Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 38:1 | Then spake the LORDE vnto Iob out of the storme, and sayde: |
| 38:2 | what is he, that hydeth his mynde with foolysh wordes? |
| 38:3 | Gyrde vp thy loynes like a ma, for I will question the, se thou geue me a dyrecte answere. |
| 38:4 | Where wast thou, when I layed ye foundacions of the earth? Tell planely yff thou hast vnderstondinge. |
| 38:5 | Who hath measured it, knowest thou? Or, who hath spred ye lyne vpon it? |
| 38:6 | Where vpon stode the pilers of it? Or, who layed ye corner stone? |
| 38:7 | where wast thou when the mornynge starres gaue me prayse, ad when all the angels of God reioysed? |
| 38:8 | Who shutt the see with dores, when it brake forth as a childe out off his mothers wombe? |
| 38:9 | When I made the cloudes to be a coueringe for it, and swedled it with ye darcke? |
| 38:10 | when I gaue it my comaundement, makynge dores & barres for it, |
| 38:11 | sayenge: Hither to shalt thou come, but no further, and here shalt thou laye downe thy proude and hye wawes. |
| 38:12 | Hast thou geue the mornynge his charge (as soone as thou wast borne) and shewed the dayespringe his place, |
| 38:13 | yt it might take holde of the corners of the earth, & yt the vngodly might be shake out? |
| 38:14 | Their tokes & weapes hast thou turned like claye, & set the vp agayne as the chaunginge of a garment. |
| 38:15 | Yee thou hast spoyled the vngodly off their light, & broke the arme of the proude. |
| 38:16 | Camest thou euer into the groude of the see, Or, hast thou walked in ye lowe corners of ye depe? |
| 38:17 | Haue the gates of death bene opened vnto the or hast thou sene the dore of euerlastige treasure? |
| 38:18 | Hast thou also perceaued, how brode ye earth is? Now yf thou hast knowlege of all, |
| 38:19 | the shewe me where light dwelleth, and where darcknes is: |
| 38:20 | yt thou mayest bringe vs vnto their quarters, yf thou cast tell the waye to their houses. |
| 38:21 | Knewest thou (when thou wast borne) how olde thou shuldest be? |
| 38:22 | Wentest thou euer in to the treasuries off the snowe, or hast thou sene ye secrete places of the hale: |
| 38:23 | which I haue prepared agaynst the tyme of trouble, agaynst the tyme of batell & warre? |
| 38:24 | By what waye is the light parted, & the heate dealt out vpon earth? |
| 38:25 | Who deuydeth the abundauce of waters in to ryuers, or who maketh a waye for the stormy wether, |
| 38:26 | yt it watereth & moystureth ye drye & baren grounde: |
| 38:27 | to make the grasse growe in places where no body dwelleth, & in the wildernes where no ma remayneth? |
| 38:28 | Who is the father of rayne? Or, who hath begotten the droppes of dew? |
| 38:29 | Out of whose wobe came the yse? who hath gendred the coldnes of ye ayre? |
| 38:30 | yt the waters are as harde as stones, & lye congeeled aboue the depe. |
| 38:31 | Hast thou brought ye vij. starres together? Or, art thou able to breake the Circle of heaue? |
| 38:32 | Cast thou bringe forth the mornynge starre or the euenynge starre at couenient tyme, & coueye the home agayne? |
| 38:33 | Knowest thou the course off heaue, yt thou mayest set vp the ordinaunce therof vpo earth? |
| 38:34 | Morouer, cast thou lift vp thy voyce to ye cloudes, yt they maye poure downe a greate rayne vpo the? |
| 38:35 | Canst thou thodre also yt they maye go their waye, & be obediet vnto the, sayege: lo, here are we? |
| 38:36 | Who geueth sure wisdome, or stedfast vnderstodinge? |
| 38:37 | who nombreth the cloudes in wisdome? who stilleth ye vehement waters of the heaue? |
| 38:38 | who turneth the clottes to dust, & the to be clottes agayne? |
| 38:39 | Huntest thou the praye fro the Lyon, or fedest thou his whelpes |
| 38:40 | lyege in their denes & lurkinge in their couches? |
| 38:41 | who prouydeth meate for the rauen, whe his yonge ones crie vnto God, ad fle aboute for want of meate? |
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.