« | Ecclesiastes 8 | » |
1 Who is wise? who hath knowledge to make an aunswere? A mans wysdome maketh his face to shine: but vnshamefastnes putteth it out of fauour.
2 Kepe the kynges commaundement, namely for the oth that thou hast made vnto God for the same.
3 Be not hastie to go out of his sight, and see thou continue in no euyll thing: for whatsoeuer it pleaseth hym, that doth he.
4 Like as when a king geueth a charge, his commaundement is mightie: Euen so, who may say vnto him, what doest thou?
5 Who so kepeth the commaundement, shall feele no harme: but a wyse mans heart discerneth the tyme and iudgement.
6 For euery thing wyll haue oportunitie and iudgement: and this is the thing that maketh men full of carefulnesse and sorowe.
7 And why? a man knoweth not what is for to come: for who can tell hym when it shalbe?
8 Neither is there any man that hath power ouer the spirite to kepe styll the spirite, nor to haue any power in the tyme of death, nor that can make an ende of the battayle, neither may vngodlynesse deliuer them that meddle withall.
9 All these thinges haue I considered, and applied my mynde vnto euery worke that is vnder the sunne, howe one man hath lordship vpon another to his owne harme.
10 For I haue seene often the vngodly brought to their graues, and yet they haue returned into the citie agayne: and came from the place of holy men, whiche in the citie were growen out of memorie, as were those also that liued well: This is also a vayne thing.
11 Because nowe that euyll workes are not hastyly punished, the heart of man geueth hym selfe ouer vnto wickednesse.
12 Because an euyll person offendeth an hundred tymes, and God deferreth, geuing hym long life, therefore am I sure that it shall go well with them that feare God, whiche haue hym before their eyes.
13 Againe, as for the vngodly it shall not be well with him, neither shall he prolong his dayes: but euen as a shadowe, so shall he be that feareth not God.
14 Yet is there a vanitie vpon earth: There be iust men vnto whom it happeneth as though they had the workes of the vngodly: Againe, there be vngodly, with whom it goeth as though they had the workes of the righteous: This haue I called also a vayne thing.
15 Therfore I commende gladnesse, because a man hath no better thing vnder the sunne, then to eate and drinke, and to be merie: for that shall he haue of his labour, al the dayes of his life which God geueth hym vnder the sunne.
16 And so I applied my minde to learne wysdome, and to knowe the trauayle that is in the worlde, and that of suche a fashion, that I suffred not mine eyes to sleepe neither day nor night.
17 I vnderstoode of all the workes of God, but it is not possible for a man to attayne vnto the workes that are done vnder the sunne: and though he bestowe his labour to seeke them out, yet can he not reach vnto them: yea though a wyse man would vndertake to know them, yet shall he not finde them.
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.