Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
11:1 | And whan Roboam came to Ierusalem, he gathered together the house of Iuda and BenIamin (euen an hudreth and foure score thousande chosen men of armes) to fyghte agaynst Israel, that they mighte brynge the kyngdome agayne vnto Roboam. |
11:2 | But ye worde of the LORDE came to Semaia the man of God, and sayde: |
11:3 | Speake to Roboam the sonne of Salomon kynge of Iuda, and to all Israel yt are in Iuda and BenIamin, and saye: |
11:4 | Thus sayeth the LORDE: Ye shal not go vp, ner fyght agaynst youre brethren: let euery man go home agayne, for this is my dede. They herkened vnto the wordes of ye LORDE, and wete not forth agaynst Ieroboa. |
11:5 | As for Roboa, he dwelt at Ierusalem, and buylded vp the stronge cities in Iuda, |
11:6 | namely Bethlee, Etan, Tekoa, |
11:7 | Bethzur, Socho, Adulla, |
11:8 | Gath, Maresa, Siph, |
11:9 | Adoraim, Laches, Aseka, |
11:10 | Zarega, Aialon, and Hebron (which were the fensed cities in Iuda and BenIamin) |
11:11 | & he made them stronge, and set prynces therin, & prouyded them of vytayles, oyle and wyne, |
11:12 | and in all cities prepared he shildes and speares, and made them very stronge. And Iuda and BenIamin were vnder him. |
11:13 | The Prestes and Leuites also came vnto him out of Israel and from all the borders therof, |
11:14 | And lefte their suburbes & possession, and came to Iuda vnto Ierusalem: for Ieroboam and his sonnes expelled them, that they shulde not execute the offyce of ye presthode vnto ye LORDE. |
11:15 | But for himselfe he fouded prestes to ye hye places, & to feldedeuels & calues, which he caused to make. |
11:16 | And after them came there men out of all the trybes of Israel, which gaue ouer their hertes to seke ye LORDE God of Israel, & came to Ierusale for to offre vnto the LORDE God of their fathers. |
11:17 | And so strengthed they ye kingdome of Iuda, and matayned Roboam the sonne of Salomon thre yeare longe: for they walked in ye waye of Dauid & Salomon thre yeares. |
11:18 | And Roboam toke Mahelath ye doughter of Ieremoth ye sonne of Dauid to wife, & Abihail the doughter of Eliab ye sonne of Isai, |
11:19 | which bare him these sonnes: Ieus, Semaria & Saham. |
11:20 | After her toke he Maecha the doughter of Absalom, which bare him Abia, Athai Sisa and Selomith. |
11:21 | But Roboam loued Maecha the doughter of Absalom better then all his wyues & concubynes: for he had eightene wyues and thre score cocubynes, and begat eight & twentye sonnes, and thre score doughters. |
11:22 | And Roboam set Abia the sonne of Maecha to be heade and prynce amonge his brethren: for he thoughte to make him kynge: |
11:23 | for he was wyse, & more mightie then all his sonnes in all the countrees of Iuda & Ben Iamin, and in all the stronge cities. And he gaue them plenteousnes of fode, and desyred many wyues. |
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.