Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 30:1 | The wordes of Agur the sonne of Iake. The prophecie of a true faithfull man, who God hath helped, whom God hath coforted & norished. |
| 30:2 | For though I am ye leest of all, & haue no mas vnderstodige |
| 30:3 | (for I neuerlerned wi?dome) yet haue I vnderstodinge & am wel enfourmed in godly thinges. |
| 30:4 | Who hath clymmed vp i to heauen? Who hath come downe from thence? Who hath holden ye wynde fast in his hade? Who hath coprehended ye waters in a garment? Who hath set all the endes of ye worlde? What is his name, or his sonnes name? Canst thou tell? |
| 30:5 | All the wordes of God are pure & cleane, for he is a shylde vnto all them, that put their trust in him. |
| 30:6 | Put thou nothinge therfore vnto his wordes, lest he reproue the, and thou be founde as a lyar. |
| 30:7 | Two thinges I requyre of the, that thou wilt not denye me before I dye. |
| 30:8 | Remoue fro me vanite and lyes: geue me nether pouerte ner riches, only graunte me a necessary lyuynge. |
| 30:9 | Lest yf I be to full, I denye ye, & saye: what felowe is ye LORDE? And lest I beinge constrayned thorow pouerte, fall vnto stealinge, and forsweare the name of my God. |
| 30:10 | Accuse not a seruaunt vnto his master, lest he speake euell of the also, and thou be hurte. |
| 30:11 | He that bryngeth vp an euell reporte vpo the generacion of his father and mother, is not worthy to be commended. |
| 30:12 | The generacion that thynke them selues cleane, shal not be clensed from their fylthynesse. |
| 30:13 | There are people yt haue a proude loke, and cast vp their eye lyddes. |
| 30:14 | This peoples tethe are swerdes, and with their chaft bones they consume and deuoure the symple of the earth, and the poore from amonge me. |
| 30:15 | This generacion (which is like an horsleche) hath two doughters: ye one is called, fetch hither: the other, brynge hither. |
| 30:16 | There be thre thinges that are neuer satisfied, and the fourth saieth neuer hoo. The hell, a womans wombe, and the earth hath neuer water ynough. As for fyre, it sayeth neuer: hoo. |
| 30:17 | Who so laugheth his father to scorne, and setteth his mothers commaudement at naught: the rauens pycke out his eyes in the valley, and deuoured be he of the yongle Aegles. |
| 30:18 | There be thre thinges to hye for me, and as for the fourth, it passeth my knowlege. |
| 30:19 | The waye of an Aegle in ye ayre, ye waye of a serpent ouer ye stone, ye waye of a shippe in ye see, & ye waye of a ma wt a yonge woma. |
| 30:20 | Soch is the waye also of a wyfe yt breaketh wedlocke, which wypeth hir mouth like as wha she hath eate, & sayeth: As for me, I haue done no harme. |
| 30:21 | Thorow thre thinges the earth is disquieted, & the fourth maye it not beare: |
| 30:22 | Thorow a seruaut yt beareth rule, thorow a foole yt hath greate riches, |
| 30:23 | thorow an ydle houswife, & thorow an handmayden yt is heyre to hir mastres. |
| 30:24 | There be foure thinges in the earth, the which are very litle: but in wy?dome they exceade the wyse. |
| 30:25 | The Emmettes are but a weake people, yet gather they their meate together in ye haruest. |
| 30:26 | The conyes are but a feble folke, yet make they their couches amonge the rockes. |
| 30:27 | The greshoppers haue not a gyde, yet go they forth together by heapes. |
| 30:28 | The spyder laboureth wt hir hades, & yt in ye kynges palace. |
| 30:29 | There be thre thinges yt go stiffly, but the goinge of the fourth is the goodliest of all. |
| 30:30 | A Lyon which is kynge of beastes, & geueth place to no man: |
| 30:31 | A cock ready to fight: A rame: And a kynge yt goeth forth wt his people. |
| 30:32 | Yf thou be so foolish to magnifie yi self, or medlest wt eny soch thinge, the laye thine hade vpon yi mouth. |
| 30:33 | Who so chyrneth mylck, maketh butter: he that rubbeth his nose, maketh it blede, and he that causeth wrath, bryngeth forth strife. |
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.