Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 12:1 | At the same tyme layed kynge Herode handes vpon certayne of the congregacion, to vexe them. |
| 12:2 | As for Iames the brother of Ihon, him he slewe with the swerde. |
| 12:3 | And whan he sawe that it pleased the Iewes, he proceaded farther to take Peter also. But it was Easter. |
| 12:4 | Now whan he had taken him, he put him in preson, and delyuered him vnto foure quaternions of soudyers, to kepe him: and thought after Easter to bringe him forth to the people. |
| 12:5 | And Peter was kepte in the preson But prayer was made without ceassinge of the congregacion, vnto God for him. |
| 12:6 | And whan Herode wolde haue broughte him out vnto the people, in the same nighte slepte Peter betwene two soudiers, bounde with two cheynes. And the kepers before the dore kepte the preson. |
| 12:7 | And beholde, the angell of the LORDE was there presente, and a lighte shyned in the habitacion, and he smote Peter on the syde, and waked him vp, and sayde: Aryse vp quyckly. And the cheynes fell of from his hondes. |
| 12:8 | And the angell sayde vnto him: Gyrde the, and put on thy shues. And he dyd so. And he sayde vnto him: Cast thy mantle aboute the, and folowe me. |
| 12:9 | And he wente out, and folowed him, and wyst not, that it was trueth that was done by ye angell, but thoughte he had sene a vision. |
| 12:10 | Neuertheles they wente thorow the first and seconde watch, and came to the yron gate, that ledeth vnto the cite, which opened to the by his awne acorde. And they wente out, and passed thorow one strete, and immediatly the angell departed from him. |
| 12:11 | And whan Peter was come to himself, he sayde: Now I knowe of a trueth, that ye LORDE hath sent his angell, and delyuered me out of the honde of Herode, and from all the waytinge for of the people of the Iewes. |
| 12:12 | And as he considered the thinge, he came to the house of Mary the mother of one Ihon, (which after his syrname was called Marke) where many were gathered together, and prayed. |
| 12:13 | As Peter knocked at the entry dore, there came forth a damsell to herken, named Rhoda. |
| 12:14 | And whan she knewe Peters voyce, she opened not the entrye for gladnes, but rane in, and tolde, that Peter stode before ye entrye. |
| 12:15 | But they sayde vnto her: Thou art mad. Neuertheles she abode by it, that is was so. They sayde: it is his angell. |
| 12:16 | But Peter contynued knockinge. Whan they opened the dore, they sawe him, and were astonnyed. |
| 12:17 | But he beckened vnto them with the hande, to holde their peace, & tolde them, how the LORDE had broughte him out of the preson. And he sayde: Shewe this vnto Iames, and to the brethren. And he departed, and wete in to another place. |
| 12:18 | Whan it was daye, there was not a litle a doo amoge the soudyers, what was become of Peter. |
| 12:19 | Whan Herode had called for him, and founde him not, he caused the kepers to be examyned, and commaunded the to be caried awaye, and he wente downe fro Iewry vnto Cesarea, and there abode. |
| 12:20 | But he was displeased with the of Tyre and Sido. Neuertheles they came vnto him with one accorde, and made intercession to Blastus the kynges chamberlayne, and desyred peace, because their countre was norished by the kynges londe. |
| 12:21 | But vpon a daye appoynted, Herode put on ye kyngly apparell, sat him downe vpon the iudgment seate, and made an oracion vnto them. |
| 12:22 | As for the people, they cried therto: This is a voyce of God, and not of a man. |
| 12:23 | Immediatly the angell of the LORDE smote him, because he gaue not God the honoure: And he was eaten vp of wormes, and gaue vp the goost. |
| 12:24 | But the worde of God grewe, and multiplyed. |
| 12:25 | As for Barnabas and Saul, they came agayne to Ierusalem, and delyuered the handreachinge, and toke with them Ihon, whose syrname was Marke. |
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.