The Byble in Englyshe that is to saye, the content of all the holye scrypture, bothe of the olde and newe Testament, truly translated after the veryte of the Hebrue and Greke textes, by the diligent studye of dyuers excellent lerned [men e]xperte in the fore[saide] tongues.

¶ The Lorde denyeth that he wyll answere thē when they praye / for the offēce of vnkyndnes which he here obiecteth. He promeseth that his people shall returne from captiuyty. By the wod that shulde be brent is sygnyfyed the burnyng of Ierusalem.

CAPI. XX.

IN THE. vij. yeare the. x. daye of the [unspec A] v. moneth, * 1.1 it happened / that certayne of the elders of Israell came vnto me / for to aske councell at the Lorde / and sat them downe by me. Then came the worde of the Lorde vnto me on this maner: Thou sonne of man: speake vnto the elders of Israell / and saye vnto them: Thus sayeth the Lorde God. Are ye come hyther to aske eny thyng at me? As truly as I lyue (saieth the Lorde) I wyl geue you no answere. Wylt thou not reproue them (thou sonne of man) wilt thou not reproue them? Shew them the abhomy nacyons of theyr fore fathers, and tel them. [unspec B] Thus sayeth the Lorde God: * 1.2 In the daye when I chose Israell / and lyfte vp myne hande vpon the sede of the house of Iacob / and shewed my selfe vnto them in the lande of Egipte: Yee, when I lyfte vp myne hande ouer them / and sayde: I am the Lorde your God / euen in the daye that I lyfte vp myne hande ouer them / to brynge them out of the lande of Egypte / into a lande that I had prouyded for them / whiche floweth wyth mylcke and hony / and is a pleasaunt lande among all other. Then sayde I vnto them: * 1.3 Cast awaye euery man the abhomynacy∣ons that he hath before him / and defyle not your selues with the Idoles of Egypte / for I am the Lorde youre God.

But they rebelled agaynst me, and wolde not folowe me: to cast awaye euery man the abhomynacyons of his eyes, and to forsake the Idoles of Egypte. Then I made me to poure my indignacion ouer them, and to sa¦tisfye my wrath vpon them: yee, euen in the myddeste of the lande of Egypte. But I wolde not do it / for my names sake: that it shuld not be vnhalowed before the Heathē / amonge whom they dwelte / and amonge whom I shewed my selfe vnto them, that I wolde brynge them out of the lande of E∣gypte. Nowe when I had caryed them out of the lande of Egypte / and brought them into the wyldernesse: I gaue them my com¦maundemētes, and shewed them my lawes, * 1.4 whiche woso kepeth shall lyue in them. I gaue them also my holy dayes, to be a to∣ken betwyxte me and them / and therby to knowe, that I am the Lorde, which halowe them. And yet the house of Israell rebelled agaynst me in the wyldernesse / they wolde not wallke in my commaundementes, they haue caste awaye my lawes (whiche whoso kepeth shal lyue in them) and my Sabboth dayes haue they greatly vnhalowed.

* 1.5 Then I made me to poure out my indyg∣nacyon [unspec C] vpon them / and to consume them in the wyldernesse. Yet I wolde not do it / for my names sake: leste it shulde be dysho∣noured before the Heathen, from the which I had caryed them awaye. But I swore vnto them in the wyldernesse, that I wolde not brynge them in to the lande, whiche I gaue them: a lāde that floweth wyth milcke and hony / and is a pleasure of all landes: and that because they refused my lawes / and walcked not in my commaundementes but had vnhalowed my Sabbathes / for theyr herte was gone after theyr ydoles.

Neuerthelesse / myne eye spared them / so that I woled not vtterly sleye them / and consume them in the wyldernesse. Morouer, I sayde vnto theyr sonnes in the wildernes: * 1.6 walcke not in the statutes of youre fore∣fathers / kepe not theyre ordynaunces / and defyle not youre selues wyth theyr ydoles / for I am the Lorde youre God. But walcke in my statutes / kepe my lawes and do them halowe my Sabbathes: * 1.7 for they are a to∣ken betwyxte me and you / that ye maye knowe howe that I am y^• Lorde your God. Notwithstandinge, theyr sonnes * 1.8 rebelled agaynst me also: they walked not in my sta∣tutes they kepte not my lawes to fulfyll them (which he that doth shal lyue in them) neyther halowed they my Sabboth dayes. Then I made me agayne to poure out my indyngnacyon ouer them / and satysfye my [unspec D] wrath vpon them in the wyldernesse. Ne∣uerthelesse / I wythdrewe my hande for my names sake / lest it shulde be vnhalowed a∣monge the Heathen / before whom I had brought them forthe. I lyft vp myne hande ouer them also in the wyldernesse / that I wolde scatre them among the Heathen, and strawe them amonge the nacyons / because they had not kepte my lawes, but caste a∣syde my commaundementes, vnhalowed my Sabbathes, and lyfte vp theyr eyes to theyr fathers Idoles. Wherfore I gaue them also commaundemētes not good, and lawes thorowe the whiche they shulde not lyue, and I vnhalowed them in theyr owne gyftes * 1.9 (when I appoynted for my selfe all their fyrst borne) to make them desolate: that they might know, how that I am the Lord. [unspec E]

