Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | This is the worde of the LORDE, that came vnto Ioel the sonne of Phatuel: |
| 1:2 | Heare o ye elders: podre this wel, all ye that dwell in the lode: yf euer there happened soch a thinge in youre dayes, or in ye dayes of youre fathers. |
| 1:3 | Tell youre children of it, & let them shewe it vnto their children, & so they to certifie their posterite therof. |
| 1:4 | Loke what the caterpiller hath lefte, yt hath the greshopper eaten vp: what the greshopper lefte, that hath the locuste eaten vp: & what the locuste hath lefte, that hath the blastinge consumed. |
| 1:5 | Wake vp ye dronckardes, & wepe: mourne all ye wyne suppers, because of youre swete wyne, for it shal be taken awaye from youre mouth. |
| 1:6 | Yee a mightie & an innumerable people shall come vp in to my londe: these haue teth like the teth of lyons, & chaftbones like the lyonesses. |
| 1:7 | They shal make my vinyarde waist, they shal pyll of the barckes of my fygetrees, strype them bare, cast them awaye, and make the braunches whyte. |
| 1:8 | Make yi mone as a virgin doth, yt gyrdeth her selfe with sacke, because of hir bryde grome. |
| 1:9 | For the meate & drynkofferynge shalbe taken awaye from the house of the LORDE: & the prestes ye LORDES ministers shal mourne. |
| 1:10 | The felde shalbe waisted, the londe shalbe in a miserable case: for the corne shalbe destroyed, the swete wyne shal come to confucion, & the oyle vtterly desolate. |
| 1:11 | The hu?bodemen & the wyne gardeners shal loke piteously & make lamentacion, for the wheate wyne & barley, & because the haruest vpon the felde is so clene destroyed. |
| 1:12 | The grape gatherers shal make greate mone, when the vynyarde & fygetrees be so vtterly waisted. Yee all the pomgarnettes, palmtrees, apletrees, & the other trees of the felde shall wyther awaye. Thus the mery cheare of the children of men, shal come to confucion. |
| 1:13 | Gyrde you, & make yor mone, o ye prestes: mourne ye ministres of the aulter: go youre waye in, & slepe in sack cloth, o ye officers of my God: for the meat & drynkofferynge shalbe taken awaye from the house of yor God. |
| 1:14 | Proclame a fastynge, call the cogregacion, gather the elders & all the inhabiters of the londe together into the house of the LORDE yor God, & crie vnto the LORDE: |
| 1:15 | alas, alas for this daye. And why? the daye of the LORDE is at honde, and commeth as a destroyer from the Allmightie. |
| 1:16 | Shal not ye meates be taken awaye before oure eyes, the myrth also & ioye from the house of oure God? |
| 1:17 | The sede shal perish in the grounde, the garners shall lye waist, the floores shalbe broken downe, for the corne shalbe destroied. |
| 1:18 | O what a sighinge make the catell? the bullockes are very euel likynge, because they haue no pasture: and the shepe are fame?shed awaye. |
| 1:19 | O LORDE, to the will I crie: for the fyre hath consumed the goodly pastures of the wyldernesse, and the flame hath brent vp all the trees of the felde. |
| 1:20 | Yee the wylde beestes crie also vnto the: for the water ryuers are dryed vp, and the fyre hath consumed the pastures of the wyldernesse. |
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.