Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | The worde of the LORDE came vnto Ionas the sonne of Amithai, sayenge: |
| 1:2 | Aryse, and get the to Niniue that greate cite: and preach vnto them, how yt their wickednesse is come vp before me. |
| 1:3 | And Ionas made him ready to fle vnto Tharsis from the presence of the LORDE, and gat him downe to Ioppa: where he founde a shippe ready for to go vnto Tharsis. So he payde his fare, and wente aborde, that he might go with them vnto Tharsis from the presence of the LORDE. |
| 1:4 | But the LORDE hurled a greate wynde in to the see, and there was a mightie tempest in the see: so that the shippe was in ioperdy of goinge in peces. |
| 1:5 | Then the maryners were afrayde, and cried euery man vnto his god: and the goodes that were in the shippe, they cast in to the see, to lighten it off them. But Ionas gat him vnder ye hatches, where he layed him downe and slombred. |
| 1:6 | So the master of the shippe came to him and sayde vnto him: why slomberest thou? Vp, call vpon thy God: yf God (happly) wil thynke vpon vs, that we peryshe not. |
| 1:7 | And they sayde one to another: come, let vs cast lottes: that we maye knowe, for whose cause we are thus troubled. And so they cast lottes, and the lot fell vpon Ionas. |
| 1:8 | The sayde they vnto him: tell vs, for whose cause are we thus troubled? what is thine occupacion? whence commest thou? what countre man art thou, and of what nacion? |
| 1:9 | He answered them: I am an Ebrue, and I feare the LORDE God of heauen, which made both the see and drie londe. |
| 1:10 | Then were ye men exceadingly afrayed, & sayde vnto him: why didest thou so? (for they knewe, that he was fled from the presence of the LORDE, because he had tolde them) |
| 1:11 | and sayde morouer vnto him: What shall we do vnto the, that the see maye ceasse from troublinge vs? (for the see wrought and was troublous) |
| 1:12 | he answered them: Take me, and cast me in to the see, so shal it let you be in rest: for I wote, it is for my sake, that this greate tempest is come vpon you. |
| 1:13 | Neuerthelesse, the men assayed with rowinge, to brynge the shippe to lode: but it wolde not be, because the see wrought so, & was so troublous agaynst them. |
| 1:14 | Wherfore they cried vnto the LORDE, and sayde: O LORDE, let vs not perish for this mans death, nether laye thou innocent bloude vnto oure charge: for thou (o LORDE) hast done, euen as thy pleasure was. |
| 1:15 | So they toke Ionas, and cast him in to the see, and the see lefte ragynge. |
| 1:16 | And the men feared the LORDE exceadingly, doynge sacrifices ad makynge vowes vnto the LORDE. |
| 1:17 | Bvt the LORDE prepared a greate fyshe, to swalow vp Ionas. So was Ionas in the bely of the fysh, thre dayes and thre nightes. |
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.