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104 Verses on Turning Away from Superstitious Practices
The dedes of ye flesh are manifest, which are these: Aduoutrye, whordome, vnclenes, wantanes,Idolatrye, witchcraft, hatred, variaunce, zele, wrath, stryfe, sedicion, sectes,envyenge, murthur, dronkennes, glotony, and soch like: of the which I tell you before, as I haue tolde you in tyme past, that they which commytte soch, shal not inheret the kyngdome of God.
But he that maketh conscience of it and yet eateth, is dampned: because he doth it not of faith. For what so euer is not of faith, that same is synne.
Bewarre lest eny ma spoyle you thorow philosophy and disceatfull vanite after the tradicions of men, and after the ordinauces of the worlde, and not after Christ.
My people axe councel at their stockes, their staffe must tell them. For an whorish mynde hath disceaued them, so yt they comitte fornicacion agaynst their God.
And Iosias expelled all soythsayers, expounders of tokes, ymages and Idols, and all the abhominacions which were sene in the londe of Iuda and at Ierusalem, that he mighte set vp the wordes of the lawe, which were wrytten in the boke, that Helchias ye prest foude in the house of ye LORDE.
In so moch that they worshipped their ymages, which turned to their owne decaye.Yee they offred their sonnes & their doughters vnto deuels.
whe thou criest, let yi chosen heape delyuer the. But the wynde shal take them all awaye, & cary the in to ye ayre. Neuertheles, they yt put their trust in me, shal inheret the londe, and haue my holy hill in possession.
Ye shal eate nothinge wt bloude. Ye shall not regarde ye foules cryenge, ner chose out dayes.
And therfore, folowe not youre prophetes, soythsayers, expounders of dreames, charmers & witches, which saye vnto you: ye shal not serue the kinge of Babilon.
And caused his sonne to go thorow the fyre, and regarded byrdes cryenge and tokens, and maynteyned soythsayers, and expounders of tokens, and so moch dyd he of this which was euell in the sight of the LORDE, that he prouoked him vnto wrath.
Thou hast hither to had many councels of them, so let the heauengasers & the beholders of starres, come on now and delyuer the: yee and let the shewe, when these new thinges shall come vpon the.Beholde, they shalbe like strawe, which yf it be kindled with fyre, no man maye rydde it for the vehemence of the flame: And yet it geueth no zynders to warme a ma by, ner cleare fyre to syt by.
Thou hast hither to had many councels of them, so let the heauengasers & the beholders of starres, come on now and delyuer the: yee and let the shewe, when these new thinges shall come vpon the.
Thus saieth the LORDE: Ye shal not lerne after the maner of the Heithe, and ye shal not be afrayed for the tokens of heauen: for the Heithen are afrayed of soch:
The ymages of their goddes shalt thou burne with fyre, & shalt not desyre the syluer or golde that is on them or to take it vnto the, that thou snare not thy self therin: for it is abhominacion vnto the LORDE yi God.Therfore shalt thou not brynge the abhominacion in to thine house, yt thou be not damned as it is, but shalt vtterly defye it, and abhorre it, for it is damned.
that there be not founde amonge you, yt maketh his sonne or doughter go thorow the fyre, or a prophecier, or a choser out of dayes, or that regardeth the foules cryenge,or a witch, or a coniurer, or soythsayer, or an expounder of tokens, or yt axeth eny thinge of the deed.For who so euer doth soch, is abhominacion vnto the LORDE: and because of soch abhominacions doth the LORDE yi God dryue the out before the.
Ye shal not turne yor selues to ye Soythsayers, and axe nothinge at the expounders of tokes, that ye be not defyled by them: for I am the LORDE youre God.
And therfore yf they saye vnto you: aske councel at the soythsayers, witches, charmers and coniurers, then make them this answere: Is there a people enywhere, that axeth not councel at his God: whether it be concernynge the dead, or the lyuynge?
For disobedience is as ye synne of witchcrafte, and rebellion is as the blasphemy of Idolatrye. In so moch now as thou hast refused the worde of the LORDE, he hath refused the also, that thou shuldest not be kynge.
Yee they despysed his ordinaunces and his couenaunt which he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he witnessed amonge them, and walked in their awne vanities, and became vayne folowinge the Heythen, which dwelt rounde aboute them, concernynge whom the LORDE had commaunded them, that they shulde not do as they dyd.
If eny soule turne him to ye soythsayers and expounders of tokens, so that he goeth a whorynge after them, I wyl set my face agaynst the same soule, and wyl rote him out from amonge his people.
All witchcraftes will I rote out of thyne hande, there shall no mo soythsayenges be within the.
