« | 2 Kings 16 | » |
1 The seuenteenth yere of Pecah the sonne of Remaliahu [king of Israel] Ahaz the sonne of Iotham king of Iuda began to raigne.
2 Twentie yeres olde was he when he was made king, and raigned sixteene yeres in Hierusalem, & did not that which was right in the eies of the Lorde his God, lyke Dauid his father:
3 But walked in the way of the kinges of Israel, yea and made his sonnes to go through the fire after the abhominations of the heathen whom the Lorde cast out before the children of Israel.
4 And he offred and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hilles, and vnder euery thicke tree.
5 Then Rezin king of Syria, and Pecah sonne of Remaliahu king of Israel, came vp to Hierusalem to fight: And they fought against Ahaz, but could not ouercome him.
6 At the same tyme Rezin king of Syria brought Elath againe to Syria, and ryd the Iewes thence: And the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt therein vnto this day.
7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Thiglath Peleser king of Assyria, saying: I am thy seruaunt and thy sonne, come vp and deliuer me out of the hande of the king of Syria, and out of the hande of the king of Israel, which rise vp against me.
8 And Ahaz toke the siluer and golde that was founde in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the kinges house, and sent a rewarde to the king of Assyria.
9 And the king of Assyria consented vnto him: For the king of Assyria went vp against Damasco, and when he had taken it, he carryed the people away to Kir, and slue Rezin.
10 And king Ahaz went to Damascon, to meete Thiglath Peleser king of Assyria: And when king Ahaz sawe an aulter that was at Damascon, he sent to Uria the priest, the paterne of the aulter and the fashion of it, and all the workemanship thereof.
11 And Uria the priest made an aulter, in all poyntes lyke to the paterne which king Ahaz had sent from Damascon, euen so did Uria ye priest make it against king Ahaz came from Damascon.
12 And so when the king was come from Damascon, he sawe the aulter: and the king went to it, and offred thereon:
13 And he burnt his burnt offring, and his meate offring, & powred his drincke offring, and sprinckled the blood of his peace offringes beside the aulter,
14 And by the brasen aulter which was before the Lorde, and set it without the temple betweene the aulter and the temple of the Lorde, and put it on the northsyde of the aulter.
15 And king Ahaz commaunded Uria the priest, & saide: Upon the great aulter, set on fire in the morning the burnt offring, and in the euen the meate offering, and the kinges burnt sacrifice, and his meate offring, with the burnt offering of all the people of the lande, and their meate offring, and their drinke offringes, and powre thereby al the blood of the burnt offring, and all the blood of the sacrifice: and the brasen aulter wyll I come, and see.
16 And Uria the priest did according to al thinges as king Ahaz commaunded him.
17 And king Ahaz brake the sydes of the botomes, and toke the lauer from of them, & toke downe the lauatorie from of the brasen oxen that were vnder it, and put it vpon a pauement of stones.
18 And the vayle for the Sabbath that they had made in the house, and the kinges entrie without, turned he to the house of the Lorde, for feare of the king of Assyria.
19 The rest of the wordes that concerne Ahaz what he did, are they not written in the booke of the cronicles of the kinges of Iuda?
20 And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the citie of Dauid, & Hezekia his sonne raigned in his steade.
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.