Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | This is the worde of the LORDE, that came vnto Micheas the Morastite, in the dayes of Ioathan, Achas and Ezechias kiges of Iuda: which was shewed him vpon Samaria and Ierusalem. |
| 1:2 | Heare all ye people, marcke this well o earth, and all that therin is: Yee the LORDE God himself be witnesse amonge you, euen ye LORDE from his holy temple. |
| 1:3 | For why? beholde, the LORDE shal go out of his place, & come downe, and treade vpon the hie thinges of the earth. |
| 1:4 | The moutaynes shall consume vnder him, & the valleys shal cleue asunder: like as wax cosumeth at the fyre, & as ye waters runne downwarde. |
| 1:5 | And all this shalbe for the wickednesse of Iacob, and the synnes of the house of Israel. But what is the wickednesse of Iacob? Is not Samaria? Which are the hye places of Iuda? Is not Ierusale? |
| 1:6 | Therfore I shall make Samaria an heape of stones in the felde, to laye aboute the vynyarde: hir stones shal I cast in to the valley, & discouer hir foudacios. |
| 1:7 | All hir ymages shalbe broke downe & all hir wynnynges shal be brent in the fyre: yee all hir Idols will I destroye: for why, they are gathered out of the hyre of an whore, & in to an whores hyre shal they be turned agayne. |
| 1:8 | Wherfore I wil mourne & make lamentacion, bare & naked will I go: I must mourne like ye dragos, & take sorow as ye Estriches: |
| 1:9 | for their woude is past remedy: And why? it is come in to Iuda, & hath touched ye porte of my people at Ierusale allredy. |
| 1:10 | Wepe not, lest they at Geth perceaue it. Thou at Betaphra, welter thy self in the dust and asshes. |
| 1:11 | Thou that dwellest at Sephir, get the hence with shame. The proude shall boost nomore for very sorowe: & why? hir neghboure shall take from her what she hath. |
| 1:12 | The rebellious cite hopeth, that it shal not be so euell: but for all that, the plage shal come from the LORDE, euen in to the porte of Ierusalem. |
| 1:13 | The greate noyse off the charettes shall feare them, that dwell at Lachis, which is an occasion of ye synne of ye doughter of Sion, for in the came vp the wickednesses of Israel. |
| 1:14 | Yee she sent hir coursers in to the londe of Geth. The houses of lies will disceaue the kynges of Israel. |
| 1:15 | And as for the (o thou that dwellest at Morassa) I shal brynge a possessioner vpon the, ad the plage of Israel shal reach vnto Odolla. |
| 1:16 | Make the balde, and shaue the, because of thy tender children: Make the cleane balde as an Aegle, for they shalbe caried awaye captyue from the. |
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.