« | James 5 |
1 Go to nowe ye riche men, weepe and howle on your wretchednesse that shall come vpon you.
2 Your riches is corrupt, your garmentes are motheaten:
3 Your golde and siluer is cankred, and the rust of them shalbe a witnesse agaynst you, and shall eate your fleshe as it were fyre. Ye haue heaped treasure together in your last dayes.
4 Beholde, the hire of labourers, which haue reaped downe your fieldes, which hire is of you kept backe by fraude, cryeth: and the cryes of them which haue reaped, are entred into the eares of the Lorde Sabaoth.
5 Ye haue liued in pleasure on the earth, and ben wanton: Ye haue nourisshed your heartes, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye haue condempned and kylled the iust, and he hath not resisted you.
7 Be patient therfore brethren, vnto the commyng of the Lorde. Beholde, the husbandman wayteth for the precious fruite of the earth, and hath long patience thervpon, vntill he receaue the early and the later rayne.
8 Be ye also patient therfore, and settle your heartes, for the commyng of the Lorde draweth nye.
9 Grudge not one agaynst another brethren, lest ye be dampned: Beholde, the iudge standeth before the doore.
10 Take my brethren, the prophetes for an ensample of suffering aduersitie, and of patience, which spake in the name of the Lorde.
11 Beholde, we count the happy which endure. Ye haue hearde of the patience of Iob, and haue knowen what ende the Lorde made: For the Lorde is very pitifull and mercifull.
12 But aboue all thynges my brethren, sweare not, neither by heauen, neither by earth, neither any other othe: Let your yea, be yea, and your nay nay, lest you fall into condempnation.
13 Is any among you afflicted? let hym pray. Is any mery? let him sing psalmes.
14 Is any diseased among you? let hym call for the elders of the Churche, and let them pray for him, and annoynt him with oyle in the name of the Lorde:
15 And the prayer of fayth shall saue the sicke, and the Lorde shall raise him vp: and yf he haue committed sinnes, they shalbe forgeuen hym.
16 Knowledge your faultes one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed: For ye feruent prayer of a ryghteous man auayleth much.
17 Elias was a man vnder infirmities euen as we are, and he prayed in his prayer that it myght not rayne: and it rayned not on the earth by the space of three yeres and sixe monethes.
18 And he prayed againe, and the heauen gaue rayne, & the earth brought foorth her fruite.
19 Brethren, yf any of you do erre from the trueth, and another conuert hym,
20 Let the same knowe, that he which conuerteth the sinner from going astray out of his way, shall saue a soule from death, and shall hyde the multitude of sinnes.
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.