Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | Symon Peter a seruaut and an Apostle of Iesus Christ.Vnto the which haue optayned like faith with vs in the righteousnes that commeth of oure God, and Sauioure Iesus Christ. |
| 1:2 | Grace and peace be multiplied with you thorow the knowlege of God and of Iesus Christ oure LORDE. |
| 1:3 | For so moch as his godly power hath geuen vs all thinges (that pertayne vnto life and godlynes) thorow the knowlege of him that hath called vs by his owne glorie and power, |
| 1:4 | wherby the excellent and most greate promyses are geue vnto vs: namely, that ye by the same shulde be partakers of the godly nature, yf ye flye the corrupte lust of the worlde: |
| 1:5 | Geue ye all youre diligence therfore here vnto, and in youre faith mynister vertue: in vertue, knowlege: |
| 1:6 | in knowlege, temperancy: in temperancy, pacience: in pacience, godlynes: |
| 1:7 | in godlynes, brotherly loue: in brotherly loue, generall loue. |
| 1:8 | For yf these thinges be plenteous in you, they will not let you be ydle nor vnfrutefull in ye knowlege of oure LORDE Iesus Christ. |
| 1:9 | But he that lacketh these thinges, is blynde, & gropeth for the waye with the hade, and hath forgotten, that he was clensed from his olde synnes. |
| 1:10 | Wherfore (brethre) geue the more diligence, to make youre callynge and eleccion sure: for yf ye do soch thinges, ye shal not fall, |
| 1:11 | and by this meanes shal there be plenteously mynistred vnto you an entrynge in vnto ye euerlastinge kyngdome of oure LORDE and Sauioure Iesus Christ. |
| 1:12 | Therfore wil I not be necliget to put you allwayes in remembraunce of soch thinges: though ye knowe them youre selues, and be stablished in the present trueth. |
| 1:13 | Notwithstondinge I thinke it mete, as loge as I am in this tabernacle, to stere you vp by puttinge you in remembraunce. |
| 1:14 | For I am sure, that I must shortly put of my tabernacle, euen as oure LORDE Iesus Christ hath shewed vnto me. |
| 1:15 | Yet wyl I do my diligece, that allwaye after my departynge ye maye haue wherwith to kepe these thinges in remembraunce. |
| 1:16 | For we folowed not deceaueable fables, whan we declared vnto you the power and commynge of oure LORDE Iesus Christ: but with oure eyes we sawe his maiestie, |
| 1:17 | whan he receaued of God the father honoure & prayse, by a voyce that came vnto him from the excellent glory, after this maner: This is my deare sonne, in whom I haue delyte. |
| 1:18 | And this voyce herde we broughte downe fro heauen, whan we were with him on the holy mount. |
| 1:19 | We haue also a sure worde of prophecie, and ye do well that ye take hede thervnto, as vnto a lighte that shyneth in a darke place vntyll the daye dawne, and the daye starre aryse in youre hertes. |
| 1:20 | And this shal ye knowe first, that no prophecie in the scripture is done of eny priuate interpretacion. |
| 1:21 | For the prophecie was neuer broughte by the wyll of man, but the holy men of God spake, as they were moued of ye holy goost. |
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.