Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 2:1 | There was a kinsman also of ye kynred of EliMelech Naemis husbande, whose name was Boos, which was an honest man. |
| 2:2 | And Ruth the Moabitisse saide vnto Naemi: Let me go in to ye felde, & gather eares of corne, after him, in whose sight I shal finde fauor. She sayde vnto her: Go yi waie my doughter. |
| 2:3 | She wete on, & came & gathered after ye reapers in ye feld. And it fortuned that the same felde was the enheritaunce of Boos, which was of the kynred of Elimelech, |
| 2:4 | and beholde, Boos came from Bethleem, and sayde vnto the reapers: The LORDE be with you. They answered: The LORDE blesse the. |
| 2:5 | And Boos sayde vnto his yongman which had the ouersight of ye reapers. Whose damsell is this? |
| 2:6 | The yonge man that was set ouer ye reapers, answered and sayde: It is the damsell the Moabitisse, which came agayne with Naemi from the londe of the Moabites. |
| 2:7 | And she sayde: Let me plucke vp and gather (I praie the) betwene the sheues after the reapers: and thus is she come, and hath stonde here euer sence the mornynge, and within a litle whyle she wolde haue bene gone home agayne. |
| 2:8 | Then sayde Boos vnto Ruth: Hearest thou my doughter? Thou shalt not come vpon another mans londe to gather, and go not awaye from hence, but tary with my dasels, |
| 2:9 | and loke where they reape in ye felde, go thou after them: for I haue comaunded my seruauntes that no man touch the. And yf thou be a thyrst, go thy waye to the vessell & drynke, where my seruauntes drawe. |
| 2:10 | Then fell she downe vpon hir face, and bowed hir self downe to the earth, and sayde vnto him: How haue I founde this fauoure in yi sighte, that thou woldest knowe me, which am yet a straunger? |
| 2:11 | Boos answered and sayde vnto her: It is tolde me alltogether, what thou hast done vnto thy mother in lawe after thy husbades death, how that thou hast left yi father and thy mother, and thy natiue countre, and art come to a people, whom thou hast not knowne afore. |
| 2:12 | The LORDE recompence the thy doinge, and thy rewarde be parfecte wt the LORDE God of Israel, vnto whom thou art come to put thy trust vnder his wynges. |
| 2:13 | She sayde: let me fynde fauoure (syr) before thyne eyes, for thou hast comforted me, and spoken frendly vnto thy handmayde, where as I am not yet like one of yi handmaydes. |
| 2:14 | Boos sayde vnto her: Whan it is eatinge tyme, come hither, and eate of the bred, and dyppe thy morsell in the vyneger. And she sat hir downe besyde the reapers. And he set parched corne before her, and she ate, & was satisfyed, and lefte ouer. |
| 2:15 | And wha she rose to gather, Boos commaunded his seruauntes, and sayde: Let her gather betwene the sheues also, and do her no dishonestye: |
| 2:16 | and cast of the sheues vnto her, and let it lye that she maye gather it vp, and se that noman reproue her for it. |
| 2:17 | So she gathered in the felde vntyll euen and she shaked out what she had gathered, and it was allmost an Epha of barlye: |
| 2:18 | and she toke it vp, and came in to the cite, and shewed hir mother in lawe what she had gathered. She toke forth also, and gaue her of that which was left, wherof she was satysfyed. |
| 2:19 | The sayde hir mother in lawe vnto her Blessinge haue the man that hath knowne the, where thou hast gathered and laboured this daye. She tolde hir mother in lawe by whom she had laboured, and sayde: The mans name, by whom I haue wroughte to daye, is Boos. |
| 2:20 | Naemi sayde vnto hir doughter in lawe: The blessynge of the LORDE haue he, for he hath not lefte of to be mercifull vnto the lyuynge and to the deed. And Naemi sayde vnto her: The same man belongeth vnto vs, and is oure nye kynsman. |
| 2:21 | Ruth the Moabitisse saide: He saide morouer vnto me: Thou shalt resorte vnto my seruauntes, tyll they haue made an ende of all my haruest. |
| 2:22 | Naemi sayde vnto Ruth hir doughter in lawe: It is better my doughter, that thou go forth with his damsels, lest eny man withstode the in another felde. |
| 2:23 | Thus she kepte herselfe with Boos damsels, so that she gathered vntill the barlye haruest and the wheate haruest was out, and came againe to hir mother in lawe. |
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.