Textus Receptus Bibles
Wessex Gospels c.1175
Anglo-Saxon
| 1:1 | Note: Nu we willeð her eow areccan lucas boc þas halgen godspelleres. for þan þe witodlice manega þohte þare þinge race ge-ende-berden þe on us ge-fylde synde; |
| 1:2 | swa us be-tahten þa þe hyt of fremðe ge-sægen. & þare spræce þëenæs wæren. |
| 1:3 | Me ge-þuhte geornlice eallen oð ænde-byrdnysse writen þe þu seleste theophilus. |
| 1:4 | þt þu oncnawe þare worde sodfæstnysse of þam þe þu ge-læred ært. |
| 1:5 | On herode dagen iudea cyninges wæs sum sacerd on namen zacharias of abian tune. & his wif wæs of äärones dohtren. & hire name wæs elisabeth. |
| 1:6 | Soðlice hyo wæren ba twa rihtwise be-foren gode. & gangenden on eallen hys beboden & rihtwisnesse. ba twa wrohte. |
| 1:7 | & hyo nafden nan bearn. for-ðan elisabeth wæs un-berende & hyo on heore dagen baðe forð-eoden. |
| 1:8 | Soðlice wæs ge-worðen þa zacharias hys sacerd-hades brea. on his ge-wrixles endebyrdnysse be-fore gode. |
| 1:9 | æfter ge-wunan. þara sacerdes hades hlotes he eode þæt he his offringe sette. Ða he on godes tempel eode |
| 1:10 | eall wered þas folkes wæs ute biddende on þare offrenge timen. |
| 1:11 | Ða atewede hym drihtenes ængel standende on þas weofedes swiðren healfe. |
| 1:12 | Þa warð zacharias ge-drefed þæt ge-seonde & him eige on-reas. |
| 1:13 | Ða cwæð se ængel hym to. ne on-dred þu þe zacharias. for þan þin bene is ge-herd. & þin wif elisabeth þe sune kenð. & þu nemnest hys name Iohannes |
| 1:14 | & he byð þe to blisse. & manega on his akynnednysse ge-fageneð. |
| 1:15 | Soðlice he byð mære be-foren drihtene. & he ne drincð win ne beor. & he beoð ge-felleð mid halgen gaste; Þanne gyt of hys moder innoðe. |
| 1:16 | & manege israele bearne he ge-chyrd to drihtene heore gode |
| 1:17 | & he gæð to-foren him on gaste. & on helias ge-mihte. & he fæderan heortan to heora bearnan ge-cyrre. & ungeleafulle. to rihtwise gleaw-scipe. drihtne fulfremed folc ge-gærewian. |
| 1:18 | Ða cwæð zacharias to þam engle. hwanan wat ich þis. Ic eom nu eald & min wif on heora dagen forð-eode. |
| 1:19 | Þa andswerede him se ængel. Ich eom gabriel se engel. ic þe stande be-foren gode. & ich eom asend wið þe sprecen. & þe þis bodien. |
| 1:20 | End nu abydst swigende. & þu spræken ne miht oð þanne dayg þe þas þing gewurðad. for þan þu mine worden ne lyfdest þa byð on heora timan ge-fylde. |
| 1:21 | And þæt folc wæs zachariam ge-abydende. & wundredon. þæt he on þæt temple ge-læt wæs. |
| 1:22 | Ða he ut-eode ne mihte he heom to spræcen. & hyo on-cneowen þæt he on þam temple sume ge-sihte ge-seah. & he wæs beacniende heom & dumb þurh-wunede. |
| 1:23 | Þa wæs ge-worðen þa his þenunga dages ge-fylde wæren. he ferde to his huse. |
| 1:24 | Soðlice æfter dagen elisabeth his wif ge-eacnode. & hy be-dyglede hyo fif monðas & cwæð. |
| 1:25 | Soðlice me drihten ge-dyde þus on þam dagen þe he ge-seah mine hosp be-twux mannen afyrran. |
| 1:26 | Note: Missus est angelus gabriel á deo in ciuitatem galiléé. Soðlice on þam syxten monðe wæs a-send gabriel se engel fram drihtene on galilëë cestre þare name wæs nazareth. |
| 1:27 | to be-weddedre femnen anen were þas name wæs ioseph of dauiðes huse. & þare femne name wæs mariam. |
| 1:28 | Ða cwæð se ængel ingangende. Hal wæsse þu mid gyfe ge-fylled. drihten mid þe. Þu ert ge-bletsed on wifen. |
| 1:29 | þa warð hyo on his spræce ge-drefed. & þohte hwæt syo gretunge wære. |
| 1:30 | Ða cwæð se ængel. ne on-dræd þu þe Maria. Soðlice þu gyfe mid gode ge-mettest |
