Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 1:1 | In the lode of Hus there was a man called Iob: an innocent and vertuous man, soch one as feared God, and eschued euell. |
| 1:2 | This man had vij. sonnes, and iij. doughters. |
| 1:3 | His substaunce was vij. M. shepe, iij.M. camels, v.C. yock of oxen, v.C. she asses, and a very greate housholde: so yt he was one of the most principall men amoge all them of the east countre. |
| 1:4 | His sonnes now wente on euery man, and made banckettes: one daye in one house, another daye in another, and sent for their iij. sisters, to eate & drinke with them. |
| 1:5 | So when they had passed ouer the tyme of their banckettinge rounde aboute, Iob sent for them, and clensed them agayne, stode vp early, and offred for euery one a bretofferinge. For Iob thought thus: peraduenture my sonnes haue done some offence, and haue bene vnthankfull to God in their hertes. And thus dyd Iob euery daye. |
| 1:6 | Now vpon a tyme, when the seruauntes of God came and stode before the LORDE, Sathan came also amonge them. |
| 1:7 | And the LORDE sayde vnto Sathan: From whence commest thou? Sathan answered the LORDE, and sayde: I haue gone aboute the lode, and walked thorow it. |
| 1:8 | Then sayde the LORDE vnto Satha: hast thou not considered my seruaunt Iob, how that he is an innocet and vertuous ma: soch one as feareth God, and eschueth euell, and that there is none like him in the londe? |
| 1:9 | Sathan answered, and sayde vnto the LORDE: Doth Iob feare God for naught? |
| 1:10 | hast thou not preserued him, his house, and all his substaunce on euery syde? hast thou not blessed the workes of his hondes? Is not his possession encreaced in the londe? |
| 1:11 | But laye thyne honde vpo him a litle, touch once all that he hath, and (I holde) he shall curse the to thy face. |
| 1:12 | And the LORDE sayde vnto Sathan: lo all that he hath, be in thy power: only vpon himself se that thou laye not thine honde. Then wente Sathan forth from the LORDE. |
| 1:13 | Now vpon a certayne daye when his sonnes and doughters were eatinge, and drynkinge wyne in their eldest brothers house, |
| 1:14 | there came a messaunger vnto Iob, and sayde: Whyle the oxen were a plowinge, and the Asses goinge in the pasture besyde them: |
| 1:15 | the Sabees came in violetly, and toke them all awaye: yee they haue slayne the seruauntes with the swearde, and I only ranne my waye, to tell the. |
| 1:16 | And whyle he was yet speakynge, there came another, and sayde: The fyre of God is fallen from heauen, it hath consumed & bret vp all the shepe and seruauntes: and I only ranne my waye, to tell the. |
| 1:17 | In the meane season whyle he was yet speakinge, there came another, and sayde: The Caldees made thre armies, and fell in vpon the camels, which they haue caried awaye, yee and slayne the seruauntes with the swearde: and I only am gotte awaye, to tell the. |
| 1:18 | Whyle he was speakinge, there came yet another, ad sayde: Thy sonnes and doughters were eatinge ad drynkinge wyne in their eldest brothers house, |
| 1:19 | ad sodenly there came a mightie greate wynde out off the South, and smote the iiij. corners of the house: which fell vpon thy children, so that they are deed: and I am gotten awaye alone, to tell the. |
| 1:20 | Then Iob stode vp, and rente his clothes shaued his heade, fell downe vpon the groude, worshipped, |
| 1:21 | and sayde: Naked came I out of my mothers wombe, and naked shall I turne thither agayne. The LORDE gaue, and the LORDE hath taken awaye (the LORDE hath done his pleasure) now blessed be ye name off the LORDE. |
| 1:22 | In all these thinges dyd Iob not offende, ner murmured foolishly agaynst God. |
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.