Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 31:1 | He herde also of ye wordes of Labans children, that they sayde: Iacob hath brought all or fathers good vnto him self, & of oure fathers good hath he gotten these riches. |
| 31:2 | And Iacob behelde Labans countenaunce, & beholde, it was not towarde him as yesterdaye and yeryesterdaye. |
| 31:3 | And the LORDE sayde vnto him: Departe agayne to thy fatherlade, and to thy kynred, I wyll be with the. |
| 31:4 | Then sent Iacob and bad call Rachel and Lea in to the felde to his flockes, |
| 31:5 | and sayde vnto them: I se youre fathers countenaunce, that it is not towarde me like as yesterdaye and yeryesterdaye: but the God of my father hath bene with me. |
| 31:6 | And ye knowe, that I haue serued youre father with all my power. |
| 31:7 | And he hath disceaued me, and chaunged my wages now ten tymes. But God hath not suffred him, to do me harme. |
| 31:8 | Yf he sayde: The partye coloured shalbe thy rewarde, then the whole flocke bare partye coloured.Yf he sayde: The speckelde shalbe thy rewarde, the the whole flocke bare speckelde. |
| 31:9 | Thus hath God with drawen youre fathers goodes from him, and geuen them vnto me. |
| 31:10 | For whan the buckynge tyme came, I lift vp myne eyes and sawe in a dreame, and beholde, the rammes leapte vpon the flocke that was speckelde, spotted, & partye coloured. |
| 31:11 | And the angel of God sayde vnto me in a dreame: Iacob. And I answered: here am I. |
| 31:12 | He sayde: lift vp thine eyes, and beholde, the rammes leape vpon the speckelde, spotted, and partie coloured flocke: for I haue sene all yt Laban doth vnto the. |
| 31:13 | I am ye God at Bethel, where thou dyddest anoynte the stone, & maydest a vowe there vnto me. Get the vp now, & departe out of this londe, & go agayne in to the londe of thy kynred. |
| 31:14 | Then answered Rachel and Lea, and sayde vnto him: As for vs, we haue no porcion ner inheritauce more in oure fathers house, |
| 31:15 | & he hath couted vs as straugers, for he hath solde vs, & spent vp or wages. |
| 31:16 | Therfore hath God withdrawe or fathers riches from him vnto vs & oure children. What so euer now God hath sayde vnto the, that do. |
| 31:17 | So Iacob gat vp, and set his children and wyues vpon Camels, |
| 31:18 | and caried awaye all his catell and all his substaunce, that he had gotten at Mesopotamia, yt he might come vnto Isaac his father in the lande of Canaan. |
| 31:19 | Laba was gone to clyppe his flocke, and Rachel stale hir fathers ymages. |
| 31:20 | Thus dyd Iacob steale awaie ye hert of Laban ye Syrian, in yt he tolde him not that he fled. |
| 31:21 | So he fled, & all that was his, gat vp, and passed ouer the water, & wente straight towarde the mount Gilead. |
| 31:22 | Vpon the thirde daye it was tolde Laban, that Iacob fled. |
| 31:23 | And he toke his brethre vnto him, and folowed after him seuen dayes iourney, and ouertoke him vpon the mount Gilead. |
| 31:24 | But God came vnto Laban the Syrian in a dreame by night, & sayde vnto him: Be warre, that thou speake nothinge to Iacob but good. |
| 31:25 | And Laba drew nye vnto Iacob. As for Iacob, he had pytched his tente vpon the mount. And Laban with his brethre pytched his tent also vpon the same mount Gilead. |
| 31:26 | Then sayde Laban vnto Iacob: What hast thou done, that thou hast stollen awaie my hert, and caried awaye my doughters, as though they had bene taken captyue wt ye swerde? |
| 31:27 | Wherfore keptest thou that secrete, that thou woldest flye, and hast stollen awaye fro me, and toldest me not, that I might haue brought the on the waye with myrth, with synginge, with tabrettes and harpes? |
| 31:28 | and hast not suffred me to kysse my children and doughters? Thou hast done foolishly, and so moch might I haue made, |
| 31:29 | that I coude haue done you euell: but youre fathers God saide yesterdaye vnto me: Bewarre, that thou speake nothinge vnto Iacob but good. |