Wherfore all caruers of Idols are but vayne, and their laboure lost. They must beare recorde them selues, that (seinge they can nether se ner vnderstonde) they shalbe confounded.Who shulde now make a god, or fashio an Idol, that is profitable for nothinge?
Their ymages are but syluer and golde, euen the worke of mens hodes.They haue mouthes, and speake not: eyes haue they, but they se not.They haue eares, and heare not: noses haue they, but they smell not.They haue handes and handle not, fete haue they, but they can not go, nether can they speake thorow their throte.They that made them, are like vnto them, and so are all soch as put their trust in them.
Kepe well youre soules therfore, for ye sawe no maner of ymage, in the daye wha the LORDE spake vnto you out of the fyre vpon mount Horeb, that ye destroye not youre selues,and make you eny ymage, that is like a man, or woman,
Many of the also that beleued, came and cofessed, and shewed their workes.But many of them that had vsed curious craftes, broughte the bokes together, and burnte them openly: and they counted the pryce of them, and founde it of money fiftye thousande pens.
Confounded be ye, and put to dishonoure: go hence together with shame, all ye that be workmasters of erroure: (that is worshippers of Idols)
bewarre then, yt thou fall not in the snare after the, whan they are destroyed before the: & that thou axe not after their goddes, & saye: Eue as these nacions haue serued their goddes, so wil I do also.Thou shalt not do so vnto the LORDE thy God. For all that is abhominacion vnto the LORDE, & that he hateth, ye same haue they done vnto their goddes. For they haue burnt euen their sonnes and their doughters with fyre vnto their goddes.
Preach amonge the Gentiles, let youre voyce be herde, make a toke: crie out, kepe no sylence, but saye: Babilon shal be wonne, Bel shalhe cofounded, and Merodach shalbe ouer come. Yee their goddes shal be brought to shame, and their ymages shall stonde in feare.
Because that Manasse the kynge of Iuda hath gone these abhominacions, which are worse then all ye abhominacions that the Amorites haue done which were before them, and hath caused Iuda also to synne agaynst their God,
Neuertheles they forsoke all the commaundementes of the LORDE their God and made them two molten calues and groues, and worshipped all the hoost of heauen, & serued Baal,
What helpe than wil ye ymage do, whom the workman hath fashioned? Or the vayne cast ymage, wherin because the craftesman putteth his trust, therfore maketh he domme Idols?
Ye take youre pleasure vnder the okes, & vnder all grene trees, the childe beynge slayne in the valleys, & dennes of stone.
& make thy sonnes go a whoringe after their goddes also. Thou shalt make ye no goddes of metall.
And now they synne more and more: of their syluer, they make them molten ymages, like the Idols of the Heithen, and yet all is nothinge but the worke of the craftesman. Notwithstodinge they preach of the same: who so wil kysse the calues, offreth to men.
because ye prouoke me vnto wrath with the workes of youre owne hondes: whe ye offre vnto straunge goddes in the londe off Egipte, where as ye be gone to dwell: That ye might vtterly perishe, and that ye might be reuyled and shamfully intreated of all nacions.
For the Caldees shall come, and wynne this cite, and set fyre vpon it, and burne it: with the gorgeous houses, in whose parlers they haue made sacrifice vnto Baal, and poured drynkeofferinges vnto straunge goddes, to prouoke me vnto wrath.
But turned their backes and fell awaye like their forefathers, startinge asyde like a broken bowe.
they shal also defyle the selues nomore with their abhominacions, Idols and all their wickeddoinges. I wil helpe the out of all their dwellinge places, wherin they haue synned: & will so clense them, that they shalbe my people, and I their God.
Thou shalt make the no grauen ymage ner eny symilitude, nether of it that is aboue in heauen, ner of it that is beneth vpon earth, ner of it that is in the water vnder the earth.Worshipe them not, and serue them not: for I the LORDE thy God am a gelouse God, vysitinge ye synne of the fathers vpon the children, vnto ye thirde and fourth generacion, of them that hate me:
& that meant I not at all of the whoremongers of this worlde, ether of the couetous, or of extorcioners, or of the that worshippe ymages, for then must ye nedes haue gone out of the worlde.But now haue I wrytte vnto you, yt ye shulde haue nothinge to do with them: (Namely,) yf there be eny man that is called a brother, and is an whoremonger, or couetous, or a worshipper of ymages, ether a raylar, or a dronkarde, or an extorcioner, with s
Thou sonne of man, these men beare their Idols in their hertes, & go purposly vpon the stomblinge block of their owne wickednesse: how darre they then axe councell at me?
Thus these Heythen feared the LORDE, and serued their Idols also, and so dyd their children and childers childre likewyse. Eue as their fathers haue done before them, so do they vnto this daye.
Yee and the noyse of hir whordome hath defyled the whole lode. For she hath committed hir aduoutrie with stones and stockes.
