« | 2 Samuel 2 | » |
1 After this, Dauid asked counsel at the lord, saying: Shall I go vp into any of the cities of Iuda? And the Lorde sayd vnto him: Go vp. And Dauid said: Whyther shall I go? He aunswered: Unto Hebron.
2 And so Dauid went thyther with his two wyues, Ahinoam the Iezraelite, & Abigail Nabals wyfe the Carmelite.
3 And the men that were with him did Dauid cary vp also, euery man with his housholde: And they dwelt in the townes of Hebron.
4 And the men of Iuda came, and there they annoynted Dauid kyng ouer the house of Iuda: And they tolde Dauid, saying, It is the men of Iabes Gilead that buried Saul.
5 And Dauid sent messengers vnto the men of Iabes Gilead, and sayde vnto them: Blessed are ye vnto the lord, that ye haue shewed suche kindnesse vnto your lord Saul, and haue buried him.
6 And nowe the Lorde shewe mercy and trueth vnto you: And I will do you also suche kindnes, as ye haue done in this thing:
7 Therfore nowe let your handes be strong, and play ye the men: For your maister Saul is dead, and they that are of the house of Iuda haue annoynted me king ouer them.
8 But Abner the sonne of Ner that was captayne of Sauls hoaste, toke Isboseth the sonne of Saul, and brought him to Mahanaim,
9 And made him king ouer Gilead, and ouer the Assurites, and ouer Iezrael, Ephraim, Beniamin, & ouer all Israel.
10 And Isboseth Sauls sonne was fourtie yeres olde when he began to raigne ouer Israel, and raigned two yeres: But the house of Iuda folowed Dauid.
11 (And the time whiche Dauid raigned in Hebron ouer the house of Iuda, was seuen yeres and sixe monethes.)
12 And Abner the sonne of Ner, and the seruauntes of Isboseth the sonne of Saul wet out of Mahanaim to Gibeon
13 And Ioab the sonne of Zaruia, and the seruauntes of Dauid, went out and met one another by the poole of Gibeon: And they sate downe, the one on the one side of the poole, and the other on the other side.
14 And Abner sayde to Ioab: Let the young men nowe aryse, and play before vs. And Ioab sayde: Let them aryse.
15 Then there arose & went ouer twelue of Beniamin by numbre, which pertayned to Isboseth the sonne of Saul, and twelue of the seruauntes of Dauid.
16 And euery one caught his felowe by ye head, & thrust his sword in his felowes side, and so they fell downe together: Wherefore the place was called Helkath hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.
17 And there was an exceeding cruell battel that same day: For Abner and the men of Israel fell before the seruauntes of Dauid.
18 And there were three sonnes of Zaruia there: Ioab, Abisai, and Asahel: And Asahel was as light of foote as a wilde Roe.
19 And Asahel folowed after Abner, and in goyng he turned neither to the right hande nor to the left, from Abner.
20 Then Abner loked behynd him, and sayde: Art thou Asahel? He aunswered: Yea.
21 Abner sayd: Turne thee either to the right hande or the left, and catche one of the young men, and take thee his weapons. But Asahel woulde not depart from him.
22 And Abner sayd agayne to Asahel, Depart fro me: Wherfore should I smite thee to the grounde, and not be able to holde vp my face to Ioab thy brother?
23 Howebeit, when he woulde in no wyse depart, Abner with the hynder ende of the speare smote him vnder the fyft ribbe, that the speare came out behinde him, that he fell downe in the same place, and died there: And as many as came to the place where Asahel fell downe and died, stoode still.
24 Ioab also and Abisai pursued after Abner: And the sunne went downe when they were come to the hil Amma, that lyeth before Giah, by the way of the wildernesse of Gibeon.
25 And the children of Beniamin gathered them selues together after Abner, & were on a heape, and stoode on the top of an hill.
26 Then Abner called to Ioab, and said: Shall the sword deuour for euer? Knowest thou not, that it wil be bitternesse in the latter ende? Howe long then shall it be yer thou bid the people returne from folowing their brethren?
27 And Ioab sayde: As God lyueth, if thou haddest not spoken, suerly euen in the morning the people had departed, euery one from persecuting his brother.
28 And so Ioab blewe a trumpet, and all the people stoode still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more.
29 And Abner and his men walked all that night through the playne, & went ouer Iordane, & past through all Bethhoron, till they came to Mahanaim.
30 And Ioab returned from persecuting Abner, and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of Dauids seruautes nineteene men, & Asahel.
31 But the seruauntes of Dauid had smitten of Beniamin and of Abners men, [so that] three hundred and threescore men died.
32 And they toke vp Asahel, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father, which was in Bethlehem: And Ioab and his men went all night, and the day arose to them at Hebron.
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.