the hooves of horses, that treaded her.

34 And when he had entered to eat and drink, he said, Go ye, and see that cursed woman, and bury ye her, for she is a king’s daughter.

35 And when they had gone to bury her, they found not of her, no but the skull, and the feet, and the ends of her hands;

36 and they turned again, and told to him. And Jehu said, This is the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servant, Elijah of Tishbe or Elijah the Tishbite, and said, Dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel in the field of Jezreel;

37 and the fleshes of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the earth in the field of Jezreel, so that men passing forth thereby say, Lo! this is that Jezebel.

CHAPTER 10

1 Forsooth seventy sons in Samaria were to Ahab. Therefore Jehu wrote letters, and sent into Samaria to the best men of the city, and to the greater men in birth, and to all the nurses of the sons of Ahab, and said,

2 Anon as ye have taken these letters, ye that have the sons of your lord, and the chariots, and horses, and strong cities, and arms,

3 choose the best, and him that pleaseth to you of the sons of your lord, and set [or putteth] him on the throne of his father, and fight ye for the house of your lord.

4 And they dreaded greatly, and said, Lo! two kings might not stand before him, and how shall we be able to against-stand him?

5 Therefore the sovereigns of the house, and the prefect of the city, and the greater men of birth, and the nurses sent to Jehu, and said, We be thy servants; whatever things thou commandest, we shall do, and we shall not make a king to us; do thou whatever thing pleaseth thee.

6 Forsooth he wrote again to them letters the second time, and said, If ye be mine, and obey to me, take ye off the heads of the sons of your lord, and come ye to me in this same hour tomorrow into Jezreel. And the sons of the king, seventy men, were nursed [or nourished] at or by the best men of the city.

7 And when the letters had come to them, they took the sons of the king, and killed those seventy men, and they putted [or put] the heads of them in coffins; and sent those to Jehu into Jezreel.

8 And a messenger came to him, and showed to him, and said, They have brought the heads of the sons of the king. Which answered, Put ye those heads into twain [or two] heaps, beside the entering of the gate, till the morrowtide.

9 And when it was clear day, he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye be just [or rightwise] men; if I conspired against my lord, and killed him, who killed all these?

10 Therefore see ye now, that none of the words of the Lord hath fallen down into the earth, which the Lord spake on the house of Ahab; and the Lord hath done that, that he spake in the hand of his servant, Elijah.

11 Therefore Jehu smote all that were left of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all the best men of him, and his known men, and his priests, till no relics or remnants of him were left.

12 And he rose, and came into Samaria; and when he had come to the chamber of the shepherds in the way,

13 he found there the brethren of Ahaziah, king of Judah; and he said to them, Who be ye? And they answered, We be the brethren of Ahaziah, and we came down to greet the sons of the king, and the sons of the queen.

14 And Jehu said, Take ye them quick. And when they had taken them quick, they strangled them in the cistern, beside the chamber, two and forty men; and he left not any of them alive.

15 And when he had gone from thence, he found Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, coming into meeting of him; and he blessed him. And Jehu said to him, Whether thine heart is rightful [or right] with mine heart, as mine heart is with thine heart? And Jehonadab said, It is. And Jehu said, If it is, give me thine hand. Which gave his hand to him; and Jehu raised him up to him into his chariot.

16 And he said to him, Come thou with me, and see my fervent love for the Lord. And he led him, put in his chariot, into Samaria.

17 And he killed all men that were residue, or left, of Ahab in Samaria, till to one, by the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.

18 Therefore Jehu gathered together all the people, and said to them, Ahab worshipped Baal a little, but I shall worship him more.

19 Now therefore call ye to me all the prophets of Baal, and all his servants, and all his priests; none be that come not, for great sacrifice is of me to Baal; whoever shall fail to come, he shall not live. Forsooth Jehu did this by treason, that he should destroy all the worshippers of Baal.

20 And he said, Hallow ye a solemn day to Baal. And Jehu called,

21 and sent into all the terms of Israel; and all the servants of Baal came, none was left, and soothly not one was that came not. And they entered into the temple of Baal; and the house of Baal was [full-]filled, from one end till to the tother.

22 And Jehu said to them that were sovereigns over the priests’ clothes, Bring ye forth [the] vestments to all the servants of Baal; and they brought forth [the] vestments to them.

23 And Jehu entered, and Jehonadab, the son of Rechab, into the temple of Baal. And Jehu said to the worshippers of Baal, Inquire ye, and see, lest per-adventure any of the servants of the Lord be with you; but that the servants be alone of Baal.

24 Then they entered, to make slain sacrifices, and burnt sacrifices. Soothly Jehu had made ready to him without-forth fourscore men, and had said to them, Whoever shall flee away of all these, which I shall bring into your hands, the life of him that suffereth any to escape shall be for the life of him that escapeth.

25 Forsooth it was done, when the burnt sacrifice was [ful] filled, Jehu commanded to his knights and [his] dukes, Enter ye, and slay them, that none escape. And the knights and dukes smote [them] with the sharpness of [the] sword, and cast forth. And they went into the city of the temple of Baal,

26 and they brought forth the image from the temple of Baal, and burnt it,

27 and all-brake it. Also they destroyed the house of Baal, and made privies for it unto this day.

28 Therefore Jehu did away Baal from Israel;

29 nevertheless he went not away from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin, neither he forsook the golden calves, that were in Bethel and in Dan.

30 Forsooth the Lord said to Jehu, For thou didest busily that that was rightful [or right], and that pleased in mine eyes, and hast done against the house of Ahab all things that were in mine heart, thy sons till to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.

31 Forsooth Jehu kept not, that he went in the law of the Lord God of Israel in all his heart; for he went not away from the sins of Jeroboam, that made Israel to do sin.

32 In those days the Lord began to be annoyed* upon Israel; and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel,

33 from Jordan against the east coast, all the land of Gilead, and of Gad, and of Reuben, and of Manasseh, from Aroer, which is on the strand [or stream] of Arnon, and Gilead, and Bashan.

34 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Jehu, and all things that he did, and his strength, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

35 And Jehu slept with his fathers; and they buried him in Samaria; and Jehoahaz, his son, reigned for him.

36 Forsooth the days, in which Jehu reigned upon Israel in Samaria, be eight and twenty years.

CHAPTER 11

1 Forsooth Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw her son was dead, and she rose up, and killed all the seed of the king.

2 And Jehosheba, the daughter of king Jehoram*, the sister of Ahaziah, took Joash†, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from the midst of the sons of the king, that were slain; and she took the nurse of him from the house of three stages; and she hid him from the face of Athaliah, so that he were not slain.

3 And he was with her in the house of the Lord privily six years. Forsooth Athaliah reigned upon the land six years.

4 But in the seventh year Jehoiada, the priest, sent, and took chieftains upon hundreds, and knights, and he brought them to him into the temple of the Lord; and covenanted with them a bond of peace, and he made them to swear in the temple of the Lord, and showed to them the son of the king.

5 And he commanded to them, and said, This is the word, that ye owe to do; the third part of you enter in on the sabbath day, and keep ye the watches of the king’s house;

6 and another third part be at the gate of Sur; and the third part be at the gate that is behind the dwelling place of the makers of shields; and ye shall keep the wakings [or watches] of the house of Masah.

7 Forsooth two parts of you all going out in the sabbath, keep they the wakings [or watches] of the house of the Lord about the king.

8 And ye shall encompass the king, and ye shall have arms in your hands; and if any man enter into the enclosing [or precinct] of the temple, be he slain; and ye shall be with the king going in and going out.

9 And the chieftains upon hundreds did by all things that Jehoiada, the priest, had commanded to them; and they all taking their men that entered to the sabbath day, with them that went out from the sabbath day, came to Jehoiada, the priest.

10 Which gave to them [the] spears, and [the] armours of king David, that were in the house of the Lord.

11 And all stood having arms in their hand, from the right side of the temple unto the left side of the altar and of the house, about the king.

12 And he brought forth the son of the king, and put upon his head a diadem, and the witnessing; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped with the hand[s], and said, The king live!

13 Forsooth Athaliah heard the voices of the people running, and she enter-ed to the companies into the temple of the Lord,

14 and she saw the king standing on the throne, by custom, and singers, and companies nigh him, and all the people of the land being glad, and singing with trumps. And she rent her clothes, and cried, Swearing together! swearing together! or Conjuration! con-juration! either treason.

15 Certainly Jehoiada commanded to the chieftains upon hundreds, that were upon the host, and said to them, Lead ye her out of the enclosings [or precincts] of the temple; and whoever pursueth [or followeth] her, be he smitten with [a] sword. And the priest said, Be she not slain in the temple of the Lord.

16 And they putted [or put] hands on her, and hurled her by the way of the entering of [the] horses beside the palace; and she was slain there.

17 Therefore Jehoiada made bond of peace betwixt the Lord and the king, and betwixt the people, that it should be the people of the Lord; and betwixt the king and the people.

18 [And] All the people of the land entered into the temple of Baal; and they destroyed the altars of him, and all-brake strongly the images; and they killed before the altar Mattan, the priest of Baal. And Jehoiada the priest set keepings in the house of the Lord;

19 and he took [the] chieftains upon hundreds, and [the] legions of Chereth-ites, and Pelethites, and all the people of the land. And they led forth the king from the house of the Lord; and they came by the way of the gate of the makers of shields into the palace; and Joash sat upon the throne of kings.

20 And all the people of the land was glad, and the city rested. Forsooth Athaliah was slain by sword in the house of the king.

21 And Joash was of seven years, when he began to reign.

CHAPTER 12

1 Joash* reigned in the seventh year of Jehu; he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Zibiah of Beersheba.

2 And Joash did rightfulness before the Lord in all the days, in which Jehoiada, the priest, taught him.

3 Nevertheless he did not away the high things; for yet the people made sacrifice, and burnt incense in high things.

4 And Joash said to the priests, All the money of [the] holy things, that is brought of men passing forth into the temple of the Lord, and that is offered for the price of [the] soul, and that men bring willfully, and by freedom of their heart, into the temple of the Lord, [the] priests by their order take it.

5 And the priests repair the coverings of the house, if they see anything needful in repairing.

6 Soothly the priests repaired not the coverings of the temple, unto the three and twentieth year of king Joash.

7 And Joash, the king, called Jehoi-ada, the bishop, and the priests, and said to them, Why have ye not repaired the coverings of the temple? Therefore do not ye more take money by your order, but yield it to the reparation of the temple.

8 And the priests were forbidden to take [any] more money of the people, and to repair the coverings of the house.

9 And Jehoiada, the bishop, took a coffer of the treasury, and opened an hole [there] above, and setted it beside the altar, at the right side of men entering into the house of the Lord; and [the] priests, that kept the doors, sent, or put, into it all the money that was brought to the temple of the Lord.

10 And when they saw that full much money was in the treasury, the scribe of the king and the bishop went up, and poured it out, and they numbered the money that was found in the house of the Lord.

11 And they gave it by number and measure into the hand of them, that were sovereigns to the masons of the house of the Lord, the which gave it in carpenters, and in these masons, that wrought in the house of the Lord, and made the coverings,

12 and in these men that hewed stones; and that they should buy trees and stones, that were hewn down; so that the reparation of the house of the Lord was [ful] filled in all things, that needed cost to make strong the house.

13 Nevertheless water pots of the temple of the Lord were not made of the same money, and fleshhooks, and censers, and trumps; each vessel of gold and of silver were not made of the money, that was brought into the temple of the Lord.

14 For it was given to them that made the work, that the temple of the Lord should be repaired.

15 And reckoning was not made to these men that took the money, that they should deal it to [the] craftsmen; but they treated, or spended, it in faith.

16 Soothly they brought not into the temple of the Lord the money offered for trespass, and the money for sins, for it was the priests’.

17 Then Hazael, king of Syria, went up, and fought against Gath; and he took it, and dressed his face, that he should ascend [or go up] into Jerusalem.

18 Wherefore Joash, king of Judah, took all the hallowed things, that Jehosh-aphat had hallowed, and Jehoram†, and Ahaziah, the fathers of him, kings of Judah, and which things he had offered, and all the silver, that might be found in the treasures [or treasuries] of the temple of the Lord, and in the palace of the king. And he sent these to Hazael, king of Syria; and he went away from Jerusalem.

19 Soothly the residue of the words of Joash, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

20 And the servants of Joash rose, and swore together betwixt themselves, and smote Joash in the house of Millo, and in the going down of Silla.

21 For Jozachar, the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad, the son of Shomer, his servants, smote him, and he was dead; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Amaziah, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 13

1 In the three and twentieth year of Joash*, the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, reigned upon Israel, in Samaria seven-teen years.

2 And he did evil before the Lord, and he pursued [or followed] the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin; and he bowed not away from those sins.

3 And the strong vengeance of the Lord was wroth against Israel, and he betook them into the hand of Hazael, king of Syria, and in the hand of Benhadad, son of Hazael, in all days.

4 Forsooth Jehoahaz besought the face of the Lord, and the Lord heard him; for he saw the anguish of Israel, for the king of Syria had all-broken them.

5 And the Lord gave a saviour to Israel, and he was delivered from the hand of the king of Syria; and the sons of Israel dwelled in their tabernacles, as yesterday and the third day ago.

6 Nevertheless they departed not from the sins of the house of Jero-boam, that made Israel to do sin; but they went in those sins; soothly also the [maumet] wood dwelled in Samaria.

7 And to Jehoahaz were not left of the people, but five hundred knights, and ten chariots, and ten thousand of footmen; for the king of Syria had slain them, and had driven them [down] as into powder in the threshing of a corn-floor.

8 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Jehoahaz, and all things that he did, and the strength of him, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

9 And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and Jehoash†, his son, reigned for him.

10 In the seven and thirtieth year of Joash, king of Judah, Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, reigned upon Israel in Samaria sixteen years‡.

11 And he did that, that is evil in the sight of the Lord; for he bowed not away from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin; but he went in those sins.

12 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Jehoash, and all things that he did, but also his strength, how he fought against Amaziah, king of Judah, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

13 And Jehoash slept with his fathers; forsooth Jeroboam II sat upon his throne. And Jehoash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel§.

14 Forsooth Elisha was sick in a sickness, by which and he was dead; and Jehoash, king of Israel, went down to him, and wept before him, and said, My father! my father! the chariot of Israel, and the charioteer thereof!

15 And Elisha said to him, Bring thou a bow and arrows. And when he had brought to Elisha a bow and arrows,

16 he said to the king of Israel, Set [or Put] thine hand on the bow. And when he had set [or put] his hand, Elisha setted [or put] his hands on the hands of the king,

17 and said, Open thou the east window. And when he had opened, Elisha said, Shoot thou an arrow; and he shot. And Elisha said, This is an arrow of [the] health or victory of the Lord, and an arrow of health against Syria; and thou shalt smite Syria in Aphek, till thou waste it.

18 And Elisha said, Take away the arrows. And when he had taken away, Elisha said to him, Smite thou the earth with a dart. And when he had smitten three times, and had stood,

19 the man of God was wroth against him, and said, If thou haddest smitten five times, either six times, either seven times, thou shouldest have smitten Syria unto the ending; now forsooth thou shalt smite it three times.

20 Then Elisha was dead, and they buried him. And the thieves of Moab came into the land in that year.

21 Forsooth some men buried a man, and they saw the thieves, and they cast forth the dead body into the sepulchre of Elisha; and when it had touched the bones of Elisha, the man lived again, and stood up on his feet.

22 Then Hazael, king of Syria, tormented Israel in all the days of Jehoahaz.

23 And the Lord had mercy on them, and turned again to them for his covenant, that he had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and he would not destroy them, neither cast them away utterly, into this present time.

24 And Hazael, king of Syria, died; and Benhadad, his son, reigned for him.

25 Forsooth Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, took away [the] cities from the hand of Benhadad, the son of Hazael, which he had taken by the right of battle from the hand of Jehoahaz, his father; Jehoash smote him three times, and he yielded those cities to Israel.

CHAPTER 14

1 In the second year of Jehoash*, the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah, the son of Joash†, king of Judah, reigned.

2 Amaziah was of five and twenty years, when he began to reign; and he reigned in Jerusalem nine and twenty years; the name of his mother was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

3 And he did rightfulness [or right] before the Lord, nevertheless not as David, his father, did; he did by all things that Joash, his father, did,

4 no but this only, that he did not away high things; for yet the people made sacrifice, and burnt incense in high things.

5 And when he had gotten the realm, he smote his servants, that had killed the king, his father;

6 but he killed not the sons of them that had slain the king or his father, by that that is written in the book of the law of Moses, as the Lord commanded to Moses, and said, [The] Fathers shall not die for the sons, neither the sons for the fathers, but each man shall die in his own sin.

7 He smote Edom in the valley of makings of salt, he smote ten thousand, and took the Stone in battle; and he called the name thereof Joktheel‡, which it is still called unto this present day.

8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, and said, Come thou, and see we us in battle.

9 And Jehoash, king of Israel, sent again to Amaziah, king of Judah, and said mystically, The carduus, or thistle, that is, a low herb, and full of thorns, of the Lebanon sent to the cedar, that is in the Lebanon, and said, Give thy daughter as wife to my son; and the beasts of the forest, that be in the Lebanon, passed forth, and trode down the carduus.

10 Thou hast smitten Edom, and haddest the mastery upon it, and thine heart hath raised thee; be thou satisfied with this glory, and sit in thine house; why excitest, or stirrest up, thou evil, so that thou fall, and Judah with thee?

11 And Amaziah assented not to be in peace; and Jehoash, king of Israel, went up, and he and Amaziah, king of Judah, saw themselves when they met in battle in Bethshemesh, a city of Judah.

12 And Judah was smitten before Israel; and they fled each man into his tabernacles.

13 Soothly Jehoash, king of Israel, took in Bethshemesh Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and brought him into Jerusalem; and he brake the wall of Jerusalem, from the gate of Ephraim unto the gate of the corner, by four hundred cubits.

14 And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels, that were found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures [or treasuries] of the king; and he took hostages, and turned again into Samaria.

15 Soothly the residue of [the] words of Jehoash, which he did, and his strength, by which he fought against Amaziah, king of Judah, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

16 And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel; and Jeroboam II, his son, reigned for him§.

17 Forsooth Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived five and twenty years, after that Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, was dead.

18 Forsooth the residue of the words of Amaziah, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

19 And swearing together, that is, conspiracy, in Jerusalem was made against him, and he fled into Lachish; and they sent after him into Lachish, and killed him there.

20 And they bare out him in horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers, in the city of David.

21 Forsooth all the people of Judah took Azariah, having sixteen years; and made him king for his father Amaziah.

22 He builded Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash, king of Israel, reigned in Samaria one and forty years;

24 and did that, that is evil before the Lord; he went not away from all the sins of Jeroboam, [the] son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin.

25 He restored the terms of Israel, from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of wilderness, by the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, by Jonah, the prophet, that was of Gath, that is in Hepher.

26 For the Lord saw the full bitter torment of Israel, and that they were wasted unto the enclosed men of prison, and to the last men, and there was none that helped Israel.

27 And the Lord spake not, that he should do away [the name of] Israel from under heaven, but he saved them in the hand of Jeroboam II, the son of Jehoash.

28 Forsooth the residue of the words of Jeroboam II, and all things that he did, and the strength of him, by which he fought, and how he restored Damascus, and Hamath of Judah, in Israel, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

29 And Jeroboam ll slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel; and Zechariah*, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 15

1 In the seven and twentieth year of Jeroboam II, king of Israel, Azariah*, the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, reigned;

2 he was of sixteen years, when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

3 And he did that, that was pleasant before the Lord, by all things that Amaziah, his father, had done;

4 nevertheless he destroyed not [the] high things; yet the people made sacrifice, and burnt incense in high things.

5 Forsooth the Lord smote the king, and he was leprous till into the day of his death; and he dwelled in an house freely by himself. Soothly Jotham, [the] son of the king, governed the palace, and deemed the people of the land.

6 Forsooth the residue of the words of Azariah, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

7 And Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his elder men in the city of David; and Jotham, his son, reigned for him.

8 In the eight and thirtieth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Zechariah, the son of Jeroboam, reigned upon Israel in Samaria six months.

9 And he did that, that was evil before the Lord, as his fathers did; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin.

10 Forsooth Shallum, the son of Jabesh, conspired against him in Samaria; and Shallum smote him before the people, and killed him, and reigned for him.

11 And the residue of the words of Zechariah, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

12 This is the word of the Lord, which he spake to Jehu, and said, Thy sons till to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of thee of Israel; and it was done so.

13 Shallum, the son of Jabesh, reigned in the ninth and thirty year of Azariah, king of Judah; soothly he reigned one month in Samaria.

14 And Menahem, the son of Gadi, went up from Tirzah, and came into Samaria; and he smote Shallum, the son of Jabesh, in Samaria, and killed him, and reigned for him.

15 Soothly the residue of the words of Shallum, and his conspiracy, by which he setted treasons, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel.

16 Then Menahem smote the city Tiphsah, and all the men that were therein, and the terms thereof from Tirzah, for they would not open their gates to him†; and he killed all the women thereof with child, and carved them.

17 In the nine and thirtieth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Menahem, the son of Gadi, reigned upon Israel ten years in Samaria.

18 And he did that, that was evil before the Lord; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin.

19 In all the days of him, Pul, the king of Assyria, came into Tirzah. And Menahem gave to Pul a thousand talents of silver, that he should be to him into help, and should make steadfast his realm;

20 and Menahem setted tollage of silver on Israel, to all [the] mighty men and rich, that he would give to the king of Assyria; he setted fifty shekels of silver to one man, that is, to each man; and the king of Assyria turned again, and dwelled not in Tirzah.

21 Forsooth the residue of the words of Menahem, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

22 And Menahem slept with his fathers; and Pekahiah, his son, reigned for him.

23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekahiah, the son of Menahem, reigned on Israel in Samaria two years.

24 And he did that, that was evil before the Lord; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin.

25 Forsooth Pekah, the son of Re-maliah, a duke of his host, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the tower of the king’s house, that is, the palace, besides Argob, and besides Arieh; and he smote him with fifty men of the sons of Gileadites; and Pekah killed him, and reigned for him.

26 Soothly the residue of the words of Pekahiah, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

27 In the two and fiftieth year of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, the son of Remaliah, reigned [upon Israel] in Samaria twenty years.

28 And he did that, that was evil before the Lord; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin.

29 In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglathpileser, king of Assur, came, and took Ijon, and Abel, the house of Maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali; and translated or brought them over into Assyrians.

30 Forsooth Hoshea, the son of Elah, conspired, and set treasons against Pekah, the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and killed him; and he reigned for him, in the twentieth year of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, that is, the son of Azariah.

31 Forsooth the residue of the words of Pekah, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Israel?

32 In the second year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, reigned;

33 he was of five and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok.

34 And he did that, that was pleasant before the Lord; he wrought by all things, that his father Uzziah had done;

35 nevertheless he did not away [the] high things; yet the people made sacrifice, and burnt incense in high things; he builded the highest gate of the house of the Lord.

36 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Jotham, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

37 In those days the Lord began to send into Judah Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah.

38 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David, his father; and Ahaz, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 16

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah, the son of Remaliah, Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, reigned.

2 Ahaz was of twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; he did not that, that was pleasant in the sight of his Lord God, as David, his father, did,

3 but he went in the way of the kings of Israel. Furthermore and he hallowed his son, and bare, or drew him, through the fire, after the idols of heathen men, which the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.

4 And he offered sacrifices, and burnt incense in high places, and in hills, and under each tree full of boughs.

5 Then Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up into Jerusalem to fight with Ahaz; and when they besieged Ahaz, they might not overcome him.

6 In that time Rezin, king of Syria, restored Elath to Syria, and casted out the Jews from Elath; and Idumeans and men of Syria came into Elath, and dwelled there till into this day.

7 Forsooth Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser, king of Assyrians, and said, I am thy servant and thy son; go thou up, and make me safe from the hand of the king of Syria, and from the hand of the king of Israel, that have risen together against me.

8 And when Ahaz had gathered together silver and gold, that might be found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures [or treasuries] of the king, he sent gifts to the king of Assyrians;

9 and he assented to his will. Soothly the king of Assyrians went up into Damascus, and wasted it, and translated or brought over the dwellers thereof to Kir; soothly he killed Rezin.

10 And king Ahaz went into meeting to Tiglathpileser, king of Assyrians; and when king Ahaz had seen the altar of Damascus, he sent into Jerusalem to Urijah, the priest, the exemplar and [the] likeness thereof, by all the work thereof.

11 And Urijah, the priest, builded an altar by all things that king Ahaz had commanded from Damascus; so did the priest Urijah, till king Ahaz came from Damascus.

12 And when the king came from Damascus, he saw the altar, and worshipped on it;

13 and he went up, and offered burnt sacrifices, and his sacrifice; and he offered moist [or liquor] sacrifices, and he poured the blood of peace-able things, which he had offered, on the altar.

14 Forsooth he did away the brazen altar, that was before the Lord, from the face of the temple, and from between the place of the new altar, and the place of the temple of the Lord; and setted [or put] it on the side of the new altar at the north or he set God’s altar at the north side of his altar.

15 Also king Ahaz commanded to Urijah, the priest, and said, Offer thou upon the more altar, that is, on the new altar, the burnt sacrifice of the morrowtide, and the sacrifice of the eventide, and the burnt sacrifice of the king, and the grain sacrifice of him, and the burnt sacrifice of all the people of the land, and the grain sacrifices of them, and the moist [or liquor] sacrifices of them; and thou shalt pour out upon that new altar all the blood of [the] burnt sacrifice, and all the blood of [the] slain sacrifice; soothly the brazen altar shall be [made] ready at my will.

16 Therefore Urijah, the priest, did by all things that king Ahaz had commanded to him.

17 Forsooth king Ahaz took away the painted foundaments or bases of the pillars, and the washing vessel, that was set above, and he put down the sea, that is, the washing vessel for priests, from [off] the brazen oxen, that sustained it, and he setted [or put]it on the pavement arrayed with stone.

18 Also he turned the chamber of [the] sabbath, which he had builded in the temple, and he turned the entering of the king withoutforth into the temple of the Lord, for to please the king of Assyrians.

19 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Ahaz, and all things which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David; and Hezekiah, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 17

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz, king of Judah, Hoshea, the son of Elah, reigned in Samaria upon Israel nine years.

2 And he did evil before the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel, that were before him.

3 Shalmaneser, king of Assyrians, went up against Hoshea, and Hoshea was made servant to him, and yielded tributes to him.

4 And when the king of Assyrians had perceived, that Hoshea enforced or endeavoured to rebel, and had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, that he should not give tributes to the king of Assyrians, as he was wont by all years, the king of Assyrians besieged him, and sent him bound into prison.

5 And Shalmaneser went through-[out] all the land, and he went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.

6 Forsooth in the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyrians took Samaria, and translated or brought over Israel into Assyrians; and he put them in Halah, and in Habor, beside the flood [of] Gozan, in the cities of Medes.

7 Forsooth it was done, when the sons of Israel had sinned before their Lord God, that led them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, they worship-ped alien gods;

8 and went by the custom of heathen men, which the Lord had wasted in the sight of the sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, for they had done in like manner.

9 And the sons of Israel offended their Lord God by words not rightful [or right], and they builded to them-selves high things in all their cities, from the tower of keepers unto a strengthened city.

10 And they made to them images, and maumet woods, in each high hill, and under each tree full of boughs;

11 and they burnt there incense on the altars, by the custom of heathen men, which the Lord had translated or brought over from the face of them. And they did [the] worst words, that is, worst works, and they wrathed the Lord;

12 and [they] worshipped [the] unclean-nesses, of which the Lord commanded to them, that they should not do this word.

13 And the Lord witnessed in Israel and in Judah, by the hand of all prophets, and [the] seers, and said, Turn ye again from your worst or your full evil ways, and keep my commandments, and [my] ceremonies, by all the law which I commanded to your fathers, and as I sent to you in the hand of my servants the prophets.

14 Which heard not, but made hard their noll by the noll of their fathers, that would not obey to their Lord God.

15 And they casted away the lawful things of him, and the covenant that he covenanted with their fathers, and the witnessings by which he witnessed to them; and they pursued [or followed] vanities, that is, idols, and did vainly; and pursued [or followed] heathen men, that were about them; of which things the Lord commanded to them, that they should not do as also those heathen men did.

16 And they forsook all the command-ments of their Lord God, and they made to them two molten calves, and maumet woods, and worshipped all the knighthood of heaven, that is, sun, and moon, and other planets; and they served Baal,

17 and [they] hallowed to him their sons, and their daughters, through fire, and they served to false divining, and to divining by chittering of birds; and they gave themselves to do evil before the Lord, and they wrathed him.

18 And the Lord was wroth greatly to Israel; and he took away them from his sight, and none was left, no but the lineage of Judah only.

19 But neither Judah himself kept the behests of the Lord his God, but nevertheless he erred, and went in the error of Israel, which it wrought.

20 And the Lord casted away all the seed of Israel, and tormented them, and betook them in the hand of raveners; till he had cast away them from his face,

21 from that time in which Israel was parted from the house of David, and [they] made to them a king, Jeroboam, the son of Nebat. For Jeroboam separated Israel from the Lord, and made them to do great sin.

22 And the sons of Israel went in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he had done; and they departed not from those sins,

23 till the Lord did away Israel from his face, as he spake in the hand of all his servants the prophets; and Israel was translated or brought over from his land into Assyrians till into this day.

24 Forsooth the king of Assyrians brought people from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and set them in the cities of Samaria for the sons of Israel; and these had in possession Samaria, and they dwelled in the cities thereof.

25 And when they began to dwell there, they dreaded not the Lord; and the Lord sent to them lions, the which killed them.

26 And it was told to the king of Assyrians, and was said, The folks which thou hast translated or brought over, and madest to dwell in the cities of Samaria, know not the lawful things of [the] God of the land; and the Lord hath sent lions into them, and lo! those [or they] slay them; for they know not the custom of [the] God of the land.

27 Soothly the king of Assyrians commanded, and said, Lead ye thither one of the priests, which ye brought as prisoners from thence, that he go, and dwell with them, and teach them the lawful things of God of the land.

28 Therefore when one of these priests had come, that were led away as prisoners from Samaria, he dwelled in Bethel, and taught them, how they should worship the Lord.

29 And each folk made his god, and they setted [or put] those gods in the high temples, which the men of Samaria had made, folk and folk in their cities, in which they dwelled.

30 For men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth; and men of Cuth made Nergal; and men of Hamath made Ashima;

31 and Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; soothly they that were of Sepharvaim burnt their sons in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.

32 And nevertheless they worshipped the Lord; forsooth of the last men, that is, of vile persons, that were not of priests’ kin, by the law of Moses, they made priests of the high things, and setted [or put] them in high temples.

33 And when they worshipped God, they served also their gods, by the custom of heathen men, from which they were translated or brought over to Samaria;

34 till to this present day they pursue [or follow] the eld [or old] custom; they dreaded not the Lord, neither they keep his ceremonies, and dooms, and law, and commandment, which the Lord commanded to the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

35 and the Lord [had] smote a covenant with them, and [had] commanded to them, and said, Do not ye dread alien gods, and honour ye not outwardly them, neither worship ye inwardly them, and make ye not sacrifice to them;

36 but your Lord God, that led you out of the land of Egypt in great strength, and in an arm stretched out, dread ye him, and worship ye him, and make ye sacrifice to him.

37 Also keep ye the ceremonies, and [the] dooms, and the law, and the commandment, which he wrote to you, that ye do it in all days; and dread ye not alien gods.

38 And do not ye forget the covenant, which he/the Lord smote with you, neither worship ye alien gods;

39 but dread ye your Lord God, and he shall deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.

40 Forsooth they heard not, but did by their former custom.

41 Therefore soothly these heathen men dreaded God; but nevertheless they served also their idols, for both their sons and the sons of their sons do so, till into this present day, as their fathers did.

CHAPTER 18

1 In the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, king of Israel, reigned Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah.

2 He was of five and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem nine and twenty years; the name of his mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

3 And he did that, that was good before the Lord, by all things that David, his father, had done.

4 And he destroyed [the] high places, and all-brake [the] images, and cut down [the maumet] woods, and he brake the brazen serpent, whom Moses had made; for unto that time the sons of Israel burnt incense to it; and he called the name of it Nehushtan.

5 And he hoped in the Lord God of Israel; therefore after him none was like him of all the kings of Judah, but neither also in the kings that were before him.

6 And he cleaved to the Lord, and went not away from his steps, and he did the commandments of the Lord, which the Lord commanded to Moses;

7 wherefore and the Lord was with him, and he governed wisely himself in all things, to which he went forth. Also he rebelled against the king of Assyrians, and therefore he served not to him;

8 and he smote [the] Philistines till to Gaza, and all the terms of them, from the tower of the keepers unto a city made strong.

9 In the fourth year of king Heze-kiah, that was the seventh year of Hoshea, the son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser, king of Assyrians, went up to Samaria, and fought against it,

10 and took it. For after three years, in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, in the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken;

11 and the king of Assyrians translated or brought over Israel into Assyrians, and he set them in Halah, and in Habor, rivers of Gozan, in the cities of Medes;

12 for they heard not the voice of their Lord God, but they brake his covenant; they heard not, neither did all things, which Moses, the servant of the Lord, [had] commanded.

13 In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyr-ians, went up to all the strengthened cities of Judah, and took them.

14 Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent messengers to the king of Assyrians into Lachish, and said, I have sinned; go away from me, and I shall bear all things, that thou shalt put to me. Therefore the king of Assyrians putted on Hezekiah, king of Judah, a fine of three hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold.

15 And Hezekiah gave all the silver, that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the king’s treasures [or treasuries], to the king of Assyrians.

16 In that time Hezekiah brake the gates of the temple of the Lord, and the plates of gold, which he had fastened to them, and he gave those [or them] to the king of Assyrians.

17 Forsooth the king of Assyrians sent Tartan, and Rabsaris, and Rabshakeh, from Lachish to king Hezekiah, with strong hand to Jerusalem; and when they had gone up, they came to Jerusalem, and stood beside the water conduit of the higher cistern, which is in the way of the fuller, either tucker.

18 And they called the king; soothly Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, the sovereign of the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, chancellor, the son of Asaph, went out to them.

19 And Rabshakeh said to them, Speak ye to Hezekiah, The great king, the king of Assyrians, saith these things, What is this trust, in which thou enforcest or endeavourest thee?

20 In hap thou hast taken counsel, that thou wouldest make thee ready to battle. In whom trustest thou, that thou be fool-hardy to rebel against Sennacherib?

21 Whether thou hopest in a staff of a reed and broken, that is, upon Egypt, on which, if a man leaneth, it shall be broken, and shall enter into his hand, and shall pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all men that trust in him.

22 That if thou sayest to me, We have trust in the Lord our God; whether this is not he, whose high things and altars Hezekiah took away, and commanded to Judah and to Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?

23 Now therefore, give ye weds to my lord, the king of Assyrians, and I shall give to you two thousand of horses, and see ye, whether ye may have riders of them?

24 And how may ye withstand before one prince of the least servants of my lord? Whether thou hast trust in Egypt, for chariots and knights thereof?

25 Whether I ascended [or went] up without God’s will to this place, that I should destroy it? The Lord said to me, Ascend thou [or Go ye up] to this land, and destroy thou it.

26 Forsooth Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, We pray thee, that thou speak by the language of Syria to us, thy servants; for we understand this language; and that thou speak not to us by the language of Jews, while the people heareth, which is on the wall.

27 And Rabshakeh answered, and said, Whether my lord sent me to thy lord and to thee, that I should speak these words, and not rather to the men that sit on the wall, that they eat their turds, and drink their piss with you?

28 Therefore Rabshakeh stood, and cried with [a] great voice by language of Jews, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyrians.

29 The king saith these things, Hezekiah deceive not you, for he may not deliver you from mine hand;

30 neither give he trust to you on the Lord, and say, The Lord delivering shall deliver us, and this city shall not be betaken in the hand of the king of Assyrians;

31 do not ye hear Hezekiah. For the king of Assyrians saith these things, Do ye with me that, that is profitable to you, and go ye out to me; and each man shall eat of his vinery [or vine], and of his fig tree, and ye shall drink waters of your cisterns,

32 till I come, and translate you, or bear you over, into a land which is like your land, into a fruitful land, and plenteous of wine, a land of bread, and of vineries [or vines], a land of olive trees, and of oil, and of honey; and ye shall live, and ye shall not die. Do not ye hear Hezekiah, that deceiveth you, and saith, The Lord shall deliver you.

33 Whether the gods of heathen men delivered their land from the hand of the king of Assyrians?

34 Where is [the] god of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where is [the] god of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and of Ivah? Whether they delivered Samaria from mine hand?

35 For who be they in all [the] gods of lands, that delivered their country from mine hand, that the Lord may deliver Jerusalem from mine hand?

36 Therefore the people was still, and answered not anything to him; for they had taken commandment of the king, that they should not answer to him.

37 And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, the sovereign of the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the chancellor, the son of Asaph, came with rent clothes to Hezekiah; and told to him the words of Rabshakeh.

CHAPTER 19

1 And when king Hezekiah had heard these things, he rent his clothes, and was covered with a sackcloth; and he entered into the house of the Lord.

2 And he sent Eliakim, [the] sovereign of the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and [the] eld [or old] men of the priests, covered with sackcloths, to Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz.

3 The which said to him, Hezekiah saith these things, This day is a day of tribulation, and of blaming, and of blasphemy; sons came unto the birth, and the mother travailing hath not strength thereto.

4 If peradventure thy Lord God hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyrians, his lord hath sent, that he should despise the Lord living, and reprove by words, which thy Lord God heard; and make thou prayer for these remnants of the people, that be found.

5 Therefore the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah;

6 and Isaiah said to them, Say ye these things to your lord, The Lord saith these things, Do not thou dread of the face, or showing, of the words, that thou heardest, by which the children of the king of Assyrians blasphemed me.

7 Lo! I shall send to him a spirit, and he shall hear a messenger, and he shall turn again into his land; and I shall cast him down by sword in his own land.

8 Therefore Rabshakeh turned again, and found the king of Assyrians fighting against Libnah; for he had heard, that the king had gone away from Lachish.

9 And when he had heard of Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, men saying, Lo! he went out, that he fight against thee; that he should go against that king, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, and said,

10 Say ye these things to Hezekiah, king of Judah, Thy Lord God, in whom thou hast trust, deceive not thee, neither say thou, Jerusalem shall not be betaken into the hands of the king of Assyrians;

11 for thou thyself hast heard what things the kings of Assyrians have done in all lands, how they have wasted them; whether therefore thou alone mayest be delivered?

12 Whether the gods of heathen men delivered all men which my fathers destroyed, that is, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, that were in Thelasar?

13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad? and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and of Ivah?

14 Therefore when Hezekiah had taken the letters from the hand of the messengers, and had read them, he went up into the house of the Lord, and spreaded abroad those letters before the Lord;

15 and prayed in his sight, and said, Lord God of Israel, that sittest upon cherubim, thou art God alone of all kings of [the] earth; thou madest heaven and earth.

16 Bow [down] thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, the which hath sent to us, that he would despise the living God.

17 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyrians have destroyed heathen men, and the lands of all men,

18 and they have sent the gods of them into fire; for they were not gods, but [the] works of men’s hands, of wood and of stone; and they destroyed them.

19 Now therefore, our Lord God, make us safe from the hand of them, that all the realms of [the] earth know that thou art the Lord God alone.

20 Forsooth Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, and said, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, I have heard those things, which thou prayedest me on Sennacherib, king of Assyrians.

21 This is the word, that the Lord hath spoken of him, Thou virgin the daughter of Zion, the king of Assyria hath despised thee, and scorned thee; thou daughter of Jerusalem, he moved his head after thy back.

22 O! Sennacherib, whom hast thou despised, and whom hast thou blasphemed? Against whom hast thou raised thy voice, and hast raised thine eyes on high? Against the Holy of Israel.

23 By the hand of thy servants thou hast despised the Lord, and saidest, In the multitude of my chariots I went up into the high things of hills, in the highness of Lebanon, and [I] cutted down the high cedars thereof, and the chosen box trees thereof; and I entered unto the terms, or uttermost coasts, thereof, and I cutted down the forest of Carmel thereof;

24 and I drank alien waters, and I made dry with the steps of my feet all [the] waters enclosed.

25 Whether thou heardest not, what I made at the beginning? From [the] eld [or old] days I made it, and now I have brought it forth; and strengthened cities of fighters shall be into falling of hills.

26 And they that sit meek in hand in those cities, trembled together, and be shamed; they be made as the hay of the field, and as green herb of roofs, which dried, or withered, before that it came to ripeness.

27 And I knew thy dwelling [place], and thy going out, and thine entering or thy going in, and thy way, and thy strong vengeance against me.

28 Thou were wroth against me, and thy pride went up into mine ears; therefore I shall put a ring in thy nostrils, and a barnacle in thy lips, and I shall lead thee again into the way by which thou camest.

29 Forsooth Hezekiah, this shall be a sign to thee; eat thou in this year that, that thou findest; forsooth in the second year, those things that grow by their own will; soothly in the third year, sow ye, and reap ye, and plant ye vineries [or vines], and eat the fruits of those [or them].

30 And whatever thing shall be residue, or left over, of the house of Judah, it shall send root downward, and shall make fruit upward.

31 For the relics, or folk left, shall go out of Jerusalem, and those who shall be saved, shall go out of the hill of Zion; the fervent love of the Lord of hosts shall do this.

32 Wherefore the Lord saith these things of the king of Assyrians, He shall not enter into this city Jerusalem, neither he shall send an arrow into it, neither shield of him shall occupy it, neither stronghold, either besieging, shall encompass it.

33 He shall turn again by the way by which he came, and he shall not enter into this city, saith the Lord;

34 and I shall defend this city, and I shall save it for myself, and for David, my servant.

35 Therefore it was done, in that night the angel of the Lord came, and smote in the castles [or tents] of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand. And when Sennacherib had risen early, he saw all the bodies of [the] dead men;

36 and he departed, and went away. And Sennacherib, king of Assyrians, turned again, and dwelled in Nineveh.

37 And when he worshipped in the temple Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, killed him with sword; and they fled into the land of Armenia; and Esarhaddon, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 20

1 In those days Hezekiah was sick unto the death; and Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, The Lord God saith these things, Command or Dispose to thine house, that is, make thy testament, for thou shalt die, and thou shalt not live.

2 And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and worshipped the Lord, and said,

3 I beseech, Lord, have mind, how I have gone before thee in truth, and in a perfect heart, and I did that, that was pleasant before thee. Then Heze-kiah wept with a great weeping.

4 And before that Isaiah went out half the part of the courtyard, the word of the Lord was made to Isaiah, and said,

5 Turn thou again, and say to Hezekiah, the duke of my people, The Lord, God of David, thy father, saith these things, I have heard thy prayer, and I saw thy tears, and lo! I have healed thee. In the third day thou shalt go up into the temple of the Lord,

6 and I shall add fifteen years to thy days; but also I shall deliver thee and this city from the hand of the king of Assyrians, and I shall defend this city for me, and for David, my servant.

7 And Isaiah said, Bring ye to me a gobbet of figs. And when they had brought it, and had put it on the botch of Hezekiah or on his botch, he was healed.

8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign, that the Lord shall heal me, and also that in the third day I shall go up into the temple of the Lord?

9 To whom Isaiah said, This shall be a sign of the Lord, that the Lord shall do the word which he spake; wilt thou, that the shadow of the sun go further by ten lines, either turn again by so many degrees?

10 And Hezekiah said, It is light, or easy, that the shadow increase by ten lines, neither I will or desire that this be done, but that it turn again back-ward by ten degrees.

11 Then Isaiah, the prophet, called inwardly the Lord, and brought again backward by ten degrees the shadow by the same lines, by which it had gone down then in the horologe of Ahaz.

12 In that time, Berodach-baladan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent letters and gifts to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick, and had recovered.

13 And Hezekiah was glad in the coming of them, and he showed to them the house of spiceries, and gold, and silver, and diverse pigments, also ointments, and the house of his vessels, and all things that he might have in his treasures [or treasuries]; there was not any word, or thing, in his house, and in all his power, that Hezekiah showed not to them.

14 Soothly Isaiah, the prophet, came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, What said these men, either from whence came they to thee? To whom Hezekiah said, They came to me from a far land, from Babylon.

15 And he answered, What have they seen in thine house? Hezekiah said, They have seen all things, whatever things be in mine house; nothing is in my treasures [or treasuries], which I showed not to them.

16 Therefore Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear thou the word of the Lord.

17 Lo! days come, and all things that be in thine house, and which things thy fathers made till into this day, shall be taken away into Babylon; not anything shall dwell, saith the Lord.

18 But also of thy sons, that shall go out of thee, which thou shalt beget, shall be taken [away], and they shall be geldings in the palace of the king of Babylon.

19 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The word of the Lord, which he spake, is good; only peace and truth be in my days.

20 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Hezekiah, and all his strength, and how he made a cistern, and a water conduit, and brought water into the city, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 21

1 Manasseh was of twelve years, when he began to reign, and he reigned five and fifty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Hephzibah.

2 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, after the evils of heathen men, the which men the Lord did away from the face of the sons of Israel.

3 And he was turned, and builded [up] high things, which Hezekiah, his father destroyed; and he raised up altars of Baal, and he made maumet woods, as Ahab, king of Israel, had done; and he worshipped withoutforth all the knighthood of heaven, and worshipped it in heart.

4 And he builded altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, I shall set my name in Jerusalem.

5 And he builded altars to all the knighthood of heaven in the two large places of the temple of the Lord;

6 and he led over his son through the fire; and he used false divinings in altars, on which sacrifice was made to fiends, and he kept false divinings by chittering of birds; and he made men to have evil spirits speaking in the womb, and he multiplied false diviners in entrails of beasts sacrificed to fiends, that he should do evil before the Lord, and stir him to ire.

7 And he set an idol of wood, that he had made, in the temple of the Lord, of which temple the Lord spake to David, and to Solomon, his son, saying, I shall set [or put] my name without end in this temple, and in Jerusalem, which I chose of all the lineages of Israel.

8 And I shall no more make the foot of Israel to be moved from the land which I gave to the fathers of them; so nevertheless if they keep in work all things that I have commanded to them, and all the law that Moses, my servant, commanded to them.

9 Soothly they heard not, but were deceived of Manasseh, that they did evil over heathen men, which the Lord all-brake from the face of the sons of Israel.

10 And the Lord spake in the hand of his servants the prophets, and said,

11 For Manasseh, king of Judah, did these worst abominations over all things which Amorites did before him, and made also the people of Judah to do sin in his uncleannesses;

12 therefore the Lord God of Israel saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in evils upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever heareth of it, both his ears [shall] tingle, or ring;

13 and I shall hold forth upon Jerusalem the cord of Samaria, and the burden of the house of Ahab, and I shall do away Jerusalem, as tables be wont to be done away; and I shall do away and overturn it, and I shall lead full oft a pointel upon the face thereof.

14 Forsooth I shall leave [the] remnants of mine heritage, and I shall betake them into the hand of enemies thereof; and they shall be into destroying, and into raven to all their adversaries;

15 for they did evil before me, and they continued in stirring me to ire, from the day in which their fathers went out of the land of Egypt, unto this day.

16 Furthermore also Manasseh shedded full much innocent blood, till he filled Jerusalem unto the mouth, without his sins by which he made Judah to do sin, to do evil before the Lord.

17 Forsooth the residue of the words of Manasseh, and all things that he did, and his sin that he sinned, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and Amon, his son, reigned for him.

19 Amon was of two and twenty years, when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah.

20 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh, his father, had done.

21 And he went in all the way, by which his father had gone, and he served to [the] uncleannesses, that is, idols, to which his father had served, and he worshipped those [or them];

22 and he forsook the Lord God of his fathers, and he went not in the way of the Lord.

23 And his servants setted treasons to him, and killed the king in his house.

24 Soothly the people of the Lord smote all the men, that had conspired against king Amon, and they ordained to them a king, Josiah, his son, for him.

25 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Amon, and all things which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

26 And he slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the sepulchre in the garden of Uzza; and Josiah, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 22

1 Josiah was of eight years, when he began to reign, and he reigned one and thirty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.

2 And he did that, that was pleasant before the Lord, and he went by all the ways of David, his father; he bowed not, neither to the right side, nor of the left side.

3 Forsooth in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshullam, [the] scribe, either doctor, of the temple of the Lord, and said to him,

4 Go thou to Hilkiah, the great priest, and command that the money, which is borne into the temple of the Lord, be molten together, which money the porters of the temple have gathered of the people;

5 and that it be given to craftsmen by the sovereigns of the house of the Lord; which also parted [or dealed] that money to them that work in the temple of the Lord, to repair the roofs of the temple of the Lord,

6 that is, to carpenters, and to masons, and to them that make [together] broken things, and that timber and stones of quarriers be bought, to repair the temple of the Lord;

7 nevertheless the silver, that the workmen take, be not reckoned to them, but have they it in power, and in faith.

8 And Hilkiah, the bishop, said to Shaphan, the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, the scribe, which also read it.

9 Also Shaphan, the scribe, came to the king, and told to him those things, which Hilkiah had commanded, and he said, Thy servants have spended the money, that was found in the house of the Lord, and they have given, that it should be parted to [the] craftsmen of the sovereigns of [the] works of the temple of the Lord.

10 Also Shaphan, the scribe, told to the king, and said, Hilkiah, the priest of God, hath given to me a book; and when Shaphan had read that book before the king,

11 and the king had heard the words of the book of the law of the Lord, he rent his clothes.

12 And he commanded to Hilkiah, the priest, and to Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and to Achbor, the son of Michaiah, and to Shaphan the scribe, and to Asahiah, servant of the king, and said,

13 Go ye, and ask, or counsel ye, the Lord on me, and on the people, and on all Judah, of the words of this book, that is found; for great ire of the Lord is kindled against us, for our fathers heard not the words of this book, to do all thing which is written to us.

14 Therefore Hilkiah, the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asahiah, went to Huldah, the prophet-ess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the clothes, the which Huldah dwelled in Jerusalem, in the second dwelling or the second environing of the wall; and they spake to her.

15 And she answered to them, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Say ye to the man, that sent you to me,

16 The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Lo! I shall bring evils upon this place, and upon the dwellers thereof, and I shall fulfill all the words [of the law], which the king of Judah read;

17 for they forsook me, and made sacrifice to alien gods, and stirred me to ire in all the works of their hands; and mine indignation shall be kindled in this place, and shall not be quenched.

18 Soothly to the king of Judah, that sent you, that ye shall counsel with the Lord or that ye shall ask the Lord’s counsel, ye shall say thus, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, For thou heardest the words of the book,

19 and thine heart was afeared, and thou were made meek before the Lord, when his words were heard against this place, and against the dwellers thereof, that is, that they should be made into wondering, and into cursing, and thou rentest thy clothes, and weptest before me, and I heard, saith the Lord;

20 therefore I shall gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy sepulchre in peace; that thine eyes see not all the evils, which I shall bring in upon this place. And they told to the king that, that she said;

CHAPTER 23

1 which king sent, and all the eld [or old] men of Judah, and of Jerusalem, were gathered to him.

2 And the king went up into the temple of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and all the men that dwelled in Jerusalem with him, the priests and the prophets, and all the people from little unto great; and the king read, while all men heard, all the words of the book of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, the which was found in the house of the Lord.

3 And the king stood on the degrees; and smote a bond of peace before the Lord, that they would go after the Lord, and keep his commandments and witnessings and ceremonies in all their heart and in all their soul, and that they should raise up the words of this bond of peace, that were written in that book; and the people assented to the covenant.

4 And the king commanded to Hilkiah, the bishop, and to the priests of the second order, and to the porters, that they should cast out of the temple [of the Lord] all the vessels, that were made to Baal, and in the maumet wood, and to all the knight-hood of heaven; and he burnt those vessels without or outside Jerusalem, in the even valley of Kidron, and he bare the powder of those vessels into Bethel.

5 And he did away [the] false diviners, which the kings of Judah had set to make sacrifice in high things by the cities of Judah, and in the compass of Jerusalem; and he did away them that burnt incense to Baal, and to the sun, and to the moon, and to the twelve signs, and to all the knight-hood of heavens.

6 And the king made the wood of maumetry to be borne out of the house of the Lord, without Jerusalem, in the even valley of Kidron, and he burnt it there; and he drove it into powder, and casted it forth upon the sepulchres of the common people.

7 Also he destroyed the little houses of [the] womanish[-made] men, the which houses were in the house of the Lord; for the which houses women weaved, or wattled, as little houses of the woods.

8 And he gathered all the priests from the cities of Judah, and he defouled the high things, where the priests made sacrifice, from Geba unto Beersheba; and he destroyed the altars of the gates in the entering of the door of Joshua, the prince of a city, which door was at the left half of the gate of the city.

9 Nevertheless the priests of [the] high things went not up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but only they ate therf loaves in the midst of their brethren.

10 Also he defouled Topheth, which is in the even valley of the son of Hinnom, that no man should hallow his son either his daughter by fire to Moloch.

11 Also he did away [the] horses, that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, in the entering of the temple of the Lord, beside the chamber of Nathanmelech, the gelding, that was in Parvarim, that is, suburbs, or living quarters; forsooth he burnt by fire the chariots of the sun.

12 Also the king destroyed the altars, that were on the roofs of the solar of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made; and the king destroyed the altars, which Manasseh had made in the two great places of the temple of the Lord; and he ran from thence, and scattered the ashes of those altars into the strand [or stream] of Kidron.

13 Also the king defouled the high things, that were in Jerusalem at the right half of the hill of offence, that is, the hill of Olivet or Olives, which Solomon, king of Israel, had builded to Ashtoreth, the idol of Sidonians, and to Chemosh, the offence of Moab, and to Malcham, the abomination of the sons of Ammon;

14 and he all-brake [the] images, and cutted down [the maumet] woods, and filled the places of those [or them] with the bones of dead men.

15 Furthermore also he destroyed the altar that was in Bethel, and the high solemn thing, which Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had made, that made Israel to do sin; and he destroyed that high altar, and burnt it, and all-brake it into powder, and cutted down also the [maumet] wood.

16 And Josiah turned, and saw there sepulchres that were in the hill; and he sent, and took the bones from the sepulchres, and burnt those [or them] on the altar, and defouled it, after the word of the Lord, that the man of God spake, that before-said these words.

17 And the king said, What is this burial, that I see? [or Whose is this tomb that I see?] And the citizens of that city answered to him, It is the sepulchre of the man of God, that came from Judah, and before-said these words, which thou hast done upon the altar of Bethel.

18 And the king said, Suffer ye him; no man move his bones. And his bones dwelled untouched with the bones of the prophet, that came from Samaria.

19 Furthermore also Josiah did away all the temples of [the] high things, that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to stir the Lord to ire; and he did to those temples by all things which he had done in Bethel.

20 And he killed all the priests of [the] high things, that were there upon the altars, and he burnt men’s bones on those altars; and he turned again to Jerusalem;

21 and he commanded to all the people, and said, Make ye pask to the Lord your God, after that, that is written in the book of this bond of peace.

22 Certainly such a pask was not made, from the days of judges that deemed Israel, and of all the days of the kings of Israel, and of Judah,

23 as this pask was made to the Lord in Jerusalem in the eighteenth year of king Josiah.

24 But also Josiah did away men having fiends speaking in their wombs, and false diviners in altars, and he did away the figures of idols, and all[the] uncleannesses, and [the] abominations, that were in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he should do the words of the law, that were written in the book, that Hilkiah, the priest, found in the temple of the Lord.

25 No king before him was like him, that turned again to the Lord in all his heart, and in all his soul, and in all his strength, after all the law of Moses; neither after him rose any like him.

26 Nevertheless the Lord was not turned away from the ire of his great vengeance, by which his strong vengeance was wroth against Judah, for the stirrings to ire by which Manasseh had stirred him to ire.

27 Therefore the Lord said, I shall do away also Judah from my face, as I did away Israel; and I shall cast away this city Jerusalem, which I chose, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

28 Forsooth the residue of the words of Josiah, and all things that he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of [the] days of the kings of Judah?

29 In the days of Josiah, Pharaoh Necho, the king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyrians, to the flood Euphrates; and Josiah, king of Judah, went into the meeting of Pharaoh, to forbid him to pass through Judah; and Josiah was slain in Megiddo, when he had seen Pharaoh.

30 And his servants bare him dead from Megiddo, and brought him into Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulchre; and the people of the land took Jehoahaz*, the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king for his father.

31 Jehoahaz was of three and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremy of Libnah.

32 And he did evil before the Lord, by all things which his fathers had done.

33 And Pharaoh Necho bound him in prison in Riblah, that is in the land of Hamath, that he should not reign in Jerusalem; and Pharaoh set a pain, either a fine, to the land of Judah, in an hundred talents of silver, and in one talent of gold.

34 And Pharaoh Necho made king Eliakim, the son of Josiah, for Josiah, his father; and he turned the name of him to Jehoiakim; forsooth Pharaoh took Jehoahaz, and led him into Egypt, and he died there.

35 Soothly Jehoiakim gave silver and gold to Pharaoh, when he had com-manded to the land by all years, that it should be brought, by the command-ment of Pharaoh; and Jehoiakim raised of each man by his mights, or after his power, both silver and gold, of the people of the land, that he should give to Pharaoh Necho.

36 Jehoiakim was of five and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.

37 And he did evil before the Lord, by all things which his fathers had done.

CHAPTER 24

1 In the days of Jehoiakim, Nebu-chadnezzar, king of Babylon, went up into Judah, and Jehoiakim was made a servant to him by three years; and again Jehoiakim rebelled against him.

2 And the Lord sent to him thieves of Chaldees, and thieves of Syria, and thieves of Moab, and thieves of the sons of Ammon; and he sent them into Judah, that he should destroy it, by the word of the Lord, which he spake by his servants the prophets.

3 Forsooth this was done by the word of the Lord against Judah, that he should do away it from before himself, for the sins of Manasseh, and all things which he did,

4 and for the guiltless blood that he shed out; and he filled Jerusalem with the blood of innocents; and for this thing the Lord would not do mercy.

5 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Jehoiakim, and all things which he did, whether these be not written in the book of [the] words of days of the kings of Judah?

6 And Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin, his son, reigned for him.

7 And the king of Egypt added no more to go out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken all things that were the king’s of Egypt, from the strand [or river] of Egypt unto the flood Euphrates.

8 Jehoiachin was of eighteen years, when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

9 And he did evil before the Lord, by all things that his father had done.

10 In that time the servants of Nebu-chadnezzar, king of Babylon, went up against Jerusalem, and the city was encompassed with besiegings.

11 And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to the city with his servants, that he should fight against it.

12 And Jehoiachin, king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his chamberlains; and the king of Babylon received him, in the eighth year of his realm.

13 And he brought forth from thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; and he beat together all the golden vessels, which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the Lord, by the word of the Lord.

14 And he translated or brought over all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the strong men of the host, ten thousand, into captivity, and each craftsman, and goldsmith; and nothing was left, except the poor people/s of the land.

15 Also he translated or brought over Jehoiachin into Babylon, and the mother of the king, the wives of the king, and the chamberlains of the king; and he led the judges of the land into captivity from Jerusalem into Babylon;

16 and all the strong men, seven thousand; and craftsmen and gold-smiths, a thousand; yea, all strong men and warriors; and the king of Babylon led them away as prisoners into Babylon.

17 And he ordained Mattaniah, the brother of his father, to reign for him; and putted [or put] to him the name Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah had one and twenty years of age, when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremy of Libnah.

19 And he did evil before the Lord, by all things that Jehoiakim had done.

20 For the Lord was wroth against Jerusalem, and against Judah, till he casted them away from his face; and Zedekiah went away from the king of Babylon.

CHAPTER 25

1 Forsooth it was done in the ninth year of his realm, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebu-chadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he, and all his host, into Jerusalem; and they encompassed it, and builded strongholds in the compass thereof.

2 And the city was enclosed, and encompassed, till to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah,

3 in the ninth day of the month; and hunger had mastery in the city, and there was not bread to the people of the land.

4 And the city was broken into, and all men warriors fled in the night by the way of the gate, that is betwixt the double wall, toward the garden of the king; soothly the Chaldees besieged the city in compass/about. Therefore Zedekiah fled by the way that leadeth to the field places of the wilderness;

5 and the host of Chaldees pursued the king, and took him in the plain of Jericho; and all the warriors, that were with him, were scattered abroad, and left him.

6 Therefore they led the king taken to the king of Babylon, into Riblah, which spake doom with him, that is, with Zedekiah.

7 Soothly he killed the sons of Zedekiah before him, and putted [or put] out his eyes, and bound him with chains, and led him into Babylon.

8 In the fifth month, in the seventh day of the month, that is the nine-teenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, prince of the host, [the] servant of the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem;

9 and he burnt the house of the Lord, and the house of the king, and the houses of Jerusalem, and he burnt by fire each house thereof;

10 and all the host of Chaldees, that was with the prince of knights, destroyed the walls of Jerusalem in compass.

11 Forsooth Nebuzaradan, prince of the chivalry, translated or brought over the tother part of the people, that dwelled in the city, and the fleers, that had fled over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant common people;

12 and he left of the poor men of the land vine-tillers, and earth-tillers.

13 Soothly Chaldees brake the brazen pillars, that were in the temple, and the foundaments, and the sea of brass, that was in the house of the Lord; and they translated, or bare over, all the metal into Babylon.

14 And they took the pots of brass, and trowels, and fleshhooks, and cups, and mortars, and all [the] brazen vessels, in which they ministered;

15 and censers also, and vials. The prince of the chivalry took those things that were of gold, and those that were of silver,

16 that is, two pillars, one sea, and the foundaments, or bases, which king Solomon had made to the temple of the Lord; and there was no certain weight of [the] metal of all the vessels.

17 One pillar had eighteen cubits of height, and a brazen pommel or capital upon it of the height of three cubits, and a work like a net, and pom-egranates upon the pommel of the pillar, all things of brass; and the second pillar had like adorning.

18 Also the prince of the chivalry took Seraiah, the first priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and [the] three porters,

19 and an honest and chaste servant of the city, that was sovereign over [the] men warriors, and five men of them that stood before the king, which he found in the city; and he took the Sopher, the prince of the host, that proved [the] young knights, either men able to battle, of the people of the land, and sixty men of the commons, that were found in the city;

20 which Nebuzaradan, prince of the chivalry, took, and led to the king of Babylon, into Riblah.

21 And the king of Babylon smote them, and killed them in Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and Judah was translated or brought over from his land.

22 Soothly Nebuchadnezzar made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, sovereign to the people, that was left in the land of Judah; which people Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had left in Judah.

23 And when all the dukes of knights had heard these things, they, and [all] the men that were with them, that is, that the king of Babylon had ordained Gedaliah to be their sovereign in Judah, they came to Gedaliah, in Mizpah, that is, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, son of Careah, and Seraiah, son of Tanhumeth of Netophah, and Jaazaniah, son of the Maachathite, they, and the fellows of them.

24 And Gedaliah swore to them, and to the fellows of them, and said, Do not ye dread to serve the Chaldees; dwell ye in the land, and serve ye the king of Babylon, and it shall be well to you.

25 Forsooth it was done in the seventh month, that is, since Gedaliah was made sovereign, that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the king’s seed, came, and ten men with him, and they smote Gedaliah, which died; but also they smited[the] Jews and [the] Chaldees, that were with him in Mizpah.

26 And all the people rose, from the little unto the great, and the princes of knights, and they came, or fled, into Egypt, and dreaded the Chaldees.

27 Therefore it was done in the seven and thirtieth year of the transmi-gration, either passing over, of Jehoi-achin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the seven and twentieth day of the month, Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in the year in which he began to reign, raised [up] the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, from prison,

28 and spake to him benignly; and he set [or put] the throne of Jehoi-achin above the throne of kings, that were with him in Babylon.

29 And Evilmerodach changed the clothes of Jehoiachin that he had in prison; and he ate bread ever[more] in the sight of Evilmerodach, in all the days of his life.

30 Also Evilmerodach ordained sus-tenance for Jehoiachin without ceasing; which sustenance also was given of the king to him by all days, in all the days of his life.

* CHAPTER 1:17 Also known as Jehoram.

† CHAPTER 1:17 Also known as Joram(!).

* CHAPTER 2:9 As Elijah’s successor, Elisha asked for the share that the first-born son inherited by law from his father. (Good News Bible)

† CHAPTER 2:11 Not into heaven of stars, neither of brightness in bliss, but into heaven of the air; and by the air Elijah was borne into earthly paradise, whither Enoch was translated before.

* CHAPTER 3:1 Also known as Jehoram.

† CHAPTER 3:14 ‘ashamed’; in denying his asking to him, since he is faithful and devout.

* CHAPTER 4:16 That is, ‘In the year turned about, thou shalt live whole as now, and thou shalt embrace a son born then’, as Rabbi Solomon saith.

† CHAPTER 4:38 That is, disciples of him, for they lived religiously.

* CHAPTER 6:25 In Latin it is said, ‘of the drit of culvers’; but ‘drit’ is not taken here properly, but unproperly, for ‘the throat’, where corns, eaten of culvers, be gathered, and cooks of rich men sold these corns to the people, for hunger.

* CHAPTER 8:16 Also known as Jehoram.

† CHAPTER 8:16 Also known as Joram.

* CHAPTER 9:14 Also known as Jehoram.

* CHAPTER 10:32 That is, to have abomination of her deeds, for the worshipping of idols had endured long then, and many other evils came forth with those, and therefore that realm was suffered to be tormented by Hazael in many manners.

* CHAPTER 11:2 Also known as Joram.

† CHAPTER 11:2 Also known as Jehoash.

* CHAPTER 12:1 Also known as Jehoash.

† CHAPTER 12:18 Also known as Joram.

* CHAPTER 13:1 Also known as Jehoash.

† CHAPTER 13:9 Also known as Joash.

‡ CHAPTER 13:10 Joash, king of Judah, was also known as Jehoash; Jehoash, king of Israel, was also known as Joash! For a time they reigned concurrently.

§ CHAPTER 13:13 Compare verses 13:12-13 with 14:15-16.

* CHAPTER 14:1 Also known as Joash.

† CHAPTER 14:1 Also known as Jehoash(!).

‡ CHAPTER 14:7 That is, ‘soreness of teeth’, for they that were slain there gnashed with teeth, for the horror and sorrow of death.

§ CHAPTER 14:16 Compare verses 14:15-16 with 13:12-13.

* CHAPTER 14:29 Also spelled Zachariah.

* CHAPTER 15:1 He is called Uzziah throughout Chapter 15 in numerous translations.

† CHAPTER 15:16 That is, to receive him as king in the city.

* CHAPTER 23:30 Also known as Joahaz.

1ST CHRONICLES

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1ST CHRONICLES

CHAPTER 1

1 Adam begat Seth; and Seth, Enos, [Adam, Seth, Enos,]

2 Kenan, Mahalaleel, Jered,

3 Henoch, Methuselah, Lamech,

4 Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

5 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, and Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

6 Forsooth the sons of Gomer were Ashchenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

7 And the sons of Javan were Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

8 The sons of Ham were Cush, and Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

9 And the sons of Cush were Seba, and Havilah, Sabta, and Raamah, and Sabtecha. And the sons of Raamah were Sheba, and Dedan.

10 And Cush begat Nimrod; this Nimrod began to be mighty in [the] earth.

11 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,

12 and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, of which the Philistines and Caphthorim went out, or came.

13 And Canaan begat Sidon, his first begotten son, and Heth,

14 and Jebusite, and Amorite, and Girgashite,

15 and Hivite, and Arkite, and Sinite,

16 and Arvadite, and Zemarite, and Hamathite.

17 The sons of Shem were Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. And the sons of Aram were Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech.

18 And Arphaxad begat Shelah; which himself engendered Eber.

19 And to Eber were born two sons; the name of [the] one was Peleg, for the land was parted in his days; and the name of his brother was Joktan.

20 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,

21 and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,

22 Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba,

23 and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan.

24 Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah,

25 Eber, Peleg, Reu,

26 Serug, Nahor, Terah,

27 Abram; this is Abraham.

28 The sons of Abraham were Isaac, and Ishmael.

29 And these be the generations of them; the first begotten of Ishmael was Nebaioth, and then Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,

30 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, Hadad, and Tema,

31 Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah; these be the sons of Ishmael.

32 And the sons of Keturah, the secondary wife of Abraham, the which she engendered, or conceived, were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan were Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.

33 And the sons of Midian were Ephah, and Epher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah.

34 Forsooth Abraham begat Isaac; whose sons were Esau, and Israel.

35 The sons of Esau were Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.

36 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zephi, Gatam, Kenaz, and Timna, and Amalek.

37 The sons of Reuel were Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.

38 The sons of Seir were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezar, and Dishan.

39 The sons of Lotan were Hori, and Homam; soothly the sister of Lotan was Timna.

40 The sons of Shobal were Alian, and Manahath, and Ebal, and Shephi, and Onam. The sons of Zibeon were Aiah, and Anah.

41 The son of Anah was Dishon. The sons of Dishon were Amram, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.

42 The sons of Ezer were Bilhan, and Zavan, and Jakan. The sons of Dishan were Uz and Aran.

43 These be the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before that a king was on the sons of Israel. Bela, the son of Beor; and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

44 And when Bela was dead, and Jobab, the son of Zerah of Bozrah, reigned for him.

45 And when Jobab was dead, Husham of the land of Temanites reigned for him.

46 And Husham died; and Hadad, the son of Bedad, that smote Midian in the land of Moab, reigned for him; and the name of the city of Hadad was Avith.

47 And when Hadad was dead, Samlah of Masrekah reigned for him.

48 But also Samlah was dead, and Saul of Rehoboth, which is set beside the river, reigned for him.

49 Also when Saul was dead, Baal-hanan, the son of Achbor, reigned for him.

50 But also he was dead, and Hadad, the name of whose city was Pai, reigned for him; and his wife was called Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

51 And when Hadad was dead, dukes began to be in Edom for kings; duke Timnah, duke Aliah, duke Jetheth,

52 duke Oholibamah, duke Elah, duke Pinon,

53 duke Kenaz, duke Teman, duke Mibzar,

54 duke Magdiel, duke Iram. These were the dukes of Edom.

CHAPTER 2

1 Forsooth the sons of Israel were Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun,

2 Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naph-tali, Gad, and Asher.

3 The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, and Shelah; these three were born to him of Shua, a daughter of Canaan. And Er, the first begotten of Judah, was evil before the Lord, and the Lord killed him.

4 And Tamar, the wife of the son of Judah, childed to him Perez, and Zerah; and all the sons of Judah were five.

5 And the sons of Perez were Hezron, and Hamul.

6 And the sons of Zerah were Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara; five altogether.

7 The son of Carmi was Achar, that troubled Israel, and sinned in the theft of thing hallowed to the Lord.

8 The son of Ethan was Azariah.

9 And the sons of Hezron, that were born to him, were Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai.

10 And Ram begat Amminadab. And Amminadab begat Nahshon, prince of the sons of Judah.

11 And Nahshon begat Salma; of whom Boaz was born.

12 And Boaz begat Obed; which himself begat Jesse.

13 And Jesse begat his first son, Eliab; the second, Abinadab; the third, Shimma;

14 the fourth, Nethaneel; the fifth, Raddai;

15 the sixth, Ozem; the seventh, David;

16 whose sisters were Zeruiah, and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah were three, Abishai, Joab, and Asahel.

17 And Abigail childed Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite.

18 And Caleb, the son of Hezron, took a wife, Azubah, by name, of whom he begat Jerioth; and his sons were Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon.

19 And when Azubah was dead, Caleb took a wife, Ephrath, which childed Hur to him.

20 And Hur begat Uri; Uri begat Bezaleel.

21 After these things Hezron entered to the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead, and he took her to wife, when he was of sixty years; and she childed Segub to him.

22 But also Segub begat Jair; and he had in possession three and twenty cities in the land of Gilead;

23 and he took Geshur, and Aram, the cities of Jair, and Kenath, and the towns thereof, of seventy cities. All these were the sons of Machir, the father of Gilead.

24 And when Hezron was dead, Caleb entered into Ephratah. And Hezron had a wife Abiah, the which childed to him Ashhur, the father of Tekoa.

25 And sons were born of Jerah-meel, the first begotten of Hezron; Ram was the first begotten son of him, and then Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, and Ahijah.

26 Also Jerahmeel wedded another wife, Atarah by name, that was the mother of Onam.

27 But and the sons of Ram, the first begotten of Jerahmeel, were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker.

28 And Onam begat sons, Shammai, and Jada. And the sons of Shammai were Nadab, and Abishur;

29 and the name of the wife of Abishur was Abihail, that childed to him Ahban, and Molid.

30 And the sons of Nadab were Seled and Appaim; forsooth Seled died without children.

31 And the son of Appaim was Ishi, the which Ishi begat Sheshan; certainly Sheshan begat Ahlai.

32 And the sons of Jada, the brother of Shammai, were Jether, and Jonathan; but Jether died without sons;

33 and Jonathan begat Peleth, and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel.

34 And Sheshan had not sons, but daughters, and a servant of Egypt, Jarha by name;

35 and he gave his daughter to wife to Jarha, which childed Attai to him.

36 And Attai begat Nathan, and Nathan begat Zabad.

37 Also Zabad begat Ephlal, and Ephlal begat Obed.

38 Obed begat Jehu, Jehu begat Azariah,

39 Azariah begat Helez, Helez begat Eleasah,

40 Eleasah begat Sisamai, Sisamai begat Shallum,

41 Shallum begat Jekamiah, Jekamiah begat Elishama.

42 And the sons of Caleb, the brother of Jerahmeel, were Mesha, the first begotten son of him, that is the father of Ziph; and the sons of Mareshah, the father of Hebron.

43 Certainly the sons of Hebron were Korah, and Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema.

44 And Shema begat Raham, the father of Jorkoam; and Rekem begat Shammai.

45 The son of Shammai was Maon; and Maon was the father of Bethzur.

46 And Ephah, the secondary wife of Caleb, childed Haran, and Moza, and Gazez; and Haran begat Gazez.

47 The sons of Jahdai were Regem, and Jotham, and Gesham, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph.

48 Maachah, the secondary wife of Caleb, childed Sheber, and Tirhanah.

49 And Maachah also bare Shaaph, the father of Madmannah, and she also engendered Sheva, the father of Machbenah, and the father of Gibea; and the daughter of Caleb was Achsa.

50 These were also the sons of Caleb. The sons of Hur, the first begotten son of Ephratah, were Shobal, the father of Kiriathjearim;

51 Salma, the father of Bethlehem; Hareph, the father of Bethgader.

52 And the sons of Shobal, the father of Kiriathjearim, that saw the half of [the] restings,

53 and was of the kindred of Kiriath-jearim, were Ithrites, and Puhites, and Shumathites, and Mishraites. Of these were born Zareathites, and Eshtaulites.

54 The sons of Salma, the father of Bethlehem, and of Netophathites, were the crowns of the house of Joab, and half of the resting of Zorites.

55 And the kindreds of scribes, dwell-ing in Jabez, singing, and sounding, and dwelling in tabernacles. These be Kenites, that came of the heat of the father of the house of Rechab.

CHAPTER 3

1 Forsooth David had these sons, that were born to him in Hebron; the first begotten son of him was Amnon, of Ahinoam of Jezreel; the second son, Daniel, of Abigail of Carmel;

2 the third, Absalom, the son of Maachah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith;

3 the fifth, Shephatiah, of Abital; the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah his wife.

4 Therefore six sons were born to him in Hebron; where he reigned seven years and six months; and he reigned three and thirty years in Jerusalem.

5 Forsooth four sons, that is, Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, were born of Bathsheba, the daughter of Ammiel, to him in Jerusalem;

6 also Ibhar, and Elishama, and Eliphelet,

7 and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia,

8 also Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine.

9 All these were the sons of David, without the sons of his secondary wives; and they had a sister, Tamar.

10 Soothly the son of Solomon was Rehoboam, whose son Abia begat Asa; and Jehoshaphat, the father of Jehoram*, was born of this Asa;

11 the which Jehoram begat Ahaziah, of whom Joash was born, or begotten.

12 And Amaziah, the son of this Joash, begat Azariah; †and Azariah begat Jotham,

13 and Jotham begat Ahaz[2], the father of Hezekiah, of whom Manasseh was born.

14 But also Manasseh begat Amon, the father of Josiah.

15 And the sons of Josiah were these, the first begotten son was Johanan; the second, Jehoiakim; the third, Zedekiah; and the fourth, Shallum.

16 Of Jehoiakim was born Jeconiah‡, and Zedekiah.

17 The sons of Jeconiah were Assir, Salathiel,

18 Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazar, and Jecamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah.

19 Of Pedaiah were born Zerubbabel, and Shimei. Zerubbabel begat Mesh-ullam, Hananiah, and Shelomith, the sister of them;

20 and Hashubah, and Ohel, and Berechiah, and Hasadiah, and Jushab-hesed, five.

21 And the son of Hananiah was Pelatiah, the father of Jesaiah, whose son was Rephaiah. And the son of him was Arnan, of whom was born Obadiah, whose son was Shechaniah.

22 The son of Shechaniah was She-maiah, whose sons were Hattush, and Igeal, and Bariah, and Neariah, and Shaphat; six in number.

23 The sons of Neariah were three, Elioenai, and Hezekiah, and Azrikam.

24 The sons of Elioenai were seven, Hodaiah, and Eliashib, and Pelaiah, and Akkub, and Johanan, and Dalaiah, and Anani.

CHAPTER 4

1 The sons of Judah were Perez, and Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal.

2 And Reaiah, the son of Shobal, begat Jahath; of whom were born Ahumai, and Lahad. These were the kindreds of Zorathites.

3 And this is the generation of Etam; Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of the sister of them was Hazelelponi.

4 And Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah; these be the sons of Hur, the first begotten son of Ephratah, the father of Bethlehem.

5 And Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah, and Naarah;

6 and Naarah childed to him Ahuzam, and Hepher, and Temeni, and Haah-ashtari; these be the sons of Naarah.

7 And the sons of Helah were Zereth, Jezoar, and Ethnan.

8 And Coz begat Anub, and Zobe-bah, and the kindreds of Aharhel, the son of Harum.

9 And Jabez was noble before all his brethren; and his mother called his name Jabez, and said, For I childed him in sorrow.

10 And Jabez called inwardly God of Israel, and said, If thou blessing shalt bless me, and shalt enlarge my terms, and if thine hand shall be with me, and thou shalt make me to be not oppressed of malice. And God gave to him that thing, that he prayed.

11 And Chelub, the brother of Shuah, begat Mehir, that was the father of Eshton;

12 and Eshton begat Bethrapha, and Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of the city [of] Nahash. These be the sons of Rechah.

13 And the sons of Kenaz were Othniel, and Seraiah. And the sons of Othniel were Hathath,

14 and Meonothai, that begat Ophrah. And Seraiah begat Joab, the father of the valley of craftsmen; for they were craftsmen.

15 And the sons of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, were Iru, and Elah, and Naam. And the sons of Elah were Kenaz.

16 Also the sons of Jehaleleel were Ziph, and Ziphah, Tiria, and Asareel.

17 And the sons of Ezra were Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon; and he begat Marie, and Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa.

18 Also Jehudijah, his wife, childed Jered, the father of Gedor; and Heber, the father of Socho; and Jekuthiel, the father of Zanoah. And these were the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took to wife*

.

19 And the sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, father of Keilah, were Garmite, and Eshtemoa, that was of Maachathites.

20 Also the sons of Shimon were Amnon, and Rinnah; the son of Hanan was Tilon; and the sons of Ishi were Zoheth, and Benzoheth.

21 The sons of Shelah, the son of Judah, were Er, the father of Lecah, and Laadah, the father of Mareshah; and these were the kindreds of the house of men working bis, in the house of an oath or Beth-ashbea,

22 and which made the sun to stand, and the men of leasing, secure, and going, that were princes in Moab, and that turned again into Bethlehem; and these be [the] old words.

23 These be potters dwelling in plantings, and in hedges, with kings in their works; and they dwelled there.

24 The sons of Simeon were Nemuel, and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Saul;

25 Shallum was his son; Mibsam was his son; Mishma was his son.

26 The sons of Mishma; Hamuel, his son; and Zacchur, his son; [and] Shimei, his son.

27 The sons of Shimei were sixteen, and six daughters; soothly his brethren had not many sons, and all the kindred might not be even to the sum of the sons of Judah.

28 And they dwelled in Beersheba, and in Moladah, and in Hazarshual,

29 and in Bilhah, and in Ezem, and in Tolad,

30 and in Bethuel, and in Hormah, and in Ziklag,

31 and in Bethmarcaboth, and in Hazarsusim, and in Bethbirei, and in Shaaraim; these were the cities of them, unto the time of king David.

32 Also the towns of them were Etam, and Ain, and Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan; five cities.

33 And all the villages of them by compass of these cities, till to Baal; this is the dwelling of them, and the parting of their cities.

34 Also Meshobab, and Jamlech, and Joshah, the son of Amaziah,

35 and Joel, and Jehu, the son of Josibiah, and the sons of Seraiah, the sons of Asiel,

36 and Elioenai, and Jaakobah, and Jeshohaiah, and Asaiah, and Adiel, and Jesimiel, and Benaiah;

37 and Ziza, the son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah.

38 These be [the] princes named in their kindreds, and be multiplied greatly in the house of their allies.

39 And they went forth to enter into Gedor, unto the east of the valley, and to seek pastures to their sheep.

40 And they found pastures full plenteous, and full good, and a full large land, and restful, and plenteous, wherein men of the generation of Ham had dwelled before.

41 Therefore these men, which we have described before by name, came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah; and smote the tabernacles of them, and the dwellers that were found there; and they destroyed them unto this present day; and they dwelled for them, for they found there full plenteous pastures.

42 Also five hundred men of the sons of Simeon went into the hill of Seir, and they had for princes Pelatiah, and Neariah, and Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi;

43 and they smote the remnants of Amalekites, that might escape; and they dwelled there for them unto this day.

CHAPTER 5

1 Also the sons of Reuben, the first begotten son of Israel; for he was the first begotten son of Israel, but when he had defouled the bed of his father, the dignity of his first begetting was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel; and Reuben was not areckoned into the first begotten son.

2 Forsooth of Judah, that was the strongest among his brethren, princes were gathered of his generation; forsooth the right of first begetting was areckoned to Joseph.

3 Therefore the sons of Reuben, the first begotten son of Israel, were Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

4 The sons of Joel were Shemaiah; his son, Gog; his son, Shimei;

5 his son, Micah; his son, Reaia; his son, Baal;

6 his son, Beerah; whom Tilgath-pilneser, king of Assyrians, led away prisoner; and he was prince in the lineage of Reuben.

7 Soothly his brethren, and all the kindred, when they were numbered by their meines, had princes Jeiel, and Zechariah.

8 Forsooth Bela, the son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel, he dwelled in Aroer till to Nebo and Baalmeon;

9 and he dwelled against the east coast, till to the entering of desert, and to the flood Euphrates. And he had in possession much number of beasts in the land of Gilead.

10 Forsooth in the days of Saul the sons of Reuben fought against Hagarites, and killed them; and dwelled for them in the tabernacles of them, in all the coast that beholdeth to the east of Gilead.

11 Soothly the sons of Gad even against them dwelled in the land of Bashan till to Salcah;

12 Joel was in the beginning, and Shapham was the second; also Jaanai and Shaphat were in Bashan.

13 Also their brethren by the houses of their kindreds, Michael, and Mesh-ullam, and Sheba, and Jorai, and Jachan, and Zia, and Heber, seven.

14 These were the sons of Abihail, the son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz.

15 Also the brethren of the son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was prince of the house in his meines.

16 And they dwelled in Gilead, and in Bashan, and in the towns thereof, in all the suburbs of Sharon, till to the ends.

17 All these were numbered in the days of Jotham, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam II, king of Israel.

18 The sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and of half the lineage of Manasseh, were men warriors, bearing shields and swords, and bending bow, and taught in battles, four and forty thousand seven hundred and sixty, and they went forth to battle,

19 and fought against Hagarites. Forsooth Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab,

20 gave help to them; and Hagarites, and all men that were with them, were betaken into the hands of Reuben, and Gad, and Manasseh; for they called inwardly the Lord, while they fought, and the Lord heard them, for they believed in to him.

21 And they took all things which Hagarites had in possession, fifty thousand of camels, and two hundred and fifty thousand of sheep, two thousand of asses, and an hundred thousand persons of men;

22 for many men were wounded and felled down; for it was the battle of the Lord. And they dwelled there for Hagarites till to the conquest.

23 Also the sons of the half lineage of Manasseh had in possession the land, from the ends of Bashan till to Baalhermon, and Senir, and the hill of Hermon; for it was a great number.

24 And these were the princes of the house of their kindred; Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremy, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, full strong men and mighty, and named dukes in their meines.

25 Forsooth they forsook the God of their fathers, and did fornication after the gods of [the] peoples of the land, which the Lord took away before them.

26 And the Lord God of Israel raised the spirit* of Pul, king of Assyrians, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser, king of Assur; and he translated Reuben, and Gad, and the half lineage of Manasseh, and brought them into Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and into the river of Gozan, till to this day.

CHAPTER 6

1 The sons of Levi were Gershon*, Kohath, and Merari.

2 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

3 The sons of Amram were Aaron, Moses, and Marie. The sons of Aaron were Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

4 Eleazar begat Phinehas, and Phinehas begat Abishua,

5 Abishua begat Bukki, and Bukki begat Uzzi,

6 Uzzi begat Zerahiah, and Zerahiah begat Meraioth.

7 Forsooth Meraioth begat Amariah, Amariah begat Ahitub,

8 Ahitub begat Zadok, Zadok begat Ahimaaz,

9 Ahimaaz begat Azariah, Azariah begat Johanan,

10 Johanan begat Azariah; he it is that was set in priesthood, in the house that Solomon builded in Jerusalem.

11 Forsooth Azariah begat Amariah, and Amariah begat Ahitub,

12 Ahitub begat Zadok, Zadok begat Shallum,

13 Shallum begat Hilkiah, Hilkiah begat Azariah,

14 Azariah begat Seraiah, Seraiah begat Jehozadak.

15 Forsooth Jehozadak went out, when the Lord translated or brought over Judah and Jerusalem, by the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the king.

16 Therefore the sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

17 And these were the names of the sons of Gershon; Libni, and Shimei.

18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel.

19 The sons of Merari were Mahli, and Mushi. Soothly these were the kindreds of Levi by the meines of them;

20 of Gershon; Libni, his son; Jahath, his son; Zimmah, his son;

21 Joah, his son; Iddo, his son; Zerah, his son; Jeaterai, his son.

22 The sons of Kohath; Amminadab, his son; Korah, his son; Assir, his son;

23 Elkanah, his son; Ebiasaph, his son; Assir, his son;

24 Tahath, his son; Uriel, his son; Uzziah, his son; Saul, his son.

25 The sons of Elkanah were Amasai, and Ahimoth;

26 and Ahimoth’s son was Elkanah. The sons of this Elkanah; Zophai, his son; Nahath, his son;

27 Eliab, his son; Jeroham, his son; Elkanah, his son.

28 The sons of Samuel; the first begotten Vashni or Joel, and Abiah.

29 Soothly the sons of Merari; Mahli, his son; Libni, his son; Shimei, his son; Uzza, his son;

30 Shimea, his son; Haggiah, his son; Asaiah, his son.

31 These it be that David ordained on the singers of the house of the Lord, since the ark of the Lord was set there;

32 and they ministered before the tabernacle of witnessing, and sang, till Solomon builded the house of the Lord in Jerusalem; forsooth they stood by their order in [their] service.

33 And these it be that stood nigh with their sons. Of the sons of Kohath; Heman the chanter, the son of Joel, son of Shemuel,

34 son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliel, son of Toah,

35 son of Zuph, son of Elkanah, son of Mahath, son of Amasai,

36 son of Elkanah, son of Joel, son of Azariah, son of Zephaniah,

37 son of Tahath, son of Assir, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah,

38 son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, the son of Israel.

39 And his brethren; Asaph, that stood at the right half of him, that is Asaph, the son of Berachiah, son of Shimea,

40 son of Michael, son of Baaseiah, son of Malchiah,

41 son of Ethni, son of Zerah, son of Adaiah,

42 son of Ethan, son of Zimmah, son of Shimei,

43 son of Jahath, son of Gershon, the son of Levi.

44 Forsooth the sons of Merari, the brethren of them, were at the left side; Ethan, the son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch,

45 son of Hashabiah, son of Amaziah, son of Hilkiah,

46 son of Amzi, son of Bani, son of Shamer,

47 son of Mahli, son of Mushi, son of Merari, son of Levi.

48 And deacons [or Levites], the brethren of them, that were ordained into all the service of the tabernacle of the house of the Lord.

49 Forsooth Aaron and his sons burnt incense upon the altar of brunt sacrifices, and upon the altar of incense, into all the work of the holy of holy things; and that they should pray for Israel, by all things which Moses, the servant of God, commanded.

50 And these be the sons of Aaron; Eleazar, his son; Phinehas, his son; Abishua, his son;

51 Bukki, his son; Uzzi, his son; Zerahiah, his son;

52 Meraioth, his son; Amariah, his son; Ahitub, his son;

53 Zadok, his son; Ahimaaz, his son.

54 And these were the dwelling places, by the towns and coasts of them, that is, of the sons of Aaron, by the kindreds of Kohathites; for those [or they] befelled to them by lot.

55 Therefore the children of Israel gave to them Hebron in the land of Judah, and the suburbs thereof by compass;

56 and they gave the fields and towns of the cities to Caleb, the son of Jephunneh.

57 And they gave cities to the sons of Aaron, Hebron to refuge, and they gave Libnah, with his suburbs, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa, with their suburbs,

58 but also Hilen, and Debir, with their suburbs;

59 also they gave Ashan, and Beth-shemesh, and the suburbs of those [or them].

60 And of the lineage of Benjamin they gave Geba, and the suburbs thereof, and Alemeth with his suburbs, Anathoth also with his suburbs; all the cities were thirteen with their suburbs, by the kindreds of them.

61 And [to] the sons of Kohath, the residues of their kindred, they gave of the half lineage of Manasseh, ten cities into possession.

62 And to the sons of Gershon by their kindreds, they gave fourteen cities in Bashan, of the lineage of Issachar, and of the lineage of Asher, and of the lineage of Naphtali, and of the lineage of Manasseh.

63 And to the sons of Merari by their kindreds, they gave by lots twelve cities, of the lineage of Reuben, of the lineage of Gad, and of the lineage of Zebulun.

64 And the sons of Israel gave to [the] deacons [or Levites] cities and suburbs of those [or them];

65 and they gave by lot, of the sons of the lineage of Judah, and of the lineage of the sons of Simeon, and of the lineage of the sons of Benjamin, these cities, which the deacons [or Levites] called by their names;

66 and of them that were of the kindred of the sons of Kohath, and in the terms of them, were the cities of the lineage of Ephraim.

67 And the sons of Israel gave to them cities of refuge, Shechem with his suburbs, in the hill of Ephraim; and Gezer with his suburbs,

68 also Jokmeam with his suburbs, and Bethhoron also.

69 Also of the lineage of Dan they gave Aijalon, with her suburbs, and Gathrimmon by the same manner.

70 And of the half lineage of Manasseh they gave Aner, and the suburbs thereof, Bileam, and the suburbs thereof; that is, to them that were residue or were left of the kindred of the sons of Kohath.

71 And to the sons of Gershon they gave of the kindred of half the lineage of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan, and the suburbs thereof, and Ashtaroth with his suburbs.

72 Of the lineage of Issachar they gave Kedesh, and the suburbs thereof, and Daberath with his suburbs;

73 also Ramoth, and his suburbs, and Anem with his suburbs.

74 Also of the lineage of Asher they gave Mashal with his suburbs, and Abdon also,

75 and Hukok, and the suburbs thereof, and Rehob with his suburbs.

76 And of the lineage of Naphtali they gave Kedesh in Galilee, and the suburbs thereof, Hammon with his suburbs, and Kiriathaim, and the suburbs thereof.

77 Soothly to the residue sons of Merari they gave of the lineage of Zebulun, Rimmon, and the suburbs thereof, and Tabor with his suburbs.

78 Also beyond Jordan, even against Jericho, against the east of Jordan, they gave of the lineage of Reuben, Bezer in the wilderness with his suburbs, and Jahzah with his suburbs,

79 also Kedemoth, and his suburbs, and Mephaath with his suburbs.

80 Also of the lineage of Gad, they gave Ramoth in Gilead, and the suburbs thereof, Mahanaim with his suburbs,

81 but also Heshbon with his suburbs, and Jazer with his suburbs.

CHAPTER 7

1 Forsooth the sons of Issachar were four; Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimrom.

2 The sons of Tola were Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Jibsam, and Shemuel, princes by the houses of their kindreds. Of the generation of Tola were numbered strongest men in the days of David, two and twenty thousand and six hundred.

3 The sons of Uzzi were Izrahiah; of whom were born Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, and Ishiah, five, all princes.

4 And with them were by their meines and peoples, six and thirty thousand most strong men girded to battle; for they had many wives and sons.

5 And their brethren, by all the kindreds of Issachar, most strong to fight, were numbered fourscore and seven thousand.

6 The sons of Benjamin were Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three.

7 The sons of Bela were Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; princes of meines, most strong to fight; for the number of them was two and twenty thousand and four and thirty.

8 And the sons of Becher were Zemira, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jerimoth, and Abiah, and Anathoth, and Alameth; all these were the sons of Becher.

9 And the princes of kindreds were numbered by their meines twenty thousand and two hundred most strong men to battles.

10 And the sons of Jediael were Bilhan; soothly the sons of Bilhan were Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaan-ah, and Zethan, and Tharshish, and Ahishahar.

11 All these the sons of Jediael were princes of their meines, seventeen thousand and two hundred, strongest men going forth to battle.

12 Also Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of Ir; and Hushim was the son of Aher.

13 And the sons of Naphtali were Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah.

14 And the son of Manasseh was Asriel; and Sira*, his secondary wife, childed Machir, the father of Gilead.

15 And Machir took wives to his sons Huppim and Shuppim; and he had a sister, Maachah by name; and the name of the second son was Zelo-phehad, and daughters were born to Zelophehad.

16 And Maachah, the wife of Machir, childed a son, and called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.

17 And the son of Ulam was Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh;

18 and Hammoleketh his sister childed a fair man, Abiezer, and Mahalah.

19 And the sons of Shemidah were Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam.

20 And the sons of Ephraim were Shuthelah; Bered, his son; Tahath, his son; Eladah, his son; and Tahath, his son;

21 and Zabad, his son; and Shuthe-lah, his son; and Ezer, and Elead, his sons. And [the] men of Gath born in the land killed them, for they went down to assail their possessions.

22 Therefore Ephraim, the father of them, wailed by many days; and his brethren came to comfort him.

23 And he entered [in] to his wife, which conceived, and childed a son; and he called his name Beriah, for he was born in the evils of his house.

24 And his daughter was Sherah; that builded Bethhoron, the lower, and the higher, and Uzzen, and Sherah.

25 And his son was called Rephah, and his son was Resheph, and his son was Telah, of whom was born Tahan;

26 that engendered Laadan; and Am-mihud, the son of him, begat Elishama;

27 of whom was born Nun; that had a son Joshua.

28 And the possession and the dwelling places of them was Bethel with his villages, and against the east, Naaran; at the west coast, Gezer, and his villages, also Shechem with his villages, and Gaza with his villages.

29 Also beside the sons of Manasseh, Bethshean and his towns, Taanach and his towns, Megiddo and his towns, Dor and his towns; and the sons of Joseph, son of Israel, dwelled in these towns.

30 The sons of Asher were Imnah, and Isuah, and Ishuai, and Beriah; and Serah was the sister of them.

31 And the sons of Beriah were Heber, and Malchiel; he is the father of Birzavith.

32 And Heber engendered Japhlet, and Shomer, and Hotham, and Shua, the sister of them.

33 And the sons of Japhlet were Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath; these were the sons of Japhlet.

34 And the sons of Shamer were Ahi, and Rohgah, and Jehubbah, and Aram.

35 And the sons of Helem, his brother, were Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Amal.

36 The sons of Zophah were Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri, and Imrah,

37 and Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera.

38 The sons of Jether were Jephunneh, and Pispah, and Ara.

39 And the sons of Ulla were Arah, and Haniel, and Rezia.

40 All these were the sons of Asher, princes of kindreds, chosen men and full strong dukes of dukes; and the number, of the age of them that were able to battle, was six and twenty thousand.

CHAPTER 8

1 Forsooth Benjamin begat Bela his first begotten son, Ashbel the second, Aharah the third,

2 Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth.

3 And the sons of Bela were Addar, and Gera, and Abihud,

4 and Abishua, and Naaman, and Ahoah,

5 but also Gera, and Shephuphan, and Huram.

6 These be the sons of Ehud, princes of [the] kindreds dwelling in Geba, that were translated or brought over into Manahath.

7 And Naaman, and Ahiah, and Gera, he translated them, and he begat Uzza and Ahihud;

8 and Shaharaim, he begat children in the country of Moab, after that he let go Hushim and Baara, his wives;

9 and he begat of Hodesh, his new wife, Jobab, and Zibia, and Mesha, and Malcham,

10 also Jeuz, and Shachia, and Mirma; those be the sons of him, princes in their meines.

11 And Hushim begat Abitub, and Elpaal.

12 And the sons of Elpaal were Eber, and Misham, and Shamed; he builded Ono, and Lod, and his villages;

13 and Beriah and Shema were princes of [the] kindreds dwelling in Aijalon; these drove away the dwellers of Gath;

14 and Ahio, and Shashak, and Jeremoth,

15 and Zebadiah, and Arad, and Ader,

16  Michael forsooth, and Ispah, and Joha, the sons of Beriah*;

17  Zebadiah, and Meshullam, and Hezeki, and Heber,

18  and Ishmerai, and Jezliah, and Jobab, sons of Elpaal;

19  Jakim, and Zichri, and Zabdi,

20  and Elienai, and Zilthai, and Eliel,

21  and Adaiah, and Beraiah, and Shimrath, the sons of Shimhi;

22  Ishpan, and Heber, Eliel,

23  and Abdon, and Zichri, and Hanan,

24  and Hananiah, and Elam, and Antothijah,

25  and Iphedeiah, and Penuel, the sons of Shashak;

26  Shamsherai, and Shehariah, and Athaliah,

27 and Jaresiah, and Eliah, and Zichri, the sons of Jeroham.

28 These were[the] patriarchs and princes of kindreds, that dwelled in Jerusalem.

29 And in Gibeon dwelled Abigibeon, that is, Jehiel, the founder of Gibeon, and Maachah was the name of his wife;

30 and his first begotten son Abdon, and Zur, and Kish, and Baal, and Nadab,

31 and Gedor, and Ahio, and Zacher,

32 and Mikloth. And Mikloth begat Shimeah; and they dwelled even against their brethren in Jerusalem, with their brethren.

33 And Ner begat Kish, and Kish begat Saul; and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal.

34 And the son of Jonathan was Meribbaal; and Meribbaal begat Micah.

35 The sons of Micah were Pithon, and Melech, and Tarea, and Ahaz.

36 And Ahaz begat Jehoadah; and Jehoadah begat Alemeth, and Azma-veth, and Zimri. And Zimri begat Moza,

37 and Moza begat Binea, whose son was Rapha, of whom was begotten Eleasah, that begat Azel.

38 Soothly Azel had six sons by these names, Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan; all these were the sons of Azel.

39 And the sons of Eshek, his brother, were Ulam, the first begotten son, and Jehush, the second, and Eliphelet, the third.

40 And the sons of Ulam were full strong men, and bending bow with great strength, and having many sons, and sons of sons, till to an hundred and fifty. All these were the sons of Benjamin.

CHAPTER 9

1 Therefore all Israel was numbered, and the sum of them was written in the book of [the] kings of Israel and of Judah; and they were translated or brought over into Babylon for their sin.

2 And they that dwelled first in their cities, and in the possessions of Israel, and the priests, and the deacons [or Levites], and Nethinims,

3 dwelled in Jerusalem. Of the sons of Judah, and of the sons of Benjamin, also of the sons of Ephraim, and of Manasseh;

4 of the sons of Judah; Uthai, the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the sons of Perez, the son of Judah;

5 and of Shelah or the Shilonites; Asaiah, the first begotten, and his sons;

6 and of the sons of Zerah; Jeuel, and his brethren; six hundred, fourscore and ten.

7 And of the sons of Benjamin; Sallu, the son of Meshullam, the sons of Hodaviah, the sons of Hasenuah,

8 and Ibneiah the son of Jeroham, and Elah the son of Uzzi, the sons of Michri, and Meshullam the son of Shephathiah, the son of Reuel, son of Ibnijah,

9 and the brethren of them, by their meines; nine hundred [and] six and fifty. All these were princes of their kindreds by the houses of their fathers.

10 And of the priests, Jedaiah, Jehoi-arib, and Jachin;

11 and Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, was[the] bishop of the house of the Lord.

12 Adaiah, son of Jeroham, son of Pashur, son of Malchijah, and Maasiai, son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer,

13 also their brethren, princes by their meines, were a thousand seven hundred and fourscore, men full strong in bodily might, to make the work of [the] service in the house of the Lord.

14 And of the deacons [or Levites]; Shemaiah, the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari;

15 also Bakbakkar, the carpenter, and Galal, and Mattaniah, the son of Micah, son of Zichri, son of Asaph,

16 and Obadiah, the son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah, the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, that dwelled in the porches of Netophathites.

17 And the porters were Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and the brethren of them; Shallum was the prince;

18 till to that time they kept by their whiles in the gate of the king at the east, of the sons of Levi.

19 Shallum forsooth, the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, with his brethren, and with the house of his father; these be the sons of Korah upon the works of the service, keepers of the porches of the tabernacle, and the meines of them kept by whiles, or times, the entering of the castles [or tents] of the Lord.

20 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, was the duke of them before the Lord.

21 And Zechariah, the son of Meshel-emiah, was porter of the gate of the tabernacle of witnessing.

22 All these chosen into porters by gates were two hundred and twelve, and they were described, or presented, in their own towns, which deacons, or ministers, David and Samuel, the prophet, ordained in their faith,

23 both them and the sons of them in the doors of the house of the Lord, and in the tabernacle of witnessing, by their whiles.

24 Porters were by four coasts, that is, at the east, at the west, at the north, and at the south.

25 And their brethren dwelled in towns, and came in their sabbaths from time till to time.

26 All the number of porters was betaken to these four deacons [or Levites], and they kept the chambers, and the treasures of the house of the Lord.

27 Also they dwelled in their keepings by the compass of the temple of the Lord, that when time were, they should open the gates early.

28 Men of their kin were also on the vessels of [the] service; for the vessels were borne in at the number, and were borne out of them.

29 And they that had the vessels of the saintuary betaken to their keeping, were sovereigns of [the tried] flour, and [the] wine, and oil, and incense, and sweet smelling spiceries.

30 And some of the sons of [the] priests made ointments of sweet smelling spiceries.

31 And Mattithiah, deacon [or Levite], the first begotten son of Shallum of the kindred of Korah, was the sovereign of all things that were fried in the frying pan.

32 And men of the sons of Kohath, the brethren of them, were on the loaves of setting forth, that they should make ready ever new loaves by each sabbath.

33 These be the princes of chanters, by the meines of Levites, that dwelled in chambers, so that they should serve continually day and night in their service.

34 The heads of Levites, by their meines, the princes, dwelled in Jerusalem.

35 And there dwelled in Gibeon, Jeiel, the father of Gibeon, and the name of his wife was Maachah;

36 Abdon, his first begotten son, and Zur, and Kish, and Baal, and Ner, and Nadab,

37 and Gedor, and Ahio, and Zech-ariah, and Mikloth;

38 and Mikloth begat Shimeam; these dwelled even against their brethren in Jerusalem, with their brethren.

39 And Ner begat Kish; and Kish begat Saul; and Saul begat Jonathan, and Malchishua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal.

40 And the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal; and Meribbaal begat Micah.

41 And the sons of Micah were Pithon, and Melech, and Tahrea, and Ahaz;

42 and Ahaz begat Jarah; and Jarah begat Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri; and Zimri begat Moza;

43 and Moza begat Binea, whose son Rephaiah begat Eleasah, of whom Azel was begotten.

44 And Azel had six sons by these names, Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, Hanan; these were the sons of Azel.

CHAPTER 10

1 Forsooth the Philistines fought against Israel, and the sons of Israel fled from the Philistines, and felled down wounded in the hill of Gilboa.

2 And when the Philistines had nighed pursuing Saul and his sons, they killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.

3 And the battle was aggrieved against Saul; and men archers found him, and wounded him with darts.

4 And Saul said to his squire, Draw out thy sword, and slay me, lest these uncircumcised men come, and scorn me. But his squire was afeared by dread, and would not do this; there-fore Saul took a sword, and felled upon it.

5 And when his squire had seen this, that is, that Saul was dead, he felled also on his sword, and was dead.

6 Therefore Saul perished, and his three sons, and all his house felled [or fell] down together.

7 And when the men of Israel, that dwelled in field places, had seen this, they fled; and when Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities, and were scattered hither and thither; and Philistines came, and dwelled in those [or them].

8 Therefore in the tother day, the Philistines drew away the spoils of [the] slain men, and found Saul and his sons lying in the hill of Gilboa.

9 And when they had spoiled him, and had girded off the head, and had made him naked of the armours, they sent his head into their land, that it should be borne about, and should be showed in the temples of idols, and to peoples;

10 and they hallowed his armours in the temple of their gods, and they setted the head in the temple of Dagon.

11 When men of Jabesh of Gilead had heard this, that is, all things which the Philistines did on Saul,

12 all [the] strong men rose together, and took the dead bodies of Saul and of his sons, and brought those [or them] into Jabesh; and they buried the bones of them under an oak, that was in Jabesh; and fasted seven days.

13 Therefore Saul was dead for his wickednesses, for he brake the behest of the Lord, which he [had] command-ed, and kept not it, but furthermore also he took counsel at a woman having a fiend speaking in the womb,

14 and he hoped not in the Lord; for which thing both the Lord killed him, and translated his realm to David, the son of Jesse.

CHAPTER 11

1 Therefore all Israel was gathered to David in Hebron, and said, We be thy bone and thy flesh;

2 also yesterday and the third day ago, when Saul reigned yet upon Israel, thou it was that leddest out and leddest in Israel; for the Lord thy God said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be prince upon it.

3 Therefore all the greater men in birth of Israel came to the king in Hebron; and David made with them a bond of peace before the Lord, and they anointed him king upon Israel, by the word of the Lord, which he spake in the hand of Samuel.

4 Therefore David went, and all Israel, into Jerusalem; this Jerusalem is Jebus, where Jebusites, inhabiters of the land, were.

5 And they that dwelled at Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not enter hither. Forsooth David took the high tower of Zion, which is the city of David;

6 and he said, Each man that slayeth the first Jebusite, shall be prince and duke. Therefore Joab, the son of Zeruiah, went up first, and was made prince.

7 And David dwelled in the high tower, and therefore it was called the city of David;

8 and he builded the city in compass, from Millo till to the compass about; and Joab builded the tother part of the city.

9 And David profited going and waxing, and the Lord of hosts was with him.

10 These be the princes of the strong men of David, that helped him, that he should be king upon all Israel, by the word of the Lord which he spake to Israel.

11 And this is the number of the strong men of David; Jashobeam, the son of Hachmoni, was prince among thirty; this raised up his shaft, either spear, upon three hundred, and wounded these men in one time.

12 And after him was Eleazar, the son of his father’s brother, that was of Ahohites, the which Eleazar was among [the] three mighty men.

13 This was with David in Pasdam-mim, when Philistines were gathered to one place into battle; and a field of that country was full of barley, and the people fled from the face of Philistines.

14 This Eleazar stood in the midst of the field, and defended it; and when he had slain the Philistines, the Lord gave great health to his people*.

15 Soothly three of [the] thirty princes went down to the stone, wherein David was, to the den of Adullam, when the Philistines setted tents in the valley of Rephaim.

16 And David was in a stronghold, and the station, that is, the host gather-ed, of Philistines was in Bethlehem.

17 Therefore David desired water, and said, I would, that some man gave to me water of the cistern of Bethlehem, which is in the gate.

18 Therefore these three went through the middle of the castles [or tents], or of the hosts, of [the] Philistines, and drew water of the cistern of Bethle-hem, that was in the gate, and they brought to David, that he should drink; and David would not drink it, but rather he offered it to the Lord,

19 and said, Far be it, that I do this thing in the sight of my God, and that I drink the blood of these men, for in the peril of their lives they brought water to me; and for this cause he would not drink. [The] Three strongest men did these things.

20 Also Abishai, the brother of Joab, he was the prince of the second three men, and he raised up his spear against three hundred, and wounded those men; and he was most named among these three,

21 [and] among the second three, he was noble, and the prince of them; nevertheless he came not to the first three.

22 Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, the strongest man of Kabzeel, that did many works; he killed two strong men of Moab; and he went down, and killed a lion in the midst of a cistern, in the time of snow;

23 and he killed a man of Egypt, whose stature was of five cubits, and he had a spear as the beam of webs or weaver’s; therefore Benaiah went down to him with a rod, and ravished the spear, which he held in his hand, and killed him with his own spear.

24 Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, did these things, he that was most named among the second three strong men,

25 and he was the first among [the] thirty; nevertheless he came not to the first three; and David set him at his ear for a good counsellor.

26 Forsooth the strongest men in the host were Asahel, the brother of Joab, and Elhanan, the son of his father’s brother of Bethlehem,

27 Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite,

28 Ira, the son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, Abiezer of Anathoth,

29 Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite,

30 Maharai the Netophathite, Heled, the son of Baanah the Netophathite,

31 Ithai, the son of Ribai of Gibeah, of the sons of Benjamin; Benaiah the Pirathonite,

32 men of the strand [or stream of] Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,

33 Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite,

34 the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan, the son of Shage the Hararite,

35 Ahiam, the son of Sacar the Harar-ite, Eliphal, the son of [Ur],

36 Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,

37 Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai, the son of Ezbai,

38 Joel, the brother of Nathan, Mibhar, the son of Haggeri,

39 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the squire of Joab, son of Zeruiah,

40 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

41 Uriah the Hittite, Zabad, the son of Ahlai,

42 Adina, the son of Shiza the Reuben-ite, prince of Reubenites, and thirty men with him;

43 Hanan, the son of Maachah, and Joshaphat the Mithnite,

44 Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jehiel, the sons of Hothan the Aroerite,

45 Jediael, the son of Shimri, and Joha, his brother, Tizite,

46 Eliel the Mahavite, Jeribai, and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite,

47 Eliel, and Obed, and Jasiel of Mesobaites.

CHAPTER 12

1 Also these came to David in Ziklag, when he fled yet from Saul, the son of Kish; the which were full strong men and noble fighters,

2 bending bow, and casting stones with slings with ever either hand, and directing arrows; of the brethren of Saul of Benjamin,

3 the prince Ahiezer, and Joash, the sons of Shemaah of Gibeah; and Jeziel, and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth; and Berachah, and Jehu of Anathoth;

4 also Ismaiah of Gibeon was one of the strongest among thirty, and above thirty; Jeremy, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Josabad the Gederathite,

5 Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite,

6 Elkanah, and Jesiah, and Azareel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, of Korhites,

7 and Joelah, and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.

8 But also some of Gadites’ strongest men, and best fighters, holding shield and spear, fled over to David, when he was hid in desert; the faces of them as the face of a lion, and they were swift as caprets in hills.

9 Ezer was the prince, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third,

10 Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremy the fifth,

11 Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh,

12 Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth,

13 Jeremy the tenth, Machbanai the eleventh;

14 these of the sons of Gad were princes of the host; and the least, that is, he that had the least power, was sovereign over an hundred knights, and the most was over a thousand.

15 These it be that passed over Jordan in the first month, when it was wont to flow over his brinks; and they drove away all men, that is, heathen men, that dwelled in the valleys at the east coast, and [at the] west coast.

16 And also men of Benjamin and of Judah came to the stronghold, where-in David dwelled.

17 And David went out against them, and said, If ye come peaceable to me, for to help me, mine heart be joined to you; forsooth if ye set ambush to me for mine adversaries, since I have not wickedness in the hands, God of our fathers see and deem.

18 And the spirit clothed Amasai, the prince among thirty, and he said, O! David, we be thine, and thou, son of Jesse, we shall be with thee; peace, peace to thee, and peace to thine helpers, for thy Lord God helpeth thee. Therefore David received them, and made [them] princes of the company.

19 And men of Manasseh fled over to David, when he came with Philistines to fight against Saul, and he fought not with them; for after that the princes of Philistines had taken counsel, they sent him again, and said, With peril of our head, he shall turn again to Saul his lord.

20 Therefore when David turned again into Ziklag, men of Manasseh fled over to him, Adnah, and Jozabad, Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zilthai, princes of knights of horsemen in Manasseh.

21 These men gave help to David against [the] thieves; for all were full strong [men], and were made princes in the host.

22 But also by each day men came to David, for to help him, till that the number was made as great as the host of God.

23 Also this is the number of [the] princes of the host that came to David, when he was in Hebron, that they should translate the realm of Saul to him, by the word of the Lord;

24 the sons of Judah, bearing shield and spear, six thousand and eight hundred, ready to battle;

25 of the sons of Simeon, seven thousand and an hundred, of strongest men to fight;

26 of the sons of Levi, four thousand and six hundred;

27 also Jehoiada, prince of the generation of Aaron, and three thousand and seven hundred with him;

28 also Zadok, a young man of noble wit, and the house of his father, two and twenty princes;

29 and of the sons of Benjamin, the brethren of Saul, three thousand; for a great part of them pursued [or followed] yet the house of Saul;

30 and of the sons of Ephraim, twenty thousand and eight hundred, full strong men in bodily might, men named in their meines;

31 and of the half part of the lineage of Manasseh, eighteen thousand; all came by their names, to make David king;

32 also of the sons of Issachar, two hundred princes, learned men, that knew each time to command what the people of Israel ought to do; and all the remnant of the lineage pursued [or followed] the counsels of them;

33 and of Zebulun came fifty thousand into his help, not in double heart, which went out to battle, and stood in the battle array, and were made ready with armours [or arms] of battle;

34 and of Naphtali a thousand princes, and with them came seven and thirty thousand men, arrayed with shield and spear;

35 also of Dan, eight and twenty thousand and six hundred men, made ready to battle;

36 and of Asher forty thousand men, going out to battle, and stirred to battle in the battle array.

37 And beyond Jordan, of the sons of Reuben, and of Gad, and of the half part of the lineage of Manasseh, sixscore thousand men, arrayed with armours [or arms] of battle.

38 All these men warriors and ready to battle, came with perfect heart into Hebron, to make David king upon all Israel; but also all the residue of Israel were of one heart, that David should be made king upon all Israel.

39 And they were there at David three days, and ate and drank; for their brethren had made ready to them;

40 but also they that were nigh them, till to Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought loaves on asses, and camels, and mules, and oxen, for to eat; meal, bundles of pressed figs, and dried grapes, wine, and oil, oxen and wethers, to all plenty; for joy was in Israel.

CHAPTER 13

1 Forsooth David took counsel with [the] tribunes, and centurions, and all [the] princes;

2 and he said to all the company of the sons of Israel, If it pleaseth you, and if the word that I speak goeth out from the Lord our God, send we to the remnant of our brethren to all the countries of Israel, and to [the] priests and deacons [or Levites] that dwell in the suburbs of cities, that they be gathered to us,

3 and that we bring again to us the ark of our God; for we sought not at it in the days of Saul.

4 And all the multitude answered, that it should be done so; for the word pleased all the people.

5 Therefore David gathered together all Israel, from Shihor of Egypt till that thou enter into Hamath, that he should bring the ark of God from Kiriathjearim.

6 And David went up, and all the men of Israel, to the hill of Kiriathjearim, which is in Judah, that he should bring from thence the ark of the Lord God sitting on cherubim, where his name was inwardly called.

7 And they putted [or put] the ark of the Lord God on a new wain from the house of Abinadab; and Uzza and his brethren drove the wain.

8 And David and all Israel played before the Lord, with all might, in songs, and in harps, and psalteries, and in tympans, and in cymbals, and trumps.

9 And when they had come to the cornfloor of Chidon, Uzza stretched forth his hand to sustain, or stable, the ark; for the oxes waxing wild had bowed it [down] a little.

10 Therefore the Lord was wroth against Uzza, and smote him, for he had touched the ark; and he was dead there before the Lord.

11 And David was sorry, for the Lord had parted, or slain, Uzza; and he called that place The Parting of Uzza, as it is still called unto this present day.

12 And David dreaded the Lord in that time, and said, How may I bring into me the ark of the Lord?

13 And for this cause he brought not it to him, that is, into the city of David, but he turned it into the house of Obededom of Gath.

14 Therefore the ark of God dwelled in the house of Obededom of Gath three months; and the Lord blessed his house, and all things that he had.

CHAPTER 14

1 And Hiram, the king of Tyre, sent messengers to David, and trees of cedar, and workmen of walls and of trees, that they should build to him an house.

2 And David knew that the Lord had confirmed him into king upon Israel; and that his realm was raised upon his people Israel.

3 And David took other wives in Jerusalem, and he begat sons and daughters.

4 And these be the names of them that were born to him in Jerusalem; Shammua, and Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon,

5 Ibhar, and Elishua, and Elpalet,

6 and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia,

7 and Elishama, and Beeliada, and Eliphalet.

8 Forsooth the Philistines heard that David was anointed king on all Israel, and [they] all went up to seek David, to destroy him. And when David had heard this thing, he went out against them.

9 And [the] Philistines came, and were spread abroad in the valley of Rephaim;

10 and David counselled with the Lord, and said, Whether I shall go up to the Philistines? and whether thou shalt betake them into mine hands? And the Lord said to him, Go thou up, and I shall betake them into thine hand.

11 And when the Philistines had gone up into Baalperazim, David smote them there, and said, God hath parted mine enemies by mine hand, as waters be parted. And therefore the name of that place was called Baalperazim, that is, the Lord of the Breakthrough;

12 and they left there their gods, which David commanded to be burnt.

13 And another time the Philistines felled [or fell] in, and were spread abroad in the valley;

14 and again David counselled with the Lord, and the Lord said to him, Thou shalt not go up after them; go [thou] away from them, and thou shalt come against them even against the pear trees.

15 And when thou shalt hear the sound of a goer in the top, or height, of the pear trees, then thou shalt go out to battle; for the Lord is gone out before thee, to smite the powers of [the] Philistines.

16 Therefore David did as God commanded to him, and he smote the castles, [or tents], or powers of the Philistines, from Gibeon till to Gazer.

17 And the name of David was published in all countries, and the Lord gave his dread on all folks.

CHAPTER 15

1 And David made to him houses in the city of David, and he builded a place to the ark of the Lord, and arrayed a tabernacle to it.

2 Then David said, It is unleaveful, that the ark of God be borne about of any others, no but of the deacons [or Levites], which the Lord chose to bear it, and for to minister to him into without end.

3 And David gathered together all Israel into Jerusalem, that the ark of God should be brought into his place, which he had made ready to it;

4 also and he gathered together the sons of Aaron, and the deacons [or Levites];

5 of the sons of Kohath, Uriel was prince, and his brethren two hundred and twenty;

6 of the sons of Merari, Asaiah was prince, and his brethren two hundred and thirty;

7 of the sons of Gershon or Gershom, the prince was Joel, and his brethren an hundred and thirty;

8 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah was prince, and his brethren two hundred;

9 of the sons of Hebron, Eliel was prince, and his brethren fourscore;

10 of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab was prince, and his brethren an hundred and twelve.

11 And David called for Zadok and Abiathar priests, and the deacons [or Levites], Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab;

12 and said to them, Ye that be princes of the meines of Levi, be ye hallowed with your brethren, and bring ye the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place, that is made ready to it;

13 lest, as at the beginning, for ye were not present, the Lord smote us, so and now it be done, if we do any unleaveful thing.

14 Therefore the priests and deacons [or Levites] were hallowed, that they should bear the ark of the Lord God of Israel.

15 And the sons of Levi took the ark of God with bars upon their shoulders, as Moses commanded by the word of the Lord.

16 And David said to the princes of deacons [or Levites], that they should ordain of their brethren singers in organs of musics, that is, in gitterns, and harps, and cymbals; that the sound of gladness should sound on high.

17 And they ordained deacons [or Levites], Heman, the son of Joel, and of his brethren, Asaph, the son of Berechiah; soothly of the sons of Merari, [the] brethren of them, they ordained Ethan, the son of Kushaiah,

18 and the brethren of them with them; in the second order Zechariah, and Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obededom, and Jeiel, porters;

19 and the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, sounding in brazen cymbals;

20 and Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, these sang privates in gitterns;

21 and Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obededom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, sang in harps for the eighth, and epinicion, that is, thankings that owe to be done to God, over-comer and victor;

22 and Chenaniah, the prince of deacons [or Levites], and of prophecy, was sovereign to before-sing [the] melody, for he was full wise;

23 and Berechiah, and Elkanah, were porters of the ark;

24 and Shebaniah, and Jehoshaphat, and Nethaneel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, priests, sounded with trumps before the ark of the Lord; and Obededom, and Jehiah, were porters of the ark.

25 Therefore David, and the greater men in birth of Israel, and the tribunes, went to bring the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord from the house of Obededom with gladness.

26 And when God had helped the deacons [or Levites] that bare the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams were offered.

27 And David was clothed with a white stole, and all the deacons [or Levites] that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah, the prince of the prophecy among [the] singers, were clothed in white stoles; and also David was clothed with a linen surplice.

28 And all Israel led forth the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, and sounded in joyful song, and in sound of clarions, and in trumps, and in cymbals, and in gitterns, and harps.

29 And when the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord had come into the city of David, Michal, the daughter of Saul, beheld forth by a window, and saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised him in her heart.

CHAPTER 16

1 Therefore they brought the ark of God, and setted [or set] it in the midst of the tabernacle, that David had arrayed thereto; and they offered burnt sacrifices and peaceable sacrifices before the Lord.

2 And when David offering burnt sacrifices and peaceable sacrifices had fulfilled, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord;

3 and he parted to all, to each by himself, from man to woman, one cake or a cake of bread, and a part of roasted flesh of a bugle, and flour fried in oil.

4 And he ordained before the ark of the Lord, of the Levites, that is, deacons, that should minister, that is, serve, and have mind of the works of the Lord, and glorify and praise the Lord God of Israel;

5 Asaph the prince, and Zechariah his second; forsooth Jeiel, and Shemi-ramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obededom, and Jeiel, on the organs of the psaltery, and on the harps; but he ordained Asaph to sound with cymbals;

6 and he ordained Benaiah and Jahaziel, priests, before the ark of the bond of peace of the Lord, for to trump continually.

7 In that day, David made Asaph prince, and his brethren, for to acknowledge to the Lord.

8 Acknowledge ye to the Lord, and inwardly call ye his name; make ye his findings known among peoples.

9 Sing ye to him, and say ye psalm to him, and tell ye all his marvels.

10 Praise ye his holy name; the heart of men seeking the Lord be glad.

11 Seek ye the Lord and his strength; seek ye ever[more] his face.

12 Have ye mind of his marvels that he hath done; of his signs, and of the dooms of his mouth.

13 The seed of Israel, his servant, praise thou God; the sons of Jacob, his chosen, praise ye God.

14 He is the Lord our God; his dooms be in each land.

15 Have ye mind without end of his covenant; of the word which he covenanted into a thousand gener-ations.

16 Which word he covenanted with Abraham; and of his oath to Isaac.

17 And he ordained that word to Jacob into a commandment; and to Israel into everlasting covenant.

18 And he said, To thee I shall give the land of Canaan; the part of your heritage.

19 When they were few in number; little, and pilgrims thereof.

20 And they passed from folk into folk; and from a realm to another people.

21 He suffered not any man to falsely challenge them; but he blamed kings for them.

22 And he said, Do not ye touch my christs, that is, patriarchs anointed with the anointing of grace; and do not ye do wickedly against my prophets.

23 All [the] earth, sing ye to the Lord; tell ye from day into day his health.

24 Tell ye among heathen men his glory; his marvels among all peoples.

25 For the Lord is great, and worthy to be praised full much; and he is horrible, that is, fearful, over all gods.

26 For all the gods of peoples be idols; but the Lord made heavens.

27 Acknowledging and great doing be before him; strength and joy be in the place of him.

28 Ye meines of peoples, bring ye to the Lord; bring ye to the Lord glory and empire.

29 Give ye the glory to his name, raise ye up sacrifice, and come ye in his sight; and worship ye the Lord in holy fairness.

30 All earth be moved from his face; for he hath founded the world unmoveable.

31 Heavens be glad, and the earth make full out joy; and say they among nations, The Lord reign.

32 The sea thunder, and his fullness; the fields fully joy they, and all things that be in those [or them].

33 Then the trees of the forest shall praise before the Lord; for he cometh to deem the earth.

34 Acknowledge to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is without end.

35 And say ye, Thou God, our saviour, save us, and gather us together, and deliver us from heathen men; that we acknowledge to thine holy name, and be fully glad in thy songs.

36 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from without beginning and into with-out end; and all the people say, Amen, and say praising to God.

37 Therefore David left there, before the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, Asaph and his brethren, for to minister in the sight of or before the ark, continually, by all days and their whiles.

38 And David ordained as porters, Obededom and his brethren, eight and sixty; and Obededom, the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah.

39 And he ordained Zadok priest, and his brethren, priests, before the tabernacle of the Lord, in the high place that was in Gibeon,

40 for to offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord upon the altar of burnt sacrifice continually, in the morrowtide and eventide, by all things that be written in the law of the Lord, which he commanded to Israel.

41 And after him David ordained Heman and Jeduthun, and [the] other chosen men, each man by his name, for to acknowledge to the Lord; for his mercy is without end.

42 And he ordained Heman and Jeduthun, with trumping, and shaking cymbals, and all organs of musics, for to sing to God; forsooth he made the sons of Jeduthun to be porters.

43 And all the people turned again into their house, and David turned again, to bless also his house.

CHAPTER 17

1 Forsooth when David dwelled in his house, he said to Nathan, the prophet, Lo! I dwell in an house of cedars; and the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord is under skins.

2 And Nathan said to David, Do thou all things that be in thine heart, for God is with thee.

3 Therefore in that night, the word of the Lord was made to Nathan, and said,

4 Go thou, and speak to David, my servant, The Lord saith these things, Thou shalt not build to me an house to dwell in;

5 certainly I have not dwelled in an house, from that time in which I led Israel out of the land of Egypt till to this day, but ever[more] I have changed places of the tabernacle, and have dwelled in a tent with all Israel.

6 Whether I have spoken namely to one of the judges of Israel, to which I commanded that they should feed my people, and said, Why hast thou not builded to me an house of cedar?

7 Now therefore thou shalt speak thus to my servant David, The Lord of hosts saith these things, I took thee, when thou pursuedest [or followedest] the flock in the pastures, that thou shouldest be duke upon my people Israel;

8 and I was with thee whither ever thou wentest, and I killed all thine enemies before thee, and I made to thee a name, as of one of the great men that be made worshipful, either famous, in [the] earth.

9 And I gave a place to my people Israel; it shall be planted, and shall dwell therein, and it shall no more be moved, and the sons of wickedness shall not defoul them, as from the beginning,

10 from the days in which I gave judges to my people Israel; and I made low all thine enemies. There-fore I tell to thee, that the Lord shall build an house to thee.

11 And when thou hast fulfilled thy days, that thou go to thy fathers, I shall raise up thy seed after thee, that shall be of thy sons, and I shall stablish his realm;

12 he shall build to me an house, and I shall make steadfast his seat into without end.

13 I shall be to him into a father, and he shall be to me into a son; and I shall not do away my mercy from him, as I took it away from him that was before thee;

14 and I shall ordain him in mine house and in my realm into without end; and his throne shall be most steadfast without end.

15 By all these words, and by all this revelation, so Nathan spake to David.

16 And when king David had come, and had set before the Lord, he said, Lord God, who am I, and what is mine house, that thou shouldest give such things to me?

17 But also this is seen little in thy sight, and therefore thou hast spoken of the house of thy servant, yea, into time to coming [or to come]; and thou hast made me worthy to be beholden over all men. My Lord God,

18 what may David add more, since thou hast so glorified thy servant, and hast known him?

19 Lord, for thy servant, thou hast done by thine heart all this great doing, and thou wouldest that all great things be known.

20 Lord, none is like thee, and none other God is without thee, of all which we have heard with our ears.

21 For who is another as thy people Israel, one folk in [the] earth, to whom God went, to deliver and make a people to himself, and to cast out by his greatness and dreads nations from the face thereof, the which people he delivered from Egypt?

22 And thou hast set thy people Israel into a people to thee into without end, and thou, Lord, art made the God thereof.

23 Now therefore, Lord, the word which thou hast spoken to thy servant, and on his house, be it confirmed with-out end, and do, as thou hast spoken;

24 and thy name dwell, and be magnified without end; and be it said, The Lord of hosts is God of Israel, and the house of David, his servant, dwelling before him.

25 For thou, my Lord God, hast made revelation in the ear of thy servant, that thou wouldest build to him an house; and therefore thy servant hath found trust, that he pray before thee.

26 Now therefore, Lord, thou art God, and hast spoken to thy servant so great benificences [or benefits];

27 and thou hast begun to bless the house of thy servant, that it be ever-[more] before thee; for, Lord, for thou blessest, it shall be blessed without end.

CHAPTER 18

1 Soothly it was done after these things, that David smote the Philistines, and made them low, and he took away Gath and the villages thereof from the hand of Philistines;

2 and he smote Moab; and Moabites were made the servants of David, and brought gifts to him.

3 In that time David smote also Hadadezer*, king of Zobah, of the country of Hamath, when he went to alarge his empire till to the flood Euphrates.

4 Therefore David took a thousand four-horsed carts of his, and seven thousand of horsemen, and twenty thousand of footmen; and he hocked all the horses of the chariots, except an hundred four-horsed carts, which he kept to himself.

5 Forsooth also Syrians of Damascus came above, to give help to Hadad-ezer, king of Zobah, but David smote also of his two and twenty thousand of men;

6 and David set knights in Damascus, that Syrians also should serve him, and bring to him gifts. And the Lord helped David in all things to which he went.

7 And David took [the] golden arrow cases, which the servants of Hadadezer had, and he brought those [or them] into Jerusalem;

8 also and of Tibhath, and of Chun, the cities of Hadadezer, he took full much of brass, whereof Solomon made the brazen sea, that is, washing vessel, and pillars, and brazen vessels.

9 And when Tou, king of Hamath, had heard this thing, that is, that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer, king of Zobah,

10 he sent Hadoram, his son, to David the king, for to ask of him peace, and for to thank him, for he had overcome and smitten Hadadezer; for why king Hadadezer was adversary of Tou. And Hadoram brought vessels of gold and silver and bronze, as gifts.

11 But also king David hallowed to the Lord all the vessels of gold, and of silver, and of brass; and the silver, and the gold, which the king had taken of all folks, as well of Idumea, and of Moab, and of the sons of Ammon, as of [the] Philistines, and of Amalek.

12 And Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, smote Edom in the valley of salt pits, eighteen thousand.

13 And he set strongholds in Edom, that Idumeans should serve David. And the Lord saved David in all things, to which he went.

14 Therefore David reigned on all Israel, and did doom and rightwiseness to all his people.

15 Forsooth Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was on the host; and Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was chancellor;

16 and Zadok, the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech, the son of Abiathar, were priests; and Shavsha was scribe;

17 and Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, was on the legions of the Cherethites and Pelethites, keepers of David’s head; soothly the sons of David were the first at the hand of the king.

CHAPTER 19

1 Forsooth it befelled, that Nahash, [the] king of the sons of Ammon, died, and his son reigned for him.

2 And David said, I shall do mercy with Hanun, the son of Nahash; for his father gave mercy to me. And David sent messengers, to comfort him on the death of his father. And when they were come into the land of the sons of Ammon, for to comfort Hanun,

3 the princes of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, In hap thou guessest, that David, for cause of honour into thy father, sent men, that should comfort thee; and thou perceivest not, that his servants be come to thee to espy, and inquire, and to seek through thy land.

4 Therefore Hanun made bald and shaved the servants of David, and cutted the coats off them from the buttocks of them till to the feet; and let them go.

5 And when they had gone forth, and had sent this to David, he sent into the meeting of them; for they had suffered great despite; and he com-manded, that they should dwell in Jericho, till their beards waxed, and then they should turn again.

6 And the sons of Ammon saw, that they had done wrong to David, both Hanun and the other people, and they sent a thousand talents of silver, for to hire to them chariots and horse-men of Mesopotamia, and of Syria, of Maachah, and of Zobah;

7 and they hired to them two and thirty thousand of chariots, and the king of Maachah with his people. And when they were come, they set their tents even against Medeba; and the sons of Ammon were gathered together from their cities, and came to battle.

8 And when David heard this, he sent Joab, and all the host of strong men.

9 And the sons of Ammon went out, and dressed battle array beside the gate of the city; but the kings, that were come to help them, stood asides half in the field.

10 Therefore Joab understood, that [the] battle was made against him even against and behind his back, and he chose the strongest men of all Israel, and went against Syrians;

11 soothly he gave the residue part of the people under the hand of Abishai, his brother; and they went forth against the sons of Ammon.

12 And Joab said, If Syrians shall overcome me, thou shalt help me; and if the sons of Ammon shall over-come thee, I shall help thee;

13 be thou comforted, and do we manly for our people, and for the cities of our God; and the Lord do that, that is good in his sight.

14 Therefore Joab went forth, and the people that was with him, against Syrians to battle, and he drove them away.

15 And the sons of Ammon saw, that Syrians had fled, and they [also] fled from Abishai, his brother, and entered into the city; and Joab turned again into Jerusalem.

16 And Syrians saw, that he had fallen down before Israel, and he sent messengers, and brought [forth]to them Syrians, that was beyond the flood; and Shophach, the prince of [the] chivalry of Hadadezer, was the duke of them.

17 And when this was told to David, he gathered all Israel, and passed over the Jordan; and he felled in on them, and dressed battle array even against them, fighting on the contrary.

18 And Syrians fled from Israel, and David killed of the men of Syria seven thousand of chariots, that is, seven thousand men fighting in chariots*, and forty thousand of footmen, and Shophach, the prince of the host of the army.

19 And the servants of Hadadezer saw, that they were overcome of Israel, and they fled over to David, and served him; and Syria would no more give help to the sons of Ammon.

CHAPTER 20

1 Forsooth it was done after the end of a year, in that time wherein kings be wont to go forth to battles, Joab gathered the host, and the strength of chivalry, and he wasted the land of the sons of Ammon, and went, and besieged Rabbah; forsooth David dwelled in Jerusalem, when Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it.

2 And David took the crown of Malcham from his head, and found therein the weight of gold a talent, and most precious gems, and he made thereof a diadem to himself; also he took full many spoils of the city.

3 And he led out the people that was therein, and made brads, either instru-ments by which corns be broken, and sleds, and iron chariots, to pass over on them, so that all men were cut into diverse parts, and were all-broken; David did thus to all the cities of the sons of Ammon, and he turned again with all his people into Jerusalem.

4 After these things, a battle was made in Gezer against Philistines, wherein Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai of the kin of Rephaim, that is, of the kind of giants, and he meeked them.

5 Also another battle was done against the Philistines, in which a man given of God, the son of the forest, a man of Bethlehem, killed Goliath of Gath, the brother of giants, of whose shaft, or spear, the wood was as the beam of webs.

6 But also another battle befelled in Gath, in which a full long man was, having six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, that is, altogether four and twenty, and he was begotten of the generation of Rephaim, that is, of the giants;

7 and he blasphemed Israel, and Jonathan, the son of Shimea, brother of David, killed him.

8 These be the sons of Rephaim in Gath, that felled down in the hand of David, and of his servants.

CHAPTER 21

1 Soothly Satan rose against Israel, and stirred David for to number Israel.

2 And David said to Joab, and to the princes of the people, Go ye, and number all Israel from Beersheba till to Dan, and bring ye the number to me, that I know what it is.

3 And Joab answered, The Lord increase his people an hundredfold more than they be; my lord the king, whether all be not thy servants? Why seeketh my lord this thing, that shall be areckoned into sin to Israel?

4 But the word of the king had more the mastery; and Joab went out, and compassed all Israel, and turned again into Jerusalem.

5 And he gave to David the number of them, which he had compassed; and all the number of Israel was found a thousand thousand, and an hundred thousand of men, drawing out sword; forsooth of Judah were three hundred thousand, and seventy thousand warriors.

6 But Joab numbered not Levi and Benjamin, for against his will he did the commandment of the king.

7 Forsooth that thing that was commanded displeased the Lord, therefore he smote Israel.

8 And David said to God, I have sinned greatly, that I would do this thing; I beseech thee, Lord, do thou away the wickedness of thy servant, for I did follily.

9 And the Lord spake to Gad, the prophet of David, and said to him,

10 Go thou, and speak to David, and say to him, The Lord saith these things, I give to thee the choosing of three things; choose thou one which thou wilt, that I do to thee.

11 And when Gad was come to David, he said to David, The Lord saith these things, Choose thou that that thou wilt of these,

12 either pestilence three years, either that three months thou flee thine enemies, and be not able to escape their sword, either that the sword of the Lord and death reign three days in the land, and that the angel of the Lord slay in all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore see thou, what I shall answer to him that sent me.

13 And David said to Gad, Anguishes oppress me on each part, but it is better to me, that I fall into the hands of the Lord, for his merciful doings be many, then into the hands of men.

14 Therefore the Lord sent pestilence into Israel, and seventy thousand of men felled down of Israel.

15 Also the Lord sent an angel into Jerusalem, that he should smite it; and when it was smitten, the Lord saw, and had mercy upon the greatness of evil; and he commanded to the angel that smote, and said, It sufficeth, now thine hand cease. And the angel of the Lord stood beside the cornfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

16 And David raised up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord standing betwixt heaven and earth, and a drawn sword in his hand, turned against Jerusalem. And both he and the greater men in birth were clothed with hair-shirts, and they fell down upon the earth.

17 And David said to the Lord, Whether I am not he that commanded that the people should be numbered? I it am that sinned, I it am that did evil; what hath this flock deserved? My Lord God, I beseech thee, thine hand be turned against me, and against the house of my father; but thy people be not smitten.

18 And the angel of the Lord commanded [to] Gad, that he should say to David, that he should go up, and build an altar to the Lord God in the cornfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

19 Therefore David went up by the word of Gad, which he spake to him by the word of the Lord.

20 And when Ornan had beheld, and saw the angel, and his four sons with him had seen, they hid them-[selves], for in that time Ornan threshed wheat in the cornfloor.

21 Therefore when David came to Ornan, Ornan beheld David, and went forth from the cornfloor against or towards him, and worshipped him lowly upon the ground.

22 And David said to him, Give the place of the cornfloor to me, that I build therein an altar to the Lord; so that thou take as much silver as it is worth, and that the vengeance cease from the people.

23 And Ornan said to David, Take thou it, and my lord the king do he whatever thing pleaseth him; but also I give oxen into burnt sacrifice, and instruments of wood, whereby corns be threshed, into sticks to be burnt, and wheat into sacrifice; I give gladly all these things.

24 And king David said to him, It shall not be done so, but I shall give to thee silver for as much as it is worth; for I owe not to take away from thee, and offer so to the Lord burnt sacrifices freely given.

25 Therefore David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold of full just weight.

26 And David builded there an altar to the Lord, and offered thereon burnt sacrifices and peaceable sacrifices, and he inwardly called God; and God heard him in fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt sacrifice.

27 And the Lord commanded to the angel, and he turned his sword again into the sheath.

28 Then anon David saw, that the Lord had heard him in the cornfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, and he offered there slain sacrifices.

29 Forsooth the tabernacle of the Lord, that Moses had made in the desert, and the altar of burnt sacrifices, was in that tempest in the high place of Gibeon;

30 and David might not go to the altar, to beseech God there, for he was afeared with full great dread, seeing the sword of the angel of the Lord.

CHAPTER 22

1 And David said, This is the house of God, and this altar is into burnt sacrifice of Israel.

2 And David commanded that all converts, that is, all men turned from heathenness to the law of Israel, should be gathered together of the land of Israel; and he ordained of them masons for to cut, or hew, stones and to polish them, and that the house of the Lord should be builded;

3 also David made ready full much iron to the nails of the gates, and to the mixings and jointures, and unnum-berable weight of brass;

4 also the number of trees of cedar might not be guessed, which the men of Sidon and the men of Tyre brought to David.

5 And David said, Solomon, my son, is a little child and delicate, that is, for tenderness of age; soothly the house, which I will to be builded to the Lord, oweth to be such, that it be named in all countries; therefore I shall make ready necessaries to him. And for this cause David before his death made ready all [the] costs.

6 And he called Solomon, his son, and commanded to him, that he should build an house to the Lord God of Israel.

7 And David said to Solomon, My son, it was my will to build an house to the name of the Lord my God;

8 but the word of the Lord was made to me, and said, Thou hast shed out much blood, and thou hast fought full many battles; thou mayest not build an house to my name, for thou hast shed out so much blood before me;

9 the son that shall be born to thee, shall be a man most peaceable; for I shall make him to have rest of all his enemies by compass, and for this cause he shall be called Peaceable; and I shall give peace and rest in Israel in all his days.

10 He shall build an house to my name; he shall be to me into a son, and I shall be to him into a father; and I shall make steadfast the seat of his realm on Israel without end.

11 Now therefore, my son, the Lord be with thee; and have thou prosperity, and build thou an house to the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken of thee.

12 And the Lord give to thee prudence and wit, that thou may govern Israel, and keep the law of the Lord thy God.

13 For then thou mayest profit, if thou keepest the behests and dooms, which the Lord commanded to Moses, that he should teach Israel; be thou comforted,, and do thou manly, dread thou not withoutforth, neither dread thou within.

14 Lo! in my poverty I have made ready the costs of the house of the Lord; an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver; soothly of brass and iron is no weight, for the number is overcome by greatness; I have made ready wood and stones at all costs.

15 Also thou hast full many crafts-men, masons, and layers of stones, and craftsmen of timber, and of all crafts, most prudent to make work,

16 in gold, and silver, and brass, and in iron, of which is no number; therefore rise thou up, and make it, and the Lord shall be with thee.

17 Also David commanded to all the princes of Israel, that they should help Solomon, his son, and said,

18 Ye see, that the Lord your God is with you, and he hath given to you rest by compass/about, and he hath betaken all [the] enemies in your hand, and the earth is subject before the Lord, and before his people.

19 Therefore give ye your hearts and your souls, that ye seek the Lord your God; and rise ye up together, and build ye a saintuary to the Lord our God, that the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord be brought in thither, and that vessels hallowed to the Lord be brought into the house, that is builded to the name of the Lord.

CHAPTER 23

1 Then David was eld [or old] and full of days, and he ordained Solomon, his son, king upon Israel.

2 And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, and the priests, and deacons [or Levites];

3 and the deacons [or Levites] were numbered from twenty years and above, and eight and thirty thousand of men were found of them.

4 And four and twenty thousand men were chosen of them, and were parted or set apart into the service of the house of the Lord; and of sov-ereigns, and judges, six thousand;

5 and four thousand that were porters of gates and doors, and so many singers, singing to the Lord in organs, which David had made for to sing with.

6 And David separated them by the whiles of the sons of Levi, that is, of Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.

7 And the sons of Gershon were Laadan and Shimei.

8 The sons of Laadan were three; the prince Jehiel, and Zetham, and Joel.

9 The sons of Shimei were three, Shelomith, and Haziel, and Haran; these were the princes of the meines of Laadan.

10 And the sons of Shimei were Jahath, and Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah; these four were the sons of Shimei.

11 And Jahath was the former, and Zizah, the second; and Jeush and Beriah had not full many sons, and therefore they were reckoned in one meine, and in one house.

12 The sons of Kohath were four, Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel.

13 The sons of Amram were Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated, that he should minister in the holy of holy things, he and his sons without end, and to burn incense to the Lord by his custom, and to bless his name without end.

14 Also the sons of Moses, the man of God, were numbered in the lineage of Levi.

15 The sons of Moses were Gershom and Eliezer.

16 The sons of Gershom; Shebuel the first.

17 And the sons of Eliezer were Rehabiah the first, and other sons were not to Eliezer; forsooth the sons of Rehabiah were multiplied full much.

18 The sons of Izhar; Shelomith the first.

19 The sons of Hebron; Jeriah the first, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.

20 The sons of Uzziel; Micah the first, Jesiah the second.

21 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli were Eleazar, and Kish.

22 And Eleazar was dead, and had not sons, but daughters; and the sons of Kish, the brethren of them, that is, cousins-germane, wedded them.

23 The sons of Mushi were three, Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth.

24 These were the sons of Levi in their kindreds and meines, and they were princes by whiles, and the number of all the heads, that did the travail of the service of the house of the Lord, from twenty years and above.

25 For David said, The Lord God of Israel hath given rest to his people, and a dwelling in Jerusalem into with-out end;

26 and it shall not be the office of deacons [or Levites] for to bear [any] more the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof for to minister therein.

27 Also by the last behests of David the number of the sons of Levi shall be reckoned from twenty years and above;

28 and they shall be under the hand of the sons of Aaron, into the worship of the house of the Lord, in porches, and in chambers, and in the place of cleansing, and in the saintuary, and in all works of the service of the temple of the Lord.

29 And [the] priests shall be over the loaves of proposition, that is, setting forth, and to the sacrifice of [tried] flour, and to the pastes sodden in water, and to the therf loaves, and to the frying pan, and to [the] hot flour, and to singe, and over all weight and measure.

30 And the deacons [or Levites]shall be, that they stand early, for to ac-knowledge and sing to the Lord, and in like manner at eventide,

31 as well in the offering of burnt sacrifices of the Lord, as in sabbaths, and calends, and other solemnities, by the number and ceremonies of each thing, continually before the Lord;

32 and that they keep the observ-ances of the tabernacle of the bond of peace of the Lord, and the custom of the saintuary, and the observance of the sons of Aaron, their brethren, that they minister in the house of the Lord.

CHAPTER 24

1 Forsooth to the sons of Aaron these portions shall be; the sons of Aaron were Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar;

2 but Nadab and Abihu were dead without free children before their father, and Eleazar and Ithamar were set in priesthood.

3 And David parted or separated them, that is, with the help of Zadok, of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech, of the sons of Ithamar, by their whiles, and their service;

4 and the sons of Eleazar were found many more in the men as princes, than the sons of Ithamar. And David parted or separated to them, that is, to the sons of Eleazar, sixteen princes by their meines and houses; and to the sons of Ithamar eight princes by their meines and houses.

5 And he parted or separated ever either meines among themselves by lots; for there were princes of the saintuary, and princes of the house of God, as well of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar.

6 And Shemaiah, the son of Nethane-el, a scribe of the lineage of Levi, described them before the king and [the] princes, and before Zadok, the priest, and Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar, and to the princes of meines of the priests and of the deacons [or Levites]; he described one house of Eleazar, that was sovereign to [the] others, and the tother house of Ithamar, that had [the] other priests and deacons or Levites under him.

7 Forsooth the first lot went out to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,

8 the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,

9 the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin,

10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abiah,

11 the ninth to Jeshuah, the tenth to Shecaniah,

12 the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim,

13 the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,

14 the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,

15 the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Aphses,

16 the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezekel,

17 the one and twentieth to Jachin, the two and twentieth to Gamul,

18 the three and twentieth to Delaiah, and the four and twentieth to Maaziah.

19 These were the whiles, or times, of them by their services, that they enter into the house of God, and by their custom under the hand of Aaron, their father, as the Lord God of Israel commanded.

20 Forsooth Shubael was prince of the sons of Levi that were residue or were left, of the sons of Amram; and the son of Shubael was Jehdeiah;

21 also Isshiah was prince of the sons of Rehabiah.

22 And Shelomoth was prince of Izharites; and the son of Shelomoth was Jahath;

23 and the sons of Hebron; his first son was Jeriah, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.

24 The son of Uzziel was Michah; the son of Michah was Shamir;

25 the brother of Michah was Isshiah; and the son of Isshiah was Zechariah.

26 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi; the son of Jaaziah was Beno;

27 and the son of Merari was Jaaziah, and Shoham, and Zaccur, and Ibri.

28 And the son of Mahli was Eleazar, which had not free sons;

29 and the son of Kish was Jerahmeel;

30 the sons of Mushi were Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of Levi, by the houses of their meines.

31 Also and they sent lots against their brethren, the sons of Aaron, before David the king, and before Zadok, and Ahimelech, and before the princes of meines of [the] priests, and of deacons [or Levites]; [the] lot parted evenly all things, both the greater and the less.

CHAPTER 25

1 Therefore David, and the magis-trates of the host, parted or separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, the which should prophesy in harps, and in psalteries, and in cymbals, by their number, and serve the office hallowed, or enjoined, to them.

2 Of the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah; and the sons of Asaph, under the hand of Asaph, prophesied beside the king.

3 And the sons of Jeduthun were these; Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, and Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six; under the hand of their father Jeduthun, that prophesied in an harp, upon men acknowledging and praising the Lord.

4 Also the sons of Heman were these of Heman; Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romam-tiezer, and Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth;

5 all these the sons of Heman were prophets of the king in the words of God, that he should enhance the horn, or strength. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

6 All these under the hand of their father were dealed, either assigned, to sing in the temple of the Lord, in cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, into the service of the house of the Lord, nigh the king, that is say, Asaph, and Jeduthun, and Heman.

7 And the number of them, with their brethren that taught the song[s] of the Lord, all the teachers, was two hundred fourscore and eight.

8 And they sent lots by their whiles evenly, as well the greater as the less, also a wise man and an unwise.

9 And the first lot went out to Joseph, that was of Asaph, and to his sons and to his brothers, twelve; the second to Gedaliah, to him, and to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

10 the third to Zaccur, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

11 the fourth to Izri, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

12 the fifth to Nethaniah, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

13 the sixth to Bukkiah, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

14 the seventh to Jesharelah, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

15 the eighth to Jeshaiah, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

16 the ninth to Mattaniah, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

17 the tenth to Shimei, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

18 the eleventh to Azareel, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

19 the twelfth to Hashabiah, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

20 the thirteenth to Shubael, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

21 the fourteenth to Mattithiah, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

22 the fifteenth to Jeremoth, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

23 the sixteenth to Hananiah, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

24 the seventeenth to Joshbekashah, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

25 the eighteenth to Hanani, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

26 the nineteenth to Mallothi, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

27 the twentieth to Eliathah, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

28 the one and twentieth to Hothir, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

29 the two and twentieth to Giddalti, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

30 the three and twentieth to Mahaz-ioth, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve;

31 the four and twentieth to Romam-tiezer, to his sons and to his brethren, twelve.

CHAPTER 26

1 Forsooth these were the partings of [the] porters; of the sons of Korah, Meshelemiah was the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph.

2 The sons of Meshelemiah were Zechariah the first begotten, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,

3 Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Elioenai the seventh.

4 And the sons of Obededom were these; Shemaiah the first begotten, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, and Sacar the fourth, Nethaneel the fifth,

5 Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peulthai the eighth, for the Lord blessed him.

6 And to Shemaiah, his son, were born sons, sovereigns of their meines; for they were full strong men.

7 Therefore the sons of Shemaiah were Othni, and Rephael, and Obed, and Elzabad; and his brethren, full strong men, also Elihu, and Semachiah.

8 All these were of the sons of Obededom; they and their sons and their brethren, full strong men for to serve, two and sixty of Obededom.

9 And of Meshelemiah were eighteen sons and brethren, full strong men.

10 And of Hosah, that is, of the sons of Merari, Simri was prince; and for he had no first begotten son, therefore his father ordained him into [a] prince;

11 and Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth; all these thirteen were the sons and brethren of Hosah.

12 These were parted into porters, that ever[more] the princes of [the] keepings, as also their brethren, should minister in the house of the Lord.

13 Therefore lots were sent, or cast, evenly, both to the little and to the great, by their meines, into each of the gates.

14 Therefore the lot of the east coast befelled to Shelemiah; and the north coast befelled by lot to Zechariah, his son, a full prudent man and well learned;

15 and to Obededom and to his sons lot fell at the south coast, in which part of the house was the council of the elder men;

16 Shuppim and Hosah were at the west coast, besides the Shallecheth gate that leadeth to the way of going up, keeping against keeping [or ward against ward].

17 And at the east part were six deacons [or Levites], and at the north were four by day; and at the south also were four at midday; and, where the council was, were twain and twain [or two and two].

18 And in the cells, either little houses, of [the] porters at the west side, were four in the way, and twain [or two] by the cells.

19 These were [the] partings of the porters, of the sons of Kore and of Merari.

20 And of the Levites, Ahijah was over the treasures [or treasuries] of the house of the Lord, and over [the] vessels of the holy things.

21 The sons of Laadan, the son of Gershon; of Laadan were the princes of the meines of Laadan, and of Ger-shon, and of Jehiel.

22 The sons of Jehiel were Zetham, and Joel, his brother, over the treasures [or treasuries] of the house of the Lord,

23 of Amramites, and Izharites, and Hebronites, and Uzzielites.

24 And Shebuel, the son of Gershom, son of Moses, was sovereign of the treasures [or treasuries];

25 and his brother, Eliezer; whose son was Rehabiah; and his son was Jeshaiah; and his son was Joram; and his son was Zichri; but and his son was Shelomith.

26 That Shelomith, and his brethren, were over the treasures [or treasuries] of the holy things, which David the king hallowed, and the princes of meines, and the tribunes, and the centurions, and the dukes of the host,

27 of the battles, and of the spoils of battles, which they hallowed to the reparation and appurtenance of the temple of the Lord.

28 And Samuel, the prophet, hallowed all these things, and Saul, the son of Kish, and Abner, the son of Ner, and Joab, the son of Zeruiah; and all these hallowed those things by the hand of Shelomith, and of his brethren.

29 And Chenaniah was sovereign, and his sons, to Izharites, to the works withoutforth on Israel, to teach and to deem them.

30 And of Hebronites, Hashabiah, and his brethren, full strong men, a thousand and seven hundred, were sovereigns upon Israel beyond Jordan against the west, in all the works of the Lord, and into the service of the king.

31 And Jerijah was prince of Hebron-ites, by their meines and kindreds. In the fortieth year of the realm of David there were numbered, and were found full strong men in Jazer of Gilead;

32 and his brethren, of stronger age, two thousand and seven hundred, princes of meines. And king David made them sovereigns of Reubenites, and Gadites, and of the half lineage of Manasseh, into all the service of God, and of the king.

CHAPTER 27

1 Forsooth the sons of Israel by their number, the princes of meines, the tribunes, and centurions, and prefects, that ministered to the king by their companies of knights, entering in and going out by each month in the year, were sovereigns, each by him-self, upon four and twenty thousand.

2 Jashobeam, the son of Zabdiel, was sovereign of the first company in the first month, and under him were four and twenty thousand;

3 of the sons of Perez, was the prince of all [the] princes in the host, in the first month.

4 Dodai Ahohite had the company of the second month, and after him-self he had another man, Mikloth by name, that governed a part of the host of four and twenty thousand.

5 And Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, was duke of the third company in the third month, and four and twenty thousand were in his parting;

6 that is Benaiah, the strongest man among thirty, and above thirty; and Ammizabad, his son, was sovereign of his company after him.

7 In the fourth month, the fourth prince was Asahel, the brother of Joab, and Zebadiah, his son, after him, and four and twenty thousand were in his company.

8 In the fifth month, the fifth prince was Shamhuth Izrahite, and four and twenty thousand were in his company.

9 In the sixth month, the sixth prince was Ira, the son of Ikkesh, Tekoite, and four and twenty thousand were in his company.

10 In the seventh month, the seventh prince was Helez the Pelonite, of the sons of Ephraim, [and] four and twenty thousand were in his company.

11 In the eighth month, the eighth prince was Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the generation of Zarhites or the sons of Zareh, and four and twenty thousand were in his company.

12 In the ninth month, the ninth prince was Abiezer the Anetothite, of the generation of Benjamin, and four and twenty thousand were in his company.

13 In the tenth month, the tenth prince was Maharai, and he was Netophath-ite, of the generation of Zarhites, and four and twenty thousand were in his company.

14 In the eleventh month, the eleventh prince was Benaiah the Pirathonite, of the sons of Ephraim, and four and twenty thousand were in his company.

15 In the twelfth month, the twelfth prince was Heldai the Netophathite, of the generation of Othniel, and four and twenty thousand were in his company.

16 Forsooth these were the sovereigns of the lineages of Israel; duke Eliezer, the son of Zichri, was sovereign to Reubenites; duke Shephatiah, the son of Maachah, was sovereign to Simeon-ites;

17 Hashabiah, the son of Kemuel, was sovereign to the Levites; Zadok was sovereign to Aaronites;

18 Elihu, the brother of David, was sovereign to the lineage of Judah; Omri, the son of Michael, was sov-ereign to Issacharites.

19 Ishmaiah, the son of Obadiah, was sovereign to Zebulunites; Jerimoth, the son of Azriel, was sovereign to Naphtalites;

20 Hoshea, the son of Azaziah, was sovereign to the sons of Ephraim; Joel, the son of Pedaiah, was sovereign to the half lineage of Manasseh;

21 and Iddo, the son of Zechariah, was sovereign to the other half lineage of Manasseh in Gilead; and Jaasiel, the son of Abner, was sovereign to Benjamin;

22 and Azareel, the son of Jeroham, was sovereign to Dan; these were the princes of the sons of Israel.

23 And David would not number them that were within twenty years, for the Lord [had] said, that he would multiply Israel as the stars of heaven.

24 Joab, the son of Zeruiah, began for to number Israel, but he fulfilled not; for ire of God fell upon Israel for this thing, and therefore the number of them that were numbered, was not told in the books of chronicles of king David.

25 Forsooth Azmaveth, the son of Adiel, was sovereign on the treasures [or treasuries] of the king; but Jehona-than, the son of Uzziah, was sovereign over these treasures [or treasuries], that were in cities, and in towns, and in towers.

26 And Ezri, the son of Chelub, was sovereign upon the work of husbandry, and upon [the] earth-tillers, that tilled the land;

27 and Shimei the Ramathite was sovereign upon [the] tillers of vineries; and Zabdi the Shiphmite was sovereign upon the wine cellars;

28 for Baalhanan the Gederite was sovereign[up] on the olive places, and the fig places, that were in the field places; and Joash was sovereign upon the shops, either cellars, of oil;

29 and Shitrai the Sharonite was sovereign upon the droves that were pastured in Sharon; and Shaphat, the son of Adlai, was over the oxen in valleys;

30 and Obil of Ishmael was over the camels; and Jehdeiah the Meronothite was over the asses;

31 and Jaziz the Hagerite was over the sheep; all these were princes of the chattel of king David.

32 And Jonathan, the brother of David’s father, was a counsellor, a mighty man, and prudent, and lettered; he and Jehiel, the son of Hachmoni, were with the sons of the king.

33 Also Ahithophel was a counsellor of the king; and Hushai the Archite was a friend of the king.

34 After Ahithophel was Jehoiada, the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar; but Joab was prince of the host of the king.

CHAPTER 28

1 Therefore David called together all the princes of Israel, the dukes of lineages, and the sovereigns of companies, that ministered to or served the king, also the tribunes, and centurions, and them that were sovereigns over the cattle, or chattel, and the possessions of the king, and his sons, with [the] eunuchs, and all the mighty and strong men in the host of Jerusalem.

2 And when the king had risen, and stood up, he said, My brethren and my people, hear ye me. I thought for to build an house, wherein the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, and the stool of the feet of our God, should rest; and I have made ready all things to build it.

3 But God said to me, Thou shalt not build an house to my name, for thou art a man warrior, and hast shed blood.

4 But the Lord God of Israel chose me of all the house of my father, that I should be king on Israel without end; for of Judah he hath chosen princes, soothly of the house of Judah, he hath chosen the house of my father, and of the sons of my father, it pleased him to choose me king on all Israel.

5 But also of my sons, for the Lord hath given to me many sons, he hath chosen Solomon, my son, that he should sit in the throne of the realm of the Lord on Israel.

6 And he said to me, Solomon, thy son, shall build mine house, and mine altars; for I have chosen him to me into a son, and I shall be to him into a father;

7 and I shall make steadfast his realm into without end, if he shall continue to do my behests and [my] dooms, as and today.

8 Now therefore before all the company of Israel, in the hearing of God, keep ye and seek ye all the commandments of your Lord God, that ye have in possession a good land, and that ye leave it to your sons after you into without end.

9 But thou, Solomon, my son, know [thou] the God of thy father, and serve thou him with perfect heart, and with a willful soul, or mind; for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and he understand-eth all the thoughts of souls; if thou seekest him, thou shalt find him; forsooth if thou forsakest him, he shall cast thee away without end.

10 Now therefore, for the Lord hath chosen thee, for to build the house of [the] saintuary, be thou comforted, and perform it.

11 And David gave to Solomon, his son, the describing, either the en-sample, of the porch of the temple, and of [the] cellars, and of the solar, and of [the]bed-closets in privy places, and of the house of propiti-ation, or of mercy doing, that is, of the holy of holy things, where the propitiatory was;

12 also and he gave him ensample of all things which he thought, of the large places, and of [the] chambers by compass, into the treasures [or treasuries] of the house of the Lord, and into the treasures [or treasuries] of [the] holy things,

13 and of the partings of [the] priests and deacons [or Levites], into all the works of the house of the Lord, and all [the] vessels of service of the temple of the Lord.

14 Of gold in weight by each vessel of service, and of silver, for [the] diversity of vessels, and of works;

15 but also to [the] golden candle-sticks, and to their lanterns, he gave gold, for the measure of each candle-stick, and of its lanterns; also and in [the] silveren candlesticks, and in their lanterns, he betook to them the weight of silver, for the diversity of measure of those.

16 And he gave gold into the board[s] of setting forth, for the diversity of measure, also and he gave silver into other silveren boards;

17 also to [the] fleshhooks, and vials, and to censers of purest gold; and to golden basins, for the manner of measure, he separated a weight into a basin and a basin; also and into silveren basins he separated diverse weight of silver.

18 And he gave most fine gold to the altar, wherein incense was burnt, that a likeness of the cart of cherubims, holding forth wings, and covering the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord, should be made thereof.

19 And David said, All things came written by the hand of the Lord to me, that I should understand all the works of the exemplar or ensampler.

20 And David said to Solomon, his son, Do thou manly, and be thou comforted, and make; dread thou not withoutforth, neither dread thou within; for my Lord God shall be with thee, and he shall not leave thee, neither he shall forsake thee, till thou perform all the work of the service of the house of the Lord.

21 Lo! the partings of priests and of deacons [or Levites], into all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, shall stand nigh [to] thee; and they be ready to do their service, and both the princes and the people know to do all thy commandments.

CHAPTER 29

1 And king David spake to all the church, God hath chosen Solomon, my son, yet a child and tender; forsooth the work is great, and a dwelling is not made ready to man, but to God.

2 Soothly I in all my mights have made ready the costs of the house of my God; gold to golden vessels, silver to silveren vessels, brass to brazen vessels, iron to iron vessels, and tree to treen vessels, onyx stones, and stones as of the colour of women’s ointment, and each precious stone of diverse colours, and marble of diverse colours, most plenteously.

3 And over these things, I give gold and silver into the temple of my God, which I have offered of my proper chattel [or mine own treasure] into the house of my God, besides these things which I have made ready into the holy house,

4 three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand of talents of silver most proved, to overgild the walls of the temple;

5 and for the works which be made by the hands of craftsmen, wherever gold is needful, of gold, and wherever silver is needful, of silver; and if any man offereth by his free will, [full-]fill he his hand today, and offer he that that he will to the Lord.

6 Therefore the princes of [the] meines, and the dukes of the lineages of Israel, and the tribunes, and the centurions, and the princes of the possessions of the king, promised to give thereto or to give gifts to the temple;

7 and they gave into the works of the house of the Lord, five thousand talents of gold, and ten thousand shillings; and ten thousand talents of silver, and eighteen thousand talents of brass, and an hundred thousand talents of iron.

8 And at whomever precious stones were found, they gave into the treasure or the treasury of the house of the Lord, by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite.

9 And the people was glad, when they promised avows [or vows] by their free will, for with all the heart they offered those [or them] to the Lord. But also king David was glad with great joy,

10 and he blessed the Lord before all the multitude, and said, Lord God of Israel, our father, thou art blessed from without beginning [and] into without end;

11 Lord, worthy doing is thine, that is, thy doing is worthy and great, and power, and glory, and victory, and praising is to thee; for all things that be in heaven and in earth be thine; Lord, the realm is thine, and thou art over all princes;

12 riches be thine, and glory is thine; thou art Lord of all; in thine hand is strength, and power, and in thine hand is greatness, and lordship of all.

13 Now therefore, our God, we ac-knowledge to thee, and we praise thy noble name.

14 Who am I, and who is my people, that we may promise all these things to thee? All things be thine, and we have given to thee those things, which we have taken of thine hand.

15 For we be pilgrims and comelings before thee, as all our fathers were; our days be as shadow on the earth, and there is no tarrying.

16 Our Lord God, all this plenty of diverse goods which we have made ready, that an house should be builded to thine holy name, is of thine hand; and all things be thine.

17 My God, I know, that thou provest hearts, and that thou lovest simpleness, that is, lowness, or meekness, of heart; wherefore in the simpleness of mine heart, I have offered gladly all these things; and I have seen with great joy thy people, which is found here, to offer gifts to thee.

18 Lord God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep thou without end this will of their hearts; and this mind dwell ever[more] into the worshipping of thee.

19 Also give thou to Solomon, my son, a perfect heart, that he keep thy behests, and thy witnessings, and thy ceremonies; and do all these things, and that he build the house, whose costs I have made ready.

20 Soothly David commanded to all the church, that is, all the people gathered together, Bless ye the Lord our God. And all the church, that is, the people, blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and they bowed them-selves, and worshipped God, and [then] afterward honoured the king.

21 And they offered slain sacrifices to the Lord, and they offered burnt sacrifices in the day pursuing [or following]; a thousand bulls, and a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their flowing [or liquor] sacrifices, and with all the custom, most plente-ously, into all Israel.

22 And they ate and drank before the Lord in that day, with great glad-ness. And they anointed the second time Solomon, the son of David; and they anointed him into prince to the Lord, and Zadok into bishop.

23 And Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord into king, for David, his father; and it pleased all men, and all Israel obeyed to him.

24 But also all [the] princes, and mighty men, and all the sons of king David, gave hand, that is, swearing or steadfastly promising to be faithful, and were subject to Solomon the king.

25 Therefore the Lord magnified, or made great, Solomon upon all Israel, and gave to him glory of the realm, what manner glory no king of Israel had before him.

26 And David, the son of Jesse, reigned upon all Israel;

27 and the days in which he reigned upon Israel were forty years; in Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned three and thirty years.

28 And he died in [a] good eld age, and was full of days, and riches, and glory; and Solomon, his son, reigned for him.

29 Forsooth the former and the last deeds of king David, be written in the book of Samuel, the prophet, and in the book of Nathan, the prophet, and in the book of Gad, the prophet;

30 and of all his realm, and strength, and times, that passed under him, either in Israel, either in all realms of lands.

* CHAPTER 3:10 Also known as Joram.

† CHAPTER 3:12 Original text confused in these phrases.

‡ CHAPTER 3:16 Also known as Jehoiachin and Coniah.

* CHAPTER 4:18 Verses 17 & 18, as found in the original text, and presented above unchanged, are a confused rendering (as they are also in the KJV). A better ordering of these phrases would be: 17 And the sons of Ezra were Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon. And the children of Mered and Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took for a wife; were Miriam, and Shammai, and Ishbah, the founder of Eshtemoa. 18 And Mered’s Jewish wife or his wife from the lineage or tribe of Judah bare Jered the founder of Gedor, and Heber the founder of Soco, and Jekuthiel the founder of Zanoah.

* CHAPTER 5:26 Yea, ‘the spirit’, that is, will to fight against the children of Israel.

* CHAPTER 6:1 Also spelled ‘Gershom’ in Chapter 6 in other translations.

* CHAPTER 7:14 Here the Hebrew text speaks of ‘an Aramean’, that is, ‘a citizen of Aram’. In Wycliffe’s time, ‘Aram’ was also called ‘Syria’. And so the translators mistakenly made the 1st person name, ‘Sira’.

* CHAPTER 8:16 Because of more accurate punctuation, verses 16E-26E are taken from the “Early Version” of the “Wycliffe Bible”; there are no major wording differences with the same verses of the “Later Version”.

* CHAPTER 11:14 The third member of The Three mighty men was Shammah, the son of Agee, from Harar (2nd Samuel 23:11).

* CHAPTER 18:3 Also known as Hadarezer.

* CHAPTER 19:18 For there were seven hundred of chariots, as it says in thesecond bookofKings, 10th Chapter (that is, in2nd Samuel, Chapter 10), and in each chariot were 10 men, and these make seven thousand men fighting in chariots.

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2ND CHRONICLES

CHAPTER 1

1 Therefore Solomon, the son of David, was comforted in his realm, and the Lord was with him, and magnified him on high.

2 And Solomon commanded to all Israel, to tribunes, and centurions, and to dukes, and to doomsmen of all Israel, and to the princes of meines;

3 and Solomon went with all the multitude into the high place of Gibeon, where the tabernacle of [the] bond of peace of the Lord was, which tabernacle Moses, the servant of the Lord, made in wilderness.

4 Forsooth David had brought the ark of God from Kiriathjearim into the place which he had made ready to it, and where he had set a tabernacle to it, that is, in Jerusalem.

5 And the brazen altar, which Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of the Lord; which also Solomon and all the church sought.

6 And Solomon went up to the brazen altar, before the tabernacle of the bond of peace of the Lord, and offered in it a thousand sacrifices.

7 Lo! forsooth in that night God appeared to him, and said, Ask that that thou wilt, that I give to thee.

8 And Solomon said to God, Thou hast done great mercy with David, my father, and hast ordained me king for him.

9 Now therefore, Lord God, thy word be fulfilled, which thou promisedest to David, my father; for thou hast made me king upon thy great people, which is so unnumberable as the dust of [the] earth.

10 Give thou to me wisdom and understanding, that I go in and go out before thy people; for who may deem worthily this thy people, which is so great?

11 And God said to Solomon, For that this thing pleased more thine heart, and thou askedest not riches, and chattel, and glory, neither the lives of them that hate thee, but neither full many days of thy life; but thou hast asked for wisdom and knowing, that thou mayest deem my people, upon which I have ordained thee king,

12 wisdom and knowing be given to thee; and over this, I shall give to thee riches, and chattel, and glory, so that none among kings, neither before thee, nor after thee, be like thee.

13 Then Solomon came from the high place of Gibeon into Jerusalem, before the tabernacle of the bond of peace, and he reigned upon Israel.

14 And Solomon gathered together to him chariots and knights, and a thousand and four hundred chariots were made to him, and twelve thousand knights; and he made them to be in the cities of carts, and with the king in Jerusalem.

15 And the king gave in Jerusalem gold and silver as stones in plenty, and he gave cedar trees as sycamores, that come forth in field places in great multitude.

16 And horses were brought to him from Egypt, and from Coa, by the merchants of the king, which went, and bought by price,

17 a chariot of horses for six hundred pieces of silver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty. In like manner buying was made of all the realms of cities, and of the kings of Syria.

CHAPTER 2

1 Forsooth Solomon deemed, or purposed, to build an house to the name of the Lord, and a palace to himself.

2 And he numbered seventy thousand of men bearing burdens in shoulders, and fourscore thousand that should cut, or hew, stones in hills; and the sovereigns of them were three thousand and six hundred.

3 And Solomon sent to Hiram*, the king of Tyre, and said, As thou didest with my father David, and sentest him trees of cedar, that he should build to him an house, in which also he dwelled; so do thou with me,

4 that I build an house to the name of the Lord my God, and that I hallow it, to burn incense before him, and to make odour of sweet smelling spiceries, and to [the] everlasting setting forth of loaves, and to [the] burnt sacrifices in the morrowtide and eventide, and in [the] sabbaths, and new moons, that is, feasts in the beginnings of months, and in solemnities of the Lord our God into without end, which observ-ances and hallowings be commanded to Israel.

5 For the house which I covet to build is great; forsooth the Lord our God is great over all gods.

6 Who therefore may have might to build a worthy house to him? For if heaven and heavens of heavens may not take, or hold, him, how great am I, that I may build an house to him, but to this thing only, that incense be burnt there before him?

7 Therefore send thou to me a learned man, that can work in gold, and in silver, in brass, and iron, in purple, and in red silk, and in jacinth; and that can engrave engraving with these craftsmen, which I have with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, the which men David, my father, before made ready.

8 But also send thou to me cedar trees, and pine trees, and thyine trees of the Lebanon; for I know, that thy servants can cut trees of the Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants,

9 that full many trees be made ready to me; for the house which I covet to build is full great and noble.

10 Furthermore to thy servants, work-men that shall cut trees, I shall give into meats twenty thousand cors of wheat, and so many cors of barley, and twenty thousand measures of oil, that be called baths.

11 And Hiram, king of Tyre, said by letters which he sent to Solomon, For the Lord [hath] loved his people, there-fore he hath made thee to reign upon it.

12 And Hiram added to, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, which hath given to king David a wise son, and learned, and witting, and prudent, that he should build an house to the Lord, and a palace to himself.

13 Therefore I have sent to thee a prudent man and most knowing, Hiram†, my father,

14 the son of a woman of the lineage of Dan, whose father was a man of Tyre; the which Hiram can work in gold, and silver, in brass, and in iron, and in marble, and in trees, also in purple, and jacinth, and bis, and in red silk; and the which Hiram can engrave in all engraving, and can find prudently, whatever thing is needful in work with thy craftsmen, and with the craftsmen of my lord David, thy father.

15 Therefore, my lord, send thou to thy servants the wheat, and barley, and oil, and wine, which thou hast promised.

16 And we shall cut down trees of the Lebanon, how many ever thou hast need of; and we shall bring those trees in ships by the sea into Joppa; and it shall be thine doing to lead those [or them] over into Jerusalem.

17 Then Solomon numbered all men converted from heathenness, that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering that David, his father, had numbered; and an hundred thousand and three and fifty thousand and six hundred were found of them.

18 And he made of them seventy thousand, that should bear burdens on their shoulders, and fourscore thousand, that should cut, or hew, stones in hills; and he made three thousand and six hundred sovereigns of [the] works of the people.

CHAPTER 3

1 And Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, in the hill of Moriah, that was showed to David, his father, in the place that David had made ready in the corn-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

2 Forsooth he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his realm.

3 And these were the foundaments, which Solomon setted [or laid], that he should build the house of God; sixty cubits of length in the first measure, and twenty cubits of breadth.

4 And he builded a porch before the front, that was stretched forth along beside or at the measure of the breadth of the house, of twenty cubits, and the highness was of an hundred and twenty cubits; and he overgilded it within with cleanest gold.

5 Also he covered the greater house with boards of box wood, and he fastened plates of gold of the best colour all about; and he engraved therein palm trees, and as small chains embracing themselves together.

6 And he arrayed the pavement of the temple with most precious marble, in much fairness. And the gold was most proved,

7 of whose plates he covered the house, and the beams thereof, and the posts, and the walls, and the doors; and he graved cherubims, that is, angels, in the walls.

8 Also he made an house to the holy of holy things, in length by the breadth of the house, of twenty cubits, and the breadth also of twenty cubits; and he covered it with golden plates, as with six hundred talents in value.

9 And also he made golden nails, so that each nail weighed fifty shekels; and he covered the solars with gold.

10 Also he made in the house of the holy of holy things, two cherubims [or cherubim] by the work of an image maker, and covered them with gold.

11 The wings of cherubims [or cher-ubim] were holden forth by twenty cubits, so that one wing had five cubits, and it touched the wall of the house; and the tother wing had five cubits, and it touched the wing of the other cherub.

12 In like manner the one wing of the other cherub had five cubits, and it touched the wall, and the other wing thereof that was of five cubits, touched the wing of the other cherub.

13 Therefore the wings of ever either cherub were spread abroad, and they were holden forth by twenty cubits; and those cherubims stood upon [the] feet raised up, and their faces were turned to the outermore house.

14 Also he made a veil of jacinth, and purple, of red silk, and bis; and weaved cherubims [or cherubim] therein.

15 Also before the gates of the temple he made two pillars, which had five and thirty cubits of height; and the heads of those pillars were of five cubits in height.

16 Also he made as it were little chains in God’s answering place, and he putted them on the heads of the pillars; also he made an hundred pomegranates, which he setted [or put] betwixt the little chains.

17 And he setted [or put] those pillars in the porch of the temple, one at the right side, and the other at the left side; he called that pillar that was at the right side Jachin, and that that was at the left side he called Boaz.

CHAPTER 4

1 Also he made a brazen altar of twenty cubits of length, and of twenty cubits of breadth, and of ten cubits of height;

2 he made also a molten sea, that is, a great washing vessel for priests, of ten cubits from brink to brink, round by compass; it had five cubits of height; and a cord of thirty cubits encompassed the compass thereof.

3 And the likeness of oxen was under it, and by ten cubits some engravings withoutforth encompassed the brink of the sea, as with twain [or two] orders; and the oxen were molten.

4 And that sea was set upon twelve oxen, of which oxen three beheld to the north, and other three to the west, and three others beheld to the south, and [the] three that were residue beheld the east, and these had the sea set above them; but the hinder parts of the oxen were within under the sea.

5 And the thickness of the sea had the measure of the palm of an hand, and the brink thereof was as the brink of a cup, either as of a lily crooked again, and the sea held three thousand metretes of measure.

6 Also he made ten hollow vessels, and setted [or put] five at the right side, and five at the left side, that they should wash in those [or them] all things, which they should offer into burnt sacrifice; soothly the priests were washed in the sea.

7 Soothly he made ten golden candle-sticks by the likeness which he had commanded to be made, and he setted those [or put them] in the temple, five at the right side, and five at the left side.

8 And he made also ten tables, and he setted those [or put them] in the temple, five at the right side, and five at the left side. Also he made an hundred golden vials, or basins.

9 Also he made a large place of priests, and a great house, and [the] doors in the great house, which he covered with brass.

10 And he setted [or put] the sea in the right side of the porch against the east at the south.

11 Also Hiram made cauldrons, and fleshhooks, and vials, or basins, and he fulfilled all the work of the king in the house of God,

12 that is, he made two pillars, and their pommels or capitals, and heads, and as some nets, that covered the heads above the pommels;

13 also he made forty pomegranates, and two works like nets, so that the two orders of pomegranates were joined to each work like nets, which covered the pommels, and the heads of the pillars.

14 He made also foundaments, and hollow vessels, which he set upon the foundaments or bases;

15 he made one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea,

16 and cauldrons, and fleshhooks, and vials, or basins. Hiram, the father of Solomon, that is, called so for reason of age, either of excellence of craft, made to him all the vessels in the house of the Lord of cleanest brass.

17 The king melted out those vessels in the country of Jordan, in [the] clay land between Succoth and Zeredathah.

18 Forsooth the multitude of vessels was unnumberable, so that the weight of brass was not known.

19 And Solomon made all the vessels of God’s house, the golden altar, and boards or meat tables, and the loaves of setting forth upon those [or them];

20 and candlesticks of purest gold, with their lanterns, that those [or they] should shine before God’s answering place, by the custom;

21 and he made some works like flowers, and lanterns, and golden tongs; all these things were made of cleanest gold;

22 also he made pans for coals to burn incense, and censers, and vials, or basins, and mortars, of purest gold. And he engraved the doors of the inner temple, that is, in the holy of holy things, and the golden doors of the temple withoutforth;

CHAPTER 5

1 and so all the work was [ful] filled that Solomon made in the house of the Lord. Therefore Solomon brought in all things, that is, silver, and gold, which David, his father had avowed [or vowed]; and he putted [or put] all the vessels in the treasuries of the house of the Lord.

2 After which things he gathered together all the greater men in birth of Israel, and all the princes of lineages of tribes, and the heads of meines, of the sons of Israel, into Jerusalem, that they should bring the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord from the city of David, which is Zion.

3 Therefore all [the] men of Israel came to the king, in the solemn day of the seventh month.

4 And when all the elder men of Israel came, the deacons [or Levites] bare the ark,

5 and they brought it, and all the array of the tabernacle, into the temple. And the priests with the deacons [or Levites] bare the vessels of the saintuary, that were in the tabernacle.

6 And king Solomon, and all the companies of Israel, and all that were gathered together, offered before the ark wethers and oxen without number; for the multitude of slain sacrifices was so great that it might not be numbered.

7 And [the] priests brought the ark of [the] bond of peace of the Lord into the place thereof, that is, to God’s answering place of the temple, into the holy of holy things, under the wings of cherubims [or cherubim];

8 so that cherubims [or cherubim] spreaded forth their wings over the place, in which the ark was put, and covered that ark with his bearing bars.

9 Soothly the heads, or pommels, of the bars, with which the ark was borne, were open, or uncovered, before God’s answering place, for those heads were a little longer than the stretching out of cherubs’ wings; but if a man had been a little without-forth, he might not see those bearing bars. Therefore the ark was there till into the present day;

10 and there was none other thing in the ark, but [the] two tables, which Moses had put therein in Horeb, when the Lord gave the law to the sons of Israel going out of Egypt.

11 And after this the priests went out of the saintuary, for all the priests, that might be found there, were hallowed, and the whiles, or certain times, and the order of services among priests, was not parted yet in that time;

12 and both deacons [or Levites] and singers, that is, both they that were under Asaph, and they that were under Heman, and they that were under Jeduthun, their sons and brethren, clothed with white linen clothes, sounded with cymbals and psalteries and harps, and stood at the west coast, or corner, of the altar, and with them were sixscore priests trumping.

13 Therefore when they all sang together, both with trumps, and voice, and cymbals, and organs, and of diverse kinds of musics, and they raised [up] their voice on high, the sound was heard [a] far, so that when they had begun to praise the Lord, and to say, Acknowledge ye to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is into the world, either without end; the house of God was filled with a cloud,

14 and the priests might not stand to serve for the darkness; for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.

CHAPTER 6

1 Then Solomon said, The Lord promised, that he would dwell in [the] darkness;

2 and I have built an house to his name, that he should dwell therein without end.

3 And Solomon turned his face, and blessed all the multitude of Israel; for all the company stood attentive;

4 and he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath fulfilled in work that thing, that he spake to David, my father, and said,

5 From the day in which I led my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose not a city of all the lineages of Israel, that an house should be builded therein to my name, neither I chose any other man, that he should be duke upon my people Israel;

6 but I chose Jerusalem, that my name be therein, and I chose David, to ordain him upon my people Israel.

7 And when it was of the will of David, my father, to build an house to the name of the Lord God of Israel,

8 the Lord said to him, For this was thy will, to build an house to my name, soothly thou didest well, having such a will,

9 but yet thou shalt not build an house to me; nevertheless the son, that shall go out of thy loins, he shall build an house to my name.

10 Therefore the Lord hath fulfilled his word, that he spake; and I rose up for David, my father, and I sat on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spake, and I have builded an house to the name of the Lord God of Israel;

11 and I have put therein the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which he covenanted with the sons of Israel.

12 Therefore Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord even against all the multitude of Israel, and stretched forth his hands.

13 For Solomon had made a brazen foundament, and had set [or put] it in the midst of the great house, and it had five cubits of length, and five cubits of breadth, and three cubits of height, and he stood there upon [it]; and from that time he kneeled against all the multitude of Israel, and he raised up his hands into heaven,

14 and said, Lord God of Israel, none is like thee; thou art God in heaven, and in earth, which keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants, that go before thee in all their heart;

15 thou hast given to David thy servant, my father, whatever thing thou hast spoken, or promised, to him; and thou hast fulfilled in work those things, which thou promisedest by mouth, as also this present time proveth.

16 Now therefore, Lord God of Israel, fulfill thou to thy servant, my father David, whatever things thou hast spoken, saying, A man of thee shall not fail before me, that shall sit upon the throne of Israel; so nevertheless if thy sons keep my ways, and go in my law, as and thou hast gone before me.

17 And now, Lord God of Israel, thy word be made steadfast, which thou spakest to thy servant David.

18 Therefore whether it is believeful, that the Lord dwell with men on earth? If heaven and the heavens of heavens may not take, either may not hold thee, Lord, how much more this house, which I have builded?

19 But hereto only it is made, that thou, my Lord God, behold there the prayer of thy servant, and the beseeching of him, and that thou hear the prayers, which thy servant poureth [out] before thee;

20 that thou open thine eyes upon this house by days and nights, upon the place in which thou promisedest, that thy name should be in-called, and that thou wouldest hear the prayer, which thy servant prayeth therein.

21 Hear thou the prayers of thy servant, and of thy people Israel; who-ever prayeth in this place, hear thou from thy dwelling place, that is, from heaven, and do thou mercy to him.

22 If any man sinneth against his neighbour, and cometh ready to swear against him, and bindeth himself with cursing before the altar in this house,

23 thou shalt hear from heaven, and shalt do the doom of thy servants; so that thou yield to the wicked man his way into his own head, and that thou avenge the just [or rightwise] man, and yield to him after his rightwiseness.

24 If thy people Israel is overcome of enemies, for they shall do sin against thee, and if they converted do penance, and beseech thy name, and pray in this place,

25 thou shalt hear from heaven, and do thou mercy to the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again into the land, which thou hast given to them, and to their fathers.

26 If when heaven is closed, rain come not down for the sin of thy people, and they beseech thee in this place, and acknowledge to thy name, and be turned from their sins, when thou hast tormented them,

27 hear thou, Lord, from heaven, and forgive thou the sins to thy servants, and to thy people Israel, and teach thou them a good way, by which they shall enter, and give thou rain to the land, which thou hast given to thy people to have in possession.

28 If that hunger riseth in the land, and pestilence, and rust, and wind destroying corns, or crops, and if that a locust, and a bruchus cometh; and if enemies besiege the gates of the city, after that the countries be destroyed; and if in any manner vengeance and sickness oppresseth thy people;

29 if any of thy people Israel beseech-eth, and knoweth his vengeance, that is, his sin wherefore he hath deserved vengeance, and sickness, and if he spreadeth abroad his hands in this house,

30 thou shalt hear from heaven, that is, from thine high dwelling place, and do thou mercy, and yield thou to each man after his ways, which thou knowest, that he hath in his heart; for thou alone knowest the hearts of the sons of men;

31 that they dread thee, and go in thy ways in all days, in which they live on the face of [the] earth, which thou hast given to our fathers.

32 Also thou shalt hear from heaven, thy most steadfast dwelling place, a stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, if he cometh from a far land for thy great name, and for thy strong hand, and thine arm stretched forth, and prayeth in this place;

33 and thou shalt do all things, for which that pilgrim inwardly calleth thee, that all the people of earth know thy name, and dread thee, as thy people Israel doeth; and that they know, that thy name is called on this house, which I have builded to thy name.

34 If thy people goeth out to battle against his adversaries, by the way in which thou sendest them, they shall worship thee against the way in which this city is set, which thou hast chosen, and the house which I [have] builded to thy name,

35 that thou hear from heaven their prayers and their beseeching, and do thou vengeance to their adversaries.

36 And if they sin against thee, for no man is alive that sinneth not, and if thou art wroth with them, and betakest them to their enemies; and enemies lead them prisoners into a far land, either certainly which land is nigh;

37 and if they be converted in their heart in the land, to which they be led prisoners, and they do penance, and beseech thee in the land of their captivity, and say, We have sinned, we have done wickedly, we did unjustly;

38 and if they turn again to thee in all their heart, and in all their soul, in the land of their captivity, to which they be led, and if they shall worship thee against the way of their land, which thou hast given to the fathers of them, and against the way of the city which thou hast chosen, and of the house which I [have] builded to thy name;

39 that thou hear from heaven, that is, from thy steadfast dwelling place, the prayers of them, and that thou make doom, and forgive to thy people, though they be sinful;

40 for thou art my God; I beseech thee, be thine eyes opened, and thine ears be attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

41 Now therefore, Lord God, rise up into thy rest, thou and the ark of thy strength; Lord God, thy priests be clothed with health, and thy holy men be glad in good things.

42 Lord God, turn thou not away the face of thy christ or thine anointed; have thou mind on the mercies of David thy servant.

CHAPTER 7

1 And when Solomon shedding out his prayers had full ended them, fire came down from heaven, and it devoured the burnt sacrifices, and the slain sacrifices; and the majesty, or shining, of the Lord full-filled the house.

2 And the priests might not enter into the temple of the Lord; for the mighty shining of the Lord had full-filled the temple of the Lord.

3 But also all the sons of Israel saw fire coming down, and the glory of the Lord upon the house, and they felled down low to the earth, upon the pavement arrayed, or paved, with stone, and they worshipped, and praised the Lord, For he is good, for his mercy is into the world.

4 And the king and all the people offered slain sacrifices before the Lord.

5 Therefore king Solomon killed sacrifices of oxen two and twenty thousand, of wethers sixscore thou-sand; and the king and all the people hallowed the house of God.

6 And the priests stood in their offices, and [the] deacons [or Levites] in organs of songs of the Lord, which king David made to praise the Lord, For his mercy is into the world; and they sang the hymns of David by their hands in organs and other instruments; and the priests sang with trumps before them, and all the people of Israel stood.

7 Therefore Solomon hallowed the middle of the large place before the temple of the Lord; for he had offered there burnt sacrifices, and the inner fatnesses of peaceable sacrifices, for the brazen altar which he had made might not sustain, or hold, the burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, and inner fatnesses of peaceable sacrifices.

8 Therefore Solomon made a solem-nity in that time in seven days, and all Israel with him, a full great church, or congregation, from the entering of Hamath unto the strand [or stream] of Egypt.

9 And in the eighth day he made a gathering of money, that is, for necessaries of the temple, for he had hallowed the altar in seven days, and had made [the] solemnity in seven more days.

10 Therefore in the three and twenti-eth day of the seventh month, he let the peoples go to their tabernacles, joying and gladding upon the good-ness that God had done to David, and to Solomon, and to his people Israel.

11 And Solomon performed or finish-ed the house of the Lord, and the house of the king, and all things which he had disposed in his heart for to do in the house of the Lord, and in his own house; and he had prosperity.

12 Forsooth the Lord appeared to him in the night, and said, I have heard thy prayer, and I have chosen this place to me into an house of sacrifice.

13 If I close heaven, and rain cometh not down, and if I send, and command to the locust, that he devour the land, and if I send pestilence into my people;

14 forsooth if my people is converted, on which my name is called, and if it beseecheth me, and seeketh my face, and doeth penance of his full evil ways, then I shall hear from heaven, and I shall be merciful to the sins of them, and I shall heal the land of them.

15 And mine eyes shall be opened, and mine ears shall be raised up to the prayer of him, that prayeth in this place;

16 for I have chosen, and hallowed this place, that my name be there without end, and that mine eyes and mine heart dwell there in all days.

17 Also if thou goest before me, as David thy father went, and doest by all those things which I commanded to thee, and keepest my rightfulnesses and my dooms,

18 I shall raise up the throne of thy realm, as I promised to David thy father, and said, A man of thy gener-ation shall not be taken away, that shall be prince in Israel.

19 But if ye turn away, and forsake my rightfulnesses and my commandments, which I have set forth to you, and ye go, and serve alien gods, and worship them,

20 I shall draw you away from my land, which I gave to you, and I shall cast away from my face this house which I have builded to my name, and I shall give it into a parable, and into ensample to all peoples.

21 And this house shall be into a proverb to all men passing forth; and they shall say, wondering in them-selves, Why did the Lord so to this land, and to this house?

22 And they shall answer, For they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, that led them out of the land of Egypt, and they took alien gods, and worship-ped [them], and praised them; there-fore all these evils came upon them.

CHAPTER 8

1 Forsooth when twenty years were [ful] filled, after that Solomon had builded the house of the Lord, and his own house,

2 he builded the cities, which Hiram* had given to Solomon; and he made the sons of Israel to dwell there.

3 Also he went into Hamath of Zobah, and got it.

4 And he builded Palmyra in desert, and he builded other full strong cities in Hamath.

5 And he builded the higher Beth-horon and the lower Bethhoron, walled cities, having gates, and locks, and bars;

6 also he builded Baalath, and all the strong cities that were of Solomon; and all the cities of carts, and the cities of knights, king Solomon builded, and disposed all things, whichever he would, in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his power.

7 And Solomon made subject into tributaries till into this day all the people that was left of Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, that were not of the generations of Israel,

8 and of the sons of them, and of the after-comers of them, which the sons of Israel had not slain.

9 For of the sons of Israel Solomon set not, that they should serve the works of the king; for they were men warriors, and the first, or chief, dukes, and princes of his chariots, and of his knights;

10 and all the princes of the host of king Solomon were two hundred and fifty, that taught, or ruled, the people.

11 And Solomon translated or brought over the daughter of Pharaoh from the city of David into an house, that he had builded to her; for the king said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, for it is hallowed, for the ark of the Lord entered into that house.

12 Then Solomon offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had builded before the porch,

13 that by all days offering should be offered in it, by the commandment of Moses, in sabbaths, and in calends, and in feast days, thrice by the year, that is, in the solemnity of therf loaves, and in the solemnity of weeks, and in the solemnity of tabernacles.

14 And he ordained by the ordinance of David, his father, the offices of priests in their services, and the deacons [or Levites] in their order, that they should praise and minister before [the] priests by the custom of each day; and he ordained[the] porters in their partings by gate and gate. For David, the man of God, had commanded so;

15 and both priests and deacons [or Levites] passed not from the command-ments of the king of all things which he had commanded.

16 And Solomon had all [the] costs, or dispenses, or expenses, made ready in the keepings of [the] treasuries, from that day in which he founded the house of the Lord, till into the day in which he performed it.

17 Then Solomon went into Ezion-geber, and into Elath, at the brink of the Red Sea, which is in the land of Edom.

18 Therefore Hiram sent to him, by the hands of his servants, ships, and shipmen knowing of the sea, and they went with the servants of Solomon into Ophir, and they took from thence four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and they brought it to king Solomon.

CHAPTER 9

1 And the queen of Sheba, when she had heard of the fame of Solomon, came into Jerusalem for to assay him in dark figures*, or likenesses, with great riches, and camels, that bare sweet smelling spices, and full much of gold, and precious gems, either pearls. And when she was come to Solomon, she spake to him whatever things were in her heart.

2 And Solomon expounded to her on all things which she had put forth to him, and nothing was, that he made not open, or known, to her.

3 And after that she saw these things, that is, the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had builded,

4 also and the meats of his board, and the dwelling places of his servants, and the offices of his ministers, and the clothes of them, and the butlers, and their clothes, and the sacrifices which he offered in the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her for wondering, for these things passed her understanding.

5 And she said to the king, The word is true, which I heard in my land, of thy virtue, and [of thy] wisdom;

6 I believed not to [the] tellers, till I myself had come, and mine eyes had seen, and I had proved that scarcely the half of thy wisdom was told to me; thou hast overcome, or surpassed, the fame by thy virtues.

7 Blessed be thy men, and blessed be thy servants, these that stand before thee in all time, and hear thy wisdom.

8 Blessed be the Lord God, that would ordain thee on his throne king of the people of the Lord thy God; truly for God loveth Israel, and will save him without end, therefore he hath set thee king upon him, that thou do dooms and rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

9 And she gave to the king sixscore talents of gold, and full many sweet smelling spices, and most precious gems; there were not such sweet smelling spices, as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

10 But also the servants of Hiram†, with the servants of Solomon, brought gold from Ophir, and trees of thyine, and most precious gems;

11 of which, that is, of the thyine trees, the king made degrees in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king, and also he made harps, and psalteries to singers; such trees were never seen in the land of Judah.

12 And [king] Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all things which she would or desired, and which she asked for, many more than she had brought to him. And she turned again, and went into her land with her servants.

13 And the weight of gold, that was brought to Solomon by each year, was six hundred and six and sixty talents of gold,

14 besides that sum which the legates of diverse folks, and merchants were wont to bring, and all the kings of Arabia, and the princes of lands, which brought together gold and silver to Solomon.

15 Therefore king Solomon made two hundred golden spears of the sum of six hundred florins, either pieces of gold, that were spended in each spear;

16 and he made three hundred golden shields of three hundred florins of gold, with which each shield was covered; and the king putted those [or put them] in the armoury place, that was set in the woods.

17 Also the king made a great seat, or throne, of ivory, and he covered it with most clean gold;

18 and he made six degrees by which men went up to the seat, and a golden stool, and twain [or two] arms, one against the tother, and two lions standing beside the arms;

19 but also he made twelve little lions standing upon [the] six degrees on ever either side of the throne. Such a throne was not in all realms, that is, in none of all the realms of the world.

20 And all the vessels of the feast of the king were of gold, and the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were made of most pure gold; for silver in those days was areckoned for nought.

21 For also the ships of the king went into Tarshish with the servants of Hiram once in three years, and they brought from thence gold, and silver, and ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

22 And king Solomon was magnified over all [the] kings of the earth for his riches and glory.

23 And all the kings of lands desired to see the face of Solomon, for to hear the wisdom that God had given in his heart;

24 and they brought to him gifts, vessels of silver and of gold, clothes, and armours [or arms], and sweet smelling spices, horses and mules, by each year.

25 And Solomon had forty thousand of horses in stables, and twelve thousand of chariots and of knights; and he ordained them in the cities of chariots, and where the king was in Jerusalem.

26 Forsooth he used power on all the kings, from the flood of Euphrates unto the land of Philistines, and unto the terms of Egypt.

27 And he gave so great plenty of silver in Jerusalem, as of stones, and so great multitude of cedar trees, as of sycamores that grow in field places.

28 And horses were brought to Solomon from Egypt, and from all countries.

29 Soothly the residue of the former works and the last of Solomon, be written in the words of Nathan, the prophet, and in the words of Ahijah of Shiloh, and in the vision, either prophecy, of Iddo, the prophet, against Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

30 Soothly Solomon reigned in Jerusalem on all Israel forty years,

31 and he slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David, and Rehoboam, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 10

1 Forsooth Rehoboam went forth into Shechem; for all Israel came together thither to make him king.

2 And when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that was in Egypt, for he fled thither from before Solomon, had heard this, he turned again anon.

3 And they called him, and he came with all Israel, and they spake to Rehoboam, and said,

4 Thy father oppressed us with a full hard yoke; command thou lighter things on us than thy father, the which set upon us a grievous servage; and release thou a little of our burden, that we serve thee.

5 And he said, After three days turn ye again to me. And when the people was gone [away],

6 he took counsel with [the] eld [or old] men, that stood before his father Solomon, while he lived yet, and said, What counsel give ye, that I answer to the people?

7 And they said to him, If thou pleasest this people, and makest them soft, or quietest them, by meek words, they shall serve thee in all time.

8 And he forsook the counsel of the eld [or old] men, and began to treat this in thought with young men, that were nourished with him, and were in his company.

9 And he said to them, What seemeth to you? either what thing owe I answer to this people, that said to me, Release thou the yoke, that thy father hath put upon us?

10 And they answered, as young men, and nourished with him in delights, and said, Thus thou shalt speak to the people that said to thee, Thy father made grievous our yoke, release thou it; and thus thou shalt answer to them, My least finger is greater than the loins of my father;

11 my father put upon you a grievous yoke, and I shall lay to you a greater burden; my father beat you with scourges, but I shall beat you with scorpions, that is, hard-knotted ropes.

12 And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam in the third day, as he had commanded to them.

13 And the king answered hard things, after that he had forsaken the counsel of the elder men,

14 and he spake by the will of the young men, My father putted [or put] on you a grievous yoke, which I shall make grievouser; my father beat you with scourges, soothly I shall beat you with scorpions.

15 And Rehoboam assented not to the prayers of the people; for it was the will of God, that his word should be [ful] filled, which he had spoken by the hand of Ahijah of Shiloh to Jero-boam, the son of Nebat.

16 And when the king had said these harder things, all the people spake thus to him, No part be to us in David, neither heritage in the son of Jesse; Israel, turn thou again into thy tabernacles; and thou, David, feed thine own house. And Israel went into his tabernacles.

17 And Rehoboam reigned upon the sons of Israel, that dwelled in the cities of Judah.

18 And king Rehoboam sent Hador-am, that was sovereign over the tributes; and the sons of Israel stoned him, and he was dead. And king Rehoboam hasted him to go up into his chariot, and fled into Jerusalem.

19 And Israel went away from the house of David unto this day.

CHAPTER 11

1 Forsooth Rehoboam came into Jerusalem, and he called together all the house of Judah and of Benjamin, unto ninescore thousand of chosen men and warriors, for to fight against Israel, and for to turn again his realm to him.

2 And the word of the Lord was made to Shemaiah, the man of God, and said,

3 Speak thou to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel, which is in Judah and Benjamin;

4 The Lord saith these things, Ye shall not go up, neither ye shall fight against your brethren; each man turn again to his house, for this thing is done by my will. And when they had heard the word of the Lord, they turned again, and went not against king Jeroboam.

5 And Rehoboam dwelled in Jeru-salem, and he builded walled cities in Judah;

6 and he builded Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa,

7 and Bethzur; and Shoco, and Adullam;

8 also and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph;

9 but also Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah;

10 and Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which were in Judah and Benjamin, full strong cities.

11 And when he had enclosed those [or them] with walls, he set [or put] princes in them, and barns of meats, that is, of oil, and of wine.

12 But also in each city he made places of armours of shields, and spears, and he made those [or them] strong with most diligence; and he reigned on Judah and Benjamin.

13 And the priests and the deacons [or Levites], that were in all Israel, came to Rehoboam from all their cities,

14 and they forsook their suburbs and their possessions, and they passed into Judah and to Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his after-comers had cast them away, that they should not be set in the priesthood of the Lord;

15 the which Jeroboam made to him-[self] priests of high places, and of fiends, and of calves, which he had made.

16 But also of all the lineages of Israel, whichever gave their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel, they came to Jerusalem for to offer their sacrifices before the Lord God of their fathers.

17 And they strengthened the realm of Judah, and strengthened Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, by three years; for they went in the ways of David, and of Solomon, only by three years.

18 Forsooth Rehoboam wedded a wife, Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth, the son of David, and of Abihail, the daughter of Eliab, the son of Jesse;

19 and she childed to him sons, Jeush, and Shamariah, and Zaham.

20 Also after this wife he took Maachah, the daughter of Absalom, and she childed to him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith.

21 And Rehoboam loved Maachah, the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives and his secondary wives. And he had wedded eighteen wives, and he had sixty secondary wives; and he begat eight and twenty sons, and sixty daughters.

22 And he ordained Abijah, the son of Maachah, the head, duke over all his brethren; for he thought to make Abijah king,

23 for he was wiser and mightier over all his sons; and in all the coasts of Judah and of Benjamin, and in all the walled cities, he set his sons; and he gave to them full many meats, and he had many wives or he took to them many wives.

CHAPTER 12

1 And when the realm of Reho-boam was made strong and comforted, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him.

2 And in the fifth year of the realm of Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, went up into Jerusalem, for they, that is, the men of Jerusalem, [had] sinned against the Lord;

3 and he ascended with a thousand and two hundred chariots, and with sixty thousand horsemen, and no number was of the common people, that came with him from Egypt, that is, Libyans, and Troglodytes, and Ethiopians.

4 And he took [the] full strong cities in Judah, and he came to Jerusalem.

5 And Shemaiah, the prophet, entered to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, which, fleeing from Shishak, were gathered together in Jerusalem. And he said to them, The Lord saith these things, Ye have forsaken me, and I have forsaken you in the hand of Shishak.

6 And the princes of Israel and the king were astonied, and said, The Lord is just [or rightwise].

7 And when the Lord had seen that they were meeked, the word of the Lord was made to Shemaiah, and said, For they be meeked, I shall not destroy them, and I shall give to them a little help, and my strong vengeance shall not drop upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

8 Nevertheless they shall serve him, that they know the diversity of my service, and of the service of the realm of lands.

9 Therefore Shishak, the king of Egypt, went away from Jerusalem, after that he had taken away the treasures [or treasuries] of the house of the Lord, and of the king’s house; and he took all things with him, and the gold shields which Solomon had made,

10 for which golden shields king Rehoboam made brazen shields, and he betook those [or them] to the princes of [the] shield-makers, that kept the porch of the palace.

11 And when the king entered into the house of the Lord, the shield-makers came, and took those shields, and they brought them again to his armoury place.

12 Nevertheless for they were meeked, the ire of the Lord was turned away from them, and they were not done away utterly; for good works were found also in Judah.

13 Therefore king Rehoboam was comforted in Jerusalem, and reigned. And he was of one and forty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose of all the lineages of Israel, that he should confirm his name there. And the name of his mother was Naamah an Ammonitess.

14 And he did evil, and he made not ready his heart to seek God.

15 And the first and the last works of Rehoboam be written, and diligently declared, in the books of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the prophet. And Rehoboam and Jeroboam fought in all days against themselves.

16 And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David; and Abijah, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 13

1 In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam Abijah reigned upon Judah;

2 he reigned three years in Jeru-salem; and the name of his mother was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And battle was betwixt Abijah and Jeroboam.

3 And when Abijah had begun battle, and had with him most chival-rous men, and four hundred thousand of chosen men, Jeroboam arrayed on the contrary the battle array with eight hundred thousand of men, and they were chosen men, and most strong men to battle.

4 And Abijah stood upon the hill Zemaraim, that was in Ephraim, and he said, Hear thou, Jeroboam, and all Israel;

5 whether ye know not, that the Lord God of Israel gave to David the realm on Israel without end, to him and to his sons into the covenant of salt, that is, steadfast and stable?

6 And now Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, hath risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord.

7 And most vain men, the sons of Belial, were gathered together to him, and they had might against Rehobo-am, the son of Solomon. Certainly Rehoboam was boistous, either fond or untaught, and of fearedful heart, and might not against-stand them.

8 Now therefore ye say, that ye be able to against-stand the realm of the Lord, that he holdeth in possession by the sons of David; and ye have a great multitude of people, and ye have golden calves, which Jeroboam made into gods to you.

9 And ye have cast away the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the deacons [or Levites], and ye have made priests to you, as all the peoples of other lands have priests; whoever cometh and halloweth his hand in a bull, in oxes [or oxen], and in seven wethers, anon he is made priest of them that be not gods.

10 But our Lord is God, whom we forsake not; and [the] priests of the sons of Aaron minister to the Lord, and deacons [or Levites] be in their order;

11 and they offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord by each day in the morrow-tide and eventide, and also incense made by commandments of the law; and loaves be set forth in a most clean board; and at us is the golden candlestick, and the lantern thereof, that it be tended ever at eventide; and we keep the behests of our God, whom ye have forsaken.

12 Therefore God is duke in our host, and his priests, that trump and sound against you; do not ye, sons of Israel, fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for it speedeth not to you.

13 While Abijah spake these things, Jeroboam made ready treasons behind; and when Jeroboam stood even against his enemies, he encompassed them with his host, Judah unwitting.

14 And Judah beheld, and he saw battle nigh even against before them, and behind their back; and he cried to the Lord, and [the] priests began to trump.

15 And all the men of Judah cried out, and, lo! while they cried on high, God made afeared Jeroboam and all Israel, that stood even [or over] against Judah and Abijah.

16 And the men of Israel fled from Judah, and God betook them into the hands of the men of Judah.

17 Therefore Abijah and his people smote them with a great wound, and there felled down of them five hundred thousand of strong men wounded.

18 And the sons of Israel were made low in that time, and the sons of Judah were comforted full greatly, for they had hoped in the Lord God of their fathers.

19 And Abijah pursued Jeroboam fleeing, and took his cities, that is, Bethel and his villages, and Jeshanah with his villages, and Ephron and his villages;

20 and Jeroboam might no more against-stand Judah in the days of Abijah, whom the Lord smote, and he was dead.

21 Therefore Abijah, when his empire was comforted, took fourteen wives, and he begat two and twenty sons, and sixteen daughters.

22 The residue of [the] words of Abijah, and of his ways and his works, be written full diligently in the book of Iddo, the prophet.

CHAPTER 14

1 And Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa, his son, reigned for him. In whose days the land rested in peace ten years.

2 And Asa did that, that was good and pleasant in the sight of his God,

3 and he destroyed the altars of strange worshipping, that is, of idolatry, and the high places, and brake alto-gether the images, and cutted down [the] maumet woods;

4 and he commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and all [the] commandments.

5 And he took away from all the cities of Judah altars and temples of idols, and he reigned in peace.

6 And he builded strong cities in Judah; for he was in rest, and no battles rose in his times, for the Lord gave him peace.

7 And Asa said to Judah, Build we [up] these cities, and encompass we them with walls, and strengthen we them with towers, and gates, and locks, as long as all things be restful from battle; for we have sought the Lord God of our fathers, and he hath given to us rest by compass. There-fore they builded, and there was no hindering in the building.

8 And Asa had in his host three hundred thousand of men of Judah bearing shields and spears; and of Benjamin, he had two hundred thousand and fourscore thousand of shield-bearers and of archers; all these were full strong men.

9 Forsooth Zerah of Ethiopia went out against them with his host of ten hundred thousand, and with three hundred chariots, and came unto Mareshah.

10 Certainly Asa went out against them, and they arrayed battle array in the valley of Zephathah, which is beside Mareshah.

11 And Asa inwardly called the Lord God, and said, Lord, no diversity is with thee, whether thou help in few, either in many; our Lord God, help thou us, for we have trust in thee, and in thy name, and we came against this multitude; Lord, thou art our God, a man have not the mastery against thee.

12 Therefore the Lord made afeared Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and Ethiopians fled;

13 and Asa and his people, that was with him, pursued them unto Gerar. And Ethiopians felled down to death, for they were all-broken by the Lord slaying, and by his host fighting. Then they took many spoils,

14 and they smote all the cities about Gerar; for great dread had assailed all men. And they spoiled or rifled the cities, and bare away much prey;

15 and also they destroyed the folds of sheep, and they took multitude without number of sheep and of camels, and they turned again into Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 15

1 Forsooth Azariah, the son of Oded, when the spirit of the Lord was come into him,

2 he went out into the meeting of Asa; and said to him, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, hear ye me; the Lord is with you, for ye were with him; if ye seek him, ye shall find him; soothly if ye forsake him, he shall forsake you.

3 Forsooth many days shall pass in Israel without very God, and without priest, and without teacher, and without law.

4 And when they turn again in their anguish, and cry to the Lord God of Israel, and seek him, they shall find him.

5 In that time [there] shall not be peace to go out and to go in, but dreads on all sides on all the dwellers of the land.

6 For folk shall fight against folk, and a city against a city, for the Lord shall disturb [or trouble] them in all anguish;

7 but be ye comforted, and your hands be not slacked; for meed shall be to your work.

8 And when Asa had heard this thing, that is, the words and [the] prophecy of Azariah, the son of Oded, the prophet, he was comforted, and he did away all the idols from all the land of Judah and of Benjamin, and from the cities which he had taken of the hill of Ephraim. And he hallowed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the house of the Lord.

9 And he gathered together all Judah and Benjamin, and with them the comelings of Ephraim, and of Manasseh, and of Simeon; for many of Israel, seeing that his Lord God was with him, fled over to him.

10 And when they had come into Jerusalem, in the third month, in the fifteen year of the realm of Asa,

11 they offered to the Lord in that day, both of the spoils and of the prey, which they had brought, seven hundred oxen, and seven thousand wethers.

12 And Asa entered by custom to make strong the bond of peace, that they should seek the Lord God of their fathers in all their heart, and in all their soul.

13 And the king said, If any man seeketh not the Lord God of Israel, die he, from the least unto the most, from man unto woman.

14 And all that were in Judah swore with cursing to the Lord, that is, oblig-ing themselves to cursing and pain of death, if they did against the oath, with [a] great voice, in hearty song, and in sound of trump, and in sound of clarions;

15 for they swore in all their heart, and in all their will they sought him, and found him; and the Lord gave to them rest by compass.

16 But also he put down Maachah, the grandmother of Asa the king, that is, his own grandmother, from the strait empire, for she had made in a wood a simulacrum, or a likeness, of a man’s rod; and he all-brake that simulacrum, and pounded it into gobbets, and burnt it in the strand [or stream] of Kidron.

17 But yet [the] high places were left in Israel; nevertheless the heart of Asa was rightful in all his days.

18 And he brought into the house of the Lord those things that his father [had] avowed, silver and gold, and diverse appurtenance of vessels;

19 and battle was not unto the five and thirtieth year of the realm of Asa.

CHAPTER 16

1 Forsooth in the six and thirtieth year of his realm, Baasha, king of Israel, went up into Judah, and en-compassed Ramah with a wall, that no man of the realm of Asa might go out, either enter in securely.

2 And Asa brought forth gold and silver from the treasures [or treasuries] of the house of the Lord, and from the king’s treasures [or treasuries]; and sent to Benhadad, king of Syria, that dwelled in Damascus, and said,

3 Bond of peace is betwixt me and thee, and my father and thy father had accord together; wherefore I have sent to thee silver and gold, that when thou hast broken the bond of peace, which thou hast with Baasha, king of Israel, thou make him to go away from me.

4 And when this was found accept-able, Benhadad sent the princes of his hosts to the cities of Israel, which smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelmaim, and all the walled cities of Naphtali.

5 And when Baasha had heard this, he ceased to build Ramah, and left [off] his work.

6 And king Asa took all Judah, and they took from Ramah the stones, and [the] wood, which Baasha had made ready to building; and he builded of those Geba, and Mizpah.

7 In that time Hanani, the prophet, came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, For-thy that thou haddest trust in the king of Syria, and not in the Lord thy God, therefore the host of the king of Syria escaped from thine hand.

8 Whether Ethiopians and Libyans were not many more in chariots, and knights, and in full great multitude; which, when thou haddest believed to the Lord, he betook them into thine hands?

9 For the eyes of the Lord behold all the earth, and give strength to them, that with perfect heart believe into him. Therefore thou hast done follily, and for this trust in men, yea, in this present time battles shall rise against thee.

10 And Asa was wroth against the prophet, and commanded him to be sent into the stocks. Forsooth the Lord had indignation greatly upon this thing, and he killed full many of the people in that time.

11 Soothly the first and [the] last works of Asa be written in the book of [the] kings of Judah and of Israel.

12 And Asa was sick full greatly in the aching of his feet, in the nine and thirtieth year of his realm; and neither in his sickness he sought the Lord, but he trusted more in the craft of leeches.

13 And Asa slept with his fathers, and was dead in the one and fortieth year of his realm.

14 And they buried him in his sep-ulchre, which he had made to himself in the city of David; and they put him on his bed full of sweet smelling spices and ointments of whores, that where made altogether by the craft of ointment makers, and they burnt these upon him with full great cost.

CHAPTER 17

1 Forsooth Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned for him; and he had the mastery against Israel.

2 And he set numbers of knights in all the cities of Judah, that were encompassed with walls, and he disposed strongholds in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa, his father, had taken.

3 And the Lord was with Jehosh-aphat, which went in the first ways of David, his father; he hoped not in Baalim,

4 but he hoped in the Lord God of David, his father, and he went in the commandments of God, and not after the sins of Israel.

5 And the Lord confirmed the realm in his hand; and all Judah gave gifts to Jehoshaphat, and riches without num-ber, and much glory was made to him.

6 And when his heart had taken hardiness for the ways of the Lord, he took away also high places and [maumet] woods from Judah.

7 And in the third year of his realm, he sent of his princes, Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethane-el, and Michaiah, that they should teach in the cities of Judah;

8 and with them he sent nine dea-cons [or Levites], that is, Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Toba-donijah, deacons [or Levites]; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, priests;

9 and they taught the people in Judah, and had the book of the law of the Lord; and they compassed all the cities of Judah, and taught all the people.

10 Therefore the dread of the Lord was made upon all the realms of lands, that were about Judah; and those durst not fight [or they were not hardy to fight] against Jehoshaphat.

11 But also [the] Philistines brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, and toll, or tribute, of silver; and men of Arabia brought to him sheep, seven thousand and seven hundred wethers, and so many bucks of goats.

12 Then Jehoshaphat increased, and was magnified till to on high; and he builded in Judah houses at the like-ness of towers, and full strong cities;

13 and he made ready many works in the cities of Judah. Also men warriors and strong men were in Jerusalem;

14 of which this is the number, by the houses and meines of all men in Judah. Duke Adnah was prince of the host, and with him were three hundred thousand full strong men.

15 And after him was Jehohanan prince, and with him were two hundred thousand and fourscore thousand men.

16 After this also Amasiah, the son of Zichri, was hallowed to the Lord, and with him were two hundred thousand of strong men.

17 And of Benjamin; Eliada, a mighty man to battles, pursued [or followed] this Amasiah, and with him were two hundred thousand of men holding bow and shield.

18 After this was also Jehozabad, and with him were an hundred thousand and fourscore thousand of ready knights.

19 All these were at the hand of the king, besides others, which he had put in walled cities in all Judah.

CHAPTER 18

1 Forsooth Jehoshaphat was full rich, and noble, and by affinity he was joined to Ahab.

2 And after certain years Jehosh-aphat came down to Ahab into Samaria; at whose coming Ahab killed full many wethers and oxen, and to the people that came with him; and Ahab counselled Jehosh-aphat to go up with him into Ramoth of Gilead.

3 And Ahab, king of Israel, said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Come thou with me into Ramoth of Gilead. To whom he answered, As and I am, so and thou art; and as thy people, so and my people; and we shall be with thee in battle.

4 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I beseech thee, counsel thou in this present time the word of the Lord.

5 Therefore the king of Israel gathered together four hundred men of prophets, and said to them, Owe we to go into Ramoth of Gilead for to fight, either take rest? And the prophets said, Go ye up, and God shall betake it into the hand of the king.

6 And Jehoshaphat said, Whether no other prophet of the Lord is here, that we may also ask of him?

7 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, One man is, of whom we may ask the will of the Lord, but I hate him, for he prophesieth not good, but evil to me, in all time; soothly it is Micaiah, the son of Imla. And Jehosh-aphat said to him, King, speak thou not in this manner.

8 Then the king of Israel called one of his geldings, or his honest and chaste servants, and said to him, Call thou anon Micaiah, the son of Imla.

9 And the king of Israel and Jehosh-aphat, king of Judah, sat ever either in his seat, and they were clothed in king’s array; and they sat in the corn-floor, beside the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.

10 And Zedekiah, the son of Chena-anah, made to him iron horns, and said, The Lord saith these things, With these, thou shalt winnow the men of Syria, till thou all-brake them.

11 And all the prophets prophesied in like manner, and said, Go thou up into Ramoth of Gilead, and thou shalt have prosperity; and the Lord shall betake them into the hands of the king.

12 And the messenger, that went to call Micaiah, said to him, Lo! the words of all the prophets tell with one mouth good things to the king; therefore, I pray thee, that thy word dissent not from them, and that thou speak prosperities to him.

13 To whom Micaiah answered, The Lord liveth, for whatever things my Lord God speaketh to me, I shall say those things.

14 Therefore he came to the king. To whom the king said, Micaiah, owe we go into Ramoth of Gilead to fight, either take rest, and not to go thither? To whom Micaiah answered, Go ye up thither, for all prosperities shall come to you, and [the] enemies shall be taken into your hands.

15 And the king said to him, Again and again I charge thee, that thou speak not to me no but that that is sooth in the name of the Lord.

16 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered abroad in the hills, as sheep without a shepherd. And the Lord said, These men have not lords; each man therefore turn again into his house in peace.

17 The king of Israel said to Jehosh-aphat, Whether I said not to thee, that he prophesied not any good to me, but those things that be evil?

18 And then Micaiah said, Hear ye the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting in his throne, and all the host of heaven standing nigh [to] him at the right side and at the left.

19 And the Lord said, Who shall deceive Ahab, king of Israel, that he go up, and fall down in Ramoth of Gilead? And when one said in this manner, and another said in another manner,

20 a spirit came forth, and stood before the Lord, and said, I shall deceive him. To whom the Lord said, And wherein shalt thou deceive him?

21 And he answered, I shall go out, and I shall be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And the Lord said, Thou shalt deceive him, and thou shalt have the mastery; go thou out, and do so.

22 Now therefore, lo! the Lord hath given a spirit of leasing in the mouth of all thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil things of thee, that is, he hath said of the evil things to come to thee.

23 And Zedekiah, the son of Chena-anah, nighed, and he smote Micaiah upon the cheek, and said, By what way hath the Spirit of the Lord passed from me to speak with thee?

24 And Micaiah said, Thou thyself shalt see in that day, when thou shalt enter from closet into closet, that thou be hid.

25 And the king of Israel commanded, saying, Take ye Micaiah, and lead ye him to Amon, [the] prince of the city, and to Joash, the son of Amalek or of Ahab;

26 and ye shall say to them, The king saith these things, Send ye this man into prison, and give ye to him a little of bread, and a little of water, till I turn again in peace.

27 And Micaiah said, If thou turnest again in peace, the Lord spake not to me. And he said, All peoples hear ye.

28 Then the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up into Ramoth of Gilead.

29 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I shall change my cloth-ing, and so I shall go to fight; but be thou clothed in thy king’s clothes. Therefore when the king of Israel had changed clothing, he came to battle.

30 And the king of Syria command-ed to the dukes of the multitude of his knights, and said, Fight ye not against the least, nor against the most; but against the king alone of Israel.

31 Therefore when the princes of the multitude of knights had seen Jehosh-aphat, they said, This is the king of Israel; and they encompassed him, and fought against him. And Jehosh-aphat cried to the Lord; and the Lord helped him, and turned them away from him.

32 And when the dukes of the multitude of knights had heard, or understood, that it was not the king of Israel, they left him or let him go.

33 And it befelled, that one man of the people shot an arrow into uncer-tainty, and he smote the king of Israel betwixt the neck and the shoulders. And he said to his charioteer, Turn thine hand, and lead me out of the battle array; for I am wounded.

34 And the battle was ended in that day. Certainly the king of Israel stood in his chariot against men of Syria till to eventide, and he died, when the sun went down.

CHAPTER 19

1 Forsooth Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, turned again peaceably into his house into Jerusalem.

2 Whom the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani met, and said to him, Thou givest help to a wicked man, and thou art joined by friendship to them that hate the Lord; and therefore soothly thou deservedest the wrath of the Lord;

3 but good works be found in thee, for thou hast done away [the] maumet woods from the land of Judah, and thou hast made ready thine heart, for to seek the Lord God of thy fathers.

4 Therefore Jehoshaphat dwelled in Jerusalem; and again he went out to the people from Beersheba to the hill of Ephraim, and he called them again to the Lord God of their fathers.

5 And he ordained judges of the land in all the strengthened cities of Judah, by each place.

6 And he commanded to the judges, and said to them, See ye, that is, be ye ware, what ye do; for ye use not the doom of man, but the doom of the Lord; and whatever thing ye deem unjustly, it shall turn against you;

7 the dread of the Lord be with you, and do ye all things with diligence, that is, with discretion; forsooth with the Lord your God is no wickedness, neither taking, or accepting, of persons, neither covetousness of gifts.

8 And also in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat ordained deacons [or Levites], and priests, and the princes of the meines of Israel, that they should deem the doom and the cause of the Lord, to the dwellers of Jerusalem.

9 And he commanded to them, and said, Thus ye shall do in the dread of the Lord, faithfully, and in perfect heart.

10 Each cause that cometh to you of your brethren, that dwell in their cities, betwixt kindred and kindred, wher-ever is question of the law, of the commandment, or of ceremonies, either sacrifices, or of justifyings, show ye to them, that they do not sin against the Lord, and that wrath of the Lord come not upon you, and upon your brethren. Therefore ye doing thus shall not do sin.

11 And Amariah, your priest and bishop, shall be sovereign in these things, that pertain to God. And Zeba-diah, the son of Ishmael, that is duke in the house of Judah, shall be sovereign upon the works that pertain to the office of the king, and ye have master deacons [or Levites] before you; be ye comforted, and do ye diligently, that is, studiously, or busily, and the Lord shall be with you in goods.

CHAPTER 20

1 After these things the sons of Moab, and the sons of Ammon, and with them Idumeans, were gathered together, and they came to Jehosh-aphat, for to fight against him.

2 And messengers came, and showed this to Jehoshaphat, saying, A great multitude of those places that be beyond the sea, and of Syria, is come against thee; and lo! they stand together in Hazazontamar, which is Engedi.

3 Forsooth Jehoshaphat was afeared by dread, and gave himself all for to pray the Lord, and preached fasting to all Judah.

4 And Judah was gathered together for to pray the Lord, and also all men came from their cities for to beseech him.

5 And when Jehoshaphat had stood in the midst of the company of Judah and of Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new large place of the temple,

6 he said, Lord God of our fathers, thou art God in heaven, and thou art Lord of all realms of folks; strength and power be in thine hand, and none may against-stand thee.

7 Whether not thou, our God, hast slain all the dwellers of this land before thy people Israel, and hast given it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend, with-out end?

8 And they dwelled therein, and builded therein a saintuary to thy name, and said,

9 If evils come [up] on us, the sword of doom, pestilence, or hunger, we shall stand before this house without end in thy sight, in which house thy name is called, and we shall cry to thee in our tribulations; and thou shalt hear us, and shalt make us safe.

10 Now therefore lo! the sons of Ammon, and of Moab, and the hill of Seir, by whom thou grantedest not to the sons of Israel for to pass through their lands, when they went out of Egypt, but they bowed away from them, and killed not them,

11 but they do on the contrary, and endeavour to cast us out of the possession, which thou, our God, hast given to us;

12 therefore whether thou, Lord, shalt not deem them? Truly in us is not so great strength, that we may against-stand this multitude, that falleth in upon us; but since we know not what we owe to do, we, the residue, have this only, that we dress our eyes to thee.

13 And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little children, and their wives, and with their free children.

14 And Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, was a deacon [or Levite], and of the sons of Asaph, upon whom the Spirit of the Lord was made in the midst of the company,

15 and he said, All Judah, and ye that dwell in Jerusalem, and thou, king Jehoshaphat, perceive ye, or taketh heed, The Lord saith these things to you, Do not ye dread, neither be ye afeared of this multitude, for it is not your battle, but God’s battle.

16 Tomorrow ye shall go up against them; for they shall go up by the side of the hill, called Ziz by name, and ye shall find them in the height of the strand [or stream], that is against the wilderness of Jeruel.

17 For it shall not be ye, that shall fight; but only stand ye trustily, and ye shall see the help of the Lord upon you. O! Judah and Jerusalem, do not ye dread, neither be ye afeared; tomorrow ye shall go out against them, and the Lord shall be with you.

18 Therefore Jehoshaphat, and Judah, and all the dwellers of Jerusalem, fell lowly upon the earth before the Lord, and worshipped him.

19 And the deacons [or Levites] of the sons of Kohath, and of the sons of Korah, praised the Lord God of Israel with [a] great voice on high.

20 And when upon the morrow they had risen early, they went out by the desert of Tekoa; and when they had gone forth, Jehoshaphat stood in the midst of them, and said, Judah, and all the dwellers of Jerusalem, hear ye me; believe ye in the Lord your God, and ye shall be secure; believe ye to his prophets, and all prosperities shall come to you.

21 And he gave counsel to the people, and he ordained the singers of the Lord, that they should praise him in their companies, and that they should go before the host, and say with according voice, Acknowledge ye to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is without end.

22 And when they began to sing praisings, the Lord turned the ambush-ments of them against themselves, that is, of the sons of Ammon, and of Moab, and of the hill of Seir, which went out to fight against Judah; and they were slain.

23 For why the sons of Ammon and of Moab rose together against the dwellers of the hill of Seir, to slay, and to do away them; and when they had done this thing in work, they were then also turned against them-selves, and they fell down together by wounds, each slaying other.

24 Certainly when Judah was come to the den, that beholdeth, or is over against, the wilderness, he saw afar all the large country full of dead bodies, and that none was left, that might escape death.

25 Therefore Jehoshaphat came, and all the people with him, to draw away the spoils of [the] dead men, and they found among the dead bodies diverse appurtenance of household, and clothes, and full precious vessels; and they ravished, or took those things away, in diverse manners, so that they might not bear all things, neither they might take away the spoils by three days, for the greatness of [the] prey.

26 Soothly in the fourth day they were gathered together in the valley of Blessing; for-thy that they blessed the Lord there, they called that place the valley of Blessing, unto this present day.

27 And each man of Judah turned again, and the dwellers of Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat went before them, into Jerusalem with great gladness; for the Lord God had given to them joy of their enemies.

28 And they entered into Jerusalem with psalteries, and harps, and trumps, into the house of the Lord.

29 Forsooth the dread of the Lord felled [or fell] on all the realms of lands, when they had heard, that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.

30 And the realm of Jehoshaphat rested from war; and the Lord gave peace to him all about.

31 And Jehoshaphat reigned upon Judah; and he was of five and thirty years, when he began to reign; and he reigned five and twenty years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Azubah, the daughter of Shilhi.

32 And he went in the way of Asa his father, and bowed not from it, and he did whatever things were pleasant before the Lord.

33 Nevertheless he did not away the high places; and yet the people had not dressed their heart to the Lord God of their fathers.

34 Forsooth the residue of the former and the last deeds of Jehoshaphat be written in the book of Jehu, the son of Hanani, which he ordained in the book of [the] kings of Israel.

35 After these things Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, made friendships with Ahaziah, king of Israel, whose works were full evil or most evil;

36 and he was partner to him, and they made ships, which should go into Tarshish; and they made one ship to go into Eziongaber.

37 And Eliezer, the son of Dodavah, of Mareshah, prophesied to Jehosh-aphat, and said, For thou hast had bond of peace with Ahaziah, the Lord hath destroyed thy works; and the ships be broken, and [they] might not go into Tarshish.

CHAPTER 21

1 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with them in the city of David; and Jehoram*, his son, reigned for him.

2 And he had brethren, the sons of Jehoshaphat, Azariah, Jehiel, and Zech-ariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.

3 And their father gave to them many gifts of gold and of silver, and he gave them pensions, or rents, with full strong cities in Judah; but he gave the realm to Jehoram, for he was his first begotten son.

4 And Jehoram rose up on the realm of his father; and when he had con-firmed himself in the realm, he slew all his brethren by sword, and also some of the princes of Judah.

5 Jehoram was of two and thirty years, when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

6 And he went in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

7 But the Lord would not destroy the house of David, for the covenant which he had made with David, and for he had promised to give to him a lantern, and to his sons, in all time.

8 In those days Edom rebelled, so that it was not subject to Judah, and it ordained a king to itself.

9 And when Jehoram had passed forth with his princes, and all the multitude of knights, that was with him, he rose up by night, and smote Edom, that encompassed him, and all the dukes of his multitude of knights.

10 Nevertheless Edom rebelled, that it was not under the lordship of Judah unto this day. In that time also Libnah went away, that it was not under the hand of him; for he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers.

11 Furthermore he made high places in the cities of Judah, and made the dwellers of Jerusalem to do fornication, that is, idolatry, and Judah to break the law.

12 And letters were brought to him from Elijah, the prophet, in which it was written, The Lord God of David, thy father, saith these things, For that thou hast not gone in the ways of Jehoshaphat, thy father, and in the ways of Asa, king of Judah,

13 but thou hast gone by the way of the kings of Israel, and thou hast made Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem to do fornication, and thou hast pur-sued [or following] the fornication of the house of Ahab; furthermore and thou hast slain thy brethren in the house of thy father, that is, princes of the house of thy father, which were better than thou;

14 lo! the Lord shall smite thee with a great vengeance, and thy people, and thy sons, and thy wives, and all thy chattel [or substance];

15 and thou shalt be sick with the worst sorrow of thy womb, till that thine entrails go out little and little by each day.

16 Therefore the Lord raised up against Jehoram the spirit of Philistines, and of Arabians, that march with Ethiopians;

17 and these went up into the land of Judah, and they wasted it, and they took away all the substance, that was found in the house of the king, furthermore and his sons, and his wives they took away; and no son was left to him, but Jehoahaz, that was his least or youngest son in birth.

18 And over all these things the Lord smote him with uncurable sorrow of the womb.

19 And when day came after day, and the spaces of time were turned about, the course of two years was fulfilled; and so he was wasted by long rot, so that he casted out also his own entrails, and so he wanted sorrow and life together, and he was dead in the worst sickness. And the people did not to him [the] service of dead men by the custom of burning, as it had done to his greaters, either ancestors.

20 He was of two and thirty years when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem, and he went not rightfully; and they buried him in the city of David, nevertheless not in the sepulchres of kings.

CHAPTER 22

1 Forsooth the dwellers of Jerusalem ordained Ahaziah, the youngest son of Jehoram*, to be king for him; for the thieves of Arabia, that felled into the castles [or tents]of Judah, had slain all his greater or elder brethren, which were begotten before him. And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned.

2 Ahaziah was of two and forty or twenty years old, when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri.

3 But he entered by the way of the house of Ahab; for his mother compelled him to do evil.

4 Therefore he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as the house of Ahab; for they were counsellors to him into his perishing, after the death of his father;

5 and he went in the counsel of them. And he went with Joram†, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, into battle against Hazael, king of Syria, into Ramoth of Gilead. And men of Syria wounded Joram;

6 which turned again for to be healed in Jezreel; for he had taken many wounds in the foresaid battle. Therefore Ahaziah‡, king of Judah, the son of Jehoram, went down to visit Joram, the son of Ahab, that was sick in Jezreel;

7 for it was God’s will against Ahaziah, that he came to Joram. And when he was come, he went out with him against Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom God anointed, that he should do away the house of Ahab.

8 Therefore when Jehu destroyed the house of Ahab, he found the princes of Judah, and the sons of the brethren of Ahaziah, that ministered to him; and he killed them.

9 And he sought that Ahaziah, and caught him hid in Samaria, and after that he was brought to Jehu, Jehu killed him; and they buried him, for he was the son of Jehoshaphat, that had sought God in all his heart. And none hope was more, that any of the generation of Ahaziah should reign.

10 And Athaliah, the mother of Ahaz-iah, saw that her son was dead, and she rose up, and killed all the king’s generation of the house of Jehoram.

11 Forsooth Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from the midst of the sons of the king, when they were slain; and she hid him with his nurse in a closet of beds [or bed place]. For Jehoshabeath, that hid him, was the daughter of king Jehoram, and wife of Jehoiada, the bishop, and the sister of Ahaziah; and therefore Athaliah killed not her.

12 Therefore he was hid with them in the house of God six years, in which Athaliah reigned on the land.

CHAPTER 23

1 Forsooth in the seventh year Jehoi-ada was comforted, and took [the] centurions, that is, Azariah, the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael, the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah, the son of Obed, and Maaseiah, the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat, the son of Zichri; and he made with them a counsel and a bond of peace.

2 The which compassed Judah, and gathered together deacons [or Levites] of all the cities of Judah, and the princes of the families of Israel, and they came into Jerusalem.

3 And all the multitude made covenant in the house of the Lord with the king. And Jehoiada said to them, Lo! Joash the son of the king shall reign, as the Lord spake on the sons of David.

4 Therefore this is the word, that ye shall do. The third part of you that be come to the sabbath, of priests, and of deacons [or Levites], and of porters, shall be in the gates;

5 and a third part shall be at the house of the king; and the other third part shall be at the gate, which is called of the foundament. And all the other common people be in the large places of the house of the Lord;

6 and none other man enter into the house of the Lord, no but [the] priests, and they that minister of the deacons [or Levites]; only enter they, that be hallowed, and all the other common people keep they the keep-ings of the Lord.

7 Forsooth the deacons [or Levites] encompass the king, and each man have his armours [or arms]; and if any other man entereth into the temple, be he slain; and be they with the king entering and going out.

8 Therefore the deacons [or Levites] and all Judah did by all things which Jehoiada, the bishop, had commanded; and all took the men, that were with them, and came by the order of [the] sabbath with them, that had [ful] filled now the sabbath, and should go out. For Jehoiada, the bishop, suffered not the companies to go away, that were wont to come one after the tother by each week.

9 And Jehoiada, the priest, gave to the centurions spears, and shields, and bucklers, of king David, which he had hallowed in the house of the Lord.

10 And he ordained all the people, of them that held swords, at the right side of the temple unto the left side of the temple, before the altar and the temple, by compass of the king.

11 And they led out Joash the son of the king, and they set a diadem upon his head; and they gave to him in his hand the law to be holden, and they made him king. And Jehoiada, the bishop, and his sons, anointed him; and they prayed heartily, and said, The king live!

12 And when Athaliah had heard this thing, that is, the voice of men running and praising the king, she entered in to the people, into the temple of the Lord.

13 And when she had seen the king, standing on the degrees in the entering of the temple, and the princes and the companies of knights about him, and all the people of the land joying, and sounding with trumps, and singing together with organs of diverse kind, and the voice of men praising, she rent her clothes, and said, Treasons! treasons!

14 And Jehoiada, the bishop, went out to the centurions, and to the princes of the host, and said to them, Lead ye her without the precincts, either enclosings, of the temple, and be she slain withoutforth by sword; and the priest commanded, that she should not be slain in the house of the Lord.

15 And they setted [or put] hands on her noll; and when she had entered into the gate of the horses, of the king’s house, they killed her there.

16 Forsooth Jehoiada covenanted a bond of peace betwixt himself and all the people and the king, that it should be the people of the Lord.

17 Therefore all the people entered into the house of Baal, and they destroyed it, and they brake the altars and the simulacra thereof; but they killed before the altars Mattan, the priest of Baal.

18 And Jehoiada ordained sovereigns in the house of the Lord, that under the hands of priests, and of deacons [or Levites], which David parted in the house of the Lord, they should offer burnt sacrifices to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses, in joy and in songs, by the ordinance of David.

19 Also he ordained porters in the gates of the house of the Lord, that an unclean man in anything should not enter into it.

20 And he took the centurions, and the strongest men, and princes of the people, and all the common people of the land. And they made the king to go down from the house of the Lord, and to enter by the midst of the higher gate into the house of the king; and they set him in the king’s throne.

21 And all the people of the land was glad, and the city rested; forsooth Athaliah was slain by sword.

CHAPTER 24

1 Joash was of seven years, when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Zibiah of Beersheba.

2 And he did that, that was good before the Lord, in all the days of Jehoiada, the priest.

3 And Joash took two wives, of which he begat sons and daughters.

4 And after which things it pleased Joash to repair the house of the Lord.

5 And he gathered together [the] priests and deacons [or Levites], and said to them, Go ye out to the cities of Judah, and gather ye of all Israel money, to the repairing of the temple of your Lord God, by each year; and do ye this thing hastily. Certainly the deacons did this thing negligently.

6 And the king called Jehoiada, the prince of priests, and said to him, Why was it not a charge to thee, to constrain the deacons [or Levites] to bring in money of Judah and of Jerusalem, which money was ordained of Moses, the servant of the Lord, that all the multitude of Israel should bring it into the tabernacle of witnessing?

7 For the wicked woman Athaliah, and her sons, destroyed the house of God; and of all the things, that were hallowed to the temple of the Lord, they adorned the temple of Baalim.

8 Therefore the king commanded, and they made an ark, and setted [or put] it beside the gate of the House of the Lord withoutforth.

9 And it was preached in Judah and Jerusalem, that each man should bring to the Lord the price, that Moses, the servant of God, ordained upon all Israel, in desert.

10 And all the princes and all the people were glad, and they entered, and brought, and sent freely their gifts into the ark of the Lord, so that it was filled with treasure.

11 And when it was time, that they should bear the ark before the king’s officials by the hands of deacons [or Levites], for they saw much money, the clerk of the king entered, and he whom the first, or chief, priest had ordained, and they poured out the money, that was in the ark; and they bare again the ark to his place,. And so they did by all days, and money without number was gathered together;

12 which the king and Jehoiada gave to them that were sovereigns of the works of the house of the Lord. And they hired thereof cutters of stones, and craftsmen of all works, that they should repair the house of the Lord; also they hired smiths of iron, and of brass, that that thing should be underset, that began to fall.

13 They that wrought did craftily, and the crazing of the walls was stopped by the hands of them; and they raised the house of the Lord into the former state, and made it to stand steadfastly.

14 And when they had fulfilled all the works, they brought before the king and Jehoiada the tother part of the money, of which money vessels were made into the service of the temple, and to burnt sacrifices,; also vials, or basins, and other vessels of gold and of silver were made thereof. And burnt sacrifices were offered in the house of the Lord continually, in all the days of Jehoiada.

15 And Jehoiada full of days waxed eld, and he was dead, when he was of an hundred years and thirty;

16 and they buried him in the city of David with kings; for he had done good with Israel, for God, and with his house.

17 But after that Jehoiada died, the princes of Judah entered, and worship-ped the king, which was flattered with their services, and assented to them.

18 And they forsook the temple of the Lord God of their fathers, and served idols in woods, and graven images; and the ire of the Lord was made against Judah and Jerusalem for this sin.

19 And he sent to them prophets, that they should turn again to the Lord; the which prophets’ witnessing, they would not hear.

20 Then the Spirit of the Lord clothed, or environed, Zechariah, the priest, the son of Jehoiada; and he stood in the sight of the people, and said to them, The Lord saith these things, Why break ye the commandment of the Lord, which thing shall not profit to you, and ye have forsaken the Lord, that he should forsake you?

21 Which were gathered together against him, and casted stones at him, by commandment of the king, in the large place of the house of the Lord.

22 And king Joash had not mind on the mercy, or goodness, which Jehoi-ada, the father of Zechariah, had done with him; but he killed the son of Jehoiada. And when Zechariah died, he said, The Lord see this thing, and again-seek it.

23 And when a year was turned about, either ended, the host of Syria went up against Joash, and it came into Judah and into Jerusalem, and it killed all the princes of the people; and they sent all the prey to the king of Damascus.

24 And certainly, when a full little number of men of Syria was come into Judah, the Lord betook in their hands a multitude of Jews without number, for they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. Also they used shameful dooms against Joash;

25 and they went away from him, and they left him in great sorrows. And his servants rose up against him, into vengeance of the blood of the son of Jehoiada, priest; and killed him in his bed, and he was dead. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of kings.

26 And Zabad, the son of Shimeath of Ammon, and Jehozabad, the son of Shimrith of Moab, setted treasons to him.

27 Soothly his sons, and the sum of money that was gathered under him, and the repairing of the house of God, be written diligently in the book of Kings. And Amaziah, his son, reigned for him;

CHAPTER 25

1 Amaziah was of five and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Jehoaddan, of Jerusalem.

2 And he did good in the sight of the Lord, nevertheless not in perfect heart.

3 And when he saw the empire strengthened to himself, he strangled the servants that killed the king, his father;

4 but he killed not the sons of them; as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, [The] Fathers shall not be slain for the sons, neither the sons for their fathers; but each man shall die in, or for, his own sin.

5 Therefore Amaziah gathered to-gether Judah, and ordained them by meines, and tribunes, and centurions, in all Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them from twenty years and above, and he found thirty thousand of able young men, that went out to battle, and held spear and shield.

6 Also for meed, he hired of Israel an hundred thousand of strong men, for an hundred talents of silver, that they should fight against the sons of Edom.

7 Forsooth a man of God came to him, and said, A! king, the host of Israel go not out with thee, for the Lord is not with Israel, and with all the sons of Ephraim;

8 for if thou guessest that battles stand in the might of an host, the Lord shall make thee to be overcome of thine enemies, forsooth it is of God for to help, and to turn men into flight.

9 And Amaziah said to the man of God, What then shall be done of the hundred talents, which I gave to the knights of Israel? And the man of God answered to him, The Lord hath, whereof he may yield to thee much more things than these.

10 Therefore Amaziah separated the host that came to him from Ephraim, that it should turn again into his place; and they were wroth greatly against Judah, and they turned again into their country.

11 And Amaziah led out trustily his people, and went into the valley of makings of salt, and he killed of the sons of Seir ten thousand.

12 And the sons of Judah took other ten thousand of men, and brought to the high scarp of a stone; and they cast them down from the highest part into a pit; which all brake.

13 And that host that Amaziah had sent again, that it should not go with him to battle, was spread abroad in the cities of Judah from Samaria unto Bethhoron; and after the host of Israel had slain three thousand of Judah, it took away a great prey.

14 And Amaziah, after the slaying of Idumeans, and after that he had brought thence with him the gods of the sons of Seir, he ordained them to be into gods to himself, and he worshipped them, and burnt incense to them.

15 Wherefore the Lord was wroth against Amaziah, and he sent to him a prophet, that said to him, Why worshippest thou gods which have not delivered their people from thine hand?

16 And when the prophet spake these things, Amaziah answered to him, Whether thou art a counsellor of the king? cease thou, lest peradventure I slay thee. And the prophet went away from him, and said, I know, that the Lord hath thought to slay thee; for thou hast done this evil, and furthermore thou assentedest not to my counsel.

17 Therefore Amaziah, the king of Judah, when he had taken a full evil counsel, sent to the king of Israel, Jehoash*, the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, and said, Come thou, and see we us together.

18 And Jehoash, the king of Israel, sent messengers back to him, and said mystically, A thistle, that is in the Lebanon, sent to a cedar tree of the Lebanon, and said, Give thy daughter as a wife to my son; and lo! [the] beasts that were in the wood of the Lebanon went and defouled the thistle.

19 Thou saidest, I have smitten Edom, and therefore thine heart is raised into pride; sit thou still in thine house; why stirrest thou evil against thyself, that thou fall, and Judah with thee?

20 Amaziah would not hear this, for it was the will of the Lord, that he should be betaken into the hands of his enemies, for the gods of Edom which he worshipped.

21 Therefore Jehoash, king of Israel, went up against Judah, and they saw themselves together. Soothly Amaziah, the king of Judah, was in Bethshemesh of Judah;

22 and Judah felled [or fell] down be-fore Israel, and fled into his tabernacles.

23 And [Jehoash], the king of Israel, took in Bethshemesh Amaziah, the king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz†, and brought him into Jerusalem; and he destroyed the walls thereof from the gate of Ephraim to the gate of the corner, by four hundred cubits in length.

24 And he led again into Samaria all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that he found in the house of the Lord, and at Obededom, in the treas-uries also of the king’s house, also and the sons of hostages.

25 And Amaziah, king of Judah, the son of Joash, lived fifteen years after that Jehoash, king of Israel, the son of Jehoahaz, was dead.

26 Soothly the residue of the former and the last words of Amaziah, be written in the book of [the] kings of Judah and of Israel.

27 And after that he had gone away from the Lord, they set to him treasons in Jerusalem; and when he had fled to Lachish, they sent thither, and killed him there;

28 and they brought him again upon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of David.

CHAPTER 26

1 Forsooth all the people of Judah made Uzziah*, his son, of sixteen years of age, king for his father Amaziah.

2 He builded Eloth, and restored it to the lordship of Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

3 Uzziah was of sixteen years, when he began to reign; and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Jecoliah, of Jerusalem.

4 And he did that, that was rightful [or right] in the sight of the Lord, by all things which Amaziah, his father, had done.

5 And he sought the Lord in the days of Zechariah, understanding and seeing God; and when he sought God, God ruled him in all things.

6 And he went out, and fought against Philistines, and destroyed the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he builded strong places in Ashdod, and in Philistines.

7 And the Lord helped him both against Philistines, and against Arabians that dwelled in Gurbaal, and against Ammonites.

8 [And] Ammonites paid gifts to Uzziah, and his name was published unto the entering of Egypt for his oft victories.

9 And Uzziah builded towers in Jerusalem over the gate of the corner, and over the gate of the valley, and other towers in the same side of the wall; and he made those steadfast, or strong.

10 Also he builded towers in the wilderness, and digged full many cisterns; for he had many beasts, as well in the field places, as in the vastness of desert. Also he had vineries [or vines], and tillers of vines in the hills, and in Carmel or the great mountains; for he was a man given to earth-tilling.

11 And he had the host of his warriors, that went forth to battles, under the hand of Jeiel, scribe, and of Maaseiah, the teacher, and under the hand of Hananiah, that was of the dukes of the king.

12 and all the number of princes, by their meines, was of strong men two thousand and six hundred.

13 And under them was all the host, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that were able to battle, and fought for the king against adversaries.

14 And Uzziah made ready to them, that is, to all the host, shields, and spears, and basinets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones.

15 And he made in Jerusalem engines of diverse kind, which he set in towers, and in the corners of walls, that those [or they] should cast out arrows and great stones; and his name went out far, for the Lord helped him, and had made him strong.

16 But when he was made strong, his heart was raised up into his perishing; and he despised the Lord his God; and he entered into the temple of the Lord, and would burn incense upon the altar of incense.

17 And anon Azariah, the priest, entered after him, and with him sixty priests of the Lord, men full noble;

18 which against-stood the king, and said to him, Uzziah, it is not of thine office, that thou burn incense to the Lord, but of the priests of the Lord, that is, the sons of Aaron, that be hallowed to such service; go thou out of the saintuary; and despise thou not God; for this thing shall not be areck-oned of the Lord God to thee into glory.

19 And Uzziah was wroth, and he held in his hand the censer for to offer incense, and he menaced [or threat-ened] the priests; and anon leprosy was sprung forth in his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, upon the altar of incense.

20 And when Azariah, the bishop, had beheld him, and also all the other priests, they saw leprosy in his fore-head, and anon they putted [or put] the king out of the temple; but also he was afeared, and hasted to go out; for he feeled anon the vengeance of the Lord.

21 Therefore king Uzziah was leprous unto the day of his death, and dwelled in an house by itself, and he was full of leprosy; for which he was cast out of the house of the Lord. And Jotham, his son, governed the house of the king, and deemed the people of the land.

22 And Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz, wrote the residue of the former and of the last words of Uzziah.

23 And Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried not him in the field of the kings’ sepulchres, for he was leprous; and Jotham, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 27

1 Jotham was of five and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.

2 He did that, that was rightful [or right] before the Lord, by all things which Uzziah, his father, had done; except that he entered not into the temple of the Lord, and the people trespassed yet.

3 He builded the high gate of the house of the Lord, and he builded many things in the wall of Ophel;

4 also he builded cities in the hills of Judah, and he builded castles and towers in forests [or high woods].

5 He fought against the king of the sons of Ammon, and overcame him; and the sons of Ammon gave to him in that time an hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand cors of barley, and so many of wheat; the sons of Ammon gave these things to him in the second, and the third years.

6 And Jotham was made strong, for he had dressed his ways before the Lord his God.

7 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Jotham, and all his battles, and works, be written in the book of the kings of Israel and of Judah.

8 He was of five and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.

9 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Ahaz, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 28

1 Ahaz was of twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; he did not rightfulness [or right] in the sight of the Lord, as David, his father, did;

2 but he went in the ways of the kings of Israel. Furthermore and he melted out images to Baalim.

3 He it is that burnt incense in the valley of Ben-hinnon, and purged his sons by fire, by the custom of heathen men, whom the Lord killed in the coming of the sons of Israel from Egypt or towards the land of promise.

4 Also he made sacrifice, and burnt incense in high places, and in hills, and under each tree full of boughs.

5 And the Lord his God betook him into the hand of the king of Syria, which smote Ahaz, and took a great prey of his empire, and brought into Damascus. Also Ahaz was betaken to the hands of the king of Israel, and he was smitten with a great wound.

6 And Pekah, the son of Remaliah, killed of Judah sixscore thousand in one day, all the men warriors; for they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.

7 In the same time Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah, the son of Jotham, the king; and he killed Azrikam, the duke of his house, and Elkanah, the second person from the king.

8 And the sons of Israel took of their brethren two hundred thousand of women and of children and of damsels, and prey without number, and bare it into Samaria.

9 In that tempest, or time of venge-ance, a prophet of the Lord, Oded by name, was there, which went out against the host of Israel coming into Samaria, and he said to them, Lo! the Lord God of your fathers was wroth against Judah, and he hath betaken them into your hands; and ye have slain them cruelly, so that your cruelty stretcheth forth into heaven.

10 Furthermore and ye will make subject to you the sons of Judah and of Jerusalem into servants and hand-maids; which thing is not needful to be done; certainly ye have sinned in this thing to the Lord your God.

11 But hear ye my counsel, and lead again the prisoners, which ye have brought thence of your brethren; for great vengeance of the Lord nigheth to you.

12 Therefore men of the princes of the sons of Ephraim, Azariah, the son of Johanan, Berechiah, the son of Meshill-emoth, Jehizkiah, the son of Shallum, and Amasa, the son of Hadlai, stood against them that came from the battle;

13 and said to them, Ye shall not bring in hither the prisoners, lest we do more sin against the Lord; why will ye lay to on your sins, and heap more on your old trespasses? Certain-ly this is great sin; the wrath of the strong vengeance of the Lord nigheth on Israel.

14 And the men warriors left the prey, and all things which they had taken, before the princes and all the multitude.

15 And the men stood there, which we remembered before, and they took the prisoners, and they clothed of the spoils all that were naked; and when they had clothed them, and shod them, and refreshed them with meat, and with drink, and anointed them for travail, and gave cure, either medicine, to them; whichever of them were feeble, and might not go, they putted [or put] on horses, and they brought them to Jericho, the city of palms, to their brethren; and they turned again into Samaria.

16 In that time, king Ahaz sent to the king of Assyrians, and asked help of him.

17 And Idumeans came, and killed many men of Judah, and took great prey.

18 Also [the] Philistines were spread abroad by cities of the fields, and at the south of Judah; and they took Beth-shemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho, and Timnah, and Gimzo, with their villages; and they dwelled in those [or them].

19 For the Lord made low Judah for Ahaz, the king of Judah*; for he had made him naked of help, and despised the Lord.

20 And the Lord brought against him Tilgathpilneser, king of Assyrians, that tormented him, and wasted him, while no man against-stood.

21 Therefore Ahaz, after that he had spoiled the house of the Lord, and the house of the king, and of the princes, gave gifts to the king of Assyrians, and nevertheless it profited nothing to him.

22 Furthermore also in the time of his anguish he increased despite against God; that king Ahaz, himself,

23 offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, his smiters, or destroyers, and he said, The gods of the kings of Syria help them, which gods I shall please by sacrifices, and they shall help me; when, on the contrary, they were falling to him, and to all Israel.

24 Therefore after that Ahaz had taken away, and broken all the vessels of the house of God, he closed the gates of God’s temple, and he made altars to himself in all the corners of Jerusalem.

25 And in all the cities of Judah he builded altars to burn incense to other gods, and he stirred the Lord God of his fathers to wrathfulness.

26 Soothly the residue of his words and of all his works, the former and the last, be written in the book of [the] kings of Judah and of Israel.

27 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of Jerusalem; for they received not him into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel; and Hezekiah, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 29

1 And Hezekiah began to reign, when he was of five and twenty years, and he reigned in Jerusalem nine and twenty years; the name of his mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

2 And Hezekiah did that, that was pleasing in the sight of the Lord, by all things that David, his father, had done.

3 In that year, and in the first month of his realm, he opened the gates of the house of the Lord, and restored, or repaired, those gates;

4 and he brought the priests, and deacons [or Levites], and he gathered them together into the east street,

5 and said to them, Sons of Levi, hear ye me, and be ye hallowed; cleanse ye the house of the Lord God of your fathers; and do ye away all uncleanness from the saintuary.

6 Our fathers have sinned, and done evil in the sight of the Lord our God, and forsook him; they turned away their faces from the tabernacle of the Lord our God, and gave their back.

7 They closed the doors that were in the porch, and quenched the lanterns; and they burnt not incense, and they offered not burnt sacrifices in the saintuary of God of Israel.

8 Therefore the strong vengeance of the Lord was raised upon Judah and Jerusalem; and he gave them into stirring or moving, or unstableness, and into perishing, and into hissing, either scorning, as ye see with your eyes.

9 Lo! our fathers have fallen down by swords; our sons, and our daughters, and our wives be led away as prisoners for this great trespass.

10 Now therefore it pleaseth me, that we make a bond of peace with the Lord God of Israel, and that he turn from us the strong vengeance of his wrath.

11 My sons, do not ye herein be reckless; the Lord hath chosen you, that ye stand before him, and serve him, that ye praise him, and burn incense to him.

12 Therefore the deacons [or Levites] rose up, Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel, the son of Azariah, of the sons of Kohath; and of the sons of Merari, Kish, the son of Abdi, and Azariah, the son of Jehalelel; and of the sons of Gershon, Joah, the son of Zimmah, and Eden, the son of Joah;

13 and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri, and Jeiel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah, and Mattaniah;

14 also of the sons of Heman, Jehiel, and Shimei; but also of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah, and Uzziel.

15 And they gathered together their brethren, and they were hallowed; and they entered by the commandment of the king, and by [the] commandment of the Lord, for to cleanse the house of the Lord.

16 Also [the] priests entered into the temple of the Lord, for to hallow it, and they bare out all the uncleanness, that they found therein in the porch, either large place, of the house of the Lord; which uncleanness the deacons [or Levites] took, and they bare it out to the strand [or stream] of Kidron withoutforth.

17 Soothly they began to cleanse in the first day of the first month, and in the eighth day of the same month they entered into the porch of the house of the Lord, and they cleansed the temple eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the same month they [ful] filled that, that they had begun.

18 And they entered to Hezekiah, the king, and said to him, We have hallowed, or cleansed, all the house of the Lord, and the altar of burnt sacrifice thereof, and the vessels thereof, also and the board of setting forth with all his vessels,

19 and all the appurtenance of the temple, that king Ahaz had defouled in his realm, after that he brake the law; and lo! all things be set forth before the altar of the Lord.

20 And Hezekiah, the king, rose up in the morrowtide, and he gathered together all the princes of the city, and he went up into the house of the Lord;

21 and they offered together seven bulls, and seven rams, seven lambs, and seven bucks of goats, for [the] sin, for the realm, for the saintuary, and for Judah. And he said to [the] priests, the sons of Aaron, that they should offer sacrifices on the altar of the Lord.

22 Therefore they killed bulls, and the priests took the blood, and poured it upon the altar; also they killed rams, and they poured the blood of those [or them] upon the altar; and they offered lambs, and they poured the blood upon the altar.

23 And they brought [the] bucks of goats for sin before the king and all the multitude, and they setted their hands on those [or them];

24 and the priests offered them, and they sprinkled the blood of them before the altar, for the cleansing of all Israel. For the king commanded, that burnt sacrifice should be made for all Israel, and for sin thereof.

25 Also he ordained deacons [or Levites] in the house of the Lord, with cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, by the ordinance of David the king, and of Gad, the prophet, and of Nathan, the prophet; for it was the command-ment of the Lord by the hand of his prophets.

26 And the deacons [or Levites] stood, and held the organs of David; and priests held[the] trumps.

27 And Hezekiah commanded, that they should offer burnt sacrifices upon the altar; and when burnt sacrifices were offered, they began to sing praisings to the Lord, and to sound with trumps, and with diverse organs, which David, king of Israel, had made ready to sound with.

28 Forsooth when all the company worshipped/And when all the company worshipped the Lord, [the] singers and they that held trumps were in their office, till the burnt sacrifice was filled.

29 And when the offering was ended, the king was bowed down, and all that were with him, and they worship-ped God.

30 And Hezekiah and the princes commanded to the deacons [or Levites], that they should praise the Lord with the words of David, and of Asaph, the prophet; which praised him with great gladness, and kneeled, and worshipped.

31 Soothly Hezekiah added also these things, Ye have filled your hands with blessings to the Lord; nigh ye, and offer sacrifices and praisings in the house of the Lord. Therefore all the multitude offered with devout soul sacrifices, and praisings, and burnt sacrifices.

32 And this was the number of burnt sacrifices, which the multitude offered; seventy bulls, and an hundred rams, and two hundred lambs.

33 Also they hallowed to the Lord six hundred oxen, and three thousand sheep.

34 And the priests were few, and they might not suffice for to draw, or flay off, the skins of [the] burnt sacrifices; wherefore and the deacons [or Levites] their brethren helped them, till the work was [ful] filled, and the priests were hallowed; for the deacons [or Levites] be hallowed by lighter custom than the priests.

35 Therefore there were full many burnt sacrifices, and inner fatness of peaceable sacrifices, and the moist [or liquor] sacrifices of burnt sacrifices, and thereby the worship of the house of the Lord was [ful] filled.

36 And Hezekiah was glad, and all the people, for the service of the Lord was fulfilled; for it pleased, that this was done suddenly.

CHAPTER 30

1 And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and to Judah, and he wrote epistles to Ephraim and to Manasseh, that they should come into the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and make pask to the Lord God of Israel.

2 Therefore when counsel was taken of the king, and of [the] princes, and of all the company of Jerusalem, they deemed, or purposed, to make pask in the second month.

3 For they deemed not to be able to do this in his time, that is, the first month; for the priests which might suffice thereto were not yet hallowed, and the people was not yet gathered into Jerusalem.

4 And the word pleased the king, and all the multitude.

5 And they deemed to send mes-sengers into all Israel, from Beersheba unto Dan, that they should come, and make pask to the Lord God of Israel in Jerusalem; for many men had not done it, as it is before-written in the law.

6 And couriers went forth with epistles, by [the] commandment of the king and of his princes, into all Israel and Judah, and preached by that, that the king had commanded, Sons of Israel, turn ye again to the Lord God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Israel; and he shall turn again to the remnant of men, that escaped the hands of the kings of Assyrians.

7 Do not ye be made as your fathers and your brethren, which went away from the Lord God of their fathers; and he gave them into perishing, as ye see.

8 Do not ye make hard your nolls, as your fathers did; give ye your hands to the Lord in promising that ye shall serve him faithfully, and come ye to his saintuary, which he hath hallowed without end; serve ye the Lord God of your fathers, and the wrath of his strong vengeance shall turn away from you.

9 For if ye turn again to the Lord, your brethren and your sons shall have mercy before their lords that led them prisoners; and they shall turn again into this land. For the Lord our God is pious, either benign, and merci-ful; and he will not turn away his face from you, if ye turn again to him.

10 Therefore the couriers went swiftly from city into city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh unto Zebulun, while they scorned and bemocked them.

11 Nevertheless some men of Asher, and of Manasseh, and of Zebulun, assented to the counsel, and came into Jerusalem.

12 Forsooth the hand of the Lord was made in Judah, that he gave to them one heart, and that they did the word of the Lord, by the command-ment of the king and of the princes.

13 And many peoples were gathered into Jerusalem, for to make the solem-nity of therf loaves in the second month.

14 And they rose, and destroyed the altars, that were in Jerusalem; and destroyed all things in which incense was burnt to idols, they casted them forth into the strand [or stream] of Kidron.

15 And they offered pask in the fourteenth day of the second month; also the priests and the deacons [or Levites] were hallowed at the last, and offered burnt sacrifices in the house of the Lord.

16 And they stood in their order, by the ordinance and law of Moses, the man of God. Soothly the priests took of the hands of deacons [or Levites] the blood to be shed out,

17 for much of the company was not hallowed; and therefore the deacons [or Levites] offered pask for them, that might not be hallowed to the Lord.

18 Also a great part of the people of Ephraim, and of Manasseh, and of Issachar, and of Zebulun, that was not hallowed, ate pask not by that that is written. And Hezekiah prayed for them, and said, The good Lord shall do mercy to all men,

19 which seek in all their heart the Lord God of their fathers; and it shall not be areckoned to them into sin, that they be not hallowed by offering of gifts.

20 And the Lord heard him, and was pleased to the people.

21 And the sons of Israel, that were found in Jerusalem, made the solemnity of therf loaves seven days in great gladness, and they praised the Lord by each day; and the deacons [or Levites] and [the] priests praised the Lord by organs, which accorded to their office.

22 And Hezekiah spake to the heart of all the deacons [or Levites], that had good understanding of the Lord; and they ate by seven days of the solemnity, offering sacrifices of peace-able things, and praising the Lord God of their fathers.

23 And it pleased all the multitude to hallow also other seven days; which thing also they did with great joy.

24 Forsooth Hezekiah, king of Judah, gave to the multitude a thousand bulls, and seven thousand of sheep; and the princes gave to the people a thousand bulls, and ten thousand sheep. There-fore a full great multitude of priests was hallowed*;

25 and all the company of Judah was filled with gladness, as well of priests and deacons [or Levites], as of all the multitude that came from Israel, and of [the] converts of the land of Israel, and of [the] dwellers in Judah.

26 And great solemnity was made in Jerusalem, what manner was not in that city from the days of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.

27 And [the] priests and deacons [or Levites] rose up, and blessed the people; and the voice of them was heard, and their prayer came into the holy dwelling place of heaven.

CHAPTER 31

1 And when these things were done rightfully, all Israel went out, that was found in the cities of Judah; and they brake [the] simulacra, and cutted down [maumet] woods, and wasted [the] high places, and destroyed [the] altars, not only of all Judah and Benjamin, but also of Ephraim and Manasseh, till that they had destroyed those altars or their idols utterly. And then all the sons of Israel turned again into their possessions and cities.

2 And Hezekiah ordained companies of priests and deacons [or Levites] by their partings, each man in his own office, that is, as well of priests as of deacons [or Levites], to burnt sacrifices and peaceable sacrifices, that they should minister, and acknowledge, and sing in the gates of the castles [or tents] of the Lord.

3 And the part of the king’s sacrifice was, that of his own substance, or chattel, burnt sacrifice should be offered evermore in the morrowtide and in the eventide, also in sabbaths, and calends, and in other solemnities, as it is written in the law of Moses.

4 Also he commanded to the people of them that dwelled in Jerusalem, to give parts to the priests and deacons [or Levites], that they might give attention to the law of the Lord.

5 And when this was known in the ears of the multitude, the sons of Israel offered full many first fruits of wheat, of wine, of oil, and of honey; and of all things which the earth bringeth forth, they offered tithes.

6 But also the sons of Israel and of Judah, that dwelled in the cities of Judah, offered tithes of oxen, and of sheep, and the tithes of holy things, which they avowed [or vowed] to their Lord God, and they brought all things, and made full many heaps.

7 In the third month they began to lay the foundaments of the heaps, and in the seventh month they filled, or ended, those heaps.

8 And when Hezekiah and his princes had entered, they saw the heaps, and they blessed the Lord, and the people of Israel.

9 And Hezekiah asked the priests and deacons [or Levites] why the heaps lay so.

10 And Azariah, the first, or chief, priest of the generation of Zadok, answered to him and said, Since the first fruits began to be offered in the house of the Lord, we have eaten of those fruits, and been fulfilled, and full many things be left; for the Lord hath blessed his people; and this plenty, which thou seest, is of the remnants.

11 Therefore Hezekiah commanded, that they should make ready barns in the house of the Lord; and when they had done this thing,

12 they brought in faithfully both the first fruits, and tithes, and whatever things they had avowed [or vowed]. And Conaniah, the deacon [or Levite], was [the] sovereign of those things; and Shimei, his brother was the second, next to him;

13 after whom Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were sov-ereigns under the hands, or powers, of Conaniah and Shimei, his brother, by the commandment of Hezekiah the king, and of Azariah, the bishop of the house of the Lord, to whom all things pertained.

14 But Kore, the son of Imnah, deacon [or Levite], and porter of the east gate, was sovereign of those things that were offered by free will to the Lord, and of the first fruits, and of [the] things hallowed into the holy things of the number of holy things;

15 and under his care, were Eden, and Miniamin, Jeshua, and Shemaiah, and Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of priests, that they should part faithfully to their brethren the parts, to the less and to the greater,

16 besides males from three years and above, these things to all that entered into the temple of the Lord, and whatever thing by each day was hired in the service and observances, by their partings.

17 To priests by their families, and to deacons [or Levites] from twenty years and above, by their orders and companies,

18 and to all the multitude, that is, both to the wives, and the free children of them of ever either kind, meats,, were given faithfully of these things that were hallowed.

19 But also men of the sons of Aaron were ordained, by the fields and by suburbs of all the cities, which men should deal parts to all the male kind of priests, and deacons [or Levites].

20 Therefore Hezekiah did all these things, which we have said, in all Judah, and he wrought that, that was rightful [or right] and good and true before the Lord his God,

21 in all the religion of the service of the house of the Lord, by the law and by the ceremonies; and he would seek his Lord God in all his heart, and he did so, and had prosperity.

CHAPTER 32

1 After which things and such truth, Sennacherib, the king of Assyrians, came and entered into Judah; and he besieged strong cities, and would take those [or them].

2 And when Hezekiah had heard this thing, that is, that Sennacherib had come, and that all the fierceness of his battle was turned against Jerusalem,

3 he took counsel with [the] princes and with most strong men, that they should stop the heads of wells, which were without the city; and when the sentence of all men deemed this profitable,

4 he gathered together a full great multitude of men, and they stopped up all the wells, and the river, that flowed in the midst of the land; and said, Lest the kings of Assyrians come, and find abundance of waters.

5 Also Hezekiah did wittingly, and he builded all the wall that was destroyed, and he builded towers on the wall, and another wall without-forth. And he repaired Millo in the city of David; and made armour or arms of all kind, and shields.

6 And he ordained princes of warriors in the host; and he called together all men in the street of the gate of the city, and spake to the hearts of them, and said,

7 Do ye manly, and be ye comfort-ed; do not ye dread, neither be ye afeared of the king of Assyrians, nor of all the multitude that is with him; for many more be with us than with him.

8 A fleshly arm is with him; and the Lord our God is with us, which is our helper, and shall fight for us. And the people was comforted with such words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.

9 And after that these things were done, Sennacherib, [the king of Assyria], sent his servants to Jerusalem; for he himself, with all the host, besieged Lachish. He sent to Hezekiah, king of Judah, and to all the people that was in the city of Jerusalem, and said,

10 Sennacherib, king of Assyrians, saith these things, In whom have ye trust, and sit besieged in Jerusalem?

11 Whether not Hezekiah deceiveth you, that ye betake you to death in hunger and thirst, and he affirmeth, that the Lord your God shall deliver you from the hand of the king of Assyrians?

12 Whether this is not Hezekiah, that destroyed high places, and altars of him, and commanded to Judah and Jerusalem, and said, Ye shall worship before one altar, and therein ye shall burn incense?

13 Whether ye know not what things I have done, and my fathers, to all the peoples of lands? Whether the gods of folks and of all lands might deliver their country from mine hand?

14 Who is, of all the gods of folks, which my fathers destroyed, that might deliver his people from mine hand, that also your God may deliver you from mine hand?

15 Therefore Hezekiah deceive not you, neither scorn he you by vain counselling, neither believe ye to him; for if no god of all folks and countries might deliver his people from mine hand, and from the hand of my fathers, pursuingly [or followingly] neither your God shall be able to deliver you from this mine hand.

16 But also his servants spake many other things against the Lord God, and against Hezekiah, his servant.

17 Also he wrote epistles full of blas-phemy against the Lord God of Israel, and he spake against God, and said, As the gods of other folks might not deliver their people from mine hand, so and the God of Hezekiah may not deliver his people from mine hand.

18 Furthermore, and with [a] great cry in the language of Jews, he sounded against the people, that sat on the walls of Jerusalem, to make them afeared, and to take the city.

19 And he spake against [the] God of Israel, as against the gods of the peoples of [the] earth, the works of men’s hands.

20 Therefore Hezekiah, the king, and Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz, prayed against this blasphemy, and cried [out] till into heaven.

21 And the Lord sent his angel, the which killed each strong man and warrior, and the prince of the host of the king of Assyrians; and he/Sen-nacherib turned again with shame to his land. And when he had entered into the house of his god, the sons, which went out of his womb, killed him there with sword.

22 And the Lord saved Hezekiah, and the dwellers of Jerusalem, from the hand of Sennacherib, king of Assyrians, and from the hand of all men; and he gave to them rest by compass.

23 Also many men brought offerings and sacrifices to the Lord into Jeru-salem, and gifts to Hezekiah, king of Judah; which was enhanced after these things before all folks.

24 In those days Hezekiah was sick unto the death, and he prayed the Lord; and he heard him, and gave to him a sign;

25 but he yielded not thankings to the Lord after the benefits which he had taken, for his heart was raised into pride; and wrath of the Lord was made against him, and against Judah, and against Jerusalem.

26 And he was meeked afterward, for-thy that his heart was raised; both he was meeked, and the dwellers of Jerusalem; and therefore the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.

27 And Hezekiah was rich, and full noble, and he gathered to himself full many treasures of silver, and of gold, and of precious stones, and of sweet smelling spices, and of armours of all kind, and of vessels of great price.

28 Also he builded large houses of wheat, [and] of wine, and of oil, and cratches of all beasts, and folds to sheep,

29 and he builded six cities. And he had unnumberable flocks of sheep and of great beasts; for the Lord had given to him full much chattel [or substance].

30 That is Hezekiah, that stopped the higher well of the waters of Gihon, and he turned those [or them] away under the earth at the west side of the city of David; in all his works he did by prosperity, whatever thing he would do.

31 Nevertheless in the message of the princes of Babylon, that were sent to him for to ask of the great wonder, that befelled on the land, God forsook him, that he were assayed, and that all things were known that were in his heart.

32 Soothly the residue of [the] words of Hezekiah, and of his mercies, be written in the prophecy of Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of kings of Judah and of Israel.

33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him above the sepulchres of the sons of David. And all Judah and all the dwellers of Jerusalem made solemn the services of his burying; and Manasseh, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 33

1 Manasseh was of twelve years, when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem five and fifty years.

2 And he did evil before the Lord after the abominations of heathen men, whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.

3 And he turned, and restored the high places, which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed. And he builded altars to Baalim, and made woods, and worshipped all the knighthood of heaven, and praised it.

4 And he builded altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, My name shall be in Jeru-salem without end.

5 Soothly he builded those altars to all the knighthood of heaven in the two large places of the house of the Lord.

6 And he made his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; he kept dreams; he pursued [or followed] false divining by chit-tering of birds; and he served witch-crafts; and he had with him astrono-mers and enchanters, either tregetours, that deceived men’s wits, and he wrought many evils before the Lord to stir him to wrath.

7 And he set a graven and a molten sign in the house of the Lord, of which house God spake to David, and to Solomon, his son, and said, I shall set my name without end in this house, and in Jerusalem, which I chose of all the lineages of Israel;

8 and I shall not make the foot of Israel to move from the land which I gave to their fathers, so only that they take heed to do those things that I have commanded to them, and all the law, and ceremonies, and dooms, by the hand of Moses.

9 But Manasseh deceived the men of Judah, and the dwellers of Jerusalem, so that they did evil, more than all heathen men, which the Lord had destroyed from the face of the sons of Israel.

10 And the Lord spake to him, and to his people; and they would not take heed.

11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the princes of the host of the king of Assyrians; and they took Manasseh, and bound him with chains, and stocks, and led him into Babylon.

12 And after that he was anguished, he prayed the Lord his God, and did penance greatly before the God of his fathers.

13 And he prayed God, and beseech-ed him intently; and God heard his prayer, and brought him again into Jerusalem into his realm; and then Manasseh knew, that the Lord himself is God alone.

14 After these things he builded the wall without or outside the city of David, at the west side of Gihon, in the valley, from the entering of the gate of fishes, by compass unto Ophel; and he raised it up greatly; and he ordained princes of the host in all the strong cities of Judah.

15 And he did away alien gods and simulacra from the house of the Lord; and he did away the altars, which he had made in the hill of the house of the Lord, and in Jerusalem, and he casted them away all without the city.

16 Certainly he restored the altar of the Lord, and offered thereon slain sacrifices, and peaceable sacrifices, and praising; and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.

17 Nevertheless the people offered yet in high places to the Lord their God.

18 Forsooth the residue of [the] deeds of Manasseh, and his beseeching to his Lord God, and the words of [the] prophets, that spake to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, be contained in the words of the kings of Israel.

19 And his prayer, and the hearing that the Lord heard him, and all his sins, and all his despising, and also the places in which he builded high things, and made maumet woods and images, before that he did penance, these be written in the book of Hozai.

20 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his house; and Amon, his son, reigned for him.

21 Amon was of two and twenty years, when he began to reign; and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

22 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, as Manasseh, his father, had done; and he offered, and served to all the idols, which Manasseh had made.

23 And he reverenced not the face of the Lord, as Manasseh, his father, reverenced; and he did much greater trespasses than his father did.

24 And when his servants had sworn together against him, they killed him in his house.

25 Soothly the residue multitude of the people, after that they had slain them that had slain Amon, ordained Josiah, his son, king for him.

CHAPTER 34

1 Josiah was of eight years, when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.

2 And he did that, that was rightful [or right] in the sight of the Lord; and went in the ways of David, his father, and bowed not to the right side, neither to the left side.

3 And in the eighth year of the realm of his empire, when he was yet a boy, that is, sixteen years old, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year after that he began, he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem from high places, and woods, and simulacra, and graven images.

4 And they destroyed before him the altars of Baalim, and they destroyed the simulacra, that were put above. Also he hewed down the maumet woods, and the graven images, and brake to small gobbets; and scattered abroad the small gobbets on the burials of them, that were wont to offer to those.

5 Furthermore the king burnt the bones of priests upon the altars of idols, and he cleansed Judah and Jerusalem of idolatry.

6 But also he destroyed all the idols in the cities of Manasseh, and of Ephraim, and of Simeon, unto Naphtali.

7 And when he had scattered the altars, and had all-broken into gobbets the maumet woods, and the graven images, and had destroyed all [the] temples of idols from all the land of Israel, he turned again into Jerusalem.

8 Therefore in the eighteenth year of his realm, when the land and the temple was cleansed now, he sent Shaphan, the son of Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, the prince of the city, and Joah, the son of Joahaz, his chan-cellor, that they should repair the house of the Lord his God.

9 Which came to Hilkiah, the great priest; and when they had taken of him the money, that was brought into the house of the Lord, which money the deacons [or Levites] and porters had gathered of men of Manasseh, and of Ephraim, and of all the remnant men of Israel, and of Judah and of Benjamin, and of the dwellers of Jerusalem,

10 they gave it into the hands of them that were sovereigns of the workmen in the house of the Lord, that they should restore the temple, and repair all the feeble things thereof.

11 And they gave that money to the craftsmen and masons, for to buy stones hewed out of the quarries, and wood to the joinings of the buildings, and to the couplings of [the] houses, which the kings of Judah had destroyed.

12 The which workmen did faithfully all things. And the sovereigns of workers were Jahath, and Obadiah, of the sons of Merari; and Zechariah, and Meshullam, of the sons of Kohath, which hasted the work; all were deacons [or Levites], knowing how to sing with organs.

13 And over them that bare burdens to diverse uses were scribes, and masters of deacons [or Levites], and porters.

14 And when they bare out the money, that was brought into the temple of the Lord, Hilkiah, the priest, found a book of the law of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

15 And Hilkiah said to Shaphan, the writer [or scribe], I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah took it to Shaphan,

16 and he bare in the book to the king; and he told to him, and said, Lo! all things be fulfilled, or ended, which thou hast given into the hands of thy servants.

17 And they have welled together the silver, which is found in the house of the Lord; and it is given to the sov-ereigns of the craftsmen, and those making diverse works;

18 furthermore Hilkiah, the priest, took to me this book. And when he had rehearsed this book in the presence of the king,

19 and when the king had heard the words of the law, he rent his clothes;

20 and he commanded to Hilkiah, and to Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and to Abdon, the son of Micah, and to Shaphan, the scribe, and to Asaiah, the servant of the king, and said,

21 Go ye, and pray the Lord for me, and for the remnant of men of Israel and of Judah, on all the words of this book, that is found. For great venge-ance of the Lord hath dropped upon us, for our fathers kept not the words of the Lord, to do all things that be written in this book.

22 Therefore Hilkiah, and they that were sent together from the king, went to Huldah, the prophetess, the wife of Shallum, the son of Tikvath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the king’s clothes, the which Huldah dwelled in Jeru-salem in the second ward; and they spake to her the words, which we told before.

23 And she answered to them, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Say ye to the man, that sent you to me,

24 The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall bring evils upon this place, and upon the dwellers thereof, and all the cursings that be written in this book, that they have read before the king of Judah.

25 For they have forsaken me, and have sacrificed to alien gods, for to stir me to wrathfulness in all the works of their hands; therefore my strong vengeance shall drop upon this place, and it shall not be quenched.

26 But speak ye thus to the king of Judah, that sent you to pray the Lord, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, For thou heardest the words of the book,

27 and thine heart thereby is made nesh, and thou art meeked in the sight of the Lord of these things which be said against this place, and against the dwellers of Jerusalem, and thou hast reverenced my face, and hast rent thy clothes, and hast wept before me; also I have heard thee, saith the Lord.

28 For now I shall gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be borne into thy sepulchre in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil, that is, none of all the evils, that I shall bring in upon this place, and upon the dwellers thereof. Then they told to the king all things, that Huldah had said.

29 And after that the king had called together all the elder men of Judah and of Jerusalem,

30 he went up into the house of the Lord, and there went up together with him all the men of Judah, and the dwellers of Jerusalem, priests, and deacons [or Levites], and all the people, from the least unto the most; to whose hearing in the house of the Lord, the king read all the words of the foresaid book.

31 And he stood in his throne, and smote, or made, a bond of peace before the Lord, for to pursue or go after him, and to keep the command-ments, and the witnessings, and the justifyings of him, in all his heart, and in all his soul; and to do those things which were written in that book, that he had read.

32 And he charged greatly upon this thing all men, that were found in Jeru-salem and Benjamin; and the dwellers of Jerusalem did after the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers.

33 Therefore Josiah did away all the abominations from all the countries of the sons of Israel; and made all men, that were left in Israel, to serve the Lord God; and in all the days of his life they went not away from the Lord God of their fathers.

CHAPTER 35

1 Forsooth Josiah made pask to the Lord in Jerusalem, the which pask was offered in the fourteenth day of the first month;

2 and he ordained priests in their offices; and commanded them for to serve in the house of the Lord.

3 And he spake to the deacons [or Levites], at whose teaching all Israel was hallowed to the Lord, Set ye [or Putteth] the ark of the Lord in the saintuary of the temple, that Solomon, king of Israel, the son of David builded; for ye shall no more bear it about. But now serve ye the Lord your God, and his people Israel,

4 and make you ready by your houses and meines, in the partings of each by himself, as David, king of Israel, commanded, and as Solomon, his son, ordained;

5 and serve ye in the saintuary by the families and companies of deacons [or Levites],

6 and be ye hallowed, and offer ye pask; also make ready your brethren, that they may do after the words, which the Lord spake by the hand of Moses.

7 Furthermore Josiah gave to all the people, that was found there in the solemnity of pask, that is, to make the solemnity, lambs and kids of the flocks, and of residue sheep he gave thirty thousand, and of oxes [or oxen] three thousand; these things were given of the substance of the king.

8 And his dukes offered those things which they avowed [or vowed] by their free will, as well to the people, as to priests and deacons [or Levites]. And Hilkiah, and Zechariah, and Jehiel, princes of the house of the Lord, gave to [the] priests, to make pask in com-mon, two thousand and six hundred sheep, and three hundred oxen.

9 And Conaniah, and Shemaiah, and Nethaneel, and his brethren, and also Hashabiah, and Jeiel, and Jozabad, the princes of deacons [or Levites], gave to other deacons, to make [the] pask, five thousand of sheep, and five hundred oxen.

10 And the service was made ready; and [the] priests stood in their office, and deacons [or Levites] in their companies, by the commandment of the king;

11 and pask was offered. And [the] priests sprinkled their hands with blood, and deacons [or Levites] drew off the skins of sacrificed beasts,

12 and they parted those sacrifices, for to give them by the houses and meines of all men that were come thither to make pask; and that those sacrifices should be offered to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses; and of oxen they did in like manner.

13 And they roasted the pask lamb upon the fire, after that that is written in the law. And they seethed peace-able sacrifices in pans, and in caul-drons, and in pots, and in haste they dealed it to all the people;

14 but they made ready afterward to themselves, and to priests; for the priests were occupied unto [the] night in the offering of burnt sacrifices and of the inner fatnesses. Wherefore the deacons [or Levites] made ready their part at the last to themselves, and to the priests, the sons of Aaron.

15 And [the] singers, the sons of Asaph, stood in their order, by the commandment of David, and of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, the prophets of the king; but the porters kept their office by each gate, so that they went not away from their service, soothly not in a point, that is, they were in no time absent from their office; wherefore and the deacons [or Levites], their brethren, made ready meats to them.

16 Therefore all the religion of the Lord was fulfilled rightfully in that day, that they made pask, and offered burnt sacrifices upon the altar of the Lord, by the commandment of king Josiah.

17 And the sons of Israel, that were found there, made pask in that time, and the solemnity of therf loaves seven days.

18 No pask was like this in Israel, from the days of Samuel, the prophet; but neither any of the kings of Israel made pask as Josiah did, to [the] priests and deacons [or Levites], and to all Judah and Israel, that was found there, and to the dwellers of Jerusalem.

19 This pask was hallowed in the eighteenth year of the realm of Josiah.

20 After that Josiah had repaired the temple, Necho, the king of Egypt, went up to fight in Charchemish beside Euphrates; and Josiah went forth into his meeting.

21 And Necho said by messengers sent to Josiah, King of Judah, what cause of strife is to me and to thee? I come not against thee today, but I fight against another house, to which God bade me go in haste; cease thou to do thus against God, that is with me, lest he slay thee.

22 But Josiah would not turn again, but he made ready battle against him; and he assented not to the words of Necho, by God’s mouth, but he went for to fight in the field of Megiddo.

23 And there he was wounded of archers, and Josiah said to his children or servants, Lead ye me out of the battle, for I am wounded greatly.

24 And they bare him over from that chariot into another chariot, that pursued [or followed] him, by custom of the king, and they brought him forth into Jerusalem; and he died there, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers. And all Judah and Jeru-salem bewailed him,

25 Jeremy mostly, of whom all [the] singers and singeresses till into [the] present day rehearse lamentations, either wailings, on Josiah; and it came forth as a law in Israel, Lo! it is said written in [the] Lamentations.

26 Forsooth the residue of [the] words of Josiah, and of his mercies, that be commanded in the law of the Lord,

27 and his works, the first and the last, be written in the book of [the] kings of Israel and of Judah.

CHAPTER 36

1 Therefore the people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and ordained him king for his father in Jerusalem.

2 Jehoahaz was of three and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

3 And when the king of Egypt had come to Jerusalem, he removed him, and he condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and in a talent of gold.

4 And he ordained for him Eliakim, his brother, king upon Judah and Jerusalem; and he turned his name, and called him Jehoiakim. And he took that Jehoahaz with himself, and he brought him into Egypt.

5 Jehoiakim was of five and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and he did evil before the Lord his God.

6 And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Chaldees, went up against this Jehoi-akim, and he led him bound with chains into Babylon.

7 To which Babylon he translated or brought over also the vessels of the house of the Lord, and he set those [or put them] in his temple.

8 Soothly the residue of [the] words of Jehoiakim, and of his abominations which he wrought, and which were found in him, be contained in the book of [the] kings of Israel and of Judah. And Jehoiachin, his son, reigned for him.

9 Jehoiachin was of eighteen years, when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

10 And when the circle of the year was turned about, Nebuchadnezzar the king sent men, which also brought him into Babylon, when the most precious vessels of the house of the Lord were borne out together. And Nebuchadnezzar ordained Zedekiah, his father’s brother, king upon Judah and Jerusalem.

11 Zedekiah was of one and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

12 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and he was not ashamed of the face of Jeremy, the prophet, that spake to him by the mouth of the Lord.

13 Also he went [away] from king Nebuchadnezzar, which had made him to swear by God, that is, to promise steadfastly to be true to him; and Zedekiah made hard his noll and his heart, that he would not turn again to the Lord God of Israel.

14 But also all the princes of priests, and the people, trespassed wickedly, by all the abominations of heathen men; and they defouled the house of the Lord, which he had hallowed to himself in Jerusalem.

15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by the hand of his messengers, and the Lord rose up by night, and he admonished them each day; for-thy that he would spare his people, and his dwelling place.

16 And they mocked the messengers of God, and they despised his words, and they scorned his prophets; till the great vengeance of the Lord ascended [or went up] upon his people, and no cure, or healing, were to them.

17 And he brought on them the king of Chaldees; and [he] killed the young men of them by sword in the house of [the] saintuary; he had not mercy of a young man, and of a virgin, and of an eld [or old] man, and soothly neither of a man nigh the death for eldness, but he betook all into the hand of that king of Chaldees.

18 And he translated or brought over into Babylon all the vessels of the house of the Lord, both the greater and the lesser vessels, and the treasures of the temple, and of the king of Judah, and of the princes thereof.

19 And enemies burnt the house of the Lord; and they destroyed the wall of Jerusalem; they burnt all the towers; and they destroyed whatever thing was precious therein.

20 If any man escaped the sword, he was led into Babylon, and served the king and his sons; this subjection or thralldom continued upon the men of Judah, till the king of Persia reigned,

21 and till the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremy was fulfilled, and till the land hallowed his sabbaths. Soothly Judah in all the days of desolation, or of the destroying, or forsaking thereof, it made sabbath, till that seventy years were fulfilled.

22 Forsooth in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by the mouth of Jeremy, the Lord raised the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that commanded to be preached in all his realm, yea, by writing, and said,

23 I Cyrus, king of Persia, saith these things, The Lord God of heaven hath given to me all the realms of [the] earth, and he commanded to me, that I should build to him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who of you is in all his people? the Lord his God be with him, and go he up thither.

* CHAPTER 2:3 Also known as Huram.

† CHAPTER 2:13 Also known as Huram(!).

* CHAPTER 8:2 Also known as Huram.

* CHAPTER 9:1 Figurative speech is to speak one thing, and to understand another.

† CHAPTER 9:10 Also known as Huram.

* CHAPTER 21:1 Also known as Joram.

* CHAPTER 22:1 Also known as Joram.

† CHAPTER 22:5 Also known as Jehoram(!).

‡ CHAPTER 22:6 Here the KJV erroneously has Azariah.

* CHAPTER 25:17 Also known as Joash.

† CHAPTER 25:23 A variant form of Ahaziah (the son of Jehoram, king of Judah).

* CHAPTER 26:1 Also known as Azariah.

* CHAPTER 28:19 Here the KJV mistakenly says, ‘king of Israel’.

* CHAPTER 30:24 That is, ordained to kill and offer to the Lord these beasts.

EZRA

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EZRA

CHAPTER 1

1 In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremy should be fulfilled, the Lord raised the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia; and he published a voice in all his realm, yea, by writing, he sent out his letters, and said,

2 Cyrus, the king of Persia, saith these things, The Lord God of heaven hath given to me all the realms of [the] earth, and he hath commanded to me, that I should build to him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

3 Who is among you of all his people? his God be with him; and go he up into Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build he the house of the Lord God of Israel; he is God, which is in Jerusalem.

4 And all other men, that dwell wherever in all places, help him; the men of their place help in silver, and gold, and chattel, and sheep, besides that that they offer willfully to the temple of God, which is in Jerusalem.

5 And then[the] princes of the fathers of Judah and of Benjamin rose up, and the priests, and the deacons [or Levites], and each man whose spirit God raised, for to go up to build the temple of the Lord, that was in Jerusalem.

6 And all men that were in compass about helped the hands of them, with vessels of silver, and of gold, with their substance, with appurtenance of household, and with work beasts, besides, or over, these things which they offered by their free will.

7 And king Cyrus brought forth the vessels of the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem, and had set [or put] them in the temple of his god.

8 And Cyrus, the king of Persia, brought forth those vessels by the hand of Mithredath, the son of Gazabar; and numbered those [or them] to Shesh-bazzar, the prince of Judah.

9 And this is the number of the vessels; golden vials, thirty; silveren vials, a thousand; great knives, nine and twenty;

10 golden basins, thirty; silveren basins, two thousand four hundred and ten; and other vessels, a thousand;

11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. And Sheshbazzar took all these vessels, with them that went up from the trans-migration of Babylon, into Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 2

1 And these be the sons of the province, which went up from the captivity, which Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had translated or brought over into Babylon; and they turned again into Jerusalem and into Judah, each man into his city,

2 that came with Zerubbabel; that is, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. This is the number of [the] men of the sons of Israel;

3 the sons of Parosh, two thousand an hundred and two and seventy;

4 the sons of Shephatiah, three hundred and two and seventy;

5 the sons of Arah, seven hundred and five and seventy;

6 the sons of Pahath and of Moab, sons of Jeshua and of Joab, two thousand nine hundred and twelve;

7 the sons of Elam, a thousand two hundred and four and fifty;

8 the sons of Zattu, nine hundred and five and forty;

9 the sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty;

10 the sons of Bani, six hundred and two and forty;

11 the sons of Bebai, six hundred and three and twenty;

12 the sons of Azgad, a thousand two hundred and two and twenty;

13 the sons of Adonikam, six hundred and six and sixty;

14 the sons of Bigvai, two thousand two hundred and six and fifty; [the sons of Bigvai, two thousand and six and fifty;]

15 the sons of Adin, four hundred and four and fifty;

16 the sons of Ater, that were of Hezekiah, ninety and eight;

17 the sons of Bezai, three hundred and three and twenty;

18 the sons of Jorah, an hundred and twelve;

19 the sons of Hashum, two hundred and three and twenty;

20 the sons of Gibbar were ninety and five;

21 the sons of Bethlehem, an hundred and eight [or three] and twenty;

22 the men of Netophah, six and fifty;

23 the men of Anathoth, an hundred and eight and twenty;

24 the sons of Azmaveth, two and forty;

25 the sons of Kiriathjearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and three and forty;

26 the sons of Ramah and of Gaba, six hundred and one and twenty;

27 men of Michmas, an hundred and two and twenty;

28 men of Bethel and of Ai, two hundred and three and twenty;

29 the sons of Nebo, two and fifty;

30 the sons of Magbish, an hundred and six and fifty;

31 the sons of the tother Elam, a thousand two hundred and four and fifty;

32 the sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty;

33 the sons of Lod, Hadid, and of Ono, seven hundred and five and twenty;

34 the sons of Jericho, three hundred and five and forty;

35 the sons of Senaah, three thousand six hundred and thirty;

36 priests; the sons of Jedaiah, in the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and three and seventy;

37 the sons of Immer, a thousand and two and fifty;

38 the sons of Pashur, a thousand two hundred and seven and forty;

39 the sons of Harim, a thousand and seventeen;

40 deacons [or Levites]; the sons of Jeshua and of Kadmiel, the sons of Hodaviah, four and seventy;

41 singers; the sons of Asaph, an hundred and eight and twenty;

42 the sons of [the] porters; the sons of Shallum, sons of Ater, sons of Talmon, sons of Akkub, sons of Hatita, sons of Shobai, all these were an hundred and eight and thirty;

43 Nethinims, these bare wood and water to the house of God’s religion; the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth,

44 the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon,

45 the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub,

46 the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shalmai, the sons of Hanan,

47 the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah,

48 the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam,

49 the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai,

50 the sons of Asnah, the sons of Mehunim, the sons of Nephusim,

51 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur,

52 the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha,

53 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Thamah,

54 the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha;

55 the sons of the servants of Solo-mon; the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Peruda,

56 the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel,

57 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth, that were of Zebaim, the sons of Ami;

58 all the Nethinims, and the sons of the servants of Solomon, were three hundred ninety and twain.

59 And they that went up from Telmelah, Telharsa, Cherub, and Addan, and Immer, and might not show the house of their fathers, and their seed, or progeny, whether they were of Israel, were these;

60 the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, six hundred and two and fifty;

61 and of the sons of priests, the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, and the sons of Barzillai, the which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by the name of them;

62 these sought the scripture of their genealogy, and found it not, and they were therefore cast out of priesthood.

63 And the Tirshatha said to them, that they should not eat of the holy of holy things, till a wise priest and a perfect man rose up.

64 All the multitude being as one man, were two and forty thousand three hundred and sixty,

65 besides the servants of them and the handmaids, which were seven thousand three hundred and seven and thirty; and among them were singers and singeresses, two hundred.

66 The horses of them were six hundred and six and thirty; the mules of them, four hundred and five and forty;

67 the camels of them, four hundred and five and thirty; the asses of them, six thousand seven hundred and twenty.

68 And of the princes of [the] fathers, when they entered into the temple of the Lord, that is, the place where the temple was, which is in Jerusalem, they offered of their free will into the house of God, to build it in his place;

69 they gave by their mights the costs of the work, one and forty thousand pieces of gold; and five thousand bezants of silver; and priests’ clothes an hundred.

70 Therefore priests, and deacons [or Levites] of the people, and singers, and porters, and Nethinims dwelled in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

CHAPTER 3

1 And when the seventh month was come, and the sons of Israel were in their cities. And the people was gathered as one man into Jerusalem.

2 And Joshua, the son of Jozadak, rose up, and his brethren, priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, and his brethren, and they builded the altar of God of Israel for to offer thereupon burnt sacrifices, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God.

3 And they setted the altar upon his foundaments, while the peoples of lands by compass made them afeared; and they offered upon that altar burnt sacrifices to the Lord in the morrow-tide and eventide.

4 And they made the solemnity of tabernacles, as it is written, and they offered burnt sacrifices each day by order, by the work of the day commanded in his day.

5 And after this they offered the continual burnt sacrifice, both in calends and in all solemnities of the Lord, that were hallowed, and in all, in which gift was offered to the Lord by free will.

6 In the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt sacrifice to the Lord; certainly the temple of God was not founded yet.

7 But they gave money to the hewers of stone, and to the layers of stone, and they gave meat, and drink, and oil, to men of Sidon, and to men of Tyre, that they should bring cedar trees from the Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, by that that Cyrus, king of Persia, had commanded to them.

8 And in the second year of their coming to the temple of God in Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerub-babel, the son of Salathiel, and Joshua, the son of Jozadak, and others of their brethren, priests and deacons [or Levites], and all that came from the captivity into Jerusalem, began the work of God’s temple; and they ordained deacons, from twenty years and above, for to hasten the work of the Lord;

9 and Joshua stood, and his sons, and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, and the sons of Judah together, as one man, to be busy over them that made the work in the temple of God; and the sons of Henadad, their sons, and their brethren, deacons [or Levites].

10 Therefore when the temple of the Lord was founded of stone-layers, priests stood in their ornaments with trumps, and deacons [or Levites], the sons of Asaph, stood singing in cymbals, for to praise God, by the hand, or ordinance, of David, king of Israel.

11 And they sang together in hymns and acknowledging to the Lord, For he is good, for his mercy is without end upon Israel. And all the people cried with [a] great cry, in praising the Lord, for the temple of the Lord was founded.

12 Also full many of the priests, and of the deacons [or Levites], and the princes of fathers, and the elder men, that had seen the former temple, when it was founded, and saw this temple before their eyes, wept with great voice, and many men crying in great gladness raised up the voice;

13 and no man might know the voice of cry of the men being glad, and the voice of weeping of the people; for the people cried together with [a] great cry, and the voice of them was heard afar.

CHAPTER 4

1 And the enemies of Judah and of Benjamin heard, that the sons of captivity builded a temple to the Lord God of Israel;

2 and they came to Zerubbabel, and to the princes of fathers, and said to them, Build we with you, for so as ye do, we seek your God; lo! we have offered sacrifices from the days of Esar-haddon, king of Assur, that brought us hither into this land.

3 And Zerubbabel, and Joshua, and the other princes of the fathers of Israel, said to them, It is not to us and to you, that we build an house to our God; but we us-selves alone shall build an house to the Lord our God, as Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.

4 And it was done, that the people of the land hindered the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building.

5 And they hired counsellors against the Jews, that they should destroy the counsel, or purpose, of the Jews, in all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, and unto the realm of Darius, king of Persia.

6 And in the realm of Ahasuerus, he is called Artaxerxes, in the beginning of his realm, they writed accusing against the dwellers of Judah and of Jerusalem;

7 and in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam wrote, and Mithredath, and Tabeel, and others, that were in the counsel of them, to Artaxerxes, king of Persia. And the epistle of accusing was written in the language of Syria, and it was read in the word of Syria.

8 Rehum, B’el T’em, and Shimshai, the scribe, wrote such an epistle from Jerusalem to king Artaxerxes, [on this manner];

9 Rehum, B’el T’em, and Shimshai, the scribe, and [the] other counsellors of them, Dinaites, Apharsathchites, and Tarpelites, Apharistes, Archevites, men of Babylon, Susanchites, Dehavites, men of Elam,

10 and others of heathen men, which the great and glorious Asnapper translated or brought over, and made them to dwell in the cities of Samaria, and in other countries beyond the flood, in peace.

11 This is the exemplar of the epistle, that they sent to the king. To Artaxerxes, king, thy servants, men beyond the flood, say health to thee.

12 Be it known to the king, that the Jews, which went up from thee, be come to us in Jerusalem, a rebel and full evil city, which they build, and they make the ground walls thereof, and they array the walls above.

13 Now therefore be it known to the king, that if that city be builded, and the walls thereof be restored, they shall not give tribute, and toll, and annual rents, and this trespass, or harm, shall come to the king.

14 Therefore we be mindful of the salt, that is, of meats made savory with salt, that we ate in thy palace, and for we held it unleaveful to see the harms of the king, therefore we have sent and told to the king;

15 that thou account and seek in the books of [the] stories of thy fathers, and thou shalt find written in chronicles, and thou shalt know, that that city Jerusalem is a rebel city, and that it annoyeth kings and provinces, and that battles be raised therein of eld [or old] days; wherefore also that city was destroyed.

16 We tell to the king, that if that city be builded, and the walls thereof be restored, thou shalt not have possession beyond the flood.

17 The king sent word to Rehum, B’el T’em, and to Shimshai, the scribe, and to others that were in the counsel of them, to the dwellers of Samaria, and to others beyond the flood, and said, Health and peace.

18 The accusing, which ye sent to us, was read openly before me;

19 and it was commanded of me, and they reckoned, and they found, that that city rebelleth of eld [or old] days against kings, and dissensions and battles be raised therein;

20 for why there were in Jerusalem full strong kings, which also were lords of all the country that is beyond the flood; also those kings took tribute, and toll, and rents.

21 Now therefore hear ye the sentence, that ye forbid those men to build, and that that city be not builded, till if peradventure it be commanded of me.

22 See ye, that this behest be not fulfilled negligently, and evil increase little and little against kings.

23 Therefore the exemplar of the commandment of king Artaxerxes was read before Rehum, B’el T’em, and Shimshai, the scribe, and their counsellors; and they went in haste into Jerusalem to the Jews, and they forbade them to build, with arm and might.

24 Then the work of God’s house in Jerusalem was left [off], and it was not made till to the second year of the realm of Darius, king of Persia.

CHAPTER 5

1 Forsooth Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, the prophet, the son of Iddo, prophesied, prophesying in the name of God of Israel, to the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem.

2 Then Zerubbabel, the son of Sala-thiel, and Joshua, the son of Jozadak, rose up, and began to build the temple of God in Jerusalem; and with them rose up the prophets of God, helping them.

3 And in that time Tatnai, that was duke beyond the flood, and Shethar-boznai, and the counsellors of them, came to them; and said thus to them, Who gave counsel to you to build this house, and to restore these walls?

4 To the which thing we answered to them, and told them, which were the names of men, authors of that building.

5 Forsooth the eye of [the] God of them was made on the elder men of Jews, and they might not forbid, or hinder, the Jews to build; and it pleased that the thing should be told to Darius, and that then they should make satisfaction against that accusing.

6 This is the exemplar of the epistle, which Tatnai, duke of the country beyond the flood, and Shetharboznai, and his counsellors, Apharsachites, which were beyond the flood, sent to king Darius.

7 The word which they sent to him was written thus; All peace be to king Darius.

8 Be it known to the king, that we went to the province of Judea, to the house of [the] great God, which is builded with stone unpolished, and wood be set in the walls thereof, and that work is builded diligently, and increaseth in the hands of them.

9 Therefore we asked those eld [or old] men, and thus we said to them, Who gave to you power to build this house, and to restore these walls?

10 But also we asked of them their names, that we should tell to thee; and we have written the names of those men, which they be, that be princes among them.

11 Soothly they answered by such word, and said, We be the servants of God of heaven and of earth; and we build the temple that was builded before these many years, and which temple the great king of Israel had builded, and made.

12 But after that our fathers had stirred [the] God of heaven and of earth to wrathfulness, he betook them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, Chaldean, king of Babylon; and he destroyed this house, and translated or brought over the people thereof into Babylon.

13 And in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, this Cyrus, king of Babylon, putted forth a commandment, that the house of God should be builded.

14 For why king Cyrus brought forth from the temple of Babylon also the golden and silveren vessels of God’s temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple, that was in Jerusalem, and had borne those [or them] away into the temple of Babylon, and those vessels were given to Shesh-bazzar, by name, whom he made also prince.

15 And Cyrus said to him, Take these vessels, and go, and set [or put] them in the temple, that is in Jerusalem; and be the house of God builded in the place where it was.

16 Therefore then that Sheshbazzar came, and setted [or set] the founda-ments of God’s temple in Jerusalem; and from that time till to now it is builded, and it is not yet fulfilled.

17 Now therefore, if it seemeth good to the king, reckon he in the biblet or library of the king, which is in Babylon, whether it be commanded of king Cyrus, that God’s house should be builded in Jerusalem; and send he to us the will of the king on this thing.

CHAPTER 6

1 Then king Darius commanded, and they reckoned, or sought, in the biblet of books, which books were kept in Babylon.

2 And one book was found in Ecbatana, which is a castle in the province of Media, and such a sentence of the king was written therein.

3 In the first year of king Cyrus, Cyrus the king deemed, or ordained, that the house of God, which is in Jerusalem, should be builded in the place where they offered sacrifices, and that they set a foundament supporting the height of sixty cubits, and the length of sixty cubits,

4 and set they three orders of stones unpolished, and so the orders of new wood. And costs thereto should be given of the king’s house.

5 But also the golden and silveren vessels of God’s temple, which Nebu-chadnezzar took from the temple of Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon, be they yielded, and borne again into the temple of Jerusalem, and into their place, which vessels also be set [or put] in the temple of God.

6 Now therefore Tatnai, duke of the country that is beyond the flood, and Shetharboznai, and your counsellors, Apharsachites, which be beyond the flood, depart ye far from them;

7 and suffer ye, that that temple of God be made of the duke of Jews, and of the elder men of them; and that they build that house of God in his place.

8 But also it is commanded of me, that that behooveth to be made of those priests of Jews, that the house of God be builded; that is, that costs be given busily to those men of the ark of the king, that is, of the tributes, that be given of the country beyond the flood, lest the work be hindered.

9 That if it be needed, give they both calves, and lambs, and kids into burnt sacrifice to [the] God of heaven; wheat, salt, and wine, and oil, by the custom of priests that be in Jerusalem, be given to them by each day, that no complaint be in anything.

10 And offer they offerings to [the] God of heaven; and pray they for the life of the king, and of his sons.

11 Therefore this sentence is set of me, that if any man change this behest, a wood be taken of his house, and be it raised up, and be he hanged there-on; soothly his house be forfeited.

12 And God, that maketh his name to dwell there, destroy all the realms and people, that hold forth their hand to impugn and destroy that house of God, which is in Jerusalem. I Darius have deemed the sentence, which I will be fulfilled diligently.

13 Therefore Tatnai, duke of the coun-try beyond the flood, and Shetharboz-nai, and his counsellors, did execution, either fulfilled, so diligently, by that that king Darius had commanded.

14 Soothly the elder men of Jews builded, and had prosperity, by the prophecy of Haggai, the prophet, and of Zechariah, the son of Iddo; and they builded, and made, for [the] God of Israel commanded, and for Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia, commanded;

15 and they performed or built this house of God till to the third day of the month Adar, which is the sixth year of the realm of king Darius.

16 And the sons of Israel, the priests and deacons [or Levites], and the others of the sons of transmigration, that is, of them that came from the transmigration, made the hallowing of God’s house in joy;

17 and offered, in the hallowing of God’s house, an hundred calves, two hundred wethers, four hundred lambs, twelve bucks of goats for the sin of all Israel, by the number of the lineages of Israel.

18 And they ordained priests in their orders, and deacons [or Levites] in their whiles, upon the works of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

19 And the sons of transmigration made pask, in the fourteenth day of the first month.

20 For the priests and deacons [or Levites] as one man were cleansed, all they were clean to offer pask to all the sons of transmigration, and to their brethren priests, and to themselves.

21 And the sons of Israel ate, that turned again from the transmigration, and each man ate, that had separated himself from all the defouling of heathen men of the land, for to seek the Lord God of Israel.

22 And they made the solemnity of therf loaves seven days in gladness; for the Lord had made them glad, and had turned the heart of the king of Assur to them, that he would help their hands in the work of the house of the Lord God of Israel.

CHAPTER 7

1 And after these words, Ezra, the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,

2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub,

3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth,

4 son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki,

5 son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, priest at the beginning, this Ezra was in the realm of Artaxerxes, king of Persia;

6 that Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a swift writer in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel gave; and the king gave to him all his asking, by the good hand of his Lord God on him.

7 And in the seventh year of Artaxerxes king, there went up into Jerusalem men of the sons of Israel, and of the sons of priests, and of the sons of deacons [or Levites], and of singers, and of porters, and of Nethinims.

8 And they came into Jerusalem in the fifth month; that is the seventh year of the king.

9 And in the first day of the first month Ezra began to go up from Babylon, and in the first day of the fifth month he came into Jerusalem, by the good hand, or help, of the God of him.

10 And Ezra made ready his heart to inquire [or ensearch] the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel the behest and doom of the Lord.

11 Soothly this is the exemplar of the epistle of the commandment, which the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra, priest, writer learned in the words and commandments of the Lord, and in his ceremonies in Israel.

12 Artaxerxes, king of kings, desireth health to Ezra, the priest, the most wise writer of the law of God of heaven.

13 It is deemed of me, that whom-ever it pleaseth in my realm of the people of Israel, and of his priests, and deacons [or Levites], to go into Jerusalem, go he with thee.

14 For thou art sent from the presence of the king, and of his seven counsellors, that thou visit Judea and Jerusalem in the law of thy God, which is in thy hand;

15 and that thou bear silver and gold, which the king and his counsellors, have offered by free will to [the] God of Israel, whose tabernacle is in Jerusalem.

16 And take thou freely all the silver and gold, whatever thou findest in all the province of Babylon, and that that the people will offer, and of priests that offered by free will to the house of their God, which is in Jerusalem;

17 and buy thou busily of this money calves, rams, lambs, and other offerings, and [the] moist [or liquor] sacrifices of those [or them]; and offer thou those [or them] upon the altar of the temple of your God, which temple is in Jerusalem.

18 But over this also if anything pleaseth to thee, and to thy brethren, to do of the silver and gold that leaveth, do ye it by the will of your God;

19 also betake thou in the sight of God in Jerusalem the vessels, that be given into the service of the house of thy God.

20 But also thou shalt give of the treasure of the king, and of the common ark, either purse, and of men other things, that be needful in the house of thy God, as much ever as is needful, that thou spend.

21 I, Artaxerxes, king, have ordained, and deemed, to all the keepers of the common ark, or hutch, that be beyond the flood, that whatever thing Ezra, the priest, writer of the law of God of heaven, asketh of you, ye give it without tarrying,

22 unto an hundred talents of silver, and to an hundred cors of wheat, and unto an hundred baths of wine, and unto an hundred baths of oil, and salt without measure.

23 All thing that pertaineth to the custom, either religion, of God of heaven, be given diligently in the house of God of heaven, lest peradventure he be wroth against the realm of the king, and of his sons.

24 Also we make known to you of all the priests, and deacons [or Levites], singers, and porters, and Nethinims, and ministers of the house of this God, that ye have not power to put on them toll, and tribute, and other costs for keeping of the land.

25 But thou, Ezra, by the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, ordain judges and governors, that they deem [all] the people, that is beyond the flood, that is, to them that know the law of thy God, and the law of the king; but also teach ye freely unknowing men.

26 And each man, that doeth not diligently the law of thy God, and the law of the king, this doom shall be of him, either into death, either into exiling, either into losing of his chattel, either certainly into prison.

27 And Ezra, the writer, said, Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, that gave this thing in the heart of the king, that he should glorify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem,

28 and that bowed his mercy into me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the mighty princes of the king. And I was comforted by the hand of the Lord my God, that was in me, and I gathered together princes of the sons of Israel, the which went up with me to Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 8

1 Therefore these be the princes of meines, and this is the genealogy of them, that were in the realm of Artaxerxes, the king, and went up with me from Babylon.

2 Of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Hattush, (the son of Shechaniah);

3 of the sons of Shechaniah and of the sons of Pharosh, Zechariah, and with him were numbered an hundred and fifty men; (of the sons of Pharosh, Zech-ariah, and with him were listed a hundred and fifty men;)

4 of the sons of Pahath, Moab, and Elihoenai, the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred men;

5 of the sons of Zattu, Shechaniah, the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred men;

6 of the sons of Adin, Ebed, the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty men;

7 of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah, the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy men;

8 of the sons of Shephatiah, Zeba-diah, the son of Michael, and with him fourscore men;

9 of the sons of Joab, Obadiah, the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen men;

10 of the sons of Bani, Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah, and with him an hundred and sixty men;

11 of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah, the son of Bebai, and with him twenty and eight men;

12 of the sons of Azgad, Johanan, the son of Hakkatan, and with him an hundred and ten men;

13 of the sons of Adonikam, that were the last, and these be the names of them, Eliphelet, and Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty men;

14 of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai, and Zabbud, and with them seventy men.

15 And I gathered all these men at the flood, that runneth down to Ahava; and we dwelled there three days. And I sought among the people, and in the priests, of the sons of Levi, and I found not there.

16 Therefore I sent Eliezer, and Ariel, and Shemaiah, and Elnathan, and Jarib, and another Elnathan, and Nathan, and Zechariah, and Meshullam, princes; and Joiarib, and Elnathan, wise men;

17 and I sent them to Iddo, that is the chief in the place of Casiphia, and I put in the mouth of them the words, which they should speak to Iddo, and to his brethren, Nethinims, in the place of Casiphia, for to bring to us the ministers of the house of our God.

18 And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought a full wise man of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and they brought Sherebiah, and his sons, twenty, and his brethren, were eighteen;

19 and Hashabiah, and Jeshaiah came with him of the sons of Merari, they brought his brethren, and his sons, twenty;

20 and of [the] Nethinims, which David and the princes had given to the services of deacons [or Levites], they brought two hundred and twenty Nethinims; all these were called by their names.

21 And I preached there fasting beside the flood of Ahava, that we should be tormented before the Lord our God, and that we should ask of him the right way to us, and to our sons, and to all our substance.

22 For I shamed to ask of the king help, and horsemen, which should defend us from our enemies in the way, for we had said to the king, The hand of our God is upon all men that seek him in goodness; and his lordship, and his strength, and his strong vengeance, be on all men that forsake him.

23 And we fasted, and prayed our God for this thing, and it befelled to us wellsomely.

24 And I separated twelve of the princes of priests, Sherebiah, and Hash-abiah, and ten of their brethren with them;

25 and I betook under certain weight and number to them the silver and gold, and the hallowed vessels of the house of our God, which the king had offered, and his counsellors, and his princes, and all the men that were found of Israel.

26 And I betook under certain weight and number into the hands of them six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and an hundred silveren vessels; an hundred talents of gold,

27 and twenty golden cups, or basins, which had in weight a thousand pieces of gold; and two fair vessels of best brass, shining as gold.

28 And I said to them, Ye be the holy men of the Lord; and therefore wake ye, and keepeth the holy vessels, and the silver and gold, that is offered by free will to the Lord God of our fathers,

29 till ye yield under certain weight and number before the princes of priests, and of deacons [or Levites], and before dukes of meines of Israel in Jerusalem, into the chamber of God’s house.

30 And the priests and deacons [or Levites] took the weight of silver, and of gold, and of vessels, for to bear them into Jerusalem, into the house of our God.

31 Therefore we moved forth from the flood of Ahava, in the twelfth day of the first month, for to go into Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was upon us, and delivered us from the hand of [the] enemy, and of the ambusher in the way.

32 And we came to Jerusalem, and we dwelled there three days.

33 Forsooth in the fourth day the silver was yielded [up] under certain weight and number, and the gold, and the vessels, in the house of our God, by the number and weight of all things, by the hand of Meremoth, the son of Uriah, priest; and with him was Eleazar, the son of Phinehas, and with them were Jozabad, the son of Joshua, and Noadiah, the son of Binnui, deacons [or Levites];

34 and all the weight was described in that time.

35 But also the sons of transmigration, that came from captivity, offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord God of Israel, twelve calves for all the people of Israel, ninety and six rams, seven and seventy lambs, twelve bucks of goats for sin; all these were offered into burnt sacrifice to the Lord.

36 Forsooth they gave the command-ments of the king to the princes, that were in the sight of the king, and to the dukes beyond the flood; and they raised up the people, and the house of God.

CHAPTER 9

1 And after that these things were fulfilled, the princes nighed to me, Ezra, and said, The people of Israel, and the priests, and deacons [or Levites], be not separated from the peoples of lands, and from [the] abominations of them, that is, of Canaanites, of Hittites, and of Perizzites, and of Jebusites, and of Ammonites, and of Moabites, and of Egyptians, and of Amorites.

2 For they have taken of their daughters wives to themselves, and to their sons, and they have meddled [or mingled] holy seed with the peoples of lands; also the hand of princes and of magistrates was the first in this trespassing.

3 And when I had heard this word, I rent my mantle and my coat, and I pulled away the hairs of mine head and of my beard, and I sat mourning.

4 Forsooth all that dreaded the word of God of Israel came together to me, for the trespassing of them that were come from [the] captivity; and I sat sorry till to the sacrifice of eventide.

5 And in the sacrifice of eventide I rose up from mine affliction, and after that I had rent my mantle and my coat, I bowed my knees, and I spreaded abroad mine hands to the Lord my God,

6 and I said, My God, I am confounded and ashamed to raise up my face to thee, for our wickednesses be multiplied on mine head, and our trespasses have increased unto heaven,

7 from the days of our fathers hitherto; and also we ourselves have sinned grievously unto this day, and for our wickednesses we, and our kings, and our priests be betaken into the hands of kings of heathen lands, both into sword, and into captivity, into raven, and into shame of cheer, as also in this day.

8 And now as at a little time and at a moment our prayer is made with the Lord our God, that [the] relics, or remnants, should be left to us, and that a little stake, that is, some setting, and stableness, should be given in his holy place, and that our God should lighten our eyes, and give to us a little life in our servage.

9 For we be servants; and our God forsook us not in our servage or thralldom; and he bowed down mercy upon us before the kings of Persia, that he should give life to us, and enhance the house of our God, and that he should build the wildernesses thereof, or the desolate things thereof, and give to us hope, or mercy, in Judah and in Jerusalem.

10 And now, Lord our God, what shall we say after these things? For we have forsaken thy commandments,

11 which thou commandedest in the hand of thy servants prophets, and saidest, The land, to which ye shall enter, to hold it in possession, is an unclean land, by the uncleanness of peoples, and of other lands, in the abominations of them, that filled it with their defouling, from the mouth till to the mouth.

12 Now therefore, ye Jews, give ye not your daughters to their sons, nor take ye their daughters to your sons; nor seek ye the peace of them, nor their prosperity unto without end; that ye be comforted, and eat the good things, that be of the earth, and that ye have your sons your heirs, unto without end.

13 And after all things, or dis-eases, that came upon us in our worst works, and in our great trespass, thou, our God, hast delivered us from our wickedness, and hast given health to us, as it is today,

14 that we should not be turned away from thee, and make void thy commandments, and that we should not join matrimonies with the peoples of these abominations. Whether thou art wroth to us till to the ending, that thou shouldest not leave to us remnants, that is, a few men, and health?

15 Lord God of Israel, thou art just; for we be left, that should be saved, as in this day, lo! we be before thee in our sin; for men may not stand before thee on this thing.

CHAPTER 10

1 Therefore while Ezra prayed so, and besought God, and wept, and lay before the temple of God, a full great company of Israel, of men, and of women, and of children, was gathered together to him; and the people wept with much weeping.

2 And Shechaniah, the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered, and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have wedded wives, alien women, of the peoples of the land. And now, for penance is in Israel on this thing,

3 make we bond of peace with the Lord our God, and cast we away all our alien wives, and them that be born of those wives, by the will of the Lord; and of them that dread the commandment of our God, be it done by the law.

4 Rise thou up, it pertaineth to thee to deem, and we shall be with thee; be thou comforted, and do thus.

5 Then Ezra rose up, and charged greatly the princes of priests, and deacons [or Levites], and all Israel, to do after this word; and they swore thereto.

6 And Ezra rose up before the house of God, and he went to the bed-[place] of Johanan, the son of Eliashib, and he entered [in] thither; he ate not bread, nor drank water; for he bewailed the trespassing of them, that were come from the captivity.

7 And a voice of them was sent into Judah and Jerusalem, to all the sons of captivity, that they should be gathered together in Jerusalem;

8 and [that] each man that cometh not thither in three days, by the counsel of the princes and of [the] elder men, all his chattel shall be taken away from him, and he shall be cast away from the company of transmigration.

9 Therefore all the men of Judah and of Benjamin came together into Jerusalem in three days; that is the ninth month, in the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of God’s house, and trembled for sin, and for rain.

10 And Ezra, the priest, rose up, and said to them, Ye have trespassed, and ye have wedded wives, alien women, that ye should lay to, or increase, upon the trespass of Israel.

11 Now therefore give ye acknowl-edging to the Lord God of our fathers, and do ye his pleasance, and be ye separated from the peoples of the land, and from your alien wives.

12 And all the multitude answered, and said with [a] great voice, By thy word to us, so be it done.

13 Nevertheless for the people is much, and the time of rain is, and we suffer not to stand withoutforth, and it is not [the] work of one day, neither of twain [or two]; for we have sinned greatly in this word;

14 princes be ordained in all the multitude, and all men in our cities, that have wedded alien wives, come in times ordained, and with them come the elder men, by city and city, and the judges of the people, till the wrath of our God be turned away from us upon this sin.

15 Therefore Jonathan, the son of Asahel, and Jahaziah, the son of Tikvah, stood upon this thing; and Meshullam, and Shabbethai, deacons [or Levites], helped them.

16 And the sons of transmigration did so. And Ezra, the priest, and the men, that were princes of meines, went into the houses of their fathers, and all men by their names; and they sat in the first day of the tenth month, for to inquire the thing.

17 And all men were ended, that is, the causes of all men were determined, that had wedded alien wives, till to the first day of the first month.

18 And there were found of the sons of priests, that had wedded alien wives; of the sons of Joshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brethren, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.

19 And they gave their hands, that is, confirmed with a solemn oath, that they should cast out their wives, and that they should offer for their trespass a ram of [the] sheep.

20 And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.

21 And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.

22 And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, and Jozabad, and Elasah.

23 And of the sons of deacons [or Levites]; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah; he is called Kelita; Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.

24 And of [the] singers, Eliashib; and of [the] porters, Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.

25 And of Israel, of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.

26 And of the sons of Elam; Mat-taniah, and Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.

27 And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.

28 And of the sons of Bebai; Jeho-hanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.

29 And of the sons of Bani; Meshul-lam, and Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.

30 And of the sons of Pahath; Moab, Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, and Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.

31 And of the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchiah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

32 Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.

33 And of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.

34 Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,

35 Benaiah, and Bedeiah, and Chelluh,

36 Vaniah, Meremoth, and Eliashib,

37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau,

38 and Bani, and Binnui, and Shimei,

39 and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,

40 Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,

41 Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,

42 Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.

43 Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Matti-thiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, Joel, and Benaiah.

44 All these had taken alien, or heathen, wives, and of them were women, that had bore [or borne] children.

NEHEMIAH

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NEHEMIAH

CHAPTER 1

1 The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah. And it was done in the month of Chisleu, that is, November, in the twentieth year, and I was in the castle of Susa;

2 and Hanani, one of my brethren, came to me, he and men of Judah; and I asked them of the Jews, that were left, and were alive of the captivity, and of Jerusalem.

3 And they said to me, They that be left of the captivity, and that dwelled there still in the province, be in great torment, and shame; and the wall of Jerusalem is destroyed, and the gates of it be burnt with fire.

4 And when I had heard such words, I sat and wept, and mourned many days, and I fasted, and prayed before the face of God of heaven;

5 and I said, I beseech thee, Lord God of heaven, that art strong, great, and fearedful, that keepest covenant and mercy with them that love thee, and keep thy behests;

6 thine ear be made hearkening, and thine eyes opened, that thou hear the prayer of thy servant, by which prayer I pray before thee now, by night and day, for the sons of Israel, thy servants, and I acknowledge for the sins of the sons of Israel, by which they have sinned to thee; both I and the house of my father have sinned;

7 we were deceived by vanity, and we kept not thy commandments, and ceremonies, and dooms, which thou commandedest to Moses, thy servant.

8 Have mind of the word, which thou commandedest to thy servant Moses, and saidest, When ye have trespassed, I shall scatter you into peoples;

9 and if ye turn again to me, that ye keep my behests, and do those [or them], yea, though ye be led away to the furthest things of heaven, from thence I shall gather you together, and I shall bring you into the place, that I have chosen, that my name should dwell there.

10 And we be thy servants, and thy people, which thou hast again-bought in thy great strength, and in thy strong hand.

11 Lord, I beseech thee, thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, that will dread thy name; and dress thy servant today, and give thou mercy to him before this man, that is, Artaxerxes, king. For I was the bottler of the king.

CHAPTER 2

1 And it was done in the month of Nisan, that is, April, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, the king, and wine was before him, and I took up the wine, and I gave it to the king, and I was as languishing before his face.

2 And the king said to me, Why is thy cheer sorry, or heavy, since I see not thee sick? This is not without cause; but I know not what evil is in thine heart. And I dreaded full greatly;

3 and I said to the king, King, live thou without end; why should not my cheer mourn? for the city of the house of the sepulchres of my father[s] is deserted, either forsaken, and the gates thereof be burnt with fire.

4 And the king said to me, For what thing askest thou? And I prayed God of heaven,

5 and I said to the king, If it seemeth good to the king, and if it pleaseth thy servants which be before thy face, I beseech thee, that thou send me into Judah, to the city of the sepulchres of my fathers, and I shall rebuild it.

6 And the king said to me, and the queen sat beside him, Unto what time shall thy way be, and when shalt thou turn again? And it pleased to the king, and he sent me forth, and I set to the king a time of coming again;

7 and I said to the king, If it seemeth good to the king, give he epistles, or letters, to me to the dukes of the country beyond the flood, that they lead me over, till I come into Judah;

8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he give trees to me, that I may cover the gates of the tower of the house, and of the wall of the city, and the house, into which I shall enter. And the king gave the letters to me, by the good hand of my God with me.

9 And I came to the dukes of the country beyond the flood, and I gave to them the letters of the king. Soothly the king had sent with me the princes of knights, and horsemen.

10 And Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah, the servant, the Ammonite, heard, and they were sorrowful by great torment, that a man was come, that sought prosperity of the sons of Israel.

11 And I came into Jerusalem, and I was there three days.

12 And I rose up by night, I and a few men with me, and I showed not to any man, what thing God had given in mine heart, that I would do in Jerusalem; and there was no work beast with me, but the beast that I sat on.

13 And I went out by the gate of the valley by night, and before the well of the dragon, and to the gate of dung; and I beheld the wall of Jerusalem destroyed, and the gates thereof wasted by fire.

14 And I passed forth to the gate of the well, and to the water conduit of the king, and there was no place for to pass, to the horse, that I sat upon;

15 and in the night I went up by the strand [or stream], and I beheld the wall, and I turned again, and came to the gate of the valley, and I went again to my lodging.

16 Forsooth the magistrates knew not, whither I had gone, either what I would do; but also I had not showed anything to the Jews, and [the] priests, and to the best men, and [the] magistrates, and to [the] other men that made the work, till that time.

17 And I said to them, Ye know the torment, in which we Jews be, for Jerusalem is deserted, and the gates thereof be wasted with fire; come ye, build we [up] the walls of Jerusalem, and be we no more a shame or in shame.

18 And I showed to them the hand of my God, that it was good with me, and the words of the king, which he spake to me; and I said, Rise we up, and build we; and the hands of them were comforted in good.

19 And Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah, the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem of Arabs, heard this, and they scorned us, and despised; and said, What is this thing, that ye do? whether ye rebel against the king?

20 And I answered to them a word, and I said to them, God himself of heaven helpeth us, and we be his servants; rise we up, and build; forsooth part, and rightwiseness, and mind, in Jerusalem, is not to you.

CHAPTER 3

1 And Eliashib, the great priest, rose up, and his brethren, and priests, and they builded the gate of the flock; they made it steadfast; and they set up the gates thereof, and unto the tower of an hundred cubits they made it steadfast, unto the tower of Hananeel.

2 And beside him the men of Jericho builded; and beside them builded Zaccur, the son of Imri.

3 And the sons of Hassenaah builded the gates of fishes; they covered it, and setted the gates thereof, and locks, and bars.

4 And Meremoth, the son of Urijah, the son of Hakkoz, builded beside them. And Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel, builded beside him. And Zadok, the son of Baana, builded beside him.

5 And men of Tekoa builded beside him; but the principal men of them under-putted not their necks in the work of their Lord God.

6 And Jehoiada, the son of Paseah, and Meshullam, the son of Besodeiah, builded the old gate; they builded it, and setted up the gates thereof, and the locks, and bars.

7 And Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, builded beside them, for the duke that was in the country beyond the flood.

8 And Uzziel, the goldsmith, the son of Harhaiah, builded beside him; and Hananiah, the son of an ointment maker, builded beside him; and they let go Jerusalem till to the wall of the larger street.

9 And Rephaiah, the son of Hur, prince of a street of Jerusalem, builded beside them.

10 And Jedaiah, the son of Harumaph, builded beside them over against his own house; and Hattush, the son of Hashabniah, builded beside him.

11 And Malchijah, the son of Harim, and Hashub, the son of Pahathmoab, builded the half part of the street, and the tower of ovens.

12 Shallum, the son of Halohesh, prince of the half part of a street of Jerusalem, builded beside him, he and his sons.

13 And Hanun, and the dwellers of Zanoah, builded the gate of the valley; they builded it, and setted up the gates thereof, and the locks and bars thereof; and they builded a thousand cubits in the wall unto the gate of the dunghill.

14 And Malchiah, the son of Rechab, prince of a street of Bethhaccerem, builded the gate of the dunghill; he builded it, and setted it up, and covered the gates thereof, and locks, and bars.

15 And Shallun, the son of Colhozeh, prince of a town of Mizpah, builded the gate of the well; he builded it, and covered it, and he set up the gates thereof, and locks, and bars; and he builded the walls of the cistern of Siloah, unto the orchard of the king, and unto the degrees of the king, which come down from the city of David.

16 And Nehemiah, the son of Azbuk, prince of the half part of the street of Bethzur, builded after him, unto over against the sepulchre of David, and unto the cistern, that is builded with great work, and unto the house of strong men.

17 And deacons [or Levites] builded after him; and Rehum, the son of Bani, builded after them. And Hashabiah, the prince of half part of the street of Keilah, builded in his street after him.

18 The brethren of them, Bavai, the son of Henadad, prince of the half part of Keilah, builded after him.

19 And Ezer, the son of Jeshua, prince of Mizpah, builded beside him the second measure, against the going up of the strongest corner.

20 And Baruch, the son of Zabbai, builded after him in the hill the second measure, from the corner unto the gate of the house of Eliashib, the great priest.

21 And Meremoth, the son of Urijah, son of Hakkoz, builded after him the second measure, from the gate [of the house] of Eliashib, as far as the house of Eliashib was stretched forth.

22 And [the] priests, men of the field places of Jordan, builded after him.

23 And Benjamin and Hashub builded after him over against their house; and Azariah, the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, builded after him over against his own house.

24 And Binnui, the son of Henadad, builded after him the second measure, from the house of Azariah unto the bowing of the wall, and unto the corner.

25 Palal, the son of Uzai, builded over against the bowing of the wall, and the tower that standeth forth, from the high house of the king, that is in the large place of the prison; Pedaiah, the son of Parosh, builded after him.

26 And Nethinims dwelled in Ophel till against the gate of waters at the east, and the tower that appeared over the others.

27 After him men of Tekoa builded the second measure even over against, from the great tower, and appearing unto the wall of the temple.

28 And [the] priests builded above at the gate of horses, each man over against his house.

29 And Zadok, the son of Immer, builded over against his house after them. And Shemaiah, the son of Shech-aniah, the keeper of the east gate, builded after him.

30 Hananiah, the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, builded after him the second measure. Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, builded over against his chamber after him.

31 Malchiah, the son of a goldsmith, builded after him unto the house of Nethinims, and of men selling shields, over against the gate of judges, and unto the solar of the corner.

32 And craftsmen and merchants builded within the solar of the corner, and the gate of the king.

CHAPTER 4

1 And it was done, when Sanballat had heard, that we builded the wall, he was full wroth, and he was stirred greatly, and he scorned the Jews.

2 And he said before his brethren, and the multitude of Samaritans, What do the feeble Jews? Whether heathen men shall suffer them? Whether they shall [ful] fill, and make sacrifice in one day? Whether they may build stones of the heaps of the dust, which be burnt?

3 And also Tobiah the Ammonite, his neighbour, said, Build they; if a fox go up, he shall over-leap their stone wall.

4 And Nehemiah said in prayer, Our God, hear thou, for we be made despising; turn thou the shame upon their own heads, and give thou them into despising in the land of captivity;

5 cover thou not the wickedness of them, and their sins be not done away before thy face; for they scorned the builders.

6 Therefore we builded the wall, and joined together all till to the half part, and the heart of the people was excited to work.

7 And it was done when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Arabians, and Ammonites, and men of Ashdod had heard, that the breaking of the wall of Jerusalem was stopped, and that the crazings had begun to be closed together, they were full wroth.

8 And they all were gathered together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cast treasons against it.

9 And we prayed the Lord our God, and we setted keepers on the wall day and night against them.

10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearer is made feeble, and the earth is full much, and we be not able to build the wall.

11 And our enemies said, Know they not, and know they not, till we come into the middle of them, and slay them, and make the work to cease.

12 Forsooth it was done, when [the] Jews came, that dwelled beside them, and said to us by ten times, from all places from which they came to us,

13 I ordained the people in order, with their swords, and spears, and bows, in a place behind the wall by compass.

14 I beheld, and rose, and said to the principal men, and magistrates, and to the other part of the common people, Do not ye dread of their face; but have ye mind of the great Lord, and fearedful, and fight ye for your brothers, and your sons, and your daughters, for your wives, and houses.

15 And it was done, when our enemies had heard that it was told to us, God destroyed their counsel; and then all we turned again to the walls, each man to his work.

16 And it was done from that day, the half part of the young men made the work, and the half part was ready to battle; and held spears, and shields, and bows, and habergeons, and princes after them, in all the house of men of Judah,

17 building in the wall, and bearing burdens, and putting on; with their one hand they made the work, and with the other they held their sword.

18 For each of the builders was girded with a sword upon his reins; and they builded the wall, and they sounded with clarions beside me.

19 And I said to the principal men, and magistrates, and to the other part of the common people, The work is great and broad, and we be separated far in the wall, one from another;

20 therefore in whatever place that ye hear [the] sound of the trump, run ye together thither to us; for our God shall fight for us.

21 And we ourselves shall make the work, and the half of us hold we spears, from the going up of the morrowtide till that [the] stars go out.

22 And in that time I said to the people, Each man with his servant dwell he in the midst of Jerusalem, and whiles be to us by night, and day to work.

23 But I, and my brethren, and my keepers, and [my] servants, that were going after me, did not put off our clothes; each man was made naked only to washing.

CHAPTER 5

1 And great cry of the people and of their wives was made against their brethren Jews.

2 And there were that said, Our sons and our daughters be full many; take we wheat for the price of them, and eat we, and live.

3 Also there were that said, Set we forth to sale our fields, and vineries [or vines], and our houses, and take we wheat to eat in this hunger.

4 And other men said, Take we money by borrowing, for usury, into the tributes of the king, and give our fields and vineries [or vines].

5 And now as the fleshes of our brethren be, so and our fleshes be; and as be the sons of them, so and our sons be; lo! we have made subject our sons and our daughters into servage, and servantesses be of our daughters, and we have not whereof they may be again-bought; and other men have in possession our fields, and our vineries [or vines].

6 And I was full wroth, when I had heard the cry of them by these words.

7 And mine heart thought within me, and I blamed the principal men, and magistrates; and I said to them, Ask ye not usuries, or increase, each man of your brethren. And I gathered together a great company against them,

8 and I said to them, As ye know, we have by our power again-bought our brethren Jews, that were sold to heathen men; and ye now sell your brethren, and shall we again-buy them of you? And they held silence, and found not what they should answer.

9 And I said to them, It is not good thing, that ye do; why go ye not in the dread of our God, and reproof be not said to us of heathen men, our enemies?

10 Both I, and my brethren, and my servants, have lent to full many men money and wheat; in common, ask we not for this again; but forgive we alien money, or usury, which is due to us.

11 And again yield ye to them today their fields, and their vineries [or vines], their olive places, and their houses; and rather, give ye for them the hundred part of money, and of wheat, of wine, and of oil, which ye were wont to take of them.

12 And they said, We shall yield their goods to them, and we shall ask nothing of them; and we shall do so as thou speakest. And I called the priests, and I made them to swear, that they should do after this, that I had said.

13 And furthermore I shook my bosom, and I said, So God shake away each man from his house, and from his travails, that fulfilleth not this word; and be he shaken away, and be he made void. And all the multitude said, Amen; and they praised God. And the people did, as it was said.

14 Forsooth from that day in which the king had commanded to me, that I should be duke in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king, that is, by twelve years, I and my brethren ate not the sustenances which were due to dukes.

15 But the first dukes, that were before me, grieved the people, and took of them in bread, and wine, and money, each day forty shekels; and also their ministers oppressed the people. But I did not so, for the dread of God;

16 but rather I subjected myself, and I builded in the work of the wall, and I bought no field, and all my servants were gathered together with me to the work.

17 Also [the] Jews and the magistrates of them, an hundred and fifty men, and they that came to me from heathen men, that be in our compass, were eating in my table.

18 Forsooth by each day one ox was made ready to me, six chosen wethers, besides volatiles, and within ten days diverse wines; and I gave many other things; furthermore and I asked not for the sustenances of my duchy; for the people was made full poor.

19 My God, have thou mind on me into good, by all things which I have done to this people.

CHAPTER 6

1 Forsooth it was done, when San-ballat had heard, and Tobiah, and Geshem of Arabia, and our other enemies, that I had builded the wall, and no more breaking was therein; and unto that time I had not set up the leaves of shutting of the gates;

2 and Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem of Arabia sent to me, and said, Come thou into a field, and smite we bond of peace in villages [or little towns]; certainly they thought to do evil to me.

3 Therefore I sent messengers to them, and I said, I make a great work, and I may not go down therefore, lest peradventure it be done recklessly or negligently, when I come, and go down to you.

4 Soothly they sent to me by this word by four times, and I answered to them by the former word.

5 And Sanballat sent to me the fifth time by the former word his child; and he had in his hand a letter,

6 written in this manner; It is heard among heathen men, and Gashmu said, that thou and the Jews think for to rebel, and therefore ye build the wall, and thou wilt raise thee king on them;

7 for which cause also thou hast set prophets, which preach of thee in Jerusalem, and say, A king is in Jerusalem; the king shall hear these words; therefore come thou now, that we take counsel together.

8 And I sent to them, and said, It is not done by these words which thou speakest; for of thine own heart thou makest these things.

9 All these men made us afeared, and thought that our hands should cease from our works, and that we should rest from building; for which cause I strengthened more mine hand thereto.

10 And I entered privily into the house of Shemaiah, the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabeel, which said to me, Treat we there with ourselves in the house of God, in the midst of the temple, and close we the gates of the house; for they shall come to slay thee, yea, by night they shall come to slay thee.

11 And I said, Whether any man like to me, that is, trusting so to God, as I do, hath fled for such a thing, and who as I shall enter into the temple, and shall live, or be saved there? I will not enter [in]thither.

12 And I understood that God had not sent him, but he spake as prophesying to me; and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him for meed.

13 For he had taken price, that I should be afeared, and do their will, and that I should do sin; and they should have evil, which they should put to me with shame.

14 Lord, have mind of me, for Tobiah and Sanballat, by such works of them; but also of Noadiah, the prophetess, and of other prophets, that have made me afeared.

15 And the wall was ended in the five and twentieth day of the month of Elul, that is, August, in two and fifty days.

16 And it was done, when all our enemies had heard, that all [the] heathen men dreaded us, that were in our compass, and they felled down within themselves, and they knew then, that this work was made of God.

17 But also in those days many letters of the principal men of Jews were sent to Tobiah, and came from Tobiah to them.

18 For many men were in Judah, that had his oath, that is, were sworn to him; for he had wedded the daughter of Shechaniah, the son of Arah; and Johanan, his son, had taken the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah.

19 But also they praised him before me, and told my words to him; and Tobiah sent letters, to make me afeared.

CHAPTER 7

1 And after that the wall of Jeru-salem was builded, and I had set up the gates thereof, and had numbered the porters, and singers, and deacons [or Levites],

2 I commanded to Hanani, my brother, and to Hananiah, the prince of the house of Jerusalem; for he seemed a soothfast man, and dreading God more than other men did;

3 and I said to them, The gates of Jerusalem be not opened till to the heat of the sun; and, when I was yet present, the gates were closed, and locked. And I set keepers thereof of the dwellers of Jerusalem, all men by their whiles, or times, and each man over against his own house.

4 And the city was full broad and great, and little people in the midst thereof, and the houses were not yet builded.

5 And God gave in mine heart, and I gathered together the principal men, and magistrates, and the common people, for to number them; and I found a book of the number[ing] of them, that had gone up first from the captivity. And it was found written therein,

6 These be the sons of the province, which went up from the captivity of men passing over from Babylon to Jerusalem, which Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had led over into Babylon; and they that were come with Zerubbabel turned again into Jerusalem and into Judah, each man to his city;

7 Joshua, that is to say, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Naham-ani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Big-vai, Nehum, Baanah. And the number of the men of the people of Israel is this;

8 the sons of Parosh, two thousand an hundred and two and seventy;

9 the sons of Shephatiah, three hundred and two and seventy;

10 the sons of Arah, six hundred and two and fifty;

11 the sons of Pahathmoab, of the sons of Jeshua and of Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen;

12 the sons of Elam, a thousand eight hundred and four and fifty;

13 the sons of Zattu, eight hundred and five and forty;

14 the sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty;

15 the sons of Binnui, six hundred and eight and forty;

16 the sons of Bebai, six hundred and eight and twenty;

17 the sons of Azgad, two thousand three hundred and two and twenty;

18 the sons of Adonikam, six hundred and seven and sixty;

19 the sons of Bigvai, two thousand and seven and sixty;

20 the sons of Adin, six hundred and five and fifty;

21 the sons of Ater, the son of Hezekiah, eight and twenty;

22 the sons of Hashum, three hundred and eight and twenty;

23 the sons of Bezai, three hundred and four and twenty;

24 the sons of Hariph, an hundred and seven and twenty;

25 the sons of Gibeon, five and twenty;

26 the men of Bethlehem and of Netophah, an hundred fourscore and eight;

27 the men of Anathoth, an hundred and eight and twenty;

28 the men of Bethazmaveth, two and forty;

29 the men of Kiriathjearim, of Chephirah, and of Beeroth, seven hundred and three and forty;

30 the men of Ramah and of Gaba, six hundred and one and twenty;

31 the men of Michmas, two hundred and two and twenty;

32 the men of Bethel and of Ai, an hundred and three and twenty;

33 the men of the other Nebo, two and fifty;

34 the men of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred and four and fifty;

35 the sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty;

36 the sons of Jericho, three hundred and five and forty;

37 the sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and one and twenty;

38 the sons of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty;

39 priests; the sons of Jedaiah, in the house of Joshua, nine hundred and four and seventy;

40 the sons of Immer, a thousand and two and fifty;

41 the sons of Pashur, a thousand two hundred and seven and forty;

42 the sons of Harim, a thousand and eighteen;

43 deacons [or Levites]; the sons of Joshua, and of Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodevah, four and seventy;

44 singers; the sons of Asaph, an hundred and seven and forty;

45 porters; the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, an hundred and eight and thirty;

46 Nethinims; the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hashupha, the sons of Tab-baoth,

47 the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padon,

48 the sons of Lebana, the sons of Hagaba, the sons of Shalmai,

49 the sons of Hanan, the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar,

50 the sons of Reaiah, the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda,

51 the sons of Gazzam, the sons of Uzza, the sons of Phaseah,

52 the sons of Besai, the sons of Meunim, sons of Nephishesim,

53 sons of Bakbuk, sons of Hakupha, sons of Harhur,

54 sons of Bazlith, sons of Mehida, sons of Harsha,

55 sons of Barkos, sons of Sisera, sons of Tamah,

56 sons of Neziah, sons of Hatipha;

57 sons of the servants of Solomon; sons of Sotai, sons of Sophereth, sons of Perida,

58 sons of Jaala, sons of Darkon, sons of Giddel,

59 sons of Shephatiah, sons of Hattil, sons of Pochereth, which were born of Zebaim, and the sons of Amon;

60 all Nethinims, and the sons of the servants of Solomon, were three hun-dred and two and twenty or seventy.

61 And these that follow be they that went up of the country of Telmelah, Telharesha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; which might not show the house of their fathers, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel;

62 the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, six hundred and two and forty;

63 and of the priests; the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, that took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai of Gilead, and was called by the name of them;

64 these sought the scripture of their genealogy, and they found it not, and they were therefore cast out of priest-hood.

65 And the Tirshatha said to them, that they should not eat of the holy things of holy men, till that a wise priest rose up among the people.

66 All the multitude as one man, two and forty thousand six hundred and sixty,

67 besides the servants and handmaids of them, which were seven thousand three hundred and seven and thirty; and among [them] the singers and sing-eresses, six hundred and five and forty.

68 The horses of them, six hundred and six and thirty; the mules of them, two hundred and five and forty;

69 the camels of them, four hundred and five and thirty; the asses of them, six thousand eight hundred and thirty.

70 Soothly some of the princes of the meines gave costs into the work of God; the Tirshatha gave into the treasure [or treasury], a thousand drachmas/drams of gold, fifty vials, or basins, five hundred and thirty coats of priests.

71 And of the princes of [the] meines, they gave into the treasure [or treasury] of the work, twenty thousand drachmas/ drams of gold, and two thousand and two hundred bezants of silver.

72 And that that the residue people gave, twenty thousand drachmas/drams of gold, and two thousand bezants of silver, and seven and sixty coats of priests.

73 Soothly [the] priests, and deacons [or Levites], and porters, and singers, and the residue people, and Nethinims, and all Israel dwelled in their cities. And when the seventh month was come under Ezra and Nehemiah, soothly the sons of Israel were in their cities.

CHAPTER 8

1 And all the people was gathered together as one man, to the street which is before the gate of waters. And they said to Ezra, the scribe or writer, that he should bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel.

2 Therefore Ezra, the priest, brought the law before the multitude of men and of women, and before all that might understand, in the first day of the seventh month.

3 And he read in it openly in the street that was before the gate of waters, from the morrowtide till to midday, in the sight of men and of women, and of wise men; and the ears of all the people were raised up to the book to hear the law.

4 And Ezra the writer stood on the degrees of wood, that he had made to speak upon to the people; and Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah stood beside him, at his right half; and Pedaiah, Mishael, and Malchiah, Hashum, and Hashbadana, and Zechariah, and Meshullam, stood at the left half.

5 And Ezra opened the book before all the people; for he appeared over all the people; and when he had opened the book, all the people stood to hear.

6 And Ezra blessed the Lord God with great voice; and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, raising up their hands. And they were bowed, and they worshipped God, lowly upon the earth.

7 And Jeshua, and Bani, and Shere-biah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodi-jah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Joza-bad, Hanan, Pelaiah, deacons [or Levites], made silence in the people, for to hear the law. And the people stood in their degree or place.

8 And they read in the book of God’s law distinctly, and openly, to understand it; and they understood, when it was read.

9 Forsooth Nehemiah said, he is the Tirshatha, and Ezra, the priest and writer, and the deacons [or Levites], expounding to all the people, This is a day hallowed to the Lord our God; do not ye mourn, and do not ye weep. For all the people wept, when it heard the words of the law.

10 And he said to them, Go ye, and eat ye fat things, and drink ye wine made sweet with honey, and send ye parts to them, that made not ready to themselves, for it is an holy day of the Lord; do not ye be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

11 And the deacons [or Levites] made silence in all the people, and said, Be ye still, for this is an holy day, and make ye no sorrow.

12 Therefore all the people went for to eat, and drink, and to send parts, and to make great gladness; for they understood the words, which he had taught them.

13 And in the second day, the princes of meines, and all the peoples, priests, and deacons [or Levites], were gathered to Ezra, the writer, that he should expound to them the words of the law.

14 And they found written in the law, that the Lord commanded in the hand of Moses, that the sons of Israel dwell in tabernacles in the solemn days, in the seventh month;

15 and that they preach, and publish a voice in all their cities, and in Jerusalem; and say, Go ye out into the hills, and bring ye boughs of the olive tree, and boughs of the fairest tree, the boughs of a myrtle tree, and the branches of a palm tree, and the boughs of a tree full of wood, that tabernacles be made of the boughs, as it is written.

16 And all the people went out, and they brought with them boughs, and they made to themselves tabernacles, each man in his house roof, and in their streets, either foreyards, and in the large places of God’s house, and in the street of the gate of waters, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.

17 Therefore all the church, or congregation, of them, that is, the gathering together, that came again from [the] captivity, made tabernacles, and they dwelled in those tabernacles. Certainly the sons of Israel had not done such things from the days of Joshua, the son of Nun, unto that day; and full great gladness was there among them.

18 And Ezra read in the book of God’s law by all days of the solemnity, from the first day unto the last day; and they made the solemnity by seven days; and in the eighth day they made a gathering, or collection, of silver, by the custom.

CHAPTER 9

1 Forsooth in the four and twentieth day of this month, the sons of Israel came together in fasting, and in sack-cloths, and earth was on them.

2 And the seed of the sons of Israel was separated from each alien man. And they stood before the Lord, and acknowledged their sins, and the wickednesses of their fathers.

3 And they rose together to stand; and they read in the book of the law of the Lord their God four times in the day, and four times in the night; they acknowledged, and praised the Lord their God.

4 Forsooth they rised [up] on the degrees, of deacons [or Levites], Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Bunni, Shebaniah, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani. And the deacons [or Levites] cried with great voice to their Lord God.

5 And the deacons [or Levites], Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Rise ye, and bless ye the Lord your God, from without beginning and till into without end; and Lord, bless they the high name of thy glory in all blessing and praising.

6 Thou thyself, Lord, art alone, or art alone God; thou madest heaven, and the heaven of heavens, and all the host of those heavens; thou madest the earth and all things that be therein; thou madest the seas and all things that be in them; and thou quickenest all these things; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.

7 Thou thyself art the Lord God, that choosedest Abram, and leddest him out of the fire of Chaldees, and thou settedest, or calledest, his name Abraham;

8 and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and thou hast smitten with him a bond of peace, that thou wouldest give to him the land of Canaanites, of Hittites, of Hivites, of Amorites, and of Perizzites, and of Jebusites, and of Girgashites, that thou wouldest give it to his seed; and thou hast fulfilled thy words, for thou art just.

9 And thou hast seen the torment of our fathers in Egypt, and thou heardest the cry of them upon the Red Sea.

10 And thou hast given signs and great wonders in Pharaoh, and in all his servants, and in all the people of that land; for thou knowest, that they did proudly against our fathers; and thou madest to thee a name, as also in this day.

11 And thou partedest the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea in the dry place; and thou castedest down the pursuers of them into the depth, as a stone in strong waters.

12 And in a pillar of cloud thou were the leader of them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, that the way, by which they entered, should appear to them.

13 Also thou camest down at the hill of Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and thou gavest to them rightful dooms, and the law of truth, ceremonies, and good commandments.

14 And thou showedest to them an hallowed sabbath; and thou command-edest to them commandments, and ceremonies, and law, in the hand of Moses, thy servant.

15 And thou gavest to them bread from heaven in their hunger; and thou leddest out of the stone water to them thirsting; and thou saidest to them, that they should enter, and have in possession the land, upon the which land thou raisedest up thine hand, that thou shouldest give it to them.

16 But they and our fathers did proudly, and made hard their nolls, and heard not thy commandments.

17 And they would not hear; and they had not mind of thy marvels, which thou haddest done to them; and they made hard their nolls; and they gave the head, that they were all-turned to their servage as by strife; but thou art God who is helpful, meek, and merciful, abiding long, either patient, and of much merciful doing, and forsookest not them;

18 and when they had made to them a molten calf, as by strife, and had said, This is thy God, Israel, that led thee out of Egypt, and they did great blasphemies to thy name.

19 But thou, Lord, in thy many mercies leftest, or forsookest, not them in desert; for a pillar of cloud went not away from them by the day, that it should lead them into the way whither they were to go; and the pillar of fire went not away from them by night, that it should show to them the way, by which they should enter.

20 And thou gavest to them thy good Spirit, that taught them; and thou forbadest not thine angel’s meat, or thy manna, from their mouths, and thou gavest to them water in their thirst.

21 Forty years thou feddest them in desert, and nothing failed to them; their clothes waxed not eld, and their feet were not hurt, or swollen.

22 And thou gavest to them realms, and peoples; and thou partedest lots, either heritages, to them, and they had in possession the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan.

23 And thou multipliedest the sons of them, as the stars of heaven or of the firmament; and thou broughtest them to the land, of which thou saidest to their fathers, that they should enter, and hold it in possession.

24 And the sons of Israel came, and had the land in possession; and before them thou madest low the dwellers of the land, Canaanites; and thou gavest them into the hands of the sons of Israel, and the kings of them, and the peoples of the land, that they did to them, as it pleased them.

25 And they took cities made strong, and fat earth; and they had in possession houses full of all goods, cisterns made of other men, vineries [or vines], and places of olives, and many apple trees. And they ate, and were fulfilled, and were made fat; and had plenty of riches in thy great goodness.

26 And yet they stirred thee to wrath-fulness, and went away from thee, and casted away thy law behind their backs; and they killed thy prophets, that witnessed to them, that they should turn again to thee; and they did great blasphemies.

27 And thou gavest them into the hands of their enemies; and they tormented them; and in the time of their tribulation they cried to thee; and thou heardest them from heaven, and by thy many merciful doings thou gavest them saviours, that saved them from the hand of their enemies.

28 And when they had rested, they turned again to do evil in thy sight; and thou forsookest them in the hand of their enemies, and their enemies had them in possession; then they were turned again to thee, and cried to thee; and in thy mercy doing thou heardest them from heaven, and deliveredest them by many times.

29 And thou witnessedest to them, that they should turn again to thy law; but they did proudly, and heard not thy behests, and sinned in thy dooms, which a man that shall do, shall live in those [or them]; but they gave their shoulder and went away, and they made hard their nolls, and would not obey to thy dooms.

30 And thou drewest along many years upon them, and thou witnessed-est to them in thy Spirit, by the hand, or telling, of thy prophets, that they were law-breakers; and they heard them not; and therefore thou gavest them into the hand of the peoples of lands.

31 But in thy mercies full many, thou madest not them to be into wasting, neither thou forsookest them; for thou art God of merciful doings, and meek.

32 Now therefore, our Lord God, great God, strong, and fearedful, keeping covenant and mercy, turn thou not away thy face from us in all the travail that hath found us, our kings, and our princes, and our fathers, and our priests, and our prophets, and all thy people, from the days of king Assur till to this day.

33 And Lord, thou art just in all things, that came [up] on us, for thou didest truth to us; but we have done wickedly.

34 And our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our fathers, have not done thy law; and they perceived not thy behests and thy witnessings, which thou hast witnessed in thy behests.

35 And they, in their good realms, and in thy much goodness which thou gavest to them, and in the full large land and fat, which thou haddest given in the sight of them, served not thee, neither turned again from their worst studies.

36 Lo! we ourselves be thralls today; and the land which thou gavest to our fathers, that they should eat the bread thereof, and the goods that be thereof, is thrall; and we ourselves be thralls, either bondmen, in that land.

37 And the fruits thereof be multiplied to kings, which thou hast set [or put] upon us for our sins; and they be lords of our bodies, and of our beasts, by their will, and we be in great tribulation.

38 Therefore on all these things we ourselves smite and write bond of peace, and our princes, our deacons [or Levites], and our priests aseal.

CHAPTER 10

1 And the sealers were Nehemiah, that is, the Tirshatha, or the governor, the son of Hachaliah, and Zidkijah,

2 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremy [or Jere-miah],

3 Pashur, Amariah, Malchijah,

4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch,

5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,

6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,

7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,

8 Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah; these were priests.

9 And the deacons [or Levites]were Joshua, [or Jeshua], the son of Azaniah, Binnui, of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel,

10 and his brethren, Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,

11 Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah,

12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,

13 Hodijah, Bani, Beninu.

14 And the chief men of the people were Parosh, Pahathmoab, Elam, Zat-thu, Bani,

15 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai,

16 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,

17 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur,

18 Hodijah, Hashum, Bezai,

19 Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai,

20 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir,

21 Meshezabeel, Zadok, Jaddua,

22 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah,

23 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hashub,

24 Hallohesh, Pileha, Shobek,

25 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah,

26 Ahijah, Hanan, Anan,

27 Malluch, Harim, Baanah;

28 and others of the people, priests, deacons [or Levites], porters, and singers, Nethinims, and all men that separated themselves from the peoples of lands to the law of God, the wives of them, the sons of them, and the daughters of them; all that might understand,

29 promising for their brethren, the principal men of them, and they that came thither to promise, and to swear, that they should go in the law of the Lord, which he gave by the hand of Moses, his servant, and that they should do and keep all the behests of the Lord our God, and his dooms, and his ceremonies;

30 and that we should not give our daughters to the people of the land, and that we should not take their daughters to our sons.

31 Also the peoples of the land, that bring in things set to sale, and all things to use, by the day of sabbath, for to sell, we shall not take of them in the sabbath, and in a day hallowed; and we shall leave the land without tilth and sowing and gathering, the seventh year, and the asking of all hand, that is, release debts, and deliver Hebrew servants.

32 And also we shall ordain upon us commandments, that by each year we give the third part of a shekel to the work of the Lord our God,

33 to the loaves of setting forth, and to the everlasting sacrifice, and into burnt sacrifice everlasting, in sabbaths, in calends, that is, beginnings of months, in solemnities, in hallowed days, and for sin, that prayer be made for Israel, and into all the uses of the house of our God.

34 Also we casted lots on the offering of wood, betwixt priests and deacons [or Levites] and the people, that those [or they] should be brought into the house of our God, by the meines of our fathers in certain times, from the times of a year sufficient unto a year, that that wood should burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law of Moses;

35 and that we bring the first engen-dered things of our land, and the first fruits of all fruit of each tree, from year into year, into the house of the Lord,

36 and the first begotten things of our sons, and of our beasts, as it is written in the law, and the first begotten things of our oxen, and of our sheep, that those [or they] be offered in the house of our God, to priests that minister in the house of our God;

37 and we shall bring the first fruits of our meats, and of our moist [or liquor] sacrifices, and the fruits of each tree, and of vintage, and of oil, to [the] priests, at the chamber of the house of the Lord, and the tenth part of our land to deacons [or Levites]; those deacons shall take tithes of all the cities of our works.

38 And a priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the deacons [or Levites] in the tithes of deacons; and the deacons shall offer the tenth part of their tithe in the house of our God, at the chambers, in the house of treasure.

39 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the first fruits of wheat, of wine, and of oil to that place; and hallowed vessels shall be there, and priests, and singers, and porters, and ministers; and we shall not forsake the house of our God.

CHAPTER 11

1 Forsooth the princes of the people dwelled in Jerusalem; but the residue people sent lot, for to take one part of ten, which should dwell in Jerusalem, in the holy city; and the other nine parts dwelled in other cities.

2 And the people blessed all men, that proffered themselves by free will to dwell in Jerusalem.

3 And so these be the princes of the province, that dwelled in Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah; and each man dwelled in his possession, in their cities of Israel, that is, priests, deacons [or Levites], Nethinims, and the sons of the servants of Solomon.

4 And men of the sons of Judah, and of the sons of Benjamin dwelled in Jerusalem; of the sons of Judah; Athaiah, the son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mahalaleel, of the sons of Perez;

5 Maaseiah, the son of Baruch, the son of Colhozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of Shilonites;

6 all the sons of Perez, that dwelled in Jerusalem, were four hundred eight and sixty, strong men.

7 And these be the sons of Benjamin; Sallu, the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jesaiah;

8 and after him Gabbai, Sallai, ninety and eight and twenty;

9 and Joel, the son of Zichri, was the sovereign of them, and Judah, the son of Senuah, was the second man on the city.

10 And of priests; Jedaiah, the son of Joiarib, Jachin,

11 Seraiah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, these were princes of the house of God,

12 and their brethren, making the works of the temple, were eight hundred and two and twenty. And Adaiah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashur, the son of Malchiah,

13 and the brethren of them, the princes of fathers, were two hundred and two and forty. And Amashai, the son of Azareel, the son of Ahasai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer,

14 and their brethren, full mighty men, were an hundred and eight and twenty; and the sovereign of them was Zabdiel, the son of mighty men.

15 And of deacons [or Levites]; Shemaiah, the son of Hashub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni;

16 and Shabbethai, and Jozabad was ordained of the princes of deacons [or Levites], upon all the works that were done withoutforth in God’s house.

17 And Mattaniah, the son of Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, was prince in God’s house, to praise and acknowledge to him in prayer; and Bakbukiah was the second of his brethren, and Abda, the son of Sham-mua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

18 All the deacons [or Levites] in the holy city, were two hundred fourscore and four.

19 And the porters, Akkub, Talmon, and the brethren of them, that kept the doors of the temple, were an hundred and two and seventy.

20 And other men of Israel, priests, and deacons [or Levites], in all the cities of Judah, each man in his possession.

21 And [the] Nethinims, that dwelled in Ophel; and Ziha and Gishpa of [the] Nethinims.

22 And sovereign of deacons [or Levites] in Jerusalem was Uzzi, the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micha. Of the sons of Asaph, singers in the service of God’s house.

23 For the command of the king was on them, and an order was in singers by all days;

24 and Pethahiah, the son of Meshe-zabeel, of the sons of Zerah, the son of Judah, in the hand of the king, by each word of the people;

25 and in the houses by all the countries of them. Of the sons of Judah dwelled in Kiriatharba, and in the villages thereof, and in Dibon, and in the villages thereof, and in Jekabzeel, and in the towns thereof;

26 and in Jeshua, and in Moladah, and in Bethphelet,

27 and in Hazarshual, and in Beer-sheba, and in the villages thereof;

28 and in Ziklag, and in Mekonah, and in the villages thereof;

29 and in Enrimmon, and in Zareah, and in Jarmuth,

30 in Zanoah, in Adullam, and in the towns thereof; in Lachish, and in the country thereof; in Azekah, and in the villages thereof; and they dwelled in Beersheba till to the valley of Hinnom.

31 And the sons of Benjamin dwelled in Geba, Michmash, and Aija, and Bethel, and in the villages thereof;

32 in Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,

33 Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,

34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,

35 Lod, and in Ono, the valley of craftsmen.

36 And of the deacons [or Levites], the portions of Judah and of Benjamin.

CHAPTER 12

1 Soothly these were[the] priests and [the] deacons [or Levites], that went up with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and with Joshua; Seraiah, Jeremy [or Jeremiah], Ezra,

2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

3 Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

4 Iddo, Ginnetho, Miamin,

5 Abiah, Maadiah, Bilgah,

6 Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah,

7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah; these were the princes of priests and their brethren, in the days of Jeshua.

8 Certainly deacons [or Levites]; Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, Mattaniah, were over the hymns, they and their brethren;

9 and Bakbukiah, and Unni, and the brethren of them, each man in his office.

10 And Jeshua begat Joiakim, and Joiakim begat Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada,

11 and Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua.

12 And in the days of Joiakim these were the priests, and the princes of the meines of priests; Seraiah, Meraiah; Jeremy, Hananiah;

13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;

14 of Melicu, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;

15 of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;

16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;

17 of Abiah, Zichri; of Miniamin, (*); and of Moadiah, Piltai;

18 of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;

19 of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;

20 of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;

21 of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethaneel.

22 Deacons [or Levites] in the days of Eliashib, and of Joiada, and of Johanan, and of Jaddua, were written princes of meines, and priests, in the realm of Darius king of Persia.

23 The sons of Levi, princes of meines, were written in the book of the words of days, and unto the days of Johanan, the son of Eliashib.

24 And the princes of deacons [or Levites]were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua, the son of Kadmiel; and the brethren of them by their whiles, or times, that they should praise and acknowledge by the commandment of king David, the man of God, and they should keep evenly by order.

25 Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, and Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were keepers of the gates, and of the porches before the gates.

26 These men were serving in the days of Joiakim, the son of Joshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah, the duke, and of Ezra, the priest and writer.

27 Forsooth in the hallowing of the wall of Jerusalem they sought deacons [or Levites] of all their places, to bring them into Jerusalem, and to make the hallowing in gladness, in the doing of thankings, and in song, and in cymbals, and in psalteries, and in harps.

28 And the sons of singers were gathered together, both from the field places about Jerusalem, and from the towns of Netophathi,

29 and from the house of Gilgal, and from the country of Geba, and of Azmaveth; for the singers had builded towns to themselves in the compass of Jerusalem.

30 And [the] priests and deacons [or Levites] were cleansed, and then they cleansed the people, and the gates, and the wall.

31 And I made the princes of Judah to go up on the wall, and I ordained two great choirs, or companies, of men praising the Lord; and they went to the right side on the wall, to the gate of the dunghill.

32 And Hoshaiah went after them, and the half part of the princes of Judah,

33 and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam,

34 Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemai-ah, and Jeremy [or Jeremiah].

35 And of the sons of priests singing in trumps; Zechariah, the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Michaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph.

36 And his brethren; Shemaiah, and Azarael, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel, and Judah, and Hanani, in the instruments of song of David, the man of God; and Ezra, the writer, before them,

37 in the gate of the well. And men went up against them, in the degrees of the city of David, in the ascending or going up of the wall, over the house of David, and unto the gate of the waters at the east coast.

38 And the second choir of men telling out thankings went over against, or on the other side, and I went after them; and half part of the people was on the wall, and on the tower of ovens, and they went unto the broadest wall;

39 and over the gate of Ephraim, and over the eld [or old] gate, and over the gate of fishes, and over the tower of Hananeel, and over the tower of Meah, and they came unto the gate of flock; and they stood still in the gate of keeping.

40 And the two choirs of men praising stood in the house of God, and I and the half part of magistrates with me.

41 And the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zech-ariah, Hananiah, in trumps;

42 and Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer; and the singers sang clearly, and Jezrahiah, their sovereign also.

43 And they offered in that day great sacrifices, and were glad; for God had made them glad with great gladness. But also their wives and their lawful children were joyful, and the gladness of Jerusalem was heard [a] far.

44 Also they numbered in that day the men that were over the keeping places of the treasure, to receive moist [or liquor] sacrifices, and the first fruits, and tithes, that in seemliness, or fairness, of doing of thankings to the Lord, princes of the city should bring in by them, for the priests and deacons [or Levites]; for Judah was glad in priests and deacons present.

45 And they kept the keeping of their God, the keeping of cleansing; and singers, and porters, by the command-ment of David, and of Solomon, his son;

46 for in the days of David and of Asaph, from the beginning, princes of singers were ordained, praising in song, and acknowledging to God.

47 And all Israel, in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave parts to singers and to porters, by all the days; and they hallowed a part for the deacons [or Levites], and the deacons hallowed a part for the sons of Aaron.

CHAPTER 13

1 Forsooth in that day it was read in the book of Moses, in hearing of the people; and it was found written therein, that Ammonites and Moabites owe not to enter into the church of God till into without end;

2 for they met not the sons of Israel with bread and water, and they hired against the sons of Israel Balaam, for to curse them; and our God turned the cursing into blessing.

3 And it was done, when the people had heard the law, they separated each alien from Israel.

4 And upon these things was Eliashib, the priest, that was sovereign in the chamber of the house of our God, and was the neighbour of Tobiah*.

5 Therefore he made to him a great chamber in the house of God; and there before him were men that kept the gifts that were offered, and incense, and diverse vessels, and the tithe of wheat, of wine, and of oil, and the parts of deacons [or Levites], and of singers, and of porters, and the first fruits of priests.

6 And in all these things I was not in Jerusalem; for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I came to the king, and in the end of days I prayed the king.

7 And I came into Jerusalem, and I understood the evil that Eliashib had done to Tobiah, to make to him a chamber in the porches of God’s house; 8 and to me it seemed full evil. And I casted forth the vessels of the house of Tobiah out of the chamber;

9 and I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers; and I brought again there the vessels of God’s house, and the sacrifice thereof, and the incense.

10 And I knew that the parts of the deacons [or Levites] were not given to them, and that each man of the deacons and of the singers, and of them that ministered in the temple, had gone away into his country;

11 and I did the cause against magi-strates, and I said, Why have ye forsaken the house of God? And I gathered them together, that is, deacons or Levites and the ministers, that had gone away, and I made them to stand in their standings.

12 And all Judah brought the tithe of wheat, of wine, and of oil, into the barns.

13 And we ordained on the barns, Shelemiah, the priest, and Zadok, the writer, and Pedaiah, one of the deacons [or Levites], and besides them we ordained Hanan, the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were proved faithful men, and the parts of their brethren were betaken to them.

14 My God, have mind of me for this thing, and do thou not away my merciful doings, which I have done in the house of my God, and in his ceremonies.

15 In those days I saw in Judah men treading pressers in the sabbath, men bringing in heaps, and charging or loading on asses wine, and grapes, and figs, and all burdens, and bringing into Jerusalem in the day of sabbath; and I witnessed to them, that they should sell in the day in which it was leaveful to sell.

16 And men of Tyre dwelled in it, and brought in fishes, and all things set to sale, and they sold in the sabbaths to the sons of Judah, and of Jerusalem.

17 And I rebuked the principal men of Judah, and I said to them, What is this evil thing that ye do, and make unholy the day of the sabbath?

18 Whether our fathers did not these things, and our God brought on us all this evil, and on this city? and ye increase wrathfulness on Israel, in defouling the sabbath.

19 And it was done, when the gates of Jerusalem had rested in the day of sabbath, I said, Shut ye the gates; and they shutted the gates; and I com-manded, that they should not open the gates till after the sabbath. And of my children, or servants, I ordained numbers on the gates to keep shut, that no man should bring in a burden in the day of sabbath.

20 And merchants, and men selling all things set to sale, dwelled without Jerusalem once or twice.

21 And I areasoned with them, and I said to them, Why dwell ye there even against, or on the other side of, the wall? If ye do this thing the second time, I shall set hand on you. Therefore from that time forth they came not thither in the sabbath.

22 Also I said to the deacons [or Levites], that they should be cleansed, and that they should come to keep the gates, and to hallow the day of sabbath. And therefore for this thing, my God, have mind of me, and spare me by the muchliness of thy merciful doings.

23 But also in those days I saw Jews wedding wives, women of Ashdod, and women of Ammonites, and women of Moabites.

24 And their children spake half part by the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak by the speech of Jews, and they spake by the language of this people, and of that people.

25 And I rebuked them, and cursed them; and I beat the men of them, and I made them bald, and I made them swear by the Lord, that they should not give their daughters to the sons of those aliens, and that they should not take of the daughters of those aliens to their sons, and to themselves;

26 and I said, Whether Solomon, the king of Israel, sinned not in such things? And certainly in many folks there was no king like him, and he was loved of his God, and God setted [or set] him king upon all Israel, and alien women brought him to sin.

27 Whether also we unobedient, should do all this great evil, that we trespass against our Lord God, and wed alien wives?

28 Forsooth Sanballat the Horonite had wedded a daughter of the sons of Joiada, son of Eliashib, the great priest, which Sanballat I drove away from me.

29 My Lord God, have mind against them, that defoul priesthood, and the right of priests, and of deacons [or Levites].

30 Therefore I cleansed them from all aliens, and I ordained the orders of priests and of deacons [or Levites], each man in his service,

31 and in offering, that is, dressing, of trees, or of wood, to burn with offered sacrifices, in times ordained, and in the first fruits. My God, have mind of me into good.

* CHAPTER 12:17 A name is missing here in both the Hebrew and the Greek texts of the Ta’na’kh, which are the Hebrew Scriptures or the Old Testament.

* CHAPTER 13:4 That is, friend, by the matrimony of his cousin, that had wedded the daughter of Sanballat.

