Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 147:1 | O prayse the LORDE, for it is a good thinge to synge prayses vnto or God: yee a ioyfull and pleasaunt thinge is it to be thankfull. |
| 147:2 | The LORDE shal buylde vp Ierusale, & gather together ye outcastes of Israel. |
| 147:3 | He healeth the contrite in herte, and byndeth vp their woundes. |
| 147:4 | He telleth the nombre of the starres, and calleth them all by their names. |
| 147:5 | Greate is or LORDE, and greate is his power, yee his wy?dome is infinite. |
| 147:6 | The LORDE setteth vp ye meke, & bryngeth ye vngodly downe to ye groude |
| 147:7 | O synge vnto ye LORDE wt thankesgeuynge, synge prayses vpo ye harpe vnto or God. |
| 147:8 | Which couereth ye heauen wt cloudes, prepareth rayne for ye earth, & maketh ye grasse to growe vpon the mountaynes. |
| 147:9 | Which geueth foder vnto ye catell, & fedeth ye yonge rauens yt call vpo him. |
| 147:10 | He hath no pleasure in the strength of an horse, nether delyteth he in eny mas legges. |
| 147:11 | But the LORDES delyte is in them that feare him, and put their trust in his mercy. |
| 147:12 | Prayse ye LORDE o Ierusale, prayse yi God o Sion. |
| 147:13 | For he maketh fast ye barres of yi gates, & blesseth yi childre within ye. |
| 147:14 | He maketh peace in yi borders, & fylleth ye with ye flor of wheate. |
| 147:15 | He sendeth forth his comaundemet vpo earth, his worde runeth swiftly. |
| 147:16 | He geueth snowe like woll, & scatereth ye horefrost like ashes. |
| 147:17 | He casteth forth his yse like morsels, who is able to abyde his frost? |
| 147:18 | He sendeth out his worde and melteth them, he bloweth wt his wynde, & the waters flowe. |
| 147:19 | He sheweth his worde vnto Iacob, his statutes & ordinaunces vnto Israel. |
| 147:20 | He hath not dealte so wt all the Heithen, nether haue they knowlege of his lawes. Halleluya. |
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.