Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 31:1 | And whan all this was fynished, all the Israelites that were founde in ye cities of Iuda, wente out, and brake the pilers, and hewed downe the groues, and brake downe the hye places and altares out of all Iuda, Ben Iamin, Ephraim and Manasses, tyll they had destroyed the. And all the children of Israel wente agayne euery one to his possession vnto their cities. |
| 31:2 | But Ezechias set the prestes and Leuites in their ordinaunces, euery one after his office, both the prestes and Leuites, for the burntsacrifices and thankofferynges, to mynister, to geue thankes and prayse in the gates of the hoost of the LORDE. |
| 31:3 | And the kynge gaue his porcion of his substauce for the burntofferynges in the mornynge and euenynge, and for the burntofferynges of the Sabbath, and of the newmone and of the feastes, as it is wrytten in the lawe of the LORDE. |
| 31:4 | And he spake vnto ye people which dwelt at Ierusalem, that they shulde geue porcios vnto the prestes and Leuites, yt they mighte the more stedfastly endure in the lawe of the LORDE. |
| 31:5 | And wha ye worde came forth, the childre of Israel gaue many fyrst frutes of come, wyne, oyle, hony, and all maner increace of the felde, and broughte in moch of all maner tithes. |
| 31:6 | And the children of Israel and Iuda which dwelt in the cities of Iuda, broughte the tithes also of oxen and shepe, and the tithes of soch thinges as were sanctifyed, which they had halowed vnto the LORDE their God, and made here an heape, and there an heape. |
| 31:7 | In the thirde moneth begane they to laye vpon heapes, and in the seuenth moneth dyd they fynishe it. |
| 31:8 | And wha Ezechias with the rulers wente in, and sawe the heapes, they praysed the LORDE, and his people of Israel. |
| 31:9 | And Ezechias axed the prestes and Leuites concernynge the heapes. |
| 31:10 | And Asaria the prest the chefe in the house of Sadoc, sayde vnto him: Sence the tyme that they beganne to brynge the Heueofferynges in to ye house of the LORDE, we haue eaten, and are satisfied, and yet is there lefte ouer: for the LORDE hath blessed his people, therfore is this heape lefte ouer. |
| 31:11 | Then commaunded the kynge, that they shulde prepare chestes in the house of the LORDE. And they prepared them, |
| 31:12 | and put in the Heueofferynges, and tithes and that which was halowed, faithfully.And the ouersighte of the same had Chanania the Leuite, and Simei his brother the seconde, |
| 31:13 | and Iehiel, Asasia, Naglath, Asahel, Ierimoth, Iosabad, Eliel, Iesmachia, Mahath and Benaia, ordeyned of the hande off Chanania and Simei his brother, acordinge to the commaundement of kynge Ezechias. But Asaria was prynce in the house of God. |
| 31:14 | And Core ye sonne of Iemna the Leuite the porter of the Eastgate was ouer the frewyllinge giftes of God (which were geuen for Heueofferynges vnto the LORDE) and ouer the Most holy. |
| 31:15 | And vnder his hande were, Eden, Miniamin, Iesua, Semaia, Amaria, and Sachania in the cities of the prestes vpon credence, that they shulde geue vnto their brethre acordinge to their courses, to the leest as to the greatest. |
| 31:16 | And vnto them that were counted for men childre from thre yeare olde and aboue, amonge all the that wete in to the house of the LORDE, euery one vpo his daye to their office in their attendaunces after their courses. |
| 31:17 | And they that were rekened for prestes in the house of their fathers, and the Leuites from twentye yeare and aboue, in their attendaunces after their courses. |
| 31:18 | And they that were rekened amonge their children, wyues, sonnes and doughters amoge the whole congregacion: for that which was halowed, sanctifyed they vpon credence. |
| 31:19 | There were men also named by name amonge Aarons children the prestes vpon the feldes of the suburbes in all ye cities, that they shulde geue porcions vnto all the men children amoge the prestes, and to all them that were nombred amonge the Leuites. |
| 31:20 | Thus dyd Ezechias in all Iuda, and dyd that which was good, righte and true in the sighte of the LORDE his God. |
| 31:21 | And in all the busynes that he toke in hade concernynge the seruyce of the house of God, acordinge to the lawe and commaundement, to seke his God, that dyd he with all his hert, and therfore prospered he well. |
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.