Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 3:1 | This is the seconde Epistle that I now wryte vnto you (ye dearly beloued) wherin I stere vp and warne youre pure mynde, that ye maye remembre |
| 3:2 | the wordes, which were tolde before of the holy prophetes: and also the commaundement of vs, that be the Apostles of the LORDE and Sauioure. |
| 3:3 | This first vnderstonde, that in the last dayes there shal come mockers, which wyll walke after their awne lustes, |
| 3:4 | & saye: Where is the promes of his commynge? For sence the fathers fell on slepe, euery thinge contynueth as it was from the begynnynge of ye creature. |
| 3:5 | This they knowe not (and that wylfully) how that the heauens were afore tyme also, and the earth out of the water, & was in the water by the worde of God, |
| 3:6 | yet was the worlde at that tyme destroyed by the same with the floude. |
| 3:7 | But the heauens which are yet, and ye earth, are kepte in stoare by his worde, to be reserued vnto fyre agaynst the daye of iudgment and damnacion of vngodly men. |
| 3:8 | Dearly beloued, be not ignoraunt of this one thinge, how that one daye is with the LORDE as a thousande yeare: and a thousande yeare as one daye. |
| 3:9 | The LORDE is not slacke to fulfyll his promes (as some me counte slacknesse) but is paciet to vs warde, and wyl not that eny ma shulde be lost, but that euery man shulde amende himselfe. |
| 3:10 | Neuertheles the daye of the LORDE shal come euen as a thefe in the night: in the which (daye) the heauens shal perishe with a greate noyse, and the Elementes shal melte with heate, and the earth and ye workes that are therin, shal burne. |
| 3:11 | Yf all these thinges shal perishe, what maner persons then ought ye to be in holy couersacion and godlynes, |
| 3:12 | lokynge for and hastynge vnto the commynge of the LORDE? In the which the heauens shal perishe with fyre, and the elementes shal melt with heate. |
| 3:13 | Neuertheles we loke for a new heauen and a new earth (acordynge to his promes) wherin dwelleth righteousnes. |
| 3:14 | Wherfore dearly beloued, seynge that ye loke for soch thinges, be diligent, yt ye maye be founde before him in peace without spot and vndefyled: |
| 3:15 | and counte the longsufferynge of oure LORDE youre saluacion, Euen as oure dearly beloued brother Paul (acordinge to the wyssdome geue vnto him) wrote vnto you: |
| 3:16 | yee speakinge therof allmost in all Epistles, wherin are many thinges harde to be vnderstonde, which they that are vnlerned and vnstable, peruerte, as they do the other scriptures also, to their awne danacion. |
| 3:17 | Ye therfore beloued, seynge ye knowe it before hande, bewarre, lest ye also be plucte awaye thorow the erroure of ye wicked, and fall from yor owne stedfastnes. |
| 3:18 | But growe in grace, and in the knowlege of oure LORDE and Sauioure Iesus Christ. To him be prayse now and for euer, Amen. |
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.