¶ A table expoundinge certeyne wordes.

Abrech/ tender father/ or as some will/ bowe the knee.

Areke/ a shippe made flatte as it were a chest or cofer.

Bisse: fyne whyte/ whether it be silke or linen.

Blesse: godes blessinges are his giftes/ as in the firste chaptre he blessed them saynge: growe & multiplye & haue dominion &c. And in the .ix. chaptre he blessed Noe & his sonnes & gaue thẽ dominiõ over all beestes & authoryte to care thẽ And God blessed Abrahã with catell ãd other ryches. And Iacob desyred Esau to receaue ye blessinge which he brought him/ yt is the preasent & gifte. God blessed the .vij. daye/ yt is/ gaue it a prehemynence yt men shuld rest therein from bodely laboure & lerne to know the will of god & his lawes & how to worke their workes godly all the weke after. God also blesseth all nations in Abrahams seed/ that is/ he turneth his loue & favoure vnto thẽ and geveth thẽ his spirite and knowledge of the true waye/ ãd lust and power to walke therin/ and all for christes sake Abrahams sonne.

Cain/ so is it writen in Hebrue. Notwithstõdinge whether we coll him Cain or caim it maketh no matter/ so we vnderstand the meaninge. Euery lande hath his maner/ that we call Ihon the welchemen call Evan: the douch hãce. Soch differẽce is betwene the Ebrue/ greke and laten: and that maketh them that translate out of the ebrue varye in names from them that translate out of laten or greke.

Curse: Godes curse is the takynge awaye of his benefytes. As god cursed the erth and made it baren. So now hunger/ derth/ warre/ pestilence and soch like are yet ryght curses and signes of the wrath of God vnto the vnbeleuers: but vnto them that knowe Christ/ they are very blessinges and that wholsome crosse & true purgatorye of oure flesh/ thorow which all must go that will lyue godly ãd be saued: as thou readest Mat .v. Blessed are they that suffre persecution for rightewesnes sake. &c. And hebrewes .xi. The lorde chastyseth whom he loveth and scorgeth all the children that he receaveth.

Eden: pleasure

Firmament: the skye.

Fayth is the belevinge of goddes promesses & a sure trust in the goodnesse and truth of god. Which faith iustifyeth Abrahã gene .xv. and was the mother of all his good workes which he afterward did. For faith is the goodnesse of all workes in the sight of God. Good workes are thinges of godes comaundemẽt wrought in faith. And to sow a showe at the commaundement of god to do thy neyghboure service withall/ with faith to be saved by Christ (as god promyseth vs.) is moch better thẽ to bild an abbay of thyne awne imagination/ trustinge to be saved by the fayned workes of hypocrites. Iacob robbed Laban his vncle: Moses robbed the Egiptians: And Abrahã is aboute to slee and burne his awne sonne: And all are holye workes/ because they were wrought in fayth at goddes commaundement. To stele/ robbe and murther are no holye workes before worldly people: but vnto them that haue their truste in god: they are holye when god commaundeth them. What god commaundeth not getteth no reward with god. Holy workes of mens imagination receave their rewarde here/ as Christ testyfyeth Math .vj. How be it of fayth & workes I haue spoken abundantly in mammon. Let him that desyreth more seke there.

Grace: fauoure/ As Noe founde grace/ that is to saye favoure and love.

Ham and Cam all one.

Iehovah is goddes name/ nether is any creature so called. And it is as moch to saye as one that is of him self and dependeth of nothinge. Moreouer as oft as thou seist LORde in great letters (excepte there be any erroure in the prẽtinge) it is in hebrewe Iehovah/ thou that arte or he that is.

Marshall/ in hebrue he is called Sar tabaim/ as thou woldest saye/ lorde of the slaughtermen And though that Tabaim be takẽ for cokes in many places/ for the cokes did sle the beastes thẽ selues in those dayes: yet it may be taken for them that put men to execution also. And that me thought it shuld here best signifye in as moch as he had the oversight of the kinges preson and the kinges presoners were they neuer so great mẽ were vnder his custodye. And therfore I call him cheffe marshall an officer as is the lefetenaunte of the toure/ or master of the marshalsye.

