« | 2 Chronicles 23 | » |
1 And in the seuenth yere Iehoiada beyng bolde, toke the captaynes of hundredes, Azariah the sonne of Iehoram, & Ismael the sonne of Iehohanan, Azariahu the sonne of Obed, Maasiahu the sonne of Adaiahu, & Elisaphat the sonne of Zichri, & made a bonde with them.
2 And they went about in Iuda, and gathered the Leuites out of all the cities of Iuda, & the auncient fathers of Israel, and they came to Hierusalem.
3 And all the congregation made a bonde with the king in the house of God, and he sayd vnto them: Beholde, the kinges sonne must raigne, as the Lorde hath sayde of the children of Dauid.
4 This is it therfore that ye shal do: The thirde part of you shall on the Sabbath come to the priestes, Leuites, & kepers of the porches,
5 And another thirde part shalbe by the kinges house, and another thirde part shalbe at the gate of the foundation: and al the people shalbe in the courtes of the house of the Lorde.
6 But there shal none come into the house of the Lorde, saue the priestes and they that minister vnto the Leuites, they shall go in, for they are holy: but all the people shal kepe the watch of the Lord.
7 And the Leuites shall compasse the king round about, and euery man shall haue his weapon in his hand: and what other man soeuer doth come into the house [of the Lorde] he shalbe slayne: and let them be with the king when he commeth in and when he goeth out.
8 And the Leuites and all Iuda dyd according to al thinges that Iehoiada the priest had commaunded, and toke euery man his men that came in on the Sabbath, with them that went out on the Sabbath day: neither did Iehoiada the priest let the companies depart.
9 And Iehoiada the priest deliuered to the captaynes of hundredes, speares, shieldes, and bucklers, that had parteyned to king Dauid, and were in the house of God.
10 And he set all the people (euery man hauing his weapon in his hande) from the right side of the temple to the lift side of the temple, along by the aulter and the temple, rounde about the king.
11 And they brought out the kinges sonne, and put vpon him the crowne, and the testimonie, and made him king: and Iehoiada and his sonnes annoynted him, and sayde, God saue the king.
12 When Athaliahu hearde the noyse of the people running, and praysing the king, she came to the people into the house of the Lorde.
13 And she loked, and beholde the king stoode in his place at the entring in, and the lordes and the trumpettes were by the king, and all the people of the lande reioysed, blowing with trumpets, and the singers were with instrumentes of musicke, and such as could sing prayse: But Athaliahu rent her clothes, and sayde, Treason, treason.
14 And Iehoiada the priest went out to the captaynes of hundredes that were gouernours of the hoast, and sayde vnto them, Haue her foorth of the ranges: & whoso foloweth her, let him be slayne with the sword. For the priest sayd, that they should not slay her in the house of the Lorde.
15 And they layde handes on her till she was come to the entring of the horse gate beside the kinges house, and there they slue her.
16 And Iehoiada made a bond betweene him and al the people and the king, that they shoulde be the Lordes people.
17 And all the people went to the house of Baal, and destroyed it, and brake his aulters and his images, and slue Mathan the priest of Baal before the aulters.
18 And Iehoiada put the officers for the house of the Lord, vnder the hand of the priestes and Leuites, as Dauid had distributed them in the house of the Lord, to offer burnt offeringes vnto the Lord, as it is written in the lawe of Moyses, with reioysing and singing, as it was ordeyned by Dauid.
19 And he set porters by the gates of the house of the Lord, that none which was vncleane in any thing shoulde enter in.
20 And he toke the captaynes of hundredes, and all the nobles, and the gouernours of the people, and al the folke of the lande, and caused the king to come downe out of the house of the Lorde, and they came through the hye gate into the kinges house, & set the king vpon the seate of the kingdome.
21 And all the people of the land reioysed, and the citie was in tranquilitie after that they had slayne Athaliahu with the sworde.
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.