« | 1 Samuel 25 | » |
1 And Samuel died, and all the Israelites gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his owne house at Rama. And Dauid arose, & went downe to the wildernesse of Pharan.
2 And ther was a man in Maon, whose possession was in Carmel, and the man was exceeding mightie, and had three thousande sheepe & a thousand goates: And he was shearing his sheepe in Carmel.
3 The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wyfe was Abigail, and she was a woman of a singuler wysedome, and beautifull: But the man was churlishe, and of shrewde conditions, & was of the kinred of Caleb.
4 And Dauid hearde in the wildernesse, that Nabal did sheare his sheepe.
5 And Dauid sent out ten young men, and sayd vnto them: Get you vp to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greete him in my name.
6 And ye shal say: So mayest thou lyue, peace be to thee, peace be to thyne house, and peace be vnto all that thou hast.
7 Beholde I haue hearde say that thou hast shearers: Nowe, thy shepheardes were with vs, & we did them no spite, neither was there ought missing vnto them al the while they were in Carmel:
8 Aske thy laddes, & they will shew thee: Wherfore let these young men finde fauour in thyne eyes (for we come in a good season) & geue I pray thee whatsoeuer commeth to thyne hande vnto thy seruauntes, and to thy sonne Dauid.
9 And when Dauids young men came, they told Nabal all those wordes in the name of Dauid: and helde their peace.
10 And Nabal aunswered Dauids seruauntes, and said: Who is Dauid? and who is ye sonne of Isai? There is plentie of seruauntes now a dayes that breake away euery man from his maister.
11 Shal I then take my bread, my water, and my fleshe that I haue killed for my shearers, and geue it vnto men whom I wot not whence they be?
12 And so Dauids seruauntes turned their way, and went againe, and came and tolde him all those sayinges.
13 And Dauid sayd vnto his men: Girde euery man his sword about him. And they girded euery man his sword about him, and Dauid was girded with his sword: And there folowed Dauid vpon a foure hundred men, and two hundred abode by the stuffe.
14 But one of the laddes tolde Abigail Nabals wyfe, saying: Beholde, Dauid sent messengers vnto our maister out of the wildernesse to salute him: and he rayled on them.
15 And yet the men were very good vnto vs, and dyd vs no displeasure, neither missed we any thyng as long as we were conuersaunt with them when we were in the fieldes.
16 They were a wall vnto vs both by night and day, all the while we were with them keping sheepe.
17 Now therefore take heede, & see what thou shalt do: for surelie euyll will come vpon our maister and al his housholde, for he is so wicked, that a man can not speake to him.
18 Then Abigail made haste, and tooke two hundred loaues, and two bottels of wine, and fiue sheepe redie dressed, and fiue measures of parched corne, and an hundred frailes of reasynges, and two hundred cakes of fygges, & laded them on asses,
19 And sayde vnto her young men: Go before me, beholde I come after you. But she tolde her husband Nabal nothing thereof.
20 And as she rode on her asse, she came priuylie downe the syde of the hill, and behold Dauid and his men came downe against her, and she met them.
21 And Dauid saide: Surelie in vayne haue I kept all that this felow hath in the wildernes, so that nothing was missed of all that pertayned vnto him: and he hath quite me euill for good.
22 So and more also do God vnto the enemies of Dauid, if I leaue of all that pertayne to him by the dawnyng of the day, any that pysseth against the wall.
23 And when Abigail sawe Dauid, she hasted and lyghted of her asse, and fell before Dauid on her face, and bowed her selfe to the grounde,
24 And fell at his feete, and sayde: Let this iniquitie be counted myne my lord, and let thyne handmaide I praye thee speake in thyne audience, & heare the wordes of thy handmayd.
25 Let not my lorde I pray thee regarde this wicked man Nabal: For as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, & folly is with him: But I thyne handmayd sawe not the young men of my lorde whom thou sendedst.
26 Now therefore my lorde, as the Lord lyueth, and as thy soule liueth, euen the Lorde that hath withholden thee from comming to [shed] blood, and saued thee thyne hand: So nowe, I pray God that thyne enemies, & they that intende to do my lorde euyll, may be as Nabal.
27 And now this blessing which thyne handmayd hath brought vnto my lord, let it be geuen vnto the young men that folowe my lorde.
28 I praye thee forgeue the trespasse of thyne handmayd: for the Lorde will make my lord a sure house, because my lorde fighteth the battailes of the Lord, and there could none euill be found in thee in all thy dayes.
29 And yet a man hath rysen to persecute thee, and to seeke thy soule: but the soule of my Lorde shall be bound in the bundel of the lyuyng with the Lord thy God, and the soules of thy enemies shall God cast out, euen as out of the middle of a slyng.
30 And when the Lorde shall haue done to my lord al the good that he hath promysed thee, and shall haue made thee ruler ouer Israel:
31 Then shall it be no griefe vnto thee, nor offence of mynde vnto my lorde, that thou hast not shed blood causelesse, and that my lord hath not auenged him selfe: But when the Lorde shall haue dealt well with my lord, then thinke on thyne handmayde.
32 And Dauid said to Abigail: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meete me.
33 Blessed is thy saying, and blessed art thou which hast kept me this day from comming to shed blood, & from auengeing my selfe with myne owne hande.
34 For in very deede, as the Lorde God of Israel lyueth, which hath kept me backe from hurting thee: except thou haddest hasted and met me, surely there hadde not ben left vnto Nabal by the dawnyng of the day, any that pysseth against the wall.
35 And so Dauid receaued of her hande that which she had brought him, and sayde vnto her: Go vp in peace to thyne house, beholde I haue heard thy voyce, and haue graunted thy petition.
36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and beholde, he held a feast in his house lyke the feast of a king, and Nabals heart was mery within hym, for he was very drunken: Wherfore she tolde him nothyng neither lesse nor more, vntyll the morowe mornyng.
37 But in the morning when the wine was gone out of Nabal, his wyfe tolde him these wordes, and his heart dyed within him, and he became as a stone.
38 And vpon a ten dayes after, the Lord smote Nabal, that he dyed.
39 And when Dauid heard that Nabal was dead, he sayd: Blessed be the Lord that hath iudged ye cause of my rebuke of the hand of Nabal, & hath kept his seruaunt from euill: For the Lord hath recompenced the wickednes of Nabal vpon his owne head. And Dauid sent to commune with Abigail, to take her to his wyfe.
40 And when the seruauntes of Dauid were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake vnto her, saying: Dauid sent vs vnto thee, to take thee to his wyfe.
41 (25:40) And she arose, & bowed her selfe on her face to the earth, and saide: Beholde, let thy handmayd be a seruaunt, to washe the feete of the seruauntes of my lorde.
42 (25:41) And Abigail hasted, and arose, & gate her vpon an Asse, with fiue damosels of hers that went at her feete, and she went after the messengers of Dauid, & became his wyfe.
43 (25:42) Dauid also toke Ahinoam of Iezrael, and they were both his wyues.
44 (25:43) But Saul had geuen Michol his daughter, Dauids wyfe, to Phalti the sonne of Lais, which was of Gallim.
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.