Therfore (O thou sonne of man, tell the house of Israel, thus saieth the Lorde God)

Besyde all thys / youre forefathers haue yet blasphemed me more, and greatly offended agaynst me: For after I had brought them in to the lande / that I promysed to gyue them, when they sawe euery hye hyll and all the thycke trees: they made there theyr of∣frynges / and prouoked me with their obla∣cions, makynge swete sauoures there / and poured out their drynck offringes. Then I asked them: what haue ye to do withall that ye go thyther? And therfore is it called the hye place vnto thys daye. Wherfore, speake vnto the house of Israell: Thus sayeth the Lorde God: ye are euen as vncleane as your fore fathers, and commytte whordome also with theyr abhomynacions. In all your I∣doles, where vnto ye bryng your oblacions * 1.10 and to whose honoure ye burne your chil∣dren: ye / defyle your selues / euen vnto thys daye: howe dare ye then come, and aske any questyon at me? O ye housholde of Israel? As truly as I lyue (sayeth the Lorde God) ye get no answere of me: & as for the thynge that ye go about / it shall not come to passe / where as ye saye: we wyl be as the Heathen and do as other people in the lande / wood and stone wyll we worshyppe.

As truly as I lyue / sayeth the Lorde God / [unspec F] I my selfe wyll rule you with a myghtye hande, with a stretched out arme, & with in∣dignaciō poured out ouer you: & wyll bring you oute of the nacyons & landes / wherin ye are scatred and gather you together with a mightye hande, with a stretched out arme & with indignacion poured out vpon you & wyl brynge you into the wyldernesse of the people / & there I wyll reason with you face to face. Like as I punished your forfathers in the wyldernes of Egypt, so wyl I punish you also, saieth y^• Lorde God. I wyll bryng you vnder my iurisdiccyō & vnder the bonde of the couenaūt The forsakers also and the transgressours wyl I take frō amonge you & brynge them out of the lande of youre ha∣bitacion: as for the lande of Israel, they shal not come in it: that they maye knowe / howe that I am the Lorde.

Go to nowe then (sayeth the Lorde God) ye house of Israell * 1.11 caste awaye / and de∣stroye euery man hys Idoles: then shall ye heare me, and nomore blaspheme my holy name with your offrynges and Idoles.

But vpon my holy hyll / euen vpon the hye hyl of Israell sayth the Lorde god, shal all the house of Israel and all that is in the lande, worshyppe me: * 1.12 and in y^• same place wyl I fauoure thē, and there wyl I require your heaue offringes and the firstlynges of your oblacions, with al your holy thinges. I wyll accepte youre swete sauoure, when I bringe you from the nacions / and gather you together out of the landes, wherin ye be scatred: that I maye be halowed in you be∣fore the Heathen / and that ye maye knowe / [unspec G] that I am the Lorde, which haue broughte you into the lande of Israel: yee, into y^• same lande, that I swore to geue vnto your fore∣fathers. There shal ye call to remembraūce your owne wayes and all youre ymagyna∣cyons / wherin ye haue bene defyled: * 1.13 and ye shall be dyspleased with youre owne sel∣ues / for all youre wyckednes / that ye haue done. And ye shall knowe / that I am the Lorde: when I entreate you after my name not after youre wycked wayes / nor accor∣dynge to your corrupte workes: O ye house of Israel. sayeth the Lorde God.

Moreouer, the worde of the Lorde came vnto me, saying: Thou sonne of man set thy face towarde the South / and speake to the south wynde / and saye to the wood to∣warde the south: Heare the worde of the Lorde, thus saieth the Lorde God: Beholde I wyll kyndle a fyre in the, that shall con∣sume the grene trees with the drie. No man shalbe able to quench his flame, but all that loketh from the southe to the northe, shalbe brent therin: and al fleshe shall se, that I the Lorde haue kyndled it, so that no man may quench it. Then sayde I: O Lorde God / they wyll saye of me: * 1.14 Tushe, they are but fables, that he telleth.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Ezec. xiiii. a
• * 1.2

  Exod. iii. b
• * 1.3

  Deu. vii a.
• * 1.4

  Deu. iiii. b. Gala. iii. b. Luite. 18. a. Exo. xvi. c. 31 c. 32. c.
• * 1.5

  Nu. xiiii. •• Psa. xiv. ••
• * 1.6

  Exod. 1••. ••.
• * 1.7

  Ex. 1•• ••••••••
• * 1.8

  Nume. 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Leu. xviii. •• Gala. iii. ••. 〈…〉〈…〉
• * 1.9

  Exo. xiii. ••
• * 1.10

  Iere. xix. a. Deut. xii. d xviii. b. Ezec. xix. c. 4. Reg. 18. c xxi. a. 2 Par. 28. a
• * 1.11

  Esaye. ii. c. xxx. d. Eze. xiiii. a
• * 1.12

  Deut. xii. a xiiii. b.
• * 1.13

  Iere. viii. a 18. and. 31. c
• * 1.14

  Iere. xx. ••.