Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 12:1 | O Lorde, thou art more rightuous, then that I shulde dispute with the: Neuertheles, let me talke with the in thinges reasonable. How happeneth it, that the waye off the vngodly is so prosperous? and that it goeth so wel with them, which (with out eny shame) offede and lyue in wickednesse? |
| 12:2 | Thou plantest them, they take rote, they growe, and bringe forth frute. They boost moch off the, yet doest thou not punysh them. |
| 12:3 | But thou LORDE (to whom I am well knowne) thou that hast sene, & proued my herte, take them awaye, like as a flock is caried to the slaughter house, and apoynte them for the daye off slaughtinge. |
| 12:4 | How longe shall the londe mourne, and all the herbes off the felde perish, for the wickednes off them that dwell therin? The catell and the byrdes are gone, yet saye they: tush, God will not destroye vs vtterly. |
| 12:5 | Seinge thou art weery in runnynge with the fote men, how wilt thou then runne wt horses? In a peaceable sure londe thou mayest be safe, but how wilt thou do in the furious pryde of Iordane? |
| 12:6 | For thy brethren ad thy kynred haue altogether despised the, and cried out vpon the in thine absence. Beleue them not, though they speake fayre wordes to the. |
| 12:7 | As for me (saye I) I haue forsaken myne owne dwellinge place, and left myne heretage. My life also that I loue so wel, haue I geuen in to the hodes of myne enemies. |
| 12:8 | Myne heretage is become vnto me, as a Lyon in the wod. It cried out vpon me, therfore haue I forsaken it. |
| 12:9 | Myne heretage is vnto me, as a spreckled byrde, a byrde of dyuerse coloures is vpon it. Go hence, and gather all the beastes of the felde together, that they maye eate it vp. |
| 12:10 | Dyuerse hyrdme haue broken downe my vynyarde, and troden vpon my porcion. Of my pleasaunt porcion, they haue made a wildernes & deserte. |
| 12:11 | They haue layed it waist: and now that it is waist, it sigheth vnto me. Yee the whole londe lieth waist, and no man regardeth it. |
| 12:12 | The distroyers come ouer the heeth euery waye, for the swearde off the LORDE shal consume from the one ende of ye lode to the other, and no flesh shal haue rest. |
| 12:13 | They shal sowe wheat, and reepe thornes. They shal take heretage in possession, but it shal do them no good. And ye shalbe confounded of youre owne wynnynges, because of the greate wrath of the LORDE. |
| 12:14 | Thus saieth the LORDE vpon all myne euel neghbours, that laye honde on myne heretage, which I haue geuen my people of Israel: Beholde, I wil plucke them (namely Israel) out of their londe, and put out the house of Iuda from amonge them. |
| 12:15 | And whe I haue rooted the out, I wilbe at one with the agayne, and wil haue mercy vpon them: and brynge them agayne, euery man to his owne heretage, and in to his lode. |
| 12:16 | And yf they (namely that trouble my people) wil lerne ye wayes of them, to sweare by my name: The LORDE lyueth (like as they lerned my people to sweare by Baal) the shal they be rekened amoge my people. |
| 12:17 | But yf they wil not obeye, the will I rote out the same folke, and destroye them, saieth the LORDE, |
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.