Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 103:1 | Prayse the LORDE (o my soule) & all that is within me prayse his holy name. |
| 103:2 | Prayse the LORDE o my soule, & forget not all his benefites. |
| 103:3 | Which forgeueth all thy synnes, and healeth all thy infirmities. |
| 103:4 | Which saueth thy life from destruccion, and crowneth the with mercy & louynge kyndnesse. |
| 103:5 | Which satisfieth thy desyre with good thinges, makynge the yonge and lusty as an Aegle. |
| 103:6 | The LORDE executeth rightuousnesse and iudgment, for all them yt suffre wronge. |
| 103:7 | He shewed his wayes vnto Moses, and his workes vnto the children of Israel. |
| 103:8 | The LORDE is full of compassion and mercy, longe sufferinge, and of greate goodnesse. |
| 103:9 | He wil not allwaye be chydinge, nether wil he kepe his anger for euer. |
| 103:10 | He hath not dealt with vs after oure synnes, ner rewarded vs acordinge to oure wickednesses. |
| 103:11 | For loke how hye the heaue is in comparison of the earth, so greate is his mercy also towarde them that feare him. |
| 103:12 | Loke how wyde the east is from the west, so farre hath he set oure synnes from vs. |
| 103:13 | Yee like as a father pitieth his owne children, euen so is the LORDE mercifull vnto the that feare him. |
| 103:14 | For he knoweth wherof we be made, he remembreth that we are but dust. |
| 103:15 | That a man in his tyme is but as is grasse, & florisheth as a floure of the felde. |
| 103:16 | For as soone as the wynde goeth ouer it, it gone, and the place therof knoweth it nomore. |
| 103:17 | But the mercifull goodnesse of ye LORDE endureth for euer and euer, vpon them yt feare him, and his rightuousnesse vpon their childers children. |
| 103:18 | Soch as kepe his couenaunt, and thinke vpon his commaundementes to do them. |
| 103:19 | The LORDE hath prepared his seate in heaue, and his kyngdome ruleth ouer all. |
| 103:20 | O prayse the LORDE ye angels of his, ye that be mightie instregth, fulfillinge his commaundement, that me maye heare the voyce of his wordes. |
| 103:21 | O prayse the LORDE all ye his hoostes, ye seruauntes of his, that do his pleasure. |
| 103:22 | O speake good of the LORDE all ye workes of his, in euery place of his dominion: prayse thou the LORDE, o my soule. |
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.