Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | These are the sermons, that were shewed vnto Amos (which was one of the shepherdes at Thecua) vpon Israel, in the tyme of Osias kynge of Iuda, & in the tyme of Ieroboa ye sonne of Ioas kynge of Israel, two yeare before ye earthquake |
| 1:2 | And he sayde: The LORDE shal roare out off Sion, & shewe his voyce fro Ierusale: so that ye pastures of the shepherdes shal be in a miserable case, & ye toppe of Charmel dryed vp. |
| 1:3 | Thus sayeth the LORDE: for thre & foure wickednesses of Damascus, I will not spare her: because they haue thro?hed Galaad wt yro flales: |
| 1:4 | But I wil sende a fyre in to ye house of Hazael, the same shal consume the palaces of Benadab. |
| 1:5 | Thus wil I breake the barres off Damascus, & rote out the inhabiter fro the felde of Auen, and him yt holdeth the scepter, out of ye pleasunt house: so yt the people shalbe dryuen out of fayre Siria, sayeth the LORDE. |
| 1:6 | Thus saieth the LORDE: For thre & foure wickednesses of Gaza, I wil not spare her: because they make the presoners yet more captyue, & haue dryuen the in to the lode of Edom. |
| 1:7 | Therfore wil I sende a fyre in to ye walles of Gaza, which shal deuoure hir houses. |
| 1:8 | I wil rote out the yt dwell at Asdod & him yt holdeth the scepter of Ascalon, and stretch out myne honde ouer Accaron, that the remnaunt of the Philistines shal perish saieth the LORDE. |
| 1:9 | Thus sayeth the LORDE: For thre and foure wickednesses off the cite off Tyre, I will not spare her: because they haue increased ye captiuyte of the Edomites, and haue not remembred the brotherly couenaunt. |
| 1:10 | Therfore will I sende a fyre into the walles off Tyre, that shal consume hir pallaces. |
| 1:11 | Thus sayeth the LORDE: For thre and foure wickednesses of Edom I wil not spare him, because he persecuted his brother with the swerde, destroyed his mothers wombe, bare hatred very longe, and so kepte indignacion allwaye by him. |
| 1:12 | Therfore will I sende a fyre in to Thema, which shal deuoure the pallaces of Bosra. |
| 1:13 | Thus sayeth the LORDE: For thre ad foure wickednesses of the children off Ammon, I will not spare them: because they rypte vp the wome greate with childe in Galaad, to make the borders of their londes the wyder. |
| 1:14 | Therfore I wil kyndle a fyre in the walles of Rabbath, that shall consume hir palaces: with a greate crie, in the daye of batel, in tempest and in the daye off storme: |
| 1:15 | so that their kynge shal go in to captiuyte, he and his prices together, sayeth 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.