Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 8:1 | The same daye dyd kynge Ahasuerus geue the house of Aman the Iewes enemye, vnto quene Hester. And Mardocheus came before ye kinge: for Hester tolde how that he beloged vnto her. |
| 8:2 | And the kynge put of his fynger rynge, which he had taken from Aman, & gaue it vnto Mardocheus. And Hester set Mardocheus ouer the house of Aman. |
| 8:3 | And Hester spake yet more before the kynge, and fell downe at his fete, & besought him, that he wolde put awaye the wyckednes of Aman the Agagite, and his deuice that he had ymagined against ye Iewes. |
| 8:4 | And the kynge helde out the golden cepter vnto Hester. Then rose Hester, and stode before the kynge, |
| 8:5 | and sayde: Yf it please the kynge, and yf I haue foude grace in his sight, & yf it be couenyent for the kinge, and yf it be accepted in his sighte, then let it be wrytte, yt the letters of the deuyce of Ama the sonne of Amadathai the Agagite, maie be called agayne: which letters he wrote, to destroie ye Iewes in all ye kynges lodes. |
| 8:6 | For how can I se the euell that shal happe vnto my people? and how can I loke vpon the destruction of my kynred? |
| 8:7 | Then sayde ye kynge Ahasuerus vnto quene Hester, and to Mardocheus the Iewe: Beholde, I haue geuen Hester the house of Aman, & him haue they hanged vpon a tre, because he layed hade vpon ye Iewes. |
| 8:8 | Wryte ye now therfore for the Iewes, as it liketh you in the kynges name, and seale it with ye kynges rynge (for the wrytinges that were wrytten in ye kynges name, and sealed with the kynges rynge, durst no man dysanulle.) |
| 8:9 | Then were the kynges scrybes called at the same tyme in the thirde moneth, that is the moneth Siuan, on the thre & twentieth daie. And it was wrytten (as Mardocheus comaunded) vnto the Iewes and to the prynces, to the Debities and captaynes in the londes from India vntyll Ethiopia, namely, an hundreth and seuen and twentye londes, vnto euery one acordinge to the wrytinge therof, vnto euery people after their speche, and to the Iewes acordinge to their wrytinge and language. |
| 8:10 | And it was written in the kynge Ahasuerus name, and sealed with the kynges rynge. And by postes that rode vpon swyfte yonge Mules, sent he the wrytinges, |
| 8:11 | wher in the kynge graunted the Iewes (in what cities so euer they were) to gather them selues together, and to stonde for their lyfe, and for to rote out, to slaye, and to destroye all the power of the people and londe that wolde trouble them, with children and wemen, and to spoyle their good |
| 8:12 | vpon one daye in all the londes of kynge Ahasuerus, namely vpon the thirtenth daye of the twolueth moneth, which is the moneth Adar. |
| 8:13 | The summe of the wrytinge was, how there was a comaundement geuen in all londes to be publisled vnto all the people, that ye Iewes shulde be ready agaynst that daye to auenge them selues on their enemies. |
| 8:14 | And the postes that rode vpon the Mules, made haistwith all spede, acordinge to the kynges worde: and the commaundement was deuysed in the castel of Susan. |
| 8:15 | As for Mardocheus, he wente out from the kynge in royall apparell of yalow and whyte, and wyth a greate crowne of golde, beynge arayed with a garment of linnen and purple, and ye cite of Susan reioysed & was glad: |
| 8:16 | but vnto the Iewes there was come light and gladnesse, & ioye & worshippe. |
| 8:17 | And in all londes and cities, in to what places so euer the kynges worde and commaundemet reached, there was ioye & myrth, prosperite and good dayes amonge the Iewes: in so moch that many of the people in the londe became of the Iewes beleue, for the feare of the Iewes came vpon them. |
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.