Bohairic Coptic Old Testament

This is the chief of the creation of the Lord; made to be played with by his angels.

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord thy God, the earth and all things that are in it.

then he shall give to thy land the early and latter rain in its season, and thou shalt bring in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

For the Lord has elected Sion, he has chosen her for a habitation for himself, saying,

save in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, in one of thy tribes, there shall ye offer your whole-burnt-offerings, and there shalt thou do all things whatsoever I charge thee this day.

And he called the first Day, and the second Casia, and the third Amalthaea's horn.

then thou shalt enquire and ask, and search diligently, and behold, if the thing is clearly true, and this abomination has taken place among you,

The flesh also of his body is joined together: if one pours violence upon him, he shall not be moved.

horror and trembling seized me, and caused all my bones greatly to shake.

They surrounded me with spears, aiming at my reins: without sparing me they poured out my gall upon the ground.

while I may take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand.

all the curtains of the tabernacle of fine linen twined.

Thine is the mighty arm: let thy hand be strengthened, let thy right hand be exalted.

the stem solid, and the branches from both its sides;

But I cried to thee, O Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.

and they brought the garments to Moses, and the tabernacle, and its furniture, its bases and its bars and the posts;

And Moses did all things whatsoever the Lord commanded him, so did he.

I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption to be my mother and sister.

For thy mercy is great toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.

with kings and councillors of the earth, who gloried in their swords;

And let health be utterly banished from his tabernacle, and let distress seize upon him with a charge from the king.

Thou scarest me with dreams, and dost terrify me with visions.

Of Gad, Elisaph the son of Raguel.

So the Lord took away from Israel the head and tail, great and small, in one day:

And, behold, there came a messenger to Job, and said to him, The yokes of oxen were ploughing, and the she-asses were feeding near them;

And they that encamp next to them shall be the tribe of Gad; and the prince of the sons of Gad, Elisaph the son of Raguel.

My nearest of kin have not acknowledged me, and they that knew my name, have forgotten me.

If my people had hearkened to me, if Israel had walked in my ways,

The boar out of the wood has laid it waste, and the wild beast has devoured it.

As a father pities his children, the Lord pities them that fear him.

And if thou shalt trust in him, he shall be to thee for a sanctuary; and ye shall not come against him as against a stumbling-stone, neither as against the falling of a rock: but the houses of Jacob are in a snare, and the dwellers in Jerusalem in a pit.

And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sina, saying,

For we are thy people and the sheep of thy pasture; we will give thee thanks for ever; we will declare thy praise throughout all generations.

They made haste, they forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel.

He clave the sea, and led them through: he made the waters to stand as in a bottle.

yet he shall not at all be able to help himself; the gall of an asp is in his belly.

If he should cast down, who will build up? if he should shut up against man, who shall open?

O God, thy way is in the sanctuary; who is a great God as our God?

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel.

And they shall put upon it all the vessels with which they minister upon it, and the fire-pans, and the flesh-hooks, and the cups, and the cover, and all the vessels of the altar; and they shall put on it a blue cover of skins, and shall put in its staves; and they shall take a purple cloth, and cover the laver and its foot, and they shall put it into a blue cover of skin, and put it on bars.

For if a man should die, shall he live again, having accomplished the days of his life? I will wait till I exist again?

and of the fruits of the changes of the sun in season, and of the produce of the months,

and there should come upon him a spirit of jealousy, and he should be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled; or there should come upon him a spirit of jealousy, and he should be jealous of his wife, and she should not be defiled;

Thou didst establish the sea, in thy might, thou didst break to pieces the heads of the dragons in the water.

Then the king sent, and called him to himself into the house of Aselisel, which was in the house of the Lord: and the king said to him, I will ask thee a question, and I pray thee hide nothing from me.

And I said, Verily in vain have I justified my heart, and washed my hands in innocency.

Yet such a man says to the Lord, Depart from me; I desire not to know thy ways.

Mercy has rejected me; and the visitation of the Lord has disregarded me.

And he shall bring his gift to the Lord; one he-lamb of a year old without blemish for a whole-burnt-offering, and one ewe-lamb of a year old without blemish for a sin-offering, and one ram without blemish for a peace-offering;

He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall deliver the souls of the needy.

