Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 54:1 | Therfore be glad now, thou bare that bearest not. Reioyce, synge & be mery, thou yt art not with childe: For the desolate hath moo children, then the maried wife, saieth the LORDE. |
| 54:2 | Make thy tente wyder, & sprede out the hanginges of thine habitacio: spare not, laye forth thy coardes, and make fast thy stakes: |
| 54:3 | for thou shalt breake out on the right syde and on the left, & thy sede shal haue ye Getiles in possession, ad dwel in the desolate cities. |
| 54:4 | Feare not, for thou shalt not be confouded: Be not ashamed, for thou shalt not come to confucion. Yee thou shalt forget the shame off thy youth, and shalt not remembre the dishonoure of thy wedowheade. |
| 54:5 | For he that made the, shalbe thy LORDE & husbonde (whose name is the LORDE of hoostes) & thine avenger shalbe euen the holy one off Israel, the LORDE of the whole worlde. |
| 54:6 | For the LORDE shal call the, beinge as a desolate soroufull woman, and as a yonge wife that hath broken hir wedlocke: saieth thy God. |
| 54:7 | A litle while haue I forsaken the, but wt greate mercifulnes shal I take the vp vnto me. |
| 54:8 | Whe I was angrie, I hid my face from the for a litle season, but thorow euerlastinge goodnesse shal I pardon the, saieth the LORDE thine avenger. |
| 54:9 | And this must be vnto me, as the water of Noe: For like as I haue sworne yt I wil not bringe the water off Noe eny more vpo the worlde: So haue I sworne, yt I wil neuer be angrie wt the, ner reproue the: |
| 54:10 | The mountaynes shall remoue, & the hilles shal fall downe: but my louynge kyndnesse shal not moue, and the bonde off my peace shal not fall downe fro ye, saieth ye LORDE thy merciful louer. |
| 54:11 | Beholde, thou poore, vexed & despised: I wil make thy walles of precious stones, & yi foundacio of Saphires, |
| 54:12 | thy wyndowes off Cristall, thi gates of fyne cleare stone, & yi borders of pleasaut stones. |
| 54:13 | Thy childre shal all be taught of God, & I wil geue the plenteousnes of peace. |
| 54:14 | In rightuousnes shalt thou be grounded, & be farre fro oppression: for the which thou nedest not be afrayed, nether for hynderauce, for it shal not come nye the. |
| 54:15 | Beholde, ye aleaunt yt was farre fro the, shal dwell wt the: & he yt was somtyne a straunger vnto the, shalbe ioyned wt the: |
| 54:16 | Beholde, I make the smyth yt bloweth the coles in the fyre, & he maketh a weapon after his hondy worke. I make also the waister to destroye: |
| 54:17 | but all the weapens yt are made agaynst the, shal not prospere. And as for all tunges, yt shal resiste the in iudgmet, thou shalt ouercome the, & codemne them. This is the heretage of the LORDES seruauntes, & the rightuousnes that they shal haue of me, saieth the LORDE. |
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.