the Fourth Week of Advent
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Wycliffe Bible
Deuteronomy 5
1 And Moises clepide al Israel, and seide to hym, Here, thou Israel, the cerymonyes and domes, whiche Y speke to dai in youre eeris; lerne ye tho, and `fille ye in werk.2 Oure Lord God made a boond of pees with vs in Oreb;3 he made not couenaunt, `that is, of lawe writun, with oure fadris, but with vs that ben present, and lyuen.4 Face to face he spak to vs in the hil, fro the myddis of the fier.5 Y was recouncelere and mediatour bitwixe God and you in that tyme, that Y schulde telle to you the wordis `of hym, for ye dredden the fier, and `stieden not in to the hil. And `the Lord seide,
6 Y am thi Lord God, that ladde thee out of the lond of Egipt, fro the hows of seruage.7 Thou schalt not haue alien Goddis in my siyt.8 Thou schalt not make to thee a grauun ymage, nether a licnesse of alle thingis that ben in heuene aboue, and that ben in erthe bynethe, and that lyuen in watris vndur erthe;9 thou schalt not herie tho, `and thou schalt not worschipe tho; for Y am thi Lord God, `God a feruent louyer; and Y yelde the wickidnesse of fadris, in to sones in to the thridde and the fourthe generacioun to hem that haten me,10 and Y do mersy in to many thousyndis to hem that louen me, and kepen myn heestis.11 Thou schalt not mystake the name of thi Lord God in veyn, for he schal not be vnpunyschid, that takith the name of God on a veyn thing.12 Kepe thou the `day of sabat that thou halewe it, as thi Lord God comaundide to thee.13 In sixe daies thou schalt worche, and thou schalt do alle thi werkis;14 the seventhe day is `of sabat, that is the reste of thi Lord God. Thou schalt not do therynne ony thing of werk; thou, and thi sone, and douyter, seruaunt, and handmaide, and oxe, and asse, and `al thi werk beeste, and the pilgrym which is with ynne thi yatis; that thi seruaunt reste and thin handmaide, as also thou.15 Bithenke thou, that also thou seruedist in Egipt, and thi Lord God ledde thee out fro thennus, in a strong hond, and arm holdun forth; therfor he comaundide to thee, that thou schuldist kepe the `dai of sabat.16 Onoure thi fadir and thi modir, as thi Lord God comaundide to thee, that thou lyue in long tyme, and that it be wel to thee, in the lond which thi Lord God schal yyue to thee.17 Thou schalt not sle.18 Thou schalt not do letcherie.19 And thou schalt not do thefte.20 Thou schalt not speke fals witnessyng ayens thi neiybore.21 Thou schalt not coueite `the wijf of thi neiybore, not hows, not feeld, not seruaunt, not handmayde, not oxe, not asse, and alle thingis that ben hise.22 The Lord spak these wordis to al youre multitude, in the hil, fro the myddis of fier and of cloude and of myist, with greet vois, and addide no thing more; and he wroot tho wordis in two tablis of stoon, whiche he yaf to me.
23 Forsothe after that ye herden the vois fro the myddis of the derknessis, and sien the hil brenne, alle ye princis of lynagis, and the grettere men in birthe, neiyiden to me, and seiden, Lo!24 oure Lord God schewide to vs his maieste and greetnesse; we herden his vois fro the myddis of fier, and we preueden to day that a man lyuede, `while God spak with man.25 Whi therfor schulen we die, and schal this gretteste fier deuoure vs? For if we heren more the vois of oure Lord God, we schulen die.26 What is ech man, that he here the vois of God lyuynge, that spekith fro the myddis of fier, as we herden, and that he may lyue?27 Rathere neiye thou, and here thou alle thingis whiche oure Lord God schal seie to thee; and thou schalt speke to vs, and we schulen here, and schulen do tho wordis.28 And whanne the Lord hadde herd this, he seide to me, Y herde the vois of the wordis of this puple, whiche thei spaken to thee; thei spaken wel alle thingis.29 Who schal yyue `that thei haue siche soule, that thei drede me, and kepe alle my comaundementis in al tyme, that it be wel to hem and to the sones `of hem, with outen ende?30 Go thou, and seye to hem, Turne ye ayen in to youre tentis.31 Sotheli stonde thou here with me, and Y schal speke to thee alle comaundementis, and cerymonyes, and domes, whiche thou schalt teche hem, that thei do tho in the lond which Y schal yyue to hem in to possessioun.32 Therfor kepe ye, and `do ye tho thingis, whiche the Lord God comaundide to you; ye schulen not bowe awey, nether to the riyt side nether to the left side,33 but ye schulen go bi the weie whiche youre Lord God comaundide, that ye lyue, and that it be wel to you, and that youre daies be lengthid in the lond of youre possessioun.