Textus Receptus Bibles
The Great Bible 1539
| 1:1 | It chaunsed in the .xxx. yeare, the fyfthe daye of the fourth moneth, that I was among the presoners by the ryuer of Cobar: where the heauens opened, and I sawe a visyon of God. |
| 1:2 | Nowe the fyfth daye of the moneth made out the fyfth yeare of Kynge Ioachins captyuite. |
| 1:3 | At the same tyme came the worde of the Lorde vnto Ezechiel the sonne of Buzi the preste, in the lande of the Chaldees by the water of Cobar, where the hande of the Lorde came vpon hym. |
| 1:4 | And I loked, and beholde a stormy wynde came out of the North with a greate cloude full of fyre, which with hys glystre lyghtened all rounde aboute. And in the middest of the fyre it was all cleare lyke the face of an angell, |
| 1:5 | and as it were the lykenes of foure beastes, and thys was there lykenesse. They were fashyoned lyke a man: sauynge, |
| 1:6 | that euery one had foure faces and foure wynges. |
| 1:7 | Theyr legges were streight, but theyr fete were lyke bullockes fete, and they glystered, as it had bene fayre scoured metall. |
| 1:8 | Under theyr wynges, vpon all the foure corners they had mens handes. Theyr faces and theyr wynges were towarde the foure corners: |
| 1:9 | yet were the wynges so, that one euer touched another. When they went, they turned them not aboute: but eche one went streight forwarde. |
| 1:10 | Furthermore thys was the symilitude of theyr faces. Upon the ryght syde of these foure, theyr faces were lyke the face of a man, and the face of a lyon. But vpon the lefte syde, |
| 1:11 | they had the face of an oxe, and the face of an Aegle. Theyr faces also and theyr wynges were spred out aboue: so that two wynges of one touched euer two wynges of another, & with the other they couered their body. |
| 1:12 | Euery one when it wente, it wente streyght forwarde. Where as the sprete led them, thyther they wente, and turned not aboute in theyr goynge. |
| 1:13 | The fashyon and countenaunce of the beastes was lyke hoate coales of fyre, euen as though burning cressettes had bene among the beastes: and the fyre gaue a glistre, and out of the fyre there went lyghtenynge. |
| 1:14 | When the beastes wente forwarde & backward, one wold haue thought it had lyghtened. |
| 1:15 | Now when I had well consydered the beastes, I saw a worcke of wheles vpon the earth with foure faces also nye vnto the beastes. |
| 1:16 | The fashyon and worcke of the wheles was lyke the see. The foure wheles were ioyned and made (to loke vpon) as it had bene one whele in another. |
| 1:17 | When one wente forwarde, they wente all foure, and turned them not about in theyr goinges. |
| 1:18 | They were large greate and horrible to loke vpon. Theyr backes were full of eyes rounde about them all foure. When the beastes wente, the wheles wente also with them. |
| 1:19 | And when the beastes lyfte them selues vp from the earth, the wheles were lyft vp also. |
| 1:20 | Whithersoeuer the sprete wente, thyther went they also, and the wheles were lyfte vp, and folowed them: for the sprete of lyfe was in the wheles. |
| 1:21 | When the beastes wente forth, stode styll, or lyft them selues from the earth, then the wheles also wente, stode styll, and were lyfte vp, for the breth of lyfe was in the wheles. |
| 1:22 | Aboue, ouer the heades of the beastes there was a fyrmament, which was fashyoned as it had bene of the most pure Christall, and that was spred oute aboue vpon theyr heades: |
| 1:23 | vnder the same fyrmament were theyr wynges layed abrode, one towarde another and two wynges couered the body of euery beaste. |
| 1:24 | And when they wente forth, I hearde the noyse of theyr wynges, lyke the noyse of greate waters, as it had bene the voyce of the greate God, and a russhynge together as it were of an hoost of men. And when they stode styll, they let downe theyr wynges. |
| 1:25 | Nowe when they stode styll, and had letten downe theyr wynges, it thondred in the fyrmament that was aboue theyr heades. |
| 1:26 | Aboue the fyrmament that was ouer theyr heades, there was the fashyon of a seate, as it had bene made of Saphyr. Upon the seate there satt one lyke a man. |
| 1:27 | I behelde hym, and he was lyke an angell, as it had bene all of fyre within from his loynes vpwarde. And beneth, when I loked vpon him vnder the loynes, me thought he was lyke a shynynge fyre, that geueth lyght on euery syde. Yee, the shyne and glystre that lyghtened rounde about, |
| 1:28 | was lyke a raynbowe, which in a raynye daye appeareth in the cloudes. Euen so was the similytude, wherin the glorye of the Lorde appeared. When I sawe it, I fell vpon my face, and herkened vnto the voyce of hym that spake: |
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."