« | Galatians 4 | » |
1 And I say, that the heyre, as long as he is a chylde, differeth nothyng from a seruaut, though he be Lorde of all,
2 But is vnder tuters and gouernours, vntyll the tyme appoynted of the father.
3 Euen so we, when we were chyldren, were in bondage vnder ye rudimentes of the worlde:
4 But when the fulnesse of the tyme was come, God sent his sonne, made of a woman, and made vnder the lawe,
5 To redeeme them that were vnder the lawe, that we myght receaue the adoption of chyldren.
6 Because ye are sonnes, God hath sent the spirite of his sonne into your heartes, crying, Abba, father.
7 Wherfore thou art no more a seruaunt, but a sonne: If thou be a sonne, thou art also an heire of God, through Christ.
8 Notwithstandyng, when ye knewe not God, ye dyd seruice vnto the which by nature are no Gods.
9 But nowe after that ye haue knowen God, yea, rather are knowen of God, howe turne ye agayne vnto the weake and beggarly rudimentes, whervnto againe ye desire a freshe to be in bondage?
10 Ye obserue dayes, and monethes, and tymes, and yeres.
11 I am in feare of you, lest I haue bestowed on you labour in vayne.
12 Brethren, I besech you be as I [am] for I am as ye are. Ye haue not iniured me at all.
13 Ye knowe howe through infirmitie of the fleshe, I preached the Gospell vnto you at the first:
14 And my temptation which was in my fleshe, ye dispised not, neither abhorred: but receaued me as an Angel of God, euen as Christe Iesus.
15 What is then your felicitie? For I beare you recorde, that yf it had ben possible, ye woulde haue plucked out your owne eyes, and haue geuen them to me.
16 Am I therfore become your enemie, because I tell you the trueth?
17 They are gelouse ouer you amisse: Yea, they intende to exclude you, that ye shoulde be feruent to them warde.
18 It is good alwayes to be zelous in a good thyng, and not only when I am present with you
19 My litle chyldren, of whom I trauayle in birth agayne, vntyll Christe be fashioned in you.
20 But I desire to be present with you nowe, and to chaunge my voyce: for I stande in doubt of you.
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be vnder the lawe, do ye not heare the lawe?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sonnes, the one by a bonde mayde, the other by a free woman:
23 But he which was of the bonde woman, was borne after the fleshe: but he which was of the free woman, [was borne] by promise.
24 Which thynges are spoken by an allegorie. For these are two testamentes: the one from the mount Sina, which gendreth vnto bondage, which is Agar.
25 For Agar is the mount Sina in Arabia, and bordreth vpon the citie, which is nowe [called] Hierusalem, and is in bondage with her chyldren.
26 But Hierusalem which is aboue, is free: which is the mother of vs all.
27 For it is written: Reioyce thou baren, that bearest no chyldren, breake foorth and crye, thou that trauaylest not: For the desolate hath many mo chyldren, then she which hath an husbande.
28 But brethren, we are after Isaac the chyldren of promise.
29 But as then he that was borne after the fleshe, persecuted hym that was borne after the spirite: euen so is it now.
30 Neuerthelesse, what saith the scripture? put away the bondwoman and her sonne: For the sonne of the bondwoman, shall not be heire with the sonne of the free woman.
31 So then brethren, we are not chyldren of the bonde woman, but of the free.
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.