Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 29:1 | The Philistynes gathered all their armies together at Aphek. But Israel pitched at Ain in Iesrael. |
| 29:2 | And the prynces of the Philistynes wete forth with hundreds and with thousandes, but Dauid and his men wete behynde with Achis. |
| 29:3 | The sayde the prynces of the Philistynes: What shal these Hebrues do? Achis saide vnto the: Is not this Dauid ye seruaunt of Saul kynge of Israel, which hath bene with me now yeares and dayes, & I haue founde no euell in him sence the tyme that he fell to me vnto this daye? |
| 29:4 | Neuertheles the prynces of ye Philistynes were wroth at him, & sayde vnto him: Let the man turne backe agayne, & abyde in his place, which thou hast appoynted him, that he go not downe with vs to ye batayll, and become oure aduersary in ye felde. For wherin coulde he better do his lorde a pleasure, the in the heades of these men? |
| 29:5 | Is not this Dauid, of whom they sunge in the daunce: Saul hath smytte his thousande, but Dauid his ten thousande? |
| 29:6 | Then Achis called Dauid, and sayde vnto him: As truly as the LORDE lyueth, I take the for an honest man, and thy out goynge and ingoynge with me in ye hoost pleaseth me well, and no euell haue I marked in the, sence ye tyme that thou camest to me vnto this daye. But thou pleasest not the prynces. |
| 29:7 | Returne now therfore, and go yi waye in peace, that thou do no euell in the sighte of the prynces of ye Philistynes. |
| 29:8 | Dauid sayde: What haue I done, & what hast thou marked in thy seruaunt, sence ye tyme that I haue bene in yi presence vnto this daye, that I shulde not come and fighte agaynst the enemies of my lorde the kynge? |
| 29:9 | Achis answered and sayde vnto Dauid: I knowe well that thou pleasest myne eyes eue as an angell of God. But the prynces of ye Philistynes haue sayde: Let him not go vp with vs vnto the batayll. |
| 29:10 | Get the vp therfore tomorow by tymes, and yi lordes seruauntes which are come with the. And whan ye haue gotten you vp early in the mornynge, whan it is lighte, go yor waye. |
| 29:11 | So Dauid & his men gat them vp early, to go their waye in the mornynge, and to come agayne in to the londe of the Philistynes. But the Philistynes wente vp towarde Iesrael. |
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.