Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 2:1 | In the moneth Nisan of the twentieth yeare of kynge Artaxerses, wha the wyne stode before him, I toke vp the wyne, and gaue it vnto ye kynge, and I was heuy in his presence. |
| 2:2 | Then sayde ye kynge vnto me: Why lokest thou so sadly? Thou art not sicke, that is not ye matter, but thou art heuy harted. Neuertheles I was sore afrayed, |
| 2:3 | & sayde vnto the kynge: God saue the kynges life for euer, shulde I not loke sadly? the cite of my fathers buryall lyeth wayest, & the portes therof are consumed wt the fyre. |
| 2:4 | Then sayde the kynge vnto me: What is the thy request? Then made I my prayer to the God of heaue, |
| 2:5 | and sayde vnto the kynge: yf it please the kynge, and yf thy seruaunt be fauoured in thy sighte, I beseke the sende me in to Iuda vnto ye cite of my fathers buryall, that I maye buylde it. |
| 2:6 | And ye kynge sayde vnto me, & so dyd the quene yt sat by him: How loge shal thy iourney cotynue, and wha wilt thou come agayne? And it pleased ye kynge to sende me, and I set him a tyme, |
| 2:7 | & sayde vnto the kynge: Yf it please the kynge, let him geue me letters to the Debites beyonde ye water, yt they maye conueye me ouer, tyll I come in to Iuda: |
| 2:8 | & letters vnto Assaph the lorde of the kynges wod, yt he maye geue me wodd for balkes to the gates of the palace, which are harde on the house & harde on the walles of the cite, & for the house that I shal entre in to. And ye kynge gaue me acordinge to the good hande of God vpo me. |
| 2:9 | And whan I came to ye Debites beyonde the water, I gaue them ye kynges letters. And the kynge sent captaynes and horsmen with me. |
| 2:10 | But whan Saneballath the Horonite, & Tobias the seruaunt of the Ammonites herde yt, it greued them sore, yt there was come a man which soughte the welth of the children of Israel. |
| 2:11 | And whan I came to Ierusalem, & had bene there thre daies, |
| 2:12 | I gat me vp in ye night season, & a fewe men with me: for I tolde no man what God had geue me in my hert to do at Ierusalem: & there was not one beest wt me, saue it yt I rode vpon. |
| 2:13 | And I rode by nighte vnto the valley porte before the Dragon well, & to the Dongporte, & considered ye walles of Ierusalem that were broken downe, & the portes therof consumed wt the fyre. |
| 2:14 | And I wente ouer vnto ye Well porte, & to the kynges condyte, & there was no rowme for my beest, yt it coulde go vnder me. |
| 2:15 | Then wete I on in the nighte by the broke syde, & cosidered ye wall, & turned back, & came home agayne to ye valley porte. |
| 2:16 | And ye rulers knewe not whither I wete, or what I dyd: for hither to had I not tolde the Iewes & the prestes, the councelers & the rulers, & the other yt laboured in the worke, |
| 2:17 | & I saide vnto the: Ye se the myserye yt we are in, how Ierusale lyeth wayst, & how ye gates therof are brent wt fyre, come, let vs buylde vp ye walles of Ierusale, yt we be nomore a rebuke. |
| 2:18 | And I tolde the of the good hade of my God which was vpo me: And ye kynges wordes yt he had spoke vnto me. And they saide: Then let vs get vp. And we buylded, and their handes were strengthed to good. |
| 2:19 | But whan Saneballat ye Horonite, and Tobias the seruaunt of ye Ammonites, & Gosem the Arabian herde it, they laughed vs to scorne, and despised vs, & sayde: What is this that ye do? Wyll ye fall awaye agayne from the kynge? |
| 2:20 | Then answered I them, and sayde: The God of heauen shal cause vs to prospere: for we his seruauntes are gotten vp, & are buyldinge. As for you, ye haue no porcio ner right, ner remembraunce in Ierusale. |
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.