Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 24:1 | Consideringe then that there is no tyme hyd from the Allmightie, how happeneth it, that they which knowe him, wil not regarde his dayes? |
| 24:2 | For some me there be, that remoue other mes londe markes: that robbe them of their catell, and kepe the same for their owne: |
| 24:3 | that dryue awaye the asse of the fatherlesse: that take ye wyddowes oxe for a pledge: |
| 24:4 | that thrust the poore out of the waye, & oppresse the symple of the worlde together. |
| 24:5 | Beholde, the wilde asses in ye deserte go by tymes (as their maner is) to spoyle: Yee the very wildernesse ministreth foode for their children. |
| 24:6 | They reape the corne felde that is not their owne: and gather the grapes out of his vynyarde, whom they haue oppressed by violence. |
| 24:7 | They are the cause yt so many men are naked and bare, hauynge no clothes to couer them and kepe them from colde: |
| 24:8 | So that when the showers in the mountaynes haue rayned vpon them, & they be all wett, they haue none other sucoure, but to kepe them amonge the rockes. |
| 24:9 | They spoyle the suckinge fatherlesse children, and put the poore in preson: |
| 24:10 | In so moch that they let them go naked without clothinge, and yet the hungrie beare the sheeues. |
| 24:11 | The poore are fayne to laboure in their oyle mylles, yee and to treade in their wyne presses, and yet to suffre thyrst. |
| 24:12 | The whole cite crieth vnto the LORDE with sighinge, the soules of the slayne make their complaynte: But God destroyeth them not for all this, |
| 24:13 | where as they (not wt stodinge) are rebellious and disobedient enemies: which seke not his light and waye, ner turne agayne in to his path. |
| 24:14 | Tymely in the mornynge do they aryse, to murthur the symple and poore, & in the night they go a stealinge. |
| 24:15 | The eye of the vngodly is like the aduouterer, that wayteth for the darcknesse, and sayeth thus in him self: Tush, there shal no ma se me, & so he disgyseth his face. |
| 24:16 | In the night season they search the houses, and hyde them selues in the daye tyme, but wil not knowe ye light |
| 24:17 | For as soone as the daye breaketh, the shadowe of death commeth vpo them, and they go in horrible darcknesse. |
| 24:18 | The vngodly is very swyft: O yt his porcio also vpo earth were swyfter then ye runnynge water, which suffreth not ye shipma to beholde the fayre & pleasaut vyniardes. |
| 24:19 | O yt they (for the wickednesse which they haue done) were drawen to the hell, sooner the snowe melteth at the heate. |
| 24:20 | O yt all copassion vpon the were forgotte: yt their daynties were wormes: that they were clene put out of remembraunce, & vtterly hewe downe like an vnfrutefull tre. |
| 24:21 | For they manteyne the baren, & make them yt they can not beare, & vnto wyddowes they do no good. |
| 24:22 | They plucke downe the mightie wt their power, & when they them selues are gotten vp, they are neuer without feare, as longe as they liue. |
| 24:23 | And though they might be safe, yet they wil not receaue it, for their eyes loke vpon their owne wayes. |
| 24:24 | They are exalted for a litle, but shortly are they gone, brought to extreme pouerte, & take out of the waye: yee & vtterly plucte of as the eares of corne. |
| 24:25 | Is it not so? Who wil the reproue me as a lyar, & saye yt my wordes are nothinge worth? |
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.