Editing Old English literature (section)

==== Poetic Biblical paraphrases ====
There are a number of partial [[Old English Bible translations]] and paraphrases surviving. The [[Junius manuscript]] contains three paraphrases of Old Testament texts. These were re-wordings of Biblical passages in Old English, not exact translations, but paraphrasing, sometimes into beautiful poetry in its own right. The first and longest is of ''[[Book of Genesis|Genesis]]'' (originally presented as one work in the Junius manuscript but now thought to consist of two separate poems, [[Genesis A|A]] and [[Genesis B|B]]), the second is of ''[[Exodus (poem)|Exodus]]'' and the third is ''[[Daniel (Old English poem)|Daniel]]''. Contained in Daniel are two lyrics, ''Song of the Three Children'' and ''Song of Azarias'', the latter also appearing in the Exeter Book after ''Guthlac''.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=279-280}} The fourth and last poem, ''[[Christ and Satan]]'', which is contained in the second part of the Junius manuscript, does not paraphrase any particular biblical book, but retells a number of episodes from both the Old and New Testament.{{sfn|Wrenn|1967|p=97, 101}}

The Nowell Codex contains a Biblical poetic paraphrase, which appears right after ''Beowulf'', called ''[[Judith (poem)|Judith]]'', a retelling of the story of [[Book of Judith|Judith]]. This is not to be confused with [[Aelfric of Eynsham|Ælfric]]'s homily ''[[Judith (homily)|Judith]]'', which retells the same Biblical story in alliterative prose.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=280}}

Old English translations of [[Psalter|Psalms]] 51-150 have been preserved, following a prose version of the first 50 Psalms.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=280}} There are verse translations of the [[Gloria in Excelsis]], the [[Lord's Prayer]], and the [[Apostles' Creed]], as well as some [[hymn]]s and [[proverb]]s.{{sfn|Cameron|1982|p=281}}