Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 27:1 | Dauid thoughte in his hert: One of these dayes shal I fall in to the handes of Saul: It is better that I get me my waye in to ye londe of ye Philistynes, that Saul maye leaue of from sekynge me in all the coastes of Israel, so shall I escape his handes. |
| 27:2 | And he gat him vp, and wente ouer (with the sixe hundreth men that were with him) vnto Achis the sonne of Maoch kynge of Gath. |
| 27:3 | So Dauid remayned by Achis at Gath, with his me, euery one with his housholde, and Dauid with his two wyues, Ahinoam the Iesraelitisse, and Abigail Nabals wife of Carmel. |
| 27:4 | And whan worde came to Saul that Dauid was fled vnto Gath, he soughte him nomore. |
| 27:5 | And Dauid sayde vnto Achis: Yf I haue founde grace in thy sighte, then let there be geuen me a place in one of the cities of the londe, that I maye dwell therin. Wherfore shulde thy seruaunt dwell in the kynges cite with the? |
| 27:6 | Then Achis gaue him Siclag the same daye. Therfore belongeth. Siclag to the kynges of Iuda vnto this daye. |
| 27:7 | The tyme that Dauid dwelt in the londe of the Philistynes, is foure monethes. |
| 27:8 | Dauid wente vp with his men, and fell in to the londe of the Gessurites and Girsites, and Amalechites: for these were the inhabiters of this londe of olde, as thou commest to Sur vnto the lode of Egipte. |
| 27:9 | But wha Dauid smote ye londe, he let nether man ner woman lyue, and toke the shepe, oxen, asses, Camels and rayment, and returned and came to Achis. |
| 27:10 | So whan Achis spake: Whither fell ye in to daye? Dauid sayde: Towarde the south parte of Iuda, towarde ye south parte of the Ierahmielites, & towarde the south parte of the Kenites. |
| 27:11 | But Dauid let nether man ner woman come lyuynge vnto Geth, and thoughte: They mighte peradueture speake & reporte agaynst vs: thus dyd Dauid, and this was his maner as longe as he dwelt in ye londe of the Philistynes. |
| 27:12 | Therfore Achis gaue credence vnto Dauid, and thoughte: he hath made him selfe stynke before his people of Israel, therfore shal he be my seruaunt for euer. |
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.