Textus Receptus Bibles
The Great Bible 1539
| 2:1 | Then sayd I thus in my herte: Now go to, I wil take mine ease & haue good dayes. But lo, that is vanite: |
| 2:2 | also in so moch that I sayd vnto the man gyuen to laughter: thou arte madd, & to myrth: what doest thou? |
| 2:3 | So I thought in my hert, to gyue my flesh vnto wyne and agayne to applie my mynde vnto wysdome, and to comprehende folyshnes vntyll the tyme that (amonge all the thinges whych are vnder the Sunne) I myght se what were best for men to do, so longe as they lyue vnder heauen. |
| 2:4 | I made gorgious fayre worckes. I buylded me houses, and planted vyneyardes. |
| 2:5 | I made me ortchardes and gardens of pleasure, and planted trees in them of al maner frutes. |
| 2:6 | I made poles of water, to water the grene and fruteful trees withall. |
| 2:7 | I bought seruauntes and maydens, and had a greate housholde. As for catell and shepe, I had more substaunce of them, then all they that were before me in Ierusalem. |
| 2:8 | I gathered syluer & golde together, euen a treasure of kynges and landes. I prouyded me syngers & wemen, which coulde playe of instrumentes, to make men myrth and pastime. I gat me psalteries & songes of musicke. |
| 2:9 | And I was greater and in more worshipe, then all my predecessours in Ierusalem. For wisdome remained with me: |
| 2:10 | & loke whatsoeuer myne eyes desyred, I let them haue it: and wherin soeuer my hert delyted, or had eny pleasure, I with helde it not from it. Thus my herte reioysed in all that I dyd, and this was my porcion of all my trauayle. |
| 2:11 | But when I consydred all the workes that my handes had wrought, and all the laboure that I had taken therin: lo, all was but vanite and vexacion of mynd, and nothing of eny value vnder the Sunne. |
| 2:12 | Then turned I me to considre wysdome, erroure, and folyshnesse (for what is he among men that myght be compared to me the kyng in soch worckes?) |
| 2:13 | and I sawe: that wysdome excelleth foolishnesse, as farre as light doth darcknesse. |
| 2:14 | For a wyse man hath his eyes in his head, but the foole goeth in the darkenesse: I perceaued also, that they both had one ende. |
| 2:15 | Then thought I in my mynde, If it happen vnto the foole as it doth vnto me, what nedeth me then to labour eny more for wisdome? So I confessed within my hert, that this also was but vanite. |
| 2:16 | For the wyse are euer as lytle in remembraunce as the folish, for the dayes shal come when all shal be forgotten, yee the wise man dieth as well as the foole. |
| 2:17 | Thus beganne I to be weery of my lyfe, in so moch that I coulde awaye with nothing that is done vnder the Sunne, for all was but vanite & vexacion of minde: |
| 2:18 | Yee I was weery of all my labour, whych I had taken vnder the Sunne, because I shulde be fayne to leaue them vnto another man that commeth after me: |
| 2:19 | And who knoweth, whether he shalbe a wyse man or a fole? And yet shall he be lord of all my labours, which I with soch wysdome haue taken vnder the Sunne Thys is also a vayne thyng. |
| 2:20 | So I turned me to refrayne my mynde from all soch trauayle, as I toke vnder the Sunne: |
| 2:21 | for so moch as a man shulde weery hym selfe with wysdome, with vnderstanding and oportunite, & yet be fayne to leaue his labours vnto another that neuer swett for them. This is also a vayne thing & greate misery. |
| 2:22 | For what getteth a man of all the laboure and trauayle of his mynde, that he taketh vnder the Sunne, |
| 2:23 | but heuynesse, sorowe and desquyetnes all the dayes of hys lyfe? In so moch that his hert cannot rest in the nyght, this is also a vayne thing? |
| 2:24 | Is it not better then for a man to eate & drynche, & his soule to be mery in his labour? Yee I sawe that thys also was a gyfte of God: |
| 2:25 | For who will eat or go more lustely to hys worcke then I? And why? |
| 2:26 | God gyueth to the man that is good before him, wysdome, vnderstandyng, & gladnesse. But vnto the synner he geueth weerynes that he maye gather and heape together the thynge, that afterwarde shalbe geuen vnto him, whom it pleaseth God. This is now a vayne thinge, yee a very disquietnesse and vexacyon of mynde. |
The Great Bible 1539
The Great Bible of 1539 was the first authorized edition of the Bible in English, authorized by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England. The Great Bible was prepared by Myles Coverdale, working under commission of Thomas, Lord Cromwell, Secretary to Henry VIII and Vicar General. In 1538, Cromwell directed the clergy to provide "one book of the bible of the largest volume in English, and the same set up in some convenient place within the said church that ye have care of, whereas your parishioners may most commodiously resort to the same and read it."