Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 44:1 | We haue herde with or eares (o God) or fathers haue tolde vs, what thou hast done in their tyme, of olde. |
| 44:2 | How thou hast dryue out the Heithen wt thy honde, & plated the in: how thou hast destroyed the nacions & cast the out. |
| 44:3 | For they gat not the londe in possession thorow their owne swerde, nether was it their owne arme that helped them. |
| 44:4 | But thy right hade, thyne arme & the light of thy countenaunce, because thou haddest a fauoure vnto them. |
| 44:5 | Thou art ye kinge & my God, thou sendest helpe vnto Iacob. |
| 44:6 | Thorow ye, wil we ouerthrowe oure enemies: & in thy name will we treade them vnder, that ryse vp agaynst vs. |
| 44:7 | For I will not trust in my bowe, it is not my swerde yt shal helpe me. |
| 44:8 | But it is thou that sauest vs fro oure enemies, and puttest them to confucion that hate vs. |
| 44:9 | We will allwaye make oure boast of God, and prayse thy name for euer. |
| 44:10 | Sela. But now thou forsakest vs, & puttest vs to confucion, and goest not forth with oure hoostes. |
| 44:11 | Thou makest vs to turne oure backes vpon oure enemies, so that they which hate vs, spoile oure goodes. |
| 44:12 | Thou lettest vs be eaten vp like shepe, & scatrest vs amonge the Heithen. |
| 44:13 | Thou sellest thy people for naught, & takest no moneye for them. |
| 44:14 | Thou makest vs to be rebuked of or neghbours, to be laughed to scorne aud had in derision, of them that are rounde aboute vs. |
| 44:15 | Thou hast made vs a very byworde amonge the Heithen, & that the people shake their heades at vs. |
| 44:16 | My cofucion is daylie before me, & the shame of my face couereth me. |
| 44:17 | For the voyce of the slaunderer & blasphemer, for the enemie and auenger. |
| 44:18 | All this is come vpon vs, & yet haue we not forgotten the, ner behaued oure selues vnfaithfully in thy couenaunt. |
| 44:19 | Oure hert is not turned backe, nether oure steppes gone out of thy waye. |
| 44:20 | That thou smytest vs so in the place of the serpet, & couerest vs with ye shadowe of death. |
| 44:21 | Yf we had forgotten the name of oure God, & holde vp oure hondes to eny straunge God: Shulde not God fynde it out? for he knoweth the very secretes of the hert. |
| 44:22 | But for thy sake we are kylled all the daie longe, and are counted as shepe apoynted to be slayne. |
| 44:23 | Vp LORDE, why slepest thou? Awake, and cast vs not of for euer. |
| 44:24 | Wherfore hydest thou thy face? wilt thou clene forget oure misery and oppressio? |
| 44:25 | For oure soule is brought lowe euen vnto the dust, and oure bely cleueth vnto the grounde. |
| 44:26 | Arise o LORDE, helpe vs, and delyuer vs for thy mercie sake. |
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.