Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 6:1 | Thus was the Arke of the LORDE in the londe of the Philistynes seuen monethes. |
| 6:2 | And the Philistynes called their prestes and soythsayers, and sayde: What shal we do with the Arke of the LORDE? Shewe vs, wher with shal we sende it vnto hir place? |
| 6:3 | They sayde: Yf ye wyll sende awaye the Arke of the God of Israel, sende it not awaye emptye, but geue a trespace offerynge: so shal ye be made whole, and ye shal knowe, why his hande departeth not from you. |
| 6:4 | They sayde: What is the trespace offeringe that we shall geue him? They answered: Fyue hynder partes of golde, and fyue golden myce, acordinge to the nombre of the fyue prynces of ye Philistynes. For there hath bene one maner of plage vpon you all, and vpon youre prynces. |
| 6:5 | Therfore must ye make youre hynder partes of one fasshion and youre myce, which haue destroyed youre londe, that ye maye geue the God of Israel the honoure: peraduenture his hade shal be the lighter vpon you and vpon youre God, and vpon youre londe. |
| 6:6 | Why harden ye youre hert, as the Egipcians and Pharao hardened their hert? Whan he shewed him selfe vpon them dyd not they let them departe to go their waye? |
| 6:7 | Go to now therfore, and make a new cart, and take two mylke kyne, vpon ye which there neuer came yock, and yocke them to ye cart, and let their calues tary behynde them at home: |
| 6:8 | and take ye the Arke of the LORDE and laye it vpon the cart: and the Iewels of golde that ye geue him for a trespace offeringe put in a coffer beside it, & sende it awaye and let it go. |
| 6:9 | And loke well: yf it go the waie of hir awne coaste BethSemes, the hath he done vs all this greate euell: Yf no, then shal ye knowe that his hande hath not touched vs, but yt it is happened vnto vs by chauce. |
| 6:10 | The men dyd so, and toke two yonge mylke kyne, and yocked them to a cart, and helde their calues at home, |
| 6:11 | and layed the Arke of the LORDE vpon the cart, and the coffer with the golden myce, and with the ymages of their disease. |
| 6:12 | And the kyne wente straight waye vnto BethSemes vpon one hye strete, and wente on bleatynge, and turned nether to the righte hande ner to the lefte. And the prynces of the Philistynes wente after them vnto ye coast of BethSemes. |
| 6:13 | The BethSamites were euen reapynge downe their wheate haruest in the valley, and lyfte vp their eyes, and sawe the Arke, and reioysed to se it. |
| 6:14 | The cart came in to the felde of Iosua the BethSemite, and there it stode styll. And there was a greate stone, and they claue the tymber of the cart, and offred the kyne vnto the LORDE for a burntofferynge. |
| 6:15 | But the Leuites toke downe the Arke of the LORDE, and the coffer that was by it, wherin the Iewels of golde were, and set the vpon the greate stone. The men of BethSemes offred burntofferynges, and other offerynges also vnto the LORDE the same daye. |
| 6:16 | And whan the fyue prynces of the Philistynes had sene it, they departed agayne the same daye towarde Ekron. |
| 6:17 | These are the golden diseases, that the Philistynes offred for a trespace offerynge vnto the LORDE: Asdod one, Gasa one: Ascalon one, Gath one, and Ekron one: |
| 6:18 | and golden myce, acordynge to the nombre of all the cities of the Philistynes amonge the fyue prynces, from the walled cite vnto the vyllage, and vnto the greate playne felde, whervpon they set the Arke of the LORDE (which was) vnto this daye vpon the felde of Iosua the BethSemite. |
| 6:19 | And certaine of BethSames were slaine because they had sene ye Arke of the LORDE, and he slewe fyftye thousande and seuentye men of the people. Then mourned the people, because the LORDE had done so greate a slaughter in the people. |
| 6:20 | And the men at BethSemes sayde: Who maye stode before the LORDE so holy a God? And to who shal he go fro vs? |
| 6:21 | And they sent messaungers to ye inhabiters of Kiriath Iearim, saiege: The Philistynes haue brought the Arke of God agayne, come downe, & fetch it vp vnto you. |
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.