And excepte ye be ashamed of the oketrees wherin ye haue so delited, and of the gardes that ye haue chosen:
And Asa ye kynge put downe his mother from the mynistracion, that she had founded in the groue vnto Miplezeth. And Asa roted out hir Miplezeth, and beate it in sunder, and brent it by the broke Cedron.
They haue buylded hie places for Baal in the valley of the children of Ennon, to vowe their sonnes and doughters vnto Moloch: which I neuer commauded them, nether came it euer in my thought, to make Iuda synne with soch abhominacion.
He sayde: I trouble not Israel, but it is thou and thy fathers house, because ye haue forsaken the commaundementes of the LORDE, and walke after Baal.
Behynde the dores & postes, hast thou set vp thy remembraunce? When thou haddest discouered thyself to another then me, when thou wetest downe, & made thy bed wyder (that is) when thou didest carue the certayne of yonder Idols, & louedest their couches, where thou sawest the:
Thus were they stayned wt their owne workes, and wente a whoringe with their owne invencions.
The sprete speaketh euydently, that in ye latter tymes some shal departe from the faith, and shal geue hede vnto spretes of erroure, and deuelish doctrynes, of them
Nether be ye worshippers off ymages, as were some of them. Acordinge as it is wrytte: The people sat downe to eate and drynke, and rose vp to playe.
But thou art scatred abrode with thy people (o house of Iacob) for ye go farre beyonde yor fathers, whether it be in Sorcerers) whom ye haue as the phylistynes had) or in calkers of mens byrthes, wherof ye haue to many.
therfore shal ye make nothinge with me: goddes of syluer and golde shal ye not make you.
By the reason of wy?dome, all men are become fooles. Confounded be all the casters of ymages: for ye thinge that they make, is but disceate, & hath no breath.
Let no ma disceaue himselfe. Yf eny man thinke himselfe wyse amoge you, let him become a foole in this worlde, that he maye be wyse.
haue marred all: they are soone gone out of the waie, which I commaunded them. They haue made them a molten calfe, and haue worshipped it, & offred vnto it, & sayde: These are thy goddes (O Israel) that brought the out of the lande of Egipte.
Yet must he be taken on mens shulders and borne, and set in his place, that he maye stonde and not moue. Alas that men shulde crie vnto him, which geueth no answere: and delyuereth not the man that calleth vpon him, from his trouble.
Thus saieth ye LORDE vnto you: What vnfaithfulnesse founde youre fathers in me, that they wente so farre awaye fro me, fallinge to lightnesse, and beinge so vayne?
Neuertheles I haue euer sence the begynnynge shewed the of thinges for to come, and declared the vnto the, or euer they came to passe: that thou shuldest not saye: myne Idol hath done it, my carued or cast ymage hath shewed it.
Cofounded be all they that worshipe ymages, and delite in their Idols: worshipe him all ye goddes.
& yt because of the greate blasphemies, which they committed, to prouoke me vnto anger: In that they wente backe to do sacrifice ad worshipe vnto straunge goddes: whom nether they, ner ye, ner yor fathers haue knowne.
But the fearefull and vnbeleuynge, and the abhominable, and murthurers, and whormongers, and sorcerers, and ydolaters, & all lyars, shal haue their parte in the lake, that burneth with fyre and brymstone, which is the seconde death.
And in the valley of the sonne of Hennon caused he his awne sonnes to go thorow the fyre, and chosed dayes, & regarded byrdescryenge, and witches, and founded soythsayers and expounders of tokens, and dyd moch that was euell in the sighte of the LORDE to prouoke him vnto wrath.
But afore there was in ye same cite a certayne ma, called Simon, which vsed witche craft, and bewitched ye people of Samaria, sayenge, that he was a man which coulde do greate thinges.And they all regarded him from the leest vnto ye greatest, & sayde: This is the power of God which is greate.But they regarded him, because that of longe tyme he had bewitched them with his sorcery.
They haue prouoked me in it that is not God: wt their vanites haue they angred me. And I agayne wil prouoke them, by those that are no people: by a foolish nacion wil I anger them.
Thus dyed Saul in his trespace which he commytted agaynst the LORDE, because he kepte not the worde of the LORDE: & because he axed councell at the soythsayer,
(he eateth not vpon the hilles: he lifteth not his eyes vp to the Idols of Israel: he defyleth not his neghbours wife: he medleth wt no menstruous woman:
How acordeth ye teple of God with ymages? Ye are the temple of the lyuynge God, as sayeth God: I wyl dwell in them, and walke in them, and wyl be their God, & they shalbe my people.
