« | 1 Samuel 5 | » |
1 And the Philistines toke the arke of God, and caryed it from the Eben ezer vnto Asdod.
2 Yea the Philistines toke the arke of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
3 And when they of Asdod were vp in the next daye in the mornyng, beholde, Dagon was fallen vpon his face on the earth before the arke of the Lorde: And they toke Dagon, and set him in his place agayne.
4 And when they were come earlie in the next morning, beholde, Dagon was fallen vpon his face on the grounde before the arke of the Lorde, and his head and his two handes cut of vpon the thresholde, that onely the stumpe of Dagon was left to him.
5 And therfore is it, that the priestes of Dagon, neither any man that commeth into Dagons house, treade not on the thresholde of Dagon in Asdod, vnto this day.
6 But the hand of the Lorde was heauie vpon them of Asdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerodes, both Asdod, and all the coastes thereof.
7 And when the men of Asdod sawe that it was so, they saide: The arke of the God of Israel shal not abide here with vs, for his hand is sore vpon vs, & vpon Dagon our God.
8 They sent therfore, and gathered all the lordes of the Philistines vnto them, and saide: What shall we do with the arke of the God of Israel? They aunswered: Let the arke of the God of Israel be caryed about vnto Gath. And they caried the arke of the God of Israel about.
9 And when they had caryed it about, the hand of the Lorde was agaynst the citie with a very great destruction, and he smote the men of the citie both small and great, and they had emerodes in their secrete partes.
10 Therfore they sent the arke of God to Acaron: and assoone as the arke of God came to Acaron, the Acaronites cryed out, saying: They haue brought the arke of the God of Israel to vs, to slea vs, and our people.
11 And so they sent, and gathered together al the lordes of the Philistines, and saide: Send away the arke of the God of Israel, to go agayne to his owne place, that it slea vs not, and our people. For there was a destruction and death thorowout all the citie, and the hand of God was exceeding sore there.
12 And the men that dyed not, were smitten with the emerodes: And the crye of the citie went vp to heauen.
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.