Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 5:1 | Who so euer beleueth that Iesus is Christ, is borne of God. And who soeuer loueth him that begat, loueth him also which was begotten of him. |
| 5:2 | By this we knowe that we loue Gods children, whan we loue God, and kepe his commaundementes. |
| 5:3 | For this is the loue of God, that we kepe his commaundementes, and his commaundemetes are not greuous. |
| 5:4 | For all that is borne of God, ouercommeth the worlde: and this is the victory that ouercommeth the worlde, eue oure faith. |
| 5:5 | Who is it yt ouercommeth the worlde, but he which beleueth that Iesus is the sonne of God? |
| 5:6 | This is he that cometh with water and bloude, euen Iesus Christ: not with water onely, but with water and bloude. And it is the sprete that beareth wytnes: for the sprete is the trueth. |
| 5:7 | (For there are thre which beare recorde in heauen: the father, the worde, and the holy goost, & these thre are one.) |
| 5:8 | And there are thre which beare recorde in earth: the sprete, water and bloude, and these thre are one. |
| 5:9 | Yf we receaue the witnesse of men, the witnesse of God is greater: for this is the wytnesse of God, which he testifyed of his sonne. |
| 5:10 | He that beleueth on ye sonne of God, hath the wytnes in him selfe. He that beleueth not God, hath made him a lyar. |
| 5:11 | And this is that recorde, euen yt God hath geue vs euerlastinge life. And this life is in his sonne. |
| 5:12 | He that hath the sonne of God, hath life: He that hath not the sonne of God, hath not life. |
| 5:13 | These thinges haue I wrytte vnto you, which beleue on the name of the sonne of God, that ye maye knowe, how that ye haue eternall life, and that ye maye beleue on ye name of the sonne of God. |
| 5:14 | And this is the fre boldnesse which we haue towarde him, that yf we axe eny thinge acordinge to his wyll, he heareth vs. |
| 5:15 | And yf we knowe that he heareth vs what so euer we axe, then are we sure that we haue ye peticions, which we haue desyred of him. |
| 5:16 | Yf eny man se his brother synne a synne not vnto death, let him axe, and he shal geue him life, for the yt synne not vnto death. There is a synne vnto death, for the which saye I not that a man shulde praye. |
| 5:17 | All vnrighteousnes is synne, and there is synne not vnto death. |
| 5:18 | We knowe, that whosoeuer is borne off God, synneth not: but he that is begotte of God, kepeth himselfe, & yt wicked toucheth him not. |
| 5:19 | We knowe that we are of God, & the worlde is set alltogether on wickednes. |
| 5:20 | But we knowe, that the sonne of God is come, and hath geuen vs a mynde, to knowe him which is true: and we are in him yt is true, in his sonne Iesu Christ. This is the true God, and euerlastinge life. |
| 5:21 | Babes kepe youre selues from ymages. 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.