And he put downe the Kemurims, who the kynges of Iuda had founded, to burne incense vpon the hye places, in the cities of Iuda, and aboute Ierusalem. He put downe also them that brent incense vnto Baal, to the Sonne, and the Mone, and the twolue tokens, and to all ye hoost of heauen.
Let the be gathered & come together, let the drawe nye hyther, yt are escaped of the people: Haue they eny vnderstondinge, that set vp the stockes of their Idols, and praye vnto a god, that ca not helpe the?
and go not asyde after vanite, for it profyteth you nothinge, and can not delyuer you, in so moch as it is but a vayne thinge.
and dwellinge places. The cities shalbe desolate, ye hillchapels layed waist: youre aulters destroyed, & broken: youre goddes cast downe, and taken awaye, yor tepels layde eaue with the groude, youre owne workes clene roted out.
The shal the townes off Iuda and the citisens of Ierusalem go, and call vpon their goddes, vnto whom they made their oblacios: but they are not able to helpe them in tyme off their trouble.
Inmediatly was it ful of Idols also, euen workes of youre owne hondes, which ye youre selues haue facioned, and youre fyngers haue made.
They made a calfe in Horeb, and worshipped the molte ymage.Thus they turned his glory into the similitude of a calfe, yt eateth haye.
And that because they haue forsake me, and vnhalowed this place, and haue offred in it vnto straunge goddes: who nether they, their fathers, ner the kinges off Iuda haue knowne. They haue filled this place also wt the bloude of innocentes,
Remembre the thinges which are past, sence the begynnynge of the worlde: that I am God, and that there is els no God, yee and yt there is nothinge like vnto me.
The carpenter (or ymage caruer) taketh me the tymbre, and spredeth forth his lyne: he marketh it with some coloure: he playneth it, he ruleth it, ad squareth it, and maketh it after the ymage of a man, and acordinge to the bewtie of a man: that it maye stonde in the temple.
As for the ymages of the Heithe, they are but syluer and golde, the worke of mens hades.They haue mouthes, & speake not: eyes haue they, but they se not.They haue eares, and yet they heare not, nether is there eny breth i their mouthes.They that make them, are like vnto them, & so are all they that put their trust in the.
So are we sure now cocernynge the meates offred vnto Idols, that an Idoll is nothinge in the worlde, and that there is none other God but one.
For when ye haue stolle, murthured, committed aduoutrie, and periury: Whe ye haue offred vnto Baal, folowinge straunge & vnknowne goddes:
for thou shalt worshipe no other god. For ye LORDE is called gelous, because he is a gelous God:
Blessed is the man that setteth his hope in the LORDE, and turneth not vnto the proude, & to soch as go aboute with lies.
Thou wentest straight to kinges with oyle & dyuerse oyntmentes (that is) thou hast sent thy messaungers farre of, and yet art thou fallen in to the pyt therby.
But ye more they were called, the more they wente backe: offerynge vnto Idols, and censynge ymages.
Vayne thinges they se, & tell lies, to mayntene their preachinges withall. The LORDE (saye they) hath spoke it, when in very dede the LORDE hath not sent them.Vayne visios haue ye sene, & spoke false prophecies. when ye saye: the LORDE hath spoken it, where as I neuer sayde it.Therfore, thus saieth the LORDE God: Because youre wordes be vayne, & ye seke out lies: Beholde, I wil vpon you, saieth ye LORDE.Myne hondes shal come vpon the prophetes, that loke out vayne thinges, and preach lies: they shal not be in the councell of my people, ner written in the boke of the house of Israel, nether shal they come in the londe of Israel: that ye maye knowe, how that I am the LORDE God.
Put thy trust in ye LORDE with all thine herte, and leane not vnto thine owne vnderstondinge.In all thy wayes haue respecte vnto him, and he shal ordre thy goinges.
Then sayde Iesus vnto hym: Auoyde Sata. For it ys wrytte: thou shalt worshyp the LORDE thy God and hym onely shalt thou serue.
Be sober and watch, for yor aduersary ye deuell, walketh aboute as a roaringe lyon, sekynge whom he maye deuoure,
Be not carefull, but in all thinges let yor peticions in prayer and supplicacion, with geuynge of thankes be knowne before God.
And fashion not youre selues like vnto this worlde, but be chaunged thorow the renewynge off yor mynde, yt ye maye proue, what thinge that good, yt acceptable, & perfecte wil of God is.
And therfore yf they saye vnto you: aske councel at the soythsayers, witches, charmers and coniurers, then make them this answere: Is there a people enywhere, that axeth not councel at his God: whether it be concernynge the dead, or the lyuynge?Yf eny man want light, let him loke vpon the lawe and the testimony, whether they speake not after this meanynge.
An ignoraut body beleueth all thinges, but who so hath vnderstondinge, loketh well to his goinges.