« | Exodus 24 | » |
1 And he said vnto Moyses: Come vp vnto the Lorde, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, & the threscore and ten elders of Israel, and ye shall worship a farre of.
2 And Moyses hym selfe alone shall go vnto the Lorde: but they shall not come nygh, neither shall the people go vp with hym.
3 And Moyses came and tolde the people all the wordes of the Lorde, and all the iudgementes: And all the people aunswered with one voyce, and sayde: All the wordes whiche the Lorde hath sayde wyll we do.
4 And Moyses wrote all the wordes of the Lord, and rose vp early, and set him an aulter vnder the hill, and 12 stones, according to the 12 tribes of Israel.
5 And sent young men of the children of Israel, whiche brought burnt offeringes, and offered peace offeringes of oxen vnto the Lorde.
6 And Moyses toke halfe of the blood, and put it in basins, and the other halfe he spinckled on the aulter.
7 And he toke the booke of the couenaut, & read it in the audience of the people: And they sayd, All that the Lord hath sayd, wyll we do, and be obedient.
8 And Moyses toke the blood, & sprinckled it on the people, and sayd: Beholde, this is the blood of the couenaut which the Lorde hath made with you vpon all these wordes.
9 Then went Moyses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the threscore and ten elders of Israel vp.
10 And they saw the God of Israel: and there was vnder his feete as it were a worke of a Saphire stone, & as it were the heauen when it is cleare.
11 And he layde not his hande vpon the nobles of the children of Israel: and they saw God, and did eate and drinke.
12 And the Lord said vnto Moyses: Come vp to me into the hill, and be there, and I wyll geue thee tables of stone, and a law & comaundementes which I haue written, that thou mayest teache them.
13 And Moyses rose vp, and his minister Iosuah: and Moyses went vp into the hill of God,
14 And said vnto the elders, Tary ye here vntill we come agayne vnto you: Behold, here is Aaron and Hur with you. If any man haue any matters to do, let hym come to them.
15 And Moyses went vp into the mount, aud a cloude couered the hyll.
16 And the glory of the Lord abode vpon the mout Sinai, & the cloude couered it six days: & the seuenth day he called vnto Moses out of ye middes of the cloude.
17 And the sight of the glory of the Lord, was like consumyng fire on ye top of the hill, in the eyes of ye children of Israel.
18 And Moyses went into the middes of the cloude, and gate hym vp into the moutaine: & Moyses was in the mount fourtie dayes and fourtie nyghtes.
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.