Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 41:1 | Darrest thou drawe out Leuiathan with an angle, or bynde his tonge with a snare? |
| 41:2 | Canst thou put a rynge in the nose of him, or bore his chaftes thorow with a naule? |
| 41:3 | Wyll he make many fayre wordes with the (thynkest thou) or flatre the: |
| 41:4 | Wyll he make a couenaunt with the? Or, art thou able for to compell him to do the contynuall seruyce? |
| 41:5 | Wilt thou take thy pastyne wt him as with a byrde, or geue him vnto thy maydens, |
| 41:6 | that thy companyons maye hew him in peces, to be parted amonge the marchaunt men? |
| 41:7 | Canst thou fyll the nett wt his skynne, or ye fysh panyer with his heade? |
| 41:8 | Darrest thou laye honde vpon him? It is better for the to considre what harme might happe the there thorow and not to touch him. |
| 41:9 | For when thou thynkest to haue holde vpon him, he shall begyle the: Euery man also that seyth him, shall go backe. And why? |
| 41:10 | There darre none be so bolde, as to rayse him vp. Who is able to stonde before me? |
| 41:11 | Or, who hath geuen me eny thynge afore hande, that I am bounde to rewarde him agayne? All thinges vnder heauen are myne. |
| 41:12 | I feare him not, whether he threaten or speake fayre. |
| 41:13 | Who lifteth him vp and stripeth him out of his clothes, or who taketh him by the bytt of his brydle? |
| 41:14 | Who openeth the dore of his face? for he hath horrible tethe rounde aboute. |
| 41:15 | His body is couered with scales as it were with shyldes, lockte in, kepte, and well copacte together. |
| 41:16 | One is so ioyned to another, that no ayre can come in: |
| 41:17 | Yee one hangeth so vpon another, and sticke so together, that they can not be sundered. |
| 41:18 | His nesinge is like a glisteringe fyre, and his eyes like the mornynge shyne. |
| 41:19 | Out of his mouth go torches and fyre brandes, |
| 41:20 | out off his nostrels there goeth a smoke, like as out off an hote seetinge pott. |
| 41:21 | His breth maketh the coales burne, the flame goeth out of his mouth. |
| 41:22 | In his necke remayneth strength, and before his face sorowe is turned to gladnesse. |
| 41:23 | The membres of his body are ioyned so strayte one to another, and cleue so fast together, that he can not be moued. |
| 41:24 | His hert is as harde as a stone, ad as fast as the styth ye that the hammer man smyteth vpon. |
| 41:25 | When he goeth: the mightiest off all are afrayed, and the wawes heuy. |
| 41:26 | Yff he drawe out the swearde, there maye nether speare ner brest plate abyde him. |
| 41:27 | He setteth as moch by a strawe as by yro, and as moch by a rotten stocke as by metall. |
| 41:28 | He starteth not awaye for him that bendeth the bowe, & as for slynge stones, he careth as moch for stubble as for them |
| 41:29 | He counteth the hammer no better then a strawe, he laugheth him to scorne that shaketh the speare. |
| 41:30 | He treadeth the golde in the myre like ye sharpe potsherdes. |
| 41:31 | He maketh the depe to seeth and boyle like a pott, and stereth the see together like an oyntment. |
| 41:32 | The waye is light after him, the depe is his walkynge place. |
| 41:33 | Vpon earth is there no power like vnto his, for he is so made, that he feareth not. |
| 41:34 | Yff a man will cosidre all hye thinges, this same is a kynge ouer all the children off pryde. |
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.