Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 4:1 | Ye masters, do vnto youre seruauntes that which is iust and equall, and knowe, yt ye also haue a master in heauen. |
| 4:2 | Contynue in prayer, and watch in the same with thankesgeuynge, |
| 4:3 | and praye also together for vs, that God open vnto vs the dore of the worde, to speake the mystery of Christ (wherfore I am also in bodes) |
| 4:4 | that I maye vtter ye same, as it becommeth me to speake. |
| 4:5 | Walke wysely towarde them that are without, and redeme ye tyme. |
| 4:6 | Let youre speach be allwaye fauorable, seasoned with salt, that ye maye knowe how to answere euery man. |
| 4:7 | Tichicus the deare brother and faithfull mynister & felowe seruaut in ye LORDE, shal tell you what case I am in. |
| 4:8 | Whom I haue sent vnto you for the same purpose, that he mighte knowe how ye do, & that he mighte comforte youre hertes, |
| 4:9 | with one Onesimus a faithfull and beloued brother, which is one of you: they shal shewe you of all thinges, which are adoynge here |
| 4:10 | Aristarchus my preson felowe saluteth you, and Marcus Barnabasses sisters sonne, touchinge whom ye receaued commaundementes: Yf he come vnto you, receaue him, |
| 4:11 | and Iesus, which is called Iustus, which are of the circumcision. These onely are my helpers in the kyngdome of God, which were to my consolacion. |
| 4:12 | Epaphras a seruaunt of Christ, which is one of you, saluteth you, & allwaye laboureth feruently for you in prayers, yt ye maye stonde perfecte and full, in all that is the wil of God. |
| 4:13 | I beare him recorde, that he hath a feruent mynde for you, and for the at Laodicea, and at Hierapolis. |
| 4:14 | Deare Lucas the Phisician saluteth you, and so doth Demas. |
| 4:15 | Salute the brethre, which are at Laodicea, and salute Nymphas, and the cogregacion which is in his house. |
| 4:16 | And whan the epistle is red of you, cause it to be red also in the cogregacio at Laodicea, & that ye likewyse reade the epistle of Laodicea. |
| 4:17 | And saye to Archippus: Take hede to the office which thou hast receaued in the LORDE, that thou fulfyll it. |
| 4:18 | My salutacion with the hnade of me Paul. Remembre my bodes. Grace be with you, Amen. |
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.