« | Job 8 | » |
1 Then aunswered Bildad the Suhite, & said:
2 Howe long wilt thou talke of such thinges? howe long shall the wordes of thy mouth be as a mightie wind?
3 Doth God paruert the thing that is lawfull? or doth the almightie destroy the thing that is right?
4 For seyng that thy sonnes sinned against him, did not he send them into the place of their iniquitie?
5 If thou wouldest nowe resorte vnto God be times, and make thy prayer to the almightie,
6 If thou wouldest liue a pure and godly life: shoulde he not awake vp vnto thee immediatly, and make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous?
7 In so much that wherin so euer thou haddest litle afore, thou shouldest haue nowe great aboundaunce.
8 Enquire I pray thee of the former age, and search diligently among their fathers:
9 (For we are but of yesterday, and consider not that our dayes vpon earth are but a shadowe.)
10 Shall not they shew thee, and tel thee, yea and gladly confesse the same, and vtter the wordes of their heart?
11 May a rushe be greene without moystnesse? or may the grasse growe without water?
12 No, but whilste it is nowe in his greennesse, though it be not cut downe, yet withereth it before any other hearbe:
13 So are the pathes of al that forget God, and the hypocrites hope shall come to naught.
14 His confidence shalbe destroyed, and his trust shalbe a spiders webbe.
15 He shal leane vpon his house, but it shal not stande: he shall holde him fast by it, yet shall it not endure.
16 It is a greene [tree] before the sunne, & shooteth foorth the braunches ouer his garden.
17 The rootes thereof are wrapped about the fountayne, and are folden about the house of stones.
18 If any plucke it from his place, and it denie, saying, I haue not seene thee:
19 Behold it will reioyce by this meanes, if it may growe in another mould.
20 Beholde, God will not cast away a vertuous man, neither wil he helpe the vngodly.
21 Thy mouth shall he fill with laughing, and thy lippes with gladnesse.
22 They also that hate thee shalbe clothed with shame, & the dwelling of the vngodly shall come to naught.
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.