Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | Iames the seruaunt of God and of the LORDE Iesus Christ, sendeth gretinge to the xij. trybes which are scatered here & there. |
| 1:2 | My brethren, counte it exceadynge ioye whe ye fall in to diuers temptacions, |
| 1:3 | for as moche as ye knowe, how yt the tryinge of youre faith bringeth pacience: |
| 1:4 | and let pacience haue her parfect worke, yt ye maye be parfecte aud sounde, lakinge nothinge. |
| 1:5 | Yf eny of you lacke wyssdome, let him axe of God, which geueth to all men indifferentlie, and casteth no man in the teth: and it shal be geue him. |
| 1:6 | But let him axe in faith and wauer not. For he that douteth, is lyke the wawes of ye See, tost of the wynde, and caried wt violence. |
| 1:7 | Nether let yt man thinke that he shal receaue eny thige of ye LORDE. |
| 1:8 | A wauerynge mynded ma ys vnstable in all his waies. |
| 1:9 | Let the brother of lowe degre reioyce, in yt he is exalted: |
| 1:10 | and the rich, in yt he is made lowe. For eue as the flor of ye grasse shal he vanyshe awaye. |
| 1:11 | The Sonne ryseth wt heat and the grasse wydereth, & his floure falleth awaye, and the beautie of the fassion of it perissheth: euen so shal the ryche man perisshe with his abundaunce. |
| 1:12 | Happy is the man that endureth in teptacion, for when he is tryed, he shal receaue the crowne of life, which the LORDE hath promised to them that loue him. |
| 1:13 | Let no man saye when he is tempted, yt he is tempted of God. For God tepteth not vnto euell, nether tepteth he eny man. |
| 1:14 | But euery ma is tepted, drawne awaye, & entysed of his awne cocupiscece. |
| 1:15 | The whe lust hath conceaued, she bringeth forth synne, & synne when it is fynished, bringeth forth deeth. |
| 1:16 | Erre not my deare brethre. |
| 1:17 | Euery good gifte, & euery parfait gift, is from aboue, and cometh downe from ye father of light, with whom is no variablenes, nether is he chaunged vnto darcknes. |
| 1:18 | Of his awne will begat he vs with the worde of life, that we shulde be the fyrst frutes of his creatures. |
| 1:19 | Wherfore deare brethren, let euery man be swifte to heare, slowe to speake, and slowe to wrath. |
| 1:20 | For the wrath of ma worketh not that which is righteous before God. |
| 1:21 | Wherfore laye aparte all fylthines, all superfluite of maliciousnes, & receaue with meknes ye worde yt is grafted in you, which is able to saue youre soules. |
| 1:22 | And se that ye be doers of ye worde & not heares only, deceauinge youre awne selues. |
| 1:23 | For yf eny heare the worde, and do it not, he is like vnto a ma that beholdeth his bodily face in a glasse. |
| 1:24 | For assone as he hath loked on himselfe, he goeth his waye, and forgetteth immediatly what his fasshion was. |
| 1:25 | But who so loketh in ye perfect lawe of libertie, and continueth therin (yf he be not a forgetfull hearer, but a doar of the worke) the same shalbe happie in his dede. |
| 1:26 | Yf eny man amonge you seme deuoute, & refrayne not his toge: but deceaue his awne herte, this mannes deuocion is in vayne. |
| 1:27 | Pure deuocion and vndefiled before God the father, is this: to visit the frendlesse and widdowes in their aduersite, and to kepe him selfe vnspotted of the worlde. |
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.