Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 4:1 | Let euery man this wyse esteme vs, euen for the mynisters of Christ, and stewardes of the secretes of God. |
| 4:2 | Now is there no more requyred of the stewardes, then, that they be founde faithfull. |
| 4:3 | It is but a small thinge vnto me, that I shulde be iudged of you, or of mans daye, nether iudge I myne awne selfe. |
| 4:4 | I knowe noughte by my selfe, yet am I not therby iustified. It is the LORDE that iudgeth me. |
| 4:5 | Therfore iudge ye nothinge before ye tyme, vntyll the LORDE come, which shal brynge it to lighte that is hyd in darknesse, and ope the councels of ye hertes, and the shal euery one haue prayse of God. |
| 4:6 | These thinges brethren haue I described in myne awne preson & in Apollos for youre sakes, that ye mighte lerne by vs, that noman counte hygher of him self, then aboue is wrytten, that one be not puft vp agaynst another for eny mans cause. |
| 4:7 | For who preferreth the? What hast thou that thou hast not receaued? Yf thou hast receaued it, why makest thou the thy boost, as though thou haddest not receaued it? |
| 4:8 | Now ye are full, now ye are made riche, ye raigne without vs, and wolde God ye dyd raigne, that we might raigne with you. |
| 4:9 | Me thynketh that God hath set forth vs Apostles for the lowest off all, euen as those that are appoynted vnto death. For we are a gasynge stocke vnto ye worlde and to the angels, and vnto men. |
| 4:10 | We are fooles for Christes sake, but ye are wyse in Christ: We weake, but ye stroge: Ye honorable, but we despysed. |
| 4:11 | Euen vnto this daye we hoger and thyrst, and are naked, and are boffetted with fystes, and haue no certayne dwellinge place, |
| 4:12 | and laboure and worke with oure awne handes. We are reuyled, and yet we blesse: we are persecuted, and suffre it: |
| 4:13 | We are euell spoken of, and we praye: We are become as it were the very outswepinges of ye worlde, yee the of scowringe of all men vnto this tyme. |
| 4:14 | I wryte not this to shame you, but as my deare childre I warne you. |
| 4:15 | For though ye haue ten thousande instructours in Christ yet haue ye not many fathers. For I haue begotten you in Christ Iesu thorow ye Gospell? |
| 4:16 | Wherfore I exhorte you, be ye my folowers. |
| 4:17 | For this cause haue I sent vnto you Timotheus (which is my deare sonne, and faithfull in the LORDE) that he maye put you in remembraunce of my wayes, which are in Christ, eue as I teach euery where in all congregacions. |
| 4:18 | Some are puft vp, as though I wolde come nomore at you. |
| 4:19 | But I wil come to you shortly ( yf the LORDE wyl) and wyl knowe, not the wordes of the that are puft vp, but ye power. |
| 4:20 | For the kyngdome of God is not i wordes, but in power. |
| 4:21 | What wil ye? Shal I come vnto you wt the rodd, or with loue and the sprete of mekenesse? |
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.