God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James BibleHarper Collins, 2009 M10 13 - 336 pages NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK “This scrupulously elegant account of the creation of what four centuries of history has confirmed is the finest English-language work of all time, is entirely true to its subject: Adam Nicolson’s lapidary prose is masterly, his measured account both as readable as the curious demand and as dignified as the story deserves.” — Simon Winchester, author of Krakatoa In God's Secretaries, Adam Nicolson gives a fascinating and dramatic account of the era of the King James Bible and its translation, immersing us in an age whose greatest monument is not a painting or a building but a book. A network of complex currents flowed across Jacobean England. This was the England of Shakespeare, Jonson, and Bacon; the era of the Gunpowder Plot and the worst outbreak of the plague. Jacobean England was both more godly and less godly than the country had ever been, and the entire culture was drawn taut between these polarities. This was the world that created the King James Bible. It is the greatest work of English prose ever written, and it is no coincidence that the translation was made at the moment "Englishness," specifically the English language itself, had come into its first passionate maturity. The English of Jacobean England has a more encompassing idea of its own scope than any form of the language before or since. It drips with potency and sensitivity. The age, with all its conflicts, explains the book. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more. |
From inside the book
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... LORD . Reat and manifold were the bleffings ( moft dread Soueraigne ) which Almighty GoD , the Fathe of all Mercies , beftowed vpon vs the people o ENGLAND , when firft he fent your Maseftie Royall perfon to rule and raigne ouer vs. For ...
... LORD . Reat and manifold were the bleffings ( moft dread Soueraigne ) which Almighty Go D , the Father of all Mercies , beftowed vpon vs the people of ENGLAND , when first he fent your Maiefties Royall perfon to rule and raigne ouer vs ...
... LORD God made the earth , and the heauens , 5 And every plant of the field , befoze it was in the earth , and enery herbe of the field , before it grew : for the LORD God had not cauled it to raine bpon the earth , and there was not a ...
... LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel , and bestowed vpon him such royal maiestie as had not bene on any king before him in Israel . 1 Chronicles 29:25 ew moments in English history have been more hungry for the ...
... Lords , ' their reporter , Sir Roger Aston , told them later that week , ' like a poore man wandering about 40 years in a wildernesse and barren soyle , and now arrived at the Land of Promise . ' It was the most perfect moment of ...
Contents
1 | |
2 | |
20 | |
He sate among graue learned and reuerend | 42 |
Faire and softly goeth | 62 |
am for the medium in all things xi I | 84 |
20 | 85 |
The danger never dreamt of that is the danger | 105 |
The grace of the fashion of | 198 |
Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut vp his tender mercies? | 216 |
APPENDICES | 228 |
A The Sixteenthcentury Bible | 247 |
Chronology | 261 |
62 | 274 |
105 | 276 |
ལུ༠ཚŞརྗེནི ཝིཛྫིཥྞཾ 117 137 147 | 277 |
O lett me bosome thee lett me preserve thee next to my heart | 117 |
We have twice and thrice so much scope for oure earthlie peregrination | 137 |
When we do luxuriate and grow riotous in the gallantnesse of this world | 147 |
True Religion is in no way a gargalisme only | 173 |
173 | 278 |
216 | 280 |