« | Job 4 | » |
1 And Eliphas the Themanite aunswered, & sayde:
2 If we assay to come with thee, wilt thou be discontent? But who can withhold him selfe from speaking?
3 Beholde, thou hast ben an instructer of many, & hast strenghtned the weery handes:
4 Thy wordes haue set vp him that was falling, thou hast refreshed the weake knees.
5 But nowe it is come vpon thee, and thou art greeued: it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
6 Was not thy feare according to thy hope? and the perfectnesse of thy wayes according to thy expectation?
7 Consider I pray thee who euer perished beyng an innocent? or when were the godly destroyed?
8 For as I haue proued by experience, they that plow iniquitie & sow wretchednesse, reape the same.
9 With the blast of God they perishe, with the breath of his nostrels are they consumed away.
10 The roring of the lion, and the voyce of the lion, and the teeth of the lions whelpes are pulled out.
11 The lion perisheth for lake of pray, & the lions whelpes are scattered abrode.
12 But wheras a thing was hyd from me, yet myne care hath receaued a litle therof.
13 In the thoughtes and visions of the night when sleepe commeth on men,
14 Feare came vpon me & dread, which made all my bones to shake.
15 The winde passed by before my presence, and made the heeres of my fleshe to stande vp.
16 He stoode thereon and I knewe not his face, an image there was before myne eyes, and in the stilnesse hearde I a voyce.
17 Shall man be more iust then God? or shall a man be purer then his maker?
18 Beholde, he founde not trueth in his seruauntes, and in his angels there was folly:
19 Howe much more in them that dwel in houses of clay, and whose foundation is but dust, which shall be consumed as it were with a moth?
20 They shalbe smitten from the morning vnto the euening: yea they shall perishe for euer, when no man regardeth them.
21 Is not their royaltie gone away with them? they shall dye truely, and not in wysdome.
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.