Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 40:1 | I wayted paciently for the LORDE, which enclyned himself vnto me, and herde my callinge. |
| 40:2 | He brought me out of the horrible pitte, out of the myre and claye: he set my fete vpo the rocke, and ordred my goinges. |
| 40:3 | He hath put a new songe in my mouth, euen a thankesgeuynge vnto oure God. Many men seynge this, shal feare the LORDE, & put their trust in him. |
| 40:4 | Blessed is the man that setteth his hope in the LORDE, and turneth not vnto the proude, & to soch as go aboute with lies. |
| 40:5 | O LORDE my God, greate are yi wonderous workes which thou hast done: & in thy thoughtes towarde vs there maye none be lickened vnto the. |
| 40:6 | I wolde declare them, and speake of the: but they are so many, that they can not be tolde. |
| 40:7 | Sacrifice and offeringe thou woldest not haue but a body hast thou ordeined me: burntofferynges and sacrifice for synne thou hast not alowed. Then sayde I: Lo, I come. |
| 40:8 | In the begynnynge of the boke it is written of me, that I shulde fulfill thy wil O my God, & that am I contet to do: yee thy lawe is within my hert. |
| 40:9 | I wil preach of yi rightuousnesse in the greate congregacion: Lo, I wil not refrayne my lippes, o LORDE, & that thou knowest. |
| 40:10 | I do not hyde yi rightuousnes in my hert, my talkynge is of thy treuth and sauynge health: I kepe not thy louynge mercy and faithfulnesse backe from the greate congregacion. |
| 40:11 | Turne not thou thy mercy fro me o LORDE, but let thy louynge kyndnesse and treuth allwaye preserue me. |
| 40:12 | For innumerable troubles are come aboute me: my synnes haue taken soch holde vpon me, that I am not able to loke vp: yee they are mo in nombre then the hayres of my heade, and my hert hath fayled me. |
| 40:13 | O LORDE, let it be thy pleasure to deliuer me, make haist (o LORDE) to helpe me. Let them be ashamed and cofounded, that seke after my soule, to destroie it: let them fall backwarde and be put to confucion, that wysh me euell. |
| 40:14 | Let the soone be brought to shame, that crie ouer me: there there. |
| 40:15 | But let all those that seke the, be ioyfull and glad in the: and let all soch as delyte in thy sauynge health, saye allwaye: the LORDE be praysed. |
| 40:16 | As for me, I am poore & in mysery, but the LORDE careth for me. |
| 40:17 | Thou art my helper & redemer, make no longe tariege, o my God. |
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.