« | 2 Chronicles 5 | » |
1 And so all the worke that Solomon made in the house of the lord was finished: And Solomon brought in all the thinges that Dauid his father had dedicated, with the siluer and golde, and al the iewels, and put them among the treasures of the house of God.
2 Then Solomon gathered the elders of Israel together, and all the heades of the tribes and auncient fathers of the children of Israel, vnto Hierusalem, to bring the arke of the couenaunt of the Lorde out of the citie of Dauid, whiche is [in] Sion.
3 Wherefore all the men of Israel resorted vnto the king in the feast, euen in the seuenth moneth.
4 And all the elders of Israel came, and the Leuites toke vp the arke.
5 And the priestes & the Leuites brought away the arke of the tabernacle of ye congregatio, & al the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, and they bare them.
6 And king Solomon & all the congregation of Israel that were assembled vnto him before the arke, offered sheepe and oxen, so many that they coulde not be tolde nor numbred for multitude.
7 And the priestes brought the arke of the appoyntment of the Lorde vnto his place, euen into the quier of the temple within the place most holy, and set it vnder the wynges of the Cherubs,
8 So that the Cherubs stretched out their wynges ouer the place of the arke, and the Cherubs couered both the arke and her barres aboue on hye.
9 And the barres of the arke were so long, that the heades of the barres were seene without the arke within the quier, but not without: and there the arke remayned vnto this day.
10 But there was nothing in the arke saue the two tables which Moyses put therin at Horeb, when the Lord made a couenaunt with the children of Israel after they were come out of Egypt.
11 And it fortuned, that when the priestes were come out of the holy place (for all the priestes that were present, were sanctified, and did not then wayte by course)
12 That both the Leuites and the singers, vnder Asaph, Heman, and Ieduthun, were appoynted to sundry offices with their children and brethren, and were arayed in fyne whyte, hauing cymbales, psalteries, and harpes, and stoode at the east ende of the aulter, and by them an hundred and twentie priestes blowing with trumpets:
13 And the trumpet blowers and the singers so agreed, that it seemed but one voyce in praysing & thanking the Lorde: And when they lift vp their voyce with the trumpets, cymbales, and other instrumentes of musicke, and when they praysed the Lord, How that he is good, and that his mercie lasteth euer: the house of God was filled with a cloude,
14 So that the priestes coulde not endure to minister by the reason of the cloude: For the maiestie of the Lorde had filled the house of God.
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.