Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 3:1 | Wo to that bloudthursty cite, which is all full of lyes and robbery, & wil not leaue of from rauy?shinge. |
| 3:2 | There a man maye heare scourginge, ru?shinge, the noyse of the wheles, the crienge of the horses, & the rollinge of the charettes. |
| 3:3 | There the horse men get vp with naked swerdes, and glisterynge speares: There lyeth a multitude slayne, and a greate heape of deed bodies: There is no ende of deed coarses, yee men fall vpon their bodies: |
| 3:4 | And that for the greate and manyfolde whordome, of the fayre and beutifull harlot: which is a mastresse of wychcraft, yee and selleth the people thorow hir whordome, and the nacions thorow hir wichcraft. |
| 3:5 | Beholde, I wil vpon the (saieth the LORDE of hoostes) and wil pull thy clothes ouer thy heade: that I maye shewe thy nakednes amonge the Heithen, and thy shame amonge the kingdomes. |
| 3:6 | I wil cast dyrte vpon ye, to make the be abhorred, and a gasynge stocke: |
| 3:7 | Yee all they that loke vpon the, shal starte backe, & saye: Niniue is destroyed. Who wil haue pyte vpo the? where shal I seke one to conforte the? |
| 3:8 | Art thou better then the greate cite of Alexadria? that laye in the waters, and had the waters rounde aboute it: which was strongly fenced & walled with the see? |
| 3:9 | Ethiopia and Egipte were hir stregth, & that exceadinge greate aboue measure. Aphrica and Lybia were hir helpers, |
| 3:10 | yet was she dryuen awaye, & brought in to captiuyte: hir yonge children were smytten downe at the heade of euery strete, the lottes were cast for the most awncient men in her, and all hir mightie men were bounde in chaynes. |
| 3:11 | Euen so shalt thou also be droncken, and hyde thy self, and seke some helpe agaynst thine enemy. |
| 3:12 | All thy stronge cities shal be like fyge trees wt rype fyges: which whe a ma shaketh, they fall in to the mouth of the eater. |
| 3:13 | Beholde, thy people with in the are but women: the portes of thy londe shal be opened vnto thine enemies, and the fyre shal deuoure yi barres. |
| 3:14 | Drawe water now agaynst thou be beseged, make vp thy stroge holdes, go into the claye, tempre the morter, make stronge bricke: |
| 3:15 | yet the fyre shal consume the, the swerde shal destroye the, yee as ye locuste doth, so shal it eate the vp. It shal fall heuely vpon the as the locustes, yee right heuely shal it fall vpon the, euen as the greshoppers. |
| 3:16 | Thy marchauntes haue bene mo then the starres of heaue: but now shal they sprede abrode as the locustes, and fle their waye: |
| 3:17 | Thy lordes are as the greshoppers, & thy captaynes as the multitude of greshoppers: which whe they be colde, remayne in ye hedges: but when the Sonne is vp, they fle awaye, and no ma can tell where they are become. |
| 3:18 | Thy shepherdes are aslepe (o kinge of Assur) thy worthies are layed downe: yi people is scatred abrode vpon the mountaynes, and no man gathereth them together agayne. |
| 3:19 | Thy wounde can not be hyd, thy plage is so sore. All they that heare this of the, shall clappe their handes ouer the. For what is he, to who thou hast not allwaye bene doynge hurte? |
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.