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.

¶ Esdras causeth the people to assemble and come toge∣ther, and then readeth them the law. They kepe the feast of Tabernacles.

CAPI. VIII.

ANo after hym when artaxerses the kynge of the Persyans raygned, there [unspec A] wente vnto hym Esdras the sonne of Sa∣raias / the sonne of Azarias / the sonne of Helchiach / the sonne of Sallum / the sonne of Sadoch / the sonne of Achitob / the sonne of Amarias, the sonne of Azarias, the sonne of Boccus / the sonne of Abysu / the sonne of Phineas / the sonne of Eleazar / the sonne of Aarō the fyrst preste. This Esdras wēte vp from babylon (for he had good vnderstan∣dynge in the lawe of Moses, that was geuē of the Lord God of Israel, to be taught and done in dede.) And the kyng fauoured him, and dyd hym great worshyppe and honour after al hys desyres. There went vp w^t him also certayn of the chyldren of Israel, of the prestes / of the Leuites / of the syngers / por∣ters & mynysters of the tēple at Ierusalem.

In the seuenthe yeare of the raygne of kynge Artaxerses / in the fyfth moneth that is in the seuenth yeare of y^• raygne, they wēt from Babylon in the newe moone of the. v. moneth, and came the hye waye to Ierusalē after his commaūdement, lyke as the Lorde had prospered their iourney. For i these Es∣dras gat greate instruccyon that he shulde leaue none of y^• thinges behinde, which are in the lawe and commaūdementes of God. And he taught whole Israel al ryghtuous∣nes and iudgment.

Then came the Secretaries of kyng Ar∣taxerses, and delyuered the wrytinges (that were come frō Artaxerses the kynge) to Es∣dras the preste & reder of the lawe of y^e Lord And thys is the copye of the letter: Kynge Artaxerses sendeth hys gretynge vnto Es∣dras the preste and reder of the lawe of the Lorde. Of frendshype & good wyll I haue ordeyned and charged / yf there be eny of the Iewes / of the prestes & Leuytes in my real∣me / which desyreth and is cōtent to go with the vnto Ierusalem, y^t he maye do it. Ther∣fore / yf any be mided to beare the company, [unspec B] let them come together / and go with y^• (lyke as I am content and my seuen frendes / my coūcelers) to se what they do at Ierusalem & in Iewry / & kepe the thynkes accordynge as thou hast in the lawe of the Lorde: and to brynge the gyftes vnto God the Lord of Is¦rael / that I and my frendes haue promysed to Ierusalem / and al the syluer and gold y^• is in the countre of Babylon vnto the Lorde to Ierusalem / with the thyng that is geuen for the people in the Lordes temple at Ie∣rusalem. Yee, that the same syluer and golde maye be gathered, and oxen, rammes, shepe and goates & other y^t belonge to these thyn∣ges: & that they may offer sacryfyces vnto y^e Lorde, vpō the aulter of their Lorde, which is at Ierusalem. And whatsoeuer thou & thy brethren wyll do with the syluer & gold, that do after thy mynde / accordyng to y^e cō∣maundement of the Lord thy God, & lyke∣wyse, w^t the holy vessels that are geuen the, tor y^• seruyce of y^• house of y^• Lord thy God: which is in Ierusalem & other thīges what soeuer is necessary for y^• to the worcke of the temple of thy god, that shal be geuen the of y^• kīges tresure & loke what thou w^t thy bre¦thren wyl do with the gold & syluer, that do after the wyll of the Lord. And I kyng Ar∣taxerses haue commaūded the kepers of y^• treasures in Syria and Phenyces, y^• what soeuer Esdras the preste and reder of the lawe of the Lorde doth wryte it shalbe dily∣gently geuen hym: tyl an hundred talentes

of syluer, and of golde in lyke maner. Of cor¦ne also an hundreth measures, and tyl an hū¦dreth vessels of wyne, & other plēteous thyn¦ges without nombre. Let all thynges be do∣ne after the law of God, vnto the hyest God y^t the wrath of God aryse nat in the realme of the kyng, & of his sonnes. I cōmaūde you also that ye requyre no taxe nor tribute of y^• prestes / Leuytes / syngers, and ministers of the tēple, nor of the writers: & that no mā ha∣ue auctorite to medle any thyng agaynst thē As for the (O Esdras) set thou iudges and [unspec C] arbyters in the whole lande of Syria & Phe¦nices / after the wysdome of God: & learne al such as are ignoraūt in the lawe of God thy Lord / & let al them that offende agaynst the lawe / be diligently punyshed: whether it be with death / with payne / to be condemned in money, or to be banyshed.

Then sayde Esdras the wryter Blessed be the God of our fathers, that hath gyuē so good a minde & wyl into the hert of the king to magnifie his house that is at Ierusalem and hath made me to be accepted in the sight of the kyng, of his councell / of hys frendes / & of his nobles. And so I was stedfast in my mynde / accordyng as the Lord my God hel∣ped me / and I chose out mē of Israell to go vp w^t me. ‡ And these are y^• hedes, (after their kynredes and houses of theyr fathers) that went vp with me from Babylon / out of the kyngdome of Artaxerses: Of the sonnes of Phares / Gersonius. Of the sonnes of Sie∣marith / Amenus. Of the sonnes of Dauid / Accus / the sonne of Cecilia.

