TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE JAMES, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND IRELAND, The Translators of the Bible wish Grace, Mercy, and Peace, G REAT and manifold were the blessings, most dread Sovereign, which Almighty God, the Father of all mercies, bestowed upon us the people of ENGLAND, when first he sent Your Majesty's Royal Person to rule and reign over us. For whereas it was the expectation of many, who wished not well. unto our SION, that upon the setting of that bright OCCIDENTAL STAR, Queen ELIZABETH of most happy memory, some thick and palpable clouds of darkness would so have overshadowed this Land, that men should have been in doubt which way they were to walk; and that it should hardly be known, who was to direct the unsettled State; the appearance of Your Majesty, as of the Sun in his strength, instantly dispelled those supposed and surmised mists, and gave unto all that were well affected exceeding cause of comfort; especially when we beheld the Government established in Your Highness, and Your hopeful Seed, by an undoubted Title, and this also accompanied with peace and tranquillity at home and abroad. But among all our joys, there was no one that more filled our hearts, than the blessed continuance of the preaching of God's sacred Word among us; which is that inestimable treasure, which excelleth all the riches of the earth; because the fruit thereof extendeth itself, not only to the time spent in this transitory world, but directeth and disposeth men unto that eternal happiness which is above in Heaven. Then not to suffer this to fall to the ground, but rather to take it up, and to continue it in that state, wherein the famous Predecessor of Your Highness did leave it: nay, to go forward with the confidence and resolution of a Man in maintaining the truth of CHRIST, and propagating it far and near, is that which hath so bound and firmly knit the hearts of all Your Majesty's loyal and religious people unto You, that Your very name is precious among them: their eye doth behold You with comfort, and they bless You in their hearts, as that sanctified Person, who, under God, is the immediate Author of their true happiness. And this their contentment doth not diminish or decay, but every day increaseth and taketh strength, when they observe, that the zeal of Your Majesty toward the house of God doth not slack or go backward, but is more and more kindled, manifesting itself abroad in the farthest parts of CHRISTENDOM, by writing in defence of the Truth, (which hath given such a blow unto that man of sin, as will not be healed,) and every day at home, by religious and learned discourse, by frequenting the house of God, by hearing the Word preached, by cherishing the Teachers thereof, by caring for the Church, as a most tender and loving nursing Father. There are infinite arguments of this right Christian and religious affection in Your Majesty; but none is more forcible to declare it to others than the vehement and perpetuated desire of accomplishing and publishing of this work, which now with all humility we present unto Your Majesty. For when Your Highness had once out of deep judgment apprehended how convenient it was, that out of the Original Sacred Tongues, together with comparing of the labours, both in our own, and other foreign Languages, of many worthy men who went before us, there should be one more exact Translation of the Holy Scriptures into the ENGLISH TONGUE; Your Majesty did never desist to urge and to excite those to whom it was commended, that the work might be hastened, and that the business might be expedited in so decent a manner, as a matter of such importance might justly require. And now at last, by the mercy of God, and the continuance of our labours, it being brought unto such a conclusion, as that we have great hopes that the Church of ENGLAND shall reap good fruit thereby; we hold it our duty to offer it to Your Majesty, not only as to our King and Sovereign, but as to the principal Mover and Author of the work: humbly craving of Your most Sacred Majesty, that since things of this quality have ever been subject to the censures of illmeaning and discontented persons, it may receive approbation and patronage from so learned and judicious a Prince, as Your Highness is, whose allowance and acceptance of our labours shall more honour and encourage us, than all the calumniations and hard interpretations of other men shall dismay us. So that if, on the one side, we shall be traduced by Popish Persons at home or abroad, who therefore will malign us, because we are poor instruments to make God's holy Truth to be yet more and more known unto the people, whom they desire still to keep in ignorance and darkness; or if, on the other side, we shall be maligned by selfconceited Brethren, who run their own ways, and give liking unto nothing, but what is framed by themselves, and hammered on their anvil; we may rest secure, supported within by the truth and innocency of a good conscience, having walked the ways of simplicity and integrity, as before the Lord; and sustained without by the powerful protection of Your Majesty's grace and favour, which will ever give countenance to honest and Christian endeavours against bitter censures and uncharitable imputations. The Lord of heaven and earth bless Your Majesty with many and happy days, that, as his heavenly hand hath enriched Your Highness with many singular and extraordinary graces; so You may be the wonder of the world in this latter age for happiness and true felicity, to the honour of that great GOD, and the good of his Church; through JESUS CHRIST Our Lord and only Saviour. 