« | 1 Chronicles 10 | » |
1 And the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and were ouerthrowen & wounded in mount Gilboa.
2 And the Philistines folowed after Saul and his sonnes, and the Philistines smote Ionathan and Abinadab and Malchisua the sonnes of Saul.
3 And the battaile went sore against Saul, and the archers founde him, and he was wounded of shooters.
4 Then saide Saul to his harnesse bearer: Drawe thy sword, and thrust me through therwith, that these vncircumcised come not and do me shame. But his harnesse bearer would not, for he feared exceedingly: So Saul caught a sword, and fell vpon it.
5 And when his harnesse bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell on a sword also, and dyed.
6 And thus Saul and his three sonnes and al they of his house, dyed together.
7 And when all the men of Israel that were in the valley, sawe how they fled, and that Saul & his sonnes were dead, they forsoke their cities, and ran away: and the Philistines came, and dwelt in them.
8 And it fortuned, that on the morowe when the Philistines came to strip the dead bodies, they founde Saul and his sonnes ouerthrowen in mount Gilboa.
9 And when they had stript him, they toke his head and his harnesse, and sent them into the lande of the Philistines rounde about, to shewe them vnto their idols, and to the people.
10 And they put his harnesse in the house of their god, and set vp his head in the temple of Dagon.
11 And when all they of Iabes [in] Gilead hearde all that the Philistines had done to Saul:
12 They arose all the strongest of them, and fet away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sonnes, and brought them to Iabes, and buried the bones of them vnder an oke in Iabes, and fasted seuen dayes.
13 So Saul dyed for his trespasse that he trespassed against the Lorde, in that he kept not the word of the Lorde, and in that he sought and asked counsaile of a woman that wrought with a spirite:
14 And asked not of the Lorde, and therefore he slue him, and turned the kingdome vnto Dauid the sonne of Isai.
The Bishop’s Bible (BB)
The Bishop’s Bible (BB) is a significant English translation of the Bible that was first published in 1568 during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It was commissioned by the Church of England as a revision of the Great Bible and as a response to the Geneva Bible, which was popular among the Puritans but contained marginal notes that were considered politically and theologically contentious by the Anglican establishment. The primary goal of the Bishop’ s Bible was to create a translation that would be more acceptable to the ecclesiastical authorities and suitable for use in Anglican churches.
One of the distinguishing features of the Bishop’s Bible is its effort to maintain a high level of accuracy and scholarly integrity while also ensuring that the language used was dignified and appropriate for public reading. The translation was undertaken by a team of bishops and other scholars, hence its name. The translators aimed to preserve the poetic and literary qualities of the original texts, drawing on previous translations such as the Tyndale Bible, the Coverdale Bible, and the Great Bible, while also incorporating their scholarly insights and linguistic refinements.
The Bishop’s Bible was notable for its large, folio format, which was designed to be read from the pulpit. It included extensive marginal notes, though these were more restrained and less controversial than those found in the Geneva Bible. The translation also featured elaborate illustrations and maps, as well as a comprehensive introduction and various prefaces that provided context and guidance for readers. Despite its grandeur and scholarly merit, the Bishop’s Bible did not achieve the widespread popularity of the Geneva Bible among the general populace.
Although the Bishop’s Bible played an essential role in the religious and cultural life of Elizabethan England, it was eventually overshadowed by the King James Version (KJV), which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611. The KJV drew heavily on the Bishop’ s Bible, as well as other earlier translations, but ultimately surpassed it in both scholarly rigor and literary quality. Nonetheless, the Bishop’s Bible remains an important milestone in the history of English Bible translations, reflecting the theological and political currents of its time and contributing to the development of subsequent translations.