Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | These are the Sermons of Ieremy the sonne of Helchia the prest, one of them that dwelt at Anathot in the londe of Ben Iamin: |
| 1:2 | when the LORDE had first spoken with him, in the tyme of Iosias the sonne of Amon kinge of Iuda, in the xiij yeare of his kingdome: |
| 1:3 | and so duringe vnto the tyme of Ioachim the sonne of Iosias kinge of Iuda, and vnto the xj yeares of Sedechias the sonne of Iosias kinge of Iuda were ended: when Ierusalem was taken, euen in the fyfth Moneth. |
| 1:4 | The worde of the LORDE spake thus vnto me: |
| 1:5 | Before I fasshioned the in thy mothers wobe, I dyd knowe the: And or euer thou wast borne, I sanctified the, & ordened the, to be a prophet vnto the people. |
| 1:6 | The sayde I: Oh LORDE God, I am vnmete, for I am yet but yonge. |
| 1:7 | And the LORDE answered me thus: Saye not so, I am to yonge: For thou shalt go to all that I shall sende the vnto, and what so euer I comaunde the, that shalt thou speake. |
| 1:8 | Be not afrayed of their faces, for I wilbe with the, to delyuer the, saieth the LORDE. |
| 1:9 | And with that, the LORDE stretched out his honde, and touched my mouth, and sayde morouer vnto me: Beholde I put my wordes in thy mouth, |
| 1:10 | and this daye do I set the ouer the people and kingdomes: that thou mayest rote out, breake of, destroye, and make waist: and that thou mayest buylde vp, and plate. |
| 1:11 | After this, the LORDE spake vnto me sayenge: Ieremy, what seist thou? And I sayde: I se a wakynge rodde. |
| 1:12 | Then sayde ye LORDE: thou hast sene right, for I will watch diligently vpon my worde, to perfourme it. |
| 1:13 | It happened afterwarde, that the LORDE spake to me agayne, & sayde: What seist thou? And I sayde: I do se a seethinge pot, lokinge from out of the north hitherwarde. |
| 1:14 | Then sayde the LORDE vnto me: Out of the north shall come a plage vpon all the dwellers of the londe. |
| 1:15 | For lo, I will call all the officers of the kyngdomes of the north, (saieth the LORDE.) And they shall come, and euery one shall set his seate in the gates of Ierusalem, and in all their walles rounde aboute, and thorow all the cities of Iuda. |
| 1:16 | And thorow them shall I declare my iudgment, vpon all the wickednesse of those men that haue forsaken me: that haue offred vnto straunge goddes, & worshipped the workes of their owne hondes. |
| 1:17 | And therfore gyrde vp thy loynes, arise, and tell them all, that I geue the in comaundement. Feare them not, I will not haue the to be afrayed of the. |
| 1:18 | For beholde, this daye do I make the a stroge fensed towne, an yron pyler, and a wall of stele agaynst ye whole londe, agaynst the kinges and mightie men of Iuda, agaynst the prestes and people of the londe. |
| 1:19 | They shall fight agaynst the, but they shall not be able to ouercome the: for I am wt the, to delyuer the, 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.