Susanna — The Coverdale Bible (1535)

Susanna is the Greek addition to Daniel in which the young Daniel exposes the elders who falsely accused her. In Coverdale’s Bible of 1535 it stands in the Apocrypha, which Coverdale gathered into a section of their own under the heading “The story of Susanna which is the XIII. chapter of Daniel after the Latyn”. It is printed without chapter or verse divisions, so the text keeps its own paragraphs, with the marginal notes and references printed at the end.

[A] THere dwelt a man in Babilō, called Ioachim: yᵗ toke a wife, whose name was Susanna, (yᵉ doughter of Helchias) a very fayre woman, & soch one as feared God. Hir father & hir mother also were godly people, & taught their doughter acordinge to yᵉ lawe of Moses. Now Ioachim (hir huszbonde) was a greate rich man, & had a fayre orcharde ioyninge vnto his house. And to him resorted the Iewes comonly, because he was a man of reputacion amonge them. The same yeare were there made two iudges, soch as the LORDE speaketh of: All the wickednesse of Babilon, cōmeth from yᵉ elders (yᵗ is) from yᵉ iudges, which seme to rule the people. These came offt to Ioachims house, & all soch as had eny thinge to do in the lawe, came thither vnto them.

Now when the people came agayne at [B] after noone, Susanna wente in to hir huszbōdes orcharde, to walke. The elders seynge this, that she went in daylie & walked: they burned for lust to her, yee they were allmost out of their wittes, & cast downe their eyes, that they shulde not se heauē, ner remembre, yᵗ God is a righteous iudge. For they were both woūded wᵗ the loue of her, nether durst one shewe another his grefe. And for shame, they durst not tell her their inordynate lust, yᵗ they wolde fayne haue had to do wᵗ her. Yet they layed wayte for her earnestly from daye to daye, that they might (at the leest) haue a sight of her. And the one sayde to yᵉ other: Vp, let vs go home, for it is dyner tyme. So they wente their waye from her.

When they returned agayne, they came together, enqueringe out yᵉ matter betwixte them selues: yee the one tolde yᵉ other of his wicked lust. Thē apoynted they a tyme, whē they might take Susanna alone.

It happened also yᵗ they spyed out a conueniēt [C] tyme, when she wente forth to walke (as hir maner was) & no body with her, but two maydēs,⁽¹⁾ & thought to wash her self in the garden, for it was an hote season: And there was not one person there, excepte the two elders, yᵗ had hyd them selues, to beholde her. So she sayde to hir maydens: go set me oyle & sope, & shut the orcharde dore, yᵗ I maye wash me. And they dyd as she bad them, & shut the orcharde dore, & wente out them selues at a backe dore, to fet the thinge yᵗ she had cōmaunded: but Susanna knewe not, yᵗ yᵉ elders laie there hyd within. Now when the maydens were gone forth, yᵉ two elders gat them vp, & ranne vpon her, sayenge: now, the orcharde dores are shut, that no man can se vs: we haue a lust vnto the, therfore consent vnto vs, and lye with vs.

Yf thou wilt not, we shall bringe a testimoniall [D] agaynst the: that there was a yonge felowe with the, and that thou hast sent awaye thy maydens from the for the same cause. Susanna sighed, and sayde: Alas, I am in trouble on euery syde. Though I folowe youre mynde, it wyll be my death: and yf I consent not vnto you, I can not escape youre hondes. Wel, it is better for me, to fall in to youre hondes without the dede doinge, then to synne in the sight of the LORDE: and with that, she cried out with a loude voyce the elders also cried out agaynst her.

Then ranne there one to the orcharde dore, & smote it open. Now when the seruauntes of the house herde yᵉ crie in yᵉ orcharde, they ruszshed in at the backe dore, to se what the matter was. So when the elders tolde them, the seruauntes were greatly ashamed, for why, there was neuer soch a reporte made [E] of Susanna. On the morow after came the people to Ioachim hir houszbonde, and yᵉ two elders came also, full of myscheuous ymaginacions agaynst Susanna, to bringe her vnto death, & spake thus before the people: Sende for Susanna yᵉ daughter of Helchias, Ioachims wife. And immediatly they sent for her. So she came wᵗ her father & mother; hir children & all her kynrede. Now Susanna was a tender person, & maruelous fayre of face. Therfore the wicked men cōmaunded to take of the clothes from her face (for she was couered) yᵗ at the leest, they might so be satisfied in hir beutie. Then hir frēdes, yee & all they yᵗ knewe her, begāne to wepe.

These two elders stode vp in the myddest of the people,⁽²⁾ & layed their hondes vpon yᵉ heade of Susanna: which wepte, and loked vp towarde heauen, for hir herte had a sure trust in the LORDE. And the elders sayde: As we were walkinge in the orcharde alone, this woman came in wᵗ hir two maydēs: whom she sent awaye from her, & sparred yᵉ [F] orcharde dores. With that, a yonge felowe (which there was hyd) came vnto her, & laye wᵗ her. As for vs, we stode in a corner of the orcharde. And whē we sawe this wickednes, we rāne to her: & perceaued, yᵗ they had medled together. But we coude not holde him, for he was stronger then we: thus he opened yᵉ dore, & gat him awaye. Now whē we had takē this womā, we axed her, what yōge felow this was: but she wolde not tell vs. This is yᵉ matter, & we be witnesses of yᵉ same.

