The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Children — The Coverdale Bible (1535)
The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Children is the Greek addition to the third chapter of Daniel, sung in the fiery furnace. In Coverdale’s Bible of 1535 it stands in the Apocrypha, which Coverdale gathered into a section of their own under the heading “The prayer of Azarias and the songe of yᵉ thre children after Theodotios translacion: which wordes are wryten in yᵉ thirde chapter of Daniel after the olde text in Latyn”. It is printed without chapter or verse divisions, so the text keeps its own paragraphs, with the marginal notes and references printed at the end.
The prayer of Azarias and the songe of yᵉ thre children after Theodotios translacion: which wordes are wryten in yᵉ thirde chapter of Daniel after the olde text in Latyn.
ANd they walked in the myddest [A] of the flamme, praysynge God and magnifienge yᵉ LORDE. Asarias stode vp, and prayde on this maner, Euen in the myddest of the fyre opened he his mouth, & saide: Blessed be thou (o LORDE God of oʳ fathers) right worthy to be praysed and honoured is yᵗ name of thine for euermore: for thou art righteous in all yᵉ thinges yᵗ thou hast done to vs: Yee faithfull are all yᵉ workes, yᵉ wayes are right, & yᵉ iudgmētes true. In all yᵉ thinges yᵗ thou hast brought vpon vs, & vpon the holy cite of oʳ fathers (euen Ierusalem) thou hast executed true iudgment: Yee acordinge to right and equyte hast thou brought these thinges vpō vs, because of oure synnes.
For why? we haue offended, & done wickedly, departynge from the: In all thinges haue we trespaced,⁽¹⁾ & not obeyed thy cōmaundementes, ner kepte thē, nether done as thou hast bydden vs, yᵗ we might prospere. Wherfore, all yᵗ thou hast brought vpon vs,⁽²⁾ & euery thinge yᵗ thou hast done to vs, thou hast done them in true iudgment: As in delyueringe vs in to the hondes of oure enemies, amōge vngodly & wicked abhominacions, & to an vnrighteous kinge, yee yᵉ most frowarde vpō earth. And now we maye not opē oʳ mouthes, we are become a shame & reprofe vnto yᵉ seruauntes, & to thē yᵗ worshipe the.
Yet for thy names sake (we beseke the) geue vs not vp for euer, breake not thy couenaunt, & take not awaye thy mercy from vs, for thy beloued Abrahams sake, for thy seruaunt Isaacs sake, & for thy holy Israels sake: to whom thou hast spoken & promysed, yᵗ thou woldest multiply their sede as yᵉ starres of heauen, & as the londe yᵗ lieth vpon yᵉ see shore. For we (o LORDE) are become lesse thē eny people, & be kepte vnder this daye in all the worlde, because of oure synnes: So ther now we haue nether prynce, duke, prophet, burnt offerynge, sacrifice, oblaciō, incēse⟨illegible⟩ Sanctuary before the.
Neuerthelesse, in a contrite herte and an humble sprete let vs be receaued, yᵗ we maie opteyne thy mercy. Like as in the burnt offerynge of rammes & bullockes, and like as in thousandes of fat lambes: so let oʳ offrynge be in thy sight this daye,⁽³⁾ yᵗ it maye please yᵉ, for there is no cōfucion vnto them, yᵗ put there trust in the. And now we folowe the with all oʳ herte, we feare the, & seke thy face. Put vs not to shame, but deale wᵗ vs after thy louynge kyndnesse, & acordinge to the multitude of thy mercies. Delyuer vs by thy miracles (o LORDE) & get thy name an honoure: that all they which do thy seruauntes euell, maye be confoūded. Let them be ashamed thorow thy Allmightie power, and let their strength be broken: that they maye knowe, how that thou only art the LORDE God, & honoʳ worthy thorow out all the worlde.
