Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 2:1 | I stode vpon my watch, and set me vpon my bulworke, to loke & se what he wolde saye vnto me, and what answere I shulde geue him yt reproueth me. |
| 2:2 | But the LORDE answered me, and sayde: Wryte the vision planely vpon thy tables, that who so commeth by, maye rede it: |
| 2:3 | for ye visio is yet farre of for a tyme, but at ye last it shal come to passe, & not fayle. And though he tary, yet wait thou for him, for in very dede he wil come, and not be slacke. |
| 2:4 | Beholde, who so wil not beleue, his soule shal not prospere: but the iust shal lyue by his faith. |
| 2:5 | Like as the wyne disceaueth the dronckarde, euen so the proude shal fayle & not endure. He openeth his desyre wyde vp as the hell, & is as vnsaciable as death. All Heithen gathereth he to him, & heapeth vnto him all people. |
| 2:6 | But shall not all these take vp a prouerbe agaynst him, and mocke him with a byworde, and saye: Wo vnto him that heapeth vp other mens goodes? How longe wil he lade himself with thicke claye? |
| 2:7 | O how sodenly wil they stonde vp, yt shal byte the, & awake, that shal teare ye in peces? yee thou shalt be their pray. |
| 2:8 | Seinge thou hast spoyled many Heithen, therfore shall the remnaunt of the people spoyle the: because of mens bloude, & for the wronge done in the londe, in the cite & vnto all them that dwel therin. |
| 2:9 | Wo vnto him, that couetously gathereth euell gotten goodes in to his house: that he maye set his nest an hye, to escape from the power of mysfortune. |
| 2:10 | Thou hast deuysed ye shame of thine owne house, for thou hast slayne to moch people, and hast wilfully offended: |
| 2:11 | so that the very stones of the wall shal crie out of it, and the tymbre that lieth betwixte the ioyntes of the buyldinge shall answere. |
| 2:12 | Wo vnto him, yt buyldeth the towne with bloude, and maynteneth ye cite with vnrightuousnes. |
| 2:13 | Shal not the LORDE of hoostes bringe this to passe, that the laboures of the people shal be brent with a greate fyre, and that the thinge wher vpon the people haue weeried them selues, shall be lost? |
| 2:14 | For the earth shalbe full of knowlege of the LORDES honoure, like as the waters that couer the see. |
| 2:15 | Wo vnto him that geueth his neghboure dryncke, to get him wrothfull displeasure for his dronckennesse: that he maye se his preuytees. |
| 2:16 | Therfore with shame shalt thou be fylled, in steade of honoure. Dryncke thou also, till thou slombre withall: for the cuppe of the LORDES right hode shall compasse the aboute, and shamefull spewinge in steade of thy worshipe. |
| 2:17 | For the wroge that thou hast done in Libanus, shal ouerwhelme the, and the wilde beastes shal make the afrayed: because of mens bloude, and for the wronge done in the londe, in the cite, and vnto all soch as dwel therin. |
| 2:18 | What helpe than wil ye ymage do, whom the workman hath fashioned? Or the vayne cast ymage, wherin because the craftesman putteth his trust, therfore maketh he domme Idols? |
| 2:19 | Wo vnto him, that saieth to a pece of wod: arise, and to a domme stone: stonde vp. For what instruccio maye soch one geue? Beholde, it is layed ouer with golde and syluer, & there is no breth in it. |
| 2:20 | But the LORDE in his holy teple is he, whom all the worlde shulde feare. |
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.