« | Deuteronomy 26 | » |
1 When thou art come into the lande which the Lord thy God geueth thee to inherite, and hast enioyed it, & dwellest therin:
2 Take of the first of all the fruite of the earth, and bryng it out of the lande that the Lorde thy God geueth thee, and put it in a basket, and go vnto the place whiche the Lorde thy God shall chose to set his name in it.
3 And thou shalt come vnto the priest that shalbe in those dayes, and say vnto hym: I knowledge this day vnto the Lorde thy God, that I am come vnto the countrey whiche the Lorde sware vnto our fathers for to geue vs.
4 And the priest shall take the basket out of thyne hande, and set it downe before the aulter of the Lorde thy God.
5 And thou shalt aunswere and say before the Lorde thy God: The Syrians went about to destroy my father, and he went downe into Egypt, and so soiourned there with a fewe folke, and grewe there vnto a nation great, mightie, and full of people.
6 And the Egyptians vexed vs, and troubled vs, and laded vs with most cruel bondage.
7 And when we cryed vnto the Lorde God of our fathers, the Lorde hearde our voyce, and loked on our aduersitie, labour, and oppression.
8 And the Lorde brought vs out of Egypt, in a mightie hand, and a stretched out arme, and in great terriblenesse, and signes, and wonders.
9 And he hath brought vs into this place, and hath geuen vs this lande that floweth with mylke and hony.
10 And nowe lo, I haue brought the first fruites of the lande whiche thou O Lord hast geuen me: And thou shalt set it before the Lorde thy God, and worship before the Lorde thy God,
11 And reioyce in all the good thynges whiche the Lorde thy God hath geuen vnto thee and vnto thyne house, thou and the Leuite, and the straunger that it among you.
12 When thou hast made an ende of tithing all the tithes of thyne encrease the thirde yere, which is the yere of tithing: thou shalt geue it vnto the Leuite, the straunger, the fatherlesse, and the wydowe, that they may eate within thy gates, and fill them selues:
13 And thou shalt say before the Lord thy God: I haue brought the halowed thinges out of thine house, and haue geuen them vnto the Leuite, the straunger, the fatherlesse, and the wydowe, according to all thy commaundementes whiche thou hast commaunded me: I haue not transgressed thy commaundementes, nor forgotten them.
14 I haue not eaten therof in my mournyng, nor suffred ought to perishe thorowe vnclennesse, nor geuen ought therof for the dead: but haue hearkened vnto the voyce of the Lorde my God, and haue done after all that thou hast commaunded me.
15 Loke downe therfore from thy holy habitation, euen from heauen, and blesse thy people Israel, and the lande which thou hast geuen vs, as thou swarest vnto our fathers [a land] that floweth with mylke and honye.
16 This day the Lord thy God hath commaunded thee to do these ordinaunces and lawes: kepe thou them, & do them, with all thine heart, and all thy soule.
17 Thou hast set vp the Lord this day to be thy God, & to walke in his wayes, and to kepe his ordinaunces, his commaundementes, and his lawes, and to hearken vnto his voyce.
18 And the Lorde hath set thee vp this day, to be a seuerall people vnto hym, as he hath promised thee, and that thou kepe his commaundementes:
19 And to make thee hye aboue all nations whiche he hath made, in prayse, in name, and honour, and that thou mayest be an holy people vnto the Lord thy God, as he hath sayde.
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.