« | Revelation 16 | » |
1 And I hearde a great voyce out of the temple, saying to ye seuen angels: Go your wayes, powre out your vials of wrath vpon the earth.
2 And the first angell went and powred out his vial vpon the earth, and there fell a noysome and a sore botch vpon the men which had the marke of the beast, and vpon them which worshipped his image.
3 And the second angell shed out his vial vpon the sea, and it turned as it were into the blood of a dead man: and euery lyuyng thyng dyed in the sea.
4 And the thirde angell shed out his viall vpon the ryuers and fountaynes of waters, and they turned to blood.
5 And I hearde the angell of the waters say: Lorde, which art, and wast, thou art ryghteous & holy, because thou hast geuen such iudgementes:
6 For they shed out the blood of saintes and prophetes, and therfore hast thou geuen them blood to drynke: for they are worthie.
7 And I heard another out of the aulter say: euen so Lorde God almightie, true and ryghteous are thy iudgementes.
8 And the fourth angell powred out his viall on the sunne, & power was geuen vnto hym to vexe men with heate of fyre.
9 And men boyled in great heate, and blasphemed the name of God whiche hath power ouer these plagues, & they repented not, to geue hym glorie.
10 And the fifth angell powred out his viall vpon the seate of the beast, and his kyngdome waxed darke, & they gnewe their tongues for sorowe,
11 And blasphemed the God of heauen for their sorowe, and for theirs sores, and repented not of their deedes.
12 And the sixt angell powred out his vial vpon the great riuer Euphrates, and the water dryed vp, that the wayes of the kynges of ye east should be prepared.
13 And I sawe three vncleane spirites like frogges, come out of the mouth of ye dragon, & out of the mouth of the beast, & out of the mouth of the false prophete.
14 For they are the spirites of deuyls workyng miracles, to go out vnto the kynges of the earth, and of the whole worlde, to gather them to the battayle of that great day of God almightie.
15 Beholde, I come as a theefe. Happie is he that watcheth and kepeth his garmentes, lest he walke naked, and men see his fylthynesse.
16 And he gathered them together into a place, called in the Hebrue tongue Armagedon.
17 And the seuenth angell powred out his viall into the ayre: And there came a great voyce out of the temple of heauen, from the throne, saying: it is done.
18 And there folowed voyces, thundringes, & lyghtnynges: and there was a great earthquake, such as was not sence men were vpon the earth, so mightie an earquake and so great.
19 And the great citie was deuided into three partes, and the cities of all nations fell: And great Babylon came in remembraunce before God, to geue vnto her the cup of the wyne of the fearcenesse of his wrath.
20 Euery Ile also fledde away, and the mountaynes were not founde.
21 And there fell a great hayle, as it had ben talentes, out of heauen vpon the men, and the men blasphemed God, because of the plague of the hayle: for the plague therof was exceadyng great.
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.