Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 7:1 | A good name is more worth then a precious oyntment, and the daye of death is better the ye daye of byrth. |
| 7:2 | It is better to go in to an house of mournynge, then in to a bancket house. For there is the ende of all men, and he that is lyuinge, taketh it to herte. |
| 7:3 | It is better to be sory then to laugh, for whe the countenaunce is heuy, the herte is ioyfull. |
| 7:4 | The herte of ye wyse is in the mournynge house, but the hert of the foolish is in the house of myrth. |
| 7:5 | It is better to geue eare to the chastenynge of a wyse man, then to heare the songe of fooles. |
| 7:6 | For the laughinge of fooles is like ye crackynge of thornes vnder a pott. And yt is but a vayne thinge. |
| 7:7 | Who so doeth wronge, maketh a wyse man to go out of his witt, and destroyeth a gentle hert. |
| 7:8 | The ende of a thinge is better then the begynnynge. The pacient of sprete is better then the hie mynded. |
| 7:9 | Be not haistely angrie in yi mynde, for wrath resteth in the bosome of a foole. |
| 7:10 | Saye not thou: What is the cause that ye dayes of ye olde tyme were better, then they yt be now? for that were no wyse question. |
| 7:11 | Wy?dome is better then riches, yee moch more worth then the eye sight. |
| 7:12 | For wy?dome defendeth as well as moneye, and the excellent knowlege and wy?dome geueth life vnto him that hath it in possession. |
| 7:13 | Considre the worke of God, how that no man can make the thinge straight, which he maketh croked. |
| 7:14 | Vse well the tyme of prosperite, and remembre the tyme of mysfortune: for God maketh the one by the other, so that a man can fynde nothinge els. |
| 7:15 | These ij. thiges also haue I cosidred in ye tyme of vanite: yt the iust man perisheth for his rightuousnes sake, & the vngodly liueth in his wickednesse. |
| 7:16 | Therfore be thou nether to rightuous ner ouer wyse, yt thou perish not: |
| 7:17 | be nether to vnrightuous also ner to foolish, lest thou die before thy tyme. |
| 7:18 | It is good for the to take holde of this, & not to let yt go out of thy hande. For he yt feareth God shal escape them all. |
| 7:19 | Wy?dome geueth more corage vnto the wyse, then ten mightie men of the citie: |
| 7:20 | for there is not one iust vpo earth, yt doth good, & sinneth not. |
| 7:21 | Take not hede vnto euery worde yt is spoken, lest thou heare thy seruaunt curse the: |
| 7:22 | for thine owne hert knoweth, that thou thy self also hast oft tymes spoke euell by other men. |
| 7:23 | All these thinges haue I proued because of wy?dome: for I thought to be wyse, but she wente farther fro me |
| 7:24 | then she was before, yee & so depe that I might not reach vnto her. |
| 7:25 | I applied my mynde also vnto knowlege, and to seke out sciece, wisdome and vnderstondinge: to knowe the foolishnesse of the vngodly, and the erroure of dotinge fooles. |
| 7:26 | And I founde, that a woman is bytterer then death: for she is a very angle, hir hert is a nett, and hir handes are cheynes. Who so pleaseth God shal escape from her, but the synner will be taken wt her. |
| 7:27 | Beholde (sayeth ye preacher) this haue I diligently searched out & proued, yt I might come by knowlege: which as yet I seke, and fynde it not. |
| 7:28 | Amonge a thousande men I haue founde one, but not one woman amonge all. |
| 7:29 | Lo, this onely haue I founde, that God made man iust & right, but they seke dyuerse sotylties, |
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.