Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 30:1 | And Ezechias sent into all Israel and Iuda, and wrote letters vnto Ephraim and Manasses, that they shulde come to the house of the LORDE at Ierusalem, to kepe easter vnto the LORDE God of Israel. |
| 30:2 | And the kynge helde a councell with his rulers, and all the cogregacion at Ierusalem, to kepe Passeouer in the seconde moneth: |
| 30:3 | for at that tyme they coulde not kepe it, because the prestes were not sanctified ynough, and the people were not yet come together vnto Ierusalem. |
| 30:4 | And it pleased the kynge well and all the cogregacion. |
| 30:5 | And they appointed it to be proclamed thorow out all Israel from Berseba vnto Dan, that they shulde come to kepe Passeouer vnto the LORDE God of Israel: for they were not many to kepe it as it is wrytten. |
| 30:6 | And the postes wente with the letters from the hande of the kynge and of his rulers thorow out all Israell and Iuda, at ye kynges commaundement, and sayde: Ye children of Israel, turne you vnto the LORDE God of Abraham, Isaac and Iacob, and he shal turne to ye escaped, which are lefte ouer amonge you from the hande of the kynge of Assur: |
| 30:7 | and be not ye as youre fathers and brethren, which rebelled agaynst the LORDE God of their fathers, and he gaue the ouer in to desolacion as ye se youre selues. |
| 30:8 | Be not ye hardnecked now as were youre fathers, but offre youre hade vnto the LORDE, and come to his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for euer, and serue the LORDE youre God, & so shal the indignacion of his wrath turne awaye from you. |
| 30:9 | For yf ye turne vnto the LORDE, then shal youre brethren and children haue mercy in the sighte of them which holde them in captiuyte, that they maye come agayne in to this londe: for the LORDE youre God is gracious and mercifull, and shal not turne awaye his face from you, yf ye conuerte vnto him. |
| 30:10 | And the postes wente from one cite to another in the londe of Ephraim and Manasses, and vnto Zabulon. But they mocked them and laughed them to scorne. |
| 30:11 | Yet were there some of Asser and Manasses, and of Zabulon, that submytted them selues, and came to Ierusalem. |
| 30:12 | And the hande of God came in to Iuda, so that he gaue the one hert to do after the commaundement of the kynge and the rulers at the worde of the LORDE. |
| 30:13 | And there came together vnto Ierusale a greate people, to kepe the feast of vnleuended bred in the seconde moneth, a very greate congregacion. |
| 30:14 | And they gat them vp, and put downe ye altares that were at Ierusalem, and all the incense put they awaye, and cast it in to the broke Cedron, |
| 30:15 | and slewe the Passeouer on the fourtenth daye of the secode moneth. And ye prestes and Leuites were ashamed, and halowed them selues, and broughte the burntofferynges to the house of the LORDE, |
| 30:16 | and stode in their ordinaunce, as it was acordinge, after the lawe off Moses the man of God. And the prestes sprenkled the bloude from the hande of the Leuites: |
| 30:17 | for there were many in the cogregacion which were not sanctified, therfore dyd the Leuites kyll Passeouer for them which were not clensed, that they mighte be sanctified vnto the LORDE. |
| 30:18 | There were many people also of Ephraim, Manasses, Isachar and Zabulon, which were not cleane, but ate the Easter lambe not as it is wrytten: for Ezechias prayed for them, and sayde: The LORDE, which is gracious, |
| 30:19 | shalbe mercifull vnto all them that prepare their hertes vnto God, to seke the LORDE God of their fathers, though they be not clensed after the holy purificacion. |
| 30:20 | And the LORDE herde Ezechias, and healed the people. |
| 30:21 | Thus the children of Israel that were founde at Ierusale, helde ye feast of vnleuended bred seuen dayes with greate ioye. And the Leuites and prestes praysed the LORDE euery daye with the loude instrumentes of the LORDE. |
| 30:22 | And Ezechias spake hertely vnto all ye Leuites, which had good vnderstondinge in the LORDE, and they ate the feast seuen dayes, and offred thakofferynges, and gaue thankes vnto ye LORDE God of their fathers. |
| 30:23 | And all the congregacion deuysed to kepe the feast yet other seue dayes, and so they helde it those seuen dayes also with ioye: |
| 30:24 | for Ezechias the kinge of Iuda gaue an Heueofferynge for the cogregacion, euen a thousande bullockes, and seuen thousande shepe. But the rulers gaue an Heueoffering for ye congregacion, euen a thousande bullockes, and ten thousande shepe. And many of the prestes sanctified them selues. |
| 30:25 | And the whole congregacion of Iuda reioysed, the prestes and Leuites, and all the congregacion that came out of Israel, and the straungers that were come out of the londe of Israel, and they that dwelt in Iuda, |
| 30:26 | and greate ioye was there at Ierusalem: for sence the tyme of Salomon the sonne of Dauid the kynge of Israel, was there no soch (ioye) at Ierusale. |
| 30:27 | And the prestes and Leuites stode vp and blessed the people, and their voyce was herde, and their prayer came in to his holy habitacion in heauen. |
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.