Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 34:1 | Eliu proceaded forth in his comunicacion, & sayde: |
| 34:2 | Heare my wordes (O ye wyse men) herken vnto me, ye yt haue vnderstondinge. |
| 34:3 | For like as the mouth tasteth the meates, so the eare proueth & discerneth the wordes. |
| 34:4 | As for the iudgmet, let vs seke it out amonge or selues, yt we maye knowe what is right. |
| 34:5 | And why? Iob hath sayde: I am rightuous, but God doth me wronge. |
| 34:6 | I must nedes be a lyar, though my cause be right: & violetly am I plaged, where as I made no fawte. |
| 34:7 | where is there soch one as Iob, yt drinketh vp scornefulnes like water? |
| 34:8 | which goeth in ye company of wicked doers, & walketh wt vngodly me? |
| 34:9 | For he saieth: Though a ma be good, yet is he naught before God. |
| 34:10 | Therfore herke vnto me, ye yt haue vnderstondinge. Farre be it from God, that he shulde medle with wickednesse: and farre be it from the Allmightie, yt he shulde medle with vnrightuous dealynge: |
| 34:11 | but he rewardeth the workes of man, and causeth euery man to fynde acordinge to his wayes. |
| 34:12 | For sure it is, that God codemneth no man wrongeously, and the iudgmet of the Allmightie is not vnrightuous. |
| 34:13 | Who ruleth the earth in his steade? Or, whom hath he set to gouerne the whole worlde? |
| 34:14 | To whom hath he geuen his herte, for to drawe his sprete and breth vnto him? |
| 34:15 | All flesh shal come together vnto naught, & all me shal turne agayne vnto earth. |
| 34:16 | Yf thou now haue vnderstodinge, heare what I saye and herken to the voyce of my wordes. |
| 34:17 | Maye he be made whole, that loueth no right? Yf thou were a very innocent man, shuldest thou then be punyshed? |
| 34:18 | For he is euen the same, yt knoweth the rebellious kynges, & sayeth to princes: |
| 34:19 | Vngodly men are ye He hath no respecte vnto the personnes of ye lordly, & regardeth not the rich more the poore. For they be all the worke of his hondes. |
| 34:20 | In the twincklinge off an eye shall they be slayne: and at mydnight, when the people & the tyrauntes rage, then shal they perish, ad be taken awaye with out hondes. |
| 34:21 | And why? his eyes loke vpon the wayes of man, and he seyth all his goinges. |
| 34:22 | There is no darcknes ner thicke shadowe, yt can hyde the wicked doers from him. |
| 34:23 | For no ma shalbe suffred to go into iudgment with God. |
| 34:24 | Many one, yee innumerable doth he punyshe and setteth other in their steades. |
| 34:25 | For he knoweth their euell & darcke workes, therfore shal they be destroyed. |
| 34:26 | They that were in ye steade of Seers, dealt like vngodly me. |
| 34:27 | Therfore turned they back traytorously and vnfaithfully fro hi, & wolde not receaue his wayes. |
| 34:28 | In so moch that they haue caused ye voyce of the poore to come vnto him, & now he heareth the coplaynte of soch as are in necessite. |
| 34:29 | Yf he delyuer & graunte pardo, who will iudge or condemne? But yf he hyde awaye his countenaunce, who wil turne it aboute agayne, whether it be to the people or to eny man? |
| 34:30 | For the wickednesse & synne of ye people, he maketh an ypocrite to reigne ouer the. |
| 34:31 | For so moch then as I haue begonne to talke of God, I wil not hyndre the. |
| 34:32 | Yf I haue gone amysse, enfourme me: yf I haue done wronge, I wil leaue of. |
| 34:33 | Wilt thou not geue a reasonable answere? Art thou afrayed of eny thinge, seynge thou beganest first to speake, & not I? |
| 34:34 | For els the men of vnderstodinge & wisdome that haue herde me, might saye: What cast thou speake? |
| 34:35 | As for Iob he hath nether spoken to the purpose ner wysely. |
| 34:36 | O father, let Iob be well tryed, because he he hath turned himself to ye wicked: |
| 34:37 | yee aboue his synnes he hath blasphemed, which offence he hath done euen before vs, in yt he stryueth agaynst God with his wordes. |
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.