Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 8:1 | Doth not wysdome crie? doth not vnderstondinge put forth hir voyce? |
| 8:2 | Stondeth she not in the hye places in the stretes & wayes? |
| 8:3 | doth she not crie before the whole cite, & in the gates where men go out & in? |
| 8:4 | It is you, o ye men (sayeth she) whom I call. Unto you (o ye childre of me) lift I vp my voyce. |
| 8:5 | Take hede vnto knowlege o ye ignoraut, be wyse in herte o ye fooles. |
| 8:6 | Geue eare, for I wil speake of greate matters, & open my lippes to tell thinges that be right. |
| 8:7 | For my throte shal be talkynge of ye trueth, & my lippes abhorre vngodlynesse. |
| 8:8 | All the wordes of my mouth are rightuous, there is no frowardnesse ner falsede therin. |
| 8:9 | They are all playne to soch as wil vnderstode, & right to the that fynde knowlege. |
| 8:10 | Receaue my doctryne therfore and not syluer, & knowlege more then fyne golde. |
| 8:11 | For wysdome is more worth then precious stones, yee all the thinges that thou cast desyre, are not to be compared vnto it. |
| 8:12 | I wysdome haue my dwellynge wt knowlege, and prudent councell is myne owne. |
| 8:13 | With me is the feare of the LORDE, and ye eschuynge of euell. As for pryde, disdayne, an euell waye, & a mouth that speaketh wicked thiges, I vtterly abhorre the. |
| 8:14 | I can geue councell, and be a gyde: I haue vnderstondinge, I haue strength. |
| 8:15 | Thorow me, kynges reigne: thorow me, prices make iust lawes. |
| 8:16 | Thorow me, lordes beare rule, and all iudges of ye earth execute iudgmet. |
| 8:17 | I am louynge vnto those that loue me, and they that seke me early, shal fynde me. |
| 8:18 | Riches & honoure are wt me, yee excellent goodes & rightuousnes. |
| 8:19 | My frute is better the golde & precious stone, & myne encrease more worth then fyne syluer. |
| 8:20 | I walke in ye waye of rightuousnes, & in the strete of iudgment. |
| 8:21 | That I maye sende prosperite to those that loue me, & to encrease their treasure. |
| 8:22 | The LORDE himself had me in possessio in the begynnynge of his wayes, or euer he begame his workes aforetyme. |
| 8:23 | I haue bene ordened fro euerlastige, & fro ye beginnynge or euer the earth was made. |
| 8:24 | When I was borne, there were nether depthes ner springes of water. |
| 8:25 | Before the foundacions of ye mountaynes were layed, yee before all hilles was I borne. |
| 8:26 | The earth and all that is vpon the earth was not yet made, no not the grounde it self. |
| 8:27 | For when he made the heauens, I was present: wha he set the depthes in ordre: |
| 8:28 | whan he hanged the cloudes aboue: whan he fastened the sprynges of the depe: |
| 8:29 | Whan he shutt the see within certayne bowndes, that ye waters shulde not go ouer their marckes. When he layed the foundacions of the earth, |
| 8:30 | I was with him, ordringe all thinges, delytinge daylie & reioysynge allwaye before him. |
| 8:31 | As for the roude copase of his worlde, I make it ioyfull, for my delyte is to be amoge the children of men. |
| 8:32 | Therfore harken vnto me (o ye children) for blessed are they that kepe my wayes. |
| 8:33 | O geue eare vnto nurtoure, be wyse, and refuse it not. |
| 8:34 | Blessed is ye man that heareth me, watchinge daylie at my gates, & geuynge attendaunce at the postes of my dores. |
| 8:35 | For who so fyndeth me, fyndeth life, and shal optayne fauoure of the LORDE. |
| 8:36 | But who so offendeth agaynst me, hurteth his owne soule. All they that hate me, are the louers of death. |
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.