Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | In the seconde yeare of kynge Darius, in the vj. moneth the first daye of the moneth, came the worde of the LORDE (by the prophet Aggeus) vnto Zorobabel the sonne of Salathiel ye prynce of Iuda, and to Iesua the sonne of Iosedec the hye prest, sayenge: |
| 1:2 | Thus speaketh the LORDE of hoostes, and saieth: This people doth saye: The tyme is not yet come to buylde vp the LORDES house. |
| 1:3 | Then spake the LORDE by the prophet Aggeus & sayed: |
| 1:4 | Ye yor selues can fynde tyme to dwell in syled houses, and shal this house lye waist? |
| 1:5 | Considre now youre owne wayes in youre hertes (saieth ye LORDE of hoostes) |
| 1:6 | ye sowe moch, but ye bringe litle in: Ye eate, but ye haue not ynough: ye drinke, but ye are not fylled: ye decke youre selues, but ye are not warme: & he yt earneth eny wage, putteth it in a broken purse. |
| 1:7 | Thus saieth the LORDE of hoostes: Cosidre youre owne wayes in youre hertes, |
| 1:8 | get you vp to the mountayne, fetch wod, & buylde vp the house: that it maye be acceptable vnto me, and that I maye shewe myne honoure, saieth the LORDE. |
| 1:9 | Ye loked for moch, and lo it is come to litle: & though ye brynge it home, yet do I blowe it awaye. And why so, saieth the LORDE of hoostes? Eue because that my house lyeth so waist, and ye renne euery man vnto his owne house. |
| 1:10 | Wherfore the heauen is forbydde to geue you eny dew, and the earth is forbydden to geue you encrease. |
| 1:11 | I haue called for a drouth, both vpo the londe & vpon the mountaynes, vpon corne, vpon wyne & vpon oyle, vpon euery thinge that the grounde bryngeth forth, vpon men and vpon catell, yee and vpon all handy laboure. |
| 1:12 | Now when Zorobabel the sonne of Salathiel, & Iesua the sonne of Iosedec the hye prest with the remnaunt of the people, herde the voyce of the LORDE their God, & the wordes of the prophet Aggeus (like as the LORDE their God had sent him) the people dyd feare the LORDE. |
| 1:13 | Then Aggeus the LORDES angel sayed in the LORDES message vnto the people: I am wt you, saieth the LORDE. |
| 1:14 | So the LORDE waked vp the sprete of Zorobabel the prynce of Iuda, and the sprete of Iesua the sonne of Iosedec the hye prest, and the sprete of the remnaunt of all the people: yt they came & laboured, in the house of the LORDE of hoostes their God. |
| 1:15 | Vpon the xxiiij. daye of the sixte moneth, in the secode yeare of kinge Darius, |
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.