Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 41:1 | Blessed is he, yt considreth ye poore: ye LORDE shal delyuer him in the tyme of trouble. |
| 41:2 | The LORDE shal preserue him, and kepe him alyue: he shal make him to prospere vpon earth, and shal not delyuer him into ye wil of his enemies. |
| 41:3 | The LORDE shal refresh him, when he lyeth sick vpon his bedd, yee thou makest his bed in all his sicknesse. |
| 41:4 | I sayde: LORDE be mercifull vnto me, heale my soule, for I haue synned agaynst the. |
| 41:5 | Myne enemies speake euell vpo me: whan shal he dye, and his name perishe? |
| 41:6 | Though he came in to se, yet meaned he falsede in his hert, heapinge myschefe vpon himself. |
| 41:7 | All they that hate me, runne together agaynst me, and ymagin euell agaynst me. |
| 41:8 | They haue geuen a wicked sentence vpon me: when he lyeth, he shal ryse vp nomore. |
| 41:9 | Yee euen myne owne familier frende, whom I trusted, which dyd eate my bred, hath lift vp his hele agaynst me. |
| 41:10 | But be thou mercifull vnto me (o LORDE) rayse thou me vp, and I shal rewarde them. |
| 41:11 | By this I knowe thou fauourest me, that my enemie shal not triumphe ouer me. |
| 41:12 | Thou hast vpholden me because of my innocency, and set me before thy face for euer. |
| 41:13 | O blessed be ye LORDE God of Israel, from hece forth and for euermore. Amen, Amen. |
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.