« | Ezekiel 11 | » |
1 Moreouer, the spirite lift me vp, and brought me vnto the east gate of the Lordes house, which lyeth eastwarde: and beholde, at the entry of the gate were fiue and twentie men, among whom I sawe Iaazaniah the sonne of Azur, and Pheltiah the sonne of Banaiahu, the rulers of the people.
2 Then sayde he vnto me, Thou sonne of man, these men imagine mischiefe, & a wicked counsayle take they in this citie,
3 Saying, It is not neare, let vs builde houses: this [Hierusalem] is the cauldron, and we be the fleshe.
4 Therfore shalt thou prophecie against them: yea prophecie O sonne of man.
5 And with that fell the spirite of the Lorde vpon me, and sayde vnto me, Speake, thus saith the Lorde: On this maner haue ye spoken (O ye house of Israel) and I knowe the imaginations of your heartes.
6 Many one haue ye murthered in this citie, and fylled the streetes full of the slayne:
7 Therfore thus saith the Lorde God, The slayne men that ye haue layde on the grounde in the citie are the fleshe, and this citie is the cauldron: but I wyll bryng you out of it,
8 (11:7) ye haue feared the sworde, and I wyll bring a sworde ouer you, saith the Lorde God.
9 (11:8) And I wyll bryng you out of the middest therof, and deliuer you into the handes of straungers, and wyll execute iudgementes among you.
10 Ye shall fall by the sworde, in the borders of Israel wyll I iudge you, and ye shall knowe that I am the Lorde.
11 This citie shall not be your cauldron, neither shall ye be the fleshe therin: but in the borders of Israel wyll I punishe you,
12 That ye may knowe that I am the Lorde, in whose commaundementes ye haue not walked, nor kept my lawes: but haue done after the customes of the heathen that lye rounde about you.
13 Nowe when I prophecied, Pheltiah the sonne of Banaiahu dyed: then fell I downe vpon my face, and cryed with a loude voyce, saying, Ah Lorde God, wylt thou then vtterly destroy all the remnaunt in Israel?
14 And so the worde of the Lorde came vnto me on this maner.
15 Thou sonne of man, thy brethren [euen] thy brethren, the men of thy kinrede, and all the house of Israel, wholly [are they] vnto whom the inhabitauntes of Hierusalem haue sayde withdrawe ye farre from the Lorde, for the lande is geuen vs in possession.
16 Therfore tell them, thus saith the God: Although I sende them farre of among the gentiles, and scatter them among the nations, yet wyll I be to them as a litle sanctuarie in the landes where they shall come.
17 Tell them also, thus saith the Lorde God, I wyll gather you agayne out of the nations, and bryng you from the countreis where ye be scattered, and I wyll geue you the lande of Israel agayne.
18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all their idols, and all their abhominations from thence.
19 And I wyll geue them one heart, and I wyll put a newe spirite within their bowels: that stony heart wyll I take out of their body, and geue them a fleshlye heart,
20 That they may walke in my commaundementes, and kepe mine ordinaunces and do them, that they may be my people, and I their God.
21 But to the heart of their idols and their abhominations their heart goeth, their wayes wyll I bryng vpon their owne heades, saith the Lorde God.
22 After this did the Cherubims lift vp their wynges and the wheeles besides them, and the glorie of the God of Israel was vpon them on hye.
23 So the glorie of the Lorde went vp from the middest of the citie, and stoode vpon the mount of the citie towarde the east.
24 And the spirite toke me vp, & brought me agayne to Chaldea to the captiuitie, in a vision by the spirite of God: then the vision that I had seene went vp from me.
25 So I spake vnto the captiues all the wordes of the Lorde which he had shewed me.
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.