Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 4:1 | And all Israel spake of Samuel. And Israel wente forth to the battayll against the Philistynes, & pitched besyde the. Helpe stone: As for the Philistynes, they pitched at Aphek, |
| 4:2 | and prepared them selues agaynst Israel. And whan the battayll beganne, the hoost was deuyded, so that Israel was smytte before the enemies, & in the edge in the felde they slewe aboute a foure thousande men. |
| 4:3 | And whan the people came in to the hoost, the Elders of Israel sayde: Wherfore hath the LORDE caused vs to be smytten this daie before the Philistynes? Let vs take vnto vs the Arke of the LORDES couenaunt from Silo, & let it come amoge vs, that it maye helpe vs from the hande of oure enemies. |
| 4:4 | And the people sent vnto Silo, & caused to fet thece the Arke of ye couenaunt of the LORDE Zebaoth, that sytteth vpon the Cherubins. And with the Arke of the couenaunt of God there were the two sonnes of Eli, Ophni and Phineas. |
| 4:5 | And whan the Arke of the couenaunt of the LORDE came in to the hoost, all Israel shouted wt a greate shoute, so that the earth sounded withall. |
| 4:6 | But whan the Philistynes herde ye noyse of ye shoute, they sayde: what noyse is this of soch greate shoutinge in the tentes of the Hebrues? And whan they perceaued yt the Arke of the LORDE was come in to the hoost, |
| 4:7 | they were afrayed & sayde: God is come in to the hoost. And they sayde morouer: Wo vnto vs, for it hath not bene thus afore tyme. |
| 4:8 | Wo vnto vs. Who wil delyuer vs fro the hande of these hye goddes? These are the goddes that smote Egipte wt all maner of plages in the wyldernesse. |
| 4:9 | Be stronge now and manly ye Philistynes, that ye serue not the Hebrues as they haue serued you. Be manly and fighte. |
| 4:10 | Then foughte the Philistynes, & Israel was smytten, & euery one fled vnto his tete, & there was a very greate slaughter, so that there fell of Israel thirtye thousande fote me, |
| 4:11 | & the Arke of God was take, & the two sonnes of Eli, Ophni and Phineas dyed. |
| 4:12 | Then rane there one of Ben Iamin out of the fore fronte of the battayl, & came vnto Silo the same daye, & had his clothes rente, and had earth vpo his heade. |
| 4:13 | And whan he came in, Heli sat vpon the seate, that he mighte loke towarde the waye: for his herte was fearfull aboute ye Arke of God. And whan the man came in to the cite, he tolde it forth: and all the cite cried. |
| 4:14 | And whan Eli herde ye noyse of the cryege, he axed: What noyse of busynes is this? The man came haistely, and tolde Eli. |
| 4:15 | (As for Eli, he was fourescore and eightene yeare olde, and his eyes were dymme, so that he coulde not se.) |
| 4:16 | The man sayde vnto Eli: I come and am fled this daye out of the hoost. He sayde: How is it my sonne? |
| 4:17 | Then answered the tydinge bringer, & sayde: Israel is fled before the Philistynes, and a greate slaughter hath there bene amonge the people, & thy two sonnes Ophni & Phineas are deed, yee & the Arke of God is take awaye. |
| 4:18 | Whan he had made mencion of the Arke of God, he fell downe bacwarde from the seate by the gate, and brake his neck, and dyed: for he was olde, & an heuy man. He iudged Israel fortie yeares. |
| 4:19 | The wife of his sonne Phineas was wt childe, & shulde shortly be delyuered, whan she herde the tydinges yt the Arke of God was taken, and yt hir brother in lawe and hir husbade were deed, she bowed hir selfe and trauayled: for hir payne came vpon her. |
| 4:20 | And whan she was now at the poynte of death, the wemen that stode by her, sayde: Feare not, thou hast a yoge sonne. But she gaue no answere, nether regarded it, |
| 4:21 | and she called the childe Icabod, and sayde: The glory is gone from Israel, because the Arke of God was taken awaye, and hir brother in lawe and hir husbande. |
| 4:22 | And she sayde morouer: The glory is gone from Israel, for the Arke of God is take awaye |
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.