Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 12:1 | Samuel sayde vnto all Israel: Beholde, I haue herkened vnto youre voyce in all that ye sayde vnto me, and haue made a kynge ouer you. |
| 12:2 | And now lo, there goeth youre kynge before you. As for me, I am waxen olde and graye heered, and my sonnes are with you: and I haue gone before you fro my youth vp vnto this daye. |
| 12:3 | Beholde, here am I: answere ye agaynst me before the RORDE and his anoynted, yf I haue taken eny mans oxe or asse, yf I haue done eny man violence or wronge, If I haue oppressed eny ma, yf I haue receaued a gifte of eny mans hande, and kepte it secretly, I wil restore it you agayne. |
| 12:4 | They saide: Thou hast done vs nether violence ner wronge, nether oppressed, ner taken ought of eny mans hande. |
| 12:5 | He sayde: The LORDE be witnesse agaynst you, and so be his anoynted this daye, that ye haue founde nothinge in my hade. They saide: Yee they shalbe witnesses. |
| 12:6 | And Samuel sayde vnto the people: The LORDE which made Moses and Aaron, and broughte youre fathers out of the londe of Egipte (is here present.) |
| 12:7 | Stode forth now therfore, that I maye iudge you before the LORDE ouer the righteousnes of the LORDE, which he hath done for you and youre fathers. |
| 12:8 | Whan Iacob was come in to Egipte, youre fathers cryed vnto the LORDE. And he sent Moses and Aaron to brynge youre fathers out of Egipte, and to cause them for to dwell in this place. |
| 12:9 | But whan they forgat the LORDE their God, he solde them vnder the power of Sissera, the captayne at Hazor and vnder the power of the Philistynes and vnder the power of the kinge of the Moabites, which foughte agaynst them. |
| 12:10 | But they cried vnto the LORDE, and sayde: We haue synned, in that we haue forsaken the LORDE, and serued Baalim and Astaroth. But now deliuer vs from the hande of oure enemies, and we wyl serue the. |
| 12:11 | Then the LORDE sent Ierubaal, Bedan, Iephthae, and Samuel, & delyuered you from youre enemies rounde aboute, and caused you to dwell safe. |
| 12:12 | But whan ye sawe that Nahas the kynge of the children of Ammon came agaynst you ye sayde vnto me: Not thou, but a kynge shal raigne ouer vs, where as notwithstodinge youre God was youre kynge. |
| 12:13 | Now, there haue ye youre kynge, who ye haue chosen and desyred: for lo, the LORDE hath set a kinge ouer you. |
| 12:14 | Yf ye shal feare the LORDE now, and serue him, and herken vnto his voice, and not be dishobedient vnto the mouth of the LORDE, then shall both ye and youre kynge that raigneth ouer you, folowe ye LORDE youre God. |
| 12:15 | But yf ye herken not vnto ye voyce of the LORDE, but be dishobedient vnto his mouth, then shal the hande of the LORDE be agaynst you, and agaynst youre fathers. |
| 12:16 | Stonde forth now also, and beholde this greate thinge, that the LORDE shal do before youre eyes. |
| 12:17 | Is not now the wheate haruest? Yet wyll I call vpo the LORDE, so that he shal cause it thonder and rayne, that ye shall knowe and se the greate euell, which ye haue done in the sight of the LORDE, in that ye haue desyred to haue a kynge. |
| 12:18 | And whan Samuel called vpon the LORDE, the LORDE caused it to thoder and raine the same daye. Then all the people feared the LORDE greatly and Samuel, |
| 12:19 | and they sayde all vnto Samuel: Praie thou vnto the LORDE thy God for thy seruauntes, that we dye not: for beside oure sinnes we haue done this euell also, that we haue desyred vnto vs a kinge. |
| 12:20 | Samuel sayde vnto the people: Feare not, ye haue done all this euell in dede. Neuertheles departe not backe from the LORDE, but serue the LORDE with all youre hert, |
| 12:21 | and go not asyde after vanite, for it profyteth you nothinge, and can not delyuer you, in so moch as it is but a vayne thinge. |
| 12:22 | For the LORDE shall not forsake his people because of his greate names sake: for the LORDE hath begonne to make you a people vnto him selfe. |
| 12:23 | But God forbyd that I shulde synne so vnto the LORDE, to ceasse from prayenge for you, and from teachinge you the good & righteous waye. |
| 12:24 | Feare ye the LORDE therfore, and serue him faithfully with all yor hert: for ye haue sene, how greate thinges he doth vnto you. |
| 12:25 | But yf ye do wickedly, both ye & youre kynge shal perishe. |
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.