Of the sonnes of Phares, Zachary: and w^t him turned agayne an hundreth and fyf∣tye men. Of the sonnes of the captayne of Moabylon / Zaraei, and with him. ij. C, and l. men. Of the sōnes of Zachnes, Iechonias Zecholy, and with him two hundreth & fyf∣tye men. Of the sonnes of Salamasias / Go¦tholy / and. lxx. with him. Of the sonnes of Zaphacia. Zarias Mihely / and with hym foure score. Of the sōnes of Iob / Abdias Ie¦heli, and with hym two hundreth & twelue men. Of the sonnes of Ba••ia, Salimoth y^• sonnes of Iosapha / and with hym an hun∣dreth an thre score men. Of the sōnes of Beer Zachari Behei / and with him two hundreth and. viij. men. Of the sonnes of Esead, Io∣hannes Ezecham, and with him an hūdreth and tenne men. Of the sonnes of Adoniram those that were the laste, and these are theyr names. Eliphalam the sonne of Gebeil and Semeias / and with hym. lxx. men. All these called I together by the water Thia, where we pitched our tentes thre dayes, and there I mustered them.

As for the sonnes of the prestes & Leui∣tes / [unspec D] I founde none there. Then sent I vnto Eleazar / and Eccelom / and Masmam / and Malobam / and Enaathan / and Samea / & Ioribimathan / Eunagan Zachary, Mosol¦lamum (these were the leders & men of expe∣ryence) and I sente them worde / that they shulde come vnto Loddeus / whiche was by the place of the treasury / and commaunded them that they shulde speake vnto Loddeus and to his brethren and to those that were in the treasury, to sende vs such men as myght execute the prestes offyce in the house of the Lorde our God. And with the myghty hāde of our Lord God / they brought vnto vs mē of good experience, from among the sonnes of Moolius / the sonne of Leui / the sonne of Israel / Sebebiam and the sonnes and hys brethrē Asbin and Anin / of whom there were xviij. From amonge the chyldren of the son∣nes of Cananeus, and theyr sonnes were. xx. men. And of them that serued in the tem∣ple / whom Dauid had ordeyned, and y^• prin¦cipall men that ministred for the worcke vn¦to the Leuites in the temple two hundreth & twentie men / whose names are all tokened vp in wrytynge.

‡ Then cōmaūded I a fastyng vnto the yonge men before the Lorde / that I myght desyre of hym a prosperous iourney and a good waye for vs / yee for vs, for our chyldrē and for the catell, because of the layenges a∣wayt / & I durst not requyre of the kyng hors¦men & fote men, to conuey vs safely agaynst our enemyes, for we had said vnto the king that the power of the Lorde our God shulde be w^t them / that seke hi w^t theyr whole hert. And therfore / we besought God oure Lord earnestly because of these thynges, & he was merciful vnto vs, and herd our prayer. And I seperated frō among the rulers of the peo¦ple, & from the prestes of the temple. xij. men and Sebebia & Asania, and ten men of theire brethren w^t them. And I weied thē the gold and the siluer & al the prestly ornamentes of the house of our God, which the kynge / and his coūcel, and his Prynces, and whole Is∣rael had geuē. And when I had weyed it / I gaue them an hundreth and fyfty talētes in siluer / and an būdreth talētes of siluer vessel an hūdreth talentes of golde / and of golden vessell seuen tymes twentye / and vessels of other metall (yee, of good metal) twelue, gli∣steryng as the golde, and sayde vnto them: ye are holy vnto the Lorde / and the Ues∣sels

are holy, & the golde and the siluer is pro¦mysed vnto the Lorde God of our fathers. Be dilygente nowe and kepe it / vntyll the tyme that ye delyuer it to the Rulers of the people / to the preestes, to the Leuytes / and to the princypall men of the cyties of Israel in Ierusalem / & in the chamber of the house of our God. So the Preestes and the Le∣uytes whiche receyued of me the golde / the syluer, and the vessel / brought it into Ieru∣salem into the temple of the lorde. And from the ryuer of Thyawe brake vp the twelueth day of the fyrst moneth / tyll we came to Ie∣rusalem. And when the thyrde day was past the weyed golde / and syluer was delyuered in the house of the Lord our God the fourth day, vnto Marimoth the sonne of Ior the prest / and with him was Eleazar the sonne of Phinees, and with them were Iosabdus the sonnes of Iesnet, Medias and the sonne of Banus, and certaine of the Leuites to the nōbre and to the weyght: & the weight of thē was wrytten vp the same tyme. As for those that were come out of captiuite, they offred sacryfyce vnto the Lord God of Israel: euē twelue oxen for al Israell. lxxxvj. Ramines lxxij. shepe. xij, goates for sinne, twelue kine for a thankofferyng / al to the sacrifyce of the Lord. And the kynges cōmyssion delyuered they vnto the stewardes and debytes of the kynge, & to the vndershreues in Celosyria and Phenices, & they honoured the people & the temple of the Lorde.

