Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | The reuelacion of Iesus Christ, which God gaue vnto him, for to shewe vnto his seruautes thiges which muste shortly come to passe. And he sent and shewed by his angel vnto his seruaunt Ihon |
| 1:2 | which bare recorde of the worde of God, and of the testimony of Iesus Christe, and of all thinges that he sawe. |
| 1:3 | Happy is he yt readeth, and they that heare the wordes of the prophesy and kepe thoo thinges which are wrytten therin. For the tyme is at honde. |
| 1:4 | Ihon to the seuen cogregacions in Asia. Grace be with you & peace, fro him which is and which was, and which is to come, & fro the seuen spretes which are present before his trone, |
| 1:5 | and from Iesus Christ which is a faithfull witnes, and first begotten of the deed: & LORDE ouer ye kinges of the earth. Vnto him that loued vs and wesshed vs fro synnes in his awne bloud, |
| 1:6 | and made vs kinges & Prestes vnto God his father, be glory, and dominion for euer more. Amen. |
| 1:7 | Beholde, he commeth with cloudes, and all eyes shall se him: & they also which peersed him. And all kinredes of the earth shal wayle. Euen so. Amen. |
| 1:8 | I am Alpha and Omega, the begynninge and the endinge, sayteh ye LORDE almighty, which is and which was and which is to come. |
| 1:9 | I Ihon youre brother and copanyon in tribulacion, and in the kyngdome and paciece which is in Iesu Christe, was in the yle of Pathmos for the worde of God, and for ye witnessynge of Iesu Christe. |
| 1:10 | I was in the sprete on a sondaye, and herde behynde me, a gret voyce, as it had bene of a trompe, |
| 1:11 | sayenge: I am Alpha and Omega, the fyrst and ye laste. That thou seist, write in a boke, and sende it vnto the cogregacions which are in Asia, vnto Ephesus and vnto Smyrna, and vnto Pargamos, and vnto Thiatira, and vnto Sardis, and vnto Philadelphia, a |
| 1:12 | And I turned backe to se the voyce that spake to me. And whe I was turned: I sawe seue golde candestyckes, |
| 1:13 | and in the myddes of the candelstyckes, one like vnto the sonne of man clothed with a lynnin garmet downe to the ground, and gyrd aboute the brest with a golden gyrdle. |
| 1:14 | His heed, and his heares were whyte, as whyte woll, & as snowe: and his eyes were as a flamme of fyre: |
| 1:15 | and his fete like vnto brasse, as though they bret in a fornace: and his voyce as the sounde of many waters. |
| 1:16 | And he had in his right honde seue starres. And out of his mouth went a sharpe two edged swearde. And his face shone euen as the sonne in his strength. |
| 1:17 | And when I sawe him, I fell at his fete, euen as deed. And he layde his right honde vpon me, sayenge vnto me: feare not. I am the fyrst, and the laste, |
| 1:18 | and am alyue, and was deed. And beholde, I am alyue for euer more and haue the kayes of hell & of deth. |
| 1:19 | Wryte therfore the thinges which thou hast sene, and the thinges which are, and ye thinges which shalbe fulfylled here after: |
| 1:20 | & the mistery of the seuen starres which thou sawest in my right honde, and the seuen golden candelstickes. The seuen starres are the angels of the seue congregacions: And the seuen candelstyckes which thou sawest, are the seuen congregacions. |
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.