Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 5:1 | The Elders which are amonge you I exhorte, which am also an Elder, and a witnes off the affliccions in Christ, and partaker of the glory that shalbe opened. |
| 5:2 | Fede Christes flocke which is amonge you, and take the ouersighte of the, not as though ye were copelled therto, but wyllingly: not for the desyre of filthye lucre, but of a good mynde: |
| 5:3 | not as though ye were lordes ouer the parishes, but that ye be an ensample to the flocke: |
| 5:4 | & whan the chefe shepherde shal appeare, ye shal receaue the vncorruptible crowne of glory. |
| 5:5 | Likewyse ye yoger submytte youre selues vnto the elder. Submytte youre selues euery man one to another, and knyt yor selues together in lowlynes of mynde. For God resisteth the proude, but geueth grace to the humble. |
| 5:6 | Submytte yor selues therfore vnder the mightie hande of God, that he maye exalte you whan the tyme is come. |
| 5:7 | Cast all youre care on him, for he careth for you. |
| 5:8 | Be sober and watch, for yor aduersary ye deuell, walketh aboute as a roaringe lyon, sekynge whom he maye deuoure, |
| 5:9 | whome resiste stedfast in the faith, and knowe, that youre brethren in the worlde haue euen the same affliccions. |
| 5:10 | But ye God of all grace, which hath called you to his euerlastinge glory in Christ Iesu, shal his owne selfe make you perfecte, which suffre a litle season: eue he shal settle, strength, and stablish you. |
| 5:11 | To him be prayse and domynion for euer and euer, Amen. |
| 5:12 | By Siluanus youre faithfull brother (as I suppose) haue I wrytte vnto you breuely, exhortinge and testifyenge, how that this is the true grace of God wherin ye stode. |
| 5:13 | The companyons of youre eleccion that are at Babilon, salute you, and Marcus my sonne. |
| 5:14 | Grete ye one another with the kysse of loue. Peace be with you all which are in Christ Iesus, 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.