Textus Receptus Bibles
Coverdale Bible 1535
| 2:1 | When Iesus was borne at Bethlee in Iury, in the tyme of Herode the kynge, Beholde, there came wyse men from the east to Ierusale, |
| 2:2 | saynge: Where is the new borne kynge of the Iues? We haue sene his starre in the east, and are come to worship him. |
| 2:3 | When Herode ye kynge had herde thys, he was troubled, & all Ierusale with hym, |
| 2:4 | and he gathered all the hye Prestes and Scribes of ye people, & axed of them, where Christ shulde be borne. |
| 2:5 | And they sayde vnto hym: at Bethleem in Iury. For thus it is written by the Prophet: |
| 2:6 | And thou Bethleem in the londe of Iury, art not the leest amonge the Princes of Iuda. For out of ye shall come vnto me the captayne, that shall gouerne my people Israel. |
| 2:7 | Then Herod preuely called the wyse men, and dyligently enquyred of them, what tyme the starre appered, |
| 2:8 | and sent them to Bethleem, sainge: Go, and searche dyligently for the chylde. And when ye haue founde hym, bringe me worde agayne, that I maye come and worshippe hym also. |
| 2:9 | When they had heard the kynge, they departed: and lo, the starre which they sawe in the east, went before them, tyll it came, and stode ouer the place where the chylde was. |
| 2:10 | When they sawe the starre, they were maruelously glad: |
| 2:11 | and went into the house, and found the chylde with Mary his mother, and kneled downe and worshipped hym, & opened ther treasures, and offred vnto hym gyftes: gold, franckynsence and myrre. |
| 2:12 | And after they were warned of God in a dreame, that they shuld not go ageine to Herod, they returned into their awne countre another waye. |
| 2:13 | When they were departed: beholde, the angell of the LORDE appered to Ioseph in a dreame, sayinge: aryse, and take the chylde and his mother, and flye into Egypte, and abyde there tyll I brynge the worde. For Herod wyl seke the chylde to destroye hym. |
| 2:14 | The he arose, and toke the chylde and his mother by night, and departed into Egypte, |
| 2:15 | and was there vnto ye deeth of Herod, that the thinge might be fulfylled which was spoke of the LORDE, by the Prophet, which sayeth: out of Egypte haue I called my sonne. |
| 2:16 | Then Herod perceauynge yt he was disceaued of the wyse men, was excedynge wroth, and sent forth, and slue all the chyldren that were in Bethleem, and in all the coastes there of, as many as were two yere olde and vnder, accordynge to the tyme which he |
| 2:17 | Then was yt fulfilled which was spoken by ye Prophet Ieremy sayinge: |
| 2:18 | On ye hilles was a voyce herde, greate mournynge, wepynge, & lamentacion: Rachel wepynge for her chyldren, and wolde not be conforted, because they were not. |
| 2:19 | When Herode was deed: beholde, an angell of the LORDE appered in a dreame to Ioseph in Egypte, |
| 2:20 | sayinge: arise and take the chylde and his mother, & go into ye londe of Israel. For they are deed, which sought the chyldes life. |
| 2:21 | And he arose vp, and toke ye chylde and his mother, & came into the londe of Israel. |
| 2:22 | But whe he herde that Archelaus did raygne in Iury, in ye rowme of his father Herode, he was afrayde to go thither. Notwithstondinge after he was warned of God in a dreame, he turned asyde into the parties of Galile, |
| 2:23 | and went and dwelt in a cite called Nazareth, to fulfill yt which was spoken by the Prophetes: he shalbe called a Nazarite. |
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.