« | Nahum 3 |
1 O bloody citie, stuffed throughout with falsehood, with extreme dealing, nor wilbe brought from spoyling.
2 The noyse of the whippe, the noyse of ratling of wheales, the praunsing of horses, and the iumping of charets:
3 The horseman lifting vp both the glistering blade of the sword & also the shining speare, many wounded, many corpses, and no end of carcasses, they shall stumble at dead bodies.
4 Because of the manyfolde fornication of the beautifull harlot, ful of charmes, that selles nations by the meanes of her whordome, and the people through her charminges.
5 Lo I against thee sayth the Lorde of hoastes, and will turne vp thy skirtes ouer thy face, and wil shewe the gentiles thy fylth, and kingdomes thy shame:
6 And will cast vpon thee abominable filth, and wil bring thee downe, and wil make thee as vile as doung.
7 And it shall come to passe that all that shall behold thee, shall flee from thee, and shall say, Niniue is destroyed, and who is greeued therwith? from whence shall I seke out comforters for thee?
8 Wilt thou count thy selfe better then Alexandria the great, that was scituate amonges the riuers, compassed round about with water, whose fortresse was the sea [and had] her wall from the sea?
9 Ethiopia and Egypt [were thy] strength, and there was none end [of ayde,] Phut and Lubim were thy helpers.
10 Notwithstanding she passed away, she went into captiuitie, her children also were dashed in peeces in the top of all the streetes: for her horrible men they cast lottes, and all her great states they chayned in fetters.
11 And thou [also] shalt be drunke [with trouble] thou shalt be hyd: thou also shalt seke after strength against thine enemie.
12 All thy strong aydes [are as] figge trees with the first ripe figges: if they be stirred, they fal into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold thy men [are as baren] women in the middest of thee, the gates of thy lande shalbe set wyde open to thine enemies, fire hath deuoured thy barres.
14 Drawe thee water for the siege, strengthen thy fortes, go into the clay, treade the morter, make strong the brickyll.
15 There the fire shall deuoure thee, the sword shall cut thee of, shall deuoure as the locust, though [thou] be multiplied as the locust, though thou be as many as the grashopper.
16 Thou hast increased thy marchauntes as the starres of heauen, the locust spoyleth, and fleeth away.
17 Thy princes are as grashoppers, and thy rulers as great locustes, they swarme in hedges in cold weather, the sunne ariseth and they flee, and the place where they were is not knowen.
18 Thy sheepheardes O king of Assur slumber, thy noble men shall dwell [in death] thy people is scattered vpon the mountaynes, & there is none to gather them together.
19 Thy wound [shall] not be healed, thy plague is great, all that heare of thee, clap their handes: For to whom hath not thy euil dealing pearsed continually?
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.