Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 20:1 | Then answered Sophar the Naamathite, and sayde: |
| 20:2 | For the same cause do my thoughtes compell me to answere. And why? my mynde is tossed here and there. |
| 20:3 | I haue sufficiently herde the checkynge & reprofe, therfore am I purposed to make answere after my vnderstodinge. |
| 20:4 | Knowest thou not this, namely: that from the begynninge (euer sence the creacion of man vpon earth) |
| 20:5 | the prayse of the vngodly hath bene shorte, and that the ioye of Ypocrytes continued but ye twincklinge of an eye? |
| 20:6 | Though he be magnified vp to the heaue, so that his heade reacheth vnto the cloudes: |
| 20:7 | yet he perisheth at the last like donge: In so moch yt they which haue sene him, saye: Where is he? |
| 20:8 | He vanysheth as a dreame, so that he can nomore be founde, & passeth awaye as a vision in ye night. |
| 20:9 | So that the eye which sawe him before, getteth now no sight of him, & his place knoweth him nomore. |
| 20:10 | His childre go a begginge, their handes bringe the to sorow and heuynesse. |
| 20:11 | From his youth his bones are ful of vyce, which shal lie downe wt him in ye earth. |
| 20:12 | Whe wickednesse is swete in his mouth, he hydeth it vnder his tonge. |
| 20:13 | That he fauoureth, that wyll he not forsake, but kepeth it close in his throte. |
| 20:14 | The meate that he eateth, shalbe turned to the poyson of serpetes within his body. |
| 20:15 | The riches yt he deuoureth, shall he perbreake agayne, for God shal drawe them out of his bely. |
| 20:16 | The serpentes heade shall sucke him, and the adders tonge shall slaye him: |
| 20:17 | so that he shal nomore se the ryuers and brokes of hony and butter: |
| 20:18 | But laboure shal he, & yet haue nothinge to eate. Greate trauayle shal he make for riches, but he shal not enioye them. |
| 20:19 | And why? he hath oppressed the poore, and not helped them: houses hath he spoyled, and not buylded them. |
| 20:20 | His bely coude neuer be fylled, therfore shall he perish in his couetousnesse. |
| 20:21 | He deuoured so gredely, yt he left nothinge behynde, therfore his goodes shal not prospere. |
| 20:22 | Though he had plenteousnesse of euerythinge, yet was he poore, & therfore he is but a wretch on euery syde. |
| 20:23 | For though ye wicked haue neuer so moch to fyll his bely, yet God shal sende his wrath vpon him, and cause his battayll to rayne ouer him: |
| 20:24 | so that yf he fle the yron weapens, he shall be shott with the stele bowe. |
| 20:25 | The arowe shal be taken forth, & go out at his backe, and a glisteringe swearde thorow ye gall of him, feare shal come vpo him. |
| 20:26 | There shal no darcknes be able to hyde him. An vnkyndled fyre shal consume him, and loke what remayneth in his house, it shall be destroyed. |
| 20:27 | The heauen shall declare his wickednesse, & the earth shal take parte agaynst him. |
| 20:28 | The substaunce that he hath in his house, shalbe taken awaye and perish, in the daye of the LORDES wrath. |
| 20:29 | This is the porcion that ye wicked shal haue of God, and the heretage that he maye loke for of the LORDE. |
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.