ESTHER

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ESTHER

CHAPTER 1

1 In the days of king Ahasuerus, that reigned from India unto Ethiopia, upon an hundred and seven and twenty provinces,

2 when he sat in the seat of his realm, the city of Susa was the beginning of his realm.

3 And in the third year of his empire, he made a great feast to all his princes, and to all his children, or servants, to the strongest men of Persia, and to the noble men of Media, and to the prefects, or chief men, of provinces, before himself,

4 to show the riches of the glory of his realm, and the greatness, and boast of his power in much time, that is, an hundred and eighty days, this feast lasted.

5 And when the days of the feast were ended, the emperor called to his next feast all the people that was found in the city of Susa, from the most unto the least; and he commanded this feast to be made ready by seven days in the porch of an orchard and of a wood, that was set about with the king’s ornament and with his hand, or works.

6 And tents of the colour of the air, and of gold, and of jacinth, were held up with cords of bis, and of purple, and they hanged on each side, the which tents were set-in [or in-set]with circles of ivory, and they were underset with pillars of marble; also there were ordained seats, at the manner of beds, of gold and of silver, upon the pavement arrayed with smaragdus and with other diverse and precious stones; the which pavement painture made fair by wonderful diversity.

7 And they, that were called to meat, drank in golden cups, and meats were borne in to them with one and other vessels; also plenteous wine, and full good was set forth before them, as it was worthy to the great doing, of the king.

8 And there was no man that constrained them to drink that would not drink; but so the king had ordained, making sovereigns of his princes to all boards, that each man should take that, that he would.

9 Also Vashti, the queen, made a feast of women in the palace, where king Ahasuerus was wont to dwell.

10 Therefore in the seventh day, when the king was gladder than before, and when he was hot of wine after full much drinking, he commanded to Mehuman, and to Biztha, and to Harbona, and to Bigtha, and to Zethar, and to Abagtha, and to Carcas, seven honest and chaste servants, the which served in his sight,

11 that they should bring in before the king the queen Vashti, with a diadem set upon her head, to show her fairness to all the peoples and princes; for she was full fair.

12 And she forsook, and despised to come at the commandment of the king, which he had sent by the honest and chaste servants. Wherefore the king was angry, and kindled with full great vengeance;

13 and he asked the wise men, which by the king’s custom were ever with him, and he did all things by the counsel of them, that knew the law and the rights of greatest men;

14 forsooth the first and the next were Carshena, and Shethar, Admatha, and Tarshish, and Meres, and Marsena, and Memucan, seven dukes of Persia and of Media, that saw the face of the king, and were wont to sit the first after him;

15 the king asked them, to what sentence the queen Vashti should be subject, that would not do the com-mandment of king Ahasuerus, which he had sent by the honest and chaste servants.

16 And Memucan answered, in audi-ence of the king and of the princes, The queen Vashti hath not only despised the king, but all the princes and peoples, that be in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus.

17 For the word of the queen shall go out to all women, that they also despise their husbands, and say, King Ahasuerus commanded, that the queen Vashti should have come to him, and she would not.

18 And by this ensample all the wives of the princes of Persia and of Media shall despise the behests of their husbands; wherefore the indig-nation of the king is just.

19 If it pleaseth to thee, a command-ment go out from thy face, and be written by the laws of Persia and of Media, which it is unleaveful to be passed by, that Vashti enter [in] no more to the king, but another woman, which is better than she, take her realm.

20 And be this behest published into all the empire of thy provinces, which is full large, that all wives, both of greater men and of less, give honour to their husbands.

21 [And] His counsel pleased the king and the princes, and the king did by the counsel of Memucan;

22 and he sent out letters by all the provinces of his realm, as each folk might hear and read, in diverse languages and letters, that husbands be princes and greater men in their houses; and that this thing be published by all peoples.

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore when these things were done, after that the indignation of king Ahasuerus was assuaged, he bethought of Vashti, and what things she had done, and what things she had suffered.

2 And then the servants and the ministers of the king said to him, Fair damsels and virgins, be sought to the king;

3 and be there men sent forth, which should behold by all provinces damsels who be fair and virgins; and bring they them to the city of Susa, and betake they them into the house of women, under the keeping of Hegai, the honest servant and chaste, the which is the sovereign and keeper of the king’s women; and take those damsels ornaments of women, and other things needful to their uses.

4 And whichever damsel among all them pleaseth most the eyes of the king, reign she for Vashti. And this word pleased the king; and he commanded to be done so, as they counselled.

5 And a man, a Jew, was in the city of Susa, Mordecai by name, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, of the generation of Benjamin;

6 that was translated or borne over from Jerusalem in that time, in which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had translated Jeconiah, king of Judah;

7 the which Mordecai was the nourisher of Hadassah, the daughter of his brother, which daughter was called Esther by another name, and she had lost both father and mother; and she was full fair, and seemly of face; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her to him, and he made her his daughter.

8 And when the commandment of the king was oft published, and by his behest many fair virgins were brought to Susa, and were betaken to Hegai, the honest servant and chaste, also Esther among other damsels was betaken to him, that she should be kept in the number of those women.

9 And she pleased him, and found grace in his sight, so that he hasted to take to her the ornaments of women, and he betook to Esther her parts of all things needful to her, and seven of the fairest damsels of the king’s house; and Hegai adorned and arrayed both her and those damsels following her feet.

10 And Esther would not show to Hegai her people, neither her country; for Mordecai had commanded her, that in all manner she should be still of this thing.

11 And Mordecai walked each day before the porch of the door, in which the chosen virgins were kept, and he did the care of the health of Esther, and would know, what befelled to her.

12 And when the time of all the damsels by order was come, that they should go in to the king, and when all things were fulfilled that pertained to women’s attire, the twelfth month was turned; so only that they were anointed with the oil of myrrh by six months, and by another six months they used some pigments and sweet-smelling ointments.

13 And they entered to the king, and whatever thing pertaining to their ornaments they asked for, they took it with them; and they were arrayed as it pleased to them, and then they passed forth from the chamber of women to the king’s bed.

14 And she that had entered in the eventide, went out in the morrowtide; and from thence they were led forth into the second houses, that were under the hand of Shaashgaz, honest servant and chaste, that was governor of the king’s concubines; and she had not power to go again more to the king, no but the king would or desired her, and had commanded her to come by name.

15 And when the time was turned about by order, the day nighed, wherein Esther, the daughter of Abihail, the brother of Mordecai, the which Esther Mordecai had taken to him, and made her his daughter, ought to enter to the king; and she asked not for women’s ornaments, but whatever things Hegai, the honest servant and chaste, and keeper of the virgins, would, he gave these things to Esther to her orna-ment; for she was full shapely, and of fairness that may not lightly be believed, and she was seen gracious and amiable to the eyes of all men.

16 Therefore she was led to the bed of king Ahasuerus, in the tenth month, which is called Tebeth, in the seventh year of his realm.

17 And the king loved Esther more fervently than all women, and she had grace and mercy before him over all other women; and he setted the diadem, or crown, of the realm on her head, and made her to reign in the stead of Vashti.

18 And he commanded a full worshipful feast to be made ready to all his princes and servants, for the joining together and the weddings of Esther; and he gave rest, that is, releasing of tribute, to all provinces, and gave gifts, after the worshipful or honourable doing of a prince.

19 And when virgins were sought also the second time, and were gathered together, Mordecai dwelled at the gate of the king.

20 And Esther had not yet showed her country and her people, by the behest of Mordecai; for-why whatever thing he commanded, Esther kept, and she did so then all things, as she was wont in that time, in which he nourished her as a little child.

21 Then in that time, wherein Mordecai dwelled at the gate of the king, Bigthana and Teresh, two servants of the king, were wroth against the king, that were porters, and sat in the first threshold of the palace; and they would rise against the king, and slay him.

22 Which thing was not hid from Mordecai, and anon Mordecai told this to the queen Esther, and she told it to the king, in the name of Mordecai, that had told that thing to her.

23 And it was sought, and it was found sooth, and either of them was hanged in a gibbet; and this was commanded to be written in [the] stories, and it was betaken to the books of [the] years, before the king.

CHAPTER 3

1 After these things king Ahasuerus enhanced Haman, the son of Hamme-datha, that was of the kindred of Agag, and the king set his throne above all the princes that he had.

2 And all the servants of the king, that served in the gates of the palace, kneeled, and worshipped or honoured Haman; for so the emperor had commanded to them; but Mordecai alone bowed not his knees to him, neither worshipped him.

3 And the servants of the king, that sat above at the gates of the palace, said to Mordecai, Why keepest thou not the commandments of the king, but doest otherwise than other men?

4 And when they said full oft to him these things, and he would not hear them, they told to Haman, for they coveted to know, whether he continued in the sentence that he had showed to them; for he had said to them, that he was a Jew.

5 And when Haman had heard this thing, and had proved by experience, that Mordecai bowed not his knee to him, neither worshipped him, he was full wroth,

6 and Haman areckoned it for nought to set [or put] his hands upon Mordecai alone, to kill him; for he had heard, that Mordecai was of the folk of Jews, and the more rather he would destroy all the nation of Jews, which were in the realm of Ahasuerus.

7 In the first month, whose name is Nisan, that is, April, in the twelfth year of the realm of Ahasuerus, lot was cast into a vessel, the which lot is said in Hebrew pur, before Haman, to know in what day and in what month the folk of Jews ought to be slain; and by the lot the twelfth month went out, that is called Adar, that is, March.

8 And then Haman said to king Ahasuerus, A people is scattered by all the provinces of thy realm, and it is separated from itself, and this people useth new laws and ceremonies, and furthermore also it despiseth the behests of the king; and thou knowest best, that it speedeth not to thy realm, that it increase in malice by license.

9 If it please thee, deem and com-mand thou that this people perish, and I shall pay ten thousand talents of silver to the keepers of thy treasure.

10 Therefore the king took from his hand the ring which he used, and he gave it to Haman, the son of Hamme-datha, of the kindred of Agag, the enemy of Jews.

11 And the king said to Haman, The silver, which thou promisedest, be thine; do thou of the people that, that pleaseth thee.

12 And then the scribes, or writers, of the king were called in the first month of Nisan, that is, April, in the thirteenth day of the same month; and it was written, as Haman had commanded, to all the princes of the king, and to doomsmen of diverse provinces and of folks, that for diversity of language, each folk might read these letters and hear them, in the name of king Ahasuerus.

13 And letters, asealed with the ring of the king, were sent by the couriers of the king to all his provinces, that they should slay, and do away, or destroy, all Jews, from a child to an eld [or old] man, little children and women, in one day, that is, in the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is called Adar, or March; and that they should take away the goods of the Jews.

14 And the sentence of the letters was this, written in a few words, that all provinces should know, and make them ready, to the foresaid day.

15 And the couriers, that were sent forth, hasted to [ful] fill the command-ment of the king; and anon the behest of the king was hanged up in the city of Susa, while the king and Haman made a feast, and all the Jews wept, that were in that city.

CHAPTER 4

1 And when Mordecai had heard these things, he rent his clothes, and he was clothed in a sackcloth, and he sprinkled ashes upon his head, and he cried with great voice in the street of the midst of the city, and showed the bitterness of his soul,

2 and he went with this yelling unto the gates of the palace; for it was not leaveful for a man clothed with a sackcloth to enter into the hall of the king.

3 Also in all provinces, cities, and places, to which the cruel sentence of the king was come, there was great wailing, fasting, and weeping, and yelling with the Jews, and many Jews used a sackcloth and ashes for their bed.

4 And the damsels, and the honest servants and chaste of Esther entered in, and told this thing to Esther; which thing she heard, and was astonied; and she sent a cloth to Mordecai, that when the sackcloth was taken away, he should clothe him therein; the which cloth he would not take.

5 And after that, Hatach, the honest servant and chaste, was called, whom the king had given as a minister or servant to her, and she commanded, that he should go to Mordecai, and learn of him, why he did this thing.

6 And Hatach went forth, and he came to Mordecai standing in the street of the city, before the gate of the palace;

7 and he showed to Hatach all things that had befallen, how Haman had promised to bring silver into the treasures [or treasuries] of the king, for the death of the Jews.

8 Also Mordecai gave to Hatach the copy of the king’s behest, that hanged in Susa, to show to the queen, and to admonish her for to enter to the king, and to beseech him for her people.

9 And Hatach went again, and told to Esther all things, which Mordecai had said.

10 And she answered to Hatach, and said, that he should say to Mordecai,

11 All the servants of the king, and all the provinces which be under his lord-ship, know, that whether man either woman, not called of the king, entereth into the inner hall of the king, he shall be slain anon without any tarrying, but if in hap the king hold forth to him the golden rod for a token of mercy, and that he may live so; therefore how may I enter to the king, that am not called to him now by thirty days?

12 And when Mordecai had heard this thing,

13 he sent again to Esther, and said, Guess thou not, that thou shalt deliver only thy life, for thou art in the house of the king, before all Jews;

14 for if thou art still now, the Jews shall be delivered by another way, and thou and the house of thy father shall perish; and who knoweth, whether therefore thou camest to the realm, that thou shouldest be made ready in such a time to help?

15 And again Esther sent these words to Mordecai, saying,

16 Go thou, and gather together all the Jews, which thou findest in Susa, and pray ye for me; eat ye not, that is, fast ye, neither drink ye, in three days and three nights, and I with mine handmaidens shall fast in like manner; and then I not called, shall enter in to the king, and I shall do against the law, and I shall betake me to death and to peril.

17 Therefore Mordecai went, and did all things, that Esther had com-manded to him.

CHAPTER 5

1 Forsooth in the third day, Esther was clothed in royal clothes, and she stood in the porch of the king’s house, that was withinforth over against the king’s hall; and the king sat upon his throne, in the consistory of his palace, against the door of the house.

2 And when he had seen Esther, the queen, standing there, she pleased his eyes, and he held forth against her the golden rod, that he held in his hand; and she nighed, and kissed the highness of his rod.

3 And the king said to her, Esther, the queen, what wilt thou? what is thine asking? Yea, though thou ask the half part of my realm, it shall be given to thee.

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

5 And anon the king said, Call ye anon Haman, that he obey to the will of Esther. And then the king and Haman came to the feast, which the queen had made ready to them.

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

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

8 If I have found grace in the sight of the king, and if it pleaseth the king, that he give to me that thing, that I ask, and that he fulfill mine asking, the king and Haman come they tomorrow to the feast, that I have made ready to them; and tomorrow, I shall open my will to the king.

9 Therefore Haman went out glad and swift in that day. And when he had seen Mordecai sitting before the gates of the palace, and not only to have not risen up to him, but soothly neither moved from the place of his sitting, he was full wroth;

10 and Haman feigned him as not wroth therefore, and turned again in to his house, and he called together his friends, and Zeresh, his wife;

11 and he told to them the greatness of his riches, and the company of his children, and with how great glory the king had enhanced him above all his princes and servants.

12 And he said after these things, Also the queen Esther called none other man with the king to the feast, except me, with whom I shall eat also tomorrow with the king.

13 And though I have all these things, I guess that I have nothing, as long as I see Mordecai, the Jew, sitting before the king’s gates.

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

CHAPTER 6

1 The king led that night without sleep, and he commanded the stories and the books of years of former times to be brought to him. And when those books were read in his presence,

2 men came to the place, where it was written, how Mordecai had told of the treasons of Bigthana and Teresh, honest servants, coveting to strangle king Ahasuerus.

3 And when the king had heard this, he said, What honour and meed got Mordecai for this faithfulness? And his servants and ministers said to him, Utterly he took no meed.

4 And anon the king said, Who is in the hall? Soothly Haman had entered into the inner hall of the king’s house, to make suggestion to the king, that he should command Mordecai to be hanged on the gibbet, which was made ready to him.

5 And the servants of the king said to him, Haman standeth in the hall. And the king said, Enter he in.

6 And when Haman was come in, the king said to him, What oweth to be done to the man, whom the king desireth to honour? And Haman thought in his heart, and he guessed, that the king was about to honour no other man but himself, Haman;

7 and he answered, The man, whom the king coveteth to honour,

8 oweth to be clothed in the king’s clothes, and to be set [or put] on the horse which is of the king’s saddle, and to take the king’s diadem, that is, his crown, upon his head;

9 and the first, or chief, of the princes and of the strong men of the king, he hold his horse, leading him, and go he by the streets of the city, and cry he, and say, Thus he shall be honoured, whom the king will honour.

10 And then the king said to Haman, Haste thou thee, and when the king’s clothing, and his horse, is taken to thee, do thou, as thou hast spoken, to Mordecai, the Jew, that sitteth before the gates of the palace; and be thou ware, that thou leave not out, or undone, anything of these, which thou hast now spoken.

11 And then Haman took the king’s cloth, and his palfrey, and he went forth, and cried before Mordecai, clothed in the king’s clothing, leading him in the chief street of the city, and set upon his palfrey, He is worthy of this honour, whomever the king will honour.

12 And after this Mordecai turned again to the gate of the palace, and Haman hasted to go into his house, mourning, and with his head covered.

13 And he told to Zeresh, his wife, and to his friends all things that had befallen to him. To whom the wise men, which he had in counsel, and his wife, answered, If Mordecai, before whom thou hast begun to fall, is of the seed of Jews, thou shalt not be able to against-stand him, but thou shalt fall in his sight.

14 Yet while they spake these things, the honest servants and chaste of the king came after Haman, and they compelled him to go anon to the feast, which the queen had made ready.

CHAPTER 7

1 Therefore the king and Haman entered to the feast, and to drink with the queen.

2 And the king said also to Esther in the second day, after that he was hot of the wine, Esther, what is thine asking of me, that it be given to thee, and what wilt thou be done? Yea, though thou ask the half part of my realm, thou shalt have it.

3 To whom she answered, O! king, if I have found grace in thine eyes, and if it pleaseth thee, give thou my life to me, for which I pray thee now, and also the life of my people, for the which I beseech thee.

4 For I and my people be given, that we be defouled, and strangled, and that we perish; O! why not had we rather been sold into servants and servantesses, for that evil might have been suffered, and I, wailing, should have been still; but now our enemy is present, whose cruelty turneth against the king.

5 And king Ahasuerus answered, and said, Who is this, and of what power, that he be hardy to do such things?

6 And Esther said, Our worst adversary and enemy is this Haman. The which thing when he heard, he was astonied anon, and he was not sufficient to bear the semblance, or the indignation, of the king and of the queen.

7 And the king rose up wroth, and from the place of the feast he entered into a garden beset about with trees. And Haman rose up for to pray Esther, the queen, for his life; for he understood evil made ready of the king to him.

8 And when the king turned again from the garden, and had entered into the place of the feast, he found that Haman had fallen down upon the bed, wherein Esther lay. And the king said, Also he will oppress the queen, while I am present, in mine house. And the word was not yet gone out of the king’s mouth, and anon men covered the face of Haman.

9 And Harbona, one of the honest servants and chaste, that stood in the service of the king, said, Lo! a tree having fifty cubits of height standeth in the house of Haman, which he had made ready to Mordecai, that spake for the king, and made known his traitors. To whom the king said, Hang ye Haman in that tree.

10 Therefore Haman was hanged in the gibbet, which he had made ready to Mordecai, and the ire of the king rested.

CHAPTER 8

1 In that day king Ahasuerus gave to Esther, the queen, the house of Haman, enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai entered in before the face of the king; for Esther acknowledged to him, that he was her father’s brother.

2 Therefore the king took the ring, which he had commanded to be received from Haman, and he gave it to Mordecai. And Esther ordained Mordecai to be sovereign over her household.

3 And Esther was not appeased with these things, and felled down to the feet of the king, and wept, and spake to him, and prayed, that he should command the malice of Haman of the kindred of Agag, and his worst casts, which he had thought out against the Jews, to be made void.

4 And the king by custom held forth the golden rod of the king with his hand, by which the token of his mercy was showed. And then Esther rose up, and stood before the king,

5 and said, If it pleaseth the king, and if I have found grace before his eyes, and if my prayer is not seen to be contrary to him, I beseech, that the eld [or old] letters of Haman, the traitor, and enemy of Jews, by which he had commanded them to perish in all the provinces of the king, be amended by new letters;

6 for how shall I be able to suffer the death, and the slaying, of my people?

7 And king Ahasuerus answered to Esther, the queen, and to Mordecai, the Jew, and said, I have granted the house of Haman to Esther, the queen, and I commanded him to be hanged on the cross, for-thy that he was hardy to set [or put] hand against the Jews.

8 Therefore write ye to [the] Jews, as it pleaseth to you, by the name of the king, and aseal ye the letters with my ring. For this was the custom, that no man durst against-say the letters, that were sent in the king’s name, and were sealed with his ring.

9 And when the arrayers of the king’s letters, and his writers, were called; it was then the time of the third month, that is called Sivan, that is, June, in the three and twentieth day of the month; letters were written, as Mordecai would, to [the] Jews, and to [the] princes, and to procurators, and to judges, that were sovereigns over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces, from India unto Ethiopia, they were written to that province and to that province, to that people and to that people, by their languages and by their letters, and to the Jews, that they might read and hear them.

10 And those letters, that were sent in the name of the king, were asealed with his ring, and were sent forth by his messengers, the which ran about by all provinces, and they came with [the] new messages before that the eld [or old] letters were executed.

11 To whom the king commanded, that they should call together the Jews, and command them to be gathered together by all cities, and that they should stand together for their lives; and that they should slay, and do away, all their enemies, with their wives, and with their children, and with all their households.

12 And one day of vengeance, that is, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar, that is, March, was ordained by all provinces.

13 And the short sentence of the epistle was this, that it were made known in all lands and peoples, that were subject to the empire of king Ahasuerus, that the Jews be ready that day to take vengeance of their enemies.

14 And the messengers went out, before-bearing swift messages; and this same behest of the king hanged in the city of Susa.

15 And Mordecai went out of the king’s palace and of the king’s sight, and he shined in the king’s clothes, that is, clothes the colour of jacinth, and colour of the air, and he bare a golden crown on his head, and was clothed with a mantle of silk and of purple; and all the city fully joyed, and was glad.

16 Certainly then a new light seemed to rise up to the Jews, and joy, and honour, and dancing

17 was at all peoples, and cities, and at all provinces, whither ever the commandments of the king came, among them was a wonderful joy, and meats, and feasts, and an holy day, in so much, that many of another folk and sect were joined to the religion and ceremonies of them; for the great dread of the name of Jews had assailed all them.

CHAPTER 9

1 Therefore in the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which we said now before to be called Adar, when slaying was made ready to all the Jews by Haman, and their enemies setted treason to their blood, on the contrary, the Jews now began to be the higher part, and to avenge them of their adversaries.

2 And the Jews were gathered together by all cities, castles [or burg towns], and places, to stretch forth hand against their enemies and pursuers; and no man was hardy to against-stand them, for the dread of their greatness had pierced all peoples.

3 For why both the judges, dukes, and procurators of provinces, and each dignity, that were sovereigns of all places and works, enhanced the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai was upon them,

4 whom they knew to be a prince of the king’s palace, and to be able to do full much; and the fame of his name increased each day, and flew by the mouths of all men.

5 Therefore the Jews smote their enemies with great vengeance, and killed them, and yielded to their enemies that, that they had made ready to do to them,

6 in so much, that also in the city of Susa the Jews killed five hundred men, without the ten sons of Haman of the kindred of Agag, the enemy of Jews, of the which sons these be the names;

7 Parshandatha, Dalphon, and As-patha,

8 and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

9 and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha.

10 And when the Jews had slain the sons of Haman, they would not touch the preys of the chattels, [or substance], of them.

11 And anon the number of them, that were slain in the city of Susa, was told to the king.

12 And he said to the queen, The Jews have slain five hundred men in the city of Susa, and the ten sons of Haman; how great slaying guessest thou, that they haunt in all provinces? what askest thou more? and what wilt thou, that I command to be done?

13 To whom Esther answered, If it pleaseth the king, power be given to the Jews, that as they have done today in Susa, so do they also tomorrow, and that the bodies of the ten sons of Haman be hanged up in gibbets.

14 And the king commanded, that it should be done so; and anon the behest of the king hanged in Susa, and the bodies of the ten sons of Haman were hanged up.

15 Therefore when the Jews were gathered together, in the fourteenth day of the month [of] Adar, or March, three hundred men were slain in Susa, and the Jews took not away the chattel of those men.

16 But also by all the provinces, that were subject to the lordship of the king, Jews stood for their lives, when their enemies and pursuers were slain, in so much, that five and seventy thousand of slain men were filled, and no man touched anything of the chattels of them.

17 Certainly the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, or March, was the day of slaying with all them, and in the fourteenth day they ceased to slay; and that day they ordained to be solemn, so that therein in each time afterward, they should give attention to meats, yea, to joy, and to feasts.

18 And those Jews, that used, or haunted, the slaying in the city of Susa, lived in slaying in the thirteenth and fourteenth days of the same month. But in the fifteenth day they ceased to slay; and therefore they ordained the same day to be solemn of feasts and of gladness.

19 And these Jews, that dwelled in burg towns not walled, and in villages, deemed the fourteen day of the month [of] Adar to be solemn of feasts, and of joy, so that they be joyful therein, and send, each to other, parts of their feasts, and of their meats.

20 And Mordecai wrote all these things, and he sent all these things written by letters to the Jews, that dwelled in all the provinces of the king, as well to Jews dwelling nigh as far, [or both in nigh set and afar],

21 that they should receive and hold for their feast days the fourteenth and the fifteenth days of the month [of] Adar, and ever[more] when the year turneth again, to hallow these days with solemn honour;

22 for in those days the Jews avenged themselves of their enemies, and then their mourning and their sorrow were turned into gladness and joy; and therefore these days should be days of feasts, and of gladness, and that they should send, each to other, parts of meats, and give little gifts to poor men.

23 And the Jews received into a solemn custom all those things, which they began to do in that time, and which things Mordecai had command-ed by letters to be done.

24 For Haman, the son of Hamme-datha, of the kindred of Agag, the enemy and adversary of Jews, thought evil against them, to slay them, and to do them away, and he cast pur, that is to say in our language, lot, to do it.

25 And after this Esther entered in to the king, and besought, that the enforcings or endeavours of Haman should be made void by the letters of the king, and that the evil, which he had thought against the Jews, should turn again into his head. Forsooth they hanged on the cross both him and his sons.

26 And from that time these days were called Purim, that is, of lots, for pur, that is, lot, was sent, or cast, into a vessel; and the Jews received upon themselves, and upon their seed, and upon all men that would be coupled to their religion, all things that were done, and be contained in the volume of the epistle, that is, of this book,

27 and which things they suffered, and which things were changed after-ward, so that it be not leaveful to any man to pass these two days without solemnity, which days the scripture witnesseth, and certain times ask, while the years come continually one after another.

28 These be the days, which never any forgetting shall do away, but by all generations all the provinces, that be in all the world, shall hallow them; neither there is any city, in which the days of Purim, that is, of lots, shall not be kept of [the] Jews, and of the generation of them, which is bound to these ceremonies.

29 And Esther, the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai, the Jew, wrote also the second epistle, that this solemn day should be hallowed afterward with all busyness.

30 And they sent their letter to those Jews, that dwelled in an hundred and seven and twenty provinces of king Ahasuerus, that they should have peace, and receive the truth,

31 and that they should keep the days of lots, and hallow them with joy in their time, as Mordecai and Esther had ordained; and they received the rules for the fastings, and the solemn cries, and the days of lots, to be kept of themselves and of their seed,

32 and they received all things that be contained in the story of this book, that is called Esther.

CHAPTER 10

1 Forsooth king Ahasuerus made tributary each land, and all the isles of the sea;

2 whose strength and empire and his dignity and highness, by which he enhanced Mordecai, be written in the books of the kings of Media and of Persia;

3 and how Mordecai of the kin of the Jews was the second from king Ahasuerus, and was great with Jews, and acceptable to the people of his brethren, and he sought good things to his people, and spake those things, that pertained to the peace of his seed.

Here endeth the text of Hebrew. I have set openly with full faith those things, that be had in Hebrew; but I found these things that follow (verses 10:4—16:24, omitted here, see Wycliffe’s Apocrypha for the Additions to Esther), written in the common translation, that be contained in the language and letters of the Greeks.

JOB

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JOB

CHAPTER 1

1 In the land of Uz was a man that was called Job; and that man was simple, that is, without guile, and rightful [or right], and dreading God, and going away from evil.

2 And there were seven sons and three daughters born to him;

3 and his possession was seven thousand of sheep, and three thousand of camels, and five hundred yokes of oxen, and five hundred of female asses, and full much household; and this Job was a great man among all the men of the east.

4 And his sons went, and made feasts by their houses, each man in his day; and they sent, and called their three sisters, to eat, and to drink wine with them.

5 And when the days of feast had passed into the world, that is, in the end of the week, Job sent to them, and hallowed them, and he rose early, and offered burnt sacrifices by all. For he said, Lest peradventure my sons do sin, and curse God in their hearts, [or Lest peradventure my sons sin, and bless*to God in their hearts]. Job did so in all days.

6 And in a day, when the sons of God were come to be present before the Lord, also Satan came among them.

7 To whom the Lord said, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered, and said, I have compassed the earth, and I have walked through it.

8 And the Lord said to him, Whether thou hast beheld my servant Job, that there is no man in [the] earth like him; he is a simple man, and rightful [or right], and dreading God, and going away from evil?

9 To whom Satan answered, Whether Job dreadeth God vainly?

10 Whether thou hast not encom-passed him, and his house, and all his chattel by compass? Thou hast blessed the works of his hands, and his possession is increased on [the] earth.

11 But stretch forth thine hand a little, and touch thou all things that he hath in possession, taking them away, or extinguishing them; and if he curse not thee in the face, he is verily simple, and rightwise, and dreading thee.

12 Therefore the Lord said to Satan, Lo! all things, which he hath, be in thine hand; only stretch thou not forth thine hand into him. And Satan went out from the face of the Lord.

13 And when in a day the sons of Job and his daughters ate, and drank wine in the house of their first begot-ten brother,

14 a messenger came to Job, and said to him, Thine oxen eared, and thy female asses [were] pastured beside them;

15 and Sabeans felled in, and took away all things, and smited the children or servants with sword; and I alone escaped to tell to thee.

16 And when he spake yet, another came, and said, [The] Fire of God came down from heaven, and wasted [the] sheep, and smote thy children or servants; and I alone escaped for to tell to thee.

17 But yet the while he spake, also another came, and said, Chaldees made three companies, and assailed the camels, and took those [or them] away, and they have killed thy servants with sword; and I alone escaped to tell to thee.

18 And yet while he spake, lo! another entered, and said, While thy sons and daughters ate, and drank wine in the house of their first begotten brother,

19 a great wind felled in suddenly from the coast of desert, and shook [the] four corners of the house, which felled down, and oppressed thy children, and they be dead; and I alone fled to tell to thee.

20 Then Job rose up, and he rent his clothes, and when his head was polled, he felled down upon the earth, and he worshipped God,

21 and said, I went naked out of the womb of my mother, and naked I shall turn again thither; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so be it done; the name of the Lord be blessed.

22 In all these things Job sinned not in his lips, neither spake any folly thing against God.

CHAPTER 2

1 And it was done, in a day the sons of God were come to praise him, and they stood before the Lord, and Satan was come among them, and he stood in the sight of the Lord,

2 and the Lord said to Satan, From whence comest thou? Which answered, and said, I have compassed the earth, and I have gone through it.

3 And the Lord said to Satan, Whether thou hast not considered my servant Job, that none in [the] earth is like him; he is a simple man, and rightful [or right], and dreading God, and going away from evil, and yet holding innocence? But thou hast moved me against him, that I should torment or vex him in vain.

4 To whom Satan answered, and said, A man shall give skin for skin, and all things that he hath for his life;

5 therefore put to thine hand, and touch his bone and his flesh, and then thou shalt see, that he shall curse thee in thy face.

6 Therefore the Lord said to Satan, Lo! he is in thine hand; nevertheless keep thou his life.

7 Therefore Satan went out from the face of the Lord, and he smote Job with the worst stinking botch, from the sole of his foot till to his top;

8 and Job sat in a dunghill, and he shaved away the quitter or pus of him with a shell.

9 Forsooth his wife said to him, Dwellest thou yet in thy simpleness, that is, fondness or foolishness? Curse thou God, and die.

10 And Job said to her, Thou hast spoken as one of the fond [or foolish] women; if we have taken goods of the hand of the Lord, why forsooth suffer we not evils? In all these things Job sinned not in his lips.

11 And then three friends of Job heard of all the evil that had befallen to him, and they came to him, each of them from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; for they had said together to themselves, that they would come together, and visit Job, and comfort him.

12 And when they had raised afar their eyes, they knew not him; and they cried [out], and wept, and rent their clothes, and sprinkled dust on their heads into heaven.

13 And they sat with him in the earth seven days and seven nights, and no man spake a word to him; for they saw, that his sorrow was great.

CHAPTER 3

1 After these things Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day,

2 and he said,

3 Perish the day in which I was born, and the night in which it was said, A man is conceived.

4 That day be turned into darknesses; God seek not it [from] above, and be it not in mind, neither be it lightened with light.

5 Darkness make it dark, and the shadow of death and of mist occupy it; and be it wrapped with bitterness.

6 Dark whirlwind hold that night; be it not reckoned among the days of the year, neither be it numbered among the months.

7 That night be sullen, and not worthy of praising.

8 Curse they it, that curse the day, that be ready to raise Leviathan*.

9 [The] Stars of that night be they made dark with the darkness thereof; abide it light, and see it not, neither see it the beginning of the morrow-tide rising up.

10 For it closed not the doors of the womb, that bare me, neither it took away evil from mine eyes.

11 Why was not I dead in the womb? why went I out of the womb, and perished not anon?

12 Why was I taken on knees? why was I given suck with teats?

13 For now I sleeping should be still, and I should rest in my sleep,

14 with kings and counsellors of the earth, which build to them sullen places;

15 either with princes that have gold in possession, and fill their houses with silver;

16 either as a child, or a beast, born before the time, and hid, I should not have been; either as they that be conceived, and saw not light.

17 There wicked men ceased of making noise, and there men made weary of strength rested.

18 And sometime men bound together now be without dis-ease, they heard not the voice of the wrongful asker.

19 A little man and a great man be there, and a servant is free from his lord.

20 Why is light given to the wretch, and life to them that be in bitterness of soul?

21 Which abide death, and it cometh not; as men that dig out treasure,

22 and joy greatly, when they have found a sepulchre?

23 Why is light given to a man, whose way is hid, and God hath encompassed him with darknesses?

24 Before that I eat, I sigh; and as of water flowing, so is my roaring.

25 For the dread, which I dreaded, hath come to me; and that thing, that I shamed [of], hath befallen to me.

26 Whether I dissembled or feigned not? whether I was not still? whether I rested not? and yet indignation hath come [up] on me.

CHAPTER 4

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answer-ed, and said,

2 If we begin to speak to thee, in hap thou shalt take it heavily; but who may hold a word conceived?

3 Lo! thou hast taught full many men, and thou hast strengthened hands made faint.

4 Thy words have confirmed men doubting, and thou hast comforted knees trembling.

5 But now a wound is come upon thee, and thou hast failed, or fainted; it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.

6 Where is thy dread, thy strength, and thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?

7 I beseech thee, have thou mind, what innocent man perished ever, either when rightful [or rightwise] men were done away?

8 Certainly rather I saw them, that work wickedness, and sow sorrows, and reap those [or them],

9 to have perished by God blowing, and to be wasted by the spirit of his ire.

10 The roaring of a lion, and the voice of a lioness, and the teeth of whelps of lions, be all-broken.

11 Tigers perished, for she had not prey; and [the] whelps of the lion be destroyed.

12 Certainly an hid word was said to me, and mine ear took as it were thief-like the veins of the privy speak-ing thereof.

13 In the hideousness of [the] night’s sight, when heavy sleep is wont to occupy men,

14 dread and trembling held me; and all my bones were afeared.

15 And when the spirit went in my presence, the hairs of my flesh had hideousness.

16 One stood, whose cheer, or likeness, I knew not, an image before mine eyes; and I heard a voice as of [a] soft wind.

17 Whether a man shall be made just [or justified] in comparison of God? either a man shall be cleaner than his Maker?

18 Lo! they that serve him be not steadfast; and he hath found shrewd-ness in his angels.

19 How much more they that dwell in houses of clay, which have an earthly foundament, shall be wasted as of a moth.

20 From morrowtide till to eventide they shall be cut down; and for no man understandeth, they shall perish without end.

21 And they, that be left, shall be taken away; they shall die, and not in wisdom.

CHAPTER 5

1 Therefore, Job, call thou, if there is any man that shall answer thee, and turn thou to some of [the] saints.

2 Wrathfulness slayeth a fond [or foolish] man, and envy slayeth a little child.

3 I saw a fool with [a] steadfast root, and I cursed his fairness anon.

4 His sons shall be made far from health, and they shall be defouled in the gate, and there shall be none that shall deliver them.

5 Whose ripe corn an hungry man shall eat, and an armed man shall ravish him, and they, that thirst, shall drink his riches.

6 Nothing is done in [the] earth with-out cause, and sorrow shall not go out of the earth, that is, adversity befalleth not to any man without cause.

7 A man is born to labour, and a bird to flight.

8 Wherefore I shall beseech the Lord, and I shall set [or put] my speech to my God.

9 That maketh great things, and that may not be sought out, and wonder-ful things without number.

10 The which God giveth rain upon the face of the earth, and moisteth all things with waters.

11 Which setteth meek men on high, and raiseth with health them that mourn.

12 Which destroyeth the thoughts of evil-willed men, that their hands may not fulfill those things that they have begun.

13 Which taketh sly cautelous men in their own fellness, and he destroyeth the counsel of shrews or the depraved.

14 By day they shall run into dark-nesses, and as in night, so they shall grope in midday.

15 Certainly God shall make safe a needy man from the sword of their mouth, and a poor man from the hand of the violent, either raveners.

16 And hope shall be to a needy man, but wickedness shall draw together his mouth.

17 Blessed is the man, which is chastised of the Lord; therefore reprove thou not the blaming of the Lord.

18 For he woundeth, and doeth medicine; he smiteth, and his hands shall make whole.

19 In six tribulations he shall deliver thee, and in the seventh tribulation evil shall not touch thee.

20 In hunger he shall deliver thee from death, and in battle from the power of sword.

21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of an evil tongue, and thou shalt not dread mis-ease, either wretchedness, when it cometh.

22 In destroying made of enemies and in hunger thou shalt laugh, and thou shalt not dread the beasts of [the] earth.

23 But thy covenant shall be with the stones of earth, and beasts of earth shall be peaceable to thee.

24 And thou shalt know, that thy tabernacle hath peace, and thou visiting thy fairness, that is, beholding thy prosperity, shalt not sin.

25 And thou shalt know also, that thy seed shall be manyfold, and thy generation shall be as an herb of [the] earth.

26 In abundance of years thou shalt go into the sepulchre, as an heap of wheat is borne [in] in his time.

27 Lo! this thing is so, as we have sought; the which thing when thou hast heard, treat it in thy mind.

CHAPTER 6

1 And Job answered, and said,

2 I would, that my sins, by which I have deserved the wrath of God, and the wretchedness which I suffer, were weighed in a balance.

3 As the gravel of the sea, this wretchedness should appear more grievous; wherefore and my words be full of sorrow.

4 For the arrows of the Lord be in me, the indignation of which drinketh up my spirit; and the dreads of the Lord fight against me.

5 Whether a field ass shall roar, when he hath grass? Either whether an ox shall low, when he standeth before a full cratch?

6 Either whether a thing unsavory may be eaten, which is not made savory by salt? Either whether any man may taste a thing, which tasted bringeth death? For why to an hungry soul, yea, bitter things seem to be sweet;

7 those things which my soul would not touch before, be now my meats for anguish.

8 Who giveth, or granteth, that mine asking come to me; and that God give to me that thing, that I abide?

9 And he that hath begun to punish, all-break he me; loose he his hand, and cut he me down?

10 And this be comfort to me, that he torment me with sorrow, and spare not, and that I against-say not the words of the Holy.

11 For what is my strength, that I suffer? either which is mine end, that I suffer it patiently?

12 Neither my strength is the strength of stones, neither my flesh is of brass.

13 Lo! none help is to me in me; and also my necessary friends parted from me.

14 He that taketh away mercy from his friend, forsaketh the dread of the Lord.

15 My brethren passed from me, as a strand [or stream]doeth, that passeth by rushingly in great valleys.

16 Snow shall come upon them, that dread frost.

17 In the time wherein they be scattered, they shall perish; and when they shall wax hot, they shall be loosed from their place.

18 The paths of their steps be enwrapped; they shall go in vain, and shall perish.

19 Behold ye the paths of Tema, and the ways of Sheba; and abide ye a little.

20 They be shamed, for I hoped; and they came unto me, and they be covered with shame.

21 Now ye be come, and now ye see my wound, and dread.

22 Whether I said, Bring ye to me, and give ye of your chattel to me?

23 either said, Deliver ye me from the hand of mine enemy, and draw away ye me from the hand of strong men?

24 Teach ye me, and I shall be still; and if in hap I unknew anything, teach ye me.

25 Why have ye contraried the words of truth? since there is none of you, that may reprove me.

26 Ye make ready speeches only for to blame, and ye bring forth words into wind.

27 Ye fall in on a fatherless child, and endeavour to pervert your friend.

28 Nevertheless fulfill ye that, that ye have begun; and give ye your ear, or hearing, and see ye, whether I lie.

29 I beseech you, answer ye me with-out strife, and speak ye, and deem ye that, that is just [or rightwise].

30 And ye shall not find wickedness in my tongue, neither folly shall sound in my cheeks.

CHAPTER 7

1 Knighthood, that is, continual travail, and fighting against vices, is the life of a man upon earth, and his days be as the days of an hired man.

2 As an hart desireth shadow, and as an hired man abideth the end of his work;

3 so I have had void months, and I have numbered travailous nights to me.

4 If I shall sleep, I shall say, When shall I rise? and again I shall abide the eventide, and I shall be full-filled with sorrows unto darknesses come.

5 My flesh is clothed with rot, and filths of dust; my skin dried up, and is drawn together.

6 My days have passed swifter than a web is cut down from the looms; and those days be wasted without any hope of coming again.

7 God, have thou mind, for my life is wind, and mine eye shall not turn again, that it see goods.

8 Neither the sight of man shall behold me; but thine eyes be in me, and I shall not be in deadly life, that is, I shall not abide alive.

9 As a cloud is wasted, and passeth soon away, so he that goeth down to hell, shall not go up from thence;

10 neither he shall turn again more into his house, and his place shall no more know him.

11 Wherefore and I shall not spare my mouth; I shall speak in the tribulation of my spirit, I shall talk altogether with the bitterness of my soul.

12 Whether I am a sea, either a whale, for thou hast encompassed me with a prison?

13 If I shall say, My bed shall comfort me, and I shall be relieved, or quieted, speaking with me in my bed;

14 thou shalt make me afeared by dreams, and thou shalt shake me with horror, either hideousness, by sights.

15 Wherefore my soul chose hanging, and my bones have chosen death.

16 I despaired, now I shall no more live; Lord, spare thou me, for my days be nought.

17 What is a man, for thou magni-fiest him? either what settest thou thine heart toward him?

18 Thou visitest him early, and suddenly thou provest him.

19 How long sparest thou not me, neither sufferest me, that I swallow my spittle?

20 I have sinned; O! thou keeper of men, what shall I do to thee? Why hast thou set me contrary to thee, and I am made grievous to myself?

21 Why doest thou not away my sin, and why takest thou not away my wickedness? Lo! now I shall sleep in dust, and if thou seekest me early, I shall not abide.

CHAPTER 8

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answer-ed, and said,

2 How long shalt thou speak such things? The spirit of the word of thy mouth is manyfold.

3 Whether God supplanteth, either deceiveth, doom, and whether Almighty God destroyeth that, that is just [or rightwise]?

4 Yea, though thy sons sinned against him, and he left them in the hand of their wickedness;

5 nevertheless, if thou risest early to God, and beseechest Almighty God,

6 if thou goest clean and rightful, anon he shall wake fully to thee, and shall make peaceable the dwelling place of thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness];

7 in so much that thy former things were little, and that thy last things be multiplied greatly.

8 For why, ask thou the former generations, and seek thou diligently the mind of [the] fathers.

9 For we be men of yesterday, and know not; for our days be as a shadow on the earth.

10 And they shall teach thee, [and] they shall speak to thee, and of their heart they shall bring forth true speeches.

11 Whether a bulrush may grow with-out moisture? either a reed without water?

12 When it is yet in the flower, neither it is taken with hand, it waxeth dry before all herbs.

13 So be the ways of all men, that forget God; and the hope of an hypocrite shall perish.

14 His cowardice shall not please God, and his trust shall be as a web of spiders.

15 He shall lean, either rest, upon his house, and it shall not stand; he shall underset it, and it shall not rise up altogether.

16 The bulrush seemeth moist, before that the sun come; and in the rising of the sun, the seed thereof shall go out.

17 The roots thereof shall be made thick upon an heap of stones, and it shall dwell among [the] stones.

18 If a man draweth it out of the place thereof, that place shall deny it, and it shall say, I know thee not.

19 For this is the gladness of his way, that again other bulrushes spring out of the earth.

20 Forsooth God shall not cast away a simple man, neither he shall dress his hand to help wicked men;

21 till thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with hearty song.

22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the taber-nacle of wicked men shall not stand.

CHAPTER 9

1 And Job answered, and said,

2 Verily I know, that it is so, and that a man comparisoned to God shall not be made just [or justified].

3 If he will strive with God, he may not answer to God one for a thousand.

4 He is wise in heart, and strong in might; who hath against-stood him, and had peace?

5 He bare over hills from one place to another, and they knew not; which he destroyed in his strong vengeance.

6 Which stirreth the earth from his place, and the pillars thereof shall shake altogether.

7 He commandeth to the sun, and it riseth not; and he closeth up the stars, as under a signet.

8 He alone stretcheth forth heavens, and he goeth upon the waves of the sea.

9 He maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and Pleiades, that is, the seven stars, and the inner things of the south.

10 He maketh great things, and that may not be sought out, and also wonderful things, of which there is none number.

11 If he cometh to me, I shall not see him; if he goeth away from me, I shall not understand.

12 If he asketh suddenly, who shall answer to him? either who may say to him, Why doest thou so?

13 He is God, whose wrath no man may withstand; and under whom they be bowed, that bear the world.

14 How great am I, that I answer to him, and speak by my words with him?

15 Which also shall not answer to him, though I have anything just [or right]; but I shall beseech my judge to spare me.

16 And when he hath heard me inwardly calling him, I believe not, that he hath heard my voice.

17 For in a whirlwind he shall all-break me, and he shall multiply my wounds, yea, without cause.

18 He granteth not, that my spirit have rest, and he filleth me with bitternesses.

19 If strength is sought, he is most strong; and if equity of doom is sought, no man dare yield witnessing for me.

20 If I will make me just [or justify me], my own mouth shall condemn me; if I shall show me innocent, he shall prove me a shrew.

21 Yea, though I be simple, my soul shall not know this same thing; and it shall annoy me of my life.

22 One thing is, which I spake, he shall waste by death also the innocent and [the] wicked man.

23 If he beateth, slay he once, and laugh he not of the pains of innocent men.

24 The earth is given into the hands of the wicked; he covereth the faces of judges; that if he is not, who there-fore is?

25 My days were swifter than a courier; they fled away, and saw not good.

26 They passed away as [the] ships bearing apples, as an eagle flying to meat.

27 When I say, I shall not speak so; I change my face, and I am tormented with sorrow.

28 I dread all my works, witting that thou sparest not the trespasser.

29 And if I am also thus wicked, why have I travailed in vain?

30 Though I am washed as with waters of snow, and though mine hands shine as most clean,

31 nevertheless thou shalt dip me in filths, and my clothes shall hold, or show, me abominable.

32 Truly I shall not answer a man, that is like me; neither that may be heard evenly with me in doom.

33 There is none, that may reprove ever either, and set [or put] his hand in both.

34 Do he away his rod from me, and his dread make not me afeared.

35 I shall speak, and I shall not dread him; for I may not answer dreading.

CHAPTER 10

1 It annoyeth my soul of my life; I shall leave my speech against me, I shall speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I shall say to God, Do not thou condemn me; show thou to me, why thou deemest me so.

3 Whether it seemeth good to thee, if thou challengest me as false, and oppressest me, the work of thine hands; and if thou helpest the counsel of wicked men?

4 Whether fleshly eyes be to thee, either, as a man seeth, also thou shalt see?

5 Whether thy days be as the days of a man, and be thy years as man’s times;

6 that thou inquire about my wicked-ness, and ensearch my sin?

7 And thou, Lord, know, that I have done no wicked thing; since there is no man, that may deliver from thine hand?

8 Thine hands have made me, and have formed me all in compass; and thou hast cast me down suddenly.

9 Lord, I pray thee, have thou mind, that thou madest me as clay, and shalt bring me again into dust.

10 Whether thou hast not milked me as milk, and hast crudded or curdled me together as cheese?

11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh; and thou hast joined me together with bones and sinews.

12 Thou hast given life and mercy to me, and thy visiting hath kept my spirit.

13 And though thou coverest these things in thine heart, nevertheless I know, that thou hast mind of all these things.

14 And if when I did sin, thou spared-est me at an hour; why sufferest thou not me to be clean of my wickedness?

15 And if I was wicked, woe is to me; and if I was just [or rightwise], I shall not raise up mine head, that am full-filled with torment, and wretched-ness.

16 And if I raise up mine head for pride, thou shalt take me as a lioness; and thou turnest again, and tormentest me wonderfully.

17 Thou gatherest in store thy witnesses against me, and thou multipliest thine ire [or thy wrath], that is, vengeance, against me; and pains hold knighthood [or fight] in me.

18 Lord, why hast thou led me out of the womb? Why not had I erst been wasted, that an eye had not seen me.

19 That I had been, as if I were not, and were translated, either borne over, from the womb to the sepulchre.

20 Whether not the fewness of my days shall be ended in short time? Therefore suffer thou me, that I bewail a little my sorrow,

21 before that I go, and turn not again, to the dark land, and covered with the darkness of death,

22 to the land of wretchedness, and of darknesses; where is shadow of death, and none order, but everlasting hideousness dwelleth.

CHAPTER 11

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, and said,

2 Whether he, that speaketh many things, shall not also hear? either a man full of words shall be made just [or justified]?

3 Shall men be still to thee alone? and when thou hast scorned other men, shalt thou not be overcome of any man?

4 For thou saidest, My word is clean, and I am clean in thy sight.

5 And I would, that God spake with thee, and opened his lips to thee;

6 to show to thee the privates of wisdom, and that his law is manyfold, and thou shouldest then understand, that thou art required of God to pay much less things, than thy wickedness deserveth.

7 In hap thou shalt comprehend the steps of God, and thou shalt find Almighty God unto perfection.

8 He is higher than heaven, and what shalt thou do? he is deeper than hell, and whereof shalt thou know?

9 His measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

10 If he destroyeth all things, either driveth them straitly into one, who shall against-say him? Either who may say to him, Why doest thou so?

11 For he knoweth the vanity of men; and whether he seeing, beholdeth not wickedness?

12 A vain man is raised into pride; and he guesseth himself born free, as the colt of a wild ass.

13 But thou hast made steadfast thine heart, and hast spread abroad thine hands to him.

14 If thou doest away from thee the wickedness, that is in thine hand, and if unrightwiseness dwelleth not in thy tabernacle,

15 then thou shalt raise up thy face without wem, and thou shalt be steadfast, and thou shalt not dread.

16 And thou shalt forget thy wretched-ness, and thou shalt not think of it, as of waters that have passed by.

17 And as midday shining, it shall raise to thee at eventide; and when thou guessest thee to be wasted, thou shalt rise up as the day star.

18 And thou shalt have trust, while hope shall be set forth to thee; and thou buried shalt sleep securely.

19 Thou shalt rest, and none shall be that shall make thee afeared; and full many men shall beseech thy face.

20 But the eyes of wicked men shall fail; and succor shall perish from them, and the hope of them shall be abomination of soul.

CHAPTER 12

1 Soothly Job answered, and said,

2 And ye therefore be men alone, and wisdom dwell with you?

3 And to me is an heart, as and to you, and I am not lower than ye; for who knoweth not these things, which ye know?

4 He that is scorned of his friend, as I am, shall inwardly call God, and God shall hear him; for the simpleness of a just [or rightwise] man is scorned.

5 And a lamp is despised at the thoughts of rich men, the which lamp is made ready to a time ordained.

6 The tabernacles of robbers be plenteous [or abound], either full of goods; and boldly they stir God to wrath, when he hath given all things into their hands.

7 No wonder, ask thou [the] beasts, and they shall teach thee; and ask thou[the] birds of the air, and they shall show to thee.

8 Speak to the earth, and it shall answer thee; and the fishes of the sea shall tell those things.

9 Who knoweth not that the hand of the Lord made all these things?

10 In whose hand the soul is of each living thing, and the spirit of each flesh of man.

11 Whether the ear deemeth not words, and the cheeks of the eater deem savour, or the taste of meat?

12 Wisdom is in eld [or old] men, and prudence is in much time.

13 Wisdom and strength is with God; he hath counsel and understanding.

14 If he destroyeth, there is no man that buildeth; if he shutteth in a man, there is none that openeth.

15 If he holdeth altogether waters, all things shall be made dry; and if he sendeth out those waters, they shall destroy the earth.

16 Strength and wisdom is with God; he knoweth both him that deceiveth and him that is deceived.

17 And he bringeth counsellors into a fond [or foolish] end, and judges into wondering, either astonishing.

18 He unbindeth the girdle of kings, and girdeth their reins with a cord.

19 He leadeth their priests without glory, and he deceiveth the principal men;

20 and he changeth the lips of sooth-fast men, and taketh away the doctrine of eld [or old] men.

21 He sheddeth [or poureth] out despising on princes, and relieveth them, that were oppressed.

22 He showeth deep things from darknesses; and he bringeth forth into light the shadow of death.

23 He multiplieth folks, and he loseth them; and he restoreth them, when they be destroyed, into whole number.

24 He changeth the heart of [the] princes of the people of [the] earth; and deceiveth them, that they go in vain out of the way.

25 They shall grope, as in darknesses, and not in light; and he shall make them to err as drunken men.

CHAPTER 13

1 Lo! mine eye, saith Job, hath seen all things, and mine ear hath heard; and I understood all things.

2 Even with your knowing, also I know, and I am not lower than ye.

3 But nevertheless I shall speak to Almighty God, and I covet to dispute with God;

4 and first I show you makers of lies, and lovers or favourers of wayward teachings.

5 And I would, that ye were still, that ye were guessed to be wise men.

6 Therefore hear ye my chastisings; and perceive ye the doom of my lips.

7 Whether God hath need to your leasing, that ye speak guileful things [or treacheries] for him?

8 Whether ye take his face, and enforce or endeavour to deem for God?

9 Either it shall please him, from whom nothing may be hid? Whether he, as a man, shall be deceived by your falsenesses?

10 He shall reprove you; for ye take his face in huddles.

11 Anon as he shall stir or move him, he shall trouble you; and his dread shall fall upon you.

12 Your mind shall be comparisoned to ashes; and your nolls shall be driven down into clay.

13 Be ye still a little, that I speak, whatever thing my mind hath showed to me.

14 Why rend I my flesh with my teeth, and bear my life in mine hands?

15 Yea, though God slay me, I shall hope in him; nevertheless I shall prove my ways in his sight.

16 And he shall be my saviour; for why each hypocrite shall not come in his sight.

17 Hear ye my word, and perceive ye with [your] ears my dark and hard privy or hard figurative speeches.

18 If I shall be deemed, I know that I shall be found just [or rightwise].

19 Who is he that is deemed with me? Come he; why am I still, and am wasted?

20 Do thou not to me two things only; and then I shall not be hid from thy face.

21 Make thine hand far from me; and thy dread make not me afeared.

22 Call thou me, and I shall answer thee; either certainly I shall speak, and thou shalt answer me.

23 How great sins and wickednesses have I? Show thou to me my felonies, and my trespasses.

24 Why hidest thou thy face, and deemest me thine enemy?

25 Thou showest thy might against a leaf, that is ravished away with the wind; and thou pursuest dry stubble.

26 For thou writest bitternesses against me; and wilt waste me with the sins of my young waxing age.

27 Thou hast set [or put] my foot in a stock, and thou hast kept all my paths; and thou hast beheld the steps of my feet.

28 And I shall be wasted as rot, and as a cloth, that is eaten of a moth.

CHAPTER 14

1 A man is born of a woman, and liveth short time, and he is full-filled with many wretchednesses.

2 And he goeth out, and is defouled as a flower; and he fleeth away as a shadow, and dwelleth never perfectly in that same state.

3 And guessest thou worthy thing to open thine eyes upon such a man; and to bring him into doom with thee?

4 Who may make a man clean conceived of unclean seed? Whether not thou, Lord, that art alone?

5 The days of a man be short, and the number of his months be with thee; thou hast set, either ordained, his terms, which may not be passed.

6 Therefore go thou away from him a little, that he have rest; till his meed coveted come, and his day is as the day of an hired man.

7 A tree hath hope, if it is cut down; and again it waxeth green, and his branches spread forth.

8 If the root thereof is eld [or old] in the earth, and the stock thereof is nigh dead in dust;

9 it shall burgeon at the odour of water, and it shall make hair, that is, leaves and branches, or take root, as when it was planted first.

10 But when a man is dead, and made naked, and wasted; I pray, where is he?

11 As if waters go away from the sea, and as a river made void of waters wax dry,

12 so a man, when he hath slept, that is, died, he shall not rise again, till heaven be broken, or made new; he shall not wake, neither he shall rise altogether from his sleep.

13 Who giveth this to me, that thou defend me in hell, and that thou hide me, till thy great vengeance pass by; and that thou set to me a time, in which thou have mind on me?

14 Guessest thou, whether a dead man shall live again? Now in all the days, in which I hold knighthood, I abide, till my exchanging come.

15 Thou shalt call me, and I shall answer thee; thou shalt dress the right half, that is, bless, to the work of thine hands.

16 Soothly thou hast numbered my steps; but spare thou my sins.

17 Thou hast sealed as in a bag my trespasses, but thou hast cured my wickedness.

18 An hill falling droppeth down, and a rock of stone is borne over from his place.

19 Waters make stones hollow, and the earth is wasted little and little by washing away of water; and thou shalt lose men in like manner.

20 Thou madest a man strong a little, that he should pass by without end; thou shalt change his face, and shalt send him out.

21 Whether his sons be noble, either unnoble, he shall not understand.

22 Nevertheless his flesh, while he liveth, shall have sorrow, and his soul shall mourn upon himself.

CHAPTER 15

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answer-ed, and said,

2 Whether a wise man shall answer, as speaking against the wind, and shall fill his stomach with burning, that is ire?

3 For thou reprovest him by words, which is not like thee, and thou speakest that, that speedeth not to thee.

4 As much as is in thee, thou hast avoided dread; and thou hast taken away thy prayers before God.

5 For [thy] wickedness hath taught thy mouth, and thou pursuest [or followest] the tongue of blasphemers.

6 Thy tongue [or Thy mouth], and not I, shall condemn thee, and thy lips shall answer thee.

7 Whether thou art born the first man, and whether thou art formed before little hills?

8 Whether thou hast heard the counsel of God, and whether his wisdom is lower than thou?

9 What thing knowest thou, which we know not? What thing under-standest thou, which we know not?

10 Both wise men and eld, much elder than thy fathers, be among us.

11 Whether it is great, that God comfort thee? But thy shrewd words forbid this.

12 What raiseth thine heart thee, and thou as thinking great things hast eyes astonied?

13 What swelleth thy spirit against God, that thou bring forth of thy mouth such words?

14 What is a man, that he be without wem, and that he, born of a woman, appear just [or rightwise]?

15 Lo! none among his saints is unchangeable, and heavens be not clean in his sight.

16 How much more is a man abominable and unprofitable, that drinketh wickedness as water?

17 I shall show to thee, hear thou me; I shall tell to thee that, that I saw.

18 Wise men acknowledge, and hide not their fathers.

19 To which wise men alone the earth is given, and an alien shall not pass by them.

20 A wicked man is proud in all his days; and the number of his years and of his tyranny is uncertain.

21 The sound of dread is ever[more] in his ears, and when peace is, he supposeth ever[more] treasons.

22 He believeth not that he may turn again from darknesses to light; and he beholdeth about on each side for a sword.

23 When he stirreth him[self] to seek bread, he knoweth, that the day of darknesses is made ready in his hand.

24 Tribulation shall make him afeared, and anguish shall encompass him, as a king which is made ready to battle.

25 For he held forth his hand against God, and he was made strong against Almighty God.

26 He ran with his neck raised up against God, and he was armed with a fat noll.

27 Fatness, that is, pride of temporal abundance, covered his face, or understanding, and outward fatness, that is, unshamefastness, hangeth down of his sides. [Fatness covered his face, and of his sides grease hangeth.]

28 He shall dwell in desolate cities, and in deserted houses, that be turned into burials.

29 He shall not be made rich, neither his chattel shall dwell steadfastly; neither he shall send his root into the earth,

30 neither he shall go away from darknesses. Flame shall make dry his branches, and he shall be taken away by the spirit of his mouth.

31 Believe he not vainly which is deceived by error, that he shall be again-bought by any price.

32 Before that his days be [ful] filled, he shall perish, and his hands shall wax dry;

33 he shall be hurt as a vine in the first flower of his grape, and as an olive tree casting away his flower.

34 For the gathering together of an hypocrite is barren, and fire shall devour the tabernacles of them, that take gifts willfully.

35 He conceived sorrow, and childed wickedness, and his womb maketh ready treacheries.

CHAPTER 16

1 Forsooth Job answered, and said,

2 I have oft heard such things; all ye be heavy comforters.

3 Whether words full of wind shall have an end? either anything is dis-easeful to thee, if thou speakest?

4 Also I might speak things like to you, and I would, that your soul were for my soul; and I would comfort you by words, and I would move mine head on you;

5 I would make you strong by my mouth, and I would move my lips as sparing you.

6 But what shall I do? If I speak, my sorrow resteth not; and if I am still, it goeth not away from me.

7 But now my sorrow hath oppressed me, and all my limbs be driven into nought.

8 My rivellings say witnessing against me, and a false speaker is raised up against my face, and against-saith me.

9 He gathered together his strong vengeance in me, and he menaced [or threatened] me, and he gnashed against me with his teeth; mine enemy hath beheld me with fearedful eyes.

10 They opened their mouths upon me, and they said shame to me, and they smote my cheek; and they be filled with my pains.

11 God hath enclosed me altogether at [or with] the wicked, and hath given me into the hands of wicked men.

12 I, that rich man and famous sometime, am all-broken suddenly; he held my noll; he hath broken me, and hath set [or put] me as into a sign.

13 And he hath encompassed me with his spears, he hath wounded altogether my loins; he hath not spared me, and he hath shed out mine entrails into the earth.

14 He hath beaten me with wound upon wound; and he as a giant hath fallen in upon me.

15 I sewed together a sackcloth upon my skin; and I covered my flesh with ashes.

16 My face swelled of weeping, and mine eyelids waxed dark.

17 I suffered these things without wickedness of mine hand, or work, when I had clean prayers to God.

18 Earth, cover thou not my blood, and my cry find not in thee a place of hiding.

19 For, lo! my witness is in heaven; and the Knower of my conscience is in high places.

20 O! my friends, full of words; mine eye droppeth out tears to God.

21 And I would, that a man were deemed so with God, as the son of man is deemed with his fellow.

22 For lo! short years pass, and I go a path, by which I shall not turn again.

CHAPTER 17

1 My spirit shall be made feeble; my days shall be made short, and only the sepulchre is left to me.

2 I have not sinned, and mine eye dwelleth in bitternesses.

3 Lord, deliver thou me, and set [or put] me beside thee; and the hand of each man fight against me.

4 Thou hast made the heart of them far from doctrine, that is, from know-ing of truth; therefore they shall not be enhanced.

5 He promiseth prey to his fellows, and the eyes of his sons shall fail.

6 He hath set [or put me] as into a proverb of the common people, and his ensample before them.

7 Mine eye dimmed at [the] indig-nation; and my members be driven as into nought.

8 Just [or rightwise] men shall wonder on this thing; and an innocent shall be raised up against an hypocrite.

9 And a just [or rightwise] man shall hold his way, and he shall add strength to clean hands.

10 Therefore all ye be turned again, and come ye; and I shall not find in you any wise man.

11 My days be passed; my thoughts be scattered, tormenting mine heart.

12 Those [or they] have turned the night into day; and again after dark-nesses hope for light.

13 If I sustain, either suffer patiently, hell is mine house; and I have arrayed my bed in darknesses.

14 I said to rot, Thou art my father; and to worms, Ye be my mother, and my sister.

15 Therefore where is now mine abiding? and who beholdeth my patience?

16 All my things shall go down into [the] deepest hell; guessest thou, whether rest shall be to me, namely there.

CHAPTER 18

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, and said,

2 Unto what end shalt thou boast with words? Understand thou us first, and so speak we together.

3 Why be we areckoned as beasts, and why have we been foul before thee?

4 What or why losest thou thy soul in thy strong vengeance? Whether the earth shall be forsaken for thee, and hard stones shall be borne over from their place?

5 Whether the light of a wicked man shall not be quenched; and the flame of his fire shall not shine?

6 Light shall wax dark in his tabernacle; and the lantern, which is on him, shall be quenched.

7 The steps of his strength shall be made strait; and his counsel shall cast him down.

8 For he hath sent, or put, his feet into a net; and he goeth in the meshes, or knittings, thereof.

9 His foot shall be holden with a snare; and thirst shall burn out against him.

10 The foot-trap of him is hid in the earth, and his snare is laid on the path.

11 Dreads shall make him afeared on every side, and shall bewrap his feet.

12 His strength [shall] be made feeble by hunger; and poverty assail his ribs.

13 Devour it the fairness of his skin; the first engendered of death waste his arms.

14 His trust be taken away from his tabernacle; and perishing, as a king, above-tread on him.

15 The fellows of him that is not, that is, the fellows of a dead man, dwell in his tabernacle; and brimstone be sprinkled in his tabernacle.

16 The roots of him be made dry beneath; and be his ripe corn all-broken above.

17 His mind perish from the earth; and his name be not made solemn in streets.

18 He shall put him out from light into darknesses; and he shall bear him over from the world.

19 Neither his seed, neither his kin-dred, shall be in his people, neither any remnants of them left in his countries.

20 The last men shall wonder in his days; and hideousness shall assail the first men.

21 Therefore these be the tabernacles of a wicked man; and this is the place of him, that knoweth not God.

CHAPTER 19

1 Forsooth Job answered, and said,

2 How long torment ye my soul, and all-break me with words?

3 Lo! ten times ye have shamed me, and ye be not ashamed, oppressing me.

4 Forsooth and if I know not [or if I am uncunning], mine unknowing shall be with me.

5 And ye be raised against me, and reprove me with my shames.

6 Namely now understand ye, that God hath tormented me not by even doom, and hath encompassed me with his beatings.

7 Lo! I suffering violence shall cry, and no man shall hear me; I shall cry loud, and there is none that deemeth me worthy to be heard.

8 The Lord hath beset about my path, and I may not go; and he hath set darknesses in my way.

9 He hath spoiled me of my glory, and hath taken away the crown from mine head.

10 He hath destroyed me on each side, and I perished; and he hath taken away mine hope, as from a tree pulled up by the root.

11 His strong vengeance was wroth against me; and he had me so as his enemy.

12 His thieves came together, and made to them a way by me; and besieged my tabernacle in compass.

13 He made [a] far my brethren from me; and my known as aliens went away from me.

14 My neighbours have forsaken me; and they that knew me have forgotten me.

15 The tenants of mine house, and mine handmaids, had me as a stranger; and I was as a pilgrim before their eyes.

16 I called my servant, and he answered not to me; with mine own mouth I prayed him.

17 My wife loathed my breath; and I prayed the sons of my womb.

18 Also fools despised me; and when I was gone away from them, they backbited me.

19 They, that were my counsellors sometime, had abomination of me; and he, whom I loved most, was adversary to me.

20 When my fleshes were wasted, my bones cleaved to my skin; and only [the] lips be left about my teeth.

21 Have ye mercy on me, have ye mercy on me, namely, ye my friends; for the hand of the Lord hath touched me.

22 Why pursue ye me, as God pursueth; and ye be fulfilled with my fleshes?

23 Who giveth, or granteth, to me, that my words be written? Who giveth to me, that those [or they] be written in a book,

24 with an iron pointel, either with a piece of lead; either with a chisel those [or they] be engraved in a flint?

25 For I know, that mine again-buyer liveth, and in the last day I shall rise from the earth;

26 and again I shall be encompassed with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see God, my saviour.

27 Whom I myself shall see, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another man. This mine hope is kept in my bosom, that is, in mine heart.

28 Why therefore say ye now, Pursue we him, and find we the root of a word against him?

29 Therefore flee ye from the face of the sword; for the sword is the avenger of wickednesses, and know ye, that doom shall be.

CHAPTER 20

1 And then Zophar the Naamathite answered, and said,

2 Therefore my thoughts diverse come one after another; and the mind is ravished into diverse things.

3 I shall hear the teaching, by which thou reprovest me; and the spirit of mine understanding shall answer me.

4 I know this from the beginning, since man was set on [the] earth,

5 that the praising of wicked men is short, and the joy of an hypocrite is at the likeness of a point soon passing.

6 Though his pride go up into heaven, and his head toucheth the clouds,

7 he shall be lost in the end, as a dunghill; and, they that have seen him, shall say, Where is he?

8 As a dream flying away, or soon forgotten, he shall not be found; he shall pass as the sight of nights.

9 The eye that saw him shall not see him again; and his place shall no more behold him.

10 His sons shall be all-broken with neediness; and his hands shall yield to him his sorrow.

11 His bones shall be [full-]filled with the vices of his young waxing age; and they shall sleep with him in dust.

12 For when evil was sweet in his mouth, he hid it under his tongue.

13 He shall spare it, and shall not forsake it; and he shall hide it in his throat.

14 His bread in his womb shall be turned into the gall of snakes within him.

15 He shall vomit, or cast, out the riches which he hath devoured; and God shall draw those riches out of his womb.

16 He shall suck the gall of snakes; and the tongue of an adder shall slay him.

17 See he not the streams of the flood, of the strand [or stream] of honey, and of butter.

18 He shall suffer pains for all things which he hath done, nevertheless he shall not be wasted by those pains, but ever endure; and after the multitude of his findings, so shall he suffer.

19 For he brake, and made naked the house of the poor man; he ravished it, and builded it not.

20 And his womb was not yet[ful]-filled; and when he hath that, that he coveted, he may not hold it in possession.

21 There be left nothing of his meat; and therefore nothing shall dwell of his goods.

22 When he is full-filled with riches, yet he shall be made strait in covet-ousness; he shall burn in it, and all sorrow shall fall in upon him.

23 I would, that his womb be filled, that he send out into him the wrath of his strong vengeance, and rain his battle upon him.

24 He shall flee iron armours [or arms], and he shall fall into a brazen bow.

25 Which is led, or taken out of his sheath, or case, and this bow going out, and shining as lightning, shall smite him in bitterness; horrible fears shall go, and come upon him.

26 All darknesses be hid in his privates [or private things]; fire, which is not tended, shall devour him; he shall be tormented and left in his tabernacle.

27 Heavens shall show his wicked-ness; and earth shall rise up alto-gether against him.

28 The seed, or generation, of his house shall be open; it shall be drawn down in the day of the strong venge-ance of the Lord.

29 This is the part of a wicked man, which is given to him of God, and the heritage of his words is also of the Lord.

CHAPTER 21

1 Forsooth Job answered, and said,

2 I pray you, hear ye my words, and do ye penance.

3 Suffer ye me, that I speak; and laugh ye after my words, if it shall seem to you worthy to do so.

4 Whether my disputing is against man, that skillfully I owe not to be [made] sorry?

5 Perceive ye me, and be ye astonied; and set ye [or putteth] your finger upon your mouth.

6 And when I bethink me, I dread, and trembling shaketh my flesh.

7 Why therefore live wicked men? They be enhanced, and comforteth with riches.

8 Their seed dwelleth before them; the company of their kinsmen, and of the sons of their sons, dwelleth in their sight.

9 Their houses be secure, and peace-able; and the rod, or scourge, of God is not upon them.

10 The cow of them conceived, and calved not a dead calf; the cow calved, and is not deprived of her calf.

11 Their little children go out as flocks; and their young children full out joy with playings.

12 They hold the tympan, and harp; and they joy at the sound of the organ.

13 They lead in goods their days; and in a point, they go down to hells, that is, to burials, or the grave.

14 Which men said to God, Go thou away from us; we desire not the knowing of thy ways.

15 Who is Almighty God, that we serve him? and what profiteth it to us, if we pray him?

16 Nevertheless for their goods be not in their hand, or power, the counsel of wicked men be far from me.

17 How oft shall the lantern of wicked men be quenched, and flowing shall come upon them, and God shall part with them the sorrows of his strong vengeance?

18 They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind; and as a dead spark, that the whirlwind scattereth abroad.

19 Ye say, God shall keep the sorrow of the father to his sons; and when he hath yielded to them vengeance, then he shall know it.

20 His eyes shall see their slaying; and he shall drink of the strong vengeance of Almighty God.

21 For why what pertaineth it to him of his house after him, though the number of his months be half taken away?

22 Whether any man shall teach God knowing, which deemeth them that be on high?

23 This evil man dieth strong and whole, rich and blessful to the world.

24 His entrails be full of fatness; and his bones be moisted with marrow.

25 And another man dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and without any riches.

26 Nevertheless they shall sleep together in dust, and worms shall cover them.

27 Certainly I know your wicked thoughts, and your sentences against me.

28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where be the taber-nacles of wicked men?

29 Ask ye this of each way-goer; and ye shall know, that he knoweth these same things,

30 that is, that an evil man shall be kept into the day of perdition, and he shall be led to the day of strong vengeance.

31 Who shall reprove his ways before him? and who shall yield to him for those things, which he hath done?

32 He shall be led to the sepulchres; and he shall wake in the heap of dead men.

33 He was sweet to the stones, either filths, of hell; and he draweth each man after him, and unnumber-able men went before him.

34 How therefore comfort ye me in vain, since your answers be showed to contrary the truth?

CHAPTER 22

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answer-ed, and said,

2 Whether a man, yea, when he is of perfect knowing, may be compar-isoned to God?

3 What profiteth it to God, if thou art just [or rightwise]? either what shalt thou give to him, if thy life is without wem?

4 Whether he shall dread, and shall he reprove thee, and shall he come with thee into doom,

5 and not for thy full much malice, and thy wickednesses without number, these pains have fallen justly to thee?

6 For thou hast taken away without cause the wed of thy brethren; and hast spoiled naked men of clothes.

7 Thou gavest not water to the faint man; and thou withdrewest bread from the hungry man.

8 In the strength of thine arm, thou haddest the land in possession; and thou, most mighty, heldest it.

9 Thou lettest widows go away void, or unhelped; and all-brakest the shoulders of fatherless children.

10 Therefore thou art now encom-passed with snares; and sudden dread troubleth thee.

11 And thou guessedest, that thou shouldest not see darknesses; and that thou shouldest not be oppressed with the fierceness of waters flowing.

12 Whether thou thinkest not, that God is higher than heaven, and is enhanced above the top of stars?

13 And yet thou sayest, What soothly knoweth God? and, He deemeth as by darkness.

14 A cloud is his hiding place, and he beholdeth not our things, and he goeth about the hinges of heaven, that is, the principal parts of heaven.

15 Whether thou covetest to keep to the path of world’s, that is, the life of men living worldly and dissolutely, which wicked men have oft gone?

16 Which were taken away before their time, and the flood destroyed the foundament of them.

17 Which said to God, Go thou away from us; and as if Almighty God may do nothing, they guessed him,

18 when he had filled their houses with goods; the sentence of which men be far from me.

19 Just [or Rightwise] men shall see, and shall be glad; and an innocent man shall scorn them.

20 Whether the up-raising of them is not cut down, and fire shall devour the remnants of them?

21 Therefore assent thou to God, and have thou peace; and by these things thou shalt have best fruits.

22 Take thou the law of his mouth, and set [or put] thou his words in thine heart.

23 If thou turnest again to Almighty God, thou shalt be builded [up]; and thou shalt make wickedness far from thy tabernacle.

24 He shall give a flint for earth, and golden strands [or streams] for a flint.

25 And Almighty God shall be against thine enemies; and silver shall be gathered together to thee.

26 Then on Almighty God thou shalt flow with delights; and thou shalt raise up thy face to God.

27 Thou shalt pray him, and he shall hear thee; and thou shalt yield thy vows.

28 Thou shalt deem a thing, and it shall come to thee; and light shall shine in thy ways.

29 For he that is meeked shall be in glory; and he that boweth down his eyes, shall be saved.

30 An innocent shall be saved; soothly he shall be saved in the cleanness of his hands.

CHAPTER 23

1 And Job answered, and said,

2 Now also my word is in bitter-ness, and the hand of my wound is aggrieved on my wailing.

3 Who giveth to me, that I know, and find him, and come unto his throne?

4 I shall set doom before him, and I shall fill my mouth with arguments;

5 that I know the words, which he shall answer to me, and that I under-stand, what he shall speak to me.

6 I will or desire not, that he strive with me by great strength, neither that he oppress me with the heaviness of his greatness.

7 Set he forth equity against me, and my doom come perfectly to victory.

8 If I go to the east, God appeareth not there; if I go to the west, I shall not understand him;

9 if I go to the left side, what shall I do? I shall not take him; if I turn me to the right side, I shall not see him.

10 But he knoweth my way, and he shall prove me as gold, that passeth through the fire.

11 My foot pursued [or followed] his steps; I kept to his way, and I bowed not away from it.

12 I went not away from the commandments of his lips; and I hid in my bosom the words of his mouth.

13 For he is alone, and no man may turn away his thoughts; and whatever thing he would, his will did this thing.

14 When he hath [ful] filled his will in me, also many other like things be ready to him.

15 And therefore I am troubled of his face, and I beholding him am anguished for dread.

16 God hath made nesh mine heart, and Almighty God hath troubled me.

17 Certainly I perished not for dark-nesses nighing to me; neither mist covered my face.

CHAPTER 24

1 Times be not hid from Almighty God; soothly they that know him, know not his days.

2 Other men have turned over the terms, or the boundary stones, of neighbours, they have taken away their flocks, and fed themselves.

3 They have driven away the ass of fatherless children, and they took away the cow of a widow for a wed.

4 They destroyed the way of poor men, and they oppressed together the mild men of [the] earth.

5 Other men as wild asses in desert go out to their work; and they wake to take prey, and before make ready bread to their children.

6 They cut down a field not theirs, and they gather [the] grapes of his vinery, whom they have oppressed by violence.

7 They leave men naked, and take away their clothes, to the which men there is no covering in cold;

8 which men the rains of mountains wet, and they have no covering, and they embrace stones.

9 They did violence, and robbed fatherless and motherless children; and they spoiled, either robbed, the community of poor men.

10 They took away ears of corn from naked men, and going without cloth, and from hungry men.

11 They were hid in midday among the heaps of those men, that thirst, when the presses of grapes be trodden.

12 They made men of cities to wail, and the souls of wounded men shall cry; and God suffereth it not to go away unpunished.

13 They were rebel to light; they knew not the ways thereof, neither they turned again by the paths thereof.

14 A manslayer riseth full early, and slayeth a needy man, and a poor man; and by night he shall be as a night thief.

15 The eye of [the] adulterer keepeth darkness, and saith, An eye shall not see me; and he shall cover his face.

16 They undermine houses in dark-nesses, as they said together to them-selves in the day; and they knew not light.

17 If the morrowtide appeareth suddenly, they deem it the shadow of death; and so they go in darknesses, as in light.

18 He is unstabler than the face of the water; his part in [the] earth be cursed, and go he not by the way of vineries [or vines].

19 Pass he to a full great heat from the waters of snows, and the sin of him till to hells [or hell].

20 Mercy forget him; his sweetness be for a worm; be he not in mind, but be he all-broken as an unfruitful tree.

21 For he fed on the barren, and her that childeth not, and he did not well to the widow.

22 He drew down strong men in his strength; and when he standeth in great state or prosperity, he shall not believe to his life.

23 God gave to him a place of penance, and he misuseth that into pride; soothly the eyes of God be beholding in the ways of that man.

24 They be raised up at a little while, and they shall not stand; and they shall be made low as all vile things, and they shall be taken away; and as the highnesses of ears of corn they shall be all-broken.

25 That if it is not so, who may reprove me, that I lied, and have put forth follily my words before God?

CHAPTER 25

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, and said,

2 Power and dread is with him, that is, God, which maketh according in his high things.

3 Whether there is a number of his knights? and upon whom shineth not his light?

4 Whether a man comparisoned to God may be justified, either a man born of a woman may appear clean?

5 Lo! also the moon shineth not, and [the] stars be not clean in his sight;

6 how much more man, that is rot, and the son of a man, that is a worm, is unclean in comparison to God.

CHAPTER 26

1 Forsooth Job answered, and said,

2 Whose helper art thou? whether of the feeble, and sustainest the arm of him, which is not strong?

3 To whom hast thou given counsel? In hap to him that hath not wisdom; and thou hast showed full much prudence.

4 Either whom wouldest thou teach? whether not him, that made breathing?

5 Lo! giants wail under waters, and they that dwell with them.

6 Hell is naked before him, and no covering is to perdition.

7 The which God stretcheth forth the north upon void thing, and he hangeth the earth upon nought.

8 And he bindeth waters in their clouds, that those [or they] break not out altogether downward.

9 He holdeth the cheer of his seat, and spreadeth abroad thereon his cloud.

10 He hath encompassed a term, or an end, to waters, till that light and darkness be ended.

11 The pillars of heaven tremble, and dread at his will.

12 In the strength of him the seas were gathered together suddenly, and his prudence smote the proud.

13 His spirit hath adorned heavens, and the crooked serpent was led out by his hand, leading him out as a midwife leadeth out a child.

14 Lo! these things be said in part of his ways; and when we have heard scarcely a little drop of his word, who may see the thunder of his greatness?

CHAPTER 27

1 Also Job added, taking his parable, and said,

2 God liveth, that hath taken away my doom, and Almighty God, that hath brought my soul to bitterness.

3 For as long as breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

4 my lips shall not speak wicked-ness, neither my tongue shall think a leasing.

5 Far be it from me, that I deem you just [or rightwise]; till I fail, that is, as long as I live, I shall not go away from mine innocence.

6 I shall not forsake my justifying, which I began to hold; for mine heart reproveth me not in all my life.

7 As my wicked enemy doeth; mine adversary is as wicked.

8 For what is the hope of an hypocrite, if he ravisheth greedily, and God delivereth not his soul?

9 Whether God shall hear the cry of him, when anguish shall come upon him?

10 either whether he may delight in Almighty God, and inwardly call God in all time?

11 I shall teach you by the hand of God, what things Almighty God hath; and I shall not hide them.

12 Lo! all ye know, and what then speak ye vain things without cause?

13 This is the part of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of violent men, or raveners, which they shall take of Almighty God.

14 If his children be multiplied, they shall be killed with sword; and his sons shall not be [ful] filled with bread.

15 They, that be residue of him, shall be buried in perishing; and the widows of him shall not weep.

16 If he gathereth together silver as earth, and maketh ready clothes as clay;

17 soothly he made these things ready, but a just [or rightwise] man shall be clothed in those things, and an innocent man shall part the silver.

18 As a moth he hath builded his house, and as a keeper he made a shadowing place.

19 A rich man, when he shall die, shall bear nothing with him; he shall open his eyes, and he shall find nothing.

20 Poverty as water shall take him; and tempest shall oppress him in the night.

21 Burning wind shall take him, and it shall do him away; and as a whirl-wind it shall ravish him from his place.

22 The Lord shall send out torments upon him, and shall not spare; he fleeing shall flee from his hand.

23 He shall constrain his hands on him, and he shall hiss on him, and shall behold his place.

CHAPTER 28

1 Silver hath [the] beginning of his veins; and a place is to gold, in which it is welled together.

2 Iron is taken from the earth, and a stone dissolved, or melted, by heat, is turned into money.

3 God hath set time to darknesses, and he beholdeth the end of all things. Also a strand [or stream] parteth a stone of darkness, and the shadow of death,

4 from the people going in pilgrim-age; it parteth those hills, which the foot of a needy man forgat, and hills without a way.

5 The earth, whereof bread came forth in his place, is destroyed by fire.

6 The place of a sapphire be the stones thereof, and the clots thereof be gold.

7 A bird knew not the way, and the eye of a vulture beheld it not.

8 The sons of merchants trode not upon that way, and a lioness passed not thereby.

9 God stretched forth his hand to a flint; he destroyed [the] hills from the roots thereof.

10 He hewed down rivers in stones; and his eye saw all precious thing/s.

11 And he sought out the depths or deepness of floods; and he brought forth hid things into light.

12 But where is wisdom found, and which is the place of understanding?

13 Man knoweth not the price there-of, neither it is found in the land of men living delicately.

14 The depth of waters saith, It is not in me; and the sea speaketh, It is not with me.

15 Gold full clean shall not be given for wisdom, neither silver shall be weighed in the exchanging thereof.

16 It shall not be comparisoned to the dyed colours of India, nor to the most precious stone sardius, neither to the sapphire.

17 Neither gold, neither glass shall be made even worth thereto; and high and far appearing vessels of gold shall not be exchanged for wisdom,

18 neither they shall be had in mind in comparison thereof. Forsooth wisdom is drawn out of privy things;

19 topaz of Ethiopia shall not be made even worth to wisdom, and most precious dyeings shall not be set together in price, or comparisoned, thereto.

20 Therefore whereof cometh wisdom, and which is the place of understanding?

21 It is hid from the eyes of all living men; and also it is hid from the birds of heaven, or of the air.

22 Perdition and death said, With our ears we have heard the fame of wisdom.

23 God understandeth the way there-of, and he knoweth the place thereof.

24 For he beholdeth the ends of the world, and beholdeth all things that be under heaven.

25 He hath made weight to winds, and he hath weighed waters in measure.

26 When he set law to rain, and way to tempests sounding;

27 then he saw wisdom, and told it out, and he made it ready, and sought it out.

28 And he said to man, Lo! the dread of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to go away from evil, is understanding.

CHAPTER 29

1 Also Job added, taking his parable, and said,

2 Who giveth to me, that I be beside the eld months, by the days in which God kept me?

3 When his lantern shined on mine head, and I went in darknesses at his light.

4 As I was in the days of my youth, when in private God was in my tabernacle.

5 When Almighty God was with me, and my children were in my compass;

6 when I washed my feet in [or with] butter, and the stone shedded [or poured] out to me the streams [or rivers] of oil;

7 when I went forth to the gate of the city, and in the street they made ready a chair to me.

8 Young wanton men saw me, and were hid, and eld [or old] men rising up stood;

9 princes ceased to speak, and they putted their finger on their mouth;

10 dukes refrained their voice, and their tongue cleaved to their throat.

11 The ear that heard me, blessed me, and the eye that saw me, yielded witnessing to me;

12 for I delivered the poor man crying [out], and the fatherless child, that had no helper.

13 The blessing of a man ready to perish came on me, and I comforted the heart of the widow.

14 I was clothed with rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and I clothed me as with a cloth, and with my doom a diadem.

15 I was eye to a blind man, and foot to a crooked man.

16 I was a father of poor men; and I inquired most diligently the cause, which I knew not.

17 I all-brake the great teeth of the wicked man, and I took away the prey from his teeth.

18 And I said, I shall die in my nest; and as a palm tree I shall multiply my days.

19 My root is opened beside waters, and dew shall dwell in my reaping.

20 My glory shall ever[more] be renewed, and my bow shall be restored in mine hand.

21 They, that heard me, abided my sentence; and they were attentive, or taking heed to me, and they were still at my counsel.

22 They durst nothing add to my words; and my speech dropped upon them.

23 They abided me as rain; and they opened their mouth as to the soft rain coming late.

24 If any time I laughed to them, they believed not; and the light of my cheer, that is, the gladness of my face, felled not down into the earth.

25 If I would go to them, I sat the first; and when I sat as [a] king, while the host stood about, nevertheless I was [the] comforter of them that mourned.

CHAPTER 30

1 But now younger men in time scorn me, whose fathers I deigned not* to set with the dogs of my flock.

2 Of which men the strength of their hands was for nought to me, and they were guessed unworthy to that life.

3 They were barren for neediness and hunger; they gnawed in wilder-ness, and were pale for poverty and wretchedness;

4 and they ate herbs, and the rinds of trees; and the root of junipers was their meat.

5 The which men ravished these things from great valleys; and when they had found any of all these things, they ran with a cry to them.

6 They dwelled in deserts of strands [or streams], and in caves of [the] earth, either on gravel.

7 Which were glad among such things, and they areckoned as delights to be under bushes.

8 These were the sons of fools, and of unnoble men, and utterly appearing not on [the] earth.

9 But now I am turned into the song of them, and I am made a proverb to them.

10 They hold me abominable, and they flee far from me, and dread not to spit on my face.

11 For God hath opened his arrow case, and he hath tormented me, and he hath put a bridle into my mouth.

12 At the right side of the east my wretchednesses have risen up anon; they turned upside down my feet, and they oppressed me with their paths as with floods.

13 They destroyed my ways; they setted treason to me, and they had the mastery; and there was none that helped me.

14 They felled in upon me as by a broken wall, and by gate opened, and were stretched forth to my wretched-nesses.

15 I am driven into nought; he took away my desire as [the] wind, and mine help passed away as a cloud.

16 But now my soul fadeth in myself, and [the] days of torment hold me steadfastly.

17 In [the] night my bone is pierced with sorrows; and they, that eat me, sleep not.

18 In the multitude of those [or them] my cloth is wasted, and they have girded me as with the collar of a coat.

19 I am comparisoned to clay, and I am made like to a dead spark and ashes.

20 I shall cry to thee, and thou shalt not hear me; I stand, and thou behold-est not me.

21 Thou art changed into cruel to me, and in the hardness of thine hand thou art adversary to me.

22 Thou hast raised me, and hast set me as on wind; and hast hurtled me down strongly.

23 I know, that thou shalt betake me to death, where an house is ordained to each living man.

24 Nevertheless thou sendest not out thine hand to the wasting of them; and if they fall down, thou shalt save them.

25 I wept sometime on him that was tormented, and my soul had compas-sion on a poor man.

26 I abode goods, and evils be come to me; I abode light, and darknesses brake out.

27 Mine inner things boiled out with-out my rest; and [the] days of torment came before me.

28 I went mourning, and I rose up without strong vengeance in the company, and I cried.

29 I was the brother of dragons, and the fellow of ostriches.

30 My skin was made black upon me, and my bones dried for heat.

31 Mine harp is turned into mourning, and mine organ into the voice of weepers.

CHAPTER 31

1 I made [a] covenant with mine eyes, that I should not think on a virgin.

2 For what part should God above have in me, and what heritage should Almighty God of high things have in me?

3 Whether perdition is not to a wicked man, and alienation of God is to men working wickedness?

4 Whether he beholdeth not my ways, and numbereth all my goings?

5 If I have gone in vanity, and my foot hath hasted to go in guile [or treachery],

6 God weigh me in a just balance, and know he my simpleness.

7 If my steps have bowed from the way; and if mine eyes have pursued [or followed] mine heart, consenting to lust, and if a spot have cleaved to mine hands;

8 sow I, and another eat, and my generation be drawn out by the root.

9 And if mine heart was deceived on a woman, and if I have set ambush at the door of my friend;

10 my wife be then the whore of another man, and other men be bowed down upon her.

11 For this is unleaveful, and the most wickedness.

12 Fire is devouring till to wasting, and drawing up by the root all generations.

13 If I despised to take doom with my servant and with mine handmaid, when they strived against me.

14 What soothly shall I do, when God shall rise up to deem? and when he shall ask, what shall I answer to him?

15 Whether he, that wrought also him, made not me in the womb, and one God formed me in the womb?

16 If I denied to poor men that, that they would, and if I made the eyes of a widow to abide;

17 if I alone ate my morsel, and a fatherless child ate not thereof;

18 for merciful doing increased with me, from my young childhood, and it went out of my mother’s womb with me;

19 if I despised a man passing forth by me, for he had not a cloth, and a poor man without covering;

20 if his sides blessed not me, and were not made hot of the fleece of my sheep;

21 if I raised up mine hand upon a fatherless child, yea, when I saw me the higher in the gate;

22 my shoulder fall from his joint, and mine arm with his bones be all-broken.

23 For ever[more] I dreaded God, as waves waxing great upon me; and I might not bear his burden.

24 If I guessed gold my strength, and I said to pured gold, Thou art my trust;

25 if I was glad on my many riches, and for mine hand found full many things;

26 if I saw the sun, when it shined, and the moon going clearly;

27 and if mine heart was glad in private, and if I kissed mine hand with my mouth;

28 the which is the most wickedness, and denying against the highest God;

29 if I had joy at the falling of him, that hated me, and if I joyed fully [or full out joyed], that evil had found him;

30 for I gave not my throat to do sin, that I should assail and curse his soul;

31 if the men of my tabernacle said not, Who giveth, that we be [ful] filled of his fleshes?

32 a pilgrim dwelled not withoutforth; my door was open to a way-goer or a way-faring man;

33 if I as [a] man hid my sin, and covered my wickedness in my bosom;

34 if I dreaded at [the] full great multitude, and if despising of neigh-bours made me afeared; and not more, I was still, and went not out of the door;

35 who giveth then an helper to me, that Almighty God hear my desire? that he that deemeth, write a book,

36 that I bear it on my shoulder, and encompass it as a crown to me?

37 By all my degrees I shall pronounce it, and I shall as offering offer it to the prince.

38 If my land crieth against me, and his furrows weep with it;

39 if I ate fruits thereof without money, and I tormented the soul of earth-tillers of it;

40 a briar grow to me for wheat, and a thorn for barley.

CHAPTER 32

1 Forsooth these three men left off to answer Job, for he seemed a just [or rightwise] man to them.

2 And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram, was wroth, and had indignation; and he was wroth against Job, for he said himself to be just before God.

3 And also Elihu had indignation against the three friends of Job, for they had found no reasonable answer, but only had condemned Job.

4 Therefore Elihu abode Job speak-ing, for they, that spake, were elder men.

5 But when he had seen, that these three men might not answer Job, he was wroth greatly.

6 And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered, and said, I am younger in time, and ye be elder; therefore with head holden down, I dreaded to show to you my sentence.

7 For I hoped that [the] longer age should speak, and that the multitude of years should teach wisdom.

8 But as I see now, a spirit is in men, and the inspiration, either revelation, of Almighty God giveth understanding.

9 Men of long life be not always wise, and eld [or old] men understand not doom.

10 Therefore I shall say, Hear ye me, and I also shall show my knowing to you.

11 For I abode your words, I heard your prudence, as long as ye disputed in your words.

12 And as long as I guessed you to say anything, I beheld; but as I perceive, there is none of you, that may reprove Job, and answer to his words;

13 lest peradventure ye say, We have found wisdom; God, and not man, hath cast him away.

14 Job spake nothing to me, and I not by your words shall answer him.

15 They [much] dreaded, and answer-ed no more, and took away speech from themselves.

16 Therefore since I abode, and they spake not, they stood, and answered no more;

17 also I shall answer my part, and I shall show my knowing.

18 For I am full of words, and the spirit of my womb, that is, my mind, constraineth me.

19 Lo! my womb is as must without a spigot or faucet, either a venting, that bursteth new vessels.

20 I shall speak, and breathe again a little; I shall open my lips, and I shall answer.

21 I shall not take the person of a man, and I shall not make God even to man.

22 For I know not how long I shall abide alive, and if my Maker will take me away after a little time.

CHAPTER 33

1 Therefore, Job, hear thou my speeches, and hearken to all my words.

2 Lo! I have opened my mouth, my tongue shall speak in my cheeks.

3 Of simple heart be my words, and my lips shall speak clean sentence.

4 The spirit of God made me, and the breathing of Almighty God quick-ened me.

5 If thou mayest, answer thou to me, and stand thou against my face.

6 Lo! God made me as and thee; and also I am formed of the same clay.

7 Nevertheless my miracle, that is, knowing given of God, either by miracle, to me, make thee not afeared, and mine eloquence be not grievous to thee.

8 Thou saidest in mine hearing, and I heard the voice of thy words,

9 I am clean, and without guilt, and unwemmed, and wickedness is not in me.

10 For God found quarrels in me, therefore he deemed me enemy to himself.

11 He hath set [or put] my feet in a stock; he kept all my paths.

12 Therefore this thing it is, in which thou art not made just; I shall answer to thee, that God is more than man.

13 Thou, Job, strivest against God, that not at all thy words [he] answered to thee.

14 God speaketh once, and the second time he rehearseth not the same thing.

15 God speaketh by a dream in the vision of night, when sleep falleth on men, and when they sleep in their bed.

16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and he teacheth them, and teacheth prudence or discipline;

17 that he turn away a man from these things which he made, and deliver him from pride;

18 and that he deliver his soul from corruption, and his life, that it go not into sword.

19 Also God blameth a man by sorrow in his bed, and he maketh all the bones of him for to wax rotten.

20 Bread is made abominable to him in his life, and the meat, that before was to him desirable, loathed to his soul after.

21 His flesh shall fail for rot, and his bones, that were covered, shall be made naked.

22 His soul shall nigh to corruption, and his life to things bringing death.

23 If an angel, one of a thousand, is speaking for him, that he show the equity of man,

24 God shall have mercy on him, and shall say, Deliver thou him, that he go not down into corruption; I have found in what thing I shall do mercy to him.

25 His flesh is wasted with torments; turn he again to the days of his young waxing age.

26 He shall beseech God, and he shall be quemeful to him; and he shall see his face in perfect joy, and he shall yield to man his rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

27 He shall behold men, and he shall say, I have sinned, and verily I have trespassed; and I have not received, as I was worthy.

28 Forsooth he hath delivered his soul, that it should not go into perish-ing, but that he living should see light.

29 Lo! God worketh all these things in three times by all men;

30 that he again-call their souls from corruption, and enlighten them in the light of living men.

31 Job, take heed, and hear thou me, and be thou still, while I speak.

32 But if thou hast ready what thou shalt speak, answer thou to me, speak; for I will or desire, that thou appear just.

33 That if thou hast not, hear thou me; be thou still, and I shall teach thee wisdom.

CHAPTER 34

1 And Elihu pronounced, and spake also these things,

2 Wise men, hear ye my words, and learned men, hearken ye to me;

3 for the ear proveth words, and the throat deemeth meat by taste.

4 Choose we doom to us; and see we among us, what is the better.

5 For Job said, I am just [or rightwise], and God hath turned my justness [or doom] upside-down.

6 For why leasing is in deeming me, and mine arrow is violent with-out any sin.

7 Who is a man, as Job is, that drinketh scorning as water?

8 that goeth with men working wick-edness, and goeth with unfaithful men?

9 For he said, A man shall not please God, yea, though he run with God.

10 Therefore ye wise men, that is, ye with understanding, hear ye me; un-piety, either cruelty, be far from God, and wickedness from Almighty God.

11 For he shall yield after the work of a man to him; and by the ways of each man he shall restore to him.

12 For verily God shall not condemn without cause; neither Almighty God shall destroy doom.

13 What other man hath he ordained upon earth? either whom hath he set [or put] upon the world, that he hath made?

14 If God dresseth his heart to him, he shall draw to himself his spirit and blast or breath.

15 Each flesh shall fail together in dying; and a man shall turn again into ashes.

16 Therefore if thou hast understand-ing, hear thou that that is said, and hearken to the voice of my speech.

17 Whether he that loveth not doom may be made whole? and how then condemnest thou so much him, that is just [or rightwise]?

18 He it is that saith to a king, Thou art apostate, either breaker of religion, when he keepeth not rightfulness and the common good; which calleth the dukes unpious, either unfaithful.

19 He accepteth not the persons of princes, neither he knoweth a tyrant to spare him, when he striveth against a poor man; for all men be the work of his hands.

20 They shall die suddenly, and at midnight peoples shall be troubled; and shall pass away, and shall take away a violent man without hand.

21 For the eyes of God be on the ways of men, and he beholdeth all the goings of them.

22 No darknesses be, neither no shadow of death is, that they, that work wickedness, be hid there;

23 for it is no more in the power of man, that he come to God into doom.

24 God shall all-break many men and unnumberable; and shall make other men to stand for them.

25 For he knoweth the works of them; [and] therefore he shall bring in night upon them, and they shall be all-broken.

26 He smote them, as unpious men, in the place of seeing men.

27 Which went away from him by casting afore or by forecasting, and would not understand all his ways.

28 That they should make the cry of a needy man to come to him, and that he should hear the voice of poor men.

29 For when he granteth peace, who is it that condemneth him? And since he hideth his cheer, who is that seeth him? And on folks, and on all men, he hath power to do such things.

30 Which maketh a man, hypocrite, to reign, for the sins of the people.

31 Therefore for I have spoken to God, I shall not forbid thee to speak.

32 If I have erred, teach thou me; if I have spoken wickedness, I shall no more add to.

33 Whether God asketh that wickedness of thee, for it displeased thee? For thou hast begun to speak, and not I; that if thou knowest anything better, speak thou that.

34 Men of understanding, speak to me; and a wise man, hear me.

35 Forsooth Job hath spoken follily, and his words sound not like teaching.

36 My father God, be Job proved unto the end; cease thou not from the man of wickedness,

37 that addeth blasphemy over his sins. Be he constrained among us in the meantime; and then by his words stir he God to the doom.

CHAPTER 35

1 Therefore Elihu spake again, these things,

2 Whether thy thought seemeth even, either rightful, to thee, that thou should-est say, I am right-fuller [or more right-wise] than God?

3 For thou saidest, That, that is good, pleaseth not thee; either what profit-eth it to thee, if I do sin?

4 Therefore I shall answer to thy words, and to thy friends with thee.

5 See thou, and behold heaven, and behold thou the air, and know that God is higher than thou. [Behold heaven, and look, and mindfully see the clouds, that is higher than thou.]

6 If thou sinnest, what shalt thou annoy him? and if thy wickednesses be multiplied, what shalt thou do against him?

7 Certainly if thou doest justly [or rightwisely], what shalt thou give to him; either what shall he take of thine hand?

8 Thy wickedness shall annoy a man, which is like thee; and thy right-wiseness shall help the son of a man.

9 Men shall cry for the multitude of false challengers, and they shall wail for the violence of the power of tyrants.

10 And Job said not, Where is God, that made me, and that gave songs in the night?

11 And the which teacheth us above the beasts of [the] earth, and he shall teach us above the birds of heaven.

12 There they shall cry, and God shall not hear them, for the pride of evil men.

13 For God shall not hear without cause, and Almighty God shall behold the causes of each man.

14 Yea, when thou sayest, He behold-eth not; be thou deemed before him, and abide thou him.

15 For now the Lord bringeth not in his strong vengeance, neither he avengeth felonies greatly here.

16 Therefore Job openeth his mouth in vain, and multiplieth words without knowing.

CHAPTER 36

1 Also Elihu added, and spake these things,

2 Suffer thou me a little, and I shall show to thee; for yet I have that, that I shall speak for God.

3 I shall rehearse my knowing from the beginning; and I shall prove my worker just [or rightwise].

4 For verily my words be without leasing, and by them perfect knowing shall be proved to thee.

5 God casteth not away mighty men, since he is mighty;

6 but he saveth not wicked men, and he giveth doom to poor men.

7 He taketh not away his eyes from a just [or rightwise] man; and he setteth kings in their seat without end, and they be raised up there.

8 And if they be in chains, and be bound with the ropes of poverty,

9 he shall show to them their works, and their great trespasses; for they were violent, either raveners.

10 Also he shall open their ears, that he chastise them; and he shall speak to them, that they turn again from their wickedness.

11 If they hear him, and keep his behests, they shall full-fill their days in good, and their years in glory.

12 Soothly if they hear not, they shall pass away by sword, and they shall be wasted in folly.

13 Feigners and false men stir the wrath of God; and they shall not cry to God, and acknowledge their guilt, when they be bound.

14 The soul of them shall die in tempest; and the life of them among womanish men.

15 He shall deliver a poor man from his anguish; and he shall open his ear in tribulation.

16 Therefore he shall save thee from the strait mouth of the broadest tribulation, and not having a founda-ment under it; and the rest of thy table shall be full of fatness.

17 Thy cause is deemed as the cause of a wicked man; and thou shalt receive thy cause and thy doom.

18 Therefore wrath overcome thee not, that thou oppress any man; and the multitude of gifts bow thee not.

19 Put down thy greatness without tribulation, and put down all strong men by strength.

20 Delay thou not the night, that peoples go up for them.

21 Be thou ware, that thou bow not to wickedness; for thou hast begun to follow this wickedness after wretched-ness.

22 Lo! God is high in his strength, and none is like him among the givers of law.

23 Who may seek out the ways of God? either who dare say to him, Thou hast wrought wickedness?

24 Have thou mind, that thou knowest not his work, of whom men have sung.

25 All men see God; each man be-holdeth afar.

26 Lo! God is great, over-coming our knowing; the number of his years is without number.

27 He taketh the drops of rain; and he poureth out rains at the likeness of floodgates,

28 which come down of the clouds, that cover all things above.

29 If he will stretch forth clouds as his tent,

30 and lightning with his light from above, he shall cover, yea, the hinges of the sea.

31 For by these things he deemeth peoples, and giveth meat to many deadly men.

32 In hands he hideth light; and commandeth it, that it come again.

33 He telleth of it to his friend, that it is his possession; and that he may ascend [or go up] to it.

CHAPTER 37

1 Mine heart dreaded of this thing, and is moved out of his place.

2 It shall hear an hearing in the fearedfulness of his voice, and a sound coming forth [out] of his mouth.

3 He beholdeth over all heavens; and his light is over the terms of the earth.

4 Great sound shall roar after him, and he shall thunder with the voice of his greatness; and it shall not be sought out, when his voice is heard.

5 God shall thunder in his voice wonderfully, which maketh great things that may not be sought out.

6 He it is that commandeth the snow to come down upon the earth, and to the rains of winter, and to the rains of his strength.

7 He marketh in the hand of all men, that all men know their works.

8 An unreasonable beast shall go into his den, and shall dwell in his cave, either dark place.

9 Tempest shall go out from the inner things, and cold from Arcturus, that is, a sign of five stars in the north.

10 When God maketh blowing, frost waxeth altogether; and again full broad waters be poured out thereof.

11 Wheat desireth clouds, and clouds spread abroad their light.

12 The which clouds compass all things about by compass, whither ever the will of the governor leadeth them, to all thing to which he commandeth them upon the face of the world;

13 whether in one lineage, either in his land, either in whatever place of his mercy he commandeth those [or them] to be found.

14 Job, hearken thou to these things; stand thou, and behold the marvels of God.

15 Whether thou knowest, when God commanded to the rains, that those [or they] shall show the light of his clouds?

16 Whether thou knowest the great ways of the clouds, and the perfect knowings of those?

17 Whether thy clothes be not hot, when the earth is blown with the south?

18 In hap thou madest with him heavens, which most firm be founded, as of brass.

19 Show thou to us, what we shall say to him; for we be wrapped in darknesses.

20 Who shall tell to him, what things I speak? yea, if he speaketh, a man shall be devoured.

21 And now men see not light; the air shall be made thick suddenly into clouds, and wind passing shall drive away those [or them].

22 Gold shall come from the north, and the fearedful praising of God.

23 For we may not find him worthily; he is great in strength, and in doom, and in rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and he may not be told out.

24 Therefore men shall dread him; and all men, that seem to themselves to be wise, shall not be hardy to behold God.

CHAPTER 38

1 Forsooth the Lord answered from the whirlwind to Job, and said,

2 Who is this man, wrapping together sentences with unwise words?

3 Gird thou as a man thy loins; I shall ask thee, and answer thou [to] me.

4 Where were thou, when I set the foundaments of the earth? show thou to me, if thou hast understanding.

5 Who setted [the] measurements thereof, if thou knowest? either who stretched forth a line thereupon?

6 Upon what thing be the founda-ments thereof made steadfast? either who sent down the cornerstone thereof,

7 when the morrow stars praised me together, and all the sons of God sang joyfully?

8 Who enclosed altogether the sea with doors, when it brake out coming forth as of the womb?

9 When I setted a cloud the cover-ing thereof, and I wrapped it with darkness, as with ‘clothes of young childhood.

10 I encompassed it with my terms, and I setted [or set] a bar, and doors;

11 and I said, Hitherto thou shalt come, and thou shalt not go further; and here thou shalt break altogether thy swelling waves.

12 Whether after thy birth thou commandedest to the beginning of the day, and showedest to the morrow-tide his place?

13 Whether thou heldest shaking together the last parts of [the] earth, and shakedest away [the] wicked men therefrom?

14 A sealing shall be restored as clay, and it shall stand as a cloth.

15 The light of wicked men shall be taken away from them, and an high arm shall be broken.

16 Whether thou hast entered into the depth of the sea, and hast walked in the last parts of the depth, that is, the ocean, or the great west sea?

17 Whether the gates of death be opened to thee, and thou hast seen the dark doors?

18 Whether thou hast beheld the breadth of the earth? Show thou to me, if thou knowest all things,

19 in what way the light dwelleth, and which is the place of darkness;

20 that thou lead out each thing to his terms, and that thou understand the ways of his house.

21 Knewest thou then, that thou shouldest be born, and knew thou the number of thy days?

22 Whether thou enteredest into the treasures of snow, either beheldest thou the treasures of hail?

23 which things I made ready into the time of an enemy, into the day of fighting and of battle.

24 By what way is the light spread abroad, and by what way heat is parted upon earth?

25 Who gave course to the strongest rain, and way of the thunder sounding?

26 That it should rain on the earth without man, in desert, where none of deadly men dwelleth?

27 That it should [ful] fill a land without a way and desolate, and should bring forth green herbs?

28 Who is [the] father of rain, either who engendered the drops of dew?

29 Of whose womb went out ice, and who begat frost from heaven?

30 Waters be made hard in the likeness of [a] stone, and the over-part of [the] ocean is constrained together.

31 Whether thou shalt be able to join together [the] shining stars Pleiades, that is, the seven stars, either thou shalt be able to destroy the compass of Arcturus?

32 Whether thou bringest forth Lucifer, that is, the day star, in his time, and makest the even star to rise upon the sons of [the] earth?

33 Whether thou knowest the order of heaven, and shall set the reason thereof in [the] earth?

34 Whether thou shalt raise thy voice into a cloud, and the fierceness of waters shall cover thee?

35 Whether thou shalt send out lightnings, and they shall go forth, and those [or they] shall turn again, and shall say to thee, We be present?

36 Who hath put wisdom to the entrails of man, that is, soul, either who gave understanding to the cock?

37 Who shall tell out the reason of heavens, and who shall make [the] according of heaven to sleep?

38 When dust was founded on the earth, and clots were joined together?

39 Whether thou shalt take [the] prey to the lioness, and shalt fill the souls of her whelps,

40 when they lie in caves, and espy in dens?

41 Who maketh ready for the crow his meat, when his young cry to God, and wander about, for they have not meats?

CHAPTER 39

1 Whether thou knowest the time of [the] birth of wild goats in stones, either hast thou espied hinds bringing forth calves?

2 Hast thou numbered the months of their conceiving, and hast thou known the time of their calving?

3 They be bowed down to [the] calf, and so calve; and they send out then roarings.

4 Their calves be separated from them, and go forth to pasture; they go out, and they turn not again to their mothers.

5 Who hath let the wild ass go free, and who hath loosed the bonds of him?

6 To whom I have given an house in wilderness, and the tabernacles of him in the land of saltness.

7 He despiseth the multitude of the city; he heareth not the cry of the asker.

8 He looketh about the hills of his pasture, and he seeketh all green things.

9 Whether an unicorn shall desire to serve thee, either shall dwell at thy cratch?

10 Whether thou shalt bind the unicorn with thy chain, for to ear thy land, either shall he break the clots of the valleys after thee?

11 Whether thou shalt have trust in his great strength, and shalt thou leave to him thy travails?

12 Whether thou shalt believe to him, that he shall yield seed to thee, and shall gather together for thy cornfloor?

13 The feather of an ostrich is like the feathers of a gyrfalcon, and of an hawk;

14 the which ostrich forsaketh his eggs in the earth, in hap thou shalt make those [or them] hot in the dust.

15 He forgetteth, that a foot treadeth those eggs, either that a beast of the field all-breaketh them.

16 He is made hard to his young, as if they were not his; he travailed in vain, while no dread constrained him.

17 For God hath deprived him from wisdom, and he hath not given under-standing to him.

18 When time is, he raiseth the wings on high; he scorneth the horse, and his rider.

19 Whether thou shalt give strength to an horse, either shalt give neighing about his neck?

20 Whether thou shalt raise him as locusts? The glory of his nostrils is dreaded.

21 He diggeth [the] earth with his foot, he full out joyeth; and he goeth boldly against [the] armed men.

22 He despiseth fearedfulness, and he giveth not stead to [the] sword.

23 An arrow case shall sound upon him; a spear and a shield shall shine.

24 He is hot, or fervent, and gnasheth, and swalloweth the earth; and he areckoneth not that the cry of the trump soundeth.

25 When he heareth a clarion, he saith, Joy! he smelleth battle afar; the exciting of dukes, and the yelling of the host.

26 Whether an hawk spreading abroad his wings to the south, beginneth to have feathers by thy wisdom?

27 Whether an eagle shall be raised up at thy commandment, and shall set [or put] his nest in high places?

28 He dwelleth in stones, and he abideth in flints broken before, and in rocks, to which men may not nigh.

29 From thence he beholdeth meat and his eyes look from [a] far.

30 His young suck blood, and wherever a carrion is, anon he is present.

CHAPTER 40

1 And the Lord added to, and spake to Job, and said,

2 Whether he, that striveth with God, shall have rest so lightly? Soothly he, that reproveth God, oweth for to answer to him.

3 And Job answered to the Lord, and said,

4 What may I answer, which have spoken lightly, that is, undiscreetly and follily? I shall put mine hand upon my mouth.

5 I spake one thing, which thing I would, that I had not said; and I spake another thing, to which I shall no more add.

6 Forsooth the Lord answered to Job from the whirlwind, and said,

7 Gird thou as a man thy loins, and I shall ask thee, and show thou to me.

8 Whether thou shalt make void my doom, and shalt thou condemn me, that thou be made just [or be justified]?

9 And if thou hast an arm, or power, as God hath, and if thou thunderest with like voice,

10 take thou fairness about thee, and be thou raised on high, and be thou glorious, and be thou clothed in fair clothes.

11 And destroy thou proud men in thy fierce vengeance, and behold thou, and make low each boaster.

12 Behold thou all proud men, and shame thou them; and all-break thou wicked men in their place.

13 Hide thou them in dust together, and drown down their faces into a ditch.

14 And then I shall acknowledge, that thy right hand may save thee.

15 Lo! behemoth, whom I made with thee, shall as an ox eat hay.

16 His strength is in his loins, and his might is in the navel of his womb.

17 He constraineth his tail as a cedar; the sinews of his stones of engendering be folded together.

18 His bones be as pipes of brass; the gristle of him is as plates of iron.

19 He is the beginning of the ways of God; he, that made him, shall set his sword to him.

20 Hills bear herbs to this behemoth; all the beasts of the field play there.

21 He sleepeth under shadow, in the private of a reed, in moist places.

22 Shadows cover his shadow; the sallows of the river encompass him.

23 He shall swallow up the flood, and he shall not wonder; he hath trust, that Jordan shall flow into his mouth.

24 He shall take them by his eyes, as by an hook; and by sharp shafts he shall pierce his nostrils.

CHAPTER 41

1 Whether thou shalt be able to draw out Leviathan with an hook, and shalt bind with a rope his tongue?

2 Whether thou shalt put a ring in his nostrils, either shalt pierce his cheek[bone] with an hook?

3 Whether he shall multiply prayers to thee, either shall speak soft things to thee?

4 Whether he shall make a covenant with thee, and shalt thou take him for a servant everlasting?

5 Whether thou shalt scorn him as a bird, either shalt thou bind him to thine handmaidens?

6 Shall friends carve him, shall merchants part him?

7 Whether thou shalt fill nets with his skin, and a fish basket with his head?

8 Shalt thou put thine hand upon him? have thou mind of the battle, and add thou no more to speak.

9 Lo! his hope shall deceive him; and in the sight of all men he shall be cast down.

10 I not as cruel shall raise him; for who may against-stand my face?

11 And who gave to me before, that I yield to him? All things, that be under heaven, be mine.

12 I shall not spare him for his mighty words, and made fair to beseech with.

13 Who shall show the face of his clothing, and who shall enter into the midst of his mouth?

14 Who shall open the gates of his cheer? fearedfulness is by the compass of his teeth.

15 His body is as molten shields of brass, and joined together with scales overlaying themselves.

16 One is joined to another; and soothly breathing goeth not through those [or them].

17 One shall cleave to another, and those pieces holding together them-selves shall not be parted.

18 His sneezing or snorting is as shining of fire, and his eyes be as eyelids of the morrowtide.

19 Lights come forth of his mouth, as brands of fire, that be kindled.

20 Smoke cometh forth of his nostrils, as a boiling pot set upon the fire.

21 His breath maketh coals to burn, and flame goeth out of his mouth.

22 Strength shall dwell in his neck, and neediness shall go away from before his face.

23 The members of his flesh be cleaving together to themselves; God shall send floods against him, and those [or they] shall not be borne over to another place.

24 His heart shall be made hard as a stone; and it shall be constrained together as the anvil of a smith.

25 When he shall be taken away, angels shall dread; and they afeared shall be purged.

26 When sword taketh him, it may not stand, neither spear, neither habergeon.

27 For he shall areckon iron as chaff, and brass as rotten wood.

28 A man archer shall not drive him away; [the] stones of a sling be turned into stubble to him.

29 He shall areckon an hammer as stubble; and he shall scorn a flourishing spear.

30 The beams of the sun shall be under him; and he shall strew to him-self gold as clay.

31 He shall make the deep sea to boil as a pot; and he shall put it, as when ointments boil.

32 A path shall shine after him; he shall guess the great ocean as waxing eld [or old].

33 No power there is on earth, that shall be comparisoned to him; which is made, that he should dread nothing.

34 He seeth all high thing[s]; he is king over all the sons of pride.

CHAPTER 42

1 Forsooth Job answered to the Lord, and said,

2 I know, that thou mayest do all things, and that no thought or nothing is hid from thee.

3 Who is this, that covereth counsel without knowing? Therefore I have spoken unwisely, and those things that pass over-measure my knowing.

4 Hear thou, and I shall speak; I shall ask thee, and answer thou to me.

5 By hearing of ear I have heard thee, but now mine eye seeth thee.

6 Therefore I reprove myself, and do penance in dead spark and ashes.

7 And after that the Lord had spoken these words to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My strong vengeance is wroth against thee, and against thy two friends; for ye have not spoken before me rightful [or right] things, as my servant Job.

8 Therefore take ye to you seven bulls, and seven rams; and go ye to my servant Job, and offer ye burnt sacrifice for you. Forsooth Job, my servant, shall pray for you; I shall receive his face, that folly be not areckoned to you; certainly ye have not spoken before me rightful [or right] thing, as hath my servant Job.

9 Therefore Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, went, and did, as the Lord had spoken to them; and the Lord received the face of Job.

10 Also the Lord was converted to the penance of Job, when he prayed for his friends. And the Lord added all things double, whichever were of Job.

11 And all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all that knew him before, came to him; and they ate bread with him in his house, and they moved their head upon him; and they comforted him on all the evil, that the Lord had brought in upon him; and they gave to him each man a sheep, and a golden earring.

12 Forsooth the Lord blessed the last things of Job, more than the beginning of him; and fourteen thousand of sheep were made to him, and six thousand of camels, and a thousand yokes of oxen, and a thousand female asses.

13 And he had seven sons, and three daughters;

14 and he called the name of the one daughter Jemima, and the name of the second daughter Kezia, and the name of the third daughter he called Kerenhappuch, that is, a horn of women’s ointment.

15 And there were not found so fair women in all the land, as were the daughters of Job; and their father gave heritage to them among their brethren.

16 Forsooth Job lived after these beatings, or scourgings, an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and the sons of his sons, till to the fourth generation;

17 and he was dead eld [or he died old], and full of days, that is, he had length and prosperity of life.

* CHAPTER 1:5 That is, Lest peradventure my sons do sin, and curse God in their hearts; for the horror of cursing, Jews signified it by the contrary name.

* CHAPTER 3:8 That is, the Devil, as Alcuin saith.

* CHAPTER 30:1 This disdain came not of despite, neither of pride, but of worthy beholding of vilety or vileness.

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PSALMS

PSALM 1

1 Blessed is the man, that goeth not in the counsel of wicked men; and stood not in the way of sinners, and sat not in the chair of pestilence.

2 But his will is in the law of the Lord; and he shall bethink in the law of him day and night.

3 And he shall be as a tree, which is planted beside the runnings of waters; that shall give his fruit in his time. And his leaf shall not fall down; and all things, whichever he shall do, shall have prosperity.

4 Not so wicked men, not so; but they be as dust, which the wind casteth away from the face of the earth.

5 Therefore wicked men rise not again in doom; neither sinners in the council of just men [nor the sinful in the council of the rightwise].

6 For the Lord knoweth the way of just men [or the rightwise]; and the way of wicked men shall perish.

PSALM 2

1 Why gnashed with teeth heathen men; and peoples thought vain things?

2 The kings of earth stood together; and princes came together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

3 Break we the bonds of them; and cast we away the yoke of them from us.

4 He that dwelleth in heavens shall scorn them; and the Lord shall bemock them.

5 Then he shall speak to them in his wrath; and he shall trouble them in his strong vengeance.

6 Soothly I am ordained of him a king upon Zion, his holy hill;

7 preaching his commandment. The Lord said to me, Thou art my son; I have begotten thee today.

8 Ask thou of me, and I shall give to thee heathen men for thine heritage; and for thy possession the terms of earth.

9 Thou shalt govern them in an iron rod; and thou shalt break them altogether as the vessel of a potter.

10 And now, ye kings, understand; ye that deem the earth, be ye learned.

11 Serve ye the Lord with dread; and make ye full out joy to him with trembling.

12 Take ye lore of chastising; lest the Lord be wroth sometime, and ye perish from the just way. When his wrath shall burn out in short time; blessed be all they, that trust in him.

PSALM 3

1 The psalm of David, when he fled from the face of Absalom, his son. Lord, why be they multiplied that trouble me? many men rise against me.

2 Many men say of my soul, None health there is to him in his God.

3 But thou, Lord, art mine up-taker; my glory, and enhancing mine head.

4 With my voice I cried to the Lord; and he heard me from his holy hill.

5 I slept, and rested, and I rose up; for the Lord received me.

6 I shall not dread thousands of people encompassing me;

7 Lord, arise thou; my God, make me safe. For thou hast smitten all men being adversaries to me without cause; thou hast all-broken the teeth of sinners.

8 Health is of the Lord; and thy blessing is on thy people.

PSALM 4

1 To the victory, in organs, the psalm of David. When I inwardly called, God of my rightwiseness heard me; in tribulation thou hast alarged to me. Have thou mercy on me; and hear thou my prayer.

2 Sons of men, how long be ye of heavy heart? why love ye vanity, and seek leasing?

3 And know ye, that the Lord hath made marvellous his holy man; the Lord shall hear me, when I shall cry to him.

4 Be ye wroth, and do not ye sin; and for those evils to which ye say in your hearts and in your beds, be ye compunct.

5 Sacrifice ye the sacrifice or Offer ye an offering of rightfulness [or right-wiseness], and hope ye in the Lord;

6 many say, Who showed good things to us? Lord, the light of thy cheer is marked upon us;

7 thou hast given gladness in mine heart. They be multiplied of the fruit of wheat, and of wine; and of their oil.

8 In peace in the same thing; I shall sleep, and take rest. For thou, Lord; hast set me singularly or only in hope.

PSALM 5

1 To the overcomer, on the heritages, the psalm of David. Lord, perceive thou my words with ears; understand thou my cry.

2 My King, and my God; give thou attention to the voice of my prayer. For, Lord, I shall pray to thee;

3 hear thou early my voice. Early I shall stand nigh to thee, and I shall see;

4 for thou art God not desiring wickedness. Neither an evil-willed man shall dwell beside thee;

5 neither unjust [or unrightwise] men shall dwell before thine eyes. Thou hatest all them that work wickedness;

6 thou shalt lose them that speak leasing. The Lord shall hold abomin-able a man-queller, and a guileful man.

7 But Lord, in the multitude of thy mercy, I shall enter into thine house; I shall worship toward thine holy temple in thy dread.

8 Lord, lead thou forth me in thy rightwiseness for mine enemies; dress thou my way in thy sight.

9 For truth is not in their mouth; their heart is vain. Their throat is an open sepulchre, they did guilefully with their tongues;

10 God, deem thou them. Fall they down from their thoughts; after the multitude of their wickednesses, or un-piousnesses, cast thou them down; for, Lord, they have stirred thee to wrath.

11 And all that hope in thee, be they glad; they shall make full out joy [into] without end, and thou shalt dwell in them. And all that love thy name shall have glory in thee;

12 for thou shalt bless the just [or right-wise] man. Lord, thou hast crowned us, as with a shield of thy good will.

PSALM 6

1 To the overcomer in psalms, the psalm of David, on the eighth. Lord, reprove thou not me in thy strong vengeance; neither chastise thou me in thine ire.

2 Lord, have thou mercy on me, for I am sick; Lord, make thou me whole, for all my bones be troubled.

3 And my soul is troubled greatly; but thou, Lord, how long?

4 Lord, be thou converted or turned again, and deliver my soul; make thou me safe, for thy mercy.

5 For none there is in death, that is mindful of thee; but in hell who shall acknowledge to thee?

6 I travailed in my wailing, I shall wash my bed by each night; I shall moisten, either make wet, my bedstraw with my tears.

7 Mine eye is troubled of strong vengeance; I waxed eld or old among all mine enemies.

8 All ye that work wickedness, depart from me; for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping.

9 The Lord hath heard my beseech-ing; the Lord hath received my prayer.

10 All mine enemies be ashamed, and be troubled greatly; be they turned altogether, and be they ashamed full swiftly.

PSALM 7

1 For the ignorance of David, which he sang to the Lord, on the words of Ethiopian, the son of Benjamin. My Lord God, I have hoped in thee; make thou me safe from all that pursue me, and deliver thou me.

2 Lest any time he as a lion ravish my soul; while none there is that again-buyeth, neither that maketh safe.

3 My Lord God, if I did this thing, if wickedness is in mine hands, or works;

4 if I yielded to men yielding to me evils, fall I by deserving void from mine enemies;

5 mine enemy pursue he my soul, and take he, and defoul my life in earth; and bring my glory into dust.

6 Lord, rise thou up in thine ire; and be thou raised up in the coasts of mine enemies. And, my Lord God, rise thou up in the commandment, which thou hast commanded;

7 and the synagogue of peoples shall encompass thee. And for this go thou again on high;

8 the Lord deemeth peoples. Lord, deem thou me by my rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and by mine innocence on me.

9 The wickedness of sinners be ended; and thou, God, seeking the hearts, that is, thoughts, and reins, that is, delightings, shall dress a just [or rightwise] man.

10 My just [or rightwise] help is of the Lord; that maketh safe rightful men in heart.

11 The Lord is a just [or rightwise] judge, strong and patient; whether he is wroth by all days?

12 If ye be not converted, he shall flourish his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.

13 And therein he hath made ready the vessels of death; he hath fully made his arrows with burning things.

14 Lo! the wicked hath conceived sorrow; he painfully hath brought forth unrightfulness [or unrightwiseness], and he hath childed wickedness.

15 He opened a pit, and digged it out; and he fell into the ditch which he made.

16 His sorrow shall be turned into his head; and his wickedness shall come down into his neck.

17 I shall acknowledge to the Lord by his rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and I shall sing to the name of the highest Lord.

PSALM 8

1 To the overcomer, for[the]pressers[or wine presses], the psalm of David. Lord, thou art our Lord; thy name is full wonderful in all [the] earth. For thy great doing is raised up, above heavens.

2 Of the mouth of young children, not speaking and sucking milk, thou hast made perfect praising, for thine enemies; that thou destroy the enemy and the avenger.

3 For I shall see thine heavens, the works of thy fingers; the moon and the stars, which thou hast founded.

4 What is a man, that is mankind, that thou art mindful of him; either the son of a virgin [or the son of man], for thou visitest him?

5 Thou hast made him a little less than angels; thou hast crowned him with glory and honour,

6 and thou hast ordained him above the works of thine hands. Thou hast made subject all things under his feet;

7 all sheep and oxen, furthermore and the beasts of the field;

8 the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, and all the other creatures that pass by the paths of the sea.

9 Lord, our Lord; how wonderful is thy name in all [the] earth.

PSALM 9

1 Into the end, for the privates of the son, the psalm of David. Lord, I shall acknowledge to thee in all mine heart; I shall tell all thy marvels.

2 Thou Highest, I shall be glad, and I shall be fully joyful [or full out joy] in thee; I shall sing to thy name.

3 For thou turnest mine enemy aback; they shall be made feeble, and shall perish from thy face.

4 For thou hast made my doom, and my cause; thou, that deemest rightfulness [or rightwiseness], hast set on the throne.

5 Thou hast blamed heathen men, and the wicked perished; thou hast done away the name of them into the world, and into the world of world.

6 The swords of the enemy have failed into the end; and thou hast destroyed the cities of them. The mind of them hath perished with sound;

7 and the Lord dwelleth without end. He hath made ready his throne in doom;

8 and he shall deem the world in equity, he shall deem peoples in rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

9 And the Lord is made refuge, either help, to a poor man; an helper in covenable times in tribulation.

10 And they, that know thy name, have hope in thee; for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

11 Sing ye [psalms] to the Lord, that dwelleth in Zion; tell ye his studies among heathen men.

12 God forgetteth not the cry of poor men; for he hath mind of them, and he seeketh the blood of them.

13 Lord, have thou mercy on me; see thou my meekness of mine enemies. Which enhancest me from the gates of death;

14 that I tell all thy praisings in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I shall be fully joyful or joy fully in thine health;

15 heathen men be fast-set in the perishing, which they made. In this snare, which they hid, the foot of them is caught.

16 The Lord making dooms shall be known; the sinner is taken in the works of his hands.

17 Sinners be turned altogether into hell; all folks, that forget God.

18 For the forgetting of a poor man shall not be into the end; the patience of poor men shall not perish into the end.

19 Lord, rise thou up, a man be not comforted; [the] folks be deemed in thy sight.

20 Lord, ordain thou a law-maker upon them; know folks, that they be men.

PSALM 10

1 Lord, why hast thou gone far away? thou despisest us in covenable times in tribulation.

2 While the wicked man waxeth proud, the poor man is burnt; they be taken in the wicked counsels, which they thinked.

3 For why the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul; and the wicked is blessed. The sinner hath stirred the Lord to wrath;

4 after the multitude of his wrath, he shall not seek after God. God is not in his sight;

5 his ways be defouled in all time. Thy dooms be taken away from his face; he shall be lord of all his enemies.

6 For he said in his heart, I shall not be moved, from generation into gener-ation without evil.

7 Whose mouth is full of cursing, and of bitterness, and of guile; travail and sorrow is under his tongue.

8 He sitteth in ambushes with rich men in privates; to slay the innocent man. His eyes behold cruelly on the poor man;

9 he setteth ambushes in hid place, as a lion in his den. He setteth ambushes, for to ravish a poor man; for to ravish a poor man, while he draweth in the poor man. In his snare he shall make meek the poor man;

10 he shall bow himself down, and he shall fall, when he hath been lord of poor men.

11 For he said in his heart, God hath forgotten; he hath turned away his face, that he see not into the end.

12 Lord God, rise thou up, and thine hand be enhanced; forget thou not poor men.

13 For what thing stirred the wicked man God to wrath? for he said in his heart, God shall not seek.

14 Thou seest, for thou beholdest travail and sorrow; that thou take them into thine hands. The poor man is left to thee; thou shalt be an helper to the fatherless and motherless.

15 All-break thou the arm of the sinner, and evil-willed; his sin shall be sought, and it shall not be found.

16 The Lord shall reign without end, and into the world of world; folks, ye shall perish from the land of him.

17 The Lord hath heard the desire of poor men; thine ear hath heard the making ready of their heart.

18 To deem for the motherless and meek; that a man presume no more to make himself great on earth.

PSALM 11

1 To the victory, [the psalm]of David. I trust in the Lord; how say ye to my soul, Pass thou over into the hill, as a sparrow doeth?

2 For lo! sinners have bent a bow; they have made ready their arrows in an arrow case; that they shoot in darkness the rightful men in heart.

3 For they have destroyed, whom thou hast made perfect; but what did the rightful [or rightwise] man?

4 The Lord is in his holy temple; he is Lord, his seat is in heaven. His eyes behold on the poor man; his eyelids ask the sons of men.

5 The Lord asketh a just [or right-wise] man, and an unfaithful man; but he, that loveth wickedness, hateth his soul.

6 He shall rain snares upon sinners; fire, and brimstone, and the spirit of tempests be the part of the cup of them.

7 For the Lord is just [or rightwise], and loveth rightfulnesses [or rightwise-ness]; his cheer hath seen evenness, or equity.

PSALM 12

1 To the victory, on the eighth, the song of David. Lord, make thou me safe, for the holy man failed; for truths be made little from the sons of men.

2 They spake vain things, each man to his neighbour; and they having guileful lips, spake in their heart, and with their heart.

3 The Lord destroy all guileful lips; and the great speaking tongue.

4 Which said, We shall magnify with our tongue, our lips be of us-selves; who else is our lord?

5 For the wretchedness of needy men, and for the wailing of poor men; now I shall rise up, saith the Lord. I shall set him in health; I shall do trustily in him.

6 The speeches of the Lord be chaste speeches; silver assayed by fire, proved from the earth, purged sevenfold.

7 Thou, Lord, shalt keep us; and thou shalt keep us from this gener-ation without end.

8 Wicked men go in compass; by thine highness thou hast multiplied the sons of men.

PSALM 13

1 To the victory, [the psalm]of David. Lord, how long forgettest thou me, into the end? how long turnest thou away thy face from me?

2 How long shall I set counsel in my soul; sorrow in my heart by day? How long shall mine enemy be raised up on me?

3 My Lord God, behold thou, and hear thou me. Lighten thou mine eyes, lest any time I sleep in death;

4 lest any time mine enemy say, I had the mastery against him. They, that trouble me, shall have joy, if I shall be stirred;

5 but I hoped in thy mercy. Mine heart shall fully have joy in thine health;

6 I shall sing to the Lord, that giveth goods to me, and I shall say psalm to the name of the highest Lord.

PSALM 14

1 To the victory, [the psalm]of David. The unwise man said in his heart, God is not. They be corrupt, and they be made abominable in their studies; none there is that doeth good, none is till to one*.

2 The Lord beheld from heaven on the sons of men; that he see, if any is understanding, either seeking God.

3 All bowed away, altogether they be made unprofitable; none is that doeth good, none is till to one. The throat of them is an open sepulchre, they did guilefully with their tongues; the venom of snakes is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet be swift to shed out blood. Sorrow and cursed-ness is in the ways of them, and they knew not the way of peace; the dread of God is not before their eyes.

4 Whether all men that work wicked-ness shall not know; that devour my people, as meat of bread? They called not the Lord;

5 they trembled there for dread, where was no dread; for the Lord is in a rightful [or rightwise] generation.

6 Thou hast shamed the counsel of a poor man; for the Lord is his hope.

7 Who shall give from Zion health to Israel? When the Lord hath turned away the captivity of his people; Jacob shall fully be joyful or shall full out joy, and Israel shall be glad.

PSALM 15

1 The psalm of David. Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle; either who shall rest in thine holy hill?

2 He that entereth without wem; and worketh rightfulness [or rightwise-ness]. He that speaketh truth in his heart;

3 which did not guile in his tongue. Nor did evil to his neighbour; and took not reproof against his neighbours.

4 A wicked man is brought to nought in his sight; but he glorifieth them that dread the Lord. He that sweareth to his neighbour, and deceiveth him not;

5 which gave not his money to usury; and took not gifts upon the innocent. He, that doeth these things, shall not be moved without end.

PSALM 16

1 Of the meek and simple, the psalm of David. Lord, keep thou me, for I have hoped in thee;

2 I said to the Lord, Thou art my God; for thou hast no need of my goods.

3 To the saints that be in the land of him; he made wonderful all my wills in them.

4 The sicknesses of them be multi-plied; afterward they hasted. I shall not gather together the conventicles, or small covents, of them of bloods; and I shall not be mindful of their names by my lips.

5 The Lord is[the] part of mine heritage, and of my passion; thou art, that shall restore mine heritage to me.

6 Cords felled to me in full clear things; for mine heritage is full clear to me.

7 I shall bless the Lord, that hath given understanding to me; furthermore and my reins have blamed me unto the night.

8 I saw before me ever[more] the Lord in my sight; for he is at the right half to me, that I be not moved.

9 For this thing mine heart was glad, and my tongue joyed fully; further-more and my flesh shall rest in hope.

10 For thou shalt not leave my soul in hell; neither thou shalt give thine holy man to see corruption.

11 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt [full-]fill me with gladness with thy cheer; delight-ings be in thy right half unto the end.

PSALM 17

1 The prayer of David. Lord, hear thou my rightfulness; behold thou my prayer. Perceive thou with ears my prayer; not made in guileful lips.

2 My doom come forth of thy cheer; thine eyes see they equity.

3 Thou hast proved mine heart, and hast visited me in [the] night; thou hast examined, or assayed, me by fire, and wickedness is not found in me.

4 That my mouth speak not of the works of men; for the words of thy lips I have kept hard ways.

5 Make thou perfect my goings in thy paths; that my steps be not moved.

6 I cried, for thou, God, heardest me; bow down thy ear to me, and hear thou my words.

7 Make wonderful thy mercies; that makest safe them that hope in thee.

8 Keep thou me as the apple of thine eye; and from them that against-stand thy right hand. Cover thou me under the shadow of thy wings;

9 from the face of unpious men, that have tormented me. Mine enemies have encompassed my soul;

10 they have closed together their fatness; the mouth of them spake pride.

11 They casted me forth, and have en-compassed me now; they ordained to bow down their eyes into [the] earth.

12 They, as a lion made ready to his prey, have taken me; and as the whelp of a lion dwelling in hid places.

13 Lord, rise thou up, before come thou him, and deceive or overturn thou him; deliver thou my life from the unpious, deliver thou thy sword;

14 from the enemies of thine hand. Lord, part thou them from a few men of the land in the life of them; their womb is [full-]filled of thine hid things. They be [full-]filled with sons; and they left their remnants, either residue, to their little children.

15 But I in rightfulness [or rightwise-ness] shall appear to thy sight; I shall be [ful] filled, when thy glory shall appear.

PSALM 18

1 To victory, the word of the Lord to David, which spake the words of this song, in the day in which the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul; and he said: Lord, my strength, I shall love thee*;

2 the Lord is my steadfastness, and my refuge, and my deliverer. My God is mine helper; and I shall hope in him. My defender, and the horn of mine health; and mine up-taker.

3 I shall praise, and inwardly call the Lord; and I shall be safe from mine enemies.

4 The sorrows of death encompassed me; and the strands [or streams] of wickedness have troubled me.

5 The sorrows of hell encompassed me; the snares of death before-occupied me.

6 In my tribulation I inwardly called the Lord; and I cried to my God. And he heard my voice from his holy temple; and my cry in his sight entered into his ears.

7 The earth was moved together, and trembled greatly; the foundaments of hills were troubled altogether, and moved together, for he was wroth to them.

8 Smoke went up in the ire [or wrath] of the Lord, and fire burnt out from his face; coals were kindled of him.

9 He bowed down heavens, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

10 And he ascended [or went] on cherubim, and flew; he flew over the pens of winds.

11 And he setted [or put] darknesses his hiding place, his tabernacle in his compass; and dark water was in the clouds of the air.

12 Full clear clouds passed in his sight; hail and the coals of fire.

13 And the Lord thundered from heaven; and the Highest gave his voice, hail and coals of fire.

14 And he sent his arrows, and destroyed those men; he multiplied lightnings, and troubled those men.

15 And the wells of waters appeared; and the foundaments of the earth were showed. Lord, of thy blaming; of the breathing of the spirit of thine ire.

16 He sent from the highest place, and took me; and he took me from many waters.

17 He delivered me from my strongest enemies; and from them that hated me, for they were comforted on me.

18 They came before me in the day of my torment; and the Lord was made my defender.

19 And he led out me into breadth; he made me safe, for he would me.

20 And the Lord shall yield to me by my rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and he shall yield to me by the cleanness of mine hands.

21 For I kept the ways of the Lord; and I did not go away unfaithfully from my God.

22 For all his dooms be in my sight; and I putted not away from me his rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses].

23 And I shall be unwemmed with him; and I shall keep me from my wickedness.

24 And the Lord shall yield to me by my rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and by the cleanness of mine hands in the sight of his eyes.

25 With the holy, thou shalt be holy; and with an innocent man, thou shalt be innocent.

26 And with a chosen man, thou shalt be chosen; and with a wayward man, thou shalt be wayward.

27 For thou shalt make safe a meek people; and thou shalt make meek the eyes of proud men.

28 For thou, Lord, lightenest my lantern; my God, lighten thou my darknesses.

29 For by thee I shall be delivered from temptation; and in my God I shall go over the wall.

30 My God, his way is undefouled; the speeches of the Lord be examined by fire; he is [the] defender of all men hoping in him.

31 For why, who is God, except the Lord? either who is God, except our God?

32 God that hath girded me with virtue; and hath set my way unwem-med.

33 Which made perfect my feet as the feet of harts; and ordaining me on high things.

34 Which teacheth mine hands to battle; and thou hast set mine arms as a brazen bow.

35 And thou hast given to me the covering of thine health; and thy right hand hath up-taken me. And thy chastising amended me into the end; and that chastising of thee shall teach me.

36 Thou alargedest my paces under me; and my steps be not made un-steadfast.

37 I shall pursue mine enemies, and I shall take them; and I shall not turn till they fail.

38 I shall all-break them, and they shall not be able to stand; they shall fall under my feet.

39 And thou hast girded me with virtue to battle; and thou hast overturned under me men rising against me.

40 And thou hast given mine enemies aback [or back] to me; and thou hast destroyed them that hated me.

41 They cried, and none there was that made them safe; they cried to the Lord, and he heard not them.

42 And I shall all-break them, as dust before the face of the wind; I shall do them away, as the clay of streets.

43 Thou shalt deliver me from [the] against-sayings of the people; thou shalt set me into the head of folks. The people, which I knew not, hath served me;

44 in the hearing of ear it obeyed to me. Alien sons lied down to me,

45 alien sons waxed eld; and went crooked from thy paths.

46 The Lord liveth, and my God be blessed; and the God of mine health be enhanced.

47 God, that givest vengeances to me, and makest subject peoples under me;

48 thou art my deliverer from my wrathful enemies. And thou shalt enhance me from them, that rise against me; thou shalt deliver me from a wicked man.

49 Therefore, Lord, I shall acknowl-edge to thee among nations; and I shall say psalm to thy name.

50 Magnifying the healths of his king; and doing mercy to his christ David, and to his seed till into the world.

PSALM 19

1 To victory, the psalm of David. Heavens tell out the glory of God; and the firmament telleth the works of his hands.

2 The day telleth out to the day a word; and the night showeth know-ing to the night.

3 No languages be, neither words; of which the voices of them be not heard.

4 The sound of them went out into all earth; and the words of them into the ends of the world. In the sun he hath set his tabernacle;

5 and he as a spouse coming forth of his chamber. He fully joyed, as a giant, to run his way;

6 his going out was from [the] high-est heaven. And his going again was to the highest thereof; and none there is that hideth himself from his heat.

7 The law of the Lord is without wem, and converteth souls; the wit-nessing of the Lord is faithful, and giveth wisdom to little, either meek, children.

8 The rightfulnesses of the Lord be rightful, gladdening hearts; the com-mandment of the Lord is clear, en-lightening eyes.

9 The holy dread of the Lord dwelleth into the world of world; the dooms of the Lord be true, justified into themselves.

10 Desirable more than gold, and a stone much precious; and sweeter than honey and honeycomb.

11 Forsooth thy servant keepeth those [or them]; much yielding is in those dooms to be kept.

12 Who understandeth trespasses? make thou me clean from my privy sins;

13 and of alien sins spare thy servant. If those [or they] have not lordship of me, then I shall be undefouled of alien sins, or without wem; and I shall be cleansed of the most sin.

14 And the speeches of my mouth shall be such, that they please; and the thinking of mine heart is ever[more] in thy sight. Lord, mine helper; and mine again-buyer.

PSALM 20

1 To victory, the psalm of David. The Lord hear thee in the day of tribulation; the name of God of Jacob defend thee.

2 Send he help to thee from the holy place; and from Zion defend he thee.

3 Be he mindful of all thy sacrifice; and thy burnt sacrifice be made fat.

4 Give he to thee after thine heart; and confirm he all thy counsel.

5 We shall be glad in thine health; and we shall be magnified in the name of our God. The Lord [ful] fill all thine askings;

6 now I have known, that the Lord hath made safe his christ. He shall hear him from his holy heaven; the health of his right hand is in powers.

7 These, that is, adversaries, trust in chariots, and these in horses; but we shall inwardly call in the name of our Lord God.

8 They be bound, and felled down; but we have risen, and be raised.

9 Lord, make thou safe the king; and hear thou us in the day in which we inwardly call thee.

PSALM 21

1 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, the king shall be glad in thy virtue; and he shall full out have joy greatly on thine health.

2 Thou hast given to him the desire of his heart; and thou hast not defrauded him of the will of his lips.

3 For thou hast before-come him in the blessings of sweetness; thou hast set [or puttest] on his head a crown of precious stone.

4 He asked of thee life, and thou gavest it to him; the length of days into the world, and into the world of world.

5 His glory is great in thine health; thou shalt put glory, and great fairness, on him.

6 For thou shalt give him into bless-ing into the world of world; thou shalt make him glad in joy with thy cheer.

7 For the king hopeth in the Lord; and in the mercy of the Highest he shall not be moved.

8 Thine hand be found to all thine enemies; thy right hand find all them that hate thee.

9 Thou shalt put them as a furnace of fire in the time of thy cheer; the Lord shall trouble them in his ire, and fire shall devour them.

10 Thou shalt lose the fruit of them from the earth; and the seed of them from the sons of men.

11 For they bowed evil against thee; they thought counsels, which they might not stablish.

12 For thou shalt put them aback; in thy remnants thou shalt make ready the cheer of them.

13 Lord, be thou enhanced in thy virtue; we shall sing, and say openly thy virtues.

PSALM 22

1 To the overcomer, for the morrow-tide hind, the psalm of David. God, my God, behold thou on me, why hast thou forsaken me? the words of my trespasses be far from mine health.

2 My God, I shall cry by day, and thou shalt not hear; and by night, and not to unwisdom to me.

3 Forsooth thou, the praising of Israel, dwellest in holiness;

4 our fathers hoped in thee; they hoped, and thou deliveredest them.

5 They cried to thee, and they were made safe; they hoped in thee, and they were not shamed.

6 But I am a worm, and not a man; the shame of men, and the out-casting of the people.

7 All men seeing me scorned me; they spake with lips, and wagged the head, and said,

8 He hoped in the Lord, deliver he him; make he him safe, for he will or delights in him.

9 For thou it art that drewest me out of the womb, that art mine hope from the teats of my mother;

10 into thee I am cast forth from the womb. From the womb of my mother thou art my God;

11 depart thou not from me. For tribulation is next; for none there is that helpeth.

12 Many calves encompassed me; fat bulls besieged me.

13 They opened their mouth on me; as a lion ravishing and roaring.

14 I am poured out as water; and all my bones be scattered. Mine heart is made, as wax floating abroad [or melting]; in the midst of my womb.

15 My virtue dried as a tilestone, and my tongue cleaved to my cheeks; and thou hast brought forth me into the dust of death.

16 For many dogs encompassed me; the council of wicked men besieged me. They delved mine hands and my feet;

17 they numbered all my bones. Soothly they looked, and beheld me;

18 they parted my clothes to them-selves, and they sent lot on my cloth.

19 But thou, Lord, delay not thine help from me; behold thou to my defence.

20 God, deliver thou my life from sword; and deliver thou mine one alone from the hand, or power, of the dog.

21 Make thou me safe from the mouth of a lion; and my meekness from the horns of unicorns.

22 I shall tell thy name to my brethren; I shall praise thee in the midst of the church.

23 Ye that dread the Lord, praise him; all the seed of Jacob, glorify him. All the seed of Israel, dread him;

24 for he forsook not, neither despised the prayer of a poor man. Neither he turned away his face from me; and when I cried to him, he heard me.

25 My praising is with thee in a great church; I shall yield my vows in the sight of men dreading him.

26 Poor men shall eat, and shall be [ful] filled, and they shall praise the Lord, that seek him; the hearts of them shall live into the world of world.

27 All the ends of earth shall bethink; and shall be converted to the Lord. And all the meines of heathen men, shall worship in his sight.

28 For the realm is the Lord’s; and he shall be Lord of heathen men.

29 All the fat men of earth ate and worshipped; all men, that go down into earth, shall fall down in his sight. And my soul shall live to him;

30 and my seed shall serve him. A generation to coming shall be told to the Lord;

31 and heavens shall tell his rightful-ness [or rightwiseness] to the people that shall be born, whom the Lord made.

PSALM 23

1 The psalm of David. The Lord governeth me, and nothing shall fail to me;

2 in the place of pasture there he hath set me. He nourished me on the water of refreshing;

3 he converted my soul. He led me forth on the paths of rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; for his name.

4 For why though I shall go in the midst of shadow of death; I shall not dread evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff; those have comforted me.

5 Thou hast made ready a board in my sight; against them that trouble me. Thou hast made fat mine head with oil; and my cup, that filleth greatly, is full clear.

6 And thy mercy shall follow me; in all the days of my life. And that I dwell in the house of the Lord; into the length of days.

PSALM 24

1 The psalm of David. The earth and the fullness thereof is the Lord’s; the world, and all that dwell therein.

2 For he founded it on the seas; and made it ready on floods.

3 Who shall ascend or go up into the hill of the Lord; either who shall stand in the holy place of him?

4 The innocent in hands, that is, in works, and in clean heart; which took not his soul in vain, neither swore in guile to his neighbour.

5 He shall take blessing of the Lord; and mercy of God his health.

6 This is the generation of men seeking him; of men seeking the face of God of Jacob.

7 Ye princes, take up your gates, and ye everlasting gates, be ye raised; and the king of glory shall enter.

8 Who is this king of glory? the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

9 Ye princes, take up your gates, and ye everlasting gates, be ye raised; and the king of glory shall enter.

10 Who is this king of glory? the Lord of virtues*or the Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory.

PSALM 25

1 The song of David. Lord, to thee I have raised my soul;

2 my God, I trust in thee, be I not ashamed. Neither mine enemies scorn me;

3 for all men that suffer thee shall not be shamed. All men doing wicked things superfluously; be they shamed.

4 Lord, show thou thy ways to me; and teach thou me thy paths.

5 Dress thou me in thy truth, and teach thou me, for thou art God, my saviour; and I suffered thee all day.

6 Lord, have thou mind of thy merciful doings; and of thy mercies that be from the world.

7 Have thou not mind on the tres-passes of my youth; and on mine unknowings. Thou, Lord, have mind on me by thy mercy; for thy goodness.

8 The Lord is sweet and rightful; for this cause he shall give a law to men trespassing in the way.

9 He shall dress meek men in doom; he shall teach mild men his ways.

10 All the ways of the Lord be mercy and truth; to men seeking his testament, and his witnessings.

11 Lord, for thy name, thou shalt do mercy to my sin; for it is much.

12 Who is a man, that dreadeth the Lord? he ordaineth to him a law in the way which he should choose.

13 His soul shall dwell in goods; and his seed shall inherit the land.

14 The Lord is a firmness to men dreading him; and his testament is, that it be showed to them.

15 Mine eyes be ever[more] toward the Lord; for he shall pull away [or pull up] my feet from the snare.

16 Behold thou to me, and have thou mercy on me; for I am one alone and poor.

17 The tribulations of mine heart be multiplied; deliver thou me of my needs.

18 See thou my meekness and my travail; and forgive thou all my tres-passes.

19 Behold thou mine enemies, for they be multiplied; and they hate me by wicked hatred.

20 Keep thou my soul, and deliver me; be I not ashamed, for I hoped in thee.

21 Innocent men and rightful cleaved to me; for I suffered thee.

22 God, deliver thou Israel; from all his tribulations.

PSALM 26

1 [The psalm of David.] Lord, deem thou me, for I entered in mine inno-cence; and I hoping in the Lord, shall not be made unsteadfast.

2 Lord, prove thou me, and assay me; burn thou my reins, and mine heart.

3 For why thy mercy is before mine eyes; and I pleased in thy truth.

4 I sat not with the counsel of vanity; and I shall not enter with men doing wicked things.

5 I hated the church of evil men; and I shall not sit with wicked men.

6 I shall wash mine hands among innocents; and, Lord, I shall compass thine altar.

7 That I hear the voice of praising; and that I tell out all thy marvels.

8 Lord, I have loved the fairness of thine house; and the place of the dwelling of thy glory.

9 God, lose thou not my soul with unfaithful men; and my life with men of bloods.

10 In whose hands wickednesses be; the right hand of them is full-filled with gifts.

11 But I entered in mine innocence; again-buy thou me, and have mercy on me.

12 My foot stood in rightfulness; Lord, I shall bless thee in churches.

PSALM 27

1 The holy prayer of David. The Lord is my lightening, and mine health; whom shall I dread? The Lord is defender of my life; for whom shall I tremble [or quake]?

2 The while noisome men nigh on me; for to eat my fleshes. Mine enemies, that troubled me; they were made sick and felled [or fell] down.

3 Though castles [or tents] stand together against me; mine heart shall not dread. Though battle riseth against me; in this thing I shall have hope.

4 I asked of the Lord one thing; I shall seek this thing; that I dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. That I see the will of the Lord; and that I visit his temple.

5 For he hid me in his tabernacle in the day of evils; he defended me in the hid place of his tabernacle. He enhanced me in a stone;

6 and now he enhanced mine head over mine enemies. I compassed, and offered in his tabernacle a sacrifice of crying [out]; I shall sing, and I shall say psalm to the Lord.

7 Lord, hear thou my voice, by which I cried to thee; have thou mercy on me, and hear me.

8 Mine heart said to thee, My face sought thee; Lord, I shall seek again thy face.

9 Turn thou not away thy face from me; bow thou not away in wrath from thy servant. Lord, be thou mine helper, forsake thou not me; and, God, mine health, despise thou not me.

10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me; but the Lord hath taken me up.

11 Lord, set thou a law to me in thy way; and dress thou me in a rightful [or right] path, for mine enemies.

12 Betake thou not me into the souls of them, that trouble me; for wicked witnesses have risen against me, and wickedness lied to itself.

13 I believe to see the goods of the Lord; in the land of living men.

14 Abide thou the Lord, do thou manly; and thine heart be comforted, and suffer thou for the Lord.

PSALM 28

1 To David. [The psalm to this David.] Lord, I shall cry to thee; my God, be thou not still from me, be thou not still any time from me; and I shall be made like to them, that go down into the pit.

2 Lord, hear thou the voice of my beseeching, while I pray to thee; while I raise mine hands toward thine holy temple.

3 Betake thou not me together with sinners; and lose thou not me with them that work wickedness. Which speak peace to their neighbours; but evils be in their hearts.

4 Give thou to them after the works of them; and after the wickedness of their findings. Give thou to them after the works of their hands; yield thou their yielding to them.

5 For they understood not the works of the Lord, and by the works of his hands thou shalt destroy them; and thou shalt not build them.

6 Blessed be the Lord; for he heard the voice of my beseeching.

7 The Lord is mine helper and my defender; and mine heart hoped in him, and I am helped. And my flesh flowered again; and of my will I shall acknowledge to him.

8 The Lord is the strength of his people; and he is the defender of the savings of his christ.

9 Lord, make thou safe thy people, and bless thou thine heritage; and rule thou them, and enhance thou them till into without end.

PSALM 29

1 The psalm of David. Ye sons of God, bring to the Lord; bring ye to the Lord, the sons of rams. Bring ye to the Lord glory and honour;

2 bring ye to the Lord glory to his name; praise ye the Lord in his holy large place.

3 The voice of the Lord on waters, God of majesty thundered; the Lord on many waters.

4 The voice of the Lord in virtue; the voice of the Lord in great doing.

5 The voice of the Lord breaking cedars; and the Lord shall break the cedars of Lebanon.

6 And he shall all-break them to dust, as a calf of the Lebanon; and the darling was as the son of an unicorn.

7 The voice of the Lord parting the flames of fire;

8 the voice of the Lord shaking desert; and the Lord shall stir altogether the desert of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the Lord making ready harts to calve, and he shall show thick things; and in his temple all men shall say glory.

10 The Lord maketh to inhabit the great flood; and the Lord shall sit King without end.

11 The Lord shall give virtue to his people; the Lord shall bless his people in peace.

PSALM 30

1 The psalm of[the]song, for the hallowing of the house of David. Lord, I shall enhance thee, for thou hast up-taken me; and thou delighted-est not mine enemies on me.

2 My Lord God, I cried to thee; and thou madest me whole.

3 Lord, thou leddest out my soul from hell; thou savedest me from them that go down into the pit.

4 Ye saints of the Lord, sing to the Lord; and acknowledge ye to the mind of his holiness.

5 For ire is in his indignation; and life is in his will. Weeping shall dwell at eventide; and gladness at the morrowtide.

6 Forsooth I said in my plenty; I shall not be moved without end.

7 Lord, in thy will; thou hast given virtue to my fairness. Thou turnedest away thy face from me; and I am made troubled.

8 Lord, I shall cry to thee; and I shall pray to my God.

9 What profit is in my blood; while I go down into corruption? Whether dust shall acknowledge to thee; either it shall tell of thy truth?

10 The Lord heard, and had mercy on me; the Lord is made mine helper.

11 Thou hast turned my wailing into joy to me; thou hast rent my sack-cloth, and hast encompassed me with gladness.

12 That my glory sing to thee, and I be not compunct; my Lord God, I shall acknowledge to thee without end.

PSALM 31

1 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, I have hoped in thee, be I not shamed without end; deliver thou me in thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

2 Bow down thine ear to me; haste thou to deliver me. Be thou to me into God a defender, and into an house of refuge; that thou make me safe.

3 For thou art my strength and my refuge; and for thy name, thou shalt lead me forth, and shalt nourish me.

4 Thou shalt lead me out of the snare, which they hid to me; for thou art my defender.

5 I betake my spirit into thine hands; Lord God of truth, thou hast again-bought me.

6 Thou hatest them that keep vanities superfluously. Forsooth I hoped in the Lord;

7 I shall have fully joy, and shall be glad in thy mercy. For thou beheldest my meekness; thou savedest my life from needs.

8 And thou enclosedest not me altogether within the hands of the enemy; thou hast set my feet in a large place.

9 Lord, have thou mercy on me, for I am troubled; mine eye is troubled in ire, my soul and my womb also.

10 For why my life failed in sorrow; and my years in wailings. My virtue is made feeble in poverty; and my bones be troubled.

11 Over all mine enemies I am made a shame, [and] greatly to my neighbours; and dread to my known. They that saw me withoutforth, fled from me;

12 I am given to forgetting, as a dead man from the heart. I am made as a forlorn vessel;

13 for I heard despising of many men dwelling in compass. In that thing while they came together against me; they counselled to take my life.

14 But, Lord, I hoped in thee; I said, Thou art my God;

15 my times be in thine hands. Deliver thou me from the hands of mine enemies; and from them that pursue me.

16 Make thou clear thy face on thy servant; Lord, make thou me safe in thy mercy;

17 be I not shamed, for I inwardly called thee. Unpious men be ashamed, and be they led forth into hell;

18 guileful lips be made dumb. That speak wickedness against a just [or rightwise] man; in pride, and in mis-using or in abusing.

19 Lord, the multitude of thy sweet-ness is full great; which thou hast hid to men dreading thee. Thou hast made a perfect thing to them that hope in thee; in the sight of the sons of men.

20 Thou shalt hide them in the private of thy face; from [the] troubling of men. Thou shalt defend them in thy tabernacle; from [the] against-saying of tongues.

21 Blessed be the Lord; for he hath made wonderful his mercy to me in a strengthened city.

22 Forsooth I said in the out-passing of my soul; I am cast out from the face of thine eyes. Therefore thou heardest the voice of my prayer; while I cried to thee.

23 All ye holy men of the Lord, love him; for the Lord shall seek truth, and he shall yield plenteously to them that do pride.

24 All ye that hope in the Lord, do ye manly; and your heart be comforted.

PSALM 32

1 Learning to David. [The under-standing of David.] Blessed be they, whose wickedness be forgiven; and whose sins be covered.

2 Blessed is the man, to whom the Lord areckoned not sin; neither guile is in his spirit.

3 For I was still, my bones waxed eld; while I cried all day.

4 For by day and night thine hand was made grievous on me; I am turned in my wretchedness, while the thorn is set in.

5 I made my sin known to thee; and I hid not my unrightfulness. I said, I shall acknowledge against me mine unrightfulness to the Lord; and thou hast forgiven the wickedness of my sin.

6 For this thing each holy man shall pray to thee; in covenable time. Nevertheless in the great flood of many waters; they shall not nigh to thee.

7 Thou art my refuge from tribulation, that encompassed me; thou, my fully joying [or full out joy], deliver me from them that encompass me.

8 I shall give understanding to thee, and I shall teach thee; in this way in which thou shalt go, I shall make steadfast mine eyes on thee.

9 Do not ye be made as an horse and mule; to which is none under-standing. Lord, constrain thou the cheeks of them with a barnacle and bridle; that they nigh not to thee.

10 Many beatings be of the sinner; but mercy shall encompass him that hopeth in the Lord.

11 Ye just [or rightwise] men, be glad, and make fully joy in the Lord; and all ye rightful of heart, have glory.

PSALM 33

1 Ye just [or rightwise] men, have fully joy [or full out joyeth] in the Lord; praising altogether becometh rightful [or right] men.

2 Acknowledge ye to the Lord in an harp; sing ye to him in a psaltery of ten strings.

3 Sing ye to him a new song; say ye well psalm to him in crying [out].

4 For the word of the Lord is rightful [or right]; and all his works be in faithfulness.

5 He loveth mercy and doom; the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.

6 Heavens be made steadfast by the word of the Lord; and all the virtue of those [or them] by the spirit of his mouth.

7 And he gathered together the waters of the sea as in a bouget or a bottle; and he setteth deep waters in treasures.

8 All earth dread the Lord; soothly all men inhabiting the world be moved of him.

9 For he said, and things were made; he commanded, and things were made of nought.

10 The Lord destroyeth the counsels of folks, forsooth he reproveth the thoughts of peoples; and he reproveth the counsels of princes.

11 But the counsel of the Lord dwelleth without end; the thoughts of his heart dwell in generation and into generation.

12 Blessed is the folk, whose Lord is his God; the people which he chose into heritage to himself.

13 The Lord beheld from heaven; he saw all the sons of men.

14 From his dwelling place made ready before; he beheld on all men, that inhabit the earth.

15 Which made singularly, either each by himself, the souls of them; which understandeth all the works of them.

16 A king is not saved by much virtue, that is, strength; and a giant shall not be saved in the muchliness of his virtue.

17 An horse is false to health; for-sooth he shall not be saved in the abundance, either plenty, of his virtue.

18 Lo! the eyes of the Lord be on men dreading him; and in them that hope in his mercy.

19 That he deliver their souls from death; and feed them in hunger.

20 Our soul suffereth the Lord, that is, abideth patiently his will; for he is our helper and defender.

21 For our heart shall be glad in him; and we shall have hope in his holy name.

22 Lord, thy mercy be made on us; as we hoped in thee.

PSALM 34

1 To David, when he changed his mouth, or his word, before Abimelech, and he drove out David, and he went forth. [The psalm of David, when he changed his cheer before Abimelech, and he let him go, and he went away.] I shall bless the Lord in all time; ever[more] his praising be in my mouth.

2 My soul shall be praised in the Lord; mild men hear, and be glad.

3 Magnify ye the Lord with me; and enhance we his name into itself.

4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me; and he delivered me from all my tribulations.

5 Nigh ye to him, and be ye lighten-ed; and your faces shall not be shamed.

6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him; and saved him from all his tribulations.

7 The angel of the Lord sendeth in the compass of men dreading him; and he shall deliver them.

8 Taste ye, and see, for the Lord is sweet; blessed is the man, that hopeth in him.

9 All ye holy men of the Lord, dread ye him; for no neediness is to men dreading him.

10 Rich men were needy, and were hungry; but men that seek the Lord shall not fail of all good.

11 Come, ye sons, hear ye me; I shall teach you the dread of the Lord.

12 Who is the man, that willeth or desireth life; that loveth to see good days?

13 Forbid thy tongue from evil; and thy lips speak not guile.

14 Turn thou away from evil, and do good; seek thou peace, and perfectly pursue thou it.

15 The eyes of the Lord be on just [or rightwise] men; and his ears be to their prayers.

16 But the cheer of the Lord is on men doing evils; that he lose the mind the memory of them from [the] earth.

17 Just [or rightwise] men cried, and the Lord heard them; and delivered them from all their tribulations.

18 The Lord is nigh [to] them that be of troubled heart; and he shall save meek men in spirit.

19 Many tribulations be of just [or rightwise] men; and the Lord shall deliver them from all these [or them].

20 The Lord keepeth all the bones of them; one of those [or them] shall not be broken.

21 The death of sinners is worst; and they that hate a just [or rightwise] man shall trespass.

22 The Lord shall again-buy the souls of his servants; and all, that hope in him, shall not trespass.

PSALM 35

1 To David. [The psalm of David.] Lord, deem thou them, that annoy me; overcome thou them, that fight against me.

2 Take thou armours and shield; and rise up into help to me.

3 Hold out the sword, and close altogether the way against them that pursue me; say thou to my soul, I am thine health.

4 They that seek my life; be shamed, and ashamed. They that think evils to me; be turned away backward, and be they shamed.

5 Be they made as dust before the face of the wind; and the angel of the Lord make them strait.

6 Their way be made darkness, and sliderness; and the angel of the Lord pursue them.

7 For without cause they hid to me the death of their snare; in vain they despised my soul.

8 The snare which he knoweth not come to him, and the taking which he hid take him; and fall he into the snare in that thing.

9 But my soul shall fully have joy in the Lord; and shall delight on his health.

10 All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like thee? Thou deliverest a poor man from the hand of his stronger; a needy man and poor from them that diversely ravish him.

11 Wicked witnesses rising asked me things, which I knew not.

12 They yielded to me evils for goods; barrenness to my soul.

13 But when they were dis-easeful to me; I was clothed in an hair-shirt. I meeked my soul in fasting; and my prayer shall be turned into my bosom.

14 I pleased so as our neighbour, as our brother; I was made meek, so as mourning and sorrowful.

15 And they were glad, and came together against me; torments were gathered on me, and I knew it not. They were scattered, and not compunct;

16 they tempted me, they scorned me with mocking, they gnashed on me with their teeth.

17 Lord, when thou shalt behold, restore thou my soul from the wicked-ness of them; mine one alone from lions.

18 I shall acknowledge to thee in a great church; I shall praise thee in a firm people.

19 They that be adversaries wickedly to me, have not joy on me; that hate me without cause, and beckon with eyes.

20 For soothly they spake not peace-ably to me; and they speaking in wrath-fulness of [the] earth, thought guiles.

21 And they made large their mouth on me; they said, Well, well! our eyes have seen.

22 Lord, thou hast seen, be thou not still; Lord, depart thou not from me.

23 Rise up, and give attention to my doom; my God and my Lord, behold into my cause.

24 My Lord God, deem thou me by thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and have they not joy on me.

25 Say they not in their hearts, Well, well, to our soul; neither say they, We shall devour him.

26 Shame they, and dread they together; that joy for mine evils. Be they clothed with shame and dread; that speak evil things on me.

27 Have they full joy, and be they glad, that will or desire my rightful-ness [or rightwiseness]; and say they ever[more], The Lord be magnified, which desire the peace of his servant.

28 And my tongue shall bethink thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; all day thy praising.

PSALM 36

1 To victory, to David[or the psalm of David], the servant of the Lord. The unjust man said, that he trespass in himself; the dread of God is not before his eyes.

2 For he did guilefully in the sight of God; that his wickedness be found to be hatred.

3 The words of his mouth be wickedness and guile; he would not understand to do well.

4 He thought wickedness in his bed; he stood nigh all ways not good; forsooth he hated not malice.

5 Lord, thy mercy is in heaven; and thy truth is unto [the] clouds.

6 Thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness]is as the hills of God; thy dooms be as much depth of waters. Lord, thou shalt save men and beasts;

7 as thou, God, hast multiplied thy mercy. But the sons of men shall hope in the covering of thy wings.

8 They shall be filled greatly of the plenty of thine house; and thou shalt give drink to them of the stiff stream of thy liking [or thy delight].

9 For the well of life is with thee; and in thy light we shall see light.

10 Lord, set forth thy mercy to them that know thee; and thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness] to them that be of rightful [or right] heart.

11 The foot of pride come not to me; and the hand of the sinner move me not.

12 There they have fallen down, that work wickedness; they be cast out, and might not stand.

PSALM 37

1 To David. [The psalm of David.] Do not thou pursue [or follow] wicked men; neither love thou men doing wickedness.

2 For they shall wax dry swiftly as hay; and they shall fall down soon as the worts of herbs.

3 Hope thou in the Lord, and do thou goodness; and inhabit thou the land, and thou shalt be fed with his riches.

4 Delight thou in the Lord; and he shall give to thee the askings of thine heart.

5 Show thy way to the Lord; and hope in him, and he shall do.

6 And he shall lead out thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness] as light, and thy doom as midday;

7 be thou subject to the Lord, and pray thou him. Do not thou pursue [or follow] him, that hath prosperity in his way; nor a man doing unright-fulness.

8 Cease thou of ire, and forsake strong vengeance; do not thou pursue [or follow], that thou do wickedly.

9 For they, that do wickedly, shall be destroyed; but they that suffer the Lord, shall inherit the land.

10 And yet a little, and a sinner shall not be; and thou shalt seek his place, and thou shalt not find it.

11 But mild men shall inherit the land; and shall delight in the multitude of peace.

12 A sinner shall ambush the rightful [or rightwise] man; and he shall gnash with his teeth on him.

13 But the Lord shall scorn the sinner; for he beholdeth that his day cometh.

14 Sinners have drawn out sword; they bent their bow. To deceive a poor man and needy; to strangle rightful [or right] men of heart.

15 Their sword enter into the heart of themselves; and their bow be broken.

16 Better is a little thing to a just [or rightwise] man; than many riches of sinners.

17 For the arms of sinners shall be all-broken; but the Lord confirmeth just [or rightwise] men.

18 The Lord knoweth the days of [the] unwemmed; and their heritage shall be without end.

19 They shall not be shamed in the evil time, and they shall be [ful] filled in the days of hunger;

20 for sinners shall perish. Forsooth anon as the enemies of the Lord be honoured, and enhanced; they failing shall fail as smoke.

21 A sinner shall borrow, and shall not pay back; but a just [or rightwise] man hath mercy, and shall give.

22 For they that bless the Lord shall inherit the land; but they that curse him shall perish.

23 The goings of a man shall be dressed with the Lord; and he shall delight in his way.

24 When he falleth, he shall not be hurtled or hurled down; for the Lord undersetteth his hand.

25 I was younger, and soothly I waxed eld; and I saw not a just [or rightwise] man forsaken, neither his seed seeking bread.

26 All day he hath mercy, and lendeth; and his seed shall be in blessing.

27 Bow thou away from evil, and do good; and dwell thou into the world of world.

28 For the Lord loveth doom, and shall not forsake his saints; they shall be kept without end. Unjust men shall be punished; and the seed of wicked men shall perish.

29 But just [or rightwise] men shall inherit the land; and shall inhabit thereon into the world of world.

30 The mouth of a just [or rightwise] man shall bethink wisdom; and his tongue shall speak doom.

31 The law of his God is in his heart; and his steps shall not be deceived.

32 A sinner beholdeth a just [or right-wise] man; and seeketh to slay him.

33 But the Lord shall not forsake him in his hands; neither he shall condemn him, when it shall be deemed against him.

34 Abide thou the Lord, and keep thou his way, and he shall enhance thee, that by heritage thou take the land; when sinners shall perish, thou shalt see.

35 I saw the wicked man enhanced above; and raised up as the cedars of Lebanon.

36 And I passed by, and lo! he was not there; I sought him, and his place was not found.

37 Keep thou innocence, and see equity; for those [or they] be relics or remnants to a peaceable man.

38 Forsooth unjust men shall perish; the remnants or relics of wicked men shall perish altogether.

39 But the health of just [or rightwise] men is of the Lord; and he is their defender in the time of tribulation.

40 And the Lord shall help them, and shall make them free, and he shall deliver them from sinners; and he shall save them, for they hoped in him.

PSALM 38

1 The psalm of David, to bethink on the sabbath. Lord, reprove thou not me in thy strong vengeance; neither chastise thou me in thine ire.

2 For thine arrows be fixed in me; and thou hast made steadfast thine hand on me.

3 None health is in my flesh from the face of thine ire; no peace is to my bones from the face of my sins.

4 For my wickednesses be gone over mine head; as an heavy burden, those [or they] be made heavy on me.

5 Mine healed wounds were rotten, and be broken; from the face of mine unwisdom.

6 I am made a wretch, and I am bowed down till into the end; all day I entered sorrowful.

7 For my loins be filled with scorn-ings; and health is not in my flesh.

8 I am tormented, and made low full greatly; I roared for the wailing of mine heart.

9 Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my wailing is not hid from thee.

10 Mine heart is troubled in me, my virtue forsook me; and the light of mine eyes, and it is not with me.

11 My friends and my neighbours nighed; and stood against me. And they that were beside me stood afar;

12 and they did violence, that sought my life. And they that sought evils to me, spake vanities; and thought guiles [or treacheries] all day.

13 But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and as a dumb man not opening his mouth.

14 And I am made as a man not hearing; and not having reprovings in his mouth.

15 For, Lord, I hoped in thee; my Lord God, thou shalt hear me.

16 For I said, Hear me, Lest any time mine enemies have joy on me; and the while my feet be moved/and while my feet were moved, they spake great things on me.

17 For I am ready to beatings; and my sorrow is ever[more] in my sight.

18 For I shall tell my wickedness; and I shall think for my sin.

19 But mine enemies live, and they be confirmed on me; and they be multiplied, that hate me wickedly.

20 They that yield evils for goods, backbited me; for I pursued [or followed] goodness.

21 My Lord God, forsake thou not me; go thou not away from me.

22 Lord God of mine health; behold thou into mine help.

PSALM 39

1 For victory, to Jeduthun, the psalm of David. I said, I shall keep my ways; that I trespass not in my tongue. I setted [or put] keeping to my mouth; when a sinner stood against me.

2 I was dumb, and I was meeked full greatly, and was still, even from goods; and my sorrow was renewed.

3 Mine heart was hot within me; and fire shall burn out in my thinking. I spake in my tongue;

4 Lord, make thou mine end known to me. And the number of my days, what it is; that I know, what faileth to me.

5 Lo! thou hast set [or put] my days measurable; and my substance is as nought before thee. Nevertheless all vanity; each man living.

6 Nevertheless a man passeth in an image; but also he is troubled vainly. He treasureth; and he know not, to whom he shall gather those things.

7 And now which is mine abiding? whether not the Lord? and my substance is at thee.

8 Deliver thou me from all my wickednesses; thou hast given me as a shame to the unknowing.

9 I was dumb, and opened not my mouth; for thou hast made this happen,

10 remove thou thy wounds from me. From the strength of thine hand I failed in blamings;

11 for wickedness thou hast chastised [a] man. And thou madest his life to fail as a spider; nevertheless each man is troubled in vain.

12 Lord, hear thou my prayer, and my beseeching; perceive thou with ears my tears. Be thou not still, for I am a comeling with thee; and a pilgrim, as all my fathers.

13 Forgive thou to me, that I be refreshed, before that I go; and I shall no more be.

PSALM 40

1 For victory, the psalm of David. I abiding abode the Lord; and he gave attention to me. And he heard my prayers;

2 and he led out me from the pit of wretchedness, and from the filth of dregs. And he ordained my feet on a stone; and he dressed my goings.

3 And he sent into my mouth a new song; a song to our God. Many men shall see, and dread; and shall hope in the Lord.

4 Blessed is the man, of whom the name of the Lord is his hope; and he beheld not into vanities, and into false vengeances.

5 My Lord God, thou hast made thy marvels many; and in thy thoughts none is, that is like thee toward us. I told and I spake; and they be multiplied above number.

6 Thou wouldest or desiredest not sacrifice and offering; but thou madest perfectly ears to me. Thou askedest not burnt sacrifice, and other sacrifice for sin;

7 then I said, Lo! I come. In the head of the book it is written of me,

8 that I should do thy will; my God, I would also to do it; and thy law in the midst of mine heart.

9 I told thy rightfulness [or rightwise-ness] in a great church; lo! I shall not refrain my lips, Lord, thou knewest.

10 I hid not thy rightfulness [or right-wiseness] in mine heart; I said thy truth and thine health. I hid not thy mercy, and thy truth, from a much council.

11 But thou, Lord, make not far thy merciful doings from me; thy mercy and truth ever[more] take me up.

12 For why evils, of which is no number, encompassed me; my wicked-nesses have taken me, and I might not, that I should see. Those [or They] be multiplied above the hairs of mine head; and mine heart forsook me.

13 Lord, please it to thee, that thou deliver me; Lord, behold thou to help me*.

14 Be they shamed, and ashamed together; that seek my life, to take away it. Be they turned aback, and be they shamed or ashamed; that will or desire evils to me.

15 Bear they their confusion anon; that say to me, Well! well! in scorn.

16 All men that seek thee, be fully joyful [or full out joy], and be glad in thee; and say they, that love thine health, The Lord be magnified ever-[more].

17 Forsooth I am a beggar and poor; the Lord is busy of me. Thou art mine helper and my defender; my God, tarry thou not.

PSALM 41

1 For victory, the song of David. Blessed is he that understandeth of the needy man and poor; the Lord shall deliver him in the evil day.

2 The Lord keep him, and quicken him, and make him blessful in the land; and betake not him into the will of his enemies.

3 The Lord shall bear help to him on the bed of his sorrow; thou hast oft turned all his bedstraw in his sickness.

4 I said, Lord, have thou mercy on me; heal thou my soul, for I have sinned against thee.

5 Mine enemies said evils to me; When shall he die, and his name shall perish?

6 And if he entered for to see me, he spake vain things; his heart gathered wickedness to himself. He went with-outforth; and spake to the same thing or the same end.

7 All mine enemies backbited privily against me; against me they thought evils to me.

8 They ordained an evil word against me; Whether he that sleepeth, shall not lie to, that he rise again?

9 For why the man of my peace, in whom I hoped, he that ate my loaves; made great deceit on me.

10 But thou, Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again; and I shall yield to them.

11 In this thing I knew, that thou wouldest or delightest in me; for mine enemy shall not have joy on me.

12 Forsooth thou hast taken me up for mine innocence; and hast confirmed me in thy sight without end.

13 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, from the world, and into the world; be it done, be it done.

PSALM 42

1 To victory, [by the understanding], to the sons of Korah. As an hart desireth to the wells of waters; so thou, God, my soul desireth to thee.

2 My soul thirsted to God, the quick well or well of life; when shall I come, and appear before the face of God?

3 My tears were loaves to me day and night; while it is said to me each day, Where is thy God?

4 I bethought of these things, and I poured out in me my soul; for I shall pass into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, till to the house of God. In the voice of full out joying, and ac-knowledging; is the sound of the eater.

5 My soul, why art thou sorry; and why troublest thou me? Hope thou in God, for yet I shall acknowledge to him; he is the health of my cheer, and my God.

6 My soul is troubled within myself; therefore, God, I shall be mindful of thee from the land of Jordan, and from the little hill of Hermonites.

7 Depth calleth depth; in the voice of thy windows. All thine high things, and thy waves; passed over me.

8 The Lord sent his mercy in the day; and his song in the night. With me is the prayer to God of my life;

9 I shall say to God, Thou art mine up-taker. Why forgettest thou me; and why go I sorrowful, while the enemy tormenteth me?

10 While my bones be broken altogether; mine enemies, that trouble me, despised me. While they say to me, by all days; Where is thy God?

11 My soul, why art thou sorry; and why troublest thou me? Hope thou in God, for yet I shall acknowledge to him; he is the health of my cheer, and my God.

PSALM 43

1 God, deem thou me, and separate thou my cause from a folk not holy; deliver thou me from a wicked man, and guileful [or treacherous].

2 For thou art God, my strength; why hast thou put me aback, and why go I sorrowful, while the enemy tormenteth me?

3 Send out thy light, and thy truth; those led me forth, and brought me into thine holy hill, and into thy tabernacles.

4 And I shall enter to the altar of God; to God, that gladdeth my youth. God, my God, I shall acknowledge to thee in an harp;

5 my soul, why art thou sorry, and why troublest thou me? Hope thou in God, for yet I shall acknowledge to him; that is the health of my cheer, and my God.

PSALM 44

1 To victory, learning to the sons of Korah. God, we heard with our ears; our fathers told to us. The work, which thou wroughtest in the days of them; and in the old days.

2 Thine hand lost heathen men, and thou plantedest them; thou tormentedest peoples, and castedest them out.

3 For the children of Israel wielded the land not by their sword; and the arm of them saved not them. But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the lightening of thy cheer; for thou were pleased in them.

4 Thou art thyself, my king, and my God; that sendest healths to Jacob.

5 By thee we shall winnow our enemies with [the] horn; and in thy name we shall despise them, that rise against us.

6 For I shall not hope in my bow; and my sword shall not save me.

7 For thou hast saved us from men tormenting us; and thou hast shamed men hating us.

8 We shall be pleased in God all day; and in thy name we shall acknowledge to thee into the world.

9 But now thou hast put us aback, and hast shamed us; and thou, Lord, shalt not go out in our virtues.

10 Thou hast turned us away behind after our enemies; and they, that hated us, ravished diversely to themselves.

11 Thou hast given us as sheep of meats; and among heathen men thou hast scattered us.

12 Thou hast sold thy people without price; and multitude there was not in the exchangings of them.

13 Thou hast set [or put] us as a shame to our neighbours; mocking and scorn to them that be in our compass.

14 Thou hast set [or put] us into like-ness to heathen men; and wagging of the head among peoples.

15 All day my shame is against me; and the shame of my face covered me.

16 From the voice of [the] despiser, and evil speaker; from the face of the enemy, and [the] pursuer.

17 All these things came on us, and we have not forgotten thee; and we did not wickedly in thy testament.

18 And our heart went not away behind; and thou hast not bowed away our paths from thy way.

19 For thou hast made us low in the place of torment; and the shadow of death covered us.

20 If we forgat the name of our God; and if we held forth our hands to an alien God.

21 Whether God shall not seek these things? for he knoweth the hid things of heart.

22 For why we be slain all day for thee; we be deemed as sheep of slaying.

23 Lord, rise up, why sleepest thou? rise up, and put not us away into the end.

24 Why turnest thou away thy face? thou forgettest our poverty, and our tribulation.

25 For our life is made low in dust; our womb is glued together in the earth.

26 Lord, rise up thou, and help us; and again-buy us for thy name.

PSALM 45

1 To the overcomer, for the lilies, the most loved song of learning of the sons of Korah. Mine heart hath told out a good word; I say my works to the king. My tongue is the pen of a writer; writing swiftly.

2 Christ, thou art fairer in shape than the sons of men; grace is spread abroad in thy lips; therefore God blessed thee without end.

3 Be thou gird with thy sword; on thy hip most mightily. Behold thou in thy shapeliness and thy fairness;

4 come thou forth with prosperity, and reign thou. For truth, and mildness, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and thy right hand shall lead forth thee wonderfully.

5 Thy sharp arrows shall fall into the hearts of the enemies of the king; peoples shall be under thee.

6 God, thy seat is into the world of world; the rod of thy realm is a rod of right ruling, or of equity.

7 Thou lovedest rightfulness [or right-wiseness], and hatedest wickedness; therefore thou, God, thy God, anointed thee with the oil of gladness, more than thy fellows.

8 Myrrh, and gum, and cassia, of thy clothes, out of the ivory houses or the houses of ivory; of which the daughters of kings delighted thee.

9 A queen stood nigh on thy right side, in clothing overgilded; compassed with diversity.

10 Daughter, hear thou, and see, and bow down thine ear; and forget thy people, and the house of thy father.

11 And the king shall covet thy fair-ness; for he is thy Lord God, and they shall worship him.

12 And the daughters of Tyre in gifts; all the rich men of the people shall beseech thy cheer.

13 All the glory of that daughter of the king is within, adorned in golden hems;

14 she is clothed about with diversities. Virgins shall be brought to the king after her; her neighbouresses shall be brought to thee.

15 They shall be brought in gladness, and full out joying; they shall be brought into the temple of the king.

16 Sons be born to thee, for thy fathers; thou shalt ordain them princes on all earth.

17 Lord, they shall be mindful of thy name; in each generation, and into generation. Therefore peoples shall acknowledge to thee without end; and into the world of world.

PSALM 46

1 To the overcomer, the song of the sons of Korah, for youths. Our God, thou art refuge, and virtue; helper in tribulations, that have found us greatly.

2 Therefore we shall not dread, while the earth shall be troubled; and the hills shall be borne over into the heart of the sea.

3 The waters of them sounded, and were troubled; hills were troubled altogether in the strength of him.

4 The fierceness of [the] flood maketh glad the city of God; the highest God hath hallowed his tabernacle.

5 God in the midst thereof shall not be moved; God shall help it early in the gray morrowtide.

6 Heathen men were troubled alto-gether, and realms were bowed down; God gave his voice, the earth was moved.

7 The Lord of virtues is with us; God of Jacob is our up-taker.

8 Come ye, and see the works of the Lord; which wonders he hath set on the earth.

9 He doing away battles till to the end of the land; shall all-bruise bow, and he shall break altogether armours [or arms], and he shall burn shields with fire.

10 Give ye attention, and see ye, that I am God; I shall be enhanced among heathen men; and I shall be enhanced in earth.

11 The Lord of virtues is with us; God of Jacob is our up-taker.

PSALM 47

1 To victory, a psalm to the sons of Korah. All ye folks, make joy with hands; sing ye heartily to God in the voice of full out joying.

2 For the Lord is high and fearedful; a great king on all earth.

3 He made peoples subject to us; and heathen men under our feet.

4 He chose his heritage to us; the fairness of Jacob, whom he loved.

5 God ascended in hearty song; and the Lord in the voice of a trump.

6 Sing ye to our God, sing ye; sing ye to our king, sing ye.

7 For God is king of all earth; sing ye [psalm] wisely.

8 God shall reign on heathen men; God sitteth on his holy seat.

9 The princes of peoples be gath-ered together with God of Abraham; for the strong gods of earth be raised greatly.

PSALM 48

1 The song of psalm, of the sons of Korah. The Lord is great, and worthy to be praised full much; in the city of our God, in the holy hill of him.

2 It is founded in the full out joying of all earth; the hill of Zion, the sides of the north, the city of the great king.

3 God shall be known in the houses thereof; when he shall take it.

4 For lo! the kings of earth were gathered together; they came into one place.

5 They seeing, so wondered; they were troubled, they were moved altogether,

6 trembling took them. There sorrows, as of a woman travailing of child;

7 in a great spirit thou shalt all-break the ships of Tarshish.

8 As we heard, so we saw, in the city of the Lord of virtues, in the city of our God; God hath founded that city without end.

9 God, we have received thy mercy; in the midst of thy temple.

10 After thy name, God, so thy praising is spread abroad into the ends of earth; thy right hand is full of rightwiseness.

11 The hill of Zion be glad, and the daughters of Judah be fully joyful [or full out joy]; for thy dooms, Lord.

12 Compass ye Zion, and embrace ye it; tell ye in the towers thereof.

13 Set ye your hearts in the virtue of him; and part ye the houses of him, that ye tell out in another generation.

14 For this is God, our God, into without end, and into the world of world; he shall govern us into worlds.

PSALM 49

1 To victory, a psalm to the sons of Korah. All ye folks, hear these things; all ye that dwell in the world, perceive with ears.

2 All the sons of earth, and the sons of men; together the rich man, and the poor into one.

3 My mouth shall speak wisdom; and the thinking of mine heart shall speak prudence.

4 I shall bow down mine ear into a parable; I shall open my reason set forth in a psaltery.

5 Why shall I dread in the evil day? the wickedness of mine heel shall encompass me.

6 Which trust in their own virtue; and have glory in the multitude of their riches.

7 A brother again-buyeth not, shall a man again-buy? and he shall not give to God his pleasing.

8 And he shall not be able to give the price of ransom for his soul; and he shall travail into without end,

9 and he shall live yet into the end. He shall not see perishing,

10 when he shall see wise men dying; the unwise man and the fool shall perish together. And they shall leave their riches to aliens;

11 and the sepulchres of them be the houses of them without end. The tabernacles of them be in generation and in generation; they called their names in their lands.

12 A man/Man, when he was in honour, understood not; he is compar-isoned to unwise beasts, and is made like to those [or them].

13 This way of them is cause of stumbling to them; and afterward they shall please altogether in their mouth.

14 As sheep they be put in hell; death shall gnaw them. And just men shall be lords of them in the morrow-tide; and the help of them shall wax eld [or old] in hell, for or from the glory of them.

15 Nevertheless God shall again-buy my soul from the power of hell; when he shall take me.

16 Dread thou not, when a man is made rich; and when the glory of his house is multiplied.

17 For when he shall die, he shall not take all things with him; and his glory shall not go down with him.

18 For his soul shall be blessed in his life; he shall acknowledge to thee, when thou hast done well to him.

19 He shall enter till into the gener-ations of his fathers; and till into with-out end he shall not see light.

20 A man/Man, when he was in honour, understood not; he is com-parisoned to unwise beasts, and is made like to those [or them].

PSALM 50

1 The psalm of Asaph. God, the Lord of gods or God of gods, spake; and called the earth, from the rising of the sun till to the going down.

2 The shape of his fairness from Zion, God shall come openly;

3 our God, and he shall not be still. Fire shall burn on high in his sight; and a strong tempest in his compass.

4 He called heaven above; and the earth, to witness him deem his people.

5 Gather ye to him his saints; that ordain his testament above sacrifices.

6 And heavens shall show his rightwiseness or tell his rightfulness; for God is the judge.

7 My people, hear thou, and I shall speak to Israel; and I shall witness to thee, I am God, thy God.

8 I shall not reprove thee in thy sacrifices; and thy burnt sacrifices be ever[more] before me.

9 I shall not take calves of thine house; neither goat bucks of thy flocks.

10 For all the wild beasts of woods be mine; work beasts, and oxes [or oxen] in hills.

11 I have known all the volatiles of the firmament; and the fairness of the field is with me.

12 If I shall be hungry, I shall not say to thee; for the world and the fullness thereof is mine.

13 Whether I shall eat the flesh of bulls? either shall I drink the blood of goat bucks?

14 Offer thou to God the sacrifice of praising; and yield thine avows [or vows] to the highest God.

15 And inwardly call thou me in the day of tribulation; and I shall deliver thee, and thou shalt honour me.

16 But God said to the sinner, Why tellest thou out my rightfulnesses; and takest my testament by thy mouth?

17 Soothly thou hatedest lore, or discipline; and hast cast away my words behind thee.

18 If thou sawest a thief, thou rannest with him; and thou settedest thy part with adulterers.

19 Thy mouth was plenteous of malice; and thy tongue meddled together guiles [or treacheries].

20 Thou sitting spakest against thy brother, and thou settedest slander against the son of thy mother;

21 thou didest these things, and I was still. Thou guessedest wickedly, that I shall be like thee; I shall reprove thee, and I shall set against thy face.

22 Ye that forget God, understand these things; lest sometime he ravish, and none be that shall deliver.

23 The sacrifice of praising shall honour me; and there is the way, wherein I shall show to him the health of God.

PSALM 51

1 To victory, the psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, when he entered to Bathsheba. God, have thou mercy on me; by thy great mercy. And by the muchliness of thy merciful doings; do thou away my wickedness.

2 Moreover wash thou me from my wickedness; and cleanse thou me from my sin.

3 For I acknowledge my wickedness; and my sin is ever[more] against me.

4 I have sinned to thee alone, and I have done evil before thee; that thou be justified in thy words, and overcome when thou art deemed.

5 For lo! I was conceived in wicked-nesses; and my mother conceived me in sins.

6 For lo! thou lovedest truth; thou hast showed to me the uncertain things, and privy things of thy wisdom.

7 Lord, sprinkle thou me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; wash thou me, and I shall be made white more than snow.

8 Give thou joy, and gladness to mine hearing; and bones made meek shall full out make joy.

9 Turn away thy face from my sins; and do away all my wickednesses.

10 God, make thou a clean heart in me; and make thou new a rightful spirit in my entrails.

11 Cast thou me not away from thy face; and take thou not away from me thine holy spirit.

12 Give thou to me the gladness of thine health; and confirm thou me with the principal spirit.

13 I shall teach wicked men thy ways; and unfaithful men shall be converted to thee.

14 God, the God of mine health, deliver thou me from bloods, or sins; and my tongue shall joyfully sing of thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

15 Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall tell thy praising.

16 For if thou haddest would or desired sacrifice, I had given it; truly thou shalt not delight in burnt sacrifice.

17 A sacrifice to God is a spirit troubled, that is, sorry for sin; God, thou shalt not despise a contrite heart, and made meek.

18 Lord, do thou benignly in thy good will to Zion; that the walls of Jerusalem be builded.

19 Then thou shalt take pleasantly the sacrifice of rightfulness [or rightwise-ness], offerings, and burnt sacrifices; then they shall put calves on thine altar.

PSALM 52

1 To victory, the psalm of David, when Doeg the Idumaean came, and told to Saul, and said to him, David came into the house of Ahimelech. What hast thou glory in malice; which art mighty in wickedness?

2 All day thy tongue thought unright-fulness; as a sharp razor thou hast done guile [or treachery].

3 Thou lovedest malice more than benignity; and wickedness more than to speak equity.

4 Thou lovedest all words of casting down; with a guileful [or treacherous] tongue.

5 Therefore God shall destroy thee into the end, he shall draw thee out by the root, and he shall make thee to pass away from thy tabernacle; and thy root from the land of living men.

6 Just [or Rightwise] men shall see, and shall dread; and they shall laugh on him,

7 and they shall say, Lo! the man that setted [or put] not God his helper. But he hoped in the multitude of his riches; and had mastery in his vanity.

8 Forsooth I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God; hoped in the mercy of God without end, and into the world of world.

9 I shall acknowledge to thee into the world, for thou hast done mercy to me; and I shall abide thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.

PSALM 53

1 To the overcomer, by the quire or choir, the learning of David. The unwise man said in his heart, God is not. They be corrupt, and made abom-inable in their wickednesses; none is that doeth good*.

2 God beheld from heaven on the sons of men; that he see, if there is any understanding, either seeking God.

3 All bowed away, they be made unprofitable altogether; none is that doeth good, there is not till to one.

4 Whether all men, that work wicked-ness, shall not know; which devour my people, as the meat of bread? They called not God;

5 there they trembled for dread, where no dread was. For God hath scattered the bones of them, that please men; they be shamed, for God hath forsaken them.

6 Who shall give from Zion health to Israel? when the Lord hath turned the captivity of his people, Jacob shall full out make joy, and Israel shall be glad.

PSALM 54

1 To victory, in organs, either in psalms, the learning of David, when Ziphims came, and said to Saul, Whether David is not hid at us? God, in thy name, make thou me safe; and in thy virtue, deem thou me.

2 God, hear thou my prayer; with ears perceive thou the words of my mouth.

3 For aliens have risen against me, and strong men sought my life; and they setted not God before their sight.

4 For lo! God helpeth me; and the Lord is the up-taker of my soul.

5 Turn thou away evils to mine enemies; and lose thou them in thy truth.

6 Willfully I shall sacrifice to thee; and, Lord, I shall acknowledge to thy name, for it is good.

7 For thou deliveredest me from all tribulation; and mine eye despised on mine enemies.

PSALM 55

1 To victory, in organs, the learning of David. God, hear thou my prayer, and despise thou not my beseeching;

2 give thou attention to me, and hear thou me. I am sorrowful in mine exercising;

3 and I am disturbed of the face of the enemy, and of the tribulation of the sinner. For they bowed wicked-nesses into me; and in ire they were dis-easeful to me.

4 Mine heart was troubled in me; and the dread of death felled on me.

5 Dread and trembling came on me; and darknesses covered me.

6 And I said, Who shall give to me feathers, as of a culver; and I shall fly, and shall take rest?

7 Lo! I went far away, and fled; and I dwelled in wilderness.

8 I abode him, that made me safe from the littleness, either dread, of spirit; and from tempest.

9 Lord, cast thou down, [and] part thou the tongues of them; for I saw wickedness and against-saying in the city.

10 By day and night wickedness shall encompass it on the walls thereof; and travail and unrightfulness be in the midst of them.

11 And usury and guile [or treachery] failed not; from the streets thereof.

12 For if mine enemy had cursed me; soothly I had suffered. And if he, that hated me, had spoken great things on me; in hap I had hid me from him.

13 But thou art a man of one will; my leader, and my known.

14 Which tookest together sweet meats and fellowship with me; we went with consent in the house of God.

15 Death come on them; and go they down quick into hell. For way-wardnesses be in the dwelling places of them; in the midst of them.

16 But I cried to thee, Lord; and the Lord saved me.

17 In the eventide, and [the] morrow-tide, and in midday, I shall tell, and show; and he shall hear my voice.

18 He shall again-buy my soul in peace from them, that nigh to me; for among many they were with me.

19 God shall hear; and he that is before the worlds shall make them low. For changing is not to them, and they dreaded not God;

20 he holdeth forth his hand in yielding. They defouled his testament,

21 the cheers thereof were parted from ire; and his heart nighed. The words thereof were softer than oil; and they be darts.

22 Cast thy care, or thought, [or thy busyness], on the Lord, and he shall fully nourish thee; and he shall not give without end fluttering to a just [or rightwise] man.

23 But thou, God, shalt lead them forth; into the pit of death. Men-quellers and beguilers shall not have half their days; but, Lord, I shall hope in thee.

PSALM 56

1 To the overcoming, on the dumb culver of far drawing away, the comely song of David, when the Philistines held him in Gath. God, have mercy on me, for a man hath defouled me; all day he impugned, and troubled me.

2 Mine enemies defouled me all day; for many fighters were against me.

3 Of the highness of day I shall dread; but God, I shall hope in thee.

4 In God I shall praise my words; I hoped in God, I shall not dread what thing flesh, or man, shall do to me.

5 All day they cursed my words; against me all their thoughts were into evil.

6 They shall dwell, and they shall hide; they shall ambush mine heel. As they abide my life,

7 for nought shalt thou make them safe; in ire thou shalt break altogether peoples.

8 God, I showed my life to thee; thou hast set [or puttest] my tears in thy sight. As and in thy promise, Lord;

9 then mine enemies shall be turned aback. In whatever day I shall inwardly call thee; lo! I have known, that thou art my God.

10 In God I shall praise a word; in the Lord I shall praise a word.

11 I shall hope in God; I shall not dread what thing man shall do to me.

12 God, thine avows [or vows] be in me; which I shall yield praisings to thee.

13 For thou hast delivered my life from death, and my feet from sliding; that I please before God in the light of them that live.

PSALM 57

1 To the victory, lose thou not the seemly song, either the sweet song, of David, when he fled from the face of Saul into the den. God, have mercy on me, have thou mercy on me; for my soul trusteth in thee. And I shall hope in the shadow of thy wings; till wickedness pass.

2 I shall cry to God alder-highest; to God that did well to me.

3 He sent from heaven, and delivered me; he gave into shame them that defoul me. God sent his mercy and his truth,

4 and delivered my soul from the midst of whelps of lions; I slept troubled or disturbed. The sons of men, the teeth of them be armours [or arms] and arrows; and their tongue is a sharp sword.

5 God, be thou enhanced above heavens; and thy glory above all earth.

6 They made ready a snare to my feet; and they greatly bowed my life. They delved a ditch before my face; and they felled [or fell] down into it.

7 God, mine heart is ready, mine heart is ready; I shall sing, and I shall say psalm*.

8 My glory, rise thou up; psaltery and harp, rise thou up; I shall rise up early.

9 Lord, I shall acknowledge to thee among peoples; and I shall say psalm [to thee] among heathen men.

10 For thy mercy is magnified till to heavens; and thy truth till to the clouds.

11 God, be thou enhanced above heavens; and thy glory above all earth.

PSALM 58

1 To victory, lose thou not the sweet song, either the seemly psalm, of David. Forsooth if ye speak rightfulness [or rightwiseness] verily; ye sons of men, deem rightfully [or evenly].

2 For in heart ye work wickedness in earth; your hands make ready unrightfulnesses [or unrightwisenesses].

3 Sinners were made aliens from the womb; they erred from the womb, they spake false things.

4 Strong vengeance is to them, by the likeness of a serpent; as of a deaf snake, and stopping his ears.

5 Which shall not hear the voice of charmers; and of a venom-maker charming ever so wisely.

6 God shall all-break the teeth of them in their mouth; the Lord shall break altogether the great teeth of lions.

7 They shall come to nought, as water running away; he bent his bow, till they be made sick.

8 As wax that floateth [or floweth] away, they shall be taken away; fire fell above, and they saw not the sun.

9 Before that your thorns understood the rhamn, either thieve-thorn; he swalloweth them so in ire, as with living men.

10 The just [or rightwise] man shall be glad, when he shall see vengeance; he shall wash his hands in the blood of a sinner.

11 And a man shall say truly, For fruit is to a just [or rightwise] man; truly God is deeming them in earth.

PSALM 59

1 To the overcomer, lose thou not the seemly song of David, when Saul sent men and kept the house, to slay him. My God, deliver thou me from mine enemies; and deliver thou me from them that rise against me.

2 Deliver thou me from them that work wickedness; and save thou me from men-quellers.

3 For lo! they have taken my soul; strong men fell in on me. Neither for my wickedness, neither for my sin;

4 Lord, I ran without wickedness, and dressed my works. Rise up into my meeting, and see;

5 and thou, Lord God of virtues, art God of Israel. Give thou attention to visit all folks; do thou not mercy to all that work wickedness.

6 They shall be turned at eventide, and they as dogs shall suffer hunger; and they shall compass, that is, go abegging in, the city.

7 Lo! they shall speak in their mouth, and a sword in their lips; for who heard?

8 And thou, Lord, shalt scorn them; thou shalt bring all folks to nought.

9 I shall keep my strength to thee; for God is mine up-taker,

10 my God, his mercy shall come before me. God showed to me my desire on mine enemies,

11 slay thou not them; lest any time my peoples forget. Scatter thou them in thy virtue; and, Lord, my defender, put thou them down.

12 Put down the trespass of their mouth, and the word of their lips; and be they taken in their pride. And of cursing and of leasing; they shall be showed in the ending.

13 In the ire of ending, and they shall not be; and they shall know, that the Lord shall be Lord of Jacob, and of the ends of earth.

14 They shall be turned at eventide, and they as dogs shall suffer hunger; and they shall compass, that is, go abegging in, the city.

15 They shall be scattered abroad, for to eat; soothly if they be not [ful] filled, and they shall grutch.

16 But I shall sing of thy strength; and early I shall enhance thy mercy. For thou art made mine up-taker; and my refuge, in the day of my tribulation.

17 Mine helper, I shall sing to thee; for thou art God, mine up-taker, my God, my mercy.

PSALM 60

1 To victory, on the witnessing of the rose, the sweet song of David, to teach men, when he fought against Aram of floods, and Syria of Zobah; and Joab turned again, and smote Edom in the valley of salt pits, twelve thousand. God, thou hast put away us, and thou hast destroyed us; thou were wroth, and thou hast done mercy to us.

2 Thou movedest the earth, and thou troubledest it; make thou whole the sorrows thereof, for it is moved.

3 Thou showedest hard things to thy people; thou gavest drink to us with the wine of compunction.

4 Thou hast given a signifying to them that dread thee; that they flee from the face of the bow.

5 That thy darlings be delivered; make thou safe with thy right hand, and hear thou me*.

6 God spake by [or in] his holy place; I shall be glad, and I shall part Shechem, and I shall mete [or measure] the great valley of tabernacles.

7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; and Ephraim is the strength of mine head. Judah is my king;

8 Moab is the pot of mine hope. Into Idumea I shall stretch forth my shoe; aliens be made subject to me.

9 Who shall lead me into a city made strong; who shall lead me into Idumea?

10 Whether not thou, God, that hast put away us; and shalt thou not, God, go out in our virtues?

11 Lord, give thou to us help out of tribulation; for the help of man is vain.

12 In God we shall make virtue; and he shall bring to nought them that trouble or disturb us.

PSALM 61

1 To victory, on organs, to David himself. God, hear thou my beseech-ing; give thou attention to my prayer.

2 From the ends of the land I cried to thee; the while mine heart was anguished, thou enhancedest me in a stone. Thou leddest me forth,

3 for thou art made mine hope; a tower of strength from the face of the enemy.

4 I shall dwell in thy tabernacle into worlds; I shall be covered in the covering of thy wings.

5 For thou, my God, hast heard my prayer; thou hast given heritage to them that dread thy name.

6 Thou shalt add, either increase, days on[to] the days of the king; his years till into the day of generation and of generation.

7 He dwelleth without end in the sight of God; who shall seek the mercy and truth of him?

8 So I shall say psalm to thy name into the world of world; that I yield my vows from day into day.

PSALM 62

1 To victory, over Jeduthun, the psalm of David. Whether my soul shall not be subject to God; for mine health is of him.

2 For why he is both my God, and mine health; mine up-taker, I shall no more be moved.

3 How long fall ye on a man? all ye slain; as to a wall bowed, and as a wall of stone without mortar cast down.

4 Nevertheless they thought to put away my price, I ran in thirst; with their mouth they blessed, and in their heart they cursed.

5 Nevertheless, my soul, be thou subject to God; for my patience is of him.

6 For he is my God, and my saviour; mine helper, I shall not pass out.

7 Mine health, and my glory is in God; God is the giver of mine help, and mine hope is in God.

8 All the gathering together of the people, hope ye in God, pour ye out your hearts before him; God is our helper without end.

9 Nevertheless the sons of men be vain; the sons of men be liars in balances, that they deceive of vanity into the same thing.

10 Do not ye have hope in wicked-ness, and do not ye covet ravens; if riches be plenteous, do not ye set the heart thereto.

11 God spake once, I heard these two things; that power is of God,

12 and, thou Lord, mercy is to thee; for thou shalt yield to each man by his works.

PSALM 63

1 The psalm of David, when he was in the desert of Judah. God, my God, I wake to thee full early. My soul thirsted to thee; my flesh thirsted to thee full manyfold. In a land forsaken without way, and without water,

2 so I appeared to thee in holy; that I should see thy virtue, and thy glory.

3 For thy mercy is better than lives or life itself; my lips shall praise thee.

4 So I shall bless thee in my life; and in thy name I shall raise mine hands.

5 My soul be [ful] filled as with inner fatness and uttermore fatness; and my mouth shall praise with lips of full out joying.

6 So I had mind on thee on my bed, in the morrowtides I shall think of thee;

7 for thou hast been mine helper. And in the covering of thy wings I shall make full out joy,

8 my soul cleaved after thee; thy right hand took me up.

9 Forsooth they sought in vain my life, they shall enter into the lower things of earth;

10 they shall be betaken into the hands of sword, they shall be made the parts of foxes.

11 But the king shall be glad in God; and all men shall be praised that swear in him; for the mouth of them, that speak wicked things, is stopped.

PSALM 64

1 To victory, the psalm of David. God, hear thou my prayer, when I beseech; deliver thou my soul from dread of the enemy.

2 Thou hast defended me from the covent or convent of evil-doers; from the multitude of them that work wickedness.

3 For they sharpened their tongues as a sword, they bend their bow, a bitter thing;

4 for to shoot in huddles, or privates, him that is unwemmed. Suddenly they shall shoot him, and they shall not dread;

5 they made steadfast to themselves a wicked word. They told, that they should hide snares; they said, Who shall see them?

6 They sought wickednesses; they sought, and failed not in seeking. A man nighed to [a] deep heart;

7 and God shall be enhanced. The arrows of little men, that is, of envious men, be made the wounds of them;

8 and the tongues of them be made sick against them. All men be troubled, that saw them;

9 and each man dreaded. And they told the works of God; and they understood the deeds of him.

10 The just [or rightwise] man shall be glad in the Lord, and shall hope in him; and all men of rightful heart shall be praised.

PSALM 65

1 To victory, the psalm of the song of David. God, praising becometh thee in Zion; and a vow shall be yielded to thee in Jerusalem.

2 Hear thou my prayer; each man shall come to thee.

3 The words of wicked men had the mastery over us; and thou shalt do mercy to our wickednesses.

4 Blessed is he, whom thou hast chosen, and hast taken; he shall dwell in thy foreyards. We shall be [ful] filled with the goods of thine house; thy temple is holy,

5 wonderful in equity. God, our health, hear thou us; thou art hope of all coasts of earth, and in the sea afar.

6 And thou makest ready hills in thy virtue, and art girded with power;

7 which troublest the depth of the sea, the sound of the waves thereof. Folks shall be troubled,

8 and they that dwell in the ends shall dread of thy signs; thou shalt delight the outgoings of the morrow-tide and eventide.

9 Thou hast visited the land, and hast greatly filled it; thou hast multiplied to make it rich. The flood of God was [full-]filled with waters; thou madest ready the meat of them, for the making ready thereof is so.

10 Thou filling greatly the streams thereof, multiply the fruits thereof; the land bringing forth fruits shall be glad in the gutters of it.

11 Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of thy good will; and thy fields shall be [full-]filled with plenty of fruits.

12 The fair things of desert shall wax fat; and little hills shall be encom-passed with full out joying.

13 The wethers of sheep be clothed, and valleys shall be plenteous of wheat; they shall cry out, and soothly they shall say praising or psalm.

PSALM 66

1 To victory, the song of[the]psalm. All the earth, make ye joy heartily to God,

2 say ye psalm to his name; give ye glory to his praising.

3 Say ye to God, Lord, thy works be full dreadful; in the multitude of thy virtue thine enemies shall lie down to thee.

4 God, all the earth worship thee, and sing to thee; say it psalm to thy name.

5 Come ye and see ye the works of God; fearedful in counsels on the sons of men.

6 Which turned the sea into dry land; in the flood they shall pass [through] with foot, there we shall be glad in him.

7 The which is Lord in his virtue without end, his eyes behold on folks; they that make sharp be not enhanced in themselves.

8 Ye heathen men, bless our God; and make ye heard the voice of his praising.

9 That hath set my soul to life, and gave not my feet into stirring.

10 For thou, God, hast proved us; thou hast examined us by fire, as silver is examined.

11 Thou leddest us into a snare, thou puttedest tribulations in our back;

12 thou settedest [or puttest] men on our heads. We passed by [or through] fire and water; and thou leddest us out into refreshing.

13 I shall enter into thine house in burnt sacrifices; I shall yield to thee my vows,

14 which my lips spake distinctly. And my mouth spake in my tribulation;

15 I shall offer to thee burnt sacrifices full of marrow, with the burning of rams; I shall offer to thee oxes [or oxen] with bucks of goats.

16 All ye that dread God, come and hear, and I shall tell; how great things he hath done to my soul.

17 I cried to him with my mouth; and I joyed fully [or full out joyed] under my tongue.

18 If I beheld wickedness in mine heart; the Lord shall not hear.

19 Therefore God heard; and he per-ceived the voice of my beseeching.

20 Blessed be God; that removed not my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

PSALM 67

1 To victory in organs, the psalm of the song. God have mercy on us, and bless us; lighten he his cheer on us, and have he mercy on us.

2 That we know thy way on earth; thine health in all folks.

3 God, peoples acknowledge to thee; all peoples acknowledge to thee.

4 Heathen men be glad, and make fully joy [or and full out joy], for thou deemest peoples in equity; and dressest heathen men in earth.

5 God, peoples acknowledge to thee, all peoples acknowledge to thee;

6 the earth hath given his fruit. God, our God, bless us,

7 God bless us; and all the coasts of earth dread him.

PSALM 68

1 To victory, the psalm of the song of David. God rise up, and his enemies be scattered; and they that hate him, flee from his face.

2 As smoke faileth, fail they; as wax floateth [or floweth] from the face of fire, so perish [the] sinners from the face of God.

3 And just [or rightwise] men eat, and make they fully joy [or full out glad they] in the sight of God; and delight they in gladness.

4 Sing ye to God, say ye psalm to his name; make ye [a] way to him, that ascendeth [or goeth up] on the going down, the Lord is name of him. Make ye fully joy [or Full out joyeth] in his sight, his enemies shall be troubled from the face of him,

5 which is the father of fatherless and motherless children; and the judge of widows. God is in his holy place;

6 God that maketh men of one will to dwell in the house. Which leadeth out by strength them that be bound; in like manner them that make sharp [or that stir], that dwell in sepulchres.

7 God, when thou wentest out in the sight of thy people; when thou passedest forth in the desert.

8 The earth was moved, for heavens dropped down from the face of God of Sinai; from the face of God of Israel.

9 God, thou shalt impart willful rain to thine heritage, and it was sick; but thou madest it perfect.

10 Thy beasts shall dwell therein; God, thou hast made ready in thy sweetness to the poor man.

11 The Lord shall give a word; to them that preach the gospel with much virtue.

12 The kings of virtues be made loved of the darling; and to the fair-ness of the house to part spoils.

13 If ye sleep among the midst of sorts, either heritages, yet ye shall be as the feathers of the culver that be covered of silver; and the hinder things of the back thereof be in the shining of gold.

14 While the king of heaven deemeth kings thereon, they shall be made whiter than snow in Zalmon;

15 the hill of God is a fat hill. The crudded hill is a fat hill;

16 whereto believe ye falsely, ye crudded hills? The hill in which it pleaseth well God to dwell therein; for the Lord shall dwell into the end.

17 The chariot of God is manyfold with ten thousand, a thousand of them that be glad; the Lord was in them, in Sinai, in the holy place.

18 Thou ascendedest on high, thou tookest captivity captive; thou receiv-edest gifts among men. For why thou tookest also from them that believed not; for to dwell in the Lord God.

19 Blessed be the Lord each day; the God of our healths shall make an easy way to us.

20 Our God is God to make men safe; and outgoing [or the going-out] from death is of the Lord God.

21 Nevertheless God shall break the heads of his enemies; the top of the hair of them that go in their trespasses.

22 The Lord said, I shall turn from Bashan; I shall turn into the depth of the sea.

23 That thy foot be dipped in blood; the tongue of thy dogs be dipped in blood of the enemies of him.

24 God, they saw thy goings in; the goings-in [or in-goings] of my God, of my king, which is in the holy place.

25 Princes joined with singers came before; in the middle or in the midst of young damsels singing in tympans.

26 In churches bless ye God; bless ye the Lord from the wells of Israel.

27 There is Benjamin, a young man; in the ravishing of mind. The princes of Judah were the dukes of them; the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

28 God, command thou to thy virtue; God, confirm thou this thing, which thou hast wrought in us.

29 From thy temple, which is in Jerusalem; kings shall offer gifts to thee.

30 Blame thou the wild beasts of the reed, the gathering together of bulls is among the kine of peoples; that they exclude them that be proved by silver. Destroy thou folks that will or desire battles,

31 legates shall come from Egypt; Ethiopia shall come before the hands thereof to God.

32 Realms of the earth, sing ye to God; say ye psalm to the Lord. Sing ye to God;

33 that ascended [or went up] on the heaven of heaven at the east. Lo! he shall give to his voice the voice of virtue,

34 give ye glory to God on Israel; his great doing and his virtue is in the clouds.

35 God is wonderful in his saints; God of Israel, he shall give virtue, and strength, to his people; blessed be God.

PSALM 69

1 To victory, on the roses of David. God, make thou me safe; for waters have entered unto my soul.

2 I am set in the slime of the depth; and there is no substance. I came into the depth of the sea; and the tempest drenched or drowned me [down].

3 I travailed crying, my cheeks were made hoarse; mine eyes failed, the while I hope/d into my God.

4 They that hated me without cause; were multiplied above the hairs of mine head. Mine enemies that pursued me unjustly were comforted; I paid then for those things, which I ravished not.

5 God, thou knowest mine unknow-ing; and my trespasses be not hid from thee.

6 Lord, Lord of virtues; they, that abide thee, be not ashamed in me. God of Israel; they, that seek thee, be not shamed on me.

7 For I suffered shame for thee; shame covered my face.

8 I am made a stranger to my brethren; and a pilgrim to the sons of my mother.

9 For the fervent love of thine house ate me; and the shames of men saying shames to thee fell on me.

10 And I covered my soul with fasting; and it was made into shame to me.

11 And I putted [or put]for my cloth an hair-shirt; and I am made to them into a parable.

12 They, that sat in the gate, spake against me; and they, that drank wine, sang of me.

13 But Lord, I dress my prayer to thee; God, I abide the time of good pleasance. Hear thou me in the multitude of thy mercy; in the truth of thine health.

14 Deliver thou me from the clay, that I be not fast set-in; deliver thou me from them that hate me, and from [the] depths or deepness of waters.

15 The tempest of water drench not me [down], neither the depth swallow me; neither the pit make strait his mouth on me.

16 Lord, hear thou me, for thy mercy is benign; after the multitude of thy merciful doings behold thou into me.

17 And turn not away thy face from thy servant; for I am in tribulation, hear thou me swiftly.

18 Give thou attention to my soul, and deliver thou it; for mine enemies, deliver thou me.

19 Thou knowest my reproof, and my despising; and my shame. All that trouble me be in thy sight;

20 mine heart abode in shame, and wretchedness. And I abode him, that was sorry together with me, and none was; and that should comfort me, and I found not.

21 And they gave gall into my meat; and in my thirst they gave to me drink with vinegar.

22 The board of them be made before them into a snare; and into yieldings, and into cause of stumbling.

23 Their eyes be made dark, that they see not; and ever[more] bow down the back of them.

24 Shed [or Pour] out thine ire [or wrath] on them; and the strong vengeance of thine ire take them.

25 The habitation of them be made forsaken; and be there none that dwell in the tabernacles of them.

26 For they pursued him, whom thou hast smitten; and they added on the sorrow of my wounds.

27 Add thou wickedness on the wickedness of them; and enter they not into thy rightwiseness.

28 Be they done away from the book of living men; and be they not written with just [or rightwise] men.

29 I am poor and sorrowful; God, thine health [or salvation] took me up.

30 I shall praise the name of God with song; and I shall magnify him with praising.

31 And it shall please God more than a new calf bringing forth horns and claws.

32 Poor men see, and be glad; seek ye God, and your soul shall live.

33 For the Lord heard poor men; and despised not his bound men.

34 Heavens and earth, praise him; the sea, and all creeping beasts in those, praise him.

35 For God shall make safe Zion; and the cities of Judah shall be builded. And they shall dwell there; and they shall get it by heritage.

36 And the seed of his servants shall have it in possession; and they that love his name, shall dwell therein.

PSALM 70

1 To the victory, [the psalm]of David, to have mind. God, behold thou into mine help; Lord, haste thou to help me*.

2 Be they shamed, and ashamed; that seek my life. Be they turned aback; and shame they, that will or desire evils to me.

3 Be they turned away anon, and shame they; that say to me, Well! well!

4 All men that seek thee, make fully joy [or full out joy they], and be glad in thee; and they that love thine health, say ever[more], The Lord be magnified.

5 Forsooth I am a needy man, and poor; God help thou me. Thou art mine helper and my deliverer; Lord, tarry thou not.

PSALM 71

1 Lord, I hoped in thee; be I not shamed without end;

2 in thy rightwiseness deliver thou me, and ravish me out. Bow down thine ear to me; and make me safe.

3 Be thou to me into God a defender; and into a strengthened place, that thou make me safe. For thou art my steadfastness; and my refuge.

4 My God, deliver thou me from the hand of the sinner; and from the hand of a man doing against the law, and of the wicked man.

5 For thou, Lord, art my patience; Lord, thou art mine hope from my youth.

6 In thee I am confirmed, that is, defended, from the womb; thou art my defender from the womb of my mother. My singing is ever[more] in thee;

7 I am made as a great wonder to many men; and thou art a strong helper.

8 My mouth be filled with praising; that I sing thy glory, all day thy great-ness.

9 Cast thou not away me in the time of eld age /in the time of oldness; when my strength faileth, forsake thou not me.

10 For mine enemies said of me; and they that kept my life made counsel together.

11 Saying, God hath forsaken him; pursue ye, and take him; for none there is that shall deliver.

12 God, be thou not made afar from me; my God, behold thou into mine help.

13 Men that backbite my soul, be shamed, and fail they; and be they covered with reproof and shame, that seek evils to me.

14 But I shall hope ever[more]; and I shall add to ever over all thy praising.

15 My mouth shall tell thy rightful-ness [or rightwiseness]; all day thine health. For I knew not by literature, that is, by man’s teaching, but by God’s revelation,

16 I shall enter into the powers of the Lord; Lord, I shall bethink on thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness] alone.

17 God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and till to now; I shall tell out thy marvels.

18 And till into eld age /into oldness, and the last age; God, forsake thou not me. Till I tell thine arm, or power, to each generation that shall come.

19 Till I tell of thy might, and thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness], God, till into the highest great deeds which thou hast done; God, who is like thee?

20 How great tribulations, many and evil, hast thou showed to me; and thou converted, hast quickened me, and hast again-brought me again from the depths of earth.

21 Thou hast multiplied thy great doing; and thou converted, hast comforted me.

22 For why and I shall acknowledge to thee, thou God, thy truth in the instruments of psalm; I shall sing in an harp to thee, that art the holy of Israel.

23 My lips shall make fully joy [or full out joy], when I shall sing to thee; and my soul, which thou again-boughtest.

24 But and my tongue shall think all day on thy rightfulness [or rightwise-ness]; when they shall be shamed and ashamed, that seek evils to me.

PSALM 72

1 To Solomon. God, give thy doom to the king; and thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness] to the son of the king.

2 To deem thy people in rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and thy poor men in doom.

3 Mountains receive peace to the people; and little hills receive rightful-ness [or rightwiseness].

4 He shall deem the poor men of the people, and he shall make safe the sons of poor men; and he shall make low the false challenger.

5 And he shall dwell with the sun, and before the moon, that is, without beginning, and end; in generation and into generation.

6 He shall come down as rain into a fleece; and as gutters dropping on the earth.

7 Rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall come forth in his days; and the abun-dance of peace, till the moon be taken away.

8 And he shall be lord from the sea till to the sea; and from the flood till to the ends of the world.

9 Ethiopians shall fall down before him; and his enemies shall lick the earth.

10 The kings of Tarshish and isles shall offer gifts; the kings of Arabia and of Seba shall bring gifts.

11 And all kings shall worship him; all folks shall serve him.

12 For he shall deliver a poor man from the mighty; and a poor man to whom there was none helper.

13 He shall spare a poor man and needy; and he shall make safe the souls of poor men.

14 He shall again-buy the souls of them from usuries, and wickedness; and the name of them is honourable before him.

15 And he shall live, and men shall give to him of the gold of Arabia; and they shall ever worship of him, all day they shall bless him.

16 Steadfastness shall be in the earth, in the highest place of mountains; the fruit thereof shall be enhanced above the Lebanon; and they shall blossom from the city, as the hay of earth doeth.

17 His name be blessed into worlds; his name dwell before the sun. And all the lineages of earth shall be blessed in him; all folks shall magnify him.

18 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; which alone maketh marvels.

19 And blessed be the name of his majesty without end; and all earth shall be filled with his majesty; be it done, be it done.

20 The prayers, [or praisings, or hymns], of David, the son of Jesse, be ended.

PSALM 73

1 The psalm of Asaph. God of Israel is full good; to them that be of rightful [or right] heart.

2 But my feet were moved almost; my steps were shed [or poured] out almost.

3 For I loved fervently on wicked men; seeing the peace of sinners.

4 For beholding is not to the death of them; and steadfastness in the sick-ness of them.

5 They be not in travail of other men; and they shall not be beaten with men.

6 Therefore pride hath held them; they were covered with their wicked-ness and unfaithfulness.

7 The wickedness of them came forth as of fatness; they went into desire of heart.

8 They thought and spake wayward-ness; they spake wickedness on high.

9 They putted [or put] their mouth into heaven; and their tongue passed in [the] earth.

10 Therefore my people shall be turned again here; and full days shall be found in them.

11 And they said, How knoweth God; and whether knowing is on high?

12 Lo! those sinners and having abundance in the world; held riches.

13 And I said, Therefore without cause I justified mine heart; and washed mine hands among innocents.

14 And I was beaten all day; and my chastising was in morrowtides.

15 If I said, I shall tell thus; lo! I [have] reproved the nation of thy sons.

16 I guessed, that I should know this; but too much travail is before me.

17 Till I enter into the saintuary of God; and understand in the last things of them.

18 Nevertheless for guiles [or treach-eries] thou hast put to them; thou castedest them down, while they were raised.

19 How be they made into desolation; they failed suddenly, they perished for their wickedness or waywardness.

20 As the dream of men that rise; Lord, thou shalt drive their image to nought, in thy city.

21 For mine heart is enflamed, and my reins be changed;

22 and I am driven to nought, and I knew not. As a work beast I am made with thee;

23 and I am ever with thee. Thou heldest my right hand,

24 and in thy will thou leddest me forth; and with glory thou tookest me up.

25 For why what is to me in heaven; and what would or desire I of thee on earth?

26 My flesh and mine heart failed; God of mine heart, and my part is God without end.

27 For lo! they that draw away far themselves from thee shall perish; thou hast lost all men that do forni-cation from thee.

28 But it is good to me to cleave to God; and to set [or put] mine hope in the Lord God. That I tell all thy preachings, in the gates of the daughter of Zion.

PSALM 74

1 The learning of Asaph. God, why hast thou put us away into the end; thy strong vengeance is wroth on the sheep of thy pasture?

2 Be thou mindful of thy gathering together; which thou haddest in possession from the beginning. Thou again-boughtest the rod of thine heritage; the hill of Zion, in which thou dwelledest therein.

3 Raise thine hands into the prides of them; how great things the enemy did wickedly in the holy place.

4 And they that hated thee; had glory in the midst of thy solemnity. They setted their signs, either banners, to be signs on the highest place, as in the outgoing [or going out]; and they knew not.

5 As in a wood of trees, they hewed down with axes the gates thereof into itself;

6 they casted down it with an ax, and a broad falling ax.

7 They burnt with fire thy saintuary; they defouled the tabernacle of thy name in earth.

8 The kindred of them said together in their heart; Make we all the feast days of God to cease in the earth.

9 We have not seen our signs, now there is no prophet; and he shall no more know us.

10 God, how long shall the enemy say despite? the adversary stirreth to ire thy name into the end.

11 Why turnest thou away thine hand, to not draw out thy right hand from the midst of thy bosom, till into the end?

12 Forsooth God our king before worlds, wrought health in the midst of [the] earth.

13 Thou madest firm the sea by thy virtue; thou hast troubled the heads of the dragons in waters.

14 Thou hast broken the heads of the dragon; thou hast given him to be meat to the peoples of Ethiopians.

15 Thou hast broken wells, and strands [or streams]; thou madest dry the floods of Eitan.

16 The day is thine, and the night is thine; thou madest the morrowtide and the sun.

17 Thou madest all the ends of the earth; summer, and ver time, either springing time, thou formedest those [or them].

18 Be thou mindful of this thing, the enemy hath said shame to the Lord; and the unwise people hath excited to ire thy name.

19 Betake thou not to beasts men acknowledging to thee; and forget thou not into the end the souls of thy poor men.

20 Behold into thy testament; for they that be made dark of earth, be [full-]filled with the houses of wickednesses.

21 A meek man be not turned away made ashamed; a poor man and needy shall praise thy name.

22 God, rise up, deem thou thy cause; be thou mindful of thy shames, either upbraidings, of those that be all day of the unwise man.

23 Forget thou not the voices of thine enemies; the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth [or goeth up] ever-[more].

PSALM 75

1 To the overcomer, lose thou not the psalm of the song of Asaph. God, we shall acknowledge to thee, we shall acknowledge; and we shall inwardly call thy name. We shall tell thy marvels;

2 when I shall take hold of the time, I shall deem with rightfulnesses.

3 The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein; I confirmed the pillars thereof.

4 I said to wicked men, Do not ye do wickedly; and to trespassers, Do not ye enhance the horn.

5 Do not ye raise on high your horn; do not ye speak wickedness against God.

6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, neither from the west, neither from desert hills;

7 for God is the judge. He meeketh this man, and enhanceth him;

8 for a cup of clean wine, full of meddling [or mingling], is in the hand of the Lord. And he bowed of this into that; nevertheless the dregs thereof is not diminished, either made less, for all [the] sinners of [the] earth shall drink thereof.

9 Forsooth I shall tell into the world; I shall sing to God of Jacob.

10 And I shall break all the horns of sinners; and the horns of the just [or rightwise] man shall be enhanced.

PSALM 76

1 To the victory in organs, the psalm of the song of Asaph. God is known in Judah; his name is great in Israel.

2 And his place is made in peace; and his dwelling is in Zion.

3 There he brake powers; bow, shield, sword, and battle.

4 And thou, God, lightenest wonder-fully coming back from everlasting hills;

5 all unwise men of heart were troubled. They slept their sleep, that is, were dead; and all men found nothing of riches in their hands.

6 They that ascended [or went up] on horses; slept for thy blaming, thou God of Jacob.

7 Thou art fearful, and who shall against-stand thee? from that time of thine ire.

8 From heaven thou madest doom heard; the earth trembled, and rested.

9 When God rose up into doom; to make safe all the mild men of earth.

10 For the thought of man shall acknowledge to thee; and the remnants or leavings of thought shall make a feast day to thee.

11 Make ye a vow, and yield ye to your Lord God; all that bring gifts in the compass of it. To God fearedful,

12 and to him that taketh away the spirit of princes; to the fearedful at the kings of earth.

PSALM 77

1 To the victory on Jeduthun, the psalm of Asaph. With my voice I cried to the Lord, with my voice to God; and he gave attention to me.

2 In the day of my tribulation I sought God with mine hands; in the night before or toward him, and I am not deceived. My soul forsook to be comforted;

3 I was mindful of God, and I delighted, and I was exercised; and my spirit failed.

4 Mine eyes before took wakings; I was troubled, and I spake not.

5 I thought on eld [or old] days; and I had in mind everlasting years.

6 And I thought in the night with mine heart; and I was exercised, and I cleansed my spirit.

7 Whether God shall cast away with-out end; either shall he not lay to, that he be more pleased yet?

8 Either shall he cut away his mercy into the end; from generation into generation?

9 Either shall God forget to do mercy; either shall he withhold his mercies in his ire [or wrath]?

10 And I said, Now I began; this is the changing of the right hand of the high God.

11 I had mind on the works of the Lord; for I shall have mind from the beginning of thy marvels.

12 And I shall think on all thy works; and I shall be exercised, either occupied, in thy findings.

13 God, thy way was in the holy place; what God is great as our God?

14 thou art God, that doest marvels. Thou madest thy virtue known among peoples;

15 thou again-boughtest in thine arm thy people, the sons of Jacob and of Joseph.

16 God, waters saw thee, waters saw thee, and dreaded; and depths of waters were troubled.

17 The multitude of the sound of waters; clouds gave voice. For why thine arrows pass [through];

18 the voice of thy thunder was in a wheel. Thy lightnings shined to the world; the earth was moved, and trembled.

19 Thy way in the sea, and thy paths in many waters; and thy steps shall not be known.

20 Thou leddest forth thy people as sheep; in the hand of Moses and Aaron.

PSALM 78

1 The learning of Asaph. My people, perceive ye my law; bow your ear into the words of my mouth.

2 I shall open my mouth in parables; I shall speak perfect reasons [or propositions] from the beginning.

3 How great things have we heard, and we have known those [or them]; and our fathers told to us.

4 Those [or They] be not hid from the sons of them; in another generation. And they told the praisings of the Lord, and the virtues of him; and his marvels, which he did.

5 And he raised witnessing in Jacob; and he setted law in Israel. How great things commanded he to our fathers, to make those known to their sons;

6 that another generation know. Sons, that shall be born, and shall rise up; shall tell out to their sons.

7 That they set [or put] their hope in God, and forget not the works of God; and that they seek or search his commandments.

8 Lest they be made a shrewd generation; and stirring to wrath, as the fathers of them. A generation that dressed not his heart; and his spirit was not believed with God.

9 The sons of Ephraim, bending a bow, and sending arrows; were turned in the day of battle.

10 They kept not the testament of God; and they would not go in his law.

11 And they forgat his benificences [or benefits]; and his marvels, which he showed to them.

12 He did marvels before the fathers of them, in the land of Egypt; in the field of Tanis.

13 He brake the sea, and led them through it; and he ordained the waters as in a bouget [or bottle].

14 And he led them forth in a cloud of the day; and all night in the lightening of fire.

15 He brake a stone in desert; and he gave water to them as in a much depth.

16 And he led water out of the stone; and he led forth waters as floods.

17 And they putted yet to do sin against him; they excited the high God into ire, in a place without water.

18 And they tempted God in their hearts; that they asked meats to their lives.

19 And they spake evil of God; they said, Whether God may make ready a board in desert?

20 For he smote a stone, and waters flowed; and streams went out in abundance. Whether also he may give bread; either make ready a board to his people?

21 Therefore the Lord heard, and delayed; and fire was kindled in Jacob, and the ire of God ascended [or went up] on Israel.

22 For they believed not in God; neither hoped in his health.

23 And he commanded to the clouds above; and he opened the gates of heaven.

24 And he rained to them manna for to eat; and he gave to them bread of heaven.

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

26 He turned over the south wind from heaven; and he brought in by his virtue the west wind.

27 And he rained fleshes as dust on them; and also volatiles feathered, as the gravel of the sea.

28 And those felled in the midst of their castles [or they fell in the middle of the tents of them]; about the taber-nacles of them.

29 And they ate, and were filled greatly, and he brought their desire to them;

30 they were not defrauded of their desire. Yet their meats were in their mouth;

31 and the wrath of God ascended [or went up] on them. And he killed the fat men of them; and he hindered the chosen men of Israel.

32 In all these things they sinned yet; and believed not in the marvels of God.

33 And the days of them failed in vanity; and the years of them failed with haste.

34 When he killed them, they sought him; and they turned again, and early they came to him.

35 And they bethought, that God is the helper of them; and the high God is the again-buyer of them.

36 And they loved him in their mouth; and with their tongue they lied to him.

37 Forsooth the heart of them was not rightful [or right] with him; neither they were had faithful in his testament.

38 But he is merciful, and he shall be made merciful to the sins of them; and he shall not destroy them. And he did greatly, to turn away his ire; and he kindled not all his ire.

39 And he bethought, that they be flesh; a spirit going, and not turning again.

40 How oft made they him wroth in desert; they stirred him into ire in a place without water.

41 And they were turned, and tempted God; and they wrathed the Holy of Israel.

42 They bethought not on his hand; in the day in which he again-bought them from the hand of the troubler.

43 As he setted [or put] his signs in Egypt; and his great wonders in the field of Tanis.

44 And he turned the floods of them, and the rains of them, into blood; that they should not drink.

45 He sent a flesh fly [or hound flea] into them, and it ate them; and he sent a paddock [or frog], and it lost them.

46 And he gave the fruits of them to rust; and he gave the travails of them to locusts.

47 And he killed the vines of them with hail; and the sycamore trees of them with frost.

48 And he betook the beasts of them to hail; and the possessions of them to fire.

49 He sent into them the ire of his indignation; indignation, and ire, and tribulation, sendings-in by evil angels.

50 He made a way to the path of his ire, and he spared not from the death of their lives; and he enclosed alto-gether in death the beasts of them.

51 And he smote all the first engen-dered things [or first begotten] in the land of Egypt; the first fruits of all the travail of them in the tabernacles of Ham.

52 And he took away his people as sheep; and he led them forth as a flock in desert.

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

54 And he brought them into the hill of his hallowing; into the hill which his right hand gat.

55 And he casted out heathen men from the face of them; and by lot he parted to them the land in a cord of dealing. And he made the lineages of Israel to dwell in the tabernacles of them.

56 And they tempted, and wrathed the high God; and they kept not his witnessings.

57 And they turned away themselves, and they kept not covenant; as their fathers they were turned into a shrewd bow.

58 They stirred him into ire in their little hills; and they stirred him to indignation in their graven images.

59 God heard, and forsook; and brought to nought Israel greatly.

60 And he putted [or put] away the tabernacle of Shiloh; his tabernacle in which he dwelled among men.

61 And he betook the virtue of them into captivity; and the fairness of them into the hands of the enemy.

62 And he enclosed altogether his people in sword; and he despised his heritage.

63 Fire ate the young men of them; and the virgins of them were not bewailed or bewept.

64 The priests of them fell down by sword; and the widows of them were not bewept.

65 And the Lord was raised, as sleeping; as mighty greatly filled [or drunk] of wine.

66 And he smote his enemies on the hinder parts; he gave to them ever-lasting shame.

67 And he putted [or put] away the tabernacle of Joseph; and he chose not the lineage of Ephraim.

68 But he chose the lineage of Judah; he chose the hill of Zion, which he loved.

69 And he as an unicorn builded his holy place; in the land, which he founded into worlds.

70 And he chose David his servant, and took him up from the flocks of sheep;

71 he took him from behind sheep with lambs. To feed Jacob his servant; and Israel his heritage.

72 And he fed them in the inno-cence of his heart; and he led them forth in the understandings of his hands.

PSALM 79

1 The psalm of Asaph. God, heathen men came into thine heritage; they defouled thine holy temple, they setted [or put] Jerusalem into the keeping of apples.

2 They setted [or put] the slain bodies of thy servants to be meats to the volatiles of heavens; the fleshes of thy saints to the beasts of the earth.

3 They shedded out the blood of them, as water in the compass of Jerusalem; and none there was that buried them.

4 We be made a shame to our neighbours; mocking and scorning to them, that be in our compass.

5 Lord, how long shalt thou be wroth into the end? shall thy vengeance be kindled as fire?

6 Pour out thine ire into heathen men, that know not thee; and into realms, that called not thy name.

7 For they ate Jacob; and made desolate his place.

8 Have thou not mind on our eld [or old] wickednesses; thy mercies before take us soon, for we be made poor greatly.

9 God, our health, help thou us, and, Lord, for the glory of thy name, deliver thou us; and be thou merciful to our sins, for thy name.

10 Lest peradventure they say among heathen men, Where is the God of them? and be he known among nations before our eyes. The vengeance of the blood of thy servants, which is shed [or poured] out;

11 the wailing of fettered men enter into thy sight. After the greatness of thine arm; wield thou the sons of slain men.

12 And yield thou to our neighbours sevenfold in the bosom of them; the shame of them, which they did shame-fully to thee, thou Lord.

13 But we that be thy people, and the sheep of thy pasture; shall acknowledge to thee into the world. In generation and into generation, we shall tell thy praising.

PSALM 80

1 To victory; this psalm is the wit-nessing of Asaph for lilies. Thou that governest Israel, give attention; that leadest forth Joseph as a sheep. Thou that sittest on cherubim, be showed

2 before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh. Stir thy power, and come thou, that thou make us safe.

3 God of virtues, turn [or convert] thou us; and show thy face, and we shall be safe.

4 Lord God of virtues, how long shalt thou be wroth on the prayer of thy servants?

5 How long shalt thou feed us with the bread of tears; and shalt give drink to us with tears in great measure?

6 Thou hast set [or put] us into against-saying to our neighbours; and our enemies have scorned us.

7 God of virtues, turn [or convert] thou us; and show thy face, and we shall be safe.

8 Thou translatedest or brought over a vine from Egypt; thou castedest out heathen men, and plantedest it.

9 Thou were leader of the way in the sight thereof; and thou plantedest the roots thereof, and it filled the land.

10 The shadow thereof covered hills; and the branches thereof filled the cedars of God.

11 It stretched forth his scions till to the sea, and the generations thereof till to the flood.

12 Why hast thou destroyed the wall thereof; and all men that go forth by the way, gather away the grapes thereof?

13 A boar of the wood destroyed it; and a singular wild beast devoured it.

14 God of virtues, be thou turned again to us; behold from heaven, and see, and visit this vine.

15 And make thou it perfect, which thy right hand planted; and behold thou on the son of man, which thou hast confirmed to thee.

16 Things were burnt with fire, and undermined; they who did this shall perish for the blaming of thy cheer.

17 Thine hand be made on the man of thy right hand; and on the son of man, whom thou hast confirmed to thee.

18 And we departed not from thee; thou shalt quicken us, and we shall inwardly call thy name.

19 Lord God of virtues, turn thou us; and show thy face, and we shall be safe.

PSALM 81

1 To the overcomer, on the pressers[or wine presses], [the psalm]of Asaph. Make ye fully joy [or Full out joyeth] to God, our helper; sing ye heartily to God of Jacob.

2 Take ye a psalm, and give ye a tympan; a merry psaltery with an harp.

3 Blow ye with a trump in the new moon; in the noble day of your solemnity.

4 For why commandment is in Israel; and doom is to God of Jacob.

5 He setted [or put] that witnessing in Joseph; when he went out of the land of Egypt, he heard a language, that he knew not.

6 He turned away his back from burdens; his hands served in a coffin.

7 In tribulation thou inwardly called-est me, and I delivered thee; I heard thee in the hid place of tempest, I proved thee at the waters of against-saying.

8 My people, hear thou me, and I shall be witness against thee; Israel, if thou hearest me,

9 a fresh God shall not be in thee; and thou shalt not worship an alien god.

10 For I am thy Lord God, that led thee out of the land of Egypt; make large thy mouth, and I shall fill it.

11 And my people heard not my voice; and Israel gave not attention to me.

12 And I let them go after the desires of their heart; they shall go in their findings.

13 If my people had heard me; if Israel had gone in my ways.

14 For not in hap I had made low their enemies; and I had sent mine hand on men doing tribulation to them.

15 The enemies of the Lord lied or lay down to him; and their time shall be into worlds.

16 And he fed them with the fatness of wheat; and he [ful] filled them with honey of the stone.

PSALM 82

1 The psalm of Asaph. God stood in the synagogue of gods; forsooth he deemeth gods in the middle.

2 How long deem ye with wicked-ness; and take the faces of sinners?

3 Deem ye to the needy man, and to the motherless child; justify ye the meek man and poor.

4 Ravish ye out a poor man; and deliver ye a needy man from the hand of the sinner.

5 They know not, neither under-stand, they go in darknesses; all the foundaments of [the] earth shall be moved.

6 I said, Ye be gods; and all ye be the sons of the high God.

7 But ye shall die as men; and ye shall fall down as one of the princes.

8 Rise, thou God, deem thou the earth; for thou shalt have heritage in all folks.

PSALM 83

1 The song of the psalm of Asaph. God, who shall be like thee? God, be thou not still, neither be thou peaced.

2 For lo! thine enemies sounded; and they that hate thee raised the head.

3 They made a wicked counsel on thy people; and they thought against thy saints.

4 They said, Come ye, and lose we them from the folk; and the name of Israel be no more had in mind.

5 For they thought with one accord;

6 the tabernacles of Idumeans, and men of Ishmael disposed a testament together against thee. Moab, and Hag-arenes,

7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; and the aliens with them that dwell in Tyre.

8 For Assur cometh with them; they be made into help to the sons of Lot.

9 Make thou to them as to Midian, and Sisera; as to Jabin, in the strand [or stream] of Kishon.

10 They perished in Endor; they were made as a turd of earth.

11 Put thou the princes of them as Oreb and Zeeb; and Zebah and Zalmunna.

12 All the princes of them, that said, Hold we by heritage the saintuary of God.

13 My God, put thou them as a wheel; and as stubble before the face of the wind.

14 As fire that burneth a wood; and as flame burning hills.

15 So thou shalt pursue them in thy tempest; and thou shalt trouble them in thine ire.

16 Lord, fill thou the faces of them with shame; and they shall seek thy name.

17 Be they ashamed, and be they troubled into the world of world; and be they shamed, and perish they.

18 And know they, that Lord is name to thee; thou alone art the Highest in every land.

PSALM 84

1 To victory, on the pressers[or wine presses]. The psalm of the sons of Korah. Lord of virtues, thy taber-nacles be greatly loved;

2 my soul coveteth, and faileth into the porches of the Lord. Mine heart, and my flesh; full out joyed into quick God [or God alive].

3 For why a sparrow findeth an house to itself; and a turtle findeth a nest to itself, where it shall keep his birds. Lord of virtues, thine altars; my king, and my God.

4 Lord, blessed be they that dwell in thine house; they shall praise thee into the worlds of worlds.

5 Blessed is the man, whose help is of thee; he hath ordained thy goings in his heart,

6 in the valley of tears, in the place which he hath set. For the giver of the law shall give blessing,

7 they shall go from virtue into virtue to strength; God of gods shall be seen in Zion.

8 Lord God of virtues, hear thou my prayer; God of Jacob, perceive thou with ears.

9 God, our defender, behold thou; and behold into the face of thy christ or thine anointed.

10 For why one day in thine halls is better; than a thousand elsewhere. I choose to be abject, either an outcast, in the house of my God; more than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners.

11 For God loveth mercy and truth; the Lord shall give grace and glory. He shall not deprive them from goods, that go in innocence;

12 Lord of virtues, blessed is the man, that hopeth in thee.

PSALM 85

1 To the overcomer, the song of the sons of Korah. Lord, thou hast blessed thy land; thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.

2 Thou hast forgiven the wicked-ness of thy people; thou hast covered all the sins of them.

3 Thou hast assuaged all thine ire; thou hast turned away from the ire of thine indignation.

4 God, our health, convert thou us; and turn away thine ire from us.

5 Whether thou shalt be wroth to us without end; either shalt thou hold forth thine ire from generation into generation?

6 God, thou converted, shalt quicken us; and thy people shall be glad in thee.

7 Lord, show thy mercy to us; and give thine health to us.

8 I shall hear what the Lord God shall speak in me; for he shall speak peace to his people. And on his holy men; and on them that be turned to heart.

9 Nevertheless his health is nigh men dreading him; that glory dwell in our land.

10 Mercy and truth met themselves; rightwiseness and peace were kissed.

11 Truth came forth of the earth; and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] beheld from heaven.

12 For the Lord shall give benignity; and our earth shall give his fruit.

13 Rightfulness [or Rightwiseness] shall go before him; and shall set his steps in the way.

PSALM 86

1 The prayer of David. Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear me; for I am needy and poor.

2 Keep thou my life, for I am holy; my God, make thou safe thy servant hoping in thee.

3 Lord, have thou mercy on me, for I cried all day to thee;

4 make thou glad the soul of thy servant; for why, Lord, I have raised my soul to thee.

5 For thou, Lord, art sweet and mild; and of much mercy to all men inwardly calling thee.

6 Lord, perceive thou my prayer with ears; and give thou attention to the voice of my beseeching.

7 In the day of my tribulation I cried to thee; for thou heardest me.

8 Lord, none among gods is like thee; and none is even to thy works.

9 Lord, all folks, whichever thou madest, shall come, and worship before thee; and they shall glorify thy name.

10 For thou art full great, and making marvels; thou art God alone.

11 Lord, lead thou me forth in thy way, and I shall enter in thy truth; mine heart be glad, that it dread thy name.

12 My Lord God, I shall acknowledge to thee in all mine heart; and I shall glorify thy name without end.

13 For thy mercy is great on me; and thou deliveredest my soul from the lower hell.

14 God, wicked men have risen upon me; and the synagogue of mighty men have sought my life; and they have not set forth thee in their sight.

15 And thou, Lord God, doing mercy, and merciful; patient, and of much mercy, and soothfast.

16 Behold on me, and have mercy on me, give thou the empire to thy servant; and make thou safe the son of thine handmaid.

17 Make thou with me a sign in good, that they see, that hate me, and be ashamed; for thou, Lord, hast helped or holpen me, and hast comforted me.

PSALM 87

1 The psalm of the song of the sons of Korah. The foundaments thereof be in holy hills;

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

3 Thou city of God, without end; glorious things be said of thee.

4 I shall be mindful of Rahab, and Babylon; knowing me. Lo! aliens, and Tyre, and the people of Ethiopians; they were there.

5 Whether a man shall say to Zion, And a man is born therein; and that man, alder Highest, founded it?

6 The Lord shall tell in the scriptures of these peoples; and of these princes, that were therein.

7 As the dwelling of all that be glad; is in thee.

PSALM 88

1 The song of the psalm, to the sons of Korah, to victory on Mahalath, for to answer the learning of Heman the Ezrahite. Lord God of mine health; I cried in day and night before thee.

2 My prayer enter before thy sight; bow down thine ear to my prayer.

3 For my soul is [full-]filled with evils; and my life nighed to hell.

4 I am guessed with them that go down into the pit; I am made as a man without help,

5 and free among dead men. As men wounded sleeping in sepulchres, of which men none thou is mindful of after; and they be put away from thine hand.

6 They have put me in the lower pit; in dark places, and in the shadow of death.

7 Thy strong vengeance is confirmed on me; and thou hast brought in all thy waves on me.

8 Thou hast made far from me my known; they have set [or put] me abom-ination to themselves. I am taken in, and I went not out;

9 mine eyes were sick [or enfeebled] for poverty. Lord, I cried to thee; all day I spreaded abroad mine hands to thee.

10 Whether thou shalt do marvels to dead men; either leeches shall raise them up, and they shall acknowledge to thee?

11 Whether any man in sepulchre shall tell thy mercy; and thy truth in perdition?

12 Whether thy marvels shall be known in darknesses; and thy right-fulness [or rightwiseness] in the land of forgetting?

13 And, Lord, I cried to thee; and early my prayer shall before come to thee.

14 Lord, why puttest thou away my prayer; thou turnest away thy face from me?

15 I am poor, and in travails from my youth; soothly I am enhanced, and I am made low, and troubled.

16 Thy wraths passed on me; and thy dreads troubled me.

17 They encompassed me as water all day; they encompassed me altogether.

18 Thou madest far from me a friend and neighbour; and my known from wretchedness.

PSALM 89

1 The learning of Ethan the Ezrahite. I shall sing without end; the mercies of the Lord. In generation and into generation; I shall tell thy truth with my mouth.

2 For thou saidest, Without end mercy shall be builded in heavens; thy truth shall be made ready in those [or them].

3 Thou saidest, I disposed a testa-ment to my chosen men; I swore to David, my servant,

4 till into without end I shall make ready thy seed. And I shall build thy seat; in generation, and into generation.

5 Lord, heavens shall acknowledge thy marvels; and thy truth in the church of saints.

6 For who in the clouds shall be made even to the Lord; shall be like God among the sons of God?

7 God, that is glorified in the council of saints; is great, and dreadful over all that be in his compass.

8 Lord God of virtues, who is like thee? Lord, thou art mighty, and thy truth is in thy compass.

9 Thou art Lord of the power of the sea; forsooth thou assuagest the stirring of the waves thereof.

10 Thou madest low the proud, as wounded; in the arm of thy strength thou hast scattered thine enemies.

11 Heavens be thine, and the earth is thine; thou hast founded the world, and the fullness thereof;

12 thou madest of nought the north and the sea. Tabor and Hermon shall make full out joy in thy name;

13 thine arm with power. Thine hand be made steadfast, and thy right hand be enhanced;

14 rightfulness [or rightwiseness] and doom is the making ready of thy seat. Mercy and truth shall go before thy face;

15 blessed is the people that know a hearty song. Lord, they shall go in the light of thy cheer;

16 and in thy name they shall make full out joy all day; and they shall be enhanced in thy rightfulness [or right-wiseness].

17 For thou art the glory of the virtue of them; and in thy good pleasance our horn shall be enhanced.

18 For our taking up is of the Lord; and of the Holy of Israel our king.

19 Then thou spakest in revelation to thy saints, and saidest, I have set [or put] help in the mighty; and I have enhanced the chosen man of my people.

20 I found David, my servant; I anointed him with mine holy oil.

21 For mine hand shall help him; and mine arm shall confirm him.

22 The enemy shall nothing profit in him; and the son of wickedness shall not lay to or put to, for to annoy him.

23 And I shall slay his enemies from his face; and I shall turn into flight them that hate him.

24 And my truth and mercy shall be with him; and his horn shall be enhanced in my name.

25 And I shall set [or put] his hand in the sea; and his right hand in floods.

26 He shall inwardly call me, Thou art my father; my God, and the up-taker of mine health.

27 And I shall set him the first be-gotten son; higher than the kings of earth.

28 Without end I shall keep my mercy to him; and my testament faithful to him.

29 And I shall set his seed into the world of world; and his throne as the days of heaven.

30 Forsooth if his sons forsake my law; and go not in my dooms.

31 If they make unholy my rightful-nesses; and keep not my command-ments.

32 I shall visit in a rod the wicked-nesses of them; and in beatings the sins of them.

33 But I shall not scatter my mercy from him; and in my truth I shall not annoy him.

34 Neither I shall make unholy my testament; and I shall not make void those things that come forth of my lips.

35 Once I swore in mine holiness, I shall not lie to David;

36 his seed shall dwell without end. And his throne as [the] sun in my sight,

37 and as a perfect moon without end; and a faithful witness in heaven.

38 But thou hast put away, and despised; and hast delayed thy christ.

39 Thou hast turned away the testa-ment of thy servant; thou madest unholy his saintuary in earth.

40 Thou destroyedest all the hedges thereof; thou hast set the steadfastness thereof into dread.

41 All men passing by the way ravished him; he is made a shame to his neighbours.

42 Thou hast enhanced the right hand of men oppressing him; thou hast gladdened all his enemies.

43 Thou hast turned away the help of his sword; and thou helpedest not him in battle.

44 Thou destroyedest him from cleansing; and thou hast hurled down his seat in [the] earth.

45 Thou hast made less the days of his time; thou hast beshed him with shame.

46 Lord, how long turnest thou away, into the end; shall thine ire burn out as fire?

47 Bethink thou what is my substance; for whether thou hast ordained vainly all the sons of men?

48 Who is a man, that shall live, and shall not see death; shall he deliver his soul from the hand of hell?

49 Lord, where be thine eld [or old] mercies; as thou hast sworn to David in thy truth?

50 Lord, be thou mindful of the shame of thy servants; of the insults of many heathen men, which I held together in my bosom.

51 Which thine enemies, Lord, did shamefully; for they despised the changing of thy christ.

52 Blessed be the Lord without end; be it done, be it done.

PSALM 90

1 The prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, thou art made help to us; from generation into generation.

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

3 Turn thou not away a man into lowness; and thou saidest, Ye sons of men, be turned again.

4 For a thousand years be before thine eyes; as yesterday, which is passed, and as [the] keeping in the night.

5 The years of them shall be; that be had for nought. Early pass he, as an herb,

6 early flourish he, and pass; in the eventide fall he down, be he hard, and wax he dry.

7 For we have failed in thine ire; and we be troubled in thy strong vengeance.

8 Thou hast set [or put] our wicked-nesses in thy sight; our world in the lightening of thy cheer.

9 For all our days have failed; and we have failed in thine ire. Our years we shall bethink upon as a spider;

10 the days of our years be those seventy years. Forsooth, if fourscore or eighty years be in mighty men; and the more time of them is travail and sorrow. For mildness came above; and we shall be chastised.

11 Who knew the power of thine ire; and durst number thine ire for thy dread?

12 Make thy right hand so known; and make men learned in heart by wisdom.

13 Lord, be thou converted some-deal; and be thou able to be prayed of by thy servants.

14 We were [ful] filled early with thy mercy; we made full out joy, and we delighted in all our days.

15 We were glad for the days in which thou madest us meek; for the years in which we saw evils.

16 Lord, behold thou into thy servants, and into thy works; and dress thou the sons of them.

17 And the shining of our Lord God be on us; and dress thou the works of our hands on us; and dress thou the works of our hands.

PSALM 91

1 He that dwelleth in the help of the highest God; shall dwell in the protection of God of heaven.

2 He shall say to the Lord, Thou art mine up-taker, and my refuge; my God, I shall hope in him.

3 For he delivered me from the snare of hunters; and from a sharp word.

4 With his shoulders he shall make shadow to thee; and thou shalt have hope under his feathers. His truth shall encompass thee with a shield;

5 thou shalt not dread of the night’s dread. Of an arrow flying in the day,

6 of a goblin going in darknesses; of assailing, and of a midday fiend.

7 A thousand shall fall down from thy side, and ten thousand from thy right side; forsooth it shall not nigh to thee.

8 Nevertheless thou shalt behold with thine eyes; and thou shalt see the yielding of sinners.

9 For thou, Lord, art mine hope; thou hast set thine help to be the alder Highest.

10 Evil shall not come to thee; and a scourge shall not come nigh to thy tabernacle.

11 For God hath commanded to his angels of thee; that they keep thee in all thy ways.

12 They shall bear thee in the hands; lest peradventure thou hurt thy foot at a stone.

13 Thou shalt go upon a snake, and a cockatrice; and thou shalt defoul a lion, and a dragon.

14 For God saith, For he hoped in me, I shall deliver him; I shall defend him, for he knew my name.

15 He cried to me, and I shall hear him; I am with him in tribulation; I shall deliver him, and I shall glorify him.

16 I shall [ful] fill him with the length of days; and I shall show mine health to him.

PSALM 92

1 The psalm of song, in the day of sabbath. It is good to acknowledge to the Lord; and to sing to thy name, thou Highest.

2 To show early thy mercy; and thy truth by night.

3 In a psaltery of ten cords; with song in harp.

4 For thou, Lord, hast delighted me in the works of thy making; and I shall make full out joy in the works of thine hands.

5 Lord, thy works be magnified greatly; thy thoughts be made full deep.

6 An unwise man shall not know; and a fool shall not understand these things.

7 When sinners come forth, as hay; and all they appear, that work wicked-ness. That they perish into the world of world;

8 forsooth thou, Lord, art the Highest, without end.

9 For lo! Lord, thine enemies, for lo! thine enemies shall perish; and all they shall be scattered that work wickedness.

10 And mine horn shall be raised as an unicorn; and mine eld age shall be in plenteous mercy.

11 And mine eye despised mine enemies; and when wicked men rise against me, mine ear shall hear of their downfall.

12 A just [or rightwise] man shall flower as a palm tree; he shall be multiplied as a cedar of Lebanon.

13 Men planted in the house of the Lord; shall flower in the porches of the house of our God.

14 Yet they shall be multiplied in plenteous eld age; and they shall be suffering well.

15 That they tell, that our Lord God is rightful [or right]; and no wicked-ness is in him.

PSALM 93

1 The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with fairness; the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded himself. For he made steadfast the world; that shall not be moved.

2 God, thy seat was made ready from that time; thou art from the world.

3 Lord, the floods have raised; the floods have raised their voice. Floods have raised their waves; of the voices of many waters.

4 The raisings of the sea be wonder-ful; the Lord is wonderful in high things.

5 Thy witnessings be made able to be believed greatly; Lord, holiness be-cometh thine house, into the length of days.

PSALM 94

1 God is Lord of vengeances; God of vengeance did freely.

2 Be thou enhanced that deemest the earth; yield thou yielding to proud men.

3 Lord, how long sinners; how long shall sinners have glory?

4 They shall tell out, and shall speak wickedness; all men shall speak that work unrightfulness.

5 Lord, they have made low thy people; and they have dis-eased thine heritage.

6 They killed a widow and a come-ling; and they have slain fatherless children and motherless.

7 And they said, The Lord shall not see it; and, God of Jacob shall not understand.

8 Ye unwise men in the people, understand; and, ye fools, learn some-time.

9 Shall not he hear, that planted the ear; either beholdeth not he, that made the eye?

10 Shall not he reprove, that chastiseth folks; shall he not know, which teacheth man knowing?

11 The Lord knoweth the thoughts of men; that those [or they] be vain.

12 Blessed is the man, whom thou, Lord, hast learned; and hast taught him of thy law.

13 That thou assuage him from evil days; till a ditch be digged to the sinner.

14 For the Lord shall not put away his people; and he shall not forsake his heritage.

15 Till rightfulness [or rightwiseness] be turned into doom; and who be nigh it, all that be of rightful heart.

16 Who shall rise with me against mis-doers; either who shall stand with me against them that work wickedness?

17 No but for the Lord helped me; almost my soul had dwelled in hell.

18 If I said, My foot was stirred; Lord, thy mercy helped me.

19 After the multitude of my sorrows in mine heart; thy comforts made glad my soul.

20 Whether the seat of wickedness cleaveth to thee; that makest travail in commandment?

21 They shall take hold against the soul of a just [or rightwise] man; and they shall condemn innocent blood.

22 And the Lord was made to me into refuge; and my God was made into the help of mine hope.

23 And he shall yield to them the wickedness of them; and in the malice of them he shall lose them, our Lord God shall lose them.

PSALM 95

1 Come ye, make ye full out joy to the Lord; heartily sing we to God, our health.

2 Before-occupy we his face in acknowledging; and heartily sing we to him in psalms.

3 For God is a great Lord, and a great King above all gods; for the Lord shall not put away his people.

4 For all the ends of [the] earth be in his hand; and the highness, [or the heights], of hills be his.

5 For the sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.

6 Come ye, praise we, and fall we down before God; weep we before the Lord that made us;

7 for he is our Lord God. And we be the people of his pasture; and the sheep of his hand. If ye have heard his voice today;

8 do not ye make hard your hearts. As in the stirring to wrath; by the day of temptation in desert.

9 Where your fathers tempted me; they proved and saw my works.

10 Forty years I was offended to this generation; and I said, Ever[more] they err in heart. And these men knew not my ways;

11 to whom I swore in mine ire, they shall not enter into my rest.

PSALM 96

1 Sing ye a new song to the Lord; all earth, sing ye to the Lord.

2 Sing ye to the Lord, and bless ye his name; tell ye his health from day into day.

3 Tell ye his glory among heathen men; his marvels among all peoples.

4 For the Lord is great, and worthy to be praised full much; he is feared-ful above all gods.

5 For all the gods of heathen men be fiends; but the Lord made heavens.

6 Acknowledging and fairness is in his sight; holiness and worthy doing is in his hallowing.

7 Ye countries of heathen men, bring to the Lord, bring ye glory and honour to the Lord;

8 bring ye to the Lord glory to his name. Take ye sacrifices, and enter ye into the halls of him;

9 praise ye the Lord in his holy hall. All earth be moved of his face;

10 say ye among heathen men, that the Lord hath reigned. And he hath amended the world, that shall not be moved; he shall deem peoples in equity.

11 Heavens be glad, and the earth make full out joy, the sea and the fullness thereof be moved altogether;

12 fields shall make joy, and all things that be in those [or them]. Then all the trees of woods shall make full out joy,

13 for the face of the Lord, for he cometh; for he cometh to deem the earth. He shall deem the world in equity; and peoples in his truth.

PSALM 97

1 The Lord hath reigned, the earth make full out joy; many isles be glad.

2 Cloud and darkness in his compass; rightfulness [or rightwiseness] and doom is[the] amending [or correction] of his seat.

3 Fire shall go before him; and shall enflame, either set afire, his enemies in compass.

4 His lightnings shined to the world; the earth saw, and was moved.

5 Hills as wax floated [or flowed] down from the face of the Lord; all earth from the face of the Lord.

6 Heavens told his rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and all peoples saw his glory.

7 All they that worship graven things, or images, be shamed, and they that have glory in their simu-lacra; all ye angels of the Lord, worship him.

8 Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah made full out joy, for thy dooms, Lord.

9 For thou, Lord, art the highest on all earth; thou art greatly enhanced over all gods.

10 Ye that love the Lord, hate evil; the Lord keepeth the souls of his saints; he shall deliver them from the hand of the sinner.

11 Light is risen to the rightful [or rightwise] man; and gladness to rightful men of heart.

12 Just [or rightwise] men, be ye glad in the Lord; and acknowledge ye to the mind of his hallowing.

PSALM 98

1 A psalm. Sing ye a new song to the Lord; for he hath done marvels. His right hand and his holy arm; hath made health to him.

2 The Lord hath made known his health; in the sight of heathen men he hath showed his rightfulness [or right-wiseness].

3 He bethought on his mercy; and on his truth, to the house of Israel. All the ends of earth; saw the health of our God.

4 All earth, make ye heartily joy to God; sing ye, and make ye full out joy, and say ye psalm.

5 Sing ye to the Lord in an harp, in harp and in voice of psalm;

6 in trumps beaten out with hammer, and in voice of a trump of horn. Heartily sing ye in the sight of the Lord, the King;

7 the sea and the fullness thereof be moved; the world, and they that dwell therein.

8 Floods shall make joy with hand; together hills shall make full out joy,

9 for the sight of the Lord; for he cometh to deem the earth. He shall deem the world in rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and peoples in equity.

PSALM 99

1 The Lord hath reigned, [the] peoples be wroth; thou that sittest on cherubim, the earth be moved.

2 The Lord is great in Zion; and high above all peoples.

3 Acknowledge they to thy great name, for it is fearedful and holy;

4 and the honour of the king loveth doom. Thou hast made ready dress-ings [or rightforth rulings]; thou hast made doom and rightfulness [or right-wiseness] in Jacob.

5 Enhance ye our Lord God; and worship ye at the stool of his feet, for it is holy.

6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests; and Samuel was among them that inwardly call his name. They inwardly called the Lord, and he heard them;

7 in a pillar of cloud he spake to them. They kept his witnessings; and the commandment which he gave to them.

8 Our Lord God, thou heardest them; God, thou were merciful to them, and thou tookest vengeance on all their findings.

9 Enhance ye our Lord God, and worship ye in his holy hill; for our Lord God is holy.

PSALM 100

1 A psalm to acknowledge. All earth, sing ye heartily to God;

2 serve ye the Lord in gladness. Enter ye in his sight in full out joying.

3 Know ye, that the Lord himself is God; he made us, and not we made us. His people, and the sheep of his pasture,

4 enter ye into his gates in acknowl-edging; enter ye into his porches, acknowledge ye to him in hymns. Praise ye his name,

5 for the Lord is sweet, his mercy is without end; and his truth is in generation and into generation.

PSALM 101

1 The psalm of David. Lord, I shall sing to thee; mercy and doom. I shall sing,

2 and I shall understand in a way without wem; when thou shalt come to me. I went perfectly in the inno-cence of mine heart; in the middle of mine house.

3 I setted not forth before mine eyes an unjust thing; I hated them that made trespassings.

4 A shrewd heart cleaved not to me; I knew not a wicked man bowing away from me.

5 I pursued him that backbited privily his neighbour. With the proud eye and an heart unable to be filled; I ate not with this.

6 Mine eyes were to the faithful men of earth, that they sit with me; he that went in a way without wem, ministered [or served] to me.

7 He that doeth pride, shall not dwell in the middle of mine house; he that speaketh wicked things, served not in the sight of mine eyes.

8 In the morrowtide I killed all the sinners of earth; that I should lose from the city of the Lord all men working wickedness.

PSALM 102

1 The prayer of a poor man, when he was anguished, and shedded out his speech before the Lord. Lord, hear thou my prayer; and my cry come to thee.

2 Turn not away thy face from me; in whatever day I am troubled, bow down thine ear to me. In whatever day I shall inwardly call thee; hear thou me swiftly.

3 For my days have failed as smoke; and my bones have dried up as croutons or cracklings, either leavings of frying.

4 I am smitten as hay, and mine heart dried up; for I have forgotten to eat my bread.

5 Of the voice of my wailing; my bone cleaved to my flesh.

6 I am made like a pelican of wilderness; I am made as a night crow in an house.

7 I waked; and I am made as a solitary sparrow in the roof.

8 All day mine enemies despised me; and they that praised me swore against me.

9 For I ate ashes as bread; and I meddled [or mingled] my drink with weeping.

10 From the face of the ire of thine indignation; for thou raising me [up] hast hurtled me down.

11 My days bowed away as a shadow; and I waxed dry as hay.

12 But, Lord, thou dwellest without end; and thy memorial in generation and into generation.

13 Lord, thou rising up, shalt have mercy on Zion; for the time to have mercy thereof cometh, for the time cometh.

14 For the stones thereof pleased thy servants; and they shall have mercy on the land thereof.

15 And, Lord, heathen men shall dread thy name; and all kings of earth shall dread thy glory.

16 For the Lord hath built [up] Zion; and he shall be seen in his glory.

17 He beheld on the prayer of meek men; and he despised not the prayer of them.

18 Be these things written in another generation; and the people that shall be made shall praise the Lord.

19 For he beheld from his high holy place; the Lord looked from heaven into earth.

20 For to hear the wailings of fettered men; and for to unbind the sons of slain men.

21 That they tell in Zion the name of the Lord; and his praising in Jerusalem.

22 In gathering together peoples into one; and kings, that they serve the Lord.

23 It answered to him in the way of his virtue; Tell thou to me the few-ness of my days.

24 Again-call thou not me in the middle of my days; thy years be in generation and into generation.

25 Lord, thou foundedest the earth in the beginning; and heavens be the works of thine hands.

26 Those shall perish, but thou dwellest perfectly; and all shall wax eld [or old] as a cloth. And thou shalt change them as a covering, and those shall be changed;

27 but thou art the same thyself, and thy years shall not fail.

28 The sons of thy servants shall dwell; and the seed of them shall be dressed into the world.

PSALM 103

1 A psalm of David. My soul, bless thou the Lord, and all things that be within me, bless his holy name.

2 My soul, bless thou the Lord; and do not thou forget all the yieldings of him.

3 Which doeth mercy to all thy wickednesses; which healeth all thy sicknesses.

4 Which again-buyeth thy life from death; which crowneth thee in mercy and merciful doings.

5 Which [ful] filleth thy desire in goods; thy youth shall be renewed as the youth of an eagle.

6 The Lord doing mercies; and doom, to all men suffering wrong.

7 He made his ways known to Moses; his wills or deeds to the sons of Israel.

8 The Lord is a merciful doer, and merciful in will; long abiding, and much merciful.

9 He shall not be wroth without end; and he shall not threaten without end.

10 He did not to us after our sins; neither he yielded to us after our wickednesses.

11 For by the highness of heaven from earth; he made strong his mercy on men dreading him.

12 As much as the east is from the west; he made [a] far our wicked-nesses from us.

13 As a father hath mercy on his sons, the Lord had mercy on men dreading him;

14 for he knew our making. He bethought that we be dust,

15 a man is as hay; his day[s] shall flower out so as a flower of the field.

16 For the spirit shall pass in him, and it shall not abide; and it shall no more know his place.

17 But the mercy of the Lord is from without beginning, and till into with-out end; on men dreading him. And his rightfulness [or rightwiseness]is into the sons of sons;

18 to them that keep his testament. And be mindful of his command-ments; to do those [or them].

19 The Lord hath made ready his seat in heaven; and his realm shall be lord of all.

20 Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; ye mighty in virtue, doing his word, to hear the voice of his words.

21 All virtues or hosts of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; ye ministers of him, that do his will.

22 All works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord, in each place of his lord-ship; my soul, bless thou the Lord.

PSALM 104

1 My soul, bless thou the Lord; my Lord God, thou art magnified greatly. Thou hast clothed acknowledging and fairness;

2 and thou art clothed with light, as with a cloth. And thou stretchest forth heaven as a skin;

3 and thou coverest with waters the higher parts thereof. Which settest a cloud thy ascending; which goest on the feathers of winds.

4 Which makest spirits thine angels; and thy ministers a burning fire.

5 Which hast founded the earth on his stableness; it shall not be bowed into the world of world.

6 The depth of waters as a cloth is the clothing thereof; waters shall stand on hills.

7 Those [or they] shall flee from thy blaming; men shall be afeared of the voice of thy thunder.

8 Hills go up, and fields go down; into the place which thou hast founded to those [or them].

9 Thou hast set a term, which they shall not pass; neither those [or they] shall be turned, for to cover the earth.

10 And thou sendest out wells into great valleys; waters shall pass betwixt the midst of hills.

11 All the beasts of the field shall drink; wild asses shall abide in their thirst, that is, to be filled in their thirst.

12 [The] Birds of the air shall dwell on those; from the midst of the stones they shall give voices.

13 And thou moistest [the] hills of their higher things; the earth shall be [ful] filled of the fruit of thy works.

14 And thou bringest forth hay to beasts; and herb to the service of men. That thou bring forth bread of the earth;

15 and that wine make glad the heart of men. That he make glad the face with oil; and that bread make steadfast the heart of man.

16 The trees of the field shall be [full-]filled, and the cedars of the Lebanon, which he planted;

17 sparrows shall make nest there. The house of the gyrfalcon is the leader of those [or them];

18 high hills be refuge to harts; the stone is refuge to urchins.

19 He made the moon into times; the sun knew his going down.

20 Thou hast set darknesses, and night is made; all beasts of the wood shall go therein.

21 Lions’ whelps roaring for to ravish; and to seek of God meat to them-selves.

22 The sun is risen, and those [or they] be gathered together; and those [or they] shall be set in their couches.

23 A man shall go out to his work; and to his working, till to the eventide.

24 Lord, thy works be magnified full much, thou hast made all things in wisdom; the earth is filled with thy possessions.

25 This sea is great and large to hands; there be creeping beasts, of which is no number. Little beasts with [the] great;

26 ships shall pass there. This dragon which thou hast formed, for to scorn him.

27 All things abide of thee; that thou give to them meat in time.

28 When thou shalt give to them, they shall gather; when thou shalt open thine hand, all things shall be filled with goodness.

29 But when thou shalt turn away thy face, they shall be troubled; thou shalt take away the spirit of them, and they shall fail; and they shall turn again into their dust.

30 Send out thy spirit, and they shall be formed of the new or reformed of new; and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.

31 The glory of the Lord be into the world; the Lord shall be glad in his works.

32 Which beholdeth the earth, and maketh it to tremble; which toucheth hills, and those [or they] smoke.

33 I shall sing to the Lord in my life; I shall say psalm to my God, as long as I am.

34 My speech be merry or mirth to him; forsooth I shall delight in the Lord.

35 Sinners fail from the earth, and wicked men fail, so that they be not; my soul, bless thou the Lord.

PSALM 105

1 Alleluia. Acknowledge ye to the Lord, and inwardly call ye his name; tell ye his works among heathen men*.

2 Sing ye to him, and say ye psalm to him, and tell ye all his marvels;

3 be ye praised in his holy name. The heart of men seeking the Lord be glad;

4 seek ye the Lord, and be ye con-firmed; seek ye ever[more] his face.

5 Have ye mind on his marvels, which he did; on his great wonders, and dooms of his mouth.

6 The seed of Abraham, his servant; the sons of Jacob, his chosen man.

7 He is our Lord God; his dooms be in all the earth.

8 He was mindful of his testament into the world; of the word which he commanded into a thousand gener-ations.

9 Which he disposed to Abraham; and of his oath to Isaac.

10 And he ordained it to Jacob into a commandment; and to Israel into everlasting testament.

11 And he said, I shall give to thee the land of Canaan; the cord of your heritage.

12 When they were in a little number; and the comelings of them were full few.

13 And they passed from folk into folk; and from a realm into another people.

14 He left not a man to annoy them; and he chastised kings for them.

15 Saying, Do not ye touch my christs; and do not ye do wickedly among my prophets.

16 And God called hunger on earth; and he wasted all the steadfastness of bread.

17 He sent a man before them; Joseph was sold into a servant.

18 They made low his feet in fetters, iron passed by [or through] his soul;

19 till the word of him came. The speech of the Lord enflamed him;

20 the king sent and unbound him; the prince of peoples sent and delivered him.

21 He ordained him lord of his house; and prince of all his possessions.

22 That he should learn [or teach] his princes as himself; and that he should teach his eld [or old] men prudence.

23 And Israel entered into Egypt; and Jacob was a comeling in the land of Ham.

24 And God increased his people greatly; and made them steadfast on his enemies.

25 He turned the heart of them, that they hated his people; and did guile [or treachery] against his servants.

26 He sent Moses, his servant; [and] that Aaron, whom he chose.

27 He putted [or put] in them to tell and to do the words of his miracles; and of his great wonders in the land of Ham.

28 He sent darknesses, and made it dark; and he made not bitter his words.

29 He turned the waters of them into blood; and he killed the fishes of them.

30 And the land of them gave pad-docks; in the privy places of the kings of them.

31 God said, and a flesh fly [or hound flea] came; and gnats in all the coasts of them.

32 He setted [or put] their rains into hail; fire burning in the land of them.

33 And he smote the vines of them, and the fig trees of them; and all-brake the trees of the coasts of them.

34 He said, and the locust came; and a bruchus of which there was no number.

35 And it ate all the hay in the land of them; and it ate all the fruit of the land of them.

36 And he killed each the first engen-dered thing in the land of them; the first fruits of all the travail of them.

37 And he led out them with silver and gold; and none was sick in the lineages of them.

38 Egypt was glad in the going out of them; for the dread of them lay on Egyptians.

39 He spreaded abroad a cloud, into the covering of them; and fire, that it shined to them by night.

40 They asked, and a curlew came; and he [ful] filled them with the bread of heaven.

41 He brake the stone, and waters flowed; floods went forth in the dry place.

42 For he was mindful of his holy word; which he had to Abraham, his servant.

43 And he led out his people in full out joying; and his chosen men in gladness.

44 And he gave to them the countries of heathen men; and they had in possession the travails of peoples.

45 That they keep his justifyings; and keep his law.

PSALM 106

1 Alleluia. Acknowledge ye to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is without end.

2 Who shall speak of the powers of the Lord; shall make known all his praisings?

3 Blessed be they that keep doom; and do rightfulness [or rightwiseness] in all time.

4 Lord, have thou mind on us, in the good pleasance of thy people; visit thou us in thine health.

5 To see in the goodness of thy chosen men, to be glad in the gladness of thy folk; that thou be praised with thine heritage.

6 We have sinned with our fathers; we have done unjustly, we have done wickedness.

7 Our fathers in Egypt understood not thy marvels; they were not mindful of the multitude of thy mercy. And they going into the sea, into the Red Sea, stirred him to wrath;

8 and he saved them for his name, that he should make known his power.

9 And he parted the Red Sea, and it was dried; and he led forth them in the depths of waters, as in desert.

10 And he saved them from the hand of haters; and he again-bought them from the hand of the enemy.

11 And the waters covered men troubling them; one of them abode not.

12 And they believed to his words; and they praised the praising of him.

13 They had soon done, they forgat his works; and they abided not his counsel.

14 And they coveted covetousness in desert; and tempted God in a place without water.

15 And he gave to them the asking of them; and he sent fullness into the souls of them.

16 And they wrathed Moses in the castles [or tents]; Aaron, the holy man of the Lord.

17 The earth was opened, and swal-lowed [down] Dathan; and covered on the congregation of Abiram.

18 And fire burnt on high in the synagogue of them; flame burnt [the] sinners.

19 And they made a calf in Horeb; and worshipped a molten image.

20 And they exchanged their glory; into the likeness of a calf eating hay.

21 They forgat God, that saved them, that did great works in Egypt,

22 marvels in the land of Ham; fearedful things in the Red Sea.

23 And God said, that he would lose them; and he would have, if Moses, his chosen man, had not stood in the breaking of his sight. That he should turn away his ire; lest he lost them.

24 And they had the desirable land for nought, for they believed not to his word,

25 and they grutched in their taber-nacles; they heard not the voice of the Lord.

26 And he raised his hand on them; to cast down them in desert.

27 And to cast away their seed in nations; and to lose them in countries.

28 And they made sacrifice to Baal-peor; and they ate the sacrifices of dead beasts.

29 And they wrathed God in their findings; and falling, either death, was multiplied in them.

30 And Phinehas stood, and pleased God; and the vengeance ceased.

31 And it was areckoned to him to rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; in gen-eration and into generation, till into without end.

32 And they wrathed God at the waters of against-saying; and Moses was travailed for them, that is, troubled in soul,

33 for they made bitter his spirit, and he parted [or ordained] in his lips.

34 They lost not [the] heathen men; which the Lord said to them to do.

35 And they were meddled [or mingled] among heathen men, and learned the works of them;

36 and served the graven images of them; and it was made to them into cause of stumbling.

37 And they offered their sons, and their daughters, to fiends.

38 And they shedded out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and of their daughters; which they sacrificed to the graven images of Canaan. And the earth was slain in bloods,

39 and was defouled in the works of them; and they did fornication in their findings.

40 And the Lord was wroth by strong vengeance against his people; and he had abomination of his heritage.

41 And he betook them into the hands of heathen men; and they that hated them, were lords of them.

42 And their enemies did tribulation to them, and they were meeked under the hands of enemies;

43 oft he delivered them. But they wrathed him in their counsel; and they were made low in their wicked-nesses.

44 And he saw, when they were set in tribulation; and he heard the prayer of them.

45 And he was mindful of his testa-ment; and it repented him by the multitude of his mercy.

46 And he gave them into mercies; in the sight of all men, that had taken them.

47 Our Lord God, make thou us safe; and gather together us from nations. That we acknowledge to thine holy name; and have glory in thy praising.

48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from the world and till into the world; and all the people shall say, Be it done, be it done.

PSALM 107

1 Alleluia. Acknowledge ye to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is into the world.

2 Say they, that be again-bought of the Lord; which he again-bought from the hand of the enemy,

3 from countries he gathered them together. From the rising of the sun, and from the going down; from the north, and from the sea.

4 They erred in wilderness, in a place without water; they found not way of the city of dwelling place.

5 They were hungry and thirsty; their souls failed in them.

6 And they cried to the Lord, when they were set in tribulation; and he delivered them from their needinesses.

7 And he led forth them into the right way; that they should go into the city of dwelling.

8 The mercies of the Lord, acknowl-edge to him; and his marvels acknowl-edge to the sons of men.

9 For he [ful] filled a void man; and he filled with goods an hungry man.

10 God delivered men sitting in dark-ness, and in the shadow of death; and men imprisoned in beggary, and in irons.

11 For they made bitter the speeches of God; and wrathed the counsel of the Highest.

12 And the heart of them was made meek in travails; and they were sick, and none was that helped.

13 And they cried to the Lord, when they were set in tribulation; and he delivered them from their needinesses.

14 And he led them out of dark-nesses, and [the] shadow of death; and brake the bonds of them.

15 The mercies of the Lord, ac-knowledge to him; and his marvels, acknowledge to the sons of men.

16 For he all-brake [the] brazen gates; and he brake [the] iron bars.

17 He up-took them from the way of their wickedness; for they were made low for their unrightfulnesses.

18 The soul of them loathed all meat; and they nighed unto the gates of death.

19 And they cried to the Lord, when they were set in tribulation; and he delivered them from their needinesses.

20 He sent his word, and healed them; and delivered them from the perishings of them.

21 The mercies of the Lord, ac-knowledge to him; and his marvels to the sons of men.

22 And offer they the sacrifice of praising; and tell they his works with full out joying.

23 They that go down into the sea in ships; and make working in many waters.

24 They saw the works of the Lord; and his marvels in the depth.

25 He said, and the spirit of tempest stood; and the waves thereof were areared.

26 They ascend [or go up] till to heavens, and go down unto the depths; the soul of them failed in evils.

27 They were troubled, and they were moved as a drunken man; and all the wisdom of them was devoured.

28 And they cried to the Lord, when they were set in tribulation; and he led them out of their needinesses.

29 And he ordained the tempest there-of into a soft wind, either peaceability; and the waves thereof were stilled.

30 And they were glad, for those [or they] were still; and he led them forth into the haven of their will.

31 The mercies of the Lord, acknowl-edge to him; and his marvels to the sons of men.

32 And enhance they him in the church of the people; and praise they him in the chairs of the elder men.

33 He hath set floods into desert; and the outgoings of waters into thirsty ground.

34 He hath set fruitful land into salti-ness; for the malice of men dwelling therein.

35 He hath set desert into ponds of waters; and [the] earth without water into [the] outgoings of waters.

36 And he set there hungry men; and they made a city of dwelling.

37 And they sowed fields, and planted vines; and made fruit of birth.

38 And he blessed them, and they were multiplied greatly; and he made not less their work beasts.

39 And they were made few; and were travailed of tribulation of evils and of sorrow.

40 Strife was shed [or poured] out on princes; and he made them for to err without the way, and not in the way.

41 And he helped the poor man from poverty; and setted [or put] families as a sheep bringing forth lambs.

42 Rightful men shall see, and shall be glad; and all wickedness shall stop his mouth.

43 Who is wise, and shall keep these things; and shall understand the mercies of the Lord?

PSALM 108

1 The song of the psalm of David. Mine heart is ready, God, mine heart is ready; I shall sing, and I shall say psalm in my glory*.

2 My glory, rise thou up, psaltery and harp, rise thou up; I shall rise up early.

3 Lord, I shall acknowledge to thee among peoples; and I shall say psalm to thee among nations.

4 For why, God, thy mercy is great on heavens; and thy truth is till to the clouds.

5 God, be thou enhanced above heavens; and thy glory over all earth.

6 That thy darlings be delivered, make thou safe with thy right hand, and hear [thou] me†;

7 God spake in his holy place. I shall make full out joy, and I shall part Shechem; and I shall mete [or measure] the great valley of tabernacles.

8 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; and Ephraim is the up-taking of mine head. Judah is my king;

9 Moab is the cauldron of mine hope. Into Idumea I shall stretch forth my shoe; aliens be made friends to me.

10 Who shall lead me forth into a strong city; who shall lead me forth till into Idumea?

11 Whether not thou, God, that hast put us away; and, God, shalt thou not go out in our virtues or hosts?

12 Give thou help to us out of tribulation; for the help of man is vain.

13 We shall make virtue in God; and he shall bring our enemies to nought.

PSALM 109

1 To victory, the psalm of David. God, hold thou not still my praising;

2 for the mouth of the sinner, and the mouth of the guileful man, is opened on me. They spake against me with a guileful [or treacherous] tongue,

3 and they encompassed me with words of hatred; and fought against me without cause.

4 For that thing that they should love me, they backbited me; but I prayed for them.

5 And they setted against me evils for goods; and hatred for my love.

6 Ordain thou a sinner on him; and the devil stand on his right half.

7 When he is deemed, go he out condemned; and his prayer be made into sin.

8 His days be made few; and another take his bishopric.

9 His sons be made fatherless; and his wife a widow.

10 His sons trembling be borne over, and beg; and be they cast out of their habitations.

11 An usurer seek all his chattel; and aliens ravish his travails.

12 None helper be to him; neither any be that have mercy on his motherless children.

13 His sons be made into perishing; the name of him be done away in one generation.

14 The wickedness of his fathers come again into mind in the sight of the Lord; and the sin of his mother be not done away.

15 Be they made ever[more] against the Lord; and the mind of them perish from earth.

16 For that thing that he thought not to do mercy, and he pursued a poor man and a beggar; and to slay a man compunct in heart.

17 And he loved cursing, and it shall come to him; and he would not give blessing, and it shall be made far from him.

18 And he clothed cursing as a cloth, and it entered as water into his inner things; and as oil in his bones.

19 Be it made to him as a cloth, with which he is covered; and as a girdle, with which he is ever[more] girded.

20 This is the work of them that back-bite me with the Lord; and that speak evils against my life.

21 And thou, Lord God, do with me for thy name; for thy mercy is sweet. Deliver thou me,

22 for I am needy and poor; and mine heart is troubled within me.

23 I am taken away as a shadow, when it boweth away; and I am shaken away as locusts.

24 My knees be made feeble with fasting; and my flesh was changed for oil.

25 And I am made a shame to them; they saw me, and moved their heads.

26 My Lord God, help thou me; make thou me safe by thy mercy.

27 And they shall know, that this is thine hand; and thou, Lord, hast done it.

28 And they shall curse, and thou shalt bless, they that rise against me, be shamed; but thy servant shall be glad.

29 They that backbite me, be clothed with shame; and be they covered with their shame, as with a double cloth.

30 I shall acknowledge to the Lord greatly with my mouth; and I shall praise him in the middle of many men.

31 Which stood nigh on the right half of a poor man; to make safe my soul from pursuers.

PSALM 110

1 The psalm of David. The Lord said to my Lord; Sit thou on my right side. Till I put thine enemies a stool of thy feet.

2 The Lord shall send out from Zion the rod of thy virtue; be thou lord in the midst of thine enemies.

3 The beginning is with thee in the day of thy virtue, in the brightnesses of saints; I begat thee of the womb, before the day star.

4 The Lord swore, and it shall not repent him; Thou art a priest without end, by the order of Melchizedek.

5 The Lord on thy right side; hath broken kings in the day of his venge-ance.

6 He shall deem among nations, he shall fill the land with fallings; he shall shake heads in the land of many men.

7 He drank of the strand [or stream] in the way; therefore he enhanced the head.

PSALM 111

1 Alleluia. Lord, I shall acknowledge to thee in all mine heart; in the council, and congregation of just men.

2 The works of the Lord be great; sought out into all his wills.

3 His work is acknowledging and great doing; and his rightfulness [or rightwiseness] dwelleth into the world of world.

4 The Lord, merciful in will, and a merciful doer, hath made a mind of his marvels;

5 he hath given meat to men dreading him. He shall be mindful of his testament into the world;

6 he shall tell to his people the strength of his works. That he give to them the heritage of folks;

7 the works of his hands be truth and doom. All his commandments be faithful,

8 confirmed into the world of world; made in truth and equity.

9 The Lord sent redemption to his people; he commanded his testament without end. His name is holy and dreadful;

10 the beginning of wisdom is the dread of the Lord. Good understanding is to all that do it; his praising dwelleth into the world of world.

PSALM 112

1 Alleluia. Blessed is the man that dreadeth the Lord; he shall delight full much in his commandments.

2 His seed shall be mighty in [the] earth; the generation of rightful [or right] men shall be blessed.

3 Glory and riches be in his house; and his rightfulness [or rightwiseness] dwelleth into the world of world.

4 Light is risen up in darknesses to rightful [or right] men; the Lord is merciful in will, and a merciful doer, and rightful [or rightwise].

5 The man is merry, that doeth mercy, and lendeth; he disposeth his words in doom;

6 for he shall not be moved without end. A just [or rightwise] man shall be in everlasting mind;

7 he shall not dread of an evil hearing. His heart is ready for to hope in the Lord;

8 his heart is confirmed, he shall not be moved, till he despise his enemies.

9 He spreaded abroad, he gave to poor men; his rightwiseness dwelleth into the world of world; his horn shall be raised in glory.

10 A sinner shall see, and shall be wroth; he shall gnash with his teeth, and shall fail, either shall wax rotten; the desire of sinners shall perish.

PSALM 113

1 Alleluia. Servants, praise ye the Lord; praise ye the name of the Lord.

2 The name of the Lord be blessed; from this time now, and till into the world.

3 From the rising of the sun till to the going down; the name of the Lord is worthy to be praised.

4 The Lord is high above all folks; and his glory is above heavens.

5 Who is as our Lord God, that dwelleth in high things;

6 and beholdeth meek things in heaven and in earth?

7 Raising a needy man from the earth; and enhancing a poor man from drit.

8 That he set him with princes; with the princes of his people.

9 Which maketh a barren woman dwell in the house; a glad mother of sons.

PSALM 114

1 Alleluia. In the going out of Israel from Egypt; of the house of Jacob from the heathen people.

2 Judah was made the hallowing of him; Israel the power of him.

3 The sea saw, and fled; Jordan was turned aback.

4 Mountains full out joyed as rams; and little hills as the lambs of sheep.

5 Thou sea, what was to thee, for thou fleddest; and thou, Jordan, for thou were turned aback?

6 Mountains, ye made full out joy as rams; and little hills, as the lambs of sheep.

7 The earth was moved from the face of the Lord; from the face of God of Jacob.

8 Which turned a stone into a pond of waters; and an hard rock into wells of waters.

PSALM 115

1 Alleluia. Lord, not to us, Lord, not to us; but give thou glory to thy name. Of thy mercy, and of thy truth;

2 lest any time heathen men say, Where is the God of them?

3 Forsooth our God in heaven; did all things, whichever he would.

4 The simulacra of heathen men be silver and gold; the works of men’s hands.

5 They have mouths, and shall not speak; they have eyes, and shall not see.

6 They have ears, and shall not hear; they have nostrils, and shall not smell.

7 They have hands, and shall not grope; they have feet, and shall not go; they shall not cry in their throat.

8 They that make those simulacra be made like those [or them]; and all that trust in them.

9 The house of Israel hoped in the Lord; he is the helper of them, and the defender of them.

10 The house of Aaron hoped in the Lord; he is the helper of them, and the defender of them.

11 They that dread the Lord, hoped in the Lord; he is the helper of them, and the defender of them.

12 The Lord was mindful of us; and blessed us. He blessed the house of Israel; he blessed the house of Aaron.

13 He blessed all men that dread the Lord; both little and greater.

14 The Lord add, either increase, on you; on you, and on your sons.

15 Blessed be ye of the Lord; that made heaven and earth.

16 Heaven of heaven is to the Lord/ Heaven of heavens to the Lord; but he gave the earth to the sons of men.

17 Lord, not dead men shall praise thee; neither all men that go down into hell.

18 But we that live, bless the Lord; from this time now, and till into the world.

PSALM 116

1 Alleluia. I loved the Lord; for the Lord shall hear the voice of my prayer.

2 For he bowed down his ear to me; and I shall inwardly call him in my days.

3 The sorrows of death encompass-ed me; and the perils of hell found me. I found tribulation and sorrow;

4 and I called inwardly the name of the Lord. Thou, Lord, deliver my soul;

5 the Lord is merciful, and just [or rightwise]; and our God doeth mercy.

6 And the Lord keepeth little children; I was meeked, and he delivered me.

7 My soul, turn thou into thy rest; for the Lord hath done well to thee.

8 For he hath delivered my soul from death; mine eyes from weepings, and my feet from falling down.

9 I shall please the Lord; in the country of them that live.

10 I believed, for which thing I spake; forsooth I was made low full much.

11 I said in my passing; Each man is a liar.

12 What shall I yield to the Lord; for all things which he hath yielded to me?

13 I shall take the cup of health; and I shall inwardly call the name of the Lord.

14 I shall yield my vows to the Lord before all his people;

15 the death of saints of the Lord is precious in his sight.

16 O! Lord, for I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid. Thou hast broken my bonds,

17 to thee I shall offer a sacrifice of praising; and I shall inwardly call the name of the Lord.

18 I shall yield my vows to the Lord, in the sight of all his people;

19 in the foreyards of the house of the Lord, in the midst of thee, Jerusalem.

PSALM 117

1 Alleluia. All heathen men, praise ye the Lord; all peoples, praise ye him.

2 For his mercy is confirmed on us; and the truth of the Lord dwelleth without end.

PSALM 118

1 Alleluia. Acknowledge ye to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is without end.

2 Israel say now, for he is good; for his mercy is without end.

3 The house of Aaron say now; for his mercy is without end.

4 They that dread the Lord, say now; for his mercy is without end.

5 Out Of tribulation I inwardly called the Lord; and the Lord heard me in largeness.

6 The Lord is an helper to me; I shall not dread what man shall do to me.

7 The Lord is an helper to me; and I shall despise mine enemies.

8 It is better to trust in the Lord; than for to trust in man.

9 It is better for to hope in the Lord; than to hope in princes.

10 All folks encompassed me; and in the name of the Lord it befelled, for I am avenged on them.

11 They compassing encompassed me; and in the name of the Lord, for I am avenged on them.

12 They encompassed me as bees, and they burnt out as fire among thorns; and in the name of the Lord, for I am avenged on them.

13 I was hurled, and turned upside-down, that I should fall down; and the Lord took me up.

14 The Lord is my strength, and my praising; and he is made to me into health.

15 The voice of full out joying and of health; be in the tabernacles of just [or rightwise] men. The right hand of the Lord hath done virtue,

16 the right hand of the Lord en-hanced me; the right hand of the Lord hath done virtue.

17 I shall not die, but I shall live; and I shall tell the works of the Lord.

18 The Lord chastising hath chastised me; and he gave not me to death.

19 Open ye to me the gates of rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and I shall enter by those [or them], and I shall acknowledge to the Lord;

20 this gate is of the Lord, and just [or rightwise] men shall enter by it.

21 I shall acknowledge to thee, for thou heardest me; and art made to me into health.

22 The stone which the builders reproved; this is made into the head of the corner.

23 This thing is made of the Lord; and it is wonderful before our eyes.

24 This is the day which the Lord made; make we full out joy, and be we glad therein.

25 O! Lord, make thou me safe, O! Lord, make thou well prosperity;

26 blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. We blessed you of the house of the Lord;

27 God is Lord, and he hath given light to us. Ordain ye a solemn day in thick peoples; till to the horns of the altar.

28 Thou art my God, and I shall acknowledge to thee; thou art my God, and I shall enhance thee. I shall acknowledge to thee, for thou heardest me; and thou art made to me into health.

29 Acknowledge ye to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is without end.

PSALM 119

1 Alleluia. [Aleph.] Blessed be men without wem in the way; that go in the law of the Lord.

2 Blessed be they, that seek his wit-nessings; and seek him in all the heart.

3 For they that work wickedness; went not in his ways.

4 Thou hast commanded; that thy behests be kept greatly.

5 I would that my ways were dressed; to keep thy justifyings.

6 Then I shall not be shamed; when I shall behold perfectly in all thy behests.

7 I shall acknowledge to thee in the dressing [or right ruling] of mine heart; in that that I learned the dooms of thy rightfulnesses [or rightwiseness].

8 I shall keep thy justifyings; forsake thou not me on each side.

9 [Beth.] In what thing amendeth a young waxing man his way? in keep-ing thy words.

10 In all mine heart I sought thee; put thou me not away from thy behests.

11 In mine heart I hid thy speeches; that I do not sin against thee.

12 Lord, thou art blessed; teach thou me thy justifyings.

13 In my lips I have pronounced; all the dooms of thy mouth.

14 I delighted in the way of thy witnessings; as in all riches.

15 I shall be exercised, either busily occupied, in thy behests; and I shall behold thy ways.

16 I shall bethink in thy justifyings; I shall not forget thy words.

17 [Gimel.] Yield to thy servant; quicken thou me, and I shall keep thy words.

18 Lighten thou mine eyes; and I shall behold the marvels of thy law.

19 I am a comeling in earth; hide thou not thy behests from me.

20 My soul coveted to desire thy justifyings; in all time.

21 Thou blamedest the proud; they be cursed, that bow away from thy behests.

22 Do thou away from me shame and despising; for I sought thy witnessings.

23 For why princes sat, and spake against me; but thy servant was exercised in thy justifyings.

24 For why and thy witnessings is my thinking; and my counsel is thy justifyings.

25 [Daleth.] My soul cleaved to the pavement; quicken thou me by thy word.

26 I told out my ways, and thou heardest me; teach thou me thy justifyings.

27 Learn [or Inform] thou me the way of thy justifyings; and I shall be exercised in thy marvels.

28 My soul napped for annoyance; confirm thou me in thy words.

29 Remove thou from me the way of wickedness; and in thy law have thou mercy on me.

30 I chose the way of truth; I forgat not thy dooms.

31 Lord, I cleaved to thy witnessings; do not thou shame me.

32 I ran the way of thy command-ments; when thou alargedest mine heart.

33 [He.] Lord, set thou to me a law, the way of thy justifyings; and I shall seek it ever[more].

34 Give thou understanding to me, and I shall seek thy law; and I shall keep it in all mine heart.

35 Lead me forth in the path of thy behests; for I would or delight in it.

36 Bow down mine heart into thy witnessings; and not into avarice.

37 Turn thou away mine eyes, that they see not vanity; quicken thou me in thy way.

38 Ordain thy speech to thy servant; in thy dread.

39 Cut away my shame, which I supposed; for thy dooms be merry.

40 Lo! I coveted thy commandments; quicken thou me in thine equity.

41 [Vau.] And, Lord, thy mercy come [up] on me; thine health come by thy speech.

42 And I shall answer a word to men saying shame to me; for I hoped in thy words.

43 And take thou not away from my mouth the word of truth utterly; for I hoped above in thy dooms.

44 And I shall keep thy law ever-[more]; into the world, and into the world of world.

45 And I went in largeness; for I sought thy commandments.

46 And I spake of thy witnessings in the sight of kings; and I was not shamed.

47 And I bethought in thy behests; which I loved.

48 And I raised mine hands to thy commandments, which I loved; and I shall be exercised in thy justifyings.

49 [Zain.] Lord, have thou mind on thy word to thy servant; in which word thou hast given hope to me.

50 This comforted me in my lowness; for thy word quickened me.

51 Proud men did wickedly to me by all things; but I bowed not away from thy law.

52 Lord, I was mindful of thy dooms from the world; and I was comforted.

53 Failing held me; for sinners for-saking thy law.

54 Thy justifyings were delightable to me to be sung; in the place of my pilgrimage.

55 Lord, I had mind of thy name by night; and I kept thy law.

56 This thing was made to me; for I sought thy justifyings.

57 [Cheth.] Lord, my part; I said to keep thy law.

58 I besought thy face in all mine heart; have thou mercy on me by thy speech.

59 I bethought on my ways; and I turned my feet into thy witnessings.

60 I am ready, and I am not troubled; to keep thy commandments.

61 The cords of sinners have em-braced me; and I have not forgotten thy law.

62 At midnight, I rose to acknowl-edge to thee; on the dooms of thy justifyings.

63 I am partner of all that dread thee; and keep thy behests.

64 Lord, the earth is full of thy mercy; teach thou me thy justifyings.

65 [Teth.] Lord, thou hast done good-ness with thy servant; by thy word.

66 Teach thou me goodness, and lore, either chastising, and knowing; for I believed to thy behests.

67 Before that I was made meek, I trespassed; therefore I kept thy speech.

68 Thou art good; and in thy good-ness teach thou me thy justifyings.

69 The wickedness of them that be proud, is multiplied on me; but in all mine heart I shall seek thy behests.

70 The heart of them is crudded, either made hard, as milk; but I be-thought on thy law.

71 It is good to me, that thou hast made me meek; that I learn thy justi-fyings.

72 The law out of thy mouth is better to me; than thousands of gold and silver.

73 [Jod.] Thine hands made me, and formed me; give thou understanding to me, that I learn thy behests.

74 They that dread thee shall see me, and they shall be glad; for I hoped more on thy words.

75 Lord, I knew, that thy dooms be equity; and in thy truth thou hast made me meek.

76 Thy mercy be made, that it comfort me; by thy speech to thy servant.

77 Thy merciful doings come to me, and I shall live; for thy law is my thinking.

78 They that be proud be shamed, for unjustly they did wickedness against me; but I shall be exercised in thy behests.

79 They that dread thee be turned to me; and they that know thy witnessings.

80 Mine heart be made unwemmed in thy justifyings; that I be not shamed.

81 [Caph.] My soul failed into thine health; and I hoped more in thy word.

82 Mine eyes failed into thy speech; saying, When shalt thou comfort me?

83 For I am made as a bouget [or bottle] in frost; I have not forgotten thy justifyings.

84 How many be the days of thy servant; when thou shalt make doom of them that pursue me?

85 Wicked men told to me janglings; but not as thy law.

86 All thy commandments be truth; wicked men have pursued me, help thou me.

87 Almost they ended me in [the] earth; but I forsook not thy command-ments.

88 By thy mercy quicken thou me; and I shall keep the witnessings of thy mouth.

89 [Lamed.] Lord, thy word dwelleth in heaven; without end.

90 Thy truth dwelleth in generation, and into generation; thou hast founded the earth, and it dwelleth.

91 The day lasteth continually by thy ordinances; for all things serve to thee.

92 But for thy law was my thinking; then peradventure I had perished in my lowness.

93 Without end I shall not forget thy justifyings; for in those [or them] thou hast quickened me.

94 I am thine, make thou me safe; for I have sought thy justifyings.

95 Sinners abode me, for to lose me; I understood thy witnessings.

96 I saw the end of all end; thy commandment is full large.

97 [Mem.] Lord, how loved I [or I loved] thy law; all day it is my thinking.

98 Above mine enemies thou madest me prudent by thy commandment; for it is to me without end.

99 I understood over all men teaching me; for thy witnessings is my thinking.

100 I understood above eld [or old] men; for I sought thy commandments.

101 I forbade my feet from all evil way; that I keep thy words.

102 I bowed not from thy dooms; for thou hast set law to me.

103 Thy speeches be full sweet to my cheeks; above honey to my mouth.

104 I understood of thy behests; there-fore I hated all the ways of wickedness.

105 [Nun.] Thy word is a lantern to my feet; and a light to my paths.

106 I swore, and purposed steadfastly; to keep the dooms of thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

107 I am made low by all things; Lord, quicken thou me by thy word.

108 Lord, make thou well pleasing the willful things of my mouth; and teach thou me thy dooms.

109 My soul is ever[more] in mine hands; and I forgat not thy law.

110 Sinners setted a snare to me; and I erred not from thy commandments.

111 I purchased thy witnessings by heritage without end; for those [or they] be the full [out] joying of mine heart.

112 I bowed mine heart to do thy justifyings without end; for reward.

113 [Samech.] I hated wicked men; and I loved thy law.

114 Thou art mine helper, and mine up-taker; and I hoped more in thy word.

115 Ye wicked men, bow away from me; and I shall seek the command-ments of my God.

116 Up-take thou me by thy word, and I shall live; and shame thou not me for mine abiding.

117 Help thou me, and I shall be safe; and I shall bethink ever[more] in thy justifyings.

118 Thou hast forsaken all men going away from thy dooms; for the thought of them is unjust.

119 I areckoned all the sinners of earth to be breakers of the law; therefore I loved thy witnessings.

120 Nail thou my flesh with thy dread; for I dreaded of thy dooms.

121 [Ain.] I did doom and rightwise-ness; betake thou not me to them that falsely challenge me.

122 Take up thy servant into goodness; they that be proud challenge not me.

123 Mine eyes failed into thine health; and into the speech of thy rightful-ness [or rightwiseness].

124 Do thou with thy servant after thy mercy; and teach thou me thy justify-ings.

125 I am thy servant; give thou under-standing to me, that I know thy witnessings.

126 Lord, it is time to do; they have destroyed thy law.

127 Therefore I loved thy command-ments; more than gold and topaz.

128 Therefore I was dressed to all thy behests; I hated all wicked way.

129 [Pe.] Lord, thy witnessings be wonderful; therefore my soul sought those [or them].

130 Declaring of thy words lighteneth; and it giveth understanding to meek men.

131 I opened my mouth, and drew the spirit; for I desired thy commandments.

132 Behold thou on me, and have mercy on me; by the doom of them that love thy name.

133 Dress thou my goings by thy speech; that all unrightfulness have not lordship on me.

134 Again-buy thou me from the false challenges of men; that I keep thy behests.

135 Lighten thy face on thy servant; and teach thou me thy justifyings.

136 Mine eyes led forth the outgoings of waters; for they kept not thy law.

137 [Tzaddi.] Lord, thou art just [or rightwise]; and thy doom is rightful [or right].

138 Thou hast commanded rightfulness [or rightwiseness], thy witnessings; and thy truth greatly to be kept.

139 My fervent love made me to be melted, either languished; for mine enemies forgat thy words.

140 Thy speech is set afire; and thy servant loved it.

141 I am young, and despised; I forgat not thy justifyings.

142 Lord, thy rightfulness [or rightwise-ness]is rightfulness [or rightwiseness] without end; and thy law is truth.

143 Tribulation and anguish have found me; thy behests is my thinking.

144 Thy witnessings is equity without end; give thou understanding to me, and I shall live.

145 [Koph.] I cried in all mine heart, Lord, hear thou me; I shall seek thy justifyings.

146 I cried to thee, make thou me safe; that I keep thy commandments.

147 I before came in ripeness, and I cried; I hoped above on thy words.

148 Mine eyes before came to thee full early; that I should bethink on thy speeches.

149 Lord, hear thou my voice by thy mercy; and quicken [or enliven] thou me by thy doom.

150 They that pursue me nighed to wickedness; forsooth they be made far from thy law.

151 Lord, thou art nigh; and all thy ways be truth.

152 In the beginning I knew of thy witnessings; for thou hast founded those [or them] without end.

153 [Resh.] See thou my meekness, and deliver thou me; for I forgat not thy law.

154 Deem thou my doom, and again-buy thou me; quicken thou me for thy speech.

155 Health is far from sinners; for they sought not thy justifyings.

156 Lord, thy mercies be many; quicken thou me by thy doom.

157 They be many that pursue me, and do tribulation to me; I bowed not away from thy witnessings.

158 I saw breakers of the law, and I was melted, either languished; for they kept not thy speeches.

159 Lord, see thou, for I loved thy commandments; quicken thou me in thy mercy.

160 The beginning of thy word is truth; all the dooms of thy rightwise-ness be without end.

161 [Schin.] Princes pursued me with-out cause; and my heart dreaded of thy words.

162 I shall be glad on thy speeches; as he that findeth many spoils.

163 I hated and loathed wickedness; forsooth I loved thy law.

164 I said praisings to thee seven times in the day; on the dooms of thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

165 Much peace is to them that love thy law; and no cause of stumbling is to them.

166 Lord, I abode thine health; and I loved thy behests.

167 My soul kept thy witnessings; and loved those [or them] greatly.

168 I kept thy commandments, and thy witnessings; for all my ways be in thy sight.

169 [Tau.] Lord, my beseeching come nigh in thy sight; by thy speech give thou understanding to me.

170 Mine asking enter into thy sight; by thy speech deliver thou me.

171 My lips shall tell out an hymn; when thou hast taught me thy justi-fyings.

172 My tongue shall pronounce thy speech; for why all thy command-ments be equity.

173 Thine hand be made, that it save me; for I have chosen thy behests.

174 Lord, I coveted thine health; and thy law is my thinking.

175 My soul shall live, and it shall praise thee; and thy dooms shall help me.

176 I erred as a sheep that perished; Lord, seek thy servant, for I forgat not thy commandments.

PSALM 120

1 The song of degrees. When I was set in tribulation, I cried to the Lord; and he heard me.

2 Lord, deliver thou my soul from wicked lips; and from a guileful tongue.

3 What shall be given to thee, either what shall be laid to thee; to a guileful [or treacherous] tongue?

4 Sharp arrows of the mighty; with coals that make desolate.

5 Alas to me! for my dwelling in an alien land is made long, I dwelled with men dwelling in Kedar;

6 my soul was much time a come-ling. I was peaceable with them that hated peace;

7 when I spake to them, they impugned, either against-said, me with-out cause.

PSALM 121

1 The song of degrees. I raised mine eyes to the hills; from whence help shall come to me.

2 Mine help is of the Lord; that made heaven and earth.

3 The Lord give not thy foot into moving; neither he nap, that keepeth thee.

4 Lo! he shall not nap, neither sleep; that keepeth Israel.

5 The Lord keepeth thee; the Lord is thy protection above thy right hand.

6 The sun shall not burn thee by day; neither the moon by night.

7 The Lord keep thee from all evil; the Lord keep thy soul.

8 The Lord keep thy going in and thy going out; from this time now and into the world.

PSALM 122

1 The song of degrees of David. I am glad in these things, that be said to me; We shall go into the house of the Lord.

2 Our feet were standing; in thy halls or foreyards, thou Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem, which is builded as a city; whose partaking thereof is into the same thing.

4 For the lineages, the lineages of the Lord, ascended [or went up] thither, the witnessing of Israel; to acknowl-edge to the name of the Lord.

5 For they sat there on seats in doom; seats on the house of David.

6 Pray ye those things, that be to the peace of Jerusalem; and abundance be to them that love thee.

7 Peace be made in thy strength; and abundance in thy towers.

8 For my brethren and my neigh-bours; I spake peace of thee.

9 For the house of our Lord God; I sought goods to thee.

PSALM 123

1 The song of degrees. To thee I have raised mine eyes; that dwellest in heavens.

2 Lo! as the eyes of servants be in the hands of their lords. As the eyes of the handmaid be in the hands of her lady; so our eyes be to our Lord God, till he have mercy on us.

3 Lord, have thou mercy on us, have thou mercy on us; for we be much filled with despising.

4 For our soul is much filled; we be shame to them that be abundant with riches, and despising to proud men.

PSALM 124

1 The song of degrees of David. Israel say now, No but for the Lord was in us;

2 no but for the Lord was in us. When men rose up against us;

3 in hap they had swallowed us quick. When the strong vengeance of them was wroth against us;

4 in hap water had swallowed us up. Our soul passed through a strand [or stream];

5 in hap our soul had passed through a water unsufferable.

6 Blessed be the Lord; that gave not us into taking [or catching] of the teeth of them.

7 Our soul, as a sparrow, is delivered; from the snare of hunters. The snare is all-broken; and we be delivered.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord; that made heaven and earth.

PSALM 125

1 The song of degrees. They that trust in the Lord be as the hill of Zion; he shall not be moved without end, that dwelleth in Jerusalem.

2 Hills be in the compass of it, and the Lord is in the compass of his people; from this time now, and into the world.

3 For the Lord shall not leave the rod of sinners on the part of just [or rightwise] men; that just men hold not forth their hands to wickedness.

4 Lord, do thou well to good men; and to rightful [or right] in heart.

5 But the Lord shall lead them that bow into obligations, with them that work wickedness; peace be upon Israel.

PSALM 126

1 The song of degrees. When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion; we were made as comforted.

2 Then our mouth was filled with joy; and our tongue with full out joying. Then they shall say among heathen men; The Lord magnified to do with them.

3 The Lord magnified to do with us; we be made glad.

4 Lord, turn thou our captivity; as a strand [or stream] in the south.

5 They that sow in tears; shall reap in full out joying.

6 They going, went, and wept; sending their seeds. But they coming, shall come with full out joying; bearing their handfuls.

PSALM 127

1 The song of degrees of Solomon. No but or But if the Lord build the house; they that built it have travailed in vain. No but or But if the Lord keepeth the city; he waketh in vain that keepeth it.

2 It is vain to you to rise before the light; rise ye after ye have set, that eat the bread of sorrow. When he shall give sleep to his loved;

3 lo! the heritage of the Lord is sons, the meed is the fruit of [the] womb.

4 As arrows be in the hand of the mighty; so the sons of them that be shaken out.

5 Blessed is the man, that hath [full-]filled his desire of those [or them]; he shall not be shamed, when he shall speak to his enemies in the gate.

PSALM 128

1 The song of degrees. Blessed be all men, that dread the Lord; that go in his ways.

2 For thou shalt eat the travails of thine hands; thou art blessed, and it shall be well to thee.

3 Thy wife shall be as a plenteous vine; in the sides of thine house. Thy sons as the new springs of olive trees; in the compass of thy board.

4 Lo! so a man shall be blessed; that dreadeth the Lord.

5 The Lord bless thee from Zion; and see thou the goods of Jerusalem in all the days of thy life.

6 And see thou the sons of thy sons; see thou peace on Israel.

PSALM 129

1 The song of degrees. Israel say now; Oft they have fought against me from my youth.

2 Oft they [have] fought against me from my youth; and soothly they might not to me

3 Sinners forged on my back; they made long their wickedness.

4 The Lord is just [or rightwise], he shall beat the nolls of sinners;

5 all that hate Zion be they shamed, and turned aback.

6 Be they made as the hay of housetops; that dried up, before that it be drawn up.

7 Of which hay he that shall reap, shall not fill his hand; and he that shall gather handfuls, shall not fill his bosom.

8 And they that passed forth said not, The blessing of the Lord be on you; we blessed you in the name of the Lord.

PSALM 130

1 The song of degrees. Lord, I cried to thee from the depths;

2 Lord, hear thou my voice. Thine ears be made attentive into the voice of my beseeching.

3 Lord, if thou keepest wickednesses; Lord, who shall sustain, or abide?

4 For mercy is at thee;

5 and, Lord, for thy law I abode thee. My soul sustained in his word;

6 my soul hoped in the Lord. From the morrowtide keeping till to the night;

7 Israel hope in the Lord. For why mercy is at the Lord; and plenteous redemption is at him.

8 And he shall again-buy Israel; from all the wickednesses thereof.

PSALM 131

1 The song of degrees to David. Lord, mine heart is not enhanced; neither mine eyes be raised. Neither I went in great things; neither in marvels above me.

2 If I feeled not meekly; but [I] en-hanced my soul. As a child weaned on his mother; so yielding be in my soul.

3 Israel, hope in the Lord; from this time now and into the world.

PSALM 132

1 The song of degrees. Lord, have thou mind on David; and of all his mildness.

2 As he swore to the Lord; he made a vow to [the] God of Jacob.

3 I shall not enter into the taber-nacle of mine house; I shall not ascend [or go up] into the bed of my resting.

4 I shall not give sleep to mine eyes; and napping to mine eyelids.

5 And rest to my temples, till I find a place to the Lord; a tabernacle to [the] God of Jacob.

6 Lo! we heard that the ark of the testament is in Ephratah [or we have heard of it in Ephratah]; we found it in the fields of the wood.

7 We shall enter into the tabernacle of him; we shall worship in the place, where his feet stood.

8 Lord, rise thou into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thine hallowing.

9 Thy priests be clothed with right-fulness [or rightwiseness]; and thy saints make full out joy.

10 For David, thy servant; turn thou not away the face of thy christ.

11 The Lord swore in truth to David, and he shall not make him [in] vain; Of the fruit of thy womb I shall set on thy seat.

12 If thy sons shall keep my testament; and my witnessings, these which I shall teach them. And the sons of them till into the world; they shall set on thy seat.

13 For the Lord chose Zion; he chose it into a dwelling to himself.

14 This is my rest into the world of world; I shall dwell here, for I chose it.

15 I blessing shall bless the widow of it; I shall [ful] fill with loaves the poor men of it.

16 I shall clothe with health the priests thereof; and the holy men thereof shall make full out joy in full out joying or rejoicing.

17 Thither I shall bring forth the horn of David; I [have] made ready a lantern to my christ.

18 I shall clothe his enemies with shame; but mine hallowing shall flower out on him.

PSALM 133

1 The song of degrees. Lo! how good and how merry it is; that brethren dwell together.

2 As ointment in the head; that goeth down into the beard, into the beard of Aaron. That goeth down into the collar of his cloth;

3 as the dew of Hermon, that goeth down into the hill of Zion. For there the Lord sent blessing; and life till into the world, that is, without end.

PSALM 134

1 The song of degrees. Lo! now bless ye the Lord; all the servants of the Lord. Ye that stand in the house of the Lord; in the halls or foreyards of the house of our God.

2 In nights raise your hands into holy things; and bless ye the Lord.

3 The Lord bless thee from Zion; the which Lord made heaven and earth.

PSALM 135

1 Alleluia. Praise ye the name of the Lord; ye servants of the Lord, praise ye.

2 Ye that stand in the house of the Lord; in the halls or foreyards of the house of our God.

3 Praise ye the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing ye to his name, for it is sweet.

4 For the Lord chose Jacob to him-self; [and] Israel into possession to himself.

5 For I have known, that the Lord is great; and our God before all gods.

6 The Lord made all things, what-ever things he would, in heaven and in earth; in the sea, and in all depths of waters.

7 He led out clouds from the farthest part of [the] earth; and made light-nings into rain. Which bringeth forth winds from his treasures [or treasuries];

8 which killed the first begotten things of Egypt, from man unto beast.

9 He sent out signs and great wonders, in the middle of thee, thou Egypt; into Pharaoh, and into all his servants.

10 Which smote many folks; and killed strong kings.

11 Sihon, the king of Amorites, and Og, the king of Bashan; and all the realms of Canaan.

12 And he gave the land of them heritage; to be heritage to Israel, his people.

13 Lord, thy name is without end; Lord, thy memorial be in generation and into generation.

14 For the Lord shall deem his people; and he shall be prayed in his servants.

15 The simulacra of heathen men be silver and gold; the works of the hands of men.

16 Those images have a mouth, and shall not speak; those [or they] have eyes, and shall not see.

17 Those [or they] have ears, and shall not hear; for there is no spirit in the mouth of them.

18 They that make those [things], be made like them; and all that trust in them.

19 The house of Israel, bless ye the Lord; the house of Aaron, bless ye the Lord.

20 The house of Levi, bless ye the Lord; ye that dread the Lord, bless ye the Lord.

21 Blessed be the Lord of Zion; that dwelleth in Jerusalem.

PSALM 136

1 Alleluia. Acknowledge ye to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is without end.

2 Acknowledge ye to the God of gods.

3 Acknowledge ye to the Lord of lords.

4 Which alone maketh great marvels.

5 Which made heavens by under-standing.

6 Which made steadfast [the] earth on waters.

7 Which made great lights.

8 The sun into the power of the day.

9 The moon and the stars into [the] power of the night.

10 Which smote Egypt with the first engendered things of them.

11 Which led out Israel from the midst of them.

12 In a mighty hand, and in an high arm.

13 Which parted the Red Sea into partings.

14 And led out Israel through the midst thereof.

15 And he cast adown Pharaoh and his power, or virtue, in the Red Sea.

16 Which led over his people through [the] desert.

17 Which smote great kings.

18 And killed strong kings.

19 Sihon, the king of Amorites.

20 And Og, the king of Bashan.

21 And he gave the land of them to be heritage.

22 Heritage to Israel, his servant.

23 For in our lowness he had mind on us.

24 And he again-bought us from our enemies.

25 Which giveth meat to each flesh.

26 Acknowledge ye to the God of heaven. Acknowledge ye to the Lord of lords; for his mercy is without end.

PSALM 137

1 On the floods of Babylon, there we sat, and wept; while we bethought on Zion.

2 In sallows in the midst thereof; we hanged up our organs.

3 For they that led us prisoners; asked us there the words of songs. And they that led away us said; Sing ye to us an hymn of the songs of Zion.

4 How shall we sing a song of the Lord; in an alien land?

5 If I forget thee, Jerusalem; my right hand be given to forgetting.

6 My tongue cleave to my cheeks; if I bethink not on thee. If I purposed not of thee, Jerusalem; in the beginning of my gladness.

7 Lord, have thou mind on the sons of Edom; for the day of Jerusalem. Which say, Extinguish ye, extinguish ye; till to the foundament therein.

8 Thou wretched daughter of Bab-ylon; he is blessed, that yieldeth to thee thy yielding, which thou yieldest to us.

9 He is blessed, that shall hold; and hurtle down his little children at the stone.

PSALM 138

1 [The psalm of David.] Lord, I shall acknowledge to thee in all mine heart; for thou heardest the words of my mouth. My God, I shall sing to thee in the sight of angels;

2 I shall worship toward thine holy temple, and I shall acknowledge to thy name. On thy mercy and thy truth; for thou hast magnified thine holy name above all things.

3 In whatever day I shall inwardly call thee, hear thou me; thou shalt multiply virtue in my soul.

4 Lord, all the kings of earth acknowl-edge to thee; for they heard all the words of thy mouth.

5 And sing they in the ways of the Lord; for the glory of the Lord is great.

6 For the Lord is high, and behold-eth meek things; and knoweth afar high things.

7 If I shall go in the midst of tribu-lation, thou shalt quicken me; and thou stretchedest forth thine hand on the ire of mine enemies, and thy right hand made me safe.

8 The Lord shall yield for me, Lord, thy mercy is without end; despise thou not the works of thine hands.

PSALM 139

1 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, thou hast proved me, and hast known me;

2 thou hast known my sitting, and my rising again. Thou hast understood my thoughts from [a] far;

3 thou hast inquired of my path and my cord. And thou hast before-seen all my ways;

4 for no word is in my tongue. Lo! Lord, thou hast known all things,

5 the new things and eld [or old]; thou hast formed me, and hast set thine hand on me.

6 Thy knowing is made wonderful of me; it is comforted, and I shall not be able to it.

7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit; and whither shall I flee from thy face?

8 If I shall ascend [or go up] into heaven, thou art there; if I shall go down into hell, thou art present.

9 If I shall take my feathers full early; and shall dwell in the last parts of the sea.

10 And soothly thither thine hand shall lead me forth; and thy right hand shall hold me.

11 And I said, In hap darknesses shall defoul me; and the night is my lightening in my delights.

12 For why darknesses shall not be made dark from thee, and the night shall be lightened as the day; as the darknesses thereof, so and the light thereof.

13 For thou haddest in possession my reins; thou tookest me up from the womb of my mother.

14 I shall acknowledge to thee, for thou art magnified dreadfully; thy works be wonderful, and my soul shall know that full much.

15 My bone, which thou madest in private, is not hid from thee; and my substance formed in the lower parts of [the] earth.

16 Thine eyes saw mine unperfect thing, and all men shall be written in thy book; days shall be formed, and no man is in those [or them].

17 Forsooth, God, thy friends be made honourable full much to me; the prince-hood of them is comforted full much.

18 I shall number them, and they shall be multiplied above the gravel; I rose up, and yet I am with thee.

19 For thou, God, shalt slay sinners; ye men-quellers, bow away from me.

20 For they say in thought; Take they their cities in vanity.

21 Lord, whether I hated not them that hated thee; and I failed, that is, mourned greatly, on thine enemies?

22 By perfect hatred I hated them; they were made enemies to me.

23 God, prove thou me, and know thou mine heart; ask thou me, and know thou my paths.

24 And see thou, if way of wicked-ness is in me; and lead thou me forth in [the] everlasting way.

PSALM 140

1 To victory, the psalm of David. Lord, deliver thou me from an evil man; deliver thou me from a wicked man.

2 Which thought wickednesses in the heart; all day they ordained battles.

3 They sharpened their tongues as serpents; the venom of snakes is under the lips of them.

4 Lord, keep thou me from the hand of the sinner; and deliver thou me from wicked men. Which thought to deceive my goings;

5 proud men hid a snare to me. And they laid forth cords into a snare; they setted a trap to me beside the way.

6 I said to the Lord, Thou art my God; Lord, hear thou the voice of my beseeching.

7 Lord, Lord, the virtue of mine health; thou madest a shadow on mine head in the day of battle.

8 Lord, betake thou not me from my desire to the sinner; they thought against me, forsake thou not me, lest peradventure they be enhanced.

9 The head of the compass of them; the travail of their lips shall cover them.

10 Coals shall fall on them, thou shalt cast them down into fire; into wretchednesses where they shall not be able to stand.

11 A man that is a great jangler shall not be dressed [or rightforth ruled] in earth; evils shall take an unjust man into perishing.

12 I have known, that the Lord shall make doom of a needy man; and the vengeance of poor men.

13 Nevertheless just [or rightwise] men shall acknowledge to thy name; and rightful [or right] men shall dwell with thy cheer.

PSALM 141

1 The psalm of David. Lord, I cried to thee, hear thou me; give thou attention to my voice, when I shall cry to thee.

2 My prayer be dressed as incense in thy sight; the raising up of mine hands be as the eventide sacrifice.

3 Lord, set thou a keeping to my mouth; and a door of standing about to my lips.

4 Bow thou not [down] mine heart into words of malice; to excuse excusings in sin. With men working wickedness; and I shall not commune with the chosen men of them.

5 A just [or rightwise] man shall reprove me in mercy, and he shall blame me; but the oil of a sinner make not fat mine head. For why and yet my prayer is in the well pleasant [or well pleased] things of them;

6 for the doomsmen of them joined to the stone were sopped up. Hear they my words, for they were mighty.

7 As fatness is broken out on the earth; our bones be scattered nigh hell.

8 Lord, Lord, for mine eyes be to thee, I hoped in thee; take thou not away my soul.

9 Keep thou me from the snare which they ordained to me; and from the traps of them that work wickedness.

10 Sinners shall fall in the net thereof; I am alone till I pass by.

PSALM 142

1 The learning of David; his prayer, when he was in the den. With my voice I cried to the Lord; with my voice I prayed heartily to the Lord.

2 I shedded [or poured] out my prayer in his sight; and I pronounced my tribulation before him.

3 While my spirit faileth of me; and thou hast known my paths. In this way in which I went; proud men hid a snare to me.

4 I beheld to the right side, and I saw; and none there was that knew me. Flight perished from me; and none there is that seeketh to help my soul.

5 Lord, I cried to thee; I said, Thou art mine hope; my part in the land of livers.

6 Give thou attention to my beseech-ing; for I am made low full greatly. Deliver thou me from them that pur-sue me; for they be comforted on or over me.

7 Lead my soul out of keeping to acknowledge to thy name; just [or rightwise] men abide me, till thou yield to me.

PSALM 143

1 The psalm of David. Lord, hear thou my prayer, with ears perceive thou my beseeching; in thy truth hear thou me, in thy rightwiseness.

2 And enter thou not into doom with thy servant; for each man living shall not be made just [or justified] in thy sight.

3 For the enemy pursued my soul; he made low my life in [the] earth. He hath set me in dark places, as the dead men of the world,

4 and my spirit was anguished on me; mine heart was troubled in me.

5 I was mindful of eld [or old] days, I bethought in all thy works; I be-thought in the deeds of thine hands.

6 I held forth mine hands to thee; my soul was as earth without water to thee.

7 Lord, hear thou me swiftly; my spirit failed. Turn thou not away thy face from me; and I shall be like them that go down into the pit.

8 Make thou early thy mercy heard to me; for I hoped in thee. Make thou known to me the way in which I shall go; for I raised my soul to thee.

9 Deliver thou me from mine enemies; Lord, I fled to thee;

10 teach thou me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy good spirit shall lead me forth into a rightful [or right] land;

11 Lord, for thy name thou shalt quicken me in thine equity. Thou shalt lead my soul out of tribulation;

12 and in thy mercy thou shalt scatter mine enemies. And thou shalt lose all them, that trouble my soul; for I am thy servant.

PSALM 144

1 A psalm of David. Blessed be my Lord God, that teacheth mine hands to war; and my fingers to battle.

2 My mercy, and my refuge; my taker-up, and my deliverer. My defender, and I hoped in him; and thou makest subject my people under me.

3 Lord, what is a man, for thou hast made thyself known to him; either the son of man, for thou areckonest him of some value?

4 A man is made like vanity; his days pass as a shadow.

5 Lord, bow down thine heavens, and come thou down; touch thou [the] hills, and they shall make smoke.

6 Light thou shining, and thou shalt scatter them; send thou out thine arrows, and thou shalt trouble them.

7 Send out thine hand from on high, ravish me out, and deliver thou me from many waters; and from the hand of alien sons.

8 The mouth of whom spake vanity; and the right hand of them is the right hand of wickedness.

9 God, I shall sing to thee a new song; I shall say psalm to thee in psaltery of ten strings.

10 Which givest health to kings, which again-boughtest David, thy servant; from the wicked sword ravish thou out me.

11 And deliver thou me from the hand of alien sons; the mouth of which spake vanity, and the right hand of them is the right hand of wickedness.

12 Whose sons be as new plantings in their youth. The daughters of them be arrayed; adorned about as the likeness of a temple.

13 The cellars of them be full; bring-ing out from this vessel into that, or from one vessel into another. The sheep of them be with lambs, plenteous [or abounding] in their goings out;

14 their kine be fat. There is no falling of their wall, neither passing over of it; neither cry is in the streets of them.

15 They said, The people is blessed, that hath these things; blessed is the people, whose Lord is the God of it.

PSALM 145

1 The psalm of David. My God, king, I shall enhance thee; and I shall bless thy name into the world, and into the world of world.

2 By all days I shall bless thee; and I shall praise thy name into the world, and into the world of the world.

3 The Lord is great, and worthy to be praised full much; and none end there is of his greatness.

4 Generation and generation shall praise thy works; and they shall pro-nounce, either tell afar, thy power.

5 They shall speak of the magnifi-cence of the glory of thine holiness; and they shall tell of all thy marvels.

6 And they shall say of the strength of thy fearedful things; and they shall tell of thy greatness.

7 They shall bring forth the mind of the abundance of thy sweetness; and they shall tell with full out joying of thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

8 The Lord is a merciful doer and merciful in will; patient, and much merciful.

9 The Lord is sweet in all things; and his merciful doings be above all his works.

10 Lord, all thy works acknowledge to thee; and thy saints bless thee.

11 They shall say [of] the glory of thy realm; and they shall speak of thy power.

12 That they make thy power known to the sons of men; and the glory of the magnificence of thy realm.

13 Thy realm is the realm of all worlds; and thy lordship is in all generation and into generation. The Lord is faithful in all his words; and holy in all his works.

14 The Lord lifteth up all that fall down; and raiseth up all men hurtled down.

15 Lord, the eyes of all beasts hope in thee; and thou givest the meat of them in covenable time.

16 Thou openest thine hand; and thou [ful] fillest each beast with blessing.

17 The Lord is just [or rightwise] in all his ways; and holy in all his works.

18 The Lord is nigh to all that inward-ly call him; to all that inwardly call him in truth.

19 He shall do the will of them, that dread him; and he shall hear the beseeching of them, and he shall make them safe.

20 The Lord keepeth all men loving him; and he shall lose all sinners.

21 My mouth shall speak the praising of the Lord; and each man bless his holy name into the world, and into the world of world.

PSALM 146

1 Alleluia. My soul, praise thou the Lord;

2 I shall praise the Lord in my life; I shall sing to my God as long as I shall be.

3 Do not ye trust in princes; neither in the sons of men, in whom is no health.

4 The spirit of him shall go out, and he shall turn again into his earth; in that day all the thoughts of them shall perish.

5 He is blessed, of whom the God of Jacob is his helper; his hope is in his Lord God,

6 that made heaven, and earth; the sea, and all things that be in those [or them]. Which keepeth truth into the world,

7 he maketh doom to them that suffer wrong; he giveth meat to them that be hungry. The Lord unbindeth fettered men;

8 the Lord lighteneth blind men. The Lord raiseth men hurled or hurtled down; the Lord loveth just men.

9 The Lord keepeth comelings; he shall take up a motherless child, and a widow; and he shall destroy the ways of sinners.

10 The Lord shall reign into the worlds; Zion, thy God shall reign in generation and into generation.

PSALM 147

1 Alleluia. Praise ye the Lord, for the psalm is good; let our praising be merry, and fair to our God.

2 The Lord shall build [up] Jerusalem; and he shall gather together the scatterings of Israel.

3 The which Lord maketh whole men contrite in heart; and bindeth together the sorrows of them.

4 Which numbereth the multitude of stars; and calleth names to all those [or them].

5 Our Lord is great, and his virtue is great; and of his wisdom there is no number.

6 The Lord taketh up mild men; forsooth he maketh low sinners till to the earth.

7 Before sing ye to the Lord in acknowledging; say ye psalm to our God in an harp.

8 Which covereth heaven with clouds; and maketh ready rain to the earth. Which bringeth forth hay in hills; and herb to the service of men.

9 Which giveth meat to their work beasts; and to the birds of crows calling him.

10 He shall not have will in the strength of an horse; neither it shall be well pleasant [or well pleased] to him in the legs of a man.

11 It is well pleasant [or well pleased] to the Lord on men that dread him; and in them that hope in his mercy.

12 Jerusalem, praise thou the Lord; Zion, praise thou thy God.

13 For he hath comforted the locks of thy gates; he hath blessed thy sons in thee.

14 Which hath set thy coasts peace; and filleth thee with the fatness of wheat.

15 Which sendeth out his speech to the earth; his word runneth swiftly.

16 Which giveth snow as wool; he spreadeth abroad a cloud as ashes.

17 He sendeth his crystal as morsels; who shall be able to suffer before the face of his coldness?

18 He shall send out his word, and shall melt those [or them]; his spirit shall blow, and waters shall flow.

19 Which telleth his word to Jacob; and his rightfulnesses and dooms to Israel.

20 He did not so to each nation; and he showed not his dooms to them.

PSALM 148

1 Alleluia. Ye of heavens, praise the Lord; praise ye him in high things.

2 All his angels, praise ye him; all his virtues, praise ye him.

3 Sun and moon, praise ye him; all stars and light, praise ye him.

4 Heavens of heavens, praise ye him; and the waters that be above heavens,

5 praise they the name of the Lord. For he said, and things were made; he commanded, and things were made of nought.

6 He ordained those things into the world, and into the world of world; he setted a commandment, and it shall not pass.

7 Ye of the earth, praise the Lord; dragons, and all depths of waters.

8 Fire, hail, snow, ice, spirits of tempests; that do his word.

9 Mountains, and all little hills; trees bearing fruit, and all cedars.

10 Wild beasts, and all tame beasts; serpents, and feathered birds.

11 The kings of earth, and all peoples; the princes, and all judges of earth.

12 Young men, and virgins, eld [or old] men with [the] younger,

13 praise the name of the Lord; for the name of him alone is enhanced. His acknowledging be on heaven and earth;

14 and he hath enhanced the horn of his people. An hymn be to all his saints; to the children of Israel, to a people nighing to him.

PSALM 149

1 Alleluia. Sing ye to the Lord a new song; his praising be in the church of saints.

2 Israel be glad in him that made him; and the daughters of Zion make full out joy in their king.

3 Praise they his name in a quire or choir; say they psalm to him in a tympan, and psaltery.

4 For the Lord is well pleased in his people; and he hath raised mild men into health.

5 Saints shall make full out joy in glory; they shall be glad in their beds.

6 The full out joyings of God in the throat of them; and swords sharp on both sides in the hands of them.

7 To do vengeance in nations; and blamings in peoples.

8 To bind the kings of them in stocks; and the noble men of them in iron manacles.

9 That they make in them the doom written; this is the glory to all his saints.

PSALM 150

1 Alleluia. Praise ye the Lord in his saints; praise ye him in the firmament of his virtue.

2 Praise ye him in his virtues; praise ye him by the multitude of his greatness.

3 Praise ye him in the sound of a trump; praise ye him in a psaltery and harp.

4 Praise ye him in a tympan and quire; praise ye him in strings and organ.

5 Praise ye him in cymbals sounding well, praise ye him in cymbals of jubilation;

6 each spirit, praise the Lord.

* PSALM 14:1 Compare Psalm 14:1-7 to Psalm 53:1-6.

* PSALM 18:1 Compare Psalm 18:1-50 to 2nd Samuel 22:1-51.

* PSALM 24:10 In the original Old Testament of the “Wycliffe Bible”, but only in Psalms, numerous verses have the phrase ‘the Lord of virtues’/’the Lord God of virtues’, where ‘virtues’ refers to ‘hosts’ or ‘armies’, as it does elsewhere, and so should be read ‘the Lord of hosts/’the Lord God of hosts’. As well, ‘virtue’ can mean ‘victory’, ‘power’ and ‘might/y’.

* PSALM 40:13 Compare Psalm 40:13-17 to Psalm 70:1-5.

* PSALM 53:1 Compare Psalm 53:1-6 to Psalm 14:1-7.

* PSALM 57:7 Compare Psalm 57:7-11 to Psalm 108:1-5.

* PSALM 60:5 Compare Psalm 60:5-12 to Psalm 108:6-13.

* PSALM 70:1 Compare Psalm 70:1-5 to Psalm 40:13-17.

* PSALM 105:1 Compare Psalm 105:1-15 to 1st Chronicles 16:8-22.

* PSALM 108:1 Compare Psalm 108:1-5 to Psalm 57:7-11.

† PSALM 108:6 Compare Psalm 108:6-13 to Psalm 60:5-12.

PROVERBS

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

PROVERBS

CHAPTER 1

1 The parables of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel;

2 to know wisdom and knowing; to understand the words of prudence;

3 and to take the learning of teach-ing; to take rightfulness [or rightwise-ness], and doom, and equity;

4 that fellness, or wariness, be given to little children, and knowing and understanding to a young waxing man.

5 A wise man hearing shall be the wiser; and a man understanding shall hold governance.

6 He shall perceive a parable, and the expounding; the words of wise men, and the dark figurative speeches of them.

7 The dread of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; fools despise wisdom and teaching.

8 My son, hear thou the teaching of thy father, and forsake thou not the law of thy mother;

9 that grace be added, either increased, to thine head, and a bie to thy neck.

10 My son, if sinners flatter thee, assent thou not to them.

11 If they say, Come thou with us, set we ambush to shed blood, hide we snares of deceits against an innocent without cause;

12 swallow we him, as hell swallow-eth a man living; and all-whole, as going down into a pit;

13 we shall find all precious chattel [or substance], we shall fill our houses with spoils;

14 put thou lot with us, one purse be there of us all;

15 my son, go thou not with them; forbid thy foot from the paths of them.

16 For the feet of them run to evil; and they hasten to shed out blood.

17 But a net is laid in vain before the eyes of birds, that have wings.

18 Also they set ambush against their own blood; and make ready frauds, or guiles, against their own souls.

19 So the paths of each avaricious man ravish, or take away, the souls of them that wield.

20 Wisdom preacheth withoutforth; in streets it giveth his voice.

21 It crieth oft in the head of companies; in the leaves of [the] gates of the city it bringeth forth his words, and saith,

22 How long, little men in wit, love young childhood, and fools shall covet those things, that be harmful to themselves, and unprudent men shall hate knowing?

23 Be ye converted at my reproving; lo, I shall bring forth to you my spirit, and I shall show my words.

24 For I called, and ye forsook; I held forth mine hand, and none there was that beheld.

25 Ye have despised all my counsel; and charged not my blamings.

26 And I shall laugh in your perishing; and I shall scorn you, when that, that ye dread, cometh to you.

27 When sudden wretchedness falleth in, and perishing befalleth as tempest; when tribulation and anguish cometh on you.

28 Then they shall call me, and I shall not hear; they shall rise early, and they shall not find me.

29 For they hated teaching, and they took not the dread of the Lord,

30 neither they assented to my counsel, and they depraved all mine amending.

31 Therefore they shall eat the fruits of their way; and they shall be filled with their counsels.

32 The turning away of little men in wit shall slay them; and the prosperity of fools shall lose them.

33 But he that heareth me, shall rest without dread; and he shall use abundance, when the dread of evils is taken away.

CHAPTER 2

1 My son, if thou receivest my words, and hidest my behests with thee;

2 that thine ear hear wisdom, bow thine heart to know prudence.

3 For if thou inwardly callest wisdom, and bowest thine heart to prudence;

4 if thou seekest it as money, and diggest it out as treasures;

5 then thou shalt understand the dread of the Lord, and shalt find the knowing of God.

6 For the Lord giveth wisdom; and prudence and knowing is of his mouth.

7 He shall keep the health of rightful [or rightwise] men, and he shall defend them that go simply.

8 And he shall keep the paths of rightwiseness, and he shall keep the ways of holy men.

9 Then thou shalt understand rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and doom, and equity, and each good path.

10 If wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowing pleaseth thy soul,

11 good counsel shall keep thee, and prudence shall keep thee;

12 that thou be delivered from an evil way, and from a man that speaketh wayward things.

13 Which forsake a rightful [or right] way, and go by dark ways;

14 which be glad, when they have done evil, and make full out joy in worst things;

15 whose ways be wayward, and their goings be of evil fame.

16 That thou be delivered from an alien woman, and from a strange woman, that maketh soft her words;

17 and forsaketh the duke of her time of marriage, and hath forgotten the covenant of her God.

18 For the house of her is bowed to death, and her paths to hell.

19 All that enter to her, shall not turn again, neither they shall catch the paths of life.

20 That thou go in a good way, and keep the paths of just [or rightwise] men.

21 Forsooth they that be rightful, shall dwell in the land; and simple men shall perfectly dwell therein.

22 But unfaithful men shall be lost from the land; and they that do wickedly, shall be taken away from it.

CHAPTER 3

1 My son, forget thou not my law; and thine heart keep my command-ments.

2 For they shall set to thee the length of days, and the years of life, and peace.

3 Mercy and truth forsake thee not; bind thou those to thy throat, and write them in the tables of thine heart.

4 And thou shalt find grace, and good teaching before God and men.

5 Have thou trust in the Lord, of all thine heart; and lean thou not to thy prudence.

6 In all thy ways think on him, and he shall dress thy goings.

7 Be thou not wise with thyself; dread thou God, and go away from evil.

8 For why health shall be in thy navel, and moisting of thy bones.

9 Honour thou the Lord of thy chattel [or substance], and of the best of all thy fruits give thou to poor men;

10 and thy barns shall be filled with abundance, and thy pressers [or presses] shall flow with wine.

11 My son, cast thou not away the teaching of the Lord; and fail thou not, when thou art chastised of him.

12 For the Lord chastiseth him, whom he loveth; and as a father in the son he pleaseth him.

13 Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom, and that floweth with prudence.

14 The getting thereof is better than the merchandise [or chaffering] of gold and of silver; the fruits thereof be the first and the cleanest.

15 It is more precious than all riches; and all things that be desired, may not be comparisoned to this.

16 Length of days is in the right half thereof, and riches and glory be in the left half thereof.

17 The ways thereof be fair ways, and all the paths thereof be peaceable.

18 It is a tree of life to them that take it; and he that holdeth it, is blessed.

19 The Lord founded the earth by wisdom; he stablished heavens by prudence.

20 The depths of waters brake out by his wisdom; and clouds waxed alto-gether with dew.

21 My son, these things float not away [or not flow away] from thine eyes; keep thou my law, and my counsel;

22 and life shall be to thy soul, and grace to thy cheeks.

23 Then thou shalt go trustily in thy way; and thy foot shall not stumble.

24 If thou shalt sleep, thou shalt not dread; thou shalt rest, and thy sleep shall be soft [or and sweet shall be thy sleep].

25 Dread thou not of sudden fear, and the powers of wicked men falling in on thee.

26 For the Lord shall be at thy side; and he shall keep thy foot, that thou be not taken.

27 Do not thou forbid to do well him that may; if thou mayest, also do thou well.

28 Say thou not to thy friend, Go, and turn again, and tomorrow I shall give to thee; when thou mayest give anon.

29 Imagine thou not evil to thy friend, when he hath trust in thee.

30 Strive thou not against a man without cause, when he doeth none evil to thee.

31 Pursue thou not an unjust [or unrightwise] man, pursue [or follow] thou not his ways.

32 For each deceiver is abomination to the Lord; and his speaking is with simple men.

33 Neediness is sent of the Lord in the house of a wicked man; but the dwelling places of just [or rightwise] men shall be blessed.

34 He shall scorn [the] scorners; and he shall give grace to mild men.

35 Wise men shall have glory; [the] enhancing of fools is shame.

CHAPTER 4

1 Sons, hear ye the teaching of your father; and perceive ye, that ye know prudence.

2 I shall give to you a good gift; forsake ye not my law.

3 For why and I was the son of my father, a tender son, and one begotten, before my mother.

4 And my father taught me, and said, Thine heart receive my words; keep thou my behests, and thou shalt live.

5 Wield thou wisdom, wield thou prudence; forget thou not, neither bow thou away from the words of my mouth.

6 Forsake thou not it, and it shall keep thee; love thou it, and it shall keep thee.

7 The beginning of wisdom, wield thou wisdom; and in all thy possession, get thou prudence.

8 Take thou it, and it shall enhance thee; thou shalt be glorified of it, when thou hast embraced it.

9 It shall give increasings of graces to thine head; and a noble crown shall defend thee.

10 My son, hear thou, and take my words; that the years of life be multiplied to thee.

11 I shall show to thee the way of wisdom; and I shall lead thee by the paths of equity.

12 Into which when thou hast entered, thy goings shall not be made strait; and thou shalt run, and shalt not have hurting.

13 Hold thou teaching, and forsake [thou] it not; keep thou it, for it is thy life.

14 Delight thou not in the paths of wicked men; and the way of evil men please not thee.

15 Flee thou from it, and pass thou not thereby; bow thou away, and forsake it.

16 For they sleep not, no but they have done evil; and sleep is ravished from them, no but they have deceived simple men.

17 They eat the bread of unpiety, and drink the wine of wickedness.

18 But the path of just [or rightwise] men goeth forth as light shining, and increaseth till to [a] perfect day.

19 The way of wicked men is dark; they know not where they shall fall.

20 My son, hearken thou to my words; and bow down thine ears to my speeches.

21 Go not they away from thine eyes; keep thou them in the middle of thine heart.

22 For those be life to men finding those, and health of all flesh.

23 With all keeping keep thine heart, for life cometh forth of it.

24 Remove thou a shrewd mouth from thee; and backbiting lips be far from thee.

25 Thine eyes see rightful [or right] things; and thine eyelids go before thy steps.

26 Address thou [the] paths to thy feet, and all thy ways shall be stablished.

27 Bow thou not to the right side, neither to the left side; turn away thy foot from evil.

CHAPTER 5

1 My son, perceive thou my wisdom, and bow down thine ear to my prudence;

2 that thou keep thy thoughts, and thy lips keep teaching.

3 Give thou not attention to the falseness of a woman; for the lips of an whore be an honeycomb dropping, and her throat is clearer than oil;

4 but the last things [of her]be bitter as wormwood, and her tongue is sharp as a sword carving, or cutting, on each side.

5 Her feet go down into death; and her steps pierce to hells [or to hell].

6 Those [or they] go not by the path of life; her steps be uncertain, and may not be sought out.

7 Now therefore, my son, hear thou me, and go thou not away from the words of my mouth.

8 Make far thy way from her, and nigh thou not to the doors of her house.

9 Give thou not thine honour to aliens, and thy years to the cruel;

10 lest peradventure strangers be filled with thy strengths, and lest thy travails be in an alien’s house;

11 and thou bewail in the last days, when thou hast wasted thy flesh, and thy body;

12 and say, Why loathed I teaching, and mine heart assented not to blamings;

13 neither I heard the voice of men teaching me, and I bowed not down mine ear to masters?

14 Almost I was in all-evil, in the midst of the church, and of the synagogue.

15 Drink thou water of thy cistern, and the floods of thy well.

16 Thy wells be streamed forth; and part thy waters in streets.

17 Have thou alone them [or them alone]; and aliens be not thy partners.

18 Thy vein be blessed; and be thou glad with the woman of thy young waxing age.

19 An hind most dearworthy; and an hart calf most acceptable. Her teats fill thee in all time; and delight thou continually in the love of her.

20 My son, why art thou deceived of an alien woman; and art fostered in the bosom of another?

21 The Lord seeth the ways of a man; and he beholdeth all his steps.

22 The wickednesses of a wicked man take him; and he is bound with the ropes of his sins.

23 He shall die, for he had not learning, and he shall be deceived in the muchliness of his folly.

CHAPTER 6

1 My son, if thou hast promised for thy friend, thou hast fastened thine hand at a stranger.

2 Thou art bound by the words of thy mouth; and thou art taken with thine own words.

3 Therefore, my son, do thou that that I say, and deliver thyself; for thou hast fallen into the hand of thy neighbour. Run thou about, haste thou, raise thy friend;

4 give thou not sleep to thine eyes, neither thine eyelids nap.

5 Be thou ravished, as a doe from the hand; and as a bird from [the] ambushings of the fowler.

6 O! thou slow man, go to the ant; and behold thou his ways, and learn thou wisdom.

7 Which when he hath no duke, neither commander, nor prince;

8 maketh ready in summer meat to himself, and gathereth together in harvest that, that he shall eat.

9 How long shalt thou, slow man, sleep? when shalt thou rise from thy sleep?

10 A little thou shalt sleep, a little thou shalt nap; a little thou shalt join together thine hands that thou sleep.

11 And then neediness, as a way-goer, shall come to thee; and poverty, as an armed man. Forsooth if thou art not slow, thy ripe corn shall come as a well; and neediness shall flee far from thee.

12 A man apostate, is a man unprofit-able, he goeth with a wayward mouth;

13 he beckoneth with eyes, he trampeth with the foot, he speaketh with the finger,

14 by shrewd heart he imagineth evil, and in all time he soweth dissensions.

15 His perdition shall come to him anon, and he shall be broken suddenly; and he shall no more have medicine.

16 Six things there be, which the Lord hateth; and his soul curseth the seventh thing.

17 High eyes, a tongue liar, that is, accustomable to deadly leasing, hands shedding out innocent blood,

18 an heart imagining full wicked thoughts, feet swift to run into evil,

19 a man bringing forth leasing, a false witness; and him that soweth discord among brethren.

20 My son, keep the commandments of thy father; and forsake [thou] not the law of thy mother.

21 Bind thou those continually in thine heart; and encompass to thy throat.

22 When thou goest, go they with thee; when thou sleepest, keep they thee; and thou waking, speak with them.

23 For the commandment of God is a lantern, and the law is light, and the blaming of teaching is the way of life;

24 that they keep thee from an evil woman, and from a flattering tongue of a strange woman.

25 Thine heart covet not the fairness of her; neither be thou taken by the beckonings of her.

26 For the price of a whore is scarcely a gobbet of bread; but such a woman taketh the precious soul of a man.

27 Whether a man may hide fire in his bosom, that his clothes burn not;

28 either go on coals, and his feet be not burnt?

29 So he that entereth to the wife of his neighbour; shall not be clean, when he hath touched her.

30 It is no great sin, when a man stealeth; for he stealeth to fill an hungry soul.

31 And he taken shall yield the seventhfold; and he shall give all the chattel [or substance] of his house, and shall deliver himself.

32 But he that is an adulterer, shall lose his soul, for the poverty of heart, that is, wanting of reason.

33 He gathereth filth, and scandal to himself; and his shame shall not be done away.

34 For the fervent love and strong vengeance of the man shall not spare in the day of vengeance,

35 neither shall assent to the prayers of any; neither he shall take many gifts for ransom.

CHAPTER 7

1 My son, keep thou my words; and keep my behests to thee.

2 Keep thou my behests, and thou shalt live; and my law, as the apple of thine eye.

3 Bind thou it in thy fingers; write thou it in the tables of thine heart.

4 Say thou to wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call thou prudence thy love.

5 That it keep thee from a strange woman; and from an alien woman, that maketh her words sweet.

6 For she saith, For why from the window of mine house, by the lattice, I beheld;

7 and I see little children, that is, fools that have little wit. I behold a young man coward [or the sorry-hearted young man],

8 that passeth by [or through] the streets, beside the corner; and he goeth nigh the way of her house,

9 in dark time, when the day draweth to night, in the darkness and mist in the night.

10 And lo! a woman, made ready with ornament of an whore to deceive souls, meeteth him,

11 and she is a jangler, and going about, and unpatient of rest, and may not stand in the house with her feet;

12 and now withoutforth, now in [the] streets, now beside [the] corners, she ambusheth.

13 And she taketh, and kisseth the young man; and flattereth with wooing cheer, that is, unrestfully, and without shame, and saith,

14 I owed sacrifices for health; today I have yielded my vows.

15 Therefore I went out into thy meeting, and I desired to see thee; and I have found thee.

16 I have made my bed with cords, I have arrayed it with tapets painted [or with painted tapets] of Egypt;

17 I have besprinkled my bed with myrrh, and aloes, and canel.

18 Come thou, be we filled with touching of teats, and use we embracings that be coveted; till the day begin to be clear.

19 For mine husband is not in his house; he is gone a full long way.

20 He took with him a bag of money; he shall turn again into his house in the day of [the] full moon.

21 She bound him with many words; and she drew forth him with flatterings of lips.

22 Anon he as an ox led to slain sacrifice pursueth [or followeth] her, and as a jolly lamb and unknowing; and the fool knoweth not, that he is drawn to bonds,

23 till an arrow pierce his maw. As if a bird hasteth to the snare; and knoweth not, that it is done of the peril of his life.

24 Now therefore, my son, hear thou me; and perceive the words of my mouth.

25 Lest thy soul be drawn away in the ways of her; neither be thou deceived in the paths of her.

26 For she hath cast down many wounded men; and all [the] strongest men were slain of her.

27 The ways of hell is her house; and pierce into the inner things of death.

CHAPTER 8

1 Whether wisdom crieth not oft; and prudence giveth her voice?

2 In most sovereign and high tops, above the way, in the midst of paths,

3 and it standeth beside the gates of the city, in those enclosings, and speaketh, and saith,

4 A! ye men, I cry oft to you; and my voice is to the sons of men.

5 Little children, that is, little of wit, understand ye wisdom; and ye unwise men, perceiveth in heart.

6 Hear ye, for I shall speak of great things; and my lips shall be opened, to preach rightful [or even] things.

7 My throat shall bethink truth; and my lips shall curse a wicked man.

8 My words be just; no shrewd thing, neither wayward is in those.

9 They be rightful [or right] to them that understand; and they be even to them that find knowing.

10 Take ye my chastising [or my discipline], and not money; choose ye teaching, more than treasure.

11 For wisdom is better than all riches most precious; and all desirable thing may not be comparisoned thereto.

12 I, wisdom, dwell in counsel; and I am among learned thoughts.

13 The dread of the Lord hateth evil; I curse boast, and pride, and a shrewd way, and a double-tongued mouth.

14 Counsel is mine, and equity; prudence is mine, and strength.

15 Kings reign by me; and makers of laws deem just things by me.

16 Princes command by me; and mighty men deem rightfulness [or rightwiseness]by me.

17 I love them that love me; and they that wake early to me, shall find me.

18 With me be riches, and glory; sovereign riches, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

19 My fruit is better than gold, and precious stone; and my seeds [or my burgeonings]be better than chosen silver.

20 I go in the ways of rightfulness [or rightwiseness], in the midst of the paths of doom;

21 that I make rich them that love me, and that I fill their treasures or their treasuries.

22 The Lord wielded me in the beginning of his ways; before that he made anything, at the beginning.

23 From without beginning I was ordained; and from eld [or old] times, before that the earth was made.

24 [The] Depths of waters were not yet; and I was conceived then. The wells of waters had not broken out yet,

25 and hills stood not altogether yet by firm heaviness; before little hills I was born.

26 Yet he had not made [the] earth; and floods, and the earths of the world.

27 When he made ready heavens, I was present; when he compassed [or enclosed] the depths of waters by certain law and compass.

28 When he made steadfast the air above; and weighed the wells of waters.

29 When he compassed to the sea his mark; and setted [or put] law to waters, that they should not pass their coasts. When he weighed the foundaments of [the] earth;

30 I was making all things with him. And I delighted by all days, and played before him in all time,

31 and I played in the world; and my delights be to be with the sons of men.

32 Now, therefore, sons, hear ye me; blessed be they that keep my ways.

33 Hear ye teaching, and be ye wise men; and do not ye cast it away.

34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth at my gates all day; and keepeth [or waiteth] at the posts of my door[s].

35 He that findeth me, shall find life; and he shall draw health of the Lord.

36 But he that sinneth against me shall hurt his soul; all that hate me, love death.

CHAPTER 9

1 Wisdom builded an house to himself; he hewed out seven pillars,

2 he offered his slain sacrifices, he meddled [or mingled] wine, and setted [or set] forth his table.

3 He sent his handmaids, that they should call to the tower; and to the walls of the city.

4 If any man is little in wit, come he to me. And wisdom spake to unwise men,

5 Come ye, eat ye my bread; and drink ye the wine, which I have meddled [or mingled] to you.

6 Forsake ye young childhood, and live ye; and go ye by the way of prudence.

7 He that teacheth a scorner, doeth wrong to himself; and he that reproveth a wicked man, engendereth a wem to himself.

8 Do not thou reprove a scorner; lest he hate thee. Reprove thou a wise man; and he shall love thee.

9 Give thou occasion to a wise man; and wisdom shall be increased to him. Teach thou a just [or rightwise] man; and he shall hasten to take it.

10 The beginning of wisdom is the dread of the Lord; and prudence is the knowing of saints.

11 For thy days shall be multiplied by me; and [the] years of life shall be increased to thee.

12 If thou art wise, thou shalt be wise to thyself, and to thy neighbours. Forsooth if thou art a scorner, thou alone shalt bear evil.

13 A fond [or foolish] woman, and full of cry, and full of unleaveful lusts, and that knoweth nothing utterly,

14 sitteth in the doors of her house, on a seat, in an high place of the city;

15 to call men passing by the way, and men going in their journey.

16 Who is a little man in wit; bow he to me. And she spake to a coward [or to the sorry-hearted],

17 Waters of theft be sweeter, and bread hid is sweeter. [Stolen waters be sweeter, and hid bread more sweet.]

18 And [he] knew not that giants be there; and the guests of her be in the depths of hell. Soothly he that shall be applied, either fastened, to her, shall go down to hells [or shall fall down into hell]. For why he that goeth away from her shall be saved.

CHAPTER 10

1 The parables of Solomon. A wise son maketh glad his father; but a fond [or foolish] son is the sorrow of his mother.

2 Treasures of wickedness shall not profit; but rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall deliver from death.

3 The Lord shall not torment the soul of a just [or rightwise] man with hunger; and he shall destroy the treasons of unpious men.

4 A slow hand hath wrought needi-ness; but the hand of strong men maketh ready riches. Forsooth he that enforceth or endeavoureth to get any-thing by leasings, feedeth the winds; soothly the same man pursueth birds flying [or followeth flying birds].

5 He that gathereth together in harvest, is a wise son; but he that sleepeth in summer, is a son of confusion.

6 The blessing of God is over the head of a just [or rightwise] man; but wickedness covereth the mouth of wicked men.

7 The mind or memory of a just [or rightwise] man shall be with praisings; and the name of wicked men shall wax rotten.

8 A wise man shall receive commandments with heart; a fool is beaten with his own lips.

9 He that goeth simply, goeth trustily; but he that maketh shrewd his ways, shall be [made] open.

10 He that beckoneth with the eye, shall give sorrow; a fool shall be beaten with his own lips.

11 The vein of life is the mouth of a just [or rightwise] man; but the mouth of wicked men covereth wickedness.

12 Hatred raiseth up chidings; and charity covereth all sins.

13 Wisdom is found in the lips of a wise man; and a rod in the back of him that is needy of heart.

14 Wise men hide knowing; but the mouth of a fool is next to confusion.

15 The chattel [or substance] of a rich man is the city of his strength; the dread of poor men is the neediness of them.

16 The work of a just [or rightwise] man is to life; but the fruit of a wicked man is to sin.

17 The way of life is to him that keepeth chastising [or discipline]; but he that forsaketh blamings, erreth.

18 False lips hide hatred; he that bringeth forth despising is unwise.

19 Sin shall not fail in much speaking; but he that measureth his lips, is most prudent.

20 Chosen silver is the tongue of a just [or rightwise] man; the heart of wicked men is for nought.

21 The lips of a just [or rightwise] man teach full many men; but they that be unlearned shall die in neediness of heart.

22 The blessing of the Lord maketh rich men; and torment shall not be fellowshipped to them.

23 A fool worketh wickedness as by laughing; but wisdom is prudence to a man or but prudence is to a wise man.

24 That that a wicked man dreadeth, shall come [up] on him; the desire of just [or rightwise] men shall be given to them.

25 As a tempest passing, a wicked man shall not be; but a just [or rightwise] man shall be as an ever-lasting foundament.

26 As vinegar annoyeth the teeth, and smoke the eyes; so a slow man annoyeth them that sent him in the way.

27 The dread of the Lord increaseth days; and the years of wicked men shall be made short.

28 Abiding of just [or rightwise] men is gladness; but the hope of wicked men shall perish.

29 The strength of a simple man is the way of the Lord; and dread to them that work evil.

30 A just [or rightwise] man shall not be moved without end; but wicked men shall not dwell on the earth.

31 The mouth of a just [or rightwise] man shall bring forth wisdom; the tongue of shrews shall perish.

32 The lips of a just [or rightwise] man behold pleasant things; and the mouth of wicked men beholdeth wayward [or perverted] things.

CHAPTER 11

1 A guileful balance is abomination with God; and an even weight is his will.

2 Where pride is, there also despising shall be; but where meekness is, there also is wisdom.

3 The simpleness of just [or rightwise] men shall dress them; and the deceiving of wayward men shall destroy them.

4 Riches shall not profit in the day of vengeance; but rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall deliver from death.

5 The rightfulness [or rightwiseness] of a simple man shall dress his way; and a wicked man shall fall in his wickedness.

6 The rightfulness of rightful men [or The rightwiseness of right men] shall deliver them; and wicked men shall be taken in their ambushings.

7 When a wicked man is dead, none hope shall be further of him; and [the] abiding of busy men in evil shall perish.

8 A just [or rightwise] man is delivered from anguish; and a wicked man shall be given for him.

9 A feigner by mouth deceiveth his friend; but just [or rightwise] men shall be delivered by [or with] knowing.

10 A city shall be enhanced in the goods of just [or rightwise] men; and praising shall be in the perdition of wicked men.

11 A city shall be enhanced by [the] blessing of just [or rightwise] men; and it shall be destroyed by the mouth of wicked men.

12 He that despiseth his friend, is needy in heart; but a prudent man shall be still.

13 He that goeth guilefully, showeth privates; but he that is faithful, covereth the private matter of a friend.

14 Where a governor is not, the people shall fall; but health is, where be many counsels.

15 He that maketh faith, that is, obligation, for a stranger, shall be tormented with evil; but he that escheweth snares, shall be secure.

16 A gracious woman shall find glory; and strong men shall have riches.

17 A merciful man doeth well to his soul; but he that is cruel, casteth away, yea, kinsmen.

18 A wicked man maketh unstable work; but faithful meed is to him, that soweth rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

19 Mercy shall make ready life; and the pursuing [or the following] of evil, death.

20 A shrewd heart is abominable to the Lord; and his will is in them, that go simply.

21 Though hand be in hand, an evil man shall not be innocent; but the seed of just [or rightwise] men shall be saved.

22 A golden ring in the nostrils of a sow, is a woman fair and [a] fool.

23 The desire of just [or rightwise] men is all good; abiding of wicked men is strong vengeance.

24 Some men part their own things, and be made richer; other men ravish things, that be not theirs, and they be ever in neediness.

25 A soul that blesseth, shall be made fat; and he that filleth, shall be filled also.

26 He that hideth wheat, shall be cursed among the peoples; but blessing shall come[up] on the heads of sellers.

27 Well be he who riseth early, that seeketh good things; but he that is a searcher of evils, shall be oppressed of those [or of them].

28 He that trusteth in his riches, shall fall; but just [or rightwise] men shall burgeon as a green leaf.

29 He that troubleth his house, shall have winds in possession; and he that is a fool, shall serve a wise man.

30 The fruit of a rightful [or rightwise] man is the tree of life; and he that taketh souls, is a wise man.

31 If a just [or rightwise] man receiveth in [the] earth, how much more an unfaithful man, and a sinner.

CHAPTER 12

1 He that loveth chastising [or discipline], loveth knowing; but he that hateth blamings, is unwise.

2 He that is good, shall draw to himself grace of the Lord; but he that trusteth in his thoughts, doeth wickedly.

3 A man shall not be made strong by wickedness; and the root of just [or rightwise] men shall not be moved.

4 A diligent woman is a crown to her husband; and rot is in the bones of that woman, that doeth things worthy of confusion.

5 The thoughts of just [or rightwise] men be dooms; and the counsels of wicked men be guileful.

6 The words of wicked men set treason to blood; the mouth of just [or rightwise] men shall deliver them.

7 Overturn thou wicked men, and they shall not be; but the houses of just [or rightwise] men shall dwell perfectly.

8 A man shall be known by his teaching; but he that is vain and heartless, shall be open to despising.

9 Better is a poor man, and sufficient to himself, than a glorious man, and needy of bread.

10 A just [or rightwise] man knoweth the lives of his work beasts; but the entrails of wicked men be cruel.

11 He that worketh his land, shall be filled with loaves; but he that pursueth [or followeth] idleness, is most foolish. He that is sweet, that is mild, liveth in temperances; and in his admonishings he forsaketh despisings.

12 The desire of a wicked man is the memorial of worst things; but the root of just [or rightwise] men shall increase.

13 For the sins of lips, falling down nigheth to an evil man; but a just [or rightwise] man shall escape from anguish.

14 Of the fruit of his mouth each man shall be [ful] filled with goods; and by the works of his hands it shall be yielded to him.

15 The way of a fool is rightful [or right] in his eyes; but he that is wise, heareth counsels.

16 A fool showeth anon his ire; but he that dissembleth wrongs, is wise.

17 He that speaketh that, that he knoweth, is a judge of rightfulness [or of rightwiseness]; but he that lieth, is a guileful witness.

18 A man is that promiseth, and he is pricked as with the sword of conscience; but the tongue of wise men is health.

19 The lip of truth shall be steadfast without end; but he that is a sudden witness, maketh ready the tongue of leasing.

20 Guile is in the heart of them that think evils; but joy pursueth [or followeth] them that make counsels of peace.

21 Whatever befalleth to a just [or rightwise] man, it shall not make him sorry [or sorrow]; but wicked men shall be filled with evil.

22 False lips is abomination to the Lord; but they that do faithfully, please him.

23 A fell man covereth knowing; and the heart of unwise men stirreth folly.

24 The hand of strong men shall have lordship; but the hand that is slow, shall serve to tributes.

25 Mourning in the heart of a just [or rightwise] man shall make him meek; and he shall be made glad by a good word.

26 He that despiseth harm for a friend, is a just [or rightwise] man; but the way of wicked men shall deceive them.

27 A guileful man shall not find winning; and the substance of a diligent man shall be the price of gold, that is, preciouser than gold.

28 Life is in the path of rightwiseness; but the wrong way leadeth to death.

CHAPTER 13

1 A wise son is the teaching of the father; but he that is a scorner, heareth not, when he is reproved.

2 A man shall be filled with goods of the fruit of his mouth; but the soul of unpious men is wicked.

3 He that keepeth his mouth, keepeth his soul; but he that is unwary to speak, shall feel evils.

4 A slow man will, and will not; but the soul of them that work shall be made fat.

5 A just [or rightwise] man shall loathe a false word; but a wicked man shameth, and shall be shamed.

6 Rightfulness [or Rightwiseness] keepeth the way of an innocent man; but wickedness deceiveth a sinner.

7 A man is as rich, when he hath nothing; and a man is as poor, when he is in many riches.

8 [The] Redemption of the soul of [a] man is his riches; but he that is poor, suffereth not blaming.

9 The light of just [or rightwise] men maketh glad; but the lantern of wicked men shall be quenched.

10 Strives be ever among proud men; but they that do all things with counsel, be governed by wisdom.

11 Hasted chattel [or substance], that is, gotten hastily, shall be made less; but that that is gathered little and little with hand, shall be multiplied.

12 Hope which is delayed, tormenteth the soul; a tree of life is desire coming.

13 He that backbiteth anything, bindeth himself into [the] time to coming [or to come]; but he that dreadeth the commandment, shall live in peace.

14 The law of a wise man is a well of life; that he bow away from the falling of death, that is, of sin, and of hell.

15 Good teaching shall give grace; a swallow is in the way of despisers.

16 A fell [or witting] man doeth all things with counsel; but he that is a fool, shall open folly.

17 The messenger of a wicked man shall fall into evil; a faithful messenger is health.

18 Neediness and shame is to him that forsaketh teaching; but he that assenteth to a blamer, shall be glorified.

19 Desire, if it is [ful] filled, delighteth the soul; fools loathe them that flee evils.

20 He that goeth with wise men, shall be wise; the friend of fools shall be made like them.

21 Evil pursueth sinners; and goods shall be given to just [or rightwise] men.

22 A good man shall leave after him heirs, sons, and the sons of sons; and the chattel [or substance] of a sinner is kept to a just [or rightwise] man.

23 Many meats be in the newly-tilled fields of fathers; and be gathered to other men without doom.

24 He that spareth the rod, hateth his son; but he that loveth him, teacheth busily.

25 A just [or rightwise] man eateth, and [ful] filleth his soul; but the womb of wicked men is unable to be filled.

CHAPTER 14

1 A wise woman buildeth her house; and an unwise woman shall destroy with hands, that is, with her evil works, an house builded.

