« | Revelation 12 | » |
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heauen: A woman clothed with the sunne, & the moone vnder her feete, and vpo her head a crowne of twelue starres:
2 And she was with chylde, and cryed, trauaylyng in birth, and payned redy to be delyuered.
3 And there appeared another wonder in heauen, for beholde, a great redde dragon, hauing seuen heades, and tenne hornes, and seuen crownes vpon his heades.
4 And his tayle drue the thirde part of the starres of heauen, and cast them to the earth: And the dragon stoode before the woman which was redie to be deliuered, for to deuoure her chylde assoone as it were borne.
5 And she brought foorth a man chylde, which shoulde rule all nations with a rodde of yron: And her sonne was taken vp vnto God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman fled into wildernesse, where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feede her there a thousande two hundreth and threscore days.
7 And there was a battayle in heauen, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And preuayled not, neither was their place founde any more in heauen.
9 And the great dragon, that olde serpent, called the deuyll & Satanas, was cast out, which deceaueth all the world: And he was cast into the earth, and his angels were cast out with hym.
10 And I hearde a loude voyce saying in heauen: Nowe is made saluation, & strength, & the kingdome of our God, & the power of his Christ: For the accuser of our brethren is cast downe, which accused them before our God day & nyght,
11 And they ouercame hym by the blood of the Lambe, and by the worde of their testimonie, and they loued not their lyues vnto the death.
12 Therfore reioyce heauens, and ye that dwell in them. Wo to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea: for the deuyll is come downe vnto you, which hath great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short tyme.
13 And when the dragon sawe that he was cast vnto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought foorth the man chylde.
14 And to the woman were geuen two winges, of a great Egle, that she myght flee into the wildernesse into her place, where she is norished for a tyme, tymes, and halfe a tyme, from the presence of the serpent.
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water after the woman as it had ben a fludde, that he myght cause her to be caryed away of the fludde.
16 And the earth holpe the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swalowed vp the ryuer which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went and made warre with the remnaunt of her seede, which kepe the commaundementes of God, & haue the testimonie of Iesus Christe.
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.