« | 2 Kings 25 |
1 And it fortuned, that in the ninth yere of his raigne, the tenth day of the tenth moneth, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came, he & all his hoast, against Hierusalem, and pitched against it, and made engins against it on euery syde.
2 And the citie was besieged vnto the eleuenth yere of king Zedekia.
3 And the ninth day of the moneth, there was so great hunger in the citie, that there was no bread for the people of the lande.
4 And the citie was broken vp, and all the men of armes [fled] by night by a way through a gate [which is] betweene two walles by the kinges garden (the Chaldees lying about the citie:) And the king went the way toward the playne.
5 And the souldiers of the Chaldees folowed after the king, and toke him in the playne of Iericho: and all his army were scattered away from him.
6 So they toke the king, and brought him to [Nabuchodonosor] the king of Babylon to Ribla, where they gaue iudgement vpon him.
7 And they slue the sonnes of Zedekia before his eyes, and he put out the eyes of Zedekia, and fettered him with chaynes, and carryed him to Babylon.
8 And the seuenth day of the fifth moneth (which is the nineteenth yere of king Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon) came Nebusaradan a seruaunt of the king of Babylon & chiefe captayne of the men of warre, vnto Hierusalem:
9 And burnt the house of the Lord, and the kinges house, and all the houses of Hierusalem, and all great houses burnt he with fire.
10 And all the souldiers of the Chaldees that were with the chiefe captayne of the men of warre, brake downe the walles of Hierusalem rounde about.
11 But the rest of the people that were left in the citie, and them that were fled to the king of Babylon, with the remnaunt of the common people, did Nabusaradan the chiefe captayne of the men of warre carry away.
12 But the captaine of the souldiers left of the poore of the land, to dresse the vines and to tyll the grounde.
13 And the pillers of brasse that were in the house of the Lorde, and the sockets, and the brasen lauatorie that was in the house of the Lorde, did the Chaldees breake, & carryed all the brasse of them to Babylon.
14 And the pots, shouels, instrumentes of musicke, spoones, and all the vessels of brasse that they ministred in, toke they away,
15 And the fire pannes, and basons: and such thinges as were of golde and of siluer, them toke ihe chiefe captayne away:
16 Euen two pillers, one lauatorie, and the sockets which Solomon had made for the house of the Lorde: The brasse of al these vessels was without waight.
17 The height of the one piller was eightteene cubites, and the pommel thereof was brasse: and the height of the pommel was with wreathen worke three cubites, & pomegranates vpon the pommel rounde about all of brasse: And of the same fashion was the second piller, with a wreathen worke.
18 And the chiefe captayne of the men of warre toke Saraia the chiefe priest, and Zephoniah the highest priest saue one, and the three kepers of the holy things:
19 And out of the citie he toke a chamberlayne that had the ouersight of the men of warre, & fiue men of them that were euer in the kinges presence which were founde in the citie, and him that was scribe to the captaine of the hoast which brought out the people of the lande to warre, and threescore men of the people of the lande that were founde in the citie.
20 And Nebusaradan the chiefe captaine of the men of warre, toke these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Ribla.
21 And the king of Babylon smote them, and slue them at Ribla in the lande of Hamath: And so Iuda was carryed away out of their lande.
22 Howebeit, there remayned people in the lande of Iuda, whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon left, & made Gedalia the sonne of Ahikam the sonne of Saphan ruler ouer them.
23 And all the captaynes of the souldiers, & other men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedalia gouernour, and there came to Gedalia to Mizpah Ismael ye sonne of Nathania, Iohannan the sonne of Karea, Saraia the sonne of Thanhumeth the Netophatite, and Iaazania the sonne of Maachati, they and their men.
24 And Gedalia sware to them and to the men whom they had with them, and saide vnto them: Feare not ye because ye are the seruauntes of the Chaldees: dwell in the lande, and serue the king of Babylon, and ye shall be well.
25 But it chaunced in the seuenth moneth, that Ismael the sonne of Nathania the sonne of Elisama of the kinges blood, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedalia that he dyed: and so did he the Iewes and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.
26 And all the people both small & great, and the captaynes of warre, arose and came to Egypt: for they were afrayde of the Chaldees.
27 Notwithstading, yet in the seuen & thirtith yere after Iehoachin king of Iuda was carryed away, the seuen and twentith day of the twelfth moneth Euilmerodach king of Babylon the same yere that he began to raigne, did lyft vp the head of Iehoachin king of Iuda out of pryson.
28 And spake kindely to him, and set his seate aboue the seate of the kinges that were with him in Babylon,
29 And chaunged his pryson garmentes, and he did euer eate bread before him al the dayes of his lyfe.
30 His portion was a continuall portion that was assigned him of the king, euery day a certaine as long as he lyued.
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.