Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 2:1 | Wherfore laye asyde all maliciousnes and all gyle, and ypocrisye, and envye, and all bacbytinge, |
| 2:2 | & as new borne babes desyre that reasonable mylke, which is without corrupcion, that ye maye growe therin, |
| 2:3 | yf so be that ye haue taisted how frendly the LORDE is. |
| 2:4 | Vnto whom ye are come, as to the lyuynge stone, which is disalowed of men, but chosen of God and precious. |
| 2:5 | And ye also as lyuynge stones are made a spirituall house, and an holy presthode, to offre vp spirituall sacrifices, acceptable vnto God by Iesus Christ. |
| 2:6 | Wherfore it is conteyned in the scripture: Beholde, I put in Sion an heade corner stone, electe & precious, and he that beleueth on him, shal not be cofounded. |
| 2:7 | Vnto you therfore which beleue, he is precious: but vnto them that beleue not, is ye same stone which the buylders refused, made the heade stone in the corner, |
| 2:8 | and a stone to stomble at, and a rock to be offended at, namely in the which stomble at ye worde, and beleue not that wheron they were set. |
| 2:9 | But ye are that chosen generacion, that kyngly presthode, that holy nacion, that peculier people, yt ye shulde shewe the vertues of him, which hath called you out of darknesse in to his maruelous lighte: |
| 2:10 | Euen you which in tyme past were not a people, but now are the people of God: which were not vnder mercy, but now haue optayned mercy. |
| 2:11 | Dearly beloued, I beseke you as straungers and pilgrems, absteyne fro the fleshly lustes, which fighte agaynst the soule, |
| 2:12 | and lede an honest conuersacion amonge the Heythen, that they which bacbyte you as euell doers, maye se youre good workes, and prayse God in the daye of visitacion. |
| 2:13 | Submytte youre selues vnto all maner ordinaunce of men for the LORDES sake: whether it be vnto the kynge as vnto ye chefe heade, |
| 2:14 | or vnto rulers, as vnto them that are sent of him, for the punyshment of euell doers, but for the prayse of the that do well. |
| 2:15 | For so is the will of God, that ye with well doynge shulde put to sylence the ignoraunce of folishmen: |
| 2:16 | as fre, and not as hauynge the libertye for a cloke of wickednes, but eue as the seruauntes of God. |
| 2:17 | Honoure all men. Loue brotherly fellishippe. Feare God. Honoure the kynge. |
| 2:18 | Ye seruautes, obey youre masters with all feare: not onely yf they be good and curteous, but also though they be frowarde. |
| 2:19 | For that is grace, yf a man for conscience towarde God endure grefe, and suffre wronge. |
| 2:20 | For what prayse is it, yf wha ye be buffeted for yor fautes, ye take it paciently? But yf whan ye do well, ye suffre wronge, and take it paciently, that is grace with God. |
| 2:21 | For here vnto are ye called, for so moch as Christ also suffred for vs, leauynge vs an ensample, that ye shulde folowe his fotesteppes, |
| 2:22 | which dyd no synne, nether was there gyle founde in his mouth: |
| 2:23 | which whan he was reuyled, reuyled not agayne: wha he suffred, he threatened not: but commytted the cause vnto him, that iudgeth righteously: |
| 2:24 | which his owne selfe bare oure synnes in his body vpon the tre, that we shulde be delyuered from synne, & shulde lyue vnto righteousnes: by whose strypes ye were healed. |
| 2:25 | For ye were as shepe goinge astraye, but now are ye turned vnto the shepherde and Bisshoppe of youre soules. |
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.