Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | Paul and Timotheus the seruauntes of Iesu Christ. Vnto all the sayntes in Iesu Christ, which are at Philippos, with the Bisshoppes and mynisters. |
| 1:2 | Grace be with you and peace from God oure father, and from the LORDE Iesus Christ. |
| 1:3 | I thanke my God, as oft as I remebre you |
| 1:4 | (which I allwayes do in all my prayers for you all, and praye with gladnesse) |
| 1:5 | because of youre fellishippe which ye haue in the Gospell from the first daye vnto now, |
| 1:6 | and am surely certified of this, yt he which hath begonne that good worke in you, shal go forth with it vntyll ye daye of Iesus Christ: |
| 1:7 | as it becommeth me to iudge of you all, because I haue you in my hert, as those that are partakers with me of grace in my bondes, in defendinge and stablyshinge of the Gospell. |
| 1:8 | For God is my recorde, how I loge after you all euen fro the very hert rote in Iesus Christ. |
| 1:9 | And for the same I praye, yt yor loue maye increace more & more in all maner of knowlege and in all experience, |
| 1:10 | yt ye maye proue what is best, that ye maye be pure, & soch as hurte no mans conscience, vnto the daye of Christ: |
| 1:11 | fylled with the frutes of righteousnes, which come by Iesus Christ vnto the glorye and prayse of God. |
| 1:12 | I wolde ye vnderstode brethren, that my busynes is happened vnto the greater furtheraunce of the Gospell, |
| 1:13 | so that my bondes in Christ are manifest thorow out all ye iudgmet hall, and in all other places: |
| 1:14 | In so moch that many brethren in the LORDE, are boldened thorow my bodes, and darre more largely speake the worde without feare. |
| 1:15 | Some (no doute) preach Christ of enuye and stryfe, but some of good wil. |
| 1:16 | The one parte preacheth Christ off stryfe and not purely, supposynge to adde more aduersite vnto my bondes. |
| 1:17 | The other parte of loue, for they knowe that I lye here for the defence of the Gospell. |
| 1:18 | What then? So that Christ be preached all maner of wayes (whether it be done by occasion or of true meaninge) I reioyce therin, and wil reioyce. |
| 1:19 | For I knowe that the same shal chaunce to my saluacion, thorow youre prayer and mynistrynge of the sprete of Iesu Christ, |
| 1:20 | as I loke for and hope, that in nothinge I shalbe ashamed: but yt with all cofidence (as allwayes in tymes past, eue so now) Christ shalbe magnified in my body whether it be thorow life or thorow death. |
| 1:21 | For Christ is to me life, & death is to me auautage. |
| 1:22 | But in as moch as to lyue in ye flesh is frutefull to me for the worke, I wote not what |
| 1:23 | I shal chose, for both these thinges lye harde vpon me. I desyre to be lowsed, & to be with Christ, which thinge were moch better (for me) |
| 1:24 | but to abyde in the flesh is more nedefull for you. |
| 1:25 | And this am I sure of, that I shal abyde, and contynue with you all, for the furtheraunce and ioye of youre faith, |
| 1:26 | that ye maye abundauntly reioyse in Christ Iesu thorow me, by my comynge to you agayne. |
| 1:27 | Onely let youre conuersacion be as it becommeth the Gospell of Christ, that whether I come & se you, or els be absent, I maye yet heare of you that ye cotynue in one sprete and one soule, labourynge (as we do) to mayntayne the faith of the Gospell, |
| 1:28 | and in nothinge fearinge youre aduersaries, which is to them a token off perdicion, but vnto you of saluacion, and that of God. |
| 1:29 | For vnto you it is geuen, not onely that ye shulde beleue on Christ, but also suffre for his sake, |
| 1:30 | and to haue euen the same fighte, which ye haue sene in me, and now heare of me. |
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.