« | Isaiah 25 | » |
1 Thou art my Lorde my God, I wyll magnifie thee, I will geue thankes vnto thy name, for thou hast brought wonderfull thinges to passe, according to thine olde counsels truely & faythfully.
2 Thou hast made a citie a heape of stones, and brought a strong towne into decay: the habitation of straungers hast thou made to be no citie, neither shall it be buylded any more.
3 Therefore shall the mightie people geue glory vnto thee, the citie of the valiaunt heathen shall feare thee.
4 For thou hast ben a strength vnto the poore, and a succour for the needie in his trouble, a refuge against euill weather, a shadow against the heate: for the blast of raging men is like a storme that casteth downe a wall.
5 Like as the heate in a drye place wasteth all thinges: so shalt thou suppresse the noyse of aliantes, the heate [is abated] with the shadowe of the cloude, [euen so shall God] asswage the noyse of the cruel tirauntes.
6 And in this mountaine shal the Lord of hoastes make vnto all people a feast of plenteous and delicate thinges, euen of most plesaunt and daintie disshes.
7 And in this mountaine shall the Lord destroy the couering that all people are wrapped in, and the hanging that is spread vpon all nations.
8 As for death he hath destroyed it for euer, and the Lorde God shall wype away teares from all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall he take away out of all the earth, for so the Lorde hath sayde.
9 And in that day it shalbe sayde, lo this is our God, we haue wayted for hym, and he shall saue vs, this is the Lorde in whom we haue hoped, we wyll be merie and reioyce in the saluation [that commeth] of hym.
10 For in this mountaine shall the hande of the Lorde ceasse, and Moab shalbe threshed vnder hym, euen as strawe is troden to doung on the dounghill.
11 And he shall stretche out his hande in the middes of them, as he that swimmeth casteth out his hands to swimme: and with the strength of his handes shall he bring downe their pryde.
12 The strong holde also and defence of thy walles hath he ouerthrowne and cast downe, and brought them to the grounde, euen vnto dust.
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.