2 A man going in rightful [or right] way, and dreading God, is despised of him that goeth in the way of evil fame.

3 The rod of pride is in the mouth of a fool; the lips of wise men keep them.

4 Where oxen be not, the cratch is void; but where full many corns appear, there the strength of the ox is [made] open.

5 A faithful witness shall not lie; a guileful witness bringeth forth a leasing.

6 A scorner seeketh wisdom, and he findeth it not; the teaching of prudent men is easy.

7 Go thou against a man a fool; and he shall not know the lips of prudence.

8 The wisdom of a fell [or witting] man is to understand his way; and the unwariness of fools erreth.

9 A fool scorneth sin; grace shall dwell among just [or rightwise] men.

10 The heart that knoweth the bitter-ness of his soul; a stranger shall not be meddled [or mingled] in the joy thereof.

11 The house of wicked men shall be done away; the tabernacles of just [or rightwise] men shall burgeon.

12 Soothly a way is, that seemeth just [or rightwise] to a man; but the last things thereof lead forth to death.

13 Laughing shall be meddled [or mingled] with sorrow; and mourning occupieth the last things of joy.

14 A fool shall be filled with his ways; and a good man shall be above him.

15 An innocent man believeth to each word; a fell [or witting] man beholdeth his goings.

16 A wise man dreadeth, and boweth away from evil; a fool skippeth over, and trusteth.

17 A man unpatient shall work folly; and a guileful man is odious.

18 Little men of wit shall hold folly; and fell [or witting] men shall abide knowing.

19 Evil men shall lie down before good men; and unpious men before the gates of just [or rightwise] men.

20 A poor man shall be hateful, yea, to his neighbour; but many men be friends of rich men.

21 He that despiseth his neighbour, doeth sin; but he that doeth mercy to a poor man, shall be blessed.

22 He that believeth in the Lord, loveth mercy; they err that work evil. Mercy and truth make ready goods;

23 abundance shall be in each good work or in every good work. Soothly where full many words be, there neediness is oft.

24 The crown of wise men is the riches of them; the folly of fools is unwariness.

25 A faithful witness delivereth souls; and a false man bringeth forth leasings.

26 In the dread of the Lord is trust of strength; and hope shall be to the sons of him.

27 The dread of the Lord is a well of life; that it bow away from the falling of death.

28 The dignity of the king is in the multitude of people; and the shame of a prince is in the fewness of people.

29 He that is patient, is governed by much wisdom; but he that is unpatient, enhanceth his folly.

30 Health of heart is the life of flesh; envy is[the] rot of bones.

31 He that falsely challengeth a needy man, despiseth his Maker; but he that hath mercy on a poor man, honoureth his Maker.

32 A wicked man is put out for his malice; but a just [or rightwise] man hopeth in his death.

33 Wisdom resteth in the heart of a wise man; and he shall teach all unlearned men.

34 Rightfulness [or Rightwiseness] raiseth [up] a folk; sin maketh peoples wretches.

35 A servant understanding is accept-able to a king; a servant unprofitable shall suffer the wrathfulness of him.

CHAPTER 15

1 A soft answer breaketh ire; an hard word raiseth strong vengeance.

2 The tongue of wise men honoureth knowing; the mouth of fools boileth out folly.

3 In each place the eyes of the Lord behold good men, and evil men.

4 A pleasant tongue is the tree of life; but the tongue that is unmeasurable [or untempered], shall defoul the spirit.

5 A fool scorneth the teaching of his father; but he that keepeth blamings, shall be made wiser. Most virtue shall be in plenteous rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; but the thoughts of wicked men shall be drawn up by the root.

6 The house of a just [or rightwise] man is full great strength; and troubling is in the fruits of a wicked man.

7 The lips of wise men shall sow abroad knowing; the hearts of fools shall be unlike, that is, they shall be full of ignorance.

8 The sacrifices of wicked men be abominable to the Lord; the avows of just men [or the vows of rightwise men]be pleasant.

9 The life of the unpious man is abomination to the Lord; he that pur-sueth rightfulness [or followeth right-wiseness], shall be loved of the Lord.

10 Evil teaching is of men that forsake the way of life; he that hateth blamings shall die.

11 Hell and perdition be open before the Lord; how much more the hearts of [the] sons of men.

12 A man full of pestilence loveth not him that reproveth him; and he goeth not to wise men.

13 A joyful heart maketh glad the face; the spirit is cast down in the mourning of soul.

14 The heart of a wise man seeketh teaching; and the mouth of fools is fed with unknowing.

15 All the days of a poor man be evil; a secure soul is a continual feast.

16 Better is a little with the dread of the Lord, than many treasures and unfillable.

17 It is better to be called to worts with charity, than with hatred to a calf made fat.

18 A wrathful man raiseth chidings; he that is patient, assuageth chidings that were raised.

19 The way of slow men is as an hedge of thorns; the way of just [or rightwise] men is without [thing of] hurting.

20 A wise son maketh glad his father; but a fond [or foolish] man despiseth his mother.

21 Folly is joy to a fool; but a prudent man shall address his steps.

22 Thoughts be destroyed, where no counsel is; but where many counsellors be, they be confirmed.

23 A man is glad in the sentence of his mouth; and a covenable word is best.

24 The path of life is on a learned man; that he bow away from the last hell.

25 The Lord shall destroy the house of proud men; and he shall make steadfast the coasts of a widow.

26 Evil thoughts is abomination of the Lord; and a clean word most fair shall be made steadfast of him.

27 He that pursueth [or followeth] avarice, troubleth his house; but he that hateth gifts shall live. Sins be purged by mercy and faith; each man boweth away from evil by the dread of the Lord.

28 The soul of a just [or rightwise] man bethinketh obedience; the mouth of wicked men is full of evils.

29 The Lord is far from wicked men; and he shall hear the prayers of just [or rightwise] men.

30 The light of eyes maketh glad the soul; good fame maketh fat the bones.

31 The ear that heareth the blamings of life, shall dwell in the midst of wise men.

32 He that casteth away chastising [or discipline], despiseth his soul; but he that assenteth to blamings, is a peaceable holder of the heart.

33 The dread of the Lord is teaching of wisdom; and meekness goeth before glory.

CHAPTER 16

1 It pertaineth to man to make ready the soul; and it pertaineth to the Lord to govern the tongue.

2 All the ways of men be open to the eyes of God; the Lord is a weigher of spirits, that is, of wills, yielding to man after his deservings.

3 Show thy works to the Lord; and thy thoughts shall be addressed.

4 The Lord wrought all things for himself; and he made ready a wicked man to the evil day.

5 Abomination of the Lord is each proud man; yea, though the hand is to the hand, he shall not be innocent. The beginning of [the] good way is to do rightwiseness; forsooth it is more acceptable with God, than to offer sacrifices.

6 Wickedness is again-bought by mercy and truth; and men boweth away from evil by the dread of the Lord.

7 When the ways of a man please the Lord, he shall convert, yea, his enemies to peace.

8 Better is a little with rightfulness [or rightwiseness], than many fruits with wickedness.

9 The heart of a man shall dispose his way; but it pertaineth to the Lord to dress his steps.

10 Divining is in the lips of a king; his mouth shall not err in doom.

11 The dooms of the Lord be weight and balance; and his works be all the stones of the world.

12 They that do wickedly be abominable to the king; for the throne of the realm is made steadfast by rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

13 The will of kings is just [or rightwise] lips; he that speaketh rightful [or right] things, shall be addressed.

14 [The] Indignation of the king is messengers of death; and a wise man shall please him.

15 Life is in gladness of the king’s cheer; and his mercy is as rain coming late.

16 Wield thou wisdom, for it is better than gold; and get thou prudence, for it is preciouser than silver.

17 The path of just [or rightwise] men boweth away from evils; the keeper of his soul keepeth his way.

18 Pride goeth before sorrow; and the spirit shall be enhanced before falling.

19 It is better to be made meek with mild men, than to part spoils with proud men.

20 A learned man in word shall find goods; and he that hopeth in the Lord is blessed.

21 He that is wise in heart, shall be called prudent; and he that is sweet in speech, shall find greater things.

22 The well of life is the learning of him that wieldeth; the teaching of fools is folly.

23 The heart of a wise man shall teach his mouth; and shall increase grace to his lips.

24 Words well-set together is a comb of honey; health of bones is the sweetness of soul.

25 A way there is that seemeth rightful [or right] to a man; and the last things thereof lead to death.

26 The soul of a man travailing travaileth to himself; for his mouth compelled him.

27 An unwise man diggeth for evil; and fire burneth in his lips.

28 A wayward man raiseth strives; and a man full of words separateth princes.

29 A wicked man flattereth his friend; and leadeth him by a way not good.

30 He that thinketh shrewd things with eyes astonied, biteth his lips, and performeth evil.

31 A crown of dignity is eld age, that shall be found in the ways of rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

32 A patient man is better than a strong man; and he that is lord of his soul, is better than an overcomer of cities.

33 Lots be sent into the bosom; but they be tempered of the Lord.

CHAPTER 17

1 Better is a dry morsel with joy, than an house full of sacrifices with chiding.

2 A wise servant shall be lord of fond [or foolish] sons; and he shall part heritage among brethren.

3 As silver is proved by fire, and gold is proved by a chimney, so the Lord proveth hearts.

4 An evil man obeyeth to a wicked tongue; and a false man obeyeth to false lips.

5 He that despiseth a poor man, reproveth his maker; and he that is glad in the falling of another man, shall not be unpunished.

6 The crown of eld [or old] men is the sons of sons; and the glory of sons is the fathers of them.

7 Words well-set together beseem not a fool; and a lying lip becometh not a prince.

8 A precious stone most acceptable is the abiding of him that seeketh; whither ever he turneth himself, he understandeth prudently.

9 He that covereth trespass, seeketh friendships; he that rehearseth by an high word, separateth them that be knit together in peace.

10 A blaming profiteth more at a prudent man, than an hundred wounds at a fool.

11 Ever an evil man seeketh strives; forsooth a cruel angel shall be sent against him.

12 It speedeth more to meet a female bear, when her whelps be ravished, than a fool trusting to himself in his folly.

13 Evil shall not go away from the house of him, that yieldeth evils for goods.

14 He that letteth out water, is the head of strives; and before that he suffereth wrong, he forsaketh doom.

15 Both he that justifieth a wicked man, and he that condemneth a just [or rightwise] man, ever either is abominable to God.

16 What profiteth it to a fool to have riches, since he may not buy wisdom? He that maketh his house high, seeketh falling; and he that escheweth to learn, shall fall into evils.

17 He that is a friend, loveth in all time; and a brother is proved in anguishes.

18 A fond [or foolish] man shall make joy with hands, when he hath promised for his friend.

19 He that bethinketh discords, loveth chidings; and he that enhanceth his mouth, seeketh falling.

20 He that is of wayward heart, shall not find good; and he that turneth the tongue, shall fall into evil.

21 A fool is born in his shame; but neither the father shall be glad in a fool.

22 A joyful soul maketh liking age; a sorrowful spirit maketh dry bones.

23 A wicked man taketh gifts from the bosom, to mis-turn the paths of doom.

24 Wisdom shineth in the face of a prudent man; the eyes of fools be in the ends of earth.

25 A fond [or foolish] son is the ire [or the wrath] of the father, and the sorrow of the mother that bare him.

26 It is not good to bring in harm to a just [or rightwise] man; neither to smite the prince that deemeth rightfully.

27 He that measureth his words, is wise and prudent; and a learned man is of precious spirit.

28 Also a fool, if he is still, shall be guessed a wise man; and, if he presseth together his lips, he is guessed an understanding man.

CHAPTER 18

1 He that will go away from a friend, seeketh occasions, that is, feigneth causes; in all time he shall be despisable.

2 A fool receiveth not the words of prudence; no but thou say those things, that be turned in his heart.

3 A wicked man, when he cometh into depth of sins, despiseth whole-some lore, and commandment; but scandal and shame pursueth [or followeth] him.

4 Deep water is the words of the mouth of a man; and a strand floating over is the well of wisdom.

5 It is not good to take the person of a wicked man in doom, that thou bow away from the truth of doom.

6 The lips of a fool meddle [or mingle] themselves with chidings; and his mouth stirreth strives.

7 The mouth of a fool is[the] defouling of him; and his lips be the falling of his soul.

8 The words of a double-tongued man be as simple; and they come unto the inner things of the womb. Dread casteth down a slow man; forsooth the souls of men turned into women’s condition shall have hunger.

9 He that is nesh, and dissolute, either unsteadfast, in his work, is the brother of a man destroying his works.

10 A full strong tower is the name of the Lord; a just [or rightwise] man runneth to him, and [he] shall be enhanced.

11 The chattel [or substance] of a rich man is the city of his strength; and as a strong wall compassing him.

12 The heart of man is enhanced, before that it be broken; and it is made meek, before that it be glorified.

13 He that answereth before that he heareth, showeth himself to be a fool; and worthy of shame.

14 The spirit of a man sustaineth his feebleness; but who may sustain a spirit light to be wroth?

15 The heart of a prudent man shall hold steadfastly knowing; and the ear of wise men seeketh teaching.

16 The gift of a man alargeth his way; and maketh space to him before princes.

17 A just [or rightwise] man is the first accuser of himself; his friend cometh, and shall search him.

18 Lot ceaseth against-sayings; and deemeth also among mighty men.

19 A brother that is helped of a brother, is as a steadfast city; and [the] dooms be as the bars of cities.

20 A man’s womb shall be [ful] filled of the fruit of his mouth; and the seeds of his lips shall fill him.

21 Death and life be in the works of [the] tongue; they that love it, shall eat the fruits thereof.

22 He that findeth a good woman, findeth a good thing; and of the Lord he shall draw up mirth. He that putteth away a good woman, putteth away a good thing; but he that holdeth an adulteress, is a fool and unwise.

23 A poor man shall speak with beseechings; and a rich man shall speak sternly.

24 A man friendly to fellowship shall more be a friend, than a brother.

CHAPTER 19

1 Better is a poor man, that goeth in his simpleness, than a rich man biting his lips, and unwise.

2 Where is not knowing of the soul, there is not good; and he that is hasty, in feet hurteth [or stumbleth].

3 The folly of a man deceiveth his steps; and he burneth in his soul against God.

4 Riches increase full many friends; forsooth also they be departed from a poor man, which he had.

5 A false witness shall not be unpunished; and he that speaketh leasings, shall not escape.

6 Many men honour the person of a mighty man; and they be friends of him that dealeth gifts.

7 The brethren of a poor man hate him; furthermore and the friends went away far from him. He that pursueth [or followeth] words only, shall have nothing;

8 but he that holdeth stably the mind, loveth his soul, and the keeper of prudence shall find goods.

9 A false witness shall not be unpunished; and he that speaketh leasings, shall perish.

10 Delights become not a fool; neither it becometh a servant to be lord of princes.

11 The teaching of a man is known by patience; and his glory is to pass over wicked things.

12 As the gnashing of a lion, so and the ire of the king; and as dew on herb, so and the gladness of the king.

13 The sorrow of the father is a fond [or foolish] son; and roofs dropping continually is a woman full of chiding.

14 Houses and riches be given of father and mother; but a prudent wife is given properly of the Lord.

15 Sloth bringeth in sleep; and a negligent soul shall have hunger.

16 He that keepeth the commandment of God, keepeth his soul; but he that chargeth not [or despiseth] his way, shall be slain.

17 He that hath mercy on a poor man, lendeth to the Lord; and he shall yield his while to him.

18 Teach thy son, and despair thou not; but set [or put] thou not thy soul to the slaying of him.

19 Forsooth he that is unpatient, shall suffer harm; and when he hath ravished, he shall lay to another thing.

20 Hear thou counsel, and take thou doctrine; that thou be wise in thy last things.

21 Many thoughts there be in the heart of a man; but the will of the Lord shall dwell.

22 A needy man is merciful; and better is a poor just [or rightwise] man, than a man liar.

23 Dread of the Lord leadeth to life; and he that dreadeth God shall dwell in plenty, without visiting of the worst or without full evil visiting.

24 A slow man hideth his hand under his armpit, and putteth it not to his mouth.

25 When a man full of pestilence is beaten, a fool shall be the wiser. If thou blamest a wise man, he shall understand teaching.

26 He that tormenteth his father, and fleeth from his mother, shall be full of evil fame, and shall be cursed.

27 Son, cease thou not to hear teaching; and know thou the words of knowing.

28 A wicked witness scorneth doom; and the mouth of unpious men devoureth wickedness.

29 Dooms be made ready to scorners; and hammers smiting be made ready to the bodies of fools.

CHAPTER 20

1 Wine is a lecherous thing, and drunkenness is full of noise; whoever delighteth in these, shall not be wise.

2 As the roaring of a lion, so and the dread of a king; he that stirreth him to ire, sinneth against his soul.

3 It is honour to a man that separateth himself from strivings; but fond men be meddled [or fools shall be mingled] with despisings.

4 A slow man would not ear for cold; therefore he shall beg in summer, and men shall not give to him.

5 As deep water, so counsel is in the heart of a man; but a wise man shall draw it out.

6 Many men be called merciful; but who shall find a faithful man?

7 Forsooth a just [or rightwise] man that goeth in his simpleness, shall leave blessed sons after him.

8 A king that sitteth in the seat of doom, destroyeth all evil by his looking.

9 Who may say, Mine heart is clean; I am clean of sin?

10 A weight, greater in buying, and a weight, lesser in selling, a measure and a measure, ever either is abominable at God.

11 A child is understood by his studies, if his works be rightful [or right] and clean.

12 An ear hearing, and an eye seeing, [or The hearing ear, and the seeing eye], God made ever either.

13 Do not thou love sleep, lest needi-ness oppress thee; open thine eyes, and be thou [ful] filled with loaves.

14 Each buyer saith, It is evil, it is evil; and when he hath gone away, then he shall have glory.

15 Gold, and the multitude of gems, and a precious vessel, be the lips of knowing.

16 Take thou away the cloth of him that was a borrow of another man; and for strangers take thou away a wed from him.

17 The bread of a leasing, that is, gotten by a leasing, is sweet to a man; and afterward his mouth shall be filled with reckoning [or with little pebble stones].

18 Thoughts be made strong by counsels; and battles shall be treated by governances.

19 Be thou not meddled [or mingled] with him that showeth privates, and goeth guilefully, and alargeth his lips.

20 The light of him that curseth his father and mother, shall be quenched in the midst of darknesses.

21 Heritage to which men hasteth in the beginning, shall want blessing in the last time.

22 Say thou not, I shall yield evil for evil; abide thou the Lord, and he shall deliver thee.

23 Abomination with God is weight and weight; a guileful balance is not good.

24 The steps of man be dressed of the Lord; who forsooth of men may understand his way?

25 Falling of man is to make avow [or vow] to saints, and afterward to withdraw the vows.

26 A wise king scattereth wicked men; and boweth a bow of victory, that is, a stone bow, over them.

27 The lantern of the Lord is the spirit of man, that seeketh out all the privates of the womb.

28 Mercy and truth keep a king; and his throne is made strong by meekness.

29 The full out joying of young men is the strength of them; and the dignity of eld [or old] men is hoariness.

30 The wanness of wound shall wipe away evils, and wounds in the privier things of the womb.

CHAPTER 21

1 As partings of waters, so the heart of the king is in the power of the Lord; whither ever he will, he shall bow it.

2 Each way of a man seemeth rightful [or right] to himself; but the Lord weigheth the hearts.

3 To do mercy and doom, pleaseth more the Lord, than sacrifices.

4 Enhancing of eyes is [the] alarging of the heart; the lantern of wicked men is sin.

5 The thoughts of a strong man be ever in abundance; but each slow man is ever in neediness.

6 He that gathereth treasures by the tongue of a lie maker, is vain, and without heart; and he shall be hurled to the snares of death.

7 The ravens of unpious men shall draw them down; for they would not do doom.

8 The wayward way of a man is alien from God; but the work of him that is clean of sin, is rightful [or right].

9 It is better to sit in the corner of an house without roof, than with a woman full of chiding, and in a common house.

10 The soul of an unpious man desireth evil; he shall not have mercy on his neighbour.

11 When a man full of pestilence is punished, a little man of wit shall be wiser; and if he pursueth [or follow] a wise man, he shall take knowing.

12 A just [or rightwise] man of the house of a wicked man thinketh, to withdraw wicked men from evil.

13 He that stoppeth his ear at the cry of a poor man, shall cry also, and he shall not be heard.

14 A gift hid quencheth chidings; and a gift in [the] bosom quencheth most indignation.

15 It is joy to a just [or rightwise] man to make doom; and it is dread to them that work wickedness.

16 A man that erreth from the way of doctrine, shall dwell in the company of giants, that is, of men evil ruled, either of fiends.

17 He that loveth meats, shall be in neediness; he that loveth wine and fat things, shall not be made rich.

18 An unpious man shall be given for a just [or rightwise] man; and a wicked man shall be given for a rightful [or the right] man.

19 It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a woman full of chiding, and wrathful.

20 Desirable treasure and oil is in the dwelling place of a just [or rightwise] man; and an unprudent man shall destroy it.

21 He that pursueth rightfulness [or followeth rightwiseness] and mercy, shall find life [and rightwiseness] and glory.

22 A wise man ascended into the city of strong men, and destroyed the strength of [the] trust thereof.

23 He that keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from anguishes.

24 A proud man and boaster is called a fool, that worketh pride in ire.

25 Desires slay a slow man; for his hands would not work anything.

26 All day he coveteth and desireth; but he that is a just [or rightwise] man, shall give, and shall not cease.

27 The offerings of wicked men, that be offered of great trespass, be abominable.

28 A false witness shall perish; a man obedient shall speak victory.

29 A wicked man maketh firm his cheer unshamefastly; but he that is rightful [or right], amendeth his way.

30 No wisdom there is, no prudence there is, no counsel there is, against the Lord.

31 An horse is made ready to the day of battle; but the Lord shall give health.

CHAPTER 22

1 Better is a good name, than many riches; for good grace is above silver and gold.

2 A rich man and a poor man met themselves; the Lord is [the] worker of ever either.

3 A fell man seeth evil, and hideth himself; and an innocent man passed, and he was tormented by harm.

4 The end of temperance is the dread of the Lord; riches, and glory, and life.

5 Armours [or Arms] and swords be in the way of a wayward man; but the keeper of his soul goeth away far from those [or from them].

6 It is a proverb, A young waxing man after his way, and when he hath waxed eld [or eldeth], he shall not go away from it.

7 A rich man commandeth to poor men; and he that taketh borrowing, is servant of the lender.

8 He that soweth wickedness shall reap evils; and the rod of his ire [or his wrath] shall be ended.

9 He that is ready to give mercy shall be blessed; for of his loaves he gave some to a poor man.

10 Cast thou out a scorner, and strife shall go out with him; and causes and despisings shall cease.

11 He that loveth the cleanness of heart, shall have the king for a friend, for the grace of his lips.

12 The eyes of the Lord keep knowing; and the words of a wicked man be deceived.

13 A slow man shall say, A lion is withoutforth; I shall be slain in the midst of the streets.

14 The mouth of an alien woman is a deep ditch; he to whom the Lord is wroth shall fall into it.

15 Folly is bound together in the heart of a child; and a rod of chastising [or discipline] shall drive it away.

16 He that falsely challengeth a poor man, to increase his own riches, shall give to a richer man, and he shall be needy.

17 My son, bow down thine ear, and hear thou the words of wise men; but set thou the heart to my teaching.

18 That shall be fair to thee, when thou hast kept it in thine heart, and it shall flow again in thy lips.

19 That thy trust be in the Lord; wherefore and I have showed it to thee today.

20 Lo! I have described it in three manners*, in thoughts and knowing,

21 that I should show to thee the firmness and speeches of truth; to answer of these things to them that sent thee.

22 Do thou not violence to a poor man, for he is poor; neither defoul thou a needy man in the gate.

23 For the Lord shall deem his cause, and he shall torment them that tormented his soul.

24 Do not thou be friend to a wrathful man, neither go thou with a wrathful man;

25 lest peradventure thou learn his ways, and take cause of stumbling to thy soul.

26 Do not thou be with them that fasten, or bind, their hands, and that proffer themselves to be borrows for debts;

27 for if he hath not whereof he shall restore, what of cause is, that thou take away covering from thy bed?

28 Go thou not over the eld marks [or the old terms], or the boundary stones, which thy fathers have set.

29 Thou hast seen a man smart in his work; he shall stand before kings, and he shall not be before unnoble men.

CHAPTER 23

1 When thou sittest to eat with the prince, perceive thou diligently what things be set before thy face,

2 and set thou a coulter in thy throat. If nevertheless thou hast power on thy soul,

3 desire thou not of his meats, in whom is the bread of lying.

4 Do not thou travail to be made rich, but set thou measure to thy prudence.

5 Raise not thine eyes to riches, which thou mayest not have; for those [or they] shall make to them-selves pens or wings, as of an eagle, and they shall fly into heaven.

6 Eat thou not with an envious man, and desire thou not his meats;

7 for at the likeness of a false diviner, and of a conjecturer, that is, expounder of dreams, he guesseth that, that he knoweth not. He shall say to thee, Eat thou and drink; and his soul is not with thee.

8 Thou shalt spew out the meat, which thou hast eaten; and thou shalt lose thy fair words.

9 Speak thou not in the ears of unwise men; for they shall despise the teaching of thy speech.

10 Touch thou not the terms, or the boundary stones, of little children; and enter thou not into the field of fatherless and motherless children.

11 For the neighbour of them is strong, and he shall deem their cause against thee.

12 Thine heart enter to teaching, and thine ears to the words of knowing.

13 Do not thou withdraw chastising or discipline, from a child; for though thou smitest him with a rod, he shall not die.

14 Thou shalt smite him with a rod, and thou shalt deliver his soul from hell.

15 My son, if thy soul is wise, mine heart shall have joy with thee;

16 and my reins shall make full out joy, when thy lips speak rightful [or right] things.

17 Thine heart pursue [or follow] not sinners; but be thou in the dread of the Lord all day.

18 For thou shalt have hope at the last, and thine abiding shall not be done away.

19 My son, hear thou, and be wise, and address thy soul in the way.

20 Do not thou be in the feasts of drinkers, neither in the oft eatings of them, that bring together fleshes to eat.

21 For men giving attention to drinks, and giving morsels together, shall be wasted, and napping shall be clothed with clothes rent.

22 Hear thy father, that begat thee; and despise not thy mother, when she is eld.

23 Buy thou truth, and do not thou sell wisdom, and doctrine, and understanding.

24 The father of a just [or rightwise] man joyeth full out with joy; he that begat a wise man, shall be glad in him.

25 Thy father and thy mother have joy, and he that begat thee, make full out joy.

26 My son, give thine heart to me, and thine eyes keep my ways.

27 For a whore is a deep ditch, and an alien woman, is a strait pit.

28 She setteth ambush in the way, as a thief; and shall add despisers in men, that is, shall multiply despisers of God among men.

29 To whom is woe? to whose father is woe? to whom be chidings? to whom be ditches? to whom be wounds without cause? to whom is putting out of eyes?

30 Whether not to them, that dwell in wine, and study to drink [up] all of cups?

31 Behold thou not [the] wine, when it sparkleth, when the colour thereof shineth in a glass cup. It entereth sweetly,

32 but at the last it shall bite as an adder, and as a cockatrice it shall shed abroad venoms.

33 Thine eyes shall see strange women, and thy heart shall speak wayward things.

34 And thou shalt be as a man sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a governor asleeped [or sleeping], when the steering, either the instrument of governance, is lost.

35 And thou shalt say, They beat me, but I had not sorrow; they drew me, and I feeled not; when shall I wake out, and I shall find wines again?

CHAPTER 24

1 Pursue [or follow] thou not evil men, desire thou not to be with them.

2 For the soul of them bethinketh on ravens, and their lips speak frauds.

3 An house shall be builded by wisdom, and it shall be made strong by prudence, or understanding.

4 [The] Cellars shall be filled in teaching, with all riches precious and full fair.

5 A wise man is strong, and a learned man is stalworth[y] and mighty.

6 For why battle is begun with ordinance; and health shall be, where many counsels be.

7 Wisdom is high to a fool; in the gate he shall not open his mouth.

8 He that thinketh to do evils, shall be called a fool.

9 The thought of a fool is sin; and a backbiter is abomination of men.

10 If thou hast slid, despairest in the day of anguish, thy strength shall be made less.

11 Deliver thou them, that be led to death; and cease thou not to deliver them, that be drawn to death.

12 If thou sayest, Strengths or Strong-holds suffice not; he that is [the] beholder of the heart, understandeth, and nothing deceiveth the keeper of thy soul, and he shall yield to a man after his works.

13 My son, eat thou honey, for it is good; and the honeycomb for it is full sweet to thy throat.

14 So and the teaching of wisdom is good to thy soul; and when thou hast found it, thou shalt have hope in the last things, and thine hope shall not perish.

15 Ambush thou not, and seek not wickedness in the house of a just [or rightwise] man, neither waste thou, his resting place.

16 For a just [or rightwise] man shall fall seven times in the day, and shall rise again; but wicked men shall fall into evil.

17 When thine enemy falleth, have thou not joy; and thine heart have not full out joying in his falling;

18 lest peradventure the Lord see, and it displease him, and he take away his ire [or his wrath] from him.

19 Strive thou not with the worst men, neither pursue [or follow] thou wicked men.

20 For why evil men have not hope of things to come, and the lantern of wicked men shall be quenched.

21 My son, dread thou God, and the king; and be thou not meddled [or mingled] with backbiters.

22 For their perdition shall rise together suddenly, and who knoweth the fall of ever either?

23 Also these things that pursue be to wise men. It is not good to know a person in doom.

24 Peoples shall curse them that say to a wicked man, Thou art just [or rightwise]; and lineages shall hold them abominable.

25 They that reprove justly sinners, shall be praised; and blessing shall come [up] on them.

26 He that answereth with rightful [or right] words, shall kiss lips.

27 Make ready thy work withoutforth, and work thy field diligently, that thou build thine house afterward.

28 Be thou not a witness without reasonable cause against thy neighbour; neither flatter thou any man with thy lips.

29 Say thou not, As he did to me, so I shall do to him, and I shall yield to each man after his work.

30 I passed by the field of a slow man, and by the vinery [or the vineyard] of a fond [or foolish] man;

31 and lo! nettles had filled all, thorns had covered the higher part thereof, and the wall of stones without mortar was destroyed.

32 And when I had seen this thing, I setted [or put] in mine heart, and by ensample, I learned teaching.

33 How long sleepest thou, slow man? when shalt thou rise from sleep? Soothly thou shalt sleep a little, thou shalt nap a little, thou shalt join together the hands a little, to take rest;

34 and then thy neediness as a courier shall come to thee, and thy beggary as an armed man.

CHAPTER 25

1 Also these be the Parables of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, translated.

2 The glory of God is to cover a word; and the glory of kings is to seek out a word.

3 Heaven above, and the earth beneath, and the heart of kings is unsearchable.

4 Do thou away rust from silver, and a full clean vessel shall go out.

5 Do thou away unpiety from the cheer of the king, and his throne shall be made steadfast by rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

6 Appear thou not glorious before the king, and stand thou not in the place of great men.

7 For it is better, that it be said to thee, Ascend thou [or Go up] hither, than that thou be made low before the prince.

8 Bring thou not forth soon those things in strife, which thine eyes saw; lest afterward thou mayest not amend, when thou hast made thy friend unhonest or he hath shamed thee.

9 Treat thy cause with thy friend, and show thou not private matter to a strange man;

10 lest peradventure he have joy of thy fall, when he hath heard, and cease not to do shame to thee.

11 A golden pomme or pommel in beds of silver is he, that speaketh a word in his time.

12 A golden earring, and a shining pearl is he, that reproveth a wise man, and an ear obeying.

13 As the cold of snow in the day of harvest, so a faithful messenger to him that sent him, maketh his soul to have rest.

14 A cloud and wind, and rain not pursuing [or following], is a glorious man, and not [ful] filling promises.

15 A prince shall be made soft by patience; and a soft tongue shall break hardness.

16 Thou hast found honey, eat thou that that sufficeth to thee; lest per-adventure thou be [full]-filled, and spew it out.

17 Withdraw thy foot from the house of thy neighbour; lest sometime he be filled, that is, annoyed, and hate thee.

18 A dart, and a sword, and a sharp arrow, is a man that speaketh false witnessing against his neighbour.

19 A rotten tooth, and a faint foot is he, that hopeth on an unfaithful man in the day of anguish,

20 and loseth his mantle in the day of cold. Vinegar in a vessel of salt is he, that singeth songs to the worst heart. As a moth annoyeth or harmeth a cloth, and a worm a tree, so the sorrow of a man annoyeth the heart.

21 If thine enemy hungereth, feed thou him; if he thirsteth, give thou him water to drink;

22 for thou shalt gather together coals on his head; and the Lord shall yield to thee.

23 The north wind scattereth abroad rains; and a sorrowful face destroyeth a tongue backbiting.

24 It is better to sit in the corner of an house without [a] roof, than with a woman full of chiding, and in a common house.

25 Cold water to a thirsty man; and a good messenger from a far land.

26 A well disturbed with foot, and a vein broken, is a just [or rightwise] man falling before a wicked man.

27 As it is not good to him that eateth much honey; so he that is a searcher of majesty, shall be put down from glory.

28 As a city open, and without compass of walls; so is a man that may not refrain his spirit in speaking.

CHAPTER 26

1 As snow in summer, and rain in harvest; so glory is unseemly to a fool.

2 For as a bird flying over to high things, and as a sparrow going into uncertain; so cursing brought forth without reasonable cause shall come above into some man.

3 Beating be to an horse, and a bridle to an ass; and a rod to the back of unprudent men.

4 Answer thou not to a fool after his folly, lest thou be made like him.

5 Answer thou a fool after his folly, lest he seem to himself to be wise.

6 An halting man in feet, and drinking wickedness, he that sendeth words by a fond [or foolish] messenger.

7 As an halting man hath fair legs in vain; so a parable is unseemly in the mouth of fools.

8 As he that sendeth a stone into the broad place of the sling; so he that giveth honour to an unwise man.

9 As if a thorn groweth in the hand of a drunken man; so is a parable in the mouth of fools.

10 Doom determineth causes; and he that setteth silence to a fool, assuageth ires [or wraths].

11 As a dog that turneth again to his spewing [or As an hound that turneth again to his vomit]; so is an unprudent man, that rehearseth his folly.

12 Thou hast seen a man seem wise to himself; an unknowing man shall have hope more than he.

13 A slow man saith, A lion is in the way, a lioness is in the footpaths.

14 As a door is turned in his hinges; so a slow man in his bed.

15 A slow man hideth his hands under his armpit; and he travaileth, if he turneth them up to his mouth.

16 A slow man seemeth wiser to himself, than seven men speaking sentences.

17 As he that taketh a dog by the ears; so he that passeth, and is unpatient, and is meddled [or mingled] with the chiding of another man.

18 As he is guilty, that sendeth spears and arrows into death,

19 so a man that annoyeth guilefully his friend, and when he is taken, he shall say, I did playing.

20 When trees [or woods shall] fail, the fire shall be quenched; and when a privy backbiter is withdrawn, strives rest.

21 As dead coals at [or to] quick coals, and trees at the fire [or wood to fire]; so a wrathful man raiseth chidings.

22 The words of a privy backbiter be as simple; and those [or they] come till to the innerest things of the heart.

23 As if thou wouldest adorn a vessel of earth with the dross of silver, so be swelling lips fellowshipped with a full wicked heart.

24 An enemy is understood by his lips, when he treateth guiles in his heart.

25 When he maketh low his voice, believe thou not to him; for seven wickednesses be in his heart.

26 The malice of him that covereth hatred guilefully, shall be showed in a council.

27 He that delveth a ditch, shall fall into it; and if a man walloweth a stone, it shall turn again to him.

28 A false tongue loveth not [the] truth; and a slippery mouth worketh fallings.

CHAPTER 27

1 Have thou not glory of the morrow, that knowest not what thing the day coming shall bring forth.

2 Another man, and not thy mouth praise thee; a stranger, and not thy lips.

3 A stone is heavy, and gravel is chargeous; but the ire [or the wrath] of a fool is heavier than ever either.

4 Ire [or Wrath] hath no mercy, and strong vengeance breaking out hath no mercy; and who may suffer the fierceness of a spirit stirred?

5 Better is open reproving, than a love hid. [Better is open amending, than hid love.]

6 Better be the wounds of him that loveth, than the guileful kisses of him that hateth.

7 A man [ful] filled shall despise an honeycomb; but an hungry man shall take, yea, bitter thing for sweet.

8 As a bird passing over from his nest, so is a man that forsaketh his place.

9 The heart delighteth in ointment, and diverse odours; and a soul is made sweet by the good counsels of a friend.

10 Forsake thou not thy friend, and the friend of thy father; and enter thou not into the house of thy brother, in the day of thy torment. Better is a neighbour nigh, than a brother afar.

11 My son, study thou about wisdom, and make thou glad mine heart; that thou mayest answer a word to a despiser.

12 A fell man seeing evil was hid; little men of wit passing forth suffered harms.

13 Take thou away his cloth, that promised for a stranger; and take thou away a wed from him for an alien man.

14 He that blesseth his neighbour with [a] great voice; and riseth by night, shall be like him that curseth.

15 Roofs dropping in the day of cold, and a woman full of chiding, be likened together.

16 He that withholdeth her, as if he holdeth [or held the] wind; and voideth [out] the oil of his right hand.

17 Iron is whetted by iron; and a man whetteth the face of his friend.

18 He that keepeth a fig tree, shall eat the fruits thereof; and he that is a keeper of his lord, shall be glorified.

19 As the cheers of men beholding themselves shine in waters; so the hearts of men be open to prudent men.

20 Hell and perdition shall not be filled; so and the eyes of men be not able to be filled [or be unfillable].

21 As silver is proved in a welling place, and gold is proved in a furnace; so a man is proved by the mouth of his praisers.

22 Though thou poundedest a fool in a mortar, as with a pestle smiting above dried barley, his folly shall not be done away from him.

23 Know thou diligently the cheer of thy beast; and behold thou thy flocks.

24 For thou shalt not have power continually; but a crown shall be given to thee in generation and into generation[s].

25 Meadows be opened, and green herbs appeared; and hay is gathered from [the] hills.

26 Lambs be to thy clothing; and kids be to the price of the field.

27 The milk of goats suffice to thee for thy meats; into the necessary things of thine house, and to lifelode of thine handmaidens.

CHAPTER 28

1 A wicked man fleeth, when no man pursueth; but a just [or rightwise] man as a lion trusting shall be without fearedfulness.

2 For the sins of the land there be many princes of it; and for the wisdom of a man, and for the knowing of these things that be said, the life of the duke shall be the longer.

3 A poor man falsely challenging poor men, is like a great rain, wherein hunger is made ready.

4 They that forsake the law, praise the wicked man; they that keep the law, be kindled, or stirred[up], against him.

5 Wicked men think not on doom; but they that seek the Lord, perceive all things.

6 Better is a poor man going in his simpleness, than a rich man in [his] shrewd ways.

7 He that keepeth the law, is a wise son; but he that feedeth gluttons, shameth his father.

8 He that gathereth together riches by usuries, and free increases, gathereth those [or them] together against poor men.

9 His prayer shall be made cursed, that boweth away his ear, that he hear not the law.

10 He that deceiveth just [or rightwise] men in an evil way, shall fall in his perishing; and just [or rightwise] men shall wield his goods.

11 A rich man seemeth wise to himself; but a poor man prudent shall search him out or know his counsel.

12 In [the] enhancing of just [or rightwise] men is much glory; when wicked men reign, fallings of men be.

13 He that hideth his great trespasses, shall not be made rightful; but he that acknowledgeth and forsaketh them, shall get mercy.

14 Blessed is the man, which is ever dreadful; but he that is of hard heart, shall fall into evil.

15 A roaring lion, and an hungry bear, is a wicked prince on a poor people.

16 A duke needy of prudence shall oppress many men by false challenge; but the days of him that hateth avarice shall be made long.

17 No man sustain a man that falsely challengeth the blood of a man, if he fleeth till to the pit.

18 He that goeth simply shall be safe; he that goeth by wayward ways, shall fall down [at] once.

19 He that worketh his land, shall be filled with loaves; he that pursueth [or followeth] idleness, shall be filled with neediness.

20 A faithful man shall be praised much; but he that hasteth to be made rich, shall not be innocent.

21 He that knoweth a face in doom, doeth not well; this man forsaketh truth, yea, for a morsel of bread.

22 A man that hasteth to be made rich, and hath envy to other men, knoweth not that neediness shall come [up] on him.

23 He that reproveth a man, shall find grace afterward with him; more than he that deceiveth by flatterings of tongue.

24 He that withdraweth anything from his father and from his mother, and saith that this is no sin, is partner of a man-queller.

25 He that avaunteth himself, and alargeth, raiseth up strives; but he that hopeth in the Lord, shall be saved.

26 He that trusteth in his heart, is a fool; but he that goeth wisely, shall be praised.

27 He that giveth to a poor man, shall not be needy; he that despiseth a poor man beseeching, shall suffer neediness.

28 When unpious men rise, men shall be hid; and when they have perished, just [or rightwise] men shall be multiplied.

CHAPTER 29

1 Sudden perishing shall come [up] on that man, that with hard noll, that is, an obstinate soul, despiseth a blamer; and health shall not follow him.

2 The commonality shall be glad in the multiplying of just [or rightwise] men; when wicked men have taken princehood, the people shall wail.

3 A man that loveth wisdom, maketh glad his father; but he that nourisheth a strumpet, shall lose his chattel [or substance].

4 A just king raiseth [up] the land; an avaricious man shall destroy it.

5 A man that speaketh by flattering and feigned words to his friend, spreadeth abroad a net to his steps.

6 A snare shall wrap a wicked man doing sin; and a just [or rightwise] man shall praise, and make joy.

7 A just [or rightwise] man knoweth the cause of poor men; and an unpious man knoweth not knowing.

8 Men full of pestilence destroy a city; but wise men turn away strong vengeance.

9 If a wise man striveth with a fool, whether he be wroth, or laugh, he shall not find rest.

10 Men-quellers hate a simple man; but just [or rightwise] men seek his soul.

11 A fool bringeth forth all his spirit; a wise man delayeth, and reserveth into time coming afterward.

12 A prince that heareth willfully the words of leasing, shall have all his servants unfaithful.

13 A poor man and a lender met themselves; the Lord is [the] lightener of ever either.

14 If a king deemeth poor men in truth, his throne shall be made steadfast [into] without end.

15 A rod and chastising [or discipline] shall give wisdom; but a child, that is left to his own will, shameth his mother.

16 Great trespasses shall be multiplied in the multiplying of wicked men; and just [or rightwise] men shall see the fallings of them.

17 Teach thy son, and he shall comfort thee; and he shall give delights to thy soul.

18 When prophecy faileth, the people shall be destroyed; but he that keepeth the law, is blessed.

19 A servant may not be taught by words; for he understandeth that that thou sayest, and he despiseth to answer.

20 Thou hast seen a man swift to speak; folly shall be hoped more than his amending [or folly more is to be hoped for than the correction of him].

21 He that nourisheth his servant delicately from childhood, shall find him a rebel [or unobedient] afterward.

22 A wrathful man stirreth chidings; and he that is light to have indignation, shall be more inclined to sins.

23 Lowness followeth a proud man; and glory shall up-take a meek man of spirit.

24 He that taketh part with a thief, hateth his soul; he heareth a man charging greatly, and showeth not.

25 He that dreadeth a man, shall fall soon; he that hopeth in the Lord, shall be raised [up].

26 Many men seek the face of the prince; and the doom of all men shall go forth of the Lord.

27 Just [or Rightwise] men have abomination of a wicked man; and wicked men have abomination of them, that be in a rightful [or the right] way.

CHAPTER 30

1 The words of him that gathereth, of the son spewing. The prophecy which a man spake, with whom God was, and which man was comforted by God dwelling with him, and said,

2 I am the most foolish of men; and the wisdom of men is not with me.

3 I learned not wisdom; and I knew not the knowing of holy men.

4 Who ascended [or went up] into heaven, and came down? Who held together the spirit or wind in his hands? who bound together waters as in a cloth? Who raised up all the ends of [the] earth? What is the name of him? and what is the name of his son, if thou knowest?

5 Each word of God is a shield set afire, to all that hope in him.

6 Add thou not anything to the words of him, and thou be reproved, and be found a liar.

7 I prayed thee for two things; deny not thou them to me, before that I die.

8 Make thou far from me vanity and words of leasing; give thou not to me begging and riches; but give thou only necessaries to my lifelode;

9 lest peradventure I be full-filled, and be drawn to deny, and say, Who is the Lord? and lest I be compelled by neediness, and steal, and forswear the name of my God.

10 Accuse thou not a servant to his lord, lest peradventure he curse thee, and thou fall down.

11 A generation that curseth his father, and that blesseth not his mother.

12 A generation that seemeth clean to itself, and nevertheless is not washed from his filths.

13 A generation whose eyes be high, and the eyelids thereof be raised [up] into high things.

14 A generation that hath swords for teeth, and eateth with his cheek teeth; that it eat [the] needy men of [the] earth, and the poor-alls [or the poor] of men.

15 The water leach hath two daughters, saying, Bring, bring. Three things be unable to be filled, and the fourth, that saith never, It sufficeth;

16 hell; and the mouth of the womb; and the earth that is never filled with water; but fire that saith never, It sufficeth.

17 Crows of the strand [or the streams] peck out that eye, that scorneth the father, and that despiseth the child-bearing of his mother; and the young of an eagle eat that eye.

18 Three things be hard to me, and utterly I know not the fourth thing;

19 the way of an eagle in heaven; the way of a serpent on a stone; the way of a ship in the middle of the sea; and the way of a man in his young waxing age.

20 Such is the way of a woman adulteress, which eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I wrought not evil.

21 The earth is moved by three things, and by the fourth thing, which it may not sustain;

22 by a servant, when he reigneth; by a fool, when he is filled with meat;

23 by an hateful woman, when she is taken in matrimony; and by an handmaid, when she is heir of her lady.

24 Four [things] be the least things of [the] earth, and those be wiser than wise men;

25 ants, a feeble people, that make ready meat in harvest to themselves;

26 a hare, a people unmighty, that setteth his bed in a stone;

27 a locust hath no king, and all goeth out by companies;

28 a lizard enforceth or endeavoureth with hands, and dwelleth in the houses of kings.

29 Three things there be, that go well, and the fourth thing, that goeth richly, either by prosperity.

30 A lion, strongest of beasts, shall not dread, at the meeting of any man;

31 a cock, girded [up] the loins; and a ram, and a king, and none there is that shall against-stand him.

32 He that appeareth a fool, after that he is raised [up] on high; for if he had understood, he had set his hand on his mouth.

33 Forsooth he that thrusteth strongly teats, to draw out milk, thrusteth out butter; and he that smiteth greatly, draweth out blood; and he that stirreth ires, bringeth forth discords.

CHAPTER 31

1 The words of Lemuel, the king; the vision by which his mother taught him.

2 What, my darling? what, the darling of my womb? what, the darling of my desires?

3 Give thou not thy chattel [or thy substance] to women, and thy riches to do away kings.

4 A! Lemuel, do not thou give wine to kings; for no privacy there is, where drunkenness reigneth.

5 Lest peradventure they drink, and forget dooms, and change the cause of the sons of a poor man.

6 Give ye cider to them that mourn, and wine to them that be of bitter soul.

7 Drink they, and forget they their neediness; and think they no more on their sorrow.

8 Open thy mouth for a dumb man, and open thy mouth for the causes of all sons that pass forth.

9 Deem thou that that is just, and deem thou a needy man and a poor man.

10 Who shall find a strong woman? the price of her is[a] far, and from the last [or utmost] ends.

11 The heart of her husband trusteth in her; and he shall not have need to robberies.

12 She shall yield to him good, and not evil, in all the days of her life.

13 She sought wool and flax; and wrought by the counsel of her hands.

14 She is made as the ship of a merchant, that beareth his bread from [a] far.

15 And she rose by night, and gave lifelode to her menials, and meats to her handmaidens.

16 She beheld a field, and bought it; of the fruit of her hands she planted a vinery [or a vineyard].

17 She girded her loins with strength, and made strong her arm.

18 She tasted, and saw, that her merchandise was good; her lantern shall not be quenched in the night.

19 She put her hands to the wharve, and her fingers took the spindle.

20 She opened her hand to the needy man, and stretched forth her hands to a poor man.

21 She shall not dread for her house of the colds of snow; for all her menials be clothed with double clothes.

22 She made to her a ray-cloth; bis, either white silk, and purple is the cloth[ing] of her.

23 Her husband is noble in the gates, when he sitteth with the senators of [the] earth.

24 She made linen cloth, and sold it; and gave a girdle to a merchant.

25 Strength and fairness is the clothing of her; and she shall laugh in the last day.

26 She opened her mouth to wisdom; and the law of mercy is in her tongue.

27 She beheld the paths of her house; and she ate not bread idly.

28 Her sons rose up, and preached her most blessed; her husband rose, and praised her.

29 Many daughters gathered riches; thou passedest them all.

30 Fairness is deceivable grace, and vain; that woman, that dreadeth the Lord, [she] shall be praised.

31 Give ye to her of the fruit of her hands; and her works praise her in the gates.

* CHAPTER 22:20 That is, in three parts of the Old Testament, that be, the law, holy stories, and prophets. (From a “Later Version” gloss.)

ECCLESIASTES

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ECCLESIASTES

CHAPTER 1

1 The words of Ecclesiastes*, son of David, king of Jerusalem.

2 Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes; vanity of vanities, and all things be vanity.

3 What hath a man more[over] of all his travail, by which he travaileth under the sun?

4 A generation passeth away, [and] another generation cometh; but the earth standeth without end.

5 The sun riseth [up], and goeth down, and turneth again to his place; and there it riseth again,

6 and compasseth by the south, and turneth again to the north. The spirit compassing all things goeth about, and turneth again into his circles.

7 All floods enter into the sea, and the sea floweth not over the marks set of God; the floods turn again to the place from whence they come forth, that they flow [out] again.

8 All things be hard; a man may not declare those things by word; the eye is not filled by sight, neither the ear is filled by hearing.

9 What is that thing that was, that that shall come? What is that thing that is made, that that shall be made? Nothing under the sun is new,

10 neither any man may say, Lo! this thing is new; for now it went before in worlds, that were before us.

11 Mind of the former things is not, but soothly neither thinking of those things, that shall come afterward, shall be at them that shall come in the last time.

12 I Ecclesiastes was king of Israel in Jerusalem;

13 and I purposed in my soul to seek and ensearch wisely of all things, that be made under the sun. God gave this evil occupation to the sons of men, that they should be occupied therein.

14 I saw all things that be made under the sun, and lo! all things be vanity and torment of spirit.

15 Wayward men be amended of hard; and the number of fools is great without end.

16 I spake in mine heart, and I said, Lo! I am made great, and I passed in wisdom all men, that were before me in Jerusalem; and my soul saw many things wisely, and I learned.

17 And I gave mine heart, that I should know prudence and doctrine, and errors and folly. And I knew that in these things also was travail and torment of spirit;

18 for in much wisdom is much indignation, and he that increaseth knowing, increaseth also travail.

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore I said in mine heart, I shall go, and I shall flow in delights, and I shall use goods; and I saw also that this was vanity.

2 And laughing I areckoned error, and I said to joy, What art thou, deceived in vain?

3 I thought in mine heart to withdraw my flesh from wine, that I should lead over my soul to wisdom, and that I would eschew folly, till I should see, what were profitable to the sons of men; in which deed the number of days of their life under the sun is needful.

4 I magnified, either made great, my works, I builded houses to me, and I planted vines;

5 I made yards [or gardens] and orchards, and I set those with trees of all kinds;

6 and I made cisterns of waters, for to water the wood of [the] trees growing.

7 I had in possession servants and handmaids; and I had much meine, and droves of great beasts, and great flocks of sheep, over all men that were before me in Jerusalem.

8 I gathered together to me silver and gold, and the castles of kings and of provinces; I made to me singers and singeresses, and [the] delights of the sons of men, and cups and vessels in service, to pour out wines;

9 and I passed in riches all men that were before me in Jerusalem. Also wisdom dwelled stably with me,

10 and all things which mine eyes desired, I denied not to them; neither I refrained mine heart, that not it used all lust, and delighted itself in these things which I had made ready; and I deemed this my part, if I used my travail.

11 And when I had turned me to all the works which mine hands had made, and to the travails in which I had sweated in vain, I saw in all things vanity and torment of soul, and that nothing under [the] sun dwelleth.

12 I passed forth to behold wisdom, and errors, and folly; I said, What is a man, that he may pursue [or follow] the king, his maker?

13 And I saw, that wisdom went so much before folly, as much as light is diverse from darknesses.

14 The eyes of a wise man be in his head, a fool goeth in darknesses; and I learned, that one perishing was of ever either.

15 And I said in mine heart, If one death shall be both of the fool and of me, what profiteth it to me, that I gave more busyness to wisdom? And I spake with my soul, and perceived, that this also was vanity.

16 For the mind of a wise man shall not be, in like manner as neither that of a fool, without end, and [the] times to coming [or to come] shall cover all things altogether with forgetting; a learned man dieth in like manner as an unlearned man.

17 And therefore it annoyed me of my life, seeing that all things under [the] sun be evil, and that all things be vanity and torment of the spirit.

18 Again I cursed all my busyness, by which I travailed most studiously under [the] sun; and I shall have an heir after me,

19 whom I know not, whether he shall be wise either a fool; and he shall be lord in my travails, for which I sweated greatly, and was busy; and is there anything so vain?

20 Wherefore I ceased, and mine heart forsook for to travail further under [the] sun.

21 For why when another man travaileth in wisdom, and teaching, and busyness, he leaveth things gotten to an idle man; and therefore this is vanity, and great evil.

22 For why what shall it profit to a man of all his travail, and torment of spirit, with which he was tormented under [the] sun?

23 All his days be full of sorrows and mischiefs, and by night he resteth not in soul; and whether this is not vanity?

24 Whether it is not better to eat and drink, and to show to his soul [the] goods of his travails? and this thing is of the hand of God.

25 Who shall devour so, and shall flow in delights, as I have?

26 God gave wisdom, and knowing, and gladness to a good man in his sight; but he gave torment, and superfluous busyness to a sinner, that he increase, and gather together, and give to him that pleaseth God; but also this is vanity, and vain busyness of soul.

CHAPTER 3

1 All things have time, and all things under [the] sun pass by their spaces.

2 Time of birth, and time of dying; time to plant, and time to draw up that that is planted.

3 Time to slay, and time to make whole; time to destroy, and time to build.

4 Time to weep, and time to laugh; time to bewail, and time to dance.

5 Time to scatter stones, and time to gather together; time to embrace, and time to be far from embracings, or embraces.

6 Time to get, and time to lose; time to keep, and time to cast away.

7 Time to cut, and time to sew together; time to be still, and time to speak.

8 Time to love, and time of hatred; time of battle, and time of peace.

9 What hath a man more of his travail?

10 I saw the torment, which God gave to the sons of men, that they be occupied therein.

11 God made all things good in their time, and gave the world to disputing of them, that a man find not the work that God hath wrought from the beginning unto the end.

12 And I knew that nothing was better to a man, but to be glad, and to do good works in his life.

13 For why each man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his travail; this is the gift of God.

14 I have learned that all the works, that God made, last steadfastly unto without end; we may not add anything to those works, neither take away from those things, which God made, that he be dreaded.

15 That thing that is made, dwelleth perfectly; those things that shall come, were before; and God restoreth that, that is gone.

16 I saw under [the] sun unfaithfulness in the place of doom; and wickedness in the place of rightfulness.

17 And I said in mine heart, The Lord shall deem a just [or rightwise] man, and an unfaithful man; and the time of each thing shall be then.

18 I said in mine heart of the sons of men, that God should prove them, and show that they be like beasts.

19 Therefore one is the perishing of man and of beasts, and even condition is of ever either; as a man dieth, so and those beasts die; all those breathe in like manner, and a man hath nothing more than a beast. All things be subject to vanity,

20 and all things go to one place; those be made of earth, and those turn again altogether into earth.

21 Who knoweth, if the spirit[s] of the sons of Adam goeth upward, and if the spirits of beasts goeth downward?

22 And I perceived that nothing is better, than that a man be glad in his work, and that this be his part; for who shall bring him, that he know things that shall come after him?

CHAPTER 4

1 I turned me to other things, and I saw false challenges, that be done under the sun, and the tears of the guiltless, and no man a comforter; and that they destitute, either forsaken, of the help of all men, may not against-stand the violence of them.

2 And I praised more dead men than living men;

3 and I deemed him, that was not born yet, and saw not the evils that be done under the sun, to be more blessed than ever either.

4 Again I beheld all the travails of men, and busynesses; and I perceived that those be open to [the] envy of the neighbour; and therefore in this is vanity, and superfluous busyness.

5 A fool foldeth together his hands, and eateth his flesh,

6 and saith, Better is an handful, with rest, than ever either hand full, with travail and torment of soul.

7 I beheld and found also another vanity under the sun;

8 one there is, and he hath not a second; neither a son, nor a brother; and nevertheless he ceaseth not to travail, neither his eyes be filled with riches; neither he bethinketh him, and saith, To whom travail I, and deceive my soul in goods? In this also is vanity, and the worst torment.

9 Therefore it is better, that two be together than one; for they have profit of their fellowship.

10 If one falleth down, he shall be underset of the tother; woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth, he hath none to raise him up.

11 And if twain sleep together, they shall be nourished together; how shall one be made hot?

12 And if any man hath [the] mastery against one, twain [or two] against-stand him; a threefold cord is broken of hard.

13 A poor man and wise is better than an eld [or old] king and foolish, that cannot before-see into time to coming [or after].

14 For sometime a man goeth out, both from prison and chains, to a realm; and another, born into a realm, is wasted by neediness.

15 I saw all men living that go under the sun, with the second young waxing man, that shall rise for him.

16 The number of people, of all that were before him, is great without measure, and they that shall come afterward, shall not be glad in him; but also this is vanity and torment of the spirit.

CHAPTER 5

1 Thou that enterest into the house of God, keep thy foot, and nigh thou for to hear; for why much better is obedience, than the sacrifice of fools, that know not what evil they do.

2 Speak thou not anything follily, neither thine heart be swift to bring forth a word before God; for God is in heaven, and thou art on earth, therefore thy words be few.

3 Dreams follow many busynesses, and folly shall be found in many words.

4 If thou hast avowed anything to God, tarry thou not to yield it; for an unfaithful and fond promise displeaseth him; but yield thou whatever thing thou hast avowed;

5 and it is much better to make not a vow, than after a vow to yield not the promises.

6 Give thou not thy mouth, that thou make thy flesh to do sin; neither say thou before an angel, No purvey-ance there is; lest peradventure the Lord be wroth on thy words, and destroy all the works of thine hands.

7 Where be many dreams, be full many vanities, and words without number; but dread thou God.

8 If thou seest false challenges of needy men, and violent dooms, and that rightfulness is destroyed in the province, wonder thou not on this doing; for another is higher than an high man, and also other men be more high above these men;

9 and furthermore the king of all earth commandeth to the servant.

10 An avaricious man shall not be [ful] filled of money; and he that loveth riches shall not take fruits of them; and therefore this is vanity.

11 Where there be many riches, also many men there be, that eat those; and what profiteth it to the holder, but that he seeth [the] riches with his eyes?

12 Sleep is sweet to him that worketh, whether he eat little either much; but the fullness of a rich man suffereth not him to sleep.

13 Also another sickness is full evil, which I saw under the sun; riches be kept into the harm of their lord.

14 For they perish in the worst torment; he begat a son, that shall be in sovereign neediness.

15 As he went naked out of his mother’s womb, so he shall turn again; and he shall take away with him nothing of his travail.

16 Utterly it is a wretched sickness; as he came, so he shall turn again. What profiteth it to him, that he travailed into the wind?

17 In all the days of his life he ate in darknesses, and in many busynesses, and in neediness, and sorrow.

18 Therefore this seemed good to me, that a man eat, and drink, and use gladness of his travail, in which he travailed under the sun, in the number of [the] days of his life, which God gave to him; and this is his part.

19 And to each man, to whom God gave riches, and chattel [or substance], and gave power to him to eat of those, and to use his part, and to be glad of his travail; this is the gift of God.

20 For he shall not think much on the days of his life, for God occupieth his heart with delights.

CHAPTER 6

1 Also another evil there is, which I saw under the sun; and certainly it is oft used with men.

2 A man is, to whom God gave riches, and chattel [or substance], and honour; and nothing faileth to his soul of all things which he desireth; and God giveth not power to him, that he eat thereof, but a strange man shall devour it*. This is vanity, and a great wretchedness.

3 If a man engendereth an hundred free sons, and hath many days of age, and his soul useth not the goods of his chattel [or substance], and wanteth burying; I pronounce of this man, that a dead-born child is better than he.

4 For he cometh in vain, and goeth to darknesses; and his name shall be done away by forgetting.

5 He saw not the sun, neither knew the diversity of good and of evil;

6 also though he live two thousand years, and useth not [the] goods; whether all things hasten not to one place?

7 All the travail of a man is in his mouth, but the soul of him shall not be [ful] filled with goods.

8 What hath a wise man more than a fool? and what hath a poor man, but that he go thither, where is life?

9 It is better to see that, that thou covetest, than to desire that, that thou knowest not; but also this is vanity, and presumption of spirit.

10 The name of him that shall come, is called now, and it is known, that he is a man, and he may not strive in doom against a stronger than himself.

11 Words be full many, and have much vanity in disputing. What need is it to a man to seek greater things than himself;

12 since he knoweth not, what shall befall to him in his life, in the number of days of his pilgrimage, and in the time that passeth as shadow? either who may show to him, what thing under [the] sun shall come after him?

CHAPTER 7

1 A good name is better than precious ointments; and the day of death is better than the day of birth.

2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of a feast; for in that house of mourning the end of all men is warned of, and a man living thinketh, what is to coming [or to come].

3 Ire [or wrath] is better than laugh-ing; for the soul of a trespasser is amended by the heaviness of his cheer.

4 The heart of wise men is where sorrow is; and the heart of fools is where folly gladness is.

5 It is better to be reproved of a wise man, than to be deceived by the flattering of fools;

6 for as the sound of thorns burning under a pot, so is the laughing of a fool. But also this is vanity.

7 False challenge troubleth a wise man, and it shall lose the strength of his heart.

8 Forsooth the end of prayer is better than the beginning. A patient man is better than a proud man.

9 Be thou not swift to be wroth; for ire resteth in the bosom of a fool.

10 Say thou not, What guessest thou is the cause, that the former times were better than be now? for why such asking is fond or foolish.

11 Forsooth wisdom with riches is more profitable, and profiteth more to men seeing the sun.

12 For as wisdom defendeth, so money defendeth; but learning and wisdom have this moreover, that those give life to them that have them.

13 Behold thou the works of God, and see that no man may amend him, whom God hath despised.

14 In a good day use thou goods, and before eschew thou an evil day; for God made so this day as that day, that a man find not just complainings against him.

15 Also I saw these things in the days of my nativity*; a just [or rightwise] man perisheth in his rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and a wicked man liveth much time in his malice.

16 Do not thou be just [or rightwise] over much, neither understand thou more than is needful; lest thou be astonied.

17 Do thou not wickedly much, and do not thou be a fool; lest thou die in a time not thine.

18 It is good, that thou sustain a just [or rightwise] man; but also withdraw thou not thine hand from him; for he that dreadeth God, is not negligent of anything.

19 Wisdom hath strengthened a wise man, over ten princes of a city.

20 Forsooth no just [or rightwise] man there is in [the] earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

21 But also give thou not thine heart to all words, that be said; lest peradventure thou hear thy servant cursing thee;

22 for thy conscience knoweth, that also thou hast cursed oft other men.

23 I assayed all things in wisdom; I said, I shall be made wise, and it went away further from me,

24 much more than it was; and the depth is low, who shall find it?

25 I compassed all things with my soul, to know, and to behold, and seek wisdom, and reason, and to know the wickedness of a fool, and the error of unprudent men.

26 And I found a woman bitterer than death, the which is the snare of hunters, and her heart is a net, and her hands be bonds; he that pleaseth God shall escape her, but he that is a sinner, shall be taken of her.

27 Lo! I found this, said Ecclesiastes, one and other, that I should find reason,

28 which my soul seeketh yet; and I found not. I found one man of a thousand; and I found not a woman of all.

29 I found this only, that God made a man rightful [or made man right]; and he meddled himself with questions without number.

CHAPTER 8

1 Who is such as a wise man? and who knoweth the solving, either expounding, of a word? The wisdom of a man shineth in his cheer; and the mightiest shall change his face.

2 I keep the mouth of the king, and the commandments and [the] swearings of God.

3 Haste thou not to go away from his face, and dwell thou not in evil work. For he shall do all thing, that he will;

4 and his word is full of power, and no man may say to him, Why doest thou so?

5 He that keepeth the commandment of God, shall not feel anything of evil; the heart of a wise man understandeth time and answer.

6 Time and season is to each work; and much torment is of a man,

7 for he knoweth not [the] things passed, and he may not know by any messenger [the] things to come.

8 It is not in the power of man to forbid the spirit, that is, his soul, from going out from the body, neither he hath power in the day of death, neither he is suffered to have rest, when the battle nigheth; neither wickedness shall save a wicked man.

9 I beheld all these things, and I gave mine heart in all works, that be done under the sun. Sometime a man is lord of a man, to his evil.

10 I saw wicked men buried, which, when they lived yet, were in holy place; and they were praised in the city, as men of just [or rightwise] works; but also this is vanity.

11 Forsooth for the sentence is not brought forth soon against evil men, the sons of men do evils without any dread.

12 Nevertheless of that, that a sinner doeth evil an hundred times, and is suffered by patience, I knew that good it shall be to men dreading God, that reverence his face, or presence.

13 Good be not to the wicked man, neither his days be made long; but pass they as shadow, that dread not the face of the Lord.

14 Also another vanity there is, that is done on earth. Just [or rightwise] men there be, to whom evils come, as if they did the works of wicked men; and wicked men there be, that be as secure, as if they had done the deeds of just [or rightwise] men; but I deem also this most vain.

15 Therefore I praised gladness, that no good was to a man under the sun, but to eat, and drink, and to be joyful; and that he should bear away with himself only this of his travail, in the days of his life, which God gave to him under the sun.

16 And I setted mine heart to know wisdom, and to understand the parting, which is turned in earth. A man is, that by days and nights, taketh not sleep with his eyes.

17 And I understood, that of all the works of God, a man may find no reason of those things, that be done under the sun; and inasmuch as he travaileth more to seek, by so much he shall find less; yea, though a wise man say that he knoweth, he shall not be able to find.

CHAPTER 9

1 I treated all these things in mine heart, to understand diligently. Just [or rightwise] men, and wise men there be, and their works be in the hand of God; and nevertheless a man knoweth not, whether he is worthy of love or of hate.

2 But all things be kept uncertain into the time to coming [or to come]; for all things befall evenly to a just [or rightwise] man and to a wicked man, to a good man and to an evil man, to a clean man and to an unclean man, to a man offering offerings and sacrifices, and to a man despising sacrifices; as a good man, so and a sinner; as a forsworn man, so and he that greatly sweareth truth.

3 This thing is the worst among all things, that be done under the sun, that the same thing befall to all men; wherefore and the hearts of the sons of men be filled with malice and with despising in their life; and after these things, they shall be led down into hells [or to hell].

4 No man there is, that liveth ever, and that hath trust of this thing; better is a quick dog than a dead lion.

5 For they that live know that they shall die; but dead men know nothing more, neither have meed further; for their mind is given to forgetting.

6 Also their love, and hatred, and envy, perished altogether; and they have no part in this world, and in the work that is done under the sun.

7 Therefore go thou, just man, and eat thy bread in gladness, and drink thy wine with joy; for thy works please God.

8 In each time thy clothes be white, and oil fail not from thine head.

9 Use thou life with the wife which thou lovest, in all the days of the life of thine unstableness, that be given to thee under the sun, in all the time of thy vanity; for this is thy part in thy life and [thy] travail, by which thou travailest under the sun.

10 Work thou busily, whatever thing thine hand may do; for neither work, neither reason, nor knowing, nor wisdom, shall be at hells [or with hell], whither thou hastest.

11 I turned me to another thing, and I saw under [the] sun, that running [or course] is not of swift men, neither battle is of strong men, neither bread is of wise men, neither riches be of teachers, nor grace is of craftsmen; but time and hap is in all things*.

12 A man knoweth not his end; but as fishes be taken with an hook, and as birds be taken with a snare, so men be taken in evil time, when it cometh suddenly [up] on them.

13 Also I saw this wisdom under the sun, and I proved it the most.

14 A little city, and few men therein; a great king came against it, and compassed it with pales, and he builded strongholds, either engines, by compass; and [the] besieging was made perfect.

15 And a poor man and a wise was found therein; and he delivered the city by his wisdom, and no man bethought afterward on that poor man.

16 And I said, that wisdom is better than strength; how therefore is the wisdom of a poor man despised, and his words be not heard?

17 The words of wise men be heard in silence, more than the cry of a prince among fools.

18 Better is wisdom than armours [or arms] of battle; and he that sinneth in one thing, shall lose many goods.

CHAPTER 10

1 Flies that die in it, lose the sweetness of [the] ointment. A little folly at some time is more precious than wisdom and glory.

2 The heart of a wise man is in his right side; and the heart of a fool is in his left side.

3 But also a fool going in the way, when he is unwise, guesseth all men fools.

4 If the spirit of him, that hath power, goeth upon thee, forsake thou not thy place; for curing, or caring, or taking heed, shall make greatest sins to cease.

5 An evil there is, that I saw under the sun, and going out as by error from the face of the prince;

6 a fool set in high dignity, and rich men sit beneath.

7 I saw servants on horses, and princes as servants going on the earth.

8 He that diggeth a ditch, shall fall into it; and an adder shall bite him, that destroyeth a hedge.

9 He that beareth over stones, shall be tormented in those; and he that cutteth trees, shall be wounded of those [or them].

10 If iron is folded again, and it is not as before, but is made blunt, it shall be made sharp with much travail; and wisdom shall follow after busyness.

11 If a serpent biteth, it biteth in silence; he that backbiteth privily, hath nothing less than it.

12 The words of the mouth of a wise man be grace; and the lips of an unwise man shall cast him down.

13 The beginning of his words is folly; and the last thing of his mouth is the worst error.

14 A fool multiplieth words; a man knoweth not, what was before him, and who may show to him that, that shall come after him?

15 The travail of fools shall torment them, that know not how to go into the city.

16 Land, woe to thee, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat early.

17 Blessed is the land, whose king is noble; and whose princes eat in their time, to sustain their kind, and not to lechery.

18 The highness of houses shall be made low in sloths; and the house shall drop rain in the feebleness of hands.

19 In laughing, they dispose bread and wine, that they drinking eat largely; and all things obey to money.

20 In thy thought backbite thou not the king, and in the private of thy bed, curse thou not a rich man; for the birds of heaven shall bear thy voice, and he that hath pens or wings, shall tell the sentence.

CHAPTER 11

1 Send thy bread [up] on waters passing forth, for after many times thou shalt find it.

2 Give thou parts seven, and also eight; for thou knowest not, what evil shall come [up] on earth.

3 If clouds be filled, they shall shed [or pour] out rain on the earth; if a tree falleth down to the south, either to the north, in whatever place it falleth down, there it shall be.

4 He that espieth the wind, soweth not; and he that beholdeth the clouds, shall never reap.

5 As thou knowest not, which is the way of the spirit, and by what reason bones be joined together in the womb of a woman with child, so thou knowest not the works of God, which is maker of all things.

6 Early sow thy seed, and thine hand cease not in the eventide; for thou knowest not, what shall come forth more, this either that; and if ever either come forth together, it shall be the better.

7 The light is sweet, and delightable to the eyes to see the sun.

8 If a man liveth many years, and is glad in all these, he oweth to have mind of [the] dark time, and of many days; and when those shall come, [the] things passed shall be reproved of vanity.

9 Therefore, thou young man, be glad in thy youth, and thine heart be in goodness in the days of thy youth, and go thou in the ways of thine heart, and in the beholding of thine eyes; and know thou, that for all these things God shall bring thee into doom.

10 Do thou away ire [or wrath] from thine heart, and remove thou malice from thy flesh; for why youth and lust be vain things, or vanity.

CHAPTER 12

1 Have thou mind on thy Creator* in the days of thy youth, before that the time of thy torment come, and the years of thy death nigh, of which thou shalt say, Those please not me.

2 Before that the sun be dark, and the light, and stars, and the moon; and the clouds turn again after rain.

3 When the doorkeepers of the house shall be moved, and [the] strongest men shall tremble; and [the] grinders shall be idle, when the number shall be made less, and seers by the holes shall wax dark;

4 and shall close the doors in the street, in the lowness of [the] voice of a grinder; and they shall rise at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of song shall wax deaf.

5 And high things shall dread, and shall be afeared in the way; and an almond tree shall flower, a locust shall be made fat, and capers shall be destroyed; for a man shall go into the house of his everlastingness, and wailers shall go about in the street.

6 Have thou mind on thy Creator, before that a silveren rope be broken, and a golden lace run against, and a water pot be all-broken on the well, and a wheel be broken altogether on the cistern;

7 and dust turn again into his earth, whereof it was, and the spirit turn again to God, that gave it.

8 The vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, the vanity of vanities, and all things be vanity. [Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, and all things vanity.]

9 And when Ecclesiastes was most wise, he taught the people, and he told out the things which he did, and he sought out wisdom, and made many parables;

10 he sought profitable words, and he wrote most rightful [or right] words, and full of truth.

11 The words of wise men be as pricks, and as nails fastened deep, which be given of one shepherd by the counsels of masters.

12 My son, seek thou no more than these; none end there is to make many books, and oft thinking is torment of [the] flesh.

13 All we hear together the end of speaking. Dread thou God, and keep his behests; that is to know, every man.

14 God shall bring all things into doom, that be done; for each thing covered, either privy, whether it be good, or evil.

* CHAPTER 1:1 That is, of Solomon, for ‘Ecclesiastes’ is said, ‘a speaker to the people’.

* CHAPTER 6:2 For God draweth him away suddenly from present life.

* CHAPTER 7:15 That is, of present life, that passeth soon away, so it is not no but vanity.

* CHAPTER 9:11 That is, uncertainty, that oweth to refrain a man from pride.

* CHAPTER 12:1 The Hebrew for ‘thy creator’ sounds much like the Hebrew for ‘thy grave’. (Good News Bible)

SONG OF SONGS

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SONG OF SONGS

CHAPTER 1

1 Here beginneth the Song of Songs*.

2 Kiss he me with the kiss of his mouth. For thy loves be better than wine†,

3 and give odour with best oint-ments. Thy name is like oil shed [or poured] out; therefore [the] young damsels loved thee.

4 Draw thou me after thee; we shall run. The king led me into his cellars; we mindful of thy loves above wine, shall make full out joy, and we shall be glad in thee; rightful men love thee.

5 Ye daughters of Jerusalem, I am black, but fair, as the tabernacles of Kedar, as the skins of Solomon.

6 Do not ye behold me, that I am black, for the sun hath discoloured me; the sons of my mother fought against me, they set me a keeper in vineries; I kept not my vinery.

7 Thou spouse, whom my soul loveth, show to me, where thou pasturest, where thou restest in mid-day; lest I begin to wander, after the flocks of thy fellows.

8 A! thou fairest among women, if thou knowest not thyself, go thou out, and go forth after the steps of thy flocks; and feed thy kids, beside the tabernacles of shepherds.

9 My love, I likened thee to mine host of knights in the chariots of Pharaoh.

10 Thy cheeks be fair, as of a turtle; thy neck is as brooches.

11 We shall make to thee golden ornaments, parted and made diverse with silver.

12 When the king was in his resting place, my nard gave his odour.

13 My darling is a bundle of myrrh to me; he shall dwell betwixt my teats.

14 My darling is to me a cluster of cypress trees, among the vineries of Engedi.

15 Lo! my love, thou art fair; lo! thou art fair, thine eyes be the eyes of culvers.

16 Lo! my darling, thou art fair and shapely; our bed is fair as flowers.

17 The beams of our houses be of cedar; our couplings be of cypress.

CHAPTER 2

1 I am a flower of the field, and a lily of great valleys.

2 As a lily among thorns, so is my friendess among daughters.

3 As an apple tree among the trees of woods, so is my darling among sons. I sat under the shadow of him, whom I desired; and his fruit was sweet to my throat.

4 The king led me into the wine cellar; he ordained charity in me.

5 Beset ye me with flowers, en-compass ye me with apples; for I am sick for love.

6 His left hand is under mine head; and his right hand shall embrace me.

7 Ye daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you greatly, by caprets, and harts of fields, that ye raise not, neither make to awake the dear-worthy spousess, till she will.

8 The voice of my darling; lo! this darling cometh leaping in mountains, and skipping over little hills.

9 My darling is like a capret, and a calf of harts; lo! he standeth behind our wall, and beholdeth by the windows, and looketh through the lattice.

10 Lo! my darling speaketh to me, My love, my culver, my fair spousess, rise thou, haste thou, and come thou;

11 for winter is passed now, rain is gone, and is departed away.

12 Flowers have appeared in our land, and the time of cutting is come; the voice of a turtle is heard in our land,

13 the fig tree hath brought forth his buds; the vineries flowering have given their odour. My love, my fair spousess, rise thou, haste thou, and come thou.

14 My culver is in the holes of [the] stone, in the chink of a wall without mortar. Show thy face to me, thy voice sound in mine ears; for thy voice is sweet, and thy face is fair.

15 Catch ye little foxes to us, that destroy the vineries; for our vinery hath flowered.

16 My darling is to me, and I am to him, which is fed among lilies;

17 till the day spring, and shadows be bowed down. My darling, turn thou again; be thou like a capret, and a calf of harts, on the hills of Bether.

CHAPTER 3

1 In my little bed, I sought him by nights, whom my soul loveth; I sought him, and I found not.

2 So I said, I shall rise, and I shall compass the city, by little streets and large streets; I shall seek him, whom my soul loveth; I sought him, and I found not.

3 Watchmen, that keep the city, found me. I asked, Whether ye saw him, whom my soul loveth?

4 A little when I had passed them, I found him, whom my soul loveth; I held him, and I shall not leave him, till I bring him into the house of my mother, and into the [bed-]closet of my mother.

5 Ye daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you greatly, by the caprets, and harts of fields, that ye raise not, neither make to awake the dearworthy spousess, till she will.

6 Who is this woman, that goeth up by the desert, as a rod of smoke of sweet smelling spices, of myrrh, and of incense, and of all powder of an ointment maker?

7 Lo! sixty strong men of the strongest men of Israel encompass the bed of Solomon;

8 and all they hold swords, and be most witting to battles; the sword of each man is on his hip, for the dread of nights.

9 King Solomon made to him a seat, of the wood of Lebanon;

10 he made the pillars thereof of silver; he made a golden resting place, a going up of purple; and he arrayed the middle things with charity, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 Ye daughters of Zion, go out, and see king Solomon in the diadem, with which his mother crowned him, in the day of his espousing, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

CHAPTER 4

1 My friendess, thou art full fair, thou art full fair; thine eyes be of culvers, without that, that is hid within; thine hairs be as the flocks of goats, that went up from the hills of Gilead.

2 Thy teeth be as the flocks of shorn sheep, that went up from [the] washing; all be with double lambs, and no barren is among those.

3 Thy lips be as a red lace, and thy speech is sweet; as the remnant of an apple of Punic, so be thy cheeks, without that, that is hid within.

4 Thy neck is as the tower of David, which is builded with strong-holds made before for defence; a thousand shields hang on it, all [the] armour of strong men.

5 Thy two teats be as two kids, twins of a capret, that be fed among lilies,

6 till the day spring, and [the] shadows be bowed down. I shall go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the little hill of incense.

7 My love, thou art all-fair, and no wem is in thee.

8 My spousess, come thou from the Lebanon; come thou from the Lebanon, come thou; beholding from the head of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the hills of leopards.

9 My sister spousess, thou hast wounded mine heart; thou hast wounded mine heart, in one of thine eyes, and in one hair of thy neck.

10 My sister spousess, thy loves be full fair; thy loves be fairer than wine, and the odour of thy clothes is above all sweet smelling ointments.

11 Spousess, thy lips be as an honeycomb dropping; honey and milk be under thy tongue, and the odour of thy clothes is as the odour of incense.

12 My sister spousess, a garden closed altogether; a garden closed altogether, a well asealed.

13 Thy sendings-out be as a paradise of apples of Punic, with the fruits of apples, cypress trees, with nard;

14 nard and saffron, an herb called fistula, and canel, with all [the] trees of the Lebanon, myrrh, and aloes, with all the best, either first, ointments.

15 A well of gardens, a well of welling, either quick, waters, that flow with fierceness from the Lebanon.

16 Rise thou, north wind, and come thou, south wind; blow thou through my garden, and the sweet smelling ointments thereof shall flow. My darling, come he into his garden, to eat the fruit of his apples.

CHAPTER 5

1 My sister spousess, come thou into my garden. I have reaped my myrrh, with my sweet smelling spices; I have eaten an honeycomb, with mine honey; I have drunk my wine, with my milk. Friends, eat ye, and drink; and most dear friends, be ye filled greatly.

2 I sleep, and mine heart waketh. The voice of my darling knocking; my sister, my love, my culver, my spousess unwemmed, open thou to me; for mine head is full of dew, and mine hairs be full of [the] drops of nights.

3 I have unclothed me of my coat; how shall I be clothed therein? I have washed my feet; how shall I defoul them?

4 My darling put his hand by an hole in the door; and my womb trembled at the touching thereof.

5 I rose, for to open to my darling; mine hands dropped myrrh, and my fingers were full of myrrh most proved.

6 I opened the wicket of my door to my darling; and he had bowed away, and had passed forth. My soul was melted, as the darling spake; I sought, and I found not him; I called, and he answered not to me.

7 The keepers that compassed the city found me; they smote me, and wounded me; the keepers of [the] walls took away my mantle.

8 Ye daughters of Jerusalem, I beseech you by an holy thing, if ye have found my darling, that ye tell to him, that I am sick for love.

9 A! thou fairest of women, of what manner condition is thy darling of the beloved? of what manner condition is thy darling of a darling? for thou hast so besought us by an holy thing.

10 My darling is white and ruddy; chosen of thousands.

11 His head is best gold; his hairs be as the boughs of palm trees, and be black as a crow.

12 His eyes be as culvers on the strands of waters, that be washed in milk, and sit beside [the] fullest rivers.

13 His cheeks be as gardens of sweet smelling spices, set of ointment makers; his lips be as lilies, dropping down the best myrrh.

14 His hands be able to turn about, golden, and full of jacinths; his womb is of ivory, adorned with sapphires.

15 His hips be pillars of marble, that be founded on foundaments of gold; his shapeliness is as the Lebanon, he is chosen as cedars.

16 His throat is most sweet, and he is all desirable. Ye daughters of Jerusalem, such is my darling, and this is my friend.

CHAPTER 6

1 Thou fairest of women, whither went [away] thy darling? whither bowed [down] thy darling? and we shall seek him with thee.

2 My darling went down into his orchard, to the garden of sweet smelling spices, that he be fed there in [the] orchards, and gather lilies.

3 I to my darling; and my darling, that is fed among the lilies, be to me.

4 My love, thou art fair, sweet and shapely as Jerusalem, thou art fearedful as the battle array of hosts set in good order.

5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for they made me to flee away; thine hairs be as the flocks of goats, that appeared from Gilead.

6 Thy teeth be as a flock of sheep, that went up from [the] washing; all be with double lambs, either twins, and no barren there is among them.

7 As the rind of a pomegranate, so be thy cheeks, without thy privates.

8 Sixty be queens, and eighty be secondary wives; and of young damsels is none number.

9 One is my culver, my perfect spousess, one is to her mother, and is the chosen of her mother; the daughters of Zion saw her, and preached her most blessed; queens, and secondary wives, praised her.

10 Who is this, that goeth forth, as the morrowtide rising, fair as the moon, chosen as the sun, fearedful as the battle array of hosts set in good order?

11 I came down into mine orchard, to see the apples of great valleys, and to behold, if vineries had flowered, and if the pomegranate trees had burgeoned.

12 I knew not; my soul troubled me, for the chariots of Amminadib.

13 Turn again, turn again, thou Shulamite; turn again, turn again, that we behold thee. What shalt thou see in the Shulamite, but companies of hosts?

CHAPTER 7

1 Daughter of the prince, thy goings be full fair in shoes; the jointures of thy hips be as brooches, that be made by the hand of a craftsman.

2 Thy navel is as a round cup, and well-formed, that hath never need to drinks; thy womb is as an heap of wheat, beset about with lilies.

3 Thy two teats be as two kids, twins of a capret.

4 Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes be as [the] cisterns in Heshbon, that be in the gate of the daughter of [the] multitude; thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon, that beholdeth against Damascus.

5 Thine head is as Carmel; and the hairs of thine head be as the king’s purple, joined to troughs.

6 Most dear spousess, thou art full fair, and full shapely in delights.

7 Thy stature is likened to a palm tree, and thy teats to clusters of grapes.

8 I said, I shall go up into a palm tree, and I shall take the fruits thereof. And thy teats shall be as the clusters of grapes of a vinery; and the odour of thy mouth as the odour of pom-egranates;

9 thy throat shall be as best wine. Worthy to my darling for to drink, and to his lips and teeth to chew.

10 I shall cleave by love to my darling, and his turning shall be to me.

11 Come thou, my darling, go we out into the field; dwell we together in towns.

12 Rise we early to the vinery; see we, if the vine hath flowered, if the flowers bring forth fruit, if [the] pomegranates have flowered; there I shall give to thee my loves.

13 [The] Mandrakes have given their odour in our gates; my darling, I have kept to thee all apples, new and eld [or old].

CHAPTER 8

1 Who may grant to me thee, my brother, sucking the teats of my mother, that I find thee alone without-forth, and that I kiss thee, and no man despise me then?

2 I shall take thee, and I shall lead thee into the house of my mother, and into the bed-closet of my mother; there thou shalt teach me, and I shall give to thee drink of wine made sweet, and of the must of my pomegranates.

3 His left hand shall be under mine head, and his right hand shall embrace me.

4 Ye daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you greatly, that ye raise not, neither make the dearworthy spousess to awake, till she will.

5 Who is this spousess, that goeth up from desert, and floweth in delights, and resteth on her darling? I raised thee under a pomegranate tree; there thy mother was corrupted, there thy mother was defouled.

6 Set thou me as a signet on thine heart, as a signet on thine arm; for love is strong as death, envy is hard as hell; the lamps thereof be[the] lamps of fire, and of flames.

7 Many waters be not able to quench charity, neither floods shall oppress it. Though a man give all the chattel of his house for love, he shall despise, or reckon it, as nought.

8 Our sister is little, and hath no teats; what shall we do to our sister, in the day when she shall be spoken to?

9 If it is a wall, build we thereon silveren towers; if it is a door, join we together with boards of cedar.

10 I am a wall, and my teats be as a tower; since I am made as finding peace before him.

11 A vinery was to the peaceable; in that city, that hath peoples, he betook it to keepers; a man bringeth a thousand pieces of silver for the fruit thereof.

12 The vinery is before me; a thousand be of thee peaceable, and two hundred to them that keep the fruits thereof.

13 Friends hearken to thee, that dwellest in orchards; make thou me to hear thy voice.

14 My darling, fly thou; be thou made like a capret, and a calf of harts, on the hills of sweet smelling spices.

* CHAPTER 1:1 One manuscript adds, ‘that were made of (or by) Solomon, to be sung in the temple of the Lord, into everlasting worshipping, and needeth none other prologue’.

† CHAPTER 1:2 The “Early Version” of the “Wycliffe Bible”, and one copy of the “Later Version” labeled “X”, present this book as an allegorical dialogue between Christ and the Church. For example, this verse is introduced as: ‘The Church, of the coming of Christ speaketh (or The Church speaketh of the coming of Christ), saying,…’.

ISAIAH

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ISAIAH

CHAPTER 1

1 The vision, either prophesy, of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw on Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, of Jotham, of Ahaz, and of Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Ye heavens, hear, and thou earth, perceive with ears, for the Lord spake. I have nourished and I have enhanced sons; soothly they have despised me.

3 An ox knew his lord, and an ass knew the cratch of his lord; but Israel knew not me, and my people under-stood not.

4 Woe to the sinful folk, to the people heavy in wickedness, to the wayward seed, to the cursed sons; they have forsaken the Lord, they have blasphemed the Holy of Israel, they be alienated [away] backward.

5 On what thing shall I smite you more, that increase trespassing? Each head is sick, and each heart is mourning.

6 From the sole of the foot till to the noll, health is not therein; wound, and wanness, and beating swelling that is not bound about, neither cured by medicine, neither nursed with oil.

7 Your land is forsaken, your cities be burnt by fire; aliens devour your country before you, and it shall be desolate as in the destroying of enemies.

8 And the daughter of Zion, that is, Jerusalem, shall be forsaken as a shadowing place in a vineyard, and as an hulk in a place where gourds waxed, and as a city which is wasted.

9 If the Lord of hosts had not left seed to us, we had been as Sodom, and we had been like as Gomorrah.

10 Ye princes of men of Sodom, hear the word of the Lord; and ye people of Gomorrah, perceive with ears the law of your God.

11 Whereto offer ye to me [or What to me] the multitude of your sacrifices? saith the Lord. I am full; I would not the burnt sacrifices of wethers, and the inner fatness of fat beasts, and the blood of calves, and of lambs, and of bucks of goats.

12 When ye came before my sight, who asked of your hands these things, that ye should go in my foreyards?

13 Offer ye no more sacrifice in vain; incense is abomination to me; I shall not suffer new moon, and sabbath, and other feasts. For your companies be wicked;

14 my soul hateth your calends and your solemnities; those be dis-easeful to me, I travailed with suffering.

15 And when ye stretch forth your hands, I shall turn away mine eyes from you; and when ye multiply prayer, I shall not hear; for why your hands be full of blood.

16 Be ye washed, be ye clean; do ye away the evil of your thoughts from mine eyes; cease ye to do waywardly,

17 learn ye to do well. Seek ye doom, help ye him that is oppressed, deem ye to the fatherless and motherless child, defend ye a widow.

18 And come ye, and prove ye me, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as blood-red, those shall be made white as snow; and though they be red as vermilion, they shall be white as wool.

19 If ye will, and hear me, ye shall eat the goods of [the] earth.

20 That if ye do not, and ye stir me to wrathfulness [or wrath], sword shall devour you; for why the mouth of the Lord spake.

21 How is the faithful city full of doom made an whore? rightfulness [or rightwiseness] dwelled therein; but now men-quellers dwell therein.

22 Thy silver is turned into dross, either filth; thy wine is meddled [or mingled] with water.

23 Thy princes be unfaithful, the fellows of thieves; all love gifts, and follow yieldings, either meeds; they deem not to a fatherless child, and the cause of a widow entereth not to them.

24 For this thing, saith the Lord God of hosts, the Strong of Israel, Alas! I shall be comforted on mine enemies, and I shall be avenged of mine enemies.

25 And I shall turn mine hand to thee, and I shall seethe out thy filth to the clean, and I shall do away all thy tin.

26 And I shall restore thy judges, as they were before, and thy counsellors, as in eld [or old] time. After these things thou shalt be called the city of the rightful [or rightwise], a faithful city.

27 Zion shall be again-bought in doom, and they shall bring it again into rightfulness [or rightwiseness];

28 and God shall all-break [the] cursed men and [the] sinners together, and they that forsake the Lord, shall be wasted.

29 For they shall be ashamed of [the] idols, to which they made sacrifice; and ye shall be ashamed on the orchards, which ye choosed.

30 When ye shall be as an oak, when the leaves fall down, and as an orchard without water.

31 And your strength shall be as a dead spark of stubble, either of hards of flax, and your work shall be as a quick spark; and ever either shall be burnt together, and none shall be that shall quench.

CHAPTER 2

1 The word which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw on Judah and Jerusalem.

2 And in the last days the hill of the house of the Lord shall be made ready in the top of hills [or the mountains], and shall be raised above little hills. And all heathen men shall flow to him;

3 and many peoples shall go, and shall say, Come ye, ascend we [or go we up] to the hill of the Lord, and to the house of God of Jacob; and he shall teach us his ways, and we shall go in the paths of him. For why the law shall go out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 And he shall deem heathen men, and he shall reprove many peoples; and they shall weld together their swords into shares*, and their spears into sickles, either scythes; folk shall no more raise sword against folk, and they shall no more be exercised, either haunted, to battle.

5 Come ye, the house of Jacob, and go we in the light of the Lord.

6 Forsooth thou hast cast away thy people, the house of Jacob, for they be [full-]filled as sometime before; and they had false diviners by the chittering of birds, as Philistines, and they cleaved to alien children.

7 The land is filled with silver and gold, and none end is of the treasures thereof; and the land thereof is filled with horses, and the four-horsed carts thereof be unnumberable.

8 And the land thereof is filled with idols, and they worship the work of their hands, which their fingers made;

9 and a man bowed himself, and a man of full age was made low. Therefore forgive thou not to them.

10 Enter thou, people of Judah, into a stone, be thou hid in a ditch in earth, from the face of the dread of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty.

11 The eyes of an high man be made low, and the highness of men shall be bowed down; forsooth the Lord alone shall be enhanced in that day.

12 For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be on each proud man and high, and on each boaster, and he shall be made low;

13 and on all the cedars of the Lebanon high and raised, and on all the oaks of Bashan,

14 and on all high mountains, and on all little hills, that be raised [up];

15 and on each high tower, and on each strong wall;

16 and on all [the] ships of Tarshish, and on all thing which is fair in sight.

17 And all the highness of men shall be bowed down, and the highness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be raised [up] in that day,

18 and idols shall be broken altogether utterly.

19 And they shall enter into the dens of stones, and into the swallows of [the] earth, from the face of the inward dread of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise to smite the land.

20 In that day a man shall cast away the idols of his silver, and the simulacra of his gold, which he had made to himself, for to worship mouldwarps and bats.

21 And he shall enter into [the] chinks, either crazings, of stones, and into the caves of hard rocks, from the face of the inward dread of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise to smite the land.

22 Therefore cease ye from a man, whose spirit is in his nostrils, for he is areckoned high.

CHAPTER 3

1 For lo! the lordly governor, the Lord of hosts, shall take away from Jerusalem and from Judah a mighty man, and strong, and all the strength of bread, and all the strength of water;

2 a strong man, and a man a warrior, and a doomsman, and a prophet, and a false diviner in altars, and an eld [or old] man,

3 a prince over fifty men, and a worshipful man in cheer, and a counsellor, and a wise man of principal craftsmen, and a prudent man of mystic, either ghostly, speech.

4 And I shall give children to be the princes of them, and men of women’s conditions shall be lords of them.

5 And the people shall fall down, a man to a man, each man to his neighbour; a child shall make noise against an eld [or old] man, and an unnoble man against a noble man.

6 For a man shall take his brother, the menial of his father, and shall say, A cloth is to thee, be thou our prince; forsooth this falling be under thine hand.

7 And he shall answer in that day, and say, I am no leech, and neither bread, neither cloth is in mine house; do not ye make me prince of the people.

8 For why Jerusalem fell down, and Judah fell down altogether; for the tongue of them, and the findings of them, were against the Lord, for to stir to wrath the eyes of his majesty.

9 The knowing of their cheer hall answer to them; and they preached their sin, as Sodom did, and hid not. Woe to the soul of them, for why evils be yielded to them.

10 Say ye to the just [or rightwise] man, that it shall be to him well; for he shall eat the fruit of his findings.

11 Woe to the wicked man into evil; for why the yielding of his hands shall be made to him.

12 The wrongful askers of my people robbed it, and women were lords thereof. My people, they that say thee blessed, deceive thee, and destroy the way of thy steps.

13 The Lord standeth for to deem, and he standeth for to deem [the] peoples;

14 the Lord shall come to doom, with the elder men of his people, and with his princes; for ye have wasted my vineyard, and the raven of a poor man is in your house.

15 Why all-break ye my people, and grind together the faces of poor men? saith the Lord God of hosts.

16 And the Lord God said, For that that the daughters of Zion were raised, and went with neck stretched forth, and went by signs of eyes, and clapped with hands, and went, and with their feet went in well-arrayed going,

17 the Lord shall make bald the noll of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord shall make naked the hair of them.

18 In that day the Lord shall take away the ornament of shoes, and golden little bells like the moon,

19 and ribbons, and brooches, and ornaments of arms nigh the shoulders,

20 and mitres, either chaplets, and combs, and ornaments of arms nigh the hands, and golden ornaments like lampreys, and little vessels of ointments, and earrings,

21 and rings, and precious stones hanging in the forehead,

22 and changing clothes, and mantles, and sheets, either smocks, and needles [or pins],

23 and mirrors, and small linen clothes about the shoulders, and kerchiefs, and rochets.

24 And stink shall be for sweet odour, and a cord for the girdle; baldness shall be for the crisp hair, and an hair-shirt for a breast-girdle.

25 Also thy fairest men shall fall by sword, and thy strong men shall fall in battle.

26 And the gates thereof shall wail, and mourn; and it shall sit desolate in [the] earth.

CHAPTER 4

1 And seven women shall catch one man in that day, and shall say, We shall eat our bread, and we shall be covered with our clothes; only thy name be called on us, do thou away our shame.

2 In that day the burgeoning of the Lord shall be in great worship and glory; and the fruit of [the] earth shall be high, and full out joy to them that shall be saved of Israel.

3 And it shall be, each that is left in Zion, and is residue in Jerusalem, shall be called holy; each that is written in life in Jerusalem;

4 for the Lord washeth away the filths of the daughters of Zion, and washeth the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, in the spirit of doom, and in the spirit of heat.

5 And the Lord made on each place of the hill of Zion, and where he was called to help, a cloud by day, and smoke, and brightness of fire flaming in the night; for why covering, either defending, shall be above all glory.

6 And a tabernacle shall be into a shadowing place of the day, from heat, and into secureness, and into hiding, from whirlwind and from rain.

CHAPTER 5

1 I shall sing for my darling the song of mine uncle’s son, of his vineyard. A vinery [or vineyard] was made to my darling, in the horn, that is, in an high place and excellent, in the son of oil, that is, in a place full of olives, of whose fruit is wrung out oil.

2 And he hedged it, and chose stones thereof, and planted a chosen vinery [or vineyard]; and he builded a tower in the midst thereof, and reared a wine press therein; and he abode, that it should make grapes, and it made wild grapes.

3 Now therefore, ye dwellers of Jerusalem, and ye men of Judah, deem between me and my vinery [or vineyard].

4 What is it that I ought to do more to my vinery [or vineyard], and I did not to it? whether that I abode, that it should make grapes, and it made wild grapes?

5 And now I shall show to you, what I shall do to my vinery [or vineyard]. I shall take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be into ravishing; I shall cast down the wall thereof, and it shall be into defouling;

6 and I shall set it deserted, either forsaken. It shall not be cut, and it shall not be digged, and briars and thorns shall grow upon it; and I shall command to [the] clouds, that they rain not rain on it.

7 Forsooth the vinery [or vineyard] of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah be the delightable burgeoning of him. I abode, that it shall make doom, and lo! wickedness; and that it should do rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and lo! cry.

8 Woe to you that join house to house, and couple field to field, till to the end of [a] place. Whether ye alone shall dwell in the midst of the land?

9 These things be in the ears of me, the Lord of hosts; If many houses be not forsaken, great and fair, without dweller, believe ye not to me.

10 For why ten acres of vines [or vineyards] shall make one pottle, and thirty bushels of seed shall make three bushels.

11 Woe to you that rise altogether early to follow drunkenness, and to drink till to eventide, that ye burn with wine.

12 Harp, and gittern, and tympan, and pipe, and wine be in your feasts; and ye behold not the work of the Lord, neither ye behold the works of his hands.

13 Therefore my people is led captive, either prisoner, for it had not knowing; and the noblemen thereof perished in hunger, and the multitude thereof was dry in thirst.

14 Therefore hell hath alarged his soul, and opened his mouth without any end; and the strong men thereof, and the people thereof, and the high men, and the glorious men thereof, shall go down to it.

15 And a man shall be bowed down, and a man of age shall be made low; and the eyes of high men shall be pressed down.

16 And the Lord of hosts shall be enhanced in doom, and [the] holy God shall be hallowed in rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

17 And lambs shall be fed by their order, and comelings shall eat of the desert places turned into plenty.

18 Woe to you that draw wickedness in the cords of vanity, and draw sin as the bond of a wain;

19 and ye say, The work of him hasten, and come soon, that we see; and the counsel of the Holy of Israel nigh, and come, and we shall know it.

20 Woe to you that say evil good, and good evil; and put darknesses light, and light darknesses; and put bitter thing into sweet, and sweet thing into bitter.

21 Woe to you that be wise men in your eyes, and be prudent before yourselves.

22 Woe to you that be mighty to drink wine, and be strong to meddle [or mingle] drunkenness;

23 and ye justify a wicked man for gifts, and ye take away the rightful-ness [or rightwiseness] of a just [or rightwise] man from him.

24 For this thing, as the tongue of fire devoureth stubble, and the heat of flame burneth, so the root of them shall be as a dead spark, and the seed of them shall ascend [or go up] as dust; for they casted away the law of the Lord of hosts, and blasphemed the speech of the Holy of Israel.

25 Therefore the strong vengeance of the Lord was wroth against his people, and he stretched forth his hand on it, and smote it; and hills were troubled [or the mountains be disturbed], and the dead bodies of them were made as a turd in the midst [or the middle] of streets. In all these things the strong vengeance of him was not turned away, but yet his hand was stretched forth.

26 And he shall raise [up] a sign among nations afar, and he shall hiss to him from the ends of [the] earth; and lo! he shall hasten, and shall come swiftly.

27 None is failing neither travailing in that host; he shall not nap, neither sleep, neither the girdle of his reins shall be undone, neither the lace of his shoe shall be broken.

28 His arrows be sharp, and all his bows be bent; the hoofs of his horses be as flint, and his wheels be as the fierceness of tempest.

29 His roaring shall be as of a lion; he shall roar as the whelps of lions; and he shall gnash, and shall hold prey, and shall embrace, and none shall be, that shall deliver.

30 And he shall sound on it in that day, as doeth the sound of the sea; we shall behold into the earth, and lo! darknesses of tribulation, and light is made dark in the darkness thereof.

CHAPTER 6

1 In the year in which the king Uzziah was dead, I saw the Lord sitting on an high seat, and raised [up]; and the house of the Lord was full of his majesty, and those things that were under him filled the temple.

2 Seraphim stood [up] on it, six wings were to one, and six wings to the other; with two wings they covered the face of him, and with two wings they covered the feet of him, and with two wings they flew.

3 And they cried the one to the tother, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts; all [the] earth is full of his glory.

4 And the lintels above of the hinges were moved altogether of the voice of the crier, and the house of the Lord was filled with smoke.

5 And I said, Woe to me, for I was still; for I am a man defouled in lips, and I dwell in the midst of the people having defouled lips, and I saw with mine eyes the King, Lord of hosts.

6 And one of [the] seraphim flew to me, and a burning coal was in his hand, which coal he had taken with a tong from the altar.

7 And he touched my mouth, and said, Lo! I have touched thy lips with this coal, and thy wickedness shall be done away, and thy sin shall be cleansed.

8 And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who shall go to you? And I said, Lo! I; send thou me.

9 And he said, Go thou, and thou shalt say to this people, Ye hearing hear, and ye do not understand; and see ye the prophesy, and do not ye know.

10 Make thou blind the heart of this people, and aggrieve thou the ears thereof, and close thou the eyes thereof; lest peradventure it see with his eyes, and hear with his ears, and understand with his heart, and it be converted, and I make it whole.

11 And I said, Lord, how long? And he said, Till [the] cities be made desolate, without dweller, and houses without man. And the land shall be left desert,

12 and the Lord shall make men afar. And that that was forsaken in the middle of [the] earth, shall be multiplied,

13 and yet the tithing, either tenth part, shall be therein; and it shall be converted, and it shall be into showing, as a terebinth is, and as an oak, that spreadeth abroad his boughs; that shall be holy seed, that shall stand therein.

CHAPTER 7

1 And it was done in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, ascended [or went up] to Jerusalem, for to fight against it; and they might not overcome it.

2 And they told to the house of David, and said, Syria hath rested on Ephraim, that is, the king of Syria and the king of Israel be confederated, to come together against the realm of Judah, and the heart of him and of his people was moved altogether, as the trees of woods be moved of the face of the wind.

3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, Go thou out, and Jashub, thy son, which is left, into the meeting of Ahaz, at the last end of the water conduit of the higher cistern, in the way of the field of the fuller.

4 And thou shalt say to him, See thou, that thou be still; do not thou dread, and thine heart be not afeared of the two tails of these brands smoking, in the wrath of the strong vengeance of Rezin, king of Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

5 For Syria, and Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have begun evil counsel against thee, and say,

6 Go we up to Judah, and raise we him, and draw we him out to us; and set we a king in the midst thereof, the son of Tabeal.

7 The Lord God saith these things, This shall not be, and it shall not stand;

8 but Damascus shall be the head of Syria, and Rezin shall be the head of Damascus; and yet sixty years and five, and Ephraim shall fail to be a people;

9 and Samaria shall fail to be the head of Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah to be[the] head of Samaria. Forsooth if ye shall not believe, ye shall not dwell.

10 And the Lord added to speak to Ahaz, and said,

11 Ask thou to thee a sign of thy Lord God, into the depth of hell, either into [the] height above.

12 And Ahaz said, I shall not ask, and I shall not tempt the Lord.

13 And Isaiah said, Therefore the house of David, hear ye; whether it is little to you to be dis-easeful to men, for ye be dis-easeful also to my God?

14 For this thing the Lord himself shall give a sign to you. Lo! a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son; and his name shall be called Immanuel. [For that he the Lord shall give to you a token. Behold! a maiden shall conceive, and bare a son; and thou shalt call his name Immanuel.]

15 He shall eat butter and honey, that he know how to reprove evil, and choose good.

16 For why before the child know how to reprove evil, and choose good, the land, which thou loathest, shall be forsaken of the face of their two kings.

17 The Lord shall bring on thee, and on thy people, and on the house of thy father, days that came not from the days of [the] departing of Ephraim from Judah, with the king of Assyrians.

18 And it shall be, in that day the Lord shall hiss to a fly, which is in the last part of the floods of Egypt; and to a bee, which is in the land of Assur;

19 and all those shall come, and shall rest in the strands [or streams] of valleys, and in the caves of stones, and in all [the] places of bushes, and in all holes.

20 And in that day the Lord shall shave with a sharp razor in these men, that be beyond the flood, of the king of Assyrians, the head, and the hairs of the feet, and all the beard.

21 And it shall be, in that day, a man shall nourish a cow of oxes, and two sheep,

22 and for the plenty of milk he shall eat butter; for why each man that shall be left in the midst of the land, shall eat butter and honey.

23 And it shall be, in that day each place where a thousand vineries [or vines] shall be worth a thousand pieces of silver, and shall be into thorns and briars,

24 men shall enter thither with bows and arrows; for why briars and thorns shall be in all the land.

25 And all hills that shall be purged with a briar hook, the dread of thorns and of briars shall not come thither; and it shall be into pasture of oxen, and into the treading of sheep.

CHAPTER 8

1 And the Lord said to me, Take to thee a great book, and write therein with the pointel or stylus of man, Swiftly draw thou away spoils, take thou prey soon.

2 And I gave to me faithful witnesses, Uriah, the priest, and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah.

3 And I nighed to the prophetess; and she conceived, and childed a son. And the Lord said to me, Call thou his name, Haste thou to draw away spoils, haste thou for to take prey.

4 For why before that the child know how to call his father and his mother, the strength of Damascus shall be done away, and the spoils of Samaria, before the king of Assyrians.

5 And the Lord added to speak yet to me, and he said,

6 For that thing that this people hath cast away the waters of Shiloah, that go with silence, and hath taken more [to] Rezin, and the son of Remaliah,

7 for this thing lo! the Lord shall bring [up] on them the strong and many waters of the flood, the king of Assyrians, and all his glory; and he shall ascend [or go up] on all the streams thereof, and he shall flow on all the rivers thereof.

8 And he shall go flowing by Judah, and he shall pass till to the neck, and shall come; and the spreading forth of his wings shall be, and shall fill the breadth of thy land, thou Immanuel.

9 Peoples, be ye gathered together, and be ye overcome; and all lands afar, hear ye. Be ye comforted, and be ye overcome; gird ye you, and be ye overcome;

10 take ye counsel, and it shall be destroyed; speak ye a word, and it shall not be done, for God is with us.

11 For why the Lord saith these things to me, as he taught me in a strong hand, that I should not go into the way of this people, and said,

12 Say ye not, It is swearing together, for why all things which this people speaketh is swearing together; and dread ye not the fearedfulness thereof, neither be ye afeared.

13 Hallow ye the Lord himself of hosts; and he shall be your inward dread, and he shall be your feared-fulness, and he shall be to you into hallowing.

14 Forsooth he shall be into a stone of hurting, and into a stone of stumbling, to twain [or the two] houses of Israel; into a snare, and into falling, to them that dwell in Jerusalem.

15 And full many of them shall stumble, and shall fall, and they shall be all-broken, and they shall be bound, and shall be taken.

16 Bind thou [the] witnessing, mark thou the law in my disciples.

17 I shall abide the Lord, that hath hid his face from the house of Jacob, and I shall abide him.

18 Lo! I and my children, which the Lord gave to me into a sign, and great wonder to Israel, of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth in the hill of Zion.

19 And when they say to you, Ask ye of conjurers, and of false diviners, that gnash in their enchantings, whether the people shall not ask of their God a revelation, for quick men and [the] dead?

20 It is to go to the law more rather, and to the witnessing, that if they say not after this word, morrowtide light shall not be to them.

21 And it shall pass by that, and it shall fall down, and it shall hunger. And when it shall hunger, it shall be wroth, and shall curse his king and his God, and it shall behold upward.

22 And it shall look to the earth, and lo! tribulation, and darknesses, and unbinding, either discomfort, and anguish, and mist pursuing; and it shall not be able to flee away from his anguish.

CHAPTER 9

1 In the first time, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali was alighted, either released; and at the last, the way of the sea beyond Jordan, of Galilee of heathen men, was made heavy.

2 The people that went in darknesses saw a great light; when men dwelled in the country of [the] shadow of death, light rose up to them.

3 Thou multipliedest folk, thou magnifiedest not gladness; they shall be glad before thee, as they that be glad in harvest, as overcomers make full out joy, when they have taken a prey, when they part the spoils.

4 For thou hast overcome the yoke of his burden, and the rod of his shoulder, and the sceptre of his wrongful asker, as in the day of Midian.

5 For why all violent raven with noise, and a cloth meddled [or mingled] with blood, shall be into burning, and the meat of fire.

6 Forsooth a little child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and prince-hood is made [up] on his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, A counsellor, God, Strong, Father of the world to coming, A prince of peace, [or Marvellous, Counsellor, God, Strong, Father of the world to come, Prince of peace].

7 His empire shall be multiplied, and none end shall be of his peace; he shall sit on the seat of David, and on the realm of him, that he confirm it, and make strong in doom and rightfulness [or rightwiseness], from henceforth and till into without end. The fervent love of the Lord of hosts shall make this.

8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it fell in Israel.

9 And all the people of Ephraim shall know, and they that dwell in Samaria, saying in the pride and greatness of heart,

10 Tilestones fell down, but we shall build with square stones; they have cut down sycamores, but we shall change to cedars.

11 And the Lord shall raise the enemies of Rezin on him, and he shall turn the enemies of him into noise;

12 God shall make Syria to come from the east, and Philistines from the west; and with all the mouth they shall devour Israel. In all these things the strong vengeance of the Lord is not turned away, but yet his hand is stretched forth;

13 and the people is not turned again to the Lord smiting it, and they sought not the Lord of hosts.

14 And the Lord shall lose from Israel the head and the tail, [the] crooking and [the] beshrewing, either refraining, in one day.

15 An eld man and honourable, he is the head; and a prophet teaching leasing, he is the tail.

16 And they that bless his people, shall be deceivers, and they that be blessed, shall be cast down.

17 For this thing the Lord shall not be glad on the young men thereof, and he shall not have mercy on the fatherless children and widows thereof; for each man is an hypocrite and wayward, and each mouth spake folly. In all these things the strong vengeance of him is not turned away, but yet his hand is stretched forth; and the people is not turned again to the Lord smiting it.

18 For why wickedness is kindled as fire; it shall devour the briars and thorns, and it shall be kindled in the thickness of the forest, and it shall be wrapped altogether in the pride of smoke.

19 In the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land shall be troubled, and the people shall be as the meat of fire; a man shall not spare his brother.

20 And he shall bow to the right half, and he shall hunger, and he shall eat at the left half, and he shall not be [ful] filled; each man shall devour the flesh of his arm.

21 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim shall devour Manasseh, and they together against Judah. In all these things the strong vengeance of him is not turned away, but yet his hand is stretched forth.

CHAPTER 10

1 Woe to them that make wicked laws, and they writing have written unrightfulness [or unrightwiseness],

2 for to oppress poor men in doom, and to do violence to the cause of meek men of my people; that widows shall be the prey of them, and that they should ravish fatherless children.

3 What shall ye do in the day of visitation, and of wretchedness coming from [a] far? To whose help shall ye flee? and where shall ye leave your glory,

4 that ye be not bowed down under bond, and fall not down with slain men? On all these things his strong vengeance is not turned away, but yet his hand is stretched forth.

5 Woe to Assur, he is the rod and staff of my strong vengeance; mine indignation is in the hand of them.

6 I shall send him to a false folk, and I shall command to him against the people of my strong vengeance; that he take away the spoils, and part prey, and that he set [or put] that people into defouling, as the fen of streets.

7 Forsooth he shall not deem so, and his heart shall not guess so, but his heart shall be for to all-break, and to the slaying of many folks.

8 For he shall say, Whether my princes be not kings altogether?

9 Whether not as Carchemish, so Calno; and as Arpad, so Hamath? whether not as Damascus, so Samaria?

10 As mine hand found the realms of idols, so and the simulacra of them of Jerusalem and of Samaria.

11 Whether not as I did to Samaria, and to the idols thereof, so I shall do to Jerusalem, and to the simulacra thereof?

12 And it shall be, when the Lord hath [ful] filled all his works in the hill [or the mount] of Zion and in Jerusalem, I shall visit on the fruit of the great doing heart of the king of Assur, and on the glory of the highness of his eyes.

13 For he said, I have done in the strength of mine hand, and I have understood in my wisdom; and I have taken away the ends of [the] peoples, and I have robbed the princes of them, and I as a mighty man have drawn down them that sat on high.

14 And mine hand found the strength of peoples as a nest, and as eggs be gathered together that be forsaken, so I gathered together all [the] earth; and none there was that moved a feather, and opened the mouth, and grutched.

15 Whether an ax shall have glory against him that cutteth with it? either a saw shall be enhanced against him of whom it is drawn? as if a rod is raised against him that raiseth it, and a staff is enhanced, which soothly is a tree.

16 For this thing the lordly governor, Lord of hosts, shall send thinness into the fat men of him; and his glory kindled under shall burn as the burning of fire.

17 And the light of Israel shall be in fire, and the Holy of it in flame; and the thorn of him and briar shall be kindled and devoured in one day.

18 And the glory of his forest, and of his Carmel, shall be wasted, from the soul unto [the] flesh; and he shall be fleeing away for dread.

19 And the remnants of the trees of his forest shall be numbered for fewness, and a child shall write them.

20 And it shall be in that day, the remnant of Israel, and they that fled of the house of Jacob, shall not add for to trust on him that smiteth them; but it shall trust on the holy Lord of Israel, in truth.

21 The remnants, I say, the remnants of Jacob, shall be converted to the strong Lord.

22 For why, Israel, if thy people is as the gravel of the sea, the remnants shall be turned thereof; an ending made short shall make rightfulness [or rightwiseness] to be plenteous.

23 For why the Lord God of hosts shall make an ending and abridging, in the midst of all earth.

24 For this thing the Lord God of hosts saith these things, My people, the dweller of Zion, do not thou dread of Assur, for he shall smite thee in a rod, and he shall raise [up] his staff on thee in the way of Egypt.

25 For why yet a little, and a little, and mine indignation and my strong vengeance shall be ended on the great trespass of them.

26 And the Lord of hosts shall raise [up] a scourge on him by the vengeance of Midian in the stone of Oreb, and by his rod on the sea; and he shall raise that rod in the way of Egypt.

27 And it shall be in that day, his burden shall be taken away from thy shoulder, and his yoke from thy neck; and the yoke shall wax [all] rotten from the face of oil.

28 He shall come into Aiath, he shall pass into Migron, at Michmash he shall betake his vessels to keeping.

29 They passed swiftly, Geba is our seat, Ramah was astonied, Gibeah of Saul fled.

30 Thou daughter of Gallim, wail with thy voice; thou Laish, perceive, thou poor Anathoth.

31 Madmenah passed; the dwellers of Gebim fled; be ye comforted.

32 Yet it is the day, that men stand in Nob; he shall drive his hand on the hill [or the mount] of the daughter of Zion, on the little hill of Jerusalem.

33 Lo! the Lordly Governor, the Lord of hosts, shall break a pottle in dread, and high men of stature shall be cut down. And proud men shall be made low,

34 and the thick things of the forest shall be destroyed by iron; and the Lebanon with high things shall fall down.

CHAPTER 11

1 And a rod shall go out of the root of Jesse, and a flower shall ascend [or go up] of the root of it.

2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the spirit of counsel and of strength, the spirit of knowing and of piety;

3 and the spirit of the dread of the Lord shall fill him. He shall deem not by the sight of eyes, neither he shall reprove, either convict, by the hearing of ears;

4 but he shall deem in rightfulness [or rightwiseness] poor men, and he shall reprove in equity, for the mild men of [the] earth. And he shall smite the land with the rod of his mouth, and with the spirit of his lips he shall slay the wicked man.

5 And rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith shall be the girding of his reins.

6 A wolf shall dwell with a lamb, and a leopard shall rest with a kid; a calf, and a lion, and a sheep shall dwell together, and a little child shall drive them.

7 A calf and a bear shall be pastured together; the whelps of them shall rest together, and a lion as an ox shall eat straw.

8 And a young sucking child from the teat shall delight on the hole of a snake, and he that is weaned shall put his hand in the cave of the cockatrice.

9 They shall not annoy, and shall not slay, in all mine holy hill [or holy mountain]; for why the earth is filled with the knowing of the Lord, as [the] waters of the sea covering.

10 In that day the root of Jesse, that standeth into the sign of peoples; heathen men shall beseech him, and his sepulchre shall be glorious.

11 And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall add the second time his hand to have in possession the residue of his people that shall be left, of [the] Assyrian, and of Egypt, and of Pathros, and of Ethiopia, and of Elam, and of Shinar, and of Hamath, and of [the] isles of the sea.

12 And he shall raise a sign to nations, and shall gather together the fleers-away of Israel; and he shall gather together the scattered men of Judah from [the] four coasts of [the] earth.

13 And the envy of Ephraim shall be done away, and the enemies of Judah shall perish; Ephraim shall not have envy to Judah, and Judah shall not fight against Ephraim.

14 And they shall fly into the shoulders of Philistines by the sea, they shall take prey together of the sons of the east; Idumea and Moab shall be under the commandment of the hand of them, and the sons of Ammon shall be obedient.

15 And the Lord shall make desolate the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and he shall raise his hand on the flood in the strength of his spirit; and he shall smite, either part, it into seven rivers, so that shod men pass by it.

16 And a way shall be to my residue people that shall be left, of the Assyrians, as it was to Israel, in the day in which it ascended [or went up] from the land of Egypt.

CHAPTER 12

1 And thou shalt say in that day, Lord, I shall acknowledge to thee, for thou were wroth to me; thy strong vengeance is turned, and thou hast comforted me.

2 Lo! God is my saviour, I shall do faithfully, and I shall not dread. For why the Lord is my strength and my praising, and he is made to me into health.

3 Ye shall draw waters with joy of the wells of the saviour.

4 And ye shall say in that day, Acknowledge ye to the Lord, and call ye his name into help; make ye known his findings among peoples; have ye mind, that his name is high.

5 Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath done worshipfully; tell ye this [out] in all [the] earth.

6 Thou dwelling of Zion, make full out joy, and praise; for why the Holy of Israel is great in the midst of thee.

CHAPTER 13

1 The burden of Babylon, which burden Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw.

2 Raise ye [up] a sign on a misty hill, and enhance ye [the] voice; raise ye the hand, and [the] dukes enter by the gates.

3 I have commanded to mine hallowed men, and I called my strong men in my wrath, that make full out joy in my glory.

4 The voice of [the] multitude in hills [or mountains], as of many peoples; the voice of [the] sound of kings, of heathen men gathered together. The Lord of hosts commanded to the chivalry of [the] battle,

5 to men coming from a far land. The Lord cometh from the highness of heaven, and the vessels of his strong vengeance, that he destroy all the land.

6 Yell ye, for the day of the Lord is nigh; as wasting, either destroying, it shall come of the Lord.

7 For this thing all hands shall be unmighty, and each heart of man shall fail, and shall be all-broken.

8 Gnawings [or Tormentings] and sorrows shall hold Babylonians; they shall have sorrow, as they that travail of child. Each man shall wonder at his neighbour; their cheers shall be burnt faces.

9 Lo! the day of the Lord shall come, cruel, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and of strong vengeance; to set the land into wilderness, and to all-break the sinners thereof from that land.

10 For why the stars of heaven and the shining of them shall not spread abroad their light; the sun is made dark in his rising, and the moon shall not shine in her light.

11 And I shall visit on the evils of the world, and I shall visit against wicked men the wickedness of them; and I shall make the pride of unfaithful men for to rest, and I shall make low the boast of strong men.

12 A man of full age shall be preciouser than gold, and a man shall be preciouser than pure gold and shining.

13 On this thing I shall trouble heaven, and the earth shall be moved from his place; for the indignation of the Lord of hosts, and for the day of wrath of his strong vengeance.

14 And it shall be as a doe fleeing, and as a sheep, and none shall be that shall gather together; each man shall turn to his people, and all by themselves shall flee to their land.

15 Each man that is found, shall be slain; and each man that cometh above, shall fall down by sword.

16 The young children of them shall be hurtled down before the eyes of them; their houses shall be ravished, and their wives shall be defouled.

17 Lo! I shall raise on them Medes, that seek not silver, neither will gold;

18 but they shall slay little children with arrows, and they shall not have mercy on wombs giving milk, and the eye of them shall not spare on sons.

19 And Babylon, that glorious city in realms, noble in the pride of Chaldees, shall be destroyed, as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 It shall not be inhabited till into the end, and it shall not be founded till to generation and generation; a man of Arabia shall not set tents there, and shepherds shall not rest there.

21 But wild beasts shall rest there, and the houses of them shall be filled with dragons; and ostriches shall dwell there, and hairy beasts shall skip there.

22 And bitterns shall answer there in the houses thereof, and flying serpents in the temples of lust. It is nigh that the time thereof come, and the days thereof shall not be made far;

CHAPTER 14

1 for why the Lord shall have mercy of Jacob, and he shall choose yet of Israel, and shall make them for to rest on their land; a comeling shall be joined to them, and shall cleave to the house of Jacob.

2 And peoples shall hold them, and shall bring them into their place. And the house of Israel shall have them in possession into servants and hand-maids on the land of the Lord; and they shall take those men that took them, and they shall make subject their wrongful askers.

3 And it shall be in that day, when God shall give to thee rest of thy travail, and of thy shaking, and of hard servage, in which thou servedest before,

4 thou shalt take this parable against the king of Babylon, and thou shalt say, How ceased the wrongful asker, rested [the] tribute?

5 The Lord hath all-broken the staff of wicked men, the rod of lords,

6 that beat peoples in indignation, with uncurable wound, that subjected folks in strong vengeance, that pursued cruelly.

7 Each land rested, and was still; it was joyful, and made full out joy.

8 Also fir trees and cedars of the Lebanon were glad on thee; Since thou sleptest, none ascendeth [or went up] that cutteth us down.

9 Hell under thee is troubled for the meeting of thy coming; he shall raise giants to thee; all the princes of [the] earth have risen from their seats, all the princes of nations.

10 All they shall answer, and they shall say to thee, And thou art wounded as we, thou art made like us.

11 Thy pride is drawn down to hells [or to hell], thy dead carrion fell down; a moth shall be strewed under thee, and thy covering shall be worms.

12 A! Lucifer, that risedest early, how fellest thou down from heaven; thou that woundedest folks, felledest down altogether into [the] earth.

13 Which saidest in thine heart, I shall ascend [or go up] into heaven, I shall enhance my seat above the stars of heaven; I shall sit in the hill of testament, in the sides of the north.

14 I shall ascend [or go up] on the highness of clouds; I shall be like the Highest.

15 Nevertheless thou shalt be drawn down to hell, into the depth of the pit.

16 They that shall see thee, shall be bowed down to thee, and shall behold thee. And they shall say, Whether this is the man, that troubled [the] earth, that shook together realms?

17 that setted [or put] the world desert, and destroyed the cities thereof, and opened not the prison to the bound men of him?

18 All the kings of heathen men, all slept in glory, a man in his house.

19 But thou art cast out of thy sepulchre, as an unprofitable stock, as defouled with rot; and wrapped with them that be slain with sword, and went down to the foundament of the pit. As a rotten carrion,

20 thou shalt not have fellowship, neither with them in sepulchre, for thou hast lost thy land, thou hast slain the people; the seed of the worst men shall not be called without end.

21 Make ye ready his sons to slaying, for the wickedness of their fathers; they shall not rise, neither they shall inherit the land, neither they shall fill the face of the roundness of cities.

22 And I shall rise [up] on them, saith the Lord of hosts, and I shall lose the name of Babylon, and the remnants, and generation, and seed, saith the Lord.

23 And I shall set [or put] that Babylon into possession of an urchin, and into marishes of waters; and I shall sweep it with a besom, and I shall stamp, saith the Lord of hosts.

24 The Lord of hosts swore, saying, Whether it shall not be so, as I guessed, and it shall befall so, as I treated in soul?

25 That I all-break the king of Assyrians in my land, and that I defoul him in mine hills [or my mountains]; and his yoke shall be taken away from them, and his burden shall be taken away from the shoulder of them.

26 This is the counsel which I thought on all the land, and this is the hand stretched forth on all folks.

27 For why the Lord of hosts hath deemed, and who may make unsteadfast? and his hand is stretched forth, and who shall turn it away?

28 The burden of Philistines. In the year wherein king Ahaz died, this burden was made.

29 All thou Philistia, be not glad, for the rod of thy smiter is made less; for why a cockatrice shall go out of the root of an adder, and his seed shall swallow up a bird.

30 And the first engendered of poor men shall be fed, and poor men shall rest faithfully; and I shall make thy root to perish in hunger, and I shall slay thy remnants.

31 Yell, thou gate; cry, thou city; all Philistia is cast down; for why smoke shall come from the north, and none is that shall escape his host.

32 And what shall be answered to the messengers of [the] folk? for the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor men of his people shall hope in him.

CHAPTER 15

1 The burden of Moab. For Ar was destroyed in night, Moab was still; for the wall was destroyed in the night, Moab was still.

2 The king’s house, and Dibon ascended [or went up] to high places, into wailing; on Nebo, and on Medeba, Moab shall yell. In all heads thereof shall be baldness, and each beard shall be shaved.

3 In the meeting of three ways thereof they be girded in a sackcloth, all yelling on the houses thereof, and in the streets thereof; it shall go down into weeping.

4 Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh, the voice of them is heard till to Jahaz; on this thing the ready men of Moab shall yell, the soul thereof shall yell to itself.

5 Mine heart shall cry to Moab, the bars thereof till to Zoar, a cow calf of three years. For why a weeper shall go up by the going up of Luhith, and in the way of Horonaim they shall raise cry of sorrow [or contrition].

6 For why the waters of Nimrim shall be forsaken; for the herb dried up, burgeoning failed, all greenness perished.

7 By the greatness of work, and the visiting of them, to the strand [or stream] of sallows they shall lead them.

8 For why their cry compassed the end of Moab; till to Eglaim the yelling thereof, and the cry thereof till to the well of Elim.

9 For the waters of Dimon be filled with blood; for I shall set increasings on Dimon, to those men of Moab that fled from the lion, and to the remnants of the land.

CHAPTER 16

1 Lord, send thou out a lamb, the lordly governor of [the] earth, from the stone of desert, to the hill of the daughter of Zion.

2 And it shall be, as a fowl flying, and birds flying away from the nest, so shall be the daughters of Moab, in the passing over of Arnon.

3 Take thou counsel, constrain thou counsel; set thou as night thy shadow in midday, hide thou them that flee, and betray thou not men of unsteadfast dwelling.

4 My fleers-away shall dwell at thee. Moab, be thou the hiding place of them from the face of the destroyer. For why dust is ended, the wretched is wasted; he that defouled the land failed.

5 And the king’s seat shall be made ready in mercy, and he shall sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David, deeming, and seeking doom, and yielding swiftly that that is just.

6 We have heard the pride of Moab, he is full proud; his pride, and his boast, and his indignation is more than his strength.

7 Therefore Moab shall yell to Moab, all Moab shall yell to them that be glad on the walls of baken tilestone; speak ye their wounds.

8 For why the suburbs of Heshbon and the vinery [or vineyard] of Sibmah be forsaken. The lords of heathen men have cut down the scions thereof; they came unto Jazer, they erred in desert. The boughs thereof be forsaken, they passed the sea.

9 On this thing I shall weep in the weeping of Jazer, and on the vinery [or vineyard] of Sibmah. Heshbon and Elealeh, I shall fill thee with my tears; for the voice of defoulers fell on thy vintage, and on thy harvest.

10 And gladness and full out joying shall be taken away from Carmel; and none shall make full out joy, neither shall sing heartily song in vineries [or vineyards]. He that was wont to wring out, shall not wring out wine in a presser [or wine press]; I have taken away the voice of [the] wringers-out.

11 On this thing my womb shall sound as an harp to Moab, and mine entrails to the wall of baken tilestone.

12 And it shall be, when it shall appear, that Moab hath travailed on his high places, it shall enter to his holy things, that it beseech, and it shall not be worthy.

13 This is the word which the Lord spake to Moab from that time.

14 And now the Lord spake, saying, In three years, that were as the years of an hired man, the glory of Moab shall be taken away on all the much people; and there shall be left in it as a little raisin, and a little, and not much.

CHAPTER 17

1 The burden of Damascus. Lo! Damascus shall fail to be a city, and it shall be as an heap of stones in falling.

2 The forsaken cities of Aroer shall be to flocks; and they shall rest there, and none shall be that shall make afeared.

3 And help shall cease from Ephraim, and a realm from Damascus; and the remnants of Syria shall be as the glory of the sons of Israel, saith the Lord of hosts.

4 And it shall be, in that day, the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall fade.

5 And it shall be as gathering together that that is left in harvest, and his arm shall gather ears of corn, and it shall be as seeking ears of corn in the valley of Rephaim.

6 And there shall be left in it as a raisin, that is, a little bow, with a little fruit, and as the shaking down of the fruit of olive tree, as of two either of three olive trees in the highness of a branch, either of four or of five; in the tops thereof shall be the fruit thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel.

7 In that day a man shall be bowed to his maker, and his eyes shall behold to the Holy of Israel.

8 And he shall not be bowed to the altars, which his hands made, and which his fingers wrought; he shall not behold woods, and [the] temples of idols.

9 In that day the cities of strength thereof shall be forsaken as plows, and [the] corns that were forsaken of the face of the sons of Israel; and thou shalt be forsaken.

10 For thou hast forgotten God, thy saviour, and haddest not mind on thy strong helper; therefore thou shalt plant a faithful planting, and thou shalt sow an alien seed.

11 In the day of thy planting shall be a wild vine, and early thy seed shall flower; ripe corn is taken away in the day of heritage, and Israel shall make sorrow grievously.

12 Woe to the multitude of many peoples, as the multitude of the sea sounding, and the noise of companies as the sound of many waters.

13 Peoples shall sound as the sound of flowing waters, and God shall blame him; and he shall flee far, and he shall be ravished as the dust of hills [or mountains] from the face of the wind, and as a whirlwind before [the] tempest.

14 In the time of eventide, and lo! troubling; in the morrowtide, and he shall not abide. This is the part of them that destroyed us, and the part of them that ravished us.

CHAPTER 18

1 Woe to the land, the cymbal of wings, which is beyond the flood of Ethiopia;

2 that sendeth messengers by the sea, and in vessels of papyrus on waters. Go, ye messengers, to the folk drawn up and rent; to a fearedful people, after which is none other; to the folk abiding and defouled, whose land the floods have ravished; to the hill [or mount] of the name of the Lord of hosts, to the hill [or mount] of Zion.

3 All ye dwellers of the world, that dwell in the land, shall see when a sign shall be raised [up] in the hills [or mountains], and ye shall hear the cry of a trump.

4 For why the Lord saith these things to me, I shall rest, and I shall behold in my place, as the midday light is clear, and as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest.

5 For why all flowered out before harvest, and unripe perfection burgeoned; and the little branches thereof shall be cut down with scythes, and those that be left, shall be cut away.

6 They shall be shaken out, and shall be left together to the birds of hills [or mountains], and to the beasts of earth; and birds shall be on him by a summer everlasting, and all the beasts of earth shall dwell by winter on him.

7 In that time a gift shall be brought to the Lord of hosts, of the people drawn up and rent; of the people fearedful, after which was none other; of the folk abiding and defouled, whose land floods ravished; the gift shall be brought to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to the hill [or mount] of Zion.

CHAPTER 19

1 The burden of Egypt. Lo! the Lord shall ascend on a light cloud, and he shall enter into Egypt; and the simulacra of Egypt shall be moved from his face, and the heart of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof.

2 And I shall make Egyptians to run together against Egyptians, and a man shall fight against his brother, and a man against his friend, a city against a city, and a realm against a realm.

3 And the spirit of Egypt shall be broken in the entrails thereof, and I shall cast down the counsel thereof; and they shall ask their simulacra, and their false diviners, and their men that have unclean spirits speaking in the womb, and their diviners by sacrifices made on altars to fiends.

4 And I shall betake Egypt into the hand of cruel lords, and a strong king shall be lord of them, saith the Lord God of hosts.

5 And [the] water of the sea shall wax dry, and the flood shall be desolate, and shall be dried.

6 And the floods shall fail, and the strands [or rivers] of the fields shall be made thin, and shall be dried; a reed and spire shall fade.

7 The bottom of water shall be made naked, and streams from their wells; and the moist place of all seed shall be dried, it shall wax dry, and it shall not be.

8 And [the] fishers shall mourn, and all that cast hook into the flood shall wail; and they that spread abroad a net on the face of waters shall fade.

9 They shall be shamed, that wrought flax, folding and ordaining subtle things.

10 And the water places thereof shall be dry; all that made ponds to take fishes, shall be shamed.

11 The fond princes [or fools] of Tanis, the wise counsellors of Pharaoh, gave unwise counsel; how shall ye say to Pharaoh, I am the son of wise men, the son of eld [or old] kings?

12 Where be now thy wise men? Tell they to thee, and show they, what the Lord of hosts thought on Egypt.

13 The princes of Tanis be made fools; the princes of Memphis faded; they deceived Egypt, a cornerstone of the peoples thereof.

14 The Lord meddled [or mingled] a spirit of error in the midst thereof; and they made Egypt for to err in all his work, as a drunken man and spewing erreth.

15 And work shall not be to Egypt, that it make an head and tail bowing and refraining.

16 In that day Egypt shall be as women, and they shall be astonied, and shall dread of the face of the moving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he moved on it.

17 And the land of Judah shall be to Egypt into dread; each that shall think on it, shall dread of the face of the counsel of the Lord of hosts, which he thought on it.

18 In that day five cities shall be in the land of Egypt, and shall speak with the tongue of Canaan, and shall swear by the Lord of hosts; the city of the sun shall be called one.

19 In that day the altar of the Lord shall be in the midst of the land of Egypt, and the title of the Lord shall be beside the end thereof;

20 and it shall be into a sign and witnessing to the Lord of hosts, in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry to the Lord from the face of the troubler, and he shall send a saviour to them, and a for-fighter, that shall deliver them.

21 And the Lord shall be known of Egypt, and [the] Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; and they shall worship him in sacrifices and gifts, and they shall make vows to the Lord, and they shall pay.

22 And the Lord shall smite Egypt with a wound, and shall make it whole; and [the] Egyptians shall turn again to the Lord, and he shall be pleased in them, and he shall make them whole.

23 In that day a way shall be from Egypt into Assyrians, and Egyptians shall serve Assur; and Assur shall enter into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyrians.

24 In that day Israel shall be the third to Egypt and to Assur, the blessing in the middle of [the] earth;

25 whom the Lord of hosts blessed, saying, Blessed be my people of Egypt, and the work of mine hands be to Assyrians; but mine heritage be to Israel.

CHAPTER 20

1 In the year wherein Tartan entered into Ashdod, when Sargon, the king of Assyrians, had sent him, and he had fought against Ashdod, and had taken it;

2 in that time the Lord spake in the hand of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, and said, Go thou, and unbind the sack-cloth from thy loins, and take away thy shoes from thy feet. And he did so, going naked and unshod.

3 And the Lord said, As my servant Isaiah went naked and unshod, a sign and great wonder of three years shall be on Egypt, and on Ethiopia;

4 so the king of Assyrians shall drive the captivity of Egypt, and the passing over of Ethiopia, a young man and an eld [or old] man, naked and unshod, with the buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

5 And they shall dread, and shall be ashamed of Ethiopia, their hope, and of Egypt, their glory.

6 And a dweller of this isle shall say on that day, This was our hope, to which we fled for help, that they should deliver us from the face of the king of Assyrians; and how may we escape?

CHAPTER 21

1 The burden of the forsaken sea. As whirlwinds come from the south-west, it cometh from [the] desert, from the horrible land.

2 An hard revelation is told to me; he that is unfaithful, doeth unfaithfully; and he that is a destroyer, destroyeth. Thou Elam, go up, and thou Media, beseech [or besiege]; I made all the wailing thereof for to cease.

3 Therefore my loins be filled with sorrow; anguish wielded me, as the anguish of a woman travailing of child; I fell down, when I heard; I was troubled, when I saw.

4 Mine heart faded, darknesses astonied me; Babylon, my darling, is set [or put] to me into miracle.

5 Set thou a board, behold thou into a looking place; rise, ye princes, eating and drinking, take ye [the] shield.

6 For why the Lord said these things to me, Go thou, and set a looker; and tell he, whatever thing he seeth.

7 And he saw the chariot of two horsemen, the rider of an ass, and the rider of a camel; and he beheld diligently with much looking,

8 and [he] cried as a lion, I stand continually by day on the looking place of the Lord, and I stand by all nights on my keeping.

9 Lo! this cometh, a man-rider of a cart of horsemen. And Isaiah cried, and said, Babylon fell down, fell down; and all the graven images of gods thereof be all-broken into [the] earth.

10 My threshing, and the daughter of my cornfloor, I have told to you what things I heard of the Lord of hosts, of God of Israel.

11 The burden of Dumah. It crieth from Seir to me, Keeper, what hour of the night? keeper, what hour of the night?

12 The keeper said, The morrowtide cometh, and night; if ye seek, seek ye, and be ye converted, and come ye.

13 The burden of Arabia. In the forest at eventide ye shall sleep, in the paths of Dedanim.

14 Ye that dwell in the land of the south, run, and bear water to the thirsty; and run ye with loaves to him that fleeth.

15 For they fled from the face of swords, from the face of [the] sword nighing, from the face of [the] bow bent, from the face of [the] grievous battle.

16 For the Lord saith these things to me, Yet in one year, as in the year of an hired man, and all the glory of Kedar shall be taken away.

17 And the remnants of the number of strong archers of the sons of Kedar shall be made less; for why the Lord God of Israel spake.

CHAPTER 22

1 The burden of the valley of vision. What also is to thee, for and all thou ascendedest [or wentest up] into [the] roofs,

2 thou full of cry, a city of much people, a city full out joying? thy slain men were not slain by sword, neither thy dead men were dead in battle.

3 All thy princes fled together, and were bound hard; all that were found, were bound together, they fled far.

4 Therefore I said, Go ye away from me, I shall weep bitterly; do not ye be busy to comfort me on the destroying of the daughter of my people.

5 For why a day of slaying, and of defouling, and of weepings, is ordained of the Lord God of hosts, in the valley of vision; and he searcheth the wall, and is worshipful on the hill [or the mountain].

6 And Elam took an arrow case, or a quiver, and the chariot of an horseman; and the shield made naked the wall.

7 And thy chosen valleys, Jerusalem, shall be full of carts; and knights shall put their seats in the gate.

8 And the covering of Judah shall be showed; and thou shalt see in that day the place of armours of the house of the forest;

9 and ye shall see the crazings of the city of David, for those be multiplied. Ye gathered together the waters of the lower cistern,

10 and ye numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and ye destroyed [the] houses, to make strong the wall;

11 and ye made a pit betwixt two walls, and ye restored the water of the eld [or old] cistern; and ye beheld not to him, that made that Jerusalem, and ye saw not the worker thereof afar.

12 And the Lord of hosts shall call in that day to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to a girdle of sackcloth;

13 and lo! joy and gladness is to slay calves, and to strangle wethers, to eat flesh, and to drink wine; eat we, and drink we, for we shall die tomorrow.

14 And the voice of the Lord of hosts is showed in mine ears, This wicked-ness shall not be forgiven to you, till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts.

15 The Lord God of hosts saith these things, Go thou, and enter to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Shebna, the sovereign of the temple; and thou shalt say to him,

16 What thou here, either as who here? for thou hast hewed [out] to thee a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed a memorial in high place diligently, a tabernacle in a stone to thee.

17 Lo! the Lord shall make thee to be borne out, as a capon is borne out, and as a cloth, so he shall raise thee.

18 He crowning shall crown thee with tribulation; he shall send thee as a ball into a large land and wide; there thou shalt die, and there shall be the chariot of thy glory, and the shame of the house of thy Lord.

19 And I shall cast thee out of thy standing, and I shall put thee down of thy service.

20 And it shall be, in that day I shall call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah;

21 and I shall clothe him in thy coat, and I shall comfort him with thy girdle, and I shall give thy power into the hands of him; and he shall be as a father to them that dwell in Jeru-salem, and to the house of Judah.

22 And I shall give the key of the house of David on his shoulder; and he shall open, and none shall be that shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall be that shall open.

23 And I shall set him a stake, either a perch, in a faithful place, and he shall be into a seat of glory of the house of his father.

24 And thou shalt hang on him all the glory of the house of his father, diverse kinds of vessels, each little vessel, from the vessels of cups, till to each vessel of musics.

25 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, the stake that was set [or fixed] in the faithful place, shall be taken away, and it shall be broken, and shall fall down; and shall perish that hanged therein, for the Lord spake.

CHAPTER 23

1 The burden of Tyre. Ye ships of the sea, yell, for the house is destroyed, from whence comfort was wont to come; from the land of Chittim, and [it] was showed to them.

2 Be ye still, that dwell in the isle, the merchants of Sidon; [the] men passing [over] the sea filled thee in many waters;

3 the seed of Nile is [the] harvest, the flood is the corn thereof, and it is made the merchandise of heathen men.

4 Thou, Sidon, be ashamed, said the sea, the strength of the sea, and said, I travailed not of child, and I childed not, and I nourished not young men, and I brought not fully virgins to increasing.

5 When it shall be heard in Egypt, they shall make sorrow, when they hear of Tyre.

6 Pass ye the seas; yell ye, that dwell in the isle.

7 Whether this city is not yours, that had glory from eld days in his eldness? the feet thereof shall lead it [a] far, to go in pilgrimage.

8 Who thought this thing on Tyre, sometime crowned, whose merchants were princes, the sellers of merchandise thereof were noble men of [the] earth?

9 The Lord of hosts thought this thing, that he should draw down the pride of all glory, and that he should bring to shame all the noble men of earth.

10 Thou daughter of the sea, pass [over] thy land as a flood; a girdle is no more to thee.

11 It stretched forth his hand above the sea, and troubled realms. The Lord sent against Canaan, for to all-break the strong men thereof;

12 and he said, Thou maiden, the daughter of Sidon, that sufferest challenge, shalt no more add, that thou have glory. Rise thou, and pass over the sea into Chittim; there also no rest shall be to thee.

13 Lo! the land of Chaldees, such a people was not; Assur founded that Tyre; they led over into captivity the strong men thereof; they [under] mined the houses thereof; they setted [or put] it into falling.

14 Yell, ye ships of the sea, for your strength be destroyed.

15 And it shall be, in that day, thou, Tyre, shalt be in forgetting by seventy years, as the days of one king; but after seventy years, as the song of a whore shall be to Tyre.

16 Thou whore, given to forgetting, take an harp, compass the city; sing thou well, use thou oft a song, that mind be of thee.

17 And it shall be, after seventy years, the Lord shall visit Tyre, and shall bring it again to his hire; and again it shall be, when it shall do fornication with all [the] realms of [the] earth, on the face of [the] earth.

18 And the merchandises thereof and the meeds thereof shall be hallowed to the Lord; they shall not be hid, neither shall be laid up; for why the merchandise thereof shall be to them that dwell before the Lord, that they eat to fullness, and be clothed till to eldness [or oldness].

CHAPTER 24

1 Lo! the Lord shall destroy the earth, and shall make it naked, and shall torment the face thereof; and he shall scatter abroad the dwellers thereof.

2 And it shall be, as the people, so the priest; as the servant, so his lord; as the handmaid, so the lady of her; as a buyer, so he that selleth; as the lender, so he that taketh borrowing; as he that asketh again, so he that oweth.

3 By destroying the land shall be destroyed, and shall be made naked by ravishing; for why the Lord spake this word.

4 The earth mourned, and floated away, and is made sick; the world floated away, the highness of the people of [the] earth is made sick,

5 and the earth is slain of his dwellers. For they passed [the] laws, changed [the] right, destroyed [the] everlasting bond of peace.

6 For this thing, cursing shall devour the earth, and the dwellers thereof shall do sin; and therefore the lovers thereof shall be mad, and few men shall be left.

7 [The] Vintage mourned, the vine is sick; all men that were glad in heart wailed.

8 The joy of tympans ceased, the sound of glad men rested; the sweet-ness of [the] harp with song was stilled.

9 They shall not drink wine; a bitter drink shall be to them that shall drink it.

10 The city of vanity is all-broken; each house is closed, for no man entereth.

11 Cry shall be on wine in [the] streets, all gladness is forsaken, the joy of [the] earth is taken away.

12 Desolation is left in the city, and wretchedness shall oppress the gates.

13 For these things shall be in the midst of [the] earth, in the midst of peoples, as if a few fruits of olive trees that be left be shaken off from the olive tree, and raisins, when the vintage is ended.

14 These men shall raise [up] their voice, and shall praise, when the Lord shall be glorified; they shall show signs of gladness from the sea.

15 For this thing glorify ye the Lord in teachings; in the isles of the sea glorify ye the name of the Lord God of Israel.

16 From the ends of [the] earth we have heard praisings, the glory of the just [or the rightwise]. And I said, My private to me, my private to me. Woe to me, [the] trespassers have trespassed, and have trespassed by [the] trespassing of breakers of the law.

17 Fearedfulness, and a ditch, and a snare on thee, that art a dweller of [the] earth.

18 And it shall be, he that shall flee from the face of fearedfulness, shall fall into the ditch; and he that shall deliver himself from the ditch, shall be holden of the snare; for why the windows of high things be opened, and the foundaments of [the] earth shall be shaken together.

19 The earth shall be broken with breaking, the earth shall be defouled with defouling, the earth shall be moved with moving,

20 the earth shall be shaken with shaking, as a drunken man. And it shall be taken away, as the tabernacle of one night, and the wickedness thereof shall grieve it; and it shall fall down, and it shall not add, for to rise again.

21 And it shall be, in that day the Lord shall visit on the knighthood of heaven on high, and on the kings of earth, that be on earth.

22 And they shall be gathered together in the gathering together of a bundle into the pit, and they shall be enclosed there in prison; and after many days they shall be visited.

23 And the moon shall be ashamed, and the sun shall be confounded, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in the hill of Zion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of his elder men.

CHAPTER 25

1 Lord, thou art my God, I shall enhance thee, and I shall acknowledge to thy name; for thou hast done marvels, thine eld [or old] faithful thoughts. Amen.

2 For thou hast set the city into a burial, a strong city into falling, the house of aliens, that it be not a city, and be not builded without end.

3 For this thing a strong people shall praise thee, the city of strong folks shall dread thee.

4 For thou art made strength to a poor man, strength to a needy man in his tribulation, hope from [the] whirlwind, a shadowing place from heat; for why the spirit of strong men is as a whirlwind hurling the wall.

5 As by heat in thirst, thou shalt make meek the noise of aliens; and as by heat under a cloud burning, thou shalt make the scions of strong men to fade.

6 And the Lord of hosts shall make in this hill to all peoples the feast of fat things, the feast of vintage of fat things full of marrow, of vintage well-refined.

7 And he shall cast down in this hill the face of [the] bond, bound altogether on all peoples, and the web which he weaved on all nations.

8 And he shall cast down death [into] without end, and the Lord God shall do away each tear from each face; and he shall do away the shame of his people from each land, for the Lord spake.

9 And they shall say in that day, Lo! this is our God; we abided him, and he shall save us; this is the Lord; we suffered him, and we shall make full out joy, and shall be glad in his health.

10 For why the hand of the Lord shall rest in this hill, and Moab shall be threshed under him, as chaffs be stamped in a wain.

11 And he shall stretch forth his hands under him, as a swimmer stretcheth forth to swim; and he shall make low the glory of him with [the] hurtling down of his hands.

12 And the strongholds of thine high walls shall fall down, and shall be made low, and shall be drawn down to the earth, till to the dust.

CHAPTER 26

1 In that day this song shall be sung in the land of Judah. The city of our strength; the saviour shall be set therein, the wall and the forewall, either a stronghold before the wall.

2 Open ye the gates, and the just [or rightwise] folk shall enter, keeping truth.

3 The eld [or old] error is gone away; thou shalt keep peace, peace, for thou, Lord, we hoped in thee.

4 Ye have hoped in the Lord, in everlasting worlds, in the Lord God, strong without end.

5 For he shall bow down them that dwell on high, and he shall make low an high city; he shall make it low till to the earth; he shall draw it down till to the dust.

6 The foot of a poor man shall defoul it, and the steps of needy men shall defoul it.

7 The way of a just man is rightful, the path of a just man is rightful to go. [The way of the rightwise is even, even the path of the rightwise to go.]

8 And in the way of thy dooms, Lord, we suffered thee; thy name, and thy memorial is in desire of soul.

9 My soul shall desire thee in the night, but also with my spirit in mine entrails; from the morrowtide I shall wake to thee. When thou shalt make thy dooms in [the] earth, all dwellers of the world shall learn rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

10 Do we mercy to the wicked man, and he shall not learn to do rightwise-ness; in the land of saints he did wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of the Lord.

11 Lord, thine hand be enhanced, that they see not; peoples having envy see, and be shamed, and fire devour thine enemies.

12 Lord, thou shalt give peace to us, for thou hast wrought all our works in us.

13 Our Lord God, lords had us in possession, without thee; only in thee have we mind of thy name.

14 They that die, live not, and giants, rise not again. Therefore thou hast visited, and hast all-broken them, and thou hast lost all the mind of them;

15 and Lord, thou hast forgiven to a folk, thou hast forgiven to a folk. Whether thou art glorified? thou hast made far from thee all the ends of [the] earth.

16 Lord, in anguish they sought thee; in the tribulation of grutching, thy doctrine to them.

17 As she that conceived, when she nigheth sorrowful to the child bearing, crieth in her sorrows, so we be made, Lord, of thy face.

18 We have conceived, and we have as travailed of child, and we have childed the spirit of health; we did not rightfulness [or rightwiseness] in earth. Therefore the dwellers of [the] earth fell not down;

19 thy dead men shall live, and my slain men shall rise again. Ye that dwell in dust, awake, and praise; for why the dew of light is thy dew, and thou shalt draw down the land of giants into falling.

20 Go thou, my people, enter into thy beds, close thy doors on thee, be thou hid a little at a moment, till indignation pass.

21 For lo! the Lord shall go out of his place, to visit the wickedness of the dwellers of [the] earth against him; and the earth shall show his blood, and shall no more cover his slain men.

CHAPTER 27

1 In that day the Lord shall visit in his hard sword, and great, and strong, on leviathan, serpent, a bar [or a lever], and on leviathan, the crooked serpent; and he shall slay the whale, which is in the sea.

2 In that day the vinery [or the vineyard] of clean wine and good shall sing to him.

3 I am the Lord that keep that vinery; suddenly I shall give drink to it, lest peradventure it be visited against it; night and day I keep it,

4 indignation is not to me. Who shall give me a thorn and [a] briar? In battle I shall go on it, I shall burn it altogether.

5 Whether rather I shall hold my strength? It shall make peace to me, it shall make peace to me,

6 for the merit of them that shall go out with fierceness from Jacob. Israel shall flower and bring forth seed, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed.

7 Whether he smote it by the wound of the people of Jews smiting him? either as it killed the slain men of him, so it was slain?

8 In measure against measure, when it shall be cast away, he shall deem it; he bethought in his hard spirit, by the day of heat.

9 Therefore on this thing wickedness shall be forgiven to the house of Jacob, and this shall be all the fruit, that the sin thereof be done away, when it hath set all the stones of the altar as the stones of ashes hurtled down. Woods and temples shall not stand.

10 Forsooth the strong city shall be desolate, the fair city shall be left, and shall be forsaken as a desert; there a calf shall be pastured, and shall lie there, and shall waste the highness thereof.

11 In the dryness of ripe corn thereof women coming, and they that teach it, shall be all-broken. Forsooth it is not a wise people; therefore he that made it, shall not have mercy on it, and he that formed it, shall not spare it.

12 And it shall be, in that day the Lord shall smite thee, from the bottom of the flood till to the strand [or stream] of Egypt; and ye sons of Israel, shall be gathered one and one.

13 And it shall be, in that day men shall come with a great trump, and they that were lost, shall come from the land of Assyrians, and they that were cast out, shall come from the land of Egypt; and they shall worship the Lord, in the holy hill of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 28

1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunken men of Ephraim, and to the flower falling down of the glory of the full out joying thereof, that were in the top of the fattest valley, and erred of wine.

2 Lo! the mighty and strong Lord, as the fierceness of hail, and whirlwind breaking altogether, as the fierceness of many waters flowing, and sent out on a large land.

3 The crown of pride of the drunken men of Ephraim shall be defouled with feet,

4 and the flower of [the] glory of the full out joying of him, that is on the top of the valley of fat things, shall be falling down, as a timely thing before the ripeness of harvest; which when a man seeing beholdeth, anon as he taketh with hand, he shall devour it.

5 In that day the Lord of hosts shall be a crown of glory, and a garland of full out joying, to the residue of his people;

6 and a spirit of doom to him that sitteth on the throne, and strength to them that turn again from [the] battle to the gate.

7 But also they knew not for wine, and erred for drunkenness; the priest and prophet knew not for drunken-ness; they were sopped up of wine, they erred in drunkenness; they knew not a prophet, they knew not doom.

8 For why all boards were filled with spewing and filths, so that there was no more place.

9 Whom shall he teach knowing, and whom shall he make to understand [the] hearing? Men weaned from milk, men drawn away from teats.

10 For why command thou, command thou again; command thou, command thou again; abide thou, abide thou again; abide thou, abide thou again; a little there, a little there.

11 For why in [the] speech of lip, and in other language, he shall speak to this people,

12 to which he said, This is my rest; refresh ye a weary man, and this is my refreshing; and they would not hear.

13 And the word of the Lord shall be to them, Send thou, send thou again; send thou, send thou again; abide thou, abide thou again; abide thou, abide thou again; a little there, a little there; that they go, and fall backward, and be all-broken, and be snared, and be taken.

14 For this thing, ye men scorners, that be lords over my people which is in Jerusalem, hear the word of the Lord.

15 For ye said, We have smitten a bond of peace with death, and we have made covenant with hell; a scourge flowing, when it shall pass, shall not come [up] on us, for we have set a leasing our hope, and we be covered with a leasing.

16 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall send in the foundaments of Zion a cornerstone precious, proved, founded in the foundament; he that believeth, shall not hasten.

17 And I shall set doom in weight, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] in measure; and hail shall destroy the hope of leasing, and waters shall flow on protection.

18 And your bond of peace with death shall be done away, and your covenant with hell shall not stand; when the scourge flowing shall pass, ye shall be to it into defouling.

19 Whenever it shall pass, it shall take away you; for why early in the gray morrowtide it shall pass, in day and night; and only travail alone shall give understanding to [the] hearing.

20 Forsooth the bed is strait, so that the tother fall down; and a short mantle shall not cover ever either.

21 For as in the hill of partings [or divisions] the Lord shall stand, as in the valley, which is in Gibeon, he shall be wroth, that he do his work; his work alien [or alien is his work], that he work his work; his work is strange from him.

22 And now do not ye scorn, lest peradventure your bonds be made strait together; for I heard of the Lord God of hosts, ending and abridging on all earth.

23 Perceive ye with ears, and hear ye my voice; perceive ye, and hear ye my speech.

24 Whether he that eareth, shall ear all day, for to sow, and shall he carve, and purge his land?

25 Whether when he hath made even the face thereof, shall he not sow gith, and sprinkle abroad cumin? and he shall not set wheat by order, and barley, and millet, and fitches in his coasts?

26 And his God shall teach him, in doom he shall teach him.

27 Forsooth gith shall not be threshed in saws, and a wheel of a wain shall not compass on [the] cumin; but gith shall be beaten out with a rod, and [the] cumin with a staff.

28 Soothly bread shall be made less, but he that thresheth shall not thresh it without end, neither shall travail it with a wheel of a wain, neither shall make it less with his claws.

29 And this thing went out of the Lord God of hosts, that he should make wonderful counsel, and magnify rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

CHAPTER 29

1 Woe! [to] Ariel, Ariel, the city which David overcame; year is added to year, solemnities be passed.

2 And I shall compass Ariel, and it shall be sorrowful and mourning; and Jerusalem shall be to me as Ariel.

3 And I shall compass as a round spear, either trundle, in thy compass, and I shall cast [an heap of] earth against thee, and I shall set strongholds, either engines, into thy besieging.

4 Thou shalt be made low, thou shalt speak of [the] earth, and thy speech shall be heard from the earth; and thy voice shall be as the voice of a dead man raised by conjuring, and thy speech shall oft grutch of the earth.

5 And the multitude of them that winnowed thee, shall be as thin dust; and the multitude of them that had the mastery against thee, shall be as [a] dead spark passing. And it shall be suddenly,

6 anon it shall be visited of the Lord of hosts, in thunder, and in moving of the earth, and in great voice of whirlwind, and of tempest, and of flame of fire devouring.

7 And the multitude of all folks that fought against Ariel shall be as the dream of a night’s vision; and all men that fought, and besieged, and had the mastery against it.

8 And as an hungry man dreameth, and eateth, but when he is awakened, his soul is void; and as a thirsty man dreameth, and drinketh, and after that he is awakened, he is weary, and thirsteth yet, and his soul is void; so shall be the multitude of all folks, that fought against the hill of Zion.

9 Be ye astonied, and wonder; wake ye, and doubt ye; be ye drunk, and not of wine; be ye moved, and not with drunkenness.

10 For the Lord hath meddled [or mingled] to you the spirit of sleep; he shall close your eyes, and [he] shall cover your prophets, and princes that see visions.

11 And the vision of all prophets shall be to you as the words of a book asealed; which when they shall give to him that knoweth letters, they shall say, Read thou this book; and he shall answer, I may not, for it is asealed.

12 And the book shall be given to him that knoweth not letters, and it shall be said to him, Read thou; and he shall answer, I know no letters.

13 And the Lord said, For that this people nigheth with their mouth, and glorifieth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; and they dreaded me for the commandment and teachings of men,

14 therefore lo! I shall add, that I make [great] wondering to this people, in a great miracle and wonderful; for why wisdom shall perish from wise men thereof, and the understanding of prudent men thereof shall be hid.

15 Woe to you that be deep of heart, that ye hide counsel from the Lord; the works of which be in darknesses, and they say, Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?

16 This thought of you is wayward, as if clay think against a potter, and the work say to his maker, Thou madest not me; and a thing made, say to his maker, Thou understandest not.

17 Whether not yet in a little time and short, the Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel, and Carmel shall be areckoned into the forest?

18 And in that day deaf men shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of blind men shall see from darknesses and misty;

19 and mild men shall increase gladness in the Lord, and poor men shall make full out joy in the Holy of Israel.

20 For he that had the mastery, failed, and the scorner is ended, and all they be cut down that waked on wickedness;

21 which made men to do sin in word, and deceived a reprover in the gate, and bowed away in vain from a just [or rightwise] man.

22 For this thing the Lord, that again-bought Abraham, saith these things to the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not be confounded now, neither now his cheer shall be ashamed;

23 but when he shall see his sons, the works of mine hands, hallowing my name in the midst of him. And they shall hallow the Holy of Jacob, and they shall preach [the] God of Israel;

24 and they that err in spirit, shall know understanding, and idle men, either grutchers, shall learn the law.

CHAPTER 30

1 Woe! sons forsakers, saith the Lord, that ye shall make a counsel, and not of me; and weave a web, and not by my spirit, that ye should increase sin on sin.

2 Which go, to go down into Egypt, and ye asked not my mouth; ye hoping help in the strength of Pharaoh, and ye having trust in the shadow of Egypt.

3 And the strength of Pharaoh shall be to you into confusion, and the trust of the shadow of Egypt into shame.

4 For why thy princes were in Tanis, and thy messengers came till to Hanes.

5 All they were shamed on the people, that might not profit to them; they were not into help, and into any profit, but into shame and shame.

6 The burden of [the] work beasts of the south. In the land of tribulation and of anguish, a lioness, and a lion, of them a serpent, and a [flying] cockatrice; they were bearing their riches on the shoulders of work beasts, and their treasures on the botch of camels, to a people that might not profit to them.

7 For why Egypt shall help in vain, and idly. Therefore I cried on this thing, It is pride only; cease thou.

8 Now therefore enter thou, and write to it on [a] box [table], and write thou it diligently in a book; and it shall be in the last day into witnessing, till into without end.

9 For it is a people stirring me to wrathfulness [or wrath], and sons liars, sons that will not hear the law of God.

10 Which say to prophets, Do not ye prophesy; and to beholders, Do not ye behold to us those things that be rightful [or right]; speak ye things pleasing to us, see ye errors to us.

11 Do ye away from me the way, bow ye away from me the path; the Holy of Israel cease from our face.

12 Therefore the Holy of Israel saith these things, For that that ye reproved this word, and hoped on false challenge, and on noise, and trusted on it,

13 therefore this wickedness shall be to you as a breaking falling down, and sought in an high wall; for suddenly while it is not hoped, the breaking thereof shall come.

14 And it shall be made less, as a vessel of a potter is broken with full strong breaking; and a shard shall not be found of the gobbets, either remnants, thereof, in which shard a little fire shall be borne of burning, either a little of water shall be drawn of the ditch.

15 For why the Lord God, the Holy of Israel, saith these things, If ye turn again, and rest, ye shall be safe; in stillness and in hope shall be your strength. And ye would not.

16 And ye said, Nay, but we shall flee to horses; therefore ye shall flee. And we shall ascend [or go up] on swift horses; therefore they shall be swifter, that shall pursue you.

17 A thousand men shall flee from the face of the dread of one; and ye shall flee from the face of [the] dread of five, till ye be left as the mast of a ship in the top of a mountain, and as a sign on a little hill.

18 Therefore the Lord abideth, that he have mercy on you, and therefore he shall be enhanced sparing you; for why God is Lord of doom, blessed be all they that abide him.

19 Forsooth the people of Zion shall dwell in Jerusalem; thou weeping shalt not weep, he doing mercy shall have mercy on thee; at the voice of thy cry, anon as he heareth, he shall answer to thee.

20 And the Lord shall give to thee strait bread, and short water, and shall no more make thy teacher to flee away from thee; and thine eyes shall be seeing thy commander,

21 and thine ears shall hear a word behind the back of him that admonisheth; This is the way, go ye therein, neither to the right half, neither to the left half.

22 And thou shalt defoul the plates of the graven images of thy silver, and the cloth of the molten image of thy gold; and thou shalt scatter them, as the uncleanness of a woman in unclean blood; Go thou out, and thou shalt say to it.

23 And rain shall be given to thy seed, wherever thou shalt sow in [the] earth, and the bread of [the] fruits of [the] earth shall be most plenteous and fat; in that day a lamb shall be fed largely in thy possession.

24 And thy bulls and colts of asses, that work the land, shall eat barley with chaff meddled [or mingled] together, as it is winnowed in the cornfloor.

25 And strands [or rivers] of running waters shall be on each high mountain, and on each little hill raised, in the day of slaying of many men, when towers fall down.

26 And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day in which the Lord shall bind together the wound of his people, and shall make whole the smiting of the wounds thereof.

27 Lo! the name of the Lord cometh down from [a] far; his strong vengeance is burning, and grievous to bear; his lips be filled of indignation, and his tongue is as fire devouring.

28 His spirit is as a stiff stream, flowing till to the midst of the neck, to lose folks into nought, and the bridle of error, that was in the cheeks of peoples.

29 Song shall be to you, as the voice of an hallowed solemnity; and gladness of heart, as he that goeth with a pipe, for to enter into the hill of the Lord, to the Strong of Israel.

30 And the Lord shall make heard the glory of his voice, and he shall show the fearedfulness of his arm in menacing [or threatening] of strong vengeance, and in flame of fire burning; he shall hurtle down in whirlwind, and in [the] stone of hail.

31 For why Assur smitten with a rod shall dread of the voice of the Lord;

32 and the passing of the rod shall be founded, which rod the Lord shall make for to rest on him. In tympans, and harps, and in sovereign battles he shall overcome them.

33 For why Tophet, that is, hell, deep and alarged, is made ready of the king from yesterday; the nourishings thereof be fire and many trees; the blast of the Lord, as a stream of brimstone, kindleth it.

CHAPTER 31

1 Woe to them that go down into Egypt to help, and hope in horses, and have trust on carts, for they be many, and on knights, for they be full strong; and they trust not on the Holy of Israel, and they sought not the Lord.

2 Forsooth he that is wise, hath brought evil, and took not away his words; and he shall rise altogether against the house of worst men, and against the help of them that work wickedness.

3 Egypt is a man, and not God; and the horses of them be flesh, and not spirit; and the Lord shall bow down his hand, and the helper shall fall down, and he shall fall, to whom help is given, and all shall be wasted together,

4 For why the Lord saith these things to me, If a lion roareth, and a whelp of a lion on his prey, when the multitude of shepherds cometh against him, he shall not dread of the voice of them, and he shall not dread of the multitude of them; so the Lord of hosts shall come down, for to fight on the mountain [or mount] of Zion, and on the little hill thereof.

5 As birds flying, so the Lord of hosts shall defend Jerusalem; he defending and delivering, passing forth and saving.

6 Ye sons of Israel, be converted, as ye had gone away into depth.

7 Forsooth in that day a man shall cast away the idols of his silver, and the idols of his gold, which your hands made to you into sin.

8 And Assur shall fall by sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee, not from the face of [the] sword, and his young men shall be tributaries;

9 and the strength of him shall pass from fearedfulness, and his princes fleeing shall dread. The Lord said, whose fire is in Zion, and his chimney is in Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 32

1 Lo! the king shall reign in rightfulness, and the princes shall be sovereigns in doom.

2 And a man shall be, as he that is hid from [the] wind, and hideth himself from tempest; as streams of waters in thirst, and the shadow of a stone standing far out in a desert land.

3 The eyes of seers, that is, prophets, shall not dim, and the ears of hearers shall hearken diligently;

4 and the heart of fools shall understand knowing, and the tongue of stuttering men shall speak swiftly, and plainly.

5 He that is unwise shall no more be called prince, and a guileful man shall not be called the greater.

6 Forsooth a fool shall speak folly things, and his heart shall do wicked-ness, that he perform feigning, and speak to the Lord guilefully; and he shall make void the soul of an hungry man, and shall take away drink from a thirsty man.

7 The vessels of a guileful man be worst; for he shall make ready thoughts to lose mild men in the word of a lie, when a poor man spake doom.

8 Forsooth a prince shall think those things that be worthy to a prince, and he shall stand over dukes.

9 Rich women, rise ye, and hear my voice; daughters trusting, perceive ye with ears my speech.

10 For why after days and a year, and ye that trust shall be troubled; for why [the] vintage is ended, gathering shall no more come.

11 Ye rich women, be astonied; ye that trust, be troubled; unclothe ye you, and be ye ashamed; gird your loins;

12 wail ye on breasts, on the desirable country, on the plenteous vinery [or vineyard].

13 Thorns and briars shall ascend [or go up] on the earth of my people; how much more on all the houses of joy of the city making full out joy?

14 For why the house is left, the multitude of the city is forsaken; darknesses and groping be made on [the] dens, till into without end. The joy of wild asses is the pasture of flocks;

15 till the spirit be shed [or poured] out on us from on high, and the desert shall be into Carmel, and Carmel shall be areckoned into a forest.

16 And doom shall dwell in wilder-ness, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall sit in Carmel;

17 and the work of rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall be peace, and the tilth of rightfulness [or rightwiseness]shall be stillness and secureness, till into without end.

18 And my people shall sit in the fairness of peace, and in the tabernacles of trust, and in rich rest.

19 But hail shall be in the coming down of the forest, and by lowness the city shall be made low.

20 Blessed be ye, that sow on all waters, and send in the foot of an ox and of an ass.

CHAPTER 33

1 Woe to thee, that robbest; whether and thou shalt not be robbed? and that despisest, whether and thou shalt not be despised? When thou hast ended robbing, thou shalt be robbed; and when thou made weary ceasest to despise, thou shalt be despised.

2 Lord, have thou mercy on us, for we abided thee; be thou our arm in the morrowtide, and our health in the time of tribulation.

3 Peoples fled from the voice of the angel; heathen men be scattered of thine enhancing.

4 And your spoils shall be gathered together, as a bruchus, that is, fruit of locusts, is gathered together, as when ditches be full thereof.

5 The Lord is magnified, for he dwelled on high, he filled Zion with doom and rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

6 And faith shall be in thy times; the riches of health is wisdom and knowing; the dread of the Lord, that is the treasure of him.

7 Lo! the seers withoutforth shall cry, [the] angels of peace shall weep bitterly.

8 [The] Ways be destroyed, a goer by the path ceased; the covenant is made void, he casted down [the] cities, he areckoned not men.

9 The land mourned, and was sick; the Lebanon was shamed, and was foul; and Sharon is made as desert, and Bashan is shaken, and Carmel.

10 Now I shall rise, saith the Lord, now I shall be enhanced, and now I shall be raised up.

11 Ye shall conceive heat, ye shall bring forth stubble; your spirit, as fire, shall devour you.

12 And peoples shall be as ashes of the burning; thorns gathered together shall be burnt in fire.

13 Ye that be far, hear what things I have done; and, ye neighbours, know my strength.

14 Sinners be all-broken in Zion, trembling wielded hypocrites; who of you may dwell with fire devouring? who of you shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

15 He that goeth in rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses], and speaketh truth; he that casteth away avarice of false challenge, and shaketh away his hands from all gifts, or bribes; he that stoppeth his ears, that he hear not blood, and closeth his eyes, that he see not evil.

16 This man shall dwell in high things, the strongholds of stones be the highness of him; bread is given to him, his waters be faithful.

17 They shall see the king in his fairness; the eyes of him shall behold the land from [a] far.

18 Eliakim, thine heart shall bethink dread; where is the lettered man? Where is he that weigheth the words of the law? where is the teacher of little children?

19 Thou shalt not see a people unwise, a people of deep word, so that thou mayest not understand the fair speaking of his tongue, in which people is no wisdom.

20 Behold thou Zion, the city of your solemnity; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich city, a tabernacle that may not be borne over, neither the nails thereof shall be taken away without end; and all the cords thereof shall not be broken.

21 For only the worshipful doer, our Lord God, is there; the place of floods is strands [or rivers] full large and open; the ship of rowers shall not enter by it, neither a great ship shall pass over it.

22 For why the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he shall save us.

23 Thy ropes be slacked, but those shall not avail; thy mast shall be so, that thou may not alarge a sign. Then the spoils of many preys shall be parted, crooked men shall ravish raven.

24 And a neighbour shall say, I was not sick; the people that dwelleth in that Jerusalem, wickedness shall be taken away from it.

CHAPTER 34

1 Nigh, ye heathen men, to hear; ye peoples, perceive; the earth, and the fullness thereof, the world, and all burgeoning thereof, hear ye.

2 For why [the] indignation of the Lord is on all folks, and strong vengeance on all the chivalry of them; he killed them, and gave them into slaying.

3 The slain men of them shall be cast forth, and stink shall ascend [or go up] of the carrions of them; hills [or the mountains] shall flow of the blood of them.

4 And all the chivalry of heavens shall fail, and heavens shall be folded together as a book, and all the knighthood of those shall float down, as the leaf of a vinery [or a vine] and of a fig tree falleth down.

5 For my sword is filled in heaven; lo! it shall come down on Idumea, and on the people of my slaying, to doom.

6 The sword of the Lord is filled of blood, it is made fat of the inner fatness of the blood of lambs and of bucks of goats, of the blood of rams full of marrow; for why the slain sacrifice of the Lord is in Bozrah, and great slaying is in the land of Edom.

7 And unicorns shall go down with them, and bulls with them that be mighty; the land of them shall be filled with blood, and the earth of them with [the] inner fatness of fat beasts;

8 for it is a day of vengeance of the Lord, a year of yielding of the doom of Zion.

9 And the strands [or streams] thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the earth thereof into brimstone; and the land thereof shall be into burning pitch, night and day.

10 It shall not be quenched without end, the smoke thereof shall go up from generation into generation, and it shall be desolate into worlds of worlds; none shall pass thereby.

11 And an onocrotalus, and an urchin, shall wield it; and a capret, and a crow shall dwell therein; and a measure shall be stretched forth thereon, that it be driven to nought, and an hanging plummet into desolation.

12 The noble men thereof shall not be there; rather they shall call the king into help, and all the princes thereof shall be into nought.

13 And thorns and nettles shall grow in the houses thereof, and a teasel in the strongholds thereof; and it shall be the couch of dragons, and the pasture of ostriches.

14 And fiends, and wonderful beasts, like men in the higher part, and like asses in the nether part, and an hairy, shall meet; one shall cry to another. Lamia shall lie there, and find rest there to herself;

15 there an urchin had ditches, and nourished out whelps, and digged about, and fostered in the shadow thereof; there kites were gathered together, one to another.

16 Seek ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read ye; one of those things failed not, one sought not another; for he commanded that thing, that goeth forth of my mouth, and his spirit, he gathered them together.

17 And he sent to them heritage, and his hand parted it in measure; till into without end they shall wield that land, in generation and into generation they shall dwell therein.

CHAPTER 35

1 The forsaken Judah and without a way shall be glad, and [the] wilder-ness shall make full out joy, and shall flower as a lily.

2 It burgeoning shall burgeon, and it glad and praising shall make full out joy. The glory of Lebanon is given to it, the fairness of Carmel and of Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the fairness of our God.

3 Comfort ye [the] benumbed hands, and make ye strong [the] feeble knees.

4 Say ye, Men of little comfort, be ye comforted, and do not ye dread; lo! our God shall bring the vengeance of yielding, God himself shall come, and shall save us.

5 Then the eyes of blind men shall be opened, and the ears of deaf men shall be open[ed].

6 Then a crooked man shall skip as an hart, and the tongue of dumb men shall be opened; for why waters be broken out in desert, and streams in wilderness.

7 And that that was dry, is made into a pond, and the thirsty is made into wells of waters. [The] Greenness of [the] reed, and of [the] spire shall grow in [the] dens, in which dwelled dragons before.

8 And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called an holy way, he that is defouled shall not pass thereby; and this shall be a straight [right] way to you, so that fools err not thereby.

9 A lion shall not be there, and an evil beast shall not ascend [or go up] thereby, neither shall be found there. And they shall go, that be delivered;

10 and again-bought of the Lord; and they shall be converted, and shall come into Zion with praising; and everlasting gladness shall be on the heads of them; they shall have joy and gladness, and sorrow and wailing shall flee away.

CHAPTER 36

1 And it was done in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib, the king of Assyrians, ascended [or went up] on all the strong cities of Judah, and took them.

2 And the king of Assyrians sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to king Hezekiah, with great power; and he stood at the water conduit of the higher cistern, in the way of the field of a fuller, or tucker.

3 And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was on the house, went out to him, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the chancellor.

4 And Rabshakeh said to them, Say ye to Hezekiah, The great king, the king of Assyrians, saith these things, What is the trust, in which thou trustest?

5 either by what counsel either strength disposest thou for to rebel? on whom hast thou trust, for thou hast gone away from me?

6 Lo! thou trustest on this broken staff of reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leaneth, either resteth, it shall enter into his hand, and shall pierce it; so doeth Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all men that trust in him.

7 That if thou answerest to me, We trust in our Lord God [or in the Lord our God]; whether it is not he, whose high places and altars Hezekiah did away, and he said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar?

8 And now betake thee to my lord, the king of Assyrians, and I shall give to thee two thousand horses, and thou mayest not give of thee riders of those horses.

9 And how shalt thou abide the face of the judge of one place of the less servants of my lord? That if thou trustest in Egypt, and in carts, and in knights;

10 and now whether I ascended [or went up] to this land without the Lord, that I should destroy it? The Lord said to me, Ascend thou [or Go up] on this land, and destroy thou it.

11 And Eliakim, and Shebna, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, Speak thou to thy servants by the language of Syria, for we understand; speak thou not to us by the language of Jews, in the ears of the people, which is on the wall.

12 And Rabshakeh said to them, Whether my lord sent me to thy lord, and to thee, that I should speak all these words, and not rather to the men that sit on the wall, that they eat their turds, and drink the piss off their feet, with you?

13 And Rabshakeh stood, and cried with [a] great voice in the language of Jews, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyrians.

14 The king saith these things, Hezekiah deceive not you, for he may not deliver you;

15 and Hezekiah give not to you trust on the Lord, and say, The Lord delivering shall deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyrians.

16 Do not ye hear Hezekiah. For why the king of Assyrians saith these things, Make ye blessing with me, and go ye out to me; and eat ye each man his vinery [or his vine], and each man his fig tree, and drink ye each man the water of his cistern,

17 till I come, and take away you to a land which is as your land; to a land of wheat and of wine, to a land of loaves and of vineries [or vines].

18 Hezekiah trouble not you, and say, The Lord shall deliver us. Whether the gods of folks delivered each his land from the hand of the king of Assyrians?

19 Where is the god of Hamath, and of Arphad? Where is the god of Sepharvaim? Whether they delivered Samaria from mine hand?

20 Who is of all [the] gods of these lands, that delivered his land from mine hand, that the Lord deliver Jerusalem from mine hand?

21 And they were still, and answered not to him a word. For why the king commanded to them, and said, Answer ye not to him.

22 And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, that was on the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, chancellor, entered with rent clothes to Hezekiah, and told to him the words of Rabshakeh.

CHAPTER 37

1 And it was done, when king Hezekiah had heard, he rent his clothes, and he was wrapped in a sackcloth, and entered into the house of the Lord.

2 And he sent Eliakim, that was on the house, and Shebna, the scribe, and the elder men of priests, covered with sackcloths, to Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz.

3 And they said to him, Hezekiah saith these things, A day of tribulation, and of anguish, and of chastising, and of blasphemy is this day; for children came unto childbearing, and strength of childbearing is not.

4 Therefore raise thou [up] prayer for the remnants that be found, if in any manner thy Lord God [or the Lord thy God] hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyrians, his lord, sent, for to blaspheme [the] living God, and to despise by the words, which thy Lord God heard.

5 And the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah;

6 and Isaiah said to them, Ye shall say these things to your lord, The Lord saith these things, Dread thou not of the face of [the] words which thou heardest, by which the servants of the king of Assyrians blasphemed me.

7 Lo! I shall give to him a spirit, and he shall hear a messenger; and he shall turn again to his land, and I shall make him to fall down by sword in his land.

8 Forsooth Rabshakeh turned again, and found the king of Assyrians fighting against Libnah; for he had heard, that the king was gone from Lachish.

9 And the king heard messengers saying of Tirhakah, king of Ethiopians, He is gone out to fight against thee. And when he had heard this thing, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, and said,

10 Ye shall say, speaking these things to Hezekiah, king of Judah, Thy God deceive not thee, in whom thou trustest, and sayest, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyrians.

11 Lo! thou heardest all things which the kings of Assyrians did to all lands which they destroyed; and mayest thou be delivered?

12 Whether the gods of folks delivered them, which my fathers destroyed; Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden, that were in Telassar?

13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena, and of Ivah?

14 And Hezekiah took the books from the hand of the messengers, and read them; and he went up into the house of the Lord, and spreaded abroad them before the Lord;

15 and prayed to the Lord, and said,

16 Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that sittest on cherubim, thou art God alone of all the realms of [the] earth; thou madest heaven and earth.

17 Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear; Lord, open thine eyes, and see; and hear thou all the words of Sennacherib, which he sent for to blaspheme living God.

18 For verily, Lord, the kings of Assyrians made lands desert, and the countries of them,

19 and gave the gods of them to fire; for they were not gods, but the works of men’s hands, wood and stones; and they all-brake those gods.

20 And now, our Lord God, save thou us from the hand of him; and all [the] realms of earth know, that thou art the Lord God alone.

21 And Isaiah, the son of Amoz, sent to Hezekiah, and said, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, For which things thou prayedest me of Sennacherib, the king of Assyrians,

22 this is the word which the Lord spake on him, Thou virgin, the daughter of Zion, he despised thee, he scorned thee; thou virgin, the daughter of Jerusalem, he moved his head after thee.

23 Whom despisest thou, and whom blasphemedest thou? and on whom raisedest thou thy voice, and raisedest the highness of thine eyes? To the Holy of Israel.

24 By the hand of thy servants thou despisedest the Lord, and saidest, In the multitude of my carts, I ascended [or went up] on the highnesses of hills, on the yokes of Lebanon; and I shall cut down the high things of cedars thereof, and the chosen beeches thereof; and I shall enter into the highness of the top thereof, into the forest of Carmel thereof.

25 I digged, and drank water; and I made dry with the step of my foot all the strands [or rivers] of [the] fields.

26 Whether thou, Sennacherib, heardest not what things I did some-time? From eld days I formed that thing, and now I have brought; and it is made into the drawing up by the root of little hills fighting together, and of strong cities.

27 The dwellers of those cities trembled together with hand made short, and be ashamed; they be made as hay of the field, and as the grass of [the] pasture, and as herb of house roofs, either ridges, that dried up before that it waxed ripe.

28 I knew thy dwelling, and thy going out, and thine entering, and thy strong vengeance against me.

29 When thou were wroth against me, thy pride ascended [or went up] into mine ears; therefore I shall set a ring in thy nostrils, and a bridle in thy lips; and I shall lead thee into the way, by which thou camest.

30 Forsooth to thee, Hezekiah, this shall be a sign; eat thou in this year those things that grow by their free will, and in the second year eat thou apples; but in the third year, sow ye, and reap ye, and plant ye vineries [or vines], and eat ye the fruit of them.

31 And that that is saved of the house of Judah, and that, that is left, shall send [the] root beneath, and shall make fruit above;

32 for why remnants shall go out of Jerusalem, and salvation from the hill of Zion; the fervent love of the Lord of hosts shall do this thing.

33 Therefore the Lord saith these things of the king of Assyrians, He shall not enter into this city, and he shall not shoot there an arrow; and a shield shall not occupy it, and he shall not send [an heap of] earth in the compass thereof.

34 In the way in which he came, he shall turn again by it; and he shall not enter into this city, saith the Lord.

35 And I shall defend this city, that I save it, for me, and for David, my servant.

36 Forsooth the angel of the Lord went out, and killed an hundred thousand and fourscore and five thousand in the tents of Assyrians; and they rose early, and lo! all men were[the] carrions of dead men.

37 And Sennacherib went out of Judah, and went away. And Sennach-erib, the king of Assyrians, turned again, and dwelled in Nineveh.

38 And it was done, when he worshipped Nisroch, his god, in the temple, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, killed him with sword, and fled into the land of Ararat, that is, Armenia; and Esarhaddon, his son, reigned for him.

CHAPTER 38

1 In those days Hezekiah was sick unto the death; and Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz, entered to him, and said to him, The Lord saith these things, Dispose thy house, for thou shalt die, and thou shalt not live.

2 And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed the Lord,

3 and said, Lord, I beseech; have thou mind, I beseech, how I went before thee in truth, and in perfect heart, and I did that that was good before thine eyes. And Hezekiah wept with great weeping.

4 And the word of the Lord was made to Isaiah, and said,

5 Go thou, and say to Hezekiah, The Lord God of David, thy father, saith these things, I have heard thy prayer, and I saw thy tears. Lo! I shall add on thy days fifteen years;

6 and I shall deliver thee and this city from the hand of the king of Assyrians, and I shall defend it.

7 Forsooth this shall be to thee a sign of the Lord, that the Lord shall do this word, which he hath spoken.

8 Lo! I shall make the shadow of lines, by which it went down in the horologe of Ahaz, in the sun, to turn again backward by ten lines. And the sun turned again by ten lines, by [the] degrees by which it had gone down.

9 The scripture of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had been sick, and had recovered of his sickness.

10 I said, in the middle of my days, I shall go to the gates of hell. I sought the residue of my years;

11 I said, I shall not see the Lord God in the land of livers; I shall no more behold a man, and a dweller of rest.

12 My generation is taken away, and is folded together from me, as the tabernacle of shepherds is folded together. My life is cut down as of a web; he cutted down me, the while I was woven yet.

13 From the morrowtide till to the eventide I felt like thou shalt end me; I hoped till to the morrowtide; as a lion, so he all-brake my bones. From the morrowtide till to the eventide I felt like thou shalt end me;

14 as the young of a swallow, so I shall cry; I shall bethink as a culver. Mine eyes beholding on high, be made feeble. Lord, I suffer violence, answer thou for me;

15 what shall I say, either what shall he answer to me, when he hath done? I shall bethink to thee all my years, in the bitterness of my soul.

16 Lord, if men liveth so, and the life of my spirit is in such things, thou shalt chastise me, and shalt quicken me.

17 Lo! my bitterness is most bitter in peace; forsooth thou hast delivered my soul, that it perished not; thou hast cast away behind thy back all my sins.

18 For not hell shall acknowledge to thee, neither death shall praise thee; they that go down into the pit, shall not abide thy truth.

19 A living man, a living man, he shall acknowledge to thee, as and I today; the father shall make known thy truth to [the] sons.

20 Lord, make thou me safe, and we shall sing our psalms in all the days of our life in the house of the Lord.

21 And Isaiah commanded, that they should take a gobbet of figs, and make a plaster on the wound; and it should be healed.

22 And Hezekiah said, What sign shall be, that I shall ascend [or go up] into the house of the Lord?

CHAPTER 39

1 In that time Merodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, the king of Babylon, sent books and gifts to Hezekiah; for he had heard, that Hezekiah had been sick, and was recovered.

2 Forsooth Hezekiah was glad on them, and showed to them the cells of sweet smelling spices, and of silver, and of gold, and of smelling things, and of best ointment, and all the shops of his appurtenance of household, and all things that were found in his treasures; no word was, which Hezekiah showed not to them in his house, and in all his power.

3 Soothly Isaiah, the prophet, entered to king Hezekiah, and said to him, What said these men, and from whence came they to thee? And Hezekiah said, From a far land they came to me, from Babylon.

4 And Isaiah said, What saw they in thine house? And Hezekiah said, They saw all things that be in mine house; nothing was in my treasures, which I showed not to them.

5 And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear thou the word of the Lord of hosts.

6 Lo! days shall come, and all things that be in thine house, and which things thy fathers treasured till to this day, shall be taken away into Babylon; not anything shall be left, saith the Lord.

7 And they shall take [away] of thy sons, that shall go out of thee, which thou shalt engender; and they shall be honest servants and chaste in the palace of the king of Babylon.

8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The word of the Lord is good, which he spake. And Hezekiah said, Peace and truth be made only in my days.

CHAPTER 40

1 My people, be ye comforted, be ye comforted, saith your Lord God.

2 Speak ye to the heart of Jeru-salem, and call ye [to] it, for the malice thereof is [ful] filled, the wickedness thereof is forgiven; it hath received of the hand of the Lord double things for all his sins.

3 The voice of a crier in desert [or The voice of the one crying in desert], Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make ye rightful [or right] the paths of our God in wilderness.

4 Each valley shall be enhanced, and each mountain and little hill shall be made low; and shrewd things shall be into straight things, and sharp things shall be into plain ways.

5 And the glory of the Lord shall be showed, and each man shall see together, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.

6 The voice of God, saying, Cry thou. And I said, What shall I cry? Each flesh is hay, and all the glory thereof is as the flower of the field.

7 The hay is dried up, and the flower fell down, for the spirit of the Lord blew therein. Verily the people is hay;

8 the hay is dried up, and the flower fell down; but the word of the Lord dwelleth, either shall stand, without end.

9 Thou that preachest to Zion, go upon an high hill; thou that preachest to Jerusalem, enhance thy voice in strength; enhance thou, do not thou dread; say thou to the cities of Judah, Lo! your God.

10 Lo! the Lord God shall come in strength, and his arm shall hold lordship; lo! his meed is with him, and his work is before him.

11 As a shepherd he shall feed his flock, he shall gather [the] lambs in his arms, and he shall raise in his bosom; he shall bear [the] sheep with lamb.

12 Who meted [or measured] waters in a fist, and weighed heavens with a span? Who weighed the heaviness of the earth with three fingers, and weighed [the] mountains in a weigh, and [the] little hills in a balance?

13 Who helped the Spirit of the Lord, either who was his counsellor, and showed to him?

14 With whom took he counsel, and who learned him, and taught him the path of rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and learned him in knowing, and showed to him the way of prudence?

15 Lo! folks be as a drop of a bucket, and be areckoned as the tongue of a balance; lo! isles be as a little dust,

16 and the Lebanon shall not suffice to burn his sacrifice, and the beasts thereof shall not suffice to burnt sacrifice.

17 All folks be so before him, as if they be not; and they be reckoned as nothing and vain thing to him.

18 To whom therefore made ye God like? either what image shall ye set to him?

19 Whether a smith shall weld together an image, either a goldsmith shall figure it in gold, and a worker in silver shall dight it with pieces of silver?

20 A wise craftsman chooseth a strong tree, and unable to be rotten; he seeketh how he shall ordain a simulacrum, that shall not be moved.

21 Whether ye know not? whether ye heard not? whether it was not told to you from the beginning? whether ye understood not the foundaments of [the] earth?

22 Which sitteth on the compass of [the] earth, and the dwellers thereof be as locusts; which stretcheth forth heavens as nought, and spreadeth abroad those as a tabernacle to dwell.

23 Which giveth the searchers of privates, as if they be not, and [he] made the judges of [the] earth as a vain thing.

24 And soothly when the stock of them is neither planted, neither is sown, neither is rooted in [the] earth, he blew suddenly on them, and they dried up, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

25 And to what thing have ye likened me, and have made [me] even? saith the Holy.

26 Raise [up] your eyes on high, and see ye, who made these things of nought; which leadeth out in number the knighthood of them, and calleth all by name, for the multitude of his strength, and stalworth[y] ness, and might; neither one residue thing was.

27 Why sayest thou, Jacob, and speakest thou, Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my doom passed from my God?

28 Whether thou knowest not, either heardest thou not? God, everlasting Lord, that made of nought the ends of [the] earth, shall not fail, neither shall travail, neither ensearching of his wisdom is.

29 That giveth strength to the weary, and strength to them that be not, and multiplieth stalworth[y] ness.

30 Young men shall fail, and shall travail, and young men shall fall down in their sickness.

31 But they that hope in the Lord, shall change strength, they shall take feathers as eagles; they shall run, and shall not travail; they shall go, and shall not fail.

CHAPTER 41

1 Isles, be still to me, and folks change strength; nigh they, and then speak they; nigh we together to doom.

2 Who raised the just [or rightwise] man from the east, and called him to follow himself? He shall give folks in his sight, and he shall wield kings; he shall give as dust to his sword, and as stubble ravished of the wind to his bow.

3 He shall pursue them, he shall go in peace; a path shall not appear in his feet.

4 Who wrought and did these things? calling generations at the beginning. I am the Lord; and I am the first, and the last.

5 Isles saw, and dreaded; the last parts of [the] earth were astonied; they came nigh, and nighed.

6 Each man shall help his neighbour, and shall say to his brother, Be thou comforted.

7 A smith of metal smiting with an hammer comforted him that polished, either made fair, in that time, saying, It is good to [the] glue; and he fastened him with nails, that he should not be moved.

8 And thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I chose, the seed of Abraham, my friend,

9 in whom I took thee; from the last parts of [the] earth, and from the far parts thereof I called thee; and I said to thee, Thou art my servant; I chose thee, and casted not away thee.

10 Dread thou not, for I am with thee; bow thou not away, for I am thy God. I comforted thee, and helped thee; and the right hand of my just [or rightwise] man up-took thee.

11 Lo! all men shall be shamed, and shall be ashamed, that fight against thee; they shall be as if they be not, and men shall perish, that against-say thee.

12 Thou shalt seek them, and thou shalt not find thy rebel men; they shall be as if they be not, and as the wasting of a man fighting against thee.

13 For I am thy Lord God, taking thine hand, and saying to thee, Dread thou not, I helped thee.

14 Do not thou, worm of Jacob, dread, ye that be dead of Israel. I helped thee, saith the Lord, and thine again-buyer, the Holy of Israel.

15 I have set thee as a new wain threshing, having sawing bills; thou shalt thresh mountains, and shalt make small, and thou shalt set little hills as dust.

16 Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall take them away, and a whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt make full out joy in the Lord, and thou shalt be glad in the Holy of Israel.

17 Needy men and poor seek waters, and those be not; the tongue of them dried for thirst. I the Lord shall hear them, I God of Israel shall not forsake them.

18 I shall open floods in high hills, and wells in the midst of fields; I shall set the desert into ponds of waters, and the land without a way into rivers of waters.

19 I shall give in wilderness a cedar, and a thorn, and a myrtle tree, and the tree of an olive; I shall set in the desert a fir tree, an elm, and a box tree together.

20 That they see, and know, and bethink, and understand together; that the hand of the Lord did this thing, and the Holy of Israel made that of nought.

21 Make ye nigh your doom, saith the Lord; bring ye, if in hap ye have anything, saith the King of Jacob.

22 Nigh, and tell to us, whatever things shall come; tell ye the former things that were, and we shall set our heart, and shall know; show ye to us the last things of them, and those things that shall come.

23 Tell ye what things shall come in time to coming [or to come], and we shall know, that ye be gods; also do ye well, either evil, if ye may; and speak we, and see we together.

24 Lo! ye be of nought, and your work is of that that is not; he that choose you, is abomination.

25 I raised from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun; he shall call my name. And he shall bring magistrates as clay, and as a potter defouling [the] earth.

26 Who told from the beginning, that we know, and from the beginning, that we say, Thou art just? none is telling, neither before-saying, neither hearing your words.

27 The first shall say to Zion, Lo! I am present; and I shall give a gospeller to Jerusalem.

28 And I saw, and none was of these, that took counsel, and he that was asked, answered a word.

29 Lo! all men be unjust, and their works be wind and vain; the simulacra of them be wind, and void thing.

CHAPTER 42

1 Lo! my servant, I shall up-take him; my chosen, my soul pleased to itself in him. I gave my spirit on him, he shall bring forth doom to heathen men.

2 He shall not cry, neither he shall take a person, neither his voice shall be heard withoutforth.

3 He shall not break a shaken reed, and he shall not quench smoking flax; he shall bring out doom in truth.

4 He shall not be sorrowful, neither troubled, till he set doom in [the] earth, and isles shall abide his law.

5 The Lord God saith these things, making heavens of nought, and stretching forth them, making steadfast the earth, and those things that burgeon [out] of it, giving breath to the people, that is on it, and giving spirit to them that tread on it.

6 I the Lord have called thee in rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and I took thine hand, and kept thee, and I gave thee into a bond of peace of the people, and into light of folks.

7 That thou shouldest open the eyes of blind men; that thou shouldest lead out of enclosing together a bound man, from the house of prison men sitting in darknesses.

8 I am the Lord, this is my name; I shall not give my glory to another, and my praising to graven images.

9 Lo! those things that were the first, be come, and I tell new things; I shall make heard to you, before that those [or they] begin to be made.

10 Sing ye a new song to the Lord; his praising is from the last parts of the earth; ye that go down into the sea, and the fullness thereof, isles, and the dwellers of those.

11 The desert be raised [up], and the cities thereof; he shall dwell in the houses of Kedar; ye dwellers of the stone, praise ye; they shall cry from the top of hills.

12 They shall set glory to the Lord, and they shall tell his praising in isles.

13 The Lord as a strong man shall go out, as a man a warrior he shall raise fervent love; he shall speak, and shall cry; he shall be comforted on his enemies.

14 I was still, ever I held [my] silence; I was patient, I shall speak as a woman travailing of child; I shall scatter, and I shall swallow together.

15 I shall make desert high mountains and little hills, and I shall dry up all the burgeoning of them; and I shall set floods into isles, and I shall make ponds dry.

16 And I shall lead out blind men into the way, which they know not, and I shall make them to go in paths, which they knew not; I shall set the darknesses of them before them into light, and shrewd things into rightful [or even] things; I did these words to them, and I forsook not them.

17 They be turned aback; be they shamed with shame, that trust in a graven image; which say to a molten image, Ye be our gods.

18 Ye deaf men, hear; and ye blind men, behold to see.

19 Who is blind, no but my servant? and deaf, but he to whom I sent my messengers? Who is blind, but he that is sold? and who is blind, but the servant of the Lord?

20 Whether thou that seest many things, shalt not keep? Whether thou that hast open ears, shalt not hear?

21 And the Lord would, that he should hallow it, and magnify the law, and enhance it.

22 But that people was ravished, and wasted; all they be the snare of young men, and be hid in the houses of prisons. They be made into raven, and none is that delivereth; into ravishing, and none there is that saith, Yield thou.

23 Who is among you, that heareth this, perceiveth, and hearkeneth things to coming [or to come]?

24 Who gave Jacob into ravishing, and Israel to destroyers? Whether not the Lord? He it is, against whom they sinned; and they would not go in his ways, and they heard not his law.

25 And he shedded [or poured] out on them the indignation of his strong vengeance, and strong battle; and he burnt it in compass, and it knew not; and he burnt it, and it understood not.

CHAPTER 43

1 And now the Lord God, making of nought thee, Jacob, and forming thee, Israel, saith these things, Do not thou dread, for I again-bought thee, and I called thee by thy name; thou art my servant.

2 When thou shalt go by waters, I shall be with thee, and floods shall not cover thee; when thou shalt go in fire, thou shalt not be burnt, and flame shall not burn in thee.

3 For I am thy Lord God, the Holy of Israel, thy saviour. I gave thy mercy Egypt; Ethiopia, and Seba, for thee.

4 Since thou art made honourable, and glorious in mine eyes; I loved thee, and I shall give men for thee, and peoples for thy soul.

5 Do not thou dread, for I am with thee; I shall bring thy seed from the east, and I shall gather thee together from the west.

6 I shall say to the north, Give thou, and to the south, Do not thou forbid; bring thou my sons from afar, and my daughters from the last parts of [the] earth.

7 And each that calleth my name to help, into my glory I made him of nought; I formed him, and made him.

8 Lead thou forth the blind people, and having eyes; the deaf people, and ears be to it.

9 All heathen men be gathered together, and lineages be gathered together. Who among you, who shall tell this, and shall make you to hear those things, that be the first? give they [the] witnesses of them, and be they justified, and hear they, and say.

10 Verily ye be my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servants, whom I chose; that ye know, and believe to me, and understand, for I myself am; before me is no God former [or before me is not formed God], and after me shall none be.

11 I am, I am the Lord, and without me is no Saviour [or and there is not without me a saviour].

12 I told, and saved; I made hearing, and none alien God was among you. Ye be my witnesses, saith the Lord; and I am God,

13 from the beginning, I myself am, and none there is that delivereth from mine hand; I shall work, and who shall destroy it?

14 The Lord, your again-buyer, the Holy of Israel, saith these things, For you I sent out into Babylon, and I drew down all [the] bars, and [the] Chaldees having glory in their ships.

15 I am the Lord, your Holy, your king, making Israel of nought.

16 The Lord saith these things, that gave [a] way in the sea, and a path in running waters;

17 which led out a cart, and horse, a company, and strong man; they slept together, neither they shall rise again; they be all-broken as flax, and be quenched.

18 Think ye not on the former things, and behold ye not old things.

19 Lo! I make new things, and now those shall begin to be made; soothly ye shall know them. I shall set [a] way in desert, and floods in a land without a way.

20 And a beast of the field shall glorify me, dragons and ostriches shall glorify me; for I gave waters in desert, and floods in the land without a way, that I should give drink to my people, to my chosen people.

21 I formed this people to me, it shall tell my praising.

22 Jacob, thou calledest not me to help; and thou, Israel, travailedest not for me.

23 Thou offeredest not to me the ram of thy burnt sacrifice, and thou glorifiedest not me with thy slain sacrifices. I made not thee to serve in offering, neither I gave to thee travail in incense.

24 Thou boughtest not to me sweet smelling spicery for silver, and thou filledest not me with [the] fatness of thy slain sacrifices; nevertheless thou madest me to serve in thy sins, thou gavest travail to me in thy wicked-nesses.

25 I am, I myself am, that do away thy wickednesses for me, and I shall not have mind on thy sins.

26 Bring me again into mind, and be we deemed together; tell thou, if thou hast anything, that thou be justified.

27 Thy first father sinned, and thine interpreters trespassed against me.

28 And I made foul holy princes, and I gave Jacob to death, and Israel into blasphemy.

CHAPTER 44

1 And now, Jacob, my servant, hear thou, and Israel, whom I chose.

2 The Lord making and forgiving thee, thine helper from the womb, saith these things, My servant, Jacob, do not thou dread, and thou most rightful [or most right], whom I chose.

3 For I shall shed [or pour] out waters on the thirsty, and floods on the dry land; I shall shed [or pour] out my spirit on thy seed, and my blessing on thy generation.

4 And they shall burgeon among herbs, as sallows beside running waters.

5 This man shall say, I am of the Lord, and he shall call in the name of Jacob; and this man shall write with his hand to the Lord, and shall be likened in the name of Israel.

6 The Lord, King of Israel, and again-buyer thereof, the Lord of hosts saith these things, I am the first, and I am the last, and without me is no God.

7 Who is like me? call he, and tell, and declare order to me, since I made eld people [or I ordained the old people]; tell he to them things to coming [or to come], and that shall be.

8 Do not ye dread, neither be ye troubled; from that time I made thee for to hear, and I told; ye be my witnesses. Whether a God is without me [or Whether is God without me], and a former, whom I knew not?

9 All the formers of an idol be nothing, and the most loved things of them shall not profit; they be witnesses of them, that they see not, neither understand, that they be shamed.

10 Who formed a god, and melted out an image, not profitable to anything?

11 Lo! all the partners thereof shall be shamed; for the smiths be of men. When all shall come, they shall stand, and shall dread, and shall be shamed together.

12 A smith wrought with a file; he formed it in coals, and in hammers, and he wrought with the arm of his strength. He shall be hungry, and he shall fail; he shall not drink water, and he shall be faint.

13 A carpenter stretched forth a rule, he formed it with an adze or an awl, either a joiner’s hook; he made it in the corner places, and he turned it in compass; and he made the image of a man, as a fair man, dwelling in the house.

14 He cutted down cedars, he took an hawthorn, and an oak, that stood among the trees of the forest; he planted a pine apple tree [or the pine tree], which he nourished with rain,

15 and it was made into fire to men. He took of those [or them], and was warmed, and he burnt, and baked loaves; but of the residue he wrought a god, and worshipped it, and he made a graven image, and he was bowed before that.

16 He burnt the half thereof with fire, and of the half thereof he seethed fleshes, and ate; he seethed pottage, and was filled; and he was warmed, and he said, Well! I am warmed; I saw [the] fire.

17 Forsooth the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven image to himself; he is bowed before that, and worshippeth that, and beseecheth, and saith, Deliver thou me, for thou art my god.

18 They knew not, neither under-stood, for they have forgotten, that their eyes see not, and that they understand not with their heart.

19 They bethink not in their soul, neither they know, neither they feel, that they say, I burnt the half thereof in fire, and I baked loaves on the coals thereof, and I seethed fleshes, and ate; and of the residue thereof shall I make an idol? shall I fall down before the stock of a tree?

20 A part thereof is ashes; an unwise heart shall worship it, and he shall not deliver his soul, neither he shall say, A strong leasing is in my right hand.

21 Thou, Jacob, and Israel, have mind of these things, for thou art my servant; I formed thee, Israel, thou art my servant; thou shalt not forget me.

22 I did away thy wickednesses as a cloud, and thy sins as a mist; turn thou again to me, for I again-bought thee.

23 Ye heavens, praise, for the Lord hath done mercy; the last parts of [the] earth, sing ye heartily song; hills, sound ye praising; the forest, and each tree thereof, praise God; for the Lord again-bought Jacob, and Israel shall have glory.

24 The Lord, thine again-buyer, and thy former from the womb, saith these things, I am the Lord, making all things, and I alone stretch forth heavens, and stablish the earth, and none is with me;

25 and I make void the signs of false diviners, and I turn into madness diviners that divine by sacrifices offered to fiends; and I turn wise men back-ward, and I make their science fond [or folly].

26 And the Lord raiseth the word of his servant, and [ful] filleth the counsel of his messengers; and I say to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be builded, and I shall raise the deserts thereof;

27 and I say to the depth, Be thou desolate, and I shall make dry thy floods;

28 and I say to Cyrus, Thou art my shepherd, and thou shalt fill all my will; and I say to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be builded; and to the temple, Thou shalt be founded.

CHAPTER 45

1 The Lord saith these things to my christ, Cyrus, whose right hand I took, that I make subject folks before his face, and turn the backs of kings; and I shall open [the] gates before him, and [the] gates shall not be closed.

2 I shall go before thee, and I shall make low the glorious men of earth; I shall all-break [the] brazen gates, and I shall break altogether [the] iron bars.

3 And I shall give hid treasures to thee, and the privy things of privates, that thou know, that I am the Lord, that call thy name, God of Israel,

4 for my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, and I called thee by thy name; I likened thee, and thou knewest not me.

5 I am the Lord, and there is no more; without me is no God. I have girded thee, and thou knewest not me.

6 That they that be at the rising of the sun, and they that be at the west, know, that without me is no God. I am the Lord, and none other God is;

7 forming light, and making dark-nesses, making peace, and forming evil; I am the Lord, doing all these things.

8 Heavens, send ye out dew from above, and clouds, rain on a just [or rightwise] man; the earth be opened, and bring forth the saviour, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] be born together; I the Lord have made him of nought.

9 Woe to him that against-saith his maker, a tilestone of [the] earth of sands. Whether [the] clay saith to his potter, What makest thou, and thy work is without hands?

10 Woe to him that saith to the father, What engenderest thou? and to a woman, What childest thou?

11 The Lord, the Holy of Israel, the former thereof, saith these things, Ask ye me things to coming [or to come] on my sons, and send ye to me on the works of mine hands.

12 I made earth, and I made a man on it; mine hands held abroad heavens, and I commanded to all the knighthood of them.

13 I raised him to rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and I shall address all his ways; he shall build my city, and he shall deliver my prisoners, not in price, neither in gifts, saith the Lord of hosts.

14 The Lord God saith these things, The travail of Egypt, and the mer-chandise of Ethiopia, and of Sabeans; [the] high men shall go to thee, and shall be thine; they shall go after thee, they shall go bound in manacles, and shall worship thee, and shall beseech thee. They shall say, God is only in thee, and without thee is no God.

15 Verily thou art God hid, God, the saviour of Israel.

16 All makers of errors, that is, idols, be shamed, and were ashamed; they went together into confusion.

17 Israel is saved in the Lord, by everlasting health; ye shall not be shamed, and ye shall not be ashamed, till into the world of world.

18 For why the Lord making heavens of nought, saith these things; he is God forming earth, and making it, he is the maker thereof; he made it of nought, not in vain, but he formed it, that it be inhabited; I am the Lord, and none other is.

19 I spake not in hid place, not in a dark place of earth; I said not to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. I am the Lord speaking rightfulness [or rightwiseness], telling rightful [or right] things.

20 Be ye gathered, and come ye, and nigh ye together, that be saved of heathen men; they that raise a sign of their engraving, knew not, and they pray a god that saveth not.

21 Tell ye, and come ye, and take ye counsel together. Who made this heard from the beginning? from that time I before-said it. Whether I am not the Lord, and no God is further without me? [a] God rightful [or rightwise] and saving is none, besides me.

22 All the coasts of earth, be ye converted to me, and ye shall be safe; for I am the Lord, and none other there is [or and there is not another].

23 I swore in myself, a word of rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall go out of my mouth, and it shall not turn again; for each knee shall be bowed to me, and each tongue shall swear.

24 Therefore they shall say in the Lord, Rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses] and empire be mine; all that fight against him shall come to him, and shall be ashamed.

25 All the seed of Israel shall be justified and praised in the Lord.

CHAPTER 46

1 Bel is broken, Nebo is all-broken; their simulacra like to wild beasts and work beasts be broken; your burdens with heavy charge till to weariness were rotten,

2 and be all-broken together; those might not save the bearer, and the soul of them shall go into captivity.

3 The house of Jacob, and all the residue of the house of Israel, hear ye me, which be borne of my womb, which be borne of my womb.

4 Till to eld I myself, and till to hoar hairs, I shall bear; I made, and I shall bear, and I shall save.

5 To whom have ye likened me, and made even, and have comparisoned me, and have made like?

6 Which bear together gold from the bag, and weigh silver with a balance, and hire a goldsmith to make a god, and they fall down, and worship;

7 they bearing bear in shoulders, and setting in his place; and he shall stand, and shall not be moved from his place; but also when they cry to him, he shall not hear, and he shall not save them from tribulation.

8 Have ye mind of this, and be ye ashamed; ye trespassers, go again to the heart.

9 Bethink ye on the former world, for I am God, no God is over me, neither is like me.

10 And I tell from the beginning the last thing, and from the beginning those things that be not made yet; and I say, My counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done.

11 And I call a bird from the east, and the man of my will from a far land; and I spake, and I shall bring that thing; I have made of nought, and I shall make that thing.

12 Ye of hard heart, hear me, that be far from rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

13 I made nigh mine rightfulness [or rightwiseness], it shall not be drawn afar, and mine health shall not tarry; I shall give health in Zion, and my glory in Israel.

CHAPTER 47

1 Thou virgin, the daughter of Babylon, go down, sit thou in dust, sit thou in [the] earth; a king’s seat is not to the daughter of [the] Chaldees, for thou shalt no more be called soft and tender.

2 Take thou a quernstone, and grind thou meal; make thou naked thy filth-hood, discover the shoulder, show the hips, pass thou [over the] floods.

3 Thy shame shall be showed, and thy shame shall be seen; I shall take vengeance, and no man shall against-stand me.

4 Our again-buyer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy of Israel.

5 Daughter of Chaldees, sit thou, be thou still, and enter into darknesses, for thou shalt no more be called the lady of realms.

6 I was wroth on my people, I defouled mine heritage, and I gave them in thine hand, and thou settedest not mercies to them; thou madest grievous the yoke greatly on an eld [or old] man,

7 and thou saidest, Without end I shall be [a] lady; thou puttedest not these things on thine heart, neither thou bethoughtest on thy last thing.

8 And now, thou delicate, and dwelling trustily, hear these things, which sayest in thine heart, I am, and besides me there is no more; I shall not sit [a] widow, and I shall not know barrenness.

9 These two things, barrenness and widowhood, shall come to thee suddenly in one day; all things came on thee for the multitude of thy witchcrafts, and for the great hardness of thine enchanters, either tregetours.

10 And thou haddest trust in thy malice, and saidest, None is that seeth me; this, thy wisdom and thy knowing, deceived thee; and thou saidest in thine heart, I am, and besides me there is none other.

11 Evil shall come [up] on thee, and thou shalt not know the beginning thereof; and wickedness or wretched-ness shall fall [up] on thee, which thou shalt not be able to cleanse; wretched-ness which thou knowest not, shall come [up] on thee suddenly.

12 Stand thou with thine enchanters, and with the multitude of thy witches, in which thou travailedest from thy youth; if in hap they profit anything to thee, either if thou mayest be made the stronger.

13 Thou failedest in the multitude of thy counsels; the false diviners of heaven stand, and save thee, which beheld stars, and numbered months, that they should tell by them things to coming [or to come] to thee.

14 Lo! they be made as stubble, the fire hath burnt them; they shall not deliver their life from the power of flame; coals be not, by which they shall be warmed, neither fire, that they sit at it.

15 So those things be made to thee in which ever thou travailedest; thy merchants from thy youth erred, each man in his way; none is, that shall save thee.

CHAPTER 48

1 The house of Jacob, that be called by the name of Israel, and went out of the waters of Judah, hear these things, which swear in the name of the Lord, and have mind on God of Israel, not in truth, neither in rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

2 For they be called of the holy city, and be stablished on the God of Israel, the Lord of hosts is his name.

3 From that time I told [out] the former things, and those went out of my mouth; and I made them known; suddenly I wrought, and those things came.

4 For I knew that thou art hard, and thy noll is a sinew of iron, and thy forehead is of brass.

5 I before-said to thee from that time; before that those things came, I showed to thee; lest peradventure thou wouldest say, Mine idols did these things, and my graven images, and my molten images, sent these things,

6 which thou heardest. See thou all things, but ye told not. I made heard new things to thee from that time, and things be kept which thou knowest not;

7 now those be made of nought, and not from that time, and before the day, and thou heardest not those things; lest peradventure thou say, Lo! I knew those things.

8 Neither thou heardest, neither thou knewest, neither thine ear was opened from that time; for I know, that thou trespassing shalt trespass, and I called thee a trespasser from the womb.

9 For my name I shall make far my strong vengeance, and with my praising I shall refrain [or bridle] thee, lest thou perish.

10 Lo! I have sodden thee, but not as silver; I chose thee in the chimney of poverty.

11 I shall do for me, that I be not blasphemed, and I shall not give my glory to another.

12 Jacob and Israel, whom I call, hear thou me; I myself, I am the first, and I am the last.

13 And mine hand founded the earth, and my right hand meted [or measured] heavens; I shall call them, and they shall stand together.

14 All ye be gathered together, and hear; who of them told [out] these things? The Lord loved him, he shall do his will in Babylon, and his arm in Chaldees.

15 I, I spake, and called him; I brought him, and his way was addressed.

16 Nigh ye to me, and hear ye these things; at the beginning I spake not in huddles, either private; from time, before that things were made, I was there, and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, sent me.

17 The Lord, thine again-buyer, the Holy of Israel, saith these things, I am thy Lord God, teaching thee profitable things, and I govern thee in the way, wherein thou goest.

18 I would that thou haddest perceived my commandments, thy peace had been made as [a] flood, and thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness] as the swells of the sea;

19 and thy seed had been as gravel, and the generation of thy womb, as the little stones thereof; the name of it had not perished, and had not been all-broken from my face.

20 Go ye out of Babylon, flee ye from Chaldees; tell ye in the voice of full out joying; make ye this heard, and bear ye it unto the last parts of [the] earth; say ye, The Lord again-bought his servant Jacob.

21 They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out; he brought forth to them water of a stone, and he parted the stone, and waters flowed.

22 Peace is not to wicked men, saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 49

1 Isles, hear ye, and peoples afar, perceive ye; the Lord called me from the womb, he thought on my name from the womb of my mother.

2 And he hath set [or put] my mouth as a sharp sword, he defended me in the shadow of his hand, and setted [or put] me as a chosen arrow; he hid me in his arrow case,

3 and said to me, Israel, thou art my servant, for I shall have glory in thee.

4 And I said, I travailed in vain, I wasted my strength without cause, and vainly; therefore my doom is with the Lord, and my work is with my God.

5 And now the Lord, forming me a servant to himself from the womb, saith these things, that I bring again Jacob to him. And Israel shall not be gathered together; and I am glorified in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is made my strength.

6 And he said, It is little, that thou be a servant to me, to raise the lineages of Jacob, and to convert the dregs of Israel; I gave thee into the light of heathen men, that thou be mine health till to the last part of [the] earth.

7 The Lord, [the] again-buyer of Israel, the Holy thereof, saith these things to a despisable soul, and to a folk had in abomination, to the servant of lords, Kings shall see, and princes shall rise together, and shall worship, for the Lord, for he is faithful, and for the Holy of Israel, that chose thee.

8 The Lord saith these things, In a pleasant time I heard thee, and in the day of health I helped thee; and I kept thee, and gave thee into a bond of peace of the people, that thou shouldest raise tillage upon the earth, and have in possession heritages, that be destroyed;

9 that thou shouldest say to them that be bound, Go ye out, and to them that be in darknesses, Be ye showed. They shall be fed in ways, and the pastures of them shall be in all plain things.

10 They shall not hunger, and they shall no more thirst; and heat, and the sun shall not smite them; for the merciful doer of them shall govern them, and shall give drink to them at the wells of waters.

11 And I shall set all mine hills [or put my mountains] into [a] way, and my paths shall be enhanced.

12 Lo! these men shall come from [a] far, and lo! they shall come from the north, and from the sea, and these from the south land.

13 Heavens, praise ye, and thou earth, make full out joy; hills, sing ye heartily praising; for the Lord [hath] comforted his people, and shall have mercy on his poor men.

14 And Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.

15 Whether a woman may forget her young child, that she have not mercy on the son of her womb? though she forget, nevertheless I shall not forget thee.

16 Lo! I have written thee in mine hands; thy walls, be ever before mine eyes.

17 The builders be come; they that destroy thee, and scatter, shall go away from thee.

18 Raise [up] thine eyes in compass, and see; all these men be gathered together, they be come to thee. I live, saith the Lord, for thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and thou as a spousess shalt bind them to thee.

19 For why thy deserts, and thy wildernesses, and the land of thy falling, now shall be strait for [the] inhabiters; and they shall be driven away [a] far, that swallowed thee.

20 Yet the sons of thy barrenness shall say in thine ears, The place is strait to me, make thou a space to me for to dwell.

21 And thou shalt say in thine heart, Who engendered these sons to me? I am barren, not bearing child; I am led over, and prisoner; and who nourished these sons? I am destitute, and alone; and where were these?

22 The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I raise mine hand to heathen men, and I shall enhance my sign to peoples; and they shall bring thy sons in arms, and they shall bear thy daughters on shoulders.

23 And kings shall be thy nursers or nourishers, and queens shall be thy nurses; with cheer cast down into [the] earth they shall worship thee, and they shall lick the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know, that I am the Lord, on whom they shall not be shamed, that abide him.

24 Whether prey shall be taken away from a strong man? either that that is taken of a stalworthy man, may be safe?

25 For the Lord saith these things, Soothly and [the] captivity shall be taken away from the strong man, and that that is taken away of a stalworthy man, shall be saved. Forsooth I shall deem them that deemed thee, and I shall save thy sons.

26 And I shall feed thine enemies with their fleshes, and they shall be greatly filled with their blood, as with must; and each man shall know, that I am the Lord, saving thee, and thine again-buyer, the Strong of Jacob.

CHAPTER 50

1 The Lord saith these things, What is this book of forsaking of your mother, by which I let go her? either who is he, to whom I owe, to whom I sold you? For lo! ye be sold for your wickednesses, and for your great trespasses I let go your mother.

2 For I came, and no man was; I called, and none was that heard. Whether mine hand is abridged, and made little, that I may not again-buy? either strength is not in me for to deliver? Lo! in my blaming I shall make the sea forsaken, either desert, I shall set floods in the dry place; fishes without water shall wax rotten, and shall die for thirst.

3 I shall clothe heavens with dark-nesses, and I shall set a sackcloth the covering of them.

4 The Lord gave to me a learned tongue, that I know how to sustain him by word that failed; early the father raiseth [up], early he raiseth [up] an ear to me, that I hear as a master.

5 The Lord God opened an ear to me; forsooth I against-say not, I went not aback.

6 I gave my body to [the] smiters, and my cheeks to [the] pullers; I turned not away my face from men blaming, and spitting on me.

7 The Lord God is mine helper, and therefore I am not shamed; therefore I have set my face as a stone made hard, and I know that I shall not be shamed.

8 He is nigh, that justifieth me; who against-saith me? stand we together. Who is mine adversary? nigh he to me.

9 Lo! the Lord God is mine helper; who therefore is he that condemneth me? Lo! all shall be defouled as a cloth, and a moth shall eat them.

10 Who of you dreadeth the Lord, and heareth the voice of his servant? Who went in darknesses, and light is not to him, hope he in the name of the Lord, and trust he on his God.

11 Lo! all ye kindling fire, and gird with flames, go in the light of your fire, and in the flames which ye have kindled to you. This is made of mine hand to you, ye shall sleep in sorrows.

CHAPTER 51

1 Hear ye me, that follow that that is just, and seek the Lord. Take ye heed to the stone, from whence ye be hewn down, and to the cave of the pit, from which ye be cut down.

2 Take ye heed to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, that childed you; for I called him when he was but one, or without an heir, and I blessed him, and I multiplied him.

3 Therefore the Lord shall comfort Zion, and he shall comfort all the fallings thereof; and he shall set the desert thereof in delights, and the wilderness thereof as a garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, the doing of thankings and the voice of praising.

4 My people, take ye heed to me, and, my lineage, hear ye me; for why a law shall go out from me, and my doom shall rest into the light of peoples.

5 My just [or rightwise]man is nigh, my saviour is gone out, and mine arms shall deem peoples; isles shall abide me, and shall suffer mine arm.

6 Raise your eyes to heaven, and see ye under earth beneath; for why heavens shall melt away as smoke, and the earth shall be all-broken as a cloth, and the dwellers thereof shall perish as these things; but mine health shall be without end, and my rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall not fail.

7 Ye people, that know the just [or rightwise]man, hear me, my law is in the heart of them; do not ye dread the shame of men, and dread ye not the blasphemies of them.

8 For why a worm shall eat them so as a cloth, and a moth shall devour them so as wool; but mine health shall be without end, and my rightfulness [or rightwiseness] into generations of generations.

9 Rise thou, rise thou, arm of the Lord, be thou clothed in strength; rise thou, as in [the] eld days, in generations of worlds. Whether thou smitedest not the proud man, wound-edest not the dragon?

10 Whether thou driedest not the sea, the water of the great depth, which settedest [or puttest] the depth of the sea to be a way, that men that were delivered, should pass [over]?

11 And now they that be again-bought of the Lord shall turn again, and shall come praising into Zion, and everlasting gladness on the heads of them; they shall hold joy and gladness, and sorrow and wailing shall flee away.

12 I, I myself, that is, I am he, I am he, that shall comfort you; who art thou, that thou dreadest of a deadly man, and of the son of man, that shall wax dry so as hay?

13 And thou hast forgotten the Lord, thy Creator, that stretched abroad heavens, and founded the earth; and thou dreadedest continually all day of the face of his strong vengeance, that did tribulation to thee, and made ready for to lose. Where is now the strong vengeance of the troubler?

14 Soon he shall come, going for to open; and he shall not slay till to death, neither his bread shall fail.

15 Forsooth I am thy Lord God, that trouble the sea, and the waves thereof wax great; the Lord of hosts is my name.

16 I have put my words in thy mouth, and I defended thee in the shadow of mine hand; that thou plant heavens, and found the earth, and say to Zion, Thou art my people.

17 Be thou raised, be thou raised, rise thou, Jerusalem, that hast drunk of the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunk unto the bottom of the cup of sleep, thou hast drunk of unto the dregs.

18 None there is that sustaineth it, of all the sons which it engendered; and none there is that taketh the hand thereof, of all the sons which it nourished.

19 Two things there be that came to thee; who shall be sorry on thee? destroying, and defouling, and hunger, and sword. Who shall comfort thee?

20 Thy sons be cast forth, they slept in the head of all ways, as the beast oryx, taken with a snare; they be full of [the] indignation of the Lord, of the blaming of thy God.

21 Therefore thou poor, and drunken, not of wine, hear these things.

22 The Lordly Governor, thy Lord, and thy God, that fought for his people, saith these things, Lo! I have taken from thine hand the cup of sleep, the bottom of the cup of mine indignation; I shall not lay to, that thou drink it any more.

23 And I shall set it in the hand of them that made thee low, and said to thy soul, Be thou bowed, that we pass; and thou hast set thy body as earth, and as a way to them that go forth.

CHAPTER 52

1 Rise thou, Zion, rise thou, be thou clothed in thy strength; Jerusalem, the city of the Holy, be thou clothed in the clothes of thy glory; for a man uncircumcised and a man unclean shall no more lay to, that he pass by thee.

2 Jerusalem, be thou shaken out of [the] dust; rise thou, sit thou; thou daughter of Zion, prisoner, unbind the bonds of thy neck.

3 For the Lord saith these things, Ye be sold without cause, and ye shall be again-bought without silver.

4 For the Lord God saith these things, My people in the beginning went down into Egypt, that it should be there an earth-tiller, either a comeling, and Assur falsely challenged it without any cause.

5 And now what is to me here? saith the Lord; for my people is taken away without cause; the lords thereof do wickedly, saith the Lord, and my name is blasphemed continually all day.

6 For this thing my people shall know my name in that day, for lo! I myself that spake, am present.

7 Full fair be the feet of him that telleth, and preacheth peace on hills [or mountains], of him that telleth good tidings, of him that preacheth health, and saith, Zion, thy God shall reign.

8 The voice of thy beholders; they raised the voice, they shall praise together; for they shall see with eye to eye, when the Lord hath converted Zion.

9 The deserted, either forsaken, things of Jerusalem, make ye joy, and praise ye together; for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath again-bought Jerusalem.

10 The Lord hath made ready his holy arm in the eyes of all folks, and all the ends of the earth shall see the health of our God.

11 Go ye away, go ye away, go ye out from thence; do not ye touch [the] defouled thing, go ye out from the midst thereof; be ye cleansed, that bear the vessels of the Lord.

12 For ye shall not go out in noise, neither ye shall haste in flying away; for why the Lord shall go before you, and the God of Israel shall gather you together.

13 Lo! my servant shall understand, and he shall be enhanced, and he shall be raised, and he shall be full high.

14 As many men wondered on him, so his beholding shall be without glory among men, and the form, either shape, of him among the sons of men.

15 He shall besprinkle many folks; kings shall hold together their mouth on him; for they shall see, to which it was not told of him, and they that heard not, beheld.

CHAPTER 53

1 Who believed to our hearing? and to whom is the arm of the Lord showed?

2 And he shall go up as a rod before him, and as a root from [the] thirsty land. And neither shape neither fairness was to him; and we saw him, and no beholding was; and we desired him,

3 despised, and the last of men, a man of sorrows, and knowing sickness. And his cheer was as hid, and despised; wherefore and we areckoned not him.

4 Verily he suffered our sicknesses, and he bare our sorrows; and we areckoned him as a mesel, and smitten of God, and made low.

5 Forsooth he was wounded for our wickednesses, he was defouled for our great trespasses; the learning of our peace was on him, and we be made whole by his wanness.

6 All we erred as sheep, each man bowed into his own way, and the Lord putted [or put] in him the wickedness of us all.

7 He was offered, for he would, and he opened not his mouth; as a sheep he shall be led to slaying, and he shall be dumb as a lamb before him that clippeth it, and he shall not open his mouth.

8 He is taken away from anguish and from doom; who shall tell out the generation of him? For he was cut down from the land of livers. I smote him for the great trespass of my people.

9 And he shall give unfaithful men for burying, and rich men for his death; for he did not wickedness, neither guile was in his mouth;

10 and the Lord would defoul him in sickness. If he putteth his life for sin, he shall see his seed long enduring, and the will of the Lord shall be addressed in his hand.

11 For that that his soul travailed, he shall see, and shall be filled, [or For-thy that he travailed, his soul shall see, and be fulfilled]. That my just [or rightwise] servant shall justify many men in his knowing, and he shall bear the wickednesses of them.

12 Therefore I shall yield, either deal, to him full many men, and he shall part the spoils of the strong fiends; for that that he gave his life into death, and was areckoned with felonious men; and he did away the sin of many men, and he prayed for trespassers.

CHAPTER 54

1 Thou barren, that childest not, praise; thou that childest not, sing praising, and make joy; for why many sons be of the forsaken, more than of her that had [the] husband, saith the Lord.

2 Alarge thou the place of thy tent, and stretch forth the skins of thy tabernacles; spare thou not, make long thy ropes, and make firm thy nails.

3 For thou shalt pierce to the right side and to the left side; and thy seed shall inherit heathen men, and shall dwell in forsaken cities.

4 Do not thou dread, for thou shalt not be shamed, neither thou shalt be ashamed. For it shall not shame thee; for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and thou shalt no more think on the shame of thy widowhood.

5 For he that made thee, shall be lord of thee; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thine again-buyer, the Holy of Israel, shall be called God of all earth.

6 For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and mourning in spirit, and a wife, that is cast away from youth. Thy Lord God said,

7 At a point in little time, I forsook thee, and I shall gather thee together in great merciful doings.

8 In a moment of indignation I hid my face a little from thee, and in mercy everlasting I had mercy on thee, said thine again-buyer, the Lord.

9 As in the days of Noah, this thing is to me, to whom I swore, that I should no more bring waters of the great flood on the earth; so I swore, that I shall be no more wroth to thee, and that I blame not thee.

10 Forsooth hills [or mountains] shall be moved together, and little hills shall tremble together; but my mercy shall not go away from thee, and the bond of my peace shall not be moved, saith the merciful doer, the Lord.

11 Thou little and poor, drawn out by tempest, without any comfort, lo! I shall strew thy stones by order, and I shall found thee in sapphires;

12 and I shall set jasper thy towers, and thy gates into engraved stones, and all thine ends into desirable stones.

13 And I shall set all thy sons taught of the Lord; and the multitude of peace to thy sons,

14 and thou shalt be founded in rightfulness [or rightwiseness]. Go thou away far from false challenge, for thou shalt not dread; and from dread, for it shall not nigh to thee.

15 Lo! a stranger shall come, that was not with me; he, that was some-time thy comeling, shall be joined to thee.

16 Lo! I made a smith blowing coals in [the] fire, and bringing forth a vessel into his work; and I have made a slayer, for to lose.

17 Each vessel which is made against thee, shall not be addressed; and in the doom thou shalt deem each tongue against-standing thee. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and the rightfulness [or rightwiseness] of them at me, saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 55

1 All that thirst, come ye to waters, [or All ye thirsting, cometh to waters], and ye that have not silver, haste, buy ye, and eat ye; come ye, buy ye, without silver and without any exchanging, wine and milk.

2 Why weigh ye silver, and not in loaves, and your travail, not in fullness? Ye hearing hear me, and eat ye good things, and your soul shall delight in fatness.

3 Bow ye [in] your ear, and come ye to me; hear ye, and your soul shall live; and I shall smite with you a covenant everlasting, the faithful mercies of David.

4 Lo! I gave him a witness to peoples, a duke and a commander to folks.

5 Lo! thou shalt call folks, which thou knewest not; and folks, that knew not thee, shall run to thee; for thy Lord God, and the Holy of Israel, for he glorified thee.

6 Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found; call ye him to help, while he is nigh.

7 An unfaithful man forsake his way, and a wicked man forsake his thoughts; and turn he again to the Lord, and he shall have mercy on him, and to our God, for he is much to forgive.

8 For why my thoughts be not your thoughts, and my ways be not your ways, saith the Lord.

9 For as heavens be raised from earth, so my ways be raised from your ways, and my thoughts from your thoughts.

10 And as rain and snow cometh down from heaven, and turneth no more again thither, but it filleth, or maketh moist, the earth, and beshed-deth it [or poureth into it], and maketh it to burgeon, and giveth seed to him that soweth, and bread to him that eateth,

11 so shall be my word, that shall go out of my mouth. It shall not turn again void to me, but it shall do whatever things I would, and it shall have prosperity in these things to which I sent it.

12 For ye shall go out in gladness, and ye shall be led forth in peace; mountains and little hills shall sing praising before you, and all the trees of the country shall make joy with hands.

13 A fir tree shall grow or go up for a gorse, either furze, and a myrtle tree shall wax for a nettle; and the Lord shall be named into a sign everlasting, that shall not be done away.

CHAPTER 56

1 The Lord saith these things, Keep ye doom, and do ye rightfulness [or rightwiseness], for why mine health is nigh, that it come, and my rightfulness [or rightwiseness], that it be showed.

2 Blessed is the man, that doeth this, and the son of a man, that shall take this; keeping the sabbath, that he defoul not it, keeping his hands, that he do not any evil.

3 And say not the son of a comeling, that cleaveth fast to the Lord, saying, By parting the Lord shall part me from his people; and a gelding, either a chaste man, say not, Lo! I am a dry tree.

4 For the Lord saith these things to geldings, that keep my sabbaths, and choose what things I would, and hold my bond of peace.

5 I shall give to them a place in mine house, and within my walls, and the best name, of sons and daughters; I shall give to them a name everlasting, that shall not perish.

6 And I shall bring in to bless the sons of a comeling, that cleave fast to the Lord, that they worship him, and love his name, that they be to him into servants; each man keeping the sabbath, that he defoul it not, and holding my bond of peace;

7 I shall bring them into mine holy hill, and I shall make them glad in the house of my prayer; their burnt sacrifices and their slain sacrifices shall please me on mine altar; for why mine house shall be called an house of prayer to all peoples,

8 saith the Lord God, that gathereth together the scattered men of Israel. Yet I shall gather together to him all the gathered men thereof.

9 All beasts of the field, come ye to devour, all beasts of the forest.

10 All the beholders thereof be blind, all they knew not; dumb dogs, that may not bark; seeing vain things, sleeping, and loving dreams;

11 and most unshamefast dogs knew not fullness. Those shepherds knew not understanding; all they bowed into their way, each man to his avarice, from the highest till to the last.

12 Come ye, take we wine, and be we filled of drunkenness; and it shall be as today, so and tomorrow, and much more.

CHAPTER 57

1 A just [or rightwise] man perisheth, and none is that thinketh in his heart; and men of mercy be gathered together, for none there is that understandeth; for why a just [or rightwise] man is gathered from the face of malice.

2 Peace come, rest he in his bed, that went in his addressing.

3 But ye, sons of the seeker of false divining by chittering of birds, nigh hither, the seed of adulteress, and of a whore.

4 On whom scorned ye? on whom made ye great the mouth, and putted out the tongue? Whether ye be not cursed sons, a seed of leasings?

5 which be comforted in gods, under each tree full of boughs, and offer little children in strands [or streams], under high stones.

6 Thy part is in the parts of the strand [or stream], this is thy part; and to them thou sheddest [or pourest] out moist [or liquor] offering, thou offeredest sacrifice. Whether I shall not have indignation on these things?

7 Thou puttedest thy bed on an high hill and enhanced, and thither thou ascendedest to offer sacrifices;

8 and thou settedest thy memorial behind the door, and behind the post. For besides me, thou uncoveredest thee, and tookest [the] adulterer; thou alargedest thy bed, and madest a bond of peace with them; thou lovedest the bed of them with open hand,

9 and adornedest thee with [the] king’s ointment, and thou multipliedest thy pigments; thou sentest far thy messengers, and thou art made low till to hells [or hell].

10 Thou travailedest in the multitude of thy ways, and saidest not, I shall rest; thou hast found the way of thine hand, therefore thou prayedest not.

11 For what thing dreadedest thou busy, for thou liedest, and thoughtest not on me? And thou thoughtest not in thine heart, that I am still, and as not seeing; and thou hast forgotten me.

12 I shall tell [out] thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and thy works shall not profit to thee.

13 When thou shalt cry, thy gathered treasures deliver thee; and the wind shall take away all them, a blast shall do away them; but he that hath trust on me, shall inherit the land, and shall have in possession mine holy hill [or holy mountain].

14 And I shall say, Make ye way, give ye journey, bow ye from the path, do ye away hurtings from the way of my people.

15 For the Lord high, and enhanced, saith these things, that dwelleth in everlastingness, and his holy name in high place, and that dwelleth in holy-ness, and with a contrite, either full sorry, and meek spirit, that he quicken the spirit of meek men, and quicken the heart of contrite men.

16 For I shall not strive without end, neither I shall be wroth till to the end; for why a spirit shall go out from my face, and I shall make blasts.

17 I was wroth for the wickedness of his avarice, and I smote him. I hid my face from thee, and I had indignation; and he went without steadfast dwelling, in the way of his heart.

18 I saw his ways, and I healed him, and I brought him again; and I gave comfortings to him, and to the mourners of him.

19 I made the fruit of lips peace, peace to him that is far, and to him that is nigh, said the Lord; and I healed him.

20 But wicked men be as the boiling sea, that may not rest; and the waves thereof float again into defouling, and fen.

21 The Lord God said, Peace is not to wicked men.

CHAPTER 58

1 Cry thou, cease thou not; as a trump enhance thy voice, and show thou to my people their great trespasses, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 For they seek me from day into day, and they will to know my ways; as a folk, that hath done rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and that hath not forsaken the doom of their God; they pray me dooms of rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and they will to nigh to God.

3 Why fasted we, and thou beheldest not; we meeked our souls, and thou knewest not? Lo! your will is found in the day of your fasting, and ye ask all your debtors.

4 Lo! ye fast to chidings and strivings, and smite with the fist wickedly. Do not ye fast, as ye have unto this day, that your cry be heard on high.

5 Whether such is the fasting which I choose, a man to torment his soul by day? whether to bind his head as a circle, and to make ready a sackcloth and ashes? Whether thou shalt call this a fasting, and a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 Whether not this is more the fasting, which I choose? Unbind thou the bindings together of unpity, either of cruelty, release thou [the] burdens pressing down; deliver thou them free, that be broken, and break thou each burden.

7 Break thy bread to the hungry man, and bring into thine house needy men and harbourless; when thou seest a naked man, cover thou him, and despise not thy flesh, that is, brother or sister.

8 Then thy light shall break out as the morrowtide, and thine health shall rise full soon; and thy rightful-ness [or rightwiseness] shall go before thy face, and the glory of the Lord shall gather thee to rest.

9 Then thou shalt call to help, and the Lord shall hear; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Lo! I am present, for I am merciful, thy Lord God. If thou takest away the chain from the midst of thee, and ceasest to hold forth the finger, and to speak that that profiteth not;

10 when thou sheddest [or shalt pour] out thy soul, either thy will, to an hungry man, and [ful] fillest a soul that is tormented, thy light shall rise in darknesses, and thy darknesses shall be as midday.

11 And the Lord thy God shall give ever rest to thee, and shall [ful] fill thy soul with shinings, and shall deliver thy bones; and thou shalt be as a watered garden, and as a well of waters, whose waters shall not fail.

12 And the forsaken things of world’s shall be builded in thee, and thou shalt raise the foundaments of generation and generation; and thou shalt be called, A builder of hedges, turning away the paths of wicked-nesses.

13 If thou turnest away thy foot from the sabbath, to do thy [own] will in mine holy day; and callest the sabbath delicate, and holy, the glorious of the Lord; and glorifiest him, while thou doest not thy ways, and thy will is not found, that thou speak a word;

14 then thou shalt delight on the Lord, and I shall raise thee [up] on the highness of the earth, and I shall feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father; for why the mouth of the Lord spake.

CHAPTER 59

1 Lo! the hand of the Lord is not abridged, that he may not save, neither his ear is made hard, that he hear not;

2 but your wickednesses have parted betwixt you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he should not hear.

3 For why your hands be defouled with blood, and your fingers with wickedness; your lips spake leasing, and your tongue speaketh wickedness.

4 None there is, that calleth rightful-ness to help, and none is, that deemeth verily; but they trust in nought, and speak vanities; they conceived travail, and childed wickedness.

5 The have broken eggs of snakes, and made webs of an araneid; he that eateth of the eggs of them, shall die, and that that is nursed, or hatched, shall break out into a cockatrice.

6 The webs of them shall not be into cloth[ing], neither they shall be covered with their works; the works of them be unprofitable works, and the work of wickedness is in the hands of them.

7 The feet of them run to evil, and haste to shed out innocent blood; the thoughts of them be unprofitable thoughts; destroying and defouling be in the ways of them.

8 They knew not the way of peace, and doom is not in the goings of them; the paths of them be bowed to them; each that treadeth in those [or in them], knoweth not peace.

9 Therefore doom is made far from us, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall not take us; we abided light, and lo! darknesses be; we abided shining, and we went in darknesses.

10 We groped as blind men the wall, and we as without eyes touched; we stumbled in midday, as in darknesses, in dark places, as dead men.

11 All we shall roar as bears, and we shall wail thinking as culvers; we abided doom, and none there is; we abided health, and it is made far from us.

12 For why our wickednesses be multiplied before thee, and our sins answered to us; for our great trespasses be with us, and we knew our wickednesses,

13 to do sin, and to lie against the Lord. And we be turned away, that we went not after the back of our God, that we speak false challenge, and trespassing. We conceived, and spake of heart, words of leasing;

14 and doom was turned aback, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] stood [a] far; for why truth fell down in the street, and equity, either evenness, might not enter.

15 And truth was made into forgetting, and he that went away from evil, was open to prey, either robbing. And the Lord saw, and it appeared evil in his eyes, for there is no doom.

16 And God saw, that a man is not, and he was anguished, for none there is that runneth to. And his arm shall save to himself, and his rightfulness [or rightwiseness] itself shall confirm him.

17 He is clothed with rightfulness [or rightwiseness] as with an habergeon, and the helmet of health is in his head; he is clothed with [the] clothes of vengeance, and he is covered as with a mantle of fervent working.

18 As to vengeance, as to yielding of indignation to his enemies, and to requiting of time to his adversaries, he shall yield while to [the] isles.

19 And they that be at the west, shall dread the name of the Lord, and they that be at the rising of the sun, shall dread the glory of him; when he shall come as a violent flood, whom the spirit of the Lord compelleth.

20 When [the] again-buyer shall come to Zion, and to them that go again from wickedness in Jacob, saith the Lord.

21 This is my bond of peace with them, saith the Lord; My spirit which is in thee, and my words which I have set in thy mouth, shall not go away from thy mouth, and from the mouth of thy seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and till into without end.

CHAPTER 60

1 Rise thou, Jerusalem, be thou lightened [or lighted], for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen on thee.

2 For lo! darknesses shall cover the earth, and mist shall cover peoples; but the Lord shall rise [up] on thee, and his glory shall be seen in thee.

3 And heathen men shall go in thy light, and kings in the shining of thy rising.

4 Raise thine eyes in compass, and see; all these men be gathered together, they be come to thee; thy sons shall come from [a] far, and thy daughters shall rise from the side.

5 Then thou shalt see, and shalt flow; and thine heart shall wonder, and shall be alarged, when the multitude of the sea is converted to thee, the strength of heathen men is come to thee;

6 the flowing of camels shall cover thee, the leaders of dromedaries of Midian and of Ephah; all men of Sheba shall come, bringing gold and incense, and telling praising to the Lord.

7 Each sheep of Kedar shall be gathered to thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to thee; they shall be offered on mine acceptable altar, and I shall glorify the house of my majesty.

8 Who be these, that fly as clouds, and as culvers at their windows?

9 Forsooth isles abide me, and the ships of the sea in the beginning; that I bring thy sons from [a] far, the silver of them, and the gold of them is with them, to the name of thy Lord God, and to the Holy of Israel; for he shall glorify thee.

10 And the sons of pilgrims shall build thy walls, and the kings of them shall minister to thee. For I smote thee in mine indignation, and in my reconciling I had mercy on thee.

11 And thy gates shall be opened continually, day and night those [or they] shall not be closed; that the strength of heathen men be brought to thee, and the kings of them be brought.

12 For why the folk and realm that serveth not thee, shall perish, and heathen men shall be destroyed by wilderness.

13 The glory of the Lebanon shall come to thee, a fir tree, and box tree, and pine apple tree [or pine tree] together, to adorn the place of mine hallowing; and I shall glorify the place of my feet.

14 And the sons of them that made thee low, shall come low to thee, and all that backbited thee, shall worship the steps of thy feet; and they shall call thee, A city of the Lord of Zion, of the Holy of Israel.

15 For that that thou were forsaken, and hated, and none was that passed by thee, I shall set thee into pride, that is, glory and honour, of worlds, joy in generation and into generation.

16 And thou shalt suck the milk of folks, and thou shalt be suckled with the teat of kings; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, saving thee, and thine again-buyer, the Strong of Jacob.

17 For brass I shall bring gold, and for iron I shall bring silver; and brass for wood, and iron for stones; and I shall set thy visitation peace, and thy prelates [or provosts], either sovereigns, rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

18 Wickedness shall no more be heard in thy land, neither destroying and defouling in thy coasts; and health shall occupy thy walls, and praising shall occupy thy gates.

19 The sun shall no more be to thee for to shine by day, neither the brightness of the moon shall lighten thee; but the Lord shall be into everlasting light to thee, and thy God shall be into thy glory.

20 Thy sun shall no more go down, and thy moon shall not be decreased; for the Lord shall be into everlasting light to thee, and the days of thy mourning shall be [ful] filled.

21 Forsooth thy people, all just [or rightwise] men, without end shall inherit the land, the seed of my planting, the work of mine hand for to be glorified.

22 The least shall be into a thousand, and a little man shall be into a full strong folk. I, the Lord, shall make this thing suddenly, in the time thereof.

CHAPTER 61

1 The spirit of the Lord is[up] on me, for the Lord anointed me; he sent me to tell [out] to mild men, that I should heal men contrite in heart, and preach forgiveness to captives, and opening to prisoners;

2 and preach a pleasant year to the Lord, and a day of vengeance to our God; that I should comfort all that mourn;

3 that I should set comfort to the mourners of Zion, and that I should give to them a crown for ashes, oil of joy for mourning, a mantle of praising for the spirit of wailing. And strong men of rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall be called therein, the planting of the Lord, for to glorify.

4 And they shall build things that be forsaken from the world, and they shall raise eld [or old] fallings, and they shall restore cities that be forsaken and destroyed, in generation and into generation.

5 And aliens shall stand, and feed your beasts; and the sons of pilgrims shall be your earth-tillers and vine-tillers.

6 But ye shall be called the priests of the Lord; it shall be said to you, Ye be ministers of our God. Ye shall eat the strength of heathen men, and ye shall be honoured in the glory of them.

7 For your double shame and shame, they shall praise the part of them; for this thing they shall have peaceably double things in their land, and everlasting gladness shall be to them.

8 For I am the Lord, loving doom, and hating raven in burnt sacrifices. And I shall give the work of them in truth, and I shall smite to them an everlasting bond of peace.

9 And the seed of them shall be known among folks, and the bur-geoning of them in the midst of peoples. All men that see them, shall know them, for these be the seed, whom the Lord blessed.

10 I joying shall have joy in the Lord, and my soul shall make full out joying in my God. For he hath clothed me with [the] clothes of health, and he hath compassed me with [the] clothes of rightfulness [or rightwiseness], as a spouse made fair with a crown, and as a spousess adorned with her brooches.

11 For as the earth bringeth forth his fruit, and as a garden burgeoneth his seed, so the Lord God shall make to grow rightfulness [or rightwiseness] and praising before all folks.

CHAPTER 62

1 For Zion I shall not be still, and for Jerusalem I shall not rest, till the just [or rightwise]man thereof go out as shining, and the saviour thereof be tended as a lamp.

2 And heathen men shall see thy just [or rightwise]man, and all kings shall see thy noble man; and a new name, which the mouth of the Lord named, shall be called to thee.

3 And thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a diadem of the realm in the hand of thy God.

4 Thou shalt no more be called forsaken, and thy land shall no more be called desolate; but thou shalt be called My will in that, and thy land That that shall be inhabited; for it pleased the Lord in thee, and thy land shall be inhabited.

5 For a young man shall dwell with a virgin, and thy sons shall dwell in thee; and the spouse shall have joy on the spousess, and thy God shall have joy on thee.

6 Jerusalem, I have ordained keepers on thy walls, all day and all night without end they shall not be still. Ye that think on the Lord, be not still,

7 and give ye not silence to him, till he stablish, and till he set Jeru-salem praising in [the] earth.

8 The Lord swore in his right hand, and in the arm of his strength, I shall no more give thy wheat to be meat to thine enemies, and alien sons shall not drink thy wine, in which thou hast travailed.

9 For they that shall gather it together, shall eat it, and shall praise the Lord; and they that bear it together, shall drink in mine holy foreyards.

10 Pass ye, pass ye by the gates; make ye ready a way to the people, make ye a plain path; and choose ye [the] stones, and raise ye [up] a sign to peoples.

11 Lo! the Lord made heard in the last parts of the earth. Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Lo! thy saviour cometh; lo! his meed is with him, and his work is before him.

12 And they shall call them the holy people, again-bought of the Lord. Forsooth thou shalt be called a city sought, and not forsaken.

CHAPTER 63

1 Who is this that cometh from Edom, in dyed clothes from Bozrah? this fair man in his stole, either long cloth, going in the multitude of his strength? I that speak rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and am a for-fighter for to save.

2 Why therefore is thy clothing red? and thy clothes as of men stamping in a presser [or the wine press]?

3 I alone stamped the press, and of folks, either Gentiles, no man is, either was, with me; I stamped them in my strong vengeance, and I defouled them in my wrath; and their blood is sprinkled on my clothes, and I made foul all my clothes.

4 For why a day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my yielding cometh.

5 I looked about, and none helper was; I sought, and none was that helped; and mine arm saved to me, and mine indignation, that helped me.

6 And I defouled peoples in my strong vengeance; and I made them drunken in mine indignation, and I drew down their strength into the earth.

7 I shall have mind on the merciful doings of the Lord, I shall preach the praising of the Lord, on all things which the Lord [hath] yielded to us, and the multitude of [the] goods of the house of Israel, which he gave to them, by his forgiveness, and by the multitude of his mercies.

8 And the Lord said, Nevertheless it is my people, sons not denying, and he was made a saviour to them,

9 in all the tribulation of them. It was set in tribulation, and the angel of his face saved them. In his love and in his forgiveness he again-bought them, and he bare them, and raised them in all [the] days of the world.

10 Forsooth they excited him to wrathfulness [or wrath], and tormented the spirit of his holy or his Holy Spirit; and he was turned into an enemy of them, and he overcame them in battle.

11 And he had mind on the days of the world, of Moses, and of his people. Where is he, that led them out of the sea, with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he, that setted [or set] the spirit of his holy or his Holy Spirit in the middle thereof;

12 which led out Moses to the right half in the arm of his majesty? which parted waters before them, that he should make to himself a name ever-lasting;

13 which led them out through depths of waters, as an horse not stumbling in desert,

14 as a beast going down in the field? The Spirit of the Lord was the leader thereof; so thou leddest thy people, that thou madest to thee a name of glory.

15 Behold thou from heaven, and see from thine holy dwelling place, and from the seat of thy glory. Where is thy fervent love, and thy strength, the multitude of thine entrails, and of thy merciful doings? They withheld themselves on me.

16 Forsooth thou art our father, and Abraham knew not us, and Israel knew not us. Thou, Lord, art our father, and our again-buyer; thy name is from the world.

17 Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? thou hast made hard our heart, that we dreaded not thee? be thou converted, for thy servants, the lineages of thine heritage.

18 They had as nought thine holy people in possession, and our enemies defouled thine hallowing.

19 We be made as in the beginning, when thou were not Lord of us, neither thy name was called to help on us.

CHAPTER 64

1 I would that thou brakest heavens, and camest down, that hills floated away from thy face,

2 and failed [or vanish away], as the burning of fire, and [waters] burnt in [or with] fire; that thy name were made known to thine enemies, and folks were troubled of thy face.

3 When thou shalt do marvels, we shall not abide. Thou camest down, and hills [or mountains] floated away from thy face.

4 From the world they heard not, neither perceived with ears; God, none eye saw, without thee, what things thou hast made ready to them that abide thee.

5 Thou mettest him that is glad, and doeth rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; in thy ways they shall bethink on thee. Lo! thou art wroth, and we sinned; in those sins we were ever, and we shall be saved.

6 And all we be made as an unclean man; all our rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses]be as the cloth of a woman in menstruation, or unclean blood; and all we fell down as a leaf, and our wickednesses, as wind, have taken away us.

7 None is, that calleth thy name to help, that riseth, and holdeth thee; thou hast hid thy face from us, and thou hast hurtled down us in the hand of our wickedness.

8 And now, Lord, thou art our father; forsooth we be clay, and thou art our maker, and all we be the works of thine hands.

9 Lord, be thou not wroth enough, and have thou no more mind on our wickedness. Lo! Lord, behold thou, all we be thy people.

10 The city of thy holy, either thy saintuary, is forsaken, Zion is made desert, Jerusalem is made desolate;

11 the house of our hallowing and of our glory, where our fathers praised thee, is made into burning of fire; and all our desirable things be turned into fallings.

12 Lord, whether on these things thou shalt withhold thee? shalt thou be still, and shalt thou torment us greatly?

CHAPTER 65

1 They sought me, that asked not before; they that sought not me, found me. I said, Lo! I, lo! I, to heathen men that knew not me, and that called not my name to help.

2 I stretched forth mine hands all day to a people unbelieveful, that goeth in a way not good, after their thoughts.

3 It is a people that stirreth me to wrathfulness [or wrath], ever before my face; which offer in gardens, and make sacrifice on tilestones;

4 which dwell in sepulchres, and sleep in the temples of idols; which eat swine’s flesh, and unholy juice, either broth, is in the vessels of them;

5 which say to an heathen man, Go thou away from me, nigh thou not to me, for thou art unclean; these shall be smoke in my strong vengeance, fire burning all day.

6 Lo! it is written before me; I shall not be still, but I shall yield, and I shall requite into the bosom of them

7 your wickednesses, and the wickednesses of your fathers together, saith the Lord, which made sacrifice on mountains, and did shame to me on little hills; and I shall mete [or measure] again the first work of them in their bosom.

8 The Lord saith these things, As if a grape be found in a cluster, and it is said, Destroy thou not it, for it is blessing; so I shall do for my servants, that I lose not all.

9 And I shall lead out of Jacob a seed, and of Judah a man having in possession mine holy hills [or holy mountains]; and my chosen men shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

10 And the field places shall be into folds of flocks, and the valley of Achor into a resting place of droves of neat, to my people that sought me.

11 And I shall number you in sword, that forsook the Lord, that forgot mine holy hill [or holy mountain], which set a board to fortune, and make sacrifice thereon,

12 and all ye shall fall by slaying; for that that I called, and ye answered not; I spake, and ye heard not; and ye did evil before mine eyes, and ye choosed those things which I would not.

13 For these things, the Lord God saith these things, Lo! my servants shall eat, and ye shall have hunger; lo! my servants shall drink, and ye shall be thirsty; lo! my servants shall be glad, and ye shall be ashamed;

14 lo! my servants shall praise, for the full joy of heart, and ye shall cry, for the sorrow of heart, and ye shall yell, for [the] desolation of spirit.

15 And ye shall leave your name into an oath to my chosen men; and the Lord God shall slay thee, and he shall call his servants by another name.

16 In which he that is blessed on earth, shall be blessed in God, amen; and he that sweareth in earth, shall swear in God faithfully; for the former anguishes be given to forgetting, and for those be hid from your eyes.

17 For lo! I make new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be in mind, and shall not ascend [or go up] on the heart.

18 But ye shall have joy, and make full out joying till into without end, in these things which I make; for lo! I make Jerusalem full out joying, and the people thereof joy.

19 And I shall make full out joying in Jerusalem, and I shall have joy in my people; and the voice of weeping and the voice of cry shall no more be heard therein.

20 A young child of days shall no more be there, and an eld [or old] man, that filleth not his days; for why a child of an hundred years shall die, and a sinner of an hundred years shall be cursed.

21 And they shall build houses, and shall inhabit them, and they shall plant vines, and shall eat the fruits of those [or them].

22 They shall not build houses, and another shall inhabit, they shall not plant, and another shall eat; for why the days of my people shall be after the days of the tree, and the works of their hands shall be eld to my chosen men.

23 They shall not travail in vain, neither they shall engender in troubling; for it is the seed of them that be blessed of the Lord, and the cousins of them be with them.

24 And it shall be, before that they cry, I shall hear; yet while they speak, I shall hear.

25 The wolf and the lamb shall be fed together, and a lion and an ox shall eat straw, and to a serpent dust shall be his bread; they shall not harm, neither shall slay, in all mine holy hill [or holy mountain], saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 66

1 The Lord saith these things, Heaven is my seat, and the earth is the stool of my feet. Which is this house, which ye shall build to me, and which is this place of my rest?

2 Mine hand made all these things, and all these things be made, saith the Lord; but to whom shall I behold, no but to a poor man and contrite in spirit, and greatly dreading my words?

3 He that offereth an ox, is as he that slayeth a man; he that slayeth a sheep, is as he that braineth a dog; he that offereth an offering, is as he that offereth swine’s blood; he that thinketh on incense, is as he that blesseth an idol; they choosed all these things in their ways, and their soul delighted in their abominations.

4 Wherefore and I shall choose the scornings of them, and I shall bring to them those things which they dreaded; for I called, and none there was that answered; I spake, and they heard not; and they did evil before mine eyes, and choosed those things, which I would not.

5 Hear ye the word of the Lord, which quake at his word; your brethren hating you, and casting away for my name, said, The Lord be glorified, and we shall see in your gladness; forsooth they shall be shamed.

6 The voice of the people from the city, the voice from the temple, the voice of the Lord yielding a reward to his enemies.

7 Before that she travailed of child, she childed; before that the sorrow of her childbearing came, she childed a son.

8 Who heard ever such a thing, and who saw a thing like this? Whether the earth shall travail of child in one day, either a folk shall be childed together? For why Zion travailed of child, and childed her sons.

9 Whether that I make others to bear child, shall not bear child myself? saith the Lord. Whether I that give gener-ation to other men, shall be barren? saith thy Lord God.

10 Be ye glad with Jerusalem, and all ye that love that, make full out joy therein; all ye that mourn on that Jerusalem, make ye joy with it in joy;

11 that both ye suck, and be [ful] filled of the teats and comfort thereof, that ye milk, and flow in delights, of all manner glory thereof.

12 For why the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall bow down on it, as a flood of peace, and as a flowing stream, the glory of heathen men, which ye shall suck; ye shall be borne at teats, and on knees, they shall speak pleasantly to you.

13 As if a mother speaketh fair to any child, so I shall comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

14 Ye shall see, and your heart shall have joy, and your bones shall burgeon as an herb. And the hand of the Lord shall be known in his servants, and he shall have indignation to his enemies.

15 For lo! the Lord shall come in fire, and as a whirlwind his chariots, to yield in indignation his strong vengeance, and his blaming in the flame of fire.

16 For why the Lord shall deem in fire, and in his sword to each flesh; and slain men of the Lord shall be multiplied,

17 that were hallowed, and guessed them clean, in gardens after one gate within; that eat swine’s flesh, and abomination, and a mouse, they shall be wasted together, saith the Lord.

18 Forsooth I come to gather together the works of them, and the thoughts of them, with all folks and languages; and they shall come, and shall see my glory.

19 And I shall set [or put] a sign in them, and I shall send of them that be saved to heathen men, into the sea, into Africa, and into Lydia, and to them that hold [an] arrow, into Italy, and Greek land [or Greece], to isles far, to them that heard not of me, and saw not my glory. And they shall tell my glory to heathen men,

20 and they shall bring all your brethren out of [or from] all folks as a gift to the Lord, in horses, and [in] chariots, and in litters, and in mules, and in carts, to mine holy hill [or holy mountain], Jerusalem, saith the Lord; as if the sons of Israel bring a gift in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.

21 And I shall take of them into priests and deacons [or Levites], saith the Lord.

22 For as new heavens and new earth, which I make to stand before me, saith the Lord, so your seed shall stand, and your name.

23 And a month shall be of month, and a sabbath of sabbath; each man shall come for to worship before my face, saith the Lord.

24 And they shall go out, and shall see the carrions of men, that trespassed against me; the worm of them shall not die, and the fire of them shall not be quenched; and they shall be unto filling of sight to each man.

* CHAPTER 2:4 In other writings, John Wycliffe renders this word in this verse as ‘plowghschares’ (‘ploughshares’/‘plowshares’).

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JEREMIAH

CHAPTER 1

1 The words of Jeremy, son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin.

2 For the word of the Lord was made to him in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his realm.

3 And it was done in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, unto the ending of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah, till to the passing over, either captivity, of Jerusalem, in the fifth month.

4 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

5 Before that I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before that thou wentest out of the womb, I hallowed thee; and I gave thee to be a prophet among folks.

6 And I said, A! A! A! Lord God, lo! I cannot speak, for I am a child.

7 And the Lord said to me, Do not thou say, that I am a child; for thou shalt go to all things, to which I shall send thee, and thou shalt speak all things, whatever things I shall command to thee.

8 Dread thou not of the face of them; for I am with thee, to deliver thee, saith the Lord.

9 And the Lord sent his hand, and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, Lo! I have given my words in thy mouth;

10 lo! I have ordained thee today on folks, and on realms, that thou draw up, and destroy, and lose, and scatter, and build, and plant.

11 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said, What seest thou, Jeremy? And I said, I see a rod waking or watching.

12 And the Lord said to me, Thou hast seen well, for I shall wake or watch* on my word, to do it.

13 And the word of the Lord was made the second time to me, and said, What seest thou? [And I said], I see a pot boiling, and the face thereof from the face of the north.

14 And the Lord said to me, From the north shall be showed all evil on all the dwellers of the land.

15 For lo! I shall call together all the nations of [the] realms of the north, saith the Lord; and they shall come, and set each man his seat in the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and on all the walls thereof in compass, and on all the cities of Judah.

16 And I shall speak my dooms with them on all the malice of them, that forsook me, and made sacrifice to alien gods, and worshipped the work of their hands.

17 Therefore gird [up] thou thy loins, and rise thou, and speak to them all things which I command to thee; dread thou not of the face of them, for I shall not make thee for to dread the cheer of them.

18 For I gave thee today into a strong city, and into an iron pillar, and into a brazen wall, on all the land, to the kings of Judah, and to the princes thereof, and to the priests thereof, and to all the people of the land.

19 And they shall fight against thee, and they shall not have the mastery; for I am with thee, saith the Lord, that I deliver thee.

CHAPTER 2

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

2 Go thou, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, and say, The Lord saith these things, I had mind on thee, and I had mercy on thee in thy young waxing age, and on the charity of thy espousing, when thou followedest me in desert, in the land which is not sown.

3 Israel was holy to the Lord, the first of fruits of him; men that devour that Israel, trespass; evils shall come [up] on them, saith the Lord.

4 The house of Jacob, and all the lineages of the house of Israel, hear ye the word of the Lord.

5 The Lord saith these things, What of wickedness found your fathers in me, for they went far away from me, and went after vanity, and were made vain?

6 And they said not, Where is the Lord, that made us to go up from the land of Egypt, that led us over through desert, by the land unhabitable and without way, by the land of thirst, and by the image of death, by the land in which a man went not, neither a man dwelled.

7 And I brought you into the land of Carmel, that ye should eat the fruit thereof, and the goods thereof; and ye entered, and defouled my land, and setted mine heritage into abomination.

8 Priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that held the law, knew not me; and shepherds trespassed against me, and prophets prophesied in Baal, and followed idols.

9 Therefore yet I shall strive with you in doom, saith the Lord, and I shall dispute with your sons.

10 Go ye to the isles of Chittim, and see ye; and send ye into Kedar, and behold ye greatly; and see ye, if such a thing is done,

11 if a folk changed his gods; and certainly they be no gods; but my people changed his glory into an idol.

12 Heavens, be ye astonied on this thing, and, ye gates of heaven, be ye desolate greatly, saith the Lord.

13 For why my people hath done twain [or two] evils; they have forsaken me, the well of quick water, and have digged to them cisterns, that were destroyed, that may not hold waters.

14 Whether Israel is a bondman, either is born bond? Why therefore is he made into prey?

15 Lions roared on him, and gave their voice; they have set the land of him into wilderness, the cities of him be burnt [up], and none there is that dwelleth in those [or them].

16 Also the sons of Memphis and Tahpanhes have defouled thee, unto the top of the head.

17 Whether this is not done to thee, for thou forsookest thy Lord God, in that time in which he led thee by the way?

18 And now what wilt thou to thee in the way of Egypt, that thou drink troubled water? And what is to thee with the way of Assyrians, that thou drink water of the flood?

19 Thy malice shall reprove thee, and thy turning away shall blame thee; know thou and see, that it is evil and bitter, that thou hast forsaken thy Lord God, and that his dread is not at thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.

20 From the world thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast broken my bonds, and saidest, I shall not serve. For thou whore didest whoredom in each high little hill, and under each tree full of boughs.

21 Forsooth I planted thee a chosen vinery [or vine], all true seed; how therefore art thou, an alien vinery [or vine], turned to me into a shrewd thing?

22 Though thou wash thee with fuller’s clay, and multipliest to thee the [cleansing] herb boreth, thou art defouled in thy wickedness before me, saith the Lord God.

23 How sayest thou, I am not defouled, I went not after Baalim? See thy ways in the great valley, know thou what thou hast done; a swift runner ordaining his ways.

24 A wild ass accustomable in wilderness, drew the wind of his love in the desire of his soul; no man shall turn away it. All that seek it, shall not fail; they shall find it in the flux of unclean blood thereof.

25 Forbid thy foot from nakedness, and thy throat from thirst; and thou saidest, I despaired, I shall not do; for I loved burningly alien gods, and I shall go after them.

26 As a thief is shamed, when he is taken, so the house of Israel be shamed; they, and [the] kings of them, the princes, and priests, and the prophets of them,

27 that say to a tree, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast engendered me. They turned to me the back, and not the face; and in the time of their torment they shall say, Rise thou, and deliver us.

28 Where be thy gods, which thou madest to thee? Rise they, and deliver thee in the time of thy torment; for after the number of thy cities were thy gods, thou Judah.

29 What, will ye strive with me in doom? All ye have forsaken me, saith the Lord.

30 In vain I smote your sons, they received not chastising; your sword devoured your prophets, your gener-ation is destroyed as a lion.

31 See ye the word of the Lord, whether I am made a wilderness to Israel, either a land late bringing forth fruit? Why therefore said my people, We have gone away, we shall no more come to thee?

32 Whether a virgin shall forget her ornament? and a spousess her breast-girdle? But my people hath forgotten me by days without number.

33 What enforcest or endeavourest thou to show thy way good to seek love, which furthermore both hast taught thy malices thy ways,

34 and the blood of poor men and innocents is found in thy wings? I found not them in ditches, but in all things which I remembered before.

35 And thou saidest, I am without sin and innocent; and therefore thy strong vengeance be turned away from me. Lo! I shall strive with thee in doom; for thou saidest, I sinned not.

36 How vile art thou made, rehearsing thy ways? and thou shalt be shamed of Egypt, as thou were shamed of Assur.

37 For why and thou shalt go out of this land, and thine hands shall be on thine head; for why the Lord hath all-broken thy trust, and thou shalt have nothing to prosperity.

CHAPTER 3

1 It is said commonly, If a man forsaketh his wife, and she go away from him, and be wedded to another husband, whether he shall turn again [any] more to her? whether that woman shall not be defouled, and made unclean? Forsooth thou hast done fornication with many lovers; nevertheless turn thou again to me, saith the Lord, and I shall receive thee.

2 Raise thine eyes into straight, and see, where thou art not cast down. Thou hast sat in ways, abiding them as a thief in wilderness, and thou hast defouled the earth in thy fornications and in thy malices.

3 Wherefore the drops of rains were forbidden, and no late rain was. The forehead of a woman whore is made to thee; thou wouldest not be ashamed.

4 Namely from this time forth call thou me, Thou art my father, the leader of my virginity.

5 Whether thou shalt be wroth without end, either shalt continue into the end? Lo! thou hast spoken, and hast done evils, and thou were mighty. And for words of penance thou blasphemedest by words of pride; and thou filledest thine evil thought, and showedest thy strength against thy husband, that thou mayest do that thing that thou treatedest by word.

6 And the Lord said to me, in the days of Josiah, the king, Whether thou hast seen what thing the adversary, Israel, hath done? She went [away] to herself on each high hill, and under each tree full of boughs, and did fornication there.

7 And I said, when she had done all these things, Turn thou again to me; and she turned not again. And her sister, Judah, breaker of the law, saw,

8 that for the adversary, Israel, did adultery, I had let her go, and I had given to her a libel, or a little book, of forsaking; and Judah, her sister, breaker of the law, dreaded not, but also she went, and did fornication.

9 And by lightness of her fornication she defouled the earth, and did adultery with a stone, and with a tree.

10 And in all these things her sister, Judah, breaker of the law, turned not again to me, in all her heart, but in a leasing, saith the Lord God.

11 And the Lord said to me, The adversary, Israel, hath justified her soul, in comparison of Judah, breaker of the law.

12 Go thou, and cry these words against the north; and thou shalt say, Thou adversary, Israel, turn again, saith the Lord, and I shall not turn away my face from you; for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I shall not be wroth without end.

13 Nevertheless know thou thy wickedness; for thou hast trespassed against thy Lord God, and thou hast spread abroad thy ways to aliens under each tree full of boughs; and thou heardest not my voice, saith the Lord.

14 Be ye converted, sons, turning again, saith the Lord, for I am your husband; and I shall take you, one of a city, and twain [or two] of a kindred, and I shall lead you into Zion;

15 and I shall give to you shepherds after mine heart, and they shall feed you with knowing and teaching.

16 And when ye shall be multiplied, and increase in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall no more say, The ark of [the] testament of the Lord; neither it shall ascend [or go up] on the heart, neither they shall think on it, neither it shall be visited, neither it shall be further.

17 In that time they shall call Jerusalem The seat of the Lord, and all heathen men shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem; and they shall not go after the shrewdness of their worst heart.

18 In those days the house of Judah shall go to the house of Israel; and they shall come together from the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers.

19 Forsooth I said, How shall I set [or put] thee among sons, and shall give to thee a desirable land, a full clear heritage of the hosts of heathen men? And I said, Thou shalt call me, Father, and thou shalt not cease to enter after me.

20 But as if a woman despiseth her lover, so the house of Israel despised me, saith the Lord.

21 A voice is heard in ways, the weeping and yelling of the sons of Israel; for they made wicked their way, they forgat their Lord God.

22 Be ye converted, sons, turning again, and I shall heal your turnings away. Lo! we come to thee; for thou art our Lord God.

23 Verily the little hills were liars, the multitude of mountains was false; verily in our Lord God is the health of Israel.

24 Shame ate the travail of our fathers, from our youth; shame ate the flocks of them, and the droves of them, the sons of them, and the daughters of them.

25 We shall sleep in our shame, and our shame shall cover us; for we sinned to our Lord God, both we and our fathers, from our youth unto this day; and we have not heard the voice of our Lord God.

CHAPTER 4

1 Israel, if thou turnest again, saith the Lord, turn thou to me; if thou takest away thine offendings from my face, thou shalt not be moved.

2 And thou shalt swear, The Lord liveth, in truth, and in doom, and in rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and all folks shall bless him, and shall praise him.

3 For the Lord God saith these things to a man of Judah, and to a dweller of Jerusalem, Make ye new to you a land tilled of new, either a fallow, and do not ye sow on thorns.

4 Men of Judah, and dwellers of Jerusalem, be ye circumcised to the Lord, and do ye away the prepuces, either filths, of your hearts; lest peradventure mine indignation go out as fire, and be kindled, and none there be that quench, for the malice of your thoughts.

5 Tell ye in Judah, and make ye heard in Jerusalem; speak ye, and sing ye with a trump in the land; cry ye strongly, and say ye, Be ye gathered together, and enter we into [the] strong cities.

6 Raise ye a sign in Zion, comfort ye, and do not ye stand; for I [shall] bring evil from the north, and a great sorrow.

7 A lion shall go up from his den, and the robber of folks shall raise himself. He is gone out of his place, to set thy land into wilderness; thy cities shall be destroyed, abiding still without dweller.

8 On this thing gird you with hair-shirts; wail ye, and yell, for the wrath of the strong vengeance of the Lord is not turned away from you.

9 And it shall be, in that day, saith the Lord, the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of princes; and the priests shall wonder, and the prophets shall be astonied.

10 And I said, Alas! alas! alas! Lord God; therefore whether thou hast deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Peace shall be to you, and lo! a sword is come unto the soul?

11 In that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A burning wind in the ways that be in desert, be the ways of the daughter of my people, not to winnow, and not to purge.

12 A spirit full of them shall come to me; and now I, but I shall speak my dooms with them.

13 Lo! he shall ascend [or go up] as a cloud, and his chariots as a tempest; his horses be swifter than eagles; woe to us, for we be destroyed.

14 Thou Jerusalem, wash thine heart from malice, that thou be made safe. How long shall harmful thoughts dwell in thee?

15 For why the voice of a teller from Dan, and making known an idol from the hill or mount of Ephraim.

16 Raise, ye folks; lo! it is heard in Jerusalem, that keepers be come from a far land, and give their voice on the cities of Judah.

17 As the keepers of fields, they be made on it in compass; for it stirred me to wrathfulness [or to wrath], saith the Lord.

18 Thy ways and thy thoughts have made this to thee; this malice of thee, for it is bitter, for it touched thine heart.

19 My womb acheth, my womb acheth; the wits of mine heart be troubled in me. I shall not be still, for my soul heard the voice of a trump, the cry of battle.

20 Sorrow is called on sorrow, and all the land is destroyed; my taber-nacles be wasted suddenly, my skins be wasted suddenly.

21 How long shall I see them that flee, shall I hear the voice of a clarion?

22 For my fond [or foolish] people knew not me; they be unwise sons, and cowards; they be wise to do evils, but they know not to do well.

23 I beheld the land, and lo! it was void, and nought; and I beheld heavens, and no light there was in them.

24 I saw mountains, and lo! they were moved, and all little hills were troubled.

25 I looked, and no man there was, and each bird of heaven was gone away.

26 I beheld, and lo! Carmel is forsaken, and all cities thereof be destroyed from the face of the Lord, and from the face of the ire [or the wrath] of his strong vengeance.

27 For the Lord saith these things, All the land shall be forsaken, but nevertheless, I shall not make a [full] ending.

28 The earth shall mourn, and heavens above shall make sorrow, for that I spake; I thought, and it repented not me, neither I am turned away from it.

29 Each city fled from the voice of a knight, and a man shooting an arrow; they entered into hard places, and ascended [or went up] into rocks of stone; all [the] cities be forsaken, and no man dwelleth in them.

30 But what shalt thou destroyed, do? When thou shalt clothe thee with red scarlet, when thou shalt be adorned with a golden brooch, and shalt anoint thine eyes with woman’s ointment, thou shalt be arrayed in vain; thy lovers have despised thee, they shall seek thy soul.

31 For I heard a voice as a woman travailing of child, the anguishes as of a woman childing; the voice of the daughter of Zion among them that die, and spread abroad her hands; Woe to me, for my soul failed for them that be slain.

CHAPTER 5

1 Compass ye the ways of Jerusalem, and look, and behold ye, and seek ye in the streets thereof, whether ye find a man doing doom, and seeking faith; and I shall be merciful to them.

2 That if also they say, The Lord liveth, yea, they shall swear this falsely.

3 Lord, thine eyes behold faith; thou hast smitten them, and they made not sorrow; thou hast all-broken them, and they forsook to take chastising; they made their faces harder than a stone, and would not turn again.

4 Forsooth I said, In hap they be poor men, and fools, that know not the way of the Lord, and the doom of their God.

5 Therefore I shall go to the principal men, and I shall speak to them; for they knew the way of the Lord, and the doom of their God. And lo! they have more broken together the yoke, and have broken [the] bonds.

6 Therefore a lion of the wood smote them; a wolf at eventide wasted them, a leopard waking or watching on the cities of them. Each man that goeth out of them, shall be taken; for the trespassings of them be multiplied, the turnings away of them be comforted.

7 On what thing may I be merciful to thee? Thy sons have forsaken me, and swear by them that be not gods. I [full-]filled them, and they did adultery, and in the house of an whore they did lechery.

8 They be made horses, and stallions, lovers to women; each man neighed to the wife of his neighbour.

9 Whether I shall not visit on these things, saith the Lord, and shall not my soul take vengeance on such a folk?

10 Go ye up on the walls thereof, and destroy ye; but do not ye make an ending. Do ye away the scions thereof, for they be not servants of the Lord.

11 For why the house of Israel and the house of Judah hath trespassed by trespassing against me, saith the Lord;

12 they denied the Lord, and said, He is not, neither evil shall come [up] on us; we shall not see sword and hunger.

13 The prophets spake against the wind, and none answer was in them; therefore these things shall come to them.

14 The Lord God of hosts saith these things, For ye spake this word, lo! I give my words in thy mouth into fire, and this people into trees, and it shall devour them.

15 Lo! thou house of Israel, saith the Lord, I shall bring on you a folk from [a] far; a strong folk, an eld [or old] folk, a folk whose language thou shalt not know, neither shalt understand what it speaketh.

16 The arrow case thereof is as an open sepulchre; all be strong men.

17 And it shall eat thy corns, and it shall devour thy bread, thy sons and thy daughters; it shall eat thy flock, and thy droves, it shall eat also thy vinery [or vines], and thy fig tree; it shall all-break thy strong cities with sword, in which thou hast trusted.

18 Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I shall not make you into [full] ending.

19 That if ye say, Why hath our Lord God done all these things to us? thou shalt say to them, As ye forsook me, and served an alien god in your land, so ye shall serve alien gods in a land not yours.

20 Tell ye this to the house of Jacob, and make ye heard in Judah, and say ye,

21 Hear, thou fond [or foolish] people, that hast none heart; which have eyes, and see not, and ears, and hear not.

22 Therefore shall not ye dread me, saith the Lord, and shall not ye make sorrow for my face? Which have set gravel to be a term, either end, to the sea, an everlasting commandment, which it shall not pass; and the waves thereof shall be moved, and shall not have power; and shall wax great, and shall not pass it.

23 Forsooth an heart unbelieveful and stirring to wrath is made to this people; they departed, and went away,

24 and they said not in their heart, Dread we our Lord God, that giveth to us rain timeful, and lateful in his time; that keepeth to us the plenty of harvest of the year.

25 Your wickednesses did away these things, and your sins forbidded good from you.

26 For there be found wicked men in my people, setting treason, as fowlers setting snares and traps, to take men.

27 As a net, either a trap, full of birds, so the houses of them be full of guile.

28 Therefore they be magnified, and made rich, made fat within, and made fat withoutforth, and they passed worst my words; they deemed not the cause of a widow, they dressed not the cause of a fatherless child, and they deemed not the doom of poor men.

29 Whether I shall not visit on these things, saith the Lord, either shall not my soul take vengeance on such a folk?

30 Wonder and marvelous things be made in the land;

31 prophets prophesied leasing, and priests joyed with their hands, and my people loved such things. What therefore shall be done in the last thing thereof?

CHAPTER 6

1 Sons of Benjamin, be ye comforted in the middle of Jerusalem, and make ye noise with a clarion in Tekoa, and raise ye a banner on Bethhaccerem; for why evil and great sorrow is seen from the north.

2 I have likened the daughter of Zion to a fair woman and delicate.

3 Shepherds and their flocks shall come to it; they have pitched tents in it in compass; each man shall feed them, that be under his hand.

4 Hallow ye battle on it. Rise ye together, and ascend we [or go we up] in midday. Woe to us, for the day hath bowed down, for shadows be made longer in the eventide.

5 Rise ye, and ascend we [or go we up] in the night, and destroy we the houses thereof.

6 For the Lord of hosts saith these things, Cut ye down the tree thereof, and shed ye earth about Jerusalem; this is the city of visitation; all false challenge is in the midst thereof.

7 As a cistern maketh his water cold, so it made his malice cold; wickedness and destroying shall ever be heard therein before me, sickness and wound.

8 Jerusalem, be thou taught, lest peradventure my soul go away from thee; lest peradventure I set thee forsaken, a land unhabitable.

9 The Lord of hosts saith these things, They shall gather till to a raisin, they shall gather the remnants of Israel as in a vinery [or a vine]; turn thine hand, as a gatherer of grapes to the basket.

10 To whom shall I speak, and to whom shall I say witnessing, that he hear? Lo! the ears of them be uncircumcised, and they may not hear; lo! the word of the Lord is made to them into despite, and they shall not receive it.

11 Therefore I am full of the strong vengeance of the Lord, and I travailed suffering. Shed thou [or Pour] out vengeance on a little child withoutforth, and on the counsel of young men together; for a man with his wife shall be taken, and an eld [or old] man with him that is full of days.

12 And the houses of them, the fields and wives together, shall go to other men; for I shall stretch forth mine hand on the dwellers of the land, saith the Lord.

13 For from the less unto the greater, all study to avarice; and all do guile, from the prophet unto the priest.

14 And they healed the sorrow of the daughter of my people with evil fame, saying, Peace, peace, and no peace was.

15 They be shamed, that did abomination; yea, rather they were not shamed by confusion, and they could not be ashamed. Wherefore they shall fall down among them that shall fall down; they shall fall down in the time of their visitation, saith the Lord.

16 The Lord saith these things, Stand ye on ways, and see ye, and ask ye of [the] eld [or old] paths, which is the good way; and go ye therein, and ye shall find refreshing to your souls. And they said, We shall not go.

17 And I ordained espyers, either beholders, on you, and I said, Hear ye the voice of a trump. And they said, We shall not hear.

18 Therefore, heathen men, hear ye, and, thou congregation, know, how great things I shall do to them.

19 Thou earth, hear, lo! I shall bring evils on this people, the fruit of their thoughts; for they heard not my words, and casted away my law.

20 Whereto bring ye to me incense from Sheba, and a tree of spicery smelling sweetly from a far land? Your burnt sacrifices be not accepted, and your slain sacrifices pleased not me.

21 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall give fallings into this people, and fathers and sons together, a neighbour and kinsman, shall fall in them, and shall perish.

22 The Lord God saith these things, Lo! a people cometh from the land of the north, and a great folk shall rise together from the ends of [the] earth.

23 It shall take arrow and shield; it is cruel, and shall not have mercy; the voice thereof shall sound as the sea, and they made ready as a man to battle shall ascend [or go up] on horses against thee, thou daughter of Zion.

24 We [have] heard the fame thereof, our hands be made numb; tribulation hath taken us, sorrows have taken us as a woman travailing of child.

25 Do not ye go out to the fields, and go ye not in the way, for the sword of the enemy, dread in compass.

26 The daughter of my people, be thou girded with hair-shirt, and be thou sprinkled together with ashes; make to thee mourning of [the] one alone begotten son, a bitter wailing, for why a waster shall come suddenly [up] on you.

27 I gave thee to be a strong prover in my people, and thou shalt know, and prove the way of them.

28 All these princes bowing away, going guilefully, be metal and iron; all be corrupt.

29 The bellow failed, lead is wasted in the fire, the weller welled in vain; for the malices of them be not wasted.

30 Call ye them reprovable silver, for the Lord hath cast them away.

CHAPTER 7

1 The word that was made of the Lord to Jeremy, and said,

2 Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord, and preach there this word, and say, All Judah, that enter [in] by these gates for to worship the Lord, hear ye the word of the Lord.

3 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Make ye good your ways, and your studies, and I shall dwell with you in this place.

4 Do not ye trust in the words of leasing, and say, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord is.

5 For if ye bless your ways, and your studies; if ye do doom betwixt a man and his neighbour;

6 if ye make not false challenge to a comeling, and to a fatherless child, and to a widow; neither shed out innocent blood in this place, and go not after alien gods, into evil to yourselves,

7 I shall dwell with you in this place, in the land which I gave to your fathers, from the world and till into the world.

8 Lo! ye trust to you in the words of leasing, that shall not profit to you;

9 to steal, to slay, to do adultery, to swear falsely, to make sacrifice to Baalim, and to go after alien gods, which ye know not.

10 And ye came, and stood before me in this house, in which my name is called to help; and ye said, We be delivered, for we have done all these abominations.

11 Whether therefore this house, wherein my name is called to help before your eyes, is made a den of thieves? I, I am, I saw, saith the Lord.

12 Go ye to my place in Shiloh, where my name dwelled at the beginning, and see ye what things I did to it, for the malice of my people Israel.

13 And now, for ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake to you, and rose early, and I spake, and ye heard not, and I called you, and ye answered not;

14 I shall do to this house, wherein my name is called to help, and in which house ye have trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

15 And I shall cast you forth from my face, as I casted forth all your brethren, all the seed of Ephraim.

16 Therefore do not thou pray for this people, neither take thou praising and prayer for them; and against-stand thou not me, for I shall not hear thee.

17 Whether thou seest not, what these men do in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18 The sons gather sticks, and the fathers kindle a fire; and women sprinkle together inner fatness, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, to make sacrifice to alien gods, and to stir me to wrathfulness [or to wrath].

19 Whether they stir me to wrathful-ness [or to wrath]? saith the Lord; whether they stir not themselves into [the] shame of their cheer?

20 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! my strong vengeance and mine indignation is welled together on this place, on men, and on beasts, and on the tree of the country, and on the fruits of [the] earth; and it shall be kindled, and it shall not be quenched.

21 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Heap ye your burnt sacrifices to your slain sacrifices, and eat ye fleshes.

22 For I spake not with your fathers, and I commanded not to them of the word of burnt sacrifices, and of slain sacrifices, in the day in which I led them out of the land of Egypt.

23 But I commanded this word to them, and I said, Hear ye my voice, and I shall be God to you, and ye shall be a people to me; and go ye in all the way which I commanded to you, that it be well to you.

24 And they heard not, neither bowed down their ear, but they went in their lusts, and in the shrewdness of their evil heart; and they be made behind, and not before,

25 from the day in which their fathers went out of the land of Egypt till to this day. And I sent to you all my servants prophets, and I rose early by the day, and I sent.

26 And they heard not me, neither bowed down their ear; but they made hard their noll, and wrought worse than the fathers of them.

27 And thou shalt speak to them all these words, and they shall not hear thee; and thou shalt call them, and they shall not answer to thee.

28 And thou shalt say to them, This is the folk, that heard not the voice of their Lord God, neither received chastising; faith perished, and is taken away from the mouth of them.

29 Clip thine hair, and cast away, and take thou wailing straightly; for the Lord hath cast away, and hath forsaken the generation of his strong vengeance.

30 For the sons of Judah have done evil before mine eyes, saith the Lord; they have set their offendings in the house, in which my name is called to help, that they should defoul that house;

31 and they builded high things in Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that they should burn their sons and their daughters by fire, which things I commanded not, neither thought in mine heart.

32 Therefore lo! days come, saith the Lord, and it shall no more be said Tophet, and the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaying; and they shall bury in Tophet, for there is no place.

33 And the dead carrion of this people shall be into meat to the birds of heaven, and to the beasts of earth; and none there shall be that shall drive away.

34 And I shall make to cease the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, and the voice of [the] spouse, and the voice of [the] spousess from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem; for the land shall be in desolation.

CHAPTER 8

1 In that time, saith the Lord, they shall cast out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of princes thereof, and the bones of priests, and the bones of prophets, and the bones of them that dwelled in Jerusalem, from their sepulchres;

2 and they shall lay abroad those bones to the sun, and [the] moon, and to all the knighthood of heaven, which they loved, and which they served, and after which they went, and which they sought, and worshipped; they shall not be gathered, and shall not be buried; they shall be into a dunghill on the face of [the] earth.

3 And all men shall choose death more than life, which be residue, either left, of this worst kindred, in all places that be left, to which places I casted them out, saith the Lord of hosts.

4 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord saith these things, Whether he that shall fall, shall not rise again? and whether he that is turned away, shall not turn again?

5 Why therefore is this people in Jerusalem turned away by turning away full of strife? They have taken leasing, and would not turn again.

6 I perceived, and hearkened; no man speaketh that that is good, none there is that doeth penance for his sin, and saith, What have I done? All be turned together to their course, as an horse going by fierceness to battle.

7 A kite in the air knew his time; a turtle, and a swallow, and a ciconia, kept the time of their coming; but my people knew not the doom of the Lord,

8 How say ye, We be wise men, and the law of the Lord is with us? Verily the false stylus, either writing, of scribes wrought leasing.

9 [The] Wise men be shamed, they be made afeared and taken. For they cast away the word of the Lord, and no wisdom is in them.

10 Therefore I shall give the women of them to strangers, and the fields of them to alien heirs; for from the least unto the most all follow avarice, from a prophet unto the priest all make leasing;

11 and they healed the sorrow of the daughter of my people to shame, saying, Peace, peace, when no peace was.

12 They be shamed, for they did abomination; yea, rather they were not shamed by shame, and could not be ashamed. Therefore they shall fall among fallers, in the time of their visitation they shall fall, saith the Lord.

13 I gathering shall gather them, saith the Lord; no grape is in the vines, and figs be not in the fig tree; a leaf fell down, and I gave to them those things that be gone out over.

14 Why sit we? come ye together, enter we into a strong city, and be we still there; for our Lord hath made us to be still, and gave to us drink the water of gall; for we have sinned to the Lord.

15 We abided peace, and no good was; we abided time of medicine, and lo! dread is.

16 [The] Gnashing of horses thereof is heard from Dan; all the land is moved of the voice of neighings of his warriors; and they came, and devoured the land, and the plenty thereof, the city, and the dwellers thereof.

17 For lo! I shall send to you the worst serpents, to which is no charming; and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.

18 My sorrow is on sorrow, mine heart is mourning in me.

19 And lo! the voice of cry of the daughter of my people cometh from a far land. Whether the Lord is not in Zion, either the king thereof is not therein? Why therefore stirred they me to wrathfulness [or to wrath] by their graven images, and by alien vanities?

20 Harvest is passed, summer is ended; and we be not saved.

21 I am tormented, and sorry on the sorrow of the daughter of my people; astonishing held me.

22 Whether resin, that is, a gum of great odour and medicinal, is not in Gilead, either a leech is not there? Why therefore the wound of the daughter of my people is not healed perfectly?

CHAPTER 9

1 Who shall give water to mine head, and a well of tears to mine eyes? And I shall beweep day and night the slain men of the daughter of my people.

2 Who shall give me into a wilderness of diverse way-goers? And I shall forsake my people, and I shall go away from them. For why all be adulterers, and the companies of trespassers against the law;

3 and they held forth their tongue as a bow of leasing, and not of truth. They be comforted in earth, for they went out from evil to evil, and they knew not me, saith the Lord.

4 Each man keep him from his neighbour, and have no trust in any brother of him; for why each brother deceiving shall deceive, and each friend shall go guilefully.

5 And a man shall scorn his brother, and shall not speak truth; for they taught their tongue to speak leasing; they travailed to do wickedly.

6 Thy dwelling is in the midst of guile; in guile they forsook to know me, saith the Lord.

7 Therefore the Lord of hosts saith these things, Lo! I shall well together, and I shall prove them; for why what other thing shall I do from the face of the daughter of my people?

8 The tongue of them is an arrow wounding, and [it] spake guile; in his mouth he speaketh peace with his friend, and privily he setteth treasons to him.

9 Whether I shall not visit on these things, saith the Lord, either shall not my soul take vengeance on such a folk?

10 On hills [or mountains] I shall take weeping and mourning, and wailing on the fair things of desert, for they be burnt [up]; for no man is passing forth, and they heard not the voice of him that wieldeth; from a bird of the air unto [the] sheep, they passed over, and went away.

11 And I shall give Jerusalem into heaps of gravel, and into dens of dragons; and I shall give the cities of Judah into desolation, for there is no dweller.

12 Who is a wise man that shall understand these things, and to whom the word of the mouth of the Lord shall be made, that he tell this? Why the earth perished, it is burnt as desert, for none is that passeth?

13 And the Lord said, For they forsook my law, which I gave to them, and they heard not my voice, and they went not therein;

14 and they went after the shrewd-ness of their heart, and after Baalim, which they learned of their fathers;

15 therefore the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall feed this people with wormwood, and I shall give to them drink the water of gall.

16 And I shall scatter them among heathen men, which they and their fathers knew not; and I shall send sword after them, till they be wasted.

17 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Behold ye, and call ye women that wail, and come they; and send ye to those women that be wise, and haste they.

18 Haste they, and take they wailing on you; your eyes bring down tears, and your eyelids flow with waters;

19 for the voice of wailing is heard from Zion. How be we destroyed, and shamed greatly? for we have forsaken the land, for our tabernacles be forsaken.

20 Therefore, women, hear ye the word of the Lord, and your ears take the word of his mouth; and teach ye your daughters wailing, and each woman teach her neighbour mourning.

21 For why death ascended [or went up] by your windows, it entered into your houses, to lose little children withoutforth, and young men from the streets.

22 Speak thou, The Lord saith these things, And the dead body of a man shall fall down as a turd on the face of the country, and as hay behind the back of the mower, and none there is that gathereth.

23 The Lord saith these things, A wise man have not glory in his wisdom, and a strong man have not glory in his strength, and a rich man have not glory in his riches;

24 but he that hath glory, have glory in this, to know and know me, for I am the Lord, that do mercy, and doom, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] in [the] earth. For why these things please me, saith the Lord.

25 Lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall visit on each man that hath prepuce uncircumcised;

26 on Egypt, and on Judah, and on Edom, and on the sons of Ammon, and on Moab, and on all men that be clipped on long hair, and dwell in desert; for why all heathen men have prepuce, forsooth all the house of Israel be uncircumcised in heart.

CHAPTER 10

1 The house of Israel, hear ye the word which the Lord spake on you.

2 The Lord saith these things, Do not ye learn after the ways of heathen men, and do not ye dread of the signs of heaven, which signs heathen men dread.

3 For the laws of peoples be vain, for why the work of [the] hands of a craftsman hath cut down with an ax a tree of the forest.

4 He made it fair with silver and gold; with nails and hammers he joined it together, that it be not loosed [atwain].

5 Idols be made in the likeness of a palm tree, and shall not speak; those [or they] shall be taken and be borne, for those [or they] may not go; there-fore do not ye dread those [or them], for they may neither do evil, neither well.

6 Lord, none is like thee; thou art great, and thy name is great in strength.

7 A! thou king of folks, who shall not dread thee? for why honour is thine among all wise men of heathen men, and in all the realms of them none is like thee.

8 They shall be proved unwise and fools together; the teaching of their vanity is a tree.

9 Silver wrapped is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz; it is the work of a craftsman, and of the hand of a worker in metal; jacinth and purple be the clothing of them; all these things be the work of workmen.

10 Forsooth the Lord is very God; he is God living, and a king everlasting; the earth shall be moved together of his indignation, and heathen men shall not suffer the menacing of him [or his threatening].

11 Therefore thus ye shall say to them, Gods that made not heaven and earth, perish from the earth, and from these things that be under heaven.

12 He is God, that maketh the earth in his strength, that maketh ready the world in his wisdom, and stretcheth forth heavens by his prudence.

13 At his voice he giveth the multitude of waters in heaven, and he raiseth [up] mists from the ends of earth; he maketh lightnings into rain, and leadeth out wind of his treasures/ of his treasuries.

14 Each man is made a fool of [his] knowing, each craftsman is shamed in a graven image; for why that that he welled together is false, and no spirit is in them.

15 Those [or they] be vain, and a work worthy of scorn; those [or they] shall perish in the time of their visitation.

16 The part of Jacob is not like these [or them], for he that formed all things is God of Jacob, and Israel is the rod of his heritage; the Lord of hosts is name to him.

17 Thou that dwellest in besieging, gather from the land thy shame;

18 for the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall cast away far the dwellers of the land in this while; and I shall give tribulation to them, so that they be not found.

19 Woe to me on my sorrow, my wound is full evil; forsooth I said, Plainly this is my sickness, and I shall bear it.

20 My tabernacle is destroyed, all my ropes be broken; my sons went out from me, and be not; none is that shall stretch forth more my tent, and shall raise [up] my skins.

21 For the shepherds did follily, and sought not the Lord; therefore they understood not, and all the flock of them is scattered.

22 Lo! the voice of hearing cometh, and a great moving together from the land of the north, that it set the cities of Judah into wilderness, and a dwelling place of dragons.

23 Lord, I know, that the way of a man is not of him, neither it is of a man that he go, and dress his steps.

24 Lord, chastise thou me; never-theless in doom, and not in thy strong vengeance, lest peradventure thou drive me to nought.

25 Pour out thine indignation on heathen men that knew not thee, and on provinces that called not thy name to help; for they ate Jacob, and devoured him, and wasted him, and destroyed the honour of him.

CHAPTER 11

1 The word that was made of the Lord to Jeremy, and said,

2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak ye to the men of Judah, and to the dwellers of Jerusalem;

3 and thou shalt say to them, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Cursed be the man that heareth not the words of this covenant,

4 which I commanded to your fathers, in the day in which I led them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace; and I said, Hear ye my voice, and do ye all things which I commanded to you, and ye shall be into a people to me, and I shall be into God to you;

5 that I raise the oath which I swore to your fathers, that I should give to them a land flowing with milk and honey, as this day is. And I answered, and said, Amen, Lord.

6 And the Lord said to me, Cry thou [out] all these words in the cities of Judah, and without[forth] Jerusalem, and say thou, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do ye them;

7 for I witnessing have witnessed to your fathers, in the day in which I led them out of the land of Egypt, unto this day; I rose early, and witnessed, and said, Hear ye my voice.

8 And they heard not, neither bowed down their ear, but they went forth each man in the shrewdness of his evil heart; and I brought in on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded that they should do, and they did not.

9 And the Lord said to me, Swearing together is found in the men of Judah, and in the dwellers of Jerusalem;

10 they turned again to the former wickednesses of their fathers, that would not hear my words; and therefore these men went after alien gods, for to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah made void my covenant, which I made with the fathers of them.

11 Wherefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in on them evils, of which they shall not be able to go out; and they shall cry to me, and I shall not hear them.

12 And the cities of Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem shall go, and shall cry to them to which they offer sacrifices; and they shall not save them in the time of their torment.

13 For thou, Judah, thy gods were by the number of thy cities, and thou settedest altars of shame, by the number of the ways of Jerusalem, altars to offer sacrifices to Baalim.

14 Therefore do not thou pray for this people, and take thou not praising and prayer for them; for I shall not hear in the time of the cry of them to me, in the time of the torment of them.

15 What is it, that my darling doeth many great trespasses in mine house? whether holy fleshes shall do away from thee thy malice, in which thou hast glory?

16 The Lord called thy name an olive tree, fair, full of fruit, shapely; at the voice of a great speech, fire burnt on high therein, and the bushes thereof be burnt.

17 And the Lord of hosts that planted thee, spake evil on thee, for the evils of the house of Israel, and of the house of Judah, which they did to themselves, and offered to Baalim, to stir me to wrath.

18 Forsooth, Lord, thou showedest to me, and I knew; thou showedest to me the studies of them.

19 And I am as a mild lamb, which is borne to slain sacrifice; and I knew not, that they thought counsels on me, and said, Send we a tree into the bread of him, and raze we him away from the land of livers, and his name be no more had in mind.

20 But thou, Lord of hosts, that deemest justly [or rightwisely], and provest reins and hearts, see I thy vengeance of them; for to thee I showed my cause.

21 Therefore the Lord saith these things to the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, and say, Thou shalt not prophesy in the name of the Lord, and thou shalt not die in our hands.

22 Therefore the Lord of hosts saith these things, Lo! I shall visit on them; the young men of them shall die by sword, the sons of them, and the daughters of them, shall die for hunger;

23 and no remnants, either children left, shall be of them; for I shall bring in evil on the men of Anathoth, the year of the visitation of them.

CHAPTER 12

1 Forsooth, Lord, thou art just [or rightwise]; if I dispute with thee, nevertheless I shall speak just [or right] things to thee. Why hath the way of wicked men prosperity? It is well to all men that break the law, and do wickedly?

2 Thou hast planted them, and they sent root; they increase, and make fruit; thou art nigh to the mouth of them, and far from the reins of them.

3 And thou, Lord, hast known me, thou hast seen me, and hast proved mine heart with thee. Gather thou them together as a flock to slain sacrifice, and hallow thou them in the day of slaying.

4 How long shall the earth mourn, and each herb of the field shall be dried, for the malice of them that dwell therein? A beast is wasted, and a bird, for they said, The Lord shall not see our last things.

5 If thou travailest running with footmen, how shalt thou be able to strive with horses? but when thou art secure in the land of peace, what shalt thou do in the pride of Jordan?

6 For why both thy brethren and the house of thy father, yea, they fought against thee, and cried with full voice after thee; believe thou not to them, when they speak goods to thee.

7 I have left mine house, I have forsaken mine heritage; I gave my beloved soul into the hands of enemies thereof.

8 Mine heritage is made as a lion in the wood to me; it gave voice against me, therefore I hated it.

9 Whether mine heritage is a bird of diverse colours to me? whether it is a bird dyed throughout? All beasts of the field, come ye, be ye gathered together; haste ye for to devour.

10 Many shepherds destroyed my vinery [or vineyard], defouled my part, gave my desirable portion into desert of wilderness;

11 they setted it into scattering, and it mourned on me; all the land is desolate by desolation, for none is that again-thinketh in heart.

12 All destroyers of the land came on all the ways of desert, for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the last part of the land unto the last part thereof; no peace is to all flesh.

13 They sowed wheat, and reaped thorns; they took heritage, and it shall not profit to them. Ye shall be shamed of your fruits, for the wrath of the strong vengeance of the Lord.

14 The Lord saith these things against all my worst neighbours, that touch the heritage which I parted to my people Israel, Lo! I shall draw them out of their land, and I shall draw the house of Judah out of the midst of them.

15 And when I shall draw out those Jews, I shall turn again, and have mercy on them; and I shall lead them again, a man to his heritage, and a man into his land.

16 And it shall be, if they that be taught learn the ways of my people, that they swear in my name, The Lord liveth, as they taught my people to swear in Baal, they shall be builded in the midst of my people.

17 That if they hear not, I shall draw out that folk by drawing out and perdition, saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 13

1 The Lord saith these things to me, Go, and take in possession to thee a linen breech-girdle; and thou shalt put it on thy loins, and thou shalt not bear it into water.

2 And I took in possession a breech-girdle, by the word of the Lord; and I putted about my loins.

3 And the word of the Lord was made to me in the second time, and said,

4 Take the breech-girdle, which thou haddest in possession, which is about thy loins; and rise thou, and go to Euphrates, and hide thou it there, in the hole of a stone.

5 And I went, and hid it in Euphrates, as the Lord commanded to me.

6 And it was done after full many days, the Lord said to me, Rise thou, and go to Euphrates, and take from thence the breech-girdle, which I commanded to thee, that thou shouldest hide it there.

7 And I went to Euphrates, and digged out, and I took the breech-girdle from the place, where I had hid it; and lo! the breech-girdle was rotten, so that it was not able to any use.

8 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

9 The Lord saith these things, So I shall make rotten the pride of Judah, and the much pride of Jerusalem,

10 and this worst people, that will not hear my words, and go in the shrewdness of their heart; and they went after alien gods, to serve them, and to worship them; and they shall be as this breech-girdle, which is not able to any use.

11 For as a breech-girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so I joined fast to me all the house of Israel, and all the house of Judah, saith the Lord, that they should be to me into a people, and into name, and into praising, and into glory; and they heard not.

12 Therefore thou shalt say to them this word, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Each pottle shall be filled of wine. And they shall say to thee, Whether we know not, that each pottle shall be filled of wine?

13 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall fill with drunkenness all the dwellers of this land, and the kings of the generation of David, that sit on his throne, and the priests, and prophets, and all the dwellers of Jerusalem.

14 And I shall scatter them, a man from his brother, and the fathers and sons together, saith the Lord; I shall not spare, and I shall not grant, neither I shall do mercy, that I lose not them.

15 Hear ye, and perceive with ears; do not ye be raised [up], for the Lord spake.

16 Give ye glory to your Lord God, before that it wax dark, and before that your feet hurt at [the] dark hills; ye shall abide light, and he shall set [or put] it into the shadow of death, and into darkness.

17 That if ye hear not this, my soul shall weep in hid place for the face of pride; it weeping shall weep, and mine eye shall cast out a tear, for the flock of the Lord is taken.

18 Say thou to the king, and to the lady, Be ye meeked, sit ye, for the crown of your glory shall go down from your head.

19 The cities of the south be closed, and none is that openeth; all Judah is translated by perfect passing over, either going out of their land.

20 Raise ye your eyes, and see ye, what men come from the north; where is the flock which is given to thee, thy noble sheep?

21 What shalt thou say, when he shall visit thee? for thou hast taught them against thee, and thou hast taught against thine head. Whether sorrows have not taken thee, as a woman travailing of child?

22 That if thou sayest in thine heart, Why came these things to me? for the multitude of thy wickedness thy shamefuller things be showed, thy feet be defouled.

23 If a man of Ethiopia may change his skin, either a leopard may change his diversities, and ye may do well, when ye have learned evil.

24 And I shall sow them abroad, as stubble which is ravished, or taken away, of the wind in desert.

25 This is thy lot, and the part of thy measure of me, saith the Lord; for thou forgettedest me, and trustedest in a leasing.

26 Wherefore and I made naked thine hips against thy face, and thy shame appeared,

27 thine adulteries, and thine neighing, and the felony of thy fornication on little hills in the field; I saw thine abominations. Jerusalem, woe to thee, thou shalt not be cleansed after me till yet.

CHAPTER 14

1 The word of the Lord, that was made to Jeremy, of the words of dryness.

2 Judah wailed, and the gates thereof fell down, and be made dark in [the] earth, and the cry of Jerusalem went up.

3 Greater men sent their lesser men to water; they came to draw water, and they found no water, they brought again their vessels void; they were shamed and tormented, and they covered their heads,

4 for [the] destroying of the land, for rain came not in the land. Earth-tillers were shamed, they covered their heads.

5 For why and an hind calved in the field, and left her calves, for none herb was;

6 and wild asses stood in rocks, and drew wind as dragons; their eyes failed, for none herb was.

7 If our wickednesses answer to us, Lord, do thou for thy name, for our turnings away be many; we have sinned against thee.

8 Thou abiding of Israel, the saviour thereof in the time of tribulation, why shalt thou be as a comeling in the land, and as a way-goer bowing [down] to dwell?

9 why shalt thou be as a man of unstable dwelling, as a strong man that may not save? Forsooth, Lord, thou art in us, and thine holy name is called to help on us; forsake thou not us.

10 The Lord saith these things to this people, that loved to stir his feet, and rested not, and pleased not the Lord; now he shall have mind on the wickednesses of them, and he shall visit the sins of them.

11 And the Lord said to me, Do not thou pray for this people into good.

12 When they shall fast, I shall not hear the prayers of them; and if they offer burnt sacrifices and slain sacrifices, I shall not receive them, for I shall waste them by sword and hunger and pestilence.

13 And I said, A! A! A! Lord God, [the] prophets say to them, Ye shall not see sword, and hunger shall not be in you, but he shall give to you very peace in this place.

14 And the Lord said to me, The prophets prophesy falsely in my name; I sent not them, and I commanded not to them, neither I spake to them; they prophesy to you a false revelation, and a guileful divining, and the deceiving of their heart.

15 Therefore the Lord saith these things of the prophets that prophesy in my name, which I sent not, and say, Sword and hunger shall not be in this land; Those prophets shall be wasted by sword and hunger.

16 And the peoples, to which they prophesied, shall be cast forth in the ways of Jerusalem, for hunger and sword, and none there shall be, that shall bury them; they and the wives of them, the sons and the daughters of them; and I shall shed [or pour] out on them their evil.

17 And thou shalt say to them this word, Mine eyes lead down a tear by night and day, and be it not still; for the virgin, the daughter of my people, is defouled by great defouling, with the worst wound greatly.

18 If I go out to [the] fields, lo! men be slain with sword; and if I enter into the city, lo! men be made lean for hunger; also a prophet and a priest went into the land which they knew not.

19 Whether thou casting away hast cast away Judah, either thy soul hath loathed Zion? why therefore hast thou smitten us, so that no health there is? We abided peace, and no good is; and we abided time of healing, and lo! troubling is.

20 Lord, we have known our unfaith-fulness, and the wickednesses of our fathers, for we have sinned to thee.

21 Give thou not us into shame, for thy name, neither do thou despite to us; have thou mind on the seat of thy glory, make thou not void thy bond of peace with us.

22 Whether in graven images of heathen men be they that rain, either heavens may give rains? whether thou art not our Lord God, whom we abided? For thou madest all these things.

CHAPTER 15

1 And the Lord said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul is not to this people; cast thou them out from my face, and go they out.

2 That if they say to thee, Whither shall we go out? thou shalt say to them, The Lord saith these things, They that to death, to death, and they that to sword, to sword, and they that to hunger, to hunger, and they that to captivity, to captivity.

3 I shall visit on them four species, saith the Lord; a sword to slaying, and dogs for to rend, and volatiles [or fowls] of the air, and beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy.

4 And I shall give them into fervor to all realms of earth, for Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, on all things which he did in Jerusalem.

5 For why who shall have mercy on thee, Jerusalem, either who shall be sorry for thee, either who shall go to pray for thy peace?

6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou hast gone aback; and I shall stretch forth mine hand on thee, and I shall slay thee; I travailed praying.

7 And I shall scatter them with a winnowing instrument in the gates of [the] earth; I killed, and lost my people, and nevertheless they turned not again from their ways.

8 The widows thereof be multiplied to me above the gravel of the sea; and I brought into them a destroyer in midday on the mother of a young man, I sent dread suddenly on [the] cities.

9 She was sick that childed seven, her soul failed; the sun went down to her, when day was yet. She was shamed, and was ashamed; and I shall give the residue thereof into sword in the sight of their enemies, saith the Lord.

10 My mother, woe to me; why engenderedest thou me a man of chiding, a man of discord in all the land? I lent not, neither any man lent to me; all men curse me,

11 the Lord saith. No man believe to me, if thy remnants be not into good, if I run not to thee in the time of torment, and in the time of tribulation and of anguish, against the enemy.

12 Whether iron and metal shall be joined by peace to iron from the north?

13 And I shall give freely thy riches and thy treasures into ravishing, for all thy sins, and in all thine ends.

14 And I shall bring thine enemies from the land which thou knowest not; for fire is kindled in my strong vengeance, and it shall burn on you.

15 Lord, thou knowest, have thou mind on me, and visit me, and deliver me from them that pursue me; do not thou take me in thy patience, know thou, that I suffered shame for thee.

16 Thy words be found, and I ate those [or them]; and thy word was made to me into joy, and into gladness of mine heart; for thy name, Lord God of hosts, is called to help on me.

17 I sat not in the council of players, and I had glory for the face of thine hand; I sat alone, for thou filledest me with bitterness.

18 Why is my sorrow made ever-lasting, and my wound despaired, forsook to be cured? it is made to me, as a leasing of unfaithful waters.

19 For this thing the Lord saith these things, If thou turnest, I shall turn thee, and thou shalt stand before my face; and if thou partest precious thing from vile thing, thou shalt be as my mouth; and they shall be turned to thee, and thou shalt not be turned to them.

20 And I shall give thee into a brazen wall and strong to this people, and they shall fight against thee, and they shall not have the victory; for I am with thee, to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord.

21 And I shall deliver thee from the hand of the worst men, and I shall again-buy thee from the hand of strong men.

CHAPTER 16

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

2 Thou shalt not take a wife, and sons and daughters shall not be to thee in this place.

3 For the Lord saith these things on sons and daughters, that be engendered in this place, and on the mothers of them, that engendered them, and on the fathers of them, of whose generation they be born in this land.

4 They shall die by deaths of sicknesses, they shall not be bewailed, and they shall not be buried; they shall be into a dunghill on the face of [the] earth, and they shall be wasted by sword and hunger; and the carrion of them shall be into meat to the volatiles [or fowls] of heaven, and to [the] beasts of the earth.

5 For the Lord saith these things, Enter thou not into an house of feast, neither go thou to bewail, neither comfort thou them; for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the Lord, and mercy and merciful doings.

6 And great and small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried, neither shall be bewailed; and they shall not cut themselves, neither bald-ness shall be made for them.

7 And they shall not break bread among them to him that mourneth, to comfort on a dead man, and they shall not give to them drink of a cup, to comfort on their father and mother.

8 And thou shalt not enter into the house of feast, that thou sit with them, and eat, and drink.

9 For why the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall take away from this place, before your eyes, and in your days, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the spouse, and the voice of spousess.

10 And when thou shalt tell all these words to this people, and they shall say to thee, Why spake the Lord all this great evil on us? what is our wickedness, either what is our sin which we sinned to our Lord God?

11 thou shalt say to them, For your fathers forsook me, saith the Lord, and went after alien gods, and served them, and worshipped them, and they forsook me, and kept not my law.

12 But also ye wrought worse than your fathers; for lo! each man goeth after the shrewdness of his evil heart, that he hear not me.

13 And I shall cast you out of this land, into the land which ye and your fathers know not; and ye shall serve there to alien gods day and night, which shall not give rest to you.

14 Therefore lo! days come, saith the Lord, and it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that led the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

15 but, The Lord liveth, that led [out] the sons of Israel from the land of the north, and from all lands to which I casted them out; and I shall lead them again into their land which I gave to the fathers of them.

16 Lo! I shall send many fishers to them, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after these things I shall send many hunters to them, and they shall hunt them from each mountain, and from each little hill, and from the caves of stones.

17 For mine eyes be on all the ways of them; those ways be not hid from my face, and the wickedness of them was not privy from mine eyes.

18 And I shall yield first the double wickednesses and [the] sins of them, for they defouled my land in the slain beasts of their idols, and filled mine heritage with their abominations.

19 Lord, my strength, and my stal-worth[y] ness, and my refuge in the day of tribulation, heathen men shall come to thee from the farthest places of earth, and shall say, Verily our fathers held a leasing in possession, vanity that profited not to them.

20 Whether a man shall make gods to himself? and those [or they] be no gods.

21 Therefore lo! I shall show to them by this while, I shall show to them mine hand, and my strength; and they shall know, that the name to me is [the] Lord.

CHAPTER 17

1 The sin of Judah is written with an iron pointel, in a nail of adamant; it is written on the breadth of the heart of them, and in the horns of the altars of them.

2 When the sons of them bethink on their altars, and [maumet] woods, and on the trees full of boughs,

3 making sacrifice in the field in high mountains, I shall give thy strength and all thy treasures into ravishing, thine high things for sins in all thine ends.

4 And thou shalt be left alone from thine heritage which I gave to thee; and I shall make thee to serve thine enemies, in the land which thou knowest not; for thou hast kindled fire in my strong vengeance, it shall burn till into without end.

5 The Lord saith these things, Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and setteth [or putteth] flesh his arm, and his heart goeth away from the Lord.

6 For he shall be as brooms in desert, and he shall not see, when good shall come; but he shall dwell in dryness in desert, in the land of saltness, and unhabitable.

7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his trust.

8 And he shall be as a tree, which is planted over waters, which sendeth his roots to moisture; and it shall not dread, when heat shall come; and the leaf thereof shall be green, and it shall not be moved in the time of dryness, neither any time it shall fail to make fruit.

9 The heart of man is shrewd, and unsearchable; who shall know it?

10 I am the Lord seeking the heart, and proving the reins, either kidneys, and I give to each man after his way, and after the fruit of his findings.

11 A partridge nourished those things which she breeded not; he made riches, and not in doom; in the midst of his days he shall forsake them, and in his last time he shall be unwise.

12 The seat of glory of highness was at the beginning the place of our hallowing, the abiding of Israel.

13 Lord, all they that forsake thee, shall be shamed; they that go away from thee, shall be written in [the] earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, a vein of quick waters.

14 Lord, heal me, and I shall be healed; make thou me safe, and I shall be safe; for thou art my praising.

15 Lo! they say to me, Where is the word of the Lord? come it.

16 And I am not troubled, pursuing [or following] thee shepherd, and I desired not the day of man, thou knowest. That that went out of my lips was rightful [or right] in thy sight.

17 Be thou not to dread to me; thou art mine hope in the day of torment.

18 Be they shamed, that pursue me, and be I not shamed; dread they, and dread not I; bring in on them a day of torment, and defoul thou them by double defouling.

19 The Lord saith these things to me, Go thou, and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, by which the kings of Judah enter [in], and go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.

20 And thou shall say to them, Hear the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the dwellers of Jerusalem, that enter [in] by these gates.

21 The Lord God saith these things, Keep ye your souls, and do not ye bear burdens in the day of sabbath, neither bring in by the gates of Jerusalem.

22 And do not ye cast burdens out of your houses in the day of sabbath, and ye shall not do any work; hallow ye the day of sabbath, as I commanded to your fathers.

23 And they heard not, neither bowed down their ear, but they made hard their noll, that they should not hear me, and that they should not take chastising.

24 And it shall be, if ye hear me, saith the Lord, that ye bear not in burdens by the gates of this city in the day of sabbath, and if ye hallow the day of sabbath, that ye do not work therein,

25 kings and princes sitting on the seat of David shall enter [in] by the gates of this city, and ascending [or going] in chariots and horses; they, and the princes of them, the men of Judah, and the dwellers of Jerusalem; and this city shall be inhabited without end.

26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the compass of Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from [the] field places, and from [the] hilly [or mountainous] places, and from the south, bearing burnt sacrifice, and slain sacrifice, and incense; and they shall bring offering into the house of the Lord.

27 Forsooth if ye hear not me, that ye hallow the day of sabbath, and that ye bear not a burden, and that ye bring not in by the gates of Jerusalem in the day of sabbath, I shall kindle fire in the gates thereof; and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

CHAPTER 18

1 The word that was made of the Lord to Jeremy, and said,

2 Rise thou, and go down into the house of a potter, and there thou shalt hear my words.

3 And I went down into the house of a potter, and lo! he made a work on a wheel.

4 And the vessel was destroyed, which he made of clay with his hands; and he turned it, and made it another vessel, as it pleased in his eyes to make.

5 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

6 Whether as this potter doeth, I may not do to you, the house of Israel? saith the Lord. Lo! as clay is in the hand of a potter, so ye, the house of Israel, be in mine hand.

7 Suddenly I shall speak against a folk, and against a realm, that I draw out, and destroy, and lose [or scatter] it.

8 If that folk doeth penance of his evil, which I spake against it, also I shall do penance on the evil, which I thought to do to it.

9 And I shall speak suddenly of a folk, and of a realm, that I build, and plant it.

10 If it doeth evil before mine eyes, that it hear not my voice, I shall do penance on the good which I spake, that I should do to it.

11 Now therefore say thou to a man of Judah, and to the dweller of Jerusalem, and say, The Lord saith these things, Lo! I make evil against you, and I think a thought against you; each man turn again from his evil way, and dress ye your ways and your studies.

12 Which said, We have despaired, for we shall go after our thoughts, and we shall do each man the shrewdness of his evil heart.

13 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Ask ye heathen men, who heard such horrible things, which the virgin of Israel hath done greatly?

14 Whether [the] snow of the Lebanon shall fail from the stone of the field? either cold waters breaking out, and floating down, may be taken away?

15 For my people hath forgotten me, and they offered sacrifices in vain, and stumbled in their ways, and in the paths of the world, that they went by those [or them] in a way not trodden;

16 that the land of them should be into desolation, and into an hissing everlasting; for why each that passeth by it, shall be astonied, and shall move his head.

17 As a burning wind I shall scatter them before the enemy; I shall show to them the back and not the face, in the day of the perdition of them.

18 And they said, Come ye, and think we thoughts against Jeremy; for why the law shall not perish from a priest, neither counsel shall perish from a wise man, neither word shall perish from a prophet; come ye, and smite we him with tongue, and take we none heed to all the words of him.

19 Lord, give thou attention to me, and hear thou the voice of mine adversaries.

20 Whether evil is yielded for good, for they have digged a pit to my soul; have thou mind, that I stood in thy sight, to speak good for them, and to turn away thine indignation from them.

21 Therefore give thou the sons of them into hunger, and lead forth them into the hands of [the] sword; the wives of them be made without children, and be made widows, and the husbands of them be slain by death; the young men of them be pierced together by sword in battle.

22 Cry be heard of the houses of them, for thou shalt bring suddenly a thief on them; for they digged a pit to take me, and hid snares to my feet.

23 But thou, Lord, knowest all the counsel of them against me into death; do thou not mercy to the wickedness of them, and the sin of them be not done away from thy face; be they made falling down in thy sight, in the time of thy strong vengeance; use thou them to other thing than they were ordained.

CHAPTER 19

1 The Lord saith these things, Go thou, and take an earthen pottle of a potter, [and] of the elder men of the people, and of the elder men of the priests.

2 And go thou out to the valley of the sons of Hinnom, which is beside the entering of the earthen gate; and there thou shalt preach the words which I shall speak to thee;

3 and thou shalt say, Kings of Judah, and the dwellers of Jerusalem, hear ye the word of the Lord. The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in torment on this place, so that each man that heareth it, his ears tingle.

4 For they have forsaken me, and made alien this place, and offered sacrifices to alien gods therein, which they, and the fathers of them, and the kings of Judah, knew not; and they filled this place with the blood of innocents,

5 and builded high things to Baalim, to burn their sons in fire, into burnt sacrifice to Baalim; which things I commanded not, neither spake, neither those ascended [or went up] into mine heart.

6 Therefore the Lord saith, Lo! days shall come, and this place shall no more be called Tophet, and the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaying.

7 And I shall destroy the counsel of Judah and of Jerusalem in this place, and I shall destroy them by sword, in the sight of their enemies, and in the hand of men seeking the lives of them; and I shall give their dead bodies to be meat to the birds of the air, and to [the] beasts of earth.

8 And I shall set this city into wondering, and into hissing; each that passeth by it, shall wonder, and hiss on all the vengeance thereof.

9 And I shall feed them with the fleshes of their sons, and with the fleshes of their daughters; and each man shall eat the fleshes of his friend in the besieging and anguish, in which the enemies of them, and they that seek the lives of them, shall enclose them altogether.

10 And thou shalt all-break the pottle before the eyes of the men, that shall go with thee.

11 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord of hosts saith these things, So I shall all-break this people, and this city, as the vessel of a potter is all-broken, which may no more be restored; and they shall be buried in Tophet, for none other place is to bury.

12 So I shall do to this place, saith the Lord, and to dwellers thereof, that I set this city as Tophet.

13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be as the place of Tophet; all the unclean houses, in whose roofs they sacrificed to all the chivalry of heaven, and offered moist sacrifices to alien gods.

14 Forsooth Jeremy came from Tophet, whither the Lord had sent him for to prophesy; and he stood in the porch of the house of the Lord, and said to all the people,

15 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring in on this city, and on all the cities thereof, all the evils which I spake against it; for they made hard their noll, that they heard not my words.

CHAPTER 20

1 And Pashur, the son of Immer, the priest, that was ordained prince in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremy prophesying these words.

2 And Pashur smote Jeremy, the prophet, and sent him into the stocks, that were in the higher gate of Benjamin, in the house of the Lord.

3 And when it was clear in the morrow, Pashur led Jeremy out of the stocks. And Jeremy said to him, The Lord called not Pashur thy name, but Dread on each side.

4 For the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall give thee and all thy friends into dread, and they shall fall down by the sword of their enemies; and thine eyes shall see; and I shall give all Judah in the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall lead them over into Babylon, and he shall smite them with sword.

5 And I shall give all the chattel [or substance] of this city, and all the travail thereof, and all the price; and I shall give all the treasures of the kings of Judah in the hand of their enemies; and they shall ravish them, and shall take, and lead [them] forth into Babylon.

6 Forsooth thou, Pashur, and all the dwellers of thine house, shall go into captivity; and thou shalt come into Babylon, and thou shalt die there; and thou shalt be buried there, thou and all thy friends, to which thou prophesiedest leasing.

7 Lord, thou deceivedest me, and I am deceived; thou were stronger than I, and thou haddest the mastery; I am made into scorn all day. All men bemock me,

8 for now a while ago I spake, crying [out] wickedness, and I cried destroying. And the word of the Lord is made to me into shame, and into scorn all day.

9 And I said, I shall not have mind on him, and I shall no more speak in his name. And the word of the Lord was made, as fire swelling in mine heart, and enclosed in my bones; and I failed, not suffering to bear.

10 For I heard despisings of many men, and dread in compass, Pursue ye, and pursue we him, of all men that were peaceable to me, and keeping my side; if in any manner he be deceived, and we have the mastery against him, and get vengeance of him.

11 Forsooth the Lord as a strong warrior is with me, therefore they that pursue me shall fall, and they shall be feeble; and they shall be shamed greatly, for they understood not everlasting shame, that shall never be done away.

12 And thou, Lord of hosts, the prover of a just [or rightwise] man, which seest the reins and [the] heart, I beseech, see I thy vengeance of them; for I have showed my cause to thee.

13 Sing ye to the Lord, praise ye the Lord, for he delivered the soul of a poor man from the hand of evil men.

14 Cursed be the day wherein I was born, the day wherein my mother childed me be not blessed.

15 Cursed be the man, that told to my father, and said, A knave child is born to thee, and made him glad as with joy.

16 That man be as the cities be, which the Lord destroyed, and it repented not him; [Be that man as be the cities, that the Lord turned upside-down, and it repented him not; hear he cry early, and yelling in midday time,]

17 he that killed not me from the womb, hear cry early, and yelling in the time of midday; that my mother were [made] a sepulchre to me, and her womb were an everlasting conceiving. [that me he slew not from the privy womb; that made were to me my mother a sepulchre, and her privy womb conceiving everlasting.]

18 Why went I out of the womb, that I should see travail and sorrow, and that my days shall be wasted in shame?

CHAPTER 21

1 The word which was made of the Lord to Jeremy, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashur, the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah, the priest, the son of Maaseiah, and said,

2 Ask thou the Lord for us, for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, fighteth against us; if in hap the Lord do with us by all his marvels, and he go away from us.

3 And Jeremy said to them, Thus ye shall say to Zedekiah,

4 The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Lo! I shall turn the instruments of battle that be in your hands, and with which ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against Chaldees, that besiege you in the compass of [the] walls; and I shall gather those [or them] together in the midst of this city.

5 And I shall overcome you in [a] hand stretched forth, and in [a] strong arm, and in strong vengeance, and in indignation, and in great wrath;

6 and I shall smite the dwellers of this city, men and beasts shall die by great pestilence.

7 And after these things, saith the Lord, I shall give Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his servants, and his people, and that be left in this city from pestilence, and sword, and hunger, in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and in the hand of their enemies, and in the hand of men seeking the life of them; and he shall smite them by the sharpness of sword; and he shall not be bowed, neither shall spare, neither shall have mercy.

8 And thou shalt say to this people, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I give before you the way of life, and the way of death.

9 He that dwelleth in this city, shall die by sword, and hunger, and pestilence; but he that goeth out, and fleeth over to [the] Chaldees that besiege you, shall live, and his life shall be as a prey to him.

10 For I have set my face on this city into evil, and not into good, saith the Lord; it shall be given in the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

11 And thou shall say to the house of the king of Judah, the house of David, Hear ye the word of the Lord.

12 The Lord saith these things, Deem ye early doom, and deliver ye him that is oppressed by violence from the hand of the false challenger; lest peradventure mine indignation go out as fire, and be kindled, and none be that quench, for the malice of your studies.

13 Lo! I do to thee, dwelleress of the firm valley, and plain, saith the Lord, [ye] which say, Who shall smite us, and who shall enter into our houses?

14 And I shall visit on you by the fruit of your studies, saith the Lord; and I shall kindle fire in the forest thereof, and it shall devour all things in the compass thereof.

CHAPTER 22

1 The Lord saith these things, Go thou down into the house of the king of Judah, and thou shalt speak there this word,

2 and shalt say, Hear thou the word of the Lord, thou king of Judah, that sittest on the seat of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people, that enter [in] by these gates.

3 The Lord saith these things, Do ye doom, and rightfulness [or right-wiseness], and deliver ye him that is oppressed by violence from the hand of the false challenger; and do not ye make sorry, neither oppress ye wickedly a comeling, and a fatherless child, and a widow, and shed ye not out innocent blood in this place.

4 For if ye doing do this word, kings of the kin of David sitting on his throne shall enter [in] by the gates of this house, and shall ascend or go upon chariots and horses, they, and the servants, and the people of them.

5 That if ye hear not these words, I swore in myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall be into wilderness.

6 For the Lord saith these things on the house of the king of Judah; Gilead, thou art to me the head of the Lebanon; credence be not given to me, if I set not thee a wilderness, cities unhabitable.

7 And I shall hallow on thee a man slaying, and his arms; and they shall cut down thy chosen cedars, and shall cast down into fire.

8 And many folks shall pass by this city, and each man shall say to his neighbour, Why did the Lord thus to this great city?

9 And they shall answer, For they forsook the covenant of their Lord God, and worshipped alien gods, and served them.

10 Do not ye beweep him that is dead, neither wail ye on him by weeping; bewail ye him that goeth out, for he shall no more turn again, neither he shall see the land of his birth.

11 For the Lord saith these things to Shallum, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, that reigned for Josiah, his father, He that went out of this place, shall no more turn again hither;

12 but in the place to which I have translated him, there he shall die, and he shall no more see this land.

13 Woe to him that buildeth his house in unrightfulness [or unrightwise-ness], and his solars not in doom; he shall oppress his friend in vain, and he shall not yield his hire to him.

14 Which saith, I shall build to me a large house, and wide solars; which openeth windows to himself, and maketh couples of cedar, and painteth with red colour.

15 Whether thou shalt reign, for thou comparisonest thee to a cedar? whether thy father ate not, and drank, and did doom and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] then, when it was well to him?

16 He deemed the cause of a poor man, and needy, into his good; whether not therefore for he knew me? saith the Lord.

17 Forsooth thine eyes and heart be to avarice, and to shed innocent blood, and to false challenge, and to the performing of evil work.

18 Therefore the Lord saith these things to Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, They shall not bewail him, Woe brother! and woe sister! they shall not sound together to him, Woe lord! and woe noble man!

19 He shall be buried with the burying of an ass, he shall be rotten, and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem.

20 Ascend [or Go] thou [up] on the Lebanon, and cry thou, and give thy voice in Bashan, and cry to them that pass forth, for all thy lovers be all-broken.

21 I spake to thee in thy plenty, and thou saidest, I shall not hear; this is thy way from thy youth, for thou heardest not my voice.

22 Wind shall feed all thy shepherds, and thy lovers shall go into captivity;

23 and then thou that sittest in the Lebanon, and makest nest in cedars, shalt be shamed, and ashamed of all thy malice. How wailedest thou, when sorrows were come to thee, as the sorrow of a woman travailing of child?

24 I live, saith the Lord, for thou Jeconiah*, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a ring in my right hand, from thence I shall draw away him.

25 And I shall give thee in the hand of them that seek thy life, and in the hand of them whose face thou dreadest, and in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and in the hand of Chaldees.

26 And I shall send thee, and thy mother that engendered thee, into an alien land, in which ye were not born, and there ye shall die;

27 and they shall not turn again into the land, to which they raise their soul, that they turn again thither.

28 Whether this man Jeconiah is an earthen vessel, and all-broken? whether a vessel without all-liking? Why be he and his seed cast away, and cast forth into a land which they knew not?

29 Earth, earth, earth, hear thou the word of the Lord.

30 The Lord saith these things, Write thou this man barren, a man that shall not have prosperity in his days; for of his seed shall be no man, that shall sit on the seat of David, and have power further in Judah.

CHAPTER 23

1 Woe to the shepherds, that scatter and draw the flock of my pasture, saith the Lord.

2 Therefore the Lord God of Israel saith these things to the shepherds that feed my people, Ye have scattered my flock, and have cast them out, and have not visited them; lo! I shall visit on you the malice of your studies, saith the Lord.

3 And I shall gather together the remnants of my flock from all lands, to which I shall cast them out thither; and I shall turn them to their fields, and they shall increase, and shall be multiplied.

4 And I shall raise up shepherds on them, and they shall feed them; they shall no more dread, and shall not be afeared; and none shall be sought of the number, saith the Lord.

5 Lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall raise a just [or rightwise] burgeoning, either seed, to David; and he shall reign a king, and he shall be wise, and he shall make doom and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] in earth.

6 In those days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell trustily; and this is the name which they shall call him, The Lord our rightful [or Our rightwise Lord].

7 For this thing lo! days come, saith the Lord, and they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, that led the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

8 but, The Lord liveth, that led out, and brought the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and from all lands to which I had cast them out thither; and they shall dwell in their [own] land.

9 To the prophets; Mine heart is contrite, either all-broken for sorrow, in the midst of me, all my bones trembled together; I am made as a man drunken, and as a man wet of wine, of the face of the Lord, and of the face of the holy words of him;

10 for the land is filled with adulterers. For the earth mourned of the face of cursing; the fields of desert be made dry, the course of them is made evil, and their strength is unlike.

11 For why the prophet and the priest be defouled; and in mine house, saith the Lord, I found the evil of them.

12 Therefore the way of them shall be as slidery thing in darknesses, for they shall be hurtled, either shoved, and shall fall down therein; for I shall bring on them evils, the year of [the] visitation of them, saith the Lord.

13 And in the prophets of Samaria I saw fondness [or folly], and they prophesied in Baal, and deceived my people Israel.

14 And in the prophets of Jerusalem I saw, likeness, adultery, and the way of leasing; and they comforted the hands of the worst men, that each man should not convert from his malice; all they be made as Sodom to me, and all the dwellers thereof be made as Gomorrah.

15 Therefore the Lord of hosts saith these things to the prophets, Lo! I shall feed them with wormwood, and I shall give drink to them with gall; for why defouling is gone out of the prophets of Jerusalem on all the land.

16 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Do not ye hear the words of [the] prophets, that prophesy to you, and deceive you; they speak the vision of their heart, not of the mouth of the Lord.

17 They say to them that blaspheme me, The Lord spake, Peace shall be to you; and they said to each man that goeth in the shrewdness of his heart, Evil shall not come [up] on you.

18 For why who is present in the counsel of the Lord, and saw, and heard his word? who beheld, and heard the word of him?

19 Lo! the whirlwind of the Lord’s indignation shall go out, and tempest breaking [out] shall come [up] on the head of wicked men.

20 The strong vengeance of the Lord shall not turn again, till that he do, and till that he [ful] fill the thought of his heart. In the last days ye shall understand the counsel of him.

21 I sent not the prophets, and they ran; I spake not to them, and they prophesied.

22 If they had stood in my counsel, and had made known my words to my people, forsooth I had turned them away from their evil way, and from their worst thoughts.

23 Guessest thou, whether I am God of nigh, saith the Lord, and not God afar?

24 A man shall not be privy in hid places, and I shall not see him, saith the Lord. Whether I fill not heaven and earth? saith the Lord.

25 I heard what things the prophets said, prophesying leasing in my name, and saying, I dreamed dreams.

26 How long is this thing in the heart of prophets, prophesying leasing, and prophesying the deceit of their heart?

27 Which will make, that my people forget my name for the dreams of them, which each man telleth to his neighbour, as the fathers of them forgat my name for Baal.

28 A prophet that hath a dream, tell a dream; and he that hath my word, speak verily my word. What is with [the] chaffs to the wheat? saith the Lord.

29 Whether my words be not as fire burning, saith the Lord, and as an hammer all-breaking a stone?

30 Therefore lo! I am ready to the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, each man from his neighbour.

31 Lo! I to the prophets, saith the Lord, that take their tongues, and say, The Lord saith.

32 Lo! I to the prophets, dreaming leasing, saith the Lord; which told them, and deceived my people in their leasing, and in their miracles, when I had not sent them, neither had commanded to them; which profited nothing to this people, saith the Lord.

33 Therefore if this people, either prophet, either priest, asketh thee, and saith, What is the burden of the Lord? thou shalt say to them, Ye be the burden, for I shall cast you away, saith the Lord;

34 and a prophet, and a priest, and the people, that saith, The burden of the Lord, I shall visit on that man, and on his house.

35 Ye shall say these things, each man to his neighbour, and to his brother, What answered the Lord? and, What spake the Lord?

36 For the burden of the Lord shall no more be remembered, and the word of each man shall be a burden to him; and ye have perverted the words of [the] living God, of the Lord of hosts, your God.

37 Thou shalt say these things to the prophet, What answered the Lord to thee? and, What spake the Lord?

38 Forsooth if ye say, The burden of the Lord, for this thing the Lord saith these things, For ye said this word, The burden of the Lord, and I sent to you, and I said, Do not ye say, The burden of the Lord;

39 therefore lo! I shall take you away, and shall bear, and I shall forsake you, and the city which I gave to you, and to your fathers, from my face.

40 And I shall give you into everlasting shame, and into everlasting scandal, that shall never be done away by forgetting.

CHAPTER 24

1 The Lord showed to me, and lo! two panniers full of figs were set before the temple of the Lord, after that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, translated Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and the princes of him, and a subtle craftsman, and a goldsmith, from Jerusalem, and brought them into Babylon.

2 And one pannier had full good figs, as figs of the first time be wont to be; and one pannier had full evil figs, that might not be eaten, for those [or they] were evil figs.

3 And the Lord said to me, Jeremy, what thing seest thou? And I said, Figs, good figs, full good; and evil figs, full evil, that may not be eaten, for those [or they] be evil figs.

4 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

5 The Lord God of Israel saith these things, As these figs be good, so I shall know the transmigration of Judah, which I sent out from this place into the land of Chaldees, into good.

6 And I shall set [or put] mine eyes on them to please, and I shall bring them again into this land; and I shall build them, and I shall not destroy them; and I shall plant them, and I shall not draw up by the root.

7 And I shall give to them an heart, that they know me, for I am the Lord; and they shall be into a people to me, and I shall be into God to them, for they shall turn again to me in all their heart.

8 And as the worst figs be, that may not be eaten, for those [or they] be evil figs, the Lord saith these things, So I shall give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and the princes of him, and other men of Jerusalem, that dwell in this city, and that dwell in the land of Egypt.

9 And I shall give them into travailing and torment in all realms of earth, into reproof, and into parable, and into a proverb, and into cursing, in all places to which I casted them out.

10 And I shall send in them sword, and hunger, and pestilence, till they be wasted from the land which I gave to them, and to the fathers of them.

CHAPTER 25

1 The word of the Lord, that was made to Jeremy, of all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, after that Jeconiah was translated into Babylon; that is the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon;

2 which word Jeremy, the prophet, spake to all the people of Judah, and to all the dwellers of Jerusalem, and said,

3 From the thirteenth year of the realm of Josiah, the son of Amon, the king of Judah, unto this day, this is the three and twentieth year, the word of the Lord was made to me; and I spake to you, and I rose by night and spake, and ye heard not.

4 And the Lord sent to you all his servants prophets, and rose full early, and sent, and ye heard not, neither ye bowed [in] your ears, for to hear;

5 when he said, Turn ye again, each man from his evil way, and from your worst thoughts, and ye shall dwell in the land which the Lord gave to you, and to your fathers, from the world and till into the world.

6 And do not ye go after alien gods, that ye serve them, and worship them, neither stir ye me to wrath-fulness [or to wrath], in the works of your hands, and I shall not torment you.

7 And ye heard not me, saith the Lord, that ye stirred me to wrathful-ness [or to wrath] in the works of your hands, into your [own] evil.

8 Therefore the Lord of hosts saith these things, For that that ye heard not my words,

9 lo! I shall send, and take all the kindreds of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, the king of Babylon; and I shall bring them on this land, and on the dwellers thereof, and on all nations, that be in the compass thereof; and I shall slay them, and I shall set them into wondering, and into hissing, and into everlasting wildernesses.

10 And I shall lose of them the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of spouse, and the voice of spousess, the voice of [the] quern, and the light of the lantern.

11 And all the land thereof shall be into wilderness, and into wondering; and all these folks shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 And when seventy years be [ful] filled, I shall visit on the king of Babylon, and on that folk, the wicked-ness of them, saith the Lord, and on the land of Chaldees, and I shall set [or put] it into everlasting wildernesses.

13 And I shall bring on that land all my words which I spake against it, all thing that is written in this book; whatever things Jeremy prophesied against all folks;

14 for they served to them, when they were many folks, and great kings; and I shall yield to them after the works of them, and after the deeds of their hands.

15 For the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith thus, Take thou the cup of wine of this strong vengeance from mine hand, and thou shall pour out drink thereof to all heathen men, to which I shall send thee.

16 And they shall drink, and shall be troubled [or disturbed], and shall be mad, of the face of sword, which I shall send among them.

17 And I took the cup from the hand of the Lord, and I poured out drink to all folks, to which the Lord sent me;

18 to Jerusalem, and to all the cities of Judah, and to the kings thereof, and to the princes thereof; that I should give them into wilderness, and into wondering, and into hissing, and into cursing, as this day is;

19 to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and to his servants, and to his princes, and to all his people;

20 and to all men generally, to all the kings of the land Uz, and to all the kings of the land of Philistines, and to Ashkelon, and to Azzah, and to Ekron, and to the residues of Ashdod;

21 to Idumea, and to Moab, and to the sons of Ammon;

22 and to all the kings of Tyre, and to all the kings of Sidon, and to the kings of the land of isles that be beyond the sea;

23 and to Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and to all men that be clipped on the long hair;

24 and to all the kings of Arabia, and to all the kings of the west, that dwell in desert;

25 and to all the kings of Zimri, and to all the kings of Elam, and to all the kings of Medes;

26 and to all the kings of the north, of nigh and of far, to each man against his brother; and to all the realms of earth, that be on the face thereof; and the king of Sheshach* shall drink after them.

27 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Drink ye, and be ye drunken, and spew ye, and fall ye down, and do not ye rise from the face of [the] sword which I shall send among you.

28 And when they will not take the cup from thine hand, that they drink, thou shalt say to them, The Lord of hosts saith these things, Ye drinking shall drink;

29 for lo! in the city in which my name is called to help, I begin to torment, and shall ye as innocents be without pain? ye shall not be without pain, for I call sword on all the dwellers of earth, saith the Lord of hosts.

30 And thou shalt prophesy to them all these words, and thou shalt say to them, The Lord shall roar from on high, and from his holy dwelling place he shall give his voice; he roaring shall roar on his fairness; a merry song, as of men treading in pressers [or in wine presses], shall be sung against all [the] dwellers of earth.

31 [The] Sound is come unto the last parts of [the] earth, for why doom is to the Lord with folks, he is deemed with each flesh; the Lord saith, I have given wicked men to the sword.

32 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Lo! torment shall go out from folk into folk, and a great whirlwind shall go out from the ends of [the] earth.

33 And the slain men of the Lord shall be in that day from the end of the earth unto the end thereof; they shall not be bewailed, neither shall be gathered together, neither shall be buried; they shall lie into a dunghill on the face of [the] earth.

34 Yell, ye shepherds, and cry, and, ye principals of the flock, besprinkle you with ashes; for your days be [ful] filled, that ye be slain, and your scatterings be[ful]filled, and ye shall fall as precious vessels.

35 And fleeing shall perish from [the] shepherds, and saving shall perish from the principals of the flock.

36 The voice of the cry of shepherds, and the yelling of the principals of the flock, for the Lord hath wasted the pastures of them.

37 And the fields of peace were stilled, for the face of [the] wrath of the strong vengeance of the Lord.

38 He as a lion hath forsaken his tabernacle, for the land of them is made into desolation, of the face of wrath of the culver, and of the face of wrath of the strong vengeance of the Lord.

CHAPTER 26

1 In the beginning of the realm of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word was made of the Lord, and said,

2 The Lord said these things, Stand thou in the foreyard of the house of the Lord, and thou shalt speak to all the cities of Judah, from which they come for to worship in the house of the Lord, all the words which I command to thee, that thou speak to them; do not thou withdraw a word;

3 if peradventure they hear, and be converted, each man from his evil way, and it repent me of the evil, which I thought to do to them, for the malices of their studies.

4 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord saith these things, If ye hear not me, that ye go in my law which I gave to you,

5 that ye hear the words of my servants, prophets, which I rising by night, and dressing, sent to you, and ye heard not;

6 I shall give this house as Shiloh, and I shall give this city into cursing to all folks of earth.

7 And the priests, and prophets, and all the people heard Jeremy speaking these words in the house of the Lord.

8 And when Jeremy had [ful] filled speaking all things, which the Lord had commanded to him, that he should speak to all the people, the priests, and [the] prophets, and all the people took him, and said, Die he by death;

9 why prophesied he in the name of the Lord, and said, This house shall be as Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, for no dweller there is? And all the people was gathered together against Jeremy, in the house of the Lord.

10 And the princes of Judah heard all these words; and they ascended [or went up] from the king’s house into the house of the Lord, and sat in the entering [or the entry] of the new gate of the house of the Lord.

11 And the priests and [the] prophets spake to the princes, and to all the people, and said, Doom of death is to this man, for he prophesied against this city, as ye heard with your ears.

12 And Jeremy said to all the princes, and to all the people, saying, The Lord sent me, that I should prophesy to this house, and to this city, all the words which ye heard.

13 Now therefore make ye good your ways, and your studies, and hear ye the voice of your Lord God; and it shall repent the Lord of the evil which he spake against you.

14 Lo! forsooth I am in your hands; do ye to me, as it is good and rightful [or right] before your eyes.

15 Nevertheless know ye, and [well] know, that if ye slay me, ye shall betray innocent blood against yourselves, and against this city, and the dwellers thereof; for in truth the Lord sent me to you, that I should speak in your ears all these words.

16 And the princes and all the people said to the priests and prophets, Doom of death is not to this man; for he spake to us in the name of our Lord God.

17 Therefore men of the elder men of the land rose up, and said to all the company of the people, and spake,

18 Micah of Moresheth was a prophet in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah; and he said to all the people of Judah, saying, The Lord of hosts saith these things, Zion shall be eared as a field, and Jerusalem shall be into an heap of stones, and the hill of the house of the Lord shall be into high things of woods.

19 Whether Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah condemned him by death? Whether they dreaded not the Lord, and besought the face of the Lord? and it repented the Lord of the evil which he spake against them. Therefore do we not great evil against our souls.

20 Also Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, of Kiriathjearim, was a man prophesying in the name of the Lord; and he prophesied against this city, and against this land, by all the words of Jeremy.

21 And king Jehoiakim, and all the mighty men, and princes of them, heard these words; and the king sought to slay him; and Urijah heard, and dreaded, and he fled, and entered into Egypt.

22 And king Jehoiakim sent men into Egypt, Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and men with him, into Egypt;

23 and they led Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him to king Jehoiakim; and the king killed him with sword, and casted forth his carrion in the sepulchres of the common people unnoble.

24 Therefore the hand of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, was with Jeremy, that he was not betaken into the hands of the people, and that it killed not him.

CHAPTER 27

1 In the beginning of the realm of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word was made of the Lord to Jeremy, and said,

2 The Lord saith these things to me, Make thou to thee bonds and chains, and thou shalt put them in thy neck;

3 and thou shalt send those [or them] to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the sons of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of [the] messengers that came to Jerusalem, and to Zedekiah, king of Judah.

4 And thou shalt command to them, that they speak to their lords, The Lord of hosts, God of Israel saith these things, Ye shall say these things to your lords,

5 I made earth, and man, and beasts that be on the face of all earth, in my great strength, and in mine arm holden forth; and I gave it to him that pleased before mine eyes.

6 And now therefore I gave all these lands in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, the king of Babylon; furthermore and I gave to him the beasts of the field, that they serve him.

7 And all folks shall serve him, and his son, and the son of his son, till the time of his land and of him come; and many folks and great kings shall serve him.

8 Forsooth the folk and realm that serveth not Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and whoever boweth not his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I shall visit on that folk in sword, and hunger, and pestilence, saith the Lord, till I waste them in his hand.

9 Therefore do not ye hear your prophets, and false diviners, and dreamers, and diviners by chittering and flying of birds, and witches, that say to you, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon;

10 for they prophesy a leasing to you, that they make you far from your land, and cast out you [or cast you out], and ye perish.

11 Certainly the folk that maketh subject their noll under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serveth him, I shall leave, either deliver, it in his land, saith the Lord; and it shall till that land, and shall dwell therein.

12 And I spake by all these words to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and I said, Make ye subject your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve ye him, and his people, and ye shall live.

13 Why shall ye die, thou and thy people, by sword, and hunger, and pestilence, as the Lord spake to the folk, that would not serve to the king of Babylon?

14 Do not ye hear the words of prophets saying to you, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they speak leasing to you,

15 for I sent not them, saith the Lord; and they prophesy falsely in my name, that they cast out you [or throw you out], and that ye perish, both ye and the prophets that prophesy to you.

16 And I spake to the priests, and to this people, and I said, The Lord God saith these things, Do not ye hear the words of your prophets, that prophesy to you, and say, Lo! the vessels of the Lord shall turn again now soon from Babylon; for they prophesy a leasing to you.

17 Therefore do not ye hear them, but serve ye the king of Babylon, that ye live; why is this city given into wilderness?

18 And if they be prophets, and if the word of God is in them, run they to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels, which were left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, come not into Babylon.

19 For the Lord of hosts saith these things to the pillars, and to the sea, that is, a great washing vessel, and to the foundaments, and to the remnants of [the] vessels, that were left in this city,

20 which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took not, when he translated Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem into Babylon, and all the principal men of Judah and of Jerusalem.

21 For the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things to the vessels that be left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem,

22 They shall be translated, either led over, into Babylon, and shall be there unto the day of their visitation, saith the Lord; and I shall make those [or them] to be brought, and to be restored in this place.

CHAPTER 28

1 And it was done in that year, in the beginning of the realm of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah, the son of Azur, a prophet of Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord, before the priests, and all the people, saying,

2 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, I have all-broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

3 Yet two years of days there be, and I shall make to be brought again to this place all the vessels of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took from this place, and translated them into Babylon.

4 And I shall turn to this place, saith the Lord, Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and all the passing over of Judah, that entered into Babylon; for I shall all-break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

5 And Jeremy, the prophet, said to Hananiah, the prophet, before the eyes of priests, and before the eyes of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord.

6 And Jeremy, the prophet, said to Hananiah, Amen! so do the Lord; the Lord raise thy words which thou prophesiedest, that the vessels be brought again into the house of the Lord, and all the passing over from Babylon, to this place.

7 Nevertheless hear thou this word, which I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people.

8 Prophets that were before me, and before thee, from the beginning, and prophesied on many lands, and on many realms, of battle, and of torment, and of hunger.

9 The prophet that prophesied peace, when his word cometh, shall be known the prophet whom the Lord sent in truth.

10 And Hananiah, the prophet, took the chain from the neck of Jeremy, the prophet, and brake it.

11 And Hananiah, the prophet, spake in the sight of all the people, saying, The Lord saith these things, So I shall break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, after two years of days, from the neck of all folks. And Jeremy, the prophet, went into his way.

12 And the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, after that Hananiah, the prophet, brake the chain from the neck of Jeremy; and the Lord said,

13 Go thou, and say to Hananiah, The Lord saith these things, Thou hast all-broken the chains of wood, and thou shalt make iron chains for them.

14 For the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, I have set an iron yoke on the neck of all these folks, that they serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; furthermore and I gave to him the beasts of [the] earth.

15 And Jeremy, the prophet, said to Hananiah, the prophet, Hananiah, hear thou; the Lord sent not thee, and thou madest this people for to trust in leasing.

16 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall send thee out from the face of [the] earth; in this year thou shalt die, for thou spakest against the Lord.

17 And Hananiah, the prophet, died in that year, in the seventh month.

CHAPTER 29

1 And these be the words of the book, which Jeremy, the prophet, sent from Jerusalem to the residues of [the] elder men of [the] passing over, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebu-chadnezzar had led over from Jeru-salem into Babylon,

2 after that Jeconiah, the king, went out, and the lady, and the honest servants and chaste, and the princes of Judah went out of Jerusalem, and a subtle craftsman, and a goldsmith of Jerusalem,

3 in the hand of Elasah, son of Shaphan, and of Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, which Zedekiah, king of Judah, sent to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, into Babylon. And Jeremy said,

4 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things to all the passing over, which I translated from Jerusalem into Babylon,

5 Build ye houses, and inhabit, and plant ye orchards, and eat ye [the] fruit of them;

6 take ye wives, and engender ye sons and daughters, and give ye wives to your sons, and give ye your daughters to husbands, and bear they sons and daughters; and be ye multiplied there, and do not ye be few in number.

7 And seek ye [the] peace of the cities, to which I made you to pass over; and pray ye the Lord for it, for in the peace thereof shall be peace to you.

8 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Your prophets, that be in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you not; and take ye none heed to your dreams, which ye dream;

9 for they prophesy falsely to you in my name, and I sent not them, saith the Lord.

10 For the Lord saith these things, When seventy years begin to be [ful] filled in Babylon, I shall visit you, and I shall raise on you my good word, and I shall bring you again to this place.

11 For I know the thoughts which I think on you, saith the Lord, the thoughts of peace, and not of torment, that I give to you an end and patience.

12 And ye shall call me to help, and ye shall go, and shall worship me, and I shall hear you;

13 ye shall seek me, and ye shall find, when ye seek me in all your heart.

14 And I shall be found of you, saith the Lord, and I shall bring again your captivity, and I shall gather you from all folks, and from all places, to which I casted out you [or put you out], saith the Lord; and I shall make you to turn again from the place, to which I made you to pass over.

15 For ye said, The Lord shall raise prophets to us in Babylon.

16 For the Lord saith these things to the king, that sitteth on the seat of David, and to all the people, dweller of this city, to your brethren, that went not out with you into the passing over,

17 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Lo! I shall send among them sword, and hunger, and pestilence; and I shall set them as evil figs, that may not be eaten, for those be full evil [or they be worst].

18 And I shall pursue them in sword, and in hunger, and in pestilence; and I shall give them into travailing in all realms of earth, into cursing, and into wondering, and into scorning, and into shame to all folks, to which I casted [or cast] them out.

19 For they heard not my words, saith the Lord, which I sent to them by my servants, prophets, and rose by night, and sent, and ye heard not, saith the Lord.

20 Therefore all the passing over, which I sent out from Jerusalem into Babylon, hear ye the word of the Lord.

21 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things to Ahab, the son of Kolaiah, and to Zedekiah, the son of Maaseiah, that prophesy to you leasing in my name, Lo! I shall betake them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and he shall smite them before your eyes.

22 And cursing shall be taken of them to all the passing over of Judah, which is in Babylon, of men saying, The Lord set [or put] thee as Zedekiah, and as Ahab, which the king of Babylon fried in fire,

23 for they did folly in Israel, and did adultery on the wives of their friends; and they spake a word falsely in my name, which I commanded not to them; I am judge and witness, saith the Lord.

24 And thou shalt say to Shemaiah the Nehelamite,

25 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, For that that thou sentest books in my name to all the people, which is in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, and saidest,

26 The Lord gave thee priest for Jehoiada, the priest, that thou be duke in the house of the Lord on each man that is travailed of the fiend, and prophesying, that thou send him into stocks, and into prison.

27 And now why blamest thou not Jeremy of Anathoth, that prophesieth to you?

28 For on this thing he sent to us into Babylon, and said, It is long; build ye houses, and inhabit, and plant ye orchards, and eat ye the fruit of them.

29 Therefore Zephaniah, the priest, read this book in the ears of Jeremy, the prophet.

30 And the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, and said,

31 Send thou to all the passing over, and say, The Lord saith these things to Shemaiah the Nehelamite, For that that Shemaiah prophesied to you, and I sent not him, and he made you to trust in a leasing;

32 therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall visit on Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and on his seed; and no man sitting in the midst of this people shall be to him; and he shall not see the good, which I shall do to my people, saith the Lord, for he spake trespassing against the Lord.

CHAPTER 30

1 This is the word, that was made of the Lord to Jeremy, and said,

2 The Lord God of Israel saith these things, and speaketh, Write to thee in a book, all these words which I spake to thee.

3 For lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall turn the turning of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I shall turn them to the land which I gave to the fathers of them, and they shall have it in possession.

4 And these be the words, which the Lord spake to Israel, and to Judah,

5 For the Lord saith these things, We heard a word of dread; inward dread is, and peace is not.

6 Ask ye, and see, if a male beareth child; why therefore saw I the hand of each man on his loins, as of a woman travailing of child, and all faces be turned into yellow colour?

7 Woe! for that day is great, neither any is like it; and it is a time of tribulation to Jacob, and of him [he] shall be saved.

8 And it shall be, in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I shall all-break the yoke of him from thy neck, and I shall break his bonds; and aliens shall no more be lords of it,

9 but they shall serve to their Lord God, and to David, their king, whom I shall raise for them.

10 Therefore, Jacob, my servant, dread thou not, saith the Lord, and Israel, dread thou not; for lo! I shall save thee from a far land, and thy seed from the land of the captivity of them. And Jacob shall turn again, and shall rest, and shall flow with all goods; and none shall be whom he shall dread.

11 For I am with thee, saith the Lord, for to save thee. For I shall make [full] ending in all folks, in which I scattered thee; soothly I shall not make thee into [full] ending, but I shall chastise thee in doom, that thou be not seen to thee to be guiltless.

12 For the Lord saith these things, Thy breaking is uncurable, thy wound is the worst.

13 None is, that deemeth thy doom to bind together; the profit of healings is not to thee.

14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee, they shall not seek thee; for I have smitten thee with the wound of an enemy, with cruel chastising; for the multitude of thy wickedness, thy sins be made hard.

15 What criest thou on thy breaking? thy sorrow is uncurable; for the multitude of thy wickedness, and for thine hard sins, I have done these things to thee.

16 Therefore all that eat thee, shall be devoured, and all thine enemies shall be led into captivity; and they that destroy thee, shall be destroyed, and I shall give all thy robbers into raven.

17 For I shall heal perfectly thy wound, and I shall make thee whole of thy wounds, saith the Lord; for thou, Zion, they called thee Cast out; this is it that had no seeker.

18 The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall turn the turning of the tabernacles of Jacob, and I shall have mercy on the houses of him; and the city shall be builded [up] in his highness, and the temple shall be founded by his order.

19 And praising and the voice of players shall go out of them, and I shall multiply them, and they shall not be decreased; and I shall glorify them, and they shall not be made thin.

20 And the sons thereof shall be as at the beginning, and the company thereof shall dwell before me; and I shall visit against all that do tribulation to it.

21 And the duke thereof shall be of it, and a prince shall be brought forth of the midst thereof; and I shall join him, and he shall nigh to me; for who is this, that shall join his heart, that he nigh to me? saith the Lord.

22 And ye shall be into a people to me, and I shall be into God to you.

23 Lo! the whirlwind of the Lord, a strong vengeance going out, a tempest falling down, shall rest in the head of wicked men.

24 The Lord shall not turn away the ire [or the wrath] of indignation, till he do, and [ful] fill the thought of his heart; in the last days ye shall understand those things.

CHAPTER 31

1 In that time, saith the Lord, I shall be God to all the kindreds of Israel; and they shall be into a people to me.

2 The Lord saith these things, The people that was left of sword, found grace in desert; Israel shall go to his rest.

3 Far the Lord appeared to me, and in everlasting charity I loved thee; therefore I doing mercy drew thee.

4 And again I shall build thee, and thou, virgin Israel, shalt be builded; yet thou shalt be adorned with thy tympans, and shalt go out in the quire, either company, of players.

5 Yet thou shalt plant vines in the hills [or the mount] of Samaria; men planting shall plant, and till the time come, they shall not gather grapes.

6 For why a day shall be, wherein keepers shall cry in the hill [or the mount] of Samaria, and in the hill [or the mount] of Ephraim, Rise ye, and ascend we [or go we up] into Zion, to our Lord God.

7 For the Lord saith these things, Jacob, make ye full out joy in gladness, and neigh ye against the head of heathen men; sound ye, sing ye, and say ye, Lord, save thy people, the residues of Israel.

8 Lo! I shall bring them from the land of the north, and I shall gather them from the farthest parts of [the] earth; among which shall be a blind man, and crooked, and a woman with child, and travailing of child together, a great company of them that shall turn again hither.

9 They shall come in weeping, and I shall bring them again in mercy; and I shall bring them by the strands [or streams] of waters in a rightful [or right] way, they shall not spurn therein; for I am made a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my engendered son.

10 Ye heathen men, hear the word of the Lord, and tell ye in isles that be [a] far, and say, He that scattered Israel, shall gather it, and shall keep it, as a shepherd keepeth his flock.

11 For the Lord again-bought Jacob, and delivered him from the hand of the mightier.

12 And they shall come, and praise in the hill [or the mount] of Zion; and they shall flow together to the goods of the Lord, on wheat, wine, and oil, and on the fruit of sheep, and of neat; and the soul of them shall be as a watery garden, and they shall no more hunger.

13 Then a virgin shall be glad in a company, young men and eld together; and I shall turn the mourning of them into joy, and I shall comfort them, and I shall make them glad of their sorrow.

14 And I shall greatly fill the soul of [the] priests with fatness, and my people shall be [ful] filled with my goods, saith the Lord.

15 The Lord saith these things, A voice of wailing, and of weeping, and of mourning, was heard on high; the voice of Rachel beweeping her sons, and not willing to be comforted on them, for they be not.

16 The Lord saith these things, Thy voice rest of weeping, and thine eyes rest of tears; for why meed is to thy work, saith the Lord; and they shall turn again from the land of the enemy.

17 And hope is to thy last things, saith the Lord; and thy sons shall turn again to their ends.

18 I hearing heard Ephraim passing over; saying, thou chastisedest me, and I am learned as a young one untamed, either wild; turn thou me, and I shall be turned again, for thou art my Lord God.

19 For after that thou convertedest me, I did penance; and after that thou showedest to me, I smote mine hip; I am ashamed, and I am shamed, for I suffered the shame of my youth.

20 For Ephraim is a worshipful son to me, for he is a delicate child; for since I spake of him, yet I shall have mind on him; therefore mine entrails be troubled on him, I doing mercy shall have mercy on him, saith the Lord.

21 Ordain to thee an high lookout place, set to thee bitternesses; dress thine heart into a straight way, in which thou went; turn again, thou virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.

22 How long, daughter of unsteadfast dwelling, art thou made dissolute in delights? for the Lord hath made a new thing on earth, a woman shall compass a man.

23 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Yet they shall say this word in the land of Judah, and in the cities thereof, when I shall turn the captivity of them, The Lord bless thee, thou fairness of rightfulness [or rightwiseness], thou holy hill [or mount].

24 And Judah, and all the cities thereof shall dwell in it together, earth-tillers, and they that drive flocks.

25 For I filled greatly a faint soul, and I have [full-]filled each hungry soul.

26 Therefore I am as raised from sleep, and I saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.

27 Lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of men, and with the seed of work beasts.

28 And as I waked on them, to draw up by the root, and to destroy, and to scatter, and to lose, and to torment; so I shall wake on or watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.

29 In those days they shall no more say, The fathers ate a sour grape, and the teeth of [the] sons were astonied;

30 but each man shall die in his wickedness, each man that eateth a sour grape, his teeth shall be astonied.

31 Lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall smite a new bond of peace to the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah;

32 not by the covenant which I made with your fathers, in the day in which I took the hand of them, to lead them out of the land of Egypt, the covenant which they made void; and I was Lord of them, saith the Lord.

33 But this shall be the covenant, which I shall smite with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I shall give my law in the entrails of them, and I shall write it in the heart of them, and I shall be into God to them, and they shall be into a people to me.

34 And a man shall no more teach his neighbour, and a man his brother, and say, Know thou the Lord; for all shall know me, from the least of them unto the most, saith the Lord; for I shall be merciful to the wickednesses of them, and I shall no more be mindful on the sin of them.

35 The Lord saith these things, that giveth the sun in the light of day, the order of the moon and of the stars in the light of the night, which troubleth the sea, and the waves thereof sound, the Lord of hosts is name to him.

36 If these laws fail before me, saith the Lord, then and the seed of Israel shall fail, that it be not a folk before me in all days.

37 The Lord saith these things, If heavens above may be measured, and the foundaments of [the] earth beneath be sought out, and I shall cast away all the seed of Israel, for all things which they did, saith the Lord.

38 Lo! days come, saith the Lord, and a city shall be builded to the Lord, from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner.

39 And it shall go out over the rule of [the] measure, in the sight thereof, on the hill [of] Gareb, and it shall compass Goath,

40 and all the valley of carrions, and it shall compass[the] ashes, and all the country of death, unto the strand [or stream] of Kidron, and to the corner of the east gate of horses; the holy thing of the Lord shall not be drawn out, and it shall no more be destroyed without end.

CHAPTER 32

1 The word that was made of the Lord to Jeremy, in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah; that is the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

2 Then the host of the king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem; and Jeremy, the prophet, was enclosed in the porch of the prison, that was in the house of the king of Judah.

3 For why Zedekiah, the king of Judah, had enclosed him, and said, Why prophesiest thou, saying, The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall give this city in[to] the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;

4 and Zedekiah, king of Judah, shall not escape from the hand of Chaldees, but he shall be betaken into the hand of the king of Babylon; and his mouth shall speak with the mouth of him, and his eyes shall see the eyes of him;

5 and he shall lead Zedekiah into Babylon, and he shall be there, till I visit him, saith the Lord; forsooth if ye fight against [the] Chaldees, ye shall have nothing in prosperity?

6 And Jeremy said, The word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

7 Lo! Hanameel, the son of Shallum, the son of thy father’s brother, shall come to thee, and say, Buy thou to thee my field, which is in Anathoth; for it befalleth to thee by nigh kindred, that thou buy it.

8 And Hanameel, the son of my father’s brother, came to me, by the word of the Lord, to the porch of the prison, and said to me, Wield thou my field, which is in Anathoth, in the land of Benjamin; for why the heritage befalleth to thee, and thou art the next of blood, that thou wield it. Forsooth I understood, that it was the word of the Lord.

9 And I bought the field, which is in Anathoth, of Hanameel, the son of my father’s brother. And I paid to him silver, seven staters, and ten pieces of silver;

10 and I wrote in a book, and I sealed, and I gave witnesses. And I weighed silver in a balance;

11 and I took the book asealed of possession, and [the] askings and [the] answerings of the seller and [the] buyer, and [the] covenants, and [the] seals withoutforth.

12 And I gave the book of possession to Baruch, the son of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, before the eyes of Hanameel, the son of my father’s brother, and before the eyes of witnesses that were written in the book of [the] buying, before the eyes of all Jews, that sat in the porch of the prison.

13 And I commanded to Baruch before them, and I said,

14 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Take thou these books, this sealed book of buying, and this book which is open, and put thou those [or them] in an earthen vessel, that they may dwell many days.

15 For why the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Yet houses, and fields, and vines shall be wielded in this land.

16 And I prayed to the Lord, after that I betook the book of possession to Baruch, the son of Neriah; and I said,

17 Alas! alas! alas! Lord God, Lord, thou madest heaven and earth in thy great strength, and in thine arm stretched forth; each word shall not be hard to thee;

18 which doest mercy in thousands, and yieldest the wickedness of fathers into the bosom of their sons after them. Thou strongest, great, mighty, Lord of hosts is name to thee;

19 great in counsel, and uncompre-hensible in thought, whose eyes be open on all the ways of the sons of Adam, that thou yield to each after his ways, and after the fruit of his findings;

20 which settedest signs and great wonders in the land of Egypt, unto this day, both in Israel, and in men; and madest to thee a name, as this day is.

21 And thou leddest thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt, in signs and in great wonders, and in a strong hand, and in an arm holden forth, and in great dread;

22 and thou gavest to them this land, which thou sworest to the fathers of them, that thou wouldest give to them, a land flowing with milk and honey.

23 And they entered, and had it in possession; and they obeyed not to thy voice, and they went not in thy law; all things which thou commandedest to them to do, they did not; and all these evils befell to them.

24 Lo! strongholds be builded against the city, that it be taken, and the city is given into the hands of Chaldees, and into the hands of the king of Babylon, that fight against it, of the face of [the] sword, and of hunger, and of pestilence; and whatever things thou spakest, befell, as thou thyself seest.

25 And thou saidest to me, Lord God, Buy thou a field for silver, and give thou witnesses, when the city is given in the hands of Chaldees.

26 And the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, and said,

27 Lo! I am the Lord God of all flesh. Whether any word shall be hard to me?

28 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall betake this city into the hands of Chaldees, and into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

29 And Chaldees shall come, and fight against this city, and they shall burn it with fire, and they shall burn it, and [the] houses, in whose roofs they sacrificed to Baal, and offered moist sacrifices to alien gods, to stir me to wrath.

30 For why the sons of Israel, and the sons of Judah, did evil continually, from their young waxing age, before mine eyes; the sons of Israel, which till to now wrathed me by the work of their hands, saith the Lord.

31 For why this city is made to me in my strong vengeance and indignation, from the day in which they built it, unto this day, in which it shall be taken away from my sight;

32 for the malice of the sons of Israel, and of the sons of Judah, which they did, stirring me to wrath-fulness, they, and the kings of them, the princes of them, and the priests, and prophets of them, the men of Judah, and the dwellers of Jerusalem.

33 And they turned to me the backs, and not the faces, when I taught, and informed them early; and they would not hear, that they should take teaching.

34 And they setted their idols in the house, in which my name is called to help, that they should defoul it.

35 And they builded high things to Baal, that be in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that they should hallow their sons and their daughters to Molech, which thing I commanded not to them, neither it ascended [or went up] into mine heart, that they should do this abomination, and bring [down] Judah into sin.

36 And now for these things, the Lord God of Israel saith these things to this city, of which ye say, that it shall be betaken into the hands of the king of Babylon, in sword, and in hunger, and in pestilence,

37 Lo! I shall gather them from all lands, to which I casted them out in my strong vengeance, and in my wrath, and in great indignation; and I shall bring them again to this place, and I shall make them to dwell trustily.

38 And they shall be into a people to me, and I shall be into God to them.

39 And I shall give to them one heart, and one soul, that they dread me in all days, and that it be well to them, and to their sons after them.

40 And I shall smite to them a covenant everlasting, and I shall not cease to do well to them, and I shall give my dread in the heart of them, that they go not away from me.

41 And I shall be glad on them, when I shall do well to them; and I shall plant them in this land in truth, in all mine heart, and in all my soul.

42 For the Lord saith these things, As I brought on this people all this great evil, so I shall bring on them all the good, which I shall speak to them.

43 And fields shall be wielded in this land, of which ye say, that it is desert, for no man and beast is left; and it is given into the hands of Chaldees.

44 Fields shall be bought for money, and shall be written in a book, and a seal shall be imprinted; and witnesses shall be given, in the land of Benjamin, and in the compass of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities in [the] hilly places, and in the cities in [the] field places, and in the cities that be at the south; for I shall turn the captivity of them, saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 33

1 And the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, in the second time, when he was enclosed yet in the porch of the prison, and said,

2 The Lord saith these things, The Lord is name of him that shall do, and form, and make ready that thing;

3 Cry thou to me, and I shall hear thee, and I shall tell to thee great things, and steadfast, which thou knowest not.

4 For the Lord God of Israel saith these things to the houses of this city, and to the houses of the king of Judah, that be destroyed, and to the strongholds, and to the sword of men

5 coming to fight with Chaldees, and to fill those houses with carrions of men, which I smote in my strong vengeance, and in mine indignation; and I hid my face from this city, for all the malice of them.

6 Lo! I shall close together to them a wound and health, and I shall make them whole, and I shall show to them the beseeching of peace and of truth;

7 and I shall convert the conversion of Judah, and I shall convert the conversion of Jerusalem, and I shall build them [up], as at the beginning.

8 And I shall cleanse them from all their wickedness, in which they sinned to me, and I shall be merciful to all the wickednesses of them, in which they trespassed to me, and forsook me.

9 And they shall be to me into a name, and into joy, and into praising, and into full out joying to all folks of earth, that heard all the goods which I shall do to them; and they shall dread, and shall be troubled in all goods, and in all the peace, which I shall do to them.

10 The Lord saith these things, Yet in this place, which ye say to be forsaken, for no man is, neither beast, in the cities of Judah, and in the gates of Jerusalem, that be desolate, without man, and without dweller, and without beast,

11 the voice of joy shall be heard, and the voice of gladness, the voice of spouse, and the voice of spousess, the voice of men, saying, Acknowledge ye to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy is without end, and of men bearing vows into the house of the Lord; for I shall bring again the conversion of the land, as at the beginning, saith the Lord.

