Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 25:1 | These also are Salomons prouerbes, which the men of Ezechias kinge of Iuda gathered together. |
| 25:2 | It is the honor of God to kepe a thinge secrete, but ye kinges honor is to search out a thinge. |
| 25:3 | The heauen is hie, ye earth is depe, and ye kinges hert is vnsearcheable. |
| 25:4 | Take ye drosse from ye syluer, & there shalbe a cleane vessell therof. |
| 25:5 | Take awaye vngodlinesse fro ye kynge, & his seate shal be stablished wt rightuousnes. |
| 25:6 | Put not forth yi self in ye presence of ye kynge, & prease not in to ye place of greate men. |
| 25:7 | Better it is yt it be sayde vnto ye: come vp hither, then thou to be set downe in ye presence of ye prynce, whom thou seyst with thine eyes. |
| 25:8 | Be not haistie to go to the lawe, lest happlie thou ordre yi self so at ye last, yt thy neghbor put ye to shame. |
| 25:9 | Handle thy matter wt yi neghbor himself, & discouer not another mans secrete: |
| 25:10 | lest whan men heare therof, it turne to yi dishonor, & lest thine euell name do not ceasse. |
| 25:11 | A worde spoken in due season, is like apples of golde in a syluer dyshe. |
| 25:12 | The correccion of the wyse is to an obedient eare, a golden cheyne and a Iewel of golde. |
| 25:13 | Like as the wynter coole in the haruest, so is a faithfull messaunger to him that sent him, & refre?sheth his masters mynde. |
| 25:14 | Who so maketh greate boastes & geueth nothinge, is like cloudes & wynde without rayne. |
| 25:15 | With pacience maye a prynce be pacified, & wt a soft tonge maye rigorousnes be broke. |
| 25:16 | Yf thou findest hony, eate so moch as is sufficiet for ye: lest thou be ouer full, & perbreake it out againe. |
| 25:17 | Withdrawe yi foote fro thy neghbours house, lest he be weery of the, and so abhorre the. |
| 25:18 | Who so beareth false wytnesse agaynst his neghboure, he is a very speare, a swearde & a sharpe arowe. |
| 25:19 | The hope of the vngodly in tyme of nede, is like a rotten toth and a slippery foote. |
| 25:20 | Who so syngeth a songe to a wicked herte, clotheth hi with ragges in the colde, and poureth vyneger vpon chalke. |
| 25:21 | Yf thine enemie honger, fede him: yf he thyrst, geue him drynke: |
| 25:22 | for so shalt thou heape coales offyre vpo his heade, and the LORDE shal rewarde the. |
| 25:23 | The north wynde dryueth awaye the rayne, euen so doth an earnest sober countenauce a backbyters tonge. |
| 25:24 | It is better to syt in a corner vnder the rofe, then wt a braulynge woman in a wyde house. |
| 25:25 | A good reporte out of a farre countre, is like colde water to a thyrstie soule. |
| 25:26 | A righteous man fallynge downe before the vngodly, is like a troubled well and a sprynge yt is destroyed. |
| 25:27 | Like as it is not good to eate to moch hony, euen so he that wyll search out hye thynges, it shal be to heuy for him. |
| 25:28 | He that can not rule himself, is like a cite, which is broken downe, and hath no walles. |
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.