Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 23:1 | And the kynge sent forth, and all the Elders in Iuda and Ierusalem resorted vnto him, |
| 23:2 | and the kynge wente vp in to the house of the LORDE, and all the men of Iuda, and all the inhabiters of Ierusalem with him, the prestes and prophetes and all the people both small and greate, and all the wordes of the boke of the couenaunt that was founde in the house of the LORDE, were red in their eares. |
| 23:3 | And the kinge stode vpon a piler, and made a couenaut before the LORDE, that they shulde walke after the LORDE, and to kepe his commaundementes, witnesses, and ordinaunces with all their hert and with all their soule, yt they shulde set vp the wordes of this couenaunt, which are wrytten in this boke. And all the people entred in to the couenaunt. |
| 23:4 | And the kynge comaunded Helchias the hye prest, and the prestes of the secode course, and the kepers of the thresholde, yt they shulde put out of the temple all the vessels which were made for Baal, and for the groue, and for all the hoost of heauen, & he brent them without Ierusalem in the valley of Cedron, and the dust of them was caryed vnto Bethel. |
| 23:5 | And he put downe the Kemurims, who the kynges of Iuda had founded, to burne incense vpon the hye places, in the cities of Iuda, and aboute Ierusalem. He put downe also them that brent incense vnto Baal, to the Sonne, and the Mone, and the twolue tokens, and to all ye hoost of heauen. |
| 23:6 | And the groue caused he to be caryed from the house of the LORDE out of Ierusalem in to ye valley of Cedron, and brent it in the valley of Cedron, and made it to dust, and cast the dust vpon the graues of ye comen people. |
| 23:7 | And he brake downe the whorekepers houses which were by the house of the LORDE, wherin the wemen made mansions for the groue. |
| 23:8 | And he caused all the prestes for to come out of the cities of Iuda, and suspended ye hye places, where the prestes brent incense, from Geba vnto Berseba. And brake downe the hye places in the portes, that were at ye dore of the gate of Iosua ye shreue of the cite, at the lefte hande as one goeth to the cite porte. |
| 23:9 | Yet had not the prestes of the hye places offred vpon the altare of the LORDE at Ierusalem, but ate vnleuended bred amonge their brethren. |
| 23:10 | He suspended Tophet also in the valley of the children of Ennon, that noman shulde cause his sonne or his doughter to go thorow ye fyre vnto Moloch. |
| 23:11 | And he put downe the horses, which ye kynges of Iuda had set vnto the Sonne, at the intringe in to the house of the LORDE, besyde the chest of Netham Melech the chamberlayne which was at Paruarim, and the charettes of the Sonne brent he with fyre, |
| 23:12 | and the altares vpon the rofe of Achabs perler, which the kynges of Iuda had made. And the altares which Manasses had made in the two courtes of the house of the LORDE, dyd the kynge breake downe. And ranne from thence, and cast the dust of them in to the broke Cedron. |
| 23:13 | And the hye places that were before Ierusalem on the righte hande of Mount Mashith which Salomon the kynge of Israel had buylded vnto Astaroth the abhomynacion of Sidon, and to Camos the abhominacion of Moab, and to Malcom the abhominacion of the children of Ammon, those did the kynge suspende, |
| 23:14 | and brake the pilers, and roted out the groues, and fylled their places with mens bones. |
| 23:15 | And the altare at Bethel, and the hye place that Ieroboam the sonne of Nebat made, which caused Israel to synne, the same altare brake he downe, and the hye place, & brent the hye place, and made it to dust, and brent vp the groue. |
| 23:16 | And Iosias turned him aboute, and sawe the graues that were vpo the mount, and caused the bones to the fetched out of the graues, and brent them vpo the altare, and suspended it, acordinge to the worde of the LORDE, which the man of God cryed out, that tolde this before. |
