Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | This is the heuy burthe, which the prophet Abacuc dyd se. |
| 1:2 | O LORDE, how longe shal I crie, & thou wilt not heare? How longe shall I complayne vnto the, suffrynge wronge, and thou wilt not helpe? |
| 1:3 | Why lettest thou me se weerynesse and laboure? Tyrany and violence are before me, power ouergoeth right: |
| 1:4 | for the lawe is torne in peces, and there can no right iudgment go forth. And why? the vngodly is more set by then the rightuous: this is the cause, yt wronge iudgment procedeth. |
| 1:5 | Beholde amonge the Heithen, and loke wel: wondre at it, and be aba?shed: for I wil do a thinge in youre tyme, which though it be tolde you, ye shal not beleue. |
| 1:6 | For lo, I wil rase vp ye Caldees, that bytter and swifte people: which shal go as wyde as the londe is, to take possession of dwellinge places, that be not their owne. |
| 1:7 | A grymme & boysteous people is it, these shal syt in iudgment & punyshe. |
| 1:8 | Their horses are swifter then the cattes of the mountayne, & byte sorer then ye wolues in ye euenynge. Their horsmen come by greate heapes from farre, they fle hastely to deuor as the Aegle. |
| 1:9 | They come all to spoyle: out of them commeth an east wynde, which bloweth and gathereth their captyues, like as the sonde. |
| 1:10 | They shall mocke the kinges, and laugh the prynces to scorne. They shal not set by eny stronge holde, for they shal laye ordinaunce agaynst it, and take it. |
| 1:11 | Then shal they take a fresh corage vnto them, to go forth & to do more euell, & so ascrybe that power vnto their God. |
| 1:12 | But thou o LORDE my God, my holy one, thou art from the begynnynge, therfore shal we not dye. O LORDE, thou hast ordened them for a punyshmet, and set them to reproue the mightie. |
| 1:13 | Thine eyes are clene, thou mayest not se euell, thou canst not beholde ye thinge that is wicked. Wherfore then dost thou loke vpon the vngodly, and holdest thy tunge, when the wicked deuoureth the man that is better the himself? |
| 1:14 | Thou makest men as the fish in the see, and like as the crepinge beestes, that haue no gyde. |
| 1:15 | They take vp all with their angle, they catch it in their net, & gather it in their yarne: wherof they reioyce and are glad. |
| 1:16 | Therfore offre they vnto their net, and do sacrifice vnto their yarne: because that thorow it their porcion is become so fat, and their meate so pleteous. |
| 1:17 | Wherfore they cast out their net agayne, & neuer ceasse to slaye the people. |
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.