Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
47:1 | But as for the (O doughter, thou virgin Babilon) thou shalt syt in the dust. Thou shalt syt vpon the groude, and not in a trone (o thou mayden of Chaldea). Thou shalt nomore be called tender, and pleasaut. |
47:2 | Thou shalt bringe forth the querne, & grynede meel, put downe thy stomacher, make bare thy knees, and shalt wade thorow the water ryuers. |
47:3 | Thy shame shalbe discouered, ad thy preuyties shal be sene. For I wil auenge me of the, and no man shal let me: |
47:4 | saieth oure redemer, which is called the LORDE of hoostes, the holy one of Israel. |
47:5 | Syt still, holde thy tunge, and get the in to some darcke corner (O doughter Caldea) for thou shalt nomore be called lady of kyngdomes. |
47:6 | I was so wroth with my people, yt I punyshed myne enheritaunce, and gaue them in to thy power. Neuertheles, thou shewdest them no mercy, but euen the very aged men of the, didest thou oppresse right sore with thy yock, |
47:7 | & thou thoughtest thus: I shalbe lady for euer. And besyde all that, thou hast not regarded these thinges, nether cast, what shulde come after. |
47:8 | Heare now therfore, thou wilful, that syttest so carelesse, & speakest thus in thine herte: I am alone, and without me is there none: I shal neuer be wydow, ner desolate agayne. |
47:9 | And yet both these thiges shal come to the vpo one daye in the twincklinge of an eye: Namely, wyddowhead, and desolacion. They shal mightely fall vpon the, for ye multitude of thy witches, and for the greate heape of thy coniurers. |
47:10 | For thou hast conforted thy self in thy disceatfulnes, and hast sayde: No ma seith me. Thyne owne wisdome & connynge haue disceaued the, In that thou hast sayde: I am alone, and without me there is none. |
47:11 | Therfore shal trouble come vpo ye, & thou shalt not knowe, from whece it shal arise. Myschefe shal fall vpo ye, which thou shalt not be able to put of. A sodane misery shal come vpon the, or euer thou be awarre. |
47:12 | Now go to thy coniurers, and to the multitude of thy witches, (whom thou hast bene acquanted withal from thi youth) yf they maye helpe the, or strengthe the. |
47:13 | Thou hast hither to had many councels of them, so let the heauengasers & the beholders of starres, come on now and delyuer the: yee and let the shewe, when these new thinges shall come vpon the. |
47:14 | Beholde, they shalbe like strawe, which yf it be kindled with fyre, no man maye rydde it for the vehemence of the flame: And yet it geueth no zynders to warme a ma by, ner cleare fyre to syt by. |
47:15 | Euen so shal they be vnto the, whom thou hast vsed & occupide from thy youth. Euery one shal shewe ye his erroneous waye, yet shall none of them defende the. |
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.