Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 7:1 | And whan the kynge and Aman came to the bancket that quene Hester had prepared, |
| 7:2 | the kynge sayde vnto Hester on the seconde daye whan he had droken wyne: What is thy peticion quene Hester, that it maye be geuen the? And what requyrest thou? Yee axe euen halfe of the empyre, and it shal be done. |
| 7:3 | Hester ye quene answered and sayde: Yf I haue founde grace in thy sighte (O kynge) and yf it please the kynge, then graunte me my lyfe at my desyre and my people for my peticions sake: |
| 7:4 | for we are solde to be destroyed, to be slayne, and to perishe. And wolde God we were solde to be bondmen and bondwemen, then wolde I holde my tonge, so shulde not the enemye be so hye to the kynges harme. |
| 7:5 | The kynge Ahasuerus spake & saide vnto quene Hester: What is he that? Or where is he yt darre presume in his mynde to do soch a thinge after that maner? |
| 7:6 | Hester sayde: The enemye and aduersary is this wicked Aman. As for Ama, he was exceadingly afraied before ye kynge & ye quene. |
| 7:7 | And the kynge arose fro the bancket & fro ye wyne in his displeasure, and wente in to the palace garden. And Aman stode vp, and besoughte quene Hester for his life: for he sawe yt there was a mischauce prepared for him of the kynge allready. |
| 7:8 | And whan the kynge came agayne out of the palace garden in to ye parler where they had eaten, Aman had layed him vpon the bed that Hester sat vpon. Then saide the kinge: wyl he force the quene also besyde me in the house? As soone as that worde wente out of the kynges mouth, they couered Amans face. |
| 7:9 | And Harbona one of the chamberlaynes that stode before the kynge, sayde Beholde, there stondeth a galowe in Amas house fiftie cubytes hye, which he had made for Mardocheus, that spake good for ye kinge. The kynge sayde: Hange him theron. |
| 7:10 | So they hanged Aman on the galowe that he had made for Mardocheus. Then was the kynges wrath stylled. |
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.