Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 139:1 | O Lorde, thou searchest me out, and knowest me. Thou knowest my downe syttinge & my vprisynge, thou vnderstodest my thoughtes a farre of. |
| 139:2 | Thou art aboute my path & aboute my bedd, & spyest out all my wayes. |
| 139:3 | For lo, there is not a worde i my toge, but thou (o LORDE) knowest it alltogether. |
| 139:4 | Thou hast fashioned me behinde & before, & layed thine hode vpon me. |
| 139:5 | Soch knowlege is to wonderfull & excellet for me, I can not atteyne vnto it. |
| 139:6 | Whither shal I go then from thy sprete? Or, whither shal I fle from thy presence? |
| 139:7 | Yf I clymme vp in to heauen, thou art there: yf I go downe to hell, thou art there also. |
| 139:8 | Yf I take the wynges of the mornynge, & remayne in the vttemost parte of the see: |
| 139:9 | Euen there also shal thy honde lede me, and thy right hande shal holde me. |
| 139:10 | Yf I saye: peradueture the darcknesse shal couer me, then shal my night be turned to daye. |
| 139:11 | Yee the darcknesse is no darcknesse with the, but the night is as cleare as the daye, the darcknesse & light are both alike. |
| 139:12 | For my reynes are thyne, thou hast couered me in my mothers wombe. |
| 139:13 | I wil geue thakes vnto the, for I am woderously made: maruelous are thy workes, and that my soule knoweth right well. |
| 139:14 | My bones are not hyd from the, though I be made secretly, and fashioned beneth in the earth. |
| 139:15 | Thine eyes se myne vnparfitnesse, they stonde all writte i thy boke: |
| 139:16 | my dayes were fashioned, when as yet there was not one of them |
| 139:17 | How deare are yi coucels vnto me o God? O how greate is the summe of them? |
| 139:18 | Yf I tell them, they are mo in nombre then the sonde: when I wake vp, I am present with the. |
| 139:19 | Wilt thou not slaye ye wicked (oh God) that the bloudethyrstie mighte departe fro me? |
| 139:20 | For they speake vnright of the, thine enemies exalte them selues presumptuously. |
| 139:21 | I hate them (o LORDE) that hate the, & I maye not awaye with those that ryse vp agaynst the? |
| 139:22 | Yee I hate them right sore, therfore are they myne enemies. |
| 139:23 | Trye me (o God) and seke the grounde of myne hert: proue me, & examen my thoughtes. |
| 139:24 | Loke well, yf there be eny waye of wickednesse in me, & lede me in the waye euerlastinge. |
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.