‡ Nowe, when these thynges were done, the rulers came vnto me / and sayd: The ge∣neracion of Israel / the Princes, the Prestes and Leuites, the straunge people & indwel∣lers of the lande / haue not put awaye theyr vnclennesse, from the Cananites / Hethytes Pheresytes, from the Moabites, Egyptiās, and Edomytes. For bothe they & theyr son∣nes haue mingled them selues w^e the daugh¦ters of them / and the holy sede is mixte with the out landysh Heathen, & sens the begyn∣nyng of theyr raygne haue the rulers & hea∣des bene partakers of theyr wyckednesse. [unspec F]

As sone as I had herde these thynges / immediatly I rent my holy garmentes, and pulled out the heare of my head & my beerd / and sat me downe sorowfull and heuye. So al they that were moued thorowe the worde of the Lord God of Israel, came vnto me: be yng sorowful for this wyckednes, and I sat styl, full of heuynesse vntyl the euenynge sa∣crifice. Then stode I vp from fastynge / ha∣uyng rente clothes & the holy garment, kne¦led downe vpon my knees, helde out my hā∣des vnto the Lorde, and sayde: O Lorde / I am cōfounded and ashamed before thy fa••e for our synnes are become many vpon our heades, and our wyckednesses are exalted vnto the heauen: for sens the tyme of our fa¦thers we are in great synne vnto this daye. And for the synnes of vs and our fathers / we with our brethren and with our Prestes haue bene delyuered vnto the kynges of the earth, into the swearde / and into captiuite: & became a spoyle with confusion and shame vnto thys daye. And nowe, O Lorde God / howe great is the mercy that we haue gottē of the••in that y^u hast left vs a rote & a name i y^• place of thy sāctuary, to discouer our light i the house of the Lord our God, & hast geuē vs meate at all tymes of our minystracyon. And when we were in captiuyte, we were not forsakē of the Lord our God: but he ma∣de the kynges of Persia gracyous & fauou∣rable vnto vs, so that they gaue vs vytay∣les and meate, yee and leue to buyld vp the temple of our Lord God agayne, to repayre the wasted places of Syon, and to dwell in Iewry and Ierusalem. And now, O Lord, what shall we saye / hauynge al these thyn∣ges in possessyon? For we haue broken thy commaundementes / which thou gauest vn [unspec G] to vs by the hādes of thy seruauntes y^e pro∣phetes / sayeng: The lande that ye go vnto and that is geuē you for an herytage to ha¦ue in possession, is defiled with the vnclēnes and fylthynes of the Heathen, and w^t theyr abhominacion haue they poluted it al toge∣ther. Therfore, shal ye not ioyne your daugh¦ters, vnto theyr sonnes, nor mary your son∣nes vnto theyr daughters. Moreouer / ye shall neuer seke to make peace with thē that ye maye increase and eate the best in the lād, and that ye maye deuide the inheritaunce of the lande vnto youre children for euermore. As for the thynge that now happeneth vnto vs, it commeth all for our wycked worckes and great sinnes, yet hast thou geuē vs soch a rote, y^t we are come agayne into our owne lande / and we are so wycked y^t we haue bro∣ken thy statutes & cōmaundementes agayne and mengled our selues with the vnclennes of the outlandysh Heathen. O Lorde / arte y^• angrye with vs? wylte thou rote vs cleane out? that our rote and name remayne no more? O Lord God of Israel thou art true, for oure rote endureth yet vnto thys present day. And beholde, now are we before the in our synnes, now can we not stāde before the in them.

And when Esdras w^t thys prayer had

knoledged the synne, wepynge, and lyenge stat vpon the grounde before the tēple, there gathered vnto hym from Ierusalē a greate multitude of men and wemen / of yonge mē and maydens, for there was a very greate wepyng & mournynge in the cōgregacyon. So when Iechonias the sōne of Iehely one of the chyldren of Israel cryed, he sayd vnto Esoras: we haue synned against the Lorde, because we haue maried out landysh wemē of the Heathen. Nowe axt y^u ouer all Israel. We wyll sweare an othe therfore vnto the Lorde, that we shall put awaye all our wy∣ues, whiche we haue taken of the Heathen, with theyr chyldren: lyke as it is appoynted the by oure fore elders. Stande vp then, open thou it / & declare it playnely vnto vs, accordynge to the lawe of the Lorde: for the matter belongeth vnto the, & we wyll helpe the, quite thy self manly. So Esdras arose, and toke an othe of the rulers of the prestes, and of the Leuytes / and of all Israel / to do after these thynges: and they sware.

Notes

• i. Esd. vii. d
• 1. Esdr 7. a
• ‡

  1. Esdr. 8. b
• 1. Esdr. 8. b
• ‡

  ••. Esdr. i. a
• 1. Esdr. 8. d
• ‡

  1. Esdr. ix. a
• 1. Esdr. ix. ••
• 1. 〈…〉〈…〉