Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 4:1 | Whan Mardocheus perceaued all that was done, he rete his clothes, and put on a sack cloth, & a?shes, & wente out in to the myddes of the cite, and cried loude and lamentably, |
| 4:2 | and came before the kynges gate: for there might no man entre within the kynges gate, that had a sack cloth on. |
| 4:3 | And in all lodes & places, as farre as the kynges worde and commaundement extended, there was greate lamentacion amonge the Iewes, and many fasted, wepte, mourned, & laye in sack clothes & in ashes. |
| 4:4 | So Hesters dasels, and hir chamberlaines, came and tolde it her. Then was the quene exceadingly astonnyed. And she sent rayment, that Mardocheus shulde put them on, and laye the sacklothe from him. But Mardocheus wolde not take them. |
| 4:5 | The called Hester Hathac one of the kinges chamberlaines (which stode before her) and gaue him a comaundement vnto Mardocheus, that he might knowe what it were, and wherfore he dyd so. |
| 4:6 | So Hathac wente forth to Mardocheus vnto the strete of the cite, which was before the kynges gate. |
| 4:7 | And Mardocheus tolde him of all yt had happened vnto him, and of the summe of siluer that Ama had promysed to weie downe in the kynges chamber because of ye Iewes for to destroye them, |
| 4:8 | and he gaue him the copye of the commaundement, that was deuysed at Susan to destroye them, that he mighte shewe it vnto Hester, and to speake to her and charge her, yt she shulde go into the kynge, and make her prayer and supplicacion vnto him for hir people. |
| 4:9 | And wha Hathat came in, and tolde Hester the wordes of Mardocheus, |
| 4:10 | Hester spake vnto Hathat, and comaunded him to saye vnto Mardocheus: |
| 4:11 | All the kynges seruauntes, and the people in the londes of the kynge knowe, that who so euer commeth within the courte vnto ye kynge, whether it be man or woman, which is not called, the comaundement is that the same shal dye immediatly, excepte the kynge holde out the golde cepter vnto him, that he maye lyue. As for me, I haue not bene called to come in to the kynge now this thirtie dayes. |
| 4:12 | And wha Mardocheus was certified of Hesters wordes, |
| 4:13 | Mardocheus bad saie againe vnto Hester: Thynke not to saue thine awne life, whyle thou art in ye kynges house before all Iewes: |
| 4:14 | for yf thou holdest thy peace at this tyme, then shal the Iewes haue helpe and delyueraunce out of another place, & thou & thy fathers house shalbe destroyed. And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kyngdome, for this tymes sake? |
| 4:15 | Hester bad geue Mardocheus this answere: |
| 4:16 | Go thou yi waye then, & gather together all ye Iewes yt are founde at Susan, & fast ye for me, yt ye eate not & drynke not in thre dayes, nether daye ner nighte. I & my damsels wil fast likewyse, & so wyl I go into the kynge cotrary to the comaundement: yf I perishe, I perishe. |
| 4:17 | So Mardocheus wente his waye, & dyd all yt Hester had comaunded him. |
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.