{{Short description|Bible translator (died 1594)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
'''William Kethe''' (also '''Keithe''') (died 6 June 1594) was a European churchman and Protestant Bible translator, especially of the Psalms.<ref>[https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-all-people-that-on-earth-do-dwell United Methodist Church Discipleship website, ''History of Hymns'']</ref>
==Life== Kethe is thought to have been born in Scotland, although this has never been confirmed. His name was first recorded as being one of the Protestants among the Marian exiles in Frankfurt in 1555 and Geneva in 1557, suggesting he left with those who took John Knox's side in the troubles at Frankfurt.<ref name=HWW>[https://play.hymnswithoutwords.com/people/william-kethe-d-1594/ Hymns Without Words website, profile page]</ref>
Kethe helped translate the Geneva Bible in 1560 and contributed twenty-five psalms to the 1561 Anglo-Genevan Psalter.<ref>[https://hymnology.hymnsam.co.uk/w/william-kethe Hymnology website, profile page]</ref> 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.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}} His version of Psalm 100, The Old Hundredth, is universally known by its first line ("All People That on Earth Do Dwell").<ref name=HWW /><ref>[https://www.praise.org.uk/hymn/all-people-that-on-earth-do-dwell/ Praise website, copy of lyrics]</ref>
During the reign of Elizabeth I, Kethe served as Rector to the parish of Child Okeford in Dorset, (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 in 1563 and 1569.<ref name=H>[https://hymnary.org/person/Kethe_William Hymnary website, profile page]</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} *{{cite DNB|wstitle=Kethe, William}}
==External links== * {{Librivox author |id=8391}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kethe, William}} Category:Year of birth missing Category:1594 deaths Category:16th-century English Anglican priests Category:16th-century Scottish Episcopalian priests Category:Clergy from Dorset Category:Marian exiles Category:Translators of the Bible into English Category:English translators Category:16th-century translators Category:English military chaplains