Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 6:1 | Then comaunded kinge Darius, that search shulde be made in ye library of ye kynges treasure house, which laye at Babilon. |
| 6:2 | So at Egbathanis in a castell that lyeth in the londe of the Meedes, there was founde a boke, & in it was there an acte wrytten after this maner: |
| 6:3 | In the first yeare of kynge Cyrus, comaunded the same kynge Cyrus to buylde ye house of God at Ierusalem, in the place where the sacrifice is made, & to laye the foundacion to beare thre score cubites heyght, & thre score cubites bredth, |
| 6:4 | & thre walles of all maner of stones, and one wall of tymber, & the expences shalbe geuen of the kynges house. |
| 6:5 | And the golde and syluer vessell of ye house of God (which Nabuchodonosor toke out of the temple at Ierusalem, and broughte vnto Babilon) shalbe restored agayne, yt they maye be broughte vnto the temple at Ierusale to their place in to the house of God. |
| 6:6 | Get you farre from them therfore, thou Thathnai Debyte beyonde the water, and Sethar of Bosen, & youre councelers which are beyonde the water. |
| 6:7 | Let them worke in ye house of God, that the Debyte of ye Iewes and their Elders maye buylde the house of God in his place. |
| 6:8 | I haue commaunded also, what shalbe done to ye Elders of Iuda for the buyldinge of the house of God, that there shal diligently be take of the kynges goodes, euen of the rentes beyonde the water, & geuen vnto the men, and that they be not hyndered. |
| 6:9 | And yf they haue nede of calues, lambes, or goates for the burntoffrynge vnto ye God of heauen, wheate, salt, wyne and oyle, after the custome of the prestes at Ierusalem, there shalbe geuen them daylie as is acordinge: and se that this be not done necligetly, |
| 6:10 | that they maye offre swete sauoures vnto ye God of heauen, and praye for the kynges lyfe, and for his children. |
| 6:11 | This commaundement haue I geue. And what man so euer he be that altereth these wordes, there shal a balke be taken from his house, and set vp, and he shalbe hanged theron, and his house shalbe prysed for the dede. |
| 6:12 | But the God that dwelleth in heauen, destroye all kynges and people, that put to their hade to alter and to breake downe the house of God at Ierusalem. I Darius haue commaunded, that this be diligently done. |
| 6:13 | Then Thathnai ye Debyte beyonde ye water, and Sethar of Bosen with their councelers (to whom kynge Darius had sent) dyd their diligence. |
| 6:14 | And ye Elders of the Iewes buylded, and they prospered thorow the prophecienge of Aggeus the prophet and Zachary the sonne of Iddo: and they buylded, and set vp the worke, acordinge to the commaundement of the God of Israel, and after the commaundement of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerses kynges of Persia. |
| 6:15 | And they perfourmed the house vnto the thirde daye of the moneth Adar, that was the sixte yeare of the reigne of kynge Darius. |
| 6:16 | And the children of Israel, the prestes, the Leuites, and the other children of ye captyuite helde the dedicacion of the house of God with ioye, |
| 6:17 | and offred at the dedicacion of the house of God, an hundreth calues, two hundreth lambes, foure hundreth goates: and for the synofferynge for all Israel, twolue he goates, acordinge to the nombre of the trybes of Israel, |
| 6:18 | and set the prestes in their courses, and ye Leuites in their offices, to mynister vnto God which is at Ierusale, as it is wrytten in the boke of Moses. |
| 6:19 | And the children of the captyuite helde Passeouer vpon the fourtenth daye of the first moneth: |
| 6:20 | for ye prestes and Leuites had purified them selues, so yt they were all cleane as one man, and kylled Passeouer for all the children of the captyuite, and for their brethre the prestes, and for them selues. |
| 6:21 | And the childre of Israel which were come agayne out of captiuyte, and all soch as had separated them selues vnto them from the fylthinesse of the Heythen in the londe, to seke the LORDE God of Israel, ate |
| 6:22 | & helde the feast of vnleueded bred seuen dayes with ioye: for the LORDE had made them glad, and turned the hert of the kynge of Assur vnto the, so that their handes were strengthed in the worke of the house of God, which is ye God of Israel. |
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.