« | 2 Kings 21 | » |
1 Manasse was twelue yeres old when he began to raigne, and raigned fyftie and fyue yeres in Hierusale: his mothers name also was Hephziba.
2 And he did euil in the sight of the Lord, euen after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lorde cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he went and buylt vp the hygh places whiche Hezekia his father had destroyed, and he reared vp aulters for Baal, and made idol groues as dyd Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the hoast of heauen, and serued them.
4 And he buylt aulters in the house of the Lord, of which the Lorde sayde: in Hierusalem will I put my name.
5 And he buylt aulters for all the hoast of heauen, [euen] in two courtes of the house of the Lorde.
6 And he offred his owne sonne in fire, and gaue heede vnto witchcraft and sorcery, and mainteyned workers with spirites, and tellers of fortunes, and wrought much wickednesse in the sight of the Lorde to anger him.
7 And he put an image of a groue that he had made [euen] in the temple, of which the Lord had sayd to Dauid and Solomon his sonne: in this house and in Hierusalem which I haue chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for euer.
8 Neither will I make the feete of Israel moue any more out of the lande which I gaue their fathers: so that they will obserue and do all that I haue commaunded them, and according to all the law that my seruaunt Moyses commaunded them.
9 But they hearkened not: and Manasse led them out of the way, to do more wickedly then dyd the heathen people whom the Lorde destroyed before the children of Israel.
10 And the Lord spake by his seruauntes the prophetes, saying:
11 Because Manasse king of Iuda hath done such abhominations, and hath wrought more wickedly then all the Amorites whiche were before him dyd, and hath made Iuda sinne also with his idols:
12 Therfore thus sayth the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I will bring such euyll vpon Hierusalem and Iuda, that whoso heareth of it, both his cares shal tingle.
13 And I will stretche ouer Hierusalem the squaryng line of Samaria, & the plummet of the house of Ahab: And I will wype out Hierusalem, as a man wypeth a dishe, and when he hath wyped it, turneth it vp syde downe.
14 And I will leaue the remnaunt of myne inheritaunce, and deliuer them into the hand of their enemies, and they shalbe robbed and spoyled of all their aduersaries:
15 Euen because they haue done euyll in my sight, and haue angred me, sence the time their fathers came out of Egypt, vnto this day.
16 And Manasse shed innocent blood exceeding much, till he replenished Hierusalem from corner to corner, besyde his sinne wherwith he made Iuda to sinne and to do euyll in the sight of the Lorde.
17 The rest of the wordes that concerne Manasse, and all that he dyd, and his sinne that he sinned, are they not written in the booke of the cronicles of the kinges of Iuda?
18 And Manasse slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his owne house, euen in the garde of Uzza, & Amon his sonne raigned in his steade.
19 Amon was twentie and two yeres olde when he began to raigne, and he raigned two yeres in Hierusalem: His mothers name also was Mesullemeth the daughter of Harus of Iotba.
20 And he dyd euyll in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasse dyd:
21 And walked in al the way that his father walked in, and serued the idols that his father serued, and worshipped them:
22 And he forsoke the Lord God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the Lorde.
23 And the seruauntes of Amon conspired against hym, & slue the king in his owne house.
24 And the people of the land slue al them that had conspired against king Amon, and the people made Iosia his sonne king in his steade.
25 The rest of the wordes that concerne Amon what thinges he dyd, are they not written in the booke of the cronicles of the kinges of Iuda?
26 And they buryed him in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza, & Iosia 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.