Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 2:1 | Thou therfore my sonne, be stronge thorow the grace which is in Christ Iesu. |
| 2:2 | And what thinges thou hast herde of me by many witnesses, the same commytte thou vnto faithfull men, which are apte to teach other. |
| 2:3 | Thou therfore suffre affliccion as a good soudyer off Iesu Christ. |
| 2:4 | No ma that warreth, tangleth him selfe with wordly busynesses, & that because he wolde please him, which hath chosen him to be a soudyer. |
| 2:5 | And though a man stryue for a mastrye, yet is he not crowned, excepte he stryue laufully. |
| 2:6 | The hussbandman that laboureth, must first enioye the frutes. |
| 2:7 | Consydre what I saye. The LORDE shal geue the vnderstondynge in all thinges. |
| 2:8 | Remembre that Iesus Christ, beynge of the sede of Dauid, rose agayne fro the deed, acordynge to my Gospell, |
| 2:9 | where in I suffre as an euell doer euen vnto bandes: but the worde of God is not bounde. |
| 2:10 | Therfore suffre I all for the electes sakes, that they also mighte optayne the saluacion in Christ Iesu with eternall glory. |
| 2:11 | This is a true sayenge: Yf we be deed wt him, we shal lyue with him also: |
| 2:12 | Yf we be pacient, we shal also raigne with him: Yf we denye him, he also shal denye vs: |
| 2:13 | Yf we beleue not, yet abydeth he faithfull, he can not denye himselfe. |
| 2:14 | Of these thinges put thou them in remebraunce, and testifye before the LORDE, that they stryue not aboute wordes, which is to no profit, but to peruerte the hearers. |
| 2:15 | Study to shewe thy selfe vnto God a laudable workman, that nedeth not to be ashamed, deuydynge the worde of trueth iustly. |
| 2:16 | As for vngoostly and vayne talkynges, eschue them: for they helpe moch to vngodlynes, |
| 2:17 | and their worde fretteth as doth a canker: Of whose nombre is Hymeneos & Philetus, |
| 2:18 | which as concernynge the trueth haue erred, sayenge, that the resurreccion is past allready, and haue destroyed the faith of dyuerse personnes. |
| 2:19 | But ye sure grounde of God stondeth fast, and hath this seale: The LORDE knoweth them that are his, and let euery ma that calleth vpon the name of Christ, departe from iniquyte. |
| 2:20 | Not withstondynge in a greate house are not onely vessels of golde and of syluer, but also of wod and of earth: some for honoure, and some to dishonoure. |
| 2:21 | But yf a man pourge himselfe from soch felowes, he shalbe a vessell sanctified vnto honoure, mete for the LORDE, and prepared vnto all good workes. |
| 2:22 | Fle thou the lustes of youth, but folowe righteousnes, faith, loue, peace, with all them that call vpon the LORDE with pure hert. |
| 2:23 | As for folish questions and soch as teach not, put them fro the: for thou knowest that they do but geder stryfe. |
| 2:24 | The seruaunt of the LORDE ought not to stryue, but to be gentle vnto euery man: apte to teach, one that can forbeare |
| 2:25 | the euell, one yt can with mekenesse enfourme them yt resist: yf God at eny tyme wyl geue them repentaunce for to knowe the trueth, |
| 2:26 | and to turne agayne from the snare of the deuell, which are holden in preson of him at his will. |
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.