« | Deuteronomy 29 | » |
1 These are the wordes of the couenaunt which the Lorde commaunded Moyses to make with the children of Israel in the lande of Moab, besyde the appoyntment which he made with them in Horeb.
2 And Moyses called all Israel, & sayde vnto them: Ye haue seene all that the Lorde did before your eyes in the lande of Egypt, vnto Pharao and vnto all his seruauntes, and vnto all his lande,
3 The great temptations which thine eyes haue seene, those great miracles and wonders:
4 And yet the Lorde hath not geuen you an heart to perceaue, and eyes to see, and eares to heare, vnto this day.
5 And I haue led you fourtie yeres in the wildernesse: and your clothes are not waxed olde vpon you, and thy shoe is not waxed olde vpon thy foote.
6 Ye haue eaten no bread, nor drunke wine or strong drynke: that ye myght knowe howe that I am the Lorde your God.
7 And ye came vnto this place, and Sehon the kyng of Hesbon, and Og the kyng of Basan came out agaynst vs vnto battayle, and we smote them,
8 And toke their lande, and gaue it for an inheritaunce vnto the Rubenites and Gadites, and to the halfe tribe of Manasse.
9 Kepe therfore the wordes of this couenaunt, and do them, that ye may vnderstande all that ye ought to do.
10 Ye stande this day euery one of you before the Lorde your God: your captaynes, your tribes, your elders, your officers, and all the men of Israel:
11 Your childre also, your wiues, and the straunger that is in thine hoast, from the hewer of thy wood, vnto the drawer of thy water:
12 That thou shouldest go into the couenaunt of the Lorde thy God, and into his othe which the Lorde thy God maketh with thee this day:
13 For to make thee a people vnto hym selfe, and that he may be vnto thee a God, as he hath sayde vnto thee, and as he hath sworne vnto thy fathers, Abraham, Isahac, and Iacob.
14 I make not this bonde and this othe with you only:
15 But both with hym that standeth here with vs this day before the Lorde our God, and also with hym that is not here with vs this day.
16 For ye knowe howe we haue dwelt in the lande of Egypt, and howe we came through the myddes of the nations which ye passed by:
17 And ye haue seene their abhominations, and their idols, wood and stone, siluer and golde, which were among them.
18 Lest there be among you man or woman, kinrede or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lorde our God, to go and serue the gods of these nations: and lest there be among you some roote that beareth gall and wormewood.
19 So that when he heareth the wordes of this othe, he blesse hym selfe in his heart, saying: I shall haue peace, I wyll walke in the meanyng of myne owne heart: to put the drunken to the thirstie.
20 And so the Lorde wyll not consent to be mercifull vnto hym, but then the wrath of the Lorde and his gelousie shall smoke agaynst that man: and all the curses that are written in this booke shall lyght vpon hym, and the Lorde shal do out his name from vnder heaue.
21 And the Lorde shall seperate hym vnto euyll, out of all the tribes of Israel, accordyng vnto all the curses of the couenaunt that are written in the booke of this lawe.
22 So that the generatio to come of your children that shall ryse vp after you, and the straunger that shall come from a farre lande, shall say, when they see the plagues of that lande, and the diseases wherwith the Lorde hath smitten it:
23 Howe all the lande is burnt vp with brimstone and salt, and that it is neither sowen, nor beareth, nor any grasse groweth therin, lyke as in the place of ye ouerthrowyng of Sodome, Gomor, Adama, and Zeboim, which the Lorde ouerthrewe in his wrath and anger.
24 Euen then shal all nations say: Wherfore hath the Lord done on this fashion vnto this lande? O howe fierse is this great wrath?
25 And men shall say: Because they haue forsaken the couenaunt of the Lorde God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the lande of Egypt.
26 For they went and serued straunge gods, and worshipped them, gods which they knewe not, and which had geuen them nothyng.
27 And the wrath of the Lorde waxed hot agaynst this lande, to bryng vpon it all the curses that are written in this booke.
28 And the Lorde cast them out of their lande in anger, wrath, and great indignation, and cast them into a straunge lande, as this day beareth witnesse.
29 The secretes of the Lorde our God are opened vnto vs, and to our children for euer, that we may do all the wordes of this lawe.
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.