| 23:17 | And he sayde: What titell is this, that I se here? And the men of the cite sayde vnto him: It is the graue of the man of God, which came from Iuda, and cried out this that thou hast done agaynst ye altare of Bethel. |
| 23:18 | And he sayde: Let him lye, no man touche his bones. Thus were his bones delyuered with the bones of the prophet that came from Samaria. |
| 23:19 | He put awaye also all the houses of the hye places in the cities of Samaria (which the kynges of Israel had made to prouoke ye LORDE vnto wrath) and dyd with them acordinge to all as he had done at Bethel. |
| 23:20 | And all ye prestes of the hye places that were there, offred he vp vpon the altares, and so brent he mens bones theron, and came agayne to Ierusalem. |
| 23:21 | And the kynge commauded the people, and sayde: Kepe Easter vnto the LORDE youre God, as it is wrytten in the boke of this couenaunt. |
| 23:22 | For there was no Easter so kepte as this, sence the tyme of the Iudges which iudged Israel, and in all the tymes of the kynges of Israel, and of the kynges of Iuda: |
| 23:23 | but in the eightenth yeare of kynge Iosias, was this Easter kepte vnto the LORDE at Ierusalem. |
| 23:24 | And Iosias expelled all soythsayers, expounders of tokes, ymages and Idols, and all the abhominacions which were sene in the londe of Iuda and at Ierusalem, that he mighte set vp the wordes of the lawe, which were wrytten in the boke, that Helchias ye prest foude in the house of ye LORDE. |
| 23:25 | His like was no kynge before him, which so couerted vnto ye LORDE wt all his hert, wt all his soule, & with all his strength, acordinge to all the lawe of Moses. And after him came there not vp soch another. |
| 23:26 | Yet turned not the LORDE from the indignacion of his greate wrath, wherwith he was displeased ouer Iuda, because of all the prouocacion wherwith Manasses had prouoked him. |
| 23:27 | And ye LORDE sayde: I wil put Iuda out of my presence also, euen as I haue put awaye Israel: and this cite which I haue chosen, wyl I cast out, namely, Ierusalem, & the house wherof I sayde: My name shalbe there. |
| 23:28 | What more there is to saye of Iosias, and all that he dyd, beholde, it is wrytten in the Cronicles of the kynges of Iuda. |
| 23:29 | In his tyme wete Pharao Necho ye kynge of Egipte vp agaynst the kynge of Assyria by the water Euphrates. But kynge Iosias wente agaynst him, and dyed at Megiddo, wha he had sene him. |
| 23:30 | And his seruauntes caried him deed fro Megiddo, & brought him to Ierusale, & buryed him in his graue. And the people of the londe toke Ioahas the sonne of Iosias, and anoynted him, and made him kynge in his fathers steade. |
| 23:31 | Thre & twentye yeare olde was Ioahas wha he was made kynge, & reigned thre monethes at Ierusale. His mothers name was Hamutal ye doughter of Ieremia of Libna. |
| 23:32 | And he dyd yt which was euell in ye sight of ye LORDE, euen as his fathers had done. |
| 23:33 | But Pharao Necho toke him presoner of Reblatha in the londe of Hemath, yt he shulde not reigne at Ierusalem: & raysed a taxe vpo the londe, an hundreth taletes of siluer, & one talente of golde. |
| 23:34 | And Pharao Necho made Eliachim ye sonne of Iosias kynge in his father Iosias steade, & turned his name Ioachim. But Ioahas toke he, & brought him in to Egipte where he dyed. |
| 23:35 | And Ioachim gaue the siluer & golde vnto Pharao, yet taxed he the londe, yt he might geue ye syluer acordynge to Pharaos comaundement. Euery one amonge the people in ye londe taxed he after his abilite in siluer & golde, to geue it vnto Pharao. |
| 23:36 | Fyue & twentye yeare olde was Ioachim whan he was made kynge, & reigned eleuen yeares at Ierusalem. His mothers name was Sebida ye doughter of Pedaia of Ruma, |
| 23:37 | & he dyd euell in the sight of the LORDE, euen as his fathers had done. |
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.