| 31:30 | And for so moch then as thou woldest nedes departe, and longedest sore after yi fathers house, why hast thou stollen away my goddes? |
| 31:31 | Iacob answered and sayde vnto Laban: I was afrayed, that thou shuldest haue taken away thy doughters fro me: |
| 31:32 | but loke by whom thou fyndest thy goddes, let the same dye here before oure brethren. Seke that thine is by me, and take it awaye. (But he knew not, that Rachel had stollen them.) |
| 31:33 | Then wente Laban in to Iacobs tent and in to Leas tent, and in to both the maydens tetes, and founde nothinge: and out of Leas tente he wente in to Rachels tent. |
| 31:34 | Then toke Rachel the ymages, and layed them vnder the Camels strawe, and sat downe vpon them. But Laban searched the whole tent, and founde nothinge. |
| 31:35 | Then sayde she vnto hir father: Be not angrie my lorde, that I can not ryse vp vnto the: for it goeth wt me after the maner of wemen. So he sought, and founde not the ymages. |
| 31:36 | And Iacob was wroth, and chode with Laban, answered & sayde vnto him: What haue I trespased or offended, yt thou art so whote vpon me? |
| 31:37 | Thou hast searched all my housholde stuff, & what hast thou founde of thy housholde stuff? Laye it here before my brethren & thyne, yt they maye iudge betwene vs both. |
| 31:38 | Twentye yeare haue I bene wt the: thy shepe & goates haue not bene vnfrutefull, the rammes of thy flocke haue I not eaten: |
| 31:39 | Loke what was torne of beastes, I brought it not vnto ye, I was fayne to paie it my self: thou requyredest it of my hande, whether it were stollen fro me by daye or by night. |
| 31:40 | On the daye tyme the heate cosumed me, and the frost on the night, and my slepe departed fro myne eyes. |
| 31:41 | Thus haue I serued twentye yeare in thy house, fourtene yeares for thy doughters, & sixe for thy flocke, and ten tymes hast thou chaunged my rewarde: |
| 31:42 | & yf the God of my father the God of Abraham, and the feare of Isaac had not bene on my syde, thou haddest latten me go awaye emptye. But God hath loked vpon myne aduersite and laboure, and rebuked the yesterdaye. |
| 31:43 | Laban answered and sayde: The doughters are my doughters, & the children are my childre, and the flockes are my flockes, & all that thou seist is myne. What can I do this daye vnto these my doughters, or to their children whom they haue borne? |
| 31:44 | Now therfore come on, let vs make a couenaunt (I & thou) which maye be a wytnesse betwene me and the. |
| 31:45 | Then toke Iacob a stone, & set it vp (for a piler or markstone) |
| 31:46 | and sayde vnto his brethren: Gather stones. And they toke the stones, and made an heape, & ate vpon the same heape. |
| 31:47 | And Laba called it Iegar Sahadutha, but Iacob called it Gilead: (either of them after the properte of his language.) |
| 31:48 | Then sayde Laban: This heape be wytnesse betwene me and the this daye (therfore is it called Gilead) |
| 31:49 | and a testimony, for he sayde: The LORDE loke betwene me and ye, whan we are departed ye one from ye other: |
| 31:50 | yf thou vexe my doughters, or take other wyues vnto them. There is no ma with vs, but lo, God is the wytnesse betwene me and the. |
| 31:51 | And Laban sayde morouer vnto Iacob: Beholde, this is the heape, and this is the marckstone that I haue set vp betwixte me and the: |
| 31:52 | the same heape be wytnesse, and the same marckstone also be wytnesse, yf I passe ouer vnto the, or yf thou passe ouer this heape & marckstone vnto me, to do eny harme. |
| 31:53 | The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, and the God of their fathers, be iudge betwene vs. And Iacob sware vnto him by the feare of his father Isaac. |
| 31:54 | And Iacob offred an offerynge vpon the mount, and called his brethre to eate bred. And whan they had eaten, they taried vpon the mount all night. |
| 31:55 | But vpon the morow Laban rose vp early, kyssed his childre & doughters, & blessed the, & departed, and came agayne 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.