Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
26:1 | Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: Thou hast leue to speake for thy selfe.The Paul stretched forth the hande, and answered for himselfe: |
26:2 | I thinke my selfe happye (O kynge Agrippa) because I shal answere this daye before the, of all the thinges wherof I am accused of the Iewes: |
26:3 | specially for so moch as thou art experte in all customes and questions, which are amonge the Iewes. Wherfore I beseche the, to heare me paciently. |
26:4 | My lyuynge truly from youth vp (how it was led from the begynnynge amonge this people at Ierusale) knowe all the Iewes |
26:5 | which knewe me afore at the first, yf they wolde testifye, for after the most strayte secte of oure Iewysh lawe, I lyued a Pharise. |
26:6 | And now stonde I, and am iudged because of the hope of the promes, that was made of God vnto oure fathers, |
26:7 | vnto the which (promes) oure twolue trybes hope to come, seruynge God instatly daye and nighte. For the which hopes sake (O kynge Agrippa) I am accused of the Iewes. |
26:8 | Wherfore is this iudged amonge you not to be beleued, that God rayseth vp the deed? |
26:9 | I also verely thoughte by my selfe, that I oughte to do many cotrary thinges cleane agaynst the name off Iesus off Nazareth, |
26:10 | which I dyd at Ierusalem, whan I shut vp many sayntes in preson, whervpon I receaued auctorite of ye hye prestes. And wha they shulde be put to death, I broughte the sentence. |
26:11 | And thorow all the synagoges I punyshed them oft, and compelled the to blaspheme, and was exceadinge mad vpon them, and persecuted them euen vnto straunge cities. |
26:12 | Aboute which thinges as I wente towarde Damascon with auctorite and lycence of the hye prestes, |
26:13 | euen at myddaye (O kynge) I sawe in the waye, that a lighte from heaue (clearer then the brightnesse of the Sonne) shyned rounde aboute me, and them that iourneyed with me. |
26:14 | But whan we were all fallen downe to the earth, I herde a voyce speakynge vnto me, and sayege in Hebrue: Saul Saul, why persecutest thou me? It shalbe harde for the to kycke agaynst the prycke. |
26:15 | But I sayde: LORDE, who art thou? He sayde: I am Iesus, whom thou persecutest. |
26:16 | But ryse vp, and stonde vpon thy fete, for therfore haue I appeared vnto the, that I mighte ordeyne the to be a mynister and witnesse of it that thou hast sene, and that I wyll yet cause to appeare vnto the. |
26:17 | And I wil delyuer the from the people, and from the Heythen, amonge who I wil now sende the, |
26:18 | to ope their eyes, that they maye turne from the darknesse vnto the lighte, and from the power of ye deuell vnto God, that they maye receaue forgeuenesse of synnes, and the enheritaunce with them that are sanctified by faith in me. |
26:19 | Wherfore (O kynge Agrippa) I was not faithlesse vnto ye heauely vision, |
26:20 | but shewed it first vnto them at Damascon, and at Ierusale, and in all the coastes of Iewry, and to the Heythen, that they shulde do pennaunce, and turne vnto God, and to do the righte workes of pennaunce. |
26:21 | For this cause the Iewes toke me in the temple, and wente aboute to kyll me. |
26:22 | But thorow the helpe of God lent vnto me, I stonde vnto this daye, and testifye both vnto small and greate, and saye no other thinge, the that ye prophetes haue sayde (that it shulde come to passe) and Moses, |
26:23 | that Christ shulde suffre, and be the first of the resurreccion from the deed, and shew light vnto the people, and to the Heythen. |
26:24 | Whan he thus answered for himselfe, Festus sayde with a loude voyce: Paul, thou art besydes thy selfe, moch lernynge maketh ye madd. |
26:25 | But Paul sayde: I am not madd (most deare Festus) but speake the wordes of trueth and sobernesse: |
26:26 | for ye kynge knoweth this well, vnto whom I speake frely. For I thinke that none off these thinges is hyd from him: for this was not done in a corner. |
26:27 | Beleuest thou the prophetes, O kynge Agrippa? I knowe that thou beleuest. |
26:28 | Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: Thou persuadest me in a parte to become a Christen. |
26:29 | Paul sayde: I wolde to God, that (not onely in a parte but alltogether,) I mighte persuade not the onely, but all them that heare me this daye, to be soch I am, these bondes excepte. |
26:30 | And whan he had spoken this, the kynge rose vp, and the Debyte, and Bernice, and they that sat with them, |
26:31 | and wente asyde, and talked together, and sayde: This man hath done nothinge that is worthy of death or of bondes. |
26:32 | But Agrippa sayde vnto Festus: This man mighte haue bene lowsed, yf he had not appealed vnto the Emperoure. |
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.