« | Joshua 9 | » |
1 And when al ye kinges that dwell beyonde Iordane in the hylles and valleys, & along by all the coastes of the great sea, ouer against Libanon: [Namely] the Hethites, the Amorites, the Chanaanites, the Pherezites, the Heuites, and the Iebusites, hearde therof:
2 They gathered them selues together, to fyght against Iosuah, and against Israel, with one accorde.
3 And the inhabitours of Gibeon heard what Iosuah had done vnto Iericho, and to Ai,
4 And they dyd worke wylylye, & went and made them selues embassadours, and toke olde sackes vpon their asses, & wine bottels old, both rent & boude vp:
5 And olde clowted shoes vpon their feete, and their rayment was olde: and all their prouision of bread was dryed vp, and hored.
6 And they came vnto Iosuah into the hoast to Gilgal, and sayde vnto him and vnto all the men of Israel, We be come from a far countrey: and nowe make ye agreement with vs.
7 And the men of Israel sayde vnto the Heuite: It may be thou dwellest amog vs, and then howe can I make peace with thee?
8 And they sayde vnto Iosuah: We are thy seruauntes. And Iosuah sayde vnto them againe: What are ye, & whence come ye?
9 They aunswered him: From a very farre coutrey thy seruauntes are come, for the name of the Lorde thy God: for we haue hearde the fame of him, & all that he did in Egypte,
10 And all that he did to the two kinges of ye Amorites that were beyonde Iordane, Sehon king of Hesbon, and Og king of Basa, which were at Astaroth.
11 Wherfore our elders and all the enhabitours of our countrey spake to vs, saying: Take vitailes with you to serue by the way, and go meete them, and say vnto them, We are your seruautes: And now make ye a couenaunt of peace with vs.
12 This our foode of bread we toke with vs out of our houses whot, ye daye we departed to come vnto you: But nowe beholde, it is dried vp, and hored.
13 And these bottelles of wine whiche we filled, were newe, and see they be rent: And these our garmentes and shoes are worne for oldenesse, by the reason of the exceeding long iourney.
14 And the men toke of theyr vitayles, & counseled not with the mouth of the Lorde.
15 And Iosuah made peace which the, and made a couenaunt with them, that they shulde be suffered to liue: And the princes of the congregation sware vnto them.
16 But at the ende of three dayes, after they had made a league with them, they hearde that they were their neighbours, & that they dwelt among them.
17 And the children of Israel toke their iorney, and came vnto their cities the thirde day: and their cities were Gibeon, and Caphira, Beroth, and Kiriathiarim.
18 And the children of Israel slue them not, because the princes of the congregation had sworne vnto them by the Lord God of Israel: and all the multitude mourned agaynst the princes.
19 But all the princes sayde vnto all the congregation: We haue sworne vnto them by the Lorde God of Israel, and therfore we may not hurt them.
20 But this we wyll do to them, We wyll let them liue, lest wrath be vpon vs because of the othe which we sware vnto them.
21 And the princes said vnto them againe, Let them liue, and hewe wood, & drawe water vnto all the congregation, [and they dyd] as the princes sayde vnto them.
22 And Iosuah called for them, & talked with them, and sayde, Wherfore haue ye beguiled vs, saying, We dwell farre from you: when ye dwell among vs?
23 And nowe are ye cursed, and there shal not ceasse to be of you bondmen, and hewers of wood, & drawers of water for the house of my God.
24 And they aunswered Iosuah, & sayd, It was tolde thy seruauntes how that the Lorde thy God had commaunded his seruaunt Moyses to geue you all the lande, and to destroy all the inhabitours therof out of your sight, and therfore we were exceedyng sore afrayde for our liues at the presence of you, and haue done this thing.
25 And beholde, we are in thyne hande: as it seemeth good and right in thyne eyes to do vnto vs, so do.
26 And euen so did he vnto them, and rid them out of the hande of the chyldren of Israel, that they slue them not.
27 And Iosuah made them that same day hewers of wood, and drawers of water for the congregation and for the aulter of God, vnto this day, in the place whiche he shoulde choose.
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.