12 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Yet in this forsaken place, without man, and without beast, and in all cities thereof, shall be a dwelling place of shepherds, of flocks lying.

13 And in the cities in [the] hilly places, and in the cities in [the] field places, and in the cities that be at the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the compass of Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, yet flocks shall pass, at the hand of the numberer, saith the Lord.

14 Lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall raise the good word, which I spake to the house of Israel, and to the house of Judah.

15 In those days, and in that time, I shall make the seed of rightfulness [or rightwiseness] to burgeon to David, and he shall make doom and rightful-ness [or rightwiseness] in [the] earth.

16 In those days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell trustily; and this is the name which they shall call him, Our rightful Lord [or The Lord our rightwiseness].

17 For the Lord saith these things, A man of David shall not perish, that shall sit on the throne of the house of Israel;

18 and of [the] priests and deacons, a man shall not perish from my face, that shall offer burnt sacrifices, and burn sacrifices, and slay sacrifices, in all days.

19 And the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, and said,

20 The Lord saith these things, If my covenant with the day, and my covenant with the night, may be made void, that the day and the night be not in his time;

21 and my covenant with David, my servant, may be voided, that of him be no son, that shall reign in his throne, and no deacons, and priests, my ministers;

22 as the stars of heaven may not be numbered, and the gravel of the sea may not be meted [or measured], so I shall multiply the seed of David, my servant, and deacons, my ministers.

23 And the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, and said,

24 Whether thou hast not seen, that this people spake, saying, Two kindreds which the Lord chose, be cast away, and they despised my people, for it is no more a folk before them.

25 The Lord saith these things, If I setted not my covenant betwixt day and night, and if I setted not laws to heaven and earth;

26 soothly and I shall cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David, my servant, that I take not of the seed of him princes of the seed of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob; for I shall bring again the conversion of them, and I shall have mercy on them.

CHAPTER 34

1 The word that was made of the Lord to Jeremy, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his host, and all the realms of [the] earth, that were under the power of his hand, and all peoples fought against Jerusalem, and against all cities thereof; and he said,

2 The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Go thou, and speak to Zedekiah, king of Judah; and thou shalt say to him, The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall betake this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it by fire.

3 And thou shalt not escape from his hand, but thou shalt be taken by taking, and thou shalt be betaken into his hand; and thine eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with thy mouth, and thou shalt enter into Babylon.

4 Nevertheless Zedekiah, the king of Judah, hear thou the word of the Lord; the Lord saith these things to thee, Thou shalt not die by sword,

5 but thou shalt die in peace; and by the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so they shall burn thee, and they shall bewail thee, Woe! lord; for I spake a word, saith the Lord.

6 And Jeremy, the prophet, spake to Zedekiah, king of Judah, all these words in Jerusalem.

7 And the host of the king of Babylon fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah, that were left; against Lachish, and against Azekah; for why these strong cities were left of the cities of Judah.

8 The word that was made of the Lord to Jeremy, after that king Zedekiah smote bond of peace with all the people in Jerusalem, and preached,

9 that each man should deliver his servant, and each man his handmaid, an Hebrew man and an Hebrew woman, free, and that they should not be lords of them, that is, in a Jew, and their brother.

10 Therefore all the princes and all the people heard, which made covenant, that they should deliver each man his servant, and each man his handmaid, free, and should no more be lords of them; therefore they heard, and delivered;

11 and they were turned afterward, and drew again their servants, and handmaids, which they had let go free, and they made them subject into servants, and into servantesses.

12 And the word of the Lord was made of the Lord to Jeremy, and said,

13 The Lord God of Israel saith these things, I smote a bond of peace with your fathers, in the day in which I led them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of servage; and I said,

14 When seven years be [ful] filled, each man deliver his brother, an Hebrew man, which is sold to him, and he shall serve thee six years, and thou shalt deliver him from thee; and your fathers heard not me, neither bowed [in] their ear.

15 And ye be converted today, and ye did that, that is rightful [or right] before mine eyes, that ye preached each man freedom to his friend, and ye made covenant in my sight, in the house wherein my name is called to help on that freedom.

16 And ye turned again, and defouled my name, and ye brought again each man his servant, and each man his handmaid, which ye delivered, that they should be free, and of their own power; and ye made them subject, that they be servants and handmaids to you.

17 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Ye heard not me, that ye preached freedom, each man to his brother, and each man to his friend; lo! I preach to you freedom, saith the Lord, and to sword, and to hunger, and to pestilence; and I shall give you into stirring to all realms of earth.

18 And I shall give the men, that brake my bond of peace, and kept not the words of [the] bond of peace, to which they assented in my sight, and kept not the calf which they cutted into two parts;

19 and the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, and the honest servants, and priests went between the partings thereof, and all the people of the land, that went between the partings of the calf;

20 and I shall give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life; and the dead carrion of them shall be into meat to the volatiles [or fowls] of the air, and to the beasts of earth.

21 And I shall give Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and his princes, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the hosts of the king of Babylon, that went away from you.

22 Lo! I command, saith the Lord, and I shall bring them again into this city; and they shall fight against it, and shall take it, and shall burn it with fire; and I shall give the cities of Judah into wilderness, for there is no dweller.

CHAPTER 35

1 The word that was made of the Lord to Jeremy, in the days of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, and said,

2 Go thou to the house of Rechabites, and speak thou to them; and thou shalt bring them into the house of the Lord, into one chamber of [the] treasuries [or treasures], and thou shalt give to them to drink wine.

3 And I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremy, son of Habaziniah, and his brethren, and all the sons of him, and all the house of Rechabites.

4 And I led them into the house of the Lord, to the treasury of the sons of Hanan, son of Igdaliah, the man of God; which treasury was beside the treasury of [the] princes, above the treasury of Maaseiah, son of Shallum, that was keeper of the vestiary.

5 And I setted before the sons of the house of Rechabites pecks, and great cups full of wine; and I said to them, Drink ye wine.

6 And they answered, We shall not drink wine; for why Jonadab, our father, the son of Rechab, commanded to us, and said, Ye shall not drink wine, ye and your sons, till into without end;

7 and ye shall not build an house, and ye shall not sow seed, and ye shall not plant vines, neither shall have, but ye shall dwell in tabernacles in all your days, that ye live many days on the face of [the] earth, in which ye go in pilgrimage.

8 Therefore we obeyed to the voice of Jonadab, our father, the son of Rechab, in all things which he commanded to us; so that we drank not wine in all our days, we, and our women, our sons, and daughters;

9 and we builded not houses to dwell, and we had not a vinery [or vineyards], and a field, and seed;

10 but we dwelled in tabernacles, and were obeying, and did by all things, which Jonadab, our father, commanded to us.

11 But when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had ascended [or gone up] to this land, we said, Come ye, and enter we into Jerusalem, from the face of the host of Chaldees, and from the face of the host of Syria; and we dwelled in Jerusalem.

12 And the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, and said,

13 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Go thou, and say to the men of Judah, and to the dwellers of Jerusalem, Whether ye shall not take teaching, that ye obey to my words, saith the Lord?

14 The words of Jonadab, son of Rechab, had the mastery, which he commanded to his sons, that they should not drink wine; and they drink not, unto this day; for they obeyed to the commandment of their father; but I spake to you, and I rose full early, and spake, and ye obeyed not to me.

15 And I sent to you all my servants prophets, and I rose full early, and I sent, and said, Be ye converted, each man from his worst way, and make ye good your studies, and do not ye follow alien gods, neither worship ye them, and ye shall dwell in the land, which I gave to you, and to your fathers; and ye bowed not [in] your ear, neither heard me.

16 Therefore the sons of Jonadab, son of Rechab, made steadfast the commandment of their father, which he commanded to them; but this people obeyed not to me.

17 Therefore the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring on Judah, and on all the dwellers of Jerusalem, all the torment which I spake against them; for I spake to them, and they heard not; I called them, and they answered not to me.

18 Forsooth Jeremy said to the house of Rechabites, The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, For that that ye obeyed to the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his commandments, and did all things, which he commanded to you;

19 therefore the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, A man of the generation of Jonadab, son of Rechab, shall not fail standing in my sight in all days.

CHAPTER 36

1 And it was done, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word was made of the Lord to Jeremy, and said,

2 Take thou the volume of a book, and thou shalt write therein all the words, which I spake to thee against Israel and Judah, and against all folks, from the day in which I spake to thee, from the days of Josiah unto this day.

3 If peradventure when the house of Judah heareth all the evils which I think to do to them, each man turn again from his worst way, and I shall be merciful to the wickedness and sin of them.

4 Therefore Jeremy called Baruch, the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote of the mouth of Jeremy in the volume of a book all the words of the Lord, which he spake to him.

5 And Jeremy commanded to Baruch, and said, I am enclosed, and I may not enter into the house of the Lord.

6 Therefore enter thou, and read of the book, in which thou hast written of my mouth the words of the Lord, in hearing of the people, in the house of the Lord, in the day of fasting; furthermore and in hearing of all Judah, that come from their cities, thou shalt read to them;

7 if peradventure the prayer of them fall in the sight of the Lord, and each man turn again from his worst way; for why the strong vengeance and indignation is great, which the Lord spake against this people.

8 And Baruch, the son of Neriah, did after all things, which Jeremy, the prophet, commanded to him; and he read of the book the words of the Lord, in the house of the Lord.

9 Forsooth it was done, in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, they preached fasting in the sight of the Lord, to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the multitude, that came together from the cities of Judah into Jerusalem.

10 And Baruch read of the volume the words of Jeremy, in the house of the Lord, in the treasury of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, scribe, in the higher porch, in the entering of the new gate of the house of the Lord, in audience of all the people.

11 And when Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, had heard all the words of the Lord, of the book,

12 he went down into the house of the king, to the treasury of the scribe. And lo! all the princes sat there, Elishama, the scribe, and Delaiah, the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and all [the] princes.

13 And Michaiah told to them all the words, which he heard Baruch reading of the book, in the ears of the people.

14 Therefore all the princes sent to Baruch Jehudi, the son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, and said, Take in thine hand the book, of which thou readest in audience of the people, and come thou. Therefore Baruch, the son of Neriah, took the book in his hand, and came to them.

15 And they said to him, Sit thou, and read these things in our ears; and Baruch read in the ears of them.

16 Therefore when they had heard all the words, they wondered each man to his neighbour, and they said to Baruch, Ought we to tell to the king all these words?

17 And they asked him, and said, Show thou to us, how thou hast written all these words of his mouth.

18 Forsooth Baruch said to them, Of his mouth he spake, as reading to me, all these words; and I wrote in a book with ink.

19 And all the princes said to Baruch, Go, be thou hid, thou and Jeremy; and no man know where ye be.

20 And they entered to the king, into the hall; forsooth they betook the book to be kept into the treasury of Elishama, the scribe. And they told all the words, in audience of the king.

21 Therefore the king sent Jehudi, that he should take the book. Which took the book from the treasury of Elishama, the scribe, and read in audience of the king, and of all the princes that stood about the king.

22 Forsooth the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month; and a pan full of coals was set before him.

23 And when Jehudi had read three pages, either four, he cutted it with the knife of a scribe, and casted into the fire, that was in the pan, till all the book was wasted by the fire, that was in the pan.

24 And the king, and all his servants, that heard all these words, dreaded not, neither rent their clothes.

25 Nevertheless Elnathan, and Delaiah, and Gemariah against-said [to] the king, that he should not burn the book; and he heard not them.

26 And the king commanded to Jerahmeel, son of Hammelech, and to Seraiah, son of Azriel, and to Shelem-iah, son of Abdeel, that they should take Baruch, the writer, and Jeremy, the prophet; forsooth the Lord hid them.

27 And the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, the prophet, after that the king had burnt the book, and [the] words, which Baruch had written of Jeremy’s mouth; and he said,

28 Again take thou another book, and write therein all the former words, that were in the first book, which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, burnt.

29 And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim, king of Judah, The Lord saith these things, Thou burntest that book, and saidest, What hast thou written therein, telling, The king of Babylon shall come hasting, and shall destroy this land, and shall make man and beast to cease thereof?

30 Therefore the Lord saith these things against Jehoiakim, king of Judah, None there shall be of him, that shall sit on the seat of David; and his carrion shall be cast forth to the heat by day, and to the frost by night.

31 And I shall visit against him, and against his seed, and against his servants, their wickednesses. And I shall bring on them, and on the dwellers of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil which I spake to them, and they heard not.

32 Forsooth Jeremy took another book, and gave it to Baruch, the writer, the son of Neriah, which wrote therein of Jeremy’s mouth all the words of the book, which book Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burnt by fire; and furthermore many more words were added than were before.

CHAPTER 37

1 And king Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, reigned for Jeconiah*, the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah.

2 And he, and his servants, and his people obeyed not to the words of the Lord, which he spake in the hand of Jeremy, the prophet.

3 And king Zedekiah sent Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, the priest, the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremy, the prophet, and said, Pray thou for us our Lord God.

4 Forsooth Jeremy went freely in the midst of the people; for they had not sent him into the keeping of the prison.

5 Therefore the host of Pharaoh went out of Egypt, and [the] Chaldees, that besieged Jerusalem, heard such a message, and went away from Jeru-salem.

6 And the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, the prophet, and said,

7 The Lord God of Israel saith these things, Thus ye shall say to the king of Judah, that sent you to ask me, Lo! the host of Pharaoh, which went out to you into help, shall turn again into his land, into Egypt.

8 And Chaldees shall come again, and shall fight against this city, and shall take it, and shall burn it with fire.

9 The Lord saith these things, Do not ye deceive your souls, saying, Chaldees going shall go away, and shall depart from us; for they shall not go away.

10 But though ye slay all the host of Chaldees, that fight against you, and some wounded men of them be left, each man shall rise from his tent, and they shall burn this city with fire.

11 Therefore when the host of Chaldees had gone away from Jerusalem, for the host of Pharaoh,

12 Jeremy went out of Jerusalem, to go into the land of Benjamin, and to part there the possession in the sight of [the] citizens.

13 And when he was come to the gate of Benjamin, there was a keeper of the gate by whiles, Irijah by name, the son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremy, the prophet, and said, Thou fleest to [the] Chaldees.

14 And Jeremy answered, It is false; I flee not to [the] Chaldees. And he heard not Jeremy, but Irijah took Jeremy, and brought him to the princes.

15 Wherefore the princes were wroth against Jeremy, and beat him, and sent him into the prison, that was in the house of Jonathan, the scribe; for he was sovereign on the prison.

16 Therefore Jeremy entered into the house of the pit, and into the prison of travail; and Jeremy sat there many days.

17 Therefore king Zedekiah sent, and took him away, and asked him privily in his house, and said, Guessest thou, whether a word is of the Lord? And Jeremy said, There is. And Jeremy said, Thou shalt be betaken into the hand of the king of Babylon.

18 And Jeremy said to Zedekiah, the king, What have I sinned to thee, and to thy servants, and to thy people, for thou hast sent me into the house of [the] prison?

19 Where be your prophets, that prophesied to you, and said, The king of Babylon shall not come [up] on you, and on this land?

20 Now therefore, my lord the king, I beseech, hear thou, my prayer be worthy in thy sight, and send thou not me again into the house of Jonathan, the scribe, lest I die there.

21 Therefore Zedekiah commanded, that Jeremy should be betaken into the porch of the prison, and that a cake of bread should be given to him each day, without stew, till all the loaves of the city were wasted; and Jeremy dwelled in the porch of the prison.

CHAPTER 38

1 Forsooth Shephatiah, son of Mattan, and Gedaliah, son of Pashur, and Jucal, son of Shelemiah, and Pashur, son of Malchiah, heard the words which Jeremy spake to all the people, saying,

2 The Lord saith these things, Who-ever dwelleth in this city, shall die by sword, and hunger, and pestilence; but he that fleeth to [the] Chaldees, shall live, and his soul shall be whole and living.

3 The Lord saith these things, This city to be betaken shall be betaken into the hand of the host of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

4 And the princes said to the king, We pray, that this man be slain; for of before-casting he discomforteth or weakeneth the hands of men warriors, that dwelled in this city, and the hands of all the people, and speaketh to them by all these words. For why this man seeketh not peace to this people, but evil.

5 And king Zedekiah said, Lo! he is in your hands, for it is not leaveful that the king deny anything to you.

6 Therefore they took Jeremy, and casted him down into the pit of Malchiah, the son of Hammelech, which was in the porch of the prison; and they sent down Jeremy by cords into the pit, wherein was no water, but fen; therefore Jeremy went down into the filth.

7 Forsooth Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a chaste man and honest, heard, that was in the king’s house, that they had sent Jeremy into the pit; soothly the king sat in the gate of Benjamin.

8 And Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, and said,

9 My lord the king, these men did evil all things, whatever things they did against Jeremy, the prophet, sending him into the pit, that he die there for hunger; for why loaves be no more in the city.

10 Therefore the king commanded to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, and said, Take with thee thirty men from hence, and raise thou [up] Jeremy, the prophet, from the pit, before that he die.

11 Therefore when Ebedmelech had taken men with him, he entered into the house of the king, that was under the cellar; and he took from thence old clothes, and old rags, that were rotten; and he sent them down to Jeremy, into the pit, by cords.

12 And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremy, Put thou [the] old clothes, and these rent and rotten things under the cubit of thine hands, and on the cords. Therefore Jeremy did so.

13 And they drew out Jeremy with cords, and led him out of the pit. Forsooth Jeremy dwelled in the porch of the prison.

14 And king Zedekiah sent, and took [to] him Jeremy, the prophet, at the third door that was in the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremy, I ask of thee a word; hide thou not anything from me.

15 Forsooth Jeremy said to Zedekiah, If I tell to thee, whether thou shalt not slay me? And if I give counsel to thee, thou shalt not hear me.

16 Therefore Zedekiah the king swore to Jeremy privily, and said, The Lord liveth, that made to us this soul, I shall not slay thee, and I shall not betake thee into the hands of these men, that seek thy life.

17 And Jeremy said to Zedekiah, The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, If thou goest forth, and goest out to the princes of the king of Babylon, thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burnt with fire, and thou shalt be safe, thou and thine house.

18 Forsooth if thou goest not out to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city shall be betaken into the hands of Chaldees; and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape from the hand of them.

19 And king Zedekiah said to Jeremy, I am anguished for the Jews that fled over to [the] Chaldees, lest peradventure I be betaken into the hands of them, and they scorn me.

20 Forsooth Jeremy answered, and said to him, They shall not betake thee; I beseech, hear thou the voice of the Lord, which I shall speak to thee, and it shall be well to thee, and thy soul shall live.

21 That if thou wilt not go out, this is the word which the Lord showed to me,

22 Lo! all the women, that were left in the house of the king of Judah, shall be led out to the princes of the king of Babylon; and those women shall say, Thy peaceable men deceived thee, and had the mastery against thee; they drowned thee [down] in [the] filth, and thy feet in sliderness, and [they] went away from thee.

23 And all thy wives and thy sons shall be led out to [the] Chaldees, and thou shalt not escape the hands of them; but thou shalt be betaken into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn this city with fire.

24 Therefore Zedekiah said to Jeremy, No man know these words, and thou shalt not die.

25 Soothly if the princes hear, that I spake with thee, and they come to thee, and say to thee, Show thou to us what thou spakest with the king, hide thou not from us, and we shall not slay thee; and what the king spake with thee,

26 thou shalt say to them, Kneelingly I setted forth my prayers before the king, that he should not command me to be led again into the house of Jonathan, and I should die there.

27 Therefore all the princes came to Jeremy, and asked him, and he spake to them by all the words which the king had commanded to him, and they ceased from him; for why nothing was heard.

28 Therefore Jeremy dwelled in the porch of the prison, till to the day in which Jerusalem was taken; and it was done, that Jerusalem should be taken.

CHAPTER 39

1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his host, came to Jerusalem, and they besieged it.

2 Forsooth in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, the city was opened;

3 and all the princes of the king of Babylon entered, and sat in the middle gate, Nergalsharezer, Samgarnebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergalsharezer, Rabmag, and all [the] other princes of the king of Babylon.

4 And when Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and all the men warriors had seen them, they fled, and went out by night from the city, by the way of the garden of the king, and by the gate that was betwixt two walls; and they went out to the way of desert.

5 Forsooth the host of Chaldees pursued them, and they took Zedekiah in the field of wilderness of Jericho; and they took him, and brought to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath; and Nebuchadnezzar spake dooms to him.

6 And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah, before his eyes; and the king of Babylon killed all the noble men of Judah.

7 Also he putted out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, that he should be led into Babylon.

8 And [the] Chaldees burnt with fire the house of the king, and the houses of the common people, and destroyed the wall of Jerusalem.

9 And Nebuzaradan, the master of knights, translated into Babylon the residues of the people, that dwelled in the city, and the fleers-away, that had fled over to him, and the super-fluous men of the common people, that were left.

10 And Nebuzaradan, the master of knights, left in the land of Judah, of the people of poor men, and gave to them vineries [or vineyards] and cisterns in that day.

11 Forsooth Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had commanded of Jeremy to Nebuzaradan, master of the chivalry, and said,

12 Take thou him, and set thine eyes on him, and do thou nothing of evil to him; but as he will, so do thou to him.

13 Therefore Nebuzaradan, the prince of [the] chivalry, sent Nebushazban, and Rabsaris, and Nergalsharezer, and Rabmag, and all the principal men of the king of Babylon,

14 sent, and took Jeremy from the porch of the prison, and they betook him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, that he should enter into the house, and dwell among the people.

15 Forsooth the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, when he was enclosed in the porch of the prison, and said,

16 Go thou, and say to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, and speak thou, The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall bring my words on this city into evil, and not into good; and those [or they] shall be in thy sight in that day.

17 And I shall deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord, and thou shalt not be betaken into the hands of [the] men, which thou dreadest;

18 but I delivering shall deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall down by sword; but thy soul shall be into health to thee, for thou haddest trust in me, saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 40

1 The word that was made of the Lord to Jeremy, after that he was delivered of Nebuzaradan, master of the chivalry, from Ramah, when he took him bound with chains, in the midst of all men that passed from Jerusalem, and from Judah, and were led into Babylon.

2 Therefore the prince of the chivalry took Jeremy, and said to him, Thy Lord God spake this evil on this place,

3 and the Lord hath brought, and hath done, as he spake; for ye sinned to the Lord, and heard not the voice of him, and this word is done to you.

4 Now therefore lo! I have released thee today from the chains that be in thine hands; if it pleaseth thee to come with me into Babylon, come thou, and I shall set mine eyes on thee; soothly if it displeaseth thee to come with me into Babylon, sit thou here; lo! all the land is in thy sight, that that thou choosest, and whither it pleaseth thee to go, thither go thou,

5 and do not thou come with me. But dwell thou with Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon made sovereign to the cities of Judah; therefore dwell thou with him in the midst of the people, either go thou, whither ever it pleaseth thee to go. And the master of [the] chivalry gave to him meats, and gifts, and let him go.

6 Forsooth Jeremy came to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, in Mizpah, and dwelled with him, in the midst of the people that was left in the land.

7 And when all princes of the host had heard, that were scattered by countries, they and the fellows of them, that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah sovereign of the land, the son of Ahikam, and that he had betaken to Gedaliah men, and women, and little children, and of [the] poor men of the land, that were not translated into Babylon,

8 they came to Gedaliah, in Mizpah; and Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and Jonathan, and Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai, that were of the Netophathites, and Jezaniah, the son of Maachathite; both they and their men came to Gedaliah.

9 And Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them, and to the fellows of them, and said, Do not ye dread to serve [the] Chaldees; but dwell ye in the land, and serve ye the king of Babylon, and it shall be well to you.

10 Lo! I dwell in Mizpah, for to answer to the commandment of [the] Chaldees, that be sent to us; forsooth gather ye vintage, and ripe corn, and oil, and keep ye in your vessels, and dwell ye in your cities which ye hold.

11 But also all the Jews, that were in Moab, and in the hosts of Ammon, and in Idumea, and in all the countries, when it is heard, that the king of Babylon had given residues, either remnants, in Judah, and that he had made sovereign on them Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan,

12 soothly all [the] Jews turned again from all [the] places, to which they had fled; and they came into the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, in Mizpah, and gathered wine and ripe corn full much.

13 Forsooth Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the princes of the host, that were scattered in the countries, came to Gedaliah in Mizpah,

14 and said to him, Know thou, that Baalis, king of the sons of Ammon, hath sent Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, to smite thy life. And Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, believed not to them.

15 Forsooth Johanan, the son of Kareah, said to Gedaliah asides half in Mizpah, and spake, I shall go, and slay Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, while no man knoweth, lest he slay thy life, and all the Jews be scattered, that be gathered to thee, and the remnants of Judah shall perish.

16 And Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, said to Johanan, the son of Kareah, Do not thou do this word, for thou speakest false of Ishmael.

CHAPTER 41

1 And it was done in the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the king’s seed, and the principal men of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, in Mizpah; and they ate there loaves together in Mizpah.

2 Forsooth Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, rose up, and killed with sword Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; and they killed him, whom the king of Babylon had made sovereign of the land.

3 Also Ishmael killed all the Jews, that were with Gedaliah in Mizpah, and the Chaldees, that were found there, and the men warriors.

4 Forsooth in the second day, after that he had slain Gedaliah, while no man knew yet,

5 fourscore men with shaven beards, and rent clothes, and pale men, came from Shechem, and from Shiloh, and from Samaria; and they had gifts and incense in the hand, for to offer in the house of the Lord.

6 Therefore Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, went out of Mizpah into the meeting of them; and he went going and weeping. Soothly when he had met them, he said to them, Come ye to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam;

7 and when they were come to the midst of the city, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, killed them about the midst of the pit, he and the men that were with him.

8 But ten men were found among them, that said to Ishmael, Do not thou slay us, for we have treasures of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey, in the field. And he ceased, and killed not them with their brethren.

9 Forsooth the pit into which Ishmael casted forth all the carrions of [the] men, which he killed for Gedaliah, is that pit, which king Asa made for Baasha, the king of Israel; Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled that pit with slain men.

10 And Ishmael led prisoners all the remnants of the people, that were in Mizpah, the daughters of the king, and all the people that dwelled in Mizpah, which Nebuzaradan, the prince of [the] chivalry, had betaken to keeping to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, took them, and went to pass over to the sons of Ammon.

11 Forsooth Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the princes of warriors, that were with him, heard all the evil, which Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had done.

12 And when they had taken all [the] men, they went forth to fight against Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah; and they found him at the many waters, that be in Gibeon.

13 And when all the people, that was with Ishmael, had seen Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the princes of warriors, that were with him, they were glad.

14 And all the people, whom Ishmael had taken in Mizpah, turned again; and it turned again, and went to Johanan, the son of Kareah.

15 Forsooth Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, fled with eight men from the face of Johanan, and went to the sons of Ammon.

16 Therefore Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the princes of warriors, that were with him, took all the remnants of the common people, which they brought again from Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, that were of Mizpah, after that he killed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam; he took strong men to battle, and women, and children, and geldings, which he had brought again from Gibeon.

17 And they went, and sat being pilgrims in Chimham, which is beside Bethlehem, that they should go, and enter into Egypt, from the face of Chaldees;

18 for they dreaded those Chaldees, for Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had slain Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, whom the king Nebuchadnezzar had made sovereign in the land of Judah.

CHAPTER 42

1 And all the princes of warriors nighed, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah, the son of Hoshaiah, and the residue common people, from a little man unto a great man.

2 And they said to Jeremy, the prophet, Our prayer fall in thy sight, and pray thou for us to thy Lord God, for all these remnants; for we be left a few of many, as thine eyes behold us;

3 and thy Lord God tell to us the way, by which we shall go, and the word which we shall do.

4 Forsooth Jeremy, the prophet, said to them, I have heard; lo! I pray to our Lord God, by your words; I shall show to you each word, whatever word the Lord shall answer to me, neither I shall hide anything from you.

5 And they said to Jeremy, The Lord be witness of truth and of faith betwixt us; if not by each word, in which thy Lord God shall send thee to us, so we shall do,

6 whether it be good either evil. We shall obey to the voice of our Lord God, to whom we send thee, that it be well to us, when we have heard the voice of our Lord God.

7 Forsooth when ten days were [ful] filled, the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy.

8 And he called Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the princes of warriors, that were with him, and all the people from the least unto the most;

9 and he said to them, The Lord God of Israel saith these things, to whom ye sent me, that I should meekly set forth your prayers in his sight.

10 If ye rest, and dwell in this land, I shall build you, and I shall not destroy; I shall plant, and I shall not draw out; for now I am pleased on the evil which I did to you.

11 Do not ye dread of the face of the king of Babylon, whom ye that be fearful, dread; do not ye dread him, saith the Lord, for I am with you, to make you safe, and to deliver [you] from his hand.

12 And I shall give mercies to you, and I shall have mercy on you, and I shall make you dwell in your land.

13 Forsooth if ye say, We shall not dwell in this land, neither we shall hear the voice of our Lord God,

14 and say, Nay, but we shall go to the land of Egypt, where we shall not see battle, and shall not hear the noise, either sound, of trump, and we shall not suffer hunger, and there we shall dwell;

15 for this thing, ye remnants of Judah, hear now the word of the Lord. The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, If ye set your face, for to enter into Egypt, and if ye enter, to dwell there,

16 the sword which ye dread shall take you there in the land of Egypt, and the hunger for which ye be anguished shall cleave to you in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

17 And all the men that setted their face, to enter into Egypt, and to dwell there, shall die by sword, and hunger, and pestilence; no man of them shall dwell still, neither shall escape from the face of [the] evil, which I shall bring on them.

18 For why the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, As my strong vengeance and mine indignation is welled together on the dwellers of Jerusalem, so mine indignation shall be welled together on you, when ye have entered into Egypt; and ye shall be into swearing, and into wondering, and into cursing, and into shame; and ye shall no more see this place.

19 The word of the Lord is on you, ye remnants of Judah; do not ye enter into Egypt; ye witting shall know, that I have witnessed to you today;

20 for ye have deceived your souls, for ye sent me to your Lord God, and said, Pray thou for us to our Lord God, and by all things whatever things our Lord [God] shall say to thee, so tell thou to us, and we shall do.

21 And I told to you today, and ye heard not the voice of your Lord God, on all things for which he sent me to you.

22 Now therefore, ye witting shall know, for ye shall die by sword, and hunger, and pestilence, in the place to which ye would enter, to dwell there.

CHAPTER 43

1 Forsooth it was done, when Jeremy, speaking to the people, had [ful] filled all the words of the Lord God of them, for which the Lord God of them sent him to them, all these words,

2 Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah, said, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all proud men, saying to Jeremy, Thou speakest leasing; our Lord God sent not thee, and said, Enter ye not into Egypt, to dwell there;

3 but Baruch, the son of Neriah, stirreth thee against us, that he betake us in the hands of Chaldees, that he slay us, and make to be led over into Babylon.

4 And Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the princes of warriors, and all the people, heard not the voice of the Lord, that they dwell in the land of Judah.

5 But Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the princes of warriors, took all of the remnants of Judah, that turned again from all folks, to which they were scattered before, that they should dwell in the land of Judah;

6 they took men, and women, and little children, and the daughters of the king, and each person, whom Nebuzaradan, the prince of [the] chivalry, had left with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan. And they took Jeremy, the prophet, and Baruch, the son of Neriah,

7 and they entered into the land of Egypt; for they obeyed not to the voice of the Lord, and they came unto Tahpanhes.

8 And the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy in Tahpanhes, and said,

9 Take in thine hand great stones, and hide thou those in a den [or hide them in the cave], which is under the wall of tilestone, in the gate of the house of Pharaoh, in Tahpanhes, while all the Jews see it.

10 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall send, and I shall take Nebuchadnezzar, my servant, the king of Babylon; and I shall set his throne on these stones, which I [have] hid; and he shall set his seat on those stones.

11 And he shall come, and smite the land of Egypt, which in death into death, and which in captivity into captivity, and which in sword into sword.

12 And he shall kindle fire in the temples of [the] gods of Egypt, and he shall burn those temples, and shall lead them prisoners; and the land of Egypt shall be wrapped, as a shepherd is wrapped in his mantle; and he shall go out from thence in peace.

13 And he shall all-break the images of the house of the sun, that be in the land of Egypt; and he shall burn in fire the temples of the gods of Egypt.

CHAPTER 44

1 The word that was made to Jeremy, and to all the Jews, that dwelled in the land of Egypt, dwelling in Migdol, and in Tahpanhes, and in Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, and said,

2 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Ye saw all this evil, which I brought on Jerusalem, and on all the cities of Judah; and lo! those [or they] be forsaken today, and no dweller is in them;

3 for the malice which they did, to stir me to wrathfulness [or to wrath], and that they went, and made sacrifice, and worshipped alien gods, which they knew not, both ye, and they, and your fathers.

4 And I sent to you all my servants prophets; and I rose by night, and sent, and said, Do not ye do the word of such abomination.

5 And they heard not, neither bowed down their ear, that they shall be converted from their evils, and should not make sacrifice to alien gods.

6 And mine indignation and my strong vengeance is welled together, and is kindled in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they be turned into wilderness, and wasteness, by this day.

7 And now the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Why do ye this great evil against your souls, that a man of you perish and a woman, a little child and a sucking infant, from the midst of Judah, neither any residue thing be left in you,

8 that stir me to wrath by the works of your hands, in making sacrifice to alien gods in the land of Egypt, into which ye entered, that ye dwell there, and that ye perish, and be into cursing, and into shame to all the folks of earth?

9 Whether ye have forgotten the evils of your fathers, and the evils of the kings of Judah, and the evils of their wives, and your evils, and the evils of your wives, which they did in the land of Judah, and in the countries of Jerusalem?

10 They be not cleansed unto this day, and they dreaded not, and they went not in the law of the Lord, and in my behests, which I gave before you, and before your fathers.

11 Therefore the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall set my face in you into evil, and I shall lose all Judah,

12 and I shall take the remnants of Judah, that setted their faces, to go into the land of Egypt, and to dwell there; and all shall be wasted in the land of Egypt, they shall fall down by sword, and shall be wasted in hunger, from the least unto the most, they shall die by sword and hunger, and shall be into swearing, and into miracle, or wonder, and into cursing, and into shame.

13 And I shall visit on the dwellers of Egypt, as I visited on Jerusalem, in sword, and in hunger, and in pestilence.

14 And none shall be, that shall escape, and be [the] residue of the remnants of Jews, that go to be pilgrims in the land of Egypt, and to turn again to the land of Judah, to which they raise [up] their souls, that they turn again, and dwell there; they shall not turn again thither, no but they that fled.

15 Forsooth all men answered to Jeremy, and knew, that their wives made sacrifice to alien gods, and all [the] women, of which a great multitude stood, and all the people of dwellers in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, and said,

16 We shall not hear of thee the word which thou speakest to us in the name of our Lord God,

17 but we doing shall do each word that shall go out of our mouth, that we make sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and that we offer to it moist sacrifices, as we did, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem; and we were [full-]filled with loaves, and it was well to us, and we saw none evil.

18 But from that time, in which we ceased to make sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and to offer to it moist sacrifices, we had need to all things, and we were wasted by sword and hunger.

19 That if we make sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and offer to it moist sacrifices, whether without our hus-bands we made to it cakes, to worship it, and loaves to be offered?

20 And Jeremy said to all the people, against the men, and against the women, and against all the people, that answered to him the word, and he said,

21 Whether not the sacrifices which ye sacrificed in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, stirred God to vengeance? The Lord had mind on these things, and it ascended [or went up] on his heart;

22 and the Lord might no more bear, for the malice of your studies, and for the abominations which ye did. And your land is made into desolation, and into wondering, and into curse, for no dweller is, as this day is.

23 Therefore for ye made sacrifice to idols, and sinned to the Lord, and heard not the voice of the Lord, and went not in the law, and in the commandments, and in the witnesses of him, therefore these evils befell to you, as this day is.

24 Forsooth Jeremy said to all the people, and to all the women, All Judah, that be in the land of Egypt, hear ye the word of the Lord.

25 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, and speaketh, Ye and your wives spake with your mouths, and [ful] filled with your hands, and said, Make we our vows which we vowed, that we make sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and offer to it moist sacrifices; ye [ful] filled your vows, and did those [or them] in work.

26 Therefore, all Judah, that dwell in the land of Egypt, hear ye the word of the Lord; Lo! I swore in my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be called by the mouth of each man Jew, saying, The Lord God liveth, in all the land of Egypt.

27 Lo! I shall wake on them into evil, and not into good; and all the men of Judah, that be in the land of Egypt, shall be wasted, by sword and hunger, till they be wasted utterly.

28 And a few men that fled the sword, shall turn again from the land of Egypt into the land of Judah; and all the remnants of Judah, of them that enter into the land of Egypt, to dwell there, shall know, whose word shall be [ful] filled, mine either theirs.

29 And this shall be a sign to you, saith the Lord, that I shall visit on you in this place, that ye know, that verily my words shall be [ful] filled against you into evil.

30 The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall betake Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life, as I betook Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy, and seeking his life.

CHAPTER 45

1 The word that Jeremy, the prophet, spake to Baruch, the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in the book, of the mouth of Jeremy, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and said,

2 The Lord God of Israel saith these things to thee, Baruch.

3 Thou saidest, Woe to me wretch, for the Lord increased sorrow to my sorrow; I travailed in my wailing, and I found not rest.

4 The Lord saith these things, Thus thou shalt say to him, Lo! I destroy them, which I builded, and I draw out them, which I planted, and all this land.

5 And seekest thou great things to thee? do not thou seek, for lo! I shall bring evil on each man, saith the Lord, and I shall give to thee thy life into health, in all places, to which ever places thou shalt go.

CHAPTER 46

1 The word of the Lord, that was made to Jeremy, the prophet, against heathen men;

2 to Egypt, against the host of Pharaohnecho, king of Egypt, that was beside the flood Euphrates, in Carche-mish, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, smote, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah.

3 Make ye ready shield and target, and go ye forth to battle.

4 Join ye horses, and ascend [or go up], ye knights; stand ye in helmets, polish ye spears, clothe ye you in habergeons.

5 What therefore? I saw them dreadful, either afeared, and turning the backs, the strong men of them slain; and they fled swiftly, and beheld not; dread was on each side, saith the Lord.

6 A swift man shall not flee, and a strong man guess not himself to be saved; at the north, beside the flood Euphrates, they were overcome, and fell down.

7 Who is this, that ascendeth [or goeth up] as a flood, and his swells waxed great as of floods?

8 Egypt ascended [or goeth up] at the likeness of a flood, and his waves shall be moved as [the] floods; and it shall say, I shall ascend, and cover the earth; I shall lose the city, and dwellers thereof.

9 Ascend ye [or Goeth] upon horses, and make ye full out joy in chariots; and strong men, come forth, Ethiopia and Libya, holding shield, and Lydia, taking and shooting arrows.

10 Forsooth that day of the Lord God of hosts is a day of vengeance, that he take vengeance of his enemies; the sword shall devour, and shall be [full-]filled, and shall greatly be filled with the blood of them; for why the slain sacrifice of the Lord of hosts is in the land of the north, beside the flood Euphrates.

11 Thou virgin, the daughter of Egypt, go up into Gilead, and take medicine. In vain thou shalt multiply medicines; health shall not be to thee.

12 Heathen men heard thy shame, and thy yelling filled the earth; for a strong man hurtled against a strong man, and both fell down together.

13 The word which the Lord spake to Jeremy, the prophet, on that that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was to coming, and to smiting the land of Egypt.

14 Tell ye to Egypt, and make ye heard in Migdol, and sound it in Memphis, and say ye in Tahpanhes, Stand thou, and make thee ready, for a sword shall devour those things that be by thy compass.

15 Why hath thy strong man waxed rotten? He stood not, for the Lord underturned him.

16 He multiplied fallers, and a man fell down to his neighbour; and they shall say, Rise ye, and turn we again to our people, and to the land of our birth, from the face of sword of the culver.

17 Call ye the name of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, The time hath brought noise.

18 I live, saith the king, the Lord of hosts is his name; for it shall come as Tabor in hills, and as Carmel in the sea.

19 Thou dwelleress, the daughter of Egypt, make to thee vessels of passing over; for why Memphis shall be into wilderness, and it shall be forsaken [and] unhabitable.

20 Egypt is a shapely cow calf, and fair; a pricker from the north shall come to it.

21 Also the hired men thereof, that lived as calves made fat in the midst thereof, be turned, and fled together, and might not stand; for the day of slaying of them shall come [up] on them, the time of the visiting of them.

22 The voice of them shall sound as of brass, for they shall hasten with host, and with axes they shall come to it. As men cutting down trees,

23 they cutted down the forest thereof, saith the Lord, which may not be numbered; they be multiplied over locusts, and no number is in them.

24 The daughter of Egypt is shamed, and betaken into the hand of the people of the north,

25 said the Lord of hosts, God of Israel. Lo! I shall visit on the noise of Alexandria, and on Pharaoh, and on Egypt, and on the gods thereof, and on the kings thereof, and on them that trust in him.

26 And I shall give them into the hands of men that seek the life of them, and into the hands of Nebu-chadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hands of his servants; and after these things it shall be inhabited, as in the former days, saith the Lord.

27 And thou, Jacob, my servant, dread thou not, and Israel, dread thou not; for lo! I shall make thee safe from a far place, and thy seed from the land of his captivity; and Jacob shall turn again, and shall rest, and shall have prosperity, and none shall be, that shall make him afeared.

28 And Jacob, my servant, do not thou dread, saith the Lord, for I am with thee; for I shall waste all folks, to which I casted thee out; but I shall not waste thee, but I shall chastise thee in doom, and I shall not spare thee as innocent.

CHAPTER 47

1 The word of the Lord, that was made to Jeremy, the prophet, against Palestines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.

2 The Lord saith these things, Lo! waters shall ascend [or go up] from the north, and they shall be as a strand [or stream] overflowing, and they shall cover the land, and the fullness thereof, the city, and the dwellers thereof. Men shall cry, and all the dwellers of the land shall yell,

3 for the noise of boast of armed men, and of warriors of him, and for moving of his carts, and multitude of his wheels. Fathers beheld not sons with benumbed hands,

4 for the coming of the day in which all Philistines shall be destroyed; and Tyrus shall be destroyed, and Sidon with all their other helps. For the Lord hath destroyed Palestines, the remnants of the isle of Cappadocia.

5 Baldness came on Gaza; Ashkelon was still, and the remnants of the valley of them. How long shalt thou fall down,

6 O! sword of the Lord, how long shalt thou not rest? Enter thou into thy sheath, be thou refreshed, and be still.

7 How shall it rest, when the Lord commanded to it against Ashkelon, and against the sea coasts thereof, and there [he] hath said to it?

CHAPTER 48

1 To Moab, the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things. Woe on Nebo, for it is destroyed, and shamed; Kiriathaim is taken, the strong city is shamed, and trembled.

2 And full out joying is no more in Moab; they thought evil against Hesh-bon. Come ye, and lose we it from [the] folk. Therefore thou being still, [thou] shalt be stilled, and sword shall follow thee.

3 A voice of cry from Horonaim, destroying, and great sorrow.

4 Moab is defouled, tell ye [out the] cry to little children thereof.

5 For a man weeping, ascended [or went up] with weeping, by the ascending [or going up] of Luhith; for in the coming down of Horonaim, [the] enemies heard the yelling of sorrow.

6 Flee ye, save ye your lives; and ye shall be as brooms in desert.

7 For that that thou haddest trust in thy strongholds, and in thy treasures, also thou shalt be taken. And Chemosh shall go into passing over, the priests thereof and the princes thereof together.

8 And a robber shall come to each city, and no city shall be saved; and valleys shall perish, and field places shall be destroyed, for the Lord said.

9 Give ye the flower of Moab, for it shall go out flowering; and the cities thereof shall be forsaken, and unhabitable.

10 He is cursed, that doeth the work of God guilefully; and he is cursed, that forbiddeth his sword from blood.

11 Moab was plenteous from his young waxing age, and rested in his dregs, neither was shed [or poured] out from vessel into vessel, and went not into passing over; therefore his taste dwelled in him, and his odour is not changed.

12 Therefore lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall send to it ordainers, and arrayers of pottles; and they shall array it, and they shall waste the vessels thereof, and hurtle together the pottles of them.

13 And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, in which it had trust.

14 How say ye, We be strong, and stalworthy men to fight?

15 Moab is destroyed, and they have burnt the cities thereof, and the chosen young men thereof went down into slaying, saith the king, the Lord of hosts is his name.

16 The perishing of Moab is nigh, that it come, and the evil thereof runneth full swiftly.

17 All ye that be in the compass thereof, comfort it; and all ye that know the name thereof, say, How is the strong rod broken, the glorious staff?

18 Thou dwelling of the daughter of Dibon, go down from glory, sit thou in thirst; for the destroyer of Moab shall ascend [or go up] to thee, and he shall destroy thy strongholds.

19 Thou dwelling of Aroer, stand in the way, and behold; ask thou him that fleeth, and him that escaped; say thou, What befell?

20 Moab is shamed, for he is over-come; yell ye, and cry; tell ye in Arnon, that Moab is destroyed.

21 And doom is come to the land of the field, on Holon, and on Jahazah, and on Mephaath,

22 and on Dibon, and on Nebo, and on the house of Diblathaim,

23 and on Kiriathaim, and on Beth-gamul, and on Bethmeon,

24 and on Kerioth, and on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of Moab, that be far, and that be nigh.

25 The horn of Moab is cut away, and the arm thereof is all-broken, saith the Lord.

26 Fill ye him greatly, for he is raised against the Lord; and he shall hurtle down the hand of Moab in his spewing, and he also shall be into scorn.

27 For why, Israel, he was into scorn to thee, as if thou haddest found him among thieves; therefore for thy words which thou spakest against him, thou shalt be led prisoner.

28 Ye dwellers of Moab, forsake cities, and dwell in the stone, and be ye as a culver making nest in the highest mouth of an hole.

29 We have heard the pride of Moab; he is full proud. I know, saith the Lord, the highness thereof, and pride in word, and pride in bearing, and the highness of heart,

30 and the boast thereof, and that the virtue thereof is not nigh, either like it, neither it enforced or endeavoured to do after that that it might.

31 Therefore I shall wail on Moab, and I shall cry to all Moab, to the men of the earthen wall, that wail.

32 Of the wailing of Jazer I shall weep to thee, thou vine of Sibmah; thy scions passed the sea, those [or they] came unto the sea of Jazer; a robber fell in on thy ripe corn, and on thy vintage.

33 Full out joy and gladness is taken away from Carmel, and from the land of Moab, and I have taken away wine from [the] pressers [or wine presses]; a stamper of [the] grape shall not sing a customable merry song.

34 Of the cry of Heshbon unto Elealeh and Jahaz they gave their voice, from Zoar unto Horonaim a cow calf of three years; forsooth the waters of Nimrim shall be full evil.

35 And I shall take away from Moab, saith the Lord, him that offereth in high places, and him that maketh sacrifice to the gods thereof.

36 Therefore mine heart shall sound as a pipe of brass to Moab, and mine heart shall give sound of pipes to the men of the earthen wall; for it did more than it might, therefore they perished.

37 For why each head shall be bald-ness, and each beard shall be shaved; in all hands shall be binding together, and an hair-shirt shall be on each back.

38 And all wailing shall be on all the roofs of Moab, and in the streets thereof, for I have all-broken Moab as an unprofitable vessel, saith the Lord.

39 How is it overcome, and they yelled? how hath Moab cast down the noll, and is shamed? And Moab shall be into scorn, and into ensample to all men in his compass.

40 The Lord saith these things, Lo! as an eagle he shall fly out, and he shall stretch forth his wings to Moab.

41 Kerioth is taken, and strongholds be taken; and the heart of strong men of Moab shall be in that day, as the heart of a woman travailing of child.

42 And Moab shall cease to be a people, for it had glory against the Lord.

43 Dread, and ditch, and snare is on thee, thou dweller of Moab, saith the Lord.

44 He that fleeth from the face of dread, shall fall into a ditch; and they that ascend [or go up] from the ditch, shall be taken with a snare. For I shall bring on Moab the year of the visitation of them, saith the Lord.

45 Men fleeing from the snare stood in the shadow of Heshbon, for why fire went out of Heshbon, and flame from the midst of Sihon; and [it] devoured a part of Moab, and the top of the sons of noise.

46 Moab, woe to thee; thou people of Chemosh, hast perished, for why thy sons and thy daughters be taken into captivity.

47 And I shall turn the captivity of Moab in the last days, saith the Lord. Hitherto be the dooms of Moab.

CHAPTER 49

1 To the sons also of Ammon. The Lord saith these things. Whether no sons be of Israel, either an heir is not to it? why therefore wielded Malcham the heritage of Gad, and the people thereof dwelled in the cities of Gad?

2 Lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall make the gnashing of battle heard on Rabbah of the sons of Ammon; and it shall be destroyed into noise, and the villages thereof shall be burnt with fire, and Israel shall wield his wielders, saith the Lord.

3 Yell, ye Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with hair-shirts, wail ye, and compass by hedges; for why Malcham shall be led into passing over, the priests thereof and princes thereof together.

4 What hast thou glory in valleys? Thy valleys floated away [or flowed down], thou delicate daughter, that haddest trust in thy treasures, and saidest, Who shall come to me?

5 Lo! I shall bring in dread on thee, saith the Lord God of hosts, God of Israel, of all men that be in thy compass; and ye shall be scattered, each by himself, from your sight, and none shall be, that gather them that flee.

6 And after these things I shall make the fleers and [the] prisoners of the sons of Ammon to turn again, saith the Lord.

7 To Idumea, the Lord of hosts saith these things. Whether wisdom is no more in Teman? Counsel perished from sons, the wisdom of them is made unprofitable.

8 Flee ye, and turn ye the backs; go down into a swallow, ye dwellers of Dedan, for I have brought the perdition of Esau on him, the time of his visitation.

9 If gatherers of grapes had come [up] on thee, they should have left a cluster; if thieves in the night, they should have ravished that that sufficed to them.

10 Forsooth I have uncovered Esau, and I have showed the hid things of him, and he may not be able to be hid; his seed is destroyed, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and it shall not be.

11 Forsake thy fatherless children, and I shall make them to live, and thy widows shall hope in me.

12 For the Lord saith these things, Lo! they drinking shall drink, to whom was no doom, that they should drink the cup. And shalt thou be left as innocent? thou shalt not be innocent, but thou drinking shalt drink.

13 For I swore by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall be into wilderness, and into shame, and into forsaking, and into cursing; and all the cities thereof shall be into everlasting wildernesses.

14 I heard an hearing of the Lord, and I am sent a messenger to heathen men; Be ye gathered together, and come ye against them, and rise we together into battle.

15 For lo! I have given thee a little one among heathen men, despisable among men.

16 Thy boast, and the pride of thine heart, hath deceived thee, that dwellest in the caves of stone, and enforcest or endeavourest to take the highness of a little hill; when thou as an eagle hast raised thy nest, from thence I shall draw thee down, saith the Lord.

17 And Idumea shall be forsaken; each man that shall pass by it, shall wonder, and shall hiss on all the wounds thereof;

18 as Sodom and Gomorrah is destroyed, and the nigh cities thereof, saith the Lord. A man shall not dwell there, and the son of man shall not inhabit it.

19 Lo! as a lion he shall ascend [or go up] from the pride of Jordan to the strong fairness; for I shall make him run suddenly to it; and who shall be the chosen man whom I shall set [or put] before him? For who is like to me, and who shall suffer me? and who is this shepherd, that shall against-stand my cheer?

20 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he took to Edom, and his thoughts, which he thought of the dwellers of Teman. If the little of the flock cast not them down, if they destroy not with them the dwelling of them, else no man give credence to me.

21 The earth was moved of the voice of [the] falling of them; the cry of voice thereof was heard in the Red Sea.

22 Lo! as an eagle he shall ascend [or go up], and fly out, and he shall spread abroad his wings on Bozrah; and the heart of the strong men of Idumea shall be in that day, as the heart of a woman travailing of child.

23 To Damascus. Hamath is shamed, and Arpad, for they heard a full wicked hearing; they were troubled in the sea, for anguish they might not have rest.

24 Damascus was discomforted, it was turned into flight; trembling took it, anguishes and sorrows held it, as a woman travailing of child.

25 How forsook they a praiseable city, the city of gladness?

26 Therefore the young men thereof shall fall in the streets thereof, and all men of battle shall be stilled in that day, saith the Lord of hosts.

27 And I shall kindle fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the buildings of Benhadad.

28 To Kedar, and to the realm[s] of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, smote, the Lord saith these things. Rise ye, and ascend [or goeth up] to Kedar, and destroy ye the sons of the east.

29 They shall take the tabernacles of them, and the flocks of them; they shall take to them the skins of them, and all the vessels of them, and the camels of them; and they shall call on them inward dread in compass.

30 Flee ye, go ye away greatly, ye that dwell in Hazor, sit in swallows, saith the Lord. For why Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, hath taken counsel against you, and he thought thoughts against you.

31 Rise ye together, and ascend ye [or goeth up] to a peaceable folk, and dwelling trustily, saith the Lord; not doors nor bars be to it, and they dwell alone.

32 And the camels of them shall be into ravishing, and the multitude of their beasts into prey; and I shall scatter them into each wind, that be beclipped on the long hair, and by each coast of them I shall bring perishing on them, saith the Lord.

33 And Hazor shall be into a dwelling place of dragons; it shall be forsaken till into without end; a man shall not dwell there, neither the son of man shall inhabit it.

34 The word of the Lord that was made to Jeremy, the prophet, against Elam, in the beginning of the realm of Zedekiah, king of Judah, and said,

35 The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall break the bow of Elam, and I shall take the strength of them.

36 And I shall bring on Elam four winds, from [the] four coasts of heaven, and I shall winnow them into all these winds, and no folk shall be, to whom the fleers of Elam shall not come.

37 And I shall make Elam for to dread before their enemies, and in the sight of men seeking the life of them; and I shall bring on them evil, the wrath of my strong vengeance, saith the Lord; and I shall send after them a sword, till I waste them.

38 And I shall set my king’s seat in Elam, and I shall lose thereof kings, and princes, saith the Lord.

39 But in the last days I shall make the prisoners of Elam to turn again, saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 50

1 The word which the Lord spake of Babylon, and of the land of Chaldees, in the hand of Jeremy, the prophet.

2 Tell ye among heathen men, and make ye heard; raise ye [up] a sign; preach ye, and do not ye hold still; say ye, Babylon is taken, Bel is shamed, Merodach is overcome; the graven images thereof be shamed, the idols of them be overcome.

3 For a folk shall ascend [or go up] from the north against it, which folk shall set the land thereof into wilder-ness; and none shall be that shall dwell therein, from man unto beast; and they be moved, and went away.

4 In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together, going and weeping; they shall haste, and seek their Lord God in Zion,

5 and they shall ask the way. Hither the faces of them shall come, and they shall be set to the Lord with bond of peace everlasting, which shall not be done away by any forgetting.

6 My people is made a lost flock, the shepherds of them deceived them, and made them to go unstably in hills; they passed from mountain into a little hill, they forgot their bed.

7 All men that found, ate them, and the enemies of them said, We sinned not, for that they sinned to the Lord, the fairness of rightfulness, and to the Lord, the abiding of their fathers.

8 Go ye away from the midst of Babylon, and go ye out of the land of Chaldees, and be ye as kids before the flock.

9 For lo! I shall raise, and bring into Babylon the gathering together of great folks, from the land of the north; and they shall be made ready against it, and it shall be taken in the day; the arrows thereof as of a strong man, a slayer, shall not turn again [void].

10 And Chaldea shall be into prey, all that destroy it, shall be [ful] filled, saith the Lord.

11 For ye make full out joy, and speak great things, and ravish mine heritage; for ye be shed [or poured] out as calves on herb, and lowed, or bellowed, as bulls.

12 Your mother is shamed greatly, and she that engendered you, is made even to dust; lo! she shall be the last among folks, and forsaken, without way, and dry.

13 For the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be driven all into wilderness; each that shall pass by Babylon, shall wonder, and shall hiss on all the wounds thereof.

14 All ye that bend bow, be made ready against Babylon by compass; overcome ye it, spare ye not arrows, for it sinned to the Lord.

15 Cry ye against it, everywhere it gave hand; the foundaments thereof fell down, and the walls thereof be destroyed; for it is the vengeance of the Lord. Take ye vengeance of it; as it did, do ye to it.

16 Lose ye a sower of Babylon, and him that holdeth a sickle in the time of harvest, from the face of [the] sword of the culver; each man shall be turned to his people, and each man shall flee to his land.

17 Israel is a scattered flock, lions casted out it; first king of Assur ate it, this last, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did away the bones thereof.

18 Therefore the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, Lo! I shall visit the king of Babylon, and his land, as I visited the king of Assur;

19 and I shall bring again Israel to his dwelling place. Carmel and Bashan shall be fed, and his soul shall be [ful] filled in the hill [or mount] of Ephraim, and of Gilead.

20 In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the wickedness of Israel shall be sought, and it shall not be; and the sin of Judah shall be sought, and it shall not be found; for I shall be merciful to them, which I shall forsake or leave.

21 Ascend thou [or go thou up] on the land of the lords, and visit thou on the dwellers thereof; scatter thou, and slay those things, that be after them, saith the Lord; and do thou by all things which I commanded to thee.

22 The voice of battle and great sorrow in the land.

23 How is the hammer of all earth broken and all-defouled? how is Babylon turned into desert, among heathen men?

24 Babylon, I have snared thee, and thou art taken, and thou knewest not; thou art found, and taken, for thou stirredest the Lord to wrath.

25 The Lord opened his treasure, and brought forth the vessels of his wrath; for why a work is to the Lord God of hosts in the land of Chaldees.

26 Come ye to it from the farthest ends, open ye, that they go out, that shall defoul it; take ye away stones from the way, and drive ye into heaps, and slay ye it, and nothing be residue.

27 Destroy ye all the strong men thereof, go they down into slaying; woe to them, for the day of them cometh, the time of visiting of them.

28 The voice of fleers, and of them that escaped from the land of Babylon, that they tell in Zion the vengeance of our Lord God, the vengeance of his temple.

29 Tell ye against Babylon to full many men, to all that bend bow. Stand ye together against it by compass, and let none escape; yield ye to it after his work, after all things which it did, do ye to it; for it was raised against the Lord, against the Holy of Israel.

30 Therefore young men thereof shall fall down in the streets thereof, and all men warriors thereof shall be stilled in that day, saith the Lord.

31 Lo! thou proud, I to thee, saith the Lord of hosts, for thy day is come, the time of thy visitation.

32 And the proud shall fall, and shall fall down together, and none shall be, that shall raise him; and I shall kindle fire in the cities of him, and it shall devour all things in compass of it.

33 The Lord of hosts saith these things, The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah together suffer false challenge; all that took them, hold, they will not deliver them.

34 The again-buyer of them is strong, the Lord of hosts is his name; by doom he shall defend the cause of them, that he make the land afeared, and stir together the dwellers of Babylon.

35 A sword to Chaldees, saith the Lord, and to the dwellers of Babylon, and to the princes, and to the wise men thereof.

36 A sword to the false diviners thereof, that shall be fools; a sword to the strong men thereof, that shall dread.

37 Sword to the horses thereof, and to the chariots thereof, and to all the common people which is in the midst thereof, and they shall be as women; a sword to the treasures thereof, that shall be ravished.

38 Dryness shall be on the waters thereof, and they shall be dry; for it is the land of graven images, and hath glory in false feignings.

39 Therefore dragons shall dwell with fond wild men, and ostriches shall dwell therein; and it shall no more be inhabited till into without end, and it shall not be builded till to generation and generation;

40 as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and the nigh cities there-of, saith the Lord. A man shall not dwell there, and the son of man shall not dwell in it.

41 Lo! a people cometh from the north, and a great folk, and many kings shall rise together from the ends of [the] earth.

42 They shall take bow and sword, they be cruel and unmerciful; the voice of them shall sound as the sea, and they shall ascend [or go up] on horses as a man made ready to battle, against thee, thou daughter of Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon heard the fame of them, and his hands be made numb; anguish took him, sorrow took him, as a woman travailing of child.

44 Lo! as a lion he shall ascend [or goeth up] from the pride of Jordan to the strong fairness, for I shall make him to run suddenly to it; and who shall be the chosen man whom I shall set [or put] before him? For who is like me? and who shall suffer me? and who is this shepherd, that shall against-stand my cheer?

45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, which he conceived in mind against Babylon, and his thoughts, which he thought on the land of Chaldees, no but the little of the flocks draw them down, no but the dwelling place of them be destroyed with them, else no man give credence to me.

46 The earth is moved of the voice of [the] captivity of Babylon, and cry is heard among heathen men.

CHAPTER 51

1 The Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall raise on Babylon, and on the dwellers thereof, that raised their heart against me, as a wind of pestilence.

2 And I shall send into Babylon winnowers, and they shall winnow it, and shall destroy the land of it; for they came on it on each side, in the day of the torment thereof.

3 He that bendeth his bow, bend not, and a man clothed in habergeon, ascend not [or go not up]; do not ye spare the young men thereof, slay ye all the chivalry thereof.

4 And slain men shall fall in the land of Chaldees, and wounded men in the countries thereof.

5 For why Israel and Judah was not made widow from their God, the Lord of hosts; but the land of them was filled with trespass of the Holy of Israel.

6 Flee ye from the midst of Babylon, that each man save his soul; do not ye be still on the wickedness thereof, for why time of vengeance thereof is to the Lord; he shall yield while to it.

7 Babylon is a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, and filleth all [the] earth; heathen men drank of the wine thereof, and therefore they be moved.

8 Babylon fell down suddenly, and is all-broken; yell ye on it, take ye resin to the sorrow thereof, if peradventure it be healed.

9 We healed Babylon, and it is not made whole; forsake we it and go we each into his land; for the doom thereof came till to heavens, and is raised [up] till to [the] clouds.

10 The Lord hath brought forth our rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses]; come ye, and tell we in Zion the work of our Lord God.

11 Sharpen ye arrows, fill ye arrow cases; the Lord hath raised the spirit of the kings of Medes, and his mind is against Babylon, that he lose it, for it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple. The king of Medes is raised of the Lord against Babylon.

12 Raise ye a sign on the walls of Babylon, increase ye [the] keeping, raise ye keepers, make ye ready ambushments; for the Lord thought, and did, whatever thing he spake against the dwellers of Babylon.

13 A! thou Babylon, that dwellest on many waters, rich in thy treasures, thine end cometh, the foot-measure of thy cutting down.

14 The Lord of hosts swore by his soul, that I shall fill thee with men, as with bruchuses, and a merry song shall be sung on thee.

15 The Lord swore, which made [the] earth by his strength, made ready the world by his wisdom, and stretched forth heavens by his prudence.

16 When he giveth voice, waters be multiplied in heaven; which Lord raiseth clouds from [the] last of the earth, he made lightnings into rain, and brought forth wind of his treasures or treasuries.

17 Each man is made a fool of knowing, each weller together is shamed in a graven image; for his welling together is false, and a spirit is not in those [or them].

18 The works be vain, and worthy of scorn; they shall perish in the time of their visiting.

19 The part of Jacob is not as these things; for he that made all things is the part of Jacob, and Israel is the sceptre of his heritage; the Lord of hosts is his name.

20 Thou hurtlest down to me the instruments of battle, and I shall hurtle down folks in thee, and I shall lose realms in thee;

21 and I shall hurtle down in thee an horse, and the rider thereof; and I shall hurtle down in thee a chariot, and the rider thereof;

22 and I shall hurtle down in thee man and woman; and I shall hurtle down in thee eld [or old] man and child; and I shall hurtle down in thee a young man and a virgin;

23 and I shall hurtle down in thee a shepherd and his flock; and I shall hurtle down in thee an earth-tiller and his yoke beasts; and I shall hurtle down in thee dukes and magistrates.

24 And I shall yield, saith the Lord, to Babylon, and to all the dwellers of Chaldea, all their evil, which they did in Zion, before your eyes.

25 Lo! I, saith the Lord, to thee, thou hill bearing pestilence, which corruptest all [the] earth. I shall stretch forth mine hand on thee, and I shall unwrap thee from stones, and I shall give thee into an hill of burning.

26 And I shall not take of thee a stone into a corner, and a stone into foundaments; but thou shalt be lost without end, saith the Lord.

27 Raise ye a sign in the land, sound ye with a clarion in hills; hallow ye folks on it, tell ye to the kings of Ararat, of Minni, and of Ashchenaz against it; number ye Tifsar, that is, the leader of the host, against it, and bring ye an horse, as a bruchus having a prick.

28 Hallow ye folks against it, the kings of Media, the dukes thereof, and all the magistrates thereof, and all the land of his power.

29 And the earth shall be moved, and shall be troubled; for the thought of the Lord shall fully awaken against Babylon, that he set the land of Babylon desert, and unhabitable.

30 The strong men of Babylon ceased of battle, they dwelled in strongholds; the strength of them is devoured, and they be made as women; the tabernacles thereof be burnt, the bars thereof be all-broken.

31 A runner shall come to meet a runner, and a messenger to meet a messenger, to tell to the king of Babylon, that his city is taken from the one end till to the tother end;

32 and the forths be before-occupied, and the marishes be burnt with fire, and the men warriors be troubled.

33 For the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, The daughter of Babylon is as a cornfloor, the time of threshing thereof; yet a little, and the time of reaping thereof shall come.

34 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ate me, and devoured me; he made me as a void vessel, he as a dragon swallowed me; he filled his womb with my tenderness, and he casted me out.

35 Wickedness against me, and my flesh on Babylon, saith the dwelling [or the dwellers] of Zion; and my blood on the dwellers of Chaldea, saith Jerusalem.

36 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I shall deem thy cause, and I shall avenge thy vengeance; and I shall make the sea thereof forsaken, and I shall make dry the vein thereof.

37 And Babylon shall be into burials, it shall be the dwelling of dragons, wondering, and hissing, for that no dweller is.

38 They shall roar together as lions, and they shall shake [their] locks, as the whelps of lions.

39 In the heat of them I shall set [or put] the drinks of them; and I shall make them drunken, that they be brought asleep, and that they sleep everlasting sleep, and rise not, saith the Lord.

40 I shall lead forth them, as lambs to slain sacrifice, and as wethers with kids.

41 How is Sheshach* taken, and the noble city of all earth is taken? How is Babylon made into wonder among heathen men?

42 And the sea ascended [or went up] on Babylon, it was covered with the multitude of his waves.

43 The cities thereof be made into wondering, the land is made unhabitable and forsaken; the land wherein no man dwelleth, and the son of man shall not pass by it.

44 And I shall visit on Bel into Babylon, and I shall cast out of his mouth that, that he had swallowed, and folks shall no more flow to it; for also the wall of Babylon shall fall down.

45 My people, go ye out from the midst thereof, that each man save his soul from the wrath of the strong vengeance of the Lord;

46 and lest peradventure your heart wax nesh, and lest ye dread the hearing, that shall be heard in the land; and hearing shall come in a year, and after this year shall come hearing, and wickedness in the land, and a lord on a lord.

47 Therefore lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall visit on the graven images of Babylon; and all the land thereof shall be shamed, and all slain men thereof shall fall down in the midst thereof.

48 And heaven’s, and earth’s, and all things that be in those [or them], shall praise on Babylon; for raveners shall come from the north to it, saith the Lord.

49 And as Babylon did, that slain men fell down in Israel, so of Babylon slain men shall fall down and in all the land.

50 Come ye, that fled the sword, do not ye stand; have ye mind afar on the Lord, and Jerusalem ascend [or go up] on your heart.

51 We be shamed, for we heard shame; shame covered our faces, for aliens came on the hallowing of the house of the Lord.

52 Therefore lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall visit on the graven images of Babylon, and in all the land thereof a wounded man shall bellow.

53 If Babylon ascendeth [or go up] into heaven, and maketh steadfast his strength on high, destroyers thereof shall come of me, saith the Lord.

54 The voice of a crier of Babylon, and great sorrow of the land of Chaldees,

55 for the Lord destroyed Babylon, and lost [or destroyed] of it a great voice; and the waves of them shall sound as many waters. The voice of them gave sound,

56 for a ravener came [up] on it, that is, [up] on Babylon; and the strong men thereof be taken, and the bow of them withered, for the strong avenger, the Lord, yielding [again] shall yield.

57 And I shall make drunken the princes thereof, and the wise men thereof, the dukes thereof, and the magistrates thereof, and the strong men thereof; and they shall sleep everlasting sleep, and they shall not be awakened, saith the king, the Lord of hosts is name of him.

58 The Lord God of hosts saith these things, That broadest wall of Babylon shall be [under] mined with [under]-mining, and the high gates thereof shall be burnt with fire; and the travails of peoples shall be to nought, and the travails of heathen men shall be into fire, and shall perish.

59 The word which Jeremy, the prophet, commanded to Seraiah, son of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah, the king, into Babylon, in the fourth year of his realm; forsooth Seraiah was prince of prophecy.

60 And Jeremy wrote all the evil, that was to coming [or to come] [up] on Babylon, in a book, all these words that were written against Babylon.

61 And Jeremy said to Seraiah, When thou comest into Babylon, and seest, and readest all these words,

62 thou shalt say, Lord, thou spakest against this place, that thou shouldest lose it, that none be that dwell therein, from man unto beast, and that it be an everlasting wilderness.

63 And when thou hast [ful] filled to read this book, thou shalt bind to it a stone, and thou shalt cast it forth into the midst of Euphrates;

64 and thou shalt say, So Babylon shall be drowned, and it shall not rise from the face of torment, which I bring [up] on it, and it shall be destroyed. Hitherto be the words of Jeremy.

CHAPTER 52

1 Zedekiah was a son of one and twenty years, when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremy of Libnah.

2 And he did evils before the eyes of the Lord, by all things which Jehoiakim had done.

3 For the strong vengeance of the Lord was in Jerusalem, and in Judah, till he casted them away from his face. And Zedekiah went away from the king of Babylon.

4 Forsooth it was done in the ninth year of his realm, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came, he and all his host, against Jerusalem; and they besieged it, and builded against it strongholds in compass.

5 And the city was besieged, till to the eleventh year of the realm of Zedekiah.

6 Forsooth in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, hunger held the city; and foods were not to the people of the land.

7 And the city was broken, and all men warriors thereof fled; and they went out of the city in the night, by the way of the gate, which is betwixt two walls, and leadeth to the garden of the king, while [the] Chaldees besieged the city in compass; and they went forth by the way that leadeth into desert.

8 Soothly the host of Chaldees pursued the king; and they took Zedekiah in desert, which is beside Jericho, and all his fellowship fled away from him.

9 And when they had taken the king, they brought him to the king of Babylon in Riblah, which is in the land of Hamath; and the king of Babylon spake dooms to him.

10 And the king of Babylon strangled the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; but also he killed all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

11 And he putted out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in stocks; and the king of Babylon brought him into Babylon, and putted him in the house of the prison, till to the day of his death.

12 Forsooth in the ninth month, in the tenth day of the month, that is the nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, the prince of [the] chivalry, that stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem.

13 And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem; and he burnt with fire each great house.

14 And all the host of Chaldees, that was with the master of the chivalry, destroyed all the wall of Jerusalem by compass.

15 Soothly Nebuzaradan, the prince of [the] chivalry, translated of the poor men of the people, and of the residue common people, that was left in the city, and of the fleers-over, that fled over to the king of Babylon; and he translated or brought over other men of the multitude.

16 But Nebuzaradan, the prince of [the] chivalry, left of the poor men of the land vine-tillers, and earth-tillers.

17 Also Chaldees brake the brazen pillars, that were in the house of the Lord, and the foundaments, and the brazen washing vessel, that was in the house of the Lord; and they took all the metal of those [or of them] into Babylon.

18 And they took cauldrons, and fleshhooks, and psalteries, and vials, and mortars, and all brazen vessels, that were in service;

19 they took also [the] water pots, and vessels of incense, and pots, and basins, and candlesticks, and mortars, and little cups; how many ever golden, golden, and how many ever silveren, silveren.

20 The master of the chivalry took two pillars, and one washing vessel, and [the] twelve brazen calves, that were under the foundaments, which king Solomon had made in the house of the Lord. No weight was of the metal of all these vessels.

21 Forsooth of the pillars, eighteen cubits of height were in one pillar, and a rope of twelve cubits encompassed it; certainly the thickness thereof was of four fingers, and was hollow within.

22 And brazen pommels were on ever either; and the height of one pommel was of five cubits; and works like nets and pomegranates were on the crown in compass, [all was brazen. Like manner was the second pillar, and the pomegranates; and they were upon the head in compass, all brazen, like manner of the tother pillar].

23 And the pomegranates were ninety and six hanging down, and all [the] pomegranates were encompassed with an hundred works like nets.

24 And the master of the chivalry took Seraiah, the first priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and [the] three keepers of the vestiary.

25 And of the city he took one chaste servant and honest, that was sovereign on the men warriors; and seven men of them that saw the face of the king, which were found in the cities; and a scribe, prince of knights, that proved [the] young knights; and sixty men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of the city.

26 Forsooth Nebuzaradan, the master of [the] chivalry, took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon in Riblah.

27 And the king of Babylon smote them, and killed them in Riblah, in the land of Hamath; and Judah was translated from his land.

28 This is the people, whom Nebu-chadnezzar translated in the seventh year; Jews, three thousand and three and twenty.

29 In the eighteenth year, Nebuchad-nezzar translated from Jerusalem eight hundred and two and thirty persons.

30 In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, the master of [the] chivalry, translated seven hundred and five and forty persons of Jews. Therefore all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

31 And it was done, in the seven and thirtieth year of the passing over of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, raised [up] in that year of his realm the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah; and led him out of the house of the prison,

32 and spake good things with him. And he setted the throne of him [or put his throne] above the thrones of kings, that were after him in Babylon,

33 and changed the clothes of his prison. And Jehoiachin ate bread before him ever[more], in all the days of his life;

34 and his meats, everlasting meats were given to him of the king of Babylon, ordained by each day, till to the day of his death, in all the days of his life.

* CHAPTER 1:12 This word in Hebrew sounds like the Hebrew for ‘almond’.

* CHAPTER 22:24 Also known as Coniah and Jehoiachin.

* CHAPTER 25:26 Sheshach is another name for Babylon.

* CHAPTER 37:1 Also known as Coniah and Jehoiachin.

* CHAPTER 51:41 Sheshach is another name for Babylon.

LAMENTATIONS

1

2

3

4

5

LAMENTATIONS

CHAPTER 1

1 How sitteth alone the city that once was full of people? the lady of folks is made as a widow; the princess of provinces is made under tribute.

2 It* weeping wept in the night, and the tears thereof be in the cheeks thereof; there is none of all the dear-worthy thereof, that comforteth it; all the friends thereof forsook it, and be made enemies to it.

3 Judah passed from torment and multitude of servage, it dwelled among heathen men, and found no rest; all the pursuers thereof took it among anguishes.

4 The ways of Zion mourn, for no men come to the solemnity; all the gates thereof be destroyed, the priests thereof wail; the virgins thereof be defouled, and it is oppressed with bitterness.

5 The enemies thereof be made in the head, and the enemies thereof be made rich, for the Lord spake on it. For the multitude of wickednesses thereof the little children thereof be led into captivity, before the face of the troubler.

6 And all the fairness of the daughter of Zion went out from the daughter of Zion; the princes thereof be made as rams not finding pastures; and went forth without strength before the face of the pursuer [or of the follower].

7 And Jerusalem bethought on the days of her affliction and of trespassing, and on all her desirable things which it had from [the] eld [or old] days; when the people thereof fell down in the hand of enemies, and none helper was; [the] enemies saw it, and scorned the sabbaths thereof.

8 Jerusalem sinned a sin, therefore it was made unsteadfast; all that glorified it forsook it, for they saw the shame thereof; forsooth it wailed, and was turned aback.

9 The filths thereof be in the feet thereof, and it had no mind of her end; it was put down greatly, and had no comforter; Lord, see thou my torment, for the enemy is raised [up].

10 The enemy put his hand to all the desirable things thereof; for it saw heathen men entered into thy saintuary, of which thou haddest commanded, that they should not enter into thy church.

11 All the people thereof was wailing and seeking bread, they gave all precious things for meat, to strengthen the soul; and the city saith, See thou, Lord, and behold, for I am made vile.

12 A! all ye that pass by the way, perceive, and see, if any sorrow is as my sorrow; for he gathered away my grapes from me, as the Lord spake in the day of wrath of his strong venge-ance.

13 From on high he sent fire in my bones, and taught me; he spreaded abroad a net to my feet, he turned me aback; he setted me desolate, meddled together all day with mourning.

14 The yoke of my wickednesses watched in the hand of him, those be folded together, and put on my neck; my strength is made feeble; the Lord gave me in the hand, from which I shall not be able to rise.

15 The Lord took away all my wor-shipful men from the midst of me; he called time against me, that he should all-foul my chosen men; the Lord stamped a presser [or the press trod] to the virgin, the daughter of Judah.

16 Therefore I am weeping, and mine eye is leading down water; for a comforter, converting my soul, is made far from me; my sons be made lost, for the enemy had the mastery.

17 Zion spreaded abroad his hands, none is that comforteth it; the Lord sent against Jacob enemies thereof, in the compass thereof; Jerusalem is made as defouled with unclean blood among them.

18 And the city saith, The Lord is just [or rightwise], for I stirred his mouth to wrathfulness [or wrath]; all peoples, I beseech, hear ye, and see my sorrow; my virgins and my young men went forth into captivity.

19 I called my friends, and they deceived me; my priests and mine eld [or old] men in the city be wasted; for they sought meat to themselves, to comfort their life [or refresh their soul].

20 See thou, Lord, for I am troubled, my womb is disturbed; mine heart is destroyed in myself, for I am full of bitterness; [the] sword slayeth without-forth, and like death is at home.

21 They heard, that I make inward wailing, and none is that comforteth me; all mine enemies heard of mine evil, they be glad, for thou hast done it; thou hast brought a day of comfort, and they shall be made like me.

22 All the evil of them enter before thee, and gather thou grapes away from them, as thou hast gathered grapes away from me, for my wicked-nesses; for my wailings be many, and mine heart is mourning.

CHAPTER 2

1 How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with darkness in his strong vengeance? he hath cast down from heaven into earth the noble city of Israel; and bethought not on the stool of his feet, in the day of his strong vengeance.

2 The Lord casted down, and spared not, all the fair things of Jacob; he destroyed in his strong vengeance the strengths or strongholds of the virgin of Judah, and casted down into [the] earth; he defouled the realm, and the princes thereof.

3 He brake in the ire [or the wrath] of his strong vengeance all the horn of Israel; he turned aback his right hand from the face of the enemy; and he kindled in Jacob, as fire of flame devouring in compass.

4 He as an enemy bent his bow, he as an adversary made steadfast his right hand; and he killed all thing that was fair in sight in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion; he shedded [or poured] out his indignation as fire.

5 The Lord is made as an enemy; he casted down Israel, he casted down all the walls thereof; he des-troyed the strengths thereof, and filled in the daughter of Judah a man made low, and a woman made low.

6 And he scattered his tent as a garden, he destroyed his tabernacle; the Lord gave to forgetting in Zion a feast day, and sabbath; and put the king and priest into shame, and into the indignation of his strong venge-ance.

7 The Lord putted away his altar, he cursed his hallowing; he betook into the hands of the enemy the walls of the towers thereof; they gave voice in the house of the Lord, as in a solemn day.

8 The Lord thought to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched forth his cord, and turned not away his hand from perdition; the forewall, either the outerward, mourned, and the wall was destroyed altogether.

9 The gates thereof be pitched in the earth, he lost and all-brake the bars thereof; the king thereof and the princes thereof be among heathen men; the law is not, and the prophets thereof found not of the Lord a vision, either revelation.

10 They sat in [the] earth, the eld [or old] men of the daughter of Zion were still; they besprinkled their heads with ashes, the elder men of Judah be girt with hair-shirts; the virgins of Judah casted down to the earth their heads.

11 Mine eyes failed for tears, mine entrails were troubled or disturbed; my maw was shed [or poured] out in [the] earth upon the sorrow of the daughter of my people; when a little child and [the] sucking infant failed in the streets of the city.

12 They said to their mothers, Where is wheat, and wine? when they failed as wounded men in the streets of the city; yea, when they sent out their souls in the bosom of their mothers.

13 To whom shall I comparison thee? either to whom shall I liken thee, thou daughter of Jerusalem? to whom shall I make thee even, and shall I comfort thee, thou virgin, the daughter of Zion? for why thy sorrow is great as the sea; who shall do medicine to thee?

14 Thy prophets saw to thee false things, and fond [or foolish]; and they opened not thy wickedness, that they should stir thee to penance; but they saw to thee false takings, and castings out.

15 All men passing on the way clapped with hands on thee; they hissed, and moved their head on the daughter of Jerusalem; and said, This is the city of perfect fairness, the joy of all earth.

16 All thine enemies opened their mouth on thee; they hissed, and gnashed with their teeth, and said, We shall devour; lo! this is the day which we abided, we found, we saw.

17 The Lord did those things which he thought, he [ful] filled his word which he had commanded from [the] eld [or old] days; he destroyed, and spared not; and made glad the enemy on thee; and enhanced the horn of thine enemies.

18 The heart of them cried to the Lord, on the walls of the daughter of Zion; lead thou forth tears as a strand [or a stream], by day and night; give thou not rest to thee, neither the apple of thine eye be still.

19 Rise thou together, praise thou in the night, in the beginning of the wakings [or watches]; shed [or pour] out thine heart as water, before the sight of the Lord; raise thine hands to him for the souls of thy little children, that failed for hunger in the head of all meetings of ways.

20 See thou, Lord, and behold, whom thou hast made so bare; therefore whether women shall eat their fruit, their little children at the measure of an hand? for a priest and prophet is slain in the saintuary of the Lord.

21 A child and an eld [or old] man lie on the earth withoutforth; my virgins and my young men fell down by sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thy strong vengeance, thou smotest and didest no mercy.

22 Thou calledest, as to a solemn day, them that made me afeared of compass; and none was that escaped in the day of the strong vengeance of the Lord, and was left; mine enemy wasted them, which I fed, and nourished up.

CHAPTER 3

1 I am a man seeing my poverty in the rod of his indignation.

2 He drove me, and brought into darknesses, and not into light.

3 Only he turned into me, and turned altogether his hand all day.

4 He made eld my skin, and my flesh; he all-brake my bones.

5 He builded in my compass, and he encompassed me with gall and travail.

6 He setted me in dark places, as everlasting dead men.

7 He builded about against me, that I go not out; he aggrieved my gyves or fetters.

8 But and when I cry and pray, he hath excluded my prayer.

9 He enclosed altogether my ways with square stones; he destroyed my paths.

10 He is made like a bear setting ambush to me, like a lion in hid places.

11 He destroyed my paths, and brake me; he setted me desolate.

12 He bent his bow, and setted me as a sign to an arrow.

13 He sent in my reins the daughters of his arrow case.

14 I am made into scorn to all the people, the song of them all day.

15 He filled me with bitternesses; he greatly filled me with wormwood.

16 He brake at number my teeth; he fed me with ashes.

17 And my soul is put away; I have forgotten goods.

18 And I said, Mine end perished, and mine hope, from the Lord.

19 Have thou mind on my poverty, and going over, and on wormwood and gall.

20 By mind I shall be mindful; and my soul shall fail in me.

21 I bethink these things in mine heart, I shall hope in God.

22 The mercies of the Lord be many, for we be not wasted; for why his merciful doings failed not.

23 I knew in the morrowtide; thy faith is much [or much is thy faith].

24 My soul said, The Lord is my part; therefore I shall abide him.

25 The Lord is good to them that hope into him, to a soul seeking him.

26 It is good to abide with stillness the health of God.

27 It is good to a man, when he hath borne the yoke of his youth.

28 He shall sit alone, and he shall be still; for he raised himself above himself.

29 He shall set his mouth in dust, if peradventure hope is.

30 He shall give the cheek to a man that smiteth him; he shall be filled with shames.

31 For the Lord shall not put away without end.

32 For if he casted away, and he shall do mercy after the multitude of his mercies.

33 For he maked not low of his heart; and casted not away the sons of men.

34 That he should all-foul under his feet all the bound men of [the] earth.

35 That he should bow down the doom of a man, in the sight of the cheer of the Highest.

36 That he should pervert a man in his doom, the Lord knew not.

37 Who is this that said, that a thing should be done, when the Lord commandeth not?

38 Neither goods neither evils shall go out of the mouth of the Highest.

39 What grutched a man living, a man punished for his sins?

40 Search we our ways, and seek we, and turn we again to the Lord.

41 Raise we our hearts with hands, to the Lord into heavens.

42 We have done wickedly, and have stirred thee to wrath; therefore thou art not able to be prayed.

43 Thou coveredest in strong venge-ance, and smitedest us; thou killedest, and sparedest not.

44 Thou settedest a cloud to thee, that prayer pass not.

45 Thou settedest me, drawing up by the root, and casting out, in the midst of [the] peoples.

46 All [the] enemies opened their mouth on us.

47 Inward dread and snare is made to us, prophecy and defouling.

48 Mine eyes led down partings of waters, for the defouling of the daughter of my people.

49 Mine eye was tormented, and was not still; for no rest was.

50 Until the Lord beheld, and saw from heavens.

51 Mine eye robbed my soul in all the daughters of my city.

52 Mine enemies took me without cause, by hunting me as a bird.

53 My life slid into a pit; and they putted a stone on me.

54 Waters flowed over mine head; I said, I perish.

55 Lord, I called to help thy name, from the last pit.

56 Thou heardest my voice; turn thou not away thine ear from my sobbing and cries.

57 Thou nighedest to me in the day, wherein I called thee to help; thou saidest, Dread thou not.

58 Lord, again-buyer of my life, thou deemedest the cause of my soul.

59 Lord, thou sawest the wickedness of them against me; deem thou my doom.

60 Thou sawest all the strong vengeance, all the thoughts of them against me.

61 Lord, thou heardest the shames of them; all the thoughts of them against me.

62 The lips of men rising against me, and the thoughts of them against me all day.

63 See thou the sitting and rising again of them; I am the psalm of them.

64 Lord, thou shalt yield while to them, by the works of their hands.

65 Thou shalt give to them the shield of heart, thy travail.

66 Lord, thou shalt pursue them in thy strong vengeance, and thou shalt defoul them under heavens.

CHAPTER 4

1 How is gold made dark, the best colour is changed? the stones of the saintuary be scattered in the head of all streets.

2 The noble sons of Zion, and clothed with the best gold, how be they areckoned into earthen vessels, into the work of the hands of a potter?

3 But also lamias or lamiae made naked their teats, gave milk to their whelps; the daughter of my people is cruel, as an ostrich in desert.

4 The tongue of the sucking child cleaved to his palate in thirst; little children asked for bread, and none was that brake to them.

5 They that ate lustfully, perished in ways; they that were nourished in cradles, embraced turds.

6 And the wickedness of the daughter of my people is made more than the sin of men of Sodom, that was destroyed in a moment, and hands took not therein.

7 Nazarites thereof were whiter than snow, shininger than milk; ruddier than eld [or old] ivory, fairer than sapphire.

8 The face of them was made blacker than coals, and they were not known in streets; the skin cleaved to their bones, it dried, and was made as a stick.

9 It was better to men slain with sword, than to men slain with hunger; for these men waxed rotten, they were wasted of the barrenness of [the] earth.

10 The hands of merciful women seethed their children; they were made the meats of those women in the sorrow of the daughter of my people.

11 The Lord [ful] filled his strong vengeance, he shedded out the ire [or he poured out the wrath] of his indignation; and the Lord kindled a fire in Zion, and it devoured the foundaments thereof.

12 The kings of [the] earth, and all the dwellers of the world believed not, that an adversary and [the] enemy should enter in by the gates of Jerusalem.

13 For the sins of the prophets thereof, and for [the] wickednesses of priests thereof, that shedded out the blood of just [or rightwise] men in the midst thereof.

14 Blind men erred in streets, they were defouled in blood; and when they might not go, they held their hems.

15 They cried to them, Depart away, ye defouled men, depart ye, go ye away, do not ye touch; forsooth they chided, and were stirred; they said among heathen men, God shall no more add to, that he dwell among them.

16 The face of the Lord parted them, he shall no more lay to, that he behold them; they were not ashamed of the faces of priests, neither they had mercy on eld [or old] men.

17 The while we stood yet, our eyes failed to our vain help; when we beheld attentive to a folk, that might not save us.

18 Our steps were slidery in the way of our streets; our end nighed, our days were [ful] filled, for our end came.

19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of heaven; they pursued us on [the] hills [or mountains], they setted ambushments to us in desert.

20 The spirit of our mouth, Christ the Lord, was taken in our sins; to whom we said, We shall live in thy shadow among heathen men.

21 Thou daughter of Edom, make joy, and be glad, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup shall come also to thee, thou shalt be made drunken, and shalt be made bare.

22 Thou daughter of Zion, thy wickedness is [ful] filled; he shall not add more, that he make thee to pass over again into captivity; thou daughter of Edom, he shall visit thy wicked-ness, he shall uncover thy sins.

CHAPTER 5

1 Lord, have thou mind what befell to us; see thou, and behold our shame.

2 Our heritage is turned to aliens, our houses be turned to strangers.

3 We be made fatherless children without a father; our mothers be as widows.

4 We drank our water for money, we bought our wood for silver.

5 We were driven by our heads, and rest was not given to faint men.

6 We gave hand to Egypt, and to Assyrians, that we should be [ful] filled with bread.

7 Our fathers sinned, and be not, and we bare the wickednesses of them

8 Servants were lords of us, and none was, that again-bought from the hand of them.

9 In our lives we brought bread to us, from the face of [the] sword in desert.

10 Our skin is burnt as a furnace, of the face of tempests of hunger.

11 They made low women in Zion, and virgins in the cities of Judah.

12 Princes were hanged [up] by the hand; they were not ashamed of the faces of eld [or old] men.

13 They misused young waxing men unchastely, and children fell down in tree.

14 Eld [or Old] men failed from [the] gates; young men failed from the quire or choir of singers.

15 The joy of our heart failed; our song is turned into mourning.

16 The crown of our head fell down; woe to us! for we sinned.

17 Therefore our heart is made sorrowful, therefore our eyes be made dark.

18 For the hill of Zion, for it perished; foxes went in it.

19 But thou, Lord, shalt dwell without end; thy seat shall dwell in generation and into generation.

20 Why shalt thou forget us without end, shalt thou forsake us into [the] length of days?

21 Lord, convert thou us to thee, and we shall be converted; make thou new our days, as at the beginning.

22 But thou casting away hast cast away us; thou art wroth against us greatly.

* CHAPTER 1:2 Throughout Chapter 1, where the “Later Version” uses the impersonal ‘it’ and ‘thereof’, the “Early Version” and most other translations use ‘she’ and ‘her’.

EZEKIEL

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EZEKIEL

CHAPTER 1

1 And it was done, in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, when I was in the midst of captives, beside the flood Chebar, heavens were opened, and I saw the revelations of God.

2 In the fifth day of the month; that is the fifth year of [the] passing over of Jehoiachin, king of Judah;

3 the word of the Lord was made to Ezekiel, priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of Chaldees, beside the flood Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was made there on him.

4 And I saw, and lo! a whirlwind came from the north, and a great cloud, and fire wrapping in, and brightness in the compass thereof; and as the likeness of electrum from the midst thereof, that is, from the midst of the fire.

5 And of the midst thereof was a likeness of four beasts. And this was the beholding of those [or them], the likeness of a man in those [or them].

6 And four faces were to one, and four wings were to one.

7 And the feet of those [or them]were straight feet, and the sole of the foot of those [or them]was as the sole of a foot of a calf, and sparkles, as the beholding of boiling brass.

8 And the hands of a man were under the wings of those [or the pens of them], in four parts; and those [or they] had faces and wings by four parts;

9 and the wings of those [or them] were joined together of one to another. They turned not again, when they went, but each went before his face.

10 Forsooth the likeness of the face of those [or them]was the face of a man, and the face of a lion, at the right half of those four. Forsooth the face of an ox was at the left half of those four; and the face of an eagle was above those four.

11 And the faces of those [or them] and wings of those [or them]were stretched forth above. Two wings of each were joined together, and twain [or two] covered the bodies of those [or them].

12 And each of those [or them] went before his face. Where the fierceness of the wind was, thither those [or they] went, and turned not again, when they went.

13 And the likeness of the beasts, and the beholding of them, was as of burning coals of fire, and as the beholding of lamps. This was the sight running about in the midst of [the] beasts, the shining of fire, and the lightning going out of the fire.

14 And the beasts went, and turned again, at the likeness of lightning shining.

15 And when I beheld the beasts, one wheel, having four faces, appeared on the earth, beside the beasts.

16 And the beholding of the wheels and the work of those [or them]was as the sight of the sea; and one likeness was of those four; and the beholding and the works of those [or them], as if a wheel be in the midst of a wheel.

17 Those [or They] going went by four parts of those [or them], and turned not again, when those [or they] went.

18 Also stature, and highness, and horrible beholding was to the wheels; and all the body of them was full of eyes in the compass of those four.

19 And when the beasts went, the wheels also went together beside those [or them]. And when the beasts were raised [up] from the earth, the wheels also were raised [up] together.

20 Whither ever the spirit went, when the spirit went thither, also the wheels following it were raised [up] together with them; for why the spirit of life was in the wheels.

21 Those [or they] went with the beasts going, and those [or they] stood with the beasts standing. And with the beasts raised from [the] earth, also the wheels pursuing those beasts were raised together; for the spirit of life was in the wheels.

22 And the likeness of the firmament was above the head[s] of the beasts, and as the beholding of horrible crystal, and stretched abroad on the heads of those beasts above.

23 Forsooth under the firmament the wings of those beasts were straight out, of one to another; each beast covered his body with two wings, and another was covered in like manner.

24 And I heard the sound of wings, as the sound of many waters, as the sound of high God. When those [or they] went, there was as a sound of a multitude, as the sound of hosts of battle; and when those [or they] stood, the wings of those [or them] were let down.

25 For why when a voice was made on the firmament, that was on the head[s] of those [or them], those [or they] stood, and let down their wings.

26 And on the firmament, that was above the heads of those [or them], was as the beholding of a sapphire stone, in the likeness of a throne; and on the likeness of the throne was a likeness, as the beholding of a man above.

27 And I saw as a likeness of electrum, as the beholding of fire within, by the compass thereof; from the loins of him and above, and from the loins of him till to beneath, I saw as the likeness of fire, shining in compass,

28 as the beholding of the rainbow, when it is in the cloud in the day of rain. This was the beholding of shining by compass. This was a sight of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And I saw, and I fell down on my face; and I heard the voice of a speaker.

CHAPTER 2

1 And he said to me, Thou, son of man [or Son of man], stand on thy feet, and I shall speak with thee.

2 And the spirit entered into me, after that he spake to me, and setted me on my feet. And I heard one speaking to me,

3 and saying, Son of man, I send thee to the sons of Israel, to folks apostates, either going aback from faith, that went away from me; the fathers of them brake my covenant till to this day.

4 And the sons be of hard face, and of unchastiseable heart, to whom I send thee. And thou shalt say to them, The Lord God saith these things;

5 if peradventure namely they hear, and if peradventure they rest, for it is an house stirring to wrath. And they shall know, that a prophet is in the midst of them.

6 Therefore thou, son of man, dread not them, neither dread thou the words of them; for unbelieveful men and destroyers be with thee, and thou dwellest with scorpions. Dread thou not the words of them, and dread thou not the faces of them, for it is an house stirring to wrath.

7 Therefore thou shalt speak my words to them, if peradventure they hear, and rest, for they be stirrers to wrath.

8 But thou, son of man, hear what-ever things I shall speak to thee; and do not thou be a stirrer to wrath, as the house of Israel is a stirrer to wrath. Open thy mouth, and eat whatever things I give to thee.

9 And I saw, and lo! an hand was sent to me, in which a book was folded together.

10 And he spreaded abroad it before me, that was written within and withoutforth. And lamentations, and song, and woe, were written therein.

CHAPTER 3

1 And he said to me, Son of man, eat thou whatever thing thou findest, eat thou this volume; and go thou, and speak to the sons of Israel.

2 And I opened my mouth, and he fed me with that volume.

3 And he said to me, Son of man, thy womb shall eat, and thine entrails shall be filled with this volume, which I give to thee. And I ate it, and it was made as sweet honey in my mouth.

4 And he said to me, Son of man, go thou to the house of Israel, and thou shalt speak my words to them.

5 For thou shalt not be sent to a people of high word, and of unknown language; thou shalt be sent to the house of Israel,

6 neither to many peoples of high word, and of unknown language, of which thou mayest not hear the words. And if thou were sent to them, they should hear thee.

7 But the house of Israel will not hear thee, for they will not hear me. For all the house of Israel is of defouled, either of unshamefast, forehead, and of hard heart.

8 Lo! I gave thy face stronger than the faces of them, and thy forehead harder than the foreheads of them.

9 And I gave thy face as an adamant, and as a flint; dread thou not them, neither dread thou of the face of them, for it is an house stirring me to wrath.

10 And he said to me, Son of man, take in thine heart, and hear with thine ears all these my words, which I speak to thee.

11 And go thou, and enter to the passing over, to the sons of thy people. And thou shalt speak to them, and thou shalt say to them, The Lord God saith these things, if peradventure they hear, and rest.

12 And the spirit took me, and I heard after me the voice of a great moving. The blessed glory of the Lord was heard from his place;

13 and I heard the voice of wings of the beasts smiting one another, and the voice of wheels pursuing the beasts, and the voice of a great stirring.

14 Also the spirit raised me, and took me. And I went forth bitter in the indignation of my spirit; for the hand of the Lord was with me, and comforted me.

15 And I came to the passing over, to the heap of new fruits, to them that dwelled beside the flood Chebar. And I sat where they sat, and I dwelled there seven days, wailing, in the midst of them.

16 Forsooth when seven days were passed, the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

17 Son of man, I gave thee to be an espyer, or a beholder, to the house of Israel. And thou shalt hear of my mouth a word, and thou shalt tell [it] to them of me.

18 If when I say to the wicked man, Thou shalt die by death, thou tellest it not to him, and speakest not to him, that he be turned from his wicked way, and live; that wicked man shall die in his wickedness, but I shall seek his blood of thine hand.

19 Forsooth if thou tellest to the wicked man, and he is not converted from his wickedness, and from his wicked way; soothly he shall die in his wickedness, but thou hast delivered thy soul.

20 But also if a just [or rightwise] man is turned from his rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and doeth wickedness, I shall set an hurting before him; he shall die, for thou toldest not to him; he shall die in his sin, and his rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses], which he did, shall not be in mind, but I shall seek his blood of thine hand.

21 Forsooth if thou tellest to a just man, that a just man do not sin, and he sin not, he living shall live, for thou toldest to him, and thou hast delivered thy soul.

22 And the hand of the Lord was made [up] on me, and he said to me, Rise thou, and go out into the field, and there I shall speak with thee.

23 And I rose, and went out into the field. And lo! the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw beside the flood Chebar; and I fell down on my face.

24 And the spirit entered into me, and setted me on my feet. And he spake to me, and said to me, Enter thou, and be thou enclosed in the midst of thine house.

25 And thou, son of man, lo! bonds be given on thee, and they shall bind thee with those [or them], and thou shalt not go out in the midst of them.

26 And I shall make thy tongue to cleave to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and thou shalt not be as a man rebuking; for it is an house stirring to wrath.

27 But when I shall speak to thee, I shall open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to them, The Lord saith these things, He that heareth, hear, and he that resteth, rest; for it is an house stirring to wrath.

CHAPTER 4

1 And thou, son of man, take to thee a tilestone; and thou shalt set it before thee, and thou shalt describe therein the city of Jerusalem.

2 And thou shalt ordain besieging against that Jerusalem; and thou shalt build strongholds, and thou shalt bear together [an heap of] earth, and thou shalt give hosts of battle against it, and thou shalt set engines by compass.

3 And take thou to thee an iron frying pan; and thou shalt set it into an iron wall betwixt thee and betwixt the city; and thou shalt set steadfastly thy face to it, and it shall be into besieging, and thou shalt encompass it; it is a sign to the house of Israel.

4 And thou shalt sleep on thy left side, and thou shalt put the wicked-nesses of the house of Israel on that side; in the number of days in which thou shalt sleep on that side, and thou shalt take the wickedness of them.

5 Forsooth I gave to thee the years of the wickedness of them by number of days, three hundred and ninety days; and thou shalt bear the wicked-ness of the house of Israel.

6 And when thou hast [ful] filled these things, thou shalt sleep the second time on thy right side. And thou shalt take the wickedness of the house of Judah by forty days; I gave to thee a day for a year, a day soothly for a year.

7 And thou shalt turn thy face to the besieging of Jerusalem; and thine arm shall be stretched forth, and thou shalt prophesy against it.

8 Lo! I have encompassed thee with bonds, and thou shalt not turn thee from this side into the other side, till thou [ful] fill the days of thy besieging.

9 And take thou to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches; and thou shalt put those [or them] into one vessel. And thou shalt make to thee loaves for the number of days, by which thou shalt sleep on thy side; by three hundred and ninety days thou shalt eat it.

10 Forsooth thy meat, which thou shalt eat, shall be in weight twenty staters in a day; from time till to time thou shalt eat it.

11 And thou shalt drink water in measure, the sixth part of hin; from time till to time thou shalt drink it.

12 And thou shalt eat it as barley bread baked under the ashes; and with the dung that goeth out of a man thou shalt cover it, before the eyes of them.

13 The Lord saith these things, So the sons of Israel shall eat their bread defouled among heathen men, to whom I shall cast them out.

14 And I said, A! A! A! Lord God, lo! my soul is not defouled, and from my young childhood till to now I ate not a thing dead by itself, and rent of beasts; and all unclean flesh entered not into my mouth.

15 And he said to me, Lo! I have given to thee the dung of oxes [or oxen] for men’s turds; and thou shalt make ready thy bread with it instead.

16 And he said to me, Son of man, lo! I shall all-break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat their bread in weight and in busyness, and they shall drink water in measure and in anguish;

17 that when bread and water fail, each man fall down to his brother, and they fail in their wickednesses.

CHAPTER 5

1 And thou, son of man, take to thee a sharp sword, [or razor], for shaving hairs; and thou shalt take it, and shalt lead it by thine head, and by thy beard. And thou shalt take to thee a balance of weights, and thou shalt part those [or them].

2 Thou shalt burn the third part with fire in the midst of the city, by the [ful] filling of days of besieging. And thou shalt take the third part, and shalt cut by sword in the compass thereof. But thou shalt scatter the tother third part into the wind; and I shall make naked a sword after them.

3 And thou shalt take thereof a little number of those hairs, and thou shalt bind those [or them] in the highness of thy mantle.

4 And again thou shalt take of them, and thou shalt cast forth them into the midst of the fire. And thou shalt burn them in fire; and fire shall go out of that into all the house of Israel.

5 The Lord God saith these things, This is Jerusalem; I have set [or put] it in the midst of heathen men, and lands in the compass thereof.

6 And it despised my dooms, that it was more wicked than heathen men; and it despised my commandments more than lands that be in the compass thereof. For they have cast away my dooms, and they went not in my commandments.

7 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, For ye have passed heathen men that be in your compass, and ye went not in my commandments, and ye did not my dooms, and ye wrought not by the dooms of heathen men that be in your compass;

8 therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I to thee, and I myself shall make dooms in the midst of thee, before the eyes of heathen men;

9 and I shall do things in thee which I did not, and to which I shall no more make like things, for all thine abominations.

10 Therefore fathers shall eat sons in the midst of thee, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I shall make dooms in thee, and I shall winnow all thine remnants into each wind;

11 Therefore I live, saith the Lord God, no but for that that thou defouledest mine holy thing in all thine offences, and in all thine abom-inations; and I shall break, and mine eye shall not spare, and I shall not do mercy.

12 The third part of thee shall die by pestilence, and shall be wasted by hunger in the midst of thee; and the third part of thee shall fall down by sword in thy compass; forsooth I shall scatter thy third part into each wind, and I shall draw out a sword after them.

13 And I shall [ful] fill my strong vengeance, and I shall make mine indignation to rest in them, and I shall be comforted. And they shall know, that I the Lord spake in my fervent love, when I shall [ful] fill all mine indignation in them.

14 And I shall give thee into desert, [and] into shame to heathen men that be in thy compass, in the sight of each that passeth forth.

15 And thou shalt be shame and blasphemy, ensample and wondering, among heathen men that be in thy compass, when I shall make dooms in thee, in strong vengeance, and indignation, and in blamings of ire. I the Lord have spoken,

16 when I shall send into them the worst arrows of hunger, that shall bear death; and which I shall send, that I lose you. And I shall gather hunger [up] on you, and I shall all-break in you the firmness of bread.

17 And I shall send into you hunger, and worst beasts, till to the death; and pestilence and blood shall pass by thee, and I shall bring in [a] sword on thee; I the Lord spake.

CHAPTER 6

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, set thy face toward the hills of Israel; and thou shalt prophesy to those hills,

3 and shalt say, Hills of Israel, hear ye the word of the Lord God. The Lord God saith these things to mountains, and little hills, to rocks of stone, and to valleys, Lo! I shall bring in on you a sword, and I shall lose your high things or places.

4 And I shall destroy your altars, and your simulacra shall be broken; and I shall cast down your slain men before your idols.

5 And I shall give the dead bodies of the sons of Israel before the face of your simulacra, and I shall scatter your bones about your altars,

6 in all your dwellings. Cities shall be forsaken, and high things shall be destroyed, and shall be scattered; and your altars shall perish, and shall be broken. And your idols shall cease to exist, and your temples of idols shall be all-broken, and your works shall be done away.

7 And a slain man shall fall down in the midst of you; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

8 And I shall leave in you them that fled [the] sword, to go among heathen men, when I shall scatter you into lands.

9 And your delivered men shall have mind on me among heathen men, to which they be led prisoners; for I have all-broken their heart doing fornication, and going away from me, and their eyes doing fornication after their idols. And they shall displease themselves on the evils, which they did in all their abominations.

10 And they shall know, that I the Lord spake not in vain, that I should do this evil to them.

11 The Lord God saith these things, Smite thine hand, and hurtle thy foot, and say, Alas! to all abominations of the evils of the house of Israel; for they shall fall down by sword, hunger, and pestilence.

12 He that is far, shall die by pestilence. Forsooth he that is nigh, shall fall by sword. And he that is left and besieged, shall die by hunger. And I shall [ful] fill mine indignation in them.

13 And ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when your slain men shall be in the midst of your idols, in the compass of your altars, in each high little hill, and in all the highnesses of mountains, and under each tree full of wood, and under each oak full of boughs, that is, a place where they burnt incense sweet smelling to all their idols.

14 And I shall stretch forth mine hand on them, and I shall make their land desolate and destitute, from desert unto Diblath, in all the dwellings of them; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 7

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, saying,

2 And thou, son of man, the Lord God of the land of Israel saith these things, The end cometh, the end cometh, on [the] four coasts of the land.

3 Now an end is[up] on thee, and I shall send in my strong vengeance [up] on thee, and I shall deem thee by thy ways, and I shall set all thine abominations against thee.

4 And mine eye shall not spare on thee, and I shall not do mercy. But I shall set [or put] thy ways [up] on thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

5 The Lord God saith these things, Lo! torment, lo! torment cometh;

6 the end cometh, the end cometh; it shall wake fully against thee; lo! it cometh.

7 Sorrow cometh [up] on thee, that dwellest in the land; the time cometh, the day of slaying is nigh, and not of glory of hills.

8 Now anon I shall shed [or pour] out mine ire on thee, and I shall [ful] fill my strong vengeance in thee; and I shall deem thee by thy ways, and I shall put to thee all thy great trespasses.

9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither I shall do mercy; but I shall put on thee thy ways, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord smiting.

10 Lo! the day, lo! it cometh; sorrow is gone out. A rod flowered, pride burgeoned,

11 wickedness rose in the rod of unpiety; not anything of them shall remain, and not of the people, neither of the sound of them, and no rest shall be in them.

12 The time cometh, the day nighed; he that buyeth, be not glad, and he that selleth, mourn not; for why ire [or wrath]is on all the people thereof.

13 For he that selleth, shall not turn again to that that he sold, and yet the life of them is in livers; for why the vision, either revelation, to all the multitude thereof shall not go again, and a man shall not be strengthened in the wickedness of his life.

14 Sing ye with a trump, all men be made ready, and none is that shall go to battle; for why my wrath is on all the people thereof.

15 Sword is without, pestilence and hunger within; he that is in the field, shall die by sword; and they that be in the city, shall be devoured by pestilence and hunger.

16 And they shall be saved that flee of them; and they shall be as culvers of great valleys in [the] hills, all-quaking, each man in his wickedness.

17 All hands shall be made numb, and all knees shall flow with waters.

18 And they shall gird them with hair-shirts, and inward dread shall cover them; and shame shall be in each face, and baldness shall be in all the heads of them.

19 The silver of them shall be cast out, and the gold of them shall be into a dunghill; the silver of them and the gold of them shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the strong vengeance of the Lord. They shall not [ful] fill their souls, and the wombs of them shall not be filled; for it is made the cause of stumbling out of their wickedness.

20 And they setted the ornament of their brooches into pride; and they made of it the images of their abominations and simulacra. For this thing I gave it to them, into uncleanness.

21 And I shall give it into the hands of aliens, to ravish, and to the unpious men of earth, into prey, and they shall defoul it.

22 And I shall turn away my face from them, and they shall defoul my private place; and knaves shall enter into it, and shall defoul it.

23 Make thou a closing together; for the land is full of doom of bloods, and the city is full of wickedness.

24 And I shall bring the worst of heathen men, and they shall have in possession the houses of them; and I shall make the pride of mighty men to cease, and enemies shall have in possession the saintuaries of them.

25 In anguish coming above, they shall seek peace, and it shall not be.

26 Disturbing shall come on disturbing, and hearing on hearing; and they shall seek of the prophet a revelation, and law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elder men.

27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed in wailing, and the hands of the people of the land shall be disturbed [or troubled]; by the ways of them I shall do to them, and by the dooms of them I shall deem them; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 8

1 And it was done in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, I sat in mine house, and the eld [or old] men of Judah sat before me; and the hand of the Lord God fell there [up] on me.

2 And I saw, and lo! a likeness as the beholding of fire; from the beholding of his loins and beneath was fire, and from his loins and above was as the beholding of shining, as the sight of electrum, [that is, metal made of gold and silver, brighter than gold].

3 And the likeness of an hand was sent out, and took me by the hair, either locks, of mine head; and the spirit raised me [up] betwixt heaven and earth, and brought me into Jerusalem, in the sight of God, beside the inner door that beheld to the north, where the idol of envy was set, to stir indignation.

4 And lo! the glory of God of Israel was there, by the sight which I saw in the field.

5 And he said to me, Thou, son of man, raise up thine eyes to the way of the north; and I raised mine eyes to the way of the north, and lo! from the north of the gate of the altar, the idol of envy was in that entering.

6 And he said to me, Son of man, guessest thou whether thou seest what thing these men do, the great abominations which the house of Israel doeth here, that I go far away from my saintuary? and yet thou shalt turn, and shalt see greater abominations.

7 And he led me within to the door of the foreyard; and I saw, and lo! one hole in the wall.

8 And he said to me, Son of man, dig thou in the wall; and when I had digged in the wall, one door appeared.

9 And he said to me, Enter thou, and see the worst abominations, which these men do here.

10 And I entered, and saw; and lo! each likeness of reptiles, either creeping beasts, and abominations of beasts, and all [the] idols of the house of Israel, were painted in the wall all about in compass.

11 And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel stood; and Jaa-zaniah, the son of Shaphan, stood in the midst of them, standing before the paintings; and each man had a censer in his hand, and the smoke of a cloud of incense went up.

12 And he said to me, Certainly, son of man, thou seest what things the elder men of the house of Israel do in darknesses, each man in the hid place of his bed; for they say, The Lord seeth not us, the Lord hath forsaken the land.

13 And the Lord said to me, Yet thou shalt turn, and shalt see greater abominations, which these men do.

14 And he led me within, by the door of the gate of the house of the Lord, which door beheld to the north; and lo! women sat there, bewailing Adonis or Tammuz.

15 And the Lord said to me, Certainly, son of man, thou hast seen; yet thou shalt turn, and shalt see greater abominations than these.

16 And he led me within, into the inner foreyard of the house of the Lord; and lo! in the door of the temple of the Lord, betwixt the porch and the altar, were as five and twenty men having their backs against the temple of the Lord, and their faces to the east; and they worshipped at the rising of the sun.

17 And the Lord said to me, Certainly, son of man, thou hast seen; whether this is a light thing to the house of Judah, that they should do these abominations, which they did here? For they filled the land with wicked-ness, and turned to stir me to wrath; and lo! they apply a branch to their nostrils.

18 Therefore and I shall do in strong vengeance; mine eye shall not spare, neither I shall do mercy; and when they shall cry to mine ears with great voice, I shall not hear them.

CHAPTER 9

1 And he cried in mine ears with great voice, and said, The visitings of the city have nighed, and each man hath in his hand an instrument of slaying.

2 And lo! six men came from the way of the higher gate, that beholdeth to the north, and the instrument of death of each man was in his hand; also one man in the midst of them was clothed with linen clothes, and a penner of a writer at his reins; and they entered, and stood beside the brazen altar.

3 And the glory of the Lord of Israel was taken up from cherub [or cherubim], which glory was on it, to the thresh-old of the house; and the Lord called the man that was clothed with linen clothes, and had a penner of a writer in his loins.

4 And the Lord said to him, Pass thou by the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and mark thou Tau on the foreheads of men wailing and sorrowing on all [the] abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

5 And he said to them in mine hearing, Go ye through the city, and follow ye him, and smite ye; your eye spare not, neither do ye mercy.

6 Slay ye till to death, an eld [or old] man, a young man, and a virgin, a little child, and women; but slay ye not any man, on whom ye see Tau; and begin ye at my saintuary. There-fore they began at the elder men, that were before the face of the house.

7 And he said to them, Defoul ye the house of the Lord, and fill ye the foreyards with slain men; go ye out. And they went out, and killed them that were in the city.

8 And lo! when the slaying was [ful] filled, I was left alone. And I fell down on my face, and I cried, and said, Alas! alas! alas! Lord God, therefore whether thou shalt lose all the remnants of Israel, and shalt shed out thy strong vengeance on Jerusalem?

9 And he said to me, The wicked-ness of the house of Israel and of Judah is full great, and the land is filled of bloods, and the city is filled with turning away; for they said, The Lord hath forsaken the land, and the Lord seeth not.

10 Therefore and mine eye shall not spare, neither I shall do mercy; I shall yield the way of them on the head of them.

11 And lo! the man that was clothed in linen clothes, that had a penner in his back, answered a word, and said, I have done, as thou commandedest to me.

CHAPTER 10

1 And I saw, and lo! in the firmament that was on the heads of cherubims [or cherubim], as a sapphire stone, and as the form of likeness of a king’s seat appeared thereon*.

2 And he said to the man that was clothed in linen clothes, and spake, Enter thou in the midst of the wheels, that be under cherubims [or cherubim], and fill thine hand with coals of fire, that be betwixt cherubims [or cherubim], and shed thou out on the city. And he entered in my sight;

3 forsooth cherubims stood at the right side of the house of the Lord, when the man entered, and a cloud filled the inner foreyard.

4 And the glory of the Lord was raised [up] from above cherubims [or cherubim] to the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with a cloud, and the foreyard was filled with shining of the glory of the Lord.

5 And the sound of wings of cherubims [or cherubim] was heard till to the outermore foreyard, as the voice of Almighty God speaking.

6 And when he had commanded to the man that was clothed in linen clothes, and had said, Take thou fire from the midst of the wheels, that be betwixt cherubims [or cherubim], he entered, and stood beside the wheel[s].

7 And cherub stretched forth his hand from the midst of cherubims [or cherubim], to the fire that was betwixt cherubims [or cherubim]; and took, and gave into the hands of him that was clothed in linen clothes; and he took, and went out.

8 And the likeness of the hand of a man appeared in cherubims [or cherubim], under the wings of those [or them].

9 And I saw, and lo! four wheels were beside cherubims [or cherubim]; one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub; forsooth the likeness of wheels was as the sight of the stone chrysolyte.

10 And the beholding of those [or them]was one likeness of four, as if a wheel be in the midst of a wheel.

11 And when they went, they went into four parts; those [or they] turned not again going, but to the place to which that that was the first wheel bowed to go, also [the] others followed, and turned not again.

12 And all the body of those wheels, and the necks, and hands, and wings of the beasts, and the circles, were full of eyes, in the compass of four wheels.

13 And he called those wheels voluble, or able to go all about, in mine hearing.

14 Forsooth one beast had four faces; one face was the face of cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and in the third was the face of a lion, and in the fourth was the face of an eagle;

15 and the cherubims were raised [up]. That is the beast, which I had seen beside the flood Chebar.

16 And when cherubims went, also the wheels beside those [or them] went together with them; when the cherubims raised [up] their wings, that those [or they] should be enhanced from the earth, the wheels abided not still, but also those [or they] were beside cherubims.

17 The wheels stood with those cherubims standing, and were raised [up] with the cherubims raised [up]; for the spirit of life was in those wheels.

18 And the glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the temple, and stood on the cherubims [or cherubim].

19 And [the] cherubims raised [up] their wings, and were enhanced from the earth before me; and when those went out, also the wheels pursued; and it stood in the entering of the east gate of the house of the Lord, and the glory of God of Israel was on those.

20 That is the beast, which I saw under God of Israel, beside the flood Chebar. And I understood that four cherubims were;

21 four faces were to one, and four wings to one; and the likeness of the hand of a man was under the wings of those [or them].

22 And the likeness of the cheers of those [or them]were those cheers which I had seen beside the flood Chebar; and the beholding of those [or them], and the fierceness of each, was to enter before his face.

CHAPTER 11

1 And the spirit raised me [up], and led me within to the east gate of the house of the Lord, that beholdeth the rising of the sun. And lo! in the entering of the gate were five and twenty men; and I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah, the son of Azur, and Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

2 And he said to me, Thou, son of man, these be the men that think wickedness, and treat the worst counsel in this city,

3 and say, Whether houses were not builded a while ago? this is the cauldron, forsooth we be fleshes.

4 Therefore prophesy thou of them, prophesy thou, son of man.

5 And the Spirit of the Lord fell into me, and said to me, Speak thou, The Lord saith these things, Ye house of Israel spake thus, and I knew the thoughts of your heart;

6 ye killed full many men in this city, and ye filled the ways thereof with slain men.

7 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Your slain men, which ye putted in the midst thereof, these be the fleshes, and this is the cauldron; and I shall lead you out of the midst thereof.

8 Ye dreaded sword, and I shall bring in a sword on you, saith the Lord God.

9 And I shall cast you out of the midst thereof, and I shall give you into the hand of enemies, and I shall make dooms in you.

10 By sword ye shall fall down, I shall deem you in the ends of Israel; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

11 This shall not be to you into a cauldron, and ye shall not be into fleshes in the midst thereof; I shall deem you in the ends of Israel,

12 and ye shall know, that I am the Lord. For ye went not in my behests, and ye did not my dooms, but ye wrought by the dooms of heathen men, that be in your compass.

13 And it was done, when I prophe-sied, Pelatiah, the son of Benaiah, was dead; and I fell down on my face, and I cried with great voice, and said, Alas! alas! alas! Lord God, thou makest [an] ending of the remnants of Israel.

14 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

15 Son of man, thy brethren, thy brethren, thy kinsmen, and all the house of Israel, and all men, to whom the dwellers of Jerusalem said, Go ye away far from the Lord, the land is given to us into possession.

16 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, For I made them to be far off among heathen men, and for I scattered them in lands, I shall be to them into a little hallowing, in the lands to which they came.

17 Therefore speak thou, The Lord God saith these things, I shall gather you from peoples, and I shall gather you together from lands, in which ye be scattered; and I shall give the earth of Israel to you.

18 And they shall enter thither, and shall do away all offences, [or grievings], and all abominations thereof in that day.

19 And I shall give to them one heart, and I shall give a new spirit in the entrails of them; and I shall take away a stony heart from the flesh of them, and I shall give to them an heart of flesh;

20 that they go in my commandments, and keep my dooms, and do those [or them]; and that they be into a people to me, and I be into God to them.

21 But of which the heart goeth after their offendings and abominations, I shall set [or put] the way of them in their head, saith the Lord God.

22 And the cherubims raised [up] their wings, and the wheels went with those [or them], and the glory of God of Israel was on those [or them].

23 And the glory of the Lord ascended [or went up] from the midst of the city, and stood on the hill, which is at the east of the city.

24 And the spirit raised me, and brought me into Chaldea, to the passing over, in [a] vision by the spirit of God; and the vision which I had seen, was taken away from me.

25 And I spake to the passing over all the words of the Lord, which he had showed to me.

CHAPTER 12

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of an house stirring to wrath, which have eyes to see, and see not, and ears to hear, and hear not; for it an house stirring to wrath.

3 Therefore thou, son of man, make to thee vessels of passing over, and thou shalt pass over by day before them; forsooth thou shalt pass over from thy place to another place, in the sight of them; if peradventure they behold, for it is an house stirring to wrath.

4 And thou shalt bear withoutforth thy vessels, as the vessels of a man passing over by day, in the sight of them; soothly thou shalt go out in the eventide before them, as a man passing forth goeth out.

5 Before the eyes of them dig through the wall to thee, and thou shalt go out through it,

6 in the sight of them. Thou shalt be borne on shoulders, thou shalt be borne out in darkness; thou shalt cover thy face, and thou shalt not see the earth, for I have given thee to be a sign of thing to coming to the house of Israel.

7 Therefore I did as the Lord commanded to me; I brought forth my vessels, as the vessels of a man passing over by day, and in the eventide I digged through a wall to me with mine hand; I went out in darkness, and I or it was borne on shoulders, in the sight of them.

8 And the word of the Lord was made early to me, and he said,

9 Son of man, whether the house of Israel, the house stirring me to wrath, said not to thee, What doest thou?

10 Say thou to them, The Lord God saith these things, This burden is on the duke, which is in Jerusalem, and on all the house of Israel, which is in the midst of them.

11 Say thou, I am your sign of thing to coming; as I did, so it shall be done to them; they shall go into passing over, and into captivity.

12 And the duke which is in the midst of them, shall be borne out on shoulders, and he shall go out in darkness; they shall dig through the wall, and lead him out; his face shall be covered, that he see not with eye the earth.

13 And I shall stretch forth my net on him, and he shall be taken in my net; and I shall lead him into Babylon, into the land of Chaldees, and he shall not see that land, and he shall die there.

14 And I shall scatter into each wind all men that be about him, his help, and his companies; and I shall draw out the sword after them.

15 And they shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among heathen men, and shall sow them abroad in lands.

16 And I shall leave of them a few men from sword, and hunger, and pestilence, that they tell out all the great trespasses of them among heathen men, to whom they shall enter; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

17 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

18 Thou, son of man, eat thy bread in disturbing [or troubling], but also drink thy water in haste and mourning.

19 And thou shalt say to the people of the land, The Lord God saith these things to them that dwell in Jerusalem, and elsewhere in the land of Israel, They shall eat their bread in anguish, and they shall drink their water in desolation; that the land be desolate of his multitude, for the wickedness of all men that dwell therein.

20 And [the] cities that be now inhabited, shall be desolate, and the land shall be forsaken; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

21 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

22 Son of man, what is this proverb to you, of men saying in the land of Israel, Days shall be deferred into long time, and each vision shall perish?

23 Therefore say thou to them, The Lord God saith these things, I shall make this proverb to cease, and it shall no more be said commonly in Israel; and speak thou to them, that the days have nighed, and each word of vision, either of prophesy.

24 For why each vision shall no more be void, neither before-telling of thing to coming [or divination]shall be doubtful in the midst of the sons of Israel;

25 for I the Lord shall speak what-ever word I shall speak, and it shall be done; it shall no more be delayed, but in your days, ye house stirring to wrath, I shall speak a word, and I shall do that word, saith the Lord God.

26 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

27 Thou, son of man, lo! the house of Israel, of them that say, The vision which this man seeth, is into many days yet to come, and this man prophesieth into long times.

28 Therefore say thou to them, The Lord God saith these things, Each word of me shall no more be deferred; the word which I shall speak, shall be [ful] filled, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 13

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Son of man, prophesy thou to the prophets of Israel that prophesy; and thou shalt say to them that prophesy of their heart, Hear ye the word of the Lord.

3 The Lord God saith these things, Woe to the unwise prophets, that follow their spirit, and see nothing;

4 Israel, thy prophets were as foxes in desert[s].

5 Ye ascended not [or went not up] even against, neither again-setted [or again-putted] a wall for the house of Israel, that ye should stand in battle in the day of the Lord.

6 They see vain things, and divine a leasing, and say, The Lord saith, when the Lord sent not them; and they continued to confirm the word.

7 Whether ye saw not a vain vision, and spake false divining, and said, The Lord saith, when I spake not?

8 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, For ye spake vain things, and saw a leasing, therefore lo! I to you, saith the Lord God.

9 And mine hand shall be on the prophets that see vain things, and divine leasings; they shall not be in the counsels of my people, and they shall not be written in the scripture of the house of Israel, neither they shall enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord God.

10 For they deceived my people, and said, Peace, peace, and no peace is; and it builded a wall, but they pargeted it with fen without chaffs.

11 Say thou to them that parget without tempering, that it shall fall down; for a strong rain shall be overflowing, and I shall give full great stones falling from above, and I shall give a wind of tempest that destroyeth.

12 For lo! the wall fell down. Whether it shall not be said to you, Where is the pargeting, which ye pargeted?

13 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, And I shall make the spirit of tempests to break out in mine indignation, and [a] strong rain flowing in my strong vengeance shall be, and great hailstones in [my] wrath into wasting.

14 And I shall destroy the wall, which ye have pargeted without tempering, and I shall make it even with the earth; and the foundament thereof shall be showed, and it shall fall down, and it shall be wasted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

15 And I shall [ful] fill mine indignation in the wall, and in them that pargeted it without tempering; and I shall say to you, The wall is not, and they be not, that pargeted it,

16 that is, the prophets of Israel, that prophesy to Jerusalem, and see to it the vision of peace, and peace is not, saith the Lord God.

17 And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, that prophesy of their heart; and prophesy thou on them,

18 and say thou, The Lord God saith these things, Woe to them that sew together cushions under each cubit of [the] hand, and make pillows under the head of each age, to take souls; and when they deceived the souls of my people, they quickened the souls of them.

19 And they defouled me to my people, for an handful of barley, and for a gobbet of bread, that they should slay souls that die not, and quicken souls that live not; and they lied to my people, believing to leasings.

20 For this thing the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I to your cushions, by which ye deceive souls flying; and I shall all-break those [or them] from your arms, and I shall deliver [the] souls which ye deceive, souls that ye make to fly.

21 And I shall all-break your pillows, and I shall deliver my people from your hand; and they shall no more be in your hands, to be robbed; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

22 For that that ye made falsely the heart of a just man to mourn, whom I made not sorry; and ye comforted the hands of a wicked man, that he should not turn again from his evil way, and live.

23 Therefore ye shall not see vain things, and ye shall no more divine false divinings; and I shall deliver my people from your hand, and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 14

1 And men of the elders of Israel came to me, and sat before me.

2 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

3 Son of man, these men have set [or put] their uncleannesses in their hearts, and have set steadfastly the cause of stumbling of their wickedness against their faces. Whether I that am asked, shall answer to them?

4 For this thing speak thou to them, and thou shalt say to them, These things saith the Lord God, A man, a man of the house of Israel, that setteth [or hath put] his uncleannesses in his heart, and setteth steadfastly the cause of stumbling of his wickedness against his face, and cometh to the prophet, and asketh me by him, I the Lord shall answer to him in the multitude of his uncleannesses;

5 that the house of Israel be taken in their heart, by which they went away from me in all their idols.

6 Therefore say thou to the house of Israel, The Lord God saith these things, Be ye converted, and go ye away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your filths.

7 For why a man, a man of the house of Israel, and of converts, who-ever is a comeling in Israel, if he is alienated from me, and setteth [or shall put] his idols in his heart, and setteth steadfastly the cause of stumbling of his wickedness against his face, and he cometh to the prophet, to ask me by him, I the Lord shall answer him by myself.

8 And I shall set my face on that man, and I shall make him into ensample, and into a proverb, and I shall lose him from the midst of my people; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

9 And when a prophet erreth, and speaketh a word, I the Lord shall deceive that prophet; and I shall stretch forth mine hand [up] on him, and I shall do him away from the midst of my people Israel.

10 And they shall bear their wicked-ness; by the wickedness of the asker, so the wickedness of the prophet shall be;

11 that the house of Israel err no more from me, neither be defouled in all their trespassings; but that it be into a people to me, and I be into God to them, saith the Lord of hosts.

12 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

13 Son of man, when the land sinneth against me, that it trespassing do trespass, I shall stretch forth mine hand on it, and I shall all-break the staff of bread thereof; and I shall send hunger into it, and I shall slay of it man and beast.

14 And if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, be in the midst thereof, they by their rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall deliver their souls, saith the Lord of hosts.

15 That if also I bring in worst beasts on the land, that I destroy it, and if it is without a way, for that no passer is for the beasts,

16 and these three men that be before-said, be therein, I live, saith the Lord God, for they shall neither deliver sons, neither daughters, but they alone shall be delivered; forsooth the land shall be made desolate.

17 Either if I bring in a sword on that land, and I say to the sword, Pass thou through the land, and I slay of it man and beast,

18 and these three men be in the midst thereof, I live, saith the Lord God, that they shall not deliver sons neither daughters, but they alone shall be delivered.

19 Forsooth if I bring in also pestilence on that land, and I shed out mine indignation on it in blood, that I do away from it man and beast,

20 and Noah, and Daniel, and Job, be in the midst thereof, I live, saith the Lord God, for they shall not deliver a son and a daughter, but they by their rightfulness [or rightwiseness] shall deliver their souls.

21 For the Lord God saith these things, That though I send in my four worst dooms, sword, and hunger, and evil beasts, and pestilence, into Jeru-salem, that I slay of it man and beast,

22 nevertheless salvation of them that led out sons and daughters, shall be left therein. Lo! they shall go out to you, and ye shall see the way of them, and the findings of them; and ye shall be comforted on the evil, which I brought in on Jerusalem, in all things which I bare in on it.

23 And they shall comfort you, when ye shall see the way of them, and the findings of them; and ye shall know, that not in vain I did all things, whatever things I did therein, saith the Lord Almighty.

CHAPTER 15

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Son of man, what shall be done to the tree of a vine, of all the trees of woods, that be among the trees of woods?

3 Whether tree, or timber, shall be taken thereof, that work be made? either shall a stake be made thereof, that any vessel hang thereon?

4 Lo! it is given [to the fire] into meat; [the] fire wasted ever either part thereof, and the midst thereof is driven into a dead spark; whether it shall be profitable to work?

5 Yea, when it was whole, it was not covenable to work; how much more when fire hath devoured, and hath burnt it, nothing of work shall be made thereof?

6 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, As the tree of a vine is among the trees of woods, which I gave to fire to devour, so I gave the dwellers of Jerusalem,

7 and I shall set my face against them. They shall go out of the fire, and then another fire shall waste them; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall set my face against them,

8 and shall give the land without a way and desolate, for they were trespassers, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 16

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Son of man, make known to Jerusalem their abominations;

3 and thou shalt say, The Lord God saith these things. A! thou Jerusalem, thy root and thy generation is of the land of Canaan; thy father is Amorite, and thy mother is Hittite.

4 And when thou were born, thy navel was not cut away in the day of thy birth, and thou were not washed in water into health, neither salted with salt, neither wrapped in swaddling clothes.

5 An eye spared not on thee, that it having mercy on thee, did to thee one of these things; but thou were cast forth on the face of earth, in the casting out of thy soul, in the day in which thou were born.

6 Forsooth I passed by thee, and I saw thee defouled in thy blood; and I said to thee, when thou were in thy blood, Live thou; soothly I said to thee in thy blood, Live thou.

7 I gave thee multiplied as the seed of a field, and thou were multiplied, and made great; and thou enteredest, and camest fully to women’s adorning; thy teats waxed great, and thine hair waxed; and thou were naked, and full of shame.

8 And I passed by thee, and I saw thee, and lo! thy time, the time of lovers; and I spreaded abroad my clothing on thee, and I covered thy shame. And I swore to thee, and I made a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou were made a wife to me.

9 And I washed thee in water, and I cleansed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.

10 And I clothed thee with clothes of diverse colours, and I shodded thee in jacinth, and I girded thee with bis, [or white silk];

11 and I clothed thee with subtle things, and I adorned thee with ornament[s]. And I gave bands in thine hands, and a wreath about thy neck;

12 and I gave a ring on thy mouth, and circles to thine ears, and a crown of fairness in thine head.

13 And thou were adorned with gold and silver, and thou were clothed with bis, and ray-cloth with round images, and many colours. Thou atest clean flour of wheat, and honey, and oil, and thou were made fair full greatly; and thou increasedest into a realm,

14 and thy name went out into heathen men for thy fairness; for thou were perfect in my fairness which I had set [or put] [up] on thee, saith the Lord God.

15 And thou haddest trust in thy fairness, and didest fornication in thy name; and thou settedest [or hast put] forth thy fornication to each that passed forth, that thou shouldest be made his.

16 And thou tookest of my clothes, and madest to thee high things set about on each side; and thou didest fornication on those [or them], as it was not done, neither shall be done.

17 And thou tookest the vessels of thy fairness, of my gold and of my silver, which I gave to thee; and thou madest to thee images of men, and didest fornication in those [or them].

18 And thou tookest thy clothes of many colours, and thou were clothed in those [or them]; and thou settedest mine oil and mine incense in the sight of those [or them].

19 And thou settedest my bread, which I gave to thee, flour of wheat, and oil, and honey, by which I nourished thee, in the sight of those [or them], into an odour of sweetness; and it was done, saith the Lord God.

20 And thou tookest thy sons and thy daughters, which thou engenderedest to me, and offeredest to those idols, for to be devoured. Whether thy fornication is little?

21 Thou offeredest my sons, and gavest them, and hallowedest to those idols.

22 And after all thine abominations and fornications, thou bethoughtest not on the days of thy young waxing age, when thou were naked, and full of shame, and were defouled in thy blood.

23 And after all thy malice, woe, woe befell to thee, saith the Lord God.

24 And thou buildedest to thee a bordello house, and madest to thee a place of whoredom in all streets.

25 At each head of the way thou buildedest a sign of thine whoredom, and madest thy fairness abominable; and thou partedest thy feet to each man passing forth, and multipliedest thy fornications.

26 And thou didest fornication with the sons of Egypt, thy neighbours of great fleshes, and thou multipliedest thy fornications, to stir me to wrath.

27 Lo! I shall stretch forth mine hand on thee, and I shall take away thy justifying; and I shall give thee into the souls of them that hate thee, of the daughters of Palestines, that be ashamed in thy way full of great trespass.

28 And thou didest fornication with the sons of Assyrians, for thou were not [ful] filled yet; and after that thou didest fornication, neither so thou were [ful] filled.

29 And thou multipliedest thy fornication in the land of Canaan with Chaldees, and neither so thou were [ful] filled.

30 In what thing shall I cleanse thine heart, saith the Lord God, when thou doest all these works of a woman, an whore, and greedy asker [or and bold to whoredom]?

31 For thou madest thy bordello house in the head of each way, and thou madest thine high place in each street; and thou were not made as an whore full of annoying, increasing price,

32 but as a woman adulteress, that bringeth in aliens on her husband.

33 Hires be given to all whores, but thou hast given hire, [or meed], to all thy lovers; and thou gavest to them, that they should enter to thee on each side, to do fornication with thee.

34 And it was done in thee against the custom of women in thy fornications, and fornication shall not be after thee; for in that that thou gavest hires, and tookest not hires, the contrary was done in thee.

35 Therefore, thou whore, hear the word of the Lord.

36 The Lord God saith these things, For thy riches is shed out, and thy shame is showed in thy fornications on thy lovers, and on the idols of thine abominations, in the blood of thy sons, which thou gavest to them;

37 lo! I shall gather together all thy lovers, with which thou were meddled [or mingled]together, and all men which thou lovedest, with all men which thou hatedest; and I shall gather them on thee on each side, and I shall make naked thy shame before them, and they shall see all thy filthhood.

38 And I shall deem thee by the dooms of adulteresses, and shedding out blood; and I shall give thee into the blood of strong vengeance, and of fervor.

39 And I shall give thee into the hands of them, and they shall destroy thy bordello house, and they shall destroy the place of thine whoredom; and they shall make thee naked of thy clothes, and they shall take away the vessels of thy fairness, and they shall forsake thee naked, and full of shame.

40 And they shall bring on thee a multitude, and they shall stone thee with stones, and they shall slay thee with their swords.

41 And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and they shall make dooms in thee, before the eyes of full many women; and thou shalt cease to do fornication, and thou shalt no more give hires.

42 And mine indignation shall rest in thee, and my fervent love shall be taken away from thee; and I shall rest, and I shall no more be wroth,

43 for thou haddest not mind on the days of thy young waxing age, and thou stirredest me to ire in all these things. Wherefore and I gave thy ways in thine head, saith the Lord God, and I did not after thy great trespasses, in all these thine abominations.

44 Lo! each man that saith a proverb commonly, shall take it in thee, and shall say, As the mother, so and the daughter of her.

45 Thou art the daughter of thy mother, that casted away her husband and her sons; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, that casted away their husbands and their sons. Thy mother is Hittite, and thy father is Amorite;

46 and thy greater sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, that dwell at thy left side; but thy sister less than thou, that dwelleth at thy right side, is Sodom, and her daughters.

47 But thou wentest not in the ways of them, neither thou didest after the great trespasses of them; hast thou done almost a little less curseder deeds than they, in all thy ways?

48 Yea, as I live, saith the Lord God, for Sodom, thy sister, did not, she and her daughters, as thou didest, and thy daughters.

49 Lo! this was the wickedness of Sodom, thy sister, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance, and idleness of her, and of her daughters; and they putted not hand to a needy man and poor.

50 And they were enhanced, and did other abominations before me; and I took them away, as thou hast seen.

51 And Samaria sinned not the half of thy sins, but thou hast overcome them in thy great trespasses; and thou hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations, which thou wroughtest.

52 Therefore and thou bear thy shame, that hast overcome thy sisters with thy sins, and didest more cursedly than they; for they be justified of thee. Therefore and be thou shamed, and bear thy shame, which hast justified thy sisters.

53 And I shall convert and restore them by the conversion of Sodom with her daughters, and by the conversion of Samaria and of her daughters; and I shall convert thy turning again in the midst of them,

54 that thou bear thy shame, and be shamed in all things which thou didest, comforting them.

55 And thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall turn again to their eldness [or oldness]or old ways; and Samaria and her daughters shall turn again to their eldness; and thou and thy daughters turn again to your eld-ness.

56 Forsooth Sodom, thy sister, was not heard in thy mouth, in the day of thy pride,

57 before that thy malice was showed, as in this time, into shame of the daughters of Syria, and all daughters in thy compass, of the daughters of Palestines, that be about thee by compass.

58 Thou hast borne thy great trespass, and thy shame, saith the Lord God.

59 For the Lord God saith these things, And I shall do to thee as thou despisedest the oath, that thou shouldest make void the covenant;

60 and I shall have mind on my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I shall raise to thee a covenant everlasting.

61 And thou shalt have mind on thy ways, and shalt be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters greater than thou, with thy less sisters; and I shall give them into daughters to thee, but not of thy covenant.

62 And I shall raise, or establish, my covenant with thee, and thou shalt know, that I am the Lord,

63 that thou have mind, and be ashamed; and that it be no more to thee to open the mouth for thy shame, when I shall be pleased to thee in all things which thou didest, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 17

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Son of man, set forth a dark speech, and tell thou a parable to the house of Israel;

3 and thou shalt say, The Lord God saith these things. A great eagle of great wings, with long stretching out of members, full of feathers and of diversity, came to the Lebanon, and took away the marrow of the cedar.

4 He pulled away the highness of boughs thereof, and bare it over into the land of Canaan, and setted it in the city of merchants.

5 And he took of the seed of the land, and setted it in the land for seed, that it should make steadfast root on many waters; and he setted it in the higher part.

6 And when it had grown, it increased into a larger vinery [or a broad vineyard], in low stature; for the boughs thereof beheld to that eagle, and the roots thereof were under that eagle; therefore it was made a vinery [or vineyard], and it made fruit into scions, and sent out boughs.

7 And another great eagle was made, with great wings, and many feathers; and lo! this vinery [or this vineyard] as sending his roots to that eagle, stretched forth his scions to that eagle, that he should moist it out of the cornfloors of his seed.

8 Which is planted in a good land on many waters, that it make boughs, and bear fruit, that it be into a great vinery [or vineyard].

9 Say thou, Ezekiel, The Lord God saith these things, Therefore whether he shall have prosperity? Whether Nebuchadnezzar shall not pull away the roots of him, and shall constrain the fruits of him? And he shall make dry all the scions of burgeoning thereof, and it shall be dry; and not in great arm, neither in much people, that he should draw it out by the roots.

10 Lo! it is planted, therefore whether it shall have prosperity? Whether not when burning wind shall touch it, it shall be made dry, and shall wax dry in the cornfloors of his seed?

11 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

12 Say thou to the house of Israel stirring me to wrath, Know ye not what these things signify? Say thou, Lo! the king of Babylon cometh into Jerusalem; and he shall take the king and the princes thereof, and he shall lead them to himself into Babylon.

13 And he shall take of the seed of the realm, and shall smite with it a bond of peace, and he shall take of it an oath; but also he shall take away the strong men of the land,

14 that it be a meek realm, and be not raised [up], but that it keep the covenant of him, and hold it.

15 Which went away from him, and sent messengers into Egypt, that it should give to him horses and much people. Whether he that did these things, shall have prosperity, either shall get health? and whether he that breaketh [a] covenant, shall escape?

16 I live, saith the Lord God, for in the place of the king that made him king, whose oath he made void, and brake the covenant, which he had with him, in the midst of Babylon he shall die.

17 And not in great host, neither in much people, Pharaoh shall make battle against him, in the casting up of [an heap of] earth, and in building of pales or posts, that he slay many persons.

18 For he despised the oath, that he should break the bond of peace, and lo! he gave his hand; and when he hath done all these things, he shall not escape.

19 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, I live, for I shall set [or put] on his head the oath which he despised, and the bond of peace which he brake.

20 And I shall spread abroad my net [up] on him, and he shall be taken in my net, and I shall bring him into Babylon; and there I shall deem him in the trespassing, by which he despised me.

21 And all his fleers-away with all his company shall fall down by sword, forsooth the remnants shall be scattered into each wind; and ye shall know, that I the Lord spake.

22 The Lord God saith these things, And I shall take of the marrow of an high cedar, and I shall set a tender thing of the cop [or top] of his branches; I shall constrain, and I shall plant it on an high hill, and appearing far off.

23 In the high hill of Israel I shall plant it; and it shall break out into burgeoning, and it shall make fruit, and it shall be into a great cedar, and all birds shall dwell under it; each volatile shall make nest under the shadow of his boughs.

24 And all [the] trees of the country shall know, that I am the Lord; I made low the high tree, and I enhanced the low tree, and I made dry the green tree, and I made the dry tree to bring forth boughs; I the Lord have spoken, and I have done.

CHAPTER 18

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 What is it, that ye turn a parable among you into this proverb, in the land of Israel, and say, [The] Fathers ate a bitter grape, and the teeth of sons be on edge, either astonied?

3 I live, saith the Lord God, this parable shall no more be into a proverb to you in Israel.

4 Lo! all souls be mine; as the soul of the father, so and the soul of the son is mine. That soul that doeth sin, shall die.

5 And if a man is just, and doeth doom and rightfulness,

6 eateth not in [the] hills, and raiseth not his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; and defouleth not the wife of his neighbour, and nigheth not to a woman defouled with unclean blood;

7 and maketh not a man sorry, yieldeth the wed to the debtor, ravisheth nothing by violence, giveth his bread to the hungry, and covereth a naked man with a cloth;

8 lendeth not to usury, and taketh not more; turneth away his hand from wickedness, and maketh true doom betwixt man and man;

9 and goeth in my commandments, and keepeth my dooms, that he do truth; this is a just man, he shall live in life, saith the Lord God.

10 That if he engendereth a son, a thief, shedding out blood, and doeth one of these things,

11 and soothly not doing all these things, but eating in hills, and defouling the wife of his neighbour;

12 making sorrowful a needy man and poor, ravishing ravens, not yielding a wed, raising his eyes to idols, doing abomination;

13 giving to usury, and taking more; whether he shall live? he shall not live; when he hath done all these abominable things, he shall die by death, his blood shall be in him.

14 That if he begetteth a son, which seeth all the sins of his father, which he did, and dreadeth, and doeth none like those [or them];

15 eateth not on hills, and raiseth not his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; and defouleth not the wife of his neighbour,

16 and maketh not sorry a man, withholdeth not a wed, and ravisheth not raven, giveth his bread to the hungry, and covereth the naked with a cloth;

17 turneth away his hand from the wrong of a poor man, taketh not usury and overabundance, that is, nothing more than he lent, and doeth my dooms, and goeth in my commandments; this son shall not die in the wickedness of his father, but he shall live in life.

18 For his father made false challenge, and did violence to his brother, and wrought evil in the midst of his people, lo! he is dead in his wickedness.

19 And ye say, Why beareth not the son the wickedness of the father? That is to say, for the son wrought doom and rightfulness, he kept all my commandments, and did those [or them], he shall live in life.

20 That soul that doeth sin, shall die; the son shall not bear the wickedness of the father, and the father shall not bear the wickedness of the son; the rightfulness [or rightwiseness] of a just man shall be on him, and the wicked-ness of a wicked man shall be on him.

21 Forsooth if a wicked man doeth penance of all his sins which he wrought, and keepeth all my behests, and doeth doom and rightfulness, he shall live by life, and shall not die.

22 I shall not have mind of all his wickednesses which he wrought; he shall live in his rightfulness [or right-wiseness] which he wrought.

23 Whether the death of the wicked man is of my will, saith the Lord God, and not that he be converted from his ways, and live?

24 Forsooth if a just man turneth away himself from his rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and doeth wickedness by all his abominations, which a wicked man is wont to work, whether he shall live? All his rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses] which he did, shall not be had in mind; in his trespassing by which he trespassed, and in his sin which he sinned, he shall die in those [or them].

25 And ye said, The way of the Lord is not even. Therefore, the house of Israel, hear ye, whether my way is not even, and not more, your ways be shrewd?

26 For when a rightful man turneth away himself from his rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and doeth wickedness, he shall die in it; he shall die in the unrightfulness [or unrightwiseness] which he wrought.

27 And when a wicked man turneth away himself from his wickedness which he wrought, and doeth doom and rightfulness, he shall quicken his soul.

28 For he beholding and turning away himself from all his wicked-nesses which he wrought, [he] shall live in life, and shall not die.

29 And the sons of Israel say, The way of the Lord is not even. Whether my ways be not even, ye house of Israel, and not more, your ways be shrewd?

30 Therefore, thou house of Israel, I shall deem each man by his ways, saith the Lord God. Turn ye altogether, and do ye penance for all your wickednesses, and wickedness shall not be to you into falling.

31 Cast away from you all your trespassings, by which ye trespassed, and make ye a new heart and a new spirit to you, and then why shall ye die, the house of Israel?

32 For I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God; turn ye again, and live ye.

CHAPTER 19

1 And thou, son of man, take wailing on the princes of Israel;

2 and thou shalt say, Why thy mother, a lioness, lay among lions? In the midst of little lions she nourished her whelps,

3 and led out one of her little lions; he was made a lion, and he learned to take prey, and to eat men.

4 And heathen men heard of him, and took him not without their wounds; and they brought him in chains into the land of Egypt.

5 Which mother when she had seen, that she was sick, and the abiding of him perished, took another one of her little lions, and made him a lion.

6 Which went among lions, and was made like a young lion; and [he] learned to take prey, and to devour men.

7 He learned to make widows, and to bring the cities of men into desert; and the land and the fullness thereof was made desolate, of the voice of his roaring.

8 And heathen men came together against him on each side from provinces, and spread on him their net; he was taken in the wounds of those heathen men.

9 And they sent him into a cave in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon; and they sent him into prison, that his voice were no more heard on the hills of Israel.

10 Thy mother as a vinery [or vine-yard] in thy blood was planted on water; the fruits thereof and the boughs thereof increased by reason of many waters.

11 And firm rods were made to it into sceptres of lords, and the stature thereof was enhanced among boughs; and it saw his highness in the multitude of his scions.

12 And it was drawn out in wrath, and was cast forth into [the] earth; and a burning wind dried the fruit thereof, and the rods of strength thereof withered, and were made dry, and the fire ate it.

13 And now it is planted over in desert, in a land without a way, and thirsty.

14 And fire went out of a rod of the branches thereof, that ate the fruit thereof. And a strong rod, the sceptre of lords, was not in it. It is wailing, and it shall be into wailing.

CHAPTER 20

1 And it was done in the seventh year, in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, men of the elders of Israel came to ask the Lord; and they sat before me.

2 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

3 Son of man, speak thou to the elder men of Israel; and thou shalt say to them, The Lord God saith these things, Whether ye came to ask me? I live, for I shall not answer to you, saith the Lord God.

4 Son of man, if thou deemest them, if thou deemest, show thou to them the abominations of their fathers.

5 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord God saith these things, In the day in which I chose Israel, and raised mine hand for the generation of the house of Jacob, and I appeared to them in the land of Egypt, and I raised mine hand for them, and I said, I am your Lord God,

6 in that day I raised mine hand for them, that I should lead them out of the land of Egypt, into the land which I had purveyed for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, which is noble among all lands.

7 And I said to them, Each man cast away the offences of his eyes, and do not ye be defouled in the idols of Egypt; I am your Lord God.

8 And they stirred me to wrath, and would not hear me; each man casted not away the abominations of his eyes, neither they forsook the idols of Egypt. And I said, that I would shed out mine indignation on them, and [ful] fill my wrath in them, in the midst of the land of Egypt.

9 And I did for my name, that it should not be defouled before heathen men, in the midst of whom they were, and among whom I appeared to them, that I should lead them out of the land of Egypt.

10 Therefore I casted them out of the land of Egypt, and I led them out into desert;

11 and I gave to them my command-ments, and I showed to them my dooms, which a man shall do, and live in those [or them].

12 Furthermore and I gave to them my sabbaths, that it should be a sign betwixt me and them, and that they should know, that I am the Lord hallowing them.

13 And the house of Israel stirred me to wrath in desert; they went not in my commandments, and they casted away my dooms, which a man that doeth, shall live in those [or them]; and they defouled greatly my sabbaths. Therefore I said, that I would shed out my strong vengeance on them in desert, and waste them;

14 and I did for my name, lest it were defouled before heathen men, from whom I casted them out in the sight of those [or them].

15 Therefore I raised mine hand on them in the desert, that I brought not them into the land which I gave to them, the land flowing with milk and honey, the best of all lands.

16 For they casted away my dooms, and went not in my commandments, and they defouled my sabbaths; for the heart of them went after idols.

17 And mine eyes spared on them, that I killed not them, neither I wasted them in the desert.

18 Forsooth I said to the sons of them in wilderness, Do no ye go in the commandments of your fathers, neither keep ye the dooms of them, neither be ye defouled in the idols of them.

19 I am your Lord God, go ye in my commandments, and keep ye my dooms, and do ye those [or them].

20 And hallow ye my sabbaths, that it be a sign betwixt me and you, and that it be known, that I am your Lord God.

21 And the sons stirred me to wrath, and went not in my commandments, and kept not my dooms, that they did those [or them], which when a man hath done, he shall live in those [or them], and they defouled my sabbaths. And I menaced to [or threatened] them that I would shed out my strong vengeance on them, and [ful] fill my wrath in them in the desert.

22 But I turned away mine hand, and I did this for my name, that it were not defouled before heathen men, from which I casted them out before the eyes of those [or them].

23 Again I raised mine hand against them in wilderness, that I should scatter them into nations, and winnow them into other lands;

24 for that that they had not done my dooms, and had reproved my commandments, and had defouled my sabbaths, and their eyes had been longing after the idols of their fathers.

25 Therefore and I gave to them commandments not good, and dooms in which they shall not live.

26 And I defouled them in their gifts, when they offered to me for their trespasses all thing that openeth the womb; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

27 Wherefore speak thou, son of man, to the house of Israel, and thou shalt say to them, The Lord God saith these things, Yet and in this your fathers blasphemed me, when they despising had forsaken me,

28 and I had brought them into the land on which I raised mine hand, that I should give [it] to them, they saw each high little hill, and each tree full of boughs, and they offered there their sacrifices, and they gave there their offerings, into stirring me to wrath; and they set [or put] there the odour of their sweetness, and they offered their moist sacrifices.

29 And I said to them, What is the high thing, to which ye enter? And the name thereof is called High Thing till to this day.

30 Therefore say thou to the house of Israel, The Lord God saith these things, Certainly ye be defouled in the way of your fathers, and ye do fornication after the offendings of them,

31 and in the offering of your gifts, when ye led over your sons by fire, ye be defouled in all your idols till today, and shall I answer to you, the house of Israel? I live, saith the Lord God, for I shall not answer to you;

32 neither the thought of your soul shall be done, that say, We shall be as heathen men, and as [the] nations of earth, that we worship trees and stones.

33 I live, saith the Lord God, for in strong hand, and in arm stretched forth, and in strong vengeance shed out, I shall reign [up] on you.

34 And I shall lead out you from peoples, and I shall gather you from lands, in which ye be scattered; in strong hand, and in arm stretched forth, and in strong vengeance shed out I shall reign on you.

35 And I shall bring you into desert of peoples, and I shall be deemed there with you face to face.

36 As I strived in doom against your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I shall deem you, saith the Lord;

37 and I shall make you subject to my sceptre, and I shall bring in you in the bonds of peace.

38 And I shall choose of you trespassers, and wicked men; and I shall lead them out of the land of their dwelling, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

39 And ye, the house of Israel, the Lord God saith these things, Go ye each man after your idols, and serve ye those [or them]. That and if ye hear not me in this, and defoul more mine holy name in your gifts, and in your idols,

40 in mine holy hill, in the high hill of Israel, saith the Lord God, ye shall be punished grievouslier. There all the house of Israel shall serve me, soothly all men in the land, in which they shall please me; and there I shall seek your first fruits, and the beginning of your tithes in all your hallowings.

41 I shall receive you into odour of sweetness, when I shall lead you out of peoples, and shall gather you from lands, in which ye were scattered; and I shall be hallowed in you before the eyes of the nations.

42 And ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I raised mine hand, that I should give it to your fathers.

43 And ye shall have mind there on your ways, and on all your great trespasses, by which ye be defouled in those [or them]; and ye shall displease you in your sight, in all your malices which ye did.

44 And ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall do well to you for my name; not by your evil ways, neither by your worst trespasses, ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

45 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

46 Thou, son of man, set thy face against the way of the south, and drop thou thy word to the south, and prophesy thou to the forest of the midday, [or south], field.

47 And thou shalt say to the midday, [or south], forest, Hear thou the word of the Lord. The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall kindle a fire in thee, and I shall burn in thee each green tree, and each dry tree; the flame of burning shall not be quenched, and each face shall be burnt therein, from the south till to the north.

48 And each man shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched.

49 And I said, A! A! A! Lord God, they say of me, Whether this man speaketh not by parables?

CHAPTER 21

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, set thy face to Jerusalem, and drop thou thy word to the saintuaries, and prophesy thou against the earth of Israel.

3 And thou shalt say to the land of Israel, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I to thee, and I shall cast my sword out of his sheath, and I shall slay in thee a just man and a wicked man.

4 Forsooth for that that I have slain in thee a just man and a wicked man, therefore my sword shall go out of his sheath to each man, from the south till to the north;

5 that each man know, that I the Lord have drawn out my sword from his sheath, that shall not be called again.

6 And thou, son of man, wail in [the] sorrow of loins, and in bitter-nesses thou shalt wail before them.

7 And when they shall say to thee, Why wailest thou? thou shalt say, For [the] hearing, for it cometh; and each heart shall fail, and all hands shall be made numb, and each spirit shall be feeble, and waters shall flow down by all knees; lo! it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord God.

8 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

9 Son of man, prophesy thou; and thou shalt say, The Lord God saith these things, Speak thou, The sword, the sword is made sharp, and is made bright;

10 it is made sharp to slay sacrifices; it is made bright, that it shine. Thou that movest the sceptre of my son, hast cut down each tree.

11 And I gave it to be furbished, that it be holden with hand; this sword is made sharp, and this is made bright, that it be in the hand of the slayer.

12 Son of man, cry thou, and yell, for this sword is made in my people, this in all the dukes of Israel; they that fled be given to sword with my people. Therefore smite thou on thine hip,

13 for it is proved; and this when it hath destroyed the sceptre, and it shall not be, saith the Lord God.

14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy thou, and smite thou hand to hand, and the sword be doubled, and the sword of the slayers be trebled; this is the sword of great slaying, that shall make them astonied, and to fail in heart, and multiplieth fallings.

15 In all the gates of them I gave troubling of a sword, sharp and made bright to shine, girded to slaying.

16 Be thou made sharp, go thou to the right side, either to the left side, whither ever the desire of thy face is.

17 Certainly and I shall smite with hand to hand, and I shall [ful] fill mine indignation; I the Lord spake.

18 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

19 And thou, son of man, set to thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon come; both shall go out of one land, and by the hand he shall take conjecturing; he shall conjecture in the head of the way of the city,

20 setting a way, that the sword come to Rabbath of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah into Jerusalem most strong.

21 For the king of Babylon stood in the meeting of two ways, in the head of two ways, and sought divining, and meddled [or mingled] arrows; he asked idols, and took counsel at entrails.

22 Divining was made to his right side on Jerusalem, that he set engines, that he open [the] mouth in slaying, that he raise [the] voice in yelling, that he set engines against the gates, that he bear together [an heap of] earth, that he build strongholds.

23 And he shall be as counselling in a vain god’s answer before the eyes of them, and serving on the rest of sabbaths; but he shall have mind on their wickedness, to take them.

24 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, For that that ye had mind on your wickednesses, and showed your trespassings, and your sins appeared in all your thoughts, forsooth for that that ye had mind, ye shall be taken by the enemies’ hand.

25 But thou, cursed wicked duke of Israel, whose day before-determined is come in the time of wickedness,

26 the Lord God saith these things, Do away the mitre, take away the crown; whether it is not this that raised the meek man, and made low the high man?

27 Wickedness, wickedness, wicked-ness, I shall put it; and this shall not be done till he come, whose the doom it is, and I shall betake it to him.

28 And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say, The Lord God saith these things to the sons of Ammon, and to the shame of them; and thou shalt say, A! thou sword, A! thou sword, drawn out to slay, made bright, that thou slay and shine,

29 when vain things were seen to thee, and leasings were divined, that thou shouldest be given on the necks of wicked men wounded, the day of which before-determined shall come in the time of wickedness,

30 turn thou again into thy sheath, into the place in which thou were made. I shall deem thee in the land of thy birth,

31 and I shall shed out mine indignation on thee; in the fire of my strong vengeance I shall blow in thee, and I shall give thee into the hands of unwise men, and making death.

32 Thou shalt be meat to fire, thy blood shall be in the midst of earth; thou shalt be given to forgetting, for I the Lord spake.

CHAPTER 22

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 And thou, son of man, whether thou deemest not the city of bloods? And thou shalt show to it all his abominations,

3 and thou shalt say, The Lord God saith these things, This is a city shedding out blood in the midst of itself, that the time thereof come; and which made idols against itself, that it should be defouled.

4 In thy blood which is shed out of thee, thou trespassedest, and thou art defouled in thine idols which thou madest; and thou madest thy days to nigh, and thou broughtest the time of thy years. Therefore I gave thee to be a shame to heathen men, and a scorning to all lands

5 that be nigh thee, and that be far from thee; thou foul city, noble, great in perishing, they shall have victory of thee.

6 Lo! [the] princes of Israel, all in their arm, were in thee, to shed out blood.

7 They punished with wrongs [the] father and mother in thee, they challenged falsely a comeling in the midst of thee, they made sorry a fatherless child, and a widow at thee.

8 Ye despised my saintuaries, and ye defouled my sabbaths.

9 Men backbiters were in thee, to shed out blood, and eat on hills [or mountains] in thee; they wrought great trespass in the midst of thee.

10 They uncovered the shamefuller things of the father[s] in thee, they made low in thee the uncleanness of a woman in unclean blood.

11 And each man wrought abomin-ation against the wife of his neigh-bour, and the father of the husband defouled his son’s wife unleavefully; a brother oppressed in thee his sister, the daughter of his father.

12 They took gifts of thee, to shed out blood; thou tookest usury and over-abundance, and thou challengedest greedily thy neighbours, and thou hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God.

13 Lo! I have smitten together mine hands on thine avarice, [or greediness], which thou didest, and on the blood which is shed out in the midst of thee.

14 Whether thine heart shall sustain, either thine hands shall have power, in the days which I shall make to thee? For I the Lord spake, and I shall do.

15 And I shall scatter thee into nations, and I shall winnow, [or blow], thee into other lands; and I shall make thine uncleanness to fail from thee,

16 and I shall wield thee in the sight of heathen men; and thou shalt know, that I am the Lord.

17 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

18 Thou, son of man, the house of Israel is turned to me into dross, either filth of iron; all these be brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of a furnace; they be made the dross of silver.

19 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, For that all ye be turned into dross, lo! I shall gather you together in the midst of Jerusalem,

20 by the gathering together of silver, and of latten, and of iron, and of tin, and of lead, in the midst of a furnace; and I shall kindle therein a fire, to well together; so I shall gather you together in my strong vengeance, and in my wrath, and I shall rest. And I shall well you together,

21 and I shall gather you together, and I shall set you afire in the fire of my strong vengeance, and ye shall be welled together in the midst thereof.

22 As silver is welled together in the midst of a furnace, so ye shall be in the midst thereof; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when I have shed out mine indignation [up] on you.

23 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

24 Son of man, say thou to it, Thou art a land unclean, and not berained in the day of strong vengeance.

25 Swearing together, either conspiring, of prophets is in the midst thereof; as a lion roaring and taking prey, they devoured men, they took riches, and price; they multiplied widows thereof in the midst thereof.

26 [The] Priests thereof despised my law, and defouled my saintuaries; they had not difference betwixt holy thing and unholy, they understood not betwixt defouled thing and clean thing; and they turned away their eyes from my sabbaths, and I was defouled in the midst of them.

27 The princes thereof in the midst thereof were as wolves ravishing prey, to shed out blood, and to lose men, and in following lucres greedily.

28 Forsooth the prophets thereof pargeted them without tempering, and saw vain things, and divined leasings to them, and said, The Lord God saith these things, when the Lord spake not.

29 The peoples of the land challenged false challenge, and ravished by violence; they tormented a needy man and poor, and oppressed a comeling by false challenge, without doom.

30 And I sought of them a man, that should set [or put] an hedge betwixt, and stand set [even] against me for the land, that I should not destroy it, and I found not.

31 And I shed out on them mine indignation, and I wasted them in the fire of my wrath; and I yielded the way of them on the head of them, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 23

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, two women were the daughters of one mother,

3 and did fornication in Egypt; in their young waxing age they did fornication; there the breasts of them were made low, and the teats of the time of marriage of them were broken.

4 Forsooth the names of them be, Oholah, the more sister, and Oholibah, the less sister of her. And I had them, and they childed sons and daughters; certainly the names of them be Samaria Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

5 Therefore Oholah did fornication on me, and was wild on her lovers, on Assyrians nighing,

6 clothed with jacinth, princes, and magistrates, young men of covetous-ness, all knights, riders of horses.

7 And she gave her fornications on them, on all the chosen sons of Assyrians; and in all on which she was wild, she was defouled in the uncleanness of them.

8 Furthermore and she left not her fornications, which she had in Egypt; for why and they slept with her in the youth of her, and they brake the teats of the time of marriage of her, and they shed out their fornication [up] on her.

9 Therefore I gave her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of Assur, on whose lechery she was wild.

10 They discovered the shame of her; they took away the sons and the daughters of her, and killed her with sword; and the women were made infamous, that is, made a scandal, and they did dooms in her.

11 And when her sister Oholibah had seen this, she was wild in lechery more than that sister, and gave unshamefastly her fornication, on the fornication of her sister,

12 to the sons of Assyrians, to dukes and magistrates coming to her, that were clothed with diverse clothes, to knights that were borne on horses, and to young men with noble shape, to all men.

13 And I saw that one way of both sisters was defouled,

14 and she increased her fornications. And when she had seen men painted in the wall, the images of Chaldees expressed with colours,

15 and girded on the reins with knights’ girdles, and caps painted on the heads of them, the forms of all dukes, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, and of the land of Chaldees, in which they were born;

16 she was wild on them by covet-ousness of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them into Chaldea.

17 And when the sons of Babylon were come to her, to the bed of teats, they defouled her in their lecheries of virgins; and she was defouled of them, and the soul of her was filled with revulsion of them.

18 Also she made naked her forni-cations, and discovered her shame; and my soul went away from her, as my soul had gone away from her sister.

19 For she multiplied her fornications, and had mind on the days of her youth, in which she did fornication in the land of Egypt.

20 And she was wild in lechery on the lying-by of them, whose fleshes be as the fleshes of asses, and as the members of horses be the members of them.

21 And thou revisitedest the great trespass of thy youth, when thy breasts were made low in Egypt, and the teats of the time of thy marriage were broken.

22 Therefore, thou Oholibah, the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall raise all thy lovers against thee, of which thy soul was filled with revulsion, and I shall gather them against thee in compass;

23 the sons of Babylon, and all Chaldees, noble and mighty men and princes, [and] all the sons of Assyrians, and young men of noble form, dukes, and magistrates, all princes of princes, and [the] named riders of horses.

24 And they arrayed with chariot and wheel shall come on thee, the multitude of peoples shall be armed with habergeon, and shield, and basinet, against thee on each side; and I shall give doom before them, and they shall deem thee by their dooms.

25 And I shall set my fervour in thee, which they shall use with thee in strong vengeance; they shall cut away thy nose and thine ears, and they shall slay with sword those things that were left; they shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy last thing shall be devoured by fire.

26 And they shall make thee naked of thy clothes, and they shall take away the vessels of thy glory.

27 And I shall make thy great trespass to rest from thee, and thy fornication from the land of Egypt; and thou shalt not raise thine eyes to them, and thou shalt no more have mind on Egypt.

28 For the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall give thee into the hands of them which thou hatest, into the hands of them of which thy soul was filled with revulsion,

29 and they shall do with thee in hatred. And they shall take away all thy travails, and they shall leave thee naked, and full of shame; and the shame of thy fornications shall be showed.

30 Thy great trespass and thy fornications have done these things to thee; for thou didest fornication after heathen men, among which thou were defouled in the idols of them.

31 Thou wentest in the way of thy sister, and I shall give the cup of her in thine hand.

32 The Lord God saith these things, Thou shalt drink the cup of thy sister, the depth, and the broadness; thou that art most able to take, shalt be into scorning, and into mocking.

33 Thou shalt be filled with drunken-ness and sorrow, with the cup of mourning and of heaviness, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

34 And thou shalt drink it, and thou shalt drink of till to the dregs, or unto the lees, and thou shalt devour the remnants thereof, and thou shalt rend thy breasts, for I the Lord spake, saith the Lord God.

35 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, For thou hast forgotten me, and hast cast forth me behind thy body, bear thou also thy great trespass and thy fornications.

36 And the Lord God said to me, and spake, Son of man, whether thou deemest Oholibah and Oholah, and tellest to them the great trespasses of them?

37 For they did adultery, and blood was in the hands of them, and they did fornication with their idols; furthermore and they offered to those idols the sons which they engendered to me, for to be devoured.

38 But also they did this to me, they defouled my saintuary in that day, and made unholy my sabbaths.

39 And when they sacrificed their sons to their idols, and entered into my saintuary in that day, that they should defoul it, they did also these things in the midst of mine house.

40 They sent to men coming from far, to which they had sent messengers. Therefore lo! they came, to which thou washedest thee, and anointedest thine eyes with ointment of women, and thou were adorned with women’s attire.

41 Thou satest in a full fair bed, and a board was adorned before thee; thou settedest mine incense and mine ointment on it.

42 And a voice of multitude making full out joy was therein; and in men that were brought of the multitude of men, and came from desert, they setted [or puttedest] bands in the hands of them, and fair crowns on the heads of them.

43 And I said to her, that was defouled in adulteries, Now also this shall do fornication in her fornication.

44 And they entered to her; as to a woman, an whore, so they entered to Oholah and to Oholibah, cursed women.

45 Therefore these men be just, these shall deem those women by the doom of adulteresses, and by the doom of them that shed out blood; for they be adulteresses, and blood is in the hands of them, and they did fornication with their idols.

46 For the Lord God saith these things, Bring thou multitudes to them, and give thou them into noise, and into raven;

47 and be they stoned with the stones of peoples, and be they sticked together with the swords of them. They shall slay the sons and the daughters of them, and they shall burn with fire the houses of them.

48 And I shall do away great trespass from the land; and all women shall learn, that they do not after the great trespass of them.

49 And they shall give your great trespass on you; and ye shall bear the sins of your idols, and ye shall know, that I am the Lord God.

CHAPTER 24

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, in the ninth year, and in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, write to thee the name of this day, in which the king of Babylon is confirmed in his attack against Jerusalem today.

3 And thou shalt say by a proverb a parable to the house of Israel, stirrer to wrath, and thou shalt speak to them, The Lord God saith these things, Set thou a brazen pot, set thou it soothly, and put thou water into it.

4 Take thou a beast full fat; gather thou together the gobbets thereof into it, each good part, and the hip, and the shoulder, chosen things and full of bones.

5 Also dress thou heaps of bones under it; and the seething thereof boiled out, and the bones thereof were sodden in the midst thereof.

6 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Woe to the city of bloods, to the pot whose rust is therein, and the rust thereof went not out of it; cast thou out it by parts, and by his parts; and the lot fell not on it.

7 For why the blood thereof is in the midst thereof; he shed it out on a full clear stone, he shed not it out on earth, that it may be covered with dust,

8 that I should bring in mine indignation, and avenge by vengeance; I gave the blood thereof on a full clear stone, that it should not be covered.

9 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Woe to the city of bloods, whose burning I shall make great;

10 gather thou together [the] bones, which I shall kindle with fire; fleshes shall be wasted, and all the setting together shall be sodden, and bones shall fail.

11 Also set thou it void on coals, that the metal thereof wax hot, and be melted, and that the filth thereof be welled together in the midst thereof, and the rust thereof be wasted.

12 It was sweated by much travail, and the over-great rust thereof went not out thereof, neither by fire.

13 Thine uncleanness is abominable; for I would cleanse thee, and thou art not cleansed from thy filths; but neither thou shalt be cleansed before, till I make mine indignation to rest in thee.

14 I the Lord spake; it shall come, and I shall make it, I shall not pass, neither I shall spare, neither I shall be pleased; by thy ways and by thy findings, I shall deem thee, saith the Lord.

15 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

16 Thou, son of man, lo! I take away from thee the desirable thing of thine eyes in vengeance, and thou shalt not wail, neither weep, neither thy tears shall flow down.

17 Wail thou while being still, thou shalt not make mourning of dead men; thy crown be bound about thine head, and thy shoes shall be in the feet, neither thou shalt cover the mouth with a cloth, neither thou shalt eat the meats of mourners.

18 Therefore I spake to the people in the morrowtide, and my wife was dead in the eventide; and I did in the morrowtide, as he had commanded to me.

19 And the people said to me, Why showest thou not to us what these things signify, which thou doest?

20 And I said to them, The word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

21 Speak thou to the house of Israel, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall defoul my saintuary, the pride of your empire, and the desirable thing of your eyes, and on which your soul dreadeth; and your sons and your daughters, which ye left, shall fall by sword.

22 And ye shall do, as I did; ye shall not cover mouths with cloth, and ye shall not eat the meat of wailers.

23 Ye shall have crowns in your heads, and shoes in the feet; ye shall not wail, neither ye shall weep, but ye shall fail in wretchedness, for your wickednesses; and each man shall wail to his brother.

24 And Ezekiel shall be to you into a sign of thing to coming, [or to come]; by all things which he did, ye shall do, when this thing shall come; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord God.

25 And thou, son of man, lo! in the day in which I shall take away from them the strength of them, and the joy of dignity, and the desire of their eyes, on which the souls of them rest, cast away the sons and the daughters of them;

26 in that day when a man fleeing shall come to thee, to tell to thee;

27 in that day soothly thou shalt open thy mouth with him that fled; and thou shalt speak, and shalt no more be still; and thou shalt be to them into a sign of thing to coming, and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 25

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, set thy face against the sons of Ammon, and thou shalt prophesy of them.

3 And thou shalt say to the sons of Ammon, Hear ye the word of the Lord God; the Lord God saith these things, For that that ye said, Well! well! on my saintuary, for it is defouled, and on the land of Israel, for it is made desolate, and on the house of Judah, for they be led into captivity;

4 lo! therefore I shall give thee to the sons of the east into heritage, and they shall set their folds in thee, and they shall set their tents in thee; they shall eat thy fruits, and they shall drink thy milk.

5 And I shall give Rabbah into a dwelling place of camels, and the sons of Ammon into a bed of beasts; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

6 For the Lord God saith these things, For that that thou clappedest with hands, and smitedest with the foot, and joyedest of all [thy] desire on the land of Israel;

7 therefore lo! I shall stretch forth mine hand [up] on thee, and I shall give thee into ravishing of heathen men, and I shall slay thee from peoples, and I shall lose thee, and all-break thee from lands; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

8 The Lord God saith these things, For that that Moab and Seir said, Lo! the house of Judah is as all folks,

9 therefore lo! I shall open the shoulder of Moab of cities, soothly of cities thereof, and of the ends thereof, the noble cities of the land, Beth-jeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim,

10 to the sons of the east, with the sons of Ammon. And I shall give it into heritage, that mind of the sons of Ammon be no more among heathen men,

11 and in Moab I shall make dooms; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

12 The Lord God saith these things, For that that Idumea did vengeance, that it avenged itself of the sons of Judah, and sinned doing trespass, and asked greatly vengeance of them;

13 therefore the Lord God saith these things, I shall stretch forth mine hand on Idumea, and I shall take away from it man and beast, and I shall make it desert of the south; and they that be in Dedan shall fall by sword.

14 And I shall give my vengeance on Idumea, by the hand of my people Israel; and they shall do in Edom by my wrath, and by my strong vengeance; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God.

15 The Lord God saith these things, For that that Palestines did vengeance, and avenged themselves, with all will slaying, and filling old enmities;

16 therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall stretch forth mine hand on Palestines, and I shall slay [the] slayers, and I shall lose the remnants of the sea coast;

17 and I shall make great vengeances in them, and I shall reprove in strong vengeance; and they shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall give my vengeance on them.

CHAPTER 26

1 And it was done in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, for that that Tyre said of Jerusalem, Well! the gates of peoples be broken, it is turned to me; I shall be [ful] filled, it is forsaken;

3 therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! Tyre, I on thee; and I shall make many folks to ascend [or go up] to thee, as the sea flowing ascendeth [or goeth up].

4 And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and they shall destroy the towers thereof; and I shall raze the dust thereof from it, and I shall give it into a most clear stone.

5 Drying of nets [it] shall be in the midst of the sea, for I spake, saith the Lord God. And Tyre shall be into ravishing to heathen men.

6 And the daughters thereof that be in the field, shall be slain by sword; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

7 For why the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall bring to Tyre Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from the north, the king of kings, with horses, and chariots, and knights, and with a company, and great people.

8 He shall slay by sword thy daughters that be in the field, and he shall encompass thee with strongholds, and he shall bear together [the heap of] earth in compass. And he shall raise a shield against thee,

9 and he shall temper engines like vineries [or vines], and engines that be called wethers against thy walls; and he shall destroy thy towers by his arms.

10 By flowing of his horses, the dust of those [or them] shall cover thee; thy walls shall be moved of the sound of knights, and of wheels, and of chariots; when he shall enter by the gates, as by enterings of a city destroyed,

11 with the claws of his horses he shall defoul all thy streets. He shall slay by sword thy people, and thy noble images shall fall down into earth.

12 They shall waste thy riches, they shall ravish thy merchandise; and they shall destroy thy walls, and they shall destroy thine houses full clear, and thy stones, and thy trees, and they shall put thy dust in the midst of waters.

13 And I shall make to rest the multitude of thy singers, and the sound of thine harps shall no more be heard;

14 and I shall give thee into a most clear stone. Thou shalt be a place for the drying of nets, and thou shalt no more be builded, for I the Lord spake, saith the Lord God.

15 The Lord God saith these things of Tyre, Whether isles shall not be moved of the sound of thy fall, and of the wailing of thy slain men, when they be slain in the midst of thee?

16 And all the princes of the sea shall go down off their seats, and they shall do away their mantles, either their spoils of slain enemies, and they shall cast away their diverse clothes, and shall be clothed with wondering. They shall sit in the earth, and shall be astonied, and shall wonder on thy sudden fall.

17 And they shall take wailing on thee, and shall say to thee, How perishedest thou, noble city, that dwellest in the sea, that were strong in the sea, with thy dwellers, which dwellers all men dreaded?

18 Now ships shall wonder in the day of thy dread, and isles in the sea shall be troubled, for none goeth out of thee.

19 For the Lord God saith these things, When I shall give thee to be a city desolate, as the cities that be not inhabited, and I shall bring on thee the depth of waters, and many waters shall cover thee.

20 And I shall draw thee down with them that go down into a pit, to the people everlasting; and I shall set thee in the last land, as old wilder-nesses, with them that be led down into a pit, that thou be not inhabited. Certainly when I shall give glory in the land of livers,

21 I shall drive thee into nought, and thou shalt not be; and thou shalt be sought, and thou shalt no more be found without end, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 27

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Therefore thou, son of man, take wailing on Tyre.

3 And thou shalt say to Tyre, that dwelleth in the entering of the sea, to the selling of merchandise of peoples to many isles, The Lord God saith these things, O! Tyre, thou saidest, I am of perfect fairness,

4 and I am set in the heart of the sea. They that be in thy coasts that builded thee, [ful] filled thy fairness;

5 they builded thee with fir trees of Senir, with all works of boards of the sea; they took a cedar of the Lebanon, to make a mast to thee.

6 They hewed oaks of Bashan into thine oars, they made to thee thy seats of rowers of ivory of India, and cabins of the wood of the isles of Italy.

7 Diverse bis, either white silk, of Egypt, was woven to thee into a veil, that it should be set [or put] in the mast; jacinth and purple of the isles of Elishah were made thy covering.

8 The dwellers of Sidon and Arvad-ians were thy rowers; Tyre, thy wise men were made thy governors.

9 The old men of Byblos, and the prudent men thereof, had shipmen to the service of thy diverse array of household; all the ships of the sea, and the shipmen of these [or them], were in the people of thy merchandise.

10 Persians, and Ludians, and Libyans were in thine host; thy men warriors hanged in thee a shield and helmet, for thine adorning.

11 Sons of Arvadians with thine host were on thy walls in thy compass; but also Gammadims, that were in thy towers, hanged their arrow cases on thy walls by compass; they [ful] filled thy fairness.

12 Carthaginians, thy merchants, of the multitude of all kind of riches filled thy fairs, with silver, and iron, with tin, and lead.

13 Greece, and Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants, and brought bondmen and brazen vessels to thy people.

14 From the house of Togarmah they brought horses, and horsemen, and mules, to thy chapping.

15 The sons of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles provided the merchandise of thine hand, they exchanged teeth of ivory, and of ebony, in thy price.

16 Syria was thy merchant, for the multitude of thy works, they setted forth in thy market gems, and purple, and clothes woven diversely at the manner of shields, and bis, and silk, and coral, either avoirdupois.

17 Judah and the land of Israel were thy merchants in the best wheat, and setted forth in thy fairs balm, and honey, and oil, and resin.

18 Damascus was thy merchant, in the multitude of thy works, in the multitude of diverse riches, in fat wine, and wools of best colour.

19 Dan, and Greece, and Uzal, setted forth in thy fairs iron made subtly, gum of myrrh, and calamus, that is, a spice sweet smelling, in thy merchandise.

20 Dedan were thy merchants, in tapets to sit upon.

21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of thine hand; with lambs, and wethers, and goat kids, thy merchants came to thee.

22 The sellers of Sheba and of Raamah, they were thy merchants, with all the best sweet smelling spices, and precious stone, and gold, which they setted forth in thy market.

23 Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, were thy merchants; Sheba, and Assur, and Chilmad, were thy sellers.

24 They were thy merchants in many manners, in fardels of jacinth, and of clothes of many colours, and of precious riches, that were wrapped and bound with cords.

25 Also ships of the sea had cedars in their merchandises; thy princes were in thy merchandise; and thou were [ful] filled, and were glorified greatly in the heart of the sea.

26 Thy rowers brought thee in many waters, but the south wind all-brake thee; in the heart of the sea were

27 thy riches, and thy treasures, and thy manyfold instruments. Thy shipmen, and thy governors that held thy appurtenance of household, and were sovereigns of thy people, and thy men warriors that were in thee, with all thy multitude which is in the midst of thee, shall fall down in the heart of the sea, in the day of thy falling.

28 Ships shall be troubled of the sound of the cry of thy governors;

29 and all men that held oar, shall go down out of their ships. Shipmen and all governors of the sea shall stand in the land;

30 and shall yell on thee with great voice. And they shall cry bitterly, and shall cast powder, [or dust], on their heads, and shall be sprinkled with ashes.

31 And they shall shave baldness on thee, and shall be gird with hair-shirts, and they shall beweep thee in bitterness of soul, with most bitter weeping.

32 And they shall take on thee a song of mourning, and they shall bewail thee, Who is as Tyre, that was [or wax] dumb in the midst of the sea?

33 And thou, Tyre, filledest the needs of many peoples in the going out of thy merchandise of the sea; in the multitude of thy riches, and of thy peoples, thou madest rich the kings of earth.

34 Now thou art all-broken of the sea, in the depths of waters. Thy riches and all thy multitude that was in the midst of thee fell down;

35 all the dwellers of isles and the kings of those [or them] were astonied on thee. All they were smitten with tempest, and changed their cheers;

36 the merchants of peoples hissed, [or scorned], on thee. Thou art brought to nought, and thou shalt not be till into without end.

CHAPTER 28

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Son of man, say thou to the prince of Tyre, The Lord God saith these things, For thine heart was raised [up], and thou saidest, I am God, and I sat in the chair of God, in the heart of the sea, since thou art man and not God, and thou gavest thine heart as the heart of God;

3 lo! thou art wiser than Daniel, each private is not hid from thee;

4 in thy wisdom and prudence thou madest to thee strength, and thou gattest to thee gold and silver in thy treasuries;

5 in the multitude of thy wisdom, and in thy merchandise thou multipliedest to thee strength, and thine heart was raised [up] in thy strength;

6 therefore the Lord God saith these things, For thine heart was raised [up] as the heart of God,

7 therefore lo! I shall bring on thee aliens, the strongest of heathen. And they shall make naked their swords on the fairness of thy wisdom, and they shall defoul thy fairness.

8 They shall slay, and draw down thee into the pit; and thou shalt die by the death of uncircumcised men, in the heart of the sea.

9 Whether thou shalt say, and speak, I am God, before them that slay thee; since thou art a man, and not God? In the hand of them that slay thee,

10 by death of uncircumcised men, thou shalt die in the hand of aliens; for I the Lord spake, saith the Lord God.

11 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

12 Son of man, raise thou wailing on the king of Tyre; and thou shalt say to him, The Lord God saith these things, Thou, a print of likeness, full of wisdom, perfect in fairness,

13 were in the delights of paradise of God. Each precious stone was thy covering, sardius, topaz, and jasper, chrysolyte, and onyx, and beryl, sapphire, and carbuncle, and smaragdus; also gold was the work of thy fairness, and thine holes were made ready, in the day in which thou were made.

14 Thou were with a cherub held forth, and covering; and I setted thee in the holy hill of God. In the midst of stones set afire thou wentest,

15 perfect in thy ways from the day of thy making, till wickedness was found in thee.

16 In the multitude of thy merchandise, thine inner things were filled of wickedness, and thou didest sin; and I casted thee out of the hill of God, and, thou cherub covering afar, I lost thee from the midst of stones set afire.

17 And thine heart was raised [up] in thy fairness, thou lostest thy wisdom in thy fairness. I casted thee down into earth, I gave thee before the face of kings, that they should see thee.

18 In the multitude of thy wicked-nesses, and in the wickedness of thy merchandise, thou defouledest thine hallowing; therefore I shall bring forth fire of the midst of thee, that shall eat thee; and I shall give thee into ashes on [the] earth, in the sight of all men seeing thee.

19 All men that shall see thee among heathen men, shall be astonied on thee; thou art made nought, and thou shalt not be without end.

20 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

21 Thou, son of man, set thy face against Sidon, and thou shalt prophesy of it;

22 and shalt say, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I to thee, Sidon, and I shall be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall do dooms in it, and I shall be hallowed therein.

23 And I shall send pestilence into it, and blood in the streets thereof, and slain men by sword shall fall down in the midst thereof by compass; and they shall know, that I am the Lord God.

24 And there shall no more be an hurting of bitterness to the house of Israel, and a thorn bringing in sorrow on each side, by the compass of them, that be adversaries to them; and they shall know, that I am the Lord God.

25 The Lord God saith these things, When I shall gather together the house of Israel from peoples, among which they be scattered, I shall be hallowed in them before heathen men. And they shall dwell in their land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.

26 And they shall dwell secure therein, and they shall build houses, and they shall plant vines, and they shall dwell trustily, when I shall make dooms in all men that be adversaries to them by compass; and they shall know, that I am the Lord God of them.

CHAPTER 29

1 In the tenth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and thou shalt prophesy of him, and of all Egypt.

3 Speak thou, and thou shalt say, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I to thee, thou Pharaoh, king of Egypt, thou great dragon, that liest in the midst of thy floods, and sayest, The flood is mine, and I made it for myself.

4 And I shall set [or put] a bridle in thy cheeks, and I shall glue the fishes of thy floods to thy scales; and I shall draw thee out of the midst of thy floods, and all thy fishes shall cleave to thy scales.

5 And I shall cast thee forth into desert, and all the fishes of thy flood; on the face of earth thou shalt fall down, thou shalt not be gathered [up], neither shalt be gathered together to thy people; to the beasts of earth, and to the volatiles of the air, I gave thee to be devoured.

6 And all the dwellers of Egypt shall know, that I am the Lord. For that that thou were a staff of a reed to the house of Israel,

7 when they took hold of thee with their hands, and thou were broken, and rentest each shoulder of them, and when they rested on thee, thou were made less, and thou hast loosed, either discomforted, all the reins of them;

8 therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall bring a sword on thee, and I shall slay of thee man and beast;

9 and the land of Egypt shall be into desert, and into wilderness, and they shall know, that I am the Lord. For that that thou saidest, The flood is mine, and I made it,

10 therefore lo! I to thee, and to thy floods. And I shall give into wilder-ness the land of Egypt, destroyed by sword, from the tower of Syene till to the terms of Ethiopia.

11 The foot of man shall not pass by it, neither the foot of beast shall go in it, and it shall not be inhabited in forty years.

12 And I shall give the land of Egypt forsaken, in the midst of lands forsaken, and the cities thereof in the midst of a city destroyed, and those shall be desolate by forty years. And I shall scatter Egyptians into nations, and I shall winnow them into lands.

13 For the Lord God saith these things, After the end of forty years I shall gather together Egypt from peoples, among which they were scattered;

14 and I shall bring again the captivity of Egypt. And I shall set them again in the land of Pathros, in the land of their birth; and they shall be there into a meek realm,

15 and among other realms it shall be most low, and it shall no more be raised over nations. And I shall make them less, that they reign not on heathen men;

16 and they shall no more be to the house of Israel in trust, teaching them wickedness, that they flee, and follow them; and they shall know, that I am the Lord God.

17 And it was done in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

18 Thou, son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made his host to serve by great service against Tyre; each head was made bald, and each shoulder was made bare of hair, and meed was not yielded of Tyre to him, neither to his host, for the service by which he served to me against it.

19 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall give Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in the land of Egypt, and he shall take the multitude thereof; and he shall take in prey the clothes thereof, and he shall ravish the spoils thereof, and meed shall be to his host,

20 and to the work for which he served to me against it; and I gave the land of Egypt to him, for that that he travailed to me, saith the Lord God.

21 In that day, an horn of the house of Israel shall come forth, and I shall give to thee an open mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 30

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Son of man, prophesy thou, and say, The Lord God saith these things, Yell ye, Woe! woe! to the day,

3 for the day is nigh; and the day of the Lord nigheth, the day of a cloud. The time of heathen men shall be;

4 and a sword shall come into Egypt, and dread shall be in Ethiopia, when wounded men shall fall down in Egypt, and the multitude thereof shall be taken away, and the founda-ments thereof shall be destroyed.

5 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydians, and all the residue common people, and Chub, and the sons of the land of bond of peace, shall fall down by sword with them.

6 The Lord God saith these things, And they that underset Egypt shall fall down, and the pride of the lordship thereof shall be destroyed; from the tower of Syene they shall fall by sword therein, saith the Lord God of hosts.

7 And they shall be destroyed in the midst of lands made desolate, and the cities thereof shall be in the midst of cities forsaken.

8 And they shall know, that I am the Lord God, when I shall give fire in Egypt, and all the helpers thereof shall be all-broken.

9 In that day messengers shall go out from my face in ships with three orders of oars, to all-break, [or destroy], the trust of Ethiopia; and dread shall be in them in the day of Egypt, for without doubt it shall come.

10 The Lord God saith these things, And I shall make to cease the multitude of Egypt in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.

11 He and his people with him, the strongest men of heathen men, shall be brought, to lose the land; and they shall draw out their swords on Egypt, and they shall fill the land with slain men.

12 And I shall make dry the bottoms of floods, and I shall give the land into the hand of the worst men; and I shall destroy the land, and the fullness thereof in the hand of aliens; I the Lord spake.

13 The Lord God saith these things, And I shall lose simulacra, and I shall make idols to cease from Memphis, and a duke of the land of Egypt shall no more be. And I shall give dread in the land of Egypt,

14 and I shall lose, [or destroy], the land of Pathros. And I shall give fire in Tanis, and I shall make my dooms in Alexandria.

15 And I shall shed out mine indig-nation on Pelusium, the strength of Egypt; and I shall slay the multitude of Alexandria,

16 and I shall give fire in Egypt. Pelusium, as a woman travailing of child, shall have sorrow, and Alexandria shall be destroyed, and in Memphis shall be each day’s anguishes.

17 The young men of Heliopolis and of Bubastis shall fall down by sword, and those cities shall be led captives.

18 And in Tahpanhes the day shall wax black, when I shall all-break there the sceptres of Egypt, and the pride of the power thereof shall fail therein. A cloud shall cover it; forsooth the daughters thereof shall be led into captivity,

19 and I shall make dooms in Egypt; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

20 And it was done in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

21 Thou, son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and lo! it is not wrapped [about], that health should be restored thereto, that it should be bound with linen clothes, and wound about with linen clothes, and that he might hold a sword again, when he had received strength.

22 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I to Pharaoh, king of Egypt; I shall make less his strong arm but broken, and I shall cast down the sword from his hand.

23 And I shall scatter Egypt among heathen men, and I shall winnow them in lands.

24 And I shall strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I shall give my sword into the hand of him; and I shall break the arms of Pharaoh, and men slain before his face shall wail by wailings.

25 And I shall strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down. And they shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall give my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon; and he shall stretch forth it on the land of Egypt.

26 And I shall scatter Egypt into nations, and I shall winnow them into lands; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 31

1 And it was done in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to his people, To whom art thou made like in thy greatness?

3 Lo! Assur as a cedar in Lebanon, fair in branches, and full of boughs, and high by highness; and his height was raised [up] among thick boughs.

4 Waters nourished him, the depth of waters enhanced him; his floods floated out in the compass of his roots, and he sent out his strands to all the trees of the country.

5 Therefore his highness was enhanced over all [the] trees of the country, and his trees were multiplied, and his branches were raised [up], for many waters. And when he had stretched forth his shadow,

6 all the volatiles of the air made nests in his branches; and all the beasts of forests engendered under his boughs, and the company of full many folks dwelled under the shadowing place of him.

7 And he was full fair in his greatness, and in alarging of his trees; for the root of him was beside many waters.

8 Cedars in the paradise of God were not higher than he; fir trees attained not evenly to the highness of him, and plane trees were not even with the boughs of him. Each tree of paradise of God was not made like him in his fairness.

9 For I made him fair, and with many and thick boughs; and all the trees of lust or Eden, that were in the paradise of God, had envy to him.

10 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, For that that he was raised in highness, and he gave his highness green and thick, and his heart was raised [up] in his highness;

11 now I have given him into the hands of the strongest man of heathen men. And he doing shall do to that Assur; after the unfaithfulness of him I casted him out.

12 And aliens, and the most cruel men of nations, shall cut him down, and shall cast him forth on hills [or mountains]. And his branches shall fall down in all the great valleys, and his trees shall be broken in all rocks of stone of earth. And all the peoples of earth shall go away from his shadowing place, and shall forsake him.

13 All the volatiles of the air dwelled in the falling of him, and all beasts of the country were in the branches of him.

14 Wherefore all the trees of waters shall not be raised [up] in their highness, neither shall set their highness among places full of woods, and full of boughs, and all trees that be moisted of waters shall not stand in the highness of those [or them]. For all they be given into death, to the farthest land in the midst of the sons of men, to them that go down into the pit.

15 The Lord God saith these things, In the day when he went down to hells, I brought in mourning; I covered him with depth of waters, and I forbade his floods, and I refrained many waters. The Lebanon was sorry on him, and all the trees of the field were shaken of the sound of his falling.

16 I moved altogether heathen men, when I led him down to hell, with them that went down into the pit. And all trees of liking, noble trees, and full clear in the Lebanon, all that were moisted with waters, were comforted in the lowest land.

17 For why also they shall go down with him to hell, to [the] slain men with sword; and the arm of each man, shall sit under the shadowing place of him, in the midst of nations.

18 To whom art thou likened, thou noble and high among the trees of liking? Lo! thou art led down with the trees of liking to the farthest land. In the midst of uncircumcised men thou shalt sleep, with them that be slain by sword. That is Pharaoh, and all the multitude of him, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 32

1 And it was done in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, take wailing on Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and thou shalt say to him, Thou were made like to a lion of heathen men, and to a dragon which is in the sea. And thou winnowest with horn in thy floods, and thou disturbedest [or troublest] waters with thy feet, and defouledest the floods of those [or them].

3 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, I shall spread abroad my net [up] on thee in the multitude of many peoples, and I shall draw thee out in my net;

4 and I shall cast forth thee into [the] earth. On the face of the field I shall cast thee away, and I shall make all the volatiles of heaven to dwell on thee, and I shall fill of thee the beasts of all earth.

5 And I shall give thy fleshes on hills, and I shall fill thy little hills with thy roots;

6 and I shall moist the earth with the stink of thy blood on mountains, and valleys shall be filled of thee.

7 And when thou shalt be quenched, I shall cover heavens, and I shall make black the stars thereof; I shall cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

8 I shall make all the light-givers of heaven to mourn on thee, and I shall give darknesses on thy land, saith the Lord God; when thy wounded men shall fall down in the midst of earth, saith the Lord God.

9 And I shall stir to wrath the heart of many peoples, when I shall bring in thy sorrow among folks, on lands which thou knowest not.

10 And I shall make many peoples to wonder on thee, and the kings of them shall dread with full great horror, or hideousness, on thee, for all thy wickednesses which thou wroughtest, when my sword shall begin to fly on the faces of them. And all men shall be astonied suddenly, for their life, in the day of their falling.

11 For the Lord God saith these things, The sword of the king of Babylon shall come to thee;

12 in swords of strong men I shall cast down thy multitude, all these folks that be not able to be overcome. And they shall waste the pride of Egypt, and the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.

13 And I shall lose all the beasts thereof, that were on full many waters; and the foot of a man shall no more trouble those waters, neither the claw of beasts shall trouble those [or them].

14 Then I shall yield the waters of them cleanest, and I shall bring the floods of them as oil, saith the Lord God,

15 when I shall give desolate the land of Egypt. Forsooth the land shall be forsaken of his fullness, when I shall smite all the dwellers thereof; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

16 It is a wailing, and the daughters of heathen men shall bewail him; they shall bewail him on Egypt, and they shall bewail him on the multitude thereof, saith the Lord God.

17 And it was done in the twelfth year, in the fifteen day of the month, the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

18 Son of man, sing thou a song of wailing on the multitude of Egypt, and draw thou down it the same, and the daughters of strong heathen men, to the last land, with them that went down into the pit.

19 Inasmuch as thou art fairer, go down, and sleep with uncircumcised men.

20 In the midst of slain men they shall fall down by sword; a sword is given, and they draw it to, and all the peoples thereof.

21 The mightest of strong men shall speak to him, from the midst of hell, which with their helpers went down, and slept uncircumcised, and slain by sword.

22 Saying, There is Assur, and all his multitude; the sepulchres of them be in the compass of him; all slain men, that fell down by sword,

23 whose sepulchres be given in the last things of the pit. And the multitude of him is made there by the compass of his sepulchre; all slain men, and falling down by sword, which gave sometime their fearedful-ness in the land of living men.

24 There is Elam, and all the multitude thereof by the compass of his sepulchre; all these were slain, and falling down by sword, that went down uncircumcised to the last land; which setted their dread in the land of living men, and bare their shame with them that go down into the pit.

25 In the midst of slain men they putted his bed in all the peoples of him; his sepulchre is in the compass of him. All these were uncircumcised and slain by sword, for they gave dread in the land of living men, and bare their shame with them that go down into the pit; they be set [or put] in the midst of slain men.

26 There be Meshech and Tubal, and all the multitude thereof; the sepulchres thereof be in the compass thereof. All these men uncircumcised were slain, and falling down by sword, for they gave their dread in the land of living men.

27 And they shall not sleep with strong men, and falling down, and uncircumcised, that went down into hell with their arms, and putted their swords under their heads. And the wickednesses of them were in the bones of them, for they were made the dread of strong men in the land of living men.

28 And thou therefore shalt be defouled in the midst of uncircumcised men, and shalt sleep with them that be slain with sword.

29 There is Idumea, and the kings thereof, and all dukes thereof, that be given with their host, with men slain by sword, and which slept with uncircumcised men, and them that went down into the pit.

30 There be all princes of the north, and all hunters, that were led forth with slain men, that be dreading and shamed in their strength, which slept uncircumcised with men slain by sword, and bare their shame with them that went down into the pit.

31 Pharaoh saw them, and was comforted on all his multitude that was slain by sword. And Pharaoh and all his host, saith the Lord God, bare their shame with them that went down into the pit;

32 for he gave his dread in the land of living men. And Pharaoh and all his multitude slept in the midst of uncircumcised men, with men slain by sword, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 33

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, speak to the sons of thy people, and thou shalt say to them, A land when I bring in a sword on it, and the people of the land take one man of his last men, and maketh him a beholder, either espyer, on him,

3 and when he seeth a sword coming on the land, and soundeth with a clarion, and telleth to the people,

4 forsooth a man that heareth, whoever he is, the sound of the clarion, and keepeth not himself, and the sword cometh, and taketh him away, the blood of him shall be on the head of him.

5 He heard the sound of the clarion, and kept not himself, his blood shall be in him; forsooth if he keepeth himself, he shall save his life.

6 That if the beholder or the espyer, seeth a sword coming, and soundeth not with a clarion, and the people keepeth not himself, and the sword cometh, and taketh away a man of them, soothly he is taken in his wickedness; but I shall seek the blood of him of the hand of the espyer.

7 And thou, son of man, I gave thee an espyer, to the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear of my mouth a word, and shalt tell to them of me.

8 If when I say to the wicked man, Thou, wicked man, shalt die by death, thou speakest not, that the wicked man keep himself from his way, that wicked man shall die in his wicked-ness, but I shall seek his blood of thine hand.

9 Forsooth if when thou tellest to the wicked man, that he be converted from his ways, and he is not con-verted from his ways, he shall die in his wickedness; certainly thou hast delivered thy soul.

10 Therefore thou, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus ye spake, saying, Our wickednesses and our sins be [up] on us, and we fail in those [or them]; how therefore may we live?

11 say thou to them, I live, saith the Lord God, I desire not the death of the wicked man, but that the wicked man be converted from his ways, and live; be ye converted from your worst ways, and why shall ye die, the house of Israel?

12 Therefore thou, son of man, say to the sons of thy people, The rightfulness [or rightwiseness] of a rightful man shall not deliver him, in whatever day he doeth sin; and the wickedness of a wicked man shall not annoy him, in whatever day he is converted from his wickedness; and a just man shall not be able to live in his rightfulness [or rightwiseness], in whatever day he doeth sin.

13 Also if I say to a just man, that he shall live by life, and he trusteth in his rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and doeth wickedness, all his rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses] shall be given to forgetting, and in his wickedness which he wrought, in that he shall die.

14 Forsooth if I say to the wicked man, Thou shalt die by death, and he doeth penance for his sin, and doeth doom and rightfulness,

15 and if that wicked man restoreth a wed, and yieldeth raven, and goeth in the commandments of life, and doeth not any unjust thing, he shall live by life, and shall not die.

16 All his sins which he sinned, shall not be areckoned to him; he did doom and rightfulness, he shall live by life.

17 And the sons of thy people said, The way of the Lord is not of even weight, [or even charge]; and the way of them is unjust.

18 For when a just man goeth away from his rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and doeth wickednesses, he shall die in those [or them];

19 and when a wicked man goeth away from his wickedness, and doeth doom and rightfulness, he shall live in those [or them].

20 And ye say, The way of the Lord is not rightful [or right]. I shall deem each man by his ways of you, the house of Israel.

21 And it was done in the twelfth year, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month of our passing over, he that fled from Jerusalem came to me, and said, The city is destroyed.

22 Forsooth the hand of the Lord was made to me in the eventide, before that he came that fled; and he opened my mouth, till he came to me early; and when my mouth was opened, I was no more still.

23 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

24 Thou, son of man, they that dwell in these ruinous things, either ready to fall down, on the earth of Israel, say, speaking, Abraham was one, and by heritage he had the land in possession; forsooth we be many, the land is given to us into possession.

25 Therefore thou shalt say to them, The Lord God saith these things, Whether ye that eat in blood, and raise your eyes to your uncleannesses, and shed blood, shall have in pos-session the land by heritage?

26 Ye stood in your swords, ye did your abominations, and each man defouled the wife of his neighbour; and shall ye wield the land by heritage?

27 Thou shalt say these things to them, Thus saith the Lord God, I live, for they that dwell in ruinous things, either ready to fall down, shall fall down by sword, and he that is in the field, shall be given to beasts to be devoured; but they that be in strong-holds and in dens, shall die by pestilence.

28 And I shall give the land into wilderness, and into desert, and the pride and the strength thereof shall fail; and the hills of Israel shall be made desolate, for none is that shall pass by those [or them].

29 And they shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall give their land desolate and desert, for all their abominations which they wrought.

30 And thou, son of man, the sons of thy people that speak of thee beside walls, and in the doors of houses, and say, one to another, a man to his neighbour, and speak, Come ye, and hear we, what is the word going out from the Lord;

31 and they come to thee, as if my people entereth, and my people sit before thee, and they hear thy words, and do not those [or them]; for they turn those [or them] into the song of their mouth, and their heart pursueth their avarice;

32 and it is to them as a song of music, which is sung by soft and sweet sound; and they hear thy words, and they do not those [or them];

33 and when that that was before-said cometh, for lo! it cometh, then they shall know, that a prophet was among them.

CHAPTER 34

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Son of man, prophesy thou of the shepherds of Israel, prophesy thou; and thou shalt say to the shepherds, The Lord God saith these things, Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that fed himself [or themselves]; whether flocks be not fed of shepherds?

3 Ye ate [the] milk, and were covered with [the] wools, and ye killed that that was fat; but ye fed not my flock.

4 Ye made not firm that that was unsteadfast, and ye made not whole that that was sick; ye bound not up that that was broken, and ye brought not again that that was cast away, and ye sought not that that perished; but ye commanded to them with sternness, and with power.

5 And my sheep were scattered, for no shepherd was; and they were made into devouring of all beasts of the field, and they were scattered.

6 My flocks erred in all mountains, and in each high hill, and my flocks were scattered on all the face of earth, and none was that sought.

7 Therefore, shepherds, hear ye the word of the Lord;

8 I live, saith the Lord God, for why for that that my flocks be made into raven, and my sheep into devouring of all beasts of the field, for that that no shepherd was, for the shepherds sought not my flocks, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flocks;

9 therefore, shepherds, hear ye the word of the Lord,

10 The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I myself am over [the] shepherds; I shall seek my flock of the hand of them, and I shall make them to cease, that they feed no more my flock, and that the shepherds feed no more themselves. And I shall deliver my flock from the mouth of them, and it shall no more be into meat to them.

11 For the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I myself shall seek my sheep, and I shall visit them.

12 As a shepherd visiteth his flock, in the day when he is in the midst of his sheep that be scattered, so I shall visit my sheep; and I shall deliver them from all places in which they were scattered, in the day of cloud, and of darkness.

13 And I shall lead them out of peoples, and I shall gather them from lands, and I shall bring them into their land, and I shall feed them in the hills of Israel, in rivers, and in all seats of earth.

14 I shall feed them in most plenteous pastures, and the pastures of them shall be in the high hills of Israel; there they shall rest in green herbs, and in fat pastures they shall be fed on the hills of Israel.

15 I shall feed my sheep, and I shall make them to lie down, or to rest, saith the Lord God.

16 I shall seek that that perished, and I shall bring again that that was cast away; and I shall bind up that that was broken, and I shall make strong that that was sick; and I shall keep that that is fat and strong; and I shall feed them in doom;

17 forsooth ye be my flocks. The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I deem betwixt beast and beast, and a wether and a buck of goats.

18 Whether it was not enough to you to devour good pastures? Further-more and ye defouled with your feet the remnants of your pastures, and when ye drank clearest water, ye disturbed the residue with your feet.

19 And my sheep were fed with these things that were defouled with your feet; and they drank these things, that your feet had troubled.

20 Therefore the Lord God saith these things to you, Lo! I myself deem betwixt a fat beast and a lean beast.

21 For that that ye hurled with your sides, and shoulders, and winnowed with your horns all sick beasts, till those [or they] were scattered withoutforth,

22 I shall save my flock, and it shall no more be into raven. And I shall deem betwixt beast and beast;

23 and I shall raise on those [or them] one shepherd, my servant David, that shall feed those [or them]; he shall feed them, and he shall be a shepherd to them.

24 Forsooth I the Lord shall be into God to them, and my servant David shall be prince in the midst of them; I the Lord spake.

25 And I shall make with them a covenant of peace, and I shall make [the] worst beasts to cease from [the] earth; and they that dwell in desert, shall sleep secure in forests.

26 And I shall set them [a] blessing in the compass of my little hill, and I shall lead down rain in his time. And rains of blessing shall be,

27 and the tree of the field shall give his fruit, and the earth shall give his seed. And they shall be in their land without dread; and they shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall all-break the chains of their yoke, and shall deliver them from the hand of them that command to them.

28 And they shall no more be into raven into heathen men, neither the beasts of [the] earth shall devour them, but they shall dwell trustily without any dread.

29 And I shall raise to them a just burgeoning named; and they shall no more be made less for hunger in earth, and they shall no more bear the shame of heathen men.

30 And they shall know, that I am their Lord God with them, and they be my people, the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

31 Forsooth ye my flocks be men, the flocks of my pasture; and I am your Lord God, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 35

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, set thy face against the hill [or mount] of Seir; and thou shalt prophesy to it,

3 and shalt say to it, The Lord God saith these things, Thou hill [or mount] of Seir, lo! I to thee; I shall stretch forth mine hand on thee, and I shall give thee desolate and forsaken.

4 I shall destroy thy cities, and thou shalt be forsaken; and thou shalt know, that I am the Lord.

5 For thou were an enemy everlasting, and enclosedest together the sons of Israel into the hands of sword, in the time of their torment, in the time of the last wickedness;

6 therefore I live, saith the Lord God, for I shall give thee to blood, and blood shall pursue thee; and sith thou hatedest not blood, blood shall pursue thee.

7 And I shall give the hill of Seir desolate and forsaken, and I shall take away from it a goer and a comer-again;

8 and I shall fill the hills thereof with the carrions of their slain men. Men slain by sword shall fall down in thy little hills, and in thy valleys, and in thy strands [or running brooks].

9 I shall give thee into everlasting wildernesses, and thy cities shall not be inhabited; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord God.

10 For thou saidest, Two folks and two lands shall be mine, and I shall wield those [or them] by heritage, when the Lord was there;

11 therefore I live, saith the Lord God, for I shall do by thy wrath, and by thine envy, which thou didest, hating them, and I shall be made known by them, when I shall deem thee;

12 and thou shalt know, that I am the Lord. I heard all thy shames, which thou spakest of the hills [or mountains] of Israel, and saidest, The hills of Israel be forsaken, and be given to us, for to devour.

13 And ye have risen on me with your mouth, and ye have depraved, [or spoken evil], against me; I heard your words.

14 The Lord God saith these things, While all the land is glad, I shall turn thee into wilderness.

15 As thou haddest joy on the heritage of the house of Israel, for it was destroyed, so I shall do to thee; the hill of Seir shall be destroyed, and all Idumea; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 36

1 Forsooth thou, son of man, prophesy on the hills [or mountains] of Israel; and thou shalt say, Hills of Israel, hear ye the word of the Lord.

2 The Lord God saith these things, For that that the enemy said of you, Well! everlasting highnesses be given to us into heritage;

3 therefore prophesy thou, and say, The Lord God saith these things, For that that ye be made desolate, and defouled by compass, and be made into heritage to other folks, and ye ascended [or went up] on the lip of tongue, and on the shame of people;

4 therefore, hills of Israel, hear ye the word of the Lord God. The Lord God saith these things to the mountains, and little hills, to strands [or streams], and to valleys, and to pieces of walls left, and to cities forsaken, that be made bare of peoples, and be scorned of other folks by compass.

5 therefore the Lord God saith these things, For in the fire of my fervor I spake of other folks, and of all Idumea, that gave my land into heritage to themselves with joy and all [the] heart, and of intent, and casted out it, to destroy it;

6 therefore prophesy thou on the earth of Israel, and thou shalt say to mountains, and little hills, to the highness of hills, and to valleys, The Lord God saith these things, For that that ye be desolate, lo! I spake in my fervor and in my strong vengeance. For that that ye suffered shame of heathen men;

7 therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I raised mine hand against heathen men, that be in your compass, that they bear their shame.

8 Forsooth, ye hills of Israel, bring forth your branches, and bring ye fruit to my people Israel; for it is nigh that it come.

9 For lo! I to you, and I shall turn to you, and ye shall be eared, and shall take seed.

10 And in you I shall multiply men, and all the house of Israel; and cities shall be inhabited, and ruinous things shall be repaired.

11 And I shall fill you with men and beasts, and they shall be multiplied, and shall increase; and I shall make you to dwell as at the beginning, and I shall reward with more goods than ye had at the beginning; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

12 And I shall bring men on you, my people Israel, and by heritage they shall wield thee, and thou shalt be to them into heritage; and thou shalt no more lay to, that thou be without them.

13 The Lord God saith these things, For that that they say of you, Thou art a devouress of men, and stranglest thy folk;

14 therefore thou shalt no more eat men, and thou shalt no more slay thy folk, saith the Lord God.

15 And I shall no more make heard in thee the shame of heathen men, and thou shalt no more bear the shame of peoples, and thou shalt no more lose thy folk, saith the Lord God.

16 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

17 Thou, son of man, the house of Israel dwelled in their land, and they defouled it in their ways, and in their studies; by the uncleanness of a woman in rotten blood the way of them is made before me.

18 And I shedded out mine indignation on them, for [the] blood which they shedded on the land, and in their idols they defouled it.

19 And I scattered them among heathen men, and they were winnowed into lands; I deemed them by the ways and findings of them.

20 And they entered to heathen men, to which they entered, and defouled mine holy name, when it was said to them, This is the people of the Lord, and they went out of the land of him.

21 And I spared them for the sake of mine holy name, which the house of Israel had defouled among heathen men, to which they entered.

22 Therefore thou shalt say to the house of Israel, The Lord God saith these things, O! ye house of Israel, not for you I shall do, but for mine holy name, which ye defouled among heathen men, to which ye entered.

23 And I shall hallow my great name, which is defouled among heathen men, which ye defouled in the midst of them; that heathen men know, that I am the Lord, saith the Lord of hosts, when I shall be hallowed in you before them.

24 For I shall take away you from heathen men, and I shall gather you from all lands, and I shall bring you into your land.

25 And I shall pour out clean water [up] on you, and ye shall be cleansed from all your filths; and I shall cleanse you from all your idols.

26 And I shall give to you a new heart, and I shall set a new spirit in the midst of you; and I shall do away an heart of stone from your flesh, and I shall give to you an heart of flesh,

27 and I shall set my spirit in the midst of you. And I shall make that ye go in my commandments, and [that ye] keep and work my dooms.

28 And ye shall dwell in the land, which I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be into a people to me, and I shall be into God to you.

29 And I shall save you from all your filths; and I shall call wheat, and I shall multiply it, and I shall not put hunger on you.

30 And I shall multiply the fruit of tree, and the seeds of the field, that ye bear no more the shame of hunger among heathen men.

31 And ye shall have mind on your worst ways, and on studies not good; and your wickednesses, and your great trespasses, shall displease you.

32 Not for you I shall do, saith the Lord God, be it known to you; O! the house of Israel, be ye shamed, and be ashamed on your ways.

33 The Lord God saith these things, In the day in which I shall cleanse you from all your wickednesses, and I shall make cities to be inhabited, and I shall repair ruinous things,

34 and the desert land shall be tilled, that was sometime desolate, before the eyes of each way-goer,

35 they shall say, That land untilled is made as a garden of liking, and cities that forsaken and destitute and undermined sat, now be made strong;

36 and heathen men, which ever be left in your compass, shall know, that I the Lord have builded [the] destroyed things, and I have planted untilled things; I the Lord spake, and I did.

37 The Lord God saith these things, Yet in this thing the house of Israel shall find me, that I do to them; I shall multiply them as the flock of men,

38 as an holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in the solemnities thereof, so the cities that be forsaken shall be full of the flocks of men; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 37

1 The hand of the Lord was made on me, and led me out in the spirit of the Lord; and he let me go in the midst of a field that was full of bones;

2 and he led me about by them in compass. Forsooth those [or there] were full many on the face of the field, and dry greatly.

3 And he said to me, Guessest thou, son of man, whether these bones shall live? And I said, Lord God, thou knowest.

4 And he said to me, Prophesy thou of these bones; and thou shalt say to them, Ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

5 The Lord God saith these things to these bones, Lo! I shall send into you a spirit, and ye shall live.

6 And I shall give sinews on you, and I shall make fleshes to wax on you, and I shall stretch forth above skin in you, and I shall give a spirit to you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know, that I am the Lord.

7 And I prophesied, as he com-manded to me; forsooth a sound was made, while I prophesied, and lo! a stirring together, and bones came to bones, each to his jointure.

8 And I saw, and lo! sinews and fleshes waxed upon those [or them], and skin was stretched forth above in them, and those [or they] had no spirit.

9 And he said to me, Prophesy thou to the spirit, prophesy thou, son of man; and thou shalt say to the spirit, The Lord God saith these things, Come, thou spirit, from four winds, and blow thou on these slain men, and live they again.

10 And I prophesied, as he com-manded to me; and the spirit entered into those bones, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a full great host.

11 And the Lord said to me, Thou, son of man, all these bones is the house of Israel; they say, Our bones dried, and our hope perished, and we be cut away.

12 Therefore prophesy thou, and thou shalt say to them, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall open your graves, and I shall lead you out of your sepulchres, my people, and I shall lead you into your land [of] Israel.

13 And ye shall know, that I am the Lord, when I shall open your sepulchres, and shall lead you out of your burials, my people;

14 and I shall give my spirit in you, and ye shall live. And I shall make you for to rest on your land; and ye shall know, that I the Lord spake, and did, saith the Lord God.

15 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

16 And thou, son of man, take to thee one stick, and write thou on it, To Judah, and to the sons of Israel, and to his fellows. And take thou another stick, and write on it, Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and of all the house of Israel, and of his fellows.

17 And join thou those sticks one to the tother into one stick to thee; and those [or they] shall be into onement in thine hand.

18 Soothly when the sons of thy people that speak, shall say to thee, Whether thou showest not to us, what thou wilt to thee in these things?

19 thou shalt speak to them, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the lineages of Israel, that be joined to him, and I shall give them together with the stick of Judah; and I shall make them into one stick, and they shall be one in the hand of him.

20 Soothly the sticks on which thou hast written, shall be in thine hand before the eyes of them.

21 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall take the sons of Israel from the midst of nations, to which they went forth; and I shall gather them together on each side. And I shall bring them to their land,

22 and I shall make them one folk in the land, in the hills of Israel, and one king shall be commanding to all; and they shall no more be two folks, and they shall no more be parted into two realms.

23 And they shall no more be defouled in their idols, and their abominations, and in all their wicked-nesses. And I shall make them safe from all their seats, in which they sinned, and I shall cleanse them; and they shall be a people to me, and I shall be God to them.

24 And my servant David shall be king on them, and one shepherd shall be of all them; they shall go in my dooms, and they shall keep my commandments, and shall do those [or them].

25 And they shall dwell on the land, which I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers dwelled; and they shall dwell on that land, they, and the sons of them, and the sons of their sons, till into without end; and David, my servant, shall be the prince of them without end.

26 And I shall smite to them a bond of peace; it shall be a covenant ever-lasting to them, and I shall ‘found’ them, and I shall multiply [them], and I shall give mine hallowing in the midst of them without end.

27 And my tabernacle shall be among them, and I shall be God to them, and they shall be a people to me.

28 And heathen men shall know, that I am the Lord, hallower of Israel, when mine hallowing shall be in the midst of them without end.

CHAPTER 38

1 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,

2 Thou, son of man, set thy face against Gog, and against the land of Magog, the prince of the head of Meshech and of Tubal; and prophesy thou of him.

3 And thou shalt say to him, The Lord God saith these things, A! Gog, lo! I to thee, prince of the head of Meshech and of Tubal;

4 and I shall lead thee about, and I shall set [or put] a bridle in thy cheeks, and I shall lead out thee, and all thine host, horses, and horsemen, all clothed with habergeons, a great multitude of men, taking spear, and shield, and sword.

5 Persians, Ethiopians, and Libyans with them, all be arrayed with shields and helmets.

6 Gomer, and all the companies of him, the house of Togarmah, the sides of the north, and all the host thereof, and many peoples be with thee.

7 Make ready, and array thee, and all thy multitude which is gathered to thee, and be thou into commandment to them.

8 After many days thou shalt be visited; in the last of years thou shalt come to the land, that [is] turned again from sword, and was gathered of many peoples, to the hills of Israel, that were desert full oft; this was led out of peoples, and all men dwelled trustily therein.

9 Forsooth thou shalt ascend [or go up], and shalt come as a tempest, and as a cloud, for to cover the land, thou, and all thy companies, and many peoples with thee.

10 The Lord God saith these things, In that day, words shall ascend [or go up] on thine heart, and thou shalt think the worst thought;

11 and shalt say, I shall go up to the land without walls, I shall come to them that rest, and dwell securely; all these dwell without walls, bars, [or locks], and gates be not to them;

12 that thou ravish spoils, and assail prey; that thou bring in thine hand on them that were forsaken, and afterward restored, and on the people which is gathered of heathen men, that began to wield, and to be inhabiter of the navel of [the] earth.

13 Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, and all the lions thereof, shall say to thee, Whether thou comest to take spoils? Lo! to ravish prey thou hast gathered thy multitude, that thou take away gold and silver, and do away appurtenance of household and cattle, and that thou ravish preys without number.

14 Therefore prophesy thou, son of man; and thou shalt say to Gog, The Lord God saith these things, Whether not in that day, when my people Israel shall dwell trustily, thou shalt know;

15 and shalt come from thy place, from the sides of the north, thou, and many peoples with thee, all riders of horses, a great company, and an huge host;

16 and thou as a cloud shalt ascend [or go up] [up] on my people Israel, that thou cover the earth? Thou shalt be in the last days, and I shall bring thee on my land, that my folks know, when I shall be hallowed in thee, thou Gog, before the eyes of them.

17 The Lord God saith these things, Therefore thou art he of whom I spake in eld [or old] days, in the hand of my servants, prophets of Israel, that prophesied in the days of those times, that I should bring thee on them.

18 And it shall be, in that day, in the day of the coming of Gog on the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, mine indignation shall ascend [or go up] in my strong vengeance,

19 and in my fervor; I spake in the fire of my wrath. For in that day shall be great earth-moving on the land of Israel;

20 and fishes of the sea, and beasts of [the] earth, and birds of the air, and each creeping beast which is moved on earth, and all men that be on the face of [the] earth, shall be moved from my face; and hills shall be under-turned, and hedges shall fall down, and each wall shall fall down into the earth.

21 And I shall call together a sword against him in all mine hills, saith the Lord God; the sword of each man shall be dressed against his brother.

22 And then I shall deem him by pestilence, and blood, and great rain, and by great stones; I shall rain fire and brimstone on him, and on his host, and on many peoples that be with him.

23 And I shall be magnified, and shall be hallowed, and I shall be known before the eyes of many folks; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

CHAPTER 39

1 But prophesy thou, son of man, against Gog; and thou shalt say, The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I on thee, thou Gog, prince of the head of Meshech and of Tubal.

2 And I shall lead thee about, and I shall deceive thee, and I shall make thee to go up from the sides of the north, and I shall bring thee on the hills of Israel.

3 And I shall smite thy bow in thy left hand, and I shall cast down thine arrows from thy right hand.

4 Thou shalt fall down on the hills of Israel, thou, and all thy companies, and peoples that be with thee; I gave thee for to be devoured to wild beasts, to birds, and to each volatile, and to the beasts of the earth.

5 Thou shalt fall down on the face of the field; for I the Lord have spoken, saith the Lord God.

6 And I shall send fire in Magog, and in them that dwell trustily in isles; and they shall know, that I am the Lord God of Israel.

7 And I shall make mine holy name known in the midst of my people Israel, and I shall no more let them defoul mine holy name; and heathen men shall know, that I am the Lord God, the Holy of Israel.

8 Lo! it cometh, and it is done, saith the Lord God. This is the day of which I spake.

9 And dwellers shall go out of the cities of Israel, and they shall set afire, and shall burn arms, shield and spear, bow and arrows, and staves of hand, and shafts without iron; and they shall burn those [or them] in fire by seven years.

10 And they shall not bear trees of countries, neither shall cut down of [the] forests, for they shall burn arms by fire; and they shall take preys of them, to whom they were preys, and they shall ravish their wasters, saith the Lord God.

11 And it shall be in that day, I shall give to Gog a named place, a sepulchre in Israel, the valley of way-goers at the east of the sea, that shall make them that pass forth for to wonder; and they shall bury there Gog, and all the multitude of him, and it shall be called The valley of the multitude of Gog.

12 And the house of Israel shall bury them, that they cleanse the land in seven months.

13 Forsooth all the people of the land shall bury them, and it shall be a named day to them, in which I am glorified, saith the Lord God.

14 And they shall ordain busily men compassing the land, that shall bury and seek them that were left on the face of the land, that they cleanse it. Forsooth after seven months they shall begin to seek,

15 and they shall compass going about the land; and when they shall see the bone of a man, they shall set a title, or a notable sign, beside it, till the buriers of carrions bury it in the valley of the multitude of Gog.

16 Soothly the name of the city is Hamonah; and they shall cleanse the land.

17 Forsooth, thou, son of man, the Lord God saith these things, Say thou to each bird, and to all fowls, and to all beasts of the field, Come ye together, and haste ye, run ye to-gether on each side to my sacrifice, which I slay to you, a great sacrifice on the hills of Israel, that ye eat fleshes, and drink blood.

18 Ye shall eat the fleshes of strong men, and ye shall drink the blood of princes of earth, of wethers, of lambs, and of bucks of goats, and of bulls, and of beasts made fat, and of all fat things.

19 And ye shall eat the inner fatness into fullness, and ye shall drink the blood into drunkenness, of the sacrifice which I shall slay to you.

20 And ye shall be filled on my board, of horse, and of strong horse-man, [or knight], and of all men warriors, saith the Lord God.

21 And I shall set my glory among heathen men, and all heathen men shall see my doom, which I have done, and mine hand, which I have set [or put] on them.

22 And the house of Israel shall know, that I am their Lord God, from that day and afterward.

23 And heathen men shall know, that the house of Israel is taken in their wickedness, for that that they forsook me; and I hid my face from them, and I betook them into the hands of enemies, and all they fell down by sword.

24 By the uncleanness and great trespass of them I did to them, and I hid my face from them.

25 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Now I shall lead again the captivity of Jacob, and I shall have mercy on all the house of Israel; and I shall take fervor for mine holy name.

26 And they shall bear their shame, and all their trespassing by which they trespassed against me, when they dwelled in their land trustily, and dreaded no man;

27 and when I shall bring them again from peoples, and shall gather [them] from the lands of their enemies, and shall be hallowed in them, before the eyes of full many folks.

28 And they shall know, that I am the Lord God of them, for that I translated them into nations, and have gathered them on their land, and I left not any of them there.

29 And I shall no more hide my face from them, for I have shed out my spirit on all the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 40

1 In the five and twentieth year of our passing over, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in this same day the hand of the Lord was made on me, and he brought me thither

2 in the revelations of God. And he brought me into the land of Israel, and he let me down on a full high hill, on which was as the building of a city going to the south;

3 and he led me in thither. And lo! a man, whose likeness was as the likeness of brass, and a cord of flax was in his hand, and a reed of measure in his hand; forsooth he stood in the gate.

4 And the same man spake to me, Thou, son of man, see with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart on all things which I shall show to thee, for thou art brought hither that those [or it] be showed to thee; tell thou all things which thou seest to the house of Israel.

5 And lo! a wall withoutforth, in the compass of the house of the Lord on each side; and in the hand of the man was a reed of measure of six cubits and a span, that is, an hand-breadth; and he meted the breadth of the building with one reed, and the highness by one reed.

6 And he came to the gate that beheld the way of the east, and he ascended [or went up] by [the] degrees of it; and he meted the lintel of the gate, by one reed the breadth, that is, one lintel by one reed in breadth;

7 and he meted one little chamber by one reed in length, and by one reed in breadth, and five cubits betwixt the little chambers; and he meted the lintel of the gate beside the porch of the gate within, by one reed.

8 (This verse omitted in the original text.)

9 And he meted the porch of the gate of eight cubits, and the posts* thereof by two cubits; soothly the porch of the gate was within.

10 Certainly the chambers of the gate at the way of the east were three on this side, and three on that side; one measure of three, and one measure of the posts on ever either side.

11 And he meted the breadth of the lintel of the gate of ten cubits, and the length of the gate of thirteen cubits.

12 And he meted a margin of one cubit before the chambers, and one cubit was the end on each side; forsooth the chambers were of six cubits on this side and on that side.

13 And he meted the gate from the roof of the chamber till to the roof thereof, the breadth of five and twenty cubits, a door against a door.

14 And he made posts by sixty cubits, and at the post a foreyard† of the gate on each side by compass;

15 and before the face of the gate that stretcheth forth till to the face of the porch of the inner gate, he meted fifty cubits.

16 And he meted windows narrow without and large within, in the chambers, and posts of those [or them], that were within the gate on each side by compass. Soothly in like manner also windows were in the porches‡ by compass within; and the painture of palm trees was engraved before the posts.

17 And he led me out to the outer-more foreyard, and lo! treasuries§, and a pavement arrayed with stone in the foreyard by compass; thirty treasuries were in the compass of the pavement;

18 and the pavement was beneath in the front of the gates, by the length of the gates.

19 And he meted the breadth from the face of the lower gate till to the front of the inner foreyard without-forth, an hundred cubits at the east, and at the north.

20 And he meted, both in length and in breadth, the gate that beheld the way of the north, of the outermore foreyard.

21 And he meted the chambers thereof, three on this side, and three on that side, and the posts thereof, and the porch thereof, by the measure of the former gate; the length thereof of fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof of five and twenty cubits.

22 Soothly the windows thereof, and the porch, and the engravings, were by the measure of the gate that beheld to the east; and the ascending [or going up] thereof was of seven degrees, and a porch was before it.

23 And the gate of the inner foreyard was against the gate of the north, and against the east side; and he meted from the gate till to the gate, an hundred cubits.

24 And he led me out to the way of the south, and lo! the gate that beheld to the south; and he meted the posts thereof, and the porch thereof, by the former measures;

25 and the windows thereof, and the porch in compass, as [the] other windows; the length of fifty cubits, and the breadth of five and twenty cubits.

26 And by seven degrees men ascended to it, and a porch was before the gates thereof; and palm trees were engraved, one in this side, and another in that side, in the posts thereof.

27 And the gate of the inner foreyard was in the way of the south; and he meted from the gate till to the gate in the way of the south, an hundred cubits.

28 And he led me into the inner foreyard, to the south gate; and he meted the gate by the former measures;

29 the chamber[s] thereof, and the posts thereof, and the porch thereof by the same measures; and he meted the windows thereof, and the porch thereof in compass; fifty cubits of length, and five and twenty cubits of breadth.

30 And he meted the porch by com-pass, the length of five and twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof of five cubits.

31 And the porch thereof was to the outermore foreyard, and the palm trees thereof in the posts; and eight degrees were, by which men ascended through it [or went up thereby].

32 And he led me into the inner foreyard, by the east way; and he meted the gate by the former measures;

33 the chambers thereof, and the posts thereof, and the porches thereof, as above; and he meted the windows thereof, and the porches thereof in compass; the length of fifty cubits, and the breadth of five and twenty cubits;

34 and the porch thereof, that is, of the outermore foreyard; and palm trees engraved in the posts thereof, on this side and on that side; and in eight degrees was the ascending [or the going up] thereof.

35 And he led me in to the gate that beheld to the north; and he meted by the former measures;

36 the chamber[s] thereof, and the posts thereof, and the porch thereof, and the windows thereof by compass; the length of fifty cubits, and the breadth of five and twenty cubits.

37 The porch thereof beheld to the outermore foreyard; and the engraving of palm trees was in the posts thereof, on this side and on that side; and in eight degrees was the ascending [or the going up] thereof.

38 And by all chambers a door was in the posts of gates; and there they washed burnt sacrifice.

39 And in the porch of the gate were two boards on this side, and two boards on that side, that burnt sacrifice be offered on those [or them], both for sin and for trespass.

40 And at the outermore side, which ascendeth [or goeth up] to the door of the gate that goeth to the north, were two boards; and at the tother side, before the porch of the gate, were two boards.

41 Four boards on this side, and four boards on that side; by the sides of the gate were eight boards, on which they offered the sacrifices.

42 Forsooth four boards to burnt sacrifice were builded of square stones, in the length of one cubit and an half, and in the breadth of one cubit and an half, and in the height of one cubit; on which boards they shall set [or put] vessels, in which burnt sacrifice and slain sacrifice is offered.

43 And the brinks of the boards be of an handbreadth, and be bowed again within by compass; forsooth on the boards were fleshes of offering.

44 And without the inner gate were chambers of chanters, in the inner foreyard, that was in the side of the gate beholding to the north; and the faces of those [or them]were against the south way; one of the side of the east gate, that beheld to the way of the north.

45 And he said to me, This chamber, that beholdeth the south way, is of the priests that wake in the keepings of the temple.

46 Soothly the chamber, that beholdeth to the way of the north, shall be of the priests that wake to the service of the altar; these be the sons of Zadok, which of the sons of Levi nigh to the Lord, for to minister to him.

47 And he meted the foreyard, the length of an hundred cubits, and the breadth of an hundred cubits, by square, and the altar was before the face of the temple.

48 And he led me into the porch of the temple; and he meted the porch by five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side; and he meted the breadth of the gate, of three cubits on this side, and of three cubits on that side.

49 But he meted the length of the porch of twenty cubits, and the breadth of eleven cubits, and by eight degrees men ascended to it; and pillars were in the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

CHAPTER 41

1 And he led me into the temple, and he meted the posts, six cubits of breadth on this side, and six cubits of breadth on that side, the breadth of the tabernacle.

2 And the breadth of the gate was of ten cubits; and he meted the sides of the gate by five cubits on this side, and by five cubits on that side; and he meted the length thereof by forty cubits, and the breadth of twenty cubits.

3 And he entered within, and he meted in the post of the gate, two cubits; and he meted the gate of six cubits, and the breadth of the gate of seven cubits.

4 And he meted the length thereof of twenty cubits, and the breadth of twenty cubits, before the face of the temple. And he said to me, This is the holy thing of holy things.

5 And he meted the wall of the house of the Lord of six cubits, and the breadth of the side chambers of four cubits, on each side by compass of the house.

6 Forsooth the sides were twice three and thirty, the side to the side; and those [or they] were standing on high, that entered by the wall of the house, in those sides by compass, that those [or they] held together, and touched not the wall of the temple.

7 And a street was in round, and went upward by a vice, and bare into the solar of the temple by compass; therefore the temple was broader in the higher things; and so from the lower things men ascended to the higher things, and into the midst.

8 And I saw in the house an highness by compass, the sides founded at the measure of a reed in the space of six cubits;

9 and the breadth of the wall of the side withoutforth, of five cubits; and the inner house was in the sides of the house.

10 And betwixt chambers I saw the breadth of twenty cubits in the compass of the house on each side;

11 and I saw the doors of the side to prayer; one door to the way of the north, and one door to the way of the south; and I saw the breadth of place to prayer, of five cubits in compass.

12 And the building that was joined to the place separated, and turned to the way beholding to the sea, of the breadth of seventy cubits; soothly the wall of the building of five cubits of breadth by compass, and the length thereof of ninety cubits.

13 And he meted the length of the house, of an hundred cubits; and that place that was separated, and the building, and the walls thereof, of the length of an hundred cubits.

14 Forsooth the breadth of the street before the face of the house, and of that place that was separated against the east, was of an hundred cubits.

15 And he meted the length of the building against the face of that place that was separated at the back; he meted the buttresses on ever either side, of an hundred cubits. And he meted the inner temple, and the porches of the foreyard,

16 lintels, and windows narrow with-outforth and broad within; buttresses in compass by three parts, against the lintel of each, and arrayed with wood by compass all about; soothly from the earth till to the windows, and the windows were enclosed

17 on the doors, and till to the inner house, and withoutforth by all the walls in compass, within and without-forth at measure.

18 And cherubims and palm trees were made craftily, and there was a palm tree betwixt cherub and cherub; and each cherub had two faces,

19 so that the face of a man was beside the palm tree on this side, and the face of a lion expressed beside the palm tree on the tother side. By all the house in compass,

20 from the earth till to the higher part, cherubims and palm trees were engraved in the walls of the temple.

21 A threshold was four-cornered; and the face of the beholding of the saintuary was over against the beholding of the altar of wood;

22 the height thereof was of three cubits, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood. And he spake to me, This is the board before the Lord.

23 And two doors were in the temple, and in the saintuary.

24 And in the two doors on ever either side were two little doors, that were folded together in themselves; for why two doors were on ever either side of the doors.

25 And the cherubims, and the engraving of palm trees, were engraved in the doors of the temple, as also those [or they] were expressed in the walls. Wherefore and greater beams were in the front of the porch with-outforth,

26 on which the windows narrow without and large within, and the likeness of palm trees were on this side and on that side; in the little shoulders, either undersettings, of the porch, by the sides of the house, and by the breadth of the walls.

CHAPTER 42

1 And he led me out into the outermore foreyard, by the way leading to the north; and he led me into the chamber, that was against the building separated, and against the house going to the north;

2 in the face, an hundred cubits of length of the side of the door of the north, and fifty cubits of breadth,

3 over against twenty cubits of the inner foreyard, and over against the pavement arrayed with stone of the outermore foreyard, where a porch was joined to a three-fold porch.

4 And before the chambers was a walking place of ten cubits of breadth, beholding to the inner things of the way of one hundred cubits. And the doors of those [or them] to the north,

5 where chambers were lower in the higher things; for those [or they] bare up the porches that appeared on high of those [or them] from the lower things, and from the middle things of the building.

6 For those were of three stages, and had not pillars, as were the pillars of [the] foreyards; therefore those [or they] stood on high from the lower things, and from the middle things from [the] earth, by fifty cubits.

7 And the outermore hall enclosing the walking place was by the chambers, that were in the way of the outermore foreyard, before the chambers; the length thereof was of fifty cubits.

8 For the length of the chambers of the outermore foreyard was of fifty cubits, and the length before the face of the temple was of an hundred cubits.

9 And under these chambers was an entering from the east, of men entering into those, from the outer-more foreyard,

10 in the breadth of the wall of the foreyard that was over against the east way, into the face of the building separated. And chambers were before the building,

11 and a way was before the face of those [or them], by the likeness of chambers that were in the way of the north; by the length of those [or them], so was also the breadth of those [or them]. And all the entering of those [or them], and the likenesses and the doors of those [or them],

12 were like the doors of chambers that were in the way beholding to the south; a door was in the head of the way, which way was before the porch separated to men entering by the east way.

13 And he said to me, The chambers of the north, and the chambers of the south, that be before the building separated, these be holy chambers, in which the priests be clothed, that nigh to the Lord into the holy of holy things; there they shall put the holy of holy things, and offerings for sin, and for trespass; for it is an holy place.

14 Soothly when priests have entered, they shall not go out of holy things into the outermore foreyard; and there they shall put up their clothes in which they minister, for those [or they] be holy; and they shall be clothed in other clothes, and so they shall go forth to the people.

15 And when he had filled the measures of the inner house, he led me out by the way of the gate that beheld to the east way; and he meted it on each side by compass.

16 Forsooth he meted against the east wind with the reed of measure, by compass five hundred reeds [or five hundred rods], in a reed of measure by compass.

17 And he meted against the wind of the north five hundred reeds [or five hundred rods], in the reed of measure by compass.

18 And at the south wind he meted five hundred reeds [or five hundred rods], with a reed of measure by compass.

19 And at the west wind he meted five hundred reeds [or five hundred rods], with the reed of measure.

20 By four winds he meted the wall thereof on each side by compass, the length of five hundred [cubits], and the breadth of five hundred [cubits], the wall separating betwixt the saintuary and the place of the common people.

CHAPTER 43

1 And he led me out to the gate, that beheld to the east way.

2 And lo! the glory of God of Israel entered by the east way; and a voice was to it, as the voice of many waters, and the earth shined of the majesty of him.

3 And I saw a vision, by the like-ness which I had seen, when he came to destroy the city; and the likeness was like the beholding which I had seen beside the flood Chebar. And I fell down on my face,

4 and the majesty of the Lord entered into the temple by the way of the gate that beheld to the east.

5 And the Spirit raised me, and led me into the inner foreyard; and lo! the house of the Lord was filled with the glory of the Lord.

6 And I heard one speaking to me out of the house. And the man that stood beside me,

7 said to me, Thou, son of man, this is the place of my seat, and the place of the steps of my feet, where I dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel without end; and the house of Israel shall no more defoul mine holy name, they, and the kings of them, in their fornications, and in the fallings of their kings, and in their high places.

8 Which made their threshold beside my threshold, and their posts beside my posts, and a wall was betwixt me and them; and they defouled mine holy name in abominations which they did; wherefore I wasted them in my wrath.

9 Now therefore put they away far their fornication, and the fallings of their kings from me; and I shall dwell ever in the midst of them.

10 But thou, son of man, show the temple to the house of Israel, and be they ashamed of their wickednesses; and mete they the building,

11 and be they ashamed of all things which they did. Thou shalt show to them, and thou shalt write before the eyes of them the figure of the house, and of the building thereof; the out-goings, and the enterings, and all the describings thereof, and all the com-mandments thereof, and all the order thereof, and all the laws thereof; that they keep all the describings thereof, and commandments thereof, and do those [or them].

12 This is the law of the house, in the highness of the hill [or the mount]; all the coasts thereof in compass is the holy of holy things; therefore this is the law of the house.

13 Forsooth these be the measures of the altar, in a veriest cubit, that had a cubit and a span; in the bosom there-of was a cubit in length, and a cubit in breadth; and the end thereof till to the brink, and one span in compass; also this was the ditch of the altar.

14 And from the bosom of the earth till to the last height were two cubits, and the breadth of one cubit; and from the less height of the pedestal, till to the greater height of the pedestal, were four cubits, and the breadth was of one cubit;

15 forsooth that ariel, that is, the higher part of the altar, was of four cubits; and from the altar till to above were four horns.

16 And the altar of twelve cubits in length was four-cornered with even sides, by twelve cubits of breadth.

17 And the height of fourteen cubits of length was by fourteen cubits of breadth, in four corners thereof. And a crown of half a cubit was in the compass thereof, and the bosom thereof was of one cubit by compass; forsooth the degrees thereof were turned to the east.

18 And he said to me, Thou, son of man, the Lord God saith these things, These be the customs of the altar, in whatever day it is made, that men offer on it burnt sacrifice, and blood be shed out.

19 And thou shalt give to priests and deacons that be of the seed of Zadok, that nigh to me, saith the Lord God, that they offer to me a calf of the drove for sin.

20 And thou shalt take of the blood thereof, and shalt put on four horns thereof, and on four corners of [the] height, and on the crown in compass; and thou shalt cleanse it, and [fully] make clean.

21 And thou shalt take the calf which is offered for sin, and thou shalt burn it in a separated place of the house, without the saintuary.

22 And in the second day thou shalt offer a buck of goats, which is with-out wem, for sin; and they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it in the calf.

23 And when thou hast [ful] filled that cleansing, thou shalt offer a calf of the drove, which calf is without wem, and a wether without wem of the flock.

24 And thou shalt offer those [or them] in the sight of the Lord; and priests shall put salt on those [or them], and shall offer those [or them] into burnt sacrifice to the Lord.

25 By seven days, thou shalt make ready a buck of goats for sin, each day; and they shall offer a calf of the drove, and a wether unwemmed of sheep.

26 By seven days they shall [fully] cleanse the altar, and shall make it clean, and they shall [ful] fill the hand thereof.

27 Forsooth when seven days be [ful] filled, in the eighth day and further, priests shall make on the altar your burnt sacrifices, and those things which they offer for peace; and I shall be pleased to you, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 44

1 And he turned me to the way of the gate of the outermore saintuary, which gate beheld to the east, and was closed.

2 And the Lord said to me, This gate shall be closed, and shall not be opened, and a man shall not pass through it; for the Lord God of Israel entered [in] by it, and it shall be closed to the prince.

3 The prince himself shall sit therein, that he eat bread before the Lord; he shall go in by the way of the gate of the porch, and he shall go out by the way thereof.

4 And he led me by the way of the north gate, in the sight of the house of the Lord; and I saw, and lo! the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord; and I fell down on my face.

5 And the Lord said to me, Thou, son of man, set thine heart, and see with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all things which I speak to thee, of all the ceremonies of the house of the Lord, and of all the laws thereof; and thou shalt set thine heart in the ways of the temple, by all the goings out of the saintuary.

6 And thou shalt say to the house of Israel stirring me to wrath, The Lord God saith these things, Ye house of Israel, all your great trespasses suffice to you,

7 for ye bring in alien sons, uncir-cumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, that they be in my saintuary, and defoul mine house. And ye offer my loaves, inner fatness, and blood, and break my covenant in all your great trespasses.

8 And ye kept not the command-ments of my saintuary, and ye setted keepers of my keepings in my saintuary to yourselves.

9 The Lord God saith these things, Each alien, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, shall not enter into my saintuary; yea, each alien son, which is in the midst of the sons of Israel.

10 But also [the] Levites, [or deacons], that went far away from me, in the error of the sons of Israel, and erred from me after their idols, and bare their wickedness,

11 they shall be keepers of [the] houses in my saintuary, and porters of gates of the house, and ministers of the house; they shall slay burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices for victory of the people; and they shall stand in the sight of the priests for to minister to them.

12 For that that they ministered to those [or them] in the sight of their idols, and were made to the house of Israel into offending, either hurting, of wickedness; therefore I raised mine hand on them, saith the Lord God, and they bare their wickedness.

13 And they shall not nigh to me, that they use priesthood to me, neither they shall nigh to all my saintuary beside [the] holy of holy things, but they shall bear their shame, and their great trespasses which they did.

14 And I shall make them porters of the house, in all the service thereof, and in all things that be done therein.

15 Forsooth priests and deacons, the sons of Zadok, that kept the ceremonies of my saintuary, when the sons of Israel erred from me, they shall nigh to me, for to minister to me; and they shall stand in my sight, that they offer to me inner fatness and blood, saith the Lord God.

16 They shall enter into my saintuary, and they shall nigh to my board, that they minister to me, and keep my ceremonies.

17 And when they shall enter into the gates of the inner foreyard, they shall be clothed with linen clothes, neither any woolen thing shall go on them, when they minister in the gates of the inner foreyard, and within;

18 linen caps, either mitres, shall be in the heads of them, and linen breeches shall be in the loins of them, and they shall not be gird in sweat.

19 And when they shall go out at the outermore foreyard to the people, they shall despoil them of their clothes in which they ministered, and they shall lay those [or them] up in the chambers of the saintuary; and they shall clothe themselves in other clothes, and they shall not hallow my people in their clothes.

20 Forsooth they shall not shave their head[s], neither they shall nurse long hair, but they clipping shall clip their heads.

21 And each priest shall not drink wine, when he shall enter into the inner foreyard.

22 And priests shall not take for wives a widow, and a forsaken woman, but virgins of the seed of the house of Israel; but also they shall take a widow, which is the widow of a priest.

23 And they shall teach my people, what is betwixt holy thing and defouled; and they shall show to them, what is betwixt clean thing and unclean.

24 And when debate is, they shall stand in my dooms, and shall deem by my laws; and they shall keep my commandments in all my solemnities, and they shall hallow my sabbaths.

25 And they shall not enter to a dead man, lest they be defouled; no but to father, and mother, and to son, and daughter, and to brother, and sister that had not an husband, in which they shall be defouled.

26 And after that he is cleansed, seven days shall be numbered to him.

27 And in the day of his entering into the saintuary, to the inner foreyard, that he minister to me in the saintuary, he shall offer for his sin, saith the Lord God.

28 Forsooth none heritage shall be to them, I am the heritage of them; and ye shall not give to them a possession in Israel, for I am the possession of them.

29 They shall eat sacrifice, and that for sin, and that for trespass, and each avow [or vow] of Israel shall be theirs.

30 And the first things of all first engendered things, and all moist sacrifices, of all things that be offered, shall be the priests’ part; and ye shall give the first things of your meats to the priest, that he lay up blessing to his house.

31 Priests shall not eat anything dead by itself, and taken of a beast, of fowls, and of sheep.

CHAPTER 45

1 And when ye shall begin to part the land by parts, separate ye the first things to the Lord, an hallowed thing of the land, five and twenty thousand of reeds* in length, and ten thousand of reeds in breadth; it shall be hallowed in all the coast thereof by compass.

2 And it shall be hallowed on each part in five hundred reeds, by five hundred, in four sides by compass, and in fifty cubits into the suburbs thereof by compass.

3 And from this measure thou shalt mete the length of five and twenty thousand of reeds, and the breadth of ten thousand; and the temple and the holy of holy things shall be in it.

4 An hallowed thing of the land shall be to priests, the ministers of the saintuary, that nigh to the service of the Lord; and a place shall be to them into houses, and into the saintuary of holiness.

5 Soothly five and twenty thousand of length shall be, and ten thousand of breadth; but the deacons that minister to the house, they shall have in possession twenty chambers.

6 And ye shall give the possession of the city, five thousand reeds of breadth, and five and twenty thousand of length, by the separating of the saintuary, to all the house of Israel.

7 And ye shall give a portion to the prince on this side and on that side, beside the separating of the saintuary, and beside the possession of the city, against the face of separating of the saintuary, and against the face of possession of the city; from the side of the sea till to the sea, and from the side of the east till to the east, shall be of the possession of the prince. Forsooth the length by each of the parts, from the west end till to the east end of the land,

8 shall be possession to him in Israel; and the princes shall no more rob my people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel, by the lineages of them.

9 The Lord God saith these things, O! princes of Israel, suffice it to you, leave ye wickedness and raven, and do ye doom and rightfulness; part ye your nigh coasts from my people, saith the Lord God.

10 A just balance, and a just measure[of dry things]called ephah, and a just measure[of flowing things]called bath, shall be to you.

11 Ephah and bath shall be even, and of one measure, that a bath take the tenth part of the measure called a cor, and that an ephah take the tenth part of the measure called a cor; by the measure of cor shall be even weighing of those [or them].

12 Forsooth a shekel shall have twenty halfpence; certainly twenty shekels, and five and twenty shekels, and fifteen shekels make a bezant.

13 And these be the first fruits which ye shall take away; the sixth part of ephah of a cor of wheat, and the sixth part of ephah of a cor of barley.

14 Also the measure of oil; a bath of oil is the tenth part of cor, and ten baths make one cor; for ten baths fill one cor.

15 And one ram, either wether, of the flock of two hundred, of these which the men of Israel nourish, into sacrifice, and into burnt sacrifice, and into peaceable sacrifices, to cleanse for them, saith the Lord God.

16 All the people of the land shall be bound in these first fruits to the prince in Israel.

17 And on the part of the prince shall be burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices, and moist sacrifices, in solemnities, and in calends, either beginnings of months, and in sabbaths, and in all the solemnities of the house of Israel; he shall make ready the sacrifice for sin, and burnt sacrifice, and peaceable sacrifices, to cleanse for the house of Israel.

18 The Lord God saith these things, In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shalt take a calf without wem of the drove, and thou shalt cleanse the saintuary.

19 And the priest shall take of the blood of the beast that shall be for sin; and he shall put in the posts of the house, and in four corners of the height of the altar, and in the posts of the gate of the inner foreyard.

20 And thus thou shalt do in the seventh day of the month, for each that knew not, and was deceived by error, and thou shalt cleanse for the house.

21 In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, the solemnity of pask shall be to you; therf loaves shall be eaten by seven days.

22 And the prince shall make ready a calf for sin in that day, for himself and for all the people of the land.

23 And in the solemnity of seven days he shall make burnt sacrifice to the Lord; he shall offer seven calves and seven wethers without wem each day, by seven days, and each day a buck of goats, for sin.

24 And he shall make the sacrifice of ephah by a calf, and of ephah by a wether, and of oil the measure hin, by each ephah.

25 In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the solemnity, he shall make as those [or they] be before-said, by seven days, as well for sin, as for burnt sacrifice, and in sacrifice, and in oil.

CHAPTER 46

1 The Lord God saith these things, The gate of the inner foreyard, that beholdeth to the east, shall be closed six days in which work is done; for it shall be opened in the day of sabbath, but also it shall be opened in the day of calends.

2 And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate without-forth, and he shall stand in the threshold of the gate; and priests shall make the burnt sacrifice of him, and the peaceable sacrifices of him; and he shall worship on the threshold of the gate, and he shall go out; forsooth the gate shall not be closed till to the eventide.

3 And the people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate, in sabbaths, and in calends, before the Lord.

4 Forsooth the prince shall offer this burnt sacrifice to the Lord in the day of sabbath, six lambs without wem, and a wether without wem,

5 and the sacrifice of ephah by a wether; but in the lambs he shall offer the sacrifice which his hand shall give, and of oil the measure hin, by each ephah.

6 But in the day of calends he shall offer a calf without wem of the drove; and six lambs, and wethers shall be without wem,

7 and ephah by a calf. Also he shall make the sacrifice, ephah by a wether; but of lambs as his hand findeth, and of oil the measure hin, by each ephah.

8 And when the prince shall enter, enter he by the way of the porch of the gate, and go he out by the same way.

9 And when the people of the land shall enter in the sight of the Lord into solemnities, which people entereth by the gate of the north for to worship, go it out by the way of the south gate. Certainly the people that entereth by the way of the south gate, go out by the way of the north gate. It shall not turn again by the way of the gate by which it entered, but even against that way it shall go out.

10 Forsooth the prince shall be in the midst of them; he shall enter with them that enter, and he shall go out with them that go out.

11 And in fairs and in solemnities, the sacrifice of ephah shall be by a calf, and ephah by a wether; in lambs shall be sacrifice as his hand findeth, and of oil the measure hin, by each ephah.

12 Forsooth when the prince maketh a willful burnt sacrifice, either willful peaceable sacrifices to the Lord, the gate that beholdeth to the east shall be opened to him; and he shall make his burnt sacrifice, and his peaceable sacrifices, as it is wont to be done in the day of sabbath; and he shall go out, and the gate shall be closed after that he went out.

13 And he shall make burnt sacrifice each day to the Lord, a lamb without wem of the same year; ever he shall make it in the morrowtide,

14 and he shall make sacrifice on it full early; early he shall make the sixth part of ephah, and of oil the third part of hin, that it be meddled [or mingled] with the flour of wheat; it is a lawful sacrifice, continual and everlasting, to the Lord.

15 He shall make ready a lamb, and sacrifice, and oil, full early; he shall make ready early [the] burnt sacrifice everlasting.

16 The Lord God saith these things, If the prince giveth an house to any of his sons, the heritage of him shall be of his sons; they shall wield it by heritage.

17 Forsooth if he giveth a bequest of his heritage to one of his servants, it shall be his till to the year of remission, and it shall turn again to the prince; forsooth the heritage of him shall be to his sons.

18 And the prince shall not take by violence of the heritage of the people, and of the possession of them; but of his own possession he shall give heritage to his sons, that my people be not scattered, each man from his possession.

19 And he led me in by the entering, that was on the side of the gate, into the chambers of the saintuary to the priests, which chambers beheld to the north; and there was a place going to the west.

20 And he said to me, This is the place where priests shall seethe, both for sin [of doing], and for trespass [of leaving undone]; where they shall seethe sacrifice, that they bear it not out into the outermore foreyard, and the people be hallowed.

21 And he led me out into the outermore foreyard, and led me about by the four corners of the foreyard; and lo! a little foreyard was in the corner of the foreyard, all little fore-yards by the corners of the foreyard;

22 in four corners of the foreyard little foreyards were disposed, of forty cubits by length, and of thirty by breadth; four were of one measure;

23 and a wall by compass went about four little foreyards; and kitchens were made under the porches by compass.

24 And he said to me, This is the house of kitchens, in which the ministers of the house of the Lord shall seethe the sacrifice of the people.

CHAPTER 47

1 And he turned me to the gate of the house of the Lord; and lo! waters went out from under the threshold of the house to the east; for the face of the house beheld to the east; forsooth the waters came down into the right side of the temple, to the south part of the altar.

2 And he led me out by the way of the north gate, and he turned me to the way without the outermore gate, to the way that beholdeth to the east; and lo! waters flowing from the right side,

3 when the man that had a cord in his hand went out to the east. And he meted a thousand cubits, and led me over through the water till to the heels.

4 And again he meted a thousand, and led me over through the water till to the knees. And again he meted a thousand, and led me over through the water till to the reins.

5 And he meted a thousand, by the strand [or stream] which I might not pass [over]; for the deep waters of the strand had waxed great, that may not be waded over.

6 And he said to me, Certainly, son of man, thou hast seen. And he led me, and he turned me to the river of the strand [or stream].

7 And when I had turned me, lo! in the river of the strand [or stream] full many trees on ever either side.

8 And he said to me, These waters that go out to the heaps of sand of the east, and go down into [the] plain places of desert, shall enter into the sea, and shall go out; and the waters shall be healed.

9 And each living beast that creep-eth, shall live, whither ever the strand [or stream] shall come; and fishes many enough shall be, after that these waters come thither, and [they] shall be healed, and shall live; all things to which the strand [or stream] shall come, shall live.

10 And fishers shall stand on those waters; from Engedi till to Eneglaim shall be drying of nets; full many kinds of fishes thereof shall be, as the fishes of the great sea, of full great multitude;

11 but in the brinks thereof and in marishes waters shall not be healed, for those [or they] shall be given into places of making of salt.

12 And each tree bearing fruit shall grow on the strand [or stream], in the rivers thereof on each side; a leaf thereof shall not fall down, and the fruit thereof shall not fail; by all months it shall bear first fruits, for the waters thereof shall go out of the saintuary; and the fruits thereof shall be into meat, and the leaves thereof to medicine.

13 The Lord God saith these things, This is the end, in which ye shall wield the land, in the twelve lineages of Israel; for Joseph hath double part.

14 Forsooth ye shall wield it, each man evenly as his brother; on which I raised mine hand, that I should give to your fathers; and this land shall fall to you into possession.

15 This is the end of the land at the north coast, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, to men coming to Zedad,

16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is in the midst betwixt Damascus and [the] nigh coasts of Hamath, to the house of Hatticon, which is beside the ends of Hauran.

17 And the end shall be from the sea till to the porch of Enan, the end of Damascus, and from the north till to the north, the end of Hamath; forsooth this is the north coast.

18 Certainly the east coast from the midst of Hauran, and from the midst of Damascus, and from the midst of Gilead, and from the midst of the land of Israel, is Jordan, parting at the east sea, also ye shall mete the east coast.

19 Forsooth the south coast of midday is from Tamar till to the waters of against-saying of Kadesh; and the strand [or stream] till to the great sea, and the south coast of midday.

20 And the coast of the sea is the great sea, from the nigh coast by [the] straight, till thou come to Hamath; this is the coast of the sea.

21 And ye shall part this land to you by the lineages of Israel;

22 and ye shall send it into heritage to you, and to comelings that come to you, that engendered sons in the midst of you; and they shall be to you as men born in the land among the sons of Israel; with you they shall part possession, in the midst of the line-ages of Israel.

23 Forsooth in whatever lineage a comeling is, there ye shall give possession to him, saith the Lord God.

CHAPTER 48

1 And these be the names of lineages, from the ends of the north, beside the way [of] Hethlon, to men going to Hamath, the porch of Enan, the term of Damascus, to the north beside Hamath; and the east coast shall be to it the sea, one part shall be of Dan.

2 And from the end of Dan, from the east coast till to the coast of the sea, one part shall be of Asher.

3 And on the end of Asher, from the east coast till to the coast of the sea, one of Naphtali.

4 And on the term of Naphtali, from the east coast till to the coast of the sea, one of Manasseh.

5 And on the end of Manasseh, from the east coast till to the coast of the sea, one of Ephraim.

6 And on the end of Ephraim, from the east coast till to the coast of the sea, one of Reuben.

7 And on the end of Reuben, from the east coast till to the coast of the sea, one of Judah.

8 And on the end of Judah, from the east coast till to the coast of the sea, shall be the place of the first fruits, which ye shall set apart by five and twenty thousand reeds* of breadth and of length [or in five and twenty thousand rods of breadth and of length], as all parts be, from the east coast till to the coast of the sea; and the saintuary shall be in the midst thereof.

9 The place of the first fruits which ye shall set apart to the Lord, the length shall be in five and twenty thousand, and the breadth in ten thousand.

10 Forsooth these shall be the first fruits of the saintuary of priests; to the north five and twenty thousand of length, and to the sea ten thousand of breadth; but to the east ten thousand of breadth, and to the south five and twenty thousand of length; and the saintuary of the Lord shall be in the midst thereof.

11 The saintuary shall be to priests of the sons of Zadok, that kept my ceremonies, and erred not, when the sons of Israel erred, as also [the] deacons erred.

12 And this portion of the place of the first fruits shall be to them of the first fruits of the land, the holy of holy things, by the term of Levites, either deacons.

13 But also to deacons in like manner by the coasts of priests shall be five and twenty thousand of length, and ten thousand of breadth; all the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand.

14 And they shall not sell thereof, neither shall exchange any part of their portion; and the place of the first fruits of the land shall not be trans-lated, for those [or they] be hallowed to the Lord.

15 Soothly the five thousand, that be left over in breadth, by five and twenty thousand, shall be the unholy things, either common things, of the city, into dwelling place, and into suburbs; and the city shall be in the midst thereof.

16 And these shall be the measures thereof; at the north coast, five hundred and four thousand of reeds, and at the south coast, five hundred and four thousand, and at the east coast, five hundred and four thousand, and at the west coast, five hundred and four thousand.

17 Forsooth the suburbs of the city at the north shall be two hundred and fifty, and at the south two hundred and fifty, and at the east two hundred and fifty, and at the sea, that is, the west, two hundred and fifty.

18 But that that is residue in length, by the place of the first fruits of the saintuary, ten thousand into the east, and ten thousand into the west, shall be as the place of the first fruits of the saintuary; and the fruits shall be into loaves to them that serve the city.

19 Forsooth they that serve in the city shall work that land, anyone of all the lineages of Israel.

20 All the place of the first fruits of five and twenty thousand, by five and twenty thousand in square, shall be separated into the place of the first fruits of [the] saintuary, and into possession of the city.

21 Forsooth that that is residue, shall be the prince’s part, on each side of the place of the first fruits of [the] saintuary, and of the possession of the city, even against five and twenty thousand of the place of the first fruits, till to the east end; but also to the sea even against five and twenty thousand, till to the end of the sea, shall be in like manner in the parts of the prince; and the place of the first fruits of the saintuary, and the saintuary of the temple shall be in the midst of it.

22 Forsooth from the possession of deacons, and from the possession of the city, which is in the midst of parts of the prince, shall be into the term, either portion, of Judah, and into the term, either portion, of Benjamin; and it shall pertain to the prince.

23 And to [the] other lineages, from the east coast till to the west coast, one to Benjamin.

24 And against the term, either portion, of Benjamin, from the east coast till to the west coast, one to Simeon.

25 And on the term of Simeon, from the east coast till to the west coast, one to Issachar.

26 And on the term of Issachar, from the east coast till to the west coast, one to Zebulun.

27 And on the term of Zebulun, from the east coast till to the west coast, one to Gad.

28 And on the term of Gad, to the coast of the south into midday, [or southward]; and the end shall be from Tamar till to the waters of against-saying of Kadesh, and the heritage against the great sea.

29 This is the land which ye shall send into part to the lineages of Israel, and these be the partings of those [or them], saith the Lord God.

30 And these be the goings out of the city; from the north coast thou shalt mete five hundred and four thousand reeds.

31 And [the] gates of the city shall be named in all the lineages of Israel, three gates at the north; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.

32 And at the east coast, five hundred and four thousand reeds, and three gates; one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan.

33 And at the south coast thou shalt mete five hundred and four thousand reeds, and three gates shall be of those [or them]; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun.

34 And at the west coast, five hundred and four thousand reeds, three gates of those [or them]; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali.

35 By compass eighteen miles; and the name of the city shall be from that day, The Lord is there. Amen.

* CHAPTER 10:1 Imagery from Chapter 1 repeated here.

* CHAPTER 40:9 In the original text, throughout the rest of Ezekiel, ‘front/s’ and ‘post/s’ are used interchangeably. To avoid confusion, and to enhance comprehension, only ‘post/s’ will be used here.

† CHAPTER 40:14 In the original text, throughout the rest of Ezekiel, both ‘foreyard’ and ‘hall’ are used to express a ‘court’ or a ‘courtyard’, at times within the same sentence (‘hall’ is also used to express a ‘porch’, and once, in a misprint, a ‘wall’; ‘court’ is found elsewhere in the “Wycliffe Bible”). To avoid confusion, and to enhance comprehension, only ‘foreyard’ will be used here.

‡ CHAPTER 40:16 In the original text, throughout the rest of Ezekiel, ‘porch/es’ and ‘hall(way)/s’ are used interchangeably. To avoid confusion, and to enhance comprehension, only ‘porch/es’ will be used here.

§ CHAPTER 40:17 In the original text, throughout the rest of Ezekiel, ‘treasury’ and ‘treasuries’ are used where other translations have ‘chamber/s’, ‘room/s’, ‘cell/s’, etc. (‘chamber’ and ‘cell’ are found elsewhere in the “Wycliffe Bible”). To avoid confusion, and to enhance comprehension, only ‘chamber/s’ will be used here.

* CHAPTER 45:1 For verses 1-6, some modern trans-lations state the measurements as cubits, not reeds or rods.

* CHAPTER 48:8 For verses 8-35, some modern trans-lations state the measurements as cubits, not reeds or rods.

DANIEL

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DANIEL

CHAPTER 1

1 In the third year of the realm of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchad-nezzar, and the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem, and besieged it.

2 And the Lord betook in his hand Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, and he took a part of the vessels of the house of God; and he bare out those into the land of Shinar, into the house of his god, and he took the vessels into the house of treasure of his god.

3 And the king said to Ashpenaz, sovereign of his honest servants and chaste [or provost of geldings], that he should bring in of the sons of Israel, and of the king’s seed, and the children of tyrants, [or strong men],

4 in which were no wem, fair in shape, and learned in all wisdom, wary in knowing, and taught in chastising, either learning, and that might stand in the palace of the king, that he should teach them the letters and language of Chaldees.

5 And the king ordained to them lifelode by each day of his meats, and of the wine whereof he drank; that they nourished by three years, should stand afterward before the sight of the king.

6 Therefore Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, of the sons of Judah, were among them.

7 And the sovereign of the honest servants and chaste putted to them names; to Daniel he putted Belte-shazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach, and to Azariah, Abednego.

8 Forsooth Daniel purposed in his heart, that he should not be defouled of the board of the king, neither of the wine of his drink; and he prayed the sovereign of the honest servants and chaste, that he should not be defouled.

9 Forsooth God gave grace and mercy to Daniel, in the sight of the prince of honest servants and chaste.

10 And the prince of honest servants and chaste said to Daniel, I dread my lord the king, that ordained to you meat and drink; and if he see your faces leaner than other young waxing men, your even-elders, ye shall condemn mine head to the king.

11 And Daniel said to Melzar, whom the prince of honest servants and chaste had ordained on Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

12 I beseech, assay thou us thy servants by ten days, and pottages be given to us to eat, and water to drink;

13 and behold thou our cheers, and the cheers of children that eat the king’s meat; and as thou seest, so do thou with thy servants.

14 And when he heard such a word, he assayed them ten days.

15 Forsooth after ten days the cheers of them appeared better and fatter, than all the children that ate the king’s meat.

16 Certainly Melzar took [away] the meats, and the wine of the drink of them, and gave them pottages.

17 Forsooth to these children God gave knowing and learning in each book, and in all wisdom; but to Daniel God gave understanding of all visions and dreams.

18 Therefore when the days were [ful] filled, after which the king said, that they should be brought in, the sovereign of honest servants and chaste brought in them, in the sight of Nebuchadnezzar.

19 And when the king had spoken to them, such were not found of all, as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; and they stood in the sight of the king.

20 And each word of wisdom and of understanding, which the king asked of them, he found in them tenfold, over all false diviners and astronomers or astrologers that were in all his realm.

21 Forsooth Daniel was there till to the first year of King Cyrus.

CHAPTER 2

1 In the second year of the realm of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar saw a dream; and his spirit was afeared, and his dream fled away from him.

2 Therefore the king commanded, that the false diviners, and astronomers, and witches, and Chaldees should be called together, that they should tell to the king his dreams; and when they were come, they stood before the king.

3 And the king said to them, I saw a dream, and I am shamed in mind, and I know not what I saw.

4 And Chaldees answered the king by Syriack language, King, live thou without end; say thy dream to thy servants, and we shall show to thee the expounding thereof.

5 And the king answered, and said to [the] Chaldees, The word is gone away from me; if ye show not to me the dream, and the expounding thereof, ye shall perish, and your houses shall be forfeited.

6 Forsooth if ye tell the dream, and the expounding thereof, ye shall take of me meeds and gifts, and much honour; therefore show ye to me the dream, and the interpreting thereof.

7 They answered the second time, and said, the king say the dream to his servants, and we shall show the interpreting thereof.

8 The king answered, and said, certainly I know, that ye again-buy the time, and know that the word is gone away from me.

9 Therefore if ye show not to me the dream, one sentence is of you, for ye make an interpreting both false and full of deceit, that ye speak to me till the time pass; therefore say ye the dream to me, that I know that ye speak also the very interpreting thereof.

10 Therefore [the] Chaldees answered before the king, and said, King, no man is on earth that may [ful] fill thy word; but neither any great man and mighty of kings asketh such a word of any false diviner, and astronomer, and of a man of Chaldea.

11 For the word which thou, O king, askest, is grievous, neither any shall be found that shall show it in the sight of the king, except gods, whose living is not with men.

12 And when this word was heard, the king commanded, in strong vengeance and in great ire that all [the] wise men of Babylon should perish.

13 And by the sentence gone out, the wise men were to be slain; and Daniel and his fellows were sought, that they should perish.

14 Then Daniel asked of the law and sentence of Arioch, prince of [the] chivalry of the king that was gone out to slay the wise men of Babylon.

15 And he asked him that had taken power of the king, for what cause so cruel a sentence went out from the face of the king. Therefore when Arioch had showed the thing to Daniel,

16 Daniel entered, and prayed the king, that he should give time to him to show the solving to the king.

17 And he entered into his house, and showed the need to Hananiah, and Mishael, and Azariah, his fellows,

18 that they should ask mercy of the face of God of heaven on this sacrament, or hid truth; and that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with other wise men of Babylon.

19 Then the private * was showed to Daniel by a vision in night. And Daniel blessed God of heaven,

20 and said, the name of the Lord be blessed from the world, and till into the world, for wisdom and strength be his;

21 and he changeth times and ages, he translateth realms and ordaineth; he giveth wisdom to wise men, and knowing to them that understand teaching, either chastising;

22 he showeth deep things and hid, and he knoweth things set in darknesses, and light is with him.

23 God of our fathers, I acknowledge to thee, and I praise thee, for thou hast given wisdom and strength to me; and now thou hast showed to me those things which we prayed thee, for thou hast opened to us the word of the king.

24 After these things Daniel entered to Arioch, whom the king had ordained, that he should lose the wise men of Babylon, and thus he spake to him, Lose thou not the wise men of Babylon; lead thou me in before the sight of the king, and I shall tell the solving to the king.

25 Then Arioch hasting led in Daniel to the king, and said to him, I have found a man of the sons of passing over of Judah, that shall tell the solving to the king.

26 The king answered, and said to Daniel, to whom the name was Belteshazzar, whether guessest thou, that thou mayest verily show to me the dream which I saw, and the interpreting thereof?

27 And Daniel answered before the king, and said, the private which the king asketh, [the] wise men, and astronomers, and false diviners, and lookers of altars, may not show to the king.

28 But God is in heaven that showeth privates, which hath showed to thee, thou king Nebuchadnezzar, what things shall come in the last times. Thy dream and visions of thine head, in thy bed, be such.

29 Thou, king, begannest to think in thy bed, what was to coming after these things; and he that showeth privates, showed to thee what things shall come.

30 And this sacrament, [or hid truth], is showed to me not by wisdom which is in me more than in all living men, but that the interpreting should be made open to the king, and thou shouldest know the thoughts of thy soul.

31 Thou, king, sawest, and lo! As one great image; that image was great, and high in stature, and stood before thee, and the looking thereof was fearedful.

32 The head of this image was of best gold, but the breast and arms were of silver; certainly the womb and thighs were of brass,

33 but the legs were of iron; forsooth some part of the feet was of iron, some was of earth.

34 Thou sawest thus, till a stone was cut down out of the hill, without hands, and smote the image in the iron feet thereof and earthen, and all-brake those.

35 Then the iron, tilestone, either earthen vessel, brass, silver, and gold, were all-broken altogether, and driven as into a dead spark of a large summer hall, that be ravished of wind, and no place is found to those [or in them]; forsooth the stone, that smote the image, was made a great hill [or mountain], and filled all earth.

36 This is the dream. Also, thou king, we shall say before thee the interpreting thereof.

37 Thou art king of kings, and God of heaven gave to thee realm, strength, and empire, and glory;

38 and he gave in thine hand all things in which the sons of men, and the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air dwell, and ordained all things under thy lordship; therefore thou art the golden head.

39 And another realm less than thou shall rise after thee; and the third realm, another of brass, that shall have the empire of all earth.

40 And the fourth realm shall be as iron; as iron maketh less, and maketh tame all things, so it shall make less, and shall all-break all these realms.

41 Forsooth that thou sawest a part of the feet, and fingers or toes of earth, [or clay], of a potter, and a part of iron, the realm shall be parted; which nevertheless shall rise up out of the planting of the iron, by that that thou sawest iron mingled with a tilestone of clay,

42 and the toes of the feet, in part of iron, and in part of earth, in part the realm shall be firm, and in part broken.

43 Forsooth that thou sawest iron mingled with a tilestone of clay, soothly those [or they] shall be mingled together with man’s seed; but those [or they] shall not cleave to themselves, as iron may not be meddled [or mingled] with tilestone.

44 Forsooth in the days of those realms, God of heaven shall raise up a realm, that shall not be destroyed without end, and his realm shall not be given to another people; it shall make less, and waste all these realms, and it shall stand without end,

45 by this that thou sawest, that a stone was cut down out of the hill, without hands, and made less, [or brake], the tilestone, and the iron, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold. [The] Great God hath showed to the king what things shall come afterward; and the dream is true, and the interpreting thereof is faithful.

46 Then king Nebuchadnezzar fell down on his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded sacrifices and incense to be brought, that those should be sacrificed to him.

47 Therefore the king spake, and said to Daniel, Verily your God is God of gods, and Lord of kings, that showeth mysteries, for thou mightest open this sacrament, or hid truth.

48 Then the king raised up Daniel on high, and gave many gifts and great to him; and ordained him prince and prefect, either chief justice, over all the provinces of Babylon, and master over all the wise men of Babylon.

49 Forsooth Daniel asked of the king, and ordained Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over all the works of the province of Babylon; but Daniel himself was in the gates of the king.

CHAPTER 3

1 Nebuchadnezzar, the king, made a golden image, in the height of sixty cubits, and in the breadth of six cubits; and he setted it in the field of Dura, of the province of Babylon.

2 Therefore Nebuchadnezzar sent to gather together the wise men, magistrates, and judges, and dukes, and tyrants, [or strong men], and prefects, and all princes of countries, that they should come together to the hallowing of the image which the king Nebuchadnezzar had raised [up].

3 Then the wise men, magistrates, and judges, and dukes, and tyrants, or strong men, and best men that were set in powers, and all the princes of countries were gathered together, that they should come together to the hallowing of the image, which the king Nebuchadnezzar had raised [up]. Forsooth they stood in the sight of the image, which Nebuchadnezzar had set up;

4 and a beadle cried mightily, it is said to you, peoples, kindreds, and languages;

5 in the hour in which ye hear the sound of trump, and of pipe, and of harp, of sambuca, and of psaltery, and of symphony, and of all kind of musics, fall ye down, and worship the golden image which the king Nebu-chadnezzar made.

6 Soothly if any man falleth not down, and worshippeth not, in the same hour he shall be sent into a furnace of fire burning.

7 Therefore after these things, anon as all peoples heard the sound of trump, and of pipe, and of harp, of sambuca, and of psaltery or lyre, of symphony, and of all kind of musics, all peoples, lineages, and languages fell down, and worshipped the golden image which the king Nebuchadnezzar had made.

8 And anon in that time men of Chaldea nighed, and accused the Jews,

9 and said to the king Nebuchad-nezzar, King, live thou without end.

10 Thou, king, hast set a decree, that each man that heareth the sound of trump, of pipe, and of harp, of sambuca, and of psaltery, and of symphony, and of all kind of musics, bow down himself, and worship the golden image;

11 forsooth if any man falleth not down, and worshippeth not, be he sent into the furnace of fire burning.

12 Therefore men Jews be, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, which thou hast ordained on the works of the country of Babylon. Thou king, these men have despised thy decree; they honour not thy gods, and they worship not the golden image, which thou raisedest.

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar commanded, in strong vengeance and in wrath, that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego should be brought; which were brought anon in the sight of the king.

14 And the king Nebuchadnezzar pronounced, and said to them, whether verily Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye honour not my gods, and worship not the golden image which I made?

15 Now therefore be ye ready, in whatever hour ye hear the sound of trump, of pipe, of harp, of sambuca, of psaltery, and of symphony, and of all kind of musics, bow ye down you, and worship the image which I made; that if ye worship not, in the same hour ye shall be sent into the furnace of fire burning; and who is God that shall deliver you from mine hand?

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered, and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, It needeth not, that we answer of this thing to thee.

17 For why our God, whom we worship, may ravish us from the chimney of fire burning, and may deliver from thine hands, thou king.

18 That if he do not, be it known to thee, thou king, that we honour not thy gods, and we worship not the golden image which thou hast raised.

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with strong vengeance, and the beholding of his face was changed on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And he commanded that the furnace should be made hotter sevenfold than that it was wont to be made hot.

20 And he commanded to the strongest men of his host that they should bind the feet of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and send them into the furnace of fire burning.

21 And anon those men were bound, with breeches, and caps, and shoes, and clothes, and were sent into the midst of the furnace of fire burning;

22 for why the commandment of the king constrained. Forsooth the furnace was made full hot; certainly the flame of the fire killed those men that had sent Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace.

23 Soothly these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound in the midst of the chimney of fire burning.

24 Then king Nebuchadnezzar was astonied, and rose hastily, and said to his best men, whether we sent not three men fettered into the midst of the fire? Which answered the king, and said, Verily, king.

25 The king answered, and said, lo! I see four men unbound, and going in the midst of the fire, and nothing of corruption is in them; and the likeness of the fourth is like the son of God.

26 Then the king Nebuchadnezzar nighed to the door of the furnace of fire burning, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the servants of high God living [or of high living God], go ye out, and come ye. And anon Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego went out of the midst of the fire.

27 And the wise men, and magistrates, and judges, and mighty men of the king were gathered together, and beheld those men, for the fire had nothing of power in the bodies of them, and an hair of their head was not burnt; also the breeches of them were not changed, and the odour of fire had not passed by them.

28 And Nebuchadnezzar brake out, and said, blessed be the God of them, that is, of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that sent his angel, and delivered his servants that believed into him, and changed the word of the king, and gave their bodies, that they should not serve, and that they should not worship any god, except their God alone.

29 Therefore this decree is set of me, that each people, and languages, and lineages, whoever speaketh blasphemy against God of Shadrach, of Meshach, and of Abednego, perish, and his house be destroyed; for none other is God that may save so.

30 Then the king advanced Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the province of Babylon; and sent into all the land an epistle, containing these words.

CHAPTER 4

1 Nebuchadnezzar, the king, writeth thus to all peoples, [folks], and languages, that dwell in all earth, peace be multiplied to you.

2 High God made at me miracles and marvels; therefore it pleased me to preach his miracles,

3 for those be great, and his marvels, for those be strong; and his realm is an everlasting realm, and his power is into generation and into generation.

4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was restful in mine house, and flourishing in my palace;

5 I saw a dream that made me afeared; and my thoughts in my bed, and the sights of mine head, disturbed me.

6 And a decree was set forth by me, that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought in before my sight, and that they should show to me the solving of the dream.

7 Then false diviners, astronomers, Chaldees, and beholders of altars entered; and I told the dream in the sight of them, and they showed not to me the solving thereof,

8 till the fellow in office, Daniel, to whom the name was Belteshazzar, by the name of my god, entered in my sight, the Daniel hath the spirit of holy gods in himself; and I spake the dream before him.

9 Belteshazzar, prince of diviners, whom I know, that thou hast in thee the spirit of holy gods, and each sacrament, either private, is not impossible to thee, tell thou to me the visions of my dreams which I saw, and the solving of those.

10 This is the vision of mine head in my bed. I saw, and lo! A tree was in the midst of earth, and the highness thereof was full great.

11 And the tree was great and strong, and the height thereof touched heaven, and the beholding thereof was unto the ends of all earth.

12 The leaves thereof were full fair, and the fruit thereof was full much, and the meat of all was in it; beasts and wild beasts dwelled under it, and birds of the air lived in the branches thereof, and each man ate of it.

13 Thus I saw in the vision of mine head, on my bed. And lo! A watcher, and holy came down from heaven,

14 and he cried strongly, and said thus, Hew ye down the tree, and cut you down the boughs thereof, and shake ye away the leaves thereof, and scatter ye abroad the fruits thereof; beasts flee away, that be under it, and birds from the boughs thereof.

15 Nevertheless suffer you the seed of the roots thereof in [the] earth, and be he bound with a band of iron and of brass, in herbs that be withoutforth; and in the dew of heaven be he dyed, and his part be with wild beasts in the herb of the earth.

16 His heart be changed from man’s heart, and the heart of a wild beast be given to him, and seven times be changed on him.

17 In the sentence of the watchers it is deemed, and it is the word and asking of saints, till living men know, that [the] high God is Lord in the realm of men; and he shall give it to whomever he will, and he shall ordain on it the meekest man.

18 I, Nebuchadnezzar, the king, saw this dream. Therefore thou, Belteshazzar, tell hastily the interpreting, for all the wise men of my realm be not able to say to me the solving; but thou mayest, for the spirit of [the] holy gods is in thee.

19 Then Daniel, to whom the name was Belteshazzar, began to think privily within himself, as in one hour, and his thoughts disturbed him. Forsooth the king answered, and said, Belteshazzar, the dream and the interpreting thereof, disturb not thee. Belteshazzar answered, and said, my lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpreting thereof be to thine enemies.

20 The tree which thou sawest high and strong, whose height stretched till to heaven, and the beholding thereof into each land?

21 and the fairest branches thereof, and the fruit thereof full much, and the meat of all in it, and beasts of the field dwelling under it, and the birds of the air dwelling in the boughs thereof,

22 thou art, king, that art magnified, and waxedest strong, and thy greatness increased, and came till to heaven, and thy power into the ends of all earth.

23 Soothly that the king saw a watcher and holy come down from heaven, and say, Hew ye down the tree, and destroy ye it, nevertheless leave ye the seed of roots thereof in earth, and be he bound with iron and brass, in herbs withoutforth; and be he besprinkled with the dew of heaven, and his meat be with wild beasts, till seven times be changed on him;

24 this is the interpreting of the sentence of the Highest, which sentence is come on my lord, the king.

25 They shall cast thee out from men, and thy dwelling shall be with beasts and wild beasts, and thou shalt eat hay, as an ox doeth, but also thou shalt be beshed with the dew of heaven, also seven times shall be changed on thee, till thou know that [the] high God is Lord over the realm of men, and giveth it to whomever he will.

26 Forsooth that he commanded that the seed of roots thereof, that is, of the tree, should be left, thy realm shall still dwell to thee, after that thou knowest that the power is of heaven.

27 Wherefore, king, my counsel please thee, and again-buy thy sins with alms-deeds, and again-buy thy wickednesses with mercies of poor men; in hap God shall forgive thy trespasses.

28 All these things came on Nebuchadnezzar, the king.

29 After the end of twelve months he walked in the hall of the palace of Babylon;

30 and the king answered, and said, whether this is not Babylon, the great city, which I builded into the house of the realm, in the might of my strength, and in the glory of my fairness?

31 When the word was yet in the mouth of the king, a voice fell down from heaven, Nebuchadnezzar, king, it is said to thee, Thy realm is passed from thee,

32 and they shall cast thee out from men, and thy dwelling shall be with beasts and wild beasts; thou shalt eat hay, as an ox doeth, and seven times shall be changed on thee, till thou know that [the] high God is Lord in the realm of men, and giveth it to whomever he will.

33 In the same hour the word was fulfilled [up] on Nebuchadnezzar, and he was cast out from men, and he ate hay, as an ox doeth, and his body was coloured with the dew of heaven, till his hairs waxed at the likeness of eagles’ feathers, and his nails as the nails, [or claws], of birds.

34 Therefore after the end of days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised mine eyes to heaven, and my wit was yielded to me; and I blessed the Highest, and I praised, and glorified him that liveth without end; for why his power is everlasting power, and his realm is in generation and into generation.

35 And all the dwellers of earth be areckoned into nought at him; for by his will he doeth, both in the hosts of heaven, and in the dwellers of earth, and none is that against-standeth his hand, and saith to him, Why didest thou so?

36 In that time my wit turned again to me, and I came fully to the honour and fairness of my realm, and my figure turned again to me; and my best men and my magistrates sought me, and I was set in my realm, and my great doing was increased even greater to me.

37 Now therefore I Nebuchadnezzar praise, and magnify, and glorify the king of heaven; for all his works be true, and all his ways be dooms; and he may make meek, [or low], them that go in pride.

CHAPTER 5

1 Years later, Belshazzar, the king, made a great feast to his best men a thousand, and each man drank after his age.

2 Forsooth the king, then drunken, commanded that the golden and silveren vessels should be brought forth, which Nebuchadnezzar, his father*, had borne out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, that the king, and his best men, his wives, and his concubines, should drink in those vessels.

3 Then the golden vessels and silveren, which he had borne out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, were brought forth; and the king, and his best men, and his wives, and his concubines, drank in those vessels.

4 They drank wine, and praised their gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, and of iron, and of tree, and of stone.

5 In the same hour fingers appeared, as of the hand of a man, writing over against the candlestick, in the plain part of the wall of the king’s hall; and the king beheld the fingers of the hand that was writing.

6 Then the face of the king was changed, and his thoughts disturbed him; and the jointures of his reins were loosed, and his knees were hurtled to themselves together.

7 Therefore the king cried strongly, that they should bring in astronomers, Chaldees, and false diviners by look-ing of altars. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever shall read this scripture, and maketh open the interpreting thereof to me, shall be clothed in purple, and he shall have a golden band in the neck, and he shall be the third in my realm.

8 Then all the wise men of the king entered, and might not read the scripture, neither show to the king the interpreting thereof.

9 Wherefore king Belshazzar was disturbed enough, and his cheer was changed, but also his best men were disturbed.

10 Forsooth the queen entered into the house of feast, for the thing that had befelled to the king, and his best men; and she spake, and said, King, live thou without end. Thy thoughts disturb not thee, and thy face be not changed.

11 A man is in thy realm, that hath the spirit of holy gods in himself, and in the days of thy father knowing and wisdom were found in him; for why and Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, made him prince of astronomers, of enchant-ers, of Chaldees, and of false diviners by looking on altars; soothly thy father, thou king, did this;

12 for [the] more spirit, and more prudent, and understanding, and interpreting of dreams, and showing of privates, and solving of bound things were found in him, that is, in Daniel, to whom the king putted the name Belteshazzar. Now therefore Daniel be called, and he shall tell the interpreting.

13 Therefore Daniel was brought in before the king. To whom the fore-said king said, Art thou Daniel, of the sons of the captivity of Judah, whom my father, the king, brought from Judah?

14 I have heard of thee, that thou hast in thee the spirit of gods, and more knowing, and understanding, and wisdom be found in thee.

15 And now wise men, astronomers, entered in my sight, to read this scripture, and to show to me the interpreting thereof; and they might not say to me the understanding of this word.

16 Certainly I have heard of thee, that thou mayest interpret dark things, and unbind bound things; therefore if thou mayest read the scripture, and show to me the interpreting thereof, thou shalt be clothed in purple, and thou shalt have a golden band about thy neck, and thou shalt be the third prince in my realm.

17 To which things Daniel answered, and said before the king, Thy gifts be to thee, and give thou to another man the gifts of thine house; forsooth, king, I shall read the scripture to thee, and I shall show to thee the inter-preting thereof.

18 O! thou king, [the] highest God gave realm, and great worship, and glory, and honour, to Nebuchadnezzar, thy father.

19 And for [the] great worship which he had given to that Nebuchadnezzar, all peoples, lineages, and languages, trembled and dreaded him; he killed which he would, and he smote which he would, and he enhanced which he would, and he made low which he would.

20 Forsooth when his heart was raised [up], and his spirit was made obstinate in pride, he was put down off the seat of his realm; and his glory was taken away,

21 and he was cast out from the sons of men; but also his heart was set [or put] with beasts, and his dwelling was with wild asses; also he ate hay as an ox doeth, and his body was coloured with the dew of heaven, till he knew, that the Highest hath power in the realm of men, and he shall raise on it whomever he will.

22 And thou, Belshazzar, the son of him, meekedest not thine heart, when thou knewest all these things;

23 but thou were raised [up] against the Lord of heaven, and the vessels of his house were brought before thee, and thou, and thy best men, and thy wives, and thy concubines, drank wine in those vessels; and thou praisedest gods of silver, and of gold, and of brass, and of iron, and of tree, and of stone, that see not, neither hear, neither feel; certainly thou glorifiedest not God, that hath thy blast or breathe, and all thy ways in his hand.

24 Therefore the finger of the hand was sent of him, which hand wrote this thing that is written.

25 Soothly this is the scripture which is described, Mene, Tekel, Phares.

26 And this is the interpreting of the word. Mene, God hath numbered thy realm, and hath [ful] filled it;

27 Tekel, thou art weighed in a balance, and thou art found having less;

28 Phares, thy realm is parted, and is given to Medes and Persians.

29 Then, for the king commanded, Daniel was clothed in purple, and a golden bie was given about his neck; and it was preached of him, that he had power, and was the third in the realm.

30 In the same night, Belshazzar, the king of Chaldees, was slain;

31 and Darius of Media or of Medes was successor to the realm, and he was two and sixty years eld.

CHAPTER 6

1 It pleased Darius, and he ordained sixscore dukes over the realm, that they should be in all his realm.

2 And over them he ordained three princes, of which Daniel was one; that the dukes should yield reason to them, and that the king should not suffer any dis-ease.

3 Therefore Daniel overcame all the princes and dukes, for [the] more spirit of God was in him. Certainly the king thought to ordain him on all the realm.

4 Wherefore princes and dukes, either prefects, sought to find occasion to Daniel, of the side of the king; and they might find no cause and suspicion, for he was faithful, and no blame and suspicion was found in him.

5 Therefore those men said, We shall not find any occasion to this Daniel, no but in hap in the law of his God.

6 Then the princes and dukes made false suggestion to the king, and spake thus to him, King Darius, live thou without end.

7 All the princes of thy realm, and magistrates, and dukes, senators, and judges, have made a counsel, that a decree and commandment of the emperor go out, that each man that asketh any asking of whatever god and man, till to thirty days, no but of thee, thou king, he be sent into the pit of lions.

8 Now therefore, king, confirm thou the sentence, and write thou the decree, that this that is ordained of Medes and Persians be not changed, neither be it leaveful to any man to break.

9 Forsooth Darius, the king, setted [or put] forth, and confirmed the decree.

10 And when Daniel had found out this thing, that is, the law ordained, he entered into his house; and the while the windows were open in his solar against Jerusalem, in three times in the day he bowed his knees, and worshipped, and acknowledged before his God, as he was wont to do before.

11 Therefore those men inquired full busily, and found Daniel praying, and beseeching his God.

12 And they nighed and spake to the king of the commandment, King, whether thou ordainedest not, that each man that asked any asking of gods and of men, till to thirty days, no but of thee, thou king, he should be sent into the pit of lions? To which men the king answered, and said, The word is sooth, by the decree of Medes and Persians, which it is not leaveful to break.

13 Then they answered, and said before the king, Daniel, of the sons of captivity of Judah, reckoned not of thy law, and of the commandment which thou ordainedest, but three times by the day he prayeth in his beseeching.

14 And when the king had heard this word, he was sorry enough, and he setted the heart for Daniel, for to deliver him; and till to the going down of the sun he travailed for to deliver him.

15 But those men understood the king, and said to him, Know thou, king, that it is the law of Medes and of Persians, that it is not leaveful that any decree be changed, which the king ordaineth.

16 Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and sent him into the pit of lions. And the king said to Daniel, Thy God, whom thou worshippest ever[more], he shall deliver thee.

17 And one stone was brought, and was put on the mouth of the pit, which the king asealed with his ring, and with the rings of his best men, lest anything were done against Daniel.

18 Then the king went into his house, and slept without supper, and meats were not brought before him; further-more and sleep went away from him.

19 Then the king rose in the first of the morrowtide, and went hastily to the pit of lions;

20 and he nighed to the pit, and cried on Daniel with [a] weeping voice, and spake to him, Daniel, the servant of God living [or the living God], guessest thou, whether thy God, whom thou servest ever[more], might deliver thee from the lions?

21 And Daniel answered the king, and said, King, live thou without end.

22 My God sent his angel, and closed altogether the mouths of lions, and they annoyed not me, for rightfulness [or rightwiseness] is found in me before him; but also, thou king, I did no trespass before thee.

23 Then the king made joy greatly on him, and commanded Daniel to be led out of the pit. And Daniel was led out of the pit, and none hurting was found in him, for he believed to his God.

24 Forsooth the king commanded, and those men, that accused Daniel, were brought [forth], and were sent into the pit of lions, they, and the sons of them, and the wives of them; and they came not unto the pavement of the pit, till the lions ravished them, and all-brake all the bones of them.

25 Then Darius, the king, wrote to all peoples, lineages, and languages, dwelling in all earth, Peace be multiplied to you.

26 Therefore a decree is ordained of me, That in all mine empire and realm men tremble, and dread the God of Daniel; for he is God living [or living God], and everlasting into worlds, and his realm shall not be destroyed, and his power is till into without end.

27 He is deliverer and saviour, making miracles and marvels in heaven and in earth, which delivered Daniel from the pit of lions.

28 Certainly Daniel dwelled stably till to the realm of Darius, and till to the realm of Cyrus of Persia.

CHAPTER 7

1 In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a sweven, either a dream. Forsooth he wrote the vision of his head in his bed, and the dream, and comprehended in short word;

2 and he touched shortly the sentence, and said, I saw in my vision in night, and lo! four winds of heaven fought in the midst of the great sea.

3 And four great beasts, diverse betwixt themselves, went up from the sea.

4 The first beast was as a lioness, and had wings of an eagle. I beheld till the wings thereof were pulled away, and it was taken away from [the] earth, and it stood as a man on the feet, and the heart thereof was given to it.

5 And lo! another beast, like a bear in part, stood, and three orders were in the mouth thereof, and three princes in the teeth thereof. And thus they said to it, Rise thou, eat thou full many fleshes.

6 After these things I beheld, and lo! another beast as a leopard, and it had on itself four wings of a bird; and four heads were in the beast, and power was given to it.

7 After these things I beheld in the vision of night, and lo! the fourth beast, fearedful, and wonderful, and full strong. It had great iron teeth, and it ate, and made less, and defouled with his feet other things; forsooth it was unlike other beasts, which I had seen before it, and it had ten horns.

8 I beheld the horns, and lo! another little horn came forth of the midst of those, and three of the first horns were drawn out from the face thereof; and lo! eyes as eyes of a man were in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things.

9 I beheld, till that thrones were set, and the Eld of days sat; his cloth was white as snow, and the hairs of his head were as clean wool; his throne was as flames of fire, his wheels were as fire kindled.

10 A flood of fire and running fast went out from before his face; a thousand thousands ministered to him, and ten times a thousand times an hundred thousand stood nigh [to] him; the doom sat, and books were opened.

11 I beheld for the voice of great words which that horn spake; and I saw that the beast was slain, and his body was perished, and was given to be burnt in fire.

12 And I saw that the power of other beasts was taken away, and the times of life were ordained to them, till to time and time.

13 Therefore I beheld in the vision of night, and lo! one as a son of man came with the clouds of heaven; and he came fully till to the Eld of days, and in the sight of him they offered him.

14 And he gave to him power, and honour, and realm, and all the peoples, lineages, and languages shall serve him; his power is everlasting power, that shall not be taken away, and his realm, that shall not be corrupted.

15 My spirit had horror, either hideousness; I, Daniel, was afeared in these things, and the sights of mine head disturbed me.

16 I nighed to one of the standers nigh, and I asked of him the truth of all these things. And he said to me the interpreting of these words, and he taught me.

17 These four great beasts be four realms, that shall rise of [the] earth.

18 Forsooth holy men shall take the realm of highest God, and they shall hold the realm, till into the world, and unto the world of worlds.

19 After these things I would learn diligently of the fourth beast, that was greatly unlike from all the others, and was full fearedful, the teeth and nails thereof were of iron; it ate, and made less, and defouled with his feet other things.

20 And of ten horns which it had in the head, and of the tother horn that came forth, before which three horns fell down; and of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth speaking great things, and was greater than others;

21 I beheld, and lo! that horn made battle against holy men, and had mastery of them,

22 till the Eld of days came, and high God gave doom to holy men; and lo! time came, and holy men got realm.

23 And he said thus, The fourth beast shall be the fourth realm in earth, that shall be more than all realms, and it shall devour all earth, and it shall defoul, and make less that earth.

24 Forsooth ten horns shall be ten kings of that realm; and another king shall rise after them, and he shall be mightier than the former, and he shall make low three kings.

25 And he shall speak words against the high God, and he shall defoul the saints of the Highest; and he shall guess, that he may change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hands, till to time, and times, and the half of time.

26 And the doom shall sit, that the power be taken away, and be all-broken, and perish till into the end.

27 Soothly that the realm, and power, and the greatness of realm, which is under each heaven, be given to the people of the saints of the Highest, whose realm is everlasting realm, and all kings shall serve, and obey to him.

28 Hitherto is the end of the word. I, Daniel, was disturbed much in my thoughts, and my face was changed in me; forsooth I kept the word in mine heart.

CHAPTER 8

1 In the third year of the realm of Belshazzar, the king, a vision appeared to me. I, Daniel, after that thing that I had seen in the beginning,

2 saw in my vision, when I was in the castle of Susa, which is in the country of Elam; soothly I saw in the vision that I was on the gate of Ulai.

3 And I raised mine eyes, and I saw; and lo! one ram stood before the marsh, and had high horns, and one higher than the other, and under-waxing.

4 Afterward I saw the ram winnow-ing with his horns against the east, and against the west, and against the north, and against the south; and all beasts might not against-stand it, neither be delivered from the hands of it. And it did by his will, and was magnified.

5 And I understood. Lo! forsooth a buck of goats came from the west on the face of all earth, and touched not the earth; forsooth the buck of goats had a noble horn betwixt his eyes;

6 and he came till to that horned ram, which I had seen standing before the gate, and he ran in the fierceness of his strength to that ram.

7 And when he had nighed nigh the ram, he hurtled fiercely on him, and he smote the ram, and all-brake twain [or two] horns of him, and the ram might not against-stand him. And when he had sent that ram into [the] earth, he defouled [him]; and no man might deliver the ram from his hand.

8 Forsooth the buck of goats was made full great; and when he had increased, the great horn was broken, and four horns rised under it, by four winds of heaven.

9 Forsooth of one of them went out one little horn, and it was made great against the south, and against the east, and against the strength.

10 And it was magnified till to the strength of heaven, and it casted down of the strength and of stars, and defouled those [or them].

11 And he was magnified till to the prince of the strength, and he took away from him the continual sacrifice, and casted down the place of his hallowing.

12 Forsooth strength was given to him against the continual sacrifice for sins, and truth shall be cast down in earth; and he shall have prosperity, and shall do.

13 And I heard one of [the] holy angels speaking; and one holy angel said to another, I know not to whom speaking, How long the vision, and the continual sacrifice, and the sin of desolation, [or discomfort], which is made, and the saintuary, and the host, shall be defouled?

14 And he said to him, Till to the eventide and morrowtide, two thousand days and three hundred; and the saintuary shall be cleansed.

15 Forsooth it was done, when I, Daniel, saw the vision, and asked the understanding, lo! as the likeness of a man stood in my sight.

16 And I heard the voice of a man betwixt the banks of the Ulai, and he cried, and said, Gabriel, make thou Daniel to understand this vision.

17 And he came, and stood beside where I stood; and when he was come, I dreaded, and fell on my face. And he said to me, Thou, son of man, understand, for the vision shall be [ful] filled in the time of end.

18 And when he spake to me, I slid down groveling, either flat to the earth. And he touched me, and setted me in my degree.

19 And he said to me, I shall show to thee what things shall come in the last of cursing, for the time hath his end.

20 The ram, whom thou sawest have horns, is the king of Medes and of Persians.

21 Forsooth the buck of goats is the king of Greeks; and the great horn that was betwixt his eyes, he is the first king.

22 Forsooth that when that horn was broken, four horns rised for it, four kings shall rise of the folk of him, but not in the strength of him.

23 And after the realm of them, when wickednesses have increased, a king shall rise unshamefast in face, and understanding propositions, either reasons set forth;

24 and his strength shall be made stalworthy, but not in his [own] strengths. And more than it may be believed, he shall waste all things, and he shall have prosperity, and shall do. And he shall slay strong men, and the people of saints,

25 by his will, and guile shall be addressed in his hand. And he shall magnify his heart, and in abundance of all things, he shall slay full many men. And he shall rise against the prince of princes, and without hand he shall be all-broken.

26 And the vision, which is said in the morrowtide and eventide, is true. Therefore seal thou the vision, for it shall be after many days.

27 And I, Daniel, was astonied, and was sick by full many days; and when I had risen, I did the works of the king; and I was astonied at the vision, and none was, that interpreted, either expounded.

CHAPTER 9

1 In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of Medes, that was emperor on the realm of Chaldees,

2 in the first year of his realm, I, Daniel, understood in books the number of years, of which number the word of the Lord was made to Jeremy, the prophet, that seventy years of desolation of Jerusalem should be [ful] filled.

3 And I setted my face to my Lord God, to pray and beseech in fastings, in sackcloth, and ashes.

4 And I prayed my Lord God, and I acknowledged, and said, I beseech, thou Lord God, great and fearedful, keeping covenant and mercy to them that love thee, and keep thy command-ments.

5 We have sinned, we have done wickedness, we did unfaithfully, and went away, and bowed away from thy commandments and dooms.

6 We obeyed not to thy servants, prophets, that spake in thy name to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

7 Lord, rightfulness [or rightwiseness]is to thee, forsooth shame of face is to us, as is today to a man of Judah, and to the dwellers of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, to these men that be nigh, and to these men that be afar in all lands, to which thou castedest them out for the wickednesses of them, in which, Lord, they sinned against thee.

8 Shame of face is to us, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, that sinned;

9 but mercy and benignity is to thee, our Lord God. For we went away from thee,

10 and heard not the voice of our Lord God, that we should go in the law of him, which he setted to us by his servants, prophets.

11 And all Israel brake thy law, and bowed away, that they heard not thy voice; and cursing and loathing, which is written in the book of Moses, the servant of God, dropped on us, for we sinned to him.

12 And he ordained his words, which he spake on us, and on our princes, that deemed us, that they should bring in on us great evil, what manner evil was never under all heaven, by that that is done in Jerusalem,

13 as it is written in the law of Moses. All this evil came [up] on us, and, our Lord God, we prayed not thy face, that we should turn again from our wickednesses, and should think thy truth.

14 And the Lord waked on [his] malice, and brought it [up] on us; our Lord God is just in all his works which he made, for we heard not his voice.

15 And now, our Lord God, that leddest thy people out of the land of Egypt in strong hand, and madest to thee a name by this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedness,

16 Lord, against all thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness]. I beseech, thy wrath and thy strong vengeance be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, and from thy holy hill; for why for our sins, and for the wickednesses of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people be in shame, to all men by our compass.

17 But now, our God, hear thou the prayer of thy servant, and the beseechings of him, and show thy face on thy saintuary, which is forsaken.

18 My God, for thyself bow down thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and see our desolation, and the city, on which thy name is called to help. For not in our justifyings we set forth meekly prayers before thy face, but in thy many merciful doings.

19 Lord, hear thou; Lord, be thou pleased, perceive thou, and do; my Lord God, tarry thou not, for thyself, for thy name is called to help on the city, and on thy people.

20 And when I spake yet, and prayed, and acknowledged my sins, and the sins of my people Israel, that I should set forth meekly my prayers in the sight of my God, for the holy hill of my God,

21 the while I spake yet in my prayer, lo! the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in vision at the beginning, flew soon, and touched me in the time of eventide sacrifice;

22 and he taught me, and he spake to me, and said, Daniel, now I went out, that I should teach thee, and thou shouldest understand.

23 From the beginning of thy prayers a word went out. Forsooth I came to show to thee, for thou art a man of desires; therefore perceive thou the word, and understand thou the vision.

24 Seventy weeks of years be abridged on thy people, and on thine holy city, that trespassing be ended, and sin take an end, and that wickedness be done away, and everlasting right-fulness [or rightwiseness] be brought, and that the vision and prophecy be [ful] filled, and the Holy Place of saints be anointed.

25 Therefore know thou, and perceive; from the going out of the word that Jerusalem be builded again, till to Christ, the duke, shall be seven weeks of years and two and sixty weeks of years; and again the street shall be builded, and walls, in the anguish of times.

26 And after two and sixty weeks of years Christ shall be slain. And it shall not be his people, that shall deny him. And the people with the duke to coming shall destroy the city, and the saintuary; and the end thereof shall be destroying, and after the end of battle shall be ordained desolation.

27 Forsooth one week of years shall confirm the covenant to many men, and the offering and sacrifice shall fail in the midst of the week of years; and abomination of desolation shall be in the temple, and the desolation shall continue till to the performing and end.

CHAPTER 10

1 In the third year of the realm of Cyrus, king of Persians, a word was showed to Daniel, Belteshazzar by name; and a true word, and of great strength, and he understood the word; for why understanding is needful in vision.

2 In those days I, Daniel, mourned by the days of three weeks;

3 I ate not desirable bread, and flesh, and wine entered not into my mouth, but neither I was anointed with ointment, till the days of three weeks were [ful] filled.

4 Forsooth in the four and twentieth day of the first month, I was beside the great flood, which is Tigris.

5 And I raised mine eyes, and I saw, and lo! one man was clothed with linen clothes, and his reins were girded with shining gold;

6 and his body was as chrysolyte, and his face was as the likeness of lightning, and his eyes were as a burning lamp, and his arms and those things that were beneath till to the feet were as the likeness of brass being white, and the voice of his words was as the voice of a multitude.

7 Forsooth I, Daniel, alone saw the vision; certainly the men that were with me saw not, but full great fearedfulness fell in on them, and they fled into an hid place.

8 But I was left alone, and I saw this great vision, and strength dwelled not in me; but also my likeness was changed in me, and I was stark, [or dried up, or withered], and I had not in me anything of strengths.

9 And I heard the voice of his words, and I heard, and lay astonied on my face, and my face cleaved to the earth.

10 And lo! an hand touched me, and raised me on my knees, and on the toes of my feet [or upon the fingers of mine hands].

11 And he said to me, Thou, Daniel, a man of desires, understand the words which I speak to thee, and stand in thy degree; for now I am sent to thee. And when he had said this word to me, I stood quaking.

12 And he said to me, Daniel, do not thou dread, for from the first day in which thou settedest thine heart to understand, that thou shouldest torment thee in the sight of thy God, thy words were heard, and I came for thy words.

13 Forsooth the prince of the realm of Persians against-stood me one and twenty days, and lo! Michael, one of the first princes, came into mine help, and I dwelled still there beside the king of Persians.

14 Forsooth I am come to teach thee, what things shall come to thy people in the last days; for yet the vision is delayed into days.

15 And when he spake to me by such words, I casted down my cheer to the earth, and was still.

16 And lo! as the likeness of the son of a man touched my lips; and I opened my mouth, and spake, and said to him that stood before me, My Lord, in thy sight my joints be unknit, and nothing of strengths dwelled in me.

17 And how shall the servant of my Lord be able to speak with my Lord? nothing of strengths dwelled in me, but also my breath is closed betwixt, [or stopped].

18 Therefore again the one as the sight of a man touched me, and comforted me,

19 and said, Man of desires, do not thou dread; peace be to thee, be thou comforted, and be thou strong. And when he spake with me, I waxed strong, and said, My Lord, speak thou, for thou hast comforted me.

20 And he said, Whether thou knowest not, why I came to thee? And now I shall turn again, to fight against the prince of Persians. For when I went out, the prince of Greeks appeared coming.

21 Nevertheless I shall tell to thee that, that is expressed in the scripture of truth; and none is mine helper in all these things, no but Michael, your prince.

CHAPTER 11

1 Forsooth from the first year of Darius of Media, I stood, that he should be comforted, and made strong.

2 And now I shall tell to thee the truth. And lo! three kings shall stand yet in Persia, and the fourth shall be made rich with full many riches over all. And when he hath waxed strong by his riches, he shall raise all men against the realm of Greece.

3 Forsooth a strong king shall rise, and shall be lord in great power, and shall do that, that shall please him.

4 And when he shall stand, his realm shall be all-broken, and it shall be parted into four winds of heaven, but not into his heirs, neither by the power of him in which he was lord; for his realm shall be rent, yea, into strangers besides these.

5 And the king of the south shall be comforted; and of the princes of him, one shall have power above him, and he shall be lord in power; for why his lordship shall be much.

6 And after the end of years they shall be knit in peace; and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north, to make friendship. And she shall not get strength of arm, neither the seed of her shall stand; and she shall be betaken, and the younglings of her that brought her, and he that comforted her in these times.

7 And a planting of the seed of the roots of her shall stand; and he shall come with an host, and shall enter into the province of the king of the north, and he shall misuse them, and he shall get the victory;

8 furthermore he shall get both the gods of them, and graven images. And he shall lead into Egypt [the] precious vessels of gold, and of silver, taken in battle. He shall have the mastery against the king of the north;

9 and the king of the south shall enter into the realm, and shall turn again to his land.

10 Forsooth the sons of him shall be stirred to wrath, and they shall gather together a multitude of full many coasts. And he shall come hasting and flowing, and he shall turn again, and shall be stirred, and shall begin battle with his stronghold.

11 And the king of the south shall be stirred [to wrath], and shall go out, and shall fight against the king of the north, and shall make ready a full great multitude; and the multitude shall be given into his hand.

12 And he shall take the multitude, and his heart shall be enhanced; and he shall cast down many thousands, but he shall not have the mastery.

13 For the king of the north shall turn again, and shall make ready a multitude, much more than before; and in the end of times and of years he shall come hasting with a full great host, and with full many riches.

14 And in those times many men shall rise together against the king of the south; and the sons of trespassers of thy people shall be enhanced, that they [ful] fill the vision, and they shall fall down.

15 And the king of the north shall come, and shall bear together [heaps of] earth, and he shall take strongest cities; and the arms of the south shall not sustain. And the chosen men thereof shall rise together, to against-stand, and their strength shall not be enough.

16 And he shall come [up] on him, and shall do by his will; and none shall be that shall stand against his face. And he shall stand in the noble land, and it shall be wasted in his hand.

17 And he shall set his face, that he come to hold all the realm of him, and he shall do rightful things with him. And he shall give to him the daughter of women, to destroy him; and it shall not stand, and it shall not be his.

18 And he shall turn his face to isles, and shall take many isles. And he shall make cease the prince of his shame, and his shame shall turn again into him.

19 And he shall turn his face to the lordship of his land, and he shall stumble, and fall down, and he shall not be found.

20 And the vilest and unworthy to the king’s honour shall stand in the place of him, and in few days he shall be all-broken, not in strong vengeance, neither in battle.

21 And a despised man shall stand in the place of him, and the honour of a king shall not be given to him; and he shall come privily, and he shall get the realm by guile.

22 And the arms [or armies] of the fighter shall be overcome of his face, and shall be all-broken, furthermore and the duke of bond of peace.

23 And after friendship with him, he shall do guile. And he shall ascend [or go up], and shall overcome with little or few people;

24 and he shall enter into great and rich cities, and he shall do things which his fathers, and the fathers of his fathers, did not. He shall destroy the ravens, and prey, and riches of them, and against most steadfast thoughts he shall take counsel, and this till to a time.

25 And the strength of him, and the heart of him shall be stirred against the king of the south with a great host. And the king of the south shall be stirred to battle with many helps and full strong; and they shall not stand, for they shall take counsels against him.

26 And they that eat bread with him shall all-break him; and his host shall be oppressed, and full many men of his shall be slain, and fall down.

27 And the heart of two kings shall be, that they do evil, and at one board they shall speak leasing, and they shall not profit; for yet the end shall be into another time.

28 And he shall turn again into his land with many riches, and his heart shall be against the holy testament, and he shall do, and shall turn again into his land.

29 In time ordained he shall turn again, and shall come to the south, and the last shall not be like the former.

30 And ships with three orders of oars, and Romans, shall come [up] on him, and he shall be smitten. And he shall turn again, and shall have indignation against the testament of the saintuary, and he shall do. And he shall turn again, and he shall think against them that forsook the testament of the saintuary.

31 And [the] arms or armies of him shall stand, and shall defoul the saintuary of strength, and shall take away the continual sacrifice, and shall give abomination into desolation.

32 And wicked men shall feign the testament guilefully; but the people that knoweth their God shall hold, and do.

33 And taught men in the people shall teach full many men, and shall fall in sword, and in flame, and into captivity, and into raven of days.

34 And when they have fallen down, they shall be raised [up] by a little help; and full many men shall be applied or joined to them guilefully.

35 And some of learned men shall fall, that they be welled together, and be chosen, and be made white till to a time determined; for yet another time shall be.

36 And the king shall do by his will, and he shall be raised [up], and magnified against each god, and against God of gods he shall speak great things; and he shall be addressed, till wrathfulness [or wrath] be [ful] filled. For the determining is perfectly made.

37 And he shall not areckon with the God of his fathers, and he shall be in the covetousness of women, and he shall not charge [or reckon] any of gods, for he shall rise against all things.

38 Forsooth he shall honour god of Maoozim in his place, and he shall worship a god, whom his fathers knew not, with gold, and silver, and precious stone, and precious things.

39 And he shall do that he make strong Maoozim, with the alien god which he knew. And he shall multiply glory, and shall give power to them in many things; and shall part the land at his will.

40 And in the time determined the king of the south shall fight against him, and the king of the north shall come as a tempest against him, in chariots, and with knights, and in great navy. And he shall enter into lands, and shall defoul them; and he shall pass forth,

41 and shall enter into the glorious land, and many shall fall. Forsooth these lands alone shall be saved from his hand, Edom, and Moab, and [the] princes of the sons of Ammon.

42 And he shall send his hand into lands, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

43 And he shall be lord of treasures of gold, and of silver, and in all precious things of Egypt; also he shall pass by Libya and Ethiopia.

44 And fame or news from the east and from the north shall disturb him; and he shall come with a great multitude to all-break, and to slay full many men.

45 And he shall set his tabernacles in Apadno, betwixt the seas, on the noble hill and holy; and he shall come till to the height thereof, and no man shall help him.

CHAPTER 12

1 Forsooth in that time Michael, the great prince, shall rise, that standeth for the sons of thy people. And time of trouble shall come, what manner time was not, from that time from which folks began to be, till to that time. And in that time thy people shall be saved, each that is found written in the book of life.

2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of earth, shall awake fully, some into everlasting life, and others into shame, that they see ever[more].

3 Forsooth they that be taught, [or wise], shall shine as the shining of the firmament, and they that teach many men to rightfulness [or rightwiseness], shall shine as stars into everlasting everlastingnesses.

4 But thou, Daniel, close the words, and aseal the book, till to the time ordained; full many men shall pass, and knowing shall be manyfold.

5 And I, Daniel, saw, and lo! As twain [or two] other men stood; one stood on this side, on the brink of the flood, and another on that side, on the tother part of the flood.

6 And I said to the man that was clothed in linen clothes that stood on the waters of the flood, how long shall be until the end of these marvels?

7 And I heard the man, that was clothed in linen clothes, that stood on the waters of the flood, when he had raised his right hand and left hand to heaven, and had sworn by him that liveth without end, For into a time, and times, and the half of time. And when the scattering of the hand of the holy people is [ful] filled, all these things shall be filled [or ended].

8 And I heard, and understood not; and I said, my lord, what shall be after these things?

9 And he said, Go thou, Daniel, for the words be closed and asealed, till to the time determined.

10 Many men shall be chosen, and shall be made white, and shall be proved, as by fire, and wicked men shall do wickedly, neither all wicked men shall understand; certainly taught men shall understand.

11 And from the time when continual sacrifice is taken away, and abomination is set into discomfort, shall be a thousand days two hundred and ninety.

12 He is blessed that abideth, and cometh fully, to a thousand days three hundred and five and thirty.

13 But go thou, Daniel, to the time determined; and thou shalt rest, and stand in thy part, in the end of days.

* CHAPTER 2:19 In Daniel, where the “Later Version” uses ‘private’ or ‘privates’, the “Early Version” uses ‘mystery’ or ‘mysteries’.

* CHAPTER 5:2 There were several kings of Babylon between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. ‘Father’ may mean ‘predecessor’ or the name ‘Nebuchadnezzar’ may have been used for ‘Nabonidus’. (Good News Bible)

HOSEA

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HOSEA

CHAPTER 1

1 The word of the Lord that was made to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah*, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Jehoash†, the king of Israel.

2 The beginning of the speaking to the Lord in Hosea. And the Lord said to Hosea, Go thou, take to thee a wife of fornications, and make to thee sons of fornications, for the land doing fornication shall do fornication, going away from the Lord.

3 And he went, and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and childed a son to him.

4 And the Lord said to him, Call thou the name of him Jezreel; for yet a little, and I shall visit the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and I shall make to rest the realm of the house of Israel.

5 And in that day, I shall all-break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

6 And she conceived yet, and childed a daughter. And the Lord said to him, Call thou the name of her Without mercy, for I shall no more lay to, for to have mercy on the house of Israel, but by forgetting I shall forget them.

7 And I shall have mercy on the house of Judah, and I shall save them in their Lord God; and I shall not save them in bow, and sword, and battle, and in horses, and in horsemen, either knights.

8 And she weaned her that was Without mercy. And she conceived, and childed a son to him.

9 And he said, Call thou his name Not my people, for ye shall not be my people, and I shall not be your God.

10 And the number of the sons of Israel shall be as gravel of the sea, which gravel is without measure, and it shall not be numbered; and it shall be in the place, where it shall be said to them, Ye be not my people; it shall be said to them, Ye be the sons of God living.

11 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall set one head to themselves, and they shall go up from the earth, for the day of Jezreel is great.

CHAPTER 2

1 Say ye to your brethren, They be my people; and to your sisters, That that hath gotten mercy,

2 Deem ye your mother, deem ye, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Do she away her fornications from her face, and her adulteries from the midst of her breasts;

3 lest peradventure I spoil her naked, and set her naked by the day of her nativity [or of her birth]. And I shall set [or put] her as a wilderness, and I shall ordain her as a land without a way, and I shall slay her in thirst.

4 And I shall not have mercy on the sons of her, for they be the sons of fornications;

5 for the mother of them did forni-cation, she is shamed that conceived them, for she said, I shall go after my lovers, that give [my] loaves to me, and my waters, and my wool, and my flax, and mine oil, and my drink.

6 For this thing, lo! I shall hedge thy way with thorns, and I shall hedge it with a wall, and she shall not find her paths.

7 And she shall follow her lovers, and shall not overtake them, and she shall seek them, and shall not find [them]; and she shall say, I shall go, and turn again to my former husband, for it was well to me then more than now.

8 And this Jerusalem knew not, that I gave to her wheat, wine, and oil; and I multiplied silver and gold to her, of which they made offering to Baal.

9 Therefore I shall turn, and take my wheat in his time, and my wine in his time; and I shall deliver my wool, and my flax, by which they covered the shame thereof.

10 And now I shall show the folly of her before the eyes of her lovers, and a man shall not deliver her from mine hand;

11 and I shall make to cease all the joy thereof, the solemnity thereof, the new moon thereof, that is, the feast of the new moon, the sabbath thereof, and all the feast times thereof.

12 And I shall destroy the vinery [or the vineyard] thereof, [and her fig tree], of which she said, These be mine hires or wages which my lovers gave to me; and I shall set [or put] it into a forest, and a beast of the field shall eat it.

13 And I shall visit on it*for the days of Baalim, in which it burnt incense, and was adorned with her earrings, and her brooch, and went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.

14 For this thing lo! I shall give milk to it, and I shall bring it into wilder-ness, and I shall speak to the heart thereof.

15 And I shall give to it vine-tillers thereof of the same place, and the valley of Achor, that is, of troubling, for to open hope. And it shall sing there by the days of her youth, and by the days of her ascending or going up from the land of Egypt.

16 And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord, she shall call me Mine husband, and she shall no more call me Baali;

17 and I shall take away the names of Baalim from her mouth, and she shall no more have mind of the names of those.

18 And I shall smite to them a bond of peace in that day, with the beast of the field, and with the bird of the air, and with the creeping beast of the earth. And I shall all-break bow, and sword, and battle from [the] earth; and I shall make them to sleep trustily.

19 And I shall spouse thee to me without end; and I shall spouse thee to me in rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and in doom, and in mercy, and in merciful doings.

20 And I shall spouse thee to me in faith; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

21 And it shall be, in that day I shall hear, saith the Lord, and I shall hear heavens, and those shall hear the earth;

22 and the earth shall hear wheat, and wine, and oil, and these shall hear Jezreel.

23 And I shall sow it to me into a land, and I shall have mercy on it that was without mercy. And I shall say to that, that is not my people, Thou art my people, and it shall say, Thou art my God.

CHAPTER 3

1 And the Lord said to me, Yet go thou, and love a woman loved of a friend, and a woman adulteress, as the Lord loveth the sons of Israel; and they behold to alien gods, and love the dregs of grapes.

2 And I delved it to me by fifteen pence, and by a cor of barley, and by half a cor of barley.

3 And I said to it, By many days thou shalt abide me; thou shalt not do fornication, and thou shalt not be with an husband, but also I shall abide thee.

4 For by many days the sons of Israel shall sit without king, without prince, and without sacrifice, and without altar, and without priest’s cloth, and without teraphim, that is, images.

5 And after these things the sons of Israel shall turn again, and shall seek their Lord God, and David, their king; and they shall dread at the Lord, and at the good of him, in the last days.

CHAPTER 4

1 Sons of Israel, hear ye the word of the Lord, for why doom is to the Lord with the dwellers of earth; for why truth is not, and mercy is not, and knowing of the Lord is not in earth.

2 Curse, and leasing, and man-quelling, and theft, and adultery flowed, and blood touched blood.

3 For this thing the earth shall mourn, and each that dwelleth in that land shall be sick, in the beast of the field, and in the bird of the air; but also the fishes of the sea shall be gathered together.

4 Nevertheless each man deem not, and a man be not reproved; for thy people is as they that against-say the priest.

5 And thou shalt fall today, and the prophet also shall fall with thee; in the night I made thy mother to be still.

6 My people was still, for it had not knowing; for thou hast put away knowing, I shall put thee away, that thou use not priesthood to me; and for thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, also I shall forget thy sons.

7 By the multitude of them, so they sinned against me. I shall change the glory of them into shame.

8 They shall eat the sins of my people, and they shall raise the souls of them to the wickedness of them.

9 And it shall be, as the people, so the priest; and I shall visit on him the ways of him, and I shall yield to him the thoughts of him.

10 And they shall eat, and they shall not be [ful] filled; they did fornication, and ceased not, for they forsook the Lord in not keeping his word.

11 Fornication, and wine, and drunkenness do away the heart.

12 My people asked in his tree, and the staff thereof told to it; for the spirit of fornication deceived them, and they did fornication, going away from their God.

13 On the heads, either tops, of mountains they made sacrifice, and on the little hills they burnt incense under an oak, and a poplar, and a terebinth, for the shadow thereof was good. Therefore your daughters shall do fornication, and your wives shall be adulteresses.

14 I shall not visit on your daughters, when they do fornication, and on your wives, when they do adultery; for they lived with whores, and made sacrifice with men turned into women’s conditions. And the people that understandeth not, shall be beaten.

15 If thou, Israel, doest fornication, namely Judah, trespass not; and do not ye enter into Gilgal, and go ye not into Bethaven, neither swear ye, The Lord liveth.

16 For as a wild cow Israel bowed away; now the Lord shall feed them as a lamb in broadness.

17 Ephraim*is the partner of idols, leave thou him;

18 the feast of them is parted. By fornication they did fornication, the defenders thereof loved to bring shame.

19 The spirit bound him in his wings, and they shall be ashamed of their sacrifices.

CHAPTER 5

1 Priests, hear ye this, and the house of Israel, perceive ye, and the house of the king, hearken ye; for why doom is to you, for ye be made a snare to looking afar, and as a net spread abroad on Tabor.

2 And ye bowed down sacrifices into depth; and I am the learner of all them.

3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now Ephraim did fornication, Israel is defouled.

4 They shall not give their thoughts that they turn again to their God; for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they knew not the Lord.

5 And the boast of Israel shall answer into the face thereof, and Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their wickedness; also Judah shall fall with them.

6 In their flocks and in their droves, they go to seek the Lord, and they shall not find; he is taken away from them.

7 They trespassed against the Lord, for they engendered alien sons; now the month shall devour them with their parts.

8 Sound ye with a clarion in Gibeah, with a trump in Ramah; yell ye in Bethaven, after thy back, Benjamin.

9 Ephraim shall be into desolation, in the day of amending, and in the lineages of Israel I showed faith.

10 The princes of Judah be made as those taking over the term; I shall shed out on them my wrath as water.

11 Ephraim suffereth false challenge, and is broken by doom; for he began to go after filths.

12 And I am as a moth to Ephraim, and as rot to the house of Judah.

13 And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his bond. And Ephraim went to Assur, and sent to the king avenger. And he may not save you, neither he may unbind the bond from you.

14 For I am as a lioness to Ephraim, and as a whelp of a lion to the house of Judah. I myself shall take, and go, and take away, and none is that shall deliver.

15 I shall go, and turn again to my place, till ye fail, and seek my face. In their tribulation they shall rise early to me.

CHAPTER 6

1 Come ye, and turn we again to the Lord; for he took, and shall heal us; he shall smite, and shall make us whole.

2 He shall quicken us after two days, and in the third day he shall raise us, and we shall live in his sight.

3 We shall know, and follow, that we know the Lord. His going out is made ready at the morrowtide, and he shall come as a rain to us, which is timeful and lateful to the earth.

4 Ephraim, what shall I do to thee? Judah, what shall I do to thee? Your mercy is as a cloud of the morrow-tide, and as dew passing forth early.

5 For this thing, I [have] hewed them in prophets, I killed them in the words of my mouth; and thy dooms shall go out as light.

6 For I would or desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and I would the knowing of God, more than burnt sacrifices.

7 But they as Adam brake the covenant; there they trespassed against me.

8 Gilead, the city of them that work idol, is supplanted with blood;

9 and as the cheeks of men that be thieves. So be the partners of priests slaying in the way men going from Shechem, for they wrought great trespass.

10 In the house of Israel I saw an horrible thing; there the fornications of Ephraim. Israel is defouled;

11 but also thou, Judah, set [the] harvest to thee, when I shall turn the captivity of my people.

CHAPTER 7

1 When I would heal Israel, the wickedness of Ephraim was showed, and the malice of Samaria was showed, for they wrought leasing. And a night thief entered, and robbed; a day thief was withoutforth.

2 And lest they say in their hearts, that I have mind on all the malice of them, now their findings have encom-passed them, those be made before my face.

3 In their malice they gladded the king, and in their leasings the princes.

4 All that do adultery, be as an oven made hot of a baker. The city rested a little from the meddling [or mingling together] of sourdough, till all was made sour.

5 The day of our king, the princes began to be wild of wine; he stretched forth his hand with scorners.

6 For they applied or made ready their heart as an oven, when he setted treason to them. All the night he slept while baking them; in the morrowtide he was made hot, as the fire of flame.

7 All were made hot as an oven, and they devoured their judges. All the kings of them fell down, and none is among them that crieth to me.

8 Ephraim himself was meddled [or mingled together] among peoples; Ephraim was made a loaf baken under ashes, which is not turned again.

9 Aliens ate the strength of him, and he knew not; but also hoar hairs were shed out in him, and he knew not.

10 And the pride of Israel shall be made low in the face thereof; they turned not again to their Lord God, and they sought not him in all these things.

11 And Ephraim was made like to a culver deceived, not having heart. They called Egypt to help, they went to Assyrians.

12 And when they be gone forth, I shall spread abroad on them my net, I shall draw them down as a bird of the air. I shall beat them, by the hearing of the company of them.

13 Woe to them for they went away from me; they shall be destroyed, for they trespassed against me. And I again-bought them, and they spake leasings against me.

14 And they cried not to me in their heart, but yelled in their beds. They chewed cud on wheat, and wine, and they went away from me.

15 And I taught, and comforted the arms of them, and they thought malice against me.

16 They turned again, that they should be without yoke; they be made as a guileful bow. The princes of them shall fall down by sword for the strong vengeance of their tongue; this is the scorning of them in the land of Egypt.

CHAPTER 8

1 A trump be in thy throat, as an eagle on the house of the Lord; for that that they went over my bond of peace, and brake my law.

2 They called me to help, A! my God, we Israel have known thee.

3 Israel hath cast away good [thing], the enemy shall pursue him.

4 They reigned, and not of me; they were princes, and I knew not. They made their gold and silver into idols to them, that they should perish.

5 A! Samaria, thy calf is cast away; my strong vengeance is wroth against them. How long may they not be cleansed?

6 for also it is of Israel. A craftsman made it, and it is not a god; for the calf of Samaria shall be into webs of araneida or spiders.

7 For they shall sow wind, and they shall reap whirlwind. A stalk standing up is not in them, the seed shall not make meal; that if also it maketh meal, aliens shall eat it.

8 Israel is devoured; now Israel is made as an unclean vessel among nations,

9 for they ascended or went up to Assur. Ephraim is a wild ass, solitary to himself. They gave gifts to [their] lovers;

10 but also with meed they hired nations. Now I shall gather them together, and they shall rest a little from burden of the king and of princes.

11 For Ephraim multiplied altars to do sin, altars were made to him into trespass.

12 I shall write to them my manyfold laws, that be areckoned as alien laws.

13 They shall bring sacrifices, they shall offer, and eat fleshes; and the Lord shall not receive those [or them]. Now he shall have mind on the wickednesses of them, and he shall visit the sins of them; they shall turn into Egypt.

14 And Israel forgat his maker, and builded temples to his idols, and Judah multiplied strong cities; and I shall send fire into the cities of him, and it shall devour the houses of him.

CHAPTER 9

1 Israel, do not thou be glad, do not thou make full out joy as other peoples; for thou hast done fornication, going away from thy God. Thou lovedest meed on all the cornfloors of wheat.

2 The cornfloor and presser shall not feed them, and wine shall lie to them.

3 They shall not dwell in the land of the Lord. Ephraim turned again in to Egypt, and ate defouled thing among Assyrians.

4 They shall not offer wine to the Lord, and they shall not please him. The sacrifices of them be as bread of mourners; all that shall eat it shall be defouled. For the bread of them is to the life of them; they shall not enter into the house of the Lord.

5 What shall ye do in the solemn day, in the day of the feast of the Lord?

6 For lo! they be gone out from destroying. Egypt shall gather them together, Memphis shall bury them. A nettle shall inherit the desirable silver of them, a clote shall be in the tabernacles of them.

7 Days of visitation be come, days of yielding be come. Know ye, that Israel is a fool, a mad prophet, a spiritual man, for the multitude of thy wickedness is also the multitude of madness.

8 The beholder of Ephraim with my God is a prophet; a snare of falling is made now on all the ways of him, strong vengeance is in the house of his God.

9 They sinned deeply, as in the days of Gibeah. The Lord shall have mind on the wickedness of them, and shall visit the sins of them.

10 I found Israel as grapes in desert, I saw the fathers of them as the first apples of a fig tree, in the top thereof; but they entered to Baalpeor, and were alienated [away] in[to] confusion, and they were made abominable as those things which they loved.

11 Ephraim as a bird flew away; the glory of them is of child-bearing, and of the womb, and of conceiving.

12 That if they nurse their sons, I shall make them without children among men. But also woe to them, when I shall go away from them.

13 I saw that Ephraim was as Tyre, founded in fairness; and Ephraim shall lead out his sons to the slayer.

14 Lord, give thou to them; what shalt thou give to them? give thou to them a womb without children, and dry teats.

15 All the wickednesses of them be in Gilgal, for there I had them hateful; for the malice of their findings. I shall cast them out of mine house; I shall not lay to, that I love them. All the princes of them go away from me.

16 Ephraim is smitten, the root of them is dried up; they shall not make fruit. That though they engender, I shall slay the most loved things of their womb.

17 My God shall cast them away, for they heard not him; and they shall be of unstable dwelling among nations.

CHAPTER 10

1 Israel was a vine full of boughs, fruit was made even to him; by [or after] the multitude of his fruit he multiplied altars, by the plenty of his land he was plenteous, [or after the plenty of his land he was plenteous in simulacra, or false gods].

2 In simulacra the heart of them is parted [or The heart of them is parted], now they shall perish. He shall break the simulacra of them, he shall rob [or spoil] the altars of them.

3 For then they shall say, A king is not to us, for we dread[ed] not the Lord. And what shall a king do to us?

4 Speak ye words of unprofitable vision, and ye shall smite bond of peace with leasing; and doom as bitterness shall burgeon on the furrows of the field.

5 The dwellers of Samaria worship-ped the kine of Bethaven. For the people thereof mourned on that calf, and the keepers of the house thereof; they made full out joy on it in the glory thereof, for it passed from that people.

6 For also it was borne to Assur, a gift to the king avenger. Confusion shall take Ephraim, and Israel shall be shamed in his will.

7 Samaria made his king to pass as froth on the face of water.

8 And the high things of idol, the sin of Israel, shall be lost. A clote and a briar shall ascend [or go up] on the altars of them. And they shall say to mountains, Cover ye us, and to little hills, Fall ye down on us.

9 From the days of Gibeah Israel sinned; there they stood. Battle shall not overtake them in Gibeah, on the sons of wickedness.

10 By my desire I shall chastise them; peoples shall be gathered together on them, when they shall be chastised for their two wickednesses.

11 Ephraim is a cow calf, taught for to love threshing; and I went on the fairness of the neck thereof. I shall go upon Ephraim. Judah shall ear, and Jacob shall break furrows to himself.

12 Sow ye to you rightfulness [or rightwiseness] in truth, and reap ye in the mouth of mercy, and make ye new to you a field newly brought to tilth. Forsooth time is to seek the Lord, when he cometh, that shall teach you rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

13 Ye have eared unfaithfulness, ye have reaped wickedness, ye have eaten the corn of leasing. For thou trustedest in thy ways, and in the multitude of thy strong men.

14 Noise shall rise in thy people, and all thy strongholds shall be destroyed; as Shalman was destroyed of the house of him, that took vengeance on Betharbel; in the day of battle, when the mother was hurtled down on the sons.

15 So Bethel did to you, for the face of malice of your wickednesses. As the morrowtide passeth, the king of Israel shall pass forth.

CHAPTER 11

1 For Israel was a child, and I loved him; and from Egypt I called my son.

2 They called them, so they went away from the face of them. They offered to Baalim, and made sacrifice to simulacra.

3 And I as a nurse of Ephraim bare them in mine arms, and they knew not, that I kept them.

4 I shall draw them in the ropes of Adam, in the bonds of charity. And I shall be to them as he that enhanceth the yoke on the cheeks of them; and I bowed down to him that he should eat.

5 He shall not turn again into the land of Egypt. And Assur, he shall be king of him, for they would not turn again to me.

6 A sword began in the cities thereof, and it shall waste the chosen men thereof, and shall eat the heads of them.

7 And my people shall hang, at my coming again. But a yoke shall be put to them altogether, that shall not be taken away.

8 How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? shall I defend thee, Israel? how shall I give thee up? As Admah I shall set thee; as Zeboiim. Mine heart is turned within me; my repentance is disturbed [or troubled] altogether.

9 I shall not do the strong vengeance of my wrath. I shall not turn, to lose Ephraim; for I am God, and not man. I am Holy in the midst of thee, and I shall not enter into a city.

10 They shall go after the Lord. He shall roar as a lion, for he shall roar, and the sons of the sea shall dread.

11 And they shall fly away as a bird from Egypt, and as a culver from the land of Assyrians. And I shall set them in their houses, saith the Lord.

12 Ephraim compassed me in denying, the house of Israel in guile. But Judah a witness went down with God, and with faithful saints.

CHAPTER 12

1 Ephraim feedeth on the wind, and followeth heat. All day he multiplieth leasing, and destroying; and he made bond of peace with Assyrians, and bare oil into Egypt.

2 Therefore the doom of the Lord is with Judah, and visiting is on Jacob; by the ways of him, and by the findings of him, he shall yield to him.

3 In the womb he supplanted his brother, and in his strength he wrestled with the angel.

4 And he was strong to the angel, and was comforted, [or And he had victory at the angel, and he was comforted]; he wept, and prayed to him; in Bethel he found him, and there he spake with us.

5 And the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, is the memorial of him.

6 And thou shalt turn to thy God. Keep thou mercy and doom, and hope thou ever[more] in thy God.

7 Canaan loved false challenge, a guileful balance in his hand.

8 And Ephraim said, Nevertheless I am made rich, I have found an idol to me; all my travails shall not find to me the wickedness, which I sinned.

9 And I am thy Lord God from the land of Egypt; yet I shall make thee to sit in tabernacles, as in the days of feast.

10 And I spake by prophets, and I multiplied vision, either prophesy, and I was likened in the hand of prophets.

11 If Gilead worshippeth an idol, therefore they err in vain offering to oxes in Gilgal; for why and the altars of them shall be as heaps on the furrows of the field.

12 Jacob fled into the country of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and served, either kept sheep for a wife.

13 But by a prophet the Lord led Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was kept.

14 Ephraim stirred me to wrathfulness in his bitternesses, and the blood of him shall come on him; and his Lord shall restore to him the shame of him.

CHAPTER 13

1 For Ephraim spake, hideousness assailed Israel; and he trespassed in Baal, and was dead.

2 And now they added to do sin, and made to them a molten image of their silver, as the likeness of idols; all is the making of craftsmen. To these they say, A! ye men, offer, and worship calves.

3 Therefore they shall be as a morrowtide cloud, and as the dew of morrowtide, that passeth forth, as dust ravished by whirlwind from the cornfloor, and as smoke of a chimney.

4 Forsooth I am thy Lord God from the land of Egypt; and thou shalt not know God, except me, and no saviour is, except me.

5 I knew thee in the desert, in the land of wilderness.

6 By their pastures they were [ful] filled, and had abundance; they raised [up] their heart, and forgat me.

7 And I shall be as a lioness to them, as a leopard in the way of Assyrians.

8 I as a female bear, when the whelps be ravished, shall meet them; and shall all-break the inner things of the maw of them. And I as a lion shall waste them there; a beast of the field shall rend them.

9 Israel, thy perdition is of thee; thine help is only of me.

10 Where is thy king? mostly save he thee now in all thy cities; and where be thy judges, of which thou saidest, Give thou to me a king and princes?

11 I shall give to thee a king in my strong vengeance, and I shall take away in mine indignation.

12 The wickedness of Ephraim is bound together; his sin is hid.

13 The sorrows of a woman travailing of child shall come to him; he is a son not wise. For now he shall not stand in the defouling of sons.

14 I shall deliver them from the hand of death, and I shall again-buy them from death. Thou death, I shall be thy death; thou hell, I shall be thy morsel. Comfort is hid from mine eyes,

15 for he shall part betwixt brethren. The Lord shall bring a burning wind, going up from desert; and it shall make dry the veins thereof, and it shall make desolate the wells thereof; and he shall ravish the treasure of each desirable vessel.

16 Samaria perish, for it stirred his God to bitterness; perish it by sword. The little children of them be hurtled down, and the women with child thereof be carved.

CHAPTER 14

1 Israel, be thou turned again to thy Lord God, for thou falledest down in thy wickedness.

2 Take ye words with you, and be ye turned again to the Lord; and say ye to him, Do thou away all wicked-ness, and take thou good; and we shall yield the calves of our lips.

3 Assur shall not save us, we shall not go upon horse; and we shall no more say, Our gods be the works of our hands; for thou shalt have mercy on that motherless child, which is in thee.

4 And the Lord saith, I shall make whole the sorrows of them; I shall love them willfully, for my strong vengeance is turned away from them. [I shall heal the contrition of them; I shall love them of my free will, for my strong vengeance is turned away from them.]

5 I shall be as dew, and Israel shall burgeon as a lily. And the root thereof shall break out as of the Lebanon;

6 the branches thereof shall go forth. And the glory thereof shall be as an olive tree, and the odour thereof shall be as of the Lebanon.

7 They shall be turned again, and sit in the shadow of him; they shall live by wheat, and shall burgeon as a vine. The memorial thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim, what shall idols do more to me? I shall hear him, and I shall address him as a green fir tree. Thy fruit is found of me.

9 Who is wise, and shall understand these things? who is understanding, and shall know these things? For the ways of the Lord be rightful, and just men shall go in those [or them]; but trespassers shall fall in those [or them].

* CHAPTER 1:1 Also known as Azariah.

† CHAPTER 1:1 Also known as Joash.

* CHAPTER 2:13 In Chapters 2 and 3 of Hosea, where the “Later Version” uses ‘it’ and ‘thereof’, the “Early Version” and other translations use ‘she’ and ‘her’.

* CHAPTER 4:17 Throughout Hosea (and also Isaiah), Ephraim is another name for the Northern Kingdom of Israel, consisting of the Ten Tribes.

JOEL

1

2

3

JOEL

CHAPTER 1

1 The word of the Lord is this, that was made to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

2 Eld [or old] men, hear ye this, and all dwellers of the land, perceive ye with ears. If this thing was done in your days, either in the days of your fathers.

3 Of this thing tell ye to your sons, and your sons tell to their sons, and the sons of them tell to another generation.

4 A locust ate the residue of a wortworm, and a bruchus ate the residue of a locust, and rust ate the residue of a bruchus.

5 Drunken men, wake ye, and weep; and yell ye, all that drink wine in sweetness; for it perished from your mouth.

6 For why a folk strong and unnumberable ascended [or went up] on my land. The teeth thereof be as the teeth of a lion, and the cheek teeth thereof be as of a whelp of a lion.

7 It setted my vinery [or put my vineyard] into desert, and took away the rind of my fig tree. It made naked and spoiled that vinery, and casted forth; the branches thereof be made white.

8 Wail thou, as a virgin girded with a sackcloth on the husband of her time of marriage.

9 Sacrifice and moist sacrifice perished from the house of the Lord; and priests, the ministers of the Lord, mourned.

10 The country is made bare of people. The earth mourned; for wheat is destroyed. Wine is shamed, and oil was sick, either failed.

11 The earth-tillers be shamed, the vine-tillers yelled on wheat and barley; for the ripe corn of the field is perished.

12 The vinery is shamed [or the vine-yard is confounded]; and the fig tree was sick. The pomegranate tree, and the palm tree, and the fir tree, and all the trees of the field dried up; for joy is shamed from the sons of men.

13 Ye priests, gird you, and wail; ye ministers of the altar, yell. Ministers of my God, enter ye, lie ye in sackcloth; for why sacrifice and moist sacrifice perished from the house of your God.

14 Hallow ye fasting, call ye the company, gather ye together eld [or old] men, and all dwellers of the earth, into the house of your God; and cry ye to the Lord,

15 A! A! A! to the day; for the day of the Lord is nigh, and shall come as a tempest from the Almighty.

16 Whether foods perished not before your eyes; gladness and full out joy perished from the house of your God?

17 Beasts waxed rotten in their drit. Barns be destroyed, cellars be destroy-ed, for wheat is shamed.

18 Why wailed a beast? why lowed the flocks of oxen and kine? for no pasture is to them; but also the flocks of sheep perished.

19 Lord, I shall cry to thee, for fire ate the fair things of desert, and flame burnt all the trees of the country.

20 But also beasts of the field, as a cornfloor thirsting rain, beheld [up] to thee; for the wells of waters be dried up, and fire devoured the fair things of desert.

CHAPTER 2

1 Sing ye with a trump in Zion, yell ye in mine holy hill [or mountain]. All the dwellers of earth be disturbed [or troubled]; for the day of the Lord cometh,

2 for the day of darknesses and of mist is nigh, the day of cloud and of whirlwind. These locusts be as the morrowtide spread abroad on hills, a much people and strong. None was like it from the beginning, and after it shall not be, till into years of generation and of generation.

3 Before the face thereof shall be fire devouring, and after it shall be burning flame; as a garden of liking or Eden the land shall be before them, and wilderness of desert shall be after them, and none is that shall escape them.

4 The looking of them shall be as the looking of horses; and as horsemen, so they shall run.

5 As the sound of carts on the heads [or tops] of hills they shall skip; as the sound of the flame of fire devouring stubble, as a strong people made ready to battle.

6 Peoples shall be tormented of the face thereof, all faces shall be as driven into a pot.

7 As strong men they shall run, as men warriors they shall ascend on the wall. These men shall go in their ways, and they shall not bow away from their paths.

8 Each man shall not make strait his brother, each man shall go in his own path; but also they shall fall down by windows, and shall not be hurt.

9 They shall enter into the city, they shall run on the wall; they shall ascend on houses, they shall enter as a night thief by windows.

10 The earth trembled of his face, heavens were moved, the sun and the moon were made dark, and stars withdrew their shining.

11 And the Lord gave his voice before the face of his host, for his hosts be full many; for those be strong, and do the word of him. For the day of the Lord is great, and full fearedful, and who shall suffer it?

12 Now therefore saith the Lord, Be ye turned again to me in all your heart, in fasting, and weeping, and wailing;

13 and carve ye your hearts, and not your clothes, and be ye turned again to your Lord God, for he is benign, and merciful, patient, and of much mercy, and abiding, either forgiving, on malice.

14 Who knoweth, if God be turned again, and forgive, and leave blessing after him? sacrifice and moist sacrifice to our Lord God.

15 Sing ye with a trump in Zion, hallow ye fasting, call ye a company;

16 gather together the people, hallow ye the church, gather ye together eld [or old] men, gather ye together little children, and those sucking the breasts; a spouse go out of his bed, and a spousess out of her chamber.

17 Priests, the ministers of the Lord, shall weep betwixt the porch and the altar, and shall say, Lord! spare thou, spare thy people, and give thou not thine heritage into shame, that nations be lords of them. Why say they among peoples, Where is the God of them?

18 The Lord loved jealously his land, and spared his people.

19 And the Lord answered, and said to his people, Lo! I shall send to you wheat, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be [ful] filled with those; and I shall no more give you to be a shame among heathen men.

20 And I shall make him that is at the north far from you; and I shall cast him out into a land without way, and desert; his face against the east sea, and the last part thereof at the last sea; and the stink thereof shall ascend or go up, and the root thereof shall ascend [or go up], for he did proudly.

21 Earth, do not thou dread, make thou full out joy, and be glad; for the Lord magnified that he should do.

22 Beasts of the country, do not ye dread, for the fair things of desert burgeoned; for the tree brought his fruit, the fig tree and vinery [or the vineyard] gave their strength.

23 And the sons of Zion, make ye full out joy, and be ye glad in your Lord God, for he gave to you a teacher of rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and he shall make morrowtide rain and eventide rain to come down to you, as in the beginning.

24 And cornfloors shall be [full-]filled of wheat, and pressers shall flow with wine and oil.

25 And I shall yield to you the years which the locust, bruchus, and rust, and wortworm, my great strength, ate, which I sent into you.

26 And ye shall eat eating, and ye shall be [ful] filled; and ye shall praise the name of your Lord God, that made marvels with you; and my people shall not be shamed without end.

27 And ye shall know, that I am in the midst of Israel; and I am your Lord God, and none is more; and my people shall not be shamed without end.

28 And it shall be, after these things I shall shed [or pour] out my spirit on each man; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your eld [or old] men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.

29 But also I shall shed [or pour] out my spirit on my servants, and hand-maids, in those days;

30 and I shall give great wonders in heaven, and in earth, blood, and fire, and the heat of smoke.

31 The sun shall be turned into darknesses, and the moon into blood, before that the great day and horrible of the Lord come.

32 And it shall be, each that calleth to help the name of the Lord shall be safe; for why salvation, either saving, shall be in the hill of Zion and in Jerusalem, as the Lord said, and in the residue men, which the Lord calleth.

CHAPTER 3

1 For lo! in those days, and in that time, when I shall turn the captivity of Judah and of Jerusalem,

2 I shall gather all folks, and I shall lead them [forth] into the valley of Jehoshaphat*; and I shall dispute there with them on my people, and mine heritage Israel, which they scattered among nations; and they parted my land,

3 and sent lot on my people; and they setted [or putted] a knave child in the bordel house, and sold a damsel for wine, that they should drink.

4 But what to me and to you, thou Tyre, and Sidon, and each end of Palestine or Philistia? Whether ye shall yield avenging to me? and if ye venge you against me, soon swiftly I shall yield while to you onto your head.

5 Ye took away my silver and gold, and ye brought my desirable things and fairest things into your temples of idols.

6 And ye sold the sons of Judah, and the sons of Jerusalem, to the sons of Greeks, that ye should make them far from their coasts.

7 Lo! I shall raise them from the place in which ye sold them; and I shall turn your yielding into your head.

8 And I shall sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Judah, and they shall sell them to Sabeans, a far-off folk, for the Lord spake.

9 Cry ye this thing among heathen men, hallow ye battle, raise ye up strong men; all men warriors, nigheth, and ascend or goeth up.

10 Beat ye together your plows† into swords, and your mattocks, either pickaxes, into spears; a feeble man say, that I am strong.

11 All folks, break ye out, and come from compass about, and be ye gathered together; there the Lord shall make thy strong men to die.

12 Folks rise together, and ascend or goeth up into the valley of Jehoshaphat; for I shall sit there, to deem all folks in compass.

13 Send ye sickles, either scythes, for [the] ripe corn waxed; come ye, and go ye down, for the presser is full; pressers be plenteous, for the malice of them is multiplied.

14 Peoples, peoples in the valley of cutting down [or the valley of concision, or slaying together]; for the day of the Lord is nigh in the valley of cutting down [or the valley of concision].

15 The sun and the moon be made dark, and stars withdraw their shining.

16 And the Lord shall roar from Zion, and shall give his voice from Jerusalem, and heavens and earth shall be moved; and the Lord is the hope of his people, and the strength of the sons of Israel.

17 And ye shall know, that I am your Lord God, dwelling in Zion, in mine holy hill; and Jerusalem shall be holy, and aliens shall no more pass by it.

18 And it shall be, in that day, mountains shall drop with sweetness, and little hills shall flow with milk, and waters shall go by all the rivers of Judah; and a well shall go out of the house of the Lord, and shall moist the strand of thorns.

19 Egypt shall be into desolation, and Idumea into desert of perdition; for that that they did wickedly against the sons of Judah, and shedded out innocent blood in their land.

20 And Judah shall be inhabited without end, and Jerusalem into generation and into generation.

21 And I shall cleanse the blood of them, which I had not cleansed; and the Lord shall dwell in Zion.

* CHAPTER 3:2 Also known as the Kidron Valley; it is the setting for the Last Judgement, and so it is also called the ‘Valley of Doom’.

† CHAPTER 3:10 In other writings, Wycliffe renders this word as ‘plowghschares’ (‘plough/plowshares’).

AMOS

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AMOS

CHAPTER 1

1 The words of Amos be these, that was in the shepherds’ things of Tekoa, which he saw on Israel, in the days of Uzziah, that is, Azariah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Jehoash or Joash, king of Israel, before two years of the earth-moving.

2 And he said, The Lord shall roar from Zion, and shall give his voice from Jerusalem; and the fair things of shepherds mourned, and the top of Carmel was made dry.

3 The Lord saith these things, On three great trespasses of Damascus, and on four, I shall not convert it, for it threshed Gilead in iron wains.

4 And I shall send fire into the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the houses of Benhadad.

5 And I shall all-break the bars, [or locks], of Damascus, and I shall lose a dweller from the field of idol, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of lust and of lechery; and the people of Syria shall be translated to Kir, saith the Lord.

6 And the Lord saith these things, On three great trespasses of Gaza, and on four, I shall not convert it, for it translated perfect captivity, to enclose that altogether in Idumea.

7 And I shall send fire into the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the houses thereof.

8 And I shall lose the dwellers of Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre of Ashkelon; and I shall turn mine hand on Ekron, and the remnants of Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord God.

9 The Lord God saith these things, On three great trespasses of Tyre, and on four, I shall not convert it, for they enclosed altogether perfect captivity in Idumea, and had not mind on the bond of peace of brethren.

10 And I shall send fire into the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the houses thereof.

11 The Lord saith these things, On three great trespasses of Edom, and on four, I shall not convert it, for it pursued by sword his brother, and defouled the mercy of him, and poured further his strong vengeance, and kept his indignation till into without end.

12 And I shall send fire into Teman, and it shall devour the houses of Bozrah.

13 The Lord saith these things, On three great trespasses of the sons of Ammon, and on four, I shall not convert him, for he carved the women with child of Gilead, for to alarge his term.

14 And I shall kindle fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the houses thereof, in yelling in the day of battle, and in whirlwind in the day of moving together.

15 And Malcham shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 2

1 The Lord God saith these things, On three great trespasses of Moab, and on four, I shall not convert it, for it burnt the bones of the king of Idumea till to ashes.

2 And I shall send fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Kerioth; and Moab shall die in sound, in the noise of a trump.

3 And I shall lose a judge of the midst thereof, and I shall slay with it all the princes thereof, saith the Lord.

4 The Lord saith these things, On three great trespasses of Judah, and on four, I shall not convert him, for he hath cast away the law of the Lord, and kept not the commandments of him; for their idols, after which the fathers of them went, deceived them.

5 And I shall send fire into Judah, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem.

6 The Lord saith these things, On three great trespasses of Israel, and on four, I shall not convert him, for that that he sold a just man for silver, and a poor man for shoes.

7 Which all-foul the heads of poor men on the dust of [the] earth, and bow away the way of meek men; and the son and his father went to a damsel, that they should defoul mine holy name.

8 And they ate on clothes laid to wed beside each altar, and drank the wine of condemned men in the house of their God.

9 Forsooth I destroyed Amorite from the face of them, whose highness was the highness of cedars, and he was strong as an oak; and I all-brake the fruit of him above, and the roots of him beneath.

10 I am, that made you to go up from the land of Egypt, and led you out in desert by forty years, that ye should wield the land of Amorite.

11 And I raised of your sons into prophets, and Nazarites of your young men. Whether it is not so, ye sons of Israel? saith the Lord.

12 And ye poured out wine to Nazarites, and commanded to prophets, and said, Prophesy ye not.

13 Lo! I shall creak under you, as a wain charged with hay creaketh.

14 And flight shall perish from a swift man, and a strong man shall not hold his strength, and a stalworthy man shall not save his life;

15 and he that holdeth a bow shall not stand, and a swift man shall not be saved by his feet; and the rider of an horse shall not save his life,

16 and a strong man of heart shall flee naked among strong men in that day, saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 3

1 Sons of Israel, hear ye the word which the Lord spake on you, and on all the kindred, which I led out of the land of Egypt, and said,

2 Only I knew you of all the kindreds of earth; therefore I shall visit on you all your wickednesses.

3 Whether twain [or two] shall go together, no but it accord to them?

4 Whether a lion shall roar in a forest, no but he have prey? Whether the whelp of a lion shall give voice from his den, no but he take anything?

5 Whether a bird shall fall into a snare of earth, without a fowler? Whether a snare shall be taken away from earth, before that it take something?

6 Whether a trump shall sound in a city, and the people shall not dread? Whether evil shall be in a city, which evil the Lord shall not make?

7 For the Lord God shall not make a word, no but he show his private plan to his servants prophets.

8 A lion shall roar, who shall not dread? the Lord God spake, who shall not prophesy?

9 Make ye heard in the houses of Ashdod, and in the houses of the land of Egypt; and say ye, Be ye gathered together on the hills of Samaria, and see ye many strong vengeances in the midst thereof, and them that suffer false challenge in the privy places thereof.

10 And they could not or knew not how to do rightful [or right] thing, saith the Lord, and they treasured wickedness and raven in their houses.

11 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, The land shall be troubled, and be encompassed; and thy strength shall be drawn down of thee, and thine houses shall be ravished [or robbed].

12 The Lord saith these things, As if a shepherd ravisheth from the mouth of a lion twain [or two] hips, either the last thing of the ear, so the children of Israel shall be ravished, that dwell in Samaria, in the country of a bed, and in the bed of Damascus.

13 Hear ye, and witness ye in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord God of hosts.

14 For in the day, when I shall begin to visit the trespassings of Israel on him, I shall visit also on the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar shall be cut away, and shall fall down into the earth.

15 And I shall smite the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall be destroyed, saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 4

1 Ye fat kine, that be in the mount of Samaria, hear this word; which make false challenge to needy men, and break poor men; which say to your lords, Bring ye, and we shall drink.

2 The Lord God swore in his holy place, for lo! days shall come on you; and they shall raise you in shafts, and your remnants in boiling pots.

3 And ye shall go out by the openings, one against another, and ye shall be cast forth into Harmon, saith the Lord.

4 Come ye to Bethel, and do ye wickedly; to Gilgal, and multiply your trespassing; and offer ye early your sacrifices, in three days your tithes.

5 And sacrifice ye praising of bread made sour, and call ye for willful offerings, and tell ye about them; for ye, sons of Israel, would so, saith the Lord God.

6 Wherefore and I gave to you astonishing [or edging] of teeth in all your cities, and neediness [or need] of loaves in all your places; and ye turned not again to me, saith the Lord.

7 Also I forbad rain from you, when three months were yet to coming, till to ripe corn; and I rained on one city, and on another city I rained not; one part was berained, and the part dried upon which I rained not.

8 And twain [or two] and three cities came to one city, to drink water, and those were not [ful] filled; and ye came not again to me, saith the Lord.

9 I smote you with burning wind, and with rust, either mildew, the multitude of your orchards, and of your vineries [or vineyards]; and a wortworm ate your olive places, and your fig places; and ye came not again to me, saith the Lord.

10 I sent into you death as in the way of Egypt, I smote with sword your young men, till to the captivity of your horses, and I made the stink of your hosts to go up into your nostrils; and ye came not again to me, saith the Lord.

11 I destroyed you, as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye be made as a brand ravished out of burning; and ye turned not again to me, saith the Lord.

12 Wherefore, thou Israel, I shall do these things to thee; but after that I shall do to thee these things, Israel, be made ready into against-coming of thy God.

13 For lo! he formeth hills, and maketh wind, and telleth to man his speech; and he maketh a morrow mist, and goeth on high things of earth; the Lord God of hosts is the name of him.

CHAPTER 5

1 Hear ye this word, for I raise on you a wailing. [Hear ye, house of Israel, this word, that I raise on you a wailing.]

2 The house of Israel fell down, he shall not put to, that it rise again; the virgin of Israel is cast down into her land, none is that shall raise her. [The maiden of Israel fell down, she shall not put to, that she rise again; she is cast down into her earth, there is not that shall raise her up again.]

3 For the Lord God saith these things, The city of which a thousand went out, an hundred shall be left therein; and of which an hundred went out, ten shall be left therein, in the house of Israel.

4 For the Lord saith these things to the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live;

5 and do not ye seek Bethel, and do not ye enter into Gilgal, and ye shall not pass to Beersheba; for why Gilgal shall be led captive, and Bethel shall be unprofitable.

6 Seek ye the Lord, and live ye, lest peradventure the house of Joseph be burnt as fire; and it shall devour Bethel, and there shall none be, that shall quench.

7 Which convert doom into worm-wood, and forsake rightwiseness in the land,

8 and forsake him that maketh Arcturus or Pleiades and Orion, and him that turneth darknesses into the morrowtide, and him that changeth day into night; which calleth waters of the sea, and poureth out them on the face of [the] earth; the Lord is name of him.

9 Which scorneth destroying on the strong, and bringeth robbing on the mighty.

10 They hated a man reproving in the gate, and they loathed a man speaking perfectly.

11 Therefore for that that ye robbed a poor man, and took from him the chosen prey, ye shall build houses with square stone, and ye shall not dwell in them; ye shall plant most loved vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them.

12 For I knew your great trespasses many, and your strong sins; enemies of the rightwise man, taking a gift, and bearing down poor men in the gate.

13 Therefore a prudent man shall be still in that time, for the time is evil.

14 Seek ye good, and not evil, that ye live, and the Lord God of hosts shall be with you, as ye said.

15 Hate ye evil, and love ye good, and ordain ye in the gate doom; if peradventure the Lord God of hosts have mercy on the remnants of Joseph.

16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts, having lordship, saith these things, Wailing shall be in all streets, and in all things that be withoutforth it shall be said, Woe! woe! and they shall call an earth-tiller to mourning, and them that know how to wail, to wailing.

17 And wailing shall be in all ways, for I shall pass forth in the middle of thee, saith the Lord.

18 Woe to them that desire the day of the Lord; whether to desire ye it to you? This day of the Lord shall be darknesses, and not light.

19 As if a man run from the face of a lion, and a bear run to him; and he enter into the house, and lean with his hand on the wall, and a serpent dwelling in shadow bite him.

20 Whether the day of the Lord shall not be darknesses, and not light; and mist, and not shining therein?

21 I hated and casted away your feast days, and I shall not take the odour of your companies.

22 That if ye offer to me your burnt sacrifices, and gifts, I shall not receive, and I shall not behold the avows of your fat things.

23 Do thou away from me the noise of thy songs, and I shall not hear the songs of thine harp.

24 And doom shall be showed as water, and rightwiseness as a strong stream.

25 Whether ye offered to me hosts, and sacrifices in desert forty years, ye house of Israel?

26 And ye have borne tabernacles to Moloch, your god, and image of your idols, the star of your god, which ye made to you.

27 And I shall make you for to pass over Damascus, said the Lord; God of hosts is the name of him.

CHAPTER 6

1 Woe to you, that be full of riches in Zion, and trust in the hill of Samaria, ye principal men, the heads of peoples, that go proudly to the house of Israel.

2 Go ye into Calneh, and see ye, and go ye from thence into Hamath the great; and go ye down into Gath of Palestines, and to all the best realms of them, if their term be broader than your term.

3 And ye be parted into the evil day, and nigh to the seat of wickedness;

4 and ye sleep in beds of ivory, and do lechery in your beds; and ye eat a lamb of the flock, and calves of the middle of the drove;

5 and ye sing at the voice of psaltery. As David they guessed them, for to have made instruments of song,

6 and drink wine in vials; and with best ointment they were anointed; and in nothing they had compassion on the sorrow, either defouling, of Joseph.

7 Wherefore now they shall pass in the head of men passing over, and the doing, or treason, of men doing lechery [or waxing jolly], shall be done away.

8 The Lord God swore in his soul, saith the Lord God of hosts, I loathe the pride of Jacob, and I hate the houses of him, and I shall betake the city with his dwellers;

9 that if ten men be left in one house, and they shall die.

10 And his neighbour shall take him, and shall burn him, that he bear out bones of the house. And he shall say to him, that is in the privy place of the house, Whether there is yet any with thee? And he shall answer, An end is. And he shall say to him, Be thou still, and think thou not on the name of the Lord.

11 For lo! the Lord shall command, and shall smite the greater house with fallings, and the lesser house with carvings, either breakings.

12 Whether horses may run in stones, either it may be eared with wild oxen? For ye turned doom into bitterness, and the fruit of rightwiseness into wormwood.

13 And ye be glad in nought, and ye say, Whether not in our strength we took to us horns?

14 Lo! I shall raise on you, the house of Israel, saith the Lord God of hosts, a folk; and it shall all-break you from the entry of Hamath unto the stream of desert.

CHAPTER 7

1 The Lord God showed these things to me; and lo! a maker of locusts in the beginning of burgeoning things of eventide rain, and lo! eventide rain after the clipper of the king.

2 And it was done, when he had ended for to eat the herb of earth, I said, Lord God, I beseech, be thou merciful; who shall raise Jacob, for he is little?

3 The Lord had mercy on this thing; It shall not be, said the Lord God.

4 The Lord God showed to me these things; and lo! the Lord God shall call doom to fire, and it shall devour much depth of water, and it ate altogether a part.

5 And I said, Lord God, I beseech, rest thou; who shall raise Jacob, for he is little?

6 The Lord had mercy on this thing; But also and this thing shall not be, said the Lord God.

7 The Lord God showed to me these things; and lo! the Lord standing on a wall pargeted, or plastered, and in the hand of him was a trowel of a mason.

8 And the Lord said to me, What seest thou, Amos? And I said, A trowel of a mason. And the Lord said, Lo! I shall put a trowel in the middle of my people Israel; I shall no more put to, for to over-lead it [or him];

9 and the high things of idol shall be destroyed, and the hallowings of Israel shall be desolate; and I shall rise on the house of Jeroboam by sword.

10 And Amaziah, priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, king of Israel, and said, Amos rebelled against thee, in the middle of the house of Israel; the land may not sustain all his words.

11 For Amos saith these things, Jeroboam shall die by sword, and Israel taken captive shall pass from his land.

12 And Amaziah said to Amos, Thou that seest, go; flee thou into the land of Judah, and eat thou there thy bread; and there thou shalt prophesy.

13 And thou shalt no more put to, that thou prophesy in Bethel, for it is the hallowing of the king, and is the house of the realm.

14 And Amos answered, and said to Amaziah, I am not a prophet, and I am not [the] son of a prophet; but an herder of neat I am, and drawing up sycamores.

15 And the Lord took me, when I followed the flock; and the Lord said to me, Go, and prophesy thou to my people Israel.

16 And now hear thou the word of the Lord. Thou sayest, Thou shalt not prophesy on Israel, and thou shalt not drop thy word on the house of idol or of Isaac.

17 For this thing the Lord saith these things, Thy wife shall do fornication in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by sword, and thy land shall be meted with a little cord; and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel taken captive shall pass from his land.

CHAPTER 8

1 The Lord God showed to me these things; and lo! an hook of apples.

2 And the Lord said, What seest thou, Amos? And I said, An hook of apples or summer fruit*. And the Lord said to me, The end is come on my people Israel; I shall no more put to, that I pass by him.

3 And the hinges, either twists, of the temple shall greatly sound in that day, saith the Lord God. Many men shall die, silence shall be cast forth in each place.

4 Hear ye this thing, which all-break a poor man, and make needy men of the land for to fail;

5 and ye say, When shall harvest pass, and we shall sell merchandises? and the sabbath, and we shall open our wheat again? that we make less the measure, and increase the shekel, and that we set privily guileful balances;

6 that we wield for silver needy men, and poor men for shoes, and we sell out-castings of wheat?

7 The Lord swore against the pride of Jacob, I shall not forget till to the end all the works of them.

8 Whether on this thing, the earth shall not be moved altogether, and each dweller thereof shall mourn? And it shall go up as all the flood, and shall be cast out, and shall float away, as the strand of Egypt.

9 And it shall be, saith the Lord, in that day the sun shall go down in midday, and I shall make the earth to be dark in the day of light.

10 And I shall convert your feast days into mourning, and all your songs into wailing; and I shall bring in on each back of you a sackcloth, and on each head of you baldness; and I shall put it as the mourning of [an] one begotten son, and the last things thereof as a bitter day.

11 Lo! the days come, saith the Lord [God], and I shall send out hunger into earth; not hunger of bread, neither thirst of water, but of hearing the word of God.

12 And they shall be moved altogether from the sea till to the sea, and from the north till to the east they shall compass about, seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find.

13 In that day fair maidens shall fail, and young men, in thirst,

14 which swear in the trespass of Samaria, and say, Dan, thy god liveth, and the way of Beersheba liveth; and they shall fall, and they shall no more rise again.

CHAPTER 9

1 I saw the Lord standing on the altar, and he said, Smite thou the hinges, and the over-thresholds, either lintels, be moved altogether; for avarice is in the head of all, and I shall slay by sword the last of them; there shall no flight be to them, and he that shall flee of them, shall not be saved.

2 If they shall go down till to hell, from thence mine hand shall lead out them; and if they shall ascend till to or go up unto heaven, from thence I shall draw them down.

3 And if they shall be hid in the top of Carmel, from thence I seeking shall do them away; and if they shall hide themselves from mine eyes in the deepness of the sea, there I shall command a serpent, and it shall bite them, and devour them.

4 And if they shall go away into captivity before their enemies, there I shall command to sword, and it shall slay them. And I shall put mine eyes on them into evil, and not into good.

5 And the Lord God of hosts shall do these things, that toucheth earth, and it shall fail, and all men dwelling therein shall mourn; and it shall go up as each strand, and it shall float away as the flood of Egypt.

6 He that buildeth his going up in heaven, shall do these things, and founded his burden on earth; which calleth waters of the sea, and poureth out them on the face of earth; the Lord is name of him.

7 Whether not as the sons of Ethiopians ye be to me, the sons of Israel? saith the Lord God. Whether I made not Israel for to go up from the land of Egypt, and Palestines from Cappadocia, and Syrians from Kir?

8 Lo! the eyes of the Lord God be on the realm sinning, and I shall all-break it from the face of [the] earth; nevertheless I all-breaking shall not all-break the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.

9 For lo! I shall command, and shall shake together the house of Israel in all folks, as wheat is shaken together in a riddle, and a little stone shall not fall on the earth.

10 All sinners of my people shall die by sword, which say, Evil shall not nigh, and shall not come on us.

11 In that day I shall raise the tabernacle of David, that fell down, and I shall again-build openings of the walls thereof, and I shall restore the things that fell down; and I shall again-build it, as in old days,

12 that they wield the remnants of Idumea, and all nations; for that my name is called to help on them, saith the Lord doing these things.

13 Lo! days come, saith the Lord, and the earer shall overtake the reaper, and the treader, or stamper, of grapes shall overtake the man sowing seed; and mountains shall drop sweetness, and all small hills shall be tilled.

14 And I shall convert the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build forsaken cities, and shall dwell; and shall plant vineyards, and they shall drink wine of them; and shall make gardens, and shall eat fruits of them.

15 And I shall plant them on their land, and I shall no more draw out them of their land, which I gave to them, saith the Lord thy God.

* CHAPTER 8:2 A play on the Hebrew words for ‘summer (fruit)’ and ‘end’, which sound similar.

OBADIAH

OBADIAH

CHAPTER 1

1 [The] Vision of Obadiah. The Lord God saith these things to Edom. We heard an hearing of the Lord, and he sent a legate, either a messenger, to heathen men. Rise ye, and together rise we against him into battle.

2 Lo! I gave thee little in heathen men, thou art full much worthy to be despised.

3 The pride of thine heart enhanced thee, dwelling in the crazings of stones, araising thy seat. Which sayest in thine heart, Who shall draw me down into earth?

4 Though thou shalt be raised as an eagle, and thou shalt put thy nest among stars, from thence I shall draw thee down, saith the Lord.

5 If night thieves had entered to thee, if outlaws by night, how shouldest thou have been still? whether they should not have stolen things enough to them? If gatherers of grapes had entered to thee, whether they should have left namely raisins, or clusters, to thee?

6 How sought they Esau, searched the hid things of him?

7 Till to the terms they sent out thee; and all men of thy covenant of peace scorned, either deceived, thee, men of thy peace waxed strong against thee; they that shall eat with thee, shall set ambush, either treasons, under thee; there is no prudence in him.

8 Whether not in that day, saith the Lord, I shall lose the wise men of Idumea, and prudence of the mount of Esau?

9 And thy strong men shall dread of midday, either south, that a man of the hill of Esau perish.

10 For slaying and for wickedness against thy brother Jacob, confusion shall cover thee, and thou shalt perish without end.

11 In the day when thou stoodest against him, when aliens took the host of him, and strangers entered into the gates of him, and sent lot on Jerusalem, thou were also as one of them.

12 And thou shalt not despise in the day of thy brother, in the day of his pilgrimage, and thou shalt not be glad on the sons of Judah, in the day of perdition of them; and thou shalt not magnify thy mouth in the day of anguish,

13 neither thou shalt enter into the gate of my people, in the day of falling of them; and thou shalt not despise in the evils of him, in the day of his destroying; and thou shalt not be sent out against his host, in the day of his destroying;

14 neither thou shalt stand in the going out [of the ways], that thou slay them that fled; and thou shalt not enclose together the residues, either left men, of him, in the day of tribulation,

15 for the day of the Lord is nigh on all heathen men. As thou hast done, it shall be done to thee; he shall convert thy yielding into thine head.

16 For as ye drank on mine holy hill, all heathen men shall drink busily, and they shall drink, and they shall swallow up; and they shall be as if they be not.

17 And salvation shall be in the hill of Zion, and it shall be holy; and the house of Jacob shall wield them which wielded them.

