Was the book of Psalms in the 1602 Bishops' Bible a new version or translation?

[Logos1560]

As their starting point in English or as their English foundation, the KJV translators were given copies of the 1602 edition of the Bishops' Bible.

David Norton wrote: “The 1602 Bishops’ Bible frequently differs from the original 1568 text, so much so that in parts such as the Psalms it ought to be thought of as a new version” (Textual History of the KJB, p. 35).

Should the book of Psalms in the 1602 edition of the Bishops' Bible be considered a new version or a different translation than the book of Psalms in the 1568 edition of the Bishops' Bible?

 

[Logos1560]

In some 1572 editions of the Bishops’ Bible, the Psalms of the Bishops' Bible were printed in parallel columns with the Psalms of the Great Bible. In some of its later editions published in 1575 and 1595, the Psalms of the Great Bible were printed in place of Bishops’ Bible’s own rendering of them. Jack Lewis wrote: “All later printings of the Bishops’ Bible, except the 1585 edition which had the Bishops’ Psalms, carried these Great Bible Psalms rather than the Bishops’” (The Day after Domesday: The Making of the Bishops' Bible, p. 128). That statement would suggest that the 1602 edition of the Bishops’ Bible on which the KJV is based would likely have the book of Psalms from the Great Bible.

The fact that some editions of the Bishops' Bible had the psalms from the Great Bible printed in place of the psalms from the 1568 Bishops' Bible could explain why David Norton noticed the book of Psalms being so different in the 1602 edition of the Bishops' Bible. Instead of being a new version, the 1602 edition's book of Psalms likely was an older version or translation--one from an edition of the Great Bible.

 

[Logos1560]

The text of the 1602 edition of the Bishops' Bible is available online so its text can be examined and seen that it has the book of Psalms from the Great Bible.

The bible, ... 1602 : Bible-ENGLISH. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

The bible, ... 1602..Digitized from IA40313714-40.Next issue: bim_early-english-books-1641-1700_the-bible-_bible-english_1611.

archive.org

In checking the assertion made by Jack Lewis, it was found that Psalm 14 in the 1568 edition of the Bishops’ Bible has seven verses. Psalm 14 in the 1602 edition of the Bishops’ Bible has eleven verses which would be evidence to suggest that edition would have the book of Psalms from the Great Bible.


An edition of the Great Bible in 1540 has over two hundred words in the book of Psalms that are not found in the KJV (check and compare Ps. 1:4, 2:11, 7:11, 11:4, 13:6, 14:2,14:5, 18:6, 19:14, 20:9, 22:1. 24:4. 28:3, 29:1, 30:7, 33:3, 33:10, 37:36, 38:16, 38:33, 42:10, 45:9, 48:4, 50:21, 55:23, 65:1, 71:8, 73:13, 73:28, 85:8, 92:13, 95:7, 108:1, 111:10, 115:9, 118:2, 119:97, 120:7, 132:4, 134:1, 134:2, 136:26, 137:1, 145:15, 147:8, 148:5).

At the end of Psalm 13:6, the 1602 Bishops’ Bible has this added sentence: “Yea, I will praise the name of the Lord most highest.” At Psalm 14:5-7, this 1602 Bishops’ Bible stated: “Their throat is an open sepulcre, with their tongues they have deceived: the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.” These readings are clear, compelling proof that the 1602 Bishops’ Bible has the book of Psalms from the Great Bible instead of the book of Psalms in the 1568 edition of the Bishops’.

Digitized 1602 Bishops’ Bible - Text and Translation

A copy of the Bishops' Bible (1602) which contains handwritten notes reflecting the work-in-progress of the four of the six translating companies which translated the King James Version (1611)...

www.textandtranslation.org

 

[Deacon]

[snip]

At the end of Psalm 13:6, the 1602 Bishops’ Bible has this added sentence: “Yea, I will praise the name of the Lord most highest.” At Psalm 14:5-7, this 1602 Bishops’ Bible stated: “Their throat is an open sepulcre, with their tongues they have deceived: the poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.” These readings are clear, compelling proof that the 1602 Bishops’ Bible has the book of Psalms from the Great Bible instead of the book of Psalms in the 1568 edition of the Bishops’. [snip] - color and bolding added

That passage is so familiar...

That portion of Psalm 14:5-7 (1602 Bishops') that you posted is found in the Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible (translating from the Latin Vulgate), and is found in Romans 3:13-18.

Romans 3:13–18 (D-R)
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre: with their tongues they have dealt deceitfully. The venom of asps is under their lips.
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery in their ways:
17 And the way of peace they have not known.
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.


Romans 3:13–18 (Clementine Vulgate)
13 Sepulchrum patens est guttur eorum,
linguis suis dolose agebant:
venenum aspidum sub labiis eorum:
14 quorum os maledictione, et amaritudine plenum est:
15 veloces pedes eorum ad effundendum sanguinem:
16 contritio et infelicitas in viis eorum:
17 et viam pacis non cognoverunt:
18 non est timor Dei ante oculos eorum.

Rob

 

[Logos1560]

That portion of Psalm 14:5-7 (1602 Bishops') that you posted is found in the Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible (translating from the Latin Vulgate), and is found in Romans 3:13-18.


Rob

That portion of Psalm 14 was earlier found in the 1535 Coverdale's Bible and 1539 Great Bible before it was found in the 1610 Douay Old Testament. It is also found in the Church of England's book of Psalms in its Book of Common Prayer. It is numbered Psalm 13 in the Latin Vulgate and Douay OT instead of Psalm 14.

 

[Logos1560]

Concerning the Bishops' Bible, Charles Butterworth noted: "Among its peculiarities is the frequent use of 'God' where other versions have 'the Lord'" (Literary Lineage, p. 180).

For example, the 1568 Bishops’ Bible has “God” at many verses [Ps. 3:1, 5:8, 6:1, 8:1, 15:1, 18:1, 20:1, 23:1, 24:1, 25:1, 26:1, 27:1, 30:1, 31:1, 33:1, 35:1, 38:1, 40:1, 41:1, 48:1, 71:1, 74:18, 79:5, 81:15, 96:1, 97:1, 99:1 etc.] where the KJV has “LORD” or “the LORD,” but it has “Lord” at other verses [Ps. 67:6, 74:1, 10, 80:3] where the KJV has “God.”

This peculiar or unique characteristic of the Psalms in the 1568 Bishops’ Bible is not true of the book of Psalms from the Great Bible found in the 1602 edition of the Bishops’. For example, the Great Bible and the 1602 Bishops’ have “Lord” at Psalm 3:1 where the 1568 Bishops’ has “God.” At Psalm 8:1, the 1568 Bishops’ has “O God our Lord” where the Great Bible and the 1602 Bishops’ have “O Lord our governor.” The Great Bible and the 1602 Bishops’ have “The Lord is my shepherd” at Psalm 23:1 where the 1568 Bishops’ has “God is my shepherd.” At Psalm 24:1, the Great Bible and the 1602 Bishops’ have “The earth is the Lords” where the 1568 Bishops’ has “The earth is Gods.”

This evidence would affirm that the book of Psalms in the 1602 edition of the Bishops' Bible is the one from the Great Bible and not the one in the 1568 Bishops' Bible.