Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 55:1 | Come to the waters all ye, yt be thurstie, & ye that haue no moneye. Come, bye, that ye maye haue to eate. Come, bye wyne & mylck, without eny money, or moneye worth, |
| 55:2 | Wherfore do ye laye out yor moneye, for the thinge yt fedeth not, and spende youre laboure aboute the thinge that satisfieth you not? But herke rather vnto me, ad ye shal eate of the best, & youre soule shal haue hir pleasure in pleteousnes. |
| 55:3 | Enclyne youre eares, & come vnto me, take hede & youre soule shal lyue. For I will make an euerlastinge couenaunt with you, eue the sure mercies of Dauid. |
| 55:4 | Beholde, I shal geue him for a witnesse amoge ye folke, for a prynce & captayne vnto the people. |
| 55:5 | Lo, thou shalt call an vnknowne people: & a people that had no knowlege of the, shall runne vnto the: because off the LORDE thy God, ye holy one of Israel, which glorifieth the. |
| 55:6 | Seke the LORDE while he maye be founde, call vpo him while he is nye. |
| 55:7 | Let the vngodly man forsake his wayes, ad the vnrightuous his ymaginacios, & turne agayne vnto the LORDE, so shal he be merciful vnto him: and to oure God, for he is redy to forgeue. |
| 55:8 | For thus saieth the LORDE: My thoughtes are not youre thoughtes, & youre wayes are not my wayes: |
| 55:9 | But as farre as the heauens are hyer then the earth, so farre do my waies exceade yours, & my thoughtes yours |
| 55:10 | And like as the rayne & snowe cometh downe from heaue, & returneth not thither agayne, but watereth the earth, maketh it frutefull & grene, that it maye geue corne & breade vnto the sower: |
| 55:11 | So the worde also that commeth out of my mouth, shal not turne agayne voyde vnto me, but shal accoplish my wil & prospere in the thinge, wherto I sende it. |
| 55:12 | And so shal ye go forth wt ioye, & be led with peace. The mountaynes and hilles shal synge with you for ioye, and all the trees of the felde shal clappe their hondes. |
| 55:13 | For thornes, there shal growe Fyrre trees, & ye Myrte tre in the steade of breres. And this shal be done to the prayse of the LORDE, & for an euerlastinge toke, that shal not be taken awaye. |
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.