« | Genesis 48 | » |
1 After these deedes, one tolde Ioseph: beholde, thy father is sicke. And he toke with hym his two sonnes, Manasses and Ephraim.
2 Then this message was declared vnto Iacob: beholde, thy sonne Ioseph cometh vnto thee. And Israel toke his strength vnto hym, and sate vpon the bedde.
3 And Iacob sayd vnto Ioseph: God almyghtie appeared vnto me at Luz in the lande of Chanaan, and blessed me, and sayde vnto me:
4 Beholde, I wyll make thee fruiteful, and cause thee to multiplie, and wyll make a great number of people of thee, and wyll geue this lande vnto thy seede after thee vnto an euerlastyng possession.
5 And nowe thy two sonnes Manasses and Ephraim, whiche were borne vnto thee in the land of Egypt before I came vnto thee into Egypt, are myne, euen as Ruben and Simeon are mine.
6 And the children which thou hast gotten after them, shalbe thyne owne, and shalbe called after the names of their brethren in their inheritaunce.
7 And when I came from Mesopotamia, Rachel dyed vpon my hande in the land of Chanaan, by the way, when there was but a fieldes breadth to come vnto Ephratha: and I buried her there in the waye to Ephratha, the same is Beth-lehem.
8 And Israel beheld Iosephes sonnes, and sayde: What are these?
9 Ioseph sayde vnto his father: They are my sonnes whiche God hath geuen me here. And he sayde: Oh bring them to me, and let me blesse them.
10 (And the eyes of Israel were dymme for age, so that he coulde not [well] see) And he brought them to hym, and he kyssed them, and imbraced them.
11 And Israel sayde vnto Ioseph, I had not thought to haue seene thy face: and yet loe, God hath shewed me also thy seede.
12 And Ioseph toke them away fro his lappe, and he bowed hym selfe with his face towarde the earth.
13 Then toke Ioseph them both, Ephraim with his ryght hande towarde Israels left hande, and Manasses with his left hande towarde Israels ryght hande, and brought them vnto hym.
14 And Israel stretched out his ryght hande, and layed it vppon Ephraims head, which was the younger: and his left hande vpon Manasses head, guydyng his hande wyttyngly, for Manasses was the first borne.
15 And he blessed Ioseph, and sayde: God in whose syght my fathers Abraham & Isahac dyd walke, God which hath fedde me al my lyfe long vnto this day,
16 And the angell which hath deliuered me from al euyl, blesse these laddes, and let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham & Isahac, & that they may growe into a multitude in the middes of the earth.
17 When Ioseph sawe that his father layed his ryght hande vpon the head of Ephraim, it displeased hym: and he lift vp his fathers hande, to haue remoued it from Ephraims head vnto Manasses head.
18 And Ioseph sayde vnto his father, Not so my father, for this is the first borne: put thy right hande vpon his head.
19 And his father would not, but sayde: I knowe it well my sonne, I knowe it well, he shalbe also a people, and shalbe great: But his younger brother shalbe greater then he, and his seede shall become a great people.
20 And he blessed them that day, & saide: In thee let Israel blesse & saye, God make thee as Ephraim, & as Manasses. And he set Ephraim before Manasses.
21 And Israel said vnto Ioseph: behold I dye, & God shalbe with you, & bryng you againe vnto ye land of your fathers.
22 Moreouer, I haue geuen vnto thee a portion of lande aboue thy brethren, which I gat out of the hand of the Amorite in my sworde, and in my bowe.
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.