Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 4:1 | I testifye therfore before God & before the LORDE Iesu Christ, which shal come to iudge the lyuynge and the deed, at his appearynge in his kyngdome: |
| 4:2 | Preach thou the worde, be feruent, be it in season or out of season: Improue, rebuke, exhorte with all longe sufferynge and doctryne. |
| 4:3 | For the tyme wil come, whan they shal not suffre wholsome doctryne, but after their awne lustes shal they (whose eares ytche) get them an heape of teachers, |
| 4:4 | and shal turne their eares from the trueth, and shalbe geuen vnto fables. |
| 4:5 | But watch thou in all thinges, suffre aduersite, do the worke of a preacher of the Gospell, fulfyll thine office vnto the vttemost. |
| 4:6 | For I am now ready to be offered, and the tyme of my departinge is at honde. |
| 4:7 | I haue foughte a good fighte: I haue fulfylled the course: I haue kepte the faith. |
| 4:8 | From hence forth there is layed vp for me a crowne of righteousnes, which the LORDE the righteous iudge shal geue me in yt daye: Howbeit not vnto me onely, but vnto all them that loue his comynge. |
| 4:9 | Make spede to come vnto me atonce. |
| 4:10 | For Demas hath lefte me, and loueth this present worlde, and is departed vnto Tessalonica, Crescens in to Galacia, Titus vnto Dalmacia, |
| 4:11 | Onely Lucas is with me. Take Marke, & brynge him with the: for he is profitable vnto me to the mynistracion. |
| 4:12 | Tichicus haue I sent to Ephesus. |
| 4:13 | The cloke that I lefte at Troada with Carpus brynge with the whan thou commest: and the bokes, but specially the parchemet. |
| 4:14 | Alexader the coppersmyth dyd me moch euell, the LORDE rewarde him acordynge to his dedes, |
| 4:15 | of whom be thou ware also. For he withstode oure wordes sore. |
| 4:16 | In my first answerynge no man assisted me, but all forsoke me. I praye God that it be not layed to their charges. |
| 4:17 | Notwitstondynge the LORDE stode by me, & stregthed me, that by me the preachinge shulde be fulfylled to the vttemost, and that all the Heythe shulde heare. And I was delyuered out of the mouth of the lyon. |
| 4:18 | And the LORDE shal delyuer me from all euell doynge, and shal kepe me vnto his heauenly kyngdome. To whom be prayse for euer and euer, Amen. |
| 4:19 | Salute Prisca and Aquila, and ye houssholde of Onesiphorus. |
| 4:20 | Erastus abode at Corinthum. But Trophimus left I sicke at Miletu. |
| 4:21 | Make spede to come before wynter. Eubolus, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren salute the. |
| 4:22 | The LORDE Iesus Christ be with thy sprete. 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.