Biblical Odes

A reading collection of biblical songs and prayers used in historic Christian worship.

Historical English Source Edition

The reader presents the historical English source wording below.

A public-domain World English Bible reading collection.

THE SONG OF MOSES AT THE RED SEA Exodus 15

1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, “I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea. 2 Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name. 4 He has cast Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces. 7 In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send out your wrath. It consumes them as stubble. 8 With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire will be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword. My hand will destroy them.’ 10 You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. 13 “You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation. 14 The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. 16 Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone, until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the people you have purchased pass over. 17 You will bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the place, Yahweh, which you have made for yourself to dwell in: the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established. 18 Yahweh will reign forever and ever.” 19 For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea. 20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances. 21 Miriam answered them, “Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea.” 22 Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah. 24 The people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 Then he cried to Yahweh. Yahweh showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them. 26 He said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you.” 27 They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They encamped there by the waters.

THE SONG OF MOSES IN DEUTERONOMY Deuteronomy 32

1 Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth. 2 My doctrine will drop as the rain. My speech will condense as the dew, as the misty rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb. 3 For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name. Ascribe greatness to our God! 4 The Rock: his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he. 5 They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his children, because of their defect. They are a perverse and crooked generation. 6 Is this the way you repay Yahweh, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you. 7 Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. 9 For Yahweh’s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. 10 He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye. 11 As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers. 12 Yahweh alone led him. There was no foreign god with him. 13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock; 14 butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. From the blood of the grape, you drank wine. 15 But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation. 16 They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations. 17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they didn’t know, to new gods that came up recently, which your fathers didn’t dread. 18 Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth. 19 Yahweh saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. 20 He said, “I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. 21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. 22 For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire. 23 “I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them. 24 They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust. 25 Outside the sword will bereave, and in the rooms, terror on both young man and virgin, the nursing infant with the gray-haired man. 26 I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men; 27 were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted; Yahweh has not done all this.’” 28 For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no understanding in them. 29 Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! 30 How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up? 31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede. 32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are poison grapes. Their clusters are bitter. 33 Their wine is the poison of serpents, the cruel venom of asps. 34 “Isn’t this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures? 35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides, for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.” 36 For Yahweh will judge his people, and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, that there is no one remaining, shut up or left at large. 37 He will say, “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, 38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you! Let them be your protection. 39 “See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand. 40 For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare, as I live forever, 41 if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me. 42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.” 43 Rejoice, you nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will take vengeance on his adversaries, and will make atonement for his land and for his people. 44 Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. 45 Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel. 46 He said to them, “Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you today, which you shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. 47 For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life, and through this thing you shall prolong your days in the land, where you go over the Jordan to possess it.” 48 Yahweh spoke to Moses that same day, saying, 49 “Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession. 50 Die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people; 51 because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you didn’t uphold my holiness among the children of Israel. 52 For you shall see the land from a distance; but you shall not go there into the land which I give the children of Israel.”

1 Hannah prayed, and said, “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2 There is no one as holy as Yahweh, for there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our God. 3 “Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth, for Yahweh is a God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed. 4 “The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength. 5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry are satisfied. Yes, the barren has borne seven. She who has many children languishes. 6 “Yahweh kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol and brings up. 7 Yahweh makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up. 8 He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them. 9 He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness; for no man will prevail by strength. 10 Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.” 11 Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served Yahweh before Eli the priest. 12 Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know Yahweh. 13 The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand; 14 and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. They did this to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh. 15 Yes, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.” 16 If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take as much as your soul desires;” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.” 17 The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh; for the men despised Yahweh’s offering. 18 But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod. 19 Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, “May Yahweh give you offspring from this woman for the petition which was asked of Yahweh.” Then they went to their own home. 21 Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Samuel grew before Yahweh. 22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 23 He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear! You make Yahweh’s people disobey. 25 If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them. 26 The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh and also with men. 27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? 28 Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didn’t I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? 29 Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?’ 30 “Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever.’ But now Yahweh says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed. 31 Behold, the days come that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 You will see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I will give Israel. There shall not be an old man in your house forever. 33 The man of yours whom I don’t cut off from my altar will consume your eyes and grieve your heart. All the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age. 34 This will be the sign to you that will come on your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they will both die. 35 I will raise up a faithful priest for myself who will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house. He will walk before my anointed forever. 36 It will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”

1 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music. 2 Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the middle of the years. In the middle of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy. 3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth. 4 His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden. 5 Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet. 6 He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled. 8 Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation? 9 You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers. 10 The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high. 11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear. 12 You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger. 13 You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah. 14 You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret. 15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters. 16 I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us. 17 For even though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food, the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! 19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.

1 In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city. God appoints salvation for walls and bulwarks. 2 Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter: the one which keeps faith. 3 You will keep whoever’s mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you. 4 Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock. 5 For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust. 6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy.” 7 The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level. 8 Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul. 9 With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10 Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see Yahweh’s majesty. 11 Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries. 12 Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us. 13 Yahweh our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but we will only acknowledge your name. 14 The dead shall not live. The departed spirits shall not rise. Therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish. 15 You have increased the nation, O Yahweh. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land. 16 Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them. 17 Just as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs, so we have been before you, Yahweh. 18 We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance on the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. 19 Your dead shall live. Their dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits. 20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past. 21 For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

1 Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his God, out of the fish’s belly. 2 He said, “I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice. 3 For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ 5 The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever; yet you have brought my life up from the pit, Yahweh my God. 7 “When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who regard vain idols forsake their own mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh.” 10 Then Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land.

THE PRAYER OF AZARIAH AND SONG OF THE THREE Daniel (Greek) 1