Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 23:1 | And after a longe season, whan the LORDE had broughte Israel to rest from all their enemies rounde aboute: and Iosua was now olde and well stricken in age, |
| 23:2 | he called all Israel and their Elders, heades, iudges, and officers, and sayde vnto them: I am olde and well aged, |
| 23:3 | and ye haue sene all that the LORDE youre God hath done vnto all these nacions in youre sighte. For the LORDE youre God himself hath foughte for you. |
| 23:4 | Beholde, I haue parted amonge you ye renaunt of the nacions by lot, vnto euery trybe his enheritaunce from Iordane forth, and all the nacions whom I haue roted out vnto the greate see westwarde. |
| 23:5 | And the LORDE youre God shal thrust them out before you, and dryue them awaye from you, that ye maye haue their londe in possession, as the LORDE youre God hath promysed you. |
| 23:6 | Be stroge now therfore, that ye maye obserue and do all that is wrytten in the boke of the lawe of Moses: so that ye turne not asyde from it, nether to the righte hande ner to the lefte: |
| 23:7 | that ye come not amonge ye remnaunt of these nacios, which are with you: And se that ye make no mencion ner sweare by the names of their goddes, nether serue them, ner bowe youre selues vnto them: |
| 23:8 | But cleue vnto the LORDE youre God, as ye haue done vnto this daye: |
| 23:9 | the shal the LORDE dryue awaye greate and mightie nacions before you, like as there hath no man bene able to stonde before you vnto this daye. |
| 23:10 | One of you shall chace a thousande: for the LORDE youre God fighteth for you, acordinge as he promysed you. |
| 23:11 | Take diligent hede therfore vnto youre soules, that ye loue the LORDE youre God. |
| 23:12 | But yf ye turne backe, and cleue vnto these other nacions, and make mariages with them, so that ye come amoge them, and they amonge you, |
| 23:13 | be ye sure then, that the LORDE youre God shall nomore dryue out all these nacions before you, but they shall be vnto you a snare and net, and prickes in youre sydes, and thornes in youre eyes, vntyll he haue destroyed you from the good lode, which the LORDE youre God hath geuen you. |
| 23:14 | Beholde, this daye do I go the waye of all the worlde, and ye shal knowe euen from all youre hert and from all youre soule, that there hath not fayled one worde of all the good that the LORDE youre God promysed you. |
| 23:15 | Now like as all the good is come that the LORDE youre God promised you: euen so shal the LORDE cause all euell to come vpon you, tyll he haue destroied you from this good londe, which the LORDE youre God hath geuen you: |
| 23:16 | yf ye transgresse ye couenaunt of the LORDE youre God, which he hath commaunded you. And yf ye go yor waye and serue other goddes, and worshipe the, then shall the wrath of the LORDE waxe whote ouer you, & shall shortly destroye you out of the good londe, yt he hath geuen you. |
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.