« | Jeremiah 10 | » |
1 Heare the worde of the Lord that he speaketh vnto thee, O thou house of Israel.
2 Thus saith the Lord: ye shal not learne after the maner of the heathen, and ye shall not be afraide for the tokens of heauen: for the heathen are afraide of suche.
3 Yea all the customes and lawes of the gentiles are nothing but vanitie: They hewe downe a tree in the wood with the handes of the workeman, and fashion it with the axe.
4 They couer it ouer with golde or siluer, they fasten it with nailes and hammers, that it moue not.
5 It standeth as stiffe as the Palme tree, it can neither speake nor go one foote, but must be borne: Be not ye afraide of suche, for they can do neither good nor euill.
6 But there is none lyke vnto thee O Lorde, and great is the name of thy power.
7 Who would not feare thee, O king of the gentiles? for thyne is the dominion: for among all the wise men of the gentiles, and in all their kingdomes, there is none that may be likened vnto thee.
8 They are altogether brutishe and vnwise in this one thing: wood is the teaching of vanitie.
9 Siluer is brought out of Tharsis, and beaten to plates, and gold from Ophir, a worke that is made with the hande of the craftesman, and they are clothed with yelowe silke and scarlet: all these are the worke of cunning men.
10 But the Lorde is a true God, a liuing God, and an euerlasting kyng: if he be wroth, the earth shaketh, all the gentiles may not abide his indignation.
11 [As for their gods] thus shall you say to them, they are no gods that made neither heauen nor earth, therfore shall they perishe from the earth, and from all thinges vnder heauen.
12 But [as for our God] he made the earth with his power, and with his wisdome doth he order the whole compasse of the worlde, with his discretion hath he spread out the heauens.
13 At his voyce the waters gathered together in the ayre, he draweth vp the cloudes from the vttermost partes of the earth, he turneth lightning to raine, and bringeth foorth the windes out of their treasures.
14 His wisdome maketh all men fooles, and confounded be casters of images: for that they cast, is but a vayne thing, and hath no life.
15 The vayne craftesmen with their workes that they in their vanitie haue made, shall perishe one with another in time of visitation.
16 Neuerthelesse, Iacobs portion is none such: but it is he that hath made all thinges, and Israel is the rod of his inheritaunce: the Lorde of hoastes is his name.
17 Gather vp thy wares out of the land, thou that art in the strong place.
18 For thus saith the Lorde: beholde, I wyll now throwe as with a stone sling, the inhabiters of this land at this once, and I wyll bring trouble vpon them, that they shall proue true the wordes that I haue spoken by the prophetes.
19 Alas howe am I hurt? alas howe paynefull are my scourges vnto me? for I consider this sorowe by my selfe, and I must suffer it.
20 My tabernacle is destroyed, and all my cordes are broken, my chyldren are gone fro me, & can no where be founde: Nowe haue I none to spreade out my tent, nor to set vp my hanginges.
21 For the heardmen are become foolishe, and they haue not sought the Lorde: therefore haue they dealt vnwisely with their cattell, and all are scattered abrode.
22 Beholde, the noyse is harde at hande, and great sedition out of the north, to make the cities of Iuda a wildernesse, and a dwelling place for dragons.
23 Nowe I knowe (O Lord) that it is not in mans power to order his owne wayes, or to rule his owne steppes and goinges.
24 Therefore chasten thou me O Lord, but with fauour, and not in thy wrath, lest thou bring me vtterly to naught.
25 Powre out thyne indignation vpon the gentiles that knowe thee not, and vpon the people that call not vpon thy name, and that because they haue consumed, deuoured, and destroyed Iacob, and haue made his habitation waste.
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.