Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 21:1 | These are the wordes that the LORDE spake vnto Ieremy, what tyme as kinge Sedechias sent vnto him Pashur the sonne off Melchia, and Sophonias the sonne of Maasia prest, sayenge: |
| 21:2 | Axe councell at the LORDE (we praye the) of oure behalfe, for Nabuchodonosor the kinge off Babilon besegeth vs, yff the LORDE (peraduenture) will deale with vs, acordinge to his maruelous power, and take him from vs. |
| 21:3 | Then spake Ieremy: Geue Sedechias this answere, |
| 21:4 | Thus saieth the LORDE God off Israel: beholde, I will turne backe the weapens, that ye haue in youre hondes, wherwith ye fight agaynst the kinge of Babilo & the Caldees, which besege you rounde aboute ye walles: & I wil brige the together in to the myddest of this cite, |
| 21:5 | and I myselff will fight agaynst you, with an outstretched honde, ad with a mightie arme, in greate displeasure and terrible wrath: |
| 21:6 | and will smyte them, that dwell in this cite: yee both me ad catell shal dye of the pestilence. |
| 21:7 | And after this (saieth the LORDE) I shall delyuer Sedechias the kinge of Iuda, & his seruauntes, his people (and soch as are escaped in the cite, from the pestilence, swearde, and honger) into the power of Nabuchodonosor kinge of Babilon: yee in to the hodes of their enemies, in to the hodes of those yt folowe vpon their lyues, which shall smyte them with ye swerde: they shal not pite the, they shal not spare them, they shall haue no mercy vpon them. |
| 21:8 | And vnto this people thou shalt saye: Thus saieth the LORDE: beholde, I laye before you the waye of life and deeth. |
| 21:9 | Who so abydeth in this cite, shal perish: ether wt the swearde, with honger, or with pestilece. But who so goeth out to holde on ye Caldees parte, yt besege it, he shal saue his life, and shall wynne his soule for a pray. |
| 21:10 | For I haue set my face agaynst this cite (saieth the LORDE) to plage it, and to do it no good. It must be geue in to the honde of the kinge of Babilon, & be brent with fyre. |
| 21:11 | And vnto the house of the kinge off Iuda, saye thus: Heare the worde of ye LORDE |
| 21:12 | (o thou house off Dauid) for thus saieth the LORDE: Ministre rightuousnes, and that soone, delyuer the oppressed fro violent power: or euer my terrible wrath break out like a fyre. and burne so, that no man maye quech it, because of the wickednes of youre ymaginacions. |
| 21:13 | Beholde (saieth the LORDE) I wil come vpo you, that dwel in the valleis, rockes and feldes and saye: Tush, who will make vs afrayed? or who will come in to oure houses? |
| 21:14 | For I will vyset you (saieth the LORDE) because off the wickednes off youre invencions, and will kyndle soch a fyre in youre wod, as shall cosume all, that is aboute you. |
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.