Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 18:1 | And after a longe season came ye worde of the LORDE vnto Elias in the thirde yeare, & sayde: Go thy waye, & shewe yi selfe vnto Achab, yt I maye cause it for to rayne vpon earth. |
| 18:2 | And Elias wente to shewe him selfe vnto Achab. But there was a greate derth i Samaria. |
| 18:3 | And Achab called Abdia his chefe officer: (As for Abdia, he feared ye LORDE greatly: |
| 18:4 | for wha Iesabel roted out ye prophetes of ye LORDE, Abdia toke an C. prophetes, and hyd them in caues, here fiftye, & there fiftye, & prouyded for them wt bred and water.) |
| 18:5 | Achab now sayde vnto Abdia: Go thorow the londe vnto all the welles of water & ryuers, yf happlye we maye finde hay, & to saue ye horses & mules, yt all the catell perishe not. |
| 18:6 | And they parted the selues into the londe, to go thorow it. Achab departed the one waye alone, and Abdia ye other waye alone. |
| 18:7 | Now whan Abdia was on ye waye, Elias met him. And whan he knewe him, he fell downe vpon his face, & sayde: Art not thou my lorde Elias? |
| 18:8 | He sayde: yee, go thy waye, and tell yi lorde: beholde, Elias is here. |
| 18:9 | But he sayde: What haue I offended, that thou wilt delyuer thy seruaunt in to the handes of Achab, that he maye slaye me? |
| 18:10 | As truly as the LORDE thy God lyueth, there is no people ner kingdome, but my lorde hath sent thither to seke the. And whan they sayde: He is not here, he toke an ooth of the same kyngdome and nacion, that they had not founde the. |
| 18:11 | And now thou sayest: Go tell yi LORDE: beholde, Elias is here. |
| 18:12 | Now whan I were gone from the, the sprete of the LORDE shulde take ye awaye, I can not tell whither: and yf I then came and tolde Achab, and founde the not, he shulde slaye me: But thy seruaunt feareth the LORDE from his youth vp. |
| 18:13 | Hath it not bene tolde my lorde what I dyd, whan Iesabel slewe the prophetes of the LORDE, how that I hyd an hundreth of the LORDES prophetes, here fiftye, and there fiftye in the caues, and prouyded for them with bred and water? |
| 18:14 | And thou sayest now: Go thy waye, tell thy lorde: Elias is here, that he maye slaye me. |
| 18:15 | Elias saide: As truly as ye LORDE Zebaoth lyueth, before whom I stode, I wil shewe my selfe vnto him this daye. |
| 18:16 | Then wete Abdia to mete Achab, & tolde him. And Achab wete for to mete Elias. |
| 18:17 | And whan Achab sawe Elias, Achab sayde vnto him: Art thou he that troublest Israel? |
| 18:18 | He sayde: I trouble not Israel, but it is thou and thy fathers house, because ye haue forsaken the commaundementes of the LORDE, and walke after Baal. |
| 18:19 | Go to, sende forth now, and gather me all Israel together vnto mount Carmell, and the foure hundreth and fiftye prophetes of Baal, and the foure hundreth prophetes of ye groue, which eate of Iesabels table. |
| 18:20 | So Achab sent vnto all the children of Israel, & gathered the prophetes together vnto mount Carmell. |
| 18:21 | Then stepte Elias vnto all the people, & sayde: How longe halte ye on both ye sydes? Yf the LORDE be God, the walke after him: but yf Baal be he, the folowe him. And the people gaue him no answere. |
| 18:22 | The sayde Elias vnto the people: I onely am lefte a prophet of ye LORDE: but Baals prophetes are foure C. and fiftie me. |
| 18:23 | Geue vs now two bullockes, & let them chose one bullocke, & hewe him in peces, & laye him vpo the wod, & put no fyre theron: so wil I take ye other bullock, & laye him vpo the wod, & put no fyre theron also: |
| 18:24 | call ye then vpo the name of yor god, & I wil call vpo the name of the LORDE: loke which God now answereth with fyre, let the same be God. And all the people answered & sayde: That is righte. |
