Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 4:1 | But whan the aduersaries of Iuda and Ben Iamin herde, that the children of the captiuyte buylded the teple vnto the LORDE God of Israel, |
| 4:2 | they came to Zorobabel & to the pryncipall fathers, and sayde vnto them: We wyl buylde with you: for we seke the LORDE youre God like as ye do. And we haue done sacrifice vnto him, sence the tyme that Assar Hadon the kynge of Assur broughte vs vp hither. |
| 4:3 | But Zorobabel and Iesua and the other awnciet fathers of Israel, answered them: It is not mete for vs and you to buylde the house of oure God, but we wyl buylde alone vnto the LORDE God of Israel, as Cyrus the kynge of Persia hath commaunded vs. |
| 4:4 | Then the folke of the londe hyndered the people of Iuda, and made them afrayed to buylde, |
| 4:5 | and hyred councelers aganst them and hyndered their deuyce, as longe as Cyrus the kynge of Persia lyued, vntyll the reigne off Darius kynge off Persia. |
| 4:6 | But whan Ahasuerus was kynge, in the begynnynge off his reigne wrote they vnto him a complaynte agaynst them of Iuda and Ierusalem. |
| 4:7 | And in the tyme of Artaxerses, wrote Bisellam, Mithudath, Tabeel and the other of their councell vnto Artaxerses the kynge of Persia. But the scripture of ye letter was wrytten in the Syrians speach, and was interpretated in the langage of the Syrians. |
| 4:8 | Rehum ye chaunceler, and Simsai the scrybe, wrote this letter agaynst Ierusalem to Artaxerses the kynge. |
| 4:9 | We Rehum the chaunceler, and Simsai the scribe, and other of the councell of Dina, off Arphasath, off Tarplat, off Persia, off Arach, of Babilon, of Susan, of Deha, and of Elam, |
| 4:10 | and other of the people whom the greate and noble Asnaphar broughte ouer, and set in the cities of Samaria, and other on this syde the water, and in Canaan. |
| 4:11 | And this is ye summe of the letter that they sent vnto kynge Artaxerses: Thy seruauntes the men on this syde the water and in Canaan. |
| 4:12 | Be it knowne vnto ye kynge, that the Iewes which are come vp from the to vs vnto Ierusale in to that sedicious & wicked cite, buylde the same, and make vp ye walles of it, & brynge it out of ye foundacion. |
| 4:13 | Be it knowne now therfore vnto ye kynge, yt yf this cite be buylded & the walles made vp agayne, the shal not they geue tribute, toll, and yearly custome, and their deuyce shal do ye kynge harme. |
| 4:14 | But now that we all are therby which destroyed the temple, we wolde no longer se the kynges dishonoure. Therfore sent we out, and caused the kynge to be certified therof: |
| 4:15 | That it maye be soughte in ye Cronicles of thy progenitours, and so shalt thou fynde in the same Cronicles, and perceaue, that this cite is sedicious and noysome vnto kynges and londes, and that they cause other also to rebell of olde, and for the same cause was this cite destroyed. |
| 4:16 | Therfore do we certifie the kynge, that yf this cite be buylded, and the walles therof made vp, thou shalt kepe nothinge on this syde the water by the reason of it. |
| 4:17 | Then sent ye kynge an answere vnto Rehum the chaunceler, and Simsai the Scrybe, and to the other of their councell that dwelt in Samaria, and vnto the other beyonde ye water. Peace and salutacion. |
| 4:18 | The letter which ye sent vnto vs, hath bene opely red before me, |
| 4:19 | and I haue commaunded to make search: and it is founde, that this cite of olde hath made insurreccion agaynst, kynges, & how yt vpror and rebellion hath bene commytted therin. |
| 4:20 | There haue bene mightie kynges also at Ierusale, which haue reigned ouer all that is beyonde the water, and toll, tribute and yearly custome was geuen vnto them. |
| 4:21 | Do ye now after this commaundemet, forbyd the same men, that the cite be not builded, tyll I haue geue comaundemet. |
| 4:22 | Take hede now that ye be not necligent here in, lest the kynge haue harme there thorow. |
| 4:23 | Now wha kynge Artaxerses letter was red before Rehum the chaunceler and Simsai the Scrybe and their councell, they wente vp in all the haist to Ierusalem vnto the Iewes, and forbad them with the arme and auctorite. |
| 4:24 | Then ceassed the worke of the house of God at Ierusalem, and continued so vnto the seconde yeare of Darius kynge of Persia. |
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.