Textus Receptus Bibles
The Great Bible 1539
| 3:1 | By nyght in my beed I sought him, whom my soule loueth: ye diligently sought I him, but I founde him not. |
| 3:2 | I wyll get vp (thought I) and go aboute the cytie, in the wayes in all the stretes wyll I seke him whom my soule loueth: but when I sought hym, I founde hym not. |
| 3:3 | The watchmen also that go aboute the cytie, founde me. Sawe ye not him whom my soule loueth? |
| 3:4 | So when I was a lytle past them, I founde him whom my soule loueth. I haue gotten holde vpon hym, and wyll not let him go vntyll I bringe hym into my mothers house, and into her chambre that bare me. |
| 3:5 | I charge you, O ye daughters of Ierusalem, by the Roes and Hyndes of the felde, that ye wake not vp my loue ner touche her, tyll she be content herselfe. |
| 3:6 | Who is thys, that commeth vp out of the wyldernesse like vapours of smoke, as it were a smell of Myrre, franckencense, and all maner spyces of the Apotecary? |
| 3:7 | Beholde, aboute Salomons bedstede ther stande .lx. valeaunt men of the most myghtie in Israel. |
| 3:8 | They holde swerdes euery one, and are expert in warre. Euery man also hath hys swerde vpon hys thygh, because of feare in the nyght: |
| 3:9 | Kynge Salomon had made him selfe a palace of the wod of Libanus, |
| 3:10 | the pilers are of syluer, the couerynge of golde, the seate of purple, the grounde is pleasauntly paued with loue for the daughters of Ierusalem. |
| 3:11 | Go forth (O ye daughters of Syon) and beholde Kynge Salomon in the crowne: wherwith his mother crowned him in the daye of hys mariage, and in the daye of the gladnesse of his hert. |
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."