Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | In the begynnynge was the worde, and the worde was with God, and God was ye worde. |
| 1:2 | The same was in the begynnynge wt God. |
| 1:3 | All thinges were made by the same, and without the same was made nothinge that was made. |
| 1:4 | In him was the life, and the life was the light of men: |
| 1:5 | and the light shyneth in the darknesse, and the darknesse comprehended it not. |
| 1:6 | There was sent from God a man, whose name was Ihon. |
| 1:7 | The same came for a witnesse, to beare wytnesse of ye light, that thorow him they all might beleue. |
| 1:8 | He was not that light, but that he might beare witnesse of ye light. |
| 1:9 | That was the true light, which lighteth all men, that come in to this worlde. |
| 1:10 | He was in the worlde, & the worlde was made by him, and ye worlde knewe him not. |
| 1:11 | He came in to his awne, and his awne receaued him not. |
| 1:12 | But as many as receaued him, to them gaue he power to be the children of God: euen soch as beleue in his name. |
| 1:13 | Which are not borne of bloude, ner of the wyl of the flesh, ner of the wyl of man, but of God. |
| 1:14 | And the worde became flesh, and dwelt amonge vs: and we sawe his glory, a glory as of the onely begotte sonne of the father, full of grace and trueth. |
| 1:15 | Ihon bare wytnesse of him, cryed, and sayde: It was this, of whom I spake: After me shal he come, that was before me, For he was or euer I: |
| 1:16 | and of his fulnesse haue all we receaued grace for grace. |
| 1:17 | For the lawe was geuen by Moses, grace and trueth came by Iesus Christ. |
| 1:18 | No man hath sene God at eny tyme. The onely begotte sonne which is in the bosome of the father, he hath declared the same vnto vs. |
| 1:19 | And this is the recorde of Ihon, whan the Iewes sent prestes and Leuites fro Ierusalem, to axe him: Who art thou? |
| 1:20 | And he confessed and denyed not. And he confessed, and sayde: I am not Christ. |
| 1:21 | And they axed him: What the? Art thou Elias? He sayde: I am not. Art thou the Prophet? And he answered: No. |
| 1:22 | Then sayde they vnto him: What art thou the, yt we maye geue answere vnto the that sent vs? What sayest thou of yi self? |
| 1:23 | He sayde: I am ye voyce of a cryer in the wyldernesse. Make straight ye waye of the LORDE. As ye prophet Esay sayde: |
| 1:24 | And they that were sent, were of ye Pharises. |
| 1:25 | And they axed him, & sayde vnto him: Why baptysest thou then, yf thou be not Christ, ner Elias, ner a prophet? |
| 1:26 | Ihon answered them, and sayde: I baptyse with water, but there is one come in amonge you, whom ye knowe not. |
| 1:27 | It is he that cometh after me, which was before me: whose shue lachet I am not worthy to vnlowse. |
| 1:28 | This was done at Bethabara beyonde Iordane, where Ihon dyd baptyse. |
| 1:29 | The nexte daye after, Ihon sawe Iesus commynge vnto him, and sayde: Beholde the labe of God, which taketh awaye the synne of the worlde. |
| 1:30 | This is he, of whom I sayde vnto you: After me commeth a man, which was before me. For he was or euer I, |
| 1:31 | and I knewe him not: but that he shulde be declared in Israel, therfore am I come to baptyse with water. |
| 1:32 | And Ihon bare recorde, & sayde: I sawe the sprete descende from heauen like vnto a doue, and abode vpon him, |
| 1:33 | & I knewe him not. But he that sent me to baptyse with water, ye same sayde vnto me: Vpon whom thou shalt se the sprete descende and tary styll on him, the same is he, that baptyseth with the holy goost. |
| 1:34 | And I sawe it, and bare recorde, that this is the sonne of God. |
| 1:35 | The nexte daye after, Ihon stode agayne, and two of his disciples. |
| 1:36 | And wha he sawe Iesus walkynge, he sayde: Beholde the labe of God. |
| 1:37 | And two of his disciples herde him speake, and folowed Iesus. |
| 1:38 | And Iesus turned him aboute, and sawe them folowinge, and sayde vnto the: What seke ye? They sayde vnto him: Rabbi, (which is to saye by interpretacion, Master.) Where art thou at lodginge? |
| 1:39 | He sayde vnto them: Come and se it. They came and sawe it, & abode with him the same daye. It was aboute the tenth houre. |
| 1:40 | One of the two, which herde Ihon speake, and folowed Iesus, was Andrew the brother of Symon Peter: |
| 1:41 | the same founde first his brother Symon, and sayde vnto him: We haue founde Messias (which is by interpretacion, ye Anoynted) |
| 1:42 | and brought him to Iesus. Whan Iesus behelde him, he sayde: Thou art Symon the sonne of Ionas, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretacion, a stone. |
| 1:43 | The nexte daye after, wolde Iesus go agayne in to Galile, and founde Philippe, and sayde vnto him: Folowe me. |
| 1:44 | Philippe was of Bethsaida the cite of Andrew and Peter. |
| 1:45 | Philippe founde Nathanael, and sayde vnto him: We haue founde him, of who Moses in the lawe, and ye prophetes haue wrytten, euen Iesus the sonne of Ioseph of Nazareth. |
| 1:46 | And Nathanaell sayde vnto him: What good can come out of Nazareth? Philippe sayde vnto him: Come, and se. |
| 1:47 | Iesus sawe Nathanael comynge to him, and sayde of him: Beholde, a righte Israelite, in whom is no gyle. |
| 1:48 | Nathanael sayde vnto him: From whence knowest thou me? Iesus answered, and sayde vnto him: Before yt Philippe called the, whan thou wast vnder the fygge tre, I sawe the. |
| 1:49 | Nathanaell answered, and sayde vnto hi: Rabbi, thou art ye sonne of God, thou art ye kynge of Israel. |
| 1:50 | Iesus answered, & sayde vnto him: Because I sayde vnto the, that I sawe the vnder the fygge tre, thou beleuest: thou shalt se yet greater thinges the these. |
| 1:51 | And he sayde vnto him: Verely verely I saye vnto you: Fro this tyme forth shal ye se the heauen open, and the angels of God goinge vp & downe ouer the sonne of man. |
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.