Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 11:1 | Nahas ye Ammonite wete vp & layed sege vnto Iabes in Gilead. And all the men of Iabes sayde vnto Nahas: Be at one with vs, & we wyll serue the. |
| 11:2 | But Nahas ye Ammonite answered them: I wil make a couenauut with you, of this condicion, that I maye thrust out all youre right eyes, and put you to shame amonge all Israel. |
| 11:3 | Then sayde all the Elders of Iabes vnto him: Geue vs seuen dayes respyte, that we maye sende messaungers into all ye coastes of Israel: Yf there be then no sauioure, we wyl go forth vnto the. |
| 11:4 | So the messaungers came vnto Gibea of Saul, and spake this before the eares of the people. Then all ye people lifte vp their voyce, and wepte. |
| 11:5 | And beholde, Saul came after the oxen out of the felde, and sayde: What ayleth the people that they wepe? So they tolde him the earande of the men of Iabes. |
| 11:6 | Then came the sprete of God vpon him, whan he had herde these wordes, and his wrath was sore moued, |
| 11:7 | and he toke a couple of oxen, and hewed them in sunder, and sent them in to all the coastes of Israel by the messaungers, sayenge: Who so euer goeth not forth after Saul and Samuel, his oxen shalbe thus dealte withall. Then fell the feare of the LORDE vpon the people, so that they wente forth like as one man, |
| 11:8 | and they were tolde at Basek, and of the childre of Israel there were thre hundreth thousande men, and thirtie thousande of the children of Iuda. |
| 11:9 | And they spake vnto the messaungers that were come: Saye thus to the men of Iabes in Gilead: Tomorow shal ye haue helpe, whan ye Sonne is at the whotest. Whan ye messaungers came and tolde this to the men of Iabes, they were glad. |
| 11:10 | And the men of Iabes sayde: Tomorow wyll we come forth vnto you, that ye maye do vnto vs, what so euer it pleaseth you. |
| 11:11 | And on ye nexte morow Saul set the people in thre partes, and came in to the hoost aboute the mornynge watch, and smote the Ammonites tyll the daye was at the whotest. As for those yt remayned, they were so scatred, that two of them abode not together. |
| 11:12 | Then sayde the people vnto Samuel: Where are they that sayde: Shulde Saul raigne ouer vs? Delyuer vs here the men, that we maye put them to death. |
| 11:13 | But Saul sayde: There shal noman dye this daye, for to daye hath the LORDE geuen health in Israel. |
| 11:14 | Samuel sayde vnto the people: Come, let vs go vnto Gilgall, and renue the kyngdome there. |
| 11:15 | Then wente all the people vnto Gilgall, and there they made Saul kinge before the LORDE at Gilgal, and offred deedofferinges before the LORDE. And Saul with all the men of Israel reioysed there greatly. |
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.