« | Genesis 28 | » |
1 And so Isahac called Iacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and sayde vnto hym: See thou take not a wyfe of the daughters of Chanaan:
2 Arise, and get thee to Mesopotamia, to the house of Bethuel thy mothers father, and there take thee a wyfe of the daughters of Laban thy mothers brother.
3 And God almyghtie blesse thee, and make thee to encrease, & multiplie thee, that thou mayest be a number of people:
4 And geue the blessing of Abraham vnto thee, and to thy seede with thee, that thou mayest receaue to inherite ye lande wherein thou art a straunger, whiche God gaue vnto Abraham.
5 Thus Isahac sent foorth Iacob: and he went towarde Mesopotamia, vnto Laban, sonne of Bethuel the Syrian, and brother to Rebecca Iacob and Esaus mother.
6 When Esau sawe that Isahac had blessed Iacob, and sent hym to Mesopotamia to fet hym a wyfe from thence, and that as he blessed him, he gaue him a charge, saying, thou shalt not take a wyfe of the daughters of Chanaan:
7 And that Iacob had obeyed his father and mother, and was gone to Mesopotamia:
8 And Esau seyng also that the daughters of Chanaan pleased not Isahac his father:
9 Then went Esau vnto Ismael, and toke vnto the wyues [which he had] Mahalah the daughter of Ismael Abrahams sonne, the sister of Nebaioth to be his wyfe.
10 Iacob departed from Beer-seba, and went towarde Haran.
11 And he came vnto a certayne place, & taryed there all night, because the sunne was downe: and toke of the stones of the place, and put vnder his head, and layde hym downe in the same place to sleepe.
12 And he dreamed, and beholde there stoode a lather vpo the earth, and the toppe of it reached vp to heauen: and see, the angels of God went vp & downe vpon it.
13 Yea, and God from aboue leaned vpon it, and sayde: I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isahac, the land which thou sleepest vpon, wyll I geue thee and thy seede.
14 And thy seede shalbe as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spreade abrode to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south: and in thee, and in thy seede, shall all the kynredes of the earth be blessed.
15 And see, I am with thee, and wyll be thy keper in all [places] whyther thou goest, and wyll bryng thee agayne into this lande: For I wyl not leaue thee, vntyll I haue made good that whiche I haue promised thee.
16 When Iacob was awaked out of his sleepe, he sayde: Surely the Lorde is in this place, and I knewe it not.
17 And he was a frayde, and saide: howe dreadefull is this place? it is none other but euen the house of God, & it is the gate of heauen.
18 And Iacob rose vp early in the mornyng, and toke the stone that he hadde layed vnder his head, and pitched it vpon an ende, and powred oyle in the toppe of it.
19 And he called the name of the place Bethel: but the name of the citie was called Luz, before tyme.
20 And Iacob vowed a vowe, saying: Yf God wyll be with me, and wyll kepe me in this iourney in which I go, and wyll geue me bread to eate, and clothes to put on:
21 So that I come agayne vnto my fathers house in saftie: then shal the Lord be my God.
22 And this stone whiche I haue set vp on an ende, shalbe Gods house: and of all that thou shalt geue me, I wyl surely geue the tenth vnto thee.
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.