91 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land apPror. & 29. pear: and it was so. & 104.9. & 136. 6. Jer. 5. 22. 2 Pet. 3.5 1 Heb. 6. 7. + Heb. ten der grass. 44 Luke 6. > Dent. 4. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth+grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning 136.7. were the third day. 149 +Heb. be tween the day and be Foren the night. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and Before let them be for signs, and for seasons, chorST and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light + to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. r 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 4004. Ps. 74-17 3.5 & 104. 19. Ps. 136. 7, 8. 9. & 148. Heb. for the rule of q Ps. 8. 3. day. r Job 38.7. 18 And to rule over the day and over $ Jer. 31. 35the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20 And God said, Let the waters 2 Esdr. 6. 47 Or, creep bring forth abundantly the || moving creature that hath + life, and fowl that ing may fly above the earth in the + open: Heb. let firmament of heaven. † Heb. soul. fowl fly. + Heb.face ment of hea 21 And "God created great whales, of the firmaand every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abun-uch. 6. 20. dantly, after their kind, and every wing- 19. Ps. 104. ed fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. & 7. 14. & 8. 26. 22 And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the wch. 8. 17. waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply The first sabbath. Before Before CHST ply, and replenish the earth, and subdue | was parted, and became into four heads. CHRIST 4004. it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that † moveth up + Heb. creepeth ing seed. on the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given + Heb. seed you every herb + bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for c ch. 9. 3. Job 36.3 Ps. 104. 14, 15. & 136. 25. & 146. 7. Acts 14. 17. meat. e C 30 And to devery beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to 16. & 147.9. every thing that creepeth upon the earth, d Ps. 145. 15, e Job 38. + Heb. a living soul. f Ps. 104. 24. Ecclus. 39. wherein there is + life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he 16. 1 Tim. 4. had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 4 HUS the heavens and the earth were finished, and "all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God † created and made. 4↑ These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD Or, a mist God made the earth and the heavens, up from, &c. 5 And every plant of the field before + Heb. dust it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help + meet for him. 19 + Heb. eating thou shalt eat. z ver. 9. a ch. 3. 1, 3, 11, 17.2 Esd. 3-7 bch. 3.3. 19. Rom. 6. 23. 1 Cor. 15.56. Jam 1.15 Heb. dying he 1 John 5. 16. thou shalt 1 Cor. 11. 9. 24. And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and e ch. 3. 12. every fowl of the air; and 'brought them 1 Tim. 2.13 unto || Adam to see what he would call dEcclus. 36. them: and whatsoever Adam called every + Heb. as living creature, that was the name thereof. before him. 20 And Adam + gave names to all cat-24tle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every See ch. 6. 20 beast of the field; but for Adam there 1 Or, the was not found an help meet for him. e ch. 1. 20, f Ps. 8. 6. man. † Heb. 21 And the LORD God caused a called. g ch. 15. 12. deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he fam slept: and he took one of his ribs, and 12. closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a wo-Heb. man, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called + Woman, because she was taken out of + Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. + Heb. Ish. And they were both naked, the P man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Matt. 19. 5 25 CHAP. III. 1 ch. 31. 15. Mark 10. 7. 1 Cor. 6. 16. Eph. 5. 31. m ch. 3.7, 1 The serpent deceiveth Eve. 6 Man's shameful fall. 9 God arraigneth them. 14 The n Exod. 32. serpent is cursed. 15 The promised seed. 16 25. Isai. 47. The punishment of mankind. 21 Their first clothing. 22 Their casting out of Paradise. Now the serpent was more subtil a Rev. 12. 9. & 20. 2. than any beast of the field which b Matt. 10. the LORD God had made. And he said 16.2 Cor. unto the woman, † Yea, hath God said, † Heb. Yea, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 11.3. 2 And the woman said unto the ser because, de. |