18 And the house of Jacob shall be fire, and the house of Joseph shall be flame, and the house of Esau shall be stubble; and they shall be kindled in them, and they shall devour them; and remnants shall not be of the house of Esau, for the Lord spake,.

19 And these that be at the south, shall inherit the hill of Esau; and they that be in the low fields, shall inherit Philistines; and they shall wield the country of Ephraim, and the country of Samaria; and Benjamin shall wield Gilead.

20 And transmigration, either passing over, of this host of sons of Israel shall wield all places of Canaanites, till to Zarephath; and the transmigration of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall wield the cities of the south.

21 And saviours shall ascend or go up into the hill of Zion, for to deem the hill of Esau, and a realm shall be to the Lord.

JONAH

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JONAH

CHAPTER 1

1 And the word of the Lord was made to Jonah, the son of Amittai, and said,

2 Rise thou, and go into Nineveh, the great city, and preach thou therein, for the malice thereof goeth up before me.

3 And Jonah rose for to flee into Tarshish, from the face of the Lord. And he came down to Joppa, and found a ship going into Tarshish, and he gave ship-hire to them; and he went down into it, for to go with them into Tarshish, from the face of the Lord.

4 Forsooth the Lord sent a great wind into the sea, and a great tempest was made in the sea, and the ship was in peril for to be all-broken.

5 And shipmen dreaded, and men cried to their god; and sent vessels, that were in the ship, into the sea, that it were made lighter of them. And Jonah went down into the inner things of the ship, and slept by a grievous sleep.

6 And the governor came to him, and said to him, Why art thou cast down in sleep? rise thou, call thy God to help, if peradventure God again-think of us, and we perish not.

7 And a man said to his fellows, Come ye, and cast we lots, and know we, why this evil is to us. And they cast lots, and lot fell on Jonah.

8 And they said to him, Show thou to us, for cause of what thing this evil is to us; what is thy work, which is thy land, and whither goest thou, either of what people art thou?

9 And he said to them, I am an Hebrew, and I dread the Lord God of heaven, that made the sea and the dry land.

10 And the men dreaded with great dread, and said to him, Why didest thou this thing? for the men knew that he flew from the face of the Lord, for Jonah had showed to them.

11 And they said to him, What shall we do to thee, and the sea shall cease from us? for the sea went, and waxed great on them.

12 And he said to them, Take ye me, and throw or send me into the sea, and the sea shall cease from you; for I know, that for me this great tempest is on you.

13 And the men rowed, for to turn again to the dry land, and they might not, for the sea went, and waxed great on them.

14 And they cried to the Lord, and said, Lord, we beseech, that we perish not in the life of this man, and that thou give not on us innocent blood; for thou, Lord, didest as thou wouldest.

15 And they took Jonah, and threw or sent into the sea; and the sea stood of his boiling.

16 And the men dreaded the Lord with great dread, and offered hosts to the Lord, and vowed avows.

17 And the Lord made ready a great fish, that he should swallow Jonah; and Jonah was in the womb of the fish three days and three nights.

CHAPTER 2

1 And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s womb,

2 and said, I cried to God of my tribulation, and he heard me; from the womb of hell I cried, and thou heardest my voice.

3 Thou castedest me down into deepness, in the heart of the sea, and the floods compassed me [about]; all thy swells and thy waves passed on me.

4 And I said, I am cast away from the sight of thine eyes; nevertheless again I shall see thine holy temple.

5 Waters encompassed me till to my soul, deepness environed me, the seaweed covered mine head.

6 I went down to the uttermost places of hills, the bars of earth enclosed me altogether, into without end; and thou, my Lord God, shalt raise up my life from corruption.

7 When my soul was anguished in me, I bethought on the Lord, that my prayer come to thee, to thine holy temple.

8 They that keep vanities, forsake their mercy idly.

9 But I in voice of praising shall offer to thee; whatever things I vowed, I shall yield to the Lord, for mine health.

10 And the Lord said to the fish, and it casted out Jonah on/to the dry land.

CHAPTER 3

1 And the word of the Lord was made the second time to Jonah, and said,

2 Rise thou, and go into Nineveh, the great city, and preach thou in it the preaching which I speak to thee.

3 And Jonah rose, and went into Nineveh, by the word of the Lord. And Nineveh was a great city, of the journey of three days.

4 And Jonah began for to enter into the city, by the journey of one day, and cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overturned, or destroyed.

5 And men of Nineveh believed to the Lord, and preached fasting, and were clothed with sackcloths, from the more till to the less.

6 And the word came to the king of Nineveh; and he rose off his seat, and casted away his clothing from him, and was clothed with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7 And he cried, and said in Nineveh of the mouth of the king and of his princes, saying, Men, and work beasts, and oxen, and sheep, taste not anything, neither be fed, neither drink water.

8 And men be covered with sack-cloths, and work beasts, all cry to the Lord in strength; and be a man converted, or all-turned, from his evil way, and from wickedness that is in the hands of them.

9 Who knoweth, if God be converted, and forgive, and be turned away from strong vengeance of his wrath, and we shall not perish?

10 And God saw the works of them, that they were converted from their evil way; and God had mercy on the malice which he spake, that he would do to them, and did not.

CHAPTER 4

1 And Jonah was tormented with great torment, and was wroth.

2 And he prayed to the Lord, and said, Lord, I beseech, whether this is not my word, when I was yet in my land? For this thing I purposed for to flee into Tarshish; for I know, that thou, God, art meek and merciful, patient, and of much merciful doing, and forgiving of malice.

3 And now, Lord, I pray, take my life from me; for death is better to me than life.

4 And the Lord said, Guessest thou, whether thou art well wroth?

5 And Jonah went out of the city, and sat against the east of the city, and made to him a shadowing place there; and sat under it in shadow, till he saw what befell to the city.

6 And the Lord God made ready an ivy, and it went upon the head of Jonah, that shadow or shade were on his head, and covered him; for he had travailed. And Jonah was glad on the ivy, with great gladness.

7 And God made ready a worm, in the going up of gray day on the morrow; and it smote the ivy, and it dried up.

8 And when the sun was risen, the Lord commanded to the hot wind and burning; and the sun smote on the head of Jonah, and he sweltered. And he asked to his soul that he should die, and said, It is better to me to die, than to live.

9 And the Lord said to Jonah, Guessest thou, whether thou art well wroth on the ivy? And he said, I am well wroth, till to the death.

10 And the Lord said, Thou art sorry on the ivy, in which thou travailedest not, neither madest that it waxed, which was grown under one night, and perished in one night.

11 And shall I not spare the great city Nineveh, in which be more than sixscore thousand of men, which know not what is betwixt their right half and left half, and many beasts?

MICAH

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MICAH

CHAPTER 1

1 The word of the Lord, which was made to Micah the Morasthite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah; which word he saw on Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear ye, all peoples, and the earth perceive, and the plenty thereof, and be the Lord God to you into a witness, the Lord from his holy temple.

3 For lo! the Lord shall go out of his place, and shall come down, and shall tread on high things of earth.

4 And mountains shall be wasted under him, and valleys shall be cut, as wax from the face of fire, and as waters that run down into a pit.

5 In the great trespass of Jacob is all this thing, and in the sins of the house of Israel. Which is the great trespass of Jacob? whether not Samaria? and which be the high things of Judah? whether not Jerusalem?

6 And I shall put Samaria as an heap of stones in the field, when a vine-yard is planted; and I shall draw away the stones thereof into a valley, and I shall show the foundaments thereof.

7 And all graven images thereof shall be beaten together, and all hires thereof shall be burnt in fire; and I shall put all the idols thereof into perdition; for of the hires of an whore those be gathered, and to hire of an whore those shall turn again.

8 On this thing I shall wail and yell, I shall go spoiled and naked; I shall make wailing as of dragons, and mourning as of ostriches.

9 For wound thereof is despaired; for it came till to Judah, it touched the gate of my people, till to Jerusalem.

10 In Gath do not ye tell, by tears weep ye not; in the house of dust with dust altogether sprinkle you.

11 And ye of a fair dwelling, pass to you, which is confounded with evil fame; it is not gone out, which dwelleth in the going out; a nigh house shall take of you wailing, which stood to itself.

12 For it is made sick [in] to good, which dwelleth in bitternesses. For evil came down from the Lord into the gate of Jerusalem,

13 the noise of [a] four-horsed cart, of dread to the people dwelling at Lachish. It is the beginning of sin of the daughter of Zion, for the great trespasses of Israel be found in thee.

14 Therefore he shall give warriors on the heritage of Gath, on the houses of leasing into deceit to kings of Israel.

15 Yet I shall bring an heir to thee, that dwellest in Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall come till to the cave at Adullam.

16 Be thou made bald, and be thou clipped on the sons of thy delights; alarge thy baldness as an eagle, for they be led captive from thee.

CHAPTER 2

1 Woe to you, that think unprofitable thing, and work evil in your beds; in the morrowtide light they do it, for the hand of them is against God.

2 They coveted fields, and took violently; and ravished houses, and falsely challenged a man and his house, a man and his heritage.

3 Therefore the Lord saith these things, Lo! I think on this meine evil, from which ye shall not take away your necks; and ye shall not walk proud, for the worst time is.

4 In that day a parable shall be taken on you, and a song shall be sung with sweetness of men, saying, By robbing we be destroyed; a part of my people is changed; how shall he go away from me, when he turneth again that shall part your countries?

5 For this thing, none shall be to thee sending a little cord of lot, in company of the Lord.

6 A! thou Israel, speak ye not speaking; it shall not drop a word on these men, confusion shall not catch,

7 saith the house of Jacob. Whether the Spirit of the Lord is abridged, either such be the thoughts of him? Whether my words be not good, with him that goeth rightly?

8 And on the contrary, my people rose together into an adversary; ye took away the mantle above the coat, and ye turned into battle them that went simply.

9 Ye casted the women of my people out of the house of their delights; from the little children of them ye took away my praising without end.

10 Rise ye, and go, for here ye have no rest; for the uncleanness thereof it shall be corrupted with the worst rot.

11 I would that I were not a man having spirit, and rather that I spake a leasing. I shall drop a word to thee into wine, and into drunkenness; and this people shall be, on whom it is dropped.

12 With gathering I shall gather Jacob; I shall lead together thee all into one, the remnants of Israel. I shall put him together, as a flock in the fold; as sheep in the middle of folds they shall make noise, because of multitude of men.

13 For he shall go up showing the way before them; they shall depart, and pass the gate, and shall go out thereby; and the king of them shall pass before them, and the Lord in the head of them.

CHAPTER 3

1 And I said, Ye princes of Jacob, and dukes of the house of Israel, hear. Whether it is not yours for to know doom,

2 which hate good, and love evil? Which violently take away the skins of them from above them, and the flesh of them from above the bones of them.

3 Which ate the flesh of my people, and uncovered, [or flayed off], the skin of them from above; and brake altogether the bones of them, and cutted them up altogether as in a cauldron, and as flesh in the middle of a pot.

4 Then they shall cry to the Lord, and he shall not hear them; and he shall hide his face from them in that time, as they did wickedly in their findings.

5 The Lord saith these things on the prophets that deceive my people, that bite with their teeth, and preach peace; and if any man giveth not in the mouth of them anything, they hallow battle on him.

6 Therefore night shall be to you for vision, or prophecy, and darknesses to you for divination; and the sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be made dark on them.

7 And they shall be confounded that see visions, and diviners shall be confounded, and all shall cover their cheers, for it is not the answer of God.

8 Nevertheless I am filled with strength of the Spirit of the Lord, and with doom and power, that I show to Jacob his great trespass, and to Israel his sin.

9 Hear these things, ye princes of the house of Jacob, and doomsmen of the house of Israel, which loathe doom, and pervert all right things;

10 which build Zion in bloods, and Jerusalem in wickedness.

11 The princes thereof deemed for gifts, and [the] priests thereof taught for hire, and the prophets thereof divined for money; and on the Lord they rested, and said, Whether the Lord is not in the middle of us? evils shall not come on us.

12 For this thing because of you, Zion as a field shall be eared; and Jerusalem shall be as an heap of stones, and the hill of the temple shall be into high things of woods.

CHAPTER 4

1 And in the last days, the hill of the house of the Lord shall be made ready in the top of [the] hills, and shall be high over small hills. And peoples shall flow to him,

2 and many peoples shall hasten, and shall say, Come ye, ascend or go we up to the hill of the Lord, and to the house of God of Jacob; and he shall teach us of his ways, and we shall go in his paths. For the law shall go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem;

3 and he shall deem betwixt many peoples, and shall chastise strong folks till into far. And they shall beat together their swords into shares*, and their spears into pickaxes; folk shall not take sword against folk, and they shall no more learn to fight.

4 And a man shall sit under his vineyard, and under his fig tree; and there shall not be that shall make afeared, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts spake.

5 For all peoples shall go, each man in the name of his Lord God; but we shall walk in the name of our Lord God into the world, and over.

6 In that day, saith the Lord, I shall gather the halting, and I shall gather her that I casted away, and whom I tormented I shall comfort.

7 And I shall put the halting into remnants, and her that travailed in[to] a strong folk. And the Lord shall reign on them in the hill of Zion, from this time now and till into without end.

8 And thou, dark tower of the flock of the daughter of Zion, unto thee he shall come, and the first power shall come, the realm of the daughter of Jerusalem.

9 Now why art thou drawn together with mourning? whether a king is not to thee, either thy counsellor perished? for sorrow hath taken thee as a woman travailing of child.

10 Thou daughter of Zion, make sorrow, and haste, as a woman travailing of child; for now thou shalt go out of the city, and shalt dwell in the country, and shalt come unto Babylon; there thou shalt be delivered, there the Lord shall again-buy thee, from the hand of thine enemies.

11 And now many folks be gathered on thee, which say, Be it stoned, and our eye behold into Zion.

12 Forsooth they knew not the thoughts of the Lord, and understood not the counsel of him, for he gathered them as the hay of the field.

13 Rise thou, and thresh, daughter of Zion, for I shall put thine horn of iron, and I shall put thy nails brazen; and thou shalt lose, either waste, many peoples, and shalt slay to the Lord for an offering the ravens of them, and the strength of them to the Lord of all earth.

CHAPTER 5

1 Now thou, daughter of a thief, shalt be destroyed; they putted on us besieging, in a rod they shall smite the cheek of the judge of Israel.

2 And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, art little in the thousands of Judah; he that is the lordly governor in Israel shall go out of thee to me; and the going out of him is from [the] beginning, from days of everlastingness.

3 For this thing he shall give them up, till to the time in which the woman travailing of child shall bear child, and the remnants of his brethren shall be turned again to the sons of Israel.

4 And he shall stand, and shall feed in the strength of the Lord, in the height of the name of his Lord God; and they shall be converted, for now he shall be magnified till to the ends of all earth.

5 And this shall be peace, when Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our houses; and we shall raise on him seven shepherds, and eight primates men, either the first in dignity.

6 And they shall waste the land of Assur by sword, and the land of Nimrod by spears of him; and he shall deliver us from Assur, when he shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our coasts.

7 And remnants of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, as dew of the Lord, and as drops on herb, which abideth not man, and shall not abide the sons of men.

8 And remnants of Jacob shall be in heathen men, in the middle of many peoples, as a lion among beasts of the woods, and as a whelp of a lion roaring in flocks of sheep; and when he passeth, and defouleth, and taketh, there is not that shall deliver.

9 And thine hand shall be raised on thine enemies, and all thine enemies shall perish.

10 And it shall be, in that day, saith the Lord, I shall take away thine horses from the middle of thee, and I shall destroy thy four-horsed carts.

11 And I shall lose the cities of thy land, and I shall destroy all thy strongholds, either wardings;

12 and I shall do away witchcrafts from thine hand, and divinations, either tellings by devil’s craft, shall not be in thee.

13 And I shall make for to perish thy graven images, and I shall break altogether from the middle of thee thine images, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thine hands.

14 And I shall draw out of the midst of thee thy woods dedicated to idols, and I shall all-break thy cities.

15 And I shall make in wrath and indignation vengeance in all folks, which heard not.

CHAPTER 6

1 Hear ye which things the Lord speaketh. Rise thou, strive thou by doom against mountains, and little hills hear thy voice.

2 Mountains and the strong foundaments of earth, hear the doom of the Lord; for the doom of the Lord shall be with his people, and he shall be deemed with Israel.

3 My people, what have I done to thee, either in what was I grievous to thee? Answer thou to me.

4 For I led thee out of the land of Egypt, and of the house of servage I delivered thee; and I sent before thy face Moses, and Aaron, and Mary.

5 My people, bethink, I pray, what Balak, king of Moab, thought, and what Balaam, son of Beor, of Shittim, answered to him till to Gilgal, that thou shouldest know the rightwiseness of the Lord.

6 What worthy thing shall I offer to the Lord? shall I bow the knee to the high God? Whether shall I offer to him brunt sacrifices, and calves of one year?

7 Whether God may be satisfied in thousands of wethers, either in many thousands of fat goat bucks? Whether I shall give my first begotten for my great trespass, the fruit of my womb for sin of my soul?

8 I shall show to thee, thou man, what is good, and what the Lord asketh of thee; forsooth for to do doom, and for to love mercy, and be busy for to walk with thy God.

9 The voice of the Lord crieth to the city, and health shall be to all men dreading thy name. Ye lineages, hear; and who shall approve it?

10 Yet fire is in the house of unpious men, the treasures of wickedness, and a less measure, which make me full of wrath.

11 Whether I shall justify the wicked balance, and the guileful weights of a little sack,

12 in which rich men thereof be filled with wickedness? And men dwelling therein spake leasing, and the tongue of them was guileful in the mouth of them.

13 And I therefore began for to smite thee, into perdition on thy sins.

14 Thou shalt eat, and shalt not be [ful] filled, and thy meeking is in the middle of thee; and thou shalt take, and shalt not save; and which thou shalt save, I shall give into sword.

15 Thou shalt sow, and shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olive, and shalt not be anointed with oil; and make must, and shalt not drink wine.

16 And thou keptest the behests of Omri, and all the work of the house of Ahab, and hast walked in the lusts of them, that I should give thee into perdition, and men dwelling in it into hissing, either scorning, and ye shall bear the shame of my people.

CHAPTER 7

1 Woe to me, for I am made as he that gathereth in harvest raisins of grapes; there is no cluster for to eat; my soul desired figs ripe before others.

2 The holy perished from [the] earth, and rightful is not in men; all ambush, either set treason, in blood; a man hunteth his brother to death.

3 The evil of their hands they say good; the prince asketh, and the doomsman is in yielding; and a great man spake the desire of his soul, and they troubled altogether it.

4 He that is the best in them, is as a paliurus, that is, a teasel, either a sharp bush; and he that is rightful is as a thorn of hedge. The day of thy beholding, thy visiting cometh, now shall be destroying of them.

5 Do not ye believe to a friend, and do not ye trust in a duke; from her that sleepeth in thy bosom, keep thou the closings of thy mouth.

6 For the son doeth wrong to the father, and the daughter shall rise against her mother, and the wife of the son against the mother of her husband; the enemies of a man be the ones at home, either the house-hold meine, of him.

7 Forsooth I shall behold to the Lord, I shall abide God my saviour; the Lord my God shall hear me.

8 Thou, mine enemy, be not glad on me, for I fell down, I shall rise up again; when I sit in darknesses, the Lord is my light.

9 I shall bear wrath of the Lord, for I have sinned to him, till he deem my cause, and make my doom; he shall lead out me into light, I shall see [the] rightwiseness of him.

10 And mine enemy shall behold me, and she shall be covered with confusion, which saith to me, Where is thy Lord God? Mine eyes shall see her, now she shall be into defouling, as clay, either fen, of streets.

11 Day shall come, that thy walls be builded; in that day law shall be made afar.

12 In that day, and Assur shall come till to thee, and till to strong cities, and from strong cities till to [the] flood; and to sea from sea, and to hill from hill.

13 And [the] earth shall be into desolation for her dwellers, and for fruit of the thoughts of them.

14 Feed thou thy people in thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, that dwell alone in [the] wild wood; in the middle of Carmel they shall be fed of Bashan and of Gilead, as by eld [or old] days,

15 by days of thy going out of the land of Egypt. I shall show to him wonderful things;

16 heathen men shall see, and they shall be confounded on all their strength; they shall put hands on their mouth, the ears of them shall be deaf;

17 they shall lick dust as a serpent; as creeping things of [the] earth they shall be disturbed, or troubled, out of their houses; they shall not desire our Lord God, and they shall dread thee.

18 God, who is like thee, that doest away wickedness, and bearest over the sin of the remnants of thine heritage? He shall no more send in his strong vengeance, for he is willing or desiring mercy;

19 he shall turn again, and have mercy on us. He shall put down our wickednesses, and shall cast far into deepness of the sea all our sins.

20 Thou shalt give truth to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, which thou sworest to our fathers from eld [or old] days.

* CHAPTER 4:3 In other writings, John Wycliffe renders this word in this verse as ‘plowghschares’ (‘ploughshares’/‘plowshares’).

NAHUM

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NAHUM

CHAPTER 1

1 The burden of Nineveh; the book of vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2 The Lord is a punisher, and the Lord is avenging; the Lord is avenging, and having strong vengeance; the Lord is avenging against his adversaries, and he is wrathing to his enemies.

3 The Lord is patient, and great in strength, and he cleansing shall not make the wicked innocent. The Lord cometh in tempest, and the ways of him be in whirlwind, and clouds be the dust of his feet;

4 he blameth the sea, and drieth it, and bringeth all floods into desert. Bashan is made sick, and Carmel, and the flowers of Lebanon languished.

5 Mountains be moved together of him, and little hills be desolate. And [the] earth trembled together from the face of him, and the roundness of earth, and all dwelling therein.

6 Who shall stand before the face of his indignation? and who shall against-stand in the wrath of his strong vengeance? His indignation is shed out as fire, and stones be dissolved, either broken, of him.

7 The Lord is good, and comforting in the day of tribulation, and knowing them that hope in him.

8 And in great flood passing forth, he shall make end of his place; and darknesses shall pursue his enemies.

9 What think ye against the Lord? He shall make end; double tribulation shall not rise together.

10 For as thorns embrace themselves together, so the feast of them drinking together shall be wasted, as stubble full of dryness.

11 Of thee shall go out a man thinking malice against the Lord, and treat trespassing in soul.

12 The Lord saith these things, If they shall be perfect, and so many, and thus they shall be clipped, and it shall pass by. I tormented thee, and I shall no more torment thee.

13 And now I shall all-break the rod of him from off thy back, and I shall break thy bonds.

14 And the Lord shall command on thee, it shall no more be sown of thy name. Of the house of thy god I shall slay; I shall set thy sepulchre a graven image, and an image welled together, either molten, for thou art unworshipped.

15 Lo! on hills the feet of the evangelizing and telling peace. Judah, hallow thou thy feast days, and yield thy vows, for why Belial shall no more put to, that he pass forth in thee; all he is perished.

CHAPTER 2

1 He went up, that shall scatter before thee, that shall keep [the] besieging; behold thou the way, comfort thou loins, strengthen thou virtue greatly.

2 For as the Lord yielded the pride of Jacob, so the pride of Israel; for destroyers scattered them, and destroyed the generations of them.

3 The shields of strong men of him be fiery, men of the host be in red clothes; reins of fire of [the] chariots, in the day of his making ready; and the leaders thereof be asleep.

4 In ways they be troubled together, carts of four horses be hurtled together in streets; the sight of them as lamps, as lightnings running about.

5 He shall bethink of his strong men, they shall fall in their ways; and swiftly they shall go up on the walls thereof, and shadowing place shall be made ready.

6 Gates of floods be opened, and the temple is broken down to [the] earth.

7 And a knight is led away captive, and the handmaids thereof shall be driven sorrowing as culvers, grutching in their hearts.

8 And Nineveh, as a cistern of waters the waters thereof; forsooth they fled; Stand ye, stand ye, and there is not that shall turn again.

9 Ravish ye silver, ravish ye gold; and there is none end of riches, of all desirable vessels.

10 It is destroyed, and cut, and rent, or torn, and heart failing, and unknitting of small knees, and failing in all reins; and the face of all be as blackness of a pot.

11 Where is the dwelling of lions, and [the] pastures of whelps of lions? To which city the lion went, that the whelp of the lion should enter thither, and there is not that shall make afeared.

12 The lion took enough to his whelps, and slew to his lionesses; and filled their dens with prey, and his couch with raven.

13 Lo! I to thee, saith the Lord God of hosts; and I shall burn thy carts of four horses till to the highest, and sword shall eat thy small lions; and I shall destroy thy prey from the land, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard.

CHAPTER 3

1 Woe to the city of bloods, all of leasing, full of rending; raven shall not go away from thee.

2 Voice of scourge, and voice of rush of wheel, and of horse making noise, and of [a] four-horsed cart burning,

3 and of knight going up, and of shining sword, and glistening spear, and of [the] slain multitude, and of grievous falling, neither there is end of carrions. And they shall fall together in their bodies,

4 for the multitude of [the] fornications of the whore fair and pleasant, and having witchcrafts; which sold folks in her fornications, and meines in her enchantments, either sorceries.

5 Lo! I to thee, saith the Lord God of hosts; and I shall show thy shameful things in thy face; and I shall show to folks thy nakedness, and to realms thine evil fame, either shame.

6 And I shall cast out on thee thine abominations, and I shall punish thee with despites, and I shall put thee into ensample.

7 And it shall be, each man that shall see thee, shall leap away from thee, and shall say, Nineveh is destroyed. Who shall move head on thee? whereof shall I seek to thee a comforter?

8 Whether thou art better than Alexandria of peoples, that dwelleth in or by the floods? Waters be in compass thereof, whose riches is the sea, waters be[the] walls thereof.

9 Ethiopia is[the] strength thereof, and Egypt, and there is none end; Africa and Libya were in help thereof.

10 But and it in transmigration, or passing over, is led into captivity; the little children thereof be hurtled down in the head of all ways. And on the noble men thereof they cast lot, and all great men thereof be set together in gyves, either fetters.

11 And thou therefore shalt be drunken, and shalt be despised, and thou shalt seek help because of the enemy.

12 All thy strengths or strongholds be as a fig tree, with his figs unripe; if they shall be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Lo! thy people be women in the middle of thee; the gates of thy land shall be showed to opening to thine enemies; fire shall devour thine hinges.

14 Draw up to thee water for asieging, build thy strongholds; enter in[to] fen, and tread, thou undergoing hold a tilestone.

15 There fire shall eat thee, thou shalt perish by sword, it shall devour thee, as bruchus doeth; be thou gathered together as a bruchus, be thou multiplied as a locust.

16 Thou madest thy merchants more than be stars of heaven; a bruchus is spread abroad, and fly away.

17 Thy keepers be as locusts, and thy little children be as locusts of locusts, which sit together in hedges in the day of cold; the sun is risen, and they fled away, and the place of them is not known, where they were.

18 Thy shepherds nap, thou king of Assur, thy princes shall be buried; thy people oft was hid in hills, and there is not that shall gather.

19 Thy sorrow is not privy, thy wound is worst; all men that heard thine hearing pressed together hand on thee, for on whom passed not thy malice evermore?

HABAKKUK

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HABAKKUK

CHAPTER 1

1 The burden that Habakkuk, the prophet, saw.

2 How long, Lord, shall I cry, and thou shalt not hear? I suffering violence shall cry on high to thee, and thou shalt not save?

3 Why showedest thou to me wickedness and travail, for to see prey and unrightwiseness against me? Why beholdest thou despisers, and art still, the while the unpious man defouleth a right-fuller than himself? And thou shalt make men as fishes of the sea, and as creeping things not having a leader; and doom is made, and against-saying is more mighty.

4 For this thing law is broken, and doom cometh not till to the end; for the unpious man hath might against the just, therefore wayward doom shall go out.

5 Behold ye in heathen men, and see ye, and wonder ye, and greatly dread ye; for a work is done in your days, which no man shall believe, when it shall be told.

6 For lo! I shall raise Chaldees, a bitter folk and swift, going on the breadth of earth, that he wield tabernacles not his.

7 It is horrible, and dreadful; the doom and the burden thereof shall go out of itself.

8 His horses be lighter than leopards, and swifter than eventide wolves, and his horsemen shall be scattered abroad; for why his horsemen shall come from far, they shall fly as an eagle hasting to eat.

9 All these men shall come to or for prey, the faces of them is as a burning wind; and he shall gather as gravel the captivity,

10 and he shall have victory of kings, and tyrants shall be of his scorning. He shall laugh on all strength or stronghold, and shall bear together [an] heap of earth, and shall take it.

11 Then the spirit [of him] shall be changed, and he shall pass forth, and fall down; this is the strength of him, of his god.

12 Whether thou art not from the beginning, thou, Lord my God, mine Holy, and we shall not die? Lord, into doom thou hast set him, and thou groundedest him strong, that thou shouldest chastise.

13 Thine eyes be clean, see thou not evil, and thou shalt not be able to behold to wickedness. Why beholdest thou not on men doing wickedly, and thou art still, while the unpious man devoureth a more just man than himself?

14 And thou shalt make men as fishes of the sea, and as a creeping thing not having a prince.

15 He shall lift up all in the hook; he drew it in his great net, and gathered into his net; on this thing he shall be glad, and make joy withoutforth.

16 Therefore he shall offer to his great net, and shall make sacrifice to his net; for in them his part is made fat, and his meat is chosen.

17 Therefore for this thing he spread-eth abroad his great net, and ever-more he ceaseth not for to slay folks.

CHAPTER 2

1 On my keeping I shall stand, and shall pitch my step on [the] warding; and I shall behold, that I see what thing shall be said to me, and what I shall answer to him that reproveth me.

2 And the Lord answered to me, and said, Write thou the sight, either revelation, and make it plain on tables, that he run, that shall read it.

3 For yet the vision is far, and it shall appear into the end, and shall not lie; if it shall make dwelling, abide thou it, for it coming shall come, and shall not tarry.

4 Lo! the soul of him, that is unbelieveful, shall not be rightful [or right] in himself; forsooth the just man shall live in his faith.

5 And as wine deceiveth a man drinking, so shall the proud man be, and he shall not be made fair; for as hell he alarged his soul, and he is as death, and he is not [ful] filled; and he shall gather to him all folks, and he shall gather together to him all peoples.

6 Whether not all these peoples shall take a parable on him, and the speaking of dark sentences of him? And it shall be said, Woe to him that multiplieth things not his own; how long, and he aggregateth against himself thick clay?

7 Whether not suddenly they shall rise together, that shall bite thee? And they shall be raised tearing thee, and thou shalt be into raven to them; and thine ambushers in evil shall wake.

8 For thou robbedest many folks, all shall rob thee, which shall be residue, either left, of peoples, for blood of man, and for wickedness of land, of the city, and of all men dwelling in it.

9 Woe to him that gathereth evil covetousness to his house, that his nest be on high, and guesseth him for to be delivered of the hand of evil.

10 Thou thoughtest confusion to thine house; thou hast slain many peoples, and thy soul sinned.

11 For the stone of the wall shall cry, and a tree that is betwixt jointures of buildings shall answer.

12 Woe to him that buildeth a city in bloods, and maketh ready a city in wickedness.

13 Whether not these things be of the Lord of hosts? For peoples shall travail in much fire, and folks in vain, and they shall fail.

14 For the earth shall be filled, that it know the glory of the Lord, as waters covering the sea.

15 Woe to him that giveth drink to his friend, and sendeth his gall, and maketh drunken, that he behold his nakedness.

16 He is filled with evil fame for glory; and thou drink, and be fast asleep; the cup of the right half of the Lord shall compass thee, and casting up, either spewing, of evil fame [up] on thy glory.

17 For the wickedness of Lebanon shall cover thee, and [the] destruction of beasts shall make them afeared, of bloods of man, and of wickedness of [the] land, and of the city, and of all men dwelling therein.

18 What profiteth the graven image, for his maker engraved it, a welled thing together, and [a] false image? for the maker thereof hoped in [the] making, that he made dumb simulacra.

19 Woe to him that saith to a tree, Wake thou; Rise thou, to a stone being still; whether he shall be able to teach? Lo! this thing is covered with gold and silver, and no spirit is in his entrails.

20 Forsooth the Lord is in his holy temple, all earth be still from his face.

CHAPTER 3

1 The prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, for unknowing men.

2 Lord, I heard thy praising, and I dreaded; Lord, it is thy work, in the middle of years, quicken thou it. In the middle of years, thou shalt make thyself known; when thou shalt be wroth, thou shalt have mind of mercy.

3 God shall come from the south, and the Holy from the mount of Paran. The glory of him covered heavens, and the earth is full of his praising.

4 The shining of him shall be as light; with horns in the hands of him. There the strength of him was hid,

5 death shall go before his face; the devil shall go out before his feet.

6 He stood, and meted the earth; he beheld, and unbound folks, and hills of the world were all-broken; the little hills of the world were bowed down, of the ways of his everlastingness.

7 For wickedness I saw the tents of Ethiopia, the skins of the land of Midian shall be troubled.

8 Lord, whether in floods thou art wroth, either in floods is thy strong vengeance, either in the sea is thine indignation? Which shalt ascend [or go] [up] on thine horses; and on thy four-horsed carts is salvation.

9 Thou raising shalt raise thy bow, oaths to lineages which thou hast spoken; thou shalt part the floods of earth.

10 Waters saw thee, and hills sorrowed, the gutter of waters passed; deepness gave his voice, highness raised his hands.

11 The sun and moon stood in their dwelling place; in the light of thine arrows they shall go, in the shining of thy spear glistening.

12 In gnashing thou shalt defoul earth, and in strong vengeance thou shalt astonish folks.

13 Thou art gone out into health of thy people, into health with thy christ or thine anointed; thou hast smitten the head of the house of the unpious man, thou hast made naked the foundament till to the neck.

14 Thou cursedest the sceptre, either power, of him, the head of his fighters, to men coming as whirlwind for to scatter me; thou heardest the joying withoutforth of them, as of him that devoureth a poor man in huddles.

15 Thou madest a way in the sea to thine horses, in clay of many waters.

16 I heard, and my womb is troubled altogether; my lips trembled altogether of the voice. Rot entered in[to] my bones, and sprang under me; that I rest again in the day of tribulation, and I shall go up to our people girded altogether.

17 For the fig tree shall not flower, and burgeoning shall not be in vineyards; the work of [the] olive tree shall lie down, and fields shall not bring forth meat; a sheep shall be cut away from the fold, a drove shall not be in cratches.

18 Forsooth I shall have joy in the Lord, and I shall make joy without-forth in God my Jesus or my salvation.

19 God the Lord is my strength, and he shall put my feet as of harts; and [up] on mine high things, the over-comer shall lead forth me, singing in psalms.

ZEPHANIAH

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ZEPHANIAH

CHAPTER 1

1 The word of the Lord, that was made to Zephaniah, son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.

2 I gathering shall gather all things from the face of earth, saith the Lord;

3 I gathering man and beast, I gathering volatiles of heaven, and fishes of the sea; and fallings of unpious men shall be, and I shall lose

men from the face of [the] earth, saith the Lord.

4 And I shall stretch out mine hand on Judah, and on all the dwellers of Jerusalem; and I shall lose from this place the remnants of Baal, and the names of keepers of [the] houses, with [the] priests;

5 and them that worship on roofs the knighthood of heaven, and worship, and swear in the Lord, and swear in Malcham;

6 and which be turned away behind the back of the Lord, and which sought not the Lord, neither ensearched him.

7 Be ye still from the face of the Lord God, for nigh is the day of the Lord; for the Lord made ready a sacrifice, he hallowed his called men.

8 And it shall be, in the day of sacrifice of the Lord, I shall visit on princes, and on sons of the king, and on all that be clothed with pilgrims’, either strange, clothing.

9 And I shall visit on each that proudly entereth on the threshold in that day, which fill the house of their Lord God with wickedness and guile.

10 And there shall be in that day, saith the Lord, a voice of cry from the gate of fishes, and yelling from the second gate, and great defouling from little hills.

11 Yell ye, dwellers of Pila; all the people of Canaan was still altogether, all men wrapped in silver perished.

12 And it shall be, in that time, I shall seek throughout Jerusalem with lanterns, and I shall visit on all men pitched in their dregs, which say in their hearts, The Lord shall not do well, and he shall not do evil.

13 And the strength of them shall be into ravishing, and the houses of them into desert; and they shall build houses, and shall not inhabit; and they shall plant vineyards, and they shall not drink the wine of them.

14 Nigh is the great day of the Lord, nigh and swift full much; the voice of the day of the Lord is bitter, a strong man shall be in tribulation there.

15 That day is a day of wrath, day of tribulation and anguish, day of neediness and wretchedness, day of darknesses and mist, day of cloud and whirlwind,

16 day of trump and of noise on strong cities and on high corners.

17 And I shall trouble men, and they shall walk as blind, for they have sinned against the Lord; and the blood of them shall be shed out as earth, and the bodies of them shall be as turds.

18 But the silver of them, and [the] gold of them, shall not be able to deliver them in the day of wrath of the Lord; in fire of his fervor all earth shall be devoured, for he shall make end with hasting to all men inhabiting the earth.

CHAPTER 2

1 Come ye together, be [ye] gathered, ye folk not worthy to be loved,

2 before that his commanding bring forth as dust the passing day; before that wrath of strong vengeance of the Lord come [up] on you, before that the day of his indignation come [up] on you.

3 All mild, either patient, men of earth, seek ye the Lord, which have wrought the doom of him; seek ye the just, seek ye the mild, if any manner ye be hid in the day of strong vengeance of the Lord.

4 For Gaza shall be destroyed, and Ashkelon shall be into desert; they shall cast out Ashdod in midday, and Ekron shall be drawn out by the root.

5 Woe to you that dwell in the little part of the sea, a folk of lost men. The word of the Lord on you, Canaan, the land of Philistines, and I shall destroy thee, so that a dweller be not;

6 and the little part of the sea shall be rest of shepherds, and folds of sheep.

7 And it shall be a little part of him, that shall be left of the house of Judah, there they shall be fed in the houses of Ashkelon; at eventide they shall rest, for the Lord God of them shall visit them, and shall turn away the captivity of them.

8 I heard the shame of Moab, and blasphemies of the sons of Ammon, which they said shamefully to my people, and they were magnified on the terms of them.

9 Therefore I live, saith the Lord of hosts, God of Israel, for Moab shall be as Sodom, and the sons of Ammon as Gomorrah; dryness of thorns, and heaps of salt, and desert till into without end. The remnants of my people shall ravish them, the residues of my folk shall wield them.

10 Soothly this thing shall come to them for their pride, for they blas-phemed, and were magnified [up] on the people of the Lord of hosts.

11 The Lord shall be horrible on them, and he shall make feeble all gods of earth; and men of their place shall worship him, all the isles of heathen men.

12 But and ye, Ethiopians, shall be slain by my sword.

13 And he shall stretch forth his hand on the north, and shall lose Assur; and he shall put the fair city Nineveh into wilderness, and into without way, and as desert.

14 And flocks, and all the beasts of folks, shall lie, or rest, in the middle thereof; and onocrotalus, and urchin shall dwell in [the] thresholds thereof; voice of the singing in the window, and a crow in the lintel, for I shall make thine the strength thereof.

15 This is the glorious city dwelling in trust, which said in her heart, I am, and there is none other more without me. How is it made unto desert, a couch of beasts; each man that shall pass by it, shall hiss, and shall move his hand.

CHAPTER 3

1 Woe! thou city, stirrer to wrath, and bought again a culver.

2 It heard not the voice of the Lord, and received not teaching, either chastising; it trusted not in the Lord, it nighed not to her God.

3 Princes thereof in middle thereof were as lions roaring; judges thereof were wolves, in the eventide they left not into morrow.

4 [The] Prophets thereof were wild, and unfaithful men; [the] priests thereof defouled holy thing, they did unjustly against the law.

5 The Lord is just in the middle thereof, and shall not do wickedness; early, early he shall give his doom in light, and it shall not be hid; forsooth the wicked people knew not confusion.

6 I lost folks, and the corners of them be destroyed; I made the ways of them desert, while there is not that shall pass. The cities of them be desolate, for a man is not left, neither any dweller.

7 I said, Nevertheless thou shalt dread me, thou shalt receive teaching; and the dwelling place thereof shall not perish, for all things in which I visited it; nevertheless full early they rising, have corrupted all their thoughts.

8 Wherefore abide thou me, saith the Lord, in the day of my rising again into coming. For my doom is, that I gather folks, and I shall gather realms; and I shall shed out on them mine indignation, and all the wrath of my strong vengeance; for in fire of my fervour all earth shall be devoured.

9 For then I shall yield to peoples a chosen lip, that all call inwardly in the name of the Lord, and serve to him with one shoulder.

10 Over the floods of Ethiopia, from thence my beseechers, the sons of my scattered men, shall bring gift to me.

11 In that day thou shalt not be confounded on all thy findings, in which thou trespassedest against me; for then I shall take away from the middle of thee great speakers of thy pride, and thou shalt no more put to, for to be enhanced in mine holy hill.

12 And I shall leave in the middle of thee a poor people and needy; and they shall hope in the name of the Lord.

13 The remnants of Israel shall not do wickedness, neither shall speak leasing, and a guileful tongue shall not be found in the mouth of them; for they shall be fed, and shall rest, and there shall not be that shall make afeared.

14 These things saith the Lord, Daughter of Zion, praise thou heartily, sing thou, Israel; be thou glad, and make thou joy withoutforth in all thine heart, thou daughter of Jerusalem.

15 The Lord hath taken away thy doom, [he] hath turned away thine enemies; the king of Israel, the Lord, is in the middle of thee, thou shalt no more dread evil.

16 In that day it shall be said, Jerusalem, do not thou dread; Zion, thine hands be not benumbed.

17 Thy Lord God is strong in the middle of thee, he shall save [thee]; he shall make joy on thee in gladness, he shall be still in thy loving, he shall make joy withoutforth on thee in praising. 18 I shall gather the fools, either vain men, that went away from the law, for they were of thee, that thou have no more shame on them.

19 Lo! I shall slay all men that tormented thee in that time, and I shall save him that halteth, and I shall gather her that was cast out; and I shall put them into praising, and into name in each land of confusion of them,

20 in that time in which I shall bring you, and in the time in which I shall gather you. For I shall give you into name, and into praising to all peoples of earth, when I shall convert your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord.

HAGGAI

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HAGGAI

CHAPTER 1

1 In the second year of Darius, king of Persia, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord was made in the hand of Haggai, prophet, to Zerubbabel, son of Salathiel, duke of Judah, and to Joshua, the great priest, [the] son of Josedech*, and said,

2 The Lord of hosts saith these things, and speaketh, This people saith, Yet cometh not the time of the house of the Lord to be builded.

3 And the word of the Lord was made in the hand of Haggai, the prophet, and said,

4 Whether it is time to you, that ye dwell in houses coupled with timber, and this house be deserted, either forsaken?

5 And now the Lord God of hosts saith these things, Put ye your hearts on your ways.

6 Ye have sown much, and brought in little; ye have eaten, and ye be not [ful] filled; ye have drunk, and ye be not full of drink; ye covered you, and ye be not made hot; and he that gathered hires sent those into a sack holed, either broken.

7 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Put ye your hearts on your ways.

8 Go ye up into the mountain, bear ye trees, and build ye an house; and it shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, saith the Lord.

9 Ye beheld to more, and lo! it is made less; and ye brought into the house, and I blew it out. For what cause, saith the Lord of hosts? for mine house is deserted, and ye hasten each man into his house.

10 For this thing heavens be forbidden, that they should not give dew on you; and the earth is forbidden, that it should not give his burgeoning.

11 And I called dryness on earth, and on mountains, and on wheat, and on wine, and on oil, and whatever things the earth bringeth forth; and on men, and on beasts, and on all labour of hands.

12 And Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, and Joshua, the great priest, the son of Josedech, and all remnants of the people, heard the voice of their God, and the words of Haggai, the prophet, as the Lord God of them sent him to them; and all the people dreaded of the face of the Lord.

13 And Haggai, a messenger of the Lord, of the messengers of the Lord, said to the people, and spake, I am with you, saith the Lord.

14 And the Lord raised the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, duke of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the great priest, the son of Josedech, and the spirit of the remnants of all people; and they entered, and made work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.

15 In the four and twentieth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of king Darius.

CHAPTER 2

1 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, the word of the Lord was made in the hand of Haggai, the prophet, and said,

2 Speak thou to Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, the duke of Judah, and to Joshua, the great priest, the son of Josedech, and to others of the people, and say thou,

3 Who in you is left, that saw this house in his first glory? and what see ye this now? whether it is not thus, as if it be not before your eyes?

4 And now, Zerubbabel, be thou strengthened, saith the Lord, and Joshua, the great priest, the son of Josedech, be thou comforted, and all the people of the land, be thou comforted, saith the Lord of hosts; and do ye, for I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts.

5 This is The word that I covenanted with you, when ye went out of the land of Egypt, and my Spirit shall be in the midst of you. Do not ye dread,

6 for the Lord of hosts saith these things, Yet one little thing is, and I shall move heaven, and earth, and sea, and dry land;

7 and I shall move all folks, and the desired to all folks shall come; and I shall fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts.

8 Mine is silver, and mine is gold, saith the Lord of hosts.

9 The glory of this last house shall be great, more than of the first, saith the Lord of hosts. And in this place I shall give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.

10 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of king Darius, the word of the Lord was made to Haggai, the prophet, and said,

11 The Lord God of hosts saith these things, Ask thou priests the law, and say thou,

12 If a man taketh hallowed flesh in the hem of his clothing, and toucheth of the highness thereof bread, either pottage, either wine, either oil, either any meat, whether it shall be hallowed? Soothly priests answered, and said, Nay.

13 And Haggai said, If a man defouled in soul toucheth of all these things, whether it shall be defouled? And priests answered, and said, It shall be defouled.

14 And Haggai answered, and said, So is this people, and so is this folk before my face, saith the Lord, and so is all the work of their hands; and all things which they offer there shall be defouled.

15 And now put ye this on your hearts, from this day and above, before that a stone on a stone was put in the temple of the Lord,

16 when ye went to an heap of twenty bushels, and there were made ten; ye entered to the presser, that ye should press out fifty gallons, and there were made twenty.

17 I smote you with burning wind, and with mildew, and hail, all the works of your hands; and there was none in you that turned again to me, saith the Lord.

18 Put ye this on your hearts from this day, and into coming, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, from the day in which foundaments of the temple of the Lord be casted, put ye this on your heart.

19 Whether now seed is in burgeoning? and yet vineyard, and fig tree, and pomegranate, and the tree of olive flowered not. From this day I shall bless.

20 And the word of the Lord was made the second time to Haggai, in the four and twentieth day of the month, and said,

21 Speak thou to Zerubbabel, duke of Judah, and say thou, I shall move heaven and earth together,

22 and I shall destroy the seat of realms, and I shall all-break the strength of [the] realms of heathen men, and I shall destroy a four-horsed cart, and the rider thereof; and [the] horses shall go down, and [the] riders of them, a man by sword of his brother.

23 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, thou Zerubbabel, son of Salathiel, my servant, I shall take thee, saith the Lord; and I shall put thee as a signet, for I chose thee, saith the Lord of hosts.

* CHAPTER 1:1 In the “Early Version”, throughout Haggai, it is ‘Joshua, the son of Josedech, the great priest’.

ZECHARIAH

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ZECHARIAH

CHAPTER 1

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord was made to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, prophet, and said,

2 The Lord is wroth on your fathers with wrathfulness [or wrath].

3 And thou shalt say to them, The Lord of hosts saith these things. Be ye turned again to me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I shall be turned again to you, saith the Lord of hosts.

4 Be ye not as your fathers, to which the former prophets cried, saying, The Lord of hosts saith these things, Be ye converted from your evil ways, and your worst thoughts; and they heard not, neither took attention to me, saith the Lord of hosts.

5 Where be your fathers and prophets? whether they shall live without end?

6 Nevertheless my words and my lawful things, which I commanded to my servants prophets, whether they caught not your fathers? And they were turned again, and said, As the Lord of hosts thought for to do to us by our ways, and by our findings, he did to us.

7 In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month Sebat, that is, January, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord was made to Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, prophet, and said,

8 I saw by night, and lo! a man going on a red horse; and he stood betwixt places where myrtles waxed, that were in the depth, and after him were horses red, diverse, and white.

9 And I said, My lord, who be these? And an angel of the Lord said to me, that spake in me, I shall show to thee what these be.

10 And the man that stood betwixt places where myrtles waxed, answered, and said, These it be, which the Lord sent, that they walk through earth.

11 And they answered to the angel of the Lord, that stood betwixt places where myrtles waxed, and said, We have walked through earth, and lo! all earth is inhabited, and resteth.

12 And the angel of the Lord answered, and said, Lord of hosts, how long shalt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on [the] cities of Judah, to which thou art wroth? This now is the seventieth year.

13 And the Lord answered to the angel, that spake in me, good words, and words of comfort.

14 And the angel that spake in me, said to me, Cry thou, saying, The Lord of hosts saith these things, I loved Jerusalem and Zion in great fervor;

15 and in great wrath I shall be wroth on rich folks; for I was wroth a little, forsooth they helped into evil.

16 Therefore the Lord saith these things, I shall turn again to Jerusalem in mercies. Mine house shall be builded in it, saith the Lord of hosts; and a plummet shall be stretched out on Jerusalem.

17 Yet cry thou, saying, The Lord of hosts saith these things, Yet my cities shall flow with goods, and yet the Lord shall comfort Zion, and yet he shall choose Jerusalem.

18 And I raised mine eyes, and I saw, and lo! four horns.

19 And I said to the angel, that spake in me, What be these? And he said to me, These be horns that winnowed Judah, and Israel, and Jerusalem.

20 And the Lord showed to me four smiths.

21 And I said, What come these for to do? Which spake, saying, These be the horns, that winnowed Judah by all men, and no man of them raised his head; and these came for to make them afeared, that they cast down the horns of heathen men, which raised the horn on the land of Judah, for to scatter it.

CHAPTER 2

1 And I raised mine eyes, and saw, and lo! a man, and lo! in his hand, a little cord of meters.

2 And I said, Whither goest thou? And he said to me, That I mete Jerusalem, and Judah; how much is the breadth thereof, and how much is the length thereof.

3 And lo! the angel that spake in me, went out, and another angel went out into the meeting of him,

4 and said to him, Run thou, speak to this young man, and say thou, Jerusalem shall be inhabited without wall, for the multitude of men and beasts in the middle thereof.

5 And I shall be to it, saith the Lord, a wall of fire in compass; and I shall be in glory in [the] middle thereof.

6 A! A! A! flee ye from the land of the north, saith the Lord, for in four winds of heaven I scattered you, saith the Lord.

7 A! thou Zion, flee, that dwellest at the daughter of Babylon.

8 For the Lord of hosts saith these things, After glory he sent me to heathen men, which robbed you; for he that shall touch you, shall touch the apple of mine eye.

9 For lo! I raise mine hand on them, and they shall be preys to these that served them; and ye shall know, that the Lord of hosts sent me.

10 Daughter of Zion, praise thou, and be glad; for lo! I come, and I shall dwell in [the] middle of thee, saith the Lord.

11 And many folks shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall be to me into a people, and I shall dwell in the middle of thee; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts sent me to thee.

12 And the Lord shall wield Judah into his part, in the land hallowed, and shall choose yet Jerusalem.

13 Each flesh be still from the face of the Lord, for he rose of his holy dwelling place.

CHAPTER 3

1 And the Lord showed to me the great priest Joshua, standing before the angel of the Lord; and Satan stood on his right half, that he should be adversary to him.

2 And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord blame in thee, Satan, and the Lord that chose Jerusalem, blame in thee. Whether this is not a dead brand ravished from the fire?

3 And Joshua was clothed with foul clothes, and stood before the face of the angel.

4 Which answered, and said to them that stood before him, and he said, Do ye away foul clothes from him. And he said to him, Lo! I have done away from thee thy wickedness, and I have clothed thee with changing of clothes.

5 And he said, Put ye a clean mitre [or cap] on his head. And they putted a clean mitre [or cap] on his head, and clothed him with clothes. And the angel of the Lord stood,

6 and the angel of the Lord witnessed to Joshua, and said,

7 The Lord of hosts saith these things, If thou shalt go in my ways, and shalt keep my keeping, also and thou shalt deem mine house, and shalt keep my porches; and I shall give to thee goers, of these that now here stand nigh.

8 Hear thou, Joshua, great priest, thou and thy friends that dwell before thee, for they be men signifying thing[s] to coming. Lo! soothly I shall bring my servant springing up, either Christ born.

9 For lo! the stone which I gave before Joshua, on one stone be seven eyes; and lo! I shall engrave the engraving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I shall do away the wickedness of that land in one day.

10 In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, a man shall call his friend under a vine, and under a fig tree.

CHAPTER 4

1 And the angel turned again, that spake in me, and raised me, as a man that is raised up out of his sleep.

2 And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, I saw, and lo! a candlestick all of gold, and the lamp thereof on the head thereof, and seven lanterns thereof on it, and seven vessels for to hold oil to the lanterns, that were on the head thereof.

3 And two olives thereon, one of the right half of the lamp, and another on the left half thereof.

4 And I answered, and said to the angel that spake in me, and I said, What be these things, my lord?

5 And the angel that spake in me, answered, and said to me, Whether thou knowest not what be these things? And I said, No, my lord.

6 And he answered, and said to me, and spake, This is the word of the Lord, saying to Zerubbabel, Not in host, neither in strength, but in my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

7 Who art thou, great hill, before Zerubbabel, into plain? and he shall lead out the first stone, and shall make even grace to grace thereof.

8 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

9 The hands of Zerubbabel founded this house, and the hands of him shall perform it; and ye shall know, that the Lord of hosts sent me to you.

10 Who forsooth despised little days? and they shall be glad, and shall see a stone of tin in the hand of Zerubbabel. These be the seven eyes of the Lord, that run about into all earth.

11 And I answered, and said to him, What be these twain [or two] olives on the right half of the candlestick, and at the left half thereof?

12 And I answered the second time, and said to him, What be the twain [or two] ears, either ripe fruit, of olives that be beside the two pipes of gold, in which be oil vessels of gold?

13 And he said to me, and spake, Whether thou knowest not what be these things? And I said, No, my lord.

14 And he said, These be two sons of oil shining, which stand nigh to the lordly governor of all earth.

CHAPTER 5

1 And I was converted, and raised mine eyes, and saw, and lo! a book flying.

2 And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, Lo! I see a book flying; the length thereof was of twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof of ten cubits.

3 And he said to me, This is the curse, that goeth on the face of all earth; for each thief shall be deemed, as it is written there; and each man swearing falsely shall be deemed of this also.

4 I shall lead out it, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall come to the house of a thief, and to the house of him that sweareth falsely in my name; and it shall dwell in the middle of his house, and shall waste him, and his trees, and his stones.

5 And the angel went out, that spake in me, and said to me, Raise up thine eyes, and see, what this thing is that goeth out.

6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an amphora, either a pot, going out. And he said, This is the eye of them in all earth.

7 And lo! a talent of lead was borne up from it; and lo! a woman sitting in middle of the pot.

8 And he said, This is unpiety, either unfaithfulness. And he casted down her in the middle of the pot, and sent a gobbet of lead into the mouth thereof.

9 And I raised mine eyes, and saw, and lo! two women going out, and a spirit in the wings of them; and they had wings as the wings of a kite, and raised the pot betwixt heaven and earth.

10 And I said to the angel that spake in me, Whither bear these the pot?

11 And he said to me, That an house be builded thereto in the land of Shinar, and be stablished, and set there on his foundament.

CHAPTER 6

1 And I was converted, and raised mine eyes, and saw, and lo! four [four-]horsed carts going out of the middle of twain [or two] hills, and the hills were hills of brass.

2 In the first four-horsed cart were red horses, and in the second four-horsed cart were black horses;

3 and in the third four-horsed cart were white horses, and in the fourth four-horsed cart were diverse horses, and strong.

4 And I answered, and said to the angel that spake in me, What be these things, my lord?

5 And the angel answered, and said to me, These be four winds of heaven, which go out, that they stand before the lordshipper of all earth.

6 In which were black horses, they went out into the land of the north; and the white went out after them; and the diverse went out into the land of the south.

7 Forsooth they that were strongest went out, and sought for to go, and run about by all earth. And he said, Go ye, and walk ye through the earth. And they walked through the earth.

8 And he called me, and spake to me, and said, Lo! they that go out into the land of the north, made my spirit for to rest in the land of the north.

9 And the word of the Lord was made to me, and said,

10 Take thou of them that be of the transmigration, either captivity, of Heldai, and of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and thou shalt come in that day, and shalt enter into the house of Josiah, son of Zephaniah, that came from Babylon.

11 And thou shalt take gold and silver, and shalt make crowns, and put on the head of Joshua, the great priest, the son of Josedech;

12 and shalt speak to him, and say, The Lord of hosts saith these things, saying, Lo! a man, Coming forth, either Born, is his name, and under him it shall spring. And he shall build a temple to the Lord,

13 and he shall make a temple to the Lord; and he shall bear glory, and shall sit, and shall be lord on his seat; and the priest shall be on his seat, and counsel of peace shall be betwixt them twain [or them two].

14 And crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen, the son of Zephaniah, as a memorial in the temple of the Lord.

15 And they that be far, shall come, and build in the temple of the Lord; and ye shall know, that the Lord of hosts sent me to you. Soothly this thing shall be, if by hearing ye shall hear the voice of your Lord God.

CHAPTER 7

1 And it is made in the fourth year of Darius, king, the word of the Lord was made to Zechariah, in the fourth day of the ninth month, that is Chisleu, that is, November.

2 And Sherezer, and Regemmelech, and men that were with them, sent to the house of the Lord, for to pray the face of the Lord;

3 that they should say to priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to prophets, and speak, Whether it is to weep to me in the fifth month, either I shall hallow me, as I did now many years?

4 And the word of the Lord [of hosts] was made to me, and said,

5 Speak thou to all the people of the land, and to priests, and say thou, When ye fasted, and wailed in the fifth and seventh months, by these seventy years, whether ye fasted a fast to me?

6 And when ye ate, and drank, whether ye ate not to you, and drank not to yourselves?

7 Whether the words of prophets be not, which the Lord spake in the hand of the former prophets, when yet Jerusalem was inhabited, and was full of riches, and it, and the cities thereof in compass thereof, and at the south and in field place was inhabited?

8 And the word of the Lord was made to Zechariah, and said,

9 The Lord of hosts saith these things, and speaketh, Deem ye true doom, and do ye mercy, and doings of mercy, each man with his brother.

10 And do not ye falsely challenge a widow, and fatherless, either mother-less, and comeling, and poor man; and a man think not in his heart evil to his brother.

11 And they would not take heed, and they turned away the shoulder, and went away, and made heavy their ears, lest they heard.

12 And they set their heart as an adamant stone, lest they heard the law, and words which the Lord of hosts sent in his [holy] Spirit, by the hand of the former prophets; and great indignation was made of the Lord of hosts.

13 And it is done, as he spake; and as they heard not, so they shall cry, and I shall not hear [them], saith the Lord of hosts.

14 And I scattered them by all realms, which they knew not, and the land is desolate from them; for that there was not a man going and turning again, and they have put [the] desirable land into desert.

CHAPTER 8

1 And the word of the Lord of hosts was made to me, and said,

2 The Lord of hosts saith these things, I hated Zion with great fervor, and with great indignation I hated it.

3 The Lord of hosts saith these things, I am turned again to Zion, and I shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and [the] hill of the Lord of hosts shall be called an hill hallowed.

4 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Yet eld [or old] men and eld [or old] women shall dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and the staff of a man shall be in his hand, for the multitude of years.

5 And the streets of the city shall be filled with young children and damsels, playing in the streets thereof.

6 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Though it shall be seen as hard to do before the eyes of the remnants of this people in those days, whether before mine eyes it shall be hard to do, saith the Lord of hosts?

7 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Lo! I shall save my people from the land of the east, and from the land of the going down of the sun;

8 and I shall bring them back, and they shall dwell in the middle of Jerusalem; and they shall be to me into a people, and I shall be to them into God, and in truth, and in rightwiseness.

9 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Be your hands comforted, which hear in these days these words by the mouth of prophets, in the day in which the house of the Lord of hosts is founded, that the temple should be builded again.

10 Soothly before those days hire of men was not, neither hire of work beasts was, neither to man entering and going out was peace for tribulation; and I let all men go, each against his neighbour.

11 But now not after the former days I shall do to the remnants of this people, saith the Lord of hosts,

12 but the seed of peace shall be; the vine shall give his fruit, and the earth shall give his burgeoning, and heavens shall give their dew; and I shall make the remnants of this people for to wield all these things.

13 And it shall be, as ye, the house of Judah, and the house of Israel, were cursing among heathen men, so I shall save you, and ye shall be blessing. Do not ye dread, be your hands comforted;

14 for the Lord of hosts saith these things, As I thought to torment you, when your fathers had stirred me to wrath, saith the Lord, and I had not mercy,

15 so I converted thought in these days to do well to the house of Judah and to Jerusalem; do not ye dread.

16 Therefore these be the words which ye shall do; speak ye truth, each man with his neighbour; deem ye truth and the doom of peace in your gates;

17 and think ye not in your hearts, any man, evil against his friend, and love not a false oath; for all these things it be which I hate, saith the Lord.

18 And the word of the Lord of hosts was made to me, and said,

19 The Lord of hosts saith these things, The fasting of the fourth month, and the fasting of the fifth, and the fasting of the seventh, and the fasting of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah into joy and gladness, and into solemnities full clear; love ye only truth and peace.

20 The Lord of hosts saith these things, Peoples shall come on each side, and dwell in many cities;

21 and the dwellers shall go, one to another, and say, Go we, and beseech the face of the Lord, and seek we the Lord of hosts; also I shall go.

22 And many peoples shall come, and strong folks, for to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to beseech the face of the Lord.

23 The Lord of hosts saith these things, In those days, in which ten men of all languages of heathen men shall take hold, and they shall take the hem of a man a Jew, and say, We shall go with you; for we have heard that God is with you.

CHAPTER 9

1 The burden of the word of the Lord, in the land of Hadrach, and of Damascus, which shall be the rest thereof; for of the Lord is the eye of man, and of all [the] lineages of Israel.

2 And Hamath shall be in the terms thereof, and Tyrus, and Sidon; for they took to them wisdom greatly.

3 And Tyrus builded his stronghold, and gathered silver as earth, and gold as fen of streets.

4 Lo! the Lord shall wield it, and shall smite in the sea the strength thereof, and it shall be devoured by fire.

5 Ashkelon shall see, and shall dread; and Gaza, and shall sorrow full much; and Ekron, for the hope thereof is confounded; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited;

6 and a parter shall sit in Ashdod, and I shall destroy the pride of Philistines.

7 And I shall take away the blood of him from the mouth of him, and the abominations of him from the middle of the teeth of him, and he also shall be left to our God; and he shall be as a duke in Judah, and Ekron as Jebusite.

8 And I shall compass mine house of these that hold knighthood to me, and go, and turn again; and an exactor, or unjust asker, shall no more pass on them, for now I saw with mine eyes.

9 Thou daughter of Zion, make joy withoutforth enough; sing, thou daughter of Jerusalem; lo! thy king shall come to thee, he is just, and a saviour; he is poor, and ascending [or going up] on a she-ass, and on a colt or a foal, the son of a she-ass.

10 And I shall lose the four-horsed cart of Ephraim, and an horse of Jerusalem, and the bow of battle shall be destroyed; and he shall speak peace to heathen men, and the power of him shall be from sea till to sea, and from floods, till to the ends of [the] earth.

11 And thou in the blood of thy testament sentest out thy bound men from the pit in which is no water.

12 Ye bound of hope, be turned again to stronghold; and today I tell, and I shall yield to thee double things,

13 for I shall stretch forth to me Judah as a bow, I filled the land of Ephraim. And I shall raise thy sons, thou Zion, on thy sons, thou land of Greeks, and I shall set thee as the sword of strong men.

14 And the Lord God shall be seen on them, and the dart of him shall go out as lightning. And the Lord God shall sing in a trump, and shall go in whirlwind of the south;

15 the Lord of hosts shall defend them, and they shall devour, and make subject with stones of a sling; and they drinking, shall be filled as with wine, and shall be filled as vials, or cruets, and as horns of the altar.

16 And the Lord God of them shall save them in that day, as a flock of his people, for holy stones shall be raised [up] on the land of him.

17 For what is the good of him, and what is the fair thing of him, no but wheat of chosen men, and wine of burgeoning for the virgins?

CHAPTER 10

1 Ask ye of the Lord rain in late time, and the Lord shall make snows, and rain of might of cloud; and he shall give to them, to each by himself, herb in the field.

2 For simulacra spake unprofitable things, and diviners saw leasing; and dreamers spake vainly, idly they comforted; therefore they be led away as a flock, they shall be tormented, for a shepherd is not to them.

3 On shepherds my strong vengeance is wroth, and on the bucks of goats I shall visit; for the Lord of hosts hath visited his flock, the house of Judah, and hath put them as an horse of his glory in battle.

4 Of him shall be a cornerstone, and of him a little pale, of him a bow of battle, and of him each exactor, either unjust asker, shall go out together.

5 And they shall be as strong men, defouling clay of ways in battle, and they shall fight, for the Lord is with them; and riders of horses shall be confounded.

6 And I shall comfort the house of Judah, and I shall save the house of Joseph; and I shall convert them, for I shall have mercy on them; and they shall be as they were, when I had not cast away them; for I shall be the Lord God of them, and I shall graciously hear them.

7 And they shall be as the strong men of Ephraim, and the heart of them shall be glad, as of wine; and the sons of them shall see, and be glad, and the heart of them shall make joy withoutforth in the Lord.

8 I shall hiss to them, and I shall gather them, for I again-bought them, and I shall multiply them, as they were multiplied before.

9 And I shall sow them among peoples, and from far they shall bethink of me; and they shall live with their sons, and shall turn again.

10 And I shall bring again them from the land of Egypt, and I shall gather them from Assyrians; and I shall bring them to the land of Gilead and of Lebanon, and place shall not be found to them.

11 And he shall pass in the wave of the sea, and shall smite waves in the sea, and all depths of flood shall be confounded; and the pride of Assur shall be meeked, and the sceptre of Egypt shall go away.

12 I shall comfort them in the Lord, and they shall walk in the name of him, saith the Lord.

CHAPTER 11

1 Thou Lebanon, open thy gates, and then the fire shall eat thy cedars.

2 Yell, thou fir tree, for the cedar fell down, for great men be destroyed; yell, ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest is cut down.

3 The voice of yelling of shepherds, for the great worship of them is destroyed; the voice of roaring of lions, for the pride of Jordan is wasted.

4 My Lord God saith these things, Feed thou beasts of slaughter,

5 which they that wielded slew; and sorrowed not, and sold them, and they said, Blessed be the Lord, we be made rich. And the shepherds of them spared not them,

6 and I shall no more spare on them that inhabit the earth, saith the Lord. Lo! I shall betake men, each into the hand of his neighbour, and into the hand of his king, and they shall rend together the land; and I shall not deliver from the hand of them,

7 and I shall feed the beast of slaying. For this thing, ye poor men of the flock, hear. And I took to me two staffs; one I called Fairness, and the tother I called Little Cord; and I fed the flock.

8 And I cutted down three shepherds in one month, and my soul was drawn altogether in them; for also the soul of them varied in me.

9 And I said, I shall not feed you; that that dieth, die; and that that is cut down, be cut down; and the residues devour, each man the flesh of his neighbour.

10 And I took my staff, that was called Fairness, and I cutted down it, that I should make void my covenant, which I smote with all peoples.

11 And it was made void in that day; and the poor men of the flock that kept to me, knew thus, for it is the word of the Lord.

12 And I said to them, If it is good in your eyes, bring ye my meed; and if nay, rest ye. And they weighed my meed, thirty pieces of silver.

13 And the Lord said to me, Cast away it to the maker of images, the fair price, by which I am appraised of them. And I took [the] thirty pieces of silver, and casted forth them in the house of the Lord, to the maker of images.

14 And I cutted down my second staff, that was called Little Cord, that I should part, or unbind, the brother-hood betwixt Judah and Israel.

15 And the Lord said to me, Yet take to thee the vessels of a fond [or foolish] shepherd;

16 for lo! I shall raise a shepherd in earth, which shall not visit forsaken things, and shall not seek scattered things, and he shall not heal a thing all-broken, and shall not nourish forth that that standeth. And he shall eat fleshes of the fat, and shall unbind the claws of them.

17 A! the shepherd, and idol, forsaking the flock; sword on his arm, and on his right eye; the arm of him shall be dried with dryness, and his right eye waxing dark shall be made dark.

CHAPTER 12

1 The burden of the word of the Lord on Israel. And the Lord said, stretching forth heaven, and founding the earth, and making the spirit of a man in him,

2 Lo! I shall set Jerusalem as a lintel of gluttony to all peoples in compass, but also Judah shall be in besieging against Jerusalem.

3 And it shall be, in that day I shall set Jerusalem a stone of burden to all peoples; all that shall lift it shall be drawn with cutting down, and all realms of earth shall be gathered against it.

4 In that day, saith the Lord, I shall smite each horse in[to] dread, either losing of mind, and the rider of him in[to] madness; and on the house of Judah I shall open mine eyes, and shall smite with blindness each horse of peoples.

5 And the dukes of Judah shall say in their hearts, Be the dwellers of Jerusalem comforted to me in the Lord of hosts, the God of them.

6 In that day I shall set the dukes of Judah as a chimney of fire in wood, and as a brand of fire in hay; and they shall devour at the right side and left side all peoples in compass. And Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in his place, in Jerusalem.

7 And the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Judah, as in the beginning, that the house of David glory not greatly, and the glory of men dwelling in Jerusalem be not against Judah.

8 In that day the Lord shall defend the dwellers of Jerusalem; and he that shall offend of them, shall be in that day as David, and the house of David shall be as of God, as the angel of the Lord in the sight of him.

9 And it shall be, in that day I shall seek to all-break all folks that come against Jerusalem.

10 And I shall pour out on the house of David, and on the dwellers of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and of prayers; and they shall behold to me, whom they pricked. And they shall bewail him with wailing, as on the one begotten son; and they shall make sorrow on him, as sorrow is wont to be made in the death of the first begotten son.

11 In that day great wailing shall be in Jerusalem, as the wailing of Hadad-rimmon in the field of Megiddon.

12 And the land shall wail; families and families by themselves; the families of the house of David by themselves, and the women of them by themselves; families of the house of Nathan by themselves, and the women of them by themselves;

13 families of the house of Levi by themselves, and the women of them by themselves; families of Shimei by themselves, and the women of them by themselves.

14 All other families, families and families by themselves, and the women of them by themselves.

CHAPTER 13

1 In that day an open well shall be to the house of David, and to men dwelling at Jerusalem, into washing away of a sinful man, and of a woman defouled in unclean blood.

2 And it shall be, in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, I shall destroy the names of idols from the land, and they shall no more be thought on; and I shall take away from earth false prophets, and an unclean spirit.

3 And it shall be, when any man shall prophesy any more, his father and mother that engendered him, shall say to him, Thou shalt not live, for thou hast spoken leasing in the name of the Lord; and his father and his mother, the engenderers of him, shall prick him, when he hath prophesied.

4 And it shall be, in that day, prophets shall be ashamed, each of his vision, when he shall prophesy; neither they shall be covered with a mantle of sackcloth, that they lie;

5 but he shall say, I am not a prophet; I am a man an earth-tiller, for Adam is mine ensample from my youth.

6 And it shall be said to him, What be these wounds in the middle of thine hands? And he shall say, With these I was wounded in the house of them that loved me.

7 Sword, be thou raised on my shepherd, and on a man cleaving to me, saith the Lord of hosts; smite thou the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. And I shall turn mine hand to the little ones.

8 And two parts of the people shall be in each land, saith the Lord, and they shall be scattered, and shall fail, and the third part shall be left in it.

9 And I shall lead the third part by fire, and I shall burn them, as silver is burnt, and I shall prove them, as gold is proved. He shall call to help my name, and I shall graciously hear him; and I shall say, Thou art my people, and he shall say, Thou art my Lord God.

CHAPTER 14

1 Lo! days shall come, saith the Lord, and thy spoils shall be parted in the middle of thee.

2 And I shall gather all folks to Jerusalem, into battle; and the city shall be taken, and houses shall be destroyed, and women shall be defouled. And the half part of the city shall go out into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be taken away from the city.

3 And the Lord shall go out, and shall fight against those folks, as he fought in the day of strife.

4 And his feet shall stand in that day on the hill of Olives, which is against Jerusalem at the east. And the hill of Olives shall be carved or parted of the middle part thereof to the east, and to the west, by full great before-breaking; and the half of the hill shall be departed to the north, and the half thereof to the south.

5 And ye shall flee to the valley of mine hills, for the valley of hills shall be joined together till to the next. And ye shall flee, as ye fled from the face of earth-moving in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah; and my Lord God shall come, and all saints with him.

6 And it shall be, in that day light shall not be, but cold and frost.

7 And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day, neither night, and in the time of eventide light shall be.

8 And it shall be, in that day quick waters shall go out of Jerusalem, the half of them shall go out to the east sea, and the half of them to the last sea; in summer and in winter they shall be.

9 And the Lord shall be king on all earth; in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one.

10 And all earth shall turn again till to [or unto] desert, from the little hill Rimmon to the south of Jerusalem. And it shall be raised, and shall dwell in his place, from the gate of Benjamin till to the place of the former gate, and till to the gate of the corners, and from the tower of Hananeel till to the pressers of the king.

11 And they shall dwell therein, and cursedness shall no more be, but Jerusalem shall sit secure.

12 And this shall be the wound by which the Lord shall smite all folks that fought against Jerusalem; the flesh of each man standing on his feet shall fail, either rot, and his eyes shall fail altogether in their holes, and their tongue shall fail altogether in their mouth.

13 In that day great noise of the Lord shall be in them, and a man shall catch the hand of his neighbour; and his hand shall be locked altogether on the hand of his neighbour.

14 But also Judah shall fight against Jerusalem; and the riches of all folks in compass shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and many clothes enough.

15 And so falling shall be of horse, and mule, and camel, and ass, and of all work beasts that were in those castles, as this falling.

16 And all that shall be residue of all folks, that came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year into year, that they worship the king, Lord of hosts, and hallow the feast of tabernacles.

17 And it shall be, rain shall not be on them that shall not go up of the meines of earth to Jerusalem, that they worship the king, Lord of hosts.

18 That and if the meine

of Egypt shall not go up, and shall not come, neither on them shall be rain; but falling shall be, by which the Lord shall smite all folks, which went not up, for to hallow the feast of tabernacles.

19 This shall be the sin of Egypt, and this the sin of all folks, that ascended not [or went not up], for to hallow the feast of tabernacles.

20 In that day, that that is on the bridle of the horse shall be inscribed, Holy to the Lord; and cauldrons shall be in the house of the Lord, as vials, or cruets, before the altar.

21 And every cauldron in Jerusalem and Judah shall be hallowed to the Lord of hosts. And all men shall come offering, and shall take of those [or them], and shall seethe in those [or In them]; and a merchant shall no more be in the house of the Lord of hosts in that day.

MALACHI

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MALACHI

CHAPTER 1

1 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel, in the hand of Malachi, the prophet.

2 I loved you, saith the Lord, and ye said, In what thing lovedest thou us? Whether Esau was not the brother of Jacob, saith the Lord, and I loved Jacob,

3 but I hated Esau? And I have put Seir, the hills of him, into wilderness, and his heritage into dragons of desert.

4 That if Idumea saith, We be destroyed, but we shall turn again, and build those things that be destroyed; the Lord of hosts saith these things, These men shall build, and I shall destroy; and they shall be called the terms of wickedness, and a people to whom the Lord is wroth, till into without end.

5 And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord be magnified on the term of Israel.

6 The son honoureth the father, and the servant shall dread his lord; therefore if I am the father, where is mine honour? and if I am the lord, where is my dread? saith the Lord of hosts. A! ye priests, to you that despise my name; and ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?

7 Ye offer on mine altar defouled, either unclean, bread, and ye say, Wherein have we defouled thee? In that thing that ye say, The board of the Lord is despised.

8 If ye offer a blind beast to be sacrificed, whether it is not evil? And if ye offer a crooked and sick beast, whether it is not evil? Offer thou it to thy duke, if it shall please him, either if he shall receive thy face, saith the Lord of hosts.

9 And now beseech ye the cheer of the Lord, that he have mercy on you; for of your hand this thing is done, if in any manner he receive your faces, saith the Lord of hosts.

10 Who is in you that closeth doors, and burneth mine altar of his own will, either freely? Will or Delight is not to me in you, saith the Lord of hosts; and I shall not receive a gift of your hand.

11 For from the rising of the sun till to the going down, my name is great among heathen men; and in each place a clean offering is sacrificed, and offered to my name; for my name is great among heathen men, saith the Lord of hosts.

12 And ye have defouled it in that that ye say, The board of the Lord is defouled, and that that is put above is contemptible, or worthy for to be despised, with [the] fire that devoureth it.

13 And ye said, Lo! of travail; and ye have blown it away, saith the Lord of hosts. And ye brought in of ravens a crooked thing, and sick, and brought in a gift; whether I shall receive it of your hand? saith the Lord.

14 Cursed is the guileful, that hath in his flock a male beast, and he making a vow, offereth a feeble beast to the Lord; for I am a great king, saith the Lord of hosts, and my name is dreadful among folks.

CHAPTER 2

1 And now, A! ye priests, this commandment is to you.

2 If ye will hear, and if ye will not put on the heart, that ye give glory to my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I shall send neediness into you, and I shall curse your blessings; and I shall curse them, for ye have not put on the heart.

3 Lo! I shall cast forth to you the arm, and I shall scatter on your face the drit of your solemnities, and it shall take you with it.

4 And ye shall know, that I sent to you this commandment, that my covenant were with Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.

5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave to him a dread, and he dreaded me, and he dreaded of the face of my name.

6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and wickedness was not found in his lips; in peace and in equity he walked with me, and he turned away many men from wickedness.

7 For the lips of a priest keep knowing, and they shall again-seek the law of his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord of hosts.

8 But ye went away from the way, and caused to stumble full many in the law; ye made void the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.

9 For the which thing and I gave you worthy to be contemptible, either worthy to be despised, and bowed to all peoples, as ye kept not my ways, and took a face [of a person] in the law.

10 Whether not one father is of all you? whether not one God made of nought you? Why therefore each of you despiseth his brother, and defouleth the covenant of your fathers?

11 Judah trespassed, and abomination is done in Israel, and in Jerusalem; for Judah defouled the hallowing of the Lord, which he loved, and he had the daughter of an alien god.

12 The Lord destroy the man that shall do this thing, the master and disciple, from the tabernacle[s] of Jacob, and him that offereth a gift to the Lord of hosts.

13 And again ye did this thing; ye covered with tears the altar of the Lord, with weeping, and wailing; so that I behold no more to sacrifice, neither receive anything pleasant of your hand.

14 And ye said, For what cause? For the Lord witnessed betwixt thee and the wife of thy puberty, that is, time of marriage, whom thou despisedest, and this is thy fellow, and the wife of thy covenant of peace.

15 Whether one made not, and the residue of spirit is his? and what seeketh one, no but the seed of God? Therefore keep ye your spirit, and do not thou despise the wife of thy youth;

16 when thou hatest her, leave thou her, saith the Lord God of Israel. Forsooth wickedness shall cover the cloth of him, saith the Lord of hosts; keep ye your spirit, and do not ye despise.

17 Ye made the Lord for to travail in your words, and ye said, Wherein made we him for to travail? In that that ye say, Each that doeth evil, is good in the sight of the Lord, and such men please him; either certainly, Where is the God of doom?

CHAPTER 3

1 Lo! I shall send mine angel, and he shall make ready the way before my face; and anon the Lord, whom ye seek, shall come to his holy temple, and the angel of the testament, whom ye will or desire. Lo! he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts;

2 and who shall be able to think the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? For he shall be as fire welling together, and as the herb of fullers, either tuckers;

3 and he shall sit welling together and cleansing silver, and he shall purge the sons of Levi; and he shall purge them as gold and as silver, and they shall be offering to the Lord sacrifices in rightwiseness.

4 And the sacrifice of Judah and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as the days of the world, and as old years.

5 And I shall come to you in doom, and I shall be a swift witness to mis-doers, either enchanters of devil’s craft, and to adulterers, and to forsworn men, and that falsely challenge the hire of an hired man, and widows, and fatherless children, and oppress a pilgrim, and dreaded not me, saith the Lord of hosts.

6 Forsooth I am the Lord, and I am not changed; and ye sons of Jacob be not wasted.

7 Forsooth from the days of your fathers ye went away from my lawful things, and kept not; turn ye again to me, and I shall again turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts. And ye said, In what thing shall we turn again?

8 If a man shall torment God, for ye tormented me. And ye said, In what thing tormented we thee? In tithes and in first fruits;

9 and ye be cursed in neediness, and all ye folk deceived me, and tormented.

10 Bring ye each tithe into my barn, that meat be in mine house, and prove ye me on this thing, saith the Lord, if I shall not open to you the gutters of heaven, and shall shed out to you blessing, till to abundance.

11 And I shall blame for you that that devoureth, and he shall not destroy the fruit of your land; neither barren vine shall be in the field, saith the Lord of hosts,

12 and all folks shall say you blessed; for ye shall be a desirable land, saith the Lord of hosts.

13 Your words waxed strong on me, saith the Lord; and ye said, What have we spoken against thee?

14 And ye said, He is vain, that serveth God; and what winning for we kept his behests, and for we went sorrowful before the Lord of hosts?

15 Therefore now we say proud men [be] blessed; for they be builded doing wickedness, and they tempted God, and be made safe.

16 Then men dreading God spake, each with his neighbour; and the Lord perceived, and heard, and a book of mind or remembrance is written before him, to them that dreaded God, and thought on his name.

17 And they shall be to me, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day in which I shall make, into a special treasure; and I shall spare them, as a man spareth his son serving to him.

18 And ye shall be turned again, and ye shall see, what is betwixt the just man and the unpious, betwixt the serving to the Lord, and not serving to him.

CHAPTER 4

1 For lo! a day shall come, burning as a chimney; and all proud men, and all that do unpiety shall be stubble; and the day coming shall enflame them, saith the Lord of hosts, which shall not leave to them root and burgeoning.

2 And to you dreading my name the sun of rightwiseness shall rise, and health in pens or wings of him; and ye shall go out, and shall leap, as a calf of the drove.

3 And ye shall tread the unpious men, when they shall be ashes under the sole of your feet, in the day in which I do, saith the Lord of hosts.

4 Bethink ye on the law of my servant Moses, which I commanded to him in Horeb, to all Israel commandments and dooms.

5 Lo! I shall send to you Elijah, the prophet, before that the great day and horrible of the Lord come.

6 And he shall turn again the heart of fathers to sons, and the heart of sons to the fathers of them, lest peradventure I come, and smite the earth with curse. Amen.

TOBIT

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TOBIT

CHAPTER 1

1 Tobit*was of the lineage and of the city of Naphtali, which is in the higher parts of Galilee, above Hazor, behind [or after] the way that leadeth to the west, and it hath in the left side the city of Thisbe,

2 when he was taken [or he was caught] in the days of Shalmaneser, king of Assyrians [or of Assyria], never-theless he set in captivity, either taken prisoner, forsook not the way of truth,

3 so that he parted each day all things which he might have, with his captive brethren that were of his kin.

4 And when he was younger than all others in the lineage of Naphtali, nevertheless he did no childish thing in work [or in deed].

5 Forsooth when all the Jews went to worship the golden calves, which Jeroboam, the king of Israel, had made, this Tobit alone fled the companies of all those Jews;

6 and he went to Jerusalem, to the temple of the Lord, and there he worshipped the Lord God of Israel; and he offered faithfully all his first fruits, and his tithes;

7 so that in the third year he gave all his tithe to converts, that is, men that were turned to the belief [or the converted from Gentiles], and to comelings.

8 The young man kept these things, and things like these, by [or after] he law of God of heaven.

9 And when he was made a man, he took a wife, Anna, of his lineage; and he engendered [or he begat] of her a son, and he put his own name to him;

10 whom he taught from young childhood to dread God, and for to abstain from all sin. [whom from the time that he began to speak, he taught to dread God, and to abstain from all sin.]

11 Therefore when by captivity Tobit was come, with his wife and son, into the city of Nineveh, with all his lineage,

12 and all ate there of the meats of heathen men [or all ate of the meats of Gentiles], this Tobit kept his soul, clean, and he was never defouled in the meats of them, that were forbidden to Jews by Moses’ law.

13 And for he was mindful of the Lord in all his heart, God gave grace to him in the sight of Shalmaneser, the king;

14 and he gave to Tobit power to go wither ever he would, and he had freedom to do whatever things he would.

15 Therefore he went by all men that were in [the] captivity, and gave to them the behests [or admonishings] of health.

16 And when he was come into Rages, a city of Media, and had ten talents of silver, of these things by [or with] which he was honoured of the king;

17 and he saw Gabael needy, that was of his lineage, with much company of his kin, Tobit gave to him, under an obligation [or under writing], the foresaid weight of silver.

18 And after much time, after that Shalmaneser, the king, was dead, when Sennacherib, his son, reigned for him [or when his son Sennacherib reigned for him], and had the sons of Israel hateful in his sight,

19 Tobit went each day by all his kindred, and comforted them, and he parted [or divided] of his chattel to each man, as he might;

20 he fed hungry men, and gave clothes to naked men, and he busily ordained sepulchres to dead men and slain.

21 And when king Sennacherib turned again, fleeing from Judea for the vengeance that God did there to him for his blasphemy, and was wroth, and killed many of the sons of Israel, Tobit buried their bodies.

22 And after that this was told to the king, he commanded Tobit to be slain, and he took from him all his chattel [or all his substance].

23 And Tobit fled with his son and with his wife, and he was hid naked, that is, spoiled of all his chattel, for many men loved him.

24 Forsooth after five and forty days, the sons of the king killed the king;

25 and then Tobit turned again to his house, and all his chattel was restored to him.

CHAPTER 2

1 Forsooth after these things, when a feast day of the Lord was, and a good meat was made in the house of Tobit, he said to his son,

2 Go thou, and bring some men of our lineage, that dread God, that they eat with us.

3 And when he, young Tobias, was gone forth, he turned again, and told to his father, that one of the sons of Israel lay strangled in the street; and anon Tobit rose up from his sitting place, and left the meat, and came fasting to the body;

4 and he took it, and bare it to his house privily, for to bury him warily [or slyly], when the sun was gone down.

5 And when he had hid the body, he ate bread with mourning and trembling,

6 and remembered the word, which the Lord said by Amos, the prophet, Your feast days shall be turned into mourning and lamentation, either wailing, [or into wailing and sorrowing].

7 And when the sun was gone down, Tobit went, and buried him.

8 Forsooth all his neighbours blamed [or reproved] him, and said, Now for the cause [or because] of this thing thou were commanded to be slain, and scarcely thou hast escaped the behest [or the commandment] of death, and again thou buriest dead men?

9 But Tobit dreaded more God than the king, and he took away the bodies of slain men, and hid them in his house, and buried those in the middle of nights [or in the midnights he buried them].

10 And it befelled, that in a day Tobit was made weary of burying dead bodies; and he came home, and laid himself beside a wall, and slept there;

11 and while he slept, hot turds, or drit, fell down from the nest of swallows upon his eyes; and he was made blind.

12 And therefore the Lord suffered this temptation to befall to him, that the ensample of his patience should be given to after-comers, as also it is of holy Job.

13 For why when Tobit dreaded God ever[more] from his young childhood, and kept his commandments, he was not sorry, or heavy, or grutching against God, for that the sickness of blindness came to him;

14 but he dwelled unmovable in the dread of God, and did thankings to God in all the days of his life.

15 For why as kings upbraided saint or blessed Job, so it befelled to this Tobit, that his elders and kinsmen scorned his life, and said,

16 Where is thine hope*, for which thou didest alms-deeds and buryings?

17 And Tobit blamed them, and said,

18 Do not ye speak so, for we be the sons of holy men, and we abide that life, which God shall give to them that change never their faith from him.

19 And Anna, his wife, went each day to the work of weaving, and she brought home the livelode [or the lifelode] which she might get of the travail of her hands.

20 Whereof it befell, that she took a kid of goats, for her weaving, and she brought it home.

21 And when her husband had heard the voice of this kid bleating, he said, Look ye, lest peradventure this kid be gotten of theft [or it be stolen], but if it so be yield ye it again to his lords; for it is not leaveful, either to eat either to touch anything of theft.

22 At these words the wife of Tobit was wroth, and answered, Now is openly thine hope made vain, and thine alms-deeds have appeared, that is, feigned and void, as done for hypocrisy.

23 And by these and other such words she said shame [or put reproof] to him.

CHAPTER 3

1 Then Tobit inwardly sorrowed, and began to pray with tears, and said,

2 Lord, thou art just, and all thy dooms be just, and all thy ways be mercy, and truth, and doom.

3 And now, Lord, have thou mind of me, and take thou not vengeance of my sins, neither have thou mind of my trespasses [or nor remember thou my guilts], neither of my fathers.

4 For we obeyed not to thy commandments, and therefore we be taken into rifling [or wasting], and into captivity, and into death, and into a fable or jangling, and into shame [or reproof] to all nations, among which thou hast scattered us.

5 And now, Lord, thy dooms be great and dreadful; for we have not done after thy commandments, and we have not gone cleanly [or clearly] before thee.

6 And now, Lord, by [or after] thy will do thou mercy with me, and command thou my spirit to be received in peace; for it speedeth more to me to die than to live.

7 And also it befelled in the same day, that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was in Rages, a city of Media, and she heard shame [or the reproof] of one of the handmaids of her father;

8 for she was given to seven husbands, and a fiend [or a devil], Asmodeus by name, killed them, anon as they had entered [in] to her.

9 And when Sarah blamed her maid for her guilt, the damsel answered to her, and said, Thou slayeress of thine husbands, see we never upon earth son either daughter of thee;

10 whether also thou wilt slay me, as also thou hast slain seven men? At this word Sarah went into the higher closet [or the over bed-place] of her house, and three days and three nights she ate not, neither drank;

11 but she continued in prayer with tears, and besought God, that he should deliver her from this shame [or reproof].

12 And it was done in the third day, while she had fulfilled her prayer,

13 she blessed the Lord, and said, God of our fathers, thy name is blessed, [or Blessed is thy name, God of our fathers], which when thou hast been wroth, [thou] shalt do mercy, and in time of tribulation thou forgivest sins to them, that inwardly call thee.

14 Lord, to thee I turn altogether my face; and I lift up mine eyes to thee. [To thee, Lord, I turn my face, and to thee mine eyes I rear.]

15 Lord, I ask of thee, that thou loose me from the bond of this shame, either certainly that thou take me away from above the earth.

16 Lord, thou knowest, that I never coveted man for fleshly lust, and I have kept my soul clean from all covetousness [or lust].

17 I meddled me never with players dissolutely and unhonestly, [or Never with players I mingled me], neither I gave myself to be partner with them that go in unstableness.

18 But, Lord, I consented to take an husband with thy dread, not with my lust.

19 And either I was unworthy to them, either they peradventure were not worthy to me; for in hap [or peradventure] thou hast kept me to another husband.

20 For thy counsel is not in the power of man to know it.

21 Forsooth each that worshippeth thee hath this for certain, that if his life is in proving, he shall be crowned, if he continue patiently; soothly if he is in tribulation, he shall be delivered; and if he is in chastising, it shall be leaveful to come to thy mercy.

22 For thou delightest not in our losses; for after tempest thou makest peaceable, and after mourning and weeping thou bringest [or pourest] in full out joying.

23 God of Israel, thy name be blessed into worlds, that is, till into without end.

24 In that time the prayers of both Tobit and Sarah were heard in [the] sight of the glory of the highest God [or the most good God];

25 and Raphael, the holy angel of the Lord, was sent to heal them both, whose prayers were rehearsed in one time in the sight of the Lord.

CHAPTER 4

1 Therefore when Tobit guessed his prayer to be heard, that he might die, he called Tobias, his son, to him,

2 and said to him, My son, hear thou the words of my mouth, and build or ground thou them as a foundament in thine heart.

3 When God hath taken my soul, bury thou my body; and thou shalt do honour to thy mother in all the days of her life;

4 for thou owest to be mindful, what perils and how great perils she suffered for thee in her womb.

5 And when also she hath [full-]filled or ended the time of her life, thou shalt bury her beside me.

6 And in all the days of thy life have thou God in mind, and be thou ware [or beware], lest anytime thou consent to sin, and forsake the behests of our God.

7 And of thy own chattel [or thy substance] do thou alms-[deeds], and do not thou turn away thy face from any poor man*; and so it shall be done, that the face of the Lord be not turned away from thee.

8 As thou mayest, that is, after thy power, be thou merciful. [What manner wise thou shalt be able, so be thou merciful.]

9 If thou hast much, give thou plenteously [or abundantly]; if thou hast a little, also be thou busy to part willfully or gladly a little.

10 Certainly then thou treasurest to thee a good meed, in the day of need;

11 for why alms-[deeds] delivereth from all sin and from death, and shall not suffer the soul to go into dark-nesses.

12 Alms-[deeds] shall be the great trust before the highest God to all men doing it.

13 Son, take heed to thyself, and flee from all fornication, and besides thy wife, suffer thou never to know sin.

14 And suffer thou never pride to have lordship in thy wit, neither in thy word; for all loss [or perdition], either damnation, took beginning in pride.

15 Whoever worketh anything to thee, yield thou anon his meed, and utterly the hire of thine hired man, or thy workman, dwell it not with thee.

16 That that thou hatest to be done to thee of another man, see thou, lest anytime thou do that thing to another man. [That of another thou hatest to be done to thee, look thou, that anytime thou do it not to another.]

17 Eat thy bread with hungry men and needy, and with thy clothes cover thou naked men.

18 Ordain thy bread and thy wine on the sepulchre, or the burying, of a just [or rightwise] man, and do not thou eat and drink thereof with sinners.

19 Ever[more] seek thou perfectly counsel of a wise man.

20 In all time bless thou God, and ask thou of him, that he dress [or make ready] thy ways, and all thy counsels dwell in him.

21 Also, my son, I show to thee, that while thou were yet a little child [or little infant], I gave ten talents of silver to Gabael, in Rages, a city of Media; and I have his obligation [or the writ of it] with me;

22 therefore inquire thou busily, how thou shalt come to him, and receive thou of him the foresaid weight of silver, and restore to him his obligation [or his writ].

23 My son, do not thou dread; forsooth we lead a poor life, but we shall have many goods, if we dread God, and go away from all sin†, and do well.

CHAPTER 5

1 Then Tobias answered to his father and said, Father, I shall do all things, whichever [or whatever] thou commandedest to me;

2 but I know not, how I shall get this money; Gabael knoweth not me, and I know not him; what token shall I give to him? but neither I knew anytime the way, by which me goeth thither.

3 Then his father answered to him, and said, Certainly I have his obligation here with me, which the while thou showest it to him, he shall restore [or yield] anon the money.

4 But go now, and inquire [or ensearch] to thee some faithful man, that shall go with thee for his hire safe [or saved his meed], that thou receive that money yet while I live.

5 Then Tobias went forth, and he found a shining young man, standing, tucked up [or gird], and as ready to go;

6 and he knew not that it was the angel [or an angel] of God. And he greeted the young man, and said, Of whence have we thee, good young man?

7 And he answered, I am of the sons of Israel. And Tobias said to him, Knowest thou the way, that leadeth into the country of Media?

8 To whom he answered, I know it, and I have gone often all the ways thereof, and I have dwelled with Gabael, your cousin/your brother, that dwelleth in Rages, a city of Media, which city is set in Ecbatana.

9 To whom Tobias said, I beseech thee, abide thou me here, till I tell these things to my father.

10 Then Tobias entered, and told all these things to his father; on the which things his father wondered, and he prayed the young man, that he would enter [or should come] in to him.

11 Then he entered, and greeted Tobit, and said to him, Joy be ever-[more] to thee!

12 And Tobit said, What manner joy shall be to me, that sit in darknesses, and see not the light of heaven?

13 To whom the young man said, Be thou of strong wit; it is in the most nigh time, or full nigh, that thou be healed [or cured] of God.

14 Then Tobit said to him, Whether thou mayest lead my son to Gabael into Rages, a city of Media, and when thou comest again, I shall restore [or I shall yield] thy meed to thee?

15 And the angel said to him, I shall lead him thither, and bring again him to thee/and I shall lead again him whole to thee.

16 To whom Tobit answered, I pray thee, show to me, of what house, either of what lineage thou art?

17 To whom Raphael, the angel, said, Askest thou the kin [or the kindred] of the hired man, either askest thou who is the hired man himself, that shall go with thy son?

18 But lest peradventure I make thee doubtful, I am Azariah, that is interpreted, the helper of God, the son of the great Ananias, that is interpreted, the grace of God. [But lest peradventure I make thee stirred, I am Azariah, the son of great Ananias.]

19 And Tobit answered, Thou art of great kin; but I ask, or pray, thee, that thou be not wroth, that I would know thy kin [or thy kindred].

20 And the angel said to him, I shall lead forth thy son whole [or sound], and I shall bring again to thee thy son whole [or sound] /and I shall lead him again whole [or sound] to thee.

21 And Tobit answered, and said, Well go ye, and the Lord be in your way, and his angel go with you.

22 Then when all things were ready, that should be borne in the way with them, Tobias made farewell to his father and his mother; and both went together/and they walked forth both together.

23 And when they were gone forth, his mother began to weep, and to say to old Tobit, Thou hast taken the staff*, or the substance, of our eld age[or The staff of our eld thou hast taken away], and hast sent him away from us;

24 I would that that money had never been, that thou hast sent him for/for which thou sentest him;

25 our poverty sufficed to us, that we should have areckoned this thing to be riches to us /that we should areckon this riches, that we see our son beside us.

26 And Tobit said to her, Do not thou weep/Weep thou not; our son shall come safe thither, and he shall turn again safe to us, and thine eyes shall see him.

27 Soothly I believe, that the good angel of God goeth with him, and that angel shall dispose well all things, that be done about him, so that he turn again with joy to us.

28 At this voice, or word, his mother ceased to weep, and was still.

CHAPTER 6

1 And Tobias went forth, and a dog pursued him [or an hound followed him], and he dwelled, or abode, in the first dwelling of his journey beside the flood of Tigris.

2 And he went forth to wash his feet; and lo! a great fish went out to devour him.

3 Which fish Tobias dreaded, and cried with great voice, and said, Sire, this fish assaileth me.

4 And the angel said to him, Take the fish by the gill, or by the jaw, [or Catch his fin], and draw him to thee. And when he had done this thing, he drew the fish into a dry place, and it began to sprawl before his feet.

5 Then the angel said to him, Draw out the entrails of this fish [or Open this fish], and keep to thee his heart and gall and maw; for these things be needful to medicines profitably.

6 And when he had done this thing, he roasted the flesh thereof, and they took with them in the way; and they salted other things, that should suffice to them in the way, till they came into Rages, the city of Media.

7 Then Tobias asked the angel, and said to him, Azarias, brother, I beseech thee, that thou say to me, what remedy these things shall have, which thou hast commanded to be kept of the fish.

8 And the angel answered, and said to him, If thou puttest a little part of his heart upon hot coals, the smoke thereof driveth away all kind of fiends [or devils], either from man either from woman, so that it nigh no more to them.

9 And the gall is much worthy to anoint eyes, in which is a web [or rime], and they shall be healed [or be whole].

10 And Tobias said to him, Where wilt thou, that we dwell, or abide?

11 And the angel answered, and said, Here is a man, Raguel by name, a nigh man of thy lineage, and he hath a daughter, Sarah by name; but neither he hath male child neither any other female or maid child, except her.

12 All his chattel [or his substance] is due to thee; and it behooveth thee have her to thy wife.

13 Therefore ask thou her of her father; and he shall give her a wife to thee.

14 Then Tobias answered, and said, I have heard, that she was given to seven husbands, and all they be dead; but I have heard this also, that a fiend [or a devil] killed them.

15 And therefore I dreaded, lest peradventure also these things befall to me; and since I am one alone to my father and mother, I put down with sorrow their eld age to hells/and since I am an only son to my father and mother, I dread to put down to hell their eld age with dreariness.

16 Then the angel Raphael said to him, Hear thou me, and I shall show to thee, who they be, over whom the fiend [or the devil] hath mastery;

17 certainly the fiend hath power over them, that take so their weddings [or wedlock], that they close out God from them, and from their mind; the fiend [or the devil] hath power over them, that give so attention to their lechery [or lusts], as an horse and a mule do, that have none under-standing.

18 But when thou hast taken her to wife, enter into thy bed-place, and by three days be thou continent from her, or be thou chaste abstaining thee from her in all fleshly lust, and to none other thing thou shalt give attention with her, but only to prayers.

19 Forsooth in that first night, when the maw of the fish is burnt, the fiend [or the devil] shall be driven away.

20 And in the second night, thou shalt be received [or admitted] in the coupling, or marriage, of holy patriarchs.

21 And in the third night, thou shalt get blessing, that whole [or sound] sons be engendered of you.

22 But when the third night is passed, thou shalt take the virgin [or the maiden] with the dread of the Lord, and thou shalt be led more by the love of begetting of children than by lust, that in the seed of Abraham thou get blessing in sons.

CHAPTER 7

1 Forsooth they entered [or went in] to Raguel; and Raguel received them with joy.

2 And Raguel beheld Tobias, and said to Edna, his wife, This young man is full like my sister’s son [or How like is this young man to our aunt’s son].

3 And when he had said these things, he said, Of whence be ye, young men, our brethren? And they said, We be of the lineage of Naphtali, of the captivity of Nineveh.

4 And Raguel said to them, Know ye Tobit, my brother? And they answered, We know him.

5 And when he spake many good things of Tobit, the angel said to Raguel, Tobit, of whom thou askest, is the father of this man.

6 Then Raguel bowed down himself, and with tears he kissed Tobias, and he wept on his neck,

7 and said, My son, blessing be to thee; for thou art the son of a good and a full noble man.

8 And Edna, his wife, and Sarah, their daughter, wept.

9 And after that they had spoken thus, Raguel commanded a wether to be slain, and a feast to be made ready. And when Raguel moved them to sit down to meat,

10 Tobias said, I shall not eat, neither drink here today, no but thou confirm first mine asking, and [thou] promise to give to me Sarah, thy daughter to wife.

11 And when this word was heard, Raguel dreaded, witting what befelled to those seven men; and he began to dread, lest peradventure it should befall in like manner to this Tobias, [and he die]. And when he doubted, or mused in this manner, and gave none answer to the asker,

12 the angel said to him, Do not thou dread to give her to this man; for thy daughter oweth to be given to this man dreading God; therefore another man might not have her.

13 Then Raguel said, I doubt not, that God hath received my prayers and my tears in his sight.

14 And I believe, that therefore the Lord made you to come to me, that also this woman should be joined to her kindred by [or after] the law of Moses; and now, Tobias, do not thou bear any doubt, that I shall give her to thee.

15 And he took the right hand of his daughter, and gave to the right hand of Tobias, and said, God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, be with you, and he join you together, and he [full-]fill his blessing in you.

16 And they took a charter, and they made together a writing of witnessing of the marriage. [And the charter taken, they made the conscription of the wedlock.]

17 And after these things they [plente-ously] ate, and blessed God.

18 And Raguel called to him Edna, his wife, and commanded [to] her to make ready another bed-[place].

19 And she led Sarah, her daughter, in to it, and Sarah wept; and Edna said to her, My daughter, be thou of strong wit; the Lord of heaven give to thee joy, for the annoyance that thou hast suffered.

CHAPTER 8

1 And after that they had supped, they brought the young man Tobias in to her.

2 And Tobias bethought him of the words of the angel, and brought forth or drew out of his scrip [or his bag], a part of the maw of the fish, and he putted it upon quick coals.

3 And then Raphael, the angel, took the fiend [or caught the devil], and bound him fast in the desert of higher Egypt.

4 Then Tobias admonished the virgin [or the maiden], and said to her, Sarah, rise up, and pray we God today, and tomorrow, and the second morrow/ and after tomorrow; for in these three nights we be joined to God; and when the third night is passed, we shall be in our marriage [or in our wedlock];

5 for we be the children of holy men, and we may not be joined or coupled together as heathen men [or Gentiles]be, that know not God.

6 Soothly they rose up together, and they both prayed together busily, that health should be given to them.

7 And Tobias said, Lord God of our fathers, heavens, and all lands or earths, and the sea, and wells, and floods, and each creature of thine, that is in those, bless thee;

8 thou madest Adam of the slime of earth, and thou gavest to him an helper, Eve.

9 And now, Lord, thou knowest, that I take my sister to wife, not for cause [or because] of lechery, but for love alone of heirs or of begetting [or of bringing forth] of children, in which thy name be blessed into worlds of worlds.

10 And then Sarah said, Lord, have thou mercy on us, have thou mercy on us, and wax we both eld together whole in body and soul.

11 And it was done about the cock’s crowing or the crowing of the cock’s, Raguel made [or commanded] his servants to be called, and they went with him to dig a grave.

12 For he dreaded, lest it had befallen in like manner to Tobias, that befelled also to the other seven men, that entered into wedlock to Sarah before.

13 And when they had made ready a pit, Raguel went again to his wife, and said to her,

14 Send one of thine handmaids, and see she, whether Tobias is dead, that I bury him, before that light of day come.

15 And she sent one of her hand-maids, which entered into the closet, or bed chamber, [or into the bed-place], and found them safe and sound, sleeping together by themselves.

16 And she turned again, and told good message. And they blessed the Lord, that is, Raguel and Edna, his wife,

17 and said, Lord God of Israel, we bless thee, for it hath not befallen to us, as we guessed;

18 for thou hast done thy mercy with us, and hast shut out from us the enemy pursuing us.

19 Soothly thou hast done mercy with two alone. My Lord, make thou them to bless thee fullier [or more fully], and for to offer to thee the sacrifice of thy praising, and of their health, that the university, or the multitude, of folks know, that thou art God alone in all earth.

20 And anon Raguel commanded his servants to fill the pit, which they had made, before that light of day came [or before that it waxed light].

21 And Raguel said to his wife, that she should array a feast, and make ready all things, that were needful to men making journey [or were necessary to way-goers].

22 Also he made to be slain two fat kine, and four weathers, and [plenteous] meats to be made ready to all his neighbours, and to all his friends.

23 And Raguel made Tobias to swear or to promise him, that he should dwell two weeks at Raguel/that he should abide with him two weeks.

24 And all things, that Raguel had in possession, he gave the half part to Tobias; and he made this scripture, that the half part, that was left of his chattel, should come to the lordship of Tobias after the death of him and his wife.

CHAPTER 9

1 Then Tobias called to him the angel, whom soothly he guessed a man. And Tobias said to him, Azarias, brother, I ask of thee, that thou hearken my words.

2 If I shall betake or Though I betake myself [a] servant to thee, yet I shall not by my knowing, be even worthy to thy purveyance, or wisdom.

3 Nevertheless I beseech thee, that thou take to thee beasts, either servants, and go thou to Gabael into Rages, a city of Media, and yield or betake thou to him his obligation [or his writ]; and take [or receive] of him the money that he oweth to my father, and pray him to come to my weddings [or to my bridals].

4 For thou knowest, that my father numbereth the days of our journey, and if I [shall] tarry one day more, his soul [or his life] shall be made sorry.

5 And certainly thou seest, how Raguel hath charged me to dwell here with him, whose charging I may not despise.

6 Then Raphael took four of the servants of Raguel, and two camels, and went into Rages, a city of Media, and he found Gabael, and gave to him his obligation [or writ], and received of him all the money;

7 and he showed to him of Tobias, the son of Tobit, and all things that were done. And he made Gabael to come with him to the weddings [or to the bridals].

8 And when Gabael entered into the house of Raguel, he found Tobias sitting at the meat; and he skipped up/and Tobias rose up anon, and they kissed themselves together.

9 And Gabael wept, and blessed God, and said, The Lord God of Israel bless thee, for thou art the son of a full good man, and just [or rightwise], and dreading God, and doing alms-deeds;

10 and the blessing of God be brought or come upon thy wife, and upon your fathers and mothers,

11 and see ye your sons, and the sons of your sons, till into [or unto] the third and the fourth generation; and your seed be blessed of God of Israel, that reigneth into worlds of worlds or without end.

12 And when all men had said Amen, they went to the feast or to meat; and they used the feast of those weddings [or bridals] with the dread of the Lord.

CHAPTER 10

1 Soothly when Tobias made tarry-ing for cause of his weddings [or by reason of the bridals], Tobit his father was heavied or anguished, and he said to his wife, Why guessest thou, that my son tarrieth thus, either why he is withholden there or he is held there thus long?

2 Guesseth thou, whether Gabael is dead, and no man yieldeth to him the money?

3 Forsooth he began to be sorry full much, and Anna, his wife, with him; and both began to weep together, for that their son turned not home again to them in the day set.

4 Then his mother wept with tears without remedy [or with unremediable tears], and said, Alas to me! my son, why sent we thee to go a pilgrimage, thou art the light of our eyes, the staff* of our eld age, the solace of our life, and the hope of our heirs or after-comers?

5 We had all things together in thee alone, and we ought not to have [or should not] let thee go from us.

6 To whom Tobit said, Be still, and do not thou be troubled [or disturbed]; our son is whole and safe; for that man is faithful enough, with whom we sent him forth.

7 But his mother might not be comforted in any manner, but each day she went out, and looked about after him, and compassed all the ways, by which the hope of his again-coming seemed to her, to see him coming afar, if it might be done.

8 And soothly Raguel said to the husband of his daughter [or his son-in-law], Dwell thou here, or Abide thou here with me, and I shall send a messenger to tell of thine health to Tobit, thy father.

9 To whom Tobias said, I know, that my father and my mother reckon now [or now count] the days of mine absence from them, and their spirit is tormented in them.

10 And when Raguel had prayed Tobias with many words, and he would not hear Raguel or consent to him by, or for, any reason, Raguel betook to him Sarah, and half the part of all his chattel or all his goods, [or all his substance], in servants, and damsels or handmaidens, in sheep and camels, and in kine, and in much money; and he delivered from him-self Tobias safe and joying, and said,

11 The holy angel of the Lord be in your way, and bring you sound home, and find ye all things rightfully [or right] about your father and your mother,

12 and mine eyes see your sons, before that I die. And the father and mother took their daughter, and kissed her, and let her go forth with Tobias her husband,

13 and admonished her to honour the father and mother of her husband [or her father- and mother-in-law], and to love her husband, and to rule well her meine, and to govern wisely her house, and to show herself unreprovable.

CHAPTER 11

1 And when they turned again, they came to Haran, which is in the middle of the way against Nineveh, in the eleventh day from departing from the house of Raguel.

2 And the angel said, Tobias, brother, thou knowest, how [or what manner] thou leftest thy father.

3 Therefore if it pleaseth thee, go we before; and the meine, with thy wife, together with the beasts, pursue [or follow] they our way with soft going.

4 And when this thing pleased Tobias, that they should go before, Raphael said to Tobias, Take with thee of the gall of the fish, for it shall be needful. Then Tobias took with him of that gall, and they went forth.

5 And Anna sat beside the way each day in the cop of the hill, from whence she might behold from afar.

6 And while she beheld from the same place the coming of him, she saw afar, and she knew anon her son coming [or anon she knew her son coming]; and she ran home, and told to her husband, and said, Lo! thy son cometh.

7 And Raphael said to Tobias, When thou hast entered into thine house, anon worship thou the Lord thy God, and do thou thankings to him, and then nigh to thy father, and kiss him.

8 And anon anoint on his eyes of this gall of the fish, which thou barest with thee; for why know thou, that anon his eyes shall be opened, and thy father shall see the light of heaven, and he shall be joyful in thy sight.

9 Then the dog [or the hound] ran before, that was together in the way, and he made joy with the fanning of his tail to old Tobit and his wife, as a messenger coming and bringing good tidings.

10 And his blind father rose up, and began to run, stumbling with his feet, and when he had given his hand to a child to lead him, he ran against his son.

11 And Tobit, with his wife, received their son, and kissed him, and both began to weep for joy.

12 And when they had worshipped God, and had done thankings to him, they sat down together.

13 And then Tobias took of the gall of the fish, and anointed the eyes of his father.

14 And he abode the working of that medicine almost half an hour, and then the web, [or the rime], as the little skin of an egg, began to go out of his eyes.

15 Which web Tobit took, and drew it from his eyes, and anon he received his sight.

16 And they glorified God, that is, Tobit, and his wife, and all that knew him.

17 And Tobit said, Lord God of Israel, I bless thee, for thou hast chastised me, and thou hast saved me; and lo! now I see Tobias, my son.

18 Then also Sarah, the wife of his son, entered after seven days, and all the meine, and the beasts whole, and camels, and much money of the wife, but also the money which he had received of Gabael.

19 And he told to his father and mother all the benefices [or all the benefits] or all the goodnesses of God, which he had done about him by the man, that had led him in the way.

20 And Achior and Nadab, the nigh cousins of Tobit, came to Tobit, and were joyful with him, and they thanked God with him of all the goodnesses that God had showed about him.

21 And by seven days they ate, and joyed [or gladded] with great joy.

CHAPTER 12

1 Then Tobit called to him his son, and said to him, What may we give to this holy man, that came with thee?

2 And Tobias answered, and said to his father, Father, what meed shall we give to him, either what thing may be worthy to his benefices [or his benefits] or his goodnesses?

3 He led me forth, and brought me whole again/and he hath brought me again whole; and he received of Gabael the money that he owed to thee; and he made me to have a wife, and he drove away the fiend [or the devil] from her; he made joy to her father and mother; he delivered me from the devouring of a fish; and he made thee to see the light of heaven; and we be full-filled with all goods by him; what thing worthy to these things may we give to him?

4 But, father, I ask thee, that is, I beseech thee, that thou pray him, if peradventure he shall vouchsafe to take to him the half part of all things, whatever things be brought hither.

5 And the father and the son called him, and took him asides half, and they began to pray him, that he would vouchsafe to have acceptable the half part of all things, which they had brought thither.

6 Then Raphael said to them privily, Bless ye God of heaven, and acknowledge ye to him before all men living, for he hath done his mercy with you.

7 For it is good to hide the private of an earthly king; but it is worshipful to show and acknowledge the works of God.

8 Prayer is good with fasting, and with alms-[deeds], more than to hide treasures of gold;

9 for why alms-[deeds] delivereth from death, and those alms it is that purgeth sins, and maketh man to find everlasting life.

10 Forsooth they that do sin and wickedness, be enemies of their soul.

11 Therefore I show truth to you, and I shall not hide from you a privy word. [Then I open to you the truth, and shall not hide from you the privy word.]

12 When thou, Tobit, prayedest with tears, and buriedest dead men [or buriedest the dead], and leftest thy meat, and hidest those dead men by day in thine house, and buriedest them in the night, I offered thy prayers* to the Lord.

13 And for thou were acceptable to the Lord, it was needful that temptation should prove thee.

14 And now the Lord sent me for to cure thee, and to deliver Sarah, the wife of thy son, from the fiend. [And now the Lord sent me, that I should heal thee, and Sarah, the wife of thy son, from the devil deliver.]

15 For I am Raphael, the angel, one of the seven that be present [or that stand] before the Lord.

16 And when they had heard this, they were disturbed or troubled, that is, they wondered and were astonied, and they fell down trembling upon their faces.

17 And the angel said to them, Peace be to you, do not ye dread;

18 for when I was with you, I was by God’s will [or by the will of God]. Therefore bless ye him, and sing ye to him.

19 Certainly I seemed to eat and to drink with you; but I use invisible meat, and drink that may not be seen of men.

20 Therefore it is time, that I turn again to him, that sent me; but bless ye God, and tell ye out all his marvels; bless ye him, and sing ye to him.

21 And when he had said these things, he was taken [or borne] away from their sight; and they might no more see him.

22 Then they felled down upon their faces the space of three hours, and they blessed God; and they rising up, told all his marvels.

CHAPTER 13

1 Forsooth the elder Tobit opened his mouth, and blessed God, and said, Lord, thou art great without end, and thy realm is into all worlds;

2 for thou beatest [or scourgest], and makest safe; thou leadest down to hells, and leadest again; for none is that escapeth thine hand.

3 Sons of Israel, acknowledge ye to the Lord, and praise ye him in the sight of heathen men [or Gentiles];

4 for therefore he hath scattered you among heathen men, that know not God, that ye tell out his marvels, and make them to know, that none other God is almighty besides him/ that there is none other God Almighty except him.

5 He hath chastised us for our wickednesses; and he shall save us for his mercy.

6 Therefore behold ye, what things he hath done with you, and acknowledge ye to him with dread and trembling; and enhance ye the King of worlds in your works.

7 Forsooth I in the land of my captivity shall acknowledge to him; for he hath showed his majesty upon [or into] a sinful folk.

8 Therefore, ye sinners, be ye converted, that is, be ye altogether in heart, and word, and deed, turned from your sin, and do ye rightfulness [or rightwiseness] before God, and then believe ye, that he shall do his mercy with you.

9 Soothly I and my soul shall be glad in him.

10 All chosen of the Lord, bless ye him [or Blesseth the Lord, ye all chosen of him]; make ye the days of gladness, and acknowledge ye to him.

11 Jerusalem, the city of God, the Lord hath chastised* thee for the works of thine hands.

12 Acknowledge thou to God in thy goods, and bless thou God of worlds, that is, without ending, that he build again in thee his tabernacle, and again-call to thee all thy prisoners [or call again to thee all thy captives]; and that thou have joy into all worlds of worlds.

13 Thou shalt shine with bright light, and all the coasts of the earth shall worship [or shall honour] thee.

14 Nations, that is, many men from diverse countries, shall come from [a] far to thee, and they shall bring gifts to thee, and shall worship the Lord in thee, and they shall have thy land into hallowing;

15 for they shall call in thee the great name./and in thee, Jerusalem, they shall inwardly call the great name of the Lord.

16 And they shall be cursed, that despise thee, and they shall be damned or condemned, that blaspheme thee; and they shall be blessed, that build [up] thee.

17 Forsooth, Jerusalem, thou shalt be glad in thy sons, for all they shall be blessed [or for all shall be blessed], and they shall be gathered together to the Lord.

18 Blessed be all that love thee, and that have joy upon thy peace.

19 My soul, bless thou the Lord, for the Lord our God hath delivered Jerusalem, his city, from all tribulations thereof.

20 I shall be blessed, if the relics or the after-comers of my seed shall be abiding to see the clearness [or the clarity] of Jerusalem.

21 The gates of Jerusalem shall be builded of sapphire, and of smaragdus, and of precious stones; all the compass of the walls thereof shall be of white and clean stone.

22 And all the streets thereof shall be strewed; and alleluia, that is, the praising of God, shall be sung through the streets thereof.

23 Blessed be the Lord, that hath enhanced it, that his realm be upon it into worlds of worlds. Amen.

CHAPTER 14

1 And thus the words of Tobit were ended; and after that he was lightened of his blindness[or after that he is lighted to see], he lived two and forty years, and saw the sons of his son’s sons.

2 And when an hundred years and twain were filled, he was buried worshipfully in Nineveh.

3 Soothly when Tobit was of six and fifty years he lost the light of his eyes; and when he was of sixty years age he received his sight again.

4 Forsooth the residue of his life was in joy, and he went [or passed] in peace with good increasing of God’s dread.

5 And in the hour of his death, he called to him Tobias, his son, and seven young sons of him, his son’s sons, and said to them,

6 The perishing, or destruction, of Nineveh shall be nigh, for the word of God shall not fall away void; and your brethren, that be scattered from the land of Israel, shall turn again to it.

7 And all the desert land of it shall be full-filled, and the house of God, which is burnt therein, shall be builded again, and all that dread God shall turn again thither.

8 And heathen men shall forsake their idols, and they shall come to Jerusalem, and they shall dwell therein or shall inhabit it.

9 And all the kings of earth shall have joy therein, and they shall worship the King of Israel [or honouring the king of Israel].

10 Therefore, my sons, hear ye your father; serve ye the Lord in dread and in truth; and inquire ye [or inwardly seeketh] to do those things that be pleasant to him.

11 And command ye your sons to do rightwisenesses and alms-deeds; and that they be mindful of God, and bless God in all time, in truth, and in all their virtue or power.

12 Now therefore, my sons, hear ye me, and do not ye dwell here in Nineveh, but in whatever day ye have buried your mother beside me in a sepulchre, from that day dress ye your steps, that ye go out from hence;

13 soothly I see that the wickedness of Nineveh shall bring destruction thereto.

14 And it was done after the death of his mother, Tobias went away from Nineveh, with his wife, and his sons, and with the sons of his sons, and he turned again to the father and mother of his wife [or to his father- and mother-in-law].

15 And he found them sound in good eld age. And he did the care of them, and he closed their eyes; and after that he took all the heritage of the house of Raguel, and Tobias saw the fifth generation, the sons of his sons.

16 And when ninety years and nine were fulfilled in the dread of the Lord, they buried him with joy.

17 Forsooth all his kindred, and all his generation, dwelled perfectly in good life, and in holy conversation, so that they were acceptable both to God and to men, and to all inhabiting the earth or that dwelled in earth [or to all dwelling in the land].

* CHAPTER 1:1 This story of Tobit befelled in the sixth year of king Hezekiah.

* CHAPTER 2:16 These believed the rewarding of good and of evil is only in present life, as the friends of Job did.

* CHAPTER 4:7 If thou mayest not give chattel, give thou will, and sign of compassion.

† CHAPTER 4:23 That is, deadly sin, for we may not utterly eschew all venial in this life.

* CHAPTER 5:23 That is, the sustaining, for children owe to fathers and mothers the service of reverence, and of needful purveyance, if they have need.

* CHAPTER 10:4 For as a sick man is sustained by a staff, so father and mother in eld age owe to be sustained of sons.

* CHAPTER 12:12 For angels offer to God the prayers of just men; they be spirits of service sent into service, for them that take the heritage of health; to the Book of Hebrews, in the first Chapter.

* CHAPTER 13:11 That is, shall chastise, for it was not destroyed in the time of Tobit.

JUDITH

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JUDITH

CHAPTER 1

1 And so Arphaxad, king of Medes, had made subject many folks to his empire; and he builded a full mighty city, which he called Ecbatana.

2 Of square stones and carved [or hewn] he made the walls thereof, in the height of threescore cubits and ten [or seventy cubits], and in the breadth of thirty cubits. And he set the towers thereof in the height of an hundred cubits.

3 And by the squareness of the towers ever either side was stretched forth, by [or in] the space of twenty feet; and he set the gates of that city in the height of those towers.

4 And he had glory, as a mighty man in the power of his host, and in the glory of his chariots [or his four-horsed carts].

5 Therefore Nebuchadnezzar, king of Assyrians, that reigned in the great city Nineveh, in the twelfth year of his realm he fought against Arphaxad, and he got, or took, Arphaxad in a great field,

6 that was called Ragau, beside the floods of Euphrates, and Tigris, and Hydaspes, in the field of Arioch, the king of Elymeans.

7 Then the realm of Nebuchadnezzar was enhanced, and his heart was raised into pride; and he sent to all men, that dwelled in Cilicia, and in Damascus, and in Lebanon,

8 and to folks, that were in Carmel, and in Gilead, and to men dwelling in Galilee, and in the great field of Esdraelon,

9 and to all men [or to all], that were in Samaria, and beyond the flood of Jordan, unto Jerusalem; and to all the land of Goshen, till that men come to the hills of Ethiopia.

10 To all these men, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Assyrians, sent messengers;

11 and all these against-said with one will, and they sent again his messengers void, and they casted them away without honour.

12 Then Nebuchadnezzar was wroth to all that land, and he swore by his realm and by his throne, that he would defend him from all these countries [or regions], that is, assail all those countries.

CHAPTER 2

1 In the thirteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, in the two and twentieth day of the first month, a word was made [or done] in the house of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Assyrians, that he would defend him from his enemies.

2 And he called to him all his elder men, and all the dukes, his warriors [or his fighters]; and had with them the private of his counsel.

3 And he said, that his thought and intent was set in that thing, to make subject each land to his empire.

4 And when this saying had pleased all men, king Nebuchadnezzar called Holofernes, the prince of his chivalry, and said to him,

5 Go thou out against each realm of the west, and against them principally, that despised my commandment [or mine empire].

6 Thine eye shall not spare any realm, and thou shalt make subject to me each strengthened city.

7 Then Holofernes called the dukes and magistrates of the power of Assyrians, and he numbered men into the making ready of battle, as the king commanded to him, sixscore thousand of footmen fighters, and twelve thousand horsemen and archers.

8 And he made all his purveyance to go before him in multitude of unnumberable camels, with those things that sufficed plenteously to his hosts, and he sent droves of oxen, and flocks of sheep, of which was none number.

9 He ordained wheat to be made ready of all Syria in his passage.

10 And he took with him much gold and silver of the king’s house.

11 And Holofernes, and all his host, went forth with chariots [or four-horsed carts], and horsemen, and archers, which covered the face of the earth, as locusts.

12 And when he had passed the ends [or the coasts] of Assyrians, he came to the great hills called Auge, that be at the left half [or left side] of Cilicia; and he went up into all the castles of them, and he got each strong place [or hold] there.

13 And he brake and destroyed the most strong city called Bectileth, and he robbed all the sons of Rasses, and the sons of Ishmael, that were against the face of desert, and at the south coast of the land of Chelleans.

14 And he passed [over] Euphrates, and came into Mesopotamia, and he brake, and wasted, all the high cities that were there, from the strand [or the stream] of Abron till that men come to the sea.

15 And he occupied the ends or the coasts thereof from Cilicia unto the ends of Japheth, that be at the south.

16 And he brought with him all the sons of Midian, and he took from them all their riches; and he killed by the sharpness of sword all men against-standing him.

17 And after these things he came down into the fields of Damascus, in the days of ripe corn [or of reaping], that is, in harvest, and he burnt [up] all those corns [or all the sown things], and he made all the trees and vines to be cut down;

18 and his dread fell upon all men inhabiting the land or dwelling upon earth [or all the dwellers in the land].

CHAPTER 3

1 Then the kings and princes of all cities and provinces, that is, of Syria, of Mesopotamia, and Coelesyria, and of Lebanon, and of Cilicia, sent their messengers [or their legates]. And when they came to Holofernes, they said,

2 Thine indignation cease about us [or Cease thine indignation about us]; for it is better, that we live and serve Nebuchadnezzar, the great king, and to be subject to thee, than that we die, and suffer with our perishing the harms of our servage, or our thrall-dom, that is, suffer more harms then is servage.

3 Each city of ours [or All our cities], and all our possessions, all our mountains, and little hills, and our fields, and droves of oxen, and flocks of sheep, and of goats, and of horses, and of camels, and all our riches and our meines be in thy sight;

4 all things be under thy law.

5 Also we and our children be thy servants.

6 Come thou and be thou a peaceable lord to us, and use thou our service, as it pleaseth thee.

7 Then Holofernes came down from the hills, with knights [or horse-men] in great strength, and he got each city, and each man inhabiting the land or each man that dwelled in that land.

8 And of all the cities he took to him helpers, strong men and chosen to battle.

9 And so great dread of Holofernes lay [or fell] upon all provinces, that the dwellers of all cities, and the princes and men of honour, went together out with their peoples to meet him coming,

10 and received him with crowns and lamps, and they led dances before him with pipes and tympans [or trumps and timbrels].

11 Nevertheless they doing these things might not assuage the fierce-ness of his heart;

12 for why both he destroyed their cities, and hewed down their [maumet] woods.

13 For king Nebuchadnezzar had commanded to him, that he should destroy all the gods of earth [or of the land], that is, that he alone should be said god of all these nations, that might be made subject/s by the power of Holofernes [or might be under-yoked by the might of Holofernes].

14 And Holofernes passed over all Coelesyria, and all the country of Appanie, and all Mesopotamia, and he came to Idumeans in the land of Geba;

15 and he took the cities of them, and dwelled there by thirty days, in which days he commanded all the host of his power to be gathered together.

CHAPTER 4

1 Then the sons of Israel, that dwelled in the land of Judea, heard these things, and they dreaded greatly of the face of Holofernes.

2 Also trembling and hideousness [or horror] assailed the wits of them, lest he should do this thing to Jerusalem, and to the temple of the Lord, which thing he had done to other cities and temples of them [or their temples]

3 And they sent into all Samaria, by compass till to Jericho, and before-occupied all the cops or the heights of the hills;

4 and they encompassed their towns with walls, and gathered together wheat into the making ready of battle.

5 Also the priest Joakim wrote to all men, that were dwelling against Esdraelon, which is even against the face of the great field besides Dothan, and to all men by whom passage might be,

6 that they should hold [or wield] the goings-up of the hills, by which hills a way to their enemies might be to Jerusalem, and that they should keep there, where straight way might be among the hills.

7 And the sons of Israel did after this behest, that Joakim, the priest of the Lord, had ordained to them.

8 And all the people cried to the Lord with great instance, or hearty beseeching, and they and the women of them meeked their souls in fastings.

9 And the priests clothed them-selves with hair-shirts, and the young children bowed themselves against the face of the temple of the Lord, and they covered the altar of the Lord with an hair-shirt.

10 And they cried together to the Lord God of Israel, lest the children of them should be given into prey, and the wives of them into parting or departing by violence of ravishers, and their cities into destroying, and their holy things into defouling.

11 Then Joakim, the great priest of the Lord, compassed all Israel, and spake to them, and said,

12 Know ye, that the Lord shall hear your prayers, if ye dwelling dwell perfectly [or abide still] in fastings and in prayers in the sight of the Lord.

13 Be ye mindful of Moses, the servant of the Lord, which not in fighting with iron, but in praying with holy prayers, casted down Amalek trusting in his virtue or his strength, and in his power, and in his host, and in his shields, and in his chariots, and in his knights [or his horsemen];

14 and so shall all the enemies of Israel be cast down, if ye continue in this work, which ye have begun.

15 Therefore at this exciting, [or exhortation], or stirring, of him, the men of Israel prayed heartily to the Lord, and dwelled in the sight of the Lord,

16 so that also they, that offered burnt sacrifices to the Lord, were girt with hair-shirts, and they offered sacrifices to the Lord, and ashes were put upon their heads.

17 And all men of all their hearts prayed to the Lord, that he would visit his people Israel.

CHAPTER 5

1 And it was to Holofernes, prince of the chivalry of men of Assyria, that the children of Israel made ready themselves to against-stand him[or that the sons of Israel made them-selves ready to withstand], and that they had closed altogether the ways of the hills.

2 And by over-great madness he burnt out into great wrathfulness [or with full much madness he burned out into great wrath]; and he called all the princes of Moab, and the dukes of Ammon,

3 and said to them, Say ye to me, who this people is [or who be these people], that besiegeth the hilly places; either which, and what manner, and how great be their cities; also what is the virtue or the strength of them, either what is the multitude of them, either who is the king of their chivalry;

4 and why before all men, that dwell in the east, have these men despised me, and they have not gone out to receive us with peace?

5 Then Achior, duke of all the sons of Ammon, answered and said, My lord, if thou vouchest safe to hear me, I shall say the truth in thy sight of this people that dwelleth in the hilly places [or in the mountains], and a false word shall not go out of my mouth.

6 This people is of the generation of Chaldeans;

7 and this people dwelled first in Mesopotamia; for they would not pursue [or follow] the gods of their fathers, that were in the land of Chaldea.

8 Therefore they forsook the ceremonies of their fathers, that were with the multitude of gods,

9 and they worshipped one God of heaven, which also commanded to them to go out from thence, and to dwell in Canaan. And when hunger had covered all the land, they went down into Egypt, and there they were so multiplied by four hundred years [or there by four hundred years so be multiplied], that the host of them might not be numbered*.

10 And when the king of Egypt had grieved them, and had made them subjects in the buildings of his cities in clay and tilestone, they cried to their God, and he smote all the land of Egypt with diverse vengeances.

11 And when men of Egypt had cast out from them the men of Israel, and the vengeance had ceased from the men of Egypt, and again when they would take the men of Israel, and again-call them to their service,

12 then God of heaven opened the sea to these men of Israel fleeing away, so that on this side and on that side [or on either side] the waters were made firm as walls, and in their walking these men with dry feet passed the deepness of the sea.

13 In which place the while unnumberable host of men of Egypt [or of Egyptians] pursued Israel, it was so covered with waters, that there dwelled not namely one man alive, that should tell the deed to after-comers.

14 Also the men of Israel went out of the Reed Sea [or the Red Sea], and they occupied the deserts of the hill [or of the mounts] of Sinai, in which deserts there might never man dwell, neither any son of man rest there.

15 There bitter wells were made sweet to them for to drink; and by forty years they got livelode from heaven.

16 And wherever they entered, their God fought for them, and he over-came their adversaries without bow and arrow, and without shield and sword.

17 And there was no man that casted down this people, no but when it went away from the worshipping of their Lord God [or the Lord his God].

18 Soothly as often ever as they worshipped any other except that their own God, they were given into prey, and into sword, and into shame [or reproof].

19 But as often ever as they repented that they had gone away from the worshipping of their God, God of heaven gave to them virtue to against-stand their enemies.

20 Certainly they casted down the kings of Canaanites, and of Jebusites, and of Perizzites, and of Shechemites, and of Girgashites, and of Amorites, and all the mighty men of Heshbon, and they had in possession the lands of them, and the cities of them;

21 and till that they had sinned in the sight of their God, good things and prosperity were with them, for the God of them hateth wickedness.

22 For why and before these years, when they had gone away from the way which God had given to them, that they should go therein, they were destroyed of diverse nations by many battles, and full many of them were led prisoners [or led captive] into a land not theirs.

23 But a while ago they turned again to the Lord their God, and they were gathered together from the scattering, in which they were scattered; and now they have gone up into all these hilly places, and again they have Jerusalem in possession, where the holy of holy things be.

24 Now therefore, my lord, inquire thou perfectly, if any wickedness of them is [or if there is any wickedness of them] in the sight of their God, and go we then up to them; for their God betaking shall betake them to thee, and they shall be made subject under the yoke of thy might.

25 Truly if none offence of this people is before their God, we may not against-stand them; for the God of them shall defend them, and we shall be into shame to all earth.

26 And it was done, when Achior had ceased to speak these words, all the great men of Holofernes were wroth against him, and they thought to slay him, and they said together,

27 Who is this that saith, that the sons of Israel, men without armour [or arms], and without virtue or strength, and without knowing of the craft of fighting may against-stand king Nebuchadnezzar and his hosts?

28 Therefore that this Achior know, that he deceiveth us, go we up into the hilly places [or the mountains]; and when the mighty men of them be taken, then he shall be pierced with a sword with the same men;

29 and all folk know, that Nebuchad-nezzar is god of earth, and except him there is none other.

CHAPTER 6

1 And it was done, when they had ceased to speak, Holofernes had disdain greatly, and he said to Achior,

2 For thou hast prophesied to us, and saidest, that the folk of Israel is defended of their God, that I show to thee, that no god is but Nebuchad-nezzar;

3 when we have slain them all as one man/when we as one man have slain all the sons of Israel, then also thou shalt perish with them by the sword of men of Assyria, and all Israel shall perish diversely with thee in perdition;

4 and thou shalt prove, that Nebu-chadnezzar is lord of all earth; and then the sword of my chivalry shall pass through thy sides, and thou shalt be pierced, and thou shalt fall among the wounded men of Israel, and thou shalt no more breathe again [or thou shalt no more take breath], till thou be destroyed with them.

5 But certainly if thou guessest thy prophecy sooth, thy cheer fall not down [or fall not down thy cheer]; and the paleness that hath gotten thy face, go away from thee, if thou guessest that these my words may not be fulfilled.

6 But that thou know, that thou shalt feel this thing together with the children of Israel, lo! from this hour thou shalt be fellowshipped to the people of them, that when they have taken, or suffered, worthy pains of my sword, thou be subject to like vengeance.

7 Then Holofernes commanded to his servants to take Achior, and to lead him into Bethulia, and to betake him into the hands of the sons of Israel.

8 And the servants of Holofernes took him, and they went forth by the field places, but when they had nighed to the hilly places [or the mountains], slingers or men throwing stones with slings, went out against them.

9 And they turned away from the side of the hill, and they bound Achior to a tree by his hands and feet, and so they left him bound with ropes [or cords], and they turned again to their lord.

10 And the sons of Israel went down from Bethulia, and they came to Achior, whom they unbound [or loosed], and led him to Bethulia, and they set him in the midst of the people, and they asked [him], what manner of things befell, that the men of Assyria had left him bound.

11 In those days these princes of Jews were there, Uzziah, the son of Micah, of the lineage of Simeon, and Charmis, which is also called Gothoniel.

12 Therefore in the midst of elder men [or And so in the middle of the elders], and in the sight of all men, Achior said all the things, which he was asked of Holofernes, and had told to Holofernes, and how the people of Holofernes would slay him for this word that he had said,

13 and how Holofernes himself was wroth, and commanded him to be betaken for this cause to the men of Israel, that the while he overcame the sons of Israel, then he commanded that also that Achior perish with diverse torments, for this thing that he had said, God of heaven is the defender of his people.

14 And when Achior had expounded all these things, all the people felled down on their faces, and worshipped the Lord; and with common wailing [or lamenting] and weeping they shed out to the Lord their prayers of one will,

15 saying, Lord God of heaven and of earth, behold the pride of thine enemies, and behold thou to our meekness, and take heed to the face of thy saints, and show that thou forsakest not men trusting in thee, and that thou makest low men trusting of themselves, and men having glory or them that have glory of their own virtue, or strength.

16 Therefore when the weeping was ended, and the prayer of the people by all the day was fulfilled,

17 they comforted Achior, and said, God of our fathers, whose virtue or power thou hast preached, he is rewarder of all goodness, and he shall give thee grace[or recompensation] for this while, that thou see more the perishing of them.

18 And when the Lord our God hath given this freedom to his servants, that we have overcome our enemies, also the Lord be then with thee in the midst or in the middle of us, that as it shall please thee, so thou live with all thy things [or so with all thine thou dwell].

19 Then after that this council was ended, Uzziah, the chief priest, received Achior into his house, and made a great supper to him.

20 And when all the priests were called together, after that the fasting was filled, they refreshed Achior and themselves, [or they ate].

21 And afterward all the people was called together, and they prayed by [or throughout] all the night within the church, and they asked help of God of Israel.

CHAPTER 7

1 Forsooth in the tother day Holofernes commanded his hosts to go up against Bethulia.

2 And there were with them sixscore thousand of footmen fighters, and twelve thousand knights [or horsemen], without [or besides] those men, that were there ready, which the captivity had occupied, and were brought from provinces and cities, of all youth, or of able fighters.

3 And all there together made them ready to battle against the sons of Israel; and they came by the side of an hill unto the cop or the height thereof, that beholdeth Dothan, from the place which is said Balbaim unto Cyamon, which is against Esdraelon.

4 And the sons of Israel, as soon as they saw the multitude of them, they bowed down themselves upon the earth, and threw [or putting] ashes upon their heads, and they prayed with one will, that God of Israel should show his mercy upon his people.

5 And they took their armours [or arms] of battle, and they sat by the places by which the path of the straightway betwixt the hilly places is dressed, and they kept those places all the day and night.

6 Certainly Holofernes, the while he went about by compass, found that the well, that flowed into the water conduit of them, was dressed at the south part without the city, and he commanded their water conduit to be cut asunder [or to be hewn down].

7 Nevertheless wells were not far from the walls of the city, of which wells men of Israel were seen to draw water by stealth, or privily, rather to refresh them than to drink.

8 But the sons of Ammon and of Moab nighed to Holofernes, and they said to him, The sons of Israel trust not in spear and arrow, but hills [or the mountains] defend them, and little hills set in the rock of stone make them strong.

9 Therefore that thou mayest over-come them without assailing of battle, set thou [or put] keepers of their wells, that they draw not water of those [or them]; and thou shalt slay them without sword, either certainly when they be made faint [or wearied]for default of water, they shall betake to thee their city, the which city, for it is set in the hills, they guess it may not be overcome.

10 And these words pleased before Holofernes, and before all his knights; and he ordained by compass by each well an hundred men.

11 And when by twenty days the keeping of the wells was fulfilled, the cisterns and the gatherings of waters failed to all the men of Israel dwelling in Bethulia [or to all the dwellers in Bethulia], so that there was not of water within the city, whereof they should be fulfilled, namely one day, for the water was given by measure to the people each day.

12 Then all men and women, young men and eld, and little children, were gathered together to Uzziah, the chief priest, and all they said together with one voice,

13 The Lord deem betwixt us and thee, for thou, not willing to speak peaceably with the men of Assyria, hast done evil things against us, and for this thing God hath sold us into the hands of them.

14 And therefore there is none that helpeth us, when we be cast down in thirst, and in great loss before their eyes. [And therefore there is not that helpeth, when we be thrown down before the eyes of them in thirst, and in great perdition.]

15 And now therefore gather ye together all men, that be in this city, that all we peoples betake us-selves by free will to Holofernes.

16 It is better that we be made prisoners [or captive], and bless God and live, then that we die thus, and we be shame [or reproof] to each man, and since we see our wives and our young children die for default, before our eyes.

17 We call into witnessing [or to witness] today heaven and earth, and the God of our fathers, that punisheth us after our sins, that now ye betake this city into the hands of the chivalry of Holofernes, and that our end be made short in the sharpness of sword, which end is now made longer in the dryness [or the drought] of thirst.

18 And when they had said these things, great weeping and yelling was made of all men in the great church, and by many hours they cried with one voice to the Lord, and said,

19 We and our fathers have sinned, we have done unjustly [or unright-wisely], and we have done wickedness.

20 Thou, Lord, for thou art merciful, have mercy on us, and avenge our wickednesses with thy scourge; and, Lord, do not thou betake men acknowledging thee to a people that knoweth not thee,

21 that they say not among heathen men [or Gentiles], Where is the God of them?

22 And when they were made faint with these cries, and were made weary with these weepings, and were still, Uzziah rose up, all beshed with tears, and said,

23 Brethren, be ye patient, and by these five days abide we the mercy of the Lord;

24 for in hap he shall cut [or put] away his indignation, and he shall give glory to his name.

25 Soothly if when these five days be passed, help cometh not, we shall do these words which ye have spoken.

CHAPTER 8

1 And it was done, when Judith, the widow, had heard these words, which was the daughter of Merari, the son of Ox, the son of Joseph, the son of Oziel, the son of Elkiah, the son of Ananias, the son of Gideon, the son of Raphain, the son of Ahitub, the son of Elijah, the son of Eliab, the son of Nathanael, the son of Salamiel, the son of Sarasadai, the son of Israel.

2 And her husband was Manasseh, that was dead in the days of barley harvest;

3 for he stood busily over men binding together reaps [or sheaves] in the field, and heat came upon his head, and he was dead in Bethulia his city, and he was buried there with his fathers.

4 And Judith left of him, or living after him, was widow then three years and six months.

5 And in the higher parts of her house she made to her a privy closet, in which she dwelled close with her damsels [or her handwomen];

6 and she had an hair-shirt on her loins, and she fasted all the days of life, except sabbaths, and the beginnings of months [or new moons], or the first days of the moon, and the feasts of the house of Israel.

7 And she was of full seemly beholding, to whom her husband had left many riches, and plenteous meine, and possessions full of [or with] droves of oxen, and of flocks of sheep.

8 And this Judith was most famous among all men; for she dreaded God greatly, neither any was that spake of her an evil word.

9 Therefore when this Judith had heard, that Uzziah had promised, that when the fifth day was passed, he would betake the city to Holofernes, she sent to the priests Chabris and Charmis.

10 And they came to her; and she said to them, What is this word, in which Uzziah hath consented to betake the city to men of Assyria, if within five days help come not to us?

11 And who be ye that tempt the Lord?

12 This is no word that stirreth mercy; but rather it stirreth God’s wrath, and kindleth his madness.

13 Have ye set a time of the mercy doing of the Lord, and in your will have ye set a day to him? [Ye have set a time of mercy doing of the Lord, and in your doom ye have ordained a day to him.]

14 But for the Lord is patient, do we penance for this sin, and ask we with tears his forgiveness;

15 for God shall not menace [or threaten] so as man, neither as a son of man he shall be inflamed to wrathfulness [or to wrath].

16 And therefore meek we our souls to him, and in a contrite spirit and made meek serve we to him;

17 and say we weeping to the Lord, that after his will so he do his mercy with us; and as our heart is troubled [or disturbed] in the pride of our enemies, so have we glory in our meekness.

18 For we have not pursued [or followed] the sins of our fathers, that forsook their God, and worshipped alien gods;

19 for which great trespass they were given to their enemies into sword, and into raven, and into confusion; but we know not another God besides him.

20 Therefore, we being meek, abide we his comfort, and he shall seek, or avenge, our blood of the torments [or from the tormenting] of our enemies; and he shall make meek all folks [or all Gentiles], whichever have risen against us; and the Lord God shall make them without honour.

21 And now, brethren, for ye be priests in the people of God, and the soul of them hangeth of you, raise ye up their hearts to God at your speech, that they be mindful, that our fathers were tempted, that they should be proved, whether they worshipped God verily [or if verily they praised their God].

22 They owe to be mindful, how our father Abraham was tempted, or assayed, and how he was proved by many tribulations, and he was made the friend of God.

23 So Isaac, so Jacob, so Moses, and all that pleased the Lord, passed forth faithfully by many tribulations.

24 And they that received not temptations with the dread of the Lord, and brought forth their unpatience, and the shame [or the reproof] of their grutching against the Lord,

25 were destroyed of a destroyer, and they perished of serpents.

26 And therefore avenge we not us [or ourselves] for these things which we suffer;

27 but areckon we, that these same torments be less than our sins, and believe we, as servants of the Lord that be chastised, that the beatings, or the torments, [or the scourges] of the Lord be come to our amending, and not to our perdition.

28 And Uzziah and the priests said to Judith, All these things, that thou hast spoken, be sooth, and no reproving is in thy words.

29 Now therefore pray thou for us, for thou art an holy woman, and dreading God.

30 And Judith said to them, As ye know, that this thing, that I might speak, is of God,

31 so prove ye, if this that I have purposed to do, is of God, and pray ye, that God make steadfast my counsel.

32 Ye shall stand at the gate this night, and I shall go out or shall go forth with my free handmaid; and pray ye, that, as ye said, the Lord behold his people Israel these five days.

33 But I desire not, that ye inquire my doing, and till I tell to you, none other thing be done or be there done none other thing of you, no but prayer for me to our Lord God [or to the Lord our God].

34 And Uzziah, the prince of Judah, said to her, Go thou in peace, and the Lord be with thee in the vengeance [or the avenging] of our enemies. And they, Uzziah and the priests, turned, and went away.

CHAPTER 9

1 And while they went away, Judith entered into her oratory, and she clothed herself with an hair-shirt, and putted ashes upon her head; and she bowed down herself to the Lord, and cried to the Lord, and said,

2 Lord God of my father Simeon, which gavest to him a sword into defense of aliens, that were defoulers in their defouling, and made naked the hip of a virgin [or the maiden] into her own confusion;

3 and thou gavest the women of them into prey, and the daughters of them into captivity, and all the prey into parting [or division] to thy servants, that loved fervently thy fervent love; Lord, I beseech thee, help thou me a widow.

4 For thou madest the former things, and those things thou thoughtest to make afterward, and this thing is made to us, which thou wouldest.

5 For all thy ways be ready, and thou hast set thy dooms in thine own purveyance.

6 Behold thou the strengths [or the tents] of the men of Assyria now, as then thou vouchedest safe to behold the strengths [or the tents] of the men of Egypt, when they came armed after thy servants, and trusted in their chariots [or four-horsed carts], and in the multitude of their knights, and in the multitude of their warriors [or fighters].

7 But thou beheldest on the powers of them, and darknesses made them faint; [But thou beheld upon the tents of them, and darknesses over-travailed them;]

8 the bottom of the sea held their feet, and waters covered them.

9 Lord, also these men be made so, that trust in their multitude, or Lord, be these men made also in like manner, which trust in their multitude, and in their chariots, and in their sharp shafts without iron [or in weapons], and in their arrows; and have vain glory in their spears;

10 and they know not, that thou thyself art our God, that all-breakest battles from the beginning, and the Lord is name to thee.

11 Raise up thine arm, that is, thy power, as thou didest at [or from] the beginning, and hurtle down the power of them in thy virtue, or in thy virtue hurledest down the power of them; the power of them fall it down in thy wrathfulness, which promise them[selves] to defoul thine holy things, and to defoul [or to pollute] the tabernacle of thy name, or which promise[d] them[selves] to defoul the tabernacle of thy name, and to cast [or to throw] down with their sword the horn or the might of thine altar.

12 Lord, make thou, that the pride of them be cut off [or cut away] with their own sword;

13 and be Holofernes taken with the snare of his eyes in me; and thou shalt smite him with the lips of my charity, that is, by my sweet words, and showing love.

14 Give, Lord, thou to me steadfastness in soul [or in will], that I despise him and his virtue or his power, and destroy him [or turn him upside-down].

15 For it shall be a memorial or a mindfulness to thy name, when the hands of a woman have cast [or have thrown] him down.

16 For why, Lord, thy virtue or thy power is not in multitude, neither thy will is in the strengths of horses; and proud spirits pleased not thee at the beginning [or nor proud men pleased to thee from the beginning], but the prayer of meek men and mild hath ever[more] pleased thee.

17 God of heavens, thou art Creator of waters, and Lord of all creatures or of each creature, hear thou me wretched woman praying, and trusting of thy mercy.

18 Lord, have thou mind of thy testament, and give a word in my mouth to speak, and make thou strong the counsel of thee in mine heart, that thine house dwell perfectly in thine hallowing;

19 and that all folks know, that thou art God, and that none other is except thee. [and all Gentiles know, for thou art God, and there is none other besides thee.]

CHAPTER 10

1 And it was done, when Judith had ceased to cry to the Lord, she rose up from the place, in which she lay bowed down to the Lord.

2 And she called her free handmaid, and came down into her house; and she took away from herself the hair-shirt, and unclothed herself from the clothing of her widowhood.

3 And she washed her body, and anointed her[self] with best myrrh, and she setted [or pleated] the hair of her head, and setted a mitre on her head, and she clothed her with the clothes of her gladness, and clothed her feet with sandals; and she took the ornaments of arms, and lilies, and earrings, and rings, and she adorned herself with all her adornments or ornaments.

4 To whom also the Lord gave brightness or fairness, for all this ornament [or composition] hanged not of lechery [or lust], but of virtue; and therefore the Lord made large this fairness on her, that by uncomparable fairness, or fairness that might not be comparisoned, she appeared seemly to the eyes of all men [or she appeared to the eyes of all men with fairness uncomparable].

5 And then she putted [or put] upon her free handmaid a bottle of wine to bear with her, and a vessel of oil, and meat made of meal [or pottage], and dried figs, and loaves, and cheese, and they went forth.

6 And when they were come to the gate of the city, they found Uzziah and the priests of the city abiding her.

7 And when they had seen her, they were astonied and wondered [or marvelled] full much on her fairness.

8 Nevertheless they asked her nothing, and they let her pass forth, and said, The God of our fathers give grace to thee, and make strong with his virtue all the counsel of thine heart, and Jerusalem have glory on thee, and thy name be in the number of holy and just men [or be thy name in the number of saints and rightwise men].

9 And all they, that were there, said with one voice, Be it done! be it done!

10 Certainly Judith [or Then Judith] prayed the Lord, and she passed forth through the gates, and her handmaid with her.

11 And it was done, when she came down off the hill about the rising of the day, the spyers [or the spies] of Assyrians met her, and they held her, and said, From whence comest thou, either whither goest thou?

12 And she answered, I am a daughter of Hebrews, and therefore I have fled from the face of them, for I know, that it shall come, that they shall be given to you into prey, for they have despised you, and for they would not betake themselves willfully to you, that they should have found grace in your sight.

13 And for this cause I thought within me, and I said, I shall go to the face or to the presence of the prince Holofernes, for to show to him the privates of the men of Israel, and I shall show to him, by what entry he may get them, so that not one man of his host fall down [or so that there fall not one man of his host].

14 And when those men had heard the words of her, they beheld her face, and wondering was in their eyes, for they wondered greatly on her fairness [or they marvelled full much on the fairness of her].

15 And they said to her, Thou hast kept thy life, for thou hast found such a counsel, that thou wouldest come down to our lord.

16 And know thou this thing, that, when thou standest in his sight, he shall do well to thee, and thou shalt be most acceptable [or most accepted] in his heart. And they led her to the tabernacle of Holofernes, and they showed her to him.

17 And when she had entered before his face, anon Holofernes was taken by [or caught in] his eyes with lust.

18 And his knights said to him, Who shall despise the people of Jews, that have so fair women, that we owe not to fight skillfully against them for these women?

19 And Judith saw Holofernes sitting within a curtain, that is, in a chair, covered with such a curtain, [or Judith seeing Holofernes sitting in the canopy], that was wide beneath, and narrow or sharp above, that was woven of purple and gold, and smaragdus, and most precious stones,

20 and when she had looked into his face, she worshipped [or honoured] him, and bowed down herself on the earth; and the servants of Holofernes raised her up, for their lord commanded so.

CHAPTER 11

1 Then Holofernes said to her, Be thou comforted, and do not thou dread in thine heart, for I never annoyed man, that would serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Assyria.

2 And if thy people had not despised me, I had not raised mine hand or my power upon it.

3 But now say to me, for what cause wentest thou away from them, and why it pleased thee to come to us.

4 And Judith said, Take thou the words of thine handmaid; for, if thou pursuest [or followest] the words of thine handmaid, the Lord shall make [or shall do] a perfect thing with thee.

5 Forsooth Nebuchadnezzar, the king of [the] earth, liveth, and his virtue or his power liveth, which is in thee to the chastising of all souls or all lives erring; for not only by thee men shall serve him, but also beasts of the field shall obey to him by thee.

6 For the prudence of thy soul is told to all folks; and it is showed [or it is open] to all the world, that thou alone art good and mighty in all his realm; and thy teaching is preached in all provinces.

7 Neither this thing is hid, which Achior hath spoken, neither that thing is unknown, which thou commandedest to befall to him.

8 For it is known, that our God is so offended by sins, that he hath sent by his prophets to the people, that he would betake them to their enemies for their sins.

9 And for the sons of Israel know, that they have offended the Lord their God, the trembling of him [or his trembling] is upon them.

10 Furthermore also hunger hath assailed them, and for dryness [or the drought] of water they be reckoned [or counted] now among dead men.

11 And this thing they ordain, that they slay their beasts, and drink their blood;

12 and they have thought to give these holy things of their Lord to buy with, wheat, wine, and oil, which God commanded to be not touched, and they will waste the things, which they ought not to touch with hands; therefore for they do these things, it is certain that they shall be given into perdition.

13 Which thing I, thine handmaid, know, and therefore I fled from them, and the Lord hath sent me to tell these same things to thee.

14 For I, thine handmaid, worship God, also now with thee; and thine handmaid shall go forth, and I shall pray God;

15 and he shall say to me, when he shall yield to them their sin; and I shall come, and tell to thee, so that I bring thee through the midst [or by the middle] of Jerusalem, and thou shalt have all the people of Israel as sheep to which is no shepherd, and there shall not bark, or chide, either speak foul, against thee namely one;

16 for these things be said to me by the purveyance of God.

17 And for God is wroth to them, I am sent to tell to thee these same things.

18 Certainly all these words pleased before Holofernes, and before his servants; and they wondered [or marvelled] at the wisdom of her;

19 and one said to another [or the one said to the tother], There is not such a woman on earth in sight, in fairness, and in wit of words.

20 And Holofernes said to her, God did well, that sent thee before the people, that thou give or betake it into mine hands;

21 and for thy promise is good, if thy God doeth these things to me, he shall be also my God, and thou shalt be great in the house of Nebuchad-nezzar, and thy name shall be named in all earth.

CHAPTER 12

1 Then Holofernes commanded her to enter, where his treasures were kept, and he commanded her to dwell there; and he ordained, what should be given to her of his feast.

2 To whom Judith answered, and said, Now I may not eat of these things, which thou commandedest to be given to me, lest offence come on me; but I shall eat of these things, which I have brought with me.

3 To whom Holofernes said, If these things fail, which thou hast brought with thee, what shall we then do to thee?

4 And Judith said, Lord, thy soul liveth, for thine handmaid shall not spend all these things, till [or to the time that] God shall do in mine hands these things which I have thought to do. And his servants led her into the tabernacle, wither he had commanded.

5 And she asked of Holofernes, while she entered, that freedom should be given to her to go out to prayer, in the night, and before the light of the day came, to beseech the Lord.

6 And he commanded to his chamberlains, that, as it pleased her, she should go out, and enter [or come] in, for to pray her God by three days.

7 And she went out or went forth in nights into the valley of Bethulia, and washed herself in a well of water.

8 And as she went up there, she prayed the Lord God of Israel, that he would dress [or govern] her way to the deliverance of his people.

9 And she entered in, and dwelled clean in the tabernacle, till that she took her meat in the eventide.

10 And it was done in the fourth day, Holofernes made a supper to his servants, and he said to Bagoas, the chamberlain [or gelding], Go thou, and counsel [or sweetly move] that Hebrew woman, that she consent willfully to dwell with me.

11 For it is a foul thing with men of Assyria, if a woman scorn a man, in her doing, and that she pass free from him.

12 Then Bagoas entered in to Judith, and said, A good damsel be not ashamed to enter in to my lord, that she be honoured before his face, and that she eat with him, and drink wine with gladness.

13 To whom Judith answered, Who am I, that I against-say my lord?

14 I shall do all things, that shall be good and best before his eyes. And whatever thing pleaseth him, this thing shall be best to me in all the days of my life.

15 And she rose up, and adorned herself with her clothes, and entered, and stood before the face of Holofernes.

16 And the heart of Holofernes was stirred to lust; for he was burning in fleshly covetousness [or lust] of her.

17 And Holofernes said to her, Drink thou now, and take meat in gladness [or Drink now, and sit down in joy]; for thou hast found grace before me.

18 And Judith said, Lord, I shall drink, for my soul is magnified today before all the days of my life.

19 And she took, and ate, and drank before him those things, which her handmaid had made ready to her.

20 And Holofernes was made glad [or merry] towards her, and he drank full much wine, how much he had never drank in one day in his life.

CHAPTER 13

1 Forsooth as soon as eventide was made, his servants hasted to their inns [or to their harbourgeries], that is, tents; and Bagoas closed together the doors of the closet where Holofernes lay, and went forth.

2 For all men were made faint, or drunk, of wine;

3 and Judith alone was there within the closet [or the privy chamber].

4 Certainly Holofernes lay in the bed, asleeped [or asleep] with full much drunkenness.

5 And Judith said to her damsel, that she should stand withoutforth before the door of the closet [or the privy chamber], and espy [or wait about], that no man were nigh.

6 And Judith stood before the bed of Holofernes, and she prayed with tears, and with moving of her lips she said in silence,

7 Lord God of Israel, confirm me, or make me stable, [or Confirm me, Lord God of Israel], and in this time behold thou to the works of mine hands, that, as thou hast promised, thou raise up Jerusalem thy city; and that I perform this thing, which thing I believing thought to may be done by thee.

8 And when she had said this, she nighed [or went] to the pillar that was at the head of his bed, and she loosened his sword, that hanged [or hung]there bound on the pillar.

9 And when she had drawn out of the sheath that sword, she took the hair of his head; and said, Lord God of Israel, confirm me in this hour.

10 And she smote twice on [or into] his neck, and she cutted off his head; and she took away his curtain [or his canopy] from the pillars, and she wallowed away his body headless.

11 And after a little [while] she went out, and she betook the head of Holofernes to her handmaid, and commanded, that she should put it into her scrip.

12 And the two women went out or went forth by their custom, as to prayer, and they passed the tents, that is, host, of Assyrians, and they compassed the valley, and came to the gate of the city.

13 And Judith said afar to the keepers of the walls, Open ye the gates, for God is with us, that hath done great virtue in Israel.

14 And it was done, when the men had heard her voice, they called the priests of the city.

15 And all men from the least till to the most ran to her; for they had hoped not [or no more], that she should come now.

16 And they tended lights, and all men encompassed about her. And she went up into an higher place, and commanded silence to be made. And when all men were still [or when all had held their peace], Judith said,

17 Praise ye the Lord our God, that hath not forsaken them that trust in him, and by me, his handmaid,

18 he hath fulfilled his mercy, which he promised to the house of Israel, and in this night he hath slain in mine hand the enemy of his people.

19 And she took out of the scrip the head of Holofernes, and showed it to them, and said, Lo! the head of Holofernes, prince of the chivalry of Assyrians; and lo! his curtain [or the canopy of him], in which he lay in his drunkenness, where also the Lord our God killed him by the hand of a woman.

20 Forsooth the Lord God liveth, for his angel hath kept me, both going from hence, and dwelling there, and turning again from thence hither; and the Lord hath not suffered his handmaid to be defouled, but without defouling [or pollution] of sin he hath again-called me to you, and I have joy in victory of the Lord or in his victory, and in my escaping, and in your deliverance.

21 Acknowledge ye all to him or to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is into without end.

22 Soothly all men worshipped the Lord, and said to her, The Lord hath blessed thee in his virtue, for by thee he hath brought to nought our enemies.

23 And then Uzziah, the prince of the people of Israel, said to Judith, Daughter, thou art blessed of the high Lord God, before all women on earth.

24 Blessed be the Lord God, that made heaven and earth, and that dressed thee into the wounds of the head of the prince of our enemies;

25 for today he hath magnified so thy name, that thy praising go not away from the mouth of men, that shall be mindful of the virtue of the Lord without end; for which thou sparedest not thy life for the anguishes and tribulations of thy kin [or thy kindred], but helpedest the falling before the sight of our God, or for which men thou sparedest not thy life, but puttedest it for the anguishes and tribulations of thy kin, and thou hast holpen the falling of the people before the sight of our God.

26 And all the people said, Amen! amen! or Be it thus done! be it thus done! [or So be it! so be it!]

27 And then Achior was called, and he came; and Judith said to him, That God of Israel, to whom thou gavest witnessing, that he avengeth him of his enemies, hath cut off the head of all unbelieveful men in this night by mine hand.

28 And that thou prove that it is so, lo! the head of Holofernes, which in the despite of his pride despised God of Israel, and he menaced [or threatened] death to thee, and said, When the people of Israel is taken, I shall command thy sides to be pierced with a sword.

29 And when Achior saw the head of Holofernes, he was anguished for dread, and he fell down on his face upon the earth, and his soul suffered anesthetizing, that is, swooning.

30 And after that he had taken again his spirit, and was comforted, he felled down at the feet of Judith, and worshipped [or honoured] her, and said,

31 Blessed art thou of thy God in all the tabernacles of Jacob; for in all folk, that shall hear thy name, God of Israel shall be magnified in thee.

CHAPTER 14

1 Forsooth Judith said to all the people, Brethren, hear ye [or Heareth, brethren]; hang ye up this head upon your walls.

2 And it shall be, when the sun riseth, each man take his armours [or his arms], and go ye out with fierce-ness, not that ye go all down beneath the hill, but as men making assault.

3 And then it shall be needed, that the spyers [or the spies] of the land flee to raise up their prince to battle.

4 And when the dukes of them shall run together to the tabernacle of Holofernes, and find him headless [or beheaded], wallowed [or wrapped] in his blood, dread shall fall down upon them.

5 And when ye know that they flee, go ye securely after them, for God shall all-break them [or tread them] under your feet.

6 Then Achior saw the virtue that God of Israel had done, and he forsook the custom of heathenness, and he believed to God; and he circumcised the flesh of his rod, and he was put to the people of Israel, and all the after-coming of his kin till into this day or unto this time, [or unto the day that is now].

7 Forsooth anon as the day rose, they hanged the head of Holofernes on the wall; and each man took his armours [or his arms], and they went out with great noise and yelling.

8 Which thing the spyers [or the spies] saw, and they ran to the tabernacle of Holofernes.

9 And they, that were in the tabernacle, came, and made noise before the entering of the bed [or the in-coming of the privy chamber]of Holofernes, and they imagined by crafty unrestfulness for cause of up-raising [him], that Holofernes should awake not of the raisers, but of the noise of[the] sounders.

10 For no man was hardy to open the tabernacle of the virtue, that is, of the prince of the chivalry, of Assyrians by knocking, either by entering.

11 But when his dukes, and his tribunes [or the leaders of thousands], and all the greater men of the host of the king of Assyria were come, they said to the chamberlains,

12 Enter ye, and raise ye him up; for mice be gone out of the caves, and they dare move us [or call forth us] to battle.

13 Then Bagoas entered into his closet [or into his privy chamber], and he stood before the curtain of his bed, and he made beating together with his hands; for he supposed him to sleep with Judith.

14 But when by the wit, or listening, of his ears he perceived not any stirring [or moving] of Holofernes lying there, he came nigh and nighed to the curtain, and he drew it up or he raised it, and he saw the dead body of Holofernes without head, defouled [or rotting] in his blood, and lying upon the earth, and he cried [out] with great voice with weeping, and rent his clothes.

15 And Bagoas entered into the tabernacle of Judith, and found not her [or found her not], and anon he went out to the people,

16 and said, An Hebrew woman hath made confusion in the house of king Nebuchadnezzar; for lo! Holofernes lieth in the earth, and his head is not with him.

17 And when the princes of the virtue or the power of Assyrians had heard this thing, all they rent their clothes, and unsufferable [or intolerable] dread and trembling felled down upon them, and their souls were troubled greatly.

18 And uncomparable cry was made by the middle of their tents./And cry that might not be comparisoned was made throughout their tents.

CHAPTER 15

1 And when all the host had heard Holofernes beheaded, mind and counsel fled from them, and they shaken by trembling and dread alone or they stirred with only trembling and dread, took the help [or the succour] of flight,

2 so that no man spake with his neighbor; but each man bowing down his head, and all their things were forsaken or left behind them, they were busy to escape the Jews or Hebrews, which they had heard to come armed upon them; and they fled by the ways of fields, and by the paths of little hills.

3 Therefore the sons of Israel saw the men of Assyria fleeing or flying away, and they pursued [or followed] after them, and came down, and they sounded with trumps, and yelled after them.

4 And for the men of Assyria not gathered together went headlong into flight, forsooth the sons of Israel pursuing with a company made feeble all the men of them, which they might find.

5 And Uzziah sent messengers by all the cities and countries [or regions] of Israel.

6 Therefore each country and each city [or And so all regions and all cities] sent forth chosen young men armed after them; and they pursued those Assyrians with the sharpness of sword, till they came to the last part of their coasts.

7 And the residue men, or the remnant, of the sons of Israel, that were left in the city of Bethulia, entered into the tents of Assyrians, and took away with them the prey, which Assyrians fleeing had left, and men of Israel were greatly charged with chattel.

8 And they that were over-comers, in their pursuit turned again to the city Bethulia, or But they that were overcomers, turned again to Bethulia, and they took away with them all things whatever were of those Assyrians, so that there was no number in sheep, and beasts, and in all moveable things of them, so that from the least unto the most, all men of Israel were made rich of the preys.

9 Forsooth Joakim, the highest [or the high] bishop came from Jerusalem into Bethulia with all the priests, to see Judith.

10 And when she had gone out to him, all they blessed her with one voice, and said, Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, and thou art the gladness of Israel, thou art the honour of our people, which hast done manly,

11 and certainly thine heart was comforted in God, for thou lovedest chastity, and after thine husband thou knew not another man; therefore and the hand of the Lord comforted thee, and therefore thou shalt be blessed [into] without end.

12 And all the people said, Be it done! be it done! or Amen! amen!

13 Forsooth by thirty days scarcely were the spoils of men of Assyria gathered up of the men of Israel.

14 Certainly they gave to Judith all things, that were proved to be property of Holofernes, in gold, in silver, and in clothes, and in gems, and in all appurtenance of household; and all things were given to her of the people.

15 And all peoples, with women, and virgins, and with young men, made joy, in organs and harps.

CHAPTER 16

1 Then Judith sang this song to the Lord,

2 and said, Begin ye to praise God in tympans [or timbrels]; sing ye to the Lord in cymbals; sing ye sweetly a new psalm to him; fully make ye joy [or full out joyeth], and inwardly call ye his name.

3 The Lord all-breaketh battles, the Lord is name to him;

4 which hath set his castles, that is, angels, or his strengths, in the midst of his people [or that put his tents in the middle of his people], for to deliver us from the hand of all our enemies.

5 Assur came from the hills, from the north, in the multitude of his strength; whose multitude stopped strands [or the streams], and the horses of them covered valleys.

6 And he said, that he should burn my coasts, and slay my young men with sword, to give my young children into prey, and the virgins thereof into captivity.

7 But the Lord Almighty annoyed him, and betook him into the hands of a woman, and she shamed [or confounded] him.

8 For the mighty prince of them felled not down by strength of young men, neither the sons of giants killed him, neither high giants putted them-selves to him; but Judith, the daughter of Merari, overcame him by the fairness of her face.

9 For she unclothed her from the cloth of [her] widowhood, and clothed her with [or in] the cloth of gladness, into the full out joying of the sons of Israel.

10 She anointed her face with ointment, and she bound together the tresses of her hairs with a coronal [or a mitre], to deceive him.

11 Her sandals ravished his eyes, her fairness made his soul captive; with a sword she cut off his neck.

12 Men of Persia had hideousness of her steadfastness, and men of Media of her hardiness. [The Persians dreaded her steadfastness, and Medes her hardiness.]

13 Then the strong powers of the men of Assyria [or Assyrians] yelled for dread, when my meek men of Israel, waxing dry for thirst, appeared to them.

14 The sons of young women have pricked them, and they have killed them as children fleeing; they perished in battle from the face of my God [or from the face of my Lord].

15 Sing we an hymn to the Lord, and sing we a new hymn to our God. [A new hymn sing we to the Lord our God.]

16 Lord God, thou art a great Lord, and full clear [or all clear]art thou in thy virtue, whom no man may over-come.

17 Each creature of thine serve thee, for thou saidest, and so all things were made; thou sentest thy Spirit, and then all things were made of nought [or be formed]; and none is that against-standeth thy commandment.

18 For hills shall be moved from the foundaments with waters; and stones shall float abroad as wax before thy face [or stones as wax shall melt before thy face].

19 And they that dread thee, shall be great with thee by all things.

20 Woe to the folk rising up upon my kin [or my kindred]; for the Lord Almighty shall take vengeance in them, and in the day of doom he shall visit them.

21 For he shall give fire and worms in the fleshes of them [or in their flesh], that they be burnt, and live, and they feel the fierceness thereof till into without end [or unto evermore.]

22 And it was done after these things, all the people after the victory came to Jerusalem to worship the Lord; and anon as they were cleansed [or were purified]after the law, all men offered burnt sacrifices, and avows [or vows], and their promises.

23 Forsooth Judith gave then into the cursing of forgetting all the armours [or the arms] of battle of Holofernes, which the people had given to her, also the curtain [or the canopy], which she had taken away.

24 Certainly all the people was merry after the face of holy men [or joyful after the face of saints]; and by three months the joy of this victory was hallowed with Judith.

25 And after those days each man went again into his own things or into his own dwelling place, [or After those days forsooth each went again into his own]; and Judith was made great in Bethulia, and she was more clear than all the women of the land of Israel.

26 For chastity was joined to her virtue of steadfastness, so that she knew no man fleshly all the days of her life, since Manasseh, her husband, was dead.

27 Soothly in feast days she came forth with great glory./In holidays, Judith came forth, and with great glory she was worshipped before other women.

28 And she dwelled in the house of her husband an hundred years and five; and she let go, or made, her handmaid free. And then Judith was dead, and she was buried with her husband in Bethulia, or And she was dead, and buried with her husband in Bethulia;

29 and all the people bewailed her seven days.

30 Forsooth in all the space of her life, there was none that overcame or disturbed Israel, and many years after her death.

31 And the day of the victory of this feast is taken of Hebrews, and reckoned in the number of holy days, and it is worshipped of the Jews, from that time till into this present day.

* CHAPTER 5:9 This nativity beginneth at Isaac, and endeth in the going out of Egypt.

ADDITIONS TO ESTHER

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ADDITIONS TO ESTHER

The Greek version of Esther, found in the Septuagint, contains six additions not found in the Hebrew version of Esther that is in most Bibles. These additions to Esther consist of a prologue, prayers by Mordecai and Esther, the texts of the decrees from King Ahasuerus, amplifications to, and elaborations of, the narrative, and a postscript. In the “Wycliffe Bible” and the first edition of the King James Bible (1611), these additions to Esther are included, but are placed at the end of the Hebrew version of Esther, beginning with verse 4 of Chapter 10, and concluding in Chapter 16. That format is followed here; but in addition, the place where each passage occurs in the Greek version of Esther, and where it would belong in the Hebrew version of Esther, is indicated at the beginning of each section in parentheses. (Modern translations of the Apocrypha, such as the New English Bible, and the Good News Bible, print the entire Greek version of Esther with these additions clearly marked.) Also, in the Greek version of Esther, the names of several of the principals are spelled differently. In order to avoid confusion, and to aid comprehension, here they have been changed to the Hebrew names.

(In the Greek Esther, the following verses also appear as verses 4-13 of Chapter 10.)

CHAPTER 10

4 And Mordecai said, These things be done of God.

5 I have mind on a dream, which I saw, signifying these same things, and nothing of those was void.

6 A little well, that waxed [or grew] into a flood, and was turned into light, and sun, and turned again into full many waters, this well is Esther, whom the king took into wife, and would that she were his queen.

7 And the two dragons, I am, and Haman;

8 and folks that came together, be these, that enforced or endeavoured to do away the name of Jews.

9 But my folk Israel it is, that cried to the Lord; and the Lord made safe his people, and he hath delivered us from all evils, and he hath done great signs, or tokens, and wonders among heathen men [or the Gentiles;]

10 and he hath commanded two lots to be, one of God’s people, and the other of all heathen men [or all Gentiles].

11 And then ever either lot came into a day ordained, or determined, from that time before God and all folks. [And either lot came into the set day before God now from that time to all Gentiles.]

12 And the Lord had mind on his people, and had mercy on his heritage.

13 And these days shall be kept in the month Adar, or March, in the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the same month, with all busyness and joy of the people gathered into one company, into all the generations of the people of Israel afterward.

(In the Greek Esther, and likewise for the Hebrew Esther, the following verse serves as a postscript after the 10 new verses added to Chapter 10.)

CHAPTER 11

1 In the fourth year, when Ptolemy and Cleopatra reigned, Dositheus, that said himself to be a priest and of the kin of Levi, and Ptolemy, his son, brought this epistle of lots [or Purim] into Jerusalem, which epistle they said, that Lysimachus, the son of Ptolemy, translated. This is a rubric; for this beginning was in the common translation, which beginning is not told in Hebrew, neither at any of the translators, [or This forsooth was the beginning in the common translation, that neither in Hebrew, nor with any of the interpreters is told].

(In the Greek Esther, verses 2-12 that follow, serve as a Prologue to Chapter 1; in the Hebrew Esther, they would be placed at verse 5 of Chapter 2.)

2 In the second year, when Artaxerxes* the most reigned/the mightiest king reigned, Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, of the lineage of Benjamin, saw a dream in the first day of the month Nisan, that is, June;

3 and Mordecai was a man a Jew, that dwelled in the city of Susa, a great man, and among the chief men or the first men of the king’s hall.

4 And he was of that number of prisoners [or captives], which Nebu-chadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had translated or brought over from Jerusalem with Jeconiah, king of Judah. And this was his dream.

5 He saw that voices, and noises, and thunders, and earth-movings [or earthquakes], and great troubling [or disturbing] appeared upon the earth.

6 And lo! two great dragons, and they were made ready against them-selves into battle;

7 at whose cry all nations were stirred together, to fight against the folk of just [or rightwise] men.

8 And that was a day of darknesses, and of peril, of tribulation, and of anguish, and great dread [or great fear] was then upon the earth.

9 And the folk of just [or rightwise] men, dreading their evils, was disturbed, and made ready to death.

10 And they cried to God; and when they cried, a little well increased [or waxed] into a full great flood, and it turned again into full many waters.

11 And then the light and the sun rose up; and meek men were enhanced, and devoured noble men.

12 And when Mordecai in his sleep had seen this thing, and had risen from his bed, he thought, what God would do, and he had fast set [or fixed] in his soul this vision, and coveted to know, what the dream signified.

(In the Greek Esther, verses 1-6 that follow conclude the Prologue to Chapter 1; in the Hebrew Esther, they would be placed at verse 21 of Chapter 2.)

CHAPTER 12

1 Forsooth Mordecai dwelled that time in the hall of the king, with Bigthan or Gabatha and Teresh or Tharra, the honest servants and chaste [or geldings] of the king, that were porters of the palace.

2 And when he had understood the thoughts of them, and had before-seen full diligently their busynesses, he learned that they endeavoured them to set [or to put] their hands upon the king Ahasuerus, and he told of that thing to the king.

3 And when enquiring was had of ever either of them, the king commanded them, that acknowledged [or had confessed]their treason, to be led to the death.

4 And the king wrote in books that thing, that was done, and also Mordecai took mind of this thing to be written in letters./Forsooth the king wrote in books that, that was done, but also Mordecai betook the mind of the thing to letters.

5 And the king commanded Mordecai, that he should dwell in the hall of the palace, and he gave to him gifts for the telling.

6 Forsooth Haman, the son of Hammedatha, a Bougean, was most glorious before the king, and he would have annoyed Mordecai, and his people, for the twain [or two] honest and chaste servants of the king that were slain. Hitherto is the proem; those things, that pursue[or follow], were set[or put]in that place where it is written in the book, And they took away the goods, either the chattels of them; which things we found in the common translation.

(In the Greek Esther, verses 1-7 below follow verse 13 of Chapter 3; in the Hebrew Esther, these 7 verses would also follow verse 13 of Chapter 3.)

CHAPTER 13

1 Soothly this was the sampler of the epistle. The greatest king Ahasuerus, from India unto Ethiopia, saith health to the princes and dukes of an hundred and seven and twenty provinces, which princes and dukes be subject/s to his empire.

2 When I was lord of full many folks, and I had made subject all the world to my lordship, I would not mis-use the greatness of power, but govern my subjects by mercy and softness, that they, leading their life in silence without any dread, should use peace coveted of all deadly men.

3 And when I asked of my counsellors, how this might be [ful] filled, one, Haman by name, that passed other men in wisdom and faithfulness, and was the second after the king,

4 showed [or told] to me, that a people was scattered in all the roundness of lands, the which people used new laws, and did against the custom of all folks, and despised the commandments of kings, and defouled by his dissention the according of all nations.

5 And when we had learned this thing, and saw, that one folk rebelled against all the kind of men, and that it used wayward [or shrewd] laws, and was contrary to our commandments, and disturbed or troubled the peace and according [or the accord] of provinces subject to us,

6 we commanded, that whichever [or whosoever] Haman showed, which is sovereign of all provinces [or that is provost to all provinces], and is the second from the king, and whom we honour in the place of father, they with their wives and children, be done away of their enemies, and no man have mercy upon them, in the fourteenth day of the twelfth month Adar, or March, of the present year;

7 that cursed [or wicked] men go down to hell in one day, and yield peace to our empire, which they had troubled [or have disturbed]. Hitherto is the sampler of the epistle; these things, that pursue[or follow], I found written after that place, where it is read, And Mordecai went, and did all things, which Esther had commanded to him; nevertheless those things be not had in Hebrew, and utterly those be not said at any of the translators.

(In the Greek Esther, verses 8-19 below follow verse 17 of Chapter 4; in the Hebrew Esther, these 11 verses would also follow verse 17 of Chapter 4.)

8 Forsooth Mordecai besought the Lord, and was mindful of all his works/and he was mindful of all the works of the Lord, [Mordecai forsooth prayed the Lord, mindful of all his works,]

9 and said, Lord God, King Almighty, all things be set in thy lordship, either power, and there is none, that may against-stand [or withstand] thy will; if thou deemest for to save Israel, we shall be delivered anon.

10 Thou madest heaven and earth, and whatever thing [or all thing that] is contained in the compass of heaven.

11 Thou art Lord of all things, and there is none that against-standeth thy majesty.

12 Thou knowest all things, and knowest, that not for pride and spite, neither for any covetousness of vain glory I did this thing, that I worshipped not Haman the most proud man[or that I honour not the most proud Haman;]

13 for I was ready willfully to kiss/I was ready to have kissed willfully, yea, the steps of his feet for the health of Israel,

14 but I dreaded, lest I should bear over to a man, or to man, the honour of my God, and lest I should worship any man except my God.

15 And now, Lord King, God of Abraham, have thou mercy on thy people, for our enemies will lose us, and do away thine heritage;

16 despise not thy part, which thou again-boughtest from Egypt.

17 Hear thou my prayer, and be thou merciful to the lot, and the part of thine heritage; and turn thou our mourning into joy, that we living praise thy name, Lord; and close thou not the mouths of men praising thee.

18 And all Israel with like mind and beseeching cried to the Lord, for cause that certain death nighed to them.

(In the Greek Esther, verses 1-19 below follow the preceding verses, prior to Chapter 5; in the Hebrew Esther, these 19 verses would also follow the preceding verses, prior to Chapter 5.)

CHAPTER 14

1 Also queen Esther fled [or flew] to the Lord, and dreaded the peril, that nighed.

2 And when she had put away the king’s clothes that pertained to the queen, she took clothes covenable to weepings and mourning; and for diverse ointments, she filled her head with ashes and drit, or vile power, or dust, and she meeked her body with fastings; and with braiding, or twisting, [or tearing, or pulling] away of her hair, she filled all places, in which she was wont to be glad;

3 and she besought [or prayed] the Lord God of Israel, and said, My Lord, which alone art our King, help me a woman left alone, and of whom none other helper is except thee, [or My Lord, that art king alone, help me solitary, and of whom save thee is none other helper];

4 my peril is in my hands.

5 I have heard of my father, that thou, Lord, hast taken away Israel from all folks [or shouldest have taken Israel from all Gentiles], and our fathers from all their greater men before, that thou shouldest wield an everlasting heritage; and thou hast done to them, as thou hast spoken, or promised.

6 We have sinned in thy sight, and therefore thou hast betaken us into the hands of our enemies;

7 for we worshipped the gods of them. Lord, thou art just, [or Rightwise thou art, Lord];

8 and now it sufficeth not to them, that they oppress us with hardest servage, but they reckon the strength of their hands to the power of idols [or maumets],

9 and therefore they will change thy behests, and do away thine heritage, and close the mouths of men praising thee, and quench the glory of thy temple and [of thine] altar,

10 that they open the mouths of heathen men/and they will open the mouths of heathen men, and praise the strength of idols, and preach a fleshly king without end. [that they open the mouths of Gentiles, and praise the strength of maumets, and preach a fleshly king into evermore.]

11 Lord, give thou not thy king’s rod to them, that be nought, lest they laugh at our falling; but turn thou the counsel of them upon themselves, and destroy thou him, that began to be cruel against us.

12 Lord, have thou mind, and show thee to us in the time of [our] tribulation; and, Lord, King of gods, and King of all power, give thou trust to me, [or and give to me trust, Lord, king of Jews, and of all power];

13 give thou a word well addressed, [or a seemly word], in my mouth in the sight of the lion Ahasuerus*, and turn over his heart into the hatred of our enemy, that both he perish, and other men that consented to him.

14 But deliver us in thine hand, and help me, having none other help but thee,

15 Lord, that hast the knowing of all things; and Lord, thou knowest that I hate the glory of wicked men, and that I loathe the bed of uncircumcised men, and of each alien [or of all heathen].

16 Lord, thou knowest my frailty and my need, that I hold abominable [or loathe] the sign of my pride and of my glory, which is on mine head in the days of my showing, and that I loathe it as the cloth of a woman having unclean blood [or in the flux of blood], and I bear not, or use it, in the days of my stillness [or my silence],

17 and that I ate not in the board of Haman, neither the feast of the king pleased me, and I drank not the wine of moist sacrifices,

18 and that thine handmaid was never glad, since I was translated hither till into present day, but in thee, Lord God of Abraham.

19 A! strong God above all, hear thou the voice of them, that have none other hope than thee, and deliver thou us from the hands of wicked men, and deliver thou me from my dread.

(In the Greek Esther, the next 2 verses would follow verse 8 of Chapter 4; in the Hebrew Esther, these 2 verses would also follow verse 8 of Chapter 4.)

1' And no doubt that Mordecai sent to Esther, that she should enter to the king, and pray for her people, and for her country.

1'' He said, Be thou mindful of the days of thy meekness, how thou were nourished in mine hand; for Haman, which is ordained the second person in power from the king, hath spoken against us into death; therefore thou inwardly call the Lord, and speak thou to the king for us, and deliver us from death.

(In the Greek Esther, verses 1-16 below, follow Esther’s prayer, which follows Mordecai’s prayer, all of which precede Chapter 5; in the Hebrew Esther, these 16 verses would replace the first 2 verses of Chapter 5.)

CHAPTER 15

1 Forsooth in the third day she putted off the clothes of her adorning, or of her mourning, and was encom-passed with her glory.

2 And when she shined in the king’s clothing, and had inwardly called the Governor of all things and the Saviour God, she took two servantesses,

3 and soothly she leaned on one, as not sustaining to bear her [own] body, for delights and full great tenderness;

4 but the other servantess [or damsel] pursued [or followed] the lady, and bare up her clothes trailing [or flowing] down upon the earth.

5 Soothly she was beshed with colour of roses in the cheer/And Esther in her face was coloured with rose colours, and with her pleasant and shining [or bright] eyes she covered her sorrowful soul, that was drawn together with full much dread.

6 Therefore she entered [or gone in] through all the doors by order, and she stood against the king, where he sat upon the seat [or the see] of his realm, and was clothed in the king’s clothes, and shined in [or shining with] gold and precious stones, and he was dreadful [or fearful] in sight.

7 And when he had raised up his face, and had showed the madness, or austereness, of his heart with burning eyes, the queen felled [or fell] down before him; and when her colour was changed into paleness, she rested her head bowed down upon her handmaid.

8 And God turned the spirit of the king into mildness, and he hasted, and dreaded, and skipped [or started] out of the seat/and the king hasting, and dreading, rose up anon of his seat; and he sustained her/he held up the queen with his arms, till she came again to herself; and he spake fair to her by these words,

9 Esther, what grief hast thou? I am thy brother; do not thou dread,

10 thou shalt not die, for this coming to me without calling; for this law is not made for thee, but for all men. Therefore nigh thou hither [or Come hither then],

11 and touch the sceptre, that is, the king’s rod. And when she was still [or held her peace], he took the golden rod, and putted [or put] [up] on her neck;

12 and he kissed her, and said, Why speakest thou not to me?

13 And she answered, Lord, I saw thee as an angel of God, and mine heart was troubled [or disturbed] for the dread of thy glory;

14 for, lord, thou art full wonderful, and thy face is full of graces.

15 And when she spake, again she felled down in a swoon, and was almost dead [or utterly swooned].

16 Soothly the king was troubled, and all his servants comforted her.

(In the Greek Esther, verses 1-24 below, follow verse 12 of Chapter 8; in the Hebrew Esther, these 24 verses would also follow verse 12 of Chapter 8.)

1' The sampler of the letter of king Ahasuerus, which he sent for the Jews to all the provinces of his realm; and this same sampler is not had in the book of Hebrew [or in the Hebrew volume].

CHAPTER 16

1 The great king Ahasuerus, from India unto Ethiopia, saith health to the dukes and princes of an hundred and seven and twenty provinces, that obey to our commandment. [Ahasuerus, the great king, from India unto Ethiopia, of an hundred and seven and twenty provinces, to dukes and princes, that to our commanding obeish, saith greeting.]

2 Many men mis-use into pride the goodness and honour of princes, which is given to them;

3 and not only they endeavor to oppress [the] subjects to kings [or to the king], but they bear not duly the glory given to them, and make ready treasons against them, that gave their glory to them.

4 And they be not appeased to do not thankings for benefices [or benefits] or goodnesses, and to defoul in themselves the laws of courtesy; but also they deem, that they may flee the sentence of God seeing all things.

5 And they break out into so much madness, that they endeavor them with ropes, [or with the little cords, or the privy and subtle flatterings] of leasings to destroy them, that keep diligently [or busily] the offices betaken to them, and do so all things, that they be worthy the praising of all men;

6 while by subtle fraud false men deceive the simple ears of kings, and guessing other men by their own kind./and while malicious men guess-ing other men by their own kind blameful by subtle fraud, they deceive the simple ears of kings.

7 Which thing is proved both by eld [or old] stories, and by these things that be done each day; how the studies of kings be made shrewd [or depraved] by evil suggestions of some men.

8 Wherefore it is to purvey for the peace of all provinces.

9 And though we command diverse things, ye owe not to guess, that this cometh of the unstableness of our soul or of our heart; but that we give sentence by our counsel for the manner and need of times, as the profit of the common thing asketh.

10 And that ye understand more openly that thing, that we say; Haman the son of Hammedatha, a man of Macedonia by soul and folk [or will and kindred], and an alien from the blood of Persians, and defouling our piety with his cruelty, was a pilgrim, or a stranger, and was received of us;

11 and he feeled in himself so great courtesy of us, that he was called our father, and he was worshipped [or honoured] of all men as the second person after the king;

12 the which Haman was raised into so great swelling of pride, that he enforced to deprive us of the realm and of our life.

13 For by some new and unheard casts he asked into death Mordecai, by whose faith and benefices [or benefits] we live, and also the fellow of our realm, Esther, with all her folk;

14 and he thought these things, that when they were slain, he should set treason to our aloneness [or onlyhood], that is, to us-self alone, and that he should translate [or over-bear] the realm of Persians into the realm of the Macedonians.

15 Forsooth we found not the Jews in any guilt utterly [or We forsooth utterly find in no blame the Jews], that were ordained to death by him that is the worst of deadly men; but again-ward that they/the Jews, use just laws,

16 and be the sons of the highest and most God, and ever living/and be the sons of the highest and [the] most, and of everlasting [or evermore living] God, by whose benefice [or benefit], or goodness, the realm was given both to our fathers and to us, and is kept unto this day.

17 Wherefore know ye, that those letters be void, which that Haman sent under our name.

18 For which great trespass both he that imagined it, and all his kindred, hangeth in gibbets before the gates of he city of Susa; for not we, but God yielded to him that, that he deserved.

19 Forsooth this commandment, which we send now, be set forth [or purposed] in all cities./Therefore this behest, that we send forth now, be it set up in all cities, that it be leaveful to the Jews to use their laws.

20 Which Jews ye owe to help, that they may slay them, that made themselves ready to the death of Jews, in the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is called Adar, or March; [To whom ye shall be to help, that those men, the which themselves to their death had made ready, they may slay, the fourteenth day of the twelfth month, that is called Adar;]

21 for Almighty God hath turned this day of wailing and of mourning into joy to them. [this forsooth day of sorrow and of wailing the Almighty God turned to them into joy.]

22 Wherefore and ye have this day among other feast days, and hallow it with all gladness;

23 that it be known afterward [or hereafter], that all men, that obey faithfully to the kings of Persia, receive worthy meed for their faith; and that they, that set treason to the realm of them, perish for the felony.

24 And each province and city, that will not be partner of this solemnity, perish by sword and by fire; and be it so undone or destroyed [or done away], that not only it be without way to men, but also to beasts without end [or into evermore], for ensample [or example] of despising and unobedience.

* CHAPTER 11:2 In the Hebrew Esther, this king is called Ahasuerus; his son is called Artaxerxes (though historically the son may have been “Artaxerxes II” and the father “Artaxerxes I”). In order to avoid confusion, and to aid comprehension, the Hebrew name of the king will be used in this translation henceforth.

* CHAPTER 14:13 “Ahasuerus” is here in the original text.

WISDOM OF SOLOMON

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WISDOM OF SOLOMON

CHAPTER 1

1 Ye that deem the earth, love rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; feel ye of the Lord in goodness, and seek ye him in the simpleness of heart.

2 For he is found of them, that tempt not him [or that tempt him not]; forsooth he appeareth to them, that have faith into him.

3 For why wayward thoughts part [or sever] from God; but proved virtue reproveth unwise men.

4 For why wisdom shall not enter into an evil-willed soul; neither it shall dwell in a body subject to sins.

5 Forsooth the Holy Ghost of wisdom shall fly or flee away from a feigned man [or a feigner], and he shall take away himself from thoughts, that be without understanding; and the unwise man shall be punished of wickedness coming above.

6 For the spirit of wisdom is benign, and he shall not deliver a cursed man from his lips; for why God is witness of his reins, and the searcher of his heart is true, and the hearer of his tongue.

7 For why the Spirit of the Lord hath filled the world; and this thing, that containeth all things, hath the knowing of voice.

8 Therefore this he that speaketh wicked thing [or For that he that speaketh wicked things], may not be hid; and doom and punishing shall not pass him.

9 For why asking shall be in the thoughts of a wicked man [or of the unpious]. Forsooth the hearing of his words shall come to God, and to the punishing [or the correction] of his wickednesses;

10 for the ear of fervent love [or of the jealous] heareth all things, and the noise of grutchings shall not be hid.

11 Therefore keep ye you from grutching, that profiteth nothing, and from backbiting spare ye the tongue; for a dark word shall not go into vain; forsooth the mouth that lieth, slayeth the soul.

12 Do not ye covet death, in the error of your life, neither get ye perdition in the works of your hands;

13 for God made not death, neither he is glad in the perdition of living men.

14 For why God made of nought all things, that those should be; and he made the nations of the world able to be healed. For why medicine of destroying is not in those men, neither the realm of hells [or of hell] is in earth.

15 For rightfulness is everlasting, and undeadly; but unrightfulness is getting of death. [Rightwiseness forsooth is perpetual, and undeadly; unrightwise-ness forsooth purchasing of death.]

16 Forsooth wicked [or unpious] men called that unrightfulness by hands and words, and they guessed [or esteemed] it a friend, and floated away, and they putted promises to it; for they be worthy the death, that be of the part thereof.

CHAPTER 2

1 Forsooth wicked men said, thinking with themselves not rightfully, The time of our life is little, and with annoyance; no refreshing is in the end of a man, and none there is, that is known, that turned again from hells. [Forsooth unpious men said, thinking with themselves not right, Little and with annoyance is the time of our life; there is not refreshing in the end of a man, and there is not, that be known, turned again from hell.]

2 For we were born of nought, and after this time we shall be, as if we had not been; for why smoke is blown out in our nostrils, and a word of sparkle to stir our heart.

3 For our body shall be quenched ashes, and the spirit shall be scattered abroad as soft air; and our life shall pass as the step of a cloud, and it shall be departed as a mist, which is driven away of the beams of the sun, and is grieved of the heart thereof.

4 And our name shall take forgetting by the passing of time; and no man shall have mind of our works.

5 For why our time is the passing of a shadow, and no turning again of our end there is [or there is not turning again of our end]; for it is asealed, and no man turneth again.

6 Therefore come ye [or Cometh then], and use we the goods that be, and use we a creature, as in youth, swiftly.

7 Fill we us with precious wine and ointments; and the flower of time pass not us.

8 Crown we us with roses, before that they wither; no meadow be, that our lechery pass not by [or through].

9 No man of us be there without part of our lechery; everywhere leave we the signs of gladness; for this is our part, and this is our heritage [or our lot].

10 Oppress we a poor just [or rightwise] man, and spare we not a widow, neither reverence we hoar hairs of an old man of much time.

11 But our strength be the law of rightfulness; for why that that is feeble, is found unprofitable.

12 Therefore deceive we a just [or the rightwise] man, for he is unprofitable to us, and he is contrary to our works; and he upbraideth [or reprovingly putteth] to us the sins of law, and he defameth on [or against] us the sins of our teaching.

13 He promiseth that he hath the knowing of God, and he nameth himself the son of God.

14 He is made to us into showing of our thoughts.

15 He is grievous to us, yea, to see; for why his life is unlike to other men, and his ways be changed.

16 We be guessed of him to be triflers, that is, men of no virtue, and he abstaineth himself from our ways, as from uncleannesses; and he before-setteth [or telleth before] the last things of just men, and he hath glory, that he hath God his father.

17 Therefore see we, if his words be true; and assay we, what things shall come to him; and we shall know, what shall be the last things of him.

18 For if he is the very son of God, he shall up-take him, and shall deliver him from the hands of them that be contrary to him.

19 Ask we him by despising and torment, that we know his reverence, and that we prove his patience.

20 By most foul death condemn we him, for why beholding [or respect] shall be of his words.

21 They thought these things, and they erred; for why their malice blinded them.

22 And they knew not the sacraments of God, neither they hoped the meed of rightfulness [or of rightwiseness], neither they deemed the honour of holy souls.

23 For why God made man unable to be destroyed [or undeadly], and God made man to the image of his likeness.

24 But by [or through] envy of the devil death entered into the world; forsooth they pursue [or follow] him, that be of his part.

CHAPTER 3

1 Forsooth the souls of just men be in the hand of God; and the torment of death shall not touch them.

2 They seemed to the eyes of unwise men to die; and torment was deemed the out-going of them.

3 And from just way they went into destroying, and that that is of us the way of destroying [or destruction]; but they be in peace.

4 Though they suffered torments before men, the hope of them is full of undeadliness.

5 They were travailed in a few things, and they shall be disposed well in many things; for why God assayed them, and found them worthy to himself.

6 He proved them as gold in a furnace, and he took them as the offering of burnt sacrifice;

7 and the beholding of them shall be in time of yielding. Just men shall shine, and they shall run about as sparkles in a place of reeds. [and in time shall be the beholding of them. They shall shine rightwise, and as sparkles in reedy places they shall run hither and thither.]

8 They shall deem nations, and shall be lords of peoples; and the Lord of them shall reign without end.

9 They that trust on him, shall understand truth; and faithful men in love shall assent to him; for why gift and peace is to his chosen men.

10 But wicked men, by those things that they thought, shall have punishing; which despised just thing, and went away from the Lord.

11 For he that casteth away wisdom and lore, is cursed [or is unhappy]; and the hope of wicked men is void, and their travails be without fruit, and their works be unhabitable, and unprofitable.

12 The women of them be unwitting [or unwise], and the sons of them be full wayward [or most wicked].

13 The creature of them is cursed; for why the woman barren and undefouled is blessed [or happy is the barren, and the undefouled], that hath not known the bed in trespass; she shall have fruit in the beholding of holy souls.

14 And a man unmighty to engender or beget, [or a gelding], is blessed, that hath not wrought wickedness by his hands, neither thought most wayward [or wicked] things against the Lord; for why a chosen [free] gift of faith shall be given to him, and a most acceptable [or most allowed] heritage in the temple of God.

15 For why the fruits of good travails is glorious, and the root of wisdom that falleth not down.

16 But the sons of adulterers shall be in destroying, and the seed of a wicked bed shall be destroyed [or outlawed].

17 And soothly though they shall be of long life, they shall be areckoned into nought; and the last eld age of them shall be without honour.

18 And if they be dead swiftlier [or if swiftlier they shall be dead], they shall not have hope, neither allowing in the day of knowing.

19 Forsooth wicked nations be of hard ending.

CHAPTER 4

1 How fair is a chaste generation with clearness [or clarity]; for the mind thereof is undeadly, for it is known, both with God, and with men.

2 When it is present, they pursue [or follow] it; and they desire it, when it hath led out itself, and it over-coming getteth by victory the meed of battles undefouled, and is crowned without end.

3 But the manyfold engendered multitude of wicked [or unpious] men shall not be profitable; and plantings of adultery they shall not give deep roots, neither shall set stable steadfastness.

4 Though they burgeon in boughs [or branches] for a time, they set unsteadfastly shall be moved of the wind, and they shall be drawn out by the root of the greatness of winds [or and of the muchliness of winds pulled up by the roots].

5 For why boughs [or branches] unperfect shall be broken altogether; and the fruits of them be unprofitable, and sour to eat, and covenable to nothing.

6 For why all sons, that be born of wicked men, be witnesses of wicked-ness against fathers and mothers, in their asking.

7 But a just man [or the rightwise], though he be before-occupied by death, shall be in refreshing.

8 For why worshipful eld [age] is not of long time [or long enduring], neither it is reckoned by the number of years;

9 the wits of a man be hoary, and the age of eld is life without wem [or undefouled].

10 He pleased God, and was made dearworthy [or loved], and he living among sinners was translated, or borne over;

11 he was ravished, lest malice should change his understanding, either lest feigning should deceive [or beguile] his soul.

12 For why deceiving of trifling maketh dark good things, and the unstableness of covetousness turneth over [or over-turneth] the wit without malice.

13 He was ended in short time, and [ful] filled many times;

14 for why his soul was pleasant to [or pleased] God; for this thing God hasted to lead him out from the midst of wickednesses;

15 but peoples saw and understood not, neither setted [or putted] such things in their hearts or entrails. For the grace and mercy of God is on his saints, and beholding [or respect]of God is on his chosen men.

16 Forsooth a just [or rightwise] man dead condemneth quick [or alive] wicked men; and youth ended swiftlier condemneth the long life of an unjust man [or the unrightwise].

17 For they shall see the end of a wise man, and they shall not understand, what thing God thought of him, and why the Lord made him less [or diminished him].

18 For they shall see, and shall despise him; but the Lord shall scorn them. And after these things they shall be falling down without honour, and in despising among dead men without end.

19 For he shall all-break them swollen without voice, and he shall move them from the foundaments; and they shall be desolate till to the last thing. And they shall be wailing, and the mind of them shall perish.

20 They shall come fearedful in the thought of their sins; and their wickednesses on the contrary side shall lead them over.

CHAPTER 5

1 Then just [or rightwise] men shall stand in great steadfastness against them that anguished them, and which took away their travails.

2 They shall see, and shall be disturbed with horrible dread, and they shall wonder in the suddenty of their health unhoped [or shall marvel in the suddenness of the unhoped health];

3 and they shall wail for anguish of spirit, and they shall say, doing penance within themselves, and wailing for the anguish of spirit, These men it be, which we had sometime into scorn, and into like-ness of upbraiding.

4 We mad men guessed their life madness, and the end of them without honour;

5 how therefore be they reckoned [or counted] among the sons of God, and their part [or lot] is among saints?

6 Therefore we erred from the way of truth, and the light of rightfulness [or of rightwiseness] shined not to us, and the sun of understanding rose not up to us.

7 We were made weary in the way of wickedness and of perdition; and we went [or we have gone] hard ways. But we knew not the way of the Lord;

8 what profited pride to us, either what brought the boast of riches to us?

9 All those things passed as shadow, and as a messenger before running [or as a messenger running before].

10 And as a ship, that passeth through the flowing water, of [the] which when it hath passed, it is not to find a step, neither the path of the bottom thereof in waves.

11 Either as a bird, that flyeth over in the air, of which no proof [or evidence] is found of the way thereof, but only the sound of wings beating light wind, and carving [or cutting] the air by the might of way, and with wings moved together it flew over, and after this no sign is found of the way thereof [or of his way].

12 Either as an arrow shot out into a place ordained, the air is parted, and is closed again anon, that the passing thereof be not known.

13 Right so we born ceased anon to be, and soothly we might show no sign of virtue; but we were wasted in our malice. They that sinned, said such things in hell.

14 For the hope of a wicked man [or the unpious] is as the flower of a briar, [or thistledown], which is taken away of the wind, and as small froth [or foam] which is scattered abroad of a tempest, and as smoke which is spread abroad of wind, and as the mind of a guest of one day, that passeth forth.

15 But just [or rightwise] men shall live without end, and the meed of them is with the Lord; and the thought of them is with the Highest.

16 Therefore they shall take of the hand of the Lord the realm of fairness, and a diadem of comeliness; for he shall govern them with his right hand, and he shall defend them with his holy arm. [Therefore they shall take the realm of worship, and the diadem of fairness of the hand of the Lord; for with his right hand he shall cover them, and with his holy arm defend them.]

17 And his fervent love [or the jealousy of him] shall take armour, and he shall arm the creature to the vengeance of enemies.

18 He shall clothe rightfulness for an habergeon, and he shall take certain doom for a basinet; [He shall clothe for the breastplate rightwiseness, and he shall take for the helmet certain doom;]

19 he shall take a shield that may not be overcome, equity, either evenness; [he shall take the shield unquenchable equity;]

20 forsooth he shall whet [or sharpen] hard wrath into a spear, and the world shall fight with him against unwitting men [or against the unwise].

21 Straight sendings-out of lightnings shall go, and as the sides of a rainbow, when the bow of clouds is crooked, they shall be destroyed; and they shall skip into a certain place. [The sendings-out of lightnings shall go even right, and as at the teasing the bow of clouds bent, they shall be outlawed; and to a certain place they shall leap in.]

22 And full hailstones shall be sent from a stony wrath, and the water of the sea shall wax white against them, and floods shall run altogether hard.

23 The spirit of virtue shall stand against them, and as the whirling of wind it shall part them; and the wickedness of them shall bring all the land to desert, and malice shall destroy the seats of mighty men. Wisdom is better than strengths, and a prudent man doeth more than a strong man.

CHAPTER 6

1 Therefore, ye kings, hear, and understand; and ye judges of the coasts of earth, learn. [Heareth then, ye kings, and understandeth; learneth, ye doomsmen of the coasts of the earth.]

2 Ye that hold together multitudes, and please you in the companies of nations, give ears; [Giveth ears, ye that hold together multitudes, and please to you in companies of nations;]

3 for why power is given of the Lord to you, and virtue is given of the Highest, that shall ask your works, and shall search thoughts.

4 For when ye were ministers of his realm, ye deemed not rightfully [or rightly], neither ye kept the law of rightfulness, neither ye went by the will of God.

5 Hideously [or Horribly] and soon he shall appear to you; for why harshest doom shall be made in them, that be sovereigns.

6 Forsooth mercy is granted to a little man; but mighty men shall suffer torments mightily.

7 For the Lord, which is lord of all things, shall not withdraw the person of any man, neither he shall dread the greatness of any man; for he made both the little man and the great man, and charge [or care] is to him evenly of all men

8 But stronger torment nigheth to stronger men.

9 Therefore, ye kings, these my words be to you, that ye learn wisdom, and that ye fall not down. [To you then, kings, be these my words, that ye learn wisdom, and that ye fall not.]

10 For they that keep rightfulness [or rightwiseness], shall be deemed right-fully; and they, that learn just things, shall find, what they shall answer.

11 Therefore covet ye my words, and love ye those; and ye shall have teaching. [Coveteth than my words, and loveth them; and ye shall have discipline.]

12 Wisdom is clear, and that shall never fade; and it is seen lightly of them that love it, and it is found of them that seek it.

13 It before-occupieth them that covet it, that it show itself the former to them.

14 He that waketh by light to it, shall not travail; forsooth he shall find it sitting nigh his gates.

15 Therefore to think on wisdom is perfect wit, and he that waketh for it, shall soon be secure.

16 For why it goeth about, and seeketh men worthy to it; and in their ways [or in his ways] it shall show itself gladly to them, and in all purveyance it shall meet them.

17 For why the beginning of wisdom is the veriest covetousness of learning. Therefore the busyness of learning is love; [The beginning forsooth of it most very coveting of discipline. Then care of discipline is loving;]

18 and love is the keeping of laws thereof [or of his laws]. Soothly the keeping of laws is perfection of uncorruption;

19 forsooth uncorruption maketh to be next to God.

20 Therefore the covetousness of wisdom shall bring to everlasting realm [or kingdom].

21 Therefore if ye, kings of the people, delight in seats, and in kings’ rods, or regalties, love ye wisdom, that ye reign without end. All ye, that be sovereigns to peoples, love the light of wisdom.

22 Soothly what is wisdom, and how it is made, I shall tell; and I shall not hide from you the sacraments of God; but from the beginning of birth I shall seek, and I shall set into the light the knowing thereof, and I shall not pass [beside the] truth.

23 And I shall not have way with envy waxing rotten; for such a man shall not be a partner of wisdom.

24 Forsooth the multitude of wise men is the health of the world; and a wise king is the stablishing [or the stability] of the people.

25 Therefore take ye teaching [or discipline] by my words, and it shall profit to you.

CHAPTER 7

1 Forsooth and I am a deadly man, like other men, and of earthly kind of him that was made first,

2 and in the womb of my mother I was formed flesh. In the time of ten months I was curded together in blood, of the seed of man, and by according delight [or covenable delighting] of sleep.

3 And I was born, and took common air, and in like manner I fell down into the earth made [or fell down into the made earth]; and I weeping sent out the first voice, like all men.

4 I was nursed in wrappings [or swaddling clothes], and in great busy-nesses;

5 for why no man of kings had other beginning of birth.

6 Therefore one entering to life is to all men, and like going out. [One entry is to all to life, and like issue.]

7 Wherefore I desired, and wit was given to me; and I inwardly called, and the spirit of wisdom came into me [or there came to me the spirit of wisdom].

8 And I setted wisdom before realms, and seats; and I said, that riches be nought [or nothing] in comparison thereof,

9 and I comparisoned not a precious stone to it; for why all gold in comparison thereof is a little gravel, and silver shall be areckoned [or esteemed] as clay in the sight thereof.

10 I loved wisdom more than health and fairness; and I purposed to have it for light, for the light thereof may not be quenched [or is unquenchable].

11 Forsooth all goods came together to me with it; and unnumberable honesty is by the works thereof.

12 And I was glad in all things; for this wisdom went before me, and I knew not, for it is the mother of all goods.

13 Which wisdom I learned without feigning, and I commune without envy; and I hide not the honesty thereof.

14 For it is treasure without number to men, and they, that used that treasure, were made partners of God’s friendship, and were praised for the gifts of knowing [or commended for the gifts of discipline].

15 Forsooth God gave to me to say of sentence, and to before take [or to take before] worthy things of these things that be given to me; for he is the leader of wisdom, and amender of wise men.

16 For why both we, and our words, and all wisdom, and learning of knowing of works be in his hand.

17 Forsooth he gave to me the very knowing of these things that be, that I know the disposition of the world, and the virtues of elements;

18 the beginning, and the ending, and the middle of times; the changings of whiles, and the endings of times; the changings of manners, and partings [or the divisions] of times;

19 the courses of the year, and the dispositions of stars;

20 the kinds of beasts, and the wraths of wild beasts; the strength of winds, and the thoughts of men; the differences of trees, and the virtues of roots.

21 And I learned whatever things be hid and unpurveyed;

22 for why wisdom, the craftsmaker [or craftsman] of all things, taught me. For in that wisdom unmade is the spirit of understanding, holy, manyfold, one alone [or only], subtle, temperate [or mannerly], wise, moveable, undefouled, certain, sweet, loving a good deed, which spirit forbiddeth nothing to do well [or that nothing prevented or hindered to do well];

23 courteous, benign, stable, secure, having all virtue, beholding all things, and which taketh all spirits able to understand, he is clean, and subtle.

24 For why wisdom is more moveable than all moveable things; forsooth it stretcheth forth everywhere [or it attaineth over all], for his cleanness.

25 For it is a breathing of God’s virtue, and it is some clean coming forth of the clearness of Almighty God; and therefore no defouled thing runneth into it.

26 For it is brightness of everlasting light, and it is a mirror without wem of God’s majesty, [or a mirror without wem of the majesty of God], and it is an image of his goodness.

27 And when it is one [or And since it is one], it may all things; and it dwelleth in itself, and reneweth all things, and by nations it beareth over itself into holy souls; it maketh the friends of God, and prophets.

28 For God loveth no man, but him that dwelleth with wisdom.

29 For why this wisdom is fairer than the sun, and is above all the disposition of stars; wisdom comparisoned to light, [it] is found the former.

30 For why night cometh after the light; but wisdom overcometh malice.

CHAPTER 8

1 Therefore wisdom stretcheth forth from the end till to the end strongly, and disposeth all things sweetly.

2 I loved this wisdom made[or This I loved], and I sought it out from my youth; and I sought to take it a spousess to me, and I am made a lover of the fairness thereof [or of the form of it].

3 He that hath the fellowship of God, glorifieth the gentleness thereof [or It having the company of God, glorifieth the gentleness of it]; but also the Lord of all things loved it.

4 For it is the teacheress of the learning [or of the discipline] of God, and chooseress of his works.

5 And if riches be coveted [or be desired] in life, what is richer than wisdom, that worketh all things?

6 Soothly if wit worketh, who is a craftsmaker [or craftsman] more than wisdom, of these things that be?

7 And if a man loveth rightfulness [or rightwiseness], the travails of this wisdom have great virtues; for it teacheth soberness, and prudence, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and virtue; and nothing is profitabler [or more profitable] than these in life to men.

8 And if a man desireth multitude of knowing, wisdom knoweth things passed, and guesseth of things to coming [or to come]; it knoweth the fellnesses or falsenesses of words, and assoilings or absolvings of arguments; it knoweth signs and showings of things to coming, before that they be made [or the tokens and wonders it knoweth, ere they be done]; and the befallings [or chances] of times and of worlds.

9 Therefore I purposed to bring to me this wisdom[or Then I purposed this to bring to me], to live together; witting that it shall commune with me of goods, and speaking together of my thoughts, and of mine annoyances, shall be.

10 For this wisdom I shall have clearness at companies, and honour at elder men;

11 I shall be found young and sharp in doom, and in the sight of mighty men I shall be wonderful, and the faces of princes shall worship me [or shall marvel me].

12 They shall abide me, being still, and they shall behold me, speaking; and the while I speak many things, they shall set hands on their mouths.

13 Furthermore by this wisdom I shall have undeadliness; and I shall leave everlasting mind to them, that shall come after me.

14 I shall dispose peoples; and nations shall be subject to me.

15 Hideous kings hearing me shall dread; and in multitude I shall be seen good, and strong in battle.

16 I shall enter into mine house, and I shall rest with wisdom; for the conversation thereof hath no bitterness, and the dwelling together thereof hath none annoyance, but gladness and joy.

17 I thought these things at me, and I remembered in mine heart; for why wisdom is undeadly in thought,

18 and good delighting is in the friendship thereof; and honesty with-out default is in the works of hands thereof; and wisdom is in the strife of speech thereof; and great clearness is in the communing of words thereof; I went about, seeking to take wisdom to me.

19 Forsooth I was a witting child, and I got a good soul.

20 And when I was more good, I came to a body undefouled.

21 And as I knew, that else I may not be chaste [or continent], no but God give it, and this same thing was wisdom, to know whose this gift was; I went to the Lord, and I besought him, and I said, of all mine entrails [or of all the entrails of mine heart].

CHAPTER 9

1 God of my fathers, and Lord of mercy, that madest all things by [or with] thy word,

2 and ordainedest man by thy wisdom, that he should be lord of creature, which is made of thee,

3 that he dispose the world in equity and rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and deem doom in right ruling of heart;

4 give thou to me wisdom, that standeth nigh thy seats; and do not thou reprove me from thy children.

5 For I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid; I am a sick [or a feeble] man, and of little time, and less to the understanding of doom and of laws.

6 And if any man is perfect among the sons of me, if thy wisdom fleeth away from him, he shall be reckoned into nought.

7 Forsooth thou hast chosen me king to thy people, and a judge [or doomsman] of thy sons and daughters;

8 and thou saidest, that I should build a temple in thine holy hill, and an altar in the city of thy dwelling place; the likeness of thine holy tabernacle, which thou madest ready at the beginning [or that thou preparedest from the beginning].

9 And thy wisdom is with thee, that knoweth thy works, which also was present then, when thou madest the world, and knew what was pleasant to thine eyes, and what was addressed [or right] in thy commandments.

10 Send thou that wisdom from thine holy heavens, and from the seat of thy greatness, that it be with me, and travail with me; and that I know what is acceptable [or allowed] with thee.

11 For why that wisdom knoweth and understandeth all things; and it shall lead me forth in my works soberly, and it shall keep me in his power.

12 And my works shall be acceptable, and I shall dispose thy people justly [or rightwisely], and I shall be worthy of the seats of my father.

13 For who of men may know the counsel of God? either who may think, what will God?

14 For why the thoughts of deadly men be dreadful, and our purveyances be uncertain.

15 For why the body that is corrupt[ed], grieveth the soul; and earthly dwelling presseth down the wit, thinking many things.

16 And of hard we guess those things, that be in earth; and we find with travail those things, that be in beholding. But who shall search those things, that be in heavens?

17 But who shall know thy wit, no but thou give wisdom/but if thou give wisdom, and send thine Holy Spirit from highest things?

18 And if the paths of them, that be in lands, be amended, and if men have learned those things, that please thee. For why, Lord, whichever pleased thee from the beginning, were made whole by wisdom.

CHAPTER 10

1 This wisdom of God kept him, that was formed first of God, the father of the world, when he alone was made of nought. And this wisdom led him out of his trespass, and led [or brought] him out of the slime of the earth,

2 and gave to him virtue to hold together all things, that is, gave to him the lordship over all lower things.

3 As the unjust man in his ire went away from this wisdom, brotherhood perished by the ire of man-quelling. [From this as the unrightwise went away in his wrath, by the wrath of manslaughter perished fraternity.]

4 For which thing when the water did away the earth, wisdom healed again; governing a just [or the rightwise] man by a despisable tree.

5 This wisdom also in the consent of pride, when nations had raised themselves, knew a just man [or knew the rightwise], and kept without complaint [or blame] to God; and this wisdom kept strong mercy in sons.

6 And it delivered a just man [or the rightwise] fleeing from wicked [or unpious] men perishing, when fire came down into the place of five cities.

7 For which wicked men the land smoking is made desert, into witnessing of waywardness [or shrewdness], and trees having fruits in uncertain time; and the mind of an unbelieveful soul standing an image of salt.

8 For why men passing wisdom, not only fell in this, that they knew not goods [or good things], but also they left to men the mind of their unwisdom, that in these sins, which they did, they might not be hid.

9 Forsooth wisdom delivered them from sorrows, that keep it.

10 Soothly this wisdom led forth a just man [or rightwise] by rightful [or right] ways, that fled from the ire [or the wrath] of his brother; and it showed him the realm [or the kingdom] of God, and gave to him the knowing of saints; it made him honest in travails, and fulfilled his travails.

11 It helped him in the fraud [or guile] of deceivers, and made him honest.

12 It kept him from enemies, and defended him from deceivers; and it gave to him a strong battle, that he should overcome, and know, that wisdom is the mightiest of all.

13 This wisdom forsook not the just [or rightwise] man sold, that is Joseph, when his brothers sold him to men of Ishmael, but delivered him from sinners; and it went down with him into a ditch, that is, to the prison of the king of Egypt;

14 and it forsook not him in bonds, till it brought to him the sceptre of the realm, and power against them that oppressed him; and it showed them liars, that defouled him, and it gave to him everlasting clearness.

15 This wisdom delivered a just [or rightwise] people, and wholly without complaint [or blame], from nations that oppressed it.

16 It entered into the soul of God’s servant, and he stood against hideous kings, in great wonders and miracles [or signs].

17 And it yielded to just [or rightwise] men the meed of their travails, and led them forth in a wonderful [or a marvellous] way; and it was to them in covering of the day, and in the light of stars by night.

18 And it translated, either led over, them through the Red or the Reed Sea; and bare them over through full much water.

19 But it drowned down the enemies of them into the sea; and led them out from the depth of hells [or the deepness of hell], that is, from the bottom of the sea.

20 Therefore just men take away the spoils of wicked men [or rightwise men took away the spoils of unpious men]; and, Lord, they magnified in song thine holy name, and praised together thine hand overcomer.

21 For why wisdom opened the mouth of dumb men, and made the tongues of young children not speaking to be wise [or fair speaking].

CHAPTER 11

1 He addressed the works of them, in the hands of an holy prophet. [It right ruled the works of them, in the hands of the holy prophet.]

2 They made journey by deserts, that were not inhabited; and they made little houses, or cottages, in desert places.

3 They stood against kings [or enemies], and avenged them[selves] of enemies.

4 They thirsted, and they inwardly called thee; and water of a full high stone was given to them, and rest of thirst was given to them of an hard stone.

5 For by which things the enemies of them suffered pains, for default [or from the defaulting] of their drink, and the sons of Israel were glad, when they had plenty; by these things, when these failed to those enemies, it was done well with them.

6 For soothly for the well of everlasting flood, thou gavest man’s blood to unjust men.

7 And when they were made less [or diminished], in the leading away of young children slain, thou gavest suddenly plenteous water to them [or thou gave to them abounding water in manner not hoped];

8 and showedest by the thirst, that was then, how thou wouldest enhance thy servants, and wouldest slay the adversaries of them.

9 For when they were assayed, soothly they took chastising with mercy; they knew, how wicked men deemed with ire [or how with wrath the unpious men deemed], should suffer torments.

10 Soothly thou admonishing as a father, provedest these men; but thou as an hard king asking condemnedest them.

11 For why men absent and men present were tormented in like manner.

12 For why double annoyance had taken them, and wailing with the mind of things passed.

13 Soothly when they heard, that it was done well with themselves by their torments, they bethought on the Lord, and wondered on the end of the out-going.

14 For at the end of the befalling, they worshipped him, whom they scorned cast out in shrewd putting forth; and thou didest not in like manner to just men.

15 Forsooth for unwise thoughts the wickednesses of them were punished; for some men erring worshipped dumb serpents [or adders], and superfluous beasts, thou sentest into them a multitude of dumb beasts, into vengeance;

16 that they should know, that by what things a man sinneth, he is tormented also by these things.

17 For why thine hand almighty [or thine almighty hand], that made the world of matter unseen, was not unmighty to send into them a multitude of bears, either hardy lions,

18 either beasts of new kind full of ire, and unknown beasts, either beasts frothing heat of fires, either bringing forth the odour of smoke, either sending out from the eyes hideous sparkles; [or of new kind of unknown beasts, and full of wrath, or spitting breathings of fires, or bringing forth smell of smoke, or putting out grizzly sparks from eyes;]

19 of which beasts not only the hurting might destroy them, but also the sight [or the looking] might slay by dread.

20 For why and without these beasts they might be slain by one spirit, and suffer persecution of those their own deeds, and be scattered by the spirit of thy virtue. But also thou hast disposed all things in measure, and in number, and in weight;

21 for it was left ever to thee alone to be able to do much; and who shall against-stand the virtue of thine arm?

22 For as the tongue of a balance, so is the world before thee; and as a drop of dew rising before the light [or a drop of morrowtide dew], that cometh down into earth.

23 And thou hast mercy of all things, for thou mayest all things; and thou dissemblest, either forbearest, the sins of men, for penance.

24 For thou lovest all things that be, and thou hatest nothing of those, that thou madest; for thou not hating anything ordainedest, either madest.

25 But how might anything dwell, no but thou wouldest?/but if thou wouldest? either how should a thing be kept, that were not called of thee?

26 But, Lord, thou lovest souls, thou sparest all things; for those things [or they] be thine.

CHAPTER 12

1 Lord, how good, and how sweet is thy Spirit in all things [or in us];

2 and therefore thou chastisest by parts these men that err; and thou admonishest [or thou warnest], of which things they sin, and thou speakest to them, that when they have forsaken malice, they believe in thee, Lord.

3 For thou wouldest lose those eld [or old] dwellers of thine holy land, which thou loathest;

4 for they did works hateful to thee, by medicines, that is, by witchcrafts, and false divinings, and sacrifices offered to fiends, and unjust [or unrightwise] sacrifices;

5 and the slayers of their sons, without mercy, and eaters of entrails [or the bowels] of men, and devourers of blood;

6 and by the hands of our fathers thou wouldest lose from thy middle sacrament, that is, from Judea, fathers and mothers, authors of souls, that is, of their children, unhelped;

7 that our fathers should take the worthy pilgrimage of God’s children, which is to thee the dearworthiest land of all.

8 But also thou sparedest these as men, and thou sentest wasps, the before-goers of thine host, that those [or they] should destroy them little and little.

9 Not for thou were unmighty to make wicked [or unpious] men subject to just [or rightwise] men in battle, either to destroy at once, by cruel beasts, either by an hard word;

10 but thou deemedest by parts, and gavest place to penance, and knewest, that the nation of them was wayward [or shrewd], and their malice was kindly, that is, made hard by long custom, and that their thought might not be changed without end.

11 For it was a cursed seed at [or from] the beginning. And thou not dreading any man, gavest forgiveness to the sins of them.

12 For why who shall say to thee, What hast thou done? either who shall stand against thy doom? either who shall come in thy sight, to be avenger of wicked men? either who shall areckon to thee [or who shall reckon to thee], if nations perish, which thou madest?

13 For why none other than thou is God, to whom is charge of all things, that thou show, that thou deemest doom not unjustly. [Forsooth there is none other God than thou, to whom is care of all, that thou show, for not unrightwisely thou deemest doom.]

14 Neither king neither tyrant in thy sight shall inquire of these men, which thou hast lost [or destroyed].

15 Therefore since thou art just, thou disposest justly all things, [or Since then thou art rightwise, all things rightwisely thou disposest]; also Father, thou condemnest him, that oweth not to be punished*, and thou guessest him a stranger from thy virtue.

16 For why thy virtue is the beginning of rightfulness [or of rightwiseness]; and for this, that thou art lord of all men, thou makest thee to spare all men.

17 For thou, that art not believed to be perfect [or full ended] in virtue, thou showest virtue; and thou leadest over these men, that know not thee, in hardiness.

18 But thou, lord [or lordshipper] of virtue, deemest with peaceableness, and disposest us with great reverence; for it is subject to thee to be able to, when thou wilt.

19 Forsooth thou hast taught thy people by such works, that it behooveth a judge to be just, and benign, either merciful; and thou madest thy sons of good hope, for thou deemest, and givest place to penance in sins.

20 For if thou tormentedest the enemies of thy servants, and men due to death with so great perceiving, either attentiveness, and deliveredest, and gavest time and place [or giving time and place], by which they might be changed from malice;

21 with how great diligence deemest thou thy sons, to whose fathers thou gavest oaths and covenants of good promises?

22 Therefore when thou givest chastising [or discipline] to us, thou beatest [or scourgest] manyfold our enemies, that we, deeming, think thy goodness; and when it is deemed of us, that we hope thy mercy.

23 Wherefore and to them, that lived unwisely, and unjustly in their life, thou gavest sovereign torments, by these things which they worshipped.

24 For they erred full long in the way of error, and guessed to be gods these things that be superfluous in beasts, and lived by custom of young children unwittingly [or living by manner of unwise young children].

25 For this thing thou gavest doom, into scorn, as to children unwitting [or unwise];

26 but they, that were not amended by scornings and blamings, feeled the worthy doom of God.

27 For they bare heavily in these things, which they suffered, in which things they suffering had indignation [or disdained]; they seeing him, whom they denied sometime them to know, knew him very God, by these things which they guessed gods among them, when those were destroyed; for which thing and the end of their condemnation shall come on them.

CHAPTER 13

1 Forsooth all men be vain, that is, void of truth, in which the knowing of God is not; and of these things that be seen good, they might not understand him, that is, and they perceiving the works knew not, who was the worker [or craftsman];

2 but they guessed gods governors of the world, either the fire, either the wind, either the air made swift, either the compass of stars, either full much water, either the sun and moon;

3 and if they delighted in the fairness of those things, and guessed them gods, know they, how much the Lord of those things is fairer than those; for why the engenderer [or begetter] of fairness made all these things.

4 Either if they wondered on the virtue and works of those things, understand they of those [things], that he that made these things, is stronger than those;

5 for by the greatness [or muchliness] of fairness and of creature the Creator of these might be seen knowingly, either might be known by his works.

6 But nevertheless yet in these men is less complaint; for they err, in hap seeking God, and willing to find.

7 For when they live in his works, they seek, and hold for a sooth, that those things be good, that be seen.

8 Again soothly it oweth not to be forgiven to these men.

9 For if they might know so much, that they might guess the world, how found they not lightlier the Lord thereof?

10 forsooth they be cursed, and the hope of them is among dead men, that called gods the works of men’s hands, gold, and silver, the finding of craft, and [the] likenesses of beasts, either a stone unprofitable [or unprofitable stone], the work of an eld [or old] hand.

11 Either if any craftsman, a carpenter, heweth down of the woods a straight tree, and eraseth away perfectly all the rind thereof [or taughtly pare away all the rind], and useth his craft diligently, and maketh a vessel full profitable into conversation of life;

12 soothly he useth the remnants of this work to the making ready of meat;

13 and the residue of these things, which he maketh to no work [or that to none use], a crooked tree, and full of knots, he engraveth diligently by his voidness, that is, made of him by his engraving, and by the knowing of his craft he figureth it, and likeneth it to the image of a man,

14 either maketh it like to some of beasts, and anointeth with red colour, and maketh the colour thereof ruddy with painture, and anointeth, [or daubing or painting] each spot which is in it,

15 and maketh to it a worthy dwelling place, and setteth it in the wall, and he fasteneth it with iron,

16 lest peradventure it fall down; and he purveyeth for it, and knoweth, that it may not help itself; for it is an image, and help is needful thereto.

17 And he maketh a vow, and inquireth of his chattel, and of his sons, and of weddings; he is not ashamed to speak with him, that is without soul;

18 and soothly for health he beseecheth a thing unmighty [or feeble], and for life he prayeth a thing without life [or for life he prayeth the dead], and he calleth an unprofitable thing into help. And for journey he asketh of that thing, that may not go;

19 and of getting [or purchasing], and of working, and of befalling [or the chance] of all things he asketh of him, which is unprofitable in all things.

CHAPTER 14

1 Again another man thinking to sail in a ship [or another thinking to sail], and beginning to make journey through fierce waves, inwardly calleth a tree more frail than the tree that beareth him.

2 For why covetousness to get money[or winning] found that idol; and a craftsman made it by his wisdom.

3 But thou, Father, governest by purveyance, for thou gavest way in the sea [or thou hast given in the sea way], and a most steadfast path among waves;

4 showing that thou art mighty to make whole of [or to heal] all things, yea, if a man goeth to the sea without ship;

5 but that the works of thy wisdom should not be void, for this thing men betake their lives, yea, to a little tree, and they pass the sea, and be delivered by a ship.

6 But at the beginning, when proud giants perished, the hope of the world fled to a ship, and sent again seed of birth to the world, which was governed by thine hand.

7 For why blessed is the tree, by which rightfulness was made [or by the which is done rightwiseness].

8 But the idol which is made by hand is cursed, both it, and he that made it, for soothly he wrought great trespass [or unbelievefulness]; soothly that idol, when it was frail, was named God.

9 Forsooth in like manner the wicked man and his wickedness, [or the unpious and the unpiousness of him], be hateful to God.

10 For why that that is made shall suffer torments, with him that made it.

11 For this thing and to the idols of nations shall not be beholding [or reward]; for the creatures of God be made into hatred, and into temptation to the soul of men, and into a trap [or a mouse-catch], to the feet of unwise men.

12 For the beginning of fornication, that is, idolatry, which is ghostly fornication, is the seeking out of idols, and the finding of those idols is the corruption of life.

13 Forsooth those were not at the beginning, neither those shall be without end. [Forsooth they were not from the beginning, nor shall be into without end.]

14 For why the voidness of men found these idols into the world; and therefore the end of those is found shortly.

15 For why the father making sorrow with bitter mourning, made soon to him an image of the son that was ravished; and began to worship him now as a god, that was dead then as a man; and he ordained holy things [or temples] and sacrifices among his servants.

16 Afterward in time coming betwixt, when the wicked custom was strong, this error was kept as a law, and images were worshipped by lordship of tyrants.

17 The figure of them was brought from afar, which the men might not honour [or worship] in open, for they were [a] far; and they made an open image of the king, whom they would honour; that by their busyness they should worship him as present, that was absent.

18 Forsooth the noble [or the great] diligence of a craftsman brought in also them, that knew not, to the worshipping of these things or of these kings.

19 For he willing more to please the king, that took him, that is, chose him to make an image to the king, travailed perfectly by his craft, to make a likeness into better, that is, in making the king fairer.

20 Soothly the multitude of men, deceived by the fairness of work, guessed [or esteemed] him now a god, that was honoured as a man before that time.

21 And this was the deceit [or the deceiving] of man’s life; for why men serving greatly, either to affection, either to kings, putted to stones and trees the name that may not be communed [or the uncommunicable name].

22 And it sufficed not, that they erred about the knowing of God; but also they living in great battle of unknowing, call so many and so great evils peace.

23 For either they slaying their sons in sacrifice, either making dark sacrifices, either having wakings [or having watches] full of madness,

24 keep now neither clean life, neither clean weddings [or spousals]; but also one man slayeth another man by envy, either doing adultery maketh sorry his neighbor.

25 And all things be meddled [or mingled] together, blood, manslaying [or manslaughter], theft, and feigning, corruption, unfaithfulness, disturbing, and forswearing,

26 noise, forgetting of goods of the Lord, defouling of souls, changing of birth, unsteadfastness of weddings, unordaining of lechery and of unchastity. [strife, the unminding of the goods of the Lord, the defouling of souls, the mis-changing of birth, the unstableness of bridals, the unordaining of lechery and of uncleanness.]

27 For why the worshipping of cursed idols is the cause, and the beginning, and the end, of all evil.

28 For why either they wax mad, while they be glad; either certainly they prophesy false things, either they live unjustly, either they forswear soon.

29 For the while they trust in idols, that be without soul, they swear evil, and hope not, that they shall be annoyed.

30 Therefore ever either shall come to them worthily; for they deemed evil of God, and gave attention to idols [or taking heed to maumets], and they swore unjustly in an idol, and they despised rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

31 For why an oath is not virtue, but the pain of sinners goeth forth ever-[more], into the breaking of just [or rightwise] things.

CHAPTER 15

1 Forsooth thou, our God, art sweet, and true, and patient, and disposeth all things in mercy.

2 For if we sin, we be thine, and know thy greatness; and if we sin not, we know, that we be acounted at thee [or for with thee we be counted].

3 For why to know thee, is perfect rightfulness [or full ended rightwise-ness]; and to know thy rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and virtue, is the root of undeadliness.

4 Forsooth the thinking out of evil craft of men brought not us into error, neither the shadow of painture [or of painting] travail without fruit, an image graven by diverse colours;

5 whose beholding [or sight] giveth covetousness [or coveting] to an unwise man, and he loveth the like-ness of a dead image without soul.

6 The lovers of evils be worthy the death, that have hope in such [things]; and they that make those, and they that love, and they that worship be worthy the death.

7 But also a potter, thrusting [the] nesh earth, by great travail maketh each vessel to our uses; and of the same clay he maketh vessels that be clean to use, and in like manner those that be contrary to these; forsooth what use is of these vessels, the potter is judge.

8 And he that was made of earth a little before, maketh a god of the same clay with vain travail; and the potter, asked to yield the debt of the soul which he had, leadeth himself after a little time to the earth, from whence he was taken.

9 But he hath care, not for he shall travail, neither for his life is short, but he striveth with goldsmiths and silversmiths; but also he pursueth [or followeth] workers of brass, and setteth before glory; for he maketh superfluous [or over-void] things.

10 For the heart of him is ashes, and superfluous earth is his hope, and his life is viler [or fouler] than clay.

11 For he knew not God, that made him, and that inspired a soul to him [or that inspired to him a soul]; and he loveth those things which he hath wrought; and he knew not God, that blowed [or blew] in him a spirit of life.

12 But they guessed fleshly delighting [or a playing place] to be our life, and the conversation of life to be made to winning, either covetousness, and that it behooveth to get on each side, yea, of evil.

13 Forsooth this man that maketh frail vessels, and graven images of the matter of earth, knoweth that he trespasseth above all men.

14 Forsooth, Lord, all unwise men and cursed be proud over the measure of their soul, and be enemies of thy people, and upbraid it [or mis-saying to it];

15 for they guessed all the idols of nations to be gods, that have neither sight of eyes to see, neither nostrils to perceive a spirit, either wind, neither ears to hear, neither fingers of hands to touch, but also their feet be slow to go.

16 For why a man made those [or made them], and he that borrowed a spirit, made those; for why no man may make a god like himself.

17 For since he is deadly, by [or with] wicked hands he maketh a dead idol; for he is better than these gods, which he worshippeth; for soothly he lived, when he was deadly, but they lived never.

18 But also most wretched men worship beasts; for why unreasonable beasts, comparisoned to these men, be worse than they.

19 But neither by sight any man may of these beasts behold goods [or good things]; forsooth they have driven away [or fled] the praising of God, and his blessing.

CHAPTER 16

1 For these things, and things like these, they suffered torments worthily, and they were destroyed by multitude of beasts.

2 For which torments thou disposedest well thy people, to which thou gavest covetousness of their delighting a new savour, making ready meat to them a curlew, that is, a multitude of curlews.

3 That soothly they coveting meat, were turned away, yea, from needful coveting, for those things that were showed, and sent to them; but these men made poor in short time, tasted new meat.

4 For soothly it behooved perishing to come on them without excusing, using [or haunting] tyranny; but to show only to these Hebrews, how their enemies were destroyed.

5 Forsooth when the fierce ire of beasts came on them, they were destroyed by the bitings of wayward serpents. But, Lord, thine ire [or wrath] dwelled not without end;

6 but they were troubled in short time to amending [or correction], and had a sign of health, to remembering of the commandment of thy law.

7 For he that was converted, was healed not by that that he saw, but by thee, Saviour of all men [or saviour of all].

8 Forsooth in this thou showedest to our enemies, that thou it art [or thou art], that deliverest from all evil.

9 Forsooth the bitings of locusts and of flies killed them, and health of their life was not found; for they were worthy to be destroyed of such things.

10 But neither the teeth of dragons, neither of venomous beasts overcame thy children; for why thy mercy came, and healed them.

11 For they were tormented in mind of thy words, that is, that they should be mindful of thy behests, and they were healed swiftly [or swiftly they were saved]; lest they falling into deep forgetting of God, [they] might not use thine help.

12 For neither herb, neither plaster healed them; but, Lord, thy word, [or but thy word, Lord], that healeth all things.

13 Lord, thou art, that hast power of life and of death; and leadest forth to the gates of death, and leadest again.

14 But soothly a man slayeth his soul by malice; and when the spirit is gone out, it shall not turn again, neither the body shall again-call the soul, which is received;

15 but it is impossible to escape thine hand.

16 For why wicked [or unpious] men, denying to know thee, were tormented by the strength of thine arm; they suffered persecution by new waters, and hails, and rains, and were wasted by fire.

17 For why that was wonderful, the fire had more might in the water, that quencheth all things; for why the world was avenger of just [or rightwise] men.

18 For why sometime the fire was mild [or tamed], lest the beasts should be burnt, that were sent to wicked [or unpious] men; but that they seeing should know, that they suffer persecution by the doom of God.

19 And sometime the fire burnt on high on each side in the water, above the virtue of fire, to destroy the wicked nation of the land.

20 For which things thou nourishedest thy people with meat of angels, and thou gavest from heaven bread made ready to them, without travail; having all delighting in itself, and the sweet-ness of all savour.

21 For thou showedest thy chattel [or thy substance], and thy sweetness, which thou hast, to sons; and the bread serving to the will of each man, was turned to that, that each man would.

22 Forsooth snow and ice suffered the might [or the strength] of fire, and melted not; that they should know, that fire burning, in hail and rain lightning, destroyed the fruits of enemies.

23 Soothly again this was wonderful, also fire forgot his virtue, that just men should be nourished.

24 For why the creature serving to thee the Maker, waxeth white [or burneth out] into torment against unjust [or unrightwise] men, and is made lighter [or softer] to do well, for them that trust in thee.

25 For this thing and all things transfigured then, that is, changed from the property of their kind, served to thy grace, nourisher of all things, to the will of them, that be desired of thee;

26 that, Lord, thy sons should know, which [or whom] thou lovedest, that not the fruits of birth, that is, not only fruits coming forth of earth, feed men, but thy word keepeth them, that believe in thee.

27 For why that that might not be destroyed of fire, that is, manna, melted anon as it was made hot of a little beam of the sun;

28 that it were known to all men, that it behooveth to come before the sun to thy blessing, and to worship [or honour] thee at the rising of the light.

29 Forsooth the hope of an unkind man shall melt away as ice of winter, and shall perish as superfluous water.

CHAPTER 17

1 Forsooth, Lord, thy dooms be great, and thy words may not be fully told out [or untellable]; unlearned souls erred for these [or for these the undisciplined souls erred].

2 For the while wicked men hold for steadfast, that they may be lords of [or be able to lordship to the] holy nation, they were fettered with bonds of darknesses, and of long night, and were enclosed under roofs; and they fugitives were subject to everlasting [or perpetual] purveyance.

3 And the while they guess them to be hid in dark sins, they were scattered by dark hiding of forgetting [or by the dark veil of forgetting they be scattered], dreading hideously, and disturbed with full great wondering.

4 For the den that withheld them, kept not without dread; for why sound coming down disturbed them, and sorrowful persons appearing to them, gave dread to them.

5 And soothly no might [or strength] of fire might give light to them, and the clear flames of [the] stars might not lighten that hideous night.

6 Soothly sudden fire full of dread appeared to them [or there appeared to them sudden fire, full of dread]; and they were smitten with the dread of that face, that was not seen, and guessed those things to be worse, that were seen.

7 And [the] scorns of witchcraft were laid to, and the glory of wisdom was chastising with despising [or correction with strife].

8 For they, that promised themselves to put away dreads and disturbings [or perturbations] from a sick soul, were full with scorn, and were sick for dread.

9 For why though nothing of the wonders against kind disturbed them, they were moved [or stirred] by the passing of beasts, and by the hissing of adders,

10 and they trembled, and perished [or fearful, they perished]; and denied, that they saw the air, which a man might not escape [or flee] by any reason; for why worst things before-occupy often, while the conscience reproveth.

11 For since wickedness is dreadful, it is given into condemnation of all men; for why a conscience disturbed presumeth ever[more] wicked things.

12 For why dread is nothing, but help of presumption, and showing of thought of helps [or betraying of the helps of thought].

13 And the while less abiding is from within, it guesseth greater power of that cause, of which it giveth torment.

14 Forsooth they, that came into a mighty night, and coming above [or overcoming] from [the] lowest things, and from [the] highest things, they sleeping the same sleep,

15 were hurled sometime by dread of wonders against kind, sometime the souls failed by leading over; for why sudden dread and unhoped, came on them.

16 Afterward if any of them had fell [or had fallen] down, he was kept enclosed in prison, without iron;

17 for if any churl was, either shepherd, either a workman of fields, and was before-occupied, he suffered need that might not be escaped [or unescapable]. For why all men were bound together by [or with] one chain of darknesses;

18 either a wind hissing, either sweet sound of birds betwixt the thick boughs of trees, either the fierceness of water running down greatly,

19 either a strong sound of stones cast down, either the running unseen of beasts playing [or the unseen course of playing beasts], either the strong voice of beasts lowing, either echo sounding [or rebounding] again from [the] highest hills, made them failing for dread.

20 Forsooth all the world was lightened [or lighted] with clear light, and was not withholden in works hindered [or contained in works not letted].

21 But a grievous night, the image of darknesses, that was to coming [or to come] on them, was set on them alone; therefore they were grievouser [or more grievous] to themselves than the darknesses.

CHAPTER 18

1 But full great light there was to thine holy servants[or thy saints], and soothly enemies heard the voice of them, but they saw not the figure, either shape; and for also they suffered not by the same things, they magnified thee.

2 And for they were hurt before, they did thankings to thee, for they were not hurt; and that difference should be betwixt them and Egyptians, they asked thee, God.

3 For which thing they had a burning pillar of fire, the leader of unknown way; and thou gavest the sun, without hurting of good harbour.

4 Forsooth they were worthy to want [or to lack] light, and to suffer the prison of darknesses, which held [or kept] thy sons enclosed; by which sons[or by whom] the uncorrupt light of law began to be given to the world.

5 When they thought to slay the young children of just men [or the infants of rightwise men]; and when one son was put forth, and delivered, thou tookest away the multitude of sons, that is, of the first engendered of Egypt, for the leading-over of them, and thou lostest [or spoiledest] them altogether in strong water.

6 Forsooth that night was known before of our fathers, that they witting verily to which oaths they believed, should be more patient [or steadfast].

7 Forsooth health of just [or rightwise] men was received verily of thy people, and also destroying of unjust [or unrightwise] men.

8 For as thou hurtedest our adversaries, so thou excitedest also us, and magnifiedest us.

9 For why just [or the rightwise] children of good men made sacrifice privily, and disposed the law of rightfulness [or rightwiseness] into according; they disposed or assigned just [or rightwise] men to receive goods and evils in like manner, and sung [or singing] praisings to the Father of all men.

10 But [the] unseemly voice of enemies sounded, and weepful wailing of beweepers of young children was heard.

11 Forsooth the servant was tormented by like pain with the lord; and a man of the people suffered things like the king.

12 Therefore in like manner all men by [or with] one name of death had dead men unnumberable, for neither quick men sufficed to bury; for why the nation of them, that was clearer than others, was destroyed in one moment.

13 Forsooth of all Egyptians men not believing for benefices [or benefits], promised them then to be God’s people, when the destroying of the first engendered [or begotten] things was first.

14 Forsooth when all things held restful silence, and the night had the middle [or the mean] way in his course,

15 Lord, thy word almighty [or thine almighty word] coming [or going out] swiftly from heaven, came from the king’s seats;

16 a sharp sword bearing thy commandment not feigned, came forth, overcomer into the middle of the land of destroying [or of death]; and it stood, and filled all things with death, and it stood in earth, and stretched forth till to heaven.

17 Then anon the sights of evil dreams disturbed them, and dreads not hoped came above.

18 And another man cast forth half quick [or half alive] into another place, showed for what cause of death he died.

19 For why sights that disturbed them, before-warned these things, that they should perish not unwittingly [or unknowingly], why they suffered evils.

20 Forsooth [the] temptation of death, that is, punishment by death, touched then also just [or rightwise] men, and moving altogether [or a stirring] of [the] multitude was made in desert [or in wilderness]; but thine ire [or wrath] dwelled not long.

21 For a man without complaint hasted to beseech [or to pray] for peoples, and he brought forth prayer the shield of his service, and he alleged prayer by incense, and against-stood ire [or withstood to the wrath]; and he setted an end to the need, and showed that he was thy servant.

22 Forsooth he overcame companies, not by virtue of body, neither by armour of power; but he remembered the oaths, and the testaments of fathers, and by word he made him subject, that travailed himself.

23 For when dead men fell down by heaps, each on other, he stood betwixt [or between]dead men and living, or the dead and the quick, and cut away the fierceness of burning, and parted that way, that led to quick men.

24 For why all the world, by signifying either figure, was in the cloth [or the priest’s cape] lasting to the heels, which he had; and the great things of fathers were engraved in four orders of stones; and, Lord, thy magnificence [or great doing] was written in the diadem of his head.

25 Forsooth he that destroyed, gave stead to these things, and dreaded these things, for why the temptation alone was sufficient to ire. [To these forsooth he gave stead, that destroyed, and these things he full out dreaded; forsooth there was alone sufficient tempting of wrath.]

CHAPTER 19

1 Forsooth ire [or wrath] without mercy came on wicked men [or the unpious] till into the last, that is, till to the drowning of them; for why God before-knew also the things to coming [or to come] of them.

2 For when they were turned, and had suffered, that they should lead out them, and had before-sent them with great busyness, the deeds of repenting pursued them.

3 For they having yet mourning betwixt the hands, and they be-weeping at the sepulchres of dead men [or weeping at the monuments of the dead], took to them another thought of unknowing; and they pursued those Hebrews, as fleers away, which they praying had sent forth.

4 For why worthy need [or necessity] led them to this end, and they lost remembering of these things, that had befallen, that punishing should [ful] fill those things, that failed [or lacked] of torments,

5 and that soothly thy people should pass wonderfully; forsooth that they should find a new death.

6 For why each creature serving to thine behests, was reformed to his kind at [or from] the beginning, that thy children should be kept unhurt.

7 For why a cloud beshadowed the castles [or the tents] of them, and dry earth appeared in water that was before, and a way without hindering appeared in the Reed Sea, and a field burgeoning from full great depth; [For a cloud shadowed the tents of them, and in the water that was before, the earth appeared dry; and in the Red Sea way without hindrance, and a burgeoning field of full great depth;]

8 by which field all the nation passed, that was covered with thine hand; forsooth they saw thy marvels and wonders.

9 For they as horses devoured [or gnawed] meat, that is, took the armours of Egyptians, which they saw dead on the brink of the sea, and as lambs they made full out joy, magnifying thee, Lord, that [or for thou] deliveredest them.

10 For they were mindful yet of those things, that were done in the dwelling of them among Egyptians; how the land brought forth flies, for the nation of beasts, and the flood brought forth multitude of paddocks [or frogs] for fishes.

11 Forsooth at the last they saw a new creature of birds, when they were led by covetousness [or lust], and asked meats of feast [or of delicious eating].

12 For in the speaking to, that is, at the asking of them, of their desire, a curlew ascended [or went up] to them from the sea;

13 and dis-eases [or travails] came on sinners, and not without provings [or evidences] of those things, that were done before by the fierceness [or the force] of floods. For they suffered justly, by [or after] their wickednesses; for they ordained more abominable unhospitality.

14 Soothly some received not unknown comelings; soothly others took good men harboured into thralldom [or good guests into servage].

15 And not only they did these things, but soothly also another beholding [or respect] of them was, that they against their will received strangers.

16 Forsooth they that used the same ordinances, tormented with cruelest sorrows them, that received with gladness. [Who forsooth with gladness received them, that had used the same informings, with most cruel sorrows they tormented.]

17 Forsooth they were smitten with blindness, as they in the gates of the just man [or the rightwise], when they were covered with sudden darknesses; each man sought the passing of his door.

18 Forsooth while elements be turned into themselves, as the sound of manner [or of quality] is changed in organ, and all things keep their sound; wherefore it may be guessed of that certain sight.

19 Beasts of the field were turned into beasts of water; whatever were swimming things, went in the land.

20 Fire in water had power above [or strength over] his virtue; and water forgot the kind quenching [or his quenching kind].

21 Again-ward flames of corruptible beasts dis-eased not the fleshes of Hebrews going together; neither departed that good meat, that was departed lightly as ice. [Flames again-ward travailed not the flesh of the corruptible beasts going together; nor dissolved it, that lightly was dissolved as ice, good meat.]

22 Forsooth, Lord, thou magnifiedest thy people in all things, and honouredest; and despisedest not, and helpedest them in each time and in each place [or in all place standing nigh to them].

* CHAPTER 12:15 That is, punishest sometime, to proving of his patience, it is openly of saint Job.

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ECCLESIASTICUS

CHAPTER 1

1 All wisdom is of the Lord God, and was ever with him, and is before the world.

2 Who numbered the gravel of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the days of the world?

3 Who measured the highness [or height] of heaven, and the breadth of earth, and the depth of the sea? Who ensearched the wisdom of God, that goeth before all things?

4 Wisdom was formed first of all things, and the understanding of prudence, from the world, that is, from without beginning.

5 The well of wisdom is the son of God in high things [or the word of God in heights]; and the entering of that wisdom is everlasting command-ments.

6 To whom was the root of wisdom showed? and who knew the subtleties thereof?

7 To whom was the lore [or the discipline] of wisdom showed, and made open? and who understood the multiplying of the entering thereof, that is, of the work thereof?

8 One is the highest Creator [or maker of nought] of all things, almighty, and a mighty king, and worthy to be dreaded full much, sitting on the throne of that wisdom, and God having lordship.

9 He formed it in the Holy Ghost, and he saw, and numbered, and he measured. And he shedded [or poured] out it on all his works,

10 and on each flesh by [or after] his gift; he giveth it to them that love him.

11 The dread of the Lord is glory, and glorying [or joying], and glad-ness, and a crown of full out joying.

12 The dread of the Lord shall delight the heart; and shall give gladness and joy into [the] length of days.

13 To him that dreadeth God, it shall be well in the last things or days; and he shall be blessed in the day of his death. Forsooth they to whom wisdom appeareth in sight, that is, by revelation of prophecy, love it in sight, and in knowing of his great things The love of God is honourable wisdom.

14 The beginning of wisdom is the dread of the Lord; and it is formed together in the womb with faithful men, and it goeth with chosen women, and it is known with just [or right-wise] men and faithful.

15 The dread of the Lord is religi-osity of knowing. Religiosity shall keep, and shall justify the heart; and shall give mirth and joy. It shall be well to him that dreadeth God; and he shall be blessed in the days of his comfort [or in the days of ending of him].

16 The fullness of wisdom is for to dread God; and fullness is of the fruits thereof.

17 It shall fill each gift [or each house] of him of generations, and receptacles of the treasures thereof.

18 The crown of wisdom is the dread of the Lord, and filleth peace, and the fruit of health. And he saw, and numbered it; forsooth ever either be the gifts of God.

19 Wisdom shall part the knowing and understanding of prudence; and it enhanceth the glory of them, that hold it.

20 The root of wisdom is for to dread God; forsooth the branches thereof be long enduring [or long living]. Understanding and religiosity of knowing be in the treasures of wisdom; but wisdom is abomination to sinners.

21 The dread of the Lord putteth away sin, for he that is without dread of God, may not be justified;

22 for why the wrathfulness of his pride [or willfulness] is the destroying of him.

23 A patient man shall suffer the dis-eases of a proud man till into time; and afterward there shall be yielding of mirth.

24 Good wit shall hide the words of him till into a time; and the lips of many men shall tell out the wit of him.

25 In the treasures of wisdom is signifying of knowing; but the wor-shipping of God is abomination to a sinner.

26 A! son, coveting wisdom, keep thou rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and God shall give it to thee.

27 For why the dread of the Lord is wisdom, and knowing [or discipline], and that that is well pleasant [or well-pleased] to him is faith and mildness; and God shall fill the treasures of him [or it shall full-fill the treasures of him].

28 Be thou not rebel, and unbelieve-ful to the dread of the Lord; and nigh thou not to him in [or with] double heart.

29 Be thou not an hypocrite in the sight of men; and be thou not caused to stumble in thy lips.

30 Take thou keep to those [things], lest thou fall, and bring dishonor to thy soul; and lest God show thy privates, and hurtle thee down in the midst of the synagogue, that is, of gathering together of faithful men; for thou nighedest wickedly [or malicious-ly] to the Lord, and thine heart was full of guile and of falseness [or treachery and deceit].

CHAPTER 2

1 Son, nighing to the service of God, stand thou in rightfulness [or rightwiseness], and dread; and make ready [or prepare] thy soul to temp-tation.

2 Bear down thine heart, and suffer, and bow down thine ear, and take the words of understanding, and haste thou not into the time of death [or time of oppressing].

3 Suffer thou the sustainings of God; be thou joined to God, and abide thou, that thy life wax in the last time.

4 Take thou all thing that is set to thee, and suffer thou in sorrow, and have thou patience in thy lowness [or meekness].

5 For why gold and silver is proved in fire; forsooth men worthy to be received be proved in the chimney of lowness [or meekness].

6 Believe thou to God, and he shall recover thee; and dress thou thy way, and hope thou into him. Keep thou his dread, and wax thou eld [or old] therein.

7 Ye that dread the Lord, abide his mercy, and bow ye not away from him, lest ye fall down [or lest ye fall].

8 Ye that dread the Lord, believe to him, and your meed shall not be voided [away].

9 Ye that dread the Lord, hope into him, and mercy shall come to you into delighting.

10 Ye that dread the Lord, love him, and your hearts shall be lightened or enlightened. Sons, behold ye the nations of men, and know ye, that no man hoped in the Lord, and was shamed; none dwelled in his behests, and was forsaken; either who inward-ly called him, and he despised him?

11 For why God is piteous, and merciful, and he shall forgive sins in the day of tribulation; and he is defender to all men, that seek him in truth.

12 Woe to the double in heart, and with cursed lips, and mis-doing [or evil-doing] hands; and to a sinner entering [or going] into the land by two ways.

13 Woe to them that be dissolute of heart, that believe not to God; and therefore they shall not be defended of him.

14 Woe to them that have lost patience, and that have forsaken rightful [or right] ways, and have turned away [or aside] into shrewd ways. And what shall they do, when the Lord shall begin to behold [or to inwardly look]?

15 They that dread the Lord, shall not be unbelieveful to his word; and they that love him, shall keep his ways.

16 They that dread the Lord, shall inquire [or inwardly seek] those things, that be well pleasant [or well pleased] to him; and they that love him, shall be filled with his law.

17 They that dread the Lord, shall make ready [or prepare] their hearts, and shall hallow their souls in his sight. They that dread the Lord, shall keep his commandments, and they shall have patience till to the behold-ing of him;

18 and shall say, If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men. For by the greatness of him, so and his mercy is with him. The sons of wisdom be the church of just [or rightwise] men, and the nation of them is obedience and love.

CHAPTER 3

1 Dearworthy sons, hear ye the doom of the father; and do ye so, that ye be safe.

2 For why God honoured the father in sons, and he seeketh, and hath made steadfast the doom of the mother into sons.

3 He that loveth God, shall pray for sins, and he shall abstain [or with-hold] himself from those [or them], and he shall be heard in the prayer of days.

4 And as he that treasureth, so he that honoureth his mother.

5 He that honoureth his father, shall be made merry in sons, and he shall be heard in the day of his prayer.

6 He that honoureth his father, shall live by [or with] longer life; and he that obeyeth to the father, shall refresh the mother, that is, shall comfort her.

7 He that dreadeth the Lord, honoureth father and mother; and he shall serve in work, and word, and in all patience to them that engendered [or begat] him, as to lords.

8 Honour thy father, that the bless-ing of God come to thee; and his blessing dwelleth in the last.

9 The blessing of the father maketh steadfast the houses of sons; but the cursing of the mother draweth out the foundaments [by the root].

10 Have thou not glory in the des-pising [or the wrong] of thy father; for it is not glory to thee, but confusion [or shame].

11 For why the glory of a man is of the honour of his father; and the shame of the son is a father without honour.

12 Son, receive the eld [or last age] of thy father, and make thou not him sorry [or not sorrow thou him] in his life;

13 and if he faileth in wit, give thou forgiveness, and despise thou not him in thy virtue;

14 for why the alms-[deeds] of the father shall not be [in] forgetting. For why good shall be restored to thee for the sin of the mother, and building [up] shall be made to thee in rightful-ness [or rightwiseness];

15 and it shall remember of thee in the day of tribulation, and thy sins shall be released [or loosed], as ice in clearness, either heat, of the sun.

16 He is of full evil fame, that forsaketh the father; and he that wratheth the mother, is cursed of God.

17 Son, perform thy works in mild-ness, and thou shalt be loved over the glory of men.

18 In as much as thou art great, make thee meek in all things, and thou shalt find grace before God;

19 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

20 for why the power of God alone is great, and he is honoured of meek men.

21 Seek thou not higher things than thou, and inquire [or search] thou not stronger things than thou;

22 but ever[more] think thou those things, which God commanded to thee; and be thou not curious in full many works of him. For it is not needful to thee to see with thine eyes those things, that be hid.

23 In superfluous things do not thou seek [or ensearch] manyfold; and be thou not curious in many works of him; for why full many things above the wit of men be showed to thee.

24 For the suspicion of many men hath deceived them, and withheld their wits in vanity.

25 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

26 An hard heart shall have evil in the last time; and he that loveth peril shall perish therein. An heart that entereth by two ways [or The heart going into two ways], that is, that hath the knowing of good in under-standing, and malice in will, shall not have prosperities, either rest; and a man of shrewd heart, shall be caused to stumble in those [or them].

27 A wicked heart shall be grieved in sorrows; and a sinner shall heap or add to [or lay to], to do sin.

28 Health shall not be to the synagogue of proud men; for why the thick wood of sin shall be drawn out [or taken up] by the root in them, and it shall not be understood, of sinners who will not think on God’s dooms.

29 The heart of a wise man is understood in wisdom, and a good ear shall hear wisdom with all covet-ousness. A wise heart and able to understand shall abstain itself from sins, and shall have prosperities in the works of rightfulness [or rightwise-ness].

30 Water quencheth fire burning, and alms-[deeds] against-standeth sins.

31 And God, the beholder of him that yieldeth grace, that is, doeth alms, hath mind afterward; and he shall find steadfastness in the time of his fall.

CHAPTER 4

1 Son, defraud thou not the alms-[deeds] of a poor man, and turn not over thine eyes from a poor man [or the poor].

2 Despise thou not an hungry man, and wrath thou not a poor man in his neediness. [The hungering soul not despise thou, and stir thou not out to wrath the poor in his mis-ease.]

3 Torment thou not the heart of a needy man, and tarry thou not the gift to a man that is set in anguish. [The heart of the helpless not torment thou, and draw thou not along a gift to the man put in straits.]

4 Cast thou not away the praying of a man set in tribulation, and turn not away thy face from a needy man. [The praying of the troubled not cast thou away, and turn thou not away thy face from the needy.]

5 Turn not away thine eyes from a poor man for ire [or From the helpless not turn thou away thine eyes for wrath], and give not occasion, [or cause], to men asking to curse thee behind.

6 For the prayer of him that curseth thee in the bitterness of soul, shall be heard; forsooth he that made him, shall hear him.

7 Make thee easy to speak to the congregation of poor men, and make meek thy soul to a priest, that is, do thou due reverence to an eld man, and make meek thine head to a great man.

8 Bow down without sorrow thine ear to a poor man [or the poor], and yield thy debt, and answer thou peaceably in mildness.

9 Deliver thou him that suffereth wrong from the hand of a proud man, and bear thou not heavily in thy soul.

10 In deeming be thou merciful as a father to fatherless children, and be thou for an husband to the mother of them; and thou shalt be as an obedient son of the Highest, and he shall have mercy on thee more than a mother hath mercy on her child.

11 Wisdom inspireth life to his sons, and receiveth men seeking him, and shall go before in the way of rightfulness; [Wisdom to his sons inbreathed life, and receiveth the men out seeking him, and he shall go before in the way of rightwiseness;]

12 and he that loveth that wisdom, loveth life, and they that wake to it, shall embrace the peaceableness [or the gladness], either sweetness, thereof.

13 They that hold it, shall inherit life; and whither it shall enter, God shall bless.

14 They that serve it, shall be obey-ing to the Holy; and God loveth them, that love it

15 He that heareth it, deemeth folks; and he that beholdeth it, shall dwell trustily.

16 If a man believeth [or give faith] to it, he shall dwell, and inherit it; and the creatures of them shall be in confirming, that is, the works of them shall be confirmed in good.

17 For in temptation it goeth with him, and among the first it chooseth him. It shall bring in on him dread, and fear, and proving, and it shall torment him in the tribulation of his doctrine [or teaching], till it tempt him in his thoughts, and believe to his soul.

18 And it shall make him steadfast, and shall bring right way to him, and it shall make him glad; and shall make naked his privates to him, and shall treasure on him knowing, and understanding of rightfulness [or rightwiseness].

19 Forsooth if he erreth, God[or it] shall forsake him, and shall betake him into the hands of his enemy.

20 Son, keep thou time, and eschew thou [or shun away] from evil. Be thou not ashamed for thy life to say truth;

21 for why there is shame that bringeth sin, and there is shame that bringeth glory and grace.

22 Take thou not a face against thy face, that is, against thy soul, neither a leasing against thy soul.

23 Shame thou not thy neighbour in his fall [or falling], neither withhold thou a word in the time of health.

24 Hide not thy wisdom in the fair-ness thereof; for why wisdom is known in [the] tongue, and wit, and knowing, and teaching in the word of a wise man; and steadfastness is in the works of rightfulness [or rightwise-ness].

25 Against-say thou not the word of truth in any manner; and be thou ashamed of the leasing of thy mis-learning.

26 Be thou not ashamed to acknowl-edge thy sins; and make thee not subject to each man for sin.

27 Do not thou stand against [or withstand] the face of the mighty, neither endeavour thou against the stroke of the flood.

28 For rightfulness [or rightwiseness] fight thou for the health of thy soul, and till to the death strive thou for rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and God shall overcome thine enemies for thee.

29 Do not thou be swift in thy tongue, and unprofitable and slack [or slothful] in thy works.

30 Do not thou be as a lion in thine house, turning upside-down thy menials, and oppressing them that be subject/s to thee.

31 Thine hand be not ready [or put forth] to take, and closed altogether to give.

CHAPTER 5

1 Do not thou take heed to wicked possessions, and say thou not, Sufficient life is to me [or There is to me sufficient life], that is, long is to coming to me, therefore I must get many things; for it shall nothing profit in the time of vengeance, and of failing [or of oppressing], either death.

2 Pursue thou not the covetousness of thine heart in thy strength, [Not follow thou in thy strength the coveting of thine heart,]

3 and say thou not, As I might, either, who shall make me subject for my deeds? For why God avenging shall avenge.

4 Say thou not, I have sinned, and what sorrowful thing befell to me? For the Highest is a patient yielder.

5 Of the forgiveness of sins, do not thou be without dread, neither heap [or lay] thou sin upon sin.

6 And say thou not, The merciful doing of God is great [or The mercy of God is great]; he shall have mercy on the multitude of my sins. For why mercy and ire [or wrath] nigheth soon from him, and his ire [or wrath] beholdeth on sinners.

7 Tarry thou not to be converted to the Lord, and delay thou not from day into day. For why his ire shall come suddenly, and he shall lose thee in the time of vengeance. [Not tarry thou to be converted to the Lord, and not put thou it off from day into day. Suddenly forsooth shall come the wrath of him, and in time of vengeance he shall destroy thee.]

8 Do not thou be anguished in unjust riches; for those [or they] shall not profit in the day of failing, either of death, and of vengeance.

9 Winnow thee not into each wind, and go thou not into each way; for so a sinner is proved in double tongue.

10 Be thou steadfast in the way of the Lord, and in truth and knowing of thy wit; and the word of peace and of rightfulness [or rightwiseness] pursue thee perfectly.

11 Be thou mild to hear the word of God, that thou understand, and with wisdom bring thou forth a true answer.

12 If thou hast understanding, answer thy neighbor; else thine hand be on thy mouth, lest thou be taken in a word unwisely taught, and be ashamed.

13 Honour and glory is in the word of a wise man; but the tongue of an unprudent man is his destroying.

14 Be thou not called a privy evil speaker, [or a twisel tongue, or a privy backbiter], in thy life, and be thou not taken in thy tongue, and be ashamed. Shame and penance is on a thief, and worst shame [or worst reproof], either cursing, is on a man of double tongue. Forsooth hatred and enmity and despising is to a privy backbiter.

15 Justify thou a little man and a great man in like manner. [Justify thou in like manner the little and the great.]

CHAPTER 6

1 Do not thou for a friend be made an enemy to thy neighbour; for why an evil man shall inherit upbraiding and despising [or reproof and strife], and each sinner envious and double-tongued [or twisel-tongued].

2 Enhance thee not in the thought [or thinking] of thy soul, as a bull doeth; lest thy virtue [or thy strength] be hurtled down by folly,

3 and it eat thy leaves, and lose thy fruits, and thou be left as a dry tree in desert [or in wilderness].

4 Forsooth a wicked soul shall lose [or destroy] him that hath it, and it giveth him into the joy of the enemy, and it shall lead forth into the part of wicked men.

5 A sweet word multiplieth friends, and assuageth enemies; and a tongue well gracious shall be plenteous in a good man [or a gracious tongue in a good man shall abound].

6 Many peaceable men be to thee, and one of a thousand be a counsellor to thee.

7 If thou hast a friend, have him in temptation, that is, prove thou him in thine adversity, and betake not lightly [or not lightly open, or trust], thyself to him.

8 For there is a friend by his time, and he shall not dwell in the day of tribulation.

9 And there is a friend which is turned to enmity; and there is a friend, that shall show openly hatred, and chiding, and despisings, [or there is a friend, that hate, and strife, and reproofs shall discover].

10 Forsooth there is a friend, fellow of table, and dwelleth not in the day of need.

11 If a friend dwelleth steadfast, he shall be as a man even with thee, and he shall do trustily in thy menial [or homely] things.

12 If he meeketh himself before thee, and hideth him from thy face, thou shalt have good friendship of one accord [or of one will].

13 Be thou parted from thine enemies, and take heed of thy friends.

14 A faithful friend is a strong defending [or a strong protection]; forsooth he that findeth him, findeth treasure.

15 No comparison is to a faithful friend; weighing of gold and of silver is not worthy against the goodness of his faithfulness.

16 A faithful friend is medicine of life, and of undeadliness; and they that dread the Lord, shall find him.

17 He that dreadeth the Lord, shall have evenly good friendship [or evenly shall have good friendship]; for why his friend shall be at the likeness of him.

18 Son, from thy youth take thou doctrine, and till to [thine] hoar hairs thou shalt find wisdom.

19 As he that eareth, and that soweth, nigh thou to it, and abide thou the good fruits thereof. For thou shalt travail a little in the work thereof, and thou shalt eat soon of the generations thereof [or and soon thou shalt eat of the gettings of it].

20 Wisdom is over-sharp or full-sharp to untaught men, and an heart-less man shall not dwell therein.

21 As the virtue of a stone, proving shall be in them; and they shall not tarry to cast away it [or to throw it afar].

22 Forsooth the wisdom of teaching is by the name thereof, and it is not open to many men; but it dwelleth with them, of whom it is known, till to the sight of God.

23 Son, hear thou [or Hear, son], and take the counsel of understand-ing, and cast thou not away my counsel.

24 Set in thy foot into the stocks thereof, and thy neck into the bies [or collars] thereof.

25 Make subject [or Underlay] thy shoulder, and bear it, and be thou not annoyed in the bonds thereof.

26 In all thy will go to it, and in all thy virtue keep the ways thereof.

27 Inquire thou about it [or Ensearch it], and it shall be made open to thee; and thou made holding wisdom forsake not it.

28 For in the last things thou shalt find rest therein, and it shall turn [or it shall be turned] to thee into delight-ing.

29 And the stocks thereof shall be to thee in defence of strength, and the foundaments of virtue, and the bies, [or collars] thereof, into a stole of glory.

30 For why the fairness of life is in wisdom, and the bonds thereof be healful or healthful [or wholesome] binding.

31 Thou shalt wear it as a stole of glory, and thou shalt set [or put] on thee a crown of thanking.

32 Son, if thou takest heed to me, thou shalt learn wisdom; and if thou givest thy will, thou shalt be wise.

33 If thou bowest down thine ear, thou shalt take teaching; and if thou lovest for to hear, thou shalt be wise.

34 Stand thou in the multitude of prudent priests, and be thou joined of heart to the wisdom of them;

35 that thou mayest hear each telling [or all the telling] of God, and the proverbs of praising flee or fly not away [or escape not] from thee.

36 And if thou seest a wise man, wake thou to or watch him, and thy foot [often] tread on the grees of his doors.

37 Have thou thought in the commandments of God, and be thou most busy in his behests; and he shall give to thee [an] heart, and covetous-ness [or coveting] of wisdom shall be given to thee.

CHAPTER 7

1 Do not thou do evils, and those [or they] shall not take [or catch] thee.

2 Depart thou from wickedness, and evils shall fail from thee. [Go away from the wicked, and there shall fail evils from thee.]

3 Sow thou not evils in the furrows of unrightfulness [or unrightwiseness], and thou shalt not reap those [or them] in sevenfold.

4 Do not thou seek of a man leading [or the dignity of a leader], neither of a king the chair of honour.

5 Justify thou not thee before God, for he is the knower of the heart; and do not thou desire to be seen wise with the king.

6 Do not thou seek to be made a judge [or a doomsman], no but thou mayest break wickednesses by thy virtue; lest thou dread the face of a mighty man, and set cause of stumbling in thy swiftness [or thine hither and thither deliberateness].

7 Do not thou sin in the multitude of a city, neither send thee into the people;

8 neither bind thou [to] double sins, for thou shalt not be guiltless in one.

9 Do not thou be a coward in thy soul, to pray; and despise thou not to do alms-[deeds].

10 Say thou not, God shall behold in the multitude of my gifts; and when I shall offer to God alder-highest [or to the highest God], he shall take my gifts.

11 Scorn thou not a man in the bitterness of soul; for why God is the beholder, that maketh meek, and enhanceth.

12 Do not thou love a leasing against thy brother; neither do thou in like manner against a friend.

13 Do not thou desire to lie any leasing; for why the continuance thereof [or the busyness forsooth of them] is not good.

14 Do not thou be a jangler [or full of words] in the multitude of priests; and rehearse thou not a word in thy prayer.

15 Hate thou not travailous works, and earth-tilthing [or churlish doing] made of the Highest.

16 Areckon thou not thee in the multitude of unlearned men [or men without discipline]. Have thou mind on ire [or wrath], for it shall not tarry.

17 Make thou meek greatly thy spirit [or Meek greatly thy spirit], for why the vengeance of the flesh of an unpious man is fire, and worms.

18 Do not thou trespass against thy friend delaying money; neither despise thou a full dearworthy brother for gold.

19 Do not thou depart [or go away] from a wise woman, and good, whom thou hast gotten in the dread of the Lord; for why the grace of her shamefastness is above gold.

20 Hurt thou not a servant working in truth, neither an hired man giving his life.

21 A witting servant be dearworthy to thee as thy own soul; defraud thou not him of freedom, neither forsake thou him when needy [or helpless].

22 Beasts be to thee? take thou heed to those [or them]; and if those be profitable, dwell those still at thee, [or if they be profitable, abide they still with thee].

23 Sons be to thee? teach thou them, and bow thou them under chastising from their childhood.

24 Daughters be to thee? keep thou the body of them, and show thou not glad face to them [or show thou not thy face glad to them].

25 Give thy daughter to marriage, and thou doest a great work; and give thou her to a wise man.

26 If a woman is to thee after thy soul, cast her not away; and betake thou not thee in all thine heart to an hateful woman.

27 Honour thy father; and forget thou not the wailings of thy mother.

28 Have thou mind that thou haddest not been, but by them, and yield thou to them as they did to thee.

29 In all thy soul dread thou God, and hallow thou his priests.

30 In all thy virtue [or strength] love thou him that made thee; and forsake thou not his ministers [or servants].

31 Honour thou God of all thy soul; and honour thou priests, and cleanse thee with thine arms, that is, by offerings gotten with thy travail. Give thou to them the part of the first fruits, and of purging, as also it is commanded to thee; and of thy negligence purge thou thee with few men. Thou shalt offer to the Lord the gift of thine arms, and the sacrifice of hallowing, the beginnings, that is, the first fruits and dimes, or tithes, of holy men [or the beginnings of holy things].

32 And dress thine hand to a poor man [or to the poor], that thy mercy and blessing be performed.

33 Grace is given in the sight of each that liveth; and forbid thou not grace to a dead man.

34 Fail thou not in to do comfort to them that weep; and go thou with them that mourn.

35 Be thou not slow to visit a sick man [or the sick]; for by these things thou shalt be made steadfast in love.

36 In all thy works have thou mind on [or have in mind] thy last things; and thou shalt not do sin without end.

CHAPTER 8

1 Chide [or Strive] thou not with a mighty man, lest thou fall into his hands.

2 Strive thou not with a rich man, lest peradventure he make play again-ward to thee [or lest again-ward he set strife to thee]. For why gold and silver hath lost many men; and it stretcheth forth till to the heart[s] of kings, and turneth them.

3 Chide [or Strive] thou not with a man, a jangler [or a tonguey man], and lay thou not trees into his fire.

4 Commune thou not with an untaught man, lest he speak evil of thy kindred.

5 Despise thou not a man turning away himself from sin, neither up-braid thou him [nor put thou reproof to him]; have thou mind, that all we be in corruption.

6 Despise thou not a man in his eld age; for why some of us men wax eld [or old].

7 Do not thou make joy of thine enemy being dead, witting that all we die, and will not to come into joy of our enemies.

8 Despise thou not the telling of wise priests, and be thou conversant in the proverbs of them [or in the proverbs of them altogether dwell thou]; for of them thou shalt learn wisdom, and teaching of understand-ing, and to serve without complaint to great men.

9 The telling of elder men pass not by thee [or Pass not beside thee the telling of elders]; for they have learned of their fathers. For of them thou shalt learn understanding; and in the time of need thou shalt give [an] answer.

10 Kindle thou not the coals of sinners, and reprove them; and be thou not burnt with the flame of [the] fire of their sins.

11 Stand thou not against the face of a man full of despising [or the face of the strifeful]; lest he sit as an espyer to thy mouth.

12 Do not thou lend to a man stronger than thou; that if thou hast lent, have thou it as lost.

13 Promise thou not above [or over] thy power or virtue; that if thou hast promised, bethink thou as yielding, for thou art holden to do thy might.

14 Deem thou not against a judge; for he deemeth after that, that is just.

15 Go thou not in the way with an hardy man, lest peradventure he aggregate his evils in thee; for he goeth after his will, and thou shalt perish together with him through his folly.

16 Make thou not chiding [or jangling] with a wrathful man, and go thou not into desert with an hardy man; for why blood, that is, shedding out of innocent blood, is as nought before him, and where none help is [or and where is not help], he shall hurtle thee down.

17 Have thou not counsel with fools; for they may not love, but those things that please them.

18 Make thou not a counsel before a stranger; for thou knowest not, what he shall bring forth.

19 Make not thine heart known to each man [or To all men thine heart open thou not], but only to a very friend, and proved; lest peradventure he bring to thee false grace, that is, feigned friendship, and despise [or put reproof to] thee.

CHAPTER 9

1 Love thou not jealously the woman of thy bosom [or Be thou not jealous to the woman of thy bosom]; lest she show on thee the malice of evil doctrine.

2 Give thou not to a woman the power of thy soul; lest she enter in thy virtue, and thou be shamed [or confounded].

3 Behold thou not a woman of many wills, that coveteth now this man, now that man; lest perad-venture thou fall into the snares of her.

4 Be thou not customable with a danceress, [or a leaperess, or tumbler], neither hire thou her; lest perad-venture thou perish in the speedy work of her.

5 Behold thou not a virgin [or a maiden]; lest peradventure thou be caused to stumble in the fairness of her.

6 Give thou not thy soul to whores in anything; lest thou lose thee, and thy soul, and thine heritage.

7 Do not thou behold about in the lanes [or ways] of the city; neither err thou in the large streets thereof.

8 Turn away thy face from a woman well arrayed; and behold thou not about the fairness of another or another man’s wife. Many men have perished for the fairness of a woman; and thereby covetousness [or lust] burneth on high as fire or concupiscence burneth out as fire. Each woman which is an whore, either customable to fornication, shall be defouled as a fen, or a turd, in the way, [or Each woman that is lech-erous, as a thost, or dung, in the way shall be trodden]. Many men won-dering on the fairness of an alien woman were made reprovable, for why the speech of her burneth on high as fire.

9 Sit thou not in any manner with an alien woman, neither rest thou with her on a bed [nor lie thou with her upon the arm]; and jangle thou not with her in wine, lest per-adventure thine heart bow into her, and thou fall into perdition by thy blood [or by thy blood thou slide into perdition].

10 Forsake thou not an eld [or old] friend; for a new friend shall not be like him. New wine is like a new friend; it shall wax eld [or old], and thou shalt drink it with sweetness.

11 Covet [or Love] thou not the glory and riches of a sinner; for thou knowest not, what destroying of him shall come.

12 The wrong of unjust [or unright-wise] men please not thee, and know thou that a wicked man [or the unpious] shall not please till to hells [or hell].

13 Be thou far from a man that hath power to slay, that is, from a cruel tyrant, and thou shalt not have suspicion of the dread of death; and if thou nighest to him, do not thou do any trespass [or anything do amiss], lest peradventure he take away thy life. Know thou the communing of death; for thou shalt enter into the midst of snares, and thou shalt go on the arms of them that sorrow.

14 By thy virtue, keep thee from thy neighbour that may speak against thee to a tyrant; and treat thou with wise men and prudent men.

15 Just [or Rightwise] men be guests, or meat-frères, [or meat-fellows], to thee; and thy glorying be in the dread of God.

16 And the thought of God be to thee in wit, that is, apply thy wit to think on God; and all thy telling be in the behests of the Highest.

17 Works shall be praised in the hand of craftsmen, and the prince of the people in the wisdom of his word; forsooth in the wit of elder men [or elders] a word shall be praised.

18 A man, a jangler [or a tonguey man], is dreadful in his city; and a fool-hardy man in his word shall be hateful.

CHAPTER 10

1 A wise judge shall deem his people; and the princehood of a witting man shall be steadfast [or stable].

2 After the judge of the people, so and his ministers [or servants]; and what manner man is the governor of the city, such be also men dwelling therein.

3 An unwise king shall lose his people; and cities shall be inhabited by the wit of prudent men.

4 The power of earth is in the hand of God, and all the wickedness of heathen men [or the Gentiles] is abominable; and he shall raise up a profitable governor at a time on it.

5 The power of man is in the hand of God; and he shall set [or put] his honour on the face of a wise man in the law.

6 Have thou not mind on all the wrong of the neighbour; and do thou nothing in the works of wrong.

7 Pride is hateful before God and men; and all the wickedness of heathen men [or Gentiles]is abom-inable.

8 A realm is translated, either taken away, from a folk into folk for unrightfulnesses, and wrongs, and despisings, and diverse guiles [or treacheries].

9 Nothing is curseder than an avarice man. What art thou proud, thou earth and ashes? Nothing is worse, than for to love money [or Nothing is more wicked, than to love money]; for why this man hath, yea, his soul set to sale, for in his life he hath cast away his innerest [or in-ward] things.

10 Each power is short life; long sickness grieveth the leech. A leech cutteth away [or cutteth off] short sickness; so and a king is today, and tomorrow he shall die.

11 Forsooth when a man shall die, he shall inherit serpents, and beasts, and worms.

12 The beginning of pride of man was to be apostate from God; for his heart went away from him that made him.

13 For why pride is the beginning of all sin [or For the beginning of all sin is pride]; he that holdeth it, shall be filled with cursings, and it shall destroy him into the end. Therefore the Lord hath shamed the covents or convents of evil men, and hath destroyed them unto the end.

14 God destroyed the seats of proud dukes; and made mild men to sit for them.

15 God made dry the roots of proud folks; and planted meek men of those folks.

16 The Lord destroyed the lands of folks; and lost those [or destroyed them] unto the foundament.

17 He made dry the roots of them, and lost them; and made the mind of them to cease from the earth. God lost the mind of proud men; and left the mind of meek men in wit.

18 Pride was not made to men; neither wrathfulness to the nation of women, that is, to all men born of women.

19 This seed of men that dreadeth God, shall be honoured; but this seed shall be dishonoured, that over-passeth the commandments of the Lord.

20 In the midst of brethren the governor of them is in honour; and they that dread God, shall be in his eyes, that is, shall be honourable, and please him.

21 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

22 The glory of rich men honoured and of poor men is the dread of God.

23 Do not thou despise a just [or rightwise] poor man; and do not thou magnify a rich sinful man.

24 The judge is great, and he is mighty in honour; and he is not greater than that man that dreadeth God.

25 Free children serve a witting servant; and a prudent man and learned shall not grutch, when he is blamed [or chastised], and an un-knowing man shall not be honored.

26 Do not thou enhance thee in thy work to be done; and do not thou be slow [or despair] in the time of anguish.

27 He is better that worketh, and hath plenty [or aboundeth] in all things, than he that hath glory, and needeth bread.

28 Son, keep thy soul in mildness, that holdeth due measure, and re-fraineth excess; and give thou honour to it, after his merit.

29 Who shall justify him that sinneth against his soul? and who shall honour him that dishonoureth his soul?

30 A poor man hath glory by his learning and dread; and there is a man that is honoured for his chattel [or substance].

31 Forsooth if a man hath glory in poverty, how much more in chattel? and he that hath glory in chattel, dread poverty. [Who forsooth glorieth in poorness, how much more in substance? and who glorieth in substance, poorness shameth.]

CHAPTER 11

1 The wisdom of a man made meek shall enhance his head; and shall make him to sit in the midst of great men.

2 Praise thou not a man in his fairness; neither despise thou a man in his sight.

3 A bee is little among birds; and his fruit hath the beginning of sweet-ness.

4 Have thou never glory in cloth-ing, and be thou not enhanced in the day of thine honour; for why the works of the Highest alone be wonderful, and his works be glorious, and hid, and unseen.

5 Many tyrants have set in throne; and a man of whom was no supposing bare the diadem.

6 Many mighty men be oppressed strongly; and glorious men be given into the hands of other men. [Many mighty men be oppressed greatly; and the glorious be taken into the hands of other men.]

7 Before that thou ask, blame thou not any man; and when thou hast asked, blame thou justly [or chastise thou rightly].

8 Before that thou hear, answer thou not a word; and in the midst of elder men add thou not to speak.

9 Strive thou not, of that thing that dis-easeth [or grieveth] not thee; and stand thou not in the doom of sins [or in the middle of sinners].

10 Son, thy deeds be not in many things; and if thou art rich, thou shalt not be without part of guilt [or thou shalt not be guiltless from trespass]. For if thou pursuest [or shalt follow], thou shalt not [over]-take; and thou shalt not escape, if thou runnest before.

11 There is a man travailing, and hasting, and sorrowing, and unpious; and by so much the more he shall not have plenty [or shall not abound].

12 There is a man fade, that is, feeble, failing more than others, needy of recovering, failing more in virtue, and plenteous in poverty; and the eye of God beheld him in good, and raised him from his lowness, [There is a man withered, needing recovering, more failing in virtue, and abounding in poorness; and the eye of God beheld him in good, and reared him from his lowness;]

13 and enhanced his head; and many men wondered [or marvelled] in him, and honoured [or worship-ped] God.

14 Goods and evils, that is, prosperities and adversities, life and death, poverty and riches, be of God.

15 Wisdom, and learning, and knowing of the law be with the Lord; love and the ways of good men be at [or with] him.

16 Error and darknesses be made together to sinners; forsooth they that make full out joy in evil, wax eld [or old] together into evils.

17 The gift of God dwelleth to just [or rightwise] men; and increasings of him shall have prosperities without end.

18 Some man there is made rich in doing scarcely [or scarcely doing], and this is the part of his meed,

19 in that that he saith, I have found rest to me, and now I alone shall eat of my goods. And he know not that time passeth him, and death nigheth, and he shall leave all things to other men, and shall die [or and die].

20 Stand thou in thy testament, and speak thou altogether in it; and wax thou eld [or old] in the work of thy behests.

21 Dwell [or Abide] thou not in the works of sinners; but trust thou in God, and dwell in thy place. For it is easy in the eyes of God, suddenly to make rich a poor man.

22 The blessing of God hasteth into the meed of a just [or rightwise] man; and the going forth of him maketh fruit in swift honour.

23 Say thou not, What is need to me? and what goods shall be for me hereafter?

24 Say thou not, I am sufficient, and what shall I be made worse hereafter?

25 In the day of goods, be thou not unmindful of evils, and in the day of evils, be thou not unmindful of goods;

26 for it is easy before God to yield in the day of death, to each man after his ways. [for light it is before God in the day of death, to yield to each after his ways.]

27 The malice of one hour maketh forgetting of most lechery; and in the end of a man is making naked of his works.

28 Praise thou not any man before his death; for why a man is known in his sons.

29 Bring thou not each man into thine house; for why many treasons be of a guileful [or treacherous] man.

30 For why as the entrails of stinking things break out, and as a partridge is led into a trap, either net, and as a capret is led into a snare, so and the heart of proud men; and as a beholder [or the for-looker] seeing the fall of his neighbour.

31 For he turneth goods [or good things] into evils, and setteth treasons, and putteth a wem on chosen men.

32 Fire is increased of a sparkle, and blood is increased of a guileful [or treacherous] man; for why a sinful man setteth treason to blood.

33 Take heed to thee from a guileful man, for he maketh evils; lest per-adventure he bring in on thee scorning without end.

34 Receive thou an alien to thee, and he shall destroy thee in a whirlwind, and he shall make thee alienated from thine own ways.

CHAPTER 12

1 If thou doest well, know thou to whom thou doest it; and much grace shall be to thy goods.

2 Do thou well to a just [or right-wise] man, and thou shalt find great yielding; though not [or if not] of him, certainly of the Lord.

3 It is not well to him that is customable [or busy] in evils, and to him that giveth not alms; for why the Highest both hateth sinners, and doeth mercy to them that do penance.

4 Give thou to a merciful man [or Give to the merciful], and receive thou not a sinner, that is, obstinate in sins; God shall yield vengeance both to unfaithful men [or the unpious] and to sinners, keeping them in the day of vengeance. Give thou to a good man, and receive thou not a sinner.

5 Do thou good [or well] to a meek man, and give thou not to an unpious man, that is, obstinate in sin; forbid thou to give loaves to him, lest in those [or with them], he become mightier than thou. For thou shalt find double evils in all goods, which-ever [or whatever] thou doest to him;

6 for why the Highest both hateth sinners, and shall yield vengeance to unfaithful men [or the unpious].

7 (This verse is omitted in the original text.).

8 A friend shall not be known in goods, and an enemy shall not be hid in evils, that is, adversities.

9 In the goods of a man, his enemies be sorry; and a friend is known in the sorrow and malice of him, that is, in adversity of him.

10 Believe thou never to thine enemy; for his wickedness rusteth [out] as iron.

11 Though he be made meek, and go low [or crooked], cast away thy soul, and keep thee from him.

12 Set thou not him beside thee, neither sit he at thy right side, lest he turn, and stand in thy place; lest per-adventure he turn into thy place, and inquire [or inwardly seek] thy chair, and in the last time thou know my words, and be pricked in my words.

13 Who shall do medicine to an enchanter smitten of a serpent, and to all men that nigh to beasts,

14 and to him that goeth with an evil man, and is wrapped in the sins of him?

15 In one hour he shall dwell with thee; soothly if thou bowest away, he shall not bear up.

16 The enemy maketh sweet in his lips, and in his heart he setteth treason to overturn thee into the ditch. The enemy weepeth in his eyes; and if he findeth time, he shall not be filled of blood [or full-filled with blood].

17 If evils befall to thee, thou shalt find him the former there. The enemy shall weep before thine eyes, and he as helping shall undermine thy feet.

18 He shall stir his head, and he shall beat with hands; and he shall speak privily many evils of thee, and shall change his cheer.

CHAPTER 13

1 He that toucheth pitch, shall be defouled of it; and he that communeth with a proud man, shall be clothed with[or in] pride*.

2 He raiseth a weight on himself [or Burden upon him he taketh], that communeth with a more rich man than himself; and be thou not fellow to a man richer than thou. What shall a caldron commune to a pot? for when those [or they] hurtle them-selves together, the pot shall be broken.

3 A rich man shall do unjustly [or unrightwisely], and shall gnash, as ready yet to do worse; but a poor man hurt shall be still [or shall hold his peace].

4 If thou givest, he shall take thee; and if thou hast not, he shall forsake thee.

5 If thou hast, he shall live together with thee, and shall make thee void; and he shall not have sorrow on thee.

6 If thou art needful [or necessary] to him, he shall deceive thee; and he shall flatter, and shall give hope, telling to thee all goods; and shall say, What is need to thee? [or What need is to thee?]

7 And he shall shame thee in his meats, till he annihilate or extinguish thee twice and thrice, and at the last he shall scorn thee; afterward he shall see, and shall forsake thee, and he shall move his head to thee. Be thou made meek to God, and abide thou his hands.

8 Take heed, lest thou be deceived, and be made low in folly. Do not thou be low in thy wisdom, lest thou be made low, and be deceived into folly.

9 When thou art called of a mightier man, go thou away; for by this he shall more call thee.

10 Be thou not greatly pressing [or too greedy], lest thou be hurtled down [or be put again]; and be thou not far from him, lest thou go into forgetting.

11 Withhold thou not to speak with him evenly, that is, speak thou to him without reverence, and believe thou not to his many words; for of much speech he shall tempt thee, and he shall laugh privily, and shall ask thee of thine hid things.

12 His cruel soul shall keep thy words, and he shall not spare of [or from] malice, and of [or from] bonds.

13 Beware to thee, and take heed diligently to thine hearing; for thou goest with thy destroying [or thy turning upside-down]. But thou hear-ing those things, see as in sleep, and thou shalt wake.

14 In all thy life love thou God [or love God], and inwardly call thou him in thine health, that is, for thine health, temporal and everlasting.

15 Each beast loveth a beast like itself; so and each man oweth to love his neighbour.

16 Each flesh shall be joined to flesh like itself, and each man shall be fellowshipped to a man like himself.

17 As a wolf shall commune some-time with a lamb, so a sinner with a just [or rightwise] man.

18 What communing [or communi-cation]is of an holy man to a dog? either what good part is of a rich man to a poor man?

19 The hunting of a lion is a wild ass in desert [or wilderness]; so in the pastures of rich men be poor men.

20 And as meekness is abomination to a proud man, so and a poor man is abomination of a rich man.

21 A rich man moved, that is, disturbed, either hurled, is confirmed of his friends; but a meek man, when he falleth, shall be cast out, yea, of known men [or shall be put out also from known].

22 Many recoverers be to a rich man deceived; he spake proudly, and they justified him. A meek man is deceived, furthermore also he is reproved; he spake wisely, and no place was given to him.

23 The rich man spake, and all men were still [or held their peace]; and they shall bring [or shall bear] his word till to the clouds. A poor man spake, and they say, Who is this? and if he offendeth, they shall destroy him.

24 Chattel is good to him, to whom is no sin in conscience; and the worst poverty is in the mouth of a wicked man. [Good is substance, to whom is not sin in conscience; and most wicked is poorness in the mouth of the unpious.]

25 The heart of a man changeth his face, either in good either in evil. Of hard and with travail, thou shalt find the step of a good heart, and a good face.

26 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

CHAPTER 14

1 Blessed is the man, that stood not by the words of his mouth, and was not pricked in the sorrow of trespass.

2 He is blessed, that hath not sorrow of his soul, and falleth not down [or away] from his hope.

3 Chattel, that is, riches, is without reason to a covetous man, and hard niggard; and whereto is gold to an envious man?

4 He that gathereth of his will unjustly, gathereth to other men; and another man shall make waste [or do lechery] in his goods.

5 To what other man shall he be good, which is wicked to himself? [or Who to himself is shrewd, to what other shall he be good?] and he shall not be merry in his goods.

6 Nothing is worse, than he that hath envy [or that envieth] to himself; and this is the yielding of his malice.

7 And if he doeth good, he doeth unwittingly, and not willfully; and at the last he showeth his malice.

8 The eye of an envious man is wicked, and turning away the face, and despising his soul.

9 The eye of the covetous man is never filled [or unfillable]; he shall not be filled into the part of wicked-ness, till he perform unrightfulness [or unrightwiseness], and make dry his soul.

10 An evil eye to evils, and the needy man shall not be filled of [or with] bread; and he shall be in sorrow on his table.

11 Son, if thou hast, do well with thyself, and offer thou worthy offer-ings to God.

12 Be thou mindful that death shall not tarry, and the testament of hells [or of hell], that is, the ordinance of God, of the death of each man, which is showed to thee; for why the testament of this world shall die by death.

13 Before death do thou good [or well] to thy friend, and by thy mights [or strengths] stretch thou forth, and give to a poor man.

14 Be thou not deceived [or be-guiled] of a good day, and a little part of a good day pass not thee.

15 Whether thou shalt not leave to other men thy sorrows, and travails?

16 In the parting of lot give thou, and take, and justify thy soul.

17 Before thy death work thou right-fulness [or rightwiseness]; for at hells [or hell], it is not to find meat.

18 Each man shall wax eld [or old] as hay, and as a leaf bringing fruit in a green tree. Others be engendered, and others be cast [or fall] down; so the generation of flesh and blood, another is ended, and another is born.

19 Each corruptible work shall fail in the end; and he that worketh it, shall go with it. And all [or each] chosen work shall be justified; and he that worketh it, shall be honoured in it.

20 Blessed is the man, that shall dwell in wisdom, and that shall bethink in rightfulness [or rightwise-ness], and shall think in wit the beholding [or the looking about] of God.

21 Which [or Who] thinketh out, either findeth out, the ways of him in his heart, and shall be understanding in the hid things of him;

22 going as a searcher after it, and standing in the ways of it.

23 Which [or Who] beholdeth by the windows thereof, and heareth in the gates thereof;

24 which [or who] resteth nigh the house thereof, and setteth a stake [or a pale] in the walls thereof.

25 He shall set his little house at the hands of him, and goods shall rest in his little house, by enduring of the world;

26 he shall set his sons under the covering thereof, and he shall dwell under the boughs [or branches] thereof;

27 he shall be covered under the covering thereof from heat, and he shall rest in the glory thereof.

CHAPTER 15

1 He that dreadeth God, shall do good works; and he that holdeth rightfulness [or rightwiseness], shall take it, that is, wisdom.

2 And it as a mother honoured shall meet him, and as a woman from virginity [or maidenhood] it shall take him.

3 It shall feed him with the bread of life, and of understanding; and it shall give drink to him with water of heal-ful [or wholesome] wisdom;

4 it shall be made steadfast in him, and he shall not be bowed from the evenness of rightfulness. And it shall hold him, and he shall not be shamed [or confounded];

5 and it shall enhance him at his neighbours. And in the midst of the church he [or it] shall open his mouth; and God shall fill him with the spirit of wisdom, and of under-standing, and shall clothe him with the stole of glory.

6 God shall treasure on him mirth, and full out joying; and shall inherit him with everlasting name.

7 Fond men [or fools] shall not take that wisdom, and witting men shall meet it. Fond men [or fools] shall not see it;

8 for why it goeth away far from pride, and guile [or treachery]. Men leasing-mongers [or liars] shall not be mindful thereof, and soothfast men be found therein; and shall have prosperity unto the beholding of God.

9 Praising is not fair in the mouth of a sinner, for he is not sent of the Lord.

10 For why wisdom went forth from God; forsooth praising shall stand nigh the wisdom of God, and it shall be plenteous [or abound] in a faithful mouth, and the Lord shall give it to him.

11 Say thou not, It goeth away by God; for why do thou not those things, which God hateth.

12 Say thou not, He made me for to err; for why wicked [or unpious] men be not needful to him.

13 The Lord hateth all cursedness of error, and it shall not be amiable [or loveful] to them, that dread him.

14 At [or from] the beginning God made man, and let him go in the hand of his counsel.

15 He added his commandments, and laws; if thou wilt keep the commandments, those [or they] shall keep thee, and keep pleasant faith without end.

16 He hath set [or put] to thee water and fire; dress [or put forth] thine hand to that, that thou wilt.

17 Before man is life and death, good and evil; that, that pleaseth him, shall be given to him.

18 For why the wisdom of God is much, and he is strong in power [or might], and seeth all men without ceasing.

19 The eyes of the Lord be to them, that dread him; and he knoweth all the travail [or all the work] of man.

20 He commanded not to any man to do wickedly [or unpiously]; and he gave not to any man space to do sin.

CHAPTER 16

1 For he coveteth not the multitude of sons unfaithful [or of unfaithful sons] and unprofitable.

2 Be thou not glad in wicked [or unpious] sons, if they be multiplied; neither delight thou on them, if the dread of God is not in them.

3 Believe thou not [or Not give thou faith] to the life of them, and behold thou not into the travails of them. For why better is one dreading God, than a thousand wicked [or unpious] sons. And it is more profitable to die without sons, than to leave wicked [or unpious] sons.

4 A country [or city] shall be inhabited of one witting man; and it shall be made desert [or forsaken] of three wicked [or unpious] men.

5 Mine eye saw many other things, and mine ear heard stronger things than these.

6 Fire shall burn on high in the synagogue of sinners, and ire shall burn on high in a folk unbelieveful.

7 Eld [or Old] giants that were destroyed, trusting on their virtue, prayed not for their sins;

8 and God[or he] spared not the pilgrimage of them, that is, their life, which is a pilgrimage on earth, but he killed them, and cursed them, for the pride of their word.

9 He had not mercy on them, and he lost [or destroying] all the folk enhancing themselves in their sins.

10 And as he killed six hundred thousand of footmen, that were gathered together in the hardness of their hearts, that is, rebelty against God;

11 and if one had been hard-nolled, it is a wonder if he had been guiltless [or harmless]. For why mercy and ire [or wrath] is with him; prayer is mighty, and shedding out ire [or pouring out wrath].

12 By his mercy, so is the chastising of each man; he is deemed by his works. [After his mercy, so the chastising of him; he deemeth a man after his works.]

13 A sinner in raven shall not escape; and the sufferance of him that doeth mercy shall not tarry [behind].

14 All mercy shall make place to each man, after the merit of his works, and after the understanding of his pilgrimage.

15 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

16 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

17 Say thou not, I shall be hid from God; and from the highest, that is, heaven, who shall have mind on me? Say thou not, I shall not be known in a great number of people; for why which is my soul in so great a number of creature? [or what forsooth is my soul in so great a creature without measure?]

18 Lo! heaven, and the heavens of heavens, the great ocean [or the sea, or deepness], and all earth, and those things that be in those [or them], shall be moved in his sight;

19 mountains altogether, and little hills, and the foundaments of earth; and when God beholdeth those [or them], those shall be shaken alto-gether with trembling [or by trem-bling they shall be smitten together].

20 And in all these things the heart is unwise, and each heart is understood of him. And who understandeth his ways?

21 and a tempest, which the eye of man saw not? For why full many works of him be in hid things,

22 but who shall tell out the works of his rightfulness [or rightwiseness], either who shall suffer them? For why the testament is far from some men; and the asking of men is in the ending.

23 He that is made little in heart, thinketh vain things; and a man unprudent and a fool thinketh fond things [or the unprudent man and erring thinketh follies].

24 Son, hear thou me, and learn thou teaching [or discipline] of wit, and give thou attention to my words in thine heart;

25 and I shall say teaching in equity, and I shall seek to tell out wisdom. And give thou attention to my words in thine heart; and I say in equity of spirit the virtues, which God hath set on his works at the beginning [or that God put into his works from the beginning], and in truth I tell out the knowing of him.

26 In the doom of God be his works from the beginning; and in the ordinance of those, he parted the parts of those [or from the ordaining of those men he severed the parts of them], and he parted the beginnings of those [or them] in his folks.

27 He adorned without end the works of them; they hungered not, neither travailed, and they ceased not of their works.

28 Each shall not make strait [or anguish] the next to him, till into without end. Be thou not un-believeful to the word of him.

29 After these things God beheld into the earth, and filled it with his goods.

30 Forsooth the soul of each living thing told before his face; and that soul is again the turning again of those things.

CHAPTER 17

1 God formed man of earth; and after his image he made man.

2 And again he turned man into that image; and after himself he clothed him with virtue.

3 He gave to him the number of days, and time; and he gave to him power of those things that be on earth.

4 He setted [or put] the dread of man [up] on all flesh, and he was lord of beasts and of flying birds [or fowls].

5 He formed of man an help like him; [He formed of him help like to himself;]

6 he gave to them counsel, and tongue, and eyes, and ears, and heart to think out things; and he filled them with teaching of understanding.

7 He made to them the knowing of spirit, he filled the heart of them with wit; and he showed to them evils and goods.

8 He setted the eye of them on the hearts of them, to show to them the great things of his works, that they praise altogether the name of hal-lowing;

9 and to have glory in his marvels, that they tell out the great things of his works.

10 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

11 He added to them teaching [or discipline]; and he inherited them with the law of life.

12 He ordained an everlasting testa-ment with them; and he showed to them his rightfulness [or rightwise-ness], and dooms.

13 And the eyes of them saw the great things of his honour, and the ears of them heard the honour of voice;

14 and he said to them, Take heed to you from all wicked thing. And he commanded to them, to each man of his neighbour.

15 The ways of them be ever before him; those [or they] be not hid from his eyes.

16 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

17 On each folk he made sovereign a governor; and Israel was made the open part of God.

18 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

19 And all the works of them be as the sun in the sight of God; and his eyes behold without ceasing in the ways of them.

20 Testaments were not hid from the wickedness of them; and all the wickednesses of them were in the sight of God.

21 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

22 The alms of a man is as a bag [or a little sack] with him, and it shall keep the grace of a man as the apple of the eye;

23 and afterward man shall rise again, and it shall yield to them a yielding, to each man into the head of them; and shall turn into the lower parts of earth.

24 Forsooth it gave to men repenting the way of rightfulness, and confirm-ed men failing to suffer, and ordained to them the part of truth. [To men doing penance forsooth he gave the way of rightwiseness, and confirmed men failing to suffer, and ordained to them the lot of truth.]

25 Turn thou to the Lord, and forsake thy sins; pray thou before the face of the Lord, and make thou less hurtings [or the occasions of guilts].

26 Turn thou again to the Lord, and turn thou away from thine unrightful-ness [or unrightwiseness], and hate thou greatly cursing, that is, cursed sin.

27 And know thou the rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses], and dooms of God; and stand thou in the part of good purpose, and of prayer of the highest God. Go thou into the parts of the holy world, with men living [or with men alive], and giving acknowl-edging to God.

28 Dwell thou not in the error of wicked men. Acknowledge thou be-fore death; acknowledging perisheth from a dead man, as nothing [or Before death acknowledge; from the dead as nought perisheth confession]. Living thou shalt acknowledge, living and whole thou shalt acknowledge, and shalt praise God; and thou shalt have glory in the merciful doings of him.

29 The mercy of God is full great, and his help to them that convert to him. [How great the mercy of God, and the mitigation, or help, of him to men converting to him.]

30 For why not all things may be in men; for why the son of man is not undeadly, and malices pleased into vanity [or into vanity of malice they pleased].

31 What is clearer [or more clear] than the sun? and this shall fail; either what is worse than that, that flesh and blood thought out? and of this he shall be reproved.

32 He beholdeth the virtue of [the] highness of heaven; and all men be earth and ashes.

CHAPTER 18

1 He that liveth without beginning and end, made of nought all things together;

2 God alone shall be justified,

3 and he dwelleth a King unover-come without end. [and dwelleth unvanquished king without end.]

4 Who shall suffice to tell out his works? for why who shall seek the great [worthy] things of him?

5 But who shall tell out the virtue of his greatness? either who shall lay to for to tell out his mercy?

6 It is not to make less, neither to lay to; neither it is to find the great things of God. [There is not to lessen, nor to add to; nor there is to find the great worthy things of God.]

7 When a man hath ended, then he shall begin [or then he beginneth]; and when he hath rested, he shall work.

8 What is a man, and what is the glory of him? and what is good, either what is the wicked thing of him?

9 The number of the days of men, that be commonly [or as much as] an hundred years,

10 be areckoned as the drops of the water of the sea; and as the stone of gravel, so a few years in the day of everlastingness [or of the spiritual world].

11 For this thing God is patient in them, and sheddeth out [or shall pour out] on them his mercy.

12 He saw the presumption, [or pride], of their heart, for it was evil; and he knew the destroying of them, for it was wicked, [or shrewd]. There-fore he filled his mercy in them, and showed to them the way of equity.

13 The merciful doing of man is about his neighbour; but the mercy of the Lord is over each [or upon all] flesh. He that hath mercy, and teacheth, and chastiseth as a shepherd his flock,

14 do he mercy, taking the teaching of merciful doing; and he that hasteth in the dooms thereof.

15 Son, in goods [or good things] give thou not complaint, and in each gift give thou not heaviness of an evil word.

16 Whether dew shall not cool heat? so and a word is better than [a] gift.

17 Lo! whether a word is not above a good gift? but ever either is with a man justified [or but either with a justified man].

18 A fool shall upbraid sharply [or The fool sharply shall give reproof]; and the gift of an untaught man maketh eyes to fail.

19 Before the doom make thou ready rightfulness [or rightwiseness] to thee; and learn thou, before that thou speak. Before sickness give thou [or take] medicine;

20 and before the doom ask thyself, and thou shalt find mercy in the sight of God.

21 Before sickness make thee meek, and in the time of sickness show thy living [or thy conversation].

22 Be thou not hindered to pray ever[more], and dread thou not to be justified till to death; for why the meed of God dwelleth without end.

23 Before prayer make ready [or prepare] thy soul; and do not thou be as a man that tempteth God, that is, that a man betake himself to peril, and believe that that he may do reasonably, and abide to be delivered of God.

24 Have thou mind of ire [or wrath] in the day of ending; and make thou in living the time of yielding.

25 Have thou mind of poverty in the day of abundance [or plenty]; and the need of poverty in the time of riches.

26 From the morrowtide unto the eventide the time shall be changed; and all these things be swift in the eyes of God.

27 A wise man shall dread in all things; and in the days of trespasses he shall flee from unknowing, either sloth.

28 Each fell [or witting] man, that is, attentive to eschew evils, by God’s dread, knoweth wisdom; and to him that findeth it, he shall give acknowl-edging to it.

29 Witting men in words also they did wisely, and understood truth, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness]; and besought proverbs and dooms.

30 Go thou not after thy covetous-nesses [or lusts]; and be thou turned away from thy will.

31 If thou givest to thy soul the covetousnesses [or lusts] thereof, it shall make thee into joy to thine enemies.

32 Delight thou not in companies, neither in little companies[or small things]; for why the sinning [or trespassing] of them is continual.

33 Be thou not mean in the striving of love, and something is [not] to thee in the bag, [or Not be thou mean in striving for money, and there is not to thee nothing in the world]; for why thou shalt be envious to thy soul.

CHAPTER 19

1 A drunken workman shall not be made rich; and he that chargeth not little sins[or who despiseth little things], falleth down into grievouser sins, little and little.

2 Wine and women make to be apostates, yea, wise men [or Wine and women make also wise men to go backward]; and they reprove witting men. And he that joineth himself to whores, shall be wicked;

3 rot and worms shall inherit him, and he shall be set on high into more ensample, and his soul shall be taken away from [the] number of chosen men.

4 He that believeth soon, is un-stable [or light] in heart, and shall be made less; and he that trespasseth against his soul, shall be had fur-thermore.

5 He that joyeth in wickedness, shall be cursed; and he that hateth blaming, shall be made less in life; [Who joyeth in wickedness, shall be reproved; and who hateth correction, shall be lessened in life;]

6 and he that hateth jangling [or much speech], quencheth malice. He that sinneth against his soul, shall [not] repent; and that is merry in malice, shall be cursed [or reproved].

7 Rehearse thou not an hard word, and wicked [or shrewd]; and thou shalt not be made less.

8 Do not thou tell thy wit to friend and to enemy; and if trespass is to thee, do not thou make it naked.

9 For he shall hear thee, and shall keep thee, and he as defending the sin shall hate thee; and so he shall be ever with thee.

10 Thou hast heard a word against thy neighbour; die it altogether in thee, and trust thou that it shall not break thee.

11 A fool travaileth greatly of the face of a word, as the sorrow of bearing of a young child [or as the wailing of the birth of a child].

12 An arrow fastened in the hip of a dog, so a word in the heart of a fool.

13 Reprove thou [or Chastise] a friend, lest peradventure he under-stand not, and say, I did not; either if he hath done, lest he add to do again.

14 Reprove thou [or Chastise] a neighbour, lest peradventure he say it not; and if he saith it, lest perad-venture he rehearse it.

15 Reprove thou [or Chastise] a friend, for why trespassing is done often; and believe thou not to each word.

16 There is a man that falleth [or slideth] by his tongue, but not of will, that is, wittingly and of purpose. For why who is he, that trespasseth not in his tongue?

17 Reprove thou [or Chastise] a neighbour, betwixt thee and him, before that thou menace [or threaten]him; and give thou place to the dread of the Highest.

18 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

19 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

20 For why all wisdom is the dread of God, and in that wisdom for to dread God; and the ordinance of law is in all wisdom [or in all wisdom the disposing of the law].

21 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

22 And the teaching of wickedness is not wisdom; and the prudence of sins is not good thought [or good thinking is not the prudence of sins].

23 There is wickedness of prudence, and cursedness is therein; and there is an unwise man, which is made little in wisdom.

24 Better is a man that hath little wisdom, and failing in wit, in the dread of God, than he that hath plenty of wit, and breaketh [or over-passeth] the law of the Highest.

25 There is certain subtlety [or sly-ness], and it is wicked. And there is a man, that sendeth out a certain word, telling out [the] truth.

26 There is a man that meeketh himself wickedly to deceive men the more; and his inner things be full of guile [or treachery].

27 And there is a just [or rightwise] man, that maketh low greatly [or under-putteth] himself of much meek-ness; and there is a just [or rightwise] man, that boweth the face, and feigneth him to see not [or not to see] that, that is unknown.

28 Though he is forbidden of feeble-ness of strengths to do sin [or if of infirmity of strengths he is forbidden to sin]; if he findeth time to do evil, he shall do evil.

29 A man is known by sight; and a witting man is known by meeting of face.

30 The clothing of body, and the laughing of teeth, and the entering [or going in] of a man, tell out of him.

CHAPTER 20

1 There is false reproving in the ire of a man full of despising [or There is lying correction in wrath of the wrongful]; and there is doom which is not proved to be good; and there is a still man, and he is prudent.

2 It is full good to reprove, more than to be wroth, and to forbid not a man acknowledging in prayer.

3 The covetousness [or lust] of a gelding hath defouled [or deflowered] the maidenhood of a young woman, so he that maketh wicked doom by violence [or so he that doeth by force wicked doom].

4 It is full good, that a man that is reproved, show openly penance [or How good it is, the chastised to show penance]; for so thou shalt escape willful sin.

5 There is a still man, which is found wise; and he that is hateful, which is fool-hardy [or greedy] to speak.

6 Soothly there is a still man, not having wit of speech; and there is a still man, knowing the season of covenable time.

7 A wise man shall be still till to the right time; but a jolly man [or the reckless, or wild] and an unprudent man shall not keep time.

8 He that useth many words, hurteth his soul; and he that taketh power to himself unjustly [or wrong-fully], shall be hated.

9 There is going forth in evils to a man unlearned [or undisciplined]; and there is finding into impairing [or into harm].

10 There is a gift, which is not profit-able; and there is a gift, whose yielding is double.

11 There is making less for glory; and there is a man, which shall raise the head from meekness.

12 There is a man, that again-buyeth many sins[or things] for little price, and restoreth those [or them] in sevenfold.

13 A wise man in words maketh himself amiable [or lovable]; but the graces of fools shall be shed [or poured] out.

14 The gift of an unwise man shall not be profitable to thee; for his eyes be sevenfold, that is, his intent is manyfold and diverse.

15 He shall give little things [or Few things he shall give], and he shall upbraid many things; and the opening of his mouth is enflaming. Today a man lendeth, and tomorrow he asketh for[it]; and such a man is hateful.

16 A friend shall not be to a fool, and grace shall not be to his goods. For they that eat his bread, be of false tongue, that is, flatterers praising his follies;

17 how often, and how many men shall scorn him? For he parteth [or dealed] not by even wit that, that was worthy to be had; in like manner and that, that was not worthy to be had.

18 The falling [or sliding] of a false tongue is as he that falleth in the pavement; so the falls of evil men shall come hastily.

19 A man without grace is as a vain fable; and it shall be customable in the mouth of unlearned men. [An unkind man as a vain fable; and it shall be often in the mouth of the undisciplined.]

20 A parable, that is, a true sentence and great, shall be reproved when it cometh out of the mouth of a fool; for he saith not it [or he saith it not] in his time.

21 There is a man, that is forbidden to do sin, for poverty; and he shall not be pricked in his rest.

22 There is a man, that shall lose his soul for shame; and for the un-prudence of a person he shall lose it. Forsooth he shall lose himself for the taking or favouring of a person.

23 There is a man, that for shame promiseth to a friend; and he hath gotten him an enemy without cause.

24 Leasing is a wicked shame in a man; and it shall be customably [or busily] in the mouth of unlearned men [or the undisciplined].

25 Better, that is, less evil, is a thief than the customableness of a man, a leasing-monger [or a liar]; forsooth both they shall inherit perdition.

26 The manners of men leasing-mongers [or liars]be without honour; and their shame is with them without ceasing.

27 A wise man in words shall bring forth himself; and a prudent man shall please great men.

28 He that worketh his land, shall make high the heap of fruits; and he that worketh rightfulness [or right-wiseness], shall be enhanced. Soothly he that pleaseth great men, shall escape wickedness.

29 Presents and gifts blind the eyes of judges; and as one dumb in the mouth it [or he] turneth away the chastisings of them.

30 Wisdom hid, and treasure unseen, what profit is in ever either?

31 He is better, that hideth his unwisdom, than a man that hideth his wisdom.

32 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

CHAPTER 21

1 Son, thou hast done sin? [or Son, hast thou sinned?] add thou not again; but beseech thou for the former sins, that those [or they] be forgiven to thee.

2 As from the face of a serpent flee thou sins; and if thou nighest to them, those [or they] shall take thee. The teeth of a lion be as the teeth thereof, that slay the souls of men.

3 All wickedness is as a sharp sword on either side; health is not to the wound thereof.

4 Chidings and wrongs shall destroy chattel [or substance]; and an house that is over-rich, shall be destroyed by pride; so the chattel [or the substance] of a proud man shall be drawn up by the root.

5 The prayer of a poor man shall come from the mouth unto the ears of God; and doom shall come to him hastily.

6 He that hateth reproving [or chastising], is in a step of the sinner; and he that dreadeth God, shall be turned [or converted] to his heart.

7 A mighty man with an hardy tongue is known afar; and a witting man knoweth how to keep himself [or to slide] from that man.

8 He that buildeth his house with other men’s costs, is as he that gathereth his stones in winter.

9 Sheaves, or stubble [or flax tops], gathered together is the synagogue of sinners; and the ending of them is the flame of fire.

10 The way of sinners is set alto-gether [or planted] with stones; and in the end of them be hells*[or hell], and darknesses, and pains.

11 He that keepeth rightfulness, shall hold the wit thereof. The perfection of God’s dread is wisdom and wit.

12 He shall not be taught, which is not wise in good. Forsooth unwisdom is, which is plenteous [or aboundeth] in evil; and wit is not [or there is not wit], where is bitterness.

13 The knowing of a wise man shall be plenteous [or abound] as flowing water; and the counsel of him dwelleth as a well of life.

14 The heart of a fool is as a broken vessel; and it shall not hold any wisdom.

15 Whatever wise word a knowing man heareth, he shall praise it, and lay to. A lecherous man heard, and it shall displease him; and he shall cast [or throw] it away behind his back.

16 The telling of a fool is as a burden in the way; for why grace shall be found in the lips of a wise man.

17 The mouth of a prudent man is sought in the church; and men shall think his words in their hearts.

18 As an house destroyed, so is wisdom to a fool; and the knowing of an unwise man is words that may not be told out [or untellable].

19 Stocks in the feet is teaching [or doctrine] to a fool; and as bonds of hands on the right hand.

20 A fool enhanceth his voice in laughing; but a wise man shall laugh scarcely still.

21 Teaching is a golden ornament to a prudent man; and as an ornament of the arm [or an arm-circle] in the right arm.

22 The foot of a fool is light into the house of a neighbour; and a wise man shall be ashamed of the person of a mighty man.

23 A fool beholdeth from the win-dow into the house; but a learned man shall stand withoutforth.

24 It is folly of a man to hearken by the door; and a prudent man shall be grieved by despising [or with strife].

25 The lips of unprudent men shall tell fond things [or follies]; but the words of prudent men shall be weighed in a balance.

26 The heart of fools is in their mouth; and the mouth of wise men is in their heart.

27 When a wicked man curseth the devil, he curseth his own soul.

28 A privy backbiter shall defoul his soul, and in all things he shall be hated, and he that dwelleth, shall be hated; a still man and wise shall be honoured.

CHAPTER 22

1 A slow man is astonied in a stone of clay; and all men shall speak on [or of] the [great] despising of him.

2 A slow man is astonied of the dung of oxes [or the drit of oxen]; and each man that toucheth him, shall shake the hands.

3 The shame of a father is of a son unlearned; but a fond [or foolish] daughter shall be in decreasing of the honour of father and mother.

4 A prudent daughter is heritage to her husband; for she that shameth her husband, is in despising [or reproof] of the father.

5 A bold woman, that is, shame-less, shameth the father and husband, and shall not be made less than unfaithful men; forsooth she shall not be honoured of ever either.

6 Melody in mourning is uncoven-able telling; beatings and teaching, [or scourges and doctrine], in all time with wisdom.

7 He that teacheth a fool, as he that glueth together a tilestone [or shard]. He that telleth a word to him that heareth not, is as he that raiseth a man sleeping from a grievous [or heavy] sleep.

8 He that telleth wisdom to a fool, speaketh with a man sleeping; and in the end of the telling he shall say, Who is this?

9 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

10 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

11 Weep thou on a dead man, for why his light failed [or the light of him failed]; and weep thou on a fool, for he failed of wit. Weep thou a little on a dead man, for he hath rested. Forsooth the life of a full wicked man is full wicked, more than the death of a fool.

12 The mourning of a dead man is seven days; but the mourning of a fool and of a wicked man [or the unpious]is all the days of their life.

13 Speak thou not much with a fool, and go thou not with an unwise man. Keep thee from him, that thou have not dis-ease [or grief]; and thou shalt not be defouled in the sin of him. Bow thou away from him, and thou shalt find rest; and be thou not annoyed by his folly.

14 What shall be made heavier than lead? and what other name than a fool is to it? [or what other name to him than a fool?]

15 It is lighter to bear gravel, and salt, and a gobbet of iron, than a man unprudent [or an imprudent man], and a fool, and unfaithful.

16 As an heap [or joining] of trees, bound together in the foundament of the building, shall not be unbound [or unloosed], so and an heart confirmed in the thought of counsel.

17 The thought of a wise man shall not be made shrewd in any time, neither dreaded.

18 As chaffs in high places, and sand without meddling of him [or mortar without due cost], set against the face of the wind, shall not dwell; so and a dreadful heart in the thought [or the thinking] of a fool against-standeth not against the fierceness of dread. As adorning, either pargeting, full of gravel in a clear wall, so and a fearedful heart in the thought of a fool [or so the trembling heart in the thinking of a fool] shall not dread in any time; so and he that dwelleth ever[more] in the behests of God.

19 He that pricketh the eye, shall lead out tears; and he that pricketh the heart, bringeth forth wit.

20 He that casteth a stone to birds, shall cast down those [or them]; so and he that doeth wrong [or putteth reproof] to a friend, departeth friend-ship.

21 Though thou bringest forth a sword to a friend, despair thou not; for there is going again to the friend.

22 If he openeth a sorrowful [or a dreary] mouth, dread thou not; for why there is according, except for despising, and shame, and pride, and showing [or opening] of privates, and a treacherous wound; in all these things a friend shall fly [or flee] away.

23 Have thou faith with a friend in his poverty, that thou be glad also in his goods. In the time of his trib-ulations, dwell thou faithful to him [or abide still to him faithful], that also thou be even-heir in the heritage of him.

24 Heat and smoke of fire is made high before the fire of a chimney; so and cursings [or curses], and des-pisings [or wrongs], and menaces [threats], come before blood.

25 I shall not be ashamed for to greet [or to salute] a friend, and I shall not hide me from his face;

26 though [or if] evils come to me by him, I shall suffer. Each man that shall hear, shall keep warily [or shun] him-self from him.

27 Who shall give keeping [or ward] to my mouth, and a certain sealing on my lips, that I fall not by those [or them], and that my tongue lose not me?

CHAPTER 23

1 Lord, Father, and lordly governor of my life, forsake thou me not in the thought [or the thinking] and counsel of them, that is, of fools and un-faithful men; neither suffer thou me to fall in that shame [or reproving].

2 Who setteth above in my thoughts beatings [or scourges], and in mine heart the teaching of wisdom, that in the unknowings of them he spare not me, and that the trespasses of them appear not?

3 Lest mine unknowings increase, and my trespasses be multiplied, and my sins be plenteous [or abound]; and lest I fall [or and I fall] in the sight of mine adversaries, and mine enemy have joy.

4 Lord, Father, and God of my life, forsake thou not me in the thoughts of them. Give thou not to me enhancing of mine eyes, yea, suffer not that pride be lord over me;

5 and turn thou away from me all shrewd desire.

6 Do thou away from me the covet-ousnesses of the womb, and the covetousnesses of lechery [or of lust] take me not; and give thou not me to a soul unreverent and undiscreet or unsavoury.

7 Sons, hear ye the teaching [or the doctrine] of [the] mouth; and he that keepeth it, shall not perish by his lips, neither shall be caused to stumble in worst works.

8 A sinner and proud man shall be taken [or caught] in his vanity; and a cursed man shall be caused to stumble in those [or them].

9 Thy mouth be not customable to swearing; for why many fallings be therein. [To swearing use not thy mouth; many forsooth fallings be in it.]

10 Forsooth the naming of God be not customable [or continual] in thy mouth, and be thou not meddled to [or mingled with] the names of saints; for thou shalt not be guiltless of them.

11 For as a servant that is asked busily, shall not want wanness, [or envy]; so each man swearing and naming shall not be purged of sin in all. A man swearing much shall be filled with wickedness; and venge-ance shall not go away from his house. And if he deceiveth a brother, his trespass shall be above him; and if he feigneth, he shall trespass doubly [or if he shall beguile the brother, the guilt of him upon him shall be; and if he shall feign, he shall trespass double]. And if he sweareth in vain, he shall not be justified; for why his house shall be filled with worst yielding.

12 Also again-ward another speech is into death; be it not found in the heritage of Jacob. For why all these things shall be done away from merciful men; and they shall not delight in trespasses.

13 Thy mouth be not customable to unreverent speech; for why a word of sin is in it. [To the undisciplined speech use not thy mouth; forsooth there is in it the word of sin.]

14 Have thou mind on thy father and mother; for thou standest in the midst of great men. Lest peradventure God forget thee in the sight of them; and lest thou made a fool by thus customableness, suffer shame, either scorning, [or through thy busyness greatly made fool, reproof thou suffer], and haddest rather to be not born, and curse the day of thy birth.

15 A man customable in the words of shame, in all days shall not be taught. [A man used in words of reproof, in all his days shall not be learned.]

16 Two kinds be plenteous [or abound] in sins, and the third bringeth ire and perdition. An hot soul burning as fire shall not be quenched, till it swallow something; and a wicked [or shrewd] man in the mouth of his flesh shall not fail, till he kindle fire.

17 Each bread is sweet to a lecherous man; he shall not be made weary, trespassing till to the end.

18 Each man that passeth [or over-goeth] his bed, doeth despite against his soul, and saith, Who seeth me? Darknesses encompass me, and walls cover me, and no man beholdeth me. Whom dread I? The Highest shall not have mind on my sins.

19 And he understandeth not, that the eye of him, that is, of God, seeth all things; for why the dread of such a man putteth away from him the dread of God [or he put away from him the dread of God], and the eyes of men that dread him put away from him God’s dread. And he knew not, that the eyes of the Lord be much more clearer than [or lighter over] the sun, and behold all the ways of men, and the depth of the sea, and they behold the hearts of men into [the] hid parts.

20 For why all things were known to the Lord, before that they were made of nought, [or To the Lord God forsooth, ere they were formed, all things be known]; so and after the making, he beholdeth all things.

21 This man shall be punished in the streets of the city; he shall be driven away as an horse colt, and he shall be taken [or caught], where he hopeth not. And he shall be shame to all men; for he understood not the dread of the Lord.

22 So and each woman forsaking her husband shall do sin, and ordaining heritage, that is, heir of her husband, of an alien matrimony.

23 For first she was unbelieveful in the law of the Highest, and the second time [or second] she forsook her husband; and the third time [or third] she was defouled in adultery, and ordained to him sons of another man.

24 She, this woman, shall be brought into the church, and men shall behold on her sons.

25 Her sons shall not give [or take] roots, and her branches shall not give fruit.

26 They shall leave the mind of her into cursing, and the shame [or the villainy] of her shall not be done away.

27 And they that be left shall know, that nothing is better than the dread of God, and nothing is sweeter than to behold in the commandments of the Lord.

28 It is great glory to pursue [or to follow] the Lord; for why length of days shall be taken of him.

CHAPTER 24

1 Wisdom shall praise his soul, and he shall be honoured in God; and he shall have glory in the midst of his people.

2 And he shall open his mouth in the churches of the Highest; and he shall have glory in the sight of his virtue. And he shall be enhanced in the midst of his people; and he shall [much] wonder in holy fullness, either plenty. And in the multitude of chosen men he shall have praising; and among blessed men he shall be blessed, and say,

3 I, the first engendered [or begotten] before each creature, came forth from the mouth of the Highest. I was made in heavens, that light never failing rose up, and as a cloud I covered all earth,

4 I dwelled in highest things, and my throne in a pillar of [a] cloud.

5 I alone went about the compass [or the circle] of heaven, and I pierced the depth of the sea;

6 and I went in the waves of the sea, and I stood in all the land [or all the earth]. And I had the first dignity in each people, and in each folk; and I trod by virtue on the necks of all excellent men and meek;

7 and in all these men I sought rest, and I shall dwell in the heritage of the Lord.

8 Then the Creator of all [or the Former of all things] commanded, and said to me; and he that formed me, rested in my tabernacle; and he said to me, Dwell thou in Jacob, and take thou heritage in Israel, and send thou roots into my chosen men [or in my chosen].

9 I was engendered [or formed] from the beginning and before worlds, and I shall not fail unto the world to coming [or unto the world to come I shall not cease to be];

10 and I ministered [or served] in an holy dwelling before him. And so I was made steadfast in Zion,

11 and in like manner I rested in a city hallowed, and my power was in Jerusalem.

12 And I rooted in a people honoured; and the heritage thereof into the parts of my God, and my withholding in the plenty or the fullness of saints.

13 I was enhanced as a cedar in Lebanon, and as a cypress tree in the hill of Zion.

14 I was enhanced as a palm tree in Cades or Engedi, and as the planting of [a] rose in Jericho. And as a fair olive tree in fields; and I was enhanced as a plane [or platanus] tree beside [the] water in streets.

15 As canel and balm giving great smell, I gave odour; as chosen myrrh I gave the sweetness of odour. And as storax, and galbanum, and ungulam, and gum, and as Lebanon not cut down, I made hot [or smoked] my dwelling place; and mine odour as balm not meddled, [or as balsam not mingled, is my smell].

16 I as terebinth stretched forth my boughs [or straightened out my branches]; and my boughs [or branches]be boughs of honour, and of glory.

17 I as a vine made fruit the sweet-ness of odour; and my flowers be the fruits of honour, and of honesty or riches.

18 I am a mother of fair love, and of dread, and of knowing, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of way, and of truth; in me is all hope of life and of virtue.

19 All ye that covet me, pass or come to me; and be ye filled of my generations.

20 For why my spirit is sweet above honey; and mine heritage is above honey, and honeycomb. My mind is into the generation of worlds.

21 They that eat me, shall hunger yet; and they that drink me, shall thirst yet.

22 He that heareth me, shall not be shamed [or confounded]; and they that work in me, shall not do sin; and they that declare me, shall have ever-lasting life.

23 All these things is the book of life, and the testament of the Highest, and the knowing [or acknowledging] of truth. Moses commanded a law in the commandments of rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses], and for an heri-tage to the house of Jacob, and promises to Israel.

24 He setted, that is, ordained, either promised, to David, his child or servant, to raise [up] of him a king most strong, and sitting without end in the throne of honour.

25 Which king filleth wisdom, as Pishon sheddeth out water; and as Tigris in the days of new things.

26 Which, as Euphrates, [full-]filleth wit; which multiplieth, as Jordan in the time of harvest [or reaping].

27 Which sendeth teaching [or doctrine] as light; and is nigh all men, as Gihon in the day of vintage.

28 Which maketh perfectly first to know that wisdom; and a feebler man shall not ensearch it.

29 For why the thoughts thereof shall be as plenteous of or as the sea, that is, his knowing is more plenteous than the sea; and his counsel in the great ocean [or the great deepness]is uncomprehensible. I wisdom shedded [or poured] out floods; I as a way, that is, a strong running, of full great water [or water without measure] of the flood.

30 I as the flood Dorix, and as a water conduit I went out of [or from] paradise.

31 I said, I shall water my garden of plantings; and I shall greatly fill the fruit of my child-bearing. And lo! a plenteous way of water is made to me; and my flood nighed to the sea.

32 For I enlighten teaching as the clear morrowtide to all men; and I shall tell out it unto [a] far. I shall pierce all the lower [or nether] parts of [the] earth, and I shall behold all that sleep; and I shall enlighten all that hope in the Lord.

33 Yet I shall shed [or pour] out teaching [or doctrine] as prophecy, and I shall leave it to them that seek wisdom; and I shall not fail into the generations of them, till into the holy world.

34 See ye, that I travailed not to me alone, but to all that seek out truth.

CHAPTER 25

1 In three things it is pleased to my spirit, which be approved before God and men; according [or the accord] of brethren, and love of neighbours, [and] a man and woman well con-senting to themselves.

2 My soul hated three species, and I am grieved greatly to the soul of them; a poor man proud, and a rich man that is a liar, and an eld [or old] man that is a fool and unwitting [or doted].

3 How shalt thou find in thine eld age those things, which thou gather-ed not in thy youth?

4 Doom of discretion is full fair in hoariness [or How fair the doom in hoariness], either eld man, and to priests to know counsel.

5 Wisdom is full fair to eld [or old] men, and glorious understanding, and counsel.

6 The crown of eld [or old] men is in much knowing [or wisdom]; and the glory of them is the dread of God.

7 I magnified nine things unsus-pected of the heart; and I shall say the tenth thing by tongue to men. A man which living is merry [or joyed] in sons, and seeing the destroying of his enemies.

8 He is blessed [or Blissful] that dwelleth with a witting woman, and he that fell not [or is not slidden] by his tongue, and he that served not to men unworthy to himself.

9 He is blessed [or Blissful] that findeth a very friend, and he that telleth out rightfulness [or rightwise-ness] to an ear hearing [or the hearing ear].

10 He is full great that findeth wisdom and knowing; but he is not above him that dreadeth God*.

11 The dread of God hath set itself above all things. Blessed is the man to whom it is given to have the dread of God; to whom shall he be likened, that holdeth that dread?

12 The dread of God is the begin-ning of his love; forsooth the begin-ning of faith is to be fast-joined thereto [or to be joined to him].

13 The sorrow of heart is each wound; and the wickedness of a woman is all [or each] malice†. A leech shall see each wound, and not the wound of heart; and all wicked-ness, and not the wickedness of a woman;

(This verse, and those which follow to the end of this chapter, are only found in some early copies of this book, and are more reflective of that author’s bitter personal experience, than of divine inspiration. T.P.N.)

14 and each covering [or all hid thing], that is, colouring of malice, and not the covering [or hid thing] of haters; and each [or all] vengeance, and not the vengeance of enemies.

15 None head is worse than [or wickeder over] the head of an adder dwelling in shadow; and none ire is above the ire of a woman [or there is not wrath over the wrath of a woman].

16 It shall please more to dwell with a lion and a dragon, than to dwell with a wicked woman.

17 The wickedness of a woman changeth her face; and she blinded her cheer as a bear doeth, and she shall show as a sackcloth in the midst of neighbours.

18 Her husband wailed; and his wicked wife heard, and sighed a little. [The husband of her greatly wailed; and hearing, sighed a little.]

19 All malice is short on or little compared to the malice of a woman; the part [or the lot] of sinners, that is, the pain of hell, fall on her.

20 As a going-up full of gravel in the feet of an eld [or old] man, so is a woman that is a great jangler to a peaceable man [or a tonguey woman to a quiet man].

21 Behold thou not the fairness of a woman, and covet thou not a woman for her fairness.

22 The ire and unreverence of a woman to her husband is a great shame. If a woman hath the first dignity [or mastery], either chief governail, she is contrary to her husband.

23 A low heart, and sorrowful face, and wound of death, is a wicked woman. Feeble hands and knees unbound, cometh from a woman that blesseth not her husband [or a woman that maketh not blissful or blessful her husband].

24 The beginning of sin was made of a woman; and all we die by her [or by her all we die].

25 Give thou not issue to thy water, yea, not a little issue; neither to a wicked woman freedom, [or leave], of going forth [or going out].

26 If she goeth not at thine hand, she shall shame thee in the sight of thine enemies. Cut her away from thy fleshes, lest ever[more] she mis-use thee.

CHAPTER 26

1 The husband of a good woman is blessed; for why the number of their years is double. [Blessed is the man of a good woman; the number forsooth of the years of him double.]

2 A strong woman, that is, against sins, delighteth her husband; and he shall [ful] fill in peace the years of his life.

3 A good woman is a good partner; in the good part of them that dread God, she shall be given to a man for [his] good deeds.

4 Forsooth if the heart of a rich man and of a poor man is good; in all time their cheer is glad.

5 Mine heart dreaded of three things, and my face dreaded [or was afeared] in the fourth thing. Betraying of a city, and the gathering together of people, that is, in conspiring of the people against the prince, and false challenge; all these things be more grievous on or than death.

6 The sorrow of heart, and mourning, is a jealous woman. In a jealous woman is beating of tongue, and she communeth with all men [or In a jealous woman scourge of tongue, to all communing].

7 As a yoke of oxes [or oxen] which is moved, so and a wicked woman; he that holdeth her, is as he that taketh [or caught] a scorpion.

8 A drunken woman is great ire [or wrath], and despising [or strife]; and her filth[hood] shall not be covered.

9 The fornication of a woman is in the raising of her eyes; and [she] shall be known in the eyelids of her.

10 Make thou firm the keeping in a daughter not turning away herself; lest she mis-use herself, if she findeth occasion.

11 Be thou ware of all unreverence of her eyes; and wonder thou not, if she despiseth thee.

12 As a way-goer thirsting shall open the mouth at a well, and shall drink of each water next; and the foresaid daughter shall sit against each pale, and shall open the arrow case against each arrow [or against all arrows shall open the quiver], till she fail.

13 The grace of a busy woman shall delight her husband [or her man]; and shall make fat his bones.

14 The knowing of her is the gift of God. A wise woman and a still is not [the] exchanging of a learned [or the taught] soul.

15 Grace [up] on grace is an holy woman, and shamefast. Forsooth all weighing is not worth a continent soul.

16 As the sun rising in the world in the highest things of God, so the fairness of a good woman is into the ornament, or the adornment [or adorning] of her house.

17 A lantern shining [up] on an holy candlestick, and the fairness of a face on steadfast [or stable] age, that is, as such a lantern lighteneth the church, and such a face maketh fair ripe age, so a good woman maketh fair her house.

18 Golden pillars on silvern founda-ments, and steadfast feet on the soles of a steadfast [or stable] woman. Ever-lasting foundaments on a firm stone, and the behests [or commandments] of God in the heart of an holy woman.

19 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

20 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

21 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

22 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

23 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

24 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

25 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

26 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

27 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

28 In two things mine heart was made sorry [or sorrowful], and in the third thing wrathfulness came to me. A man warrior failing by neediness, and a wise man despised. And God hath made him ready to the sword, that passeth over from rightfulness [or over-goeth from rightwiseness] to sin.

29 Two species appeared hard and perilous to me; a merchant is de-livered of hard from his negligence, and a taverner shall not be justified of [or from] sins of lips.

CHAPTER 27

1 Many men have trespassed for neediness [or mis-ease]; and he that seeketh to be made rich, turneth away his eye.

2 As a stake [or a pale] is fastened in the midst of a heap [or a joining] of stones, so and a man shall be an-guished by sins betwixt the midst of selling and buying. Trespass shall be all-broken with him that trespasseth.

3 If thou holdest not thee diligently in the dread of the Lord, thine house shall soon be turned upside-down.

4 As dust shall dwell in the holes of a riddle, so the anguish of a man shall dwell in the thoughts of him.

5 A furnace proveth the vessels of a potter; and the temptation of tribu-lation proveth just [or rightwise] men.

6 As churl-like travail [or earth-working] about a tree showeth the fruit thereof, so a word of thought showeth the heart of man.

7 Praise thou not a man before a word fully ended; for why this is the temptation, that is, proving, of men.

8 If thou pursuest rightfulness [or followest rightwiseness], thou shalt take it; thou shalt clothe it as a long cloth [or aube] of honour, and thou shalt dwell with it, and it shall defend thee without end, and in the day of knowing thou shalt find steadfastness.

9 Volatiles [or Fowls] come together to birds like themselves; and truth shall turn again to them that work it.

10 A lion setteth espies ever to hunting [or A lion to hunting waiteth evermore]; so sins to them that work wickedness.

11 An holy man dwelleth in wisdom, as the sun dwelleth; for why a fool is changed as the moon.

12 In the midst of unwise men keep thou a word to time; but be thou busy in the midst of them that think the law of God.

13 The telling of sinners is hateful; and the laughing of them is in the trespasses of sin.

14 Speech swearing much shall make standing up of hairs, for aston-ishing, to the head; and unreverence thereof [or irreverence of it] is stop-ping of ears.

15 The shedding out of blood is in the chiding [or jangling] of proud men; and the cursing of them is grievous hearing, for in their chiding they blaspheme God often, and it is full grievous to faithful ears to hear such blasphemy of God.

16 He that showeth openly the privates of a friend, loseth faithfulness [or the faith of a friend]; and he shall not find a friend to his soul.

17 Love thou a neighbour, and be thou joined with him in faith. For if thou showest openly the privates of him, thou shalt not perfectly pursue after him [or pursue thou not after him].

18 For as a man that loseth his friend, so he that loseth the friendship of his neighbour.

19 And as a man that letteth go a bird from [or out of] his hand, so thou that hast forsaken thy neighbour, and thou shalt not take him.

20 Thou shalt not pursue [or follow] him, for he is far absent [or away]; for he escaped as a capret from a snare, for the soul of him is wounded.

21 Thou shalt no more be able to bind him together; but of evil saying is according. Soothly to show openly the privates of a friend, is despair of a soul unblessed, [or To make naked forsooth the privates of a friend, is the despairing of the unfaithful soul].

22 He that twinkleth with the eye, maketh [or forgeth] wicked things; and no man shall cast him away.

23 In the sight of thine eyes he shall defoul his mouth, and he shall wonder on thy words; but at the last he shall turn waywardly [or shall pervert] his mouth, and in his word [or in thy words] he shall give slander.

24 I [have] heard many things, that is, evils, and I made them not even to him, yea, I areckoned not another malice even to the malice of this man; and the Lord shall hate him.

25 If a man casteth a stone on high, it shall fall on his head; and the guileful wound of a guileful [or treacherous] man shall part wounds.

26 And he that diggeth a ditch, shall fall into it; and he that setteth a stone to a neighbour, shall offend therein [or stumble in it]; and he that setteth a snare to another man, shall perish therein.

27 If a man maketh worst [or wicked] counsel, it shall be turned on him; and he shall not know from whence it shall come to him.

28 The scorning and despising of proud men and vengeance shall set espy to him, as a lion doeth. [Illusion, or scorn, and reproof of proud men and vengeance, as a lion shall espy to him.]

29 They that delight in the fall of just [or rightwise] men, shall perish by a snare; forsooth sorrow shall waste them, before that they die.

30 Ire [or Wrath] and madness or rage, ever either be abominable; and a sinful man shall hold those [or them].

CHAPTER 28

1 He that will be avenged, shall find of the Lord vengeance; and he keeping shall keep his sins to be punished harder by his rightfulness.

2 Forgive thou to thy neighbour that annoyeth thee, and then sins shall be released [or be forgiven] to thee after praying.

3 A man keepeth ire [or wrath] to man; and seeketh he of God medi-cine?

4 He hath no mercy on a man like himself; and beseecheth he the High-est for his own sins?

5 He the while he is flesh, reserve-eth ire; and asketh he of God mercy? who shall pray for his sins?

6 Have thou mind on the last things, and cease thou to be anyone’s enemy. For why failing and death nigh not in the commandments of God.

7 Have thou mind on [or Remem-ber] the dread of the Lord, and be not wroth to the neighbour. Have thou mind on [or Remember] the testament of the Highest, and despise thou the ignorance of thy neighbour.

8 Abstain thee from strife, and thou shalt decrease [or lessen], either abridge, sins. For why a wrathful man kindleth strife;

9 and a sinful man, that is, a sower of discords, shall disturb or trouble friends, and he shall send in enmity in the midst [or in the middle] of men having peace.

10 For why after the trees of the wood, so fire shall burn on high; and after the might of a man, so his wrathfulness shall be, and after his chattel [or substance] he shall enhance his ire.

11 Hasty striving [or strife] shall kindle fire, and hasty chiding shall shed out blood; and a tongue bearing witnessing shall bring death.

12 If thou blowest, as fire it shall burn on high; and if thou spittest thereon, it shall be quenched; ever either, that is, a word kindling ire, and a word refraining it, come forth of the mouth.

13 A privy backbiter, and a double-tongued man [or The whispering grutcher, and the twisel tongue cursed], yea, he that speaketh fair before a man, and evil behind him, is cursed; for he disturbed or troubled many men having peace.

14 The third tongue hath stirred many men, and hath scattered them from folk into folk. It hath destroyed walled cities of rich men, and hath mined down or undermined the houses of great men. It hath cut down the virtues of peoples, and hath unknit strong folks.

15 The third tongue hath cast out wedded, or honest, women, and hath deprived them of their travails.

16 He that beholdeth the third tongue[or it], shall not have rest; neither shall have a friend, in whom he shall rest.

17 The wound of [a] beating [or scourge] maketh wanness; but the wound of [a] tongue shall make less [or shall bruise or break] the bones.

18 Many men fell down by the sharpness of sword; but not so many as they that perished [or died] by their tongue.

19 He is blessed that is covered from a wicked [or a shrewd] tongue; and he that passed not in the wrathfulness thereof, and he that drew not the yoke thereof, and was not bound in the bonds thereof.

20 For why the yoke thereof is an iron yoke, and the bond thereof is a brazen bond.

21 The death thereof is the worst death; and hell is more profitable, that is, the pain of hell is less evil, than it.

22 The perseverance thereof shall not dwell, but it shall hold the ways of unjust men, [or The steadfastness of it shall not abide still, but shall hold the ways of unrightwise men]; in his flame it shall not burn just [or rightwise] men.

23 They that forsake God, shall fall into it; and it shall burn greatly in them, and it shall not be quenched; and as a lion it shall be sent into them, and as a leopard it shall hurt them.

24 Beset [or Hedge] thine ears with thorns, and do not thou hear a wicked tongue; and make thou doors to thy mouth, and locks to thine ears. Well thou [or melt together], or temper thou, thy gold, and thy silver;

25 and make thou a balance to thy words, and rightful [or right] bridles to thy mouth.

26 And take heed, lest peradventure thou slide in tongue, and fall in the sight of enemies, setting treason [or waiting or laying wait] to thee, and thy fall be uncurable [or unhealable] into death.

CHAPTER 29

1 He that doeth mercy, lendeth to his neighbour; and he that is full mighty in hand, keepeth the com-mandments.

2 Lend thou to thy neighbour in the time of his need; and again yield thou to a neighbour in his time.

3 Confirm thou a word, and do thou faithfully with him; and in all time thou shalt find that, that is needful to thee.

4 Many men guessed borrowing as finding, and gave dis-ease [or grief] to those men that helped them.

5 Till they take, they kiss the hands of the giver; and in promises they make meek their voice. And in the time of yielding, he shall ask for more time [or delaying], and he shall speak words of annoyance, and of grutch-ings, and he shall challenge falsely, [or plead for, or complain about] the time, to tarry the paying of debt.

6 Forsooth if he may yield, he shall be adversary [or enemy]; of a shilling scarcely he shall yield the half [or scarcely of the whole he shall yield the half], and he shall reckon that as refunding. Else he shall defraud him in his money, and the lender shall have him an enemy without cause. And he shall yield to him, that is, to the lender, wrongs and cursings; and for honour and benefice [or benefit], he shall yield to him despising.

7 Many men lend not, not for cause of wickedness, but they dreaded to be defrauded without cause, [or will-fully].

8 Nevertheless on a meek man in soul, that is, a full poor debtor, be thou stronger; and for alms-[deeds] draw thou not him along.

9 For the commandment of God take thou a poor man [or For the behest take to the poor]; and for his neediness leave thou not him void.

10 Lose thou money for a brother and friend, and hide thou not it under a stone, into perdition.

11 Put thy treasure in the command-ments of the Highest; and it shall profit to thee more than gold.

12 Enclose thou alms in the bosom of a poor man; and this alms shall pray for thee to be delivered of God from all evil. The alms of a man is as a bag [or a little sack] with him; and it shall keep the grace of [a] man, that is, God’s grace, given to man, as the apple of the eye. And afterward it shall rise again, and shall yield to them a yielding, to each man into the head of them.

13 Above [or Over] the shield of a mighty man, and above [or over] a spear it shall fight against thine enemy.

14 A good man maketh faith to his neighbour in becoming borrower for him in need; and he that loseth, shall leave shame to him.

15 Forget thou not the grace of the borrower; for he gave his life for thee.

16 A sinful man [or The sinner] and unclean fleeth the promiser. A sinner areckoneth to himself the good words of the borrower;

17 and the unkind man in wit forsaketh a man delivering him.

18 A man promiseth for his neigh-bour; and when he hath lost rever-ence, that is, shamefastness before God and man, the borrower shall be forsaken of him. Worst [or Most shrewd] promise, by which the neighbour promised falsely to deliver his borrow, hath lost [or spoiled] many loving men, and hath moved them as the waves of the sea. It going in compass made mighty men to pass over [or to go out]; and they wan-dered about among alien folks.

19 A sinner breaking [or over-passing] the commandment of the Lord shall fall into a wicked promise; and he that endeavoureth to do many things, shall fall into doom.

20 Recover thy neighbour by thy virtue; and take heed to thyself, lest thou fall.

21 The beginning of life of a man is water, and bread, and clothing, and house covering filth[hood].

22 Better is the lifelode of a poor man under the covering of spars, than [plenteous] shining feasts in pilgrim-age without house,

23 The least thing pleaseth thee for a great thing, and thou shalt not hear the shame [or reproof] of pilgrimage.

24 It is wicked life to seek harbour from house into house; and where he shall be harboured, he shall not do trustily, neither he shall open the mouth.

25 He shall be harboured, and he shall feed, and give drink to unkind men; and yet he shall hear bitter things.

26 Pass, thou that art harboured, and array a table [or Go, guest, and adorn the board]; and give thou meats to other men, those things that thou hast in the hand.

27 Go thou out from the face of the honour of my friends, for the friend-ship, either affinity, [or need] of mine house; by harbouring thou art made a brother to me.

28 These things be grievous to a man having wit; the reproving of house, and the despising of the usurer [or reproof of the lender].

CHAPTER 30

1 He that loveth his son, giveth busily beatings to him [or busily giveth to him scourges], that he be glad in his last thing, and that the son touch not the doors of neighbours.

2 He that teacheth his son, shall be praised in him; and shall have glory in him in the midst of menials.

3 He that teacheth his son, sendeth the enemy into envy; and in the midst [or in the middle] of friends he shall have glory in that son[or in him].

4 The father of him is dead, and yet he is as not dead; for he hath left after him a son like him.

5 He saw in his life, and was glad in him; and in his death he was not sorry [or sorrowed not], neither was ashamed before enemies.

6 For he left a defender of the house against enemies; and yielding grace to friends.

7 For defending the souls of his sons, he shall bind together his wounds; and his entrails [or the bowels of him] shall be disturbed or troubled on each voice.

8 An horse untamed, either un-chastised, shall escape hard, and a son unchastised shall escape heady or become headstrong.

9 Flatter thou the son, and he shall make thee dreading; play thou with him, and he shall make thee sorry [or sorrowful].

10 Laugh thou not with him of his follies, lest thou have sorrow to-gether, and at the last thy teeth shall be astonied.

11 Give thou not power to him in youth, and despise thou not his thoughts.

12 Bow thou down his neck in youth, and beat thou his sides, while he is a young child [or an infant]; lest peradventure he wax hard [or in-wardly harden], and believe not to thee, and he shall be sorrow of soul to thee.

13 Teach thy son, and work in him; lest thou offend into the filth[hood] of him.

14 Better is a poor man whole, and strong in mights [or strengths], than a rich man feeble, and beaten [or scourged] with malice.

15 The health of soul is in the holiness of rightfulness [or rightwise-ness], and it is better than any [or all] gold and silver; and a strong body is better than full much chattel [or than money without measure].

16 No chattel is above the chattel of health of body; and no liking is above the joy of heart. [There is not money over the money of the health of body; and there is not liking over the joy of heart.]

17 Better is death than bitter life, and everlasting rest is better than sickness dwelling continually [or enduring].

18 Goods hid in a closed mouth be as settings forth of meats set about a sepulchre.

19 What shall sacrifice profit to an idol? for why it shall not eat, neither shall smell. So he that is driven away from the Lord,

20 and beareth the meeds of wicked-ness [or shrewdness], seeing with eyes, and wailing inwardly, as a gelding embracing a virgin [or a maiden], and sighing.

21 Give thou not sorrow to thy soul, that is, unreasonable sorrow, that annoyeth both body and soul, and torment not thyself in thy counsel, as they do that despair through sorrow, and then slay themselves.

22 Mirth of heart, this is the life of man, and is treasure of holiness without failing; and full out joying of a man is long life [or long living].

23 Have thou mercy on thy soul, and please thou God; and hold together and gather together thine heart in the holiness of him, and put far away sorrow from thee. For why sorrow hath slain many men; and none health is therein [or there is not profit in it].

24 Envy and wrathfulness shall make for less days [or Envy and wrath shall lessen days]; and thoughts shall bring eldness before the time.

25 A shining [or bright] heart is made good in meats; for why meats thereof be made diligently.

CHAPTER 31

1 Watching of riches shall make fleshes to fail; and thought thereof shall take away sleep. [The waking of honesty shall dwindle the flesh; and the thinking of it shall do away sleep.]

2 Thoughts of before-knowing turn-eth away wit; and grievous sickness [or heavy infirmity] maketh sober the soul.

3 A rich man travailed in the gathering of chattel [or substance]; and in his rest he shall be filled with his goods.

4 A poor man travailed in decreasing [or lessening] of lifelode; and in the end he is made needy.

5 He that loveth gold, shall not be justified; and he that pursueth [or followeth]after wasting, shall be [full-]filled thereof.

6 Many men be given into the fallings of gold, that is, many men felled into sins for gold; and the perdition [or loss] of them was made in the fairness thereof [or of it].

7 A tree of offence is the gold of them that make sacrifice; woe to them that pursue [or follow] it, and each unprudent man shall perish therein.

8 Blessed is a rich man, which is found without wem of covetousness and avarice; and that went not after gold, neither hoped in money, and treasures.

9 Who is this, and we shall praise him? for he did marvels in his life.

10 Which is proved therein, and is found perfect, and everlasting glory shall be to him? which might trespass, and trespassed not, and do evils, and did not.

11 Therefore his goods be stablished in the Lord; and all the church of saints shall tell out his alms-deeds.

12 Thou hast set at a great board; open thou not first thy cheek on it, that is, begin thou not to eat first. [And] Say thou not, whether those be many things, that be on it.

13 Have thou mind, that an evil eye is wayward [or evil is the shrewd eye]. What thing worse, than an eye is made? therefore of all his face he shall weep, when he seeth.

14 Stretch thou not forth first thine hand; and thou defouled by envy, be ashamed. Be thou not oppressed of wine in a feast.

15 Understand of thyself the things, that be of thy neighbour. [Understand what be of thy neighbour, of thyself.]

16 Use thou as a discreet and temperate man these things that be set forth to thee; and be thou not hated, when thou eatest much.

17 Cease thou first because of learn-ing [or discipline], either nurture; and do not thou be outrageous [or be too much], lest peradventure thou offend.

18 And if thou hast set in the midst [or in the middle] of many men, stretch not forth [or out] thine hand sooner than they; and ask thou not first for to drink.

19 A little wine is fully sufficient to a learned man; and in sleeping thou shalt not travail for that wine, and thou shalt not feel travail.

20 Waking, and choler, either bitter moisture, and gnawing [or anguish] to an undiscreet and untemperate man. But the sleep of health is in a scarce man; he shall sleep unto the morrow-tide; and his soul shall delight with him.

21 And if thou art constrained in eating [too] much, rise thou from the midst, and spew thou; and it shall refresh thee, and thou shalt not bring sickness to thy body.

22 Son, hear thou me, and despise thou not me; and at the last thou shalt find my words be true. In all thy works be thou swift; and all sickness shall not come to thee.

23 The lips of many men shall bless a shining man in loaves; and the witnessing of his truth is faithful.

24 The city shall grutch in the worst bread; and the witnessing of wicked-ness thereof is sooth.

25 Do not thou excite [or stir up] them that be diligent in wine; for why wine hath destroyed many men.

26 Fire proveth hard iron; so wine drunken in drunkenness shall reprove the hearts of proud men.

27 Even life to men is wine drunken in soberness; if thou drinkest it measurably, thou shalt be sober. What is the life which is made less by wine? What defraudeth life? death. Wine was made in gladness, not in drunkenness, at [or from] the begin-ning.

28 Wine drunken measurably is full out joying of soul and of body. Sober drink is health of soul and of body.

29 Wine drunken much maketh voiding, and ire [or wrath], and many fallings, or mischiefs.

30 Wine drunken much is bitterness of soul. Strength of drunkenness and hurting [or the offence] of an un-prudent man maketh virtue less [or lessening virtue], and making wounds.

31 In the feast of wine, reprove thou not a neighbour; and despise thou not him in his mirth. Say thou not words of shame [or reproof] to him; and oppress thou not him in [again]-asking.

CHAPTER 32

1 They have set thee a governor, do not thou be enhanced; be thou among them as one of them. Have thou care of them, and so behold thou; and when all thy care is filled, sit thou to meat [or rest].

2 That thou be glad for them, and take the ornament of grace; and get crown, and dignity of congregation.

3 Speak thou, the greater man in birth; for why the word of him that loveth knowing become thee first; and hinder thou not music.

4 Where hearing is not, shed [or pour] thou not out a word; and do not thou be enhanced uncovenably in thy wisdom.

5 A gem of carbuncle in the ornament of gold; and comparison of musics in the feast of wine.

6 As in the making [or forging] of gold is a signet of smaragdus, so the number of musics is in merry and measurable [or temperate] wine.

7 Hear thou [being] still, and good grace shall come to thee for rever-ence. Young man, speak thou scarce-ly in thy cause, when need is. If thou art asked twice, the head have thine answer.

8 In many things be thou as unknowing, and hear thou [being] still altogether, and asking [or seek-ing].

9 And presume thou not to speak in the midst of great men; and where eld [or old] men be, speak thou not much.

10 Lightning shall go before hail, and grace shall go before shamefast-ness, and good grace shall come [or fall] to thee for reverence.

11 And in the hour of rising, trifle thee not, that is, make thee no tarrying in arraying, either trifling of hairs, as women do; forsooth run thou before first into thine house, and there call thou thee to answer, and there play thou.

12 And do thy conceits [or con-ceivings], that is, perform thy good purpose conceived there, and not in sins, and in a proud word.

13 On all these things, bless thou the Lord, that made thee, and filling thee greatly of all his goods.

14 He that dreadeth God, shall take his teaching, [or Who dreadeth God, shall take the doctrine of him]; and they that wake to him, shall find blessing.

15 He that seeketh the law, shall be filled thereof; and he that doeth traitorously, shall be caused to stumble therein.

16 They that dread God, shall find just doom; and shall kindle rightful-ness [or rightwiseness] as light.

17 A sinful man, that is, obstinate in sin, shall eschew blaming [or shun correction]; and after his will, he shall find comparison.

18 A man of counsel shall not lose [or destroy] understanding; a man alien and proud shall not dread dreading. Yea, after that he hath done with that dread without counsel, and he shall be reproved by his pursuings [or followings].

19 Son, do thou nothing without counsel; and after the deed thou shalt not repent.

20 Go thou not in the way of falling, and offend thou not against stones.

21 Betake thou not thee to a tra-vailous way, lest thou set cause of stumbling to thy soul;

22 and be thou ware of thy sons, and perceive thou [or take heed] of thy menials.

23 In all thy work believe thou by faith of thy soul; for why this is the keeping of commandments.

24 He that believeth to God, taketh heed to the commandments; and he that trusteth in him, shall not be made less, either deceived.

CHAPTER 33

1 Evils shall not come to him that dreadeth God; but God shall keep or guard him in temptation, and shall deliver [him] from evils.

2 A wise man hateth not the com-mandments, and rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses]; and he shall not be hurtled down, as in the tempest of a ship.

3 A wise man believeth in the law of God, and the law is faithful to him.

4 He that maketh open asking, shall make ready [or prepare] a word; and so he shall pray, and shall be heard, and he shall keep teaching, and then he shall answer.

5 The entrails of a fool be as a wheel of a cart, and his thoughts as an axle able to turn about.

6 An horse a stallion, so and a friend a scorner, neigheth under each sitting above.

7 Why a day overcometh a day, and again the light overcometh light, and a year overcometh a year, the sun overcometh the sun?

8 Those be parted of the knowing of the Lord, by the sun made, and keeping the commandment of God.

9 And it [or he] shall change times and the feast days of them, and in those times the Jews hallowed holy days, or holidays, at an hour. God enhanced and magnified of those holy days or holidays; and of those [or them] he setted [or put] into the number of days [and years];

10 and God made all men of firm earth [or soil], and of nesh earth, whereof Adam was formed.

11 In the multitude of knowing of the Lord, he parted [or severed] them, and changed the ways of them.

12 Of them God blessed, and enhanced; and of them he hallowed, and chose [or presented] to himself; of them he cursed, and made low, and turned them from the departing [or to the severing] of them.

13 As clay of a potter is in the hand of him, to make [or form] and dis-pose, that all the ways thereof be after the ordinance of him [or his dis-position]; so a man is in the hand of him that made him; and he shall yield to him by [or after] his doom.

14 Against evil is good, and against life is death; so and a sinner is against a just [or rightwise] man.

15 And so behold thou into all the works of the Highest; two things against twain, and one thing against one, [or two against two, one against one].

16 And I the last awaked, and as he that gathereth dregs of grapes, after the gatherers of grapes. And I hoped in the blessing of God; and as he that gathereth grapes, I filled the presser [or wine press].

17 Behold ye, for I travailed not to me alone, but to [or for] all that seek knowing [or discipline].

18 Great men, and all peoples hear ye me; and ye governors of the church, perceive with ears.

19 Give thou not power over thee in thy life to a son, and to a woman [or wife], to a brother, and to a friend; and give thou not thy possession to another man, lest peradventure it repent thee, and thou beseech for those [or them].

20 While thou art alive, [or livest], and breathest yet, each man shall not change thee.

21 For it is better, that thy sons pray thee, than that thou behold into the hands of thy sons.

22 In all thy works be thou sovereign; give thou not a wem into thy glory.

23 In the day of ending of days of thy life, and in the time of thy going out [or thy death], part [or deal out] thine heritage.

24 Meats, and a rod, and a burden to an ass; bread, and chastising [or discipline], and work to a servant.

25 He worketh in or under chas-tising, and seeketh to have rest; slack thou hands to him, and he seeketh freedom.

26 A yoke and bridle bow down an hard neck; and busy workings bow down a servant. Torment and stocks to an evil-willed servant;

27 send thou him into working, lest he be idle; for why idleness hath taught much malice.

28 Ordain thou [or set] him in work, for so it becometh him; that if he obeyeth not, bow thou down him in stocks,

29 and make thou not him large over any man, that is, give thou not to him power over any man, but without doom, do thou nothing grievous [or heavy].

30 If a faithful servant is to thee, be he as thy soul to thee [or If there is to thee a faithful servant, be he to thee as thy life]; treat thou him so as a brother, for thou hast bought him in the blood of life.

31 If thou hurtest him unjustly, he shall be turned into fleeing away [or flight]; and if he enhancing goeth away, thou knowest not whom thou shalt seek, and in what way thou shalt seek him.

CHAPTER 34

1 Vain hope and a leasing to an unwise man; and dreams [or swevens] enhance unprudent men.

2 As he that taketh [or catcheth] a shadow, and pursueth wind, so and he that taketh heed to leasings seen, or in vain dreams.

3 After this thing is the sight of dreams [or swevens]; before the face of a man is the likeness of another man.

4 What shall be cleansed of him that is unclean, and what true thing shall be said of a liar? [Of the unclean, what shall be cleansed, and of the liar, what sooth shall be said?]

5 False divining of error, and false divinings by chittering of birds, and dreams of witches, is vanity. And as the heart of a woman travailing of [or bearing] child, thine heart suffereth fantasies;

6 no but visitation is sent out of the Highest, give thou not thine heart in those dreams.

7 For why dreams have made many men for to err, and men hoping in those [or them] fell down [or fell away].

8 The word of the law of God and of his prophets, shall be made perfect without leasing; and wisdom in the mouth of a faithful man shall be made plain.

9 What knoweth he, that is not assayed? A man assayed in many things, shall think many things; and he that learned many things, shall tell out understanding.

10 He that is not assayed [or Who Is not expert], knoweth few things; forsooth he that is a fool in many things, shall multiply malice.

11 What manner things know he, that is not assayed? He that is not planted, that is, hath not set root of understanding, and desire in good, shall be plenteous in wickedness [or abound shrewdness]. I saw many things in telling out, and full many customs of words.

12 Sometime I was in peril unto death, for the cause of these things; and I was delivered by the grace of God.

13 The spirit of them that dread God is sought, and shall be blessed in the beholding of him. For why the hope of them is into God saving them; and the eyes of the Lord be into them, that love him.

14 He that dreadeth God, shall not tremble for anything, and he shall not dread; for why God is his hope.

15 The soul of him that dreadeth the Lord, is blessed. To whom beholdeth he, and who is his strength?

16 The eyes of the Lord be on them that dread him. God is a defender of might, steadfastness [or firmament] of virtue, covering of heat, and a sha-dowing place of midday; beseeching of offending, that is, hearing beseech-ing for offenses, and help of falling,

17 enhancing the soul, and lighten-ing the eyes, and giving health, and life, and blessing.

18 The offering of him that offereth of wicked thing, that is, of thing gotten unjustly, is defouled; and the scornings of unjust men be not well pleasant [or well-pleasing].

19 The Lord alone is to them that abide him in the way of truth, and of rightfulness [or rightwiseness]. The Highest approveth not the gifts of wicked men, neither beholdeth in the offerings of wicked men, neither in the multitude of their sacrifices he shall do [or have mercy] to their sins.

20 He that offereth sacrifice of the chattel [or substance] of poor men, is as he that slayeth the son in the sight of his father.

21 The bread of needy men is the life of a poor man; he that defraudeth him, is a man of blood.

22 He that taketh away bread earned in sweat, is as he that slayeth his neighbour. He that sheddeth out blood, and he that doeth fraud to an hired man, be brethren.

23 One building, and one destroy-ing; what profiteth it to them, no but travail?

24 One praying, and one cursing; whose voice shall the Lord hear?

25 What profiteth the washing of him, that is washed for a dead body, and toucheth again a dead body? [That is baptized from the dead, and again toucheth the dead, what profit-eth his washing?]

26 So a man that fasteth in his sins, and again doing the same sins, what profiteth he in meeking himself? who shall hear his prayer?

CHAPTER 35

1 He that keepeth the word of God, multiplieth prayer. Wholeful [or Wholesome] sacrifice is to take heed to the commandments, and to depart [or go away] from all wickedness. And to offer the pleasing of sacrifice for unrightfulnesses [or unrightwise-nesses], and beseeching for sins, is to go away from unrightfulness [or unrightwiseness].

2 He that offereth purest [or tried] flour of wheat, shall yield grace, that is, shall give a pleasant service to God; and he that doeth mercy, offereth a sacrifice.

3 It is well pleasant [or well-pleas-ing] to the Lord, to go away from wickedness; and prayer is to go away from unrightfulness [or unrightwise-ness].

4 Thou shalt not appear void before the sight of God;

5 for why all these things be done for the behests of God.

6 The offering of a just [or right-wise] man maketh fat the altar, and is odour of sweetness in the sight of the Highest.

7 The sacrifice of a just [or right-wise] man is acceptable, and the Lord shall not forget the mind of him.

8 With good will yield thou glory to God, and make thou not less the first fruits of thine hands.

9 In each gift [or all gifts] make glad thy cheer, and in full out joying hallow thy tithes.

10 Give thou to the Highest after his gift [or Give to the Highest after the free gift of him], that is, after the quantity of thy goods, which thou hast of God; and with good eye make thou the findings of thine hands, that is, with rightful intent, ordain thy good works, to the praising of God and not of man.

11 For why the Lord is a yielder, and he shall yield sevenfold so much to thee [or seven times as much he shall yield to thee].

12 Do not thou offer shrewd gifts; for he shall not receive those [or them]. And do not thou behold an unjust [or unrightwise] sacrifice; for the Lord is judge, and glory, or taking, of persons is not at [or with] him.

13 The Lord shall not take or favour a person against a poor man; and he shall hear the prayer of him that is hurt.

14 He shall not despise the prayers of a fatherless child, neither a widow, if she sheddeth [or poured] out speech of wailing.

15 Whether the tears of a widow go not down to the cheek, and the crying of her on him that leadeth forth those tears? For why those ascend [or they go up] from the cheek unto heaven, and the Lord hearing shall not delight in those [or them].

16 He that worshippeth God in delighting, shall be received; and his prayer shall nigh unto the clouds.

17 The prayer of him that meeketh himself shall pierce clouds, and till it nigheth to God, he shall not be comforted, and he shall not go away, till the Highest behold. And the Lord shall not be far [or long away], but he shall judge just [or rightwise] men, and shall make doom;

18 and the Strongest shall not have patience in those [or them], that he trouble the backs of them. And he shall yield vengeance to folks, till he take away the fullness of proud men, [or to Gentiles he shall yield venge-ance, to the time that he take away the plenty of proud men], and trouble altogether the sceptres of wicked men;

19 till he yield to men after their deeds, and after the works of Adam*, and after the presumption of him; till he deem the doom of his people, and shall delight just [or rightwise] men in his mercy.

20 The mercy of God is fair in the time of tribulation, as clouds of rain in the time of dryness [or drought].

CHAPTER 36

1 God of all things, have thou mercy on us; and behold thou us, and show to us the light of thy merciful doings.

2 And send thy dread on heathen men [or Gentiles], that sought not thee, that they know that no God is [or there is not God], no but thou; that they tell out thy great deeds.

3 Raise thine hand on heathen men aliens, that they see thy power. [Rear up thine hand upon alien folks, that they see thy might.]

4 For as thou were hallowed in us in the sight of them, so in our sight thou shalt be magnified in them;

5 that they know thee, as and we have known, that none other is God, except thee, Lord. [that they know thee, as we have known, for there is none other God, save thee, Lord.]

6 Make thou new signs, and change thou marvels; glorify the hand, and the right arm.

7 Raise thou strong vengeance, and shed out ire [or Rear up madness, and pour out wrath]; take away the adver-sary, and torment the enemy.

8 Haste thou the time, and have thou mind on the end, that they tell out thy marvels.

9 And he that is saved, be devoured in the ire of flame; and they that treat worst thy people, find perdition.

10 All-break thou the heads of princes, and of enemies, saying, None other is [or There is none other], except us.

11 Gather thou together all the lineages of Jacob, and know they that no God is, no but thou [or know they for there is no God but thou], that they tell out thy great deeds; and thou shalt inherit them, as at the begin-ning.

12 Have thou mercy on thy people, on which thy name is called into help; and on Israel, whom thou madest even to thy first engendered son [or to thy first begotten].

13 Have thou mercy on Jerusalem, the city of thine hallowing, on the city of thy rest.

14 Fill thou Zion with thy virtues, that may not be told out, and fill thy people with thy glory. [Full-fill Zion with thine untellable virtues, and thy people with thy glory.]

15 Give thou witnessing, that at [or from] the beginning they were thy creatures; and raise thou prayers, which the former prophets spake in thy name.

16 Lord, give thou meed to them that abide thee, that thy prophets be found true [or faithful];

17 and hear thou the prayer of thy servants. After the blessing of Aaron give thou to thy people, and dress thou us into the way of rightfulness [or right rule us into the way of rightwiseness]; that all men know, that dwell in earth, that thou art God, the beholder of worlds.

18 The womb shall eat all meats, and one meat is better than another meat.

19 Cheeks touch meat almost, and an unwise heart receiveth false [or leasing] words.

20 A shrewd heart shall give heavi-ness, and a wise man shall against-stand [or withstand] it.

21 A woman shall take each knave [or male] child, and a daughter is better than a son [or there is a daughter better than the son].

22 The fairness of a woman maketh glad the face of her husband, and she shall bring desire for herself over all the covetousness [or lust] of her man.

23 If there is a tongue of healing [or curing], there is also of assuaging, and of mercy; the husband of her is not after the sons of men.

24 He that hath in possession a good woman, beginneth possession; she is an help like him, and a pillar as rest.

25 Where an hedge is not, the possession shall be ravished away [or broken]; and where a woman is not, a needy man waileth.

