Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 21:1 | These are the lawes, that thou shalt laye before them. |
| 21:2 | Yf thou bye a seruaunt that is an Hebrue, he shal serue the sixe yeares, in the seuenth yeare shall he go out fre and lowse. |
| 21:3 | Yf he came alone, then shal he go out alone also: but yf he came maried, then shall his wife go out with him. |
| 21:4 | Yf his master haue geue him a wife, & she haue borne him sonnes or doughters, the shal the wife and ye children be the masters, but he shall go out alone. |
| 21:5 | Neuertheles yf the seruaunt saye: I loue my master, and my wife and children, I wil not go out fre: |
| 21:6 | then let his master brynge him before the Goddes, and holde him to the dore or post, and bore him thorow the eare with a botkin, and let him be his seruaunt for euer. |
| 21:7 | Yf a man sell his doughter to be an handmayde, then shal she not go out as the menseruauntes. |
| 21:8 | But yf she please not hir master, and he haue not maried her, then shal he let her go fre: but to sell her vnto a strauge people he hath no auctorite, for so moch as he hath despysed her. |
| 21:9 | Yf he promyse her vnto his sonne, then shal he do vnto her after the lawe of doughters. |
| 21:10 | But yf he geue him another wife, then shall he mynishe nothinge of hir foode, rayment, and dewtye of mariage. |
| 21:11 | Yf he do not these thre, then shal she go out fre, and paye nothinge. |
| 21:12 | He that smyteth a man that he dye, shall dye the death. |
| 21:13 | Yf he haue not layed wayte for him, but God let him fall in his hande vnawares, then wil I appoynte the a place, where he shal flye vnto. |
| 21:14 | But yf a man presume vpon his neghboure, and slaye him with disceate, then shalt thou take the same fro myne altare, that he maye be slayne. |
| 21:15 | Who so smyteth his father or mother, shall dye the death. |
| 21:16 | He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, so that he be founde by him, the same shall dye the death. |
| 21:17 | Who so curseth father and mother, shal dye the death. |
| 21:18 | Yf men stryue together and one smyte another with a stone, or with his fist, so that he dye not, but lyeth in bedd: |
| 21:19 | Yf he ryse, and go forth vpon his staff, the shall he that smote him, be vngiltie: saue that he shal paye the losse of his tyme, and geue ye money for healynge him. |
| 21:20 | He that smyteth his seruaunt or mayde with a staff, that he dye vnder his handes, the same shall suffre vengeaunce therfore. |
| 21:21 | But yf he endure a daye or two, then shall he suffre no vegeaunce therfore, for it is his money. |
| 21:22 | Yf men stryue, and hytt a woman with childe, so that ye frute departe from her, and no harme happen vnto her, then shall he be punyshed for money, as moch as the womans husbande layeth to his charge, and he shall geue it, acordinge to the appoyntement of the dayes men. |
| 21:23 | But yf there come harme vnto her there thorow, then shal he paye soule for soule, |
| 21:24 | eye for eye, toth for toth, hande for hande, fote for fote, |
| 21:25 | burnynge for burnynge, wounde for wounde, strype for strype. |
| 21:26 | Yf a man smyte his seruaunt or his mayde in the eye, and destroye it, he shal let them go fre and lowse for the eye sake. |
| 21:27 | In like maner yf he smyte out a tothe of his seruaunt or mayde, he shall let them go fre and lowse for the tothes sake. |
| 21:28 | Yf an oxe gorre a man or a woman, that he dye, then shall that oxe be stoned, and his flesh not eaten: so is the master of the oxe vngiltie. |
| 21:29 | But yf the oxe haue bene vsed to push in tymes past, & it hath bene tolde his master, and he hath not kepte him, and besydes that slayeth a man or a woman, then shal ye oxe be stoned, and his master shal dye. |
| 21:30 | But yf there be money set vpon him, then, loke what is put vpon him, that shall he geue, to delyuer his soule. |
| 21:31 | Likewyse shall he be dealte withall, yf he gorre a sonne or a doughter. |
| 21:32 | But yf he gorre a seruaunt or a mayde, then shall he geue their master thirtie syluer Sycles: and the oxe shalbe stoned. |
| 21:33 | Yf a man open a well, or dygge a pytt, and couer it not, and there fall an oxe or Asse therin, |
| 21:34 | then shall the owner of the pytt make it good with money, and restore it vnto his master: but the deed carcase shalbe his owne. |
| 21:35 | Yf one mans oxe gorre another, that he dye, then shall they sell the lyuynge oxe, and deuyde the money, and the deed carcase shal they deuyde also. |
| 21:36 | But yf it be knowne, that the oxe haue bene vsed to gorre afore, then shal he paye his oxe for the other, & the deed carcase shal be his owne. |
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.