| 1:31 | soðlice nu þu on innoðe ge-eacnest. & sune censt ænd hys name hælend ge-nemnest |
| 1:32 | & se byoð mære. & þas heagestes sune ge-nemned. & hym sylð drihten god his fæder dauides setll. |
| 1:33 | & he rixad on echnesse on Iacobes huse. & his riche ænde ne beoð. |
| 1:34 | Þa cwæð maria to þam ængle hu ge-wurð þis for þan ich were ne on-cnawe. |
| 1:35 | Ða andswerede hyre se ængel. Se halge gast on þe be-kymd & þas heagestan mihte þe ofer-scædeð. & for þan þt halig þe of þe akenned byð; byð godes sune ge-nemned. |
| 1:36 | Ænd nu elisabeth þin mage sune on hire elde ge-echnede. & þes moneð is hire syxto sye is unberende ge-nemned. |
| 1:37 | for-þy nis ælch word mid gode unmihte-lic. |
| 1:38 | Ða cwæð Maria. Her is drihtenes þinen. ge-wurðe me æfter þinen worde. & se ængel hire fram ge-wat. |
| 1:39 | Note: Exurgens Maria abiit in montana cum festinatione. Soðlice on þam dagen aras Maria & ferde on muntlande mid efste. on iudeisse ceastre. |
| 1:40 | & eode in-to zacharias huse. & grette elisabeth. |
| 1:41 | Ða wæs ge-worðen. þa helisabeth ge-herde maRie gretinge. þa ge-fagene þæt chyld on hire innoðe. ænd þa warð elisabeth halgen gaste ge-fylled. |
| 1:42 | ænd hyo cleopede hludere stefne. & cwæð. Ðu ært be-twux wifen ge-bledsed. & ge-bletsed ys þines innoðes wæstme. |
| 1:43 | & hwanen is me þis þæt mines drihtenes moder scolde to me cume. |
| 1:44 | Sone swa þinre gretinge stefne on minan earen ge-worðan wæs. þa fagenede min chyld on minen innoðe. |
| 1:45 | Ænd eadig þu ert þu þe ge-lyfdest þæt fulfremede sinde þa þing. þe þe fram drihtene ge-saigde synde. |
| 1:46 | Ða cwæð maria min saule mersed drihten. |
| 1:47 | and min gast ge-blissode on gode minen hælende. |
| 1:48 | For þam þe he ge-seah his þinene eadmodnysse. Soðlice henen-forð me eadige seggeð ealle cneornesse. |
| 1:49 | for þam þe me mychele þing dyde se þe mihtyg ys. & his name is halig |
| 1:50 | & hys mildheortnysse of cneornisse. on cneornesse hine on-drædende. |
| 1:51 | He worhte mægne on hys earme. he to-dælde þa ofermode. on moda heora heortan. |
| 1:52 | He warp þa rice of setlle. & þa eadmode he up an-hof. |
| 1:53 | Hyngriende he mid gode ge-felde. & þa ofor-mode ydele for-let. |
| 1:54 | He afeng israel his cniht & ge-mynde hys mildheortnysse. |
| 1:55 | Swa he spræc to ure fæderen abrahame. & his sæde on a weorlde. |
| 1:56 | Soðlice Marie wunede mid hire swylce þreo monðes; & ge-wende þa to hire huse. |
| 1:57 | Ða wæs afelled elisabethe kenning-tyd. & hyo sune kende. |
| 1:58 | ænd hire nehcheburas & hyre cuðan þæt ge-herden þæt drihten hys mildheortnysse mid hire mærsede. & hyo mid hire blisseden. |
| 1:59 | Þa on þam ehtode daige hyo comon þæt chyld to embscniðen. & nemden hine his fæder name zachariam. |
| 1:60 | Þa andswerede his moder nese soðes. ac he beoð Iohan ge-nemned. |
| 1:61 | Ða cwæðen hyo to hire. nis nan on þinre mægðe þisse name ge-nemned. |
| 1:62 | Ða cwæðen hyo to his fæder. hwæt he wolde hine ge-nemned beon. |
| 1:63 | þa wrat he ge-beðenen wexbrede Iohannes ys hys name. Ða wundredon hyo ealle. |
| 1:64 | Ða warð sona hys muð & hys tunge ge-opened & he spræc drihten bletsiende. |
| 1:65 | Ða warð eige ge-worden ofer ealle heora nehchegeburas & ofer ealle iudea munt-land wæren þas worð wið-mærsede. |
| 1:66 | & ealle þa þe hyt ge-hyrdon on heore heorten setten & cwæðen. Wenst þu hwæt beoð þes cnapa; witoðlice drihtnes hand wæs mid hym. |
| 1:67 | Ænd zacharias hys fæder wæs mid halgen gaste ge-fylled. & he wito-gode. & cwæð. |
