Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | Peter an Apostle of Iesu Christ, to the that dwell here and there as straungers thorow out Pontus, Galacia, Capadocia, Asia and Bithinia, electe |
| 1:2 | acordinge to the foreknowlege of God the father thorow sanctifienge of the sprete, vnto obedience and sprenklynge of the bloude of Iesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied with you. |
| 1:3 | Blessed be God and the father of oure LORDE Iesus Christ, which acordinge to his greate mercy hath begotten vs agayne vnto a lyuely hope by the resurreccion of Iesus Christ from the deed, |
| 1:4 | to an vncorruptible and vndefyled inheritaunce, which neuer shal fade awaye, but is reserued in heauen for you |
| 1:5 | that are kepte by the power of God thorow faith to saluacion, which is prepared all ready to be shewed in the last tyme: |
| 1:6 | in the which ye shal reioyse, though now for a litle season (yff nede requyre) ye are in heuynes thorow manyfolde temptacions: |
| 1:7 | that youre faith once tryed (beynge moch more precious then the corruptible golde that is tryed thorow the fyre) might be founde vnto laude, glory and honoure at the appearynge of Iesus Christ: |
| 1:8 | whom ye haue not sene, and yet loue him: in whom now ye beleue, though ye se him not. Euen so shal ye reioyce also with vnoutspeakable and glorious ioye, |
| 1:9 | receauynge the ende of youre faith, euen the saluacion of youre soules. |
| 1:10 | Of which saluacion the prophetes haue enquyred and searched, which prophecied off the grace that shulde come vpon you: |
| 1:11 | searchinge whan or at what tyme the sprete off Christ that was in them, shulde signifye, which (sprete) testified before the passions that shulde come vnto Christ, and the glory that shulde folowe after. |
| 1:12 | Vnto the which (prophetes) it was declared, that not vnto them selues, but vnto vs they shulde mynister the thinges which are now shewed vnto you, by them which thorow ye holy goost sent downe from heauen, haue preached vnto you the thinges which the a |
| 1:13 | Wherfore gyrde op the loynes off youre mynde, be sober, and trust perfectly on the grace that is brought vnto you, by the declarynge of Iesus Christ, |
| 1:14 | as obedient childre, not fasshionynge youre selues to yor olde lustes of ignoraunce: |
| 1:15 | but as he which hath called you is holy, eue so be ye holy also in all youre conuersacion: |
| 1:16 | for it it wrytte: Be ye holy, for I am holy. |
| 1:17 | And yf so be that ye call on the father, which without respecte of personnes iudgeth acordynge to euery mans worke, se yt ye passe ye tyme of youre pilgremage in feare: |
| 1:18 | and knowe, that ye were not redemed wt corruptible syluer and golde, from youre vayne conuersacion (which ye receaued by the tradicios of the fathers) |
| 1:19 | but with the precious bloude of Christ, as of an innocet and vndefyled lambe, |
| 1:20 | which was ordeyned before the worlde was made, but is declared in these last tymes for youre sakes, |
| 1:21 | which thorow him beleue on God, that raysed him vp from the deed, and hath geue him the glory, that ye might haue faith & hope in God: |
| 1:22 | Euen ye which haue purifyed youre soules in obeyenge the trueth thorow the sprete, for to loue brotherly without faynynge, & feruently one to loue another wt a pure hert, |
| 1:23 | as they that are borne a new, not of corruptible sede, but of vncorruptible, eue by the lyuynge worde of God, which endureth for euer. |
| 1:24 | For all flesh is as grasse, and all the glory of man is as the floure of grasse. The grasse withereth, & the floure falleth awaye |
| 1:25 | but the worde of the LORDE endureth for euer. This is the worde, that is preached amonge you. |
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.