Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| A hymn of the fathers. Come, let us sing the praises of renowned men, our ancestors through the ages.
2| The Lord created abundant glory, his greatness from of old.
3| Some ruled in their kingdoms, and were men renowned for power; they gave counsel by their understanding, and spoke out as prophets;
4| leaders of the people by their deliberations and by their understanding of the people's writing, wise in their teaching were their words;
5| others sought out musical melodies, and set out verses in writing;
6| rich men endowed with strength, living in peace in their dwellings—
7| all these were glorified in their generations, and were a boast in their days.
8| There are some of them who left a name, so that their praises are told;
9| and there are some who have no memorial, who perished as though they had not existed, and became as though they had never been born, they and their children after them.
10| But these were men of mercy, whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten;
11| with their descendants a good inheritance remains, their children's children. In the covenants
12| their offspring have stood firm, and their children for their sake;
13| their offspring will remain forever, and their glory will not be blotted out;
14| their bodies were buried in peace, and their name lives on for generations;
15| peoples will tell of their wisdom, and the assembly proclaims their praise.
16| Enoch pleased the Lord and was taken up, an example of repentance to the generations.
17| Noah proved blameless and upright; during a season of divine anger he served as a replacement; on his account a remnant survived on the earth when the deluge arrived.
18| Everlasting covenants were made with him, that all flesh should not be blotted out by a flood.
19| Abraham was the great father of a multitude of nations, and no one was found like him in glory,
20| who observed the precepts of the Most High, and joined himself to a covenant with him; in his own body he confirmed the covenant, and under testing he proved faithful.
21| Therefore the Lord confirmed to him by an oath that the nations would be blessed in his offspring, that he would multiply him like grains of earthly soil, and lift his offspring high like the stars, and grant them a possession stretching from one sea to another and from the River all the way to the ends of the earth.
22| And in Isaac he established the same, for the sake of Abraham his father, a blessing for all mankind, and a covenant,
23| and he made it rest on the head of Jacob; he acknowledged him with his blessings, and gave him his inheritance; he divided his portions, and apportioned them among twelve tribes; and he brought forth from him a man of mercy, who found favor in the eyes of all flesh.