26 To whom believeth he that hath no nest, and boweth down wherever it is dark, as a thief girt [or girded up], skipping out from city into city?

CHAPTER 37

1 Each friend shall say, And I have coupled friendship; but that is a friend [or but there is a friend], a friend by name alone.

2 Whether sorrow is not till to death? Forsooth a fellow of table and a friend shall be turned to enmity.

3 A! the worst presumption [or O! most shrewd presumption], whereof art thou made to cover dry malice, and the guilefulness thereof? [or the treachery of it?]

4 A fellow of table shall be merry with a friend in delightings, and in the day of tribulation he shall be adversary.

5 A fellow of table shall have sorrow with a friend, for cause [or because] of the womb; and he shall take shield against an enemy.

6 Forget thou not thy friend in thy soul, and be thou not unmindful of him in thy works. Do not thou take counsel with the father of thy wife; and hide thou counsel from them that have envy to thee.

7 Each counsellor showeth counsel, but there is a counsellor to [or in] himself.

8 Keep thy soul from an evil counsellor; first know thou, what is his need, and what he shall think in his soul; lest peradventure he send a stake [or he put a pole or a pale] into the earth,

9 and say to thee, Thy way is good, and he stand again-ward, to see what shall befall to thee.

10 With an unreligious man, treat thou*not of holiness, and with an unjust man, not of rightfulness, [With an unreligious man treat of holiness, and with the unrightwise man of rightwiseness,]†

11 and with a woman, not of these things which she hateth [or envieth]. With a fearedful man, treat thou not of battle, with a merchant, not of carrying over of merchandises to chapping[or exchanging]; with a buyer, not of selling, with an envious man, not of graces to be done; with an unpiteous man, not of pity, with an unhonest man, not of honesty, with a workman of the field [or the field worker], not of each work; with a workman hired by the year, not of the ending of the year [or the annual worker], with a slow servant, not of much working. Give thou not atten-tion to these men in all counsel [or Take thou not heed to these in all counsel],

12 but be thou busy with an holy man, whomever thou knowest keeping God’s dread, whose soul is after thy soul. Whoever doubteth in darknesses, shall not have sorrow with thee.

13 And stablish thou the heart of good counsel with thee; for why an-other thing is not more than it to thee.

14 The soul of an holy man telleth out truths sometime; more than seven beholders [or seven lookers about], sitting on high for to behold.

15 And in all these things beseech thou the Highest, that he dress [or right rule] thy way in truth.

16 Before all works a soothfast word go before thee; and a steadfast [or stable] counsel go before each deed.

17 A wicked [or shrewd] word shall change the heart,

18 of which heart four parts come forth [or spring]; good and evil, life and death; and a busy tongue is lord of those.

19 A wise man hath taught many men, and he is not sweet to his soul.

20 He that speaketh sophistically, either by sophism, is hateful; he shall be defrauded in each thing.

21 For why grace is not given of the Lord to him, for he is defrauded of all wisdom.

22 A wise man is wise to his soul, and the fruits of his wit be worthy to be praised.

23 A wise man teacheth his people, and the fruits of his wit be faithful.

24 A wise man shall be filled with blessings, and they that see him shall praise him.

25 The life of a man is in the number of days; but the days of Israel be unnumberable.

26 A wise man in the people shall inherit honour, and his name shall be living without end.

27 Son, assay thy soul in thy life; and if it is wicked, give thou not power to it;

28 for why not all things speed to all men, and not each kind pleaseth each soul.

29 Do not thou be greedy in each eating, and shed thou not out thee [or pour thee not out] on each meat.

30 For in many meats shall be sick-ness, and greediness shall nigh unto choler.

31 Many men died for gluttony; but he that is abstinent, shall increase [or add] life.

CHAPTER 38

1 Honour thou a leech, for need; for why the Highest hath made [or formed] him.

2 For why all medicine is of God [or Of God forsooth is all leeching]; and he shall take of the king a gift.

3 The knowing of a leech shall enhance his head; and he shall be praised in the sight of great men.

4 The Highest hath made [or formed] of the earth medicine; and a prudent man shall not loathe it.

5 Whether bitter water was not made sweet of a tree? The virtue of those things came by experience to the knowing of men;

6 and the Highest gave knowing to men, for to be honoured in his marvels.

7 A man healing [or curing] in these things, shall assuage sorrow,

8 and an ointment-maker shall make pigments of sweetness, and shall make anointings of health; and his works shall not be ended. For why the peace of God is on the face of earth.

9 My son, despise not thyself in thy sickness [or infirmity]; but pray thou the Lord, and he shall heal [or cure] thee.

10 Turn thou away from sin, and dress thine hands, and cleanse thine heart from all sin.

11 Give thou sweetness, and the mind of clean [or tried] flour of wheat, and make thou fat [the] offer-ing;

12 and give thou place to a leech. For the Lord made him, and depart he not [or go he not away] from thee; for his works be needful to thee.

13 For why time is, when thou shalt fall [or run] into the hands of them.

14 Forsooth they shall beseech the Lord, that he dress [or right rule] the work of them, and health for their living.

15 He that trespasseth in the sight of him, that made him, shall fall into the hands of the leech.

16 Son, bring thou forth tears on a dead man, and thou as suffering hard things begin to weep; and by [or after] doom, cover thou the body of him, and despise thou not his bury-ing.

17 But for backbiting, bear thou bitterly the mourning of him for one day; and be thou comforted for sorrow [or take comfort for heaviness]. And make thou mourning after his merit [or deserving]for one day, either twain [or two], for backbiting.

18 For why death hasteth of sorrow, and covereth virtue; and the sorrow of heart boweth the head.

19 Sorrow dwelleth in leading away; and the chattel [or substance] of a needy man is after his heart.

20 Give thou not thine heart in sorrow, but put it away from thee; and have thou mind on the last things,

21 and do not thou forget. For why no returning is from death to this present life, and thou shalt nothing profit to this dead man; and thou shalt harm or treat worst thyself.

22 Be thou mindful of my doom; for also thine shall be thus, to me yester-day, and to thee today.

23 In the rest of a dead man, make thou his mind to have rest; and comfort thou him, in the going out of his spirit.

24 Write thou wisdom in the time of voidness; and he that is made less in deeds, shall perceive wisdom; for he shall be filled of [or with] wisdom.

25 He that holdeth the plow, and he that hath glory in a goad, driveth oxes [or oxen] with a prick, and he liveth in the works of those [or them]; and his telling is in the sons of bulls.

26 He shall give his heart to turn furrows; and his waking shall be about the fatness of kine.

27 So each carpenter, and principal workman, that passeth the night as the day; that engraveth images [or brooches] engraved, and the busyness of him diverseth [or varieth] the painture; he shall give his heart [in] to the likeness of painture, and by his waking he performeth the work.

28 So a smith sitting beside the anfelt [or stithy], and beholding the work of iron, the heat of fire burneth his fleshes [or flesh]; and he striveth in the heat of the furnace. The voice of a hammer maketh new his ear; and his eye is against the likeness of a vessel. He shall give his heart into the performing of works; and by his waking he shall adorn unperfection, that is, matter which he bringeth to perfection of form.

29 So a potter sitting at his work, turning a wheel with his feet, which is put ever[more] in busyness for his work; and all his working is un-numberable [or without number].

30 In his arm he shall form clay; and before his feet he shall bow his virtue. He shall give his heart to end perfectly something; and by his waking he shall cleanse the furnace.

31 All these men hoped in their hands; and each man is wise in his craft.

32 A city is not builded [or built] without all these men. And they shall not dwell [in], neither go [in];

33 and they shall not skip over [or over-leap] into the church. They shall not sit on the seat of a judge; and they shall not understand the testament of doom, neither they shall make open teaching and doom; and they shall not be found in parables.

34 But they shall confirm the creature of the world, and their prayer is the working of craft;

CHAPTER 39

1 and they give their soul, and they ask together [or together seeking] in the law of the Highest. A wise man shall seek out the wisdom of all eld [or old] men; and he shall give attention in prophets.

2 He shall keep the tellings of named men; and he shall enter altogether into the hard sentences [or the slynesses] of parables.

3 He shall seek out the privy things of proverbs; and he shall be con-versant in the hid things of parables.

4 He shall minister in the midst of great men; and he shall appear in the sight of the chief judge. He shall pass into the land of alien folks; for he shall assay goods, and evils in all things.

5 He shall give his heart to wake early to the Lord that made him; and he shall beseech [or lowly pray] in the sight of the Highest. He shall open his mouth in prayer; and he shall beseech for his trespasses.

6 For if the great Lord will, he shall fill him with the spirit of under-standing. And he shall send the words of his wisdom, as rains; and in prayer he shall acknowledge to the Lord.

7 And he, that is, the Lord, shall dress his counsel, and teaching; and shall counsel in his hid things.

8 He shall make open the wisdom of his teaching; and he shall have glory in the law of the testament of the Lord.

9 Many men shall praise his wisdom; and it shall not be done away till into the world. His mind [or The memory of him] shall not go away; and his name shall be sought from generation into generation.

10 Folks shall tell out his wisdom; and the church shall tell [out] his praising.

11 If his name dwelleth, he shall leave more than a thousand; and if he resteth, it shall profit to him.

12 Yet I shall take counsel to tell out, for I am [full-]filled as with madness; and mine inner spirit saith in voice,

13 Ye fruits of God, hear me, and make ye fruit, as roses planted [up] on the rivers of waters.

14 Have ye odour of sweetness, as the Lebanon hath. Bring forth flowers, as a lily; give ye odour, and make ye boughs [or brancheth] into grace. And praise ye together a song; and bless ye the Lord in his works.

15 Give ye great honour to his name, and acknowledge ye to him in the voice of your lips, in songs of lips, and in harps; and thus ye shall say in acknowledging,

16 All the works of the Lord be full good.

17 Forsooth [the] water as an heap of stones stood at his word; and as receptacles of waters in the word of his mouth.

18 For why peaceableness is made in his commandment; and no default is [or there is not lessening] in the health of him, that is, in saving made by him.

19 The works of each flesh [or all flesh]be before him; and nothing is hid from his eyes.

20 He beholdeth from the world till into the world; and nothing is too wonderful [or marvellous] in his sight.

21 It is not to say, What is this thing, either, What is that thing? [or What is this, or, What is that?] for why all things shall be sought in their time.

22 The blessing of him shall flow as a flood;

23 and as the great flood filled greatly the earth, so his ire shall inherit in folks [or so the wrath of him shall heritage Gentiles], that sought not him.

24 As he turned waters into dry-nesses [or drought], and the earth was dried, and his ways were dressed to the ways of them; so offences in his ire [or wrath]be dressed to sinners.

25 Good things were made at [or from] the beginning to good men; so good things and evil be made to worst men.

26 The beginning of needful [or necessary] things to the life of men, water, fire, and iron, and salt, and milk, and bread of clean [or tried] flour of wheat, and honey, and a cluster of grapes, and oil, and clothes [or clothing].

27 All these things shall turn to holy men into goods; so and to unfaithful [or unpious] men and to sinners into evils.

28 Spirits be that be made to vengeance [or There be spirits that to vengeance be formed]; and in their madness they confirmed their tor-ments. And in the time of ending they shall shed [or pour] out virtue; and they shall confound the strong venge-ance of him that made them.

29 Fire, hail, hunger, and death; all these things be made [or formed] to vengeance;

30 the teeth of beasts, and scorpions, and serpents, and a sword punishing wicked men into destroying.

31 In the commandments of him, those [or they] shall eat, and those [or they] shall be made ready on the earth in need; and in their times those [or they] shall not over-pass one word.

32 Therefore from the beginning I was confirmed; and I counselled, and thought, and left it all written down.

33 All the works of the Lord be good; and each work shall serve in his hour.

34 It is not to say, This is worse than that; for why all things shall be proved or approved in their time.

35 And now in all the heart and mouth praise ye together, and bless ye the name of the Lord.

CHAPTER 40

1 Great occupation is made to all men, and an heavy yoke on the sons of Adam, from the day of the going out of the womb of their mother, till into the day of burying into the mother of all men, that is, into the earth.

2 The thoughts of them, and the dreads of heart, findings of abiding, and the day of ending;

3 from him that sitteth before on a glorious seat, unto a man made low into earth and ashes;

4 from him that useth jacinth [or blue silk], and beareth a crown, unto him that is covered with raw linen cloth,

5 madness, envy, noise, doubting, and dread of death, wrathfulness dwelling continually, and strife; and in the time of resting [or repast] in the bed, the sleep of night changeth his knowing.

6 Forsooth a little is as nought in rest; beholding is of him in sleep as in the day. He is disturbed or troubled in the sight of his heart, as he that escapeth [or escaped] in the day of battle.

7 He rose up in the day of his health, and dreading not at any dread [or and wondering at no dread],

8 with all flesh, from man unto beast, and sevenfold more, that is, grievous punishment, shall come on sinners.

9 At these things, death, blood, striving [or strife], and sword, oppress-ings, hunger, and sorrow, and beat-ings [or scourges];

10 all these things be made on wicked men, and the great flood was made for them.

11 For why all things that be of the earth, shall return into the earth; and all things that be of the waters shall return into the sea.

12 All gift, given for destroying of rightfulness, and wickedness, done for gift, shall be done away, [or All gift and wickedness shall be done away]; and faith shall stand into the world.

13 The riches of unjust men shall be made dry as a flood, [or The sub-stances of unrightwise men as a flood shall be dried up]; and shall sound as a great thunder in rain.

14 An unjust man shall be glad in opening his hands; so trespassers shall fail in the end. [As the rightwise man in opening his hands shall glad; so the law-breakers in the end shall wane away.]

15 The sons of sons of wicked [or unpious] men shall not multiply branches; and be like unclean roots sown on the cop or top of a stone.

16 Greenness beside each water; and at the brink of the flood, it shall be drawn out by the root before all hay.

17 Grace as paradise in blessings; and mercy dwelleth into the world.

18 The life of a workman sufficient to himself shall be made sweet; and thou shalt find treasure therein.

19 Building of a city shall confirm a name; and a woman without wem shall be reckoned above this [or over this an undefouled woman shall be counted], for why her steadfastness shall stand without end.

20 Wine and music make glad the heart; and love of wisdom gladdeth above ever either. [Wine and melody gladden the heart; and over either the loving of wisdom.]

21 Pipes and psaltery make sweet melody; and a sweet tongue above ever either.

22 An eye shall desire grace and fair-ness; and green sowings above these things [or over these green tilthes].

23 A friend and fellow coming together in time; and a woman with a man above [or over] ever either.

24 Brethren into help in the time of tribulation comfort much; and mercy shall deliver more than they [or over them].

25 Gold and silver, and setting of feet; and counsel well-pleasing is above [or over] ever either.

26 Riches and virtues enhance the heart; and the dread of the Lord more than this. Making less is not in the dread of the Lord; and in that dread it is not to seek help, [or There is not in the dread of the Lord lessening; and there is not in it to seek help].

27 The dread of the Lord is as paradise of blessing; and the bless-ings of God covered him above all glory.

28 Son, in the time of thy life, be thou not needy, that is, in time of present life, granted to thee to work well, be thou not idle; for it is better to die, than to be needy [or than to need], that is, it is better to die bodily, than to be idle, by which a man dieth ghostly.

29 A man beholding into another man’s board, his life is not in the thought of lifelode; for he sustaineth his life with other men’s meats. Forsooth a chastised man and learned [or A man forsooth disciplined and taught], shall keep himself.

30 Neediness shall be defouled [or made] in the mouth of an unprudent, that is, a slow and idle, man; and fire shall burn in his womb.

CHAPTER 41

1 A! death, thy mind is full bitter to an unjust man, and having peace in his riches; to a restful man, and whose ways be dressed in all things, that is, hath prosperity in all temporal things, and yet mighty to take meat. [O! death, how bitter is thy mind to an unrightwise man, and having peace in his substances; to a quiet man, and whose ways be right straight or strait, in all things, and yet mighty to take meat.]

2 A! death [or O! death], thy doom is good to a needy man, and which is made less in strengths [or that is lessened in strength], and faileth for age, and to whom is care of all things, and unbelieveful, that loseth wisdom.

3 Do not thou dread the doom of death, that is, set thou thee in such a state, that the doom of death be good to thee; have thou mind what things were before thee, and what things shall come [up] on thee; this doom is of [or from] the Lord to each man [or to all flesh].

4 And those things that shall come on thee in the good pleasance of the Highest; whether ten years, either an hundred, either a thousand. For why none accusing of life is in hell, that is, no man may excuse him there, in alleging goodness of life, [or Forsooth there is not in hell accusing of life.]

5 The sons of abominations be the sons of sinners; and they that dwell beside the houses of wicked [or un-pious] men.

6 The heritage of the sons of sinners shall perish; and the contin-uance of shame [or the busyness of reproof] with the seed of them.

7 Sons complain of a wicked father; for they be in shame [or reproof] for him.

8 Woe to you, ye wicked men, that have forsaken the law of the Highest [or of the highest Lord].

9 And if ye be born, ye shall be born in cursedness; and if ye be dead, your part shall be in cursedness, [or if ye shall die, in cursing shall be your part].

10 All things that be of the earth, shall return into the earth; so wicked [or unpious] men shall turn from cursing into perdition.

11 The mourning of men is in the body of them; but the name of wicked men shall be done away.

12 Have thou busyness of a good name; for why this shall dwell more with thee, than a thousand treasures great and precious.

13 The number of days is the term of good life; but a good name shall dwell without end [or abide still into the spiritual world].

14 Sons, keep ye teaching [or discipline] in peace; for why wisdom hid, and treasure unseen, what profit is in ever either?

15 Better is a man that hideth his folly, than a man that hideth his wisdom.

16 Nevertheless turn ye again in these things that come forth of [or go out of] my mouth. For it is not good to keep all unreverence, and not all things please all men in faith.

17 Be ye ashamed of fornication, before father, and before mother; and of a leasing, before a justice, and before a mighty man;

18 and of trespass, before a prince, and before a judge; and of wicked-ness, before a synagogue, and a people; and of unrightfulness, before a fellow, and a friend;

19 and of theft, in the place wherein thou dwellest; of the truth and the testament of God; of sitting [down] at the meat in loaves; and of the blemishing of gift or of giving, and taking, [or of the darkening of the given thing, and of taken];

20 of stillness, before them that greet [or saluting]thee; of the beholding of a lecherous [or fornicary] woman; and of the turning away of the cheer of a cousin.

21 Turn thou not away thy face from thy neighbour; and be thou ware of taking away a part, and not restoring. Behold thou not the woman of an-other man;

22 and ensearch thou not her hand-maid [or handwoman of him], neither stand thou at her bed. Be thou ware of friends, of the words of upbraiding [or reproof]; and when thou hast given, upbraid thou not.

23 Double thou not a word of hearing, of the showing [or the opening] of an hid word;

24 and thou shalt be verily without shame [or confusion], and thou shalt find grace in the sight of all men.

CHAPTER 42

1 Be thou not ashamed [or con-founded] for all these things; and take [or accept]or favour thou not a person, that thou do trespass.

2 Be thou ware of the law and testament of the Highest, of doom to justify a wicked [or unpious] man;

3 of the word of fellows, and of way-goers, and of the giving of heritage of friends;

4 of the evenness of balance, and of weights, of the getting of many things, and of few things;

5 of corruption of buying, and of merchants, and of much chastising [or discipline] of sons; and of a worst servant, to make the side to bleed.

6 A sealing, either enclosing, is good on a wicked woman. Where be many hands, enclose thou;

7 and whatever thing thou shalt betake, number thou, and weigh thou; forsooth describe thou, either write down, each gift, and taking.

8 Abstain thou from the teaching [or discipline] of an unwitting man, and [the] fool, and of elder men [or elders] that be deemed of young men; and thou shalt be learned in all things, and thou shalt be commend-able [or approvable] in the sight of all men.

9 An hid daughter of a father is waking and busyness of him; she shall take away sleep [or The daughter of the father is hid, the watch and the busyness of her shall do away sleep]; lest peradventure she be made adult-eress in her young waxing age, and lest she dwelling with the husband, be made hateful;

10 lest anytime she be defouled in her virginity [or polluted in her maidenhood], and be found with child in the keeping of her father; lest peradventure she dwelling with the husband, do trespass [or she trespass], either certainly be made barren.

11 Ordain thou keeping [or ward] on a lecherous daughter, lest any time she make thee to come into shame [or reproof] to [thine] enemies, of back-biting in the city, and of casting out of the people; and she make thee ashamed in the multitude of people.

12 Do not thou take heed to each man in the fairness, that is, in delighting in the beholding of his fairness; and do not thou dwell in the midst of women.

13 For why a moth cometh forth of clothes, and [the] wickedness of a man cometh forth of a woman.

14 For why the wickedness of a man is better, that is, less evil, than a woman doing well, and a woman shaming into shame [or a woman confounded into reproof]*.

15 Therefore be thou [or be I] mindful of the works of the Lord; and I shall tell the works of the Lord, which I saw, in the words of the Lord.

16 The sun lightening beheld by all things [or The sun shining through all things beheld]; and the work thereof is full of the glory of the Lord.

17 Whether the Lord made not holy men [or saints] to tell out all his marvels, which the Lord Almighty steadfast in his glory shall confirm?

18 He shall ensearch the depth, and the heart of men; and he shall think in the fellness, [or the sly wit, or guile], of them. For the Lord knew all knowing, and beheld into the signs of the world;

19 telling [out] those things that be passed, and those things that shall come; showing [or opening] the steps of hid things.

20 And no thought passeth him by, and no word hideth itself from him.

21 He made fair the great works of his wisdom, which is before the world, and till into the world; neither anything is increased, neither is decreased, [or nor it is added, nor it is lessened], and he hath no need to the counsel of any [man].

22 All his works be full desirable, and to behold, as a sparkle which is. [How desirable be all the works of him, and as a sparkle that is, to behold.]

23 All these things live, and dwell into the world; and all things obey to him in all need.

24 All things be double, one against one; and he made not anything to fail.

25 He shall confirm the goods of each [or Of everything he shall confirm the goods]; and who shall be filled, seeing his glory?

CHAPTER 43

1 The firmament of highness is the fairness thereof [or The firmament of the height is the fairness of him]; the fairness of heaven in the sight of glory.

2 The sun in beholding, telling in going out, is a wonderful vessel, the work of high God. [The sun in the sight, showing out in the issue, a marvellous vessel, the work of the High.]

3 In the time of midday it burneth the earth; and who shall be able to suffer in the sight of his heat?

4 Keeping a furnace in the works of heat; the sun burning hills in three manners, sending out beams of fire [or blasting out fiery beams], and shining again with his beams, blind-eth eyes.

5 The Lord is great [or Great is the Lord], that made it; and in the words of him it hasted its journey.

6 And the moon in all men in his time is showing of time, and a sign of the world. [And the moon in all things in his time showing of time, and token of the spiritual world.]

7 A sign of the feast [or holy] day is taken of the moon; the light which is made little in the end.

8 The month is increasing [or wax-ing] by the name thereof, wonderfully into the ending. A vessel of castles [or tents] in high things, shining glorious-ly in the firmament of heaven.

9 The fairness of heaven is the glory of stars; the Lord on high lighteneth the world.

10 In the words of the Holy, those shall stand at the doom; and those shall not fail in their wakings [or they shall not fail in their watches].

11 See thou the rainbow, and bless thou him that made it; it is full fair in his shining.

12 It went about heaven in the com-pass [or the circuit] of his glory; the hands of high God[or of the High] opened it.

13 By his commandment he hasted the snow; and he hasteth to send out the lightnings of his doom.

14 Therefore [the] treasures were opened, and [the] clouds fled out as bees [or flew away as birds].

15 In his greatness he setted [or put the] clouds; and stones of hail were broken.

16 [The] Hills shall be moved in his sight; and the south wind shall blow in his will.

17 The voice of his thunder shall beat [or beateth] the earth; the tempest of the north, and the gathering together of wind. And as a bird putting down to sit sprinkleth snow, and the coming down of that snow is as a locust drowning down.

18 The eye shall wonder [or marvel] on the fairness of whiteness thereof; and an heart dreadeth [or quaketh] on the rain thereof.

19 He shall shed [or pour] out frost as salt [up] on the earth; and while the wind bloweth, it shall be made as cops or tops of a briar [or bramble bush].

20 The cold northern wind blew, and crystal of water froze together [or the crystal freezed from the water]; it resteth on all the gathering together of waters, and it clotheth itself with waters, as with an habergeon.

21 And it shall devour hills, and it shall burn the desert; and it shall quench [the] green thing as fire.

22 The medicine of all things is in the hasting [or hieing] of a cloud; a dew, meeting the heat coming of burning, shall make it low.

23 The wind was still in the word of God; by his thought he made peaceable the depth of waters; and the Lord Jesus*, that is, God, which is Saviour of all men, planted it. [In his word the wind held his peace; by his thinking he shall peace the sea; and the Lord Jesus planted it.]

24 They that sail in the sea, tell out the perils thereof; and we hearing with our ears, shall wonder.

25 There be full clear works, and wonderful [or marvellous], diverse kinds of beasts, and of all little beasts, and the creatures of wonderful fishes.

26 The end of way is confirmed for it; and all things be made in the word of him. [For him is confirmed the end of the way; and in the word of him all things be made together.]

27 We say many things, and we fail in words; forsooth he is the [full] ending of words.

28 To what thing shall we be mighty, that have glory in all things? for he is all-mighty above [or over] all his works.

29 The Lord is fearedful, and full great; and his power is wonderful [or marvellous].

30 Glorify ye the Lord as much as ever ye may, yet he shall be mightier; and his great doing is wonderful [or marvellous]. Ye blessing the Lord, enhance him as much as ye may; for he is more than all praising. Ye enhancing him shall be filled with virtue; travail ye not to know God perfectly in this life, for ye shall not take it perfectly, that is, for it is unpossible, [or ye shall not full come].

31 Who saw him, and shall tell it out? and who shall magnify him, as he is from the beginning?

32 Many things greater than these be hid from us; for we have seen few things of his works.

33 Forsooth the Lord made all things; and he gave wisdom to men doing faithfully [or piously].

CHAPTER 44

1 Praise we glorious men, and our fathers in their generation. [We praise glorious men, and our fathers and mothers in their generation.]

2 The Lord made much glory by his great doing, from the world.

3 Great men in virtue were lords in their powers, and rich in their prudence; telling in prophets, the dignity of prophets,

4 and commanding in [the] present people, and telling holiest words to peoples, by the virtue of prudence.

5 Seeking manners of music in their knowing, and telling [the] songs [or ditties] of scriptures.

6 Rich men in virtue, having the study of fairness, making peace in their houses.

7 All these men got glory in the generations of their folk; and be had in praisings in their days.

8 They that were born of them, left a name to tell the praisings of them.

9 And some there be, of which is no mind; they perished as they that were not, and they were born as not born; and their sons perished with them.

10 But also the men of mercy be, whose pieties [or piousnesses] failed not;

11 and good heritage dwelled con-tinually with the seed of them. And the seed of their sons’ sons stood in testament,

12 and the heritage of their sons dwelleth for them, till into without end;

13 the seed of them, and the glory of them, shall not be forsaken.

14 The bodies of them be buried in peace; and the name of them shall live into generations and generations.

15 Peoples [shall] tell the wisdom of them; and the church telleth the praising of them.

16 Enoch* pleased God, and was translated or borne over into paradise, that he give wisdom to folks.

17 Noah was found perfect and just [or a perfect, rightwise man], and he was made reconciling in the time of wrathfulness [or wrath]. Therefore residue seed was left to earth, when the great flood was made.

18 Testaments of the world were set with him, lest all flesh might be done away by the great flood.

19 Abraham was the great father of the multitude of folks; and none was found like him in glory, that is, in virtuous work, [or there is not found like to him in glory],

20 which kept the law of high God[or of the Highest], and was in testament with him. He made a testament to stand in his flesh [or In his flesh he made to stand the testament]; and he was found faithful in temptation.

21 Therefore God with an oath gave to him glory in his folk; God made him to increase, as an heap of earth, and to enhance his seed as stars, and to inherit them from the sea unto the sea, from the flood unto the ends of [the] earth.

22 And to Isaac God did in the same manner, as for Abraham, his father. The Lord gave to him the blessing of all folks; and confirmed his testament

23 on the head of Jacob. He knew him in his blessings, and gave heritage to him; and parted to him a part in twelve lineages [or he divided to him part in the twelve lineages].

CHAPTER 45

1 And he kept to him men of mercy, finding grace in the sight of each man [or all flesh]. Moses was loved of God and of men; whose mind is in blessing.

2 He made him like in the glory of saints, and he magnified him in the dread of enemies;

3 and in his words he made peace-able the wonders against kind. He glorified him in the sight of kings, and he commanded to him before his people, and showed his glory to him [or he showed to him his glory].

4 In the faith and mildness of him God made him holy; and chose him of all men.

5 For he heard him, and his voice; and led him in to a cloud. And gave to him an heart to commandments, and to the law of life, and to teaching; to teach Jacob a testament [or his testament], and Israel his dooms.

6 He made high Aaron, his brother, and like him of the lineage of Levi.

7 He ordained to him an ever-lasting testament, or covenant, and gave to him the priesthood of the folk. And he made him blessful in glory, and girt him with a girdle of rightfulness [or he girded him about with the girdle of rightwiseness]; and [he] clothed him with a stole of glory, and crowned him in the ornaments or adornments of virtue.

8 He setted on him sandals, and breeches, and a cloth on the shoulders, [Shoes, and breeches, and cape he put to him,]

9 and girt him about with full many small [or little] golden bells in com-pass; to give sound in his going, [and] to make sound heard in the temple, into mind to the sons of his folk.

10 God gave to him an holy stole, a woven work, with gold and jacinth, and purple, [or blue violet silk, and sanguine silk], the work of a wise man, made rich with doom and truth or Urim and Thummim;

11 the work of a craftsman, in writhed red thread [or with fire-red silk folded again], with precious gems engraved [or figured] in the binding of gold, and engraved by the work of a craftsman of stones [or the lapidary], into mind, by [or after] the number of the lineages of Israel.

12 A golden [or gold] crown on his mitre, set forth with the sign of holiness, the glory of honour, and the work of virtue, adorned to [the] desire of eyes.

13 Such things so fair were not before him, unto the east. None alien was clothed therein [or There is not clothed with it any alien], but only his sons, and his sons’ sons alone, by all time.

14 His sacrifices were ended each day by fire.

15 Moses filled his hands, that is, made sacred, and anointed him with holy oil. It was made to him into everlasting testament, and to his seed as the days of heaven, to use [the office of] priesthood, and to have praising, that is, to have the office to praise God, and to glorify his people in his name.

16 God chose him of each living man, to offer sacrifice to God, incense, and good odour, into mind, for to please [or to make peace] for his people.

17 And he gave to him power in his commandments, and in the testa-ments of dooms, to teach Jacob witnessings, and in his law to give light to Israel.

18 For aliens stood against him, and men that were with Dathan and Abiram, and the congregation of Korah, in wrathfulness [or full wrath] encompassed him for envy, in desert.

19 The Lord saw, and it pleased not him; and they were wasted in the fierceness of wrathfulness. He made to them wonders against kind, and in the flame of fire he wasted them, for the earth swallowed them, and they went down quick into hell.

20 And he increased glory to Aaron, and gave heritage to him; and he parted [or divided] to Aaron the first things of fruits of the earth. He made ready [or prepared] his bread in the first things, into fullness;

21 for why and they shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord, which he gave to him, and to his seed.

22 But in the land of his folk he shall not have heritage, and no part is to him among the folk; for why God is the part and heritage of him.

23 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, was the third in glory, in pursuing [or following] him in the dread of God, and to stand in the reverence of the folk; in the goodness and gladness of his soul he pleased God of Israel.

24 Therefore God ordained to him the testament of peace, and made him prince of holy men, and of his folk; that the dignity of priesthood be to him and to his seed, without end.

25 And the testament of David, the son of Jesse, of the lineage of Judah, was heritage to him, and to his seed;

26 that he should give wisdom into our hearts, to deem his folk in rightfulness [or rightwiseness], lest their goods shall be done away; and he made the glory of them to be ever-lasting, in the folk of them.

CHAPTER 46

1 Jesus Nave, or Joshua son of Nun, the successor of Moses in prophets, was strong in battle, that was great by [or after] his name. The greatest into the health of chosen men of God, to overcome enemies rising against them, that he should get the heritage of Israel.

2 Which glory [or What glory] he got in raising his hands, and in casting sharp arrows against cities.

3 Who before him against-stood so? [or so withstood?] for why the Lord himself smote the enemies.

4 Whether the sun was not hin-dered in the wrathfulness of him, and one day was made as twain? [or two?]

5 He called to help the highest God, mighty in overcoming enemies on each side; and God, great and holy, heard him, [He inwardly called the Highest, mighty in against-fighting his enemies on either side; and the great and holy God heard him,]

6 in stones of hail of full great virtue. He made assault against the folk enemy [or the hostile folk], and in the coming down he lost the adversaries; that heathen men know the might of him, for it is not easy to fight against the Lord; and he pursued [or followed] mighty men at the back [or behind].

7 And in the days of Moses, he and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, did mercy; to stand against the enemy, and to forbid the folk from sins, and to refrain [or draw away] the grutch-ing of [the] malice.

8 And they twain [or two] were steadfast, and were delivered from peril, of the number of six hundred thousand footmen, to bring them into the heritage, into the land that flow-eth milk and honey.

9 And the Lord gave strength to that Caleb, and till into his eld age virtue dwelled perfectly to him; that he went up into the high places of the land, and his seed got heritage.

10 And all the children of Israel saw, that it is good to obey to holy God.

11 And all [the] judges by their names, the heart of whom was not corrupted by avarice, but were strong in battle, which were not turned away from the Lord by idolatry; that the mind of them be in blessing,

12 and their bones appear [or bur-geon] from their place; and their name dwelleth without end, for the glory of holy men dwelleth at the sons of them.

13 Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, that was loved of his Lord God, made new [or renewed] the empire, and anointed princes in his folk.

14 In the law of the Lord, he deemed the congregation, and he saw the Lord of Jacob,

15 and in his faith, he was proved a prophet. And he was known faithful in his words, for he saw the Lord of light.

16 And he called into help the Lord Almighty [or the almighty Lord], in overcoming enemies standing about on each side, in the offering of a man undefouled.

17 And the Lord thundered from heaven, and in [a] great sound he made his voice heard.

18 And he all-brake [or trod] the princes of men of Tyre, and the dukes of Philistines.

19 And before the time of [the] end of his life, and of the world, he gave witnessing in the sight of the Lord, and of Christ, or his christ, or his anointed, that is, Saul, anointed into king; he took not of any man riches, yea, till to the shoe; and no man accused him.

20 And after this he slept, and he made known to the king, that is, Saul, and he showed to him the end of his life; and he enhanced his voice from the earth in prophecy, to do away the wickedness of the folk.

CHAPTER 47

1 After these things Nathan, the prophet, rose, in the days of David.

2 And as inner fatness parted [or tallow severed] from the flesh, so David from the sons of Israel.

3 He played with lions, as with lambs; he did in like manner with bears, as with lambs of sheep.

4 Whether in his youth he killed [or slew] not a giant, and took away shame [or reproof] from the folk? In raising the hand in a stone of a sling, he casted down the full out joying of Goliath,

5 where he called to help [or inwardly called] the Lord Almighty; and he gave in his right hand to do away a strong man in battle, and to enhance the horn of his folk.

6 So he glorified him, that is, made him to be praised, in ten thousand[s], and he praised him in the blessings of the Lord, in offering to him the crown [or a crown] of glory.

7 For he all-brake enemies on each side, and drew out [or destroyed] by the root [the] Philistines contrary [or contrarious], unto this day; he all-brake the horn of them unto without end.

8 David in each work gave ac-knowledging to holy God, and high in the word of glory, [or In all work he gave acknowledging unto the Holy, and to the High in the word of glory]. Of all his heart he praised God, and he loved the Lord that made him, and gave to him power [or might] against enemies.

9 And he made singers to stand against the altar; and he made sweet motets in the sound of them.

10 And he gave fairness in hal-lowings, and he adorned times, or solemnities, unto the ending of life; that they should praise the holy name of the Lord, and make large early the holiness of God.

11 Christ* purged the sins of him, and enhanced his horn without end; and he gave to him the testament of kings, and the seat [or a seat] of glory in Israel.

12 After him rose a witting son; and for him he, that is, God, casted down all the power [or might] of their enemies.

13 Solomon reigned in the days of peace, to whom God made subject all [the] enemies, that he should make an house in the name of God, and make ready holiness without end [or into evermore], as he was learned [or taught] in his youth.

14 And he was [full-]filled with wisdom as a flood is filled; and his soul uncovered the earth.

15 And thou, Solomon, filledest dark figurative speeches in likenesses [or in comparisons dark proverbs];

16 and thy name was published to isles afar, and thou were loved in thy peace.

17 Lands, that is, men dwelling in those lands, wondered in songs, and in proverbs, and in likenesses [or comparisons], and interpretings, either expositions;

18 and in the name of the Lord, to whom the surname is God of Israel [or to whom is the surname God of Israel]. Thou gatheredest together gold as latten, and thou filledest silver as lead.

19 And thou bowedest thy thighs to women; thou haddest power in thy body to fill the lust of thy body.

20 Thou hast given a wem in thy glory, and madest unholy [or cursedest] thy seed, to bring in wrathfulness to thy children, and thy folly in other men;

21 that thou shouldest make the realm parted into twain [or the empire parted on two], and of Ephraim to command an hard commandment.

22 But God shall not forsake his mercy, and shall not destroy, neither do away his works, neither he shall lose from [the] generation the sons’ sons of his chosen king David; and he shall not destroy the seed of him that loveth the Lord. Forsooth God gave remnant to Jacob, and to David of that generation.

23 And Solomon had an end with his fathers. And he left after him of his seed Rehoboam, the folly of the folk, and made less [or diminished] from prudence; which Rehoboam turned away the folk by his counsel. And Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to do sin, and gave to Ephraim way to do sin;

24 and full many sins of them were plenteous, for they turned them away greatly from their land, that is, sins great and horrible made them to be prisoners far from their land.

25 And the lineage of Ephraim sought all wickednesses, till defence came to them; and [he] delivered them from all sins.

CHAPTER 48

1 And Elijah, the prophet, rose up as fire, that is, burning in the fervent love of God; for why his word burnt as a brand. [And Elijah, the prophet, rose as fire; and his word as a brand burned.]

2 Which brought in hunger on them, and they pursuing [or follow-ing] him were made few for envy; for they might not suffer the command-ments of the Lord.

3 By the word of the Lord he held together heaven, and casted down from it fire to the earth, that is, by the virtue of his prayer, he made fire come down from heaven, on his burnt sacrifice.

4 So Elijah was alarged in his marvels; and who may have glory in like manner with thee,

5 which tookest away a dead man from hells [or the which hast borne up the dead from hell], from the heritage [or lot] of death, in the word of the Lord God?

6 Which castedest down kings to death, and hast broken altogether lightly the power of them, and glor-ious men from their bed.

7 Which heardest doom in Sinai, and in Horeb dooms of defence, that is, of God’s vengeance.

8 Which anointest kings to penance, and makest prophets to be successors after thee.

9 Which were received in a whirl-wind of fire, in a chariot of horses of fire [or of fiery horses].

10 Which art written in the dooms of times, to please the wrathfulness [or to assuage the wrath] of the Lord, to reconcile, [or to join, or accord], the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the lineages of Jacob.

11 They be blessed [or Blessful be they], that saw thee, and were made fair in thy friendship; for why we live only in life, but after death our name shall not be such [or such shall not be our name].

12 Elijah, that was covered in a whirlwind; and his spirit was filled into Elisha. Elisha in his days dreaded not the prince, and no man overcame him by power [or by might];

13 neither any word overcame him, and his dead body prophesied.

14 In his life he did wonders against kind [or huge marvels]; and in death he wrought marvels.

15 In all these things the people did not penance, and [they] went not away from their sins, till when they were cast away from their land, and were scattered into each land. And a full few folk was left, and a prince in the house of David.

16 Some of them did that, that pleased God; but others did many sins.

17 Hezekiah made strong [or strengthened] his city, and brought water into the midst thereof; and he digged a rock with iron, and builded a pit to water.

18 In his days Sennacherib went up, and sent Rabshakeh; and he raised his hand against Zion, and was made proud in his power [or might].

19 Then the hearts and hands of them were moved; and they had sorrow as women travailing of [or with] child.

20 And they called to help the merciful Lord, and they spreaded abroad [or stretching out] the hands, and raised them[un] to heaven; and the holy Lord God heard soon the voice of them. He had not mind on [or remembered not] their sins, neither gave them to their enemies; but he purged them in the hand of Isaiah, the holy prophet, by Isaiah praying for them.

21 The angel of the Lord casted down the castles of Assyrians, and all-brake them. [He threw down the tents of Assyrians, and them bruised the angel of the Lord.]

22 For why Hezekiah did that that pleased the Lord, and went strongly in the way of David, his father; which way Isaiah, the great prophet, and faithful in the sight of God, com-manded [or sent] to him.

23 In the days of him the sun went again aback; and God increased life to the king. [In his days backward went again the sun; and added to the king’s life.]

24 With [a] great spirit he saw the last things; and he comforted the mourners in Zion, into without end.

25 He showed things to coming and hid things, before that those came. [He showed things to come, and hid, ere that they fell.]

CHAPTER 49

1 The mind of Josiah made in the making of odour, is the work of a pigment-maker. In each mouth his mind shall be made sweet as honey, and as music [or melody] in the feast of wine.

2 He was dressed of God in the penance of folk, for he brought the people of his realm to penance for their sins, and to the worshipping of very God, and destroyed idolatry; and he took away the abominations of wickedness.

3 And the heart of him governed to the Lord [or he governed to the Lord his heart]; and in the days of sins he strengthened piety.

4 Except David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, all [the] kings did sin. For why the kings of Judah left the law of mighty God, and despised the dread of God.

5 For they gave their realm to other men [or their kingdom to others], and their glory to an alien folk.

6 They burnt the chosen city of holiness; and they made the ways thereof forsaken [or deserted] in the hand of Jeremy or Jeremiah.

7 For they treated evil him, which from the womb of the mother was hallowed [or made sacred] a prophet, to turn upside-down, and to lose, and again to build [up], and make new.

8 Ezekiel, that saw the sight of glory, which the Lord showed to him in the chariot of cherubim.

9 For he made mind of [or remem-bered] enemies in rain, that is, in word of his prophecy, to do well to them, that showed rightful [or right] ways.

10 And the bones of twelve prophets appear [or spring out] from their place; and they strengthened Jacob, and again-bought them in the faith of their virtue.

11 How shall we alarge Zerubbabel, that is, praise him worthily? for why and he was a sign [or token] in the right hand of God to Israel;

12 and Jesus or Jeshua, the son of Josedek? which in their days builded an house [or built up the house], and enhanced the holy temple to the Lord, made ready into everlasting glory.

13 And Nehemiah in the mind of much time, that raised [up] to us the walls, that were cast down, and made the gates and locks to stand; which Nehemiah raised [up] our houses.

14 No man born in [the] earth was such as Enoch; for why and he was received from the earth.

15 And Joseph, that was born a man, the prince of brethren, the steadfast-ness of folk, the governor of brethren, the stablishing of people; and his bones were visited, and prophesied after death [or and after the death they prophesied].

16 Seth and Shem, these got glory with men, and over each man [or all life] in the generation of Adam.

CHAPTER 50

1 Simon, the son of Onias, was a great priest, which in his life under-setted the house, and in his days strengthened the temple.

2 Also the highness of the temple was builded of him, that is, repaired, the double building, and high walls of the temple. [Also the height of the temple of him is founded, the double building, and the high walls of the temple.]

3 In the days of him the pits of waters came forth; and as the sea, those [or they] were filled above measure.

4 Which Simon healed his folk, and delivered it from perdition. Which was mighty to alarge the city; [That cured or cared for his folk, and delivered it from perdition. That had the mastery to make large the city;]

5 which got glory in the conversa-tion of folk; and alarged the entering of the house, and of the large compass about. [that gat glory into the living of folk; and the in-coming of the house, and of the porch he made large.]

6 As the day [or the morrowtide] star in the midst of a cloud, and as a full moon shineth in his days;

7 and as the sun shining, so he shined in the temple of God; as a rainbow shining among the clouds of glory,

8 and as a flower of roses in the days of ver or spring, and as lilies, that be in the passing [or goings] of water, and as incense smelling in the days of summer;

9 as fire shining, and incense burn-ing in fire; as a firm vessel of gold, adorned with each [or all manner of] precious stone;

10 as an olive tree springing forth [or burgeoning], and a cypress tree raising itself on high [or into heights;]

11 while he took the stole of glory, and was clothed in the perfection of virtue. In the ascending [or going up] of the holy altar, the clothing [or amice] of holiness gave glory.

12 Forsooth in taking parts of the hands of priests, that is, the tithe of tithes, which the priests took of the people, and he stood beside the altar. The crown of brethren, as a planting of [a] cedar in the hill Lebanon, was about him; so they stood about him as boughs of palm trees,

13 and all the sons of Aaron stood in their glory. Soothly the offering of the Lord was in the hands of them, before all the synagogue [or all the gather-ing] of Israel;

14 and he used full ending on the altar, to alarge [or make large] the offering of the high King.

15 And he dressed [or straightened or stretched out] his hand in moist [or liquid] sacrifice; and sacrificed in the blood of grape. He shedded [or poured] out in the foundament of the altar, the odour of God to the high Prince.

16 Then the sons of Aaron cried aloud [or cried out]; they sounded in trumps beaten out with hammers, and made a great voice heard into mind before God.

17 Then all the people hasted together, and fell down on the face on the earth, for to worship their Lord God [or the Lord their God], and to give prayers to Almighty God on high.

18 And men singing in their voices alarged, that is, praised God largely; and a sound full of sweetness was made in the great house.

19 And the people prayed the high Lord in prayer, till that the honour of the Lord was done perfectly, and they performed their gift, or his service.

20 Then Simon came down, and raised [or put out] his hands into all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to give glory to God by his lips, and to have glory in the name of him.

21 And he rehearsed his prayer, willing to show the virtue of God.

22 And he prayed more the Lord of all, that made great things in each land [or in all the earth]; which increased our days from the womb of our mother, and did with us by [or after] his mercy.

23 Give he gladness of heart to us, and that peace be made in Israel by everlasting days; [Give he to us in-ward joy of heart, and to be made peace in our days in Israel by ever-lasting days;]

24 that Israel believe, that God’s mercy is with us, that he deliver them in their days.

25 My soul hateth two folks; but the third is not a folk, whom I hate.

26 They that sit in the hill of Samaria, and the Philistines, and the fond [or foolish] people, that dwelleth in Shechem.

27 Jesus, the son of Sirach, a man of Jerusalem, wrote in this book the teaching [or doctrine] of wisdom, and of knowing; and he renewed wisdom of his heart.

28 He is blessed, that dwelleth [or abideth] in these goods; he that setteth [or putteth] those [things] in his heart, shall ever[more] be wise.

29 For if he doeth these things, he shall be mighty to all things; for why the light of God is the step of him.

CHAPTER 51

1 Lord King, I shall acknowledge to thee; and I shall altogether praise thee, [God] my Saviour. I shall ac-knowledge to thy name,

2 for thou art made an helper and defender to me; and thou hast delivered my body from perdition, from the snare of a wicked tongue, and from the lips of them that work a leasing; and in the sight of them that stand nigh, thou art made an helper to me.

3 And thou hast delivered me, by [or after] the multitude of mercy of thy name, from roarers [or roaring men] made ready to meat; from the hands of them that sought my soul, and from many tribulations that encompassed [or environed] me;

4 from over-laying of flame that en-compassed me, and in the midst of [the] fire I was not burnt;

5 from the depth of the womb of hell, and from a tongue defouled [or the defouled tongue] and from a word of leasing;

6 from a wicked king, and from a tongue unjust [or unrightwise tongue]. Unto the death, my soul shall praise thee, Lord; and my life was nighing in hell beneath.

7 They encompassed me on each side, and none was that helped; I was beholding into the help of men, and none was [or there was not].

8 Lord, I had mind on thy mercy, and on thy working altogether, that be from the world; for thou deliverest them that abide thee, and thou deliverest them from the hands of heathen men.

9 Thou enhancedest my dwelling on [the] earth; and I besought for death floating [or flowing] down.

10 I called to help the Lord, Father of my Lord, that he forsake not me in the day of my tribulation, and forsake not me without help, in the time of them that be proud.

11 I shall praise thy name contin-ually, and I shall praise it altogether in acknowledging [or confession]; and my prayer is heard.

12 And thou hast delivered me from perdition, and thou hast delivered me from the wicked time. Therefore I shall acknowledge, and I shall say praising to thee; and I shall bless the name of the Lord.

13 When yet I was younger, before that I erred, I sought wisdom openly in my prayer.

14 Before the time of eld age, I asked for it, and unto the last things, I shall inquire for[or greatly seek] it;

15 and it shall flower as a grape ripe before others [or a first ripe grape]. Mine heart was glad therein, my foot went a rightful [or right] way; from my youth I sought [or ensearched] it.

16 I bowed down a little mine ear, and I took it. I found much wisdom in myself,

17 and I profited much therein. I shall give glory to him, that giveth wisdom to me.

18 For why I took counsel to do it; I loved fervently good [or greatly I loved good], and I shall not be ashamed.

19 My soul wrestled together therein; and I was confirmed in doing it. I stretched forth mine hands on high; and my soul shined in the wisdom of him, and he enlightened mine un-knowings.

20 I dressed my soul to it; and I found it in knowing. I had peaceably from the beginning an heart with those [or them], that is, works either enlightenings of wisdom; for this thing I shall not be forsaken.

21 My soul was disturbed in seeking it; therefore I shall have peaceably a good possession.

22 For why the Lord gave to me a tongue for my meed; and in it I shall praise him.

23 Ye untaught men, nigh to me; and gather ye you into the house of teaching.

24 What tarry ye yet? [or What yet ye tarry?] and what say ye in these things? your souls thirst greatly.

25 I opened my mouth, and I spake, Buy ye wisdom to you without silver,

26 and make your neck subject to the yoke thereof, and your soul receive teaching; for why it is in the next to find it.

27 See ye with your eyes, that I travailed a little, and I found much rest to me.

28 Take ye teaching in much number of silver, and wield ye plenteous gold therein.

29 Your soul be glad in the mercy of him; and ye shall not be ashamed in the praising of him.

30 Work ye your work before the time; and he shall give to you your meed in his time.

* CHAPTER 13:1 For why men be inclined to undue desire of their own excellence, wherein pride standeth, wherefore it cleaveth lightly to a man.

* CHAPTER 21:10 It is said ‘hells’ in plural number, for many places be there.

* CHAPTER 25:10 The dread of God is the more good, and passeth all goods beforesaid.

† CHAPTER 25:13 That is, as the sorrow of heart passeth each wound of body, so the malice of a woman passeth all the malice of a man.

* CHAPTER 35:19 By Hebrews, this word ‘Adam’ signifieth man commonly.

* CHAPTER 37:10 The author of this book speaketh here (and also in verse 11 below) in scorn, and understandeth the contrary of his saying.

† CHAPTER 37:10 In verse 12 of the Early Version, but not in the Later Version, the following sentence appears: Do thou not counsel with him that hath thee suspect, and from men envying to thee, hide thou thy counsel. See verse 37:10 of the KJV.

* CHAPTER 42:14 See note for Chapter 25, verse 13.

* CHAPTER 43:23 Though the author of this book, that was an Hebrew man, wrote this book in Greek, nevertheless he setted in here an Hebrew name. (Notwithstanding this gloss from the “Wycliffe Bible”, modern translations do not have this or any name here. T.P.N.)

* CHAPTER 44:16 He shall come again from paradise about the world’s end, with Elijah, to preach against Antichrist.

* CHAPTER 47:11 All modern translations have “The Lord” here.

BARUCH

1

2

3

4

5

BARUCH

CHAPTER 1

1 And these be the words of the book, which Baruch, the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, son of Zedekiah, son of Hasadiah, son of Hilkiah, wrote in Babylon;

2 in the fifth year, in the seventh day of the month, in the time wherein Chaldeans took Jerusalem, and burnt it with fire.

3 And Baruch read the words of this book to the ears of Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and to the ears of all the people coming to the book;

4 and to the ears of the mighty [men], sons of kings, and to the ears of priests, and to the ears of the people, from the most unto the least of them [or from the least unto the most of them], of all dwelling in Babylon, and at the flood Sud.

5 Which heard, and wept, and fasted, and prayed in the sight of the Lord.

6 And they gathered money, by [or after] that that each man’s hand might;

7 and [they] sent into Jerusalem to Jehoiakim, the priest, the son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, and to the priests, and to all the people that were found with him in Jerusalem;

8 when he took the vessels of the temple of the Lord, that were taken away from the temple, to again-call into the land of Judah, in the tenth day of the month Sivan, or May; the silvern [or silver] vessels, which Zedekiah, the king of Judah, the son of Josiah, made,

9 after that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had taken Jeconiah, and princes, and all mighty men, and the people of the land from Jerusalem, and led them bound into Babylon.

10 And they said, Lo! we have sent to you riches [or monies], of which buy ye burnt sacrifices, and incense, and make ye sacrifice, and offer ye for sin at the altar of your Lord God [or the Lord our God].

11 And pray ye for the life of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and for the life of Belshazzar, his son, that the days of them be on earth as the days of heaven;

12 that the Lord give virtue to us, and lighten our eyes, that we live under the shadow of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and under the shadow of Belshazzar, his son; and that we serve them by many days, and find grace in the sight of them.

13 And pray ye for us to our Lord God [or to the Lord our God], for we have sinned to our Lord God [or to the Lord our God], and his strong vengeance is not turned away from us, till into this day.

14 And read ye this book, which we [have] sent to you, to be rehearsed in the temple of the Lord, in a solemn day, and in a covenable day.

15 And ye shall say, Rightfulness is to our Lord God [or To the Lord our God rightwiseness], but shame of our face is to us, as this day is, to all Judah, and to dwellers in Jerusalem,

16 to our kings, and to our princes, to our priests, and to our prophets, and to our fathers.

17 We sinned before our Lord God [or before the Lord our God],

18 and believed not, and trusted not in him. And we were not ready to be subject to him, and we obeyed not to the voice of our Lord God [or the Lord our God], that we went in his commandments, which he gave to us;

19 from the day in which he led our fathers out of the land of Egypt, till into this day, we were unbelieveful to our Lord God [or to the Lord our God]; and we were scattered, and went away, that we heard not the voice of him.

20 And many evils and cursings, which the Lord ordained to his servant Moses, cleaved to us; which Lord led our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give to us a land flowing milk and honey, as in this day.

21 And we heard not the voice of our Lord God [or of the Lord our God], by [or after] all the words of prophets, which he sent to us, and to our judges;

22 and we went away, each man into the wit of his evil heart, to work to alien gods, and we did evils before the eyes of our Lord God [or before the eyes of the Lord our God].

CHAPTER 2

1 For which thing our Lord God [or the Lord our God] setted steadfastly his word, which he spake to us, and to our judges, that deemed in Israel, and to our kings, and to our princes, and to all Israel and Judah;

2 that the Lord should bring on us great evils, that were not done under heaven, as those be done in Jerusalem; by [or after] those things that be written in the law of Moses,

3 that a man should eat the fleshes [or the flesh] of his son, and the fleshes [or the flesh] of his daughter.

4 And he gave them into the hand of all kings, that be in our compass, into shame [or reproof], and into desolation in all peoples, among which the Lord scattered us.

5 And we be made beneath, and not above; for we sinned to our Lord God [or to the Lord our God], in not obeying to the voice of him.

6 Rightfulness is to our Lord God [or To the Lord our God rightwiseness], but shame of face is to us and to our fathers, as this day is.

7 For the Lord spake on us all these evils, that came on us.

8 And we besought not the face of our Lord God [or the Lord our God], that we should turn again, each of us from our worst ways.

9 And the Lord waked in evils, and brought those [or them] on us; for the Lord is just [or rightwise] in all his works, which he commanded to us.

10 And we heard not the voice of him, that we should go in the commandments of the Lord, which he gave before our face.

11 And now, Lord God of Israel, that leddest [or broughtest] thy people out of the land of Egypt in a strong hand, and in miracles [or signs], and in great wonders, and in thy great virtue, and in an high arm, and madest to thee a name, as this day is;

12 we have sinned, we have done unfaithfully [or unpiously], we have done wickedly, our Lord God, in all thy rightfulnesses, [or Lord our God, in all thy rightwisenesses].

13 Thy wrath be turned away from us; for we be left a few among heathen men, where thou hast scattered us.

14 Lord, hear thou our askings, and our prayers, and lead [or bring] us out for thee; and give thou to us to find grace before the face of them, that led us away;

15 that all earth know, that thou art our Lord God [or thou art Lord our God], and that thy name is called to help on Israel, and on the kin of him.

16 Lord, behold thou from thine holy house on us, and bow down thine ear, and hear us.

17 Open thine eyes, and see; for not dead men that be in hell, whose spirit is taken from their entrails, shall give honour [or worship] and justifying to the Lord;

18 but a soul which is sorry on the greatness [or muchliness] of evil, and goeth bowed, and sick [or meeked], and eyes failing, and an hungry soul [or the soul hungering], giveth glory to thee, and rightfulness [or rightwiseness] to the Lord.

19 For not by [or after] the rightwise-nesses of our fathers we poured out prayers, and asked mercy before thy sight, our Lord God [or Lord our God];

20 but for thou sentest thy wrath and thy strong vengeance on us, as thou spakest in the hands of thy children, prophets, and saidest,

21 Thus saith the Lord, Bow ye your shoulder[s], and your necks [or your nolls], and do ye travail to the king of Babylon; and ye shall sit in the land, which I gave to your fathers.

22 That if ye do not, neither hear the voice of your Lord God [or the Lord our God], to work to the king of Babylon,

23 I shall make your failing from the cities of Judah, and from the gates of Jerusalem; and I shall take away from you the voice of gladness [or of mirth], and the voice of joy, and the voice of spouse, and the voice of spousess; and all the land shall be without step of them that dwell therein.

24 And they heard not thy voice, that they should work to the king of Babylon; and thou hast set steadfastly thy words, which thou spakest in the hands of thy children, prophets; that the bones of our kings, and the bones of our fathers should be borne over [or translated] from their place.

25 And lo! they be cast forth in the heat of the sun, and in the frost of the night; and men be dead [or they be dead] in the worst sorrows, in hunger, and in sword, and in sending out.

26 And thou hast set the temple in which thy name was called to help, as this day showeth, for the wickedness of the house of Israel, and of the house of Judah.

27 And thou, our Lord God, hast done in us by all thy goodness, and by all that great merciful doing of thee, [And thou hast done in us, Lord our God, after all thy goodness, and after all that thy great mercy doing,]

28 as thou spakest in the hand of thy child Moses, in the day in which thou commandedest to him to write thy law, before the sons of Israel, and saidest,

29 If ye hear not my voice, this great adorning and much [or this great multitude] shall be turned into the least among heathen men, whither I shall scatter them.

30 For I knew, that the people shall not hear me, for it is a people of [an] hard noll. And it shall turn to their heart in the land of their captivity;

31 and they shall know, that I am the Lord God of them. And I shall give to them an heart, and they shall under-stand, and ears, and they shall hear.

32 And they shall praise me in the land of their captivity, and they shall be mindful of my name.

33 [And] They shall turn away them-selves from their hard back, and from their wickednesses; for they shall have mind of [or shall remember] the way of their fathers, that sinned against me.

34 And I shall again-call them into the land, which I swore to give to the fathers of them, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and they shall be lords of it. And I shall multiply them, and they [shall] not be made less.

35 And I shall ordain to them another testament everlasting, that I be to them into God, and they shall be to me into a people. And I shall no more move my people, the sons of Israel, from the land which I gave to them.

CHAPTER 3

1 And now, Lord Almighty, God of Israel, a soul in anguishes, and a spirit annoyed [or tormented], crieth to thee.

2 Lord, hear thou, and have mercy, for thou art merciful, God; and have thou mercy on us, for we have sinned before thee,

3 thou [or that] sittest without end, and we shall not perish without end.

4 Lord God Almighty, God of Israel, hear thou now the prayer of the dead men of Israel, and of the sons of them, that [have] sinned before thee, and heard not the voice of their Lord God [or of the Lord their God], and evils be fastened [or joined] to us.

5 Do not thou have mind on the wickedness of our fathers, but have thou mind on thine hand, and on thy name, in this time;

6 for thou art our Lord God [or thou art Lord our God], and, Lord, we shall praise thee.

7 For why for this thing thou hast given thy dread in our hearts, that we call thy name to help [or we inwardly call thy name], and praise thee in our captivity; for we shall be converted [or turned] from the wickedness of our fathers, that sinned against thee.

8 And lo! we be in our captivity today, whither thou scatteredest us, into shame, and into cursing, and into sin, by [or after] all the wickedness of our fathers, that went away from thee, thou our Lord God [or Lord our God].

9 Israel, hear thou the command-ments of life; perceive thou with ears, that thou know prudence.

10 Israel, what is it, that thou art in the land of enemies? Thou waxedest eld in an alien land, thou art defouled with dead men,

11 thou art areckoned with them, that go down into hell?

12 Thou hast forsaken the well of wisdom;

13 for why if thou haddest gone in the ways of God, soothly thou haddest dwelled in peace on earth.

14 Learn thou, where is wisdom, where is prudence, where is virtue, where is understanding, that thou know altogether, where is long enduring [or long abiding] of life, and lifelode, where is light of eyes, and peace.

15 Who found the place thereof, and who entered into the treasures thereof?

16 Where be the princes of heathen men, and that be lords over the beasts, that be on earth?

17 Which played with the birds of heaven; which treasure silver and gold, in which men trust, and none end is [or there is none end] of the purchasing of them?

18 Which make silver, and be busy, and no finding is of their works?

19 They be destroyed, and went down to hells [or to hell]; and other men rose in the place of them.

20 The young men of them saw light, and dwelled on earth. But they knew not the way of wisdom [or of discipline],

21 neither understood the paths thereof; neither the sons of them received it. It was made far from the face of them;

22 it is not heard in the land of Canaan, neither [it] is seen in Teman.

23 Also the sons of Hagar, that sought out prudence which is of earth, the merchants of earth, and of Teman, and the tale tellers, [or the fablers, or janglers], and seekers out of prudence, and of understanding. But they knew not the way of wisdom, neither had mind on the paths thereof.

24 O! Israel, the house of God is full great, and the place of his possession is great; [O! Israel, how great is the house of God, and how great the place of his possession;]

25 it is great and hath none end, high and great without measure.

26 Named giants were there; they that were of great stature at the beginning, and knew battle.

27 The Lord chose not these, neither they found the way of wisdom [or of discipline]; therefore they perished.

28 And for they had not wisdom, they perished for their unwisdom.

29 Who ascended into heaven, and took that wisdom, and brought it down from the clouds?

30 Who passed over the sea, and found it, and brought it more than chosen gold?

31 None is [or There is not], that may know the way thereof, neither that seeketh [out] the paths thereof;

32 but he that have all things [or that knoweth all things], knew it, and found it by his prudence. Which made ready the earth in everlasting time, and filled it with two-footed beasts, and four-footed beasts.

33 Which sendeth out light, and it goeth, and called it; and it obeyeth to him in trembling.

34 Forsooth stars gave light in their keepings, and were glad; those were called, and those said, We be present; and those shined to him with mirth, that made those, [or they be called, and they said, We come to; and they shined to him with mirth, that made them].

35 This is our God, and none other shall be guessed against him.

36 This [or He] found each way of wisdom, and gave it to Jacob, his child, and to Israel, his darling [or his dearworthy].

37 After these things he was seen in lands, and lived with men.

CHAPTER 4

1 This book of God’s behests [or commandments], and the law which is without end. All that hold it, shall come to life. But they that have forsaken it, shall come into death.

2 Jacob, be thou converted, and take thou [or catch] it; go thou by the way at the brightness thereof [or walk by the way to the shining of it], against the light thereof [or the light of it].

3 Give thou not thy glory to another, and thy dignity to an alien folk.

4 Israel, we be blessed; for those things that please God, be open [or known] to us.

5 The people of God, Israel worthy to be had in mind, be thou patienter, either of better comfort, [or more stable].

6 Ye be sold to heathen men, not into perdition; but for that that ye in ire stirred God to wrathfulness, ye be betaken to adversaries.

7 For ye wrathed that God ever-lasting, that made you; and ye offered to fiends, and not to God. [Forsooth ye stirred to bitterness the everlasting God, that made you; offering to devils, and not to God.]

8 For ye forgot him that nourished or nursed you, and ye made sorry [or sorrowful] your nurse, Jerusalem.

9 For it saw wrathfulness of God coming to you, and it said, Ye nigh coasts of Zion, hear; forsooth God hath brought great mourning to me.

10 For I saw the captivity of my people, of my sons and daughters, which he that is without beginning and end [or the Everlasting] brought on them.

11 For I nourished them with mirth; but I let them go with weeping and mourning.

12 No man have joy on me, a widow and desolate. I am forsaken of many, for the sins of my sons; for they bowed away from the law of God.

13 Forsooth they knew not rightful-nesses of him; neither they went [or walked] by the ways of God’s behests, neither by the paths of his truth they entered with rightfulness [or with rightwiseness].

14 The nigh coasts of Zion come, and have they mind [or bethink they] on the captivity of my sons and daughters, which he that is without beginning and end [or the Everlasting] brought on them.

15 For he brought on them a folk from afar, an evil folk, and of another language; that reverenced not an eld [or old] man, neither had mercy on children;

16 and they led away the dearworthy sons of a widow, and made a woman alone desolate of sons.

17 But what may I help you?

18 For he that brought on you evils [or brought evil things upon you], shall deliver you from the hands of your enemies.

19 Go ye, sons, go ye; for I am forsaken or left alone.

20 I have unclothed me of the stole, either long robe, of peace; but I have clothed me with a sackcloth of beseeching, and I shall cry to the Highest in my days.

21 Sons, be ye of better comfort [or of better heart, or stabler]; cry ye to the Lord, and he shall deliver you from the hand of princes, that be your enemies.

22 For I hoped your health without end, and joy came to me from the Holy on mercy, that shall come to you from your Saviour without beginning and end [or that shall come to you of your Saviour Everlasting].

23 For I sent you out with mourning and weeping; but God shall bring [or shall lead] you again to me, with joy and mirth without end.

24 For as the neighbouresses [or the neighbours] of Zion saw your captivity made of God, so they shall see and in swiftness [or in haste] your health of God, which health shall come to you from above, with great honour and everlasting shining.

25 Sons, suffer ye patiently ire [or the wrath] that came on you; for thine enemy pursued thee, but thou shalt see soon [or but soon thou shalt see] the perdition of him, and thou shalt go upon the necks of him.

26 My delicate men went sharp ways; for they as a flock that is ravished were led of enemies. [My delicates, or nourished in delights, walked sharp ways; soothly they were led as a flock ravished with enemies.]

27 Sons, be ye patienter [or of evener heart, or stabler], and cry ye [a] far to the Lord; for why your mind shall be of him that leadeth you.

28 For as your wit was, that ye erred from God [or for to err from God], ye shall convert again, and shall seek him ten times so much.

29 For he that brought in evils [or evil things] to you, shall bring again ever-lasting mirth to you with your health.

30 Jerusalem, be thou of better comfort; for he that named thee, exciteth thee. [Jerusalem, be thou more stable, or of better heart; soothly he that named thee, admonisheth thee.]

31 They that travailed thee, shall perish guilty; and they that thanked, [or joyed], in thy falling, shall be punished.

32 [The] Cities to which thy sons served, shall be punished, and that city that took thy sons, shall be punished.

33 For as Babylon made joy in thy hurling down [or in thy falling], and was glad in thy fall, so it shall be made sorry [or shall be sorrowful] in his desolation.

34 And the full out joy of the multitude thereof shall be cut away, and the joy thereof shall be into mourning.

35 For why fire shall come on it from him that is without beginning and end [or the Everlasting], in full long days; and it shall be inhabited of fiends [or devils], into the multitude [or muchliness] of time.

36 Jerusalem, behold about to the east, and see thou mirth coming of God to thee [or see the mirth coming to thee of God].

37 For lo! thy sons come, which [or whom] thou lettest go scattered; they come gathered from the east unto the west, in the word of the Holy, and make joy [or joying] to the honour of God.

CHAPTER 5

1 Jerusalem, unclothe thee of the stole of thy mourning, and travailing [or of thy travail]; and clothe thou thee in [or with] the fairness, and honour of it, which is of God to thee in everlasting glory.

2 God of rightfulness shall encom-pass thee with a double cloth, and shall set on thine head a mitre of everlasting honour. [Forsooth God shall environ thee with double cloth of rightwiseness, and shall put to thine head a mitre of everlasting honour.]

3 For God shall show his brightness in thee, which is under heaven.

4 For thy name shall be named of God to thee without end, The peace of rightfulness [or Peace of rightwise-ness], and The honour of piety.

5 Jerusalem, rise up, and stand in an high place [or in high], and behold about to the east; and see thy sons gathered together from the sun rising till to the west, in the word of the Holy, that make joy [or joying] in the mind of God.

6 For they went out from thee, and were led of enemies on feet; but the Lord shall bring to thee them borne into honour, as the sons of realm [or of kingdom].

7 For God hath ordained to make low each high hill, and everlasting rocks of stones, and great valleys, to fill the unevenness of earth [or to full-fill the even valleys into the evenness of earth]; that Israel go diligently into the honour of God.

8 Forsooth the woods, and each tree of sweetness, shadowed Israel, by the commandment of God.

9 For God shall bring Israel with mirth, into [or in] the light of his majesty, with mercy and rightfulness [or rightwiseness], which is of him.

EPISTLE OF JEREMIAH

EPISTLE OF JEREMIAH

CHAPTER 1

1 Here beginneth a sample of the epistle of the same Baruch, which epistle Jeremy sent to the Jews, that were led away prisoners into Babylon, of the king of Babylonians, that he should tell to them, by that that was commanded of God to him. [Here beginneth the ensample of the same epistle, which Jeremy sent to the captives led away into Babylon, of the king of men of Babylon, that he should show to them, after that it is commanded to him of God.]

2 For the sins which ye sinned before God, ye shall be led prisoners [or captives] into Babylon, of Nebuchad-nezzar, king of Babylonians.

3 Therefore ye shall enter [or go] into Babylon, and ye shall be there full many years, and into long time, till to seven generations; forsooth after this I shall lead out you from thence with peace.

4 But now ye shall see in Babylon gods of gold, and of silver, and of stone, and of tree, to be borne on shoulders, showing dread to heathen men [or to folks].

5 Therefore see ye, lest also ye be made like [to] alien deeds, and lest ye dread, and [that] dread take you in them. Therefore when ye see a company behind and before, worship ye God, [or And so the company of people seen from behind and from before worshipping],

6 say in your hearts, Lord God, it behooveth that thou be worshipped. [say in your hearts, Lord God, it behooveth thee for to be worshipped.]

7 Forsooth mine angel is with you, but I shall seek [out] your souls.

8 For why the trees of them be polished of a carpenter; also they be arrayed with gold, and arrayed with silver, and be false, and may not speak.

9 And as to a virgin [or a maiden] loving ornaments, so, when gold is taken, ornaments be made to idols. Certainly the gods of them have golden crowns on their heads;

10 wherefore priests withdraw from those gods gold and silver, and spend it in themselves.

11 Soothly they give also of that to whores, and array [or adorn] whores; and again when they receive that of whores, they array [or adorn] their gods.

12 But those [or these]gods be not delivered from rust and moths. Forsooth when they be covered with a cloth of purple,

13 priests shall wipe the faces of them, for dust of the house, which is full much among those gods.

14 Forsooth idols have a sceptre, [or king’s rod], as a man hath; as the judge of a country, that slayeth not a man sinning against himself.

15 Also they have in the hand a sword, and an ax; but they deliver not themselves from battle and from thieves.

16 Wherefore be it known to you, that they be not gods; therefore worship ye not them.

17 For as a broken vessel of a man is made unprofitable, such also be the gods of them. When they be set in the house, the eyes of them be full of dust, of the feet of men entering.

18 And as [the] gates be set about a man, that offended the king, either as when a dead man is brought to the sepulchre, so priests keep securely the doors with closings, and locks, lest they be robbed of thieves.

19 They tend lanterns to them, and soothly many lanterns, of which they may see none;

20 forsooth they be as beams in an house [or in the house]. Soothly men say that serpents, that be of earth, lick out the hearts of them; while the serpents eat them, and their clothes [or clothing], and they feel it not.

21 The faces of them be black of the smoke, which is made in the house.

22 Night crows [or bats] and swallows fly above the body of them, and above the head of them, and birds also, and cats in like manner.

23 Wherefore know ye, that they be not gods; therefore dread ye not them.

24 Also the gold which they have, is to fairness; no but some man wipe away the rust, they shall not shine. For they feeled not, the while those were welled together [or they were molten together].

25 They be bought of all price, in which [things] no spirit is in them.

26 They without feet be borne on shoulders of men, and show openly their unnobility to men;

27 be they shamed also that worship them. Therefore if they fall down to earth, they shall not rise of them-selves; and if any man setteth that idol upright, it shall not stand by itself, but as to dead things [or dead men] shoulders shall be put to them.

28 The priests of them sell the sacrifices of them, and mis-use; in like manner and the women of them ravish [or taking] away, neither to a sick man, neither to a beggar, they give anything.

29 Of their sacrifices foul women, and in unclean blood [or menstruate], touch. Therefore know ye by these things, that they be not gods, and dread ye not them.

30 For whereof be they called gods? For women set sacrifices to gods of silver, and of gold, and of tree;

31 and priests that have coats rent [or torn], and heads and beards shaven, whose heads be naked, sit in the houses of them.

32 Soothly they roar and cry against their gods, as in the supper of a dead man.

33 Priests take away the clothes of them, and clothe their wives, and their children.

34 And if they suffer anything of evil of any man, or if they suffer anything of good, they may not yield back. Neither they may ordain [or make] a king, neither do away.

35 In like manner they may neither give riches, neither yield evil [thing]. If any man maketh a vow to them, and yieldeth not, they ask [or require] not this [thing].

36 They deliver not a man from death, neither ravish a sick man from a mightier [or neither deliver a sick man from a more mighty].

37 They restore not a blind man to sight; they shall not deliver a man from need.

38 They shall not have mercy on a widow, neither they shall do good to fatherless children.

39 Their gods of tree, and of stone, and of gold, and of silver, be like stones of the mountain; forsooth they that worship them, shall be shamed [or confounded].

40 How therefore is it to guess, either to say, that they be gods? for why yet when Chaldeans honour not them.

41 Which when they hear that a dumb man may not speak, offer him to Bel, and ask of him to speak; as if they that have no stirring, may feel.

42 And they, when they shall under-stand, shall forsake those idols; for those gods of them have no wit.

43 Forsooth women gird with ropes [or cords] sit in ways, and kindled bones of olives. Soothly when any of these women is drawn away of any man passing, and sleepeth with him, she despiseth her neighbouress, that she is not had worthy as herself, neither her rope [or her cord] is broken.

44 Forsooth all things that be done to them, be false. How therefore is it to guess, either to say, that those be gods? [or How is it to be guessed, or to be said, them to be gods?]

45 Forsooth those idols be made of smiths [or carpenters], and of gold-smiths. They shall be none other thing, no but that that priests will that they be.

46 Also those goldsmiths that make them, be not of much time; therefore whether those things [or the things] that be made of them, may be gods?

47 Soothly they left false things, and shame to men to coming afterward [or coming after.]

48 For why when battles and evils come on them, priests think, where they shall hide themselves with those [or with them].

49 How therefore owe those [or they] to be deemed, that they be gods, which neither deliver themselves from battle, neither deliver themselves from evils?

50 For why when those be of tree, and of stone, and of gold, and of silver, it shall be known afterward,

51 of all folks, and kings, that those things be false, that be made open; [or known], for those [or they] be not gods, but the works of hands of men [or of men’s hands], and no work of God is with them.

52 Whereof therefore it is known, that they be not gods, but the works of hands of men [or of men’s hands], and no work of God is in them.

53 They raise not a king to a country, neither shall give rain to men.

54 Also they shall not deem, [or judge], [a] doom, neither they shall deliver the country from wrong. For those may do nothing, as little crows betwixt the midst [or the middle] of heaven and of earth.

55 For when fire falleth into the house of gods of tree, and of gold, and of silver, soothly the priests of those [or of them] shall flee, and shall be delivered; but they shall be burnt as beams in the midst.

56 Forsooth they shall not against-stand a king and battle. How there-fore is it to guess, or to receive, [or to be guessed, or to be received], that they be gods?

57 Gods of tree, and of stone, and of gold, and of silver, shall not deliver themselves from night thieves, neither from day thieves, and wicked men be stronger than those gods.

58 They shall take away gold, and silver, and clothes, by which those [or they] be covered, and they shall go away; neither they help themselves.

59 Therefore it is better to be a king showing his virtue, either a profitable vessel in the house, in which he shall have glory that wieldeth it, than false gods; either a door in the house, that keepeth those things that be in it, is better than false gods.

60 Forsooth the sun, and moon, and stars, when they be bright [or be shining], and sent out to profits, obey.

61 In like manner and [the] lightning, when it appeareth, is clear. Soothly the same thing and wind breatheth in each country.

62 And clouds, to which, when it is commanded of God to go through all the world, perform that, that is commanded to those [or do what thing is commanded to them].

63 Also fire sent from above, to waste mountains and woods, doeth that, that is commanded to it; but these idols be not like to one of those things, neither by forms, neither by virtues.

64 Wherefore it is neither to guess, neither to say, [or to be guessed, either to be said], that they be gods, when they may not neither deem doom, neither do to men.

65 Therefore know ye that those [or they] be not gods, and dread ye not them.

66 For they shall neither curse, neither bless kings.

67 Also they show not to heathen men signs in heavens, neither those [or they] shall shine as the sun, neither they shall give light as the moon.

68 Beasts that may flee under a roof, and do profit to themselves, be better than they.

69 Therefore by no manner it is open to you, that they be gods. For which thing, dread ye not them.

70 For why as a man of rags, or shoeless, in a place where gourds, [or cucumbers, that be bitter herbs], waxed, keepeth nothing, so be their gods of tree, and of silver, and of gold.

71 In the same manner and a white-thorn in a garden [or a yard]keepeth nothing, on which thorn each bird sitteth, in like manner and their gods of tree, and of gold, and of silver, be like [to] a dead man cast forth in darknesses.

72 Also of [the] purple and of marble, which they hold above it; therefore ye shall know, that they be not gods. Also those be eaten at the last [or at the last they themselves be eaten], and it shall be into shame [or reproof] in the country.

73 Better is a just man, that hath no simulacra, for why he shall be far from shames.

PRAYER OF AZARIAH & SONG OF THE THREE

PRAYER OF AZARIAH & SONG OF THE THREE

CHAPTER 1

1 And they walked in the midst of the flame, and praised God, and blessed the Lord.

2 Forsooth Azariah stood, and prayed thus; and he opened his mouth in the midst of the fire, and said,

3 Lord, God of our fathers, thou art blessed, [or Blessed art thou, Lord God of our Fathers], and worthy to be praised, and thy name is glorious into worlds;

4 for thou art rightful in all things which thou didest to us, and all thy works be true; and thy ways be rightful [or right], and thy dooms be true.

5 For thou hast done true dooms, by [or after] all things which thou broughtest in on us, and on Jerusalem, the holy city of our fathers; for in truth and in doom, thou broughtest in all these things for our sins.

6 For we sinned, and did wickedly, going away from thee,

7 and we trespassed in all things, and we heard not, neither kept thy commandments, neither we did as thou commandedest to us, that it should be [or that it were] well to us.

8 Therefore thou didest by thy very doom all things which thou broughtest in on us, and all things which thou didest to us;

9 and thou hast betaken us in the hands of enemies, wicked men, and worst trespassers, and to the unjust king, and worst over all earth.

10 And now we may not open the mouth; we be made shame and reproof to thy servants, and to them that worship thee.

11 We beseech, give thou [or betake] not us to enemies without end, for thy name, and destroy thou not thy testament,

12 and take thou not away thy mercy from us, for Abraham, thy darling [or thy dearworthy], and Isaac, thy servant, and Israel, [or Jacob], thine holy;

13 to which thou spakest, promising that thou shouldest multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, and as gravel which is in the brink of the sea.

14 For why, Lord, we be made little, more than all folks [or all heathen men], and we be low in all earth today [or we be meek in each land this day], for our sins.

15 And in this time is no prince [or there is not in this time prince], and duke, and prophet, neither burnt sacrifice, neither sacrifice, neither offering, neither incense, neither place of first fruits before thee, that we may find thy mercy;

16 but be we received in contrite soul, and in spirit of meekness.

17 As in burnt sacrifice of rams, and of bulls, and as in thousands of fat lambs, so our sacrifice be made today in thy sight, that it please thee; for no shame [or confusion] is to them that trust in thee.

18 And now we pursue thee in all the heart, and we dread thee, and we seek thy face.

19 Shame thou not us, but do with us by [or after] thy mildness, and by [or after] the multitude of thy mercy.

20 And deliver thou us in thy marvels, and give thou glory to thy name, Lord; and all men be ashamed, that show evils to thy servants;

21 be they shamed in all thy might [or power], and the strength of them be all-broken [or broken altogether];

22 and they shall know, that thou art the Lord God alone, and glorious on the roundness of lands [or of earths].

23 And the ministers of the king, that had sent them, ceased not to make hot the furnace with cement [or with naphtha], and hards of flax [or of hemp], and pitch, and scions [or cuttings] of vines.

24 And the flame was shed [or poured] out over the furnace by nine and forty cubits,

25 and brake out, and burnt them that it found of Chaldees beside the furnace. [and brake out, and burnt whom of Chaldees it found beside the furnace.]

26 Forsooth the angel of the Lord came down with Azariah and his fellows, into the furnace, and smote out the flame of the fire from the furnace;

27 and made the midst of the furnace as the wind of dew blowing; and utterly the fire touched not them, neither made sorry [or sorrowful], neither did anything of dis-ease [or brought in anything of heaviness].

28 Then these three as of one mouth praised and glorified God, and blessed God in the furnace, and said,

29 Lord God of our fathers, thou art blessed [or Blessed are thou, Lord God of our fathers], and worthy to be praised, and glorious, and above enhanced into worlds;

30 and blessed is the name of thy glory, which name is holy, and worthy to be praised, and above enhanced [or raised] into all worlds.

31 Thou art blessed [or Blessed art thou] in the holy temple of thy glory, and above praiseable, and glorious into worlds.

32 Thou art blessed [or Blessed art thou] in the throne of thy realm, and above praiseable, and above enhanced [or raised] into worlds.

33 Thou art blessed [or Blessed art thou], that beholdest depths of waters [or deepnesses], and sittest [up] on cherubim, and praiseable, and above enhanced [or raised] into worlds.

34 Thou art blessed [or Blessed art thou] in the firmament of heaven, and praiseable, and glorious into worlds.

35 All works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

36 Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

37 Heavens, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

38 All waters that be above heavens, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

39 All the virtues of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

40 Sun and moon, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

41 Stars of heaven, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

42 Rain and dew, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

43 Each spirit of God, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

44 Fire and heat, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

45 Cold and summer, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

46 Dews and white frost, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

47 Black frost and cold, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

48 Ices and snows, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

49 Nights and days, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

50 Light and darkness, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

51 Lightnings and clouds, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

52 The earth bless the Lord; praise it, and above enhance [or raise] it him into worlds.

53 Mountains and little hills, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

54 All burgeoning things in earth, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

55 Wells, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

56 Seas and floods, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

57 Whales, and all things that be moved in waters, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

58 All birds of the air, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

59 All wild beasts and tame beasts, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

60 Sons of men, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

61 Israel, bless the Lord; praise it, and above enhance [or raise] it him into worlds.

62 Priests of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

63 Servants of the Lord, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

64 Spirits and souls of just men, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

65 Holy men and meek of [or in] heart, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds.

66 Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, bless ye the Lord; praise ye, and above enhance [or raise] ye him into worlds. The which Lord ravished [or delivered] us from hell, and saved from the hand of death, and delivered us from the midst of flame burning [or from the middle of the burning flame], and ravished us from [or out of] the midst of [the] fire.

67 Acknowledge ye to the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy is into the world.

68 All religious men [or All religious], bless ye the Lord, God of gods; praise ye, and acknowledge to him, for his mercy is into all worlds.

DANIEL AND SUSANNA

DANIEL AND SUSANNA

CHAPTER 1

1 Here beginneth an epistle of holy Susanna. In those days a man was in Babylon, and his name was Joakim./A man was in Babylon, and his name was Joakim.

2 And he took a wife, Susanna by name, the daughter of Hilkiah, a woman full fair, and dreading the Lord.

3 Forsooth her father and mother, when they were rightful [or just], taught their daughter* by [or after] the law of Moses.

4 Soothly Joakim was full rich, and had a garden nigh his house; and the Jews came to him, for he was the most worshipful [or more honourable] of all.

5 And twain eld [or two old] men or priests were ordained to be judges in that year, of which the Lord spake, that wickedness went out of Babylon, of the elder judges, that seemed to govern [or were seen to rule] the people.

6 These judges used often [or haunted] the house of Joakim; and all men that had dooms came to them.

7 Forsooth when the people had turned again after midday, Susanna entered, and walked in the garden of her husband.

8 And the elder men saw her entering each day, and walking; and they burnt out into [or in] the covet-ousness or concupiscence of her.

9 And they turned away their wit, and bowed down [or bowed away] their eyes, that they saw not heaven, neither bethought on just dooms.

10 Soothly both were wounded by the love of her, and they showed not their sorrow to themselves together;

11 for they were ashamed to show to themselves their covetousness or concupiscence, willing to lie fleshly by [or with] her.

12 And they espied each day more busily to see her.

13 And the one said to the tother, Go we home, for the hour of meat is.

14 And they went out, and parted from themselves. And when they had turned again, they came into one place; and they asked each of other the cause, and they acknowledged their covetousness. And then in common they ordained a time, when they might find her alone.

15 Forsooth it was done, when they espied a covenable day, she entered sometime, as yesterday and the third day ago, with two damsels alone, and would be washed in the garden; for why heat was.

16 And there was not any man or no man was there, except the two eld [or old] men hid, beholding her.

17 Therefore she said to the damsels, Bring ye to me oil, and ointments; and close the doors of the garden, that I be washed. [And she said to the maidens, Bring ye to me oil, and soap, or ointment; and shut ye the doors of the garden, that I be washed.]

18 And they did as she commanded; and they closed the doors of the garden, and went out by a postern, to bring those things that she had commanded. And they knew not, that the eld [or old] men were hid within.

19 Soothly when the damsels were gone out, the twain eld men rised [or the two old men rose], and ran to her, and said,

20 Lo! the doors of the garden be closed, and no man seeth us, and we be in the covetousness or concupis-cence of thee. Wherefore assent thou to us, and be thou meddled [or joined] with us.

21 And if thou wilt not, we shall say witnessing against thee, that a young man was with thee, and for this cause thou sentest out the damsels from thee.

22 And Susanna inwardly sorrowed, and said, Anguishes be to me on each side; for if I do this [thing], death is to me; forsooth if I do not, I shall not escape your hands.

23 But it is better for me to fall into your hands, without work, than to do sin [or to sin] in the sight of the Lord.

24 And Susanna cried with great voice, but also the eld [or old] men cried against her.

25 Forsooth one ran, and opened the door of the garden.

26 Soothly when the servants of the house had heard the cry in the garden, they fell in by the postern, to see what it was.

27 But after that the eld [or old] men spake, the servants were ashamed greatly, for never was such a word said of Susanna.

28 And the morrow day was made. And when the people was come [or came] to Joakim, her husband, also the two priests or the two old men full of wicked [or evil] thoughts came against Susanna, for to slay her.

29 And they said before all the people, Send ye to Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah, the wife of Joakim. And anon they sent.

30 And she came with her father, and mother, and children, and all [her] kinsmen.

31 And certainly Susanna was full delicate, either tender, and fair of shape [or form].

32 And those wicked men command-ed, that she should be uncovered, for she was covered; that namely so they should be filled of [or with] her fairness.

33 Therefore her kinsmen[or her nigh friends] wept, and all that knew her.

34 Forsooth the two priests rised together in the midst of the people, and set [or putted] their hands on the head of her.

35 And she wept, and beheld to heaven, for her heart had trust in the Lord.

36 And the priests said, When we walked alone in the garden, this Susanna entered with two damsels [or two maidens]; and she closed the door of the garden, and let go the damsels.

37 And a young man, that was hid, came to her, and lay by her [or did lechery with her].

38 Certainly when we were in a corner of the garden, we saw the wickedness, and ran to them,

39 and we saw them meddled together. And soothly we might not take [or catch] him, for he was stronger than we; and when he had opened the doors, he skipped [or he leapt] out.

40 But when we had taken this woman, we asked, who was the young man; and she would not show to us. Of this thing we be witnesses.

41 The multitude believed to them, as to the elder men and judges of the people, and condemned her to death.

42 Forsooth Susanna cried loud with great voice, and said, Lord God, without beginning and end [or Lord God everlasting], thou art or that art knower of hid things, that knowest all things before that they be done [or be made];

43 thou knowest, that they have borne false witnessing against me. And lo! I die, when I have not done any of these things, which these men have made maliciously against me.

44 Forsooth the Lord heard the voice of her.

45 And when she was led to the death, the Lord raised the holy spirit of a young child, whose name was Daniel.

46 And he cried loud with a great voice, I am clean of the blood of this woman.

47 And all the people turned again to him [or together turned to him], and said, What is this word, which thou hast spoken?

48 And when he stood in the midst of them, he said, So ye, fond children of Israel [or fools, sons of Israel], not deeming neither knowing that that is true, condemned the daughter of Israel.

49 Turn ye again to the doom, for they spake false witnessing against her.

50 Therefore the people turned again with haste. And the eld [or old] men or elders of the people, not those two priests, said to him, Come thou, and sit in the midst of us, and show to us; for God hath given to thee the honour of elder.

51 And Daniel said to them, Part ye them atwain afar, [or each from other], and I shall deem them.

52 Therefore, when they were parted one from the other, he called one of them, and said to him, Thou eld [or old] man of evil days, now thy sins be come [on thee], which thou wroughtest before,

53 deeming unjust dooms, oppressing innocents, and delivering guilty men, when the Lord saith, Thou shalt not slay an innocent and just man.

54 But now, if thou sawest her, say thou, under what tree thou sawest them speaking together to themselves? Which said, Under an hawthorn tree [or a sloe tree].

55 Forsooth Daniel said, Rightly thou liest in thine head; for lo! the angel of the Lord, by a sentence taken of him, shall cut thee by the middle.

56 And when he was moved away, he commanded the tother to come, and said to him, Thou seed of Canaan, and not of Judah, fairness hath deceived thee, and covetousness hath mis-turned thine heart [or turned thine heart upside-down];

57 thus ye did to the daughters of Israel, and they dreaded, and spake to [or with] you, but the daughter of Judah suffered not your wickedness.

58 Now therefore say to me, under what tree thou sawest them speaking together to themselves? Which said, Under a blackthorn [or a plum tree].

59 Forsooth Daniel said to him, Rightly also thou liest in thine head; for the angel of the Lord dwelleth, and hath a sword, that he cut thee by the middle, and slay you.

60 Therefore all the people cried loud with great voice, and blessed God [or the Lord], that saveth them that hope in him.

61 And they rised together against the two priests; for Daniel had convicted them by their mouth, that they had borne [or for to have said] false witnessing;

62 and they did to them, as they had done evil against the neighbouress, that they should do by [or after] the law of Moses, and they killed them. And guiltless blood was saved in that day.

63 Forsooth Hilkiah and his wife praised the Lord [or God] in that day for Susanna, their daughter, with Joakim, her husband, and with all her kinsmen, for a foul thing was not found in her.

64 Forsooth Daniel was made great in the sight of the people, from that day and afterward.

* CHAPTER 1:3 Here fathers and mothers be admonished to teach by the law of God, not only their sons, but also their daughters.

DANIEL, BEL, AND THE SNAKE

DANIEL, BEL, AND THE SNAKE

CHAPTER 1

1 And king Astyages was put to his fathers, and Cyrus of Persia took [or received] his realm.

2 Forsooth Daniel ate with the king, and was honoured above all the friends of him.

3 Also an idol, Bel by name, was at Babylon, and twelve measures of clean flour, of which measures each contained three bushels, and forty sheep, and six measures of wine, that be called amphoras, were spended in it each day.

4 And the king worshipped that Bel, and went each day to honour him; certainly Daniel worshipped his God. And the king said to him, Why worshippest thou not Bel?

5 Which answered, and said to him, For I worship not idols made by hand, but God living [or but living God], that made of nought heaven and earth, and hath power of each flesh.

6 And the king said to him, Whether it seemeth not to thee, that Bel is a living god? whether thou seest not, how great things he eateth and drinketh each day?

7 And Daniel said laughing, King, err thou not; for why this Bel is of clay within, and of brass withoutforth, and eateth not, [neither drinketh], any time.

8 And the king was wroth, and called the priests thereof [or called the priests of him], and said to them, If ye say not to me, who it is that eateth these costs, either expenses, ye shall die.

9 Forsooth if ye show that Bel eateth these things, Daniel shall die, for he blasphemed Bel. And Daniel said to the king, Be it done by [or after] thy word.

10 Forsooth the priests of Bel were seventy, besides wives, and little children, and sons, either servants. And the king came with Daniel into the temple of Bel.

11 And the priests of Bel said, Lo! We shall go out, and thou, king, set [or put] meats, and meddle [or mingle] wine, and close thou [or shut] the door, and aseal it with thy ring.

12 And when thou comest [in] early, if thou findest not all things eaten of Bel, we shall die by death, either Daniel shall die, that lied against us.

13 Soothly they trusted, [or set at nought], for they had made a privy [or hid] entering under the board, and by it they entered ever[more], and devoured those things.

14 Forsooth it was done, after that they went out, and the king setted meats before Bel, Daniel commanded to his children, either servants, and they brought ashes, and he riddled through all the temple, before the king. And they went out, and closed the door, and asealed with the ring of the king, and went forth [or went away].

15 But the priests entered in the night, by their custom, and the wives, and children of them, and ate and drank all things.

16 Forsooth the king rose most early, and Daniel with him.

17 And the king said, Daniel, whether the seals be safe? And he answered, King, those be safe.

18 And anon when they had opened the door, the king beheld the board, and he cried on high with a great voice, Bel, thou art great, and no guile is at [or with] thee.

19 And Daniel laughed, and he held the king, that he entered not within. And Daniel said, Lo! the pavement, perceive thou whose steps these be.

20 And the king said, I see steps of men, and of women, and of young children. And the king was wroth.

21 Then the king took [or caught] the priests, and the wives, and children of them; and they showed to him little privy doors, by which they entered, and wasted those things that were on the board.

22 Therefore the king killed them, and betook Bel into the power of Daniel, which destroyed that Bel, and his temple.

23 And a great dragon was in that place, and Babylonians worshipped it.

24 And the king said to Daniel, Lo! now thou mayest not say, that this is not a quick god [or god living]; therefore worship thou him.

25 And Daniel said to the king, I worship my Lord God, for he is God living. [And Daniel said to the king, I worship the Lord my God, for he is living God.]

26 But thou, king, give power to me, and I shall slay the dragon, without sword or staff. And the king said, I give to thee.

27 Therefore Daniel took pitch, and tallow [or fatness], and hairs, and seethed together; and he made gobbets, and gave into the mouth of the dragon, and the dragon was all-broken [or burst]. And Daniel said, Lo! whom ye worship.

28 And when Babylonians had heard this thing, they had indignation greatly; and they were gathered against the king, and said, The king is made a Jew; he destroyed Bel, and killed the dragon, and slew the priests.

29 And they said, when they were come [or they came] to the king, Betake thou [or Give] to us Daniel, that destroyed Bel, and killed the dragon; else we shall slay thee, and thine house.

30 Therefore the king saw, that they fell in on him greatly; and he was compelled by need, and he betook [or gave] Daniel to them.

31 Which sent him into the pit of lions, and he was there seven days.

32 Certainly seven lions were in the pit, and two bodies and two sheep were given to them each day. And then those were not given to them, that they should devour Daniel.

33 Forsooth Habakkuk, the prophet, was in Judea [or Forsooth Habakkuk was a prophet in Judea], and he had sodden pottage, and had set in loaves in a little pannier [or vessel]; and he went into the field, to bear to reapers.

34 And the angel of the Lord said to Habakkuk, Bear thou the meat, which thou hast, into Babylon, to Daniel, which is in the pit of lions.

35 And Habakkuk said, Lord, I saw not Babylon, and I knew [or I know] not the pit.

36 And the angel of the Lord took him by his top, and bare him by the hair of his head; and set [or put] him in Babylon, on the pit, in the fierceness of his spirit.

37 And Habakkuk cried, and said, Daniel, the servant of God, take thou the meat, that God hath sent to thee.

38 And Daniel said, Lord God, thou hast mind on me, and hast not forsaken them that love thee.

39 And Daniel rose, and ate; certainly the angel of the Lord restored Habakkuk anon in his place.

40 Therefore the king came in the seventh day to bewail Daniel; and he came to the pit, and looked in, and lo! Daniel sitting in the midst of lions.

41 The king cried on high with great voice, and said, Lord God of Daniel, thou art great, [or Great art thou, Lord God of Daniel];

42 and the king drew him out of the pit. Certainly he sent into the pit them, that were cause of his perdition, and they were devoured in a moment before him.

43 Then the king said, They that dwell in all the earth, dread the God of Daniel, for he is God living into worlds; he is deliverer, and Saviour [or the saver], doing miracles [or signs] and marvels in heaven and in earth, that delivered Daniel from the pit of lions.

1ST MACCABEES

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1ST MACCABEES

CHAPTER 1

1 And it was done, after that Alexander of Philip, king of Macedonia, which reigned first in Greece, and went out of the land of Kittim, smote Darius, king of Persians and of Medes,

2 he ordained many battles, and got strengths of all; and he slew the kings of earth,

3 and passed forth till to the ends of earth, and took spoils of multitude of folks; and the earth was still in the sight of him.

4 And he gathered virtue, and host full strong [or full strong host], and the heart of him was enhanced and lifted up. And he got the countries of folks, and tyrants, either strong men; and they were made to him into tribute.

5 And after these things he fell into the bed, and knew that he should die.

6 And he called his noble children, that is, familiar fellows, that were nourished with him from their youth, and parted to them his kingdom, when he lived yet [or when yet he lived].

7 And Alexander reigned twelve years, and was dead.

8 And his children or servants wielded the realm, each in his place,

9 and all putted to them diadems after his death, and the sons of them after them, many years; and evils were multiplied in earth.

10 And there went out of them a root of sin, Antiochus the noble or Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus the king, that was at Rome in hostage, and reigned in the hundred and seven and thirtieth year of the realm of Greeks.

11 In those days wicked sons of Israel went out, and counselled many, and said, Go we, and ordain we [a] testament with heathen men, that be about us; for since we parted from them, many evils found us.

12 And the word was seen good before the eyes of them.

13 And some of the people sent, and went to the king; and he gave power to them for to do rightfulness of heathen men.

14 And they builded a school in Jerusalem, by [or after] laws of nations;

15 and made to them prepuces, and went away from the holy testament, and were joined to nations, and were sold for to do evil.

16 And the realm had prosperity in the sight of Antiochus, and he began to reign in the land of Egypt, that he should reign on two realms.

17 And he entered into Egypt with a grievous multitude, in chariots, and elephants, and horsemen, either knights, and [a] plenteous multitude of ships,

18 and he ordained battle against Ptolemy, king of Egypt, and Ptolemy dreaded of his face, and flew; and many were wounded, and fell down.

19 And he took the strong cities in the land of Egypt, and [he] took the preys of the land of Egypt.

20 And Antiochus returned, after that he smote Egypt, in the hundred and three and fortieth year, and went up to Israel. And he went up to Jerusalem with a grievous multitude,

21 and entered into the hallowing with pride; and he took the golden altar, and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof,

22 and the board of proposition, and vessels of flowing sacrifices, and cruets, and golden mortars, and veil, and crowns, and golden ornament that was in the face of the temple; and he brake all.

23 And he took silver and gold, and all desirable vessels, and he took the privy treasures, which he found;

24 and when he had taken up all things, he went into his land. And he made slaughter of men, and spake in great pride.

25 And great wailing was made in Israel, and in each place of them;

26 and princes sorrowed inwardly, and elder men, and maidens, and young men were made sick, and fairness of women was changed.

27 Each husband took wailing, and they that sat in [the] husband’s bed, mourned.

28 And the land was moved altogether on men dwelling therein, and all the house of Jacob was clothed with confusion.

29 And after two years of days, the king sent a prince of tributes into the cities of Judea, and he came to Jerusalem with great company.

30 And he spake to them peaceable words in guile, and they believed to him. And suddenly he fell in on the city, and smote it with a great wound, and lost much people of Israel.

31 And he took preys of the city, and burnt it with fire, and destroyed houses thereof, and walls thereof in compass.

32 And they led women captive, and children, and wielded beasts.

33 And they builded the city of David with [a] great wall and firm, and firm towers; and it was made to them into an high tower, either strength.

34 And they putted there a folk of sinners, wicked men, and they were strong in it;

35 and they putted arms, and meats, and gathered preys of Jerusalem; and putted up there, and were made into a great snare.

36 And this thing was made into espyings in evil, either treasons, to hallowing, and into an evil devil in Israel evermore.

37 And they shed out innocent blood, by compass of the hallowing, and defouled the hallowing.

38 And dwellers of Jerusalem fled for them, and it was made habitation of strangers, and it was made strange, either alien, to his seed, and [the] sons thereof forsook it.

39 The hallowing thereof was desolate as wilderness; feast days thereof were turned into mourning, sabbaths thereof into shame, honours thereof into nought.

40 By [or After] the glory thereof, the evil fame thereof was multiplied, and highness thereof was turned into mourning.

41 And king Antiochus wrote to all his realm, that all the people should be one.

42 And they forsook each man his law; and all folks consented by [or after] the word of king Antiochus,

43 and many of Israel consented to him, and sacrificed to idols, and defouled sabbath.

44 And king Antiochus sent books by the hands of messengers into Jerusalem, and into all cities of Judea, that they should pursue laws of folks of earth,

45 and should forbid burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices, and pleasings for to be done in the temple of God, and that they should forbid the sabbath for to be hallowed, and solemn days,

46 and holy things for to be defouled, and the holy people of Israel.

47 And he commanded altars for to be builded, and temples, and idols; and swine’s flesh for to be sacrificed, and unclean beasts;

48 and for to leave their sons uncircumcised, and the souls of them for to be defouled in all unclean-nesses and abominations,

49 so that they should forget the law, and should change all the justifyings of God.

50 And whoever did not by the word of king Antiochus, should die.

51 By all these words he wrote to all his realm, and above-set [or before-set] princes to the people, which should constrain these things for to be done. And they commanded to cities of Judea for to make sacrifice.

52 And many of the people were gathered to them, which forsook the law of the Lord, and did evils on earth.

53 And they drived [or drove] out the people of Israel from privy places, and in hid places of fugitives, either fleeing men.

54 In the fifteenth day of the month Kislev, that answereth to our November, in the hundred and five and fortieth year, king Antiochus builded [the] abominable idol of desolation, either discomfort, on the altar of God; and by all cities of Judea in compass they builded altars.

55 And before the gates of the houses and in streets, they burnt incenses, and sacrificed;

56 and burnt by fire the books of the law of God, and carved them.

57 And with whomever the books of [the] testament of the Lord were found, and whoever kept the law of the Lord, by [or after] the commandment of the king, they slew him.

58 In their virtue, either power, they did these things to the people of Israel, that was found in each month in the cities.

59 And in the five and twentieth day of the month, they sacrificed on the altar, that was against the altar of God.

60 And women, that circumcised their sons, were strangled, by commandment of king Antiochus;

61 and they hanged children by the necks, by all houses of them, and strangled them that circumcised them.

62 And many of the people of Israel determined, either fully deemed, with them, that they should not eat unclean things,

63 and choosed more for to die, than for to be defouled with unclean meats. And they would not break the holy law of God, and they were slain;

64 and full great wrath was made on the people.

CHAPTER 2

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

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

3 and Simon, that was named Thassis;

4 and Judas, that was called Maccabeus;

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

6 These saw the evils that were done in the people of Judea and Jerusalem.

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

8 the temple thereof as a man unnoble;

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

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

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

12 And lo! our holy things, and our fairness, and our clarity, is desolate, and heathen men defouled it.

13 What therefore is it to us for to live?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

29 Then many seeking doom and rightwiseness, went down into desert, that they should sit there,

30 they and the sons of them, and women of them, and beasts of them; for evils were hard on them.

31 And it was told to men of the king, and to the host, that were in Jerusalem, [in] the city of David, that some men went away, that destroyed the commandment of the king, into privy places in desert; and many had gone after them.

32 And anon they went to them, and ordained against them battle, in the day of sabbaths;

33 and said to them, Against-stand ye also now yet? go ye out, and do after the word of king Antiochus, and ye shall live.

34 And they said, We shall not go out, neither [we] shall do the word of the king, that we defoul the day of sabbaths.

35 And they stirred battle against them.

36 And they answered not to them, neither threw a stone to them, neither stopped privy places,

37 and said, Die we all in our simpleness, and heaven and earth shall be witnesses on us, that unjustly ye lose us.

38 And they gave to them battle in sabbaths, and they were dead, and [the] wives of them, and sons of them, and beasts of them, till to a thousand persons of men.

39 And Mattathias knew, and his friends; and they had mourning on them greatly.

40 And a man said to his neighbor, If we all shall do as our brethren did, and shall not fight against heathen men, for our lives, and our justifyings, the sooner they shall destroy us from the earth.

41 And they thought in that day, and said, Each man whoever cometh to us in battle, in the day of sabbaths, fight we against him, and die we not all, as our brethren be dead in privy places.

42 Then the synagogue of Jews, strong in mights of Israel, was gathered to them. Every willful man in the law,

43 and all that fled from evils, were added to them, and they were made to them to steadfastness.

44 And they gathered an host, and smited sinners in their wrath, and wicked men in their indignation; and the others fled to nations, for to escape.

45 And Mattathias environed, and his friends, and destroyed altars,

46 and circumcised children uncir-cumcised, how many ever they found in the coasts of Israel, in strength.

47 And they pursued the sons of pride, and the work had prosperity in their hands.

48 And they got the law from the hands of heathen men, and from the hands of kings, and gave not strength to the sinner.

49 And [the] days of Mattathias of dying nighed, and he said to his sons, Now pride is comforted, and chastising, and time of destruction, and the wrath of indignation.

50 Now therefore, sons, be ye pursuers, either lovers, of the law, and give ye your lives for the testament of fathers.

51 And bethink ye on the works of fathers, which they did in their generations, and ye shall receive great glory, and everlasting name.

52 Whether in temptation Abraham was not found true, either faithful, and it was areckoned to him to rightwiseness? [Whether Abraham in temptation was not found faithful, and it is areckoned to him to right-wiseness?]

53 Joseph, in time of his anguish, kept commandment, and was made lord of Egypt.

54 Phinehas, our father, in fervently loving the fervent love of God, took testament of everlasting priesthood.

55 Jesus, either Joshua, while he [ful] filled the word, was made duke in Israel.

56 Caleb, while he witnessed in the church, took heritage.

57 David, in his mercy, got the seat of kingdom, into worlds.

58 Elijah, while he fervently loved the fervent love of the law, was received into heaven.

59 Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, believed, and were delivered from the flame.

60 Daniel, in his simpleness, was delivered from the mouth of lions.

61 And thus bethink ye by generation and generation, for all that hope into him be not made unsteadfast.

62 And dread ye not of the words of a man a sinner, for the glory of him is turds and worms;

63 today he is enhanced, and tomorrow he shall not be found, for he is returned into his earth, and his thought shall perish.

64 Therefore, ye sons, be comforted, and do ye manly in the law; for when ye shall do those things that be bidden to you in the law of your Lord God [or the Lord your God], in it ye shall be glorious.

65 And lo! Simon, your brother; I know, that he is a man of counsel, hear ye him evermore, and he shall be father to you.

66 And Judas Maccabeus, strong in mights from his youth, be to you a prince in [or of] knighthood, and he shall do battle of the people.

67 And ye shall bring to you all doers of the law, and avenge ye the vengeance of your people.

68 Yield ye yielding to heathen men, and take ye attention to the behests of the law.

69 And he blessed them, and was put to his fathers.

70 And he was dead in the hundred and six and fortieth year, and was buried of his sons into [the] sepulchre of his fathers in Modin; and all Israel wailed him with great wailing.

CHAPTER 3

1 And Judas, that was called Maccabeus, the son of Mattathias, rose for him.

2 And all his brethren helped him, and all that joined them to his father, and they fought the battle of Israel with gladness.

3 And he alarged glory to his people, and clothed him with an habergeon as a giant, and girt him with his armours of battle in battles, and defended castles with his sword.

4 He was made like a lion in his works, and as a whelp of a lion roaring in his hunting.

5 And he pursued wicked men, and sought them; and he burnt them in flames, that disturbed or troubled his people.

6 And his enemies were put aback for dread of him, and all workers of wickedness were troubled altogether; and health was addressed in his hand.

7 And he wrathed many kings, and gladded Jacob, that is, the people of Israel, in his works, and into world his mind is in blessing.

8 And he went through the cities of Judea, and lost unpious men of them, and turned away wrath from Israel.

9 And he was named till to the utmost of earth, and he gathered men perishing.

10 And Apollonius gathered folks, and from Samaria much virtue, and great, for to fight against Israel.

11 And Judas knew, and went out against him, and smote, and slew him. And many wounded fell down, and the others fled;

12 and he took preys of them. And Judas took away the sword of Apollonius, and was fighting there-with in all days.

13 And Seron, prince of the host of Syria, heard, that Judas gathered a gathering, and the church of faithful men with him.

14 And he said, I shall make to me a name, and I shall be glorified in the realm, and I shall overcome Judas, and them that be with him, which despised the king’s word.

15 And he made ready him; and the castles or hosts of unpious men, strong helpers, went up with him, for to do vengeance on the sons of Israel.

16 And they nighed unto Bethhoron; and Judas went out against them, with few men.

17 Forsooth as they saw the host coming to them in meeting, they said to Judas, How may we few fight against so great multitude, so strong; and we be made weary by fasting this day?

18 And Judas said, It is light, either easy, that many be enclosed altogether in hands of few; and difference is not in sight of God of heaven, for to deliver in many either in few;

19 for not in multitude of host is the victory of battle, but of heaven is strength.

20 They come to us in rebel multitude, and pride, for to destroy us, and our wives, and our sons, and for to rob us.

21 Forsooth we shall fight for our lives, and our laws;

22 and the Lord himself shall all-break them before our face; forsooth dread ye not them.

23 Soothly as he ceased for to speak, he hurled into them suddenly; and Seron was all-broken, and his host, in the sight of him.

24 And he pursued him in the going down of Bethhoron, till into the field; and eight hundred men of them fell down, the others forsooth fled into the land of Philistines.

25 And the dread of Judas, and of his brethren, and the inward fearedness, fell on all heathen men in compass of them;

26 and the name of him came to the king, and all folks told of the battles of Judas.

27 Soothly as king Antiochus heard these words, he was wroth in soul; and he sent, and gathered the host of all his realm, full strong castles or hosts.

28 And he opened his treasury, and gave wages to his host, into a year, and commanded them, that they should be ready to all things.

29 And he saw, that money failed of his treasures, and tributes of the country were little, for dissention and vengeance that he did in the land, for to do away the lawful things that were of the first days.

30 And he dreaded, that he should not have as once and twice into costs and gifts, which he had given before with large hand; and he was rich [or abounded] over kings that were before him.

31 And he was astonied in soul greatly, and thought for to go into Persia, and for to take tributes of countries, and for to gather much silver.

32 And he left Lysias, a noble man of the king’s kin, on the king’s needs, from the flood Euphrates, till to the flood of Egypt;

33 and that he should nourish Antiochus, his son, till he came again.

34 And he betook to him the half of his host, and elephants, and commanded to him of all these things that he would, and of men inhabiting Judea and Jerusalem;

35 and that he should send to them a host, for to all-break, and to destroy utterly the virtue of Israel, and the remnants [or relics] of Jerusalem, and for to do away the mind of them from place;

36 and for to ordain dwellers sons aliens [or aliens’ sons dwellers] in all the coasts of them, and by lot for to part the land of them.

37 And the king took a part of the residue host, and went out of Antioch, city of his realm, in the hundred and seven and fortieth year; and passed over the flood Euphrates, and went through the higher countries.

38 And Lysias chose Ptolemy, the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor, and Gorgias, mighty men of the king’s friends.

39 And he sent with them forty thousand of men, and seven thousand of horsemen, either knights, that they should come into the land of Judea, and destroy it, by [or after] the word of the king.

40 And they went forth, for to go with all their power; and they came, and landed at Emmaus, in the field land.

41 And merchants of countries heard the name of them, and took silver and gold full much, and children, and came into castles, for to take the sons of Israel into servants; and the hosts of Syria, and the lands of aliens, were added to them.

42 And Judas saw, and his brethren, that evils were multiplied, and the host applied, or landed, at the coasts of them; and they knew the words of the king, which he commanded the people for to do, into perishing and ending.

43 And they said, each man to his neighbour, Raise we the casting down of our people, and fight we for our people, and our holy things.

44 And coming together of host was gathered, for to be ready into battle, and for to pray, and ask mercy, and merciful doings [or mercy doings].

45 And Jerusalem was not inhabited, but was as desert; there was not that entered and went out, of children thereof; and the holy things was defouled, and sons of aliens were in the high tower, there was the dwelling of heathen men; and the liking was done away from Jacob, and pipe and harp failed there.

46 And they were gathered, and came into Mizpeh against Jerusalem; for place of prayer was in Mizpeh, sooner [or before] then in Jerusalem.

47 And they fasted in that day, and clothed them with hair-shirts, and putted ashes in their heads, and rent their clothes.

48 And they spreaded abroad books of the law, of the which heathen men sought likeness of their simulacra;

49 and they brought ornaments of priests, and first fruits, and tithes; and they raised Nazirites, that had [ful] filled days.

50 And they cried with great voice to heaven, and said, What shall we do to these, and whither shall we lead them?

51 And thine holy things be trodden, and defouled, and thy priests be made into mourning, and into casting down, either despising.

52 And lo! nations came together against us, for to destroy us; thou knowest what things they think against us.

53 How shall we be able to with-stand before the face of them, no but thou, God, help us?

54 And they cried in trumps, with great voice.

55 And after these things Judas ordained dukes of the people, tribunes, that is, [one]leading a thousand, and centurions, leading an hundred, and pentacontrarks, leading fifty, and decurions, leading ten.

56 And he said to these that builded houses, and wedded wives, and planted vineyards, and to dreadful men, that they should turn again, each man into his house, by [or after] the law.

57 And they moved castles, either hosts of armed men, and they setted together at the south of Emmaus.

58 And Judas said, Be ye gird, and be ye mighty sons, and be ye ready in the morrowing, and that ye fight against these nations, that came together for to destroy us, and our holy things.

59 For better it is, that we die in battle, than for to see evils of our folk, and holy things.

60 Soothly as will shall be in heaven, so be it done.

CHAPTER 4

1 And Gorgias took five thousand of men, and a thousand chosen horse-men; and they moved tents by night,

2 for to apply to or pitch by the tents of Jews, and for to smite them suddenly; and sons that were of the high tower, were leaders of them.

3 And Judas heard, and he rose, and mighty men, for to smite the power of hosts of the king, that was in Emmaus;

4 for yet the host was scattered from tents.

5 And Gorgias came into the tents of Judas by night, and found no man; and they sought them in hills, for he said, These flee from us.

6 And when day was made, Judas appeared in the field with three thousands of men only, which had not coverings and swords.

7 And they saw the tents of heathen men strong, and men habergeoned, and the multitude of horsemen in compass of them, and these were taught to battle.

8 And Judas said to his men, that were with him, Dread ye not the multitude of them, and dread ye not inwardly the fierceness of them.

9 Bethink ye how our fathers were made safe in the Red Sea, when Pharaoh pursued them with much host.

10 And now cry we to heaven, and the Lord shall have mercy on us, and shall be mindful of the testament of our fathers, and shall all-break this host before our face today.

11 And all folks shall know, that it is God, that shall again-buy, and deliver Israel.

12 And aliens raised their eyes, and saw them coming of the contrary part,

13 and went out of tents into battle. And they that were with Judas, sang in trumps.

14 And they went together, and heathen men were all-broken, and fled into the field;

15 forsooth the last fell down by sword. And they pursued them till to Gazara, and till into the fields of Idumea, and Azotus, and Jamnia; and there fell down of them till to three thousands of men.

16 And Judas turned again, and his host pursuing him.

17 And he said to the people, Covet ye not preys, for battle is against us,

18 and Gorgias and his host be in the hill nigh us; but stand ye now against our enemies, and overcome them, and after these things ye shall take preys securely [or ye securely shall take preys].

19 And yet while Judas spake these things, lo! some part appeared, beholding forth from the hill.

20 And Gorgias saw, that his helpers were altogether turned into flight, and tents were burnt; for smoke that was seen, declared that that was done.

21 And when they beheld these things, they dreaded greatly, beholding together both Judas and the host, ready to battle in the field, [or in the field, ready to battle].

22 And they fled all in the field of aliens,

23 and Judas turned again to preys of the tents; and they took much gold, and silver, and jacinth, and purple of the sea, and great riches.

24 And they converted, and sung an hymn, or praising, and blessed God into heaven; for he is good, for the mercy of him is into the world.

25 And great health was made in Israel in that day.

26 Forsooth whoever of aliens escaped, came, and told to Lysias all things that befell.

27 And when he heard these things, he was astonied in soul, and failed; for not what manner things he would, such befell in Israel, and what manner things the king commanded.

28 And in the year pursuing, Lysias gathered of chosen men sixty thousand, and of horsemen five thousand, for to overcome them.

29 And they came into Judea (or Idumea), and setted tents in Bethhoron (or Bethsura); and Judas ran to them with ten thousand of men.

30 And they saw [a] strong host, and he prayed, and said, Blessed art thou, Saviour of Israel, that hast all-broken the fierceness of the mighty Goliath in the hand of thy servant David, and betookest the castles [or tents], or hosts, of aliens into the hands of Jonathan, son of Saul, and of his squire.

31 Enclose thou altogether also this host in the hand of thy people Israel, and be they confounded in their host, and horsemen.

32 Give thou to them inward dread, and make the hardiness of their virtue to fail, and be they moved altogether in their breaking altogether.

33 Cast down them by the sword of men loving thee, and all that know thy name, altogether praise thee in hymns.

34 And they joined together battle, and five thousand of men fell down of the host of Lysias.

35 Lysias forsooth saw the flight of his men, and the hardiness of Jews; and that they were ready either for to live, either for to die strongly. And he went to Antioch, and chose knights, that they multiplied should come again into Judea.

36 Forsooth Judas said to his brethren, [or Judas said, and his brethren], Lo! our enemies be all-broken; go we up now, for to cleanse holy things, and make new.

37 And all the host was gathered, and they went up into the hill of Zion.

38 And they saw the hallowing deserted, either forsaken, and the altar unhallowed, or defouled by idolatry, and the gates burnt, and in the porches tender trees grown, as in wild wood, or mountains, and [the] little cells destroyed.

39 And they rent their clothes, and wailed with great wailing; and putted ashes on their heads,

40 and fell on the face of the earth, and cried in trumps of signs, and cried into heaven.

41 Then Judas ordained men, for to fight against them that were in the high tower, as long as they cleansed holy things.

42 And he chose priests without wem, having will in the law of God;

43 and they cleansed holy things, and took away stones of defouling into an unclean place.

44 And he thought on the altar of burnt sacrifices, that was unhallowed, what he should do thereof.

45 And a good counsel fell into him, for to destroy it, lest it were to them into shame, for heathen men defouled it.

46 And they destroyed it, and kept [or putted] stones in the hill of the house, in covenable place, till that a prophet came, and answered [or should answer] of them.

47 And they took whole stones, by [or after] the law, and builded a new altar, like that that was before.

48 And they builded holy things, and the things that were within the house withinforth; and they hallowed the house, and the porches.

49 And they made new holy vessels, and brought in a candlestick, and altar of incenses, and a board into the temple.

50 And [they] putted incense on the altar, and tended lanterns, that were on the candlestick, and gave light in the temple.

51 And they putted loaves on the board, and hanged veils, and ended all works that they made.

52 And before morrowtide they rose, in the five and twentieth day of the ninth month, this is the month Kislev, that is, November-December, of the hundred and eight and fortieth year.

53 And they offered sacrifice by [or after] the law, on the new altar of burnt sacrifices, which they made by [or after] time.

54 And by the day in which heathen men defouled it, in that it was made new, in songs, and harps, and citherns, that be instruments of music, either gitterns, and cymbals.

55 And all the people fell on their faces, and worshipped God, and blessed into heaven him that made prosperity to them.

56 And they made hallowing of the altar in eight days, and offered burnt sacrifices with gladness, and helpful things of praising.

57 And they adorned the face of the temple with golden crowns, and small shields; and hallowed gates, and little houses, either small cells, and putted to them gates.

58 And full great gladness was made in the people, and the shame of heathen men was turned away.

59 And Judas ordained, and his brethren, and all the church of Israel, that the day of hallowing of the altar be done in his times, from year into year, by eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month Kislev, with gladness and joy.

60 And they builded in that time the hill of Zion, and by compass high walls, and firm towers, lest any time heathen men would come, and defoul it, as they did before.

61 And he set there an host [or a company], for to keep it; and he warded it, for to keep Bethsura, that the people should have strengthening [or warding] against the face of Idumea.

CHAPTER 5

1 And it was done, as heathen men heard in compass, that the altar was builded, and the saintuary as before, they were wroth greatly.

2 And they thought for to do away, either destroy, the kin of Jacob, that was among them; and they began for to slay of the people, and pursue.

3 And Judas overcame the sons of Esau in Idumea, and them that were in Acrabattene, for they sat about men of Israel; and he smote them with a great wound.

4 And he thought on the malice of the sons of Bean, that were into snare, and into offence to the people of Israel, and espied it, either set ambushments to it, in the ways.

5 And these were closed altogether from him in the towers; and he applied to or pitched by them, and cursed them, and burnt with fire the towers of them, with all men that were in them.

6 And he passed to the sons of Ammon, and found strong hand, and plenteous people, and Timothy, duke of them.

7 And he smote many battles with them, and they were broken in the sight of him; and he smote them.

8 And he took the city [of] Jazer, and [the] villages thereof; and he turned again into Judea.

9 And heathen men that were in Gilead, were gathered against Israelites, that were in the coasts of them, to do away them [or to do them away]; and they fled into the strengthening of Dathema.

10 And they sent letters to Judas, and his brethren, and said, Heathen men be gathered against us by compass, that they do away us [or do us away];

11 and they make ready for to come, and occupy the strengthening, into which we fled; and Timothy is duke of the host of them.

12 Now therefore come thou, and deliver us from their hands, for a multitude of us fell down;

13 and all our brethren that were in places of Tob, everywhere be slain; and they led away captive the wives of them, and children, and took spoils; and killed there almost a thousand men.

14 And yet epistles were read, and lo! other messengers came from Galilee, with coats rent, and told by these words,

15 and said, that men came together against them from Ptolemais, and Tyre, and Sidon, and all Galilee is [full]-filled with aliens, for to destroy us.

16 Soothly as Judas heard, and the people, these words, a great church came together, for to think what they should do to their brethren, that were in tribulation, and were overcome of them.

17 And Judas said to Simon, his brother, Choose to thee men, and go, and deliver thy brethren in Galilee; I forsooth and my brother Jonathan, shall go into Gilead.

18 And he left Joseph, son of Zechariah, and Azariah, dukes of the people, with the residue host in Judea to keeping;

19 and [he] commanded to them, and said, Be ye sovereigns to this people, and do not ye smite battle against heathen men, till we turn again.

20 And men were given to Simon three thousands, for to go into Galilee; to Judas soothly eight thousand, into Gilead.

21 And Simon went into Galilee, and joined many battles with heathen men. And heathen men were all-broken from his face,

22 and he pursued them till to the gate of Ptolemais. And there fell down of heathen men almost three thousand of men; and he took the spoils of them.

23 And he took them that were in Galilee, and in Arbatta, with wives, and children, and all things that were to them; and brought into Judea with great gladness.

24 And Judas Maccabeus, and Jonathan, and his brethren passed over Jordan, and went forth the way of three days into desert.

25 And Nabathites or Nabateans came against them, and received them peaceably, and told to them all things that befell to their brethren in Gilead;

26 and that many of them were taken [or caught] in Bozrah, and Bosor, and in Alema, and in Casphor, and Maked, and Carnaim; all these were strong cities and great.

27 But and in other cities of Gilead they be holden caught. And on the morrow they ordained for to move the host to those cities, and for to take, and do away them in one day.

28 And Judas turned, and his host, the way into desert of Bozrah sudden-ly; and [he] occupied the city, and slew each male by the sharpness of sword, and took all the spoils of them, and burnt it with fire.

29 And they rose thence in night, and went unto the strengthening.

30 And it was made in springing of day, when they raised their eyes, and lo! much people, of whom was no number, bearing ladders and engines, for to take the strengthening, and overcome them.

31 And Judas saw, that battle began, and cry of battle ascended into heaven, as [a] trump, and great cry of [a] city.

32 And he said to his host, Fight ye today for your brethren.

33 And he came, and three orders after them [or And he came in three orders after them], and they cried with trumps, and cried in prayer.

34 And [the] hosts of Timothy knew, that it was Maccabeus, and they fled from his face. And they have smitten them with great wound; and there fell down of them in that day almost eight thousand of men.

35 And Judas turned away into Mizpeh; and [he] overcame, and took it, and slew each male thereof, and took spoils of it, and burnt it with fire.

36 From thence he went, and took Casphor, and Maked, and Bosor, and other cities of Gilead.

37 Forsooth after these words, Timothy gathered another host, and putted tents against Raphon, over the stream.

38 And Judas sent for to behold the host, and they told again to him, and said, That all heathen men that be in our compass, full much host, came together to him.

39 And they hired Arabians into help to them, and they have set tents over the stream, and be ready for to come to thee into battle. And Judas went against them.

40 And Timothy said to the princes of his host, When Judas nigheth, and his host, to the stream of water, if he passeth former or first to us, we shall not be able to abide him, for he mighty shall be able to be against us.

41 Soothly if he dreadeth for to pass, and setteth tents beyond the flood, pass we over to them, and we shall be able to be against him.

42 Forsooth as Judas nighed to the stream of water, he ordained scribes, either writers, of the people, beside the stream, and commanded to them, and said, Leave ye none of men, but come all into battle.

43 And he the former passed over to them, and all the people after him. And all these heathen men were all-broken from the face of them, and they casted away their arms; and they fled to the temple, that was at Carnaim.

44 And Judas occupied that city, and burnt the temple with fire, and all that were in it; and Carnaim was oppressed, and might not abide [or sustain] against the face of Judas.

45 And Judas gathered all Israelites that were in Gilead, from the least to the most, and wives of them, and children, and a full great host, that they should come into the land of Judea.

46 And they came till to Ephron, and this great city, put in the entry, was full strong; and there was not for to bow away from it, in [the] right half or left, but the way was through the middle.

47 And they that were in the city closed in them [or closed them in], and stopped the gates with stones.

48 And Judas sent to them with peaceable words, and said, Pass we by your land, for to go into our land, and no man shall annoy you, only on feet we shall go. And they would not open to them.

49 And Judas commanded for to preach in tents, either host, that each man should apply, that is, assail the city, in what place he was.

50 And men of virtue applied or pitched themselves, and he fought against that city all day and all night, and the city was betaken in his hands.

51 And they slew each male by the sharpness of sword, and drew up by the roots it [or drew it up by the roots], and took the spoils thereof, and passed by all the city on the slain men.

52 And they passed over Jordan, in the great field against the face of Bethshan.

53 And Judas was gathering the last men, and admonished the people by all the way, till they came into the land of Judea.

54 And they went up into the hill of Zion with gladness and joy, and offered burnt sacrifices, that no man of them fell down, or was dead, till they turned again in peace.

55 And in the days in which Judas was, and Jonathan, in the land of Gilead, and Simon, his brother, in Galilee, against the face of Ptolemais,

56 Joseph, son of Zechariah, heard, and Azariah, prince of virtue, the things done well [or well done], and battles that were made.

57 And he said, Make we also a name to us, and go we for to fight against heathen men, that be in our compass.

58 And he commanded to these that were in his host, and they went forth to Jamnia.

59 And Gorgias went out of the city, and his men, against them, into fight.

60 And Joseph and Azariah were driven unto the ends of Judea; and there fell down in that day of the people of Israel, men to two thousands [or men two thousands].

61 And a great wound was made in the people; for they heard not Judas and his brethren, and guessed them to do strongly.

62 Forsooth they were not of the seed of those men, by which health was made in Israel.

63 And men of Judas were magnified greatly in the sight of all Israel, and of all heathen men, where the name of them was heard.

64 And they came together, crying to them prosperity, either praisings.

65 And Judas went out, and his brethren, and overcame the sons of Esau, in the land that is at the south; and he smote Hebron, and [the] villages thereof, and destroyed the wardings, or the walls, thereof, and burnt with fire [the] towers thereof in compass.

66 And he moved tents, for to go into the land of aliens; and went through Samaria.

67 In that day priests fell down in battle, while they would do strongly, while without counsel they went out into battle.

68 And Judas bowed away into Azotus, in the land of aliens, and destroyed altars of them, and burnt in fire the spoils of their gods, and took preys of cities; and turned again into the land of Judea.

CHAPTER 6

1 And king Antiochus walked through the high countries, and heard that a city, Elymais, was in Persia, the noblest and plenteous in silver and gold;

2 and a temple in it was full rich, and there were golden veils, and habergeons, and shields, which Alexander son of Philip, king of Macedonia, left, that reigned the first [or that reigned first] in Greece.

3 And he came, and sought for to take the city, and rob it; and he might not, for the word was known to them that were in the city.

4 And they rised up into battle, and he flew from thence, and went away with great heaviness, and turned again to Babylon.

5 And there came one, that told to him in Persia, that the hosts that were in the land of Judea were driven out,

6 and that Lysias went with strong virtue, either power, in the first, or best, men, and was driven out from the face of Jews, and they waxed strong in arms, and strengths, and many preys, which they took of tents, either hosts, that they slew;

7 and that they destroyed the abomination, which he builded on the altar that was in Jerusalem, and they encompassed with high walls the hallowing, as before, but and Bethsura, his city.

8 And it was done, as the king heard these words, he dreaded, and was moved greatly, and fell down into a bed, and fell into a great sickness for heaviness, for it was not done as he thought.

9 And he was there many days, for great heaviness was renewed in him, and he deemed himself for to die.

10 And he called all his friends, and said to them, Sleep passed away from mine eyes, and I failed in heart, and fell down for busyness [or fell down in heart for busyness];

11 and I said in mine heart, Into how great tribulation became I [or came I], and into what waves of heaviness in which I am now, that was merry, and beloved in my power?

12 Now forsooth I bethink on the evils that I did to Jerusalem, from whence and I took all golden spoils, and silvern, that were therein; and I sent without cause, that men dwelling in Judea to be done away.

13 Therefore I knew that these evils found me therefore, and lo! I perish by great heaviness in an alien land.

14 And he called Philip, one of his friends, and made him sovereign on all his realm;

15 and gave to him a diadem, and his stole, and ring, for to lead Antiochus, his son, and nourish him, and that he should reign.

16 And king Antiochus died there, in the hundred and nine and fortieth year.

17 And Lysias knew, that the king was dead, and [he] ordained Antiochus, the son of him, for to reign, whom he nourished or nursed when young; and [he] called his name Eupator.

18 And they that were in the high tower, enclosed altogether Israel in compass of holy things, and sought to them evils evermore, to strengthening of heathen men.

19 And Judas thought for to destroy them, and called together all the people, for to besiege them.

20 And they came together, and besieged them, in the hundred and fiftieth year; and they made arblasts or arrow-blasters, that is, an instrument for to cast shafts, and stones, and engines.

21 And some of them that were besieged, went out; and some unfaithful [or unpious] men of Israel joined themselves to them,

22 and went to the king, and said, How long doest thou not doom, and avengest not our brethren?

23 And we deemed for to serve thy father, and for to walk in his behests, and obey to his commandments.

24 And the sons of our people alienated them from us for this thing; and whichever were found of us, were slain, and our heritages were ravished away.

25 And not only to us they stretched out the hand, but and into all our coasts.

26 And lo! they applied today to or pitched at the high tower in Jerusalem, for to occupy it, and they strengthened a strengthening or strong-hold in Bethsura.

27 And if thou shalt not before come them more swiftly, they shall do greater things than these, and thou shalt not be able to wield them.

28 And the king was wroth, as he heard this thing, and called together all his friends, and princes of his host, and them that were over horsemen;

29 but also an hired host from other realms, and isles, and coasts came to him.

30 And the number of his host was an hundred thousand of footmen, and twenty thousand of horsemen, and two and thirty elephants taught to battle.

31 And they came by Idumea, and they applied to or pitched at Bethsura, and fought many days; and they made engines, and they went out, and burnt them in fire, and fought manly.

32 And Judas went from the high tower, and moved tents to Beth-zechariah, against tents of the king.

33 And the king rose before the light, and stirred the host into fierce-ness, against the way of Beth-zechariah; and the hosts made ready them altogether into battle [or the hosts made them altogether ready into battle], and sang in trumps.

34 And to elephants they showed blood of grapes, and morus, or mulberry trees, for to whet them into battle.

35 And they parted the beasts by legions; and to each elephant a thousand men stood nigh in habergeons chained, or mailed, together, and brazen helmets in their heads, and five hundred horsemen chosen [or five hundred chosen horsemen] were ordained to each beast.

36 These were there before the time, wherever the beast was; and whither ever it went, they went, and departed not therefrom.

37 But and firm towers of tree were on them, defending by all the beasts, and on them were engines, and on each by themselves men of virtue, or strong men, two and thirty, which fought from above, and within was the master of the beast.

38 And he ordained the residue multitude of horsemen on this half and that half, into two parts, for to move altogether the host with trumps, and for to constrain the men made thick in their legions [or to constrain the armed men in his legions].

39 And as the sun shined into the golden shields, and brazen, the hills shined again of them, and shined again, as lamps of fire.

40 And a part of the king’s host was parted by high hills, and others by low places; and they went warily, and ordinately.

41 And all men dwelling in the land were moved altogether of the voice of multitude of them, and in-going of company, and hurtling together of arms; for the host was full great and strong.

42 And Judas and his host nighed into battle; and there fell down of the king’s host six hundred men.

43 And Eleazar, the son of Avaran, saw one of the beasts habergeoned with habergeons of the king, and it was high standing over other beasts; and it was seen to him, that the king was on it.

44 And he gave himself for to deliver his people, for to get to him a name everlasting.

45 And he ran thereto hardily, into the middle of legion, and killed on the right half and on the left [or slaying on the right half and left]; and they fell down from him hither and thither.

46 And he went under the feet of the elephant, and under-putted himself thereto, and slew it; and it fell down into earth on him, and he was dead there.

47 And they saw the virtue or strength of the king, and the fierce-ness of his host, and turned away themselves from them.

48 Forsooth the tents or host of the king went up against them, into Jerusalem; and tents of the king applied to or pitched at Judea, and to the hill of Zion;

49 and he made peace with these that were in Bethsura. And they went out of the city, for foods were not to them enclosed altogether there, for the sabbaths of earth were.

50 And the king took Bethsura, and ordained there keeping, for to keep it.

51 And he turned the tents or host to the place of hallowing many days; and ordained there arblasts or arrow-blasters, and engines, and darts, or castings, of fire, and torments for to cast stones and darts, and scorpions for to shoot arrows, and slings.

52 Forsooth and they made engines against the engines of them, and [they] fought many days.

53 Forsooth meats were not in the city, for that it was the seventh year; and they that left of heathen men in Judea, had wasted the remnants [or the relics] of those things that were kept.

54 And few men left in holy things, for hunger had taken them; and they were scattered, each man into his place.

55 And Lysias heard, that Philip, whom king Antiochus ordained, when he lived yet [or when yet he lived], that he should nourish Antiochus, his son, that he should reign,

56 turned again from Persia and Media, and the host that went with him. And that he seeketh for to take the causes of the realm,

57 Lysias hasted for to go, and said to the king, and dukes of the host, We fail each day, and little meat is to us, and the place which we besiege, is strong, and it falleth to us for to ordain of the realm.

58 Therefore now give we right hands to these men, and make we peace with them, and with all the folk of them;

59 and ordain we to them, that they go in lawful things as before; for why for the lawful things of them which we despised, they be wroth, and have done all these things.

60 And the word pleased in the sight of the king, and of princes; and he sent to them for to make peace, and they received it.

61 And the king swore to them, and princes; and they went out of the strengthening.

62 And the king entered into the mount Zion, and he saw the strengthening of the place; and he brake full soon the oath that he swore, and commanded for to destroy the wall in compass.

63 And he departed away hastily, and turned again to Antioch, and found Philip reigning in the city; and he fought against him, and occupied the city by strength.

CHAPTER 7

1 In the hundred year and one and fifty, Demetrius, son of Seleucus, went out from the city of Rome, and went up with a few men into a city nigh the sea, and reigned there.

2 And it was done, as he entered into the house of the realm of his fathers, the host caught Antiochus, and Lysias, for to bring them to him.

3 And the thing was known to him, and he said, Do not ye show to me the faces of them.

4 And the host slew them. And Demetrius sat on the seat of his realm;

5 and wicked men and unfaithful of Israel came to him, and Alcimus, duke of them, that would be made priest;

6 and accused the people with the king, and said, Judas and his brethren lost thy friends, and diversely lost [or scattered] us from our land.

7 Now therefore send thou a man, to whom thou believest, that he go, and see all the destroying that he hath done to us, and to countries of the king; and he punish all friends of him, and helpers of them.

8 And the king chose of his friends Bacchides, that was lord over the great flood in the realm, and true to the king,

9 and [he] sent him, for to see the destroying that Judas did; and he ordained unfaithful [or unpious] Alcimus into priesthood, and bade him do vengeance on the sons of Israel.

10 And they rose, and came with great host into the land of Judea; and they sent messengers, and spake to Judas and his brethren, with peace-able words in guile.

11 And they gave not attention to their words; for they saw, that they came with great host.

12 And the congregation of scribes came together to Alcimus and Bacchides, for to ask those things that be just;

13 and the first, Hasideans, that were among the sons of Israel, and they asked of them peace.

14 For they said, A man, priest of the seed of Aaron, cometh, he shall not deceive us.

15 And he spake with them peace-able words, and swore to them, and said, We shall not bring into you evils, neither to your friends.

16 And they believed to him. And he caught of them sixty men, and slew them in one day, by [or after] the word that is written,

17 They shed out the fleshes of thy saints, and blood of them in compass of Jerusalem, and there was not that buried.

18 And dread and trembling fell into all the people, for they said, There is not truth and doom in them; for they have broken the statute, or ordinance, and the oath that they swore.

19 And Bacchides moved tents from Jerusalem, and applied into or pitched at Bethzaith; and sent, and caught many of them that fled from him; and he killed some of the people, and casted into a great pit.

20 And he betook the country to Alcimus, and left with him help, into helping of him. And Bacchides went to the king,

21 and Alcimus did enough, for the princehood of his priesthood.

22 And all came together to him, which disturbed or troubled their people, and wielded the land of Judea; and [they] did great vengeance in Israel.

23 And Judas saw all the evils, that Alcimus did, and they that were with him, to the sons of Israel, much more than heathen men.

24 And he went out into all the coasts of Judea in compass, and did vengeance on men forsakers, and they ceased for to go out further into the country.

25 Forsooth Alcimus saw, that Judas had victory, and they that were with him; and he knew that he may not abide them, and he went again to the king, and accused them in many sins.

26 And the king sent Nicanor, one of his nobler princes, that was haunting enmities against Israel, and commanded him for to destroy the people.

27 And Nicanor came into Jerusalem, with great host, and he sent to Judas and his brethren with guile, by peace-able words, saying,

28 Fight be not betwixt me and you; I shall come with few men, for to see your faces with peace.

29 And he came to Judas, and they greeted them together peaceably; and enemies were ready for to ravish Judas.

30 And the word was known to Judas, that with guile he came to him; and he was afeared of him, and he would no more see his face.

31 And Nicanor knew, that his counsel was known, and he went out against Judas into fight, beside Caphar-salama.

32 And there fell down of Nicanor’s host almost five thousand men, and they fled into the city of David.

33 And after these words Nicanor went up into the hill of Zion, and there went out of priests of the people, for to greet him in peace, and for to show to him burnt sacrifices, that were offered for the king.

34 And he scorned and despised them, and defouled, and spake proudly,

35 and swore with wrath, saying, If Judas shall not be taken, and his host, into mine hands, anon when I shall turn again in peace, I shall burn this house. And he went out with great wrath.

36 And priests entered, and stood before the face of the altar and temple, and weeping, they said,

37 Thou, Lord, hast chosen this house, for to call to help [or to in-call] thy name in it, that it should be an house of prayer and beseeching to thy people;

38 do thou vengeance in this man, and his host, and fall they by sword; have mind on their blasphemies, and give not to them that they abide.

39 And Nicanor went out from Jerusalem, and applied tents to or pitched at Bethhoron; and the host of Syria came to him.

40 And Judas applied in or pitched at Adasa, with three thousand men. And Judas prayed, and said,

41 Lord, an angel went out, and smote an hundred thousand fourscore and five thousands of them [or smote an hundred and fourscore and five thousands of them], that were sent from king Sennacherib, for they blasphemed thee;

42 so all-break this host in our sight today, and other men know, that he spake evil on thine holy things; and deem thou him by [or after] the malice of him.

43 And the hosts joined battle in the thirteenth day of the month Adar, that is, February-March; and the tents or host of Nicanor were all-broken, and he fell down first in battle.

44 Soothly as his host saw, that Nicanor fell down, they casted away their arms, and fled.

45 And they pursued them the way of one day, from Adasa till men come into Gazara; and they sung in trumps after them with signifyings.

46 And they went out of all [the] castles of Judea in compass, and winnowed them with horns, and again they were converted or turned back to them; and all falled [or fell] by sword, and there was left of them not one.

47 And they took the spoils of them [in] to prey; and they girded [or cutted] off the head of Nicanor, and his right hand which he stretched forth proudly, and they brought, and hanged against Jerusalem.

48 And the people was glad greatly, and they did that day in great gladness;

49 and ordained this day for to be done in all years, in the thirteenth day of the month Adar.

50 And the land of Judea was still a few days.

CHAPTER 8

1 And Judas heard the name or fame of Romans, that they be mighty in strengths, and accord to all things that be asked of them; and whoever went to them, they ordained with them friendships;

2 and that they be mighty in strengths. And they heard battles of them, and good virtues, that they did in Galatia, for they wielded them, and led them under tribute;

3 and how many things they did in the country of Spain, and that they brought into power metals of silver and gold that be there;

4 and they wielded each place with their counsel, and patience, or wisdom, places that were full far from them; and they all-brake kings that came on them from the utmost places of earth, and they smited them with great wound; forsooth others give to them tribute by all years.

5 And they all-brake in battle Philip, and Perseus, kings [or king] of Kittim, and others that bare arms against them, and wielded them.

6 And they wielded Antiochus, the great king of Asia, that gave battle to them, and had an hundred and twenty elephants, and multitude of horsemen, and chariots, and full great host all-broken of them;

7 and that they took him quick, and ordained to him, that he should give great tribute, and they that reigned after him; and that he should give pledges and ordinance,

8 in the country of India; and they putted out men of Media, and of Lydia, from the best countries of them, and they gave those countries taken of them to king Eumenes;

9 and that they that were with Greeks, would go, and take away them;

10 and the word was known to these Romans, and they sent to them one duke, and they fought against them; and many of them fell, and they led their wives captives, and sons, and robbed them; and wielded the land of them, and destroyed the walls of them, and brought them into servage, till into this day.

11 And they destroyed other realms and isles, that sometime against-stood them, and brought [them] into power.

12 Forsooth with their friends, and that had rest in them, they kept friendship, and they wielded realms that were next, and that were far; for whoever heard the name of them, dreaded them.

13 For they reigned, to whom they would be in help for to reign; forsooth which [or whom] they would, they disturbed from realm; and they were greatly enhanced.

14 In all these Romans, no man bare diadem, neither was clothed in purple, for to be magnified therein.

15 And [for] they made to them a court, and each day they counselled three hundred and twenty, doing counsel evermore of multitude, that they do what things be worthy.

16 And they betake to one man their mastery, either chief governance, by each year, for to be lord of all their land; and all obey to one, and envy is not, neither wrath among them.

17 And Judas chose Eupolemus, the son of John, son of Accos, and Jason, the son of Eleazar, and sent them to Rome, for to ordain with them friendship and fellowship;

18 and that they should take away from them the yoke of Greeks, for they saw that they oppressed the realm of Israel into servage.

19 And they went to Rome, a full great way, and they entered into the court, and said,

20 Judas Maccabeus, and his brethren, and the people of Jews, sent us to you, for to ordain with you fellowship and peace, and for to write together us your fellows and friends.

21 And the word pleased in the sight of them.

22 And this is the again-writing, which they again-writed in brazen tables, and sent into Jerusalem, that it were there a memorial, either a thing of mind, of peace and fellowship.

23 Be it well to Romans, and to the folk of Jews, in the sea and land, without end; and sword and enemy be far from them.

24 That if battle befall to Romans before [or former], either to all fellows of them in all the lordship of them,

25 the folk of Jews shall bear help, as time asketh [or as time shall ask], with full heart;

26 and the Romans shall not give, neither privily minister to the Jews fighting [or nor they shall give, neither privily minister to the fighting], wheat, arms, money, ships, as it pleased to Romans; and they shall keep the commandments of them, and take nothing of them.

27 Forsooth in like manner, and if battle falleth before to the folk of Jews, Romans shall help of [good] heart, as time suffereth them [or as time shall suffer them];

28 and to Romans helping wheat shall not be given, neither arms, money, neither ships, as it pleased to Romans; and they shall keep the commandments of them without guile.

29 By [or After] these words the Romans ordained to the people of Jews,

30 That if after these words, these either they will put anything to, either do away, they shall do of their common assent; and whatever things they shall put to, either do away, they shall be steadfast.

31 But also of evils which king Demetrius hath done against them, we have written to him, and we said Why hast thou grieved thy yoke on our friends and fellows, the Jews?

32 Therefore if again they shall come to us against thee, we shall do doom to them, and shall fight with thee by land and sea.

CHAPTER 9

1 In the meantime, where Demetrius heard that Nicanor fell, and his host, in battle, he putted to again for to send Bacchides and Alcimus into Judea, and the right half of the battle array [or the right horn] with them.

2 And they went the way that leadeth into Gilgal, and they setted tents in Mesaloth, that is in Arbela; and they occupied it, and slew many persons of men.

3 In the first month of the hundred and two and fifty year, they applied the host to or pitched tents at Jerusalem.

4 And twenty thousand of men, and two thousand of horsemen, have risen, and went into Berea.

5 And Judas setted tents in Eleasa, and three thousand men chosen [or three thousand chosen men] with him.

6 And they saw the multitude of the host, that they be many, and they dreaded greatly; and many withdrew them from tents, and there left not of them no but eight hundred men.

7 And Judas saw that his host fled away, and battle constrained him, and he was broken altogether in heart, for he had not time to gather them, and he was discomforted [or dissolved].

8 And he said to these that were residue, Rise we, and go we to our adversaries, if we shall be able to fight against them.

9 And they turned away him [or turned them away], and said, We shall not be able to, but deliver we [now] our own lives, and turn again we to our brethren, and then we shall fight against them; forsooth we be few.

10 And Judas said, Far be it for to do this thing, that we flee from them; and if our time hath nighed, die we in virtue for our brethren, and give we not crime to our glory.

11 And the host of Bacchides moved from tents, and they stood against them. And horsemen were parted into two parts, and slingers and archers went before the host, and the first men of battle, all the mighty.

12 Forsooth Bacchides was in the right horn, or battle array. And the legion of two parts came nigh, and cried with trumps.

13 Forsooth and these that were on [or of] the part of Judas, cried also, and the earth was moved altogether of the voice of hosts, and battle was joined from the morrowtide till to eventide [or from morrow unto even].

14 And Judas saw, that the part of Bacchides’ host was firmer in the right half, and all steadfast in heart came together with him.

15 And the right part was all-broken of them; and he pursued them unto the hill of Azotus.

16 And they that were in the left horn, or battle array, saw, that the right horn, or battle array, was all-broken, and they pursued at the back after Judas, and them that were with him.

17 And the battle was made grievous, and there fell many wounded of these and of them.

18 And Judas fell, and the others fled.

19 And Jonathan and Simon took their brother Judas, and buried him in the sepulchre of his fathers, in the city of Modin.

20 And all Israel bewept him with great wailing, and mourned many days, and said,

21 How fell the mighty, that made Israel safe.

22 And other words of battles of Judas, and of virtues that he did, and of his greatnesses, be not written; for those [or they] were full many.

23 And it was done, after the death of Judas, all wicked men in all the coasts of Israel rose out, and all that wrought wickedness came forth.

24 In those days full great hunger was made, and all the country of them betook themselves to Bacchides with them.

25 And Bacchides chose unpious men, and ordained them lords of the country.

26 And they asked out, and sought the friends of Judas, and brought them to Bacchides; and he avenged on [or into] them, and scorned.

27 And great tribulation was made in Israel, what manner was not from the day in which a prophet was not seen in Israel.

28 And all the friends of Judas were gathered, and said to Jonathan,

29 Since thy brother Judas is dead, there is no man like him, that shall go out against enemies, Bacchides and them that be enemies of our folk.

30 Therefore now we choose thee today for to be prince and duke to us for him, for to fight our battles.

31 And Jonathan received in that time the princehood, and rose in the place of Judas, his brother.

32 And Bacchides knew, and sought for to slay him.

33 And Jonathan knew, and Simon, his brother, and all that were with him, and [they] fled into desert of Tekoa, and sat together at the water of the lake Asphar.

34 And Bacchides knew, and in the day of sabbath he came, and all his host, over Jordan.

35 And Jonathan sent his brother John, leader [or duke] of that people, and prayed Nabathites or Nabateans, his friends, that he should betake to them his apparel, that was plenteous.

36 And sons of Jambri went out of Medaba, and caught John, and all things that he had, and went away, having those things [or having them].

37 After these words it was told again to Jonathan, and Simon, his brother, that the sons of Jambri make great weddings, and wed a wife of Nadabath, the daughter of one of the great princes of Canaan, with great pride and apparel.

38 And they bethought on the blood of John, their brother, and went up, and hid themselves under covering of the hill.

39 And they raised their eyes, and saw, and lo! noise, and great apparel; and a spouse, or husband, came forth, and his friends, and his brethren, against them, with tympans, and musics, and many arms.

40 And they rose to them from ambushments, and slew them, and many wounded fell down, and the residues fled into the hill, and they took all the spoils of them;

41 and weddings were converted into mourning, and voice of their musics into wailing.

42 And they avenged the vengeance of their brother’s blood, and [they] turned again to the brink of Jordan.

43 And Bacchides heard, and came in the day of sabbaths till to the utmost part of Jordan, in great strength.

44 And Jonathan said to his, Rise we, and fight against our enemies; for it is not today as yesterday, and the third day ago.

45 For lo! battle is even against; soothly the water of Jordan is on this half and on that half, and rivers, and marshes, and forests [or wild woods], and there is no place of turning away.

46 Now therefore cry ye into heaven, that ye be delivered from hand of your enemies.

47 And battle was joined. And Jonathan stretched out his hand, for to smite Bacchides, and he turned away from him behind.

48 And Jonathan skipped down [or leaped out], and they that were with him, into Jordan, and swam over Jordan to them.

49 And there fell of Bacchides part in that day a thousand men,

50 and they, that is, Bacchides and his men, turned again into Jerusalem; and builded strong cities in Judea, the strength that was in Jericho, and in Emmaus, and in Bethhoron, and Bethel, and Timnath-pharathon, and Tephon, with high walls, and gates, and locks.

51 And he setted keeping in them, that they should haunt enmities in Israel;

52 and he strengthened the city Bethsura, and Gazara, and the high tower, and putted in them helps, and apparel of meats.

53 And he took the sons of princes of the country in hostage, or pledges, and putted them in the high tower in Jerusalem, in keeping.

54 And in the hundred year and three and fifty [or fiftieth], in the second month, Alcimus commanded the walls of the holy inner house for to be destroyed, and the works of prophets for to be destroyed,

55 and he began for to destroy. In that time Alcimus was smitten, and the works of him were hindered. And his mouth was closed, and he was dissolved, either made feeble, by palsy, neither he might speak more a word, and command of his house.

56 And Alcimus was dead in that time, with great torment.

57 And Bacchides saw, that Alcimus was dead, and he turned again to the king, and the land was still two years.

58 And all wicked men thought, saying, Lo! Jonathan, and they that be with him, dwell in silence, and trust; now therefore bring we Bacchides, and he shall take them all in one night.

59 And they went forth, and gave counsel to him.

60 And he rose, for to come with much host. And he sent epistles privily to his fellows, that were in Judea, that they should catch Jonathan, and them that were with him; but they might not, for their counsel was known to them.

61 And Jonathan caught of men of the country, that were princes of knighthood, fifty men, and slew them.

62 And Jonathan and Simon went, and they that were with him, into Bethbasi, that is in desert, and builded again the destroyed things thereof, and made it strong.

63 And Bacchides knew, and gathered all his multitude, and announced to them that were of Judea.

64 And he came, and setted tents above Bethbasi, and fought against it many days, and made engines.

65 And Jonathan left Simon, his brother, in the city, and went out into the country, and came with number;

66 and smote Odomera, and his brethren, and sons of Phasiron, in the tabernacles of them,

67 and [he] began for to smite, and wax in virtues. Simon soothly, and they that were with him, went out of the city, and burnt engines.

68 And they fought against Bacchides, and he was all-broken of them; and they tormented him greatly, for his counsel and his assailing was void.

69 And he was wroth against wicked men, that gave counsel to him for to come into their country, and slew many of them; forsooth he thought with others for to go into his country.

70 And Jonathan knew, and sent legates to him, for to make peace with him, and to yield to him prisoners.

71 And willfully he took, and did by [or after] his words, and swore that he should not do to him any evil in all the days of his life.

72 And he yielded to him the captivity, that is, prisoners, which he took by prey before of the land of Judea. And he turned, and went into his land, and putted no more for to come into his coasts.

73 And sword ceased from Israel. And Jonathan dwelled in Michmash, and there Jonathan began for to deem the people, and he destroyed the unfaithful [or unpious] men of Israel.

CHAPTER 10

1 And in the hundred and sixtieth year Alexander, the son of Antiochus, went up, that is named noble or Epiphanes, [or Alexander, son of Antiochus, that is named noble, went up], and occupied Ptolemais; and they received him, and he reigned there.

2 And king Demetrius heard, and gathered an host full copious, and went out against him into battle.

3 And Demetrius sent [an] epistle to Jonathan with peaceable words, for to magnify him.

4 For he said, Before take we for to make peace with him, before that he make with Alexander against us;

5 for he shall have mind of all evils, that we have done against him, and against his brothers, and against his folk.

6 And he gave to him [or he gave him] power to gather host, and for to make arms, and him for to be his fellow. And he commanded hostages, either pledges, that were in the high tower, for to be given to him.

7 And Jonathan came into Jerusalem, and read epistles, in hearing of all the people, and of them that were in the high tower.

8 And they dreaded with great dread, for they heard, that the king gave him power to gather an host.

9 And hostages were betaken to Jonathan, and he yielded them to their fathers and mothers.

10 And Jonathan dwelt in Jerusalem, and began for to build and renew the city.

11 And he said to men doing works, that they should make up the walls, and the hill of Zion in compass, with square stones to strengthening; and they did so.

12 And aliens fled, that were in the strengths, which Bacchides had builded;

13 and each man left his place, and went into his land.

14 Only in Bethsura dwelt some of them, that forsook the law and the behests of God; for why this was to them to refuge.

15 And Alexander the king heard promises, that Demetrius promised to Jonathan, and they told to him the battles and virtues which he did, and his brethren, and the travails which they travailed.

16 And he said, Whether we shall find any such man? And now make we him our friend and fellow.

17 And he wrote epistle, and sent, by [or after] these words, saying,

18 King Alexander to Jonathan, brother, health.

19 We have heard of thee, that thou art a mighty man in strengths, and art able that thou be our friend.

20 And now we ordain thee today highest priest of thy folk, and that thou be called friend of the king. And he sent to him purple, and a golden crown, that thou feel with us what things be ours, and keep friendships to us.

21 And Jonathan clothed him with an holy stole [or the holy stole], in the seventh month, in the hundred and sixtieth year, in the solemn day of Scenopegia. And he gathered an host, and made copious or plenteous arms.

22 And Demetrius heard these words, and was made full sorrowful, and said,

23 What have we done this thing, that Alexander before-occupied us, for to catch friendship of Jews, to his strengthening?

24 And I shall write to him praying words, and dignities, and gifts, that he be with me in help.

25 And he wrote to him by these words, King Demetrius to the folk of Jews, health.

26 For ye kept to us covenant, and dwelt in our friendship, and went not to our enemies, we heard, and joyed.

27 And now last ye yet for to keep to us faith; and we shall requite to you good things, for these things that ye did to us,

28 and we shall forgive to you many [givings of] rents, and we shall give gifts to you.

29 And now I absolve you, and all Jews, of tributes, and I forgive to you the prices of salt, and forgive crowns or crown taxes,

30 and the third part of seed; and I leave to you from this day and afterward, the half part of fruit of the trees, that is of my portion, that it be not taken of the land of Judea, and of three cities that be added thereto, of Samaria and Galilee, from this day and into all time.

31 And Jerusalem be holy, and free, with his coasts; and tithes and tributes be of it.

32 Also I forgive the power of the high tower, that is in Jerusalem; and I give it to the high [or highest] priest, that he ordain therein men, which-ever [or whomever] he shall choose, that shall keep it.

33 And each person of Jews, that is captive of the land of Judea, in all my realm, I deliver free willfully, or without money, that all be absolved of their tributes, yea, of their beasts.

34 And all solemn days, and sabbaths, and new moons, and all days ordained, and three days before the solemn day, and three days after the solemn day, all these be days of immunity, or franchise, and of remission, to all Jews that be in my realm.

35 And no man shall have power for to do anything, and move needs, or causes, against any of them in any cause.

36 And that there be written of Jews in the king’s host, to thirty thousands of men; and plenties shall be given to them, as it behooveth to all hosts of the king.

37 And of them shall be ordained, that be in the great strengths of the king; of them shall be ordained over needs of the realm, that be done of faith, and princes be of them; and walk they in their laws, as the king commanded in the land of Judea.

38 And three cities, that be added to Judea of the country of Samaria, be areckoned, or deemed, with Judea; that they be under one, and obey not to other power, no but to the highest priest;

39 Ptolemais, and the coasts thereof, which I have given a gift to holy men that be in Jerusalem, to needful costs of saints.

40 And I shall give in each year fifteen thousand of shekels of silver, of the king’s reasons, that pertain to me;

41 and all that is residue, which they that were over needs yielded not in former years, from this time they shall give into the works of the house.

42 And over this, five thousand shekels of silver, which they took of reason of holy things by each year; and these things shall pertain to priests, that use [or be set in] ministry.

43 And whoever shall flee to the temple that is in Jerusalem, and in all coasts thereof, and be guilty to the king, in any cause, be dismissed, or released; and have they free all things, that be to them in my realm.

44 And to build, or restore, works of holy things, costs, or expenses, shall be given of the king’s reason, or rent,

45 and for to build out the walls of Jerusalem; and for to make strong in compass, expenses shall be given of the king’s reason, or rent, for to make out walls in Judea.

46 As Jonathan and the people heard these words, they believed not to them, neither received them; for they had mind of the great malice that he had done in Israel, and had troubled them greatly.

47 And it pleased altogether to them in Alexander, for he was to them prince of words of peace, and to him they bare help in all days.

48 And king Alexander gathered a great host, and moved tents against Demetrius.

49 And the kings joined battle, and the host of Demetrius fled; and Alexander pursued him, and lay on them;

50 and the battle was full strong, till the sun went down, and Demetrius fell in that day.

51 And Alexander sent to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, legates by these words, and said,

52 For I came again into my realm, and sat in the seat of my fathers; and I have wielded princehood, and I have all-broken Demetrius, and have wielded our country;

53 and I have joined fight with him, and he and his hosts be all-fouled [or is broken altogether] of us, and we sat in the seat of his realm.

54 And now ordain we together friendship, and give thy daughter a wife to me, and I shall be thy daughter’s husband; and I shall give to thee gifts, and to her dignity.

55 And king Ptolemy answered, saying, Blessed be the day in which thou turnedest again to the land of thy fathers, and hast sat in the seat of the realm of them.

56 And now I shall do to thee which things thou hast written; but come thou against me to, or meet me at, Ptolemais, that we see us together, and I promise to thee, as thou saidest.

57 And Ptolemy went out of Egypt, he and Cleopatra, his daughter; and he came to Ptolemais, in the hundred and two and sixtieth year.

58 And Alexander, the king [or king Alexander], came to him; and he gave to him Cleopatra, his daughter, and made his weddings at Ptolemais, as kings in great glory.

59 And king Alexander wrote to Jonathan, that he should come against or meet him.

60 And he went with glory to Ptolemais, and met there the two kings, and gave to them much silver, and gold, and gifts; and found grace in the sight of them.

61 And men of Israel, full of venom, came together against him, wicked men, asking against him, and the king took no attention to them;

62 and commanded Jonathan for to be made naked of his clothes, and him for to be clothed in purple; and they did so.

63 And the king setted [or set] him for to sit with him, and said to his princes, Go ye out with him into the middle of the city, and preach ye, that no man ask against him of any need, or cause, neither any man be heavy to him of any reason.

64 And it was done, as they that asked, [or appealed him], saw his glory that was preached, and him covered with purple, all fled.

65 And the king magnified him, and wrote him among the first friends, and putted him duke, and partner, or fellow, of princehood.

66 And Jonathan turned again into Jerusalem, with peace and gladness.

67 In the hundred year and five and sixtieth, Demetrius, the son of Demetrius, came from Crete into the land of his fathers.

68 And king Alexander heard, and was made full sorrowful, and turned again to Antioch.

69 And Demetrius ordained Apollonius duke, that was sovereign of Coele-syria; and he gathered his great host, and came to Jamnia; and sent to Jonathan, the highest priest, and said,

70 Thou alone against-standest us; I am made into scorn and shame therefore, for thou hauntest power in hills against us.

71 Now therefore if thou trustest in thy virtues, come down to us into the field; and there assemble [or comparison] we together, for with me is virtue of battles.

72 Ask thou, and learn who I am, and others that be in help to me, and which say, that your foot may not stand against our face, for thy fathers were converted into flight twice into their land.

73 And now how shalt thou be able to sustain multitude of horsemen, and so great host in the field, where is no stone, nor rock, neither place of fleeing?

74 Soothly as Jonathan heard these words of Apollonius, he was moved in heart; and he chose ten thousand men, and went out from Jerusalem, and Simon, his brother, came to him into help.

75 And they pitched tents in Joppa, and it, that is, the people of Joppa, shutted out him [or shut him out] from the city, for Joppa was the keeping of Apollonius;

76 and he fought against it, that is, Jonathan fought against Joppa. And they were aghast, that were within the city, and opened to him; and Jonathan wielded Joppa.

77 And Apollonius heard, and moved three thousand of horsemen, and much host; and went to Azotus, as making way. And anon he went out into the field, for that he had [a] multitude of horsemen, and he trusted in them;

78 and Jonathan pursued him into Azotus, and they joined battle.

79 And Apollonius left in tents a thousand horsemen behind them privily.

80 And Jonathan knew that ambush-ments were behind him, and they environed his tents, and casted darts into the people, from the morrow till to eventide [or unto even].

81 Forsooth the people stood, as Jonathan commanded, and the horses of them travailed out.

82 And Simon led out his host, and joined against the legion; forsooth [the] horsemen were made weary, and were all-broken of him, and fled.

83 And they that were scattered in the field, fled into Azotus; and entered into the house of Dagon [or into Bethdagon], their idol, that there they should deliver themselves.

84 And Jonathan burnt Azotus, and cities that were in compass thereof, and took spoils of them; and he burnt in fire the temple of Dagon, and them that fled into it.

85 And there were that fell by sword with them that were burnt, almost eight thousand men.

86 And from thence Jonathan moved tents, and applied them to or pitched at Ascalon; and they went out of the city against him in great glory.

87 And Jonathan turned again to Jerusalem with his men, having many spoils.

88 And it was done, as king Alexander heard these words, he putted to yet for to glorify Jonathan.

89 And he sent to him a golden lace, either ouch, as custom is to be given to cousins of kings; and he gave to him Ekron, and all coasts thereof in possession.

CHAPTER 11

1 And the king of Egypt gathered an host, as gravel that is about the brink of the sea, and many ships; and sought for to wield the realm of Alexander in guile, and add it to his realm.

2 And he went out into Syria with peaceable words, and they opened to him cities, and came to him; for why king Alexander commanded for to go out against him, for he was father of the king’s wife.

3 Soothly when Ptolemy entered into a city, he putted keepings of knights in each city.

4 And as he nighed to Azotus, they showed to him the temple of Dagon burnt in fire, and Azotus, and other things thereof were destroyed, and bodies cast forth, and the burials of them that were slain in battle, which they made beside the way.

5 And they told to the king that Jonathan did these things, for to make envy to him; and the king was still.

6 And Jonathan came to the king with glory into Joppa, and they greeted them together; and they slept there.

7 And Jonathan went with the king till to the flood that is called Eleutherus, and turned again into Jerusalem.

8 Soothly king Ptolemy wielded the lordship of cities till to Seleucia, by the sea coast, and thought against Alexander evil counsels;

9 and sent legates to Demetrius, and said, Come thou, make we betwixt us covenant, and I shall give to thee my daughter, whom Alexander hath, and thou shalt reign in the realm of thy father.

10 For it rueth me, that I gave to him my daughter; for he sought for to slay me.

11 And he despised him therefore, for he coveted the realm of him.

12 And he took away his daughter, and gave her to Demetrius, and alienated him from Alexander; and his enmities were made known.

13 And Ptolemy entered into Antioch, and putted two diadems to his head, of Egypt and of Asia.

14 Forsooth Alexander, the king, was in Cilicia in those days, for they rebelled, that were in those places.

15 And Alexander heard, and came to him into battle; and Ptolemy, the king, brought forth the host, and came to him in strong hand, and drove him away.

16 And Alexander flew into Arabia, for to be defended there; soothly king Ptolemy was enhanced.

17 And Zabdiel of Arabia took away Alexander’s head, and sent to Ptolemy.

18 And king Ptolemy was dead in the third day; and they that were in strengths perished, of them that were within the castles.

19 And Demetrius reigned in the hundred year and seven and sixtieth.

20 In those days Jonathan gathered them that were in Judea, for to overcome the high tower, that is in Jerusalem; and they made against it many engines.

21 And some wicked men, that hated their folk, went to the king Demetrius [or to king Demetrius], and told to him, that Jonathan besieged the high tower.

22 And as he heard, he was wroth, and anon he came to Ptolemais, and wrote to Jonathan, that he should not besiege the high tower, but should come to him in haste, to speak together.

23 Soothly as Jonathan heard, he commanded for to besiege; and he chose of the elder men of Israel, and priests, and gave him to peril.

24 And he took gold, and silver, and clothes, and many other presents; and went to the king, to Ptolemais, and found grace in the sight of him.

25 And some wicked men of his folk asked against him;

26 and the king did to him, as they that were before him, did to him; and he enhanced him in sight of all his friends,

27 and ordained to him princehood of priesthood, and whatever other precious things he had before; and made him prince of his friends.

28 And Jonathan asked of the king, that he should make Judea free, and three princehoods of three places, and Samaria, and nigh coasts thereof; and he promised to him three hundred talents.

29 And the king consented, and wrote to Jonathan epistles of all these things, containing this manner.

30 King Demetrius to Jonathan, brother, health, and to the folk of Jews.

31 The ensample of [the] epistle, which we have written to Lasthenes, our father, of you, we sent to you, that ye should know.

32 King Demetrius to Lasthenes, father, health.

33 To the people of Jews, our friends, and keeping which things be just with us, we deemed for to do well, for [the] benignity of them that they have with us.

34 Therefore we ordained to them, all the coasts of Judea, and three cities of offerings [or three cities], Lydda, and Ramathem, and Apherema, that be added to Judea, and Samaria, and all the nigh coast of them, for to be sequestered, or parted, to all men doing sacrifice in Jerusalem, for these things that the king took before of them by all years, and for fruits of the earth, and of apples.

35 And of other things that pertained to us, of tithes, and tributes, from this time we forgive to them; and the plain places of salt-making, and the crowns or crown taxes that were borne to us, all things we grant to them;

36 and nothing of these shall be void, from this time and into all time.

37 Now therefore busy ye for to make ensample of these things, and be it given to Jonathan, and be put in the holy mount, and in the solemn [or the holy] place.

38 And king Demetrius saw, that the land was still in his sight, and that nothing against-stood him, and let go all his host, each man into his place, except the strange host, or the host of strangers or foreigners, that he drew from isles of heathen men; and all the hosts of his fathers were enemies to him.

39 Forsooth one Tryphon was of the parts of Alexander before, and he saw that all the host grutched against Demetrius; and he went to Imalcue the Arabian, that nourished Antiochus, the son of Alexander.

40 And he made great instance or insistence to him, that he should betake him to him, for to reign instead of his father; and [he] told out to him, how great things Demetrius had done, and the enmities of his hosts against him; and he dwelt there many days.

41 And Jonathan sent to king Demetrius, that he should cast out them [or should cast them out], that were in the high tower in Jerusalem, and which were in helps, or strengths, for they impugned Israel.

42 And Demetrius sent to Jonathan, and said, Not only this I shall do to thee, and thy folk, but I shall make thee noble by glory, and thy folk, when it shall be covenable.

43 Now therefore rightly thou shalt do, if thou shalt send men into help to me, for all mine host went away.

44 And Jonathan sent to him three thousand of strong men, to Antioch; and they came to the king, and the king delighted in the coming of them.

45 And there came together that were of the city sixscore thousand of men [or an hundred and twenty thousand of men], and would slay the king.

46 And the king fled into the hall. And they that were of the city occupied the ways of the city, and begun for to fight.

47 And the king called Jews into help, and all came together to him, and all were scattered by the city; and slew in that day an hundred thousand of men,

48 and [they] burnt the city, and took many spoils in that day, and delivered the king.

49 And they saw, that were of the city, that Jews had taken the city as they would; and they were made unsteadfast in their soul, and cried to the king with prayers, and said,

50 Give to us right hands, and cease the Jews for to fight against us and the city.

51 And they casted away their arms, and made peace. And Jews were glorified in the sight of the king, and in the sight of all men that were in his realm, and were named in the realm. And they went again into Jerusalem, having many spoils.

52 And king Demetrius sat in the seat of his realm, and the land was still in his sight.

53 And he lied all things, whatever he said, and alienated him from Jonathan, and yielded not to him by [or after] benefices, which he had given to him; and Demetrius travailed him greatly.

54 After these things Tryphon turned again, and Antiochus, a young child, with him; and reigned, and putted on him a diadem.

55 And all hosts were gathered to him, which king Demetrius scattered; and they fought against him, and he flew, and turned backs.

56 And Tryphon took beasts, that is, elephants of the host of Demetrius, and wielded Antioch.

57 And Antiochus the young wrote to Jonathan, and said, I ordain to thee priesthood, and I ordain thee on four cities, that thou be of the king’s friends.

58 And he sent to him golden vessels, into ministry, and gave to him power to drink in gold, and for to be in purple, and for to have a golden lace, either ouch.

59 And he ordained Simon, his brother, duke from the ends of Tyre, till to the ends of Egypt.

60 And Jonathan went out, and walked over the flood by the cities; and all the host of Syria was gathered to him into help. And he came to Ascalon, and they of the city came against him worshipfully.

61 And from thence he went to Gaza, and they that were at Gaza enclosed them altogether, and he besieged it. And he burnt what things were in compass of the city, and spoiled it by prey.

62 And men of Gaza prayed Jonathan, and he gave to them right hand, either peace. And he took the sons of them in pledges, either in hostage, and he sent them into Jerusalem, and walked through the country till to Damascus.

63 And Jonathan heard, that the princes of Demetrius trespassed in Kedesh, that is in Galilee, with much host, willing to remove him from need of the realm;

64 and he came against them. Forsooth he left Simon, his brother, within the province.

65 And Simon applied to or pitched at Bethsura, and fought against it many days, and enclosed altogether them [or enclosed them altogether].

66 And they asked of him for to take right hands, and he gave to them. And he casted out them [or casted them out] from thence, and took the city, and putted therein strength.

67 And Jonathan and his host applied to the water of Gennesaret, or pitched by the Sea of Galilee, and before the light they walked in the light [or the field] of Asor

68 And lo! the hosts of aliens came against them in the field, and setted to him espies, in the hills. Soothly he came against of the contrary part.

69 Soothly the espies or ambushments rose up of their places, and joined battle. And all that were of Jonathan’s part fled,

70 and no man of them was left, no but Mattathias, son of Absalom, and Judas, son of Chalphi, princes of knighthood and host.

71 And Jonathan rent his clothings, and putted earth in his head, and prayed.

72 And Jonathan turned again to them into battle, and altogether turned them into flight, and fought.

73 And they of his part that fled saw, and they turned again to him, and pursued with him till to Kedesh, to their tents, and fully [they] came till thither.

74 And there felled down in that day of aliens three thousand of them, and Jonathan turned again into Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 12

1 And Jonathan saw that the time helped him; and he chose men, and sent them to Rome, for to ordain and renew friendship with them.

2 And to Spartans, and to other places, he sent epistles by [or after] the same form.

3 And they went to Rome, and entered into the court, and said, Jonathan, highest priest, and the folk of Jews, sent us, for to renew friendship and fellowship, by [or after] the former.

4 And they gave to them epistles to them by places, that they should lead forth them [or they should lead them forth] into the land of Judea with peace.

5 And this is the ensample of epistles, which Jonathan wrote to Spartans.

6 Jonathan, highest priest, and the elder men of the folk, and priests, and other people of Jews, to Spartans, brethren, health.

7 Now before epistles were sent to Onias, highest priest, from Darius, that reigned with you; for ye be our brethren, as the rescript, [or writing], containeth, that is under-put.

8 And Onias received the man, that was sent, with honour, and took epistles, in which was signified of fellowship and friendship.

9 When we had no need of these, and had in comfort [or having in solace] holy books that be in our hands, we had rather for to send to you,

10 for to renew brotherhood and friendship, lest peradventure we be made aliens from you; for why many times passed, since ye sent to us.

11 We therefore in all time without ceasing, in solemn days, and others, in which it behooveth, be mindful of you in sacrifices that we offer, and in observances, as leaveful is, and beseemeth, for to have had mind of brethren.

12 Therefore we be glad of your glory.

13 Forsooth many tribulations and many battles environed us; and kings, that be in our compass, fought against us.

14 Therefore we would not be grievous to you, neither to other fellows, and our friends, in these battles.

15 For we had help of heaven, and be delivered, and our enemies be made low.

16 Therefore we have chosen Numenius, the son of Antiochus, and Antipater, son of Jason, and sent to Romans, for to renew with them both friendship and former fellowship.

17 Therefore we commanded to them, that they come also to you, and greet you, and yield to you our epistles of renewing of our brotherhood.

18 And now ye shall do well, answering to us to [or of] these things.

19 And this is the rescript, or again-writing, of epistles, that Oniares or Areus, the king of Spartans, sent to Onias.

20 Oniares to Jonathan or Areus to Onias, great priest, health.

21 It is found in writing of Spartans, and of Jews, that they be brethren, and that they be of the kin of Abraham.

22 And now since we know these things, ye do well, writing to us of your peace.

23 But and we have again-written to you [or we again-write to you]. Our beasts and our possessions be yours, and yours ours. Therefore we commanded, for to tell these things to you.

24 And Jonathan heard, that the princes of Demetrius went out with much host, over that before, for to fight against him.

25 And he went out from Jerusalem, and ran against them in the country of Hamath; for he gave no space to them, for to enter into his country.

26 And he sent spies into the tents of them, and they turned again, and told, that they ordained for to come over thither in night.

27 And when the sun had gone down, Jonathan bade his men wake, and be ready in arms to battle all night. And he setted keepers by compass of tents;

28 and adversaries heard, that Jonathan was ready with his men in battle, and they dreaded, and inwardly were aghast in their hearts, and tended fires in their tents, as if they dwelled still in their tents, but they fled privily.

29 Forsooth Jonathan, and they that were with him, knew not till to the morrow; for they saw lights burning.

30 And Jonathan pursued them, and caught not them [or caught them not]; for they passed the flood Eleutherus.

31 And Jonathan turned to Arabians, that were called Zabadeans; and smote them, and took spoils of them;

32 and joined in gathering together his host, and came to Damascus, and walked by all that country.

33 Forsooth Simon went out, and came till to Ascalon, and to the next strengths; and he bowed down into Joppa, and occupied it.

34 For he heard, that they would give help to parties of Demetrius; and he putted there keepers, for to keep it.

35 And Jonathan turned again, and called together the elder men of the people, and thought with them for to build strengths in Judea,

36 and for to build walls in Jerusalem, and for to raise a great height, betwixt the middle of the high tower and the city, for to separate it from the city, that it were alone, and neither they buy, neither sell.

37 And they came together, for to build the city. And the wall fell down altogether, that was on the stream, from the rising of the sun; and he repaired it, that is called Chaphenatha.

38 And Simon builded Adida in Shephelah, and strengthened it, and putted on gates and locks.

39 And when Tryphon thought for to reign at Asia, and take a diadem, and stretch out hand into Antiochus king [or king Antiochus],

40 he dreaded, lest peradventure Jonathan should not suffer him, but fight against him; and he sought for to catch him, and slay. And he rose up, and went into Bethshan.

41 And Jonathan went out against him, with forty thousand of chosen men into battle, and came to Bethshan.

42 And Tryphon saw, that Jonathan came with much host, for to stretch out hands into him.

43 And he dreaded, and received him with honour, and commended him to all his friends; and gave to him gifts, and commanded to his hosts, for to obey to him as to himself.

44 And he said to Jonathan, Whereto hast thou travailed all the people, when battle is not to us?

45 And now send again them [or send them again] into their houses. But choose thou to thee a few men, that be with thee, and come thou with me to Ptolemais, and I shall give it to thee, and other strengths, and hosts, and all sovereigns of offices [or all provosts, or sovereigns, of need]; and I shall turn, and I shall go away. For why therefore I came.

46 And he believed to him, and did as he said, and left the host; and they went away into the land of Judea.

47 Forsooth he withheld with him three thousand of men, of which he sent again into Galilee two thousand; soothly a thousand came with him.

48 Forsooth as Jonathan entered into Ptolemais, men of Ptolemais shutted [or shut] the gates, and caught him; and slew by sword all that entered with him.

49 And Tryphon sent host, and horsemen into Galilee, and into the great field, for to lose all the fellows of Jonathan.

50 And when they knew that Jonathan was taken, and perished, and all that were with him, they admonished themselves, and went out ready into battle.

51 And they saw that pursued, that thing was to them for the life, and turned again.

52 Forsooth they came all with peace into the land of Judea. And they bewailed Jonathan greatly, and all that were with him, and Israel mourned with great mourning.

53 And all heathen men that were in the compass of them, sought for to all-break them; for they said, They have no prince and helper [or helping]; now therefore overcome we them, and take away from men the mind of them.

CHAPTER 13

1 And as Simon heard, that Tryphon gathered a great host, for to come into the land of Judea, and for to destroy it,

2 and saw that the people was in trembling and dread, he went up to Jerusalem, and gathered the people;

3 and admonished, and said, Ye know, how great things I, and my brethren, and the house of my father, have done, for laws, and for holy things, battles, and what manner anguishes we saw.

4 For love, [or grace, or cause], of these things all my brethren perished for Israel, and I alone am left.

5 And now befall it not to me, for to spare my life [or my soul], in all the time of tribulation; for I am no better than my brethren.

6 Therefore I shall avenge my folk, and holy things, and our children, and wives; for all heathen men be gathered, for to destroy us, because of enmity.

7 And the spirit of the people was kindled together, as it heard these words.

8 And they answered with great voice, saying, Thou art our duke instead of Judas, and Jonathan, thy brothers;

9 fight thou our battles, and all things whatever thou shalt say to us, we shall do.

10 And he gathered all men fighters, and hasted for to end all the walls of Jerusalem, and [he] strengthened it in compass.

11 And he sent Jonathan, the son of Absalom, and with him a new host, into Joppa. And when he had put [or cast] out these men that were in it, he dwelt there.

12 And Tryphon moved from Ptole-mais, with much host, for to come into the land of Judea, and Jonathan with him in keeping.

13 Forsooth Simon applied in or pitched at Adida, against the face of the field.

14 And as Tryphon knew, that Simon rose, in the stead [or instead] of his brother Jonathan, and that he was to joining battle with him, he sent to him legates, and said,

15 For silver, that thy brother Jonathan owed, in accounts of the king, we withheld him.

16 And now send thou an hundred talents of silver, and his two sons as pledges or hostages, that he not dismissed flee from us, and we shall again-send him.

17 And Simon knew, that with guile he spake with him. Nevertheless he commanded the silver for to be given, and children, lest he should take great enmity of the people of Israel,

18 saying, For he sent not to him silver and children, therefore he Jonathan perished.

19 And he sent the children, and an hundred talents. And he lied, and dismissed not Jonathan.

20 And after these things, Tryphon came within the country, for to destroy it. And they compassed by the way that leadeth to Adora; and Simon and his host walked into each place, whither ever they went.

21 Soothly they that were in the high tower, sent legates or messengers to Tryphon, for to hasten to come by desert, and send to them foods.

22 And Tryphon made ready all the multitude of horsemen, for to come in that night. Soothly there was full much snow, and he came not there, but instead went into Gilead.

23 And when he nighed to Bascama, he slew Jonathan, and his sons, there.

24 And Tryphon turned, and went into his land.

25 And Simon sent, and took the bones of Jonathan, his brother, and buried those [or him] in Modin, the city of his fathers.

26 And all Israel bewailed him with great wailing, and they bemourned him many days.

27 And Simon builded on the sepulchre of his father and his brethren an high building in the sight, with stones polished, or fair dighted, behind and before.

28 And he ordained seven small buildings, broad beneath and sharp above, one against one, to father, and mother, and four brethren.

29 And to these he putted about great pillars, and on the pillars armours, to everlasting mind; and beside armours ships engraved [or engraved ships], which should be seen of men sailing in the sea.

30 This is the sepulchre that Simon made in Modin, till into this day.

31 Forsooth when Tryphon made way with Antiochus, the young king, in guile he slew him,

32 and reigned in his stead; and [he] putted on him the diadem of Asia, and made great vengeance in the land.

33 And Simon builded strengths of Judea, and warded them with high towers, and great walls, and gates, and locks; and putted foods in strengthenings.

34 And Simon chose men, and sent to King Demetrius, that he should make remission to the country, for all [the] deeds of Tryphon were done by ravishing.

35 And king Demetrius answered to him to these words, and wrote such an epistle.

36 King Demetrius to Simon, highest priest, and friend of kings, and to the elder men, and folk of Jews, health.

37 We received the golden crown, and baheu, that is, an ornament of the neck, made with gold rings, which ye sent, and be ready for to make with you great peace, and for to write to provosts of the king, for to release to you what things we forgave;

38 for whatever things we ordain to you, be stable. The strengths that ye builded, be to you;

39 and we forgive ignorances and sins, till into this day, and the crown tax that ye owe; and if any other thing was tributary, either bound to tribute, in Jerusalem, now be it not tributary.

40 And if any of you be able for to be written together among our men, be they written together, and peace be betwixt us.

41 In the hundred year and seventieth, the yoke of heathen men was taken away from Israel.

42 And the people began to write in tables, and common [or open] doings, in the first year under Simon, highest priest, great duke, and prince of Jews.

43 In those days Simon applied to or pitched at Gazara, and environed it with tents, either men of arms, and made engines, and applied to or set them by the city, and smote one tower [or a tower], and took it.

44 And they that brake out, were within the engine in the city, and great stirring was made in the city.

45 And they went up, that were in the city, with their wives, and sons, on the walls, with their coats cut, and cried with great voice, asking of Simon that right hands be given to them,

46 and said, Yield thou not to us by [or after] our malices, but by [or after] thy mercies, and we shall serve to thee.

47 And Simon was bowed, either folded, and fought not against them; nevertheless he casted them out of the city, and cleansed fully the houses in which were simulacra, and then he entered into it with hymns, and blessed the Lord.

48 And when all uncleanness was cast out thereof, he setted therein men, that should do the law; and he strengthened it, and made an habitation to him.

49 Forsooth they that were in the high tower of Jerusalem, were forbidden for to go out and go in, into the country, and buy, and sell; and they hungered greatly, and many of them perished for hunger.

50 And they cried to Simon, for to take right hands, and he gave to them; and he casted out them from thence, and cleansed the high tower from defoulings.

51 And they entered into it in the three and twentieth day of the second month, in the hundred and one and seventy year, with praising, and branches of palms, and instruments of music, either gitterns, and cymbals, and harps, [or psalteries], and hymns, and songs, for the great enemy of Israel was all-broken.

52 And he ordained, that in all years these days should be done with gladness. And he strengthened the hill of the temple, that was beside the high tower, and dwelt there, he, and they that were with him.

53 And Simon saw John, his son, that he was a man of battle, and he putted him duke of all virtues, that is, warriors, or hosts, and he dwelt in Gazara.

CHAPTER 14

1 In the hundred and two and seventy [or seventieth] year, king Demetrius gathered his host, and went to Media, for to draw together helps to him, for to overcome Tryphon.

2 And as Arsaces, king of Persia and Media, heard that Demetrius entered into his nigh coasts, he sent one of his princes, for to take him quick, and that he should bring him to himself.

3 And he went, and smote the host of Demetrius, and took him, and led him to Arsaces, and he putted him into keeping.

4 And the land of Judea was still, either peaceable, in all the days of Simon, and he sought good things of his folk; and his power and his glory pleased them in all days.

5 And with all his glory he took Joppa into haven, and made entry into isles of the sea;

6 and alarged the coasts of his people, and wielded the country.

7 And he gathered much captivity, and was lord in Gazara, and Bethsura, and the high tower; and he did away uncleannesses of it, and there was not that against-stood him.

8 And each man tilled his own land in peace, and the land of Judea gave his fruits, and trees of [the] fields their fruit.

9 Elder men sat all in streets [or All elder men sat in streets], and treated of goods of the land; and young men clothed them in glory, and stoles of battle, that is armours, in the time of peace.

10 And to the cities he gave foods, and ordained those [or them], that those [or they] were vessels of strengthening, till that the name of his glory was named till to the last of earth.

11 He made peace on the land, and Israel was glad [or gladded] with great gladness;

12 and each man sat under his vine, and under his fig tree, neither there was that feared them.

13 The fighting man against them failed on earth; kings were all-broken in those days.

14 And he confirmed all meek men of his people, and he sought out the law, and did away all evil and wickedness;

15 and he glorified holy things, and multiplied vessels of holy things.

16 And it was heard at Rome, that Jonathan was dead, and till into Spartans, and they were full sorrowful.

17 Forsooth as they heard, that Simon, his brother, was made highest priest in his stead, and he wielded the country, and cities in it,

18 they wrote to him in brazen tables, for to renew friendship, and fellow-ship, that they made with Judas and Jonathan, his brethren;

19 and they were read in the sight of the church in Jerusalem.

20 And this is the ensample of epistles, that Spartans sent. The prince and the cities, that is, governors of the cities, of Spartans to Simon, great priest, and to the elder men, and priests, and to other people of Jews, brethren, health.

21 Legates that were sent to our people, told to us of your glory, and honour, and gladness, and we joyed in the entry of them.

22 And we have written what things were said of them in councils [or in council] of people, thus. Numenius, the son of Antiochus, and Antipater, the son of Jason, legates of Jews, came to us, and renewed with us the former friendship.

23 And it pleased to the people, for to receive the men gloriously, and to put ensample of their words in departed books of the people, that it be to mind to the people of Spartans; forsooth we have written ensample of these things to Simon, the great priest.

24 Forsooth after these things, Simon sent Numenius to Rome, having a great golden shield, in weight of a thousand bezants, for to ordain fellow-ship with them.

25 Soothly when the people of Rome heard these words, they said, What doing of thankings shall we yield to Simon, and his sons?

26 For he restored his brethren, and overcame the enemies of Israel from them. And they ordained to him [or them] liberty,

27 and wrote in brazen tables, and Jews putted in titles, in the mount of Zion. And this is ensample of writing. In the eighteenth day of the month Elul, that is, August, in the hundred and two and seventy [or seventieth] year, the third year under Simon, great priest,

28 in Saramel, in the great coming together of priests, of the people, and princes, and folk, and the elder men [or seniors] of the country, these things were made known;

29 for many times battles were done [or be made] in your country. Forsooth Simon, the son of Mattathias, of the sons of Jarib, and his brethren, gave themselves to peril, and against-stood adversaries of their folk, that their holy things and law should stand; and by great glory they glorified their folk.

30 And Jonathan gathered his folk, and was made to them a great priest, and is put to his people.

31 And the enemies of them would defoul holy things, and destroy the country of them, and stretch forth hands into holy things of them.

32 Then Simon against-stood, and fought for his people, and gave many riches [or much money], and armed men of virtue of his folk, and gave to them wages;

33 and strengthened the cities of Judea, and Bethsura, that was in the ends of Judea, where before were arms of enemies, and he putted there help, [or strength], men of Jews.

34 And he strengthened Joppa, that was at the sea, and Gazara, that was in the coasts of Azotus, in which enemies dwelt before; and he setted [or set] there Jews, and whatever things were able to amending of them, he putted [or put] in them.

35 And the people saw the doing of Simon, and glory that he thought for to do to his folk, and they made him their duke, and prince of priests, for that he had done all these things, and rightwiseness, and faith that he kept to his folk; and he sought out in all manner for to raise his people.

36 And in his days it had prosperity in his hands, that heathen men were taken away from the country of them, which were in the city of David in Jerusalem, in the high tower, from which they came out, and defouled all things that were in the compass of holy things, and gave great wound to chastity.

37 And he setted therein men Jews, to defending of the country, and city, and raised the walls in Jerusalem.

38 And king Demetrius ordained to him the highest priesthood;

39 by this he made him his friend, and glorified him in great glory.

40 For he heard, that Jews were called of Romans friends, and fellows, and brethren, and that they received [the] legates of Simon gloriously;

41 and that Jews, and priests of them, consented, him for to be their duke, and highest priest [into] without end, till there rise a faithful prophet;

42 and that he be duke on them, and care, or busyness, were to him for holy things; and that he should ordain governors [or provosts] on the works of them, and on the country, and on arms, and on strengths; and care be to him of holy things;

43 and that he be heard of men, and all writings in the country be written together under the name of him, and that he be covered with purple and gold;

44 and that it be not leaveful to any of the people, and to priests, for to make anything of these void, and against-say to these things that be said of him, either for to call together covent in the country without him; and for to be clothed in purple, and for to use a golden lace or ouch.

45 Soothly he that shall do without this, either shall make void any of these, shall be guilty.

46 And it pleased altogether to all the people, for to ordain Simon, and do by [or after] these words.

47 And Simon received, and it pleased him, that he should use [or was set in] high or highest priesthood, and be duke and prince of the folk of Jews, and priests, and be the sovereign of all men.

48 And they ordained for to put this writing in brazen tables, and put them in the wall about the compassing [or in the walking place] of holy things, in solemn place;

49 forsooth for to put ensample of these in the treasury, that Simon have and his sons.

CHAPTER 15

1 And king Antiochus, the son of Demetrius, sent epistles from isles of the sea to Simon, the priest, and prince of the folk of Jews, and to all the folk;

2 and those were containing this manner. King Antiochus to Simon, great priest, and to the folk of Jews, health.

3 For some men bearing pestilence wielded the realm of our fathers, forsooth I will challenge the realm, and restore it, as it was before; I made a chosen multitude of host, and I made ships of war.

4 Forsooth I will go forth by countries, that I do vengeance on them that destroyed our country, and that made many cities desolate in my realm.

5 Now therefore I ordain, either confirm, to thee all offerings, that kings before me forgave to thee, and what-ever other gifts they forgave to thee;

6 and I suffer thee for to make print, or smiting, of thine own money, in thy region, or country.

7 Soothly I suffer Jerusalem for to be holy and free, and all arms, that be made, and strengths, that thou hast made out, and that thou holdest, dwell to thee;

8 and all debt of the king, and those that be to coming of king’s things, from this time and into all-time [or from this into all-time] be forgiven to thee.

9 Soothly when we shall wield our realm, we shall glorify thee, and thy folk, and temple, with great glory, so that your glory be showed in all earth.

10 In the hundred year and four and seventieth year Antiochus went out into the land of his fathers, and all hosts came together to him, so that few were left with Tryphon.

11 And king Antiochus pursued him, and Tryphon came into Dora, and fled [or fleeing] by the sea coast;

12 for he knew, that evils were gathered on him, and the host forsook him.

13 And Antiochus applied on or pitched at Dora, with sixscore thousand [or with an hundred and twenty thousand] of fighting men, and eight thousand of horsemen;

14 and he compassed the city, and ships came from the sea; and they travailed the city by land and sea, and suffered no man for to enter, either go out.

15 Forsooth Numenius came, and they that were with him, from Rome, and had epistles written to kings and countries, in which these things were contained.

16 Lucius, consul, or chief governor, of Romans, to king Ptolemy, health.

17 Legates, either messengers, of Jews came to us, our friends, renewing the former friendship and fellowship, sent of Simon, prince of priests, and [of the] people of Jews.

18 Soothly they brought also a golden shield of a thousand bezants.

19 Therefore it pleased to us for to write to kings and countries, that they do not evils to them, neither impugn them, and their cities, and their countries, and that they bear not help to men fighting against them.

20 Forsooth it is seen to us, for to receive of them the shield.

21 Therefore if any men of pestilence shall flee from the country of them to you, betake ye them to Simon, prince of priests, that he do vengeance on them by [or after] his law.

22 These same things be written to king Demetrius, and Attalus, and Ariarathes, and Arsaces,

23 and into all countries, and Sampsames, and Spartans, and Delos, and Myndos, and Sicyon, and Caria, and Samos, and Pamphylia, and Lycia, and Halicarnassus, and Rhodes, and Aradus or Phaselis, and Cos, and Side, and Aradus, and Gortyna, and Cnidus, and Cyprus, and Cyrene.

24 Forsooth they have written ensample of these to Simon, prince of priests, and to the people of Jews.

25 Forsooth Antiochus, the king, applied or pitched tents in Dora the second time, moving to it evermore hands, and making engines; and he enclosed altogether Tryphon, lest he went out.

26 And Simon sent to him two thousand of chosen men, into help, and silver, and gold, and plenteous vessels;

27 and he would not take those. But he brake all things that he covenanted with him before, and alienated himself from him.

28 And he sent to him Athenobius, one of his friends, for to treat with him, and said, Ye hold Joppa, and Gazara, and the high tower that is in Jerusalem, cities of my realm;

29 ye have wasted the coasts of them, and have done great destroying [or vengeance] in the land, and without the coasts of Judea ye be lords [or ye lordship] by many places in my realm.

30 Now therefore give ye the cities, which ye occupied, and tributes of places, of which ye be lords [or which ye lordship], out of [the] ends of Judea.

31 Either else give ye for them five hundred talents of silver, and of destroying that ye have destroyed, and of tributes of cities, another five hundred talents; either else we shall come, and overcome you.

32 And Athenobius, friend of the king, came into Jerusalem, and saw the glory of Simon, and clearness, in gold, and silver, and plenteous apparel, and was astonied; and [he] told to him the words of the king.

33 And Simon answered, and said to him, Neither we took alien land, neither withheld other men’s things, but heritage of our fathers, that was wielded sometime unjustly of our enemies.

34 Soothly we have time, and challenge the heritage of our fathers.

35 For why of Joppa and Gazara that thou askest, they did great vengeance in our people, and [in our] country; of these we give an hundred talents. And Athenobius answered not a word.

36 Soothly he turned again with wrath to the king, and told again to him these words, and the glory of Simon, and all things that he saw. And the king was wroth with great wrath.

37 Forsooth Tryphon flew by ship into Orthosia.

38 And the king ordained Cendebeus, duke of the sea coast, and gave to him host of footmen and horsemen;

39 and commanded him for to move tents against the face of Judah; and commanded him for to build Kedron, and stop the gates of the city, and overcome the people; forsooth the king pursued Tryphon.

40 And Cendebeus came to Jamnia, and began for to stir the people to wrath, and for to defoul Judea, and make the people captive, and slay,

41 and build Kedron. And he setted there horsemen and host, that they should go out, and should walk the byways of Judea, as the king ordained to him.

CHAPTER 16

1 And John went up from Gazara, and told to Simon, his father, what things Cendebeus did in the people of them.

2 And Simon called his twain elder sons, Judah and John, and said to them, I, and my brethren, and the house of my father, have overcome the enemies of Israel, from youth till into this day; and it had prosperity in our hands, for to deliver Israel sometimes.

3 Forsooth now I have elded [or olded], but be ye in my stead, and of my brother, and go ye out, and fight for our folk; forsooth help of heaven be with you.

4 And he chose of the country twenty thousand of fighting men, and horsemen; and they went out to Cendebeus, and slept in Modin.

5 And they rose early, and went into the field, and lo! a copious host came into the meeting of them, of footmen and horsemen; and a running flood was betwixt the midst of them.

6 And he and his people moved the battle array [or the tents] against the face of them, and he saw the people trembling to pass over the stream of water, and he passed over the first; and men saw him, and passed over after him.

7 And he parted the people, and horsemen in the middle of footmen; forsooth the multitude of horsemen of adversaries was full plenteous.

8 And they cried on high with holy trumps; and Cendebeus was turned into flight, and his host, and many of them fell wounded; soothly the residues fled into [the] strength.

9 Then Judas, the brother of John, was wounded; forsooth John pursued them, till Cendebeus came to Kedron, which he builded.

10 And they fled till to towers, that were in the fields of Azotus, and he burnt them with fire; and there fell of them two thousand of men, and he turned again into Judea in peace.

11 And Ptolemy, the son of Abubus, was ordained duke in the field of Jericho, and [he] had much silver and gold;

12 for he wedded the daughter of the highest priest.

13 And the heart of him was raised, and he would wield the country; and he thought guile against Simon and his sons, for to do away them.

14 Forsooth Simon walked by cities that were in the country of Judea, and bare [the] busyness of them, and came down into Jericho, he, and Mattathias, his son, and Judas, in the hundred year and seven and seventieth, in the eleventh month; this is the month of Shebat, that is, January-February.

15 And Ptolemy the son of Abubus received them into a little strength, that is called Docus, with guile, which he builded; and made to them a great feast, and hid men there.

16 And when Simon was full of drink, and his sons, Ptolemy rose with his men, and took their arms, and entered into the feast, and slew him, and his two sons, and some children of him.

17 And he did a great deceit in Israel, and yielded evils for goods.

18 And Ptolemy wrote these things, and sent to the king, for to send to him an host into help, and he should betake to him the country and cities of them, and tributes.

19 And he sent others into Gazara, for to do away John; and to the tribunes he sent epistles, that they should come to him, and he should give to them silver, and gold, and gifts.

20 And he sent other men [or he sent others], for to occupy Jerusalem, and the mount of the temple.

21 And some man ran before, and told to John in Gazara, that his father perished, and his brethren, and that he, Ptolemy, sent that thou also be slain.

22 Forsooth as he heard, he wondered [or dreaded] greatly; and he caught the men that came to lose him, and he slew them; for he knew, that they sought for to lose him.

23 And other things of John’s words, and of his battles, and good virtues, in which he did strongly, and of building of walls, which he fully made, and of things done of him,

24 lo! these be written in the book of days of his priesthood, since he was made prince of priests after his father.

2ND MACCABEES

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2ND MACCABEES

CHAPTER 1

1 To brethren Jews, that be scattered through Egypt, brethren, that be in Jerusalem, Jews, and that be in the country of Judea, say health and good peace.

2 God do well to you, and have mind of his testament, that he spake to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that be of the number of his true servants;

3 and give he heart to you all, that ye worship him, and do the will of him with great heart and willful soul.

4 Open he your heart in his law, and in his behests, and make he peace;

5 hear he graciously your prayers, and be reconciled to you, neither forsake you in evil time.

6 And now we be here praying for you.

7 While Demetrius reigneth in the hundred year and sixty and ninth, we Jews have written to you in tribula-tion and fierceness, that came above to us in these years, and since Jason went out of the holy land and realm.

8 They burnt the gate, and shedded out innocent blood; and we prayed to the Lord, and we be graciously heard, and we have offered sacrifice, and clean flour, and have tended lanterns, and have put forth loaves.

9 And now make ye solemn the days of Scenopegia, either cleansing of the temple, of the month Kislev, that is, November.

10 In the hundred year and eight and eightieth, the people that is in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and the elder men [or the senate], and Judas, to Aristobulus, master of Ptolemy, king, that is of the kin of anointed priests, and to them that be in Egypt, Jews, health of soul, and health of body.

11 We delivered of God from great perils, do thankings to him hugely, as we that have fought against such a king.

12 For he made for to boil out of Persia them that fought against us and the holy city.

13 For why when the duke himself was in Persia, and with him a great host, he fell in the temple of Nanea, and deceived by the counsel of the priests of Nanea.

14 Forsooth Antiochus came to the place, as to dwelling with him, and his friends, and for to take many riches [or much monies] by name of dower.

15 And when priests of Nanea had put forth those [or had put them forth], and he with few entered within the compass of the temple, they closed the temple, when Antiochus had entered.

16 And when the privy entry of the temple was opened, they threw stones, and smited the duke, and them that were with him, and they parted limb-meal; and when the heads were girded off, they casted withoutforth.

17 By all things blessed be God, that betook unpious men.

18 Therefore we to making purifying, or cleansing, of the temple, in the five and twentieth day of the month Kislev, that is, November, led needful for to signify to you, that and ye do also the day of Scenopegia, and the day of fire, that was given, when Nehemiah offered sacrifices, after that the temple and the altar were builded.

19 For why when our fathers were led into Persia, priests that then were worshippers of God, hid privily fire taken of the altar, in a valley, where was a deep pit and dry; and therein they kept it, so that the place was unknown to all men.

20 Forsooth when many years had passed, and it pleased God that Nehemiah was sent from the king of Persia, he sent the sons’ sons of the priests that hidden, for to seek the fire; and as they told to us, they found not fire, but fat water.

21 And he commanded them for to draw, and bring to him. And Nehemiah, the priest, commanded the sacrifices, that were put on, for to be sprinkled with the water, those and the trees, and those things that were put above.

22 And as this was done, and the time came, in which the sun shone again, that before was in cloud, a great fire was kindled, so that all men wondered.

23 Forsooth all priests made prayer, while the sacrifice was ended; and Jonathan began, and others forsooth answered.

24 And the prayer of Nehemiah was having this manner. Lord God, Maker of nought of all things, dreadful and strong, just and merciful, which alone art good King,

25 alone giving, alone just, and almighty, and without beginning and end, which deliverest Israel from all evil, which madest fathers chosen [or chosen fathers], and hallowedest them;

26 take thou sacrifice for all thy people Israel, and keep thy part, and hallow.

27 Gather our dispersion, or scattering, deliver them that serve to heathen men, and behold thou despised men, and made abominable, that heathen men know, that thou art our God.

28 Torment thou men oppressing us, and doing despite in pride.

29 Ordain thy people in thine holy place, as Moses said.

30 Forsooth priests sung hymns, till the sacrifice was ended.

31 Forsooth when the sacrifice was ended, Nehemiah commanded the more stones for to be beshed of the residue water;

32 and as this thing was done, flame was kindled of them, but it was wasted of the light, that again-shined of the altar.

33 Forsooth after the thing was known, it was told to the king of Persia, that in the place in which the priests that were translated, had hid fire, water appeared, of which Nehemiah and they that were with him cleansed sacrifices.

34 Forsooth the king beholding and diligently examining the thing, made a temple to him, for to prove that thing that was done.

35 And when he had proved, he gave many goods to priests, and other gifts; and he took with his hand, and he gave to them.

36 Forsooth Nehemiah called this place Nephthar, that is interpreted, either expounded, cleansing; forsooth with many it is called Naphtha.

CHAPTER 2

1 Forsooth it is found in writings [or in describings] of Jeremy, the prophet, that he commanded them that passed over, for to take fire, as it is signified, and as he bade to men passing over, or captive.

2 And he gave to them the law, lest they forgot the behests of the Lord; and that they should not err in souls, [or understandings], seeing golden and silvern simulacra, and ornaments or adornments of them.

3 And he said other such things, and admonished, that they should not remove the law from their hearts.

4 Soothly it was in that writing, how the prophet bade, by God’s answer made to him, that the tabernacle and the ark follow with them, till he went out into the hill in which Moses ascended, and saw the heritage of God.

5 And Jeremy came, and found there a place of [a] den, and brought in thither the tabernacle, and the ark, and altar of incense, and stopped the door.

6 And some men came together that followed, for to mark the place to them, and [they] might not find.

7 Forsooth as Jeremy knew, he blamed them, and said, that the place shall be unknown, till God gather the congregation [together] of people, and be made helpful, or merciful.

8 And then the Lord shall show these things, and the majesty of the Lord shall appear; and a cloud shall be, as to Moses it was showed, and as when Solomon asked, that the place should be hallowed to the great God, this cloud showed;

9 and as having wisdom, he offered sacrifice of hallowing, and of perform-ing of the temple.

10 As and Moses prayed to the Lord, and fire came down from heaven, and wasted the burnt sacrifices; as and Solomon prayed, and fire came down from heaven, and wasted the burnt sacrifice[s].

11 And Moses said, For that it is not cleansed, that was for sin, and it was wasted.

12 Also and Solomon in eight days made solemn the hallowing.

13 Forsooth and these same things were put in descriptions, and expo-sitions of Nehemiah; and as he made a little bible, and gathered books of countries, and of prophets, and of David, and epistles of kings, and gifts.

14 Also soothly and Judas gathered all those things which he learned by battle, that befell to us, and they be with us.

15 Therefore if ye desire these, send ye which shall bear to you.

16 Therefore we doing purifying, have written to you; therefore ye shall do well, if ye shall do these days.

17 Forsooth it is God that delivered his people, and yielded his heritage to all, and realm, and priesthood, and hallowing,

18 as he promised in the law, we hope that soon he shall have mercy on us, and shall gather from under heaven into the holy place; for he delivered us from great perils, and purged the place.

19 Soothly of Judas Maccabeus, and his brethren, and of purifying of the great temple, and of hallowing of the altar;

20 but and of the battles, that pertain to Antiochus the noble or Epiphanes, and his son Eupator;

21 and of lightnings that were made from heaven, to them that strongly did for Jews, so that, when they were few, they avenged all the country, and drove an heathen multitude,

22 and recovered the most famous temple in all the world; and delivered the city, that the laws that were done away were restored; for the Lord was made helpful to them, with all peace-ability.

23 And also we attempted or assayed for to abridge in one book, things comprehended of Jason of Cyrene in five books.

24 Forsooth we beheld or beholding the multitude and hardness of books, to men willing for to begin the tellings of stories, for multitude of things;

25 and soothly we had busyness [or we cared], that it were delectation, or liking, of soul to men willing for to read; forsooth to studious men, that they might lightlier betake to mind; forsooth that to all men reading profit be given.

26 And soothly we took to us-selves [or ourselves] that received this work, by cause of abridging, not easy travail, but soothly a work full of wakings and [of] sweat.

27 As these that make ready a feast, and seek for to please to the will of other men, for grace of many men, we suffer willfully travail;

28 forsooth we grant the truth of all authors, but we us-self [or we our-selves] study to shortness, by the form given.

29 Forsooth as it is to the chief carpenter [or the wright] of a new house, to be busy of all the building; to him soothly that busyeth for to paint, those things be to be sought out, that be covenable to adorning; so it is to be guessed also in us.

30 Forsooth for to gather under-standing, and ordain a word, and full busily for to inquire all parts of the story, each by themselves, accordeth to an author;

31 forsooth for to pursue shortness of saying, and for to eschew out pursuings of things, is to be granted to the abridger.

32 Therefore from henceforth we shall begin the telling; be it enough for to have said so much of prefaction, or before-speaking; for it is folly for to float out, either be long, before the story, but in that story for to be made short.

CHAPTER 3

1 Therefore when the holy city was inhabited in all peace, laws also yet were best kept, for the faithfulness of Onias, bishop, [or for ordinance and piety of Onias, priest], and for souls hating evil things,

2 it was made, that both they kings and princes led the place worthy highest honour, and lighted the temple with greatest gifts;

3 so that Seleucus, king of Asia, gave of his rents all expenses pertain-ing to the service of sacrifices.

4 Forsooth Simon, of the lineage of Benjamin, that was ordained sovereign [or provost] of the temple, when the prince of priests against-stood him, strove for to cast some wicked thing in the city.

5 But when he might not overcome Onias, he came to Apollonius, son of Tarsus, that in that time was duke of Coelesyria and Phoenicia;

6 and told to him, that the treasury in Jerusalem was full with riches [or with monies] unnumberable; and that common riches be great, which pertain not to the reason of sacrifices; forsooth that it was possible, that all things fall under power of the king.

7 And when Apollonius had told to the king of riches [or monies] that were borne in, he sent Heliodorus called, that was on his needs, with commandments for to bear out the foresaid money.

8 And anon Heliodorus took the way, soothly by form as if he were to passing by Coelesyria and Phoenicia cities, but in true thing to performing the king’s purpose.

9 But when he came to Jerusalem, and was received benignly of the highest priest in the city, he told of doom given of the riches [or of monies], and opened for cause of what thing he came; forsooth he asked, if verily these things were so.

10 Then the highest priest showed, that these things were kept to the lifelodes [or the livelodes] of widows, and of fatherless either motherless children;

11 that some soothly were of Hyrcanus son of Tobias, a man full noble in these things, that unpious Simon had told; forsooth that all the talents of silver were four hundred, and of gold two hundred;

12 for that it was impossible on all manner, that they be deceived, that betook their things to be kept to the place and temple, that by all the world was honoured for his worship-ping, and holiness.

13 And he said, for these things that he had in commandments of the king, That in all kind those should be borne to the king.

14 Forsooth in the day ordained Heliodorus entered, to ordain of these things; forsooth there was not a little trembling through all the city.

15 Forsooth priests casted themselves before the altar, with priests’ stoles, and called to help from heaven him that gave law of things put in keeping, that he should keep those things safe to them that had put those [or had put them] in keeping.

16 Now forsooth he that saw the cheer of the highest priest, was wounded in soul; for the face and colour was changed, and declared the inward sorrow of soul.

17 For some sorrowfulness was shed about to the man, and hideousness of body, by which the sorrow of heart was made known to men beholding.

18 Also other men gathered together flock-meal, and came out of houses, beseeching with open beseeching, for that that the place was to coming into despite.

19 And women were gird on the breast with hair-shirts, and flowed together by streets; but and virgins, that were closed altogether, ran to Onias; others forsooth to the walls, some soothly beheld by windows.

20 Forsooth all held forth hands into heaven, and besought;

21 for there was a wretched abiding of multitude mingled, and of the highest priest ordained in strife, or anguish.

22 And these soothly called Almighty God to help, that things taken in keeping should be kept in all holiness, to them that had put those [or had put them] in keeping.

23 Forsooth Heliodorus performed that thing, that he had deemed,

24 and he was present with his knights in the same place about the treasury. But the Spirit of Almighty God made great evidence of his showing, so that all that were hardy for to obey to him, fell down by virtue of God, and were converted into feebleness, [or unstrength], and inward dread.

25 For an horse appeared to them, and had a dreadful sitter, adorned with best coverings; and he with fierceness rushed the former feet or forefeet to Heliodorus; forsooth he that sat on him, seemed [or was seen] for to have golden armours.

26 Also two other young men appeared, fair in virtue, best in glory, and fair in clothing, that stood about him, and on each side scourged him without ceasing, and beat with many wounds.

27 Soothly forsooth Heliodorus fell down to the earth, and they ravished him shed about with much darkness, and casted out him [or casted him out], put in a pack saddle, either horse’s litter.

28 And he that entered with many runners and knights into the foresaid treasury, was borne, when no man helped him, for the open virtue of God was known;

29 and forsooth by God’s virtue he lay dumb, and deprived of all hope and health.

30 Forsooth these Jews blessed the Lord, for he magnified his place; and the temple, that a little before was full of dread and noise, is [full]-filled with joy and gladness, for the Lord Almighty appeared.

31 Then forsooth some of Heliodorus’ friends prayed anon Onias, for to call to help the Highest, and for to give life to him, that was set in the last spirit.

32 Soothly the highest priest beheld, lest peradventure the king would suppose any malice fully done of Jews about Heliodorus, and offered for health of the man a wholeful or an healthful sacrifice.

33 And when the highest priest prayed, the same younglings, clothed in the same clothes, stood nigh [to] Heliodorus, and said, Do thou thankings to Onias, the priest; for why for him the Lord hath given life to thee;

34 thou soothly, that art scourged of God, tell to all men the great doings and power of God. And when these things were said, they appeared not.

35 Heliodorus soothly, when a sacrifice was offered to God, and great avows were promised to him, that granted him for to live, and did thankings or thanks to Onias; and when his host was received, he went again to the king.

36 Soothly he witnessed to all men the works of great God, which he saw under his eyes.

37 Forsooth when the king asked Heliodorus, who was able to be sent yet once to Jerusalem, he said,

38 If thou hast any enemy, either traitor of thy realm, send thither, and thou shalt receive him beaten, if nevertheless he shall escape; for some virtue of God is verily in the place.

39 For why he that hath dwelling in heavens, is visitor and helper of that place; and he smiteth and loseth them, that come to mis-do.

40 Therefore of Heliodorus, and keeping of the treasury, thus the thing hath itself.

CHAPTER 4

1 Simon forsooth before-said, accuser of riches [or of monies], and of the country, spake evil of Onias, as if he had stirred Heliodorus to these things, and he had been stirrer of evils;

2 and he durst say the purveyor of the city, and defender of his folk, and lover of the law of God, traitor [or enemy] of the realm.

3 But when enmities came forth in so much, that also by some familiar, [or nigh], friends of Simon, man-slayings were done,

4 Onias beheld the peril of strife, and that Apollonius was mad, as duke of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, for to increase the malice of Simon.

5 And Onias gave himself to the king; not as accuser of citizens, but beholding with himself the common profit of all the multitude.

6 For he saw, that it was impossible that peace were given to things with-out the king’s purveyance, and that Simon might not cease of his folly.

7 But after the passing out of Seleucus’ life, when Antiochus, that was called noble or Epiphanes, had taken realm, Jason, the brother of Onias, coveted the highest or the high priesthood;

8 and Jason went to the king, and promised to him three hundred talents and sixty of silver, and of other rents fourscore talents;

9 over these things he promised also other talents an hundred and fifty, if it were granted to his power, for to ordain a school, and gathering of young men to him; and for to write them that were in Jerusalem Antioch-enes, or men of Antioch.

10 And when the king had granted this, and he wielded the princehood, anon he began to translate to heathen customs, men of his lineage.

11 And when these things were done away, which by cause of humanity, either courtesy, were ordained of kings to Jews by John, the father of Eupolemus, which was ordained in lawful message of friendship and fellowship with Romans, he destroyed rights, or laws, of citizens, and made shrewd ordinances;

12 for he was hardy for to ordain a school of heathenness under that high tower, and for to put all the best of fair young men in bordel houses.

13 Forsooth this was not beginning, but some increasing and profit of heathen and alien life, for the unleaveful and unheard great trespass of unpiousness, and not priest Jason;

14 so that priests not now were given about offices of the altar, but they despised the temple, and left sacrifices, and they hasted for to be made fellows of wrestling or rassling, and of unjust giving of him, that is, of his giving of worst teaching, and in occupations of a dish, either playing with a leaden discus.

15 And soothly they had honours of fathers at nought, and deemed Greek glories best.

16 For cause of which perilous contention had them, and they followed their ordinances; and by all things they coveted them for to be like them, which [or whom] they had enemies and destroyers.

17 Forsooth for to do unfaithfully [or unpiously] against God’s laws it befall-eth not without pain, but the time pursuing shall declare these things.

18 Soothly when justice, done once in five years, was made solemnly in Tyre, and the king was present,

19 Jason, full of great trespasses, sent from Jerusalem men sinners, bearing three hundred double drachmas of silver into sacrifice of Hercules; which these men that bare out asked, that those [or they] were not given in sacrifices, for it needed not, but that those shall be ordained into other expenses.

20 But soothly these were offered of him that sent into the sacrifice of Hercules; soothly for men present, those [or they] were given into making of great ships.

21 Forsooth Apollonius, son of Menestheus, was sent into Egypt for primates, or princes, of Ptolemy Philometor, the king; when Antiochus knew him made alien from needs of the realm, he counselled for [or to] his own profits, and went from thence, and came to Joppa, and from thence to Jerusalem.

22 And he was received of Jason and the city worshipfully, with lights of brands, and praisings, and went in, and from thence he turned the host into Phoenicia.

23 And after the time of three years, Jason sent Menelaus, the brother of Simon above-said, bearing riches [or monies] to the king, and of necessary causes to bearing answers.

24 And he was commended to the king, and, when he had magnified the face of his power, he turned in to himself the highest priesthood, and setted above Jason [or above putting to Jason] three hundred talents of silver.

25 And by commandments taken of the king, he came, soothly having nothing worthy to priesthood; but he bare the soul of a cruel tyrant, and wrath of [a] wild beast.

26 And soothly that Jason, that took his own brother captive, was deceived, and was outlawed, and put out into the country of Ammonites.

27 But Menelaus forsooth wielded the princehood, but of riches promised to the king, he did nothing, when Sostratus, that was sovereign of the high tower, made exaction, or master-ful asking, [or that was provost of the high rock, made exaction, or unjust asking],

28 for why raising [or extraction] of tributes pertained to him; for which cause both were called to the king.

29 And Menelaus was removed from priesthood, and Lysimachus, his brother, was successor; soothly Sostratus was made sovereign of men of Cyprus.

30 And when these things were done, it befell Tarsus and Mallus for to move debate, for that they were given in gift to the concubine of Antiochus, the king.

31 Therefore the king hastily came, for to assuage them, and left one of his earls suffectus or suffect consuls, Andronicus, in dignity, or lieutenant.

32 Forsooth Menelaus deemed that he had taken covenable time, and stole some golden vessels of the temple, and gave to Andronicus, and he sold to Tyre others, and by nigh cities.

33 And when Onias had known this thing most certainly, he reproved him, and held himself in a secure place at Antiochia, beside Daphne.

34 Wherefore Menelaus went to Andronicus, and prayed that he would slay Onias. And when he came to Onias, and had given right hands with an oath, though he was suspect to him, he counselled him for to go forth of asylum, and anon he slew him, and dreaded not rightwiseness.

35 For which cause not only Jews, but and other nations, were wroth, and bare heavily of the unjust death of so great a man.

36 But Jews at Antioch, and Greeks, together complained of the unjust death of Onias, and went to the king, that turned again from places of Cilicia.

37 Therefore the king Antiochus was sorry in soul for Onias, and was bowed to mercy, and shedded tears, and bethought on the soberness and mildness of the dead man.

38 And his heart was kindled, and he commanded that Andronicus, unclothed of purple, be led about by all the city, and that in that place in which he had done unpiously against Onias, the cursed man be deprived of life; for the Lord gave to him even-worthy pain.

39 Forsooth when many sacrileges were done of Lysimachus, by counsel of Menelaus, in the temple, and the fame was published, [a] multitude was gathered against Lysimachus; for much gold was then borne out.

40 Forsooth when the companies rose, and souls were filled with wrath, Lysimachus began for to use almost three thousand armed wicked hands, by some tyrant leader, eld [or old] in age, and also in madness.

41 But as they understood the endeavouring of Lysimachus, others took stones, others strong staffs, some soothly casted ashes into Lysimachus.

42 And many soothly were wounded, some forsooth were cast down, all forsooth were altogether turned into flight; also they slew him sacrileger, either thief of holy things, beside the treasury.

43 Therefore of these things doom began for to be moved against Menelaus.

44 And when the king came to Tyre, three men were sent of the elder men, and brought the cause to him.

45 And when Menelaus was over-come, he promised for to give many riches [or many monies] to Ptolemy, for to counsel the king.

46 Therefore Ptolemy went to the king, set in some porch, as for cause of refreshing, either colding, [or cooling], and led away from sentence;

47 and assoiled or absolved from crimes Menelaus, guilty truly of all the malice. Forsooth he damned or condemned by death these wretches, which should be deemed innocents, yea, if they had led cause with Scythians.

48 Therefore soon they gave unjust pain to them, that pursued cause for the city, and [for the] people, and holy vessels.

49 Wherefore and men of Tyre were wroth, and were most liberal with the burying of them.

50 Forsooth for covetousness of them that were in power, Menelaus dwelt in power, waxing in malice, and to deceits of citizens.

CHAPTER 5

1 In the same time Antiochus made ready the second going into Egypt.

2 Forsooth it befell, that by each city of men of Jerusalem, were seen by forty days, horsemen running about by the air, having golden stoles, and shafts, as companies of knights armed;

3 and courses of horses wisely set by orders, and assailings, or fightings together, for to be made nigh, and movings of shields, and multitude of helmeted men, with unrestrained swords, and castings of darts, and shining of golden armours, and of all kind of habergeons.

4 Wherefore all men prayed, that the monsters, or wonders, tokens of things to coming, be converted [or be altogether turned] into good.

5 But when false tiding [or false rumour] went out, as if Antiochus had gone out of life, Jason suddenly assailed the city, with men taken not less than a thousand; and when citizens fled to the wall together, and at the last the city was taken, Menelaus fled into the high tower.

6 Forsooth Jason spared not in slay-ing his citizens, neither he thought prosperity against cousins; and he deemed it for to be most evil, that he should take victories of enemies, and not of citizens.

7 And soothly he wielded not princehood, but took confusion end of his deceits or his espies; and he flew again, and went into Ammonites.

8 And at the last into undoing of him, he was enclosed altogether of Aretas, tyrant of Arabians, and flew [or fleeing] from city into city, and was odious to all men, as apostate, or forsaker of laws, and abominable, as enemy of country and citizens, and was cast out into Egypt.

9 And he that had put out many of their country, perished in pilgrimage, and went to Lacedaemonians, as for cousinage to have there refuge.

10 And he that had casted away many unburied, is cast out both unwailed and unburied, and neither useth strange sepulchre, neither taketh part of fathers’ sepulchre.

11 And when these things were done so, the king supposed, that Jews should forsake fellowship; and for this he went out of Egypt with mad souls, and took the city soothly with arms.

12 Forsooth he commanded to the knights, for to slay, neither [to] spare to men running against, and to go up by houses, and strangle.

13 Therefore there were made slayings of young and elder, destroyings of women and children, and deaths of maidens and little children.

14 Forsooth in all three days, fourscore thousand were slain, forty thousand bound, forsooth not less sold;

15 but neither these things sufficed. Also he was hardy for to enter into the temple holier than all the land, by Menelaus leader, that was traitor of laws and country.

16 And he touched unworthily, and defouled, taking in cursed hands the holy vessels, that were put of other kings and cities, to adorning and glory of the place.

17 Antiochus was so alienated from mind, or understanding, and beheld not, that, for sins of men inhabiting, the Lord was wroth a little to the city; for which thing also despising befell about the place.

18 Else if it had not befallen them for to be wrapped in many sins, as Heliodorus, that was sent from king Seleucus for to rob the treasury, also this anon coming should be beaten, and forsooth put aback from hardiness.

19 But the Lord chose not the folk for the place, but place for the folk.

20 And therefore also that place was made partner of evils of the people; afterward forsooth it shall be made fellow also of goods, and it, that is forsaken in wrath of Almighty God, again in reconciling of the great Lord, shall be enhanced with great glory.

21 Therefore Antiochus, when he had taken away a thousand and eight hundred talents of the temple, swiftly turned again to Antiochia, and deemed him for pride to lead the land for to sail, the sea forsooth for to make journey, for pride of soul.

22 Forsooth he left also sovereigns, to torment the folk, in Jerusalem soothly Philip, of the kin of Phyrgians, crueler than himself in manners [or in manners crueler than himself], of whom he was ordained;

23 forsooth in Gerizim, Andronicus and Menelaus, which more grievously than others lay on, [or annoyed], citizens. And when he was set against Jews,

24 he sent an odious prince, Apollonius, with an host two and twenty thousands, and commanded to him [or commanding to him] for to slay all of perfect age, for to sell women and young children.

25 Which when he came to Jerusalem, feigned peace, and rested till the holy day of sabbath. And then while Jews held holiday, or the holy day, he commanded his men for to take arms,

26 and [he] strangled all that came forth together to the spectacle, or beholding; and he ran about the city with armed men, and slew a great multitude.

27 Forsooth Judas Maccabeus, that was the tenth, went into desert place, and there led life with men, among wild beasts in hills; and [they] dwelt eating meat of hay, lest they were partners of defouling.

CHAPTER 6

1 But not after much time, the king sent an eld [or old] man of Antiochia, which should constrain Jews, that they should translate [or transfer] them-selves from laws of fathers, and of God;

2 also he should defoul the temple in Jerusalem, and should call it of Jupiter Olympus, and in Gerizim, as they were, that inhabited the place, of Jupiter Hospitality.

3 Forsooth the falling in of evils was worst and grievous to all;

4 for why the temple was full of lechery and gluttony of heathen men, and of men doing lechery with whores, and women bare in them-selves to hallowed houses, at their own will, bearing within those things which it was not leaveful.

5 Also the altar was full of unleaveful things, which were forbidden by laws.

6 Soothly neither sabbaths were kept, neither solemn days of fathers were kept, neither simply, neither openly, [or plainly], any man acknowl-edged him a Jew.

7 Forsooth they were led with bitter need in the day of the king’s birth to sacrifices. And when holy things of Liber, that is Bacchus, either a false god, which the heathen men called god of wine, were made solemnly, [or were hallowed], they were crowned with ivy, and were constrained for to go about with Liber.

8 Soothly the doom went out into the next cities of heathen men, by Ptolemais procuring, that in like manner also they should do against Jews, that they should do sacrifice;

9 soothly that they should slay them, that would not pass to the ordinances of heathen men. Therefore it was to see wretchedness [or it was wretched-ness for to see these things].

10 For why two women were accused, that they had circumcised their children; and when they had led them about openly by the city, with [the] infants hanged at their breasts, they casted [them] down by the walls.

11 Forsooth other men went together to the next dens, and hallowed privily the day of sabbath, when they were showed to Philip, they were burnt in flames, for they dreaded for religion and observance, for to bear help to themselves with hand.

12 Therefore I beseech them, that shall read this book, that they dread not for adversities; but areckon they those things that befell to be not to perishing, but to [or for] amending of our kin.

13 For why for to not suffer by much time sinners for to do of sentence, [or doom], but anon for to give venge-ances, is the showing of great benefice.

14 For why, not as in other nations, the Lord abideth patiently, that when the day of doom shall come, he punish them in plenty of sins, so and in us he ordaineth,

15 that when our sins be turned about into end, so at the last he avenge on us.

16 For which thing soothly he never removeth his mercy from us; but he chastiseth his people, and forsaketh not in adversities.

17 But these things be said of us [or be said to you] in few words to the admonishing of men reading; now forsooth it is to come to the telling.

18 Therefore Eleazar, one of the former of the scribes, or men of law, and a man waxed in age, and fair in cheer, was compelled, yawning with open mouth, for to eat swine’s flesh.

19 And he embraced, or chose, more glorious death, than hateful life, and willfully went before to torment.

20 Forsooth he beheld how it behooved for to go, and suffered patiently, and ordained for to not do unleaveful things for the love of life.

21 Soothly these that stood nigh, were moved altogether by wicked mercy, for eld [or old] friendship of the man, and they took him privily, and prayed that fleshes should be brought, which it was leaveful to him for to eat, that he were feigned to have eaten, as the king commanded, of the flesh of sacrifice;

22 that by this deed he should be delivered from death; and for eld [or old] friendship of the man, they did this humanity, or courtesy, in him.

23 And he began for to think the worthy excellence of age, and of his eld age, and the free-born hoariness of nobility, and of best living from child[hood]; and by [or after] the ordinances of holy law, and made of God, he answered soon, saying, that he would be sent before into hell.

24 For he said, It is not worthy to our age for to feign, that many young men deem, that Eleazar of fourscore year and ten, hath passed to the life of aliens,

25 and that they be deceived by my feigning, and that for little time of corruptible life, and that by this I get spot and execration, or cursedness, to mine eld age.

26 For why though in present time I be delivered from torments of men, but neither quick, neither dead, I shall not escape the hand of [the] Almighty.

27 Wherefore in passing the life strongly, that is, in dying for the law of God, soothly I shall appear worthy of age;

28 forsooth I shall leave strong ensample to young men, if I use perfectly honest death with ready will, and strongly for the worthiest and holiest laws. When these things were said, anon he was drawn to torment.

29 Forsooth these that led him, and a little before were milder, were turned into wrath, for the words said of him, which they deemed brought forth by pride of heart.

30 But when he should be slain with wounds, he sorrowed inwardly, and said, Lord, that hast holy knowing, openly thou knowest, that when I might be delivered from death, I suffer hard sorrows of body; forsooth by soul willfully I suffer these things, for thy dread.

31 And soothly this man on [or in] this manner departed from life; not only leaving the mind of his death to young men, but and to all the folk, to ensample of virtue and strength.

CHAPTER 7

1 Forsooth it befell, that seven brethren taken together with the mother, were constrained of the king, for to taste against the law swine’s flesh; and were tormented with scourgings, and torment made of bull’s leather.

2 Forsooth one of them, that was the first, said thus, What seekest thou? and what wilt thou learn of us? we be ready for to die, more than to break the fathers’ laws of God.

3 Therefore the king was wroth, and commanded brazen pans [or pans of brass], and brass pots for to be made full hot.

4 And when those anon were made full hot [or tended], he commanded the tongue for to be cut off from him that spake first; and when the skin of the head was drawn away, he bade both the highest parts of his hands and of his feet for to be cut off, the while the other brethren of him and the mother of him beheld.

5 And when he was made then [or made now] unprofitable by all things, he commanded fire for to be brought to him, and yet all quick, breathing, or groaning, for to be burnt in the brazen pan; in which when he was long tormented, the others together with the mother, admonished them together for to die strongly, saying,

6 The Lord God shall behold truth, and shall give comfort, or give solace, in us, as Moses declared in before-witnessing of his song, And in his servants he shall give comfort.

7 Therefore when that first was dead in this manner, they led forth the next for to be scorned; and when the skin of his head was drawn off, with the hairs, they asked, if he would eat, before that he were punished in all the body, by all members by themselves.

8 And he answered by the [country] voice of fathers, and said, I shall not do it. For which thing, and this in pursuing place, received like torments of the first.

9 And when he was ordained in the last spirit, he said thus, Soothly thou most wicked, or cursed, losest us in this life, but the King of the world shall raise us that be dead for his laws, in again-rising of everlasting life.

10 After this the third was scorned; and when he was bidden, he proffered soon forth his tongue, and steadfastly held forth his hands,

11 and said with trust, Of heaven I wield these limbs, but for the laws of God now I despise these same; for I hope, that I shall receive those [or them] of him.

12 So that the king, and they that were with him, wondered on the wisdom of the young man, that he led the torments as nought.

13 And when this was thus dead, they travailed the fourth, and tormented him in like manner.

14 And when he was then at the death, he said thus, Well the rather it is need [or Rather it is], that men given to death of men, abide the hope of God, for they shall be raised-again again of him; forsooth again-rising to life shall not be to thee.

15 And when they had brought the fifth, they travailed him.

16 And he beheld into him, and said, Thou hast power among men, and though thou be corruptible, thou doest what thou wilt; but do not thou guess, that our kin is forsaken of God.

17 But abide thou patiently, and thou shalt see the great power of him, how he shall torment thee, and thy seed.

18 After [this] they brought also the sixth; and this began for to die, and said thus, [or this beginning for to die, saith thus], Do not thou err idly; for we suffer these things for ourselves, sinning against our God, and things worthy of wondering be made in us;

19 but deem thou not, that it shall be without pain to thee, that thou hast tempted for to fight against God.

20 Forsooth the marvellous mother of them/Forsooth the mother is wonderful above manner, and worthy the mind of good men, which beheld seven sons perishing under the time of one day, and suffered above manner with good will, for the hope that she had into God;

21 she admonished each of them by voice of fathers [or of country], and was strongly filled with wisdom, and setted man’s wit to woman’s thought, and said to them,

22 Sons, I know not how ye appeared in my womb; for neither I have given to you spirit, and soul, and life, and I myself joined not together the members of each;

23 but [or soothly] the Maker of nought of the world, that formed the nativity of man, and found beginning of all, shall yield again to you spirit, and life, with mercy, as now ye despise yourselves for the laws of him.

24 Forsooth Antiochus deemed him for to be despised, and also by despisable voice of a reprover [or also despised by voice of the reproving], and when yet the younger was alive, not only he admonished by words, but with an oath he affirmed to make him rich and blissful, or blessful, [or blessed], and to have him a friend, translated from laws of fathers, and to give to him needful things.

25 But when the young man was not bowed to these things, the king called the mother, and softly counselled her, that she should be made to the young man into health.

26 Forsooth when he admonished her by many words, she promised him for to counsel her son.

27 Therefore she bowed down to him, and scorned the cruel tyrant [or scorning the cruel tyrant], and said in country voice, Son, have mercy on me, that bare thee in womb nine months, and gave milk by three years, and nourished or nursed, and fully brought into this age.

28 I ask, child, that thou behold to heaven and earth, and all things that be in them, and understand, that God made them of nought, and the kind of men.

29 So it shall be done, that thou dread not this tormentor, but be thou made worthy to thy brethren, and receive death, that in that mercy doing I receive thee with thy brethren.

30 When she said yet these things [or When she yet said these things], the young man said, Whom abide ye? I obey not to the bidding of the king, but to commandment of the law, that was given to us by Moses.

31 Forsooth thou, that art made finder of all malice against Hebrews, shalt not escape the hand of God.

32 For we suffer these things for our sins;

33 and though our Lord be a little wroth to us, for blaming and chastising, but again he shall be reconciled to his servants.

34 Forsooth thou cursed, and most flagitious, or fullest of evil doings, and stirrings, of all men, do not thou vainly be enhanced, that art enflamed by vain hope against his servants;

35 for thou hast not escaped yet the doom of Almighty God, and beholding all things.

36 For my brethren suffered now a little sorrow, and be made under testament of everlasting life; thou soothly by doom of God shall pay just pains of pride.

37 Soothly I, as my brethren, betake my soul and body for the laws of fathers; and I call God to help [or in-calling God], that more ripely he be made helpful to our folk, and that thou acknowledge with torments and beatings, that he is God alone.

38 Forsooth the wrath of Almighty shall fail or shall have an end in me, and in my brethren, which is justly brought in on all our kin. [For in me and in my brethren, the wrath of Almighty God shall fail, which is justly brought in upon all our kin.]

39 Then the king was kindled with wrath, and was fierce against him more cruelly above all; and bare unworthily, either heavily, himself scorned.

40 Therefore this was also clean, and died, trusting by all things in the Lord.

41 Forsooth at the last also the mother was wasted, either died, after the sons.

42 Therefore of sacrifices, and over-great cruelties, is enough said.

CHAPTER 8

1 Forsooth Judas Maccabeus, and they that were with him, entered privily into castles; and called together cousins, and friends, and took them that dwelt in Judea [or in Jewry], or in keeping of the law of Jews, and led out men to six thousands.

2 And they called the Lord to help, for to behold on the people, that was defouled of all men; for to have mercy on the temple, that was defouled of unpious men;

3 and for to have mercy on destroying of the city, that was anon to be made plain altogether; and for to hear the voice of blood crying to him,

4 and for to have mind on the wickedest deaths of little children innocents, and of blasphemies given to his name; and for to have indignation on these things.

5 And Maccabeus, with the multitude gathered, was made unsufferable to heathen men; for the wrath of the Lord was converted into mercy.

6 And he above-came to castles and cities, unwarned, and burnt them; and occupied covenable places, and gave not few slayings of enemies.

7 Soothly in nights he was most borne to seek out runnings; and fame of his virtue was shed out, either showed, everywhere.

8 Forsooth Philip saw, that the man by little and little came to increase, and that full often things befell to him in prosperity; and he wrote to Ptolemy, duke of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, that he should bear help to the king’s needs.

9 And he swiftly sent Nicanor of Patroclus, of the former, or worthier, friends, and gave to him not less than twenty thousands of armed folks mingled together, for to do away all the kin of Jews; and joined to him Gorgias, a knightly man, and most expert in things of battle.

10 Forsooth Nicanor promised stead-fastly to the king, that he should fill the tribute that was to be given to Romans, two thousands of talents, of the captivity of Jews.

11 And anon he sent to cities of the sea coast, and called together to even-buying of prisoners, or of bondmen, of Jews; and promised, that he shall sell ninety bondmen for a talent [or one talent], not beholding to the vengeance that should pursue him of Almighty God.

12 Forsooth when Judas found, he showed to these Jews that were with him, the coming of Nicanor.

13 Of which [or whom] some inwardly dreaded, and believed not to the rightwiseness of God, and were turned into flight;

14 others soothly, if any left of them, came, and together besought the Lord, for to deliver them from wicked Nicanor, which had sold them before that he came nigh;

15 and though not for them, but for the testament that was to the fathers of them, and for the calling to help of his holy name and great on them.

16 Forsooth Maccabeus called together seven thousands that were with him, and prayed, that they should not be reconciled to enemies, neither should dread the multitude of enemies wickedly coming against them, but strongly should fight;

17 having before their eyes, the despite that was done in the holy place, unjustly of them, and also the wrong of the city, had in scorning; yet also the ordinances of eld [or old] men destroyed.

18 For why he said, They soothly trust in arms altogether and hardiness; forsooth we trust in the Lord Almighty, that may do away with one looking, both them that come against us, and all the world.

19 Forsooth he admonished them also of helps of God, that were done against fathers; and that under Sennacherib an hundred thousand fourscore thousand and five thousand [or an hundred fourscore and five thousand] perished;

20 and of the battle that was to them against Galatians, in Babylon; whether if it come to the thing, or truth, when all fellows Macedonians doubted, they six thousands alone slew an hundred thousand and twenty thousands [or an hundred and twenty thousands], for help given to them from heaven; and for these things they had full many benefices.

21 By these words they were made steadfast, and ready for to die for laws and country.

22 Therefore he ordained his brethren leaders to each order, Simon, and Joseph, and Jonathan, and made subject to each a thousand and five hundred.

23 Also to this thing, when the holy book was read to them of Ezra, and a token was given of God’s help, he was duke in the first battle array, and joined battle with Nicanor.

24 And for the Almighty was made helper to them, they slew over nine thousand of men; forsooth they constrained the more part of Nicanor’s host, made feeble by wounds, for to flee.

25 Forsooth when the riches [or the monies] of them, that came to the buying of them, were taken up, on each side they pursued them; but they turned again, closed altogether by an hour;

26 for why it was before sabbath, for which cause they lasted not pursuing.

27 Forsooth they gathered the arms/ the armours of them, and spoils, and did sabbath, and blessed the Lord, that delivered them in this day, dropping into them beginning of mercy.

28 Forsooth after the sabbath, they parted spoils to the feeble folks, and fatherless, and motherless, and widows; and they with theirs had the residues.

29 When these things were thus done, and commonly of all men beseeching was made, they asked the merciful Lord, for to be reconciled into the end to his servants.

30 And of these that were with Timothy and Bacchides, striving against themselves, they slew over twenty thousand, and they wielded his strengths; and they parted more preys, and made even portion to feeble folks, fatherless, and motherless, and widows, but and to elder men.

31 And when they had gathered the arms/the armours of them, diligently they putted together, or kept, all things in covenable places; forsooth they bare to Jerusalem the residue spoils.

32 And they slew Philarches, that was with Timothy, a man full of great trespasses, that had tormented Jews in many things.

33 And when feasts of [or for] victory were done in Jerusalem, they burnt them that had burnt holy gates, that is to say, Callisthenes, when he had flown into an house; for why worthy meed was yielded to them for their unpiousnesses.

34 Forsooth the wickedest Nicanor, that brought a thousand merchants to the selling [or to buying] of Jews,

35 was meeked, or made low, by help of the Lord, of them which he guessed none; and when he had put away the clothes of glory, he fled alone by privy places, and came to Antioch, and had highest infelicity, or wretchedness, of the death of his host.

36 And he that promised him to restore tribute to Romans, of the captivity of men of Jerusalem, preached now that Jews had one defender God, and for him, they were unable for to be wounded, for they pursued laws ordained of him.

CHAPTER 9

1 In the same time Antiochus turned again unhonestly or dishonoured from Persia.

2 For he had entered into that city, that is said Persepolis, that is, the chief city of Persia, and he attempted for to rob the temple, and oppress the city; but for the multitude ran together to arms, they were turned into flight; and so it befell, that Antiochus after flight vile-like [or lowly], turned again.

3 And when he came about Ecbatana, he knew what things were done against Nicanor and Timothy.

4 Forsooth he was enhanced in wrath, and deemed that he might turn into Jews the wrong of them, that had driven him. And therefore he bade the chariot to be led in haste, doing journey without ceasing; for why heavenly doom drove, or constrained, him, for that he spake so proudly, that he shall come to Jerusalem, and to make it a gathering of sepulchres of Jews.

5 But the Lord God of Israel, that beholdeth all things, smote him with a wound incurable and invisible; for as he ended this same word, an hard sorrow of entrails took him, and bitter torments of inward things.

6 And soothly justly enough, for he that had tormented the entrails of other men, with many and new torments,

7 though he in no manner ceased of his malice. Forsooth over this he was filled with pride, and breathed fire in soul against Jews, and commanding the need for to be hasted, it befell, that he going in fierceness fell down off the chariot, and that the members were travailed with the grievous hurtling altogether of body.

8 And he that seemed to himself for to command also to waves of the sea, and over man’s manner was filled with pride, and for to weigh in balance the heights of hills, was then made low [or meeked] to earth, and was borne in a bier, either horse-litter, and witnessed in himself the open virtue of God;

9 so that worms boiled out of the body of the unpious man, and the quick fleshes of him floated out in sorrows. Also with the savour of him, and stinking, his host was grieved;

10 and no man might bear him, for unsuffering of stink, that a little before deemed him for to touch the stars of heaven. [and he, that a little before deemed him to touch the stars of heaven, no man might bear him, for unsuffering of stink.]

11 Therefore hereby he was led down from grievous pride, and began for to come to knowing of himself, and was warned by God’s vengeance, for by all moments his sorrows took increases.

12 And when he might not then [or now] suffer his stink, thus he said, It is just for to be subject to God, and that a deadly man feel not even things to God.

13 Forsooth the cursed man prayed the Lord of these things, of whom he should not get mercy or should get no mercy.

14 And now he desireth to yield free the city, to which he came hasting, for to draw down it [or to lead it down] to earth, and for to make a sepulchre of things borne together.

15 And now he promiseth to make the Jews even to men of Athens, which Jews he said that he should not have worthy, yea, of sepulchre, but to betake to fowls and wild beasts, for to be drawn, and to destroy with little children; [And the Jews, whom he said himself to having neither soothly worthy of sepulchre, but to betaking to fowls and wild beasts, for to be drawn, and to destroying with little children, now he promiseth to making even to Athenians, or men of Athens;]

16 also to adorn with best gifts the holy temple, which he robbed before, and to multiply holy vessels, and to giving of his rents costs pertaining to sacrifices;

17 over these things and that he shall be made a Jew, and to walk by each place of the land, and to preach the power of God.

18 But, for sorrows ceased not, the just doom of God had above come on him, he despaired, and wrote to Jews, by manner of beseeching, an epistle, containing these things.

19 To the best citizens, Jews, most health, and welfare, and to be rich, or in prosperity, the king and prince Antiochus.

20 If ye fare well, and your sons, and all things be to you of sentence, that is, befall at your will, we do most thankings.

21 And I am ordained in sickness, and soothly I am mindful benignly of you, and I turned again from places of Persia, and am caught with grievous infirmity, and I led needful for to have care for common profit;

22 and I despair not of myself, but I have much hope to escape [the] sick-ness.

23 For I behold that also my father, in what times he led host in higher places, showed, who after him should receive princehood;

24 if that any contrary thing befell, or hard thing were told, these that were in countries, shall know to whom the sum, or charge, of [all] things was left, and should not be troubled.

25 To these things I beheld of next, that all the mighty men and neighbours espy times, and abide coming, and I have ordained my son Antiochus king, whom I, running again often into high realms, commended to many of you, and I wrote to him what things be subject.

26 Therefore I pray you, and ask, that ye be mindful of benefices openly and privily, and that each of you keep faith to me, and to my son.

27 For I trust, that he shall do mildly, and manly, or courteously, and pursue my purpose, and be common, or treatable, to you.

28 Therefore the man-queller and blasphemer was smitten worst, and as he had treated others, he died in pilgrimage in mountains, in wretched-ful death.

29 Forsooth Philip, his even-sucker, translated [or transferred], or bare over, the body; which dreaded the son of Antiochus, and went to Ptolemy Philometor, into Egypt.

CHAPTER 10

1 Forsooth Maccabeus, and they that were with him, for the Lord defended them, received soothly the temple, and city.

2 Forsooth he destroyed the altars, that aliens made by streets, and also [the] temples of washing.

3 And when the temple was purged, they made another altar, and of stones fired, or flints, by fire conceived, they offered sacrifices after two years, and putted incense, and lanterns, and loaves of proposition.

4 And when these things were done, they were cast down to earth, and prayed the Lord, that they should no more fall in[to] such evils; but though in anytime they had sinned, that they should be chastised of him more easily, and should not be betaken to barbarians, [or heathen], and blasphemous men.

5 Forsooth in what day the temple was defouled of aliens, it befell that in the same day cleansing was made, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that was Kislev.

6 And with gladness in eight days they did by manner of Tabernacles, bethinking that before a little of time they had done the solemn day of Tabernacles, in hills and in dens, by custom of beasts.

7 For which thing they bare before rods, and green branches, and palms, to him that gave prosperity for to cleanse his place.

8 And they deemed with common behest, and with doom, to all the folk of Jews, for to do these feast days in all years.

9 And the ending of life of Antiochus, that was called noble or Epiphanes, had it thus.

10 Now forsooth we shall tell of Eupator, son of unpious Antiochus, what things were done, and abridge, or shortly tell, the evils that were done in battles.

11 For when this Eupator had received the realm, he ordained on needs of the realm a man Lysias, prince of knighthood, of Phoenicia and Coelesyria.

12 For why Ptolemy, that was said Macron, ordained for to hold just things against Jews, and mostly for wickedness that was done against them, and peaceably for to do with them.

13 But for this thing he was accused of friends with Eupator, when he heard often, Thou traitor, for that he had forsaken Cyprus, betaken to him of Philometor, and had translated to Antiochus noble or Antiochus Epiph-anes, also he had gone away from him, with venom he ended the life.

14 Forsooth Gorgias, when he was duke of places, with comelings taken, overcame often Jews in battle.

15 Forsooth Jews that held covenable strengths, received men driven from Jerusalem, and assayed, either attempted, for to fight.

16 These forsooth that were with Maccabeus, prayed the Lord by prayers, that he should be helper to them, and they made assault into strengths of Idumeans.

17 And they were busy by much strength, and wielded places, and slew men running again, and strangled all together, not less than five and twenty thousands.

18 Forsooth when some fled together into two towers full strong, having all apparel to against-fight,

19 Maccabeus left Simon, and Joseph, and again Zacchaeus, and them that were with them, many enough, to the over-coming of them; and he was converted [or turned again] to those battles that constrained more.

20 Soothly these that were with Simon, were led by covetousness, and were counselled by money, of some that were in the towers; and when they had taken seventy thousand double drachmas, they let some [to] flee out.

21 Forsooth when that thing that was done, was told to Maccabeus, he gathered the princes of people, and he accused, that they had sold brethren for money, for they delivered [or dismissed] adversaries of them.

22 Therefore he slew these made traitors, and anon occupied the two towers.

23 Forsooth in doing all things wealsomely, either by prosperity, in arms, and hands, he slew in the two strengths more than twenty thousands.

24 And Timothy, that before was overcome of Jews, called [or gathered] together an host of strange multitude, and gathered the multitude of horse-men of Asia, and came with arms, as to take Judea.

25 Forsooth Maccabeus, and they that were with him, when he nighed, besought God, and besprinkled the heads with earth, and before-girded the loins with hair-shirts,

26 and kneeled down at the brink of the altar, that he should be helpful to them, forsooth that to enemies of them he were enemy [or that he were enemy to the enemies of them], and were adversary to adversaries, as the law saith.

27 And so after prayer, when they had taken arms, they went forth far from the city, and they were made next to enemies, and sat.

28 Forsooth in the first rising of the sun, both joined battle; these soothly had the Lord promiser of victory and prosperity; for they had [their own] hardiness the duke of battle.

29 But when great fight was, five fair man, that is, angels in the likeness of men, on horses with golden bridles, appeared to adversaries from heaven, and gave leading to Jews;

30 of which twain [or of whom two] had Maccabeus in the middle, and set about with their armours or arms, and kept him sound, either without harm. Forsooth they casted darts and lightnings against adversaries; of which thing and they were shamed [or confused] with blindness, and were [full]-filled with perturbation, and fell down.

31 Forsooth there were slain of footmen twenty thousand and five hundred, and horsemen six hundred.

32 Soothly Timothy fled into the stronghold [or a stronghold] of Gazara, of which stronghold Chaereas was sovereign.

33 Forsooth Maccabeus, and they that were with him, were glad, and besieged the stronghold by four days.

34 And they that were within, trusted in the secureness of the place, and cursed above manner, and casted, or proudly pronounced, cursed words, that is, blasphemy against God.

35 But when the fifth day shined, twenty young men of these that were with Maccabeus, were kindled in souls for blasphemy, and went manly to the wall, and they went with fierce will, and went up;

36 but and others also ascended [or going up], and assailed for to burn towers and gates, and altogether burn the cursers quick. Forsooth by continual two days they wasted the stronghold,

37 and slew Timothy, hiding himself, found in some place; and they slew his brother Chaereas, and Apollophanes.

38 When these things were done, they blessed the Lord in hymns and confessions, which did great things in Israel, and gave them victory.

CHAPTER 11

1 But a little time after, Lysias, the procurator of the king, and kinsman, and sovereign of offices [or provost of needs], bare grievously of these things that befell,

2 and gathered fourscore thousands, and all the multitude of horsemen, and came against Jews, and deemed himself to make the city taken a dwelling to heathen men,

3 forsooth to have the temple into winning of money, as other temples of heathen men, and priesthood set to sale by each year;

4 and bethought not on the power of God, but in mind, or understanding, he was made without bridle, and trusted in multitude of footmen, and in thousands of horsemen, and in fourscore elephants.

5 Soothly he went into Judea, and came nigh to Bethsura, that was in a strait place, from Jerusalem in space of five furlongs, and fought against that strength.

6 Soothly when Maccabeus, and they that were with him, knew that strengths were impugned, with weeping and tears they prayed the Lord, and all the company together, for to send a good angel to the health of Israel.

7 And Maccabeus himself took first arms, and admonished others to take together peril with him, and bear help to their brethren.

8 And when they went forth together with ready will from Jerusalem, an horseman, that is, an angel in the likeness of an horseman, or knight, appeared going before them in white clothes, in golden armours or arms, and flourishing a shaft.

9 Then all together blessed the merciful Lord, and waxed strong in souls; and were ready for to pierce not only men, but and most fierce beasts, and iron walls.

10 Therefore they went ready, having an helper of heaven, and the Lord having mercy on them.

11 Soothly by custom of lions, in fierceness they hurled into enemies, and casted down of them eleven thousands [or eleven thousand] of footmen, and a thousand and six hundred of horsemen. Soothly they turned all into flight;

12 forsooth many of them wounded, escaped naked, but and Lysias himself foully fleeing escaped.

13 And for he was not witless, he areckoned with himself the making less done against him, and understood that Hebrews be unovercome, and trust to help of Almighty God;

14 and he sent to them, and promised him to consent to all things that be just, and to compel the king for to be made friend.

15 Forsooth Maccabeus granted to the prayers of Lysias, and counselled to profit in all things; and whatever things Maccabeus wrote of Jews to Lysias [or wrote to Lysias of Jews], the king granted those things.

16 For why epistles were written to Jews from Lysias, containing this manner. Lysias to the people of Jews, health.

17 John and Absalom, that were sent from you, betook writs, and asked, that I should [ful] fill those things that were signified by them.

18 Therefore whatever things might be brought forth to the king, I expounded, and which the thing suffered, that is, was covenable and just, he granted.

19 Therefore if in needs ye [shall] keep faith, also from henceforth I shall enforce or endeavour, or attempt for to be cause of good things to you.

20 Of other things soothly I commanded by all words, both to these and to them that be sent of me, for to speak together with you.

21 Fare ye well. In the hundred year and eight and fortieth, in the four and twentieth day of the month Dioscorinthius, that is, in June.

22 Forsooth the epistle of the king contained these things. King Antiochus to Lysias, brother, health.

23 For our father is translated among gods, we will that they that be in our realm do without noise, and give diligence to their things;

24 we have heard that Jews assented not to the father, to be translated to the custom of Greeks, but will [for to] hold their ordinance, and that there-fore they ask of us, that their lawful things be granted to them.

25 Therefore we will that also this folk be quiet, and have ordained and deemed, that the temple be restored to them, that they should do by [or after] the custom of their greater men.

26 Therefore thou shalt do well, if thou shalt send to them, and shalt give right hand; that, when our will is known, they be in good comfort, and serve to their own profits.

27 Soothly to the Jews the king’s epistle was such. King Antiochus to the senate, or elder men, of Jews, and to other Jews, health.

28 If ye fare well, so it is as we will, but and we [our] selves fare well.

29 Menelaus came to us, and said, that ye will go down to yours, that be with us.

30 Therefore to these that go together, we give right hands of secureness till to the thirtieth day of the month Xanthicus, that is, April,

31 that Jews use their meats, and laws, as and before [or as before]; and no man of them in any manner suffer dis-ease of these things, that be done by ignorance.

32 Soothly we sent also Menelaus, that shall speak to you.

33 Fare ye well. In the hundred year and eight and fortieth, the fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus,

34 also Romans sent an epistle, having it thus. Quintus Memmius, and Titus Manlius, legates of Romans, to the people of Jews, health.

35 Of these things that Lysias, cousin of the king, hath granted to you, also we granted.

36 Forsooth of which things he deemed to be told again to the king, anon send ye some man; and speak ye among you diligentlier, that we deem as it accordeth unto you. For we go to Antioch,

37 and therefore haste ye for to again-write, that and we know of what will ye be.

38 Fare ye well. In the hundred year and four and fortieth, in the fifteenth day of the month Xanthicus,

CHAPTER 12

1 when these covenants were made, Lysias went to the king; forsooth Jews gave work to earth-tilling.

2 But these that dwelt, or were resident, Timothy, and Apollonius, the son of Gennaeus, but and Jerome, and Demophon proud, and Nicanor, prince of Cyprus, suffered not them for to do in silence and quiet, or rest.

3 Forsooth men of Joppa have done such a felony; they prayed Jews with which they dwelt, for to go up, with wives, and sons, into small boats, which they had made ready, as if none enmities lay privily among them.

4 Therefore by [or after] the common doom of the city, and for they accorded, and for cause of peace, had nothing suspect, when they came into the depth, they drenched or drowned two hundred, not less.

5 And as Judas knew this cruelty done against men of his folk, he commanded to men that were with him;

6 and he called to help [or in-called] the just doomsman God, and he came against the slayers of brethren, and by night he burnt the haven, he burnt the boats, forsooth he slew by sword them that fled from the fire.

7 And when he had done these things, he went away, as again to turning again, and utterly to destroying [or to destroy] all men of Joppa.

8 But when he knew, that also they that were at Jamnia would do in like manner to Jews dwelling with them,

9 also to [the] Jamnites he above came by night, and burnt the haven, with ships; so that the light appeared to Jerusalem from two hundred furlongs and forty.

10 When they had gone then from thence by nine furlongs [or When now they had gone thence by nine furlongs], and made journey to Timothy, men of Arabia, five thousand men, and horsemen five hundred, joined battle with him.

11 And when strong fight was made, and by help of God it befell easily, or by prosperity, the residue of men of Arabia, that were overcome, asked of Judas the right hands for to be given to them; promising themselves to give pastures, and to profiting in other things.

12 Forsooth Judas deemed verily them profitable in many things, and promised peace; and when they had taken right hands, they departed to their tabernacles.

13 Forsooth he assailed also some city made firm by bridges or buttresses, and about-set with walls, which was inhabited of companies of heathen men mingled, both men and women, to which the name was Caspin.

14 Forsooth these that were within, trusted in the stableness of walls, and in apparel of foods, and did slacklier, stirring Judas with curses, either swearings, and blaspheming, and speaking which things it is not leaveful.

15 Soothly Maccabeus called to help [or in-called] the great Prince of the world, which without wethers, that be engines like wethers, and without engines, in the times of Jesus, either Joshua, casted down Jericho; and hurled fiercely to the walls,

16 and took the city by will of the Lord, and did unnumberable slayings; so that the pool of standing water of two furlongs of breadth, seemed [or was seen] to flow with blood of slain men.

17 From thence they went seven hundred and fifty furlongs, and came into Charax, to the Jews that be called Toubiani.

18 And soothly they caught not Timothy in those places; and when no journey [or no need] was fully done, Timothy turned again, while most firm strength was left in a certain place.

19 Forsooth Dositheus and Sosipater, that were dukes with Maccabeus, slew ten thousand men left of Timothy in the strength.

20 And Maccabeus ordained about him six thousand, and ordained by cohorts, or companies of knights, and went forth against Timothy, having with him an hundred and twenty thousand of footmen, and of horsemen two thousand and five hundred.

21 Forsooth when the coming of Judas was known, Timothy before-sent women, and sons, and other apparel into a strength that is called Carnaim; for it was unable to be overcome, and hard in going-to, for straitnesses of places.

22 And when the first company of Judas appeared, dread was made [or in-smitten] to enemies by presence of God, that beholdeth all things; and they were turned into flight, one after another, so that they were cast down more of their own, and were feebled with strokes of their swords.

23 Judas soothly continued greatly, punishing unholy men, and [he] casted down of them thirty thousand of men.

24 Timothy soothly himself fell into the parts of Dositheus and Sosipater; and he asked by many prayers, that he were delivered quick; for he had fathers, and mothers, and brethren, of many of Jews, which it should befall for to be deceived by his death.

25 And when he had given faith, that he should restore them by covenant [or after thing ordained], they dismissed him unhurt, for health of brethren.

26 Forsooth Judas turned again from Carnaim, after that he had slain five and twenty thousands.

27 After the flight and death of these, he moved the host to Ephron, strong city, in which the multitude of diverse folks dwelt; and strong young men, standing together for walls, strongly fought against; forsooth in this were many engines, and apparels of darts.

28 But when they had called to help the Almighty, that by his power all-breaketh mights of enemies, they took the city, and casted down of them that were within five and twenty thousand.

29 From thence they went to the city of Scythes or Scythopolis, which was far from Jerusalem six hundred furlongs.

30 Forsooth for these Jews that were with Scythopolitans witnessed, that they were had of them benignly, yea, in times of adversity, and that they did mildly with them,

31 they did thankings to them; and also stirred from henceforth for to be benign against their kin, and came to Jerusalem, when the solemn day of weeks nighed.

32 And after Pentecost, they went against Gorgias, sovereign [or provost] of Idumea.

33 Soothly he went out with three thousand footmen, and four hundred horsemen;

34 and when they were assembled, it befell that a few of Jews felled down.

35 Forsooth Dositheus, an horsemen of Bacenor, a strong man, held Gorgias; and when he would take him quick, an horseman of Thracia fell on him, and cutted off his shoulder, and so Gorgias flew into Marisa.

36 And when they that were with Gorgias fought longer, and they were made weary, Judas inwardly called the Lord for to be made helper, and duke of battle;

37 and he began with country voice, and with hymns raised cry, and made the knights of Gorgias to flee.

38 Forsooth Judas with the host gathered, came into the city Adullam; and when the seventh day came above, they were cleansed by [or after] custom, and did sabbath in the same place.

39 And in the day pursuing, Judas came with his men, for to take away the bodies of men cast down, and for to put with fathers, and mothers, in sepulchres of fathers.

40 Forsooth they found under coats of slain men, of the gifts of idols that were at Jamnia, from which the law forbiddeth Jews; therefore it was made known to all men, that they fell down for this cause.

41 And therefore all blessed the just doom of the Lord, which made privy things known.

42 And so they converted to prayers, and prayed, that that trespass that was done, were betaken to forgetting. And soothly the strongest Judas admonished the people, for to keep them without sin, seeing under eyes, what things were done for sins of them that were cast down.

43 And when collection was made, he sent twelve thousand drachmas of silver to Jerusalem, to be offered a sacrifice for sins of dead men, and bethought well and religiously of again-rising;

44 for if he hoped not, that they that fell should rise again, it was seen superfluous and vain for to pray for dead men;

45 and for he beheld, that they that took sleeping, or death, with piety, had best grace kept. Therefore holy and healthful thinking is, for to pray for dead men, that they be released of sins.

CHAPTER 13

1 In the hundred and nine and fortieth year Judas knew, that Antiochus Eupator came with multitude against Judea;

2 and with him came Lysias, procurator and sovereign of offices [or provost of needs], having with him an hundred and ten thousand of footmen, and of horsemen five thousand, and elephants two and twenty, chariots with scythes [or with sickles] three hundred.

3 Forsooth and Menelaus joined him to them, and with great deceit besought Antiochus, not for health of the country, but hoping that he should be ordained into princehood.

4 But the King of kings raised the wills of Antiochus against the sinner; and when Lysias showed that he was cause of all evils, he commanded, as custom is to them, him taken, for to be slain in the same place.

5 Soothly in the same place was a tower of fifty cubits, having on each side a gathering of ashes; this was beholding into a ditch.

6 From thence he commanded the sacrileger, or cursed man, for to be cast down into ashes, when all men putted forth him [or putting him forth] to the death.

7 And by such law it befell the breaker of law for to die, neither Menelaus for to be given to earth. And forsooth justly enough;

8 for why for he did many trespasses against the altar of God, whose fire and ashes was holy, he was condemned in the death of ashes.

9 But the king without bridle in mind, or understanding, came to show him worse to Jews, than his father.

10 And when these things were known, Judas commanded the people, that by night and day they should call to help the Lord; that as evermore, also now he should help them; which soothly dreaded for to be deprived of law, and country, and [of] holy temple;

11 and that he suffered not the people, that a while ago had a little quickened again, for to be subject again to blasphemous nations.

12 Therefore when all men did together that thing, and asked mercy of the Lord with weeping, in fasting/s by all three days, and kneeled [or cast down], Judas admonished them for to make them ready.

13 Forsooth he with elder men thought for to go out, before that the king moved host to Judea, and got the city, and to betake the end of the thing to the doom of the Lord.

14 Therefore he gave power of all things to God, Maker of nought of the world, and admonished his to fight strongly, and stand till to the death [or unto death], for laws, temple, city, country, and citizens; and he ordained the host about Modin.

15 And when a token was given to his of victory of God, he chose the strongest young men, and by night he assailed the king’s hall in tents, and he slew fourteen thousand men, and the most of elephants, with these that were put above.

16 And they filled the tents of enemies with highest dread and disturbing, and when these things were done easily, [or wealsomely], either in prosperity, they went away.

17 Forsooth this was done in the day lighting, for the protection of the Lord helped him.

18 But when the king had taken taste of hardiness of Jews by craft, he assayed [or attempted] hardinesses of places;

19 and moved the tents to Bethsura, that was a stronghold of Jews; but he was driven, hurtled, and diminished, or wasted.

20 Forsooth to these that were within, Judas sent needful things.

21 Forsooth Rhodocus, some man of the host of Jews, told out privates to enemies; which was sought, and taken, and imprisoned.

22 Again the king had word to them that were in Bethsura, and gave the right hand, and received, and went away. He joined battle with Judas, and Judas was overcome.

23 Forsooth as he knew that Philip had rebelled at Antioch, which was left on needs, he was astonied in mind, either understanding, and besought Jews, and was subject to them, and swore of all things, of which it was seen just; and he was reconciled, and offered sacrifice, and worshipped the temple, and putted gifts.

24 He embraced, or kissed, Maccabeus, and made him prince and duke from Ptolemais till to Gerrhenians or Gerar.

25 Soothly as he came to Ptolemais, men of Ptolemais bare grievously according of friendship, and had indignation, lest peradventure they would break peace.

26 Then Lysias went up into the doom place, and expounded reason, and ceased the people, and returned again to Antioch; and in this manner the king’s going out and turning again went forth.

CHAPTER 14

1 But after time of three years Judas knew, and they that were with him, that Demetrius son of Seleucus went up to covenable places, with strong multitude, and ships, by the haven of Tripoli,

2 and hath holden countries against Antiochus, and his duke Lysias.

3 Forsooth one Alcimus, that was highest priest, but willfully was defouled in times of mingling together, beheld that in no manner health was to him, neither access, or nighing, [or coming to], to the altar,

4 and he came to king Demetrius, in the hundred and fiftieth year, and offered to him a golden crown, and palm, over these things and offered vessels, that were seen to be of the temple; and soothly in that day he was still.

5 Forsooth he got a covenable time of his madness, and he was called of Demetrius to counsel, and was asked with what things and counsels Jews endeavoured, and he answered,

6 They that be said Hasideans of Jews, of which [or to whom] Judas Maccabeus is sovereign, nourish battles, and move dissensions, neither suffer the realm for to be quiet.

7 For why and I am defrauded of glory of father and mother, soothly I say, of highest priesthood, and I came hither,

8 first, soothly keeping faith to the king’s profits, the second time, soothly counselling also to citizens, for why by shrewdness of them, all our kin is travailed greatly.

9 But I pray, thou king, when all these things be known, behold to the country, and kin, by [or after] thy manliness, or courtesy, showed to all men.

10 For why as long as Judas liveth, it is impossible that peace be to needs.

11 Forsooth when such things were said of him, and other friends, having them enmity, enflamed Demetrius against Judas.

12 Which anon sent Nicanor, sove-reign of elephants, a duke into Judea,

13 with commandments given for to take that Judas quick, for to scatter soothly them that were with him, and for to ordain Alcimus highest priest of the most temple.

14 Then heathen men, that fled Judas from Judea, flock-meal joined them to Nicanor, and guessed the wretchednesses and deaths of Jews prosperities of their things.

15 Therefore when coming of Nicanor was heard, and coming together of nations, Jews besprinkled with earth prayed him, that ordained his people into without end for to keep, and which covereth, or defendeth, his part with open signs.

16 Forsooth for the duke commanded, anon they moved from thence, and came together to the castle Dessau.

17 Simon forsooth, brother of Judas, joined battle with Nicanor, but he was all-broken with sudden coming of adversaries.

18 Nevertheless Nicanor heard the virtue of Judas’ fellows, and greatness of hardiness, which they had for strives of the country, and dreaded for to make doom by blood.

19 Wherefore he before-sent Posidon-ius, and Theodotus, and Mattathias, for to give right hands, and take.

20 And when long counsel was done of these things, and the duke himself had told to the multitude, one sentence was of all, for to grant to friendships.

21 Therefore they ordained a day, in which they should do privily betwixt themselves; and stools, or small seats, were brought forth, and set to each.

22 Forsooth Judas commanded armed men for to be in covenable places, lest peradventure anything of evil should rise suddenly of enemies; and they made a covenable speech together.

23 Forsooth Nicanor dwelt in Jerusalem, and nothing did evil; and he let go flocks of companies, that were gathered.

24 Forsooth he had Judas evermore dearworthy of heart, and was bowed to the man;

25 and prayed him for to wed a wife, and [to] engender sons; and he made weddings, did quietly, and they lived commonly, or communally, or together.

26 Alcimus forsooth saw the charity of them together, and accordings, and came to Demetrius, and said, that Nicanor assenteth to alien, either other men’s, things, and hath ordained Judas, traitor of the realm, successor to him.

27 Therefore the king was made sharp, and stirred to wrath with such worst accusings, and wrote to Nicanor, and said, that soothly he bare grievously of according of friendship, and nevertheless commanded for to send Maccabeus bound to Antioch.

28 And when these things were known, Nicanor was astonied, and grievously bare, if he made void those things that were accorded [or that accorded], and he was nothing hurt, or harmed, of the man;

29 but for he might not against-stand the king, he kept covenability, in which he should perform the commandment.

30 And Maccabeus saw, that Nicanor did with him most sternly, and gave fiercelier customable coming together, and he understood that this sternness [or fierceness] was not of good, and with a few of his gathered, he hid him from Nicanor.

31 And as he knew this thing, that he was strongly before-come, or espied, of the man, he came to the most and holiest temple, and he commanded to the priests offering customable sacrifices, that the man be betaken to him.

32 And when they said with oath, that they knew not, where he was that was sought,

33 he stretched forth the hand to the temple, and swore, If ye shall not betake to me Judas bound, I shall draw down this temple of God into plainness, and dig out the altar, and I shall hallow this temple to Liber, or Bacchus, that is, god of wine, the father.

34 And when he had said these things, he went away. Forsooth the priests held forth hands into heaven, and called him to help that ever is for-fighter of the folk of them, and said these things,

35 Thou, Lord of all creatures [or Thou, Lord of university, or of all creatures], that of nothing hast need, wouldest that the temple of thine habitation be made in us.

36 And now, thou Lord, holy of all holy, keep without end this house undefouled, that a little ago was cleansed.

37 Forsooth Razis, one of the elder men of Jerusalem, was accused to Nicanor; and Razis was a man, lover of the city, and well-hearing or well-praising, that for affection, or love, was called father of Jews.

38 This man many times held purpose of continence in Judea [or in Jewry], and was appeased for to betake body and soul for perseverance, or lasting.

39 Forsooth Nicanor would show the hatred, that he had against Jews, and sent five hundred knights, for to take him.

40 For he guessed, if he had deceived him, that he should bring in most death to Jews.

41 Forsooth when companies coveted for to fall into his house, and for to break the gate, and for to move to fire, when now he was taken, that is, was nigh the taking, he assailed him-self with sword;

42 choosing to die nobly, rather than to be made subject to sinners, and against his birth for to be led with unworthy wrongs.

43 But when by hasting he had given wound with uncertain stroke, and companies betwixt doors burst in, he ran again hardily to the wall, and casted down himself manly into the companies.

44 And when they gave swiftly place to his fall, he came by the middle of the knoll,

45 and yet while he breathed, he was kindled in heart, and rose. And when his blood with great flowing flowed down, and with most grievous wounds he was wounded, by running he passed the company; and stood on an high stone,

46 and now was made without blood, and embraced his entrails with both hands, and casted forth on the companies, and called to help [or in-calling] the lordshipper of life and spirit, that he should yield again these things to him; and thus he was dead from life.

CHAPTER 15

1 Forsooth as Nicanor found that Judas was in the place of Samaria, he thought for to join battle in the day of sabbath with all fierceness.

2 Forsooth when Jews, that pursued him by need, said, Do thou not so fiercely and heathenly, but give thou honour to the day of hallowing, and worship thou him, that beholdeth all things.

3 And he unblessed, asked, If there is a Mighty in heaven, that commanded the day of sabbaths for to be done?

4 And when they answered, There is a quick Lord [or There is one Lord], and he is mighty in heaven, that commanded the seventh day for to be done.

5 And he said, And I am mighty on earth, which command arms for to be taken, and needs of the king for to be fulfilled. Nevertheless he got not, for to perform counsel.

6 And soothly Nicanor was enhanced with sovereign or masterful pride, and thought for to ordain a common victory of Judas.

7 Forsooth Maccabeus trusted ever-more with all hope, that help should come to him of the Lord,

8 and he admonished his, that they should not inwardly dread at the coming to of nations, but should have in mind the helps done to them of heaven, and now should hope that the victory should come to them of the Almighty.

9 And he spake to them of the law, and prophets, and admonished of battles which they did before, and ordained, [or confirmed], them readier.

10 And so when the souls of them were raised, he showed altogether the falseness of heathen men, and breaking of oaths.

11 Forsooth he armed each of them, not by strengthening of shield and shaft, but with best words and admonishings, and expounded a sweven worthy of believe, by which he gladded all.

12 Soothly the vision was such. Judas saw Onias, that was highest priest, a good man and benign, shamefast in sight, and mild in manners, and fair in speech, and which was exercised in virtues from a child, holding forth the hands for to pray for all the people of Jews.

13 After this thing, that also another man appeared, wonderful in age and glory, and in having of great fairness about him.

14 Forsooth he saw Onias answering for to have said, This is the lover of brethren, and of the people of Israel; this is he, that much prayeth for the people, and [for] all the holy city, Jeremy, the prophet of God.

15 Forsooth he saw that Jeremy hath stretched forth the right hand, and hath given a golden sword to Judas, and said,

16 Take thou the holy sword, a gift of God, in which thou shalt cast down the adversaries of my people Israel.

17 Therefore they were admonished with full great words of Judas, of which fierceness might be enhanced, and souls of young men be comforted, and they ordained for to fight, and torment altogether strongly, that virtue should deem of needs, or causes, for that the holy city, and temple were in peril.

18 For why [or Soothly] for wives, and sons, and also for brethren, and cousins, was less busyness, but the most and first dread was [for] holiness of the temple.

19 But not least busyness had them that were in the city, for these that should assail, or fight, together.

20 And when now all men hoped doom to be, and enemies come [or came], and the host was ordained, beasts and horsemen put together in covenable places,

21 Maccabeus beheld the coming of multitude, and diverse apparel of arms, and fierceness of beasts, and he stretched out the hands to heaven, and called to help the Lord doing great wonders, which not by [or after] power of arms, but as it pleaseth to him, giveth victory to worthy men.

22 Forsooth he said, calling to help in this manner, Thou Lord, that sentest thine angel under Hezekiah, king of Judea, and hast slain of the tents, either hosts, of Sennacherib, an hundred thousand fourscore and five thousand [or an hundred fourscore and five thousand];

23 and now, lordshipper of heavens, send thou thy good angel before us, in dread and trembling of greatness of thine arm,

24 that they dread, that come with blasphemy against thine holy people. And soothly thus he perfectly prayed.

25 Forsooth Nicanor, and they that were with him, moved to with trumps and songs.

26 Judas forsooth, and they that were with him, called God to help by prayers [of acknowledging], and went together.

27 Soothly they fighting with hands, but praying God in hearts, casted down five and thirty thousand, not less, and delighted greatly by presence of God.

28 And when they had ceased, and with joy turned again, they knew that Nicanor had fallen, with his armours.

29 Therefore when cry was made, and perturbation was stirred, by country voice they blessed the Lord Almighty.

30 Forsooth Judas, that by all things in body and soul was ready for to die for citizens, bade [or commanded], that the head of Nicanor, and hand with the shoulder girded off, should be brought forth to Jerusalem.

31 Whither when he fully came, when men of his lineage were called together, and priests to the altar, he called also them that were in the high tower.

32 And when the head of Nicanor was showed, and the cursed hand, which he holding forth against the holy house of Almighty God greatly gloried,

33 also he commanded the tongue of unpious Nicanor cut off, for to be given to birds gobbet-meal; forsooth he commanded the hand of the mad man for to be hanged up against the temple.

34 Therefore all blessed the Lord of heaven, and said, Blessed be the Lord, that kept his place undefouled.

35 Forsooth he hanged up Nicanor’s head in the highest tower, that it were evident, or known, and open sign of the help of God.

36 Therefore all men, by common counsel, deemed in no manner for to pass this day without solemnity, but for to have solemnity [or worshipping] in the thirteenth day of the month Adar, that is said, by voice of Syria, the first day of Mordecai.

37 Therefore when these things were done against Nicanor, and of those times when the city was wielded of Hebrews, also I in these things shall make an end of words.

38 And soothly if well, and as it accordeth to the story, this thing and I will; if else less worthily, it is to forgive [or to be granted] to me.

39 Soothly as for to drink evermore wine, either evermore water, it is contrary, but for to use changeable, either now one, now another, is delightable; so to men reading, if the word be evermore sought to each part, it shall not be covenable, or pleasing; therefore here it shall be ended.

Here endeth the second book of Maccabees, which is end of the Old Testament, [or Here endeth the story of Maccabees, the which is the last book of the Old Testament]; see now the New Testament.

3RD EZRA

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3RD EZRA

CHAPTER 1

1 And Josiah made pask in Jerusalem to the Lord, and he offered pask the fourteenth day of the month of the first month,

2 ordaining priests by their whiles of days, clothed in stoles, or long clothes, in the temple of the Lord.

3 And he said to the deacons [or Levites], the holy servants of Israel, that they should hallow themselves to the Lord, in setting of the holy ark of the Lord in the house, that king Solomon, the son of David, builded;

4 It shall not be to you no more to take it upon shoulders; and now serveth to our Lord, and do ye care of that folk of Israel, of the part after towns, and their lineages,

5 after the writing of David, king of Israel, and after the great worshipful doing of Solomon, his son, in all the temple, and after your little fathers part of princehood of them, that stand in the sight of the brethren of the sons of Israel.

6 Offer ye pask, and maketh ready the sacrifices to your brethren; and do ye after the behest of the Lord, that is given to Moses.

7 And Josiah gave to the folk that was found there, sheep, of lambs, and of kids, and of she-goats, thirty thousand; calves, three thousand.

8 These gifts be given of the king’s own things, after the behest of the Lord to the people, and to priests, into pask; sheep in number two thousand, and calves an hundred.

9 And Jeconiah, and Samaeas, and Nathanael, his brother, and Sabias, and Ochiel, and Joram, gave into pask, five thousand sheep, and five hundred calves.

10 And when these things were nobly done, the priests and deacons [or Levites] stood, having therf loaves by lineages.

11 And after the parts of the prince-hood of fathers, they offered to the Lord in the sight of the people, after those things that be written in the book of Moses.

12 And they roasted the pask with fire, as it behooved; and they soddened hosts in seething vessels and in pots, with well-willing.

13 And they brought it to all that there were of the folk; and after these things they made ready to themselves and to priests.

14 Forsooth the priests offered inner fatness [or tallow], unto the hour was ended; and deacons prepared [or Levites made ready] to themselves, and to their brethren, and to the sons of Aaron.

15 And men sacrificing [or the sacrificers] offered their daughters, after the order and the behests of David; and Asaph, and Zechariah, and Eddinus, that was of the king;

16 and the porters by all the gates offered, so that none passed his gate. Forsooth their brethren prepared to them.

17 And so those things, that pertained to the sacrifice of the Lord, be ended. In that day they did pask,

18 and offered hosts upon the sacrifice of the Lord, after the behest of king Josiah.

19 And the sons of Israel, that were found present, did in that time pask, and the feast day of therf loaves by seven days.

20 And there was not solemnized such a pask in Israel, from the times of Samuel, the prophet.

21 And all the kings of Israel hallowed not such a pask, as did Josiah, and the priests, and deacons [or Levites], and Jews, and all Israel, that were found in the commemoration, or mind -making, at Jerusalem.

22 In the eighteenth year, Josiah reigning, this pask was hallowed.

23 And the works of Josiah be made right in the sight of the Lord, in full dreading heart;

24 and those things forsooth that were about him be written, in the rather times of them that sinned, and the which were unreligious against the Lord, before, or more than, all heathen folk, and the which sinners sought not the words of the Lord upon Israel.

25 And after all this deed of Josiah, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, went up, coming to cast away in Carchemish upon Euphrates; and Josiah went into meeting to him.

26 And the king of Egypt sent to Josiah, saying, What is to me and to thee, king of Judea?

27 I am not sent of the Lord, upon Euphrates forsooth is my battle; hastily therefore go down.

28 And Josiah was not turned again upon the chariot, but he enforced him to overcome Pharaoh, not taking heed to the word of the prophet, from the mouth of the Lord;

29 but he set to him battle in the field of Megiddo; and princes came down to king Josiah.

30 And then the king said to his children, Moveth me away from the battle; forsooth I am greatly made sick. And anon his children moved him away from the battle array.

31 And he went up upon his secondary chariot; and coming to Jerusalem, he died, and was buried in his father’s sepulchre.

32 And in all Judah they bewailed Josiah, and they that before-set with wives, wailed him unto this day; and this is granted to be done evermore in all the kindred of Israel.

33 These things forsooth be written in the book of stories of kings of Judah, and the glory of Josiah, and his understanding in the law of God, by all deeds of the doing of him; for evenly those were done of him, and the which be not written in the book of kings of Israel and of Judah.

34 And they that were of the kindred took Jeconiah, the son of Josiah, and set him king for Josiah, his father, when he was of three and thirty years.

35 And he reigned upon Israel three months; and then the king of Egypt put him away, that he reigned not in Jerusalem.

36 And he polled the folk of an hundred talents of silver, and of a talent of gold.

37 And the king of Egypt set Jehoiakim, his brother, king of Judea and of Jerusalem;

38 and he bound the master judges of Jehoiakim, and taking Zarius, his brother, he brought him again to or out of Egypt.

39 Jehoiakim was of five and twenty years, when he reigned in the land of Judah and of Jerusalem; and he did evil things in the sight of the Lord.

40 After this forsooth Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, went up, and binding Jehoiakim in a strong bond, brought him into Babylon;

41 and Nebuchadnezzar took and brought the holy vessels of God, and made sacred those in his temple in Babylon.

42 Forsooth of his uncleanness and unreligiosity it is written in the book of the times of kings.

43 And Jehoiachin, his son, reigned for him; when forsooth he was ordained king, he was of eighteen years.

44 Forsooth he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem; and did evil in sight of the Lord.

45 And after a year Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him over into Babylon, together with the sacred vessels of the Lord.

46 And he set Zedekiah king of Judah and of Jerusalem, when he was of one and twenty years. Forsooth he reigned eleven years;

47 and he did evil in sight of the Lord, and was not adread of the words that be said of Jeremy, the prophet, from the mouth of the Lord.

48 And he adjured, or charged by oath, of king Nebuchadnezzar, for-sworn went away, and his noll made hard, he over-passed the lawful things of the Lord God of Israel.

49 And the dukes of the Lord’s people bare them wickedly many things, and they did unpiously over all the wickednesses [or the unclean-nesses] of Gentiles; and they defouled the temple of the Lord, that was holy in Jerusalem.

50 And God of their fathers sent by his angel to again-call them, for the which thing he spared to them, and to their tabernacles [or their tabernacle].

51 They forsooth scorned in their corners, and that day that the Lord spake, they were bobbing his prophets.

52 The which Lord is stirred to wrath upon his folk, for their irreligiosity. And the kings of Chaldees commanded, and went up,

53 they slew the young men of them with sword, about [or in the environ of] the holy temple of them; and they spared not to young man, nor to maiden, nor to old man, and to full waxen man; but also all they be taken into the hands of them;

54 and they took all the sacred vessels of the Lord, and the king’s coffers, and brought those into Babylon.

55 And they burned up the house of the Lord, and destroyed the walls of Jerusalem, and they burned his towers with fire.

56 And they wasted all the worship-ful things, and brought them to nought; and they brought the people left of the sword into Babylon.

57 And they were his thralls, unto the time that Persians reigned, in the fulfilling of the word of the Lord, in the mouth of Jeremy;

58 till that the land would do benignly their sabbaths, he sabbatized all the time of their forsaking, in the applying of seventy years.

CHAPTER 2

1 Reigning Cyrus, king of Persia, in the fulfilling of the word of the Lord, in the mouth of Jeremy,

2 the Lord raised up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia; and he preached in all his realm altogether by scripture,

3 saying, These things saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord of Israel, the high Lord, hath ordained me king to the world of earths;

4 and he signified to me to build to him an house in Jerusalem, that is in Judah.

5 If there is any man of your kindred, his Lord go up with him into Jerusalem.

6 Therefore how many ever dwell in places about, help they them that dwell [or that be] in that place, in gold and silver,

7 in gifts, with horses, and beasts, and with other things, the which after vows be laid up into the house of the Lord, that is in Jerusalem.

8 And the standing princes of lineages of towns of Judah, of the lineage of Benjamin, and priests and deacons [or Levites], whom the Lord stirred to wend [or to go] up, and to build up the house of the Lord, that is in Jerusalem;

9 and they, that were in the environ, or in compass, of them, should help in all silver and gold of it, and in beasts, and in many vows; and many others, of whom the wit is stirred, help they also.

10 And king Cyrus brought forth the sacred vessels of the Lord, the which Nebuchadnezzar translated or borne over from Jerusalem, and made sacred them in his maumet temple.

11 And Cyrus, king of Persia, bringing them forth, took those to Mithridates, that was upon the treasures of him.

12 Forsooth by him they be taken to Sanabassar, governor of Judea.

13 Of these things forsooth this is the number; silvern hallowed vessels of liquors, two thousand and four hundred; thirty silvern drinking vessels; thirty golden vials; and two thousand and four hundred silvern vials; and a thousand other vessels.

14 Forsooth all the golden and silvern vessels were four thousand and four hundred and eight and sixty.

15 And they be delivered out to Sanabassar, together with them, that were come into Jerusalem of the captivity, or thralldom, of Babylon.

16 Forsooth in the time of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, there wrote to him, of these that dwelled in Judea and in Jerusalem, Belemus, and Mithridates, and Tabellius, and Rathumus, Beelteth-mus, and Semellius, the scribe, and others dwelling in Samaria, and in other places, they wrote this subject letter to king Artaxerxes.

17 Lord, thy children Rathumus, and Semellius, the scribe, and other dooms-men of thy court, of things that fall in Coelesyria and Phoenicia.

18 And now be it known to the lord the king, that Jews, the which went up from you to us, coming into Jerusalem, a city of fleers-away [or a city again-flown to], and a full evil city, they build up the ovens of it, and they set the walls, and rear the temple.

19 That if this city and walls were made up [or full ended], they shall not suffer to yield tributes, but also they shall against-stand to kings.

20 And for cause that that thing is done about the temple, to have it rightly we have deemed to not despise that same thing,

21 but to make known to the lord [the] king, that if it shall be seen pleasing to the king, be it sought in the books of thy fathers;

22 and thou shalt find in remem-brances written of them, and thou shalt know, that that city was again-flown, and kings and cities smiting altogether,

23 and Jews fleeing again, and making battles in it always; for the which cause this city was forsaken [or is deserted].

24 Now therefore we make known to the lord [the] king, that if this city were built up, and the walls of it were areared, there shall be no coming down to thee into Coelesyria and Phoenicia.

25 Then the king wrote again to Rathumus, that wrote those things that befell, and to Beeltethmus, and to Semellius, the scribe, and to others ordained sovereigns and dwelling in Syria, and in Phoenicia [or Phenice], he wrote to them these things that be set under.

26 I have read the letter, that thou sentest to me. Therefore I commanded it to be sought; and it was found, that that city was always withstanding to kings,

27 and men again-fugitive, and making battles in it; and most strong kings have been lordshipping in Jerusalem, and asking tributes of Coelesyria and Phoenicia.

28 Now therefore I command to prevent those men to build up the city, and to look [or purvey], that anything be not made hereafter; but that they pass not into full much [or but go they not forth into more],

29 since they be of malice, so that grievances be not brought there to kings.

30 Then after these things were rehearsed, that were written of Artaxerxes, the king, Rathumus, and Semellius, the scribe, and they that were with them ordained, enjoining, hieingly came into Jerusalem, with horsemen, and people, and with company; and they began to prevent the builders. And they were voided then from the building of the temple [in Jerusalem], unto the second year of the realm of Darius, king of Persia.

CHAPTER 3

1 King Darius made a great supper to all his servants, and to all the master judges of Media and Persia,

2 and to all that weared purple, and to governors, and to counsellors, and to prefects under him, from India unto Ethiopia, to an hundred and seven and twenty provinces.

3 And when they had eaten and drunken, and were fulfilled, they turned again. Then king Darius went up in his little bed-place, and slept, and was awakened.

4 Then those three young men, keepers of the body, the which [or that] kept the body of the king, said one to another,

5 Say we each of us a word, that before pass in knowing; and whose ever word seem wiser than of another [or of the tother], king Darius shall give to him great gifts,

6 and to be covered with purple, and to drink in gold, and to sleep upon gold; and he shall give him a golden chariot, with the bridle, and a mitre of bis, and a bie about the neck;

7 and he shall sit in the second place from Darius, for his wisdom; and he shall be called Darius’ cousin.

8 Then each of them three writing his word, sealed, and put those under the pillow of king Darius;

9 and said, When the king hath risen, they will take [or shall give] to him their things written, and whatever thing the king shall deem of three, and the master judges of Persia, forsooth the word of him is wiser than of the others, to him shall be given the victory, as it is written.

10 One wrote, Wine is strong.

11 Another wrote, The king is stronger.

12 The third wrote, Women be strongest; truth overcometh forsooth over all things.

13 And when the king had risen up, they took their things written [or their written things], and gave those to him, and he read.

14 And he sent and called all the master judges of Persia, and of the land Media, and the clothed men in purple, and the rulers of provinces, and prefects;

15 and they set in council, and the writings were read before them.

16 And the king said, Calleth the young men, and they shall show their words. And they were called, and they came in.

17 And Darius said to them, Show ye to us of these things that be written. And the first, that had said of the strength of wine, he began,

18 and said to them, Men! full sur-passingly strong is wine; to all men that drink it, it beareth down the mind;

19 also it maketh the mind vain, both of king and of the fatherless child; also of servant and of free men, of poor and of rich;

20 and it turneth all the mind into secureness, and [in] to gladness; and it remembereth not any sorrow and debt;

21 and it maketh all the entrails honest or feel rich; and it remembereth not king, nor master judge; and all things it maketh speak by talents;

22 and when they have drunken, they remember not friendship nor brotherhood, and not long after they take swords;

23 and when they have been drenched of wine, and rise, they have no mind what things they did.

24 O men! whether wine is not surpassingly strong, that thus constrain-eth men to do? And this thing said, he held his peace.

CHAPTER 4

1 And the next follower began to say, that said of the strength of a king,

2 O men! whether men be not surpassingly strong, the which hold land and sea, and all things that be in them?

3 The king forsooth surpasseth above all things, and he hath lordship of them, and they do all things, whatever he will say to them.

4 And if he send them to fighters, they go, and destroy hills, and walls, and towers;

5 they be slain and slay, and they pass not the word of the king; for if they overcome, they bring to the king all things, whatever things they have spoiled evermore, and all other things.

6 And how many ever bear not knighthood, nor fight, but ear the land, again when they shall reap, they bring tributes to the king.

7 And he is one alone; and if he bid to slay, they slay; and if he bid them to forgive, they forgive;

8 and if he say them to smite [or if he say to smite], they smite; if he say to outlaw, they outlaw; if he bid them to build, they build;

9 if he bid to throw down, they throw adown; if he bid to plant, they plant;

10 and all folk and virtues obey to him; and over all these things he shall sit, and drink, and sleep.

11 These forsooth keep him about [or in environ keep him], and may not go each one, and do their own works, but in his word men obey to him.

12 What manner-wise surpasseth not the king before others, that thus is loosed? And he held his peace.

13 The third, that had said of women, and of truth; this is said Zerubbabel; he began to speak,

14 O men! the king is not most great, neither many other men, nor wine surpasseth before; who is it then that hath lordship of them?

15 Whether not women, that have begotten kings, and all the people, the which kings have lordship both of sea and of land, and of women they be born?

16 And they brought forth them that planted vines, of the which wine is made.

17 And they make the stoles, or long clothes, of all men, and they do glory to men, and men may not be severed from women.

18 If they gather together gold and silver, and all fair thing, and see a woman in goodly array, and in good fairness,

19 they, forsaking all these things, take heed to her, and the mouth opened, they behold her, and they draw more to her than to gold and [or] silver, or any precious thing.

20 A man shall forsake his father, that nourished him, and his own land, and to a woman he joineth him together,

21 and with a woman he liveth his life, and neither remembereth father, nor mother, nor the land of his birth.

22 And therefore it behooveth us to know, that women have lordship of us. Whether ye sorrow not?

23 And also a man taketh his sword, and goeth in the way to do thefts, and manslaughters, and to sail over the sea, and over floods;

24 and he seeth a lion, and he goeth in darknesses; and when he hath done his theft, and guiles, and ravens, he bringeth it to his lief.

25 And again a man loveth his wife more than father or mother;

26 and many men be made mad for their wives, and many be made thralls for them;

27 and many perished, and were strangled, and many have sinned for women. [and many perished, and be strangled, and sinned, for women.]

28 And now believeth me; forsooth a king is great, and his power, [or for great is the king in his power], for all regions, or kingdoms about, be afeared to touch him.

29 I saw neverthelater Apame, the daughter of Bartacus, the wonderful man, the secondary wife of the king, sitting beside the king at the right side;

30 and taking away the diadem from his head, and putting it on herself, and with the palm of her left hand she smote the king.

31 And over these things, the mouth opened, he beheld her, and if she laugh to him, he laughed, and if she were wroth to him, he glosseth, or pleaseth, unto the time that he be reconciled [in] to grace.

32 O men! why be not women strongest? Great is the earth, and heaven is high, that do these things.

33 Then the king and the purpled men beheld either into other; and he began to speak of truth.

34 O men! whether women be not strong? Great is the earth, and heaven is high, and the course of the sun is swift; it is turned in the compass of heaven, and again it runneth again into the same place in a day.

35 Whether he is not a great doer, that maketh these things? and truth great, and stronger before all things?

36 All earth calleth inwardly truth, also it blesseth heaven, and all works be moved and dread it; and there is no wicked thing with it.

37 Wicked king, and wicked women, and all the sons of men be wicked, [or and wicked all the works of them], and there is not truth in them, and in their wickedness they shall perish;

38 and truth dwelleth, and waxeth into without end, and it liveth, and wieldeth, into worlds of worlds.

39 It is not with truth to out-take or accept persons, and differences; but it doeth those things that be rightful [or rightwise], to all unrightwise and evil men; and all men be made benign in his works.

40 And there is not wickedness in his doom, but there is strength, and realm, and power, and majesty of all endurings above time. Blessed be the God of truth!

41 And then he left off in speaking. And all the peoples cried, and said, Great is truth, and it surpasseth before all others.

42 Then the king said to him, Ask, if thou wilt, anything moreover, than there be written, and I shall give to thee, after that thou art found wiser; and next to me thou shalt sit, and thou shalt be called my cousin.

43 Then said he to the king, Be thou mindful of the vow, that thou vowedest, to build up Jerusalem, in the day in which thou took the realm;

44 and to send again all the vessels, that be taken from Jerusalem, the which Cyrus parted or set apart, when he slew Babylon, and would send again those things thither.

45 And thou wouldest build up the temple, that Idumeans burned, for Judea is put out of their terms, or marches, of the Chaldees.

46 And now, lord, this it is that I ask, and that I bid; this is the majesty that I ask of thee, that thou do the vow that thou vowedest to the King of heaven, of thy mouth.

47 Then Darius, the king, rising kissed him, and wrote epistles to all the dispensators, and prefects, and to men clothed in purple, that they should lead him forth, and them that were with him, all wending [or going] up to build Jerusalem.

48 And to all the prefects that were in Syria and Phoenicia, and Lebanon, he wrote epistles, that they should draw cedar trees from the hill Lebanon into Jerusalem, that they build up the city with them.

49 And he wrote to all the Jews, that went up from the realm in Judea, for freedom, that any man of power, or master judge, and prefect, should not come over to the gates of them,

50 and each region, that they had hold [or wielded], to be free from them; and that Idumeans leave up [or let go] the castles of Jews, that they withheld,

51 and to give year by year twenty talents, into making of the temple, unto the time that it be fully builded;

52 and each day to offer hosts upon the place of sacred things, as they be commanded; to offer, by all years, another ten talents;

53 and to all men, that go forth from Babylon, to make the city, as freedom were, both to them, and to the sons of them, and to [all] the priests that go before.

54 Forsooth also he wrote the quantity; and he commanded the sacred stoles, or vestments, to be given, in which they should serve;

55 and he wrote wages to be given to the deacons [or Levites], unto the day that the house should be fully ended, and Jerusalem made out;

56 and he wrote to all men keeping the city, to give to the builders lots and wages.

57 And he left them all the vessels, that Cyrus had parted or set apart from Babylon; and all things, whatever Cyrus said, he commanded it to be done, and to be sent to Jerusalem.

58 And when that young man had gone forth, raising his face toward Jerusalem, he blessed the King of heaven,

59 and said, Of thee, Lord, is victory, and of thee is wisdom, and clearness, and I am thy servant.

60 Thou art blessed, for thou hast given to me wisdom, and I acknowledge to thee, Lord of our fathers.

61 And he took the epistles, or letters, and went forth into Babylon; and he came, and told to all his brethren, that were in Babylon.

62 And they blessed the God of their fathers, that gave to them forgiveness and refreshing,

63 that they should go up, and build Jerusalem, and the temple, where his name is named in it; and they joyed [full out] with musics and with gladness seven days.

CHAPTER 5

1 After these things forsooth there were princes chosen of towns, that they should wend [or go] up, by houses, by their lineages, and the wives of them, and the sons and daughters of them, and servants and handmaidens of them, and their beasts.

2 And king Darius sent together with them a thousand horsemen, to the time that they brought them into Jerusalem, with peace, and with musics, and timbrels, and trumps;

3 and all the brethren were playing. And he made them to go up together with them.

4 And these be the names of the men, that went up, by their towns, into lineages, and into part of the princehood of them.

5 Priests; the sons of Phinehas, the sons of Aaron, Joshua, the son of Jozadak, the son of Seraiah, Jehoi-akim, the son of Zerubbabel, son of Salathiel, of the house of David, of the progeny of Phares, of the lineage forsooth of Judah,

6 that spake under Darius, king of Persia, marvellous doing words, in the second year of his realm [or reign], in April, the first month.

7 Forsooth these it be, that went up of Judah from the captivity, or thralldom, of the transmigration, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, translated or brought over into Babylon;

8 and each is turned again into Jerusalem, and into all the cities of Judea, each into his own city, that came with Zerubbabel, and with Joshua; Nehemiah, Seraiah, and Resa-iah, Eneneus, Mordecai, Beelsarus, Aspharasus, Reeliah, Rehum, Baanah, one of the princes of them.

9 And the number from the Gentiles of them, from the provosts, or reeves, of them; the sons of Parosh, two thousand an hundred seventy and two; the sons of Saphat, four hundred seventy and two;

10 K the sons of Ares, seven hundred fifty and six;

11 k the sons of Pahath-moab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve;

12 k the sons of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four; the sons of Zathui, nine hundred forty and five; the sons of Corbe, seven hundred and five; the sons of Bani, six hundred forty and eight;

13 k the sons of Bebai, six hundred twenty and three; the sons of Azgad, three thousand two hundred twenty and two;

14 k the sons of Adonikam, six hundred sixty and seven; the sons of Bagoi, two thousand sixty and six; the sons of Adin, four hundred fifty and four;

15 k the sons of Ater the son of Hezekiah, ninety and two; the sons of Ceilan and Azetas, threescore and seven; the sons of Azuran, four hundred thirty and two;

16 k the sons of Ananias, an hundred and one; the sons of Arom, thirty-two; the sons of Bassa, three hundred twenty and three; the sons of Azephurith, an hundred and two or twelve;

17 k the sons of Meterus, three thousand and five; the sons of Bethlomon, an hundred twenty and three;

18 k the sons of Netophah, fifty and five; the sons of Anathoth, an hundred fifty and eight; the sons of Bethsamos, forty and two;

19 k the sons of Kiriathiarius, twenty and five; the sons of Caphira and Beroth, seven hundred forty and three; the sons of Pira, seven hundred;

20 k the sons of Chadias and Ammidoi, four hundred twenty and two; the sons of Cirama and Gabdes, six hundred twenty and one;

21 k the sons of Macalon, an hundred twenty and two; the sons of Betolius, fifty and two; the sons of Nephis, an hundred fifty and six;

22 k the sons of Calamolalus and Onus, seven hundred twenty and five; the sons of Jerechus, two hundred forty and five;

23 k the sons of Annas, three thousand three hundred and thirty.

24 k Priests: the sons of Jeddu, the son of Jeshua, among the sons of Sanasib, nine hundred seventy and two; the sons of Emmeruth, a thousand fifty and two;

25 k the sons of Phassaron, a thousand forty and seven; the sons of Carme, a thousand and seventeen.

26 Deacons [or Levites]; the sons of Jessue, and Cadmiel, and Banuas, and Sudias, four and seventy; all the number from the two and twenty year, thirty thousand four hundred and two and sixty; sons, and daughters, and wives, all the numbering, sixty thousand two hundred and two and forty.

27 The sons of priests, that sung in the temple; the sons of Asaph, an hundred and eight and twenty.

28 Ushers forsooth; the sons of Salum, the sons of Jatal, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Dacobi, the sons of Teta, the sons of Sami, all an hundred and nine and thirty.

29 Priests, serving in the temple; sons of Esau, the sons of Asipha, the sons of Tabaoth, the sons of Ceras, the sons of Sud, the sons of Phaleas, the sons of Labana, the sons of Graba,

30 the sons of Acua, the sons of Uta, the sons of Cetab, the sons of Agaba, the sons of Subai, the sons of Anan, the sons of Cathua, the sons of Geddur,

31 the sons of Airus, the sons of Daisan, the sons of Noeba, the sons of Chaseba, the sons of Gazera, the sons of Azia, the sons of Phinees, the sons of Azara, the sons of Bastai, the sons of Asana, the sons of Meani, the sons of Naphisi, the sons of Acub, the sons of Acipha, the sons of Assur, the sons of Pharacim, the sons of Basaloth,

32 the sons of Meeda, the sons of Coutha, the sons of Charea, the sons of Charcus, the sons of Aserer, the sons of Thomoi, the sons of Nasith, the sons of Atipha.

33 Solomon, the sons of him; the sons of Azaphion, the sons of Pharira, the sons of Jeeli, the sons of Lozon, the sons of Israel, the sons of Sapheth,

34 the sons of Hagia, the sons of Pharacareth, the sons of Sabi, the sons of Sarothie, the sons of Masias, the sons of Gar, the sons of Addus, the sons of Suba, the sons of Apherra, the sons of Barodis, the sons of Sabat, the sons of Allom.

35 All these were in holy serving; and the children or servants of Solomon were four hundred fourscore and two.

36 These be the sons that went up to Thermeleth and Thelersas; the princes of them were Charaathalar and Aalar;

37 and they might not tell out their cities, and their progenies, what manner they be; and of Israel, the sons of Ladan, the sons of Ban, the sons of Necodan, six hundred and fifty -two.

38 And of the priests, that used priesthood, and were [not] found; the sons of Obdia, the sons of Accoz, the sons of Addus, that took Augia wife, one of the daughters of Barzillai, and they be called by the name of her;

39 and of these is sought the genealogy written [or the written genealogy] of the kindred, and they be prevented to use priesthood.

40 And Nehemiah said to them, and Atharias, that they take not part of the holy things, till the time that there arise a taught bishop, into showing and truth.

41 All Israel forsooth was twelve thousand, besides servants and hand-maidens, two and forty thousand three hundred and sixty.

42 The servants of [them, and] handmaidens were seven thousand three hundred and seven and thirty; singers and singsters [or singeresses], two hundred and five and sixty;

43 camels, four hundred and five and thirty; horses, seven thousand six and thirty; mules, two hundred thousand or two hundred and five and forty; beasts under yoke, five thousand and five hundred and five and twenty.

44 And of those provosts, or reeves, by towns, while they should come into the temple of God, that was in Jerusalem, to be avowed to rear up the temple in his place, after their virtue;

45 and the holy treasury to be given into the temple of works, were eleven thousand bezants, and an hundred priests’ stoles.

46 And there dwelled priests, and deacons [or Levites], and others, that were of the people, in Jerusalem, and in the realm [or region]; and the holy singers, and ushers, and all Israel, in their regions.

47 While the seventh month yet lasted, and when the sons of Israel were each in his own things, they came together of one accord into the porch, that was before the east gate.

48 And while Jeshua, the son of Josedek, and his brethren, priests, stood, and Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, and his brethren, they made ready an altar,

49 that they would offer on it burnt sacrifices, after those things that be written in the book of Moses, the man of God.

50 And there came to them of other nations of the land, and reared the holy treasury in his place, all the folk of the land; and they offered hosts, and burnt sacrifices of the morrowtide to the Lord.

51 And they did the feast of tabernacles, and a solemn day, as it is written in the law, and sacrifices each day, as it behooved.

52 And after these things they ordained offerings, and hosts of sabbaths, and of new moons, and of all solemn days hallowed [or all hallowed solemn days].

53 And how many ever vowed to the Lord, from the time of the new moon of the seventh month, they took hosts to offer to God; and the temple of the Lord was not yet builded up [or yet was not built up].

54 And they gave money to masons, and to wrights, and drinks [or and drink] and meats, with joy.

55 And they gave carts to Sidonians and to Tyrians, that they should carry over to them from Lebanon wood cedar beams, and to make a navy into the haven of Joppa, after the decree that was written to them from Cyrus, king of Persia.

56 And in the second year they came into the temple of God, into Jerusalem; the second month Zerubbabel began, the son of Salathiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedek, and the brethren of them, and priests, and Levites, and all they that came from the captivity into Jerusalem;

57 and founded the temple of God, in the new moon of the second month of the second year, when they had come into Judea and to Jerusalem;

58 and set deacons [or Levites] from the age of twenty years upon the works of the Lord. And Jeshua stood up, his sons, and his brethren, all the deacons [or Levites] together casting, and executors, or followers, of the law, and doing works in the house of the Lord.

59 And there stood up priests, having stoles, or long clothes, with trumps, and Levites, the sons of Asaph, having cymbals,

60 together praising the Lord, and blessing him, after the manner of David, king of Israel.

61 And they sung a song to the Lord, for his sweetness and his worship into worlds, or for ever, upon all Israel.

62 And all the people sung with trumps, and cried with great voice, praising together the Lord, in the rearing of the Lord’s house.

63 And there came many of the priests, and of deacons [or Levites], and of presidents after towns, to the elders that had seen the rather house, and at the building up of this house, with cry, and with great wailing;

64 and many with trumps, and great joy,

65 so that the people heard not the trumps, for the great wailing of the people. Forsooth there was a company singing worshipfully in trumps, so that it was heard afar.

66 And the enemies heard the lineages of Judah and of Benjamin, and came to know, what was this voice of trumps.

67 And they knew, that they that were of the captivity builded [or built] the temple to the Lord God of Israel.

68 And the enemies coming nigh to Zerubbabel, and to Jeshua, and to the reeves of towns, they said to them, We shall build together with you.

69 In like manner forsooth we have heard our Lord, and we have gone together from the days of Azbazareth or Esarhaddon, king of Assyrians, that over-passed from hence [or that went over hence].

70 And Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the princes of the towns of Israel said to them, It belongeth not to us and to you together[or It is not to us and to you] to build up the house of our God;

71 forsooth we alone shall build the house of our God, after those things, that Cyrus, king of Persia, commanded.

72 The Gentiles forsooth of the land living with them that be in Judea, and rearing up the work of building, and bringing forth both espies and people, they forfended them to build up;

73 and they hindered men, haunting the goings-to, that the building should not be ended in all the time of the life of the king Cyrus; and they drew along the making-up by two years, unto the reign of Darius.

CHAPTER 6

1 Forsooth in the second year of the realm of Darius, Haggai prophesied, and Zechariah, the son of Iddo, a prophet, with Judea and in Jerusalem, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, upon them.

2 Then standing Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedek, they began to build up the house of the Lord, that is in Jerusalem; when there were nigh to them, prophets of the Lord, and helped them.

3 In that time came to them Sisinnes, the under-little-king of Syria and of Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, and his fellows. And they said to them,

4 Who commanded to you, that ye build this house, and this roof, and many other things ye perform? and who be those builders [or the builders], that build up these things?

5 And the elder men of Israel had grace of the Lord, when the visitation of them was made upon them that were of the captivity;

6 and they were not hindered to build up, to the time that it were signified to Darius of all these things, and an answer were taken again.

7 This is the ensample of the letter, that Sisinnes, the under-little -king of Syria and of Phoenicia, and Sathra-buzanes, and their fellows, rulers in Syria and in Phoenicia, sent to the king. To king Darius, greetings.

8 All things be they known to the lord the king; forsooth when we came into the region of Judea, and went into Jerusalem, we found men

9 building a great house of God, and a temple of great polished stones, and of precious materials in the walls;

10 and those works busily in making, and to help, and to make welsome in the hands of them, and in all glory, full diligently to be performed.

11 Then we asked the elder men, saying, Who suffered you to build this house, and to build [or ‘found’] these works?

12 Therefore forsooth we asked them, that we might make known to thee the men, and the provosts, or reeves; and we asked them the writing of the names of the masters of the work.

13 And they answered to us, saying, We be servants of the Lord, that made both heaven and earth [or that made heaven and earth];

14 and this house was builded [or built] before these many years of the king of Israel, that was great, and a full strong king, and it was destroyed again[or full ended].

15 And for our fathers stirred and sinned against [the] God of Israel, he betook them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, king of Chaldees;

16 and they destroyed and burned up this house, and they brought the people made thrall [or captive] into Babylon.

17 In the first year reigning Cyrus, king of Babylon, king Cyrus wrote to build up this house;

18 and those holy golden vessels and silvern, that Nebuchadnezzar had borne away from the house of God, that is in Jerusalem, and had made sacred them in his temple, again king Cyrus brought them forth from the temple that was in Babylon, and they were betaken to Zerubbabel, and to Sanabassar, the under-little-king.

19 And it was commanded to them, that they offer these vessels, and they should lay them up in the temple, that was in Jerusalem, and to build up that temple of God in that place.

20 Then Sanabassar under-laid the foundaments of the house of the Lord, that is in Jerusalem; and from thence unto now is abuilding, and hath taken no full ending.

21 Now then, O king! if it is deemed of thee, that it be perfectly sought [or be it perfectly sought] in the king’s libraries of king Cyrus, that be in Babylon;

22 and if it were found in the counsel of king Cyrus, the making of the house of the Lord, that is in Jerusalem, to be begun, and if it shall be showed of the lord our king, write he to us of these things.

23 Then king Darius commanded to be inwardly sought in the libraries; and there was found in Ecbatana, a borough town, that is in the middle region, a place [or one place], in the which were written these things.

24 The first year reigning Cyrus king, Cyrus commanded to build up the house of the Lord, that is in Jerusalem, where they burned with continual fire;

25 whose height was made of sixty cubits, and the breadth of sixty cubits, squared with three polished stones, and with solar tree of the same region, and with one new solar; and costs to be given of the house of king Cyrus;

26 and the holy vessels of the house of the Lord, both golden and silvern, that Nebuchadnezzar bare away, that those [or they] be put thither into the house, that is in Jerusalem, where they were put.

27 And he commanded Sisinnes, the under-little-king of Syria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, and his fellows, to do their business, and they that were in Syria and Phoenicia ordained rulers, that they should abstain them from the same place.

28 And I also commanded to make it up all, and I looked forth, that they help them that be of the captivity of Jews, unto the time that the temple of the house of the Lord be fully ended;

29 and a quantity to be given diligently to these men of the travail of the tributes of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, to the sacrifice of the Lord, to Zerubbabel, the prefect, to bulls, and wethers, and to lambs;

30 also forsooth both wheat, and salt, wine, and oil, busily by all years, as the priests, that be in Jerusalem, ordained to be fulfilled each day, without any delay;

31 also that there be offered offerings of liquors to the highest God, for the king, and for his children, and pray they for the life of them.

32 And be it announced, that whosoever over-pass anything of these things that be written, either despise, be there taken a tree of their own, and be they hanged thereon, and their goods be escheated to the king.

33 Therefore also the Lord, whose name is inwardly called there, outlaw he each king and folk, that stretch out their hand to offend [or to forfend], or to evil treat that house of the Lord, that is in Jerusalem.

34 I, king Darius, have made a decree, to be done as most diligently after these things.

CHAPTER 7

1 Then Sisinnes, the under-little-king of Coelesyria and Phoenicia, and Sathrabuzanes, and their fellows, obeyed to these things, that were deemed of king Darius,

2 and stood full diligently into the holy works, working together with the elder men of Jews, princes of Syria.

3 And the holy works be made welsome, as the prophets Haggai and Zechariah prophesied.

4 And they fulfilled all things, after the behest of the Lord God of Israel, and after the counsel of Cyrus, and of Darius, and of Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.

5 And our house is ended or completed, in the three and twentieth day of the month of March, in the sixth year of king Darius.

6 And the sons of Israel, and the priests, and deacons [or Levites], and others that were of the captivity, the which be set to, did after those things that be written in the book of Moses.

7 And they offered into the dedication of the temple of the Lord, an hundred bulls, two hundred wethers, four hundred lambs;

8 twelve kids, for the sins of all Israel, after the number of the twelve lineages of Israel.

9 And the priests and deacons [or Levites] stood, clothed [or clad] with the stoles, by their lineages, upon the works of the Lord God of Israel, after the book of Moses; and there were porters [or ushers] by all the gates.

10 And the sons of Israel did that pask, with them that were of the captivity, in the moon of the first month, the fourteenth day, when the priests and deacons [or Levites] be hallowed.

11 And all the sons of captivity they be not hallowed together, for all the Levites be hallowed together.

12 And they offered pask to all the sons of captivity, and to their brethren priests, and to themselves.

13 And the sons of Israel, the which were of the captivity, all they that had left from all the cursednesses of Gentiles, or heathen folk, of the earth, ate, and sought the Lord;

14 and they hallowed the feast day of therf loaves, seven days eating in the sight of the Lord;

15 for he converted the counsel of the king of Assyria in them, to comfort the hands of them to the works of the Lord God of Israel.

CHAPTER 8

1 And after this, while Artaxerxes, king of Persia, reigned, there went to Ezra, a man that was the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum,

2 son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the first priest.

3 This Ezra went up from Babylon, when he was scribe, and witting in the law of Moses, the which was given of the Lord of Israel, to say it and do it[or to say and to do].

4 And the king gave to him glory, that he had found grace in all dignity, and in desire [or and desire], in the sight of him.

5 And there went up with him into Jerusalem of the sons of Israel, both priests, and deacons [or Levites], and holy singers of the temple, and ushers, and servants of the temple.

6 In the seventh year reigning Artaxerxes, in the fifth month, this is the seventh year of the realm [or the reign], going out forsooth from Babylon in the new moon of the fifth month, they came to Jerusalem, after the behests of him, when the prosperity of the way was granted [or given] to them of that Lord.

7 In these things forsooth Ezra wielded great discipline, lest he passed anything of those things that were of the law of the Lord, and of the behests, and in teaching all Israel all rightwiseness and doom.

8 They forsooth that write the writings of king Artaxerxes, coming nigh, took writing that, that came from king Artaxerxes to Ezra, the priest, and reader of the law of the Lord, the ensample of the which thing written is set next after [or is laid under].

9 King Artaxerxes to Ezra, the priest, and reader of the law of the Lord, sendeth greetings.

10 More benign I deeming also to benefits, commanded to them that desire of the folk of Jews their own things willfully, and of the priests, and of deacons [or Levites], that be in my realm, to fellowship with thee into Jerusalem.

11 Then if any covet to go with thee, come they together, and go they forth, as it pleaseth to me, and to my seven friends counsellors;

12 that they visit those things, that be done after Judea and Jerusalem, keeping the law, as thou hast in the law of the Lord;

13 and bear they gifts to the Lord of Israel, whom I knew, and the friends of Jerusalem, and all the gold and the silver [or all the gold and silver], that were found in the realm of Babylon, be it borne to the Lord in Jerusalem,

14 with that that is given of those folk in the temple of the Lord, of them that is in Jerusalem; that this gold be gathered and silver [or that be gathered this gold and silver], to bulls, and wethers, and to lambs, and kids, and that to these be covenable;

15 that they offer hosts to the Lord, upon the altar of the Lord of them, that is in Jerusalem.

16 And all things whatever thou wilt do with thy brethren, perform it with gold and silver, for thy will, after the behest of the Lord thy God.

17 And the sacred holy vessels, the which were given to thee, to the works of the Lord’s house, thy God, that is in Jerusalem,

18 and other things, whatever will help to the works of the temple of thy God, thou shalt give it of the king’s treasury, when thou wilt make the work with thy brethren, with gold and silver; and perform thou all things after the will of thy Lord.

19 And I, king Artaxerxes, have commanded to [the] keepers of the treasures of Syria and of Phoenicia, that whatever things Ezra, the priest, and reader of the law of the Lord, write for, busily be it given to him,

20 unto an hundred talents of silver, also and of gold [or like manner and of gold]; and unto an hundred bushels of wheat, and an hundred vessels of wine, and other things, whatever abound, without taxing.

21 All things be done unto the highest God, after the law of God, lest peradventure wrath arise up in the realm of the king, and of his son, and of the sons of him.

22 To you forsooth it was said, that to all the priests, and deacons [or Levites], and to holy singers, and servants of the temple, and to scribes of this temple, no tribute, nor any other forfending be borne to them, nor have there any man power to against-cast anything to them.

23 Thou forsooth, Ezra, after the wisdom of God ordain doomsmen and arbitrators, in all Syria and Phoenicia, and teach all that know the law of thy God;

24 that how many ever [over-] pass the law, they be busily punished, or by death, or by torment, or also by mulcting, or punishing, of money, or by departing [or severing] away.

25 And Ezra, the scribe, said, Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, that gave this will into the heart of the king, to clarify his house, that is in Jerusalem;

26 and hath worshipped me in sight of the king, and of his counsellors, and of his friends, and of his purpled men.

27 And I am made steadfast in inwit, after the helping of the Lord our God; and I gathered of Israel men, that they should go up together with me.

28 And these be the provosts, after their countries, and apportional prince-hoods of them, that with me went up from Babylon, in the realm of Artaxerxes.

29 Of the sons of Phinehas was Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Gamael; of the sons of David, Lettus, the son of Sechenias;

30 of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him be turned again an hundred men and fifty;

31 of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliaonias, the son of Zaraeas, and with him two hundred men and fifty;

32 of the sons of Zathoe, Sechenias the son of Jezelus, and with him two hundred men and fifty; of the sons of Adin, Obeth the son of Jonathan, and with him two hundred men and fifty;

33 of the sons of Elam, Jessias the son of Gotholias, and with him seventy men;

34 of the sons of Sophotias, Zerahiah the son of Michael, and with him fourscore men;

35 of the sons of Joab, Abadias the son of Jezelus, and with him two hundred men and twelve;

36 of the sons of Bani, Assalimoth the son of Josiphiah, and with him an hundred men and sixty;

37 of the sons of Babi, Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him two hundred men and eight or twenty -eight men;

38 of the sons of Astath, Johanan the son of Hacatan, and with him an hundred men and ten;

39 of the sons of Adonikam, that be the last, and these be the names of them, Eliphalatus, Jeuel, and Samaeas, and with them seventy men;

40 (This verse is omitted in the original text.)

41 And I gathered them to the flood, that is said Theras and Methati; there we were three days, and I knew them.

42 And of the sons of priests and of Levites I found not there.

43 And I sent to Eleazar, and to Iduel, and Maasmas,

44 and Elnathan, and Samaeas, and Joribus, Nathan, Ennatas, Zechariah, [and] Mosollamus, the which were leaders and wise men.

45 And I said to them that they should come to Doldaeus, that was at the place of the treasury.

46 And I sent to them, that they should say to Doldaeus, and his brethren, and to them that were in the treasury, that they should send to us them that should use priesthood in the house of the Lord our God.

47 And they brought to us, after the strong hand of the Lord our God, wise men of the sons of Mahli, son of Levi, son of Israel, Asebebias, and sons, and brethren, that were eighteen;

48 Asebias, and Annunus, and Hosaeas, his brother, of the sons of Chanunaeus; and the sons of them, were twenty men.

49 And of them that served in the temple, the which David and they princes gave [or the which David gave, and they princes], to the working to the Levites, to the temple, of men serving, two hundred and twenty. The names of all be signified in scriptures.

50 And I vowed there fasting to young men, in the sight of the Lord, that I should seek of him a good way to us, and to them that were with us, of sons, and beasts, for espies.

51 Forsooth I shamed to ask of the king footmen and horsemen, in fellow-ship of grace, of keeping against our adversaries.

52 Forsooth we said to the king, For the virtue of the Lord shall be with them, that inwardly seek him in all effect.

53 And again we prayed the Lord our God, after these things, whom also we had benignly; and we be made whole to our God.

54 And I set apart of the provosts of the folk, and of the priests of the temple, twelve men, and Sarabias, and Asamias, and ten men with them of their brethren.

55 And I weighed to them silver and gold, and priests’ vessels, of the house of the Lord our God, the which the king had given, and his counsellors, and princes, and all Israel.

56 And when I had peised it, I took an hundred talents of silver and fifty, and silvern vessels of an hundred talents, and of gold an hundred talents,

57 and of golden vessels sevenscore, and twelve brazen vessels of good shining metal, yielding the likeness of gold.

58 And I said to them, Both ye be holy to the Lord, and the vessels be holy, and the gold and the silver is of the avow to the Lord God of our fathers.

59 Wake ye, and keep it, till the time that ye take it of the provosts of the people, and of the priests, and of the deacons [or Levites], and of princes of the cities of Israel, and Jerusalem [or in Jerusalem], in the privy chamber of the house of our God.

60 And these priests and deacons [or Levites], that took gold and silver, and vessels, that were in Jerusalem, they brought those into the temple of the Lord.

61 And we moved forth from the flood of Theras, the twelfth day of the first month, till that we went into Jerusalem.

62 And when the third day was done, the fourth day forsooth the peised gold and silver was betaken into the house of the Lord our God, to Meremoth, the son of Uriah, the priest;

63 and with him was Eleazar, the son of Phinehas; and there were with them Jozabdus, the son of Jeshua, and Moeth, and Sabannus, the son of a deacon [or Levite]; all things at number and weight.

64 And the weight of them is written in the same hour.

65 Those forsooth, that came from the captivity, offered sacrifice of the Lord of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, fourscore wethers and six,

66 two and seventy lambs, twelve goats for sin, and twelve kine for health; all into the sacrifice of the Lord.

67 And again they read the behests of the king to the king’s dispensers, and to the little under-kings of Coelesyria, and of Phoenicia; and they worshipped the folk and the temple of the Lord.

68 And after these things were ended, they came to me, saying,

69 The kindred of Israel, and the princes, and the priests, and Levites, and alien folks, and nations of the land, have not parted away [or severed] their uncleannesses from the Canaanites, and Hittites, and from Perizzites, and Jebusites, and from the Moabites, and Egyptians, and Idumeans;

70 forsooth they were joined to the daughters of them, both they and their sons; and the holy seed was [or is] mingled together with the heathen folk of the land; and the provosts and master judges were partners of this wickedness, from the beginning of that realm.

71 And anon as I heard these things, I cut my clothes, and the hallowed [or the sacred] coat, and I tore the hairs of mine head, and the beard, and I sat sorrowing, and dreary.

72 And there came to me then as many as ever were moved in the word of the Lord God of Israel, wailing me [or me wailing] upon this wickedness; and I sat sorrowful unto the eventide sacrifice.

73 And then I rising from fasting, having my clothes cut, kneeled much [or much kneeling], and stretching out mine hands to the Lord,

74 I said, Lord, I am confounded, and I am adread before thy face.

75 Forsooth our sins be multiplied upon our heads, and our wickednesses be enhanced unto heaven;

76 for from the time of our fathers we have been in great sin unto this day.

77 And for our own sins, and for the sins of our fathers we be taken, with our brethren, and with our priests, and with kings of the land, into sword, and captivity, and into prey, with confusion, unto the day that is now.

78 And now how much is it, that the mercy of thee, Lord God, falleth to us; leave thou to us a root and a name, into the place of thine hallowing,

79 to discover our giver of light in the house of the Lord our God, to give to us meat in the time of our servage.

80 And when we served, we were not forsaken of the Lord our God; but he set us in grace, putting to food,

81 and to clarify the temple of the Lord our God, and to build the deserts of Zion, and to give to us stableness in Judea and in Jerusalem.

82 And now, Lord, what say we, having these things? We have over-passed thy behests, the which thou give [or thou gave] into the hands of thy children, prophets, that said,

83 Forsooth the land, in which ye have entered, to wield the heritage of it, is a defouled land with the filths of [the] heathen men of the land, and the uncleannesses of them have full-filled all it [or it all] in his uncleanness.

84 And now therefore ye shall not join your daughters to their sons, and their daughters ye shall not take to yours sons;

85 and ye shall not seek to have peace with them all time, that coming above ye eat the best things of the land, and that ye deal the heritage to your sons, forever.

86 And those things that fall to us, be they all done for our shrewd works, and our great sins.

87 And thou hast given to us such a root, and again we be turned again to over-pass thy lawful things, that the uncleannesses of the heathen folk of this land were mingled.

88 Whether thou shalt not wrath to us, to lose us, for till the root be forsaken, and our seed?

89 Lord God of Israel, thou art soothfast; forsooth the root is forsaken, unto the day that is now.

90 Lo! now we be in thy sight in our wickednesses; forsooth it is not yet to stand before thee in these things.

91 And when Ezra honouring ac-knowledged, weeping, he fell down to the earth before the temple, there be gathered before him a full great multitude, [or company, or crowd] of Jerusalem, men, and women, and young men, and young women; forsooth the weeping was great in that multitude.

92 And when Jechonias, the son of Jeelus, of the sons of Israel, had cried, Ezra said, We have sinned against the Lord, for that we have set with us into matrimony heathen women, of the Gentiles of the land.

93 And now whosoever is over all Israel in these things, be there to us an oath of the Lord, to put away all our wives, that be, with their sons, of the heathen folk;

94 as it is deemed to thee of the greater men, after the law of the Lord.

95 Arise now up, and show [out]thy will; forsooth to thee abideth this need, and we be with thee; do manly.

96 And Ezra arising up, made the princes of priests, and the deacons [or Levites], and all Israel, to swear to do after all these things; and they swore.

CHAPTER 9

1 And Ezra rising up from the fore-porch of the temple, went into the cell of Jehohanan, the son of Eliashib.

2 And he harboured there, tasted no bread, nor drank water, for the wickednesses of the multitude.

3 And there was made a preaching in all Judea and in Jerusalem, to all that were of the captivity gathered in Jerusalem,

4 Whosoever again-cometh not to the second or the third day, after the doom of the elder men sitting, his faculties shall be taken away, and he be deemed alien from the multitude of the captivity.

5 And all, that were of the lineages of Judah and Benjamin, were gathered together, three days in Jerusalem; this is the ninth month, the twentieth day of the month.

6 And all the multitude sat in the floor of the temple, trembling for winter then being.

7 And Ezra rising up, said to Israel, Ye have done wickedly, setting to you into matrimony heathen wives, that ye add to the sins of Israel.

8 And now give ye to the Lord God of our fathers confession, and great worthiness; [And now giveth shrift, and great doing to the Lord God of our fathers;]

9 and perform ye his will, and goeth away from the heathen folk of the land, and from heathen wives.

10 And all the multitude cried, and they said with a great voice, We shall do, as thou hast said.

11 But for the multitude is great, and the time is winter, and we may not stand unholpen [or unhelped], and this work is not to us of one day, nor of two; much we have sinned in these things;

12 therefore stand the provosts of the multitude, and all that dwell with us, and how many ever have with them heathen wives;

13 and stand they nigh in the time that is taken [or in the acceptable time of all places], priests, and doomsmen, till that they lose the wrath of the Lord, of this need.

14 Jonathan forsooth, the son of Azael, and Hezekiah, the son of Thocanus, took after these things, and Mosollamus, and Levi, and Sabbataeus wrought together with them.

15 And all that were of the captivity stood there, after all these things.

16 And Ezra, priest, chose to him men, great princes, of the fathers of them, after the names; and they sat together, in the new moon of the tenth month, to examine this need.

17 And it is determined of the men, that had heathen wives, unto the new moons of the first month.

18 And there be found mingled among of the priests, that had heathen wives;

19 of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Josedek, and of his brethren, Matthelas, and Eleazar, and Joribus, and Joadanus.

20 And they laid their hands, that they should put away their wives, and for to sacrifice a ram, into prayer for their ignorance.

21 And of the sons of Emmer, Ananias, and Zabdaeus, and Manes, and Samaeus, and Jereel, Azarias;

22 and of the sons of Phaesus, Elionas, Massiah, Ishmael, and Nathanael, and Okidelus, and Saloas.

23 And of the deacons [or Levites], Jozabadus, and Semis, and Colius, who was called Calitas, and Phathaeus, and Judas, and Jonas.

24 And of the hallowed [or sacred] singers, Eliasibus, Bacchurus.

25 And of the ushers, Sallumus or Shallum, and Tolbanes or Telem.

26 And of Israel, of the sons of Phoros, Jermas, and Jeddias, and Melchias, and Maelus, and Eleazar, and Asibias, and Bannaeas.

27 And of the sons of Ela, Matthanias, and Zechariah, Jezrielus, and Jeremoth, and Aedias.

28 And of the sons of Zamoth, Eliadas, and Eliasimus, and Othonias, and Jarimoth, and Sabathus, and Zardaeus.

29 And of the sons of Bebai, Johannes, and Ananias, and Ozabadus, and Emathis.

30 And of the sons of Mani, Olamus, and Mamuchus, and Jedaeus, and Jasubus, and Asaelus, and Jeremoth.

31 And of the sons of Addi, Naathus, and Moossias, and Laccunus, and Naidus, Matthanias, and Sesthel, and Balnuus, and Manasseas.

32 And of the sons of Annas, Elionas, and Asaeas, and Melchias, and Sab-baeus, and Simon Chosamaeus.

33 And of the sons of Asom, Altan-naeus, Mattathias, and Bannaeus, and Eliphalat, and Manasseh, and Shimei.

34 And of the sons of Bani, Jere-miah, and Momdis, and Ismaerus, and Juel, and Mandae, and Paedias, and Anos, Carabasion, and Enasibus, and Mamnitanaemus, and Eliasis, and Bannus, and Eliali, and Somis, and Selemias, and Nathaniah; and of the sons of Ezora, Sessis, and Ezril, and Azael, and Samatus, and Zambris, and Josephus.

35 And of the sons of Nooma, Mazitias, and Zabadaeas, and Edaes, and Juel, Banaeas.

36 All these joined to them heathen wives, and let them go, with their sons.

37 And priests, and deacons [or Levites], and they that were of Israel, dwelled in Jerusalem in an one region, the new moon of the seventh month; and the sons of Israel were in their abidings.

38 And all the multitude gathered together in the floor, that is from the east of the hallowed [or sacred] gate.

39 And they said to Ezra, bishop and reader, that he should bring forth the law of Moses, that was given of the Lord God of Israel.

40 And Ezra, the bishop, brought forth the law to all the multitude of them, from man unto woman, and to all the priests, to hear the law, in the new moon of the seventh month.

41 And he read in the floor, that is before the holy gate of the temple, from the first light of the day unto even, before men and women; and all they gave wit to the law.

42 And Ezra, the priest, and reader of the law, stood [up] upon the treen chair, that was made therefore.

43 And there stood with him Matta-thiah, and Shema, and Ananias, Azar-iah, Uriah, Hezekiah, and Baalsamus, at the right side;

44 and at the left side, Phaldaeus, Mishael, Melchias, Lothasubus, Nabariah, and Zechariah.

45 And Ezra took a book before all the multitude; forsooth he sat before in worship, in the sight of all.

46 And when he had assoiled or absolved upon the law, all they stood upright. And Ezra blessed the Lord God, alder-Highest God of Sabbath, Almighty or all mighty.

47 And all the people answered, Amen. And again they raised up their hands, and falling down unto the earth, they honoured or worshipped the Lord.

48 And Ezra commanded, that these should teach the law, Jeshua, and Annus, and Sarabias, and Jadinus, and Jacubus, and Sabbataeas, and Autaeas, and Maeannas, and Calitas, and Azarias, and Jozabdus, and Anan-ias, and Phiathas, deacons [or Levites]. The which taught the law of the Lord, and in the multitude they read the law of the Lord; and each by himself, that understood the lesson, told it before them.

49 And Attharates said to Ezra, the bishop and reader, and to the Levites that taught the multitude, saying,

50 This day is holy to the Lord. And all they wept, when they had heard the law.

51 And Ezra said, Ye therefore, after ye be gone atwain [or Ye then, gone atwain], eateth all most fat things, and drinketh all most sweet, and send ye gifts to them that have not;

52 forsooth this day of the Lord is holy [or holy is this day of the Lord]; and be ye not sorry, the Lord forsooth shall clarify us.

53 And the deacons [or Levites] announced, or showed, openly to all men, saying, This day is holy; will ye not to be sorry.

54 And then all they went away, to eat, and to drink, and to have plenty of meat, and to give gifts to them that have not, whereof to eat plenteously.

55 Greatly forsooth they be enhanced in the words, with the which they be taught. And all they were gathered into Jerusalem, to make solemn the gladness, after the testament of the Lord God of Israel.

PRAYER OF MANASSEH

PRAYER OF MANASSEH

CHAPTER 1

1 Lord God Almighty of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of their just seed,

2 which madest heaven and earth, with all the adorning of those [or them],

3 which hast marked the sea by the word of thy commandment, which hast enclosed altogether the depth, or the deepness, of waters, and hast marked them to thy fearedful and praiseable name,

4 which all men dread, and tremble of the cheer of thy virtue,

5 and the wrath of thy menacing [or thy threatening] on sinners is unsuffer-able, either may not be sustained.

6 Soothly the mercy of thy promise is full-great and unsearchable, either may not be comprehended by man’s wit;

7 for thou art the Lord most high over all earth; thou art patient, or long-abiding, and much merciful, and doing penance, or repenting, on the malices of men. Truly, Lord, by thy goodness thou hast promised penance of forgiveness of sins, that is, forgiving sins for repenting of men;

8 and thou, Lord, that art God of just men, hast not set penance to just men, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to them that sinned not against thee.

9 But (thou settest penance unto me, that am a sinner), for I have sinned more than the number is of the gravel of the sea;

10 my wickednesses be multiplied. I am bowed with much bond of iron, and no breathing is to me; for I have stirred thy wrathfulness, and I have done evil before thee, and I have set abominations, and I have multiplied offensions.

11 And now, I bow the knees of mine heart, and beseech goodness of thee, Lord.

12 I have sinned, Lord; I have sinned, and I acknowledge my wicked-ness.

13 I ask, and I pray thee, Lord; forgive thou to me, forgive thou to me; lose thou me not altogether with my wickednesses, neither reserve thou evils to me without end.

14 For, Lord, by thy great mercy thou shalt save me, most unworthy wretch, and I shall praise thee ever in all the days of my life; for all the virtue, that is, all those orders of angels, of heavens praiseth thee, and to thee is glory into worlds of worlds. Amen.

MATTHEW

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MATTHEW

CHAPTER 1

1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham begat Isaac. Isaac begat Jacob. Jacob begat Judah and his brethren.

3 Judah begat Perez and Zara, of Thamar. Perez begat Esrom. Esrom begat Aram.

4 Aram begat Amminadab. Ammin-adab begat Naasson. Naasson begat Salmon.

5 Salmon begat Boaz, of Rachab. Boaz begat Obed, of Ruth. Obed begat Jesse.

6 Jesse begat David the king. David the king begat Solomon, of her that was Uriah’s wife.

7 Solomon begat Rehoboam. Reho-boam begat Abia. Abia begat Asa.

8 Asa begat Jehoshaphat. Jehosha-phat begat Joram. Joram begat Uzziah.

9 Uzziah begat Joatham. Joatham begat Ahaz. Ahaz begat Hezekiah.

10 Hezekiah begat Manasseh. Manas-seh begat Amon. Amon begat Josiah.

11 Josiah begat Jechoniah and his brethren, into the transmigration of Babylon.

12 And after the transmigration of Babylon, Jechoniah begat Salathiel. Salathiel begat Zerubbabel.

13 Zerubbabel begat Abiud. Abiud begat Eliakim. Eliakim begat Azor.

14 Azor begat Zadok. Zadok begat Achim. Achim begat Elihud.

15 Elihud begat Eleazar. Eleazar begat Matthan. Matthan begat Jacob.

16 Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, that is called Christ.

17 And so all the generations from Abraham to David be fourteen generations, and from David to the transmigration of Babylon be fourteen generations, and from the trans-migration of Babylon to Christ be fourteen generations.

18 But the generation of Christ was thus. When Mary, the mother of Jesus, was espoused to Joseph, before that they came together, she was found having of the Holy Ghost in the womb.

19 And Joseph, her husband, for he was rightful [or a just man], and would not publish her, he would privily have left her.

20 But while he thought these things, lo! the angel of the Lord appeared to him in sleep, and said, Joseph, the son of David, do not thou dread to take Mary, thy wife; for that thing that is born in her is of the Holy Ghost.

21 And she shall bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall make his people safe from their sins.

22 For all this thing was done, that it should be fulfilled, that was said of the Lord by a prophet, saying,

23 Lo! a virgin shall have in [the] womb, and she shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, that is to say, God with us.

24 And Joseph rose [up] from sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary, his wife;

25 and he knew her not, till she had born her first begotten son, and he called his name Jesus.

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of king Herod, lo! astronomers, [or kings, or wise men], came from the east to Jerusalem,

2 and said, Where is he, that is born [the] king of Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and we have come to worship him.

3 But king Herod heard, and was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

4 And he gathered together all the princes of priests, and scribes of the people, and inquired of them, where Christ should be born.

5 And they said to him, In Bethle-hem of Judea; for so it is written by a prophet,

6 And thou, Bethlehem, the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah; for of thee a duke shall go out, that shall govern my people Israel.

7 Then Herod called privily the astronomers, [or the kings], and learned busily of them the time of the star that appeared to them.

8 And he sent them into Bethlehem, and said, Go ye, and ask ye busily of the child, and when ye have found, tell ye it to me, that I also come, and worship him.

9 And when they had heard the king, they went forth. And lo! the star, that they saw in the east, went before them, till it came, and stood above, where the child was.

10 And they saw the star, and joyed with a full great joy.

11 And they entered into the house, and found the child with Mary, his mother; and they felled down, and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they offered to him gifts, gold, incense, and myrrh.

12 And when they had taken an answer in sleep, that they should not turn again to Herod, they turned again by another way into their [own] country.

13 And when they were gone, lo! the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in sleep, and said, Rise up, and take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there, till that I say to thee; for it is to come, that Herod seek the child, to destroy him.

14 And Joseph rose [up], and took the child and his mother by night, and went into Egypt,

15 and he was there till the death of Herod; that it should be fulfilled, that was said of the Lord by the prophet, saying, From Egypt I have called my son.

16 Then Herod seeing that he was scorned, either deceived, of the astronomers, [or the kings], was full wroth; and he sent, and slew all the children, that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years age and within, after the time that he had inquired of the astronomers [or that he had sought out of the kings].

17 Then it was fulfilled, that was said by Jeremy, the prophet, saying,

18 A voice was heard on high, weeping and much wailing, Rachel beweeping her sons, and she would not be comforted, for they be nought [or they be not].

19 But when Herod was dead, lo! the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in sleep in Egypt,

20 and said, Rise up, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they that sought the life of the child be dead.

21 Joseph rose [up], and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

22 And he heard that Archelaus reigned in Judea for Herod, his father, and dreaded to go thither. And he was warned in sleep, and went into the parts of Galilee;

23 and [he] came, and dwelt in a city, that is called Nazareth, that it should be fulfilled, that was said by prophets, For he shall be called a Nazarene.

CHAPTER 3

1 In those days John Baptist came, and preached in the desert of Judea,

2 and said, Do ye penance, for the kingdom of heaven shall [come] nigh.

3 For this is he, of whom it is said by Isaiah, the prophet, saying, A voice of a crier in desert, [or A voice of a man crying in desert], Make ye ready the ways of the Lord; make ye right the paths of him.

4 And this John had clothing [or a cloth] of camel’s hairs, and a girdle of skin about his loins; and his meat was honeysuckles [or locusts], and honey of the wood.

5 Then Jerusalem went out to him, and all Judea, and all the country about Jordan;

6 and they were washed [or christened] of him in Jordan, acknowledging their sins.

7 But he saw many of the Pharisees and of Sadducees coming to his baptism, and said to them, Generation of adders, who showed to you to flee from the wrath that is to come?

8 Therefore do ye worthy fruits of penance,

9 and do not ye say within you, We have Abraham to our father [or We have the father Abraham]; for I say to you, that God is mighty to raise up of these stones the sons of Abraham.

10 And now the ax is put to the root of the tree; therefore every tree that maketh not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire.

11 I wash you in water, into penance; but he that shall come after me is stronger than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear; he shall baptize [or christen] you in the Holy Ghost, and [in] fire.

12 Whose winnowing cloth, [or tool, or fan], is in his hand, and he shall fully cleanse his cornfloor, and shall gather his wheat into his barn; but the chaff he shall burn with fire that may not be quenched [or that is unquench-able].

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee into Jordan to John, to be baptized of him.

14 And John forbade him, and said, I owe to be baptized of thee, and thou comest to me?

15 But Jesus answered, and said to him, Suffer now, for thus it falleth to us to fulfill all rightwiseness. Then John suffered him [or let him].

16 And when Jesus was baptized, anon he went up from the water; and lo! heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down as a dove, and coming [up] on him;

17 and lo! a voice from heaven, saying, This is my [be] loved Son, in which I have well pleased to me.

CHAPTER 4

1 Then Jesus was led of a spirit into desert, to be tempted of the fiend [or the devil].

2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward he hungered.

3 And the tempter came nigh, and said to him, If thou be God’s Son [or If thou art the Son of God], say that these stones be made loaves.

4 Which answered, and said to him, It is written, Not only in bread liveth man, but in each word that cometh forth of God’s mouth, [or A man liveth not in bread alone, but in every word that cometh forth from the mouth of God].

5 Then the fiend [or the devil] took him into the holy city, and setted him on the pinnacle of the temple,

6 and said to him, If thou art God’s Son, send thee adown, [or If thou art the Son of God, send thee down]; for it is written, That to his angels he commanded of thee, and they shall take thee in hands, lest peradventure thou hurt thy foot at a stone.

7 Again Jesus said to him, It is written, Thou shalt not tempt thy Lord God [or the Lord thy God].

8 Again the fiend [or the devil] took him [up] into a full high hill, and showed to him all the realms of the world, and the joy [or the glory] of them;

9 and said to him, All these I shall give to thee, if thou fall down and worship me.

10 Then Jesus said to him, Go, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship thy Lord God [or the Lord thy God], and to him alone thou shalt serve.

11 Then the fiend [or the devil] left him; and lo! angels came nigh, and served to him.

12 But when Jesus had heard that John was taken, he went into Galilee.

13 And he left the city of Nazareth, and came, and dwelt in the city of Capernaum, beside the sea, in the coasts of Zebulun and Naphtali,

14 that it should be fulfilled, that was said by Isaiah, the prophet, saying,

15 The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea over Jordan, of Galilee of heathen men,

16 the people that walked [or that dwelt] in darknesses saw great light, and while men sat in the country of [the] shadow of death, light arose to them.

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and [to] say, Do ye penance, for the kingdom of heavens shall come nigh [or the realm of heaven hath nighed].

18 And Jesus walked beside the sea of Galilee, and saw two brethren, Simon, that is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting nets into the sea; for they were fishers.

19 And he said to them, Come ye after me, and I shall make you to be made fishers of men.

20 And anon they left their nets, and pursued him.

21 And he went forth from that place, and saw twain other brethren, James of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in a ship with Zebedee, their father, amending their nets, and he called them.

22 And anon they left the nets and the father, and pursued him.

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues of them, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every languor, [or all sorrow, or ache], and each sickness among the people.

24 And his fame went into all Syria; and they brought to him all that were at mal-ease, and that were taken with diverse languors [or sorrows], and torments, and them that had fiends [or devils], and lunatic men, and men in [the] palsy, and he healed them.

25 And there pursued him much people of Galilee, and of Decapolis, and of Jerusalem, and of Judea, and of beyond Jordan.

CHAPTER 5

1 And Jesus, seeing the people, went up into the hill; and when he was set [or had sat], his disciples came to him.

2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, and said,

3 Blessed be poor men in spirit, for the kingdom of heavens is theirs. [Blessed be the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.]

4 Blessed be mild men, for they shall wield the earth.

5 Blessed be they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

6 Blessed be they that hunger and thirst rightwiseness, for they shall be fulfilled.

7 Blessed be merciful men[+or Blessed be the merciful], for they shall get mercy.

8 Blessed be they that be of clean heart, for they shall see God.

9 Blessed be peaceable men, for they shall be called God’s children. [+Blessed be the peaceable, for they shall be called the sons of God.]

10 Blessed be they that suffer persecution for rightwiseness, for the kingdom of heavens [or the kingdom of heaven] is theirs.

11 Blessed be ye, when men shall curse you, and shall pursue you, and shall say all evil against you lying, for me.

12 Joy ye, and be ye glad, for your meed is plenteous in heavens; for so they have pursued also prophets that were before you.

13 Ye be salt of the earth; that if the salt vanish away, wherein shall it be salted? To nothing it is worth over, but that it be cast out, and be defouled of men.

14 Ye be [the] light of the world; a city set on an hill may not be hid;

15 nor men tendeth a lantern, and putteth it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that it give light to all that be in the house.

16 So shine your light before men, that they see your good works, and glorify your Father that is in heavens.

17 Do not ye deem, [or guess], that I came to undo [or to destroy] the law, or the prophets; I came not to undo [or to destroy] the law, but to fulfill.

18 Forsooth I say to you, till heaven and earth pass, one letter, [or one i, that is, the least letter], or one tittle shall not pass from the law, till all things be done.

19 Therefore he that breaketh one of these least commandments, and teach-eth thus men, shall be called the least in the realm of heavens; but he that doeth, and teacheth, shall be called great in the kingdom of heavens.

20 And I say to you, that but your rightwiseness be more plenteous than of scribes and of Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heavens.

21 Ye have heard that it was said to old men, Thou shalt not slay; and he that slayeth, shall be guilty to the doom.

22 But I say to you, that each man that is wroth to his brother, shall be guilty to doom; and he that saith to his brother, Fie!, [that is, a word of scorn], shall be guilty to the council; but he that saith Fool, [that is, a word of despising], shall be guilty to the fire of hell.

23 Therefore if thou offerest thy gift at the altar, and there thou bethinkest, that thy brother hath somewhat [or something] against thee,

24 leave there thy gift before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then thou shalt come, and shalt offer thy gift.

25 Be thou consenting to thine adversary soon, while thou art in the way with him, lest peradventure thine adversary take thee to the doomsman [or the judge], and the doomsman take thee to the minister, and thou be sent into prison.

26 Truly I say to thee, Thou shalt not go out from thence, till thou yield the last farthing.

27 Ye have heard that it was said to old men, Thou shalt not do lechery.

28 But I say to you, that every man that seeth a woman [for] to covet her, hath now done lechery by her in his heart.

29 That if thy right eye cause thee to stumble, pull it out, and cast it from thee; for it speedeth to thee, that one of thy members perish, than that all thy body go into hell.

30 And if thy right hand cause thee to stumble, cut it away, and cast [it] from thee; for it speedeth to thee, that one of thy members perish, than that all thy body go into hell.

31 And it hath been said, Whoever leaveth his wife, give he to her a libel [or a little book] of forsaking.

32 But I say to you, that every man that leaveth his wife, except [the] cause of fornication, maketh her to do lechery, and he that weddeth the forsaken wife, doeth adultery.

33 Again ye have heard, that it was said to old men, Thou shalt not forswear, but thou shalt yield thine oaths to the Lord.

34 But I say to you, that ye swear not for anything; neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;

35 neither by the earth, for it is the stool of his feet; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of a great [or the great] king;

36 neither thou shalt swear by thine head, for thou mayest not make one hair white, or black;

37 but be your word, Yea, yea; Nay, nay; and that that is more than these, is of evil.

38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.

39 But I say to you, that ye against-stand not an evil man, [or to not against-stand evil]; but if any smite thee in the right cheek, show [or give] to him also the other;

40 and to him that will strive with thee in doom, and take away thy coat, leave thou to him also thy mantle [or thine over-cloth];

41 and whoever constraineth thee a thousand paces, go thou with him other twain.

42 Give thou to him that asketh of thee, and turn thou not away from him that will borrow of thee.

43 Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say to you, love ye your enemies, do ye well to them that hate you, and pray ye for them that pursue, and slander you;

45 that ye be the sons of your Father that is in heavens, that maketh his sun to rise upon good and evil men, and raineth on just men and unjust.

46 For if ye love them that love you, what meed shall ye have? whether [the] publicans do not this thing?

47 And if ye greet your brethren only, what shall ye do more[over]? do not heathen men [or pagans] this?

48 Therefore be ye perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

CHAPTER 6

1 Take heed, that ye do not your rightwiseness before men, to be seen of them, else ye shall have no meed at your Father that is in heavens.

2 Therefore when thou doest alms, do not thou trumpet before thee, as hypocrites do in synagogues and streets, that they be worshipped of men; soothly I say to you, they have received their meed.

3 But when thou doest alms, know not thy left hand what thy right hand doeth,

4 that thine alms be in huddles, and thy Father that seeth in huddles, shall requite [or yield] to thee.

5 And when ye pray, ye shall not be as hypocrites, that love to pray standing in synagogues and [in] corners of streets, to be seen of men [or that they be seen of men]; truly I say to you, they have received their meed.

6 But when thou shalt pray, enter into thy couch, and when the door is shut, pray thy Father in huddles, and thy Father that seeth in huddles, shall yield to thee.

7 But in praying do not ye speak much, as heathen men do, for they guess that they be heard in their much speech.

8 Therefore do not ye be made like to them, for your Father knoweth what is need[ful] to you, before that ye ask him.

9 And thus ye shall pray, Our Father that art in heavens, hallowed be thy name;

10 thy kingdom come to; be thy will done in earth as it is in heaven [or thy will be done as in heaven and in earth];

11 give to us this day our each day’s bread;

12 and forgive to us our debts, as we forgive to our debtors;

13 and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive to men their sins, your heavenly Father shall forgive to you your trespasses [or your sins].

15 Soothly if ye forgive not to men [the sins of them], neither your Father shall forgive to you your sins.

16 But when ye fast, do not ye be made as hypocrites sorrowful, for they deface themselves, [or they put their faces out of kindly terms], to seem fasting to men; truly I say to you, they have received their meed.

17 But when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face,

18 that thou be not seen fasting to men, but to thy Father that is in huddles, and thy Father that seeth in privy [or in huddles], shall yield to thee.

19 Do not ye treasure to you treasures [here] in earth, where rust and moth destroyeth, and where thieves delve out, and steal;

20 but gather ye to you treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth destroyeth, and where thieves delve not out, nor steal.

21 For where thy treasure is, there also thine heart is.

22 The lantern of thy body is thine eye; if thine eye be simple, all thy body shall be light-full;

23 but if thine eye be wayward, all thy body shall be dark-[full]. If then the light that is in thee be darknesses, how great shall those darknesses be?

24 No man may serve two lords, for either he shall hate the one, and love the tother; either he shall sustain the one, and despise the other. Ye may not serve God and riches.

25 Therefore I say to you, that ye be not busy to your life, what ye shall eat; nor to your body, with what ye shall be clothed. Whether life is not more than meat, and the body more than the cloth?

26 Behold ye the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither reap, neither gather into barns; and your Father of heaven feedeth them. Whether ye be not more worthy than they?

27 But who of you thinking may put [or may add] to his stature one cubit?

28 And of clothing what be ye busy? Behold ye the lilies of the field, how they wax. They travail not, neither they spin;

29 and I say to you, that Solomon in all his glory was not covered as one of these.

30 And if God clotheth thus the hay of the field, that today is, and tomorrow is cast into an oven [or is sent into the furnace], how much more you of little faith?

31 Therefore do not ye be busy, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, With what thing shall we be covered?

32 For heathen men seek all these things; and your Father knoweth, that ye have need to all these things.

33 Therefore seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his rightwiseness, and all these things shall be cast to you.

34 Therefore do not ye be busy into the morrow, for the morrow shall be busy to itself; for it sufficeth to the day his own malice.

CHAPTER 7

1 Do not ye deem, that ye be not deemed;

2 for in what doom ye deem, ye shall be deemed, and in what measure ye mete, it shall be meted again to you.

3 But what seest thou a little mote in the eye of thy brother, and seest not a beam in thine own eye?

4 Or how sayest thou to thy brother, Brother, suffer [that] I shall do out a mote from thine eye, and lo! a beam is in thine own eye?

5 Hypocrite, first do out the beam of thine eye or do thou out first the beam of thine own eye, and then thou shalt see to do out the mote of the eye of thy brother.

6 Do not ye give holy thing to hounds, neither cast ye your margarites before swine, lest peradventure they defoul them with their feet, and the hounds be turned, and tear you all to pieces.

7 Ask ye, and it shall be given to you; seek ye, and ye shall find; knock ye, and it shall be opened to you.

8 For each that asketh, taketh; and he that seeketh, findeth; and it shall be opened to him, that knocketh.

9 What man of you is, that if his son ask him bread, whether he will take to him a stone?

10 Or if he ask [a] fish, whether he will give [to] him an adder?

11 Therefore if ye, when ye be evil men, know how to give good gifts to your sons, how much more your Father that is in heavens shall give good things to men that ask him?

12 Therefore all things, whatever things ye will that men do to you, do ye to them, for this is the law and the prophets.

13 Enter ye by the strait gate; for the gate that leadeth to perdition, [or to damnation], is large, and the way is broad, and there be many that enter by it.

14 How strait is the gate, and narrow the way, that leadeth to life, and there be few that find it.

15 Be ye ware of false prophets, that come to you in clothings of sheep, but withinforth they be wolves of raven [or but within they be ravishing wolves];

16 of their fruits ye shall know them. Whether men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of briars?

17 So every good tree maketh good fruits; but an evil tree maketh evil fruits.

18 A good tree may not make evil fruits, neither an evil tree [may] make good fruits.

19 Every tree that maketh not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire.

20 Therefore of their fruits ye shall know them.

21 Not every man that saith to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heavens; but he that doeth the will of my Father that is in heavens, he shall enter into the kingdom of heavens.

22 Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, whether we have not prophesied in thy name, and have cast out fiends [or devils] in thy name, and have done many virtues in thy name?

23 And then I shall acknowledge to them, That I knew you never; depart away from me, ye that work wicked-ness.

24 Therefore every man that heareth these my words, and doeth them, shall be made like to a wise man, that hath builded his house on a stone.

25 And rain came down, and floods came, and winds blew, and rushed into that house; and it felled not down, for it was founded on a stone.

26 And every man that heareth these my words, and doeth them not, is like a fool, that hath builded his house on gravel [or on sand].

27 And rain came down, and floods came, and winds blew, and hurled against that house; and it felled down, and the falling down thereof was great.

28 And it was done, when Jesus had ended these words, the people wondered on his teaching;

29 for he taught them, as he that had power, and not as the scribes and the Pharisees.

CHAPTER 8

1 But when Jesus was come down from the hill, much people pursued him [or many companies followed him].

2 And lo! a leprous man came, and worshipped him, and said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou mayest make me clean.

3 And Jesus held forth the hand, and touched him, and said, I will, be thou made clean. And anon the leprosy of him was cleansed.

4 And Jesus said to him, See, say thou to no man; but go, show thee to the priests, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, in witnessing to them.

5 And when he had entered into Capernaum, the centurion nighed to him, and prayed him,

6 and said, Lord, my child lieth in the house sick on [or in] the palsy, and is evil tormented.

7 And Jesus said to him, I shall come, and shall heal him.

8 And the centurion answered, and said to him, Lord, I am not worthy, that thou enter under my roof; but only say thou by word, and my child shall be healed.

9 For why I am a man ordained under power, and have knights under me; and I say to this, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it.

10 And Jesus heard these things, and wondered, and said to men that pursued him, Truly I say to you, I found not so great faith in Israel.

11 And I say to you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall rest with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heavens;

12 but the sons of the realm shall be cast out into outer-more [or uttermost] darknesses; there shall be weeping, and grinding of teeth.

13 And Jesus said to the centurion, Go, and as thou hast believed, be it done to thee. And the child was healed from that hour.

14 And when Jesus was come into the house of Simon Peter, he saw his wife’s mother lying, and shaken [or shaking] with fevers.

15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she rose, and served them.

16 And when it was even, they brought to him many that had devils, and he casted out spirits by word, and healed all that were evil-at-ease [or having sickness];

17 that it were fulfilled, that was said by Isaiah, the prophet, saying, He took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

18 And Jesus saw much people about him, and bade [or commanded]his disciples[to] go over the water.

19 And a scribe nighed, and said to him, Master, I shall pursue thee, whither ever thou shalt go.

20 And Jesus said to him, Foxes have dens [or burrows], and birds of the air have nests, but man’s Son hath not wherein to rest his head [or where he shall rest his head].

21 Another of his disciples said to him, Lord, suffer me to go first, and bury my father.

22 But Jesus said to him, Pursue thou me, and let the dead men bury their dead men.

23 And when he was gone up into a little ship, his disciples pursued him.

24 And lo! a great stirring was made in the sea, so that the ship was covered with waves; but he slept.

25 And his disciples came to him, and raised him, and said, Lord, save us; we perish.

26 And Jesus said to them, What be ye of little faith aghast [or afeared]? Then he rose [up], and commanded to the winds and the sea, and a great peaceableness was made.

27 And men wondered, and said, What manner man is this, for the winds and the sea obey to him?

28 And when he was come over the water into the country of men of Gergesenes, two men met him, that had devils, and came out of graves, full mad, [or going out from burials, full fierce, or wicked], so that no man might go by that way.

29 And lo! they cried, and said, What to us and to thee, Jesus, the Son of God? art thou come hither before the time to torment us?

30 And not far from them was a flock of many swine [or a drove of many hogs] pasturing.

31 And the devils prayed him, and said, If thou castest out us from hence, send us into the drove of swine [or hogs].

32 And he said to them, Go ye. And they went out, and went into the swine [or the hogs]; and lo! in a great rush all the drove went headlong into the sea, and they were dead in the waters.

33 And the herders fled away, and came into the city, and told all these things, and of them that had the fiends [or the devils].

34 And lo! all the city went out to meet Jesus; and when they had seen him, they prayed [him], that he would pass from their coasts.

CHAPTER 9

1 And Jesus went up into a boat, and passed over the water, and came into his city.

2 And lo! they brought to him a man sick in palsy, lying in a bed. And Jesus saw the faith of them, and said to the man sick in palsy, Son, have thou trust; thy sins be forgiven to thee.

3 And lo! some of the scribes said within themselves, This blasphemeth.

4 And when Jesus had seen their thoughts, he said, Whereto think ye evil things in your hearts?

5 What is lighter to say, Thy sins be forgiven to thee, either to say, Rise thou, and walk?

6 But that ye know that man’s Son hath power to forgive sins in earth, then he said to the sick man in palsy [or the man sick in palsy], Rise up; take thy bed, and go into thine house.

7 And he rose, and went into his house.

8 And the people seeing dreaded, and glorified God, that gave such power to men.

9 And when Jesus passed from thence, he saw a man, Matthew by name, sitting in a tollbooth. And he said to him, Pursue thou me. And he rose, and followed him.

10 And it was done, while he sat at the meat in the house, lo! many publicans and sinful men came, and sat at the meat with Jesus and his disciples.

11 And the Pharisees saw, and said to his disciples, Why eateth your master with publicans and sinful men?

12 And Jesus heard, and said, A leech is not needful to men that fare well, but to men that be evil-at-ease [or having evil].

13 But go ye, and learn what it is, I will mercy, and not sacrifice; for I came, not to call rightful [or rightwise] men, but sinful men to penance.

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, and said, Why we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

15 And Jesus said to them, Whether the sons of the spouse may mourn [or wail] as long as the spouse is with them? But days shall come, when the spouse shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast.

16 And no man putteth a patch of rough cloth, [or of rude, or new, cloth], into an old clothing; for it doeth away [or taketh away] the fullness of the cloth, and a worse breaking is made.

17 Neither men put new wine into old bottles [or old wine vessels], else the bottles [or wine vessels] be broken, and destroyed, and the wine shed out. But men put new wine into new bottles [or into new wine vessels], and both be kept.

18 Whiles that Jesus spake these things to them, lo! a prince came, and worshipped him, and said, Lord, my daughter is now dead; but come thou, and put thine hand on her, and she shall live.

19 And Jesus rose, and his disciples, and pursued him.

20 And lo! a woman, that had a bloody flux, [or that suffered the running of blood], twelve years, nighed behind, and touched the hem of his cloth.

21 For she said within herself, If I touch only the cloth of him, I shall be safe.

22 And Jesus turned, and saw her, and said, Daughter, have thou trust; thy faith hath made thee safe. And the woman was [made] whole from that hour.

23 And when Jesus came into the house of the prince, and saw minstrels, and the people making noise,

24 he said, Go ye away, for the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they scorned him.

25 And when the folk was put out, he went in, and held her hand; and the damsel rose [up].

26 And this fame went out into all that land.

27 And when Jesus passed from thence, two blind men crying pursued him [or two blind men pursued him, crying], and said, Thou son of David, have mercy on us.

28 And when he came into the house, the blind men came to him; and Jesus said to them, What will ye, that I do to you? And they said, Lord, that our eyes be opened. And Jesus said, Believe ye, that I may do this thing to you? They said to him, Yea, Lord.

29 Then he touched their eyes, and said, After your faith be it done to you.

30 And the eyes of them were opened. And Jesus threatened them, and said, See ye, that no man know.

31 But they went out, and famed him through all that land.

32 And when they were gone out, lo! they brought to him a dumb man, having a devil.

33 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb man spake. And the people wondered, and said, It hath not been seen thus in Israel [or It appeared never so in Israel].

34 But the Pharisees said, In the prince of devils he casteth out devils.

35 And Jesus went about all the cities and castles, teaching in the synagogues of them, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every languor [or all ache], and every sickness.

36 And he saw the people, and had ruth on them; for they were travailed, and lying as sheep not having a shepherd.

37 Then he said to his disciples, Soothly there is much ripe corn, but few workmen.

38 Therefore pray ye the Lord of the ripe corn, that he send workmen into his ripe corn.

CHAPTER 10

1 And when his twelve disciples were called together, he gave to them power of unclean spirits, to cast them out of men, and to heal every languor [or all ache], and [all] sickness.

2 And these be the names of the twelve apostles; the first, Simon, that is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother; James of Zebedee, and John, his brother;

3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew, publican; and James [of] Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;

4 Simon Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, that betrayed Christ [or which betrayed him].

5 Jesus sent these twelve, and commanded [to] them, and said, Go ye not into the way of heathen men, and enter ye not into the cities of Samaritans;

6 but rather go ye to the sheep of the house of Israel, that have perished.

7 And go ye, and preach ye, and say, that the kingdom of heavens shall nigh;

8 heal ye sick men, raise ye dead men, cleanse ye mesels [or leprous men], cast ye out devils; freely ye have taken, freely give ye.

9 Do not ye wield gold, nor silver, nor money in your girdles,

10 not a scrip in the way, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor a staff [or a rod]; for a workman is worthy his meat.

11 Into whatever city, or castle, ye shall enter, ask ye who therein is worthy, and there dwell ye, till ye go out.

12 And when ye go into an house, greet ye it, and say, Peace to this house.

13 And if that house be worthy, your peace shall come on it; but if that house be not worthy, your peace shall turn again to you.

14 And whoever receiveth not you, nor heareth your words, go ye forth from that house or city, and sprinkle off the dust of your feet [or smite away the dust from your feet].

15 Truly I say to you, it shall be more sufferable to the land of men of Sodom and of Gomorrah in the day of judgement, than to that city.

16 Lo! I send you as sheep in the middle [or into the midst] of wolves; therefore be ye sly, [or prudent, or wary, or wise], as serpents, and simple as doves.

17 But be ye ware of men, for they shall take you in councils, and they shall beat you in their synagogues;

18 and to mayors, or to presidents, and to kings, ye shall be led for me, in witnessing to them, and to heathen men.

19 But when they take you, do not ye think, how or what thing ye shall speak, for it shall be given to you in that hour, what ye shall speak;

20 for it be not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father, that speaketh in you.

21 And the brother shall betake the brother into death, and the father the son, and sons shall rise against [their] father and mother, and shall torment them by death [or to the death].

22 And ye shall be in hate [or in hatred] to all men for my name; but he that shall dwell still [or shall continue] into the end, shall be made safe.

23 And when they pursue you in this city, flee ye into another. Truly I say to you, ye shall not end the cities of Israel, before that man’s Son come.

24 The disciple is not above the master [or above his master], nor the servant above his lord;

25 it is enough to the disciple, that he be as his master, and to the servant as his lord. If they have called the husbandman, [or the father of the meine], Beelzebub, how much more his household meine?

26 Therefore dread ye not them; for nothing is hid [or is covered], that shall not be showed; and nothing is privy, that shall not be known.

27 That thing that I say to you in darknesses, say ye in the light; and preach ye on houses [or upon roofs], that thing that ye hear in the ear.

28 And do not ye dread them that slay the body; for they may not slay the soul; but rather dread ye him, that may lose both soul and body into hell.

29 Whether two sparrows be not sold for an halfpenny? and one of them shall not fall on the earth without your Father.

30 And all the hairs of your head be numbered.

31 Therefore do not ye dread; ye be better than many sparrows.

32 Therefore every man that shall acknowledge me before men, I shall acknowledge him before my Father that is in heavens.

33 But he that shall deny me before men, I shall deny him before my Father that is in heavens.

34 Do not ye deem that I came to send peace into [the] earth; I came not to send peace, but sword.

35 For I came to part a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the son’s wife against the husband’s mother;

36 and the enemies of a man be they, that be at home with him.

37 He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy to me/is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy to me [or of me].

38 And he that taketh not his cross, and pursueth me, is not worthy to me [or of me].

39 He that findeth his life, shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for me, shall find it.

40 He that receiveth you, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.

41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall take [or shall receive] the meed of a prophet. And he that receiveth a just man in the name of a just man, shall take [or shall receive] the meed of a just man.

42 And whoever giveth drink to one of these least, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his meed.

CHAPTER 11

1 And it was done, when Jesus had ended, he commanded to his twelve disciples, and passed from thence to teach and preach in the cities of them.

2 But when John in bonds had heard the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples,

3 and said to him, Art thou he that shall come, or we abide another?

4 And Jesus answered, and said to them, Go ye, and tell again to John those things that ye have heard and seen.

5 Blind men see, crooked men go, mesels be made clean, deaf men hear, dead men rise again, poor men be taken to preaching of the gospel.

6 And he is blessed, that shall not be caused to stumble in me.

7 And when they were gone away, Jesus began to say of John to the people, What thing went ye out into desert to see? a reed waved with the wind?

8 Or what thing went ye out to see? a man clothed with soft clothes? Lo! they that be clothed with soft clothes be in the houses of kings.

9 But what thing went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet.

10 For this is he, of whom it is written, Lo! I send mine angel before thy face, that shall make ready thy way before thee.

11 Truly I say to you, there rose none more [or none greater] than John Baptist among the children of women; but he that is less [or that is the least] in the kingdom of heavens, is more than he.

12 And from the days of John Baptist till now the kingdom of heavens suffereth violence, and violent men ravish it.

13 For all [the] prophets and the law till John prophesied;

14 and if ye will receive, he is Elijah, that is to come.

15 He that hath ears of hearing, hear he.

16 But to whom shall I guess this generation like? It is like to children sitting in the chapping, that cry to their peers,

17 and say, We have sung to you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned to you, and ye have not wailed.

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.

19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Lo! a man a glutton, and a drinker of wine, and a friend of publicans and of sinful men. And wisdom is justified of her sons.

20 Then Jesus began to say reproof to cities, in which full many virtues of him were done, for they did not penance.

21 Woe to thee! Chorazin, woe to thee! Bethsaida; for if the virtues that be done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, sometime they had done penance in hair-shirt and ashes.

22 Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be less pain to Tyre and Sidon in the day of doom, than to you.

23 And thou, Capernaum, whether thou shalt be araised up into heaven? Thou shalt go down into hell. For if the virtues that be done in thee had been done in Sodom, peradventure they should have dwelled till into this day.

24 Nevertheless I say to you, that to the land of Sodom it shall be less pain in the day of doom, than to thee.

25 In that time Jesus answered, and said, I acknowledge to thee, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for thou hast hid these things from wise men, and ready, [or wary, or prudent, or sly], and hast showed them to little children;

26 so, Father, for so it was pleasing before thee.

27 All things be given to me of my Father; and no man knew [or knoweth] the Son, but the Father, neither any man knew [or knoweth] the Father, but the Son, and to whom the Son would show.

28 All ye that travail, and be charged, come to me, and I shall fulfill [or shall refresh] you.

29 Take ye my yoke on you, and learn ye of me, for I am mild and meek in heart; and ye shall find rest to your souls.

30 For my yoke is soft [or sweet], and my charge is light [or easy].

CHAPTER 12

1 In that time Jesus went by corns in [or on] the sabbath day; and his disciples hungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.

2 And the Pharisees, seeing, said to him, Lo! thy disciples do that thing that is not leaveful to them to do in [the] sabbaths.

3 And he said to them, Whether ye have not read, what David did, when he hungered, and they that were with him?

4 how he entered into the house of God, and ate loaves of proposition, [either of setting forth], which loaves it was not leaveful to him to eat, neither to them that were with him, but to priests alone?

5 Or whether ye have not read in the law, that in the sabbaths priests in the temple defoul the sabbaths, and they be without blame?

6 And I say to you, that here is a greater than the temple.

7 And if ye knew, what it is, I will mercy, and not sacrifice, ye should never have condemned innocents.

8 For man’s Son is Lord, yea, of the sabbath.

9 And when he passed from thence, he came into the synagogue of them.

10 And lo! a man that had a dry hand. And they asked him, and said, Whether it be leaveful to heal in the sabbath? that they should accuse him.

11 And he said to them, What man of you shall there be, that hath one sheep, and if it fall into a ditch in the sabbaths, whether he shall not hold, and lift it up?

12 How much more is a man better than a sheep? Therefore it is leaveful to do good in the sabbaths.

13 Then he said to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched forth; and it was restored to health as the other.

14 And the Pharisees went out, and made a counsel against him, how they should destroy him.

15 And Jesus knew it, and went away from thence; and many pursued him, and he healed them all.

16 And he commanded to them, that they should not make him known;

17 that that thing were fulfilled, that was said by Isaiah, the prophet, saying,

18 Lo! my child, whom I have chosen, my darling, in whom it hath well pleased to my soul; I shall put my Spirit on him, and he shall tell doom to heathen men.

19 He shall not strive, nor cry, neither any man shall hear his voice in streets.

20 A bruised reed he shall not break [or He shall not break altogether a shaken reed], and he shall not quench smoking flax, till he cast out doom to victory;

21 and heathen men shall hope in his name.

22 Then a man blind and dumb, that had a fiend [or a devil], was brought to him; and he healed him, so that he spake, and saw.

23 And all the people wondered, and said, Whether this be the son of David?

24 But the Pharisees heard, and said, He this casteth not out fiends, but in Beelzebub, prince of fiends [or prince of devils].

