Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 3:1 | Ioram the sonne of Achab was kynge ouer Israel at Samaria in ye eightenth yeare of Iosaphat kynge of Iuda, & raigned xij. yeares, |
| 3:2 | & dyd yt which was euell in ye sighte of ye LORDE, but not as his father & his mother: for he put awaye ye pilers of Baal, which his father caused to make. |
| 3:3 | Neuertheles he cleued vnto ye synnes of Ieroboa & sonne of Nebat, which made Israel for to synne, & departed not there fro. |
| 3:4 | Mesa ye kynge of the Moabites had many shepe, & payed tribute vnto the kynge of Israel wt the woll of an hundreth thousande labes, & of an hudreth thousande rames. |
| 3:5 | But whan Achab was deed, the kynge of ye Moabites fell awaye fro the kynge of Israel. |
| 3:6 | At ye same tyme wete kynge Ioram fro Samaria, & mustered all Israel, |
| 3:7 | & sent vnto Iosaphat kynge of Iuda, sayenge: The kynge of the Moabites is fallen awaye fro me, come thou wt me to fighte agaynst ye Moabites. He sayde: I wil come vp, I am euen as thou, and my people as yi people, and my horses as thy horses. |
| 3:8 | And sayde morouer: Which waye wil we go vp? He sayde: by the waye in the wyldernesse of Edom. |
| 3:9 | So the kynge of Israel, the kynge of Iuda, & the kynge of Edom wente forth. And whan they had gone aboute seue dayes iourney, ye hoost & the catell yt were amonge the had no water. |
| 3:10 | Then sayde the kynge of Israel: Alas, the LORDE hath called these thre kynges, to delyuer the in to the hande of the Moabites. |
| 3:11 | But Iosaphat sayde: Is here no prophet of ye LORDE, yt we maye axe coucell at ye LORDE by him? Then answered one of ye kynge of Israels seruauntes, & saide: Here is Eliseus ye sonne of Saphat, which poured water vpon Elias handes. |
| 3:12 | Iosaphat sayde: The worde of ye LORDE is with him. So the kynge of Israel & Iosaphat, and ye kynge of Edom wente downe vnto him. |
| 3:13 | But Eliseus sayde vnto the kynge of Israel: What hast thou to do wt me? go to the prophetes of thy father & to yi mothers prophetes. The kinge of Israel saide vnto him: No, for ye LORDE hath called these thre kynges, to delyuer them in to the handes of the Moabites. |
| 3:14 | Eliseus sayde: As truly as the LORDE Zebaoth lyueth, before whom I stode, yf I regarded not Iosaphat the kynge of Iuda, I wolde not regarde the, ner set oughte by ye. |
| 3:15 | So bringe me now a mynstrell. And whan the mynstrell played vpo the instrument, the hande of the LORDE came vpo him. |
| 3:16 | And he sayde: Thus sayeth the LORDE: Make pittes by this broke. |
| 3:17 | For thus sayeth the LORDE: Ye shal se nether wynde ner rayne, yet shall the broke be full of water, that ye and youre housholdes & youre catell maie drynke. |
| 3:18 | Yee and that is but a small thinge in the sighte of the LORDE. And the Moabites shal he delyuer in to youre handes, |
| 3:19 | so yt ye shal smyte all the stronge cities, and all ye chosen cities & shal fell downe all the good trees, and stoppe all the welles of water and all the good feldes shall ye make waist with stones. |
| 3:20 | On the morow, whan the meatofferynge is offered, beholde, there came water ye waye from Edom, and fylled ye londe with water. |
| 3:21 | But whan the Moabites herde, yt the kynges came vp to fighte agaynst the, they called all ye harnessed men, & their rulers, & stode on ye border. |
| 3:22 | And whan they rose early in ye mornynge, & the Sonne wete vp vpon ye water, the Moabites thoughte the water ouer agaynst the to be eue as reed as bloude, |
| 3:23 | & they sayde: It is bloude, ye kynges haue destroyed them selues wt the swerde, & one hath smytten another. Now Moab get the vp to the spoyles. |
| 3:24 | But whan they came to the tentes of Israel, the Israelites gat vp, & smote the Moabites, & they fled before them. Neuertheles they came in, & smote Moab, |
| 3:25 | & brake downe the cities, & euery one cast his stone vpon all the good feldes, and made them full, and stopped all ye welles of water, and felled downe all the good trees, tyll there remayned but the stones in the brickwall, and they compased them aboute with slynges, and smote them. |
| 3:26 | But wha the kynge of ye Moabites sawe yt the battayll was to stroge for him, he toke to him seuen C. men, which drue ye swerde, to fall vpon the kynge of Edom: neuertheles they were not able. |
| 3:27 | Then toke he his first sonne, which shulde haue bene kynge in his steade, and offred him for a burntofferynge vpon the wall. Then came there a greate wrath ouer Israel, that they departed from him, and turned agayne into their londe. |
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.