Slyme was their morter .xi. Chapter/ And slyme pittes .xiiij. chapter: that slyme was a fattenesse that osed out of the erth lyke vnto tarre/ And thou mayst call it cement/ if thou wilt.

Siloh after some is as moch to saye as sent/ & after some happie/ and after some it signifieth Mesias/ yt is to say annoynted and that we call Christe after the greke worde. And it is a prophesie of Christ: For after yt all ye other tribes were in captiuite & their kyngdom destroyed/ yet the tribe of Iuda had a ruler of the same bloud/ even vnto the comynge of Christ. And aboute the comĩge of Christ the Romayns conquered them/ and the Emperoure gaue the kyngdom of tribe Iuda vnto Herode which was a straunger/ even an Edomite of the generacyon of Esau.

Testamẽt here/ is an appoyntemẽt made betwene god and mã/ and goddes promyses. And sacramẽt is a signe representinge soch an appoyntement and promeses: As the raynebowe representeth the promyse made to Noe/ that god will no more drowne the worlde. And circumcision representeth the promyses of god to Abraham on the one syde/ and that Abrahã and his seed shuld circumcyse and cut off the lustes of their fleshe/ on the other syde/ to walke in the wayes of the lorde: As baptysme which is come in the roume therof/ now signifieth on the one syde/ how that all that repent and beleve are washed in Christes bloud: And on the other syde/ how that the same must quench ãd droune the lustes of the flesh/ to folow the steppes of Christ.

There were tyrantes in the erth in those dayes/ for the sonnes of god sawe the daughters of men. &c. The sonnes of god were the prophetes childerne/ which (though they succeded there fathers) fell yet from the right waye/ and thorow falsehod of hypocrysye subdued the world vnder them and became tyrantes/ As the successours of the apostles haue played with vs.

Vapor/ a dewymiste/ as the smoke of a sethynge pott.

To walke with god is to lyve godly and to walke in his commaundementes. Enos walked with god and was no moare sene: that is/ he lyved godly and dyed/ God toke him awaye: that is/ god hyd his bodye/ as he did Moses ãd Aarons: lest haplye they shuld haue made an Idoll of him/ for he was a great preacher and an holye man.

Zaphnath paenea/ wordes of Egipte are they (as I suppose) and as moch to saye: as a man to whome secrete thinges be opened/ or an expounder of secrete thinges as some enterprete it.

That Ioseph brought the egiptians in to soch subiection wold seme vnto some a very cruell deade: how be it it was a very equall waye. For they payde by the fifte parte of that that grewe on the grounde. And therwith were they qwytt of all duetyes/ both of rent/ custome/ tribute & toll. And the kinge therwith founde them lordes and all ministres and defended them. We now paye half so moch vnto the prestes only/ besyde their other craftye exactions. Then paye we rent yerely/ though there grow never so litle on the grounde/ And yet when the kinge calleth paye we neuer the lesse. So that if we loke indifferently/ their condition was easyar thẽ oures/ and but even a very indifferẽt waye/ both for the comen people and the kynge also.

Se therfore that thou loke not on the ensamples
of the scripture with worldly eyes: lest thou
preferre Cain before Abel/ Ismael before Isaac/
Esau before Iacob/ Ruben before Iuda/
Sarah before Pharez/ Manasses
before Ephraim. And euen
the worst before the
best/ as the maner
of the worlde
is.

¶ Emprented at Malborow in the lande
of Hesse/ by me Hans Luft/
the yere of oure Lorde
.M.CCCCC.xxx. the
.xvij. dayes of
Ianuarij.

Transcriber's Notes (continued):

In the list below biblical references are to chapters and paragraphs. The latter usually extend over more than a single "verse".