25 And Jesus, witting their thoughts, said to them, Each kingdom parted against itself, shall be desolated [or be desolate], and each city, or house, parted against itself, shall not stand.

26 And if Satan casteth out Satan, he is parted against himself; therefore how shall his kingdom stand?

27 And if I in Beelzebub cast out devils, in whom, [or by whose might], your sons cast out? Therefore they shall be your doomsmen.

28 But if I in the Spirit of God cast out fiends, then the kingdom of God is come into you [or is come among you].

29 Either how may any man enter into the house of a strong man, and take away his vessels, but he first bind the strong man, and then he shall spoil his house?

30 He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gathereth not together with me, scattereth abroad.

31 Therefore I say to you, all sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men, but [the] blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven.

32 And whoever saith a word against man’s Son, it shall be forgiven to him; but who that saith a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven to him, neither in this world, nor in the tother.

33 Either make ye the tree good, and his fruit good; either make ye the tree evil and his fruit evil; for a tree is known of his fruit.

34 Ye generation of adders, how may ye speak good things, when ye be evil? For the mouth speaketh of the plenty [or of the great abundance] of the heart.

35 A good man bringeth forth good things of good treasure, and an evil man bringeth forth evil things of evil treasure.

36 And I say to you, that of every idle word, that men speak, they shall yield reason thereof in the day of doom;

37 for of thy words thou shalt be justified, and of thy words thou shalt be condemned.

38 Then some of the scribes and the Pharisees answered to him, and said, Master, we will see a token of thee.

39 Which answered, and said to them, An evil kindred and a spouse-breaker [or adulterous] seeketh a token, and a token shall not be given to it, but the token of Jonah, the prophet.

40 For as Jonah was in the womb of a whale three days and three nights, so man’s Son shall be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

41 Men of Nineveh shall rise in doom with this generation, and shall condemn it; for they did penance in the preaching of Jonah, and lo! here [is] a greater than Jonah.

42 The queen of the south shall rise in doom with this generation, and shall condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and lo! here [is] a greater than Solomon.

43 When an unclean spirit goeth out from a man, he goeth by dry places, seeking rest, and findeth not [or none].

44 Then he saith, I shall turn again into mine house, from whence I went out. And he cometh, and findeth it void, and cleansed with besoms, and made fair.

45 Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits worse than himself; and they enter [in], and dwell there. And the last things of that man be made worse than the former. So it shall be to this worst generation.

46 Yet while he spake to the people, lo! his mother and his brethren stood withoutforth, seeking to speak with him.

47 And a man said to him, Lo! thy mother and thy brethren stand with-outforth, seeking thee.

48 And he answered to the man, that spake to him, and said, Who is my mother? and who be my brethren?

49 And he held forth his hand into his disciples, and said, Lo! my mother and my brethren;

50 for whoever doeth the will of my Father that is in heavens, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.

CHAPTER 13

1 In that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat beside the sea.

2 And much people was gathered to him, so that he went up into a boat, and sat; and all the people stood on the brink.

3 And he spake to them many things in parables, and said, Lo! he that soweth, went out to sow his seed.

4 And while he soweth, some seeds felled beside the way, and birds of the air came, and ate them.

5 But other seeds felled into stony places, where they had not much earth; and anon they sprung up, for they had not deepness of earth.

6 But when the sun was risen, they sweltered [or they burned for the heat], and for they had not root, they dried up.

7 And other seeds felled among thorns; and the thorns waxed up, and strangled them.

8 But other seeds felled into good land, and gave fruit; some an hundred-fold, another sixtyfold, another thirty-fold.

9 He that hath ears of hearing, hear he.

10 And the disciples came nigh, and said to him, Why speakest thou in parables to them?

11 And he answered, and said to them, For to you it is given to know the privates [or mysteries] of the kingdom of heavens; but it is not given to them.

12 For it shall be given to him that hath, and he shall have plenty; but if a man hath not, also that thing that he hath shall be taken away from him.

13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, for they seeing see not, and they hearing hear not, neither under-stand;

14 that the prophecy of Isaiah saying be fulfilled in them, With hearing ye shall hear, and ye shall not under-stand; and ye seeing shall see, and ye shall not see;

15 for the heart of this people is greatly fatted, and they heard heavily with ears, and they have closed their eyes, lest sometime they see with eyes, and with ears hear, and under-stand in heart, and they be converted, and I heal them.

16 But your eyes that see be blessed, and your ears that hear.

17 Forsooth I say to you, that many prophets and just men coveted to see those things that ye see, and they saw not, and to hear those things that ye hear, and they heard not.

18 Therefore hear ye the parable of the sower.

19 Each that heareth the word of the realm, and understandeth not, the evil spirit cometh, and ravisheth that that is sown in his heart; this it is [or this is he], that is sown beside the way.

20 But this [or he] that is sown on the stony land, this it is [or is this], that heareth the word of God, and anon with joy taketh it.

21 And he hath not root in himself, but is temporal. For when tribulation and persecution is made for the word, anon he is caused to stumble.

22 But he that is sown in thorns, is this that heareth the word, and the busyness of this world, and the fallacy [or the falseness] of riches strangleth the word, and it is made without fruit.

23 But he that is sown into good land, is this that heareth the word, and understandeth, and bringeth forth fruit. And some maketh an hundred-fold, truly another sixtyfold and another thirtyfold.

24 Another parable Jesus put forth to them, and said, The kingdom of heavens is made like to a man, that sowed good seed in his field.

25 And when men slept, his enemy came, and sowed above tares, [or darnels, or cockles], in the middle of wheat, and went away.

26 But when the herb was grown, and made fruit, then the tares, [or the darnels, or cockles], appeared.

27 And the servants of the husband-man came, and said to him, Lord, whether hast thou not sown good seed in thy field? whereof then hath it tares, [or darnels, or cockles]?

28 And he said to them, An enemy hath done this thing. And the servants said to him, Wilt thou that we go, and gather them?

29 And he said, Nay, lest peradven-ture ye in gathering tares, [or the darnels, or cockles], draw up with them [also] the wheat by the root.

30 Suffer ye them both to wax into reaping time; and in the time of ripe corn, I shall say to the reapers, First gather ye together the tares, [or the darnels, or cockles], and bind them together in knitches, [or small bundles], to be burnt, but gather ye the wheat into my barn.

31 Another parable Jesus put forth to them, and said, The kingdom of heavens is like to a corn of sinapi, which a man took, and sowed in his field.

32 Which [truly] is the least of all seeds, but when it hath waxen, it is the most of all worts, and is made a tree; so that [the] birds of the air come, and dwell in the boughs [or the branches] thereof.

33 Another parable Jesus spake to them [or He spake another parable to them], The kingdom of heavens is like to sourdough, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it were all soured.

34 Jesus spake all these things in parables to the people, and he spake not to them without parables,

35 that it should be fulfilled, that is said by the prophet, saying, I shall open my mouth in parables; I shall tell out hid things [or things hid] from the making of the world.

36 Then he left the people, and came into an house; and his disciples came to him, and said, Expound to us the parable of the tares, [or the darnels, or cockles], of the field.

37 Which answered, and said, He that soweth good seed is man’s Son;

38 the field is the world; but the good seed, these be the sons of the kingdom, but tares, these be evil children, [or forsooth darnels, or cockles, these be evil sons or sons of the wicked];

39 the enemy that soweth them is the fiend [or the devil]; and the ripe corn is the ending of the world, the reapers be angels.

40 Therefore as tares, [or darnels, or cockles], be gathered together, and be burnt in [the] fire, so it shall be in the ending of the world.

41 Man’s Son shall send his angels, and they shall gather from his realm all causes of stumbling, and them that do wickedness;

42 and they shall send them into the chimney of fire; there shall be weeping, and beating together of teeth.

43 Then just men shall shine as the sun, in the realm of their Father. He that hath ears of hearing, hear he.

44 The kingdom of heavens is like to treasure hid in a field, which a man that findeth, hideth; and for joy of it he goeth, and selleth all things that he hath, and buyeth that field.

45 Again the kingdom of heavens is like to a merchant, that seeketh good margarites [or good pearls];

46 but when he hath found one precious margarite, he went, and sold all things that he had, and bought it.

47 Again the kingdom of heavens is like to a net cast into the sea, and that gathereth together of all kinds of fishes;

48 which when it was full, they drew it up, and sat by the brink, and chose the good into their vessels, but the evil they cast out.

49 So it shall be in the end of the world. Angels shall go out, and shall separate evil men from the middle [or the midst] of just men.

50 And they shall send them into the chimney of fire; there shall be weeping, and grinding of teeth.

51 Have ye understood all these things? They say to him, Yea.

52 He saith to them, Therefore every wise man of [the] law [taught] in the kingdom of heavens, is like to an husbandman, that bringeth forth of his treasure new things and old.

53 And it was done, when Jesus had ended these parables, he passed from thence.

54 And he came into his country, and taught them in their synagogues, so that they wondered, and said, From whence this wisdom and virtues came to this? [or to him?]

55 Whether this is not the son of a carpenter? Whether his mother be not said Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas?

56 and his sisters, whether they all be not among us? From whence then all these things come or came to this? [or to him?]

57 And so they were offended in him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and in his own house.

58 And he did not there many virtues, for the unbelief of them.

CHAPTER 14

1 In that time Herod tetrarch, [that is, prince of the fourth part], heard the fame of Jesus;

2 and said to his children, This is John Baptist, he is risen from death, and therefore virtues work in him.

3 For Herod had holden [or held] John, and bound him, and putted him in prison for Herodias, the wife of his brother.

4 For John said to him, It is not leaveful to thee to have her.

5 And he willing to slay him, dreaded the people; for they had him as a prophet.

6 But in the day of Herod’s birth, the daughter of Herodias danced in the middle, and pleased Herod.

7 Wherefore with an oath he promised to give to her, whatever thing she asked of him.

8 And she before-warned [or before admonished] of her mother, said, Give thou to me here the head of John Baptist in a dish.

9 And the king was sorrowful, but for the oath, and for them that sat together at the meat, he commanded to be given.

10 And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.

11 And his head was brought in a dish, and it was given to the damsel, and she bare it to her mother.

12 And his disciples came, and took his body, and buried it; and they came, and told to Jesus.

13 And when Jesus had heard this thing, he went from thence in a boat, into a desert place beside. And when the people had heard, they followed him on their feet from cities.

14 And Jesus went out, and saw a great people [or a great multitude], and had ruth on them, and he healed the sick men of them.

15 But when eventide was come, his disciples came to him, and said, The place is desert, and the time is now passed; let the people go into towns, to buy them meat.

16 Jesus said to them, They have not need [or no need] to go; give ye them somewhat to eat.

17 They answered, We have not here, but five loaves and two fishes.

18 And he said to them, Bring ye them hither to me.

19 And when he had commanded the people to sit to [the] meat on the hay, he took five loaves and two fishes, and he beheld into heaven, and blessed, and brake, and gave [loaves] to his disciples; and the disciples gave to the people.

20 And all ate, and were fulfilled [or filled]. And they took the remnants of broken gobbets, twelve coffins full.

21 And the number of men that ate was five thousand of men, without women and little children.

22 And anon Jesus compelled the disciples to go up into a boat, and [to] go before him over the sea, while he let go the people.

23 And when the people was let go, he went up alone into an hill to pray. But when the evening was come, he was there alone.

24 And the boat in the middle of the sea was shogged [or thrown] with waves, for the wind was contrary to them.

25 But in the fourth waking of the night, he came to them walking on the sea.

26 And they, seeing him walking on the sea, were disturbed [or distroubled], and said, That it is a phantom; and for dread they cried.

27 And anon Jesus spake to them, and said, Have ye trust, I am; do not ye dread.

28 And Peter answered, and said, Lord, if thou art, command me to come to thee on the waters.

29 And he said, Come thou. And Peter went down from the boat, and walked on the waters to come to Jesus.

30 But he saw the wind strong, and was afeared; and when he began to drench or drown, he cried, and said, Lord, make me safe.

31 And anon Jesus held forth his hand, and took Peter, [or caught him], and said to him, Thou of little faith, why hast thou doubted?

32 And when he had gone [up] into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 And they, that were in the boat, came, and worshipped him, and said, Verily, thou art God’s Son.

34 And when they had passed over the sea, they came into the land of Gennesaret.

35 And when men of that place had known him, they sent into all that country; and they brought to him all that had sicknesses [or all having evil].

36 And they prayed him, that they should touch the hem of his clothing; and whoever touched were made safe.

CHAPTER 15

1 Then the scribes and the Pharisees came to him from Jerusalem, and said,

2 Why break thy disciples the traditions of elder men? [or Why thy disciples break the traditions, either the teachings, of elder men?] for they wash not their hands, when they eat bread.

3 He answered, and said to them, Why break ye the commandment of God for your tradition[s]?

4 For God said, Honour thy father and thy mother, and he that curseth father or mother, die he by death.

5 But ye say, Whoever saith to father or mother, Whatever gift is of me, it shall profit to thee;

6 and he hath not worshipped [or not honoured] his father or his mother; and ye have made the commandment of God void for your tradition[s].

7 Hypocrites, Isaiah the prophet, prophesied well of you, and said,

8 This people honoureth me with lips, but their heart is far from me;

9 and they worship me without cause, teaching the doctrines and the commandments of men.

10 And when the people were called together to him, he said to them, Hear ye, and understand ye.

11 That thing that entereth into the mouth, defouleth not a man; but that thing that cometh out of the mouth, defouleth a man.

12 Then his disciples came, and said to him, Thou knowest [or Knowest thou], that, if this word be heard, the Pharisees be offended?

13 And he answered, and said, Every planting, that my Father of heaven hath not planted, shall be drawn up by the root.

14 Suffer ye them; they be blind, and leaders of blind men. And if a blind man lead a blind man, both fall into the ditch.

15 Peter answered, and said to him, Expound to us this parable.

16 And he said, Yet ye be without understanding?

17 Understand ye not, that all thing that entereth into the mouth, goeth into the womb, and is sent out into the going away?

18 But those things that come forth from the mouth, go out from the heart, and those things defoul the man.

19 For of the heart go out evil thoughts [or For out of the heart cometh evil thoughts], manslayings, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnessings, blasphemies.

20 These things it be that defoul a man; but to eat with hands not washed, defouleth not a man.

21 And Jesus went out from thence, and went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.

22 And lo! a woman of Canaan went out of those coasts, and cried, and said to him, Lord, the son of David, have mercy on me; my daughter is evil travailed of a fiend [or a devil].

23 And he answered not to her a word. And his disciples came, and prayed him, and said, Leave thou her, for she crieth after us.

24 He answered, and said, I am not sent, but to the sheep of the house of Israel that have perished.

25 And she came, and worshipped him, and said, Lord, help me.

26 Which answered, and said, It is not good to take the bread of children, and cast [it] to hounds.

27 And she said, Yes, Lord; for [the] whelps eat of the crumbs, that fall down from the board of their lords.

28 Then Jesus answered, and said to her, A! woman, thy faith is great; be it done to thee, as thou wilt. And her daughter was healed from that hour.

29 And when Jesus had passed from thence, he came beside the sea of Galilee. And he went up into an hill, and sat there.

30 And much people came to him, and had with them dumb men and crooked [men], feeble and blind, and many others; and they casted down them [or cast them down] at his feet. And he healed them,

31 so that the people wondered, seeing dumb men speaking, and crooked [men] going, blind men seeing; and they magnified God of Israel.

32 And Jesus, when his disciples were called together, said to them, I have ruth of the people, for they have abided now three days with me, and have nothing to eat; and I will not leave them fasting, lest they fail in the way.

33 And the disciples say to him, Whereof then so many loaves among us in desert, to fulfill so great a people? [And the disciples say to him, Therefore whereof so many loaves to us in desert, that we fill so great a company of people?]

34 And Jesus said to them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven, and a few small fishes [or a few little fishes].

35 And he commanded to the people, to sit to [the] meat on the earth.

36 And he took the seven loaves and five fishes, and did thankings, and brake them, and gave to his disciples; and the disciples gave to the people.

37 And all ate, and were fulfilled [or were filled], and they took that that was left of [the] remnants, seven baskets full.

38 And they that ate were four thousand of men, without little children and women.

39 And when he had left the people, he went up into a boat, and came into the coasts of Magdala.

CHAPTER 16

1 And the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to him tempting [him], and prayed him to show them a token from heaven.

2 And he answered, and said to them, When the eventide is come, ye say, It shall be clear, for heaven is ruddy [or red];

3 and the morrowtide, Today tempest, for heaven shineth heavily. Then ye know how to deem [wisely] the face of heaven, but ye may not know the tokens of times.

4 An evil generation and adulterous seeketh a token; and a token shall not be given to it, but the token of Jonah, the prophet. And when he had left them, he went forth [or went away].

5 And when his disciples came over the sea, they forgot to take loaves.

6 And he said to them, Behold ye, and beware of the sourdough of Pharisees and of Sadducees.

7 And they thought among them-[selves], and said, For we have not taken loaves.

8 But Jesus witting said to them, What think ye among you of little faith, for ye have not taken loaves?

9 Yet ye understand not, neither have mind, of five loaves into five thousand of men, and how many coffins ye took?

10 neither of seven loaves into four thousand of men, and how many baskets ye took?

11 Why understand ye not, for I said not to you of bread, Be ye ware of the sourdough of Pharisees and of Sadducees?

12 Then they understood, that he said not to beware of [the] sourdough of loaves, but of the teaching of Pharisees and of Sadducees.

13 And Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea of Philippi, and asked his disciples, and said, Whom say men to be man’s Son?

14 And they said, Some John Baptist; others Elijah; and others Jeremy, or one of the prophets.

15 Jesus said to them, But whom say ye me to be?

16 Simon Peter answered, and said, Thou art Christ, the Son of God living [or the son of quick God].

17 Jesus answered, and said to him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood showed not to thee, but my Father that is in heavens.

18 And I say to thee, that thou art Peter, and on this stone I shall build my church, and the gates of hell shall not have might or power, [or strength], against it.

19 And to thee I shall give the keys of the kingdom of heavens; and what-ever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound also in heavens; and whatever thou shalt unbind on earth, shall be unbound also in heavens.

20 Then he commanded to his disciples, that they should say to no man, that he was Jesus Christ.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER 17

1 And after six days Jesus took Peter, and James, and John, his brother, and led them aside into an high hill,

2 and was transfigured, [or turned], into another likeness before them. And his face shone as the sun; and his clothes were made white as snow.

3 And lo! Moses and Elijah appeared to them, and spake with him.

4 And Peter answered, and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good us to be here. If thou wilt, make we here three tabernacles; to thee one, to Moses one, and one to Elijah.

5 Yet while he spake, lo! a bright cloud overshadowed them; and lo! a voice out of the cloud, that said, This is my dearworthy Son, in whom I have well pleased to me; hear ye him.

6 And the disciples heard, and felled down on their faces, and dreaded greatly.

7 And Jesus came, and touched them, and said to them, Rise up, and do not ye dread.

8 And they lifted up their eyes, and saw no man, but Jesus alone.

9 And as they came down of the hill [or down from the mountain], Jesus commanded to them, and said, Say ye to no man the vision, till man’s Son rise again from death.

10 And his disciples asked him, and said, What then say the scribes, that it behooveth that Elijah come first?

11 He answered, and said to them, Elijah shall come, and he shall restore all things.

12 And I say to you, that Elijah is now come, and they knew him not, but they did in him whatever things they would; and so man’s Son shall suffer of them.

13 Then the disciples understood, that he said to them of John the Baptist.

14 And when he came to the people, a man came to him, and felled down on his knees before him, and said,

15 Lord, have mercy on my son; for he is lunatic, and suffereth evil, for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft times into the water.

16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they might not heal him.

17 Jesus answered, and said, A! thou generation unbelieveful, [or out of the faith], and wayward; how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Bring ye him hither to me.

18 And Jesus blamed him, and the devil went out from him; and the child was healed from that hour.

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privily, and said to him, Why might not we cast him out?

20 Jesus saith to them, For your unbelief. Truly I say to you, if ye have faith, as a corn of sinapi, ye shall say to this hill, Pass thou [from] hence, and it shall pass; and nothing shall be impossible to you;

21 but this kind is not cast out, but by prayer and fasting.

22 And whiles they were abiding together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, Man’s Son shall be betrayed into the hands of men;

23 and they shall slay him, and the third day he shall rise again to life. And they were [made] full sorry [or were sorrowful greatly].

24 And when they came to Capernaum, they that took tribute, came to Peter, and said to him, Your master payeth not tribute?

25 And he said, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus came before him, and said, Simon, what seemeth to thee? Kings of the earth, of whom take they tribute? of their sons, either of aliens?

26 And he said, Of aliens. Jesus said to him, Then sons be free.

27 But that we offend them not, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take that fish that first cometh up; and, when his mouth is opened, thou shalt find a stater, [that is, a certain of money]; take it, and give [to them] for thee and for me.

CHAPTER 18

1 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, and said, Who, guessest thou, is [the] greater in the kingdom of heavens?

2 And Jesus called a little child, and put him in the middle [or in the midst] of them;

3 and said, I say truth to you [or Truly I say to you], but ye be turned, and [be] made as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heavens.

4 Therefore whoever meeketh him-[self] as this little child, he is greater in the kingdom of heavens.

5 And he that receiveth one such little child in my name, receiveth me.

6 But whoso causeth to stumble one of these small [or these little], that believe in me, it speedeth to him, that a millstone of asses be hanged in his neck, and he be drenched or drowned in the deepness of the sea.

7 Woe to the world, for causes of stumbling; for it is needed, that causes of stumbling come; nevertheless woe to that man by whom a cause of stumbling cometh.

8 And if thine hand or thy foot cause thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it away from thee. It is better to thee to enter [in] to life feeble, either crooked, than having twain hands or two feet to be sent into everlasting fire.

9 And if thine eye cause thee to stumble, pull it out, and cast it away from thee. It is better to thee, with one eye to enter into life, than having twain eyes to be sent into the fire of hell [or into hellfire].

10 See ye, that ye despise not one of these little. For I say to you [or Truly I say to you], that the angels of them in heavens see evermore the face of my Father that is in heavens.

11 For man’s Son came to save that thing that perished.

12 What seemeth to you? If there were to a man an hundred sheep, and one of them hath erred, whether he shall not leave ninety and nine in desert [or in the hills], and shall go to seek that that erred?

13 And if it fall that he find it, truly I say to you, that he shall have joy thereof [or for he shall joy thereon], more than on ninety and nine that erred not.

14 So it is not the will of your Father that is in heavens [or in heaven], that one of these little perish.

15 But if thy brother sinneth against thee, go thou, and reprove him, betwixt thee and him alone; if he heareth thee, thou hast won thy brother.

16 And if he heareth thee not, take with thee one or twain that every word stand in the mouth of twain or three witnesses.

17 And if he heareth not them, say thou to the church. But if he heareth not the church, be he as a heathen and a publican to thee.

18 I say to you truly, whatever things ye bind on earth, those shall be bound also in heaven; and whatever things ye unbind on earth, those shall be unbound also in heaven.

19 Again I say to you, that if twain of you consent on earth, of everything whatever they ask, it shall be done to them of my Father that is in heavens.

20 For where twain or three be gathered in my name, there I am in the middle of them. [For where two or three be gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.]

21 Then Peter came to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I shall forgive him? Whether till seven times?

22 Jesus saith to him, I say not to thee, till seven times; but till [or to] seventy times seven times.

23 Therefore the kingdom of heavens is likened to a king that would reckon with his servants.

24 And when he began to reckon, one that owed to him ten thousand talents [or bezants], was brought to him.

25 And when he had not whereof to yield, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all things that he had, and to be paid.

26 But that servant felled down, and prayed him, and said, have patience in me, and I shall yield to thee all things.

27 And the lord had mercy on that servant, and suffered him to go [or delivered him], and forgave him the debt.

28 But that servant went out, and found one of his even-servants, that owed him an hundred pence; and he held him, and strangled him, and said, Yield that that thou owest.

29 And his even-servant fell down, and prayed him, and said, have patience in me, and I shall requite all things to thee.

30 But he would not; but went out, and put [or sent] him into prison, till he paid all the debt.

31 And his even-servants, seeing the things that were done, sorrowed greatly. And they came, and told to their lord all the things that were done.

32 Then his lord called him, and said to him, Wicked servant, I forgave to thee all the debt, for thou prayedest me.

33 Therefore whether it behooved not also thee to have mercy on thine even-servant, as I had mercy on thee?

34 And his lord was wroth, and took him to tormentors, till he paid all the debt.

35 So my Father of heaven shall do to you, if ye forgive not every man to his brother, of your hearts.

CHAPTER 19

1 And it was done, when Jesus had ended these words, he passed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judea over Jordan.

2 And much people pursued him, and he healed them there.

3 And the Pharisees came to him, tempting him, and said, whether it be leaveful to [or for] a man to leave [or forsake], his wife, for any cause?

4 Which answered, and said to them, have ye not read, for he that made men at the beginning, made them male and female?

5 And he said, for this thing a man shall leave father and mother, and he shall draw [or cleave] to his wife; and they shall be twain in one flesh.

6 And so they be not now twain, but one flesh. Therefore man separate [or part] not that thing that God hath joined, [or knit together].

7 They say to him, What then commanded Moses, to give a libel [or a little book] of forsaking, and to leave off [or forsake]?

8 And he said to them, For Moses, for the hardness of your heart, suffered you to leave your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

9 And I say to you, that whoever leaveth his wife, but for fornication, and weddeth another, doeth lechery [or adultery]; and he that weddeth the forsaken wife, doeth lechery [or adultery].

10 His disciples say to him, If the cause of a man with his wife is so, it speedeth not to be wedded.

11 And he said to them, Not all men take this word; but they to which it is given.

12 For there be geldings, which be so born of the mother’s womb [or thus born of their mother’s womb]; and there be geldings, that be made of men; and there be geldings, that have gelded themselves, for the kingdom of heavens. He that may take, take he.

13 Then little children were brought to him, that he should put [his] hands to them, and pray. And the disciples blamed them.

14 But Jesus said to them, Suffer ye that little children come to me, and do not ye forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heavens.

15 And when he had put to them hands, he went from thence.

16 And lo! one came, and said to him, Good master, what good [thing] shall I do, that I have everlasting life?

17 Which saith to him, What askest thou me of good thing? There is one good God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

18 He saith to him, Which? And Jesus said, Thou shalt not do man-slaying, thou shalt not do adultery, thou shalt not do theft, thou shalt not say false witnessing;

19 worship [or honour] thy father and thy mother, and, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

20 The young man saith to him, I have kept all these things from my youth, what yet faileth to me?

21 Jesus saith to him, If thou wilt be perfect, go, and sell all things that thou hast, and give to poor men, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, and pursue me.

22 And when the young man had heard these words, he went away sorrowful, for he had many possessions.

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, I say to you truth, [or Truly I say to you], for a rich man of hard shall enter into the kingdom of heavens.

24 And again I say to you, it is lighter [or easier] a camel to pass through a needle’s eye [or the hole of a needle], than a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heavens.

25 When these things were heard, the disciples wondered greatly, and said, Who then may be safe?

26 Jesus beheld, and said to them, With men this thing is impossible; but with God all things be possible.

27 Then Peter answered, and said to him, Lo! we have forsaken all things, and we have pursued thee; what then shall be to us?

28 And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, that ye that have forsaken all things, and have pursued me, in the regeneration when man’s Son shall sit in the seat of his majesty, [also] ye shall sit on twelve seats, deeming the twelve kindreds of Israel.

29 And every man that forsaketh house, [or] brethren or sisters, [or] father or mother, [or] wife or children, or fields, for my name, he shall take an hundredfold, and shall wield ever-lasting life.

30 But many shall be, the first the last, and the last the first.

CHAPTER 20

1 The kingdom of heavens is like to an husbandman, that went out first by the morrow [or early], to hire work-men into his vineyard.

2 And when the covenant was made with the workmen, of a penny for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market.

4 And he said to them, Go ye also into mine vineyard, and that that shall be rightful, I shall give to you. And they went forth.

5 Again he went out about the sixth hour, and the ninth, and did in like manner.

6 But about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and said to them, What stand ye idle here all day?

7 They say to him, For no man hath hired us. He saith to them, Go ye also into my vineyard.

8 And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his procurator, Call the workmen, and yield to them their hire, and begin thou at the last till to the first.

9 And so when they were come, that came about the eleventh hour, also they took every each of them a penny, [or even-pence, that is, every man a penny].

10 But the first came, and deemed, that they should take more, but they [also] took each one by themselves a penny [or even-pence].

11 and in the taking, they grutched against the husbandman,

12 and said, These last wrought one hour, and thou hast made them even to us, that have borne the charge of the day, and [the] heat?

13 And he answered to one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee none wrong [or no wrong]; whether thou hast not accorded with me for a penny?

14 Take thou that that is thine, and go; for I will give to this last man, as to thee.

15 Whether it is not leaveful to me to do that that I will? Whether thine eye is wicked, for I am good?

16 So the last shall be the first, and the first shall be the last; for many be called, but few be chosen.

17 And Jesus went up to Jerusalem, and took his twelve disciples in private, and said to them,

18 Lo! we go up to Jerusalem, and man’s Son shall be betaken to princes of priests, and to scribes; and they shall condemn him to death.

19 And they shall betake him to heathen men, for to be scorned, and scourged, and crucified; and the third day he shall rise again to life.

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, honouring [or worshipping], and asking something of him.

21 And he said to her, What wilt thou? She saith to him, Say that these two my sons sit [or that these my two sons sit], one at thy right half, and one at thy left half, in thy kingdom.

22 Jesus answered, and said, Ye know not what ye ask. May ye drink of the cup that I shall drink of? [or that I am to drink?] They say to him, We may.

23 He saith to them, Ye shall drink my cup; but to sit at my right half or [at my] left half, is not mine to give to you; but to whom it is made ready of my Father.

24 And the ten hearing, had indignation of the two brethren.

25 But Jesus called them to him, and said, Ye know, that [the] princes of heathen men be lords of them, and they that be [the] greater [or more], use power on them.

26 It shall not be so among you; but whoever will be made [the] greater [or more] among you, be he your minister;

27 and whoever among you will be the first, he shall be your servant.

28 As man’s Son came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life redemption for many.

29 And when they went out of Jericho, much people pursued him.

30 And lo! two blind men sat beside the way, and heard that Jesus passed; and they cried, and said, Lord, the son of David, have mercy on us.

31 And the people blamed them, that they should be still; and they cried the more, and said, Lord, the son of David, have mercy on us.

32 And Jesus stood, and called them, and said, What will ye, that I do to you?

33 They say to him, Lord, that our eyes be opened.

34 And Jesus had mercy on them, and touched their eyes; and anon they saw, and pursued him.

CHAPTER 21

1 And when Jesus came nigh to Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at [or to] the mount of Olives, then sent he his two disciples [or then Jesus sent his two disciples],

2 and said to them, Go ye into the castle that is against you, and anon ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; untie ye, and bring to me.

3 And if any man say to you anything, say ye, that the Lord hath need to them; and anon he shall leave them.

4 All this was done, that that thing should be fulfilled, that was said by the prophet, saying,

5 Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Lo! thy king cometh to thee, meek, sitting on an ass, and a foal [or a colt] of an ass under yoke.

6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded [to] them.

7 And they brought an ass, and the foal [or the colt], and laid their clothes on them, and made him [to] sit above.

8 And full much people spreaded their clothes in the way; others cutted branches of trees, and strewed in the way.

9 And the people that went before, and that pursued, cried, and said, Hosanna to the son of David; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in high things [or in the highest things].

10 And when he was entered into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, and said, Who is this?

11 But the people said, This is Jesus, the prophet, of Nazareth of Galilee.

12 And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and cast out of the temple all that bought and sold; and he turned upside-down the boards of changers, and the chairs of men that sold culvers.

13 And he said to them, It is written, Mine house shall be called an house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

14 And blind and crooked came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

15 But the princes of priests, and the scribes, seeing the marvelous [or the wonderful] things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they had indignation [or disdain],

16 and said to him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus said to them, Yea; whether ye have never read, That of the mouth of young children, and of suckling children, thou hast made perfect praising?

17 And when he had left them, he went forth out of the city, into Bethany; and there he dwelt, and taught them of the kingdom of God.

18 But on the morrow, he, turning again into the city, hungered.

19 And he saw a fig tree beside the way, and came to it, and found nothing therein [or thereon], but leaves only. And he said to it, Never fruit come forth of thee [or Never be fruit born of thee], into without end. And anon the fig tree was dried up.

20 And the disciples saw, and wondered, saying, How anon it dried [or How it dried up anon].

21 And Jesus answered, and said to them, Truly I say to you, if ye have faith, and doubt not, not only ye shall do of the fig tree, but also if ye say to this hill, Take [away thee], and cast thee into the sea, it shall be done so [or it shall be done].

22 And all things whatever ye believing shall ask in prayer, ye shall take.

23 And when he came into the temple, the princes of priests, and elder men of the people, came to him that taught, and said, In what power doest thou these things? and who gave [to] thee this power?

24 Jesus answered, and said to them, And I shall ask you one word, the which if ye tell me, I shall say to you, in what power I do these things.

25 Of whence was the baptism of John; of heaven, or of men? And they thought within themselves, saying, If we say of heaven, he shall say to us, Why then believe ye not to him?

26 If we say of men, we dread the people, for all had John as a prophet.

27 And they answered to Jesus, and said, We know not. And he said to them, Neither I say to you, in what power I do these things.

28 But what seemeth to you? A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work this day in my vineyard.

29 And he answered, and said, I will not; but afterward he repented [or stirred by penance], and went forth.

30 But he came to the other, and said in like manner. And he answered, and said, Lord, I go; and he went not.

31 Who of the twain did the father’s will? They say to him, The first. Jesus saith to them, Truly I say to you, for publicans and whores shall go before you into the kingdom of God.

32 For John came to you in the way of rightwiseness, and ye believed not to him; but publicans and whores believed to him. But ye saw, and had no repenting after [or had not penance afterward], that ye believed to him.

33 Hear ye another parable. There was an husbandman, that planted a vineyard, and hedged it about, and delved a presser therein, and builded a tower, and hired it to earth-tillers, and went far in pilgrimage.

34 And when the time of fruits nighed, he sent his servants to the earth-tillers, to take fruits of it.

35 And the earth-tillers took his servants, and they beat one, they slew another, and stoned another.

36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and in like manner they did to them [or and they did to them in like manner].

37 And at the last he sent his son to them, and said, They shall dread my son.

38 But the earth-tillers, seeing the son, said within themselves, This is the heir; come ye, slay we him, and we shall have his heritage.

39 And they took him, and casted him out of the vineyard, and slew him.

40 Therefore when the lord of the vineyard shall come, what shall he do to those earth-tillers?

41 They say to him, He shall lose evil, the evil men, and he shall set to hire his vineyard to other earth-tillers, which shall yield to him fruit in their times.

42 Jesus saith to them, Read ye never in scriptures, The stone which the builders reproved, this is made into the head of the corner? Of the Lord this thing is done, and it is marvelous [or wonderful] in our eyes.

43 Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and [it] shall be given to a folk doing [the] fruits of it.

44 And he that shall fall on this stone, shall be broken; but on whom it shall fall, it shall bruise him [or it shall pound him] all to pieces.

45 And when the princes of priests, and [the] Pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he said of them.

46 And they sought to hold him, but they dreaded the people, for they had him as a prophet.

CHAPTER 22

1 And Jesus answered, and spake again in parables to them, and said,

2 The kingdom of heavens is made like to a king that made weddings to his son.

3 And he sent his servants to call men that were bidden to the weddings, and they would not come.

4 Again he sent other servants, and said, Say to the men that be bidden to the feast, Lo! I have made ready my meat, my bulls and my volatiles, [or my fat beasts], be slain, and all things be ready; come ye to the weddings.

5 But they despised, [or reckoned not], and went forth, one into his town [or vineyard], another to his merchandise.

6 But others held his servants, and tormented them, and slew [them].

7 But the king, when he had heard, was wroth; and he sent his hosts, and destroyed those man-quellers, and burnt their city.

8 Then he said to his servants, The weddings be ready, but they that were called to the feast, were not worthy.

9 Therefore go ye into the ends of ways, and whomever ye find, call ye to the weddings.

10 And his servants went out into the ways, and gathered together all that they found, good and evil; and the bridal was [or the weddings be] full-filled with men sitting at the meat.

11 And the king entered, to see men sitting at the meat; and he saw there a man not clothed with bride [or bridal] clothes.

12 And he said to him, Friend, how enteredest thou hither without bride clothes? And he was dumb.

13 Then the king bade [or said to] his ministers, Bind him both hands and feet, and send ye him into outer-more [or uttermore] darknesses; there shall be weeping, and grinding of teeth.

14 For many be called, but few be chosen.

15 Then Pharisees went away, and took a counsel [or took counsel] to take Jesus in word.

16 And they send to him their disciples, with Herodians, and said, Master, we know, that thou art soothfast, and thou teachest in truth the way of God, and thou chargest not [or there is no care to thee] of any man, for thou beholdest not the person of men.

17 Therefore say to us, what seemeth to thee. Is it leaveful that tribute be given to the emperor [or Caesar], either [or] nay?

18 And when Jesus had known the wickedness of them, he said, Hypocrites, what tempt ye me?

19 Show ye to me the print of the money. And they brought to him a penny.

20 And Jesus said to them, Whose is this image, and the writing above?

21 They say to him, The emperor’s [or Of Caesar]. Then he said to them, Therefore yield ye to the emperor [or Caesar] those things that be the emperor’s [or Caesar’s], and to God those things that be of God.

22 And they heard, and wondered; and they left him, and went away.

23 In that day Sadducees, that say there is no rising again to life, came to him, and asked him,

24 and said, Master, Moses said, if any man is dead, not having a son, that his brother wed his wife, and raise seed to his brother.

25 And there were seven brethren to us; and the first wedded a wife, and is dead. And he had no seed, and left his wife to his brother;

26 also the second, and the third, till to the seventh.

27 But the last of all, [also] the woman is dead.

28 Also [or Therefore] in the rising again to life, whose wife of the seven shall she be? for all had her.

29 Jesus answered, and said to them, Ye err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the virtue of God.

30 For in the rising again to life, neither they shall wed, neither shall be wedded; but they be as the angels of God in heaven.

31 And of the rising again of dead men, have ye not read, that [it] is said of the Lord, that saith to you,

32 I am God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob? he is not God of dead men, but of living men.

33 And the people hearing, wondered on his teaching.

34 And the Pharisees heard that he had put silence to Sadducees, and came together.

35 And one of them, a teacher of the law, asked Jesus, and tempted him,

36 Master, which is a great command-ment in the law?

37 Jesus said to him, Thou shalt love thy Lord God [or the Lord thy God], of all thine heart, and in all thy soul, and in all thy mind.

38 This is the first and the most commandment.

39 And the second is like to this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 In these two commandments hangeth all the law and the prophets.

41 And when the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,

42 and said, What seemeth to you of Christ, whose son is he? They say to him, Of David.

43 He saith to them, How then David in spirit calleth him Lord, and saith,

44 The Lord said to my Lord, Sit [thou] on my right half, till I put thine enemies a stool of thy feet?

45 Then if David calleth him Lord, how is he his son?

46 And no man might answer a word to him, neither any man was hardy from that day, to ask him more.

CHAPTER 23

1 Then Jesus spake to the people, and to his disciples,

2 and said, On the chair of Moses, scribes and Pharisees have sat.

3 Therefore keep ye, and do ye all things, whatever things they say to you. But do not ye do after their works; for they say, and do not.

4 And they bind grievous charges, and that may not be borne, and put on [the] shoulders of men; but with their finger they will not move them.

5 Therefore they do all their works to be seen of men; for they draw abroad their phylacteries, and magnify [their] hems.

6 And they love the first sitting places in [or at] suppers, and the first chairs in synagogues;

7 and salutations in [the] chapping, and to be called of men, master.

8 But do not ye be called master; for one is your master, and all ye be brethren.

9 And do not ye call to you a father on earth, for one is your Father, that is in heavens.

10 Neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, Christ.

11 He that is greatest among you, shall be your minister.

12 For he that higheth himself, shall be meeked; and he that meeketh himself, shall be enhanced.

13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that close the kingdom of heavens [or the realm of heaven] before men; and ye enter not, neither suffer other men entering to enter.

14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that eat the houses of widows, and pray by long prayer; for this thing ye shall take the more doom.

15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that go about the sea and the land, to make one proselyte; and when he is made, ye make him a son of hell, double more than ye be.

16 Woe to you, blind leaders, that say, Whoever sweareth by the temple of God, it is nothing; but he that sweareth in the gold of the temple, is debtor [or oweth].

17 Ye fools and blind, for what is greater, the gold, or the temple that halloweth the gold?

18 And whoever sweareth in the altar, it is nothing; but he that sweareth in the gift that is on the altar, oweth [or is a debtor].

19 Blind men, for what is more, the gift, or the altar that halloweth the gift?

20 Therefore he that sweareth in the altar, sweareth in it, and in all things that be thereon.

21 And he that sweareth in the temple, sweareth in it, and in him that dwelleth in the temple.

22 And he that sweareth in heaven, sweareth in the throne of God, and in him that sitteth thereon.

23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that tithe mint, anise, and cumin, and have left those things that be of more charge of the law, doom, and mercy, and faith. And it behooved [or needed] to do these things, and not to leave those.

24 Blind leaders, cleansing a gnat, but swallowing a camel.

25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that cleanse the cup and the platter withoutforth; but within ye be full of raven, and uncleanness.

26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the cup and the platter withinforth, that [also] that that is withoutforth be made clean.

27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that be like to sepulchres whited [or made white], which with-outforth seem fair to men; but within they be full of bones of dead men, and of all filth.

28 So ye withoutforth seem just [or rightful] to men; but within ye be full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, that build [the] sepulchres of prophets, and make fair the burials of just men,

30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been their fellows in the blood of prophets.

31 And so ye be in witnessing to yourselves, that ye be the sons of them that slew the prophets.

32 And full-fill ye the measure of your fathers.

33 Ye adders, and adders’ brood [or fruits of adders], how shall ye flee from the doom of hell?

34 Therefore lo! I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes [or writers]; and of them ye shall slay and crucify, and of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and shall pursue from city into city [or from city to city];

35 that all the just blood come on you, that was shed on the earth, from the blood of just Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, whom ye slew betwixt the temple and the altar.

36 Truly I say to you, all these things shall come on this generation.

37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that slayest prophets, and stonest them that be sent to thee, how oft would I gather together thy children, as an hen gathereth together her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not.

38 Lo! your house shall be left to you desert [or forsaken].

39 And I say to you, ye shall not see me from henceforth, till ye say, Blessed is he, that cometh in the name of the Lord.

CHAPTER 24

1 And Jesus went out of the temple; and his disciples came to him, to show him the buildings of the temple.

2 But he answered, and said to them, See ye all these things? Truly I say to you, a stone shall not be left on a stone, that not it shall be destroyed [or which shall not be destroyed].

3 And when he sat on the mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privily, and said, Say to us, when these things shall be, and what token of thy coming, and of the ending of the world.

4 And Jesus answered, and said to them, Look [or See] ye, that no man deceive you.

5 For many shall come in my name, and shall say, I am Christ; and they shall deceive many.

6 For ye shall hear battles, and opinions of battles; see ye that ye be not disturbed [or distroubled]; for it behooveth these things to be done, but not yet is the end.

7 For folk shall rise together against folk, and realm against realm, and pestilences, and hungers, and earth-movings shall be by places;

8 and all these be beginnings of sorrows.

9 Then men shall betake you into tribulation, and shall slay you, and ye shall be in hate [or in hatred] to all folks for my name.

10 And then many shall be caused to stumble, and betray each other, and they shall hate each other.

11 And many false prophets shall rise, and deceive many.

12 And for wickedness shall be plenteous, the charity of many shall wax cold;

13 but he that shall dwell still [or steadfast] into the end, shall be safe.

14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, in witnessing to all folks; and then the end shall come.

15 Therefore when ye see the abomination of discomfort, that is said of Daniel, the prophet, standing in the holy place; he that readeth, understand he;

16 then they that be in Judea, flee to the mountains;

17 and he that is in the house roof, come not down to take anything of his house;

18 and he that is in the field, turn not again to take his coat.

19 But woe to them that be with child, and nourishing [or nursing] in those days.

20 Pray ye, that your flying be not made in winter, or in the sabbath.

21 For then shall be great tribulation, what manner was not from the beginning of the world to now [or till now], neither shall be made.

22 And but those days had been abridged, each flesh, [or all flesh, that is, mankind], should not be made safe; but those days shall be made short, for the chosen men.

23 Then if any man say to you, Lo! here is Christ, or there, do not ye believe.

24 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and they shall give great tokens [or great signs] and wonders; so that also the chosen be led into error, if it may be done.

25 Lo! I have before-said to you.

26 Therefore if they say to you, Lo! he is in desert, do not ye go out; lo! he is in privy places, do not ye believe.

27 For as lightning goeth out from the east, and appeareth into the west, so shall be also the coming of man’s Son.

28 Wherever the body shall be, also the eagles shall be gathered thither.

29 And anon after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be made dark, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the virtues of heavens shall be moved [or stirred].

30 And then the token of man’s Son shall appear in heaven, and then all the kindreds [or lineages] of the earth shall wail; and they shall see man’s Son coming in the clouds of heaven, with much virtue, and majesty.

31 And he shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great voice; and they shall gather his chosen from four winds, from the highest things of heaven to the ends of them.

32 And learn ye the parable of the fig tree. When his branch is now tender, and the leaves be sprung, ye know that summer is nigh;

33 and so ye when ye shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, in the gates.

34 Truly I say to you, for this generation shall not pass, till all things be done;

35 heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass.

36 But of that day and hour no man knoweth, neither [the] angels of heaven, but the Father alone.

37 But as it was in the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of man’s Son.

38 For as in the days before the great flood, they were eating and drinking, wedding and taking to wedding, till that day, that Noah entered into the ship;

39 and they knew not, till the great flood came, and took all men, so shall be the coming of man’s Son.

40 Then twain shall be in a field, one shall be taken, and the other left;

41 two women shall be grinding in a quern [or mill], one shall be taken, and the other left; twain in a bed, the one shall be taken, and the other left.

42 Therefore wake ye, for ye know not in what hour the Lord shall come.

43 But know ye this, that if the husbandman knew in what hour the thief were to come, certainly he would wake, and suffer not his house to be undermined.

44 And therefore be ye ready, for in what hour ye guess not, man’s Son shall come.

45 Who guessest thou is a true [or a faithful] servant and prudent, whom his lord ordained on his meine, to give them meat in time?

46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he shall come, shall find so doing.

47 Truly I say to you, for on all his goods he shall ordain him.

48 But if that evil servant say in his heart, My lord tarrieth to come,

49 and beginneth to smite his even-servants, and to eat, and drink with drunken men;

50 the lord of that servant shall come in the day [in] which he hopeth not, and in the hour that he knoweth not,

51 and shall part him, and put his part with hypocrites; there shall be weeping, and grinding of teeth.

CHAPTER 25

1 Then the kingdom of heavens shall be like to ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went out to meet the husband and the wife;

2 and five of them were fools, and five prudent.

3 But the five fools took their lamps, and took not oil with them;

4 but the prudent took oil in their vessels with the lamps.

5 And whiles the husband tarried, all they napped and slept.

6 But at midnight a cry was made, Lo! the spouse cometh, go ye out to meet with him [or to meet him].

7 Then all those virgins rose up, and arrayed their lamps.

8 And the fools said to the wise, Give ye to us of your oil, for our lamps be quenched.

9 The prudent answered, and said, Lest peradventure it suffice not to us and to you, go ye rather to men that sell, and buy to you.

10 And while they went to buy, the spouse came; and those that were ready, entered with him to the weddings; and the gate was shut.

11 And at the last the other virgins came, and said, Lord, lord, open to us.

12 And he answered, and said, Truly I say to you, I know you not.

13 Therefore wake ye, for ye know not the day nor the hour.

14 For as a man that goeth [far] in pilgrimage, called his servants, and betook to them his goods;

15 and to one he gave five bezants or talents, to another twain, and to another one, to each after his own virtue; and he went forth anon.

16 And he that had five bezants [or talents] went forth, and wrought in them, and won other five.

17 Also and he that had taken twain, won other twain.

18 But he that had taken one, went forth, and delved in the earth, and hid the money of his lord.

19 But after long time, the lord of those servants came, and reckoned with them.

20 And he that had taken five bezants [or talents], came, and brought other five, and said, Lord, thou betookest to me five bezants [or talents], lo! I have gotten above five others.

21 His lord said to him, Well be thou, good servant and faithful; for on few things thou hast been true [or faithful], I shall ordain thee on many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

22 And he that had taken two bezants, or two talents, came, and said, Lord, thou betookest to me two bezants [or talents]; lo! I have won [or gotten] over other twain.

23 His lord said to him, Well be thou, good servant and true [or faithful]; for on few things thou hast been true [or faithful], I shall ordain thee on many things; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

24 But he that had taken one bezant [or talent], came, and said, Lord, I know that thou art an hard man; thou reapest where thou hast not sown, and thou gatherest together where thou hast not spread abroad;

25 and I dreading, went, and hid thy bezant [or talent] in the earth; lo! thou hast that that is thine.

26 His lord answered, and said to him, Evil servant and slow, knewest thou that I reap where I sowed not, and gather together where I spreaded not abroad?

27 Therefore it behooved thee to betake my money to exchangers, that when I came, I should have received that that is mine with usuries.

28 Therefore take away from him the bezant [or talent], and give to him that hath ten bezants [or talents].

29 For to every man that hath me shall give, and he shall increase [+or For to every man having it shall be given, and he shall have plenty, or increase]; but from him that hath not, also that that he seemeth to have, shall be taken away from him.

30 And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into outer-more [or uttermore] darknesses; there shall be weeping, and grinding of teeth.

31 When man’s Son shall come in his majesty, and all his angels with him, then he shall sit on the seat of his majesty;

32 and all folks shall be gathered before him, and he shall separate [or part] them atwain, as a shepherd separateth [or parteth] sheep from kids;

33 and he shall set the sheep on his right half, and the kids on the [or his] left half.

34 Then the king shall say to them, that shall be on his right half, Come ye, the blessed of my Father, take ye in possession the kingdom made ready to you from the making [or the beginning] of the world.

35 For I hungered [or I was hungry], and ye gave me to eat; I thirsted, and ye gave me to drink; I was harbour-less, and ye harboured me;

36 naked, and ye covered me; sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came to me.

37 Then just men shall answer to him, and say, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and we fed thee; thirsty, and we gave to thee [or we gave thee] drink?

38 and when saw we thee harbour-less, and we harboured thee [or we gathered thee to harbour]; or naked, and we covered thee?

39 or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and we came to thee?

40 And the king answering shall say to them, Truly I say to you, as long as ye did to one of these my least brethren, ye did to me.

41 Then the king shall say also to them, that shall be on his left half, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, that is made ready to the devil and his angels.

42 For I hungered, and ye gave not [to] me to eat; I thirsted, and ye gave not [to] me to drink;

43 I was harbourless, and ye harboured not me [or ye gathered not me to harbour]; naked, and ye covered not me; sick, and in prison, and ye visited not me.

44 Then and they shall answer to him, and shall say, Lord, when saw we thee hungering, or thirsting, or harbourless, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and we served not to thee?

45 Then he shall answer to them, and say, Truly I say to you, as long as ye did not to one of these least, neither ye did to me [or ye did not to me].

46 And these shall go into ever-lasting torment; but the just men shall go into everlasting life.

CHAPTER 26

1 And it was done, when Jesus had ended all these words, he said to his disciples,

2 Ye know, that after two days pask shall be made, and man’s Son shall be betaken to be crucified.

3 Then the princes of priests, and the elder men of the people were gathered into the hall of the prince of priests, that was said Caiaphas,

4 and made a counsel to hold Jesus with guile, and slay him;

5 but they said, Not in the holiday [or in the feast day], lest peradventure noise were made in the people.

6 And when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leprous,

7 a woman that had a box of alabaster of precious ointment, came to him, and shedded it out on the head of him resting.

8 And the disciples seeing had disdain, and said, Whereto is this loss?

9 for it might be sold for much [or this might have been sold for much], and be given to poor men.

10 But Jesus knew, and said to them, What be ye heavy to this woman? for she hath wrought in me a good work [or she hath wrought a good work in me].

11 For ye shall ever[more] have poor men with you, but ye shall not always have me.

12 For this woman sending this ointment into my body, did [for] to bury me.

13 Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel shall be preached in all the world, it shall be said, that she did this, in mind of him.

14 Then one of the twelve, that was called Judas Iscariot, went forth [or went] to the princes of priests,

15 and said to them, What will ye give to me, and I shall betake him to you? And they ordained to him thirty pieces of silver.

16 And from that time he sought opportunity, to betray him.

17 And in the first day of therf loaves the disciples came to Jesus, and said, Where wilt thou [that] we make ready to thee, to eat pask?

18 Jesus said, Go ye into the city to a man, and say to him, The master saith, My time is nigh; at thee I make pask with my disciples.

19 And the disciples did, as Jesus commanded to them; and they made the pask ready.

20 And when the eventide was come, he sat to [or at the] meat, with his twelve disciples.

21 And he said to them, as they ate, Truly I say to you, that one of you shall betray me.

22 And they full sorry, [or made sorrowful greatly], began each by himself to say, Lord, whether I am he?

23 And he answered, and said, He that putteth with me his hand in the platter, shall betray me.

24 Forsooth man’s Son goeth, as it is written of him; but woe to that man, by whom man’s Son shall be betrayed; it were good to him, if that man had not been born.

25 But Judas that betrayed him, answered, saying, Master, whether I am he? Jesus said to him, Thou hast said.

26 And while they supped, Jesus took bread, and blessed [it], and brake, and gave to his disciples, and said, Take ye, and eat; this is my body.

27 And he took the cup, and did thankings, and gave to them, and said, Drink ye all thereof;

28 this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many, into remission of sins.

29 And I say to you, I shall not drink from this time, of this fruit of the vine, into that day when I shall drink it new with you, in the kingdom of my Father.

30 And when the hymn was said, they went out into the mount of Olives.

31 Then Jesus said to them, All ye shall suffer cause of stumbling in me, in this night; for it is written, I shall smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.

32 But after that I shall rise again, I shall go before you into Galilee.

33 Peter answered, and said to him, Though all [men] shall be caused to stumble in thee, I shall never be caused to stumble.

34 Jesus said to him, Truly I say to thee, for in this night before the cock crow, thrice thou shalt deny me.

35 Peter said to him, Yea, though it behooveth that I die with thee, I shall not deny thee. Also all the disciples said.

36 Then Jesus came with them into a town, that is said Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I go thither, and pray.

37 And when he had taken Peter, and two sons of Zebedee, he began to be heavy and sorry [or to be sorrowful and heavy in heart].

38 Then he said to them, My soul is sorrowful to the death; abide ye here, and wake ye with me.

39 And he went forth a little, and felled down on his face, praying, and saying, My Father, if it is possible, pass this cup from me [or this cup pass from me]; nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

40 And he came to his disciples, and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, So, whether ye might not one hour wake with me? [or might ye not one hour wake with me?]

41 Wake ye, and pray ye, that ye enter not into temptation; for the spirit is ready, but the flesh is sick, [or unstable, or unsteadfast].

42 Again the second time he went, and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cup may not pass, but I drink it, thy will be done.

43 And again he came, and found them sleeping; for their eyes were heavied.

44 And he left them, and went again, and prayed the third time, and said the same word.

45 Then he came to his disciples, and said to them, Sleep ye now, and rest ye; lo! the hour hath nighed, and man’s Son shall be betaken [or be betrayed] into the hands of sinners;

46 rise ye, go we; lo! he that shall take me, is nigh.

47 Yet while he spake, lo! Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great company, with swords and bats [or staves], sent from the princes of priests, and from the elder men of the people.

48 And he that betrayed him, gave to them a token, and said, Whomever I shall kiss, he it is; hold ye him.

49 And anon he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, Master; and he kissed him.

50 And Jesus said to him, Friend, whereto art thou come? Then they came nigh, and laid hands on Jesus, and held him.

51 And lo! one of them that were with Jesus, stretched out his hand, and drew out his sword; and he smote the servant of the prince of priests, and cut off his ear.

52 Then Jesus said to him, Turn thy sword into his place; for all that take sword, shall perish by sword.

53 Whether guessest thou, that I may not pray my Father, and he shall give to me now more than twelve legions of angels?

54 How then shall the scriptures be fulfilled? for so it behooveth to be done.

55 In that hour Jesus said to the people, As to a thief ye have gone out, with swords and bats [or staves], to take me; day by day I sat among you, and taught in the temple, and ye held me not.

56 But all this thing was done, that the scriptures of prophets should be fulfilled. Then all the disciples fled, and left him.

57 And they held Jesus, and led him to Caiaphas, the prince of priests, where the scribes and the Pharisees, and the elder men of the people were come together [or where the scribes and the elder men of the people had come together].

58 But Peter pursued him afar, into the hall of the prince of priests; and he went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end.

59 And the prince of priests, and all the council sought false witnessing against Jesus, that they should [be] take him to death;

60 and they found not, when many false witnesses were come. But at the last, two false witnesses came,

61 and said, This said, I may destroy the temple of God, and after the third day [or three days] build it again.

62 And the prince of priests rose, and said to him, Answerest thou nothing to those things, that these witness against thee?

63 But Jesus was still. And the prince of priests said to him, I conjure thee by the living God, that thou say to us, if thou art Christ, the Son of God.

64 Jesus said to him, Thou hast said; nevertheless I say to you, hereafter ye shall see man’s Son sitting at the right half of the virtue of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

65 Then the prince of priests rent his clothes, and said, He hath blasphemed; what yet have we need to witnesses? lo! now ye have heard blasphemy;

66 what seemeth to you? And they answered, and said, He is guilty of death.

67 Then they spat in his face, and smote him with buffets; and others gave strokes with the palm of their hands in[to] his face,

68 and said, Thou Christ, declare [or prophesy] to us, who is he that smote thee?

69 And Peter sat without in the hall; and a damsel [or an handmaid] came to him, and said, Thou were with Jesus of Galilee.

70 And he denied before all [men], and said, I know not what thou sayest.

71 And when he went out at the gate, another damsel [or handmaid] saw him, and said to them that were there, And this was with Jesus of Nazareth.

72 And again he denied with an oath, For I knew not the man.

73 And a little after, they that stood came, and said to Peter, Truly and thou art [one] of them; for thy speech maketh thee known.

74 Then he began to curse and to swear, that he knew not the man. And anon the cock crew.

75 And Peter bethought on the word of Jesus, that he had said, Before the cock crow, thrice thou shalt deny me. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

CHAPTER 27

1 But when the morrowtide was come, all the princes of priests, and the elder men of the people took counsel against Jesus, that they should take him to the death.

2 And they led him bound, and betook him to Pilate of Pontii, [chief] justice [or the president].

3 Then Judas that betrayed him, saw that he was condemned, he repented, and brought again the thirty pieces [of silver] to the princes of priests, and to the elder men of the people,

4 and said, I have sinned, betraying rightful [or just] blood. And they said, What to us? busy thee [or see thou].

5 And when he had cast forth the [pieces of] silver in the temple, he passed forth, and went, and hanged himself with a snare.

6 And the princes of priests took the [pieces of] silver, and said, It is not leaveful to put it into the treasury, for it is the price of blood.

7 And when they had taken counsel, they bought with it [or with them] a field of a potter, into [the] burying of pilgrims.

8 Therefore that field is called Aceldama, that is, a field of blood, into this day.

9 Then that was fulfilled, that was said by the prophet Jeremy saying, And they have taken thirty pieces [of silver], the price of a man appraised, whom they appraised of the children of Israel;

10 and they gave them into a field of a potter, as the Lord hath ordained to me.

11 And Jesus stood before the dooms-man; and the justice [or the president] asked him, and said, Art thou king of Jews? Jesus saith to him, Thou sayest.

12 And when he was accused of the princes of priests, and of the elder men of the people, he answered nothing.

13 Then Pilate saith to him, Hearest thou not, how many things [or how many witnessings], they say against thee?

14 And he answered not to him any word, so that the justice [or the president] wondered greatly.

15 But for a solemn day the justice [or the president] was wont to deliver to the people one bound, whom they would.

16 And he had then a famous man bound [or he had one famous man bound], that was said Barabbas.

17 Therefore Pilate said to them, when they were [gathered] together, Whom will ye, that I deliver to you? whether Barabbas, or Jesus, that is said Christ?

18 For he knew, that by envy they betrayed him [or they betook him].

19 And while he sat for doomsman [or for judge], his wife sent to him, and said, Nothing to thee and to that just man; for I have suffered this day many things for him, by a vision.

20 Forsooth the princes of priests, and the elder men counselled the people, that they should ask Barabbas, but they should destroy Jesus.

21 But the justice [or the president] answered, and said to them, Whom of the twain will ye, that be delivered to you? And they said, Barabbas.

22 Pilate saith to them, What then shall I do of Jesus, that is said Christ? All they say, Be he crucified.

23 The justice [or The president] saith to them, What evil hath he done? And they cried more, and said, Be he crucified.

24 And Pilate seeing that he profited nothing, but that the more noise was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the people, and said, I am guiltless [or innocent] of the blood of this rightful [or this just] man; busy you [or see ye].

25 And all the people answered, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

26 Then he delivered to them Barabbas, but he [be] took to them Jesus scourged, to be crucified.

27 Then [the] knights of the justice [or the president] took Jesus in the moot hall, and gathered to him all the company of knights.

28 And they unclothed him, and did about him a red mantle;

29 and they folded a crown of thorns, and put on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled before him, and scorned him, and said, Hail, king of Jews.

30 And they spat on him, and took a reed, and smote his head.

31 And after that they had scorned him, they unclothed him of the mantle, and they clothed him with his clothes, and led him to crucify him [or to be crucified].

32 And as they went out, they found a man of Cyrene coming from the town, Simon by name; they constrained him to take his cross.

33 And they came into [or to] a place that is called Golgotha, that is, the place of Calvary.

34 And they gave [to] him to drink wine meddled or mingled with gall; and when he had tasted, he would not drink.

35 And after that they had crucified him, they parted his clothes, and cast lots, to fulfill that is said by the prophet, saying, They parted to them my clothes, and on my cloth they cast lots.

36 And they sat, and kept him;

37 and set [or put] above his head his cause, written, This is Jesus of Nazareth, king of Jews, [or This is Jesus, the king of Jews].

38 Then two thieves were crucified with him, one on the right half, and one on the left half.

39 And men that passed forth blas-phemed him, moving their heads,

40 and saying, Vath [or Fie]to thee, that destroyest the temple of God, and in the third day buildest it again; save thou thyself; if thou art the Son of God, come down of the cross [or come down off the cross].

41 Also and [the] princes of priests scorning, with scribes and elder men, said,

42 He made other men safe, he may not make himself safe; if he is [the] king of Israel, come he now down from the cross, and we believe to him;

43 he trusted in God; deliver he him now, if he will; for he said, That I am God’s Son [or I am the Son of God].

44 And the thieves, that were crucified with him, upbraided him of the same thing.

45 But from the sixth hour, dark-nesses were made on all the earth [or upon all the land], till [to] the ninth hour.

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a great voice, and said, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

47 And some men that stood there, and hearing, said, This calleth Elijah.

48 And anon one of them running, took and filled a sponge with vinegar, and put [it] on a reed, and gave to him to drink.

49 But others said, Suffer thou; see we whether Elijah come to deliver him.

50 Forsooth Jesus again cried with a great voice, and gave up the ghost [or sent out the spirit].

51 And lo! the veil of the temple was rent in two parts, from the highest to the lowest. And the earth shook [or was moved], and the stones were cloven [or were cleft];

52 and burials were opened, and many bodies of saints that had slept, rose up.

53 And they went out of their burials, and after his resurrection they came into the holy city, and appeared to many.

54 And the centurion and they that were with him keeping Jesus, when they saw the earth-shaking, and those things that were done, they dreaded greatly, and said, Verily this was God’s Son.

55 And there were there many women afar [or Forsooth many women were there afar], that pursued Jesus from Galilee, and ministered to him.

56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James, and of Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

57 But when the evening was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, Joseph by name, and he was a disciple of Jesus.

58 He went to Pilate, and asked the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be given.

59 And when the body was taken, Joseph wrapped it in a clean sendal [or a clean linen cloth],

60 and laid it in his new burial, that he had hewn in a stone; and he wallowed a great stone to the door of the burial, and went away.

61 But Mary Magdalene and another Mary were there, sitting against the sepulchre.

62 And on the tother day, that is after pask even, the princes of priests and [the] Pharisees came together to Pilate,

63 and said, Sir [or Sire], we have mind, that that beguiler [or deceiver] said yet living, After three days I shall rise again to life.

64 Therefore command thou, that the sepulchre be kept into the third day; lest his disciples come, and steal him, and say to the people, He hath risen from death; and the last error shall be worse than the former.

65 Pilate said to them, Ye have the keeping; go ye, keep ye as ye can.

66 And they went forth, and kept the sepulchre, marking [or sealing] the stone, with [the] keepers.

CHAPTER 28

1 But in the eventide of the sabbath, [or holiday], that beginneth to shine in the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came, and another Mary, to see the sepulchre.

2 And lo! there was made a great earth-shaking; for the angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and nighed, and turned away the stone, and sat thereon.

3 And his looking was as lightning, and his clothes [white] as snow;

4 and for dread of him the keepers were afeared, and they were made as dead men.

5 But the angel answered, and said to the women, Do not ye dread, for I know that ye seek Jesus, that was crucified;

6 he is not here, for he is risen, as he said; come ye, and see ye the place, where the Lord was laid.

7 And go ye soon, and say ye to his disciples, that he is risen. And lo! he shall go before you into Galilee; there ye shall see him. Lo! I have before-said to you.

8 And they went out soon from the burials [or the sepulchre], with dread, and great joy, running to tell to his disciples.

9 And lo! Jesus met them, and said, Hail ye. And they nighed, and held his feet, and worshipped him.

10 Then Jesus said to them, Do not ye dread; go ye, tell ye to my brethren, that they go into Galilee; there they shall see me.

11 And when they were gone, lo! some of the keepers came into the city, and told to the princes of priests all things that were done.

12 And when they were gathered together with the elder men, and had taken their counsel, they gave to the knights much money,

13 and said, Say ye, that his disciples came by night, and have stolen him, while ye slept.

14 And if this be heard of the justice [or the president], we shall counsel him, and make you secure.

15 And when the money was taken, they did, as they were taught. And this word is published among the Jews, till into this day.

16 And the eleven disciples went into Galilee, into an hill, where Jesus had ordained to them.

17 And they saw him, and worship-ped; but some of them doubted.

18 And Jesus came nigh, and spake to them, and said, All power in heaven and in earth is given to me.

19 Therefore go ye, and teach all folks, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;

20 teaching them to keep all things, whatever things I have commanded to you; and lo! I am with you in all days, into the end of the world.

MARK

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MARK

CHAPTER 1

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in Isaiah, the prophet, Lo! I send mine angel before thy face, that shall make thy way ready before thee.

3 The voice of a crier in desert, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make ye his paths right. [The voice of one crying in desert, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make ye his paths rightful.]

4 John was in desert baptizing, and preaching the baptism of penance, into remission of sins.

5 And all the country of Judea went out to him, and all men of Jerusalem; and they were baptized of him in the flume [or the flood] of Jordan, acknowledging their sins.

6 And John was clothed with hairs of camels, and a girdle of skin was about his loins; and he ate honey-suckles, and wild honey, [or locusts, and honey of the wood],

7 and preached, and said, A stronger than I shall come after me, and I am not worthy to kneel down, and unloose, [or to undo, or unbind, the thong of] his shoes.

8 I have baptized you in water; but he shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost.

9 And it was done in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.

10 And anon he went up of the water, and saw heavens opened, and the Holy Ghost [or the Spirit] coming down as a culver, and dwelling on him.

11 And a voice was made from heavens, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am pleased.

12 And anon the Spirit put him forth into desert.

13 And he was in desert forty days and forty nights, and was tempted of Satan, and he was with beasts, and angels ministered to him.

14 But after that John was taken, Jesus came into Galilee, and preached the gospel of the kingdom of God,

15 and said, That the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God shall come nigh; do ye penance [or repent ye], and believe ye to the gospel.

16 And as he passed beside the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon, and Andrew, his brother, casting their nets into the sea; for they were fishers.

17 And Jesus said to them, Come ye after me; I shall make you to be made fishers of men.

18 And anon they left the nets, and pursued him.

19 And he went forth from thence a little, and saw James of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in a boat making their nets.

20 And anon he called them; and they left Zebedee, their father, in the boat with hired servants, and they pursued him.

21 And they entered into Capernaum, and anon in the sabbaths, he went into the synagogue, and taught them.

22 And they wondered on his teaching; for he taught them, as he that had power, and not as [the] scribes.

23 And in the synagogue of them was a man in an unclean spirit, and he cried out,

24 and said, What to us and to thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? hast thou come to destroy us? I know that thou art the Holy of God.

25 And Jesus threatened him, and said, Wax [thou] dumb, and go out of the man.

26 And the unclean spirit wrenching him, and crying with a great voice, went out from him.

27 And all men wondered, so that they sought within themselves, and said, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for in power he commandeth to unclean spirits, and they obey to him.

28 And the fame, [or the tale, or tiding], of him went forth anon into all the country of Galilee.

29 And anon they went out of the synagogue, and came into the house of Simon and of Andrew, with James and John.

30 And the mother of Simon’s wife lay sick in the fevers; and anon they say to him of her.

31 And he came nigh, and areared her, and when he had taken her hand, anon the fever left her, and she served them.

32 But when the eventide was come, and the sun was gone down, they brought to him all that were of mal-ease, and them that had fiends. [Forsooth the evening made, when the sun went down, they brought to him all having evil, and having devils.]

33 And all the city was gathered at the gate.

34 And he healed many, that had diverse sicknesses, and he cast out many fiends [or devils], and he suffered them not to speak, for they knew him.

35 And he rose full early [or in the morrowing], and went out, and went into a desert place, and prayed there.

36 And Simon pursued him, and they that were with him.

37 And when they had found him, they said to him, That all men seek thee.

38 And he said to them, Go we into the next towns and cities, that I preach also there, for thereto [or to this thing] I came.

39 And he preached in the syna-gogues of them, and in all Galilee, and casted out fiends.

40 And a leprous man came to him, and besought, kneeling, and said, If thou wilt, thou mayest cleanse me.

41 And Jesus had mercy on him, and stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, I will, be thou made clean.

42 And when he had said this, anon the leprosy parted [or went] away from him, and he was cleansed.

43 And Jesus threatened him, and anon put him out,

44 and said to him, See thou, say to no man; but go, show thee to the prince of priests, and offer for thy cleansing into witnessing to them, those things that Moses bade.

45 And he went out, and began to preach, and to publish the word, so that now he might not go openly into the city, but be withoutforth in desert places; and they came to him on all sides.

CHAPTER 2

1 And again he entered into Capernaum, after eight days. And it was heard, that he was in an house,

2 and many came together, so that they might not be in the house, nor at the gate. And he spake to them the word.

3 And there came to him men that brought a man sick in the palsy, which was borne of four. [And there came to him men bringing or bearing a sick man in palsy, the which was borne of four men.]

4 And when they might not bring him to Jesus for the people, they uncovered the roof where he was, and opened it, and they let down the bed in which the sick man in palsy lay.

5 And when Jesus had seen the faith of them, he said to the sick man in palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven to thee.

6 But there were some of the scribes sitting, and thinking in their hearts,

7 What speaketh he thus? He blasphemeth; who may forgive sins, but God alone?

8 And [anon] when Jesus had known this by the Holy Ghost, that they thought so within themselves, he saith to them, What think ye these things in your hearts?

9 What is lighter to say to the sick man in palsy, Sins be forgiven to thee, or to say, Rise, take thy bed, and walk?

10 But that ye know that man’s Son hath power in earth to forgive sins, he said to the sick man in palsy,

11 I say to thee, rise up, take thy bed, and go into thine house.

12 And anon he rose up, and when he had taken the bed, he went before all men, so that all men wondered, and honoured God, and said, For we saw never so.

13 And he went out again to the sea, and all the people came to him; and he taught them.

14 And when he passed, he saw Levi of Alphaeus sitting at the tollbooth, and he said to him, Pursue me. And he rose, and pursued him.

15 And it was done, when he sat at the meat in his house, many publicans and sinful men sat together at the meat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many that followed him.

16 And scribes and Pharisees seeing, that he ate with publicans and sinful men, said to his disciples, Why eateth and drinketh your master with publicans and sinners?

17 When this was heard, Jesus said to them, Whole men have no need to a leech, but they that be evil-at-ease [or they that have evil]; for I came not to call just men, but sinners.

18 And the disciples of John and the Pharisees were fasting; and they came, and said to him, Why fast the disciples of John, and the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?

19 And Jesus said to them, Whether the sons of the spousals [or of the weddings] may fast, as long as the spouse is with them? As long time as they have the spouse with them, they may not fast.

20 But days shall come, when the spouse shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.

21 No man seweth a patch of new cloth to an old cloth, else he taketh away the new patch from the old, and a more breaking is made.

22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the wine shall burst the bottles, and the wine shall be shed out, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine shall be put into new bottles. [And no man putteth new wine into old wine vessels, else the wine shall burst or shall break the wine vessels, and the wine shall be poured out, and the wine vessels shall perish. But new wine oweth to be put into new wine vessels.]

23 And it was done again, when the Lord walked in the sabbaths by the corns, and his disciples began to pass [or to go] forth, and [to] pluck ears of the corn.

24 And the Pharisees said to him, Lo! what thy disciples do in the sabbaths, that is not leaveful.

25 And he said to them, Read ye never what David did, when he had need, and he hungered, and they that were with him?

26 How he went into the house of God, under Abiathar, prince of priests, and ate loaves of proposition, [either of setting forth], which it was not leave-ful to eat, but to priests alone, and he gave to them that were with him.

27 And he said to them, The sabbath is made for man, and not man for the sabbath;

28 and so man’s Son is Lord also of the sabbath.

CHAPTER 3

1 And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man having a dry hand.

2 And they espied him, if he healed in the sabbaths, to accuse him.

3 And he said to the man that had a dry hand, Rise [thou] into the middle.

4 And he saith to them, Is it leaveful to do well in the sabbaths, either evil? to make a soul safe, either to lose? And they were still.

5 And he beheld them about with wrath, and had sorrow on the blind-ness of their heart, and saith to the man, Hold forth thine hand. And he held forth, and his hand was restored to him.

6 Soothly [the] Pharisees went out anon, and made a counsel with Herodians against him, how they should lose him.

7 But Jesus with his disciples went to the sea; and much people from Galilee and from Judea pursued him,

8 and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan, and they that were about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, hearing the things that he did, came to him.

9 And Jesus said to his disciples, that the boat should serve him, for the people, lest they thrust [or oppressed] him;

10 for he healed many, so that they felled fast to him, to touch him. And how many ever had sicknesses, [or sores, or wounds],

11 and unclean spirits, when they saw him, felled down to him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

12 And greatly he menaced them, that they should not make him known.

13 And he went into an hill, and called to him whom he would; and they came to him.

14 And he made, that there were twelve with him, to send them to preach.

15 And he gave to them power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out fiends.

16 And to Simon he gave a name, Peter,

17 and he called James of Zebedee and John, the brother of James, and he gave to them names of Boanerges, that is, the sons of thundering [or of thunder].

18 And he called Andrew and Philip, and Bartholomew and Matthew, and Thomas, and James [of] Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon Canaanite,

19 and Judas Iscariot, that betrayed him. And they came to an house,

20 and the people came together again, so that they might not eat bread.

21 And when his kinsmen had heard, they went out to hold him; for they said, that he is turned into madness.

22 And the scribes that came down from Jerusalem, said, That he hath Beelzebub, and that in the prince of devils he casteth out fiends.

23 And he called them together, and he said to them in parables, How may Satan cast out Satan?

24 And if a realm be parted against itself, that realm may not stand.

25 And if an house be parted against itself, that house may not stand.

26 And if Satan hath risen against himself, he is parted, and he shall not be able to stand, but hath an end.

27 No man may go into a strong man’s house, and take away his vessels, but he bind first the strong man, and then he shall spoil [or ravish] his house.

28 Truly I say to you, that all sins and blasphemies, by which they have blasphemed, shall be forgiven to the sons of men.

29 But he that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, hath not remission into without end, but he shall be guilty of everlasting trespass.

30 For they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

31 And his mother and his brethren came, and stood withoutforth, and sent to him, and called him.

32 And the people sat about him; and they said to him, Lo! thy mother and thy brethren withoutforth seek thee.

33 And he answered to them, and said, Who is my mother and my brethren?

34 And he beheld them that sat about him, and said, Lo! my mother and my brethren.

35 For who that doeth the will of God, he is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

CHAPTER 4

1 And again Jesus began to teach at the sea; and much people was gathered to him, so that he went into a boat, and sat in the sea, and all the people was about the sea on the land.

2 And he taught them in parables many things. And he said to them in his teaching,

3 Hear ye. Lo! a man sowing goeth out to sow [or a sower went out to sow].

4 And while he soweth, some seed felled about [or beside] the way, and [the] birds of heaven [or of the air], came, and ate it.

5 Other felled down on stony places, where it had not much earth; and anon it sprang up, for it had not [or no] deepness of earth.

6 And when the sun rose up, it withered for heat, and it dried up, for it had no root.

7 And other felled down into thorns, and [the] thorns sprang up, and strangled it, and it gave no fruit.

8 And other felled down into good land, and gave fruit, springing up, and waxing; and one brought thirty-fold, and one sixtyfold, and one an hundredfold.

9 And he said, He that hath ears of hearing, hear he, [or He that hath ears to hear, hear].

10 And when he was by himself, the twelve that were with him asked him to expound the parable.

11 And he said to them, To you it is given to know the private [or the mystery] of the kingdom of God. But to them that be withoutforth, all things be made in parables,

12 that they seeing see, and see not, and they hearing hear, and understand not; lest sometime they be converted, and sins be forgiven to them.

13 And he said to them, Know not ye this parable? and how ye shall know all parables?

14 He that soweth, soweth a word.

15 But these it be that be about the way, where the word is sown; and when they have heard, anon cometh Satan, and taketh away the word that is sown in their hearts.

16 And in like manner be these that be sown on stony places, which when they have heard the word, anon they take it with joy;

17 and they have not root in them-selves, but they be lasting a little time [or they be temporal]; afterward when tribulation riseth, and persecution for the word, anon they be caused to stumble.

18 And there be others that be sown in thorns; these it be, that hear the word,

19 and dis-ease of the world, and deceit of riches, and other charge of covetousness entereth, and strangleth the word, and it is made without fruit.

20 And these it be that be sown on good land, which hear the word, and take, and make fruit, one thirtyfold, and one sixtyfold, and one an hundred-fold.

21 And he said to them, Whether a lantern cometh, that it be put under a bushel, or under a bed? nay, but that it be put on a candlestick?

22 There is nothing hid, that shall not be made open [or shall not be showed]; neither anything is privy, that shall not come into open.

23 If any man have ears of hearing, hear he.

24 And he said to them, See ye what ye hear. In what measure ye mete, it shall be meted to you again, and it shall be cast to you.

25 For it shall be given to him that hath, and it shall be taken away from him that hath not, also that that he hath.

26 And he said, So the kingdom of God is, as if a man cast seed into the earth,

27 and he sleep, and it rise up night and day, and bring forth seed, and wax fast, while he knoweth not.

28 For the earth [by his own work-ing, or his own will], maketh fruit, first the grass, afterward the ear, and after[ward] full fruit in the ear.

29 And when of itself it hath brought forth fruit, anon he sendeth a sickle, for reaping time is come.

30 And he said, To what thing shall we liken the kingdom of God? or to what parable shall we comparison it?

31 As a corn of sinapi, which when it is sown in the earth, is less than all seeds that be in the earth;

32 and when it is sprung up, it waxeth into a tree, and is made greater than all herbs; and it maketh great branches, so that [the] birds of heaven may dwell under the shadow thereof.

33 And in many such parables he spake to them the word, as they might hear;

34 and he spake not to them without parable. But he expounded to his disciples all things by themselves.

35 And he said to them in that day, when evening was come, Pass we again-ward.

36 And they left the people, and took him, so that he was in a boat; and other boats were with him.

37 And a great storm [or a tempest] of wind was made, and cast waves into the boat, so that the boat was full.

38 And he was in the hinder part of the boat, and slept on a pillow. And they raised him, and said to him, Master, pertaineth it not to thee, that we perish?

39 And he rose up, and menaced the wind, and said to the sea, Be still, wax dumb. And the wind ceased, and great peaceableness was made.

40 And he said to them, What dread ye? Yet ye have no faith? [or Not yet have ye faith?]

41 And they dreaded with great dread, and said to each other, Who, guessest thou, is this? for the wind and the sea obey to him.

CHAPTER 5

1 And they came over the sea into the country of Gadarenes.

2 And after that he was gone out of the boat, anon a man in an unclean spirit ran out of the burials to him.

3 Which man had an house in burials [or in graves], and neither with chains now might any man bind him.

4 For oft times he was bound in stocks and chains, and he had broken the chains, and had broken the stocks to small gobbets, and no man might make him tame [or might tame him].

5 And evermore, night and day, in burials, and in hills, he was crying and beating himself with stones.

6 And he saw Jesus afar, and ran, and worshipped him.

7 And he cried with great voice, and said, What to me and to thee, thou Jesus, the Son of the highest God? I conjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

8 And Jesus said to him, Thou unclean spirit, go out from the man.

9 And Jesus asked him, What is thy name? And he saith to him, A legion is my name; for we be many.

10 And he prayed Jesus much, that he should not put them out of the country.

11 And there was there about the hill a great flock of swine [or a great drove of hogs] pasturing.

12 And the spirits prayed Jesus, and said, Send us into the swine [or into the hogs], that we enter into them.

13 And anon Jesus granted to them. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine [or the hogs], and with a great rush the flock was cast headlong into the sea, a two thousand, and they were drenched or drowned in the sea.

14 And they that kept [or fed] them, fled, and told into the city, and into the fields; and they went out, to see what was done.

15 And they came to Jesus, and saw him that had been travailed of the fiend, sitting clothed, and of whole mind; and they dreaded.

16 And they that saw, how it was done to him that had a fiend, and of the swine [or the hogs], told to them.

17 And they began to pray him, that he should go away from their coasts.

18 And when he went up into a boat, he that was travailed of the devil, began to pray him, that he should be with him.

19 But Jesus received him not, but said to him, Go thou into thine house to thine, and tell to them, how great things the Lord hath done to thee, and had mercy of thee.

20 And he went forth, and began to preach in Decapolis, how great things Jesus had done to him; and all men wondered.

21 And when Jesus had gone up into the boat again over the sea, much people came together to him, and was about the sea.

22 And one of the princes of [the] synagogues, by name Jairus, came, and saw him, and he fell down at his feet,

23 and prayed him much, and said, My daughter is nigh dead; come thou, put thine hand on her, that she be safe, and live.

24 And he went forth with him, and much people pursued him, and thrust, either oppressed, him.

25 And a woman that had been in the bloody flux [or the flux of blood] twelve years,

26 and had received many things of full many leeches, and had spended all her good [or her things], and was nothing amended [or and nothing profited], but was rather the worse,

27 when she had heard of Jesus, she came among the people behind, and touched his cloth.

28 For she said, That if I touch yea his cloth, I shall be safe.

29 And anon the well of her blood was dried up, and she feeled in her body that she was healed of the sickness.

30 And anon Jesus knew in himself the virtue that was gone out of him, and he turned to the people, and said, Who touched my clothes?

31 And his disciples said to him, Thou seest the people thrusting [or pressing] thee, and sayest, Who touched me?

32 And Jesus looked about to see her that had done this thing.

33 And the woman dreaded, and quaked, witting that it was done in her, and came, and felled down before him, and said to him all the truth. [Forsooth the woman dreading, and trembling, knowing that it was done in her, came, and fell down before him, and said to him all the truth.]

34 And Jesus said to her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee safe; go in peace, and be thou whole of thy sickness.

35 Yet while he spake, messengers came to the prince of the synagogue, and said, Thy daughter is dead; what travailest thou the master further?

36 But when the word was heard that was said, Jesus said to the prince of the synagogue, Do not thou dread, only believe thou.

37 And he took no man to pursue him, but Peter, and James, and John, the brother of James.

38 And they came into the house of the prince of the synagogue. And he saw noise, and men weeping and wailing much.

39 And he went in, and said to them, What be ye troubled, and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

40 And they scorned him. But when all were put out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and they entered, where the damsel lay.

41 And he held the hand of the damsel, and said to her, Talitha, cumi, that is to say, Damsel, I say to thee, arise.

42 And anon the damsel rose, and walked; and she was of twelve years. And they were abashed with a great astonishing.

43 And he commanded to them greatly, that no man should know it. And he commanded to give her meat [or to give to her to eat].

CHAPTER 6

1 And he went out from thence, and went into his own country; and his disciples followed him.

2 And when the sabbath was come, Jesus began to teach in a synagogue. And many heard him, and wondered in his teaching, and said, Of whence cometh to this [man] all these things? and what is the wisdom that is given to him, and such virtues, which be made by his hands?

3 Whether this is not a carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and of Joseph and of Judas and of Simon? whether his sisters be not here with us? And they were offended in him.

4 And Jesus said to them, That a prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his kin, and in his house.

5 And he might not do there any virtue, save that he healed a few sick men, laying on them his hands.

6 And he wondered for the unbelief of them. And he went about castles on each side, and taught.

7 And he called together twelve, and began to send them by two together; and gave to them power of unclean spirits,

8 and commanded them, that they should not take anything in the way, but a staff [or a rod] only, not a scrip, nor bread, neither money in the girdle,

9 but shod with sandals, and that they should not be clothed with two coats.

10 And he said to them, Whither ever ye enter into an house, dwell ye there, till ye go out from thence.

11 And whoever receive you not, nor hear you, go ye out from thence, and shake away the powder from your feet, into witnessing to them.

12 And they went forth, and preached, that men should do penance.

13 And they casted out many fiends, and anointed with oil many sick men, and they were healed.

14 And king Herod heard, for his name was made open, and he said, That John Baptist hath risen again from death, and therefore virtues work in him.

15 Others said, That it is Elijah; but others said, That it is a prophet, as one of the prophets.

16 And when this thing was heard, Herod said, This is John, whom I have beheaded, he is risen again from death.

17 For that Herod sent, and held John, and bound him into prison, for Herodias, the wife of Philip, his brother; for he had wedded her.

18 For John said to Herod, It is not leaveful to thee, to have the wife of thy brother.

19 And Herodias laid ambush to him, and would slay him, and might not.

20 And Herod dreaded John, and knew him a just man and holy, and kept him. And Herod heard him, and he did many things, and gladly heard him.

21 And when a covenable day was fallen, Herod in his birthday made a supper to the princes, and tribunes, and to the greatest of Galilee.

22 And when the daughter of that Herodias was come in, and danced, and pleased to Herod [or and pleased Herod], and also to men that sat at the meat, the king said to the damsel, Ask thou of me what thou wilt, and I shall give to thee.

23 And he swore to her, That what-ever thou ask, I shall give to thee, though it be half of my kingdom.

24 And when she had gone out, she said to her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John [the] Baptist.

25 And when she was come in anon with haste to the king, she asked, and said, I will that anon, thou give to me in a dish the head of John Baptist.

26 And the king was sorry [or sorrowful] for the oath, and for men that sat together at the meat, he would not make her sorry [or heavy];

27 but he sent a man-queller and commanded, that John’s head were brought in a dish. And he beheaded him in the prison,

28 and brought his head in a dish, and gave it to the damsel, and the damsel gave it to her mother.

29 And when this thing was heard, his disciples came, and took his body, and laid it in a burial.

30 And the apostles came together to Jesus, and told to him all things, that they had done, and taught.

31 And he said to them, Come ye by yourselves into a desert place; and rest ye a little. For there were many that came, and went again, and they had not space [for] to eat.

32 And they went into a boat, and went into a desert place by them-selves.

33 And they saw them go away, and many knew, and they went afoot from all cities, and ran [together] thither, and came before them.

34 And Jesus went out, and saw much people, and had ruth [or mercy] on them, for they were as sheep not having a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

35 And when it was late in the day, his disciples came to him, and said, This is a desert place, and the time is now passed;

36 let them go into the next towns and villages, to buy them meat to eat.

37 And he answered, and said to them, Give ye to them for to eat. And they said to him, Go we, and buy we loaves with two hundred pence, and we shall give to them for to eat.

38 And he saith to them, How many loaves have ye? Go ye, and see. And when they had known, they say, Five, and two fishes.

39 And he commanded to them, that they should make all men sit to meat by companies, on [the] green hay.

40 And they sat down by parts [or by parties], by hundreds, and by fifties.

41 And when he had taken the five loaves, and two fishes, he beheld into heaven, and blessed, and brake [the] loaves, and gave to his disciples, that they should set before them. And he parted two fishes to all;

42 and all ate, and were full-filled [or fulfilled].

43 And they took the remnants of broken meats, twelve coffins full, and of the fishes.

44 And they that ate, were five thousand of men.

45 And anon he made his disciples to go up into a boat, to pass before him over the sea to Bethsaida, while he let the people go.

46 And when he had left them, he went into an high hill, to pray.

47 And when it was even, the boat was in the middle [or in the midst] of the sea, and he alone in the land;

48 and he saw them travailing in rowing; for the wind was contrary to them. And about the fourth waking of the night, he wandering on the sea, came to them, and would pass them.

49 And as they saw him wandering on the sea, they guessed that it were a phantom, and cried out;

50 for all saw him, and they were afraid, [or they were troubled, or disturbed]. And anon he spake with them, and said to them, Trust ye, I am; do not ye dread.

51 And he came up to them into the boat, and the wind ceased. And they wondered more within themselves;

52 for they understood not of the loaves; for their heart was blinded.

53 And when they were passed over the sea, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and setted to land.

54 And when they were gone out of the boat, anon they knew him.

55 And they ran through all that country, and began to bring sick men in beds on each side, where they heard that he was.

56 And whither ever he entered into villages, or into towns, or into cities, they set sick men in streets, and prayed him, that they should touch namely the hem of his cloth; and how many that touched him, were made safe.

CHAPTER 7

1 And the Pharisees and some of the scribes came from Jerusalem together to him.

2 And when they had seen some of his disciples eat bread with unwashen hands, they blamed [them].

3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews eat not, but they wash often their hands, holding the traditions of elder men.

4 And when they turn again from [the] market, they eat not, but they be washed; and many other things there be, that be taken to them to keep, as washing of cups, and of water vessels [or cruets], and of vessels of brass, and of beds.

5 And Pharisees and scribes asked him, and said, Why go not thy disciples after the tradition of elder men, but with unwashen hands they eat bread?

6 And he answered, and said to them, Isaiah prophesied well of you, hypocrites, as it is written, This people worshippeth [or honoureth] me with lips, but their heart is far from me;

7 and in vain they worship me, teaching the doctrines and the behests [or the commandments] of men.

8 For ye leave the commandment of God, and hold the traditions of men, as [the] washing of water vessels [or cruets], and of cups; and many other things like these ye do.

9 And he said to them, Well ye have made the commandment of God void, to keep your tradition.

10 For Moses said, Worship [or Honour] thy father and thy mother; and he that curseth father or mother, die he by death.

11 But ye say, If a man say to father or mother, Corban, that is, Whatever gift is of me, it shall profit to thee;

12 and over [or further] ye suffer not him [to] do anything to father or mother,

13 and ye break the word of God by your tradition, that ye have given; and ye do many [other] such things.

14 And he again called the people, and said to them, Ye all hear me, and understand.

15 Nothing that is without a man, that entereth into him, may defoul him; but those things that come forth of a man, those it be that defoul a man.

16 If any man have ears of hearing [or ears to hear], hear he.

17 And when he was entered into an house, from the people, his disciples asked him the parable.

18 And he said to them, Ye be unwise also. Understand ye not, that all thing withoutforth that entereth into a man, may not defoul him?

19 for it hath not entered into his heart, but into the womb, and beneath it goeth out, purging all meats.

20 But he said, The things that go out of a man, those defoul a man.

21 For from within, of the heart of men come forth evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, manslayings,

22 thefts, avarices, [or covetousness, or over-hard keeping of goods], wickednesses, guile, unchastity, evil eye, blasphemies, pride, folly.

23 All these evils come forth from within, and defoul a man.

24 And Jesus rose up from thence, and went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And he went into an house, and would that no man knew; and he might not be hid.

25 For a woman, anon as she heard of him, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, entered, and fell down at his feet.

26 And the woman was heathen, of the generation of Syrophenician. And she prayed him, that he would cast out a devil from her daughter.

27 And he said to her, Suffer thou that the children be fulfilled [or filled] first; for it is not good to take the bread of children, and give [it] to hounds.

28 And she answered, and said to him, Yes, Lord; for little whelps eat under the board of the crumbs of children.

29 And Jesus said to her, Go thou, for this word the fiend went out of thy daughter.

30 And when she was gone into her house home, [or when she had gone home, or she had gone into her house], she found the damsel lying on the bed, and the devil gone out from her.

31 And again Jesus went out from the coasts of Tyre, and came through Sidon to the sea of Galilee, between the middle of the coasts of Decapolis.

32 And they bring to him a man deaf and dumb, and prayed him to lay his hand/s on him.

33 And he took him aside from the people, and put his fingers into his ears; and he spat, and touched his tongue.

34 And he beheld into heaven, and sorrowed within, and said [to him], Ephphatha, that is, Be thou opened.

35 And anon his ears were opened, and the band of his tongue was unbound, and he spake rightly.

36 And he commanded to them, that they should say to no man; but how much he commanded to them, so much the more they preached,

37 and by so much the more they wondered, and said, He did well all things, both he hath made deaf men to hear, and dumb men to speak.

CHAPTER 8

1 In those days, when much people was with Jesus, and had not what they should eat, when his disciples were called together, he said to them,

2 I have ruth on the people, for lo! now the third day they abide me, and they have not what to eat;

3 and if I leave them fasting into their houses, they shall fail in the way; for some of them came from far.

4 And his disciples answered to him, Whereof shall a man be able to fill them with loaves here in wilder-ness?

5 And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? Which said, Seven.

6 And he commanded the people to sit down on the earth. And he took the seven loaves, and did thankings, and brake, and gave to his disciples, that they should set forth. And they setted forth to the people.

7 And they had a few small fishes; and he blessed them, and commanded, that they were set forth.

8 And they ate, and were fulfilled [or were filled]; and they took up that that was left of [the] remnants, seven baskets.

9 And they that ate, were as four thousand of men; and he left them.

10 And anon he went up into a boat, with his disciples, and came into the coasts of Dalmanutha.

11 And the Pharisees went out, and began to dispute with him, and asked a token of him from heaven, and tempted him.

12 And he sorrowing within in spirit, said, What seeketh this generation a token, [or a sign, either miracle]? Truly I say to you, a token [or a sign] shall not be given to this generation.

13 And he left them, and went up again into a boat, and went over the sea.

14 And they forgot to take bread, and they had not with them but one loaf in the boat.

15 And he commanded [to] them, and said, See ye, and beware of the sourdough of the Pharisees, and of the sourdough of Herod.

16 And they thought, and said one to another, For we have not loaves [or bread].

17 And when this thing was known, Jesus said to them, What think ye, for ye have not loaves? [or bread?] Yet ye know not, neither understand; yet ye have your heart blinded.

18 Ye having eyes, see not, and ye having ears, hear not; neither ye have mind,

19 when I brake five loaves among five thousand, and how many coffins full of broken meat took ye up? They said to him, Twelve.

20 When also seven loaves among four thousand of men, how many baskets [full] of broken meat took ye up? And they say to him, Seven.

21 And he said to them, How understand ye not yet?

22 And they came to Bethsaida, and they brought to him a blind man, and they prayed him, that he would touch him.

23 And when he had taken the blind man’s hand, he led him out of the street, and he spat into his eyes, and set his hands on him; and he asked him, if he saw anything.

24 And he beheld, and said, I see men as trees walking.

25 Afterward again he set his hands on his eyes, and he began to see, and he was restored, so that he saw clearly all things.

26 And he sent him into his house, and said, Go into thine house; and if thou goest into the street, say to no man.

27 And Jesus entered [in] and his disciples, into the castles of Caesarea of Philippi. And in the way, he asked his disciples, and said to them, Whom say men that I am?

28 Which answered to him, and said, Some say, John Baptist; others say, Elijah; and others say, as one of the prophets.

29 Then he saith to them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answered, and said to him, Thou art Christ.

30 And he charged them, that they should not say of him to any man.

31 And he began to teach them, that it behooveth man’s Son to suffer many things, and to be reproved of the elder men, and of the highest priests, and of the scribes, and to be slain, and after three days, to rise again.

32 And he spake openly the word. And Peter took him, and began to blame him, and said, Lord, be thou merciful to thee, for this shall not be.

33 And he turned, and saw his disciples, and menaced Peter, and said, Go after me, [thou] Satan; for thou savourest [or understandest] not those things that be of God, but those things that be of men.

34 And when the people was called together, with his disciples, he said to them, If any man will come after me, deny he himself, and take his cross, and pursue he me [or pursue me].

35 For he that will make safe his life, shall lose it, [or Soothly whoso will make his soul, that is, his life, safe, shall lose it]; and he that loseth his life for me, and for the gospel, shall make it safe.

36 For what profiteth it to a man, if he win all the world, and do impairing to his [own] soul?

37 or what exchanging shall a man give for his soul?

38 But who that acknowledgeth me and my words, in this generation adulterous and sinful, also man’s Son shall acknowledge him, when he shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels.

CHAPTER 9

1 And he said to them, Truly I say to you, that there be some men standing here, which shall not taste death, till they see the realm of God coming in virtue.

2 And after six days Jesus took Peter, and James, and John, and led them by themselves alone into an high hill; and he was transfigured before them.

3 And his clothes were made full shining and white as snow, which manner white clothes a fuller may not make on earth.

4 And Elijah with Moses appeared to them, and they spake with Jesus.

5 And Peter answered, and said to Jesus, Master, it is good us to be here; and make we here three tabernacles, one to thee, one to Moses, and one to Elijah.

6 For he knew not what he should say; for they were aghast [or afeared] by dread.

7 And there was made a cloud overshadowing them; and a voice came out of the cloud, and said, This is my most dearworthy Son, hear ye him.

8 And anon they beheld about, and saw no more any man, but Jesus only with them.

9 And when they came down from the hill, he commanded them, that they should not tell to any man those things that they had seen, but when man’s Son hath risen again from death.

10 And they held the word at them-selves, seeking what this should be, when he had risen again from death.

11 And they asked him, and said, What then say [the] Pharisees and [the] scribes, that it behooveth Elijah to come first.

12 And he answered, and said to them, When Elijah cometh, he shall first restore all things; and as it is written of man’s Son, that he suffer many things, and be despised.

13 And I say to you that Elijah is come, and they did to him whatever things they would, as it is written of him.

14 And he coming to his disciples, saw a great company about them, and [the] scribes disputing with them.

15 And anon all the people seeing Jesus, was astonied, and they dreaded; and they running [to], greeted him.

16 And he asked them, What dispute ye among you?

17 And one of the company answered, and said, Master, I have brought to thee my son, that hath a dumb spirit;

18 and wherever he taketh him, he hurtleth him down, and he foameth, and beateth together with teeth, and waxeth dry. And I said to thy disciples, that they should cast him out, and they might not.

19 And he answered to them, and said, A! thou generation out of belief [or unbelieveful], how long shall I be among you, how long shall I suffer you? Bring ye him to me.

20 And they brought him. And when he had seen him, anon the spirit troubled him; and he was thrown down to the ground, and wallowed, and foamed.

21 And he asked his father, How long is it, since this hath befallen to him? And he said, From childhood;

22 and oft he hath put him into the fire, and into water, to lose him; but if thou mayest anything, help us, and have mercy on us.

23 And Jesus said to him, If thou mayest believe, all things be possible to a man that believeth.

24 And anon the father of the child cried with tears, and said, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

25 And when Jesus had seen the people running together, he menaced the unclean spirit, and said to him, Thou deaf and dumb spirit, I command thee, go out from him, and enter no more into him.

26 And he crying, and much wrenching him, went out from him; and he was made as dead, so that many said, that he was dead.

27 And Jesus held his hand, and lifted him up; and he rose.

28 And when he had entered into an house, his disciples asked him privily, Why might not we cast him out?

29 And he said to them, This kind in nothing may go out [or This kind may not go out in anything], but in prayer and fasting.

30 And they went from thence, and went forth into Galilee; and they would not, that any man knew, [or and he would not, that any man know].

31 And he taught his disciples, and said to them, For man’s Son shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall slay him, and he slain shall rise again on the third day.

32 And they knew not the word, and dreaded to ask him.

33 And they came to Capernaum. And when they were in the house, he asked them, What treated ye in the way?

34 And they were still; for they disputed among them[selves] in the way, who of them should be [the] greatest.

35 And he sat, and called the twelve, and said to them, If any man will be the first among you, he shall be the last of all, and the minister [or the servant] of all.

36 And he took a child, and set him in the middle [or in the midst] of them; and when he had embraced him, he said to them,

37 Whoever receiveth one of such children in my name, he receiveth me; and whoever receiveth me, he receiveth not me alone, but him that sent me.

38 John answered to him, and said, Master, we saw one casting out fiends in thy name, which pursueth not us, and we have forbidden him.

39 And Jesus said, Do not ye forbid him; for there is no man that doeth virtue in my name, and may soon speak evil of me.

40 He that is not against us, is for us.

41 And whoever giveth [to] you a cup of cold water to drink in my name, for ye be of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his meed.

42 And whoever shall cause to stumble one of these little that believe in me, it were better to him that a millstone were done about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

43 And if thine hand cause thee to stumble, cut it away; it is better to thee to enter feeble into life, than have two hands, and go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched [or into fire unquenchable],

44 where the worm of them dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

45 And if thy foot cause thee to stumble, cut it off; it is better to thee to enter crooked into everlasting life, than have two feet, and be sent into hell of fire [or into hellfire], that never shall be quenched,

46 where the worm of them dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

47 That if thine eye cause thee to stumble, cast it out; it is better to thee to enter goggle-eyed into the realm of God, than have two eyes, and be sent into hell of fire [or into hellfire],

48 where the worm of them dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

49 And every man shall be salted with fire, and every slain sacrifice shall be made savoury with salt. [Forsooth every man shall be made savoury with fire, and every slain sacrifice shall be salted with salt.]

50 Salt is good; if salt be unsavoury, in what thing shall ye make it savoury? Have ye salt among you, and have ye peace among you.

CHAPTER 10

1 And Jesus rose up from thence, and came into the coasts of Judea over Jordan; and again the people came together to him, and as he was wont, again he taught them.

2 And the Pharisees came [nigh], and asked him, Whether it be leaveful to a man to leave [or to forsake] his wife? and they tempted him.

3 And he answered, and said to them, What commanded Moses to you?

4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a libel of forsaking, and to forsake.

5 And Jesus answered, and said to them, For the hardness of your heart Moses wrote to you this command-ment [or this precept].

6 But from the beginning of creature, God made them male and female;

7 and said, For this thing a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall draw [or cleave] to his wife,

8 and they shall be twain in one flesh. And so now they be not twain, but one flesh.

9 Therefore that thing that God hath joined together, no man separate [or part].

10 And again in the house his disciples asked him of the same thing.

11 And he said to them, Whoever leaveth his wife, and weddeth another, he doeth adultery on her.

12 And if the wife leave her husband, and be wedded to another, she doeth lechery [or doeth adultery].

13 And they brought to him little children, that he should touch them; and the disciples threatened the men, that brought them.

14 And when Jesus had seen them, he bare heavy, and said to them, Suffer ye little children to come to me, and forbid ye them not, for of such is the kingdom of God.

15 Truly I say to you, whoever receiveth not the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter into it.

16 And he embraced them, and laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

17 And when Jesus was gone out into the way, a man ran before, and kneeled before him, and prayed him, and said, Good master, what shall I do, that I receive everlasting life?

18 And Jesus said to him, What sayest thou that I am good? There is no man good, but God himself, [or None is good, no but God alone].

19 Thou knowest the commandments, do thou none adultery, slay not, steal not, say not false witnessing, do no fraud, worship thy father and thy mother.

20 And he answered, and said to him, Master, I have kept all these things from my youth.

21 And Jesus beheld him, and loved him, and said to him, One thing faileth to thee; go thou, and sell all things that thou hast, and give to poor men, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, pursue thou me.

22 And he was full sorry [or made sorrowful] in the word, and went away mourning, for he had many possessions.

23 And Jesus beheld about, and said to his disciples, How hard they that have riches [or money] shall enter into the kingdom of God.

24 And the disciples were astonied in his words. And Jesus again answered, and said to them, Ye little children [or Little sons], how hard it is for men that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God.

25 It is lighter a camel to pass through a needle’s eye [or It is easier that a camel pass through a needle’s eye], than a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

26 And they wondered more, and said among themselves, And who may be saved?

27 And Jesus beheld them, and said, With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things be possible with God.

28 And Peter began to say to him, Lo! we have left all things, and have pursued thee.

29 Jesus answered, and said, Truly I say to you, there is no man that leaveth house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or fields for me and for the gospel,

30 which shall not take an hundredfold so much now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and fields, with persecutions, and in the world to coming [or to come] everlasting life.

31 But many shall be, the first the last, and the last the first.

32 And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus went before them, and they wondered, and followed, and dreaded. And again Jesus took the twelve, and began to say to them, what things were to come to him.

33 For lo! we go up to Jerusalem, and man’s Son shall be betrayed to the princes of priests, and to [the] scribes, and to the elder men; and they shall condemn him by death, and they shall [be] take him to heathen men.

34 And they shall scorn him, and bespit him, and beat him; and they shall slay him, and in the third day he shall rise again.

35 And James and John, Zebedee’s sons, came to him, and said, Master, we will, that whatever we ask, thou do to us.

36 And he said to them, What will ye that I do to you?

37 And they said, Grant to us, that we sit the one at thy right half, and the other at thy left half, in thy glory.

38 And Jesus said to them, Ye know not what ye ask; may ye drink the cup, which I shall drink, or be washed with the baptism, in which I am baptized?

39 And they said to him, We may. And Jesus said to them, [Truly] Ye shall drink the cup that I drink, and ye shall be washed with the baptism, in which I am baptized;

40 but to sit at my right half or left half is not mine to give to you, but to whom it is made ready.

41 And the ten heard, and began to have indignation of James and John.

42 But Jesus called them, and said to them, Ye know, that they that seem [or be seen] to have princehood of folks, be lords of them, and the princes of them have power of them.

43 But it is not so among you, but whoever will be made [the] greater, shall be your minister;

44 and whoever will be the first among you, shall be servant of all.

45 For why man’s Son came not, that it should be ministered to him, but that he should minister, and give his life again-buying [or as a redemp-tion] for many.

46 And they came to Jericho; and when he went forth from Jericho, and his disciples, and a full much people, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat beside the way, and begged.

47 And when he heard, that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry, and say, Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me.

48 And many threatened him, that he should be still; and he cried much the more [or he cried much more, saying], Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me.

49 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be called; and they called the blind man, and said to him, Be thou of better heart, rise up, he calleth thee.

50 And he cast away his cloth, and skipped, and came to him.

51 And Jesus answered, and said to him, What wilt thou, that I shall do to thee? The blind man said to him, Master, that I see.

52 Jesus said to him, Go thou, thy faith hath made thee safe. And anon he saw, and pursued him in the way.

CHAPTER 11

1 And when Jesus came nigh to Jerusalem and to Bethany, to the mount of Olives, he sendeth two of his disciples,

2 and saith to them, Go ye into the castle that is against you; and anon as ye enter there ye shall find a colt tied, on which no man hath sat yet; untie ye, and bring him.

3 And if any man say anything to you, What do ye? say ye, that he is needful to the Lord, and anon, he shall leave him hither.

4 And they went forth, and found a colt tied before the gate withoutforth, in the meeting of two ways; and they untied him.

5 And some of them that stood there said to them, What do ye, untying the colt?

6 And they said to them, as Jesus commanded them; and they left it to them.

7 And they brought the colt to Jesus, and they laid on him their clothes, and Jesus sat on him.

8 And many strewed their clothes in the way, and other men cutted branches [or boughs] off trees, and strewed in the way.

9 And they that went before, and that pursued, cried, and said, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord;

10 blessed be the kingdom of our father David that is to come; Hosanna in highest things [or Hosanna in highest].

11 And he entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and when he had seen all things about, when it was even[ing], he went out into Bethany, with the twelve.

12 And another day, when he went out of [or out from] Bethany, he hungered.

13 And when he had seen a fig tree afar having leaves, he came, if happily he should find anything thereon; and when he came to it, he found nothing, except leaves; for it was not time of figs.

14 And Jesus answered and said to it, Now never eat any man fruit of thee more [or Now no more without end any man eat fruit of thee]. And his disciples heard;

15 and they came to Jerusalem. And when he was entered into the temple, he began to cast out sellers and buyers in the temple; and he turned upside-down the boards of changers, and the chairs of men that sold culvers;

16 and he suffered not, that any man should bear a vessel through the temple.

17 And he taught them, and said, Whether it is not written, That mine house shall be called the house of praying to all folks? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

18 And when this thing was heard, the princes of priests, and [the] scribes sought how they should lose him; for they dreaded him, for all the people wondered on his teaching.

19 And when evening was come, he went out of the city.

20 And as they passed forth early, they saw the fig tree made dry from the roots.

21 And Peter bethought him, and said to him, [or Peter having mind, said to him], Master, lo! the fig tree, whom thou cursedest, is dried up.

22 And Jesus answered and said to them, Have ye the faith of God;

23 truly I say to you, that whoever saith to this hill, Be thou taken, and cast into the sea; and doubt not in his heart, but believeth, that whatever he say, shall be done, it shall be done to him.

24 Therefore I say to you, all things whatever things ye praying shall ask, believe ye that ye shall take, and they shall come to you.

25 And when ye shall stand to pray, forgive ye, if ye have anything against any man, that [also] your Father that is in heavens, forgive to you your sins.

26 And if ye forgive not, neither your Father that is in heavens, shall forgive to you your sins.

27 And again they came to Jerusalem. And when he walked in the temple, the highest priests, and scribes, and the elder men came to him,

28 and said to him, In what power doest thou these things? or who gave to thee this power, that thou do these things?

29 Jesus answered and said to them, And I shall ask you one word, and answer ye to me, and I shall say to you in what power I do these things.

30 Whether was the baptism of John of heaven, or of men? answer ye to me.

31 And they thought within them-selves, saying, If we say of heaven, he shall say to us, Why then believe ye not to him;

32 if we say of men, we dread the people; for all men had John, that he was verily a prophet.

33 And they answered, and said to Jesus, We know not. And Jesus answered, and said to them, Neither I say to you, in what power I do these things.

CHAPTER 12

1 And Jesus began to speak to them in parables. A man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and delved a pit, and builded a tower, and hired it to earth-tillers, and went forth in pilgrimage.

2 And he sent to the earth-tillers in time a servant, to receive of the earth-tillers of the fruit of the vineyard.

3 And they took him, and beat him, and left him void.

4 And again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and tormented him [or punished him with chidings, or reprovings].

5 And again he sent another, and they slew him, and others more, beating some, and slaying others [or soothly they killed others].

6 But yet he had a most dearworthy son, and he sent him last to them, and said, Peradventure they shall dread [with reverence] my son.

7 But the earth-tillers said together [or Forsooth the tenants said to them-selves], This is the heir; come ye, slay we him, and the heritage shall be ours.

8 And they took him, and killed him, and casted him out without the vineyard.

9 Then what shall the lord of the vineyard do? He shall come, and lose the earth-tillers [or the tenants], and give the vineyard to others.

10 Whether ye have not read this scripture, The stone which the builders have despised, this is made into the head of the corner?

11 This thing is done of the Lord, and it is wonderful in our eyes.

12 And they sought to hold him, and they dreaded the people; for they knew that to them he said this parable; and they left him, and they went away.

13 And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to take him in word.

14 Which came, and said to him, Master, we know that thou art sooth-fast, and reckest not of any man; for neither thou beholdest into the face of any man, but thou teachest the way of God in truth. Is it leaveful that tribute be given to the emperor, or we shall not give?

15 Which witting their privy false-ness, said to them, What tempt ye me, [hypocrites]? bring ye to me a penny, that I see.

16 And they brought to him. And he said to them, Whose is this image, and the writing above? And they say to him, The emperor’s [or Caesar’s].

17 And Jesus answered and said to them, Then yield ye to the emperor [or Caesar] those things that be the emperor’s [or of Caesar]; and to God those things that be of God. And they wondered of him.

18 And Sadducees, that say that there is no resurrection, came to him, and asked him, and said,

19 Master, Moses wrote to us, that if the brother of a man were dead, and left his wife, and have no sons, his brother take his wife, and raise up seed to his brother.

20 Then seven brethren there were; and the first took a wife, and died, and left no seed.

21 And the second took her, and died, and neither he left seed. And the third also.

22 And in like manner the seven took her, and left no seed. And the woman the last of all died.

23 Then in the resurrection, when they shall rise again, whose wife of these shall she be? for seven had her to wife.

24 And Jesus answered, and said to them, Whether ye err not therefore, that ye know not [the] scriptures, neither the virtue of God?

25 For when they shall rise again from death, neither they shall wed, nor shall be wedded, but they shall be as angels of God in heavens [or in heaven].

26 And of dead men, that they rise again, have ye not read in the book of Moses, on the bush, how God spake to him, and said, I am God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob?

27 He is not God of dead men, but of living men; therefore ye err much.

28 And one of the scribes, that had heard them disputing together, came nigh, and saw that Jesus had well-answered them [or had answered them well], and asked him, which was the first commandment of all.

29 And Jesus answered to him, That the first commandment of all is, Hear thou, Israel, thy Lord God is one God [or the Lord thy God is one God];

30 and thou shalt love thy Lord God [or the Lord thy God] of all thine heart, and of all thy soul, and of all thy mind, and of all thy might, [or strength]. This is the first command-ment.

31 And the second is like to this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy-self. There is none other command-ment greater than these.

32 And the scribe said to him, Master, in truth thou hast well said; for one God is, and there is none other, except him;

33 [and] that he be loved of all the heart, and of all the mind, and of all the understanding, and of all the soul, and of all the strength, and to love the neighbour as himself, is greater [or is more], than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.

34 And Jesus seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And then no man durst ask him more anything.

35 And Jesus answered and said, teaching in the temple, How say [the] scribes, that Christ is the son of David?

36 For David himself said in the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my lord, Sit [thou] on my right half, till I put thine enemies the stool of thy feet.

37 Then if David himself calleth him Lord, how then is he his son? And much people gladly heard him.

38 And he said to them in his teaching, Be ye ware of scribes, that will wander [or go] in stoles, and be saluted in [the] chapping,

39 and sit in synagogues in the first chairs [or sit in the first chairs in synagogues], and in the first sitting places in suppers;

40 which devour the houses of widows under [the] colour of long prayer; they shall take the longer doom, [either damnation].

41 And Jesus sitting against the treasury, beheld how the people cast money into the treasury; and many rich men casted many things.

42 But when a poor widow was come, she cast two minutes, that is, a farthing.

43 And he called together his disciples, and said to them, Truly I say to you, that this poor widow cast more than all, that cast into the treasury.

44 For all they cast of that thing that they had plenty of; but this of her poverty cast all things that she had, all her livelode [or lifelode].

CHAPTER 13

1 And when he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Master, behold, what manner stones, and what manner buildings.

2 And Jesus answered, and said to him, Seest thou all these great buildings? there shall not be left a stone on a stone, which shall not be destroyed.

3 And when he sat in the mount of Olives against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him by themselves,

4 Say thou to us, when these things shall be done, and what token [or sign] shall be, when all these things shall begin to be ended.

5 And Jesus answered, and began to say to them, Look [or See] ye, that no man deceive you;

6 for many shall come in my name, saying, That I am; and they shall deceive many.

7 And when ye hear battles and opinions of battles, dread ye not; for it behooveth these things to be done, but not yet anon is the end, [or for it behooveth that these things be done, but the end is not yet].

8 For folk shall rise on folk, and realm on realm, and earth-movings and hunger shall be by places; these things shall be beginnings of sorrows.

9 But see ye yourselves, for they shall take you in councils, and ye shall be beaten in synagogues; and ye shall stand before kings and dooms-men for me, in witnessing to them.

10 And it behooveth, that the gospel be first preached among all folk.

11 And when they take you, and lead you forth, do not ye before-think what ye shall speak, but speak ye that thing that shall be given to you in that hour; for ye be not the speakers [or soothly ye be not speaking], but the Holy Ghost.

12 For the brother shall betake the brother into death [or a brother shall betray a brother into death], and the father the son, and sons shall rise together against fathers and mothers, and punish them by death.

13 And ye shall be in hate [or in hatred] to all men for my name; but he that lasteth [or shall sustain] into the end, shall be safe.

14 But when ye shall see the abomination of discomfort, standing where it oweth not; he that readeth, understand; then they that be in Judea, flee to the mountains.

15 And he that is above in the roof, come not down into the house, neither enter he, to take anything of his house;

16 and he that shall be in the field, turn not again behind to take his cloth.

17 But woe to them that be with child, and nourishing [or nursing] in those days.

18 Therefore pray ye, that those things, [or that your fleeing], be not done in winter.

19 But those days of tribulation shall be such, which manner were not from the beginning of creature, which God hath made, till now, neither shall be.

20 And but the Lord had abridged those days, all flesh, [or mankind], had not be safe; but for the chosen which he chose, the Lord hath made short the days.

21 And then if any man say to you, Lo! here is Christ, lo! there, believe ye not.

22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall give tokens [or signs] and wonders, to deceive, if it may be done, yea, them that be chosen, [or yea, the chosen].

23 Therefore take ye keep; lo! I have before-said to you all things.

24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be made dark, and the moon shall not give her light,

25 and the stars of heaven shall fall down, and the virtues that be in heavens shall be moved.

26 And then they shall see man’s Son coming in the clouds of heaven, with great virtue and glory.

27 And then he shall send his angels, and shall gather his chosen from the four winds, from the highest [or the lowest] thing of earth till to [or unto] the highest thing of heaven.

28 But of the fig tree learn ye the parable. When now his branch is tender, and leaves be sprung out, ye know that summer is nigh.

29 So when ye see these things be done, know ye, that it is nigh in the doors.

30 Truly I say to you, that this generation shall not pass away, till all these things be done.

31 Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass.

32 But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

33 See ye, wake ye, and pray ye; for ye know not, when the time is.

34 For as a man that is gone far in pilgrimage, left his house, and gave to his servants power of every work, and commanded to the porter, that he [should] wake.

35 Therefore wake ye, for ye know not, when the lord of the house cometh, in the eventide, or at midnight, or at cock’s crowing, or in the morning;

36 lest when he come suddenly, he find you sleeping.

37 Forsooth that that I say to you, I say to all, Wake ye.

CHAPTER 14

1 Pask and the feast of therf loaves was after two days. And the high priests and the scribes sought, how they should hold him with guile, and slay [him].

2 But they said, Not in the feast day, lest peradventure a noise were made among the people.

3 And when he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon leprous, and rested [or sat at the meat], a woman came, that had a box of alabaster of precious ointment spikenard; and when the box of alabaster was broken, she poured it on his head.

4 But there were some that bare it heavily within themselves, and said, Whereto is this loss of ointment made?

5 For this ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and be given to poor men. And they grutched against her.

6 But Jesus said, Suffer ye her; what be ye heavy to her? she hath wrought a good work in me.

7 For evermore ye shall have poor men with you, and when ye will, ye may do well to them; but ye shall not evermore have me.

8 She did that that she had; she came before to anoint my body into burying.

9 Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel shall be preached in all the world, and that that this woman hath done, shall be told into mind of him [or of her].

10 And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the high priests, to betray him to them.

11 And they heard, and joyed, and promised to give him money. And he sought how he should betray him covenably.

12 And the first day of therf loaves, when they offered pask, the disciples said to him, Whither wilt thou that we go, and make ready to thee, that thou eat the pask?

13 And he sendeth two of his disciples, and saith to them, Go ye into the city, and a man bearing a gallon of water shall meet you; pursue ye him.

14 And whither ever he entereth, say ye to the lord of the house, That the master saith, Where is mine eating place, where I shall eat pask with my disciples?

15 And he shall show to you a great supping place arrayed, and there make ye ready to us.

16 And his disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said to them; and they made ready the pask.

17 And when the eventide was come, he came with the twelve.

18 And when they sat at the meat, and ate, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, that one of you that eateth with me, shall betray me.

19 And they began to be sorry [or sorrowful], and to say to him, each by themselves, Whether I?

20 Which said to them, One of the twelve that putteth [in]his hand with me in the platter.

21 And soothly man’s Son goeth, as it is written of him; but woe to that man, by whom man’s Son shall be betrayed. It were good to him, if that man had not been born.

22 And while they ate, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake [it], and gave to them, and said, Take ye; this is my body.

23 And when he had taken the cup, he did thankings, and gave to them, and all drank thereof.

24 And he said to them, This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many.

25 Truly I say to you, for now I shall not drink of this fruit of the vine, into that day when I shall drink it new in the realm of God.

26 And when the hymn was said, they went out into the hill of Olives.

27 And Jesus said to them, All ye shall be caused to stumble in me in this night; for it is written, I shall smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed.

28 But after that I shall rise again, I shall go before you into Galilee.

29 And Peter said to him, Though all shall be caused to stumble, but not I.

30 And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to thee, that today before that the cock in this night crow twice, thou shalt thrice deny me [or before that the cock crow twice in this night, thrice thou shalt deny me].

31 But he said more, Though it behoove, that I die together with thee, I shall not forsake thee [or I shall not deny thee]. And in like manner all said.

32 And they came into a place, whose name is Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I pray.

33 And he took Peter and James and John with him, and began to dread, and to be distressed [or to be heavy].

34 And he said to them, My soul is sorrowful [till] to the death; abide ye here, and wake ye with me.

35 And when he was gone forth a little, he felled down on the earth, and prayed, that if it might be, that the hour should pass from him.

36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things be possible to thee, bear over [or turn] from me this cup; but not that I will, but that thou wilt, be done.

37 And he came, and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? mightest thou not wake with me one hour?

38 Wake ye, and pray ye, that ye enter not into temptation; for the spirit is ready, but the flesh is sick.

39 And again he went, and prayed, and said the same word;

40 and he turned again, and again found them sleeping; for their eyes were heavied. And they knew not, what they should answer to him.

41 And he came the third time, and said to them, Sleep ye now, and rest ye; it sufficeth. The hour is come; lo! man’s Son shall be betrayed into the hands of sinful men.

42 Rise ye, go we; lo! he that shall betray me is nigh.

43 And yet while he spake, Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, came, and with him much people with swords and staves, sent from the high priests, and the scribes, and from the elder men.

44 And his traitor had given to them a token [or a sign], and said, Whom-ever I kiss, he it is; hold ye him, and lead ye him warily.

45 And when he came, anon he came to him, and said, Master; and he kissed him.

46 And they laid hands on him, and held him.

47 But one of the men that stood about, drew out a sword, and smote the servant of the highest priest, and cut off his ear.

48 And Jesus answered, and said to them, As to a thief ye have gone out with swords and staves, to take me?

49 Day by day I was among you, and taught in the temple, and ye held not me; but that the scriptures be fulfilled.

50 Then all his disciples forsook him, and fled.

51 But a young man, clothed with linen cloth [or sendal] on the bare, pursued him; and they held him.

52 And he left the linen clothing [or linen cloth], and flew naked away from them.

53 And they led Jesus to the highest priest. And all the priests and scribes and elder men came together.

54 But Peter pursued him afar into the hall of the highest priest. And he sat with the servants, and warmed him at the fire.

55 And the highest priests, and all the council, sought witnessing against Jesus to take him to the death; but they found not.

56 For many said false witnessing against him, and the witnessings were not covenable.

57 And some rose up, and bare false witnessing against him, and said,

58 For we heard him saying, I shall undo this temple made with hands, and after [or by] the third day, I shall build another not made with hands.

59 And the witnessing of them was not covenable.

60 And the highest priest rose up into the middle [or into the midst], and asked Jesus, and said, Answerest thou nothing to those things that be put against thee of these [men]?

61 But he was still, and answered nothing. Again the highest priest asked him, and said to him, Art thou Christ, the Son of the blessed God?

62 And Jesus said to him, I am; and ye shall see man’s Son sitting on the right half of the virtue of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

63 And the highest priest rent his clothes, and said, What yet desire we witnesses?

64 Ye have heard blasphemy. What seemeth [or is seen] to you? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.

65 And some began to bespit him [or to spit on him], and to cover his face, and to smite him with buffets, and to say to him, Declare [or Prophesy] thou. And the ministers beat him with strokes.

66 And when Peter was in the hall beneath, one of the damsels [or hand-maidens] of the highest priest came.

67 And when she had seen Peter warming him, she beheld him, and said, And thou were with Jesus of Nazareth.

68 And he denied, and said, Neither I know, neither I know, what thou sayest. And he went withoutforth before the hall; and anon the cock crew.

69 And again when another damsel [or handmaiden] had seen him, she began to say to men that stood about, That this is of them.

70 And he again denied. And after a little, again they that stood nigh, said to Peter, Verily, thou art of them, for thou art of Galilee also.

71 But he began to curse and to swear, For I know not this man, of whom ye say.

72 And anon again the cock crew. And Peter bethought on the word that Jesus had said to him, Before the cock crow twice, thrice thou shalt deny me. And he began to weep.

CHAPTER 15

1 And anon in the morrowtide the high priests made a counsel with the elder men, and the scribes, and with all the council, and bound Jesus and led, and betook him to Pilate.

2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou king of Jews? And Jesus answered, and said to him, Thou sayest.

3 And the high priests accused him in many things.

4 But Pilate again asked him, and said, Answerest thou nothing? Seest thou in how many things they accuse thee?

5 But Jesus answered no[thing] more, so that Pilate wondered.

6 But by the feast day he was wont to let go to them, one of the men bound [or one of the prisoners], whomever they asked.

7 And there was one that was said Barabbas, that was bound with men of dissension, that had done man-slaughter in [the] sedition.

8 And when the people was gone up, he began to pray, as he evermore did to them.

9 And Pilate answered to them, and said, Will ye that I let go to you the king of Jews?

10 For he knew, that the high priests had taken him by envy.

11 But the bishops stirred [or excited] the people, that he should rather let go to them Barabbas.

12 And again Pilate answered, and said to them, What then will ye that I shall do to the king of Jews?

13 And they again cried, Crucify him, [that is, put him on the cross].

14 But Pilate said to them, What evil hath he done? And they cried the more, Crucify him.

15 And Pilate, willing to make satisfaction to the people, let go to them Barabbas, and he betook to them Jesus, beaten with scourges, to be crucified.

16 And knights led him withinforth, into the porch of the moot hall. And they called together all the company of knights,

17 and they clothed him with purple. And they wreathed a crown of thorns, and put on him.

18 And they began to greet him, and said, Hail, king of Jews.

19 And they smote his head with a reed, and bespat him [or spat on him]; and they kneeled, and worship-ped him.

20 And after that they had scorned him, they unclothed him of the purple, and clothed him with his clothes, and led out him, to crucify him.

21 And they compelled a man that passed by the way, that came from the town, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and of Rufus, to bear his cross.

22 And they led him into a place Golgotha [or the place of Golgotha], that is to say, the place of Calvary.

23 And they gave to him to drink wine meddled with myrrh, and he took not.

24 And they crucified him, and parted his clothes, and cast lot on those, who should take what.

25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

26 And the title of his cause was written, King of Jews.

27 And they crucified with him two thieves, one at the right half, and one at his left half, [or one on his right half, and one on his left half].

28 And the scripture was fulfilled that saith, And he is ordained [or areckoned] with wicked men.

29 And as they passed forth, they blasphemed him, moving their heads, and saying, Vath! [or Fie!] thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days buildest it again;

30 come adown from the cross, and make thyself safe.

31 Also the high priests scorned him each to other, with the scribes, and said, He hath made other men safe, he may not save himself.

32 Christ, [the] king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we see, and believe. And they that were crucified with him, despised him [or put false reproof to him].

33 And when the sixth hour was come, darknesses were made on all the earth, till into the ninth hour.

34 And in the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a great voice, and said, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

35 And some of the men that stood about heard, and said, Lo! he calleth Elijah.

36 And one ran, and filled a sponge with vinegar, and putted about to a reed, and gave him to drink, and said, Suffer ye, see we, if Elijah come to do him down.

37 And Jesus gave out a great cry, and died [or sent out the spirit].

38 And the veil of the temple was rent [or cut] atwo, from the highest to beneath.

39 But the centurion that stood over against saw, that he so crying had died, and he said, Verily, this man was God’s Son [or this man was the Son of God].

40 And there were also women beholding from afar, among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James the less, and of Joseph, and of Salome [or and Salome].

41 And when Jesus was in Galilee, they followed him, and ministered to him, and many other women, that came up together with him to Jerusalem.

42 And when the eventide was come, for it was the eventide that is before the sabbath,

43 Joseph of Arimathaea, the noble decurion, came, and he abode the realm of God; and boldly he entered to Pilate, and asked the body of Jesus.

44 But Pilate wondered, if he were now dead. And when the centurion was called, he asked him, if he were [now] dead;

45 and when he knew of the centurion, he granted [or gave] the body of Jesus to Joseph.

46 And Joseph bought linen cloth [or sendal], and took him down, and wrapped [him] in the linen cloth, and laid him in a sepulchre that was hewn of a stone [or put him in a new sepulchre that was hewn in a stone], and wallowed a stone to the door of the sepulchre.

47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary of Joseph beheld, where he was laid.

CHAPTER 16

1 And when the sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, and Mary of James, and Salome bought sweet smelling ointments, to come and to anoint Jesus.

2 And full early in one of the week days, they came to the sepulchre, when the sun was risen.

3 And they said together, Who shall move [or turn] away to us the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

4 And they beheld, and saw the stone wallowed away, for it was full great.

5 And they went into the sepulchre, and saw a youngling, covered with a white stole, sitting at the right half; and they were afeared.

6 Which saith to them, Do not ye dread; ye seek Jesus of Nazareth crucified; he is risen, he is not here; lo! the place where they laid him.

7 But go ye, and say to his disciples, and to Peter, that he shall go before you into Galilee; there ye shall see him, as he said to you.

8 And they went out, and fled from the sepulchre; for dread and quaking [or trembling] had assailed them, and to no man they said anything, for they dreaded.

9 And Jesus rose early the first day of the week, and appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven devils.

10 And she went, and told to them that had been with him, which were wailing [or mourning] and weeping.

11 And they hearing that he lived, and was seen of her, believed not.

12 But after these things when twain of them wandered, he was showed in another likeness to them going into a town. [+Forsooth after these things, he was showed in another likeness, or figure, to twain of them walking and going into a town.]

13 And they went, and told to the others, and neither they believed to them.

14 But after at the last, when the eleven sat at the meat, Jesus appeared to them, and reproved the unbelief of them, and the hardness of heart, for they believed not to them, that had seen that he was risen from death.

15 And he said to them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to each creature.

16 Who that believeth, and is baptized [or christened], shall be safe [or saved]; but he that believeth not, shall be condemned [or damned].

17 And these tokens [or these signs] shall pursue them, that believe. In my name they shall cast out fiends; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 they shall do away serpents; and if they drink any venom, [or deadly thing], it shall not annoy them. They shall set their hands on sick men, and they shall wax whole.

19 And the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and he sitteth on the right half of God.

20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, for the Lord wrought [or working] with them, and confirmed the word with signs, [either miracles], following.

LUKE

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LUKE

CHAPTER 1

[ 1 Forsooth for many men enforced or endeavoured to ordain the telling of things, which be filled in us,

2 as they that saw at the beginning, and were ministers of the word, betaken,

3 it is seen also to me, having from the beginning all things diligently by order, to write to thee, thou best Theophilus,

4 that thou know the truth of those words, of which thou art learned.]*

5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest, Zechariah by name, of the sort of Abia, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

6 And both were just before God, going in all the commandments and justifyings of the Lord, without complaint.

7 And they had no child, for Elisabeth was barren, and both were of great age [or had gone far] in their days.

8 And it befell, that when Zechariah should do the office of priesthood, in the order of his course before God,

9 after the custom of the priesthood, he went forth by lot, and entered into the temple [of the Lord], to incense.

10 And all the multitude of the people was withoutforth, and prayed in the hour of incensing.

11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, and stood on the right half of the altar of incense.

12 And Zechariah seeing was afraid [or distroubled], and dread fell upon him.

13 And the angel said to him, Zechariah, dread thou not; for thy prayer is heard, and Elisabeth, thy wife, shall bear to thee a son, and his name shall be called John.

14 And joy and gladding shall be to thee; and many shall have joy in his nativity, or birth.

15 For he shall be great before the Lord, and he shall not drink wine nor cider, and he shall be full-filled [or filled] with the Holy Ghost, yet from his mother’s womb.

16 And he shall convert many of the children of Israel to their Lord God;

17 and he shall go before him in the spirit and virtue of Elijah; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers into the sons, and men out of belief, [or that believe not], to the prudence of just men, to make ready a perfect people to the Lord.

18 And Zechariah said to the angel, Whereof shall I know this? for I am old, and my wife hath gone far in her days.

19 And the angel answered, and said to him, For I am Gabriel, that stand nigh before God; and I am sent to thee to speak, and to evangelize [or to tell] to thee these things.

20 And lo! thou shalt be dumb, and thou shalt not be able to speak till into the day, in which these things shall be done; for thou hast not believed to my words, which shall be fulfilled in their time.

21 And the people was abiding Zechariah, and they wondered, that he tarried in the temple.

22 And he went out, and might not speak to them, and they knew that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he beckoned to them, and dwelled still dumb.

23 And it was done, when the days of his office were fulfilled, he went into his house.

24 And after these days Elisabeth, his wife, conceived, and hid her five months, and said,

25 For so the Lord did to me in the days, in which he beheld, to take away my reproof [or my shame] among men.

26 But in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, whose name was Nazareth,

27 to a maiden [or a virgin], wedded to a man, whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the name of the maiden was Mary.

28 And the angel entered to her, and said, Hail, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed be thou among women.

29 And when she had heard, she was troubled in his word, and thought what manner salutation this was.

30 And the angel said to her, Dread thou not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.

31 Lo! thou shalt conceive in [the] womb, and shalt bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.

32 This [or He] shall be great, and he shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give to him the seat of David, his father,

33 and he shall reign in the house of Jacob [into] without end, and of his realm shall be none end.

34 And Mary said to the angel, On what manner shall this thing be done, for I know not man? or I know no man?

35 And the angel answered, and said to her, The Holy Ghost shall come from above into thee, and the virtue of the Highest shall overshadow thee; and therefore that holy thing that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.

36 And lo! Elisabeth, thy cousin, and she also hath conceived a son in her old age, and this month is the sixth to her that is called barren;

37 for every word shall not be impossible with God.

38 And Mary said, Lo! the handmaid/ the handmaiden of the Lord; be it done to me after thy word. And the angel departed from her.

39 And Mary rose up in those days, and went with haste into the mountains [or the hilly places], into a city of Judea.

40 And she entered into the house of Zechariah, and greeted Elisabeth.

41 And it was done, as Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the young child in her womb gladded. And Elisabeth was full-filled [or filled] with the Holy Ghost,

42 and cried with a great voice, and said, Blessed be thou among women, and blessed be the fruit of thy womb.

43 And whereof is this thing to me, that the mother of my Lord come to me?

44 For lo! as the voice of thy salutation was made in mine ears, the young child gladded in joy [or with joy] in my womb.

45 And blessed be thou, that hast believed, for those things that be said of [or from] the Lord to thee, shall be perfectly done.

46 And Mary said, My soul magnifieth the Lord,

47 and my spirit hath gladded in God, mine health [or mine health-giver].

48 For he hath beheld the meekness of his handmaid/his handmaiden. For lo! of this all generations shall say that I am blessed.

49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and his name is holy.

50 And his mercy is from kindred into kindreds, to men that dread him.

51 He made might in his arm, he scattered proud men with the thought of his heart.

52 He put down mighty men from their seats, and enhanced meek men.

53 He hath full-filled hungry men with goods [or He hath filled hungry men with good things], and he hath left rich men void.

54 He, having mind of his mercy, took Israel, his child;

55 as he hath spoken to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed, into worlds.

56 And Mary dwelled with her, as it were three months, and turned again in to her house.

57 But the time of bearing child was fulfilled to Elisabeth, and she bare a son.

58 And the neighbours and the cousins of her heard, that the Lord had magnified his mercy with her; and they thanked him [or they together joyed to her].

59 And it was done in the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zechariah, by the name of his father.

60 And his mother answered, and said, Nay, but he shall be called John.

61 And they said to her, For no man is in thy kindred, that is called [by] this name.

62 And they beckoned to his father, what he would that he were called.

63 And he asking a pointel, wrote, saying, John is his name. And all men wondered.

64 And anon his mouth was opened, and his tongue, and he spake, and blessed God.

65 And dread was made on all their neighbours, and all these words were published on all the mountains [or all the hilly places] of Judea.

66 And all men that heard putted in their heart, and said, What manner child shall this be? For the hand of the Lord was with him.

67 And Zechariah, his father, was full-filled [or filled] with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, and said,

68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited, and made redemption of his people.

69 And he hath raised to us an horn of health, in the house of David, his child.

70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, that were from the world.

71 Health from our enemies, and from the hand of all men that hated us.

72 To do mercy with our fathers, and to have mind of his holy testament.

73 The great oath that he swore to Abraham, our father,

74 to give himself to us. That we without dread, delivered from the hand of our enemies, serve to him, [or That we delivered from the hand of our enemies, serve to him without dread],

75 in holiness and rightwiseness before him in all our days.

76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, to make ready his ways.

77 To give science of health to his people, into remission of their sins;

78 by the inwardness of the mercy of our God, in the which he springing up from on high hath visited us.

79 To give light to them that sit in darknesses, and in the shadow of death; to address our feet into the way of peace.

80 And the child waxed, and was comforted in spirit, and was in desert places unto the day of his showing to Israel.

CHAPTER 2

1 And it was done in those days, a commandment went out from the emperor [or Caesar] Augustus, that all the world should be described.

2 This first describing was made of Cyrenius, justice, [or keeper], of Syria.

3 And all men went to make profession, [or acknowledging], each into his own city.

4 And Joseph went up from Galilee, from the city [of] Nazareth, into Judea, into a city of David, that is called Bethlehem, for that he was of the house and of the meine of David,

5 that he should acknowledge with Mary, his wife, that was wedded to him, and was great with child.

6 And it was done, while they were there, the days were fulfilled, that she should bear child.

7 And she bare her first-born son, and wrapped him in ‘clothes, and laid him in a cratch, for there was no place to him in no chamber.

8 And shepherds were in the same country, waking and keeping the watches of the night on their flock.

9 And lo! the angel of the Lord stood beside them, and the clearness of God shined about them; and they dreaded with great dread.

10 And the angel said to them, Do not ye dread; for lo! I preach to you a great joy, that shall be to all people.

11 For a Saviour is born today to you, that is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.

12 And this is a token to you; ye shall find a young child wrapped in ‘clothes, and laid in a cratch.

13 And suddenly there was made with the angel a multitude of heavenly knighthood, praising God, and saying,

14 Glory be in the highest things to God, and in earth peace to men of good will.

15 And it was done, as the angels passed away from them into heaven, the shepherds spake together, and said, Go we over to Bethlehem, and see we this word that is made, which the Lord hath made, and showed to us.

16 And they hieing came, and found Mary and Joseph, and the young child laid in a cratch.

17 And they seeing, knew of the word that was said to them of this child.

18 And all men that heard wondered, and of these things that were said to them of the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these words, bearing together in her heart.

20 And the shepherds turned again, glorifying and praising God in all things that they had heard and seen, as it was said to them.

21 And after that eight days were ended, that the child should be circumcised, his name was called Jesus, which was called of the angel, before that he was conceived in the womb.

22 And after that the days of the purification of Mary were fulfilled, after Moses’ law, they took him into Jerusalem, to offer him to the Lord,

23 as it is written in the law of the Lord, For every male-kind opening the womb, shall be called holy to the Lord;

24 and that they shall give an offering, after that it is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtles, or two culver birds.

25 And lo! a man was in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and this man was just, and virtuous [or dread-full], and abode the comfort of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was in him.

26 And he had taken an answer of the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, but he saw first the Christ of the Lord.

27 And he came in Spirit into the temple. And when his father and mother led [in] the child Jesus to do after the custom of the law for him,

28 he took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

29 Lord, now thou leavest thy servant after thy word in peace;

30 for mine eyes have seen thine health,

31 which thou hast made ready before the face of all peoples;

32 light to the showing of heathen men, and glory of thy people Israel.

33 And his father and his mother were wondering on these things, that were said of him.

34 And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, Lo! this is set into the falling down and into the rising again of many men in Israel, and into a token, to whom it shall be against-said.

35 And a sword shall pass through thine own soul, that the thoughts be showed of many hearts.

36 And Anna was a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the lineage of Aser. And she had gone forth in many days, and had lived with her husband seven years from her maidenhood.

37 And this was a widow to fourscore years and four; and she departed not from the temple, but served God night and day in fastings and prayers.

38 And this came upon them in that hour, and acknowledged to the Lord, and spake of him to all that abided the redemption of Israel.

39 And as they had full [or perfectly] done all things, after the law of the Lord, they turned again in to Galilee, in to their city Nazareth.

40 And the child waxed, and was comforted, full of wisdom; and the grace of God was in him.

41 And his father and mother went each year into Jerusalem, in the solemn day of pask.

42 And when Jesus was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem, after the custom of the feast day.

43 And when the days were done, they turned again; and the child abode in Jerusalem, and his father and mother knew it not.

44 For they guessing that he had been in the fellowship, came a day’s journey, and sought him among his cousins and his acknowledged [or his known].

45 And when they found him not, they turned again in to Jerusalem, and sought him.

46 And it befell, that after the third day they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the doctors, hearing them and asking them.

47 And all men that heard him, wondered on the prudence and the answers of him.

48 And they saw, and wondered. And his mother said to him, Son, what hast thou done to us thus? Lo! thy father and I sorrowing have sought thee.

49 And he said to them, What is it that ye sought me? knew ye not, that in those things that be of my Father [or that be my Father’s], it behooveth me to be?

50 And they understood not the word, which he spake to them.

51 And he came down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And his mother kept together all these words, and bare them in her heart.

52 And Jesus profited in wisdom, age, and grace, with God and men.

CHAPTER 3

1 In the fifteenth year of the empire of Tiberius, the emperor, when Pilate of Pontii governed Judea, and Herod was prince of Galilee, and Philip, his brother, was prince of Ituraea, and of the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias was prince of Abilene,

2 under the princes of priests, Annas and Caiaphas, the word of the Lord was made on John, the son of Zechariah, in desert.

3 And he came into all the country of Jordan, and preached baptism of penance into remission of sins.

4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet, The voice of a crier [or The voice of one crying] in desert, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make ye his paths right.

5 Each valley shall be full-filled, and every hill [or mountain] and little hill shall be made low; and shrewd things shall be into dressed things, and sharp things into plain ways;

6 and every flesh [or each man] shall see the health of God.

7 Therefore he said to the people, which went out to be baptized of him, Kindlings of adders, who showed to you to flee from the wrath to coming? [or to come?]

8 Therefore do ye worthy fruits of penance, and begin ye not to say, We have a father Abraham; for I say to you, that God is mighty to raise of these stones the sons of Abraham.

9 And now an ax is set [or is put] to the root of the tree; and therefore every tree that maketh not good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire.

10 And the people asked him, and said, What then shall we do?

11 He answered, and said to them, He that hath two coats, give he to him that hath none; and he that hath meats, do in like manner.

12 And [the] publicans came to be baptized; and they said to him, Master, what shall we do?

13 And he said to them, Do ye nothing more, than that that is ordained to you.

14 And [the] knights asked him, and said, What shall also we do? And he said to them, Smite ye wrongfully no man, neither make ye false challenge, and be ye satisfied with your wages.

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

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

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

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

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

20 he increased this over all, and shut John in prison.

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

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

23 And Jesus himself was beginning as of thirty years, that he was guessed the son of Joseph, which was of Heli,

24 which was of Matthat, which was of Levi, which was of Melchi, that was of Janna, that was of Joseph,

25 that was of Mattathias, that was of Amos, that was of Nahum, that was of Esli, that was of Naggai,

26 that was of Maath, that was of Mattathias, that was of Semein, that was of Joseph, that was of Joda,

27 that was of Joanna, that was of Rhesa, that was of Zerubbabel, that was of Salathiel, that was of Neri,

28 that was of Melchi, that was of Addi, that was of Cosam, that was of Elmodam, that was of Er,

29 that was of Joshua, that was of Eliezer, that was of Jorim, that was of Matthat, that was of Levi,

30 that was of Simeon, that was of Judah, that was of Joseph, that was of Jonan, that was of Eliakim,

31 that was of Melea, that was of Menna, that was of Mattatha, that was of Nathan, that was of David,

32 that was of Jesse, that was of Obed, that was of Boaz, that was of Salmon, that was of Nahshon,

33 that was of Amminadab, that was of Aram, that was of Hezron, that was of Perez, that was of Judah,

34 that was of Jacob, that was of Isaac, that was of Abraham, that was of Terah, that was of Nahor,

35 that was of Serug, that was of Reu, that was of Peleg, that was of Heber, that was of Shelah,

36 that was of Cainan, that was of Arphaxad, that was of Shem, that was of Noah, that was of Lamech,

37 that was of Methuselah, that was of Enoch, that was of Jared, that was of Mahalaleel, that was of Cainan,

38 that was of Enos, that was of Seth, that was of Adam, that was of God.

CHAPTER 4

1 And Jesus full of the Holy Ghost turned again from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into desert

2 forty days, and was tempted of the devil, and [he] ate nothing in those days; and when those days were ended, he hungered.

3 And the devil said to him, If thou art God’s Son, say to this stone, that it be made bread.

4 And Jesus answered to him, It is written, That a man liveth not in bread alone, but in every word of God.

5 And the devil led him into an high hill, and showed to him all the realms of the world in a moment of time;

6 and said to him, I shall give to thee all this power, and the glory of them, for to me they be given, and to whom I will, I give them;

7 therefore if thou fall down, and worship before me, all things shall be thine.

8 And Jesus answered, and said to him, It is written, Thou shalt worship thy Lord God [or the Lord thy God], and to him alone thou shalt serve.

9 And he led him into Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If thou art God’s Son, send thyself from hence down;

10 for it is written, For he hath commanded to his angels of thee, that they keep thee in all thy ways,

11 and that they shall take thee in hands, lest peradventure thou hurt thy foot at [or on] a stone.

12 And Jesus answered, and said to him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt thy Lord God [or the Lord thy God].

13 And when every temptation was ended, the fiend [or the devil] went away from him for a time.

14 And Jesus turned again in the virtue of the Spirit into Galilee, and the fame went forth of him through all the country.

15 And he taught in the synagogues of them, and was magnified of all men.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he was nourished, and he entered after his custom in the sabbath day into a synagogue [or into the synagogue], and rose to read.

17 And the book of Isaiah, the prophet, was taken to him; and as he turned the book, he found a place, where it was written,

18 The Spirit of the Lord is[up] on me, for which thing he anointed me; he sent me to preach [or evangelize] to poor men, to heal contrite men in heart, and to preach remission to prisoners [or captives], and sight to blind men, and to deliver broken men into remission;

19 to preach the year of the Lord pleasant [or accepted], and the day of yielding again [or retribution].

20 And when he had closed the book, he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat; and the eyes of all men in the synagogue were beholding into him.

21 And he began to say to them, For in this day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears.

22 And all men gave witnessing to him, and wondered in the words of grace, that came forth [or came out] of his mouth. And they said, Whether this is not the son of Joseph?

23 And he said to them, Soothly ye shall say to me this likeness, Leech, heal thyself. The Pharisees said to Jesus, How great things have we heard done in Capernaum, do thou also here in thy country.

24 And he said, Truly I say to you, that no prophet is received [or is accepted] in his own country.

25 In truth I say to you, that many widows were in the days of Elijah, the prophet, in Israel, when heaven was closed three years and six months, when great hunger was made in all the earth [or in every land];

26 and to none of them was Elijah sent, but into Sarepta of Sidon, to a woman a widow [or no but to Sarepta of Sidon, to a woman widow].

27 And many mesels were in Israel, under Elisha, the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, but Naaman of Syria.

28 And all in the synagogue hearing these things, were filled with wrath.

29 And they rose up, and drove him out without the city, and led him to the top of the hill on which their city was builded, to cast him down.

30 But Jesus passed, and went through the middle of them;

31 and he came down into Caper-naum, a city of Galilee, and there he taught them in [the] sabbaths.

32 And they were astonied in his teaching, for his word was in power.

33 And in their synagogue was a man having an unclean fiend, and he cried with great voice,

34 and said, Suffer, what to us and to thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to lose us? I know thee, that thou art the Holy of God.

35 And Jesus blamed him, and said, Wax dumb, and go out from him. And when the fiend had cast him forth into the middle, he went away from him, and he annoyed him nothing.

36 And dread was made in all men, and they spake together, and said, What is this word, for in power and virtue he commandeth to unclean spirits, and they go out?

37 And the fame was published of him into each place of the country.

38 And Jesus rose up from the synagogue, and entered into the house of Simon; and the mother of Simon’s wife was holden with great fevers, and they prayed him for her.

39 And Jesus stood over her, and commanded to the fever, and it left her; and anon she rose up, and served them.

40 And when the sun went down, all that had sick men with diverse languors, [or aches], led them to him; and he set his hands on each by themselves, and healed them.

41 And fiends went out from many, and cried, and said, For thou art the Son of God. And he blamed, and suffered them not to speak, for they knew him, that he was Christ.

42 And when the day was come, he went out, and went into a desert place; and the people sought him, and they came to him, and they held him, that he should not go away from them.

43 To whom he said, For also to other cities it behooveth me to preach [or evangelize] the kingdom of God, for therefore [or thereto] I am sent.

44 And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.

CHAPTER 5

1 And it was done, when the people came fast to Jesus, to hear the word of God, he stood beside the pool [or the water] of Gennesaret,

2 and saw two boats standing beside the pool [or the water]; and the fishers were gone down, and washed their nets.

3 And he went up into a boat, that was Simon’s, and prayed him to lead it a little from the land; and he sat, and taught the people out of the boat.

4 And as he ceased to speak, he said to Simon, Lead out into the depth, and slack ye your nets to take fish.

5 And Simon answered, and said to him, Commander, we travailed all the night, and took nothing, but in thy word I shall lay out the net.

6 And when they had done this thing, they enclosed together a great multitude of fishes; and their net was broken.

7 And they beckoned to fellows, that were in another boat, that they should come, and help them. And they came, and filled both the boats, so that they were almost drowned.

8 And when Simon Peter saw this thing, he felled down to the knees of Jesus, and said, Lord, go from me, for I am a sinful man.

9 For he was on each side astonied, and all that were with him, in the taking of fishes which they took.

10 Soothly in like manner James and John, the sons of Zebedee, that were fellows of Simon Peter. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not thou dread; now from this time thou shalt take men.

11 And when the boats were led up to the land, they left all things, and they pursued him.

12 And it was done, when he was in one of the cities, lo! a man full of leprosy; and seeing Jesus fell down on his face, and prayed him, and said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou mayest make me clean.

13 And Jesus held forth his hand, and touched him, and said, I will, be thou made clean. And anon the leprosy passed away from him.

14 And Jesus commanded to him, that he should say to no man; But go, show thee to a priest, and offer for thy cleansing, as Moses bade, into witnessing to them.

15 And the word walked about the more of him; and much people came together, to hear, and to be healed of their sicknesses.

16 And he went into desert, and prayed.

17 And it was done in one of the days, he sat, and taught; and there were Pharisees sitting, and doctors of the law, that came from [or of] each castle of Galilee, and of Judea, and of Jerusalem; and the virtue of the Lord was to heal sick men.

18 And lo! men bare in a bed a man that was sick in palsy, and they sought to bear him in, and set before him.

19 And they found not in what part they should bear him in, for the people, and they went upon the roof, and by the slates they let him down with the bed, into the midst, before Jesus.

20 And when Jesus saw the faith of them, he said, Man, thy sins be forgiven to thee.

21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to think, saying, Who is this, that speaketh blasphemies? who may forgive sins, but God alone?

22 And as Jesus knew the thoughts of them, he answered, and said to them, What think ye evil things in your hearts?

23 What is lighter to say, Sins be forgiven to thee, or to say, Rise up, and walk?

24 But that ye know, that man’s Son hath power in earth to forgive sins, he said to the sick man in palsy, I say to thee, rise up, take thy bed, and go into thine house.

25 And anon he rose up before them, and took the bed in which he lay, and went into his house, and magnified God.

26 And great wonder took all, and they magnified God; and they were full-filled with great dread, and said, For we have seen marvelous things today.

27 And after these things Jesus went out, and saw a publican, Levi by name, sitting at the tollbooth. And he said to him, Pursue thou me;

28 and when he had left all things, he rose up, and pursued him.

29 And Levi made to him a great feast in his house; and there was a great company of publicans, and of others that were with them, sitting at the meat.

30 And the Pharisees and the scribes of them grutched, and said to his disciples, Why eat ye and drink with publicans, and sinful men?

31 And Jesus answered, and said to them, They that be whole have no need to a leech, but they that be sick [or they that have evil];

32 for I came not to call just men, but sinful men to penance.

33 And they said to him, Why the disciples of John fast oft, and make prayers, also and of the Pharisees, but thine eat and drink?

34 To whom he said, Whether ye may make the sons of the spouse to fast, while the spouse is with them?

35 But days shall come, when the spouse shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.

36 And he said to them also a likeness; For no man taketh a piece from a new cloth, and putteth it into an old clothing; else both he breaketh the new, and the piece of the new accordeth not to the old.

37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles [or old wine vessels]; else the new wine shall break the bottles [or wine vessels], and the wine shall be shed out, and the bottles [or wine vessels] shall perish.

38 But new wine oweth to be put into new bottles [or new wine vessels], and both be kept.

39 And no man drinking the old, will anon the new; for he saith, The old is the better [or The old is better].

CHAPTER 6

1 And it was done in the second first sabbath [or in the first second sabbath], when he passed by the corns, his disciples plucked ears of corn; and they rubbing with their hands, ate.

2 And some of the Pharisees said to them, What do ye that, that is not leaveful in the sabbaths?

3 And Jesus answered, and said to them, Have ye not read, what David did, when he hungered, and they that were with him;

4 how he entered into the house of God, and took loaves of proposition, and ate, and gave to them that were with him; which loaves it was not leaveful to eat, but only to priests [or no but to priests alone].

5 And he said to them, For man’s Son is Lord, yea, of the sabbath.

6 And it was done in another sabbath, that he entered into a synagogue, and taught. And a man was there, and his right hand was dry.

7 And the scribes and the Pharisees espied him, if he would heal him in the sabbath, that they should find cause, whereof they should accuse him.

8 And he knew the thoughts of them, and he said to the man that had a dry hand, Rise up, and stand in the middle. And he rose, and stood.

9 And Jesus said to them, I ask you, if it is leaveful to do well in the sabbath [day], or evil? to make a soul safe, or to lose?

10 And when he had beheld all men about, he said to the man, Hold forth thine hand. And he held forth, and his hand was restored to health.

11 And they were full-filled [or filled] with unwisdom, and spake together, what they should do of Jesus.

12 And it was done in those days, he went out into an hill to pray; and he was all night dwelling in the prayer of God.

13 And when the day was come, he called his disciples, and chose twelve of them, which he called [or he named] also apostles;

14 Simon, whom he called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,

15 Matthew and Thomas, James Alphaeus, and Simon, that is called Zelotes,

16 Judas of James, and Judas Iscariot, that was traitor.

17 And Jesus came down from the hill with them, and stood in a field place; and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people, of all Judea, and Jerusalem, and of the sea coasts, and of Tyre and Sidon, that came to hear him, and to be healed of their sicknesses;

18 and they that were travailed of [or with] unclean spirits, were healed.

19 And all the people sought to touch him, for virtue went out of him, and healed all.

20 And when his eyes were cast up, into his disciples, he said, Blessed be ye, poor men [or poor], for the kingdom of God is yours.

21 Blessed be ye, that now hunger, for ye shall be full-filled. Blessed be ye, that now weep, for ye shall laugh. [Blessed be ye, that hunger now, for ye shall be filled. Blessed be ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.]

22 Ye shall be blessed, when men shall hate you, and separate you away, and put reproof to you[or shall put shame on you], and cast out your name as evil, for man’s Son.

23 Joy ye in that day, and be ye glad; for lo! your meed is much in heaven; for after these things the fathers of them did to prophets.

24 Nevertheless woe to you, rich men, that have your comfort.

25 Woe to you that be full-filled, for ye shall hunger. Woe to you that now laugh, for ye shall mourn, and weep. [Woe to you that be filled, for ye shall hunger. Woe to you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn, and weep.]

26 Woe to you, when all men shall bless you; after these things the fathers of them did to [false] prophets.

27 But I say to you that hear, love ye your enemies, do ye well to them that hated you [or that hate you];

28 bless ye men that curse you, pray ye for men that defame you [or that falsely challenge you].

29 And to him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, show also the other [or give also the tother]; and from him that taketh away from thee a cloth, do not thou forbid the coat.

30 And give to each that asketh thee, and if a man taketh away those things that be thine, ask thou not again.

31 And as ye will that men do to you, do ye also to them in like manner.

32 And if ye love them that love you, what thank [or what grace] is to you? for sinful men love men that love them.

33 And if ye do well to them that do well to you, what grace [or what thank] is to you? for sinful men do this thing.

34 And if ye lend to them of which ye hope to take again, what thank [or what grace] is to you? for sinful men lend to sinful men, to take again as much.

35 Nevertheless love ye your enemies, and do ye well, and lend ye, hoping nothing thereof, and your meed shall be much, and ye shall be the sons of the Highest, for he is benign, [or of good will], on unkind men and evil men.

36 Therefore be ye merciful, as your Father is merciful.

37 Do not ye deem, and ye shall not be deemed. Do not ye condemn, and ye shall not be condemned; forgive ye, and it shall be forgiven to you.

38 Give ye, and it shall be given to you. They shall give into your bosom a good measure, and well-filled, and shaken together, and overflowing; for by the same measure, by which ye mete, it shall be meted again to you.

39 And he said to them a likeness, Whether the blind may lead the blind? nor fall they not both into the ditch? [or whether they fall not both into the ditch?]

40 A disciple is not above his master; but each shall be perfect, if he be as his master.

41 And what seest thou in thy brother’s eye a mote, but thou beholdest not a beam, that is in thine own eye?

42 Or how mayest thou say to thy brother, Brother, suffer, I shall cast out the mote of thine eye, and thou beholdest not a beam that is in thine own eye? Hypocrite, first take out [or cast out] the beam of thine eye, and then thou shalt see to take out the mote of thy brother’s eye.

43 It is not a good tree, that maketh evil fruits, neither an evil tree, that maketh good fruits;

44 for every tree is known of his fruit. And men gather not figs of thorns, neither men gather a grape of a bush of briars.

45 A good man of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and an evil man of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things; for of the plenty of the heart the mouth speaketh.

46 And what call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not those things that I say.

47 Each that cometh to me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, I shall show to you, to whom he is like.

48 He is like to a man that buildeth an house, that digged deep, and set [or put] the foundament on a stone. And when a great flood was made, the flood was hurled to that house, and it might not move it, for it was founded on a firm stone.

49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like to a man building his house on [the] earth, without foundament; into which the flood was hurled, and anon it fell down; and the falling down of that house was made great.

CHAPTER 7

1 And when he had fulfilled all his words into the ears of the people, he entered into Capernaum.

2 But a servant of a centurion, that was precious to him, was sick, and drawing to the death.

3 And when he had heard of Jesus, he sent to him the elder men of Jews, and prayed him, that he would come, and heal his servant.

4 And when they came to Jesus, they prayed him busily, and said to him, For he is worthy, that thou grant to him this thing;

5 for he loveth our folk, and he builded to us a synagogue.

6 And Jesus went with them. And when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent to him friends, and said, Lord, do not thou be travailed, for I am not worthy, that thou enter under my roof;

7 for which thing I deemed not myself worthy, that I come to thee; but say thou by word, and my child shall be healed.

8 For I am a man ordained under power, and have knights under me; and I say to this, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh, and to my servant, Do this thing, and he doeth [it].

9 And when this thing was heard, Jesus wondered; [and he turned], and said to the people pursuing him, Truly I say to you, neither [or not] in Israel I found so great faith.

10 And they that were sent, turned again home, and found the servant whole, that was sick.

11 And it was done afterward, Jesus went into a city, that is called Nain, and his disciples; and [a] full great [company of] people went with him.

12 And when he came nigh to the gate of the city, lo! the son of a woman that had no more children [or an only son of his mother], was borne out dead; and this was a widow; and much people of the city [was] with her.

13 And when the Lord Jesus had seen her, he had ruth [or he moved by mercy] on her, and said to her, Do not thou weep.

14 And he came nigh, and touched the bier; and they that bare the bier stood. And he said, Young man, I say to thee, rise up.

15 And he that was dead sat up again [or sat up], and began to speak; and he gave him to his mother.

16 And dread took all men, and they magnified God, and said, For a great prophet is risen among us, and, For God hath visited his people.

17 And this word went out of him into all Judea, and into all the country about.

18 And John’s disciples told him of all these things.

19 And John called twain of his disciples, and sent them to Jesus, and said, Art thou he that is to come, or abide we another?

20 And when the men came to him, they said, John Baptist sent us to thee, and said, Art thou he that is to come, or we abide another?

21 And in that hour he healed many men of their sicknesses, and wounds, and [of] evil spirits; and he gave sight to many blind men.

22 And Jesus answered, and said to them, Go ye again, and tell ye to John those things that ye have heard and seen; blind men see, crooked men go, mesels be made clean, deaf men hear, dead men rise again, poor men be taken to preaching of the gospel.

23 And he that shall not be caused to stumble in me, is blessed.

24 And when the messengers of John were gone forth [or had gone away], he began to say of John to the people, What went ye out into desert to see? a reed wagged [or waved] with the wind?

25 But what went ye out to see? a man clothed with soft clothes? Lo! they that be in [a] precious cloth, and in delights, be in kings’ houses.

26 But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say to you, and more than a prophet.

27 This is he, of whom it is written, Lo! I send mine angel before thy face, which shall make ready thy way before thee.

28 Certainly I say to you, there is no man a more prophet among the children of women, than is John Baptist, [or among the children of women, no man is more prophet than John Baptist]; but he that is less in the kingdom of heavens, is more than he.

29 And all the people hearing, and publicans, that had been baptized with the baptism of John, justified God;

30 but the Pharisees and the wise men of the law, that were not baptized of him, despised the counsel of God against themselves.

31 And the Lord said, Therefore to whom shall I say men of this gener-ation like, and to whom be they like?

32 They be like to children sitting in the chapping, and speaking together, and saying, We have sung to you with pipes, and ye have not danced; we have made mourning [or lamentation], and ye have not wept.

33 For John Baptist came, neither eating bread, nor drinking wine, and ye say, He hath a fiend.

34 Man’s Son came eating and drinking, and ye say, Lo! a man a devourer [or a glutton], and drinking wine, a friend of publicans, and of sinful men.

35 And wisdom is justified of [all] her sons.

36 But one of the Pharisees prayed Jesus, that he should eat with him. And he entered into the house of the Pharisee, and sat at the meat.

37 And lo! a sinful woman, that was in the city, as she knew, that Jesus sat at [the] meat in the house of the Pharisee, she brought an alabaster box of ointment;

38 and she stood behind beside his feet, and began to moist his feet with tears, and wiped [them] with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed with ointment.

39 And the Pharisee seeing, that had called him, said within himself, saying, If this were a prophet, he should know, who and what manner woman it were [or it is] that toucheth him, for she is a sinful woman.

40 And Jesus answered, and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to thee. And he said, Master, say thou.

41 And he answered, Two debtors were to one lender; and one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty;

42 but when they had not whereof to yield, he forgave [freely] to both. Who [of them] then loveth him more?

43 Simon answered, and said, I guess, that he to whom he forgave more. And he answered to him, Thou hast deemed rightly.

44 And he turned to the woman, and said to Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest no water to my feet; but this [woman] hath moisted my feet with tears, and wiped with her hairs.

45 Thou hast not given to me a kiss; but this [woman], since she entered [or since I entered], ceased not to kiss my feet.

46 Thou anointedest not mine head with oil; but this anointed my feet with ointment.

47 For which thing I say to thee, many sins be forgiven to her, for she hath loved much; and to whom is less forgiven, he loveth less.

48 And Jesus said to her, Thy sins be forgiven to thee.

49 And they that sat together at the meat, began to say within themselves, Who is this that [also] forgiveth sins.

50 But he said to the woman, Thy faith hath made thee safe; go thou in peace.

CHAPTER 8

1 And it was done afterward, and Jesus made journey by cities and castles, preaching and evangelizing the realm of God, and twelve with him;

2 and some women that were healed of wicked spirits and sicknesses, Mary, that is called Magdalene, of whom seven devils went out,

3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the procurator of Herod, and Susanna, and many others, that ministered to him of their riches.

4 And when much people was come together, and men hied [or hasted] to him, from the cities, he said by a similitude, [or a likeness, or example],

5 He that soweth, went out to sow his seed. And while he soweth, some fell beside the way, and was defouled, and birds of the air ate it.

6 And other fell on a stone, and it sprang up, and dried, for it had not moisture [or it had no moisture].

7 And other fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up together, and strangled it.

8 And other fell into good earth, and it sprang up, and made an hundredfold fruit. He said these things, and cried, He that hath ears of hearing, hear he.

9 But his disciples asked him, what this parable was.

10 And he said to them, To you it is granted to know the private [or the mystery] of the kingdom of God; but to other men in parables, that they seeing see not, and they hearing understand not.

11 And this is the parable. The seed is God’s word;

12 and they that be beside the way, be these that hear; and afterward the fiend cometh, and taketh away the word from their heart, lest they believing be made safe.

13 But they that fell on a stone, be these that when they have heard, receive the word with joy. And these have no roots; for at a time they believe, and in time of temptation they go away.

14 But that that fell among thorns, be these that heard, and of busy-nesses, and riches, and lusts of life they go forth, and be strangled, and bring forth no fruit.

15 But that that fell into good earth, be these that, in a good heart, and best, hear the word, and hold, and bring forth fruit in patience.

16 No man lighteth a lantern, and covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed, but on a candlestick, that men that enter see light.

17 For there is no privy thing, which shall not be opened; neither hid thing, which shall not be known, and come into open.

18 Therefore see ye, how ye hear; for it shall be given to him that hath, and whoever hath not, also that that he weeneth [or he guesseth] that he have, shall be taken away from him.

19 And his mother and brethren came to him; and they might not come to him for the people.

20 And it was told to him, Thy mother and thy brethren stand withoutforth, willing to see thee.

21 And he answered, and said to them, My mother and my brethren be these, that hear the word of God, and do it.

22 And it was done in one of the days, he went up into a boat, and his disciples. And he said to them, Pass we over the sea. And they went up.

23 And while they rowed, he slept. And a tempest of wind came down into the water, and they were driven hither and thither with waves, and were in peril.

24 And they came nigh, and raised him, and said, Commander, we perish. And he rose up, and blamed the wind, and the tempest of the water; and it ceased, and peaceability was made.

25 And he said to them, Where is your faith? Which dreading wondered, and said together, Who, guessest thou, is this? for he commandeth to the winds and to the sea, and they obey to him.

26 And they rowed to the country of Gadarenes, that is against Galilee.

27 And when he went out to the land, a man ran to him, that had a devil [now] long time, and he was not clothed with cloth, neither dwelled in house, but in sepulchres.

28 This, when he saw Jesus, fell down before him, and he crying with a great voice said, What to me and to thee, Jesus, the Son of the Highest God? I beseech thee, that thou torment me not.

29 For he commanded the unclean spirit, that he should go out from the man. For he took him oft times, and he was bound with chains, and kept in stocks, and when the bonds were broken, he was led of the devil into desert.

30 And Jesus asked him, and said, What name is to thee? And he said, A legion; for many devils were [or had] entered into him.

31 And they prayed him, that he should not command them, that they should go into hell [or into the deep-ness].

32 And there was a flock of many swine [or many hogs] pasturing in an hill, and they prayed him, that he should suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them.

33 And so the devils went out from the man, and entered into the swine [or the hogs]; and with a rush the flock went headlong into the pool [or into the lake of water], and was drenched or drowned.

34 And when the herders saw this thing done, they fled, and told into the city, and into the towns.

35 And they went out to see that thing that was done. And they came to Jesus, and they found the man sitting clothed, from whom the devils went out, and in whole mind at his feet; and they dreaded.

36 And they that saw told to them, how he was made whole of the legion.

37 And all the multitude of the country of Gadarenes prayed him, that he should go from them, for they were held with great dread. And he went up into a boat, and turned again.

38 And the man of whom the devils were gone out [or of whom the fiends went out], prayed him, that he should be with him. [Soothly] Jesus let him go, and said,

39 Go again into thine house, and tell how great things God hath done to thee. And he went through all the city, and preached, how great things Jesus had done to him.

40 And it was done, when Jesus was gone again [or had gone again], the people received him; for all were abiding him.

41 And lo! a man, to whom the name was Jairus, and he was [a] prince of a synagogue; and he fell down at the feet of Jesus, and prayed him, that he should enter into his house,

42 for he had but one daughter [or an only daughter], almost of twelve years old, and she was dead. And it befell, the while he went, he was thronged of the people.

43 And a woman that had a flux of blood twelve years, and had spended all her chattel [or all her substance] in leeches, and might not be cured of any,

44 and she came nigh behind, and touched the hem of his cloth, and anon the flux of her blood ceased.

45 And Jesus said, Who is it that touched me? And when all men denied, Peter said, and they that were with him, Commander, the people thrust [or throng] and dis-ease thee, and thou sayest, Who touched me?

46 And Jesus said, Some man hath touched me, for [I have known] that virtue went out of me.

47 And the woman seeing, that it was not hid from him, came trembling, and fell down at his feet, and for what cause she had touched him she showed before all the people, and how anon she was healed.

48 And he said to her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee safe; go thou in peace.

49 And yet while he spake, a man came from [or to] the prince of the synagogue, and said to him, Thy daughter is dead, do not thou travail the Master.

50 And when this word was heard, Jesus answered to the father of the damsel, Do not thou dread, but believe thou only [or but only believe thou], and she shall be safe.

51 And when he came to the house, he suffered no man to enter with him, but Peter and John and James, and the father and the mother of the damsel.

52 And all wept, and bewailed her. And he said, Do not ye weep, for the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

53 And they scorned him, and knew that she was dead.

54 But he held her hand, and cried, and said, Damsel, rise up.

55 And her spirit turned again, and she rose anon. And he commanded to give to her to eat.

56 And her father and mother wondered greatly; and he commanded them, that they should not say to any [man] that thing that was done.

CHAPTER 9

1 And when the twelve apostles were called together, Jesus gave to them virtue and power on all devils, and that they should heal sicknesses.

2 And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal sick men.

3 And he said to them, Nothing take ye in the way, neither a staff [or a rod], nor scrip, neither bread, nor money, and neither have ye two coats.

4 And into what[ever] house ye enter, dwell ye there, and go ye not out from thence.

5 And whoever receive not you [or whoever shall not receive you], go ye out of that city, and shake ye off the powder of your feet into witnessing on them.

6 And they went forth, and went about by castles, preaching [or evangelizing] and healing everywhere.

7 And Herod [the] tetrarch [or prince of the fourth part], heard all [the] things that were done of him, and he doubted, for that it was said of some men, that John was risen from death;

8 and of some men, that Elijah had appeared; but of others, that one of the old prophets was risen.

9 And Herod said, I have beheaded John; and who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he sought to see him.

10 And the apostles turned again, and told to him all things that they had done. And he took them, and went beside into a desert place, that is [called] Bethsaida.

11 And when the people knew this, they followed him. And he received them, and spake to them of the kingdom of God; and he healed them that had need of cure.

12 And the day began to bow down, and the twelve came, and said to him, Leave the people, that they go, and turn into the castles and towns, that be about, that they find meat, for we be here in a desert place.

13 And he said to them, Give ye to them to eat. And they said, There be not to us more than five loaves and two fishes, but peradventure that we go, and buy meats to all this people [or for all the company].

14 And the men were almost five thousand. And he said to his disciples, Make ye them to sit to meat by companies, a fifty together.

15 And they did so, and they made all men sit to [or at the] meat.

16 And when he had taken the five loaves and two fishes, he beheld into heaven, and blessed them, and brake, and dealed to his disciples, that they should set [or put] forth before the companies.

17 And all men ate, and were full-filled [or were filled]; and that that left to them of broken meats was taken up, twelve coffins.

18 And it was done, when he was alone praying, his disciples were with him, and he asked them, and said, Whom say the people that I am?

19 And they answered, and said, John Baptist, others say Elijah, and [or but] others say, one prophet of the former is risen.

20 And he said to them, But whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered, and said, The Christ of God.

21 And he blaming them, commanded [them] that they should say to no man,

22 and said these things, For it behooveth man’s Son to suffer many things, and to be reproved of the elder men, and of the princes of priests, and of the scribes, and to be slain, and the third day to rise again.

23 And he said to all [men], If any [man] will come after me, deny he himself, and take he his cross every day, and pursue he me.

24 For he that will make his life safe shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for me, shall make it safe.

25 And what profiteth [it to] a man, if he win all the world, and lose himself, and do impairing of himself [or to himself].

26 For whoso shameth me and my words, man’s Son shall shame him, when he cometh in his majesty, and of the Father’s, and of the holy angels.

27 And I say to you, verily there be some standing here, which shall not taste death, till they see the realm of God.

28 And it was done after these words almost eight days, and he took Peter and James and John, and he ascended into an hill, to pray.

29 And while he prayed, the like-ness of his face was changed, and his clothing was white shining.

30 And lo! two men spake with him, and Moses and Elijah

31 were seen in majesty; and they said his going out, which he should fulfill in Jerusalem.

32 And Peter, and they that were with him, were heavy of sleep, [or were grieved, or heavied, with sleep], and they waking saw his majesty, and the two men that stood with him.

33 And it was done, when they departed from him, Peter said to Jesus, Commander, it is good that we be here, and make we here three tabernacles, one to thee, and one to Moses, and one to Elijah. And he knew not what he should say.

34 But while he spake these things, a cloud was made, and overshadowed them; and they dreaded, when they entered into the cloud.

35 And a voice was made out of the cloud, and said, This is my dear-worthy Son, hear ye him.

36 And while the voice was made, Jesus was found alone. And they were still, and to no man said in those days any of those things, that they had seen, [or they held peace, and said to no man in those days aught of those things that they had seen].

37 But it was done in the day pursuing, when they came down of the hill, much people met them.

38 And lo! a man of the company cried, and said, Master, I beseech thee, behold my son, for I have no more;

39 and lo! a spirit taketh him, and suddenly he crieth, and hurtleth [him] down, and draweth him with foam [or with froth], and scarcely he goeth away drawing him all to pieces.

40 And I prayed thy disciples, that they should cast him out, and they might not.

41 And Jesus answered and said to them, A! unfaithful generation and wayward, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? bring hither thy son.

42 And when he came nigh, the devil hurtled him down, and wrenched him. And Jesus blamed the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and yielded him to his father.

43 And all men wondered greatly in the greatness of God. And when all men wondered in all things that he did, he said to his disciples,

44 Put ye these words in your hearts, for it is to come, that man’s Son be betrayed into the hands of men.

45 And they knew not this word, and it was hid before them, that they feeled it not; and they dreaded to ask him of this word.

46 But a thought entered into them, who of them should be greatest.

47 And Jesus, seeing the thoughts of the heart of them, took a child, and setted him beside him;

48 and said to them, Whoever receiveth this child in my name, receiveth me; and whoever receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me; for he that is least among you all, is the greatest.

49 And John answered and said, Commander, we saw a man casting out fiends in thy name, and we have forbidden him, for he pursueth not thee with us.

50 And Jesus said to him, Do not ye forbid, for he that is not against us, is for us.

51 And it was done, when the days of his taking up were fulfilled, he set fast his face, to go to Jerusalem,

52 and sent messengers before his sight. And they went, and entered into a city of Samaritans, to make ready to him.

53 And they received not him, for the face of him was going into Jerusalem.

54 And when James and John, his disciples, saw, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we say, that fire come down from heaven, and waste them, [as Elijah did]?

55 And he turned, and blamed them, and said, Ye know not, whose spirits ye be;

56 for man’s Son came not to lose men’s souls, but to save [them]. And they went into another castle.

57 And it was done, when they walked in the way, a man said to him, I shall pursue thee, whither ever thou [shalt] go.

58 And Jesus said to him, Foxes have dens [or ditches], and birds of the air have nests, but man’s Son hath not where he [shall] rest his head.

59 And he said to another, Pursue thou me. And he said, Lord, suffer me first to go, and bury my father.

60 And Jesus said to him, Suffer that dead men bury their dead men; but go thou, and tell the kingdom of God.

61 And another said, Lord, I shall pursue thee, but first suffer me to leave all things [or to tell to them] that be at home.

62 And Jesus said to him, No man that putteth his hand to the plough, and beholding backward, is able to the kingdom of God.

CHAPTER 10

1 And after these things the Lord Jesus ordained also other seventy and twain, and sent them by twain and twain before his face into every city and place, whither he was to come.

2 And he said to them, There is much ripe corn, and few workmen; therefore pray ye the Lord of the ripe corn, that he send workmen into his ripe corn.

3 Go ye, lo! I send you as lambs among wolves.

4 Therefore do not ye bear a satchel, neither scrip, neither shoes, and greet ye no man by the way.

5 Into what[ever] house that ye enter, first say ye, Peace to this house.

6 And if a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest on him; but if none, it shall turn again to you.

7 And dwell ye in the same house, eating and drinking those things that be at them; for a workman is worthy his hire. Do not ye pass from house into house.

8 And into whatever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat ye those things that be set [or be put] to you;

9 and heal ye the sick men that be in that city. And say ye to them, The kingdom of God shall [come] nigh to you.

10 And into what[ever] city ye enter, and they receive you not, go ye out into the streets of it, and say ye,

11 We wipe off against you the powder that cleaved to us of your city; nevertheless know ye this thing, that the realm of God shall come nigh.

12 I say to you, that to Sodom it shall be easier [or less pain] than to that city in that day.

13 Woe to thee, Chorazin; woe to thee, Bethsaida; for if in Tyre and Sidon the virtues had been done, which have been done in you, some-time they would have sat in haircloth and ashes, and have done penance.

14 Nevertheless to Tyre and Sidon it shall be easier in the doom, than to you.

15 And thou, Capernaum, art enhanced till to heaven; thou shalt be drenched or drowned[down] till into hell.

16 He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despis-eth him that sent me.

17 And the two and seventy disciples turned again with joy, and said, Lord, also devils be subject to us in thy name.

18 And he said to them, I saw Satan falling down from heaven, as lightning.

19 And lo! I have given to you power to tread on serpents, and scorpions, and on all the virtue of the enemy, and nothing shall annoy you.

20 Nevertheless do not ye [have] joy in this thing, that spirits be subject to you; but joy ye, that your names be written in heavens.

21 In that hour he gladded in the Holy Ghost, and said, I acknowledge to thee, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for thou hast hid these things from wise men and prudent, and hast showed them to small [or little] children. Yea, Father, for so it pleased before thee [or so it pleased to thee].

22 All things be given to me of my Father, and no man knoweth who is the Son, but the Father; and who is the Father, but the Son, and to whom the Son will show.

23 And he turned to his disciples, and said, Blessed be the eyes, that see those things that ye see.

24 For I say to you, that many prophets and kings would have seen those things, that ye see, and they saw not; and hear those things, that ye hear, and they heard not.

25 And lo! a wise man of the law rose up, tempting him, and saying, Master, what thing shall I do to have everlasting life?

26 And he said to him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

27 He answered, and said, Thou shalt love thy Lord God [or the Lord thy God] of all thine heart, and of all thy soul, and of all thy strengths, and of all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

28 And Jesus said to him, Thou hast answered rightly; do this thing, and thou shalt live.

29 But he willing to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neigh-bour?

30 And Jesus beheld, and said, A man [or Some man] came down from Jerusalem into Jericho, and fell among thieves, and they robbed him, and wounded him, and went away, and left the man half alive.

31 And it befell, that a priest came down the same way, and passed forth, when he had seen him.

32 Also a deacon, when he was beside the place, and saw him, passed forth.

33 But a Samaritan, going the way, came beside him; and he saw him, and had ruth on him; [Forsooth some Samaritan, making journey, came beside the way; and he seeing him, was stirred by mercy;]

34 and came to him, and bound together his wounds, and poured in oil and wine; and laid him on his beast, and led him in to an hostelry, and did the care of him.

35 And another day, he brought forth two pence, and gave to the hosteller, and said, Have the care of him; and whatever thou shalt give over, I shall yield to thee, when I come again.

36 Who of these three, seemeth to thee, was neighbour to him, that fell among [the] thieves?

37 And he said, He that did mercy into him. And Jesus said to him, Go thou, and do thou in like manner.

38 And it was done, while they went, he entered into a castle; and a woman, Martha by name, received him into her house.

39 And to this was a sister, Mary by name, which also sat beside the feet of the Lord, and heard his word.

40 But Martha busied about the oft [or much] service. And she stood, and said, Lord, takest thou no keep, that my sister hath left me alone to serve? therefore say thou to her, that she help me.

41 And the Lord answered, and said to her, Martha, Martha, thou art busy, and art troubled about full many things;

42 but one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part, which shall not be taken away from her.

CHAPTER 11

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

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

3 Give to us today our each day’s bread.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14 And Jesus was casting out a fiend, and it was dumb. And when he had cast out the fiend, the dumb man spake; and the people wondered.

15 And some of them said, In Beelzebub, prince of devils, he casteth out devils.

16 And others tempting asked of him a token from heaven.

17 And as he saw the thoughts of them, he said to them, Every realm parted against itself shall be desolate, and an house shall fall on an house.

18 And if Satan be parted against himself, how shall his realm stand? For ye say, that I cast out fiends in Beelzebub.

19 And if I in Beelzebub cast out fiends, in whom cast out your sons? [or in whom your sons cast out?] Therefore they shall be your doomsmen.

20 But if I cast out fiends in the finger of God, then the realm of God is come among you.

21 When a strong, armed man keepeth his house, all things that he wieldeth be in peace.

22 But if a stronger than he come upon him, and overcome him, he shall take away all his arms in which he trusted, and shall deal abroad his robberies [or his spoils].

23 He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gathereth not together with me, scattereth abroad.

24 When an unclean spirit goeth out of a man, he wandereth by dry places, and seeketh rest; and he finding none, saith, I shall turn again into mine house, from whence I came out.

25 And when he cometh, he findeth it cleansed with besoms, and fair arrayed [or adorned].

26 Then he goeth, and taketh with him, seven other spirits worse than himself, and they enter, and dwell there. And the last things of that man be made worse than the former.

27 And it was done, when he had said these things, a woman of the company raised [up] her voice, and said to him, Blessed be the womb that bare thee, and blessed be the teats that thou hast sucked.

28 And he said, But yea [or Rather], blessed be they, that hear the word of God, and keep it.

29 And when the people ran together, he began to say, This generation is a wayward generation; it seeketh a token, and a token shall not be given to it, but the token of Jonah the prophet.

30 For as Jonah was a token to men of Nineveh, so man’s Son shall be to this generation.

31 The queen of the south shall rise in doom with men of this generation, and shall condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth, to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and lo! here is a greater than Solomon.

32 Men of Nineveh shall rise in [the] doom with this generation, and shall condemn it; for they did penance in [or at] the preaching of Jonah, and lo! here is a greater than Jonah.

33 No man tendeth [or lighteneth] a lantern, and putteth it in huddles, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they that go in, see light.

34 The lantern of thy body is thine eye; if thine eye be simple, all thy body shall be light-[full]; but if it be wayward, all thy body shall be dark-full.

35 Therefore see thou, lest the light that is in thee, be darknesses.

36 Therefore if all thy body be bright [or light-full], and have no part of darknesses, it shall be all bright [or light-full], and as a lantern of bright-ness, [or shining], it shall give light to thee.

37 And when he spake, a Pharisee prayed him, that he should eat with him. And he entered, and sat to [or at the] meat.

38 And the Pharisee began to say, guessing within himself, why he was not washed before [the] meat.

39 And the Lord said to him, Now ye Pharisees cleanse that that is with-outforth of the cup and the platter; but that thing that is within of you [or that thing of you that is within], is full of raven and wickedness.

40 Fools, whether he that made that that is withoutforth, made not also that that is within?

41 Nevertheless that that is over-plus, [or superfluous], give ye alms, and lo! all things be clean to you.

42 But woe to you, Pharisees, that tithe mint, and rue, and each herb, and leave doom and the charity of God. For it behooved to do these things, and not to leave those.

43 Woe to you, Pharisees, that love the first chairs in synagogues, and salutations in chapping.

44 Woe to you, that be as sepulchres, that be not seen [or which appear not], and men walking above know not.

45 But one of the wise men of the law answered, and said to him, Master, thou saying these things, also to us doest despite [or doest despite also to us].

46 And he said, Also woe to you, wise men of [the] law, for ye charge men with burdens which they may not bear, and ye yourselves with your one finger touch not the heavinesses.

47 Woe to you, that build tombs [or the burials] of prophets; and your fathers slew them.

48 Truly ye witness, that ye consent to the works of your fathers; for they slew them, but ye build their sepulchres.

49 Therefore the wisdom of God said, I shall send to them prophets and apostles, and of them they shall slay and persecute [or pursue],

50 that the blood of all [the] prophets, that was shed from the making [or the beginning] of the world, be sought of this generation;

51 from the blood of just Abel to the blood of Zechariah, that was slain betwixt [or which perished between] the altar and the House. So I say to you, it shall be sought of this generation.

52 Woe to you, wise men of the law, for ye have taken away the key of knowing; and ye yourselves entered not [in], and ye have forbidden them that entered.

53 And when he said these things to them, the Pharisees and the wise men of the law began grievously to against-stand [him], and stop his mouth of many things,

54 ambushing him, and seeking to take something of his mouth, to accuse him.

CHAPTER 12

1 And when much people stood about, so that they trod each on other [or so that they trod each other], he began to say to his disciples, Be ye ware of the sourdough of the Pharisees, that is hypocrisy.

2 For nothing is covered, that shall not be showed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

3 For why those things that ye have said in darknesses, shall be said in light; and that that ye have spoken in [the] ear in bedchambers, shall be preached in roofs.

4 And I say to you, my friends, be ye not afeared of them that slay the body, and after these things have no more what they shall do.

5 But I shall show to you, whom ye shall dread; dread ye him, that after he hath slain, hath power to send into hell. And so I say to you, dread ye him.

6 Whether five sparrows be not sold for two halfpence [or two farthings]; and one of them is not in forgetting before God?

7 But also all the hairs of your head be numbered. Therefore do not ye dread; ye be of more price, than many sparrows.

8 Truly I say to you, each man that acknowledgeth me before men, man’s Son shall acknowledge him before the angels of God.

9 But he that denieth me before men, shall be denied before the angels of God.

10 And each that saith a word against man’s Son [or against the Son of man], it shall be forgiven to him; but it shall not be forgiven to him, that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost.

11 And when they lead you into synagogues, and to magistrates, and potentates, do not ye be busy, how or what ye shall answer, or what ye shall say.

12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in that hour, what it behooveth you to say.

13 And one of the people said to him, Master, say to my brother, that he part with me the heritage.

14 And he said to him, Man, who ordained me a doomsman, or a parter, on you? [or over you?]

15 And he said to them, See ye, and beware of all covetousness; for the life of a man is not in the abundance of the things, which he wieldeth.

16 And he told to them a likeness, and said, The field of a rich man brought forth plenteous fruits.

17 And he thought within himself, and said, What shall I do, for I have not whither I shall gather my fruits?

18 And he saith, This thing I shall do; I shall throw down my barns, and I shall make greater, and thither I shall gather all things that grow to me, and my goods.

19 And I shall say to my soul, Soul, thou hast many goods kept into full many years; rest thou, eat, drink, and make feast.

20 And God said to him, Fool, in this night they shall take thy life from thee [or they shall ask of thee thy soul]. And whose shall those things be, that thou hast arrayed?

21 So is he that treasureth to himself, and is not rich in God.

22 And he said to his disciples, Therefore I say to you, do not ye be busy to your life, what ye shall eat, neither to your body, with what ye shall be clothed.

23 The life is more than meat, and the body more than clothing.

24 Behold the crows, for they sow not, neither reap, to which is neither cellar, nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more ye be [or be ye] of more price than they.

25 And who of you by thinking may put [or add] one cubit to his stature?

26 Therefore if ye may not do that that is least, what be ye busy of other things?

27 Behold ye the lilies of the field, how they wax; they travail not, neither spin. And I say to you, that neither Solomon in all his glory was clothed as one of these.

28 And if God clotheth thus the hay, that today is in the field, and tomorrow is cast into an oven; how much more you of little faith.

29 And do not ye seek, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; and do not ye be raised on high.

30 For folks of the world seek all these things; and your Father knoweth, that ye have need to all these things.

31 Nevertheless seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be cast to you.

32 Do not ye, little flock, dread, for it pleased to your Father to give you a kingdom.

33 Sell ye those things that ye have in possession [or that ye wield], and give ye alms. And make to you satchels that wax not old, treasure that faileth not in heavens, whither a thief nigh-eth not, neither moth destroyeth.

34 For where is thy treasure, there thine heart shall be. [Forsooth where thy treasure is, there also thine heart shall be.]

35 Be your loins girded above, and lanterns burning in your hands;

36 and be ye like to men that abide their lord, when he shall turn again from the weddings, that when he shall come, and knock, anon they open to him.

37 Blessed be those servants, that when the lord shall come, he shall find waking. Truly I say to you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit to [or at the] meat, and he shall go, and serve them.

38 And if he come in the second waking, and if he come in the third waking, and find so, those servants be blessed.

39 And know ye this thing, for if an husbandman knew, in what hour the thief would come, soothly he should wake, and not suffer his house to be under-mined.

40 And be ye ready, for in what hour ye guess not, man’s Son shall come.

41 And Peter said to him, Lord, sayest thou this parable to us, or to all?

42 And the Lord said, Who, guessest thou, is a true [or a faithful] dispenser, and prudent, whom the lord hath ordained on his meine, to give them in time a measure of wheat?

43 Blessed is that servant, that the lord when he cometh, shall find so doing.

44 Verily I say to you, that on all things that he wieldeth, he shall ordain him.

45 That if that servant say in his heart, My lord tarrieth to come; and begin to smite children, and hand-maidens, and eat, and drink, and be filled [or full-filled] over-measure,

46 the lord of that servant shall come, in the day that he hopeth not, and in the hour that he knoweth not, and shall part him, and put his part with unfaithful men.

47 But that servant that knew the will of his lord, and made not him ready, and did not after his will, shall be beaten with many beatings.

48 But he that knew not, and did worthy things of strokes, shall be beaten with few. For to each man to whom much is given, much shall be asked of him; and they shall ask more of him, to whom they betook much.

49 I came to send fire into the earth, and what will I, but that it be kindled?

50 And I have to be baptized with a baptism, and how am I constrained, till that it be perfectly done?

51 Ween ye, [or Guess ye], that I came to give peace into [the] earth? Nay, I say to you, but parting.

52 For from this time there shall be five parted in one house; three shall be parted against twain, and twain shall be parted against three;

53 the father against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the husband’s mother against the son’s wife, and the son’s wife against her husband’s mother.

54 And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rising from the sun going down, anon ye say, Rain cometh; and so it is done.

55 And when ye see the south blowing, ye say, That heat shall be; and it is done.

56 Hypocrites, ye know how to prove the face of heaven and of earth, but how prove ye not this time[?].

57 But what and of yourselves ye deem not that that is just? [Forsooth why and of yourselves deem ye not this thing that is just?]

58 But when thou goest with thine adversary in the way to the prince [or to the prince in the way], do busyness to be delivered from him; lest peradventure he take thee to the doomsman, and the doomsman betake thee to the masterful asker, and the masterful asker send thee into prison.

59 I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence, till thou yield the last farthing.

CHAPTER 13

1 And some men were present in that time, that told to him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with the sacrifices of them.

2 And he answered, and said to them, Ween ye that these men of Galilee were sinners more than all Galileans, for they suffered such things?

3 I say to you, nay; all ye shall perish in like manner, but ye have penance.

4 And as those eighteen, on which the tower in Siloam fell down, and slew them, guess ye, that they were debtors more than all men that dwell in Jerusalem?

5 I say to you, nay; but also all ye shall perish, if ye do not penance.

6 And he said this likeness, A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit in it, and found none.

7 And he said to the tiller of the vineyard, Lo! three years be, since I come seeking fruit in this fig tree, and I find none; therefore cut it down, whereto occupieth it the earth?

8 And he answering said to him, Lord, suffer it also this year, the while I delve about it, and I shall dung it [or and dung it];

9 if it shall make fruit, [else] if not, in time coming thou shalt cut it down.

10 And he was teaching in their synagogue in the sabbaths.

11 And lo! a woman, that had a spirit of sickness eighteen years, and was crooked [or bowed down], and neither in any manner might look upward.

12 Whom when Jesus had seen, he called [her] to him, and said to her, Woman, thou art delivered of thy sickness.

13 And he set [or put] on her his hands, and anon she stood upright, and glorified God.

14 And the prince of the synagogue answered, having disdain for Jesus had healed in the sabbath; and he said to the people, There be six days, in which it behooveth to work; therefore come ye in these, and be ye healed, and not in the day of sabbath.

15 But the Lord answered to him, and said, Hypocrite, whether each of you untieth not in the sabbath his ox, or ass, from the cratch, [or the stall], and leadeth to water?

16 Behooved it not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo! eighteen years, to be unbound of this bond in the day of sabbath?

17 And when he said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed, and all the people joyed in all things, that were gloriously done of him.

18 Therefore he said, To what thing is the kingdom of God like? and to what thing shall I guess it to be like?

19 It is like to a corn of sinapi, which a man took, and cast into his garden [or into his yard]; and it waxed, and was made into a great tree, and fowls of the air rested in the branches thereof.

20 And again he said, To what thing shall I guess the kingdom of God like?

21 It is like to sourdough that a woman took, and hid it in three measures of meal, till all were soured.

22 And he went by cities and castles, teaching and making journey into Jerusalem.

23 And a man said to him, Lord, if there be few, that be saved? And he said to them,

24 Strive ye to enter by the strait gate; for I say to you, many seek to enter [in], and they shall not be able.

25 For when the husbandman is entered, and the door is closed, ye shall begin to stand withoutforth, and knock at the door, and say, Lord, open to us. And he shall answer, and say to you, I know you not, of whence ye be.

26 Then ye shall begin to say, We have eaten before thee and drunk, and in our streets thou hast taught.

27 And he shall say to you, I know you not, of whence ye be; go away from me, all ye workers of wickedness.

28 There shall be weeping and grinding of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God; and you to be put out.

29 And they shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and shall sit at the meat in the realm of God.

30 And lo! they that were the first, be the last; and they that were the last, be the first.

31 In that day some of the Pharisees came nigh, and said to him, Go out, and go from hence, for Herod will slay thee.

32 And he said to them, Go ye, and say to that fox, Lo! I cast out fiends, and I make perfectly healings, today and tomorrow, and the third day I am ended.

33 Nevertheless it behooveth me today, and tomorrow, and the day that pursueth, to walk; for it falleth not [for] a prophet to perish out of Jerusalem.

34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that slayest prophets, and stonest them that be sent to thee, how oft would I gather together thy sons, as a bird gathereth his nest under feathers [or under wings], and thou wouldest not.

35 Lo! your house shall be left to you desert. And I say to you, that ye shall not see me, till it come, when ye shall say, Blessed is he, that cometh in the name of the Lord.

CHAPTER 14

1 And it was done, when he had entered into the house of a prince of Pharisees, in the sabbath, to eat bread, they espied him.

2 And lo! a man sick in the dropsy was before him.

3 And Jesus answering spake to the wise men of [the] law, and to the Pharisees, and said, Whether it is leaveful to heal in the sabbath?

4 And they held peace. And Jesus took, and healed him, and let him go.

5 And he answered to them, and said, Whose ass or ox of you shall fall into a pit, and he shall not anon draw him out in the day of sabbath?

6 And they might not answer to him to these things.

7 He said also a parable of men bidden to a feast, and he beheld how they chose the first sitting places, and said to them,

8 When thou art bidden to bridals [or When thou shalt be bidden to weddings], sit not at the meat in the first place; lest peradventure a worthier than thou be bidden of him,

9 and lest he come that called thee and him, and say to thee, Give place to this, and then thou shalt begin with shame to hold the lowest place.

10 But when thou art bidden to a feast, go, and sit down in the last place, that when he cometh, that bade thee to the feast, he say to thee, Friend, come [up] higher. Then worship shall be to thee, before men that sit [together] at the meat.

11 For each that enhanceth himself, shall be lowed [or be made low]; and he that meeketh himself, shall be highed.

12 And he said to him, that had bidden him to the feast, When thou makest a meat, or a supper, do not thou call thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy cousins, neither neighbours, nor rich men; lest peradventure they bid thee again to the feast, and it be yielded again to thee.

13 But when thou makest a feast, call poor men, feeble [men], crooked, and blind,

14 and thou shalt be blessed; for they have not whereof to yield [again] to thee, for it shall be yielded to thee in the rising again of just men.

15 And when one of them that sat together at the meat, had heard these things, he said to him, Blessed is he, that shall eat bread in the realm of God.

16 And he said to him, A man made a great supper, and called many.

17 And he sent his servant in the hour of supper, to say to men that were bidden to the feast, that they should come, for now all things be ready.

18 And all began together to excuse them. The first said [to him], I have bought a town, and I have need to go out, and see it; I pray thee, have me excused.

19 And the tother said, I have bought five yokes of oxen, and I go to prove them; I pray thee, have me excused.

20 And another said, I have wedded a wife; and therefore I may not come.

21 And the servant turned again, and told these things to his lord. Then the husbandman was wroth, and said to his servant, Go out swiftly into the great streets and the small streets of the city, and bring in hither poor men, and feeble, [and] blind men, and crooked.

22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done, as thou hast commanded, and yet there is a void place.

23 And the lord said to the servant, Go out into ways and hedges, and constrain men to enter, that mine house be full-filled.

24 For I say to you, that none of those men that be called, shall taste my supper.

25 And much people went with him; and he turned, and said to them,

26 If any man cometh to me, and hateth not his father, and mother, and wife, and sons, and brethren, and sisters or sistren, and yet his own life, he may not be my disciple.

27 And he that beareth not his cross, and cometh after me, may not be my disciple.

28 For who of you willing to build a tower, whether he sit not first or he first sitteth not, and counteth the expenses that be needful, if he have to perform?

29 Lest after that he hath set the foundament, and may not perform, all that see, begin to scorn him,

30 and say, For this man began to build, and might not make an end.

31 Or what king that will go to do a battle against another king, whether he sitteth not first, and bethinketh, if he may with ten thousand go to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

32 Else yet while he is afar, he send-eth a messenger, and prayeth those things that be of peace.

33 So therefore each of you, that forsaketh not [or renounceth not] all things that he hath, may not be my disciple.

34 Salt is good; but if salt vanish, in what thing shall it be savoured?

35 Neither in earth, nor in [the] dunghill it is profitable, but it shall be cast out. He that hath ears of hearing, hear he.

CHAPTER 15

1 And publicans and sinful men were nighing to him, to hear him.

2 And the Pharisees and scribes grutched, saying, For this [man] receiv-eth sinful men, and eateth with them.

3 And he spake to them this parable, and said,

4 What man of you that hath an hundred sheep, and if he hath lost one of them, whether he leaveth not ninety and nine in desert, and goeth to it that perished, till he find it?

5 And when he hath found it, he joyeth, and layeth [or putteth] it on his shoulders;

6 and he cometh home, and calleth together his friends and neighbours, and saith to them, Be ye glad with me, for I have found my sheep, that had perished [or I had lost].

7 And I say to you, so joy shall be in heaven on one sinful man doing penance, more than on ninety and nine just, that have no need to [or of] penance.

8 Or what woman having ten bezants [or ten drachmas], and if she hath lost one bezant [or one drachma], whether she tendeth not [or lighteth not] a lantern, and turneth upside-down the house, and seeketh diligently, till she find it?

9 And when she hath found, she calleth together friends and neighbours, and saith, Be ye glad with me, for I have found the bezant [or the drachma] that I had lost.

10 So I say to you, joy shall be before the angels of God on one sinful man doing penance.

11 And he said, A man had two sons;

12 and the younger of them said to the father [or to his father], Father, give me the portion of chattel [or substance] that falleth to me. And he parted to them the chattel [or the substance].

13 And not after many days, when all things were gathered together, the younger son went forth in pilgrimage into a far country; and there he wasted his goods [or his substance] in living lecherously.

14 And after that he had ended all things, a strong hunger was made in that country, and he began to have need.

15 And he went, and drew him to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his town, to feed swine [or hogs].

16 And he coveted to fill his womb of the pods that the hogs ate, and no man gave to him.

17 And he turned again to himself, and said, How many hired men in my father’s house have plenty of loaves; and I perish here through hunger.

18 I shall rise up, and go to my father, and I shall say to him, Father, I have sinned into [or against] heaven, and before thee;

19 and now I am not worthy to be called thy son, make me as one of thine hired men.

20 And he rose up, and came to his father. And when he was yet afar, his father saw him, and was stirred by mercy. And he ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

21 And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned into [or against] heaven, and before thee; and now I am not worthy to be called thy son.

22 And the father said to his servants, Swiftly bring ye forth the first stole, and clothe ye him, and give ye a ring in his hand, and shoes on his feet;

23 and bring ye a fat calf [or a calf made fat], and slay ye, and eat we, and make we feast.

24 For this my son was dead, and hath lived again; he perished, and is found. And all men began to eat [gladly].

25 But his elder son was in the field; and when he came, and nighed to the house, he heard a symphony and a crowd.

26 And he called one of the servants, and asked, what these things were.

27 And he said to him, Thy brother is come, and thy father slew a fat [or a fatted] calf, for he received him safe.

28 And he was wroth, and would not come in. Therefore his father went out, and began to pray him.

29 And he answered to his father, and said, Lo! so many years I serve thee, and I never brake thy commandment; and thou never gave to me a kid, that I with my friends should have eaten.

30 But after that this thy son, that hath devoured his substance with whores, came, thou hast slain to him a fat [or a fatted] calf.

31 And he said to him, Son, thou art evermore with me, and all my things be thine.

32 But it behooved to make feast, and to have joy; for this thy brother was dead, and lived again [or liveth again]; he perished, and is found.

CHAPTER 16

1 He said also to his disciples, There was a rich man, that had a bailiff [or a farmer]; and this was denounced to him, as he had wasted his goods.

2 And he called him, and said to him, What hear I this thing of thee? yield reckoning of thy bailiffship, for thou might not now be bailiff, [yield reason of thy farm, or for now thou shalt no more hold the farm].

3 And the bailiff said within himself, What shall I do, for my lord taketh away from me the bailiffship? delve may I not, I shame to beg. [Forsooth the farmer said within himself, What shall I do, for my lord taketh away from me the farm? I may not delve, I am ashamed to beg?]

4 I know what I shall do, that when I am removed from the bailiffship [or from the farm], they receive me into their houses.

5 Therefore when all the debtors of his lord were called together, he said to the first, How much owest thou to my lord?

6 And he said, An hundred barrows of oil. And he said to him, Take thy caution [or thine obligation], and sit soon, and write fifty.

7 Afterward he said to another, And how much owest thou? Which answered, An hundred cors [or measures] of wheat. And he said to him, Take thy letters, and write fourscore.

8 And the lord praised the bailiff [or the farmer] of wickedness, for he had done prudently; for the sons of this world be more prudent in their generation, than the sons of light.

9 And I say to you, make ye to you friends of the riches of wickedness, that when ye shall fail, they receive you into everlasting tabernacles.

10 He that is true [or faithful] in the least thing, is true [or faithful] also in the more; and he that is wicked in a little thing, is wicked also in the more.

11 Therefore if ye were not true in the wicked thing of riches [or in the wicked riches], who shall betake to you that that is very? [or that is sooth?]

12 And if ye were not true in other men’s thing, who shall give to you that that is yours?

13 No servant may serve to two lords; for either he shall hate the one, and love the other; either he shall draw [or cleave] to the one, and despise the other. Ye may not serve to God and to riches.

14 But the Pharisees, that were covetous, heard all these things, and they scorned him.

15 And he said to them, Ye it be, that justify you before men; but God hath known your hearts [or God knoweth your hearts], for that that is high to men, is abomination before God.

16 The law and the prophets till to John; from that time the realm of God is evangelized [or is preached], and each man doeth violence into it.

17 Forsooth it is lighter heaven and earth to pass, than that one tittle fall from the law.

18 Every man that forsaketh his wife, and weddeth another, doeth lechery [or adultery]; and he that weddeth the wife forsaken of the husband, doeth adultery.

19 There was a rich man, and was clothed in purple, and white silk, and ate every day shiningly.

20 And there was a beggar, Lazarus by name, that lay at his gate full of boils,

21 and coveted to be fulfilled of [or with] the crumbs, that fell down from the rich man’s board, and no man gave to him; but hounds came, and licked his boils.

22 And it was done, that the beggar died, and was borne of angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man was dead also, and was buried in hell.

23 And he raised up his eyes, when he was in torments, and saw Abraham afar, and Lazarus in his bosom.

24 And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he dip the end of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

25 And Abraham said to him, Son, have mind, for thou hast received good things in thy life, and Lazarus also evil things; but he is now comforted, and thou art tormented.

26 And in all these things a great dark place [or great dark depth] is stablished betwixt us and you; that they that will from hence pass to you, may not, neither from thence pass over hither.

27 And he said, Then I pray thee, father, that thou send him into the house of my father.

28 For I have five brethren, that he witness to them, lest also they come into this place of torments.

29 And Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets; hear they them.

30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if any of dead men go to them, they shall do penance.

31 And he said to him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither if any of dead men rise again, they shall believe to him.

CHAPTER 17

1 And Jesus said to his disciples, It is impossible that causes of stumbling come not; but woe to that man, by whom they come.

2 It is more profitable to him, if a millstone be put about his neck, and he be cast into the sea, than that he cause to stumble one of these little.

3 Take ye heed to yourselves; if thy brother hath sinned against thee, blame him; and if he do penance, forgive him.

4 And if seven times in the day he do sin against thee, and seven times in the day he be converted to thee, and say, It repenteth me, forgive thou him.

5 And the apostles said to the Lord, Increase to us faith [or Increase faith to us].

6 And the Lord said, If ye have faith as the corn [or a corn] of sinapi, ye shall say to this sycamore tree, Be thou drawn up by the root, and be over-planted [or planted over] into the sea, and it shall obey to you.

7 But who of you hath a servant earing, or pasturing oxen, which saith to him, when he turneth again from the field, Anon go, and sit to [or at the] meat;

8 and saith not to him, Make ready, that I sup, and gird thee, and serve me, while I eat and drink, and after this thou shalt eat and drink;

9 whether he hath grace to that servant, for he did that that he commanded him? Nay, I guess.

10 So [also] ye, when ye have done all things that be commanded to you, say ye, We be unprofitable servants, we have done that that we ought to do.

11 And it was done, the while Jesus went to Jerusalem, he passed through the midst of Samaria, and Galilee.

12 And when he entered into a castle, ten leprous men came to meet him, which stood afar,

13 and raised [up] their voice, and said, Jesus, Commander, have mercy on us.

14 And as he saw them, he said, Go, show ye you to the priests. And it was done, while they went, they were cleansed.

15 And one of them, as he saw that he was cleansed, went again, magni-fying God with a great voice.

16 And he fell down on the face before his feet, and did thankings [or doing graces]; and this was a Samaritan.

17 And Jesus answered, and said, Whether ten be not cleansed, and where be the nine?

18 There is none found, that turned again, and gave glory to God, but this alien [or this stranger].

19 And he said to him, Rise up, go thou; for thy faith hath made thee safe.

20 And he was asked of the Pharisees, when the realm of God cometh. And he answered to them, and said, The realm of God cometh not with espying,

21 neither they shall say, Lo! here, or lo[!] there; for lo! the realm of God is within you.

22 And he said to his disciples, Days shall come, when ye shall desire to see one day of man’s Son, and ye shall not see.

23 And they shall say to you, Lo! here, and lo! there. Do not ye go, neither pursue;

24 for as lightning shining from under heaven shineth into [or on] those things that be under heaven, so shall man’s Son be in his day.

25 But first it behooveth him to suffer many things, and to be reproved of this generation.

26 And as it was done in the days of Noah, so it shall be in the days of man’s Son.

27 They ate and drank, wedded wives, and were given to weddings, till into the day in which Noah entered into the ship; and the great flood came, and lost all.

28 Also as it was done in the days of Lot, they ate and drank, bought and sold, planted and builded;

29 but in the day that Lot went out of Sodom, the Lord rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and lost all.

30 Like this thing it shall be, in what day man’s Son shall be showed.

31 In that hour [or that day], he that is in the roof, and his vessels in the house, come he not down to take them away; and he that shall be in the field, also turn not again behind.

32 Be ye mindful of the wife of Lot.

33 Whoever seeketh to make his life safe, shall lose it; and whoever loseth it, shall quicken it.

34 But I say to you, in that night two shall be in one bed, one shall be taken, and the other forsaken;

35 two women shall be grinding together, the one shall be taken, and the other forsaken;

36 two in a field, the one shall be taken, and the other left [or forsaken].

37 They answer, and say to him, Where, Lord? Which said to them, Wherever the body shall be, thither shall be gathered together also the eagles.

CHAPTER 18

1 And he said to them also a parable, that it behooveth to pray evermore, and not fail;

2 and said, There was a judge in a city, that dreaded not God, neither shamed of men.

3 And a widow was in that city, and she came to him, and said, Avenge me of mine adversary;

4 and he would not long time. But after these things he said within himself, Though I dread not God, and shame not of man,

5 nevertheless for this widow is heavy [or dis-easeful] to me, I shall avenge her; lest at the last she coming condemn me [or she strangle me].

6 And the Lord said, Hear ye, what the doomsman of wickedness saith;

7 and whether God shall not do [the] vengeance of his chosen, crying to him day and night, and shall have patience in them?

8 Soothly I say to you, for soon he shall do [the] vengeance of them. Nevertheless guessest thou, that man’s Son coming shall find faith in earth?

9 And he said also to some men, that trusted in themselves, as they were rightful [or as rightful], and despised others, this parable, saying,

10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.

11 And the Pharisee stood, and prayed by himself these things, and said, God, I do thankings to thee, for I am not as other men, raveners, unjust, adulterers, as also this publican;

12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all things that I have in possession.

13 And the publican stood afar, and would not raise [up] his eyes to heaven, but smote his breast, and said, God be merciful to me, sinner.

14 Truly I say to you, this went down into his house, and was justified from the other. For each that enhanceth himself, shall be made low, and he that meeketh himself, shall be enhanced.

15 And they brought to him young children, that he should touch them; and when the disciples saw this thing, they blamed them.

16 But Jesus called together them, and said, Suffer ye children to come to me, and do not ye forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heavens.

17 Truly I say to you, whoever shall not take the kingdom of God as a child, he shall not enter into it.

18 And a prince asked him, and said, Good master, in what thing doing shall I wield everlasting life?

19 And Jesus said to him, What sayest thou me good? No man is good, but God alone.

20 Thou knowest the commandments, Thou shalt not slay, Thou shalt not do lechery, Thou shalt not do theft, Thou shalt not say false witnessing, Worship thy father and thy mother.

21 Which said, I have kept all these things from my youth.

22 And when this thing was heard, Jesus said to him, Yet one thing faileth to thee; sell thou all things that thou hast, and give to poor men, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, and pursue thou me.

23 And when these things were heard, he was sorrowful, for he was full rich.

24 And Jesus seeing him made sorry [or made sorrowful] said, How hard they that have money [or riches] shall enter into the kingdom of God;

25 for it is lighter [or easier], a camel to pass through a needle’s eye, than a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

26 And they that heard these things said, Who may be made safe?

27 And he said to them, Those things that be impossible with men, be possible with God.

28 But Peter said, Lo! we have left all things, and have pursued thee.

29 And he said to him, Truly I say to you, there is no man that shall forsake house, or father and mother, or brethren, or wife, or children, or fields, for the realm of God,

30 and shall not receive many more things in this time, and in the world to coming [or to come] everlasting life.

31 And Jesus took his twelve disciples, and said to them, Lo! we go up to Jerusalem, and all things shall be ended, that be written by the prophets of man’s Son.

32 For he shall be betrayed to heathen men, and he shall be scorned, and scourged, and bespat;

33 and after that they have scourged him, they shall slay him, and the third day he shall rise again.

34 And they understood nothing of these; and this word was hid from them, and they understood not those things that were said.

35 But it was done, when Jesus came nigh to Jericho, a blind man sat beside the way, and begged.

36 And when he heard the people passing, he asked, what this was.

37 And they said to him, that Jesus of Nazareth passed.

38 And he cried, and said, Jesus, the son of David, have mercy on me.

39 And they that went before, blamed him, that he should be still; but he cried much the more [or much more], Thou son of David, have mercy on me.

40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought forth to him. And when he came nigh, he asked him, and said,

41 What wilt thou that I shall do to thee? And he said, Lord, that I see.

42 And Jesus said to him, Behold; thy faith hath made thee safe.

43 And anon he saw, and pursued him, and magnified God. And all the people, as it saw, gave praising to God.

CHAPTER 19

1 And Jesus going in, walked through Jericho.

2 And lo! a man, Zacchaeus by name, and this [or he] was a prince of publicans, and he was rich.

3 And he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and he might not, for the people, for he was little in stature.

4 And he ran before, and went [up] into a sycamore tree, to see him; for he was to pass from thence.

5 And Jesus beheld up, when he came to the place, and saw him, and said to him, Zacchaeus, haste thee, and come down, for today I must dwell in thine house.

6 And he hieing [or hasting] came down, and joyingly received him.

7 And when all men saw, they grutched, saying, For he had turned to a sinful man.

8 But Zacchaeus stood, and said to the Lord, Lo! Lord, I give the half of my goods to poor men; and if I have anything defrauded any man, I yield four so much [or fourfold].

9 Jesus saith to him, For today health is made to this house, for that he is Abraham’s son;

10 for man’s Son came to seek, and make safe that thing that perished.

11 When they heard these things, he added, and said a parable, for that he was nigh to Jerusalem, and for they guessed, that anon the kingdom of God should be showed.

12 Therefore he said, A worthy man [or Some noble man] went into a far country, to take to him a kingdom, and to turn again.

13 And when his ten servants were called, he gave to them ten bezants; and said to them, Chaffer [or Merchandize] ye, till I come.

14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a messenger after him, and said, We will not, that he reign on us.

15 And it was done, that he turned again, when he had taken the kingdom; and he commanded his servants to be called, to which he had given money, to know, how much each had won by chaffering.

16 And the first came, and said, Lord, thy bezant hath won ten bezants.

17 He said to him, Well be, thou good servant; for in little thing thou hast been true, thou shalt be having [or have] power on ten cities.

18 And the tother came, and said, Lord, thy bezant hath made five bezants.

19 And to this he said, And be thou on five cities.

20 And the third came, and said, Lord, lo! thy bezant, that I had, put up [or kept] in a sudarium, [or sweating cloth].

21 For I dreaded thee, for thou art an austere man; thou takest away that that thou settedest not, and thou reapest that that thou hast not sown.

22 He saith to him, Wicked servant, of thy mouth I deem thee. Knewest thou, that I am an austere man, taking away that thing that I setted not, and reaping that thing that I sowed not? [or I have not sown?]

23 and why hast thou not given my money to the board, and I coming should have asked it [or should have received it] with usuries?

24 And he said to men standing nigh, Take away from him the bezant, and give ye [it] to him that hath ten bezants.

25 And they said to him, Lord, he hath ten bezants.

26 And I say to you, to each man that hath, it shall be given, and he shall increase; but from him that hath not, also that thing that he hath, shall be taken of [or from] him.

27 Nevertheless bring ye hither those mine enemies, that would not that I reigned on them, and slay ye before me.

28 And when these things were said, he went before, and went up to Jerusalem.

29 And it was done, when Jesus came nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount, that is called of Olivet, he sent his two disciples,

30 and said, Go ye into the castle that is against you; into which as ye enter, ye shall find a colt of an ass tied, on which never man sat; untie ye him, and bring ye to me.

31 And if any man ask you, why ye untie, thus ye shall say to him, For the Lord desireth his work.

32 And they that were sent, went forth, and found as he said to them, a colt standing.

33 And when they untied the colt, the lords of it said to them, What [or Why] untie ye the colt?

34 And they said, For the Lord hath need to him.

35 And they led him to Jesus; and they casted their clothes on the colt, and set [or put] Jesus on him.

36 And when he went, they spreaded their clothes in the way.

37 And when he came nigh to the coming down of the mount of Olivet, all the people that came down began to joy, and to praise God with great voice on all the virtues, that they had seen,

38 and said, Blessed be the king, that cometh in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven, and glory in high things.

39 And some of the Pharisees of the people said to him, Master, blame thy disciples.

40 And he said to them, I say to you, for if these be still, stones shall cry.

41 And when he nighed, he saw the city, and wept on it,

42 and said, For if thou haddest known, thou shouldest weep also; for in this day, the things be in peace to thee, but now they be hid from thine eyes.

43 But days shall come in thee [or shall come to thee], and thine enemies shall environ thee with a pale, and they shall go about thee, and make thee strait on all sides,

44 and cast thee down to the earth, and thy sons [or thy children] that be in thee; and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone, for thou hast not known the time of thy visitation.

45 And he entered into the temple, and began to cast out men selling therein and buying,

46 and said to them, It is written, That mine house is an house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.

47 And he was teaching every day in the temple. And the princes of priests, and the scribes, and the princes of the people sought to lose him;

48 and they found not, what they should do to him, for all the people was [fervently] occupied, and heard him [or for to hear him].

CHAPTER 20

1 And it was done in one of the days, when he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel [or evangelizing], the princes of priests, and [the] scribes came together with the elder men;

2 and they said to him, Say to us, in what power thou doest these things, or who is he that gave to thee this power?

3 And Jesus answered, and said to them, And I shall ask you one word; answer ye to me.

4 Was the baptism of John of heaven, or of men?

5 And they thought within them-selves, saying, For if we say, Of heaven, he shall say, Why then believe ye not to him?

6 and if we say, Of men, all the people shall stone us; for they be certain, that John is a prophet.

7 And they answered, that they knew not, of whence it was.

8 And Jesus said to them, Neither I say to you, in what power I do these things.

9 And he began to say to the people this parable. A man planted a vineyard, and hired it to tillers; and he was gone in pilgrimage long time.

10 And in the time of gathering of grapes, he sent a servant to the tillers, that they should give to him of the fruit of the vineyard; which beat him, and let him go void.

11 And he thought yet to send another servant; and [also] they beat this, and tormented him sore, and let him go void.

12 And he thought yet to send the third, and him also they wounded, and casted him out.

13 And the lord of the vineyard said, What shall I do? I shall send my dearworthy son; peradventure, when they see him, they shall dread [or they shall be ashamed].

14 And when the tillers saw him, they thought within themselves, and said, This is the heir, slay we him, that the heritage be ours.

15 And they casted him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What shall then the lord of the vineyard do to them?

16 He shall come, and destroy these tillers, and give the vineyard to others. And when this thing was heard, they said to him, God forbid.

17 But he beheld them, and said, What then is this that is written, The stone which men building reproved, this is made into the head of the corner?

18 Each that shall fall on that stone, shall be bruised [or be broken], but on whom it shall fall, it shall all-break him [or it shall break him into small parts].

19 And the princes of priests, and [the] scribes, sought to lay on him hands [or to lay hands on him] in that hour, and they dreaded the people; for they knew that to them he said this likeness.

20 And they espied, and sent spies, that feigned them[selves] just, that they should take him in word, and betake him to the power of the prince, and to the power of the justice.

21 And they asked him, and said, Master, we know, that rightly thou sayest and teachest [or that thou sayest and teachest rightly]; and thou takest not the person of man, but thou teachest in truth the way of God.

22 Is it leaveful to us to give tribute to the emperor [or to Caesar], or nay?

23 And he beheld the deceit of them, and said to them, What tempt ye me?

24 Show ye to me a penny; whose image and superscription hath it? They answered, and said to him, The emperor’s [or Caesar’s].

25 And he said to them, Yield ye therefore to the emperor those things that be the emperor’s [or to Caesar those things that be Caesar’s], and those things that be of God, to God.

26 And they might not reprove his word before the people; and they wondered in his answer, and held peace.

27 Some of the Sadducees, that denied the again-rising from death to life [or the resurrection], came, and asked him.

28 and said, Master, Moses wrote to us, if the brother of any man have a wife, and he be dead [or died], and he was without heirs [or free children], that his brother take his wife, and raise seed to his brother.

29 And so there were seven brethren. The first took a wife, and is dead without heirs, [or without sons, or free children];

30 and the brother pursuing took her [or the second took her], and he is dead without son;

31 and the third took her; also and all seven, and they left not seed [or no seed], but be dead;

32 and the last of all the woman is dead.

33 Therefore in the rising again, whose wife of them shall she be? for seven had her to wife.

34 And Jesus said to them, Sons of this world wed, and be given to weddings;

35 but they that shall be had worthy of that world, and of the rising again from death, neither be wedded, nor wed wives,

36 neither they shall be able to die more; for they be even with angels, and be the sons of God, since they be the sons of the rising again from death.

37 And that dead men rise again, also Moses showed beside the bush, as he saith, The Lord God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob.

38 And God is not of dead men, but of living men; for all men live to him.

39 And some of the scribes answering, said, Master, thou hast well said.

40 And they durst no more ask him anything.

41 But he said to them, How say men, Christ to be the son of David [or that Christ is the son of David],

42 and David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right half,

43 till I put thine enemies a stool of thy feet?

44 Therefore David calleth him Lord, and how is he his son?

45 And in hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples,

46 Be ye ware of the scribes, that will wander in stoles, and love salutations in the chapping, and the first chairs in the synagogues, and the first sitting places in [the] feasts;

47 that devour the houses of widows, and feign long praying; these shall take the more damnation.

CHAPTER 21

1 And he beheld, and saw the rich men, that cast their gifts into the treasury;

2 but he saw also a little poor widow casting two farthings [or two little moneys].

3 And he said, Truly I say to you, that this poor widow cast more than all men.

4 For why all these of [the] thing that was plenteous [or abundant] to them cast in to the gifts of God; but this widow of that thing that failed to her, cast all her livelode [or all her lifelode], that she had.

5 And when some men said of the temple, that it was appareled [or adorned] with good stones and gifts, he said,

6 These things that ye see, days shall come, in which a stone shall not be left on a stone, which shall not be destroyed.

7 And they asked him, and said, Commander, when shall these things be? and what token shall be, when they shall begin to be done?

8 And he said, See ye, that ye be not deceived; for many shall come in my name, saying, For I am, and the time shall nigh; therefore do not ye go after them.

9 And when ye shall hear battles and strives [or dissensions] within, do not ye be afeared; it behooveth first these things to be done, but not yet anon is an end [or the end].

10 Then he said to them, Folk shall rise against folk, and realm against realm;

11 and great movings of the earth shall be by places, and pestilences, and hungers, and dreads from heaven, and great tokens shall be.

12 But before all these things they shall set their hands on you, and shall pursue you, betaking into synagogues and keepings, [either prisons], and drawing you to kings and to justices, for my name;

13 but it shall fall to you into witnessing.

14 Therefore put ye in your hearts, not to think before, how ye shall answer;

15 for I shall give to you mouth and wisdom, to which all your adversaries shall not be able to against-stand, and gainsay.

16 And ye shall be taken [or betrayed] of father, and mother, and brethren, and cousins, and friends, and by death they shall torment [some] of you;

17 and ye shall be in hate to [or be hated of] all men for my name.

18 And an hair of your head shall not perish;

19 in your patience ye shall wield your souls.

20 But when ye shall see Jerusalem be environed with an host [of battle], then know ye, that the desolation of it shall nigh.

21 Then they that be in Judea, flee to the mountains; and they that be in the middle of it, go away; and they that be in the countries, enter not into it.

22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things that be written, be fulfilled.

23 And woe to them, that be with child, and nourishing [or nursing] in those days; for a great dis-ease [or pressure] shall be on the earth, and wrath to this people.

24 And they shall fall by the sharpness of sword, and they shall be led prisoners [or led captive] into all folks; and Jerusalem shall be defouled of heathen men, till the times of nations be fulfilled.

25 And tokens shall be in the sun, and the moon, and in the stars; and in the earth overlaying of folks, for confusion of the sound of the sea and of floods [or of waves];

26 for men shall wax dry for dread and abiding, that shall come into [or on] all the world; for virtues of heaven shall be moved.

27 And then they shall see man’s Son coming in a cloud, with great power and majesty.

28 And when these things begin to be made [or beginning to be done], behold ye, and raise ye your heads, for your redemption nigheth.

29 And he said to them a likeness, See ye the fig tree, and all trees,

30 when they bring forth now of themselves fruit, ye know that summer is nigh;

31 so [also] ye, when ye see these things to be done, know ye, that the kingdom of God is nigh.

32 Truly I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, till all things be done.

33 Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass.

34 But take ye heed to yourselves, lest peradventure your hearts be grieved with gluttony, and drunken-ness, and busynesses of this life, and that day come suddenly on you;

35 for as a snare it shall come on all men, that sit on the face of all the earth.

36 Therefore wake ye, praying in each time, that ye be had worthy to flee all these things that be to come [or that shall come], and to stand before man’s Son.

37 And in days he was teaching in the temple, but in nights he went out, and dwelled in the mount, that is called of Olivet.

38 And all the people rose [or came] early, to come to him in the temple, for to hear him.

CHAPTER 22

1 And the holiday [or the holy day] of therf loaves, that is said pask, nighed.

2 And the princes of priests, and the scribes sought, how they should slay Jesus, but they dreaded the people.

3 And Satan entered into Judas, that was called Iscariot, one of the twelve.

4 And he went, and spake with the princes of priests, and with the magistrates, how he should betray him to them.

5 And they joyed, and made covenant to give him money.

6 And he promised, and he sought opportunity, to betray him, without the people.

7 But the days of therf loaves came, in which it was need, that the sacrifice of pask were slain.

8 And he sent Peter and John, and said, Go ye, and make ye ready to us the pask, that we eat.

9 And they said, Where wilt thou, that we make ready?

10 And he said to them, Lo! when ye shall enter into the city, a man bearing a vessel of water shall meet you; pursue ye him into the house, into which he entereth.

11 And ye shall say to the husband-man of the house, The master saith to thee, Where is a chamber, where I shall eat the pask with my disciples?

12 And he shall show to you a great supping place strewed, and there make ye ready.

13 And they went, and found as he said to them, and they made ready the pask.

14 And when the hour was come, he sat at the meat, and the twelve apostles with him.

15 And he said to them, With desire I have desired to eat with you this pask, before that I suffer;

16 for I say to you, that from this time I shall not eat it, till it be fulfilled in the realm of God.

17 And when he had taken the cup, he did graces [or thankings], and said, Take ye, and part ye among you;

18 for I say to you, that I shall not drink of the kind [or of the generation] of this vine, till the realm of God come.

19 And when he had taken bread, he did thankings [or graces], and brake, and gave to them, and said, This is my body, that shall be given for you; do ye this thing in mind of me [or into my commemoration].

20 He took also the cup [or the chalice], after that he had supped, and said, This cup is the new testament in my blood, that shall be shed for you.

21 Nevertheless lo! the hand of him that betrayeth me, is with me at the table.

22 And man’s Son goeth, as it is determined; nevertheless woe to that man, by whom he shall be betrayed.

23 And they began to seek among them[selves], who it was of them, that was to do this thing.

24 And strife was made among them, which of them should be seen to be greatest.

25 But he said to them, Kings of heathen men be lords of them, and they that have power on them be called good doers,

26 but ye not so; but he that is [the] greatest among you, be made as a younger [or as the younger], and he that is [a] before-goer, as a servant.

27 For who is greater, he that sitteth at the meat, or he that ministereth? whether not he that sitteth at the meat? And I am in the middle [or in the midst] of you, as he that ministereth.

28 And ye [it] be, that have dwelled with me in my temptations;

29 and I assign [or dispose] to you, as my Father hath assigned [or disposed] to me, a realm.

30 that ye eat and drink on my board in my realm, and sit on thrones, and deem the twelve kindreds of Israel.

31 And the Lord said to Simon, Simon, lo! Satan hath asked you, that he should riddle you as wheat;

32 but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and thou sometime converted, confirm thy brethren.

33 Which said to him, Lord, I am ready to go into prison and into death with thee.

34 And he said, I say to thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow today, till thou thrice forsake that thou knowest me.

35 And he said to them, When I sent you without satchel, and scrip, and shoes, whether anything failed to you? And they said, Nothing.

36 Therefore he said to them, But now he that hath a satchel, take also a scrip; and he that hath none, sell his coat, and buy a sword.

37 For I say to you, that yet it behooveth that thing that is written to be fulfilled in me, And he is areckoned with wicked men; for those things that be of me have an end.

38 And they said, Lord, lo! two swords here. And he said to them, It is enough.

39 And he went out, and went after the custom into the hill of Olives [or of Olivet]; and the disciples pursued him.

40 And when he came to the place, he said to them, Pray ye, lest ye enter into temptation.

41 And he was taken away from them, as much as is a stone’s cast; and he kneeled, and prayed,

42 and said, Father, if thou wilt, do away this cup from me; nevertheless not my will be done, but thine, [or not my will, but thine be done].

43 And an angel appeared to him from heaven, and comforted him.

44 And he was made in agony [or in anguish], and prayed the longer [or prayed longer]; and his sweat was made as drops of blood running down into the earth.

45 And when he was risen from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for heaviness.

46 And he said to them, What, sleep ye? Rise ye, and pray ye, that ye enter not into temptation.

47 Yet while he spake, lo! a company, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them; and he came [nigh] to Jesus, to kiss him.

48 And Jesus said to him, Judas, betrayest thou man’s Son with a kiss?

49 And they that were about him, and saw that that was to come, said to him, Lord, whether we smite with sword?

50 And one of them smote the servant of the prince of priests, and cut off his right ear.

51 But Jesus answered, and said, Suffer ye till hither. And when he had touched his ear, he healed him.

52 And Jesus said to them, that came to him, the princes of priests, and magistrates [or the masters] of the temple, and elder men, As to a thief ye have gone out with swords and staves?

53 When I was each day with you in the temple, ye stretched not out hands into me; but this is your hour, and the power of darknesses.

54 And they took him, and led to the house of the prince of priests; and Peter pursued him afar.

55 And when a fire was kindled in the middle of the great house, and they sat about, Peter was in the middle of them.

56 Whom when a damsel, [or a handmaid/a handmaiden], had seen sitting at the light, and had beheld him, she said, And this was with him.

57 And he denied him, and said, Woman, I know him not.

58 And after a little another man saw him, and said, And thou art of them. But Peter said, A! man, I am not.

59 And when a space was made as of one hour, another affirmed, and said, Truly this was with him; for also he is of Galilee.

60 And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And anon yet while he spake, the cock crew.

61 And the Lord turned again [or And the Lord turned], and beheld Peter; and Peter had mind of the word of Jesus, as he had said, Before that the cock crow, thrice thou shalt deny me.

62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

63 And the men that held him scorned him, and smote him.

64 And they blindfolded him, and smote his face, and asked him, and said, Declare, thou Christ, to us, who is he that smote thee? [or Prophesy thou, who is it that smote thee?]

65 Also they blaspheming said against him many other things. [Also they blaspheming said many other things against him.]

66 And as the day was come, the elder men of the people, and the princes of priests, and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, and said,

67 If thou art Christ, say to us. And he said to them, If I say to you, ye will not believe to me;

68 and if I ask, ye will not answer to me, neither ye will deliver me.

69 But after this time man’s Son shall be sitting on the right half of the virtue of God.

70 Therefore all said, Then art thou the Son of God? And he said, Ye say that I am.

71 And they said, What yet desire we witnessing? for we ourselves have heard of his mouth.

CHAPTER 23

1 And all the multitude of them arose, and led him to Pilate.

2 And they began to accuse him, and said, We have found this turning upside-down our folk, and forbidding tribute to be given to the emperor [or to Caesar], and saying that himself is Christ a king [or and saying himself to be Christ king.]

3 And Pilate asked him, and said, Art thou king of Jews? And he answered, and said, Thou sayest.

4 And Pilate said to the princes of priests, and to the people, I find nothing of cause in this man.

5 And they waxed stronger, and said, He moveth the people, teaching through all Judea, beginning from Galilee till hither.

6 And Pilate hearing Galilee asked, if he were a man of Galilee.

7 And when he knew that he was of the power of Herod, he sent him to Herod; which was [or he was] at Jerusalem in those days.

8 And when Herod saw Jesus, he joyed full much; for long time he coveted to see him, for he heard many things of him, and hoped to see some token [or some miracle] done of him.

9 And he asked him in many words; and he answered nothing to him.

10 And the princes of priests, and the scribes stood, steadfastly accusing him.

11 But Herod with his host despised him, and scorned him, and clothed him with a white cloth, and sent him again to Pilate.

12 And Herod and Pilate were made friends from that day [or in that day]; for before they were enemies together.

13 And Pilate called together the princes of priests, and the magistrates of the people,

14 and said to them, Ye have brought to me this man, as turning away the people, and lo! I asking before you find no cause in this man, of these things, in which ye accuse him;

15 neither Herod, for he hath sent him again to us, and lo! nothing worthy of death is done to him.

16 And therefore I shall amend him, and deliver him[chastised].

17 But he must needs [or had need to] deliver to them one by the feast day.

18 And all the people cried together, and said, Do him away, and deliver to us Barabbas;

19 which was sent into prison for disturbing, [or some dissention, or sedition], made in the city, and for manslaying.

20 And again Pilate spake to them, and would deliver [or willing to deliver] Jesus.

21 And they cried out, and said, Crucify, crucify him.

22 And the third time he said to them, For what evil hath he done? I find no cause of death in him; there-fore I shall chastise him, and [I] shall deliver him.

23 And they continued with great voices asking [or they continued asking with great voices], that he should be crucified; and the voices of them waxed strong.

24 And Pilate deemed their asking to be done.

25 And he delivered to them him, that for manslaying and sedition was sent into prison, whom they asked; but he betook Jesus to their will.

26 And when they led him, they took a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the town, and they laid on him the cross to bear after Jesus.

27 And there pursued him much people, and women that bewailed, and bemourned him.

28 And Jesus turned to them, and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not ye weep on me, but weep ye on yourselves and on your sons.

29 For lo! days shall come, in which it shall be said, Blessed be barren women, and [the] wombs that have not born children, and the teats that have not given suck.

30 Then they shall begin to say to mountains, Fall ye down on us, and to small hills, Cover ye us.

31 For if in a green tree they do these things [or if they do these things in a green tree], what shall be done in a dry?

32 Also other two wicked men were led with him, to be slain.

33 And when they came into a place, that is called of Calvary, [+or after that they came to a place, which is called Calvary], there they crucified him, and the thieves, one on the right half, and the other on the left half.

34 But Jesus said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they parted his clothes, and cast lots.

35 And the people stood abiding; and the princes scorned him with them, and said, Other men he made safe; make he himself safe, if this be Christ, the chosen of God.

36 And the knights nighed, and scorned him, and proffered [or offered] vinegar to him,

37 and said, If thou art king of Jews, make thee safe.

38 And the superscription was written over him with Greek letters, and of Latin, and of Hebrew, This is the king of Jews.

39 And one of these thieves that hanged, blasphemed him, and said, If thou art Christ, make thyself safe and us.

40 But the other answering, blamed him, and said, Neither thou dreadest God, [thou] that art in the same condemnation? [or the same damnation?]

41 And truly we justly, for we have received worthy things to our works [or deeds]; but this did nothing of evil [or soothly this hath done no evil].

42 And he said to Jesus, Lord, have mind of me, when thou comest into thy kingdom.

43 And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.

44 And it was almost the sixth hour, and darknesses were made on all the earth, into [or till] the ninth hour.

45 And the sun was made dark, and the veil of the temple was rent atwo [or was cut down the middle].

46 And Jesus crying with a great voice, said, Father, into thine hands I betake my spirit. And he saying these things, gave up the ghost, [or sent out the spirit, or died].

47 And the centurion seeing that thing that was done, glorified God, and said, Verily, this man was just.

48 And all the people of them that were there together at this spectacle, and saw those things that were done, smote their breasts, and turned again.

49 But all his known stood afar, and women that pursued him from Galilee, seeing these things.

50 And lo! a man, Joseph by name, of Arimathaea, a city of Judea, that was a decurion, [that is, having ten men under him], a good man and a just [or a good man and just],

51 this man consented not to the counsel and to the deeds of them; and he abode the kingdom of God.

52 This Joseph came to Pilate, and asked the body of Jesus,

53 and took it down, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid him in a grave hewn, in which not yet any man had been laid [or was put].

54 And the day was the evening of the holiday, [+or of the holy day, or the making ready of pask], and the sabbath began to shine.

55 And the women pursuing, that came with him from Galilee, saw the grave, and how his body was laid.

56 And they turned again, and made ready sweet smelling spices, and ointments; but in the sabbath they rested, after the commandment.

CHAPTER 24

1 But in one day of the week full early, they came to the grave, and brought sweet smelling spices, that they had arrayed [or which they had made ready].

2 And they found the stone turned away from the grave.

3 And they went in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

4 And it was done, the while they were astonied in thought of this thing, lo! two men stood beside them in shining cloth [or shining clothing].

5 And when they dreaded, and bowed their semblance into the earth, they said to them, What seek ye him that liveth with dead men? [or What seek ye the living with the dead?]

6 He is not here, but is risen. Have ye mind, how he spake to you, when he was yet in Galilee,

7 and said, For it behooveth man’s Son to be betaken into the hands of sinful men, and to be crucified, and the third day to rise again.

8 And they bethought on his words.

9 And they went again from the grave, and told all these things to the eleven, and to all [the] others.

10 And there was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary of James, and other women that were with them, that said to the apostles these things [or that said these things to the apostles].

11 And these words were seen to them as madness, and they believed not to them.

12 But Peter rose up, and ran to the grave; and he bowed down, and saw the linen clothes lying alone. And he went by himself, wondering on that that was done.

13 And lo! twain of them went in that day into a castle, that was from Jerusalem the space of sixty furlongs, by name Emmaus.

14 And they spake together of all these things that had befallen.

15 And it was done, the while they talked, and sought by themselves, Jesus himself nighed, and went with them.

16 But their eyes were holden, that they knew him not.

17 And he said to them, What be these words, that ye speak together wandering, and ye be sorrowful?

18 And one, whose name was Cleopas, answered, and said [to him], Thou thyself art a pilgrim in Jerusalem, and hast thou not known, what things be done in it in these days?

19 To whom he said, What things? And they said to him, Of Jesus of Nazareth, that was a man prophet, mighty in work and word before God and all the people;

20 and how the high priests and our princes betook him into condemnation [or into damnation] of death, and crucified him.

21 But we hoped, that he should have again-bought Israel. And now on all these things the third day is today, that these things were done.

22 But also some women of ours made us afeared, which before day-[light] were at the grave;

23 and when his body was not found, they came, and said, that they saw also a sight of angels, which said, that he liveth.

24 And some [men] of ours went to the grave, and they found so as the women said, but they found not him.

25 And he said to them, A! fools, and slow of heart to believe in all things that the prophets have spoken.

26 Whether it behooved not Christ to suffer these things, and so to enter into his glory?

27 And he began at Moses and at all the prophets, and declared [or expounded] to them in all scriptures, that were of him.

28 And they came nigh to the castle, whither they went. And he made countenance that he would go further.

29 And they constrained him, and said, Dwell with us, for it draweth to night, and the day is now bowed down. And he entered [in] with them.

30 And it was done, while he sat at the meat with them, he took bread, and blessed, and brake, and took [or gave] to them.

31 And the eyes of them were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished from their eyes.

32 And they said together, whether our heart was not burning in us, while he spake to us in the way, and [he] opened to us [the] scriptures?

33 And they rose up in the same hour, and went again into Jerusalem [or to Jerusalem], and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,

34 saying, that the Lord is risen verily, and appeared to Simon.

35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how they knew him in breaking of bread.

36 And while they spake these things, Jesus stood in the middle of them, and said to them, Peace to you; I am, do not ye dread.

37 But they were afraid and aghast, and guessed them to see a spirit.

38 And he said to them, what be ye troubled, and thoughts come up into your hearts?

39 See ye my hands and my feet, for I myself am. Feel ye, and see you; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see that I have.

40 And when he had said this thing, he showed hands and feet to them.

41 And yet while they believed not, and wondered for joy, he said, Have ye here anything [or Have ye any-thing here] that shall be eaten?

42 And they proffered [or offered] to him a part of a fish roasted, and a honeycomb.

43 And when he had eaten before them, he took that that left [or the remnants], and gave to them;

44 and [he] said to them, These be the words that I spake to you, when I was yet with you; for it is need that all things be fulfilled, that be written in the law of Moses, and in prophets, and in psalms, of me.

45 Then he opened to them wit, that they should understand [the] scriptures.

46 And he said to them, For thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and rise again from death the third day;

47 and penance, and remission of sins to be preached in his name to all folks, beginning at Jerusalem.

48 And ye be witnesses of these things.

49 And I shall send the promise of my Father into you; but sit ye in the city, till ye be clothed with virtue from on high.

50 And he led them forth into Bethany, and when his hands were lifted up, he blessed them.

51 And it was done, the while he blessed them [or while he blessed them], he departed from them, and was borne into heaven.

52 And they worshipped, and went again into Jerusalem with great joy,

53 and were evermore in the temple, praising and blessing God.

* CHAPTER 1:4 These four prefatory verses are only found in two copies of the “Early Version”.

JOHN

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

JOHN

CHAPTER 1

1 In the beginning was the word, [that is, God’s son], and the word was at God, and God was the word.

2 This was in the beginning at God.

3 All things were made by him, and without him was made nothing [or nought], that thing that was made.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men;

5 and the light shineth in darknesses, and [the] darknesses comprehended not it.

6 A man was sent from God, to whom the name was John.

7 This man came into witnessing, that he should bear witnessing of the light, that all men should believe by him.

8 He was not that light, but that he should bear witnessing of the light.

9 There was a very light, which enlighteneth each man that cometh into this world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came into his own things, and his received him not.

12 But how many ever received him, he gave to them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name;

13 the which not of bloods, neither of the will of flesh, neither of the will of man, but be born of God.

14 And the word, [that is, God’s son], was made man [or flesh], and dwelled among us, and we have seen the glory of him, as the glory of the one begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and of truth.

15 John beareth witnessing of him, and crieth, and saith, This is he of whom I said, He that shall come after me, is made before me, for he was before me;

16 and of the plenty of him we all have taken, and grace for grace.

17 For the law was given by Moses; but grace and truth is made by Jesus Christ.

18 No man saw ever [or ever saw] God, but the one begotten Son, that is in the bosom of the Father, he hath told out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

28 These things were done in Bethany beyond [or over] Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 Another day John saw Jesus coming to him, and he said, Lo! the lamb of God; lo! he that doeth away the sins of the world.

30 This is he, that I said of, After me is come a man [or After me cometh a man], which was made before me; for he was rather [or former] than I.

31 And I knew him not, but that he be showed in Israel, therefore I came baptizing in water.

32 And John bare witnessing, and said, I saw the Spirit coming down as a culver from heaven, and dwelled on him.

33 And I knew him not; but he that sent me to baptize in water, said to me, On whom thou seest the Spirit coming down, and dwelling on him, this is he, that baptizeth in the Holy Ghost.

34 And I saw, and bare witnessing, that this is the Son of God.

35 Another day John stood, and two of his disciples;

36 and he beheld Jesus walking, and saith, Lo! the lamb of God.

37 And two disciples heard him speaking, and [they] followed Jesus.

38 And Jesus turned, and saw them pursuing him, and saith to them, What seek ye? And they said to him, Rabbi, that is to say, Master, where dwellest thou?

39 And he saith to them, Come ye, and see. And they came, and saw where he dwelled; and dwelt with him that day. And it was as the tenth hour.

40 And Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the twain, that heard of John, and had pursued him.

41 This found first his brother Simon, and he said to him, We have found Messiah, that is to say, Christ;

42 and he led him to Jesus. And Jesus beheld him, and said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah; thou shalt be called Cephas, that is to say, Peter.

43 And on the morrow he would go out into Galilee, and he found Philip; and he saith to him, Pursue thou me.

44 Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and of Peter.

45 Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, We have found Jesus, the son of Joseph, of Nazareth, whom Moses wrote in the law and the prophets.

46 And Nathanael said to him, Of Nazareth may some good thing be? Philip said to him, Come, and see.

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, Lo! verily a man of Israel, in whom is no guile.

48 Nathanael said to him, Whereof hast thou known me? Jesus answered, and said to him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou were under the fig tree, I saw thee.

49 Nathanael answered to him, and said, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art king of Israel.

50 Jesus answered, and said to him, For I said to thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, thou believest; thou shalt see more than these things [or thou shalt see more things than these].

51 And he said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God going up and coming down on man’s Son.

CHAPTER 2

1 And the third day weddings were made in the Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there.

2 And Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the weddings.

3 And when wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, They have not wine.

4 And Jesus saith to her, What to me and to thee, woman? mine hour came not yet.

5 His mother saith to the ministers, Whatever thing he saith to you, do ye.

6 And there were set six stone cans [or pots], after the cleansing of the Jews, holding each two or three metretes [or measures].

7 And Jesus saith to them, Fill ye the pots with water. And they filled them, up to the mouth [or unto the highest part].

8 And Jesus said to them, Draw ye now, and bear ye to the master of the feast. And they bare.

9 And when the master of the feast had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whereof it was, but the ministers knew that drew the water, the master of the feast calleth the spouse,

10 and saith to him, Each man setteth first good wine, and when men be [full]-filled, then that that is worse; but thou hast kept the good wine into this time.

11 Jesus did this the beginning of signs, in the Cana of Galilee, and showed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

12 After these things he came down to Capernaum, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples; and they dwelled there not many days.

13 And the pask of Jews was nigh, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

14 And he found in the temple men selling oxen, and sheep, and culvers, and [money]-changers sitting.

15 And when he had made as it were a scourge of small cords, he drove out all [or cast all out] of the temple, and oxen, and sheep; and he shedded [out] the money of changers, and turned upside-down the boards.

16 And he said to them that sold culvers, Take away from hence these things, and do not ye make the house of my Father an house of merchandise.

17 And his disciples had mind, for it was written, The fervent love [or zeal] of thine house hath eaten me.

18 Therefore the Jews answered, and said to him, What token [or sign] showest thou to us, that thou doest these things?

19 Jesus answered, and said to them, Undo ye this temple, and in three days I shall raise it.

20 Therefore the Jews said to him, In forty and six years this temple was builded, and shalt thou in three days raise it?

21 But he said of the temple of his body.

22 Therefore when he was risen from death, his disciples had mind, that he said these things of his body; and they believed to the scripture, and to the word that Jesus said.

23 And when Jesus was at Jerusalem in pask, in the feast day, many believed in his name, seeing his signs that he did.

24 But Jesus trusted not himself to them, for he knew all men;

25 and for it was not need to him, that any man should bear witnessing of man, for he knew, what was in man.

CHAPTER 3

1 And there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, a prince of the Jews.

2 And he came to Jesus by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know, that thou art come from God a master [or for of God thou hast come a master]; for no man may do these signs, that thou doest, but God be with him.

3 Jesus answered, and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to thee, but a man be born again, he may not see the kingdom of God.

4 Nicodemus said to him, How may a man be born, when he is old? whether he may enter again into his mother’s womb, and be born again?

5 Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to thee, but a man be born again of water, and of the Holy Ghost, he may not enter into the kingdom of God.

6 That that is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that that is born of the Spirit, is spirit.

7 Wonder thou not, for I said to thee, It behooveth you to be born again.

8 The Spirit breatheth where he will, and thou hearest his voice, but thou knowest not, from whence he cometh, nor whither he goeth; so is each man that is born of the Spirit.

9 Nicodemus answered, and said to him, How may these things be done?

10 Jesus answered, and said to him, Thou art a master in Israel, and knowest not these things?

11 Truly, truly, I say to thee, for we speak that that we know, and we witness that that we have seen, and ye take not our witnessing.

12 If I have said to you earthly things, and ye believe not, how if I say to you heavenly things, shall ye believe?

13 And no man ascendeth [or goeth up] into heaven, but he that came down from heaven, man’s Son that is in heaven [or the Son of man which is in heaven].

14 And as Moses areared [or reared up] a serpent in desert, so it behooveth man’s Son to be raised [up],

15 that each man that believeth in him, perish not, but have everlasting life.

16 For God loved so the world [or Forsooth God so loved the world], that he gave his one begotten Son, that each man that believeth in him perish not, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world, that he judge the world, but that the world be saved by him.

18 He that believeth in him, is not deemed, [or condemned]; but he that believeth not, is now deemed [or condemned], for he believeth not in the name of the one [or the only] begotten Son of God.

19 And this is the doom, for light came into the world, and men loved more darknesses than light; for their works were evil.

20 For each man that doeth evil, hateth the light; and he cometh not to the light, that his works be not reproved.

21 But he that doeth truth, cometh to the light, that his works be showed, that they be done in God.

22 After these things Jesus came, and his disciples, into the land of Judea, and there he dwelled with them, and baptized.

23 And John was baptizing in Aenon, beside Salim, for many waters were there; and they came, and were baptized [or christened].

24 And John was not yet sent into prison.

25 Therefore a question was made of John’s disciples with the Jews, of the purification, [or cleansing].

26 And they came to John, and said to him, Master [or Rabbi], he that was with thee beyond [or over] Jordan, to whom thou hast borne witnessing, lo! he baptizeth, and all men come to him.

27 John answered, and said, A man may not take anything, but it be given to him from heaven.

28 Ye yourselves bear witnessing to me, that I said, I am not Christ, but that I am sent before him.

29 He that hath a wife, is the husband [or the spouse]; but the friend of the spouse that standeth, and heareth him, joyeth with joy, for the voice of the spouse. Therefore in this thing my joy is fulfilled.

30 It behooveth him to wax, but me to be made less [or to be diminished].

31 He that came from above, is above all; he that is of the earth, speaketh of the earth; he that cometh from heaven, is above all.

32 And he witnesseth that thing that he hath seen, and heard, and no man taketh his witnessing.

33 But he that taketh his witnessing, hath confirmed that God is soothfast.

34 But he whom God hath sent, speaketh the words of God; for not to measure God giveth the Spirit.

35 The Father loveth the Son, and he hath given all things into his hand.

36 He that believeth in the Son, hath everlasting life; but he that is unbelieveful to the Son, shall not see everlasting life, but the wrath of God dwelleth on him.

CHAPTER 4

1 Therefore as Jesus knew, that the Pharisees heard, that Jesus maketh and baptizeth more disciples than John,

2 though Jesus baptized not, but his disciples,

3 he left Judea, and went again into Galilee.

4 And it behooved him to pass by Samaria.

5 Therefore Jesus came into a city of Samaria, that is called Sychar, beside the place [or the field] that Jacob gave to Joseph, his son.

6 And the well of Jacob was there; and Jesus was weary of the journey, and sat thus upon the well. And the hour was, as it were the sixth.

7 And a woman came from Samaria, to draw water. And Jesus saith to her, Give me drink.

8 And his disciples were gone into the city, to buy meat.

9 Therefore that woman of Samaria saith to him, How thou, that art a Jew, askest of me a drink, that am a woman of Samaria? for [the] Jews used not to deal with [the] Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered, and said to her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is, that saith to thee, Give me drink, thou peradventure wouldest have asked of him, and he should have given to thee quick water.

11 The woman saith to him, Sire, thou hast not wherein to draw, and the pit is deep; whereof then hast thou quick water?

12 Whether thou art greater than our father Jacob, that gave to us the pit? and he drank thereof, and his sons, and his beasts.

13 Jesus answered, and said to her, Each man that drinketh of this water, shall thirst again;

14 but he that drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall not thirst without end; but the water that I shall give him, shall be made in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.

15 The woman saith to him, Sire, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

16 Jesus saith to her, Go, call thine husband, and come hither.

17 The woman answered, and said, I have none husband [or I have not an husband]. Jesus saith to her, Thou saidest well, That I have none husband [or I have not an husband];

18 for thou hast had five husbands, and he that thou hast [now], is not thine husband. This thing thou saidest soothly.

19 The woman saith to him, Lord, I see, that thou art a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshipped in this hill, and ye say, that at Jerusalem is a place, where it behooveth to worship.

21 Jesus saith to her, Woman, believe thou to me, for the hour shall come, when neither in this hill, neither in Jerusalem, ye shall worship the Father.

22 Ye worship that that ye know not; we worship that that we know; for health is of the Jews.

23 But the time is come, and now it is, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for also the Father seeketh such, that worship him.

24 God is a Spirit, and it behooveth them that worship him, to worship in spirit and truth.

25 The woman saith to him, I know that Messiah is come, that is said Christ; therefore when he cometh, he shall tell us all things.

26 Jesus saith to her, I am he [or I am], that speaketh with thee.

27 And anon his disciples came, and wondered, that he spake with the woman; nevertheless no man said to him, What seekest thou, or, What speakest thou with her?

28 Therefore the woman left her water pot, and went into the city, and said to the men,

29 Come ye, and see a man, that said to me all things that I have done; whether he be Christ?

30 And they went out of the city, and came to him.

31 In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him, and said, Master [or Rabbi], eat.

32 But he said to them, I have meat to eat, that ye know not.

33 Therefore the disciples said together, Whether any man hath brought him meat to eat?

34 Jesus saith to them, My meat is that I do the will of him that sent me, [and] that I perform the work of him.

35 Whether ye say not, that yet four months be, and ripe corn cometh? Lo! I say to you, lift up your eyes, and see ye the fields, for now they be white to reap.

36 And he that reapeth taketh hire, and gathereth fruit into everlasting life; that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, have joy together.

37 In this thing is the word true, For one is that soweth, and another that reapeth.

38 I sent you to reap, that that ye have not travailed; other men have travailed, and ye have entered into their travails.

39 And of that city many [of the] Samaritans believed in him, for the word of the woman, that bare witnessing, That he said to me all things that I have done.

40 Therefore when Samaritans came to him, they prayed him to dwell there; and he dwelt there two days.

41 And many more believed for his word,

42 and said to the woman, That now not for thy speech we believe; for we have heard, and we know, that this is verily the Saviour of the world.

43 And after two days he went out from thence, and went into Galilee.

44 And he bare witnessing, that a prophet in his own country hath none honour, [or worship].

45 Therefore when he came into Galilee, men of Galilee received him, when they had seen all things that he had done in Jerusalem in the feast day; for also they had come to the feast day.

46 Therefore he came again into the Cana of Galilee, where he made the water [into] wine. And there was a little king, whose son was sick at Capernaum.

47 When this had heard, that Jesus should come from Judea into Galilee, he went to him, and prayed him, that he should come down, and heal his son; for he began to die.

48 Therefore Jesus said to him, But ye see tokens, and great wonders, ye believe not.

49 The little king saith to him, Lord, come down, before that my son die.

50 Jesus saith to him, Go, thy son liveth. The man believed to the word, that Jesus said to him, and he went.

51 And now when he came down, the servants came to meet him, and told to him, and said, That his son lived.

52 And he asked of them the hour, in which he was amended. And they said to him, For yesterday in the seventh hour the fever left him.

53 Therefore the father knew, that that hour it was, in which Jesus said to him, Thy son liveth; and he believed, and all his house.

54 Jesus did again this second token, when he came from Judea into Galilee.

CHAPTER 5

1 After these things there was a feast day of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 And in Jerusalem is a washing place, that in Hebrew is called Bethesda, and hath five porches. [Forsooth at Jerusalem is a standing water of beasts, that in Hebrew is called Bethesda, having five little gates, or entries.]

3 In these lay a great multitude of sick men, blind, crooked, and dry, abiding the moving [or the stirring] of the water.

4 For the angel of the Lord came down certain times into the [standing] water, and the water was moved; and he that first came down into the cistern, after the moving of the water, was made whole of whatever sickness he was held.

5 And a man was there, having eight and thirty years in his sickness.

6 And when Jesus had seen him lying, and had known, that he had much time, he saith to him, Wilt thou be made whole?

7 The sick man answered to him, Lord, I have no man, that when the water is moved [or troubled], to put me into the cistern; for while I come, another goeth down before me.

8 Jesus saith to him, Rise up, take thy bed, and go.

9 And anon the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and went forth. And it was sabbath in that day.

10 Therefore the Jews said to him that was made whole, It is sabbath, it is not leaveful to thee, to take away thy bed.

11 He answered to them, He that made me whole, said to me, Take thy bed, and go.

12 Therefore they asked him, What man is that [or Who is that man], that said to thee, Take up thy bed, and go?

13 But he that was made whole, wist not who it was. And Jesus bowed away from the people, that was set in the place.

14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, Lo! thou art made whole; now do not thou do sin [or now do not thou sin], lest any worse thing befall to thee.

15 That man went, and told to the Jews, that it was Jesus that made him whole.

16 Therefore the Jews pursued Jesus, for he did this thing in the sabbath.

17 And Jesus answered to them, My Father worketh till now, and I work.

18 Therefore the Jews sought more to slay him, for not only he brake the sabbath, but he said that God was his Father, and made him even to God.

19 Therefore Jesus answered, and said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son may not of himself do anything, but that thing that he seeth the Father doing; for whatever things he doeth, the Son doeth in like manner those things.

20 For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth to him all things that he doeth; and he shall show to him greater works than these, that ye wonder.

21 For as the Father raiseth dead men, and quickeneth, so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

22 For neither the Father judgeth any man, but hath given every doom to the Son,

23 that all men honour the Son, as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father that sent him.

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, that he that heareth my word, and believeth in him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and he cometh not into doom, but passeth from death into life.

25 Truly, truly, I say to you, for the hour cometh, and now it is, when dead men shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear, shall live.

26 For as the Father hath life in him-self, so he gave to the Son, to have life in himself;

27 and he gave to him power to make doom, for he is man’s Son.

28 Do not ye wonder in this, for the hour cometh, in which all men that be in burials, shall hear the voice of God’s Son.

29 And they that have done good things, shall go into again-rising of life; but they that have done evil things, into again-rising of doom.

30 I may nothing do of myself, but as I hear, I deem, [or I may not of myself do anything, but as I hear, I judge], and my doom is just, for I seek not my will, but the will of the Father that sent me.

31 If I bear witnessing of myself, my witnessing is not true;

32 another is that beareth witnessing of me, and I know that his witnessing is true, that he beareth of me.

33 Ye sent to John, and he bare witnessing to [the] truth.

34 But I take not witnessing of man; but I say these things, that ye be safe.

35 He was a lantern burning and shining, [or giving light]; but ye would glad, or joy, at an hour in his light.

36 But I have more witnessing than John, for the works that my Father gave to me to perform them [or the works that my Father gave me that I perform them], those works that I do bear wit-nessing of me, that the Father sent me.

37 And the Father that sent me, he bare witnessing of me. Neither ye heard ever his voice, neither ye saw his likeness, [or form].

38 And ye have not his word dwelling in you; for ye believe not to him, whom he sent.

39 Seek ye the scriptures, in which ye guess to have everlasting life; and those it be, that bear witnessing of me.

40 And ye will not come to me, that ye have life.

41 I take not clearness of men;

42 but I have known you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

43 I came in the name of my Father, and ye took not me. If another come in his own name, ye shall receive him.

44 How may ye believe, that receive glory each of other, and ye seek not the glory that is of God alone?

45 Do not ye guess, that I am to accuse you with the Father; it is Moses that accuseth you, in whom ye hope.

46 For if ye believed to Moses, peradventure ye should believe also to me; for he wrote of me.

47 But if ye believe not to his letters, how shall ye believe to my words?

CHAPTER 6

1 After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, that is Tiberias.

2 And a great multitude pursued him; for they saw the tokens that he did on them that were sick.

3 Therefore Jesus went into an hill, and sat there with his disciples.

4 And the pask was full nigh, a feast day of the Jews.

5 Therefore when Jesus had lifted up his eyes, and had seen, that a great multitude came to him, he saith to Philip, Whereof shall we buy loaves, that these men eat?

6 But he said this thing, tempting him; for he knew what he was to do.

7 Philip answered to him, The loaves of two hundred pence suffice not to them, that each man take a little what.

8 One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to him,

9 A child is here, that hath five barley loaves and two fishes; but what be these among so many?

10 Therefore Jesus saith, Make them sit to [or at] the meat. And there was much hay in the place. And so men sat to [or at] the meat, as five thousand in number.

11 And Jesus took [the] five loaves, and when he had done thankings, he parted to the men that sat at the meat, and also of the fishes, as much as they would.

12 And when they were [full]-filled or [ful] filled, he said to his disciples, Gather ye the remnants that be left, that they perish not.

13 And so they gathered, and filled twelve coffins, of the remnants of the five barley loaves and two fishes, that left to them that had eaten.

14 Therefore those men, when they had seen the sign [or the token, or miracle], that he had done, said, For this is verily the prophet, that is to come into the world.

15 And when Jesus had known, that they were to come to take him, and make him king, he flew [or fled] alone again into an hill.

16 And when eventide was come, his disciples went down to the sea.

17 And they went up into a boat, and they came over the sea into Capernaum. And darknesses were made then, and Jesus was not [or had not] come to them.

18 And for a great wind blew, the sea rose up.

19 Therefore when they had rowed as five and twenty furlongs or thirty, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and to be nigh the boat; and they dreaded.

20 And he said to them, I am; do not ye dread.

21 Therefore they would take him into the boat, and anon the boat was at the land, to which they went.

22 On the tother day, the people, that stood over the sea, saw, that there was none other boat there but that one, and that Jesus entered not with his disciples into the boat, but his disciples alone went [or went alone].

23 But other boats came from Tiberias beside the place, where they had eaten bread, and did thankings to God.

24 Therefore when the people had seen, that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they went up into boats, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

25 And when they had found him over the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, how camest thou hither?

26 Jesus answered to them, and said, Truly, truly, I say to you ye seek me, not for ye saw the miracles, but for ye ate of the loaves, and were [ful] filled.

27 Work ye not meat that perisheth, but that that dwelleth into everlasting life, which meat man’s Son shall give to you; for God the Father hath marked him.

28 Therefore they said to him, What shall we do, that we work the works of God?

29 Jesus answered, and said to them, This is the work of God, that ye believe to him, whom he sent.

30 Therefore they said to him, What token then doest thou, that we see, and believe to thee? what workest thou?

31 Our fathers ate manna in desert, as it is written, He gave to them bread from heaven to eat.

32 Therefore Jesus saith to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses gave you not bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you very bread from heaven;

33 for it is very bread that cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the world.

34 Therefore they said to him, Lord, ever[more] give [to] us this bread.

35 And Jesus said to them, I am bread of life; he that cometh to me, shall not hunger; and he that believeth in me, shall never thirst.

36 But I said to you, that ye have seen me, and ye believe not.

37 All thing that the Father giveth to me, shall come to me; and I shall not cast him out, that cometh to me.

38 For I came down from heaven, not that I do my will, but the will of him that sent me.

39 And this is the will of the Father that sent me, that all thing that the Father gave to me, I lose not [or nought] of it, but again-raise it in the last day.

40 And this is the will of my Father that sent me, that each man that seeth the Son, and believeth in him, have everlasting life; and I shall again-raise him in the last day.

41 Therefore the Jews grutched of him, for he had said, I am bread that came down from heaven.

42 And they said, Whether this is not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we have known. How then saith he this, That I came down from heaven?

43 Therefore Jesus answered, and said to them, Do not ye grutch together.

44 No man may come to me, but if [or no but] the Father that sent me, draw him; and I shall again-raise him in the last day.

45 It is written in the prophets, And all men shall be able to be taught of God. Each man that hath heard of the Father, and hath learned, cometh to me.

46 Not for any man hath seen the Father, but this that is of God, hath seen the Father.

47 Soothly, soothly, I say to you, he that believeth in me, hath everlasting life.

48 I am [the] bread of life.

49 Your fathers ate manna in desert, and be dead.

50 This is bread coming down from heaven, that if any man eat thereof, he die not.

51 I am living bread, that came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live without end. And the bread that I shall give, is my flesh for the life of the world.

52 Therefore the Jews chided together, and said, How may this give to us his flesh to eat?

53 Therefore Jesus saith to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, but ye eat the flesh of man’s Son, and drink his blood, ye shall not have life in you.

54 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life, and I shall again-raise him in the last day.

55 For my flesh is very meat, and my blood is very drink.

56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.

57 As my Father living sent me, and I live for the Father, and he that eateth me, he shall live for me.

58 This is bread, that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate manna, and be dead; he that eateth this bread, shall live without end.

59 He said these things in the syna-gogue, teaching in Capernaum.

60 Therefore many of his disciples hearing [this], said, This word is hard, who may hear it?

61 But Jesus witting at [or within] himself, that his disciples grutched of this thing, said to them, This thing offendeth you?

62 Therefore if ye see man’s Son ascending [or going up], where he was before?

63 It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I have spoken to you, be spirit and life.

64 But there be some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning, which were believing, and who was to betray him.

65 And he said, Therefore I said to you, that no man may come to me, but it were given to him of my Father.

66 From this time many of his disciples went aback, and went not now with him.

67 Therefore Jesus said to the twelve, Whether ye will also go away?

68 And Simon Peter answered to him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of everlasting life;

69 and we believe, and have known, [or we have believed, and know], that thou art Christ, the Son of God.

70 Therefore Jesus answered to them, Whether I chose not you twelve, and one of you is a fiend?

71 And he said this of Judas of Simon Iscariot, for this was to betray him, when he was one of the twelve.

CHAPTER 7

1 After these things Jesus walked into Galilee, for he would not walk into Judea, for the Jews sought to slay him.

2 And there was nigh a feast day of the Jews, Scenopegia, [that is, a feast of tabernacles].

3 And his brethren said to him, Pass from hence, and go into Judea, that also thy disciples see thy works that thou doest;

4 for no man doeth anything in huddles, and himself seeketh to be open, [+or forsooth no man doeth anything in hid place, or privy, and he seeketh to be in open]. If thou doest these things, show thyself to the world.

5 For neither his brethren believed in him.

6 Therefore Jesus saith to them, My time came not yet, but your time is evermore ready.

7 The world may not hate you, soothly it hateth me; for I bear witnessing thereof, that the works of it be evil.

8 Go ye up to this feast day, but I shall not go up to this feast day, for my time is not yet fulfilled [or full-filled].

9 When he had said these things, he dwelt in Galilee.

10 And after that his brethren were gone up, then he went up to the feast day, not openly, but as in private.

11 Therefore the Jews sought him in the feast day, and said, Where is he?

12 And much grutching was of him among the people. For some said, That he is good; and others said, Nay, but he deceiveth the people;

13 nevertheless no man spake openly of him, for dread of the Jews.

14 But when the middle feast day came, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.

15 And the Jews wondered, and said, How knoweth this man letters, since he hath not learned?

16 Jesus answered to them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or I speak of myself.

18 He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, is soothfast, and unrightwiseness is not in him.

19 Whether Moses gave not to you a law, and none of you doeth [or keep-eth] the law? What seek ye to slay me?

20 And the people answered, and said, Thou hast a devil; who seeketh to slay thee?

21 Jesus answered, and said to them, I have done one work, and all ye wonder.

22 Therefore Moses gave to you circumcision; not for it is of Moses, but of the fathers; and in the sabbath ye circumcise a man.

23 If a man take circumcision in the sabbath, that the law of Moses be not broken, have ye indignation, [or wrath], to me, for I made all a man whole in the sabbath?

24 Do not ye deem after the face, but deem ye a rightful doom.

25 Therefore some of Jerusalem said, Whether this is not he, whom the Jews seek to slay?

26 and lo! he speaketh openly, and they say nothing to him. Whether the princes know verily that this is Christ?

27 But we know this man, of whence he is; but when Christ shall come, no man knoweth of whence he is.

28 Therefore Jesus cried in the temple teaching, and said, Ye know me, and ye know of whence I am; and I came not of myself, but he is true that sent me, whom ye know not.

29 I know him, and if I say that I know him not, I shall be like to you, a liar; but I know him, for of him I am, and he sent me.

30 Therefore they sought to take him, and no man set on him hands, for his hour came not yet.

31 And many of the people believed in him, and said, When Christ shall come, whether he shall do more tokens than those that this doeth?

32 The Pharisees heard the people musing of him, these things; and the princes and the Pharisees sent min-isters, to take him.

33 Therefore Jesus said to them, Yet a little time I am with you, and I go to the Father, that sent me.

34 Ye shall seek me, and ye shall not find me; and where I am, ye may not come.

35 Therefore the Jews said to them-selves, Whither shall this go, for we shall not find him? whether he will go into the scattering of heathen men, and will teach the heathen?

36 What is this word, which he said, Ye shall seek me, and ye shall not find me; and where I am, ye may not come?

37 But in the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood, and cried, and said, If any man thirsteth, come he to me, and drink.

38 He that believeth in me, as the scripture saith, Floods of quick water shall flow out of his womb.

39 But he said this thing of the Spirit [or of the Holy Ghost], whom men that believed in him should take; for the Spirit was not yet given, for Jesus was not yet glorified.

40 Therefore of that company, when they had heard these words of him, they said, This is verily a prophet.

41 Others said, This is Christ. But some said, Whether Christ cometh from Galilee?

42 Whether the scripture saith not, that of the seed of David, and of the castle of Bethlehem, where David was, Christ cometh?

43 Therefore dissension was made among the people for him.

44 And some of them would have taken him, but no man set hands on him.

45 Therefore the ministers came to the bishops, and Pharisees, and they said to them, Why brought ye not him?

46 The ministers answered, Never man spake so, as this man speaketh.

47 Therefore the Pharisees answered to them, Whether ye be deceived also?

48 whether any of the princes, or of the Pharisees believed in him?

49 But this people, that knoweth not the law, be cursed.

50 Nicodemus saith to them, he that came to him by night, that was one of them,

51 Whether our law deemeth a man, but it have first heard of him [or no but first it have heard of him], and know what he doeth?

52 They answered, and said to him, Whether thou art a man of Galilee also? Seek thou scriptures, and see thou, that a prophet riseth not of Galilee.

53 And they turned again, each into his house.

CHAPTER 8

1 But Jesus went into the mount of Olivet.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

12 Therefore again Jesus spake to them, and said, I am the light of the world; he that pursueth me, walketh not in darknesses, but shall have the light of life.

13 Therefore the Pharisees said, Thou bearest witnessing of thyself; thy witnessing is not true.

14 Jesus answered, and said to them, And if I bear witnessing of myself, my witnessing is true; for I know from whence I came, and whither I go. But ye know not from whence I came, nor whither I go.

15 For ye deem after the flesh, but I deem no man;

16 and if I deem, my doom is true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.

17 And in your law it is written, that the witnessing of two men is true.

18 I am, that bear witnessing of myself, and the Father that sent me, beareth witnessing of me.

19 Therefore they said to him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Neither ye know me, nor ye know my Father; if ye knew me, peradventure ye should know also my Father.

20 Jesus spake these words in the treasury, teaching in the temple; and no man took him, for his hour came not yet.

21 Therefore again Jesus said to them, Lo! I go, and ye shall seek me, and ye shall die in your sin; whither I go, ye may not come.

22 Therefore the Jews said, Whether he shall slay himself, for he saith, Whither I go, ye may not come?

23 And he said to them, Ye be of beneath, I am of above; ye be of this world, I am not of this world.

24 Therefore I said to you, that ye shall die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins.

25 Therefore they said to him, Who art thou? Jesus said to them, The beginning, [or the first of all thing], which [and I] also speak to you.

26 I have many things to speak, and to deem of you, but he that sent me is soothfast; and I speak in the world these things, that I heard of him.

27 And they knew not, that he called his Father God.

28 Therefore Jesus said to them, When ye have araised man’s Son, then ye shall know, that I am, and of myself I do nothing; but as my Father taught me, I speak these things.

29 And he that sent me is with me, and left me not alone; for I do ever-more those things, that be pleasing to him.

30 When he spake these things, many believed in him.

31 Therefore Jesus said to the Jews, that believed in him, If ye dwell in my word, verily, ye shall be my disciples;

32 and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

33 Therefore the Jews answered to him, We be the seed of Abraham, and we served never to man [or and to no man we served ever]; how sayest thou, That ye shall be free?

34 Jesus answered to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, each man that doeth sin, is [the] servant of sin.

35 And the servant dwelleth not in the house without end, but the Son dwelleth without end.

36 Therefore if the Son make you free, verily, ye shall be free.

37 I know that ye be Abraham’s sons, but ye seek to slay me, for my word taketh not in you.

38 I speak those things, that I saw at my Father; and ye do those things, that ye saw at your father.

39 They answered, and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith to them, If ye be the sons of Abraham, do ye the works of Abraham.

40 But now ye seek to slay me, a man that have spoken to you [the] truth, that I heard of God; Abraham did not this thing.

41 Ye do the works of your father. Therefore they said to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, God.

42 But Jesus saith to them, If God were your Father, soothly ye should love me; for I passed forth of God, [or I proceeded, or came forth, of God], and came; for neither I came of myself, but he sent me.

43 Why know ye not my speech? for ye may not hear my word.

44 Ye be of the father, the devil, and ye will do the desires of your father. He was a manslayer from the begin-ning, and he stood not in truth; for truth is not in him. When he speaketh leasing, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and father of it.

45 But for I say truth, ye believe not to me.

46 Who of you shall reprove me of sin? if I say truth, why believe ye not to me?

47 He that is of God, heareth the words of God; therefore ye hear not, for ye be not of God.

48 Therefore the Jews answered, and said [to him], Whether we say not well, that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

49 Jesus answered, and said, I have not a devil, but I honour my Father, and ye have unhonoured me.

50 For I seek not my glory; there is he, that seeketh, and deemeth.

51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if any man keep my word, he shall not taste death without end.

52 Therefore the Jews said, Now we have known, that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and thou sayest, If any man keep my word, he shall not taste death without end.

53 Whether thou art greater than our father Abraham, that is dead, and the prophets be dead; whom makest thou thyself?

54 Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nought; my Father is, that glorifieth me, whom ye say, that he is your God.

55 And ye have not known him, but I have known him; and if I say that I know him not, I shall be a liar like to you; but I know him, and I keep his word.

56 Abraham, your father, gladded [or full out joyed] to see my day; and he saw, and joyed.

57 Then the Jews said to him, Thou hast not yet fifty years, and hast thou seen Abraham?

58 Therefore Jesus said to them, Truly, truly I say to you, before that Abraham should be [or was made], I am.

59 Therefore they took stones, to cast to him; but Jesus hid him, and went out of the temple.

CHAPTER 9

1 And Jesus passing, saw a man blind from the birth.

2 And his disciples asked him, Master, who sinned, this man, or his elders, [or Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his father and mother], that he should be born blind?

3 Jesus answered, Neither this man sinned, neither his elders [or neither his father and mother]; but that the works of God be showed in him.

4 It behooveth me to work the works of him that sent me, as long as the day is [or the while the day is]; the night shall come, when no man may work.

5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

6 When he had said these things, he spat into the earth, and made clay of the spittle, and anointed the clay on his eyes,

7 and said to him, Go, and be thou washed in the water, [or cistern], of Siloam, that is to say, Sent. Then he went, and washed, and came seeing.

8 And so neighbours, and they that had seen him before, for he was a beggar, said, Whether this is not he, that sat, and begged?

9 Other men said, That this it is; and other men said, Nay, but he is like him. But he said, That I am [he].

10 Therefore they said to him, How be thine eyes opened?

11 He answered, That man, that is said Jesus, made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said to me, Go thou to the water, [or cistern], of Siloam, and wash; and I went, and washed, and saw.

12 And they said to him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

13 They led him that was blind to the Pharisees.

14 And it was sabbath, when Jesus made clay, and opened his eyes.

15 Again the Pharisees asked him, how he had seen. And he said to them, He laid [or put] to me clay on the eyes; and I washed, and I see.

16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, This man is not of God, that keepeth not the sabbath. Other men said, How may a sinful man do these signs, [or miracles]. And strife [or division] was among them.

17 Therefore they said again to the blind man, What sayest thou of him, that opened thine eyes? And he said, That he is a prophet.

18 Therefore the Jews believed not of him, that he was blind, and had seen, till they called his father and mother, that had seen.

19 And they asked them, and said, Is this your son, which ye say was born blind? how then seeth he now?

20 His father and mother answered to them, and said, We know, that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

21 but how he seeth now, we know not, or who opened his eyes, we know not; ask ye him, he hath age, speak he of himself.

22 His father and mother said these things, for they dreaded the Jews; for then the Jews had conspired, that if any man acknowledged him Christ, he should be done out of the synagogue.

23 Therefore his father and mother said, That he hath age, ask ye him.

24 Therefore again they called the man, that was blind, and said to him, Give thou glory to God; we know, that this man is a sinner.

25 Then he said, If he is a sinner, I know not; one thing I know, that when I was blind, now I see.

26 Therefore they said to him, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes?

27 He answered to them, I said to you now, and ye heard; what will ye again hear? whether ye will be made his disciples?

28 Therefore they cursed him, and said, Be thou his disciple; we be [the] disciples of Moses.

29 We know, that God spake to Moses; but we know not this, of whence he is.

30 That man answered, and said to them, For in this is a wonderful thing, that ye know not, of whence he is, and he hath opened mine eyes.

31 And we know, that God heareth not sinful men, but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, he heareth him.

32 From the world it is not heard, that any man opened the eyes of a blind-born man;

33 but this man were of God, he might not do anything.

34 They answered, and said to him, Thou art all born in sins, and teachest thou us? [or thou teachest us?] And they put him out.

35 Jesus heard, that they had put him out; and when he had found him, he said to him, Believest thou in the Son of God?

36 He answered, and said, Lord, who is he, that I believe in him?

37 And Jesus said to him, And thou hast seen him, and he it is, that speaketh with thee.

38 And he said, Lord, I believe. And he fell down, and worshipped him.

39 Therefore Jesus said to him, I came into this world, in doom, that they that see not, see, and they that see, be made blind.

40 And some of the Pharisees heard, that were with him, and they said to him, Whether we be blind?

41 Jesus said to them, If ye were blind, ye should not have sin; but now ye say, That we see, your sin dwelleth still.

CHAPTER 10

1 Truly, truly, I say to you, he that cometh not in by the door into the fold of [the] sheep, but ascendeth [or goeth up] by another way, is a night thief and a day thief.

2 But he that entereth by the door, is the shepherd of the sheep.

3 To this the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

4 And when he hath done out [or hath sent out] his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep pursue him; for they know his voice.

5 But they pursue not an alien, but flee from him; for they have not known the voice of aliens.

6 Jesus said to them this proverb; but they knew not what he spake to them.

7 Therefore Jesus said to them again, Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.

8 As many as have come, were night thieves and day thieves, but the sheep heard not them.

9 I am the door. If any man shall enter by me, he shall be saved; and he shall go in, and shall go out, and he shall find pastures.

10 A night thief cometh not, but that he steal, slay, and lose; and I came, that they have life, and have more plenteously.

11 I am a good shepherd; a good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep.

12 But an hired hind, and that is not the shepherd, whose be not the sheep his own [or whose the sheep be not his own], seeth a wolf coming, and he leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf ravisheth, and disperseth, [or scattereth], the sheep.

13 And the hired hind fleeth, for he is an hired hind, and it pertaineth not to him of the sheep.

14 I am a good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and my sheep know me.

15 As the Father hath known me, I know the Father; and I put my life for my sheep.

16 I have other sheep, that be not of this fold, and it behooveth me to bring them together, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be made one fold and one shepherd.

17 Therefore the Father loveth me, for I put my life, that again I take it.

18 No man taketh it from me, but I put it of myself. I have power to put it, and I have power to take it again. This commandment I have taken of my Father.

19 Again dissension was made among the Jews for these words.

20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and maddeth, [or waxeth mad]; what hear ye him?

21 Other men said, These words be not of a man that hath a devil. Whether the devil [or a devil] may open the eyes of blind men?

22 But the feasts of hallowing of the temple were made in Jerusalem, and it was winter.

23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in the porch of Solomon.

24 Therefore the Jews came about him, and said to him, How long takest thou away our soul? if thou art Christ, say thou to us openly [or plainly].

25 Jesus answered to them, I speak to you, and ye believe not; the works that I do in the name of my Father, bear witnessing of me.

26 But ye believe not, for ye be not of my sheep.

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they pursue me.

28 And I give to them everlasting life, and they shall not perish without end, and none shall ravish them out of mine hand.

29 That thing that my Father gave to me, is more than all things; and no man may ravish from my Father’s hand.

30 I and the Father be one.

31 The Jews took up stones, to stone him.

32 Jesus answered to them, I have showed to you many good works of my Father, for which work of them stone ye me?

33 The Jews answered to him, We stone thee not of good work, but of blasphemy, and for thou, since thou art a man, makest thyself God.

34 Jesus answered to them, Whether it is not written in your law, That I said, Ye be gods?

35 If he said that they were gods, to whom the word of God was made, and the scripture may not be undone,

36 that that the Father hath hallowed, and hath sent into the world, ye say, That thou blasphemest, for I said, I am God’s Son?

37 If I do not the works of my Father, do not ye believe to me;

38 but if I do, though ye will not believe to me, believe ye to the works; that ye know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.

39 Therefore they sought to take him, and he went out of their hands.

40 And he went again over Jordan, into that place where John was first baptizing, and he dwelt there.

41 And many came to him, and said, For John did no miracle [or sign]; and all things whatever John said of this, were sooth.

42 And many believed in him.

CHAPTER 11

1 And there was a sick man, Lazarus of Bethany, of the castle of Mary and Martha, his sisters.

2 And it was Mary, which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hairs, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

3 Therefore his sisters sent to him, and said, Lord, lo! he whom thou lovest, is sick.

4 And Jesus heard, and said to them, This sickness is not to the death, but for the glory of God, that man’s Son be glorified by him [or that God’s Son be glorified by it].

5 And Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus.

6 Therefore when Jesus heard, that he was sick, then he dwelled in the same place two days.

7 And after these things he said to his disciples, Go we again into Judea.

8 The disciples say to him, Master [or Rabbi], now the Jews sought to stone thee, and again goest thou thither?

9 Jesus answered, Whether there be not twelve hours of the day? If any man wander in the day [or Whoever walketh in the day], he hurteth not, for he seeth the light of this world.

10 But if he wander in the night, he stumbleth, for light is not in him.

11 He said these things, and after these things he saith to them, Lazarus, our friend, sleepeth, but I go to raise him from sleep.

12 Therefore his disciples said, Lord, if he sleepeth, he shall be safe.

13 But Jesus had said of his death; but they guessed, that he said of [the] sleeping of sleep.

14 Then therefore Jesus said to them openly, Lazarus is dead;

15 and I have joy for you, that ye believe, for I was not there; but go we to him.

16 Therefore Thomas, that is said Didymus, said to even-disciples, Go we also, that we die with him.

17 And so Jesus came, and found him having then four days in the grave.

18 And Bethany was beside Jerusalem, as it were fifteen furlongs.

19 And many of the Jews came to Mary and Martha, to comfort them of their brother.

20 Therefore as Martha heard, that Jesus came, she ran to him; but Mary sat at home.

21 Therefore Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if thou haddest been here, my brother had not be dead.

22 But now I know, that whatever things thou shalt ask of God, God shall give to thee.

23 Jesus saith to her, Thy brother shall rise again.

24 Martha saith to him, I know, that he shall rise again in the again-rising in the last day.

25 Jesus saith to her, I am again-rising and life; he that believeth in me, yea, though he be dead, he shall live;

26 and each that liveth [or all that liveth], and believeth in me, shall not die without end. Believest thou this thing?

27 She saith to him, Yea, Lord, I have believed, that thou art Christ, the Son of the living God, that hast come into this world.

28 And when she had said this thing, she went, and called Mary, her sister, in silence, and said, The Master is come, and calleth thee.

29 She, as she heard, arose anon, and came to him.

30 And Jesus came not yet into the castle, but he was yet in that place, where Martha had come to meet him.

31 Therefore the Jews that were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose swiftly, and went out, they pursued her, and said, For she goeth to the grave, to weep there.

32 But when Mary was come where Jesus was, she seeing him felled down to his feet, and said to him, Lord, if thou haddest been here, my brother had not be dead.

33 Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping that were with her, he made noise in spirit, and troubled himself,

34 and said, Where have ye laid him? They said to him, Lord, come, and see.

35 And Jesus wept.

36 Therefore the Jews said, Lo! how he loved him.

37 And some of them said, Whether this man that opened the eyes of the born-blind man, might not make that this should not die?

38 Therefore Jesus again making noise in himself, came to the grave. And there was a den, and a stone was laid thereon.

39 And Jesus saith, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith to him, Lord, he stinketh now, for he hath lain four days [or soothly he is of four days dead].

40 Jesus saith to her, Have I not said to thee, that if thou believest, thou shalt see the glory of God?

41 Therefore they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I do thankings to thee, for thou hast heard me;

42 and I wist, that thou evermore hearest me, but for the people that standeth about, I said, that they believe, that thou hast sent me.

43 When he had said these things, he cried with a great voice, Lazarus, come forth, [or Lazarus, come thou out].

44 And anon he that was dead, came out, bound the hands and feet with bonds, and his face bound with a sudarium, [or sweating cloth]. And Jesus saith to them, Unbind ye him, and suffer ye him to go forth.

45 Therefore many of the Jews that came to Mary and Martha, and saw what things Jesus did, believed in him.

46 But some of them went to the Pharisees, and said to them, what things Jesus had done.

47 Therefore the bishops, and the Pharisees gathered a council against Jesus, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles [or signs].

48 If we leave him thus, all men shall believe in him; and Romans shall come, and shall take our place, and our folk.

49 But one of them, Caiaphas by name, when he was bishop of that year, said to them, Ye know nothing,

50 nor think, that it speedeth to you, that one man die for the people, and that all the folk perish not.

51 But he said not this thing of himself, but when he was bishop of that year, he prophesied, that Jesus was to die for the folk,

52 and not only for the folk, but that he should gather into one the sons of God that were scattered.

53 Therefore from that day they thought for to slay him.

54 Therefore Jesus walked not then openly among the Jews; but he went into a country beside [the] desert, into a city, that is said Ephraim, and there he dwelled with his disciples.

55 And the pask of the Jews was nigh, and many of the country went up to Jerusalem before the pask, to hallow themselves.

56 Therefore they sought Jesus, and spake together, standing in the temple, What guess ye, for he cometh not to the feast day?

57 For the bishops, and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that if any man know where he is, that he show, that they take him.

CHAPTER 12

1 Therefore Jesus before six days of pask came to Bethany, where Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus raised.

2 And they made to him a supper there, and Martha ministered to him; and Lazarus was one of the men that sat at the meat with him.

3 Therefore Mary took a pound of ointment of true nard [or spikenard] precious, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hairs; and the house was full-filled with the savour of the ointment.

4 Therefore Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, that was to betray him, said,

5 Why is not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to poor men?

6 But he said this thing, not for it pertained to him of needy men, but for he was a thief, and had the purses, and bare those things that were sent.

7 Therefore Jesus said, Suffer ye her, that into the day of my burying she keep that;

8 for ye shall evermore have poor men with you, but ye shall not ever-more have me.

9 Therefore much people of the Jews knew, that Jesus was there; and they came, not only for Jesus, but to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from death.

10 But the princes of priests thought to slay Lazarus,

11 for many of the Jews went away for him, and believed in Jesus.

12 But on the morrow much people, that came together to the feast day, when they had heard, that Jesus came to Jerusalem,

13 took branches of palms, and came forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna, blessed is the king of Israel, that cometh in the name of the Lord.

14 And Jesus found a young ass, and sat on him, as it is written,

15 The daughter of Zion, do not thou dread; lo! thy king cometh, sitting on an ass’s foal [or on the colt of a she-ass].

16 His disciples knew not first these things, but when Jesus was glorified, then they had mind, that these things were written of him, and these things they did to him.

17 Therefore the people bare witness-ing, that was with him, when he called Lazarus from the grave, and raised him from death.

18 And therefore the people came, and met with him, for they heard that he had done this sign.

19 Therefore the Pharisees said to themselves, Ye see, that we profit nothing; lo! all the world hath gone after him.

20 And there were some heathen men, of them that had come up to worship in the feast day.

21 And these came to Philip, that was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and prayed him, and said, Sire, we will see Jesus [or we would see Jesus].

22 Philip cometh, and saith to Andrew; and again Andrew and Philip said to Jesus.

23 And Jesus answered to them, and said, The hour cometh, that man’s Son be clarified.

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, but a corn of wheat fall into the earth, and be dead, it dwelleth alone; but if it be dead, it bringeth [forth] much fruit.

25 He that loveth his life, shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, keepeth it into everlasting life.

26 If any man serve me, pursue he me; and where I am, there my minister [or my servant] shall be. If any man serve me, my Father shall worship him.

27 Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour; but therefore [or but for that thing] I came into this hour;

28 Father, clarify thy name. And a voice came from heaven, and said, And I have clarified, and again I shall clarify.

29 Therefore the people that stood, and heard, said, that thunder was made; other men said, an angel spake to him.

30 Jesus answered, and said, This voice came not for me, but for you.

31 Now is the doom of the world, now the prince of this world shall be cast out.

32 And if I shall be enhanced from the earth, I shall draw all things to myself.

33 And he said this thing, signifying by what death he was to die.

34 And the people answered to him, We have heard of the law, that Christ dwelleth without end; and how sayest thou, It behooveth man’s Son to be areared? Who is this man’s Son?

35 And then Jesus saith to them, Yet a little light is in you; walk ye, the while ye have light, that darkness catch you not; he that wandereth in darknesses, knoweth not whither he goeth.

36 While ye have light, believe ye in the light, that ye be the children of light. Jesus spake these things, and went, and hid him from them.

37 And when he had done so many miracles [or so many signs] before them, they believed not in him;

38 that the word of Isaiah, the prophet, should be fulfilled, which he said, Lord, who hath believed to our hearing, and to whom is the arm of the Lord showed?

39 Therefore they might not believe, for again Isaiah said,

40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hath made hard the heart of them, that they see not with eyes, and understand [not] with heart; and that they be converted, and I heal them.

41 Isaiah said these things, when he saw the glory of him, and spake of him.

42 Nevertheless of the princes, many believed in him, but for the Pharisees they acknowledged not, that they should not be put out of the synagogue;

43 for they loved the glory of men, more than the glory of God.

44 And Jesus cried, and said, He that believeth in me, believeth not in me, but in him that sent me.

45 He that seeth me, seeth him that sent me.

46 I light came into the world, that each that believeth in me, dwell not in darknesses.

47 And if any man heareth my words, and keepeth them not, I deem him not; for I came not, that I deem the world, but that I make the world safe.

48 He that despiseth me, and taketh not my words, hath him that shall judge him; that word [or the word] that I have spoken, shall deem him in the last day.

49 For I have not spoken of myself, but that Father that sent me, [he] gave to me a commandment, what I shall say, and what I shall speak.

50 And I know, that his commandment is everlasting life; therefore those things that I speak, as the Father said to me, so I speak.

CHAPTER 13

1 But before the feast day of pask, Jesus witting, that his hour is come, [or Jesus witting, for his hour cometh], that he pass from this world to the Father, when he had loved his that were in the world, into the end he loved them.

2 And when the supper was made, when the devil had put then into the heart, that Judas of Simon Iscariot should betray him, [And the supper made, when the devil had sent now into the heart of Judas of Simon Iscariot, that he should betray him,]

3 he witting that the Father gave all things to him into his hands, and that he went out from God, and goeth to God,

4 he riseth from the supper, and doeth off his clothes; and when he had taken a linen cloth, he girded him.

5 And afterward he put water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe with the linen cloth, with which he was girded.

6 And so he came to Simon Peter, and Peter saith to him, Lord, washest thou my feet?

7 Jesus answered, and said to him, What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know afterward.

8 Peter saith to him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered to him, If I shall not wash thee, thou shalt not have part with me.

9 Simon Peter saith to him, Lord, not only my feet, but both the hands and the head.

10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed, hath no need but that he wash the feet, but he is all clean; and ye be clean, but not all.

11 For he knew, who it was that should betray him; therefore he said, Ye be not all clean.

12 And so after that he had washed their feet, he took his clothes; and when he was set to meat again, again he said to them, Ye know what I have done to you, [or Know ye what I have done to you?].

13 Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for I am.

14 Therefore if I, Lord and Master, have washed your feet, and ye shall wash [or ye owe to wash] one another’s feet;

15 for I have given to you ensample, that as I have done to you, so do ye.

16 Truly, truly, I say to you, the servant is not greater than his lord, neither an apostle is greater than he that sent him.

17 If ye know these things, ye shall be blessed, if ye do them.

18 I say not of all you, I know which I have chosen; but that the scripture be fulfilled, He that eateth my bread, shall raise his heel against me.

19 Truly, I say to you before it be done, that when it is done, ye believe that I am.

20 Truly, truly, I say to you, he that taketh whomever I shall send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.

21 When Jesus had said these things, he was troubled in spirit, and witness-ed, and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you shall betray me.

22 Therefore the disciples looked together, doubting of whom he said.

23 And so one of his disciples was resting in the bosom of Jesus, whom Jesus loved.

24 Therefore Simon Peter beckoned to him, and said to him, Who is it, of whom he saith?

25 And so when he had rested again on the breast of Jesus, he saith to him, Lord, who is it?

26 Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall areach a sop of bread. And when he had wet bread [or had dipped in bread], he gave to Judas of Simon Iscariot.

27 And after the morsel, then Satan entered into him. And Jesus saith to him, That thing that thou doest, do thou swiftly.

28 And none of them that sat at the meat knew, whereto [or what thing] he said to him.

29 For some guessed, for Judas had purses, that Jesus had said to him, Buy thou those things, that be needful to us to the feast day, or that he should give something to needy men.

30 Therefore when he had taken the morsel, he went out anon; and it was night.

31 Therefore when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now man’s Son is clarified, and God is clarified in him.

32 If God is clarified in him, and God shall clarify him in himself, and anon he shall clarify him.

33 Little sons, yet a little I am with you; ye shall seek me, and, as I said to the Jews, Whither I go, ye may not come; and to you I say now.

34 I give to you a new commandment, that ye love together, as I have loved you, and that ye love together.

35 In this thing all men shall know, that ye be my disciples, if ye have love together.

36 Simon Peter saith to him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered, Whither I go, thou mayest not pursue me now, but thou shalt pursue me afterward.

37 Peter saith to him, Why may I not pursue thee now? I shall put my life for thee.

38 Jesus answered, Thou shalt put thy life for me? Truly, truly, I say to thee, the cock shall not crow, till thou shalt deny me thrice.

39 And he saith to his disciples,

CHAPTER 14

1 Be not your heart afraid, [or disturbed, or distroubled], nor dread it; ye believe in God, and believe ye in me.

2 In the house of my Father be many dwellings; if anything less, I had said to you, for I go to make ready to you a place.

3 And if I go, and make ready to you a place, again I [shall] come, and I shall take you to myself, that where I am, ye be.

4 And whither I go, ye know, and ye know the way.

5 Thomas saith to him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how may we know the way?

6 Jesus saith to him, I am way, truth, and life; no man cometh to the Father, but by me.

7 If ye had known me, soothly ye had known also my Father; and afterward ye shall know him, and ye have seen him.

8 Philip saith to him, Lord, show to us the Father, and it sufficeth to us.

9 Jesus saith to him, So long time I am with you, and have ye not known me? Philip, he that seeth me, seeth also the Father. How sayest thou, show to us the Father?

10 Believest thou not, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of myself; but the Father himself that dwelleth in me, [he] doeth the works.

11 Believe ye not, that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? Else believe ye for those works.

12 Truly, truly, I say to you, if a man believeth in me [or he that believeth in me], also he shall do the works that I do; and he shall do greater works than these, for I go to the Father.

13 And whatever thing ye ask the Father in my name, I shall do this thing, that the Father be glorified in the Son.

14 If ye ask anything in my name, I shall do it.

15 If ye love me, keep ye my com-mandments.

16 And I shall pray the Father, and he shall give to you another Comforter, the Spirit of truth, to dwell with you without end;

17 which Spirit the world may not take, for it seeth him not, neither knoweth him. But ye shall know him, for he shall dwell with you, and he shall be in you.

18 I shall not leave you fatherless, I shall come to you.

19 Yet a little, and the world seeth not now me [or the world seeth not me now]; but ye shall see me, for I live, and ye shall live.

20 In that day ye shall know, that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I shall love him, and I shall show to him myself.

22 Judas saith to him, not he of Iscariot, Lord, what is done, that thou shalt show thyself to us, and not to the world?

23 Jesus answered, and said to him, If any man loveth me, he shall keep my word; and my Father shall love him, and we shall come to him, and we shall dwell with him.

24 He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words; and the word which ye have heard, is not mine, but the Father’s, that sent me.

25 These things I have spoken to you, dwelling among you;

26 but that Holy Ghost, the Comfort-er, whom the Father shall send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and shall show, [or remember], to you all things, whatever things I shall say to you.

27 Peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you; not as the world giveth, I give to you; be not your heart afraid [or troubled], nor dread it.

28 Ye have heard, that I said to you, I go, and come to you. If ye loved me, forsooth ye should have joy, for I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

29 And now I have said to you, before that it be done, that when it is done, ye believe.

30 Now I shall not speak many things with you; for the prince of this world cometh, and hath not in me anything [or he hath not anything in me].

31 But that the world know, that I love the Father; and as the Father gave a commandment to me, so I do. Rise ye, go we hence.

CHAPTER 15

1 I am a very vine, and my Father is an earth-tiller.

2 Each branch in me that beareth not fruit, he shall take away it [or do it away]; and each that beareth fruit, he shall purge it, that it bear the more fruit.

3 Now ye be clean, for the word that I have spoken to you.

4 Dwell ye in me, and I in you; as a branch may not make fruit of itself, but it dwell in the vine, so neither ye, but ye dwell in me.

5 I am the vine, ye be the branches. Who [or He] that dwelleth in me, and I in him, this beareth much fruit, for without me ye may nothing do.

6 If any man dwelleth not in me, he shall be cast out as a branch, and shall wax dry; and they shall gather him, and they shall cast him into the fire, and he shall burn.

7 If ye dwell in me, and my words dwell in you, whatever thing ye will, ye shall ask, and it shall be done to you.

8 In this thing my Father is clarified, that ye bring forth full much fruit, and that ye be made my disciples.

9 As my Father loved me, I have loved you; dwell ye in my love.

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall dwell in my love; as I have kept the commandments of my Father, and dwell in his love.

11 These things I spake to you, that my joy be in you, and your joy be full-filled.

12 This is my commandment, that ye love together, as I have loved you.

13 No man hath more love than this, that a man put his life for his friends.

14 Ye be my friends if ye do those things, that I command to you.

15 Now I shall not call you servants, for the servant knoweth not, what his lord shall do; but I have called you friends, for all things whatever I heard of my Father, I have made known to you.

16 Ye have not chosen me, but I chose you; and I have put you, that ye go, and bring forth fruit, and your fruit dwell; that whatever thing ye ask the Father in my name, he give to you.

17 These things I command to you, that ye love together.

18 If the world hate you, know ye, that it had me in hate rather than you.

19 If ye had been of the world, the world should love that thing that was his; but for ye be not of the world, but I chose you from the world, therefore the world hateth you.

20 Have ye mind of my word, which I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have pursued me, they shall pursue you also; if they have kept my word, they shall keep yours also.

21 But they shall do to you all these things for my name, for they know not him that sent me.

22 If I had not come, and had not spoken to them, they should not have sin; but now they have none excusation [or not excusing] of their sin.

23 He that hateth me, hateth also my Father.

24 If I had not done the works in them, which none other man did, they should not have sin; but now both they have seen, and have hated me and my Father.

25 But that the word be fulfilled, that is written in their law, For they had me in hate without cause.

26 But when the Comforter shall come, which I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, which cometh forth [or proceedeth] of the Father, he shall bear witnessing of me;

27 and ye shall bear witnessing, for ye be with me from the beginning.

CHAPTER 16

1 These things I have spoken to you, that ye be not caused to stumble.

2 They shall make you without the synagogues, but the hour cometh, that each man that slayeth you, deem that he doeth service to God.

3 And they shall do to you these things, for they have not known the Father, neither me.

4 But these things I spake to you, that when the hour of them shall come, ye have mind, that I said to you. I said not to you these things from the beginning, for I was with you.

5 And now I go to him that sent me, and no man of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?

6 but for I have spoken to you these things, heaviness [or sorrow] hath full-filled your heart.

7 But I say to you truth, it speedeth to you, that I go; for if I go not forth [or go away], the Comforter shall not come to you; but if I go forth [or go away], I shall send him to you.

8 And when he cometh, he shall reprove the world of sin, and of rightwiseness, and of doom,

9 Of sin, for they have not believed in me;

10 and of rightwiseness, for I go to the Father, and now ye shall not see me;

11 but of doom, for the prince of this world is now deemed.

12 Yet I have many things to say to you, but ye may not bear them now.

13 But when the Spirit of truth cometh, he shall teach you all truth; for he shall not speak of himself, but whatever things he shall hear, he shall speak; and he shall tell to you those things that be to come.

14 He shall clarify me, for of mine he shall take, and shall tell to you.

15 All things, whatever [things] the Father hath, be mine; therefore I said to you, that of mine he shall take, and shall tell to you.

16 A little, and then ye shall not see me; and again a little, and ye shall see me, for I go to the Father.

17 Therefore some of his disciples said together, What is this thing that he saith to us, A little, and ye shall not see me; and again a little, and ye shall see me, for I go to the Father?

18 Therefore they said, What is this that he saith to us, A little? we know not what he speaketh.

19 And Jesus knew, that they would ask him, and he said to them, Of this thing ye seek among you, for I said, A little, and ye shall not see me; and again a little, and ye shall see me.

20 Truly, truly, I say to you, that ye shall mourn and weep, but the world shall have joy; and ye shall be sorrow-ful, but your sorrow shall turn into joy.

21 A woman when she beareth child, hath heaviness [or sorrow], for her time is come; but when she hath born a son, now she thinketh not on the pain, for joy, for a man is born into the world.

22 And therefore ye have now sorrow, but again I shall see you, and your heart shall have joy, and no man shall take from you your joy.

23 And in that day ye shall not ask me anything; truly, truly, I say to you, if ye ask the Father anything in my name, he shall give [it] to you.

24 Till now ye asked nothing in my name; ask ye, and ye shall take, that your joy be full.

25 I have spoken to you these things in proverbs; the hour cometh, when now I shall not speak to you in proverbs, but openly of my Father I shall tell to you.

26 In that day ye shall ask in my name; and I say not to you, that I shall pray the Father for you;

27 for the Father himself loveth you, for ye have loved me, and have believed, that I went out from God.

28 I went out from the Father, and I came into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father.

29 His disciples said to him, Lo! now thou speakest openly, and thou sayest no proverb.

30 Now we know, that thou know-est all things; and it is not need [or no need] to thee, that any man ask thee. In this thing we believe, that thou wentest out from God.

31 Jesus answered to them, Now ye believe.

32 Lo! the hour cometh, and now it cometh, that ye be dispersed, [or scattered], each into his own things, and that ye leave me alone; and I am not alone, for the Father is with me.

33 These things I have spoken to you, that ye have peace in me; in the world ye shall have dis-ease, [or have pressing, or over-laying], but trust ye, I have overcome the world.

CHAPTER 17

1 These things Jesus spake, and when he had cast up [or lifted up] his eyes into heaven, he said, Father, the hour cometh, clarify thy Son, that thy Son clarify thee.

2 As thou hast given to him power on each flesh, [or man], that all thing that thou hast given to him, he give to them everlasting life.

3 And this is everlasting life, that they know thee very God alone, and whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ.

4 I have clarified thee on the earth, I have ended the work, that thou hast given to me to do.

5 And now, Father, clarify thou me at thyself, with the clearness that I had at thee, before the world was made.

6 I have showed thy name to those men, which thou hast given to me of the world; they were thine, and thou hast given them to me, and they have kept thy word.

7 And now they have known, that all things that thou hast given to me, be of thee.

8 For the words that thou hast given to me, I gave to them; and they have taken, and have known verily, that I went out from thee; and they believed, that thou sentest me.

9 I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them that thou hast given to me, for they be thine.

10 And all my things be thine, and thy things be mine; and I am clarified in them.

11 And now I am not in the world, and these be in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given to me, that they be one, as we be.

12 While I was with them, I kept them in thy name; those that thou gavest to me, I kept, and none of them perished, but the son of perdition, that the scripture be fulfilled.

13 But now I come to thee, and I speak these things in the world, that they have my joy fulfilled in them-selves.

14 I gave to them thy word, and the world had them in hate; for they be not of the world, as I am not of the world.

15 I pray not, that thou take them away from the world, but that thou keep them from evil.

16 They be not of the world, as I am not of the world.

17 Hallow thou them in truth; thy word is truth.

18 As thou sentest me into the world, also I sent them into the world.

19 And I hallow myself for them, that also they be hallowed in truth.

20 And I pray not only for them, but also for them that shall believe into me by the word of them;

21 that all [they] be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee, that also they in us be one; that the world believe, that thou hast sent me.

22 And I have given to them the clearness, that thou hast given to me, that they be one, as we be one;

23 I in them, and thou in me, that they be ended into one; and that the world know, that thou sentest me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved also me.

24 Father, they which thou hast given to me, I will that where I am, that they be with me, that they see my clearness, that thou hast given to me; for thou lovedest me before the making of the world.

25 Father, rightfully the world knew thee not [or Rightful Father, the world knew not thee], but I knew thee, and these knew, that thou sentest me.

26 And I have made thy name known to them, and shall make known; that the love by which thou hast loved me, be in them, and I in them.

CHAPTER 18

1 When Jesus had said these things, he went out with his disciples over the strand of Kidron, where was a yard, or a garden, into which he entered, and his disciples.

2 And Judas, that betrayed him, knew the place, for oft Jesus came thither with his disciples.

3 Therefore when Judas had taken a company of knights, and ministers of the bishops, and of the Pharisees, he came thither with lanterns, and brands, and arms.

4 And so Jesus witting all things that were to come on him, went forth, and said to them, Whom seek ye?

5 They answered to him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith to them, I am. And Judas that betrayed him, stood with them.

6 And when he said to them, I am, they went aback, and fell down on the earth.

7 And again he asked them, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

8 He answered to them, I said to you, that I am; therefore if ye seek me, suffer ye these to go away.

9 That the word which he said should be fulfilled, For I lost not any of them, which thou hast given to me.

10 Therefore Simon Peter had a sword, and drew it out, and smote the servant of the bishop, and cut off his right ear. And the name of the servant was Malchus.

11 Therefore Jesus said to Peter, Put thou thy sword into thy sheath; wilt thou not, that I drink the cup, that my Father gave to me?

12 Therefore the company of knights, and the tribune, and the ministers of the Jews, took Jesus, and bound him,

13 and led him first to Annas; for he was [the] father of Caiaphas’ wife, that was bishop of that year.

14 And it was Caiaphas, that gave counsel to the Jews, that it speedeth, that one man die for the people.

15 But Simon Peter pursued Jesus, and another disciple; and that disciple was known to the bishop. And he entered with Jesus, into the hall of the bishop;

16 but Peter stood at the door with-outforth. Therefore that other disciple, that was known to the bishop, went out, and said to the woman that kept the door, and brought in Peter.

17 And the damsel, keeper of the door, said to Peter, Whether thou art also of this man’s disciples? He said, I am not.

18 And the servants and [the] ministers stood at the coals, for it was cold, and they warmed them; and Peter was with them, standing and warming him.

19 And the bishop asked Jesus of his disciples, and of his teaching.

20 Jesus answered to him, I have spoken openly to the world; I taught evermore in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither all the Jews came together, and in huddles [or in private] I spake nothing.

21 What askest thou me? ask them that heard me, what I have spoken to them; lo! they know, what things I have said.

22 When he had said these things, one of the ministers standing nigh, gave a buffet to Jesus, and said, Answerest thou so to the bishop?

23 Jesus answered to him, If I have spoken evil, bear thou witnessing of evil; but if I said well, why smitest thou me?

24 And Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas, the bishop.

25 And Simon Peter stood, and warmed him; and they said to him, Whether also thou art his disciple? He denied, and said, I am not.

26 One of the bishop’s servants, cousin of him, whose ear Peter cut off, said, Saw I thee not in the yard with him? [+or Whether I saw thee not in the garden with him?]

27 And Peter again denied, and anon the cock crew.

28 Then they led Jesus to (or from) Caiaphas, into the moot hall; and it was early, and they entered not into the moot hall, that they should not be defouled, but that they should eat pask.

29 Therefore Pilate went withoutforth to them, and said, What accusing bring ye against this man?

30 They answered, and said to him, If this were not a mis-doer, we had not betaken him to thee.

31 Then Pilate saith to them, Take ye him, and deem ye him, after your law. And the Jews said to him, It is not leaveful to us, to slay any man;

32 that the word of Jesus should be fulfilled, which he said, signifying by what death he should die.

33 Therefore again Pilate entered into the moot hall, and called Jesus, and said to him, Art thou king of Jews?

34 Jesus answered, and said to him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or others have said to thee of me?

35 Pilate answered, Whether I am a Jew? Thy folk and the bishops betook thee to me; what hast thou done?

36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my ministers would strive, that I should not be taken to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not here.

37 And so Pilate said to him, Then thou art a king. Jesus answered, Thou sayest, that I am a king. To this thing I am born, and to this I came into the world, to bear witnessing to truth. Each [man] that is of truth, heareth my voice.

38 Pilate saith to him, What is truth? And when he had said this thing, again he went out to the Jews, and said to them, I find no cause in him [or against him].

39 But it is a custom to you, that I deliver one to you in pask; therefore will ye that I deliver to you the king of Jews?

40 All they cried again, and said, Not this, but Barabbas. And Barabbas was a thief.

CHAPTER 19

1 Therefore Pilate took then Jesus [or Therefore then Pilate took Jesus], and scourged him.

2 And knights wreathed a crown of thorns, and set [or put] on his head, and did about him a cloth of purple, and came to him,

3 and said, Hail, king of Jews. And they gave to him buffets.

4 Again Pilate went out, and said to them, Lo! I bring him out to you, that ye know, that I find no cause in him.

5 And so Jesus went out, bearing a crown of thorns, and a cloth of purple. And he saith to them, Lo! the man.

6 But when the bishops and ministers had seen him, they cried, and said, Crucify, crucify him. Pilate saith to them, Take ye him, and crucify ye [him], for I find no cause in him.

7 The Jews answered to him, We have a law, and by the law he oweth to die, for he made him God’s Son.

8 Therefore when Pilate had heard this word, he dreaded the more [or he dreaded more].

9 And he went into the moot hall again, and said to Jesus, Of whence art thou? But Jesus gave none answer to him.

10 Pilate saith to him, Speakest thou not to me? Knowest thou not, that I have power to crucify thee, and I have power to deliver thee?

11 Jesus answered, Thou shouldest not have any power against me, but it were given to thee from above; there-fore he that betook me to thee, hath the more sin.

12 From that time Pilate sought to deliver him; but the Jews cried, and said, If thou deliverest this man, thou art not the emperor’s friend [or the friend of Caesar]; for each man that maketh himself king, gainsaith the emperor [or against-saith Caesar].

13 And Pilate, when he had heard these words, led Jesus forth, and sat for doomsman in a place, that is said Lycostratos, but in Hebrew Golgotha (or Gabbatha).

14 And it was pask eve [or the making ready, or even, of pask], as it were the sixth hour, [or midday]. And he saith to the Jews, Lo! your king.

15 But they cried, and said, Take away, take away, [or Do away, do away]; crucify him. Pilate saith to them, Shall I crucify your king? The bishops answered, We have no king but the emperor [or Caesar].

16 And then Pilate betook him to them, that he should be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him out.

17 And he bare to himself a cross, and went out into that place, that is said Calvary, in Hebrew Golgotha;

18 where they crucified him, and others twain with him, one on this side and one on that side, and Jesus in the middle.

19 And Pilate wrote a title, and set [or put] on the cross; and it was written, Jesus of Nazareth, king of Jews.

20 Therefore many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified, was nigh the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

21 Therefore the bishops of the Jews said to Pilate, Do not thou write king of Jews, but that he said, I am king of Jews.

22 Pilate answered, That that I have written, I have written.

23 Therefore the knights when they had crucified him, took his clothes, and made four parts, to each knight a part, and a coat. And the coat was without seam, and woven all about.

24 Therefore they said together, Cut we not it, but cast we lot, whose it is; that the scripture be fulfilled, saying, They parted my clothes to them, and on my cloth they cast lot. And the knights did these things.

25 But beside the cross of Jesus stood his mother, and the sister of his mother, Mary Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

26 Therefore when Jesus had seen his mother, and the disciple standing, whom he loved, he saith to his mother, Woman, lo! thy son.

27 Afterward he saith to the disciple, Lo! thy mother. And from that hour the disciple took her into his mother.

28 Afterward Jesus witting, that now all things be ended, that the scripture were fulfilled, he saith, I thirst.

29 And a vessel was set full of vinegar or eisell. And they laid in hyssop about the sponge full of vinegar, and put to his mouth./And they took a sponge full of eisell, putting it about with hyssop, and proffered it to his mouth.

30 Therefore when Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, It is ended. And when his head was bowed down, he gave up the ghost./And when Jesus had tasted this eisell, he said, It is ended. And he bowed down the head, and sent out the spirit.

31 Therefore for it was the pask eve, that the bodies should not abide [or dwell] on the cross in the sabbath, for that was a great sabbath day, the Jews prayed Pilate, that the hips of them should be broken, and they [should be] taken away.

32 Therefore knights came, and they brake the thighs of the first, and of the other, that was crucified with him.

33 But when they were come [or had come] to Jesus, as they saw him dead then, they brake not his thighs;

34 but one of the knights opened his side with a spear, and anon blood and water went out.

35 And he that saw, bare witnessing [thereof], and his witnessing is true; and he knoweth that he saith true things, that ye believe.

36 And these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, Ye shall not break a bone of him.

37 And again another scripture saith, They shall see in whom they pierced through.

38 But after these things Joseph of Arimathaea prayed Pilate, that he should take away the body of Jesus, for that he was a disciple of Jesus, but privily for dread of the Jews. And Pilate suffered. And so he came, and took away the body of Jesus.

39 And Nicodemus came also, that had come to him first by night, [or that had come to Jesus first in the night], and brought a meddling of myrrh and aloes, as it were an hundred pound.

40 And they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen clothes with sweet smelling ointments [or spices], as it is custom to Jews for to bury.

41 And in the place where he was crucified, was a garden, and in the garden a new grave, in which yet no man was laid [or put].

42 Therefore there they put Jesus, for the vigil of Jews’ feast [or for the making ready of Jews], for the sepulchre was nigh.

CHAPTER 20

1 And in one day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the grave, when it was yet dark. And she saw the stone moved away from the grave.

2 Therefore she ran, and came to Simon Peter, and to another disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith to them, They have taken the Lord from the grave, and we know not, where they have laid him.

3 Therefore Peter went out, and that other disciple, and they came to the grave.

4 And they twain ran together, and that other disciple ran before Peter, and came first to the grave.

5 And when he stooped, he saw the sheets lying, nevertheless he entered not.

6 Therefore Simon Peter came pur-suing him, and he entered into the grave, and he saw the sheets laid,

7 and the sudarium that was on his head, not laid with the sheets, but by itself wrapped into a place.

8 Therefore then that disciple that came first to the grave, entered, and saw, and believed.

9 For they knew not yet the scripture, that it behooved him to rise again from death.

10 Therefore the disciples went again to themselves.

11 But Mary stood at the grave withoutforth weeping. And while she wept, she bowed her, and beheld forth into the grave.

12 And she saw two angels sitting in white, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus was laid.

13 And they say to her, Woman, what weepest thou? She said to them, For they have taken away my Lord, and I know not, where they have laid him.

14 When she had said these things, she turned backward [or she turned aback], and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus saith to her, Woman, what weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She guessing that he was the gardener, saith to him, Sire, if thou hast taken him up, say to me, where thou hast laid him, and I shall take him away.

16 Jesus saith to her, Mary. She turned, and saith to him, Rabboni, that is to say, Master.

17 Jesus saith to her, Do not thou touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and to your God.

18 Mary Magdalene came, telling to the disciples, That I saw the Lord, and these things he said to me.

19 Therefore when it was even [or eventide] in that day, [in] one of the sabbaths, and the gates were shut, where the disciples were gathered, for dread of the Jews, Jesus came, and stood in the middle of the disciples, and he saith to them, Peace [be] to you.

20 And when he had said this, he showed to them [his] hands and side; therefore the disciples joyed, for the Lord was seen.

21 And he saith to them again, Peace to you; as the Father sent me, I send you.

22 When he had said this, he blew on them, and said, Take ye the Holy Ghost;

23 whose sins ye forgive, those be forgiven to them; and whose sins ye withhold, those be withheld.

24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, that is said Didymus, was not with them, when Jesus came.

25 Therefore the other disciples said, We have seen the Lord. And he said to them, But I see in his hands the printing of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put mine hand into his side, I shall not believe.

26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, while the gates were shut, and stood in the middle, and said, Peace to you.

27 Afterward he saith to Thomas, Put in here thy finger, and see mine hands, and put hither thine hand, and put [it] into my side, and do not thou be unbelieveful, but faithful.

28 Thomas answered, and said to him, My Lord and my God.

29 Jesus saith to him, Thomas, for thou hast seen me, thou believedest; blessed be they, that saw not, and have believed.

30 And Jesus did many other signs in the sight of his disciples, which be not written in this book.

31 But these be written, that ye believe, that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and that ye believing have life in his name.

CHAPTER 21

1 Afterward Jesus again showed him to his disciples, at the sea of Tiberias. And he showed him thus.

2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, that is said Didymus, and Nathanael, that was of the Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and twain other of his disciples.

3 Simon Peter saith to them, I go to fish. They say to him, And we come with thee. And they went out, and went into a boat. And in that night they took nothing.

4 But when the morrow was come, Jesus stood in the brink; nevertheless the disciples knew not, that it was Jesus.

5 Therefore Jesus saith to them, Children, whether ye have any supping thing? They answered to him, Nay.

6 He said to them, Put [or Send] ye the net into the right half of the rowing, and ye shall find. And they putted [or sent] the net; and then they might not draw it for multitude of fishes.

7 Therefore that disciple, whom Jesus loved, said to Peter, It is the Lord. Simon Peter, when he had heard that it is the Lord, girt him with a coat, for he was naked, and went into the sea.

8 But the other disciples came by boat, for they were not far from the land, but as a two hundred cubits [or as it were two hundred cubits], drawing the net of fishes.

9 And as they came down into the land, they saw coals lying, and fish laid on, and bread.

10 Jesus saith to them, Bring ye of the fishes, which ye have taken now.

11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net into the land, full of great fishes, an hundred fifty and three; and when they were so many, the net was not broken.

12 Jesus saith to them, Come ye, and eat ye. And no man of them that sat at the meat, durst ask him, Who art thou, witting that it is the Lord.

13 And Jesus came, and took bread, and gave to them, and fish also.

14 Now this [is the] third time Jesus was showed to his disciples, when he had risen again from death.

15 And when they had eaten, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith to him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith to him, Feed thou my lambs.

16 Again he saith to him, Simon of John, lovest thou me? He saith to him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him, Feed thou my lambs.

17 He saith to him the third time, Simon of John, lovest thou me? Peter was heavy, [or sorry], for he said to him the third time, Lovest thou me, and he saith to him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith to him, Feed my sheep.

18 Truly, truly, I say to thee, when thou were younger, thou girdedest thee, and wanderedest where thou wouldest; but when thou shalt wax older, thou shalt hold forth thine hands, and another shall gird thee, and shall lead thee whither thou wilt not.

19 He said this thing, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had said these things, he saith to him, Pursue thou me.

20 Peter turned, and saw that disciple pursuing, whom Jesus loved, which also rested in the supper on his breast, and said to him, Lord, who is it, that shall betray thee?

21 Therefore when Peter had seen this disciple, he saith to Jesus, Lord, but what this?

22 Jesus saith to him, So I will, that he dwell till I come, what to thee? pursue thou me.

23 Therefore this word went out among the brethren, that that disciple dieth not. And Jesus said not to him, that he dieth not, but, So I will, that he dwell till I come, what to thee?

24 This is that disciple, that beareth witnessing of these things, and wrote them; and we know, that his witness-ing is true.

25 And there be also many other things that Jesus did, which if they be written each by itself, I deem that the world itself shall not [be able to] take the books, that be to be written. [Amen.]

DEEDS OF APOSTLES

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DEEDS OF APOSTLES

CHAPTER 1

1 Theophilus, first I made a sermon [or a word] of all [the] things, that Jesus began to do and teach,

2 into the day of his ascension, in which he commanded by the Holy Ghost to his apostles, whom he had chosen; [till into the day, in which he commanding to the apostles by the Holy Ghost, whom he chose, was taken up;]

3 to whom he showed himself alive after his passion, by many arguments, [or provings], appearing to them forty days, and speaking of the realm of God.

4 And he ate with them, and commanded [to them], that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but abide the promise of the Father, which ye heard, he said, by my mouth;

5 for John baptized in water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Ghost, after these few days.

6 Therefore they that were come together, asked him, and said, Lord, whether in this time thou shalt restore the kingdom of Israel? [Therefore they that came together, asked him, saying, Lord, if in this time shalt thou restore the kingdom of Israel?]

7 And he said to them, It is not yours to know the times either moments, which the Father hath put in his power;

8 but ye shall take the virtue of the Holy Ghost coming from above into you, and ye shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the utmost [or the uttermost] of the earth.

9 And when he had said these things, in their sight he was lifted up, and a cloud received him from their eyes.

10 And when they beheld him going into heaven, lo! two men stood beside them in white clothing,

11 and said, Men of Galilee, what stand ye beholding into heaven? This Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall come, as ye saw him going into heaven.

12 Then they turned again to Jerusalem, from the hill that is called of Olivet, which is beside Jerusalem, an holiday’s journey [or having the journey of a sabbath].

13 And when they were entered into the house, where they dwelled, they went up into the solar, [or into the higher things], Peter and John, and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas of James.

14 All these were lastingly continuing [or dwelling together] with one will, in prayer, with women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.

15 In those days Peter rose up in the middle of the brethren, and said; and there was a company of men together, almost an hundred and twenty;

16 Brethren, it behooveth that the scripture be [ful] filled, which the Holy Ghost before-said by the mouth of David, of Judas that was leader of them that took Jesus;

17 and was numbered among us, and got a part of this service [or this ministry].

18 And this Judas had a field of the hire of wickedness, and he was hanged, and burst apart the middle, and all his entrails were shed abroad.

19 And it was made known to all men that dwelt in Jerusalem, so that that field was called Aceldama in the language of them, that is, the field of blood.

20 And it is written in the book of Psalms, The habitation of them [or of him] be made desert, and be there none that dwell in it, and another take his bishopric.

21 Therefore it behooveth of these men, that be gathered together with us in all the time, in which the Lord Jesus entered, and went out among us,

22 and began from the baptism of John till into the day in which he was taken up from us, that one of these be made a witness of his resurrection with us.

23 And they ordained twain, Joseph, that was called Barsabbas, that was named Justus, and Matthias.

24 And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, that knowest the hearts of all men, show whom thou hast chosen of these twain,

25 that one take the place of this service [or this ministry] and apostle-hood, of which Judas trespassed, that he should go into his place.

26 And they gave lots to them, and the lot felled on Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

CHAPTER 2

1 And when the days of Pentecost were [ful] filled, all the disciples were together in the same place.

2 And suddenly there was made a sound from heaven, as of a great wind coming, and it filled all the house where they sat.

3 And diverse tongues [or tongues diversely parted] as fire appeared to them, and it sat on each of them.

4 And all were filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began to speak in diverse languages [or with diverse tongues], as the Holy Ghost gave to them to speak.

5 And there were in Jerusalem dwelling Jews, religious men, of each nation that is under heaven.

6 And when this voice was made, the multitude came together, and were astonied, [or was confounded], in thought, for each man heard them speaking in his own language [+or in his own tongue].

7 And all were astonied, and wondered, and said together, Whether not all these that speak be men of Galilee [or be Galileans],

8 and how heard we [or how have we heard] each man our language in which we be born?

9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and they that dwell at [or in] Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia,

10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya, that is about Cyrene, and comelings, Romans, and Jews, and proselytes,

11 men of Crete, and of Arabia, we have heard them speaking in our languages [or our tongues] the great things of God.

12 And all were astonied, and wondered, saying together, What will this thing be?

13 And others scorned, and said, For these men be full of must.

14 But Peter stood with the eleven, and raised up his voice, and spake to them, Ye Jews, and all that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known to you, and with ears perceive ye my words.

15 For not as ye ween [or as ye guess], these be drunken, when it is the third hour of the day;

16 but this it is, that was said by the prophet Joel,

17 And it shall be in the last days, the Lord saith, I shall pour out my Spirit on each flesh [or on all flesh]; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your elders shall dream swevens.

18 And on my servants and on mine handmaidens in those days I shall pour out of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.

19 And I shall give great wonders in heaven above, and signs in earth beneath, blood, and fire, and heat [or vapour] of smoke.

20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that the great and the open day of the Lord [shall] come.

21 And it shall be, each man which-ever shall call to help [or in-call] the name of the Lord, shall be safe.

22 Ye men of Israel, hear ye these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God before you by virtues, and wonders, and tokens, which God did by him in the middle of you, as ye know,

23 ye tormented, and killed him by the hands of wicked men, by counsel determined and betaken by the fore-knowing [or the prescience] of God.

24 Whom God raised, when [the] sorrows of hell were unbound, by that that it was impossible that he were holden of it.

25 For David saith of him, I saw afar the Lord before me evermore, for he is on my right half, that I be not moved.

26 For this thing mine heart joyed, and my tongue made full out joy [or gladded], and moreover my flesh shall rest in hope.

27 For thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, neither thou shalt give thine Holy to see corruption.

28 Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt [full]-fill me in mirth with thy face.

29 Brethren, be it leaveful boldly to say to you of the patriarch David, for he is dead and buried, and his sepulchre is among us into this day.

30 Therefore when he was a prophet, and knew, that with a great oath God had sworn to him, that of the fruit of his loins should one sit on his seat,

31 he seeing afar spake of the resurrection of Christ, for neither he was left in hell, neither his flesh saw corruption.

32 God raised this Jesus, to whom we all be witnesses.

33 Therefore he was enhanced by the right hand of God, and through the promise of the Holy Ghost that he took of the Father, he shedded out this Spirit, that ye see and hear.

34 For David ascended not into heaven; but he saith, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right half,

35 till I put thine enemies the stool of thy feet.

36 Therefore most certainly know all the house of Israel, that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom ye crucified.

37 When they heard these things, they were compunct in heart; and they said to Peter and [to] other apostles, Brethren, what shall we do?

38 And Peter said to them, Do ye penance, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, into remission of your sins; and ye shall take the gift of the Holy Ghost.

39 For the promise [or repromission] is to you, and to your sons, and to all that be far, whichever [or whomever] our Lord God hath called.

40 Also with other words full many he witnessed to them, and admonished them, and said, Be ye saved from this shrewd [or this wicked] generation.

41 Then they that received his word were baptized, and in that day souls were increased, about three thousand;

42 and [they] were lasting stably in the teaching of the apostles, and in communing of the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

43 And dread was made to each man. And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles in Jerusalem, and great dread was in all.

44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common.

45 They sold possessions and chattel, [or substances, or goods], and parted those things to all men, as it was need to each.

46 And each day they dwelled stably with one will in the temple, and brake bread about houses, and took meat with full out joy [or with gladness] and simpleness of heart,

47 and praised together God, and had grace to all the folk [or all the people]. And the Lord increased them that were made safe, each day into the same thing.

CHAPTER 3

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

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

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

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

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

6 But Peter said, I have neither silver nor gold; but that that I have, I give to thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up, and go.

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

8 and he leaped, and stood, and wandered. And he entered with them into the temple, and wandered, and leaped, and praised God.

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

10 And they knew him, that he it was that sat at alms at the Fair Gate of the temple. And they were filled with wondering, and astonishing, in that thing that befelled to him.

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

12 And Peter saw, and answered to the people, Men of Israel, what wonder ye in this thing? either what behold ye us, as by our virtue, either power, [either piety], we made this man for to walk?

13 God of Abraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, [and] God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus, whom ye betrayed, and denied before the face of Pilate, when he deemed him to be delivered.

14 But ye denied the holy and the rightful [or just man], and asked a manslayer to be given to you.

15 And ye slew the maker of life, whom God raised from death, of whom we be witnesses.

16 And in the faith of his name he hath confirmed this man, whom ye see and know; the name of him, and the faith that is by him, gave to this man full healing [or full health] in the sight of all you.

17 And now, brethren, I wot that by unwitting ye did, as also your princes.

18 But God that before-told by the mouth of all prophets, that his Christ should suffer, hath fulfilled so.

19 Therefore be ye repentant, and be ye converted, that your sins be done away, that when the times of refreshing shall come from the sight of the Lord,

20 and he shall send that Jesus Christ, that is now preached to you.

21 Whom it behooveth heaven to receive, into the times of restitution of all things, which the Lord spake by the mouth of his holy prophets from the world.

22 For Moses said, For the Lord your God shall raise to you a prophet, of your brethren; as me, ye shall hear him by [or upon] all things, whatever he shall speak to you.

23 And it shall be, that every man [or every soul] that shall not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed, [or exiled], from the people.

24 And all prophets from Samuel and afterward, that spake, told these days.

25 But ye be the sons of prophets, and of the testament that God ordained to our fathers, and said to Abraham, In thy seed all the families of earth shall be blessed.

26 God raised his Son first to you, and sent him blessing you, that each man convert him from his wickedness.

CHAPTER 4

1 And while they spake to the people, the priests and the magistrates of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them,

2 and sorrowed, that they taught the people, and told in Jesus the again-rising from death.

3 And they laid hands on them, and putted them into ward [or into keeping] into the morrow; for it was then eventide.

4 But many of them that had heard the word, believed; and the number of men was made five thousands [or five thousand].

5 And amorrow it was done [or Forsooth in the morrow it was done], that the princes of them, and elder men and scribes were gathered in Jerusalem;

6 and Annas, prince of priests, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and how many ever were of the kind [or of the kindred] of priests.

7 And they set them in the middle, and asked, In what virtue, either in what name, have ye done this thing?

8 Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost, said to them, Ye princes of the people, and ye elder men, hear ye.

9 If we today be deemed in the good deed of a sick man, in whom [or in which] this man is made safe,

10 be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from death, in this [or in him] this man standeth whole before you.

11 This is the stone, which was reproved of you building, which is made into the head of the corner;

12 and health is not in any other. For neither other name under heaven is given to men, in which it behooveth us to be made safe.

13 And they saw the steadfastness of Peter and of John, and when it was found that they were men unlettered [or without letters], and lay men, they wondered, and they knew them that they were with Jesus.

14 And they saw the man that was healed, standing with them, and they might nothing gainsay.

15 But they commanded them to go forth without the council. And they spake together,

16 and said, What shall we do to these men? for the sign is made known by them to all men, that dwell at Jerusalem; it is open, and we may not deny.

17 But that it be no more published into the people, menace we to them, that they speak no more in this name to any man.

18 And they called them, and announced to them, that on no manner they should speak, neither teach, in the name of Jesus.

19 But Peter and John answered, and said to them, If it be rightful in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, deem ye.

20 For we must needs speak those things, that we have seen and heard. [Forsooth we may not not speak the things that we have seen and heard.]

21 And they menaced them, and let them go, and found not how they should punish them, for the people; for all men clarified that thing that was done in that that was befallen.

22 For the man was more than forty years old, in whom this sign of healing [or of health] was made.

23 And when they were delivered, they came to their fellows, and told to them, how great [or how many] things the princes of priests and the elder men had said to them.

24 And when they heard, with one heart they raised voice to the Lord, and said, Lord, thou that madest heaven and earth, sea, and all things that be in them,

25 which saidest by the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of our father David, thy child, Why heathen men gnashed with teeth together [or wrathed], and the peoples thought vain things?

26 Kings of the earth stood nigh, and princes came together into one, against the Lord, and against his Christ.

27 For verily, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with heathen men, and peoples of Israel, came together in this city against thine holy child Jesus, whom thou anointedest,

28 to do the things, that thine hand and thy counsel deemed to be done.

29 And now, Lord, behold into the threatenings of them, and grant to thy servants to speak thy word with all trust,

30 in that thing that thou hold forth thine hand, that healings and signs and wonders be made by the name of thine holy Son Jesus.

31 And when they had prayed, the place was moved, in which they were gathered; and all were filled with the Holy Ghost, and spake the word of God with trust.

32 And of all the multitude of men believing was one heart and one will; neither any man said anything of those things that he wielded to be his own, but all things were common to them.

33 And with great virtue, the apostles yielded witnessing of the again-rising of Jesus Christ our Lord, and great grace was in all them [or in them all].

34 For neither any needy man was among them, for how many ever were possessors of fields, either of houses, they sold, and brought the prices of those things that they sold,

35 and laid before the feet of the apostles. And it was parted to each, as it was need to each.

36 Forsooth Joseph, that was named Barnabas of [the] apostles, that is to say, the son of comfort, of the lineage of Levi [or a Levite by kin], a man of Cyprus,

37 when he had a field, sold it, and brought the price, and laid it before the feet of the apostles.

CHAPTER 5

1 But a man, Ananias by name, with Sapphira, his wife, sold a field,

2 and defrauded of the price of the field; and his wife was witting. And he brought a part, and laid [it] before the feet of the apostles.

3 And Peter said to him, Ananias, why hath Satan tempted thine heart, that thou lie to the Holy Ghost, and to defraud of the price of the field?

4 Whether it unsold was not thine; and when it was sold, it was in thy power? Why hast thou put this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied to men, but to God.

5 Ananias heard these words, and felled down, and was dead [or and died]. And great dread was made on all that heard.

6 And young men rose, and moved him away, and bare him out, and buried.

7 And there was made a space of three hours, and his wife knew not that thing that was done, and entered.

8 And Peter answered to her, Woman, say to me, whether ye sold the field for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much.

9 And Peter said to her, What befelled to you, to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Lo! the feet of them that have buried thine husband be at the door, and they shall bear thee out.

10 Anon she felled down at his feet, and died. And the young men entered, and found her dead, and they bare her out, and buried [her] to her husband.

11 And great dread was made in all the church, and into all that heard these things.

12 And by the hands of the apostles signs and many wonders were made in the people. And all were of one accord in the porch of Solomon.

13 But no man of others durst join himself with them, but the people magnified them.

14 And the multitude of men and of women believing in the Lord was more increased,

15 so that they brought out sick men into streets, and laid in little beds and couches, that when Peter came, namely the shadow of him should shadow each of them, and they should be [or were] delivered from [all] their sicknesses.

16 And the multitude of cities nigh to Jerusalem ran, bringing sick men, and that were travailed of unclean spirits, which all were healed.

17 But the prince of priests rose up, and all that were with him, that is the heresy of Sadducees, and were filled with envy;

18 and they laid hands on the apostles, and put them in the common ward [or the common keeping].

19 But the angel of the Lord opened by night the gates of the prison, and led them out, and said,

20 Go ye, and stand ye, and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

21 Whom when they had heard, they entered early into the temple, and taught. And the prince of priests came, and they that were with him, and called together the council, and all the elder men of the children of Israel; and sent to the prison, that they should be brought forth.

22 And when the ministers came, and found them not, and for the prison was opened, [or Soothly when the ministers came, and, the prison opened, found them not], they turned again and told,

23 and said, We found the prison shut with all diligence, and the keepers standing at the gates; but we opened, and found no man therein.

24 And as the magistrates of the temple, and the princes of priests heard these words, they doubted of them, what was done.

25 But a man came, and told to them, For lo! those men which ye have put into prison, be in the temple, and stand, and teach the people.

26 Then the magistrate went with the ministers, and brought them with-out violence; for they dreaded the people, lest they should be stoned.

27 And when they had brought them, they set them in the council; and the prince of priests asked them,

28 and said, In commandment we commanded you, that ye should not teach in this name, and lo! ye have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and ye will bring on us the blood of this man.

29 And Peter answered, and the apostles, and said, It behooveth to obey to God, more than to men.

30 [The] God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom ye slew, hanging in a tree.

31 God enhanced with his right hand this prince and Saviour, that penance were given to Israel [or for to give penance to Israel], and remission of sins.

32 And we be witnesses of these words, and the Holy Ghost, whom God gave to all obeying to him.

33 When they heard these things, they were tormented, and thought to slay them.

34 But a man rose in the council, a Pharisee, Gamaliel by name, a doctor of the law, a worshipful man to all the people, and commanded the men to be put withoutforth for a while.

35 And he said to them, Ye men of Israel, take attention to yourselves on these men, what ye shall do.

36 For before these days Theudas, that said himself to be some man, to whom a number of men consented, about four hundred; which was slain, and all that believed to him, were scattered, and brought to nought.

37 After this, Judas of Galilee was in the days of profession, and turned away the people after him; and all how many ever consented to him, were dispersed, and he perished.

38 And now therefore I say to you, depart ye from these men, and suffer ye them; for if this counsel either work is of men, it shall be undone;

39 but if it is of God, ye may not undo them, lest peradventure ye be found to repugn against God.

40 And they consented to him; and they called together the apostles, and announced to them, that were beaten, that they should no more speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go.

41 And they went joying from the sight of the council, that they were had worthy to suffer despising for the name of Jesus.

42 But each day they ceased not in the temple, and about houses, to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 6

1 But in those days, when the number of disciples increased, the Greeks grutched against the Hebrews, for that their widows were despised in every day’s ministering.

2 And the twelve called together the multitude of disciples, and said, It is not rightful, that we leave the word of God, and minister to boards.

3 Therefore, brethren, behold ye men of you of good fame [or of good witnessing], [seven], full of the Holy Ghost, and of wisdom, whom we shall ordain on this work;

4 for we shall be busy to prayer, and to preach, [or ministry, or preaching, of] the word of God.

5 And the word pleased before [or to] all the multitude; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas, a comeling [or a guest], a man of Antioch.

6 They ordained these before the sight of the apostles, and they prayed, and laid hands on them.

7 And the word of the Lord waxed, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem was much multiplied; also a much company of priests obeyed to the faith.

8 And Stephen, full of grace and of strength, made wonders and great signs in the people.

9 But some rose of the synagogue, that was called of Libertines, and Cyrenians, and of men of Alexandria, and of them that were of Cilicia and of Asia, and disputed with Stephen.

10 And they might not withstand the wisdom and the spirit, that spake.

11 Then they privily sent men, that should say, that they [have] heard him saying words of blasphemy against Moses and God.

12 And so they moved together the people, and the elder men, and the scribes; and they came together, and took him, and brought into the council.

13 And they ordained false witnesses, that said, This man ceaseth not to speak words against the holy place, and the law.

14 For we heard him saying, That this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the traditions, which Moses betook to us.

15 And all men that sat in the council beheld him, and saw his face as the face of an angel.

CHAPTER 7

1 And the prince of priests said to Stephen, Whether these things have them so?

2 Which said, Brethren and fathers, hear ye. [The] God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before that he dwelt in Charran,

3 and said to him, Go out of thy land, and of thy kindred, and come into the land, which I shall show to thee.

4 Then he went out of the land of Chaldeans, and dwelt in Charran. And from thence after that his father was dead, he translated him into this land, in which ye dwell now.

5 And he gave not to him heritage in it, neither a pace of a foot, but he promised to give him it into possession, and to his seed after him, when he had not a son.

6 And God spake to him, That his seed shall be [a] comeling [or a guest] in an alien land, and they shall make them subject to servage, and shall evil treat them, four hundred years and thirty [or four hundred years];

7 and I shall judge the folk to whom they shall serve, saith the Lord. And after these things they shall go out, and they shall serve to me in this place.

8 And he gave to him the testament of circumcision; and so he engender-ed Isaac, and circumcised him in the eighth day. And Isaac engendered Jacob, and Jacob engendered the twelve patriarchs.

9 And the patriarchs had envy to Joseph, and sold him into Egypt. And God was with him,

10 and delivered him of all his tribulations, and gave him grace and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he ordained him sove-reign on Egypt, and on all his house.

11 And hunger came into all Egypt, and Canaan, and great tribulation; and our fathers found not meat.

12 But when Jacob had heard, that wheat was in Egypt, he sent our fathers first.

13 And in the second time Joseph was known of his brethren, and his kin was made known to Pharaoh.

14 And Joseph sent, and called Jacob, his father, and all his kindred, seventy and five men [or souls].

15 And Jacob came down into Egypt, and was dead, he and our fathers;

16 and they were translated into Sychem, and were laid in the sepulchre, that Abraham bought by price of silver of the sons of Emmor, the son of Sychem.

17 And when the time of promise came nigh, which God had acknowl-edged to Abraham, the people waxed, and multiplied in Egypt,

18 till another king rose in Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

19 This beguiled our kin, and torment-ed our fathers, that they should put away [or should put out] their young children, for they should not live.

20 In the same time Moses was born, and he was loved [or accepted] of God; and he was nourished three months in the house of his father.

21 And when he was put out in the flood, the daughter of Pharaoh took him up, and nourished him into her son.

22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and works.

23 But when the time of forty years was [full]-filled to him, it rose up into his heart, that he should visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.

24 And when he saw a man suffering wrong, he avenged him, and did vengeance for him that suffered the wrong, and killed the Egyptian.

25 For he guessed that his brethren should understand, that God should give to them health by the hand of him; but they understood not.

26 For in the day pursuing he appeared to them chiding, and he accorded [or reconciled] them in peace, and said, Men, ye be brethren; why annoy ye each other?

27 But he that did the wrong to his neighbour, putted him away, and said, Who ordained thee prince and dooms-man on us?

28 Whether thou wilt slay me, as yesterday thou killedest the Egyptian?

29 And in this word Moses flew, and was made a comeling in the land of Midian, where he begat two sons.

30 And when he had [ful] filled forty years, an angel appeared to him in fire of flame of a bush, in desert of the mount of Sinai.

31 And Moses saw, and wondered on the sight. And when he nighed to behold, the voice of the Lord was made to him,

32 and said, I am God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, [and] God of Jacob. Moses was made trembling, and durst not behold.

33 But God said to him, Do off the shoes of thy feet, for the place in which thou standest is holy earth.

34 I seeing saw the tormenting [or the affliction] of my people that is in Egypt, and I heard the mourning of them, and came down to deliver them. And now come thou, and I shall send thee into Egypt.

35 This Moses whom they denied, saying, Who ordained thee prince and doomsman on us? God sent this prince and again-buyer, with the hand of the angel, that appeared to him in the bush.

36 This Moses led them out, and did wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea, and in desert forty years.

37 This is Moses, that said to the sons of Israel, God shall raise to you a prophet of your brethren, [and] as me ye shall hear him.

38 This it is, that was in the church in wilderness, with the angel that spake to him in the mount of Sinai, and with our fathers; which took words of life to give to us.

39 To whom our fathers would not obey, but putted him away, and were turned away in their hearts into Egypt,

40 saying to Aaron, Make thou to us gods, that shall go before us; for to this Moses that led us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is done to him.

41 And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the maumet [or the simulacrum]; and they were glad in the works of their hands.

42 And God turned, and betook them to serve to the knighthood of heaven, as it is written in the book of [the] prophets, Whether ye, house of Israel, offered to me slain sacrifices, either sacrifices, forty years in desert?

43 And ye have taken the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan, figures that ye have made to worship them; and I shall translate you into Babylon.

44 The tabernacle of witnessing was with our fathers in desert, as God disposed to them, and spake to Moses, that he should make it after the form that he saw.

45 Which also our fathers took with Jesus, that was Joshua, and brought into the possession of heathen men, which God putted away from the face of our fathers, till into the days of David,

46 that found grace with God, and asked that he should find a tabernacle to God of Jacob.

47 But Solomon builded the house to him.

48 But the high God dwelleth not in things made by hand, as he saith by the prophet,

49 Heaven is a seat to me, and the earth is the stool of my feet; what house shall ye build to me, saith the Lord, either what [or which] place is of my resting?

50 Whether mine hand made not all these things?

51 With hard noll, and uncircumcised hearts and ears, ye withstand ever-more the Holy Ghost; and as your fathers, so ye.

52 Whom of the prophets have not your fathers pursued, and have slain them that before-told of the coming of the rightful [or just] man, whose traitors and manslayers ye were now?

53 Which took the law in ordinance of angels, and have not kept it.

54 And they heard these things, and were diversely tormented in their hearts, and they grinded, or gnashed, with teeth on him.

55 But when Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost, he beheld into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right half of the virtue of God.

56 And he said, Lo! I see heavens opened, and man’s Son [or the Son of man] standing on the right half of the virtue of God.

57 And they cried with a great voice, and stopped their ears, and made with one will an assault into him.

58 And they brought him out of the city, and stoned [him]. And the witnesses did off their clothes, beside the feet of a young man, that was called Saul.

59 And they stoned Stephen, that called God to help, saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

60 And he kneeled, and cried with a great voice, and said, Lord, set not to them this sin. And when he had said this thing, he died [or he slept in the Lord].

CHAPTER 8

1 But Saul was consenting to his death. And great persecution was made that day in the church, that was in Jerusalem. And all men were scattered by the countries of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

2 But good [or dread-full] men buried Stephen, and made great mourning on him.

3 But Saul greatly destroyed the church, and entered by houses, and drew out men and women, and betook them into prison [or keeping].

4 And they that were scattered, passed forth, preaching [or evangel-izing] the word of God.

5 And Philip came down into a city of Samaria, and preached to them Christ.

6 And the people gave attention to these things that were said of Philip, with one will hearing and seeing the signs that he did.

7 For many of them that had unclean spirits, cried with great voice, and went out. And many sick in the palsy, and crooked, were healed.

8 Therefore great joy was made in that city.

9 But there was a man in that city, whose name was Simon, a witch, that had deceived the folk of Samaria, saying, that himself was some great man.

10 [To] Whom all harkened, from the least to the most, and said, This is the virtue of God, which is called great.

11 And they believed him, for long time he had madded them with his witchcrafts, [or for this thing, that much time he had made them mad with his witchings].

12 But when they had believed to Philip, preaching [or evangelizing] of the kingdom of God, men and women were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

13 And then also Simon himself believed; and when he was baptized, he drew to Philip; and he saw also that signs and great virtues were done, he was astonied, and wondered.

14 But when the apostles that were at Jerusalem, had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John.

15 And when they came, they prayed for them, that they should receive the Holy Ghost;

16 for he came not yet into any of them, but they were baptized only in the name of the Lord Jesus.

17 Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

18 And when Simon had seen, that the Holy Ghost was given by laying on of [the] hands of the apostles, and he proffered [or offered] to them money,

19 and said, Give ye also to me this power, that whomever I shall lay on mine hands [or that on whomever I shall put on hands], that he receive the Holy Ghost.

20 But Peter said to him, Thy money be with thee into perdition, for thou guessedest that the gift of God should be had for money [or for thou guessedest the gift of God to be had, or wielded, by money].

21 There is no part, nor lot to thee, in this word, for thine heart is not rightful before God.

22 Therefore do thou penance for this wickedness of thee, and pray God, if peradventure this thought of thine heart be forgiven to thee.

23 For I see that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of wickedness.

24 And Simon answered, and said, Pray ye for me to the Lord, that nothing of these things that ye have said, come on me.

25 And they witnessed, and spake the word of the Lord, and went again to Jerusalem, and preached [or evangelized] to many countries of Samaritans.

26 And an angel of the Lord spake to Philip, and said, Rise thou, and go to meet the south, to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem into Gaza; this is desert.

27 And he rose, and went forth. And lo! a man of Ethiopia, a mighty man-servant, a gelding of Candace, the queen of Ethiopians, which was on all her riches, came to worship in Jerusalem.

28 And he turned again, sitting on his chariot, and reading Isaiah, the prophet.

29 And the Spirit said to Philip, Nigh thou, and join thee to this chariot.

30 And Philip ran to, and heard him reading Isaiah, the prophet. And he said, Guessest thou, whether thou un-derstandest, what things thou readest?

31 And he said, How may I, if no man show to me? And he prayed Philip, that he should come up, and sit with him.

32 And the place of the scripture that he read, was this, As a sheep he was led to slaying, and as a lamb before a man that sheareth him is dumb without voice, so he opened not his mouth.

33 In meekness his doom was taken up; who shall tell out the generation of him? For his life shall be taken away from the earth.

34 And the gelding answered to Philip, and said, I beseech thee, of what prophet saith he this thing? of himself, or of any other?

35 And Philip opened his mouth, and began at this scripture, and preached [or evangelized] to him Jesus.

36 And while they went by the way, they came to a water [or to some water]. And the gelding said, Lo! water; who forbiddeth me to be baptized?

37 And Philip said, If thou believest of all thine heart, it is leaveful. And he answered, and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they went down both into the water, Philip and the gelding, and Philip baptized him.

39 And when they were come up of the water, the Spirit of the Lord ravished Philip, and the gelding saw him no more; and he went in his way joying.

40 And Philip was found in Azotus; and he passed forth, and preached [or evangelized] to all cities, till he came to Caesarea.

CHAPTER 9

1 But Saul, yet a blower [or a breather] of menaces, and of beatings, [or slaying], against the disciples of the Lord, came to the prince of priests,

2 and asked of him letters into Damascus, to the synagogues; that if he found any men or women of this life, he should lead them bound to Jerusalem.

3 And when he made his journey, it befelled, that he came nigh to Damascus. And suddenly a light from heaven shone about him;

4 and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, what persecutest [or pursuest] thou me?

5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest [or pursuest]. It is hard to thee, to kick against the prick.

6 And he trembled, and wondered, and said, Lord, what wilt thou that I do? And the Lord said to him, Rise up, and enter into the city, and it shall be said to thee, what it behooveth thee to do.

7 And those men that went with him, stood astonied, [or were made afeared, or out of mind]; for they heard a voice, but they saw no man.

8 And Saul rose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. And they drew him by the hands, and led him into Damascus.

9 And he was three days not seeing; and he ate not, neither drank.

10 And a disciple, Ananias by name, was at Damascus. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Lo! I, Lord.

11 And the Lord said to him, Rise thou, and go into a street that is called Rectus; and seek, in the house of Judas, Saul by name, of Tarsus. For lo! he prayeth;

12 and he saw a man, Ananias by name, entering and laying on him hands, that he receive sight.

13 And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard of many of this man, how great evil he did to thy saints in Jerusalem;

14 and this hath power of the princes of priests, to bind all men that call thy name to help.

15 And the Lord said to him, Go thou, for this is to me a vessel of choosing, that he bear my name before heathen men, and kings, and before the sons of Israel.

16 For I shall show to him, how great things it behooveth him to suffer for my name.

17 And Ananias went, and entered into the house; and laid on him his hands, and said, Saul brother, the Lord Jesus sent me, that appeared to thee in the way, in which thou camest, that thou see, and be full-filled with the Holy Ghost.

18 And anon as the scales felled from his eyes, he received sight. And he rose, and was baptized.

19 And when he had taken meat, he was comforted. And he was by some days with the disciples, that were at Damascus.

20 And anon, he entered into the synagogues, and preached the Lord Jesus, for this is the Son of God.

21 And all men that heard him, wondered, and said, Whether this is not he that impugned in Jerusalem them that called to help this name? and hither he came for this thing [or hither for this thing he came], that he should lead them bound to the princes of priests?

22 But Saul much the more [or much more] waxed strong, and confounded the Jews that dwelled at Damascus, and affirmed that this is Christ.

23 And when many days were [ful] filled, Jews made a counsel, that they should slay him.

24 And the ambushes of them were made known to Saul. And they kept the gates day and night, that they should slay him.

25 But his disciples took him by night, and delivered him, and let him down in a basket by the wall.

26 And when he came into Jeru-salem, he assayed [or attempted] to join him to the disciples; and all dreaded him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

27 But Barnabas took, and led him to the apostles, and told to them, how in the way, he had seen the Lord, and that he spake to him, and how in Damascus he did trustily in the name of Jesus.

28 And he was with them, and entered, and went out in Jerusalem, and did trustily in the name of Jesus.

29 And he spake with heathen men, and disputed with Greeks. And they sought to slay him.

30 Which thing when the brethren had known, they led him by night to Caesarea, and let him go to Tarsus.

31 And the church by all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, had peace, and was edified, and walked in the dread of the Lord, and was [full]-filled with comfort of the Holy Ghost.

32 And it befelled, that Peter, the while he passed about all, came to the holy men that dwelled at Lydda.

33 And he found [there] a man, Aeneas by name, that from eight years he had lain bed-ridden; and he was sick in the palsy.

34 And Peter said to him, Aeneas, the Lord Jesus Christ heal thee; rise thou, and array, either make ready, thee. And anon he rose.

35 And all men that dwelt at Lydda, and at Saron, saw him, which were converted to the Lord.

36 And in Joppa was a discipless, whose name was Tabitha, that is to say, Dorcas. This was full of good works and alms-deeds, that she did.

37 And it befelled in those days, that she was sick, and died. And when they had washed her, they laid her in a solar.

38 And for Lydda was nigh Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was therein, and sent two men to him, and prayed, That thou tarry not to come to us.

39 And Peter rose up, and came with them. And when he was come, they led him into the solar. And all the widows stood about him, weeping, and showing coats and clothes, which Dorcas made to them.

40 And when all men were put with-outforth, Peter kneeled, and prayed. And he turned to the body, and said, Tabitha, arise thou. And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

41 And he took her by the hand, and raised her. And when he had called the holy men and widows, he assigned her alive.

42 And it was made known by all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord.

43 And it was made, that many days he dwelled in Joppa, at one Simon, a currier [or a tanner].

CHAPTER 10

1 A man was in Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of the company of knights, that is said of Italy;

2 a religious man, and dreading the Lord, with all his household; doing many alms to the people, and praying the Lord evermore.

3 This saw in a vision openly, as in the ninth hour of the day, [or noon], an angel of God entering in to him, and saying to him, Cornelius.

4 And he beheld him, and was adread, and said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to him, Thy prayers and thine alms-deeds have gone up into mind, in the sight of the Lord.

5 And now send thou men into Joppa, and call one Simon, that is named Peter.

6 This is harboured at a man, Simon, currier, [or tanner], whose house is beside the sea. This shall say to thee, what it behooveth thee to do.

7 And when the angel that spake to him, was gone away [or had gone away], he called two men of his house, and a knight that dreaded the Lord, which were at his bidding [or that obeyed to him].

8 And when he had told to them all these things, he sent them into Joppa.

9 And on the day pursuing, while they made journey, and nighed to the city, Peter went up into the highest place of the house to pray, about the sixth hour.

10 And when he was hungered, he would have eaten. But while they made ready, a ravishing of the spirit [or an excess of soul] felled on him;

11 and he saw heaven opened, and a vessel coming down, as a great sheet with four corners [or with four cords], to be let down from heaven into earth,

12 in which were all four-footed beasts, and creeping [things] of the earth, and volatiles of heaven, [either of the air].

13 And a voice was made to him, Rise thou, Peter, and slay, and eat.

14 And Peter said, Lord, forbid [it], for I never eat any common thing, and unclean.

15 And again the second time the voice was made to him, That thing that God hath cleansed, say thou not unclean.

16 And this thing was done by thrice; and anon the vessel was received again into heaven.

17 And while that Peter doubted within himself, what the vision was that he saw, lo! the men, that were sent from Cornelius, sought the house of Simon, and stood at the gate.

18 And when they had called, they asked if Simon, that is named Peter, had there harbour.

19 And while Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said to him, Lo! three men seek thee.

20 Therefore rise thou, and go down, and go with them, and doubt thou nothing, for I sent them.

21 And Peter came down to the men, and said, Lo! I am, whom ye seek; what is the cause, for which ye be come? [or ye have come?]

22 And they said, Cornelius, the centurion, a just man, and dreading God, and having good witnessing of all the folk of Jews, took answer of an holy angel, to call thee into his house, and to hear words of thee.

23 Therefore he led them in, and received in harbour; and that night they dwelled with him. And in the day pursuing he rose, and went forth with them; and some of the brethren followed him from Joppa [or some of brethren from Joppa followed him], that they be witnesses to Peter.

24 And the tother day, he entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius abode them, with his cousins, and necessary friends, that were called together.

25 And it was done, when Peter was come in [or when Peter had entered], Cornelius came meeting him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him.

26 But Peter raised him, and said, Arise thou, also I myself am a man, as thou.

27 And he spake with him, and went in, and found many that were come together.

28 And he said to them, Ye know, how abominable it is to a Jew, to be joined either to come to an alien; but God showed to me, that no man say a man common, either unclean.

29 For which thing I came, when I was called, without doubting. There-fore I ask you, for what cause have ye called me?

30 And Cornelius said, Today, four days into this hour [or From the fourth day passed till to this hour], I was praying and fasting in the ninth hour in mine house. And lo! a man stood before me in a white cloth,

31 and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms-deeds be in mind in the sight of God.

32 Therefore send thou into Joppa, and call Simon, that is named Peter; this is harboured in the house of Simon currier, beside the sea. This, when he shall come, shall speak to thee.

33 Therefore anon I sent to thee, and thou didest well in coming to us. Now therefore we all be present in thy sight, to hear the words, whatever be commanded to thee of the Lord.

34 And Peter opened his mouth, and said, In truth I have found, that God is no acceptor of persons;

35 but in each folk he that dreadeth God, and worketh rightwiseness, is acceptable to him.

36 God sent a word to the children of Israel, showing peace by Jesus Christ; this is [the] Lord of all things [or of all men].

37 Ye know the word that is made through all Judea, and began at Galilee, after the baptism that John preached, Jesus of Nazareth;

38 how God anointed him with the Holy Ghost, and virtue; which passed forth in doing well [or in well-doing], and healing all men oppressed of the devil, for God was with him.

39 And we be witnesses of all things, which he did in the country of Jews, and of Jerusalem; whom they slew, hanging on a tree.

40 And God raised this in the third day, and gave him to be made known,

41 not to all the people, but to witnesses before-ordained of God; to us that ate and drank with him, after that he rose again from death.

42 And he commanded to us to preach to the people, and to witness, that he it is, that is ordained of God doomsman of the quick and of the dead.

43 To this all prophets bear witness-ing [or bear witness], that all men that believe in him, shall receive remission of sins by his name.

44 And yet while that Peter spake these words, the Holy Ghost felled on all that heard the word.

45 And the faithful men of circumcision, that came with Peter, wondered, that also into nations the grace of the Holy Ghost is shed out.

46 For they heard them speaking in languages [or with tongues], and magnifying God. Then Peter answered,

47 Whether any man may forbid water, that these be not baptized, that have also received the Holy Ghost as we?

48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they prayed him, that he should dwell with them some days.

CHAPTER 11

1 And the apostles, and the brethren that were in Judea, heard that also heathen men received the word of God, and they glorified God.

2 But when Peter came to Jerusalem, they that were of circumcision, disputed against him,

3 and said, Why enteredest thou to men that have prepuce, and hast eaten with them?

4 And Peter began, and expounded to them by order, and said,

5 I was in the city of Joppa, and prayed, and I saw in ravishing of my mind [or in excess of my soul] a vision, that a vessel came down, as a great sheet with four cords [or with four corners], and was sent down from heaven; and it came to me.

6 Into which I looking beheld, and saw four-footed beasts of the earth, and beasts, and creeping beasts, and volatiles of heaven [or of the air].

7 And I heard also a voice that said to me, Peter, rise thou, and slay, and eat.

8 But I said, Nay, Lord; for common thing either unclean entered never into my mouth.

9 And the voice answered the second time from heaven, That thing that God hath cleansed, say thou not unclean.

10 And this was done by thrice, and all things were received again into heaven.

11 And lo! three men anon stood in the house, in which I was; and they were sent from Caesarea to me.

12 And the Spirit said to me, that I should go with them, and doubt nothing. Yea, and these six brethren came with me, and we entered into the house of the man.

13 And he told to us, how he saw an angel in his house, standing and saying to him, Send thou into Joppa, and call Simon, that is named Peter,

14 which shall speak to thee words, in which thou shalt be safe, and all thine house.

15 And when I had begun to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as into us in the beginning.

16 And I bethought on the word of the Lord, as he said, For John baptized in water, but ye shall be baptized in the Holy Ghost.

17 Therefore if God gave to them the same grace, as to us that believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that might forbid the Lord, that he give not the Holy Ghost [or that he should not give the Holy Ghost] to them that believed in the name of Jesus Christ?

18 When these things were heard, they held peace, and glorified God, and said, Therefore also to heathen men God hath given penance to life.

19 And they that were scattered of the tribulation that was made under Stephen, walked forth to Phoenicia, and to Cyprus, and to Antioch, and spake the word to no man, but to Jews alone.

20 But some of them were men of Cyprus, and of Cyrene; which when they had entered into Antioch, they spake to the Greeks, and preached the Lord Jesus.

21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and much number of men believing was converted to the Lord.

22 And the word came to the ears of the church, that was at Jerusalem, on these things; and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

23 And when he was come, and saw the grace of the Lord, he joyed, and admonished all men to dwell in the Lord in purpose of heart;

24 for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith. And much people was increased to the Lord.

25 And he went forth to Tarsus, to seek Saul;

26 and when he had found him, he led to Antioch. And all a year they lived there in the church, and taught much people, so that the disciples were named first at Antioch christian men.

27 And in these days prophets came over from Jerusalem to Antioch.

28 And one of them rose up, Agabus by name, and signified by the Spirit a great hunger to coming [or to come] in all the world, which hunger was made under Claudius.

29 And all the disciples purposed, after that each had, for to send into ministry to brethren that dwelled in Judea.

30 Which thing also they did, and sent it to the elder men, by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

CHAPTER 12

1 And in the same time Herod the king sent power, [or hands], to torment some men of the church.

2 And he slew by sword James, the brother of John.

3 And he saw that it pleased to the Jews, and cast to take also Peter; and the days of therf loaves were.

4 And when he had caught Peter, he sent him into prison; and betook him to four quaternions of knights, to keep him, and would after pask bring him forth to the people.

5 And Peter was kept in prison; but prayer was made of the church without ceasing to God for him.

6 But when Herod should bring him forth, in that night Peter was sleeping betwixt two knights, and was bound with two chains; and the keepers before the door kept the prison.

7 And lo! an angel of the Lord stood nigh, and light shone in the prison house. And when he had smitten the side of Peter, he raised, [or waked], him, and said, Rise thou swiftly. And anon the chains felled down from his hands.

8 And the angel said to him, Gird thee, and do on thine hoses. And he did so. And he said to him, Do about thee thy clothes, and pursue me.

9 And he went out, and pursued him; and he wist not that it was sooth, that was done by the angel; for he guessed himself to have seen a vision.

10 And they passed the first and the second ward, and came to the iron gate that leadeth to the city, which anon was opened to them. And they went out, and came [forth] into one street, and anon the angel passed away from him.

11 And Peter turned again to himself, and said, Now I know verily, that the Lord sent his angel, and delivered me from the hand of Herod, and from all the abiding of the people of Jews.

12 And he beheld, and came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, that is named Mark, where many were gathered together, and praying.

13 And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel [or a wench], Rhoda by name, came forth to see.

14 And when she knew the voice of Peter, for joy she opened not the gate, but ran in, and told, that Peter stood at the gate.

15 And they said to her, Thou mad-dest [or Thou art mad]. But she affirmed, that it was so. And they said, It is his angel.

16 But Peter abode still, and knocked. And when they had opened the door, they saw him, and wondered.

17 And he beckoned to them with his hand to be still, and told how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, Tell ye to James and to the brethren these things. And he went out, and went into another place.

18 And when the day was come, there was not little troubling among the knights, what was done of Peter.

19 And when Herod had sought him, and found not, after that he had made inquiring of the keepers, he commanded them to be brought to him. And he came down from Judea into Caesarea, and dwelled there.

20 And he was wroth to men of Tyre and of Sidon. And they of one accord came to him, when they had counselled with Blastus, that was the king’s chamberlain, they asked peace, for as much as their countries were victualed of him [or were nourished by him].

21 And in a day that was ordained, Herod was clothed with king’s clothing, and sat for doomsman, and spake to them.

22 And the people cried, The voice of God, and not of man.

23 And anon an angel of the Lord smote him, for he had not given honour to God; and he was wasted of worms, and died.

24 And the word of the Lord waxed, and was multiplied.

25 And Barnabas and Saul turned again from Jerusalem, when the ministry was [ful] filled, and took John, that was named Mark.

CHAPTER 13

1 And prophets and doctors were in the church that was at Antioch, in which Barnabas, and Simon, that was called Black, and Lucius Cyreneus, and Manaen, that was the suckling-frère of Herod tetrarch, that is, prince of the fourth part, and Saul were.

2 And when they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said to them, Set apart ye to me Saul and Barnabas, into the work to which I have taken them.

3 Then they fasted, and prayed, and laid hands on them, and let them go.

4 But they were sent of the Holy Ghost, and went forth to Seleucia, and from thence they went by boat to Cyprus.

5 And when they came to Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of Jews; and they had also John in ministry [or in service].

6 And when they had walked by all the isle to Paphos, they found a man, a witch, [or they found some man witch], a false prophet, a Jew, to whom the name was Barjesus,

7 that was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, a prudent man. This called Barnabas and Paul, and desired to hear the word of God.

8 But Elymas the witch withstood them; for his name is expounded so; and he sought to turn away the proconsul from belief.

9 But Saul, which is said also Paul, was filled with the Holy Ghost, and beheld into him,

10 and said, A! thou full of all guile, and all falseness, thou son of the devil, thou enemy of all rightwise-ness, thou leavest not to turn upside-down, [or to subvert, or to destroy], the rightful ways of the Lord.

11 And now lo! the hand of the Lord is on thee, and thou shalt be blind, and not seeing the sun into a time. And anon, [a] mist and darkness felled down on him; and he went about, and sought him that should give [the] hand to him.

12 Then the proconsul, when he had seen the deed, believed, wondering on the teaching of the Lord.

13 And when from Paphos Paul had gone by boat, and they that were with him, they came to Perga of Pamphylia; but John departed from them, and turned again to Jerusalem.

14 And they went from Perga, and came to Antioch of Pisidia; and they entered into the synagogue in the day of sabbaths, and sat.

15 And after the reading of the law and of the prophets, the princes of the synagogue sent to them, and said, Brethren, if any word of exhortation to the people is in you, say ye.

16 And Paul rose, and with hand bade silence, and said, Men of Israel, and ye that dread God, hear ye.

17 God of the people of Israel chose our fathers, and enhanced the people, when they were comelings in the land of Egypt, and in an high arm he led them out of it;

18 and by the time of forty years he suffered their manners in desert.

19 And he destroyed seven folks in the land of Canaan, and by sort parted to them their land,

20 as after four hundred and fifty years. And after these things he gave doomsmen, [till] to Samuel, the prophet.

21 And from that time they asked a king, and God gave to them Saul, the son of Cis, a man of the lineage of Benjamin, by forty years.

22 And when he was done away, he raised to them David the king, to whom he bare witnessing, and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after mine heart, which shall do all my will.

23 Of whose seed by the promise God hath led out to Israel a Saviour Jesus,

24 when John preached before the face of his coming the baptism of penance to all the people of Israel.

25 But when John [ful] filled his course, he said, I am not he, whom ye deem me to be; but lo! he cometh after me, and I am not worthy to do off [or to unbind] the shoes of his feet.

26 Brethren, and sons of the kind of Abraham, and which that in you dread God, to you the word of health is sent.

27 For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and princes of it, that knew not this Jesus, and the voices of prophets, that by every sabbath be read, deemed, and fulfilled;

28 and they found in him no cause of death, and asked of Pilate, that they should slay him.

29 And when they had ended all things that were written of him, they took him down off the tree, and laid him in a grave.

30 And God raised him from death in the third day;

31 which was seen by many days to them that went up together with him from Galilee into Jerusalem, which be till now his witnesses to the people.

32 And we show to you the promise that was made to our fathers;

33 for God hath fulfilled this to their sons, and again-raised Jesus; as in the second psalm it is written, Thou art my Son, today I begat thee.

34 And he that again-raised him from death, that he should not turn again into corruption, said thus, For I shall give to you the holy true things of David.

35 Therefore and in another stead he saith, Thou shalt not give thine Holy to see corruption.

36 But David in his generation, when he had ministered to the will of God, died [or slept], and was laid with his fathers, and saw corruption;

37 but he whom God raised from death, saw not corruption.

38 Therefore, brethren, be it known to you, that by him remission of sins is told to you,

39 from all sins, of which ye might not be justified in the law of Moses. In this each man that believeth, is justified.

40 Therefore see ye, that it come not to you, that is before-said in the prophets,

41 Ye despisers, see ye, and wonder ye, and be ye scattered abroad; for I work a work in your days, a work that ye shall not believe, if any man shall tell it[out] to you.

42 And when they went out, they prayed, that in the sabbath pursuing, they should speak to them these words.

43 And when the synagogue was let go, many of the Jews and comelings worshipping God pursued Paul and Barnabas; that spake, and counselled them, that they should dwell in the grace of God.

44 And in the sabbath pursuing, almost all the city came together, to hear the word of God.

45 And Jews saw the people, and were filled with envy, and gainsaid these things that were said of Paul, and blasphemed.

46 Then Paul and Barnabas stead-fastly said, To you it behooved first to speak the word of God; but for ye put it away, and have deemed you unworthy to [or of] everlasting life, lo! we turn to heathen men.

47 For so the Lord commanded us, I have set thee into light of heathen men, that thou be into health to the utmost [or the uttermost] of the earth.

48 And heathen men heard, and joyed, and glorified the word of the Lord; and believed, as many as were before-ordained to everlasting life.

49 And the word of the Lord was [far] sown in all that country.

50 But the Jews stirred religious women, and honest, and the worthiest [or the first] men of the city, and stirred persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their countries.

51 And they shook away into them the dust of their feet, and came to Iconium.

52 And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost.

CHAPTER 14

1 And it befelled at Iconium, that they entered together into the syna-gogue of Jews, and spake, so that [a] full great multitude of Jews and Greeks believed.

2 But the Jews that were unbelieve-ful, raised persecution, and stirred to wrath the souls of heathen men against the brethren; but the Lord gave soon peace.

3 Therefore they dwelled much time, and did trustily in the Lord, bearing witnessing to the word of his grace, giving signs and wonders to be made by the hands of them.

4 But the multitude of the city was parted, and some were with the Jews, and some with the apostles.

5 But when there was made an assault of the heathen men and the Jews, with their princes, to torment, and to stone them,

6 they understood, and fled together to the cities of Lycaonia, and Lystra, and Derbe, and into all the country about.

7 And they preached there the gospel, and all the multitude was moved together in the teaching of them. Paul and Barnabas dwelt at Lystra.

8 And a man at Lystra was sick in the feet, and had sat crooked from his mother’s womb, which never had gone.

9 This heard Paul speaking; and Paul beheld him and saw that he had faith, that he should be made safe,

10 and said with a great voice, Rise thou upright on thy feet. And he leaped, and walked.

