Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 3:1 | And Iosua rose vp early, and they departed from Setim, & came vnto Iordane, he and all the children of Israel, and remayned there all night, afore they wete ouer. |
| 3:2 | But after thre dayes wente the officers thorow ye hoost, |
| 3:3 | and commaunded the people, and sayde: Whan ye se the Arke of ye couenaunt of the LORDE youre God, and the prestes from amoge the Leuites bearinge it, departe ye then out of youre place, and folowe after |
| 3:4 | (but so, that there be rowme betwene you and it by two thousande cubites, & that ye come not nye it) yt ye maye knowe what waye ye shulde go: for ye neuer wente that waye afore. |
| 3:5 | And Iosua sayde vnto the people: Halowe youre selues, for tomorow shal yi LORDE bringe wonderous thinges to passe amoge you. |
| 3:6 | And vnto the prestes he sayde: Beare ye the Arke of ye couenaut, and go before the people. Then bare they the Arke, and wente before the people. |
| 3:7 | And the LORDE sayde vnto Iosua: This daye wyl I begynne to make the greate in the sighte of all Israel, that they maie knowe, how that like as I was with Moses, so am I with the also. |
| 3:8 | And commaunde thou the prestes that beare the Arke, and saye: Whan ye come before in the water of Iordane, stonde styll. |
| 3:9 | And Iosua sayde vnto the children of Israel: Come hither, & heare the worde of the LORDE youre God. |
| 3:10 | He sayde morouer: By this shal ye perceaue, that the lyuynge God is amonge you, and that he shall dryue out before you ye Cananites, Hethites, Heuites, Pheresites, Girgosites, Amorites and Iebusites. |
| 3:11 | Beholde, the Arke of the couenaunt of him yt hath domynion ouer all londes, shall go before you in Iordane. |
| 3:12 | Take now therfore twolue men out of ye trybes of Israel, out of euery trybe one. |
| 3:13 | And whan the soles of the fete of the prestes that beare ye Arke of the LORDE the gouernoure of all londes, are set in the water of Iordane, then shal ye water of Iordane withdrawe it selfe from the water that floweth from aboue, that it maye stonde on a heape. |
| 3:14 | Now whan the people departed out of their tentes, to go ouer Iordane, & the prestes bare the Arke of the couenaunt before the people, |
| 3:15 | and came into Iordane, & dypte their fete before in the water (as for Iordane on all his banckes it was full of all maner waters of the londe) |
| 3:16 | then the water that came downe fro aboue, stode straight vp vpon one heape, very farre from the cite of Adom, that lyeth on the syde of Zarthan: But the water that ranne downe to the see (euen to the salt see) fell awaye, and decreased. So ye people wente thorow ouer agaynst Iericho. |
| 3:17 | And the prestes that bare the Arke of the LORDES couenaunt, stode drye in ye myddes of Iordane, readye prepared: & all Israel wete thorow drye shod, vntyll ye whole people were all come ouer Iordane. |
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.