Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 56:1 | Thus saieth ye LORDE: Kepe equite, and do right, for my sauynge health shal come shortly, & my rightuosnes shalbe opened. |
| 56:2 | Blissed is the man yt doth this, & the mans childe which kepeth the same. He that taketh hede, yt he vnhalowe not the Sabbath (that is) he that kepeth himself that he do no euel. |
| 56:3 | Then shal not the straunger, which cleaueth to the LORDE, saye: Alas the LORDE hath shut me cleane out from his people. Nether shal the gelded man saye: lo, I am a drie tre. |
| 56:4 | For thus saieth the LORDE, first vnto the gelded yt kepeth my Sabbath: Namely: that holdeth greatly of the thinge that pleaseth me, and kepeth my couenaut: |
| 56:5 | Vnto them wil I geue in my housholde and with in my walles, a better heretage & name: the yf they had bene called sonnes & daughters. I wil geue them an euerlastinge name, that shall not perishe. |
| 56:6 | Agayne, he saieth vnto the straugers that are disposed to sticke to the LORDE, to serue him, & to loue his name: That they shalbe no bode me. And all they, which kepe the selues, that they vnhalowe not the Sabbath, namely: that they fulfill my couenaut: |
| 56:7 | Them wil I bringe to my holy moutayne, & make the ioyfull in my house of prayer. Their burntoffringes and sacrifices shalbe accepted vpo myne aulter. for my house shalbe an house of prayer for all people. |
| 56:8 | Thus saieth the LORDE God which gathereth together the scatred of Israel: I wil bringe yet another cogregacion to him. |
| 56:9 | All the beastes of the felde, & all the beastes of ye wod, shal come to deuoure hi. |
| 56:10 | For his watchmen are all blinde, they haue alltogether no vnderstondinge, they are all domme dogges, not beinge able to barcke, they are slepery: slogish are they, & lie snortinge: |
| 56:11 | they are shamelesse dogges, yt be neuer sati?fied. The sheperdes also in like maner haue no vnderstondinge, but euery man turneth his owne waye, euery one after his owne couetousnes, wt all his power. |
| 56:12 | Come (saye they) I wil fetch wyne, so shal we fyll oure selues, that we maye be dronken. And do tomorow, like as to daye, yee and moch more. |
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.