Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 12:1 | It profiteth me nothinge (no doute) to boaste. Neuertheles I wil come to ye visions and reuelacions off the LORDE. |
| 12:2 | I knowe a man in Christ aboue fourtene yeares a goo (whether he was in ye body, I can not tell: or whether he was out of the body, I can not tell, God knoweth.) the same was taken vp in to the thirde heauen: |
| 12:3 | and I knowe the same man (whether he was in ye body or out of the body, I can not tell, God knoweth) |
| 12:4 | how that he was take vp in to Paradise, and herde wordes not to be spoken, which no man can vtter. |
| 12:5 | Here of will I boast, but of my selfe wil I make no boast, excepte it be of myne infirmyties. |
| 12:6 | And though I wolde boast my selfe, I dyd not foolishly, for I wolde saye the trueth. But I refrayne my selfe, lest eny ma shulde thinke of me aboue yt he seyth in me, or heareth of me. |
| 12:7 | And lest I shulde exalte my selfe out of measure because of the hye reuelacions, there is a warnynge geuen vnto my flesh, euen ye messaunger of Satan, to buffet me, that I shulde not exalte my selfe out off measure: |
| 12:8 | for ye which I besoughte the LORDE thryse, that it mighte departe fro me. |
| 12:9 | And he sayde vnto me: My grace is sufficiet for the. For my strength is made perfecte thorow weaknes. Very glad therfore wil I reioyse in my weaknesses, that the strength of Christ maye dwell in me. |
| 12:10 | Therfore am I contente in infirmities, in rebukes, in necessities, in persecucions, in anguysshes for Christes sake: for wha I am weake, the am I stroge. |
| 12:11 | I am become a fole i boastinge my selfe: Ye haue copelled me. For I oughte to be comended of you, in so moch as I am in nothinge inferior to ye hye Apostles. Though I be nothinge, |
| 12:12 | yet are ye tokens of an Apostle wrought amoge you, with all paciece, with signes, & with woders & with mightie dedes. |
| 12:13 | For what is it, wherin ye are inferiours to the other congregacions? excepte it be yt I haue not bene greuous vnto you.Forgeue me this wroge. |
| 12:14 | Beholde, I am ready the thirde tyme to come vnto you, and wyl not be chargeable vnto you. For I seke not youres, but you. For ye childre ought not to gather treasure for the elders, but the elders for the children. |
| 12:15 | I wil very gladly bestowe, and wyl be bestowed for youre soules: though ye more I loue you, the lesse am I loued agayne. |
| 12:16 | But let it be so that I greued you not, neuertheles for so moch as I was craftye, I toke you wt gyle. |
| 12:17 | Haue I defrauded you by eny of the, who I sent vnto you? |
| 12:18 | I desyred Titus, & with him I sent a brother: dyd Titus defraude you? Haue we not walked in one sprete? Wete we not in like fotesteppes? |
| 12:19 | Agayne, thynke ye yt we excuse oure selues? We speake in Christ in the sighte off God. But all this (dearly beloued) is done for yor edifyenge. |
| 12:20 | For I feare, lest whan I come, I shal not fynde you soch as I wolde: and lest ye shal fynde me soch as ye wolde not: lest there be amonge you, debates, envyenges, wrathes, stryuynges, bacbytinges, whysperinges, swellinges, vproures: |
| 12:21 | lest whan I come agayne, God bringe me lowe amoge you & lest I be constrayned to bewayle many of the yt haue synned before, & haue not repented ouer ye vnclennesse and whordome, and wantonnes, which they haue comytted. |
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.