Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | Paul the presoner of Iesu Christ, and brother Timotheus. Vnto Philemon the beloued, and oure helper, |
| 1:2 | and to the beloued Appia, and to Archippus or felowe soudyer, and to the congregacion in thy house. |
| 1:3 | Grace be with you, and peace from God oure father and from the LORDE Iesus Christ. |
| 1:4 | I thanke my God, makynge mencion allwayes of the in my prayers |
| 1:5 | (for so moch as I heare of thy loue and faith which thou hast on the LORDE Iesu, and towarde all sayntes) |
| 1:6 | that oure comen faith maye be frutefull in the, thorow knowlege of all ye good that ye haue in Christ Iesu. |
| 1:7 | Greate ioye and consolacion haue I in thy loue. For by the (brother) the sayntes are hertely refresshed. |
| 1:8 | Wherfore though I haue great boldnes in Christ to commaunde the that which becommeth the, |
| 1:9 | yet for loues sake I rather beseke ye, though I be as I am, eue Paul aged, and now a presoner also of Iesu Christ. |
| 1:10 | I beseke the for my sonne Onesimus (whom I haue begotten in my bondes) |
| 1:11 | which in tyme past was to the vnprofitable, but now profitable both to the and me. |
| 1:12 | Whom I haue sent agayne: but receaue thou him (that is) euen myne awne hert. |
| 1:13 | For I wolde haue kepte him styll with me, that in thy steade he might haue mynistred vnto me in ye bondes of ye Gospell: |
| 1:14 | Neuertheles without thy mynde wolde I do nothinge, that ye good which thou doest, shulde not be of compulsion, but wyllingly. |
| 1:15 | Happly he therfore departed for a season, that thou shuldest receaue him for euer: |
| 1:16 | not now as a seruaunt, but aboue a seruaunt, euen a brother beloued, specially to me, but how moch more vnto ye, both in ye flesh and in the LORDE? |
| 1:17 | Yf thou holde me for thy companyon, receaue him then euen as my selfe. |
| 1:18 | But yf he haue hurte the, or oweth the oughte, that laye to my charge. |
| 1:19 | I Paul haue wrytten it with myne awne hande. I wil recompence it: so that I do not saye vnto ye, how that thou owest vnto me euen thine owne selfe. |
| 1:20 | Euen so brother, let me enioye the in the LORDE: refresh thou my hert in the LORDE. |
| 1:21 | Trustinge in thine obediece, I haue wrytten vnto the, for I knowe that thou wilt do more then I saye. |
| 1:22 | Morouer prepare me lodginge, for I hope that thorow youre prayers I shalbe geuen vnto you. |
| 1:23 | There saluteth the, Epaphras my felowe presoner in Christ Iesu, |
| 1:24 | Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my helpers. |
| 1:25 | The grace of oure LORDE Iesu Christ be with youre sprete, 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.