« | Numbers 12 | » |
1 And Miriam and Aaron spake agaynst Moyses, because of the women of Ethiopia whiche he had taken: for he had take to wife one of Ethiopia.
2 And they sayde: Hath the Lorde in deede spoken onlye through Moyses? Hath he not spoken also by vs? And the Lorde hearde it.
3 (But Moyses was a very meeke man, aboue all the men of the earth.)
4 And the Lorde spake at once vnto Moyses, vnto Aaron, and to Miriam: Come out ye three vnto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they came out all three.
5 And the Lorde came downe in the pyller of the cloude, and stoode in the doore of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they went out both of them.
6 And he sayde, Heare my wordes: If there be a prophete of the Lordes among you, I wyll be knowen of him in a vision, and wyll speake vnto hym in a dreame.
7 My seruaunt Moyses is not so, which is faythfull in all myne house.
8 Unto hym wyll I speake mouth to mouth in a vision, not in darke speaches and similitudes of the Lord shall he see: Wherfore then were ye not afrayde to speake against my seruaunt Moyses?
9 And the Lord was moued vnto wrath agaynst them, and he went his way.
10 And the cloude departed from the tabernacle, and beholde Miriam was become leprous, as it were snowe: And Aaron looked vpon Miriam, and beholde, she was leprous.
11 And Aaron saide vnto Moyses: Alas my Lorde, I beseche thee put not the sinne vpon vs whiche we haue foolishlye committed and sinned.
12 Oh, let her not be as one dead, of who the fleshe is halfe consumed when he commeth out of his mothers whom.
13 And Moyses cryed vnto the Lorde, saying: Heale her nowe, O God, I beseche thee.
14 And ye Lorde sayde vnto Moyses: If her father had spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seue dayes? Let her be shut out of the hoast seuen dayes, and after that, let her be receaued in againe.
15 And Miriam was shut out of the hoast seuen dayes: and the people remoued not, tyll she was brought in agayne.
16 And afterwarde the people remoued from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wyldernesse of Pharan.
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.