William Kethe (also Keithe) (died 6 June 1594) was a European churchman and

Protestant Bible A Protestant Bible is a Christian Bible whose translation or revision was produced by Protestants. Such Bibles comprise 39 books of the Old Testament (according to the Hebrew Bible canon, known especially to non-Protestants as the protocanonical ...

translator, especially of the Psalms.

Life

Kethe is thought to have been born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, although this has never been confirmed. His name was first recorded as being one of the Protestants among the

Marian exiles The Marian exiles were English Protestants who fled to Continental Europe during the 1553–1558 reign of the Catholic monarchs Queen Mary I and King Philip.Christina Hallowell Garrett (1938) ''Marian Exiles: A Study in the Origins of Elizabetha ...

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

in 1555 and

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

in 1557, suggesting he left with those who took John Knox's side in the

troubles at Frankfurt The Troubles at Frankfurt was a name given retrospectively to internal quarrels of the Marian exiles in Frankfurt am Main in the mid-1550s, involving also the Scottish reformer John Knox. Politically, Frankfurt was a Free Imperial City of the Holy ...

. Kethe helped translate the Geneva Bible in 1560 and contributed twenty-five

psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

s to the 1561 Anglo-Genevan Psalter. Only ten of these were retained in the 1562 English Psalter, while the 1564 Scottish Psalter retained all 25. Most of his Psalms were translations from French sources. His version of Psalm 100, The Old Hundredth, is universally known by its first line ("All People That on Earth Do Dwell"). During the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

, Kethe served as

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

to the parish of

Child Okeford Child Okeford (sometimes written Childe Okeford) is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England, east of the small town of Sturminster Newton in the North Dorset administrative district. Child Okeford lies downstre ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

, (1561–1593). After retiring he remained in the village but he died within a year. Whilst serving as vicar, he had also had two spells as a military chaplain under Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick at

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

in 1563 and 1569.

References

External links

* Year of birth missing 1594 deaths 16th-century English Anglican priests 16th-century Scottish Episcopalian priests People from Dorset Marian exiles Translators of the Bible into English English translators 16th-century translators English military chaplains {{bible-translator-stub