I love this stuff!

Yesterday I saw an article about a hymnbook printed by the Puritans in 1640. Here are two pictures that accompanied the article. Click on them for a larger view.

 




The picture on the left is the title page. The picture on the right shows portions of Psalms 22 and 24 and all of Psalm 23. I love the old spelling. And in the rhyming pattern (ABCB) you can get a feel for the pronunciation. I have updated the spelling below and highlighted the rhymes. Most of the words are still pronounced the same, but there are some that are a lot different. Like most poetry, it’s better to read it out loud, and that way you can hear how it sounded.

(Psalm 22)
25 Concerning thee shall be my praise
in the great assembly:
before them that him reverence
perform my vows will I.
26 The meek shall eat and be sufficed:
Jehovah praise shall they
that do him seek: your heart shall live
unto perpetual aye.
27 All ends of the earth remember shall
and turn unto the Lord:
and thee all heathen families
to worship shall accord.
28 Because unto Jehovah doth
the kingdom appertain:
and he among the nations
is ruler Sovereign.
29 Earth’s fat ones, eat and worship shall:
all who to dust descend,
(though none can make alive his soul)
before his face shall bend.
30 With service a posterity
him shall attend upon,
to God it shall accounted be
a generation.
31 Come, shall they, and his righteousness
by them declared shall be,
unto a people yet unborn,
that done this thing hath he.

23 A Psalm of David
The Lord to me a Shepherd is,
want therefore shall not I.
2 He in the folds of tender grass,
doth cause me down to lie:
to waters calm me gently leads
3 Restore my soul doth he:
he doth in paths of righteousness:
for his name's sake lead me.
4 Yea, though in valley of death's shade
I walk, none (w)ill I fear:
because thou art with me, thy rod.
and staff my comfort are.
5 For me a table thou shalt spread,
in presence of my foes:
thou dost anoint my head with oil,
my cup it overflows.
6 Goodness and mercy surely shall
all my days follow me:
and in the Lord's house I shall dwell
so long as days shall be.

Psalm 24
A Psalm of David
The earth Jehovah’s is,
and the fullness of it:
the habitable world, and they
that thereupon do fit.
2 Because upon the seas,
he hath it firmly laid:
and it upon the water floods
most solidly hath stayed.
3 The mountain of the Lord,
Who shall thereto ascend?
And in his place of holiness

This is the introduction. I would have included it above but blogger would not permit it.