| 1:68 | Ge-bletseð syo drihten israele god; for þan þe he ge-neosede. & hys folces alysendnysse dyde. |
| 1:69 | Ænd he us hæle horn arærde on dauides huse. hys cnihtes. |
| 1:70 | Swa he spræc þurh hys halgene witegene muð. Ða þe of weorldes fremðe spræken. |
| 1:71 | & he alesde us of uren feonden. & of ealre þare handen þe us hateden. |
| 1:72 | Mildheortnysse to werchen mid ure fæderen. & ge-munen hys halgen kyðnesse. |
| 1:73 | hyne us to sellene þanne að þe he uren fader abrahame swor. |
| 1:74 | þæt we buton eyge of ure feondon handen alesde hym þeowian. |
| 1:75 | on halignesse be-foran hym eallen ure dagen. |
| 1:76 | & þu cnapa gæst & beost þas heageste witega ge-nemned. Ðu gæst be-foran drihtnes ansiene hys wegas gearewian. |
| 1:77 | To syllene hys folce his halge ge-wit on hira synna for-gefenyssa. |
| 1:78 | Ðurh innoðes ures godes mildheortnyssa. on þam he us neosede. of east-dæle up-springende. |
| 1:79 | on-lihtan þam þe on þeostrum & on deaðes scade sitteð. ure fet to ge-reccenne on sibbe weig. |
| 1:80 | Soðlice se cnape weox. & wæs on gaste ge-stræncþed. & wæs on westene oð þanne dayg his atewednysse on israel. |
Wessex Gospels c.1175
The Wessex Gospels (also known as the West-Saxon Gospels) are a full translation of the four gospels of the Christian Bible into a West Saxon dialect of Old English. Designated Royal MS 1 A XIV, it is historically important.
- The Wessex Gospels are the oldest translations into English without the Latin.
- The gospels are written in the Old English West Anglo-Saxon dialect of Northumbria.
- Royal MS 1 A XIV is written on parchment and is also known as the Codex Evangeliorum Anglice.
- The title written at the top of the page, ‘Text[us] iv evangelior[um] anglice’, is reproduced in the 14th-century catalogue of the Benedictine Christ Church library, but at the Reformation this book was one of many acquired from religious houses by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1532 to 1534, whose name is written at the top of the page.
- Seven extant copies exist today. The earliest version dates from 990AD.
- Royal MS 1 A XIV was copied directly from MS 441 in the Bodleian library at Oxford. We know this as the same passages have been omitted from both. It has a transmission jump of 185 years.
- MS 441 (990AD) is extant and still resides in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, England. It was given to the library by Baron Hatton in 1671. Paleographical evidence suggests a Canterbury origin. The earliest extant evidence of ownership is through Archbishop Matthew Parker (1504-75).
- MS Corp. Ch Coll Camb 140 (1000AD) is in Corpus Christi College Cambridge.
- Royal MS 1 A XIV (1175AD) is in the British Library and was presented to the British Museum by King George II in 1757 from the Old Royal Library.
- Royal MS 1 A XIV once belonged to the Prince of Wales: Henry Frederick, (1594-1612), eldest child of King James the First.
Why is this important?
- Desiderius Erasmus had access to these MSS before starting his translation of the Textus Receptus. In the five years prior to starting his translation work Erasmus was Professor of Divinity at Cambridge at a time when the university's benefactors owned these manuscripts.
- The King James Bible translators had access to these manuscripts. All the six KJV translation companies where housed at Oxford, Cambridge and Westminster and all had access to the Wessex Gospels.
- The codex contains the long ending in Mark chapter 16.
- The codex contains the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11)