And the kynges seruātes yᵗ put them in, ceassed not to make the ouen hote with wylde fyre, drye strawe, pitch & fagottes: so that the flamme wente out of the ouen vpon a xlix. cubites: yee it toke awaye, & brent vp those Caldees, yᵗ it gat holde vpon besyde the ouen. But the angel of the LORDE came downe in to the ouen to Asarias and his felowes, & smote yᵉ flamme of the fyre out of the ouen, & made the myddest of the ouen, as it had bene a coole wynde blowinge: so that the fyre nether touched them, greued them, ner dyd them hurte. Then these thre (as out of one mouth) praysed, honoured, and blessed God in the fornace, sayenge:
⁽⁴⁾Blessed be thou, o LORDE God of oure fathers: for thou art prayse & honoure worthy,⁽⁵⁾ yee & to be magnified for euermore. Blessed be yᵉ holy name of thy glory, for it is worthy to be praysed, and magnified in all worldes. Blessed be thou in the holy temple of yᵉ glory, for aboue all thinges thou art to be praysed, yee & more then worthy to be magnified for euer. Blessed be thou in the trone of yᵉ kyngdome, for aboue all thou art worthy to be wel spoken of, & to be more then magnified for euer. Blessed be thou, that lokest thorow the depe,⁽⁶⁾ & syttest vpon the Cherubyns: for thou art worthy to be praysed, & aboue all to be magnified for euer. Blessed be thou in yᵉ firmament of heauen, for thou art prayse and honoure worthy for euer.
O all ye workes of the LORDE: speake good of yᵉ LORDE, prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
⁽⁷⁾O ye angels of the LORDE, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O ye heauēs, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O all ye waters that be aboue the firmamēt, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O all ye powers of the LORDE, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O ye Sōne & Moone,⁽⁸⁾ speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O ye starres of heauē,⁽⁹⁾ speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O ye schowers & dew, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O all ye wyndes of God, speake good of yᵉ LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O ye fyre & heate, speake good of yᵉ LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O ye wynter and sommer, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O ye dewes & frostes, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O ye frost and colde, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O ye yse and snowe, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him and set him vp for euer.
O ye nightes and dayes, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O ye light and darcknesse, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set vp him for euer.
O ye lightenynges and cloudes, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O let the earth speake good of the LORDE: yee lett it prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O ye moūtaynes and hilles, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O all ye grene thinges vpon the earth, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O ye welles, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O ye sees and floudes, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O ye whalles and all that lyue in the waters, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O all ye foules of the ayre, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O all ye beastes & catell, speake good of yᵉ LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O ye children of men, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O let Israel speake good of the LORDE, prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O ye prestes of yᵉ LORDE, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
⁽¹⁰⁾O ye seruauntes of the LORDE, speake good of the LORDE: prayse him, & set him vp for euer.
O ye spretes and soules of the righteous, speake good of yᵉ LORDE: prayse him, and set him vp for euer.
O ye holy and humble men of herte, speake ye good of the LORDE: prayse ye him, & set him vp for euer.
O Ananias, Asarias and Misael, speake ye good of the LORDE: prayse ye him, and set hī vp for euer.⁽¹¹⁾ Which hath delyuered vs from yᵉ hell, kepte vs from yᵉ honde of death, rydde vs from the myddest of the burnynge flamme,⁽¹²⁾ and saued vs euē in the myddest of yᵉ fyre.⁽¹³⁾ O geue thākes therfore vnto yᵉ LORDE: for he is kynde harted, and his mercy endureth for euer. O all ye deuoute men, speake good of the LORDE, euen the God of all goddes: O prayse him, and geue him thankes, for his mercy endureth worlde without ende.
Notes
⁽¹⁾ ⟨illegible⟩
⁽²⁾ ⟨illegible⟩
⁽³⁾ ⟨illegible⟩
⁽⁴⁾ ⟨illegible⟩
⁽⁵⁾ ⟨illegible⟩
⁽⁶⁾ ⟨illegible⟩
⁽⁷⁾ ⟨illegible⟩
⁽⁸⁾ Psal. 148. a
⁽⁹⁾ Psal. 1⟨illegible⟩5. a
⁽¹⁰⁾ Psal. 112. a 134. a. & 133. a Apo. 19. a
⁽¹¹⁾ Iere. 20. c
⁽¹²⁾ Esa. 43. a 1. Mac. 2. f
⁽¹³⁾ Psal. 104. a 103. a. 106. a. 116. a & 13⟨illegible⟩. a
Colophon
This page is an archival transcription of the printed text, not a Good Works Translation. Source: Biblia the Byble, that is, the holy Scrypture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully translated in to Englyshe (M.D.XXXV; STC 2063.3), translated by Myles Coverdale, the copy in Cambridge University Library, keyed and encoded by the Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP Phase I, text A10349, 2005) and released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 public-domain dedication.
1 place illegible in the Cambridge copy was filled from Samuel Bagster’s 1838 page-for-page reprint of the edition (archive.org, holyscriptures00cove), only where the reprint’s reading is certain; each fill is listed on this room’s Supplied Readings page; 10 places are still marked ⟨illegible⟩ (1 in the text, 9 in the marginal notes).
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