Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 15:1 | It happened after these actes, yt the worde of ye LORDE came vnto Abra in a vysion, and sayde: Feare not Abram, I am thy shylde and thy exceadinge greate rewarde. |
| 15:2 | But Abram sayde: LORDE LORDE, what wilt thou geue me? I go childles, and the seruaunt of my house (this Eleasar of Damascos) hath a sonne. |
| 15:3 | And Abram sayde morouer: Beholde, vnto me hast thou geuen no sede: and lo, the sonne of my housholde shal be myne heyre. |
| 15:4 | And beholde, the worde of the LORDE spake vnto him, and saide: He shal not be thine heyre, but one that shal come out of thine owne body, he shal be thine heyre. |
| 15:5 | And he bad him go forth, and sayde: Loke vp vnto heauen, and tell ye starres: Canst thou nombre them? And he sayde vnto him: Euen so shal thy sede be. |
| 15:6 | Abram beleued the LORDE, and yt was counted vnto him for righteousnes. |
| 15:7 | And he sayde vnto him: I am ye LORDE, yt brought the from Vr out of Chaldea, to geue ye this londe to possesse it. |
| 15:8 | But Abram sayde: LORDE LORDE, Wherby shall I knowe, that I shall possesse it? |
| 15:9 | And he sayde vnto him: Take a cow of thre yeare olde, and a she goate of thre yeare olde, and a ramme of thre yeare olde, and a turtyll doue, and a yonge pigeon. |
| 15:10 | And he toke all these, and deuyded them in the myddes, and layde the one parte ouer agaynst the other, but the foules deuyded he not. |
| 15:11 | And the foules fell vpo the flesh, but Abram droue them awaye. |
| 15:12 | Now whan the Sonne beganne to go downe, there fell an heuy slepe vpo Abram. And lo, feare and greate darcknes fell vpon him. |
| 15:13 | And he sayde vnto Abram: knowe this of a suertye, that thy sede shalbe a strauger, in a londe that is not theirs. And they shall make bonde men of them, and intreate them euell foure hundreth yeares. |
| 15:14 | But the people who they shal serue, wyl I iudge. Afterwarde shall they go forth with greate substaunce: |
| 15:15 | and thou shalt departe vnto thy fathers in peace, and shalt be buried in a good age. |
| 15:16 | And after the fourth generacion they shall come hither agayne, for the wickednes of ye Amorites is not yet full. |
| 15:17 | So whan the Sonne was downe, and it was waxed darcke: Beholde, there smoked a fornace, and a fyre brande wente betwene ye partes. |
| 15:18 | The same daye made the LORDE a couenaut with Abram, and sayde: Vnto thy sede wil I geue this lode, from the water of Egipte, vnto the greate water Euphrates: |
| 15:19 | the Kenytes, the Kenizites, the Kydmonites, |
| 15:20 | the Hethites, the Pherezites, the Giauntes, |
| 15:21 | the Amorites, the Cananites, the Gergesites, and the Iebusites. |
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.