Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 34:1 | Dina ye doughter of Lea, which she bare vnto Iacob, wente out to beholde the doughters of the londe. |
| 34:2 | Whan Sichem the sonne of Hemor the Heuite (which was lorde of the lode) sawe her, he toke her, and laye with her, and forced her, |
| 34:3 | and his hert hanged vpon her, and he loued ye damsell, and talked louyngly with her, |
| 34:4 | and spake to his father Hemor: Get me this mayden to wife. |
| 34:5 | And Iacob vnderstode, that Dina his doughter was defyled, and his sonnes were with the catell in the felde, and Iacob helde his tonge tyll they came. |
| 34:6 | Then Hemor the father of Sichem wente forth vnto Iacob to comen with him. |
| 34:7 | In the meane season came Iacobs sonnes from ye felde. And whan they herde it, it greued the men, and they were very wroth, that he had wrought foly in Israel, and lyen with Iacobs doughter: for so was not the vse to do. |
| 34:8 | Then comened Hemor with the, and sayde: My sonne Sichems hert longeth for youre doughter, O geue hir him to wife: |
| 34:9 | make frendshipe with vs, geue vs youre doughters, and take ye oure doughters, |
| 34:10 | and dwell with vs, the londe shall be open vnto you, dwell and occupie, and haue youre possessions therin. |
| 34:11 | And Sichem sayde vnto hir father and brethren: Let me fynde grace with you: loke what ye appoynte me, I will geue it: |
| 34:12 | requyre the dowrye and gift of me hardely, I wyll geue it acordinge as ye wyll axe, onely geue me the damsell to wife. |
| 34:13 | Then Iacobs sonnes answered Sichem and Hemor his father (and spake disceatfully, because their sister Dina was defyled) |
| 34:14 | & sayde vnto them: That can we not do, to geue oure sister to an vncircumcided man: for that were a shame vnto vs. |
| 34:15 | Neuertheles we wyll consente vnto you, yf ye wylbe like vnto vs, and be circumcided as many as are males amonge you: |
| 34:16 | then will we geue you oure doughters, and take youre doughters vnto vs, and dwell with you, and be one people. |
| 34:17 | But yf ye wyll not herken vnto vs, to be circumcided, then wyl we take oure doughter, and go oure waye. |
| 34:18 | These wordes pleased Hemor and his sonne wel, |
| 34:19 | and the yonge man deferde not to do the same, for he had lust to Iacobs doughter: and he was holden in honoure aboue all in his fathers house. |
| 34:20 | Then came Hemor and Sichem his sonne vnder ye gate of cite, and comened with the citisens of the cite, and saide: |
| 34:21 | These men are peaceable with vs, and will dwell in the lande and occupye: now is the londe brode of both the sydes, we wyl take their doughters vnto vs, and geue them oure doughters. |
| 34:22 | But then wyll they consent vnto vs, to dwell by vs, and to be one people with vs, yf we circumcyse all the men children amonge vs, like as they are circumcysed: |
| 34:23 | their catell and goodes, and all that they haue, shalbe ours, yf we consent vnto them, that they maye dwel with vs. |
| 34:24 | And they herkened vnto Hemor and Sichem his sonne, as many as wente out and in at ye gate of his cite, and circumcided all the males, that wente out and in at his cite. |
| 34:25 | And vpon the thirde daye (whan it was panefull to them) the two sonnes of Iacob Simeon and Leui Dinas brethren, toke euery man his swerde, and wente boldly in to the cite, and slew all the males, |
| 34:26 | and slew Hemor also and Sichem his sonne with the edge of the swerde, and toke their sister Dina out of Sichems house, and wente their waye. |
| 34:27 | Then came Iacobs sonnes ouer the slayne, and spoyled the cite (because they had defyled their sister) |
| 34:28 | and toke their shepe, oxen, Asses, and what so euer was in the cite and in the londe, |
| 34:29 | and all maner of goodes: All their children and wyues toke they captyue, and spoyled all yt was in the houses. |
| 34:30 | And Iacob sayde vnto Symeon and Leui: Ye haue brought it so to passe, yt I stynke before the inhabiters of this lande, ye Cananites and Pheresites, & I am but a small nombre: Yf they gather them selues now together against me, they shal slaye me, so shal I be destroyed with my house. |
| 34:31 | But they answered: Shulde they the deale with oure sister as with an whoore? |
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.