Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 18:1 | Annd the LORDE apeared vnto him in the Okegroue of Mamre, as he sat in his tent dore in the heate of ye daie. |
| 18:2 | And as he lift vp his eyes, and loked, beholde, there stode thre men ouer agaynst him. And whan he sawe them, he ranne to mete them from his tent dore, and bowed him self downe vpon the grounde, |
| 18:3 | and sayde: LORDE, yf I haue founde fauoure in thy sight, go not by yi seruaut. |
| 18:4 | There shalbe brought you a litle water, & ye shall wash yor fete, & rest youre selues vnder the tre. |
| 18:5 | And I wyll fet you a morsell of bred, to comforte youre hertes withall, and then shall ye go youre wayes, for therfore are ye come to youre seruaunt. They sayde: do euen so as thou hast spoken: |
| 18:6 | Abraham wente a pace in to the tent to Sara, and sayde: Make haist, & mengle thre peckes of fyne meele, knede it, and bake cakes. |
| 18:7 | And he ranne to the beastes, & fet a calf that was tender and good, and gaue it vnto a yonge man, which made it ready at once. |
| 18:8 | And he toke butter and mylke and of the calfe that he had prepared, and set it before the, stode him self by them vnder the tre, & they ate. |
| 18:9 | Then saide they vnto him: where is Sara thy wyfe? He answered: within in ye tent. |
| 18:10 | Then sayde he: aboute this tyme twolue moneth, (yf I lyue) I will come to the agayne, and Sara thy wyfe shal haue a sonne. And Sara herde that out of the tent dore, which was behynde his backe. |
| 18:11 | And Abraham and Sara were both olde, & well stryken in age: so that it wente nomore with Sara after ye maner of wemen: |
| 18:12 | therfore laughed she within hir self, and sayde: Now that I am olde & my lorde olde also, shal I yet geue my self to lust? |
| 18:13 | Then sayde ye LORDE vnto Abraham: Wherfore doth Sara laugh, and saye: Is this true in dede, that I shal beare, and yet am olde? |
| 18:14 | Shulde eny soch thinge be to harde for the LORDE? Aboute this tyme (yf I lyue) I wil come to the agayne, & Sara shal haue a sonne. |
| 18:15 | Then Sara denyed it, and sayde: I laughed not, for she was afrayed. But he sayde: It is not so, thou dyddest laughe. |
| 18:16 | Then the men stode vp from thence, and turned them towarde Sodome: and Abraham wente with them, to brynge them on their waye. |
| 18:17 | Then sayde the LORDE: How can I hyde from Abraham, ye thinge that I wil do? |
| 18:18 | seynge he shal be a greate and mightie people, and all ye people vpo earth shalbe blessed in him? |
| 18:19 | For I knewe him that he wil comaunde his children and his housholde after him, to kepe the waye of ye LORDE, and to do after right and conscience, that the LORDE maye bringe vpo Abraham what he hath promised him. |
| 18:20 | And the LORDE sayde: There is a crie at Sodome and Gomorra, which is greate, & their synnes are exceadinge greuous: |
| 18:21 | therfore will I go downe & se, whether they haue done all together, acordinge to that crye, which is come before me, or not, that I maye knowe. |
| 18:22 | And the men turned their face, and wete towarde Sodome. But Abraham stode still before ye LORDE, |
| 18:23 | and stepte vnto him, and sayde:Wilt thou then destroye the righteous with the vngodly? |
| 18:24 | Peradueture there maye be fiftie righteous within ye cite: wilt thou destroye those, and not spare the place, for fiftie righteous sake that are therin? |
| 18:25 | That be farre fro the, yt thou shuldest do this, and to slaye the righteous with the vngodly, and that the righteous shulde be as the vngodly. That be farre from the. Shulde not the iudge of all the worlde do acordinge to right? |
| 18:26 | And the LORDE sayde: Yf I fynde fiftie righteous at Sodome in the cite, I wil spare all the place for their sakes. |
| 18:27 | Abraham answered, and sayde: O se, I haue taken vpon me to speake vnto the LORDE, howbeit I am but dust and asshes. |
| 18:28 | Peraduenture there maye be fyue lesse then fiftie righteous therin: Wilt thou then destroye the whole cite because of those fyue? He sayde: yf I fynde fyue and fourtie therin, I will not destroye them? |
| 18:29 | And he proceded further to speake vnto him, and sayde: Peraduenture there might be fourtie founde therin. And he sayde: I wil do nothinge vnto them for those fourtyes sake. |
| 18:30 | Abraham sayde: Oh let not my LORDE be angrie, that I speake yet more. Peradueture there might be thirtie founde therin. And he sayde: Yf I fynde thirtie therin, I will do nothinge vnto them. |
| 18:31 | And he sayde: O se, I haue taken vpon me to speake vnto my LORDE.Peradueture there might be twetie founde therin. He answered: I wyll not destroye them for those twentyes sake. |
| 18:32 | And sayde: O let not my LORDE be angrie, that I speake yet once more. Peraduenture there might be ten founde therin. He saide: I wil not destroye them for those ten sake. |
| 18:33 | And the LORDE wente his waye, whan he had left talkynge with Abraham. And Abraham returned vnto his place. |
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.