Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 4:1 | What shal we saye the, that Abraha or father as pertayninge to ye flesh dyd fynde? |
| 4:2 | This we saye: Yf Abraham were made righteous thorow workes, then hath he wherin to reioyse, but not before God. |
| 4:3 | But what sayeth ye scripture? Abraha belened God, & yt was counted vnto him for righteousnes. |
| 4:4 | Vnto hi yt goeth aboute wt workes, is the rewarde not rekened of fauoure, but of dutye: |
| 4:5 | owbeit vnto him, yt goeth not aboute with workes, but beleueth on him yt iustifieth the vngodly, is his faith counted for righteousnes. |
| 4:6 | Euen as Dauid sayeth also, that blessednes is onely that mans, vnto who God counteth righteousnes without addinge to of workes, where he sayeth: |
| 4:7 | Blessed are they, whose vnrighteousnesses are forgeuen, and whose synnes are couered. |
| 4:8 | Blessed is the man, vnto whom the LORDE imputeth no synne. |
| 4:9 | Now this blessednes, goeth it ouer the circucision, or ouer the vncircumcision? We must nedes graunte, yt Abrahas faith was couted vnto hi for righteousnes. |
| 4:10 | How was it the rekened vnto him? In the circucision, or in the vncircumcision? Doutles not in the circucision, but in the vncircumcision. |
| 4:11 | As for the toke of circucision he receaued it for a seale off the righteousnes off faith, which he had yet in ye vncircusion, yt he shulde be a father of all the yt beleue, beinge in ye vncircucisio, yt it might be couted vnto the also for righteousnes |
| 4:12 | & that he might be a father of circumcision, not onely of the that are of ye circumcision, but of them also that walke in the fotesteppes of the faith, which was in the vncircumcision of oure father Abraham. |
| 4:13 | For the promes (that he shulde be ye heyre of the worlde) was not made vnto Abraham or to his sede thorow the lawe, but thorow the righteousnes of faith. |
| 4:14 | For yf they which are of the lawe be heyres, the is faith vayne, and the promes of none effecte, |
| 4:15 | for so moch as the lawe causeth but wrath. For where the lawe is not, there is also no transgression. |
| 4:16 | Therfore was the promes made thorow fayth, that it myght come off fauoure, wherby the promesse myghte be made sure vnto all the sede: not onely vnto him which is off the lawe, but also vnto him that is of the faith of Abraha which is the father of vs a |
| 4:17 | As it is wrytten: I haue made the a father of many Heythe before God, whom thou hast beleued: which quyckeneth the deed, and calleth it which is not, that it maye be. |
| 4:18 | And he beleued vpo hope, where nothinge was to hope, that he shulde be a father of many Heythen. Acordinge as it was sayde vnto him: |
| 4:19 | Euen so shal thy sede be. And he was not faynte in faith, nether cosidred his awne body, which was deed allready, whyle he was almost an hundreth yeare olde, nether the deed wombe of Sara. |
| 4:20 | For he douted not in the promes of God thorow vnbeleue, but was stroge in faith, and gaue God the prayse: |
| 4:21 | & was sure, that loke what God promyseth, he is able to make it good. |
| 4:22 | And therfore was it rekened vnto him for righteousnes. |
| 4:23 | But this is not wrytte onely for his sake, yt it was counted vnto him, |
| 4:24 | but also for oure sakes: vnto who it shalbe counted, yf we beleue on him, that raysed vp oure LORDE Iesus from the deed. |
| 4:25 | Which was geuen for oure synnes, and raysed vp for oure righteousnesse sake. |
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.