Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 12:1 | Remembre thy maker in thy youth, or euer the dayes of aduersite come, and or the yeares drawe nye, when thou shalt saye: I haue no pleasure in them: |
| 12:2 | before the Sonne, ye light, ye Moone and the starres be darckened, and or the cloudes turne agayne after the rayne: |
| 12:3 | when the kepers of the house shall tremble, and when the stronge men shal bowe them selues: when the Myllers stonde still because they be so fewe, and when the sight of the wyndowes shal waxe dymme: |
| 12:4 | whan the dores in the stretes shal be shutt, and whan ye voyce of the Myller shall be layed downe: whan men shall ryse vp at the voyce of the byrde, and whan all ye doughters of musyck shalbe brought lowe: |
| 12:5 | whan men shal feare in hye places, and be afrayed in the stretes: whan the Almonde tre shalbe despysed, the greshopper borne out, and whan greate pouerte shall breake in: when man goeth to his longe home, and the mourners go aboute the stretes. |
| 12:6 | Or euer the syluer lace be taken awaye, and or the golden bende be broken: Or the pott be broken at the well, & the whele vpon the Cisterne: |
| 12:7 | Or dust be turned againe vnto earth from whence it came, and or the sprete returne vnto God, which gaue it. |
| 12:8 | All is but vanite (sayeth the preacher) all is but playne vanite. |
| 12:9 | The same preacher was not wyse alone, but taught the people knowlege also: he gaue good hede, sought out the groude and set forth many parables. |
| 12:10 | His diligence was to fynde out acceptable wordes, right scripture, and the wordes of trueth. |
| 12:11 | For the wordes of ye wyse are like prickes and nales that go thorow, wherwith men are kepte together: for they are geuen of one shepherde onely. |
| 12:12 | Therfore bewarre (my sonne) that aboue these thou make the not many & innumerable bokes, nor take dyuerse doctrynes in hande, to weery thy body withall. |
| 12:13 | Lat vs heare the conclucion of all thinges: Feare God, and kepe his comaundementes, for that toucheth all men: |
| 12:14 | For God shall iudge all workes and secrete thinges, whether they be good or euell. |
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.