Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 58:1 | And therfore crie now, as loude as thou canst. Leaue not of, lift vp thy voyce like a tropet, and shewe my people their offences, and ye house of Iacob their synnes. |
| 58:2 | For they seke me dalye, and wil knowe my wayes, euen as it were a people that dyd right, and had not forsaken the statutes of their God. They argue with me concernynge right iudgment, and wil pleate at the lawe with their God. |
| 58:3 | Wherfore fast we (saye they) and thou seist it not? we put oure liues to straitnesse, and thou regardest it not? |
| 58:4 | Beholde, when ye fast, youre lust remayneth still: for ye do no lesse violence to youre detters: lo, ye fast to strife and debate, and to smyte him with youre fist, that speaketh vnto you. Ye fast not (as somtyme) that youre voyce might be herde aboue. |
| 58:5 | Thynke ye this fast pleaseth me, that a ma shulde chasten himself for a daye, and to wryth his heade aboute like an hoke in an hairy cloth, & to lye vpon the earth? Shulde that be called fastinge, or a daye yt pleaseth ye LORDE? |
| 58:6 | But this fastinge pleaseth not me, till ye tyme be thou lowse him out of bondage, that is in thy daunger: that thou breake the ooth of wicked bargaynes, that thou let the oppressed go fre, and take from them all maner of burthens. |
| 58:7 | It pleaseth not me, till thou deale thy bred to the hongrie, & brynge the poore fatherlesse home in to thy house, when thou seist the naked that thou couer him, and hyde not thy face fro thine owne flesh. |
| 58:8 | Then shal thy light breake forth as ye mornynge, and thy health florish right shortly: thy rightuousnesse shal go before the, and ye glory of the LORDE shal embrace the. |
| 58:9 | Then yf thou callest, the LORDE shal answere the: yf thou criest, he shal saye: here I am. Yee yf thou layest awaye thy burthens, and holdest thy fyngers, and ceasest from blasphemous talkinge, |
| 58:10 | yf thou hast compassion vpon the hongrie, and refre?shest ye troubled soule: Then shal thy light springe out in the darknesse, and thy darknesse shalbe as the noone daye. |
| 58:11 | The LORDE shal euer be thy gyde, and satisfie the desyre of thine hert, and fyl yi bones with marry. Thou shalt be like a freshwatred garden, and like the founteyne of water, that neuer leaueth runnynge. |
| 58:12 | Then the places that haue euer bene waist, shalbe buylded of the: there shalt thou laye a foundacion for many kynreds. Thou shalt be called the maker vp of hedges, and ye buylder agayne of ye waye of the Sabbath. |
| 58:13 | Yee yf thou turne thy fete from the Sabbath, so that thou do not the thinge which pleaseth thyself in my holy daye: then shalt thou be called vnto the pleasaunt, holy & glorious Sabbath of the LORDE, where thou shalt be in honor: so yt thou do not after thine owne ymaginacion, nether seke thine owne wil, ner speake thine owne wordes. |
| 58:14 | The shalt thou haue yi pleasure in ye LORDE, which shal carie ye hie aboue ye earth, & fede the wt the heretage of Iacob thy father: for the LORDES owne mouth hath so promised. |
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.