The comon sorte beleued them, as those yᵗ were the elders & iudges of the people, & so they condemned her to death. Susanna cried out wᵗ a loude voyce, & sayde: O euerlastinge God,⁽³⁾ thou sercher of secretes, thou yᵗ knowest all thinges a fore they come to passe: thou wotest, yᵗ they haue borne false wytnes agaynst me: & beholde, I must dye, where as I neuer dyd eny soch thinges, as these men haue maliciously inuented agaynst me. And yᵉ LORDE herde hir voyce. For whē she was led forth to death, yᵉ LORDE raised vp yᵉ sprete of a yōge childe, whose name was Daniel,⁽⁴⁾ which cried wᵗ a loude voice: I am clene frō this bloude. Thē all yᵉ people turned thē [G] towarde him, & saide: What meane these wordes, yᵗ thou hast spokē ▪ Daniel stode in yᵉ myddest of thē, & sayde: Are ye soch fooles (O ye childrē of Israel) yᵗ ye cā not discerne? Ye haue here condēned a daughter of Israel vnto death, and knowe not the trueth wherfore: Go syt on iudgment agayne, for they haue spoken false witnesse agaynst her.

Wherfore the people turned agayne in all the haist. And the elders (that is, the principall heades) sayde vnto him: come sit downe here amonge vs, and shewe vs this matter, seynge God hath geuen the as greate honoure, as an elder. And Daniel sayde vnto them:⁽⁵⁾ Put these two asyde one from another and then shal I heare them. When they were put a sunder one from another, he called one of them, and sayd vnto him: O thou olde canckerde carle, that hast vsed thy wickednesse so longe: thine vngracious dedes which thou hast done afore, are now come to light. For thou hast geuen false iudgmentes, thou hast oppressed the innocent, and letten the giltie go fre, where as yet the LORDE saieth:⁽⁶⁾ The innocent and righteous se thou slaye not. Wel than, yf thou hast sene her, tel me, vnder what tre sawest [H] thou them talkynge together? He answered: Vnder a Molbery tre. And Daniel sayde: very wel, Now thou leist euen vpon thine heade. Lo the messaunger of the LORDE hath receaued the sentence of him, to cut yᵉ in two.

Then put he him asyde, and called for the other, and sayde vnto him: O thou sede of Canaan, but not of Iuda: Fayrnesse hath disceaued the, and lust hath subuerted thine herte. Thus dealte ye afore with the daughters of Israel, and they (for feare) consented vnto you: but the daughter of Iuda wolde not abyde youre wickednesse. Now tell me than, vnder what tre didest thou take them speakinge together? He answered: vnder a pomgranate tre. Then sayde Daniel vnto him: very wel, now thou leyst also euen vpō thine heade. The messaunger of the LORDE stondeth waytinge with the swerde, to cut the in two, and to slaye you both.

With that, all the whole multitude gaue a greate shoute, and praysed God, which allwaye delyuereth them yᵗ put their trust in him. And they came vpon the two elders,⁽⁷⁾ (whom Daniel had conuicte with their owne mouth: that they had geuen false witnesse) and dealte with them,⁽⁸⁾ euen likewyse as they wolde haue done with their neghbouresse: Yee they dyd acordinge to the lawe of Moses, and put them to death. Thus the innocent bloude was saued the same daye.

Thē Helchias & his wife praysed God for their daughter Susanna, with Ioachim hir huszbonde and all yᵉ kinrede: that there was no dishoneste founde in her. From that daye forth was Daniel had in greate reputaciō in the sight of yᵉ people.

Notes

⁽¹⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽²⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽³⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽⁴⁾ ⟨illegible⟩

⁽⁵⁾ 3. Reg. 3. d

⁽⁶⁾ Exo. 23. a Pro. 17. c

⁽⁷⁾ Psal. 1⟨illegible⟩. a

⁽⁸⁾ Deu. 19. d Prou. 19. a

The ende of the story of Susanna.

Colophon

This page is an archival transcription of the printed text, not a Good Works Translation. Source: Biblia the Byble, that is, the holy Scrypture of the Olde and New Testament, faithfully translated in to Englyshe (M.D.XXXV; STC 2063.3), translated by Myles Coverdale, the copy in Cambridge University Library, keyed and encoded by the Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP Phase I, text A10349, 2005) and released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 public-domain dedication.

1 place illegible in the Cambridge copy was filled from Samuel Bagster’s 1838 page-for-page reprint of the edition (archive.org, holyscriptures00cove), only where the reprint’s reading is certain; each fill is listed on this room’s Supplied Readings page; 5 places are still marked ⟨illegible⟩ (0 in the text, 5 in the marginal notes).

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