« | Genesis 12 | » |
1 And the Lord had sayde vnto Abram: get thee out of thy coutrey, and out of thy nation, and from thy fathers house, vnto a lande that I wyll shewe thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great people, and wyll blesse thee, and make thy name great, that thou shalt be [euen] a blessyng.
3 I wyll also blesse them that blesse thee, and curse the that curseth thee: and in thee shall all kinredes of the earth be blessed.
4 And so Abram departed, euen as the Lorde had spoken vnto hym, and Lot went with him: and Abram was seuentie and fiue yeres old when he departed out of Haran.
5 And Abram toke Sarai his wyfe, and Lot his brothers sonne, & all their substaunce that they had in possession, and the soules that they had begotten in Haran, and they departed, that they might come into the lande of Chanaan: and into the lande of Chanaan they came.
6 Abram passed through the lande, vnto the place of Sichem, vnto the plaine of Moreh. And the Chanaanite [was] then in the lande.
7 And the Lorde appearyng vnto Abram, sayd, Unto thy seede wyl I geue this lande: And there buylded he an aulter vnto the Lorde whiche appeared vnto hym.
8 And remouyng thence vnto a mountayne that was eastwarde from Bethel, he pitched his tent, hauyng Bethel on the west syde, & Hai on the east: and there he buyldyng an aulter vnto the Lorde, dyd call vpon the name of the Lorde.
9 And Abram toke his iourney, goyng and iourneying towarde the south.
10 [And] the there was a famine in that lande, and therfore went Abram downe into Egypt, that he myght soiourne there, for there was a greeuons famine in the lande.
11 And when he was come neare to enter into Egypt, he sayde vnto Sarai his wife: beholde, I knowe that thou art a fayre woman to loke vpon:
12 Therfore shall it come to passe, that when the Egyptians see thee, they shall say, she is his wyfe, and they wyll kyll me, but they wyll saue thee aliue:
13 Say I pray thee, that thou art my sister, that I may fare well for thy sake, and that my soule may liue through thy occasion.
14 And so when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians behelde the woman, for she was very fayre.
15 The princes also of Pharao sawe her, and comended her before Pharao, and the woman was taken into Pharaos house.
16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheepe and oxen, and he asses, menseruauntes, & maydeseruauntes, she asses and camelles.
17 But the Lorde plagued Pharao and his house with great plagues, because of Sarai Abrams wyfe.
18 And Pharao callyng Abram, sayde: why hast thou done this vnto me?
19 Why diddest thou not tel me, that she was thy wyfe? why saydest thou, she is my sister? and so I might haue taken her to be my wyfe? Nowe therfore beholde, there is thy wyfe, take her, and go thy way.
20 And Pharao gaue his men commaundement concerning him: and they conuayed him foorth, and his wyfe, and all that he had.
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.