11 And the people, when they had seen that that Paul did, reared their voice in Lycaonian tongue, and said, Gods made like to men be come down to us.

12 And they called Barnabas, Jupiter, and Paul, Mercury, for he was leader of the word.

13 And the priest of Jupiter that was before the city, brought bulls and crowns before the gates, with peoples, and would have made sacrifice.

14 And when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they rent their coats; and they skipped out among the people, and cried,

15 and said, Men, what do ye this thing? and we be deadly men like you, and show to you, that ye be converted from these vain things to the living God, that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that be in them;

16 which in generations passed suffered all folks to go into their own ways.

17 And yet he left not himself without witnessing in well-doing, for he gave rains from heaven, and times of bearing fruit, and full-filled your hearts with meat, and gladness.

18 And they saying these things, scarcely assuaged the people, that they offered not to them.

19 But some Jews came over from Antioch and Iconium, and counselled [or stirred] the people, and [they] stoned Paul, and drew him out of the city, and guessed that he was dead.

20 But when [the] disciples were come about him, he rose, and went into the city; and in the day pursuing, [or in the pursuing day], he went forth with Barnabas into Derbe.

21 And when they had preached [or had evangelized] to that city, and taught many, they turned again to Lystra, and Iconium, and to Antioch;

22 confirming the souls of the disciples, and admonishing, that they should dwell in the faith, and said, That by many tribulations it behooveth us to enter into the kingdom of heavens.

23 And when they had ordained priests to them by all cities, and had prayed with fastings, they betook them to the Lord, in whom they believed.

24 And they passed Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia;

25 and they spake the word of the Lord in Perga, and came down into Italy.

26 And from thence they went by boat to Antioch, from whence they were taken to the grace of God, into the work that they [ful] filled.

27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church, they told how great [or how many] things God did with them, and that he had opened to heathen men the door of faith.

28 And they dwelled not a little time with the disciples.

CHAPTER 15

1 And some men came down from Judea, and taught brethren, That but ye be circumcised after the law of Moses, ye may not be made safe [or may not be saved].

2 Therefore when there was made not a little dissension to Paul and Barnabas against them, they ordained, that Paul and Barnabas, and some others of them, should go up to the apostles and priests in Jerusalem, on this question.

3 And so they were led forth of the church, and passed by Phoenicia and Samaria; and they told the conver-sation [or the living] of heathen men, and they made great joy to all the brethren.

4 And when they came to Jeru-salem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles, and of the elder men, and told, how great [or how many] things God did with them.

5 But some of the heresy of the Pharisees, that believed, rose up, and said, That it behooveth them to be circumcised, and to command to keep also the law of Moses.

6 And the apostles and elder men came together, to see of this word.

7 And when there was made a great seeking thereof, Peter rose, and said to them, Brethren, ye know, that of old days in you, God chose by my mouth heathen men, to hear the word of the gospel, and to believe;

8 and God, that knew the hearts, bare witnessing, and gave to them the Holy Ghost, as also to us;

9 and nothing diversed betwixt us and them, cleansing the hearts of them by faith.

10 Now then what tempt ye God, to put a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither we, neither our fathers might bear?

11 But by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we believe to be saved, as also they.

12 And all the multitude held peace, and heard Barnabas and Paul, telling how great [or how many] signs and wonders God did by them in heathen men.

13 And after that they held peace, James answered, and said, Brethren, hear ye me.

14 Simon told, how God visited, first to take of heathen men, a people to his name. [Simon told, how first God visited, to take of heathen men a people to his name.]

15 And the words of prophets accord to him, as it is written,

16 After this I shall turn again, and build the tabernacle of David, that fell down; and I shall build again the cast-down things of it, and I shall raise it;

17 that other men seek the Lord, and all folks, on whom my name is called to help [or in-called]; the Lord doing this thing, saith.

18 From the world, the work of the Lord is known to the Lord.

19 For which thing I deem them that of heathen men be converted to God, to be not dis-eased [or unquieted],

20 but to write to them, that they abstain them from defoulings of mau-mets [or of simulacra], and from forni-cation, and strangled things, and blood.

21 For Moses of old times hath in all cities them that preach him in syna-gogues, whereby each sabbath he is read.

22 Then it pleased to the apostles, and to the elder men, with all the church, to choose men of them, and send to Antioch, with Paul and Barnabas, Judas, that was named Barsabas, and Silas, the first men among brethren;

23 and wrote by the hands of them, Apostles and elder brethren to them that be at Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia, brethren of heathen men, greeting.

24 For we heard that some went out from us, and troubled you with words, and turned upside-down your souls, to which men we commanded not,

25 it pleased to us gathered into one, to choose men, and send to you, with our most dearworthy Barnabas and Paul,

26 men that gave their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27 Therefore we sent Judas and Silas, and they shall tell the same things to you by words.

28 For it is seen to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to put to you nothing more of charge, than these needful things,

29 that ye abstain you from the offered things of maumets [or simu-lacra], and blood strangled, and forni-cation. From which ye keeping you, shall do well. Fare ye well.

30 Therefore they were let go [or dismissed], and came down to Antioch; and when the multitude was gathered, they betook the epistle;

31 which when they had read, they joyed on the comfort.

32 And Judas and Silas and they, for they were prophets, comforted brothers, and confirmed [them] with full many words.

33 But after that they had been there a little while, they were let go of brethren with peace [or they were dismissed with peace of brethren], to them that had sent them.

34 But it was seen to Silas, to dwell there; and Judas went alone to Jeru-salem.

35 And Paul and Barnabas dwelt at Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with others many [or with many others].

36 But after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Turn we again, and visit we [our] brethren by all cities, in which we have preached the word of the Lord, how they have them.

37 And Barnabas would take with him John, that was named Mark.

38 But Paul prayed him, that he that departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them into the work, should not be received.

39 And dissension was made, so that they departed atwain. And Barnabas took Mark, and came by boat to Cyprus.

40 And Paul chose Silas, and went forth from the brethren, and was betaken to the grace of God.

41 And he went by Syria and Cilicia, and confirmed the church, commanding to keep the behests [or the precepts] of the apostles and elder men.

CHAPTER 16

1 And he came into Derbe and Lystra. And lo! a disciple was there, by name Timothy, the son of a Jewess christian, and of the father heathen.

2 And [the] brethren that were in Lystra and Iconium, yielded good witnessing to him.

3 And Paul would, that this man should go forth with him, and he took, and circumcised him, for Jews that were in those places. For all knew, that his father was heathen.

4 When they passed by cities, they betook to them to keep the teachings, that were deemed of apostles and elder men, that were at Jerusalem.

5 And the churches were confirmed in faith, and increased in number each day.

6 And they passed Phrygia, and the country of Galatia, and were forbid-den of the Holy Ghost to speak the word of God in Asia.

7 And when they came to Mysia, they assayed [or attempted] to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus suffered not them [or suffered them not].

8 But when they had passed by Mysia, they came down to Troas;

9 and a vision by night [or in night], was showed to Paul. But a man [or Some man] of Macedonia that stood, prayed him, and said, Go thou into Macedonia, and help us.

10 And as he had seen the vision, anon we sought to go forth into Macedonia, and were made certain, that God had called us to preach [or to evangelize] to them.

11 And we went by ship from Troas, and came to Samothracia with straight course; and the day pursuing to Neapolis;

12 and from thence to Philippi, that is the first part of Macedonia, the city colony. And we were in this city some days, and spake together.

13 And in the day of sabbaths we went forth without the gate beside the flood, where prayer seemed to be [or was seen to be]; and we sat, and spake to women that came together.

14 And a woman, Lydia by name, a purpless of the city of Thyatira, worshipping God, heard; whose heart the Lord opened to give attention to these things, that were said of Paul.

15 And when she was baptized and her house, she prayed, and said, If ye have deemed that I am faithful to the Lord, enter ye into mine house, and dwell. And she constrained us.

16 And it was done, when we went to prayer, that a damsel [or a wench] that had a spirit of divination, met us, which gave great winning to her lords in divining.

17 This pursued Paul and us, and cried, and said, These men be servants of the high God, that tell to you the way of health.

18 And this she did in many days. And Paul sorrowed, and turned, and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ, that thou go out of her. And he went out in the same hour.

19 And the lords of her saw, that the hope of their winning went away, and they took Paul and Silas, and led [them] into the chapping, either doom place, to the princes.

20 And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, These men disturb [or distrouble] our city, for they be Jews,

21 and show a custom, which [it] is not leaveful to us to receive, neither do, since we be Romans.

22 And the people and magistrates ran against them, and when they had rent to pieces the coats of them, they commanded them to be beaten with rods.

23 And when they had given to them many wounds, they sent them into prison, and commanded to the keeper, that he should keep them diligently.

24 And when he had taken such a precept, he put them into the inner prison, and restrained the feet of them in a tree.

25 And at midnight Paul and Silas worshipped, and praised God; and they that were in [the] keeping, heard them.

26 And suddenly a great earth-moving was made, so that the foundaments of the prison were moved. And anon all the doors were opened, and the bonds of all were loosed.

27 And the keeper of the prison was awaked, and saw the gates of the prison opened, and with a sword drawn out he would have slain himself, and guessed that the men that were bound had fled.

28 But Paul cried with a great voice, and said, Do thou none harm [or nothing of evil] to thyself, for all we be here.

29 And he asked light, and entered, and trembled, and fell down to Paul and to Silas at their feet.

30 And he brought them withoutforth, and said, Lords, what behooveth me to do, that I be made safe?

31 And they said, Believe thou in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be safe, and thine house.

32 And they spake to him the word of the Lord, with all that were in his house.

33 And he took them in the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds. And he was baptized, and all his house anon.

34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set to them a board. And he was glad with all his house, and believed to God.

35 And when day was come, the magistrates sent constables, and said, Deliver thou [or Dismiss ye] those men.

36 And the keeper of the prison told these words to Paul, That the magistrates have sent, that ye be delivered; now therefore go ye out, and go ye in peace.

37 And Paul said to them, They sent us men of Rome into prison, that were beaten openly and uncondemned, and now privily they bring us out; not so, but come they themselves, and deliver us out.

38 And the constables told these words to the magistrates; and they dreaded, for they heard that they were Romans.

39 And they came, and besought them, and they brought them out, and prayed, that they should go out of the city.

40 And they went out of the prison, and entered [in] to Lydia. And when they saw brethren, they comforted them, and went forth.

CHAPTER 17

1 And when they had passed by Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a syna-gogue of Jews.

2 And by custom Paul entered to them, and by three sabbaths he declared to them of the scriptures,

3 and opened, and showed that it behooved Christ to suffer, and rise again from death, and that this is Jesus Christ, whom I tell to you.

4 And some of them believed, and were joined to Paul and to Silas; and a great multitude of heathen men worshipped God, and noble women not a few.

5 But the Jews had envy, and took of the common people some evil men, and when they had made a company, they moved the city. And they came to Jason’s house, and sought to bring them forth among the people.

6 And when they found them not, they drew Jason and some brethren to the princes of the city, and cried, That these it be, that moved the world, and hither they came,

7 whom Jason received. And these all do against the commandments of the emperor [or of Caesar], and say, that Jesus is another king.

8 And they moved the people, and the princes of the city, hearing these things.

9 And when satisfaction was taken of Jason, and of others, they let Paul and Silas go.

10 And anon by night, brethren let [Paul and] Silas go into Berea [or brethren sent Paul and Silas into Berea]. And when they came thither, they entered into the synagogue of the Jews.

11 But these were the worthier [or the nobler] of them that be at Thessalonica, which received the word with all desire, each day seeking [the] scrip-tures, if these things had them so.

12 And many of them believed, and of heathen women honest [or honest heathen women] and men not a few.

13 But when the Jews in Thessalonica had known, that also at Berea the word of God was preached of Paul, they came thither, moving and disturbing [or distroubling] the multitude.

14 And then anon brethren delivered [or dismissed] Paul, that he should go to the sea; but Silas and Timothy dwelt there.

15 And they that led forth Paul, led him to Athens. And when they had taken a commandment of him to Silas and Timothy, that full hieingly they should come to him, they went forth.

16 And while Paul abode them at Athens, his spirit was moved in him, for he saw the city given to idolatry.

17 Therefore he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, and with men that worshipped God, and in the doom place [or the chapping], by all days to them that heard.

18 And some Epicureans, and Stoics, and philosophers disputed with him. And some said, What will this sower of words say? And others said, He seemeth to be a teller of new fiends; for he told to them Jesus, and the again-rising.

19 And they took, and led him to Areopagus, [that is, a common school], and said, May we know, what is this new doctrine, that is said of thee?

20 For thou bringest in some new things to our ears; therefore we will know, what these things will be.

21 For all men of Athens and come-lings harboured, gave attention to none other thing, but either to say, either to hear, some new thing.

22 And Paul stood in the middle of Areopagus, and said, Men of Athens, by all things I see you as vain worshippers.

23 For I passed, and saw your maumets [or simulacra], and found an altar, in which was written, To the unknown God. Therefore which thing ye unknowing worship, this thing I show to you.

24 God that made the world and all things that be in it, this, for he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with [or by] hand,

25 neither is worshipped by man’s hands, neither hath need of anything, for he giveth life to all men, and breathing, and all things;

26 and made of one all the kind of men to inhabit on all the face of the earth, determining times ordained, and terms of the dwelling [or the habitation] of them,

27 to seek God, if peradventure they feel him, either find, though he be not far from each of you.

28 For in him we live, and move, and be. As also some of your poets said, And we be also the kind [or the kin] of him.

29 Therefore since we be the kind [or the kin] of God, we shall not deem [or guess] that godly thing is like gold, and silver, either stone, either to engraving of craft and thought of man.

30 For God despiseth the times of this unknowing, and now showeth to men, that all everywhere do penance;

31 for that he hath ordained a day, in which he shall deem the world in equity, in a man in which he ordained, and gave faith to all men, and raised him from death.

32 And when they had heard the again-rising of dead men, some scorned, and some said, We shall hear thee again of this thing.

33 So Paul went out of the middle of them.

34 But some men drew [or cleaved] to him, and believed. Among which Dionysius Areopagite was, and a woman, by name Damaris, and other men with them.

CHAPTER 18

1 After these things Paul went out of Athens, and came to Corinth.

2 And he found a man, a Jew, Aquila by name, of Pontus by kind, that late came from Italy, and Priscilla, his wife, for that Claudius commanded all Jews to depart from Rome; and he came to them.

3 And for that he was of the same craft, he dwelled with them, and wrought; and they were of rope-makers craft, [or tent-makers craft, that is, to make coverings to travelling men].

4 And he disputed in the synagogue by each sabbath, putting among the name of the Lord Jesus; and he counselled Jews and Greeks.

5 And when Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul gave busyness to the word, and witnessed to the Jews, that Jesus is Christ.

6 But when they gainsaid and blasphemed, he shook away [or shook off] his clothes, and said to them, Your blood be on your head; I shall be clean from henceforth, and I shall go to heathen men.

7 And he passed from thence, and entered into the house of a just man, Titus by name, that worshipped God, whose house was joined to the synagogue.

8 And Crispus, prince of the syna-gogue, believed to the Lord, with all his house. And many of the Corinthians heard, and believed, and were christened.

9 And the Lord said by night to Paul by a vision, Do not thou dread, but speak, and be not still;

10 for I am with thee, and no man shall be put to thee to annoy thee, for much people is to me in this city.

11 And he dwelled there a year and six months, teaching among them the word of God.

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

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

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

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

16 And he drove them from the doom place.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER 19

1 And it befell, when Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul when he had gone the higher coasts, he came to Ephesus, and found some of the disciples.

2 And he said to them, Whether ye that believe have received the Holy Ghost? And they said to him, But neither have we heard [or neither we have heard], if the Holy Ghost is.

3 And he said, Therefore in what thing be ye baptized? And they said, In the baptism of John.

4 And Paul said, John baptized the people in the baptism of penance, and taught, that they should believe in him that was to coming [or to come] after him, that is, in Jesus.

5 When they heard these things, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 And when Paul had laid on them his hands, the Holy Ghost came into them [or on them], and they spake with languages, and prophesied.

7 And all were almost twelve men.

8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake with trust three months, disputing and treating [or softly moving] of the kingdom of God.

9 But when some were harded [or were made hard], and believed not, and cursed the way of the Lord before the multitude, he went away from them, and separated the disciples, and disputed in the school of a mighty man each day.

10 This was done by two years, so that all that dwelled in Asia heard the word of the Lord, Jews and heathen men.

11 And God did virtues not small [or little] by the hand of Paul,

12 so that on sick men the sudaria, [or sweating clothes], were borne from his body, and sicknesses departed from them, and wicked spirits went out.

13 But also some of the Jewish exorcists went about, and assayed [or attempted] to [in]-call the name of the Lord Jesus Christ on them that had evil spirits, and said, I conjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth.

14 And there were seven sons of a Jew, Sceva, a prince of priests, that did this thing.

15 But the evil spirit answered, and said to them, I know Jesus, and I know Paul; but who be ye?

16 And the man in which was the worst devil, leaped on them, and had victory [or lordship] on both, and was strong against them, that they naked and wounded fled away from that house.

17 And this thing was made known to all the Jews and heathen men, that dwelled at Ephesus; and dread fell down on them all, and they magnified the name of the Lord Jesus.

18 And many men believed, and came, acknowledging and telling their deeds.

19 And many of them that pursued curious things, brought together books, and burned them before all men; and when the prices of those were acounted, they found money of fifty thousand pence;

20 so strongly the word of God waxed, and was confirmed.

21 And when these things were [ful] filled, Paul purposed in spirit, after that Macedonia was passed and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, and said, For after that I shall be there, it behooveth me also to see Rome [or to see also Rome].

22 And he sent into Macedonia two men, that ministered to him, Timothy, and Erastus, and he dwelled for a time in Asia.

23 And a great troubling was made in that day, of [or in] the way of the Lord.

24 For a man, Demetrius by name, a worker in silver, made silver houses to Diana, [that is, a false goddess], and gave to craftsmen much winning;

25 which he called together them that were such manner workmen, and said, Men, ye know that of this craft winning is to us;

26 and ye see and hear, that this Paul counseleth and turneth away much people, not only of Ephesus, but almost of all Asia, and said, that they be not gods, that be made with hands.

27 And not only this part shall be in peril to us, to come into reproof, but also the temple of the great Diana shall be acounted into nought; yea, and the majesty of her shall begin to be destroyed [or but and the majesty of her shall be destroyed], whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

28 When these things were heard, they were [full]-filled with ire, and cried, and said, Great is the Diana of the Ephesians.

29 And the city was filled with confusion, and they made an assault with one will into the theatre, and took Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, fellows of Paul.

30 And when Paul would have entered into the people, the disciples suffered not.

31 And also some of the princes of Asia, that were his friends, sent to him, and prayed, that he should not give himself into the theatre.

32 And other men cried other thing; for the church was confused, and many knew not for what cause they were come together.

33 But of the people they drew away one Alexander, while Jews putted him forth. And Alexander asked with his hand silence, and would yield reason to the people.

34 And as they knew that he was a Jew, one voice of all men was made, crying as by twain hours, Great is Diana of Ephesians.

35 And when the scribe, that is, a town clerk, had ceased the people, he said, Men of Ephesus, what man is he, that knoweth not, that the city of Ephesians is the worshipper of the great Diana, and of the child of Jupiter?

36 Therefore when it may not be gainsaid to these things, it behooveth you to be ceased [or to be assuaged], and to do nothing follily;

37 for ye have brought these men, neither sacrilegers, neither blaspheming your goddess.

38 That if Demetrius, and the work-men that be with him, have cause against any man, there be courts, and dooms, and judges; accuse they each other.

39 If ye seek aught of any other thing, it may be absolved in the lawful church.

40 For why we be in peril to be reproved of this day’s dissension [or sedition], since no man is guilty, of whom we may yield reason of this running together.

41 And when he had said this thing, he let the people go.

CHAPTER 20

1 And after [that] the noise ceased, Paul called the disciples, and admon-ished them, and said farewell; and he went forth, to go into Macedonia.

2 And when he had walked by those coasts [or parts], and had admonished them by many words, he came to Greece.

3 Where when he had been three months, the Jews laid ambush for him, that was to sail into Syria; and he had counsel to turn again by Macedonia.

4 And Sopater of Pyrri Berea pursued him; of Thessalonians, Aristarchus, and Secundus, and Gaius Derbeus, and Timothy; and Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus.

5 These for they went before, abode us at Troas.

6 For we shipped after the days of therf loaves from Philippi, and came to them at Troas in five days, where we dwelt seven days.

7 And in the first day of the week, when we came to break bread, Paul disputed with them, and should go forth in the morrow; and he drew along the sermon till into midnight.

8 And many lamps were in the solar, where we were gathered together.

9 And a young man, Eutychus by name, sat on the window, when he was fallen into an heavy sleep, while Paul disputed long, all sleeping he fell down from the third stage; and he was taken up, and was brought dead.

10 To whom when Paul came down, he lay on him, and embraced, and said, Do not ye be troubled; for his soul is in him.

11 And he went up, and brake bread, and ate, and spake enough unto the day [or till into the light]; and so he went forth.

12 And they brought the child alive, and they were comforted greatly.

13 And we went up into a ship, and shipped into Assos, to take Paul from thence; for so he had disposed to make journey by land.

14 And when he found us in Assos, we took him, and came to Mitylene.

15 And from thence we shipped in the day pursuing, and we came against Chios, and another day we havened at Samos, and in the day pursuing, we came to Miletus.

16 And Paul purposed to ship over to Ephesus, lest any tarrying were made to him in Asia; for he hied, if it were possible to him, that he should be in the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem.

17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the greatest men of birth [or the more through birth, either the elder men], of the church.

18 And when they came to him, and were together, he said to them, Ye know from the first day, in which I came into Asia, how with you by each time I was,

19 serving to the Lord with all meekness, and mildness, and tears, and temptations, that felled to me of ambushings of Jews;

20 how I withdrew not [or nought] of profitable things to you, that I told not to you, and taught you openly, and by houses;

21 and I witnessed to Jews and to heathen men penance into God, and faith into our Lord Jesus Christ.

22 And now lo! I am bound in spirit, and go into Jerusalem; and I know not what things shall come to me in it,

23 but that the Holy Ghost by all cities witnesseth to me, and saith, that bonds and tribulations at Jerusalem abide me.

24 But I dread nothing of these, neither I make my life preciouser than myself, so that I end, [or fulfill], my course, and the ministry of the word, which I received of the Lord Jesus, to witness the gospel of the grace of God.

25 And now lo! I know, that ye shall no more see my face, all ye by which I passed, preaching the kingdom of God.

26 Wherefore I witness to you this day, that I am clean of the blood of all men.

27 For I fled [or flew] not away, that I told not to you all the counsel of God.

28 Take ye attention to you, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Ghost hath set [or hath put] you, bishops to rule the church of God, which he purchased with his blood.

29 I know, that after my departing, ravening wolves shall enter into you, not sparing the flock;

30 and men speaking shrewd [or wayward] things shall rise of your-selves, that they lead away disciples after them.

31 For which thing wake ye, holding in mind, that by three years night and day I ceased not, with tears, admon-ishing each of you.

32 And now I betake you to God and to the word of his grace, that is mighty to edify and give heritage in all that be made holy.

33 And of no man I coveted silver, and gold, either cloth,

34 as [ye] yourselves know; for to those things that were needful to me, and to these that be with me, these hands ministered.

35 All these things I showed to you, for so it behooveth men travailing to receive sick men, and to have mind of the word of the Lord Jesus; for he said, It is more blessful [or more blessed] to give, than to receive.

36 And when he had said these things, he kneeled, and prayed with all them.

37 And great weeping of all men was made; and they felled on the neck of Paul, and kissed him,

38 and sorrowed most in the word that he said, for they shall no more see his face. And they led him to the ship.

CHAPTER 21

1 And when it was done, that we should sail, and were passed away from them, with straight course we came to Coos, and the day pursuing to Rhodes, and from thence to Patara, and from thence to Myra.

2 And when we found a ship passing over to Phoenicia, we went up into it, and sailed forth.

3 And when we appeared to Cyprus, we left it at the left half, and sailed into Syria, and came to Tyre. For there the ship should be uncharged.

4 And when we found disciples, we dwelled there seven days; which said by Spirit to Paul, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.

5 And when the days were [ful] filled, we went forth, and all men with wives and children led forth us with-out the city; and we kneeled in the sea brink, and we prayed.

6 And when we had made farewell together, we went up into the ship; and they turned again into their own places.

7 And when the ship sailing was filled from Tyre, we came down to Ptolemais, and when we had greeted well the brethren, we dwelled one day at them.

8 And another day we went forth, and came to Caesarea. And we entered into the house of Philip evangelist, that was one of the seven, and dwelled at him.

9 And to him were four daughters, virgins, that prophesied.

10 And when we dwelled there some days, a prophet, Agabus by name, came over from Judea.

11 This when he came to us, took the girdle of Paul, and bound together his feet and hands, and said, The Holy Ghost saith these things, Thus [the] Jews shall bind in Jerusalem the man, whose is this girdle; and they shall betake him into heathen men’s hands.

12 Which thing when we heard, we prayed, and they that were of that place, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.

13 Then Paul answered, and said, What do ye, weeping and tormenting mine heart? For I am ready, not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.

14 And when we might not counsel him, we were still, and said, The will of the Lord be done.

15 And after these days we were made ready, and went up to Jerusalem.

16 And some of the disciples came with us from Caesarea, and led with them a man, Jason of Cyprus, an old disciple, at whom we should be harboured.

17 And when we came to Jerusalem, brethren received us willfully.

18 And in the day pursuing, Paul entered with us to James, and all the elder men were gathered.

19 Which when he had greeted, he told by all things, what [things] God had done in heathen men, by the ministry of him.

20 And when they heard, they mag-nified God, and said to him, Brother, thou seest how many thousands be in Jews, that have believed to God, and all be lovers [or pursuers] of the law.

21 And they heard of thee, that thou teachest departing from Moses of those Jews that be by heathen men, that say, that they owe not to circumcise their sons, neither owe to enter by [or after] custom.

22 Therefore what is [this]? It behooveth that the multitude come together; for they shall hear, that thou art come.

23 Therefore do thou this thing, that we say to thee. There be to us four men, that have a vow on them.

24 Take thou these men, and hallow thee with them; hang on them, that they shave their heads; and that all men know, that those things that they heard of thee be false, but that thou walkest, and thyself keepest the law.

25 But of these that believed of heathen men, we have written, deeming that they abstain them from thing offered to idols, and from blood, and also from strangled thing, and from fornication.

26 Then Paul took the men, and in the day pursuing, he was purified with them, and entered into the temple, and showed the [ful] filling of days of purifying, till the offering was offered for each of them.

27 And when seven days were ended, the Jews that were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred all the people, and laid hands on him,

28 and cried, Men of Israel, help ye us. This is the man, that against the people and the law and this place teacheth everywhere all men, more-over and hath led heathen men into the temple, and hath defouled this holy place.

29 For they saw Trophimus of Ephesus in the city with him, whom they guessed that Paul had brought into the temple.

30 And all the city was moved, and a running together of the people was made. And they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple; and anon the gates were closed.

31 And when they sought to slay him, it was told to the tribune of the company of knights, that all Jerusalem is confounded.

32 Which anon took knights, and centurions, and ran to them. And when they had seen the tribune, and the knights, they ceased to smite Paul.

33 Then the tribune came, and caught him, and commanded, that he were bound with two chains; and asked, who he was, and what he had done.

34 But others cried other thing among the people. And when he might know no certain thing for the noise, he commanded him to be led into the castles.

35 And when Paul came to the grees, it befell that he was borne of knights, for strength of the people.

36 For the multitude of the people pursued him, and cried, Take him away.

37 And when Paul began to be led into the castles, he said to the tribune, Whether it is leaveful to me, to speak anything to thee? And he said, Knowest thou Greek?

38 Whether thou art not the Egyptian, which before these days movedest a noise, and leddest out into desert four thousand of men, menslayers?

39 And Paul said to him, For I am a Jew, of Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen, which city is not unknown. And I pray thee, suffer me to speak to the people.

40 And when he suffered, Paul stood in the grees, and beckoned with the hand to the people. And when a great silence was made, he spake in Hebrew tongue, and said,

CHAPTER 22

1 Brethren and fathers, hear ye what reason I yield now to you.

2 And when some heard that in Hebrew tongue he spake to them, they gave the more silence [or gave more silence]. And he said,

3 I am a man a Jew, born at Tarsus of Cilicia, nourished and in this city beside the feet of Gamaliel, taught by the truth of fathers’ law, a lover [or a follower] of the law, as also ye all be today.

4 And I pursued this way till to the death, binding [together] and betaking into holds men and women,

5 as the prince of priests yieldeth witnessing to me, and all the greatest of birth [or the more in birth]. Of whom also I took epistles to brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring from thence men bound into Jerusalem, that they should be pained.

6 And it was done, while I went, and nighed to Damascus, at midday suddenly from heaven a great plenty of light [or a copious light] shone about me.

7 And I felled down to the earth, and heard a voice from heaven, saying to me, Saul, Saul, what persecutest [or pursuest] thou me? It is hard to [or for] thee, to kick against the prick.

8 And I answered, Who art thou Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest [or pursuest].

9 And they that were with me saw but the light, but they heard not the voice of him, that spake with me.

10 And I said, Lord, what shall I do? And the Lord said to me, Rise thou, and go to Damascus; and there it shall be said to thee, of all things which it behooveth thee to do.

11 And when I saw not, for the clarity of that light, I was led by the hand of fellows, and I came to Damascus.

12 And a man, Ananias, that by the law had witnessing of all Jews dwelling in Damascus,

13 came to me, and stood nigh, and said to me, Saul, brother, behold. And I in the same hour beheld into him.

14 And he said, God of our fathers hath before-ordained thee, that thou shouldest know the will of him, and shouldest see the rightful man, [that is, just Christ], and hear the voice of his mouth.

15 For thou shalt be his witness to all men, of those things that thou hast seen and heard.

16 And now, what dwellest thou? Rise up, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, by the name of him called to help.

17 And it was done to me, as I turned again into Jerusalem, and prayed in the temple, that I was made in ravishing of soul,

18 and I saw him saying to me, Hie thou, and go out fast of Jerusalem, for they shall not receive thy witnessing of me.

19 And I said, Lord, they know, that I was enclosing together in prison, and beating by synagogues them that believed into thee [or in thee].

20 And when the blood of Stephen, thy witness, was shed out, I stood nigh, and consented, and kept the clothes of men that slew him.

21 And he said to me, Go thou, for I shall send thee far to nations.

22 And they heard him till [to] this word; and they raised their voice, and said, Take away from the earth such a manner man; for it is not leaveful that he live.

23 And when they cried, and cast away their clothes, and threw dust in the air,

24 the tribune commanded him to be led into the castles, and to be beaten with scourges, and to be tormented, that he knew [or should know], for what cause they cried so to him.

25 And when they had bound him with cords [or had restrained him with ropes], Paul said to a centurion standing nigh to him, Whether it is leaveful to you, to scourge a Roman, and uncondemned?

26 And when this thing was heard, the centurion went to the tribune, and told to him, and said, What art thou to doing? for this man is a citizen of Rome.

27 And the tribune came nigh, and said to him, Say thou to me, whether thou art a Roman? And he said, Yea.

28 And the tribune answered, I with much sum got this freedom. And Paul said, And I was born a citizen of Rome.

29 Therefore anon, they that should have tormented him, departed away from him. And the tribune dreaded, after that he knew, that he was a citizen of Rome, and for [or that] he had bound him.

30 But in the day pursuing he would know more diligently, for what cause he were accused of the Jews, and unbound him, and commanded priests and all the council to come together. And he brought forth Paul, and set him among them.

CHAPTER 23

1 And Paul beheld into the council, and said, Brethren, I with all good conscience have lived before God, till into this day.

2 And Ananias, prince of priests, commanded to men that stood nigh to him, that they should smite his mouth.

3 Then Paul said to him, Thou whited wall [or Thou wall made white], God [shall] smite thee; thou sittest, and deemest me by the law, and against the law thou commandest me to be smitten.

4 And they that stood nigh, said, Cursest thou the highest priest [or the high priest] of God?

5 And Paul said, Brethren, I knew not, that he is [the] prince of priests; for it is written, Thou shalt not curse the prince of thy people.

6 But Paul knew, that one part was of Sadducees, and the other of Phari-sees; and he cried in the council, Brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; I am deemed of the hope and of the again-rising of dead men.

7 And when he had said this thing, dissension was made betwixt the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude was parted.

8 For Sadducees say, that no rising again of dead men is, neither angel, neither spirit; but Pharisees acknowl-edge ever either [or both].

9 And a great cry was made. And some of the Pharisees rose up, and fought, saying, We find nothing of evil in this man; what if a spirit, either an angel, spake to him?

10 And when great dissension was made, the tribune dreaded, lest Paul should be drawn to pieces of them; and he commanded knights to go down, and to take [or to ravish] him from the middle of them, and to lead him into the castles.

11 And in the night pursuing the Lord stood nigh to him, and said, Be thou steadfast; for as thou hast witnessed of me in Jerusalem, so it behooveth thee to witness also at Rome.

12 And when the day was come, some of the Jews gathered them, and made a vow, and said, that they should neither eat, nor drink, till they slew Paul.

13 And there were more than forty men, that made this swearing together [or conjuration].

14 And they went to the princes of priests, and elder men, and said, With devotion we have avowed, that we shall not taste anything, till we have slain Paul.

15 Now therefore make ye known to the tribune, with the council, that he bring him forth to you, as if ye should know something more certainly of him; and we be ready to slay him, before that he come [nigh].

16 And when the son of Paul’s sister had heard the ambush [or the treason], he came, and entered into the castles, and told to Paul.

17 And Paul called to him one of the centurions, and said, Lead this young man to the tribune, for he hath something to show to him.

18 And he took him, and led to the tribune, and said, Paul, that is bound, prayed me to lead to thee this young man, that hath something to speak to thee.

19 And the tribune took his hand, and went with him asides half, and asked him, What thing is it, that thou hast to show to me?

20 And he said, The Jews be accorded to pray thee, that tomorrow thou bring forth Paul into the council, as if they should inquire something more certainly of him.

21 But believe thou not to them; for more than forty men of them ambush him, which have avowed, that they shall neither eat nor drink, till they slay him; and now they be ready, abiding thy promise.

22 Therefore the tribune left the young man, and commanded, that he should speak to no man, that he had made these things known to him.

23 And he called together two cen-turions, and he said to them, Make ye ready two hundred knights, that they go to Caesarea, and horsemen seventy, and spearmen two hundred, from the third hour of the night.

24 And make ye ready an horse, for Paul to ride on, to lead him safe to Felix, the president. For the tribune dreaded, lest the Jews would take him by the way, and slay him, and afterward he might be challenged, as he had taken money.

25 [And] He wrote to him an epistle, containing these things.

26 Claudius Lysias to the best Felix, president, health.

27 This man that was taken of the Jews, and began to be slain, I came upon them with mine host, and delivered him from them, when I knew that he was a Roman.

28 And I would know the cause, which they putted against him; and I led him [in] to the council of them.

29 And I found, that he was accused of questions of their law, but he had no crime worthy the death, either bonds.

30 And when it was told me of the ambush, that they arrayed for him, [or of the treasons, that they made ready to him], I sent him to thee, and I warned also the accusers, that they say at thee. Farewell.

31 And so the knights as they were commanded, took Paul, and led him by night into Antipatris.

32 And in the day pursuing, when the horsemen were left, that should go with him, they turned again to the castles.

33 And when they came to Caesarea, they took the epistle to the president, and they set also Paul before him.

34 And when he had read, and asked, of what province he was, and knew that he was of Cilicia,

35 I shall hear thee, he said, when thine accusers come. And he commanded him to be kept in the moot hall of Herod.

CHAPTER 24

1 And after five days, Ananias, prince of priests, came down with some elder men, and Tertullus, a fair speaker, [or an orator, or an advocate], which went to the president against Paul.

2 And when Paul was summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, and said, When in much peace we do by thee, and many things be amended by thy wisdom,

3 evermore and everywhere, thou best Felix, we have received with all doing of thankings.

4 But lest I tarry thee longer, I pray thee, shortly hear us for thy meekness.

5 We have found this wicked man stirring dissension, to all Jews in all the world, and author of dissension of the sect of Nazarenes; [We have found this man bearing venom, or pestilence, and stirring sedition, or dissention, to all the Jews in all the world, and author of sedition of the sect of Nazarenes;]

6 and he also endeavoured to defoul the temple; whom also we took, and would deem after our law.

7 But Lysias, the tribune, came above with great strength, and delivered him from [or out of] our hands;

8 and commanded his accusers to come to thee, of whom thou deem-ing, mayest know of all these things, of which we accuse him.

9 And Jews put to, and said, that these things had them so.

10 And Paul answered, when the president granted him to say, Of many years I know thee, that thou art doomsman to this folk, and I shall do enough for me with good reason.

11 For thou mayest know, for to me be not more [or no more] than twelve days, since I came up to worship in Jerusalem;

12 and neither in the temple they found me disputing with any man, neither making concourse of the people, neither in the synagogues, neither in city;

13 neither they may prove to thee, of the which things they now accuse me.

14 But I acknowledge to thee this thing, that after the sect which they say heresy, so I serve to God the Father, believing to all things that be written in the law and prophets;

15 and I have hope in God, which also they themselves abide, the again-rising to coming [or to come] of just men and wicked.

16 In this thing I study without hurting, to have conscience to God, and to men evermore.

17 But after many years, I came to do alms-deeds to my folk, and offerings, and avows [or vows];

18 in which they found me purified in the temple, not with company, neither with noise. And they caught me, and they cried, and said, Take away our enemy. And some Jews of Asia,

19 which [or whom] it behooved to be now present at thee, and accuse, if they had anything against me,

20 either these themselves say, if they found in me anything of wicked-ness, since I stand in the council,

21 but only of this [one] voice, by which I cried standing among them, For of the again-rising of dead men I am deemed this day of you.

22 Soothly Felix delayed [or deferred] them, and knew most certainly of the way, and said, When Lysias, the tribune, shall come down, I shall hear you.

23 And he commanded to a centurion to keep him, and that he had rest [or to have rest], neither to forbid any man to minister of his own things to him.

24 And after some days Felix came, with Drusilla his wife, that was a Jewess, and called Paul, and heard of him the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

25 And while he disputed of right-wiseness, and chastity, and of doom to coming [or to come], Felix was made trembling, and answered, That pertaineth now, go; but in time covenable, I shall call thee.

26 Also he hoped, that money should be given to him of Paul; for which thing again [or oft] he called him, and spake with him.

27 And when two years were [ful]-filled, Felix took a successor, Porcius Festus; and Felix would [or willing to] give grace to the Jews, and left Paul bound.

CHAPTER 25

1 Therefore when Festus came into the province, after the third day he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.

2 And the princes of priests, and the worthiest [or the first] of the Jews went to him against Paul, and prayed him,

3 and asked grace against him, that he should command him to be led to Jerusalem; and they set ambush to slay him in the way.

4 But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept in Caesarea; soothly that he himself should proceed more advisedly [or hastily].

5 Therefore he said, They that in you be mighty, come down together; and if any crime is in the man, accuse they him.

6 And he dwelled among them no more than eight either ten days, and came down to Caesarea; and the tother day he sat for doomsman, and commanded Paul to be brought.

7 And when he was brought forth, Jews stood about him, which came down from Jerusalem, putting against him many and grievous causes, which they might not prove.

8 For Paul yielded reason in all things, That neither against the law of Jews, neither against the temple, neither against the emperor [or Caesar], I sinned anything.

9 But Festus would do grace [or willing to give grace] to the Jews, and answered to Paul, and said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be deemed of these things before me?

10 And Paul said, At the doom place of the emperor [or of Caesar] I stand, where it behooveth me to be deemed. I have not annoyed the Jews, as thou knowest well.

11 For if I have annoyed, either done anything worthy death, I forsake not to die; but if nothing of those is, that they accuse me, no man may give me to them. I appeal to the emperor [or to Caesar].

12 Then Festus spake with the coun-cil, and answered, To the emperor [or To Caesar] thou hast appealed, to the emperor [or to Caesar] thou shalt go.

13 And when some days were passed, Agrippa king, and Bernice came down to Caesarea, to welcome [or to greet] Festus.

14 And when they dwelled there many days, Festus showed to the king of Paul, and said, A man is left bound of Felix,

15 of which, when I was at Jeru-salem, princes of priests, and the elder men of the Jews came to me, and asked damnation against him.

16 To whom I answered, That it is not custom to Romans, to damn any man, before that he that is accused have his accusers present, and take place of defending, to put away the crimes, that be put against him.

17 Therefore when they came together hither, without any delay, in the day pursuing I sat for doomsman, and commanded the man to be brought.

18 And when his accusers stood [nigh], they said no cause of which things I had suspicion of evil.

19 But they had against him some questions of their vain worshipping, [or religion], and of one Jesus dead, whom Paul affirmed to live.

20 And I doubted of such manner questions, and said, Whether he would go to Jerusalem, and there be deemed of these things?

21 But for Paul appealed, that he should be kept to the knowing of the emperor [or of Caesar], I commanded him to be kept, till I send him to the emperor [or to Caesar].

22 And Agrippa said to Festus, I myself would hear the man. And he said, Tomorrow thou shalt hear him.

23 And on the tother day, when Agrippa and Bernice came with great desire, [or pride of state], and entered into the auditorium, with tribunes and the principal men of the city, when Festus bade, Paul was brought.

24 And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men that be with us, ye see this man, of which all the multitude of Jews prayed me at Jerusalem, and asked, and cried, that he should live no longer.

25 But I found, that he had done nothing worthy of death; and I deemed to send him to the emperor [or to Caesar], for he appealed this thing.

26 Of which man I have not certain, what thing I shall write to the lord. For which thing I brought him to you, and mostly to thee, thou king Agrippa [or O king Agrippa], that when asking is made, I have what I shall write.

27 For it is seen to me without reason, to send a bound man, and not to signify the cause of him.

CHAPTER 26

1 And Agrippa said to Paul, It is suffered to thee, to speak for thyself. Then Paul held forth the hand, and began to yield reason.

2 Of all things, in which I am accused of the Jews, thou king Agrippa, I guess me blessed at thee, when I shall defend me this day;

3 mostly for thou knowest all things that be among Jews, customs and questions. For which thing, I beseech, hear me patiently.

4 For all Jews that before knew me from the beginning, know my life from youth;

5 that from the beginning was in my folk in Jerusalem, if they will bear witnessing [or bear witness], that by the most certain sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.

6 And now for the hope of repromission, that is made to our fathers of God, I stand subject in doom;

7 in which hope our twelve lineages, serving night and day hope to come; of which hope, sir king, I am accused of the Jews.

8 What unbelieveful thing is deemed at you, if God raiseth dead men?

9 And soothly I guessed, that I ought to do many contrary things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

10 Which thing also I did in Jeru-salem, and I enclosed many of the saints in prison, when I had taken power of the princes of priests. And when they were slain, I brought [or I gave] the sentence.

11 And by all synagogues oft I punished them, and constrained to blaspheme; and more I waxed mad against them, and pursued [till] into alien cities.

12 In which, [the] while I went to Damascus, with power and suffering of the princes of priests,

13 at midday, in the way I saw, sir king, that from heaven a light shined about me, passing the shining of the sun, and about them that were together with me.

14 And when we all had fallen down into the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, what persecutest [or pursuest] thou me? it is hard to [or for] thee, to kick against the prick.

15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest [or pursuest].

16 But rise up, and stand on thy feet. For why to this thing I appeared to thee, that I ordain thee minister and witness of those things that thou hast seen, and of those things in which I shall show [or shall appear] to thee.

17 And I shall deliver thee from peoples and folks, to which now I send thee,

18 to open the eyes of them, that they be converted [or turned] from darkness to light, and from power of Satan to God, that they take remission of sins, and part among saints, by faith that is in me.

19 Wherefore, sir king Agrippa, I was not unbelieveful to the heavenly vision;

20 but I told [or I showed] to them, that be at Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and by all the country of Judea, and to heathen men, that they should do penance, and be converted to God, and do worthy works of penance.

21 For this cause, Jews took me, when I was in the temple, to slay me.

22 But I was helped by the help of God [till] into this day, and stand, witnessing to less and to more. And I say nothing else than which things the prophets and Moses spake that shall come,

23 if Christ is to suffer, if he is the first of the again-rising of dead men, that shall show light to the people and to heathen men.

24 When he spake these things, and yielded reason, Festus said with great voice, Paul, thou maddest [or thou waxest mad]; many letters turn thee to madness.

25 And Paul said, I mad not, thou best Festus, but I speak out the words of truth and of soberness.

26 For also the king, to whom I speak steadfastly, knoweth of these things; for I deem, that nothing of these is hid from him; for neither in a corner was aught of these things done.

27 Believest thou, king Agrippa, to prophets? I know that thou believest.

28 And Agrippa said to Paul, In little thing thou counselest me [for] to be made a christian man.

29 And Paul said, I desire with God, both in little and in great, not only thee, but all these that hear today, to be made such as I am, except these bonds.

30 And the king rose up, and the president, and Bernice, and they that sat nigh to them.

31 And when they went away, they spake together, and said, That this man hath not done anything worthy death, neither [or] bonds.

32 And Agrippa said to Festus, This man might be delivered [or dismissed], if he had not appealed to the emperor [or to Caesar].

CHAPTER 27

1 But as it was deemed him to ship into Italy, they betook Paul with other keepers [or with other men kept] to a centurion, by name Julius, of the company of knights of the emperor.

2 And we went up into the ship of Adramyttium, and began to sail, and were borne about the places of Asia, while Aristarchus of Macedonia, Thessalonica, dwelled still with us.

3 And in the day pursuing, we came to Sidon; and Julius treated courteously Paul, and suffered [him] to go to friends, and to do his needs [or to do the care of him].

4 And when we removed from thence, we under-sailed to Cyprus, for that winds were contrary.

5 And we sailed in the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, and came to Lystra, that is Lycia.

6 And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria, sailing into Italy, and putted us over into it.

7 And when in many days we sailed slowly, and scarcely came against Cnidus, for the wind hindered us, we sailed to Crete, beside Salmone.

8 And scarcely we sailed beside, and came into a place, that is called of good haven, to whom the city Lasea was nigh.

9 And when much time was passed, and when sailing then was not secure, for that fasting was passed, Paul comforted them,

10 and said to them, Men, I see that sailing beginneth to be with wrong and much harm, not only of the charge, and of the ship, but also of our lives.

11 But the centurion believed more to the governor, and to the lord of the ship, than to these things that were said of Paul.

12 And when the haven was not able [for] to dwell in winter, full many ordained counsel to sail from thence, if on [or in] any manner they might come to Phoenix, to dwell in winter at the haven of Crete, which behold-eth to Africa, that is, southwest, and to Corum, that is, northwest.

13 And when the south blew, they guessed them to hold purpose; and when they had removed [or taken up] from Assos, they sailed to Crete.

14 And not after much [time], the wind Tifonyk, that is called northeast, [or wind of tempest], was against it.

15 And when the ship was ravished, and might not endeavour against [or into] the wind, when the ship was given to the blowings of the wind, we were borne

16 with course into an isle, that is called Cauda; and scarcely we might get a little boat.

17 And when this was taken up, they used helps, girding together the ship; and dreaded, lest they should fall into sandy places. And when the vessel was under-set, so they were borne.

18 And for we were thrown with strong tempest, in the day pursuing they made casting out.

19 And the third day with their hands they cast away the instruments of the ship.

20 And when [neither] the sun neither the stars were seen by many days, and tempest not a little nighed, now all the hope of our health was done away.

21 And when much fasting had been, then Paul stood in the middle of them, and said, A! [or O!] men, it behooved, when ye heard me, not to have taken away the ship from Crete, and get this wrong and casting out.

22 And now I counsel you to be of good comfort [or of good heart], for loss of no person of you shall be, except of the ship.

23 For an angel of God, whose I am, and to whom I serve, stood nigh to me in this night,

24 and said, Paul, dread thou not; it behooveth thee to stand before the emperor [or Caesar]. And lo! God hath given to thee all that be in the ship with thee.

25 For which thing, ye men, be of good comfort [or of good heart]; for I believe to my God, that so it shall be, as it is said to me.

26 And it behooveth us to come into some isle.

27 But afterward that in the fourteen day the night came on us sailing in the stony sea, about midnight the shipmen supposed some country to appear to them.

28 And they cast [or sent] down a plummet, and found twenty fathoms of deepness. And after a little they were departed from thence, and found fifteen fathoms.

29 And they dreaded, lest we should have fallen into sharp places; and from the last part of the ship they sent four anchors, and desired that the day had become [or were made].

30 And when the shipmen sought to flee from the ship, when they had sent a little boat into the sea, under colour as they should begin to stretch forth the anchors from the former part of the ship,

31 Paul said to the centurion and to the knights, But these dwell in the ship, ye may not be made safe.

32 Then [the] knights cutted away the cords of the little boat, and suffered it to fall away.

33 And when the day was come, Paul prayed all men to take meat, and said, The fourteenth day this day ye abide, and dwell fasting, and take nothing.

34 Wherefore I pray you to take meat, for your health; for of none of you the hair of the head shall perish.

35 And when he had said these things, Paul took bread, and did thankings to God in the sight of all men; and when he had broken, he began to eat.

36 And all were made of better comfort, [or made more patient, or hardy], and they took meat.

37 And we were all men in the ship, two hundred seventy and six.

38 And they were [full]-filled with meat, and discharged the ship, and cast wheat into the sea.

39 And when the day was come, they knew no land; and they beheld an haven that had a water-bank, into which they thought, if they might, to bring up the ship.

40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they betook them [in] to the sea, and slacked together the jointures of rudders. And with a little sail lifted up, by blowing of the wind they went to the bank.

41 And when we felled into a place of gravel gone all about with the sea, they hurtled the ship. And when the former part was fixed, it dwelled unmoveable, and the last part was broken of [or by] the strength of the sea.

42 And [the] counsel of the knights’ was, to slay men that were in ward [or in the keeping], lest any should escape, when he had swimmed out.

43 But the centurion would keep Paul, and forbade it to be done. And he commanded them that might swim, to go [first] into the sea, and escape, and go out to the land.

44 And they bare some others on boards, some on those things that were of the ship. And so it was done, that all [the] men escaped to the land.

CHAPTER 28

1 And when we had escaped, then we knew that the isle was called Melita.

2 And the heathen men did to us not little courtesy [or Soothly barbar-ians gave to us not little humanity]. And when a fire was kindled, they refreshed us all, for the rain that came, and the cold.

3 But when Paul had gathered a quantity of cuttings of vines, and laid on the fire, an adder came forth from the heat, and took him by the hand.

4 And when the heathen men of the isle saw the beast hanging in his hand, they said together, For this man is a manslayer; and when he escaped from the sea, God’s vengeance suffer-eth him not to live in earth.

5 But he shook away the beast into the fire, and had none harm [or suffered nothing of evil].

6 And they guessed that he should be turned into swelling, and fall down suddenly, and die. But when they abided long, and saw that nothing of evil was done in him, they turned them together, and said, that he was God.

7 And in those places were manors [or fields] of the prince of the isle, Publius by name, which received us by three days benignly [or with good will], and ‘found’ us.

8 And it befell, that the father of Publius lay travailed with fevers and bloody flux. To whom Paul entered, and when he had prayed, and laid his hands on him, he healed him.

9 And when this thing was done, all that in the isle had sicknesses came, and were healed [or cured].

10 Which also honoured us with many worships, and putted what things were necessary to us, when we shipped.

11 And after three months we shipped in a ship of Alexandria, that had wintered in the isle, to which was an excellent sign of Castor.

12 And when we came to Syracuse, we dwelled there three days.

13 From thence we sailed about, and came to Rhegium; and after one day, while the south blew, in the second day we came to Puteoli.

14 Where when we found brethren, we were prayed to dwell there with them seven days. And so we came to Rome.

15 And from thence, when brethren had heard, they came to us to the chapping of Appii, and to the Three Taverns. And when Paul had seen them, he did thankings to God, and took trust.

16 And when we came to Rome, it was suffered to Paul to dwell by himself, with a knight keeping him.

17 And after the third day, he called together the worthiest of the Jews. And when they came, he said to them, Brethren, I did nothing against the people either custom of fathers, and I was bound at Jerusalem, and was betaken into the hands of Romans.

18 And when they had asked of me, would have delivered me, for that no cause of death was in me.

19 But for the Jews gainsaid, I was constrained to appeal to the emperor [or to Caesar]; not as having anything to accuse my people.

20 Therefore for this cause I prayed to see you, and speak to you; for for the hope of Israel I am gird about with this chain.

21 And they said to him, Neither we have received letters of thee from Judea, neither any of brethren coming showed, either spake, any evil thing of thee.

22 But we pray to hear of thee, what things thou feelest; for of this sect it is known to us, that everywhere men gainsaith it.

23 And when they had ordained a day to him, many men came to him into the inn. To which he expounded, witnessing the kingdom of God, and counselled them of Jesus, of the law of Moses, and [of] prophets, from the morrow till to [the] eventide.

24 And some believed to these things that were said of Paul, some believed not.

25 And when they were not consent-ing together, they departed. And Paul said one word, For the Holy Ghost spake well by Isaiah, the prophet, to our fathers,

26 and said, Go thou to this people, and say to them, With ear ye shall hear, and ye shall not understand; and ye seeing shall see, and ye shall not behold.

27 For the heart of this people is greatly fatted, and with ears they heard heavily, and they closed together their eyes, lest peradventure they see with eyes, and with ears hear, and by heart understand, and be converted, and I heal them.

28 Therefore be it known to you, that this health of God, is sent to heathen men, and they shall hear.

29 And when he had said these things, Jews went out from him, and had much question, or musing, [or seeking], among themselves.

30 And he dwelled full two years in his hired place; and he received all that entered to him,

31 and preached the kingdom of God, and taught those things that be of the Lord Jesus Christ, with all trust, without forbidding. Amen.

ROMANS

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ROMANS

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated [or set apart] into the gospel of God,

2 which he had promised before by his prophets in holy scriptures

3 of his Son, which is made to him of the seed of David by [or after] the flesh,

4 and he was before-ordained, [or predestined by grace], the Son of God in virtue, by the Spirit of hallowing of the again-rising of dead men, of Jesus Christ our Lord,

5 by whom we have received grace and the office of apostle [or apostle-hood], to obey to the faith in all folks, for his name,

6 among which ye be also called of Jesus Christ,

7 to all that be at Rome, darlings [or the beloved] of God, and called holy, grace [be] to you, and peace of God our Father, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

8 First I do thankings to my God, by Jesus Christ, for all you, for your faith is showed in all the world.

9 For God is a witness to me, to whom I serve in my spirit, in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mind of you ever[more] in my prayers,

10 and beseech [or praying], if in any manner sometime I have a speedy way in the will of God to come to you.

11 For I desire to see you, to impart somewhat to you of spiritual grace [or that I give to you something of spiritual grace], that ye be confirmed,

12 that is, to be comforted together in you, by [that] faith that is both yours and mine together.

13 And, brethren, I will not, that ye not know, that oft I purposed to come to you, and I am hindered till this time, that I have some fruit in you, as in other folks.

14 To Greeks and to barbarians, to wise men and to unwise men, I am debtor,

15 so that that is in me is ready to preach the gospel [or to evangelize] also to you that be at Rome.

16 For I shame not the gospel, for it is the virtue of God into health, to each man that believeth, to the Jew first, and to the Greek.

17 For the rightwiseness of God is showed in it, of faith into faith, as it is written, For a just man liveth of faith.

18 For the wrath of God is showed from heaven on all unpiety and wickedness [or unrightwiseness] of those men, that withhold [or hold aback] the truth of God in unrightwiseness.

19 For that thing of God that is known, is showed [or is made open] to them, for God hath showed to them.

20 For the invisible things of him, that be understood, be beheld of the creature of the world, by those things that be made, yea, and the everlasting virtue of him, and the Godhead, so that they may not be excused [or they be unexcusable].

21 For when they had known God, they glorified him not as God, neither did thankings; but they vanished in their thoughts, and the unwise heart of them was darked [or made dark].

22 For they saying that themselves were wise, they were made fools.

23 And they exchanged the glory of uncorruptible God into the likeness of an image of a deadly [or a corruptible] man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents.

24 For which thing God betook them into the desires of their heart, into uncleanness, that they punish with wrongs their bodies in themselves.

25 The which [men] changed the truth of God into leasing, and praised and served a creature rather than the Creator, that is blessed into worlds of worlds [or into without end]. Amen.

26 Therefore God betook them into passions of shame [or of evil fame]. For the women of them changed the natural use into that use that is against kind.

27 Also the men forsook the kindly use of women, and burned in their desires together, and men into men wrought filthhood, and received into themselves the meed that behooved of their error.

28 And as they proved that they had not God in knowing, God betook them into a reprovable wit, that they do those things that be not covenable;

29 that they be full-filled with all wickedness, malice, fornication, covet-ousness, waywardness, full of envy, manslayings, strife, guile, evil will,

30 privy backbiters, detractors, hate-ful to God, debaters [or despisers], proud, and high over-measure, finders of evil things, not obedient to father and mother,

31 unwise, unmannerly, without love [or without affection], without bond of peace, without mercy.

32 The which when they had known the rightwiseness of God, understood not, that they that do such things be worthy the death, not only they that do those things, but also they that consent to the doers.

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore thou art unexcusable, each man that deemest, for in what thing thou deemest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou doest the same things which thou deemest.

2 And we know, that the doom of God is after truth against them, that do such things.

3 But guessest thou, man, that deemest them that do such things, and thou doest those things, that thou shalt escape the doom of God?

4 Whether thou despisest the riches of his goodness, and the patience, and the long abiding? Knowest thou not, that the benignity, [or good will], of God leadeth thee to repenting [or to penance]?

5 But after thine hardness and unrepentant heart, thou treasurest to thee wrath in[to] the day of wrath, and of showing of the rightful doom of God,

6 that shall yield to each man after his works;

7 soothly to them that be by patience of good work, glory, and honour, and uncorruption, to them that seek everlasting life;

8 but to them that be of strife, and that assent not to truth, but believe to wickedness, wrath and indignation,

9 tribulation and anguish, into each soul of man that worketh evil, to the Jew first, and to the Greek;

10 but glory, and honour, and peace, to each man that worketh good thing, to the Jew first, and to the Greek.

11 For acception of persons, [that is, to put one before another without desert], is not with God.

12 For whoever have sinned without the law, shall perish without the law; and whoever have sinned in the law, they shall be deemed by the law.

13 For the hearers of the law be not just with God, but the doers of the law shall be made just.

14 For when heathen men that have not law, do kindly those things that be of the law, they not having such manner [of] law, be law to themselves,

15 that show the work of the law written in their hearts. For the conscience of them yieldeth to them a witnessing betwixt themselves of thoughts that be accusing or defending,

16 in the day when God shall deem the privy things of men after my gospel, by Jesus Christ.

17 But if thou art named a Jew, and restest in the law, and hast glory in God,

18 and hast known his will, and thou learned by the law approvest [or hast proved] the more profitable things,

19 and trustest thyself to be a leader of blind men, the light of them that be in darknesses,

20 a teacher of unwise men, a master of young children, that hast the form of knowing [or of science], and of truth in the law;

21 what then teachest thou another, and teachest not thyself? Thou that preachest that me/that men shall not steal, stealest? [or Thou that preachest to not steal, stealest?]

22 Thou that teachest that me/that men shall not do lechery, doest lechery? [or Thou that sayest to not do lechery, doest lechery?] Thou that loathest maumets [or idols], doest sacrilege?

23 Thou that hast glory in the law, unworshippest God by breaking of the law?

24 For the name of God is blasphemed by you among heathen men, as [it] is written.

25 For circumcision profiteth, if thou keep the law; but if thou be a trespasser against the law, thy circumcision is made prepuce.

26 Therefore if prepuce keep the rightwiseness of the law, whether his prepuce shall not be areckoned into circumcision?

27 And the prepuce of kind that fulfilleth the law, shall deem thee, that by letter and circumcision art a trespasser against the law.

28 For he that is in open is not a Jew, neither it is [the] circumcision that is openly in the flesh;

29 but he that is a Jew in hid, and the circumcision of heart, in spirit, not by [or in] the letter, whose praising is not of men, but of God.

CHAPTER 3

1 What then is more to a Jew, or what profit of circumcision?

2 Much by all wise [or by all manner]; first, for the speakings of God were betaken to them.

3 And what if some of them believed not? Whether the unbelief of them hath voided the faith of God?

4 God forbid. For God is soothfast, [or true], but each man a liar; as it is written, That thou be justified in thy words, and overcome, when thou art deemed.

5 But if our wickedness commend the rightwiseness of God, what shall we say? Whether God is wicked, that bringeth in wrath? After man I say.

6 God forbid. Else how shall God deem this world?

7 For if the truth of God hath abounded in my leasing, into the glory of him, what yet am I deemed as a sinner?

8 And not as we be blasphemed, and as some say that we say, Do we evil things, that good things come. Whose damnation is just.

9 What then? Surpass we them? Nay; for we have showed by skill, that all both Jews and Greeks be under sin [or the Jews and Greeks all to be under sin],

10 as it is written, For there is no man just;

11 there is no man understanding, neither seeking God.

12 All bowed away, together they be made unprofitable; there is none that doeth good thing, there is none till to one.

13 The throat of them is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they did guilefully, [or treacherously]; the venom of snakes is under their lips.

14 The mouth of whom is full of cursing and bitterness;

15 the feet of them be swift to shed blood.

16 Sorrow and cursedness be in the ways of them,

17 and they knew not the way of peace;

18 the dread of God is not before their eyes.

19 And we know, that whatever things the law speaketh, it speaketh to them that be in the law, that each mouth be stopped, and each world be made subject to God.

20 For of the works of the law each flesh shall not be justified before him; for by the law there is knowing of sin.

21 But now without the law the rightwiseness of God is showed, that is witnessed of the law and the prophets.

22 And the rightwiseness of God is by the faith of Jesus Christ into all men and on all men that believe in him; for there is no parting [or distinction].

23 For all men sinned, and have need to the glory of God;

24 and be justified freely by his grace, by the again-buying [or the redemption] that is in Christ.

25 Whom God ordained forgiver [or purposed an helper], by faith in his blood, to the showing of his right-wiseness, for [the] remission of before-going sins, in the bearing up of God,

26 to the showing of his rightwise-ness in this time, that he be just, and justifying him that is of the faith of Jesus Christ.

27 Where then is thy glorying? It is excluded. By what law? Of deeds doing? Nay, but by the law of faith.

28 For we deem a man to be justified by faith, without works of the law.

29 Whether of the Jews is God only? Whether he is not also of heathen men? Yes, and of heathen men.

30 For there is one God, that justifieth circumcision by faith, and prepuce by faith.

31 Destroy we therefore the law by faith? God forbid; but we stablish the law.

CHAPTER 4

1 What then shall we say, that Abraham, our father after the flesh, found?

2 For if Abraham is justified of works of the law, he hath glory, but not with God.

3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed to God, and it was areckoned to him to rightwiseness.

4 And to him that worketh, meed is not areckoned by grace, but by debt.

5 Soothly to him that worketh not, but believeth into him that justifieth a wicked [or an unpious] man, his faith is areckoned to rightwiseness, after the purpose of God’s grace.

6 As David saith the blessedness of a man, whom God accepteth, he giveth to him rightwiseness without works of the law,

7 Blessed be they, whose wicked-nesses be forgiven, and whose sins be hid [or be covered].

8 Blessed is that man, to whom God areckoned not sin.

9 Then whether dwelleth this blessedness only in circumcision, or also in prepuce? For we say, that the faith was areckoned to Abraham to rightwiseness.

10 How then was it areckoned? in circumcision, or in prepuce? Not in circumcision, but in prepuce.

11 And he took a sign of circumcision, a token [or a marking] of rightwiseness of the faith which is in prepuce, that he be father of all men believing by prepuce, that it be areckoned also to them to rightwise-ness;

12 and that he be father of circumcision, not only to them that be of circumcision, but also to them that pursue the steps of the faith, which faith is in prepuce of our father Abraham, [or but and to them that pursue the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, that is in prepuce].

13 For not by the law is [the] promise to Abraham, or to his seed, that he should be [the] heir of the world, but by the rightwiseness of faith.

14 For if they that be of the law, be heirs, faith is destroyed, promise is done away.

15 For the law worketh wrath; for where is no law, there is no trespass, neither is trespassing [or prevarication].

16 Therefore rightwiseness is of faith, that by grace promise be stable [or be steadfast] to each seed, not to that seed only that is of the law, but to that that is of the faith of Abraham, which is father of us all.

17 As it is written, For I have set thee father of many folks, before God to whom thou hast believed. The which God quickeneth dead men [or The which quickeneth the dead], and calleth those things that be not, as those that be.

18 [The] Which Abraham against hope believed into hope, that he should be made father of many folks, as it was said to him, Thus shall thy seed be, as the stars of heaven, and as the gravel [or sand] that is in the brink of the sea.

19 And he was not made unsteadfast in the belief, neither he beheld his body then nigh dead, when he was almost of an hundred years, nor the womb of Sarah nigh dead.

20 Also in the promise of God he doubted not with untrust; but he was comforted in belief, giving glory to God,

21 witting most fully that whatever things God hath promised, he is mighty also to do.

22 Therefore it was areckoned to him to rightwiseness.

23 And it is not written only for him, that it was areckoned to him to rightwiseness,

24 but also for us, to whom it shall be areckoned, that believe in him that raised our Lord Jesus Christ from death.

25 Which was betaken for our sins, and rose again for our justifying.

CHAPTER 5

1 Therefore we, justified of faith, have we peace at God by our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 By whom we have nigh going to [or access], by faith into this grace, in which we stand, and have glory in the hope of the glory of God’s children.

3 And not this only, but also we glory in tribulations, witting that tribulation worketh patience,

4 and patience proving, and proving hope.

5 And hope confoundeth not, for the charity of God is spread abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, that is given to us.

6 And while that we were sick after the time, what died Christ for wicked men?

7 For scarcely dieth any man for the just man; and yet for a good man peradventure some man dare die.

8 But God commendeth his charity in us; for if when we were yet sinners, after the time Christ was dead for us,

9 then much more now we justified in his blood, shall be safe from wrath by him.

10 For if when we were enemies, we be reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more we reconciled shall be safe in the life of him.

11 And not only this, but also we glory in God, by our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received now reconciling.

12 Therefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death, and so death passed forth into all men, in which man all men sinned.

13 For unto the law sin was in the world; but sin was not reckoned, when [the] law was not.

14 But death reigned from Adam unto Moses, also into them that sinned not in likeness of the trespassing of Adam, the which is likeness of Christ to coming [or to come].

15 But not as [the] guilt [or the trespass], so the gift; for if through the guilt [or the trespass] of one many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift in the grace of one man Jesus Christ hath abounded into many men.

16 And not as by one sin, so by the gift; for the doom, of one into condemnation, but the grace of many guilts [or trespassings] into justification.

17 For if in the guilt of one death reigned through one, much more men that take plenty of grace, and of giving, and of rightwiseness, shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ.

18 Therefore as by the guilt of one into all men into condemnation, so by the rightwiseness of one into all men into justifying of life.

19 For as by unobedience of one man many be made sinners, so by the obedience of one many shall be [ordained] just.

20 And the law entered, that guilt should be plenteous; but where guilt was plenteous, grace was more plenteous [or abounded].

21 That as sin reigned into death, so grace reign by rightwiseness into ever-lasting life, by Jesus Christ our Lord.

CHAPTER 6

1 Therefore what shall we say? Shall we dwell in sin, that grace be plenteous?

2 God forbid. For how shall we that be dead to sin, live yet therein?

3 Whether, brethren, ye know not, that whichever we be baptized in Christ Jesus, we be baptized in his death?

4 For we be together buried with him by baptism into death; that as Christ arose from death by the glory of the Father, so walk we in a newness of life.

5 For if we planted together be made to the likeness of his death, also we shall be of the likeness of his rising again;

6 witting this thing, that our old man is crucified together, that the body of sin be destroyed, that we serve no more to sin.

7 For he that is dead [to sin], is justified from sin.

8 And if we be dead with Christ, we believe that also we shall live together with him;

9 witting that Christ, rising again from death, now dieth not, death shall no more have lordship on him.

10 For that he was dead to sin, he was dead once; but that he liveth, he liveth to God.

11 So ye deem yourselves to be dead to sin, but living to God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Therefore reign not sin in your deadly body, that ye obey to his covetings.

13 Neither give ye your members arms of wickedness to sin, but give ye yourselves to God, as they that live of dead men, and your members arms of rightwiseness to God.

14 For sin shall not have lordship over you; for ye be not under the law, but under grace.

15 What therefore? Shall we do sin, for we be not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

16 Know ye not, that to whom ye give you servants to obey to, ye be servants of that thing, to which ye have obeyed, either of sin to death, either of obedience to rightwiseness?

17 But I thank God, that ye were servants of sin; but ye have obeyed of heart into that form of teaching, in which ye be betaken.

18 And ye delivered from sin, be made servants of rightwiseness.

19 I say that thing that is of man, for the unsteadfastness, [or the infirmity, or unstableness], of your flesh. But as ye have given your members to serve to uncleanness, and to wickedness into wickedness, so now give ye your members to serve to rightwiseness into holiness.

20 For when ye were servants of sin, ye were free of rightwiseness.

21 Therefore what fruit had ye then in those things, in which ye shame now? For the end of them is death.

22 But now ye delivered from sin, and made servants to God, have your fruit into holiness, and the end everlasting life.

23 For the wages of sin is death; the grace of God is everlasting life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

CHAPTER 7

1 Brethren, whether ye know not; for I speak to men that know the law; for the law hath lordship in a man, as long time as he liveth?

2 For that woman that is under an husband, is bound to the law, while the husband liveth; but if her husband is dead, she is delivered [or is unbound] from the law of the husband.

3 Therefore she shall be called adulteress, if she be with another man, while the husband liveth; but if her husband is dead, she is delivered from the law of the husband, that she be not adulteress, if she be with another man.

4 And so, my brethren, ye be made dead to the law by [or through] the body of Christ, that ye be of another, that rose again from death, that ye bear fruit to God.

5 For when we were in flesh, passions of sins, that were by the law, wrought in our members, to bear fruit to death.

6 But now we be unbound from the law of death, in which we were held, so that we serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter.

7 What therefore shall we say? The law is sin? God forbid. But I knew not sin, but by [the] law; for I knew not that coveting was sin, but for the law said, Thou shalt not covet.

8 And through occasion taken, sin by the commandment hath wrought in me all covetousness; for without the law, sin was dead.

9 And I lived without the law sometime; but when the commandment was come [or had come], sin lived again. But I was dead,

10 and this commandment that was to life, was found to me, to be to death.

11 For sin, through occasion taken by the commandment, deceived me, and by that it slew me.

12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just, and good.

13 Is then that thing that is good, made death to me? God forbid. But sin, that it seem sin, through good thing wrought death to me, that me or that men sin over-manner through the commandment.

14 And we know, that the law is spiritual; but I am fleshly, sold under sin.

15 For I understand not that that I work; for I do not the good thing that I will, but I do that evil thing that I hate.

16 And if I do that thing that I will not, I consent to the law, that it is good.

17 But now I work not it now, but the sin that dwelleth in me.

18 But I know, that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good; for will lieth to me, but I find not to perform good thing.

19 For I do not that good thing that I will, but I do that evil thing that I will not.

20 And if I do that evil thing that I will not, I work not it, but the sin that dwelleth in me.

21 Therefore I find the law [or a law] to me willing to do good thing, for evil thing lieth to me.

22 For I delight together to the law of God, after the inner man.

23 But I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my soul, and making me captive in the law of sin, that is in my members.

24 I am an unhappy [or a woeful] man; who shall deliver me from the body of this sin?

25 The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore I myself by the soul serve to the law of God; but by the flesh to the law of sin.

CHAPTER 8

1 Therefore now nothing of condemnation is to them that be in Christ Jesus, which wander not after the flesh.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath delivered me from the law of sin, and of death, [or the law of sin, and death].

3 For that that was impossible to the law, in what thing it was sick by flesh, God sent his Son into the likeness of flesh of sin, and of sin condemned sin in flesh;

4 that the justifying of the law were fulfilled in us, that [we] go not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5 For they that be after the flesh, understand [or savour] those things that be of the flesh; but they that be after the Spirit, feel those things that be of the Spirit.

6 For the prudence of flesh is death; but the prudence of Spirit is life and peace.

7 For the wisdom of the flesh is enemy to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither it may [be subject to the law].

8 And they that be in flesh, may not please to God.

9 But ye be not in flesh, but in Spirit; if nevertheless the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, this is not his.

10 For if Christ is in you, the body is dead for sin [or from sin], but the Spirit liveth for justifying.

11 And if the Spirit of him that raised Jesus Christ from death dwelleth in you, he that raised Jesus Christ from death, shall quicken also your deadly bodies, for the Spirit of him that dwelleth in you.

12 Therefore, brethren, we be debtors, not to the flesh, that we live after the flesh.

13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye by the Spirit slay the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live.

14 For whoever be led by the Spirit of God, these be the sons of God.

15 For ye have not taken again the spirit of servage in dread, but ye have taken the Spirit of adoption of sons, that is, sons of God by grace, in which we cry, Abba, Father.

16 And that Spirit yieldeth witnessing to our spirit, that we be the sons of God;

17 if sons, and heirs, heirs forsooth of God, and heirs together with Christ; if nevertheless we suffer together, that also we be glorified together.

18 And I deem, that the passions of this time be not even worthy, to the glory to coming [or to come], that shall be showed in us.

19 For the abiding of creature abideth the showing of the sons of God.

20 But the creature is subject to vanity, not willingly, but for him that made it subject in hope;

21 for that creature shall be delivered from servage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.

22 And we know, that each creature sorroweth, and travaileth with pain till yet.

23 And not only it, but also we us-selves, that have the first fruits of the Spirit, and we us-selves sorrow within us for the adoption of God’s sons, abiding the again-buying of our body.

24 But by hope we be made safe. For hope that is seen, is not hope; for who hopeth that thing, that he seeth?

25 And if we hope that thing that we see not, we abide by patience.

26 And also the Spirit helpeth our infirmity; for what we shall pray, as it behooveth, we know not, but that Spirit asketh for us with sorrowings, that may not be told out.

27 For he that seeketh the hearts, knoweth what the Spirit desireth, for by God, [that is, after God’s will], he asketh for holy men.

28 And we know, that to men that love God, all things work together into good, to them that after purpose be called saints.

29 For those that he knew before, he before-ordained by grace to be made like to the image of his Son, that he be the first begotten among many brethren.

30 And those that he before-ordained to bless, them he called; and whom he called, them he justified; and whom he justified, them he glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who is against us?

32 Which also spared not his own Son, but betook him for us all, how also gave he not to us all things with him?

33 Who shall accuse against the chosen men of God? It is God that justifieth,

34 who is it that condemneth? It is Jesus Christ that was dead, yea, the which rose again, the which is on the right half of God, and the which prayeth for us.

35 Who then shall part us from the charity of Christ? tribulation, or anguish, or hunger, or nakedness, or persecution, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For we be slain all day for thee; we be guessed as sheep of slaughter [or to slaughter].

37 But in all these things we overcome, for him that loved us.

38 But I am certain, that neither death, neither life, neither angels, neither principalities, neither virtues, neither present things, neither things to coming [or to come], neither strength,

39 neither height, neither deepness, neither any other creature, may part us from the charity of God, that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

CHAPTER 9

1 I say truth in Christ Jesus, I lie not, for my conscience beareth witnessing to me in the Holy Ghost,

2 for great heaviness is to me, and continual sorrow to my heart.

3 For I myself desired to be parted [or cursed] from Christ for my brethren, that be my cousins after the flesh,

4 that be men of Israel [or Israelites]; whose is adoption of sons, and glory, and testament, and giving of the law, and service, and promises;

5 whose be the fathers, and of which is Christ after the flesh, that is God above all things, blessed into worlds. Amen.

6 But not that the word of God hath fallen down, [or failed unfulfilled]. For not all that be of Israel, these be Israelites.

7 Neither they that be [the] seed of Abraham, all be sons; but in Isaac the seed shall be called to thee;

8 that is to say, not they that be sons of the flesh, be sons of God, but they that be sons of [the] promise be deemed in the seed.

9 For why this is the word of promise, After this time I shall come, and a son shall be to Sarah.

10 And not only she, but also Rebecca had two sons of one lying-by, [or of one knowing of man], of Isaac, our father.

11 And when they were not yet born, neither had done anything of good either evil, that the purpose of God should dwell by election, not of works, but of God calling,

12 it was said to him [or to her], That the more should serve the less,

13 as it is written, I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.

14 What therefore shall we say? Whether wickedness be with God? God forbid.

15 For he saith to Moses, I shall have mercy on whom I shall have mercy; and I shall give mercy on whom I shall have mercy.

16 Therefore it is not neither of [a] man willing, neither running, but of God having mercy.

17 And the scripture saith to Pharaoh, For to this thing I have stirred thee, that I show in thee my virtue, and that my name be told in all [the] earth.

18 Therefore of whom God will, he hath mercy; and whom he will, he endureth.

19 Then sayest thou to me, What is sought yet? [or What thing is yet sought?] for who withstandeth his will?

20 O! man, who art thou, that answerest to God? Whether a made thing saith to him that made it, What hast thou made me so?

21 Whether a potter of clay hath not power to make of the same gobbet one vessel into honour, another into despite, [or low office]?

22 And if God willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, hath suffered in great patience vessels of wrath able into death, [or into perdition, or damnation],

23 to show the riches of his glory into vessels of mercy, which he made ready into glory.

24 Which also he called [us], not only of the Jews, but also of heathen men,

25 as he saith in Hosea, I shall call not my people my people, and not my loved my loved, and not getting mercy getting mercy;

26 and it shall be in the place, where it is said to them, Not ye my people, there they shall be called the sons of living God.

27 But Isaiah crieth for Israel, If the number of children of Israel shall be as [the] gravel of the sea, the remnants shall be made safe.

28 Forsooth a word making an end, and abridging in equity, for the Lord shall make a word abridged, [or made short], on all the earth.

29 And as Isaiah before-said, But God of hosts had left to us seed, we had been made as Sodom, and we had been like as Gomorrah.

30 Therefore what shall we say? That heathen men that pursued not right-wiseness, have gotten [or have caught] rightwiseness, yea, the right-wiseness that is of faith.

31 But Israel pursuing the law of rightwiseness, came not perfectly to the law of rightwiseness.

32 Why? For not of faith, but as of works. And they spurned against the stone of offence, [or spurning],

33 as it is written, Lo! I put a stone of offence in Zion, and a stone of stumbling; and each that shall believe in it, shall not be confounded, [or shamed].

CHAPTER 10

1 Brethren, the will of mine heart and my beseeching is made to God for them into health.

2 But I bear witnessing to them, that they have the love of God, but not after knowing.

3 For they unknowing God’s right-wiseness, and seeking to make steadfast their own rightwiseness, be not subject to the rightwiseness of God.

4 For the end of the law is Christ, to rightwiseness to each man that believeth.

5 For Moses wrote, For the man that shall do rightwiseness that is of the law, shall live in it.

6 But the rightwiseness that is of belief, saith thus, Say thou not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? that is to say, to lead down Christ;

7 or who shall go down into hell? that is, to again-call Christ from death. [+or who shall go down into deep-ness, or into depth? that is, to again-call Christ from the dead.]

8 But what saith the scripture? The word is nigh in thy mouth, and in thine heart; this is the word of belief, which we preach.

9 That if thou acknowledge in thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believest in thine heart, that God raised him from death, thou shalt be safe.

10 For by heart me [or men] believeth to rightwiseness, but by mouth acknowledging is made to health.

11 For why the scripture saith, Each that believeth in him, shall not be confounded.

12 And there is no distinction of Jew and of Greek; for the same Lord of all is rich into all, that inwardly call him.

13 For each man, whoever shall inwardly call the name of the Lord, shall be safe.

14 How then shall they inwardly call him, into whom they have not believed? or how shall they believe to him, whom they have not heard? How shall they hear, without a preacher?

15 and how shall they preach, but they be sent? As it is written, How fair be the feet of them that preach [or evangelize] peace, of them that preach good things.

16 But not all men obey to the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who believed to our hearing?

17 Therefore faith is of hearing [or by hearing], but hearing by the word of Christ.

18 But I say, Whether they heard not? Yes, soothly, the sound of them went out into all the earth, and their words into the ends of the world.

19 But I say, Whether Israel knew not? First Moses saith, I shall lead you to envy, that ye be no folk [or into not a folk]; that ye be an unwise folk, I shall send you into wrath.

20 And Isaiah is bold, and saith, I am found of men that seek me not; openly I appeared to them, that asked not me.

21 But to Israel he saith, All day I stretched out mine hands to a people that believed not [to me], but gainsaid me.

CHAPTER 11

1 Therefore I say, Whether God hath put away his people? God forbid. For I am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the lineage of Benjamin.

2 God hath not put away his people, which he before-knew. Whether ye know not, what the scripture saith in Elijah? How he prayeth God against Israel,

3 Lord, they have slain thy prophets, they have under-delved thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

4 But what saith God’s answer to him? I have left to me seven thousands of men, that have not bowed their knees before Baal.

5 So therefore also in this time, the remnants be made safe, by the choosing of the grace of God.

6 And if it be by the grace of God, it is not now of works; else grace is not now grace.

7 What then? Israel hath not gotten this that he sought, but election hath gotten; and the others be blinded.

8 As it is written, God gave to them a spirit of compunction, eyes that they see not, and ears, that they hear not, into this day.

9 And David saith, Be the board of them made into a snare before them, and into catching, and into cause of stumbling, and into yielding [again] to them.

10 Be the eyes of them made dark, that they see not; and bow thou down always the back of them.

11 Therefore I say, Whether they offended so, that they should fall down? God forbid. But by the guilt of them health is made to heathen men, that they pursue them.

12 That if the guilt of them be riches of the world, and the making less [or the diminishing] of them be riches of heathen men, how much more the plenty of them?

13 But I say to you, heathen men, for as long as I am apostle of heathen men, I shall honour my ministry [or my service],

14 if in any manner I stir my flesh for to follow, and that I make some of them safe.

15 For if the loss of them is the reconciling of the world, what is the taking up [of them], but life of dead men? [or but life to dead?]

16 For if a little part of that that is tasted be holy, the whole gobbet is holy; and if the root is holy, also the branches.

17 What if any of the branches be broken, when thou were a wild olive tree, art grafted [or art set in] among them, and art made fellow of the root, and of the fatness of the olive tree,

18 do not thou have glory against the branches. For if thou gloriest, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

19 Therefore thou sayest, The branches be broken, that I be grafted in [or I be inset].

20 Well, for unbelief the branches be broken; but thou standest by faith. Do not thou understand [or savour] high things, but dread thou,

21 for if God spared not the kindly branches, [see thou] lest peradventure he spare not thee.

22 Therefore see the goodness, and the fierceness of God; yea, the fierceness into them that fell down, but the goodness of God into thee, if thou dwellest in goodness, else also thou shalt be cut down.

23 Yea, and they shall be set in [or shall be inset], if they dwell not in unbelief. For God is mighty, to set them in again.

24 For if thou art cut down of the kindly wild olive tree, and against kind art set into a good olive tree, how much more they that be by kind, shall be set in their olive tree?

25 But, brethren, I will not, that ye not know this mystery, that ye be not wise to yourselves; for blindness hath fallen a part in Israel, till that the plenty of heathen men entered,

26 and so all Israel should be made safe. As it is written, He shall come of Zion, that shall deliver, and turn away the wickedness [or unpiety] of Jacob.

27 And this testament to them of me, when I shall do away their sins.

28 After the gospel they be enemies for you, but they be most dearworthy by [or after] the election for the fathers.

29 And the gifts and the calling of God be without repenting, [or revoking].

30 And as sometime also ye believed not to God, but now ye have gotten mercy for the unbelief of them;

31 so and these now believed not into your mercy, that also they get mercy.

32 For God closed all things together in unbelief, that he have mercy on all.

33 O! the highness of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowing, of God; how incomprehensible be his dooms, and his ways be unsearchable.

34 For why who knew the wit of the Lord, or who was his counsellor?

35 or who former gave to him, and it shall be requited [again] to him?

36 For of him, and by him, and in him be all things. To him be glory into worlds [of worlds]. Amen.

CHAPTER 12

1 Therefore, brethren, I beseech you by the mercy of God, that ye give your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, and your service reasonable.

2 And do not ye be conformed to this world, but be ye reformed in newness of your wit, that ye prove which is the will of God, good, and well pleasing, and perfect.

3 For I say, by the grace that is given to me, to all that be among you, that ye understand not more than it behooveth to understand, but for to understand to soberness, [or to not savour, or know, more than it behooveth to know, but to know to soberness]; and to each man, as God hath parted the measure of faith.

4 For as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same deed [or the same act];

5 so we many be one body in Christ, and each be members one of another.

6 Therefore we that have gifts diversing, after the grace that is given to us, either prophecy, after the reason of faith;

7 either service [or ministry], in ministering; either he that teacheth, in teaching;

8 he that stirreth softly, in admonishing [or in exhortation]; he that giveth, in simpleness; he that is sovereign, [or is prelate, or is before], in busyness; he that hath mercy, in gladness.

9 Love without feigning, hating evil, drawing [or fast cleaving] to good;

10 loving together the charity of brotherhood. Each come before to worship other [or Coming before together in honour];

11 not slow in busyness, fervent in spirit, serving to the Lord,

12 joying in hope, patient in tribulation, busy in prayer,

13 giving good to the needs of saints, keeping hospitality.

14 Bless ye men that pursue you; bless ye, and do not ye curse;

15 for to joy with men that joy, for to weep with men that weep.

16 Feel ye the same thing together; not understanding, [or savouring, or cunning], high things, but consenting to meek things, [following meek fathers]. Do not ye be prudent with yourselves;

17 to no man yielding evil for evil, but purvey ye good things, not only before God, but also before all men.

18 If it may be done, that that is of you, have ye peace with all men.

19 Ye most dear brethren, not defending, [or avenging], yourselves, but give ye place to wrath [or ire]; for it is written, The Lord saith, To me vengeance, and I shall yield.

20 But if thine enemy hungereth, feed thou him; if he thirsteth, give thou drink to him; for thou doing this thing shalt gather together coals on his head [or doing these things thou shalt gather together coals on his head].

21 Do not thou be overcome of evil, but overcome thou evil by good.

CHAPTER 13

1 Every soul be subject to higher powers. For there is no power but of God, and those things that be of God, be ordained.

2 Therefore he that against-standeth power, against-standeth the ordinance of God; and they that against-stand, get to themselves damnation.

3 For princes be not to the dread of good work, but of evil. But wilt thou, that thou dread not power? Do thou good thing, and thou shalt have praising of it;

4 for he is the minister of God to thee into good. But if thou doest evil, dread thou; for not without cause he beareth the sword, for he is the minister of God, avenger into wrath to him that doeth evil.

5 And therefore by need be ye subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience.

6 For therefore ye give tributes, they be the ministers of God, and serve for this same thing.

7 Therefore yield ye to all men debts, to whom tribute, tribute, to whom toll, [or custom for things borne about], toll, [or such custom], to whom dread, dread, to whom honour, honour.

8 To no man owe ye anything, but that ye love together. For he that loveth his neighbour, hath fulfilled the law.

9 For, Thou shalt do no lechery, Thou shalt not slay, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not say false witnessing, Thou shalt not covet the thing of thy neighbour, and if there be any other commandment, it is enstored, [or enclosed], or included, in this word, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

10 The love of thy neighbour worketh not evil; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

11 And we know this time, that the hour is now, that we rise from sleep; for now is our health near [or nearer], than when we believed.

12 The night went before, but the day hath nighed. Therefore cast we away the works of darknesses, and be we clothed in [or with] the armours of light.

13 As in [the] day wander we honestly, not in superfluous feasts [or in oft eatings], and drunkennesses, not in beds and unchastities, not in strife and in envy;

14 but be ye clothed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and do ye not the busyness [or the cares] of flesh in desires.

CHAPTER 14

1 But take ye a sick man in belief, not in deemings, [or in deceptions, or disputations], of thoughts.

2 For another man believeth, that he may eat all things; but he that is sick, [or unsteadfast], eat worts.

3 He that eateth, despise not him that eateth not; and he that eateth not, deem not him that eateth. For God hath taken him to him [or God hath taken him].

4 Who art thou, that deemest another’s servant? To his lord he standeth, or falleth from him, [or falleth down]. But he shall stand; for the Lord is mighty to make him perfect, [or to ordain him, or make steadfast].

5 For why one deemeth a day betwixt a day, another deemeth each day. Each man increase in his wit.

6 He that understandeth [or savoureth] the day, understandeth [or savoureth] to the Lord. And he that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he doeth thankings to God. And he that eateth not, eateth not to the Lord, and doeth thankings to God.

7 For no man of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

8 For whether we live, we live to the Lord; and whether we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore whether we live or die, we be of the Lord [or we be Lord’s].

9 For why for this thing Christ was dead, and rose again, that he be Lord both of quick and of dead men [or of quick and of dead].

10 But what deemest thou thy brother? or why despisest thou thy brother? for all we shall stand before the throne of Christ.

11 For it is written, I live, saith the Lord, for to me each knee shall be bowed, and each tongue shall acknowledge to God.

12 Therefore each of us shall yield reason to God for himself.

13 Therefore no more deem we each other; but more deem ye this thing, that ye put not hurting, or cause of stumbling, to a brother.

14 I know and trust in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean by him, no but to him that deemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

15 And if thy brother be made sorry, [or heavy], in conscience for meat, now thou walkest not after charity. Do not thou through thy meat lose him, for whom Christ died.

16 Therefore be not your good thing blasphemed [or despised].

17 For why the realm of God is not meat and drink, but rightwiseness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.

18 And he that in this thing serveth Christ, pleaseth God, and is proved to men.

19 Therefore pursue we those things that be of peace, and keep we together those things that be of edification.

20 Do not thou for meat lose the work of God. For all things be clean, but it is evil to the man that eateth by offending.

21 It is good to not eat flesh, and to not drink wine, neither in what thing thy brother offendeth, or is caused to stumble, or is made sick, [or unsteadfast].

22 Thou hast faith with thyself, have thou before God. Blessed is he that deemeth not himself in that thing that he approveth.

23 For he that deemeth, is condemned [or is damned], if he eateth; for it, [his eating], is not of faith. And all thing that is not of faith, is sin.

CHAPTER 15

1 But we firmer men owe to sustain [or to bear up] the feeblenesses of sick men, [or unfirm in faith], and not [to] please to ourselves.

2 Each of us please to his neigh-bour in[to] good, to edification.

3 For Christ pleased not to himself, [but], as it is written, The reproofs, [or shames], of men despising thee, felled on me.

4 For whatever things be written, those be written to our teaching, that by patience and comfort of scriptures we have hope.

5 But God of patience and of solace give to you to understand the same thing, each into other, after Jesus Christ,

6 that ye of one will with one mouth worship God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7 For which thing take ye together, as also Christ took you into the honour of God.

8 For I say, that Jesus Christ was a minister of circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises of fathers.

9 And heathen men owe to honour God for mercy; as it is written, Therefore, Lord, I shall acknowledge to thee among heathen men, and I shall sing to thy name.

10 And again he saith, Ye heathen men, be ye glad [or joy] with his people.

11 And again, All heathen men, praise ye the Lord; and all peoples, magnify ye him.

12 And again Isaiah saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, that shall rise up to govern heathen men, and heathen men shall hope in him.

13 And God of hope full-fill you in all joy and peace in believing, that ye increase [or abound] in hope and virtue of the Holy Ghost.

14 And, brethren, I myself am certain of you, that also ye be full of love, and ye be [full]-filled with all knowing [or all science], so that ye may admonish each other.

15 And, brethren, more boldly I wrote to you a part, as bringing you into mind, for the grace that is given to me of God,

16 that I be the minister of Christ Jesus among heathen men. And I hallow the gospel of God, that the offering of heathen men be accepted [or be made acceptable], and hallowed in the Holy Ghost.

17 Therefore I have glory in Christ Jesus to God.

18 For I dare not speak anything of those things, which Christ doeth not by me, into obedience of heathen men, in word and deeds,

19 in virtue of tokens and great wonders, in virtue of the Holy Ghost, so that from Jerusalem by compass to the Illyricum sea [or till unto Illyricum], I have [full]-filled the gospel of Christ.

20 And so I have preached this gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I build upon another’s ground,

21 but as it is written, For to whom it is not told of him, they shall see, and they that heard not, shall understand.

22 For which thing I was hindered full much to come to you, and I am hindered till [to] this time.

23 And now I have not further place, [or cause of longer dwelling], in these countries, but I have desire to come to you, of many years that [now] be passed.

24 When I begin to pass into Spain, I hope that in my going I shall see you, and of you I shall be led thither, if I [shall] use you first in part.

25 Therefore now I shall pass forth to Jerusalem, to minister to saints.

26 For Macedonia and Achaia have assayed to make some gift, [or some collection, or gathering of money], to poor men of saints, that be in Jerusalem.

27 For it pleased to them, and they be debtors of them; for if heathen men be made partners of their ghostly things, they owe also in fleshly things to minister to them.

28 Therefore when I have ended this thing, and have assigned to them this fruit, I shall pass by you into Spain.

29 And I know, that I coming to you, shall come in the abundance, [or plenty], of the blessing of Christ.

30 Therefore, brethren, I beseech you by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the charity of the Holy Ghost, that ye help me in your prayers [for me] to the Lord,

31 that I be delivered from the unfaithful men, that be in Judea, and that the offering of my service be accepted in Jerusalem to saints;

32 that I come to you in joy, by the will of God, and that I be refreshed with you.

33 And God of peace be with you all. Amen.

CHAPTER 16

1 And I commend to you Phebe, our sister, which is in the service of the church that is at Cenchrea,

2 that ye receive her in the Lord worthily to saints, and that ye help her in whatever cause she shall need of you. For she hath helped many men, and myself.

3 Greet Priscilla and Aquila, mine helpers in Christ Jesus,

4 which under-putted their necks for my life; to whom not I alone do thankings, but also all the churches of heathen men.

5 And greet ye well their menial church [or their home-church]. Greet well Epaenetus, beloved to me, that is the first of Asia in Christ, Jesus.

6 Greet well Mary, the which hath travailed much in us.

7 Greet well Andronicus and Junia, my cousins, and mine even-prisoners, which be noble among the apostles, and which were before me in Christ.

8 Greet well Amplias, most dear-worthy to me in the Lord.

9 Greet well Urbane, our helper in Christ Jesus, and Stachys, my darling [or my beloved].

10 Greet well Apelles, the noble in Christ [or noble in Christ]. Greet well them that be of Aristobulus’ house.

11 Greet well Herodion, my cousin. Greet well them that be of Narcissus’ house, that be in the Lord.

12 Greet well Tryphena and Tryphosa, which women travail in the Lord. Greet well Persis, most dearworthy woman, that hath travailed much in the Lord.

13 Greet well Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, and mine.

14 Greet well Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and brethren that be with them.

15 Greet well Philologus, and Julia, and Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints that be with them.

16 Greet ye well together in holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you well.

17 But, brethren, I pray you, that ye espy them that make dissensions and hurtings [or offences], besides the doctrine that ye have learned, and bow away from them.

18 For such men serve not to the Lord Christ, but to their womb, and by sweet words and blessings deceive the hearts of innocent men.

19 But your obedience is published into every place, therefore I have joy in you. But I will, that ye be wise in good thing, and simple in evil.

20 And God of peace tread Satan under your feet swiftly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

21 Timothy, mine helper, greeteth you well, and also Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my cousins.

22 I Tertius greet you well, that wrote this epistle, in the Lord.

23 Gaius, mine host, greeteth you well, and all the church. Erastus, treasurer, [or keeper], of the city, greeteth you well, and Quartus [the] brother.

24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

25 And honour and glory be to him, that is mighty to confirm you by my gospel, and preaching of Jesus Christ, by the revelation of mystery held still, [that is, not showed], in times ever-lasting;

26 which mystery is now made open by scriptures of prophets, by the commandment of God without begin-ning and ending, to the obedience of faith in all heathen men,

27 the mystery known by Jesus Christ to God alone wise [or the mystery known to God alone wise by Jesus Christ], to whom be honour and glory into worlds of worlds. Amen.

1ST CORINTHIANS

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1ST CORINTHIANS

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, called apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Sosthenes, brother,

2 to the church of God that is at Corinth, to them that be hallowed in Christ Jesus, and called saints, with all that inwardly call [or in-call] the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in each place of them and of ours,

3 grace to you and peace of God, our Father, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I do thankings to my God ever-more for you, in the grace of God that is given to you in Christ Jesus.

5 For in all things ye be made rich in him, in each word, and in each knowing, [or science],

6 as the witnessing of Christ is confirmed in you;

7 so that nothing fail to you in any grace, that abide the showing [or the revelation] of our Lord Jesus Christ;

8 which also shall confirm you into the end without crime, [or great sin], in the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 A true God [or Forsooth God is true], by whom ye be called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

10 But, brethren, I beseech you, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all say the same thing, and that dissensions, [or schisms, or divisions, or discords], be not among you; but be ye perfect in the same wit, and in the same knowing.

11 For, my brethren, it is told to me of them that be at Chloe’s, that strives be among you.

12 And I say that, that each of you saith, For I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I am of Cephas, [that is, Peter], but I am of Christ.

13 Whether Christ is parted? whether Paul was crucified for you, either ye be baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I do thankings to my God, that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

15 lest any man say, that ye be baptized in my name.

16 And I baptized also the house of Stephanas, but I know not, that I baptized any other.

17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel [or to evangelize]; not in wisdom of word, that the cross of Christ be not voided away.

18 For the word of the cross is folly to them that perish; but to them that be made safe, that is to say, to us, it is the virtue of God.

19 For it is written, I shall destroy the wisdom of wise men, and I shall reprove the prudence of prudent men.

20 Where is the wise man? where is the wise lawyer? [or where is the writer, or the man of law?] where is the purchaser of this world? Whether God hath not made the wisdom of this world fond? [or foolish?]

21 For the world, in wisdom of God, knew not God by wisdom, [or For why for in the wisdom of God, the world knew not God by wisdom], it pleased to God, by [the] folly of preaching, to make them safe that believed.

22 For Jews seek signs, and Greeks seek wisdom;

23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews cause of stumbling, and to heathen men folly;

24 but to those Jews and Greeks that be called, we preach Christ the virtue of God, and the wisdom of God.

25 For that that is folly thing of God, is wiser than men; and that that is the feeble, [or frail], thing of God, is stronger than men.

26 But, brethren, see ye your calling; for not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble.

27 But God chose those things that be fond [or foolish] of the world, to confound wise men; and God chose the feeble, [or frail], things of the world, to confound the strong things;

28 and God chose the unnoble things and despisable things of the world, and those things that be not, to destroy those things that be;

29 that each man have not glory in his sight.

30 But of him ye be in Christ Jesus, which is made of God to us wisdom, and rightwiseness, and holiness, and again-buying;

31 that, as it is written, He that glorieth, have glory in the Lord.

CHAPTER 2

1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not in the highness of word, either of wisdom, telling, [or showing], to you the witnessing of Christ.

2 For I deemed not me to know anything among you, but Christ Jesus, and him crucified.

3 And I in sickness, and dread, and in much trembling, was among you [or was with you];

4 and my word and my preaching was not in subtly stirring [or persuad-able] words of man’s wisdom, but in showing of Spirit and of virtue;

5 that your faith be not in the wisdom of men, but in the virtue of God.

6 For we speak wisdom among perfect men, but not wisdom of this world, neither of princes of this world, that be destroyed;

7 but we speak the wisdom of God in mystery, which wisdom is hid; which wisdom God before-ordained before worlds into our glory,

8 which none of the princes of this world knew; for if they had known, they should never have crucified the Lord of glory.

9 But as it is written, That eye saw not, nor ear heard, neither it ascended into the heart of man, what things God arrayed [or made ready before] to them that love him;

10 but God showed to us by his Spirit. For why the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11 And who of men knoweth, what things be of man, but the spirit of man that is in him? So what things be of God, no man knoweth, but the Spirit of God.

12 And we have not received the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God, that we know what things be given to us of God.

13 Which things we speak also, not in wise [or in taught] words of man’s wisdom, but in the doctrine of the Spirit, and make a likeness [or a comparison] of spiritual things to ghostly men.

14 For a beastly man perceiveth not those things that be of the Spirit of God; for it is folly to him, and he may not understand, for it is examined, [or assayed], ghostly.

15 But a spiritual man deemeth all things, and he is deemed of no man.

16 As it is written, And who knew the wit of the Lord, or who taught him? And we have the wit of Christ.

CHAPTER 3

1 And I, brethren, might not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshly men; as to little children in Christ,

2 I gave to you milk to drink, not meat; for ye might not yet under-stand, neither ye may now,

3 for yet ye be fleshly. For while envy and strife is among you, whether ye be not fleshly, and ye go after man?

4 For when some saith, I am of Paul, and another, But I am of Apollos, whether ye be not [fleshly] men?

5 What therefore is Apollos, and what Paul? They be ministers of him, to whom ye have believed; and to each man as God hath given.

6 I planted, Apollos moisted, but God gave increasing.

7 Therefore neither he that planteth is anything, neither he that moisteth, but God that giveth increasing.

8 And he that planteth, and he that moisteth, be one; and each shall take his own meed, after his travail.

9 For we be the helpers of God; ye be the earth-tilling of God, ye be the building of God.

10 After the grace of God that is given to me, as a wise master carpenter I setted the foundament; and another buildeth above. But each man see, how he buildeth above [or how and what things he buildeth upon].

11 For no man may set another foundament, except [or besides] that that is set, which is Christ Jesus.

12 For if any man buildeth over [or upon] this foundament, gold, silver, precious stones, sticks, hay, or stubble,

13 every man’s work shall be open; for the day of the Lord shall declare, for it shall be showed in fire; the fire shall prove the work of each man, what manner work it is.

14 If the work of any man dwell still, which he builded above [or upon], he shall receive meed.

15 If any man’s work burn, he shall suffer harm, either impairing; but he shall be safe, so nevertheless as by fire.

16 Know ye not, that ye be the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

17 And if any [man] defouleth the temple of God, God shall lose him; for the temple of God is holy, which ye be.

18 No man deceive himself. If any man among you is seen to be wise in this world, be he made a fool, that he be wise.

19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God; for it is written, I shall catch wise men in their fell wisdom, [or subtle guile];

20 and again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of wise men, for those be vain.

21 Therefore no man have glory in men. For all things be yours,

22 either Paul, either Apollos, either Cephas, either the world, either life, either death, either things present, either things to coming [or to come]; for all things be yours,

23 and ye be of Christ, and Christ is of God.

CHAPTER 4

1 So a man guess, [or deem], us as ministers of Christ, and dispensers of the mysteries of God.

2 Now it is sought here among the dispensers, that a man be found true.

3 And to me it is for the least thing, that I be deemed of you, or of man’s day, [that is, here in this life]; but neither I deem myself.

4 For I am nothing over-trusting, [or guilty], to myself, but not in this thing I am justified; for he that deemeth me, is the Lord.

5 Therefore do not ye deem before the time, till that the Lord come, which shall lighten the hid things of darknesses, and shall show the counsels of hearts; and then praising shall be to each man of God.

6 And, brethren, I have transfigured these things into me and into Apollos, for you; that in us ye learn, lest over that it is written [or over that that is written], one against another be blown with pride for another [man].

7 Who deemeth thee? And what hast thou, that thou hast not received? And if thou hast received, what gloriest thou, as thou haddest not received?

8 Now ye be [full]-filled, now ye be made rich; ye reign without us; and I would that ye reign, that also we reign with you.

9 And I guess, that God showed us the last apostles, as those that be sent to the death; for we be made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men.

10 We fools for Christ, but ye prudent in Christ; we sick, but ye strong; ye noble, but we unnoble.

11 Till into this hour we hunger, and thirst, and be naked, and be smitten with buffets, and we be unstable, [moving from place to place],

12 and we travail working with our hands; we be cursed, and we bless; we suffer persecution, and we abide long;

13 we be blasphemed, and we beseech; as cleansings of this world we be made the out-casting of all things till yet.

14 I write not these things, that I confound you, but I warn you as my most dearworthy sons.

15 For why if ye have ten thousand of undermasters in Christ, but not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have engendered you by the gospel.

16 Therefore, brethren, I pray you, be ye followers of me, as I of Christ.

17 Therefore I sent to you Timothy, which is my most dearworthy son, and faithful in the Lord, which shall teach you my ways, that be in Christ Jesus; as I teach everywhere in each church.

18 As though I should not come to you, so some be blown with pride;

19 but I shall come to you soon, if God will; and I shall know not the word of them that be blown with pride, but the virtue.

20 For the realm of God is not in word, but in virtue.

21 What will ye? Shall I come to you in a rod, or in charity, and in a spirit of mildness?

CHAPTER 5

1 Yet all manner of fornication is heard among you, and such fornication, which is not among heathen men, so that some man have the wife of his father.

2 And ye be swollen [or blown] with pride, and not more had wailing, that he that did this work, be taken away from the middle of you.

3 And I absent in body, but present in spirit, now have deemed, as present, him that hath thus wrought,

4 when ye be gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and my spirit, with the virtue of the Lord Jesus,

5 to betake such a man to Satan, into the perishing of flesh, that the spirit be safe in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not, that a little sourdough impaireth [or corrupteth] all the gobbet?

7 Cleanse ye out the old sourdough, that ye be new sprinkling together, as ye be therf, [or without souring]. For Christ offered is our pask.

8 Therefore eat we, not in old sourdough, neither in sourdough of malice and waywardness, but in therf things of clearness, and of truth.

9 I wrote to you in an epistle, that ye be not meddled, [or mingled, or commune not], with lechers,

10 not with lechers of this world, nor with covetous men, nor raveners, nor with men serving to maumets [or to idols], else ye should have gone out of this world.

11 But now I have written to you, that ye be not meddled, [or mingled, or commune not with such]. If he that is named a brother among you, and is a lecher, or covetous, or serving to idols, or a curser, or full of drunkenness, or a ravener, to take no meat with such.

12 For what is it to me to deem of them that be withoutforth? Whether ye deem not of things [or of them] that be withinforth?

13 For God shall deem them that be withoutforth. Do ye away evil from yourselves.

CHAPTER 6

1 Dare any of you that hath a cause against another, be deemed at wicked men, and not at holy men [or saints]?

2 Whether ye know not, that saints shall deem this world? And if the world shall be deemed by you, be ye unworthy to deem the least things?

3 Know ye not, that we shall deem angels? how much more worldly things?

4 Therefore if ye have worldly dooms, ordain ye those contemptible men, [or of little reputation], that be in the church, to deem.

5 I say to make you ashamed [or I say to your shame]. So there is not any wise man, that may deem betwixt a brother and his brother;

6 but brother with brother striveth in doom, and that among unfaithful men.

7 And now trespass is always among you, for ye have dooms among you. Why rather take ye not wrong? why rather suffer ye not deceit [or fraud]?

8 But also ye do wrong, and do fraud [or and defraud], and that to brethren.

9 Whether ye know not, that wicked men shall not wield the kingdom of God? Do not ye err; neither lechers, neither men that serve maumets [or idols], neither adulterers, neither lechers against kind, neither they that do lechery with men,

10 neither thieves, neither avaricious [or covetous] men, neither men full of drunkenness, neither cursers, neither raveners, shall wield the kingdom of God.

11 And ye were sometime these things; but ye be washed, but ye be hallowed, but ye be justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.

12 All things be leaveful to me, but not all things be speedful. All things be leaveful to me, but I shall not be brought down under any man’s power.

13 Meat to the womb, and the womb to meats; and God shall destroy both this and that. And the body not to fornication, but to the Lord, and the Lord to the body.

14 For God raised the Lord, and shall raise us by his virtue.

15 Know ye not, that your bodies be members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and shall I make them the members of a whore? God forbid.

16 Whether ye know not, that he that cleaveth to a whore, is made one body? For he saith, There shall be twain in one flesh.

17 And he that cleaveth to the Lord, is one Spirit.

18 Flee ye fornication; all sin what-ever sin a man doeth, is without the body; but he that doeth fornication, sinneth against his body.

19 Whether ye know not, that your members be the temple of the Holy Ghost, that is in you, whom ye have of God, and ye be not your own?

20 For ye be bought with great price. Glorify ye, and bear ye God in your body.

CHAPTER 7

1 But of those things that ye have written to me, it is good to a man to touch not a woman.

2 But for fornication each man have his own wife, and each woman have her own husband.

3 The husband yield debt to the wife, and also the wife to the husband.

4 The woman hath not power of her body, but the husband; and the husband hath not power of his body, but the woman [or the wife].

5 Do not ye defraud each to other, but peradventure of consent for a time, that ye give attention to prayer; and again turn again to the same thing, lest Satan tempt you for your uncontinence.

6 But I say this thing as giving leave [or by indulgence], not by command-ment.

7 For I will, that all men be as myself. But each man hath his proper gift of God; one thus, and another thus.

8 But I say to them, that be not wedded, and to widows, it is good to them, if they dwell so as I.

9 And if they contain not them-selves, [or be not chaste], be they wedded; for it is better to be wedded, than to be burnt.

10 But to them that be joined in matrimony, I command, not I, but the Lord, that the wife depart not from the husband;

11 and that if she departeth, that she dwell unwedded, or be reconciled to her husband; and the husband forsake not the wife.

12 But to others I say, not the Lord. If any brother hath an unfaithful, [or heathen], wife, and she consenteth to dwell with him, leave he her not.

13 And if any woman hath an unfaithful husband, and this consenteth to dwell with her, leave she not the husband.

14 For the unfaithful husband is hallowed by the faithful woman, and the unfaithful woman is hallowed by the faithful husband. Else your children were unclean, but now they be holy.

15 That if the unfaithful departeth, depart he. For why the brother or sister is not subject to servage in such; for God hath called us in peace.

16 And whereof knowest thou, woman, if thou shalt make the man safe; or whereof knowest thou, man, if thou shalt make the woman safe?

17 But as the Lord hath parted to each, and as God hath called each man, so go he, as I teach in all churches.

18 A man circumcised is called, bring he not to prepuce. A man is called in prepuce, be he not circumcised.

19 Circumcision is nought, and prepuce is nought, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

20 Each man in what calling he is called, in that dwell he.

21 Thou [a] servant art called, be it no charge to thee; but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.

22 He that is a servant, and is called in the Lord, is a free man of the Lord. Also he that is a free man, and is called, is the servant of Christ.

23 With price ye be bought; do not ye be made servants of men.

24 Therefore each man in what thing he is called a brother, dwell he in this with God.

25 But of virgins I have no command-ment of God; but I give counsel, as he that hath gotten mercy of the Lord, that I be true.

26 Therefore I guess, that this thing is good for the present need; for it is good to [or for] a man to be so.

27 Thou art bound to a wife, do not thou seek unbinding; thou art unbound from a wife, do not thou seek a wife.

28 But if thou hast taken a wife, thou hast not sinned; and if a maiden is wedded, she sinned not; nevertheless such shall have tribulation of flesh. But I spare you.

29 Therefore, brethren, I say this thing, The time is short. Another is this, that they that have wives, be as though they had none;

30 and they that weep, as they wept not; and they that joy, as they joyed not; and they that buy, as they had not;

31 and they that use this world, as they that use [it] not. For why the figure, [or fairness], of this world passeth.

32 But I will, that ye be without busyness, for he that is without wife, is busy what things be of the Lord, how he shall please God.

33 But he that is with a wife, is busy what things be of the world, how he shall please the wife [or his wife], and he is parted.

34 And a woman unwedded and [a] maiden thinketh what things be of the Lord, that she be holy in body and spirit. But she that is wedded, thinketh what things be of the world, how she shall please the husband [or her husband].

35 And I say these things to your profit, not that I cast to you a snare, but to that that is seemly, and that giveth easiness [or facility], without hindering to make prayers, [or to beseech], to the Lord.

36 And if any man guesseth himself to be seen foul on his virgin, that she is full waxen [or is well old], and so it behooveth to be done, do she that that she will [or what he will]; she sinneth not, if she be wedded, [+or s/he sinneth not, if s/he be wedded].

37 For he that ordained stably, [or steadfastly], in his heart, not having need, but having power of his will, and hath deemed in his heart this thing, to keep his virgin [or his virginity], doeth well.

38 Therefore he that joineth his virgin in matrimony, doeth well; and he that joineth not, doeth better.

39 The woman is bound to the law, as long time as her husband liveth; and if her husband is dead, she is delivered from the law of the husband, be she wedded to whom she will, only in the Lord.

40 But she shall be more blessed, if she dwelleth thus, after my counsel; and I ween, that I have the Spirit of God.

CHAPTER 8

1 But of these things that be sacrificed to idols, we know, for all we have knowing. But knowing [or science], bloweth [with pride], charity edifieth.

2 But if any man guesseth, [or deem], that he knoweth anything, he hath not yet known how it behooveth him to know.

3 And if any man loveth God, this is known of him.

4 But of meats that be offered to idols, we know, that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one.

5 For though there be some that be said gods, either in heaven, either in earth, as there be many gods, and many lords;

6 nevertheless to us is one God, the Father, of whom be all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom be all things, and we by him.

7 But not in all men is knowing. For some men with conscience of idol, that is, they guess that the idol is some divine thing, till now eat as thing offered to idols; and their conscience is defouled, for it is sick.

8 Meat commendeth us not to God; for neither we shall fail, if we eat not, neither if we eat, we shall have plenty [or we shall abound].

9 But see ye, lest peradventure this your leave [or license] be made hurting to sick men, [or frail].

10 For if any man shall see him, that hath knowing, eating in a place where idols be worshipped, whether his conscience, since it is sick, shall not be edified to eat things offered to idols?

11 And the sick, [or unsteadfast], brother, for whom Christ died, shall perish in thy knowing.

12 For thus ye sinning against brethren, and smiting their sick conscience, sin against Christ.

13 Wherefore if meat causeth my brother to stumble, I shall never eat flesh, lest I cause my brother to stumble.

CHAPTER 9

1 Whether I am not free? Am I not apostle? Whether I saw not Jesus Christ, our Lord? Whether ye be not my work in the Lord?

2 And though to others I am not apostle, but nevertheless to you I am; for ye be the little sign of mine apostlehood in the Lord.

3 My defence to them that ask me, that is [or is this].

4 Whether we have not power to eat and drink?

5 Whether we have not power to lead about a woman, a sister, as also other apostles, and brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?

6 Or I alone and Barnabas have not power to work these things?

7 Who travaileth any time with his own [soldier’s] wages? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of his fruit? Who keepeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?

8 Whether after man I say these things? whether also the law saith not these things?

9 For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not bind [up] the mouth of the ox that thresheth. Whether of oxen is charge to God?

10 Whether for us he saith these things? For why those be written for us; for he that eareth, oweth to ear in hope, and he that thresheth, in hope to take fruits.

11 If we sow spiritual things to you, is it great, if we reap your fleshly things?

12 If others be partners of your power, why not rather we? But we use not this power, but we suffer all things, that we give no hindering to the evangel of Christ.

13 Know ye not, that they that work in the temple, eat those things that be of the temple, and they that serve to the altar, be partners of the altar?

14 So the Lord ordained to them that tell the gospel, to live of the gospel.

15 But I used none of these things; and I wrote not these things, that they be done so in me; for it is good rather for me to die, than that any man avoid my glory.

16 For if I preach the gospel, glory is not to me, for need-like I must do it; for woe to me, if I preach not the gospel.

17 But if I do this thing willfully [or willingly], I have meed; but if against my will, dispensing [or dispensation] is betaken to me.

18 What then is my meed? That I preaching the gospel, put the gospel without others’ cost, [or expense, either taking of sustenance therefore], that I use [or mis-use] not my power in the gospel.

19 For why when I was free of all men, I made me servant of all men, to win the more men [or that I should win more men].

20 And to Jews I am made as a Jew, to win the Jews; to them that be under the law, as I were under the law, when I was not under the law, to win them that were under the law;

21 to them that were without law, as I were without law, when I was not without [the] law of God, but I was in the law of Christ, to win them that were without [the] law.

22 I am made sick to sick men, to win sick men; to all men I am made all things, to make all men safe.

23 But I do all things for the gospel, that I be made partner of it.

24 Know ye not, that they that run in a furlong, all run, but one taketh the prize? So run ye, that ye catch.

25 Each man that striveth in fight, abstaineth him from all things; and they, that they take a corruptible crown, but we an uncorrupt.

26 Therefore I run so, not as to an uncertain thing; thus I fight, not as beating the air;

27 but I chastise my body, and bring it into servage [or servitude]; lest peradventure when I preach to others, I myself be made reprovable.

CHAPTER 10

1 Brethren, I will not, that ye unknow, that all our fathers were under [a] cloud, and all passed the sea;

2 and all were baptized in Moses, in the cloud and in the sea;

3 and all ate the same spiritual meat,

4 and all drank the same spiritual drink; and they drank of the spiritual stone following them; and the stone was Christ.

5 But not in full many of them it was well pleasant to God; for why they were cast down in [the] desert.

6 But these things were done in figure of us, that we be not coveters of evil things, as they coveted.

7 Neither be ye made idolaters, as some of them; as it is written, The people sat to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.

8 Neither do we fornication, as some of them did fornication, and three and twenty thousand were dead in one day.

9 Neither tempt we Christ, as some of them tempted, and perished of serpents.

10 Neither grutch ye, as some of them grutched, and they perished of a destroyer [or of the waster].

11 And all these things fell to them in figure; but they be written to our amending [or correction], into whom the ends of the worlds be come [or the ends of the world have come].

12 Therefore he that guesseth him, that he standeth, see he, that he fall not.

13 Temptation take not you, but man’s temptation; for God is true, which shall not suffer you to be tempted above that that ye may; but he shall make with temptation also purveyance, that ye may suffer [or sustain].

14 Wherefore, ye most dearworthy to me, flee ye from the worshipping of maumets [or idols].

15 As to prudent men I speak, deem ye yourselves [or ye yourselves deem] that thing that I say.

16 Whether the cup of blessing which we bless, is not the communing of Christ’s blood? and whether the bread which we break, is not the part-taking of the body of the Lord?

17 For we many be one bread and one body, all we that take part of one bread and of one cup.

18 See ye Israel after the flesh, whether they that eat sacrifices, be not partners of the altar?

19 What therefore say I, that a thing that is offered to idols is anything, or that the idol is anything?

20 But those things that heathen men offer, they offer to devils, and not to God. But I will not, that ye be made fellows of fiends;

21 for ye may not drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of fiends; ye may not be partners of the board of the Lord, and of the board of fiends.

22 Whether we have envy to the Lord? whether we be stronger than he?

23 All things be leaveful to me, but not all things be speedful. All things be leaveful to me, but not all things edify.

24 No man seek that thing that is his own, but that thing that is of another.

25 All thing that is sold in the butchery, eat ye, asking nothing for conscience.

26 The earth and the plenty of it, is the Lord’s.

27 If any of heathen [or of unfaithful] men call you to supper, and ye will go, all thing that is set to you, eat ye, asking nothing for conscience.

28 But if any man saith, This thing is offered to idols, do not ye eat, for him that showed [this thing], and for conscience;

29 and I say not, thy conscience, but of another [man’s]. But whereto is my freedom [or my liberty] deemed of another man’s conscience?

30 Therefore if I take part with grace, what am I blasphemed, for that that I do thankings [or graces]?

31 Therefore whether ye eat, or drink, or do any other thing, do ye all things to the glory of God.

32 Be ye without offence to Jews, and to heathen men, and to the church of God;

33 as I by all things please to all men, not seeking that that [or what] is profitable to me, but that that is profitable to many men, that they be made safe.

CHAPTER 11

1 Be ye my followers, as I am of Christ.

2 And, brethren, I praise you, that by all things ye be mindful of me; and as I betook to you my commandments, ye hold [or ye keep].

3 But I will that ye know, that Christ is [the] head of each man; but the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

4 Each man praying, or prophesying, when his head is covered, defouleth his head.

5 But each woman praying, or prophesying, when her head is not covered, defouleth her head; for it is one, as if she were polled, [or were made bald, or clipped].

6 And if a woman be not covered [or veiled], be she polled; and if it is foul thing to a woman to be polled, or to be made bald, cover she her head.

7 But a man shall not cover his head, for he is the image and glory of God; but a woman is the glory of man.

8 For a man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man.

9 And the man is not made for the woman, but the woman for the man.

10 Therefore the woman shall have a covering on her head, also for angels.

11 Nevertheless neither the man is without the woman, neither the woman is without [the] man, in the Lord.

12 For why as the woman is of the man, so the man is by the woman; but all things be of God.

13 Deem ye yourselves; beseemeth [or becometh] it a woman not covered on the head to pray to God?

14 Neither the kind itself teacheth us [that], for if a man nourish long hair, it is shame to him;

15 but if a woman nourish long hair, it is glory to her, for hairs be given to her for covering.

16 But if any man is seen to be full of strife, we have none such custom, neither the church of God.

17 But this thing I command, not praising, that ye come together not into the better, but into the worse.

18 First for when ye come together into the church, I hear that dissensions, either partings, be, and in part I believe.

19 For it behooveth heresies to be, that they that be approved, be openly known in you.

20 Therefore when ye come together into one, now it is not to eat the Lord’s supper;

21 for why each man before taketh his supper to eat, and one is hungry, and another is drunken.

22 Whether ye have not houses to eat and drink, or ye despise the church of God, and confound, [or shame], them that have none? [or that have not?] What shall I say to you? I praise you, but herein [or in this thing] I praise you not.

23 For I have taken of the Lord that thing, which I have betaken to you. For the Lord Jesus, in what night he was betrayed, took bread,

24 and did thankings [or graces], and brake, and said, Take ye, and eat ye; this is my body, which shall be betrayed for you; do ye this thing into my mind.

25 Also [he took] the cup, after that he had supped, and said, This cup is the new testament in my blood; do ye this thing, as oft as ye shall drink [it], into my mind.

26 For as oft as ye shall eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye shall tell [or show] the death of the Lord, till that he come [or till he come].

27 Therefore whoever eateth the bread, or drinketh the cup of the Lord unworthily, he shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord.

28 But prove a man himself, and so eat he of that bread, and drink he of the cup.

29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh doom, [or damnation], to him[self], not wisely deeming the body of the Lord.

30 Therefore among you many be sick and feeble [or unstrong], and many sleep, [or die].

31 And if we deemed wisely us-selves, we should not be deemed;

32 but while we be deemed of the Lord, we be chastised, that we be not condemned with this world.

33 Therefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, abide ye together.

34 If any man hungereth, eat he at home, that ye come not together into doom. And I shall dispose other things, when I come.

CHAPTER 12

1 But of spiritual things, brethren, I will not that ye unknow.

2 For ye know, that when ye were heathen men, how ye were led going to dumb maumets [or dumb simulacra].

3 Therefore I make known to you, that no man speaking in the Spirit of God, saith departing from Jesus; and no man may say the Lord Jesus [is], but in the Holy Ghost.

4 And diverse graces there be, but it is all one Spirit;

5 and diverse services there be, but it is all one Lord;

6 and diverse workings there be, but it is all one God, that worketh all things in all things.

7 And to each man the showing of Spirit is given to profit.

8 And the word of wisdom is given to one by Spirit; to another the word of knowing, by the same Spirit;

9 faith to another, in the same Spirit; to another, grace of healings [or of healths], in one Spirit;

10 to another, the working of virtues; to another, prophecy; to another, very knowing [or discretion] of spirits; to another, kinds of languages [or tongues]; to another, expounding [or interpreting] of words.

11 And one and the same Spirit worketh all these things, parting to each by themselves as he will.

12 For as there is one body, and hath many members, and all the members of the body when those [or they] be many, be one body, so also Christ.

13 For in one Spirit all we be baptized into one body, either Jews, either heathen, either servants, either free; and all we be filled with drink [or have drunk] in one Spirit.

14 For the body is not one member, but many.

15 If the foot shall say, For I am not the hand, I am not of the body; not therefore it is not of the body.

16 And if the ear saith, For I am not the eye, I am not of the body; not therefore it is not of the body.

17 If all the body is the eye, where is [the] hearing? and if all the body is hearing, where is [the] smelling?

18 But now God hath set [or put] members, and each of them in the body, as he would.

19 And if all were one member, where were the body?

20 But now there be many members, but one body.

21 And the eye may not say to the hand, I have no need to thy works; or again the head to the feet, Ye be not necessary to me.

22 But much more those that be seen to be the lower members of the body, [or the more sick], be more needful;

23 and those that we guess to be the unworthier [or the unnobler] members of the body, to them we give more honour; and those members that be unhonest, have more honesty.

24 For our honest members have need of none; but God tempered the body, giving more worship to it, to whom it failed,

25 that debate be not in the body, but that the members be busy into the same thing each for other [or for each other].

26 And if one member suffereth any-thing, all members suffer therewith; either if one member joyeth [or glorieth], all members joy together.

27 And ye be the body of Christ, and members of member.

28 But God set some men in the church, first apostles, the second time prophets [or the second prophets], the third teachers, afterward virtues, afterward graces of healings, helpings, governings, kinds of languages, interpretations of words.

29 Whether all [be] apostles? whether all [be] prophets? whether all teachers? whether all virtues?

30 whether all have grace of healings? whether all speak with languages? whether all expound [or interpret]?

31 But pursue ye the better ghostly gifts. And yet I show to you a more excellent, [or worthy], way.

CHAPTER 13

1 If I speak with tongues of men and of angels, and I have not charity, I am made as brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling.

2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries, and all knowing, [or science], and if I have all faith, so that I move hills from their place, [or from one place to another], and I have not charity, I am nought.

3 And if I part all my goods into the meats of poor men, and if I betake my body, so that I burn, and if I have not charity, it profiteth to me nothing.

4 Charity is patient, it is benign; charity envieth not, it doeth not wickedly, it is not blown [with pride],

5 it is not covetous, [or ambitious, or covetous of worships], it seeketh not those things that be his own [or her own], it is not stirred to wrath, it thinketh not evil,

6 it joyeth not on [or in] wicked-ness, but it joyeth together to [or with] truth;

7 it suffereth all things, it believeth all things, it hopeth all things, it sustaineth all things.

8 Charity falleth never down, whether prophecies shall be voided, either languages shall cease, either science shall be destroyed.

9 For a part we know, and a part we prophesy;

10 but when that shall come that is perfect, that thing that is of part shall be voided.

11 When I was a little child, I spake as a little child, I understood as a little child, I thought as a little child; but when I was made a man, I avoided/I voided those things that were of a little child.

12 And we see now by a mirror in darkness, but then face to face; now I know of part, but then I shall know, as I am known.

13 And now dwell faith, hope, charity, these three; but the most of these is charity.

CHAPTER 14

1 Pursue ye charity, love ye spiritual things, but more that ye prophesy.

2 And he that speaketh in tongue, speaketh not to men, but to God; for no man heareth. But the Spirit speaketh mysteries.

3 For he that prophesieth, speaketh to men to edification, and admonishing, and comforting.

4 He that speaketh in tongue, that is, in strange language, edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth, edifieth the church of God.

5 And I will, that all ye speak in tongues, but more that ye prophesy. For he that prophesieth, is more than he that speaketh in languages, [or in tongues]; but peradventure he expound, [or interpret, or declare], that the church take edification.

6 But now, brethren, if I come to you, and speak in tongues, what shall I [or it] profit to you, but if I speak to you either in revelation, either in science, either in prophecy, either in teaching?

7 For those things that be without soul, [or life], and giveth voices, either pipe, either harp, but those [or they] give distinction of soundings, how shall it be known that that is sung, either that that is trumped [or is harped].

8 For if a trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall make himself ready to battle?

9 So but ye give an open word by tongue, how shall that that is said be known? For ye shall be speaking in vain [or in the air].

10 There be many kinds of languages [or tongues] in this world, and nothing is without voice.

11 But if I know not the virtue of a voice, I shall be to him, to whom I shall speak, a barbaric; and he that speaketh to me, shall be a barbaric.

12 So ye, for ye be lovers of spirits, [that is, of ghostly gifts], seek ye that ye be plenteous to edification of the church.

13 And therefore he that speaketh in language [or in tongue], pray, that he expound [or interpret].

14 For if I pray in tongue, my spirit prayeth; mine understanding, [or my mind, or reasoning], is without fruit.

15 What then? I shall pray in spirit, I shall pray in mind; I shall say psalm in spirit, I shall say psalm also in mind.

16 For if thou blessest in spirit, who filleth the place of an idiot, [or unlearned man], how shall he say Amen on thy blessing, for he knoweth not, what thou sayest?

17 For thou doest well thankings [or graces], but another man is not edified.

18 I thank my God, for I speak in the language [or the tongue] of all you;

19 but in the church I will speak five words in my wit, that also I teach other men, than ten thousand words in tongue [not understood].

20 Brethren, do not ye be made children in wits, but in malice be ye children; but in wits be ye perfect.

21 For in the law it is written, That in other tongues and other lips I shall speak to this people, and neither so they shall hear me, saith the Lord.

22 Therefore languages be into token, not to faithful men, but to men out of the faith; but prophecies be not to men out of the faith, but to faithful men.

23 Therefore if all the church come together into one, and all men speak in tongues, if idiots, either men out of the faith, enter, whether they shall not say, What, be ye mad?

24 But if all men prophesy, if any unfaithful man or idiot enter, he is convicted of all, he is wisely deemed of all.

25 For the hid things of his heart be known, and so he shall fall down on the face, and shall worship God, and show verily that God is in you.

26 What then, brethren? When ye come together, each of you hath a psalm, he hath teaching, he hath apocalypse, [or revelation], he hath tongue, he hath expounding [or interpreting]; all things be they done to edification.

27 Whether a man speaketh in tongue, [be this done] by two men, either three at the most, and by parts, that one interpret.

28 But if there be not an interpreter, be he still [or speak he not] in the church, and speak he to himself and to God.

29 Prophets twain or three say, and others wisely deem.

30 But if anything be showed to a sitter [or one sitting], the former be still.

31 For ye may all prophesy, each by himself, that all men learn, and all admonish.

32 And the spirits of prophets be subject to prophets;

33 for why God is not of dissension, but of peace; as I teach in all churches of holy men.

34 Women in churches be still; for it is not suffered to them to speak, but to be subject, as the law saith.

35 But if they will anything learn, ask they their husbands at home; for it is foul thing to a woman to speak in the church.

36 Whether the word of God came forth of you, or to you alone it came?

37 If any man is seen to be a prophet, or spiritual, know he those things that I write to you, for those [or they] be the commandments of the Lord.

38 And if any man unknoweth, he shall be unknowing.

39 Therefore, brethren, love ye to prophesy, and do not ye forbid to speak in tongues.

40 But be all things done honestly, and by due order in you.

CHAPTER 15

1 Soothly, brethren, I make the gospel known to you, which I have preached to you, which also ye have taken, in which ye stand,

2 by which also ye shall be saved; by which reason I have preached to you, if ye hold, if ye have not believed idly.

3 For I betook to you at the beginning [or in the first] that thing which also I have received; that Christ was dead for our sins, by the scriptures;

4 and that he was buried, and that he rose again in the third day, after [the] scriptures;

5 and that he was seen to Cephas, and after these things to eleven;

6 afterward he was seen to more than five hundred brethren together, of which many live yet, but some be dead;

7 afterward he was seen to James, and afterward to all the apostles.

8 And last of all he was seen also to me, as to a dead-born child.

9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not worthy to be called apostle, for I pursued the church of God.

10 But by the grace of God I am that thing that I am; and his grace was not void in me. For I travailed more plenteously than all they; but not I, but the grace of God with me.

11 But whether I, or they, so we have preached, and so ye have believed.

12 And if Christ is preached, that he rose again from death, how say some men among you, that the again-rising of dead men is not?

13 And if the again-rising of dead men is not, neither Christ rose again from death.

14 And if Christ rose not, our preaching is vain, our faith is vain.

15 And we be found false witnesses of God, for we have said witnessing against God, that he raised Christ, whom he raised not, if dead men rise not again.

16 For why if dead men rise not again, neither Christ rose again;

17 and if Christ rose not again, our faith is vain; and yet ye be in your sins.

18 And then they that have died [or slept] in Christ, have perished.

19 If in this life only we be hoping in Christ, we be more wretches than all men.

20 But now Christ hath risen [or rose] again from death, the first fruit of dead men;

21 for death was by a man, and by a man is again-rising from death.

22 And as in Adam all men die, so in Christ all men shall be quickened.

23 But each man in his order; the first fruit [or first fruits], Christ, afterward they that be of Christ, that believed in the coming of Christ;

24 afterward an end, when he shall betake the kingdom to God and to the Father, when he shall void all princehood, and power, and virtue.

25 But it behooveth him to reign, till he put all his enemies under his feet.

26 And at the last, death the enemy shall be destroyed;

27 for he hath made subject all things under his feet. And when he saith, all things be subject to him, without doubt except him that subjected all things to him.

28 And when all things be subjected to him, then the Son himself shall be subject to him, that made all things subject to him, that God be all things in all things.

29 Else what shall they do, that be baptized for dead men, if in no wise dead men rise again? whereto be they baptized for them?

30 And whereto be we in peril every hour?

31 Each day I die for your glory, brethren, which glory I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

32 If after man I have fought to beasts, [or against beasts], at Ephesus, what profiteth it to me, if dead men rise not again? Eat we, and drink we, for we shall die tomorrow [or tomorrow forsooth we shall die].

33 Do not ye be deceived; for evil speeches, [or false doctrine], destroy good conduct [or corrupt good virtues].

34 Awake ye, just men, and do not ye do sin [or do not ye sin]; for some men have ignorance of God, but to reverence, that is, to your shame, I speak to you.

35 But some man saith, How shall dead men rise again, or in what manner body shall they come?

36 [O!] Unwise man, that thing that thou sowest, is not quickened, but it die first;

37 and that thing that thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that is to come, but a naked corn, as of wheat, or of some other seeds;

38 and God giveth to it a body, as he will, and to each of seeds a proper body.

39 Not each flesh is the same flesh, but one is of men, another is of beasts, another is of birds, another is of fishes.

40 And there be heavenly bodies, and there be earthly bodies; but one glory is of heavenly bodies, and another is of earthly [bodies].

41 Another clearness is of the sun, another clearness is of the moon, and another clearness is of the stars; and a star diverseth from a star in clearness.

42 And so the again-rising of dead men. It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in uncorruption;

43 it is sown in unnobleness, it shall rise in glory; it is sown in infirmity, it shall rise in virtue;

44 it is sown a beastly body, it shall rise a spiritual body. If there is a beastly body, there is also a spiritual body;

45 as it is written, The first man Adam was made into a soul living, the last Adam into a spirit quickening.

46 But the first is not that [body] that is spiritual, but that that is beast-like, afterward that that is spiritual.

47 The first man of earth is earthly; the second man of heaven is heavenly.

48 Such as the earthly man is, such be the earthly men; and such as the heavenly man is, such be also the heavenly men.

49 Therefore as we have borne the image of the earthly man, bear we also the image of the heavenly man.

50 Brethren, I say this thing, that flesh and blood may not wield the king-dom of God, neither corruption shall wield uncorruption [or incorruption].

51 Lo! I say to you private [or a mystery] of holy things. And all we shall rise again, but not all we shall be changed to the state of glory;

52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, in the last trump; for the trump shall sound, and dead men shall rise again, without corruption, and we shall be changed.

53 For it behooveth this corruptible thing to clothe uncorruption [or incorruption], and this deadly thing to put away [or to clothe] undeadliness.

54 But when this deadly thing shall clothe undeadliness, then shall the word be done [or fulfilled], that is written, Death is sopped up in victory.

55 Death, where is thy victory? Death, where is thy prick?

56 But the prick of death is sin; and the virtue of sin is the law.

57 But do we thankings to God, that gave to us victory by our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my dearworthy brethren, be ye steadfast, and unmoveable, being plenteous in work of the Lord, evermore witting that your travail is not idle in the Lord.

CHAPTER 16

1 But of the gatherings [or the collects]of money that be made into saints, as I have ordained in the churches of Galatia, so also do ye

2 one day of the week. Each of you keep, [or lay up], at himself, keeping that that pleaseth to him, that when I come, the gatherings be not made.

3 And when I shall be present, which men ye approve, I shall send them by epistles to bear your grace into Jerusalem.

4 That if it be worthy that also I go, they shall go with me.

5 But I shall come to you, when I shall pass by Macedonia; for why I shall pass by Macedonia.

6 But peradventure I shall dwell at you, or also dwell the winter, that ye lead me whither ever I shall go.

7 And I will not now see you in my passing, for I hope to dwell with you a while, if the Lord shall suffer.

8 But I shall dwell at Ephesus, unto Whitsuntide.

9 For a great door and an open [or evident] is opened to me, and many adversaries.

10 And if Timothy come, see ye that he be without dread with you, for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I.

11 Therefore no man despise him; but lead him forth in peace, that he come to me; for I abide him with brethren.

12 But, brethren, I make known to you of Apollos, that I prayed him much, that he should come to you, with brethren. But it was not his will to come now; but he shall come, when he shall have leisure [or it shall be able to him].

13 Walk ye, and stand ye in the faith; do ye manly, and be ye comforted in the Lord,

14 and be all your things done in charity.

15 And, brethren, I beseech you, ye know the house of Stephanas, and of Fortunatus, and Achaicus, for they be the first fruits of Achaia, and into ministry of saints they have ordained themselves;

16 that also ye be subjects to such, and to each working together and travailing.

17 For I have joy in the presence of Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus; for they [full]-filled that thing that failed to you;

18 for they have refreshed both my spirit and yours. Therefore know ye them, that be such manner men.

19 All the churches of Asia greet you well. Aquila and Priscilla, with their home-church, greet you much in the Lord, at the which also I am harboured.

20 All brethren greet you well. Greet ye well together in holy kiss.

21 My greeting by Paul’s hand.

22 If any man loveth not our Lord Jesus Christ, be he cursed, Maranatha, that is, in the coming of the Lord, or in the day of doom.

23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

24 My charity be with you all in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

2ND CORINTHIANS

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2ND CORINTHIANS

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, brother, to the church of God that is at Corinth, with all saints that be in all Achaia,

2 grace to you, and peace of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Father of mercies, and God of all comfort,

4 which comforteth us in all our tribulation, that also we may comfort them, that be in all dis-ease [or in all pressure] by the admonishing by which also we be admonished of God.

5 For as the passions of Christ be plenteous in us, so also by Christ our comfort is plenteous.

6 And whether we be in tribulation, [or be troubled, or be pursued], for your tribulation [or teaching] and health, either we be comforted, for your comfort, either we be admonished, for your admonishing and health. Which worketh in you the suffering of the same passions, which also we suffer,

7 that our hope be firm for you; witting for as ye be fellows of passions, so ye shall be also of comfort.

8 For, brethren, we will, that ye know of our tribulation, that was done in Asia; for over-measure we were grieved over-might [or above virtue], so that it distressed us, yea, to live.

9 But we in us-selves had answer, [or certainty], of death, that we trust not in us, but in God that raiseth dead men.

10 Which delivered us, and delivereth from so great perils, into whom we hope, also yet he shall deliver,

11 while also ye help in prayer for us; that of the persons of many faces of that giving that is in us, thankings [or graces] be done for us by many men to God.

12 For our glory is this, the witness-ing of our conscience, that in simple-ness and cleanness of God, and not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we lived in this world, but more plenteously to you.

13 And we write not other things to you, than those that ye have read and know, and I hope that into the end ye shall know,

14 as also ye have known us a part; for we be your glory, as also ye be ours in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 And in this trusting I would first come to you, that ye should have the second grace,

16 and pass by you into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia come to you, and of you be led into Judea.

17 But when I would this thing, whether I used unsteadfastness, either those things that I think, I think after the flesh, that at me be, it is and it is not? [or that there be at me, is and is not, or yea and nay?]

18 But God is true, for our word that was at you, is and is not, is not therein, but is is in it, [or there is not in it yea and nay/there is not in it is and nay, but is, that is truth, is in it].

19 For why Jesus Christ, the Son of God, which is preached among you by us, by me, and Silvanus, and Timothy, there was not in him, is and is not, but is was in him [or there was not in him yea and nay, but is, or yea, was in him/but in him was is].

20 For why how many ever be promises of God, in that is, be fulfilled, [or in him is, that is, they be fulfilled in him]. And therefore by him we say Amen to God, to our glory.

21 Soothly it is God that confirmeth us with you in Christ, and which anointed us,

22 and which marked us, and gave earnest [or a wed] of the Spirit in our hearts.

23 For I call God to witness against my soul, that I sparing you came not over to Corinth;

24 not that we be lords of your faith, but we be helpers of your joy; for through belief ye stand.

CHAPTER 2

1 And I ordained this [same] thing at me, that I should not come again in heaviness [or in sorrow] to you.

2 For if I make you sorry, [or heavy], who is he that gladdeth me, but he that is sorrowful of me?

3 And this same thing I wrote to you, that when I come, I have not sorrow on sorrow, of the which it behooved me to have joy. And I trust in you all, that my joy is of all you [or of you all].

4 For of much tribulation and anguish of heart I wrote to you by many tears, not that ye be sorry, but that ye know what charity I have more plenteously in you.

5 For if any man hath made me sorrowful, he hath not made me sorrowful but a part [or but in part], that I charge, [or dis-ease], not you all.

6 This blaming that is made of many, sufficeth to him, that is such one [or that is such a manner man];

7 so that on the contrary ye rather forgive and comfort, lest peradventure he that is such a manner man, be swallowed up, [or be sopped up, or despair], by more great heaviness.

8 For which thing I beseech you, that ye confirm charity into him.

9 For why therefore I wrote this, that I know your proof, whether in all things ye be obedient.

10 For to whom ye have forgiven anything, also I have forgiven. For I, that that I forgave, if I forgave anything, have forgiven for you in the person of Christ,

11 that we be not deceived of Satan; for we know his thoughts.

12 But when I was come to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and a door was opened to me in the Lord,

13 I had not rest to my spirit, for I found not my brother Titus, but I said to them farewell, and I passed into Macedonia.

14 And I do thankings to God, that evermore maketh us to have victory in Christ Jesus, and showeth by us the odour, [or savour, or sweetness], of his knowing in each place;

15 for we be the good odour, [or savour], of Christ to God, among these that be made safe, and among these that perish.

16 To others soothly, [we be] odour of death into death, but to the others we be odour of life into life. And to these things who is so able?

17 For we be not as [full] many, that do adultery by the word of God [or adulterating the word of God], but we speak of cleanness as of God, before God in Christ.

CHAPTER 3

1 Begin we therefore again to praise us-selves? or whether we need, as some men, epistles [or letters] of praising to you, or of you?

2 Ye be our epistle, written in our hearts, which is known and read of all men,

3 and [ye be] made open, for ye be the epistle of Christ ministered of us, and written, not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not in stone tables, but in fleshly tables of heart.

4 For we have such trust by Christ to God;

5 not that we be sufficient to think anything of us-[selves], as of us, but our sufficience is of God.

6 Which also made us able ministers of the new testament, not by letter, but by Spirit; for the letter slayeth, but the Spirit quickeneth.

7 And if the ministration of death written by letter in stones was in glory, so that the children of Israel might not behold into the face of Moses, for the glory of his face, which [glory] is voided,

8 how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be more in glory?

9 For if the ministration of condemnation was in glory, much more the ministration of rightwiseness is plenteous in glory.

10 For neither that that was clear was glorified in this part for the excellent glory;

11 and if that that is voided was by glory, much more that that dwelleth still is in glory.

12 Therefore we that have such hope, use much trust;

13 and not as Moses laid [or put] a veil on his face, that the children of Israel should not behold into his face, which veil is voided.

14 But the wits of them be astonied; for into this day the same veil in [the] reading of the old testament, dwelleth not showed, for it is voided in Christ,

15 but into this day, when Moses is read, the veil is put on their hearts.

16 But when Israel shall be converted to God, the veil shall be done away.

17 And the Spirit is the Lord; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. [Forsooth the Lord is a Spirit; forsooth where is the Spirit of God, there is liberty.]

18 And all we that with open face see the glory of the Lord, be transformed into the same image, from clearness into clearness, as of the Spirit of the Lord.

CHAPTER 4

1 Therefore we that have this administration, [or office], after this that we have gotten mercy, fail we not,

2 but do we away the privy things of shame, not walking in subtle guile, neither doing adultery by the word of God [or neither adulterating the word of God], but in showing of the truth commending us-selves to each conscience of men before God.

3 For if also our gospel is covered, or is hid, in these that perish it is covered;

4 in which [the] god of this world, that is, the devil, hath blinded the souls of unfaithful men, that the enlightening [or the lighting] of the gospel of the glory of Christ, which is the image of God, shine not.

5 But we preach not us-selves, but our Lord Jesus Christ [or but Jesus Christ our Lord]; and us your servants by Jesus.

6 For God, that said [the] light to shine of darknesses, he hath given light in our hearts, to the enlightening [or the illumining] of the science of the clearness of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 And we have this treasure in brittle vessels, that the worthiness [or the highness] be of God’s virtue, and not of us.

8 In all things we suffer tribulation, but we be not anguished, or annoyed; we be made poor, but we lack nothing [or we be not destitute];

9 we suffer persecution, but we be not forsaken; we be made low, but we be not confounded; we be cast down, but we perish not.

10 And evermore we bear about the slaying [or the mortifying] of Jesus in our body, that also the life of Jesus be showed in our bodies.

11 For evermore we that live, be taken into death, for Jesus, that the life of Jesus be showed in our deadly flesh.

12 Therefore death worketh in us, but life in you.

13 And we have the same spirit of faith, as it is written, I have believed, wherefore I have spoken; and we believe, wherefore also we speak;

14 witting that he that raised Jesus, shall raise up also us with Jesus, and shall ordain [us] with you.

15 And all things [be done] for you, that a plenteous grace by many thankings be plenteous into the glory of God. [Soothly all things be done for you, that grace being plenteous by many in doing of thanks be plenteous into glory of God.]

16 For which thing we fail not, for though our outer man be corrupted; nevertheless the inner man is renewed from day to day.

17 But that light, [or easy], thing of our tribulation that lasteth now, but as it were by a moment, worketh in us over-measure an everlasting burden [or an everlasting weight] into the highness of glory;

18 while that we behold not those things that be seen, but those [things] that be not seen. For those things that be seen, be but during for a short time [or temporal]; but those things that be not seen, be everlasting [or eternal].

CHAPTER 5

1 And we know, that if our earthly house of this dwelling be dissolved, that we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, ever-lasting in heavens.

2 For why in this thing we mourn, coveting to be clothed above with our dwelling, which is of heaven;

3 if nevertheless we be found clothed, and not naked.

4 For why we that be in this tabernacle, sorrow within, and be heavied [or be grieved], for that we will not be despoiled, but be clothed above; that that thing that is deadly, be sopped up of life.

5 But who is it that maketh us into this same thing? God, that gave to us the earnest, either wed, of the Spirit. [Forsooth he that maketh us into this same thing, is God, that gave to us the earnest, or a wed, of Spirit.]

6 Therefore we be hardy always, and know that the while we be in this body, we go in pilgrimage from the Lord;

7 for we walk by faith, and not by clear sight.

8 But we be hardy, and have good will, more to be in pilgrimage from the body, and to be present to God.

9 And therefore we strive, whether absent, whether present, to please him.

10 For it behooveth us all to be showed before the throne of Christ, that every man tell [or receive] the proper things of the body, as he hath done, either good, either evil.

11 Therefore we witting the dread of the Lord, counsel men, for to God we be open; and I hope, that we be open also in your consciences.

12 We commend not us-selves again to you, but we give to you occasion to have glory for us, that ye have [understanding] to them that glory in the face, and not in the heart.

13 For either we by mind [or by reason] pass, [it is] to God, either we be sober, [it is] to you.

14 For the charity of Christ driveth us; guessing [or deeming] this thing, that if one died for all, then all were dead.

15 And Christ died for all, that they that live, live not now to themselves, but to him that died for them, and rose again.

16 Therefore we from this time know no man after the flesh; though we known [or knew] Christ after the flesh, but now we know not.

17 Therefore if any new creature is in Christ, the old things be passed. Lo! all things be made new,

18 and all things be of God, which reconciled us to him by Christ, and gave to us the service [or the ministry] of reconciling.

19 And [for] God was in Christ, reconciling to him the world, not reckoning to them their guilts, and putted in us the word of reconciling.

20 Therefore we use message for Christ, as if God admonisheth by us; we beseech you for Christ, be ye reconciled to God.

21 God the Father made him sin for us, which knew not sin, that we should be made [the] rightwiseness of God in him.

CHAPTER 6

1 But we helping [you in work and word] admonish [you], that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

2 For he saith, In time well-pleasing I have heard thee, and in the day of health, I have helped thee. Lo! now a time acceptable, lo! now a day of health.

3 Give we to no man any offence, [or hurting], that our service [or ministry] be not reproved;

4 but in all things give we us-selves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in anguishes,

5 in beatings, [or scourgings], in prisons, in dissensions within, in travails, in wakings, in fastings,

6 in chastity, in knowing [or in science], in long abiding, in sweetness, in the Holy Ghost, in charity not feigned,

7 in the word of truth, in the virtue of God; by armours or arms of rightwiseness on the right half and on the left half;

8 by glory and unnobleness; by evil fame and good fame; as deceivers, and true men;

9 as they that be unknown and known; as men dying, and lo! we live; as chastised, and not made dead;

10 as sorrowful, and evermore joying [or but evermore joying]; as having need, but making many men rich; as nothing having, and wielding all things.

11 A! ye Corinthians, our mouth is open to you, our heart is alarged;

12 ye be not anguished in us, but ye be anguished in your inwardnesses [or in your entrails].

13 And I say as to sons, ye that have the same reward, be ye alarged.

14 Do not ye bear the yoke with unfaithful men. For what parting, [or communing], of rightwiseness with wickedness? or what fellowship of light to darknesses?

15 and what according of Christ to Belial? or what part of a faithful [man] with the unfaithful, [or heathen]?

16 and what consent to the temple of God with maumets? [or idols?] And ye be the temple of the living God, as the Lord saith, For I shall dwell in them, and I shall walk among them; and I shall be [the] God of them, and they shall be a people to me.

17 For which thing go ye out of the middle of them, and be ye separated, saith the Lord, and touch not unclean thing; and I shall receive you,

18 and I shall be to you into a Father, and ye shall be to me into sons and daughters, saith the Lord almighty.

CHAPTER 7

1 Therefore, most dearworthy brethren, we that have these promises, cleanse we us from all filth of the flesh and of the spirit, doing holiness in the dread of God.

2 Take ye us; we have hurt no man, we have impaired [or corrupted] no man, we have beguiled no man.

3 I say not to your condemning; for I said before, that ye be in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

4 Much trust is to me with you, much glorying is to me for you. I am [full]-filled with comfort, I am plenteous [or I abound] in joy in all our tribulation.

5 For when we were come to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we suffered all tribulation; without-forth fightings, and dreads within.

6 But God that comforteth meek men, comforted us in the coming of Titus.

7 And not only in the coming of him, but also in the comfort by which he was comforted in you, telling to us your desire, your weeping, your love for me, so that I joyed more.

8 For though I made you sorry, in an epistle, it rueth me not; though it rued, [I] seeing that though that epistle made you sorry at an hour,

9 now I have joy; not for ye were made sorrowful, but for ye were made sorrowful to penance. For why ye be made sorry after God, that in nothing ye suffer impairment of us.

10 For the sorrow that is after God, worketh penance into steadfast health; but sorrow of the world worketh death.

11 For lo! this same thing, that ye be sorrowful after God, how much busyness it worketh in you; but defending, but indignation, but dread, but desire, but love, but vengeance. In all things ye have given yourselves to be undefouled in the cause.

12 Therefore though I wrote to you, I wrote not for him that did the injury, neither for him that suffered, but to show our busyness, which we have for you before God.

13 Therefore we be comforted, but in your comfort [or in our comfort] more plenteously we joyed more on the joy of Titus, for his spirit is fulfilled of all you.

14 And if I gloried anything with him of you, I am not confounded, [or shamed]; but as we have spoken to you all things [in truth], so also our glory that was at Titus, is made truth.

15 And the inwardness of him be more plenteously in you, which hath in mind the obedience of you all, how with dread and trembling ye received him.

16 I have joy, that in all things I trust in you.

CHAPTER 8

1 But, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God, that is given in the churches of Macedonia,

2 that in much assaying of tribula-tion, the plenty [or the abundance] of the joy of them was, and the highest poverty of them was plenteous into the riches of the simpleness of them.

3 For I bear witnessing to them, after might, [or after power], and above might they were willful,

4 with much admonishing beseech-ing us the grace and the communing of ministering [or of the ministry] that is made to holy men.

5 And not as we hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, afterward to us by the will of God.

6 So that we prayed Titus, that as he began, so also he perform in you this grace.

7 But as ye abound in all things, in faith, and word, and knowing [or science], and all busyness, moreover and in your charity into us, that also in this grace ye abound.

8 I say not as commanding, but by the busyness of other men proving also the good wit of your charity.

9 And ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he was made needy for you, when he was rich, that ye should be made rich by his neediness.

10 And I give counsel in this thing; for this is profitable to you, that not only have begun to do, but also ye began to have will from the former year.

11 But now perform ye in deed, that as the discretion of will is ready [to desire good], so be it also of perform-ing of that that ye have.

12 For if the will be ready, it is accepted after that that it hath, not after that that it hath not.

13 And not that it be remission, [or idleness, or sloth], to other men, and to you tribulation;

14 but of evenness in the present time your abundance fulfill the need of them, that also the abundance of them be a fulfilling of your need, that evenness be made;

15 as it is written, He that gathered much, was not increased, and he that gathered little, had not less.

16 And I do thankings to God, that gave the same busyness for you in the heart of Titus,

17 for he received exhortation; but when he was busier, by his will he went forth to you.

18 And we sent with him a brother, whose praising is in the gospel by all churches.

19 And not only praised, but also he is ordained of churches the fellow of our pilgrimage into this grace, that is administered of us, to the glory of the Lord, and to our ordained will;

20 eschewing this thing, that no man blame us in this plenty, that is admin-istered of us, to the glory of the Lord.

21 For we purvey good things, not only before God, but also before all men.

22 For we sent with them also our brother, whom we have proved in many things oft, that he was busy, but now much busier, for much trust in you,

23 either for Titus, that is my fellow and helper in you, either for our brethren, apostles of the churches of the glory of Christ.

24 Therefore show ye to them in the face of churches, that showing that is of your charity, and of our glory for you.

CHAPTER 9

1 For of the ministry that is made to holy men, it is to me of plenty to write to you.

2 For I know your [ready] will, for the which I have glory of you with Macedonians, for also Achaia is ready from a year passed, and your love hath stirred full many.

3 And we have sent brethren, that this thing that we glory of you, be not voided in this part, that as I said, ye be ready.

4 Lest when Macedonians come with me, and find you unready, we be shamed, that we say you not or that we saw you not, in this substance.

5 Therefore I guessed necessary to pray brethren, that they come before to you, and make ready this promised blessing to be ready, so as blessing, and not as avarice.

6 For I say this thing, he that soweth scarcely, shall also reap scarcely; and he that soweth in blessings, shall reap also of blessings.

7 Each man as he casted in his heart, not of heaviness, or of need; for God loveth a glad giver.

8 And God is mighty to make all grace abound in you, that ye in all things evermore have all sufficience, and abound into all good work;

9 as it is written, He dealed abroad, he gave to poor men, his rightwise-ness dwelleth without end.

10 And he that ministereth seed to the sower, shall give also bread to eat, and he shall multiply your seed, and make much the increasings of fruits of your rightwiseness;

11 that in all things ye made rich wax plenteous [or abound] into all simpleness, which worketh by us doing of thankings to God.

12 For the ministry of this office not only filleth those things that fail to holy men, but also multiplieth many thankings to God,

13 by the proving of this ministry, which glorify God in the obedience of your acknowledging in the gospel of Christ, and in simpleness of communication into them and into all [others],

14 and in the beseeching of them for you, that desire you for the excellent grace of God in you.

15 I do thankings to God of the gift of him, that may not be told.

CHAPTER 10

1 And I myself, Paul, beseech you, by the mildness and softness, [or patience], of Christ, which in the face am meek among you, and I absent trust in you.

2 For I pray you, that lest I present be not bold [or not hardy] by the trust, in which I am guessed to be bold [or hardy] into some, that deem us, as if we wander after the flesh.

3 For we walking in the flesh, fight not after the flesh.

4 For the arms or armours of our knighthood be not fleshly, but mighty by God to the destruction of strengths [or of wardings].

5 And we destroy counsels, and all highness that higheth [or raised] itself against the science of God, and drive into captivity all understanding into the service of Christ.

6 And we have ready to avenge all unobedience, when your obedience shall be [ful] filled.

7 See ye the things that be after the face. If any man trusteth to himself, that he is of Christ, think he this thing again with himself, for as he is Christ’s, so also we.

8 For if I shall glory, anything more of our power, which the Lord gave to us into edifying, and not into your destruction, I shall not be shamed.

9 But that I be not guessed as to fear you by epistles,

10 for they say, That epistles be grievous [or be heavy] and strong, but the presence of the body is feeble, and the word worthy to be despised [or it is contemptible].

11 He that is such one, think this, for such as we absent be in word by epistles, such we be present in deed.

12 For we dare not put us among, or comparison us to some men, that commend themselves; but we measure us in us-selves, and comparison us-selves to us.

13 For we shall not have glory over-measure, but by the measure of the rule which God measured to us, the measure that stretcheth [till] to you.

14 For we overstretch not forth us, as not stretching to you. For to you we came in the gospel of Christ,

15 not glorying over-measure in other men’s travails. For we have hope of your faith that waxeth in you, to be magnified by our rule in abundance,

16 also to preach into those things that be beyond you, not to have glory in other man’s rule, in these things that be made ready.

17 He that glorieth, have glory in the Lord.

18 For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom God commendeth.

CHAPTER 11

1 I would that ye would suffer a little thing of mine unwisdom, but also support ye me [or bear me up].

2 For I love you by the love of God; for I have espoused you to one husband, to yield a chaste virgin to Christ, [or to give you, a chaste virgin, to one man, Christ].

3 But I dread, lest as the serpent deceived Eve with his subtle fraud, so your wits be corrupted, and fallen down from the simpleness that is in Christ.

4 For if he that cometh, preacheth another Christ, whom we preached not, or if ye take another spirit, whom ye took not [or whom ye received not], or another gospel, which ye received not, rightly ye should suffer.

5 For I ween that I have done nothing less than the great apostles.

6 For though I be unlearned in word, but not in knowing [or in science]. For in all things I am open [or I am showed, or made known], to you.

7 Or whether I have done sin, meeking, [or making low], myself, that ye be enhanced, for freely I preached to you the gospel of God?

8 I made naked, [or I spoiled, or I took gifts of], other churches, and I took wages to your service.

9 And when I was among you, and had need, I was chargeous to no man; for brethren that came from Macedonia, fulfilled [or supplied] that that failed to me. And in all things I have kept [me], and shall keep me without charge to you.

10 The truth of Christ is in me; for this glory shall not be broken in me in the countries [or in the regions] of Achaia.

11 Why? for I love not you? God knoweth.

12 For that that I do, and that I shall do, is that I cut away the occasion of them that will occasion, that in the thing, in which they glory, they be found [such] as we.

13 For such false apostles be treach-erous, [or guileful], workmen, and transfigure them into apostles of Christ.

14 And no wonder, for Satan himself transfigureth him into an angel of light.

15 Therefore it is not great, if his ministers be transfigured as the ministers of rightwiseness, whose end shall be after their works.

16 Again I say, lest any man guess [or deem] me, to be unwise; else take ye me as unwise, that also I have glory a little what.

17 That that I speak, I speak not after God, but as in unwisdom, in this substance of glory.

18 For many men glory after the flesh, and I shall glory.

19 For ye suffer gladly unwise men, when ye yourselves be wise.

20 For ye suffer, if any man driveth you into servage, if any man devour-eth, if any man taketh, if any man is enhanced [by pride], if any man smiteth you on the face.

21 By unnobleness I say, as if we were sick in this part. In what thing any man dare, in unwisdom I say, and I dare.

22 They be Hebrews, and I; they be Israelites, and I; they be the seed of Abraham, and I;

23 they be the ministers of Christ, and I. As less wise I say, I more; in full many travails, in prisons more plente-ously, in wounds above-manner, [or over-measure], in deaths oft times.

24 I received of the Jews five times forty strokes one less;

25 thrice I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I was at ship-break, a night and a day I was in the deepness of the sea;

26 in ways oft, in perils of floods, in perils of thieves, in perils of kin, in perils of heathen men, in perils in [the] city, in perils in desert, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren,

27 in travail and neediness, in many wakings, in hunger, in thirst, in many fastings, in cold and nakedness.

28 Without those things that be with-outforth, mine each day’s travailing [or studying]is the busyness of all churches.

29 Who is sick, and I am not sick? who is caused to stumble, and I am not burnt?

30 If it behooveth to glory, I shall glory in those things that be of mine infirmity, [or frailty].

31 God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is blessed into worlds, knoweth that I lie not.

32 The provost of Damascus, of the king of the folk Aretas, [or of the king of the folk of Aretas], kept the city of Damascenes to take me;

33 and by a window in a basket I was let down by the wall, and so I escaped his hands.

CHAPTER 12

1 If it behooveth to have glory, it speedeth not; but I shall come to the visions and the revelations of the Lord.

2 I know a man in Christ that before fourteen years; whether in body, whether out of body, I know not, God knoweth; that such a man was ravished unto the third heaven.

3 And I know such a man; whether in body, or out of body, I know not, God knoweth;

4 that he was ravished into paradise, and heard privy words, which it is not leaveful to a man to speak.

5 For such manner things I shall glory; but for me nothing, but in mine infirmities.

6 For if I shall desire to glory, I shall not be unwise, for I shall say truth; but I spare, lest any man guess me over that thing that he seeth in me, or heareth anything of me.

7 And lest the greatness of revela-tions enhance me, in pride, the prick of my flesh, an angel of Satan, is given to me, that he buffet me.

8 For which thing thrice I prayed the Lord, that it should go away from me.

9 And he said to me, My grace sufficeth to thee; for virtue is perfectly made in infirmity. Therefore gladly I shall glory in mine infirmities, that the virtue of Christ dwell in me.

10 For which thing I am pleased in mine infirmities, in despisings, [or reprovings], in needs, in persecutions, in anguishes, for Christ; for when I am sick, then I am mighty.

11 I am made unwitting, ye constrained me. For I ought to be commended of you; for I did nothing less than they that be apostles over-measure. Though I am nought,

12 nevertheless the signs of mine apostlehood be made on you, in all patience, and signs, and great wonders, and virtues.

13 And what is it, that ye had less than other churches, [no] but that I myself grieved you not, [betaking of you]? Forgive ye to me this wrong.

14 Lo! this third time I am ready to come to you, and I shall not be grievous to you; for I seek not those things that be yours, but you. For neither sons owe to [make] treasure to father and mother, but the father and mother to the sons.

15 For I shall give most willfully, and I myself shall be given over for your souls; though I more love you, and be less loved.

16 But be it; I grieved not you, but when I was subtle [or wily], I took you with guile.

17 Whether I deceived you by any of them, which I sent to you?

18 I prayed Titus, and I sent with him a brother. Whether Titus beguiled you? whether we went not in the same spirit? whether not in the same steps?

19 Sometime ye ween, that we shall excuse us with you. Before God in Christ we speak; and, most dear brethren, all things for your edifying.

20 But I dread, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I will, and I shall be found of you such as ye will not; lest peradventure strivings, envies, indignations, dissensions and detractions, privy speeches of discord, swellings by pride, debates be among you;

21 and lest again when I come, God make me low [or make me humble] with you, and I bewail many of them, that before sinned, and did not penance on the uncleanness, and fornication, and unchastity, that they have done.

CHAPTER 13

1 Lo! this third time I come to you, and in the mouth of two or of three witnesses every word shall stand.

2 I said before, and say before, as present twice, and now absent, to them that before have sinned, and to all others; for if I come again, I shall not spare.

3 Whether ye seek the proof [or assaying] of that Christ, that speaketh in me, which is not feeble in you, [but is mighty in you]?

4 For though he was crucified of infirmity, but he liveth of the virtue of God. For also we be sick in him, but we shall live with him of the virtue of God in us.

5 Assay yourselves, if ye be in the faith; ye yourselves prove. Whether ye know not yourselves, for Christ Jesus is in you? but in hap ye be reprovable.

6 But I hope, that ye know, that we be not reprovable.

7 And we pray the Lord, that ye do nothing of evil; not that we seem proved, but that ye do that that is good, and that we be as reprovable.

8 For we may do nothing against truth, but, for the truth.

9 For we joy, when we be sick, but ye be mighty; and we pray this thing, your perfection.

10 Therefore I absent write these things, that I present do not harder, by the power, which the Lord gave to me into edification, and not into your destruction.

11 Brethren, henceforward joy ye, be ye perfect, excite ye [or and teach ye]; understand ye the same thing; have ye peace, and God of peace and of love shall be with you.

12 Greet ye well together in holy kiss.

13 All holy men greet you well.

14 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communing of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

GALATIANS

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GALATIANS

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul the apostle, not of men, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, that raised him from death,

2 and all the brethren that be with me, to the churches of Galatia,

3 grace to you and peace of God the Father, and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

4 that gave himself for our sins, to deliver us from the present wicked world, by the will of God and our Father,

5 to whom is honour and glory into worlds of worlds. Amen.

6 I wonder, that so soon ye be thus moved from him that called you into the grace of Christ, into another evangel [or another gospel];

7 which is not another, but that there be some that trouble you, and will mis-turn the evangel of Christ.

8 But though we, or an angel of heaven, preached to you, besides that that we have preached to you, be he accursed.

9 As I have said before, and now again I say, if any man preach to you besides that that ye have received, be he accursed [or cursed be he].

10 For now whether counsel I men, or God? or whether I seek to please men? If I pleased yet men, I were not Christ’s servant.

11 For, brethren, I make known to you the evangel [or the gospel], that was preached of me, for it is not by man;

12 nor I took it of man, nor learned, but by [the] revelation of Jesus Christ.

13 For ye have heard my conver-sation sometime in the Jewry, that I pursued surpassingly, [or over-manner, or over-measure], the church of God, and fought against it.

14 And I profited in the Jewry above many of mine even-elders in my kindred, and was more abundantly a follower [or a lover] of my fathers’ traditions.

15 But when it pleased him, that parted me from my mother’s womb, and called by his grace,

16 to show his Son in me, that I should preach him among the heathen, anon I drew me not to flesh and blood;

17 nor I came to Jerusalem to the apostles, that were before me, but I went into Arabia, and again I turned again into Damascus.

18 And since three years after I came to Jerusalem [or Afterward after three years I came to Jerusalem], to see Peter, and I dwelled with him fifteen days;

19 but I saw none other of the apostles, but James, our Lord’s brother.

20 And these things which I write to you, lo! before God I lie not.

21 Afterward I came into the coasts of Syria and Cilicia.

22 But I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea, that were in Christ;

23 and they had only an hearing, that he that pursued us sometime, preacheth now the faith, against which he fought sometime;

24 and in me they glorified God.

CHAPTER 2

1 And since fourteen years after [or Afterward after fourteen years], again I went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took with me Titus.

2 I went up by revelation, and spake with them the evangel [or the gospel], which I preach among the heathen; and by themselves to these that seemed to be somewhat, lest I run [or lest peradventure I should run], or had run in vain.

3 And neither Titus, that had been with me, while he was heathen, was compelled to be circumcised;

4 but for false brethren that were brought in, which had [privily] entered to espy our freedom [or our liberty], which we have in Jesus Christ, to bring [or to drive] us into servage.

5 But we gave no place to subjection, that the truth of the gospel should dwell with you.

6 But of these that seemed to be somewhat; which they were some-time, it pertaineth not to me, for God taketh not the person of man; for they that seemed to be somewhat, gave me nothing.

7 But on the contrary, when they had seen, that the evangel of prepuce was given to me [or that the gospel of heathen men is betaken to me], as the evangel of circumcision was given to Peter;

8 for he that wrought to Peter in apostlehood of circumcision, wrought also to me among the heathen;

9 and when they had known the grace of God, that was given to me, James, and Peter [or Cephas], and John, which were seen to be the pillars, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and to Barnabas, that we [preach] among the heathen, and they into the circumcision;

10 only that we had mind of, [or that we should be mindful of], poor men, the which thing I was full busy to do.

11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I against-stood him in the face, for he was worthy to be reproved.

12 For before that there came some men from James [or before that some came from James], he ate with heathen men; but when they were come, he withdrew, and departed him, dreading them that were of circumcision.

13 And the other Jews assented [or consented] to his feigning, so that Barnabas was drawn of them into that feigning.

14 But when I saw, that they walked not rightly to the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter [or to Cephas] before all men, If thou, that art a Jew, livest heathen-like, and not Jew-like, how constrainest thou heathen men to become Jews?

15 We Jews of kind, and not sinful men of the heathen,

16 know that a man is not justified of the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; and we believe in Jesus Christ, that we be justified of [or by] the faith of Christ, and not of the works of the law. Wherefore of the works of the law each flesh shall not be justified.

17 And if we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves be found sinful men [or to be sinners], whether Christ be minister of sin? God forbid.

18 And if I build again things that I have destroyed, I make myself a trespasser.

19 For by the law I am dead to the law, [For by the law I am dead to the law, that I live to God;]

20 and I am fixed to the cross, that I live to God with Christ. And now live not I, but Christ liveth in me. But that I live now in flesh, I live in the faith of God’s Son, that loved me, and gave himself for me. [with Christ I am fixed to the cross. Forsooth I live now, not I, but Christ liveth in me. Forsooth that I live now in flesh, I live in the faith of God’s son, the which loved me, and betook himself for me.]

21 I cast not away the grace of God; for if rightwiseness be through [or is by] law, then Christ died without cause.

CHAPTER 3

1 O! unwitting Galatians, before whose eyes Jesus Christ is exiled, [or O! ye witless men of Galatia, before whose eyes Jesus Christ is damned or condemned], and is crucified in you, who hath deceived you, that ye obey not to truth?

2 This only I desire to learn of you, whether ye have received the Spirit of the works of the law, or of hearing of belief?

3 So ye be fools, that when ye have begun in Spirit, [now] ye be ended in flesh.

4 So great things [or So many things] ye have suffered without cause, if it be without cause.

5 He that giveth to you [the] Spirit, and worketh virtues in you, whether of [the] works of the law, or of hearing of belief? [or of faith?]

6 As it is written, Abraham believed to God, and it was reckoned to him to rightwiseness.

7 And therefore know ye, that these that be of belief [or they that be of faith], be the sons of Abraham.

8 And the scripture seeing afar, that God justifieth the heathen of belief, [or Forsooth the scripture purveying, for God justifieth of faith heathen men], told before to Abraham, That in thee all the heathen [or all folks] shall be blessed.

9 And therefore these that be of belief, [or they that be of faith], shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.

10 For all that be of the works of the law, be under curse; for it is written, Each man is cursed, that abideth not [or that dwelleth not] in all things that be written in the book of the law, to do those things.

11 And that no man is justified in the law before God, it is open, for a rightful man liveth of belief. [Forsooth for no man is justified in the law with God, it is known, for a rightful man liveth by faith.]

12 But the law is not of belief, but he that doeth those things of the law, shall live in them.

13 But Christ again-bought us [or delivered us] from the curse of the law, and was made accursed for us; for it is written, Each man is cursed that hangeth in the tree;

14 that among the heathen the blessing of Abraham were made in Jesus Christ, that we receive the promise of Spirit through belief. [that the blessing of Abraham in heathen men should be made in Christ Jesus, that we take the promise of Spirit by faith.]

15 Brethren, I say after man, no man despiseth the testament of a man that is confirmed, or ordaineth above [other thing].

16 The promises were said to Abraham and to his seed; he saith not, In [the] seeds, as in many, but as in one, And to thy seed, that is, Christ.

17 But I say, this testament is confirmed of God; the law that was made after four hundred and thirty years, maketh not the testament vain to void away the promise [or maketh not void for to do away the promise].

18 For if [the] heritage were of the law, it were not now of promise. But God granted [or gave] to Abraham through promise.

19 What then the law? that is, Whereto is the law profitable? [or What therefore profiteth the law?] It was set for trespassing, till the seed came, to whom he had made the promise. Which law was ordained by angels, in the hand of a mediator.

20 But a mediator is not of one. But God is one.

21 Is then the law against the promises of God? God forbid. For if the law were given, that might quicken, verily were rightfulness of law, [or verily rightwiseness were of law].

22 But the scripture hath concluded all things under sin, that the promise of the faith of Jesus Christ were given to them that believe.

23 And before that belief came, they were kept under the law, enclosed into that belief that was to be showed. [Forsooth before that the faith came, we were kept under the law, shut together into that faith that was to be showed.]

24 And so the law was our under-master in Christ, that we be justified of belief [or of faith].

25 But after that belief came, we be not now under the undermaster. [But after that the faith came, now we be not under the little master.]

26 For all ye be the children of God through the belief of Jesus Christ. [For all ye be the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.]

27 For all ye that be baptized, be clothed with Christ.

28 There is no Jew, nor Greek, no bondman, nor free man, no male, nor female; for all ye be one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if ye be one in Jesus Christ, then ye be the seed of Abraham, and heirs by promise.

CHAPTER 4

1 But I say, as long time as the heir is a little child, he diverseth nothing from a servant, when he is lord of all things [or lord of all];

2 but he is under keepers and tutors, into the time determined of the father.

3 So we, when we were little children, we served under the elements of the world.

4 But after that the fulfilling of time came, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

5 that he should again-buy them that were under the law, that we should receive the adoption of sons.

6 And for ye be God’s sons, God sent his Spirit into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. [Forsooth for ye be the sons of God, God sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, that is, father.]

7 And so there is not now a servant, but a son; and if he is a son, he is an heir by God.

8 But then ye unknowing God, served to them that in kind were not gods.

9 But now when ye have known God, and be known of God, how be ye turned again to the feeble [or the sick] and needy elements, to the which ye will again serve?

10 Ye take keep to days, [or Ye keep, or wait on, days], and months, and times, and years.

11 But I dread you, lest without cause, I have travailed among you, [or lest peradventure I have travailed in you without cause].

12 Be ye as I, for I am as ye. Brethren, I beseech you, ye have hurt me nothing [or ye have nothing hurt me].

13 But ye know, that by infirmity of flesh I have preached [or I have evangelized] to you now before;

14 and ye despised not, neither forsook your temptation in my flesh, but ye received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.

15 Where then is your blessing? [or Where is therefore your blessedness, that ye had before time?] For I bear you witness, that if it might have been done, ye would have put out your eyes, and have given them to me.

16 Am I then made an enemy to you, saying to you the sooth?

17 They love not you well [or They love you not well], but they will exclude you, that ye pursue them.

18 But pursue ye the good evermore in good, and not only when I am present with you.

19 My small children, which I bear again, till that Christ be formed in you, [My little sons, whom I child, or I bring forth by travail, again, till Christ be formed in you,]

20 and I would now be at you, and change my voice, for I am confounded among you.

21 Say to me, ye that will be under the law, have ye not read the law?

22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, one of a servant [or a handmaiden], and one of a free woman [or a wife].

23 But he that was of the servant [or the handmaiden] was born after the flesh; but he that was of the free woman [or the wife] by a promise.

24 The which things be said by another understanding [or allegory]. For these be two testaments; one in the hill of Sinai [or mount Sinai], engendering into servage, which is Agar.

25 For Sinai is an hill that is in Arabia, which hill is joined to it that is now Jerusalem, and serveth with her children.

26 But that Jerusalem that is above, is free, which is our mother.

27 For it is written, Be glad, thou barren, that bearest not; break out and cry, [thou] that bringest forth no children; for many sons be of her that is left of her husband, more than of her that hath an husband.

28 For, brethren, we be [the] sons of promise after Isaac;

29 but now as this that was born after the flesh pursued him that was after the Spirit, so now.

30 But what saith the scripture? Cast out the servant [or the handmaiden] and her son, for the son of the servant shall not be heir with the son of the free wife.

31 And so, brethren, we be not sons of the servant [or of the handmaiden], but of the free wife, by which freedom [or liberty] Christ hath made us free.

CHAPTER 5

1 Stand ye therefore, and do not ye again be held in the yoke of servage.

2 Lo! I, Paul, say to you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall nothing profit to you.

3 And I witness again to each man that circumciseth himself, that he is a debtor of all the law to be done.

4 And ye be voided away from Christ, and ye that be justified in the law, ye have fallen away from grace.

5 For we through the Spirit of belief abide the hope of rightwiseness. [For we by Spirit of faith abide the hope of rightwiseness.]

6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision is anything worth, neither prepuce, but the belief that worketh by charity [or but faith that worketh by charity].

7 Ye ran well; who hindered you that ye obeyed not to the truth?

8 Consent ye to no man; for this counsel is not of him that hath called you.

9 A little sourdough impaireth [or maketh sour] all the gobbet.

10 I trust on you in our Lord, that ye should understand none other thing. And who that disturbeth or dis-troubleth you, shall bear doom, whoever he be.

11 And, brethren, if I preach yet circumcision, what suffer I yet persecution? then the stumbling of the cross is avoided/is voided.

12 I would that they were cut away, that disturb you. [I would that they that distrouble you, be also cut off.]

13 For, brethren, ye be called into freedom [or into liberty]; only give ye not freedom [or liberty] into occasion of flesh, but by charity of [the] Spirit serve ye together.

14 For every law [or all the law] is fulfilled in one word, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

15 And if ye bite, and eat each other, see ye, lest ye be wasted each from other.

16 And I say to you in Christ, walk ye in Spirit, and ye shall not perform the desires of the flesh.

17 For the flesh coveteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these be adversaries together, that ye do not all things that ye will.

18 That if ye be led by [the] Spirit, ye be not under the law.

19 And the works of the flesh be open, which be fornication, unclean-ness, unchastity, lechery,

20 service of false gods [or serving of idols], witchcrafts, enmities, strivings [or strives], indignations, wraths, chidings, dissensions, sects [or heresies],

21 envies, manslayings, drunkennesses, unmeasurable eatings [or gluttonies], and things like to these, which I say to you before, as I have told to you before, for they that do such things, shall not have the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, long abiding, benignity, [or good will], goodness, mildness, faith,

23 temperance, continence, chastity; against such things is no law.

24 And they that be of Christ, have crucified their flesh with vices and covetings [or concupiscences].

25 If we live by Spirit, walk we by Spirit;

26 be we not made covetous of vain glory, stirring each other to wrath, or having envy each to other.

CHAPTER 6

1 Brethren, if a man be occupied in any guilt [or overcome in any trespass], ye that be spiritual, inform ye [or teach] such one in spirit of softness, [or meekness], beholding thyself, lest that thou be tempted, [falling in the same wise].

2 Each bear other’s charges, and so ye shall fulfill the law of Christ.

3 For who that troweth [or guesseth] that he be aught, when he is nought, he beguileth himself.

4 But each man prove his own work, and so he shall have glory [only] in himself, and not in another.

5 For each man shall bear his own charge.

6 He that is taught in word, commune he with him that teacheth him, in all goods [or in all good things].

7 Do not ye err, God is not scorned; for those things that a man soweth, those things he shall reap.

8 For he that soweth in his flesh, of the flesh he shall reap corruption; but he that soweth in the Spirit, of the Spirit he shall reap everlasting life.

9 And doing good fail we not; for in his time we shall reap, not failing.

10 Therefore while we have time, work we good to all men; but most to them that be home-like [or that be the household meine] of the faith.

11 See ye, what manner letters I have written to you with mine own hand.

12 For whoever will please in the flesh, these constrain you to be circumcised, only that they suffer not the persecution of Christ’s cross.

13 For neither they that be circumcised keep the law; but they will, that they have glory in your flesh.

14 But far be it from me to have glory, [no] but in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world.

15 For in Jesus Christ neither circum-cision is anything worth, nor prepuce, but a new creature.

16 And whoever [shall] pursue this rule, peace on them, and mercy, and on Israel of God.

17 And hereafter [or From hence-forth], no man be heavy to me; for I bear in my body the tokens, [or the wounds], of our Lord Jesus Christ.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.

EPHESIANS

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EPHESIANS

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to all the saints that be at Ephesus, and to the faithful men in Jesus Christ,

2 grace be to you and peace of God, our Father, and of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3 Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that hath blessed us in all spiritual blessing in heavenly things in Christ,

4 as he hath chosen us in himself before the making of the world, that we were holy [or that we should be holy], and without wem in his sight, in charity.

5 Which hath before-ordained us into [the] adoption of sons by Jesus Christ into him, by the purpose of his will,

6 into the praising of the glory of his grace; in which he hath glorified us [or he made us able to his grace] in his dearworthy Son.

7 In whom we have redemption by his blood, [and] forgiveness of sins, after the riches of his grace,

8 that abounded greatly in us in all wisdom and prudence,

9 to make known to us the sacrament of his will, by the good pleasance of him;

10 the which sacrament he purposed in him in the dispensation of plenty of times, to store up all things in Christ, which be in heavens, and which be in earth, in him.

11 In whom [also] we be called by lot, before-ordained by the purpose of him that worketh all things by the counsel of his will;

12 that we be into the praising of his glory, we that have hoped before [or we that before hoped] in Christ.

13 In whom also ye were called, when ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your health, in whom ye believing be marked with the Holy Ghost of promise,

14 which is the earnest [or a wed] of our heritage, into the redemption of purchasing, into [the] praising of his glory.

15 Therefore and I hearing your faith, that is in Christ Jesus, and the love into all saints,

16 cease not to do thankings for you, making mind of you in my prayers;

17 that God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give to you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation, into the knowing of him;

18 and the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye know, which is the hope of his calling, and which be the riches of the glory of his heritage in saints;

19 and which is the excellent greatness of his virtue, into us that have believed, by the working of the might of his virtue,

20 which he wrought in Christ, raising him from death, and setting him on his right half in heavenly things,

21 above each principat, and potentate, and virtue, and domination, and above each name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world to coming [or to come];

22 and made all things subject under his feet, and gave him to be head over all the church,

23 that is the body of him, and the plenty of him, which is all things in all things fulfilled.

CHAPTER 2

1 And when ye were dead in your guilts and sins,

2 in which ye wandered sometime, after the course of this world, after the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that worketh now into the sons of unbelief;

3 in which also we all lived sometime in the desires of our flesh, doing the wills of the flesh and of the thoughts, and we were by kind the sons of wrath, as other men;

4 but God, that is rich in mercy, for his full much charity in which he loved us,

5 yea, when we were dead in sins, quickened us together in Christ, by whose grace ye be saved,

6 and again-raised together, and made together to sit in heavenly things in Christ Jesus;

7 that he should show in the worlds above coming the plenteous riches of his grace in goodness on us in Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace ye be saved by faith, and this not of you; for it is the gift of God,

9 not of works, that no man have glory.

10 For we be the making of him, made of nought in Christ Jesus, in good works, which God hath ordained, that we go in those works.

11 For which thing be ye mindful that sometime ye were heathen in flesh, which were said prepuce, from that that is said circumcision made by hand in flesh;

12 and ye were in that time without Christ, alienated [or strangers] from the living of Israel, and guests of the testaments, not having hope of promise, and without God in this world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus ye that were sometime far, be made nigh in the blood of Christ.

14 For he is our peace, that made both one, and unbinding the middle wall of a wall without mortar,

15 enmities in his flesh; and voided the law of commandments by dooms, that he make two in himself into a new man, making peace,

16 to reconcile both in one body to God by the cross, slaying the enmities in himself.

17 And he coming preached peace to you that were far, and peace to them that were nigh;

18 for by him we both have nigh coming in one Spirit to the Father.

19 Therefore now ye be not guests and strangers, but ye be citizens of saints, and [the] household meine of God;

20 above builded on the founda-ment of apostles and of prophets, upon that highest cornerstone, Christ Jesus;

21 in whom each building made waxeth into an holy temple in the Lord.

22 In whom also ye be builded together into the habitation of God, in the Holy Ghost.

CHAPTER 3

1 For the grace of this thing I, Paul, the bound of Christ Jesus, for you heathen men,

2 if nevertheless ye have heard the dispensation of God’s grace, that is given to me in you.

3 For by revelation the sacrament is made known to me, as I above wrote in short thing,

4 as ye may read, and understand my prudence in the mystery of Christ.

5 Which was not known to other generations to the sons of men, as it is now showed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit,

6 that heathen men be even-heirs, and of one body, and partners together of his promise in Christ Jesus by the evangel;

7 whose minister I am made, by the gift of God’s grace, which is given to me by the working of his virtue.

8 To me, least of all saints, this grace is given to preach [or to evangelize] among heathen men the unsearchable riches of Christ,

9 and to enlighten all men, which is the dispensation of [the] sacrament hid from worlds in God, that made all things of nought;

10 that the much-fold wisdom of God be known to princes and potentates in heavenly things by the church,

11 by the before-ordinance [or after the setting] of worlds, which he made in Christ Jesus our Lord.

12 In whom we have trust and nigh coming [to], in trusting by the faith of him.

13 For which thing I ask, that ye fail not in my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

14 For grace of this thing I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 of whom each fatherhood in heavens [or in heaven] and in earth is named,

16 that he give to you, after the riches of his glory, virtue to be strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man,

17 that Christ dwell by faith in your hearts; that ye rooted and grounded in charity,

18 may comprehend with all saints, which is the breadth, and the length, and the highness, and the deepness;

19 also to know the charity of Christ more excellent than science, that ye be [full]-filled in all the plenty of God.

20 And to him that is mighty to do all things more plenteously than we ask or understand, by the virtue that worketh in us,

21 to him be glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus, into all the generations of the world[s] of worlds. Amen.

CHAPTER 4

1 Therefore I bound for the Lord beseech you, that ye walk worthily in the calling, in which ye be called,

2 with all meekness and mildness, with patience supporting each other in charity,

3 busy to keep unity of Spirit in the bond of peace.

4 One body and one Spirit, as ye be called in one hope of your calling;

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 one God and Father of all, which is above all men, and by all things, and in us all.

7 But to each of us grace is given by [or after] the measure of the giving of Christ;

8 for which thing he saith, He ascending on high, led captivity captive, he gave gifts to men.

9 But what is it, that he went up [or ascended], no but that also he came down first into the lower parts of the earth?

10 He it is that came down, and that ascended [or went up] on all heavens, that he should fill all things.

11 And he gave some apostles, some prophets, others evangelists, others shepherds and teachers,

12 to the full ending of saints, into the work of ministry, into [the] edification of Christ’s body,

13 till we run all, into [or in] unity of faith and of knowing of God’s Son, into a perfect man, after the measure of the age of the plenty of Christ;

14 that we be not now little children, moving as waves, and be not borne about with each wind of teaching, in the waywardness of men, in subtle wit, to the deceiving of error.

15 But do we truth in charity, and wax in him by all things, that is Christ our head;

16 of whom all the body set together, and bound together by each jointure of under-serving, by working into the measure of each member, maketh increasing of the body, into [the] edification of itself in charity.

17 Therefore I say and witness this thing in the Lord, that ye walk not now, as heathen men walk, in the vanity of their wit;

18 that have understanding darkened with darknesses, and be alienated [or made far] from the life of God, by ignorance that is in them, for the blindness of their heart.

19 Which despairing betook them-selves to unchastity, into the working of all uncleanness in covetousness.

20 But ye have not so learned Christ,

21 if nevertheless ye heard him, and be taught in him, as is truth in Jesus.

22 Do ye away by the old living [or after the first living], the old man, that is corrupt by the desires of error;

23 and be ye renewed [or made new again] in the spirit of your soul;

24 and clothe ye the new man, which is made after God in rightwiseness and holiness of truth.

25 For which thing put ye away leasing, and speak ye truth each man with his neighbour, for we be members each to other [or together].

26 Be ye wroth, and do not do sin [or do not ye sin]; the sun fall not down on your wrath.

27 Do not ye give stead to the devil.

28 He that stole, now steal he not; but more rather travail he in working with his hands that that is good, that he have whereof he shall give to the needy.

29 Each evil word go not out of your mouth; but if any is good to the edification of faith, that it give grace to men that hear.

30 And do not ye make the Holy Ghost of God sorry, [or heavy], in which ye be marked in the day of redemption.

31 All bitterness, and wrath, and indignation, and cry, and blasphemy be taken away from you, with all malice;

32 and be ye together benign, [or of good will], merciful, forgiving together, as also God forgave to you in Christ.

CHAPTER 5

1 Therefore be ye followers of God, as most dearworthy sons;

2 and walk ye in love, as Christ loved us, and gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God, into the odour of sweetness.

3 And fornication, and all unclean-ness, or avarice, be not named among you, as it becometh holy men;

4 either filth, or folly speech, or buffoonery [or harlotry], that pertaineth not to profit, but more rather doing of thankings.

5 For know ye this, and understand, that each lecher [or each fornicator], or unclean man, or covetous [man], that serveth to maumets [or to idols], hath not heritage in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

6 No man deceive you by vain words; for why for these things the wrath of God came upon the sons of unbelief.

7 Therefore do not ye be made partners of them.

8 For ye were sometime darknesses, but now ye be light in the Lord. Walk ye as the sons of light.

9 For the fruit of light is in all goodness, and rightwiseness, and truth.

10 And prove ye what thing is well pleasing to God.

11 And do not ye commune to unfruiteous works of darknesses; but more rather reprove ye [them].

12 For what things be done of them in privy, it is foul, yea, to speak.

13 And all things that be reproved of the light, be openly showed [or be made open]; for all thing that is showed, is light.

14 For which thing he saith, Rise thou that sleepest, and rise up from death, and Christ shall lighten [or illumine] thee.

15 Therefore, brethren, see ye, how warily ye shall go; not as unwise men, but as wise men,

16 again-buying the time, for the days be evil.

17 Therefore do not ye be made unwise, but understanding which is the will of God [or of the Lord].

18 And do not ye be drunk of wine, in which is lechery [or is luxury], but be ye filled with the Holy Ghost;

19 and speak ye to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and saying psalm in your hearts to the Lord;

20 evermore doing thankings for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God and to the Father.

21 Be ye subject together in the dread of Christ.

22 Women, be they subject to their husbands, as to the Lord,

23 for the man is head of the woman, as Christ is head of the church; he is Saviour of his body.

24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so women to their husbands in all things.

25 Men, love ye your wives, as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it,

26 to make it holy; and cleansed it with the washing of water, in the word of life,

27 to give the church glorious to himself, that it had no wem, [or spot], nor rivelling [or wrinkle], or any such thing, but that it be holy and undefouled.

28 So and men shall love their wives, as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife, loveth himself;

29 for no man hated ever his own flesh, but nourisheth and fostereth it, as Christ doeth the church.

30 And we be members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

31 For this thing a man shall forsake his father and mother, and he shall draw [or he shall cleave] to his wife; and they shall be twain in one flesh.

32 This sacrament is great; yea, I say in Christ, and in the church.

33 Nevertheless ye all, each man love his wife as himself; and the wife dread her husband.

CHAPTER 6

1 Sons, obey ye to your father and mother, in the Lord; for this thing is rightful [or is just].

2 Honour thou thy father and mother, that is the first commandment in [the] promise;

3 that it be well to thee, and that thou be long living on the earth.

4 And, fathers, do not ye provoke your sons to wrath; but nourish ye them in the teaching and chastising [or in the discipline and correction] of the Lord.

5 Servants, obey ye to fleshly lords with dread and trembling, in simple-ness of your heart, as to Christ;

6 not serving at the eye, as pleasing to men, but as servants of Christ; doing the will of God by discretion,

7 with good will serving as to the Lord, and not as to men;

8 witting that each man, whatever good thing he shall do, he shall receive this of the Lord, whether servant, whether free man.

9 And, ye lords, do the same things to them, forgiving menacings; witting that both their Lord and yours is in heavens, and the taking of persons is not with God.

10 Here afterward, brethren, be ye comforted in the Lord, and in the might of his virtue.

11 Clothe you with the armour of God, that ye may stand against the ambushings, [or assailings], of the devil.

12 For why striving [or battle] is not to us against flesh and blood, but against [the] princes and potentates, against governors of the world of these darknesses, against spiritual things of wickedness, in heavenly things.

13 Therefore take ye the armour of God, that ye may against-stand in the evil day; and in all things stand perfect.

14 Therefore stand ye, and be girded about your loins in soothfastness, and clothed with the habergeon of rightwiseness,

15 and your feet shod in making ready of the gospel of peace.

16 In all things take ye the shield of faith, in which ye may quench all the fiery darts of him that is most wicked or the worst.

17 And take ye the helmet of health, and the sword of the Ghost, that is, the word of God.

18 By all prayer and beseeching pray ye all time in Spirit, and in him waking in all busyness, and beseeching for all holy men [or for all saints].

19 and for me; that word be given to me in opening of my mouth, with trust to make known the mystery of the gospel,

20 for which I am set in message in a chain; so that in it I be hardy to speak, as it behooveth me [to speak out].

21 And [that] ye know, what things be about me, what I do, Tychicus, my most dear brother, and true minister in the Lord, shall make all things known to you;

22 whom I sent to you for this same thing, that ye know what things be about us, and that he comfort your hearts.

23 Peace to brethren, and charity, with faith of God our Father, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

24 Grace with all men that love our Lord Jesus Christ in uncorruption. Amen, that is, So be it.

PHILIPPIANS

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PHILIPPIANS

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the holy men in Christ Jesus, that be at Philippi, with bishops and deacons,

2 grace and peace to you of God our Father, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 I do thankings to my God in all mind of you

4 evermore in all my prayers for all you with joy, and make beseeching

5 on your communing in the gospel of Christ, from the first day till now;

6 trusting this same thing, that he that began in you a good work, shall perform it till into the day of Jesus Christ.

7 As it is just to me to feel this thing for all you, for that I have you in heart, and in my bonds, and in defending and confirming of the gospel, that all ye be fellows of my joy.

8 For God is a witness to me, how I covet all you in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

9 And this thing I pray, that your charity be plenteous more and more in knowing [or in science], and in all wit;

10 that ye approve the better things, that ye be clean and without offence in the day of Christ;

11 [full]-filled with the fruit of rightwiseness by Jesus Christ, into the glory and praising of God.

12 For, brethren, I will that ye know, that the things that be about me have come more to the profit of the gospel,

13 so that my bonds were made known in Christ, in each moot hall, and in all other places;

14 that more of [the] brethren trusting in the Lord more plenteously for my bonds, durst without dread speak the word of God.

15 But some for envy and strife, some for good will, preach Christ;

16 and some of charity, witting that I am put in the defence of the gospel.

17 But some of strife [or of contention] show Christ not cleanly, guessing them to raise tribulation to my bonds.

18 But what? while on all manner, either by occasion, either by truth, Christ is showed; and in this thing I have joy, but also I shall have joy.

19 And I know, that this thing shall come to me into health, by your prayer, and the underministering of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

20 by mine abiding and hope. For in nothing I shall be ashamed, but in all trust as evermore and now, Christ shall be magnified in my body, either by life, either by death.

21 For [to] me to live is Christ, and to die is winning.

22 That if to live in flesh, [this] is fruit of work to me, lo! what I shall choose, I know not.

23 But I am constrained of two things, I have desire to be departed [from the body], and to be with Christ, it is much more better;

24 but to dwell in flesh, is needful for you.

25 And I trusting this thing, know that I shall dwell, and perfectly dwell to all you, to your profit and joy of faith,

26 that your thanking abound in Christ Jesus in me, by my coming again to you.

27 Only live ye worthily to the gospel of Christ, that whether when I come and see you, either absent I hear of you, that ye stand in one spirit of one will, travailing together to the faith of the gospel.

28 And in nothing be ye afeared of adversaries, which is to them cause of perdition, but to you a cause of health. And this thing is of God.

29 For it is given to you for Christ, that not only ye believe in him, but also that ye suffer for him;

30 having the same strife, which ye saw in me, and now ye have heard of me.

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore if any comfort is in Christ, if any solace of charity, if any fellowship of Spirit, if any inwardness of mercy doing,

2 [ful] fill ye my joy, that ye under-stand the same thing, and have the same charity, of one will, and feel the same thing;

3 nothing [doing] by strife, neither by vain glory, but in meekness, deeming each other to be higher [in virtue] than himself;

4 not beholding each by himself what things be his own, but those things that be of other men.

5 And feel ye this thing in you, which was also in Christ Jesus;

6 which when he was in the form of God, deemed not raven, that himself were even to God [or himself to be even to God],

7 but he lowed [or meeked] himself, taking the form of a servant, and was made into the likeness of men,

8 and in habit was found as a man. He meeked himself, and was made obedient to the death, yea, to the death of the cross.

9 For which thing God enhanced him, and gave to him a name that is above all name;

10 that in the name of Jesus each knee be bowed, of heavenly things, [and] of earthly things, and of hell’s;

11 and each tongue acknowledge, that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.

12 Therefore, my most dearworthy brethren, as evermore ye have obeyed, not in my presence only, but much more now in mine absence, work ye with dread and trembling your health.

13 For it is God that worketh in you, both to will, and to perform, for good will.

14 And do ye all things without grutchings, and doubtings;

15 that ye be without complaint, and simple as the sons of God, without reproof, in the middle of a shrewd nation and a wayward; among which ye shine as givers of light in the world.

16 And hold ye together the word of life to my glory in the day of Christ; for I have not run in vain, neither I have travailed in vain.

17 But though I be offered or slain on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I have joy, and I thank you all.

18 And for the same thing have ye joy, and [together] thank ye me.

19 And I hope in the Lord Jesus, that I shall send Timothy soon to you, that I be of good comfort, when those things be known that be about you.

20 For I have no man so of one will, that is busy for you with clean affection.

21 For all men seek those things that be their own, not those that be of Christ Jesus.

22 But know ye the assay of him, for as a son to the father he hath served with me in the gospel.

23 Therefore I hope that I shall send him to you, anon as I see what things be about me.

24 And I trust in the Lord, that also myself shall come to you soon.

25 And I guessed it needful to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and even-worker, and mine even-knight, but your apostle, and the minister of my need.

26 For he desired you all, and he was sorrowful, therefore that ye heard that he was sick.

27 For he was sick to the death, but God had mercy on him; and not only on him, but also on me, lest I had heaviness on heaviness.

28 Therefore more hastily I sent him, that when ye have seen him, ye have joy again, and I be without heaviness.

29 Therefore receive ye him with all joy in the Lord, and have ye such with all honour.

30 For the work of Christ he went to death, giving his life, that he should fulfill that that failed of you with my service.

CHAPTER 3

1 Henceforward, my brethren, have ye joy in the Lord. To write to you the same things, to me it is not slow, and to you it is necessary.

2 See ye hounds, see ye evil work-men, see ye division [or concision].

3 For we be circumcision, which by Spirit serve to God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have not trust in the flesh,

4 though I have trust, yea, in the flesh. If any other man is seen to trust in the flesh, I more,

5 that was circumcised in the eighth day, of the kin [or the kindred] of Israel, of the lineage of Benjamin, an Hebrew of Hebrews, by the law a Pharisee,

6 by love pursuing the church of God, by rightwiseness that is in the law living without complaint.

7 But which things were to me winnings, I have deemed these impairings for Christ.

8 Nevertheless I guess all things to be impairment for the clear science of Jesus Christ my Lord. For whom I made all things impairment, and I deem as drit [or as turds], that I win Christ,

9 and that I be found in him, not having my rightwiseness that is of the law, but that that is of the faith of Christ Jesus, that is of God the right-wiseness in faith,

10 to know him, and the virtue of his rising again, and the fellowship of his passion, and to be made like [or configured] to his death,

11 if on any manner I come to the resurrection that is from death.

12 Not that now I have taken, or now I am perfect; but I pursue, if in any manner I comprehend [or I take] in which thing also I am compre-hended of Jesus Christ.

13 Brethren, I deem me not that I have comprehended; but one thing, I forget those things that be behind, and stretching forth myself to those things that be before,

14 and pursue to the ordained meed [or to the prize] of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

15 Therefore whoever we be perfect, feel we this thing. And if ye under-stand in other manner anything, this thing God shall show to you.

16 Nevertheless to what thing we have come, that we understand the same thing, and that we perfectly dwell in the same rule.

17 Brethren, be ye my followers, and wait ye them that walk so, as ye have our form.

18 For many walk, which I have said oft to you, but now I weeping say, [them], the enemies of Christ’s cross,

19 whose end is death, whose god is the womb, and the glory in [the] confusion of them, that savour [or that understand] earthly things.

20 But our living is in heavens [or in heaven]; from whence also we abide the Saviour our Lord Jesus Christ,

21 which shall reform the body of our meekness, that is made like [or configured] to the body of his clearness, by the working by which he may also make all things subject to him.

CHAPTER 4

1 Therefore, my brethren most dear-worthy and most desired, my joy and my crown, so stand ye in the Lord, most dear brethren.

2 I pray Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, to understand the same thing in the Lord.

3 Also I pray and thee, germane fellow, help thou those women that travailed with me in the gospel, with Clement and other mine helpers, whose names be in the book of life.

4 Joy ye in the Lord evermore; again I say, joy ye.

5 Be your patience [or your temperance] known to all men; the Lord is nigh.

6 Be ye nothing busy, but in all prayer and beseeching, with doing of thankings, be your askings known at God.

7 And the peace of God, that passeth all wit, keep your hearts and understandings in Christ Jesus.

8 From henceforth, brethren, what-ever things be sooth, whatever things chaste, whatever things just, whatever things holy, whatever things able to be loved, [or amiable, or lovable], whatever things of good fame, if any virtue, if any praising of discipline, think ye these things,

9 that also ye have learned, and taken, and heard, and seen in me. Do ye these things, and God of peace shall be with you.

10 But I joyed greatly in the Lord, that sometime afterward ye flowered again to feel for me, as also ye feeled. But ye were occupied,

11 I say not as for need, for I have learned to be sufficient in which things I am.

12 And I know also how to be lowed, [or how to be bowed, or meeked], I know also how to have plenty [or how to abound]. Every-where and in all things I am taught to be [full]-filled, and to hunger, and to abound, and to suffer mis-ease.

13 I may all things in him that comforteth me.

14 Nevertheless ye have done well, communing to my tribulation.

15 For ye, Philippians, know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I went forth from Macedonia, no church communed with me in reason, of thing given and taken, but ye alone.

16 Which sent to Thessalonica once and twice also into use to me.

17 Not for I seek gift, but I require, [or seek again], fruit abounding in your reason.

18 For I have all things, and abound; I am [full]-filled [or replete] with those things taken of Epaphroditus, which ye sent into the odour of sweetness, a covenable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

19 And my God [ful]fill all your desire, by his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

20 But to God and our Father be glory into worlds of worlds. Amen.

21 Greet ye well every holy man in Christ Jesus. Those brethren that be with me, greet you well.

22 All holy men greet you well, most soothly they that be of the emperor’s [or of Caesar’s] house.

23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

COLOSSIANS

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COLOSSIANS

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, brother,

2 to them that be at Colosse, holy and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus, grace and peace to you of God our Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 We do thankings to God, and to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, evermore praying for you,

4 hearing your faith in Christ Jesus, and the love that ye have to all holy men,

5 for the hope that is kept to you in heavens. Which ye heard in the word of truth of the gospel,

6 that came to you, as also it is in all the world, and maketh fruit, and waxeth, as [it is] in you, from that day in which ye heard and knew the grace of God in truth.

7 As ye learned of Epaphras, our fellow [or our even-servant], most dearworthy, which is a true minister of Jesus Christ for you;

8 which also showed to us your loving in Spirit.

9 And therefore we from the day in which we heard, cease not to pray for you, and to ask, that ye be filled with the knowing of his will in all wisdom and ghostly understanding;

10 that ye walk worthily to God pleasing by all things, and make fruit in all good work, and wax in the science of God,

11 and be comforted in all virtue, by the might of his clearness, in all patience and long abiding with joy,

12 that ye do thankings to God and to the Father [or doing thankings to God the Father], which made you worthy into the part of heritage of holy men in light.

13 Which delivered us from the power of darknesses, and translated [us] into the kingdom of the Son of his loving,

14 in whom we have again-buying, and remission of sins.

15 Which is the image of God invisible, the first begotten of each creature.

16 For in him all things be made, in heavens and in earth, visible and invisible, either thrones, either dominations, either princehoods, either powers, all things be made of nought by him, and in him,

17 and he is before all, and all things be in him.

18 And he is head of the body of the church; which is the beginning, [or the first of all], and the first begotten of dead men, that he hold the first dignity [or primacy], in all things.

19 For in him it pleased all plenty to inhabit,

20 and by him all things to be reconciled into him, and made peace by the blood of his cross, those things that be in earths, either that be in heavens.

21 And when ye were sometime aliened [or made strangers], and enemies by wit, in evil works, now he hath reconciled you

22 in the body of his flesh by death, to have you holy, and unwemmed, and without reproof before him.

23 If nevertheless ye dwell in the faith, founded, and stable, and unmoveable from the hope of the gospel that ye have heard, which is preached in all creature that is under heaven. Of which I, Paul, am made a minister,

24 and now I have joy in passion for you, and I [ful] fill those things that fail of the passions of Christ in my flesh, for his body, that is the church.

25 Of which I Paul am made minister [or a servant] by the dispensation of God, that is given to me in you, that I [ful] fill the word of God,

26 the private [or the mystery] that was hid from worlds and generations. But now it is showed to his saints,

27 to whom God would make known the riches of the glory of this sacrament in heathen men, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

28 Whom we show, reproving each man, and teaching each man in all wisdom, that we offer each man perfect in Christ Jesus.

29 In which thing also I travail, in striving by the working of him, that he worketh in me in virtue.

CHAPTER 2

1 But I will that ye know, what busyness I have for you, and for them that be at Laodicea, and whichever saw not my face in flesh,

2 that their hearts be comforted, and they be taught in charity, into all the riches of the plenty of under-standing, into the knowing of [the] mystery of God, the Father of Jesus Christ,

3 in whom all the treasures of wisdom and of science, [or of cunning], be hid.

4 For this thing I say, that no man deceive you in height of words.

5 For though I be absent in body, by spirit I am with you, joying and seeing your order and the firmness of your belief that is in Christ.

6 Therefore as ye have taken Jesus Christ our Lord, walk ye in him,

7 and be ye rooted and builded above in him, and confirmed in the belief, as ye have learned, abounding in him in doing of thankings.

8 See ye that no man deceive you by philosophy and vain fallacy, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ.

9 For in him dwelleth body-like all the fullness of the Godhead.

10 And ye be [ful] filled in him, that is head of all principat and power.

11 In whom also ye be circumcised in circumcision not made with hand, in despoiling [or in nakedness] of the body of flesh, but in circumcision of Christ;

12 and ye be buried together with him in baptism, in whom also ye have risen again by faith of the working of God, that raised him from death.

13 And when ye were dead in your guilts, and in the prepuce of your flesh, he quickened together you with him; forgiving to you all guilts [or all trespasses],

14 doing away that writing of decree that was against us, that was contrary to us; and he took away that from the middle, pitching it on the cross;

15 and he spoiled principats and powers, and led out trustily, openly overcoming them in himself.

16 Therefore no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in part of feast day, or of new moon, or of sabbaths,

17 which be shadow of things to coming [or to come]; for the body is of Christ.

18 No man deceive you, willing to teach in meekness, and [the] religion of angels, those things which he hath not seen, walking vainly, swollen [or in-blown] with wit of his flesh,

19 and not holding the head, of which all the body, by bands and joinings together under-ministered and made, waxeth into [the] increasing of God.

20 For if ye be dead with Christ from the elements of the world, what yet as men living to the world deem ye?

21 That ye touch not, neither taste, neither treat with hands those things,

22 which all be into death by that use, after the commandments and teachings of men;

23 which have a reason of wisdom in vain religion [or in superstition] and meekness, and not to spare the body, not in any honour to the fulfilling of the flesh.

CHAPTER 3

1 Therefore if ye have risen together with Christ, seek ye those things that be above, where Christ is sitting on the right half of God.

2 Savour [or Understand] ye those things that be above, not those that be on the earth.

3 For ye be dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

4 For when Christ shall appear, your life, then also ye shall appear with him in glory.

5 Therefore slay ye your members, which be on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, lechery, evil covetousness, and avarice, which is service of maumets [or simulacra];

6 for which things the wrath of God came on the sons of unbelief;

7 in which also ye walked sometime, when ye lived in them.

8 But now put ye away all things, wrath, indignation, malice, blasphemy and foul words of your mouth.

9 Do not ye lie, [or gab], together; despoil ye you from the old man with his deeds,

10 and clothe ye the new man, that is made new again into the knowing of God, after the image of him that made him;

11 where is not male and female, heathen man and Jew, circumcision and prepuce, barbarous and Scythian, bondman and free, but all things and in all things Christ.

12 Therefore ye, as the chosen of God, holy and loved, clothe [ye] you with the entrails of mercy, benignity, and meekness, temperance, patience;

13 and support ye each other, [or bearing up together], and forgive to yourselves, if any man against any hath a quarrel; as the Lord [Christ] forgave to you, so also ye.

14 And upon all these things have ye charity, that is the bond of perfectness [or of perfection].

15 And the peace of Christ enjoy in your hearts, in which ye be called in one body, and be ye kind.

16 The word of Christ dwell in you plenteously, in all wisdom; and teach and admonish yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, in grace singing in your hearts to the Lord.

17 All thing, whatever thing ye do, in word or in deed, all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, doing thankings to God and to the Father by him [or doing thankings to God the Father by him].

18 Women, be ye subject to your husbands, as it behooveth in the Lord.

19 Men, love ye your wives, and do not ye be bitter to them.

20 Sons, obey ye to your father and mother by [or in] all things; for this is well pleasing in the Lord.

21 Fathers, do not ye provoke your sons to indignation, that they be not made feeble-hearted.

22 Servants, obey ye by all things to fleshly lords, not serving at the eye, as pleasing to men, but in simpleness of heart, dreading the Lord [God].

23 Whatever ye do, work ye of will as to the Lord and not to men;

24 witting that of the Lord ye shall take yielding of heritage. Serve ye to the Lord Christ.

25 For he that doeth injury [or wrong] shall receive that that he did evil; and acception [or taking] of persons is not with God.

CHAPTER 4

1 Lords, give ye to servants that that is just and even, witting that also ye have a Lord in heaven.

2 Be ye busy in prayer, and wake in it, in doing of thankings;

3 and pray each for other, and for us, that God open to us the door of word, to speak the mystery of Christ; for which also I am bound,

4 that I show it, so as it behooveth me to speak.

5 Walk ye in wisdom to them that be withoutforth, again-buying time.

6 Your word be savoured with salt evermore in grace; that ye know, how it behooveth you to answer to each man.

7 Tychicus, most dear brother, and faithful minister, and my fellow [or my even-servant] in the Lord, shall make all things known to you, that be about me.

8 Whom I sent to you to this same thing, that he know what things be about you, and comfort your hearts,

9 with Onesimus, most dear and faithful brother, which is of you; which shall make all things that be done here, known to you.

10 Aristarchus, prisoner with me [or mine even-captive], greeteth you well, and Marcus, the cousin of Barnabas, of whom ye have taken commandments; if he come to you, receive ye him;

11 and Jesus, that is said Justus; which be of circumcision; they alone be mine helpers in the kingdom of God, that were to me in solace.

12 Epaphras, that is of you, the servant of Jesus Christ, greeteth you well; ever busy for you in prayers, that ye stand perfect and full in all the will of God.

13 And I bear witnessing to him, that he hath much travail for you, and for them that be at Laodicea, and that be at Hierapolis.

14 Luke, the leech most dear, and Demas, greet you well.

15 Greet ye well the brethren that be at Laodicea, and the woman Nympha, and the church that is in her house.

16 And when this epistle is read among you, do ye, that it be read in the church of Laodiceans; and read ye that epistle that is of Laodiceans.

17 And say ye to Archippus, See the ministry, that thou hast taken in the Lord, that thou [ful] fill it.

18 My salutation, by the hand of Paul. Be ye mindful of my bonds. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

1ST THESSALONIANS

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1ST THESSALONIANS

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of Thessalonians, in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you.

2 We do thankings to God ever-more for all you, and we make mind of you in our prayers without ceasing;

3 having mind [or mindful] of the work of your faith, and travail, and charity, and abiding of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ, before God and our Father.

4 Ye beloved brethren of God, we witting you’re choosing,

5 for our gospel was not at you in word only, but also in virtue, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much plenty; as ye know, which we were among you for you;

6 and ye be made followers of us, and of the Lord, receiving the word in much tribulation, with joy of the Holy Ghost;

7 so that ye be made ensample to all men that believe, in Macedonia and in Achaia.

8 For of you the word of the Lord is published [or is much told], not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith that is to God, in each place is gone forth, [or but in each place your faith that is to God, is gone forth]; so that it is not need to us to speak anything.

9 For they show of you, what manner entry we had to you, and how ye be converted to God from maumets [or from simulacra], to serve to the living God and very;

10 and to abide his Son from heavens, whom he raised from death, the Lord Jesus, that delivered us from wrath to coming [or to come].

CHAPTER 2

1 For, brethren, ye know our entry to you, for it was not vain;

2 but first we suffered, and were punished with wrongs, as ye know in Philippi, and had trust in our Lord, to speak to you the gospel of God in much busyness.

3 And our exhortation [or our teaching] is not of error, neither of uncleanness, neither in guile,

4 but as we be approved of God, that the gospel of God should be taken to us, so we speak; not as pleasing to men, but to God that proveth our hearts.

5 For neither we were any time in word of glossing [or of flattering], as ye know, neither in occasion of avarice; God is witness;

6 neither seeking glory of men, neither of you, neither of others, when we, as Christ’s apostles, might have been in charge [or chargeous] to you.

7 But we were made little in the middle of you, as if a nurse foster her sons;

8 so we desiring you with great love, would have betaken to you not only the gospel of God, but also our lives, for ye be made most dear-worthy to us.

9 For, brethren, ye be mindful of our travail and weariness; we worked night and day, that we should not grieve any of you, and preached to you the gospel of God.

10 God and ye be witnesses, how holily, and justly, and without complaint [or quarrel], we were to you that believed.

11 As ye know, how we prayed you, and comforted each of you, as the father his sons,

12 and we have witnessed, that ye should go worthily to God, that called you into his kingdom and glory.

13 Therefore we do thankings to God without ceasing. For when ye had taken of us the word of the hearing of God, ye took it not as the word of men, but as it is verily, the word of God, that worketh in you that have believed.

14 For, brethren, ye be made followers of the churches of God, that be in Judea, in Christ Jesus, for ye have suffered the same things of your even-lineages, as they of the Jews.

15 Which slew both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and pursued us, and they please not to God, and they be adversaries to all men;

16 forbidding us to speak to heathen men, that they be made safe, that they [full]-fill their sins evermore; for the wrath of God came on them into the end.

17 And, brethren, we desolate from you for a time, by mouth and in beholding, [as in presence], but not in heart, have hied more plenteously to see your face with great desire.

18 For we would come to you, yea, I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us.

19 For why what is our hope, or joy, or crown of glory? Whether ye be not before our Lord Jesus Christ in his coming?

20 For ye be our glory and joy.

CHAPTER 3

1 For which thing we suffered no longer, and it pleased to us to dwell alone at Athens;

2 and we sent Timothy, our brother, and minister of God in the evangel of Christ, to you to be confirmed, and to be taught, [or admonished], for your faith,

3 that no man be moved in these tribulations. For [ye] yourselves know, that in this thing we be set.

4 For when we were at you, we before-said to you, that we should suffer tribulations; as it is done, and ye know.

5 Therefore I, Paul, no longer abiding, sent to know your faith, lest peradventure he that tempteth [shall] tempt you, and your travail [or our travail] be made vain.

6 But now, when Timothy shall come to us from you, and tell to us your faith and charity, and that ye have good mind of us, ever[more] desiring to see us, as we also you;

7 therefore, brethren, we be comforted in you, in all our need and tribulation, by your faith.

8 For now we live, if ye stand in the Lord.

9 For what doing of thankings may we yield to God for you, in all joy, in which we joy for you before our Lord?

10 night and day more plenteously praying, that we see your face, and fulfill those things that fail to [or of] your faith.

11 But God himself and our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, address our way to you.

12 And the Lord multiply you, and make your charity to be plenteous of each to other [or for to abound together], and into all men, as also we in you;

13 that your hearts be confirmed without complaint in holiness, before God and our Father, in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Amen.

CHAPTER 4

1 Therefore, brethren, from hence-forward we pray you, and beseech in the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us, how it behooveth you to go and to please God, so walk ye, that ye abound more.

2 For ye know what commandments I have given to you by the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is the will of God, your holiness, that ye abstain you from fornication.

4 That each of you know how to wield his vessel in holiness, and honour;

5 not in passion of lust, as heathen men that know not God.

6 And that no man over-go, neither deceive his brother, in chaffering. For the Lord is avenger of all these things, as we before-said to you, and have witnessed.

7 For God called not us into uncleanness, but into holiness.

8 Therefore he that despiseth these things, despiseth not man, but God, that also gave his Holy Spirit in us.

9 But of the charity of brotherhood, we had no need to write to you; ye yourselves have learned of God, that ye love together;

10 for ye do that into all brethren in all Macedonia. And, brethren, we pray you, that ye abound more;

11 and take keep, [or and give work, or busyness], that ye be quiet; and that ye do your need, and that ye work with your [own] hands, as we have commanded to you;

12 and that ye wander honestly to them that be withoutforth, and that of no man ye desire anything.

13 For, brethren, we will not, that ye unknow of men that die, that ye be not sorrowful, as others that have not hope.

14 For if we believe, that Jesus was dead, and rose again, so God shall lead with him them that be dead by Jesus.

15 And we say this thing to you in the word of the Lord, that we that live, that be left in the coming of the Lord, shall not come before them that be dead.

16 For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven, in the command-ment [or in the commanding], and in the voice of an archangel, and in the trump of God; and the dead men that be in Christ, shall rise again first.

17 Afterward we that live, that be left, shall be ravished together with them in clouds, meeting Christ in the air; and so evermore we shall be with the Lord.

18 Therefore be ye comforted together in these words.

CHAPTER 5

1 But, brethren, of times and moments ye need not that I write to you.

2 For ye yourselves know diligently, that the day of the Lord shall come, as a thief in the night.

3 For when they shall say peace is, and secureness, then sudden death [or suddenly perishing] shall come on them, as sorrow to a woman that is with child, and they shall not escape.

4 But, brethren, ye be not in darknesses, that that day as a thief catch you.

5 For all ye be the sons of light, and sons of [the] day; we be not of night, neither of darknesses.

6 Therefore sleep we not as others; but wake we, and be we sober.

7 For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken, be drunken in the night.

8 But we that be of the day, be sober, clothed in the habergeon of faith and of charity, and in the helmet of hope of health.

9 For God putted not us into wrath, but into the purchasing of health, by our Lord Jesus Christ,

10 that was dead for us; that whether we wake, whether we sleep, we live together with him.

11 For which thing comfort ye together, and edify ye each other, as ye do.

12 And, brethren, we pray you, that ye know them that travail among you, and be sovereigns [or be before] to you in the Lord, and teach you,

13 that ye have them more abun-dantly in charity; and for the work of them, have ye peace with them.

14 And, brethren, we pray you, reprove, [or chastise], unpeaceable [or unquiet] men. Comfort ye men of little heart, receive ye sick men, be ye patient to all men.

15 See ye, that no man yield evil for evil to any man; but evermore pursue ye that that is good, each to other, and to all men.

16 Evermore joy ye;

17 without ceasing pray ye;

18 in all things do ye thankings. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, in all you.

19 Do not ye quench the Spirit,

20 do not ye despise prophecies.

21 But prove ye all things, and hold ye that thing that is good.

22 Abstain [ye] you from all evil species, [or likeness].

23 And God himself of peace make you holy by all things, that your spirit be kept whole, and soul, and body, without complaint, in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24 God is true, that called you, which also shall do [work of grace in you].

25 Brethren, pray ye for us.

26 Greet ye well all brethren in holy kiss.

27 I charge you by the Lord, that this epistle be read to all holy brethren.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

2ND THESSALONIANS

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2ND THESSALONIANS

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of Thessalonians, in God our Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ,

2 grace to you and peace of God, our Father, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 We owe to do thankings ever-more to God for you, brethren, so as it is worthy, for your faith over-waxeth [or ever-waxeth], and the charity of each of you to other aboundeth.

4 So that we us-selves glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations. Which ye sustain

5 into the ensample of the just doom of God, that ye be had worthy in the kingdom of God, for which ye suffer.

6 If nevertheless it is just before God to requite tribulation to them that trouble you,

7 and to you that be troubled, rest with us in the showing of the Lord Jesus from heaven, with angels of his virtue,

8 in the flame of fire, that shall give vengeance to them that know not God, and that obey not to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 Which shall suffer everlasting pains, in perishing from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his virtue,

10 when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be made wonderful in all men that believed, for our witnessing is believed on you, in that day.

11 In which thing also we pray evermore for you, that our God make you worthy to his calling, and [ful] fill all the will of his goodness, and the work of faith in virtue;

12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be clarified in you, and ye in him, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

CHAPTER 2

1 But, brethren, we pray you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our congregation into the same coming [or the same thing],

2 that ye be not moved soon from your wit, neither be afeared, neither by spirit, neither by word, neither by epistle as sent by us, as if the day of the Lord be nigh.

3 No man deceive you in any manner. For but dissension [or departing away] come first, and the man of sin be showed, the son of perdition,

4 that is adversary, and is enhanced over all thing that is said God, or that is worshipped, so that he sit in the temple of God, and show himself as if he were God.

5 Whether ye hold not, that yet when I was at you, I said these things to you?

6 And now what withholdeth [him], ye know, that he be showed in his time.

7 For the private [or the mystery] of wickedness worketh now; only that he that holdeth now, hold, till he be done away.

8 And then that wicked man shall be showed, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with lightening, [or the illumining, or shining], of his coming;

9 him, whose coming is by the working of Satan, in all virtue, and signs, and great wonders, false, [or leasing],

10 and in all deceit of wickedness, to them that perish. For that they received not the charity of truth, that they should be made safe.

11 And therefore God shall send to them a working of error, that they believe to leasing,

12 that all be deemed, [or be damned], which believed not to truth, but consented to wickedness.

13 But, brethren loved of God, we owe to do thankings evermore to God for you, that God chose us the first fruits into health, in hallowing of Spirit and in faith of truth;

14 in which also he called you by our gospel, into the getting of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

15 Therefore, brethren, stand ye, and hold ye the traditions, that ye have learned, either by word, either by our epistle.

16 And our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, which loved us, and gave everlasting comfort and good hope in grace,

17 stir [or admonish] your hearts, and confirm [you] in all good work and word.

CHAPTER 3

1 Brethren, from henceforward pray ye for us, that the word of God run, and be clarified, as it is with you;

2 and that we be delivered from noxious and evil men; for faith is not of all men.

3 But the Lord is true, that shall confirm you, and shall keep [us] from evil.

4 And, brethren, we trust of you in the Lord, for whatever things we command to you, both ye do and shall do.

5 And the Lord address your hearts, in the charity of God, and in the patience of Christ.

6 But, brethren, we announce to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw you from each brother that wandereth out of order, [or against good order], and not after the teaching, that they received of us.

7 For ye yourselves know, how it behooveth to pursue us. For we were not unpeaceable [or unquiet] among you,

8 neither without our own travail, we ate bread of any man, but in travail and weariness wrought night and day, that we grieved none of you.

9 Not as we had not power, but that we should give us-selves ensample to you to pursue us.

10 For also when we were among you, we announced this thing to you, that if any man will not work, neither eat he.

11 For we have heard that some among you go unrestfully, [or unquietly, or unpeaceably], and nothing work, but do curiously.

12 But we announce to them that be such men, and beseech in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they work with silence, and eat their own bread.

13 But do not ye, brethren, fail well-doing.

14 That if any man obey not to our word [sent] by epistle, mark ye him, and commune ye not with him, that he be ashamed;

15 and do not ye guess him as an enemy, but reprove ye him as a brother.

16 And God himself of peace give to you everlasting peace in all place. The Lord be with you all.

17 My salutation by the hand of Paul; which sign in each epistle I write thus.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

1ST TIMOTHY

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1ST TIMOTHY

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, [the] apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Saviour, and of Jesus Christ our hope,

2 to Timothy, beloved son in the faith, grace and mercy and peace, of God the Father, and of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

3 As I prayed thee, that thou shouldest dwell at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou shouldest command to some men, that they should not teach other way,

4 neither give attention to fables and genealogies that be uncertain [or without end], which give questions, more than edification of God, that is in the faith.

5 For the end of the commandment is charity of clean heart, and good conscience, and of faith not feigned.

6 From which things some men have erred, and be turned into vain speech;

7 and will to be teachers of the law, and understand not what things they speak, neither of what things they affirm.

8 And we know that the law is good, if any man use it lawfully;

9 and witting this thing, that the law is not set [or not put] to a just man, but to unjust men and not subject, to wicked men and to sinners, to cursed men and defouled, to slayers of father, and slayers of mother, to manslayers

10 and lechers, to them that do lechery with men, [or and fornicators, to them that trespass with males against kind, sellers, or stealers, of men], leasing-mongers and forsworn, and if any other thing is contrary to the wholesome teaching,

11 that is after the gospel of the glory of blessed God, which is betaken to me.

12 I do thankings to him, that comforted me in Christ Jesus our Lord, for he guessed me faithful, and put me in ministry,

13 that first was a blasphemer, and a pursuer, and full of wrongs. But I have gotten the mercy of God, for I unknowing did in unbelief.

14 But the grace of our Lord over-abounded, with faith and love that is in Christ Jesus.

15 A true word and worthy all receiving, for Christ Jesus came into this world to make sinful men safe, of which I am the first.

16 But therefore I have gotten mercy, that Christ Jesus should show in me first all patience, to the informing of them that shall believe to him into everlasting life.

17 And to the king of worlds, undeadly, and invisible God alone, be honour and glory into worlds of worlds. Amen.

18 I betake this commandment to thee, thou son Timothy, after the prophecies that have been heretofore in thee, that thou travail [or fight] in them a good travail,

19 having faith and good conscience, which some men cast away, and perished about the faith.

20 Of which is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I betook to Satan, that they learn not to blaspheme.

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore I beseech first of all things, that beseechings, prayers, askings, doing of thankings, be made for all men,

2 for kings and all that be set in highness, that we lead a quiet and a peaceable life, in all piety and chastity.

3 For this thing is good and accepted before God, our Saviour,

4 that will that all men be made safe, and that they come to the knowing of truth.

5 For one God and one mediator is of God and of men, a man Christ Jesus,

6 that gave himself redemption for all men. Whose witnessing is confirmed in his times;

7 in which I am set a preacher and an apostle. For I say truth [in Christ Jesus], and I lie not, that am a teacher of heathen men in faith and in truth.

8 Therefore I will, that men pray in all place, lifting up clean hands without wrath and strife [or disputing].

9 Also women in suitable habit, with shamefastness and soberness arraying themselves, not in wreathed hairs, either in gold, or pearls, or precious clothes;

10 but that that becometh women, promising piety by good works.

11 A woman learn in silence, with all subjection.

12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, neither to have lordship on the husband [or on the man], but to be in silence.

13 For Adam was first formed, afterward Eve;

14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived, in breaking of the law [or prevarication].

15 But she shall be saved by generation of children, if she dwell perfectly in faith, and love, and holiness, with soberness.

CHAPTER 3

1 A faithful word [I shall say]. If any man desireth a bishopric, he desireth a good work.

2 Therefore it behooveth a bishop to be without reproof, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, chaste, virtuous, holding hospitality, a teacher;

3 not given much to wine, not a smiter, but temperate [or patient], not full of chiding [or strife], not covetous,

4 well-ruling his house, and have sons subject with all chastity;

5 for if any man know not how to govern his house, how shall he have diligence [or the keeping] of the church of God?

6 not new converted to the faith, lest he be borne up into pride, and fall into [the] doom of the devil.

7 For it behooveth him to have also good witnessing of them that be with-outforth, that he fall not into reproof, and into the snare of the devil.

8 Also it behooveth deacons to be chaste, not double-tongued, not given much to wine [or not given to much wine], not following foul winning;

9 that have the mystery of faith in clean conscience.

10 But be they proved first, and minister they so, having no crime, [or great sin].

11 Also it behooveth women to be chaste, not backbiting, sober, faithful in all things.

12 Deacons be husbands of one wife; which govern well their sons and their houses.

13 For they that minister well, shall get a good degree to themselves, and much trust in the faith, that is in Christ Jesus.

14 Son Timothy, I write to thee these things, hoping that I shall come soon to thee;

15 but if I tarry, that thou knowest, how it behooveth thee to live in the house of God, that is the church of living God, a pillar and firmness of truth.

16 And openly it is a great sacrament of piety, that thing that was showed in flesh, it is justified in Spirit, it appeared to angels, it is preached to heathen men, it is believed in the world, it is taken up into glory.

CHAPTER 4

1 But the Spirit saith openly, that in the last times some men shall depart from the faith, giving attention to spirits of error, and to teachings of devils;

2 that speak leasing in hypocrisy, and have their conscience corrupted,

3 forbidding to be wedded, and to abstain from meats, which God made to take with doing of thankings, to faithful men, and them that have known the truth.

4 For each creature of God is good, and nothing is to be cast away, which is taken with doing of thankings;

5 for it is hallowed by the word of God, and by prayer.

6 Thou putting forth these things to brethren, shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus; nourished with words of faith and of good doctrine, which thou hast gotten.

7 But eschew [or shun] thou uncovenable fables, and old women’s fables; haunt thyself to piety.

8 For bodily exercitation is profitable to little thing; but piety is profitable to all things, that hath a promise of life that now is, and that is to come.

9 A true word, and worthy all acceptation or acception.

10 And in this thing we travail, and be cursed, for we hope in living God, that is Saviour of all men, most of faithful men.

11 Command thou this thing, and teach.

12 No man despise thy youth, but be thou ensample of faithful men, in word, in living, in charity, in faith, in chastity.

13 Till I come, take attention to reading, to exhortation and teaching.

14 Do not thou little care, the grace which is in thee, that is given to thee by prophecy, with putting on of the hands of [the] priesthood.

15 Think thou these things, in these be thou, that thy profiting be showed to all men.

16 Take attention to thyself and to doctrine; be busy in them. For thou doing these things, shalt make both thyself safe, and them that hear thee.

CHAPTER 5

1 Blame thou not an elder man, but beseech [him] as a father, young men as brethren;

2 old women as mothers, young women as sisters, in all chastity.

3 Honour thou [the] widows, that be very widows.

4 But if any widow hath children of sons, learn she first to govern her house, and requite to father and mother; for this thing is accepted before God.

5 And she that is a widow verily, and desolate, hope [she] into God, and be busy in beseechings and prayers night and day.

6 For she that is living in delights, is dead [in soul].

7 And command thou this thing, that they be without reproof.

8 For if any man hath not care of his own, and mostly of his household men or meine, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unfaithful, [or heathen], man.

9 A widow be chosen [into the temple] not less than sixty years, that was wife of one husband,

10 and hath witnessing in good works, if she nourished children, if she re-ceived poor men to harbour, if she hath washed the feet of holy men, if she ministered to men that suffered trib-ulation, if she followed all good work.

11 But eschew thou younger widows; for when they have done lechery, they will be wedded in Christ, [or when they have done lechery in Christ, they will be wedded],

12 having damnation, for they have made void the first faith.

13 Also they idle learn to go about houses, not only idle, but [they be] full of words and curious [or curiosity], speaking things that it behooveth not.

14 Therefore I will, that younger widows be wedded, and bring forth children, and be housewives, to give none occasion to the adversary, because of cursed thing.

15 For now some be turned aback after Satan.

16 If any faithful man hath widows, minister he to them, that the church be not charged, that it suffice to them that be very widows.

17 The priests that be well governors, [that is, truly keep well priesthood], be they had worthy to double honour; most they that travail in word and teaching.

18 For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not bridle the mouth of the ox threshing, and, A workman is worthy his hire.

19 Do not thou receive accusing against a priest, but under twain or three witnesses.

20 But reprove thou men that sin before all men, that also others have dread.

21 I pray [or I adjure] thee before God, and Jesus Christ, and his chosen angels, that thou keep these things without prejudice, and do nothing in bowing to the other side.

22 Put thou hands to no man, neither anon commune thou with other men’s sins. Keep thyself chaste. [Put thou hands to no man soon, neither commune thou with other men’s sins. Keep thyself chaste.]

23 Do not thou yet drink water, but use a little wine, for thy stomach, and for thine oft-falling infirmities.

24 Some men’s sins be open, before going to doom; but of some men they come after [or they follow].

25 And also good deeds be open, and those that have them in other manner, may not be hid.

CHAPTER 6

1 Whatever servants be under yoke, deem they their lords worthy all honour, lest the name of the Lord and the doctrine [or his doctrine] be blasphemed.

2 And they that have faithful, [or christian], lords, despise them not, for they be brethren; but more serve they [them], for they be faithful and loved, which be partners of beneficence, [or good doing]. Teach thou these things, and admonish thou these things.

3 If any man teach otherwise, and accordeth not to the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to that teaching that is by piety,

4 he is proud, and knoweth nothing, but languisheth about questions and strivings [or fightings] of words, of the which be brought forth envies, strives, blasphemies, evil suspicions,

5 fightings of men, that be corrupt in soul [or in reason], and that be deprived from truth, that deem winning to be piety.

6 But a great winning is piety, with sufficience.

7 For we brought in nothing into this world, and no doubt, that we may not bear anything away.

8 But we having foods, and with what things we shall be covered [or clothed], be we satisfied with these things.

9 For they that will be made rich, fall into temptation, and into the snare of the devil, and into many unprofitable desires and noxious, which drown men into death and perdition.

10 For the root of all evils is covetousness, which some men coveting erred from the faith, and besetted them with many sorrows.

11 But, thou, man of God, flee these things; but follow thou rightwiseness, piety, faith, charity, patience, mildness.

12 Strive thou a good strife of faith, catch everlasting life, into which thou art called, and hast acknowledged a good acknowledging before many witnesses.

13 I command to thee before God, that quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, that yielded a witnessing under Pilate of Pontii, a good confession,

14 that thou keep the commandment without wem, without reproof, into the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ;

15 whom the blessed and alone almighty King of kings and Lord of lords shall show in his times.

16 Which alone hath undeadliness [or immortality], and dwelleth in light, to which light no man may come; whom no man saw, neither may see; to whom glory, and honour, and empire be without end. Amen.

17 Command thou to the rich men of this world, that they understand not highly [or proudly], neither that they hope in uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, that giveth to us all things plenteously to use;

18 to do well, to be made rich in good works, lightly to give, to commune,

19 to treasure to themselves a good foundament, into time to coming [or time to come], that they catch everlasting life.

20 Thou Timothy, keep the thing [or the deposit] betaken to thee, eschew-ing cursed novelties of voices, and opinions of false name of knowing;

21 which some men promising, about the faith fell down [or fell down about the faith]. The grace of God be with thee. Amen.

2ND TIMOTHY

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2ND TIMOTHY

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, [the] apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, by the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,

2 to Timothy, his most dearworthy son, grace, mercy, and peace of God the Father, and of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

3 I do thankings to my God, to whom I serve from my progenitors [or my ancestors], in clean conscience, that without ceasing I have mind of thee in my prayers, night and day,

4 desiring to see thee; having mind of thy tears, [or mindful of thy tears], that I be [ful] filled with joy.

5 And I bethink of that faith, that is in thee not feigned, which also dwelled first in thine aunt Lois, and in thy mother Eunice. And I am certain, that also in thee.

6 For which cause I admonish thee, that thou raise again the grace of God, that is in thee by the setting on [or the on-putting] of mine hands.

7 For why God gave not to us the spirit of dread, but of virtue, and of love, and of soberness.

8 Therefore do not thou shame the witnessing of our Lord Jesus Christ, neither me, his prisoner; but travail thou together in the gospel by the virtue of God;

9 that delivered us, and called with his holy calling, not after our works, but by his purpose and grace, that is given [to us] in Christ Jesus before worldly times;

10 but now it is open by the lightening of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which destroyed death, and lightened life and uncorruption by the gospel.

11 In which I am set a preacher and apostle, and master of heathen men.

12 For which cause also I suffer these things; but I am not confound-ed. For I know to whom I have believed, and I am certain that he is mighty to keep that is taken to my keeping, into that day.

13 Have thou the form of whole-some words, which thou heardest of me in faith and love in Christ Jesus.

14 Keep thou the good [deposit, or thing], taken to thy keeping by the Holy Ghost, that dwelleth in us.

15 Thou knowest this, that all that be in Asia be turned away from me, of which is Phygellus and Hermogenes.

16 The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for oft he refreshed me, and shamed not my chain.

17 But when he came to Rome, he sought me busily, and found [me].

18 The Lord give to him to find mercy of God in that day. And how great things he ministered to me at Ephesus, thou knowest better.

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore thou, my son, be comforted in grace that is in Christ Jesus.

2 And what things thou hast heard of me by many witnesses, betake thou these to faithful men, which shall be able also to teach other men.

3 Travail thou as a good knight of Christ Jesus.

4 No man holding knighthood to God, [en] wrappeth himself with worldly needs, that he please to him, to whom he hath proved himself.

5 For he that fighteth in a battle, shall not be crowned, but he fight lawfully.

6 It behooveth an earth-tiller to receive first of the fruits.

7 Understand thou what things I say. For the Lord shall give to thee understanding in all things.

8 Be thou mindful that the Lord Jesus Christ of the seed of David hath risen again from death, after my gospel,

9 in which I travail unto bonds, as working evil, but the word of God is not bound.

10 Therefore I suffer [or I sustain] all things for the chosen, that also they get the health that is in Christ Jesus, with heavenly glory.

11 A true word [is this that I say], that if we be dead together [to the world], also we shall live together [in bliss];

12 if we suffer [or if we sustain], we shall reign together [with Christ]; if we deny [him], he shall deny us;

13 if we believe not, he dwelleth faithful, he may not deny himself.

14 Teach thou these things, witness-ing before God. Do not thou strive in words; for to nothing it is profitable, but to the subverting of men that hear.

15 Busily keep [or Take care] to give thyself a proved, praiseable workman to God, without shame, rightly treating the word of truth.

16 But eschew thou [or shun thou] unholy and vain speeches, for why those profit much to unfaithfulness,

17 and the word of them creepeth as a canker. Of whom Philetus is, and Hymenaeus,

18 which felled down from the truth, saying that the rising-again is now done, and they subverted [or turned upside-down] the faith of some men.

19 But the firm foundament of God standeth, having this mark, The Lord knoweth which be his, and, Each man that nameth the name of the Lord, departeth from wickedness.

20 But in a great house be not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of tree, and of earth; and so some be into honour, and some into despite.

21 Therefore, if any man cleanseth himself from these, he shall be a vessel hallowed into honour, and profitable to the Lord, ready to all good work.

22 And flee thou [the] desires of youth, but follow thou rightwiseness, faith, charity, peace, with them that inwardly call [or that in-call] the Lord of a clean heart.

23 And eschew thou [or shun] foolish questions, and without knowing, [or discipline], witting that those engender chidings.

24 But it behooveth the servant of the Lord to chide not; but to be mild to all men, able to teach, patient,

25 with temperance reproving them that against-stand the truth, that some-time God give to them repenting [or penance], that they know the truth,

26 and that they rise again from the snares of the devil, of whom they be held prisoners at his will.

CHAPTER 3

1 But know thou this thing, that in the last days perilous times shall nigh,

2 and men shall be loving them-selves, covetous, high of bearing, proud, blasphemers, not obedient to father and mother, unkind, cursed,

3 without affection, [or good will], without peace, false blamers [or false challengers], uncontinent, [or unchaste], unmild, without benignity,

4 traitors, over-thwart [or froward], swollen [or blown]with proud thoughts, blind, lovers of lusts more than of God,

5 having the likeness of piety, but denying the virtue of it. And eschew thou these men.

6 Of these they be that pierce houses, and lead women captives [or and lead little women captive], charged with sins, which be led with diverse desires,

7 evermore learning, and never perfectly coming to the science, [or to the knowing], of truth.

8 And as Jannes and Jambres against-stood Moses, so these against-stand the truth, men corrupt in understanding [or in soul], reproved about the faith.

9 But further they shall not profit, for the unwisdom of them shall be known to all men, as theirs was.

10 But thou hast gotten my teaching [or my doctrine], ordinance, purposing [or purpose], faith, long abiding, love, patience,

11 persecutions, passions, which were made to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what manner persecutions I suffered, and the Lord hath delivered me of all.

12 And all men that will live faithfully [or piously] in Christ Jesus, shall suffer persecution.

13 But evil men and deceivers shall increase into worse, erring [them-selves], and sending [others] into error.

14 But dwell thou in these things that thou hast learned, and that be betaken to thee, witting of whom thou hast learned;

15 for thou hast known holy letters from thy youth, which may learn thee [or may inform thee] to health, by faith that is in Christ Jesus.

16 For all scripture inspired of God is profitable to teach, to reprove, to chastise, [for] to learn in rightwiseness,

17 that the man of God be perfect, learned to all good work[s].

CHAPTER 4

1 I witness before God and Christ Jesus, that shall deem the quick and the dead, by the coming of him, and he kingdom of him,

2 preach the word, be thou busy covenably without rest, reprove thou, beseech thou, blame thou in all patience and doctrine.

3 For time shall be, when men shall not suffer [or not sustain] whole-some teaching, but at their desires they shall gather together to themselves masters itching [or pleasing] to the ears.

4 And truly they shall turn away the hearing from truth, but to fables they shall turn.

5 But wake thou, in all things travail thou, do [thou] the work of an evangelist, fulfill thy service, [or office], be thou sober.

6 For I am sacrificed now, and the time of my departing is nigh.

7 I have striven a good strife, I have ended the course, I have kept the faith.

8 In the tother time a crown of rightwiseness is kept to me, which the Lord, a just doomsman, shall yield to me in that day; and not only to me, but also to these that love his coming.

9 Hie thou to come to me soon.

10 For Demas, loving this world, hath forsaken me, and went to Thessalonica, Crescens into Galatia, Titus into Dalmatia;

11 Luke alone is with me. Take thou Mark, and bring with thee; for he is profitable to me into service.

12 Forsooth I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.

13 The cloth which I left at Troas at Carpas, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but most the parchments.

14 Alexander, the treasurer, showed to me much evil; the Lord shall yield to him after his works.

15 Whom also thou eschew; for he against-stood full greatly our words.

16 In my first defence no man helped me, but all forsook me; be it not areckoned to them.

17 But the Lord helped me [or the Lord stood nigh to me], and comforted me, that the preaching be [full]-filled by me, and that all folks hear, that I am delivered from the mouth of the lion.

18 And the Lord delivered me from all evil work, and shall make me safe into his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory into worlds of worlds. Amen.

19 Greet well Prisca, and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus.

20 Erastus left [or dwelt] at Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick at Miletum.

21 Hie thou to come before winter. Eubulus, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all brethren, greet thee well.

22 Our Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. The grace of God be with you. Amen.

TITUS

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TITUS

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, the servant of God, and apostle of Jesus Christ, by the faith of the chosen of God, and by the knowing of the truth, which is after piety,

2 into the hope of everlasting life, which life God that lieth not, promised before times of the world;

3 but he hath showed in his times his word in preaching, that is betaken to me, by the commandment of God, our Saviour,

4 to Titus, most dearworthy [or beloved] son, by the common faith, grace and peace of God the Father, and of Christ Jesus, our Saviour.

5 For cause of this thing I left thee at Crete, that thou amend those things that fail, and ordain priests by cities, as also I assigned to thee.

6 If any man is without crime, [or great sin], an husband of one wife, and hath faithful sons, not in accusation of lechery, or not subject.

7 For it behooveth a bishop to be without crime, [as] a dispenser of God, not proud, not wrathful, not given to drunkenness, not [a] smiter, not covetous of foul winning;

8 but holding hospitality, benign, prudent, sober, just, holy, continent,

9 taking [or embracing] that true word, that is after doctrine; that he be mighty to admonish in wholesome teaching [or doctrine], and to reprove them that gainsay.

10 For there be many unobedient, and vain speakers, and deceivers, most they that be of circumcision,

11 which it behooveth to be reproved; which subvert all houses, teaching which things it behooveth not, for [the] love of foul winning.

12 And one of them, their proper prophet said, Men of Crete be ever more liars, evil beasts, of slow womb.

13 This witnessing is true. For which cause blame them sore, that they be whole in faith,

14 not giving attention to fables of Jews, and to commandments of men, that turn away them [or turn them away] from truth.

15 And all things be clean to clean men; but to unclean men and to unfaithful, nothing is clean, for the soul and conscience of them be made unclean.

16 They acknowledge that they know God, but by deeds they deny [him]; when they be abominable, and unbelieveful, and reprovable to all good work.

CHAPTER 2

1 But speak thou those things that beseem [or that become] wholesome teaching;

2 that old men be sober, chaste, prudent, whole in faith, in love, and patience;

3 also old women in holy habit, not slanderers [or backbiters], not serving much to wine, well-teaching, that they teach prudence.

4 Admonish thou young women, that they love their husbands, that they love their children;

5 and that they be prudent, chaste, sober, having care of the house, benign, subject to their husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.

6 Also admonish young men, that they be sober.

7 In all things give thyself ensample of good works, in teaching, in wholeness [or in holiness of living], that is, in cleanness of soul and body, in firmness [of virtues].

8 An wholesome word, and unreprovable; that he that is of the contrary side, be ashamed, having none evil thing to say of you.

9 Admonish thou servants to be subject to their lords; in all things pleasing, not gainsaying,

10 not defrauding, but in all things showing good faith, that they honour in all things the doctrine of God, our Saviour.

11 For the grace of God, our Saviour, hath appeared to all men,

12 and taught us, that we forsake wickedness [or unpiety], and worldly desires, and live soberly, and justly, and piously in this world,

13 abiding the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

14 that gave himself for us, to again-buy us from all wickedness, and make clean to himself a people acceptable, and pursuer of good works.

15 Speak thou these things, and admonish thou, and reprove thou with all commandment; no man despise thee.

CHAPTER 3

1 Admonish them to be subjects [or to be subject] to princes, and to powers; to obey to that that is said, and to be ready to all good work;

2 to blaspheme no man, to be not full of chiding, but temperate [or patient], showing all mildness to all men.

3 For we were sometime unwise, unbelieveful, erring, and serving to desires, and to diverse lusts, doing in malice and envy, worthy to be hated, hating each other.

4 But when the benignity and the manhood [or the humanity] of our Saviour God appeared,

5 not of works of rightwiseness that we did, but by his mercy he made us safe, by [the] washing, [or baptism], of again-begetting, and again-newing of the Holy Ghost,

6 whom he shedded [out] into us plenteously by Jesus Christ, our Saviour,

7 that we justified by his grace, be heirs by hope of everlasting life.

8 A true word is [this], and of these things I will that thou confirm others, that they that believe in God, be busy to be above [or to be before] others in good works. These things be good, and profitable to men.

9 And eschew thou foolish questions, and genealogies, and strivings [or strives], and fightings of the law; for those be unprofitable and vain.

10 Eschew [or Shun] thou a man heretic, after one and the second correction;

11 witting that he that is such a manner man is subverted, and trespasseth, and is condemned by his own doom.

12 When I send to thee Artemas, or Tychicus, hie thou [or haste] to come to me to Nicopolis; for I have purposed to dwell in winter there.

13 Busily before send [or send before] Zenas, a wise man of law, and Apollos, that nothing fail to them.

14 They that be of ours, learn to be governors [or to be before] in good works, to necessary uses, that they be not without fruit.

15 All men that be with me greet thee well. Greet thou well them, that love us in [the] faith. The grace of God be with you all. Amen.

PHILEMON

PHILEMON

CHAPTER 1

1 Paul, the bound of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, brother, to Philemon, beloved, and our helper,

2 and to Apphia, most dear sister, and to Archippus, our even-knight, and to the church that is in thine house,

3 grace be to you, and peace of God our Father, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I do thankings to my God, ever-more making mind of thee, in my prayers,

5 hearing thy charity, and faith, that thou hast in the Lord Jesus, and to all holy men,

6 that the communing of thy faith be made open, in knowing of all good thing in Christ Jesus.

7 And I had great joy and comfort in thy charity, for the entrails of holy men rested [or were refreshed] by thee, brother.

8 For which thing I having much trust in Christ Jesus, to command to thee that that pertaineth to profit;

9 but I beseech more for charity, since thou art such as the old Paul, and now the bound of Jesus Christ.

10 I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I in bonds begat,

11 which sometime was unprofitable to thee, but now profitable, both to thee and to me;

12 whom I sent again to thee. And receive thou him as mine entrails;

13 whom I would withhold with me, that he should serve for thee to me in bonds of the gospel;

14 but without thy counsel I would not do anything, that thy good should not be as of need, but willful.

15 For peradventure therefore he departed from thee for a time, that thou shouldest receive him without end;

16 now not as a servant, but for a servant a most dear brother [or but more than a servant, most dear brother], most to me; and how much more to thee, both in [the] flesh and in the Lord?

17 Therefore if thou hast me a fellow, receive him as me;

18 for if he hath anything annoyed thee, either oweth, areckon thou this thing to me.

19 I, Paul, wrote with mine hand, I shall yield; that I say not to thee, that also thou owest to me thyself.

20 So, brother, I shall use thee in the Lord; [full]-fill thou mine entrails in Christ.

21 I trusting of thine obedience wrote to thee, witting that thou shalt do over that that I say.

22 Also make thou ready to me an house to dwell in; for I hope that by your prayers I shall be given to you.

23 Epaphras, prisoner with me in Christ Jesus, greeteth thee well,

24 and Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, mine helpers.

25 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

HEBREWS

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HEBREWS

CHAPTER 1

1 God, that spake sometime by prophets in many manners to our fathers,

2 at the last in these days he hath spoken to us by the Son; whom he hath ordained heir of all things, and by whom he made the worlds.

3 Which when also he is the brightness of glory, and [the] figure of his substance, and beareth all things by word of his virtue, he maketh purgation of sins, and sitteth on the right half of the majesty in heavens;

4 and so much is made better than angels, by how much he hath inherited a more diverse name before them.

5 For to which of the angels said God any time, Thou art my Son, I have engendered thee today? And again, I shall be to him into a Father, and he shall be to me into a Son?

6 And when again he bringeth in the first begotten Son into the world, he saith, And all the angels of God worship him.

7 But he saith to angels, He that maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers flame of fire.

8 But to the Son he saith, God, thy throne is into the world of world[s]; a rod of equity is the rod of thy realm;

9 thou hast loved rightwiseness, and hatedest wickedness; therefore the God [or therefore God], thy God, anointed thee with oil of joy, more than thy fellows.

10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning foundedest the earth, and heavens be works of thine hands;

11 they shall perish, but thou shalt perfectly dwell; and all shall wax old as a cloth,

12 and thou shalt change them as a cloth, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same thyself, and thy years shall not fail.

13 But to which of the angels said God at any time, Sit thou on my right half, till I put thine enemies a stool of thy feet?

14 Whether they all be not serving spirits, sent to serve for them that take the heritage of health?

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore more plenteously it behooveth us to keep those things, that we have heard, lest peradventure we float away.

2 For if that word that was said by angels, was made firm, and each breaking of the law [or each tres-passing], and unobedience took just retribution of meed,

3 how shall we escape, if we despise so great an health? Which, when it had taken beginning to be told out by the Lord, of them that heard, is confirmed into us.

4 For God witnessed together by miracles [or signs], and wonders, and great marvels, and diverse virtues, and partings [or distributions] of the Holy Ghost, by his will.

5 But not to angels God subjected the world that is to coming, of which we speak. [Forsooth not to angels God subjected the roundness of the earth to come, of which we speak.]

6 But some man witnessed in a place, and said, What thing is man, that thou art mindful of him, or man’s son, for thou visitest him?

7 Thou hast made him a little less than angels; thou hast crowned him with glory and honour; and thou hast ordained him on the works of thine hands.

8 Thou hast made all things subject under his feet. And in that that he subjected all things to him, he left nothing unsubject to him. But now we see not yet all things subject to him;

9 but we see him that was made a little less than angels, Jesus, for the passion of death, crowned with glory and honour, that he through [the] grace of God should taste death for all men.

10 For it beseemed him, for whom all things, and by whom all things were made, which had brought many sons into glory, and was[the] author [or the maker] of the health or salvation of them, that he had an end by passion.

11 For he that halloweth, and they that be hallowed, be all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

12 saying, I shall tell thy name to my brethren; in the middle of the church I shall praise thee.

13 And again, I shall be trusting into him; and again, Lo! I and my children, which God gave to me.

14 Therefore for children communed to flesh and blood, and he also took part of the same, that by death he should destroy him that had lordship of death, that is to say, the devil,

15 and that he should deliver them that by dread of death, by all life were bound to servage.

16 And he took never angels, but he took the seed of Abraham.

17 Wherefore he ought to be likened to brethren by all things, that he should be made merciful and a faithful bishop to God, that he should be merciful to the trespasses of the people.

18 For in that thing in which he suffered, and was tempted, he is mighty to help also them that be tempted.

CHAPTER 3

1 Therefore, holy brethren, and partners of heavenly calling, behold ye the apostle and the bishop of our confession, Jesus,

2 which is true to him that made him, as also Moses in all the house of him.

3 But this bishop is had worthy of more glory than Moses, by as much as he hath more honour of the house, that made the house.

4 For each house is made of some man; he that made all things of nought is God.

5 And Moses was true in all his house, as a servant, into witnessing of those things that were to be said;

6 but Christ as a son in his house. Which house we be, if we hold firm trust and glory of hope into the end.

7 Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, Today, if ye have heard his voice,

8 do not ye harden your hearts, as in wrathing, like the day of temptation in desert;

9 where your fathers tempted me, and proved, and saw my works forty years.

10 Wherefore I was wroth to this generation, and I said, Evermore they err in heart, for they knew not my ways;

11 to which I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.

12 Brethren, see ye, lest peradven-ture in any of you be an evil heart of unbelief, to depart from the living God.

13 But admonish yourselves by all days, the while today is named, that none of you be hardened by fallacy [or falseness] of sin.

14 For we be made partners of Christ, if nevertheless we hold the beginning of his substance firm into the end.

15 While it is said, today, if ye have heard the voice of him, do not ye harden your hearts, as in that wrathing.

16 For some men hearing wrathed, but not all they that went out of Egypt by Moses.

17 But to whom was he wrathed forty years? Whether not to them that sinned, whose carrions were cast down in desert?

18 And to whom swore he, that they should not enter into the rest of him [or into his rest], no but to them that were unbelieveful?

19 And we see, that they might not enter into the rest of him for unbelief.

CHAPTER 4

1 Therefore dread we, lest peradventure while the promise of entering into his rest is left, that any of us be guessed to be away [or to fail].

2 For it is told also to us, as to them. And the word that was heard profited not to them, not mingled to faith of those things that they heard.

3 For we that have believed, shall enter into rest, as he said, As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest. And when the works were made perfect at the ordinance of the world,

4 he said thus in a place [or in some place] of the seventh day, And God rested in the seventh day from all his works.

5 And in this place again, They shall not enter into my rest.

6 Therefore for it pursueth, that some men shall enter into it, and they to which it was told to before, entered not for their unbelief.

7 Again, he determineth some day, and saith in David, Today, after so much time of time, as it is before-said, Today if ye have heard his voice, do not ye harden your hearts.

8 For if Jesus, that is, Joshua, had given rest to them, he should never speak of other after this day.

9 Therefore the sabbath [or rest] is left to the people of God.

10 For he that is entered into his rest, rested of his works, as also God of his.

11 Therefore haste we to enter into that rest, that no man fall into the same ensample of unbelief.

12 For the word of God is quick, and speedy in working, and more able to pierce than any twain-edged sword, and stretcheth forth [till] to the parting of the soul and of the spirit, and of the jointures and marrows, and [it is the] deemer of thoughts, and of intents of hearts.

13 And no creature is invisible in the sight of God. For all things be naked and open to his eyes, to whom a word to us.

14 Therefore we that have a great bishop, that pierced heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, hold we the acknowledging [or the confession] of our hope.

15 For we have not a bishop, that may not have compassion on our infirmities, but was tempted by all things by likeness, without sin.

16 Therefore go we with trust to the throne of his grace, that we get mercy, and find grace in covenable help.

CHAPTER 5

1 For each bishop taken of men, is ordained for men in these things that be to God, that he offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

2 Which may together sorrow with them, that be unknowing, and err; for also he is environed with infirmity.

3 And therefore he oweth, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.

4 Neither any man taketh to him honour, but he that is called of God, as Aaron was.

5 So Christ clarified not himself, that he were bishop, but he that spake to him, Thou art my Son, today I engendered thee.

6 As in another place he saith, Thou art a priest without end, after the order of Melchizedek.

7 Which in the days of his flesh offered, with great cry and tears, prayers and beseechings to him that might make him safe from death, and was heard for his reverence.

8 And when he was God’s Son, he learned obedience of these things that he suffered;

9 and he brought to the end [or he led to perfection] is made cause of everlasting health to all that obey him,

10 and is called of God a bishop, by the order of Melchizedek.

11 Of whom there is to us a great word for to say, and able to be expounded, for ye be made feeble to hear.

12 For when ye ought to be masters for a time, again ye need that ye be taught, which be the letters [or the elements] of the beginning of God’s words. And ye be made those, to whom is need of milk, and not [of] firm meat.

13 For each that is partner of milk, is without part of the word of rightwiseness, for he is a little child.

14 But of perfect men is firm meat, of them that for custom have [their] wits exercised to discretion of good and of evil.

CHAPTER 6

1 Therefore we bringing in a word of the beginning of Christ, be we born to the perfection of him, not again laying the foundament of penance from dead works, and of the faith to God,

2 and of teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of rising again of dead men, and of everlasting doom.

3 And this thing we shall do, if God shall suffer.

4 But it is impossible, that they that be once enlightened [or illumined], and have tasted also an heavenly gift, and be made partners of the Holy Ghost,

5 and nevertheless have tasted the good word of God, and the virtues of the world to coming [or to come],

6 and be slid far away, that they be renewed again to penance. Which again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and have him to scorn.

7 For the earth that drinketh rain oft coming on it, and bringeth forth covenable herb, to them of which it is tilled, taketh blessing of God.

8 But that that is bringing forth thorns and briars, is reprovable, and next to curse, whose ending shall be into burning.

9 But, ye most dearworthy, we trust of you better things, and nearer to health, though we speak so.

10 For God is not unjust, that he forget your work and love, which ye have showed in his name; for ye have ministered to saints, and minister.

11 And we covet that each of you show the same busyness to the [full]-filling of hope into the end;

12 that ye be not made slow, but also pursuers of them, which by faith and patience shall inherit the promises.

13 For God promising to Abraham, for he had none greater, by whom he should swear, swore by himself,

14 and said, I blessing shall bless thee, and I multiplying shall multiply thee;

15 and so he long abiding had the promise [or got repromission].

16 For men swear by a greater than themselves, and the end of all their plea, [or all their controversy, or debate], is an oath to confirmation.

17 In which thing God willing to show plenteouslier, to the heirs of his promise the firmness [or the unmoveableness] of his counsel, put betwixt an oath,

18 that by two things unmoveable, by which it is impossible that God lie, we have strongest solace, [or comfort], we that flee together to hold the hope that is put forth to us.

19 Which hope as an anchor we have secure to the soul, and firm, and going into the inner things of hiding;

20 where the before-goer, Jesus, that is made bishop without end by the order of Melchizedek, entered for us.

CHAPTER 7

1 And this Melchizedek, king of Salem, and [the] priest of the highest God, which met Abraham, as he turned again from the slaying of the kings, and blessed him;

2 to whom also Abraham parted tithes of all things; first he is said king of rightwiseness, and afterward king of Salem, that is to say, king of peace,

3 without father, without mother, without genealogy, neither having beginning of days, neither end of life; and he is likened to the Son of God, and dwelleth priest without end.

4 But behold ye how great is this [man], to whom Abraham the patriarch gave tithes of the best things.

5 For men of the sons of Levi taking priesthood have commandment to take tithes of the people, by the law, that is to say, of their brethren, though also they went out of the loins of Abraham.

6 But he whose generation is not numbered in them, took tithes of Abraham; and he blessed this Abraham, which had repromissions.

7 Without any gainsaying, that that is less, is blessed of the better.

8 And here deadly men take tithes; but there he beareth witnessing, that he liveth.

9 And that it be said so, by Abraham also Levi, that took tithes, was tithed;

10 and yet he was in his father’s loins, when Melchizedek met him.

11 Therefore if perfection was by the priesthood of Levi, for under him the people took the law, what yet was it needful, another priest to rise, by the order of Melchizedek, and not to be said by the order of Aaron?

12 For why when the priesthood is translated, it is need[ful] that also [the] translation of the law be made.

13 But he in whom these things be said, is of another lineage, of which no man was priest to the altar.

14 For it is open [or it is openly known], that our Lord is born of Judah, in which lineage Moses spake nothing of priests.

15 And more yet it is known, if by the order of Melchizedek another priest is risen up;

16 which is not made by the law of fleshly commandment, but by [the] virtue of life that may not be undone [or is indissoluble].

17 For he witnesseth, That thou art a priest without end, by the order of Melchizedek;

18 that reproving of the command-ment before-going is made, for the unfirmness and unprofit of it.

19 For why the law brought nothing to perfection, but there is a bringing in of a better hope, by which we nigh to God.

20 And how great it is, not without swearing, [that Christ is made priest after the order of Melchizedek];

21 but the others be made priests without an oath; but this priest with an oath, by him that said to him, The Lord swore, and it shall not rue him, Thou art a priest without end, by the order of Melchizedek;

22 in so much Jesus is made [better] promiser of the better testament.

23 And [soothly] the others were made many priests, therefore for they were forbidden by death to dwell still;

24 but this man, for he dwelleth without end, hath an everlasting priesthood.

25 Wherefore also he may save without end, coming nigh by himself to God, and evermore liveth to pray for us.

26 For it beseemed that such a man were a bishop to us, holy, innocent, undefouled, clean, separated from sinful men, and made higher than heavens;

27 which hath not need each day, as priests, first for his own guilts to offer sacrifices, and afterward for the people; for he did this thing in offering himself once.

28 And the law ordained men priests having sickness, [or frailty]; but the word of swearing, which is after the law, ordained the Son perfect without end.

CHAPTER 8

1 But a capital, that is, a short comprehending of many things, on those things that be said. We have such a bishop, that sat on the right half of the seat of greatness in heavens,

2 the minister of saints, and of the very tabernacle, that God made, and not man.

3 For each bishop is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices; wherefore it is need, that also this bishop have something that he shall offer.

4 Therefore if he were on earth, he were no priest, when there were that should offer gifts by the law,

5 which serve to the exemplar, [or figure], and shadow of heavenly things. As it was answered to Moses, when he should end [or should make] the tabernacle, See [thou], he said, make thou all things by the exemplar, that is showed to thee in the mount.

6 But now he hath gotten a better ministry, by so much as he is a mediator of a better testament, which is confirmed with better promises.

7 For if that first had lacked blame, the place of the second should not have been sought.

8 For he reproving them saith, Lo! days come, saith the Lord, and I shall make perfect a new testament on the house of Israel, and on the house of Judah;

9 not like the testament that I made to their fathers, in the day in which I caught their hand, that I should lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they dwelled not perfectly in my testament, and I have despised them, saith the Lord.

10 But this is the testament which I shall assign [or I shall dispose] to the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, in giving my laws into the souls of them, and into the hearts of them I shall above write them; and I shall be to them into a God [or into God], and they shall be to me into a people.

11 And each man shall not teach his neighbour, and each man his brother, saying, Know thou the Lord; for all men shall know me, from the least to the more of them.

12 For I shall be merciful to the wickedness of them, and now I shall not bethink on the sins of them.

13 But in saying a new the former waxed old; and that that is of many days, and waxeth old, is nigh the death.

CHAPTER 9

1 And the former testament had justifyings of worship, and holy thing enduring for a time.

2 For the tabernacle was made first, in which were candlesticks, and [a] board, and setting forth [or putting forth] of loaves, which is said holy.

3 And after the veil, the second tabernacle, that is said sanctum sanctorum, that is, holy of holy things;

4 having a golden censer, and the ark of the testament, covered about on each side with gold, in which was a pot of gold having manna, and the rod of Aaron that flowered, and the tables of the testament;

5 on which things were cherubims of glory, overshadowing the propiti-atory, [or mercyable place]; of which things it is not now to say by all.

6 But when these were made thus together, priests entered evermore in the former tabernacle, doing the offices of sacrifices;

7 but in the second tabernacle, the bishop, [alone]entered once in the year, not without blood, which he offered for his ignorance and the people’s.

8 For the Holy Ghost signified this thing, that not yet the way of saints was opened, while the former tabernacle had state.

9 Which parable is of this present time, by which also gifts and sacrifices be offered, which may not make a man serving perfect by conscience,

10 only in meats, and drinks, and diverse washings, and rightwisenesses of flesh, that were set [till] to the time of correction.

11 But Christ being a bishop of goods to coming [or to come], entered by a larger and perfecter tabernacle, not made by hand, that is to say, not of this making,

12 neither by blood of goat bucks, or of calves, but by his own blood, entered once into the holy things, that were found by an everlasting redemption.

13 For if the blood of goat bucks, and of bulls, and the ashes of a cow calf sprinkled, halloweth unclean men to the cleansing of flesh,

14 how much more the blood of Christ, which by the Holy Ghost offered himself unwemmed to God, shall cleanse our conscience from dead works, to serve God that liveth? [or to serve to living God?]

15 And therefore he is a mediator of the new testament, that by death falling betwixt, into redemption of the trespassings that were under the former testament, they that be called take the behest of everlasting heritage.

16 For where a testament is, it is need, that the death of the testament-maker come betwixt.

17 For a testament is confirmed in dead men; else it is not worth [or no worth], while he liveth, that made the testament.

18 Wherefore neither the first testament was hallowed without blood.

19 For when each commandment of the law was read of Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves, and of bucks of goats, with water, and red wool, and hyssop, and besprinkled both that book and all the people,

20 and said, This is the blood of the testament that God commanded to you.

21 Also he sprinkled with blood the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the service in like manner.

22 And almost all things be cleansed in blood by the law; and without shedding of blood remission of sins is not made.

23 Therefore it is need, that the exemplars of heavenly things be cleansed with these things; but those heavenly things with better sacrifices than these.

24 For Jesus entered not into holy things made by hands, that be[the] exemplars of very things, but into heaven itself, that he appear now to the face of God for us;

25 neither that he offer himself oft, as the bishop entered into holy things by all years in alien blood,

26 else it behooved him to suffer oft from the beginning of the world; but now once in the ending of the worlds, to the destruction of sin by his sacrifice he appeared.

27 And as it is ordained to men, once to die, but after this is the doom,

28 so Christ was offered once, to void, [or do away], the sins of many men; the second time he shall appear without sin to men that abide him into health.

CHAPTER 10

1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, not that image of things, may never make men nighing [or coming nigh] perfect by those same sacrifices, which they offer without ceasing by all years;

2 else they should have ceased to be offered, for as much as the worshippers cleansed once, had not furthermore conscience of sin.

3 But in them [by oft offering], mind of sins is made by all years.

4 For it is impossible that sins be done away by blood of bulls, and of bucks of goats.

5 Therefore he entering into the world, saith, Thou wouldest not sacrifice and offering; but thou hast shaped a body to me;

6 [and] burnt sacrifices also for sin pleased not to thee.

7 Then I said, Lo! I come; in the beginning of the book it is written of me, that I do thy will, God.

8 He saying before, That thou wouldest not sacrifices, and offerings, and burnt sacrifices for sin, nor those things be pleasant to thee, which be offered by the law,

9 then I said, Lo! I come, that I do thy will, God. He doeth away the first, that he make steadfast the second.

10 In which will we be hallowed by the offering of the body of Christ Jesus once.

11 And each priest is ready ministering each day, and oft times offering the same sacrifices, which may never do away sins.

12 But this man offering one sacrifice for sins, for evermore sitteth in [or on] the right half of God the Father;

13 from thenceforth abiding, till his enemies be put a stool of [or under] his feet.

14 For by one offering he made perfect for ever[more] hallowed men.

15 And the Holy Ghost witnesseth to us; for after that he said,

16 This is the testament, which I shall witness to them after those days, the Lord saith, in giving my laws in the hearts of them, and in the souls of them I shall above write them;

17 and now I shall no more think on the sins and the wickedness of them.

18 And where remission of these is, now is there none offering for sin.

19 Therefore, brethren, having trust into the entering of holy things, in the blood of Christ,

20 which [he] hallowed to us a new way, and living by the covering [or by a veil], that is to say, his flesh,

21 and we having the great priest on the house of God,

22 nigh we with very heart, in the plenty of faith; and be our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water,

23 and hold we the confession of our hope, bowing to no side, [or unbowing, or unpliable]; for he is true that hath made the promise.

24 And behold we together in the stirring of charity, and of good works;

25 not forsaking our gathering together, as it is the custom to some men, but comforting [them], and by so much the more, by how much ye see the day nighing.

26 For why now a sacrifice for sins is not left to us, that sin willfully, after that we have taken the knowing of truth.

27 For why some abiding of doom is dreadful, and the pursuing of fire, which shall waste adversaries.

28 Who that breaketh Moses’ law, dieth without any mercy, by two or three witnesses;

29 how much more guess ye, that he deserveth worse torments, which defouleth the Son of God, and holdeth the blood of the testament polluted, in which he is hallowed, and doeth despite [or wrong] to the Spirit of grace?

30 For we know him that said, To me vengeance, and I shall yield. And again, For the Lord shall deem his people.

31 It is fearedful to fall into the hands of God living. [+It is fearful to fall into the hands of living God.]

32 And have ye mind on the former days, in which ye were enlightened, and suffered great strife of passions.

33 And in the tother ye were made a spectacle by shames, and tribulations; in another ye were made fellows of men living so.

34 For also to bound men ye had compassion, and ye received with joy the robbing of your goods, knowing that ye have a better and a dwelling substance.

35 Therefore do not ye lose your trust, which hath great rewarding.

36 For patience is needful to you, that ye do the will of God, and bring again the promise.

37 For yet a little, and he that is to come shall come, and he shall not tarry.

38 For my just man liveth of faith; that if he withdraweth himself, he shall not please to my soul.

39 But we be not the sons of withdrawing away into perdition, but of faith into [the] getting of soul.

CHAPTER 11

1 But faith is the substance of things that be to be hoped [or the substance of things to be hoped], and an argument, [or certainty], of things not appearing.

2 And in this faith old men have gotten witnessing.

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were made [or were shaped] by God’s word, that visible things were made of invisible things.

4 By faith Abel offered a much more sacrifice than Cain to God [or Abel offered full much more host, or sacrifice, to God than Cain], by which he got witnessing to be just, for God bare witnessing to his gifts; and by that faith he dead speaketh yet.

5 By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death; and he was not found, for the Lord translated him. For before [the] translation he had witnessing that he pleased God.

6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. For it behooveth that a man coming to God, believe that he is, and that he is [a] rewarder of men that seek him.

7 By faith Noah dreaded, through answer taken of these things that yet were not seen, and shaped a ship [or an ark] into the health of his house; by which he condemned the world, and is ordained heir of rightwiseness, which is by faith.

8 By faith he that is called Abraham, obeyed to go out into a place, which he should take into heritage; and he went out, not witting whither he should go.

9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in an alien land, dwelling in little houses with Isaac and Jacob, even-heirs of the same promise.

10 For he abode a city having foundaments, whose craftsman and maker is God.

11 By faith also that Sarah barren, took virtue in conceiving of seed, yea, against the time of age; for she believed him true, that had promised.

12 For which thing of one, and yet nigh dead, there were born as stars of heaven in multitude, and as gravel, that is at the seaside out of number [or unnumberable].

13 By faith all these be dead, when the behests were not taken, but they beheld them afar, and greeting them well, and acknowledged that they were pilgrims, and harboured men on the earth.

14 And they that say these things, signify that they seek a country.

15 If they had had mind of that, of which they went out, they had time of turning again;

16 but now they desire a better, that is to say, heavenly. Therefore God is not confounded, [or ashamed], to be called the God of them; for he made ready to them a city.

17 By faith Abraham offered Isaac, when he was tempted; and he offered the one begotten [son], which had taken the behests;

18 to whom it was said, For in Isaac the seed shall be called to thee.

19 For he deemed, that God is mighty to raise him, yea, from death; wherefore he took him also into a parable.

20 By faith also of things to coming [or to come], Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.

21 By faith Jacob dying blessed all the sons of Joseph, and honoured the highness of his staff [or of his rod].

22 By faith Joseph dying had mind of the passing forth of the children of Israel, and commanded of his bones.

23 By faith Moses born, was hid three months of his father and mother, for that they saw the young child fair, [or seemly]; and they dreaded not the commandment of the king.

24 By faith Moses was made great, and denied that he was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

25 and chose more [or rather] to be tormented with the people of God, than to have mirth of temporal sin;

26 deeming the reproof of Christ more riches, than the treasures of [the] Egyptians; for he beheld into the rewarding.

27 By faith he forsook Egypt, and dreaded not the hardness of the king; for he abode, as seeing him that was invisible.

28 By faith he hallowed pask, and the shedding out of blood, that he that destroyed the first things of[the]Egyptians, should not touch them.

29 By faith they passed the Red Sea, as by dry land, which thing Egyptians assaying were devoured [in the waters].

30 By faith the walls of Jericho felled down, by compassing of seven days.

31 By faith Rahab the whore received the spies with peace, and perished not with unbelieveful men.

32 And what yet shall I say? For time shall fail to me telling of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel, and of other prophets;

33 which by faith overcame realms, wrought rightwiseness, got repromis-sions; they stopped the mouths of lions,

34 they quenched the fierceness of fire, they drove away the edge of sword, they recovered of sickness, they were made strong in battle, they turned the hosts of aliens.

35 Women received their dead children from death to life; but others were held forth, [or died], not taking redemption, that they should find a better again-rising.

36 And others assayed scornings and beatings, moreover and bonds and prisons.

37 They were stoned, they were sawed, they were tempted, they were dead in slaying of sword. They went about in badger skins, and in skins of goats, needy, anguished, tormented;

38 to which the world was not worthy. They wandered in wilder-nesses, and in mountains and dens, and [in] caves of the earth.

39 And all these, proved by witnessing of faith, took not repromission;

40 for God provided some better thing for us, that they should not be made perfect without us.

CHAPTER 12

1 Therefore we that have so great a cloud of witnesses put to [us], do we away all charge, and sin standing about us, and by patience run we to the battle, [or the strife, or fight], purposed to us,

2 beholding into the maker of faith, and the perfect ender, Jesus; which when joy was purposed to him, he suffered the cross, and despised confusion, and sitteth on the right half of the seat of God.

3 And bethink ye on him that suffered such gainsaying of sinful men against himself, that ye be not made weary, failing in your souls.

4 For ye against-stood not yet unto blood, fighting against sin.

5 And ye have forgotten the comfort that speaketh to you as to sons, and saith, My son, do not thou despise the teaching [or the discipline] of the Lord, neither be thou made weary, the while thou art chastised of him.

6 For the Lord chastiseth him that he loveth; he beateth [or scourgeth] every son that he receiveth.

7 Abide ye still in chastising [or discipline]; God proffereth [or offereth] him to you as to sons. For what son is it, whom the father chastiseth not?

8 That if ye be out of chastising [or discipline], whose partners be ye all made, then ye be adulterers, and not sons.

9 And afterward we had fathers of our flesh, teachers, and we with reverence dreaded them. Whether not much more we shall obey to the Father of spirits, and we shall live?

10 And they in time of few days taught us by their will; but this Father teacheth to that thing that is profitable, in receiving the hallowing of him.

11 And each chastising in [this] present time seemeth to be not of joy, but of sorrow; but afterward it shall yield fruit of rightwiseness most peaceable to men exercised by it.

12 For which thing raise ye [up] slow hands, and knees unbound,

13 and make ye rightful steps to your feet; that no man halting err, but more be healed.

14 Pursue ye peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God.

15 Behold ye, that no man fail to the grace of God, that no root of bitterness burrowing upward hinder [us], and many be defouled by it;

16 that no man be lecher, either unholy, as Esau, which for one [meal’s] meat sold his first things, [or heritage].

17 For know ye, that afterward he coveting to inherit blessing, was reproved. For he found not place of penance, though he sought it with tears.

18 But ye have not come to the fire able to be touched, and able to come to, and to the whirlwind [or the great wind], and mist, and tempest,

19 and sound of trump, and voice of words; which they that heard, excused them, that the word should not be made to them.

20 For they bare not that that was said, And if a beast touched the hill, it was stoned [or it shall be stoned].

21 And so dreadful it was that was seen, that Moses said, I am afeared, and full of trembling.

22 But ye have come nigh to the hill [of] Zion, and to the city of God living [or of living God], the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the multitude of many thousand angels,

23 and to the church of the first men, which be written in heavens, and to God, doomsman of all, and to the spirit of just perfect men,

24 and to Jesus, mediator of the new testament, and to the sprinkling of blood, speaking better than Abel [or better speaking than Abel’s blood].

25 See ye, that ye forsake [or refuse] not the speaker; for if they that forsaked [or refusing] him that spake on the earth, escaped not, much more we that turn away from him that speaketh to us from heavens.

26 Whose voice then moved the earth, but now he again promiseth, and saith, Yet once and I shall move not only the earth, but also heaven.

27 And that he saith, Yet once, he declareth the translation of moveable things, as of made things, that those things dwell, that be unmoveable.

28 Therefore we receiving the kingdom unmoveable, have we grace, by which serve we pleasing to God with dread and reverence.

29 For our God is fire that wasteth.

CHAPTER 13

1 The charity of brotherhood dwell in you,

2 and do not ye forget hospitality; for by this some men pleased to angels, that were received to harbour.

3 Think ye on bound men, as ye were together bound, and of travailing men, as yourselves dwelling in the body.

4 Wedding is in all things honourable, and bed unwemmed [or undefouled]; for God shall deem fornicators and adulterers.

5 Be your manners without covetousness, satisfied with present things; for he said, I shall not leave thee, neither forsake,

6 so that we say trustily, The Lord is an helper to me; I shall not dread what a man shall do to me.

7 Have ye mind of your sovereigns, that have spoken to you the word of God; of whom behold ye the going out of living, and pursue ye the faith of them,

8 Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today, he is also into worlds.

9 Do not ye be led away with diverse and strange teachings. For it is best to stable the heart with grace, not with meats, which profited not to men wandering [or going] in them.

10 We have an altar, of which they that serve to the tabernacle, have not power [or leave] to eat.

11 For of which beasts the blood is borne in for sin into holy things by the bishop, the bodies of them be burnt without the castles.

12 For which thing Jesus, that he should hallow the people by his blood, suffered without the gate.

13 Therefore go we out to him without the castles, bearing his reproof.

14 For we have not here a city dwelling, but we seek a city to coming [or to come].

15 Therefore by him offer we a sacrifice of praising evermore to God, that is to say, the fruit of lips acknowledging to his name.

16 And do not ye forget well-doing, and communing; for by such sacrifices God is well-served.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

25 The grace of God be with you all. Amen.

JAMES

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JAMES

CHAPTER 1

1 James, the servant of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve kindreds, that be in scattering abroad, health.

2 My brethren, deem ye all joy, when ye fall into diverse temptations,

3 witting that the proving of your faith worketh patience;

4 and patience hath a perfect work, that ye be perfect and whole, and fail in nothing.

5 And if any of you needeth wisdom, ask he of God, which giveth to all men largely, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him.

6 But ask he in faith, and doubt nothing; for he that doubteth, is like to a wave of the sea, which is moved and borne about of the wind.

7 Therefore guess not that man, that he shall take anything of the Lord.

8 A man double in soul is unstable in all his ways.

9 And a meek brother have glory in his enhancing,

10 and a rich man in his lowness; for as the flower of grass he shall pass.

11 The sun rose up with heat, and dried the grass [or the hay], and the flower of it felled down, and the fairness of his cheer perished; and so a rich man withereth in his ways.

12 Blessed is the man, that suffereth temptation; for when he shall be proved, he shall receive the crown of life, which God promised to men that love him.

13 No man when he is tempted, say, that he is tempted of God; for why God is not a tempter of evil things, for he tempteth no man.

14 But each man is tempted, drawn and stirred, of his own coveting. [Soothly each man is tempted of his own coveting, drawn from reason, and snared, or deceived.]

15 Afterward [or Then] coveting, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin; but sin, when it is [ful] filled, engendereth death.

16 Therefore, my most dearworthy brethren, do not ye err.

17 Each good gift, and each perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is none other changing, nor over-shadowing of reward.

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

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

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

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

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

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

24 for he beheld himself, and went away, and anon he forgot which [or what] he was.

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

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

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

CHAPTER 2

1 My brethren, do not ye have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory, in acception of persons. [My brethren, do not in acception, or taking, of persons, have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory.]

2 For if a man that hath a golden ring, and in a fair clothing, cometh in your company, and a poor man entereth in a foul clothing,

3 and if ye behold into him that is clothed with clear clothing, and if ye say to him, Sit thou here well; but to the poor man ye say, Stand thou there, either sit under the stool of my feet;

4 whether ye deem not with your-selves, and be made doomsmen of wicked thoughts?

5 Hear ye, my most dearworthy brethren, whether God chose not poor men in this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, that God promised to men that love him?

6 But ye have despised the poor man. Whether rich men oppress not you by power, and they draw you to dooms?

7 Whether they blaspheme not the good name, that is called to help on you? [or that is in-called of you?]

8 Nevertheless if ye perform the King’s law, by scriptures, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well.

9 But if ye take persons, ye work sin, and be reproved of the law, as trespassers [or as transgressors].

10 And whoever keepeth all the law, but offendeth in one, he is made guilty of all.

11 For he that said, Thou shalt do no lechery [or Thou shalt not do lechery], said also, Thou shalt not slay; that if thou doest no lechery, but thou slayest, thou art made [a] trespasser of the law.

12 Thus speak ye, and thus do ye, as beginning to be deemed by the law of freedom.

13 For why doom without mercy is to him, that doeth no mercy; but mercy above raiseth doom.

14 My brethren, what shall it profit, if any man say that he hath faith, but he hath not works? whether faith shall be able to save him?

15 And if a brother or sister be naked, and have need of each day’s livelode [or lifelode],

16 and if any of you say to them, Go ye in peace, be ye made hot, and be ye [full]-filled; but if ye give not to them those things that be necessary to the body, what shall it profit?

17 So also faith, if it hath not works, is dead in itself.

18 But some man shall say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; show thou to me thy faith without works, and I shall show to thee my faith of works.

19 Thou believest, that one God is; thou doest well; and devils believe, and [together] tremble.

20 But wilt thou know, thou vain man, that faith without works is idle?

21 Whether Abraham, our father, was not justified of works, offering Isaac, his son, on the altar?

22 Therefore thou seest, that faith wrought with his works, and his faith was [ful] filled of works.

23 And the scripture was [ful] filled, saying, Abraham believed to God, and it was areckoned to him to rightwiseness, and he was called the friend of God.

24 Ye see that a man is justified of works, and not of faith only.

25 In like manner, whether also Rahab, the whore, was not justified of works, and received the messengers, and sent them out by another way?

26 For as the body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

CHAPTER 3

1 My brethren, do not ye be made many masters, witting that ye take the more doom.

2 For all we offend in many things. If any man offendeth not in word, this is a perfect man, for also he may lead about all the body with a bridle.

3 For if we put bridles into horses’ mouths, for to consent to us, and we lead about all the body of them.

4 And lo! ships, when they be great, and be driven of strong winds, yet they be borne about of a little rudder, where the moving of the governor will.

5 So also the tongue is but a little member, and raiseth great things. Lo! how little fire burneth [or kindleth] a full great wood.

6 And our tongue is fire, the university of wickedness. The tongue is ordained in our members, which defouleth all the body; and it is enflamed, [or set afire], of hell, and enflameth the wheel of our birth.

7 And all the kind of beasts, and of fowls, and of serpents, and of others is chastised, and those be made tame of man’s kind;

8 but no man may chastise the tongue, for it is an unpeaceable evil, and full of deadly venom.

9 In it we bless God, the Father, and in it we curse men, that be made to the likeness of God.

10 Of the same mouth passeth [or cometh] forth blessing and cursing. My brethren, it behooveth not that these things be done so.

11 Whether a well of the same hole bringeth forth sweet and salt water?

12 My brethren, whether a fig tree may make grapes, either a vine figs? So neither salt water may make sweet water.

13 Who is wise, and taught among you? show he of good living his working [or his work], in mildness of his wisdom.

14 That if ye have bitter envy, and strivings [or strives] be in your hearts, do not ye have glory, and be liars against the truth.

15 For this wisdom is not from above coming down, but earthly, and beastly, and fiendly.

16 For where is envy and strife, there is unsteadfastness and all shrewd work.

17 But wisdom that is from above, first it is chaste, afterward peaceable, mild, able to be counselled [or persuadable], consenting to good things, full of mercy and of good fruits, deeming without feigning.

18 And the fruit of rightwiseness is sown in peace, to men that make peace.

CHAPTER 4

1 Whereof be battles and chidings among you? Whether not of your covetings, that fight in your members?

2 Ye covet, and ye have not; ye slay, and ye have envy, and ye may not get. Ye chide, and make battle; and ye have not, for that ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and ye receive not; for that ye ask evil, as ye show openly in your covetings.

4 Adulterers, know not ye, that the friendship of this world is enemy [or enmity] to God? Therefore whoever will be the friend of this world, is made the enemy of God.

5 Whether ye guess, that the scripture saith vainly, The spirit that dwelleth in you, coveteth to envy?

6 But he giveth the more grace; for which thing he saith, God withstandeth proud men, but to meek men he giveth grace.

7 Therefore be ye subject to God; but withstand ye the devil, and he shall flee from you.

8 Nigh ye to God, and he shall nigh to you. Ye sinners, cleanse ye the hands, and ye double in soul [or ye double of will], purge ye the hearts.

9 Be ye wretches, and wail ye [or weep ye]; your laughing be turned into weeping, and [your] joy into sorrow of heart.

10 Be ye meeked in the sight of the Lord, and he shall enhance you.

11 My brethren, do not ye backbite each other. He that backbiteth his brother, either that deemeth his brother, backbiteth the law, and deemeth the law. And if thou deemest the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a doomsman.

12 But one is Maker of the law, and Judge, that may lose and deliver. And who art thou, that deemest thy neighbour?

13 Lo! now ye, that say, Today either tomorrow we shall go into that city, and there we shall dwell a year, and we shall make merchandise, and we shall make winning;

14 which know not, what is to you in the morrow. For what is your life? A smoke [or A vapour] appearing at a little time, and afterward it shall be wasted.

15 Therefore that ye say, If the Lord will, and if we live, we shall do this thing, either that thing.

16 And now ye make full out joy in your prides; every such joying is wicked.

17 Therefore it is sin to him, that knoweth to do good, and doeth not.

CHAPTER 5

1 Do now, ye rich men, weep ye, yelling in your wretchednesses that shall come to you.

2 Your riches be rotten, and your clothes be eaten of moths.

3 Your gold and silver hath rusted, and the rust of them shall be to you into witnessing, and shall eat your fleshes, as fire. Ye have treasured to you wrath in the last days.

4 Lo! the hire of your workmen, that reaped your fields, which is defrauded of you, crieth; and the cry of them hath entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts.

5 Ye have eaten on the earth, and in your lecheries ye have nourished your hearts. In the day of slaying

6 ye brought, and slew the just Man, and he against-stood not you. [ye led to, and slew the just man, and he withstood you not.]

7 Therefore, brethren, be ye patient, till to the coming of the Lord. Lo! an earth-tiller abideth [the] precious fruit of the earth, patiently suffering, till he receive timeful and lateful fruit.

8 And be ye patient, and confirm ye your hearts, for the coming of the Lord shall nigh.

9 Brethren, do not ye be sorrowful [or do not ye be scornful] each to other, that ye be not deemed. Lo! the judge standeth nigh before the gate.

10 Brethren, take ye ensample of evil going out, and of long abiding, and travail, [or and of long abiding of travail], and of patience, the prophets, that spake to you in the name of the Lord.

11 Lo! we bless them that suffered. Ye have heard the patience of Job, and ye saw the end of the Lord, for the Lord is merciful, and doing mercy.

12 Before all things, my brethren, do not ye swear, neither by heaven, neither by earth, neither by whatever other oath. But be your word Yea, yea, Nay, nay, that ye fall not under doom.

13 And if any of you is sorrowful, [or heavy], pray he with patient soul, and say he a psalm.

14 If any of you is sick, lead he in priests of the church, and pray they for him, and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord;

15 and the prayer of faith shall save the sick man[or shall save the sick], and the Lord shall make him light; and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven to him.

16 Therefore acknowledge ye each to other your sins, and pray ye each for other, that ye be saved. For the continual prayer of a just man is much worth.

17 Elijah was a deadly man like us, and in prayer he prayed, that it should not rain on the earth, and it rained not three years and six months.

18 And again he prayed, and heaven gave rain, and the earth gave his fruit.

19 And, brethren, if any of you erreth from truth, and any converteth him,

20 he oweth to know, that he that maketh a sinner to be turned from the error of his way, shall save the soul of him from death, and covereth the multitude of sins. [Amen.]

1ST PETER

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1ST PETER

CHAPTER 1

1 Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen men, to the comelings of scattering abroad, [or the chosen guests, or comelings, of dispersion, or the scattering abroad], of Pontus, of Galatia, of Cappadocia, of Asia, and of Bithynia,

2 by the before-knowing [or the prescience] of God, the Father, in hallowing of Spirit, by obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you.

3 Blessed be God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which by his great mercy begat us again into living hope, by the again-rising of Jesus Christ from death,

4 into heritage uncorruptible, and undefouled, and that shall not fade, that is kept in heavens for you,

5 that in the virtue of God be kept by the faith into health, and is ready to be showed in the last time.

6 In which ye shall make joy, though it behooveth now a little to be sorry in diverse temptations;

7 that the proving of your faith be much more precious than gold, that is proved by fire; and be found into praising, and glory, and honour, in the revelation of Jesus Christ.

8 Whom when ye have not seen, ye love; into whom also now ye not seeing, believe; but ye that believe shall have joy, and gladness that may not be told out, and ye shall be glorified,

9 and have [or bring again] the end of your faith, the health of your souls.

10 Of which health prophets sought [out], and searched into, that prophesied of the grace to coming in you [or the grace to come into you],

11 and sought which either what manner time the Spirit of Christ signified in them, and before-told those passions that be in Christ, and the latter glories.

12 To which it was showed, for not to themselves, but to you they ministered those things, that now be told to you by them that preached to you by the Holy Ghost, sent from heaven, into whom angels desire to behold.

13 For which thing be ye gird the loins of your soul, sober, perfect, and hope ye into that grace that is proffered to you by the showing of Jesus Christ,

14 as sons of obedience, not made like to the former desires of your unknowingness [or your ignorance],

15 but like him that hath called you holy; that also yourselves be holy in all living;

16 for it is written, Ye shall be holy, for I am holy.

17 And if ye inwardly call him Father, which deemeth without acception of persons by the work of each man, live ye in dread in the time of your pilgrimage [in earth];

18 witting that not by corruptible gold, either silver, ye be bought again of your vain living of fathers’ tradition,

19 but by the precious blood as of the lamb undefouled and unspotted, Christ Jesus,

20 that was known before the making of the world, but he is showed in the last times, for you

21 that by him be faithful in God; that raised him from death, and gave to him everlasting glory, that your faith and hope were in God.

22 And make ye chaste your souls in obedience of charity, in love of brotherhood; of simple heart love ye together more busily.

23 And be ye born again, not of corruptible seed, but [of] uncorrupt-ible, by the word of living God, and dwelling into without end.

24 For each flesh is hay, and all the glory of it is as the flower of hay; the hay dried up, and his flower felled down;

25 but the word of the Lord dwelleth [into] without end. And this is the word, that is preached to you.

CHAPTER 2

1 Therefore put ye away all malice, and all guile, and feignings [or simulations], and envies, and all backbitings [or detractions];

2 as now born young children, reasonable, without guile, covet ye milk [of full teaching], that in it ye wax into health;

3 if nevertheless ye have tasted, that the Lord is sweet.

4 And nigh ye to him, that is a living stone, and reproved of men, but chosen of God, and honoured;

5 and ye yourselves as quick stones, be ye above builded into spiritual houses, and an holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

6 For which thing the scripture saith, Lo! I shall set [or put] in Zion the highest cornerstone, chosen and precious; and he that shall believe in him, shall not be confounded.

7 Therefore honour to you that believe; but to men that believe not, the stone whom the builders reproved, this is made into the head of the corner;

8 and the stone of hurting, and the stone of stumbling, to them that offend to the word, neither believe it, in which they be set.

9 But ye be a chosen kin [or ye be a kind chosen], a kingly priesthood, holy folk, a people of purchasing, that ye tell the virtues of him, that called you from darknesses into his wonderful light.

10 Which sometime were not a people of God, but now ye be the people of God; which had not mercy, but now ye have mercy.

11 Most dear, I beseech you, as comelings [or as guests], and pilgrims, to abstain you from fleshly desires, that fight against the soul;

12 and have ye your conversation [or your life] good among heathen men, that in that thing that they backbite of you, as of mis-doers, they behold you of good works, and glorify God in the day of visitation.

13 Be ye subject to each creature of man, for God; either to the king, as to him that is higher [or is more worthy] in state,

14 either to dukes, as to those that be sent of him to the vengeance of mis-doers, and to the praising of good men [or of good deeds].

15 For so is the will of God, that ye do well, and make the unknowing-ness of unprudent [or unwise] men to be dumb.

16 As free men, and not as having freedom the covering of malice, but as the servants of God.

17 Honour ye all men, love ye brotherhood, dread ye God, honour ye the king.

18 Servants, be ye subject in all dread to lords, not only to good and to mild, but also to tyrants.

19 For this is grace, if for conscience of God any man suffereth heavinesses [or sorrows], and suffereth unjustly.

20 For what grace is it, if ye sin, and be buffeted, and suffer? But if ye do well, and suffer patiently, this is grace with God.

21 For to this thing ye be called. For also Christ suffered for us, and left ensample to you, that ye follow the steps of him.

22 Which did not sin, neither guile was found in his mouth.

23 And when he was cursed, he cursed not; when he suffered, he menaced not; but he betook himself to him, that deemed him unjustly.

24 And he himself bare [or suffered] our sins in his body on a tree, that we be dead to sins, and live to rightwiseness, by whose wan wound ye be healed.

25 For ye were as sheep erring, but ye be now turned to the shepherd [or but ye be converted now to the shepherd], and bishop of your souls.

CHAPTER 3

1 Also women be they subject to their husbands; that if any man, that is, husbands, believe not to the word, by the conversation of women they be won without word.

2 And behold ye in dread your holy conversation.

3 Of whom be there not without-forth curious adorning of hair, either doing about of gold, either adorning of clothing;

4 but that that is the hid man of heart, in uncorruption, and of mild spirit, [or in uncorruptibility of quiet and mild spirit], which is rich in the sight of God.

5 For so sometime holy women hoping in God adorned themselves, and were subject to their own husbands.

6 As Sarah obeyed to Abraham, and called him lord; of whom ye be daughters well-doing, and not dreading any perturbation.

7 Also men dwell together, and by knowing [or science], give ye honour to the woman’s frailty, [or to her vessel], as to the more feeble, and as to even-heirs of grace and of life, that your prayers be not hindered.

8 And in faith all of one will, in prayer be ye each suffering with other, lovers of brotherhood, merciful, mild, meek; [Forsooth in faith all of one understanding, or will, in prayer be ye compassionate, or each suffering with other, lovers of fraternity, merciful, mild, meek;]

9 not yielding evil for evil, neither cursing for cursing, but on the contrary blessing; for in this thing ye be called, that ye wield blessing by heritage.

10 For he that will love life, and see good days, constrain his tongue from evil, and his lips, that they speak not guile [or that they speak no guile].

11 And bow he from evil, and do good; seek he peace, and perfectly follow it.

12 For the eyes of the Lord be on just men, and his ears on the prayers of them; but the cheer [or the face] of the Lord is on men that do evils.

13 And who is it that shall annoy you, if ye be pursuers and lovers of goodness?

14 But also if ye suffer anything for rightwiseness, ye be blessed; but dread ye not the dread of them, that ye be not disturbed [or distroubled].

15 But hallow ye the Lord Christ in your hearts, and evermore be ye ready to [do] satisfaction to each man asking you reason of that faith and hope that is in you, but with mildness, and dread,

16 having good conscience; that in that thing that they backbite of you, they be confounded, which challenge falsely your good conversation in Christ.

17 For it is better that ye do well, and suffer, if the will of God will, than doing evil. [Soothly it is better, if the will of God will, ye well-doing, to suffer, than evil-doing.]

18 For also Christ once died for our sins, he just for unjust, that he should offer to God us [or should offer us to God], made dead in flesh, but made quick in Spirit.

19 For which thing he came in Spirit, and also to them that were enclosed together in prison;

20 which were sometime unbelieve-ful, when they abided the patience of God in the days of Noah, when the ship [or the ark] was made, in which a few, that is to say, eight souls were made safe by water.

21 And so baptism of like form maketh us safe; not the putting away of the filths of flesh, but the asking of a good conscience in God, by the again-rising of our Lord Jesus Christ,

22 that is in the right half of God, and swalloweth death, that we should be made heirs of everlasting life. He went into heaven, and angels, and powers, and virtues be made subject to him.

CHAPTER 4

1 Therefore for Christ suffered in flesh, be ye also armed by the same thinking; for he that suffered in flesh ceased from sins,

2 that that is left now of time in flesh live not now to the desires of men, but to the will of God.

3 For the time that is passed is enough to the will of heathen men to be ended, which walked in lecheries, and lusts, in much drinking of wine, in unmeasurable [or oft] eatings, and drinkings, and unleaveful worshipping of maumets [or of idols].

4 In which now they be astonied, in which thing they wonder, for ye run not together into the same confusion of lechery, and blaspheme.

5 And they shall give reason to him, that is ready to deem the quick and the dead.

6 For why for this thing it is preached [or it is evangelized] also to dead men, that they be deemed by men in flesh, and that they live by God in Spirit.

7 For the end of all things shall nigh. Therefore be ye prudent, and wake ye in prayers;

8 before all things have ye charity each to other in yourselves always lasting; for charity covereth the multitude of sins.

9 Hold ye hospitality together with-out grutching;

10 each man as he hath received grace, ministering it into each other [or ministering each to other], as good dispensers of the manyfold grace of God.

11 If any man speaketh, speak he as the words of God; if any man ministereth, as of the virtue which God ministereth; that God be honoured in all things by Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is glory and lordship into worlds of worlds. Amen.

12 Most dear brethren, do not ye go in pilgrimage in fervour, that is made to you to temptation, as if any new thing befall to you;

13 but commune ye with the passions of Christ, and have ye joy, that also ye be glad, and have joy in the revelation of his glory.

14 If ye be despised for the name of Christ, ye shall be blessed; for that that is of the honour, and of the glory, and of the virtue of God, and the Spirit that is his, shall rest on you.

15 But no man of you suffer as a manslayer, either a thief, either curser, either a desirer of other men’s goods [or things];

16 but if he suffer as a christian man, shame he not, but glorify he God in this name.

17 For time is, that doom begin at God’s house; and if it begin first at us, what end shall be of them, that believe not to the gospel?

18 And if a just man scarcely shall be saved, where shall the unfaithful man and the sinner appear?

19 Therefore and they that suffer by the will of God, betake their souls in good deeds to the faithful Maker of nought.

CHAPTER 5

1 Therefore I, an even-elder man, and a witness of Christ’s passions, which also am a communer of that glory, that shall be showed in time to come; beseech the elder men, that be among you,

2 feed ye the flock of God, that is among you, and purvey ye, not as constrained, but willfully, by God; not for love of foul winning, but willfully,

3 neither as having lordship in the clergy, but that ye be made ensample to the flock, of will [or by intent].

4 And when the prince of shepherds shall appear, ye shall receive the crown of glory, that may never fade.

5 Also, ye young men, be ye subject to elder men, and all show ye together meekness; for the Lord withstandeth proud men, but he giveth grace to meek men.

6 Therefore be ye meeked under the mighty hand of God, that he raise you in the time [or in the day] of visitation,

7 and cast ye all your busyness into him, for to him is care of you.

8 Be ye sober, and wake ye, for your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion goeth about, seeking whom he shall devour.

9 Whom against-stand ye, strong in the faith, witting that the same passion is made to that brotherhood of you, that is in the world.

10 And God of all grace, that called you into his everlasting glory, you suffering a little [in Christ Jesus], he shall perform, and shall confirm, and shall make firm.

11 To him be glory and lordship, into worlds of worlds. Amen.

12 By Silvanus, [a] faithful brother to you as I deem, I wrote shortly; beseeching, and witnessing that this is the very grace of God, in which ye stand.

13 The church that is gathered in Babylon, and Marcus, my son, greeteth you well.

14 Greet ye well together in holy kiss. Grace be to you all that be in Christ. Amen.

2ND PETER

1

2

3

2ND PETER

CHAPTER 1

1 Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have taken with us the even-faith, in the rightwiseness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ,

2 grace and peace be [full]-filled to you, by the knowing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

3 How all things of his god-like virtue, that be to life and piety, be given to us, by the knowing of him, that called us for his own glory and virtue.

4 By whom he gave to us most precious promises; that by these things ye shall be made fellows of God’s kind, and flee the corruption of that covetousness, that is in the world.

5 And bring ye in all busyness, and minister in your faith virtue, and in virtue knowing [or science];

6 in knowing [or in science], abstinence, in abstinence patience, in patience piety;

7 in piety, love of brotherhood, and in love of brotherhood charity.

8 For if these be with you, and overcome, [or be plenteous], they shall not make you void, neither without fruit, in the knowing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 But to whom these be not ready, he is blind, and gropeth with his hand, and forgetteth the purging of his old trespasses.

10 Wherefore, brethren, be ye more busy, that by good works ye make your calling and choosing certain; for ye doing these things, shall not do sin any time [or shall not sin any time].

11 For thus the entering into [the] everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, shall be ministered to you plenteously.

12 For which thing I shall begin to admonish you evermore of these things; and I will, that ye be know ing, and confirmed in this present truth.

13 Forsooth I deem justly [or I deem just], as long as I am in this taber-nacle, to raise you in admonishing;

14 and I am certain, that the putting away [or the putting off] of my tabernacle is swift, by this that our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed to me.

15 But I shall give busyness, that oft after my death ye have mind of these things.

16 For we not pursuing unwise tales, have made known to you the virtue and the before-knowing [or the prescience] of our Lord Jesus Christ; but we were made beholders of his greatness.

17 For he took of God the Father honour and glory, by such manner voice slid down to him from the great glory, This is my loved Son, in whom I have pleased to me; hear ye him.

18 And we heard this voice brought from heaven, when we were with him in the holy hill.

19 And we have a firmer word of prophecy, to which ye giving attention do well, as to a lantern that giveth light in a dark place, till the day begin to give light, and the day star spring in your hearts.

20 And first understand ye this thing, that each prophecy of scripture is not made by proper, [or own], interpretation;

21 for prophecy was not brought any time by man’s will, but the holy men of God inspired with the Holy Ghost spake.

CHAPTER 2

1 But also false prophets were in the people, as in you shall be masters liars, that shall bring in sects of perdition; and they deny that Lord that bought them, and bring on them-selves hasty perdition [or damnation].

2 And many shall pursue their lecheries, by whom the way of truth shall be blasphemed;

3 and they shall make merchandise of you in covetousness by feigned words. To whom doom now a while ago ceaseth not, and the perdition of them nappeth not.

4 For if God spared not angels sinning, but betook them to be tormented, and to be drawn down with bonds of hell into hell, to be kept into doom;

5 and spared not the first world, but kept Noah, the eighth man, the before-goer of rightwiseness, and brought in the great flood [or the deluge] to the world of unfaithful men;

6 and he drove into powder the cities of men of Sodom and of men of Gomorrah, and condemned by turn-ing upside-down, and put them the ensample of them that were to doing evil [or were doing unpiously];

7 and delivered the just Lot, oppressed of the wrong, and of the lecherous conversation of cursed men;

8 for in sight and hearing he was just, and dwelled amongst them that from day into day tormented with wicked works a just soul.

9 For the Lord knoweth how to deliver pious men from temptation, and keep wicked men into the day of doom, to be tormented;

10 but more them that walk after the flesh, in coveting of uncleanness, and despise lordshipping, and be bold, pleasing themselves, and dread not to bring in sects, blaspheming;

11 where angels, when they be more in strength and virtue, bear not the execrable doom [or the cursed judgement] against them.

12 But these be as unreasonable beasts, kindly, into taking, and into death, blaspheming in these things that they know not, and shall perish in their corruption,

13 and receive the hire of unright-wiseness. And they guess delights of defouling and of wem, to be likings of the day, flowing in their feasts with delights, doing lechery with you,

14 and have eyes full of adultery, and unceasing trespass, deceiving unsteadfast souls, and have the heart exercised to covetousness; the sons of cursing,

15 that forsake the right way, and erred, pursuing the way of Balaam of Bosor, which loved the hire of wickedness.

16 But he had reproving [or correction] of his madness; a dumb beast under yoke, that spake with voice of man, that forbade the unwisdom of the prophet.

17 These be wells without water, and mists driven with whirlwinds [or clouds driven with whirling winds], to whom the thick mist of darknesses is reserved.

18 And they speak in pride of vanity, and deceive in desires of flesh of lechery them, that escape a little. Which live in error,

19 and promise freedom [or liberty] to them, when they be servants of corruption. For of whom any man is overcome, of him also he is servant.

20 For if men forsake the unclean-nesses of the world, by the knowing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and again be enwrapped in these, and be overcome, the latter things be made to them worse than the former.

21 For it was better to them to not know the way of rightwiseness, than to turn again after the knowing, from that holy commandment that was betaken to them.

22 For that very proverb befelled to them, The hound turned again to his vomit, or casting, and a sow is washed in wallowing in fen [or in clay].

CHAPTER 3

1 Lo! ye most dearworthy brethren, I write to you this second epistle, in which I stir your clear soul by admonishing together,

2 that ye be mindful of those words, that I before-said of the holy prophets, and of the commandments of the holy apostles of the Lord and Saviour.

3 First know ye this thing, that in the last days deceivers [or scorners] shall come in deceit, going after their own covetings,

4 saying, Where is the promise, or the coming of him? for since the fathers died [or slept], all things last from the beginning of creature.

5 But it is hid from them willing this thing, that heavens were before [or first], and the earth of water was standing by water, by God’s word;

6 by which that same world cleansed, then by water perished.

7 But the heavens that now be, and the earth, be kept by the same word, and be reserved to fire into the day of doom, and perdition of wicked men.

8 But, ye most dear, this one thing be not hid to you [or be not unknown], that one day with God is as a thousand years, and a thousand years be as one day.

9 The Lord tarrieth not his promise, as some guess, but he doeth patiently for you, and will not that any man perish [or not willing any to perish], but that all turn again to penance.

10 For the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which heavens with great rush, [or fierceness], shall pass, and elements shall be dissolved by heat, and the earth, and all the works that be in it, shall be burnt.

11 Therefore when all these things shall be dissolved, what manner men behooveth it you to be in holy livings and piety,

12 abiding and hieing into the coming of the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom heavens burning shall be dissolved, and elements shall fail by burning [or heat] of fire.

13 Also we abide by his promises new heavens and new earth, in which rightwiseness dwelleth.

14 For which thing, ye most dear, abiding these things, be ye busy to be found to him in peace, unspotted and undefouled.

15 And deem ye long abiding of our Lord Jesus Christ your health, as also our most dear brother Paul wrote to you, by wisdom given to him.

16 As and in all his epistles he speaketh in them of these things; in which be some hard things to under-stand, which unwise [or untaught] and unstable men deprave, as also they do other scriptures, to their own perdition.

17 Therefore ye, brethren, before-witting keep yourselves, lest ye be deceived [or over-led] by error of unwise men, and fall away from your own firmness.

18 But wax ye in the grace and the knowing of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Saviour; to him be glory now and into the day of everlastingness. Amen.

1ST JOHN

1

2

3

4

5

1ST JOHN

CHAPTER 1

1 That thing that was from the beginning, which we heard, which we saw with our eyes, which we beheld, and our hands touched, of the word of life;

2 and the life is showed. And we saw, and witness, and tell to you the everlasting life, that was with the Father, and appeared to us.

3 Therefore that thing, that we saw, and heard, we tell to you, that also ye have fellowship with us, and our fellowship be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

4 And we write this thing to you, that ye have joy, and that your joy be full.

5 And this is the telling, that we heard of him, and tell to you, that God is light, and there be no darknesses in him.

6 If we say, that we have fellowship with him, and we wander in darknesses, we lie, and do not truth.

7 But if we walk in light, as also he is in light, we have fellowship together; and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.

8 If we say, that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and truth is not in us.

9 If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just, that he forgive to us our sins, and cleanse us from all wickedness.

10 And if we say, that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

CHAPTER 2

1 My little sons, I write to you these things, that ye sin not. But if any man sinneth, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ [just],

2 and he is the forgiveness [or helping] for our sins; and not only for our sins, but also for the sins of all the world.

3 And in this thing we know, that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

4 He that saith that he knoweth God, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and truth is not in him.

5 But the charity of God is perfect verily in him, that keepeth his word, [or Forsooth who keepeth his word, verily in him is perfect charity]. In this thing we know, that we be in him, if we be perfect in him.

6 He that saith, that he dwelleth in him, he oweth to walk, as he walked.

7 Most dear brethren, I write to you, not a new commandment, but the old commandment, that ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word, that ye heard.

8 Again I write to you a new commandment, that is true both in him and in you; for darknesses be passed, and very light shineth now.

9 He that saith, that he is in light, and hateth his brother, is in darknesses yet.

10 He that loveth his brother, dwelleth in light, and cause of stumbling is not in him.

11 But he that hateth his brother, is in darknesses, and wandereth in darknesses, and knoweth not whither he goeth; for darknesses have blinded his eyes.

12 Little sons, I write to you, that your sins be forgiven to you for his name.

13 Fathers, I write to you, for ye have known him, that is from the beginning. Young men, I write to you, for ye have overcome the wicked. I write to you, young children [or infants], for ye have known the Father.

14 I write to you, brethren, for ye have known him, that is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, for ye be strong, and the word of God dwelleth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked.

15 Do not ye love the world, nor those things that be in the world. If any man loveth the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.

16 For all thing that is in the world, is covetousness of flesh, and covetousness of eyes, and pride of life, which is not of the Father, but it is of the world.

17 And the world shall pass, and the covetousness of it; but he that doeth the will of God, dwelleth [into] without end.

18 My little sons, the last hour is; and as ye have heard, that antichrist cometh, now many antichrists be made; wherefore we know, that it is the last hour.

19 They went forth from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they had dwelt with us; but that they be known, that they be not all of us.

20 But ye have anointing [or unction] of the Holy Ghost, and know all things.

21 I wrote not to you, as to men that know not the truth, but as to men that know it, and for each leasing is not of truth.

22 Who is a liar, but this that denieth that Jesus is not Christ? This is antichrist, that denieth the Father, and the Son.

23 For each that denieth the Son, hath not the Father; but he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath also the Father.

24 That thing that ye heard at [or from] the beginning, dwell it in you; for if that thing dwelleth in you, which ye heard at the beginning, ye shall dwell in the Son and in the Father.

25 And this is the promise, that he promised to us, everlasting life.

26 I wrote these things to you, of them that deceive you,

27 and that the anointing which ye received of him, dwell in you. And ye have not need, that any man teach you, but as his anointing teacheth you of all things, and it is true, and it is not leasing; and as he taught you, dwell ye in him.

28 And now, ye little sons, dwell ye in him, that when he shall appear, we have trust, and be not confounded of him in his coming.

29 If ye know that he is just, know ye that also each that doeth rightwiseness, is born of him.

CHAPTER 3

1 See ye what manner charity the Father gave to us, that we be named the sons of God, and be his sons. For this thing the world knew not us, for it knew not him.

2 Most dear brethren, now we be the sons of God, and yet it appeared not, what we shall be. We know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

3 And each man that hath this hope in him, maketh himself holy, as he is holy.

4 Each man that doeth sin, doeth also wickedness, and sin is wickedness.

5 And ye know, that he appeared to do away sins, and sin is not in him.

6 Each man that dwelleth in him, sinneth not; and each that sinneth, seeth not him, neither knew him.

7 Little sons, no man deceive you; he that doeth rightwiseness, is just, as also he is just.

8 He that doeth sin, is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. In this thing the Son of God appeared, that he undo the works of the devil.

9 Each man that is born of God, doeth not sin; for the seed of God dwelleth in him, and he may not do sin, for he is born of God.

10 In this thing the sons of God be known, and the sons of the fiend. Each man that is not just, is not of God, and he that loveth not his brother [is not of God].

11 For this is the telling, that ye heard at the beginning, that ye love each other;

12 not as Cain, that was of the devil, and slew his brother. And for what thing slew he him? for his works were evil, and his brother’s just.

13 Brethren, do not ye wonder, if the world hateth you.

14 We know, that we be translated from death to life, for we love brethren. He that loveth not, dwelleth in death.

15 Each man that hateth his brother, is a manslayer; and ye know, that each manslayer hath not everlasting life dwelling in him.

16 In this thing we have known the charity of God, for he put his life for us, and we owe to put our lives for our brethren.

17 He that hath the chattel [or the substance] of this world, and seeth that his brother hath need, and closeth his entrails from him, how dwelleth the charity of God in him?

18 My little sons, love we not in word, neither in tongue, but in work and truth.

19 In this thing we know, that we be of truth, and in his sight we admonish our hearts.

20 For if our heart reproveth us, God is more than our heart, and knoweth all things.

21 Most dear brethren, if our heart reproveth not us, we have trust to God;

22 and whatever we shall ask, we shall receive of him, for we keep his commandments, and we do those things that be pleasant before him.

23 And this is the commandment of God, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and that we love each other, as he gave behest to us.

24 And he that keepeth his commandments, dwelleth in him, and he in him. And in this thing we know, that he dwelleth in us, by the Spirit, whom he gave to us.

CHAPTER 4

1 Most dear brethren, do not ye believe to each spirit, but prove ye the spirits, if they be of God; for many false prophets went out into the world.

2 In this thing the Spirit of God is known; each spirit that acknowl-edgeth that Jesus Christ hath come in flesh, is of God;

3 and each spirit that undoeth Jesus, is not of God. And this is antichrist, of whom ye have heard, that he cometh; and right now he is in the world.

4 Ye, little sons, be of God, and ye have overcome him; for he that is in you is more, than he that is in the world.

5 They be of the world, therefore they speak of the world, and the world heareth them.

6 We be of God; he that knoweth God, heareth us; he that is not of God, heareth not us. In this thing we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7 Most dear brethren, love we together, for charity is of God; and each that loveth his brother, is born of God, and knoweth God.

8 He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is charity.

9 In this thing, the charity of God appeared in us, for God sent his one begotten Son into the world, that we live by him.

10 In this thing is charity, not as we had loved God, but for he first loved us, and sent his Son forgiveness [or helping] for our sins.

11 Ye most dear brethren, if God loved us, we owe to love each other.

12 No man saw ever God; if we love together, God dwelleth in us, and the charity of him is perfect in us.

13 In this thing we know, that we dwell in him, and he in us; for of his Spirit he gave to us.

14 And we saw, and witness, that the Father sent his Son Saviour of the world.

15 Whoever acknowledgeth, that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

16 And we have known, and believe to the charity, that God hath in us. God is charity, and he that dwelleth in charity, dwelleth in God, and God in him.

17 In this thing is the perfect charity of God with us [or in us], that we have trust in the day of doom; for as he is, also we be in this world.

18 Dread is not in charity, but perfect charity putteth out dread; for dread hath pain. But he that dreadeth, is not perfect in charity.

19 Therefore love we God, for he loved us before [or he former loved us].

20 If any man saith, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother, whom he seeth, how may he love God, whom he seeth not?

21 And we have this commandment of God, that he that loveth God, love also his brother.

CHAPTER 5

1 Each man that believeth that Jesus is Christ, is born of God; and each man that loveth him that engendered [or that engendereth], loveth him that is born of him.

2 In this thing we know, that we love the children of God, when we love God, and do his commandments.

3 For this is the charity of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments be not heavy [or grievous].

4 For all thing that is born of God, overcometh the world; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, our faith.

5 And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

6 This is Jesus Christ, that came by water and blood; not in water only, but in water and blood. And the Spirit is he that witnesseth, that Christ is [the] truth.

7 For three be, that give witnessing in heaven, the Father, the Son [or the Word], and the Holy Ghost; and these three be one.

8 And three be, that give witnessing in earth, the Spirit, water, and blood; and these three be one.

9 If we receive the witnessing of men, the witnessing of God is more; for this is the witnessing of God, that is more, for he witnessed of his Son.

10 He that believeth in the Son of God, hath the witnessing of God in him. He that believeth not to the Son, maketh him a liar; for he believeth not in the witnessing that God witnessed of his Son.

11 And this is the witnessing, for God gave to you [or to us] everlasting life, and this life is in his Son.

12 He that hath the Son of God, hath also life; he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.

13 I write to you these things, that ye know, that ye have everlasting life, which believe in the name of God’s Son.

14 And this is the trust which we have to God [or that we have in God], that whatever thing we ask after his will, he shall hear us.

15 And we know, that he heareth us, whatever thing we [shall] ask; we know, that we have the askings, that we ask of him.

16 He that knoweth that his brother sinneth a sin not to death, ask he, and life shall be given to him that sinneth not to death. There is a sin to death; not for it I say, that any man pray.

17 Each wickedness is sin, and there is [a] sin to death.

18 We know, that each man that is born of God, sinneth not; but the generation of God keepeth him, and the wicked toucheth him not.

19 We know, that we be of God, and all the world is set in evil.

20 And we know, that the Son of God came in flesh, and gave to us wit, that we know him very God, and be in the very Son [Jesus] of him. This is very God, and everlasting life.

21 My little sons, keep ye you from maumets [or from simulacra]. My little sons, keep away from idols. [Amen.]

2ND JOHN

2ND JOHN

CHAPTER 1

1 The elder man, to the chosen lady, and to her children, which I love in truth; and not I alone, but also all men that know truth;

2 for the truth that dwelleth in you, and with you shall be without end.

3 Grace be with you, mercy, and peace of God the Father, and of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and charity.

4 I joyed full much, for I found of thy sons going in truth, as we received commandment of the Father.

5 And now I pray thee, lady, not as writing a new commandment to thee, but that that we had from the beginning, that we love each other.

6 And this is charity, that we walk after his commandments. For this is the commandment, that as ye heard at the beginning, walk ye in him.

7 For many deceivers went out into the world, which acknowledge not that Jesus Christ hath come in flesh; this is a deceiver and antichrist.

8 See ye yourselves, lest ye lose the things that ye have wrought, that ye receive full meed;

9 witting that each man that goeth before [or that goeth away], and dwelleth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God. He that dwelleth in the teaching [of Christ], hath both the Son and the Father.

10 If any man cometh to you, and bringeth not this teaching, do not ye receive him into your house, neither say to him, Hail.

11 For he that saith to him, Hail, communeth with his evil works. Lo! I before-said to you, that ye be not confounded in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

12 I have more things to write to you, and I would not by parchment and ink; for I hope that I shall come to you, and speak mouth to mouth, that our joy be full.

13 The sons of thy chosen sister greet thee well. The grace of God be with thee. Amen.

3RD JOHN

3RD JOHN

CHAPTER 1

1 The elder man to Gaius, most dear brother, whom I love in truth.

2 Most dear brother, of all things I make prayer, that thou enter, and fare wealfully, as thy soul doeth wealfully.

3 I joyed greatly, for brethren came, and bare witnessing to thy truth, as thou walkest in truth.

4 I have not more grace of these things, than that I hear that my sons walk in truth.

5 Most dear brother, thou doest faithfully, whatever thou workest in brethren, and that into pilgrims,

6 which yielded witnessing to thy charity, in the sight of the church; which thou leadest forth, and doest well-worthily to God.

7 For they went forth for his name, and took nothing of heathen men.

8 Therefore we owe to receive such, that we be even-workers of truth.

9 I had written peradventure to the church, but this Diotrephes, that loveth to bear primacy, [or chief places], in them, receiveth not us.

10 For this thing, if I shall come, I shall admonish his works, which he doeth, chiding [or chattering] against us with evil words. And as if these things suffice not to him, neither he receiveth brethren, and forbiddeth them that receive, and putteth out of the church.

11 Most dear brother, do not thou pursue evil thing, but that that is good thing. He that doeth well, is of God; he that doeth evil, seeth not God.

12 Witnessing is yielded to Deme-trius of all men, and of truth itself; but also we bear witnessing, and thou knowest, that our witnessing is true.

13 I had many things to write to thee, but I would not write to thee by ink and pen.

14 For I hope soon to see thee, and we shall speak mouth to mouth. Peace be to thee. Friends greet thee well. Greet thou well friends by name. Amen.

JUDE

JUDE

CHAPTER 1

1 Judas, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to these that be loved, that be in God the Father, and to them that be called and kept of Jesus Christ,

2 mercy, and peace, and charity be [full]-filled to you.

3 Most dear brethren, I doing all busyness to write to you of your common health, had need to write to you, and pray to strive strongly for the faith that is once taken to saints.

4 For some unfaithful men privily entered, that sometime were before-written into this doom, and overturn the grace of our God into lechery, and deny him that is only a Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ.

5 But I will admonish you once, that know all things, that Jesus saved his people from the land of Egypt, and the second time lost them that believed not.

6 And he reserved under darkness angels, that kept not their prince-hood, but forsook their house, into the doom of the great God, into everlasting bonds.

7 As Sodom, and Gomorrah, and the nigh coasted cities, that in like manner did fornication, and went away after other flesh, and be made ensample, suffering pain of everlasting fire.

8 In like manner also these that defoul the flesh, and despise lordship, and blaspheme majesty.

9 When Michael, [the] archangel, disputed with the devil, and strove of Moses’ body, he was not hardy to bring in doom of blasphemy, but said, The Lord command to thee.

10 But these men blaspheme, what-ever things they know not. For what-ever things they know kindly as dumb beasts, in these they be corrupt.

11 Woe to them that went the way of Cain, and that be shed out by error of Balaam for meed, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.

12 These be in their meats, feasting together to filth, without dread feeding themselves. These be clouds without water, that be borne about of winds; harvest trees without fruit, twice dead, drawn up by the root;

13 waves of the mad sea, foaming out their confusions, [or waves of the wild sea, frothing out their confusions]; erring stars, to which the tempest of darknesses is kept [into] without end.

14 But Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, and said, Lo! the Lord cometh with his holy thousands,

15 to do doom against all men, and to reprove all unfaithful men of all the works of the wickedness of them, by which they did wickedly, and of all the hard words, that wicked sinners have spoken against God.

16 These be grutchers full of com-plaints, wandering after their desires;

and the mouth of them speaketh pride, worshipping persons, because of winning.

17 And ye, most dear brethren, be mindful of the words which be before-said of [the] apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;

18 which said to you, that in the last times there shall come beguilers [or scorners], wandering after their own desires, not in piety.

19 These be, which separate them-selves, beastly men, not having Spirit.

20 But ye, most dear brethren, above build yourselves on your most holy faith, and pray ye in the Holy Ghost,

21 and keep yourselves in the love of God, and abide ye the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ into life ever-lasting.

22 And reprove ye these men that be deemed,

23 but save ye them, and take ye [or ravish] them from the fire. And do ye mercy to other men, in the dread of God, and hate ye also that defouled coat, which is fleshly.

24 But to him that is mighty to keep you without sin, and to ordain before the sight of his glory you unwemmed, in full out joy,

25 in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God alone our Saviour, by Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, and magnifying, empire, and power, before all worlds, and now, and into all worlds of worlds. Amen.

APOCALYPSE of JOHN

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APOCALYPSE OF JOHN

CHAPTER 1

1 Apocalypse of Jesus Christ [or The revelation of Jesus Christ], which God gave to him to make open to his servants, which things it behooveth to be made soon. And he signified, sending by his angel to his servant John,

2 which bare witnessing to the word of God, and witnessing of Jesus Christ, in these things, whatever things he saw.

3 Blessed is he that readeth, and he that heareth the words of this prophecy, and keepeth those things that be written in it; for the time is nigh.

4 John to the seven churches, that be in Asia, grace and peace to you, of him that is, and that was, and that is to coming [or is to come]; and of the seven spirits, that be in the sight of his throne;

5 and of Jesus Christ, that is a faithful witness, the first begotten of dead men, and prince of kings of the earth; which loved us, and washed us from our sins in his blood,

6 and made us a kingdom, and priests to God and to his Father; to him be glory and empire into worlds of worlds. Amen.

7 Lo! he cometh with clouds, and each eye shall see him, and they that pricked him; and all the kindreds of the earth shall bewail themselves on him. Yea, Amen!

8 I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord God, that is, and that was, and that is to coming [or is to come], almighty.

9 I, John, your brother, and partner in tribulation, and kingdom, and patience in Christ Jesus, was in an isle, that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the witnessing of Jesus.

10 I was in Spirit in the Lord’s day [or in the Sunday], and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trump,

11 saying to me, Write thou in a book that thing that thou seest, and send to the seven churches that be in Asia; to Ephesus, to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.

12 And I turned, that I should see the voice that spake with me; and I turned, and I saw seven candlesticks of gold,

13 and in the middle of the seven golden candlesticks one like to the Son of man, clothed with a long garment, and girded at the teats with a golden girdle.

14 And the head of him and his hairs were white, as white wool, and as snow; and the eyes of him as flame of fire,

15 and his feet like to latten [or like the dross of gold], as in a burning chimney; and the voice of him as the voice of many waters.

16 And he had in his right hand seven stars, and a sword sharp on ever either side [or on both sides] went out of his mouth; and his face as the sun shineth in his virtue.

17 And when I had seen him, I felled down at his feet, as dead. And he putted his right hand on me, and said, Do not thou dread; I am the first and the last;

18 and I am alive, and I was dead; and lo! I am living into worlds of worlds, and I have the keys of death and of hell.

19 Therefore write thou which things thou hast seen, and which be, and which it behooveth to be done after these things.

20 The sacrament [or The mystery] of the seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks; the seven stars be [the] angels of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks be [the] seven churches.

CHAPTER 2

1 And to the angel of the church of Ephesus write thou, These things saith he, that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, which walketh in the middle [or in the midst] of the seven golden candlesticks.

2 I know thy works, and thy travail [or thy toil], and thy patience, and that thou mayest not suffer evil men; and thou hast assayed them that say that they be apostles, and be not, and thou hast found them liars;

3 and thou hast patience, and thou hast suffered [or sustained] for my name, and failedest not.

4 But I have against thee a few things, that thou hast left thy first charity.

5 Therefore be thou mindful from whence thou hast fallen, and do penance, and do the first works; or else, I shall come soon to thee, and I shall move thy candlestick from his place, but thou do penance.

6 But thou hast this good thing, that thou hatedest the deeds of Nicolaitans, which also I hate.

7 He that hath ears, hear he, what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, I shall give to eat of the tree of life, that is in the paradise of my God.

8 And to the angel of the church of Smyrna write thou, These things saith the first and the last, that was dead, and liveth.

9 I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty, but thou art rich; and thou art blasphemed of them, that say, that they be Jews, and be not, but be the synagogue of Satan.

10 Dread thou nothing of these things, which thou shalt suffer. Lo! the devil shall send some of you into prison, that ye be tempted [or ye be proved]; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful to the death, and I shall give to thee a crown of life.

11 He that hath ears, hear he, what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh, shall not be hurt of the second death.

12 And to the angel of the church of Pergamum, write thou, These things saith he, that hath the sword sharp on either side [or on each side].

13 I know where thou dwellest, where the seat of Satan is; and thou holdest my name, and deniedest not my faith. And in those days was Antipas, my faithful witness, that was slain at you, where Satan dwelleth.

14 But I have against thee a few things; for thou hast there men holding the teaching of Balaam, which taught Balak to send cause of stumbling before the sons of Israel, to eat of sacrifices of idols, and to do fornication;

15 so also thou hast men holding the teaching of Nicolaitans.

16 Also do thou penance; if anything less, I shall come soon to thee, and I shall fight with them with the sword of my mouth.

17 He that hath ears, hear he, what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh I shall give angel meat hid [or manna]; and I shall give to him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, but he that taketh.

18 And to the angel of the church of Thyatira write thou, These things saith the Son of God, that hath eyes as flame of fire, and his feet like latten.

19 I know thy works, and faith, and charity, and thy service, and thy patience, and thy last works more than the former.

20 But I have against thee a few things; for thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, which saith that she is a prophetess, to teach and deceive my servants, to do lechery, and to eat of things offered to idols.

21 And I gave to her time, that she should do penance, and she would not do penance of her fornication.

22 And lo! I send her into a bed, and they that do lechery with her shall be in most tribulation, but they do penance of her works.

23 And I shall slay her sons into death, and all churches shall know, that I am searching reins and hearts; and I shall give to each man of you after his works.

24 And I say to you, and to others that be at Thyatira, whoever have not this teaching, and that knew not the highness of Satan, how they say, I shall not send on you another charge;

25 nevertheless hold ye that that ye have, till I come.

26 And to him that shall overcome, and that shall keep till into the end my works, I shall give power on folks,

27 and he shall govern them in an iron rod; and they shall be broken altogether, as a vessel of a potter, as also I received of my Father;

28 and I shall give to him a morrow star.

29 He that hath ears, hear he, what the Spirit saith to the churches.

CHAPTER 3

1 And to the angel of the church of Sardis write thou, These things saith he, that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars. I know thy works, for thou hast a name, that thou livest, and thou art dead.

2 Be thou waking, and confirm thou other things, that were to dying; for I find not thy works full before my God.

3 Therefore have thou in mind, how thou receivedest, and heardest; and keep, and do penance. Therefore if thou wake not, I shall come as a night thief to thee, and thou shalt not know in what hour I shall come to thee.

4 But thou hast a few names in Sardis, which have not defouled their clothes; and they shall walk with me in white clothes, for they be worthy.

5 He that overcometh, shall be clothed thus with white clothes; and I shall not do away his name from the book of life, and I shall acknowledge his name before my Father, and before his angels.

6 He that hath ears, hear he, what the Spirit saith to the churches.

7 And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia write thou, These things saith the holy and true, that hath the key of David; which openeth, and no man closeth, he closeth, and no man openeth.

8 I know thy works, and lo! I gave before thee a door opened, which no man may close; for thou hast a little virtue, and hast kept my word, and deniedest not my name.

9 Lo! I shall give to thee of the synagogue of Satan, which say that they be Jews, and be not, but lie. Lo! I shall make them, that they come, and worship before thy feet; and they shall know, that I loved thee,

10 for thou keptest the word of my patience. And I shall keep thee from the hour of temptation, that is to coming [or to come] into all the world, to tempt men that dwell in earth.

11 Lo! I come soon; hold thou that that thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

12 And him that shall overcome, I shall make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall no more go out; and I shall write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, of the new Jerusalem, that cometh down from heaven of my God, and my new name.

13 He that hath ears, hear he, what the Spirit saith to the churches.

14 And to the angel of the church of Laodicea write thou, These things saith Amen, the faithful witness and true, which is beginning of God’s creature.

15 I know thy works, for neither thou art cold, neither thou art hot; I would that thou were cold, either hot;

16 but for thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, neither hot, I shall begin to cast [or to vomit] thee out of my mouth.

17 For thou sayest, That I am rich, and full of goods, and have need of nothing; and thou knowest not, that thou art a wretch, and wretchful [or wretched], and poor, and blind, and naked.

18 I counsel thee to buy of me burnt gold, that thou be made rich, and be clothed with white clothes, that the confusion [or the shame] of thy nakedness be not seen; and anoint thine eyes with a collyrium, that is, a medicine for eyes, gathered of diverse herbs, that thou see.

19 I reprove, and chastise whom I love; therefore pursue thou good men, and do penance.

20 Lo! I stand at the door, and knock; if any man heareth my voice, and openeth the gate to me, I shall enter to him, and sup with him, and he with me.

21 And I shall give to him that shall overcome, to sit with me in my throne, as also I overcame, and sat with my Father in his throne.

22 He that hath ears, hear he, what the Spirit saith to the churches.

CHAPTER 4

1 After these things I saw, and lo! a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice that I heard, was as of a trump speaking with me, and said, Go thou up hither, and I shall show to thee which things it behooveth to be done soon after these things.

2 And anon I was in Spirit, and lo! a seat was set in heaven, and upon the seat one sitting.

3 And he that sat, was like the sight of a stone jasper, and to sardine; and a rainbow was in [the] compass of the seat, like the sight of emerald.

4 And in the compass of the seat were four and twenty small seats; and above [or upon] the thrones four and twenty elder men sitting, covered about with white clothes, and in the heads of them golden crowns.

5 And lightnings, and voices, and thunderings came out of the throne; and seven lamps burning before the throne, which be the seven spirits of God.

6 And before the seat as a sea of glass, like crystal, and in the middle of the seat, and in the compass of the seat, [were] four beasts, full of eyes before and behind.

7 And the first beast like a lion; and the second beast like a calf; and the third beast having a face as of a man; and the fourth beast like an eagle flying.

8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings; and all about and within they were full of eyes; and they had not rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God almighty, that was, and that is, and that is to coming [or is to come].

9 And when those four beasts gave glory, and honour, and blessing to him that sat on the throne, that liveth into worlds of worlds,

10 the four and twenty elder men fell down before him that sat on the throne, and worshipped him that liveth into worlds of worlds. And they cast their crowns before the throne, and said,

11 Thou, Lord our God, art worthy to take glory, and honour, and virtue; for thou madest of nought all things, and for thy will those were, and be made of nought.

CHAPTER 5

1 And I saw in the right hand of the sitter on the throne, a book written within and without, and sealed with seven seals.

2 And I saw a strong angel, preaching with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to undo the seals of it?

3 And none [or no man] in heaven, neither in earth, neither under earth, might open the book, neither behold it.

4 And I wept much, for none [or no man] was found worthy to open the book, neither to see it.

5 And one of the elder men said to me, Weep thou not; lo! a lion of the lineage of Judah, the root of David, hath overcome to open the book, and to undo the seven seals of it.

6 And I saw, and lo! in the middle of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the middle of the elder men, a lamb standing as slain, that had seven horns, and seven eyes, which be [the] seven spirits of God, sent into all the earth.

7 And he came, and took of the right hand of the sitter in the throne the book.

8 And when he had opened the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elder men fell down before the lamb; and had each of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which be the prayers of saints.

9 And they sung a new song, and said, Lord our God, thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals of it; for thou were slain, and again-boughtest us to God in thy blood, of each lineage, and tongue, and people, and nation;

10 and madest us a kingdom, and priests to our God; and we shall reign on earth.

11 And I saw, and heard the voice of many angels all about the throne, and of the beasts, and of the elder men. And the number of them was thousands of thousands,

12 saying with a great voice, The lamb that was slain, is worthy to take virtue, and Godhead [or Divinity], and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

13 And each creature that is in heaven, and that is on [the] earth, and under earth, and the sea, and which things be in it, I heard all saying, To him that sat in the throne, and to the lamb, blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, into worlds of worlds.

14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elder men fell down on their faces, and worshipped him that liveth into worlds of worlds.

CHAPTER 6

1 And I saw, that the lamb had opened one of the seven seals. And I heard one of the four beasts saying, as a voice of thunder, Come thou, and see.

2 And I saw, and lo! a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given to him. And he went out overcoming, that he should overcome.

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast saying, Come thou, and see.

4 And an other red horse went out; and it was given to him that sat on him, that he should take peace from the earth, and that they slay together themselves; and a great sword was given to him.

5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast saying, Come thou, and see. And lo! a black horse; and he that sat on him had a balance in his hand.

6 And I heard as a voice in the middle of the four beasts, saying, A bilibre, that is, a weight of two pounds, of wheat for a penny, and three bilibres of barley for a penny; and hurt thou not wine, nor oil.

7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard a voice of the fourth beast saying, Come thou, and see.

8 And lo! a pale horse; and the name was Death to him that sat on him, and hell pursued him. And power was given to him on four parts of the earth, to slay with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with beasts of the earth.

9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of men slain for the word of God, and for the witnessing that they had.

10 And they cried with a great voice, and said, How long thou, Lord, that art holy and true, deemest [thou] not, and avengest not our blood of these that dwell in the earth?

11 And white stoles, for each soul a stole, were given to them; and it was said to them, that they should rest yet a little time, till the number of their fellows and of their brethren be fulfilled, that be to be slain, as also they [were].

12 And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo! a great earth-moving was made; and the sun was made black, as a sackcloth of hair, and all the moon was made as blood.

13 And the stars of heaven felled down on the earth, as a fig tree sendeth his unripe figs, when it is moved of a great wind.

14 And heaven went away, as a book wrapped in [or enfolded]; and all the mountains and isles were moved from their places.

15 And the kings of the earth, and princes, and tribunes, and rich, and strong, and each bondman, and free man, hid them in dens and stones of hills.

16 And they say to hills and to stones, Fall ye on us, and hide ye us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb;

17 for the great day of their wrath cometh, and who shall be able to stand?

CHAPTER 7

1 After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding [the] four winds of the earth, that they blew not on the earth, neither on the sea, neither on any tree.

2 And I saw another angel ascending or going up from the rising of the sun, that had a sign of the living God. And he cried with a great voice to the four angels, to which it was given to annoy the earth, and the sea,

3 and said, Do not ye annoy the earth, and the sea, neither [to] trees, till we mark the servants of our God in the foreheads of them.

4 And I heard the number of men that were marked, an hundred thousand and four and forty thousand marked, of every lineage of the sons of Israel;

5 of the lineage of Judah, twelve thousand marked; of the lineage of Reuben, twelve thousand marked; of the lineage of Gad, twelve thousand marked;

6 of the lineage of Aser, twelve thousand marked; of the lineage of Nephthalim, twelve thousand marked; of the lineage of Manasses, twelve thousand marked;

7 of the lineage of Simeon, twelve thousand marked; of the lineage of Levi, twelve thousand marked; of the lineage of Issachar, twelve thousand marked;

8 of the lineage of Zebulon, twelve thousand marked; of the lineage of Joseph, twelve thousand marked; of the lineage of Benjamin, twelve thousand marked.

9 After these things I saw a great people, whom no man might number, of all folks, and lineages, and peoples, and languages [or tongues], standing before the throne, in the sight of the lamb; and they were clothed with white stoles, and palms were in the hands of them.

10 And they cried with a great voice, and said, Health to our God, that sitteth on the throne, and to the lamb.

11 And all the angels stood all about the throne, and of the elder men, and the four beasts. And they fell down in the sight of the throne, on their faces, and worshipped God,

12 and said, Amen! blessing, and clearness, and wisdom, and doing of thankings, and honour, and virtue, and strength to our God, into worlds of worlds. Amen.

13 And one of the elder men answered, and said to me, Who be these, that be clothed with white stoles? and from whence came they?

14 And I said to him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said to me, These be they, that came from great tribulation, and washed their stoles, and made them white in the blood of the lamb.

15 Therefore they be before the throne of God, and serve to him day and night, in his temple. And he that sitteth in the throne, dwelleth on them.

16 They shall no more hunger, neither thirst, neither [the] sun shall fall on them, nor any heat.

17 For the lamb, that is in the middle of the throne, shall govern them, and shall lead forth them [or lead them forth] to the wells of waters of life; and God shall wipe away each tear from the eyes of them.

CHAPTER 8

1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, a silence [or silence] was made in heaven, as half an hour.

2 And I saw seven angels standing in the sight of God, and seven trumps were given to them.

3 And another angel came, and stood before the altar, and had a golden censer; and many incenses were given to him, that he should give of the prayers of all saints on the golden altar, that is before the throne of God.

4 And the smoke of the incenses of the prayers of the holy men ascended or went up from the angel’s hand before God.

5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it of the fire of the altar, and cast [it] into the earth. And thunders, and voices, and lightnings were made, and a great earth-moving.

6 And the seven angels, that had the seven trumps, made them ready, that they should trump.

7 And the first angel trumped; and hail was made, and fire mingled together in blood; and it was sent into the earth. And the third part of the earth was burnt, and the third part of trees was burnt, and all the green grass was burnt.

8 And the second angel trumped; and as a great hill burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea was made blood,

9 and the third part of creature was dead, that had lives in the sea, and the third part of [the] ships perished.

10 And the third angel trumped; and a great star burning as a little brand, fell from heaven; and it fell into the third part of floods, and into the wells of waters.

11 And the name of the star is said Wormwood. And the third part of waters was made into wormwood; and many men were dead of the waters, for those were made bitter.

12 And the fourth angel trumped; and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of [the] stars, so that the third part of them was darked, and the third part of the day shined not, and also of the night.

13 And I saw, and heard the voice of an eagle flying by the middle of heaven, and saying with a great voice, Woe! woe! woe! to men that dwell in earth, of the other voices of the three angels, that shall trump after.

CHAPTER 9

1 And the fifth angel trumped; and I saw, that a star had fallen down from heaven into earth; and the key of the pit of deepness was given to it.

2 And it [or he] opened the pit of deepness, and a smoke of the pit went up, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun was darked, and the air, of the smoke of the pit.

3 And locusts went out of the smoke of the pit into earth; and power was given to them, as scorpions of the earth have power.

4 And it was commanded to them, that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only men, that have not the sign [or the mark] of God in their foreheads.

5 And it was given to them, that they should not slay them, but that they should be tormented five months; and the tormenting of them, as the tormenting of a scorpion, when he smiteth a man.

6 And in those days men shall seek death, and they shall not find it; and they shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

7 And the likeness of locusts be like horses made ready into battle; and on the heads of them as crowns like gold, and the faces of them as the faces of men.

8 And they had hairs, as the hairs of women; and the teeth of them were as the teeth of lions.

9 And they had habergeons, as iron habergeons, and the voice of their wings as the voice of chariots of many horses running to battle.

10 And they had tails like scorpions, and pricks were in the tails of them; and the might of them was to annoy men five months.

11 And they had on them a king, the angel of deepness, to whom the name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but by Greek Apollyon, and by Latin he hath a name Exterminus, that is, Destroyer.

12 One woe is passed, and lo! yet come two woes.

13 After these things also the sixth angel trumped; and I heard a voice from the four corners of the golden altar, that is before the eyes of God,

14 and said to the sixth angel that had a trump, Unbind thou [the] four angels, that be bound in the great flood Euphrates.

15 And the four angels were unbound, which were ready into hour, and day, and month, and year, to slay the third part of men.

16 And the number of the host of horsemen was twenty thousand times ten thousand. And I heard the number of them.

17 And so I saw horses in vision; and they that sat on them had fiery habergeons, and of jacinth, and of brimstone. And the heads of the horses were as [the] heads of lions; and fire, and smoke, and brimstone, cometh forth of the mouth of them.

18 Of these three plagues the third part of men was slain, of the fire, and of the smoke, and of the brimstone, that came out of the mouth of them.

19 For the power of the horses is in the mouth of them, and in the tails of them; for the tails of them be like to serpents, having heads, and in them they annoy.

20 And the other men, that were not slain in these plagues, neither did penance of the works of their hands, that they worshipped not devils, and simulacra of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of tree, which neither may see, neither hear, neither wander;

21 and [they] did not penance of their manslayings, neither of their witchcrafts, neither of their fornication, neither of their thefts, were slain.

CHAPTER 10

1 And I saw another strong angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow on his head; and the face of him was as the sun, and the feet of him as a pillar of fire.

2 And he had in his hand a little book opened; and he set his right foot on the sea, and the left foot on the earth.

3 And he cried with a great voice, as a lion when he roareth; and when he had cried, the seven thunders spake their voices.

4 And when the seven thunders had spoken their voices, I was to write. And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, Mark thou what things the seven thunders spake, and do not thou write them.

5 And the angel whom I saw standing above the sea, and above the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven,

6 and swore by him that liveth into worlds of worlds, that made of nought heaven, and those things that be in it, and the earth, and those things that be in it, and the sea, and those things that be in it, that time shall no more be.

7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to trump, the mystery of God shall be ended [or be fulfilled], as he preached by his servants prophets.

8 And I heard a voice from heaven again speaking with me, and saying, Go thou, and take the book, that is opened, from the hand of the angel, that standeth above the sea, and on the land.

9 And I went to the angel, and said to him, that he should give me the book. And he said to me, Take the book, and devour it; and it shall make thy womb to be bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.

10 And I took the book of the angel’s hand, and devoured it, and it was in my mouth as sweet [as] honey; and when I had devoured it, my womb was bitter.

11 And he said to me, It behooveth thee again to prophesy to heathen men, and to peoples, and languages [or tongues], and to many kings.

CHAPTER 11

1 And a reed like a rod was given to me, and it was said to me, Rise thou, and mete the temple of God, and the altar, and men that worship in it.

2 But cast thou out the foreyard [or the porch], that is without the temple, and mete not it; for it is given to heathen men, and they shall defoul the holy city by forty months and twain.

3 And I shall give to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand days two hundred and sixty, and [they] shall be clothed with sackcloths.

4 These be two olives, and two candlesticks, and they stand in the sight of the Lord of the earth.

5 And if any man will annoy them, fire shall go out of the mouth of them, and shall devour their enemies. And if any [man] will hurt them, thus it behooveth him to be slain.

6 These have power to close [or to shut up] heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy; and they have power on waters, to turn them into blood; and to smite the earth with every plague, and as oft as they will.

7 And when they shall end their witnessing, the beast that ascendeth or goeth up from deepness [or the depth], shall make battle against them, and shall overcome them, and shall slay them.

8 And the bodies of them shall lie in the streets of the great city, that is called ghostly Sodom, and Egypt, where the Lord of them was crucified.

9 And some of the lineages, and of peoples, and of languages, and of heathen men, shall see the bodies of them by three days and an half; and they shall not suffer the bodies of them to be put in burials.

10 And men inhabiting the earth shall have joy on them; and they shall make merry, and shall send gifts together, for these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth.

11 And after three days and an half, the spirit of life of God entered into them; and they stood on their feet, and great dread fell on them that saw.

12 And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying to them, Come up hither. And they ascended [or went up] into heaven in a cloud, and the enemies of them saw them.

13 And in that hour a great earth-moving was made, and the tenth part of the city fell down; and the names of men seven thousand were slain in the earth-moving; and the others were sent into dread, and gave glory to God of heaven.

14 The second woe is gone, and lo! the third woe shall come soon.

15 And the seventh angel trumped, and great voices were made in heaven, and said, The realm of this world is made of our Lord or our Lord’s, and of Christ [or Christ’s], his Son; and he shall reign into worlds of worlds. Amen.

16 And the four and twenty elder men, that sat in their seats in the sight of the Lord, fell on their faces, and worshipped God,

17 and said, We do thankings to thee, Lord God almighty, which art, and which were, and which art to coming [or to come]; which hast taken thy great virtue, and hast reigned.

18 And folks be wroth, and thy wrath came, and time of dead men to be deemed, and to yield meed to thy servants, and prophets, and hallows, and dreading thy name, to small and to great, and to destroy them that corrupted the earth.

19 And the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple; and lightnings were made, and voices, and thunders, and earth-moving, and great hail.

CHAPTER 12

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and in the head of her a crown of twelve stars.

2 And she had [child] in womb, [or being with child], and she cried, travailing of child, and is tormented, that she bear child.

3 And another sign was seen in heaven; and lo! a great red dragon, that had seven heads, and ten horns, and in the heads of him seven diadems.

4 And the tail of him drew the third part of [the] stars of heaven, and sent them into the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, that was to bearing child, that when she had born child, he should devour her child.

5 And she bare a man child, that was to ruling all folks in an iron rod; and her son was ravished to God, and to his throne.

6 And the woman flew into wilderness, where she hath a place made ready of God, that he feed her there a thousand days two hundred and sixty.

7 And a great battle was made in heaven, and Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. And the dragon fought, and his angels;

8 and they had not might, neither the place of them was found more in heaven.

9 And that dragon was cast down, the great old serpent, that is called the Devil, and Satan, that deceiveth all the world; he was cast down into the earth, and his angels were sent with him.

10 And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is made health, and virtue, and kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before the sight of our God day and night.

11 And they overcame him for the blood of the lamb, and for the word of his witnessing; and they loved not their lives [or their souls] till to the death.

12 Therefore, ye heavens, be ye glad, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the earth, and to the sea; for the fiend is come down to you, and hath great wrath, witting that he hath little time.

13 And after that the dragon saw, that he was cast down into the earth, he pursued the woman, that bare the man child.

14 And two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, that she should fly [or should flee] into desert, into her place, where she is fed by time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

15 And the serpent sent out of his mouth after the woman water as a flood, that he should make her to be drawn of the flood.

16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened his mouth, and sopped up the flood, that the dragon sent [out] of his mouth.

17 And the dragon was wroth against the woman, and he went to make battle with others of her seed, that keep the commandments of God, and have the witnessing of Jesus Christ.

18 And he stood on the gravel of the sea.

CHAPTER 13

1 And I saw a beast going up of the sea, having seven heads, and ten horns; and on his horns ten diadems, and on his heads the names [or the name] of blasphemy.

2 And the beast whom I saw, was like a [leo] pard, and his feet as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave his virtue and great power to him.

3 And I saw one of his heads, as slain into death; and the wound of his death was cured [or healed]. And all the earth wondered after the beast.

4 And they worshipped the dragon, that gave power to the beast; and they worshipped the beast, and said, Who is like to the beast, and who shall be able to fight with it?

5 And a mouth speaking great things, and blasphemies, was given to it; and power was given to it, to do two and forty months.

6 And it opened his mouth into blasphemies to God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7 And it was given to him to make battle with saints, and to overcome them; and power was given to him into each lineage, and people, and language, and folk.

8 And all men worshipped it, that dwell in earth, whose names be not written in the book of life of the lamb, that was slain from the beginning of the world.

9 If any man hath ears, hear he.

10 He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity; he that slayeth with sword, it behooveth him to be slain with sword. This is the patience and the faith of saints.

11 And I saw another beast going up from the earth, and it had two horns, like the lamb; and it spake as the dragon,

12 and [it] did all the power of the former beast, in his sight. And it made the earth, and men dwelling in it, to worship the first beast, whose wound of death was cured [or healed].

13 And it did great signs, that also it made fire to come down from heaven to the earth, in the sight of all men.

14 And it deceiveth men, that dwell in earth, for signs which be given to it to do in the sight of the beast; saying to men that dwell in earth, that they make an image of the beast, that hath the wound of [a] sword, and lived.

15 And it was given to him, that he should give [a] spirit to the image of the beast, and that the image of the beast speak. And he shall make, that whoever honour not the image of the beast, be slain.

16 And he shall make all, small and great, rich and poor, free men and bondmen, to have a character, either mark, in their right hand, either in their foreheads;

17 that no man may buy, either sell, but they have the character, either the name of the beast, either the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom; he that hath understanding, account the number of the beast; for it is the number of man, and his number is six hundred sixty and six.

CHAPTER 14

1 And I saw, and lo! a lamb stood on the mount of Zion [or on the mount Zion], and with him an hundred thousand and four and forty thousand, having his name, and the name of his Father written in their foreheads.

2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder; and the voice which I heard, was as of many harpers harping in their harps.

3 And they sung as a new song before the seat of God, and before the four beasts, and the elder men. And no man might say the song, but those hundred thousand and four and forty thousand, that be bought from the earth.

4 These it be, that be not defouled with women; for they be virgins. These pursue the lamb, whither ever he shall go; these be bought of all men, the first fruits to God, and to the lamb;

5 and in the mouth of them leasing is not found; for they be without wem before the throne of God.

6 And I saw another angel, flying by the middle of heaven, having an everlasting gospel [or the everlasting gospel], that he should preach [or evangelize] to men sitting on the earth, and on each folk, and lineage, and language, and people;

7 and said with a great voice, Dread ye the Lord, and give ye to him honour, for the hour of his doom cometh; and worship ye him, that made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that be in them, and the wells of waters.

8 And another angel pursued, saying, That great [city] Babylon fell down, fell down, which gave drink to all folks of the wine of [the] wrath of her fornication.

9 And the third angel pursued them, and said with a great voice, If any man worship the beast, and the image of it, and taketh the character in his forehead, either in his hand,

10 this shall drink of the wine of God’s wrath, that is mingled with clear wine in the cup of his wrath, and [he] shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the sight of [the] holy angels, and before the sight of the lamb.

11 And the smoke of their torments shall ascend or go up into the worlds of worlds; neither they have rest day and night, which worship the beast and his image, and if any take the character of his name.

12 Here is the patience of saints, which keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying to me, Write thou, Blessed be dead men, that die in the Lord; from henceforth now the Spirit saith, that they rest of their travails; for the works of them pursue them.

14 And I saw, and lo! a white cloud, and above the cloud a sitter [or one sitting], like the son of man, having in his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

15 And another angel went out of the temple, and cried with great voice to him that sat on the cloud, Send thy sickle, and reap, for the hour cometh, that it be reaped; for the corn of the earth is ripe.

16 And he that sat on the cloud, sent his sickle into the earth, and reaped the earth.

17 And another angel went out of the temple, that is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.

18 And another angel went out from the altar, that had power on fire; and he cried with a great voice to him that had the sharp sickle, and said, Send thy sharp sickle, and cut away [or cut off] the clusters of the vineyard of the earth, for the grapes of it be ripe.

19 And the angel sent his sickle into the earth, and gathered grapes of the vineyard of the earth, and sent into the great pit of God’s wrath.

20 And the pit was trodden without the city, and the blood went out of the pit, till to the horses’ bridles, by furlongs a thousand and six hundred.

CHAPTER 15

1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful; seven angels having the seven last vengeances [or plagues], for the wrath of God is ended in them.

2 And I saw as a glassen sea mingled with fire, and them that overcame the beast, and his image, and the number of his name, standing above the glassen sea, having the harps of God;

3 and singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the lamb, and said, Great and wonderful be thy works, Lord God almighty; thy ways be just and true, Lord, king of worlds.

4 Lord, who shall not dread thee, and magnify thy name? for thou alone art merciful [or pious]; for all folks shall come, and worship in thy sight, for thy dooms be open.

5 And after these things I saw, and lo! the temple of the tabernacle of witnessing was opened in heaven;

6 and seven angels having [the] seven plagues, went out of the temple, and were clothed with a stole clean and white, and were before-girded with golden girdles about the breasts.

7 And one of the four beasts gave to the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God, that liveth into worlds of worlds.

8 And the temple was filled with smoke of the majesty of God, and of the virtue of him; and no man might enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were ended.

CHAPTER 16

1 And I heard a great voice from heaven, saying to the seven angels, Go ye, and shed out the seven vials of God’s wrath into the earth.

2 And the first angel went, and shedded out his vial into the earth; and a wound fierce and worst was made on all that had the character [or the mark] of the beast, and on them that worshipped the beast, and his image.

3 And the second angel shedded out his vial into the sea, and the blood was made, as of a dead thing; and each man living was dead in the sea.

4 And the third angel shedded out his vial on the floods, and on the wells of waters, [and blood is made],

5 and said [or and I heard the angel of waters saying], Just art thou, Lord, that art, and that were holy, that deemest these things;

6 for they shedded out the blood of hallows, and prophets, and thou hast given to them blood to drink; for they be worthy.

7 And I heard another [angel] saying, Yea! Lord God almighty, true and just be thy dooms.

8 And the fourth angel shedded out his vial into the sun, and it was given to him to torment men with heat and fire.

9 And men sweltered with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God having power on these plagues, neither they did penance, that they should give glory to him.

10 And the fifth angel shedded out his vial on the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was made dark; and they ate together their tongues for sorrow,

11 and they blasphemed God of heaven, for sorrows of their wounds [or for sorrows and their wounds]; and they did not penance of their works.

12 And the sixth angel shedded out his vial into that great flood Euphrates, and dried the water of it, that [the] way were made ready to kings from the sun rising.

13 And I saw three unclean spirits by the manner of frogs go out of the mouth of the dragon, and of the mouth of the beast, and of the mouth of the false prophet.

14 For they be spirits of devils, making signs, [or wonders], and they go forth to kings of all earth, to gather them into [a] battle, to the great day of almighty God.

15 Lo! I come, as a night thief. Blessed is he that waketh, and keepeth his clothes, that he wander not naked, and that they see not the filthhood of him.

16 And he shall gather them [or And he gathered them] into a place, that is called in Hebrew Armageddon.

17 And the seventh angel shedded out his vial into the air, and a great voice went out of heaven from the throne, and said, It is done.

18 And lightnings were made, and voices, and thunders; and a great earth-moving was made, which manner never was, since men were on earth, such earth-moving so great.

19 And the great city was made [or was broken] into three parts, and the cities of heathen men felled down; and great Babylon came into mind before God, to give to it the cup of wine of the indignation of his wrath.

20 And each isle flew away, and hills be not found.

21 And a great hail as a talent came down from heaven into men; and men blasphemed God, for the plague of hail, for it was made full great.

CHAPTER 17

1 And one of the seven angels came, that had seven vials, and spake with me, and said, Come thou, I shall show to thee the damnation of the great whore, that sitteth on many waters,

2 with which kings of the earth did fornication; and they that dwell in the earth be made drunk of the wine of her lechery.

3 And he took me [away] into desert in Spirit. And I saw a woman sitting on a red beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads, and ten horns.

4 And the woman was environed with purple, and red, and over-gilded with gold, and precious stone, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and uncleanness of her fornication.

5 And a name written in the forehead of her, Mystery, Babylon the great, mother of fornications, and of abominations of the earth.

6 And I saw a woman drunken of the blood of saints, and of the blood of martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with great wondering.

7 And the angel said to me, Why wonderest thou? I shall say to thee the sacrament, that is, privy signification, of the woman, and of the beast that beareth her, that hath seven heads and ten horns.

8 The beast which thou seest [or thou sawest], was, and is not; and she shall ascend or go up from [the] deepness, and she shall go into perishing. And men dwelling in earth shall wonder, whose names be not written in the book of life from the making of the world, seeing the beast, that was, and is not.

9 And this is the wit, who that hath wisdom. The seven heads be seven hills, on which the woman sitteth,

10 and kings seven be [or and be seven kings]. Five have felled down, and one is, and another cometh not yet. And when he shall come, it behooveth him to dwell a short time.

11 And the beast that was, and is not, and she is the eighth, and is of the seven, and shall go into perishing.

12 And the ten horns which thou hast seen, be ten kings, that yet have not taken kingdom; but they shall take power as kings, one hour after the beast.

13 These have one counsel, and shall betake their virtue and power to the beast.

14 These shall fight with the lamb, and the lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that be with him, be called, [and] chosen, and faithful.

15 And he said to me, The waters which thou hast seen, where the whore sitteth, be peoples, and folks, and languages.

16 And the ten horns that thou hast seen in the beast, these shall [hate the fornicary woman, or whore, and shall] make her desolate and naked, and shall eat the fleshes of her, and shall burn altogether her with fire [or shall burn her altogether with fire].

17 For God gave into the hearts of them, that they do that that is pleasant to him [or before him], that they give their kingdom to the beast, till the words of God be ended.

18 And the woman whom thou hast seen, is the great city, that hath kingdom on the kings of the earth.

CHAPTER 18

1 And after these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened [or lighted] of his glory.

2 And he cried with a strong voice, saying, Great Babylon felled down, felled down, and is made the habitation of devils, and the keeping of each unclean spirit, and the keeping of each unclean fowl, and hateful.

3 For all folks drunk of the wrath of the fornication of her, and kings of the earth, and merchants of the earth, did fornication with her; and they be made rich of the virtue of [the] delights of her.

4 And I heard another voice of heaven, saying, My people, go ye out of it, and be ye not partners of the trespasses of it, and ye shall not receive of the wounds [or the plagues] of it.

5 For the sins of it came unto heaven, and the Lord had mind of the wickedness of it.

6 Yield ye to it, as she yielded to you; and double ye double things, after her works; in the drink that she meddled to you, meddle or mingle ye double to her.

7 As much as she glorified herself, and was in delights, so much torment give ye to her, and wailing, [or weeping, or mourning]; for in her heart she saith, I sit a queen, and I am not a widow, and I shall not see wailing, [or weeping, or mourning].

8 And therefore in one day her wounds [or her plagues] shall come, death, and mourning, and hunger; and she shall be burnt in fire, for God is strong, that shall deem her.

9 And the kings of the earth shall beweep, and bewail themselves on her, which did fornication with her, and lived in delights, when they shall see the smoke of the burning of it;

10 standing afar, for dread of the torments of it, saying, Woe! woe! that great city Babylon, and that strong city; for in one hour thy doom cometh.

11 And merchants of the earth shall weep on it, and mourn, for no man shall buy more the merchandise of them;

12 the merchandise of gold, and of silver, and of precious stone, and of pearl, and of bis, and of purple, and of silk, and of cotton, and of each tree thyine, and all vessels of ivory, and all vessels of precious stone, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble.

13 and of cinnamon, and of sweet smelling things, and ointments, and of incense, and of wine, and of oil, and of flour, and of wheat, and of work beasts, and of sheep, and of horses, and of chariots, and of servants, and of other lives of men.

14 And thine apples of the desire of thy life, [or thine apples, the desires of thy life], went away from thee, and all fatted things, and full clear perished from thee.

15 And merchants of these things shall no more find those things [or these goods]. They that be made rich of it, shall stand [a] far, for dread of torments of it, weeping, and mourning,

16 and saying, Woe! woe! that great city, that was clothed with bis, and purple, and red scarlet, and was over-gilded with gold, and precious stone, and margarites,

17 for in one hour so many riches be destitute, either done away. And each governor, and all that sail by ship into place, and mariners, and they that work in the sea, stood far,

18 and cried, seeing the place of the burning of it, saying, What [city]is like this great city?

19 And they cast powder on their heads, and cried, weeping, and mourning, and saying, Woe! woe! that great city, in which all that have ships in the sea be made rich of the prices of it; for in one hour it is desolate.

20 Heaven, and holy apostles, and prophets, make ye full out joy on it, for God hath deemed your doom on it.

21 And one strong angel took up a stone, as a great millstone, and cast into the sea, and said, In this force [or this fierceness] that great city Babylon shall be sent, and now it shall no more be found.

22 And the voice of harps, and of men of music, and singing with pipe and trump, shall no more be heard in it. And each craftsman, and each craft, shall no more be found in it. And the voice of a millstone shall no more be heard in thee,

23 and the light of [the] lantern shall no more shine in thee, and the voice of the husband and of the wife shall no more be heard in thee; for thy merchants were princes of the earth. For in thy witchcrafts all folks erred.

24 And the blood of prophets and of saints is found in it, and of all men that be slain in earth.

CHAPTER 19

1 After these things I heard as a great voice of many trumps in heaven, saying, Alleluia; praising, and glory, and virtue is to our God;

2 for true and just be the dooms of him, which deemed the great whore, that defouled [or corrupted] the earth in her lechery, and avenged the blood of his servants, of the hands of her.

3 And again they said, Alleluia. And the smoke of it goeth up, into the worlds of worlds.

4 And the four and twenty elder men and the four beasts felled down, and worshipped God sitting on the throne, and said, Amen, Alleluia.

5 And a voice went out of the throne, and said, All the servants of our God, say ye praisings to our God, and ye that dread God, small and great.

6 And I heard a voice [as] of a great trump, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunders, saying, Alleluia; for our Lord God almighty hath reigned.

7 Joy we, and make we mirth, [or Joy we withinforth, and glad we withoutforth], and give glory to him; for the weddings of the lamb came, and the wife of him made ready herself.

8 And it was given to her, that she cover her[self] with white bissyn shining; for why bissyn is the justifyings of saints.

9 And he said to me, Write thou, Blessed be they that be called to the supper of the weddings of the lamb. And he said to me, These words of God be true.

10 And I felled down before his feet, to worship him. And he said to me, See thou, that thou do not; I am a servant with thee, and of thy brethren, having the witnessing of Jesus; worship thou God. For the witnessing of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

11 And I saw heaven opened, and lo! a white horse, and he that sat on him was called Faithful and soothfast; and with rightwiseness he deemeth, and fighteth.

12 And his eyes were as flame of fire, and in his head many diadems; and he had a name written, which no man knew, but he.

13 And he was clothed in a cloth sprinkled with blood; and the name of him was called The Son of God [or The Word of God].

14 And the hosts that be in heaven, pursued him on white horses, clothed with bissyn, white and clean.

15 And a sword sharp on either side [or on each side] came forth of his mouth, that with it he smite folks; and he shall rule them with an iron rod. And he treadeth the presser of wine of strong vengeance of the wrath of almighty God.

16 And he hath written in his cloth, and in the hip [or in his hem], King of kings and Lord of lords.

17 And I saw an angel, standing in the sun; and he cried with a great voice, and said to all birds that flew by the middle of heaven, Come ye, and be ye gathered [together] to the great supper of God,

18 that ye eat the flesh of kings, and [the] flesh of tribunes, and [the] flesh of strong men, and flesh of horses, and of those that sit on them, and the flesh of all free men and of bondmen, and of small and of great.

19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and the hosts of them gathered, to make battle with him, that sat on the horse, and with his host.

20 And the beast was caught, and with her the false prophet, that made signs before her; in which he deceived them that took the character [or the mark] of the beast, and that worshipped the image of it. These two were sent quick into the pool of fire, burning with brimstone.

21 And the others were slain with the sword of him that sat on the horse, that cometh forth of the mouth of him; and all birds were [full]-filled with the flesh of them.

CHAPTER 20

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

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

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

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

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

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

7 And when a thousand years shall be ended, Satan shall be unbound of his prison;

8 and he shall go out, and shall deceive folks, that be on four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog. And he shall gather them [together] into battle, whose number is as the gravel of the sea.

9 And they went up on the broadness of the earth, and environed the castles of saints, and the loved city. And fire came down of God from heaven, and devoured them.

10 And the devil, that deceived them, was sent into the pool of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and false prophets shall be tormented day and night, into worlds of worlds. Amen.

11 And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting on it, from whose sight earth fled [or flew away], and heaven; and the place is not found of them.

12 And I saw dead men, great and small, standing in the sight of the throne; and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and dead men were deemed of these things that were written in the books, after the works of them.

13 And the sea gave his dead men, that were in it; and death and hell gave their dead, that were in them. And it was deemed of each, after the works of them.

14 And hell and death were sent into the pool of fire. This is the second death.

15 And he that was not found written in the book of life, was sent into the pool of fire.

CHAPTER 21

1 And I saw new heaven and new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth went away, and the sea is not now.

2 And I, John, saw the holy city Jerusalem, new, coming down from heaven, made ready of God, as a wife adorned to her husband.

3 And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying, Lo! the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them; and they shall be his people, and he God with them shall be their God.

4 And God shall wipe away each tear from the eyes of them; and death shall no more be, neither mourning, neither crying, neither sorrow, shall be over; which first things went away.

5 And he said, that sat in the throne, Lo! I make all things new. And he said to me, Write thou, for these words be most faithful and true.

6 And he said to me, It is done; I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. I shall give freely of the well of quick water to him that thirsteth.

7 He that shall overcome, shall wield these things; and I shall be God to him, and he shall be son to me.

8 But to fearedful men, and unbelieveful, and cursed, and man-quellers, and fornicators, and to witches, and to worshippers of idols, and to all liars, the part of them shall be in the pool burning with fire and brimstone, that is the second death.

9 And one came of the seven angels, having vials full of the seven last vengeances [or the seven last plagues]. And he spake with me, and said, Come thou, and I shall show to thee the spousess, the wife of the lamb.

10 And he took me up in Spirit into a great hill and high; and he showed to me the holy city of Jerusalem, coming down from heaven of God,

11 having the clarity of God; and the light of it like [to] a precious stone, as the stone jasper, as crystal.

12 And it had a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and in the gates of it twelve angels, and names written in, that be the names of [the] twelve lineages of the sons of Israel;

13 from the east three gates, and from the north three gates, and from the south three gates, and from the west three gates.

14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundaments, and in them, the twelve names of the twelve apostles, and of the lamb.

15 And he that spake with me, had a golden measure of a reed, that he should mete the city, and the gates of it, and the wall.

16 And the city was set in square; and the length of it is so much, as much as is the breadth. And he meted the city with the reed, by furlongs twelve thousands. And the height, and the length and the breadth of it, be even.

17 And he meted the walls of it, of an hundred and forty and four cubits, by measure of man, that is, of the angel.

18 And the building of the wall thereof was of the stone jasper. And the city itself was clean gold, like [to] clean glass.

19 And the foundaments of the wall of the city were adorned with all precious stone. The first foundament, jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;

20 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.

21 And the twelve gates be twelve margarites, by each; and each gate was of each margarite. And the streets of the city were clean gold, as of glass full shining.

22 And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God almighty and the lamb, is the temple of it.

23 And the city hath no need of the sun, neither moon, that they shine in it; for the clarity of God shall lighten [or shall light] it; and the lamb is the lantern of it.

24 And folks shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honour into it.

25 And the gates of it shall not be closed by day; and night shall not be there.

26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of folks into it.

27 Neither any man [or anything] defouled, and doing abomination and leasing, shall enter into it; but they that be written in the book of life of the lamb.

CHAPTER 22

1 And he showed to me a flood of quick water, shining as crystal, coming forth of the seat of God, and of the lamb,

2 in the middle of the street of it. And on each side of the flood, the tree of life, bringing forth twelve fruits, yielding his fruit by each month; and the leaves of the tree be to health of folks.

3 And each cursed thing shall no more be; but the seats of God and of the lamb shall be in it. And the servants of him shall serve him.

4 And they shall see his face, and his name [shall be] in their foreheads.

5 And night shall no more be, and they shall not have need to the light of a lantern, neither to light of the sun; for the Lord God shall lighten [or shall light] them, and they shall reign into worlds of worlds.

6 And he said to me, These words be most faithful and true. And the Lord God of spirits of prophets sent his angel, to show to his servants, what things it behooveth to be done soon.

7 And lo! I come swiftly. Blessed is he, that keepeth the words of prophecy of this book.

8 And I am John, that heard and saw these things. And after that I had heard and seen, I felled down, to worship before the feet of the angel, that showed to me these things.

9 And he said to me, See thou, that thou do not; for I am a servant with thee, and of thy brethren, prophets, and of them that keep the words of prophecy of this book; worship thou God.

10 And he said to me, Sign, or seal, thou not the words of prophecy of this book; for the time is nigh.

11 He that annoyeth, annoy he yet; and he that is in filths, wax he foul yet; and a just man, be [he] justified yet; and the holy, be [he] hallowed yet.

12 Lo! I come soon, and my meed with me, to yield to each man after his works.

13 I am alpha and omega, the first and the last, beginning and end.

14 Blessed be they, that wash their stoles, that the power of them be in the tree of life, and enter by the gates into the city.

15 For withoutforth [shall be shut] hounds, and witches, and unchaste men, and man-quellers, and serving to idols, and each that loveth and maketh leasing or lies.

16 I Jesus sent mine angel, to witness to you these things in churches. I am the root and kin of David, and the shining morrow star.

17 And the Spirit and the spousess [or the wife] say, Come thou. And he that heareth, say, Come thou; and he that thirsteth, come; and he that will, take he freely the water of life.

18 And I witness to each man hearing the words of prophecy of this book, if any man shall put to these things, God shall put on him the vengeances [or the plagues] written in this book.

19 And if any man [shall] do away of the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away the part of him from the book of life, and from the holy city, and from these things that be written in this book.

20 He saith, that beareth witnessing of these things, Yea, Amen. [Lo!] I come soon. Amen. Come thou, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.