Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 17:1 | The worde of the LORDE came vnto me, sayenge: |
| 17:2 | Thou sonne of man: put forth a darcke speakynge and a parable, vnto the house of Israel, |
| 17:3 | and saye: Thus saieth the LORDE God: There came a greate Aegle with greate wynges, yee wt mightie longe wynges, and full of fethers of dyuerse colours, vpon the mount of Libanus, and toke a braunch from a Cedre tre, |
| 17:4 | and brake of the toppe of his twygge, and caried it in to the londe of Canaan, and set it in a cite of marchauntes. |
| 17:5 | He toke also a braunch of the londe, and planted it in a frutefull grounde, he brought it vnto greate waters, & set it as a willye tre therby. |
| 17:6 | Then dyd it growe, and was a greate wyne stocke, but lowe by the grounde: thus there came of it a vyne, and it brought forth blossomes, & spred out braunches. |
| 17:7 | But there was another Aegle, a greate one, which had greate wynges and many fethers: and beholde, ye rotes of this vyne had an huger after him, and spred out his braunches towarde him, to water his frutes: |
| 17:8 | Neuertheles it was plated vpon a good grounde besyde greate waters: so that (by reason) it shulde haue brought out braunches and frute, and haue bene a goodly vyne. |
| 17:9 | Speake thou therfore, thus saieth the LORDE God: Shal this vyne prospere? shal not his rotes be pluckte out, his frute broken of, his grene braunches wythereed and fade awaye? yee without ether stronge arme or many people, shal it be plucked vp by the rotes. |
| 17:10 | Beholde, it was planted: shall it prospere therfore? Shall it not be dryed vp and withered, yee euen in the shutinge out of his blossomes, as soone as ye east wynde bloweth? |
| 17:11 | Morouer, the worde of the LORDE came vnto me sayenge: |
| 17:12 | Speake to that frauwarde housholde: knowe ye not, what these thinges do signifie? Tell them: Beholde, the kinge of Babilon came to Ierusalem, and toke the kinge & his prynces, and ledde them to Babilon. |
| 17:13 | He toke of the kinges sede, and made a couenaunt with him, and toke an ooth of him: The prynces of the londe toke he with him also, |
| 17:14 | that the londe might be holden in subieccion, and not to rebelle, but kepe the couenaunt, and fulfill it. |
| 17:15 | But he fell from him, & sent his Embassitours in to Egipte, that he might haue horses & moch people. Shulde that prospere? Shulde he be kepte safe, that doth soch thinges? Or shulde he escape, that breaketh his couenaunt? |
| 17:16 | As truly as I lyue, saieth the LORDE God: He shal dye at Babilon, in ye place where the kinge dwelleth, that made him kinge: whose ooth he hath despised, and whose couenaunt he hat broken. |
| 17:17 | Nether shall Pharao with his greate hoost and multitude of people, maynteyne him in the warre: when they cast vp diches, and set vp bulworkes to destroye moch people. |
| 17:18 | For seinge he hath despysed the ooth, and broken the couenaunt (where as he yet gaue his honde thervpon) and done all these thinges, he shall not escape. |
| 17:19 | Therfore thus saieth the LORDE God: As truly as I lyue, I will bringe myne ooth that he hath despysed, and my couenaunt that he hath broken, vpon his owne heade. |
| 17:20 | I wil cast my net aboute him, and catch him in my yarne. To Babilon will I cary him, there will I punysh him, because of the greate offence that he made me. |
| 17:21 | As for those yt fle from him out of ye hoost, they shalbe slayne with the swearde. The residue shalbe scatred towarde all the wyndes: and ye shal knowe, that I the LORDE haue spoken it. |
| 17:22 | Thus saieth the LORDE God: I will also take a braunch from an hie Cedre tre, and will set it, and take the vppermost twygge, that yet is but tendre, and plante it vpon an hie hill: |
| 17:23 | Namely, vpon the hie hill of Sion will I plante it: that it maye bringe forth twygges, and geue frute, and be a greate Cedre tre: so that all maner of foules maye byde in it, and make their nestes vnder the shadowe of his braunches. |
| 17:24 | And all the trees of the felde shall knowe, that I the LORDE haue brought downe the hie tre, and set the lowe tre vp: that I haue dryed vp the grene tre, and made the drye tre to florish: Euen I the LORDE yt spake it, haue also brought it to passe. |
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.