« | 2 Kings 7 | » |
1 Then Elisa saide: Heare ye the word of the lord, thus sayth the Lorde: To morow this time [shall] a bushell of fyne flowre [be solde] for a sicle, and two bushels of barlye for a sicle in the gate of Samaria.
2 Then a certayne lorde (on whose hand the king leaned) aunswered the man of God, and sayde: Beholde, if the Lorde would make windowes in heaue, might this saying come to passe? He sayde: Behold, thou shalt see it with thyne eyes, but shalt not eate therof.
3 And there were foure leperous men at the entring in of the gate: And they sayd one to another, Why sit we here vntill we dye?
4 If we say, we will enter into the citie: behold, the dearth is in the citie, and we shal die therin: And if we sit stil here, we dye also. Nowe therfore come, and let vs fall vpon the hoast of the Syrians: If they saue our liues, we shall lyue: If they kill vs, then are we dead.
5 And they rose vp in the twylight to go to the hoast of the Syrians: And when they were come to the vtmost part of the hoast of Syria, behold there was no man there.
6 For the Lorde had made the hoast of the Syrians to heare a noyse of charets, & a noyse of horses, & the noyse of a great hoast: Insomuch that they sayde one to another, Lo, the king of Israel hath hyred against vs the kinges of the Hethites, and the kinges of the Egyptians, to come vpon vs.
7 Wherfore they arose, and fled in the twylight, and left their tentes, their horses, and their asses, and the fielde which they had pitched, euen as it was, and fled for their lyues.
8 And when these lepers came to the edge of the hoast, they went into a tent, and did eate and drinke, and caried thence siluer, and golde, and rayment, & went and hyd it: and came againe and entred into another tent, and caried thence also, and went and hyd it.
9 Then sayde one to another: We do not well this day, forasmuche as it is a day to bring good tydinges, and we holde our peace. If we tarie till the day light, some mischiefe wil come vpon vs: Now therfore come, that we may go and tell the kinges housholde.
10 And so they came, and called vnto the porter of the citie, and told them, saying: We came to the pauillions of the Syrians, and see there was no man there, neither voyce of man, but horses & asses tyed, and the tentes were euen as they were wont to be.
11 And so the man called vnto the porters, and they told the kinges house within.
12 And the king arose in the night, & sayde vnto his seruauntes: I wil shewe you nowe what the Syrians haue done vnto vs: They knowe that we be hungrie, and therefore are they gone out of the pauillions to hyde them selues in the fielde, saying: When they come out of the citie, we shall catche them alyue, and get in to the citie.
13 And one of his seruauntes aunswered, and sayde: Let men take I pray you fyue of the horses that remayne and are left in the multitude: (Beholde they are euen as all the multitude of Israel that are left in the citie: Beholde [I say] they are euen as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed) and we will send, and see.
14 They toke therfore the horses of two charets, and the king sent after the hoast of the Syrians, saying: Go, and see.
15 And they went after them euen vnto Iordane, and lo, all the way was full of clothes, and vessels, which the Syrians had cast from them in their haste: And the messengers returned, and tolde the king.
16 And the people went out, and spoyled the tentes of the Syrians: And so it came to passe that a bushell of fyne flowre was solde for a sicle, and two bushelles of barlye for a sicle, according to the worde of the Lorde.
17 And the king appoynted that lorde (on whose hand he leaned) to be at the gate: And the people trode vpon him in the gate, and he dyed according to the word of the man of God whiche he sayde when the king came downe to him.
18 And so came the thing to passe, that the man of God had spoken to the king, saying: Two bushels of barlye for a sicle, and a bushell of fyne flowre for another shalbe to morowe this tyme in the gate of Samaria.
19 Whervnto that lorde aunswered the man of God, and sayde: Yea and if the Lorde made windowes in heauen, might it come to passe? And he sayd: Beholde, thou shalt see it with thyne eyes, and shalt not eate thereof.
20 And euen so chaunced it vnto him: For the people trode vpon him in the gate, and he dyed.
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.