Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | The Moabites also fell awaye from Israel, whan Achab was deed. |
| 1:2 | And Ochosias fell thorow ye grate in his chaber at Samaria, and was deed sicke, and sent messaungers, and sayde vnto them: Go youre waye, and axe councell at Beelzebub the god of Ekron, whether I shall recouer from this sicknesse. |
| 1:3 | But the angell of ye LORDE sayde vnto Elias the Tishbite: Vp, & go mete the messaungers of the kynge of Samaria, and saie vnto them: Is there no God in Israel that ye go to axe councell at ye god of Ekron? |
| 1:4 | Therfore thus sayeth the LORDE: Thou shalt not come from the bed wheron thou lyest, but shalt dye the death. And Elias wente his waye. |
| 1:5 | And wha ye messaunges came to Ochosias agayne, he sayde vnto the: Why come ye agayne? |
| 1:6 | They sayde vnto him: There came vp a man in oure waye, and sayde vnto vs: Go againe to the kinge that hath sent you, and saye vnto him: Thus saieth the LORDE: Is there no God in Israel, yt thou sendest to axe coucel at Beelzebub ye god of Ekro? Therfore shalt thou not come from ye bed wheron thou lyest, but shalt dye the death. |
| 1:7 | He sayde vnto them: What maner of man was it that mett you, and sayde this vnto you? |
| 1:8 | They sayde vnto him: He had a rough heer vpon him, and a letheren gyrdell aboute his loynes. He sayde: It is Elias the Tishbite. |
| 1:9 | And he sent vnto him a captaine ouer fiftye, with the same fyftye. And whan he came vnto him, beholde, he sat aboue vpon the mout. He sayde vnto him: Thou ma of God, the kynge sayeth: Thou shalt come downe |
| 1:10 | Elias answered the captayne ouer fyftye, and sayde vnto him: Yf I be a man of God, the fyre fall downe then from heauen, and cosume the and thy fyftie. Then fell there fire from heauen, and consumed him and his fyftye. |
| 1:11 | And agayne he sent another captayne ouer fyftye vnto him, with his fyftye, which answered, and sayde vnto him: Thou man of God, thus sayeth the kynge: Come downe in all the haist. |
| 1:12 | Elias answered, and saide: Yf I be a ma of God, ye fire fall downe from heauen, and consume the and thy fyftye. Then fell the fyre of God from heauen, & consumed him, and his fyftye. Agayne, he sent vnto him the thirde captayne ouer fyftye, with his fyftie. |
| 1:13 | Now whan he came to him, he kneled to Elias, and besoughte him, and sayde vnto him: Thou man of God, let my soule and ye soules of thy seruauntes these fyftye, be somwhat worth in thy syghte. |
| 1:14 | Beholde, the fyre fell downe from heauen, and hath consumed the fyrst two captaynes ouer fyftye wt their fyftyes. But now let my soule be somwhat worth in thy sighte. |
| 1:15 | Then saide the angel of the LORDE vnto Elias: Go downe with him, and feare him not. And he gatt him vp, and wente downe with him vnto ye kynge. |
| 1:16 | And he sayde vnto him: Thus saieth the LORDE: Because thou hast sent forth messaugers, and caused to axe councell at Beelzebub the god of Ekron, as though there were no God in Israel to axe coucell at his worde, therfore shalt thou not come from the bed wheron thou hast layed the, but shalt dye ye death. |
| 1:17 | So he dyed, acordynge to the worde of the LORDE which Elias sayde. And Ioram (his brother) was kynge in his steade in the seconde yeare of Ioram the sonne of Iosaphat kynge of Iuda: for he had no sonne. |
| 1:18 | What more there is to saye of Ochosias, what he dyd, beholde, it is wrytte in the Cronicles of the kynges of Israel. |
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.