Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 4:1 | Fvrthermore we beseke you brethren and exhorte you in the LORDE Iesus, that ye increace more and more, euen as ye haue receaued of vs how ye oughte to walke and to please God. |
| 4:2 | For ye knowe what commaundementes we gaue you by oure LORDE Iesus Christ. |
| 4:3 | For this is the will of God, euen youre sanctifienge, that ye shulde absteyne from whordome, |
| 4:4 | yt euery one of you shulde knowe how to kepe his vessell in holynes and honoure, |
| 4:5 | & not in the lust of concupiscence, as the Heythen which knowe not God. |
| 4:6 | And that no man go to farre, ner defraude his brother in bargayninge. For the LORDE is the auenger of all soch thinges, as we haue sayde & testified vnto you afore tyme. |
| 4:7 | For God hath not called vs to vnclennesse, but vnto holynes. |
| 4:8 | He therfore that despyseth, despyseth not man, but God, which hath geuen his holy sprete in to you. |
| 4:9 | But as touchinge brotherly loue, ye nede not that I wryte vnto you, for ye youre selues are taught of God to loue one another: |
| 4:10 | yee and that thinge ye do vnto all the brethre, which are thorow out all Macedonia. But we beseke you brethren that ye increace yet more and more, |
| 4:11 | and that ye study to be quyete, and to medle with youre awne busynesse, and to worke with youre awne hades, as we commaunded you, |
| 4:12 | that ye maye walke honestly towarde the that are without, and that nothinge be lackynge vnto you. |
| 4:13 | We wolde not brethren that ye shulde be ignoraunt concernynge them which are fallen a slepe, that ye sorowe not as other do which haue no hope. |
| 4:14 | For yf we beleue that Iesus dyed and rose agayne, euen so the also which slepe by Iesus, shal God brynge with him. |
| 4:15 | For this we saye vnto you in the worde of the LORDE, that we which lyue and are remaynynge in the comynge of the LORDE, shal not come yer they which slepe. |
| 4:16 | For the LORDE himselfe shal come downe fro heauen with a shoute and voyce of ye Archangell and with the trompe of God, and the deed in Christ shal aryse first: |
| 4:17 | then shal we which lyue and remayne, be caught vp wt them also in the cloudes, to mete the LORDE in the ayre, and so shal we euer be with the LORDE. |
| 4:18 | Wherfore comforte youre selues one another with these wordes. |
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.