| 18:25 | And Elias sayde vnto Baals prophetes: Chose ye one bullock, and do ye it first (for ye are many) and call ye vpon the name of youre god, & laye no fyre theron. |
| 18:26 | And they toke the bullock which he gaue them, & prepared it, & called vpon the name of Baal from the mornynge vntyll the noone daye, and sayde: O Baal heare vs. But there was nether voyce ner answere. And they hopped aboute the altare, as their vse was to do. |
| 18:27 | Now whan it was noone daye, Elias mocked them, and sayde: Crye loude. For he is a god, peradueture he is musynge, or hath somwhat to do, or is gone some iourneye, or happlye he slepeth, so that he wolde be waked vp. |
| 18:28 | And they cried loude, and prouoked the selues with knyues & botkens, (as their maner was) tyll ye bloude folowed. |
| 18:29 | But whan ye noone daye was past, they prophecied vntyll the tyme that the meatofferynge shulde be offered, & there was nether voyce ner answere, ner one to regarde them. |
| 18:30 | Then sayde Elias vnto all the people: Come hither all ye people vnto me. And whan all ye people came to him, he repayred ye altare of the LORDE yt was broken, |
| 18:31 | & toke twolue stones acordinge to the nombre of ye trybes of the childre of Iacob (vnto whom the worde of the LORDE spake, and sayde: Thy name shal be Israel) |
| 18:32 | and of ye stones he buylded an altare in the name of the LORDE, & made a pytt rounde aboute the altare, like two forowes in the corne londe, |
| 18:33 | & prepared the wod, & hewed ye bullock in peces, and layed him vpon the wod, & sayde: Fetch foure pitchers full of water, and poured it vpo the burntofferynge, and vpon the wod. |
| 18:34 | And he sayde: Do it yet once. And they dyd it once agayne. And he sayde: Do it ye thirde tyme. And they dyd it the thirde tyme. |
| 18:35 | And ye water ranne aboute the altare, and ye pytt was full of water also. |
| 18:36 | And whan the tyme was to offer ye meatofferynge, Elias stepte forth, and sayde: O LORDE God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Israel, let it be knowne this daye, that thou art God in Israel, and I thy seruaunt, and that I haue done all this acordinge vnto yi worde. |
| 18:37 | Heare me O LORDE, O heare me, yt this people maye knowe, how that thou art the LORDE God, that thou mayest afterwarde turne their hertes. |
| 18:38 | Then fell downe the fyre of the LORDE, and consumed the burntofferinge, the wodd, the stones and the earth, and licked vp the water that was in the pytt. |
| 18:39 | Whan all the people sawe that, they fell vpon their faces, and sayde: The LORDE is God, ye LORDE is God. |
| 18:40 | Elias sayde vnto them: Laye handes vpon Baals prophetes, yt none of them escape. And they toke them. And Elias broughte them downe vnto ye broke Cyson, & slewe the there. |
| 18:41 | And Elias sayde vnto Achab: Go vp, eate & drynke, for it soundeth as though it wolde rayne sore. |
| 18:42 | And whan Achab wete vp to eate & drinke. Elias asceded vp to the toppe of Carmel, & bowed him selfe downe to the earth, & put his heade betwene his knees, |
| 18:43 | & sayde vnto his lad: Go vp, and loke towarde the See. He wente vp & loked, & sayde: There is nothinge. He sayde: Go agayne seuen tymes. |
| 18:44 | And at the seueth tyme he sayde: Beholde, there goeth vp a litle cloude out of the see, like a mans hande. He sayde: Go vp, and saie vnto Achab: Bynde yi charet, & go downe, yt the rayne ouertake the not. |
| 18:45 | And or a ma coulde turne him, the heauen was blacke wt cloudes & wynde, & there came a greate rayne. But Achab rode his waie, & departed vnto Iesrael. |
| 18:46 | And the hade of ye LORDE came vpo Elias, and he gyrde his loynes, & ranne before Achab, tyll he came vnto 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.