Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 55:1 | Heare my prayer (o God) and hyde not thy self fro my peticion. Take hede vnto me and heare me, how piteously I mourne & coplayne. |
| 55:2 | The enemie crieth so, & the vngodly commeth on so fast: for they are mynded to do me some myschefe, so maliciously are they set agaynst me. |
| 55:3 | My herte is heuy within me, and the feare of death is fallen vpon me. |
| 55:4 | Fearfullnesse and tremblinge are come vpon me, and an horrible drede hath ouerwhelmed me. |
| 55:5 | And I sayde: O that I had wynges like a doue, that I might fle somwhere, and be at rest. |
| 55:6 | Lo, then wolde I get me awaye farre of, and remayne in the wildernesse. |
| 55:7 | Sela. I wolde make haist to escape, from the stormy wynde and tempest. |
| 55:8 | Destroie their tonges (o LORDE) and deuyde them, for I se vnrightuousnes & strife in ye cite. |
| 55:9 | This goeth daye and night aboute the walles, myschefe and vyce are in the myddest of it. |
| 55:10 | Wickednesse is therin, disceate and gyle go not out of hir stretes. |
| 55:11 | Yf it were myne enemie that reuyled me, I coude beare it: or yf one that ought me euell will dyd threaten me, I wolde hyde myself from him. |
| 55:12 | But it is thou my companyon, my gyde and myne owne familier frede. |
| 55:13 | We had swete and secrete communicacion together, and louyngly walked we together in ye house of God. |
| 55:14 | Let death come hastely vpon them, and let them go downe quick into hell, for wickednes is amonge them in their dwellinges. |
| 55:15 | As for me, I will call vnto God, and the LORDE shall helpe me. |
| 55:16 | In the eueninge, mornynge and at noone daye wil I mourne and complayne: and he shal heare my voyce. |
| 55:17 | It is he that delyuereth my soule in peace, from them that laye waite for me: for they are many agaynst me. |
| 55:18 | Yee euen God that endureth for euer, shal heare me, and brynge them downe. Sela. For they wil not turne: and why? they feare not God. |
| 55:19 | Yee they laye hondes vpon soch as be at peace with him, and so thei breake his couenaunt. |
| 55:20 | Their mouthes are softer then butter, & yet haue they batell in their mynde: their wordes are smoother then oyle, and yet be they very swerdes. |
| 55:21 | O cast thy burthen (or care) vpon the LORDE, he shal norish the, and not leaue the rightuous in vnquietnesse. |
| 55:22 | But as for them, thou (o God) shalt cast them downe in to the pitte of destruccion. |
| 55:23 | The bloudthurstie and disceatfull shal not lyue out half their daies. Neuerthelesse my trust is in the. |
Coverdale Bible 1535
The Coverdale Bible, compiled by Myles Coverdale and published in 1535, was the first complete English translation of the Bible to contain both the Old and New Testament and translated from the original Hebrew and Greek. The later editions (folio and quarto) published in 1539 were the first complete Bibles printed in England. The 1539 folio edition carried the royal license and was, therefore, the first officially approved Bible translation in English.
Tyndale never had the satisfaction of completing his English Bible; but during his imprisonment, he may have learned that a complete translation, based largely upon his own, had actually been produced. The credit for this achievement, the first complete printed English Bible, is due to Miles Coverdale (1488-1569), afterward bishop of Exeter (1551-1553).
The details of its production are obscure. Coverdale met Tyndale in Hamburg, Germany in 1529, and is said to have assisted him in the translation of the Pentateuch. His own work was done under the patronage of Oliver Cromwell, who was anxious for the publication of an English Bible; and it was no doubt forwarded by the action of Convocation, which, under Archbishop Cranmer's leading, had petitioned in 1534 for the undertaking of such a work.
Coverdale's Bible was probably printed by Froschover in Zurich, Switzerland and was published at the end of 1535, with a dedication to Henry VIII. By this time, the conditions were more favorable to a Protestant Bible than they had been in 1525. Henry had finally broken with the Pope and had committed himself to the principle of an English Bible. Coverdale's work was accordingly tolerated by authority, and when the second edition of it appeared in 1537 (printed by an English printer, Nycolson of Southwark), it bore on its title-page the words, "Set forth with the King's most gracious license." In licensing Coverdale's translation, King Henry probably did not know how far he was sanctioning the work of Tyndale, which he had previously condemned.
In the New Testament, in particular, Tyndale's version is the basis of Coverdale's, and to a somewhat less extent this is also the case in the Pentateuch and Jonah; but Coverdale revised the work of his predecessor with the help of the Zurich German Bible of Zwingli and others (1524-1529), a Latin version by Pagninus, the Vulgate, and Luther. In his preface, he explicitly disclaims originality as a translator, and there is no sign that he made any noticeable use of the Greek and Hebrew; but he used the available Latin, German, and English versions with judgment. In the parts of the Old Testament which Tyndale had not published he appears to have translated mainly from the Zurich Bible. [Coverdale's Bible of 1535 was reprinted by Bagster, 1838.]
In one respect Coverdale's Bible was groundbreaking, namely, in the arrangement of the books of the. It is to Tyndale's example, no doubt, that the action of Coverdale is due. His Bible is divided into six parts -- (1) Pentateuch; (2) Joshua -- Esther; (3) Job -- "Solomon's Balettes" (i.e. Canticles); (4) Prophets; (5) "Apocrypha, the books and treatises which among the fathers of old are not reckoned to be of like authority with the other books of the Bible, neither are they found in the canon of the Hebrew"; (6) the New Testament. This represents the view generally taken by the Reformers, both in Germany and in England, and so far as concerns the English Bible, Coverdale's example was decisive.