Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 11:1 | Then answered Sophar the Naamathite, and sayde: |
| 11:2 | Shulde not he that maketh many wordes, be answered? Shulde he that bableth moch, be commended therin? |
| 11:3 | Shulde men geue eare vnto the only? Thou wilt laugh other men to scorne, & shal no body mocke the agayne? |
| 11:4 | Wilt thou saye vnto God: The thinge that I take in honde, is perfecte, & I am clene in thy sight? |
| 11:5 | O that God wolde speake, and open his lippes agaynst the, |
| 11:6 | that he might shewe the (out of his secrete wy?dome) how manyfolde his lawe is: then shuldest thou knowe, that God had forgotten the, because of thy synnes. |
| 11:7 | Wilt thou fynde out God with thy sekynge? wilt thou attayne to the perfectnesse of the Allmightie? |
| 11:8 | He is hyer the heaue, what wilt thou do? Deper the hell, how wilt thou then knowe him? |
| 11:9 | His length exceadeth the length of the earth, and his bredth ye bredth of the see. |
| 11:10 | Though he turne all thinges vpsyde downe, close them in, or thrust the together, who darre check him therfore? |
| 11:11 | For it is he, that knoweth the vanite of men: he seyth their wickednesse also, shulde he not then considre it? |
| 11:12 | A vayne body exalteth him self, and the sonne of man is like a wylde asses foale. |
| 11:13 | Yf thou haddest now a right herte, & liftest vp thine hondes towarde him: |
| 11:14 | yf thou woldest put awaye the wickednesse, which thou hast in honde, so that no vngodlynesse dwelt in thy house: |
| 11:15 | Then mightest thou lift vp thy face without shame, the shuldest thou be sure, and haue no nede to feare. |
| 11:16 | Then shuldest thou forget thy misery, and thynke nomore vpon it, then vpon the waters that runne by. |
| 11:17 | Then shulde thy life be as cleare as the noone daye, and sprynge forth as the mornynge. |
| 11:18 | Then mightest thou haue comforth, in the hope that thou hast: & slepe quyetly, when thou art buried. |
| 11:19 | Then shuldest thou take thy rest, and no ma to make the afrayed, yee many one shulde set moch by the. |
| 11:20 | As for the eyes of the vngodly, they shal be consumed, and not escape: their hope shalbe misery and sorow of mynde. |
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.