But having known their works, he delivered them into darkness: and in the night one will be as a thief:

One golden censer of ten shekels full of incense.

Let those that plot against my soul be ashamed and utterly fail: let those that seek my hurt be clothed with shame and dishonour.

Therefore hell has enlarged its desire and opened its mouth without ceasing: and her glorious and great, and her rich and her pestilent men shall go down into it.

He waters the mountains from his chambers: the earth shall be satisfied with the fruit of thy works.

But I will cry to thee, O Lord, in my prayer; O God, it is a propitious time: in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, the days of thy death are at hand; call Joshua, and stand ye by the doors of the tabernacle of testimony, and I will give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went to the tabernacle of testimony, and stood by the doors of the tabernacle of testimony.

Then they cried to the Lord in their affliction, and he saved them out of their distresses.

Even if ye should lie among the lots, ye shall have the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her breast with yellow gold.

The word is very near thee, in thy mouth, and in thine heart, and in thine hands to do it.

The Lord himself shall enter into judgment with the elders of the people, and with their rulers: but why have ye set my vineyard on fire, and why is the spoil of the poor in your houses?

Behold, these are parts of his way; and we will hearken to him at the least intimation of his word: but the strength of his thunder who knows, when he shall employ it?

And thou shalt separate the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, and they shall be mine.

I will go into thine house with whole-burnt-offerings; I will pay thee my vows,

And if their children be many, they shall be for slaughter: and if they grow up, they shall beg.

For his house shall be without inhabitants, and his tent shall prove a spider's web.

And if there should come to you a stranger in your land, and should keep the passover to the Lord, he shall keep it according to the law of the passover and according to its ordinance: there shall be one law for you, both for the stranger, and for the native of the land.

The rams of the flock are clothed with wool, and the valleys shall abound in corn; they shall cry aloud, yea they shall sing hymns.

And they first set in motion the order of the camp of the children of Juda with their host; and over their host was Naasson, son of Aminadab.

and upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill,

And I do not appoint to you alone this covenant and this oath;

if there is any iniquity in thy hands, put if far from thee, and let not unrighteousness lodge in thy habitation.

The depth said, It is not in me: and the sea said, It is not with me.

I shall not be able to bear this people alone, for this thing is too heavy for me.

And if there should be a stranger among you in your land, or one who should be born to you among your generations, and he will offer a sacrifice, a smell of sweet savour to the Lordas ye do, so the whole congregation shall offer to the Lord.

And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had only spit in her face, would she not be ashamed seven days? let her be set apart seven days without the camp, and afterwards she shall come in.

And for their cursing and falsehood shall utter destruction be denounced: they shall fall by the wrath of utter destruction, and shall not be; so shall they know that the God of Jacob is Lord of the ends of the earth. Pause.

Of the tribe of Aser, Sathur the son of Michael.

Moreover all the dwellers upon this land have heard that thou art Lord in the midst of this people, who, O Lord, art seen by them face to face, and thy cloud rests upon them, and thou goest before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire.

But thou, O man like minded, my guide, and my acquaintance,

Thou shalt not turn aside from any of the commandments, which I charge thee this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Also I put on righteousness, and clothed myself with judgment like a mantle.

For who, being a mortal, is such that he shall be blameless? or, who that is born of a woman, that he should be just?

your fasting, and rest from work, your new moons also, and your feasts my soul hates: ye have become loathsome to me; I will no more pardon your sins.

Thou art a prince, and hast thou brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, and hast thou given us an inheritance of land and vineyards? wouldest thou have put out the eyes of those men? we will not go up.

Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and ungodly men shall turn to thee.

Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

And he has pleaded against me as he will: I am overwhelmed with pains.

Every devoted thing among the children of Israel shall be thine.

This their way is an offence to them: yet afterwards men will commend their sayings. Pause.

And this is the law; if a man die in a house, every one that goes into the house, and all things in the house, shall be unclean seven days.

With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

And the Levites shall answer and say to all Israel with a loud voice,

Thou hast made us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision them that are round about us.

And Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, saying, Thus says thy brother Israel; Thou knowest all the distress that has come upon us.

And in my distress I did not eat of them, I have not gathered of them for an unclean purpose, I have not given of them to the dead; I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God, I have done as thou hast commanded me.