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By the Grace of GOD, King of GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, and IRELAND, Defender of the Faith, &c.

The Translators of the Bible wish Grace, Mercy, and Peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

GR 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 reli gious 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 ill-meaning 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 mofe known unto the people, whom they desire still to keep in ignorance and darkness; or if, on the other

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side, we shall be maligned by self-conceited 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.

The Names and Order of all the Books of the OLD and NEW TESTAMENT, with the Number of their Chapters.

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Before 4004.

a Psalms 33. 6. & 136. 5. Acts 14. 15. & 17. 24.

Hebr. 11.3.

b2 Cor.

4. 6.

Heb.

between

the light

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1 The creation of heaven and earth; 3 of the light, 6 of the firmament. 9 The earth separated from the waters, and made fruitful. 14 The creation of the sun, moon, and stars; 20 of fish and fowl; 24 of beasts and cattle; 26 of man in the image of God. 29 The appointment of food. Nthe beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, 'Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness and be he called Night. And the evening and the morning tween the were the first day.

dark

ness.

с

6 And God said, Let there be a † firmament in Heb. the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters And the from the waters.

evening 7 And God made the firmament, and divided

was, and

themorn- the waters which were under the firmament from ing was, the waters which were above the firmament and it

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8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9¶ And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and 33.7. & God saw that it was good.

Psalms

136. 6.

+ Heb. tender grass.

e Deut.

4. 19. Psalm

136. 7. + Heb. between

and be

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 were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the day the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater night light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

tween the

+ Heb.

for the

rule of the day. &c.

f Jerem.

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19 And the evening and the morning were the Befor fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring abundantly the moving creature that hath and fowl that may fly above the earth in the firmament of heaven.

CHRIS 4004

forth + life, 8.47 open || Or, creeping + Heb

g2 Es

21 And God created great whales, and every living soul. creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth + Heb abundantly after their kind, and every winged fowl face o the fir after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, of hea— and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

h

mament

ven.

h Chap 8. 17.

23 And the evening and the morning were the 9. 1. fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

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28 And God blessed them; and God said unto them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the 1Chap. earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the 9.1. fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that † moveth upon the earth. + Heb. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the † Heb. earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a seed seeding tree yielding seed; " to you it shall be for meat. m Chap. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every 9. 3. fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every + Heb. herb for meat: and it was so. a living green 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, n Ecclus. and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and 39. 16. the morning were the sixth day. CHAP. II.

n

1 The first sabbath. 4 The manner of the creation. 8 The planting of the garden of Eden, 10 and the river thereof. 15 Man placed in Eden, and the tree of knowledge only forbidden. 18 The naming of the creatures. 21 The making of woman, and the institution of marriage.

soul.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the hea-THUS the heavens and the earth were finished, and aExod. ven to give light upon the earth,

f

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, 31. 35. and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

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