Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | Pavl the seruaunt of God, and an Apostle off Iesus Christ, to preach the faith off Gods electe, and the knowlege of ye trueth, which ledeth vnto godlynes, |
| 1:2 | vpon the hope of eternall life: which God that can not lye hath promysed before the tymes of the worlde: |
| 1:3 | but at his tyme hath opened his worde thorow preachinge, which is commytted vnto me acordinge to the commaundemet of God oure Sauioure. |
| 1:4 | Vnto Titus my naturall sonne after ye comen faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the father, and fro the LORDE Iesu Christ oure Sauioure. |
| 1:5 | For this cause left I the in Creta, that thou shuldest perfourme that which was lackynge, and shuldest ordeyne Elders in euery cite, as I appoynted ye. |
| 1:6 | Yf eny be blamelesse, the hussbande of one wife, hauynge faithfull children, which are not slaundred or ryote, nether are dishobedient. |
| 1:7 | For a Bisshoppe must be blamelesse, as the stewarde of God: not wylfull, not angrye, not geuen vnto moch wyne, no fyghter, not gredye of filthye lucre: |
| 1:8 | but harbarous, one that loueth goodnes, sober mynded, righteous, holy, temperate, |
| 1:9 | and soch one as cleueth vnto the true worde of doctryne: that he maye be able to exhorte with wholsome lernynge, & to improue them that saye agaynst it. |
| 1:10 | For there are many dishobedient, and talkers of vanite, and disceauers of myndes: namely they of the circucision, |
| 1:11 | whose mouthes must be stopped: which peruerte whole houses, teachinge thinges which they oughte not, because of filthye lucre. |
| 1:12 | One of them selues euen their awne prophet, sayde: The Cretayns are alwayes lyars, euell beestes, and slowe belies. |
| 1:13 | This witnesse is true. Wherfore rebuke them sharply, yt they maye be sounde in the faith, |
| 1:14 | and not to take hede vnto Iewes fables and commaundementes of men, which turne them awaye from the trueth. |
| 1:15 | Vnto ye cleane are all thinges cleane: but. to the vncleane & vnbeleuers, there is nothinge cleane, but both their mynde & conscience is defyled. |
| 1:16 | They saye that they knowe God, but with the dedes they denye him: for so moch as they are abhominable and dishobedient, and vnmete to all good workes. |
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.