Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 13:1 | In the eightenth yeare of kynge Ieroboam, was Abia kynge in Iuda, |
| 13:2 | & reigned thre yeare at Ierusalem. His mothers name was Michaia the doughter of Vriel of Gibea. And there was warre betwene Abia and Ieroboam. |
| 13:3 | And Abia prepared himselfe to the battayll with foure hudreth thousande stronge chosen men of warre. But Ieroboam made himselfe ready to fight agaynst him wt eight hundreth thousande chosen men of strength. |
| 13:4 | And Abia gatt him vp vpon the hyll Zemaraim, which lyeth vpon mount Ephraim and sayde: Herken vnto me thou Ieroboam and all Israel: |
| 13:5 | Knowe ye not that the LORDE God of Israel hath geuen Dauid ye kyngdome of Israel for euer, vnto him and his sonnes with a Salt couenaunt? |
| 13:6 | But Ieroboa the sonne of Nebat, the seruaunt of Salomon Dauids sonne, gat him vp & fell awaye from his lorde. |
| 13:7 | And there resorted vnto him vagaboundes and children of Belial, and haue strengthed them selues against Roboa the sonne of Salomo: for Roboam was but yonge and of a fearfull hert, and coulde not resiste them. |
| 13:8 | Now thinke ye to set youre selues against the kyngdome of the LORDE amonge the sonnes of Dauid, for so moch as there is so greate a multitude of you, and haue ye golden calues yt Ieroboam made for goddes. |
| 13:9 | Haue ye not expelled the prestes of the LORDE the children of Aaron and the Leuites? and haue made you prestes of youre awne, euen as the people of the londes? Who so euer commeth to fyll his hande with a yonge bullocke and seuen rammes, shal be preste vnto them that are not goddes. |
| 13:10 | But with vs is ye LORDE oure God, who we forsake not: and the prestes that minister vnto the LORDE, the children of Aaron and the Leuites in their busines, |
| 13:11 | and euery mornynge and euery euenynge kyndle they the burntofferynges vnto the LORDE, and the swete incense, and prepare the shewbred vpo the pure table, and the golden candilsticke with his lampes, to be kyndled euery euenynge: for we wayte vpo the LORDE oure God. As for you, ye haue forsaken him. |
| 13:12 | Beholde, God is the captayne of oure hoost, and with vs are his prestes, and the blowynge trompettes, to trompe agaynst you. Ye children of Israel, fight not agaynst the LORDE God of yor fathers: for ye shal not prospere. |
| 13:13 | Neuertheles Ieroboam made a preuy watch on euery syde, to come vpon them behynde, so that they were before Iuda, and ye preuy watch behynde. |
| 13:14 | Now wha Iuda turned them, beholde, there was battayll before the & behynde. Then cryed they vnto ye LORDE, & the prestes tromped with the trompettes, |
| 13:15 | & wha euery man in Iuda gaue a shoute, God plaged Ieroboam and Israel before Abia and Iuda. |
| 13:16 | And the children of Israel fled before Iuda, and God gaue them in to their handes, |
| 13:17 | so that Abia & his people dyd a greate slaughter vpon them, and there fell wounded of Israel fyue hundreth thousande chosen men. |
| 13:18 | Thus were the children of Israel subdued at that tyme, but the children of Iuda were comforted, for they put their trust in ye LORDE God of their fathers. |
| 13:19 | And Abia folowed vpon Ieroboam, and wanne cities fro him, Bethel with the vyllages therof, Iesana wt hir vyllages, and Ephron with the villages therof, |
| 13:20 | so that Ieroboam came nomore to strength, as longe as Abia lyued. And the LORDE smote him that he dyed. |
| 13:21 | Now whan Abia was strengthed, he toke fourtene wyues, and begat two and twentye sonnes and sixtene daughters. |
| 13:22 | What more there is to saye of Abia, and of his wayes and his doynges, it is wrytten in the storye of the prophet Iddo. |
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.