« | Ezekiel 29 | » |
1 In the tenth yere, vpon the twelft day of the tenth moneth, the worde of the Lorde came vnto me, saying:
2 Thou sonne of man, set thy face against Pharao the king of Egypt, prophecie against him, and against the whole lande of Egypt.
3 Speake & tell him, thus sayth the Lord God: Beholde O Pharao thou king of Egypt, I will vpon thee thou great dragon that lyeth in the mids of his riuers, thou that sayst, The riuer is mine, I haue made it for my selfe.
4 I wil put hookes in thy chawes, and hang the fishe in thy riuers vpon thy skales: after that I will drawe thee out of thy riuers, yea and all the fishe of thy riuers shall hang vpon thy skales.
5 I will leaue thee in the wildernesse, [both] thee and all the fishe of thy riuers: thou shalt fall vpon the open fielde, thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I haue geuen thee for meate to the beastes of the fielde, & to the foules of the ayre,
6 That all they which dwell in Egypt may know that I am the Lord, because they haue ben a staffe of reede to the house of Israel.
7 When they toke hold of thee with their hand, thou brakest & rent all their shoulder: & when they leaned vpon thee, thou brakest and madest all their loynes to stande vpright.
8 Therefore thus sayth the Lorde God: Behold, I wil bring a sword vpon thee, & destroy out of thee both man and beast.
9 Yea the lande of Egypt shalbe desolate and waste, and they shall knowe that I am the Lorde, because he sayde, The riuer is myne, I my selfe haue made it.
10 Beholde therefore I will vpon thee and vpon thy riuers, I will make the land of Egypt vtterly waste and desolate, from the towre of Seueneh vnto the borders of Ethiopia.
11 No foote of man shall passe by it, nor foote of beast shall passe by it, neither shall it be inhabited fourtie yeres.
12 I wil make the land of Egypt to be desolate among other waste countreys, and her cities destroyed fourtie yeres among other destroyed cities: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and strawe them thorow the countreys.
13 Againe, thus sayth the Lorde God: when the fourtie yeres are expired, I will gather the Egyptians together againe out of the nations among whom they were scattered.
14 And I will bring the captiuitie of Egypt againe, and cause them to returne into the lande of Pathros, the lande of their habitation, and they shalbe there a small kingdome.
15 Yea it shalbe the smallest among other kingdomes, neither shall it exalt it selfe any more aboue the nations: for I wil so minishe them, that they shall no more rule the nations.
16 And they shalbe no more vnto the house of Israel a trust whiche bringeth their iniquitie to remembraunce, when they shall loke after them: & they shal knowe that I am the Lorde God.
17 In the twentie and seuenth yere, the first day of the first moneth, came the word of the Lorde vnto me, saying:
18 Thou sonne of man, Nabuchodonozor the king of Babylon caused his armie to serue a great seruice against Tyrus: euery head was made balde, & euery shoulder bare, yet had neither he nor his armie any wages for Tyrus for the seruice which he serued against it.
19 Therefore thus sayth the Lorde God: Behold, I will geue the lande of Egypt vnto Nabuchodonozor the king of Babylon, that he may take away her multitude, and spoyle her spoyles, & take her pray to pay his hoast their wages withall.
20 For the worke whiche he wrought about it, I haue geuen him the lande of Egypt, because they wrought for me, sayth the Lorde God.
21 In that day I will cause the horne of the house of Israel to bud foorth, and I will geue thee the opening of thy mouth in the mids of them: & they shall knowe that I am the Lorde.
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.